Vocabulary List: Hamlet
Please pay special attention to the words that are starred *
*Anagnorisis - a recognition or discovery, especially in tragedy - for example, when the hero
understands the reason for his or her fall.
Catharsis - Aristotle’s term for the purgation or purification of the pity and terror supposedly
experienced while witnessing a tragedy
*Conflict - a struggle between a character and some obstacle or between internal forces, such as
divided loyalties.
*Hamartia - a flaw in the tragic hero, or an error made by the tragic hero.
* Protagonist - the chief actor in any literary work. The term is usually preferable to hero and
heroine because it can include characters - for example, villainous or weak ones - who are not
aptly called heroes or heroines.
*Soliloquy - a speech in a play, in which a character alone on the stage speaks his or her
thoughts aloud.
Tragedy - a serious play showing the protagonist moving from good fortune to bad and ending
in death or a deathlike state.
*Resolutes (110) n.- brave; fearless; relentless people
*Portentous (121) adj.- foreboding; threatening; sinister
Dirge (12) n.- funeral song; death march
Dole (13) n.- sadness
Opulence (noun) – wealth
Invidious (adj.) – causing ill will; offensive
*Espials
Spies.
Impartment
Communication.
*Antic
Mad, lunatic
Belike
Pronunciation: be LIKE
Part of speech: adverb
Definition: probably; most likely
Example from Shakespeare: "Belike this show imports the argument of the play" (Ophelia to
Hamlet, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act III, Scene II).
Beseech
Part of speech: verb
Definition: implore; beg; ask; importune
Example from Shakespeare: "I beseech you instantly to visit my too much changed son" (Queen
Gertrude to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, Scene II).
Bruit
Pronunciation: BROOT
Part of speech: noun, verb
Definition: echo, noise, clamor; to make a report or spread a rumor
Example from Shakespeare: "The heavens shall bruit again, re-speaking earthly thunder"
(Claudius to Halmlet, Act I, Scene II).
Fie
Part of speech: interjection
Definition: For shame! Nonsense! (Used to express disagreement, annoyance, or mild disgust)
Example from Shakespeare: "Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis [the world is] an unweeded garden (Hamlet,
alone on stage, Act I, Scene II)
Prithee
Part of speech: interjection
Definition: please; I pray thee
Example from Shakespeare: "I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat, for though I am not
splenitive and rash, yet have I in me something dangerous, which let thy wisdom fear" (Hamlet
to Laertes at Ophelia's burial ceremony, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act V, Scene I).
Reck
Part of speech: verb
Definition: concern; take heed of
Example from Shakespeare: "[He] recks not his own rede [advice]" (Ophelia to Laertes, Hamlet,
Prince of Denmark, Act I, Scene III).
*Rede
Pronunciation: REED
Part of speech: noun
Definition: advice; counsel; guidance
Example from Shakespeare: "Example from Shakespeare: "[He] recks not his own rede"
(Ophelia to Laertes, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act I, Scene III).
Wonted
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: accustomed; usual; ordinary
Example from Shakespeare:
And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish
That your good beauties be the happy cause
Of Hamlet's wildness: so shall I hope your virtues
Will bring him to his wonted way again (Queen Gertrude to Ophelia, Hamlet, Prince of
Denmark, Act III, Scene I).