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MA English Literature Shakespeare — practice questions

Explore 41 free Shakespeare 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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Shakespeare questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–30 of 41.

What does Marcellus famously say is 'rotten in the state of Denmark'?Read the answer and worked solution →In Hamlet, who delivers the soliloquy beginning 'To be, or not to be'?Read the answer and worked solution →'Frailty, thy name is woman!' is uttered by Hamlet in reference to:Read the answer and worked solution →Polonius's advice 'This above all: to thine own self be true' is given to:Read the answer and worked solution →Hamlet describes his plan to expose Claudius's guilt with which line?Read the answer and worked solution →Which character utters 'The lady protests too much, methinks'?Read the answer and worked solution →Hamlet commands Ophelia to 'Get thee to a' what?Read the answer and worked solution →The Ghost in Hamlet describes his murder weapon as 'juice of cursed':Read the answer and worked solution →Who first witnesses the ghost of Hamlet's father?Read the answer and worked solution →Within the Mousetrap play, the murderer Lucianus is described as:Read the answer and worked solution →The Ghost orders Hamlet to revenge but instructs him to spare:Read the answer and worked solution →Hamlet calls his father's murder 'most foul, strange, and':Read the answer and worked solution →Who is the young Norwegian prince threatening Denmark in Hamlet?Read the answer and worked solution →Which sentinel encounters the ghost first along with Francisco?Read the answer and worked solution →Hamlet's friend whose 'balanced temperament' he explicitly values is:Read the answer and worked solution →The Ghost cannot reveal secrets of the prison-house because:Read the answer and worked solution →In the Mousetrap, the structure begins with a:Read the answer and worked solution →Claudius's response to the Mousetrap that confirms his guilt to Hamlet is:Read the answer and worked solution →Polonius forbids Ophelia from Hamlet's company because he believes:Read the answer and worked solution →Hamlet denies loving Ophelia, telling her 'I':Read the answer and worked solution →Laertes warns Ophelia against Hamlet's intentions before departing for:Read the answer and worked solution →The ghost in Hamlet vanishes at:Read the answer and worked solution →Hamlet's distrust of his mother centres on her marriage being:Read the answer and worked solution →Iambic pentameter is a line of:Read the answer and worked solution →Who wrote 'Hamlet'?Read the answer and worked solution →'To be, or not to be' opens whose soliloquy?Read the answer and worked solution →Hamlet calls the Mousetrap a play to catch the King's:Read the answer and worked solution →Who is Hamlet's loyal confidant?Read the answer and worked solution →Polonius is Ophelia's:Read the answer and worked solution →Laertes is Ophelia's:Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

What does Marcellus famously say is 'rotten in the state of Denmark'?

  1. Most things
  2. Everything
  3. Something
  4. All things
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Correct answer: C. Something

1. Marcellus utters this line in Act I, Scene IV after the ghost appears. 2. The exact phrasing is 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.' 3. It suggests corruption permeating the kingdom — proleptic of Claudius's crime. _Source: Project Gutenberg #1524 — Shakespeare's Hamlet — "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"_

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In Hamlet, who delivers the soliloquy beginning 'To be, or not to be'?

  1. Claudius
  2. Horatio
  3. Hamlet
  4. Polonius
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Correct answer: C. Hamlet

1. The soliloquy occurs in Act III, Scene I. 2. Hamlet meditates on existence, suffering, and the fear of the unknown after death. 3. It is the most celebrated speech in English drama. _Source: Project Gutenberg #1524 — Shakespeare's Hamlet — "To be, or not to be"_

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'Frailty, thy name is woman!' is uttered by Hamlet in reference to:

  1. The Player Queen
  2. Ophelia
  3. His mother Gertrude
  4. All women
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Correct answer: C. His mother Gertrude

1. The line appears in Act I, Scene II during Hamlet's first soliloquy. 2. He is bitterly responding to Gertrude's hasty remarriage to Claudius. 3. Although the abstraction is 'woman,' the immediate referent is his mother. _Source: Project Gutenberg #1524 — Shakespeare's Hamlet — "Frailty, thy name is woman!"_

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