These are my A Level English literature Hamlet notes analysing key scenes, context, critics, quotes, performances and the interelation of the play, including chronology, key themes and character arcs. These helped me achieve full marks in my essays and an A* at the end of my English A Level.
, Thematic Quotes
Gender/ Convention
● Condemnation of Ophelia being able to make her own decisions
○ “If he says he loves you/ It fits your wisdom so far to believe it”- Laertes
○ “You must not take for fire”. - Polonius
○ “To thine own self be true”- Polonius
○ “You do not understand yourself so clearly”- Polonius
● Hamlet and the Players and their production (Act 2 Scene 2)
○ “the lover shall not sigh gratis, the humorous man shall end his part in
peace, the clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o' th' sear,
and the lady shall say her mind freely, or the blank verse shall halt for ’t.”
○ This presents the idea that he welcomes the unconventional presentation of the
royal court that the troupe will bring, encouraging the women to speak their mind
and the joker to speak with madness and the lover to sigh with dramatic
meaning, or he shall not want to see it and put a stop to the play.
● Ophelia and her virginity
○ “For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissed carrion”-
Hamlet to Polonius. Hamlet warns against letting Ophelia out in the sun for she
might be like that carrion and breed maggots, a.k.a not purity.
○ “weigh what loss your honour may sustain” - Laertes
Authority, Power, Monarchy
● The ghost (Act 1 Scene 1) of king Hamlet
○ “Fair and warlike form”
○ “Very armour he had on when he the ambitious Norway combated.”
○ “Martial stalk”
○ “more in sorrow than in anger”
● Fortinbras
○ Fortinbras is not happy about his father being attacked and is preparing an army
of “landless resolutes”
○ “unimproved mettle hot and full”
● Gertrude vs Claudius (final scene)
○ “the queen carouses to thy fortune Hamlet”
○ “I will my Lord, I pray you pardon me.”
● People of Denmark
○ “Distracted multitude”
● Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
○ “Might, by the sovereign power you have of us// Put your dread pleasures
more into command// Than to entreaty” (meaning that Claudius uses his
power to enforce his wish rather than asking politely) (Act 2 Scene 2)
○ “Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern” “Guildenstern and gentle
Rosencrantz.” - interchangeable men
● Laertes versus Claudius; Act 4 Scene 5
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