| O that this too too sallied flesh would melt… | 1.2.129 Hamlet says this after Claudius has his huge ceremony celebrating him becoming king and marrying Gertrude and calling Hamlet unmanly for grieving his father’s death |
| Frailty, thy name is woman! | 1.2.146 Hamlet felt she was weak, or not strong enough to mourn his father longer. |
| Foul deeds will rise/Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes | 1.2.254 Hamlet has just received news that the guards saw a ghost that was his father and Hamlet is talking to himself about how he does not believe it until he sees it |
| Do not as some ungracious pastors do/Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven whiles like a puffed and reckless libertine/Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads. | 1.3.47 Ophelia is talking to Laertes as Laertes warns Ophelia not to get too involved with Hamlet and she says this |
| Neither a borrower nor a lender be | 1.3.75 Polonius to Laertes is really saying loaning money to other people is dangerous. |
| This above all, to thine own self be true/And it must follow, as the night the day/Thou canst not then be false to any man | 1.3.78 Polonius is doling out sage advice to his son, Laertes. Simply put, Polonius is telling his son “be yourself.” Ironic because, neither Polonius nor Laertes heeds the advice that Polonius gives in this scene, and both perish due to their lack of adherence. |
| You speak like a green girl | 1.3.101 Polonius to Ophelia “green” being innocent and how Ophelia believes that Hamlet will love her |
| Giving more light than heat | 1.3.118 Polonius is warning Ophelia not to trust Hamlet and what he says now |
| …it is a custom/More honored in the breach than the observance | 1.4.15 |
| And for my soul, what can it do to that, Being a thing immortal as itself? | 1.4.66 Hamlet talking to Horatio about following the ghost because Hamlet knows that the ghost can’t harm him |
| Something is rotten in the state of Denmark | 1.4.90 Marcellus to Horatio. After Hamlet follows the ghost, Marcellus and Horatio know they have to follow as well, because Hamlet is acting so impulsively. Marcellus’s words are remarking on how something evil and vile is here. |
| Murder most foul | 1.5.27 The Ghost talking to Hamlet about how Hamlet has to murder Claudius in the worst way possible to avenge his death |
| there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy | 1.5.165 Hamlet talking to Horatio that there is more to the world than what Horatio can see |
| As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on | 1.5.170 Hamlet to Horatio |
| The time is out of joint. O cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right! | 1.5.187 Hamlet replying to the Ghost about how he will get justice for his father |
Hamlet Comp Test: Act 1
September 7, 2019