hamlet

Question 1

“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.–Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d!”
(Shakespeare, Act 3 scene 1)

Answer 1

Hamlet

This soliloquy is the most famous speech by Hamlet in the play. Hamlet contemplates whether he should kill himself, which would stop the suffering, or stay alive and continue to suffer. This contributes to the theme that death is such a major part of the play due to his contemplation of ending his own life. Just like the rest of the play, death and killing your enemy is an option. In this soliloquy the theme of ending a life is stated, Hamlet is his own enemy and wants to end his life. This re-occurred to Hamlet as he thinks about death and the worthlessness of life multiple times. Looking at the work as a whole, all characters look at death as an option to end their suffering, with Ophelia going so far as acting on these feelings.

Question 2

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself”

(Shakespeare, 1.5.167-8)

Answer 2

Hamlet

In this passage Hamlet tells Horatio to never expose him as a fraud. He suggests that in the near future Hamlet may seem crazy or insane, but Hamlet makes sure Horatio knows that he shall not tell anyone about what happened. This is important later on, since Hamlet seems to go insane. This contributes to the overall theme of revenge because Hamlet’s apparent mental decline acts crazy so that people do not see much in him, just his insanity. This allows him to gather more information to verify who killed his father and get revenge.

Question 3

“ I have of late,—but wherefore I know not,—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire,—why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?”

(Shakespeare, Act II, scene ii (287–298))

Answer 3

Hamet

Hamlet talks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about the sadness that he has felt since his father’s death. He declares humanity a, “quintessence of dust.” Hamlet examines the essence of nature and rejects it as, “a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.” To Hamlet, mankind is frivolous. This continues the theme of his obsession of death. The entire play has flashes of death and, to Hamlet, these flashes of death have been positive. He seems to appreciate the act of death and not mind it since existence is frivolous in his mind.

Question 4

“O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on’t! O fie! ’tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead!—nay, not so much, not two:
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month,—
Let me not think on’t,—Frailty, thy name is woman!—
A little month; or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father’s body
Like Niobe, all tears;—why she, even she,—
O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourned longer,—married with mine uncle,
My father’s brother; but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married:— O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to good;
But break my heart,—for I must hold my tongue.”
(Shakespeare, Act I, scene ii (129–158))

Answer 4

Hamlet

In this soliloquy, Hamlet speaks after Claudius and Gertrude’s court, then being asked by Gertrude and the new king to remain in Denmark, against his wishes. Hamlet here thinks for the first time about suicide. He describes the world as “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable.” Suicide seems like an alternative to a painful life. Hamlet feels suicide is closed since it is forbidden by his beliefs. Hamlet then explains his pain, specifically against his mother’s marriage to Claudius. This is a huge factor to his pain since he sees it a disgusting for the wedding to be right after the funeral. He feels his mother betrayed the family in such a rapid remarrying after Hamlet’s death. His thought of death is the first of many. Throughout the play he thinks about not only suicide, but how life itself is painful and worthless.

Question 5

“Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings at grave- making.”

(Shakespeare, Scene 5 act 1)

Answer 5

Hamlet

In this scene Hamlet is observing how the grave-digger does not seem to care about the sanctity of his profession. This contributes to the recurring theme as the grave digger seems to not mind death anymore. He got used to the fact that death is just a dead body and it is inevitable to the human life. This is a big concept since death is so abundant, it can take getting used to.

Question 6

“Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.”
(Shakespeare, Act I, scene 2, line 72)

Answer 6

Hamlet

Among Hamlet’s theme of death, he again speaks of how all will die. Death is inevitable and all alive must die. We go from a limited life to an eternal death. This theme is shown in glimpses throughout the play as hamlet constantly considers death of his own as well as revenge for his father along with the overall theme that basically everyone dies at some point.

Question 7

“Nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the barren earth
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.”
(Shakespeare, Act III, scene 2, line 152)

Answer 7

Hamlet

Hamlet talks about how in life, we do not really control or own anything but our bodies - which eventually die anyways. But after we die, all we really are is a hole in the ground after we’ve walked on it. Yet again, this speaks of how death is a given to all and there is no point to living since we all end up in holes in the ground anyways. Human existence does not matter since we all end up the same way.

Question 8

“How low we can fall, Horatio. Isn’t it possible to imagine that the noble ashes of Alexander the Great could end up plugging a hole in a barrel? “(Shakespeare, 5.1.201-206)

Answer 8

Hamlet

Hamlet finds it hard to believe that such a noble and powerful figure has ended up where every other dead person has, in the earth. Hamlet truly sees how such an amazing and powerful human can eventually end up to be a plug for barrel. Such an outstanding figure to end up doing a job that a cork could do. It doesn’t matter what a human accomplishes in life, they can still end up to be used for a simple job. This continues to the theme that life is frivolous because even the king can end up doing a pointless job. This is the overall theme of the book, life ends up all the same, but the only struggle exists in the human existence.

Question 9

No, not at all. Just follow the logic: Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is dirt, and dirt makes mud we use to stop up holes. So why can’t someone plug a beer barrel with the dirt that used to be Alexander? The great emperor Caesar, dead and turned to clay, might plug up a hole to keep the wind away. Oh, to think that the same body that once ruled the world could now patch up a wall! But quiet, be quiet a minute.
(ShakeSpeare, Hamlet 5.1.201-206)

Answer 9

Hamlet continues to imagine that emperors kings, and even important people can end up being used for a simple dumb job. He finds it interesting that anyone can end up just patching a hole or a crack. This is a continuous thought from the Alexander The Great thought, but this connects to big figures that any one of them can end up the same. Accomplishment mostly amount to nothing and thus death is ok since life is pointless. As he continues to think, the reoccurring theme of the pointlessness of life and death shows.

Question 10

“I do repent: but heaven hath pleas’d it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.”
(ShakeSpeare, Hamlet Act 3, scene 4, 173–179)

Answer 10

Hamlet

Hamlet regrets Polonius murder, yet out of nowhere ascribes its cause to heaven. He said the murder was a mutual punishment. Hamlet acted as heaven’s agent, but still he still has to face “..answer well the death I gave him”. Hamlet says that the disrespect he showed her was cruel, but necessary to show her the error of her choices. Hamlet’s thoughts return to what’s to happen next —it will be bad, but worse has happened in the past. Yet he continues to think that death is ok and a part a life. Sometimes it is better to die than suffer in the cruel world. Once again, life is not important since death will eventually come, which is the overall theme of the book.

Question 11

I shall obey you;
And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish
That your good beauties be the happy cause
Of Hamlet’s wildness. So shall I hope your virtues
Will bring him to his wonted way again,
To both your honours. (III,1,1725)

Answer 11

Gertrude

The diction here shows how Gertrude truly wants her son to be happy. She thinks Ophelia is the only way for that to happen since she has realized that Hamlet is truly in love with Ophelia. Gertrude shows her motherly emotions by worrying about Hamlet’s happiness.

Question 12

He’s fat and scant of breath.—
Here, Hamlet, take my napkin; rub thy brows.
The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.

I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me.

Come, let me wipe thy face.
(5.2.313-321)

Answer 12

Gertrude

The diction in this quotes connects to the theme of motherly love. Here we see that by wiping the sweat from her son’s brow and drinking the poisioned wine in order to save his life, finally shows her paying more attention to Hamlet rather than Claudius, something Hamlet has been longing for.

Question 13

Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet.
I pray thee, stay with us. Go not to Wittenberg.
(1.2.122-123)

Answer 13

Gertrude

The diction in this quotes relates back to the theme of religion. Wittenberg a protestant area challenges Christian ideas on mortality and afterlife. Gertrude is trying to keep Hamlet connected to his christian ideals because he is going “crazy” she is afraid he might revalute his religion and view things in a protestants eye.

Question 14

O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn’st my very eyes into my soul,
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct (III.iv.88-91)
…O speak to me no more;
these words like daggars enter my ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet! (III.iv.94-6)

Answer 14

In the diction above we see that Gertrude’s love for Claudius is wrong by moral standards, she is now his queen, and remains loyal to him. We see she has the potential for great love, she wants to protect Claudius from the mob, and she cares deeply about Ophelia and Polonius, and is concerned for Hamlet in the duel even though she has no idea that it is a trap. It is Gertrude’s underlying propensity for goodness that redeems her, this idea sets off an underlying theme of ignorance.

Question 15

For love of God, forbear him! (Act 5, scene 1, line 289)

Answer 15

Gertrude

Gertrude expresses her concern for Hamlet’s well being in this scene as she begs the others to be patient with him. She shows a nurturing side, and demonstrates the patience and understanding of a benevolent character in the play. She acts as a neutral party between both sides in the graveyard scene. In this way, she acts as an empowered being that imposes will on other characters.

Question 16

Be thou assured, if words be made of breath And breath of life, I have no life to breathe What thou hast said to me. (Act 3, scene 4, lines 229-221).

Answer 16

Gertrude

Another theme that Gertrude symbolizes through her dialogue is the concept of hatred. Hatred is a guiding force in the play, and causes main characters such as Hamlet to lose their minds and ultimately destroy the kingdom of Denmark. With this remark, Gertrude proclaims to Hamlet that she cannot describe what Hamlet has said to her. She is overwhelmed with confusion, sadness, and anger. Just as her mind fills with a blind rage here, so do the minds of most of the other main characters in the play. In this way, the quote acts as a clear symbol of the behaviors and actions of many main characters in the play, which gives it great significance.

Question 17

There on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds Clamb’ring to hang, an envious sliver broke, When down her weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide, And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up, Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, As one incapable of her own distress Or like a creature native and endued Unto that element. But long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay To muddy death. (4.7.197-208)

Answer 17

Gertrude

Vivid imagery is shown through the Queen’s description of the death of Ophelia(weeping brook, heavy garments).This follows the theme of tragedy because Ophelia finds no other solution for happiness besides not living her life anymore. In addition, this puts a tragic stop to the love affair between Hamlet and Ophelia. This scene relates to the theme as a whole because they will later meet again in tragedy, after Hamlet passes.

Question 18

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

3.2. 92-94

Answer 18

Gertrude

This is ironic because Hamlet centered the play around Claudius and his mother’s wrongdoings. The play especially incriminates her for remarrying too quickly, something that we would even criticize in today’s society. The Queen shows complexity of action because she says the lady protests too much in her marriage, but in her own marriage she doesn’t always listen to Claudius, for example when he tells her follow him and she ignores him with a look of spite. This is also ironic for the time, because usually it is understood the woman obey their husband without any protest.

Question 19

Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not for ever with thy vailèd lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
(1.2.70-75)

Answer 19

Gertrude

This is significant because she is telling Prince Hamlet to stop grieving. In addition, this is also extremely contradictory because she was supposed to be in love with King Hamlet, and she acts as if he was nothing to her. Mysteriously loosing a husband is not common nor is loosing a father. The diction shown through Gertrude’s careless attitude regrading the death of her partner, relates to the theme complexity of action. As the play opens, she tells Hamlet she really did love the King; the Queen’s actions when she marries Claudius show otherwise.

Question 20

And will he not come again? 
And will he not come again? 
No, no, he is dead; 
Go to thy deathbed; 
He never will come again. 
His beard was as white as snow,
All flaxen was his poll. 
He is gone, he is gone, 
And we cast away moan. 
God 'a'mercy on his soul! 
And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God b' wi' you.

Answer 20

Ophelia

Likely connected to her father’s death: “flaxen poll”= whitehair/ beard

Question 21

They bore him barefac’d on the bier
(Hey non nony, nony, hey nony)
And in his grave rain’d many a tear.
Fare you well, my dove!

You must sing ‘A-down a-down, and you call him a-down-a.’ O,
how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his
master’s daughter.

Answer 21

Ophelia

Ophelia has gone mad, and Laertes cannot believe this. This leads to Laertes desire for revenge on Hamlet, who has played a role in causing her madness.

Question 22

[…] poor Ophelia
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,
Without the which we are pictures or mere beasts;

Answer 22

Claudius

Claudius is saying that Ophelia has gone crazy. Ophelia was losing it over Hamlet killing her father Polonius but it could also be because she was constantly oppressed by the men in her life : Laertes, Polonius, Hamlet

Question 23

Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,

It could not move thus.

Answer 23

Laertes

Question 24

One woe doth tread upon another’s heel,

So fast they follow; your sister’s drown’d, Laertes.

Answer 24

Gertrude

Question 25

There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.

Answer 25

Gertrude

This is when Queen Gertrude describes how Ophelia died to Laertes for the first time. Nobody knows if Ophelia committed suicide by letting herself fall in the lake, or why she couldn’t get up from the lake. Her clothes may have been too heavy, causing her to drown but we will never know…

Question 26

Affection? Pooh! You speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

Marry, I will teach you! Think yourself a baby
That you have j these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly,
Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus) you’ll tender me a fool.

Ay, fashion you may call it. Go to, go to!

Ay, springes to catch woodcocks! I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows. These blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,
You must not take for fire. From this time
Be something scanter of your maiden presence.
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young,
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
Have you so slander any moment leisure
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to’t, I charge you. Come your ways.

Answer 26

Polonius

Polonius wants Ophelia to not waste a single moment on Hamlet for love is something he cannot give. Ophelia however loves hamlet and is clouded by that love so she couldn’t see him for his faults only as perfection. And also Ophelia is still being rebellious, though she tells her father that she will stay away from hamlet, we clearly know she won’t do that.

Question 27

I do not know, my lord, what I should think,

My lord, he hath importun’d me with love
In honourable fashion.

And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

I shall obey, my lord.

Answer 27

Ophelia