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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. What does Polonius tell Gertrude to do in Act 3, Scene 4 regarding Hamlet?

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

3. Hamlet finally tells Claudius how to find the body of his first victim: "But indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby." How is Hamlet saying that they might find the body?

4. In the letter that the sailors deliver in Act 4, Scene 6, it says: "when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means to the king: they have letters for him." What is the writer of the letter asking?

5. Claudius suggests a duel between Laertes and Hamlet, but that type of duel usually is not deadly. What does Claudius suggest they do to injure Hamlet?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Hamlet avoid going to England?

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

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

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

5. At the end of the play, we learn of the death of two minor characters. Who are they, and how do we learn of their death?

6. What plan do Laertes and Claudius come up with in Act 4, Scene 7 to kill Hamlet?

7. How does Hamlet suggest that Claudius and his servants might find Polonius's body?

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 3, what does Claudius reveal to the audience about his plans for Hamlet in England?

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

The question of suicide comes up repeatedly in the play. Hamlet mentions it on multiple occasions and Ophelia's death is potentially a suicide and questionable enough that her funeral rites are "maimed." Discuss the play's treatment of suicide, focusing on the following points:

-- How is suicide presented? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

-- Are there universal truths about death and suicide, as Hamlet seems to suggest in the "To be or not to be" speech? Or does the play contradict that by adding in Ophelia's suicide?

-- Do you think Ophelia does commit suicide? Why or why not?

-- Do you think Hamlet is essentially committing suicide at the end of the play? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

There are so many characters in a Shakespeare play that it is sometimes easy to lose track of them. Find a scene in which an important character is mostly silent -- for example, the scene where Polonius and Claudius spy on Hamlet and Ophelia. Why is that character still in the scene? How is the audience's sense of the scene changed by knowing that character is present? How does the character make its silent presence felt?

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