ACT II - Scene I Quiz — Hamlet

Why does Polonius send Reynaldo to Paris?

• To bring Laertes home immediately
• To deliver money and spy on Laertes’s behavior
• To enroll Laertes in a new school
• To deliver a message from the King

What strategy does Polonius instruct Reynaldo to use when gathering information?

• Ask Laertes’s friends direct questions about his behavior
• Follow Laertes secretly and report back
• Spread minor rumors about Laertes to see if people confirm them
• Bribe Laertes’s servants for information

What metaphor does Polonius use to describe his spying strategy?

• A hunter tracking prey through the forest
• A fisherman using bait of falsehood to catch the carp of truth
• A gardener pulling weeds to find flowers
• A miner digging through rock to find gold

How does Hamlet appear when he visits Ophelia’s chamber?

• Well-dressed and composed, carrying a letter
• Armed with a sword and speaking angrily
• Disheveled with unfastened clothes, pale face, and knocking knees
• Wearing a disguise so she would not recognize him

What does Hamlet do when he encounters Ophelia in her chamber?

• He confesses his love and asks her to elope
• He grabs her wrist, stares at her face silently, sighs, and leaves
• He shouts at her and throws her letters on the floor
• He hands her a letter and leaves without speaking

What does Polonius conclude is the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior?

• Grief over his father’s death
• Anger at Claudius for taking the throne
• Madness caused by love for Ophelia
• Fear of the ghost he has seen

Why had Ophelia rejected Hamlet before this scene?

• She fell in love with someone else
• Polonius and Laertes commanded her to cut off contact with Hamlet
• Hamlet insulted her at a court gathering
• The Queen told her to stay away from Hamlet

What does Polonius decide to do at the end of the scene?

• Send Ophelia away to a convent
• Confront Hamlet directly about his behavior
• Go to King Claudius and report Hamlet’s lovesickness
• Write a letter to Laertes warning him about Hamlet

Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

What does "ecstasy" mean when Polonius says "This is the very ecstasy of love"?

• Great joy and happiness
• Madness or a state of being beside oneself
• A feeling of religious devotion
• Physical pain or agony

What does "down-gyved" mean in Ophelia’s description of Hamlet’s stockings?

• Neatly pressed and clean
• Torn to shreds
• Fallen down around the ankles like shackles
• Dyed a dark color

When Polonius says to find truth through "indirections," what does the word mean?

• Giving someone wrong directions on purpose
• Roundabout or indirect methods of inquiry
• Written instructions or orders
• Lies told to protect someone’s reputation