“The Devil hath power / To assume a pleasing shape.” “e know what we are, but know not what we may be.” “Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.” “Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar but never doubt thy love.” “When sorrows come, they come not single spies.

“That one may smile and smile and be a villain.” “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below / Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” “If we are true to ourselves, we can not be false to anyone.” “I am / very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses / at my beck than I have thoughts to put them / in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act / them in.” “By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me!” “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” “I must be cruel only to be kind thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.” “How all occasions do inform against me, and spur my dull revenge.” “Conscience doth make cowards of us all.” “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” “This above all: to thine own self be true.” “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Hamlet’s school friends.

Laertes: son of Polonius, who lacks the vengeful nature of Hamlet.Ophelia: daughter of Polonius and love interest of Hamlet.Gertrude: Hamlet’s mother, the former wife of the former King Hamlet and the current wife of the current King Claudius.Claudius: the current King of Denmark and the brother of the former King Hamlet, now married to Prince Hamlet’s mother.Hamlet: his son, the Prince of Denmark, who seeks to avenge his father’s death after seeing his ghost.King Hamlet: the deceased ruler, who appears only in the form of a ghost.You’ll hear from all your favorite characters, including: Best Hamlet Quotes ( Hamlet with the recent historical fiction inspired by the writing of it)īelow are some of the most famous lines from Hamlet, followed by quotes on some of its most prominent themes (revenge, life, madness, death, and even Ophelia - Hamlet‘s love interest), and answers to frequently asked questions. These Hamlet quotes are pulled from the text both to help you focus on the most important lines (and their meaning) and to see which ones have stood the test of time and are still often used today (I just love this about Shakespearean quotes) and/or still have relevance today. …And, when all else fails, just pretend it’s Dateline! I always read alongside guides, then also research and write posts like these to help me dig deeper into the meaning. While readers often think Shakespeare is hard and boring, I have to disagree. The patriarch’s son believes his uncle/stepfather is responsible for his father’s death and, hellbent on revenge, descends into madness. If I offered you only this generic summary without all the Shakespearean fluff, I think you’d agree: A patriarch dies and, in the aftermath, his brother marries his widowed wife (not uncommon in families grieving after tragedy). The general plotline actually made me feel like I was watching an episode of Dateline. Hamlet is an excellent example of exactly that. Shakespeare has succeeded at a lot of things, and to each, their own favorite, but for me, it’s his ability to take the deepest human emotions and turn them into the causation of real-life actions… and consequences, as many of these deep-seated emotions can lead people astray.

While I’ve loved Shakespeare in the past (and thought Macbeth was my favorite), this dramatic family tragedy is now slowly inching its way to the top of my list, as it finally made me realize what it is that connects me to these stories: the emotions. I read Hamlet as part of my challenge to read from the list of 500+ books referenced on Gilmore Girls. It may even surprise you how many we still use colloquially in our speech today! Explore the best Hamlet quotes that are famous and important for Shakespeare students and enthusiasts to read.

To be or not to be quote