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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 Rosencrantz say when Guildenstern wonders if they will ever return?

2. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern talk about the weather, what do they decide?

3. What mime does Rosencrantz perform during the discussion of death?

4. What is Guildenstern's ominous prediction?

5. What question does Guildenstern put to the Player?

Short Essay Questions

1. What transpires when Rosencrantz brings up the subject of death?

2. How does Rosencrantz sum up their position?

3. What happens when Rosencrantz hears music?

4. How are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern trying to figure out where they are?

5. What is Rosencrantz's dark question on the subject of death?

6. When Hamlet enters in Act 2, what does he say?

7. When the lights finally do come up in Act 3, what does the audience see?

8. What is the lie Rosencrantz tells Claudius?

9. What are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern doing at the beginning of Act 2?

10. Describe the funny bowing scene with Hamlet and Claudius.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a paper on why and how there were no female actors during the Elizabethan age. Use Alfred as your example of how female characters were portrayed. Include the idea that Shakespeare himself may have begun his career in the theater as a female impersonator.

Essay Topic 2

Write a paper on political revenge. Discuss in your paper the reasons Claudius had for wanting Hamlet dead. Also address the position of Gertrude as Claudius' wife as well as being Hamlet's mother.

Essay Topic 3

Write a paper about the social position of actors during the Elizabethan age. Using Guildenstern's line that the troupe's company was welcome for lack of any other, explain the contradiction of loving plays while looking down on the players.

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This section contains 701 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample