Hamlet Character and Theme Quiz

Hamlet Character and Theme Quiz

B D Somani International School

Hamlet

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

1. The following phrases might be used to describe the character of Prince Hamlet. How do you think each relates to Hamlet's nature? Refer to the text for support.

*        a victim of circumstance

*        a man incapable of taking action

*        an excessively ambitious prince who lusts for power

*        a person of exceptional intellect and intelligence

*        a man in the grip of insanity

2. Consider Hamlet's behaviour when he is with each of the following characters. What is revealed about him in his dealings with each of these people?

*        Claudius

*        Gertrude

*        Ophelia

*        Horatio

*        Polonius

*        Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

3. What developments and/or states of mind do each of Hamlet's six soliloquies reveal? (I, ii; II, ii; III, i; III, iii; IV, iv)

4. How do you explain Hamlet's inability to act in avenging his father's death?

5. Is Hamlet a likeable character? Would you want to be his friend? Explain.

6. What questions do you have about the character of Hamlet? What problems do you see in analyzing his character? Do you admire Shakespeare's ability to develop a character, or do you think he leaves too many questions unresolved?

PLOT

1. When the play begins, a major event, the death of King Hamlet has already occurred. How does this affect the reader's understanding of the play?

2. What purposes do the subplots of the relationship between Polonius and his children and the political situation with Norway and young Fortinbras serve? How is the story of Prince Hamlet and his particular situation reflected in each of these subplots?

3. Look carefully at each act of the drama. What is the function of each? What important event or situation is developed in each act by Shakespeare?

4. How does Shakespeare keep his audience apprised of developments outside the primary action of the play? Why are events on the ship taking Hamlet to England not portrayed? Find other examples in the play where Shakespeare keeps his readers aware of important events, but does so without presenting the action in the drama. Is this appropriate in your opinion? Why or why not?

5. Did you find the action in the play difficult to follow? Where? What did you find challenging about these sections?

6. Consider the dramatic pacing of the play. Does Shakespeare keep the audience or reader involved in the action? How? Explain your opinion.

THEME

1. To what extent is Hamlet's quest for revenge justifiable in terms of the situation presented? Why or why not?

2. Find evidence of Hamlet's religious beliefs. How do these beliefs influence his actions and decisions?

3. Examine the characters and events in terms of appearance and reality. Cite examples of things that are not what they seem.

4. Find examples of imagery that reveal decay or corruption. What effect do these images have on the reader? How would you explain Shakespeare's inclusion of these images in the play?

5. Explain what you think is revealed about human nature in Hamlet. Use characters and situations to illustrate your points.

6. Consider Shakespeare’s use of Hamlet’s antic disposition and the madnessportrayed by his character Ophelia in this play. How would the audience react to this portrayal?

7 (Misogyny definition, hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women)

 Examine how Shakespeare treats the female characters/explores the role of the woman in Hamlet and consider what the response of a modern audience might be towards this aspect of the play.

Quotes you could use (from Hamlet: Contemporary Critical Essays ed. Martin Coyle, Macmillan 1992)

·                    “Gertrude’s inconstancy not only brings on disgust and incestuous feelings, it is also the sign of diseased doubleness in everyone who has accommodated to his or her social role.” (David Leverenz)

·                    “The divided self: in her madness, there is no one there. She is not a person. There is no integral selfhood expressed through her actions or utterances… She has already died. There is now only a vacuum where there once was a person.” (R. D. Laing)

·                    “…there are many voices in Ophelia’s madness speaking through her… none of them her own. She becomes the mirror for a mad-inducing world.” (David Leverenz)

·                    “[Ophelia’s] history is an instance of how someone can be driven mad by having her inner feelings misrepresented, not responded to, or acknowledged only through chastisement and repression. From her entrance on, Ophelia must continually respond to commands which imply distrust even as they compel obedience.” (David Leverenz)

·                    “[Ophelia] has no choice but to say ‘I shall obey, my lord’” (David Leverenz)

·                    “Not allowed to love and unable to be false, Ophelia breaks. She goes mad rather than gets mad. Even in her madness she has no voice of her own, only a discord of other voices and expectations, customs gone awry.” (David Leverenz)

·                    “[Ophelia] is a play within a play, or a player trying to respond to several imperious directors at once. Everyone has used her: Polonius, to gain favour; Laertes, to belittle Hamlet; Claudius, to spy on Hamlet; Hamlet to express rage at Gertrude; and Hamlet again, to express his feigned madness with her as a decoy. She is valued only for the roles that further other people’s plots.” (David Leverenz)

·                    “For most critics of Shakespeare, Ophelia has been an insignificant minor character in the play, touching in her weakness and madness but chiefly interesting, of course, in what she tells us about Hamlet.” (Elaine Showalter)

·                    “We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet.” (Lee Edwards)

·                    “Since the 1970s… we have had a feminist discourse which has offered a new perspective on Ophelia’s madness as protest and rebellion. For many feminist theorists, the madwoman is a heroine, a powerful figure who rebels against the family and the social order…” (Elaine Showalter)

·                    “Gertrude, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, has traditionally been played as a sensual, deceitful woman.” (Rebecca Smith)

·                    …when one closely examines Gertrude’s actual speech and actions in an attempt to understand the character , one finds little that hints at hypocrisy, suppression, or uncontrolled passion and their implied complexity.” (Rebecca Smith)

·                    “Gertrude appears in only ten of the twenty scenes that comprise the play; furthermore she speaks very little, having less dialogue than any other major character in Hamlet… she speaks plainly, directly, and chastely when she does speak… Gertrude’s brief speeches include references to honour, virtue [etc]; neither structure nor content suggests wantonness.” (Rebecca Smith)

·                    “Gertrude believes that quiet women best please men, and pleasing men is Gertrude’s main interest.” (Rebecca Smith)

·                    “Gertrude has not moved toward independence or a heightened moral stance; only her divided loyalties and her unhappiness intensify.” (Rebecca Smith)