Question

hamlet: final exam – study guide
directions: use this guide to review key concepts, characters, and events in hamlet in preparation for your final exam. i am not collecting this guide. use it to study in whatever fashion works best for you. on the day of the exam, you will not be allowed to use this or any other aids. good luck!

• tell me one specific thing that king claudius utters during his opening speech to the kingdom of elsinore.
• tell me the excuse horatio gives hamlet for his coming to denmark, then tell me the real reason he came.
• for what reason does laertes wish for ophelia not to continue to see hamlet?
• the ghost tells hamlet that he was murdered. describe how he was murdered.
• \o, that this too too solid flesh would melt

thaw and resolve itself into a dew!
or that the everlasting had not fixd
his canon gainst __________\
fill in the blank.

• according to horatio, why is denmark in such a state that makes “the night joint-laborer with the day”? why are the guards keeping such an observant watch over the kingdom? be specific.
• tell me two specific pieces of advice that polonius imparts to laertes before the latter departs back to france.
• the ghost orders hamlet to do what, exactly?
• hamlet orders marcellus and horatio to swear they will not reveal what?
• hamlet’s last lines in act one are “o cursed spite/ that ever i was born to set it right!” what does “set it right” refer to and how does he regard the prospect of doing so?
• for what reason are rosencrantz and guildenstern truly at elsinore?
• define enjambment.
• king: how is it that the clouds still hang on you?

hamlet: not so, my lord; i am too much in the sun.
the poetic device that hamlet uses when he says \sun\ is an example of what?

• define antithesis.
• voltemand tells claudius two significant things that happened when uncle fortinbras discovered his nephew had decided to take up arms against denmark. tell me one.

Explanation:

This study guide is for analyzing the play "Hamlet", which falls under the subfield of Literature in the Arts discipline. The questions involve understanding characters, plot events, literary devices, and quotes from the play, all of which are central to literary analysis.

Answer:

Literature (under Arts)