Hamlet 1:5 Flashcards
‘My hour is almost…’
‘My hour is almost come,/ When I to sulph’rous and tormenting flames/ Must render up myself.’ - Ghost
- purgatory, needs to be purged of his sins before he can go to heaven
‘So art thou…’
‘So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.’ - Ghost
- regicide
- calls for revenge before Hamlet even knows what has happened
‘I am…’
‘I am thy father’s spirit’ - Ghost
‘Till the foul…’
‘Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature/ Are burnt and purg’d away.’ - Ghost
- purgatory, needs to be purged of his sins before he can go to heaven
‘But that I am…’
‘But that I am forbid/ To tell the secrets of my prison-house’ - Ghost
- can’t speak of the afterlife
‘If thou didst ever…’
‘If thou didst ever thy dear father love -‘ - G
‘O God!’ - H
‘Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.’ - H
- the reveal
‘May sweep to…’
‘May sweep to my revenge.’ - H
- keen, determined, will avenge his father
‘I find thee…’
‘I find thee apt’ - Ghost to Hamlet
‘sleeping in my…’
‘sleeping in my orchard,/ A serpent stung me […] The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown.’ - Ghost to H
- second part of the revelation
- the fall of man, Eden, biblical
- his uncle killed his father
‘Ay, that incestuous…’
‘Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast’ - Ghost
- talking about Claudius but, by extension, Gertrude too
echoes of Hamlet in the Ghost’s monologue
- ‘incestuous’ ‘seduce’ ‘shameful lust’ ‘lewdness’ ‘lust’
- but he glorifies Gertrude (‘shape of heaven’ ‘radiant angel’ ‘celestial bed’
‘won to his…’
‘won to his shameful lust/ The will of my most seeming virtuous queen.’ - Ghost (mon.)
- appearance vs reality
- echoes Hamlet ealier
- ‘seeming’ suggests Gertrude is not virtuous
‘Though lewdness…’
‘Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,/ So lust, though to a radiant angel link’d,/ Will sate itself in a celestial bed’ - Ghost (mon.)
- words used for Gertrude are very different to Claudius
- juxtaposition
- glorified
‘Upon my secure…’
‘Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,/ With juice of cursed hebona in a vial,/ And in the porches of my ears did pour/ The leperous distilment.’ - Ghost (mon.)
- ‘secure hour’ - carefree time
- ‘juice of cursed hebona’ - poison
- ‘porches of my ears’ - doorways
- ‘leperous distilment’ - causing skin disfigurement
‘Thus was I…’
‘Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand/ Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch’d’ - Ghost
‘Cut off even…’
‘With all my…’
‘Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin’ - Ghost
- dies in a state of sin
‘With all my imperfections on my head’ - Ghost
- could not repent before death
- link to later [3:3] when Claudius is praying
‘Let not the…’
‘Let not the royal bed of Denmark be/ A couch for luxury and damned incest.’ - Ghost
- holds the same views as Hamlet
‘nor let thy soul…’
‘nor let thy soul contrive/ Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven,/ And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge/ To prick and sting her.’ - Ghost
- “don’t hold anything against your mother, leave her to be judged by God”
‘O all you host of…’
‘O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?/ And shall I couple hell?’ - Hamlet
- should he add hell to the list (where does the ghost come from?)
‘O most…’
‘O most pernicious woman!/ O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!’ - Hamlet
- Gertrude then Claudius
‘And thy commandment all alone…’
‘And thy commandment all alone shall live/ Within the book and volume of my brain,/ Unmix’d with baser matter. Yes, by heaven!’ - Hamlet
- basically saying yes he will ‘remember’ the ghost
‘There’s never a…’
‘There’s never a villain dwelling in all Denmark/ But he’s an arrant knave.’ - Hamlet
- “every villain in this country is a complete scoundrel”
‘To put an…’
‘To put an antic disposition on’ - Hamlet
- pretend madness
- court fool
‘That ever I was…’
‘That ever I was born to set it right!’ - Hamlet
- purpose
- he’s the only one who can fix this
