Hamlet

Probably the first line of Hamlet's soliloquy:

To be, or not to be, - that is the question: - Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? - To die, to sleep, -

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, - 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; -

To sleep, perchance to dream: - ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death, -

The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, - puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know naught of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;

And enterprises of great pith and moment,

With this regard, their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.

Two cannibals were eating a clown,one says to the other "Does this taste funny to you?" Now that is an example of a great British joke. The most highly developed sense of humour in the world! bar none.

Laertes asks Hamlet to forgive him for killing him. In exchange, he offers to forgive Hamlet for killing him (and perhaps also his father and sister.) This may be just so he can die in peace or it may have some bearing on where the two end up in the afterlife.

He does two important things. The first is to name Claudius as the killer, finally allowing Hamlet to kill him honorably. The second is to make peace with Hamlet and "exchange forgiveness," which in the complex spiritual framework of the play might mean that the two of them get to avoid the hellish fate that King Hamlet suffered and that most of the dead characters presumably get.

I believe the beard was grizzled. and grey.

the ghost is a warning of impending DOOM for denmark and thinks it will come in the form of a military attack...k?

He never says so, although it is certainly one possibility. Claudius is very cautious about diagnosing Hamlet's behaviour problem, unlike Polonius. Probably Claudius is worried that Hamlet may suspect the truth about the murder.

They are not. Gertrude does say that she hoped Ophelia and Hamlet would marry, but she didn't bother saying that while Ophelia was alive, so she was hardly eager. Polonius told Ophelia to give Hamlet the cold shoulder, since he thought Hamlet was only trying to get into her pants. He did not want Hamlet to fall for Ophelia at all (and he sure didn't think he would do so), but he comes to the conclusion later that Hamlet has in fact fallen in love with Ophelia. He's not exactly happy about that, but what he is happy about is that he can 1) be the first to tell the king, thus making him look smart, and 2) use Ophelia as bait to find out more about Hamlet.

Ophelia sings a number of songs in Hamlet.

"Tomorrow is St. Valentine's day

All in the morning betime,

And I a maid at your window

To be your Valentine.

Then up he rose and donned his clothes

And dupped the chamber door:

Let in the maid that out a maid

Never departed more."

This is a song about loss of innocence, and sexual betrayal.

"And will a not come again?

And will a not come again?

Oh, no, he is dead, go to thy deathbed

He never will come again."

This is a song of mourning for her father.

"How should I your true love know

From another one

By his cockle hat and staff

And his sandal shoon."

This is a song both of love and of death. The image of a lover as a pilgrim is also found in Romeo and Juliet. The second verse is about the death of a loved one.

"They bore him barefaced on the bier

Hey non nonny nonny hey nonny

And in his grave rained many a tear . . ."

Another mourning song.

"For bonny sweet Robin is all of my joy."

Another love song.

family obligations versus self-interest

autonomy versus submission to authority

hamlet usually have a denser population to a village and villages usually have a few commercial buildings like a pub, shop or post office.

Hamlet asks the players to perform a specific play containing the murder of Gonzago. He also requests that they insert specific lines that he created himself.

ophelia

Before Hamlet enters his mother's chamber, Polonius is having a discussion with Hamlet's mother Gertrude. As Hamlet enters the room, Polonius conceals himself behind a tapestry hanging from the wall. When he hears Gertrude begin to feel threatened by Hamlet, he cries out for help, thinking that he would kill them both. Hamlet hears Polonius, and believes him to be a rat/spy (possibly even King Claudius, but it is unclear if he truly believes this). Hamlet stabs through the tapestry killing Polonius, who remarks "O, I am slain".

To spy on him. First of all he wants to spy on him when interacting with Ophelia, and when this fails to support his theory, he wants to spy on him while interacting with Gertrude.

Not exactly. Fortinbras is transporting his army to Poland. Hamlet enters as they pass and questions one of the soldiers in the army as to what is going on. But he doesn't actually talk to Fortinbras himself. Fortinbras leaves the stage as Hamlet comes on.

I think I know the play pretty well, but I can't think of any "decoration" in Queen Gertrude's "closet" [her study and sewing room]. Maybe the question refers to these lines: "Look here, upon this picture, and on this, / The counterfeit presentment of two brothers." In these lines Hamlet refers to two pictures of two brothers: King Hamlet (Hamlet's father) and King Claudius (Hamlet's uncle). In performance, those pictures are sometimes represented as pictures on the wall of Queen Gertrude's closet, but they can also be represented as lockets, with Queen Gertrude's locket containing the picture of King Claudius, and Hamlet's locket containing the picture of his father, King Hamlet.

He tells him that he knew him, and that he was a fellow of most infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. In other words, he was a funny guy. He also used to carry Hamlet piggyback when Hamlet was a child.

None. You can play the portion of the Act 3 Scene 1 which consists of the famous speech without any props at all. If you are going to do the whole scene, (usually called the Nunnery Scene, because of Hamlet's repeated line "Get thee to a nunnery!") some kind of prop is needed at Ophelia's line, "Their perfume lost, take these again, for to the noble mind rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. There, my lord." Ophelia has to give Hamlet something at this point.

That is not to say that a prop might not be helpful. Sir Derek Jacobi, when playing Hamlet, looked at the picture of his father in his locket when saying the line "death, the undiscovered country from which no traveller returns" which makes one consider that line and indeed the whole speech in a different light. But such a prop is not necessary.

2 parts to this question... To get rid of Hamlet, King Claudius first sends Hamlet to Englan along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with a letter that requests putting Hamlet to death. This plan fails because Hamlet finds out and switches the letter resulting in the death of its carrier (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). When he comes back.. the King tries to get rid of him by 1. Putting poisin in his drink (but fails and Gertrude ends up drinking it). 2. Poisining Laertes' sowrd so he would kill Hamlet while fighting, and he succeeds. (But of course that happens after Hamlet finds out and kills the King)

He wasn't happy because the murder in the play was so similar to the one he had committed. Whether he is disturbed, or angry, or confused, or frightened depends on the actor and the director.

He tells Horatio to "draw his breath in pain," to tell Hamlet's story.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - both who end up dead.

Gertrude, Hamlets mother.