Key Vocab- Hamlet

Question 1

Ominous

Answer 1

Something that worries you because it makes you think something unpleasant is about to happen.

Question 2

Duplicitous

Answer 2

Deceitful, deceptive.

Question 3

Pernicious

Answer 3

Very harmful.

Question 4

Hamartia

Answer 4

Error in judgement, fatal flaw, lack of knowledge.

Question 5

Fickle

Answer 5

Disapprove of someone because they keep changing their mind about what they like/want.

Question 6

Polemical

Answer 6

Arguing very strongly for or against a belief or opinion.

Question 7

Surveillance

Answer 7

Careful watching of someone.

Question 8

Licentious

Answer 8

Sexually unrestrained or promiscuous.

Question 9

Chicanery

Answer 9

Dishonesty or deception.

Question 10

Espionage

Answer 10

The activity of finding out political, military or industrial secrets.

Question 11

Contrition

Answer 11

Detestation of past sins and a resolve to make amends, either from love of God or hope of Heaven.

Question 12

Stichomythia

Answer 12

Dramatic dialogue characterised by brief exchanges between two characters, each of whom usually speaks one line of verse during a scene of intense emotion.

Question 13

Perepeteia

Answer 13

Turning point in a tragedy, reversal of fortune.

Question 14

Distracted

Answer 14

To be confused, bewildered or mad.

Question 15

Nihilistic

Answer 15

Rejecting all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless.

Question 16

Machinations

Answer 16

Secret and complicated plans, especially to gain power.

Question 17

Macabre

Answer 17

Disturbing because it’s concerned with or causing a fear of death.

Question 18

Carnage

Answer 18

The violent killing of large numbers of people.

Question 19

Denouement

Answer 19

The sequence of events at the end, where things to a conclusion.

Question 20

Pathos

Answer 20

Pity and sympathy.

Question 21

Catharsis

Answer 21

Pity and fear in conflict with one another, felt by the audience.