Act I Scene I
Enter Barnardo and Francisco
Barnardo: Who's there?
Francisco: Barnardo?
Barnardo: He.
Francisco: Stand, ho! Who's there?
Enter Horatio and Marcellus
Horatio: Friends to this ground.
Marcellus: Has this thing appeared again tonight?
Horatio: Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.
Enter Ghost
Marcellus: Look where it comes again!
Barnardo: Look it not like the king? Mark it, Horatio.
Horatio: Stay! I charge thee, speak!
Exit Ghost
Marcellus: Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour.
Horatio: This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
Enter Ghost
Horatio: Lo, it comes again!
Ghost spreads his arms
If thou hast any sound or use of voice, speak to me.
The cock crows
Exit Ghost
Barnardo: It was about to speak when the cock crew.
Horatio: Let us impart what we have seen tonight unto young Hamlet.
Exuent
Act I Scene II
Enter Claudius,
Gertrude,
Hamlet,
Polonius,
and Laertes
Claudius: With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, in equal scale weighing delight and dole, Young Fortinbras thinks our state to be disjoint and out of frame. He hath not failed to pester us with message importing the surrender of those lands lost by his father to our most valiant brother.
Enter Voltemand and Cornelius
Thus much the business is: we have writ to Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras, who scarcely hears of his nephew's purpose. We here dispatch you, for bearers of this greeting to old Norway.
Cornelius, Voltemand: In that and all things will we show our duty.
Exit Voltemand and Cornelius
Claudius: And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? What wouldst thou have?
Laertes: Your leave and favor to return to France.
Polonius: I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
Claudius: Take thy fair hour, Laertes. But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son-
Hamlet (aside): A little more than kin and less than kind.
Gertrude: Cast thy nighted color off. 'Tis common. All that lives must die.
Claudius: 'Tis unmanly grief.
Gertrude: I pray thee, stay with us. Go not to Wittenberg.
Flourish. Exuent all but Hamlet
Hamlet: Two months dead- nay, not so much, not two. So excellent a king. So loving to my mother. Frailty, thy name is woman! A little month with which she followed my poor father's body, like Niobe, all tears. O most wicked speed to post to incestuous sheets! But break, heart, for I must hold my tongue.
Enter Horatio,
Marcellus,
and Barnardo
Horatio: Hail to your lordship.
Hamlet: Methinks I see my father in my mind's eye.
Horatio: I think I saw him yesternight.
Marcellus: Upon the platform where we watch.
Hamlet: I will watch tonight. Perchance 'twill walk again.
Exit
Hamlet- Deer- Throughout these scenes, Hamlet is sad and lost. Like a deer, who just wanders around, Hamlet, through his grief over his father's death kind of just wanders around in sorrow.
Claudius- Snake- Like a snake that archetypically represents evil, Claudius is an evil man who is always conspiring for his benefit.
Marcellus, Francisco, and Barnardo- Dogs- Like watch dogs on a barn, these three men kept guard over the castle and watched out for Fortinbras' army.
Voltemand and Cornelius- Sheep- Like the sheep who follow their herder, Voltemand and Cornelius loyally follow Claudius' orders.
Gertrude- Pig- Pigs can be associated with being carefree, for all they do is roll aorund in mud and not worry about anything. Their free and careless nature flows parallel with Gertrude's careless and inconsiderate attitude toward Hamlet's grief and King Hamlet's death.
Laertes- Bird- Laertes can be seen as a bird because he doesnt stay in one place thorughout these scenes. He was in Denmark, finished his business there, but as soon as that was done, he wished to go back to France. Therefore, like a bird, he travels to different places without staying to long in one after his job is done.
Horatio- Horse- Horatio can be represented by a horse because of loyalty and friendship he has with Hamlet. Horses can symbolize leadership, support, friendship, and the ability to handle a lot of thing. Horatio is leader, in that he is looked up to because he is a scholar. His ability to handle the overwhelming reality of the situation with the Ghost and with Hamlet struggling, makes him a great supporter and friend. Therefore, a horse can be used to symbolize him.
Polonius- Polonius' loyalty to Claudius, in his respectful request to allow Laertes to go back to France can be symbolically represented by a sheep. The sheep, who loyally obeys its shepherd's commands, is respectful. Like the sheep, Polonius is loyal to Claudius and values his wishes and commands.
