ACT V Take Home Quiz Respond to two of the following in a complete paragraph. Use lines or examples from the text to make your point.
1. Melancholy, Madness and Sanity Hamlet tells his mother that he "essentially [is] not in madness, / But mad in craft" (3.4.204205) and claims to "put an antic disposition on" (1.5.189), but does he ever cross the line between sanity and insanity in the play? To complicate matters, the world of Hamlet seems insane: the king is a murderer; the queen lusts after her dead husband's brother; friends spy on friends; and one character (Ophelia) really does go insane. Could Hamlet really be sane in an insane world? And what about Hamlet's melancholy? From the beginning of the play, Hamlet is depressed, and he considers suicide several different times. What is the real cause of his melancholy? Does he ever break out of his melancholy?
2. Passion and Reason As Hamlet says, "What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god!" (2.2.286289). At the same time, though, we are sometimes ruled by our passions (lust, greed, gluttony, etc.). We are capable of greatness and nobility, but we are also capable of behavior fitting for a beast, so Hamlet asks another "pregnant" question (a question loaded with meaning) when he asks Ophelia, "What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven?" (3.1.128129). All of the characters in the play are "crawling between earth and heaven," but some are drawn more to earth by their "beastly" behavior. How does the theme of passion and reason apply to some of the main characters? How does the issue of passion and reason help to determine Hamlet's views of some of the other characters and of life in general?
3. Decay and Corruption "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (1.4.98). In fact, many things are rotten in the state of Denmark, and images of decay, corruption, and disease are common throughout the play. Following the conventions of tragedy, many of the characters become corrupted in some way, and, by the end of the play, all of the corrupt characters must be eliminated so that Denmark can once again be set right. Many characters in Hamlet die. In what ways is each of these characters "corrupt"? What images in the play suggest decay, corruption, or disease?
4. Hamlet's Character Hamlet is one of the most complex characters in literature, and Shakespeare created in Hamlet a character that defies easy explanation. What aspects of Hamlet's character are admirable? What are Hamlet's weaknesses or flaws? And what about Hamlet's mental state? Why might he be seen as an intelligent character? And how do his melancholy and feigned (or unfeigned) madness add complexity to his character? Does Hamlet see the world lucidly, or is his perception of the world too clouded by his melancholy? And why does Hamlet take so long to kill Claudius?
The above questions are from the Illinois Valley Community College. 5. Explain how Hamlet’s discussion with Horatio upon finding Yorick’s skull expresses his lifeview: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chapfallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that.
6. The relationships between men and women in the play are often ambiguous. Does Hamlet really love Ophelia? Is Ophelia a weak character? Did Gertrude marry Claudius to protect Hamlet as the future king, or did she conspire against King Hamlet?
7. Hamlet has been one of Shakespeare’s most enduring plays. Give three reasons why you think Hamlet has stuck around for as long as it has with a brief explanation.
8. There are many mysteries of life that are questioned in Hamlet, but never answered. Likewise, the characters suffer throughout the play in different ways. Write a brief letter of advice to one of the characters that would help them cope with the world in which they live.