Act 1 Scene 4

Question 1

That for some vicious mole of nature in them,
(24)

Answer 1

Speaker: Hamlet
Context: Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus are on the platform, searching and hoping for the ghost to appear.
Importance:
Vicious mole of nature = their fatal flaw, their downfall
Claudius: his arrogance
Hamlet: his procrastination (thinks about killing himself and the king but doesn’t)

Question 2

Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life in a pin’s fee;
And for my soul, what can it do to that, Being a thing immortal as itself?
(65)

Answer 2

Speaker: Hamlet
Context: Hamlet’s response to Horatio and Marcellus trying to stop him from talking to the ghost.
Importance:
Shows how little he values his own life/how depressed and suicidal he is (the same as a head of a pin)
Foreshadowing that he’s gonna go mad soon (because of the ghost)

Question 3

Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason And draw you into madness?
(74)

Answer 3

Speaker: Horatio
Context: Haratio warning Hamlet to not follow the ghost in fear of what it might due to Hamlet
Importance:
Foreshadowing that Hamlet might soon go into madness (because of the ghost)

Question 4

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
(90)

Answer 4

Speaker: Marcellus
Context: Marcellus and Horatio chasing after Hamlet who is chasing the ghost
Importance:
Play on the word ‘state’: Hamlet’s mental state is worsening
Referencing the rotting Garden of Eden (corruption)