A simple guide
1.
2.
3.
4.
Words
Sentences
Wordplay
Implied Stage Action
1.
Unfamiliar words

Antiquated (we no longer use them)
▪
Parle

▪
Soft
▪

Discussion
Hold
How do I know this?

Footnotes
Geography
2.
•
Elsinore
▪

How do I know this?

3.
Footnotes
Words that have a different meaning
Rivals (1.1.14)
3.
▪

Hamlet’s Castle
Companions
How do I know this?

Footnotes
Consider the meaning:
 The dog bit the boy.
 The boy bit the dog.
In English, meaning is
dependant on placement
of words.
Because of this, unusual
arrangements can confuse
a reader
Shakespeare shifts this for his
rhythm
 Actors will read this to help
with meaning
 At home, reading aloud
will help.
English builds like this:
Subject
Verb
He
Goes
Shakespeare will switch these:
Verb
Subject
Goes
He
English builds like this:
Subject
Verb
Object
I
Hit
Him
Shakespeare will do this:
Object
Verb
Object
Him
I
Hit
Shakespeare will also separate words that
usually belong together:
The sentence should read:
“When he combated”
Shakespeare will write
“When he the ambitious Norway combated”


Puns
 Play on words that
sound the same but
have different meanings

Son/sun
 Claudius asks his “son”
why his mood is so
cloudy, to which Hamlet
answers he is “too much
in the sun”
▪ Hamlet is not Claudius son
and is not happy being
called that.

Notice there is very
italicized stage action.
Shakespeare will write
the stage action right
into the lines – this is
how actors know to:
 Move across the stage
 Shiver because of cold
 Shake hands and hug
 Do a spit take
1603 – Quarto (Bad) –
this includes different
names and only 2,300
lines
 1604/05 – Good Quarto
 1623 – 7 years after
death – First Folio
