Hamlet Act 1 Scene 3 Close Reading Worksheet

This worksheet challenges high school readers to go beyond basic comprehension and practice close reading analysis skills while engaging with Act 1.3 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Whether assigned as independent homework or a collaborative classroom activity, this formative assessment promotes learning accountability and prepares students for the rigors of advanced placement classes. An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats.

By engaging with this close reading analysis activity, students will:

• Define unfamiliar or archaic words in context (e.g., blastments)
• Make logical inferences about characters’ attitudes and motivations using textual evidence (e.g., Laertes’s protectiveness toward Ophelia)
• Explain how Laertes’s words reveal his values regarding family honor, morality, and reputation
• Interpret what Ophelia’s responses reveal about her own perspective on virtue and human struggle
• Analyze how Shakespeare explores themes of purity, temptation, and social expectation
• Explain how individual duty and moral restraint reflect broader Elizabethan beliefs about gender, class, and virtue
• Determine the tone of a character’s remarks and explain how word choice conveys caution, affection, and concern
• Interpret metaphors and similes (e.g., comparing Ophelia to a flower or describing the steep and thorny way to heaven)