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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Claudius reacts to the play, what does Hamlet say in response?

2. Why does Hamlet talk to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about a recorder?

3. At the end of Act 1, Scene 1, what does Horatio say he intends to do?

4. What time of day is it in Act 1, Scene 4?

5. After Claudius and Polonius watch Hamlet interact with Ophelia in Act 3, Scene 1, what does Claudius say about Hamlet's behavior?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Act 2, Scene 2, Polonius talks to Hamlet. After that conversation, does Polonius think Hamlet is crazy?

2. How does Hamlet act towards Ophelia during the play-within-a-play?

3. When Hamlet rants about love and marriage to Ophelia, he is talking about more than just his own relationship with her. What else is Hamlet talking about?

4. Who are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and why do they go to Elsinore?

5. When Hamlet meets Ophelia after the "To be or not to be" speech, he is polite or gentle with her at first. What happens to change his attitude? How does his attitude change? What does he say?

6. After the play-within-a-play, where is Hamlet asked to go? Who asks him to go there?

7. What is the setting (time and place) of Act 1, Scene 4?

8. Hamlet says "O, that this too too solid flesh would melt...." This soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 2, is the first introduction of a theme that Hamlet will talk about repeatedly in the play. What does he talk about doing or wanting to do in this soliloquy?

9. Why does Hamlet not kill Claudius when he finds Claudius alone in Act 3?

10. After hearing Ophelia describe Hamlet's behavior in Act 2, Scene 1, what does Polonius decide is the cause of Hamlet's behavior and what does he decide to do about it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Research the concept of "hamartia" or "tragic flaw." Write an essay in which you explain this concept and apply it to Hamlet or one of the other major characters in this play. Make sure you support your thesis with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the characters of Gertrude and Ophelia, focusing on the following points:

-- To what extent is each of them a victim of what happens?

-- To what extent does each of them cause what happens?

-- Does Gertrude affect Hamlet's relationship with Ophelia? If so, how? Does Ophelia affect Hamlet's relationship with Gertrude? If so, how?

-- How do the other men in the play treat Gertrude and Ophelia? How does that contribute to our overall sense of them? Focus specifically on the ghost, Claudius, Laertes, and Polonius.

-- Does it matter that these are essentially the only two female characters in the play? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Identify one or more characters as the most important "victim(s)" of this play. Who is the most unfairly punished by the sequence of events? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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