Hamlet Test Review

1. What is meant by antic disposition?

Feigned madness
2. That one may smile; and smile, and be a villain refers to whom?
Claudius
3. What does Laertes tell Ophelia about Hamlet?
He says that Hamlet is not free to marry whomever he chooses because he is a prince.
4. Why does Marcellus want Horatio to speak to the ghost?
Because Horatio is a scholar and will know what to say.
5. Who is Fortinbras?
The King of Norway.
6. What is the significance of Polonius brevity is the soul of wit comment?
It is an example of satire and irony because Polonius is anything but brief.
7. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern admit to Hamlet when they see him lst?
That they were sent for by the King and Queen.
8. What does Gertrude mean when she says the Player Queen doth protest too much?
She thinks that the lady argues too much against marrying the murderer.
9. Know the significance of the recorder when Hamlet talks to Guildenstern.
He says that Guildenstern is trying to play him like a recorder.
10. Why does Hamlet say people dont take their own lives?
Because people are afraid of what happens after death.
11. What does Gertrude tell Claudius after Poloniuss death?
She says that Hamlet is mad and killed Polonius.
12. Why does Hamlet refer to Guildenstern as a sponge?
Because he soaks up all the information he can about Hamlet and wrings it out to Claudius.
13. What is the significance of Laertess comment that Ill not be juggled with?
It contrasts Hamlet in that he immediately seeks revenge for his fathers death rather than
delaying.
14. Whose skull does Hamlet speak to?
King Hamlets jester.
15. Why is Laertes angry with the priest?
Because Ophelia took her own life, she should not be given a Christian burial according to
church doctrine.
16. What does Hamlet tell Horatio about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
That he replaced the letter they had and ordered them to be executed.
17. What is ironic when Hamlet doesnt kill Claudius in the chapel?
It is ironic because Claudius was not actually praying and Hamlet could have fulfilled his
revenge.
18. How does Hamlet escape from the ship taking him to England?
His ship was attacked by pirates and he boarded the ship.
19. What does Claudius tell Laertes about his reason for not punishing Hamlet?
Because Hamlets mother and the public love Hamlet.
20. In what ways is the fencing match dishonest?
Laertess sword was poisoned so that if Laertes hit Hamlet he would die. Even if he did not
manage to, the cup for Hamlet to drink from was poisoned.
21. How does Gertrude report that Ophelia died?
Gertrude says that a tree branch broke and Ophelia fell in the river.
22. What purposes does the gravedigger scene have?
Comic relief

23. What causes Horatio to say Why, what a king is this!?

Claudius tries to have Hamlet killed.
24. What is Hamlets state of mind before the fencing match?
He is sad but ready.
25. What does Hamlet ask Horatio to do?
To not commit suicide and to live to tell the tale
26. What are the words I am too much in the sun an example of?
Pun on the word son
27. When Hamlet says Seems, madam? Nay it is, I know not seems, Hamlet asserts that the
difference between what seems and what is is what?

The difference is that he knows it.

Know the definitions of these words:
Arras: a rich tapestry
Bourn: small stream
Calumny: false or defamatory statements
Cerement: waxed cloth for wrapping a corpse
Consummation: something is complete or finalized
Contumely: insulting language
Harbinger: announces approach of someone
Liege: feudal superior
Orison: a prayer
Portentous: done in pompous manner to impress
Quintessence: perfect example of quality or class
Tenantless: person or group that rents and occupies land
Visage: a persons face
Know who said these quotes:
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane.
Horatio
Angels and ministers of grace defend us.
Horatio
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Polonius
I was the more deceived.
Ophelia
The serpent that did sting thy fathers life
Now wears his crown.
Ghost
Neither a borrower nor a lender be.
Polonius
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy
Hamlet
When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions
Claudius
This above all, to thine own self be true,

Polonius
All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.
Gertrude
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns
Hamlet