HAMLETTHE STORY OF A MAN WHO CAN’T MAKE UP HIS MIND

HamletThe malcontent, the mad, the melancholy

Dane

GertrudeHamlet’s mother — a grave disappointment:

“What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?”

Old Hamlet (Hamlet’s father)A ghost with a mission for Hamlet: “If thou didst ever thy dear father love — Revenge

his most foul and unnatural murder.”

ClaudiusHamlet’s uncle: “A little more than kin and

less than kind.”

PoloniusA conniving advisor and father: “To thine

ownself be true…”

OpheliaLover, sister, and daughter: “I do not know,

my lord, what I should think.”

LaertesOphelia’s brother and a bit of a hothead: “To

cut his throat i’ the church! I will do’t.”

HoratioA scholar and Hamlet’s friend: “Good night sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”

Iambic pentameterAn iamb is a metrical foot that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one — daDUM.

Penta- means five.

Meter refers to a regular rhythmic pattern in poetry.

So iambic pentameter is a kind of rhythmic pattern that consists of five iambs per line, almost like five heartbeats: daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM.

Reading Shakespeare: Iambic pentameterBut, soft! What light through yon der win dow breaks?

It is the east and Jul iet is the sun.