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Hamlet
Includes questions specifically asking about this Shakespeare play. Questions about the movie version should be placed under "Movies." Questions about Shakespeare should be placed under his category under Authors and Poets.
2,117 Questions
They are LIKE OMG
How many times had the ghost appeared when Hamlet opened?
Marcellus says to Horatio that the sight has been "twice seen of us", meaning that he and Barnardo have seen it twice before the play starts.
Who does Polonius plan to tell of Hamlet's behavior and his suspected cause?
Polonius plans to tell Claudius. Polonius believes that it is love that is driving Hamlet insane.
What does the ghost command him not to do in Hamlet?
The ghost tells Hamlet not to bother his mother.
What is Hamlet act 5 scene 1 line 260?
Hamlet to Laertes, who's choking him in his sister's freshly dug grave: "I prithee take they fingers from my throat." Hamlet naturally picked the least appropriate time possible to be polite.
In my Opinion its his realization that his "madness" has brought on so much death; that revenge is not worth all the turmoil.
Another opinion: it is when he is on the ship to England. He realizes that "there is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we may." There is no sense for him to try to wreak the perfect revenge on Claudius--he must seize the moment and go with the flow. Up to that point he has been overthinking and overplanning everything, thinking that he will be able to control events so well that he can arrange for Claudius not only to die, but to go to hell as well.
Why does laertes and polonius caution ophelia about Hamlets interest her?
Laertes says because Hamlet is prince, he can be requried to enter into marriages for political reasons. Even if he loves her, Hamlet has no control over who he marries. Polonius says that Ophelia is one of Hamlet's "phases" and he doesn't truly love her. He thinks he's just interested in her body.
Hamlet is asking for the people who are objecting the proposal raised.
The other day I read To be or not to be (Shakespeare) -From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2012/05 / 23) which I had happened to print out. It says in Interpretation that the third main point of disagreement about this speech is what the apparent theme of endurance vs. action (" to suffer..or..take arms ") has to do with being and nonbeing, and is further elaborated as follows, "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer...Or to take arms…" seems clearly to ask whether it is better to be stoically passive to life's troubles or heroically active against them. The trouble is how this relates to 'to be or not to be' ...
There is a considerable disagreement over the very question presented here in Interpretation ( how the theme of the whether clause relates to 'to be or not to be'), and I do not think that this quite reasonable question is attached as much importance as it should be.
The following is my interpretation of the first few lines of Hamlet's famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy, (To be, or not to be: that is the question:/ Whether 'tis nobler ~/And by opposing end them? [ To die: to sleep; / No more;]).
I would appreciate it very much if I could have any comments on it.
First of all, I assume that 'to be' means 'to live, to exist, to be alive, or to continue to exist' and 'not to be' 'to die, to cease to exist, or to commit suicide' and that in this soliloquy Hamlet uses 'to be' to allude to life and action and 'not to be' to death and inaction, though he is not talking directly about himself and thinking more generally about life or death; and I discuss the question on the premise that this assumption is correct.
The whether clause, which is most probably an amplification, seems generally thought to have much the same meaning as a common Japanese translation of this part: 'Which is nobler, to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?' But it is unreasonable and I do not agree, because 'To be, or not to be: that is the question.' and 'Whether 'tis nobler ~to suffer ~ , or to take ~?' are then two different questions that have different meanings, and the whether clause does not function as a consistent elaboration on the question of whether to continue to exist or not. I will give a supplementary explanation below.
In my judgment, the "or" in line 1 does not parallel the "or" in line 4, and to suffer ~ and to take ~ are two contrasting examples used to explain 'to be', and there is little doubt that Hamlet uses 'to be' to allude to life and action and 'not to be' to death and inaction (like killing himself with a bare dagger)(ll.20-21). 'Not to be' does not imply life and action as some think it does, much less heroic action (like taking arms ~and end them)(ll.4-5); it means death without doing anything.
Besides, as is clearly shown by a certain Japanese translation ( Which way of life is nobler, to suffer ~, or to take arms ~ ? ), to suffer ~ and to take arms ~ are both ways of life -courses of action open for Hamlet in his present difficult situation, though noticeably different from each other, stoically passive vs. heroically active. Thus the question of whether to continue to exist or not is again totally different from the question of which is nobler of the two ways of living - two courses of action; there is no logical connection between the two.
My (grammatical) interpretation of the whether clause is as follows. Although the pronoun 'it' in 'tis indicates to suffer ~ and to take arms ~ , the whole clause does not mean 'Which is nobler, to suffer ~ , or to take arms ~?' It means 'Is to be nobler (than not to be)?', that is to say, ' Is to suffer ~, or to take arms ~ ( no matter which ) really nobler ( than to die )?' Taken literally, 'to take arms ~' obviously implies life and action, and that heroic action, ("though perhaps with the loss of life") and does not equal 'not to be' as some think it does. So the equivalence is between 'to be' and 'to suffer ~, or to take arms ~' and between 'not to be' and 'To die' (l.5), which is the other alternative not expressed but understood in the whether clause. Thus I do not think, as some do, that Hamlet, without any sort of transition, suddenly starts to contemplate death. He merely begins to talk about the other alternative of nonbeing after talking about the alternative of being; and therefore the whether clause and 'To die: to sleep; / No more;' fit together well and logically and they form a united whole.
I think this is the only way to make the whether clause a more consistent elaboration on the question of whether to continue to exist or not, and that "Shakespearean grammar" would permit this explanation.
In act 3 when Hamlet speaks to Ophelia what show is that he has lost faith in her?
He realises that she has lied to him about her father not being there and that she has betrayed him
How many tricks and poisons does it take to kill Hamlet?
Laertes had planned to kill Hamlet by fencing with him with a real pointed sword, not a harmless one with a button on the end. He has also poisoned the end of the sword. The idea is that Laertes is a better swordsman and will be able to skewer Hamlet with the poisoned rapier.
Unfortunately for him, Hamlet is actually the better swordsman. It looks like Laertes is never going to touch him within the context of a duel. Thus Laertes abandons the polite conventions of duelling, and with the line "Have at you now!" attacks Hamlet in earnest. This does enable him to wound Hamlet, but in the scramble Hamlet gets hold of the pointy rapier and fatally wounds Laertes as well.
Some productions show Laertes actually stabbing Hamlet in the back, but the above is more consistent with the text.
How do you hack into a mi6 computer?
go to the MI6 website.
go to 'contacts' then open the 'request' screen.
This is the tricky and you must remember to type very carefully.
There will be a trace program running while you type and if you miss out even one letter or skip a space, the program will know and will trigger the alarm system and you'll have a knock on the door quicker than you can say 'Thomas Anderson'.
Ok, let's go.
Type the following very carefully. You have 7 seconds.
"Please let me in, oh nice MI6 computer, I would really like to hack into your system, thank you ever so much"
There you go, wasn't so hard was it?
Did you really think anybody would ever tell you how to hack MI6??!!
And what would you do with the info anyway??!! Sell it?? ..to who?!!
Is the play written by Shakespeare Hamlet a silent play?
No. Most of the characters in the play have speaking parts, although there are Lords, guardsmen and others mentioned in the stage directions who do not speak. However, as part of the play-within-a-play, Shakespeare wrote a prologue to the play called a "dumb-show" which is in fact a "silent play"--the actors do not speak. So in that sense a part of Hamlet is indeed a silent play.
Who reveals that Claudius is the villain in Hamlet?
The Ghost. But Hamlet had already cast Claudius in this role, as can be seen in his line "O my prophetic soul! Mine uncle!". Although Claudius is certainly a murderer, and a wrongdoer, he is much more sympathetic when we do not look at him through Hamlet or his father's eyes.
What hasty actions does Shakespeare's Hamlet make?
He hears someone behind the curtains in his mother's room and he stabs first and asks questions ("Is it the king?") later. He switches the sealed orders carried by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on a moment's thought. When the ship is attacked by pirates, Hamlet boards the pirate ship without finding out whether anyone else is going to follow him.
That depends on usage. A hamlet, referring to a small town, would be a common noun. While Hamlet, referring to the name of Shakespeare's play, would be a proper noun.
Why is Ophelia's funeral so brief and unceremonious?
"Her death was doubtful" says the churlish priest that is conducting the funeral. There is a strong suspicion that she committed suicide. Yes, I know Gertrude said it was pure accident, but she could have been lying to spare Laertes's feelings. In Catholic practise, a person who commits suicide cannot be given a proper burial or be buried in consecrated ground.
Does The King in hamlet not at all regret his crime?
no he doesnt regret anything at all i believe the only thing he regrets is not doing it sooner.
Denmark. You can get this from the title of the play: "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark".
What is Hamlets suggestion of suicide in the play Hamlet?
Well there are so many speeches where he talks about suicide. All of his monologues discuss it.
- "to be or not to be, that is the question"
To be, or not to be--that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortuneOr to take arms against a sea of troublesAnd by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--No more--and by a sleep to say we endThe heartache, and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to.
- He talks about depression here and how he wishes to die.
O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Why are there no soliloquies in Act V in Hamlet?
Hamlet has matured and is ready to take action after his experience with the pirates. But this does not make him any less discursive. His speech "Alas, poor Yorick" is just like a soliloquy. So is "To what base uses we may return, Horatio" and "There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow." The only reason they are not soliloquies is that Hamlet is never alone in Act 5. He would be saying these things to himself if Horatio was not constantly at his side.
This is a track from Jacques Lousiier "Play Bach 2" side 2 track 3 , simply called "Aria"
I have the album, but my old hi-fi rig has difficulties currently, with an earth loop causing hum.
The available " air on a G-Sting rendering is nothing like as good as the original.
