Hamlet: Act 3
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Act questions
- Question 1 · Recall
What do Claudius and Polonius do while Hamlet speaks with Ophelia?
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They hide and watch the meeting.Reference: Act 3, Scene 1
- Question 2 · Recall
What in the play makes Claudius rise and break it off?
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Lucianus pours poison into the ear of the sleeping king in the play.Reference: Act 3, Scene 2
- Question 3 · Recall
Whom does Hamlet kill in his mother's room?
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He kills Polonius, who is hidden behind the arras.Reference: Act 3, Scene 4
- Question 4 · Why
Why does Hamlet not kill Claudius when he finds him kneeling?
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He reasons that a man killed at prayer would go to heaven, so he waits for a worse moment.Reference: Act 3, Scene 3
- Question 5 · Why
Why does Claudius decide to send Hamlet to England?
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After the scene with Ophelia he says Hamlet's speech was not like madness, and he fears danger from whatever troubles Hamlet's mind.Reference: Act 3, Scene 1
Act summary
Act 3 begins with Claudius and Polonius arranging for Hamlet to meet Ophelia while they hide and watch. Hamlet speaks of life and death, then turns on Ophelia when she tries to return his gifts, and tells her to go to a nunnery. Claudius decides that Hamlet is not lovesick and plans to send him to England. At the play that evening, Hamlet asks Horatio to watch the King. A dumb show and the play follow, and when a murderer pours poison into a sleeping king's ear, Claudius stands and the court breaks up. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bring Hamlet a message from his mother. Claudius, alone, admits his crime and tries to pray. Hamlet finds him and holds back. In the Queen's room Hamlet stabs through the arras and kills Polonius, then berates Gertrude, and the Ghost appears to him but not to her. He drags Polonius's body away.
Come back in a few days and try these 5 again before you open the answers.
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