'Hamlet' Quotations

Act 1: Scenes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

• "'Tis bitter cold/And I am sick at heart" (Francisco)
• "It harrows me with fear and wonder"
• Claudius' fluent speech to the court - blank verse
• "Cousin Hamlet and my son" (Claudius)
• Pathetic fallacy, theme of physical & mental illness, pessimistic mood
• Horatio is well-educated and is sceptical, audience believe the ghost exists
• Used by characters of high status & he wants to impress
• Contrast with later in play when he says that Hamlet is 'your son' to Gertrude, close family member now

Slide 2

• "A little more than kin and less than kind" (Hamlet)
• "For they are actions that a man might play" (Hamlet)
• "'Tis unmanly grief" (Claudius)
• "Sullied flesh would melt" (Claudius)
• "Things rank and gross in nature"
• Hamlet is slightly offended
• Theme of acting/actors
• Talking down to Hamlet
• Theme of decay/rot
• Theme of decay/rot

Slide 3

• "All is not well" (Hamlet)
• "You speak like a green girl" (Polonius)
• "The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold" (Hamlet)
• "I do not set my life at a pin's fee" (Hamlet)
• "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (Marcellus)
• "So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear"(Ghost)
• Foreboding
• Justification for authority over Opehlia
• Pathetic fallacy, aggressive imagery
• Hamlet has nothing to lose, contemplating suicide later with 'to be or not to be'
• Theme of decay, STDs known as the 'rot' in Elizabethan times
• Hamlet must be ready to take revenge, audience are drawn in

Slide 4

• "Murder most foul" (Ghost)
• "Foul, strange, and unnatural" (Ghost)
• The Ghost is the dead King Hamlet who was murdered by Claudius (his brother) - appearance vs. reality - Claudius isn't innocent

Act 2: Scenes 1 & 2

• "Make inquire of his behaviour" (Polonius to Reynaldo)
• "To speak of horrors - he comes before me" (Ophelia)
• "Hamlet's transformation" (Claudius)
• "Denmark's a prison" (Hamlet)
• Sending Reynaldo to spy on his son in Paris (Laertes)
• Ophelia has a strange visit from Hamlet , Elizabethan audience would see this as an 'anguished lover'
• Claudius knows there is a change in Hamlet and has summoned Rosencrantz & Guildenstern to 'spy' & figure out what's going on
• Hamlet's feelings on Denmark

Slide 6

• "Uncle-father and aunt-mother" (Hamlet)
• "I'll catch the conscience of the king" (Hamlet)
• Hamlet sees this as incest and isn't comfortable
• Hamlet wants to prove Claudius is a murderer

Slide 7