HAMLET ACT ONE REVIEW
Ms. White English 122
Act One Questions
Who,
What,
Why?
1.What reasons do Laertes and Polonius
give for their command to Ophelia to
stop seeing Hamlet?
 List at least ONE REASON for each
Answer: Question 1/ Laertes
Who,

“For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favours.
Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood,
A violet in the youth of primy nature,
What,
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
Why?
The perfume and suppliance of a minute,
No more.” (1.3.5-10)
You are both young, this is “puppy love”; a phase, a passing attraction
(like a violet in spring).

“…Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will; but you must fear,
His greatness weighed, his will is not his own.” (1.3. 14-17)
Maybe he does love you now, but considering his noble rank– his will is
not his own.
Answers: Question 1/ Laertes
Who,
What,
Why?

“For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself for on his choice
The safety and health of this whole state:…” (1.3. 18-21)
Unlike ordinary people, he can’t do what he’d like– the whole of
Denmark’s safety and well-being depends on who he chooses.
“And therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Under the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head.” (1.3. 22-24)
His choices are ruled by the approval and consent of Denmark, as he is
the head of state.
Answers: Question 1/ Laertes
Who,
“Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain
What,
Why?
If with too credent ear you lost his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmastered importunity.” (1.3.29-32)
Consider the damage to your reputation if you were to listen to his songs too
trustfully or especially, if you were to give up your virginity to his pleadings!
Answer: Question 1/ Polonius
Who,
What,
Why?
“Marry, I’ll teach you: think yourself a baby,
That you have taken these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
Or– not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus– you’ll tender me a fool.” (1.3.105-109)
Consider yourself a baby. You have taken these “tenders” as real
“tender”, but they’re counterfeit. “Tender” yourself at a higher value–
or you will make a fool if your father when you get pregnant!
Answers: Question 1/ Polonius
Who,
What,
“Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Gives the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Why?
Even in the their promise, as it is a making,
You must not take for fire.” (1.3. 115- 120)
It’s a trap…lavish vows are given in the heat of passion! He says things he doesn’t
mean, don’t believe him.
“I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
Have you so slander any moment leisure
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to’t, I charge you.” (1.3.32-35)
He orders Ophelia not to see Hamlet any more.
Act One Questions
Who,
What,
Why?

2. What signs are given of a potential
madness on Hamlet’s part (in this Act)?
Give at least TWO examples.
Answers: Question 2
Who,

What,

Why?


Signs that Hamlet is mad (crazy):
In his soliloquy (1.2) he talks about how
he wishes he were dead. “o, that this too,
too solid flesh would melt…” (1.2.129)
Wants to see and talk to his father’s
ghost. “…I’ll speak to it, though hell itself
should gape…” (1.2. 244)
He speaks to a ghost… (1.4. 40-45)
Answers: Question 2
Who,

What,
Why?

He follows the ghost, even though he is warned
against it. He says he doesn’t value his own life,
so he isn’t worried of the danger the ghost may
put him in. (1.4.65-69)
Tells Horatio that he plans to act like a madman.
“Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, /
How strange or odd so ever I bear myself-- / As
perchance hereafter shall think meet/ To put an
antic disposition on—” (1.5.170-174)
Act One Questions
Who,
What,
Why?

3. What does Hamlet believe is the way
his father died, before he meets the
apparition?
Answers: Question 3
Who,
What,
Why?
Hamlet, like the kingdom, thinks the king
has died of natural causes. They have
no reason to think otherwise. Hamlet is
taken aback when the ghost speaks of
revenge. He is more surprised when he
tells him he has been murdered.
But, Hamlet does reveal that he sensed
foul play from his uncle, “O my
prophetic soul! My uncle!” (1.5. 41-42)

Imagery and Symbolism

Find two references to
disease or decay.

See a classmate. All
these quotes and
explanations were
covered in class.
THEME
Appearance
Versus
Reality

The ghost comes in “questionable
shape”. Find THREE references to the
“Appearance vs. Reality” theme. (For
example: someone may “appear” to be
a friend, while in “reality” they are
plotting a back-stabbing move…)
Answers: THEME
Appearance

Versus
Reality

In Act 2, Scene 1– Hamlet challenges his
mother and Claudius when they berate
him about “appearing” too sad. He
emphatically replies that he does not
“seem” to be sad, but is sad.
“…Together with all forms, modes,
shapes of grief,/ That can denote me
truly…” (1.2.82-83)
Answers: THEME
Appearance

Versus
Reality

Ophelia responds to her brother’s long list of
advice regarding Hamlet and tells him not to be
a hypocrite: giving all sorts of advice and then
doing the opposite.
“…But, good brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
Whilst, like a puff’d and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads
And recks not his own rede.” (1.3. 46-51)
Answers: THEME
Appearance

Versus
Reality

He refers to his own mother as “…my most
seeming-virtuous queen…” (1.5.47).
He implies that she acts as if she has virtue, but
he thinks that she really is not so virtuous.
Indeed, later after the ghost tells him of the
circumstance of his death, Hamlet implies she has
knowledge of this plan, “O most pernicious
woman! O villain, villain, smiling, damned
villain!” (1.5. 105-106)
Answers: THEME
Appearance
Versus

Finally, Hamlet sums up his feelings
about his mistrust of people:
Reality
“My tables – meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark…”
(1.5. 109-110)
He feels people seem one way, but are
really something else.