Hamlet. Reading questions.

1. Where is the play set?
2. Who are the major characters?
3. Be able to give details about the following major characters: Claudius, Hamlet, Polonius, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Gertrude, Ophelia, and the Ghost of Hamlet's Father.
4. Be able to summarize the action.

1. What happens when Francisco and Bernardo meet at the beginning of Act I, Scene 1?
2. Which characters first see the Ghost? What do they think the sighting means?
3. What is Horatio's initial response to the story of the apparition?
4. What happens when the ghost appears for the second time? Why does it leave so abruptly?

1. Read Hamlet's first soliloquy carefully. What is it that is really bothering him about what has happened since his father's death?
2. What does Hamlet mean by "Frailty, thy name is woman,"?
3. What is Hamlet's response to the news from Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo? What does he suspect as the reason for the ghost's appearance?

1. What has been the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia since his return from Wittenberg?

1. What does the Ghost tell Hamlet? What order does he give him?
2. How does Hamlet respond to the ghost?

1. How did Claudius murder Old Hamlet?
2. What does the Ghost tell Hamlet to do about his mother?
3. What promise does Hamlet extract from Horatio and Marcellus?

1. What is Polonius telling Reynaldo to do? What effect do Polonius's instructions to Reynaldo have on our opinion of Polonius?
2. Why is Ophelia so upset?
3. What is Polonius' response to what Ophelia tells him?
4. What cause does Polonius see for Hamlet's apparent madness?

1. Why have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come to court? What tasks do they take on for the King and Queen?
2. How does Hamlet behave when he enters?
3. How does Hamlet treat Polonius? How does he treat Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
4. Why are the players traveling?
5. What special arrangement about their performance does Hamlet make with the Players?

1. How much have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern learned from/about Hamlet?
2. What is the subject of Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be" soliloquy?
3. According to Hamlet, what prevents him from committing suicide?
4. What happens between Hamlet and Ophelia in the so-called "Nunnery scene"
5. How does Claudius respond to what he has seen and heard?
6. Does Claudius believe Hamlet is in love? Does he believe he is mad?
7. Is he convinced that love is the cause of Hamlet's madness?
8. What does he plan to do about Hamlet?
9. How does Polonius respond?
10. What does he propose as an additional way to find out what Hamlet is thinking?

1. What advice does Hamlet have for the actors? Why?
2. Why does Hamlet say he especially likes Horatio?
3. How does the play-within-the-play reflect the issues bothering Hamlet?
4. What is Claudius' mood as he stops the play at?
5. What has Claudius learned?

1. What has Claudius decided to do with Hamlet?
2. What does Claudius admit in his attempt to pray? Why can't he ask for forgiveness?
3. What happens when Hamlet enters? Why doesn't Hamlet kill Claudius then?

1. How successful is the first part of the interview between Gertrude and Hamlet?
2. How does Hamlet happen to kill Polonius?
3. Does Gertrude know that Claudius killed Hamlet's father?
4. What device does Hamlet use to force Gertrude to consider what she has done?
5. Why does the Ghost appear at this point? What is his message to Hamlet?
6. What does Hamlet think of his upcoming trip to England? What does he expect to do?

1. Does Gertrude tell Claudius the truth about what happened between her and Hamlet?
2. How does Claudius respond to the death of Polonius?

1. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern learn from Hamlet?

1. Why does Claudius believe he can't simply arrest Hamlet?
2. Is Hamlet going to England as a prisoner or in the guise of a royal representative?
3. What do Claudius' letters tell England (i.e., the king of England) to do with Hamlet?

1. Why is Fortinbras' army passing through Denmark?
2. What sort of judgment does the Captain make about the place they are fighting for? How does Hamlet describe it?
3. Where is Hamlet going when he meets the Captain?

1. What do we learn about the state of Gertrude's soul in her aside?
2. The court assumes Ophelia's madness is caused by her father's death. Judging from her songs, are they correct? Is that the only thing that has made her mad? What else is on her mind and coming to the surface in her madness?
3. What is Laertes' approach to revenging his father's death?
4. How does Laertes respond to mad Ophelia?

1. Who brings Hamlet's letter to Horatio? What has happened to Hamlet?

1. What does Hamlet's letter tell Claudius? Why does Hamlet want to see him"alone"? What seems to be Hamlet's plan?
2. What plan do Claudius and Laertes develop?
3. What happened to Ophelia? Did she kill herself, or is her death accidental?
4. What is Laertes' response to her death?

1. What are the two clowns doing while they talk? Who is the "she" of 5.1.1? Why, according to the second clown, is she really being given a Christian burial?
2. What does Hamlet learn from his confrontation with Yorick's skull?
3. What do we learn from Gertrude's farewell to Ophelia?
4. What happens when Hamlet appears to the others?

1. What has happened to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
2. What is Hamlet's reaction to the idea of the match?
3. How is the Queen poisoned?How are Hamlet and Laertes both killed?
4. How does Claudius die?

1. What is "rotten in the state of Denmark," as Marcellus tells us?
2. Hamlet makes the anti-feminine observation that, "Frailty, thy name is woman." Is this a valid criticism of the two women in his life, Gertrude and Ophelia?
3. Compare and contrast the three pairs of fathers and sons in Hamlet.
4. To what extent does Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy?
5. One critic has written of Claudius that he is 'a good king, but a bad man'. Is this true in your opinion?
6. Hamlet claims that his madness is feigned, an "antic disposition" which he puts on for his own purposes. Is he really sane throughout the play, or does he ever cross the line into madness?