hamlet discussion questions act 1

Hamlet Discussion Questions

You can use these to start the discussion, or you can ask your own questions or comment on other features of the play.

• What is "rotten in the state of Denmark," as Marcellus tells us?  What do we learn about the situation in Scene I? In Scene II?
• In what ways is Scene II a contrast to Scene I?   What do we learn about Gertrude, Claudius, and Hamlet in this scene?
• What is the function of the Polonius-Ophelia-Laertes family in this play? What parallels exist between their situation and that of the ruling family?
• What does Hamlet learn from the Ghost's speech? 
• Why does this act open with Polonius and Reynaldo?  What does this tell us about Polonius's character, and what theme or motif does it introduce in the play?
• How does the interaction between Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern help to explain what's wrong with Hamlet?  Why are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Denmark?
• The First Player's speech is often cut in performances of the play.  Explain why it is important and why it should not be cut .
• Hamlet's "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I" is the first of his soliloquies. What is he saying, and how does this set of words help to move him to action?
• What does he decide to do at the end of this speech?
• What is the subject of Hamlet's second soliloquy, the famous "To be or not to be" speech?
• Why is he so cruel to Ophelia immediately thereafter?
• What happens in the "play-within-a-play"?  How do the speeches and actions reflect on events in the kingdom of Denmark?  How does the king respond?
• In what way is Hamlet's second major interaction with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (III.ii.375-415) different from his first encounter with them?
• Why does Hamlet decline to take action against Claudius in III.iii ?
• What happens in III.iv (the closet scene)?  Why is this death so important for the play, or what does the death of this figure represent?
• Based on what you've seen in III.iv , do you think Gertrude knew about the murder?
• Is Hamlet really mad in this play, or is merely pretending to be mad? (Find lines that support your answer.)
• A foil is a character who is like the protagonist in some respects but who has contrasting qualities that "reflect" or illuminate the traits of the main character.  Who are Hamlet's foils, and in what ways do their characters shed light on his?
• Do Hamlet and Fortinbras meet in IV.iv ? Why is this significant?
• Why is Ophelia mad?  Does anything she say make sense?  What happens to her at the end of Act IV? What does her madness and death symbolize about the kingdom?
• Look at the scene with Laertes and Claudius ( IV.vii ).  What plans do they have for Hamlet?  How does this scene establish Laertes as a foil for Hamlet?
• Why is Hamlet less present in this act than in the previous three?
• Why does this scene begin with two clowns trading jokes?  Do their jokes make any sense in the context of the play? 
• Where do Hamlet and Laertes fight in V.ii ?
• Who is Osric , and why is he included in the play?
• Does Hamlet realize that he might not come out of this fight alive? See V.ii.225-238.
• What is the outcome of the fight scene at the end?
• When Gertrude drinks from the cup, Claudius asks her not to drink and she refuses.  Has she ever disobeyed Claudius before?
• Who is alive at the end of the play, and how do the others meet their ends?
• Why is Fortinbras's presence important?

D. Campbell

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Hamlet summary and analysis of act 1.

The play opens during a bitterly cold night watch outside of the royal Danish palace. There is a changing of the guards: Bernardo replaces Francisco . Soon two more characters arrive, Horatio and Marcellus . We learn that Bernardo and Marcellus, two soldiers, have witnessed an extraordinary sight on both of the previous nights’ watches: the ghost of the former King of Denmark, Old Hamlet , has appeared before them in full armor. On this third night, they’ve welcomed Horatio, a scholar and a skeptic who has just arrived in Denmark, to verify their ghost sighting. Horatio initially expresses doubt that the ghost will appear. Suddenly, it does. The two soldiers charge Horatio to speak to the ghost but he does not. The ghost disappears just as suddenly as it arrived.

Soon after the ghost’s disappearance, Marcellus asks the other two why there has been such a massive mobilization of Danish war forces recently. Horatio answers, saying that the Danish army is preparing for a possible invasion by Fortinbras , Prince of Norway. We learn that Fortinbras’ father (also named Fortinbras), was killed many years before in single combat with Old Hamlet , the now-deceased king whose ghost we have just seen. Now that Old Hamlet has died, presumably weakening the Danes, there is a rumor that Fortinbras plans to invade Denmark and claim that lands that were forfeit after his father’s death.

After Horatio has finished explaining this political backstory, the ghost of Old Hamlet appears once more. This time Horatio does try to speak to the ghost. When the ghost remains silent, Horatio tells Marcellus and Bernardo to try to detain it; they strike at the ghost with their spears but jab only air. A rooster crows just as the ghost appears ready to reply to Horatio at last. This sound startles the ghost away. Horatio decides to tell Prince Hamlet, Old Hamlet’s son, about the apparition, and the others agree.

This scene begins at the court of Claudius and Gertrude , the King and Queen of Denmark. They have just been married. This marriage has followed quickly after the death of the former King of Denmark, Old Hamlet, Claudius’ brother. Claudius addresses the quickness of the marriage, representing himself as in mourning for a lost brother even as he is joyful for a new wife, his one-time sister. Claudius also addresses the question of the young Fortinbras’ proposed invasion. He says that he has spoken to Fortinbras’ uncle, the King of Norway, who has made Fortinbras promise to halt any plans to invade Denmark. Claudius sends Cornelius and Voltemand , two courtiers, to Norway to settle this business. Finally, Claudius turns to Laertes , the son of his trusted counselor, Polonius . Laertes expresses a wish to return to France and Claudius grants permission.

At this point, Prince Hamlet, who has been standing apart from the king’s audience this whole time, speaks the first of his many lines. Claudius asks Hamlet why he is still so gloomy. Hamlet’s replies are evasive, cynical, and punning. He declares that his grief upon losing his father still deeply affects him. Claudius goes into a speech about the unnaturalness of prolonged grief; to lose one’s father is painful but common, he says, and Hamlet should accept this as nature’s course. He expresses a wish that Hamlet remain with them in Denmark instead of returning to Wittenberg, where he is a student, and when Gertrude seconds this wish, Hamlet agrees. The king, queen, and all their retinue then exit the stage, leaving Hamlet alone.

In his first soliloquy, Hamlet expresses the depths of his melancholy and his disgust at his mother’s hastily marrying Claudius after the death of his father. He declares his father to be many times Claudius’ superior as a man. After this soliloquy, Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo enter. At first, Hamlet is too aggrieved to recognize Horatio, his old school friend, but finally he welcomes Horatio warmly. After chatting about the state, Horatio tells Hamlet that he has seen his dead father recently – the night before. Hamlet asks him to explain, and Horatio tells the story of the appearance of the ghost. Hamlet decides to attend the watch that very night in hopes of seeing the ghost himself.

As the scene opens, Laertes is taking his leave of his sister, Ophelia . In the course of their farewells, Laertes advises her about her relationship with Hamlet, with whom she has been spending much of her time lately. He tells her to forget him because he, as Prince of Denmark, is too much to hope for as a husband. He adds that she should vigilantly guard her chastity, her most prized treasure as a woman. Ophelia agrees to attend to his lesson. As Laertes is about to leave, his father, Polonius, arrives. Polonius gives Laertes a blessing and a battery of advice before sending his son on his way.

With Laertes gone, Polonius asks Ophelia what they had been talking about as he arrived. Ophelia confesses that they had been talking about her relationship with Hamlet. She tells Polonius that Hamlet has made many honorable declarations of love to her. Polonius pooh-poohs these declarations, saying, much as Laertes did, that Hamlet wants nothing more than to assail her chastity and then leave her. He makes his daughter promise that she will spend no more time alone with Hamlet. Ophelia says that she will obey.

At the night watch, Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus await the reappearance of the ghost. They hear cannons from the castle and Hamlet tells them that this is a sign that Claudius is drinking pledges. Hamlet goes on a short tirade against the Danish custom of drinking heavily. His speech is no sooner over than the ghost appears again. Hamlet immediately addresses the ghost, imploring it to speak. The ghost beckons for Hamlet to come away, apart from the others. Horatio and Marcellus attempt to keep Hamlet from following the ghost, warning him of the many evils that might befall him. Hamlet doesn’t listen. He threatens to kill Horatio or Marcellus if they detain him, and when they stay back he follows the ghost offstage. Horatio and Marcellus determine to follow at a distance to make sure that no harm comes to their friend.

Alone with Hamlet, the ghost finally speaks. He tells Hamlet that he has come on a nightly walk from Purgatory, where his soul is under continual torment for the sins of his life. The ghost then reveals that he was not killed by a viper, as officially announced, but was murdered. Moreover, he reveals that his own brother, Claudius, who now wears his crown and sleeps with his wife, was the murderer. The ghost tells of how Claudius snuck into his garden while he was taking his accustomed afternoon nap and poured poison into his ear, killing him most painfully and sending his soul unpurified into the afterlife. The ghost demands vengeance, telling Hamlet not to plot against his mother, whom he describes as merely weak and lustful, but to focus the whole of his revenge on Claudius. The ghost then disappears.

Hamlet, overwhelmed and half-raving, swears that he will kill Claudius. After he has made this vow, Horatio and Marcellus arrive. Hamlet does not tell them what the ghost has revealed, but nevertheless insists that they swear not to speak of the apparition to anyone. They agree. Hamlet then insists that they swear again on his sword. They agree again, confused at these demands. The ghost of Old Hamlet, meanwhile, can be heard under the stage, insisting along with his son that they swear themselves to secrecy. Hamlet leads his friends to several different points on stage, insisting that they swear over and over again. He then reveals, parenthetically, that they might find his behavior in the next while to be strange – he might pretend to be mad and act otherwise unusually – but that they must still keep secret what they have seen. After this final agreement, Hamlet leads the others offstage, uneasily determined to revenge his father’s murder.

Even if this is your first time reading Hamlet , it must already seem very familiar. Countless characters, ideas, and quotations introduced in this play have become part of the cultural (and literal) vocabulary of the western world – and, indeed, the whole world. Many of the most famous critical minds of western history, from Samuel Johnson to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from Eliot to Empson, from Voltaire to Goethe to Freud, have taken a crack at the play, and together they have left very few stones unturned. Nevertheless, there is still much to be gained from an intelligent appreciation of Hamlet . While one should not expect to resolve any of the famous and bizarre conundrums of the play – “Is Hamlet really insane or faking insanity?” “Did Ophelia commit suicide or not?” “Is Hamlet in love with his mother?” – there is still great value in knowing what these conundrums are, how they are presented, and why they are important. Sensitively and cleverly acknowledging a puzzle to be a puzzle is where much Hamlet scholarship begins – and ends.

The first scene of the play, like most every scene of the play, is very well known, and very puzzling. Without explaining his reasons in detail, T.S. Eliot once declared the first lines of the play to be the best lines in English. He and many other critics have found this scene to be a microcosm of the whole play, as it were. Shakespeare uses many deceptively simple rhetorical tricks to introduce some of the major themes and concerns that he follows through to the play’s end.

For example, in a play that contains many of the most famous, most unanswerable questions ever expressed, whether literal questions (“To be or not to be”) or interpretive questions of motivation (“Why doesn’t Hamlet just kill Claudius straight away?”), it is remarkable that Shakespeare begins Hamlet with a question, “Who’s there?” Who’s there, indeed.... On one level, this is a simple question, one that is asked every day in the most innocuous contexts. But on a deeper level (and everything in this play is richly rewarding on a deeper level) it is one of the basic questions of philosophy. Who is there? Who are we? What is man? Who is Hamlet? What is Hamlet ? In this most philosophical of plays, we begin with a moment of covert philosophy, a question simple on the surface, but profound when pressed; and the first scene continues this focus on questioning, giving us question after question. Horatio, the quintessential scholar, skeptical and empirical, begins by questioning the reality of the ghost; eventually, he is exhorted to “question” the ghost in a more literal way – to ask the ghost questions. In general, then, the first scene takes us from the no-nonsense world outside the theater, the world of Horatio and his doubts, to the magical, metaphysical, ultra-theatrical world of Hamlet . We may bring certainties to the play, but we are encouraged almost immediately to abandon them.

Thus before we have even seen Hamlet (the younger Hamlet, that is) we are deeply mired in the play’s dubious, spectral atmosphere. In the second scene, after several long speeches by Claudius giving us political background, we come to Hamlet’s first soliloquy. A “soliloquy” is a speech given by a speaker alone on stage, exploring his or her own thoughts and feelings. Both Hamlet and Hamlet are practically synonymous with such speeches; in this play, Shakespeare exhausts the possibilities of such on-stage introspection. Hamlet’s soliloquies are not to be thought of as “actually happening” in any realistic way. Rather, they are moments of suspended time, in which the overwhelming pressure of a single thought, or group of thoughts, forces its way out of a speaker’s mind by way of his mouth. They are moments where we, as audience members, can enter intimately into Hamlet’s mind, exploring the patterns of his thought even as he does so himself.

We might notice right away, in this first soliloquy, how difficult Hamlet can be to follow – how much his speech jumps and roils around, allowing interjections, playing with allusions and puns, becoming frequently side-tracked by this or that image. This tendency of Hamlet’s, to become sidetracked by his own train of thoughts, is crucial to the play, and crucial to the central motivational mystery of Hamlet – the delay of the revenge. But we will see much more of that to come.

We might also note that in his first soliloquy Hamlet appears deeply “depressed,” as we would put it today, or “melancholic,” as the people of the early seventeenth century would have put it. The audience of Hamlet’s own day would have expected as much. The play belongs to a genre known as “revenge tragedy.” Such plays occupied many of the greatest playwrights of the generation directly preceding Shakespeare’s, including Thomas Kyd, but by the time Hamlet was written they had come to be seen as rather old-fashioned. Like any genre, revenge tragedy has certain predictable conventions, one of which is that the protagonist of the play is melancholic – dominated by saturnine, sluggish, pensive “humors,” or bodily spirits. In Hamlet , Shakespeare, rather than simply repeating this convention, explores it as a convention. That is, he gives us the archetypal revenge hero, the most introspective, most melancholic, most pensive hero ever seen on the English stage.

At the same time, Hamlet seems somewhat aware that he is, in fact, playing a role on stage. He notices his own costume and makeup (“’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother [...]” (I.ii.77 ff.)); he refers to specific areas in the theater (as when he notes that the ghost is “in the cellarage” (I.v.150)); in short, he seems at once to be the most typical of types, and to be an audience to his own typecasting – and furthermore, he seems to be distressed about being so typecast, and anxious to prove that there is something genuine behind his theatrical veneer. In general, critics have long noticed that Hamlet is a play about plays, most specifically a revenge tragedy about revenge tragedy, and the pretzel-like self-referentiality of the protagonist is the main reason why.

As a relatively light-hearted accompaniment to such ghastliness and introspective misery, Act One features two appearances by Polonius and his family. Nearly every Elizabethan play has at least one so-called “subplot,” and this family occupies the primary subplot of Hamlet – the question of Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia. Polonius, you might have noticed already, is long-winded, pedantic, and meddlesome, even while he is somewhat loveable in his fussy way. He is always interested in being “in the know,” whatever the occasion. Notice, for instance, how eagerly he questions Ophelia about her earlier conversation with Laertes.

Act One contains Polonius’ most famous speech in the play, and one of the most quoted speeches of Shakespeare, the advice speech to Laertes that ends, “to thine own self be true” (I.iii.55 ff.). One can weigh the various maxims here offered on the basis of their individual merits. However, it is a common mistake of new readers of Shakespeare to take this speech simply at face value – to think, in effect, that Shakespeare, not Polonius, is giving this advice. This is never the case in Shakespeare – he never simply speaks “through” a character – and most certainly not the case here. Notice, for instance, that Polonius’ speech begins by telling Laertes to rush off to catch his boat, and then detains him from doing just that. Notice also, that Polonius begins by declaring that he will offer Laertes a “few precepts,” then goes on to ramble for thirty lines. Polonius, in short, never misses an occasion for a speech, and follows his own advice creatively if at all. His meddlesome, didactic character leads to his undoing, as we shall see.

Hamlet Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Hamlet is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Describe Fortinbras based on what Horatio says.

Do you mean in Act 1? Based upon Horatio's description, young Fortinbras is bold, inexperienced, and willing to do anything to regain his father's lost lands.

Why is a clock mentioned in Hamlet. There weren’t any clock’s in Hanlet’s time.

Yes I've heard this question before. This is called an anachronism. It is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement. In this case, there were clocks in Shakespeare’s time but not in Hamlet's. Shakespeare wrote it in because he thought it...

Hamlet’s obsession with the partying going on inside the castle while he stands watch with Horatio mainly suggests that he .

D. feels that King Claudius wants to hide his evil with merriment

Study Guide for Hamlet

Hamlet study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Hamlet
• Hamlet Summary
• Hamlet Video
• Character List

Essays for Hamlet

Hamlet essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

• Through Rose Colored Glasses: How the Victorian Age Shifted the Focus of Hamlet
• Q to F7: Mate; Hamlet's Emotions, Actions, and Importance in the Nunnery Scene
• Before the Storm
• Haunted: Hamlet's Relationship With His Dead Father
• Heliocentric Hamlet: The Astronomy of Hamlet

Lesson Plan for Hamlet

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Hamlet
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Hamlet Bibliography

E-Text of Hamlet

The Hamlet e-text contains the full text of the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

• List of Characters

Wikipedia Entries for Hamlet

• Introduction

Hamlet: Discussion Questions

By isabel smith-bernstein.

1. Compare Hamlet’s two best friends, Horatio and Ophelia. How are they different from each other? How the same? How do they help Hamlet?

2. Who in our world is like Claudius?

3. Hamlet is a play about a series of choices. If one thing were different how would the play have changed? For instance, if Hamlet hadn’t believed the Ghost? Or if Hamlet had killed Claudius when he was praying?

4. Why doesn’t Hamlet share the truth with other people if he is seeking honesty?

5. Why does Hamlet feign madness? Is it all feigned? What about Ophelia?

6. Would Hamlet’s fate in the afterlife have been an important consideration for an Elizabethan audience?

7. In what ways could Hamlet be a metaphor for the English monarch?

8. Is there any Shakespeare play where a heroine in love betrays her love? Please consider Jessica, Rosalind, and Juliet. 

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Hamlet (Act 1 scene 1-3): Questions and Answers

• Hamlet (Act 1 scene 1-3):…

Q1.  Who joins Bernardo, the watchman, on his watch of the castle?

Marcellus and Horatio joins Bernardo on his watch of the castle.

Q2. What do Marcellus and Bernardo want to show Horatio?

They want to show him a ghost.

Q3. What proves to Horatio that the ghost is that of the King?

It was wearing the same armor as the King, when he fought the King of Norway.

Q4. Who is Fortinbras?

He is the King of Norway.

Q5. Who is now married to King Hamlet’s wife? In a well-developed paragraph, explain whether or not you believe he is truly in love with Gertrude or why you believe he married her. (no personal pronouns, Topic statement, PEI for two to three points and a concluding statement).

Claudius is married to Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. Even though he shows affection toward her doesn’t mean he loves her. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he married Gertrude to become king, since the ghost explains to Hamlet, “thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand of life, of Crown, of Queen at once dispatched, cut off even in the blossoms of my sin” It shows how greedy he became and all he cared about was having power, and for that, he killed his own brother and used his wife for his own benefit. Claudius seems to have both qualities good and evil, it is evident since he does not hurt Gertrude and gives her respect and cares about her.

Q6. Why is Claudius mourning?

           He is mourning, because the King was his brother.

Q7. What do Claudius and Gertrude want Prince Hamlet to do?

They want him to stop mourning about his father’s death.

Q8. What does Prince Hamlet contemplate doing because he is so upset?

He wants to commit suicide.

Q9. What does Fortinbras want from Claudius?

            He wants to take revenge of his father’s death and want his land back.

Q10. What does Laertes warn Ophelia about?

He warns her to be stay away from Hamlet.

Q11. What is Laertes’ main objection to Ophelia’s feelings?

             He tells her that Hamlet is using her and this relationship won’t last long.

Q12. When Laertes shared Ophelia’s actions and feelings with Polonius, how does he react.

              He gets mad at her and orders her to never meet Hamlet again.

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Author:  William Anderson (Schoolworkhelper Editorial Team)

Tutor and Freelance Writer. Science Teacher and Lover of Essays. Article last reviewed: 2022 | St. Rosemary Institution © 2010-2024 | Creative Commons 4.0

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