Analyze the previous years questions and find the repeatition pattern and provide suggestions and guidance for exam preparation and tips and tricks based on analysis Hamlet: Shakespeare Studies

2021
1. In *Hamlet*, what Hamlet shrinks from is not the act of vengeance but the total burden of living. Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer.
   
 2. In his 'tragical speeches' Hamlet settles accounts with himself in thoughts that spring from the very depths of his being. How far is this an appropriate assessment of Hamlet's great soliloquies?

3. Explain with reference to the context:
   - "And yet to me what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no nor Woman neither."

2020
4. In *Hamlet*, what are the inner and outer reasons that make Hamlet an indecisive man? Is his indecision natural or circumstantial? Explain with Hamlet's soliloquies in mind.
   
5. How does Shakespeare mingle the comic and the serious in the tragedy of *Hamlet* and to what effect?

6. Explain with reference to the context:
   - "... in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world the paragon of animals - and yet to me what is this quintessence of dust?"

2019
7. What is wrong is not that *Hamlet* thinks or thinks too much or too often but that his way of thinking frustrates the object of thought. Elucidate.

8. Explain with reference to the context:
   - **a)** "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all."

2018
9.  In *Hamlet*, deception is at the heart of every relationship. Show how this contributes to the shaping of the "Hamletian" mind.
   
   
10. Hamlet* seems to be obsessed more with his mother's sexuality than with his father's murder.

11. Explain with reference to the context:
   - "I am more an antique Roman than a Dane: Here's yet some liquor left."


2017
12. In *Hamlet*, the protagonist is at once an avenger, a philosopher, a lover, an unemotional reasoner, and an indecisive man desperate to be decisive. Give examples from the text to illustrate these aspects of Hamlet's character.
   
 13. Does *Hamlet* finally attain deliverance from his disease of will? Give reasons for your answer.

14. Explain with reference to the context:
   - "I must be cruel only to be kind. This bad begins, and worse remains behind."

2016
15. In *Hamlet*, show how Hamlet stands in the same position for Laertes as Claudius does for Hamlet. 
   
16. Is Queen Gertrude an evil character in *Hamlet*? Give reasons for your answer.

17. Explain with reference to the context:
   -  "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions."

2015
18. Hamlet* as a revenger is both ruthless and reluctant. Discuss how this contradiction is fundamental to the play *Hamlet*.
   
19. Discuss Shakespeare's use of soliloquy as a dramatic device in *Hamlet*.

20. Explain with reference to the context:
- "... Since brevity is the soul of wit And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief. Your noble son is mad."

2014
21. In *Hamlet*, every character waits—the ghost, the king, the prince—for the right time. What does the play by itself tell us about time?
   
 22. What Hamlet shrinks from is not the act of vengeance but the whole burden of living. Do you agree?

23. Explain with reference to the context:
   - "I am more an antique Roman than a Dane: Here's yet some liquor left."

2013
24. Hamlet* emerges finally as the sacrificial victim, one whose death is inevitable but which makes possible the purging of great evil and the restoration of a moral universe. Comment on the statement.
   
25. Discuss Gertrude's role in *Hamlet*.

2012
26. Discuss the transformation of Hamlet's character from the beginning of the play to the end.
   
27. How does Hamlet's delay in avenging his father's death contribute to the overall tragedy of the play?

2011
28. In *Hamlet*, the theme of appearance vs. reality is central to the play. Discuss with reference to the characters of Hamlet and Claudius.
   
30. How does the play *Hamlet* explore the conflict between action and inaction?

31. Explain with reference to the context:
   - "Frailty, thy name is woman!"