Hamlet Act 3: I and II Questions

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Hamlet Act 3: I and II Questions


 Act 3

Scene 1:
1. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report to Polonius?
They report that Hamlet is very sly and he dances around the questions rather than answer them. He was very interested at the idea of the play and begged both the King and Queen to attend. 

2. How does Claudius react when Polonius says, "…with devotion's visage, And pious action we do sugar o'er/ The devil himself"?
Polonius’s words make Claudius aware that his words also speak for him; a show of devotion to cover up the evilest deeds. Claudius’s conscience is stirred up, and he feels guilt for murdering his brother.

3. What plan do Polonius, Claudius, and Ophelia now put into action?
They want to see if it’s Hamlet’s love for Ophelia that his making him mad. So they set the situation in a way that Ophelia can run into Hamlet, and Claudius and Polonius can hear her conversations with Hamlet in hiding to determine the reason for his madness.

4. What is the nature of Hamlet's soliloquy, lines 57-91?
Hamlet is considering the nature of life, death and life after death. His soliloquy is turned towards the fact that humans don’t know what comes after death--the eternal sleep--and that’s maybe why they try to stretch out their life, even when it’s only suffering, as much as possible. 

5. What is Hamlet's main argument against suicide?
He thinks that when there’s so much suffering in life, it’s fairly easy to kill yourself. But what stops man is the fear of the unknown more than the fear of the sufferings he knows of. And since nobody can answer any question anyone has about after death, we stick to the tragedy of life. 

6. Why does Hamlet treat Ophelia as cruelly as he does? What has changed him?
In Ophelia’s words, Hamlet senses dishonesty. He knows that Ophelia is rejecting his love out of someone else’s wish, and he decides to let Ophelia go with hurt that will make her hate him. He unleashes his rage on him and curses her in the most vulgar way possible. 

7. What thinly veiled threat to Claudius does Hamlet voice after he becomes of his hidden presence? (lines 148-150)
“I say, we will have no more marriages. Those that are married already, all but one, shall live.” In this quote, Hamlet indicates to Claudius, symbolizing him with his marriage with his mother,and threatening him with death. 

8. At the end of this scene, what does the King decide to do with Hamlet?
The King decides to send Hamlet to England so he can get back the money that England owes them. He thinks travel will make his mind clearer.


Scene 2:
9. What qualities in Horatio cause Hamlet to enlist his assistance?
Hamlet loves Horatio because he has the perfect balance between logic and emotion; so much so that Hamlet comments that he can deal with whatever luck he is dealt with, and he handles it calmly. 

10. What does Hamlet ask Horatio to do?
He asks Horatio to observe Claudius during the play when the scene of his father’s murder is being shown. 

11. Summarize what happens in the play-within-a-play.
The play is about a character named Gonzago and his kingdom. Hamlet makes sure that the play directly relates to the theories he has about his father’s death, and to exaggerate his mother’s cruel reaction to his father’s death and test out how Claudius reacts to the murder of his father that supposedly Claudius has committed. It ends up embarrassing both Claudius and Gertrude and they both leave. 

12. Why, in line 233, does Hamlet refer to the play-within-a-play as "The Mouse-trap"?\
The Mouse-trap is supposedly the play, because it will incite some kind of guilty reaction from Claudius and catch him in his weak moment. 

13. What is the King's reaction to the play?
He gets embarrassed and leaves the scene.

14. In lines 354-363, to what object does Hamlet compare himself? Why?
Hamlet compares himself to a recorder that’s being played by his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He is way too smart to be played by them and be spied on, and he lets them know that. 

15. As Hamlet goes to his mother at the end of this scene, what does he admonish himself to do?
He tells himself to be cruel to his mother verbally but not to be cruel to her physically.

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