Read the excerpt from Act IV of Hamlet.Rosencrantz: Take you me for a sponge, my lord?Hamlet: Ay, sir, that soaks up the king’s countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: he keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again.
Answer
A
sponges were new and popular in Elizabethan society.
B
scientists in the 1600s were studying the human body.
C
rulers gained power by surrounding themselves with loyal officers.
D
common people felt that they were ignored by their royal leaders.