| Hamlet’s anger is ‘natural’. | Hanmer, 1736 |
| Hamlet’s ‘tendency to philosophise makes him unable to act’. | Schlegel, 1808 |
| Claudius knows sin and does not repent. | Tkacz, 1992 |
| A mere stage villain, crude and conventional. | Draper, 1965 |
| …has but a passive part in the play’s action. | Granville-Barker |
| …a character of ambiguous morality whom we can never fully know. | Bradby |
| Fiery, self-assured, and impetuous, Laertes cuts a dashing figure. | Magnus, 2013 |
| A crucial and explicit dramatic foil to Hamlet. | Magnus, 2013 |
| A piece of bait. | Lacan, 1982 |
| Ophelia suffers a series of patriarchal oppressions. | Hamana |
| Polonius’s function in the play is to spy. | Taylor |
| The real evil lies in the character of Polonius. | Grabanier |
| …sacrifice the bond of human friendship to a social propriety. | French |
| …they serve the element of comedy in tragedy. | Tobias |
| A symbol of a saviour. | Kobialka |
| Warrior, survivor, inheritor of Denmark. | Magnus |
| Calm, cheerful and independent. | Jacox, 1887 |
| Horatio is our harbinger of truth. | Mabillard |
| You speak like a green girl. | Polonius |
| They did make love to this employment; they are not near my conscience. | Hamlet |
| All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity. | Gertrude |
| My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. | Claudius |
| Though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me. | Hamlet |
| Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. | Ghost |
| The ghost shows too much vindictiveness to be a saved soul. | Battenhouse, 1955 |
| An evil spirit taking the form of his father. | Rea, 1929 |
Hamlet Quotes and Critics
November 20, 2019