Hamlet Group

Question:

shehbaz
shehbaz
Student
High School - 11th Grade

In "Hamlet" Act 1, Scene 1, pinpoint the references to a military/war background. Make references to at least three different speeches.

Rate question:

Posted by shehbaz on Thursday February 19, 2009 at 1:56 PM and tagged with armour, ghost, hamlet, horatio, martial stalk, military, shakespeare, soldiers, war.

Answers:


  1. jagtig

    http://www.tailsntales.com/eng/sha/ham/tex/sel_1.html#anchor207104 points to Marcellus' first reference to the ongoing preparations for war, a question as to why? - I,i,70

    http://www.tailsntales.com/eng/sha/ham/tex/sel_1.html#anchor208627 points to Horatio's response which is the story of King Hamlet's wager with Fortinbras, Sr. and its outcome. - I,i,78

    http://www.tailsntales.com/eng/sha/ham/tex/sel_1.html#anchor213059 points to Bernardo's observation that it is likely that ghost which is so like King Hamlet appears to them in connection with the preparations for war. I,i,113

    Rate answer:

    Posted by jagtig on Thursday February 19, 2009 at 2:29 PM


  2. robertwilliam

    eNotes Editor

    Firstly, Horatio refers to the ghost of Old Hamlet as being in "fair and warlike" form, and, moreover, uses "march" as a verb, perhaps implying some sort of military marching:

    What art thou that usurp'st this time of night,
    Together with that fair and warlike form
    In which the majesty of buried Denmark
    Did sometimes march?

    Horatio later recognises Old Hamlet in the ghost by his armour, and remembers his military deeds:

    Such was the very armour he had on
    When he the ambitious Norway combated.
    So frown'd he once when, in an angry parle,
    He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.

    Then, after the ghost has gone, with his "martial stalk", Marcellus asks his companions

    ...tell me, he that knows,
    Why this same strict and most observant watch
    So nightly toils the subject of the land,
    And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
    And foreign mart for implements of war.

    Marcellus has noticed that the military preparations are being stepped up, and, as a watchman, notices that there are far more watchmen set on. He knows that Denmark is preparing for a war.

     

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/hamlet-text/act-i-scene-i

    Rate answer:

    Posted by robertwilliam on Thursday February 19, 2009 at 4:11 PM