Hamlet Questions and answers
Hamlet
ACT 1, Scene 1 and 2 Questions
1.1
1. What happens when Francisco and Bernardo meet at the beginning of 1.1? Where are we, and when? Why is there confusion over which one is supposed to challenge the other by asking "Who's there"? Why is Horatio with Bernardo and Marcellus? Who is he?
They saw something strange, we are at Denmark. He is asking “who’s there?” It is because he’s not sure what is there by judging the shadow he saw and it is at night causing the visibility becomes very low as well. Horatio was with Bernardo and Marcellus because they have both seen the ghost of King Hamlet, and Horatio has come to help them determine the origin of the ghost.
2. What is Horatio's initial response to the story of the apparition? What happens when the ghost appears for the first time (1.1.39.1)? Notice that Horatio addresses it as "thou." This is the form of address used with friends or inferiors. Shakespeare's audience would have been much more attuned to the difference than we are. What is the effect of Horatio's addressing the ghost as "thou"?
When Horatio was first told about the appearance of the apparition, he was skeptical, " Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy And will not let belief take hold of him" ( 1.1.29). When the ghost was first sighted in the play, Bernardo remarks that the ghost looks similar to the King Hamlet, and Marcellus reasons with Horatio that he should address the ghost. This usage of the word " thou" causes the ghost to exit. Marcellus comments that the ghost was offended, meaning that by Horatio speaking to the ghost of the King with such lack of respect and with demands the ghost left.
3. What does Horatio first assume the appearance of the ghost means (1.1.70)? Why are there such intense war preparations in Denmark? (Read 1.1.69-107 carefully to get the international background of the play.) What does Horatio suggest by his discussion of Julius Caesar's death (1.1.112 - 125)?
ACT 1, Scene 1 and 2 Questions
1.1
1. What happens when Francisco and Bernardo meet at the beginning of 1.1? Where are we, and when? Why is there confusion over which one is supposed to challenge the other by asking "Who's there"? Why is Horatio with Bernardo and Marcellus? Who is he?
They saw something strange, we are at Denmark. He is asking “who’s there?” It is because he’s not sure what is there by judging the shadow he saw and it is at night causing the visibility becomes very low as well. Horatio was with Bernardo and Marcellus because they have both seen the ghost of King Hamlet, and Horatio has come to help them determine the origin of the ghost.
2. What is Horatio's initial response to the story of the apparition? What happens when the ghost appears for the first time (1.1.39.1)? Notice that Horatio addresses it as "thou." This is the form of address used with friends or inferiors. Shakespeare's audience would have been much more attuned to the difference than we are. What is the effect of Horatio's addressing the ghost as "thou"?
When Horatio was first told about the appearance of the apparition, he was skeptical, " Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy And will not let belief take hold of him" ( 1.1.29). When the ghost was first sighted in the play, Bernardo remarks that the ghost looks similar to the King Hamlet, and Marcellus reasons with Horatio that he should address the ghost. This usage of the word " thou" causes the ghost to exit. Marcellus comments that the ghost was offended, meaning that by Horatio speaking to the ghost of the King with such lack of respect and with demands the ghost left.
3. What does Horatio first assume the appearance of the ghost means (1.1.70)? Why are there such intense war preparations in Denmark? (Read 1.1.69-107 carefully to get the international background of the play.) What does Horatio suggest by his discussion of Julius Caesar's death (1.1.112 - 125)?
Cited: Portfield, Sally R. Jung’s Advice to the Players: A Jungian Reading of Shakespeare’s Problem Plays. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. 1994. Print.