Hamlet Act I Quote Quiz

“Such was the very armour he had on/ When he the ambitious Norway combatted./ So frowned he once, when, in an angry parle,/ He smote the sledded Pollacks on the ice.” Speaker: HoratioSpoken to: Marcellus and BarnardoMeaning: The ghost looks exactly like the King had in life, dressed in the armor he wore when he killed the king of Norway. This is important, because Horatio is a scholar and is less inclined to believe in ghosts.
” . . . Our last king/ Whose image even but now appear’d to us . . . Of this post-haste and romage in the land.” Speaker: HoratioSpoken to: Marcellus and BarnardoMeaning: A long time ago, King Hamlet and King Fortinbras had some type of fight. The winner of the fight would get all the territories held by the loser that were not the mainland. King Hamlet killed King Fortinbras. Now, many years later, Prince Fortinbras has gathered an army to retake the lost lands.
“A mote is to trouble the mind’s eye.” Speaker: HoratioSpoken to: Marcellus and BarnardoMeaning: The ghost is a bad omen and should be taken seriously. He makes a parallel to the events that happened before Caesar’s murder.
“A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,/ The grave stood tenantless . . . “ Speaker: HoratioSpoken to: Marcellus and BarnardoMeaning: The ghost is a bad omen and should be taken seriously. He makes a parallel to the events that happened before Caesar’s murder.
“Prologue to the omen coming on,/ Have heaven and earth together demonstrated/ Unto our climatures and countrymen.” Speaker: HoratioSpoken to: Marcellus and BarnardoMeaning: The ghost is a bad omen and should be taken seriously. He makes a parallel to the events that happened before Caesar’s murder.
” . . . That it us befitted/ To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom/ To be contracted in one brow of woe . . . “ Speaker: King ClaudiusSpoken to: AllMeaning: He is lamenting briefly his brother’s death, but reminds his people that they need to move forward and defend their country, who is so often at war, especially with Prince Fortinbras pestering them to give back the lands King Hamlet took.
“Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,/ Th’ imperial jointress to this warlike state . . . “ Speaker: King ClaudiusSpoken to: AllMeaning: He is lamenting briefly his brother’s death, but reminds his people that they need to move forward and defend their country, who is so often at war, especially with Prince Fortinbras pestering them to give back the lands King Hamlet took.
” . . . Young Fortinbras,/ Holding a weak supposal of our worth/ Or thinking by our late brother’s death/ Our state to be disjoint and out of frame . . . “ Speaker: King ClaudiusSpoken to: AllMeaning: He is lamenting briefly his brother’s death, but reminds his people that they need to move forward and defend their country, who is so often at war, especially with Prince Fortinbras pestering them to give back the lands King Hamlet took.
“A little more than kin and less than kind.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: AsideMeaning: He doesn’t care for the strange new family ties. King Claudius is trying to convince him to be less morose and not to return to Wittenburg for school, but stay at the castle.
“How is it that the clouds still hang on you?” Speaker: CladiusSpoken to: HamletMeaning: King Claudius is trying to convince Hamlet to be less morose and not to return to Wittenburg for school, but stay at the castle.
‘Not so, my lord. I am too much in the sun.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: King ClaudiusMeaning: Hamlet is bitter about being so akin to a sun to Claudius. King Claudius is trying to convince Hamlet to be less morose and not to return to Wittenburg for school, but stay at the castle.
“‘Seems,’ madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems.'” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: GertrudeMeaning: He is not pretending to be sad, but genuinely is very upset. King Claudius and Queen Gertrude are trying to convince Hamlet to be less morose and not to return to Wittenburg for school, but stay at the castle.
“‘Tis unmanly grief.” Speaker: King ClaudiusSpoken to: HamletMeaning: King Claudius is trying to convince Hamlet to be less morose about his father’s death and not to return to Wittenburg for school, but stay at the castle.
“Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/ His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: No OneMeaning: Hamlet wants to end his life, due to the betrayal he feels from his mother’s marriage.
“Frailty, the name is woman!” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: No OneMeaning: Hamlet wants to end his life, due to the betrayal he feels from his mother’s marriage.
” . . . The funeral baked meats/ Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: HoratioMeaning: Horatio came to pay respects at King Hamlet’s funeral. Hamlet expresses his anger at how quickly the marriage followed.
“If it assume my noble father’s person,/ I’ll speak to it, though Hell itself should gape/ And bid me hold my peace.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: HoratioMeaning: Hamlet plans to go see the spirit. He wants the others to keep quiet about what they’ve seen and not talk of it.
“Let it be tenable in your silence still.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: HoratioMeaning: Hamlet plans to go see the spirit. He wants the others to keep quiet about what they’ve seen and not talk of it.
“I will requite your loves.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: HoratioMeaning: Hamlet plans to go see the spirit. He wants the others to keep quiet about what they’ve seen and not talk of it.
” . . . Perhaps he loves you now,/ And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch/ The virtue of his will, but you must fear.” Speaker: LaertesSpoken to: OpheliaMeaning: Laertes is advising Ophelia to watch herself with Hamlet, that even if he loves her now, he may change his mind or may not be able to love her in the future due to his duty to the royal family. Ophelia suggests he follows his own council, as well.
“Fear it, Ophelia. Fear it, my dear sister,/ And keep you in the rear of your affection,/ Out of the shot and danger of desire.” Speaker: LaertesSpoken to: OpheliaMeaning: Laertes is advising Ophelia to watch herself with Hamlet, that even if he loves her now, he may change his mind or may not be able to love her in the future due to his duty to the royal family. Ophelia suggests he follows his own council, as well.
“I shall the effect of this good lesson keep/ As watchman to my heart.” Speaker: OpheliaSpoken to: LaertesMeaning: Laertes is advising Ophelia to watch herself with Hamlet, that even if he loves her now, he may change his mind or may not be able to love her in the future due to his duty to the royal family. Ophelia suggests he follows his own council, as well.
” . . . Give thy thoughts no tongue,/ Nor any unproportioned thought his act.” Speaker: PoloniusSpoken to: LaertesMeaning: Polonius is giving his son lots of advice to follow while he’s gone. The speech exemplifies Polonius’ high regard for his own opinions, as well as how he enjoys to hear him himself speak.
“Give every man thy ear but few thy voice.” Speaker: PoloniusSpoken to: LaertesMeaning: Polonius is giving his son lots of advice to follow while he’s gone. The speech exemplifies Polonius’ high regard for his own opinions, as well as how he enjoys to hear him himself speak.
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be . . . “ Speaker: PoloniusSpoken to: LaertesMeaning: Polonius is giving his son lots of advice to follow while he’s gone. The speech exemplifies Polonius’ high regard for his own opinions, as well as how he enjoys to hear him himself speak.
“You do not understand yourself so clearly/ As it behooves my daughter and your honor.” Speaker: PoloniusSpoken to: OpheliaMeaning: Polonius forbids Ophelia from seeing Hamlet anymore and accuses Ophelia of being foolish.
” . . . The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out/ The triumph of his pledge.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: HoratioMeaning: Hamlet explains the stupid tradition of his people where the new king gets drinks from all of the nobles, and then consummates his marriage with the Queen. He says this is why other countries think Denmark to be full of drunkards. One flaw can ruin an entire country’s reputation.
” . . . The dram of evil/ Doth all the noble substance of a doubt/ To his own scandal.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: HoratioMeaning: Hamlet explains the stupid tradition of his people where the new king gets drinks from all of the nobles, and then consummates his marriage with the Queen. He says this is why other countries think Denmark to be full of drunkards. One flaw can ruin an entire country’s reputation.
“I do not set my life in a pin’s fee . . . “ Speaker: HamletSpoken to: HoratioMeaning: The ghost is beckoning to Hamlet to come with it, but Horatio doesn’t think it’s a good idea. Hamlet does not value his life, so he doesn’t seen any danger.
“Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” Speaker: Ghost of HamletSpoken to: HamletMeaning: Claudius corrupted King Hamlet’s wife, then murdered him. King Hamlet wants Prince Hamlet to go out and kill the King Claudius, but to leave his mother to the heavens.
“But know, thought noble youth,/ The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown.” Speaker: Ghost of HamletSpoken to: HamletMeaning: Claudius corrupted King Hamlet’s wife, then murdered him. King Hamlet wants Prince Hamlet to go out and kill the King Claudius, but to leave his mother to the heavens.
“If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not.” Speaker: Ghost of HamletSpoken to: HamletMeaning: Claudius corrupted King Hamlet’s wife, then murdered him. King Hamlet wants Prince Hamlet to go out and kill the King Claudius, but to leave his mother to the heavens.
“And now, good friends,/ As you are friends, scholars and soldiers,/ Give me one poor request . . ./ Never make known what you have seen tonight.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: Horatio and MarcellusMeaning: Hamlet wants the two to swear to never speak of what happened that night to anyone.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio/ Then are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Speaker: HamletSpoken to: Horatio and MarcellusMeaning: Hamlet knows there are things at work here bigger than he or the others. He tells the men he will be acting bizarrely, but that they should give no indication that they know why.
July 23, 2019