A Level Hamlet - themes & quotations

Here's an expanded analysis of the quotations, with thematic links and additional imagery, tailored for A-Level Hamlet students:

1. "Frailty, thy name is woman!" (Act 1, Scene 2)

Imagery and Themes:

• The metaphor of "frailty" conjures an image of something fragile, easily broken, reflecting Hamlet's view of women's perceived moral and emotional weakness.

• This line connects to the theme of betrayal, as Hamlet perceives Gertrude's remarriage as a personal and moral failure.

• Links to Ophelia: Hamlet's distrust extends to all women, leading to his harsh treatment of Ophelia ("Get thee to a nunnery," Act 3, Scene 1). Both women symbolize Hamlet's perception of corruption in human nature.

• Decay and Corruption: The fragility of women mirrors the decay in Denmark's moral and political systems.

2. "To be, or not to be: that is the question" (Act 3, Scene 1)

Imagery and Themes:

• Life as suffering: Hamlet uses vivid imagery to compare life to a "sea of troubles" (vast, overwhelming) and death to the act of "shuffling off this mortal coil" (shedding life's chaos).

• The unknown: Death is described as the "undiscovered country," emphasizing fear of the unknown.

• Links to mortality and existentialism: This soliloquy deepens the theme of paralysis—Hamlet overthinks and avoids decisive action due to his fear of consequence and uncertainty.

• Comparative imagery: The sleep metaphor ("to sleep, perchance to dream") contrasts rest (peaceful) and nightmares (fear of eternal torment), reinforcing Hamlet's dread of death.

3. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." (Act 1, Scene 4)

Imagery and Themes:

• Rot and decay: The word "rotten" evokes strong sensory imagery of stench and physical disintegration, symbolizing moral corruption spreading throughout Denmark.

• Links to corruption and the natural order: The state itself, represented as a decaying body, mirrors the broken royal lineage and Claudius's illegitimate rule.

• Disease imagery: Later, Hamlet compares Denmark to "an unweeded garden" (Act 1, Scene 2), emphasizing neglect and moral decay.

• This connects to other imagery of disease and infection, such as "rank corruption" (Act 3, Scene 3), underscoring the pervasive theme of moral and political sickness.

4. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." (Act 3, Scene 2)

Imagery and Themes:

• Appearance vs. reality: The Player Queen's exaggerated declarations symbolize pretense and insincerity, suggesting that those who swear loyalty too fervently may be deceitful.

• Links to guilt and conscience: Gertrude's remark may hint at her own unease over her actions, tying to Claudius's later struggle with his guilt during his soliloquy ("O, my offence is rank," Act 3, Scene 3).

• Irony: Gertrude's critique of overacting highlights her inability to recognize parallels to her own situation, reinforcing the theme of self-deception.

5. "O, my prophetic soul! My uncle?" (Act 1, Scene 5)

Imagery and Themes:

• The supernatural: The Ghost embodies an image of otherworldly justice, linking to the theme of divine retribution and duty.

• Corruption and betrayal: Claudius is painted as a literal poisoner of both King Hamlet and the state, foreshadowing the imagery of poison as a recurring motif (e.g., the poisoned cup and blade in Act 5).

• Dramatic irony: The audience shares Hamlet's realization, but his delayed action magnifies the tragedy.

6. "The play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (Act 2, Scene 2)

Imagery and Themes:

• Hunting imagery: "Catch the conscience" evokes a trap being set for prey, with Claudius as the target.

• Links to appearance vs. reality: The play becomes a mirror to reflect the truth, emphasising the transformative power of art.

• Dramatic tension: The imagery of a "thing" (the play) and "catching" creates suspense, signaling Hamlet's reliance on indirect action.

• Theatrical imagery: Connects to the idea of performance and deception, with life itself seen as a stage.

7. "How all occasions do inform against me…" (Act 4, Scene 4)

Imagery and Themes:

• Honour and action: Hamlet compares himself to Fortinbras, who fights for a "fantasy and trick of fame," using imagery of unworthy causes as small ("an eggshell").

• Links to revenge and self-doubt: Hamlet's imagery of wasted potential highlights his self-reproach: he sees himself as cowardly for not avenging his father despite having a more just cause.

• Nature and decay: The contrast between Fortinbras's action and Hamlet's paralysis mirrors the larger decay of Denmark, where honour and morality are eroding.

Additional Thematic Links Across the Play:

1. Appearance vs. Reality:

• Claudius's deceptive nature is evident in his facade of concern for Hamlet: "Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death / The memory be green…" (Act 1, Scene 2).

• The imagery of "green" connotes both newness and envy, symbolizing Claudius's hidden ambition.

2. Madness:

• Hamlet's feigned madness contrasts with Ophelia's genuine descent into madness.

• Imagery: Ophelia's songs and flowers ("rosemary for remembrance") are symbolic of her fragmented mind and innocence corrupted by political and personal turmoil.

3. Mortality:

• The gravedigger scene (Act 5, Scene 1) uses visceral imagery of bones and skulls to confront the audience with the physicality of death.

• Hamlet's reflection on Yorick's skull reinforces the theme of mortality, emphasizing that even the joyful are reduced to dust.

4. Corruption and Poison:

• Claudius's murder of King Hamlet ("Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, / With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial") uses the vivid imagery of poison infiltrating the ear to symbolize betrayal and the infectious nature of corruption.

This approach ties Hamlet's key quotations to recurring imagery and themes while demonstrating their interconnectedness, perfect for A-Level analysis. 

Magnificent 7 Quotations from Hamlet

Here's a detailed analysis of key quotations from Hamlet tailored for A-Level students, focusing on themes, characters, and literary devices.

1. "Frailty, thy name is woman!" (Act 1, Scene 2)

Context: Hamlet criticizes Gertrude's quick remarriage to Claudius after King Hamlet's death.

Analysis:

• Themes: Misogyny, betrayal, and the corruption of familial relationships.

• Character Insight: Reflects Hamlet's disillusionment with women, particularly his mother. This bitterness colors his interactions with Ophelia later.

• Literary Devices:

• Personification: "Frailty" is personified as "woman," equating femininity with weakness.

• Exclamation: The tone conveys Hamlet's anger and despair.

• (Contextual Insight): Elizabethan views of women as morally and emotionally weaker might resonate with Hamlet's judgment of Gertrude.

2. "To be, or not to be: that is the question" (Act 3, Scene 1)

Context: Hamlet's soliloquy contemplates life, death, and the burdens of existence.

Analysis:

• Themes: Existentialism, mortality, and the fear of the unknown.

• Character Insight: Demonstrates Hamlet's intellectual depth and his paralysis by overthinking. He questions the value of enduring life's suffering versus embracing the uncertainty of death.

• Literary Devices:

• Antithesis: The juxtaposition of "to be" and "not to be" reflects Hamlet's internal conflict.

• Rhetorical Question: Engages the audience in Hamlet's philosophical dilemma.

• Context: Reflects Renaissance humanism, focusing on the individual's internal struggle and the nature of existence.

3. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." (Act 1, Scene 4)

Context: Marcellus speaks this line as Hamlet follows the Ghost, suggesting moral and political corruption.

Analysis:

• Themes: Corruption, decay, and the natural order disrupted.

• Character Insight: Highlights Marcellus' unease with the supernatural and the political instability in Denmark.

• Literary Devices:

• Metaphor: "Rotten" symbolizes moral decay, foreshadowing later revelations about Claudius.

• Pathetic Fallacy: The supernatural atmosphere mirrors the moral corruption.

• Context: Reflects the political instability of the Elizabethan era and fears of usurpation or divine retribution.

4. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." (Act 3, Scene 2)

Context: Gertrude comments during the play-within-a-play, referring to the Player Queen's vows of eternal fidelity.

Analysis:

• Themes: Appearance vs. reality, deception, and guilt.

• Character Insight: Gertrude's remark may reflect subconscious guilt about her own remarriage.

• Literary Devices:

• Irony: Gertrude's statement inadvertently highlights her own situation.

• Foreshadowing: Suggests that excessive declarations of loyalty may hide deeper truths.

• AO3: Elizabethan audiences would recognize the Player Queen's exaggerated declarations as satire.

5. "O, my prophetic soul! My uncle?" (Act 1, Scene 5)

Context: Hamlet reacts to the Ghost's revelation that Claudius murdered King Hamlet.

Analysis:

• Themes: Revenge, betrayal, and the supernatural.

• Character Insight: Hamlet's intuition is validated, increasing his determination but also his emotional turmoil.

• Literary Devices:

• Exclamation: Conveys Hamlet's shock and horror.

• Possessive Pronoun: "My prophetic soul" emphasizes Hamlet's personal connection to the tragedy.

• AO3: Reflects the Elizabethan fascination with ghosts and divine justice.

6. "The play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (Act 2, Scene 2)

Context: Hamlet plans to use the play to test Claudius's guilt.

Analysis:

• Themes: Appearance vs. reality, deception, and action vs. inaction.

• Character Insight: Reveals Hamlet's strategic thinking and reliance on indirect action rather than confrontation.

• Literary Devices:

• Metaphor: The "play" as a trap for Claudius's conscience.

• Rhyme: The couplet emphasizes Hamlet's resolution and ingenuity.

• Context: The Elizabethan belief in the power of theatre to reveal truth aligns with Hamlet's use of the play.

7. "How all occasions do inform against me…" (Act 4, Scene 4)

Context: Hamlet compares himself to Fortinbras, who acts decisively despite a less compelling cause.

Analysis:

• Themes: Action vs. inaction, honor, and self-awareness.

• Character Insight: Highlights Hamlet's self-reproach and realization of his hesitation.

• Literary Devices:

• Contrast: Between Hamlet and Fortinbras emphasizes Hamlet's lack of action.

• Soliloquy: Offers an intimate look into Hamlet's inner conflict.

• Context: Renaissance ideals of honor and the tragic hero's internal struggle are evident.

AC Bradley on Hamlet's character

Here is an extract from AC Bradley's 1905 text called: 'Shakespearean tragedy; lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth'.

Here the critic discusses Hamlet's character: 'It is indeed so obvious that I pass it by, and proceed at once to the central question of Hamlet's character. And I believe time will be saved, and a good deal of positive interpretation may be introduced, if, without examining in detail any one theory, we first distinguish classes or types of theory which appear to be in various ways and degrees insufficient or mistaken. And we will confine our attention to sane theories ; — for on this subject, as jan all questions relating to Shakespeare, there are plenty of merely lunatic views : the view, for ex- ample, that Hamlet, being a disguised woman in love with Horatio, could hardly help seeming unkind to Ophelia ; or the view that, being a very clever and wicked young man who wanted to oust his innocent uncle from the throne, he ' faked ' the Ghost with this intent. 

'But, before we come to our types of theory, it is necessary to touch on an idea, not unfrequently met with, which would make it vain labour to discuss or propose any theory at all. It is sometimes said that Hamlet's character is not only intricate but unintel- ligible. Now this statement might mean something quite unobjectionable and even perhaps true and important. It might mean that the character can- not be wholly understood. As we saw, there may be questions which we cannot answer with certainty now, because we have nothing but the text to guide us, but which never arose for the spectators who saw Hamlet acted in Shakespeare's day ; and we shall have to refer to such questions in these lectures. Again, it may be held without any improbability that, from carelessness or because he was engaged on this play for several years, Shakespeare left inconsistencies in his exhibition of the character which must prevent us from being certain of his ultimate meaning. Or, possibly, we may be baffled because he has illustrated in it certain strange facts of human nature, which he had noticed but of which we are ignorant. But then all this would apply in some measure to other characters in Shakespeare, and it is not this that is meant by the statement that Hamlet is unintelligible. What is meant is that Shakespeare intended him to be so, because he him- self was feeling strongly, and wished his audience to feel strongly, what a mystery life is, and how im-. possible it is for us to understand it. Now here, surely, we have mere confusion of mind. The mys- teriousness of life is one thing, the psychological unintelligibility of a dramatic character is quite another ; and the second does not show thq first, it shows only the incapacity or folly of the dramatist. If it did show the first, it would be very easy to sur- pass Shakespeare in producing a sense of mystery : we should simply have to portray an absolutely nonsensical character. Of course Hamlet appeals powerfully to our sense of the mystery of life, but so does every good tragedy ; and it does so not because the hero is an enigma to us, but because, having a fair understanding of him, we feel how strange it is that strength and weakness should be so mingled in one soul, and that this soul should be doomed to such misery and apparent failure. (i) To come, then, to our typical views, we may lay it down, first, that no theory will hold water which finds the cause of Hamlet's delay merely, or mainly, or even to any considerable extent, in ex- ternal difficulties. Nothing is easier than to spin a plausible theory of this kind. What, it may be asked, was Hamlet to do when the Ghost had left him with its commission of vengeance ? The King was surrounded not merely by courtiers but by a Swiss body-guard : how was Hamlet to get at him } Was he then to accuse him publicly of the murder ? If he did, what would happen ? How would he prove the charge ? All that he had to offer in proof was — a ghost-story ! Others, to be sure, had seen the Ghost, but no one else had heard its revelations. Obviously, then, even if the court had been honest, instead of subservient and corrupt, it would have voted Hamlet mad, or worse, and would have shut him up out of harm's way. He could not see what to do, therefore, and so he waited. Then came the actors, and at once with admirable promptness he arranged for the play-scene, hoping that the King would betray his guilt to the whole court. (Unfortunately the King did not.j It is true that immediately afterwards Hamlet got his chance ; for he found the King defenceless on his knees. But what Hamlet wanted was not a private revenge, to be followed by his own imprisonment or execution; it was public justice. So he spared the King ; and, as he unluckily killed Polonius just afterwards, he had to consent to be despatched to England. But, on the voyage there, he discovered the King's commission, ordering the King of England to put him immediately to death ; and, with this in his pocket, he made his way back to Denmark. For now, he saw, the proof of the King's attempt to murder him would procure belief also for the story of the murder of his father. His enemy, however, was too quick for him, and his public arraignment of that enemy was prevented by his own death. A theory like this sounds very plausible — so long as you do not remember the text. But no unsophis- ticated mind, fresh from the reading of Hamlet, will accept it ; and, as soon as we begin to probe it, fatal objections arise in such numbers that I choose but a few, and indeed I think the first of them is enough. {a) From beginning to end of the play, Hamlet never makes the slightest reference to any external difficulty. How is it possible to explain this fact in conformity with the theory ? For what conceivable reason should Shakespeare conceal from us so carefully the key to the problem ? {b) Not only does Hamlet fail to allude to such difficulties, but he always assumes that he can obey the Ghost, and he once asserts this in so many words (' Sith I have cause and will and strength and means To do't,' iv. iv. 45). (c) Again, why does Shakespeare exhibit Laertes quite easily raising the people against the King .? Why but to show how much more easily Hamlet, whom the people loved, could have done the same thing, if that was the plan he preferred ? Again, Hamlet did not plan the play-scene in the hope that the King would betray his guilt to the court. He planned it, according to his own account, in order to convince himself by the King's agitation that the Ghost had spoken the truth. This is perfectly clear from ii. ii. 625 flf. and from HI. ii. 80 ff. Some readers are misled by the words in the latter passage : if his occulted guilt Do not itself unkennel in one speech. It is a damned ghost that we have seen. The meaning obviously is, as the context shows, ' if his hidden guilt do not betray itself on occasion of one speech,' viz., the 'dozen or sixteen lines' with which Hamlet has furnished the player, and of which only six are delivered, because the King does not merely show his guilt in his face (which was all Hamlet had hoped, in. ii. 90) but rushes from the room. It may be as well to add that, although Hamlet's own account of his reason for arranging the play- scene may be questioned, it is impossible to suppose that, if his real design had been to provoke an open confession of guilt, -he could have been unconscious of this design. (e) Again, Hamlet never once talks, or shows a sign of thinking, of the plan of bringing the King to public justice ; he always talks of using his ' sword ' or his ' arm.' And this is so just as much --after he has returned to Denmark with the com- mission in his pocket as it was before this event. When he has told Horatio the story of the voyage, he does not say, ' Now I can convict him ' ; he says, ' Now am I not justified in using this arm .? ' This class of theory, then, we must simply reject. But it suggests two remarks. It is of course quite probable that, when Hamlet was ' thinking too precisely on the event,' he was considering, among other things, the question how he could avenge his father without sacrificing his own life or freedom. And assuredly, also, he was anxious that his act of vengeance should not be misconstrued, and would never have been content to leave a 'wounded name ' behind him. His dying words prove that. (2) Assuming, now, that Hamlet's main difficulty — almost the whole of his difficulty — was internal, I pass to views which, acknowledging this, are still unsatisfactory because they isolate one element in his character and situation and treat it as the whole. According to the first of these typical views, Hamlet was restrained by conscience or a moral scruple ; he could not satisfy himself that it was right to avenge his father.'