Act 1, Scene 5

Question 1

Ghost: “My hour is almost come………

Answer 1

………..When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames.” - The Ghost (Old Hamlet) is not going to Heaven and is instead going to Hell, possibly because he never had time to confess his sins before he was murdered by Claudius.

Question 2

Hamlet: “Alas, poor…………

Answer 2

…………..Ghost!”

Question 3

Ghost: “Pity me not, but lend thy………

Answer 3

………..serious hearing To what I shall unfold.” - The Ghost tells Hamlet not to pity him but to listen carefully to what he is about to tell him.

Question 4

Ghost: “I am thy………..

Answer 4

………….Father’s spirit.”

Question 5

Ghost: “Till the foul crimes done in my days of……….

Answer 5

………..nature Are burnt and purged away.” - The Ghost confesses to Hamlet that he is in purgatory (a place you go before going to Heaven / Hell to burn away your sins). This poses a problem for Hamlet as he is a Protestant who doesn’t believe in purgatory (a Catholic belief). If you’re killed without being able to repent your sins you would not go to Heaven. Old Hamlet didn’t have time to repent his sins as he was murdered unexpectedly - his sins are that he killed Fortinbras’ dad.

Question 6

Ghost: “I am forbid To tell the………

Answer 6

………..secrets of my prison-house.” - The Ghost is unable to tell Hamlet what it is really like in purgatory - a place he describes as ‘prison’ like, giving an indication it is not a pleasant or rewarding place.

Question 7

Ghost: “Would harrow up thy soul……….

Answer 7

………..freeze thy young blood.” - The Ghost tells Hamlet that purgatory is a place that will freeze your blood, make your eyes stick out and make your hair stand on end.

Question 8

Ghost: “Make thy two eyes, like………..

Answer 8

………… stars start from their spheres.” - The Ghost tells Hamlet that purgatory is a place that will freeze your blood, make your eyes stick out and make your hair stand on end.

Question 9

Ghost: “Thy knotted and combined locks to part And each particular hair to stand on end……….

Answer 9

………..Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.” - The Ghost tells Hamlet that purgatory is a place that will freeze your blood, make your eyes stick out and make your hair stand on end.

Question 10

Ghost: “If thou didst ever thy…………

Answer 10

………..dear father love -“ - The Ghost is saying that if Hamlet really ever did love his father (which he knows he did) he should do the following……..

Question 11

Ghost: “Revenge his foul and………..

Answer 11

………..unnatural murder.” - The Ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his murder (this is when Hamlet first finds out his father was murdered).

Question 12

Hamlet: “Mur………

Answer 12

…………der!” - Exclamatory sentence reveals Hamlet’s shock / vulnerable state of mind when he finds out his father was murdered.

Question 13

Ghost: “Murder most foul…………..

Answer 13

……….as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange and unnatural.” - The Ghost says that any murder is foul, but his murder was just completely unnatural and sinister and beyond comprehension.

Question 14

Hamlet: “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or…………

Answer 14

………..the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge.” - Hamlet states that he will get revenge for his Father, and he will do it out of love, even if people think he is not capable of doing so.

Question 15

Ghost: “Now, Hamlet, hear: A serpent………

Answer 15

………….stung me.” - Metaphor - saying Claudius is a serpent (sly, sinister motive, the root of all evil).

Question 16

Ghost: “So the whole of Denmark Is by………..

Answer 16

…………..a forged process of my death.” - The Ghost says to Hamlet that the whole of Denmark have been told the wrong story about how he died.

Question 17

Ghost: “A serpent stung me: so the whole ear of Denmark…………..

Answer 17

………….Is by a forged process of my death.” - The Ghost of Old Hamlet confesses that someone so sly as to kill him, has also managed to manipulate the whole of Denmark and convince them he died another way than murder. The personification of Denmark having an ear suggests Denmark is united as one and everyone has heard the same untruthful and incorrect version of events / story.

Question 18

Ghost: “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life…………….

Answer 18

…………Now wears his crown.” - The Ghost reveals to Hamlet that Claudius is the serpent that killed him because he is now wearing ‘his’ crown (Old Hamlet’s crown as King of Denmark).

Question 19

Hamlet: “O my prophetic soul!…………..

Answer 19

………..My Uncle!” - Exclamatory remarks emphasise Hamlet’s state of shock at his Uncle’s sinister nature and how he was able to kill his father so secretly, and then become King.

Question 20

Ghost: “Ay, that incestuous, that………..

Answer 20

…………adulterate beast.” - The Ghost describes Claudius as an incestuous, gross and unnatural beast. Alternatively, perhaps the Ghost is picking up on Hamlet’s inner emotions, regarding Claudius, in order to try and persuade him to take action? OR they could just think in the same way about Claudius; like Father, like Son.

Question 21

Ghost: “With witchcraft of his………….

Answer 21

……….wit. O wicked wit and gifts.” - Alliteration of the letter “w” highlights the Ghosts’ feelings of anger towards Claudius.

Question 22

Ghost: “The will of my most………..

Answer 22

…………seeming-virtuous Queen.” - Reveals to Hamlet that Gertrude was having sex with Claudius before he died.

Question 23

Ghost: “Upon a wretch whose natural………..

Answer 23

……….gifts were poor To those of mine!” - Here Old Hamlet’s ghost is comparing himself to that of Claudius. Echos what Hamlet was saying in his first soliloquy; he believed his Father was much more of a man than Claudius would ever be.

Question 24

Ghost: “Brief let………..

Answer 24

……….me be.” - Done by Shakespeare for light comic relief / comical effect as he is not going to be brief. Ironic / micky taking.

Question 25

Ghost: “Upon my secure……

Answer 25

……..hour thy uncle stole.”

Question 26

Ghost: “And in the porches of my ears………..

Answer 26

………did pour The leperous distilment.” - The ghost telling Hamlet how Claudius killed him; he poured some sort of liquid poison into his ear as he was sleeping in his orchard.

Question 27

Ghost: “And curd like………

Answer 27

………eager droppings into milk.” - A simile used by Shakespeare to emphasise how the poison dripped into Old Hamlet’s ear, which then moved like “quicksilver” and “coursed through The natural gates and alleys of the body”, killing him with immediate effect. Highlights the poison / pollution running through his body and his body being corrupted.

Question 28

Ghost: “Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand Of life………..

Answer 28

……….of queen, at once dispatch’d.” - The three evils; Old Hamlet’s crown, Queen and life all taken away from him by the serpent Claudius.

Question 29

Ghost: “O horrible! O, horrible!…….

Answer 29

……..most horrible!”

Question 30

Ghost: “Let not the royal bed of Denmark be……..

Answer 30

……….A couch for luxury and damned incest.” - The Ghost tells Hamlet not to let Denmark become a place of complete lust and corruption. Contrast between the “royal bed” of Denmark and “couch” for incest. Perhaps Gertrude once slept in the royal bed of Denmark, alongside Old Hamlet, but now simply lies on a “couch” of incest, which other’s mustn’t follow or the whole of Denmark will become rotten / corrupt.

Question 31

Ghost: “Adieu, adieu! Hamlet……..

Answer 31

………remember me.” - The Ghost saying goodbye to Hamlet and also telling him make sure he remembers all he has said and to act upon it.

Question 32

Ghost: “Howsoever thou pursuest this act, Taint not thy mind, not let thy soul contrive Against………..

Answer 32

………..thy mother aught.” - Whatever you do, don’t take this out on your mother and don’t let it get to you.

Question 33

Ghost: “Leave her to Heaven And to those……….

Answer 33

……….thorns that in her bosom lodge, To prick and sting her.” - Don’t take your anger for the wrong doings of Claudius out on your mother; let the Heavens deal with her. She hasn’t done anything wrong compared to Claudius, but she will be punished by God in her own way for her affair and co-operation with him.

Question 34

Hamlet: “Ay thou……………

Answer 34

……………poor ghost.”

Question 35

Hamlet: “O all you host………

Answer 35

…………….of heaven!”

Question 36

Hamlet: “Oh earth!………..

Answer 36

……….what else?”

Question 37

Hamlet: “And shall I couple hell?…………..

Answer 37

…………O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart.” - The Ghost’s speech was all written in an iambic pentameter rhythm, at 10 syllables per line. Perhaps done by Shakespeare in order to depict the Ghost as a composed voice of reason, delivering the truth to Hamlet regarding his father’s murder. When Hamlet begins to talk immediately after, this iambic pentameter metre is broken - perhaps done so by Shakespeare in order to create a contrast between Hamlet and the Ghost, and to also highlight Hamlet’s emotional state - one of shock, disbelief, grief and insecurity - it’s not something composed and rhythm like, because his whole world has just been ripped apart.

Question 38

Hamlet: “In this distracted…………

Answer 38

……….globe.” - A reference to the head / theatre the play is being performed in.

Question 39

Hamlet: “O, villain, villain………

Answer 39

………..smiling, damned villain!” - Reflects Hamlet’s anger towards Claudius.

Question 40

Hamlet: “O most………….

Answer 40

………..pernicious woman!” - Reflects Hamlet’s anger towards Gertrude.

Question 41

Hamlet: “Within the book and volume……….

Answer 41

……….of my brain, Unmix’d with baser matter: yes, by heaven!” - Hamlet saying from now on, he’s only going to concentrate on avenging the wrongs of his father, and nothing else. He is now going to concentrate holey on his revenge for the evil Claudius, and nothing else going on in his brain matters.

Question 42

Hamlet: “One may smile, and………….

Answer 42

……….smile, and be a villain. At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark.” - Hamlet making reference to the fact that Claudius has a jolly / smiley external image to the people of Denmark, but inside, is corrupt, rotten and evil. He is able to “smile” and “smile” and look a nice and friendly King from the outside, but he is still a manipulative villain on the interior. The phrase “At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark” reinforces the idea that Hamlet believes Denmark is corrupt, and even if people aren’t able to be caught as villains despite their smiles all over the world, they will be in Denmark as it is so corrupt and disgusting.

Question 43

Hamlet: “I have sworn………..

Answer 43

………..’t.” - Hamlet is stating that he has sworn to Old Hamlet’s ghost that he will get revenge on his Uncle for killing him, so he now must do it.

Question 44

Hamlet: “How say you, then; would heart of………..

Answer 44

………..man once think it? But you’ll be secret?” - Hamlet refuses to tell Horatio and Marcellus what the Ghost said as he doesn’t trust them to keep it a secret.

Question 45

Hamlet: “There’s ne’er a villain dwelling………..

Answer 45

………….in all Denmark but he’s an arrant knave.” - Any villain in Denmark is going to be a villain.

Question 46

Horatio: “There needs no ghost, my lord………..

Answer 46

………..come from the grave to tell us this.” - You don’t need a ghost returning from the grave to tell you that, sir.

Question 47

Hamlet: “Never make known…………

Answer 47

………..what you have seen to-night.” - Do not tell anyone what you have seen tonight, including the ghost.

Question 48

Hamlet: “Never to speak of this that you have……….

Answer 48

……….seen, Swear by my sword.” - Hamlet telling Horatio and Marcellus to not repeat what they have seen tonight, like Hamlet speaking to his father’s ghost.

Question 49

Hamlet: “There are more things in Heaven and earth Horatio………….

Answer 49

………..Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” - There are more things going on in Heaven and Earth than you could ever possibly understand / imagine, Horatio.

Question 50

Hamlet: “Rest, rest, perturbed………

Answer 50

……….spirit!” - Hamlet telling the ghost to stop saying “swear” from beneath him. In acting the play out, the ghost’s voice would be coming from underneath the stage as Hell would be underneath the stage, and Heaven would be the roof of the theatre.

Question 51

Hamlet: “How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, As I perchance hereafter shall think meet……….

Answer 51

………..To put an antic disposition on.” - Hamlet tells Horatio and Marcellus that from now on, he is going to pretend to be mad and put on an “antic disposition” as if he seems mad, no one will suspect him of any wrong doing towards Claudius.