HAMLET

I.1.
1 What's the time (which century) and the setting (which country, what place)?
2 Who is Horatio?
3 What's the first supernatural event?
4 What does Marcellus mean when he says: "Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio"?
5 What does Horatio say about the political situation in Denmark?
6 What is the first similarity between Fortinbras and Hamlet?

I.2.
1 Technically speaking, is Claudius a usurper? What does he say about the political
conflict with Norway?
2 What is the second similarity between Fortinbras and Hamlet?
3 Who is Laertes and what is he asking from Claudius?
4 What's Claudius's advice to Hamlet and how does he take the advice?
5 What does the Queen mean when she says: "...let thine eye look like a friend on
Denmark"?
6 Why doesn't Claudius give his consent to Hamlet to go back to Wittenberg? When was
the university of Wittenberg founded? Does it identify the time of the play?
7 Define "soliloquy". Identify the subject matter of Hamlet's first soliloquy (beginning
with line 129).
8 What does Hamlet accuse Claudius of at this point? And his mother?
9 Identify Hamlet's tone when he describes the social situation in Denmark (from line
170 on).

I.3.
1 What is Laertes’s warning to Ophelia?
2 Analyze the pieces of advice Polonius gives to Laertes. Are they sensible?
3 What is Polonius’s warning to Ophelia? Is it in accordance with Laertes’s counsel? What
does that suggest about the position of women in the play and/or Shakespeare’s time?

I.4.
1 What is the time and the place?
2 When the ghost appears, what questions does Hamlet ask him (lines 39 to 57)?

I.5.
1 If Old Hamlet was a good king, why is he not in heaven (lines 10-13)?
2 What is Hamlet response when the ghost of Old Hamlet says he was murdered? Is it in
accordance with what he says in line 41 about his uncle? What does Hamlet promise his
father at this point?
3 What directions does the ghost give Hamlet? What is Hamlet’s first response?
4 Why doesn’t Hamlet want to disclose to Horatio and his other friends what the ghost
told him? Why does he make them swear to keep the ghost’s appearance secret? Why
does he make them swear on his sword? Why are they constantly moving on to another
place?