Hamlet Vocab

To ruin something by making it unpure, corrupt, sinful.

(Claudius does this to the throne by murdering King Hamlet and marrying Gertrude)

• virtue

• adulterate

• taint

• resolution

Which word means "a moral quality of excellence"; decent traits like kindness, honesty, and bravery? (Hamlet’s struggle to keep this, and wants to avenge his father's death without sinning)

• virtue

• treachery

• foul

• taint

Which word names something that ruins or stains a good reputation?

(This is what happens to Denmark's reputation after the news of Claudius’s murder)

• revenant

• taint

• foul

• oppression

Full of hatred and capable of harming/hurting/poisoning others.

(Claudius’s plot is this; Hamlet calls his uncle a poisonous snake.)

• taint

• venemous

• knave

• scoundrel

Which word means an act that betrays someone's trust, an act of deception.

(Claudius does this when he killed his brother and took the throne)

• Rogue

• Virtue

• Treachery

• Prompt

Which adjective describes something with a bad smell, taste, or that is dirty?

(“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”)

• foul

• imminent

• devout

• monstrous

Which noun refers to a naughty scoundrel or villain, but still a charming person that you may like?

(Polonius is this, spying on Hamlet and Ophelia)

• rogue

• witness

• revenant

• scruple

This is means to make someone act.

(The ghost does this when it makes Hamlet seek revenge)

• taint

• prompt

• revenant

• rogue

This means largely evil behavior or huge.

(Claudius’s murder of King Hamlet is considered this.)

• rogue

• conceit

• monstrous

• virtue

This word represents a lot of pride one has in himself.

(Hamlet’s pride shows in his long soliloquies.)

• conceit

• anagram

• revenant

• virtue