Hamlet Act 4 Questions for Study
(from: http://www.kvhigh.com/Documents/Notes/frank/hamlet_act4_questions.html)
Act 4
Scenes 1 & 2:
1. How does the queen protect Hamlet?
2. What does Claudius ask Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to do?
3. What does Hamlet mean when he calls Rosencrantz a "sponge"?
Scene 3:
4. Why does Claudius say he must hide the haste with which Hamlet is being sent away?
5. In lines 34-38, what does Hamlet tell Claudius he has done with Polonius?
6. What does Claudius arrange to happen to Hamlet when he arrives in England?
Scene 4:
7. Who does Hamlet meet in this scene?
8. What purpose unites Fortinbras's troops?
9. What effect does this meeting have on Hamlet?
Scenes 5 & 6:
10. What has happened to Ophelia?
11. Why does the Queen agree to go see her?
12. What are the problems Claudius lists in lines 77-94?
13. Why does Laertes break into Claudius's chamber?
14. What does Claudius tell Laertes to do?
15. What happens to Hamlet during his passage to England?
Scene 7:
16. In lines 5-9, what does Laertes ask Claudius?
17. What is the King's response?
18. What scheme is planned by Claudius and Laertes?
19. What is their back-up plan?
20. What news does the Queen bring? Recount the scene she describes.
21. Do you believe Ophelia's death was an accident or suicide? Explain.
Hamlet Act 5 Questions for Study
Act 5
Scene 1:
1. What implications are the clowns' making in their opening conversation?
2. Why does the manner of Ophelia's burial cause so much comment?
3. What reason is given for her having a Christian burial?
4. What is foreshadowed in the scene in the graveyard?
5. What is ironic about Hamlet joking with the grave-diggers?
6. What general comment about time is made in the grave-digging scene?
7. In line 222, how does the priest account for Ophelia's Christian burial?
8. What does Laertes do that angers Hamlet?
9. What is Hamlet's response to these actions of Laertes?
Scene 2:
10. What did Hamlet do to the commission letters that Claudius had sent with him?
11. In line 62, Horatio exclaims, "Why, what a king is this!" What change (finally) has taken
place in Hamlet?
12. What does Hamlet mean when he says, "…by the image of my cause, I see/ the portraiture of
his…"?
13. In lines 202-204, how does Hamlet feel about the fencing match?
14. What is the nature of Hamlet's speech to Laertes before they fence?
15. Who accidentally drinks the poisoned wine?
16. How is Hamlet mortally wounded?
17. What long-anticipated act does Hamlet finally complete?
18. What does Horatio attempt to do?
19. Why does Hamlet entreat Horatio to stay alive?
20. What is Hamlet's final act as King of Denmark?
21. Certain actions throughout the final scene of the play can be linked by cause and effect. For
every cause that's listed below, give the effect (results) of the listed causes (actions).
Hamlet rewrites Claudius's orders
Hamlet agrees to take part in the fencing match
Claudius poisons a cup of wine
Laertes poisons his sword point
Acts 4 and 5 Questions (from: http://stratfordhigh.stratfordk12.org/Content/Hamlet.asp)
Act 4
1. How does Gertrude seek to shield Hamlet in this scene and why?
2. What are the details of the King’s plan in scene three, why can’t he make a simpler plan and why is he
confident that it will be carried out?
3. Of what importance is the first appearance of Frotinbras? What points of comparison and contrast are
suggested between him and Hamlet?
4. What dramatic purpose is served by the madness of Ophelia? What are the causes of Ophelia’s
madness?
5. What reasons are given by Claudius for not bringing Hamlet to a public trial? What is the plan
between Claudius and Laertes in scene seven?
6. Could Gertrude's lines in Act IV scene v, 17-20 be read as an acknowledgement of her complicity in
the murder of Old King Hamlet and why?
7. How do we perceive Claudius as man and king when he instructs his soldiers to let Laertes do what he
will in Act IV scene v (lines 120-127.)
Act 5
1. How does Ophelia dominate scene one.
2. What fate has Hamlet contrived for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? To what extent is his action
justified?
3. Show that death dominates the last act.
4. Compare the humor of the grave – diggers’ scene with that of the Osric episode. What purpose does
each serve in this act?
5. How does the moral order triumph as the play ends?