Who's Who
This character is Hamlet’s friend and is one of the first people to see the Ghost.
Horatio
The guards are on watch because Denmark is worried about a possible threat from this country.
Norway
Hamlet’s “Seems, madam? Nay, it is; I know not ‘seems” means his grief is this rather than simply an act.
genuine/real
A speech in which a character reveals private thoughts, usually while alone.
Soliloquy
This is when Prince Hamlet rejects his mother's question about why his father's death "seems" so special to him.
He highlights this core conflict between outward behavior and inner truth.
Appearance vs. Reality
He is the father of Laertes and Ophelia and gives both children advice.
Polonius
This supernatural figure appears to the guards and resembles the dead King Hamlet.
The Ghost
The Ghost’s appearance makes Horatio suspect that Denmark may be facing this.
Danger/trouble
A remark meant for the audience to hear that other characters on stage do not hear.
Aside
Hamlet is struggling with intense feelings because of this recent event.
His father's death
This character is Polonius’s son and plans to return to France.
Laertes
Claudius has recently done this with Gertrude, upsetting Hamlet.
Marry her
When Hamlet says “Frailty, thy name is woman,” he is expressing his disappointment and anger toward this character
Gertrude
A statement that seems contradictory but can contain a deeper truth.
Paradox
In Scene 2, Claudius lectures Hamlet that continuing to mourn a dead father is against nature, and he must abandon this emotion.
Grief
This character is Hamlet’s love interest, but her father warns her not to trust Hamlet’s intentions.
Ophelia
Prince who is declaring war on Denmark
Prince Fortinbras
When Polonius tells Laertes “To thine own self be true,” he is advising him to remain _________________.
True to himself
a figure of speech that plays with words that have multiple meanings or words that sound the same but have different meanings
Pun
Exercised when Polonius delivers a strict list of rules to Laertes and forbids Ophelia from seeing Hamlet, this theme focuses on authority figures dictating the lives of others.
Advice/Control