QUOTES

How does Marcellus describe how the ghost walks in act 1.1 that implies a sense of deception and dishonour, mirroring how old Hamlet died in an underhanded fashion, being left with unfinished business?

“With martial stalk”

What does Horatio say on the castle ramparts when he meets the ghost in act 1.1 which mirrors act 2.4 of Macbeth wherein Ross and his father discuss all the strange happenings that took place the night that Duncan died (violation of the great chain of being)?

“In the most high and palmy state of Rome/ A little ere the mightiest Julius fell/ The graves stood tenantless… and the moist star/ upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands/ was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse”

What is one of Claudius’ first lines in act 1.2 that reveals Claudius’ calculating nature and brilliant people skills as he plays emotions like they are a game?

“That it us benefitted/ To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom/ To be contracted in one brow of woe”

Laertes arrives in act 1.2 to speak with Claudius. What does Claudius repeat that further illustrating Claudius’ immense social strength and underlying insecurities? (and what part from Macbeth does this mirror?)

“Now Laertes” “Beg Laertes” and variations of such phrases. This mirrors Macbeth’s repetition of “Seyton!” in act 5.3

What is Hamlet’s first spoken line in act 1.2 that not only establishes his hatred of his uncle and mother (and their incestuous connection, which he fixates on with an almost Freudian obsession) but also that Hamlet is a character of wit, an educated man who prefers to fight with his words?

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

In act 1.2, Claudius and Hamlet discuss the latter’s grief using pathetic fallacy, what is said?

“How is it that the clouds still hang on you?/
Not so my lord, I am too much i’th’sun.”

Claudius says something to Hamlet in act 1.2 that is proleptically ironic as later on he attempts to banish Hamlet to England to have him killed, showing Claudius’ cunning?

“remain/ Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye”

What does Hamlet say in the first line of his act 1.2 soliloquy that reflects the crushing weight of depression (and later, familial duty) and misanthropy that Hamlet feels?

“O that this too solid flesh would melt”.

how does Hamlet utilise feast imagery in act 1.2 to comment on how his Father’s funeral and Claudius’ wedding happened very close together?

“The funeral baked meats/ Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.”

What does Laertes warn Ophelia about in act 1.3, echoing the patriarchal belief that a woman’s virginity is all she is good for until marriage?

“If with too credent ear you list his songs/ Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open/ to his unmastered importunity”

How does Polonius build upon Laertes’ advice to Ophelia in act 1.3, accusing Hamlet of being all bark and no bite?

“When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul/ Lends the tongue vows, these blazes daughter/ Giving more light than heat.”

What quote from Hamlet at the start of act 1.4 hints at one of his major insecurities, that being his noble birth?

“As in their birth, wherein they are not guilty/ Since nature cannot choose his origin.”

What angry line from Hamlet in act 1.4 alludes to a cycle of violence?

“I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me.”

What does the ghost say about his experience of the catholic afterlife in act 1.5?

“sulph’rous and tormenting flames”

How does old Hamlet describe his murder in act 1.5, referencing the great chain of being?

“foul and most unnatural”

How does old Hamlet describe Claudius in act 1.5?

“that incestuous, that adulterate beast”

What quote from Gertrude to Claudius in act 2.2 shows how she knows more than she lets on about old Hamlet’s death, perhaps even being complicit to some degree, whilst illustrating her sympathy for her son?

“our o’erhasty marriage”

What very ironic line does Polonius utter in act 2.2 that also implies that, to some degree, Hamlet’s hesitation is idiotic and paranoid? (CLUE: it’s in that one banger horrible histories song)

“Brevity is the soul of wit”

What does Polonius tell Claudius he told Ophelia in act 2.2 that heavily alludes to the great chain of being?

“Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star./This must not be.”

How does Hamlet refer to the world in his act 2.2 meditation to R+G that links to miasma theory?

“A foul and pestilent congregation of vapours”

How does Hamlet close his act 2.2 meditation to R+G, showing how chronically misunderstood he is and how he does not conform to traditional masculinity?

“Man delights not me- no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so”

What line from Hamlet’s act 2.2 rogue and peasant slave soliloquy shows his insecurities about living up to his father’s legacy and how he still feels overwhelmed by unexpressed grief?

“What’s Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,/ That he should weep for her?”

What line from Hamlet’s act 2.2 rogue and peasant slave soliloquy could symbolise the thorough espionage that went on in the Elizabethan royal court and also reflects how Hamlet’s soliloquies allow him to procrastinate killing Claudius?

“For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak”

What quote from act 3.1’s to be or not to be soliloquy shows how Hamlet views life as pathetic and restrictive?

“Shuffled off this mortal coil”

What quote from act 3.1’s to be or not to be soliloquy shows his crippling self awareness of his inability to act?

“Thus conscience does make cowards of us all”

What does Hamlet instruct Ophelia to do in act 3.1 apart from going to a nunnery, using pathetic fallacy to foreshadow her death and further reinforcing his misogyny?

“Be thou chaste as ice, as pure as snow”

What does Hamlet say at the start of act 3.2 that uses biblical allusion to connote ideas of political corruption?

“it out-Herods Herod”

What does Polonius say to Hamlet in act 3.2 that foreshadows his own demise and references one of Shakespeare’s other works?

“I did enact Julius Caesar. I was killed i’th’Capitol. Brutus killed me”

How does Hamlet sexually harass Ophelia in act 3.2?

“country matters… That’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs”

What does Hamlet declare to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in act 3.2, foreshadowing how he will orchestrate their demise later on?

“Call me what instrument you will… you cannot play upon me”

In act 3.2’s closing soliloquy, how does Hamlet use apocalyptic and nature-subverting imagery to create a sense of urgency and tension to his quest?

“churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out/Contagion to this world”

In act 3.2’s closing soliloquy, how does Hamlet use classical allusion to unnerve the audience and build tension as he goes to meet with Gertrude?

“let not ever/The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom./Let me be cruel, not unnatural”

In act 3.2’s closing soliloquy, what does Hamlet say that perfectly sums up his internal conflict?

“My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites”

What does Polonius say in act 3.3 that foreshadows Gertrude’s death as self-sacrifice on behalf of her son?

“Since nature makes them partial”

In Claudius’ soliloquy of act 3.3, how does he reveal that he is the root of all the things “rotten in the state of Denmark” in a great example of the body politic by using miasmic imagery?

“Oh my offence is rank, it smells to heaven”

In Claudius’ soliloquy of act 3.3, what does he say that mirrors a line of Macbeth’s in act 2.1 (“all great Neptune’s ocean”) to symbolise crushing guilt?

“Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens/To wash it white as snow?”

In Hamlet’s act 3.3 soliloquy, what does he exclaim to show his rage at the laws of the universe?

“Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge”

In Hamlet’s act 3.3 soliloquy, he accuses Claudius of gluttony, lust, sloth and wrath. His hyperbolic use of the 7 deadly sins shows how he caricaturises Claudius as an irredeemable villain to justify killing him, what does he say to do this?

“When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage/Or in th’incestuous pleasure of his bed.”

What does Claudius say as the final line of act 3.3, reflecting not only his fate but also how Hamlet is a deeply hypocritical character?

“Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”

In act 3.4, what do Hamlet and Gertrude respectively accuse the other of having?

“Wicked tongue”
“Idle tongue”

What does Hamlet accuse Gertrude of in act 3.4, using pig imagery to connote ideas of greed, disgust and corruption?

“making love/Over the nasty sty”

What does Hamlet declare in act 3.4 that shows how corrupt the Danish political system has become with Claudius at its head?

“Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg”

How does Gertrude use pathetic fallacy at the start of act 4.1 to show how unpredictable of a character Hamlet is?

“Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend”

How does Claudius use disease and decay imagery in act 4.1 to show how he plans on consolidating his power by exiling Hamlet even if it harms others?

“like the owner of a foul disease,/To keep it from divulging, let it feed/Even on the pith of life”

In Hamlet’s act 4.4 soliloquy, what is his final line that establishes his change of character into a cunning, vengeful killer?

“My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth”

What does Laertes declare in act 4.5, showing how he is Hamlet’s foil as he is full of rage and a thirst for vengance?

“That drop of blood that’s calm proclaims me bastard”

How does Laertes lament Ophelia’s insanity in act 4.5, continuing the idea of the fragility of the human mind?

“is’t possible a young maid’s wits/Should be as mortal as an old man’s life?”

What does Claudius note in act 4.7, showing how Hamlet is insecure in his identity and masculinity in relation to Laertes’ gusto?

“Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy”

What does Laertes say in act 4.7, contrasting Hamlet’s raw emotion and distress?

“Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia/And therefore I forbid my tears”

What does Hamlet say about a skull in act 5.1 to Horatio, referencing espionage in the Elizabethan court and the divine right of kings?

“This might be the pate of a politician… one that would circumvent God”

What does Hamlet declare he and Horatio can do in act 5.2, showcasing his newfound confidence and drive?

“we defy augury”

What does Horatio tell Fortinbras he will hear of the tale of Hamlet in act 5.2?

“carnal, bloody and unnatural acts”