ENG4U1: Hamlet Unit Test Review #2
ENG4U1: Hamlet Unit Test Review #2
Part A: Multiple Choice (Knowledge)
- Demonstrate your understanding of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet by circling the correct answer for each of the multiple choice practice questions included below. These questions are an important review for your unit test this Wednesday (tomorrow).
- In Act 4, scene 1, directly following the closet scene, Gertrude tells Claudius that Hamlet is “mad as the sea and wind,” which proves that…
a)After seeing her son speak to the air and rashly kill Polonius, she is now convinced of his uncontrollable madness.
b)She is now thoroughly convinced that Hamlet’s madness depends on the weather.
c)She has kept her promise to Hamlet by confirming to Claudius that her son is mad.
d)Both a and c
- Who does Hamlet refer to as a “sponge” in the play (they/those that soak(s) up the king’s favours, rewards and influence without hesitation or remorse)?
a)Polonius
b)Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
c)Queen Gertrude
d)Cornelius and Voltimand
- Where does Hamlet hide Polonius’ body from King Claudius?
a)The lobby
b)His mother’s closet
c)The platform where he first saw his father’s ghost
d)Directly behind Claudius’ throne in a room of state in the castle
- In Act 4, scene 3, Claudius reveals in a short soliloquy his plan to send Hamlet to England, which ultimately is…
a)To send Hamlet to England to be married to a wealthy duchess in order to get his mind off of his unhealthy infatuation with Ophelia.
b)To send Hamlet to England to be locked up in a madhouse, never to be heard from again.
c)To send Hamlet to England for him to return to university, and therefore to turn his mind back to his academic pursuits.
d)To send Hamlet to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who will carry a secret letter containing instructions to kill Hamlet as soon as he reaches this new land.
- In Act 4, scene 4, Hamlet criticizes his own inaction by comparing himself to the
actions of what other character?
a)Laertes
b)Young Fortinbras
c)Ophelia
d)King Claudius
- Who does Laertes initially and incorrectly believe to be responsible for the murder of his father?
a)Young Fortinbras
b)Marcellus
c)King Claudius
d)Horatio
- The reason behind Ophelia’s madness is revealed when Laertes says, “O heavens! is't possible a young maid’s wits/Should be as mortal as an old man’s life?”. Using this quotation to inform your answer, what is the main reason for Ophelia’s sudden madness?
a)Hamlet’s cruel mistreatment of her after once claiming to love her so dearly
b)Laertes’ extended absence, which forces her to live alone with Polonius
c)Her father’s murder
d)Her inexplicable obsession with flowers and their symbolic significance
8. Claudius manipulates Laertes into a plan to kill Hamlet. What is the plan?
a) For Laertes to sneak into Hamlet’s bed chamber and poison him in the ear while he sleeps
b) For Laertes to stage Hamlet’s suicide by cutting Hamlet’s throat and making it look like he killed himself as a result of his inexplicable madness and his guilt over murdering Polonius
c) For Laertes to challenge him to a fencing match for which the tip of Laertes’ sword will be secretly poisoned, and a poisoned cup of wine will also be offered to Hamlet in order to ensure his death if Laertes cannot manage to cut him with the poisoned sword.
d) For Laertes to lock Hamlet in a dark cell and allow him to starve to death for his crime.
9. Hamlet escapes the ship bound for England. How does he do this?
a) Hamlet is captured by pirates when the ship is overtaken. He then rewrites Claudius’ original letter with instructions that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern should be sentenced to death upon their arrival in England, and he seals this new letter with his ring.
b) Hamlet waves down a passing ship bound for Denmark, jumps into the ocean, and is picked up and carried back to Elsinore without Rosencrantz and Guildenstern even noticing that he has disappeared.
c) When the ship bound for England stops at a port in France to fix a broken mast, Hamlet stabs Rosencrantz, knocks Guildenstern over the head with a bottle, and leaps from the ship. He is then chased by guards, but manages to lose them when he hides in a nearby café, wearing a quickly acquired disguise to throw them off his trail.
d) Hamlet murders the ship’s captain, and steers the ship back to Denmark to the dismay of the many frightened passengers onboard.
10. According to the conversation that Hamlet has with the gravedigger (also referred to as the
first clown in some versions of the play) in Act 5, scene 1, how old is Hamlet?
a)17 years old
b)22 years old
c)30 years old
d)42 years old
11. Why does Ophelia still receive a Christian burial even though she has committed suicide,
which was considered a sin that prevented such a holy interment?
a)There is no valid proof that Ophelia actually killed herself.
b)She is a gentlewoman of noble blood.
c)Laertes has threatened the life of the gravediggers and the priest if they refuse to place her in the ground and give her a Christian burial.
d)She is being buried with her father who happens to be receiving a Christian burial, so she gets one by default.
12. Who is Yorick?
a) A courtier sent to England to find Rosencrantz and Guildenstern after their failed mission.
b) The second gravedigger (also known as the second clown in the play).
c) A soldier of Young Fortinbras bound for Denmark with a thirst for blood and vengeance.
d) The king’s jester.
13. Hamlet and Laertes fight at Ophelia’s grave. What is the main point of their argument in this
scene?
a)Hamlet’s unjust murder of Polonius
b)Hamlet’s hatred towards royalty as a governing body
c)Who loved Ophelia more
d)Who is a more skilled swordsman
14. What is the purpose of Osric’s character in the play?
a) To exemplify the affected and artificial nature of the nobility in Denmark
b) To convince Hamlet to participate in the duel against Laertes
c) To give Hamlet someone to mock in order to show his wit
d) All of the above
15. How many people die in the final scene of the play (Act 5, scene 2)?
a)3
b) 4
c) 8
d) 12
16. In Act 5, scene 2, Hamlet says, “Give me your pardon, sir; I have done you wrong…”. Who is
Hamlet apologizing to in this final scene?
a)Laertes
b)King Claudius
c)Horatio
d)Young Fortinbras
17. In the final scene of the play, Laertes continues the bird motif seen in the play when he refers
to himself as a “woodcock” to his own “springe”. What does he mean by this reference?
a)Laertes is comparing himself to an annoying bird that chirps incessantly.
b)Laertes is comparing himself to a helpless bird with a broken wing.
c)Laertes is comparing himself to a bird caught in his own trap.
d)Laertes is comparing himself to a baby bird that does not know its way home.
18. Who remains as a witness of events to relay the story of the slain royal family at the end of the
play?
a)Laertes
b)Marcellus
c)Horatio
d)Bernardo
19. Whose final line in the play is “The rest is silence”?
a) Laertes
b) Osric
c) King Claudius
d) Hamlet
20. Who speaks the lines, “Good night, sweet prince,/And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”?
a) Young Fortinbras
b) Horatio
c) Queen Gertrude
d) Francisco
21. At the conclusion of the play, what instructions does Young Fortinbras give regarding how
Hamlet’s dead body should be carried away (off stage)?
a)His body should be immediately beheaded and his head should be displayed on a pike outside of the castle doors.
b)His body should be buried in a sacred grave dug only for princes and royal danes.
c)His body should be carried off the stage like a soldier.
d)His body should be hung from the gallows for one week with a sign hung around his neck that reads “coward” and “madman” in order to shame the prince forever.
22. How many times does Hamlet Sr.’s ghost appear in the play?
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
d) 5
23. What key theme is explored in the play when Hamlet says, “these indeed seem,/For they are
actions that a man might play;/But I have that within which passeth show;/These, but the
trappings and the suits of woe”?
a)Appearance versus reality
b)The meaninglessness of life
c)Corruption as a disease that can spread
d)The debilitating nature of madness
24. How does Ophelia die in the play?
a) She leaps from a cliff and falls to her death
b) She drowns
c) She slits her throat
d) She hangs herself
25. How does Hamlet die in the play?
a) He is poisoned by Laertes’ sword
b) He is stabbed fatally in the heart by King Claudius
c) He is burned to death by Young Fortinbras
d) He dies of heart ache and regret all on his own
PART B: Passage Analysis (Thinking, Communication, Application)
Write a paragraph response for each practice passage provided that analyzes whyeachpassage is important to the play. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL HAVE A CHOICE OF THREE PASSAGES TO ANALYZE ON THE TEST, AND YOU WILL CHOOSE ONE PASSAGE TO ANALYZE IN A PARAGRAPH RESPONSE, IN ADDITION TO ANSWERING THE THREE QUESTIONS LISTED BELOW.
Before writing your response paragraph, answer the following questions in complete sentences:
1) Identify the speaker of the passage.
2) Intended audience.
3) Context of the passage.
Helpful tips when you are writing your passage:
1) Choose one major reason why the text is significant.
2) Make all references to the text, language or structure (literary devices, punctuation, key words etc.) serve as evidence (use direct quotations from the passage)
3)Do not just retell the plot! Analyze what the quotation offers towards the overall text and specifically analyze the way that it is written/how that connects to themes, plot, and character.
In your paragraph, include:
An introduction sentence
Your argument (not an opinion or statement of face) which will possess your main focus about the passage.
2 points and 2 proofs (paraphrase your example from the text)
Two well-written explanations as to why your points support your argument. Also remember to include a concluding sentence. Use specific evidence from the play to support your argument.
Practice Passage Analysis #1:
- Pretend this is theHamlet unit test, and thoroughly analyze this passage!
HAMLET
I'll be with you straight go a little before.
Exeunt all except HAMLET
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:
Witness this army of such mass and charge
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!
Exit
Practice Passage Analysis #2:
- Pretend this is the Hamlet unit test, and thoroughly analyze this passage!
KING CLAUDIUS
O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above;
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can: what can it not?
Yet what can it when one can not repent?
O wretched state! O bosom black as death!
O limed soul, that, struggling to be free,
Art more engaged! Help, angels! Make assay!
Bow, stubborn knees; and, heart with strings of steel,
Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe!
All may be well.
(Retires and kneels)
Practice Passage Analysis #3:
- Pretend this is the Hamlet unit test, and thoroughly analyze this passage!
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
HAMLET
Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
HAMLET
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty,--
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
1