act 1

Question 1

A ghost appears

Answer 1

Old Hamlet, the pervious King of Denmark, has died and his ghost has been seen on the battlements of the castle. An old friends of Hamlet, Horatio, sees the ghost.

Question 2

Gertrude’s remarriage

Answer 2

Hamlet has come home and is struggling to cope with the fact that his mother, Gertrude, has married his uncle, Claudius, so quickly after his father’ death. Claudius is now king and asks Hamlet to treat him like a father but Hamlet reacts badly to this, saying that he is ‘A little more than kin and a little less than kind.’

Question 3

News of the ghost

Answer 3

Horatio tells Hamlet about the ghost saying ‘I knew you father: / These hands are not more like’. Hamlet goes to investigate and see if it could really be his father’s ghost.

Question 4

Ophelia is warned

Answer 4

Laertes leaves Elsinore and warns his sister Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet before he goes. Ophelia then tells her father that Hamlet has expresses his love for her. Her father, Polonius, forbids her to see him.

Question 5

Hamlet sees the ghost

Answer 5

The ghost of Old Hamlet appears to Hamlet and he questions it. The ghost tells him that ‘The serpent that did sting thy father’s life / Now wears his crown’ and asks Hamlet to avenge his murder.