History ReferencedBy / Hamlet

** There was a version of Hamlet in one of those trilogy stories, with Bart as Hamlet, Homer as dead king, Moe was Claudius and Marge was Gertrude. Carl and Lenny were of course Rosen-Carl and Gilden-Lenny. Lisa had a brief scene as crazy Ophelia.

* In ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol Noel]]'', as the Joker carries the unconscious Batman to his newly-dug grave, a narrator says, "Some people start hallucinating when they're about to die. In my book, if you're [[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} chasing beautiful women across rooftops]] and [[Franchise/{{Superman}} flying around with big colorful men that glow]], somethin's rotten in Denmark."

List of references to ''Hamlet'', organized by media. See also GoodNightSweetPrince and AlasPoorYorick. [[note]]Examples from those tropes will be moved here as well.[[/note]]

** In the Shakespeare themed short "A Witch's Tangled Hare", Bugs Bunny meets a man who looks a lot like The Bard. Witch Hazel says she recognizes him, but they haven't seen each other in a while because Crubish had the wrong apartment number (2B). The poet (who is ''not'' William Shakespeare, but a man named Sam Krubish) and Witch Hazel leave talking about who made the mistake of saying "2B" and the cartoon closes with Bugs quoting the famous line from Hamlet - "To be, or not to be".

** In the Shakespeare themed short "A Witch's Tangled Hare" Bugs meets a man who looks a lot like The Bard. Witch Hazel says she recognizes him, but they haven't seen each other in a while because Crubish had the wrong apartment number (2B). The poet and Witch Hazel leave talking about who made the mistake of saying "2B" and the cartoon closes with Bugs Bunny quoting the famous line from Hamlet - "To be, or not to be".

** In "WesternAnimation/TheLastHungryCat", the Creator/AlfredHitchcock-like bear attempts this moral:

** In the Shakespeare themed shot "A Witch's Tangled Hare" Bugs meets a man who looks a lot like The Bard. Witch Hazel says she recognizes him, but they haven't seen each other in a while because Crubish had the wrong apartment number (2B). The poet and Witch Hazel leave talking about who made the mistake of saying "2B" and the cartoon closes with Bugs Bunny quoting the famous line from Hamlet - "To be, or not to be".

** In "The Last Hungry Cat", the Creator/AlfredHitchcock-like bear attempts this moral:

'''Sylvester:''' ''[off-screen]'' [[BigShutUp Ah, shut up!]]

** Winchester, at the end of the "Dreams" episode. "To sleep, perchance [[BadDreams to dream]]." Thus encouraging everyone to get another cup of coffee.

* While ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'' is most obviously ''Macbeth'', the Ghost of the Murdered King seeking revenge, and the idea of guilting the Duke with a play that duplicates the events of the murder are both straight from Hamlet.

* In ''Film/ReadyPlayerOne2018'', I-R0k shows Nolan Sorrento the skull of the Steampunk Pirate King he defeated, adding: "I knew him well, Sorrento."

* ''WesternAnimation/PrincessNatasha'': In "The Play's the Thing", Greg holds a soccer ball like it's Yoric's skull while auditioning for a role in [[SchoolPlay The Beautiful Princess and the Handsome Prince]].

* In ''Webcomic/InsectoNocturno'', Ofelia made the password to enter into the subterranean Base of Thieves a part of scene 2 of part 4. Dimitri then complains to Gregory he forgot to call him "my lord" in the sentence.

* In ''Literature/DaddyLongLegs'', after our heroine Judy reads the play for her English class and later sees a production of it thanks to her [[UnclePennybags roommate's uncle Jervis]], she loves it to the point of imagining herself as a "sensible" Ophelia who coddles Hamlet until he's cured of his melancholy and they rule Denmark together quite happily. She also pretends Claudius and Gertrude have died at sea.

* An issue of ''[[Comicbook/XMen Uncanny X-Men]]'' from 1975 has the speech ("To sleep, perchance [[BadDreams to dream]].") in its opening narration.
-->''The bard of Avon said it best: "To sleep, perchance to dream...Aye, there's the rub! For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause." And if the dreams of the dead must give us pause...what then of the dreams of the living? For example, the dreams of Charles Xavier?''

* "What piece of work is a man" was done awesomely in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}''. Especially since [[spoiler: they were saying it ironically]], though Coraline and unfamiliar viewers wouldn't know it at the time.

* ''Film/WithnailAndI'':
** Uncle Monty was an aspiring actor, and he says it's a sad day when a young man realizes he's never going to play the Dane.
** It has Withnail quoting the 'I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth' speech. And thereby proving he's actually a good actor.

--> '''Clouseau''': Cato, something is rotten in the state of Denmark!
--> '''Cato''': Switzerland?
--> '''Clouseau''': Yes, that too.
* Musical ''Hair'' uses "What a piece of work is a man" for song lyrics.

* ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'': The second movie has Lilly referring to Mia's chambermaids as 'Rosencrantz' and 'Guildenstern'.

* ''{{Film/Gettysburg}}'': Hamlet's "What a piece of work is man" speech is said by a fictionalized version of Joshua Chamberlain.
* At the end of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', the late Padme Amidala is actually laid out in a similar way to how Ophelia died by drowning for her funeral in Naboo after she has been strangled to death by her own husband Anakin Skywalker [[spoiler: [[ItWasHisSled Darth Vader]]]] due to him completely falling to the Dark Side.
* The chairman of Apocalypse, Inc. says "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" in ''Film/TheToxicAvengerPartII''.
* "To thine own self be true" was used by Heather in ''Film/{{Clueless}}''
* Des [=McGrath=] in ''Film/TheLastDaysOfDisco'' says the "To thine own self be true" speech.
* ''Film/TheDeparted'':
** Before an operation, Captain Queenan tells Collin that "readiness is all."
** Costigan quotes Hawthorne. Dignam isn't impressed: ''[fart noise]'' "What's the matter, smartass, you don't know any fuckin' Shakespeare?"

* The book ''Literature/The13Clocks'' has its hero quote Nanki-Poo, thereby also quoting Shakespeare. In Nanki-Poo's famous song in ''Theatre/TheMikado'', the line "A thing of shreds and patches" echoes Hamlet's line, "A king of shreds and patches.".
* "How all occasions do inform against me" comes up often in [[Literature/{{Blackout}} Blackout/All Clear]] by Creator/ConnieWillis, they might as well be ArcWords. Polly Churchill chooses all her aliases from Shakespeare, and she falls in with a famous Shakespearean actor who constantly speaks in allusions to the Bard.

--> '''Lothor''': "...there's something rotten in the state of Denmark..."
--> '''Marah''': I thought they were in California?
--> '''Lothor''': ...it's Shakespeare. Read a book.
--> '''Kapri''': Technically it's a ''play''...
* ''Series/SamAndFriends'': One of Sam's friends is a puppet with skull-like features named Yorick.
* In a segment of ''Series/SesameStreet'' with guest star Creator/PatrickStewart has him perform a variant of "To Be Or Not To Be" about the letter "B".
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': "What a piece of work is a man; how noble in reason; how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable in action; how like an angel in apprehension; how like a god." Picard proves he knows Shakespeare. [[ShownTheirWork Even more impressive, Picard also notes to Q that while Hamlet said it ironically,]] [[PatrickStewartSpeech he says it with conviction.]] Creator/PatrickStewart has been in two productions of ''{{Theatre/Hamlet}}'', both in which he played ''[[EvilUncle Claudius]]'', and was originally trained as a Shakespearean actor.
* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," quotes Carey Martin.

-->'''Pinsky:''' Think about it. When you die they stick you in the ground and it's the worms that eat you up!
-->'''Z.Z.:''' Then somebody digs up the worms that ate you and use to catch fish which somebody else eats.
-->'''Donkeylips:''' So wait a second guys, when we had fish sticks the other night, I could have eaten a fish, that ate a worm, ''that ate Elvis?''
-->'''Z.Z.:''' You could be burping up the King as we speak!

[[folder:Stand-up Comedy]]
* Eric from ''Creator/MorecambeAndWise'' decided to do Hamlet's soliloquy because drama makes more money than comedy. After Ernie interrupting him, he eventually starts: "To be or not to be. That is the question. ... Thank you." He bows and leaves. Ernies then explains that there's more to it than that, so Eric goes back to doing comedy (after the skull comments that the entire thing was rubbish).
[[/folder]]

* In ''{{Theatre/Ruddigore}}'', Robin quotes "Alas, poor ghost!"
* In "Show Me" from ''Theatre/MyFairLady'', Liza interrupts Freddie's romantic song verse with "Words! Words! Words! I'm so sick of words!" Reference to "Words, words, words".

* "To thine own self be true" was used in ''Theatre/MerrilyWeRollAlong'', quoted by the protagonist in his graduation speech.

* The description for ''VideoGame/FlightRising'''s [[{{Pun}} Poultrygeist]] is "A ghastly turkey, gobbling from beyond the grave. This bird was clearly victim of a murder most fowl, strange and unnatural."
* In ''Advance Wars: Dual Strike'', Sonja can give the speech ("What piece of work") verbatim, then muses that she said something meaningful and asks someone to write it down.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Rupert}}'' episode "Rupert and Algy's Misadventure" had a scene where Algy Pug tried to stall for time by quoting various works by Shakespeare, including ''Hamlet''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': "Something is rotten on the planet Wormulon," says Leela in "Fry and the Slurm Factory".
* In ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'', Milo and Melissa watch ''Llamalet'', a production of ''Hamlet'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin performed by an all-llama acting troupe.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'':
** "Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly; the ill deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. The rest... is silence," says [[spoiler:Dinobot]] before dying.
** Dinobot says: "Alas! Poor Tarantulas. I knew him, Cheetor." Dinobot was holding Tarantulas' severed spider legs though, not his [[AlasPoorYorick severed head]].
** Dinobot also tosses out a "To be or not to be, that is the question" when contemplating Free Will vs Fate.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KappaMikey'' Mikey auditions for a very odd version of the play called ''Hamlet the Christmas Giraffe''. He has a skull on hand, needless to say.

* In the sixth movie of ''Franchise/StarTrek'', ''The Undiscovered Country,'' with the famous quote that to truly appreciate Shakespeare, you need to hear it "in the original Klingon."

* While ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'' is most obviously ''Macbeth'' as noted below, the Ghost of the Murdered King seeking revenge, and the idea of guilting the Duke with a play that duplicates the events of the murder are both straight from Hamlet.
* The book ''Literature/The13Clocks'' has its hero quote Nanki-Poo, thereby also quoting Shakespeare. Nanki-Poo's famous song in ''Theatre/TheMikado'', the line "A thing of shreds and patches" echoes Hamlet's line, "A king of shreds and patches.".y.

** Archie Kennedy is a great fan of the bard, and he paraphrases Osrick's "a hit, a very palpable hit" when he reports that Lt. Bush's heated shot was successful.

* The Major from the Hellsing Ultimate OVA quotes Hamlet, although instead of saying "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy" he says "there are more things in heaven and hell then are dreamt of in their philosophy"

* In ''{{Theatre/Ruddigore}}'', Robin quotes "Alas, poor ghost!" Also, his faithful servant Adam is named after a similar character in ''As You Like It''.

* "To thine own self be true" was used in ''Theatre/MerrilyWeRollAlong''

* [[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=1390 These]] [[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=1391 two]] ''Webcomic/SquareRootOfMinusGarfield'' strips feature Garfield reciting AlasPoorYorick.

** There was a version of Hamlet in on of those trilogy stories, with Bart as Hamlet, Homer as dead king, Moe was Claudius and Marge was Gertrude. Carl and Lenny were of course Rosen-Carl and Gilden-Lenny. Lisa had a brief scene as crazy Ophelia.

[[folder:Unsorted]]
* "To thine own self be true" was said in ''Renaissance Man'' by Bill.

* The band ''This Mortal Coil'' lent its name from a line from ''Hamlet''.

* In the 1946 ''[[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Donald Duck]] story "Jet Rescue", Donald paraphrases a famous ''Hamlet'' phrase when his nephews ruin his garden with their kite-flying.