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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
Man versus society
What is Hamlet's opinion of his father?
"So excellent a king that was to [Claudius] Hyperion to a satyr".
How does polonius lie to the king in scene 2?
What Scene 2 are we talking about here? It must be Act 1 or Act 2, because Polonius does not speak to the king in Act 3 Scene 2, although he does speak to Hamlet, and lies to him ("Very like a whale").
So is it Act 1 Scene 2, where Polonius says "He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave by laboursome petition."? I suppose that might have been a lie, since he does not seem to need much persuading to let Laertes live a wild life in Paris.
Are we talking about the bit in Act II Scene 2 where Polonius hands over Hamlet's love-letter, saying that Ophelia handed it over "in her duty and obedience"? It has been suggested in some productions that basically he stole it, or forced her to hand it over. Or are we talking about "Your noble son is mad." Not true, maybe, but does Polonius know that?
What is the punishment King Hamlet's Ghost must suffer and why?
King Hamlet's spirit is in Purgatory, the waiting-room for heaven, where he is punished (by "sulfurous and tormenting flames" apparently) for the sins he committed since his last confession. It's a very Catholic concept.
What were Hamlet's inward and outward conflicts?
man vs himself - Deciding whether to kill Claudius or not. In addition to this, Hamlet shows through his sililoquies whether he should live or die. "To be or not to be, that is the question" man vs man - Hamlet vs. Claudius. Hamlet vs. Laertes. Hamlet vs. Polonius man vs. society - Claudius can't punish Hamlet because the civilians love him. Claudius and Gertrude's marriage are considered incestous, and therefore go against society's norms.
What does the quote the best way out is always through mean?
"The best way out is always through" means that if you keep going through what you're already going through (presumably a negative experience) you will eventually come out the other side...and it will be over.
^To add to this, the presumption is also (seeing as it is the 'best' way out) that among any other options -- like avoidance -- it is best to just engage/deal with whatever the problem or hardship is rather than to give up or look for a way around the problem. Possibly this notion comes from the idea that if you deal with the problem directly, it is forever solved and therefore can't come back around to bite you in the posterior.
What is Claudius attitude toward Polonius?
Claudius shows respect towards Polonius. Since Polonius is the advisor to the King, kind of like the second in command, Claudius could only have treated him with respect.
What important realizations that Laertes reach during the duel with Hamlet?
Laertes didn't have any "important realisations" during his duel with Hamlet. The duel only took place as a means for Claudius to have Hamlet killed, disguised as Laertes' need to seek satisfaction for the deaths of his father and sister.
Laertes had forgiven Hamlet, but needed to uphold his reputation and honour, hence the duel.
Claudius hopes that Hamlet will be killed in?
Claudius hopes that Hamlet will be killed in England. Claudius is the King and is also the brother of Hamlet.
After the ghost departs who does Hamlet refer to as O most pernicious woman?
He is talking about his mother. He switches to talking about Claudius in the next line.
Revenge Tragedy is a technique used in plays. It involves the leading character avenging the death of a loved one. The most famous Revenge Tragedy is William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.
Which protagonist from Hamlet emerges in the end as more victorious?
The only protagonist in Hamlet is Hamlet, who emerges victorious only in the sense that he does end up getting his revenge on Claudius. Everyone else dies in the process, however.
What do laertes and claudius do to manipulate the outcome of the duel?
In a sense, they do not care about the outcome of the duel. The duel is a smokescreen to give Laertes an opportunity to be within arm's length of Hamlet with a pointy poisoned sword, and with some kind of excuse when Hamlet is killed as a result. Hamlet was, in fact, winning the duel and would have won the bet for Claudius, but that doesn't matter.
What is the significance of polonius advice to laertes?
What Polonius says might seem like practical and wise advice. His closing exhortation, "to thy own self be true" is often sententiously quoted. The significance of this fatherly advice is that when we find out, in Act 2 Scene 1, that Polonius is sending a spy to check up on Laertes by slandering him about the town, we realize that Polonius himself is not to himself true and he is, as we increasingly find out, false to every man. He doesn't expect Laertes to listen to his wise advice, because he wouldn't think of following it himself. He is just putting on a show.
About what did the character Hamlet procrastinate?
Well, the ghost tells him in Act 1 Scene 5 to "Revenge my most unnatural murder" and Hamlet doesn't do it until Act 5, after about three hours of play. But Hamlet is not really a procrastinator. He really only has one good chance at killing the king and passes on it because he thinks he will get a better chance. When he thinks that better chance has come, he doesn't hesitate: he stabs the man hiding in the curtains, who turns out to be not the king at all. Basically the ball he left alone turned out to be a strike and the one he swung on he should have left alone.
Killing a king is not an easy thing to plan out. You need to wait for an opportunity and take it when it comes, or you will be yet another in the long list of failed assassins. If Hamlet had rushed down from the battlements and broken into the place where the king was taking his rouse, waving a sword and attempting to stick it in Claudius in some hypothetical Act 1 Scene 6, the actor playing Hamlet would not have had to worry about learning any lines for the rest of the play. Hamlet would have been dead meat.
