Act 3, scene iv

ACT III, scene iv: “The Closet Scene”

1. What important action happens right at the beginning of the scene? How is this ironic, given Hamlet’s previous behavior?

2. Hamlet’s final judgment on Polonius is that he was “wretched, rash, intruding fool.” Choose the four words that Laertes would use to describe his father. Do the same with Ophelia.

3. Hamlet basically accuses Gertrude of killing his father in lines 34-35. Is this fair? Do you think she was in on Claudius’s plot?

Examine the way Gertrude responds to Hamlet:

What have I done, that thou dar’st wag thy tongue in noise so rude against me? (46-47)

O Hamlet, speak no more! Thou turnst my eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grained spots. (99-102)

O, speak to me no more! These words like daggers enter in my ears. No more, sweet Hamlet! (107-109)

4. How does Gertrude feel about this tongue lashing from her son?

5. Why does the Ghost come back at this point, in your opinion?

Act 3, scene iii questions

Act 3, scene 3, lines 36-72: Claudius soliloquy & Hamlet’s response

KING: My offence is rank, it smells to heaven;

it hath the primal eldest curse on upon’t.

A brother’s murder. Pray can I not,

Though inclination be as sharp as will.

1. Where is Claudius when he says these lines?

2. What do they say about his state of mind?

KING: What form of prayer

Can serve my turn? “Forgive me foul murder”?

That cannot be, since I am still possessed

Of those effects for which I did the murder,

My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.

May one be pardoned and retain th’offence?

3. Claudius is arguing with himself. What are the two sides?

HAMLET: Now might I do it, now he is praying,

And now I’ll do it – and so he goes to heaven,

And so I am revenged. That would be scanned.

A villain kills my father, and for that,

I his sole son do this same villain send to heaven. Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge.

4. Where is Hamlet at this point?

5. What is Hamlet’s argument with himself?

6. What does Hamlet decide at the end of the speech?

KING:

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.

Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

7. What do we learn about Claudius here? How is it ironic?

Hamlet: Too Solid Flesh Soliloquy

Here are the notes about the "too solid flesh" soliloquy in Act I.

Hamlet 2.2 study questions

Act II, Scene ii, 213-338: Hamlet Jokes With Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

1) How can you tell that Hamlet is suspicious that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern might be spying on him? Identify at least one line that suggests it.

2) What is your opinion of Hamlet’s line in 239-240: “for there is nothing either good / or bad but thinking makes it so.” Is that true?

3) Examine Hamlet’s description of his own mood in lines 278-292 (from “I have of late…lost all my mirth”). Describe how Hamlet uses antithesis in this passage.

4) What does this passage reveal? How is Hamlet feeling?

5) Describe the joke that ends this passage. Why did Hamlet end this rather bleak speech with a joke?

Act II, scene ii, lines 500-559: “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I”

1) Hamlet is being really tough on himself. List at least five bad names that he calls himself in this soliloquy.

2) Why is he berating himself?

3) In the first 20 lines of the soliloquy, he sets up an antithesis between himself and the “player” (actor) whom he just met. What contrast does he describe?

4) What plan does Hamlet hatch at the end of the soliloquy?

Hamlet I,iii homework questions

Respond to these questions as homework tonight (March 27). Bring the answers to class tomorrow. See ya then!

Hamlet, Act I, scene iii

The Other Family

Lines 1-56: Ophelia and Laertes

1. What advice does Laertes give Ophelia about her relationship with Hamlet?

2. How does Ophelia reply to this (lines 49-55)?

3. How should Ophelia speak lines 49-55? Is she being submissive or ironic? How would the actress’s choice here reveal something about her interpretation of the character?

Lines 56-93: Laertes and Polonius

1. Polonius gives his son advice as the boy heads off to college. Make a list from 1-8. Identify the eight pieces of advice he gives to Laertes and order them from the most useful to the least so.

2. How should Polonius speak these lines? In various productions, the actor has been variously comic, authoritarian, loving, sincere, pompous or aloof. Which of those interpretations would you use? And what would your choice reveal about the character?

Lines 95-145: Polonius and Ophelia

1. Follow the various uses of the word “tender” in lines 108-118. Which different definitions of the word do Ophelia and Polonius use?

2. What does Polonius say to Ophelia in lines 141-144? Is this advice, or an order? Compare Polonius’s treatment of Ophelia with how he treats Laertes. Is there a double standard here?

3. How should the actors playing Ophelia and Laertes respond to Polonius’s various pieces of advice? In some productions, they listen dutifully and respectfully, while in others they mock him by making faces behind his back. Which interpretation would you choose, and why?