Question

Read the excerpt from Act III of Hamlet.

Hamlet: O God, your only jig-maker. What should a man do but be merry? for, look you, how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within’s two hours.

Ophelia: Nay, ’tis twice two months, my lord.

Hamlet: So long? Nay, then, let the devil wear black, for I’ll have a suit of sables. O heavens! die two months ago, and not forgotten yet? Then there’s hope a great man’s memory may outlive his life half a year; but, by ’r lady, he must build churches then, or else shall he suffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is, ‘For, O! for, O! the hobby-horse is forgot.’

How does the excerpt exemplify Elizabethan drama?

by exploring human emotions
by referencing Biblical concepts
by addressing political policies
by praising the lives of saints

Answer 1

by exploring human emotions.

Answer 2

The correct answer is by exploring human emotions.

Elizabethan drama placed a lot of emphasis on portraying human emotions, how people thought and felt about certain things. Shakespeare was definitely one of the authors who was best at doing that, through plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, etc.

Religion wasn't that important during the Elizabethan era, so options B and D are incorrect. And if you read the excerpt, you will see that there is no mention of political policies, so C is also incorrect, thus leaving us with A.