Hamlet - Act 1

Hamlet - Act 1

1. Themes

   • Conflict
     • Internal
       • Hamlet is happy he wants to avenge but he doesn't want to carry out the duty
     • External
       • Hamlet VS Claudius
       • Hamlet VS mother
       • Threat from Fortinbras
   • Women
     • Sexist - Hamlet sees women as weak and disgusting
   • Politics
     • Fortinbras is threatening Denmark
   • Family
     • Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius.
       • Polonius looks out for his children
       • Laertes looks out for Ophelia, his sister
       • Ophelia obeys her brother and father
   • Revenge
     • Hamlet is going to get revenge for what Claudius did to his father
     • Fortinbras wants to get revenge on Denmark
   • Love
     • Hamlet's father's love for the Queen
     • Incestuous love between the Queen and Claudius
   • Corruption
     • Denmark is corrupt because Claudius is a murderer
   • Nature
     • Human nature - God (King) and Beast (Claudius)
   • Hypocrisy
     • Elsinore is a place where one can smile and be a villian. False appearances

2. Key Quotes

   • "Frailty, thy name is woman!" - Hamlet, Act 1, Scene II
   • "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, Act 1, Scene III
   • "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy" - Hamlet, Act 1, Scene V
   • "Our sometime sister, now our queen" - Claudius, Act 1, Scene II
   • "How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world" - Hamlet, Act 1, Scene II
   • "Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement" - Polonius, Act 1, Scene III
   • "Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin's fee; And for my soul, what can it do to that, Being a thing immortal as itself? It waves me forth again; I'll follow it" - Hamlet, Act 1, Scene IV
   • "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" - Marcellus, Act 1, Scene IV
   • "The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown" - Ghost, Act 1, Scene V

3. Language

   • Imagery
     • Rottenness - Corruption in Denmark
     • Poison being spread- Corruption
     • Rottenness - Evil in man
     • Relationships
       • King and Queen
       • Claudius and Queen
         • Incestuous
   • Dramatic Expression
     • Adds to the impression of mystery
     • Claudius tries to conceal the truth
     • Hamlet uses words to reveal the truth
     • Written in blank verse

4. Setting

   • Elsinore, Denmark
   • Castle

5. Dramatic Irony

   • Claudius killed his own brother
   • Hamlet pretending to be mad. He's bound to revenge