Act 1 Scene 5 Flashcards
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
Speaker:Ghost
Context: The Ghost is revealing to Hamlet that his death is a murder.
Importance:
Sets up the whole play, the beginning of the revenge tragedy play
Hinting at the rotting of Denmark/Eden being something foul and unnatural
Shows Claudius’ betrayal of his own brother=Bad person= Bad king=Corruption
Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.
Speaker: Hamlet
Context: Hamlet is promising to avenge his father’s death after the ghost claims he was murdered
Importance:
Plays into his fatal flaw: procrastination. He promises to do it swiftly but he wont.
Dramatic Irony? Hamlet wants to kill the king ‘swiftly’ but we know that he will procrastinate.
A serpent stung me; Whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown.
Speaker: Ghost
Context: The ghost is revealing the deatils of his murder to Hamlet
Importance:
Explains the references to ear related violence: Hamlet Sr was poisoned from his ear
Biblical reference: snake, Claudius, wears the crown.
Mentioning the rotting state of Denmark
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen: Or Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
Speaker: Ghost
Context: The ghost is revealing the deatils of his murder to Hamlet. The Ghost is saying that he doesn’t know what was real with his wife as his wife married his brother
Importance:
Reinforces Hamlet’s disgust towards his mother, that she is a whore (bc ghost told him that he suspects she was cheating before he died)
Not everything is as it seems; Queen got over her husband’s death so fast then married claudius.
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven And to those thorns that in her
bosom lodge, To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
Speaker: Ghost
Context: The ghost is telling Hamlet to leave his anger away from his mother.
Importance:
Idea of fate: judgment on his mother is God’s job, not his. (Stop procrastinating)
Ghost wants Hamlet to focus on the revenge
In this distracted globe.
Speaker: Hamlet
Context: After the ghost has left, Hamlet is speaking to himself, planning his revenge unsure if he can fulfill his promise.
Importance:
Foreshadows that he won’t be able to fulfill his task- he will be distracted and procrastinate= fatal flaw
Foreshadows the possibility of Hamlet going crazy.
meet it is I set it down, That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark:
Speaker: Hamlet
Context: After seeing his dad’s ghost, Hamlet writes in his book
Importance:
Nothing is as it seems (Claudius looks like a good man but killed his brother and married his sister in law)
Claiming Claudius needs to be taken down
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Speaker: Hamlet
Context: Hamlet speaking to Horatio and Marcellus saying that he and Horatio have different ways of thinking, despite going to the same school.
Importance:
Brings attention to the fact that Hamlet thinks unlike other scholars
To put an antic disposition on,
Speaker: Hamlet
Context: Hamlet is speaking to Marcellus and Horatio and reveals to them that he will pretend to be crazy.
Importance:
Hamlet is gonna act crazy (For people to ignore him and get information to incriminate Claudius)
The time is out of joint; O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right!- Nay, come, let’s go together.
Speaker: Hamlet
Context: Hamlet thinks its his fate to avenge his fathers death but maybe its actually a curse
Importance: foreshadows that it will go wrong (cursed spite)
Characterization of Hamlet, keeps telling himself he’ll do it but never does
