Allusions
Author Jasper Fforde, titled his novel Something’s Rotten as a clever reference to a Hamlet quote about this country
What is Denmark
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Who is Hamlet?
This act finds Hamlet preparing to kill Claudius and get his revenge, only to stop when he finds the King alone, praying
What is act three?
This young man is crowned King of Denmark at the end of the play, despite not being in the line of succession
Who is Fortinbras?
This character holds the distinction of the most lines by any character in any Shakespeare play
Who is Hamlet?
This rhetorical question asked by Hamlet in scene two is one of the most widely-quoted references to classical literature in modern culture
What is to be or not to be?
"The lady protests too much, methinks"
Who is Gertrude
This act is the only one in which Polonius and both of his children are at Elsinore, where they share one last goodbye
What is act one?
This young man is prevented from committing suicide by Hamlet, who tells him to “Report me and my cause aright to the Unsatisfied”
Who is Horatio?
This flower that symbolizes male adultery, which shares its name with the sight of a horrific school shooting, was passed out to Claudius by Ophelia in act 4
What is Columbine?
This fellow titular Shakespeare Character is referenced by Hamlet when he looks at Yorick’s skull and ponders the cyclical nature of death
Who is Julius Caesar?
"Brevity is the soul of wit"
Who is Polonius?
This act features the only use of flashback storytelling from Hamlet himself in the play
What is act five?
This young man, who only appears in one scene, is shown to change his perspective faster than New England weather in order to please nobility
Who is Osric?
This son of Shakespeare, who died of bubonic plague 4 year prior to the writing of Hamlet, is theorized to have inspired the titular character
Who is Hamnet?
In order to express the magnitude of King Claudius’s betrayal of his brother, Hamlet twice references this first biblical murderer
Who is Cain?
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"
Who is Marcellus?
In this act, the readers find out about the offscreen death of the only character whose demise is not the result of foul play
What is act four?
This young man is sent by King Claudius as an emissary, where he successfully convinces the norwegian king to reign in his ambitious nephew’s dangerous ambitions
Who is Voltemans?
This play, also referred to as The Mousetrap, is performed by the players in order for Hamlet to see Claudius’s reaction
What is The Murder of Gonzago?
This mythological son of Achilles, who symbolizes both Claudius and Hamlet in a scene acted out by the traveling players, slaughtered the royal family of Troy in Virgil’s Aeneid
Who is Pyrrhus?
"When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions."
Who is Claudius?
This act, which features more than a dozen different characters, has the most lines of any act in a Shakespeare tragedy
What is act three?
This young man, who is introduced before the titular character, is the first to reference the ghost of King Hamlet
Who is Marcellus?
Shakespeare Married this woman, who shares her full name with the modern actress who played Fantine in a 2012 movie adapted from a Victor Hugo classical
Who is Anne Hathaway?