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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Claudius want the body of Hamlet's first victim to be taken?

2. What happens to Ophelia after her father's death?

3. Claudius asks Hamlet a second time about where they can find his victim. Hamlet responds, "In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself." What other place is Hamlet suggesting Claudius visit?

4. The sailors from the pirate ships deliver letters to Elsinore. Who are the letters from?

5. What additional method does Claudius suggest so that even if Hamlet wins the duel with Laertes, Hamlet will still die?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Act 4, Scene 5, Claudius is almost overthrown by a violent mob. Who does the mob want to be king in his place?

2. Hamlet finally confronts his mother in Act 3, Scene 4, speaking harshly to her as he tries to force her to realize her own complicity in the crime. What happens to change his tone?

3. Hamlet calls Rosencrantz and Guildenstern "a sponge." Why does he say that?

4. In the last scene of Act 3, Polonius is killed. At the end of the scene, what happens to his body?

5. Who is the first person in Elsinore to find out that Hamlet is on his way back to Denmark instead of going to England? How does that person find out?

6. List the major characters who die during the last scene of the play.

7. Whose burial does Hamlet witness in Act 5?

8. As Hamlet travels to the boat for England, what or who does Hamlet find on a plain in Denmark?

9. How does Hamlet avoid going to England?

10. After Polonius's death, what does Gertrude tell Claudius about Hamlet?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the use of irony, dramatic and otherwise, throughout the play. How does Shakespeare use irony to make his scenes more effective?

Essay Topic 2

Identify one or more characters as the most important "victim(s)" of this play. Who is the most unfairly punished by the sequence of events? Why?

Essay Topic 3

The question of suicide comes up repeatedly in the play. Hamlet mentions it on multiple occasions and Ophelia's death is potentially a suicide and questionable enough that her funeral rites are "maimed." Discuss the play's treatment of suicide, focusing on the following points:

-- How is suicide presented? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

-- Are there universal truths about death and suicide, as Hamlet seems to suggest in the "To be or not to be" speech? Or does the play contradict that by adding in Ophelia's suicide?

-- Do you think Ophelia does commit suicide? Why or why not?

-- Do you think Hamlet is essentially committing suicide at the end of the play? Why or why not?

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