| blank verse | Unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| Soliloquoy | speech made by a character alone on stage no other character hears him or her |
| Aside | lines intended only for the audience |
| Anachronism | something placed in a time period in which it does not belong |
| What are the six characteristics in all of Shakespeare’s tragedies? | -tragic hero with a tragic flaw -humor -conflict(external and internal) -supernatural -revenge motive -chance happening |
| Explain the tragic hero with a tragic flaw in hamlet | a tragic hero is a main character whose death affects the course of empire. the tragic flaw is a character weakness that leads his downfall |
| Explain the humor in hamlet | comic relief, grave-diggers;clowns |
| Explain the conflict (internal and external) in hamlet | internal: struggle with character (hamlet)external: struggle that affects the empire (Fortinbras’s raids) |
| Explain the supernatural in Hamlet | something extraordinary (King Hamlet’s ghost) |
| Explain the revenge motive in Hamlet | someone wants to “get back” at someone else (Hamlet avenging his father’s death) |
| Explain the chance happening in Hamlet | something unplanned that leads to a catastrophe (Polonius’s death) |
| Why is Hamlet considered Shakespeare’s best play? | The character of Hamlet |
| What is the source of Hamlet? | Ur Hamlet, can be traced back to Scandinavian folklore by Saxogrammaticus |
| What is the setting? | 14th Century Denmark |
| What type of plot does the play have? | tragic |
| Where had Hamlet been attending school? | Wittenberg |
| How is Claudius related to Hamlet? | He is Hamlet’s uncle |
| What is Polonius’ title? | Lord Chamberlain |
| What does Hamlet promise the ghost? | to avenge his death |
| What proves to Hamlet and Horatio the king’s guilt? | When the king storms out of Hamlet’s play |
| Describe Polonius. | foolish, manipulative, talkative |
| Describe Claudius. | deceitful, immoral |
| Where did Laertes go? Why did he return? | France; because his father was killed |
| Did Polonius think that Hamlet was insane? Why? | Yes, because his contact with Ophelia had been cut off |
| Who saw the ghost first? | Marcellus |
| When did the ghost disappear? | When the cock crowed |
| What does “I am but mad north-north-west” mean? | Hamlet is only crazy when he wants to be (he’s not really crazy) |
| Does Gertrude think that Hamlet is insane? Why? | Yes, because of his father’s death and her marriage |
| How does Hamlet describe Osric? | Waterfly (insect) |
| Why does Hamlet fail in his motives? | he fails to avenge his father’s death because he procrastinates |
| What was the play that Hamlet wanted the players to perform named? To what did Hamlet change it? | The Murder of Gonzago, The Mousetrap |
| When does Hamlet see the ghost for the second time? | When he and the queen are talking in his mother’s room |
| What was the watchword given by Bernardo? | Long live the king |
| How much money was Fortinbras paid to fight the Polacks? Why? By whom? | 60,000 crowns, to keep young Fortinbras out of trouble with Claudius, his uncle |
| What is a jig-maker? Dumbshow? | comic; pantomime |
| What is the name of the castle? The town? | Kronborg, Elsinor |
| Who were digging Ophelia’s grave? How did she die? | clowns; she drowned |
| What was the season of the year when Hamlet returns home from school? | winter |
| Who are Voltemand, Francisco, Reynaldo, and Benardo? | ambassador, watchguard, Polonius’s servant, and watchguard |
| What do Hamlet’s soliloquies tell us about him? | He wants to take action but he gets stopped (procrastinates) |
| Who thought Hamlet would lose the fencing match? | Horatio |
| Who carries Hamlet’s body from the stage? | 4 captains |
| Explain the altercation between King Hamlet and King Fortinbras. | They challenged each other, the prize: land and of each one’s country |
| Explain the plot between Claudius and Laertes. | A fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet. The tip of Laertes’s sword would be poisoned. If Hamlet won, the celebration wine would be poisoned. |
| “Without the sensible and the true avouch.” | Horatio –> Marcellus and BenardoIf he hadn’t seen the ghost with his own eyes he wouldn’t believe it. |
| “O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.” | Hamlet –>Queen & KingHamlet wants to vanish |
| “Let me not think on ‘t; frailty, thy name is woman!” | Hamlet –> Queen & King Frailty is moral weakness |
| “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” | Polonius –> LaertesBorrowing makes you spend more than you can afford and loans are often not repaid. |
| “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man.” | Polonius –> Laertes Be true to yourself. And be true to others and they will be true to you. |
| “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” | Marcellus –> HoratioReflects mood of uncertainty and fear about Denmark’s future under Claudius. |
| “The time is out of joint. O cursed spite. That ever I was born to set it right.” | Hamlet –> Horatio & MarcellusThe weight of the world is on his shoulders. He found out his fathers was murdered and that his father wants him to seek revenge and now it is up to him |
| “Therefore, brevity is the soul of wit.” | Polonius –> King & QueenIronic because Polonius is never brief. |
| “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.” | Polonius –> asidePolonius recognizes that Hamlet CAN make sense. |
| “What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in facilities, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god; the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals- and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights me, no, nor woman neither.” | Hamlet –> Rosencrantz and GuildensternEverything beautiful about the world means nothing to Hamlet. |
| “I am but mad north-north west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.” | Hamlet –> Rosencrantz and GuildensternHe isn’t actually crazy |
| “The play’s the thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” | Hamlet –> HimselfHe will use the play as a way to get him to confess. |
| “Rich gifts wax poor when gives prove unkind.” | Ophelia –> HamletIt won’t mean anything to her if it doesn’t mean anything to him. |
| “Madness in great ones must not go unwatched go.” | King –> PoloniusThe King sees hamlet as a threat |
| “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” | Queen –> HamletThe queen thinks the lady in the play is promising too much. |
| “I will speak daggers to her but use none.” | Hamlet –> Himself He will be cruel to his mother |
| “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below, words without thoughts never to heaven go.” | King –> HimselfHe says the words but he doesn’t believe them so they do no good. |
| “That I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft.” | Hamlet –> motherHe is acting |
| “Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged.” | Hamlet –> motherHe trusts her like he trusts a poisonous snake |
| “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance pray you, love, remember, and there’s pansies that’s for thought.” | Ophelia –> LaertesThe flowers mean things |
| “To cut his through I’ th’ church.” | Laertes –> King He is so willing to avenge his fathers death that he will cut Hamlet’s throat in church. |
| “Sweets to the sweet farewell.” | Queen –> everyone at the funeral She scatters flowers as she says this. It is ironic because it isn’t a sweet farewell, Ophelia has gone mad because of her fathers death. |
| “The cat will mew and the dog will have his day.” | Hamlet –>Hamlet sees himself as a righteous hero, who, while he may be considered a lowly no-count creature by others (a dog), will surely (the cat will mew — what else would it do?) have his revenge (his day.) |
| “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.” | Hamlet –> HoratioFatalistic, life is on a course that we have no control over. |
| “That I have shot my arrow o’er the house and hurt my brother.” | Hamlet –> Laertes He understands the consequences of his actions, takes responsibility for himself, and cares about others. |
| “But I do prophesy th’ election lights on Fortinbras; he has my dying voice.” | Hamlet –> Horatio |
| “How cracks a noble heart. Goodnight, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” | Horatio –>He is saying goodbye to his friend. |
HAMLET
September 13, 2019