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Polonius

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.

Conversely, if day follows night, somebody is being untrue to himself. Just after he has been false to himself by erasing himself from the book of his own brain, as the day is following the night, Hamlet says:

The time is out of joint.

Claudius

. . .our sometime sister, now our queen, The imperial jointress to this warlike state,

Marcellus

What might be toward, that this sweaty haste

Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:

Who is't that can inform me?

Horatio

That can I;

At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,

Whose image even but now appear'd to us,

. . . .

Bernardo

I think it be no other but e'en so:

Well may it sort that this portentous figure

Comes armed through our watch; so like the king

That was and is the question of these wars.

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Hamlet says this to close the first act of the play. He is talking to Horatio and Marcellus after forcing them to swear they would never tell anyone about seeing the ghost of his father. His first line, "the time is out of joint" echoes Marcellus's line which ends the previous scene, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." Except he does not say that the state is out of joint (that is to say, disjointed, unconnected, irrational) but rather that the time is. He is saying that things don't make sense like they used to do at a previous time. They are no longer in the world of the rational. Apparently there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in Horatio's and the University of Wittenburg's philosophy. As in ghosts."May you live in interesting times" is an apocryphal Chinese curse. Certainly Hamlet feels that he is cursed to live in such disjointed times, as he says "O cursed spite!". But he is cursed not only with the times but with a destiny."That I was ever born to set it right". Hamlet seems to believe that he has been destined since birth to correct the distemper of the times. Many people think that the disjointedness of the times, just like the rot that is in the state of Denmark, stems from Claudius's murder. That is why the ghost walks. But then if Hamlet was destined from birth to set things right, Claudius must have been destined from birth to set things wrong.What does Hamlet consider to be his job here? What would constitute "setting it right"? Is it only a matter of getting some kind of retributive justice by slaughtering uncle Claude? If it was so simple, what is holding it back? Or is it a matter of laying the ghost of his father by satisfying King Hamlet's thirst for revenge? Or is it a matter of Hamlet simply hating the way the world he lives in works, and wishing he could make the court at Denmark more like the safe and rational world in cloistered Wittenburg?

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Q: In Hamlet what does Hamlet mean when he says the time is out of joint?
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What recurring advice does Hamlet give to Ophelia?

Hamlet tells Ophelia to get to a nunnery. However, "nunnery" not only meant convent but was also slang for whorehouse. It's a matter of interpretation every time he says it which one he means, or whether he might mean both.


Where does Hamlet tell ophelia to go?

Hamlet tells Ophelia to get to a nunnery. However, "nunnery" not only meant convent but was also slang for whorehouse. It's a matter of interpretation every time he says it which one he means, or whether he might mean both.


You like Hamlet?

Do I like 'Hamlet'? As in the play? In which case, yes, I love it. I think it possibly the greatest story or play written EVER. But if you mean to I like the character of Hamlet then I would have to say that most of the time he doesn't appeal to me - he is a coward.


About how long has Hamlet's father been dead?

This is a tricky question. We know that it "followed hard upon" as Horatio says, but how soon after? In 3,2 Ophelia says it is twice two months, that is to say four months, since the King died but we do not know how much time has passed since the wedding when she says it. In his soliloquy in 1,2 Hamlet says "but two months dead, nay, not so much, not two", but later "within a month", "a little month" and "within a month" again. One suspects that he is exaggerating the shortness of the time to suit his anger at it (a good indication early on that what Hamlet says about the world is not necessarily to be trusted). Because this soliloquy happens in the same scene in which Claudius announces that he has "taken to wife" the queen, we may assume that there is no time between the wedding and scene 2 and Hamlet's soliloquy.We are left with the somewhat uncertain idea that the wedding was within two months of the death, but probably not less than a month, despite what Hamlet says.


What time period was it when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet?

Hamlet was written around 1600.

Related questions

In Hamlet what does Hamlet mean when he says 'The King is a thing'?

In Shakespeare's time, "thing" was slang for a penis. What women have, on the other hand, is "no thing" or "nothing". This puts a different slant on the title of the play "Much Ado about Nothing".Thus when Hamlet says to Horatio, "The King is a thing", Horatio is somewhat shocked by this lèse majesté and says "A thing, my Lord?". Hamlet pretends to have been using the more innocent meaning of the word by completing it with "of shreds and patches". But we know and Horatio knows what he really meant.


What recurring advice does Hamlet give to Ophelia?

Hamlet tells Ophelia to get to a nunnery. However, "nunnery" not only meant convent but was also slang for whorehouse. It's a matter of interpretation every time he says it which one he means, or whether he might mean both.


Where does Hamlet tell ophelia to go?

Hamlet tells Ophelia to get to a nunnery. However, "nunnery" not only meant convent but was also slang for whorehouse. It's a matter of interpretation every time he says it which one he means, or whether he might mean both.


You like Hamlet?

Do I like 'Hamlet'? As in the play? In which case, yes, I love it. I think it possibly the greatest story or play written EVER. But if you mean to I like the character of Hamlet then I would have to say that most of the time he doesn't appeal to me - he is a coward.


What does ophelia say when hamlet speaks of his father's death?

Claudius advises Hamlet to stop mourning his father's death and start celebrating the marriage between him and Hamlet's mother. He calls Hamlet's attitude"stubborn and unmanly." A little insensitive considering Hamlet's father has only been dead for 2 months at the time.


About how long has Hamlet's father been dead?

This is a tricky question. We know that it "followed hard upon" as Horatio says, but how soon after? In 3,2 Ophelia says it is twice two months, that is to say four months, since the King died but we do not know how much time has passed since the wedding when she says it. In his soliloquy in 1,2 Hamlet says "but two months dead, nay, not so much, not two", but later "within a month", "a little month" and "within a month" again. One suspects that he is exaggerating the shortness of the time to suit his anger at it (a good indication early on that what Hamlet says about the world is not necessarily to be trusted). Because this soliloquy happens in the same scene in which Claudius announces that he has "taken to wife" the queen, we may assume that there is no time between the wedding and scene 2 and Hamlet's soliloquy.We are left with the somewhat uncertain idea that the wedding was within two months of the death, but probably not less than a month, despite what Hamlet says.


What time period was it when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet?

Hamlet was written around 1600.


What does I had a blast mean?

It can either mean "had a very good time" or it can mean "smoked a joint" which is smoking weed - marijuana - pot.


How many months did Hamlet live after his fathers death?

At the play The Mousetrap Ophelia says it is "twice two months" since the senior Hamlet died. After that there is time for Hamlet to leave, for Laertes to hear in France that his father has died, and to return to Denmark, reconcile with Claudius, hear that Hamlet is returned, plan a fencing match and put it into motion: at least a couple of weeks more. It is about four-and-a-half months later.


In what time is 'hamlet' set?

1324


Who says the king of denmark is dead in hamlet?

Hamlet was not a real person, and he was never king of Denmark. The play Hamlet by Shakespeare is thought to be based on a story written by Saxo Grammaticus in 1200 AD called Vita Amlethi.Older written and oral traditions influenced Saxo's work.The play itself is set in a contemporary time, so the time of theevents in the play would be around 1600.


When Hamlet encounters Claudius alone in Act III scene iii he decides not to kill him because he is praying and killing him would?

Hamlet tells the audience that he does not want to give Claudius the opportunity to absolve himself of all his sins before he dies. He says that to kill Claudius then would mean that Claudius would die a guiltless death, which is exactly what Hamlet did not want. He wanted to avenge his father by killing Claudius in the same way in which Old Hamlet was killed: unprepared and unforgiven for all of his outstanding sins. This is what Hamlet tells the audience, but it is also probably an example of Hamlet's inability to take action. Hamlet is presented with a perfect opportunity to avenge his father, and he comes up with an excuse as to why it is not the right time. The question is whether or not Hamlet is ready to take his life, not whether or not Claudius is going to have a sinless death.