| Is she to be buried in Christian burial when she willfully seeks her own salvation. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: other gravediggercontext: Should Ophelia really get a Christian burial if she committed suicide which is a sin?*note: the gravediggers are speaking in prose; evident of their lower class |
| The crowner hath sat on her and finds it a Christian burial. | speaker: other gravediggerspeaking to: gravedigger 1context: the coroner declared that Ophelia will get a proper Christian burial despite her mortal sin in suicide |
| an act hath three branches- it is to act, to do, to perform. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: other gravediggercontext: acts done wittingly are not on accident, as an act requires thought, preparation, and performance |
| Argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: other gravediggercontext: deliberating on the difference between an accidental vs. intentional death |
| If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o’ Christian burial. | speaker: other gravediggerspeaking to: gravedigger 1context: the only reason Ophelia got a Christian burial was because she was high class and the king was able to get the coroner to do so |
| And the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves more than their even-Christian | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: other gravediggercontext: era during which the rich had significantly more freedom than the poor (in life); countenance- permission |
| Come, my spade. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: other gravediggerliterary device: apostrophe |
| [Gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers] hold up Adam’s profession. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: other gravediggercontext: pride in their work as gravediggers; their ‘blue collar’ work is the foundation of all workliterary device: biblical |
| ‘A was the first that ever bore arms. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: other gravediggercontext: two meanings of this-1. the first ever to have two arms/use tools2. the first to use weapons against others |
| It does well to those that do ill. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: other gravediggercontext: response to the other gravedigger’s answer to his riddle (gallows outlive all its tenants); the gallows are only purposed to do their job to those that have done wrongliterary device: antithesis |
| And when you are asked this question next, say “a grave-maker.” The houses he makes lasts till doomsday. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: other gravediggercontext: graves are the shelters that last forever so gravediggers are truly the ones who build the strongest; tone is slightly patronizing; spurs a philosophical discussion between Hamlet and Horatio |
| ‘A sings in grave-making. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: How can a gravedigger sing while digging a grave for someone who has died? |
| Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness. | speaker: Horatiospeaking to: Hamletcontext: the gravedigger is used to the grim nature of his job, hence why he can sing while he works |
| That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once. How knave jowls it to the ground, as if ’twere Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: Hamlet is perplexed by the lackadaisical nature which the gravedigger acts with the bones of someone who could’ve been important, as if they were a horrible person while they were aliveliterary device: biblical allusion*note: speaking in prose to convey distraught mood |
| This might be the pate of a politician- which this ass now o’erreaches- one that would circumvent God, might it not? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: perplexed by the equality of people once death is reached;graves are often re-used due to lack of spaces so he is kicking up old bones by digging a grave for Ophelia |
| Did these bones cost no more the breeding but to play at loggets with them? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: the gravedigger is disrespecting the bodies of the dead |
| There’s another. Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillities, his cases, his tenures, and his trick? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: use of rhetorical questions and heavily punctuated syntax to convey perplexity with the gravedigger’s treatment of the dead; we are all equal in death |
| 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? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: use of rhetorical questions and heavily punctuated syntax to convey perplexity with the gravedigger’s treatment of the dead; we are all equal in death |
| Will vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases and doubles than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: use of rhetorical questions and heavily punctuated syntax to convey perplexity with the gravedigger’s treatment of the dead; we are all equal in death |
| Mine, sir. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: Hamlet context: this is his grave; sarcasm; he is the one digging the grave so technically it is his |
| Who is to be buried in’t?One that was a woman, sir, but, rest her soul, she’s dead. | speaker: Hamlet/ gravedigger 1speaking to: each othercontext: Hamlet is irritated because someone has finally matched his wit.; Ophelia is technically not a woman more, she is dead. |
| the age is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he galls his kibe | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: times are changing; peasants are disrespectful and do not know their proper place in society |
| It was that very day that young Hamlet was born, he that is mad and sent into England. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: Hamletcontext: means two things-1. he doesn’t realize that he is talking with Hamlet2. the common people know that Hamlet was sent to England to subdue his madness (clues us into what the people of Denmark know about the situation) |
| ‘Twill not be seen in him there. There the men are as mad as he. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: Hamletcontext: peasants know very little of other cultures and countries |
| I have been sexton here, man and boy, thirty years. | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: Hamletcontext: just indicative of Hamlet’s age- about 30 years |
| A tanner will last you nine year | speaker: gravedigger 1speaking to: Hamletcontext: someone who waxes animal skin will have enough wax on their skin to reduce the water absorption that decays corpses in the ground so quickly (making skin more impervious to water) |
| Alas, poor Yorick. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: the skull of Yorickcontext: the king’s jester who also cared for Hamlet as a young boy is the same in death as any other corpse |
| My gorge rises at it. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: gravedigger 1 and skull of Yorick and Horatiocontext: holding the skull of his nanny and is disgusted by the smell and the disrespect; wants to throw up |
| Where be your gibes now, your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Yorick’s skullcontext: distressed and disgusted by the treatment and inevitable end that all people meetliterary device: apostrophe |
| Dost thou think Alexander looked o’ this fashion i’th’earth? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: greatness in life always leads to sameness in deathliterary device: historical allusion |
| To what base uses we may return | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: decay motif, continuation of distress over sameness in death of all people |
| Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: more decay motif; more distress; more sameness in deathliterary device: anaphora |
| whereto he was converted might they not stop a beer barrel? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: Alexander’s dust would be used to stop a barrel from leaking and nobody would ever know it was his |
| Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the wind away | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: perplexed by the equality of Caesar or any “great” person to any other person in deathliterary device: epithet; heroic couplet |
| Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe Should patch a wall t’expel the winter’s flaw! | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: isn’t it ironic that a man in dust (death) becomes equal to any lower class man??literary device: heroic couplet; personification (of earth) |
| That is Laertes, a very noble youth. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: respect for Laertes!!!! high regard!!!! |
| She should in ground unsanctified been lodged Till the last trumpet… Flints and pebbles should be thrown on her. | speaker: Doctorspeaking to: Laertescontext: RESENTFUL AF; Claudius and Laertes are pretty much forcing Laertes to give Ophelia a proper Christian burial despite the justified suspicion that she willingly took her own life; conflict of Catholic theology |
| We should profane the service of the dead | speaker: Doctorspeaking to: Laertescontext: it is insulting to the peace-parted souls to give Ophelia a proper Christian burial which only a deserving person should receive |
| I tell thee, churlish priest, A minist’ring angel shall my sister be When thou liest howling. | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: Doctorcontext: you’re going to hell and Ophelia will be an angel; angry because of the Doctor’s accusations/earlier statements |
| I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife. | speaker: Gertrudespeaking to: Ophelia’s bodycontext: Gertrude really loved Ophelia because she knew that Ophelia had made Hamlet so happy… aw:( |
| Oh, treble woe! | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: addressing Hamlet but not speaking to himcontext: cursing Hamlet, not speaking directly to anyone just grieving for his sisterliterary device: invective |
| Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense Deprived thee of! | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: nobody but about Hamletcontext: “wicked deed”- killing polonius; cause Ophelia to go mad and end up dying so early |
| Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead Till of this flat a mountain you have made | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: the funeral processioncontext: he had just jumped into Ophelia’s grave; grieving and distressedliterary device: hyperbole |
| T’o’ertop old Pelion or the skyish head Of blue Olympus | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: the funeral processioncontext: jumped into Ophelia’s grave; pile the dust on both of them til it reaches as high as the sky and Olympusliterary device: mythological allusion |
| What is significant about the scene during which Laertes and Hamlet grapple in Ophelia’s grave? | This fight foreshadows two upcoming events:1. their fencing/sword fight2. they both die in the end (sorry for the spoiler lmao but if you didn’t know this by now that’s just a lil rough) |
| H: Hold off thy hand.C: Pluck them asunder.G: Hamlet, Hamlet!A: Gentlemen!H: Good my lord, be quiet! | speaker: like everyonespeaking to: Hamlet and Laertesliterary device: stichomythia |
| Forty thousand brothers Could not with all their quantity of love Make up my sum. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: even 40,000 Laertes would not match Hamlet’s abounding love for Ophelialiterary device: hyperbole |
| What wilt thou do for her? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: use of ‘thou’ indicates that he still respects Laertes despite this fight |
| Woo’t weep? Woo’t fight? Woo’t fast? Woo’t tear thyself? Woo’t drink up eisel? Eat a crocodile? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: WOULD YOU DO THIS FOR OPHELIA BC I WOULD SO F U I LOVE HER MORE (respectfully)literary device: anaphora, hyperbole |
| Be buried quick with her, and so will I. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: I would literally be buried w her and die for her LAERTES what would you do???*irony: they both die. |
| Make Ossa like a wart! | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertesliterary device: mythological allusion |
| I loved you ever. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: I’ve respected you so why are you so against me right now? |
| dog will have his day | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: modern take- justice will triumph; good overcomes badElizabethan take- things happen when they happen/all for a reason |
| Strengthen your patience in our last night’s speech; We’ll put the matter to the present push. | speaker: Claudiusspeaking to: Laertescontext: don’t forget our plan, be patient, it’ll all happen soon enough |
| An hour of quiet thereby shall we see; Till then in patience our proceeding be. | speaker: Claudiusspeaking to: Laertescontext: be patient; “it” /the end to everything is finally coming; tone of foreboding |
| in my heart there was a kind of fighting That would not let me sleep | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: explaining that during his trip to England he was restless because he knew something wasn’t right; sixth sense type of thing |
| Our indiscretion sometime serves us well, When our deep plots do pall and that should learn us There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will- | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: listening to that sixth sense, the voice of conscience inside you, is usually what you should doliterary device: imagery/diction (carpentry) |
| Groped I to find out them | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: inverted syntax to show the difficulty and danger in his tasksliterary device: inverted syntax; periodic sentence |
| My fears forgetting manners | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext:??? |
| where I found A royal knavery | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: found a letter from Claudius for Englandliterary device: epithet |
| My head should be struck off | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: introduced with a periodic sentence; Claudius ordered Hamlet to be executed in England |
| Ere I could make a prologue to my brains, They had begun the play- I sat me down, Devised a new commission, wrote it fair. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: they didn’t even warn him of his upcoming execution; he wrote a new letter to imitate Claudius’ oneliterary device: theater imagery; dramatic diction |
| He should those bearers put to sudden death, Not shriving time allowed. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: Hamlet wrote, in the new letter, that R&G must be killed once they arrive in England without giving them time to have a Last Confession (Last Rites) |
| Folded the writ up in the form of th’other, | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: sealed the letter with his father’s signet and folded the letter just as the other was; Hamlet left no detail unturned |
| their defeat does by their own insinuation grow | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: R&G brought this on themselves by getting in the middle of the whole Claudius-Hamlet sitch |
| ‘Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes Between the pass and fell incensed points Of mighty opposites. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: R&G caught in the middle and couldn’t really escape thatliterary device: imagery (trap) |
| Why, what a king is this! | speaker: Horatiospeaking to: Hamletcontext: appalled; what kind of king would act like Claudius is? |
| -is’t not perfect conscience? | speaker: Hamlet speaking to: Horatiocontext: Claudius killed my father, seduced my mother, and stole the crown from me, am I not justified to take his life? Would not I be damned to allow him to live? |
| I am very sorry, good Horatio, to Laertes I have forgot myself. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: understands Laertes’ need for vengeance; sees himself in Laertes` |
| Dost know this water-fly? | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: Osric enters; he is a pest |
| ‘Tis a chough, but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Aside to Horatiocontext: Osric only has his job in the castle because his family is wealthy/owns a lot of land |
| What is Osric’s main purpose in the story? | Osric worships Laertes, thus whetting Hamlet’s appetite to fight/fence with Laertes. |
| I mean, sir, for his weapon. But in the imputation laid on him by the, in his meed, he’s unfellowed. | speaker: Osricspeaking to: Hamletcontext: no one can match Laertes’ swordsmanship |
| the King hath wagered with him six Barbary horses | speaker: Osricspeaking to: Hamletcontext: Claudius told Osric to tell Hamlet that he is betting on Hamlet winning; deceitfulness of Claudius |
| let the foils be brought. The gentleman willing, and the King hold his purpose | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Osriccontext: ready to fight; innocent, guileless, and free from all contriving; not suspicious of anything |
| This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head. | speaker: Horatiospeaking to: Hamletcontext: like a little chick that just hatched, Osric is naive and foolish |
| You will lose, my lord. | speaker: Horatiospeaking to: Hamletcontext: suspicious; knows something is up despite Hamlet’s naivety |
| I shall win at the odds. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: he thinks he’s going to be fine; guileless |
| it is such a kind of gaingiving as would perhaps trouble a woman | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: you are worrying like a woman |
| If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall their repair hither and say you are not fit. | speaker: Horatiospeaking to: Hamletcontext: Horatio sees the possible skullduggery behind the fight and the king’s wager while Hamlet remains naive. He even offers to tell everyone that Hamlet forfeits without confrontation. |
| 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. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: doesn’t submit to superstition; everything is in God’s handsliterary device: repetition; antithesis*note: prose because he is in a philosophical/contemplative mood |
| The readiness is all. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatiocontext: all that matters is that you are prepared for death, since you never know when it could become your reality; it is inevitable and universal |
| Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: brief monologue, apologizing to Laertes |
| how I am punished With a sore distraction | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: distraught and regretful of his actions which inadvertently affected Laertes |
| I here proclaim was madness | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: Hamlet was distraught when he committed the acts which wronged Laertes |
| Was’t Hamlet wronged Laertes? Never Hamlet….Then Hamlet does it not. Hamlet denies it. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: begins to speak of himself in the third person to distance himself from the Hamlet who had killed Polonius and driven Ophelia into madness |
| His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: the mad Hamlet who killed Polonius is the enemy of the Hamlet standing before Laertes, apologizing |
| Free me so far in your most generous thoughts That I have shot my arrow o’er the house And hurt my brother | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: it was not Hamlet’s intention to hurt Laertes so; not the intended target of his anger/vengeanceliterary device: metaphor |
| Whose motive in this case should stir me most To my revenge. | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: Hamletcontext: Elizabethan times honor code ensured that Laertes would have to fight Hamlet despite accepting his apology |
| I’ll be your foil, Your skill shall, like a star i’the darkest night, Stick fiery off indeed | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: Hamlet is going to make Laertes look good while fencing himliterary device: pun and simile |
| Now the King drinks to Hamlet | speaker: Claudiusspeaking to: everyonecontext: acting magnanimous and wonderful and great but really he’s an ass! |
| One.No.Judgment?A hit, a very palpable hit. | speaker: Hamlet, Laertes, Hamlet, Osricspeaking to: one anotherliterary device: stichomythia |
| He’s fat and scant of breath. | speaker: Gertrudespeaking to: everyone?context: motherly concern for Hamlet; he is out of shape |
| I will, my lord. I pray you pardon me. | speaker: Gertrudespeaking to: Claudiuscontext: she FINALLY stands up to Claudius but does so with ill-timing; she drinks from the poisoned wine and dies |
| It is the poisoned cup; it is too late. | speaker: Claudiusspeaking to: asidecontext: cannot ruin his plan by telling Gertrude not to drink or knocking it out of her hand; allows Gertrude to die so that his plan may follow through to kill Hamlet; does he truly love her as he had previously claimed? |
| And yet it is almost against my conscience. | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: asidecontext: second thoughts about killing Hamlet since Hamlet apologized for everything |
| I am sure you make a wanton of me. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: hit me with your best shot |
| Why, as a woodcock to my own springe. I am justly killed with mine own treachery. | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: everyonecontext: caught like a mouse in his own trap; his own plan to kill led to his own demiseliterary device: analogy |
| No, no, the drink, the drink- O my dear Hamlet!- The drink, the drink! I am poisoned. | speaker: Gertrudespeaking to: Hamlet/everyonecontext: poisoned by the drink intended for Hamlet; finally realizes Claudius’ true intentions and deceit |
| The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, Unbated and envenomed. | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: Hamletcontext: the foils were switched in a scuffle… Hamlet is soon to die from being struck with the venomous foil as well |
| The King, the King’s to blame. | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: Hamletcontext: blame is FINALLY LANDING ON THE KING; everything that happened is a result/side effect of Claudius’ plan |
| Then, venom, to thy work! | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: the foilcontext: uses the envenomed foil to stab and kill Claudius! yay!literary device: apostrophe |
| Here, thou incestuous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion! Is thy union here? Follow my mother. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Claudiuscontext: forces Claudius to drink the poison to make sure he kills him; follow Gertrude into deathliterary device: invective |
| Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet. | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: Hamletcontext: wants forgiveness and absolves Hamlet of his guilt |
| Mine and my father’s death come not upon thee, Nor thine on me. | speaker: Laertesspeaking to: Hamletcontext: relates to Hamlet as they were both victims of their fathers’ deaths; relatable |
| I follow thee. | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Laertescontext: Laertes just died, and Hamlet knows he will soon follow him into death |
| as this fell sergeant, Death, Is strict in his arrest | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatioliterary device: personification (of death) |
| I am more an antique Roman than a Dane. | speaker: Horatiospeaking to: Hamletcontext: wants to kill himself to follow Hamlet into death, just as noble men and women would do in ancient Roman times; he is so heartbroken that he wants to kill himselfliterary device: historical allusion |
| But I do prophesy th’election lights On Fortinbras | speaker: Hamletspeaking to: Horatio, Osriccontext: gives his blessing for Fortinbras to become king of Denmark (rightful position) |
| O proud Death | speaker: Fortinbrasspeaking to: Horatio, Osric, English ambassador, soldiersliterary device: apostrophe and personification? |
| That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead | speaker: English ambassadorspeaking to: everyonecontext: the order had been followed (as changed by Hamlet on the ship) to execute R&G once they arrived in England |
| What does Fortinbras represent? | – the end of the old order and beginning of the new- an end to the rottenness in Denmark |
Hamlet Act 5 Quotes and Literary Devices
July 30, 2019