Hamlet Quiz                      

English 305

Dr. Fike

1.  O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt,                  

Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!

Or that the Everlasting had not fixed

His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!

2.  Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;                     

Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy,

For the apparel oft proclaims the man…

3.  But, howsoever thou pursues this act,                             

Taint not thy mind nor let thy soul contrive

Against thy mother aught.  Leave her to heaven

And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,

To prick and sting her.

4.                                 Pray can I not,                                  

Though inclination be as sharp as will;

My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,

And like a man to double business bound

I stand in pause where I shall first begin

And both neglect.

5.  List two reasons why Hamlet hesitates.

6.  “Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day,                              

All in the morning betime,

And I a maid at your window,

To be your Valentine.”

7.  How came he dead?  I’ll not be juggled with.               

To hell, allegiance!  Vows, to the blackest devil!

Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!

I dare damnation.

8.  There is a willow grows askant the brook,                     

That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;

Therewith fantastic garlands did she make

Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,

That liberal shepherds give a grosser name…

9.                                 So you shall hear                             

Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,

Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,

Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,

And, in this upshot, purposes mistook

Fall’n on th’ inventors’ heads.  All this can I

Truly deliver.

10.  List two reasons why Hamlet hesitates.