Hamlet: key quotation sheet (PDF)
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From the Hamlet study guide.
How to use this sheet
These are the 10 quotations from the Hamlet study guide, set out for revision. Part one gives each quotation with a plain-English reading and space for your own notes. Part two prints them again with a word missing from each line, so that you can test yourself.
- Read the quotation aloud twice. Sound helps memory more than staring does.
- In the note space, name one method (a device, a word choice, a feature of the verse) and the effect it has.
- Add one link: to a theme, to another moment in the text, or to a point of context.
- A day later, cover part one and complete part two from memory.
Part one: the quotations
But I have that within which passes show,
Hamlet · Act 1, Scene 2
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
Plain English: What I feel inside is beyond any outward display; black clothes are only the costume of grief.
Method and effect:
Links to:
O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,
Hamlet · Act 1, Scene 2
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
Plain English: I wish my stained body would simply dissolve into water and vanish.
Method and effect:
Links to:
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Marcellus · Act 1, Scene 4
Plain English: There is a deep corruption in this country.
Method and effect:
Links to:
The time is out of joint. O cursed spite
Hamlet · Act 1, Scene 5
That ever I was born to set it right!
Plain English: The age is dislocated like a bone, and it is my bad luck to be the one who has to reset it.
Method and effect:
Links to:
The play’s the thing
Hamlet · Act 2, Scene 2
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.
Plain English: I will use the performance as a trap to expose the King’s guilt.
Method and effect:
Links to:
To be or not to be - that is the question:
Hamlet · Act 3, Scene 1
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Plain English: To live or not to live: is it nobler to endure what fortune throws at us?
Method and effect:
Links to:
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below;
Claudius · Act 3, Scene 3
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
Plain English: I said the prayer but did not mean it, and empty words do not reach heaven.
Method and effect:
Links to:
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio - a fellow of infinite jest,
Hamlet · Act 5, Scene 1
Plain English: Poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio: a man of endless humour.
Method and effect:
Links to:
There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. ... The readiness is all.
Hamlet · Act 5, Scene 2
Plain English: Even a sparrow’s death is part of God’s design. What matters is to be ready.
Method and effect:
Links to:
Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
Horatio · Act 5, Scene 2
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Plain English: A noble heart breaks. Good night, dear prince; may angels sing you to your rest.
Method and effect:
Links to:
Part two: test yourself
Fill each gap from memory, then check against part one. Mark the ones you missed and come back to them tomorrow.
But I have that which passes show,
Hamlet · Act 1, Scene 2
These but the and the suits of woe.
O, that this too, too flesh would melt,
Hamlet · Act 1, Scene 2
Thaw, and itself into a dew,
is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Marcellus · Act 1, Scene 4
The time is out of joint. O spite
Hamlet · Act 1, Scene 5
That ever I was born to set it !
The the thing
Hamlet · Act 2, Scene 2
Wherein I’ll catch the of the King.
To be or not to be - that is the :
Hamlet · Act 3, Scene 1
’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of fortune,
My words fly up, my remain below;
Claudius · Act 3, Scene 3
Words without never to heaven go.
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio - a fellow of jest,
Hamlet · Act 5, Scene 1
There is a special in the fall of a sparrow. ... The readiness is all.
Hamlet · Act 5, Scene 2
Now a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
Horatio · Act 5, Scene 2
And of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Next steps
Turn three of these quotations into full paragraphs with the essay planner, and check your method against the close reading toolkit. For a small daily dose of the language, Daily Bard shows one passage each morning with a plain-English reading on the back of the leaf.
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