Characters
Represents the modern man, experiencing an existential crisis, falls into madness while contemplating action vs. inaction.
Who is Prince Hamlet?
The genre and form of Hamlet.
What is a play (drama)- tragedy?
The author of Hamlet.
Who is William Shakespeare?
Thematic statement concerning action vs. inaction.
What is "inaction can be just as consequential as action"?
The names of Hamlet's two college "friends" who are recruited to spy on him by Claudius and Gertrude.
Represents greed, disrupts natural order, murdered his brother and married his brother's wife.
Who is Claudius?
The setting (time and place) of Hamlet.
What is 11th century Denmark?
The Literary Period in which Hamlet was written.
What is the British Renaissance?
Thematic statement concerning selfish actions.
What is "the selfish actions of one can negatively affect the lives of many"?
The way in which Claudius killed King Hamlet.
What is pouring poison in his ear while he was sleeping in the garden?
Represents innocence, purity, madness. Often depicted floating among flowers. The victim of powerful and selfish men.
A dramatic technique that allows a character to express their feelings to the audience without the knowledge of the other characters.
What is a soliloquy?
What is the printing press?
Motif that represents political and social facade, hidden motives, and perception vs. reality.
What is acting/the theatre?
The circumstances of Polonius' death.
What is he was eavesdropping on Hamlet and Gertrude behind a curtain, made a noise, and Hamlet stabbed him thinking it was Claudius?
Represents political manipulation, a pompous windbag who is also a hypocrite.
Who is Polonius?
The point of highest tension (according to the 5 Act Structure) and its example in Hamlet.
What is Act III- the climax. In Hamlet, when Hamlet stages a play to prove Claudius' guilt and Claudius panics. Hamlet then kills Polonius on accident?
A cultural movement during the Renaissance that emphasized the dignity of mankind and the achievement of human intellect. Depicted people as real flawed beings, not ideals.
What is Humanism?
Symbol that represents the idea that all are equal in the afterlife and that death is inevitable.
What is Yorick's skull?
The reason why Hamlet did not arrive in England despite his uncle's orders.
What is he was kidnapped by pirates?
Represents brash action, loyalty, and serves as the foil to Hamlet.
Who is Laertes?
Shakespeare's distribution of speech patterns to characters that illustrate their social class and mental state.
What is unrhymed iambic pentameter for royalty and the sound of mind, and free verse for commoners and the insane?
The two monarchs of England during Shakespeare's lifetime.
Who are Queen Elizabeth I and King James Stuart?
Motif that represents corruption, concealment, and immorality.
The king of Denmark at the end of the play.
Who is Fortinbras?