Themes
One of the dominant ways of dying in the play; present when Hamlet says "Or that the Everlasting had not fixed his cannon against self-slaughter."
What is suicide?
"Do not drink!!!"
Who is Claudius to Gertrude?
Hamlet calls R/G this kitchen item; he means they soak up the King's favors.
What is a sponge?
Who Yorick was, in life.
What is the King's jester?
The most Oedipal of the three film versions.
What is Gibson?
The theme that is most present in the quote: "Choose we Laertes! Laertes shall be King!"
What is dangers of an angry mob/democracy?
“I am more an antique Roman than a Dane. Here’s yet some liquor left.”
Horatio to Hamlet
This object lends authority to the letter that Hamlet forges and puts back in R&G's bag.
What is a signet ring modeled on the Danish seal?
The object that Claudius puts in the goblet of wine.
What is a pearl?
The reflective object that seems to have and important role in both Branagh and Tennant.
What is a mirror?
This figure (often associated with wheels) is mentioned frequently when Hamlet discusses why certain things happen to various characters.
What is Lady Fortune?
"Lord, we know what we are but know not what we may be."
Ophelia to Claudius
The "deus ex machina" that Shakespeare includes in Act IV in order to fulfill Hamlet's return to Denmark.
What is a pirate attack. Yarrr!
The ethical conflict between Laertes and the Priest.
What is Ophelia's funeral rites?
Probably Gertrude's most famous quote from the play.
What is "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
This theme (or the lack of it) is most present when Laertes cuts Hamlet during the fencing match.
What is honor OR deceit?
"Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds."
Horatio to Gertrude
Where Hamlet has temporarily placed Polonius's dead body.
What is the castle's lobby/by the staircase?
The kind of treatment Fortinbras orders for Hamlet's death? Be specific.
What is a soldier's honor, or that the soldiers shoot?
The play that Shakespeare references (and also wrote), to comment on tyranny and to foreshadow the first onstage death.
What is Julius Caesar?
The theme present in the inclusion of minor characters like The Gravedigger and Osric in the very last scenes of the play.
What is social class?
“Not one now to mock your own grinning? Quite chapfallen? Now get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her; let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come. Make her laugh at that.”
Hamlet to Yorick
The flowers Ophelia mentions in her madness. Name them all.
What are: rosemary, pansies, fennel, columbines, rue, daisy, violets?
Name the deaths (onstage AND off) in the order that we, the readers, hear about them in V.ii.
Who are: Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Shakespeare coined this phrase (borrowed by the singer/songwriter Neil Young) to express someone who is pure and good.
What is "heart of gold"?