Hamlet Scene 2

Act II Study Questions

ACT II

1)   What is does Polonius tell Reynaldo in the opening of Act II? How does he plan to trap his son?

He wants him to go start rumors about his son to see if they are true.

2) What does this say about Polonius?

He is very concerned with his own image and he is also nosy and a sneaky man.

3) What particularly in Act II scene 1 has disturbed Ophelia?

Hamlet grabs hold of her and shakes her and acts crazy. So she thinks she has caused his craziness.

4) Why have Rosencrantez and Guildenstern been sent to Denmark?

They are to try to find out what is wrong with hamlet for the king and queen.

5) What does Hamlet ask the players to recite? How does the allusion mimic Hamlet’s position?

He asks them to recite a story about a man getting revenge for the killing of his father.

Identify the following speaker of the following lines and discuss to whom the lines are being delivered, and what do the lines mean?

6) “No, my lord, but as you did command/ I did repel his letter, and denied his access to me”

Ophelia, talking about hamlets insanity.

7) “More matter less art”

the queen says this to Polonius when he is bullshitting her.

8) “That I, the son of a dear father murdered,/ Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell/ Must like a whore unpack my heart with words,

Hamlet during his soliloquy. He is trying to figure out what to do he doesn’t know if the ghost is his father or a demon.

9) “Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth/ And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,/ with windlasses and with assays of bias,/ By directions find directions out.”

Polonius to Reynaldo

10) “For if the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”

Hamlet says this to Polonius. He is putting himself down I think. To show how stupid it was for Polonius to command Ophelia to stop seeing him

11) List three metaphors (1 direct, 1 implied, 1 extended) from the play.

Direct: Hamlet breeds maggots in a dead dog

Implied: Lies are poison.

Extended: Denmark is a jail.

12) What proof does Polonius have that he believe indicates Hamlet’s love for Ophelia?

A letter “Hamlet sent” to Ophelia.

13) Explain the quote, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” How does this relate to Hamlet.

Nothing is good or bad because certain people see things differently so something bad for one person may be good for another. Depending on how they take it.

14) What is a fishmonger?

A fishmonger is a Pimp.

15) Who was Jephthah?

A man who killed his daughter for political favors.

Hamlet Act 3 and 4

Act 1 scenes 3-4

1)   What is Laertes advice to Ophelia?

He thinks that Hamlet is a prince and he will probably just use Ophelia. He has no choice in who he will marry so she shouldn’t get her hopes up.

2) How does “The canker galls the infants of the spring/ too oft before their buttons be disclos’d” fit into the ideology of the decaying garden?

The worm ruins the flower before it blooms. So in other words hamlet could ruin Ophelia before she is married or an adult. She could be a ruined women.

3) What analogy does Ophelia give to her brother as an answer to his advice? What does she mean?

"But, good my brother, do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, himself the primrose path of dalliance treads and recks not his own rede." (47-51) 

She is frustrated with her brothers advice because she thinks he is a hypocrite.

4) List five of the “few precepts” that Polonius gives to Laertes.

Be true to yourself

Don’t be to friendly to people.

Stay true to your friends don’t bother with wasting your time with other people.

Be a good listener but don’t talk to to many people.

Buy clothes for their quality not for how flashy they are.

5) In lines 105-109, what is the metaphor that Polonius uses to describe Hamlet’s words of love?

He compares fake coins to Hamlet’s “Fake Love”. He doesn’t want her to be sweet talked into bed by Hamlet’s nice words.

6) List and explain one metaphor found in the lines 115-135.

“When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul lends the tongue vows.”

He is saying that lust will make you say anything and do anything to get what you want even if it is unjust or unbelievable.

7) What is Polonius’ command to Ophelia?

She tells him she is no longer aloud to see hamlet or respond to any of his messages or receive any of his letters.

8) In scene 4, what is Hamlet talking about in lines 13-38?

Hamlet does not approve of how Claudius is running the country he thinks that he is making the country look like a drunken foul country.

9) Why doesn’t Horatio want Hamlet to follow the ghost?

The ghost could be evil or it could not even be his father. It may try to convince him to do terrible things so Horatio thinks it best just not to follow it.

10) What is Hamlet’s command to the three guards?

He tells the guards to leave him alone to talk to the ghosts because even if the ghost is evil his life isn’t worth living anyways.

Act 1 Scene 2

HAMLET ACT 1 Scene 2

1. What is odd about Hamlet’s appearance in the opening of scene two?

He is dressed in all black. He is depressed.

2. Explain (give at least two reasons) why Claudius needs to justify his marriage in the opening of scene two.

1.   Because the country can not appear weak for fear of war.

2.   Because he married his brothers woman

3.   Laertes asks the King for leave to do what, specifically?

He wants to go back to school in france.

4.   Explain Hamlet’s insult when he says, “A little more than kin and less than kind.”

He is saying his Uncle/Father is closer related to him because he is not just blood but also related through marriage.

5. Explain Hamlet’s use of pun in the line, “Not so my lord, I am too much in the sun.”

The use of the word sun could be thought of as like son… He doesn’t like being called the son of king Claudius….

5.   In Hamlet’s first soliloquy it is obvious that what troubles him most is?

He is troubled not just that his mother married his uncle but that she did it so fast.

7. What does Hamlet mean by the following lines

“Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems’.

‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,

Nor customary suits of solemn black,

Nor windy suspiration of forc’d breath,

No, nore the fruitful river in the eye,

Nor the dejected havior of the visage,

Together will all forms, moods, shapes of grief,

That can denote me truly. These indeed seem,

For they are actions that a man might play;

But I have that within which passes show,

These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

He is saying that he does not just sad but that the outer look of him is on the inside is well. He is really depressed and not just pretending.

8. What does Hamlet say about the baked meats and the funeral and the wedding.

That it was kept from the funeral and used at the funeral

9. What news does Horatio, Marcellus and Barnardo bring to Hamlet.

His dead father is back as a ghost in full armor.

Act 1 Scene 1

Questions for ACT 1 SCENE 1

1) How is interest created in the opening scene?

They are not sure what the return of the late king means? It could be a sign that they are in trouble. Foreboding to a war.

2) What information are we given to help us understand the situation?

The ghost of king hamlet is back.

Leaders come back in a time of great danger.

3) What happens at the end of the scene to create suspense and keep up the reader’s interest?

The Ghost is temped to speak but then vanishes because the guards try to stab him to get him to speak?

The guards also want to bring the info to hamlet. The dead kings son.

4) What is the mood of the scene?

The mood of the scene is pretty gloomy and mystifying.

5) Why are the sentries apprehensive (there are two reasons)?

What is a Sentrie?

6) What reasons are suggested by Horatio for the appearance of the late King’s ghost?

The kingdom is in danger