Why resort to such heavy soliloquies and dramatic irony to demonstrate the paralysing weight of existential dread? This Hamlet Literary Devices Quiz will test your understanding of the metaphors and motifs that define this psychological drama.

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Hamlet Literary Devices Quiz Questions
- What literary device is used in the phrase “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”?
- The Ghost represents which literary device?
- What device is used when Hamlet speaks his private thoughts aloud on stage?
- Hamlet’s use of “Frailty, thy name is woman” is an example of what?
- When Hamlet calls Polonius a “fishmonger,” what device is at play?
- The play-within-a-play is an example of what dramatic device?
- Hamlet’s hesitation to kill Claudius serves as what device?
- When Claudius prays for forgiveness but cannot repent, what device is shown?
- The recurring imagery of disease throughout the play represents what device?
- The line “I am but mad north-north-west” employs what device?
- Hamlet’s feigned madness serves as what kind of device?
- The skull of Yorick represents what literary element?
- When Hamlet compares death to sleep, it’s an example of what?
- The phrase “To be or not to be” is an example of what device?
- “Brevity is the soul of wit” is an example of what device?
- When Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine, it demonstrates what dramatic device?
- The recurring theme of appearance versus reality uses what device?
- Hamlet calling Denmark a “prison” is an example of what?
- The line “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven” is an example of what?
- The phrase “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” contains which device?
- When the audience knows Claudius’s guilt but Hamlet does not, it creates what?
- The Ghost’s command “Remember me” illustrates which device?
- Hamlet’s interaction with the Gravediggers adds what device to the play?
- Claudius’s poisoned cup and sword are examples of what device?
- The line “Good night, sweet prince” employs what device?
- Hamlet’s self-criticism for inaction reveals what literary concept?
- The phrase “A little more than kin, and less than kind” is an example of what?
- Polonius’s death behind the arras represents what structural device?
- Ophelia’s madness and flowers serve as what device?
- When Hamlet says, “My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth,” it demonstrates what device?
