Hamlet Quote Log #13

"Such a sight as this / Becomes the field but here shows much amiss / Go, bid the soldiers shoot" (5.2.447-49).

Multiple deaths have just occurred at the end of the play.  Fortinbras decides to honor the death of Hamlet by allowing the soldiers to fire guns.  Fortinbras' act of kindness demonstrates the success of these two very similar characters.  From the beginning of the play, both of these characters demonstrate the common bond of losing their father.  They both try to avenge for their father's death through in the internal and external struggles in the play.  The moment Fortinbras returns to Denmark with good news, his success reflects upon Hamlet's decision to finally kill himself.  For the whole play, Hamlet ponders on the repercussions of committing suicide.  Once he finally kills Claudius, Hamlet realizes that he has fulfilled his purpose in life, so now he can face his fears since that moment he killed Claudius has been one of the highest and happiness moments the reader has ever seen Hamlet.  The play may be a tragedy, but the fact that Hamlet and Fortinbras represent the success over the internal and external struggles, the play cannot be a true tragedy, as the ending was discreetly honorable and happy.

Hamlet Quote Log #12

“Faith, if he be not rotten before he die / (ass we have many pocky corses <nowadays> that will / scarce hold the laying in), he will last you some / eight year or nine year” (5.1.169-72).

Hamlet converses with the gravedigger and the gravedigger enlightens Hamlet with the topic of death.  The gravedigger utilizes this analogy to demonstrate how some people are rotten before the die.  Literally, the meaning of rotten is old, decaying matter.  He exemplifies the other meaning of rotten as bad personality and motives.  The gravedigger states that some people just fall apart by being so rotten, and that will end up in doom.  This foreshadows the character King Claudius.  He has been very rotten, since the beginning, by having the sole cynical intentions of desiring the queen, crown, and land.  In order to achieve those desires, he had to have killed King Hamlet.  There was no remorse from the new king, highlighting his rotten persona.  Following the gravedigger's words of wisdom, King Claudius starts to deteriorate as he is struck by the eerie words of Hamlet, as Hamlet explains how he must get his revenge.  Also, Claudius deteriorates when he cannot handle Hamlet's play, as his conscious creeps up upon him.  Finally, in Act four, the audience can see how rotten Claudius really is when he manipulates Laertes to take revenge on Hamlet, so Claudius does not have to do any work.  This foreshadowing shows how Claudius is becoming more and more rotten as the play progresses; sooner or later, he will fall apart into his own death.

Hamlet Quote Log #11

"And where th' offense is, let the great ax fall" (4.5.244).

Shakespeare gives Claudius such as simple sentence that foreshadows a deeper meaning.  Claudius converses with Laertes about getting revenge on Polonius' death.  Laertes' emotions conflict with his conscience when he decides whether or not to take revenge.  Appealing to ethos, Claudius persuades Laertes to take revenge on his father's death.  Shakespeare conveys the theme of characters being easily manipulated by their emotions into taking revenge.  This cunning, malicious act demonstrates Claudius' sinful actions, reflecting upon his murder on King Hamlet.  The analogy that Claudius displays is ironic because he is motivating Laertes to punish those who are guilty with death.  Claudius is guilty for killing Hamlet's father, and Hamlet is guilty for killing Laertes' father.  This analogy must foreshadow the death of both of these characters as for both of their actions have made them guilty, and eventually they must face the consequences.
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Hamlet Quote Log #8

"Tis meet that some more audience than a mother, / Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear / The speech of vantage" (3.3.34-36).

King Claudius is so terrified that he can no longer watch the duration of the play as his guilt for murdering Hamlet's father catches up to him.  Polonius, the good friend that he is, decides to snoop on the conversation between Hamlet and his mother because Polonius is such a good subject of his majesty's.  Polonius stereotypes Queen Gertrude as being partial to her son because she is his mother, and females have the tendency of being more compassionate.  These characteristics lead Polonius to listen in on Hamlet and his mother's conversation.  King Claudius allows this behavior to happen, which is kind of devious of him because it demonstrates that King Claudius cannot even trust his own wife to fix this predicament.  The reoccurring theme of lacking trust is demonstrated, foreshadowing how Hamlet do not trust anyone and the people around him do not even trust the people around them.  This highlights the internal and externals struggles within the tragedy.

Hamlet Quote Log #7

"O heavens, die two / months ago, and not forgotten yet?  Then there's / hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half / a year" (3.2.138-141).

Hamlet sarcastically responds to Ophelia's questions.  As the reader, we know that Hamlet would never mock his own father.  The only thing that is keeping Hamlet sane is the memory he has of his father.  King Hamlet was noble and honorable: someone who is not easily forgotten.  The fact that Hamlet suggests that his father is not forgotten yet parallels Queen Gertrude's feelings on the matter.  She has just married King Claudius after two months of her husbands death.  Apparently, that is enough time for her to move on in her life.  Since Hamlet is mocking this situation, it shows that Hamlet is coping with his miserable life by playing along with the situation.  Hamlet loves his father, and he would not dare mock his father on purpose in any manner. 

Hamlet Quote Log #3

"Hate me to know't, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge" (1.5.35-38).

Hamlet has only been talking to the ghost for a few seconds, and all of a sudden Hamlet is fumed with anger to get revenge upon someone.  He compares his celerity to revenge to be faster than the love someone can give.  The audience finds out that the ghost proclaims that King Claudius is the one who has slain Hamlet's father.  There is no proof that the ghost is real though.  Some may argue that the ghost is real because this apparition was physically seen by Marcellus, Barnardo, and Horatio in the first scene.  I believe that the ghost is not real because Hamlet is too quick in his decisions.  From previous scenes, the reader knows that Hamlet is compassionate and he honors his father.  It is a possibility that Hamlet is misusing his emotions to believe that there is a ghost, and the ghost is guiding him to do actions sub-consciously.  The ghost is not real, but Hamlet's emotions are.  In the end of the scene, Hamlet does not want anyone to know that he is talking to a ghost because it might make him seem crazy.  I feel like this foreshadows that there is no ghost, when really Hamlet is just expressing his emotions because he was not able to in front of his parents in scene two.

Hamlet Quote Log #2

"O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason / Would have mourned longer ... / It is not, nor it cannot come to good. / But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue (1.2.154-164).

The reader's first impressions about Hamlet are that he truly cares for his father and he is kind of passive.  Shakespeare highlights Hamlet's affection for his father by giving King Claudius and Queen Gertrude merciless tones.  Hamlet comments on his own mother's actions, causing him to be in great disgust.  He compares his mother's affection to be lower than one of a beast's.  Queen Gertrude marries King Claudius hastily, not considering that her husband has just died.  Regardless of Hamlet's anger for his new parents' affection, Hamlet's taciturn and diffidence behavior causes him to not be able to stand up for what he believes in.  The audience can see that Hamlet venerates his father when Hamlet banters to Horatio about that apparition Horatio saw last night.  Hamlet is a protagonist we can root for because he goes against his current family's beliefs in order to live on the legacy of his fallen father.