Hamlet 1.1

Horatio presented as logical “the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes”
Unsteady rhythm created with half-lines to create sense of uncertainty and unease “Long live the king!/ Barnardo? /He.”
Shakespeare makes use of the superstitions of his audience to foreshadow conflict “the very armour he had on when he th’ambitious Norway combated”
A piece of pastoral imagery that might also contribute to a feminist reading? “the morn in russet mantle clad”
pathetic fallacy employed to give a sense of discord “tis bitter cold”
motif of sickness contributes to an idea of a corrupt Denmark “I am sick at heart”
Play opens with a sense of uncertainty “Who’s there?”
quote that represents need for renaissance thinkers to handle ephemeral questions “thou art a scholar”
violence and mortal action shown to be useless in the face of supernatural beings (or questions) “we do it wrong, being so majestical, to offer it show of violence”
introduces theme of uncertainty and sets Horatio apart from the other men “In what particular thought to work I know not”
quote to confirm superstitious interpretation of the ghost “this bodes some strange eruption in our state”
Horatio draws attention to the foreshadowing that the spirit represents “If thou art privy to thy country’s fate”
quote that ties together aggression and virtue “fair and warlike form”
two examples of military language “let us once again assail your ears that are so fortified”, “usurp’st this time of night”
Hamlet contrasts with Medieval men “for food and diet to some enterprise that hath a stomach in’t”
Fortinbras as a foil to Hamlet “to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsative, those foresaid lands by his father lost”
September 4, 2019