Ad-free experience
Study Guides for 1,000+ titles
Full Text content for 250+ titles
No Fear Translations of Shakespeare’s plays (along with audio!) and other classic works
Flashcards
Mastery Quizzes
Infographics
Graphic Novels
AP® Practice & Lessons
Note-taking
Bookmarking
Dashboard
Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection. They aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
In this quote from early in Act 4, Scene 5, a character who is identified as a “gentleman” describes Ophelia’s decent into madness, and specifically the impact it is having on her speech patterns, to Gertrude and Horatio. The explanation to this quote in Quotes by Theme: Madness versus Cunning (the fourth quote) discusses how some people are convinced that there is deep meaning behind Ophelia’s words while the gentleman believes that her words are meaningless. (In fact, her words do contain some hints about the sources of her madness, as is discussed in the next quote.)
Young men will do ’t, if they come to ’t.
By Cock, they are to blame.
The meaning of the songs that Ophelia sings in Act 4, Scene 5 are open to interpretation, but as the explanation for this lyric in Quotes by Character: Ophelia (the fifth quote) discusses, while there seem to be some references her father’s death, the fact that she also sings songs that are lewd—and specifically about premarital sex—could be related to a sexual relationship that she and Hamlet may or may not have had prior to their contentious break up. The fact that Hamlet taunted Ophelia with sexually explicit language during that confrontation could also play into why most of the songs she sings now are sexually charged. This lyric is also discussed in Quotes by Theme: Madness versus Cunning (the fifth quote).
I hope all will be well. We must be patient, but I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him i' th' cold ground. My brother shall know of it, and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies. Good night, sweet ladies. Good night, good night.
This quote from Ophelia in Act 4, Scene 5, contains elements of both rational thought as well as nonsense. As she talks about her slain father, Ophelia attempts to be positive but is clearly overwhelmed by his death. She finishes with the singsong words, “Good night, ladies. Good night, sweet ladies. Good night, good night,” which are touching and haunting at the same time (and which have been requoted in many songs and poems through the years). But, before that, she foreshadows what is to come by saying, “My brother shall know of it.” As we shall see, these words will trigger alarm in Claudius, who fears Laertes’s reaction to Polonius’s death.
Her brother is in secret come from France,
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father’s death
With these words, Claudius tells Gertrude and the audience that Laertes has been led to believe that he, Claudius, is responsible for the death Polonius, and that he fears a confrontation with Laertes (which is about to take place). The public confusion over Polonius’s death is the result of Claudius’s cover up after Hamlet killed Polonius, but gossip mongers and Claudius’s enemies have blamed him for the murder outright. Interestingly, after uttering these lines, Claudius complains to his wife about all the hardships he is having to endure—apparently giving no consideration to the fact that by killing his brother in the first place he set in motion all the turmoil that followed.
That drop of blood that’s calm proclaims me bastard,
Cries “Cuckold!” to my father, brands the “harlot”
Even here between the chaste unsmirchèd brow
Of my true mother.
Here, in Act 4, Scene 5, while Laertes is angrily confronting Claudius over the murder of Polonius, he makes this strong statement saying that if he ignored his father’s murder and did nothing to not avenge it, in essence he would be saying that he was born illegitimately and that his mother was a prostitute. It is an intense remark, and it sets up a stark contrast between Laertes and Hamlet, who have both now learned that their fathers were murdered. In this contrast, Laertes is a man of action, while Hamlet (so far at least) has been a man who is riddled with doubt and uncertainty.
This nothing’s more than matter.
Laertes makes this deeply moving comment about Ophelia in Act 4, Scene 5 after witnessing her odd behavior and speech patterns upon returning from France to avenge their father’s death. In essence, Laertes is saying that Ophelia’s nonsense words convey far more than any rational speech could because they are imbued with her profound sense of loss and her sadness. This comment shows us that even though Laertes is a character who is defined by his bold actions (especially in contrast to the dithering Hamlet), this does not preclude him from also being thoughtful and sensitive. This will make his ultimate death at the end of the play even more tragic.
