Dr.

Faustus Important Lines

1. "If we say that we have no sin --Act 5, Scene 2, Lines 99-101: Faustus to Helen
We deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. of Troy
Why then, belike, we must sin,
And consequently die. 5. "No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer,
Ay, we must die an everlasting death." That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
--Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 41-46: Faustus to himself The clock strikes twelve.
Oh, it strikes, it strikes! Now body turn to air,
2. "Oh Faustus, lay that damned book aside,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell.
And gaze not on it lest it tempt thy soul
Oh soul, be changed into little water drops
And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head."
And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found.
--Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 69-71: Good angel to Faustus
My God, my God, look not so fierce on me.
Adders and serpents, let me breathe awhile.
3. "Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.
Ugly hell, gape not, come not, Lucifer!"
Think'st thou that I saw the face of God
--Act 5, Scene 2, Lines 191-199: Faustus to himself
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
6. "Cut is the branch that might have grown full
In being deprived of everlasting bliss?"
straight,
--Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 76-80: Mephistopheles to
And burned is Apollo's laurel bough,
Faustus
That sometime grew within this learned man.
4. Was this the face that launched a thousand ships
Faustus is gone. Regard his hellish fall,
And burnt the topless 2 towers of Ilium?
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise
"Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Only to wonder at unlawful things,
Her lips suck forth my soul: see where it flies.
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits,
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
To practise more than heavenly power permits."
--Act 5, Scene 3, Lines 20-28: Chorus to audience

Important Lines from Hamlet

1. Frailty, thy name is woman!" (Act I, Scene II)

Hamlet is still speaking in his first of five soliloquies. The "woman" he specifically refers to is his mother. Hamlet felt
she was weak, or not strong enough to mourn his father longer. Hamlet goes on further to say that not even an
animal or beast, who has no reasoning skills, would have abandoned the mourning so quickly. All in all, this shows
how angry and confused Hamlet is by his mother's remarriage.
2. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." (Act I, Scene IV)
At the end of Scene IV, a guard, Marcellus, says these famous words to Horatio. After Hamlet follows the ghost,
Marcellus and Horatio know they have to follow as well, because Hamlet is acting so impulsively. Marcellus's words
are remarking on how something evil and vile is afoot. This moment could be interpreted as foreshadowing of the
impending deaths of most of the principle characters.
3. To be, or not to be: that is the question." (Act III, Scene I)
As one of Shakespeare's all-time famous quotes, Hamlet's words have stood the test of time and are often quoted
even today in both academia and pop culture. In the beginning of his fourth, and best known, soliloquy Hamlet
muses about the conundrum of suicide. He wonders if one route is "nobler" than the next. At this point in the play,
Hamlet has been unable to act upon his motives for personal revenge, and this frustrates him. Which is better,
suffering as he has been or ending it all? The tone of Hamlet's soliloquy is more meditative than angry, but he does
seriously consider suicide. He relates his personal struggle to the struggles that all of mankind shares. Given that you
don't know what happens after you die, Hamlet realizes that death wouldn't be the ideal escape he craves.
4. The lady doth protest too much, methinks." (Act III, Scene II)
Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude, says this famous line while watching The Mousetrap. Gertrude is talking about
the queen in the play. She feels that the play-queen seems insincere because she repeats so dramatically that she'll
never remarry due to her undying love of her husband. The play-queen, in fact, does remarry. It is unclear whether
Gertrude recognizes the parallel between herself and the play-queen; Hamlet certainly feels that way. This moment
has an irony that is shown throughout the play.
5. What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of
animalsand yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not menor woman neither, though by
your smiling you seem to say so.
Rosencrantz: My lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts. Hamlet Act II, scene II
This passage has provoked bitter scholarly battlesover its punctuation. Is Hamlet saying that man is like an angel in
apprehension (understanding), or like a god in apprehension? The different placement of commas in the early texts
of the play makes all the difference.
Man is the noblest of all God's pieces of work, the "quintessence of dust" (the fifth, or purest, extract from the dust
of which all things are compounded). But despite the nobility, the reason, the grace, and the beauty of man, Hamlet
cannot be delighted. At least, so he tells the king's parasites, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as he explains his
melancholia. This is one of the moments where Hamlet's sincerity is genuinely in question. Like his claim that
Denmark seems to him a prison, Hamlet's disgust here seems more than an act, though perhaps he exaggerates for
the benefit of the king's spies.
6. I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers, could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum. Hamlet
Declared at Ophelia's grave. Act V, Scene I
Hamlet must have spoken sincerely; and, further, we may take it for granted that he used the past tense, 'loved,'
merely because Ophelia was dead, and not to imply that he had once loved her but no longer did so. Hamlet's love
for Ophelia never changed. On the revelation made by the Ghost, however, he felt that he must put aside all
thoughts of it; and it also seemed to him necessary to convince Ophelia, as well as others, that he was insane, and so
to destroy her hopes of any happy issue to their love.
This was the purpose of his appearance in her chamber, though he was probably influenced also by a longing to see
her and bid her a silent farewell, and possibly by a faint hope that he might safely entrust his secret to her. If he
entertained any such hope his study of her face dispelled it; and thereafter, as in the Nunnery-scene (III. i.) and again
at the play-scene, he not only feigned madness, but, to convince her that he had quite lost his love for her, he also
addressed her in bitter and insulting language. In all this he was acting a part intensely painful to himself; the very
violence of his language in the Nunnery-scene arose from this pain; and so the actor should make him show, in that
scene, occasional signs of a tenderness which with all his efforts he cannot wholly conceal. Finally, over her grave
the truth bursts from him in the declaration quoted just now, though it is still impossible for him to explain to others
why he who loved her so profoundly was forced to wring her heart.

Compiled by: Kainat Tufail