English 2111

Study Questions

Hamlet

 

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to read Machiavelli’s The Prince (1607-1619).

 

98 Questions About Hamlet

 

I, i  The ghost pops in.

 

  1. What is the situation, militarily speaking, in Denmark at the opening of the play?

 

  1. What does Horatio think the significance of the ghost’s appearance is?  What do his comments about Rome “ere the mightiest Julius fell” have to do with the ghost?

 

  1. Why don’t the guys have a chance to pin the ghost down and talk to it?  And whose ghost is it?

 

I, ii

 

  1. What is the gist of the first dozen or so lines of Claudius’s opening speech?  And who does he mean by “we”?

 

  1. What job does Claudius have for Cornelius and Voltimand?  And who is “Norway”?

 

  1. Who is Laertes?  What does he want from Claudius?

 

  1. What does Hamlet want from Claudius?

 

  1. What is Hamlet saying to his mom in lines 75-85?

 

  1. What answer does Claudius have for Laertes?  What answer for Hamlet?  Why would the answer for Hamlet be different?

 

  1. This scene contains Hamlet’s first famous soliloquy (129—159).  What’s eating at Hamlet, and what clinical term would we use for Hamlet’s emotional state?

 

  1. The conversation between Hamlet and Horatio concerns Hamlet’s father’s funeral and mother’s wedding.  What is the point of this exchange?

 

  1. When Hamlet says, “My father!—methinks I see my father,” what would Horatio think?  Would he be right?

 

  1. What is the agreement among the guys at the end of this scene?

 

I, iii

 

  1. Hamlet and Ophelia are apparently a number.  What is Laertes’s advice to Ophelia concerning this relationship?  And how does Ophelia respond to her brother?

 

  1. “You’re late!” Polonius says to Laertes.  What does he do then?

 

  1. What kind of guy does Polonius seem to be?

 

  1. What is Polonius’s advice to Ophelia regarding her relationship with Hamlet?  Whose advice seems more reasonable, Laertes’s or Polonius’s?

 

I, iv

 

  1. What custom of the Danes does Hamlet explain to Horatio here?

 

  1. What does Marcellus imply that the ghost’s appearance means?

 

I, v

 

  1. What is the ghost’s (Hamlet, Sr.’s) assignment for Hamlet (Jr.)?

 

  1. According to the ghost, what happened between Hamlet I and his brother?  And why?

 

  1. What does Hamlet want the other guys to do after they leave the platform?   What oath do he and the ghost make them take?

 

II, i  Hamlet acts crazy.

 

  1. What is Polonius sending Reynaldo to Paris for?  What does he want to find out?  What does the assignment reveal about Polonius?

 

  1. What happens in lines 49-50?

 

  1. How is Hamlet acting, according to Ophelia?  What could this have to do with the oath Hamlet has made the guys swear in Act I?

 

  1. What does Polonius think Hamlet’s problem is?

 

II, ii

 

  1. What are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern here for?

 

  1. What was it Cornelius and Voltimand were going to do?  Did they do it?

 

  1. Polonius has announced that he knows why Hamlet is acting crazy.  How long does it take him to say it?

 

  1. “More matter with less art,” says Gertrude (95).  What does she mean?  What does Polonius think—or pretend that he thinks—she means?

 

  1. What evidence does Polonius produce to support his contention?

 

  1. How does Polonius propose to prove his hypothesis?

 

  1. Enter Hamlet, reading.  Is there a gist to the crazy remarks he makes, a thesis, as it were?

 

  1. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pop in, is there a theme to their opening remarks?

 

  1. How does Hamlet get out of them what they are there for?

 

  1. Rosencrantz announces the arrival of the players at Elsinore.  How important are the players to the play?

 

  1. What does Polonius get out of his dialogue with Hamlet about the players?

 

  1. “I will use them according to their desert,” says Polonius about putting the players up.  What is Hamlet’s response, and what does it mean?

 

  1. What deal does Hamlet make with the players before they retire?

 

  1. Hamlet’s next famous soliloquy ends this scene (500-560).  What feelings does he express, what doubts, and what resolution to action?

 

III, i  To be, or not to be

 

  1. Hamlet’s big soliloquy.  What is it, exactly, that Hamlet is talking to himself about?  What action has he been contemplating since his first soliloquy in I, ii?

 

  1. Does sweet Ophelia just happen to show up at the end of Hamlet’s speech, or is there some ulterior motive?  Whose, and what?

 

  1. What message does Ophelia have for Hamlet, and how does he react?

 

  1. What is the point of the “get thee to a nunnery” speech?

 

  1. Polonius still thinks Hamlet is mad for the love of Ophelia.  Does the king?  Why not?  What does he plan to do about it?

 

III, ii 

 

  1. Hamlet and the players; Hamlet and Horatio.  How is Hamlet setting up the play-within-a-play?  What does he hope to accomplish with this play, and how?

 

  1. How long has Hamlet I been dead?

 

  1. What play are the players performing here at the court of Denmark?  What action does the action of the play imitate?

 

  1. The audience seems to talk during the play, like the audiences at some movie theatres.  What is the upshot of the repartee between Hamlet and his mom during the play?  Between Hamlet and Ophelia?

 

  1. Does Hamlet get what he wants from the play?  What?

 

  1. What effect does Rosencrantz say Hamlet’s behavior has had on his mom, Gertrude?  And what does she want Hamlet to do?

 

  1. Check the dialogue between Polonius and Hamlet at the end of this scene.  What kind of guy does Polonius reveal himself to be?

 

  1. Check Hamlet’s speech (soliloquette?) at the end of this scene.  Are the sentiments that Hamlet expresses Christian sentiments?

 

III, iii 

 

  1. What does the king know about Hamlet that he didn’t know before the play-within-a-play?

 

  1. Hamlet finds Claudius kneeling and whips out his sword to dispatch the murderer.  Why doesn’t he?

 

III, iv  The Queen’s closet

 

  1. Polonius is hiding behind the arras (tapestry) where he can hear but cannot see.  What is it that alarms him so that he cries out?  And what happens when he cries out?

 

  1. Who does Hamlet think it is behind the arras?

 

  1.  Hamlet reads his mom the riot act.  How does she react?

 

  1. The ghost pops in.  Why?

 

  1. What does the Queen think is going on with Hamlet?

 

IV, i 

 

  1. How does the king react when he gets the news of Polonius’s death?

 

IV, ii

 

  1. What are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern supposed to get from Hamlet?  Do they get it?

 

IV, iii

 

  1. Does Claudius act like a villain in this scene?  How would you describe his demeanor?

 

  1. What is Hamlet saying in the worm-king-and-beggar discussion with Claudius?

 

  1. What point is Hamlet making with his directions about where to seek Polonius?

 

  1. So what does Claudius propose to do about the situation with Hamlet?

 

  1. No, really, what is he going to do?

 

IV, iv

 

  1. Hamlet’s soliloquy on meeting Fortinbras’s captain in the field.  What, in summary, is he saying?

 

  1. My thoughts bloody be.  What do we know at this point in the play that Hamlet doesn’t know?

 

IV, v  Enter Ophelia, mad.  Really.

 

  1. Why would Ophelia have gone off the deep end?

 

  1. How is Laertes reacting to the situation?  Why?

 

  1. How does the king talk Laertes down?

 

IV, vi

 

  1. Hamlet was on his way to England.  What happened?

 

IV, vii

 

  1. How does the king feel about Hamlet’s unexpected return to Denmark? 

 

  1. What does he plan to do about it?

 

  1. How does Laertes enter into his plans, and why would Laertes cooperate?

 

  1. What has happened to poor Ophelia?

 

V, i

 

  1. What is the point of the first question in the first line of this scene?  Seeks her own salvation?

 

  1. What theological issue are the grave-diggers debating?

 

  1. Whose grave are they digging?

 

  1. What is the joke about England that the grave-diggers make with and about Hamlet?

 

  1. Alas, poor Yorick!  What is the point of this famous speech of Hamlet?

 

  1. When the funeral procession enters, what theological point is the priest discussing with Laertes?

 

  1. What does Hamlet do when he realizes that this is Ophelia’s funeral?  And how does this scene end?

 

V, ii

 

  1. What really happened on the trip to England?

 

  1. “Why, what  king is this!” says Horatio in admiration.  Could his sentiment reflect anything in, say, Machiavelli?

 

  1. What kind of a guy is Osric, and what it his mission here?

 

  1. What’s the deal with Hamlet and Laertes?  They were just grappling in Ophelia’s grave, you remember.

 

  1. How good is Laertes supposed to be at sword-play?

 

  1. How have Laertes and the king set it up to make sure Laertes wins the contest?

 

  1. How is it that Laertes comes to be “hoist with his own petard” (III, iv, 207)?

 

  1. How does the king get his?

 

  1. The queen?

 

  1. Hamlet?

 

  1. There were bodies all over the stage and no curtain in Shakespeare’s theatre.  How would they get the bodies off the stage?

 

  1. What has happened to the guilty parties in this play?  Does anyone “get away with it”?

 

  1. How much is Hamlet in charge of his own destiny in this play, and how much is he the victim of circumstances?  Could you ask the same question about Oedipus, in that other tragedy we read?

 

  1. At the end of his play, Oedipus has sacrificed himself for the people of Thebes.  He was the cause of the plague that afflicted the city, and his action has helped end that plague.  Does Hamlet’s death have any such significance?  Why or why not?