1.2 Hamlet to Claudius, emphasising his mistreatment by the latter and their close relationship | a little more than kin, and less than kind |
1.2 Hamlet describes that his grief extends beyond his clothing | ’tis not alone my inky cloak |
1.2 (soliloquy) Hamlet laments the fact Christian teaching prohibits suicide | that the almighty had not fixed his canon against self-slaughter |
1.2 Hamlet on the fact the wedding of Gertrude and Claudius occurred very shortly after his father’s death | the funeral baked meats/ did cold furnish forth the marriage table |
1.2 (soliloquy) Hamlet on his mother’s weakness in rapid remarriage | frailty thy name is women |
1.2 (soliloquy) Hamlet compares his father to his uncle unfavourable | Hyperion to a satyr |
1.4 Hamlet on the ability of all to be corrupted by evil thoughts | the dram of eale/ doth all the noble substance of a doubt |
1.4 Pathetic Fallacy when Hamlet goes to find the ghost | it is very cold |
1.5 Hamlet promises the ghost that he will act quickly | with swift wings… may sweep my revenge |
1.5 Hamlet pledges to sacrifice his love of learning for revenge | ill wipe away all trivial fond records |
1.5 Hamlet tells Marcellus he will pretend to be mad | to put on an antic dispostition |
2.2 Hamlet’s letter to Ophelia, quote about the sun | doubt that the sun doth move |
2.2 Hamlet calls Polonius a pimp | you are a fishmonger |
2.2 Hamlet on the restrictive nature of Denmark | Denmark’s a prison |
2.2 Hamlet on the transience of loyalty (from his father to Claudius) | those that would make mouths at him… [pay] a hundred ducats apiece for a little picture of him |
2.2 Hamlet on the strange nature of his family relations (using familial titles) | uncle-father and aunt-mother |
2.2 Hamlet on rarely being mad | i am mad but north-north-west |
2.2 Hamlet draws parreles between the ancient world and Polonius with reference to the sacrifice of one’s daughter | O Jepthah… what a treasure thou hadst? |
3.1 Hamlet to Ophelia about the nunnery | “Get thee to a nunnery” |
3.1 Hamlet tells Ophelia not to trust men | we are arrant knaves- believe none of us |
2.2 (soliloquy) Hamlet tries to mentally insight passion | a dream in passion |
2.2 (soliloquy) Hamlet criticises his own cowardise | I am pigeon-liver’d |
2.2 (soliloquy) Hamlet’s concluding statement about his plan | the play’s the thing/ Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King |
3.1 (soliloquy) Hamlet displays his complex emotions (opening line) | to be or not to be |
3.1 (soliloquy)Hamlet on the peace that comes with death | by a sleep to say we end / the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks/ that flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation/ devoutly to be wished |
3.1 (soliloquy) Hamlet’s reasoning behind not committing suicide, reflective of his wider demeanor | conscience does make a coward of us all |
3.2 Hamlet praises Horatio honesty | Horatio, thou art e’en as just a man |
3.2 Hamlet on the corrupting nature of passion | give me a man who is not passion’s slave |
3.2 Hamlet questions the reliability of the ghost | if… it is a damned ghost that we have seen |
3.2 Hamlet has lost a sense of time, Ophelia corrects him | H: My father’s dead within two hours!O: Nay ’tis twice two months |
3.2 Hamlet of women’s fickle love | O: ‘Tis brief, my LordH: As woman’s love |
3.2 Hamlet on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern playing him | you would play upon me! you would seem to know my stops |
3.2 Hamlet on how he will address Gertrude | I will speak daggers but use none |
3.3 Hamlet on Claudius’ sole | damned and black as hell, whereto it goes |
1.2 Claudius criticises Hamlet’s grief | unmanly greif |
1.2 Claudius orders Hamlet to remain at court | we beseech you, bend you to remain |
2.2 Claudius pledges his courts attention to Polonius’ unrequited love plan | we will try |
2.2 (an aside) Claudius on his conscience | how smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience |
2.2 Claudius on the danger of Hamlet’s madness | madness in great ones must not unwatched go |
3.3 Polonius on Gertrude being able to reign Hamlet in | i warrant she’ll tax him home |
3.3 (soliloquy/prayer) Claudius compairs his crime to Cain | the primal eldest curse |
3.3 (soliloquy/prayer) Claudius want absolution, yet his prayer is hollow as he will not return his ill-gotton power | may one be [pardoned and retain th’ offense? |
1.3 Polonius instructs Leartes on how to handle money | neither a borrower nor a lender be |
1.3 Polonius remarks, mockingly, that Ophelia is naive | You speak life a green girl |
2.2 Polonius announces that he has uncovered by Hamlet is mad | i have found the very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy |
2.2 Polonius gives intruction to Claudius, telling him to speak first to the ambassadors from Norway | give first admittance to th’ambassadors |
2.2 Gertrude pleads Polonius to get the point | more matter with less art |
2.2 Polonius shows he ascribes to the class system with a refernece to how he will treat the players | i will use [the players] according to their desert |
2.2 Hamlet mocks Polonius’ preference for simplistic pasttimes | he’s for a jig, or a bawdy tale |
1.1 Horatio consults the others about telling Hamlet of the ghost | do you consent we shall acquaint him with it/ as needful is our loves, fitting with our duty |
1.5 Horatio expressed concern fow Hamlet’s mental state after he has seen the ghost | these are but wild and whirling words, my lord |
2.2 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pray that they will lucky in their pursuit of Hamlet | heaven makes our presence and our practice/ pleasant |
1.1 the Ghost is compared to a soldier | with martial stalk |
1.5 the Ghost conveys it suffering with the use of hell imagery | confined to fast in fires |
1.5 the Ghost orders Hamlet to punish his mother | leave her to heaven |
1.3 Laertes warns Ophelia that Hamlet’s affection might not be genuine | Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour |
1.3 Gertrude asks Hamlet to no longer be mournful | cast thy nightly colour off |
2.2 Gertrude on the rapidity of her second marriage | o’hasty marriage |
2.2 Gertrude’s thoughts about Polonius’ unrequited love theory | it maybe, very likely |
2.2 Gertrude on the temperament of the player queen | the lady doth protest too much |
1.3 Laertes on Ophelia being a virgin | your chaste treasure |
3.1 Ophelia laments the change in Hamlet’s temprement | t’have seen what i have seen, see what i see! |
4.4 The Soldier states Fortinbras’ desire to march through Denmark | Fortinbras craves the conveyance of a promised march over his kingdom |
2.2 Fortinbras has sworn allegiance to Old Norway | makes vows before his uncle |
4.6 Hamlet’s requests that Horatio comes to meet him in a letter | Repel thou to me with as much speed as thou would fly at death |
4.5 Ophelia has coherent thoughts despite her madness; a reflection on nature | We know what we are but not what we may be |
4.5 A sexual reference in Ophelia’s singing | Before you tumbled me You to promised to wed |
4.5 Ophelia’s sanity is fragile and is destroyed by the death of her father | A young maid’s wits should be as mortal as a poor man’s life |
4.5 Ophelia gives a flower to Claudius, a reflection of his personality | There’s a rue for you |
4.1 Gertrude’s eulogy for Polonius | Unseeing good old man |
3.4 Hamlet on Polonius being injured by the device that he intended to use to injure others | Hoist with his own petard |
4.1 Claudius requests that Gertrude translates Hamlet’s action | You must translate; ’tis fit we understand them |
4.1 Claudius states his own self-interest when he expresses fear for his safety in response to Polonius’ murder | It had been so with us had we been there |
4.1 Claudius extends the metaphor of disease | But like the owner of a foul disease to keep it from divulging, let it feed even on the pith of life |
4.1 Claudius expresses the need for carefully managed propaganda to cope with Hamlets madness | The vile deed we must with all our majesty and skill both countenance and excuse |
4.2 Hamlet tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Claudius is using them | 4.2 Hamlet tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Claudius is using them |
4.2 Claudius on how Hamlet’s exile must appear to be part of a well considered plan | This sudden sending him away must seem deliberate pause |
4.5 Claudius’ first address to a mad Ophelia | How do you, pretty lady? |
4.5 Claudius expressed regret over the management of Polonius’ funeral | we have done but greenly In hugger-mugger to inter him |
4.5 Claudius on the poplar support Laertes receives | The rabble call him lord |
4.5 Claudius on what a crime it is to kill a king | There’s such divinity that doth hedge a king |
4.5 Claudius on his right to share Laertes’ grief | Laertes, I must commune with your grief, or you deny me right |
4.7 Claudius vilifies Hamlet by stating his crimes | he which hath your noble father slain pursued my life |
4.7 Claudius on how Hamlet’s murder must be kept secret | For his death no wind of blame shall breath |
4.7 Claudius asks Laertes whether his mourning for his father is genuine | are you… a face without a heart |
4.7 Claudius’ ironic statement in which he lies about attempting to restraint Laertes | How much I had to do to calm his rage |
4.2 Hamlet on his Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s stupidity in trying failing to understand his meaning | A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear |
4.3 Hamlet is very popular with the people | He’s loved of the distracted multitudes |
4.3 Hamlet’s crude comment about Polonius in death | At supper… not where he eats but where ‘a is eaten |
4.3 Hamlet on how they will be able to smell Polonius | You shall nose him |
4.4 Hamlet on the causes of war | This th’impostume of much wealth and peace that inward break |
4.4 (soliloquy) Hamlet tries to incite revenge at the end of the soliloquy | My thought be bloody, or be nothing worth |
4.4 (soliloquy) Hamlet on the hollow nature of man’s passion | Bestial oblivion |
4.1 Gertrude tells Claudius that Hamlet is mad | Mad as the sea and wind when both contend/ which is the mightier. |
4.4 Gertrude refuses to talk to Ophelia | I will not speak with her |
4.4 Gertrude defends Claudius to Laertes | But not by him |
4.7 Claudius describes the attention Gertrude gives to Hamlet | The Queen his mother lives almost by his looks |
4.7 (soliloquy) Gertrude highlights unrequited love as a cause of Ophelia’s death | There is a willow grows |
4.7 (soliloquy) Gertrude suggests Ophelia’s death is an accident | Fell in the weeping brook |
4.7 (soliloquy) Gertrude romanticises Ophelia’s death | Mermaid-like |
4.5 Laertes is rash and returns to Denmark with treasonous intent | Young Laertes in riotous head |
4.5 Laertes wants to avenge his father, and is not concerned with punishment in the afterlife | I’ll dare damnation |
4.7 Laertes is isolated and alone in Denmark | I have a noble father lost, and a sister driven into desperate terms |
4.7 Claudius praises Laertes’ skill with a sword | Your rapier most especial |
4.5 Ophelia has coherent thoughts despite her madness; a reflection on nature | We know what we are but not what we may be |
5.1 Hamlet abhors the Gravediggers treatment of the skulls | How the knave jowls [the skull] to the ground |
5.1 Hamlet comments on the Gravediggers manipulation of words | How absolute the knave is! |
5.1 Hamlet comments of Yorick’s skulls | Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio |
5.1 Hamlet realises that Ophelia is dead | What, the fair Ophelia? |
5.1 Hamlet reveals himself at Ophelia’s funeral | This is I, Hamlet the Dane |
5.1 Hamlet on his love for Ophelia (and how it exceeds Laertes’ love for her) | I loved Ophelia- forty thousand brother’s could not with all the quantity of their love make up my sum |
5.1 Laertes begs the priest to help the dead Ophelia | Must there no more be done? |
5.1 Laertes describes Ophelia’s death as a tragedy | From her fair and unpolluted flesh may violets spring |
5.1 Gertrude’s comment at Ophelia’s funeral | I thought thy bride-bed to have deck’d, sweet maid, And not have strew’d thy grave |
5.1 The Gravedigger comments on Ophelia suicide | How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defence? |
5.1 The Second Man on Ophelia’s high birth ensured her funeral occurred | If this had not been a gentlewoman she should have been buried out o’Christian burial |
5.1 Hamlet comments on The Gravedigger’s singing | ‘A sings in gravemaking |
5.1 The Gravedigger jokes that the English are mad | There the men are as mad as he |
5.2 Hamlet discusses the inevitability of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s death | ‘Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes between… mighty opposites |
5.2 Claudius throws a pearl in a cup to try to poison Hamlet | In this cup a union shall he throw |
5.2 Claudius announces that Hamlet will win the duel | Our son shall win |
5.2 Claudius tries to detract attention from a dying Gertrude | She swoons to see them bleed |
5.2 The weather according to Osric | It is very hot |
5.2 Hamlet on his waring nature and inability to relax | Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting that would not let me sleep |
5.2 Hamlet kills Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with a faked letter | He should the bearers put to sudden death |
5.2 Hamlet uses his father’s seal | I had my father’s signet in my purse |
5.2 Hamlet justifies the killing of Claudius as ridding the world of a great evil | Is ‘t not to be damned to let this canker of our nature comein further evil? |
5.2 Hamlet states that the duel is not serious | I will gain nothing but my shame and the odd hit |
5.2 Hamlet on the inevitability of death (sparrow quote) | There is a special provenance in the fall of a sparrow |
5.2 Hamlet begs Laertes forgiveness | Give me your pardon |
5.2 Hamlet makes reference to the foils | These foils have all a length |
5.2 Hamlet forces Claudius to drink poison | Drink of this poison |
5.2 Hamlet supports Fortinbras in death | On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice |
5.2 Hamlet, in his last line, is at peace | The rest is silence |
5.2 Fortinbras ‘organise’ Hamlet’s funeral | Bear Hamlet like a soldier |
5.2 Gertrude drinks the poison | I will, my Lord. I pray you pardon me |
5.2 Laertes on the ironic nature of his death | As a woodcock to my own spring |
5.2 Laertes exposes Claudius | the King, the King’s to blame |
5.2 Laertes, dying, asks Hamlet for forgiveness | Exchange forgiveness with me noble Hamlet |
5.2 Horatio’s statement as he tries to commit suicide | I am more an antique Roman than a Dane |
Hamlet Quote Test
August 5, 2019