Hamlet, Part 5: Characteristics of Elizabethan Drama
Question 7 of 17 • NY-English Language Arts 12 CR
Read the excerpt from Act III of Hamlet. Hamlet: To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and, by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.
Answer
A
The actor playing Hamlet shouts his lines to the audience while wildly gesturing with his hands.
B
The actor playing Hamlet speaks slowly and deliberately, weighing the meaning of every word as he goes along. ✓ Correct
C
The actor playing Hamlet cries to himself as he tearfully speaks the lines to himself.
D
The actor playing Hamlet sings the lines, adding an impromptu melody to the soliloquy.