SHORT ANSWER STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS - Hamlet
Act One
1. Identify Bernardo, Francisco, Marcellus, Horatio, and King Hamlet.
2. What had Bernardo seen at a prior watch?
3. Why does Marcellus think Horatio should speak to the ghost?
4. What does young Fortinbras want to do?
5. Who do the soldiers/guards want to tell about the ghost?
6. Identify King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Laertes, and Polonius.
7. Where does Claudius send Cornelius and Voltimand?
8. What does the King tell Hamlet?
9. Hamlet is upset for two reasons. What are they?
10. What news does Horatio bring Hamlet?
11. What does Hamlet decide to do after he hears Horatio's news?
12. What is Laertes' advice to Ophelia?
13. What is Polonius' advice to Laertes?
14. At the end of Scene III, Ophelia agrees to "obey." What will she do?
15. What did the ghost tell Hamlet?
16. Hamlet swears Horatio to two things. What are they?
Act II
1. Where does Polonius send Reynaldo? Why?
2. Why does Polonius think Hamlet is "mad"?
3. Why have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come to the castle?
4. What is Polonius' plan for testing his theory that Hamlet is love-crazy?
5. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern finally meet with Hamlet, and Hamlet discovers they were sent
for by the King. How does Hamlet describe his personal problems to them? What does he tell
them?
6. What arrangement does Hamlet make with Player 1?
7. After Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave Hamlet, what does he basically say in his
soliloquy?
