Acts/ Scenes

Question 1

Act 1 Scene 1- The ghost appears

Answer 1

• At Elsinore Castle in Denmark, guards (Bernardo, Francisco, Marcellus) and Horatio, Hamlet’s friend, keeps watch.
• They see the ghost of the late Hamlet appear, wearing armour.
• The ghost refuses to speak to them.
• Horatio decides they should tell Prince Hamlet about Horatio

Question 2

Act 1 Scene 2- Claudius’ Court

Answer 2

• King Claudius (Hamlet-s uncle) gives a speech celebrating his marriage to Queen Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother).
• He sends ambassadors (Voltemand and Cornelius) to Norway to deal with young Fortinbras’ war threats.
• Hamlet is still mourning his father; Claudius and Gertrude urge him to move on.
• Hamlet delivers his first soliloquay (‘O that this too solid flesh would melt’) expressing grief and disgust at his mother’s quick remarriage.
• Horatio tells Hamlet about the Ghost. Hamlet agrees to join the watch that night.

Question 3

Act 1 Scene 3- Laertes and Ophelia

Answer 3

• Laertes warns his sister Ophelia not to get too involved with Hamlet; he might not marry her.
• Polonius (their father) gives Laertes advice before he leaves for France (‘To thine own self be true’).
• Polonius orders Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet.

Question 4

Act 1 Scene 4- The ghost beckons Hamlet

Answer 4

• Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus see the ghost again.
• The ghost beckons Hamlet to follow; the others warn him not to.
• Hamlet follows it alone.

Question 5

Act 1 Scene 5- The Ghost’s Revelation

Answer 5

• The ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius, who poured poison in his ear while he slept.
• The Ghost demands revenge but urges Hamlet not to harm Gertrude.
• Hamlet swears to remember and obey the ghost.
• He makes Horatio and Marcellus swear secrecy.
• Hamlet declares he will ‘put an antic disposition on’ (pretend to be mad).

Question 6

Act 2 Scene 1- Polonius sends Reynaldo/ Ophelia’s report

Answer 6

• Polonius sends Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris.
• Ophelia reports that Hamlet came to her dishevelled and acting strangely.
• Polonius concludes that Hamlet is mad with love for Ophelia and goes to tell the king.

Question 7

Act 2 Scene 2- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern/ The Players

Answer 7

• Claudius and Getrude summon Hamlet’s old friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on him.
• Polonius tells Claudius that Hamlet is mad for love of Ophelia.
• Hamlet enters and mocks Polonius (‘fishmonger’).
• Hamlet greets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, quickly realizing they were sent to spy.
• A troupe of actors (‘players’) arrives at Elsinore.
• Hamlet asks them to perform ‘The Murder of Gonzago’ with an extra speech he’ll write- to test Claudius’ guilt.
• Soliloquay: “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!’- Hamlet berates himself for inaction.

Question 8

Act 3 Scene 1- “To be or not to be”/ The Nunnery Scene

Answer 8

• Claudius and Polonius spy on Hamlet and Ophelia.
• Hamlet delivers his famous soliloquay “To be or not to be”.
• Hamlet harshly rejects Ophelia (‘Get thee to a nunnery’).
• Claudius, unconvinced that love is the cause of Hamlet’s madness, decides to send Hamlet to England.

Question 9

Act 3 Scene 2- The Play within the Play

Answer 9

• Hamlet instructs the players how to act.
• He tells Horatio to watch Claudius during the play.
• The play (‘the mousetrap’) mirrors King Hamlet’s murder.
• Claudius reacts with guilt and storms out.
• Hamlet and Horatio confirm his guilt.
• Hamlet is summoned to Gertrude’s chamber.

Question 10

Act 3 Scene 3- Claudius at Prayer

Answer 10

• Claudius tries to pray, confessing his guilt.
• Hamlet finds him alone and has chance to kill him but refrains- he doesn’t want to send Claudius’s soul to heaven.

Question 11

Act 3 Scene 4- The Closet Scene

Answer 11

• In Gertrude’s chamber, Polonius hides behind a curtain (arras).
• Hamlet confronts Gertrude about her marriage.
• Hearing movement, Hamlet stabs through the curtain, killing Polonius.
• The Ghost appears, reminding Hamlet to focus on revenge, not Gertrude.
• Gertrude, unable ti see the Ghost, thinks Hamlet is mad.
• Hamlet urges her to confess and repent.
• He drags away Polonius’s body.

Question 12

Act 4 Scene 1- Gertrude Reports Polonius’s Death

Answer 12

• Gertrude tells Claudius Hamlet has killed Polonius.
• Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find Hamlet and the body.

Question 13

Act 4 Scene 2- Hamlet hides the body

Answer 13

• Hamlet refuses to reveal where he hid Polonius’s body and mocks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Question 14

Act 4 Scene 3- Hamlet sent to England

Answer 14

• Claudius tells Hamlet he must leave for England.
• Alone, CLaudius reveals he’s sent orders for Hamlet’s execution.

Question 15

Act 4 Scene 4- Fortinbras’ army

Answer 15

• On his way to england, hamlet meets Fortinbras’ captain, who speaks of a trivial battle in Poland.
• Hamlet delivers soliloquay “How all occasions do inform against me”, resolving to act decisively.

Question 16

Act 4 Scene 5- Ophelia’s Madness

Answer 16

• Ophelia, grief-stricken by her father’s death and Hamlet’s rejection, goes mad.
• Laertes returns from France furious.
• Claudius calms him and promises to explain.

Question 17

Act 4 Scene 6- Hamlet’s letter

Answer 17

• Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet saying he escaped the ship to England and will return to Denmark.

Question 18

Act 4 Scene 7- Claudius and Laertes Plot

Answer 18

• Claudius and Laertes plan to kill Hamlet in a fencing match with a poisoned sword.
• Claudius adds a poisoned drink as backup.
• News arrives that Ophelia has drowned.

Question 19

Act 5 Scene 1- The Graveyard

Answer 19

• Two gravediggers joke as they dig Ophelia’s grave.
• Hamlet and Horatio enter; Hamlet muses on mortality (‘Alas, poor Yorick’).
• Ophelia’s funeral procession arrives.
• Laertes leaps into the grave in grief; Hamlet follows, and they fight.

Question 20

Act 5 Scene 2- The Duel and Deaths

Answer 20

• Hamlet tells Horatio how he discovered and rewrote Claudius’s death order, killing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead.
• Osric, a courtier, invites Hamlet to duel Laertes.
• During the dencing match:

<Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned blade.
<They scuffle; Hamlet wounds Laertes with the same sword.
<Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup and dies.
<Laertes, dying, confesses the plot and forgives Hamlet.
<Hamlet kills Claudius with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink the poison.
<Hamlet dies, asking Horatio to tell his story.

• Fortinbras arrives to find the royal family dead.
• Fortinbras takes control of Denmark.
• Horatio gives a final tribute to Hamlet.