Hamlet 1.5 Quotes Flashcards
sulf’rous
My hour is almost come
When I to sulf’rous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself. - ghost
Even the ghost’s presence, and perhaps thus his symbolic political power, seems transient/ephemeral
Paul Cantor, 1989: “…this ominous, mysterious and profoundly ambiguous figure of the ghost.”
The Ghost’s true nature is left deliberately ambiguous. Is it truly the spirit of King Hamlet, or a demonic entity sent to deceive and damn Prince Hamlet? This lack of clarity mirrors the theme of uncertainty that pervades the play.
The Ghost’s demand for revenge is morally problematic in the Christian framework of the play. While justice might justify revenge, it also risks leading Hamlet into sin, blurring the line between righteous action and personal damnation.
ghost’s appearance
ephermal (short)
ghost as a plot device
The Ghost is not just a plot device but a multifaceted figure whose brief appearances resonate with deep existential, moral, and political questions. It is precisely this complexity that makes it “profoundly ambiguous” and integral to the play’s lasting impact.
bound
HAMLET Speak. I am bound to hear.
GHOST
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
“I am bound to hear” If we accept the reality of the ghost and as Hamlet’s father, then it’s reasonable to expect a son to listen to his father and understand information from him.»_space; “So are you to revenge” elevates the verb of obligation ‘bind’ to a much more serious stake - action, and the action of killing in revenge
> > > The Ghost uses the simple present declarative ‘art’ (are) to rather presumptuously assume that Hamlet will not only consent to, but feel obliged to pursue, revenge just from hearing the story.»_space;» Claustrophobic frustration of patriarchy from beyond the grave? Can’t Dad just go away?!!
fires
for the day confined to fast in fires… Are burnt and purged away… Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, - gho
semantic field of temperature- Fires traditionally associated with Christian hell or purgatory (no such associations with the classical underworld) but here they function as redemption (purgatory) rather than punishment (hell) since they can ‘burn’ and ‘purge’ sin - surprisingly redolent of Greek word catharsis>freeze - usually the cessation of life, not the ongoing punishment - images of stasis, not of dynamic violence» conveys the ghost’s extremity of experience in the ‘undiscover’d country’ - between climactic extremes so powerful they have moral (purging) or psychological (harrow up thy soul) effects
spirit
I am thy father’s spirit - gho
Peter Goldman, 2001: “the Ghost hearkens back to the late medieval world of magic and superstition, the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory” Are there any other more important aspects to King Hamlet’s Ghost
didst
If thou didst ever thy dear father love— - gho
Does he doubt Hamlet’s resolve to do what he asks? Was hamlet always stereotypically ‘less masculine’? Surely if he had more faith he wouldn’t need the manipulation..?
> > to counter = regicide as a murder is unforgivable does revenge really make it any better? Murder is the worse crime and asking anyone to do this is a lot - so the manipulation is justified - he is also desperate and wants to instil momentum into Hamlet, so he can leave somewhat satisfied that he will act upon his wishes.
unnatural
HAMLET O God! 30
GHOST
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
HAMLET Murder?
GHOST
Murder most foul, as in the best it is,
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
ghost begins the climactic revelation with psychologically manipulative challenge and reminder of the stakes: “If thou didst ever thy dear father love” - impossible for any son to say no, clearly making revenge not really a moral obligation but an emotional familial one.»_space; Hamlet either anticipates the command with an exclamatory oath in two syllables “O God!” or generally is shocked at the emotional stakes»» the Ghost gives an unambiguously imperative command which dictates the protagonist’s mission from now on: “Revenge (as a verb) his foul and most unnatural murder.” (unlike Iago, whose encouragement of Othello to kill Desdemona is much more implicit)»_space;»> Hamlet echoes ‘murder’, ghost repeats it again, but with a curious semantic field: foul, strange, unnatural - not ‘evil’, for example, but as if the murder was bizarrely incomprehensible - when in fact it literally the same type as the first ever murder (Cain and Abel) and probably for extremely typical emotions: jealousy, greed, etc.
Belsey, 1985: revenge is in excess of justice
wings
Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge. - gho
> wings suggest freedom, unlike his later comment “Denmark’s a prison”»_space; sweep to revenge - as if revenge can be a simple, fast thing»_space;> haste!»» enthusiasm of protagonist at least in the moment - can it be translated to action?
Wings could imply angels - instant juxtaposing his faith from the idea of murder and - ‘thou shalt not murder’; they may connote birds and freedom
Swift is enthusiasm, speed and almost not allowing time to consider, be rational and rethink which is more ironic and demonstrates trust in the ghost whom he previously denied - ironic and typical of Hamlet’s supposed insanity
stung
sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me …. now wears his crown” - gho
sibilance, eden - fall. “You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:14)
This punishment emphasizes the serpent’s duplicity, humiliation, and separation from divine grace. Claudius, likened to a serpent, recalls this biblical imagery of deceit, sin, and moral degradation. His act of murdering King Hamlet (“the primal eldest curse”) parallels the serpent’s role in humanity’s original sin, marking him as a figure of corruption and fallenness.
crown of loliness, sin
adulterate
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wits - gho
the main focus is not political usurpation of the crown but marital and sexual usurpation of the queen with repeated, cyclical vocabulary of “incestuous…beast” > “damned incest” and “adulterate (corrupted)” > “luxury (excessive indulgence, definitely a more negative term than in modern English)» he perhaps remembers his political position by the end of the speech - he switches from blaming the adultery on Claudius’s “witchcraft of his wits” to the “royal bed” discussion.
seeming-virtutous queen
won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen - gho
In 1996 by Kenneth Branagh he shows how Gertrude was in love with Claudius while Hamlet was alive and therefore acting behind his back, it is suggested that she played a part in Claudius’ plot
shameful lust - manipulated into relationship
dignity
From me, whose love was of that dignity - gho
Hamlet’s love was honourable, and he was always a good husband, yet she left for his brother who could never have the power that he had
wretch
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine. - gho
celestial
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So, lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed - gho
lexis of heaven and biblical imagery juxtaposes the animalistic and lack of social class with ‘prey on garbage’
- divine right of kings reference and how unsuited C is to be king
‘lust’ ‘radiant angel’ ‘celestial’ ‘shape of heaven’
Marilyn French: [Hamlet’s world is split into the superhuman, perfect, and the inhuman corrupt]
afternoon
My custom always of the afternoon, - gho
King Hamlet was consistent and stable - could this reflect his reign?
royal
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damnèd incest. - gho
Metaphor of the ‘royal bed’ decreasing in grand status to a ‘couch’ implies Claudius’ moral corruption of the monarchy (murder of a king and incestuous acts with the queen) is diminishing the reputation and quality of Denmark
act
But, howsomever thou pursues this act, - gho
Rebecca Smith, 1980: “all the combatants in the play – the ghost, Hamlet, Claudius” see Gertrude “as a sexual object.”
globe
distracted globe - ham
Hamlet’s head/mind? Suggesting that his mind is preoccupied with unnecessary thoughts - distractions
“from the table of my memory… unmixed with baser matter” - ham
The human brain as a kind of “table” with mere “trivial fond records,” all sayings of books, that “youth… copied there”»_space; book and volume of brain - to what extent can a brain be ‘read’, in that case? In a play (like many of Shakespeare’s others) about reading and figuring out people’s intentions
> > > > commandment - the original Ten Commandments were written on tablets and prohibited murder, yet ironically this one commandment is committed to memory and contravenes the Christian one. Harkening back to classical acceptance of revenge as a valid moral imperative, unlike Christian forgiveness
HORATIO My lord, my lord! 120
MARCELLUS Lord Hamlet.
HORATIO Heavens secure him!
HAMLET So be it.
MARCELLUS Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
HAMLET Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come! 125
Rapid paratactic dialogue between multiple characters conveys the panicked multiplicity of voices in contrast to the measured self-motivating speech of the tragic hero > Irony in “heavens secure him” when Hamlet has openly acknowledged “coupl[ing] hell”»_space;> Hamlet begins merely with “wonderful”
whirling
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. - hor
Triple alliteration linking three rather incongruous words: ‘words’ are language thus civilisation, not ‘wild’ and ‘whirling’.
swear
Ghost *beneath Swear
refrain
Coleridge, 1818: the play is about the importance of “an equilibrium between the real and the imaginary worlds” What is the impact of the Ghost’s commands, and the Ghost in general, on Coleridge’s ‘equilibrium’?
philosophy
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - ham
Vagueness of quantity ‘more’ and objects/ideas in ‘things’ in the epic, vast “heaven and earth”»_space;> dreamt of - i.e. natural philosophy - the old name for what we would regard, partly, as science - is nothing but speculation, ironic for a character who was philosophising about the ‘dram of evil’ - perhaps he’s been shocked out of that complacency after meeting the ghost»_space;»»»Notice the implicit, gentle contempt of Hamlet towards Horatio’s ‘philosophy’. Considering Hamlet’s own university background, easily the most educated hero in Shakespeare, is this hypocritical?
October 5, 2023 at 8:40 PM
mad
to put on an antic disposition - ham
perturbued
Rest, rest, perturbèd spirit.— - ham
Double allusion to the afterlife as a place of ‘rest’, but obviously not a character doomed to ‘fast in fires’
spite
The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite 210
That ever I was born to set it right! - ham
A classic rhyming couplet to end a scene (though it’s unusual that there’s another line after it). “The time” = the world, society, the public mood. “out of joint” = out of frame, out of proportion; interesting contrast with Gertrude being “th’imperial jointress” to Elsinore.
Caroline Spurgeon: “the frame of human society… seems to [Shakespeare] to have a mystical significance”Spite = fate, destiny or situation, ‘cursed’ by something. Heroic statement of responsibility?By the end of Act 1, Shakespeare gives his protagonist some fairly clear direction to fulfil his narrative mission: the identity of his antagonist; the crime; several different types of motivation (political, emotional, etc) and to some extent Hamlet begins to meet these obligations
most common language and structure techniques in act 1
stichomythia and monologues- showing 2 sides, contrasting
Dramatic tensions- to engage audience,
Symbolism- serpent represents Claudius, biblical imagery and references
Allusion – hint of something
Interrogatives with Hamlet – shows his fractured mind and constant paranoia
Metaphors-help to create alternative reality –trying to be something they can’t be.
Power and dominance (male) - shown through language like modal verb and length of sentences and scenes
Constant contrast of right and wrong shown through semantic field/ lexis – accentuating the difference between Claudius and other characters - Setting the correct rules about morality
