Name_____________                                                                                      English 11

Mrs. Moorman/ Mrs. Murray                                                                           Period____

 

Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1

Summary – What happens in this scene?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Characters –   Who are they?  What is their role in the scene?

 

Hamlet:

 

 

 

King:

 

 

 

Queen:

 

 

 

Polonius:

 

 

 

Ophelia:

 

 

Rozencrantz:

 

 

Guildenstern

 

Important Lines – Interpret each quote in your own words and then explain why it is important.

 

1)      Guildenstern: Nor do we find him forward to be sounded,

      But with a crafty madness keeps aloof
      When we would bring him on to some confession
      Of his true state. 3.1.7-10

 

 

 

 

 

 

2)      Hamlet: To be, or not to be- that is the question:

         Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
          The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
          Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
          And by opposing end them. 3.1.64-68

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3)      Hamlet: Thus conscience does make cowards of us all. 3.1.91

 

 

                                                   

 

 

 

4)      Hamlet:    I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with

more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do, crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves all; believe none of us.  Go thy ways to a nunnery.  Where’s your father?  3.1.134-141

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5)      Hamlet:   Goto, I'll no more on't! it hath made me mad.

I say, we will have no moe marriages.
Those that are married already- all but one- shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go. 3.1.158-162

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)      Ophelia:    And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,

That suck'd the honey of his music vows,
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; 3.1.169-172

 

 

 

 

 

 

7)      Claudius: There's something in his soul

                        O'er which his melancholy sits on brood; 3.1.178-179

 

 

 

 

 

 

8)      Polonius: Let his queen mother all alone entreat him

To show his grief. Let her be round with him;
And I'll be plac'd so please you, in the ear
Of all their conference. 3.1.196-199

 

 

 

 

 

9)      King: Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go.  3.1.201

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further Questions –

1)      How do King Claudius and Polonius intend to find out whether Hamlet still has feelings for Ophelia?

 

 

 

 

2)      What is Hamlet thinking about in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

3)      Describe the structure of the “To be or not to be” soliloquy.

 

 

 

 

 

4)      What are some of the reasons Hamlet gives for telling Ophelia to go to a nunnery?

 

 

 

 

 

5)      How might your perception of the nunnery scene change if:

a.       Hamlet knows the King and Polonius are watching.

b.      Hamlet suspects the King and Polonius are watching.

c.       Hamlet has no idea the King and Polonius are watching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)      What does the King plan to do with Hamlet at the end of the scene?

 

 

 

 

 

7)      What does the line “Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go” tell you about the King’s attitude towards Hamlet at this point in the play?