Hamlet Act 1

Characters 1

100

This character appears to the guards at the opening of the play.

the ghost of King Hamlet

200

Hamlet is supposedly "madly" in love with this character.

Ophelia

300

Laertes and Ophelia's father

Polonius

400

This character is threatening to attack Denmark to reclaim land lost by his father

Young Fortinbras

500

Name the three guards

Barnardo, Fransisco, and Marcellus

Characters 2

100

Hamlet's mother

Queen Gertrude

200

Ophelia's brother

Laertes

300

the current King of Denmark

King Claudius

400

Hamlet's friend

Horatio

500

Who are Voltemand and Cornelius?

messengers

Plot

100

What advice does Laertes give his sister, Ophelia, regarding Hamlet?

do not fall for the Prince

200

What does Queen Gertrude tell Hamlet to do after his father's recent death?

Stop wearing black clothes; stop mourning your father; be friendlier towards King Claudius

300

What do people of Denmark know about the cause of King Hamlet's death?

he was bit by a poisonous snake while napping in the garden

400

What is Claudius's response to the threat/demands made by Young Fortinbras?

He sends messengers to the King of Norway to stop his nephew's plans

500

List two pieces of advice that Polonius gives his son.

don't speak your thoughts; don't act without thinking; don't get into fights, but if you do, defend yourself; wear nice clothes; make friends; hold onto good friends; be true to yourself; do not borrow or lend money

Lit Devices Definitions

100

Repetition of the beginning sound in two or more words 

alliteration

200

giving human-like characteristics to inanimate objects, abstract ideas, etc.

personification

300

a character trait that leads to the character's downfall

fatal flaw

400

extreme exaggeration

hyperbole

500

repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of consecutive sentences or clauses

anaphora

Literary Devices Examples

100

defeated joy

oxymoron

200

"In what particular thought to work I know not, 

But in the gross and scope of mine opinion

This bodes some strange eruption to our state."

foreshadowing

300

"But I am forbid 

To tell the secrets of my prison house."

metaphor

400

"Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres"

alliteration

500

"Oh, all you hosts of heaven! Oh, earth!"

apostrophe