Hamlet Act I, Scene ii Student Organizer Answer Key
What does each character have to say about grief?
Character
Key speech
Their feelings about grief
Gertrude
Lines 68-73
Gertrude tells Hamlet that he should no longer
wear black mourning clothes and that he should
look happier. She tells him he should not keep his
eye downward as if he were looking for his
father in the dirt. She reminds him that all
people must die.
Hamlet
Claudius
Lines 76-86
Lines 87-117
She is not sympathetic to his grief, and wants
him not to show the signs of mourning. Perhaps
his grieving makes her uncomfortable.
Hamlet tells his mother the signs of grief are just
outward show, and that his real grief is within.
Hamlet may be suggesting that even if he
changed the external signs of his grief, he
wouldn't feel it any less. Perhaps he's also
suggesting there's a big difference between
playacting an emotion and actually feeling it,
and he may be suggesting that others around
him may have just taken on the appearance of
grief for his father's death without really feeling
it.
Claudius tells Hamlet that while grief for his
father is appropriate, it's inappropriate for him
to continue grieving for so long. He tells him it is
weak and unmanly to wallow in this grief. He
tells Hamlet to think of him as being a new
father to him.
Like Gertrude, Claudius seems to be very
uncomfortable with the grief Hamlet displays.
He tells Hamlet there is something wrong with
him for not having gotten over his grief yet.