Hamlet Close Reading

ACT III, scene 1

Analyze Drama Elements: Plot (LINES 1–49)

Read lines 1–14 and sum up the report from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? What do they say about

Hamlet in line 8?

Read lines 15–28. Comment on the dramatic irony in these lines: what do you know that the characters

onstage during these lines do not know?

Character (LINES 50–55)

What does Claudius reveal here and how what he says might be connected to what the Ghost has told

Hamlet?

Soliloquy (LINES 57–89)

Read lines 57–61. What does Hamlet mean when he says “To be or not to be”?

Explain why Hamlet fears escaping life by committing suicide.

How do lines 84–89 apply to Hamlet’s situation in the play?

Character (89–111)

Describe Hamlet’s tone as he initially speaks to Ophelia.

What gesture accompanies Ophelia’s words in lines 98–103? How does her action affect the tone of

Hamlet’s responses? Explain.

Character (LINES 134–153)

Observe the change in Hamlet after Ophelia tells him that her father is “at home” (line 133). He might suspect

Polonius is spying on them, and often when the play is performed, an offstage noise precedes Hamlet’s

question, “Where’s your father?” (line 132).

Reread Hamlet’s speeches to Ophelia. What sincere emotion drives him in these speeches? Explain,

citing text details.

Plot (LINES 154–174)

Identify details that show how upset Ophelia is after talking to Hamlet. Explain why.

Character (LINES 180–192)

How is Polonius’s new plan in keeping with his character as it has been developed through the play?

Cite details in support.

ACT III, scene 2

Determine Themes (Sc. 2 LINES 1–25)

In this part of the scene, what is real converges with what is false, or acted. Read carefully to see how

Shakespeare blurs the line between appearance and reality. Notice that Hamlet objects to overacting.

Explain what Hamlet means by “the purpose of playing, / whose end, both at the first and now, was and

/ is to hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature. ” Why does he want to emphasize that for this play?

Character (sc. 2 LINES 58–89)

Consider Horatio’s role in the play as you read this passage. Observe lines 65-76 closely. Hamlet says

that since he was old enough to choose a friend, he has chosen Horatio. What quality does he admire in

his friend?

Conflict (sc. 2 LINES 100–123)

Keep in mind what Polonius said about Hamlet in Act II, Scene 2, lines 207–208: “Though this be madness, yet

there is / method in it.” Observe Hamlet’s “method” both with Polonius and with Ophelia. Notice Hamlet’s

“madness” with Polonius and notice how it changes when he is with Ophelia.

Analyze Language (sc. 2 LINES 125–132)

In addition to dramatic irony, Shakespeare also uses verbal irony, in which a character says one thing

but means another. Identify examples of verbal irony in Hamlet’s lines to Ophelia. Explain his real

meaning.

Support Inferences (sc. 2 LINES 135–140)

Explain the function of the dumb show (the pantomime that occurs before the play) in Hamlet’s plan.

Support Inferences (sc. 2 LINES 161–186)

Explain how the marriage of the King and Queen is depicted. What is the purpose of this scene?

Conflict (sc. 2 LINES 228–244)

What does the comment of Hamlet’s mother in line 231 suggest about her perception of the play?

Explain Hamlet’s purpose in lines 238–244.

Conflict (sc. 2 LINES 256–271)

Remember Hamlet’s comment at the end of Act II: “the play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the

conscience of the King.” Has Hamlet succeeded? Has he “caught the conscience of the King”? Explain.

Analyze Drama Elements (sc. 2 LINES 299–325)

Describe Hamlet’s mood in this passage. What details convey his feelings?

Soliloquy (sc. 2 LINES 391–402)

What feeling is revealed by Hamlet’s comment that “Now could I drink hot blood”? What other words

convey this state of mind?

How do his words here violate the spirit of the final demand the Ghost made of him?

ACT III, scene 3

Analyze Language (sc. 3 LINES 24–26)

Explain the King’s metaphor. What does his use of this metaphor reveal?

Soliloquy (sc. 3 LINES 36–72)

Identify details in the speech that show evidence of the King’s feelings of guilt. What does he know he

should do to lessen these feelings of guilt?

Conflict (sc. 3 LINES 74–98)

Why doesn’t Hamlet kill Claudius when he sees him alone and undefended?

How do the King’s lines at the end of the scene make Hamlet’s decision ironic?

ACT III, scene 4

Symbolism (sc. 4 LINES 19–21)

What does the mirror represent? Explain how this symbol illustrates what Hamlet is trying to do

throughout the play.

Conflict/inference (sc. 4 LINES 22–26)

Why is the killing of Polonius a turning point for Hamlet?

Character (sc. 4 LINES 29–52)

Identify the lines that suggest Hamlet may suspect his mother of conspiring to kill his father.

Characterize Hamlet’s behavior and his tone in this confrontation. Has he momentarily gone mad? If so,

how does his behavior contrast with scenes where he was playing at madness?

Support Inferences (sc. 4 LINES 107–145)

What does the Ghost’s comment in lines 114–119 reveal about his reason for appearing?

What does the Queen say to indicate that Hamlet is hallucinating about the Ghost?

Character (sc. 4 LINES 146–178)

Comment on Hamlet’s speeches to his mother here in light of the Ghost’s request that he comfort her. Is

he following the ghost’s request?

Character (sc. 4 LINES 186–223)

Why doesn’t Hamlet want Gertrude to be intimate with Claudius again? What is Hamlet afraid might

happen?

As the scene closes and Hamlet prepares to drag Polonius from the room, how does he refer to the dead

man? What do his words about the dead man reveal about Hamlet?