Hamlet, Part 3- Figurative Language and Allusions

Right A,B,C,D….

Wrong (A)(B)(C)(D)….

In this excerpt, Hamlet compares Denmark to a prison. Which statement best describes the effect of this metaphor?

Guildenstern: Prison, my lord!

Hamlet: Denmark’s a prison.

Rosencrantz: Then is the world one.

Hamlet: A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ the worst.

A. It indicates that Hamlet feels trapped.

What does this allusion suggest?

C. What does this allusion suggest?

Which is a metaphor?

Hamlet: Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams: all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for you yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if, like a crab, you could go backward.

B. their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum

What does the excerpt about Hecuba suggest about her state of mind?

When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
In mincing with his sword her husband’s limbs,
The instant burst of clamour that she made—
Unless things mortal move them not at all—
Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
And passion in the gods.

B. She is deeply distraught by the sight of her murdered husband.

Pyrrhus is a figure from Greek mythology who avenges the death of his father by brutally killing King Priam. What does the excerpt suggest about Hamlet’s state of mind?

The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast,—
’tis not so, it begins with Pyrrhus:—
The rugged Pyrrhus, he, whose sable arm,
Black as his purpose, did the night resemble
When he lay couched in the ominous horse,What is the effect of Hamlet’s use of metaphors in this excerpt?

D. Hamlet admires Pyrrhus and wants to follow his example.

In this excerpt, Rosencrantz compares himself and Guildenstern to indifferent children. Which statement best describes the effect of this simile?

Hamlet: My excellent good friends! How dost thou, Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye both?

Rosencrantz: As the indifferent children of the earth.

B. It shows that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are innocent characters.

Shakespeare’s allusion to Hecuba suggests that Hamlet

Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann’d,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in ‘s aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!

B. is impressed by the actor’s ability to cry for a fictional character.

What is the effect of Hamlet’s use of metaphor in this excerpt?

Polonius: Well be with you, gentlemen!

Hamlet: Hark you, Guildenstern; and you too; at each ear a hearer: that great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling-clouts.

C.The metaphor portrays Polonius as foolish and weak.

What is the effect of the figurative language used in this excerpt? Check all that apply.

Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn’d defeat was made.

It shows Hamlet’s indecision. It shows Hamlet’s confusion. It shows Hamlet’s idleness.

What does this allusion suggest?

When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
In mincing with his sword her husband’s limbs,
The instant burst of clamour that she made—
Unless things mortal move them not at all—
Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
And passion in the gods.

C. that Hecuba properly mourned the death of her beloved husband

Which of these lines uses a simile to make a comparison?

A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn’d defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i’ the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this?

A. A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,

What is the effect of Hamlet’s use of metaphors in this excerpt?

I have of late,—but wherefore I know not,—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.

(B) It establishes that Hamlet dislikes his friends. (C) The metaphors reveal Hamlet’s plan to murder Claudius.

Which statement best explains why Hamlet alludes to Pyrrhus throughout Act II, Scene ii of Hamlet?

(B)The allusion proves that Claudius killed Hamlet’s father.

The figurative language in these lines is an example of

He tells me, my sweet queen, that he hath found
The head and source of all your son’s distemper.

(A) a metaphor.