| “Who’s there?” | Bernardo to StrangerMeaning: Central question in the play and to the theme |
| “Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen” | Claudius to the courtMeaning: He married his brother’s wife and she is queen |
| “Brevity is the soul of wit” | Polonius to Claudius and GertrudeMeaning: Irony; Claudius rambles |
| “More matter with less art” | Gertrude to PoloniusMeaning: Get to the point |
| “This above all to thine self be true” | Polonius to LaertesMeaning: Behave, stay true to your morals/ beliefs |
| “A little more kin and a little less than kind” | Hamlet to ClaudiusMeaning: Pun, closer relation due to the recent marriage but there is more hostility in their relationship |
| “I am too much in the sun” | Hamlet to ClaudiusMeaning: Pun, son=sun |
| “But you must know your father lost a father; that father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound in filial obligation for some term” | Claudius to HamletMeaning: Irony, Claudius killed his father |
| “Tis unmanly grief” | Claudius to HamletMeaning: Get over it |
| “And I beseech you interesting to visit my too much changed” | Gertrude to R&GMeaning: Please visit my son who has gone insane, spy on Hamlet |
| “Your noble son is mad” | Polonius to GertrudeMeaning: Polonius thinks this is brought on by Hamlet’s obsession with Ophelia |
| “I have a daughter… have while she is mine…when in her duty and obedience” | Polonius to GertrudeMeaning: Ophelia has shown them the letters |
| “Dear Ophelia I am ill at these numbers” | Hamlet to OpheliaMeaning: Passion in response to the letters |
| “And then I prescripts gave her, that she should lock herself from his resort take no messages receive no tokens” | Polonius to OpheliaMeaning: Polonius tells Ophelia to avoid Hamlet and his letters |
| “Be you and I behind the arras then” | Claudius to PoloniusMeaning: Polonius is to spy on Hamlet for Claudius |
| “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t” | Hamlet to PoloniusMeaning: Insult; there is meaning to Hamlet’s madness but no meaning to Polonius’ words |
| “I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw” | Hamlet to R&GMeaning: I know you’re being disloyal and tells them he is only mad when he wants to be knowing they will tell this to Claudius |
| “Me think the lady doth protest too much” | Gertrude to Claudius (?)Meaning: Too much promising |
| “I will speak daggers to her, but use none” | Hamlet to himselfMeaning: I will hurt her with words, make Gertrude feel guilty |
| “As kill a king and marry his brother?” | Hamlet to GertrudeMeaning: Response to Gertrude questioning him about Polonius’ death |
| “As kill a king?” | Gertrude to HamletMeaning: Do you know who killed the king? |
| “Oh Hamlet, speak no more! Then turn my eyes into my very soul, and there I see such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinct” | Gertrude to HamletMeaning: Gertrude realizes that her marriage to Claudius is wrong and Hamlet was right, black symbolizes impurity of her soul |
| “My wit’s diseased” | Hamlet to R&GMeaning: Hamlet admits he’s gone crazy |
Hamlet Quotes
July 12, 2019