Hamlet - 1:1

Question 1

opening dialogue of the play/1:1

Answer 1

• sparse and direct dialogue
• empty feeling
• nervous/uneasy

Question 2

choric character

Answer 2

A term sometimes applied to a character in a play who, while participating in the action to some degree, also provides the audience with an ironic commentary upon it, thus performing a function similar to that of the chorus in Greek tragedy

Question 3

Horatio (1:1)

Answer 3

• Hamlet’s friend
• needs to be established as rational
• is rational, sceptic, and acts as a reliable witness to confirm the sighting of the ghost as real
• ‘Horatio says ‘tis but our fantasy’ - Marcellus
• '’twill not appear’ - Horatio

Question 4

‘It harrows…’

Answer 4

‘It harrows me with fear and wonder’ - Horatio
- ‘harrows’ - disturbing the earth, metaphor
- reaction to sight of ghost

Question 5

‘Such was the very…’

Answer 5

‘Such was the very armour he had on when he the ambitious Norway combated’ - Horatio
- ready for war
- ghosts normally wear what they died in (but not here), this throws the characters off as they see it as a token about the impending war

Question 6

exposition

Answer 6

a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory

Question 7

king-son relationships parallel

Answer 7

• old Fortinbras and young Fortinbras (Norway)
• old Hamlet and young Hamlet (Denmark)
• neither YF or YH are king (their uncles are)

Question 8

presentation of young Fortinbras

Answer 8

‘unimproved mettle’ - don’t know what he is capable of
‘list of lawless resolutes’ - mercenaries, paid with food
‘to some enterprise that hath a stomach in’t’ - the resolutes will die (hungry for lives), YF doesn’t care
‘those foresaid lands’ - wants his land back

Question 9

‘list of lawless…’
‘to some enterprise…’

Answer 9

‘list of lawless resolutes’ - mercenaries, paid with food
‘to some enterprise that hath a stomach in’t’ - the resolutes will die (hungry for lives), YF doesn’t care

Question 10

‘A little ere…stood..squeak…’

Answer 10

‘A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,/ The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead did/ Squeak and gibber’ - Horatio
- omens before Julius Ceaser’s death (think ghost is an omen)
- JC was divinely appt and assassinated by a friend (parallels to OH)

Question 11

‘And then it started…’

Answer 11

‘And then it started like a guilty thing upon a fearful summons’ - Horatio
- old Hamlet not supposed to be there?