Hamlet Made Simple (Gontar) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. Which do you think is the more significant character, Romeo or Juliet—and why?

2. Is Lucrece in any way responsible for what happens to her?

3. Why do Posthumous Leonatus and Collatine boast about their wives?

4. What is the prognosis for the marriages of Benedick and Beatrice, Portia and Bassanio, Olivia and Sebastian, Lysimachus and Marina & Leontes and Hermione?

5. Why does Brutus kill Caesar?

6. Why does King Harry banish Falstaff?

7. Why can't Hamlet kill Claudius?

8. Why at the outset of Hamlet is the Prince not the King of Denmark?

9. Can a case be made that Macbeth is not ambitious?

10. What is the best interpretation of the Oedipus myth? How does it stand in relation to other myths such as Phaeton, Prometheus, Bellerophon, and Daedalus and Icarus?

11. How does Prince Hal find his way to Eastcheap? What is his connection with Poins?

12. Does Shylock get a fair trial?

13. What are Shakespeare's religious views?

14. Do Kings Henry IV, V and VI have anything in common?

15. Why does King Henry V invade France?

16. Is Measure for Measure a comedy? How so?

17. If you were to set completely aside all biographical information, and confine yourself to the works of Shakespeare and nothing else, what kind of person would you think the author to have been?

18. Does Prospero have anything in common with Caliban?
(Questions provided courtesy of the author.)

top of page (summary)