10 E Hamlet Required Reading

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Hamlet Required Reading

You are required to read the following excerpts. You should know the background, contents andbe able to explain how the lines reflect character, plot, and/or theme. Feel free to use any notesnecessary in order to be able to discuss the lines accurately.For those of you unfamiliar with play notation it goes Act, Scene, Line. Act and scene are alsolisted on the top of each page of your book.I ii 1 - 16I ii 67 - 86I v 40 - 91I v 165 - 180II i 75 - 85II ii 1 - 18

Suggested Text

: No Fear ShakespeareHamlet ISBN 1586638440III i 36 – 69III ii 77 - 88III iii 22 - 39III iii 51-56III i 90 – 120IV vii 129 - 138IV v 174 – 185V ii 266 - EndWebsite for Hamlet:www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/

ACT I. SCENE II.

Lines: 1-16

Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE,HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND,CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants

KING CLAUDIUS

Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother'sdeath The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief and our wholekingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe, Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature That we with wisest sorrow think on him, Together with remembrance of ourselves. Therefore our sometime sister, now ourqueen, The imperial jointress to this warlike state,Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,--With an auspicious and a dropping eye,With mirth in funeral and with dirge inmarriage,In equal scale weighing delight and dole,-- Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd Your better wisdoms, which have freely goneWith this affair along. For all, our thanks.

Lines: 67-86

HAMLET

67 Not so, my lord; I am too much i' thesun.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

68 Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,69And let thine eye look like a friend onDenmark.70Do not for ever with thy vailèd lids71 Seek for thy noble father in the dust:72Thou know'st 'tis common; all that livesmust die,73 Passing through nature to eternity.

HAMLET

74 Ay, madam, it is common.

QUEEN

74 If it be,75Why seems it so particular with thee?

HAMLET

76 Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not"seems."77 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, goodmother,78 Nor customary suits of solemn black,79Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,80No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,81Nor the dejected havior of the visage,82 Together with all forms, moods, shapesof grief,83 That can denote me truly: these indeedseem,84For they are actions that a man mightplay:85 But I have that within which passethshow;86These but the trappings and the suits of woe.80No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,81Nor the dejected havior of the visage,82 Together with all forms, moods, shapesof grief,83 That can denote me truly: these indeedseem,84For they are actions that a man mightplay:85 But I have that within which passethshow;86These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

ACT I. SCENE V.Lines: 40-91

HAMLET

40 O my propheticsoul!41 My uncle?

GHOST

42Ay, that incestuous, that adulteratebeast,43 With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorousgifts—44 O wicked wit and gifts, that have thepower45 So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust46 The will of my most seeming-virtuousqueen:47 O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!48 From me, whose love was of that dignity

49 That it went hand in hand even with thevow50 I made to her in marriage, and todecline51 Upon a wretch whose natural gifts werepoor52 To those of mine!53 But virtue, as it never will be moved,54Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,55 So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,56Will sate itself in a celestial bed,57 And prey on garbage.58 But, soft! methinks I scent the morningair;59 Brief let me be. Sleeping within myorchard,60 My custom always of the afternoon,61Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,62With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,63 And in the porches of my ears did pour64The leperous distillment; whose effect65 Holds such an enmity with blood of man66That swift as quicksilver it coursesthrough67 The natural gates and alleys of thebody,68And with a sudden vigor doth posset69And curd, like eager droppings into milk,70The thin and wholesome blood: so did itmine;71And a most instant tetter bark'd about,72Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsomecrust,73 All my smooth body.74 Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother'shand75Of life, of crown, of queen, at oncedispatch'd:76 Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,77Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,78 No reckoning made, but sent to myaccount79 With all my imperfections on my head:80 O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!81If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;82 Let not the royal bed of Denmark be83A couch for luxury and damned incest.84 But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,85 Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soulcontrive86 Against thy mother aught: leave her toheaven87 And to those thorns that in her bosomlodge,88 To prick and sting her. Fare thee well atonce!89The glow-worm shows the matin to benear,90And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:91 Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me.

[Exit Ghost.]

Lines: 165-180

HAMLET

165And therefore as a stranger give itwelcome.166 There are more things in heaven andearth, Horatio,167Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.168 But come—169 Here, as before, never, so help youmercy,170 How strange or odd soe'er I bearmyself,171 As I perchance hereafter shall thinkmeet172To put an antic disposition on,173 That you, at such times seeing me,never shall,174With arms encumber'd thus, or thisheadshake,175Or by pronouncing of some doubtfulphrase,176As "Well, well, we know," or "We could,an if we would,"177Or "If we list to speak," or "There be, anif they might,"178Or such ambiguous giving out, to note179That you know aught of me—this not todo,180 So grace and mercy at your most needhelp you, Swear.

ACT II. SCENE ILines: 75-85OPHELIA

74My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,75Lord Hamlet, with his doublet allunbraced;76No hat upon his head; his stockingsfoul'd,77Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to hisankle;

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