Hamlet: Soliloquies - Literature Analysis
English
Year 9
8 questions
~16 mins
1 views0 downloads
About This Worksheet
A worksheet focusing on Hamlet's soliloquies, designed to develop analytical skills through examination of Shakespeare's text.
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Hamlet: Soliloquies - Literature Analysis
Subject: EnglishGrade: Year 9
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Untitled Worksheet
Grade Year 9
A
Examination of Hamlet's 'To be, or not to be' Soliloquy
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th’oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of dispriz’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourne
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
1.
Identify one literary technique used in this extract and explain its effect.
[2 marks]2.
What is the central question Hamlet contemplates in this soliloquy?
[2 marks]3.
Describe the tone of Hamlet's speech in this soliloquy.
[2 marks]4.
Identify and explain the significance of the volta in this speech.
[3 marks]5.
What is the impact of the imagery associated with sleep and dreams in this soliloquy?
[2 marks]6.
Explain the significance of the phrase 'the undiscover’d country from whose bourne no traveller returns'.
[2 marks]7.
Analyse the use of rhetorical questions in this extract and their purpose.
[2 marks]8.
Discuss how Shakespeare uses imagery and metaphors to develop the theme of mortality.
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Details
- Created
- 12/31/2025
- Updated
- 12/31/2025
- Type
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