Key quotes

• "Together with that fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge the speak."

  • Act 1, scene 1 - Horatio
  • 'fair and warlike' - oxymoron - very king-like appearance
  • Despite being sceptical he is not a blind reductionist and does not deny its existence
  • Shakespeare uses Horatio's scepticism to represent the audience's perspective - by overcoming initial doubt of ghost, the ghost gains the audience's suspension of disbelief too
• "And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, and foreign mart for implements of war, why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task"

  • Act 1, scene 1 - Marcellus
  • Brass cannons made daily - war is approaching
• "In the most high and palmy state of Rome, a little ere the mightiest Julius fell."

  • Act 1, scene 1 - Horatio
  • Compares supernatural omens that supposedly presaged the assassination of Julius Ceaser in ancient Rome
  • Horatio proves to be right and the appearance of the ghost leads to tragedies throughout the play
• "The memory may be green, and that it us befitted to bear our hearts in grief, and our whole nation."

  • Act 1, scene 2
  • Personification
  • Juxtaposition of 'death' being 'green' - death & decay and greenery, growth and renewal
• Scene two opening scene analysis

  • Having just established a dark and threatening atmosphere in the first scene there is a big contrast between that and the jovial court of King Claudius
  • The area outside of the castle is murky with the aura of dread, the room inside the castle is devoted to an energetic attempt to banish that aura
  • The King, the Queen and the courtiers desperately pretend everything is normal
• "Tis a fault to Heaven, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature to reason most absurd."

  • Act 1, scene 2
  • Claudius criticises Hamlet for continuing to be sad over his father's death
  • Hamlet's stubborn grief is a crime against heaven, the dead and to nature
  • Use of religious imagery
• "Tis unmanly grief it shows a wild most incorrect to Heaven, a heart unfortified, a mind impatient, and an understanding simple and unschool'd"

  • Act 1, scene 2
  • Claudius is mocking Hamlet, calling him sensitive, uneducated and childish
  • His grief defies their religious beliefs and God would be ashamed of Hamlet
• "as twere with a defeated joy, with an auspicious and a dropping eye, with mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, in equal scale weighing in delight and dole."

  • Act 1, scene 2
  • Claudius's first appearance - delivers a hypocrisy-filled speech
  • He orders everyone to mourn the old king and tries to simultaneously justify his marriage to Gertrude
  • Kills the old King knowingly 'our dead brother' which is ironic due to the fact Claudius is the one who killed him
• "tis an unweeded garden, that grows to seed, things rank and gross in nature."

  • Act 1, scene 2
  • Talking about the appalling conditions of life in Denmark - relates to the extended metaphor of poison and Denmark
  • Refers to Claudius's court
• "frailty thy name is woman"

  • Act 1, scene 2
  • Reflects his warped and confused view on women because of the actions of his mother
• "For nature crescent, does not grow alone in thews and bulk, but as this temple waxes"

  • Act 1, scene 3 - Horatio to Ophelia
  • Moon metaphor
  • Suggests that Hamlet's love for Ophelia is fleeting/not real
• "Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar"

  • Act 1, scene 3 - Polonius to Laertes when Laertes is about to leave
  • Hold on to those you meet but don't waste money on them
• "Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, but not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy"

  • Act 1, scene 3 - Polonius to Laertes
  • Wear nice clothes, but not too nice
• "Nature's livery, or fortune's star"

  • Act 1, scene 4
  • Whether the weakness of the country is a congenital defect or the influence of some unlucky star
• "some vicious mole of nature in them"

  • Act 1, scene 4
  • Suggests 'ill health' of the country
  • A moral weakness they were born with
• "The dram of eale Doth all the noble substance of a doubt To his own scandal"

  • Act 1, scene 4 - Hamlet
  • The smallest drop of evil poisons the whole country
• "something is rotten in the state of Denmark"

  • Act 1, scene 4 - Marcellus
• "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder"

  • Act 1, scene 5 - the ghost
  • The reason the ghost has died/needs revenge
• "so the whole ear of Denmark is by a forged process of my death rankly abused"

  • Act 1, scene 5
  • Reason for the ghost walking the ear
• "The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown"

  • Act 1, scene 5 - the ghost
  • Telling Hamlet that Claudius killed him
  • Another reason for him wanting to be avenged
• "won to his lust, the will of my most seeming-virtuous Queen"

  • Act 1, scene 5 - the ghost
  • Tells Hamlet not to blame Gertrude for her behaviour
• "Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me."

  • Act 1, scene 5 - the ghost
  • Tells Hamlet to remember him, not to avenge him
• "O most pernicious woman!"

  • Act 1, scene 5 - Hamlet
  • Cursing his mother - bad omen/foreshadows to the tragedy that will take place
  • Already going against what his father wanted
• "more than his father's death, that thus hath put him so much from th' understanding of himself, I cannot dream of"

  • Act 2, scene 2 - Claudius to R&G
  • Asking Hamlet's old college friends to spy on him/make sure he is okay - seems kind, however the king has ulterior motive
• "You visitation shall receive such thanks, as fits a king's remembrance"

  • Act 2, scene 2 - the queen
  • 'King remembrance' - ironic as they do not remember Old Hamlet
• "For if the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion - have you a daughter?"

  • Act 2, scene 2 - Hamlet to Polonius
  • First time we see Hamlet acting on his antic disposition
  • Metaphor - was thought action of the sun would breed maggots in dead flesh - the carrion is sun-kissed and breeds maggots - if the son kissed the daughter she may breed
  • Suggests Polonius is a pimp and Ophelia is a whore
• "I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent"

  • Act 2 scene 2 - Hamlet to R&G
  • Knows that they were sent for
• "lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise"

  • Act 1, scene 2 - Hamlet to R&G
  • He is depressed
• "And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?"

  • Act 2, scene 2 - Hamlet
  • So much beauty in the world but all he can see is death
  • Speech is about melancholy
• "I am but mad north-north-west; when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw"

  • Act 2, scene 2
  • Doesn't make sense, but true
  • Emphasising extreme madness - or proving he is not really mad
• "You are welcome, welcome all, I am glad to see thee well. Welcome good friends."

  • Act 2, scene 2
  • Hamlet is more happy to see the actors than R&G
• "as for your part Ophelia I do wish that your good beauties be the happy cause of Hamlet's wildness"

  • Act 3, scene 1 - Gertrude
  • She hopes Hamlet is mad because of Ophelia
  • Innocent
• "To grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death"

  • Act 3, scene 1 - Hamlet
  • Arduous labour - no-one knows what death is like and that is why no-one chooses to die
  • Ironic - he is a prince and does not have to do any labour
• "The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveller returns"

  • Act 3, scene 1 - Hamlet
  • People do return - his father did - contradictory
  • Purgatory
• "The conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution"

  • Act 3, scene 1 - Hamlet
  • If people chose to kill themselves, everyone would be more healthy
• "Get thee to a nunnery, why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?"

  • Act 3, scene 1 - Hamlet to Ophelia
  • Either saying go to a nunnery where the nuns will keep her safe or go to a brothel
• "if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool"

  • Act 3, scene 1
  • Suggests Ophelia is a whore and if she marries someone stupid they won't know she is sleeping with other men
• "In my heart's core, ay in my heart of hearts, as I do thee"

  • Act 3, scene 2
  • Genuine to Horatio's loyalty
  • Reminds him Horatio is still there where everyone else has betrayed him
• "Call me an instrument if you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me"

  • Act 3, scene 2 - Hamlet to R&G
  • Metaphor - comparing himself to an instrument R&G are manipulating
  • Horatio - "You are not a pipe" - he is a true friend
• "a bloody deed, almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother"

  • Act 3 scene 4 - Hamlet to Gertrude
  • At least he has done something, even if it wasn't killing the king
  • Has pent up anger