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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. As characters enter and exit the stage, what is Rosencrantz's objection?

2. What happens after the Player dies?

3. How does the audience know that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern still do not know where they are?

4. What is the new game Rosencrantz and Guildenstern play with a coin?

5. What makes Hamlet bow?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Hamlet does return, what does he say about the body?

2. How does Rosencrantz sum up their position?

3. What leads up to the death scene and how does it play out?

4. What happens over the subject of money?

5. What game does Rosencrantz initiate on the ship?

6. How does the audience know what the stage setting is in Act 3?

7. What causes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to laugh over the new coin game?

8. Tell about the dialogue between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern after Rosencrantz insists they have permission to leave.

9. After a blackout when someone shouts for the lights to come up, what does the audience see?

10. What happens when the King orders Guildenstern to go and bring Hamlet?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a paper about the use of language styles in Stoppard's play. To what end does Stoppard utilize Elizabethan English in some scenes and modern English in others. Does this also help in identifying locations?

Essay Topic 2

Write a paper on why and how there were no female actors during the Elizabethan age. Use Alfred as your example of how female characters were portrayed. Include the idea that Shakespeare himself may have begun his career in the theater as a female impersonator.

Essay Topic 3

Write a paper on costuming for a play. Hamlet has been staged often in modern dress. Why, then, is it important in Stoppard's play that the costumes be Elizabethan? What do you think the costumes add to the play?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 789 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample