ACT I - Scene I Practice Quiz — Hamlet
by William Shakespeare — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: ACT I - Scene I
Where and when does Act 1, Scene 1 of Hamlet take place?
It takes place at midnight on a platform (battlements) before Elsinore Castle in Denmark, during bitter cold.
Why have Marcellus and Bernardo brought Horatio to the watch?
They have twice seen an apparition resembling the dead King Hamlet and want the skeptical, scholarly Horatio to witness it and speak to it.
How does Horatio react when the Ghost first appears?
He is terrified and says it "harrows me with fear and wonder." He admits he could not have believed it without the evidence of his own eyes.
What does the Ghost do when Horatio commands it to speak?
The Ghost is offended and stalks away in silence, refusing to answer Horatio's demands.
What causes the Ghost to vanish during its second appearance?
The cock crows at dawn, and the Ghost starts "like a guilty thing upon a fearful summons" and disappears.
What do the men decide to do at the end of the scene?
They decide to tell Prince Hamlet about the Ghost, believing the spirit will be willing to speak to the dead king's son.
Why is Denmark in a state of military readiness, according to Horatio?
Young Fortinbras of Norway is raising an army to reclaim lands his father lost to King Hamlet in single combat, prompting Denmark's frantic war preparations.
What is Horatio's initial attitude toward the Ghost before he sees it?
He is completely skeptical, dismissing the sentinels' story as "fantasy" and insisting "Tush, tush, 'twill not appear."
Why do the others ask Horatio, specifically, to speak to the Ghost?
Marcellus calls Horatio a "scholar," and it was believed that educated men had the authority and proper Latin to address and command spirits.
What does Francisco reveal about his emotional state during the guard change?
Francisco says he is "sick at heart," suggesting a pervasive sense of dread at Elsinore even before the Ghost appears.
How did King Hamlet defeat King Fortinbras of Norway?
He defeated him in formal single combat. By a sealed legal compact, the loser forfeited his lands to the winner.
How is young Fortinbras characterized in this scene?
Horatio describes him as being of "unimproved mettle hot and full" who has "shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes" to reclaim his father's lost lands.
How does Act 1, Scene 1 introduce the theme of appearance versus reality?
The Ghost looks exactly like the dead king but its true nature and intentions are unknown. Horatio questions whether the apparition is trustworthy or a deception.
How does the Fortinbras backstory foreshadow the play's theme of fathers and sons?
Young Fortinbras seeks to avenge his father's loss, paralleling Prince Hamlet's own coming obligation to his dead father, establishing filial duty as a central theme.
What theme does Horatio's line "This bodes some strange eruption to our state" introduce?
It introduces the theme of political corruption and decay in Denmark, suggesting the Ghost's appearance signals a crisis in the state, not just a personal haunting.
What classical allusion does Horatio make after the Ghost's first appearance?
He compares the Ghost to the supernatural omens before Julius Caesar's assassination, when graves opened and the dead walked Roman streets.
How does the setting of Act 1, Scene 1 function as a literary device?
The midnight cold, elevated battlements, and darkness create a gothic atmosphere of dread and uncertainty that mirrors the political and spiritual unease in Denmark.
What is the dramatic effect of the Ghost vanishing at the cock's crow?
It creates suspense by cutting off communication just as the Ghost seems about to speak, and symbolically marks the boundary between the supernatural night and rational day.
Identify the foreshadowing in Francisco's early line "I am sick at heart."
This seemingly minor complaint foreshadows the pervasive sickness and corruption in Denmark that the rest of the play will reveal.
What does "avouch" mean when Horatio says "the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes"?
Avouch means proof, evidence, or guarantee. Horatio is saying he needed the direct evidence of his own senses to believe in the Ghost.
What does "portentous" mean when Bernardo calls the Ghost a "portentous figure"?
Portentous means ominous or serving as a sign of something momentous or calamitous about to happen.
Who says "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" and what does it mean?
This famous line is actually spoken by Marcellus in Act 1, Scene 4, not Scene 1. In Scene 1, the equivalent sentiment is Horatio's "This bodes some strange eruption to our state," meaning the Ghost signals political trouble.
What does Horatio mean when he says "the morn, in russet mantle clad, / Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill"?
This is a personification of dawn as a figure wearing a reddish-brown cloak walking over the hills. It signals the end of the fearful night and the transition to day.
What is significant about Horatio's line "So have I heard and do in part believe it"?
It reveals Horatio's character as a partial skeptic. Even after witnessing the Ghost, he only "in part" accepts folk beliefs about the Christmas season repelling spirits, showing his rational temperament.