Hamlet: Act 1 Scenes 1 & 2

Hamlet: Act 1 Scenes 1 & 2

Guided Review-Please answer in complete sentences.

Scene 1

1. List the characters and their positions in Act 1 Scene 1.

2. What do the men see Act 1.1.40?

3. What is important about “the very armour he had on” (Act 1.1.60)?

4. Who is “young Fortinbras” (Act 1.1.95) and what does he plan to do?

Scene 2

1. List the characters and their positions in Act 1 Scene 2.

2. Why does Claudius say “our sometime sister, now our queen” (Act 1.2.8). What is he going to do?

3. What does Claudius say about the “uncle of young Fortinbras” (Act 1.2.28-37) and what young Fortinbras plans to do?

4. What does Laertes plan to do?

5. When Hamlet says as an aside (which means only the audience is supposed to hear the comment), “A little more than kin, and less than kind” (Act 1.2.65) what is Shakespeare trying to tell the audience about how Hamlet feels about his uncle?

6. In lines 76-86, what is Hamlet saying about his grief?

7. In lines 130-159, Hamlet performs his first soliloquy. What is a soliloquy and make sure you know how to spell it.

8. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy, Shakespeare uses many effective images. Identify three of these images with the quotation (be sure to include Act, Scene, and line number).

9. Line 149 contains an ALLUSION. Write down the definition for allusion from your lit. terms and look in the references on the right hand side of the page to identify why Hamlet would compare his mother in this way. Can you find another allusion in Hamlet’s speech?

10. Why does Hamlet say, “FRAILTY, THY NAME IS WOMAN” (1.2.146) and who is he speaking about?

11. At the end of Act 1.2, what do Horatio, Bernardo and Marcellus tell Hamlet and what do they all plan to do?

12. Briefly discuss the meaning of Hamlet’s brief soliloquy lines 254-257. What might these lines foreshadow? (be specific!)

Scene 3:

15. Why does Laertes warn his sister Ophelia not to place too much hope in Hamlet's attentions to her?

16. What does Laertes say must govern Hamlet's marriage choice?

17. What advice does Ophelia in turn give to Laertes?

18. In lines 58-80, Polonius gives a great deal of advice to his son Laertes. In this speech, Polonius covers nine items of advice. In your own words, explain what the following means:

a. (lines 59-60) "Give thy thoughts no tongue,/ Nor any unproportioned thought his act."

b. (line 68) "Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;"

c. (lines 75-77) "Neither a borrower nor a lender be;/ For loan oft loses both itself and friend,…"

19. What are Polonius's instructions to Ophelia about Hamlet?

Scene 4:

20. What is happening at the court while Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus are on the platform?

21. Why does Hamlet denounce the custom of drunken celebration?

22. What happens at the end of scene 4?

Scene 5:

23. What does the Ghost reveal about the manner of his death?

24. What does the ghost tell Hamlet about his mother?

25. In lines 82-89, what tasks does the Ghost tell Hamlet to undertake?

26. In lines 172-173, what does Hamlet imply he may decide to do?