Summary Hamlet Quote Bank with Quotes, Critics, Analysis, Sources
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Course
Drama and poetry pre-1900
Institution
OCR
A consolidated quote bank for the play Hamlet, including a variety of direct textual quotes, sources, analysis, and critics. The bank is organised into main characters and 10x key themes, and each section has a relevant critic quote attached to allow easy linkage. Designed to enable quick memorisat...
English Quote Bank (Hamlet)
Characters
Hamlet (6 quotes)
Quotation Source Relevance/meaning
‘A little more than kin and less Hamlet A1 Suspicion and paranoia
than kind’ from the outset, Oedipal
jealously of king
‘How weary, stale, flat and Hamlet A1 Nihilistic and angsty,
unprofitable seem to me all the confronting own grief leads
uses of this world!’ to mental spiral
‘As I perchance hearafter shall Hamlet A1 Suggests madness feigned
think meet to put an antic for a greater purpose, not
disposition on’ legitimate
‘To be or not to be- that is the Hamlet A3 Existential fear of mortality
question’ combats his depressive
tendencies
‘Get thee to a nunnery. Why Hamlet A3 Projected Oedipal hatred for
wouldst thou be a breeder of his mother towards
sinners?’ innocent Ophelia, religious
purity-shaming
‘Hamlet’s far-fetched scruples Schlegel, Hamlet imposes complexity
are often mere pretexts to cover critic upon his thoughts in order
his want of determination’ to avoid confronting his
true self- ironic
Claudius (6 quotes)
Quotation Source Relevance/meaning
‘The serpent that did sting thy Old Hamlet Machiavellian, finds
father's life now wears the crown’ A1 subterfuge and murder
means to an end
‘O my offence is rank, it smells to Claudius A3 Has a supressed
heaven’ conscience, not a wholly
one-dimensional villain
‘Madness in great ones must not Claudius A3 Politically prudent and
unwatch'd go’ talented in art of rhetoric:
views himself as superior
leader to Old Hamlet
‘Lecherous, kindless villain!’ Hamlet A2 Framed as an antagonist by
Hamlet: madness or
accuracy?
‘Our son shall win’ becomes ‘your Claudius A5 Manipulative, initially
son’ and ‘I like him not’ supports Hamlet to appease
Gertrude but discards him
when problematic
‘He has the persuasiveness and Schofield, Disagree, he has supressed
physical courage of a ruler, but is critic his conscience for effective
morally empty’ rule
Gertrude (6 quotes)
Quotation Source Relevance/meaning
‘Th’imperial jointress to this Claudius A1 Marriage for ambition, uses
warlike state’ men to acquire and
, maintain power
‘Thou hast cleft my heart in Gertrude A3 Torn by obligations to male
twain’ figures, who she strives to
placate and upon whom she
is dependent
‘Frailty, thy name is woman!’ Hamlet A2 Hamlet’s adulation of
Gertrude means her swift
remorseless marriage =
ultimate fall from grace
‘I see such black and grainèd Gertrude A3 Strong conscience, makes
spots as will not leave their tinct’ cautious and safe decisions,
encouraged by male
figures, limited agency
‘More matter with less art’ Gertrude A2 Emotionally perceptive,
when she has the
opportunity to express it
‘Claudius is as obsessed by Rebecca Feminist reading sees
Gertrude as the two Hamlets are Smith Gertrude as oppressed
and… shares [their] conception female sexuality, torn
of Gertrude as an object’ between two male figures
Ophelia (6 quotes)
Quotation Source Relevance/meaning
‘I do not know, my lord, what I Ophelia A1 Female compliance with
should think’ patriarchy by mirroring
opinions of males rather
than developing her own
‘I shall obey, my lord’ Ophelia A1 Submissive and obedient, or
manipulative and biding her
time?
‘I was the more deceiv'd’ Ophelia A3 Ophelia is exploited by
Hamlet and Polonius for
their own goals: objectified
and humiliated
‘I would give you some violets, Ophelia A4 Sanity dependent on male
but they wither'd all when my guidance: insanity following
father died’ deaths
‘Pulled the poor wretch from her Gertrude A4 Seizes autonomy with
melodious lay to muddy death’ suicide or innocent victim of
drowning?
‘Shaped to conform to external Gabrielle On Ophelia, who is a mirror
demands, to reflect others’ Dane, critic without own thoughts until
desires’ mad
Polonius (6 quotes)
Quotation Source Relevance/meaning
‘Affection, pff! You speak like a Polonius A1 Infantilises and callously
green girl, unsifted in such dismisses Ophelia’s
perilous circumstance’ emotions, insensitive
‘Brevity is the soul of wit’ Polonius A2 Ironic, Polonius as the inept
yet sycophantic old fool,
yet because he is male he
holds most power
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