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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happens to Horatio at the end of the play?
(a) He gets poisoned by accident.
(b) He kills himself.
(c) He wants to kill himself, but Hamlet asks him to live.
(d) He wants to kill himself, but Fortinbras stops him.

2. How does Hamlet act after he has killed someone?
(a) He does not seem sorry for his crime.
(b) He is sorry for his crime.
(c) He is frightened that someone will now try to kill him.
(d) He is relieved to have finally done something.

3. When Claudius finds out Hamlet has killed someone, what is he most worried about?
(a) Whether the murder will affect his power and ability to rule.
(b) Whether Hamlet will try to kill.
(c) Whether a doctor can help Hamlet get better.
(d) Whether Hamlet should stand trial.

4. Laertes comes up with another idea to make sure his duel with Hamlet will result in Hamlet's death. What is it?
(a) Fix Laertes's sword so it is sharp.
(b) Damage Hamlet's armor so he is vulnerable.
(c) Force Hamlet to drink poison before the fight.
(d) Poison the tip of the sword.

5. When he is asked where his first victim's body is, what does Hamlet do?
(a) He threatens to kill more people.
(b) He answers with a riddle.
(c) He refuses to speak.
(d) He laughs.

Short Answer Questions

1. As Laertes and Claudius discuss how to kill Hamlet, what news does Gertrude bring?

2. When Claudius hears that Hamlet has killed someone, what does he say?

3. When Hamlet and his mother finally talk in Gertrude's room, she says, "Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended." Hamlet responds, "Mother, you have my father much offended." Why is that dialogue important?

4. When Laertes returns after his father's death, what does he want?

5. The first time the audience sees Hamlet after he has killed someone, he says "Safely stowed." What does he mean?

Short Essay Questions

1. After Polonius's death, who is sent to find Hamlet?

2. After Polonius's death, Ophelia comes to see Gertrude. What do we learn about Ophelia in that scene?

3. Who is the first person in Elsinore to find out that Hamlet is on his way back to Denmark instead of going to England? How does that person find out?

4. In Act 4, Scene 3, what does Claudius reveal to the audience about his plans for Hamlet in England?

5. In the last scene of Act 3, Polonius is killed. At the end of the scene, what happens to his body?

6. Hamlet calls Rosencrantz and Guildenstern "a sponge." Why does he say that?

7. List the major characters who die during the last scene of the play.

8. Who is Yorick, and why does he come up in Act 5?

9. Hamlet finally confronts his mother in Act 3, Scene 4, speaking harshly to her as he tries to force her to realize her own complicity in the crime. What happens to change his tone?

10. In Act 4, Scene 5, Claudius is almost overthrown by a violent mob. Who does the mob want to be king in his place?

(see the answer keys)

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