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MA English Literature Play within a Play — practice questions

Explore 2 free Play within a Play questions in MA English Literature English Literature. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Play within a Play questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–2 of 2.

Hamlet describes his plan to expose Claudius's guilt with which line?Read the answer and worked solution →Within the Mousetrap play, the murderer Lucianus is described as:Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

Hamlet describes his plan to expose Claudius's guilt with which line?

  1. Get thee to a nunnery
  2. The lady doth protest too much, methinks
  3. The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King
  4. Frailty, thy name is woman
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Correct answer: C. The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King

1. This closes Hamlet's soliloquy at the end of Act II, Scene II. 2. He devises the dumb-show + dialogue to mirror his father's murder. 3. The phrase establishes drama as a forensic tool. _Source: Project Gutenberg #1524 — Shakespeare's Hamlet — "The play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King"_

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Within the Mousetrap play, the murderer Lucianus is described as:

  1. A stranger from Vienna
  2. Brother of the Player King
  3. Cousin of the Player Queen
  4. Nephew to the Player King
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Correct answer: D. Nephew to the Player King

1. Hamlet deliberately styles the murderer as 'nephew' to mirror his own situation. 2. The choice signals Hamlet's intent to Claudius without naming him. 3. This explains why Claudius rises and exits the chamber. _Source: Project Gutenberg #1524 — Shakespeare's Hamlet — "Lucianus, nephew to the Player King"_

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More English Literature topics

ShakespeareLiterary TheoryIndian English LiteratureAmerican LiteratureTagoreModernismWhitmanLiterary History