Act 1, Scene 1

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Important Quotes

• “Who’s there?” (Bernardo)

  It creates an uneasy atmosphere. It suggests that the play is going to be about suspicion and trust. There is a sense of danger and mistrust because of the death of the king

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• “Tis now struck twelve” (Bernardo)

  Setting is at midnight. There are supernatural connotations, like the witching hour. There is a sense of light imagery

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• “And I am sick at heart” (Francisco)

  Reveals that he’s grieving. Also suggests that there is an uncertainty

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• “Not a mouse stirring” (Francisco)

  Use of setting, reveals that it is time of night

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• “Such was the very armour he had on” (Horatio)

  Armour is associated with bravery, valiance, nobility. However the armour could be foreshadowing of death, it could be the ghost warning the characters to ready themselves for battle, suggesting hes back for revenge

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Context

• Fear of the supernatural (linking to the appearance of the ghost of Old Hamlet) was a very real concern in Shakespeare’s society.
• Witch trial were a form of public spectacle, as well as being a type of social deterrent. Such was the genuine belief in witchcraft and the supernatural that in 1542, parliament passed The Witchcraft Act, which made witchcraft a crime punishable by death.
• Also Elizabeth 1’s successor, James 1, wrote a pamphlet called ‘Daemonologie’ warning about the dangers of black magic.
• Beginning Hamlet with a ghost would therefore have been effective for Shakespeare to engage an audience that were both fearful of, and fascinated by magic and the supernatural.

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Critics

• ‘In the opening scene, the soldiers do something fundamental to the play: they ask questions…Questions are only asked when people are uncertain. This is the world of Hamlet.’ (Richard Gill)

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• ‘The opening scene of Hamlet is as well constructed an opening as that of any play ever written’ (T.S Eliot) - 1968

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• ‘The aim of tragedy is to arouse sensations of pit and fear’ (Aristotle)

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