| “Frailty, thy name is woman!” | Hamlet to himself He is sick that his mother would get married so fast after his fathers death |
| “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.” | Ophelia to Laertes Laertes is giving her advice She said don’t tell me to do stuff you don’t do |
| “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” | Polonius to Laertes Don’t borrow money, don’t lend money |
| “This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou cast not then be false to any man.” | Polonius to Laertes If you are true you’ll never get caught in a lie |
| “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” | Marcellus to Horatio After Hamlet follows the ghost Something bad might happen |
| “Murder most foul” | Ghost to Hamlet 1st time he talks to the ghost and finds out his dad was murdered Brother murdered him before sins were gone |
| “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/ to put an antic disposition on.” | Hamlet to Horatio and MarcellusGoing to act crazy |
| “The time is out of joint. O cursed spite that ever I born set it right.” | Hamlet to himself Cursed ghost now I have to figure things out |
| “Brevity is the soul of wit…” | Polonius to the Queen Keeping it short is a good thing (he’s going to keep it short and quick) |
| “More matter, with less art” | Queen to Polonius To get to the point already |
| “Though this be madness, yet there is method isn’t.” | Polonius to himself Talking about hamlet There is something behind his madness |
| “…there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” | Hamlet to Rosencrantz Talking about Hamlets depressionHe thinks Denmark is a prison |
| “What a piece of work is man!” | Hamlet to R&G Hamlet thinks humans are hard to understand |
| “…the devil hath power T-assume a pleasing shape” | Hamlet to himself To see if the ghost is a good spirit |
| “The play’s the thing/ where in I’ll catch the conscience of the king” | Hamlet to himself The play will show the guilty conscience of the king |
| “To be or not to be, that is the question” | Hamlet to audience To be alive or not to be alive (should he commit suicide) |
| “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action” | Hamlet to 1st player Act what it says, say what it says Do not over act or over do it |
| “The lady doth protest too much, me thinks” | Gertrude to Hamlet Gertrude thinks the Player Queen is protesting to remarry to much |
| “How all occasions do inform against me.” | Hamlet to himself About Fortinbras’s army who is willing to loose everything Hamlet is ready and is not acting |
| “There’s such divinity doth hedge a king” | King to Gertrude Just relax, God will protect me |
| “Alas, poor Yorlick! I knew him Horatio” | Hamlet to Horatio Poor Yorlick, I knew him |
| “Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay” | Hamlet to himself No matter how great you are you will eventually turn to dust |
| “Sweets to the sweets” | Queen to dead OpheliaThrowing flowers on her grave |
Hamlet Quotes
November 28, 2019