Q 01/05

What is the play's full title?

A) The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

B) The Tragical History of Hamlet, King of Denmark

C) The Revenge of Hamlet, Prince of Elsinore

D) Hamlet, or the Ghost of Elsinore

Answer · why

A) The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

The full title is The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; the 1623 First Folio prints it as 'The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke', while the ...

Q 02/05

Who has murdered Hamlet's father and married his mother?

A) Polonius, the king's adviser

B) Fortinbras, the Norwegian prince

C) Claudius, his uncle

D) Laertes, Ophelia's brother

Answer · why

C) Claudius, his uncle

Marcellus's line about something being 'rotten in the state of Denmark' is usually read as pointing at this fratricide.

Q 03/05

What is the name of Hamlet's mother?

A) Ophelia

B) Cordelia

C) Portia

D) Gertrude

Answer · why

D) Gertrude

Gertrude, Hamlet's mother and Queen of Denmark, remarried her dead husband's brother within two months, prompting Hamlet's 'Frailty, thy name is woman...

Q 04/05

Which friend does the dying Hamlet charge to stay alive and tell his story?

A) Rosencrantz

B) Horatio

C) Guildenstern

D) Marcellus

Answer · why

B) Horatio

Horatio, Hamlet's fellow student and confidant, is told to 'absent thee from felicity awhile' and report the cause aright; he is left alive to do so a...

Q 05/05

How does Hamlet kill the king's eavesdropping counsellor?

A) Poisoning his wine

B) Stabbing him through a wall hanging

C) Pushing him from the battlements

D) Drowning him in the brook

Answer · why

B) Stabbing him through a wall hanging

Polonius is eavesdropping on Hamlet and Gertrude behind an arras when he cries out; Hamlet stabs wildly, thinking it might be the king.