Hamlet, not Ham Melt

Of all the Shakespeare plays, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark seems a logical choice to kick-off my "Shakespeare Literacy" campaign.  All of Shakespeare's works are famous, but I think Hamlet  is the most inescapable.  By my own observation, only Romeo and Juliet is more rampant in American culture.  I suppose the "romance with a bitter family rival" plot reaches a wider audience than "murder your family member and then commit incest."  If anything, I'm jaded by Romeo and Juliet because it's become so commonplace.  So if I'm going to start off with a bang, and I don't want to read Romeo and Juliet because pop culture has watered it down to almost romantic comedy status, Hamlet it is.

I managed to find a great, short, animated version of Hamlet on Youtube.  While the animation doesn't quite hold up to the standards of the bleached-blonde Kenneth Branagh production of Hamlet, it's a quick-hitter for all the famous quotes.  

You can watch the video on your own (the second and third parts are separate videos), but I'll give you a quick taste of my personal favorite quotes.  

And the top three are:

"Frailty, thy name is woman!" 

Hard to miss this one--it falls right in line with a number of woman-in-the-kitchen jokes that I won't mention here.  I think the line struck me because a mother-figure in other stories is most frequently the loving, nurturing parent, but Hamlet doesn't hesitate to blame his "pernicious" mother.

"The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown."

Shakespeare's so crafty.  This twisty line is Hamlet's moment of recognition, and it also offers a nice comparison with the original serpent, Satan.

"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."

All of a sudden Hamlet has this crazy idea: he's going to re-act his father's murder and nail his uncle when he starts to squirm.  The line sounds like it came right from Batman's nemesis, the Joker, which is fitting, because at this point I feel like Hamlet's getting crazier by the second.  

Plenty more quote where that came from, and I be happy to see your favorites posted in the comments below.