Hamlet - Scene Quotes Act 5 Flashcards
’ Wilfully seeks her own salvation’ ‘ desperate hand ‘
Scene 1
Grave digger - about Ophelia, Hamlet about Ophelia
Euphemism for suicide
How she saved herself from suffering - a more sympathetic view on suicide
Only thing she was in control of
’ As if it were Cain’s jaw - bone ‘
Hamlet
Scene 1
Claudius in act 3 scene 3 -‘ primal eldest curse ‘
Revelation that death is the great equaliser
’ Her death was doubtful ‘
Priest
Scene l
Dental alliteration, declarative sentence
Blunt and harsh statement
Use of business language to distance religion from the act
‘o, treble woe / fall ten times treble on that cursed head’
Laertes
Scene 1
Numerical language to hyperbolise his grief
Mocked by Hamlet ‘ forty thousand brothers’
’ Leaps into the grave’
Stage direction of Hamlet and laertes
Scene 1
Both their proximities to death
Grave becomes a site of male competition
“He is justly served. It is a poison tempered by himself. Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet. Mine and my father’s death come not upon thee, Nor thine on me”
Scene 2
Laertes
The powerful diction used in this quote helps to wrap up the story in its entirety.
““He is justly served” Laertes’s portrayal as a character sympathetic to Hamlet’s cause, blaming Hamlet for neither Polonius’s death nor his own death.
“Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?”
Scene 2
Hamlet
Dental alliteration - finally taking direct action
Hamlet says this to Claudius right before Claudius’ death. This quote is representative of the overall murderous, deadly theme prevalent in this act.
“He that hath kill’d my king and whored my mother.”
Hamlet
Scene 2
Uses aggressive and dysphemistic language to expose his personal vendetta against Claudius
“I am satisfied in nature… but in my terms of honour I stand aloof…”
Hamlet
Scene 2
demonstrates that vengeance and justice are not synonymous, thus possibly justifying Hamlet’s earlier inaction
“[Aside] It is the poison’d cup: it is too late…”
Claudius
Scene 2
His own corruption is his undoing
‘if it be not now, yet it will come- the readiness is all…”
Hamlet
Scene 2
Truly ready to take action
Doesn’t fear death
“ your father lost a father” - character progression
’ The king, the kings to blame “
Laertes
Scene 2
Truth before death
’ Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage”
Fortinbras
Scene 2
Metatheatre
Branagh 1996 - carried out in crucifix position - still acting even in death
