Read the excerpt from Hamlet, Act I, Scene ii. [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?
Read the excerpt from Act I of Hamlet . Hamlet: What hour now? Horatio: I think it lacks of twelve . Marcellus: No, it is struck. Which is the best adaptation of the underlined part of the excerpt?
Which detail in Hamlet best reflects the time the play was written in?
The process of adapting a play involves changing the text so it
Which statements describe the rising action of a tragedy’s plot? Choose two correct answers.
Which statements describe Elizabethan drama? Choose two correct answers.
What theme does this excerpt most reflect?
Read the excerpt from Act II of Hamlet . 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?
Read the excerpt from Act II of Hamlet . Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! O! vengeance! The figurative language in these lines is an example of
Read the excerpt from Act IV of Hamlet . 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
Which best describes how the two adaptations of Hamlet differ?
Read the passage from Hamlet, Act I, Scene iii. Polonius: Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, Bear ’t that th’ opposed may beware of thee. Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy ... Shakespeare’s word choice in the passage creates a tone that is
Read the excerpt from Act III of Hamlet . . . . 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. What does this part of the soliloquy reveal about Hamlet?
Read the excerpt from an analysis of the end of Act V of Hamlet . 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?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. GUIL Are you happy? ROS What? GUIL Content? At ease? ROS I suppose so. GUIL What are you going to do now? ROS I don’t know. What do you want to do? GUIL I have no desires. None. . . . ROS I’m sorry I—What’s the matter with you? GUIL The scientific approach to the examination of phenomena is a defence against the pure emotion of fear. Keep tight hold and continue while there’s still time. What is the effect of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern having conflicting perspectives about their situation?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. ROS Shouldn’t we be doing something—constructive? GUIL What did you have in mind? . . . A short, blunt human pyramid . . . ? ROS We could go. GUIL Where? ROS After him. GUIL Why? They’ve got us placed now—if we start moving around, we’ll all be chasing each other all night. Hiatus . ROS ( at footlights ) How very intriguing! ( Turns .) I feel like a spectator—an appalling business. The only thing that makes it bearable is the irrational belief that somebody interesting will come on in a minute. Which statement best explains how Rosencrantz feels about their situation?
Read the excerpt from Act III of Hamlet . Rosencrantz: My lord, you once did love me. Hamlet: So I do still, by these pickers and stealers. Rosencrantz: Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper? you do surely bar the door upon your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend. Hamlet: Sir, I lack advancement. Rosencrantz: How can that be when you have the voice of the king himself for your succession in Denmark? Hamlet: Ay, sir, but ‘While the grass grows,’—the proverb is something musty. Hamlet’s character is complex in the excerpt because
Did you find these answers helpful?