Line #1 ReferencedBy/Hamlet


1	List of references to ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', organized by media. See also GoodNightSweetPrince and AlasPoorYorick. [[note]]Examples from those tropes will be moved here as well.[[/note]]
2	----
3	[[foldercontrol]]
4
5	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
6	* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
7	** In the Creator/FUNimation dub of one episode, Frieza says to Vegeta, "GoodNightSweetPrince" before attempting to finish him off.
8	** Another episode's original title says, "Savior, Thy Name Is Son Gohan!!" (a parody of the line "Frailty, thy name is woman"), though the [=FUNimation=] dub renamed it as "A Great Fighter, His Name Is Gohan".
9	* The Major from the ''Anime/HellsingUltimate'' 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".
10	* "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" is said by [[RedBaron "Twilight"]] [[LadyOfWar Suzuka]] in ''Manga/OutlawStar'' (at least, in the English dub), in response to Gene's [[PerpetualPoverty request to borrow money from her]].
11	[[/folder]]
12
13	[[folder:Art]]
14	* ''Art/OpheliaMillais'' is based around Gertrude's description of Ophelia's death.
15	[[/folder]]
16
17	[[folder:Comic Book]]
18	* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': In ''The Great Crossing'' Asterix and Obelix are brought to Denmark by some Vikings. At one point the Viking chieftain has the feeling one of his subordinates lied to him. He holds up a skull and says: "There's something rotten in my kingdom." Later another Viking wonders whether he discovered a new continent or not and says: "To be or not to be, that's the question."
19	* In ''ComicBook/BatmanNoel'', 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."
20	* 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.
21	-->'''Donald:''' To get mad or not get mad? That is the question.
22	-->''(one of their kites hits him in the back of the head)''
23	-->'''Donald:''' It is no longer a question! ''(grabs a stick and chases the boys)''
24	* The ''ComicBook/MegaManArchieComics'' comics feature the OldCopYoungCop pair of Roslyn Krantz and Gilbert D. Stern.
25	* ''ComicBook/{{The Sandman\|1989}}'': In "Passengers", when the madman John Dee learns Rosemary's name, he misquotes the relevant line from Ophelia's mad scene.
26	* An issue of ''[[ComicBook/XMen Uncanny X-Men]]'' from 1975 has this opening narration:
27	-->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?
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Fan Works]]
31	* In ''Fanfic/WhereTalentGoesOnVacation'' [[spoiler:Akira Azuki, the Ultimate Actress]], quotes "The rest is silence" before being executed.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
35	* "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.
36	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' is a WholePlotReference of ''Hamlet'' with African animals, but toned down and with a happy ending added so that it could be [[{{Disneyfication}} Disneyfied]].
37	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', a clear reference appears in "Jack's Lament":
38	-->''And since I am dead, I can [[AlasPoorYorick take off my head]]/ To recite Shakespearean quotations.''
39	* ''Animation/WillyTheSparrow'': Willy reads a part of ''Hamlet'' from a piece of paper to Cipur in the English dub.[[note]]Willy reads a scientific text in the original Hungarian dub.[[/note]]
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
43	* ''Film/CarryOnMatron'': Dr. Francis A. Goode's wife's name is "Hamlet".
44	* "To thine own self be true" was used by Heather in ''Film/{{Clueless}}''.
45	* Dina from ''Film/ColorMePerfect'' recites "To thine own self be true" while her intelligence is being tested after she becomes a genius.
46	* ''Film/TheDeparted'':
47	** Before an operation, Captain Queenan tells Collin that "readiness is all."
48	** Costigan quotes Hawthorne. Dignam isn't impressed: ''[fart noise]'' "What's the matter, smartass, you don't know any fuckin' Shakespeare?"
49	* ''Film/FollowThatCamel'': After discovering that Sheikh Abdul Abulbul and his riffs have moved on from their earlier spot, Commandant Burger grabs a nearby skull, thinking that it's Lady Jane Ponsonby, and moans "Alas, poor Jane - I knew her well", until Sergeant Nocker then points out that the skull is masculine.
50	* ''{{Film/Gettysburg}}'': Hamlet's "What a piece of work is man" speech is said by a fictionalized version of Joshua Chamberlain.
51	* The movie ''Film/Hamlet2'' is about a high school drama teacher who writes a FixFic sequel to the original play where Hamlet uses TimeTravel to prevent the deaths of his loved ones.
52	* In ''Film/JesusOfMontreal'', while playing Pilate in the passion play he helps put on, Rene quotes from the "To be or not to be" speech.
53	* ''Film/LastActionHero'': In an early scene, Danny's teacher leactures about Shakespeare, and mentions that Hamlet was, in a way, a kind of action hero. This leads to Danny having an ImagineSpot of an actionized ''Hamlet'' starring Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger.
54	-->'''Hamlet:''' To be, or not to be? ({{Beat}}) Not to be. (stuff blows up)
55	* Des [=McGrath=] in ''Film/TheLastDaysOfDisco'' says the "To thine own self be true" speech.
56	* The Film/MissMarple film ''Film/MurderMostFoul'' takes its name from the ghost's description of his death.
57	* A section of ''Film/MyDarlingClementine'' concerns Granville Thorndyke, a ham-actor with a reputation as a Shakespearean: he skips out of his scheduled appearance in a modern play in favor of drunkenly quoting ''Hamlet'' in the local saloon. Midway through his mediocre recitation of the "To be or not to be" soliloquy, he loses his place and asks for a cue. On hearing Doc Holliday speak the next line -- much better than he can -- Thorndyke refuses to continue. Holliday finishes the soliloquy, imbuing it with a pathos drawn from his own death wish.
58	* In the original ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984'', Nancy's class is studying Shakespeare. After Nancy starts seeing a corpse talk to her, one of the students quotes:
59	-->O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.
60	* The title of the film ''Film/OutrageousFortune'' comes from Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy ("Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"). In addition, Lauren, one of the lead characters, dreams of playing Hamlet on-stage, and at the end of the movie she does.
61	* ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'': The second movie has Lilly referring to Mia's chambermaids as 'Rosencrantz' and 'Guildenstern'.
62	* In ''Film/RainMan'', Charlie sees that Raymond owns a volume of Shakespeare plays and sarcastically asks him if he's read ''Hamlet''.
63	* In ''Film/ReadyPlayerOne2018'', I-R0k shows Nolan Sorrento the skull of the Steampunk Pirate King he defeated, adding: "I knew him well, Sorrento."
64	* In ''Film/RenaissanceMan'', Danny [=DeVito's=] character is assigned to teach a class of undereducated students on an Army base. To that end, he takes the novel approach of using the various works of Shakespeare to kick-start their minds. He quotes "To thine own self be true", and they invent a marching cadence that recaps the play:
65	-->Hamlet's mother, she's the queen\
66	Buys it in the final scene\
67	Drinks a glass of funky wine\
68	Now she's Satan's Valentine
69	* In ''Film/TheReturnOfThePinkPanther'':
70	-->'''Clouseau:''' Cato, something is rotten in the state of Denmark!\
71	'''Cato:''' Switzerland?\
72	'''Clouseau:''' Yes, that too.
73	* 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.
74	* ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' contains several quotations from ''Hamlet'', starting with the title, and the famous quote that to truly appreciate Shakespeare, you need to hear it "in the original Klingon."
75	--> '''Martia:''' I thought I would assume a pleasing shape.
76	--> '''Gorkon:''' A toast. To the undiscovered country -- the future!
77	--> '''Chang:''' [[FacingTheBulletsOneLiner To be... or not... to be...]]
78	* This exchange from ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''
79	--> '''Kirk:''' You programmed all that from memory?
80	--> '''Spock:''' I have.
81	--> '''[=McCoy=]:''' [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe Angels and ministers of grace, defend us.]]
82	--> '''Spock:''' Hamlet, Act I, Scene IV.
83	--> '''Kirk:''' No doubt about your memory, Spock.
84	* Obviously, ''Film/ToBeOrNotToBe''. The protagonists are actors who play ''Hamlet''. There is a RunningGag about Hamlet's soliloquy: the actor who plays Hamlet gets mad because someone in the audience always leaves the theatre room when he starts the famous soliloquy. There is also a TakeThat when someone says: "Even Shakespeare couldn't see ''Hamlet'' three nights in succession."
85	* The chairman of Apocalypse, Inc. says "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" in ''Film/TheToxicAvengerPartII''.
86	* ''Film/TrueRomance'': "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
87	* ''Film/WithnailAndI'':
88	** 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.
89	** 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.
90	* In ''Film/TheWolfman2010'', Lawrence is an actor whose most recent play was ''Hamlet'', and the references and parallels to the play are played pretty creepily in the film. And ''Hamlet'' was famously played by Sir ''[[MeaningfulRename Lawrence]]'' Olivier.
91	* [[http://cdn1-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/gallery/bts-x-men-apocalypse/z_0.jpg The character poster for the titular villain]] of ''Film/XMenApocalypse'' evokes the Yorick's skull scene.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Literature]]
95	* "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.
96	* In ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', Miles Vorkosigan has a {{conversation\|alTroping}} with Ekaterin's son Nikki about ''Hamlet'', because Nikki is worried that Miles might have killed his father and that he'll have to get revenge. Miles points out that "Nobody expects you to carry out a really good revenge till you're at least old enough to shave," so, since Nikki is eleven, even if Miles did kill his father he doesn't have to worry about revenge for several more years.
97	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
98	** ''Literature/BloodRites'': Thomas recalls Mavra as having dressed like Hamlet's shrink at Bianca's party and Harry recites the "to be or not to be" line when Madge asks if he's an actor. Later Lord Raith paraphrases Horatio's "flights of angels sing thee to thy rest" line, also from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''.
99	** ''Literature/TurnCoat'': Madeline quotes ''Hamlet'' when she's about to kill Harry. Possibly also a CallBack to when Lord Raith made the same "flights of angels sing you to your rest" reference in ''Blood Rites'' when he was about to kill Thomas, (especially since both Raith and Madeline end up being [[spoiler: raped to psychic slavery/death]] by Lara), or maybe it's just a family habit.
100	%%* ''{{Literature/Falkner}}'': ''Hamlet'' gets mentioned in chapter 15.
101	* In ''Father, Forgive Them'', the first book of ''Literature/TheFatherLukeWolfeTrilogy'', Father Luke's English students are studying ''Hamlet'', which is parallelled in the murder mystery and the motive of the murderer.
102	* British statesman Lord Chesterfield's opinion in ''Literature/LettersToHisSon'': "for, To BE, or NOT To BE, is a question of much less importance, in my mind, than to be or not to be well." (letter 235)
103	* In ''Literature/MedusasWeb'', when Adelaida Nazimova finds an apparition standing at her front door, she mutters "Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Adelaida" before suiting the action to the word.
104	* ''Literature/ProfessorMmaasLecture'': Two royal agents Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
105	* 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.".
106	* While ''Literature/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.
107	* 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.
108	* In ''Literature/CallMeSunflower'', Sunny's Odyssey of the Mind group is assigned to do a musical skit based on "To be or not to be." Her mom keeps the quote "To thine own self be true" above her desk.
109	* "Literature/TalmaGordon": Dr. Thornton quotes ''Hamlet'' while giving his thoughts on intermarriage to illustrate that he believes it to be inevitable.
110	-->We may make laws, but laws are but straws in the hands of Omnipotence.\
111	"There's a divinity that shapes our ends,\
112	Rough-hew them how we will."\
113	And no man may combat fate.
114	* The Creator/WilliamSanders short story "The Undiscovered" is about an Englishman who is captured by Cherokee and adopted into their tribe. He gives his name as "Spear-shaker", and tries to teach them about the concept of a stage play, eventually producing a version of ''Hamlet'' for them, but cultural differences make it difficult.
115	* In ''Literature/TheMermaidInTheMillpond'', Bess's mother was an actress. Her last role before her death was Ophelia.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118
119	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
120	* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'': "Well, it's like the Ten Commandments say. 'Be true to thine ownself, and to thine own self..." "Be true. Yeah. Number seven."
121	* ''{{Series/Blackadder}}'', among its many Shakespearean references, has in the second season a passing mention of Blackadder's Uncle Osric.
122	* ''{{Series/Frasier}}'': An episode is titled "Roz's Krantz And Gouldenstein Are Dead". This is a reference to ''Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead'' (whose title is itself a line from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'').
123	* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'':
124	** In "The Duel", Clayton refers to the play when he talks with Hornblower about suicide.
125	--->'''Clayton:''' Damned unsporting of the Everlasting to have fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter, if you ask me.
126	** Archie Kennedy is a great fan of the bard, and in "Retribution" he paraphrases Osrick's "a hit, a very palpable hit" when he reports that Lt. Bush's heated shot was successful.
127	** In "The Duchess and the Devil", when Archie is breaking the news to Horatio that the Duchess of Wharfedale is actually an actress impersonating a noblewoman, he says she has more claim to be Queen Gertrude than to be a duchess.
128	* "To thine own self be true" was used in ''Series/LoisAndClark: The New Adventures of Franchise/{{Superman}}'', as said by Leslie.
129	* ''Series/{{Mash}}'':
130	** Frank Burns uses the line "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" (rather inaptly) to Radar.
131	** Winchester, at the end of the "Dreams" episode. "To sleep, perchance to dream." Thus encouraging everyone to get another cup of coffee.
132	** Once, after Hawkeye and BJ misquoted a number of Shakespearian lines for fun, Winchester quipped, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio..." prompting Hawkeye to announce, [[HypocriticalHumor "If there's one thing I hate it's someone who butchers Shakespeare."]]
133	** In the episode "Private Finance", when suspecting a dead soldier of criminal activities, Winchester commented, "Methinks something's rotten in the state of Ouijongbu."
134	* ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'': Howard offers death-related quotes, and at one point the 'Death, the undiscovered country' soliloquy.
135	* 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).
136	* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': TheCoroner Dr Julia Ogden is examining a skull and quotes "I knew him, Horatio" and laughs heartily at her little joke. Detective Murdoch and Constable Crabtree are rather disturbed by her morgue sense of humour.
137	* In the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "The Screaming Skull," Tom says, "Alas, poor Yorick; she threw him well!"
138	** Also, a poorly dubbed version of Hamlet was watched in Season 10.
139	* ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' featured this memorable exchange:
140	-->'''Lothor:''' "...there's something rotten in the state of Denmark..."\
141	'''Marah:''' I thought they were in California?\
142	'''Lothor:''' ...it's Shakespeare. Read a book.\
143	'''Kapri:''' Technically it's a ''play''...
144	* An exchange on ''Series/SaluteYourShorts'' is inspired by Hamlet's observation that "a man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm" and therefore that "a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar."
145	-->'''Pinsky:''' Think about it. When you die they stick you in the ground and it's the worms that eat you up!\
146	'''Z.Z.:''' Then somebody digs up the worms that ate you and use to catch fish which somebody else eats.\
147	'''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?''\
148	'''Z.Z.:''' You could be burping up the King as we speak!
149	* ''Series/SamAndFriends'': One of Sam's friends is a puppet with skull-like features named Yorick.
150	* 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".
151	* ''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.
152	* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," quotes Carey Martin.
153	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The closing narration of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E18TheLastFlight The Last Flight]]" is "Dialogue from a play, Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in Main/{{Heaven}} and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky: There are more things in heaven and earth and in the sky than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between Heaven, the sky and the Earth lies the Twilight Zone."
154	* In ''Series/TheMonkees'' episode "Peter and the Debutante," Peter attempts to impress a girl by recounting the plot of ''Hamlet'' to her.
155	* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': Sheldon quotes "to be or not to be" in "An Existential Crisis and a Bear That Makes Bubbles".
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Music]]
159	* Music/BoBurnham named his second album ''Words Words Words'' and then mentioned Hamlet in the title track.
160	* Music/EmilieAutumn:
161	** "Opheliac" quotes a big part of Hamlet in "Doubt thou the stars are fire/Doubt thou the sun doth move/Doubt truth to be a liar/But never doubt I love." But then, the song is basically a tribute to Hamlet's Ophelia, so this was to be expected.
162	** "Goodnight Sweet Ladies" takes its name from a quote from Ophelia.
163	* Joe Hawley from Music/TallyHall references Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in "Bahamian Rap City"
164	* Music/FiveIronFrenzy references Hamlet's famous soliloquy in their song "Against a Sea of Troubles". Where the Danish prince used the words to contemplate suicide, FIF uses them to signal defiance against the world until the bitter end.
165	* The band ''This Mortal Coil'' took its name from a line from ''Hamlet''.
166	* The second line of [[Music/MarcBolan T. Rex]]'s [[Music/ElectricWarrior "Planet Queen"]] is "Perchance to dream."
167	* In Music/TheCramps' song "Cornfed Dames" Lux sings "There's more things in Tennessee than are dreamed of in your philosophy", a reference to the title character's "more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio."
168	[[/folder]]
169
170	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
171	* One ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' strip has Calvin's veggie glop dinner come to life and recite the "To be, or not to be" speech.
172	* In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', Jason and Marcus attack Paige with squirt guns that fire bugs. Jason asks, "Did we shoot two bees, or not two bees?"
173	[[/folder]]
174
175	[[folder:Radio]]
176	* Ned Martin, a radio announcer for baseball's Boston Red Sox in the 1960s and '70s, was fond of using Claudius' "O Gertrude, when sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions" when things went bad for the team.
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[folder:Theatre]]
180	* "Words, words, words" is used "Martin's Laughing Song" in Music/LeonardBernstein's adaptation of ''{{Literature/Candide}}''.
181	* The Anthony Burgess translation of ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'' riffs off the "Oh that this too too solid flesh" speech as well as quoting "In thy orisons BeAllMySinsRemembered."
182	* ''Theatre/{{Hair}}'' uses "What a piece of work is a man" for song lyrics.
183	* "To thine own self be true" was used in ''Theatre/MerrilyWeRollAlong'', quoted by the protagonist in his graduation speech.
184	* 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."
185	* 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".
186	* ''Theatre/PeerGynt'': "Out there, under the radiant sky, they say 'To thine own self be true.' But here, in the world of trolls, we say 'To thine own self be--all-sufficient!'"
187	* ''Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead'' is a PerspectiveFlip of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''.
188	* In ''{{Theatre/Ruddigore}}'', Robin quotes "Alas, poor ghost!"
189	[[/folder]]
190
191	[[folder:Video Games]]
192	* 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.
193	* In ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'', Psychos have a random chance of reciting the "too solid flesh" soliloquy in its entirety if you let them. Appropriate, since Psychos love to scream about meat and flesh in general, plus the soliloquy contains the word "Hyperion", the name of the MegaCorp whose CEO is the game's BigBad.
194	* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', a skeleton searching for his head is named Yorick.
195	* In Mission 17 of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', there are bits of ''Hamlet'' references before and after the fight between Dante and Agnus, such as the latter holding a skull, although the most obvious giveaway is Dante saying "And the rest...is silence." - the last part of Hamlet's FinalSpeech.
196	* 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."
197	* The title and chapter-opening epigraphs of ''VideoGame/TheKingOfShredsAndPatches'' are all from ''Hamlet'', appropriately enough for a horror game where a good portion of the action centers around the play's first premiere. (The titular King, however, is an avatar of Literature/TheKingInYellow.)
198	* There are a ''ton'' of references to ''Hamlet'' in the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' trilogy. ''Marathon 2'' has a level entitled "The Slings & Arrows of Outrageous Fortune". ''Marathon Infinity'' has a level called "Poor Yorick". In the level "Rise Robot Rise", Tycho compares Durandal and himself, respectively, to Claudius and Hamlet, "only I'm not crazy".
199	* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', there are references to an all-elcor production of ''Hamlet'' on the Citadel. The elcor are an alien race who speak in a very dull monotone and convey emotions via pheromones and extremely subtle body language, both of which are imperceptible to non-elcor. As a courtesy when speaking to other races, they [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry declare out loud what the tone of their next sentence is supposed to be]]. The director, a human, states that the idea behind an all-elcor cast was to challenge the audience by stripping out all the emotional subtext and leaving the audience to judge the characters on the merits of their actions alone. The production goes on to become a smash hit. Also, it's ''fourteen hours long''.
200	-->'''Elcor on Radio Commercial:''' Insincere endorsement: You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have heard him in the voice of elcor.
201	* ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series:
202	** In ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'', Stan S. Stanman quotes Polonius in saying, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" (I.iii).
203	** In ''VideoGame/{{Monkey Island 2\|LeChucksRevenge}}'', if the player has Guybrush examine the skull in his inventory, he says, "Alas, poor Dad", in a spoof of (V.i).
204	** ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'':
205	*** A character decides to rewrite various Shakespeare plays to better suit the local pirates' tastes, resulting in lines such as "Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him...and his two pals!", the latter spoken while juggling three skulls (one of them being Murray the talking skull).
206	*** Speaking of Murray, if the player tries having Guybrush use him anywhere else, he'll say, "Alas, I can't use Murray with that" (another spoof of (V.i)).
207	** ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'':
208	*** In Chapter 4, if the player has Guybrush use one of the severed legs on the altar without dipping it in sugar water, he will quote a few lines in a spoof of "Alas, poor Yorick" from (V.i).
209	*** One of the [=PS3=] trophies is titled "Adieu, Adieu..." which is a reference to Hamlet's father's written line, "Adieu, adieu, remember me," from (I.v)).
210	* ''VisualNovel/OtobokuMaidensAreFallingForMe'' quotes "To be, or not to be" in Japanese.
211	* Many of the demonic monsters in the ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}}'' series are named after ''Hamlet'' characters.
212	* In ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', if Dak'kon dies in combat, Morte, a talking skull, will say, "Alas, poor Dak'kon. I knew him well."
213	* ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Super Street Fighter IV]]'': Juri's ending includes a rather appropriate use of the phrase 'Goodnight sweet prince'.
214	* ''VideoGame/SoUhASpaceshipCrashedInMyYard'': A dog, due to the protagonist's ability to understand them, recites part of the Ghost's lines from Act 1 Scene 5:
215	--> (O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!\
216	From me,whose love was of that dignity\
217	That it went hand in hand even with the\
218	Vow I made to her in marriage, and to\
219	Decline upon a wretch whose natural gifts\
220	Were poor to those of mine!)
221	* ''VideoGame/{{Transistor}}'': The words "The Country" pop up repeatedly throughout the story, in reference to a place where people go and never return from. Sounds innocuous at first, but it takes on a darker meaning if you recall Hamlet, and then consider why people might be "evacuating to the Country" ahead of the Process. It's a DeadlyEuphemism.
222	* ''VideoGame/MarioPlusRabbidsKingdomBattle'': Has a Rabbid member of the team play with the Icicle Golem's head in a manner similar to the "Alas, poor Yorick" scene before it allowed Peach to kick it into the giant refrigerator to free the trapped 3rd member of the group.
223	[[/folder]]
224
225	[[folder:Web Animation]]
226	* ''WebAnimation/TheMostPopularGirlsInSchool'': the motif of revenge and characters from the original play is used to make analogies regarding the ongoing strife between the three seasons, in class in Episode 32, eventually into the form of an argument between the students.
227	* ''WebAnimation/PrincessNatasha'': In "The Play's the Thing", Greg holds a soccer ball like it's Yorick's skull while auditioning for a role in [[SchoolPlay The Beautiful Princess and the Handsome Prince]].
228	[[/folder]]
229
230	[[folder:Webcomic]]
231	* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0843.html #843]] borrows the back half of a line:
232	--> '''Darth Vader:''' I have discovered Force powers never dreamt of in your philosophy.
233	* ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'': [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=247 "A Book By its Gorey Cover, Pt 2"]]:
234	-->'''Theatre/{{Oedipus\|TheKing}}:''' Hamlet! What are you doing here?\
235	'''{{Theatre/Hamlet}}:''' Oedipus? Must be some book about [[UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex wanting to bang your mother]].
236	* ''Webcomic/InsectoNocturno''
237	** In chapter 1, 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.
238	--> ''The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing...\
239	A thing?\
240	Of nothing. Bring me to him. Hide, fox, and all after.
241	** In chapter 2, Ofelia captures Dimitri and tells him that "she would catch his concience" by killing him through one of his ears with her cryptobots.
242	* ''Webcomic/SquareRootOfMinusGarfield'':
243	** [[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=1390 These]] [[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=1391 two]] strips feature Garfield reciting AlasPoorYorick.
244	** [[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=1641 This one]] features a satirical Garfield-themed rewrite of To be or not to be.
245	[[/folder]]
246
247	[[folder:Web Video]]
248	* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': Creator/LiamOBrien quotes "Dead, for a ducat, dead!" after Creator/SamRiegel swatted a mosquito to death with a rolled-up newspaper (campaign 1) and Creator/TravisWillingham successfully zaps a fly to death with a flyswatter (campaign 2). Additionally, Vax (Liam's Campaign 1 character) quotes "One may smile, and smile, and be a villain." to Emperor Uriel.
249	* ''Webvideo/HollywoodNewsAgency'': In ''Disney ROBOG A POKOLBA...'' (''Disney IS GOING TO HELL...''), it seems Gergely Szirmai is about to say ''[[Westernanimation/TheLionKing1994 Lion King]]'' is based on ''Hamlet''... but instead he says it was based on ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''.
250	* ''WebVideo/PhilosophyTube'': The episode "Suic!de and Ment@l He@lth" opens with Abigail as Theatre/{{Hamlet}} delivering his famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy, only to cut to...
251	-->'''[[TheShrink Dr. Rozencrantz:]]''' So, [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Prince Hamlet]]... When the ghost of your father instructed you to take revenge on your uncle, who murdered him, and married your mother, and seized the throne of Denmark... How much did that event impede your normal functioning, on a scale from 1 to 4?
252	* ''Webvideo/SonicStopmotionAdventures'': Sonic holds a skull acting the "to be or not to be" scene in ''Curtain Call''.
253	[[/folder]]
254
255	[[folder:Western Animation]]
256	* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'':
257	** "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.
258	** Dinobot says: "Alas! Poor Tarantulas. I knew him, Cheetor." Dinobot was holding Tarantulas' severed spider legs though, not his [[AlasPoorYorick severed head]].
259	** Dinobot also tosses out a "To be or not to be, that is the question" when contemplating Free Will vs Fate.
260	* ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'' In "Ye Olde Shakespeare Dinner Theatre", Dan takes out one of the actors by pouring soda in his ear, referencing Claudius's murder technique.
261	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': "Something is rotten on the planet Wormulon," says Leela in "Fry and the Slurm Factory".
262	* 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.
263	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
264	** "WesternAnimation/AHamInARole" features a cartoon dog who works for Looney Tunes but really wants to do Shakespeare. ''Hamlet'' is one of the plays he quotes from.
265	** In the Shakespeare themed short "A Witch's Tangled Hare", Bugs Bunny meets a man who looks a lot like The Bard, who is ''not'' William Shakespeare, but a man named Sam Crubish. 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 quoting the famous line from Hamlet - "To be, or not to be".
266	** In ''WesternAnimation/CheeseChasers'', the mice Hubie and Bertie try to commit suicide by getting eaten by a cat. Claude Cat think there's something suspicious about their eagerness to be eaten, and imagines the country of Denmark and the words "Something's rotten in..." beside it.
267	** In "WesternAnimation/TheLastHungryCat", the Creator/AlfredHitchcock-like bear attempts this moral (only for Sylvester to throw a brick at his head):
268	--->'''Bear Hitchcock:''' In the words of The Bard: "Conscience makes cowards of us all."\
269	'''Sylvester:''' ''[off-screen]'' [[BigShutUp Ah, shaddup!]]
270	** One [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner Road Runner]] cartoon is called "WesternAnimation/ToBeepOrNotToBeep".
271	* ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'':
272	** Milo and Melissa watch ''Llamalet'', a production of ''Hamlet'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin performed by an all-llama acting troupe.]]
273	** Another episode was titled "Perchance to Sleepwalk" alluding to a part of the "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy.
274	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
275	** "Lights, Candace, Action": Candace regularly quotes a line of an InUniverse play that brings to mind the "To Be Or Not To Be" soliloquy.
276	** "Skiddley Whiffers": Linda is inexplicably washing a human skull in the kitchen sink.
277	** "Where's Perry?" BrainwashedAndCrazy-Carl walks around caressing a skull.
278	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "Speedy, We Hardly Knew Ye", at the class hamster Speedy's funeral, the distraught Spinelli leaps into his grave and demands to be buried with him, just like Laertes at Ophelia's funeral.
279	* 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''.
280	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
281	** Lisa uses ''Hamlet'' to explain the concept of "a play within a play" and NestedStory. She figures "a video tape of you watching TV" would be more successful.
282	** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS13E14TalesFromThePublicDomain Tales from the Public Domain]]" has a ''Simpsons''-style spoof retelling of the play, featuring Bart as Hamlet, Homer as King Hamlet, Moe as Claudius, Marge as Gertrude, Chief Wiggum as Polonius, and Ralph Wiggum as Laertes. Carl and Lenny were of course Rosen-Carl and Guilden-Lenny. Lisa has a brief scene as crazy Ophelia.
283	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS19E8FuneralForAFiend Funeral for a Fiend]]", Sideshow Bob misquotes "Hoist on his own petard", and tells Lisa to get a life when she corrects him.
284	** In "Throw Grampa from the Dane", Homer does a hilarious parody of the "to be, or not to be" soliloquy. Bonus points for performing it in front of Elsinore Castle.
285	-->'''Homer:''' Tubby or not tubby? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to withstand the wings and nachos of outrageous portions, or just have fish and end it. Aye, there's the rub! Brisket rub, Memphis rub, all the rubs I'll miss when I shuffle off from Buffalo mozzarella…
286	* There is a ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode called "The Play's The Thing".
287	* When Toxie in ''WesternAnimation/ToxicCrusaders'' gets a whiff of another dastardly plan by Dr. Killemoff, he proclaims "There's something rotten in the state of New Jersey!"
288	* In ''Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault'', one very long and [[WhamEpisode significant]] story arc is titled "To Thine Own Self." Nick himself references "the play's the thing" line when trying to outwit the alternative universe counterpart of his fiancee.
289	[[/folder]]
290
291	[[folder:Real Life]]
292	* One of the moons of Uranus is named after Ophelia.
293	* In his first televised address as the sovereign of the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom, King UsefulNotes/CharlesIII closed with a message to his departed mother, Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethII, capped off by quoting the final lament of Horatio regarding the death of Hamlet:
294	-->'''King Charles III:''' May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
295	[[/folder]]

Context ReferencedBy / Hamlet