Characters
Killed when poison was poured into his ears
King Hamlet
"To Be or Not To Be" Speech is a metaphor for contemplating...
Suicide
Meaning of Evidence from 3.3:
"O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t,
A brother’s murder."
Claudis feels guilt for murdering his own brother!
Soldiers Bernardo and Marcellus spot this outside the castle
Ghost of King Hamlet!
Who was exiled from Denmark to start Act 4?
Hamlet
Believes Hamlet is a nuisance
King Claudis
Revenge is a central theme because these character(s) intentions
Hamlet killing Claudis
-or-
Laertes wanting to kill Hamlet
-or-
Claudius killing King Hamlet
Meaning of Evidence from 1.5:
"Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven"
the Ghost tells Hamlet not to be mad or do anything towards his mother
This promise is made by the end of Act 1
Hamlet will avenge his father by killing his uncle, King Claudis
Hamlet meets Fortinbras when he sees him leading what
an army coming to take over (soon all) Denmark
Hamlet's first murder victim and father to Ophelia
Polonius
Prince Fortinbras has this, but King Claudis does not (think about in class discussions!)
honor
-or-
Moral Code
Meaning of Evidence from 3.1:
"The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have"
not knowing afterlife is the reason so many people decide to keep living
Polonius and Ophelia are worried about this changing character
Hamlet going crazy
Laertes, with a mob of people, rush towards the King in anger because
he assumes Claudis killed his father
Loyal to our main character THROUGHOUT the play
Horatio
Ophelia goes mad by singing because
her innocence
Meaning of Evidence from 2.2:
“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in
reason, how infinite in faculty!"
Hamlet speaks about how much potential action humans have but how we frustratingly do nothing
Pyrrhus and Priam story is told by the actor's because
Hamlet looks up to Pyrrhus and how he murders a King so violently and bravely
Laertes and Claudis plan involve what two tactics
sword fighting and poison
Sits on the Throne by the end
Fortinbras
Mortality, afterlife, mystery of death
Meaning of Evidence from 4.4:
"To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honor’s at the stake."
Fortinbras is honorable because he fights for what is important to him, regardless of what others believe
Polonius could be blamed for his own consequential death because
he was spying on Hamlet for the King
Name Each of the 7 MAIN death from our play
Hamlet
Laertes
Claudius
Gertrude
Ophelia
Polonius
King Claudis