Hamlet

act 1 scene 1 horatio and the guards see the ghost
act 1 scene 2 -claudius and gertrude tell hamlet to stop worrying-horatio tells hamlet about the ghost
act 1 scene 3 laertes (nicely) and polonius (not so nicely) tell ophelia to reject hamlet
act 1 scene 4 the ghost appears and hamlet follows it
act 1 scene 5 -ghost tells hamlet to avenge him-hamlet tells horatio to respond normally if he’s acting crazy
act 2 scene 1 -polonius sends reynaldo to spy on laertes-ophelia tells polonius that hamlet is crazy
act 2 scene 2 -norway won’t attack denmark but is going through it for poland-polonius tells claudius and gertrude that hamlet is crazy for ophelia-hamlet acts crazy towards polonius but not friends (r&g)-hamlet conspires with players to reenact father’s death
act 3 scene 1 claudius and polonius realize hamlet is not crazy because of ophelia (after spying on their conversation)
act 3 scene 2 hamlet’s play proves claudius guilty
act 3 scene 3 hamlet doesn’t kill praying claudius
act 3 scene 4 -hamlet kills polonius-hamlet threatens gertrude until the ghost appears
act 4 scene 1 gertrude tells claudius how hamlet killed polonius
act 4 scene 2 -hamlet tells r&g that they’re just suck-ups to claudius-hamlet won’t tell r&g where polonius’ body is
act 4 scene 3 -hamlet tells claudius where polonius is-claudius sends hamlet to england-claudius plans for hamlet to be killed in england
act 4 scene 4 -hamlet sees fortinbras’ troops taking over poland-hamlet sets out for revenge (tired of waiting for it)
act 4 scene 5 -ophelia is crazy because of polonius’ death-laertes will avenge polonius
act 4 scene 6 -sailors give horatio hamlet’s letter-horatio is to go with the sailors to rescue hamlet
act 4 scene 7 -claudius and laertes plot to kill hamlet-ophelia drowns
act 5 scene 1 hamlet and laertes competitively mourn ophelia at her funeral
act 5 scene 2 -hamlet changes king’s order to kill him to say that r&g should be killed-hamlet is challenged to duel laertes-claudius indirectly kills gertrude-laertes dies-claudius dies-hamlet dies-fortinbras rules denmark and proclaims hamlet a hero
how does the play open? “who goes there”
what is hamlet i’s costume? ghostly armor
why does hamlet wear different costumes throughout the course of the play? to show a change of character
who studied at wittenburg? hamlet
who is “more than kin, and less than kind”? said by hamlet about claudius
who is asked to “cast off thy knighted color” and by whom? hamlet is asked by gertrude
who says “but to presever in obstinate condolement is a course of impious stubbornness” to whom and what does it mean? claudius to hamlet, hamlet needs to stop mourning
“thrift, thrift, horatio. the funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables” hamlet about his mother’s quick marriage
“though yet of hamlet our dear brother’s death the memory be green, and that it us – befitted to bear our heart in grief, and our whole kingdom to be contracted in one brow of woe, yet so far hath discretion fought with nature that we with wisest sorrow think on him together with remembrance of ourselves. therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, th’ imperial jointers to this warlike state have we, as there, with a defeated joy, with an auspicious and a dropping eye, with mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage, in equal scale weighing delight and dole, taken to wife.” claudius’ excuse of an excuse, basically it stinks that my brother is dead but at least i married his wife so i can be king, also that’s just the way life and i know it hurts sometimes but you’ll get over it
what linguistic strategy does shakespeare employ in the words of claudius that shows the unraveling of the world of hamlet? oxymorons, lengthy passages with flourishing words to get to a simple point, separating language from reality
“his greatness weighed, his will is not his own. for he himself is subject to his birth. he may not, as unvalued persons do, carve for himself; for on his choice depends the safety and health of this whole state; and therefore must his choice be circumscribed unto the voice and yielding of that body whereof he is the head.” laertes to ophelia about hamlet and how because he is a prince he can’t be with her
“give thy thoughts no tongue, nor any unproportioned thought his act. be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel, but do not dull thy palm with entertainment of each new-hatched, unfledged courage. beware of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, bear’t that th’ opposed may beware of thee. give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; take each man’s censure but reserve thy judgement. costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, but not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy, for the apparel oft proclaims the man, and they in france of the best rank and station are of a most select and generous, chief in that. neither a borrower nor a lender be for lone oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulleth edge of husbandry. this above all, to thy own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” polonius to laertes as he leaves for france, general advice
how was hamlet’s father killed? claudius poured poison in hamlet i’s ear while he was napping
“here as before, never, so help you mercy, how strange or odd some’er i bear myself (as i perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on), that you, at such times seeing me, never shall with arms encumb’red thus, or this headshake, or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, as ‘well, well, we know,’ or ‘we could, an if we would,’ or ‘if we list to speak,’ or ‘there be, an if they might,’ or such ambiguous giving out, to note that you know aught of me” hamlet to horatio and guards, don’t say you know why i’m acting crazy
what do hamlet and the ghost ask the others to do repeatedly at the end of act 1? swear
“there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” hamlet to horatio about the ghost’s shocking news
who is asked to visit hamlet at elsinore? r&g
who else comes to the castle in act 2? the players
why does polonius think hamlet is upset? because ophelia rejected him
who is reynaldo and what is he told to do? polonius’ servent, told by polonius to spy on laertes
“and then, sir, does ‘a this – ‘a does – what was i about to say? by the mass, i was about to say something! where did i leave? polonius, lost in his own mind and seen as foolish
why does hamlet look so disheveled when ophelia says that she has just seen him in the beginning of act 2? he just saw the ghost and knows that claudius killed his dad
“that you vouchsafe your rest here in our court some little time, so by your companies to draw him on to pleasures, and to gather so much as from occasion you may glean, whether aughth to us unknown afflicts him thus, that opened lies within our remedy.” claudius to r&g as he wants them to essentially spy on hamlet
what question does hamlet repeatedly ask rosencrantz and guildenstern that guildenstern finally answers? why are you here?
“i am but mad north-northwest.” hamlet to r&g, he’s only crazy when he wants to be
“and all for nothing! for hecuba! what’s hecuba to him or he to hecuba, that he should weep for her?” hamlet, shook by actor’s compelling performance, wishes he could act towards his father’s revenge
how does hamlet plan to prove that the ghost is telling the truth? by having the players reenact claudius’ betrayal and to see how claudius responds
“to die to sleep – no more – and by a sleep to say we end the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to! ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. to die, to sleep – to sleep -perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub . . . thus conscience does make cowards of us all and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought and enterprises of great pitch and moment with this regard their currents turn awry, and lose the name of action.” hamlet, questioning why we choose to suffer through life (decides it’s because we don’t know what comes next)
“get thee to a nunnery. why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? we are arrant knaves all; believe none of us. go thy ways to a nunnery.” hamlet to ophelia, thinks she’s a spy because of polonius’ book and takes out his angry towards gertrude on ophelia
“suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o’ertep not the modesty of nature. for anything so o’er done is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as ‘there, the mirror up to nature; to show the virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.” hamlet to player giving aesthetic advice, shakespeare saying that purpose of play is to understand the world and to tell the truth
“nay, do not think I flatter. where thrift may follow fawning. dost thou hear? for what advancement may i hope from thee, that no revenue hast but thy good spirits to feed and clothe thee? why should the poor be flattered? no, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp, and crook the pregnant hinges of the knee since my dear soul was mistress of her choice and could of men distinguish her election, s’ hath sealed thee for herself, a man that fortune’s buffets and rewards hast taken with equal thanks; and blest are those whose blood and judgement are so well com meddled that they are not a pipe for fortune’s finger to sound what stop she please. give me that man that is not passion’s slave, and i will wear him in my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart, as i do thee.” hamlet to horatio, i’m your friend because you aren’t a suck up and can’t give me anything but companionship
“the lady doth protest too much, methinks.” gertrude about the player queen
“give me some light. away!” claudius during the play, proven guilty
“why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! you would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ yet cannot you make it speak. sblood, do you think i am easier to be played on than a pipe? call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.” hamlet to r&g about how they have tried to play with him and don’t actually care about him
“tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world. now i could drink hot blood and do such bitter business as the day would quake to look on.” hamlet before confronting gertrude, knows claudius is guilty
“soft, now to my mother. o’heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever the soul of nero enter this firm bosom. let me be cruel, not unnatural; i will speak daggers to her, but use none. my tongue and soul in this be hypocrites: how in my words somever she be shent, to give them seals never, my soul, consent.” hamlet, won’t physically hurt gertrude but will be attacking with words to help her see the truth
“or it is a massy wheel fixed on the summit of the highest mount, to whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things are mortised and adjoined, which when it falls, each small annexment, petty consequence, attends the boist’rous ruin. never alone did the king sigh, but with a general groan.” r/g, everyone’s life is based on the king
“o, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest curse upon’t a brother’s murder. pray can i not, though inclination be as sharp as will. 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. what if this cursed hand were thicker than itself in brother’s blood, is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens to wash it white as snow? whereto serves mercy but to confront the visage of offense? and what’s in prayer but this twofold force, to be forestalled ere we come to fall, or pardoned being down? then i’ll look up my fault is past. but o’ what form of prayer can serve my turn? ‘forgive me my foul murder’? that cannot be, since i am still possessed of those effects for which i did the murder, my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. may one be pardoned and retain th’ offense? in the corrupted currents of this world offense’s guided hand may shove by justice, and oft ’tis seen the wicked prize itself buys out the law. but ’tis not so above. there is no shuffling; there the action lies in his true nature, and new ourselves compelled, even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, to give in evidence. what then? what rests? try what repentance can. what can it not? yet what can it when one cannot repent? o wretched state! o bosom black as death! o limed soul, that struggling to be free art more engaged!” claudius, wants forgiveness but wants to keep stuff
“no. up, sword, and know thou a more horrid went. when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in th’ incestuous pleasures of his bed, at game a-swearing, or about some act that has no relish of salvation in’t – then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven” hamlet, won’t kill claudius because he’s praying (would go to heaven)
“you go not til i set you up a glass where you may see the in most part of you!” hamlet to gertrude, look at yourself and see the truth
“how now? a rat? dead for a ducat, dead!” hamlet, kills polonius thinking it’s claudius
“look here upon this picture and on this, the counterfeit presentment of two brothers. see what a grace was seated on this brow: hyperion’s curls, the front of jobe himself, an eye like mars, to threaten and command, a station like the herald mercury new lighted on a heaven – kissing hill – a combination and a form indeed where every god did seem to set his seal to give the world assurance of a man. this was your husband. look you now what follows. here is your husband, like a mildewed ear blasting his wholesome brother. have you eyes? hamlet to gertrude, look how physically awful claudius is compared to hamlet i, how could you do this?
“could you on this fair mountain leave to feed, and batten on this moor? ha! have you eyes? you cannot call it love, for at your age the heyday in the blood is tame, its humble, and waits upon the judgement, and what judgment would step from this to this? sense sure you have, else could you not have motion, but sure that sense is apoplexy, for madness would not err, nor sense to ecstasy was ne’er so thrilled but it reserved some quantity of choice to serve in such a difference.” hamlet to gertrude, you have no excuse for being with claudius
“do not forget. this visitation is but too wet thy almost blunted purpose. but look amazement on thy mother sits. o, step between her and her fighting soul! conceit in weakest bodies strongest works. speak to her, hamlet” ghost to hamlet, don’t attack you’re mother too much, move on
why does gertrude now think hamlet is mad? because he’s talking to a ghost she can’t see
“it is not madness that i have uttered. bring me to the test, and the matter will reword, which madness would gambol from. mother, for love of grace, lay not that flattering unction to your soul, that not you trespass but my madness speaks. it will but skin and film the ulcerous place while rank corruption, mining all within, infects unseen. confess yourself to heaven, repent what is past, avoid what is to come, and do not spread the compost on the weeds to make them ranker. forgive me this my virtue. for in the fatness of these pursy times virtuous self of vice must pardon beg. yea, curb and woe for leave to do him good.” hamlet to gerturde, stop being with claudius because he killed hamlet i, don’t give up facing what you’ve done because i’m “crazy”
“i must be cruel only to be kind.” hamlet about what he has to say to gertrude
“indeed, this counselor is now most still, most secret, and most grave, who was in life a foolish and prating knave.” hamlet about polonius being a fool
“ay, sir, that soaks up the king’s countenance, his rewards, his authorities. but such officers do the king best service in the end. he keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw, first mouthed, to be last swallowed. when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you and, sponge, you shall be dry again.” hamlet to r&g, you’re suck ups to the king and bad friends
“witness this army of such mass and charge, led by a delicate and tender prince, whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed, makes mouths at the invisible event, exposing what is mortal and unsure to all that fortune, death, and danger dare, even for an eggshell. rightly to be great is not to stir without great argument, but greatly to find quarrel in a straw when honor’s at stake.” hamlet about fortinbras’ conquering, action just to act doesn’t solve problems
“and will ‘a not come again? and will ‘a not come again? no, no, he is dead, go to thy deathbed, he never will come again. his beard was as white as snow, all flaxen was his poll. he is gone, he is gone. and we cast away moan. god ‘a’ mercy on his soul! and of all christian souls, i pray god. god bye you.” ophelia on her way to die
“let her come in. to my sick soul (as sins true nature is) each toy seems prologue to some great amiss; so full of artless jealousy is guilt it spills itself in fearing to be split.” gertrude before talking to ophelia
“one woe doth tread upon another’s heel, so fast they follow.” gertrude after ophelia’s death
“why, man, they did make love to this employment. they are not near my conscience; their defeat does by their own insinuation grow. tis dangerous when the baser nature comes between the past and fell incensed points of might opposites.” hamlet harshly justifying r&g’s death
“there’s another. why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? where be his quiddities now, his qualities, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this mad knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery? hum!” hamlet about skull, death is great equalizer
“no, faith, not a jot, but to follow him thither with modest enough, and likelihood to lead it; as thus: alexander died, alexander was buried, alexander returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam; and why of that loam whereto he was converted might they not stop a beer barrel? imperious caesar, dead and turned to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind away. o, that that earth which kept the world in awe should patch a wall t’ expel the winters flaw!” hamlet, all become dust, what’s the point of life?
“forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum.” hamlet to laertes in ophelia’s grave, fighting over her love
“there’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.” hamlet accepting place in the world
“now cracks a noble heart. good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” horatio, hamlet will go to heaven
“there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow if it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. the readiness is all. since no man aught he leaves knows, what is’t to leave betimes? let be.” hamlet to horatio, accepting fate
“of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, of accidental judgements, casual slaughters, of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause, and, in this upshot, purposes mistook fall’n on th’ inventors’ heads. all this can i truly deliver.” horatio
“let four captains bear hamlet like a soldier to the stage, for he was likely, had he been put on, to have proved most royal; and for his passage the soldier’s music and the right of war speak loudly for him. take up the bodies. such a sight as this becomes the field, but here shows such amiss. go, bid the soldiers shoot.” fortinbras, hamlet is a hero, not only soldier but looked inward (greater than fighting wars)