Hamlet: Act 5
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Act questions
- Question 1 · Recall
What does Hamlet pick up and speak to in the churchyard?
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He holds the skull of Yorick, the King's jester.Reference: Act 5, Scene 1
- Question 2 · Recall
How does Gertrude die?
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She drinks from the poisoned cup meant for Hamlet.Reference: Act 5, Scene 2
- Question 3 · Recall
Whom does Hamlet name to follow him as ruler of Denmark?
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He names Fortinbras.Reference: Act 5, Scene 2
- Question 4 · Why
Why do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern go to their deaths in England?
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They carried a commission ordering Hamlet's death, so he rewrote it to order theirs.Reference: Act 5, Scene 2
- Question 5 · Why
Why does Hamlet leap into Ophelia's grave?
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He is stung by Laertes's grief and says he loved Ophelia and will fight to prove it.Reference: Act 5, Scene 1
Act summary
In Act 5, two gravediggers work in a churchyard at Elsinore, joking while they dig. Hamlet and Horatio come upon them, and Hamlet handles a skull and thinks about death. A funeral procession arrives, and Hamlet learns that the grave is Ophelia's. Laertes leaps in, Hamlet follows, and the two struggle until they are parted. Later, in a hall in the castle, Hamlet tells Horatio how he found and rewrote the commission aboard ship. Osric brings the King's challenge to a fencing match with Laertes. Hamlet accepts, despite Horatio's doubts. During the match Claudius drops a pearl in a cup, and Gertrude drinks from it. Laertes wounds Hamlet, the blades change hands, and Hamlet wounds Laertes. Laertes confesses the plot, Hamlet stabs Claudius and forces him to drink, and Hamlet dies after naming Fortinbras. Fortinbras orders the bodies carried away.
Come back in a few days and try these 5 again before you open the answers.
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