Act 1 Quotes

Question 1

Act 1 Scene 1
Horatio on Denmark and ghost’s appearance

Answer 1

This bodes some strange eruption to our state

Question 2

Act 1 Scene 1
Horatio explaining the duel between Old Hamlet and Old Norway ended in Old Norway’s death and seceding some land to Denmark that Young Fortinbras is trying to reclaim

Answer 2

Skirts of Norway…Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes…to recover of us, by strong hand

Question 3

Act 1 Scene 1
Horatio after seeing the ghost that bears likeness to Old Hamlet

Answer 3

The graves stood tenantless
Dews of blood

Question 4

Act 1 Scene 2
King Claudius is holding court – talks about new marriage plus death of brother

Answer 4

Defeated joy
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage

Question 5

Act 1 Scene 2
King Claudius is holding court – talks about new marriage plus death of brother (effect on Denmark)

Answer 5

Our state to be disjoint and out of frame

Question 6

Act 1 Scene 2
King Claudius is holding court – regarding Young Fortinbras’ attempts to reclaim Norways land

Answer 6

He hath not failed to pester us with message

Question 7

Act 1 Scene 2
Claudius on Hamlet’s grief

Answer 7

Obsequious sorrow
Tis unmanly grief
Tis a fault to heaven, a fault against the dead

Question 8

Act 1 Scene 2
Hamlet in his first soliloquy – soul is in tumult

Answer 8

O that this too too sullied flesh would melt thaw and resolve itself into a dew

Question 9

Act 1 Scene 2
Hamlet in his first soliloquy - perceives that bad is overtaking good in the world

Answer 9

Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed
Things rank and gross in nature

Question 10

Act 1 Scene 2
Hamlet in his first soliloquy – compares his father and Claudius (they are vastly different)

Answer 10

Hyperion to a satyr

Question 11

Act 1 Scene 2
Hamlet in his first soliloquy – blames his mother for being weak and not being loyal to his father, criticizes her short mourning period and hasty remarriage

Answer 11

Frailty, thy name is women
Like Niobe, all tears
O, most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!

Question 12

Act 1 Scene 2
Horatio to Hamlet on father’s death at having returned to Elsinore from Wittenberg

Answer 12

He was a goodly king

Question 13

Act 1 Scene 2
Hamlet on the prospect of what he might discover from his father’s spirit/ghost

Answer 13

Foul deeds will rise though all the earth overwhelm them to mens eyes

Question 14

Act 1 Scene 3
Before departing for Paris, Laertes gives Ophelia some advice regarding her relationship with Hamlet

Answer 14

The trifling of his favour, hold it in fashion and a toy in blood a violet in the youth of primy nature

Question 15

Act 1 Scene 3
Before departing for Paris, Laertes telling Ophelia of Hamlet’s duties to his kingdom

Answer 15

On his choice depends the safety and health of this whole state

Question 16

Act 1 Scene 3
Before departing for Paris, Laertes warning Ophelia away from Hamlet

Answer 16

If with too credent ear you list his songs…your chaste treasure open
Virtue itself escapes not calumnious strokes The canker galls the infants of spring

Question 17

Act 1 Scene 3
Polonius has been surveilling Ophelia and accuses her of entertaining Hamlet

Answer 17

Your audience been most free and bounteous

Question 18

Act 1 Scene 3
When Ophelia tells her father of Hamlets love for her, Polonius responds:

Answer 18

You speak like a green girl, unsifted in such perilous circumstance

Question 19

Act 1 Scene 3
When Ophelia reiterates that Hamlet loves her, Polonius responds:

Answer 19

Springes to catch woodcocks

Question 20

Act 1 Scene 3
Polonius telling Ophelia that, as a woman, she can’t afford to be promiscuous/ do as she like

Answer 20

And with a larger tether may he walk than may be given you

Question 21

Act 1 Scene 4
When Hamlet sees the ghost for the first time and wonders why he is not buried

Answer 21

Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death, have burst their cerements

Question 22

Act 1 Scene 4
Seeing the ghost for the first time Hamlet decides to follow it, telling Horatio:

Answer 22

I do not set my life in a pin’s fee

Question 23

Act 1 Scene 4
When Hamlet decides to follow the ghost, Horatio tries to warn him against it

Answer 23

Might deprive your sovereignty of reason

Question 24

Act 1 Scene 4
In response to Horatio and Marcellus’ warnings not to follow the ghost, Hamlet says it is fate/ destiny

Answer 24

My fate cries out and makes each petty artery in this body as hardy as the Nemean lions nerve

Question 25

Act 1 Scene 4
After Hamlet follows the ghost, Marcellus comments on the bad omen that is the ghosts appearance and the corruption that is rife in Denmark

Answer 25

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

Question 26

Act 1 Scene 5
Hamlets first sighting of the ghost, comments on his filial duty to listen to its tale

Answer 26

Speak, I am bound to hear

Question 27

Act 1 Scene 5
The ghost commanding Hamlet to revenge him and his murder

Answer 27

Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder

Question 28

Act 1 Scene 5
The ghost telling Hamlet the tale of his murder by Claudius

Answer 28

The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown

Question 29

Act 1 Scene 5
While telling the story of his murder to Hamlet, the ghost implies Gertrude’s promiscuity

Answer 29

Seeming virtuous queen

Question 30

Act 1 Scene 5
The ghost tells Hamlet not to harm Gertrude and instead let her own guilt catch up with her

Answer 30

To prick and sting her

Question 31

Act 1 Scene 5
After hearing the story of his father’s murder, in his second soliloquy, Hamlet swears that nothing shall occupy his thoughts save revenge (his father’s task)

Answer 31

Thy commandment alone shall live…unmixed with baser matter

Question 32

Act 1 Scene 5
After hearing the story of his father’s murder, in Hamlet’s second soliloquy, he comments on the deceit prevalent in Denmark

Answer 32

That one may smile and smile and be a villain

Question 33

Act 1 Scene 5
After hearing the story of his father’s murder, Hamlet tells Horatio his plan to pretend to be mad

Answer 33

To put an antic disposition on

Question 34

Act 1 Scene 5
After seeing the ghost and being tasked with revenging his father’s murder, Hamlet says:

Answer 34

The time is out of joint. O cursed spite