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 neighbouring Norwegians, led by Fortinbras, are the threat hovering over the whole play, and one of them ends up with the crown.

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

She dies drinking the poisoned wine Claudius meant for her son, after he tries and fails to stop her.

Q 04/05

Which of Hamlet's friends witnesses the ghost first and survives to tell the story at the end?

A) Rosencrantz

B) Horatio

C) Guildenstern

D) Marcellus

Answer · why

B) Horatio

By the final scene he is the only main figure left alive; Hamlet dies in his arms.

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.