VCCS Litonline Introduction to Literature
English 112 (English Composition II)

The Hamlet Site

Study and Essay Questions

Objective for this Page: To analyze the deaths in the play.  

3. Mel Gibson says that all of the deaths during the play result from Hamlet's decision not to kill Claudius while he is praying. Agree or disagree and explain why.

Gather evidence from the text or the movie version to defend your answer to any of these.

3.1 How does Hamlet prove to himself that Claudius really did kill the king?

3.2 List all the reasons can you think of for Hamlet's not killing Claudius while he is praying? (Consider public as well as private justice, stated and unstated reasons.) For example, if Hamlet had killed Claudius while Claudius was in the chapel, what might have happened? If Hamlet had killed Claudius in the chapel, wouldn’t that make him just as much an assassin as Claudius was for killing his father? Also, how did Hamlet's fear of death delay his action? At what point does he overcome this fear?

3.3 What were Hamlet's contributions to the death of Ophelia?

3.4 Why did Hamlet have Rosencranz and Guildenstern killed instead of just held for a while?

3.5 To what extent is Hamlet responsible for each of the deaths in the duel scene in Act V? To what extent is he not responsible for Gertrude's death?

3.6 In what ways was Hamlet justified in killing Claudius? (Consider the quest given to him by his father's ghost as well as the public or societal need for justice.)

3.7 How is Claudius responsible for all the deaths, including his own?

3.8 What responsibility does Gertrude have and how could she have prevented any of the deaths?

3.9 Why does Hamlet ask Horatio to tell his [Hamlet's] story at the end of the play? What does Horatio see of Hamlet's motives that others have not?

3.10 To what extent are Polonius, Laertes, Ophelia, Rosencranz, and Guildenstern used as pawns in the plotting and counter-plotting between Claudius and Hamlet? Who "wins" this chess match?

3.11 How does Hamlet's love for Ophelia or for Gertrude influence his actions?

3.12 Does the ghost prevent Hamlet’s suicide? Explain.

  The URL for this page is: http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/TheHamletSite/studygd3.htm