Hamlet quotes

Quotes for each character, theme, and critics

Revenge 4

1. “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (Ghost)

Ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his murder

2. “With wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge.”

Hamlet replies to the ghost saying he will do anything in his power to take revenge and kill Claudius

3. “O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!” (Hamlet)

Hamlet vows to think nothing other than revenge from this moment forward. 

4. “The play’s the thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” (Hamlet)

Hamlet hopes that the play-within-the-play causes Claudius’ guilt to become evident 

Madness 3

1. “To put on an antic disposition” (Hamlet)

When the ghost tells Hamlet about his murder, Hamlet replies strangely that he will pretend to be mad

2. “I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw”

His words to R & G imply that just as the wind only occasionally blows from north to northwest, so too is he only occasionally struck by his madness. He also implies he is mostly in control of his faculties and he can still distinguish between things, like between a friend and an enemy.

3. “Excellent well, you are a fishmonger”

Hamlet is pretending to be mad by implying he doesn't know Polonius assuming he’s a lowly fishmonger. However his use of a pun to insult Polonius shows the audience he’s completely in control of his mind.

Marriage 3

1. “Marriage vows” are “as false as dicers oath”

Hamlet thinks Gertrude’s and Claudius’ marriage is false and hints at the corruption at the heart of their marriage.

2. “Heaven’s face does glow o’er this solidity… is thought-sick at the act”

Hamlet suggests heaven looks over their marriage and is disgusted by it, and hints she may not make it to heaven at all. Reference to heaven shows he feels frustration on a deeper level.

3. “The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables”

Hamlet is angry at how quickly the wedding followed the funeral, suggesting the wedding can use the same meat the funeral used because that's how close in time they were

Gender and Sexuality 4

1. “Frailty, thy name is woman”  (Hamlet)

Hamlet is angry at his mother for disloyalty and hasty marriage, being weak. Implies her frailty is symbolised by her marrying Claudius because of lust 

2. “Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?”  (Hamlet)

Hamlet thinks Ophelia is unfaithful, deceitful and corrupt 

3. “If thou wilt marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them”

Hamlet says if Ophelia were to marry she would be unfaithful, representing typical male attitudes towards women as unloyal and sinners.

4. “Let the  bloat King tempt you to bed again” (Hamlet)

He speaks down to his mother and not so subtly suggests she is weak and easily seduced as she lets Claudius do whatever he wants to her. 

5. “The rank sweat of an enseamed bed”

Hamlet says Gertrude is dirty and she should lie on her stained bed sheets that are full of corruption.

Death 3

1. “O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew” (Hamlet)

Things are so bad for him that he is already wishing he could die, in a nice, painless kind of way. His first soliloquy we learn he’s truly unhappy contemplating suicide. Wishes would physically melt into the earth. As in christian world, suicide is a sin so is in despair.

2. “I do not set my life at a pin’s fee”

He considers his life as valueless as a pin or the cost of a pin

3. “To be, or not to be - that is the question; whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles”

Hamlet contemplates life and whether he should choose life or death. By fortune he means fate, talking about the outrageous situation he’s found himself in. Should he face his hardships (sea of troubles) or give in.

Appearance and Reality 3

2. “To visit you my lord, no other occasion”

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern lie to Hamlet as they are actually spying on him to get information for the King. he cannot help himself but to add “no other occasion” which arouses Hamlet's suspicion

3. “My lord, we were sent for”

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern confess and give in, revealing their true reasoning for visiting him; they easily sacrifice their friendship with Hamlet for their own gains. They are rotten, unfaithful and deceitful friends 

4. “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death the memory be green, and that it us befitted to bear our hearts in grief”

Claudius is pretending to grieve as that's what he thinks the people want to hear to appear a good king, when really he feels no grief because he is the murderer. Green could imply he’s only just died, but an alternative reading could be green suggests new life and growth as in Claudius' reign, which is all he really cares about. Paints picture of perfect king but only thinking of person goals (becoming King)

Morality/ Corruption 4

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

After seeing the ghost he’s worried it signals a bad omen or trouble for the country. Sense of unease and uncertainty

2. “This bodes some strange eruption to our state” (Horatio)

He thinks the appearance of the ghost means something is seriously wrong in their country, creating an ambiguous and sinister tone 

3. “Who’s there?” (Barnardo)

Questions build suspicion and distrust 

4. “A bloody deed! - Almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king, and marry with his brother”

Hamlet is raging with Gertrude for marrying Claudius and compares the act of murder with Gertrude's remarriage 

Action V Inaction 3

1. “Is it the King?” (Hamlet)

Hamlet is uncertain who he has just killed and has to ask out loud who it is, suggesting his uncertainty and lack of care over his actions. Demonstrates his impulsiveness and irrationality 

3. “But I am pigeon-livered a lack gall” 

He calls himself a coward for his inability to act

4. “Now might I do it, pat, now he is a-praying”

Hamlet considers killing Claudius now as he is vulnerable and alone, but quickly changes his mind when he thinks he’s praying because if he kills him in prayer then his soul will go to heaven. Is Hamlet making another excuse to put off that which he feels will damn his soul

Hamlet 3

1. “Why it appeareth nothing to me, but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours”

Hamlet is looking at the night sky and can see no beauty or hope in the world anymore, only corruption, death and sin

3. “You go not til I set you up a glass, where you may see the inmost part of you”

Hamlet tells Gertrude to take a hard look at herself and her actions. He reverses the parental roles and is very demanding and disrespectful to his own mother.

4. “Let me wring your heart… if it be made of penetrable stuff”

Hamlet wants to rip his mothers heart out but no longer thinks it is soft due to all her evil acts. Violent imagery shows his real intentions and uncontrollable anger

5. “O most pernicious woman! O, villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!” 

Hamlet says this to himself after the ghost leaves, he despises his mother and her fakeness for smiling through this corrupt and incestuous situation

Ghost 2

2. “Let not the royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest”

The ghost tells Hamlet to not let Claudius’ bed be one where incest takes place with Gertrude, promting Hamlet to take revenge 

3. “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown”

The ghost says to Hamlet that Claudius is a snake and killed him, and has stolen his crown 

Claudius 4

1. “O, my offence is rank; it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, a brother's murder”

Claudius is admitting that he murdered Old Hamlet and seems to be distressed and somewhat regretful at the sin he committed. The irony lies in his determination to continue profiting from his crime and not give up the crime.

2. “O, wretched state! O bosom black as death!”

Claudius is on his knees as if praying, is in despair as he cannot or will not confess his sins and ask for forgiveness properly as he doesn't want to lose all he has gained. He knows he is damned. He thinks the situation is horrific 

4. “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent, and, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, and both neglect”

His guilt is his overriding emotion. He describes his conflict which he is paralysed by as he has 2 things to do. He knows he should repent for his crimes but cannot give up what he’s already won which is ironic if he’s so repentful 

5. “May one be pardoned and retain th’ offence?” 

Claudius wants to keep what he’s gained whilst also be forgiven for his sins which is ironic 

6. “Tis unmanly grief”

Tells Hamlet his grief is unmanly and he should man up and move on swiftly

Gertrude 2

3. “What have I done, that thou dar’st wag thy tongue in noise so rude against me?”

She replies to Hamlet's anger at her remarriage with confusion and innocency, when she most likely knows what she has done is wrong 

4. “Thou knowest ‘tis common. All that lives must die” (Gertrude)

Gertrude tries to smooth over the tense atmosphere

Ophelia 2

1. “I do not know my lord, what I should think”

She is obedient to her father and rarely acts on her own thoughts/feelings. Her monosyllabic phrase suggests she has little to say until she eventually goes mad

2. “As if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors”

Ophelia expresses fear and concern for hamlet after having seen his recent frantic behaviour and dishevelled appearance 

Polonius 3

2. “Give every man thy voice, but few thy ear”

He tries to give kind fatherly advice to his son before he leaves for France 

3. “Think yourself a baby”

Polonius denies Ophelia any independence reflecting male attitudes that women are inferior to men

4. “You speak like a green girl”

Polonius thinks Ophelia is innocent and has no real knowledge or experience of the world, and thus cant make her own decisions

Laertes 2

1. “I’ll not be juggled with. To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil, conscience and grace to the profoundest pit”

Laertes is angry about the murder and unceremonious burial of his father. He seeks revenge and states he will do anything (“blackest devil”) to get it. He is a foil to Hamlet who is unsure of taking action and has only mere plans. He casts aside friendship, declaring “to hell allegiance” as avenging his fathers death comes first.  

2. “A violet in the youth of primy nature… not permanent, sweet, not lasting”

Laertes warns Ophelia Hamlet is immature and his love for her will never last, like the smell of a violet it will fade within minutes

Revenge critics 1

Alexander - “The desire for vengeance is seen as part of a continuing pattern of human conduct”

Madness critics 1

Crawford - “There need no doubt, then, that Hamlet’s madness was really feigned” (fake)

Family critics 1

Beltramini - “The dysfunctional families are essentially the cause of Hamlet’s tragic nature”

Gender / sexuality critics 1

Leverez - “Hamlet’s disgust at the feminine passivity in himself is translated into violent repulsion against women”

Death critics 2

Bacon - “Hamlet’s obsession with death is not disturbing, but for a greater purpose of honouring his father”

Knight - “Hamlet is a figure of nihilism and death” (rejection of all religious and moral principles often believing life is meaningless)

Appearance V reality critics 1

Knight - “Claudius .. is not a criminal… he is… a good and gentle king”

Morality / corruption critics 1

Claudius - “Corruption within the political framework of a kingdom is highlighted”

Action V inaction critics 1

Ryan - “The main cause of the whole tragic chain of events is Hamlet's compulsion to postpone”

Hamlet critics 1

Hall - “Hamlet was unheroic” 

Ghost critics 2

Prosser - “The ghost’s presence is malign and Hamlet responds savagely by seeking out revenge” 

West - “The ghost is purposely ambiguous in order to have dramatic impact”

Polonius critic

Wilson - “Worried about Ophelia, he doesn't want her to get hurt… he wants to protect her”

Gertrude critics 1

Heilbrun - “fail to see Gertrude for the strong minded, intelligent… woman that she is”

Ophelia critic

Showalter - “Ophelia is deprived of thought, sexuality, language” 

Laertes critic

Prosser - “Laertes is not a whiff of fresh air. He is a hurricane”

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern critics 2

Morgan - “They were willing tools of Claudius” 

French - “Sacrifice the bond of human friendship to a social propriety”

Production for gender AND sexuality

Olivier Production highlights oedipus complex as he throws gertrude onto the bed violently = sexual tension.

Shows femininity as traditional and innocent through Opehlia and Gertrude: Gertrude - young and beautiful. Ophelia - soft spoken and easily thrown on the floor by Hamlet

Production for madness

In the Almeida West End production of 2017, Hamlet portrays his feigned madness through how he shouts, throws objects at Polonius and even hits himself

Production for appearance vs reality and corruption

Doran 2009 Film with David Tennant

Some scenes shot from the perspective of a surveillance camera. Emphasising the role of deception within the court as well as the feigned sense of intimacy/privacy

Production for love / sexuality

Icke 2017

Emphasises the sexual vulgarity of Claudius and Gertrude's relationship. The are woken up whilst entwined on a sofa to receive an ambassadorial visit

Production for death

Lyubimov 1989

Had a grave present on stage the entire time, empathising death/fatality as a running theme

Production for supernatural

Olivier Production

Ghost in full armour → physical influence over plot (catalyst) → intimidating and imposing, enhancing the eerie, otherworldly atmosphere

Almeida Production

The ghost is presented as an ominous figure that appears on CCTV

This makes the ghost less of a melodramatic, fantasy figure and more realistic, and therefore more frightening to the audience. It also causes the ghost to resemble Hamlet's father more, justifying the connection Hamlet feels to the ghost

Production for inaction

Doran 2009

Hamlet wears a muscular tight top = ironic of his inaction compared to fortinbras as militant