Hamlet - Quotes

A quote representing Hamlet at the start of the play

“O, that the almighty had not fixed his cannon gainst self-slaughter”

A quote representing Hamlet later in the first half of the play

“I’ll put on an antic disposition”

A quote representing Hamlet early in the second half of the play

“Now might i do it, while he is a-praying”

A quote representing Hamlet at the end of the play

“In this harsh world, draw thy breath in pain to tell my story”

A quote representing Claudius at the start of the play

“Our sometime sister, now our queen”

A quote representing Claudius later in the first half of the play

“We shall sift him”

A quote representing Claudius early in the second half of the play

“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below, words without thoughts never to heaven go”

A quote representing Claudius’s outcome

“Thou incestuous, murderous damned dane, drink”

A quote representing Gertrude at the start of the play

“Thou know tis common, all that lives must die”

A quote representing Gertrude during the play-within-a-play

“The lady doth protest too much methinks”

A quote representing Gertrude early in the second half of the play

“O Hamlet, speak no more. thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul”

A quote representing Gertrude at the end of the play

“I will my lord, I pray you pardon me”

A quote representing Polonius at the start of the play

“By indirections find directions out”

A quote representing Polonius later in the first half of the play

“Brevity be the soul of wit”

A quote representing Polonius early in the second half of the play

“I did enact Julius caesar”

A quote representing Polonius’ outcome

“How now, a rat?”

A quote representing Ophelia at the start of the play

“I shall the effect of this good lesson keep as watchman to my heart.”

A quote representing Ophelia later in the first half of the play

“Get thee to a nunnery”

A quote representing Ophelia early in the second half of the play

“Did you think I meant country matters?”

A quote representing Ophelia’s outcome

“There is a willow grows aslant a brook”

A quote representing Laertes as he is introduced

“What is’t Laertes? Thou cannot speak of reason to the dane and lose your voice”

A quote representing Laertes later in the play

“Slit his throat in’t church”

Two quotes representing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s introduction

“Thanks Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern” “Thanks Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz”

A quote representing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s outcome

“Their defeat does by their own insinuation grow”

A quote representing Horatio’s introduction

“In the gross and scope of mine opinion, this bodes some strange eruption to our state.”

A quote representing Horatio’s character

“I am more an antique roman than a dane”

A quote of Laertes equivocation around his sister’s death, emphasising the passivity surrounding female characters

“Too much of water hast thou poor Ophelia”

Polonius’s maxim towards his son, symbolising the need to control appearances

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be”

A complaint by Hamlet made against the percieved deception of women

“God hath given you one face and you make yourself another”

A quote representing the ghost’s mission for Hamlet, containing a biblical allusion

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

A quote directly describing Hamlet’s desire for revenge

“Revenge his most foul and unnatural murder”

A quote describing Hamlet’s approach to his mother

“I will speak daggers to her, but use none.”

A quote where Hamlet seemingly resolves to act

“My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!”

A quote representing the turbulence of Ophelia and Hamlet’s relationship

“I did love you once … I loved you not … you should not have believed me.”

A quote exemplifying Hamlet’s perception of women as a whole

“Frailty, thy name is woman!”

A quote identifying the theme of corruption early in the play

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”

A quote where Hamlet uses wit to criticise Claudius and Gertrude’s union

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

A quote where Claudius professes his guilt

“O my offence is rank, it smells to heaven.”

A quote where Hamlet’s “antic dispositon” is analysed by polonius

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.”

Claudius’s musings on Hamlet’s madness

“Madness in great ones must not unwatched go”