HAMLET QUOTES - English Literature Y12 Mocks

“Who’s there?”

• Barnardo

• Act 1 Scene 1

• First line of the play

• Creates tone of paranoia and uncertainty before the ghost appears

• Establishes an atmosphere of fear and distrust and apprehension. It is clear that the night watch has become something frightening, even to the men protecting Elsinore.

“struck twelve” “Tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart.”

• Barnardo and Francisco

• Act 1 Scene 1

• Witching hour

• Suggests a deeper psychological distress beyond physical cold.

• Links to how Denmark is “rotten” - sense of decay and disease, instantly sets up the atmosphere of the play as something full of betrayal and death.

“Not a mouse stirring.”

• Francisco

• Act 1 Scene 1

• Foreshadows ‘Mousetrap’ play, suggests a state of calm is about to be broken (as the ‘Mousetrap’ play confirms Hamlet’s suspicions and ruins the peace)

• Mice are associated with decay and the churchyard, creating an image of death and corruption in Elsinore.

• Mice are also associated with being quiet and hiding in the shadows, could reflect the spying and sense of betrayal that takes place (quiet as a mouse).

“‘twil not appear.” “Thou art a scholar.”

• Horatio

• Act 1 Scene 1

• Horatio is educated and rational, not supersticious. This makes the audience more likely to believe it as they relate to Horatio’s reluctance/disbelief.

“Enter GHOST in armour”

• Act 1 Scene 1

• Creates the illusion of strength and suggests he is ready for war, foreshadowing the chaos he will bring to Hamlet’s life.

• Warlike image creates tension and the image of battle.

• Suggests he shows up more as King than as Hamlet’s father.

“This bodes some strange erruption to our state”

• Horatio

• Act 1 Scene 1

• Creates image of sudden danger - explosive, potrays the need for revenge.

• “Strange” links to their earlier reference to the ghost as a “thing”, which creates ambiguity and a sense of fear, suggesting that the ghost brings a feeling of uncertainty as they cannot predict the course of events throughout the play.

• Reference to how what happens in the court happens in the state.

“defeated joy”, “With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage”

• Claudius

• Act 1 Scene 2

• Oxymoron is nonsensical

• Simultaneously happy and sad is nonsensical and highlights his deciet.

• Suggests the joy of becoming King isn’t quite what it seems.

• Hints at how good things bring bad things, and he might be punished after death for choosing pleasure in the present.

“impotent and bed-rid”

• Claudius describing Fortinbras

• Act 1 Scene 2

• Insulting other political figures takes the focus away from his errors.

• Claudius wants to show that he is capable and decisive compared to other leaders

• It is ironic that he talks about loyalty and kingship when he has committed the ultimate betrayal, and by Shakespearean ideology, is not deserving of his position.

“A little more than kin, and less than kind”

• Hamlet

• Act 1 Scene 2

• Hamlet is saying that Claudius is a little closer than mere kinsman (as he is his mother’s husband), but hardly bears any familial likeness to him and is not kindly disposed towards him.

• Instantly portrays the characters as unaligned and asserts Claudius as a ‘villain’.

• This reflects Hamlet’s loyalty to his father, but also foreshadows his later indecision, as even now, he seems indecisive about their relationship and his emotions/duty towards Claudius.

“But you must know, your father lost a father; That father lost, lost his”

• Claudius

• Act 1 Scene 2

• Talks as if he knows what is best for Hamlet - making him seem weak as he asserts control and dominance.

• Claudius seems good with words, which is necessary for taking control over Denmark.

• The fact he broadens Hamlet’s grief seems to be an attempt to take the focus away from his personal loss, as maybe part of him feels guilty or he doesn’t want to be found out. He generalises the situation to make him seem less antagonistic.

“Tis unmanly grief”

• Claudius to Hamlet

• Act 1 Scene 2

• He is saying that having projected feelings is feminine - he is building this idea of what it means to be man.

• Links to the theme of masculinity: Claudius and Old Hamlet seem to view manliness as something strong and armoured and powerful, seizing control and dominating through what they say and wear and how they act. However, the audience sees Hamlet’s inner thoughts and his intellectual strengths, which contradicts this idea of strong, hyper-masculinity.

• Shakespeare is debating what it means to be man, and whether emotion builds strength or weakness.

“O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew”

• Hamlet

• Act 1 Scene 2

• Hamlet is saying that he doesn’t want to destroy his flesh, but wants it to become liquid through some sort of external process. He believes life is futile and doesn’t like mortlality.

• Repetition of “too” creates a mournful tone - sense of desperation and being overwhelmed.

• Image of flesh links in to sense of something being rotten.

“frailty, thy name is woman - a little month”

• Hamlet

• Act 1 Scene 2

• He is calling all women frail, but inverting the order of the sentence which takes away the accusatory tone, implying that he cannot blame women as frailty is embodied by the human character.

“Like Niobe all tears”…”O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer”

• Hamlet

• Act 1 Scene 2

•