Hamlet Act III questions

Answer the following questions while reading Act III.

Answers to #1,2,3,6,10,13, and the vocabulary words' definitions are due Monday.

Also, be sure to complete the comparison/contrast handout I have already distributed.

1. How is Ophelia being used by Claudius and Polonius to deal with their problem with Hamlet?
2. List at least two ideas about death expressed in Hamlet's "To be, or not to be..." soliloquy.
Why might Hamlet be thinking like this at this point in the play?
3. What decision does the king make after observing Hamlet and Ophelia?
4. List three pieces of advice Hamlet offers the visiting actors.
5. Why does Hamlet not take his revenge during Claudius's prayer?
6. Have you changed your opinion about Hamlet since the beginning of the play? Why or why
not?
7. What qualities does Hamlet admire in Horatio? Refer to the handout for comparisons between
Hamlet's friendship with Horatio and his friendship with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
8. Act III always marks the climax, or turning point, in a Shakespearean tragedy. During this
act, the hero's fate is decided. What do you think is the turning point in this act? Why is this
moment so crucial to the plot?
9. Find one or two similarities and differences between Hamlet's dialogues with Ophelia and
with Gertrude.
10. How does Hamlet's state of mind change from when he talks to himself (in the soliloquy) to
when he talks to Ophelia?
11. In the famous scene with Gertrude, Hamlet is sometimes described as "overdoing it." Do you
agree or disagree? Why? What evidence can you find that shows Gertrude knew nothing of
Claudius's murder or Old Hamlet?
12. Why will Hamlet's killing Polonius prove to be a costly mistake? How can it help his enemy,
Claudius, and how might it affect the other characters?
13. Ophelia is being used both by Claudius and Polonius to solve their problems with Hamlet?
How might behavior such as this, by government officials, be reported and received today if
it were leaked to the press?
14. What do you think about some critics' emphasis of the theme of the relationship of thought
to action when they claim that Hamlet spends too much time thinking about his problems
and not enough time acting on ways to solve them?
15. The dumb show (a scene of play acted in pantomime with out dialogue) is one of the most
famous scenes in literature. Briefly describe what happens in it.
16. --20. Define the following: turbulent, insolence, judicious, clemency, primal