1. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Act I
Hamlet by William Shakespeare

2. Act I Synopsis
Scene 1: The ghost appears to Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio. They agree to tell Hamlet about it.
Scene 2: Claudius addresses his court. Hamlet’s soliloquy regarding anger and depression occurs.
Scene 3: There is a lot of advice giving - Laertes to Ophelia, Polonius to Laertes, and Polonius to Ophelia.

3. Act I Synopsis
Scene 4: Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus wait for the ghost. The ghost appears and beckons Hamlet to go with it - Hamlet follows the ghost.
Scene 5: The ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius using poison. The ghost instructs Hamlet to avenge his death by killing Claudius, but to leave Gertrude alone. Hamlet tells Marcellus and Horatio that he may need to put on an antic disposition and forces them to swear to secrecy.

4. Exposition (The 5 Act Play)
Setting: Denmark, Elsinore Castle (inside at court and outside on the ramparts), dark, spooky, 1600s Elizabethan England.
Characters: Bernardo, Claudius, Marcellus, Horatio, Polonius, Hamlet, Ophelia, Gertrude, King Hamlet (ghost), Laertes, and Francisco.
Inciting Incident: The ghost tells Hamlet he is King Hamlet and he has been murdered, that is was Claudius who did it, and that he must be avenged.

5. Act I Characters
Hamlet: The Prince of Denmark, son of the late King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude.
The Ghost: The ghost of the late King Hamlet. Married to Gertrude and brother to Claudius before his passing. Tells Hamlet to seek revenge against Claudius for killing him.
Claudius: The King of Denmark, The brother to the late King Hamlet now married to his widow, Queen Gertrude.
Gertrude: The Queen of Denmark. Widow of King Hamlet now married to Claudius.
Horatio: Hamlet’s friend and confidant. The voice of reason.

6. Act I Characters
Polonius: Father of Ophelia and Laertes. An advisor to Claudius.
Laertes: The son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia.
Ophelia: The daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes. Has romantic feelings for Hamlet (“girlfriend”). An example of innocence and goodness in the play.
Fortinbras: Prince of Norway. Planning to reclaim lost lands in Denmark to avenge his father’s death (His father, King Fortinbras of Norway was killed by Hamlet’s father). A foil character to Hamlet.

7. Act I Characters
Bernardo: Danish soldier. On top of the tower with Horatio during the night watch.
Marcellus: Danish soldier. On top of the tower with Horatio during the night watch.
Reynaldo: Servant to Polonius.

9. Theme, Tone, and Mood Mood: Mysterious and suspenseful Tone: Dark
Uncertain
Tortured
Theme:
Appearance vs. reality
Retribution and honour
Tone is set by the setting, choice of vocabulary and other details. Mood is the general atmosphere created by the author's words. It is the feeling the reader gets from reading those words.

10. Important Points! There are 5 acts in Hamlet
Hamlet was written between
The ghost (Hamlet Sr.) accuses his brother, Claudius, murdering him by poison.
The ghost (Hamlet Sr.) asks Hamlet to seek revenge for his murder, but asks that he doesn’t harm Queen Gertrude.
No one at the royal court knows how King Hamlet was killed/
Hamlet decides to seek revenge, but does not act immediate as a way to “play his cards right”.
Hamlet and Ophelia have interacted prior to the play and see each other as “boyfriend and girlfriend,” but Polonius forbids Ophelia to continue to see Hamlet.
Hamlet is the protagonist and Claudius is the antagonist.

11. Quiz Review

12. Quiz Review
The author, the date it was written, the number of acts, and the system for identifying passages in the play.
The characters that are introduced in the first act.
The setting.
The initiating incident (3 details).
Terms:
Antic Disposition: acting mad or crazy.
Soliloquy: an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud by oneself.

13. Quotes This above all: A piece of advice Polonius gives to Laertes.
to thine own self be true
A piece of advice Polonius gives to Laertes.

14. Quotes
This quote is said by Hamlet during one of his soliloquies. Hamlet is referring to this mother and suggesting that all women are false in their emotions.
Frailty thy name is woman.

15. Quotes Have we, as ‘twere with a defeated joy,
With on auspicious and a
dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral and
dirge in marriage.
Who is the speaker?
What is the significance of the quote?
Claudius
My grief is great for the loss of my brother. We all mourn him. It is with sorrow and joy that I married my sister-in-law.

16. Who is the speaker? Claudius
My grief is great for the loss of my brother. We all mourn him. It is with sorrow and joy that I married my sister-in-law.

17. Quotes Or that the everlasting had not fix’d His cannon against self-
laugher! God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and
unprofitable
Seems to me all the uses
of this world.
Who is the speaker?
What is the significance of the quote?
Hamlet
His 1st soliloquy
We learn that Hamlet is suicidal, he is sad as wishes he was dead but he cannot kill himself because it is a sin.

18. Who is the speaker? Hamlet
In Hamlet’s 1st soliloquy. We learn that Hamlet is suicidal. He is sad as wishes he was dead, but he cannot kill himself because it is a sin.

19. Quotes But, in the gross and scope of my opinion, Who is the speaker?
This bodes some strange
eruption to our state.
Who is the speaker?
What is the significance of the quote?
Horatio
A bad omen upheaval in Denmark
Foreshadowing

20. Who is the speaker? Horatio A bad omen upheaval in Denmark.

21. Quotes A little more than kin, and Who is the speaker? less than kind.
What is the significance of the quote?
Hamet
He is talking about Claudius and his dislike for him - You may be family but you are not kind.
It asserts that he neither resembles Claudius in nature nor feels kindly to him.

22. Who is the speaker? Hamlet
He is talking about Claudius and his dislike for him - You may be family, but you are not kind. It asserts that he neither resembles Claudius in nature nor feels kindly to him.

23. Quotes Of life, of crown, of Who is the speaker? queen, at once
despatch’d
Who is the speaker?
What is the significance of the quote?
The ghost (Hamlet Sr.)
Because he was murdered he died without sacrament to absolve his sin. He is made to wander the earth from dusk until dawn until his sins are forgiven.

24. Who is the speaker? The ghost (Hamlet Sr.)
We learned that because he was murdered, he died without sacrament to absolve his sin. He is made to wander the earth from dusk until dawn until his sins are forgiven.

25. Quotes My lord, he hath Who is the speaker? importuned me with love
In honourable fashion.
Who is the speaker?
What is the significance of the quote?

26. Who is the speaker? Ophelia
She is talking about Hamlet - He was given her love in an honourable fashion.

27. Quotes She married-O most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to
incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor cannot be
good;
But break, my heart, for I
must hold my tongue!
Who is the speaker?
What is the significance of the quote?
Hamlet
His 1st soliloquy
Canon law (ecclesiastical law, especially (in the Roman Catholic Church) that laid down by papal pronouncements) considered marriage with deceased brother’s widow to be incestous.
Hamlet will not reveal how he feels

28. Who is the speaker? Hamlet
In Hamlet’s 1st soliloquy. Canon law (ecclesiastical law, especially in the Roman Catholic Church, that laid down by papal pronouncements) considered marriage with deceased brother’s widow to be incestous.

29. Quotes The time is out of joint; O cursed spite,
that ever I was born to set
It right!
Who is the speaker?
What is the significance of the quote?

30. Who is the speaker? Hamlet
He is thanking his friends and cursing the enormity of the task ahead of him, but he is going to go through with it despite its enormity.