Hamlet - Act 1 Flashcards
Scene 1 plot
Two guards patrolling Elsinore, waiting for Horatio and Marcellus - the guards see the Ghost but it vanishes when they try to speak to it - they resolve to show Prince Hamlet
What story do they tell about the old king?
King Hamlet fought a duel with Old Fortinbras and won some land - Young Fortinbras is plotting to invade Denmark
What crimes occur in 1,1
- The crime of unnatural acts (supernatural spirit)
- The crime setting (dark night)
- National turmoil (soldiers are fearful about the state of Denmark)
1,1 Quotes
“not a mouse stirring” - Francisco
“has this thing appeared again tonight?” - Horatio
“same figure like the King that’s dead” - Barnardo
Scene 2
King Claudius tells the court that he will marry Gertrude - Laertes asks to leave to Paris - Hamlet’s mother tells him he cannot return to Wittenburg and to see Claudius as a father - Horatio tells Hamlet about the ghost
What does Hamlet say in his soliloquy?
He says he wants to die and that he is experiencing emotional turmoil around his father’s death
What crimes occur in 1,2
- Crime of social transgressions (Hamlet and the court are not opposing to the marriage)
- Murder and political corruption (Claudius’ lies and betrayal of his brother)
- Detective - Hamlet’s investigations
1,2 Quotes - 1
“with mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage” - Claudius
“a little more than kin and a little less than kind” - Hamlet
“Good Hamlet cast thy nightly colour off” - Gertrude
“tis unmanly grief” - Claudius
1,2 Quotes - 2
“Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed: things rank and gross in nature” - Hamlet
“Frailty, thy name is woman” - Hamlet
“with such dexterity to incestuous sheets” - Hamlet
1,2 Quotes - 3
“a countenance more in sorrow than in anger” - Horatio
“my father’s spirit in arms? All is not well” - Hamlet
Scene 3 plot
Polonius’ house - Laertes warns Ophelia not to fall in love with Hamlet and asks her to remain chaste - Polonius forbids Ophelia from seeing Hamlet which she resists but ultimately agrees to
What crimes occur in 1,3
- hypocrisy (the men ignore Ophelia’s instructions to remain chaste while enforcing it on her)
- misogyny (controlling Ophelia)
1,3 Quotes
“your chaste treasure” - Laertes
“my daughter and your honour” - Polonius
“springes to catch woodcocks” - Polonius
Scene 4 plot
Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus look for the ghost - Hamlet disapproves of the traditional celebrations occurring - the ghost appears and beckons Hamlet to follow it - the others tell him not to but he says he does not care if he dies and follows
What crimes occur in 1,4
- Claudius as a degenerate king (may be an unsuitable King)
- Treason (Hamlet questioning the King)
1,4 Quotes
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” - Marcellus
“He waxes desperate with imagination” - Horatio
“What if it tempt you toward the flood my lord?” - Horatio
Scene 5 plot
Hamlet follows the ghost of his father who is doomed to walk the earth due to his murder - the ghost says it was murdered by Claudius - the ghost says Claudius has corrupted Denmark and Gertrude and swears vengeance, which Hamlet finds a heavy responsibility - Horatio and Marcellus arrive and he swears then to secrecy and says he will act mad
What crimes occur in 1,5
- Ghost as the victim
- Conscience or punishment (it is unclear if leaving Gertrude alive is love or hate)
- The avenging hero (vengeance to redeem crime)
- Deception (Hamlet plans to pretend to be mad)
1, 5 Quotes - 1
“Revenge is most foul and unnatural murder” - Ghost
“The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown” - Ghost
“Let not the royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest” - Ghost
1,5 Quotes - 2
“There need no ghost, my lord, to come from the grave to tell us this” - Horatio
“To put on antic disposition” - Hamlet
“There are more things in heave and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” - Hamlet
“That incestuous, that adulterous beast” - Ghost
