OK, so here's your chance to have the "last word" on Hamlet. (Well, not really, but I like the way that sounds.) Since Hamlet is arguably the most quotable and oft-quoted play of the most quotable and oft-quoted writer in the English language, I'd like to hear your favorite quote from the play. That is, what's the play's most meaningful or most memorable passage to you and why? (Note: If you say "To be or not to be," you will be automatically barred from further participation on this blog due to lameness of response.)
22 comments:
"to a nunnery" is my favorite quote from Hamlet. you can see the crazy hamlet just in those 3 words and the way they can be interpreted. he goes INSANE in the film versions at this point. okay i lied i only saw one film version of this scene, it was the newest one where hamlet wore a sweet winter hat. hamlet seems relatively normal, albeit extremely odd and on the verge of psychopathic, okay i meant he seems more normal before he goes off on a rant about ophelia being a whore. i dont remember another time in the entire play where hamlet's insanity is more clearly evident. plus i have an overactive imagination so every time i read that i imagine hamlet screaming it in different voices, and i must admit...its really funny.
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads.
And recks not his own rede.
--Ophelia, scene I.iii
I myself would have thought that my favorite quote would have come from Hamlet, or at least in later acts of the play. But as I was going through some of the passages I had highlighted, I could not get away from this quote by Ophelia. I feel that this is when Ophelia is at her best, both mentally and verbally, and her message is clear. This is the one time, I feel, where she is displayed stronger than the rest of the play would lead us to believe. Later on she is a tool for her father, followed by her insanity and suicide. Then, she had no sane clarity to her words as meaningful as they were. But here, she says what she means easily. And honestly, I love her display of hypocrisy in the church, especially since that is not a major theme in Hamlet.
Oh, and although it is not my favorite quote, this is my favorite scene, because it is hilarious:
Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
Ophelia: No, my lord.
Hamlet: I mean, my head upon your lap?
Ophelia: Ay, my lord.
Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters?
--scene III.ii
I hate to sound unoriginal but i agree with Michelle on her favorite quote. This is an important scene for Ophelia because it is one of the only parts of the play where she really speaks her mind. However, this is my favorite quote because i feel like i can connect to it on a personal level. Hypocrites are one of my biggest pet peeves. Nobody has any right to tell somebody else what they should do and preach these big ideas, to only turn around and do the exact opposite and ignore their own advice in the end. Laertes is a perfect example of this and i congratulate Ophelia on telling him off. I'm a big believer in saying what you mean and meaning what you say so i can definitely relate to Ophelia in this quote.
My favorite part of “Hamlet” is when he meets the ghost. Hamlet cries out “O my prophetic soul!” (I.v.40). This sets the play up from the very beginning. It seems as though Hamlet has been thinking that his father’s murder was indeed “unnatural,” and this is the proof that he wants to hear. He vows “The time is out of joint: O cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right!” (I.v.189–190). This will all add to the humming and hawing that Hamlet does about whether to revenge the death or not. The fact that it all stemmed from a possible reliable source is quite comical. It adds to Hamlet’s tragedy that he stoops so low to listen to a ghost.
For some reason, Polonius's aside in Act 2 scene 2 when talking to Hamlet is a quote I always remember when thinking about this play: "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." The statement acknowledges that even though Polonius is convinced Hamlet is crazy, he still has to admit that there is an art to what Hamlet is saying. Nothing Hamlet does is without a purpose and everything he says is meant to decieve his audience. For Polonius, he puts on an act making fun of Polonius, knowing that he is a minion of King Claudius. The quote also reflects the audiences perception of the play. We see chaotic speech and events that at first puzzle us as to their purpose, but then we realize that there is a method to Shakespeares work meant to not be easily understood. For example, the "to be or not to be" speech seems like Hamlet's madness sinking in, but if you really analyze the quote, it shows Hamlet questioning what to do in life. The quote is said close to the beginning of the play, but its idea really permeates throughout the play.
My favorite quote would have to be, "I will speak daggers to her, but use none." This quote is so important because it stresses how Hamlet will not harm his mother in any way physically but only emotionaly. Throughout the play Hamlet grows to be completely mad but he does not hurt his mother by murdering her as he did to others but by speaking of the murder of his father and telling her that Claudius was the one who in fact killed her late husband. Although Gertrude has technically betrayed Hamlet in marrying Claudius, Hamlet is still attached to his mother in this play(this can draw back the Oedipus complex in some ways). He only wants his mother to know what a liar and evil man Claudius really is. He remains truthful to this quote throughout the play.
I have to say one of my favorite parts of the entire play is Hamlet's first soliloquy, where we see Hamlet expressing his heart and mind about the recent events taken place in his life. My favorite quote is the last line in his speech "But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue." To me this can be taken to a completely emotional level, rather than sarcastic like some of Hamlet's comments directed at the King-- Hamlet is delving into his grief and in both his father's death and mother's remarriage. In this quote Hamlet wishes to pour out the inner workings of his heart and he is not able to--he has just been told to suck it up and be a man by his mom and the king. Realizing he has no one to share his heart with, Hamlet is physically and emotionally beaten down and realizes his heart will "break" since he cannot express his feelings aloud.
There is such an abundace of quotes in "Hamlet" that it's almost imposible to decide. Polonius's quotes are funny in a flowery, senile-old-man type of way. Great for randomly pulling out in conversation. But since I don't feel like searching, I'll just refer to my favorite sweet "nothings" that crazy Ophelia said. When she was singing about sex, that was my favorite part! (especially in the movie we saw in class) It was just so creeeeeepy! "Young men will do it when they come to it/by cock they are to blame"? "Before you tumbled me/you promised me to wed"? Its so perversely hilarious (especially since it rhymes). Somehow I always picture Ophelia "tumbling" in a dryer! This quote does so much justice to her character. She finally is able to express herself, let out all of her demons and emotions, even if she's crazy. She couldn't have acted more appropriately before her death.
It was a hard process to narrow down my favorite quote from Hamlet because I had two that I really found interesting. My first consideration was Hamlet's "Frailty thy name is woman" in Act 1 Scene 2 lines 142-146, but discussing that would only lead to me being called a sexist pig, again. (Dr. G called me a sexist pig last year in his Chemistry class). So I decided I would go with my second pick:
"A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear."
--Hamlet Act 4 Scene 2 Line 21
The context of this quote is when Rosencrantz is trying to get out of Hamlet where the body of Polonius is. Hamlet refers to him as a sponge who sucks up the king's rewards, influences, and favors. When Rosencrantz does understand the joke Hamlet makes, Hamlet replies with the above quote. In modern English, it means essentially that satire is wasted on idiots. I find this unbelievably true. The feeble-minded are always the end of puns and jokes. But when they don't get the comedy of it, the humor was essentially a waste of effort. Not everyone's wits match that of the gravedigger's.
One of my my favorite quotes in the play is: "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below / Words without thoughts never to heaven go". In this scene, Claudius is, in a sense, repenting his sins while kneeling. I like this quote because it reflects not only Claudius's character but also Hamlet's. Throughout the play, Hamlet is very indecisive and his words "fly up" whenever he gets fired up and wants to act, but his thoughts "remain below"--he never truly convinces himself to take revenge (even though he has sudden outbursts of firing up). Now that I think about it, it kind of reflects Polonius's character and how he is wordy and makes long introductions in an attention-drawing way...but his thoughts are not that noble in the first in place.
My favorite quote from Hamlet comes from the gravedigger scene in Act v. scene 1 where Hamlet says, "'Tis e'en so. The hand of little employment hath the daintier sense." this is my favorite quote because I believe it is completely true. Hamlet is saying how a person can only be truly sensitive if they dont have to work. that the gravedigger is able to sing while digging graves because he has become so used to it that the depression of death and the job doesnt bother him anymore. it is human nature to become accustomed to something you do everyday and therefore if you dig graves everyday you are no longer sensitive to the sadness that comes with the job. this goes for all jobs, once a doctor has performed enough surgeries they are no longer sensitive to the sight of blood or gore. so basically i love this quote because i believe it is said in one of the best parts of the play and also because i believe it is one of the most factual things Hamlet ever says.
My favorite qoute in hamlet is "Ay madam it is common" (ACT1 SCENE2)because hamlet cunningly tells his mother in front of the whole court that he thinks what she has done is vulgar. He basically calls her out on marrying her husband's brother right after his death in front of everyone and she deserved it so good move Hamlet! Also i just like that whole scene in general because of the secret coded verbal battle between Claudius and Hamlet.
For me, the most memorable part of Hamlet is when Ophelia goes insane. So obviously, one of my favorite lines of this play comes from her after the death of her father. My favorite line from her is, "Well, God'ield you! They say the owl was a baker's daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be." Act IV, scence V. This is my favorite line because she comes to the realization of what she believes she is, what Hamlet leads her to believe. But the best part of this line is that the crazy one is giving advice to the one's who are supposed to be "normal". This stuck to me because it reminded me of a drunk in a bar being philosophical to all those who are sober and supposed to be smarter than the drunk. I just really adored the irony in this line.
"...What devil was't
That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all..." (3.4.77-80)
This quote is taken from the bedroom scene, where Hamlet confronts his mother following the performance of the players. In my opinion, it is among the most powerful quotes in Hamlet. I love the way in which the prince cleverly degrades his mother. He boldly states that Gertrude has aligned herself with the devil, as he has "blindfolded" her. The blindfold itself relates to the expression "blind love," hinting that the queen has blindly attached herself to Claudius, failing to consider what she truly feels (is she in love at all?) or what is best for her son. Hamlet classifies Gertrude's absence of feeling as an absence of nearly all senses to connect with both herself and those around her. His remarks are especially humiliating since the only things that have no sense is this world are inanimate objects, like rocks. The intense emotions of hatred and rage expressed in the quote seem to linger throughout the play long after the bedroom scene concludes. It is this enduring quality that sets these lines apart from others in Hamlet.
My favorite quote is from Hamlet's first soliloquy Act 1 scene ii. In it he contemplates suicide for the first time, weighing the pros and cons of committing such an act. It is from this quote we first learn that Hamlet is much more upset about his mother's marriage than his father's death. In this quote, Hamlet foreshadows the most important themes of the coming scenes: incest, commenting that his mother moved "with such dexterity to incestuous sheets", and what the marriage represents for Denmark, "it is not nor it cannot come to good."
One of my favorites is:
"What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, how like an angel in aprehension, how like a God! The beauty of the world, paragon of animals; and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dusk. Man delights not me, no, nor women neither, nor women neither."
There is so much intentional confusion in that quote. It's part of what Shakespeare is trying to get across in Hamlet's character. Hamlet starts off by saying how wonderful human beings are but finishes by comparing them to dust and saying he does not find any "delight" in them. It seems like he is asking why despite the fact that human being are so wonderful, does he not fancy them. It's funny ;)
"To be or not to be" is my favorite quote of course. Just Kidding.
My Favoite quote is when Hamlet calls Polonious a "Fishmonger" I love this becouse well let's face it i like romance and for me this is just about the only time in the entire play where Hamlet stands up for Ophelia so to speak. I feel as thought this is Hamlet being "mean" for lack of a better word to Polonious because Polonious is always mean to Ophelia
My favorite quote would have to be during the dialog between the gravedigger and Hamlet:
Hamlet:
Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of
earth we make loam; and why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel?
I like this quote the best because it best shows the eventual result of us all, that no matter how great we are in life, we are no match for death and worms. It embodies the idea of Carpe Diem because if we do not enjoy life, what is the point of living since we are all destined to die and turn to dust? This idea of dust to dust and ashes to ashes is simply the quote that resonates the most with me.
Previous Comment was Mine, sorry
My favorite Hamlet quote is said by Polonius: "To thine own self be true." -Act 1, Scene 3
This is advice that Polonius gives Laertes during his speech in Act 1. It fits in so well with the play, because so many times we see characters who deceive everyone, including themselves, by being two-faced. However, I love this line because it fits in with life. Such a minor character utters such big words, and I believe them. If you lie to yourself about how you feel/what you believe, that usually means you are avoiding something in your life because it's scary, difficult, or confusing. You need to be true to yourself before you can love, make decisions, or help other people. Finding the truth within you is something David Thoreau did (and thinks we should all do, although it's a bit difficult to seclude yourself to the woods for a year or two). What is the truth about each of us? It's different for each of us, and it's our duty to find it.
Thought I'd let you in on my new fave (it changes weekly): "a fellow of infinite jest ..." (Hamlet to Horatio re: Yorick in V,i). Here's why: The other day, I was talking with Nat Bat, who informed me of the suicide of David Foster Wallace (I hadn't heard of this). He authored the classic postmodern epic Infinite Jest, which I've never read, and, cluelessly, had never traced to the Hamlet quote! So I thank you, Natalie, for pointing that out, and I think I may put Infinite Jest on my winter reading list.
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