1
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
These notes were compiled by using the following previous examination papers. Some information is
repeated to show you he different ways in which the questions are asked in exams/ tests.
Good luck. Juffrou Ansie
IMAGES: CANVA
(DBE/ 2019) (DBE/2021NOV) (DBE/2020NOV), DBE/November 2018
(DBE/2023JUN)(DBE/2021JUN) (EC/SEPTEMBER 2017), DBE/November 2017, JUN
DBE/2022, EC/ SEP 2022, JUN DBE/2022, DBE/November 2022, Inter-District Paper English
HL P2 May/June 2024. (EC/SEPTEMBER 2024)
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
Summary of the play. 3
Characters. 4
Paragraph and essay type questions 9
1. Deception and manipulation are central to the tragic consequences in the play, Hamlet. 10
2. Loyalty to others and allegiance to King and country are central to the play. 11
3. There are two sides to Claudius: the skilled statesman and the cowardly, treacherous villain. 12
4. The play explores the destructive consequences of revenge. 13
5. The problem of making moral choices is a significant issue in the play 14
6. Gertrude and Ophelia's passivity makes them vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation. 15
7. Hamlet can be defined as a tragic hero because his downfall is caused by a weakness within
himself and not by external factors. 17
8. At the end of this drama, Fortinbras says that Hamlet ‘was likely, had he been put on [the
throne] to have proved most royal.’ 18
9. In Hamlet, the relationships between children and their parents influence the outcome of the
play. 19
10. In each act of Hamlet, up to and including Act 3, Hamlet is faced with loss, and he loses a
piece of himself with each loss. I 20
11. Many characters in Hamlet reveal that the issue of morality or lack thereof, can have tragic
consequences for self and others. 22
HAMLET – CONTEXTUAL QUESTIONS PER SCENE 24
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 3
Summary of the play.
Prince Hamlet, son of King Horatio of Denmark, has returned from university in Wittenberg to
attend his father’s funeral. Not surprisingly, he is deeply depressed, especially as his detested
uncle, Claudius, soon becomes the new king of Denmark and marries Queen Gertrude, young
Hamlet’s mother. (In Shakespeare’s time, marrying a brother-in-law was considered incestuous.)
In the opening scene, in the dark of night, the fearful sentries see the murdered king’s ghost on
the ramparts of Elsinore castle. Later, Hamlet hears the Ghost claim that he was murdered by
his brother, Claudius, who had seduced Gertrude. The Ghost demands that his son avenge the
crime that has deprived him ‘of life, of crown, of queen’. However, the Prince is to spare his
mother.
From then on, Hamlet is obsessed with thoughts of his mother’s adultery and with his mission
of revenge. First, he pretends to be mad. Disillusioned with womankind, he violently repulses
Ophelia, the woman he actually loved. Hamlet delays taking action against Claudius, seesawing
between indecision and determination, before finally hitting on a plan – to stage a play that
portrays his uncle’s crimes. The plan succeeds and confirms Claudius’s guilt. Immediately after
this, Hamlet has a golden opportunity to kill his defenceless uncle at prayer but decides against
it, as this would mean sending his victim to heaven. Soon after this, he violently scolds his
mother and mistakenly kills Polonius, the father of his beloved Ophelia.
Claudius sends Hamlet to England with orders for his execution by the English king. Meanwhile,
maddened with grief, Ophelia drowns herself. Claudius convinces Ophelia’s brother, Laertes,
that Hamlet is to blame for her death. When news comes that Hamlet has returned to Denmark,
Claudius and Laertes hatch a plot to kill him. Hamlet meets with his friend, Horatio, and tells
him how, helped by some pirates, he foiled his uncle’s plan to send him to England – and to his
death. At Ophelia’s grave, after matching wits with the Gravediggers, Hamlet contemplates the
realities of death, later concluding that ‘the readiness is all’ – he is prepared to accept whatever
fate God has in store for him.
The King arranges a duel in which Laertes uses a sharpened sword with its point dipped in
poison. The plot to poison Hamlet backfires on Laertes and Claudius when Hamlet stabs them
both with the poisoned sword and forces poisoned drink down the king’s throat. Queen
Gertrude, meanwhile, has died after mistakenly drinking the poisoned wine intended for her
son. Hamlet, too, has been mortally wounded. He pleads with Horatio to tell his story. At the
end, Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, arrives and takes over the throne of Denmark.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 4
Characters.
Hamlet.
For the greater part of the play, Hamlet is thrown off balance by
his mother’s betrayal of his father, and he is consumed by his
need to avenge the crime by which his father was deprived ‘of
life, of crown, of queen’. While he veers between indecision and
resolve, cheerfulness and despair, moodiness and calm, we also
see bouts of frenzied rage: he cruelly rejects Ophelia, the woman
he loves (admittedly, after she has been forced to break up with
him and has been used by her father to spy on him); he fiercely
scolds his mother for her ‘o’er-hasty’ marriage to his detested
uncle; and he impulsively (and mistakenly) kills Polonius, the
father of Ophelia, who then goes mad and drowns herself.
But, ironically, it is Hamlet’s capacity for profound and probing
thought that wrecks his purpose of revenge time after time.
These qualities emerge in Hamlet’s ‘to be or not to be’, which is probably the most famous
soliloquy ever written.
In the latter part of the play, after successfully taking action on the sea voyage to England and
escaping his captors, Hamlet appears changed. Gone are the doubts, questionings, self-blaming
and violent mood swings. Now Hamlet possesses, for the most part, a new calm and sense of
focussed resolution and acceptance. He is ready to accept whatever destiny has in store for him:
‘the readiness is all,’ (Act 5, Scene 2, line 195). Finally, he can claim he is justified in killing
Claudius, his murderer and that of his father. At the end of the play, all that is required is for his
friend, Horatio, to ‘tell his story’ and ensure the honour of his name.
Ophelia.
Ophelia is a lovely young woman who reveals her
independent character, loyalty and courage when first her
brother and then her father warn her of Hamlet’s supposed
dishonourable intentions. She insists that his love for her is
pure and graciously tells her brother to take heed of his
own lecture when conducting his personal affairs. However,
there is little she can do when her father harshly orders her
to break off all relations with Hamlet.
Later she is ‘loosed’ to Hamlet by her father who, with the
King, is eavesdropping on the Prince. Presumably aware
that there are spies nearby, Hamlet launches a vicious
verbal attack on her. However, she retains her dignity, and
after his departure, she shows compassion for her lover,
now seemingly ‘blasted with ecstasy’ (ruined by madness). Hamlet treats her with rude
@Juffrou_Ansie
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
These notes were compiled by using the following previous examination papers. Some information is
repeated to show you he different ways in which the questions are asked in exams/ tests.
Good luck. Juffrou Ansie
IMAGES: CANVA
(DBE/ 2019) (DBE/2021NOV) (DBE/2020NOV), DBE/November 2018
(DBE/2023JUN)(DBE/2021JUN) (EC/SEPTEMBER 2017), DBE/November 2017, JUN
DBE/2022, EC/ SEP 2022, JUN DBE/2022, DBE/November 2022, Inter-District Paper English
HL P2 May/June 2024. (EC/SEPTEMBER 2024)
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
Summary of the play. 3
Characters. 4
Paragraph and essay type questions 9
1. Deception and manipulation are central to the tragic consequences in the play, Hamlet. 10
2. Loyalty to others and allegiance to King and country are central to the play. 11
3. There are two sides to Claudius: the skilled statesman and the cowardly, treacherous villain. 12
4. The play explores the destructive consequences of revenge. 13
5. The problem of making moral choices is a significant issue in the play 14
6. Gertrude and Ophelia's passivity makes them vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation. 15
7. Hamlet can be defined as a tragic hero because his downfall is caused by a weakness within
himself and not by external factors. 17
8. At the end of this drama, Fortinbras says that Hamlet ‘was likely, had he been put on [the
throne] to have proved most royal.’ 18
9. In Hamlet, the relationships between children and their parents influence the outcome of the
play. 19
10. In each act of Hamlet, up to and including Act 3, Hamlet is faced with loss, and he loses a
piece of himself with each loss. I 20
11. Many characters in Hamlet reveal that the issue of morality or lack thereof, can have tragic
consequences for self and others. 22
HAMLET – CONTEXTUAL QUESTIONS PER SCENE 24
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 3
Summary of the play.
Prince Hamlet, son of King Horatio of Denmark, has returned from university in Wittenberg to
attend his father’s funeral. Not surprisingly, he is deeply depressed, especially as his detested
uncle, Claudius, soon becomes the new king of Denmark and marries Queen Gertrude, young
Hamlet’s mother. (In Shakespeare’s time, marrying a brother-in-law was considered incestuous.)
In the opening scene, in the dark of night, the fearful sentries see the murdered king’s ghost on
the ramparts of Elsinore castle. Later, Hamlet hears the Ghost claim that he was murdered by
his brother, Claudius, who had seduced Gertrude. The Ghost demands that his son avenge the
crime that has deprived him ‘of life, of crown, of queen’. However, the Prince is to spare his
mother.
From then on, Hamlet is obsessed with thoughts of his mother’s adultery and with his mission
of revenge. First, he pretends to be mad. Disillusioned with womankind, he violently repulses
Ophelia, the woman he actually loved. Hamlet delays taking action against Claudius, seesawing
between indecision and determination, before finally hitting on a plan – to stage a play that
portrays his uncle’s crimes. The plan succeeds and confirms Claudius’s guilt. Immediately after
this, Hamlet has a golden opportunity to kill his defenceless uncle at prayer but decides against
it, as this would mean sending his victim to heaven. Soon after this, he violently scolds his
mother and mistakenly kills Polonius, the father of his beloved Ophelia.
Claudius sends Hamlet to England with orders for his execution by the English king. Meanwhile,
maddened with grief, Ophelia drowns herself. Claudius convinces Ophelia’s brother, Laertes,
that Hamlet is to blame for her death. When news comes that Hamlet has returned to Denmark,
Claudius and Laertes hatch a plot to kill him. Hamlet meets with his friend, Horatio, and tells
him how, helped by some pirates, he foiled his uncle’s plan to send him to England – and to his
death. At Ophelia’s grave, after matching wits with the Gravediggers, Hamlet contemplates the
realities of death, later concluding that ‘the readiness is all’ – he is prepared to accept whatever
fate God has in store for him.
The King arranges a duel in which Laertes uses a sharpened sword with its point dipped in
poison. The plot to poison Hamlet backfires on Laertes and Claudius when Hamlet stabs them
both with the poisoned sword and forces poisoned drink down the king’s throat. Queen
Gertrude, meanwhile, has died after mistakenly drinking the poisoned wine intended for her
son. Hamlet, too, has been mortally wounded. He pleads with Horatio to tell his story. At the
end, Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, arrives and takes over the throne of Denmark.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 4
Characters.
Hamlet.
For the greater part of the play, Hamlet is thrown off balance by
his mother’s betrayal of his father, and he is consumed by his
need to avenge the crime by which his father was deprived ‘of
life, of crown, of queen’. While he veers between indecision and
resolve, cheerfulness and despair, moodiness and calm, we also
see bouts of frenzied rage: he cruelly rejects Ophelia, the woman
he loves (admittedly, after she has been forced to break up with
him and has been used by her father to spy on him); he fiercely
scolds his mother for her ‘o’er-hasty’ marriage to his detested
uncle; and he impulsively (and mistakenly) kills Polonius, the
father of Ophelia, who then goes mad and drowns herself.
But, ironically, it is Hamlet’s capacity for profound and probing
thought that wrecks his purpose of revenge time after time.
These qualities emerge in Hamlet’s ‘to be or not to be’, which is probably the most famous
soliloquy ever written.
In the latter part of the play, after successfully taking action on the sea voyage to England and
escaping his captors, Hamlet appears changed. Gone are the doubts, questionings, self-blaming
and violent mood swings. Now Hamlet possesses, for the most part, a new calm and sense of
focussed resolution and acceptance. He is ready to accept whatever destiny has in store for him:
‘the readiness is all,’ (Act 5, Scene 2, line 195). Finally, he can claim he is justified in killing
Claudius, his murderer and that of his father. At the end of the play, all that is required is for his
friend, Horatio, to ‘tell his story’ and ensure the honour of his name.
Ophelia.
Ophelia is a lovely young woman who reveals her
independent character, loyalty and courage when first her
brother and then her father warn her of Hamlet’s supposed
dishonourable intentions. She insists that his love for her is
pure and graciously tells her brother to take heed of his
own lecture when conducting his personal affairs. However,
there is little she can do when her father harshly orders her
to break off all relations with Hamlet.
Later she is ‘loosed’ to Hamlet by her father who, with the
King, is eavesdropping on the Prince. Presumably aware
that there are spies nearby, Hamlet launches a vicious
verbal attack on her. However, she retains her dignity, and
after his departure, she shows compassion for her lover,
now seemingly ‘blasted with ecstasy’ (ruined by madness). Hamlet treats her with rude
@Juffrou_Ansie
