1. Shanan, Wes, Hailey, Cameron, RJ, Ajay
Hamlet
Act I
Shanan, Wes, Hailey, Cameron, RJ, Ajay

2. Brief Summary

3. At the beginning on scene 1, Bernardo, Marcellus, and Horatio await the ghost’s arrival outside the castle. The ghost is the recently deceased King Hamlet, who appears but vanishes suddenly. When the ghost appears against Horatio tries to speak to it but the ghost remains quiet and disappears. The guards decide to go tell Hamlet in hopes that maybe the ghost will speak to his son.
At the beginning on scene 2, Claudius and Gertrude have gotten married which greatly upsets Hamlet. Hamlet expresses his wishes to die but he couldn’t just cease to not exist.
Line 1--of, not on
Line 4--again, not against
Line 10--couldn’t cease to exist, not to not exist

4. At the beginning of scene 3, Laertes is advising Ophelia about her relationship with Hamlet. He tells her to not worry about Hamlet and not get involved in the relationship. Later on Polonius and Ophelia continue talking about her relationship with Hamlet. Polonius makes Ophelia promise she will no longer seek out a relationship with Hamlet and she obeys.
At the beginning of scene 4, the ghost reappears and Hamlet is about to talk to the ghost in private.

5. In scene 5, Hamlet is alone and speaking with the ghost where he proceeds to tell Hamlet how he was killed and all the details of his murder. Hamlet swears he will kill King Claudius. Hamlet doesn’t tell Horatio and Marcellus what the ghost has said but makes them promise they will never speak of seeing the ghost to anyone.
You may want to mention here that the ghost tells Hamlet that he was poisoned by Claudius.

6. Literary Devices:

7. Allusion
Use of reference the reader already knows
Ex. “Yes, by Saint Patrick, there is [offense], Horatio…” (I, v)
Alliteration
Repetition of initial consonant sounds
Ex. “These are but wild and whirling words, my lord!” (I, v)
Aside
Speech expressing character’s secret thoughts
Ex. “A little more than kin, and less than kind.” (I, ii)

8. Dramatic Irony
Audience knows what the character does not
Ex. We know about the ghost before Hamlet does.
Situational Irony
Event that surprises the characters and the audience
Ex. The ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered.
Verbal Irony
Statement opposite of what is meant
“Not so, my lord; I am too much in the sun.” (I, ii)

9. Foil
Character used to contrast another character
Prince Fortinbras is bold; Prince Hamlet is indecisive at times.
Hyperbole
Use of exaggeration to emphasize importance
Ex. “Remember thee? Yea from the table of my memory / I’ll wipe away all trivial, fond records / And thy commandment all alone shall live / Within the book and volume of my brain…”
Imagery
Use of the five senses to convey ideas to readers
Ex. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
(I, i)

10. Metaphor
Implied comparison of 2 unlike things
“...within the book and volume of my brain…”
Monologue
Speech to which other characters are listening
Ex. Claudius’s speech in Act I, ii
Paradox
Contradictory statement revealing the truth
Ex. “With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage…” (I, ii)

11. Personification Personification
Giving human traits to nonhuman objects
Ex. “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (I, ii)
Pun
Play on multiple meanings of a words
Ex. “A little more than kin, and less than kind.” (I, ii)
Rhymed Couplet
End rhyme in two consecutive lines of poetry
Ex. “Foul deeds will rise / Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.” (I, ii)

12. Simile Simile An unlike comparison using like or as
Ex. “Haste me to know it, that I with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love / May sweep to my revenge.” (I, v)
Soliloquy
A speech expressing characters secret thoughts
Ex. Hamlet’s speech (I, ii)
Theme
Central idea of a literary work

13. Character List:

14. Bernardo
First character to appear in the play
Laertes
Believes that Hamlet may not have complete control in his choice of a bride
Horatio
Hamlet’s friend, a voice of reason

15. Marcellus Marcellus Tells audience that ghost has appeared before
Claudius
Hamlet’s uncle and stepfather
Voltimand
Takes message to king of Norway

16. Laertes Hamlet Wears black at the funeral and the wedding Polonius
Believes that Hamlet will take advantage of his daughter’s innocence and trust
Bernardo
Relieves Francisco at Guard Duty.

17. Gertrude Gertrude Hamlet’s mother, recent widow and bride Ophelia
Believes that Hamlet cares for her
Ghost
Asks Hamlet to avenge his murder

18. Questions

19. In Scene I, the audience learns that, as a result of the former king’s death, young Prince Fortinbras of Norway…..
Is going to attempt to invade Denmark to reclaim the lands his father lost

20. In scene I, Horatio lists 4 reasons why a ghost might walk the earth
In scene I, Horatio lists 4 reasons why a ghost might walk the earth. What are these reasons?
Disruption in the universe and somehow the balance of powers has been changed
To give information or tell of a warning
The ghost may be attached to a treasure or prized item
He is doomed to walk the Earth as punishment and may choose to reveal the manner of his death

21. The other character ask _______ to speak to the ghost because _________.
Marcellus asks Horatio to speak to the ghost because he is well educated.

22. In scene II, Hamlet reluctantly agrees to honor his ____________’s request by ___________.
Mother’s
Remaining in Denmark and not returning to the University of Wittenburg

23. In his first soliloquy, Hamlet tells the audience that he is heartsick because his father has died AND…..
His mother has remarried very quickly to his uncle (who, he later discovers, happens to be the person who killed his father)

24. In scene III, both Laertes and Polonius warn Ophelia that……
Be careful of Hamlet because his love for her wasn’t real

25. Ophelia’s reaction is to………
Listen to her father and brother; she cuts off Hamlet and return all of his love letters

26. When the ghost appears in scene IV, Horatio and Marcellus try to……
Talk to it and get it to stay
Keep Hamlet from following it alone

27. When they are alone, the ghost tells Hamlet that he was killed by Claudius.

28. Quotations

29. “Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die,/ Passing through nature to eternity.”
Queen
Human Mortality
Foreshadowing

30. “Frailty, thy name is woman!”
Hamlet
Corruption
Personification

31. “Foul deeds will rise,/ Though all the earth o'er whelm them, to men’s eyes.”
Hamlet
Corruption
Couplet

32. “Neither a borrower not a lender be, / For loan oft loses both itself and friend.”
Polonius
Corruption or Weakness
Personification

33. “This above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Polonius
Corruption
Paradox and Simile

34. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
Marcellus
Fate
Hyperbole

35. “Haste me to know it, that I with wings as swift / As meditation…
“Haste me to know it, that I with wings as swift / As meditation….. May sweep to my revenge.”
Hamlet
Corruption
Simile

36. “Murder most foul, as in the best it is, / But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.”
Ghost
Human Mortality; Corruption
Simile

37. “From the table of my memory / I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records…. / And thy commandment all alone shall [be]... within the book and volume of my brain…”
Hamlet
Metaphor
Corruption or Weakness

38. “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain. …
“O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! ….. That one may smile and be a villain!”
Claudius
Repetition
Corruption

39. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Hamlet
Fate
Allusion

40. “The time is out of joint. O cursed spite
“The time is out of joint. O cursed spite! / That ever I was born to set it right!”
Hamlet
Couplet
Fate

41. Themes

42. Mortality, Fate, Corruption
Human Mortality
Hamlet must avenge his father’s death
Killing a king will probably result in Hamlet’s death
Fate
Killing Claudius will probably kill Hamlet
Hamlet is asked to accept his father’s death as fate, but the ghost tells him otherwise
Corruption
He must kill Claudius because Claudius murdered his father
Hamlet’s mother remarried too quickly

43. Soliloquy

44. Act 1 Scene 5 Pg. 61-62 O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?
And shall I couple hell? Oh, fie! Hold, hold, my heart,
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee!
Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee!
Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter. Yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!
My tables!—Meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark.
Act 1 Scene 5 Pg

45. Parody

46. Claudius Claudius couldn’t postpone
Claudius Claudius wanted the throne
All the brotherly love he should have had
Didn’t stop him from poisoning the king -- how sad!
Hamlet Hamlet saw the ghost
Hamlet Hamlet heard the most
Terrible news when his mom wed
Often kept Hamlet from going to bed
Gertrude Gertrude, why didn’t you tarry?
Gertrude Gertrude, why did you remarry?
All of the king’s men thought it was fine,
But Hamlet’s thoughts didn’t align