Hamlet: Am I not i’ the right, old Jephthah?
Polonius: If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter that I love passing well.
In the excerpt, Hamlet calls Polonius Jephthah, after the priest in the Old Testament who sacrifices his daughter to God. What does this allusion suggest about Polonius’s treatment of Ophelia?
A. Polonius is sacrificing his daughter to trick Hamlet.
B. Polonius is a better father than Hamlet’s father was.
C. Polonius is very protective of his innocent daughter.
D. Polonius is very loyal to the royal family of Denmark.
Gertrude: O! speak to me no more;
These words like daggers enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
Hamlet: A murderer, and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cut-purse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!
Gertrude: No more!
Which statement is a feminist analysis of these lines?
A. Shakespeare uses a motif of ears and hearing to emphasize the importance of communication.
B. Jewels were an important symbol of power in Shakespeare’s time and would be significant to his audience.
C. Although she is queen, Gertrude is caught between her powerful husband and bitter son.
D. The text of these lines includes many royal titles that reinforce a theme of power.
The relationship between Horatio and Hamlet is crucial to understanding the play. Whereas most people would have abandoned Hamlet, Horatio instead repeatedly aids Hamlet in a variety of ways. Even when Hamlet dies, Horatio makes sure that Hamlet’s wishes are carried out and his side of the story is told.
What theme does this excerpt most reflect?
A. All is fair in love and war.
B. Be kind to those in need.
C. The truth will set you free.
D. True friends don’t leave you.
Guildenstern: Happy in that we are not over happy;
On Fortune’s cap we are not the very button.
Hamlet: Nor the soles of her shoe?
Rosencrantz: Neither, my lord.
What is being personified in this excerpt?
A. delight
B. prosperity
C. fashion
D. footwear
Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,
But that I know love is begun by time,
And that I see, in passages of proof,
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it . . .
That we would do,
We should do when we would, for this ‘would’ changes,
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
And then this ‘should’ is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o’ the ulcer;
Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake
To show yourself your father’s son in deed
More than in words?
Claudius’s reaction advances the central conflict of the play because he
A. encourages Laertes to seek revenge against Hamlet.
B. offers forgiveness for Laertes’s impulsive action.
C. suggests a peaceful resolution to Laertes’s conflict.
D. accepts the blame for Polonius’s death.
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O! vengeance!
The figurative language in these lines is an example of
A. a metaphor.
B. a simile.
C. an apostrophe.
D. personification.
A duel takes place between Laertes and Hamlet. But due to treachery, Laertes and Hamlet are poisoned, as are Claudius and Gertrude, and they all die.
Which is the best summary of the theme that is developed in this section of the play?
A. Revenge never works out, and people should just avoid it.
B. Fighting is not the way to solve problems, no matter what.
C. Those who fight are unwise and would do better to talk.
D. Those who pursue revenge are often destroyed by it.
Exeunt all except HAMLET.
Hamlet: O! that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew;
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world.
Fie on ‘t! O fie! ’tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
What effect does the stage direction have on the scene?
A. By leaving Hamlet alone on stage, the audience learns how truly upset he is.
B. When everyone leaves, it shows how the rest of the family shuns Hamlet.
C. Having just Hamlet on the stage makes him the most appealing character.
D. When the audience sees Hamlet by himself they assume he has no friends.
1. A series of events develop the plot’s central conflict.
2. Loose ends of the plot are “tied up” to provide closure.
3. Suspense builds gradually as the plot progresses.
4. Background information is provided and the play’s setting is revealed.
5. Tension reaches its height in the plot, and a solution to a conflict becomes clear.
and
3. Suspense builds gradually as the plot progresses.
A. his romantic encounter with Ophelia
B. the departure of Laertes to France
C. a reprimand from his mother
D. a visit from his deceased father
A. Like Gertrude, Hecuba has married the brother of her dead husband.
B. Like Gertrude, Hecuba shows little emotion after the death of her husband.
C. In contrast to Gertrude, Hecuba takes revenge on her husband’s killer.
D. In contrast to Gertrude, Hecuba is the ideal image of a grieving widow.
A. How do the parts of the text relate to the whole?
B. How are female characters identified and treated?
C. Why was this historical fact included in the text?
D. Why was this important to readers at that period?