| Hamlet | – Prince of Denmark – He is melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle and disgust at his mother for marrying him.- At times he is indecisive and hesitant, but at other times he is prone to rash and impulsive acts of violence. |
| King Hamlet (Ghost) | – The specter of Hamlet’s recently deceased father. The ghost, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius, calls upon Hamlet to avenge him |
| Gertrude | – The queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius.- She seems clearly to love Hamlet, but Hamlet sees her as a weak, even depraved, woman motivated wholly by lust. |
| Claudius | – The king of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle. The villain of the play- He is a calculating, ambitious politician, adept at manipulating others for his own ends and willing to execute, assassinate, or murder to stay in power. |
| Horatio | – Hamlet’s close friend, who studied with the prince at the University of Wittenberg.- Hamlet trusts Him above any of the other characters, valuing him for his even temper and equanimity |
| Polonius | – The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia- has good intentions, but he tends to be somewhat conniving and underhanded |
| Ophelia | – Polonius’s daughter, a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love- strives to obey her father and her brother, Laertes, allowing Polonius to use her in his scheme to spy on Hamlet. |
| Laertes | Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother, a young man who spends much of the play in France. Passionate and quick to action, He is a foil for the reflective and agonized Hamlet. |
| Rosencrantz/Guildenstern | – Two slightly bumbling courtiers, former friends of Hamlet from Wittenberg, who are summoned by Claudius and Gertrude to discover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior. |
| Marcelleus/Bernardo | The officers who first see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and who summon Horatio to witness it. |
| Francisco | A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore. |
| Fortinbras | The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king was killed by Hamlet’s father. He wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s honor, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet. |
| Players | Acted in a play. They reminded Hamlet of his fathers murder. |
| Grave Diggers | Seen in one of the final scenes. Comedic characters. Constantly seen throwing skulls out of graves |
| ‘Tis sweet and commendable in your nature,Hamlet, to give these mourning duties to your father,But you must know your father lost a father,That father lost, lost his, and the survivor boundIn filial obligation for some termTo do obsequious sorrow. | Claudius to Hamlet – Claudius is telling Hamlet to not mourn his fathers death because it isn’t manly and it isn’t what his father would want. |
| Sleeping within my orchard,My custom always in the afternoon,Upon my secure hour thy uncle stoleWith juice of cursed hebona in a vial,And in the porches of my ear did pourThe leperous distilment… | King Hamlet (Ghost) to Hamlet – The King is discussing his murder to his son |
| How all occasions do inform against me,And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,If his chief good and market of his timeBe but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. | Hamlet to Himself (Soliloquy) – Hamlet thinks of avenging the murder of his father and e thinks of revenge for his fathers murderer, and decides his thoughts shall no longer be violent ones. |
| O speak to me no more.These words like daggers enter in my ears.No more, sweet Hamlet. | Gertrude to Hamlet – She tells hamlet this because she doesnt want to hear him speak. In the scene Hamlet goes crazy |
| Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!I took thee for thy better. | Hamlet to Gertrude- He goes off and abuses her in this scene emotionally and also physically |
| The play’s the thing,Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king. | Hamlet to Hamlet (Soliloquy) – Hamlet is taking about his uncle and how he is displeased with his relationship with his mother, and he feels this is not right due to the fact that it was such a short period afterhis fathers death |
| It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain;No med’cine in the world can do thee good.In thee there is not half an hour’s life.The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,Unbated and envenomed. The foul practiceHath turned itself on me. Lo, here I lie,Never to rise again. Thy mother’s poisoned.I can no more. The King, the King’s to blame. | Laertes to Hamlet – He is telling Hamlet all of the tragic events that just occurred. |
| O that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,Or that the Everlasting had not fixedHis canon ‘gainst self-slaughter…. | Hamlet to Himself (Soliloquy) – Hamlet talks about wishing his skin would melt away because he is mourning over his father who has been gone for two months |
| Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;For loan oft loses both itself and friend,And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.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 to Laertes – Hamlet to Claudius |
| …This to meIn dreadful secrecy impart they did,And I with them the third night kept the watch,Where, as they had deliver’d, both in time,Form of the thing, each word made true and good,The apparition comes. I knew your father;These hands are not more like. | Horatio to Hamlet- Telling Hamlet he saw the ghost of his father |
| There’s fennel for you, and columbines. There’srue for you. And here’s some for me. We may call itherb of grace a Sundays. You must wear your rue with a difference. There’s a daisy. I would give yousome violets, but they withered all when my father died. They say ‘a made a good end. | Ophelia to Gertrude – She is giving her flowers to cheer her up |
| The lady doth protest too much, methinks. | Gertrude to Hamlet – Shes speaking to Hamlet about how the Player Queen was over reacting. |
| Then weigh what loss your honour may sustainIf with too credent ear you list his songs,Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure openTo his unmaster’d importunity.Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,And keep you in the rear of your affectionOut of the shot and danger of desire | Laertes to Ophelia – Tells Ophelia to keep her love for Hamlet under contrl and not lust |
| Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio, a fellowof infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. | Hamlet to Gravedigger – Telling how he used to know Horatio |
| To be, or not to be, that is the questionWhether ’tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing, end them. | Hamlet to Himself (Soliloquy) – Asking himself whether or not to live. |
| Have you eyes?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 ageThe heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble,And waits upon the judgment, and what judgmentWould step from this to this? | Hamlet to Gertrude – Wondering how she could go from someone wonderful to someone so bad |
Hamlet Test
August 5, 2019