Characters 1
Prince Hamlet is the Prince of which country?
Denmark
Polonius is the King's
Advisor / Councilor
In Scene 1, what are the two reasons the guards ask Horatio to speak to the ghost?
The Ghost won't speak to them but he might speak to Horatio and Horatio doesn't believe in the Ghost's existence
In Scene 1, what does Polonius ask Reynaldo to do in Paris?
Spread rumors and find out information about Laertes
Hamlet contemplates suicide in his “To Be or Not To Be” speech. Why, in this particular soliloquy, does he reject suicide? (Hint: it is a different reason than his rejection of suicide in his first soliloquy in Act I.)
He doesn't know what the afterlife really entails and it frightens him.
Laertes is whose son?
Polonius
Horatio is
best friend
In Scene 1, what do the guards and Horatio assume is the reason for the Ghosts’ appearance? (In other words, about what do they think the Ghost is trying to warn them?)
A warning of war
Ophelia reports to Polonius that Hamlet has done the following:
Grabs her wrist
Studies her face all too intently
Enters her room looking very disheveled
Following his “To Be or Not To Be” speech, Hamlet finds Ophelia reading a prayer book and they begin to talk. How does he figure out that people are spying on their conversation? (Make sure to answer according to the text, not the film version.)
She won't answer a question about her virginity and her honesty.
Prince Fortinbras is the Prince of
Norway
Ophelia is Hamlet's
girlfriend
In Scene 2, why is Claudius sending messengers to Norway?
To tell the King of Norway his nephew, the Prince of Norway, is planning an invasion of Denmark
In Scene 2, what do the King and Queen want Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to discover?
What is causing Hamlet's recent crazy behavior
Who is spying on their conversation (see previous question)?
Polonius and the King
Marcellus, Barnardo, and Francisco are
Guards at Elsinore
Gertrude is the
Queen of Denmark
In Scene 2, what do King Claudius and Queen Gertrude request of Hamlet?
That he not return to college in England and stay with them instead
What news does Voltemand report from Norway?
Norway will not attack Denmark but would like passage through Denmark to attack Poland
Under what pretense does the King tell Polonius he is sending Hamlet to England? (Hint: what responsibility is he going to give Hamlet to complete in England?)
Hamlet needs to collect the protection money England owes Denmark.
Claudius is King Hamlet's
Brother
Hamlet's schoolfriends are named
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
In Hamlet's first soliloquy, he wishes his "too, too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter." Here, before Hamlet has talked with the Ghost, Hamlet is depressed primarily about the following:
His father has died and his mother has married his uncle
What does Hamlet ask the Players if he may do in relation to the play they will perform the following night?
Write 12-16 lines to be included in a play the Players will perform
What quality does Hamlet admire in Horatio the most? (Hint: it is what makes Horatio Hamlet’s foil.)
Horatio is even-keeled and never lets life make him too upset.