Name:______
Hamlet
Act 1 Questions
Select the correct word from the bold words embedded in the plot summary.
Horatio, Marcellus and Francisco/Barnardo/Voltemand encounter the silent apparition on the battlements, discuss its possible connection with the threat of invasion from the disgruntled Fortinbras and decide to tell Hamlet/Claudius/Gertrude. Claudius explains his motives for marrying Gertrude, allows Laertes to go to France/Norway/Wittenburg and, together with Gertrude, counsels Hamlet to stop mourning and to stay in Denmark. Hamlet bewails the state of the world and his mother's frailty/virginity/lust and is told of the apparition. Laertes and Polonius counsel Ophelia to stop seeing Hamlet. Hamlet, Horatio and the guards encounter the apparition and Hamlet follows. It persuades Hamlet to revenge its unnatural/unkind/diabolical murder. After it leaves, Hamlet swears the others to secrecy and reveals his plan to pretend to have an 'antic disposition' or madness. /5
1. Why is Gertrude Claudius’ “Sometime sister, now our queen” (Act 1.2.8)? /1
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2. Write down the definition for ALLUSION and circle an example of it in the quotation below. What is the purpose of this allusion? THEN beside each line, translate the Shakespearean language into modern English. /12
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Hamlet: O God! A beast, that wants discourse of reason,______
Would have mourn’d longer,--married with mine uncle,______
My father’s brother, but no more like my father______
Than I to Hercules: within a month______
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears______
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, ______
She married. O! most wicked speed, to post ______
With such dexterity to incestous sheets. ______
It is mot nor it cannot come to good______
But break, my hear, for I must hold my tongue. (Act 2 Scene 2) ______
3. In the opening of Act One Scene One, Bernardo, Marcellus, and Horatio see the ghost of Hamlet’s father. What action(s) do(es) Horatio take in response to seeing the ghost, and what does this action tell the audience about his character? /2
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______4. Read the following quotation and respond to the question. /5
“Frailty, thy name is woman!
A little month; or ere those shoes were old
With which she follow’d my poor father’s body” (1.2.146-148)
a. Who speaks these lines? ______
b. What is this type of speech called? ______
c. Who is this character speaking about?______
d. Why is the speaker saying these lines? Answer with specific reference to the lines and to the context of the act.
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5. Who is Laertes? /1 ______
6. Who is Polonius? /1 ______
7. In Scene 3, what/who is Ophelia warned about and why? /3
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8. In Scene 5, what does the Ghost tell Hamlet? /2
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9. Throughout Act 1, find two examples of disease or decay and record them below. /2
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Total /34