1. Each quotation will be a separate comment on this post.
Write
down a quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and line.)
Write a detailed explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.
Write a detailed explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.
2. Write
down another quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and
line.)
Write a detailed explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.
Write a detailed explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.
3. Write
down a third quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and
line.)
Write a detailed explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.
Write a detailed explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.
4. Then
write explain the development of the motif in play so far. Use quotations and
other details to support your explanation.
Motifs:
1. Water
and other fluids
2. Sleep
and Dreams
3. Madness
and Normalcy
4. Decay
and Deterioration
5. Ghosts
and Spirits
6. Corruption
and Honesty:
7. Women
and womanliness
8. Eye
and I (the self and seeing)
9. Playing
and Acting
10. Man
and Manliness
11. Afterlife
& Death
12. Fortune/
Fate
13. Flora
and Fauna
14. Words
and Speaking
15. Appearance
and truth
16. Responses
to authority
17. Action/Inaction
80 comments:
"The canker galls the infants of the spring
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed,
And, in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary, then; best safety lies in fear.
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near."
-Act 1, Scene 3, lines 43-48; page 41
Here, Laertes urges his sister Ophelia to take caution in her interaction with Hamlet, whom seeks to end her chastity. He uses a metaphor about plants in order to assert that young girls often give up their virginities too early in their lives. Laertes' characterization of youth as "liquid" expresses his belief that young people are apt to change constantly. Thus, the motif of fluid, in this case, represents change and instability.
Laertes' reference to "dew" mirrors the first two lines of Hamlet's first soliloquy, in Scene 2 of Act 1, which reads:
"O, that this sullied flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,"
Thus, Shakespeare juxtaposes two connotations of liquid "dew": Hamlet refers to it as a condition to which he wishes to resort as a result of his depression over his mother's rapid re-marriage. In his connotation, being a "dew" is akin to being in a state of death-like peace. In contrast, Laertes links the state of being in a "dew" to the inevitable, unsettling psychological changes that occurs to young people. Within a single act, therefore, Shakespeare connects the motif of fluid to both a state of calm and a state of turbulence.
“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.”
(Act 3 Scene 1 lines 73-77)
This quotation is in regard to Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy on whether he should go on living or not. The word “sleep” here is a euphemism of Hamlet’s for the word death, as he refers to death simply being “to sleep.” This understatement demonstrates Hamlet’s desire to just commit suicide because it is better than bearing “the whips and scorns of time”, but due to his tendency to take no action in life, he cannot muster up the courage to kill himself (Line 78). However, as exemplified by his inverted syntax, young Hamlet is very confused over whether he should actually take action and commit suicide. Hamlet soon realizes that death might not be just sleeping anymore; he now realizes that the afterlife is so unknown, and that one does not know “what dreams may come” in death. There may be good dreams, but there is also the chance of the “dread of something after death,” which is the “undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns” (Lines 86-88). Therefore, Hamlet “must give […] pause” and once again he fails to take action and kill himself because the ambiguity of what truly occurs in the afterlife “[makes] cowards of us all” (Line 91).
“Angels and ministers of grace, defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,
Bring with thee airs of heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou com’st in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee.”
Act 1 Scene 4 lines 43-49
In this scene Hamlet first encounters the ghost of his father. While initially frightened, Hamlet quickly realizes why he decided to come see it. Because of his apathy for his own life, Hamlet is not too scared to talk to it, even if the spirit turns out to be a “goblin”. Instead he desires to find answers and wonders if his “prophetic soul” (Act 1 scene 5 line 48) was correct in predicting that his uncle is the murderer. This first encounter with the ghost sets Hamlet with a clear course of action: to avenge his father’s murder. However, Hamlet will come to waiver between thinking the spirit is good or bad, foreshadowed in this quote as he repeatedly contrasts the possible intentions of the ghost. This leads him to just “speak”, and not take action, similar to what he does when first encountering an unknown ghost.
“O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,
That, and resolve itself into a dew,
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon ‘gainst {self-slaughter!} O God, God,
How {weary,} stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on ‘t, ah fie! ‘Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely…”
(Act 1, Scene 2 Lines 133-141)
This quote is in reference to Hamlet’s deterioration after the death of his father. Hamlet despises Claudius for devising a plan to marry Gertrude and claim the throne. Hamlet is now in a state of depression and is faced with the responsibility of avenging his father’s death. However, he wishes he could simply kill himself to avoid having to take on such responsibility. This quote is an early example of Hamlet’s deterioration resulting from his indecisiveness and depression. Hamlet exaggerates by wishing his “flesh would melt”, which illustrates his unwillingness to deal with the situation at hand. He also makes clear that he would rather commit “self-slaughter” if God had not made it a sin. Finally, Hamlet uses a metaphor to compare the situation he is currently in to an “unweeded garden” that grows wild with “gross”, unpleasant plants. It is obvious through Hamlet’s frustrated tone that his entire character is deteriorating. He no longer sees any point to living his life now that his father is dead, as the world is now “unprofitable”.
"My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursèd hand
Were thicker than itself with brother’s blood?
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offense?"
(Act 3, Scene 3 Lines 44-51)
In this scene, Polonius goes to
Gertrude’s room to spy on Hamlet,
meanwhile Claudius is reflecting
upon his guilt for murdering his
brother. Within this quote, he
feels unable to do anything else
until all is forgiven, for the
guilt is too unbearable. Claudius
uses a metaphor about rain to ask
of God take away his sins he has
committed. So here, “rain” is
acting as the higher power of God
to “wash away” his sins, meaning
the blood from his brother’s body
(Lines 48-49). He then uses a
simile, “To wash it white as snow?”
to show that if his sin can be
expunged, he will be pure once more
without the burden of guilt (Line
50). Thus, the motif of liquid, in
this case rain, represents the
purification of sins by a higher
power. This leads to Hamlet to
become hesitant about killing
Claudius, for he believes that if
he indeed kills him while in
prayer, Claudius will get his wish
and end up in heaven.
“Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me. I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves, all. Believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where’s your father?”
(Act3,SceneI,Lines130-141,Pg.131)
In this scene Hamlet speaks to in private and tells her to “get to a nunnery” or convent at once in order to protect herself. Hamlet asks her why she would want to “be a breeder of sinners?” Hamlet tells Ophelia that even he, who is a good person, has committed horrible crimes and that it would have been better if his “mother had not borne [him].” He warns Ophelia to “believe none of [them]” because they are all “arrant knaves” or criminals. Although Hamlet does act crazy, it is seen that he does still care for Ophelia because of the warning he gives her and of the honesty he shares with her. Hamlet asks “what should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven?” Hamlet does not wish for Ophelia to be subject to the lies of the people around her so he asks her to go to a convent in order to protect herself.
What is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on th' event.
Act 4, Scene 4, Lines 35- 43
In this passage, Hamlet questions masculinity and himself. He asks, “What is a man?” only to decide that he is nothing. Because Hamlet does not take action, he is not masculine. Hamlet is just a "beast" that sleeps and eats. However, God gave man the "capability" to do as he desires and great powers that he should use. These powers would allow Hamlet to avenge his father's death. However, he does not have the powers God bestowed upon him that all men have, so Hamlet is not a man. Later in his soliloquy, Hamlet describes the twenty thousand men going to Poland. These men are risking their lives for a small peace of land, causing Hamlet to question why he cannot take action. His father was murdered and his mother was violated, so what is he? Hamlet's "craven scruple of thinking" and hesitation make him a coward. Hamlet cannot be a man because he cannot take action, like true men can. Hamlet goes on to say that men are violent; therefore if his thoughts are not "bloody" then they are not manly.
"...The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power.To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,Abuses me to damn me:
Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 625-632
This quote is in reference of the madness motif that takes place in the play. In this scene, Hamlet is talking to himself about the ghost he had just seen. He wonders if this figure who he saw is actually the "devil." The presence of this ghost, exemplifies the possibility of Hamlet's madness. Hamlet is concerned that the ghost may be tempting him to kill Claudius, and leave him vulnerable. He then states that the "devil" has come to abuse and damn him, in his melancholy state.
"To thine own peace. If he be now returned,
As checking at his voyage, and that he means
No more to undertake it, I will work him
To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,
Under the which he shall not choose but fall.
And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,
But even his mother shall uncharge the practice
And call it accident."
(Act4,Scene VII,Line 69-76,Pg.227)
In this scene Claudius and Laertes conceive a plan together to kill Hamlet for when he returns to Denmark after having been captured by pirates on the ship to England. Together they plan to make his death seem like an accident, “and after his death no wind of blame shall breathe” by tricking Hamlet into a sword fight with Laertes. Laertes will have dipped the tip of his sword “with [a] contagion, that if [he] galls [Hamlet] slightly, it may be death.” As a precaution Claudius tells Laertes that if the sword fight does not work he will poison Hamlet's drink, “a chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping, if he by chance escape your venomed stuck.” Claudius claims that “even his mother shall uncharge the practice and call it accident.” Developing a plan to kill Hamlet is seen as corrupt because Claudius only wants to kill Hamlet so that Laertes will have his revenge for Polonius and will not go after the King and his throne.
"Hamlet: Then I would you were so honest a man.
Polonius: Hones t, my lord?
Hamlet: Ay, sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to be
one man picked out of ten thousand.
Polonius: That's very true, my lord."
(Act 2,Scene II,Lines192-196,Pg.95)
In this scene Hamlet makes a comment to Polonius by saying “to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand,” and Polonius agrees with Hamlet's statement by replying, “that;s very true, my lord.” Hamlet's statement can relate to much of the play because almost every character within it is not honest. Claudius was not honest about assuming the throne, because in order to get it he had to kill his own brother. Polonius is not honest because in almost every scene he is seen doing all of Claudius's dirty work by spying on Ophelia and Hamlet during their conversation or by listening in to Gertrude and Hamlet's conversation, which winds up getting him killed. Even the people Hamlet is supposed to be able to call friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are not honest because they both are asked to spy on Hamlet by Claudius, “to draw him on his pleasures, and to gather so much as from occasion you may glean, [whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus] that, opened, lies within our remedy.” From Hamlet's point of view, honesty is a hard thing to come by because almost every person in his life has deceived him.
"Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance.
Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies,
that's for thoughts
Laertes: A document in madness: thoughts and re-
membrance fitted.
Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines.
There's rue for you, and here's some for me; we
may call it herb of grace o' Sundays. You must wear
your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would
give you some violets, but they withered all when
my father died."
(Act 4, Scene 5, Lines 199-209)
In this scene Ophelia has gone mad and is handing out flowers that represent the secrets she has discovered. Although the play does not say who Ophelia is giving the flowers to by the meaning of each it is known. She gives the rosemary, "that's for remembrance," to an imaginary Hamlet so that he can remember he once loved her. Ophelia also gives Hamlet pansies that symbolize thoughts, which is ironic because they are both crazy. Ophelia gives the king fennel and columbine, the former for flattery and the latter for faithlessness and adultery. She is insulting the king through the fennel because it withers quickly and telling him through the columbines that she knows of his and Gertrude’s crimes against old Hamlet. Ophelia gives the queen and herself rue, insulting Gertrude since rue was used to induce abortions. Ophelia is also showing that she is no longer innocent, pure, or chaste which is why she puts down the daisy. Since no one in the court is pure or clear of any crimes, the daisy, which symbolizes innocence, is cast aside. Ophelia believes that only her father was faithful to the king and therefore the violets which mean faithfulness all died when Polonius died.
“Polonius: My lord, the queen would speak with you,
and presently.
Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in
shape of a camel?
Polonius: By the’ mass, and ‘tis like a camel indeed.
Hamlet: Methinks it is like a weasel.
Polonius: It is backed like a weasel.
Hamlet: Or like a whale.
Polonius: Very like a whale.
Hamlet: Then I will come to my mother by and by.
[Aside] They fool me to the top of my bent. – I will
come by and by.”
(Act 3, Scene 2, Line 404 - 415)
After seeing the players and Claudius’s reaction to “The Mousetrap”, Hamlet accuses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of playing him. Polonius enters and begins to agree with whatever Hamlet is saying so he can get him to see his mother. Hamlet calls the cloud three animals to represent the three people he believes were part of the plot that murdered his father: Claudius, Gertrude, and Polonius. The camel represents Polonius who was only, by Hamlet’s judgment, an obedient follower. The king was the weasel for he killed his brother in his sleep to gain his crown and wife. And Gertrude was the whale, which symbolizes death, because now that she is married to Claudius every time she is with him she kills the spirit of old Hamlet.
Calvin Bushman
Line 66
CLAUDIUS
How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
HAMLET
Not so, my lord. I am too much i' the sun.
GERTRUDE
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not forever 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.
HAMLET
Ay, madam, it is common.
GERTRUDE
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
Line 75
Claudius and Gertrude have confronted Hamlet about his constant grieving of his father. They believe that he has taken the death of his father too far and is grieving too much. When asked why the clouds still hang on him, Hamlet responds by saying that he is not in the clouds but in the sun. This is a pun, or play on words, in which the word “sun” is used in replace of “son.” Hamlet uses the pun to say that he is the son of a dead father and has every right to be grieving but Claudius and Gertrude miss the pun. Hamlet has used sarcasm but his stepfather and mother missed it. This instance of Hamlet’s play on words can be found throughout the play. Hamlet’s use of the pun and sarcasm display his real feelings of what is going on his life but by the rest of the characters in the play the puns are missed.
Hamlet: 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 mourn'd 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!
(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 133-164)
In the Act 1, Scene 2 soliloquy, Hamlet not only voices his frustrations with the marriage of his uncle and mother, but also the frustration he has towards himself. By voicing his complaints, Hamlet provides the groundwork for the rest of the play. Hamlet frequently insults his uncle and his actions as an uncontrollable "unweeded garden", referring to the original sin by Adam and Eve as well as foreshadowing the sin Claudius had committed, and a "satyr", for the "theft" of his mother. Likewise, he also insults his mother for choosing a "satyr" compared to the "hyperion", or god-like figure, his father was as well as commentating on the "weakness" of women. Despite the clear disapproval and objection Hamlet has of the situation, as when he states that the marriage "cannot come to good", he feels obligated to remain aloof to the situation. Although Hamlet is an established Prince of Denmark and a member of the direct bloodline, he feels obligated to "hold his tongue" and decides not to take action against what he believes to be moral injustice. Hamlet instead alludes he is powerless to act and decides against action. Hamlet's struggle with the decision to take action against his uncle would define the events of the rest of the play.
“Do not forget. This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul.
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
Speak to her, Hamlet”
Act 3 Scene 4 lines 126-131
Here the ghost of Old Hamlet has made a return to speak to Hamlet. This is in the middle of the scene where Hamlet is yelling at his mother for marrying Claudius. The ghost comes in, however the Queen cannot see it, and tells Hamlet that he must actually act out his “purpose” instead of just talk about it. In this scene spirits once again allow Hamlet and the audience to step back from the immediate action and realize the bigger picture. By having the ghost reappear Shakespeare also continues to make the other characters believe he is mad. In reality it is his mother that is crazy, and personification is used to describe her “fighting soul” that cannot accept the truth of the situation. So while it is believed that Hamlet is imagining ghosts or spirits, the Queen is battling with her own mind and imagining that Claudius is good so that she can justify marrying him stay in power.
“O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all {his} visage waned,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit- and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What’s Hecuba to him, or he to {Hecuba,}
That he should weep for her? What would he do
Had he the motive and {the cue} for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears…
…Am I a coward?
Who calls me ‘villain’? breaks my pate across?...”
(Act 2, Scene 2 Lines 577-589, 598-599)
This soliloquy takes place after Hamlet sees a performance by a player. The player cries over a fictional character during his performance, and therefore Hamlet does not understand why he himself cannot display such emotions over the death of his father. Instead, Hamlet simply mopes around indecisive about what he should do. The fact that Hamlet questions his own manhood and bravery represents his deterioration after his father’s death. Shakespeare uses a metaphor to compare Hamlet to a “peasant slave”, and later uses rhetorical questions that represent Hamlet’s indecisiveness. Hamlet questions whether he is a “coward” and a “villain”, which shows that his own conscience is eating him alive. His tone is very concerning and confused, as he fails to understand why he cannot display emotion for his father’s death. Therefore, due to his uncertainty and confused conscience, Hamlet’s character is deteriorating emotionally.
“Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where’s Polonius?
Hamlet: At supper.
King: At supper where?
Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A
certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at
him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We
fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves
for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is
but variable service- two dishes but to one table.
That’s the end.”
(Act 4, Scene 3 Lines 19-28)
At this point in the play, Hamlet has just killed Polonius and has now disposed of the body. The King and Queen, however, are looking for Polonius’ body in order to perform a proper burial for him. When Claudius attempts to discover this information, Hamlet’s emotional deterioration, as well as Polonius’ physical deterioration, are both evident. Claudius asks Hamlet where Polonius’ body is, and Hamlet replies with a pun, saying that Polonius is “at supper”. However, Hamlet did not mean that Polonius was eating, but instead was being eaten by worms, for he is now in the ground. Shakespeare uses this pun to portray Polonius’ physical deterioration as a result of his death. This reference to worms may also be interpreted as an allusion to the Diet of the Worms that took place in the Roman Empire in 1521. Hamlet then proceeds into a rant about how worms eat dead bodies, fish eat worms, and humans eat fish. Essentially, Hamlet is saying that a dead king can be consumed by a beggar. This rant is somewhat irrelevant to the conversation at hand, therefore proving the moral deterioration of Hamlet’s character, however could be interpreted as a possible foreshadow of the King’s death later in the play.
“My dread lord,
Your leave and favor to return to France,
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark
To show my duty in your coronation,
Yet now I must confess, that duty done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.”
Act I Scene II Lines 52-58
After the newly crowned King holds his court, Laertes, the son of the King’s advisor, Polonious, asks the King’s permission to return to his schooling in France. Laertes, who is not even directly related or affiliated with the King, tell us how he felt it was “his duty” to return to aid the King in his coronation even though he had few or no ties to him previously. Secondly, rather than going to his father, who is his true authority figure, Laertes must ask the King first. Laertes is expressing his complete obedience to the King and his future pattern of responding to the King’s orders without question. He asks for the King’s “gracious leave and pardon” expressing him subordinate position and subsequent obedience to him. As the play goes on, Laertes will continue this obedient pattern as will other characters.
“ 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your father.
But you must know your father lost a father,
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
In filial obligation for some term
To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever
In obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief.
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
An understanding simple and unschooled.”
(Act 1, Scene 2 Lines 90- 101)
In this scene, Claudius challenges Hamlet’s emotions, as well as his manhood. Hamlet is still grieving his father’s death, which Claudius believes is “sweet”, however “unmanly”. Men are not supposed to show emotions because women are emotional, not men. Claudius continues to explain how Hamlet’s father lost a father, whose father lost a father. Each man mourned his father’s death for a certain amount of time. Now Hamlet’s grief is overwhelming; it is no longer out of comfort, but out of stubbornness. Hamlet’s sorrow is “incorrect” to God, leaving his heart vulnerable, and his mind weak. The idea that any man will mourn for a long period of time is a “simple” understanding. If Hamlet was a true man, he would forget his father’s death and move on.
LAERTES:
"O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye! By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight Till our scale turn the beam! O rose of May, Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia! O heavens, is't possible a young maid's wits Should be as moral as an old man's life? Nature is fine in love, and, where 'tis fine, It sends some precious instance of itself After the thing its loves"
OPHELIA: [sings]
"They bore him barefaced on the bier, (Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny,)And in his grave rained many a tear.
Fare you well, my dove"
(Act 4 Scene 5 Lines 177-191
At this point in the play Ophelia has lost her father and her love with Hamlet. She begins to break down and can no longer function as a normal human being. This begins to frighten the King and Queen, when she comes and confronts both of them in her madness state. This is also the first time that Laertes sees his sister in this state. Ophelia begins to talk in song, which is another example of madness in this scene. Her state of mind takes a toll on Laertes as he himself begins to break down. The "dove" at the end of the quote is in reference to Hamlet, as Ophelia no longer has Hamlet, as he pushed her away from him. This was the beginning of the end for Ophelia.
"Seems," madam< Nay, it is. i know not "seems."
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected havior of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
That can denote me truly. These indeed "seem,"
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have than within which passes show,
These but the trappings and the suits of woe"
(Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 79-89)
In response to Gertrude's questioning of Hamlet's obvious grief over his father's death. Hamlet takes an offense to Gertrude's use of the word "seem" upon questioning why he "seems" to be sad, and it reveals a common theme of acting and what is true and genuine in the play. Hamlet responds to Gertrude's acknowledgement of Hamlet's state of mind by explaining to her that his appearance does, on the surface, reflect grief, however, his outer look does not sufficiently portray his true, overwhelming feeling of sadness within. As Hamlet claims that he "ha[s] that within within which passes show", it reflects his belief in truth, because he does not act as if he was nicely coping with the death of his father. The quote displays Hamlet's dissatisfaction of the word "seems" because it reflects what is real and what is fake. In addition, the word "seems" alone questions the truth within different aspects of the play, including Hamlet's feelings toward the loss in his family.
Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 271-279
Rosencrantz: Why, then, your ambition makes it one.
'Tis too narrow for your mind
Hamlet: O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and
count myself a king of infinite space, where it not
that I have bad dreams.
Guildenstern: Which dreams, indeed, are ambition
for the very substance of the ambitious is merely
the shadow of a dream.
Hamlet: A dream itself is but a shadow
---
At the beginning of the scene Claudius asks Hamlet's friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet and figure out what is making him mad. Later on we see Polonius trying to figure out the source Hamlet's madness. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern try to talk with Hamlet he tells them that he feels like he is in a prison. They tell him that he is too ambitious for his "narrow" mind; Hamlet counters them claiming he can do anything from the bounds of a nutshell. Hamlet than goes on to reveal that he is suffering from bad dreams, and this is rather the source of his madness. His friends try to confront him explaining his dreams are making him too ambitious. Hamlet concludes the discussion stating "a dream itself is but a shadow". This conversation helps build the motif of dreams as it provides a personal definition while also explaining that Hamlet's madness can be attributed to his bad dreams.
"O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wanned,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit-and all for nothing!"
(Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 577-584)
In this soliloquy of Hamlet, Hamlet realizes that he is not acting on taking revenge to his uncle and he is being foolish for letting the opportunity pass. he realizes that the actors he is dealing with "[can] force [their] soul[s] so to [their] own conceit" and act as if they were overcome by grief, with no true support behind their actions other than for the sole purpose of acting. Contrastingly, Hamlet sees that he is not able to act and take revenge, despite the fact that he has a valid reason for killing Claudius and true emotions within himself to motivate his actions. The actors, he realizes, portray their grief and emotions "all for nothing" and it frustrates Hamlet that he has a reason to take revenge, but he cannot do it with ease as the actors do. It shows that the idea of playing and acting challenges Hamlet's failure to take revenge and forces Hamlet to realize that for his father, he should take action and kill his uncle.
8. Eye and I
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not for ever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
(Act 1, Scene 2 Lines 70-76)
In this passage, Gertrude is trying to prevent Hamlet from mourning his father for too long. She asks him to "cast [his] nighted color off", or stop wearing black. Instead of looking at life with "vailed lids" by seeking Old Hamlet "in the dust", he should get over his death and move on with life because death is common. Ironically, Hamlet has seen his father's ghost and his eyes were opened to himself as to what his mission is to seek revenge on Claudius.
7. Women and womanliness
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 follow'd my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears:—why she, even she—
O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer—married with my 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.
(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 142-156)
In this scene Hamlet addresses not only his distaste for his mother at this time but also his negative opinion about women in general. Hamlet believes women are weak and stupid due to what he has seen from his mother. Gertrude claimed to be so in love with Old Hamlet and cried when he died but her tears only lasted a mere month before she remarried her brother-in-law. Hamlet sees this as weak and disrespectful to his deceased father and claims that a beast would have mourned longer than Gertrude did. Although Gertrude is the only woman he has seen act in weak and foolish ways but he is quick to generalize all women as foolish and weak.
4. Decay and Deterioration
MARCELLUS
"There is something rotten in the state of denmark"
(Act 1, Scene 4, Line 100)
This line sets up the entire play. It describes the decaying familes and royal positions abound in the play. Marcellus senses that something is not right and everything is about to go terribly wrong.When Marcellus says this line he is foreshadowing the decay of every person that is going to die. The line is the cue that all of the blood and manipulation is about to begin.
2. Sleep and Dreams
Hamlet: “O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and
count myself a king of infinite space, were it not
that I have bad dreams.”
Guildenstern: “Which dreams indeed are ambition;
for the very substance of the ambitious is merely
the shadow of a dream.”
Hamlet: “A dream itself is but a shadow.”
(Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 273-279)
In this excerpt, Hamlet and Guildenstern are discussing the nature of dreams. Hamlet is complaining that he only dreams bad dreams, and that is why he hates Denmark and compares it to a prison. Then, Guildenstern makes a metaphor saying that dreams are like ambition. This metaphor comparing dreams and ambition are entirely true in this Hamlet’s case; Hamlet dreams, which are really just his desires and not truly things he dreams of while sleeping, include avenging his father’s murder, stopping his uncle’s reign as king and his incestuous marriage to his mother, and save Denmark from rotting. However, he fails to ever take action throughout his life signifying his lack of ambition. Hamlet’s lack of ambition and drive symbolize his penchant to have “bad dreams.” At the end of the excerpt, Hamlet makes his own metaphor, comparing a dream and a shadow. He declares that dreams are merely shadows, which symbolizes his difficulty to grasp his dreams of getting revenge on his uncle Claudius, because they are “but a shadow.” Therefore, Hamlet’s inability to take action and grasp his dreams represents his lack of ambition, which will drive him insane and emotionally distraught throughout the play.
4.Decay and Deterioration
POLONIUS
"And he repelled (a short tale to make),
Fell into his sadness, then into a fast,
Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
Thence to (a) lightness, and, by this declension,
Into the madness wherein now he raves"
(Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 155-159)
Here, Polonius notices Hamlet's decay. Polonius describes Hamlet's change into madnes,"and, by this declension Into the madness wherein now he raves." Although Hamlet is only pretending his madness at first, his actions regarding Ophelia and other things show that he loses his control. He pretends to be mad to get his revenge, but in fact his pretending is destroying him. Hamlet's deterioration is brought upon himself and Polonius is one of few characters in the play to realize it.
4. Decay and Deterioration
HAMLET
"Tis and 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"
(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 139-142)
In this scene Hamlet compares the world, or his world at least, to an unweeded garden "that grows to seed." Hamlet is basically saying that the whole world is upsidown and is just getting worse as time goes on. His mother married his uncle a month after his father's death. He is discouraged by the immorality of this relationship between his mother and uncle, but particularly his mother's ease in forgetting her previous husband and the father to her son. Hamlet's love for Ophelia is questioned later in the book and I believe that he loses his faith in love mainly because of his mother's actions.
2. Sleep and Dreams
Horatio: “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”
(Act 5 Scene 2 Lines 397-298)
In this quote, Hamlet is dying and Horatio is saying his final goodbye to him. Hamlet had compared sleep and death throughout the play such as in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy, and similarly, Horatio euphemizes death here again by referring to Hamlet’s death as “rest.” This quote also demonstrates the theme of existentialism that Shakespeare tried to establish throughout the play. He refers to death as simply being “rest” and nothing more than the end of existence, which is an extremely existential belief. Horatio’s compassionate tone in this farewell to Hamlet further develops Hamlet’s desire to die. By saying so sweetly and pleasantly to Hamlet “Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee,” it reflects how Hamlet’s death is not all so bad in the end, because he had long desired to die, and it will free Hamlet from the suffering of his tormented life that he had so long desired.
Lisa Carle
12. Fortune & Fate
"My fate cries out
And makes each petty arture in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.
Still am I called. Unhand me, gentlemen."
(Act 1. Scene 5. Lines 91-94)
Hamlet tells Marcellus and Horation that fate is making him courageous enough to go confront the ghost as it goes and transforms his terror into bravery and courage. This quote helps to demonstrate the role in which fate plays out in the play. Hamlet becomes brave and goes to the ghost because fate calls for it, demonstrating the belief that if things are meant to be it will happen. This helps establish the idea that fate is inevitable and therefore everything Hamlet does, despite the delay, is bound to happen and cannot be changed. The quotation helps to show that destiny is unavoidable and fate is too strong.
8. Eye and I
HAMLET
Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
My father!--methinks I see my father.
HORATIO
Where, my lord?
HAMLET
In my mind's eye, Horatio.
HORATIO
I saw him once; he was a goodly king.
HAMLET
He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.
HORATIO
My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
(Act 1, Scene 2 Lines 187-197)
In this part, Hamlet is discussing the appearance of the ghost of his father with Horatio. He claims that he sees his father in his mind, then Horatio tells him that he saw the king's apparition. Hamlet says he sees Old Hamlet in his "mind's eye" because he is newly dead and his memory is still fresh to Hamlet, though his mother married Claudius so quickly. Hamlet is confused and he made up the image of his father in his mind to ease the situation. Once Hamlet actually sees his father's ghost, he then is informed of his plan of revenge.
ghosts and spirits
“A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets;
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands,
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.
And even the like precurse of feared events,
As harbingers preceding still the fates
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen”
Act 1 Scene 1 lines 124-137
Horatio was brought to see the ghost that Barnardo and Marcellus had witnessed twice before because of his status as an educated man. He saw it and was very surprised that it was actually real and not just the guards making up stuff. Horatio, in this quote, explains that the appearance of ghosts or spirits is often an “omen” that bad things will happen soon. He uses an allusion to Julius Caesar and the weird things that happened in Rome such as “dews of blood” right before his assassination. He also references Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, and the “moist star”, or the moon, and how it was almost completely “[eclipsed]”. Here Horatio thinks the appearance of a ghost will also foreshadow that bad things will happen soon in Denmark. He is right, as the next time we see the ghost he tells Hamlet that he was murdered.
12. Fortune & Fate
"To be or not 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--"
(Act 3. Scene 1. Lines 64-68)
Hamlet is asking himself if it is better to stay alive or not. He asks himself if it is better to suffer the constant pain in life that fortune attacks at one or to fight back and by fighting back die. The options he gives himself of going along with what fortune has in store for him or killing himself demonstrates the strength of fortune in the play. Hamlet can never escape fortune unless he kills himself. What Hamlet if basically saying in this portion of the soliloquy is that fortune is too strong for him and he cannot escape it. By comparing fortune to "slings and arrows" and when providing himself with the option of fighting back descripes it as "fighting back," the audience is left with the image of a war between fortune and the person. However, Hamlet concludes that fighting fortune would mean death establishes fortune's strength and its characteristic of being unavoidable.
Comment 2, Part 1 (Ran out of characters)]
17] Action/Inaction[
HAMLET
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
(Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 576-634)
[Comment 2, Part 2]
After Hamlet meets with the actors, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern, and Polonius, he leaves to go back to the privacy and supposed security of his room. While in his room, Hamlet begins to go into a self-imposed ramble inspired by how the player could "force" his "soul" and "tears" to cry for "Hecuba", a person of little importance to the player, while Hamlet himself could do nothing. Once again, Hamlet also claims the great crime and displeasure towards him is so obscene that it would "make mad the guilty and appall the free" but still has self-doubt about taking action against Claudius. And also once again, Hamlet uses self-pity and insults referring to his powerlessness, such as "slave", "rouge", and "villain", as a self-imposed excuse for why he does not act and chooses inaction. However, Hamlet slowly makes a transition towards taking action after every irregular interjecting phrase, measuring the escalation of both his thoughts and his plan; "For Hecuba!" highlights his still lingering self-doubt and hesitation to take action, "Ha!" represents Hamlet's self-induced mounting anger, "O' Vengeance!" marks the peak of Hamlet's anger and his casting away of self-pity to focus it at a single target, Claudius, and "A scullion!" finally concludes Hamlet's transition to action, whee he shortly follows up with the conclusive plan to use the players to gauge Claudius's guilt. The Act 2 Soliloquy is vital in representing Hamlet's switch from repeated inaction to action, and would have direct consequences in Hamlet's later successful revenge and his own downfall.
12. Fortune & Fate
"Our wills and fates do so contrary run
That our devices still are overthrown;
Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own."
(Act 3. Scene 2. Lines 234-236)
While acting out The Murder of Gonzago the Player King says that what we want and our fortune go separate ways as displayed in the way of our plans always being overthrown and our thoughts being our own but the way things turn out is uncontrollable. This dialouge is between the Player King and the Queen about the Queen marrying the Player King. This is greatly displayed in the end of the play as the Queen drinks Hamlet's poison to prevent Hamlet's death, however, fortune still comes to make sure he dies. Before Hamlet dies, however, he also kills Claudius showing that fortune ensure that everything concludes fortune plans, despite the way variables can change throughout the period. This is best stated in the last line of the quote, "Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own." Although Hamlet couldn't tell this foreshadowed that whatever he would go out to it would not end the way he wanted although his beginning intentions would be solved.
7. Women and Womanliness
(Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 142-150)
"I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God
has given you one face, and you make yourselves
another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and
nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness
your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath
made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages:
those that are married already, all but one, shall
live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a
nunnery, go."
Hamlet is demeaning women in this scene and accusing women of portraying themselves as less intelligent than they truly are. He believes that women are manipulative and partake in immoral acts and when they get caught they act as if they had no idea what they were doing. He is talking down to women and generalizing them all saying that they are not happy with what God has given them and they play dumb and act innocent to get out of trouble. Throughout the whole play women are constantly being talked down to by men and it is nothing out of the ordinary because women were below men during this time period.
Madness
"Madam, I swear I use art at all. That he's mad, 'tis true; 'tis true 'tis pity, And pity 'tis 'tis true-a foolish figure, But farewell it, for I will use no art, Mad let us grant him then, and now remains That we find out the cause of this effect..."
(Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 104-109)
Throughout the first half of the play, Hamlet is accused of being mad, although people are not sure from what. During this scene the King and Queen ask Hamlet's friends to spy on him to figure out what is truly driving him mad. Polonius then steps in to tell them that he is mad from love. He was not acting himself after falling gin love with his daughter, Ophelia. They believe that he is not "normal." This is also a major turning point in the play as the King and Queen began to question Hamlet and his well being. The King especially begins to distrust Hamlet, and constantly has eyes on him to keep him in check.
2. Sleep and Dreams
Act 3 Scene II, Lines 248-252
Player King: 'Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here awhile.
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep
Player Queen: Sleep rock thy brain,
And never come mischance between us twain
---
In this scene Hamlet had asked the group of actors to play "The Murder of Gonzago" in the presence of the King to test his guilt in Old Hamlet's murder. The plot goes as follows: the King as at sleep and his brother-in-law sends his nephew to poison him. Claudius has a adverse reaction and clearly confirms his guilt to the murder of Old Hamlet. This continuation of the motif of sleep establishes the precedence that sleep can be seen as a weakness. Gonzago was killed in the play because he was sleeping. Even his wife foreshadows his immanent death by wishing that sleep "soothes" his brain, which can be interpreted to mean soothe his brain as in kill him.
playing and acting
"Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing
you make of me! You would play upon me. You would seem to know my stops. You would pluck
out the heart of my mystery. You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass.
And there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak? 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me."
(Act 3 Scene 2 Lines 393-402)
As Hamlet realizes how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are attempting to manipulate him to find out information on Hamlet's state of mind after the play was performed for Claudius, Hamlet shows them that he realizes that they are meddling rather than attempting to help a friend. He says "you cannot play upon me" because even though they "seem to know [his] spots" to play upon in order to manipulate him to find out information, they cannot "make [him] speak". This contributes to the theme of playing and acting because Hamlet feels that everyone on the surface is seeming to care and be concerned with Hamlet's sadness, however, he feels that he is being manipulated by his friends as they are playing him like instruments and using him to find out information
1.) “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 parle.” (Act 1. Sc. 3. Line 124-132)
The motif is women and womanliness. In this quote, Polonius is explaining to his daughter Ophelia that Hamlet’s affections for her should not be trusted and that Hamlet’s love is false and “more light than heat.” Polonius states that Ophelia is naïve and has been fooled into believing Hamlet’s words. Polonius then orders Ophelia to spend less time talking with Hamlet. Ophelia, in turn, obeys her father. This quote shows that Ophelia is similar to a robot, following all instructions given to her. Ophelia’s obedience to not only her father, but also her brother Laertes, demonstrates that the proper role of Ophelia and women is to obey the men in their life with unquestioning loyalty. Even though Ophelia loves Hamlet, she is told that that love is false and strictly obeys her father’s and brother’s wishes. Ophelia cannot think for herself.
2.) “Ophelia, walk you here.—Gracious, so please you, We will Bestow ourselves. Read on this book, That show of such an exercise may color your loneliness.” (Act 3. Sc. 1. Line 48-52)
The motif is women and womanliness. In this quote, Polonius is directing Ophelia to appear lonely in a place where he and the King may watch. Polonius hopes that this will draw Hamlet to Ophelia and the two may talk while he and the King observe. Polonius thinks that Hamlet’s love for Ophelia is what is causing his madness and wants to prove it to the King. Even though Polonius’ original instructions to Ophelia were to not talk to Hamlet because his claims of love were false, Polonius now wants his daughter to talk to Hamlet to prove himself right. As a woman, Ophelia obeys Polonius and does not talk back. She remains obedient as she was with her father’s last instruction. However, this time, Ophelia is more of a tool to the King and Polonius to spy on Hamlet. They make her become like bait to a fish and “show…[a]…color of loneliness” to lure Hamlet into their view. Hamlet’s apparent madness may also threaten Ophelia’s well being, but Polonius does not care. Ophelia role as a woman is simply as a tool to be used by Polonius and the King to their own benefit.
3.)”Such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose, From the fair forehead of an innocent love And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows As false as dicers’ oaths—O, such a deed As from the body of contraction plucks The very soul, and sweet religion makes A rhapsody of words! Heaven’s face does glow O’er this solidity and compound mass With heated visage, as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act.” (Act 3. Sc. 4. Line 49-60)
The motif is women and womanliness. In this quote, Hamlet is confronting his mother about her crime of incest with Claudius and insults her for breaking the vows she made with her first husband Old Hamlet. Hamlet states that Gertrude’s marriage vows to Old Hamlet and her false love are ungodly sins. Old Hamlet has not even been dead for two months, and yet she re-marries Claudius, the new King, Old Hamlet’s brother, and Old Hamlet’s murderer. Because of this, Hamlet feels that his mother has betrayed her husband with false promises and a “rhapsody of words.” Ophelia took Old Hamlet’s “innocent love” and discarded it by marrying another. Therefore, women, such as Ophelia, are viewed as treacherous, deceitful, and not truly loyal to their lovers.
Responses to Authority
Act 1 Scene 3 Lines 141-145
POLONIUS:I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
Have you so slander any moment leisure
As to give words or talk with Lord Hamlet.
Look to 't, I charge you. Come your ways.
OPHELIA:I shall obey, my lord.
In this quote, Ophelia has just spoken to an apparently insane Hamlet and then come to say goodbye to her brother. After Laertes leaves, Ophelia informs Polonious of Hamlet's craziness towards her and Polonious tells her to stay away from him. Much like her bother, this reveals that Ophelia is a completely obedient character. She is supposed to be so in love with Hamlet but then when she is told to stay away from him, she acts as though her love means nothing and promises to stay away.The connections between both Laertes' and Ophelia's obedience to everyone else reveals that possibly because they are not directly royal but are treated well by the King and Queen, they are willing to do anything.Ophelia's obedience in this quote will contrast with her madness later in the play after Hamlet leaves her.
Responses to Authority
Act 3 Scene 4
Lines 37-46
HAMLET: Ay, lady, it was my word.
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell.
I took thee for thy better. take thy fortune.
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.
[to Queen] Leave wringing of your hands. Peace, sit
you down,
And let me wring your heart; for so I shall
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not brazed it so
That it be proof and bulwark against sense.
This takes place just after Hamlet has killed Polonious. First of all, he starts attacking Polonious for intruding even though most importantly, hes dead, but secondly that he has some authority over him because he was attributed to leading Denmark. Claudius had previously said that Polonious is the true leader or Denmark so therefore he has authority but Hamlet goes off and insults a now-dead authority figure and disrespects him. Secondly, Hamlet then goes off and is rude and cruel to his own mother. Mothers are to be treated respectfully and well but now Hamlet is berating her and being so rude. Hamlet's anger toward the two drives him to be disrespectful to his authority figures. He becomes a sharp contrast to the other characters in the book that all seem to answer dutifully to the King. This demonstrates Hamlet's abhorrence to Claudius and shows that Hamlet will never listen to him.
Nearly every other character in the book is obedient and respectful to the King but hamlet serves as the contrasting character that refuses.
1. Water and other fluids
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
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 tunes;
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,
Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death."
-Act 4, Scene 7, Lines 190-208; pages 234-35
Here, Gertrude is solemnly delineating the suicide by drowning of Ophelia, whom had become increasingly delirious since Hamlet's murder of Polonius. By drowning herself, Ophelia achieves a state of being that Hamlet first desired in the first act when he wished to "melt into a dew": peace. For Ophelia, the "glassy stream" serves as a blissful place in which she may escape the agony and loneliness of survival; the bed of flowers that she had made for herself reinforces the idea that she perceives the stream as a sort of heaven. Gertrude's description of Ophelia's position as "mermaid-like" also supports this idea, particularly because a mermaid is not dissimilar to an angel; moreover, the fact that mermaids are very long-living or immortal in mythology implies that Ophelia shall enter an afterlife, one that will be considerably more peaceful than her short earthly life was. Thus, the recurring images of water symbolize death -- not painful or troubling death but rather comforting and relieving death. From this perspective, the true tragedies of the play are not the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, Gertrude, Claudius and Hamlet, but those characters' lives. It is not surprising that Ophelia seems "endued" (naturally adapted) to the process of drowning because, in reality, Ophelia is being pulled not from "her melodious lay to muddy death" but from "her muddy existence to melodious non-existence".
Madness
POLONIUS
I will be brief. Your noble son is mad.
"Mad" call I it, for, to define true madness,
What is 't but to be nothing else but mad?
Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 99-101
In this section of the play, it has become clear to Polonius, Gertrude and the King that Hamlet is mad, and they suspect it is because of Polonius' daughter, Ophelia. Hamlet is no longer allowed to see his lover, which is the reason why his parents and Polonius believe he is "mad". Polonius offers to the King and Queen no reasoning as to why Hamlet may be mad, other than it has been caused by his daughter. For this reason, Polonius states that madness is madness, no matter how it is induced, showing how madness is portrayed in this scene: uncontrollable and bestial. Not only do they not blame themselves for Hamlet's madness, they do nothing to alleviate it. Although it is Polonius' and the King's fault for disallowing Hamlet to love Ophelia, he is blamed for becoming "mad". Little to the King and Polonius know, Hamlet is not "mad" because of his love for Ophelia, but for entirely different reasons altogether.
Madness
POLONIUS
I will be brief. Your noble son is mad.
"Mad" call I it, for, to define true madness,
What is 't but to be nothing else but mad?
Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 99-101
In this section of the play, it has become clear to Polonius, Gertrude and the King that Hamlet is mad, and they suspect it is because of Polonius' daughter, Ophelia. Hamlet is no longer allowed to see his lover, which is the reason why his parents and Polonius believe he is "mad". Polonius offers to the King and Queen no reasoning as to why Hamlet may be mad, other than it has been caused by his daughter. For this reason, Polonius states that madness is madness, no matter how it is induced, showing how madness is portrayed in this scene: uncontrollable and bestial. Not only do they not blame themselves for Hamlet's madness, they do nothing to alleviate it. Although it is Polonius' and the King's fault for disallowing Hamlet to love Ophelia, he is blamed for becoming "mad". Little to the King and Polonius know, Hamlet is not "mad" because of his love for Ophelia, but for entirely different reasons altogether.
1. Water and other fluids
"Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment, whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body
And with a sudden vigor doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine.
And a most instant tetter barked about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust
All my smooth body."
-Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 66-80; pages 59-60
Here, the ghost of Old Hamlet tells Prince Hamlet the horrible story of Claudius' assassination of the past king. The story is central to the play, as it spurs Hamlet's introspection, his growing "madness", and -- finally -- his murder of Claudius. Like Ophelia, Old Hamlet perishes at the hands of a fluid; unlike Ophelia, Old Hamlet's death is not peaceful and relieving but violent and jarring. Thus, I was wrong in stating, in my second post, that fluid symbolizes only peaceful death; it represents both peaceful and violent death. The ghost graphically describes the "swift" and "leperous" impact of the poison: not only does it kill the king by clotting his blood, it also has a "vile and loathsome" effect on his skin. This horrid description of Old Hamlet's poisoning contrasts starkly with Ophelia's placid drowning, just as Hamlet's perception of "dew" clashes with that of Laertes. Overall, fluid's violent means of killing is dominant over its peaceful means, as death by poison appears twice more in the play: in Scene 2 of Act 3, when it is acted out in The Murder of Gonzaga; and in the final scene, when it overcomes Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius and Laertes alike. Therefore, fluid plays a great role in making The Tragedy of Hamlet, a tragedy, for it causes the deaths -- both peacefully and violently -- of five main characters (and one ghost). Moreover, death by fluid both opens the play and closes it.
Claudius' death by fluid is ironic in two ways: the fact that it mimics his killing of Old Hamlet; and the fact that it contrasts, in a macabrely humorous way, with Claudius' drinking of unpoisoned wine as a joyous custom in Scene 4 of Act 1.
8. Eye and I
HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.
(Act 3, Scene 4 Lines 63-98)
In this quote, Hamlet is trying to get Gertrude to see how much of a horrible person Claudius is and how great his father. He repeatedly asks "have you eyes" because Hamlet sees Claudius "like a mildewed ear" and his father as "wholesome". Hamlet sees himself as the only one who can show Gertrude the difference between Claudius and Old Hamlet, and takes it upon himself to do so. Hamlet claims that Gertrude "cannot call [her feelings toward Claudius] love" and sees their relationship as incest. He asks her if she was tricked at "hoodman-blind", which is a game like tag, but the chaser's eyes are covered. The motif of the eye comes into play here because Hamlet is explaining to Gertrude about how she was blindly tricked and cannot see the truth, which he can clearly see. Hamlet says that Gertrude has no senses because she is with Claudius and cannot figure out that he killed Old Hamlet. The motif of eye and I continues throughout the play because Hamlet is the only one that sees the truth and believes he is the only one to expose it and get revenge on Claudius for killing Old Hamlet and marrying Gertrude.
Madness
QUEEN GERTRUDE (Talking about Hamlet)
Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries, 'A rat, a rat!'
And, in this brainish apprehension, kills
The unseen good old man.
Act 4 Scene Lines 7-12
At this point in the play, Hamlet has killed Polonius, who was spying on him and his mother. Although the murder was accidental, he is still blaming his madness for the killing. Gertrude also believes the death was the result of Hamlet's madness. She calls Hamlet as "mad as the sea and the wind, when they contend", because any sane person would not kill at the hearing of any slight sound, as Hamlet had done in killing Polonius. This is a dramatic turning point because it is significant in two ways. First, it starts the feud between Hamlet and Laertes, who wants revenge for his fathers death. Secondly, it shows how mad Hamlet truly is and how serious he is about killing the King. For the entire play, Hamlet considers murdering his stepfather, but never has the effrontery to do so, and when he finally does, it is the wrong man.
Calvin Bushman
Act 2 Scene 2
Words and Speaking
Polonious
What do you read, my lord?
HAMLET
192 Words, words, words.
POLONIUS
193 What is the matter, my lord?
HAMLET
194 Between who?
POLONIUS
195 I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.
HAMLET
196 Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here
197 that old men have grey beards, that their faces are
198 wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and
199 plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of
200 wit, together with most weak hams: all which, sir,
201 though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet
202 I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down, for
203 yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab
204 you could go backward.
POLONIUS [Aside.]
205 Though this be madness, yet there is method
206 in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?
In this scene Hamlet is reading a book and Polonius asks what he is reading to which Hamlet replies “words, words, words.” Once again Polonius asks “what is the matter” in reference to the subject matter but Hamlet replies asking “between who” as if there is a quarrel between two people. This scene helps develop the motif of words and speaking by having Polonius misunderstand what Hamlet is trying to say. When Hamlet says “words, words, words” although he is reading words he really is trying to say that what he is reading is meaningless. Yet Polonius does not understand and once again asks. In response Hamlet jabs at him by saying “between who?” He then goes on to insult Polonius by saying he is old and has no wit but Polonius does not understand. He does not feel Hamlet’s sarcasm and play on words and instead of listening to what he is really saying he just calls Hamlet mad. The motif of words and speaking apply primarily with Hamlet. When Hamlet uses puns and sarcasm the people around him never understand what he is really trying to say. He is always taken literally and is always misunderstood.
Women and womanliness
(Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 6-48)
"LAERTES:For Hamlet and the trifling of his favour,
Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood,
A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
The perfume and suppliance of a minute; No more.
OPHELIA:No more but so?
LAERTES:Think it no more;
For nature, crescent, does not grow alone
In thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The safety and health of this whole state;
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes:
The canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed,
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near."
This conversation between Laertes and Ophelia clearly demonstrates the double standards there were for men and women during this time period. Laertes is telling Ophelia to be careful with her involvement with Hamlet and to stay pure. By 'staying pure' Laertes is telling Ophelia not to lose her virginity to Hamlet even if he says that he loves her and is willing to marry her. He knows that if she does lose her virginity to Hamlet and he does not end up marrying her Ophelia's chance of ever getting married will be very slim because she isn't pure and innocent. During this time period men could fool around with as many women as they pleased and it would not affect them in any way. Women, on the other hand, would not have marriage offers if they were not virgins. Laertes tells her although he may claim he loves her at the time that she should be wise and not give herself a bad reputation.
Calvin Bushman
Words and Speaking
Act 4 Scene 3
KING
16 Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
HAMLET
17 At supper.
KING
18 At supper! where?
HAMLET
19 Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain
20 convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your
21 worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
22 creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for
23 maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but
24 variable service, two dishes, but to one table:
25 that's the end.
KING
26 Alas, alas!
HAMLET
27 A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a
28 king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
KING
29 What dost thou mean by this?
Hamlet has just killed Polonius and buried him somewhere but he King knows what Hamlet has done. The King asks Hamlet where Polonius is and Hamlet responds by saying he as at “supper.” By saying that Polonius is at supper Hamlet makes a pun that is misinterpreted by those around him once again. Hamlet tells the king that he has buried Polonius but he does not understand what he means. The use of puns and sarcasm by Hamlet is a common motif in the play that is used to show Hamlet’s fake madness. When Hamlet’s puns are misinterpreted they lead to people believing that Hamlet is mad rather than understanding what he actually means. The recurring words and speaking of puns that come in the play act as a means to portray Hamlet’s fake madness.
Lando Haan
Corruption and Honesty
Act 3, Scene 3, Line 40
O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice
Claudius is praying for forgiveness as Hamlet enters the same room, hoping for a chance to kill Claudius. During Claudius's prayer, he admits to killing Old Hamlet by referencing the primal eldest curse, when Cain killed his brother Abel. The reason for killing Old Hamlet was to gain the throne of Denmark. He attempts to pray but is unable to fully ask for the forgiveness of his sins because of the guilt that he feels. Hamlet is also unable to bring himself to kill Claudius for fear that Claudius's soul will be sent to heaven.
2. Sleep and Dreams
4.4.59-69
Hamlet: How stand I, then,
That have a father killed, a mother stained,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That for a fantasy and trick of fame
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth
My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!
---
In this scene Hamlet comes across Young Fortinbras' army on their way to invade Poland. Hamlet asks a Captain why they wish to invade Poland and he explains they just want some more land and they do not really stand to make much profit. Hamlet finds himself baffled by this logic in why over 20,000 men are willingly serving Fortinbras and agreeing to invade Poland when they stand to gain nothing. Hamlet goes on to comment that they are giving their lives to Fortinbras and all they do is "sleep and feed". This upset Hamlet mainly because he cannot find the ability to take action to avenge his father's death when these 20,000 men are willing to take action over nothing. Hamlet explains this frustration when he says he only sees shame in himself. He says "let all sleep" when all of these men are going to die. Sleep becomes a vehicle of inactivity as well as a sign of weakness to Hamlet. This continues the motif of sleeps and dreams as it is often seems as a sign of weakness; Old Hamlet is killed in his sleep, Hamlet refuses to kill Claudius unless he's either sleeping or committing a sin, and later on when Hamlet dies, the motif is completed as Hamlet finally accomplished his goal of killing Claudius, and he no longer needs to be "active", and submits to a state of "inactiveness", in essence, death.
Madness
OPHELIA
My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors,—he comes before me.
LORD POLONIUS
Mad for thy love?
OPHELIA
My lord, I do not know;
But truly, I do fear it.
LORD POLONIUS
What said he?
OPHELIA
He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their helps,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.
Scene 2 Act Lines 87-112
In this scene Ophelia reports back to her father in regards to the extent of craziness her lover, Hamlet, has achieved. In this case, she reveals to Polonius that Hamlet has indeed gone mad, shown in his disheveled appearance and strange behavior. HIs appearance," his stockings fouled, ungartered, and down-gyved to his ankle, pale as his shirt", reveak the extent to which Hamlet has lost his mind. Hamlet has gone crazy for two reasons: the fact that Ophelia cannot love him back and the fact that he must avenge his fathers death. Yet, Polonius, along with the King and Queen, only see the side of Hamlet that is love crazy, not revenge crazy. For this reason, when Ophelia tells her father how mad Hamlet was in front of her, he assumes it is solely because of Ophelia. This scene is essential because it gives way to the notion that the elders of the play believe that Hamlet is mad because of his love, yet the real reason is unknown to them.
Kyle Fogelstrom
Death and the Afterlife
Hamlet
Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life in a pin's fee;
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again: I'll follow it.
This quote is from Act 1 Scene 4, when Hamlet first sees the ghost of his dead father. Previously, the ghost would not stop for anyone, but in the presence of Hamlet, it beckons him forward. As he is beckoned forward, Horatio tries to prevent Hamlet from following the ghost, but Hamlet follows the ghost anyway, because his life is "a pin's fee". Shakespeare uses rhetorical questions in this quote to show Hamlet's indecision about the encounter, but the last sentence transitions into a declarative sentence as Hamlet has made up his mind and his decided to follow the ghost. Hamlet ultimately chooses to follow the ghost because he realizes that the ghost cannot do any harm to him, and if it does, he does not care.
Lando Haan
Corruption and Honesty
Act 5 Scene 2 Line 306
KING
Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;
[He drops the pearl into Hamlet's cup.]
Here's to thy health. Give him the cup.
Drum, trumpets [sound a] flourish. A piece
goes off.
HAMLET
I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile. Come.
[They play again.]
Another hit; what say you?
LAERTES
A touch, a touch, I do confess.
KING
Our son shall win.
QUEEN He's fat, and scant of breath.
Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows;
The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.
HAMLET
Good madam!
KING Gertrude, do not drink.
QUEEN
I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon me.
KING [Aside.]
It is the poison'd cup: it is too late.
HAMLET
I dare not drink yet, madam; by and by.
QUEEN
Come, let me wipe thy face.
LAERTES
My lord, I'll hit him now
In the final duel scene, Claudius and Laertes have conjured a plan to kill Hamlet. Claudius drops poison into the cup that Hamlet is to drink out of should he score a point. Should Laertes score a point, Hamlet will also be poisoned by the sword used by Laertes. Instead, Gertrude drinks of the poisoned cup prior to Hamlet, killing her and saving Hamlet from the cup. Laertes does hit Hamlet and kill him with the poison on his sword. This is corruption because Claudius orders Laertes to kill Hamlet so Claudius no longer has to worry about Hamlet finding out that he had killed Old Hamlet to gain the throne.
Kyle Fogelstrom
Death and the Afterlife
Hamlet
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?
This quote is from the "to be or not to be" soliloquy, when Hamlet is questioning whether or not he should kill himself. Hamlet has always felt indecisive, and the "to be or not to be" soliloquy, but specifically this quote, shows that Hamlet truly is curious about death. Hamlet has never had stability in his life, which makes the idea of death appealing to him because death is certain. In his turbulent and unstable life, Hamlet has found something that will provide him stability, albeit death, that will presumably help him cure the instability in life. Hamlet realizes that the afterlife is undiscovered by living humans, and questions why people would choose life when they can escape life through death. The end of the quote signifies the change in Hamlet's perception of death, and shows that he has truly accepted the possibility of death in his life.
Kyle Fogelstrom
Death and the Afterlife
Hamlet
Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.
I am dead, Horatio. Wretched queen, adieu!
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time--as this fell sergeant, death,
Is strict in his arrest--O, I could tell you--
But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;
Thou livest; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.
This quote is from the end of the book when Hamlet has been stabbed by the poisoned sword and he has finally embraced death. Although in many other instances throughout the book Hamlet has contemplated the meaning of life, he has never really faced death. But, as he says, "I am dead", Hamlet has embraced and is now accepting that he will finally die. The diction in this quote shows that Hamlet is still indecisive about his choices, as he cannot decide how he wants to be remembered. Finally, Hamlet decides that he wants Horatio to tell the real story behind not only his death, but the death of everyone in Elsinore. When Hamlet asks Horatio to pass on his story, it is the first and only decision that Hamlet is truly sure about, and it comes at a time when he is about to die. Hamlet made his only truly decisive decision while he was dying because he is enthralled by the possibility that death provides, and accepts that his story will only be revealed if he accepts his fate and allows Horatio to tell his story.
17] Action/Inaction
HAMLET
Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
Ghost beckons HAMLET
HORATIO
It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
MARCELLUS
Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removed ground:
But do not go with it.
HORATIO
No, by no means.
HAMLET
It will not speak; then I will follow it.
HORATIO
Do not, my lord.
HAMLET
Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life in a pin's fee;
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again: I'll follow it.
HORATIO
What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? think of it:
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.
HAMLET
It waves me still.
Go on; I'll follow thee.
MARCELLUS
You shall not go, my lord.
HAMLET
Hold off your hands.
HORATIO
Be ruled; you shall not go.
HAMLET
My fate cries out,
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.
Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen.
By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me!
I say, away! Go on; I'll follow thee.
Following Claudius's speech to the royal subjects, Horatio beckons Hamlet to follow him, claiming he has seen the ghost of Old Hamlet. Hamlet is originally skeptical but is soon frightened and shocked when he sees the likeness of his father walk by. Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost is of "hell" or "heaven", and whether it will "tempt" him to his death. As the ghost beckons to Hamlet to follow him, Hamlet faces a difficult decision of inaction and action; he must decide whether he follows the ghost to hopefully shed more light on his father's demise or avoids it fearing his own. Horatio and company beg Hamlet not to follow the ghost, fearing it will "draw him into madness". However, Hamlet decides that to take action in learning of the circumstances of his father's death and solving the issue of the wrecked life Claudius has left him is worth the risk of losing his life, sanity, and even his soul.
Ghosts and Spirits
Do not forget. This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul.
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.
Act 3 Scene 4 lines 126-131
In this scene, the ghost of Old Hamlet reveals himself to Hamlet after Hamlet kills Polonius. The ghost tell Hamlet to "step between her and her fighting soul" so she is not frightened by Hamlet's "madness. He explains to Hamlet that the mind works in the worst ways to those with the weakest minds. Here the ghost explains how Gertrude is weak and cannot choose between what is right and what is wrong. Hamlet is being pushed to help Gertrude like how the ghost must push Hamlet to make decisions and urge him to take action. Throughout the play Hamlet is faced with many decisions and the presence of the ghost is the only factor that pushes Hamlet to make a choice and to act upon it.
Lando Haan
Corruption and Honesty
Act 1, Scene 2, Line 277
My father's spirit-in arms! All is not well
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
Till then, sit still, my soul. (Foul) deeds will rise.
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.
This is Hamlet noticing that he is aware that something is not right with his father's death and Claudius taking the throne. He suspects corruption from the very beginning of the play but is unaware of who is corrupt and what they did at the moment but he suspects something as he goes out to see the ghost. The ghost, Old Hamlet is a symbol for corruption as there seems to be haze in the air, the haze being the ghost.
Lando Haan
Corruption and Honesty
Act 1, Scene 2, Line 277
My father's spirit-in arms! All is not well
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
Till then, sit still, my soul. (Foul) deeds will rise.
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.
This is Hamlet noticing that he is aware that something is not right with his father's death and Claudius taking the throne. He suspects corruption from the very beginning of the play but is unaware of who is corrupt and what they did at the moment but he suspects something as he goes out to see the ghost. The ghost, Old Hamlet is a symbol for corruption as there seems to be haze in the air, the haze being the ghost.
Lando Haan
Corruption and Honesty
Act 1, Scene 2, Line 277
My father's spirit-in arms! All is not well
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
Till then, sit still, my soul. (Foul) deeds will rise.
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.
This is Hamlet noticing that he is aware that something is not right with his father's death and Claudius taking the throne. He suspects corruption from the very beginning of the play but is unaware of who is corrupt and what they did at the moment but he suspects something as he goes out to see the ghost. The ghost, Old Hamlet is a symbol for corruption as there seems to be haze in the air, the haze being the ghost.
Lando Haan
Corruption and Honesty
Act 1, Scene 2, Line 277
My father's spirit-in arms! All is not well
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
Till then, sit still, my soul. (Foul) deeds will rise.
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.
This is Hamlet noticing that he is aware that something is not right with his father's death and Claudius taking the throne. He suspects corruption from the very beginning of the play but is unaware of who is corrupt and what they did at the moment but he suspects something as he goes out to see the ghost. The ghost, Old Hamlet is a symbol for corruption as there seems to be haze in the air, the haze being the ghost.
“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 my
uncle,”
(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 149-156)
Here, Hamlet is in despair over his father’s death and is contemplating the situation of his mother’s hasty marriage. He believes that his mother did not mourn for his father long enough, and uses a metaphor to describe his insight on this. In this metaphor, Hamlet calls his mother a “beast” (line 154) since she has not mourned long enough over Old Hamlet. Shakespeare ties this in with the motif of water (and other liquids) with an allusion to the Goddess Niobe. Here he compares Gertrude to Niobe, who cried continuously to the point where she had created a stream from her tears. Hamlet is saying that his mother had cried for her husband, but in such a little amount of time married his brother. Thus, Gertrude’s tears represent despair over the loss of a loved one, but were quickly dried due to her marriage with Claudius.
Hamlet (Act I, Scene 5, line 190)
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on -
That you, at such time seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumbered thus, or this head-shake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As ‘Well, we known’, or ‘We could and if we would’,
Or ‘If we list to speak’, or ‘There be and if there might’,
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me – this do swear,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you.
Hamlet says in these lines that he will make himself seem crazed, and by doing so creates an appearance around himself to draw others from the truth. Hamlet plans to take revenge for his father and through the derivative of his madness he allows himself the ease to contemplate and decide through his tough decisions, through a covering of madness. The other characters in the play see Hamlet mad distorting the truth through the appearance of his mental stability.
The Ghost (Act 1, Scene 5)
“The serpent that did
sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown…Ay, that incestuous, that
adulterate beast…won to his shameful lust/ The will of my most seeming-virtuous
queen.”
The Ghost reveals to Hamlet the truth to what his uncle had done, allowing Hamlet to see what lies beneath the appearance made by his uncle. Hamlets knowledge of this truth drives the entire play and is the sole origin of the revenge Hamlet swears to take upon his father's killer. The Theme of appearance and truth from this instance continues throughout the rest of the play, as only Hamlet knows what's behind his uncles appearance.
10. Man and Manliness
This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murdered,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words
And fall a-cursing like a very drab,
A scullion!
Act 2 Scene 2, Lines 611- 616
In this passage, Hamlet expresses his frustration towards his unmanly actions. His own father has been murdered, and Hamlet finds himself unable to avenge his death. Instead, he “fall[s] a- cursing” and talks about what he could do. Hamlet refers to himself as a “whore”, “drab”, and a “scullion” because he is not manly enough to take action and does not play an important role in society. This passage is significant to Hamlet’s development; it serves as a wakeup call. During this soliloquy, Hamlet realizes he must take action. He wants revenge, but does not want to do anything about it. This inability is not only letting down his dead father, but himself. Hamlet continuously believes he is a true man, however, his actions tell otherwise. Hamlet’s transformation to a man is not complete until the third scene when he kills Polonius.
Ghosts and Spirits
Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life in a pin’s fee,
And for my soul—what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it.
Act 1 Scene 4 Lines 67- 71
In this scene, Hamlet is about to follow the ghost when Horatio warns him not to go. However, Hamlet says that he does not "set [his] life in a pin's fee", meaning that he does not value his life which expresses his existentialist views. The fact that Hamlet does not care about his life compares him to a ghost because ghosts are not living and do not make choices or decisions. He even compares his soul to the ghost saying it is "a thing immortal as itself" and that he should not be afraid of something that he, himself, is. Hamlet believes himself to be like a ghost because he never makes decisions and cannot be a strong presence.
Water and other fluids
“Set me the stoups of wine upon that table.-
If Hamlet give the first or second hit
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire.
The King shall drink to Hamlet’s better breath,
And in the cup an (union) shall he throw,
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark’s crown have worn.”
(Act 5, Scene 2 Lines 286-293)
In this scene, Hamlet and Laertes are fighting after Ophelia’s suicide. Claudius is supporting this, realizing that he will get his chance to kill off Hamlet, thus, keeping the throne. When he says “The King shall drink to Hamlet’s better breath,” (line 291) this foreshadows to later in the scene when he poisons the drink for Hamlet to consume. Unfortunately, Gertrude drinks the poison instead, which begins the series of multiple deaths. The “wine” (line 286) represents the motif of fluids in this scene. The wine was meant to be used as poison for the murder of Hamlet, thus opposing what I had mentioned in my first post. There, I had stated that water represents purification, but here the wine represents deceit and treachery. The water was meant to purify Claudius for his murder of Old Hamlet, but soon after uses the wine in a failed attempt to kill Hamlet as well. Therefore, Claudius’s character shows that water and other fluids as a motif can be used either as purification or as a means of treachery.
Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2)
"this most excellent canopy the air, look
you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical
roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appeareth nothing
to me by a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What piece of work is a 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?
Hamlet touches more literally upon appearance vs. truth, saying that the beautiful night sky although wonderful in appearance is in reality just a pungent mixture of gasses. Hamlet sees everyone around him like he does the night sky, putting up appearances that cover their true selves. Hamlet becomes obsessed with these false appearances seeing them just as evil as the acts committed by his uncle. Hamlet sees how people around him try to become, and appear important but in reality will all die to become nothing but dust.
Ghosts and Spirits
f there be any good thing to be done
That may to thee do ease and grace to me,
Speak to me.
If thou art privy to thy country’s fate,
Which happily foreknowing may avoid,
Oh, speak!
Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,
Speak of it. Stay and speak!
Act 1 Scene 1 Lines 129-138
Horatio is speaking to the ghost here trying to make it stay and talk to him. He and the others believe that the ghost is an omen that the country is in trouble and that bad things are in the future. The ghost becomes a symbol of fate in the play, showing up at times of trouble and disarray and directing Hamlet to make decisions and choices. However, these choices lead to Hamlet's death along with many others. This quote foreshadows the "country's fate" and Horatio says that the fate would be "happily foreknowing may avoid" if the ghost spoke. However after Horatio speaks the ghost leaves because a rooster crows, which signifies safety. Acting as a symbolic figure for fate, the ghost proves to be essential in the play and in the direction Hamlet pursues his fate.
13. Flora and Fauna
“Queen: This is mere madness,
And thus awhile the fit will work on him.
Anon, as patient as the female dove
When that her golden couplets are disclosed,
His silence will sit drooping.
Hamlet: Hear you, sir,
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I loved you ever. But it is no matter.
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.”
(Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 302-311)
In this scene Hamlet is acting mad at Ophelia’s funeral and just fought Laertes. The queen is sticking up for him by saying he was just having a fit of madness and he will soon return to his calm self. Gertrude calls Hamlet a “dove” which symbolizes peace and god foreshadowing Hamlet’s imminent death. The fact that she says Hamlet will not return to peace until his “golden couplets are disclosed,” shows that not only will Hamlet die but he will personal kill two others. Hamlet responds in a way that seems as if he has given up trying to tell why people are against him and his clause. He references cats, which symbolize all knowing creatures because he knows of Claudius’s treachery. He then insults Claudius by stating that “dog will have his day,” because the dirty and dishonest Claudius will die and no one not even the strongest man like Hercules could stop Hamlets revenge.
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