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Hamlet

Includes questions specifically asking about this Shakespeare play. Questions about the movie version should be placed under "Movies." Questions about Shakespeare should be placed under his category under Authors and Poets.

2,117 Questions

What does Hamlet ask Horatio to do during the performance?

Depends on which part of the book... if it's near the beginning, then Hamlet asks them to pay no mind to his crazy behavior which he will fake later on.

In Hamlet what does Hamlet mean when he says the time is out of joint?

Polonius

This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Conversely, if day follows night, somebody is being untrue to himself. Just after he has been false to himself by erasing himself from the book of his own brain, as the day is following the night, Hamlet says:

The time is out of joint.

Claudius

. . .our sometime sister, now our queen, The imperial jointress to this warlike state,

Marcellus

What might be toward, that this sweaty haste

Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:

Who is't that can inform me?

Horatio

That can I;

At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,

Whose image even but now appear'd to us,

. . . .

Bernardo

I think it be no other but e'en so:

Well may it sort that this portentous figure

Comes armed through our watch; so like the king

That was and is the question of these wars.

What examples of indecision does Hamlet?

wether or not he's giong to kill himself. "To be or not to be, that is the question" Hamlet also has to debate whether or not he will go through with the revenge he is seeking for his father's death, which is to kill Claudius. This is what the whole play is about, revenge. In Act 3, Scene 2, Hamlet makes the players put on a play mimicking what had happened in Denmark (i.e. a murder puts poison in its victim's ear). Hamlet asks Horatio to watch Claudius' expression during the play, and Horatio confirms that Claudius seems uneasy and feels the guilt, as he brings the play to the end. Claudius' reaction confirms Hamlet's decision, and Hamlet knows that he is making the right decision by seeking revenge on Claudius for killing his father.

What university did hamlet attend?

Hamlet studied at the University of Wittenberg

Why does Hamlet call claudius dear mother?

Act 4, Scene 3. Hamlet is being banished from Denmark and sent to England after killing Polonius.

King: So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.

Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England! Farewell, dear mother.

King: They loving father, Hamlet.

Hamlet: My mother. Father and mother is man and wife, man and wife is one flesh, and so, my mother. Come, for England!

Who has played Hamlet in a feature movie?

Laurence Olivier starred in the 1948 version of Hamlet.

What is the content of the letters the king sends with rosencrantz and guildenstern to englandwith hamlet?

It says something along the lines of "Dear Friends in England, the two men bearing this letter are particularly annoying to the King of Denmark, who would like you, as soon as you read this and without giving them a chance to go to confession, to kill them straight away and send an ambassador back to Denmark confirming it, or we'll send more Vikings your way. Yours sincerely, Claudius King of Denmark."

Who did Hamlets mother remarry?

Hamlet's mother married his uncle (his father's brother) after his father's death.

Why didnt the Claudius confront Hamlet directley after the death of polonius?

There is no background on Claudius' rule. He could have very well have been a better king than Hamlet's father. Hamlet was so consumed with hatred, that he did not even kill the king for the people, he killed him for himself. Plus, he left the nation powerless to the invading nation. He was selfish and filled with hatred. If he had a problem with Claudius and his Mother, he should have talked it out with them. Claudius brought in Hamlet's friends to find out what was wrong with him, and all Hamlet did was have them killed. Hamlet was not a tragic hero, he was a villain.

Does hamlet show remorse for killing polonius?

Oh, yes. Hamlet tortures him constantly and gratuitously. "Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?" Hamlet is just doing that to make Polonius look like a fool.

Describe what is play within a play with example?

Jack and the Beanstalk is a popular play based on the old child's fairy tale.

Where does Rozencrantz and Guildenstern prepare to take Hamlet to?

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do more than one job for the king. The first is to try to draw Hamlet out in conversation, so they can know what is on his mind. Later they accompany Hamlet to England.

How would you describe Ophelia in Act 2 of Hamlet?

What we see of Ophelia in Act II is her scene where she describes Hamlet's visit to her closet in a state of semi-undress. She claims to have been "affrighted" by this visit. It is worth noting that she instantly takes her problem to her father, which tells us something about how dependent she is on him. (He has taken pains to make her that dependent of course.) We hear that she has followed Hamlet's instructions to the letter. One commentator suggested that Hamlet's purpose in entering Ophelia's room in this way was because he was thinking of taking her into his confidence, but after taking a good long look at her he realized that he just couldn't trust her. And he was right; she cannot be trusted to resist her father in even the slightest way. In the 2000 Almereyda film starring Ethan Hawke, Ophelia (Julia Styles) was present when Polonius reads her love-letters to the king, and she makes clear that she had neither wanted him to read them nor certainly to reveal them to the king. Styles's Ophelia was one of the most fragile you can see, but at least she showed some spunk. In other productions, she is not even there: she has turned over her love-letters to her father "in obedience" as Polonius says. In many ways this shows what a dishrag she is.

What cultural perpectives are showed through the characters of hamlet novel?

This question may be in the wrong category. William Faulkner has a novel called The Hamlet. The question is not clear whether it means that novel or mistakenly uses the word Novel to refer to Shakespeare's tragedy: Hamlet: Prince of Denmark.

How did Old Hamlet die?

He was mudered. A "foul and most unnatural murder." He was poisoned by Claudius, his brother.

What is the point view in hamlet?

The point of view in any play is that of the audience. Unlike novels and stories, there is no narrator through whose eyes exclusively we see what happens. In a play we see all of those things which happen onstage; the playwright chooses which events we are to be witnesses to and which we are to hear from the mouths of characters in the drama.

What did William leave to his son Hamlet when he died?

William Shakespeare's son was called Hamnet, not Hamlet, and as he died aged 11 in 1596, 20 years before William Shakespeare's own death he wasn't left anything in his father's will.

Does Hamlet agree to stay in Denmark?

Yes. "As for your intent in returning to Wittenberg, it is most retrograde to our desire." Or in other words, "I don't want you to go back to University." Said much nicer, of course.

When hamlet is swearing his friend to secrecy after the ghosts appearance what is happening at the same time?

A number of things, obviously. The Ghost is still bellowing "Swear!" from under the stage. And we can assume that Claudius is still partying as he was earlier in the previous scene. What else is happening, we don't know.

Who does the ghost of king hamlet first appear to?

Horatio and the guards see the ghost at the beginning of the play.