death Flashcards
‘that it us befitted
to bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
to be contracted in one brow of woe’
defined as it would have been appropriate for us to bear our hearts in grief and the one brow of woe is referring to the whole kingdom as being like a person whose face is twisted or contorted in mourning
’ i do not set my life at a pin’s fee’
suicidal - life has no value
‘unhand me gentleman/ by heaven i’ll make a ghost of him that lets me!’
threatening his friends before he even knows what this apparition looking like his father in warrior mode wants
‘the serpent that did sting thy fathers life’
‘a forged process of my death’
describes the murder using biblical reference to garden of Eden
they pretended he died while he was sleeping in the garden from a snake bite
‘no reckoning made but sent to my account/ with all my imperfections on my head’
which is why he hesitates in act 3 when it comes to the prayer scene he said he won’t ;do this same villain send/ to heaven’ because his uncle ‘took my father grossly full of bread’
‘take this from this if be otherwise’
casual reference to execution - polonius shows his loyalty by asking the king to kill him if he is lying about hamlet being crazy for love - foreshadows his own death that occurs whilst pursuing his plan
‘for who would bear the whips and scorns of time,/ the opressors wrong, the proud ,the pangs of despised love, the laws delay’
taking an objective approach about his circumstances and whether he should live or die
‘the undiscovered country from whose bourn/ no traveller returns ‘
the ghost/ appitition does return to the world but he ignores that and decides’the dread of something after death / Puzzles the will /and makes us rather bear those ills we have/ than fly to others that we know not of’
‘those that are married already- all but one - shall live’
stating that Claudius will die explicilty - If he knew he was being spied on would he have said this explicilty when he could’ve waited for reveal in play?
‘my father died wihtin’s two hours!/ Nay , twice two months my lord’
helps audience understand severity of grief for hamlet but also timing technicalities which were difficult to clearly portray in the play
‘this councillor/is now most still, most secret and most grave’ - talking about polonius
this idea that the death of individual is the only way to keep secret. perhaps scaring his mother into submission and threatening her by saying secrets are kept safe when dead
‘by letters congruing to that effect/ the present death of Hamlet. Do it england!”
using the fact that they ‘pays homage to us’ i.e Danegelt which was used in medieval period to get rid of Hamlet
claudius’ soliloquy outlines plans for Hamlet (perhaps even overheard by Hamlet as he knew what to do) but audience gets to know more about claudius’ rationale and his second soliloquy in the play is to move the plot forward which was the traditional use of soliloquy for villians.
