"Thus conscious does make cowards of us all..." ~Hamlet talking to his father in his tomb

I think this quote is so true about everything. It means that our conscious makes us not as brave as we would be without them. For example, if Claudius would not have been praying when Hamlet first saw him, Hamlet would've killed him in the blink of an eye. When we think about doing something wrong, we usually think about how guilty we will feel, so we decide not to do it. However, there are times when people still do these bad things, but it just results in them telling everything they did wrong because they still feel so guilty, and then they get their punishment. This is another quote that really makes me realize how creative Shakespeare was, he was so right in just that little phrase.

"To be or not to be, that is the question..." ~Hamlet talking to his father in his tomb

"...Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them."

When Hamlet said this, I think he meant that there is no way to get out of having troubles. Either you are rich and suffer "slings and arrows" or you are poor and stuffer a "sea of troubles." This quote could actually have many different meanings to it, just depending on what's on your mind when you read in, what things in your life have been happening, and just how you view life. I think that this is the kind of quote that really makes you think about it in order to fully understand it. From reading this quote, I learned a lot about Shakespeare. He's a lot more clever than I would've ever thought him to be. Even though this is one of his quotes that I don't fully understand yet, I'm sure that once I understand it, it will be a wonderful quote.

"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." ~Hamlet talking to himself

In this story, Hamlet comes up with a genius idea to tell if Claudius is really guilty for poisoning his own brother. He comes up with a play, called Mouse Trap, that pretty much tells the story of how Claudius poisoned Hamlet Sr. During the play, Hamlet and Horatio watch Claudius very closely to see his reaction. Once he recognized what the play was about, Hamlet could tell he was guilty. The King started getting hot and sweaty and very uncomfortable. There are many times today when we try to trick people into telling the truth. For example, that's what lawyers get people to do in court. They say certain things, which make the suspects say things that lead to either them being guilty or innocent. I think that this is a very smart way to get to hear what you want people to say, even though if you’re on the wrong end of the deal it's not so fun.

"Though this is madness, yet there be method tot it." ~Claudious talking about Hamlet

In this story, there is a part where Hamlet gets really mad at Ophelia and pretty much freaks out on her. This was because he saw that Claudious and Polonious were watching. He had over heard from before that Polonious did not want him and Ophelia to fall in love, and Ophelia was told to go break up with him and end the relationship. Even though Hamlet had reasons why he acted like he did, i don't think there was any reason why he had to be that mean to her. And, even if he was supposedly acting like he hated her and it was over, he couldn've given Ophelia some sort of hint that he knew his uncle and her father were watching to make sure she did her job. There are many times today when you do crazy things, but they to have a plan behind them. For example, some people like to get attention from either the media or their family by getting drunk, threatening to commit suicide, or by commiting a crime. Even though the plans aren't always the best, there is still method to the madness.

“To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man pick’d out of ten thousand.” ~Hamlet talking to Polonious

Hamlet is saying that there aren’t very many honest people in this world, so when you are honest, you are really something special. How we would say "one man pick’d out of ten thousand" today is just saying that you are one in a million, so just that there are not many other people like you. Hamlet obviously honored honest people very much, especially since there wasn’t very many in his life. Today there are more people I think that are honest. Maybe this is because we have more value for it and higher standards. But then again, there are some absolutely terrible people, who don't care that we live in a more civilized world, so they don't worry about being honest and everything.

“To thine own self be true and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” ~Polonious talking to Laeretes

By this, Polonious means that you need to be honest in everything you do, not only to others, but to yourself. When you are completely honest all the time, you earn the respect of a lot of people, which will greatly benefit you. No matter where you are, who you are talking to, or what its about, you need to always be truthful. Once you lie to one person, news will spread, and not only will the person you lied to not like you, but so will everyone that they told. I think that honestly is definitely the best policy. Lying only gets you into more and more trouble as time goes on. When you tell one lie, it leads to many more lies to cover up the first lie. Telling the truth might get you in trouble if you did something bad, but in the end you’ll always turn out better than you would if you would’ve lied about it.

“Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice.” ~Polonious talking to Laeretes

I think this quotes means that you need to make sure you listen to everything that is said, but you don’t always want to be the one saying things. When you listen to everyone, you learn a lot about them and what they are like, which could be very useful, especially when you only want some people to know the real you, and that’s why you would only give few thy voice. Its always good to be a good listener, since that’s when you learn the most. People who talk a lot end up not having any secrets about themselves, which usually isn’t a good thing. Some things should just be kept to yourself, or maybe your closest friend. When people are willing to share these secrets with you, its best to completely listen so you can learn more about them and decide if they are a good person or not.

“Neither a lender or borrower be for loan oft loses both itself and friend.” ~Polonious talking to Laeretes

By this, I think Polonious meant that when you either lend someone something or borrow something, it usually ends in a fight and you loose that friend or person. It’s just smarter if you are prepared, so you don’t have to borrow. Also, you probably shouldn’t lend things to people, since people might loose or break them. When you are prepared, you won’t have to worry about borrowing anything, so if everyone was always prepared, you wouldn’t have to lend anything to anyone either. I personally think that if the person is really trust worthy and responsible, it’s fine to lend them things. You need to make sure that you are being responsible and take really good care of things is someone is willing to let you borrow them.

Is Hamlet a relevant play for today’s audience? What does the modern reader gain from Hamlet? Should students today continue to read these quotes?

I think Hamlet is a very good play for today’s audience. It contains fighting, love, hatred, revenge, ghosts, killing, suicide, mystery, and may other exciting things. I know that when I watched this movie and learned about it, it made me have more of a respect for Shakespeare. I used to think he was just this boring dead guy that wrote a bunch of boring stuff and that people who liked his work was crazy, but now I’m one of those crazy people. That’s the main reason why I think students today should still learn about him and all his work. His quotes were so well thought, and really make you think about them and learn from them. They were never to the point like most quotes are today, they require you thinking about what you personally think they mean, which I really enjoy doing.

Why does the fact that Claudius does not stop Gertrude from drinking the wine condemn him even more in the reader’s eyes?

I think the fact that Claudius didn’t stop his Gertrude, well, his wife; from drinking the poisoned wine makes him such a worse person. First of all, he kills his own brother just so he could be king, which makes him very self centered and selfish. Then, he marries his brother’s wife, which is just flat out wrong. Also, he makes Hamlets life miserable, especially when Claudius doesn’t stop the queen from getting poisoned. Claudius is like everyone’s worst nightmare in this story, since he is the start of every single problem. If he wouldn’t have killed his brother, then Hamlet wouldn’t have gotten so mad and killed Ophelia’s father, then Ophelia wouldn’t have killed herself, which made Hamlet even angrier. Plus, everyone would’ve lived happily ever after in the end. Hamlet and Ophelia could’ve gotten married, since they wouldn’t have had the big fight, but then again the story wouldn’t have been as interesting without Claudius behind everything.

How do you think you would react if your mother married your uncle?

If my mother ever married my uncle, I would move out or something. To Hamlet, it probably seemed like his mother either was in on the plan to murder the king, or really didn’t love him since she married his brother so quickly after the king’s death. Hamlet must’ve been so confused and angry, it would be so hard loosing your father and dealing with your mother immediately getting re-married all at once, not even considering she married Hamlets uncle of all people. I would be so furious with my mom if she did this, it doesn’t matter if it’s because my dad died or not, just the fact that she was married to his brother. I would most likely run away or never talk to her again.

Does Hamlet really love Ophelia?

Hamlet is such a jerk to Ophelia that I don’t think there’s any possible way he truly loves her. I know that in the play, when he really was mean to her it was because he knew that her father and his uncle were there watching, but then why didn’t he explain that and try to apologize afterward? Also, when you really love someone, I don’t think you could ever be that rude to them. I think that what Hamlet felt for Ophelia was just lust. Another thing that confuses me is when Ophelia lost her father and was planning on drowning herself, Hamlet wasn’t there with her, explaining why her father was dead and trying to work everything out, but yet he loved her? Even if Ophelia wasn’t going to forgive him, which I don’t blame her for, if he loved her he would’ve been there trying to stop her from killing herself.

“Goodnight Sweet Prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” Who and what are the people and things that you are most loyal to?

The definition of loyalty is: remaining faithful to a country, person, ruler, government, or ideal. Everyone needs someone in their life who is very loyal to them and who they are loyal to, like Hamlet and Horatio. I think I am most loyal to my family and friends. My family is probably the people I’m most loyal to first, since they have been there for me through everything, no matter what. Second, would probably be my friends, they always have my back and are there for me, and I’m always there for them when they need me. Today, you won’t find true loyalty very many places, so I think when someone is loyal, we value it fairly well. Maybe if we valued and rewarded it more, there would be more loyal people. There are many people who are loyal, but only to a certain point, and then they leave their friend or something. Horatio was there for Hamlet through everything, his father’s death, his mother’s remarriage, and all his other problems. If there were more people like that today, I think this world would be a much better place.

If your parents really disliked the person that you wanted to marry, would you marry this person anyway?

If my parents disliked the person I wanted to marry, I wouldn’t marry them. I want my husband to be someone that is very well liked by my family, especially my parents. If I did end up marrying him, my relationship with my parents and family would go way downhill, which I could never live with. I love being so close to my parents, so I would definitely find a different husband. My parents know a lot better than I do, so of course, even if it seems impossible for them to be right, I’m going to take their advice. I’m sure that there is someone perfect out there for everyone, and he definitely isn’t someone that my parents don’t like, and I know I will be way happier with someone that my parents and family love to death.