Hamlet's Family
Hamlet's mother is convinced that this is the reason for his depression.
What is his father's death and the "o'erhasty" marriage?
What is keeping her virtue or sleeping with Hamlet or her pure reputation?
What does the code of honor demand that a son do for a murdered father?
What is seek revenge or avenge him by killing the murderer?
This motif helps illustrate the theme of corruption.
What is rot or decay?
What is a foil?
The King's ghost is dressed in this.
What is his full battle armor?
This is a paraphrase of the first thing Ophelia says to her brother, the one time she is able to act and speak for herself
What is don't tell me how to behave while you do the opposite?
The ghost asks Hamlet to do this.
What is avenge his most foul murder?"
Yorick's skull is important for this reason.
What is the symbolic representation of the death of truth in the kingdom of Elsinore (or any variation of the truth teller being dead)
Shakespeare (in)famously left this to his wife in his will.
What is his second best bed?
What is 30 (ish)
This is the reason (or so he claims) that the King is unable to kill Hamlet himself.
What is his mother's love?
This is why Hamlet chooses not to kill Claudius when he has the chance.
What is he is praying, which will allow him to die with a clean conscience (which Claudius did not allow Hamlet's father)?
This motif helps us represent the theme of appearance vs. reality. It also connects to the King's murder.
What are ears?
"Forgive me my most foul murder" is an example of this literary device.
What is consonance or alliteration?
Hamlet uses allusion to this to describe his father.
What is Greek or Roman mythology?
This deeply symbolic object holds Ophelia afloat before literally sinking and killing her.
What is her dress?
This character wins at vengeance.
Who is Fortinbras?
Both Ophelia and Gertrude demonstrate female disempowerment by being at the mercy of the men around them. The presence of this theme and representation could indicate this.
What is that Shakespeare's plays could have had a female author/contributor?
Hamlet mulls over this conundrum as the gravedigger carelessly sings and digs up skulls.
What is the way that no matter how important you are in life, after death we are all the same decayed bones in the ground.
Hamlet compares his uncle as this to his mother.
What is a mildewed ear?
Ophelia helps demonstrate these two archetypes.
What are the maiden and the fallen woman?
Hamlet's attempts at revenge kill these five people in addition to the King.
Who are Polonius, Ophelia, Laertes, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern
These are the first three lines of Hamlet's famous soliloquy about mortality.
What is
To be or not to be, that is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Double Jeopardy!!
This is the most mis-quoted line in all of Shakespeare.
What is "Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him [well]"
Actually Horatio