Act 3 Questions

Act 3
Scene 1:

1. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report to Polonius?
He says that Hamlet is going crazy and that there will be a play taking place later that night.


2. How does Claudius react when Polonius says, "…With devotion's visage, and pious action we do sugar o'er/ the devil himself"?
He admits that he has done something wrongdoing. Claudis agrees with him and they are going to spy on Hamlet to see if he is crazy.

3. What plan do Polonius, Claudius and Ophelia now put into action?
They are going to spy on Hamlet while Ophelia talks to him, to see if he is in love with her.


4. What is the nature of Hamlet's soliloquy, lines 57-91?
He wants to commit suicide but is too afraid about the unknown of death.

5. What is Hamlet's main argument against suicide?
Hamlet doesn’t know what happens after death.


6. Why does Hamlet treat Ophelia as cruelly as he does? What has changed him?
Hamlet treats her cruelly because he wants her out of his life for her own protection. He has realized that his life is not safe for her.

7. What thinly veiled threat to Claudius does Hamlet voice, after he becomes of his hidden presence? (Lines 148-150)
He threatens Claudius’s life.
8. At the end of this scene, what does the King decide to do with Hamlet?
He decides to send him to England to collect unpaid tribute.
To England for unpaid tribute.





Scene 2:
9. What qualities in Horatio cause Hamlet to enlist his assistance?
He’s well balanced and trustworthy.

10. What does Hamlet ask Horatio to do?
To keep an eye on Claudius to see what he is up to.

11. Summarize what happens in the play-within-a-play.
The king ask the queen to leave him alone while he takes a nap, then nephew poured poison into the king’s ear, and then the queen and nephew or uncle gets married.
12. Why, in line 233, does Hamlet refer to the play-within-a-play as "The Mouse-trap"?
Hamlet is using the play to trap Claudius.

13. What is the King's reaction to the play?
He’s suspicious because he knows that Hamlet has caught him.

14. In lines 354-363, to what object does Hamlet compare himself? Why?
He is comparing himself to a recorder because, he said, “You are not going to make me talk no matter what you do.” Hamlet knows that the two guards are spying on him, and he’s not going to let them get away with it.

15. As Hamlet goes to his mother at the end of this scene, what does he admonish himself to do?
He is going to talk badly to her, but he isn’t going to kill her, he is going to kill King Claudius.