| “Yet must not we put the strong law on him.” “He’s lov’d of the distracts multitude” | Claudius to Gertrude about Hamlet |
| “If direct or by collateral hand they find us touch’d we will our kingdom give.” | Claudius to Laertes |
| “We must be patient, but I cannot chose but weep to think they would lay him i’ th’ cold ground.” | Ophelia about Polonius |
| “There’s such divinity doth hedge a king.” | Claudius to Laertes |
| “I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England! Farewell!” | Hamlet to Claudius |
| “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.” | Gertrude about Hamlet |
| “It had been so with us had we been there. His liberty is full of threats to all, To you yourself, to us, to everyone.” | Claudius to Gertrude |
| “We go to gain a little patch of ground/ That hath in it no profit but the name.” | Captain |
| “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions…” | Claudius to Gertrude about Ophelia |
| 5 sorrows | Polonius’s deathHamlet leavesOphelia gone madpeople’s gossipLaertes came back |
| “How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!” | Gertrude to gentleman |
| “And where th’ offense is, let the great axe fall.” | Claudius to Laertes |
| “To cut his throat i’ th’ church.” | Laertes to Claudius about Hamlet |
| “One woe doth tread upon another’s heel, So fast they follow.” | Gertrude to Laertes about Ophelia drowning |
| “The king is a thing” | Hamlet to R&G |
| “Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar” | Hamlet to Claudius |
| “How all occasions do inform against me” | Hamlet soliloquy |
| Of thinking too precisely on th’ event” | Hamlet soliloquy |
| “But greatly to find quarrel in a straw when honor’s at stake.” | Hamlet soliloquy |
| “This nothing’s more than matter.” | Laertes to Claudius & Gertrude |
| “For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.” | Ophelia to Laertes & Claudius & Gertrude |
| “And where th’ offense is, let the great axe fall.” | Claudius to Laertes about Hamlet |
| “There is a willow grows askaunt the brook” | Gertrude to Laertes |
| Superfluous | pg 164 : surplus ; excess The excessive rumors of Polonius’s death is killing Claudius over and over again |
| Scruple | pg 158 doubt, feeling of uncertainty as to whether an action is right Hamlet talks about him cowardly doubting to take revenge |
| Countenance | pg 148 condone ; give approval to: Claudius is the only one who can give approval to and pardon Hamlet for murdering Polonius |
| Providence | pg 148 foresight ; care or preparation in advance : Claudius & Gertrude should have had the foresight to predict Hamlet would do such a deed |
| Importunate | pg 160 urgent ; persistent : Ophelia is persistent about speaking with Gertrude |
| Contagion | pg 180 agent causing disease, poison : Laertes pokes Hamlet with a poisonous tip on his sword in the sword fight |
| Rendezvous | pg 156 agreed meeting place : Fortinbras tells captain to meet him at the agreed meeting place after see the Claudius to secure Fortinbras’s safely passing through |
| Exhort | pg 158 urge by strong argument; make urgent appeal : Hamlet thinks he should take revenge after influenced by Fortinbras’s urgent appeal to take back land from Poland |
| Homage | pg 156 anything given to show allegiance : Claudius tells king of England that in order to show allegiance to Hamlet, he must kill Hamlet |
| Pestillent | pg 164 contagious ; dangerous : Laertes trying to avoid all the dangerous gossip about his father’s death |
| Allegiance | pg 166 loyalty to a person or cause : Laertes would rather have loyalty to devil than to have loyalty to Claudius |
| Valor | pg 172 marked courage ; bravery : Hamlet and his crew showed a lot of bravery by traveling back to Denmark on pirate ship |
| Requite | pg 180 retaliate against : Claudius tells Laertes to retaliate against Hamlet in a sword fight with an uncapped sword |
| Abate | pg 180 make less : Claudius was saying that over time, Laertes’s love for his father will make less |
| Imminent | pg 158 impending; about to happen : 20,000 men are about to die in battle for land that’s worth nothing |
Hamlet Act IV Test Study Guide
September 10, 2019