4. Hamlet is delighted that the players, a group of traveling actors, are at Elsinore. He welcomes them and asks them for two favors. What are those two favors?

5. Early in the play, what country does Claudius send messengers to?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In Act 1, Scene 2, how does Hamlet act toward Claudius and Gertrude? When he is left alone, what does he say about his feelings toward them?

3. After the play-within-a-play, Claudius meets with Hamlet's old friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Who are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern loyal to? How can you tell?

4. In Act 2, Scene 1, how does Ophelia describe Hamlet's behavior?

5. In Act 2, Scene 2, what play does Hamlet ask the players to perform and why?

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

7. Once alone after the play-within-a-play, Claudius bemoans his crimes and falls to his knees in prayer. But at the end of the scene, what does he say about his praying?

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. When Hamlet first sees the ghost, he tries to talk to it. How does the ghost respond?

10. In Act 2, Scene 1, how does Ophelia describe Hamlet's appearance?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Shakespeare frequently attributes disease or unhappiness in "great ones" as a sign of disease or unhappiness in an entire community. In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," for example, the entire world is out-of-whack because the king and queen of the faeries are fighting. There is no question that the "great ones" in Hamlet are diseased/unhappy. How does that unhappiness manifest itself in the rest of the country? Provide specific examples from the play to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 2

Sigmund Freud put forward the idea of the "Oedipus complex," based on the character of Oedipus from Greek tragedy. Freud also asserted that Hamlet has a serious Oedipus complex. Research the idea of the Oedipus complex and write an essay in which you do the following:

-- Explain what the Oedipus complex is.

-- State whether or not you think Hamlet has an Oedipus complex.

-- Support your view with information from the text.