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Hamlet OnLine - User contributions [en]
2026-05-03T23:46:35Z
User contributions
MediaWiki 1.22.1
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
2022-08-01T20:39:25Z
<p>Administrator: /* Role */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are friends of Hamlet since childhood.<br />
<br />
==Role==<br />
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (generally called R & G, for brevity,) are long-time friends of Hamlet, since childhood, as Claudius informs us in Scene 7, when they first appear.<br />
<br />
Claudius: ...<br />
I entreat you both,<br />
That being of so young days brought up with him,<br />
<br />
They've also been Hamlet's schoolmates at the university in Wittenberg, as Hamlet informs us, also in Scene 7, when he speaks to them.<br />
<br />
Hamlet: ...<br />
let me conjure you, by the<br />
rites of our fellowship,<br />
<br />
That's confirmed in Scene 11, the Closet Scene, when Hamlet refers to them as:<br />
<br />
Hamlet: ... my two schoolfellows,<br />
<br />
The lines are enough to identify R & G as Hamlet's schoolfellows at the University. While they were Hamlet's childhood playmates, they were probably not his schoolmates in grammar school. Hamlet, the son of the King, was almost certainly tutored, and did not attend a grammar school with other students.<br />
<br />
R & G have arrived at Elsinore Castle in response to a summons from Claudius and Gertrude, or more likely, vice versa. Gertrude is the one who knows them, since Hamlet's childhood. Claudius was not well acquainted with them, shown by him getting them confused.<br />
<br />
It's clear in the dialogue that Gertrude is interested in R & G being good company for Hamlet, but Claudius is interested in what they can find out from Hamlet, to report back to Claudius. One can make an educated guess, since Gertrude is the one who knows them, the idea of sending for R & G was hers, to be company for Hamlet, and Claudius agreed for his own reason. Claudius wouldn't have thought of them, since there's no sign he was ever close enough to Hamlet to be aware of who his friends were.<br />
<br />
Gertrude, observing Hamlet's depression, could have thought of summoning R & G at any time since King Hamlet's death, to be company for him, and the joint summons, from Claudius and Gertrude, could have been sent at any time since they were married, which has been at least a month. Thus, there is no reason to think R & G have appeared with impossible speed, as some have supposed in the history of ''Hamlet'' commentary.<br />
<br />
Claudius's word "moreover," which begins the second line of Scene 7, subtly tells us he has already spoken to R & G in private. In the dialogue, he is following up what he said to them earlier. It's easy enough to identify what he said to them. For one, he would have told them the same thing he said to everyone: Hamlet was continuing to mourn his father past the point when Claudius declared the mourning period over. Claudius cast that as mad, and coming from the King, R & G accept that Hamlet is mad before they even talk to him. It's clear they think Hamlet is mad, when they first approach him, so, Claudius must have told them that.<br />
<br />
Then, R & G's conversation with Hamlet tells us Claudius asked them to find out about Hamlet's ambition. For a Prince, ambition can mean only one thing, that he wants to be King. That's why, out of the blue, R & G raise the subject of ambition, with Hamlet. Claudius is worried that Hamlet is so ambitious for the crown, he might try to get it by killing Claudius. Claudius is worried Hamlet is like him in that way. Claudius would not express it to R & G in those terms. Claudius would have phrased it innocuously, telling R & G - again what he told everyone - that he had declared Hamlet his heir for the crown, but he wanted to be certain that suited Hamlet, so he would appreciate it if they'd try to find out if Hamlet had, oh, call it "ambition" to (someday) be King. So, when R & G speak to Hamlet of ambition, they think they are engaged in an innocent pursuit, just asking if it suits Hamlet to be Claudius's heir. It's really a trap set by Claudius against Hamlet, using R & G as his dupes.<br />
<br />
R & G's mention of "ambition" to Hamlet is a more serious thing than a modern audience may easily appreciate. One of the accusations against the Earl of Essex, who was executed for treason against Queen Elizabeth I, in 1601, was that he was ambitious. Shakespeare's original audience would not have viewed it as an innocent inquiry, nor does Hamlet. That's why Hamlet "blows smoke" at R & G instead of answering seriously. He recognizes danger for him in the issue of his ambition.<br />
<br />
(The doctrine of the divine right of kings was recognized in Shakespeare's day - especially by kings, and those who benefitted from a particular person being king. Thus, ambition against a king was seen as disobedience to God's will, and meant the person was under an evil influence. This point is relevant to Hamlet and the Ghost.)<br />
<br />
In the context of Shakespeare's time, with the fate of the Earl of Essex in mind, if Hamlet admitted ambition to R & G, that alone would have been reason for Claudius to arrest and charge Hamlet (based on the testimony of two witnesses.) Although R & G were undoubtedly led by Claudius to believe they're making an innocent inquiry, Hamlet sees the trap Claudius set for him. The inquiry about ambition is part of what makes Hamlet think R & G are not there just to be his friends. It pegs them as agents of Claudius, in Hamlet's eyes. R & G have not thought through what they're doing; they are not bright characters.<br />
<br />
So again, although a modern audience may make little of it - since we no longer execute aristocrats for being ambitious - R & G's mention of ambition, in relation to a monarch, would have resonated with Shakespeare's audience, for whom the Essex Rebellion was a major current event. The original audience would have understood Hamlet's evasion of the issue.<br />
<br />
(And no, in his replies to R & G, Hamlet is ''not'' "pretending to be mad," he is cleverly evading an issue that could get him arrested and executed, and evading a setup by which Claudius hoped to trap him, using R & G as unwitting tools. The notion, as it has been applied to the "ambition" passage and elsewhere, of Hamlet "pretending to be mad," is only a crutch used by incompetent commentators, to somehow get through what they don't understand, and it is a notion which has severely crippled rational exposition of the play. There is no time in the play when Hamlet pretends to be mad. Never. Not even one single time, for only one single line. It does not happen. That is the fact, although you have probably been insistently propagandized to the contrary.)<br />
<br />
Still on the "ambition" passage, one aspect that clues Hamlet, is that R & G ought to be supportive of any ambition he has to be King. It could be quite nice for them, to be the long-time friends of the King. It's odd they should speak against it. That goes directly against their own obvious interests. For them to speak against their own most obvious interest is part of what makes it unmistakable for Hamlet that R & G have been employed by Claudius.<br />
<br />
R & G are typically viewed as identical, or interchangeable, but they are clearly not, if one attends to the exact dialogue as Shakespeare wrote it. When asked why they are there, Rosencrantz outright lies to Hamlet, but later, Guildenstern tells Hamlet the truth. The difference between a character who outright lies, and one who tells the truth, even if it takes him a while, is stark. Nobody would view such persons as being the same. Also, it's Guildenstern who makes the "privates" joke. While not a particularly clever joke, it establishes Guildenstern as the more fun-loving of the two. Later in the play, G talks more to Hamlet, while R talks more to Claudius. Most tellingly, it's G whom Hamlet draws aside for the "recorder lesson." Hamlet doesn't view them the same, obviously, and therefore, neither should we. Shakespeare may have done characters who are similar, in some ways, but he didn't do cookie cutter characters. R & G do have individuality.<br />
<br />
Politically and socially, R & G's only prominence is due to them being in service to the King. They're both gentlemen, and are properly called "sir."<br />
<br />
Indications are, R & G may be based on characters in an earlier form of ''Hamlet'' in England, since corresponding characters do appear, in much simpler form, in the story of Amleth by Saxo.<br />
<br />
* <b>Costume</b> - They should be overdressed for their actual social status. They should wear hats, with an emblem or ornament displayed on the front (to go along with the "button on the cap" lines as they appear in the First Folio: [[Scene 7#237|Scene 7 line 237]] and [[Scene 7#238|Scene 7 line 238]], ''on Fortune's cap We are not the very button.'')<br />
<br />
==Name==<br />
The names are two which can be found historically in Denmark, and in association with Denmark. Various sources are known from which Shakespeare could have learned the names.<br />
<br />
The modern name Rosencrantz is based on the spelling "Rosincrance" found in the First Folio. It means "rose crown." The character's name was printed as "Rossencrast" in the First Quarto of ''Hamlet,'' and as "Rosencraus" in the Second Quarto.<br />
<br />
The Second Quarto form, Rosencraus, is particularly interesting, since it can be understood as "red and cross," which is a verbal description of the Danish flag. (That observation argues against the Second Quarto form being a misprint or misunderstanding in that publication.) The Danish flag is red with a (white) cross on it. "Rose-n-craus" is the ideal name for a person of Denmark, a person under the Danish flag.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare, himself, may have changed the name to the Folio form of "Rosincrance" for a reason in connection with the dialogue. My view is that he did. Essentially, he may have wanted the "crown" idea that the "-crantz" part of "Rosencrantz" brings in: the cleric at the graveyard uses the word "crants," in the phrase "virgin crants," which - based on Rosencrantz - can be heard as "virgin crown." That's an attention-getting phrase in the era of Queen Elizabeth I.<br />
<br />
The name Guildenstern is based directly on the First Folio "Guildensterne." It means "golden star." The name was spelled "Gilderstone" in the First Quarto, and "Guyldensterne" in the Second Quarto.<br />
<br />
The First Quarto form of the name, "Gilderstone," can be understood as "gold rock," i.e. fool's gold. Since fool's gold is a deceptive imitation, not the real thing, the name "Gilderstone" is excellent for a character who is a "fake" friend to Hamlet. However, apparently Shakespeare, himself, preferred the "star" idea that goes with the spellings Guyldensterne/Guildenstern that were printed later. This is not to imply Guildenstern as the star of the play, since he is not, of course. But "star" is a repeated idea in the play, to the point it can be taken as a motif. One can only speculate, but perhaps the author might have preferred the "star" idea, since it links to the play, overall, so he, himself, might have changed it. One cannot know for a fact, but in the variation Gilderstone/Guildenstern we could be seeing Shakespeare considering different possibilities for the name, to connect to the play.<br />
<br />
==Lines==<br />
Significant lines spoken by R & G: too many to extract. They have numerous important lines.<br />
<br />
==Themes and Motifs==<br />
Those most directly relevant to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern:<br />
<br />
Duty. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me - redo this. This is not my latest view of the Motifs.<br />
<br />
(redo) It's significant that they are near Hamlet's ''age,'' they die trying to do their ''duty'' for Claudius, they are Hamlet's former ''friends,'' they are not ''honest'' with him, Hamlet makes a point of ''manners'' with them, ''money'' motivates them, they have a ''secret'' from Hamlet, at first, which they cannot keep, also they later bear Claudius's ''secret'' order to England, and Claudius tries to use them to ''trap'' Hamlet on the ''ambition'' issue.<br />
<br />
(One might add the motifs of ''dreams'' and ''confinement'', since those concepts are prominently raised in R & G's initial dialogue with Hamlet. However, it's Hamlet who raises the subject of ''dreams,'' and who speaks of Denmark being a ''prison,'' with which they disagree.)<br />
<br />
==On Stage==<br />
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern appear in: [[Scene 7]], [[Scene 8]], [[Scene 9]], [[Scene 10]], [[Scene 12]], [[Scene 13]], and [[Scene 14]].<br />
<br />
==The Fate of R & G==<br />
Had Claudius's scheme to have Hamlet executed in England worked, what was going to happen to R & G when they got back to Denmark? It's a point to ponder. What did Claudius think R & G would see in England?<br />
<br />
Claudius phrased his order to the King of England so that Hamlet was to be executed immediately, without even taking time to sharpen the axe, as Hamlet states it to Horatio. R & G would be there, too, and they would see that. (We know for a fact, R & G thought the mission was to collect the tribute, else they would not have kept going without Hamlet.) What would R & G think?<br />
<br />
They would think the English had decided, instead of paying the tribute, they were going to war again. As their first act of the renewed war, they had killed Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Upon learning they were free to go, R & G would have hurried back to the ship as fast as they could scamper. They would have told the captain to make all sail for Denmark. Upon their return, they would have run to Claudius with the awful news that Denmark was at war with England again.<br />
<br />
Claudius would have made sure to debrief them in private. What they told Claudius would not surprise him. Oh, he'd pretend to be surprised, of course. Claudius knew they would be there, with Hamlet, and see that. Claudius would question them on exactly what they saw.<br />
<br />
They would tell Claudius, no sooner had the King of England read Claudius's letter, that he ordered Hamlet executed. Hm. Read the letter... kill Hamlet. That is too close for comfort, for Claudius. R & G aren't bright enough to figure it out, but somebody else might, if R & G went around saying that.<br />
<br />
Claudius would express his dissatisfaction with what R & G told him. He would tell them, oh, it wasn't that he didn't believe them, but it was such a horrible turn of events, he had the responsibility to conduct a thorough investigation, to be certain. Claudius would order the guards to lock up R & G, and hold them incommunicado, not even letting them talk to the person who brought their food, while he conducted his inquiry.<br />
<br />
Then, R & G would not be telling anybody what they saw: read Claudius's letter... kill Hamlet. They would not be saying that to anybody, from deep in a dungeon cell.<br />
<br />
Claudius would then "put on a big show" of an investigation, calling anybody he pleased, asking all sorts of questions, for days on end. Nobody could object that he wanted a thorough investigation. Indeed, people would demand it.<br />
<br />
After some time, when he had put on enough of a show of investigation, Claudius would announce his conclusion. He would say he had discovered, both from the public testimony and from certain confidential sources he couldn't name, that the story R & G told him was a lie. The truth was that R & G had conspired with some corrupt English officials to steal the tribute money, and then, when Hamlet found out about their criminal intent and tried to stop them, they murdered him.<br />
<br />
Claudius would then display the King's order he had already prepared, ordering the immediate execution of the traitorous, murderous, thieving criminals, R & G. They'd barely have time to say "huh?" on their way to the block to be executed.<br />
<br />
Everybody would believe it. Corrupt government officers, stealing money - who would not believe it? The next day, everybody in town would be saying, "I told you so," and claiming they could have told Claudius on the first day that's what it would turn out to be.<br />
<br />
Then, R & G are never again telling anybody what they saw: read Claudius's order... kill Hamlet. It goes to the grave with them.<br />
<br />
Claudius comes up smelling like roses. He gets praise for being bold enough to find the truth, and act on it, even though it was his own people who were responsible. Claudius gets praised for upholding the law, and standing tough for clean, honest government.<br />
<br />
Claudius '''knew''' he was going to do that when he ordered R & G to pack for the trip to England, to go with Hamlet. That's why Claudius sent R & G along. They were his patsies to take the blame. When they got back, Claudius was going to pin the blame for Hamlet's death on them. Claudius certainly wasn't going to take the blame, himself.<br />
<br />
Look at the first part of the Prayer Scene, Scene 10, with this in mind. See how R & G pledge their loyalty to Claudius in the highest terms, even "holy and religious" terms, and all the time, while Claudius looks at them and smiles, he knows he's going to blame them for Hamlet's death, and have them executed when they return.<br />
<br />
It is a fantastic irony in the play, that Hamlet's forged order to England only accomplishes what Claudius was intending to do to R & G when they got back to Denmark.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Characters]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/About_the_Scenes
About the Scenes
2022-08-01T19:42:28Z
<p>Administrator: /* About Acting the Play */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
The page for each Scene includes the following features.<br />
<br />
* A brief <b>Synopsis</b> of the Scene.<br />
<br />
* A list of the <b>Characters</b> who appear in the Scene.<br />
<br />
* For all except the shortest Scenes, some <b>Passage Links</b> for jumping quickly to notable passages or speeches within the Scene.<br />
<br />
* The playscript for the Scene <b>Dialogue</b>.<br />
<br />
* An interlined <b>Paraphrase</b> for each line of the Scene.<br />
<br />
* <b>Notes</b> for that Scene, including comment about acting the play.<br />
<br />
* <b>Scene Links</b>, for convenience in moving quickly to one of the other Scenes.<br />
<br />
===Synopsis===<br />
The synopsis provided on the Scene page is merely a quick statement of events. For details, the synopsis section ends with a link to the appropriate section of the Explixation page, which provides a more in-depth description.<br />
<br />
===Characters===<br />
On the Scene page, the characters are only listed. Each character name is a link to the page for that character. The character page goes into detail about that character's role in the play, and other points.<br />
<br />
===Passage Links===<br />
The passage links provide a quick jump to the relevant section of the play dialogue. For example, in Scene 8 the passage link "To be or not to be" will take you directly to the line in the dialogue where that speech by Hamlet begins.<br />
<br />
===Dialogue===<br />
This term "dialogue" means the playscript, including stage directions, as originally written by Shakespeare. The spelling is modernized, except in a few cases where it appears Shakespeare used a special spelling to convey a certain meaning or connotation.<br />
<br />
The playscript is conflated. That is, it includes material from both the Second Quarto and the First Folio. Although the versions of ''Hamlet'' that were published in the Second Quarto of 1604-1605, and the First Folio of 1623, are essentially the same, they differ in details. In order to be sure of including everything Shakespeare wrote for the play, as best that can be determined, it's necessary to combine the material found in the two original publications.<br />
<br />
Each line of the play is numbered, starting with 1 (actually 001) for the first line of dialogue. The line number is preceded by the Scene number; for example 01-001 is Scene 1 line 1, the first line of dialogue in the play.<br />
<br />
A stage direction is numbered according to the dialogue line number it follows, for example, 01-045-SD. That's the number for the stage direction which follows line 45 in Scene 1. The initial stage direction of each Scene is numbered xx-000-SD, since no lines of dialogue have been spoken yet.<br />
<br />
The line numbers begin with the symbol #. The pound sign is not part of the line number, it's used to provide a link. Each line number is a link to the Note for that line. In other words, to see the Note for a line, click on the line number.<br />
<br />
===Paraphrase===<br />
I provide an interlined paraphrase for each line of the play. The paraphrase for a line is displayed below the line, in gray.<br />
<br />
The paraphrase gives the plain reading for the line, that is, the basic meaning. Shakespeare's writing is often difficult to read, since he wrote in such a poetic style, and also the English language, itself, was somewhat different at that time. Further, ''Hamlet'' is written in a way that incorporates much intentional ambiguity, which gives great depth to the writing. Some of the lines are written so that they mean more than one thing, at the same time.<br />
<br />
The paraphrase is designed to help a reader cope with all that. Having seen the basic meaning of the line in the paraphrase, the reader can then approach Shakespeare's original with greater confidence.<br />
<br />
Another advantage of the paraphrase is that it eliminates the need for a gloss. The play is easier to read when the reader doesn't have to jump back and forth between the script and a word list.<br />
<br />
===Notes===<br />
On each Scene page, the dialogue is followed by the regular Notes for each line of that Scene. As already mentioned, clicking a line number will take the reader to the Note for that line.<br />
<br />
Each Note includes a Return link, to take the reader back to the Note's dialogue line. A Note may also include other links, as follows.<br />
<br />
* <b>Extended Note</b>. A link for an extended note will take the reader to a different page, the page of extended notes for the Scene. The page will have a name such as "Scene 4 Extended Notes." The extended notes go into greater depth on something related to the dialogue line. The main reason for the extended notes, on a different page, is to keep the Notes reasonably short, since they appear on the same page as the dialogue.<br />
<br />
* <b>Folio Difference</b>. Some Notes include a "Folio Difference" link. As mentioned above, the Second Quarto and First Folio versions of ''Hamlet'' have some differences. A "Folio Difference" link means for the line of the dialogue, such a difference exists. The link takes the reader to a different page, with a name such as "Scene 7 Folio Differences," where I explore the difference in detail, and state why I decided to use the Second Quarto wording instead of the First Folio wording for that particular line, or vice versa.<br />
<br />
A few notes may contain other links, for other reasons, which should be self explanatory, or explained in the Note.<br />
<br />
===About Acting the Play===<br />
The regular Notes usually include some comment about acting the play. These comments are based directly on what Shakespeare wrote. Shakespeare used the dialogue in ''Hamlet'' both to provide meaningful speech for the play, and to dictate, in great detail, the actions he wanted.<br />
<br />
In the course of the play dialogue, Hamlet says to the Players, as he's coaching them on how he wants the 'Mousetrap' play performed, "suit the action to the word." ([[Scene 9#015|Scene 9 line 015]]) However, that is not just Hamlet coaching the Players, it is Shakespeare telling ''us'' how to do his ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
It has long been recognized that ''Hamlet'' contains what have been called "embedded stage directions." What has not been recognized is the extent of the direction. One reason the ''Hamlet'' dialogue is occasionally so obscure is that it was written especially to prescribe certain actions, and not written just to provide speech. ''Hamlet'' is a play, with action of course, and not merely something to recite. When the actions are done right, much of the obscurity of the language dissipates.<br />
<br />
Most of those who have studied ''Hamlet'' over the years have had a background in literature. A literature background is not adequate to prepare a person for dealing with ''Hamlet.'' The literary approach to the play is only to sit there and read it. In approaching the play like that, the literature community has missed, well, "the play" even though it is there, in action, when the lines are performed as written. One will never notice what is happening if he only sits at a desk and reads the text, without doing anything else. If one really wants to understand ''Hamlet,'' the first instruction to obey is: stand up.<br />
<br />
To do ''Hamlet'' correctly, one must be a good puppet for Shakespeare, and let him pull the strings, by doing exactly what he wrote, as best we can figure it out. Only then will we be doing "Shakespeare's ''Hamlet.''" It boils down to: do what the man wrote.<br />
<br />
The comments I include about acting the play are based directly on exactly what Shakespeare wrote, plus whatever common sense and knowledge of human behavior I can muster, to tell you what the play says to do, line by line.<br />
<br />
===Scene Links===<br />
Each Scene page concludes with scene links, to jump to any other Scene of the play. The same scene links appear between the end of the Dialogue and the start of the Notes on each Scene page.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Explication
Explication
2022-06-01T16:08:44Z
<p>Administrator: /* Scene 9 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
This is an explanatory overview, in detail, provided to give the reader a quicker idea of the play than would be gained by going through the individual Scene pages. However, nobody is going to understand the play well unless he does go through all the Scenes carefully. Even a relatively quick look at the play takes a while, because ''Hamlet'' is complicated, and there are a number of instances where small details, even a single word, are important to the play overall.<br />
<br />
==[[Earlier Events]]==<br />
The significant preplay events are:<br />
* King Hamlet slew Elder Fortinbrasse in a single combat over land;<br />
*Denmark fought a war against Norway;<br />
*King Hamlet died, with a coroner's verdict of snakebite;<br />
*Queen Gertrude married Claudius;<br />
*Claudius was elected King.<br />
<br />
Also see the [[Earlier Events]] page.<br />
<br />
==[[Scene 1]]==<br />
As the play begins, sentinels are keeping watch on a platform beside the Castle, on a chilly night, at midnight. Francisco is on duty. Barnardo approaches to relieve him, sees Francisco as a shape in the darkness, stops and cries out, "Who's there?" The darkness and the mystery, of "who's there," set an ominous tone. Francisco departs as Horatio and Marcellus arrive. Horatio has been told of a Ghost, but is skeptical, so he has accompanied Marcellus to see for himself.<br />
<br />
A Ghost appears that looks exactly like the recently-deceased King of Denmark, King Hamlet. The Ghost reacts to the men, but doesn't speak.<br />
<br />
The men discuss a rapid military buildup in Denmark. Horatio speaks of a single combat in which their late king, King Hamlet, killed the Elder Fortinbrasse of Norway and thereby won his land. Horatio further speaks of Young Fortinbrasse raising an army, supposedly for use against Poland. However, they fear Fortinbrasse's army may really be for use against Denmark, in an attempt by Fortinbrasse to retake the land his father lost. They wonder if the Ghost is an omen of disaster for Denmark, and they decide to tell Prince Hamlet about it.<br />
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<hr><br />
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Go to: [[Scene 1]]<br />
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Go to: <b>''[[Interscene 1 - 2]]''</b> where Marcellus, Horatio, and Barnardo arrive outside the Throne Room, and find they have to wait to see Hamlet, because Claudius is holding a council meeting, with Hamlet in attendance.<br />
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<hr><br />
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==[[Scene 2]]==<br />
In the Throne Room, Claudius, the newly-elected King, is holding his first session of the royal court. He announces that the mourning period for his brother is over, with his assumption of the throne. He goes through the formalities, of mentioning that he has married Gertrude, and thanking his supporters.<br />
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Claudius sends a diplomatic mission to King Norway, to try to deal with the apparent threat from Fortinbrasse.<br />
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Claudius gives Laertes permission to return to France.<br />
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Claudius then speaks to Hamlet, who responds, "a little more than kin and less than kind." Gertrude speaks to Hamlet, trying to persuade him not to be so downhearted, and Hamlet responds that his grief is not just a show. Claudius then lectures Hamlet at considerable length, and although Claudius puts on a show of concern, it's obvious that he hates Hamlet and fears him. Gertrude asks Hamlet to stay at Elsinore Castle, and Hamlet agrees to do so, despite his desire to return to school in Wittenberg. Claudius says he'll celebrate Hamlet's agreement to stay by carousing that night, and the session ends.<br />
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All except Hamlet exit, and Hamlet speaks his "sallied flesh" soliloquy. Marcellus, Horatio, and Barnardo enter, tell Hamlet about the Ghost, and he decides to go with them that night to see it.<br />
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<hr><br />
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Go to: [[Scene 2]]<br />
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Go to <b>''[[Interscene 2 - 3]]:''</b> Laertes, accompanied by Ophelia, has gone to the harbor at the town of Elsinore, where the ship that will take Laertes to France is ready to sail. Polonius observes from the Castle that the ship has not sailed yet, and makes his way down to the harbor to see why not.<br />
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<hr><br />
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==[[Scene 3]]==<br />
Laertes, before he leaves, gives Ophelia a long-winded lecture against Hamlet. Laertes can't imagine Hamlet being serious about Ophelia, because of the difference in social status. Hamlet is royalty, Ophelia is not.<br />
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Polonius arrives, and gives Laertes long-winded advice about how to conduct himself.<br />
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After Laertes boards the ship, Polonius gives Ophelia a long-winded lecture against Hamlet, much as Laertes just did. Polonius can't imagine Hamlet being serious about Ophelia, either. In the course of Polonius's lecture, Ophelia hints to Polonius that she and Hamlet are engaged to be married, but Polonius misses that. Polonius concludes by ordering Ophelia to have nothing further to do with Hamlet.<br />
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<hr><br />
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''Interscene 3 - 4:'' That evening, Ophelia writes Laertes a letter, as she promised she would, and gives it to Polonius to send to Laertes.<br />
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Claudius celebrates until after midnight, with trumpets, drums, and cannon fire to accentuate his drinking.<br />
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Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus assemble and go toward the sentinel post on the platform, to see if the Ghost will appear again.<br />
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Go to: [[Scene 3]]<br />
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<hr><br />
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==[[Scene 4]]==<br />
Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus arrive at the sentinel post on the platform, soon after midnight. They're startled by an abrupt noise of cannon fire, while Claudius carouses. Hamlet criticizes such behavior, and speaks of why some men do foolish things.<br />
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The Ghost appears, and beckons to Hamlet. After argument with Horatio and Marcellus, Hamlet follows the Ghost into the darkness, alone. Horatio and Marcellus hesitate, then decide to follow after Hamlet.<br />
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<hr><br />
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''Interscene 4 - 5:'' Hamlet follows the Ghost for a considerable distance. Horatio and Marcellus lose Hamlet in the darkness, and search for him.<br />
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<hr><br />
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==[[Scene 5]]==<br />
At the graveyard, Hamlet stops and tells the Ghost he'll go no farther. The Ghost speaks to Hamlet, saying he's the spirit of Hamlet's father, and that Claudius murdered King Hamlet, using the strange method of poison in the ear. The Ghost calls upon Hamlet for revenge.<br />
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The Ghost implies that he's in purgatory, and that Gertrude is less than virtuous, but makes neither statement expressly. Nor does the Ghost tell Hamlet what to do for revenge, but the implication is obvious that Hamlet should kill Claudius. The Ghost tells Hamlet to remember him, and exits. Hamlet condemns Gertrude and Claudius, and swears to himself that he will remember.<br />
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Horatio and Marcellus find Hamlet. Hamlet speaks to them in an odd and roundabout way, and doesn't tell them what the Ghost said. Hamlet draws his sword, and asks them to swear on it that they won't reveal what has happened. The Ghost cries out, from the earth beneath their feet, for them to swear. Hamlet moves away, but the same thing happens three times. Hamlet then puts his sword away without allowing them to swear on it. Hamlet repeats that they must say nothing, and the three exit.<br />
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<hr><br />
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''Interscene 5 - 6:'' Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus return to the Castle. Hamlet goes to his room to get some sleep. He has a terrifying nightmare that something has happened to Ophelia, and that she is dead. Hamlet jumps up and runs to Ophelia's room, to check that she's all right. He says nothing, and he leaves Ophelia puzzled and very worried about him.<br />
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(The strange notion, that one will find almost universally assumed in ''Hamlet'' commentary, of a two-month delay between Scenes 5 and 6, has no factual basis in Shakespeare's playscript, other than Ophelia apparently saying the word "twice" in Scene 9. However, her word "twice" there is not even something she intends to say, it is a product of her lisp as she speaks the word "two," which she immediately corrects. Shakespeare included Ophelia's "twice," as a consequence of her mild speech disorder, for allusion to the events surrounding King Hamlet's death happening twice, so to speak - first in reality, and then in depiction during the Mousetrap Play. Her "twice" is not in the ''Hamlet'' dialogue to provide information about the passage of time. Historically, virtually all commentators, misunderstanding Ophelia's "twice," have supposed a lapse of time, at this point, that does not exist. There is no two-month "hole" in the play. Scene 6 follows Scene 5 by only two or three hours.)<br />
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==[[Scene 6]]==<br />
In Polonius's office in the Castle, the day after Laertes leaves for France, Polonius sends his servant Reynaldo to check up on Laertes in Paris. Polonius is suspicious of why Laertes was so insistent on returning to France, and he fears Laertes is involved in vice there, so he wants to find out about that right away. Polonius has waited only until the next day to send Reynaldo, just so that Reynaldo won't be on the same ship as Laertes.<br />
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As Reynaldo exits, Ophelia enters, and tells Polonius that Hamlet rushed into her room, and stared at her without speaking. Polonius concludes that Hamlet is mad with love for Ophelia, which raises Polonius's hopes Hamlet will marry Ophelia. Polonius concludes they must go to the King about it.<br />
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<hr><br />
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''Interscene 6 - 7:'' Reynaldo goes to the harbor, to board the ship which will take him as far as a ship can toward Paris.<br />
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive and present themselves to Claudius, who speaks with them privately. He asks them to try to find out whether Hamlet is ambitious to become King (Claudius being worried that Hamlet might try to become King the same way he did, although Claudius doesn't tell R & G that.)<br />
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The Danish ambassadors to Norway are on their way back.<br />
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Polonius demands Ophelia's love letters from Hamlet, and when she doesn't want to surrender them Polonius takes them by force. Polonius wants the letters as tangible proof he can show to Claudius that Hamlet has expressed love for Ophelia. Polonius then leaves Ophelia locked in her room so she won't tell Hamlet that Polonius has taken his letters.<br />
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<hr><br />
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==[[Scene 7]]==<br />
In the Throne Room, Claudius and Gertrude speak to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (call them R & G for short,) and instruct them to spend time with Hamlet. Claudius tells them he wants to find out anything that, unknown to him, might be bothering Hamlet. R & G exit to find Hamlet.<br />
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Polonius tells Claudius he has discovered the cause of Hamlet's lunacy, but advises Claudius to see the ambassadors before hearing about that. The ambassadors enter, and only very briefly describe to Claudius an agreement they've reached with King Norway. Claudius says he likes it, but will read it later, and dismisses the ambassadors, who exit. Claudius pays little attention to the ambassadors, he wants to hear about Hamlet.<br />
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Polonius makes a long-winded - one might even say gassy - speech during which he shows the love letters Hamlet has written to Ophelia, and he reads one of them. Claudius asks how the matter can be tested further, and Polonius recommends eavesdropping when Hamlet thinks he's alone with Ophelia.<br />
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Hamlet enters, because he has heard the ambassadors are back, and he expects Claudius to be talking to them. Hamlet is curious whether an agreement has been reached that will prevent a war which might kill thousands.<br />
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Seeing Hamlet, Polonius panics and begs Claudius and Gertrude to leave. Polonius is terrified lest they speak with Hamlet, and Hamlet discover Polonius has his letters. Claudius and Gertrude, and everyone else at the court do leave, as Polonius approaches Hamlet to talk to him.<br />
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Polonius hopes to make friends with Hamlet, since he sees the prospect of Hamlet becoming his son-in-law, and also so that if Hamlet does discover Polonius took his letters, Hamlet won't do something mad like stabbing him to death. Hamlet and Polonius have an odd conversation, during which Hamlet says obscure things, but he does refer to Ophelia, and he does call Polonius "friend." Polonius, pleased with that much, exits as R & G enter.<br />
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Considering the time that has passed, R & G must have been all through the Castle, looking for Hamlet, and now they have finally found him in the Throne Room, which is where they originally left to look for him. (The "so it goes" amusement of that, provided by Shakespeare's subtle wit, has, unfortunately, apparently gone entirely unremarked in historical ''Hamlet'' commentary.) Hamlet greets R & G happily enough, but quickly discerns, from the course of the conversation, that they can't be there to visit him out of friendship, as purely their own idea, which leaves the alternative that Claudius and Gertrude sent for them, a fact which Guildenstern finally admits. R & G, during the course of the conversation, do try to query Hamlet on the subject of his ambition, but get no useful reply.<br />
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Rosencrantz tells Hamlet that Players are on the way to offer Hamlet their services. Hamlet asks why the Players are traveling, and Rosencrantz says he thinks it's because of the change of government (from King Hamlet to King Claudius. Apparently King Hamlet had sponsored the Players, as the King's Men, but Claudius did not renew that sponsorship, leaving the Players at loose ends. Thus the Players, some of whom are Hamlet's friends, have come to Elsinore to offer Hamlet their services, hoping to gain Hamlet's royal sponsorship and become the Prince's Men.) R also says the Players have lost business due to competition from a children's company.<br />
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The Players enter, to a fanfare of trumpets. Polonius reenters, having heard the fanfare. Hamlet greets the Players warmly, and requests a passionate (emotional) speech from the First Player, who performs it. The Player's performance is so good that Polonius reacts to it with alarm, as if it were real, giving Hamlet the idea that Claudius might react to a play, which could provide proof that what the Ghost said was true, about Claudius killing King Hamlet.<br />
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Hamlet asks the Lad of the Players if he knows a play about the murder of Gonzago, and if the Lad can learn a few lines Hamlet would add to it. The Lad assures Hamlet on both counts. Hamlet chooses the Gonzago play because he knows it includes a king being killed with poison in the ear. Hamlet gives no thought to where Claudius might have gotten the idea to use that method to kill his brother.<br />
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All but Hamlet exit, and he bemoans the situation he is in, but expresses his hope that a play will "catch the conscience of the King."<br />
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<hr><br />
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''Interscene 7 - 8:'' Hamlet works on the play he wants the Players to perform, making certain changes so the play will have a better chance of catching Claudius's conscience.<br />
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Polonius tells Ophelia that he has arranged for Claudius to eavesdrop on Hamlet talking to her, when Hamlet thinks the conversation is private between them. Polonius says that if Claudius can hear, for himself, Hamlet express love for Ophelia, Polonius will be able to get Claudius's approval for Hamlet to marry Ophelia. Polonius says Ophelia can offer Hamlet the return of keepsakes he's given her, to further motivate Hamlet to express his feelings. Polonius is so sure Hamlet is madly in love with Ophelia, that he'll refuse to accept the keepsakes back, and declare his love, for Claudius to hear. On the basis that it should get her married to Hamlet, Ophelia agrees to participate.<br />
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<hr><br />
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==[[Scene 8]]==<br />
In the Throne Room, Claudius speaks to R & G, who admit they were unable to find out about Hamlet's ambition, which is what Claudius mainly wanted to know. R & G mention the Players, and that Hamlet will have them perform a play that night. Polonius adds that Claudius and Gertrude are invited to attend, and Claudius says he will.<br />
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Claudius asks Gertrude to leave, and explains that he and Polonius have arranged to eavesdrop on Hamlet when Hamlet thinks he's alone with Ophelia, to ascertain whether Hamlet truly loves Ophelia, as a test of whether Polonius is right. Claudius says he's summoned Hamlet "closely," i.e. his message to Hamlet said it would be a private meeting, just the two of them. Claudius expressed his summons to Hamlet that way to be sure Hamlet wouldn't bring anyone else with him, whose presence might inhibit Hamlet from expressing himself frankly to Ophelia.<br />
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Gertrude tells Claudius she'll obey (since there's no time to argue the point) and she speaks briefly and kindly to Ophelia. Gertrude then pretends to leave, but hides behind an arras to listen, when the others aren't looking. (We know this fact from the Second Quarto corrected printing, which shows Gertrude's exit after the end of Ophelia's "noble mind" speech, much later in the Scene, and also from common sense about people, which tells us Gertrude wants to listen to what her son says, of course.)<br />
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Polonius gives Ophelia a book, and tells her to walk near an arras, pretending to read. The show of that familiar activity is supposed to reassure Hamlet, and lead him to approach her and speak to her. Polonius remembers what Ophelia told him about Hamlet saying nothing to her, when Hamlet rushed into her room and stared at her. It wouldn't do here, for Hamlet to say nothing, as there would be nothing for Claudius to hear in that event. Thus, Polonius provides Ophelia with the book as a conversation starter. Polonius supposes that if Hamlet can't think of anything else to say, to begin the conversation, he'll ask Ophelia what she's reading, the same as Polonius asked Hamlet what he was reading, during their earlier "fishmonger" dialogue in Scene 7. The book is an academic book that Polonius thinks would interest a university scholar like Hamlet, and give him something to talk about. (The book is not a Bible or a prayer book.)<br />
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Polonius makes an offhand remark, which accidentally catches Claudius's conscience, proving that Claudius does indeed have a conscience, meaning Hamlet's idea about a play to catch Claudius's conscience could be successful. (Polonius's remark is incidental to this Scene, in that way, and carries no implication of Ophelia being engaged in devotions.)<br />
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They hear Hamlet's approach, and Claudius and Polonius hide behind the arras near Ophelia. Hamlet, as he enters, doesn't see Claudius, and he takes it, as anybody naturally would, that Claudius isn't there yet. Hamlet does see Ophelia, but doesn't approach her, as he ponders the situation. Waiting for Claudius, Hamlet says his "To be or not to be" speech (''not'' a soliloquy) on the point of whether he can, and should, kill Claudius when Claudius arrives alone. Is "Hamlet's Revenge" to be, or not to be, when Claudius arrives, alone, in a minute or two, is the question Hamlet is asking in his speech. Hamlet is ''not'' thinking of killing himself, he is thinking of killing Claudius, and achieving his revenge.<br />
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(The conventional wisdom that Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech is a contemplation of suicide is patently absurd. Hamlet is expecting to meet Claudius here, but he's thinking of killing ''himself?'' Nonsense. He's pondering killing Claudius, of course.)<br />
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Hamlet has arranged for the play performance, to test Claudius, but if he can talk himself into killing Claudius here, based only on the Ghost's word, he won't need to worry about the play.<br />
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Hamlet wants Ophelia to leave, as he certainly can't kill Claudius with her as a witness against him. Hamlet keeps his distance from Ophelia as he says the "to be or not to be" speech. Hamlet is both waiting for Claudius, and hoping Ophelia will finish what she's reading, and leave. To Ophelia, as Hamlet stays at a distance, it appears that Hamlet doesn't want to talk to her.<br />
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After waiting for some time, Hamlet decides that Claudius isn't going to arrive for their meeting, and Hamlet then does approach Ophelia. Ophelia greets Hamlet in a strangely formal way, as if they were in the midst of a crowd at a formal gathering. Her greeting informs Hamlet that somebody must be behind the arras, listening, since she would never greet him in such a formal way if they were alone together.<br />
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Hamlet easily guesses Polonius must be behind the arras, since Hamlet knows Polonius is so snoopy and so dominating of his daughter. Hamlet further surmises that Claudius may be behind the arras, as well, since he's supposed to be in the room at this time, according to his summons. But Hamlet naturally asks himself, why would they be hiding behind the arras?<br />
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Ophelia proceeds as she was persuaded by Polonius, and offers Hamlet the return of his remembrances. She tosses in a saying about "rich gifts" as part of her improvised dialogue for her "show" for Hamlet, sure that Polonius will approve of her reciting a saying, since Polonius habitually recites sayings. Hamlet doesn't understand she's only speaking a saying for her father to hear, and Hamlet thinks she means it. He thinks she's returning his "poor gifts" as she calls them, because she's getting "rich gifts" from somebody else. Who could that be?<br />
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Hamlet concludes that the same thing has happened with Ophelia as happened with Gertrude, and with R & G. Hamlet thinks that Ophelia has gone over to Claudius, to be his courtesan, the typical reason a rich, immoral, married man would take an interest in a pretty, young girl. Hamlet takes it that Ophelia is returning his "poor gifts" because she's getting valuable gifts from Claudius. Hamlet further concludes that Claudius has set this up so that Claudius can listen, laugh at Hamlet, and relish Hamlet's humiliation as Ophelia dumps him. Hamlet becomes murderously angry, not at Ophelia, whom he takes to be a foolish victim, but at Claudius and Polonius.<br />
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Hamlet does take his remembrances back, to Ophelia's disappointment. She has no idea of what he has concluded about the situation, and about her.<br />
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Hamlet, under his mistaken conclusion, that Ophelia has become a courtesan for Claudius, tries to explain to her about how beauty can corrupt honesty. He also tries to warn her that men are not virtuous, so she mustn't believe everything they tell her. He supposes, now, Ophelia is such a fool she requires basic instruction on those points. Hamlet confusingly says both that he did love her, once, and that he didn't.<br />
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Hamlet tells Ophelia, several times, to go to a nunnery (which has made "Nunnery Scene" a key phrase for this Scene.) He speaks of his own faults, and hers, and says he forbids any more marriage. He says, with both Claudius and Gertrude hearing it, that a married person shall die, and he storms out.<br />
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<hr><br />
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* ''Intrascene 8:'' Hamlet, heartbroken, finds a niche where he can't be seen, pounds the wall with his fist, and weeps.<br />
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<hr><br />
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Ophelia is devastated, with no idea why Hamlet said what he said, or behaved as he did, and she thinks Hamlet has lost his mind. She speaks her "noble mind" speech to express her despair, and saying she's seen enough, sinks to the floor, covering her eyes.<br />
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Gertrude exits, from behind her arras, unseen by the others. Claudius and Polonius emerge from behind the arras closest to Ophelia, after waiting long enough to be certain Hamlet is gone (which is what gives time for Ophelia's speech.) They heard how Hamlet sounded, as if he were ready to kill somebody, and neither of them was ready to volunteer to be his victim. Claudius says it didn't sound like love to him, the way Hamlet spoke, but he perceives danger. Inspired by the diplomatic mission to Norway, Claudius says he'll send Hamlet on a mission to England. Polonius has not given up yet, and rationalizes that there's still love involved. He speaks to Ophelia, oblivious to her despair. Polonius then suggests that, after the play, he could eavesdrop on Hamlet talking to Gertrude, and Claudius says that's agreeable.<br />
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<hr><br />
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''Interscene 8 - 9:'' In the evening, everyone gets ready for the play.<br />
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<hr><br />
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==[[Scene 9]]==<br />
In the Banquet Hall, that night, Hamlet speaks to the Players about how to perform the play. He offers general advice that they should make the play performance look natural. He adds that the Players should restrain their clowns (which is high irony from Shakespeare in advance of Hamlet's own clownish behavior that will occur during the performance.)<br />
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Hamlet speaks to Horatio, asking him to help keep an eye on Claudius, and Horatio promises he will.<br />
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Hamlet speaks briefly to Claudius, Polonius, and Gertrude, declines an invitation to sit beside Gertrude (since he couldn't watch Claudius from there,) and sits beside Ophelia. He makes indecent remarks when he does so. Hamlet speaks that way to try to catch Ophelia's conscience about her being Claudius's courtesan, but since she is really no such thing, he only sounds mad to her and to the others who hear him.<br />
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Hamlet speaks of how long his father has been dead, and Ophelia says "twice," a word which has been so badly misinterpreted over the years. Ophelia's "twice" is an involuntary product of her lisp, as she tries to say "two." She instantly corrects it, since Hamlet angrily condemned her lisp in the Nunnery Scene, earlier. Shakespeare included Ophelia's "twice" in this Scene for wordplay on King Hamlet's death happening "twice," first in reality and now in representation in the 'Mousetrap' play.<br />
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A dumb show starts off the Players' performance. It is performed allegorically, as "Serpent in the Garden." A King and Queen enter, and embrace. The King then lies down to take a nap, and the Queen leaves. A villain slithers in, costumed as a serpent, and imitating one. The serpent villain takes the King's crown, and poisons him. The Queen returns, finds the King dead, and laments as his body is borne away. The serpent villain woos the Queen with gifts, and she changes her affection, to him.<br />
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(Hamlet has arranged the dumb show with its "Serpent in the Garden" symbolism following the facts of King Hamlet's death occurring in an orchard, and the Ghost calling Claudius a serpent. Claudius does not recognize himself as a serpent, and to the extent he associates the play performance with events at Elsinore, he sees the dumb show as representing the official coroner's verdict in the death of his brother. This is the answer to the old question of why the dumb show doesn't catch Claudius's conscience. Claudius doesn't recognize himself as the serpent. Nobody would.)<br />
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Ophelia asks what the dumb show meant, and Hamlet answers obscurely. He is not going to tell her about his intent of revenge against Claudius. A brief prologue is recited, and the play begins.<br />
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A King and Queen enter. The King speaks of their thirty-year marriage. The Queen expresses fear about the King's health, that he is very sick, and she expresses great love for him. The King says he's dying, and he hopes she'll find another husband to love. She denies she'll ever remarry. The King expresses doubt of that, and supposes she'll forget her promise, with time. The Queen says if she does remarry she hopes she'll suffer for it. The King says he needs to sleep, asks her to leave him to his nap, and she does so. The scene ends, and the King and Queen players exit.<br />
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(The play dialogue is in rhymed couplets, in sestets. However, two of the Queen's speeches are eight lines. Those are where Hamlet made his changes to the play dialogue, in the part recited by the Lad. Hamlet did not respect the play's sestets. In confirmation, that those are the changes Hamlet made to the dialogue, Hamlet speaks up during those two speeches, because he's so excited by a professional actor reciting his lines onstage, and so eager for success, he can't keep still.)<br />
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During the interlude, Claudius asks the name of the play, and Hamlet says "The Mousetrap" (which is why this Scene can be called the Mousetrap Scene.) Hamlet goes on to speak of the source of the play, that it is based on a real murder, of a person named Gonzago. Hamlet still gives no thought to where Claudius may have gotten the idea for how to poison his brother.<br />
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The villain of the play enters, in a solo scene. The King and Queen were introduced in the first scene, and the villain is now introduced in this second scene. The villain speaks of poison he has prepared.<br />
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Hamlet still can't keep quiet, and he again speaks of the Gonzago story, upon which the play is based, but still with no thought of where Claudius might have gotten his idea about how to commit fratricide. Claudius abruptly rises and leaves.<br />
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* ''Intrascene 9:'' Claudius hurries to his room, the King's Room, followed by Gertrude, R & G, and Polonius. To conceal the true reason he left, that Hamlet's talk of Gonzago scared him badly, Claudius tells them Hamlet's unruliness was too much for him, that he couldn't enjoy the play because of Hamlet's interruptions. The others believe Claudius, since they also saw and heard Hamlet's disruptiveness. Claudius says he'll order Hamlet locked up. Polonius reminds Claudius about the idea of Gertrude talking with Hamlet while Polonius eavesdrops, also, about sending Hamlet on a diplomatic mission to England. Gertrude says that she does want to talk to Hamlet. Claudius, reassured that the others have no suspicion of him in connection with his brother's death, agrees that Gertrude can talk to Hamlet, and if she can calm Hamlet down, he'll send him on the diplomatic mission, instead of confining him.<br />
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Gertrude instructs R & G and Polonius to tell Hamlet she wants to talk to him. She says she'll wait in her room, the Queen's Room, in the expectation Hamlet will agree to talk to her. R & G and Polonius leave, to return to the Banquet Hall. Gertrude leaves for her room, accompanied by Claudius, to wait for the others to return with Hamlet's reply.<br />
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R & G take the shortcut across the courtyard, while Polonius stays inside and goes the longer way, because of concern at his age about the nighttime chill; this is why Polonius will arrive so much later than R & G, to convey Gertrude's message to Hamlet.<br />
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Claudius having left, Hamlet talks to Horatio, and mocks Claudius. Hamlet preens himself, (while mentioning feathers,) and says only half jokingly that he's earned a share in a company of players. Hamlet now has the idea he could be a player.<br />
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R & G arrive, and speak to Hamlet at considerable length, before finally revealing that Gertrude wants to talk to him. Hamlet draws Guildenstern aside for a "recorder lesson," which is Hamlet's attempt to instruct G, via an object lesson, about what he can do, and what he can't. The recorder lesson is further on the point that G should be his own man, play his own tune, and not be just a sidekick for Rosencrantz or a tool for Claudius.<br />
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Polonius arrives, and says Gertrude wants to talk to Hamlet. Hamlet puts Polonius through the "cloud talk" passage, in which Hamlet insults Polonius as a stupid beast of burden, a polecat, and as fat as a whale, Polonius understanding none of it. Hamlet says, yes, he'll speak to Gertrude, and R & G and Polonius leave. Hamlet dismisses Horatio and the Players, who leave.<br />
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Hamlet recites his "witching time of night" soliloquy, and then exits, on his way to the Royal Apartments.<br />
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<hr><br />
<br />
''Interscene 9 - 10:'' R & G and Polonius have left the Banquet Hall, to tell Gertrude that Hamlet agreed to talk to her. R & G again take the shortcut across the Castle courtyard. Polonius again takes the longer way, staying indoors, since at his age he's worried about catching a chill from the night air. This is why Polonius arrives so much later than R & G, in the next Scene.<br />
<br />
Hamlet trails only a minute or so behind the others, as he leaves to go to the Royal Apartments, where the King and Queen rooms are. He also takes the shortcut across the Castle courtyard. In doing so, he gets ahead of Polonius, who doesn't see him.<br />
<br />
R & G arrive at Gertrude's room, and tell her, and Claudiius, that Hamlet will talk to her. While they're all in Gertrude's room, Hamlet arrives and finds the King's Room empty. He steps inside, and hides behind an arras, to wait for Claudius, to kill him.<br />
<br />
(From the start of the next Scene, the Prayer Scene, Hamlet will be present in Claudius's room, hiding. He'll hear everything said in that Scene, except Claudius's brief speech in closing. The above is how he got there. This is how Hamlet will know of the trip to England, as he'll mention toward the end of the Closet Scene, Scene 11. Hamlet will also hear Polonius say that he'll hide in Gertrude's room to eavesdrop. This point, of Hamlet being present from the beginning of Scene 10, has been missed in earlier commentary, in other sources, because of a failure to appreciate the technical nature of the stage directions in the Second Quarto. Most commentators on ''Hamlet'' have had only literature backgrounds, which has left them unprepared to address, or even notice, the technical nature of the Q2 stage directions. Essentially, the stage directions in Q2, when they use a character's proper name, primarily mark an actor being in his speaking position onstage, to perform the playscript, since the Q2 publication is only the playscript, very nearly. The stage directions in Q2 are not director's notes about an actor's physical presence onstage. Thus, in Q2, an actor can be onstage without having yet received his entry; he'll get his playscript entry when he has lines. There's more to the Q2 stage directions, since, as mentioned, they're technical, but that's the immediate point for understanding Hamlet's presence at the beginning of Scene 10.<br />
<br />
Claudius and R & G leave Gertrude's room, where she waits for Hamlet, and they go to Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==[[Scene 10]]==<br />
In the King's Room, Hamlet is hiding, behind an arras, as Claudius enters with R & G. Hamlet hears everything that's said in the room, up to his exit. The others have no idea he's there.<br />
<br />
Claudius expresses his worry about Hamlet, and tells R & G he'll send Hamlet to England, with R & G to accompany him. R & G pledge their loyalty to Claudius, and exit to pack for the trip.<br />
<br />
Polonius arrives as R & G exit, having finally returned to the Royal Apartments after making his slow way around through the Castle hallways. Polonius says he'll go to Gertrude's room to eavesdrop. (Hamlet hears Polonius say it.)<br />
<br />
Claudius, taking it for granted he's alone in the room, thinks out loud, and expresses at some length his worry over his guilt in the death of his brother. He wonders how he can be forgiven, to someday reach Heaven, and whether prayer could do any good. Hamlet is listening, and, with great irony, Claudius accidentally catches Hamlet's conscience, because what Claudius says would apply to Hamlet. If Hamlet murders Claudius, in direct violation of the Commandments, how could he be forgiven?<br />
<br />
Claudius kneels and prays, silently. Hamlet emerges from hiding, behind Claudius, and draws his sword. Hamlet doesn't admit that Claudius caught his conscience. Since Hamlet so despises Claudius, he gives him credit for nothing. Hamlet rationalizes to himself, aside, that if he kills Claudius during prayer he may be sending Claudius to Heaven, which is not good enough to qualify as true revenge. Hamlet sheaths his sword, and leaves to talk to Gertrude.<br />
<br />
Claudius finishes his prayer, and rises. He feels no different, and so he believes his prayer went unheard. He has no idea it saved his life. (There is a vastly unappreciated irony, that Shakespeare showed a Miracle of Prayer, where a prayer from a woeful sinner immediately saves his life, and then the poor, ignorant sinner says he doesn't think prayer did him any good. Whatever one's views on religion may be, it's a delicious achievement in stagecraft.)<br />
<br />
Claudius exits, in terms of the playscript, as the Scene ends. In silent action, he goes to his desk, to finish the paperwork for the diplomatic mission to England.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
''Interscene 10 - 11:'' Polonius has gone to Gertrude's room, preparing to eavesdrop on Hamlet's conversation with her. Hamlet has left Claudius's room, and is approaching.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==[[Scene 11]]==<br />
In the Queen's Room, Polonius, being bossy, tries to lecture the Queen about what to say to Hamlet. They hear Hamlet approaching, Polonius hides behind an arras, and Hamlet enters.<br />
<br />
Gertrude tries to warn Hamlet that Claudius was threatening to lock him up, but in the process she calls Claudius Hamlet's father, which annoys Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, knowing Polonius is in the room, draws his sword, to poke at the arrases, find Polonius, and chase him out of the room, so Hamlet can have a truly private talk with his mother.<br />
<br />
Gertrude is unaware Hamlet knows Polonius is present, so she thinks Hamlet has drawn his sword against her. (This is why she asks, "how now?") She asks if Hamlet has forgotten her, meaning, "you wouldn't stab your own mother?" The question irritates Hamlet, who raises his sword in the direction of Gertrude, and swears by it, using his sword to symbolize the Christian cross, that he knows who she is, but he doesn't like it that she's his mother.<br />
<br />
As Hamlet holds the sword up at her, and says he doesn't like it she's his mother, Gertrude becomes alarmed. She remembers what she heard in the earlier Nunnery Scene, when Hamlet said that a married person would die, and she suddenly worries that Hamlet meant her. She starts for the door to summon guards to restrain Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Hamlet stops her and makes her sit down. Then, speaking poetically, he says in an obscure way that he will set up a mirror in front of her, in which she can see her soul, and the condition of it. He means that he will paint her a picture in words, so it will be like she's looking at her soul in a mirror. While saying that, Hamlet points to Gertrude's wardrobe mirror, in an attempt to illustrate what he means. (Gertrude, the Queen of the nation, has a large wardrobe mirror to check her appearance every day before she goes out; this is not mere vanity, since she's the Queen it's part of her job to look good in public.)<br />
<br />
Gertrude, not following Hamlet's figurative speech, takes him literally. She takes it that Hamlet has madly said he's going to move her mirror over in front of her, then slice her open with the sword he's holding, and make her look at her internal organs in the mirror. Frightened, she jumps up from the chair, throws it at him to protect herself, and screams for help, as loud as she can yell. (Hamlet, knowing he intends no threat to her with the sword, does not realize why she reacts that way, and takes it she's 'madly' resistant to hearing him criticize Claudius.)<br />
<br />
Polonius, from behind the arras, hears Gertrude scream for help, and he also yells for help. (His exact words, "What ho! Help!" are surprisingly important. A long, detailed explanation is required, which can be found on the [[Scene 11]] page, but essentially, Polonius accidentally yells the magical incantation which summons the Ghost. That is why the Ghost will appear, later in this Scene; he was accidentally summoned by Polonius.)<br />
<br />
Hamlet now knows which arras Polonius is hiding behind. In his speech, Hamlet yells the word "rat" to insult Polonius, and the word "dead" to scare Polonius, then lunges and jabs at the arras with his sword. Hamlet is intending that Polonius should hear him, and then see the point of the sword come through the arras, so that it will frighten Polonius out of ever eavesdropping on him again. Hamlet is intending only to scare Polonius.<br />
<br />
Hamlet steps back and looks at the arras. Gertrude looks at the arras. Polonius totters out from behind the arras, to a few feet to the side of downstage center, and collapses, dead.<br />
<br />
Gertrude steps forward - Hamlet is now behind her - looks down at Polonius, and exclaims, "what hast thou done?"<br />
<br />
Hamlet, behind her, does the "praying for a miracle" gesture, of crossing his fingers and holding them to his chest, and closing his eyes, and he says, "Is it the King?" This is the old, well-known action of, when you see something unfortunate, you close your eyes and try to wish it away, hoping that when you open your eyes the situation will be what you wanted to happen. Hamlet knows that it's Polonius he has killed.<br />
<br />
However, Gertrude does not see Hamlet's wishful-thinking action, she only hears his words, because he's standing behind her. Only hearing Hamlet, she thinks he is asking a serious question, of whether he has killed Claudius. As things proceed in the Scene, Hamlet has confused Gertrude into believing he thinks he has killed Claudius. He never corrects her misapprehension. Throughout the entire remainder of this Scene, and even beyond, Gertrude continues to believe that Hamlet madly thinks he has killed Claudius, and that Claudius is dead.<br />
<br />
Hamlet now has Polonius not eavesdropping, even though it's not the way Hamlet intended to achieve that. Hamlet is determined to talk to Gertrude, despite. He leads her to sit in the chair, again. As he does so, Gertrude asks, "What have I done?" The question poses a problem for Hamlet, in that he doesn't know what she's done. He has suspicions, but no facts.<br />
<br />
Hamlet gets an idea. He'll do a play for Gertrude, to catch her conscience, and obtain a confession from her of what she's done. That way, she'll answer her own question, and then he'll know. After having seen Claudius flee the 'Mousetrap Play,' and then having heard Claudius confess, Hamlet is confident that he, himself, can achieve the same result with Gertrude by doing a play for her, himself.<br />
<br />
Having gotten the idea, he immediately embarks on acting a play for her, totally improvised. However, he gives Gertrude no sane explanation for what he's doing. As Hamlet recites ad lib dialogue, and improvises acting moves to go along with what he says, Gertrude thinks he's just gone crazy.<br />
<br />
In the midst of Hamlet trying to do the play for Gertrude, the Ghost arrives. (The reason for the delay in the Ghost's arrival takes a while to explain.) Hamlet takes it the Ghost is his father's spirit, there to scold Hamlet for not killing Claudius when he had the chance. The Ghost plays along with that. After the Ghost exits, Hamlet tries to convince Gertrude he's not crazy, but Hamlet is still in "play actor" mode, and he only makes it worse. Gertrude becomes certain, beyond any doubt, that Hamlet is hopelessly mad.<br />
<br />
Hamlet mentions the trip to England, that he heard Claudius speak of in the previous Scene. Hamlet then says he'll drag Polonius's body to the "neighbor room." This is the Queen's Room, so the neighboring room is the King's Room, Claudius's room.<br />
<br />
Hamlet has thought of a way to handle Polonius's death, and also get away with killing Claudius. He intends to take Polonius's body to Claudius's room, stab Claudius to death, and then claim Polonius did it. Hamlet would say, oh, he had left his mother's room, and he happened to glance into Claudius's room, where he saw Polonius stab Claudius. He didn't know why; the old man must have gone mad. So, Hamlet drew his sword, rushed in, and stabbed Polonius to try to save Claudius. But he was too late, and they're both dead, oh no. To understand this, you merely have to know about Macbeth, and the way Macbeth sets up the murder of Duncan to try to blame it on servants.<br />
<br />
So when Hamlet exits, dragging Polonius's body, he intends to go to Claudius's room, kill Claudius, and make up a story as above.<br />
<br />
After Hamlet exits, Gertrude paces and frets, without saying anything, as she wonders if there's anything she can do about her crazy son, and his killing of Polonius. Suddenly it strikes her, what Hamlet meant by "neighbor room." She still thinks Hamlet thinks he's killed Claudius. So she takes it Hamlet madly believes he's merely returning Claudius to his room. Gertrude foresees Claudius will be in his room, see Hamlet enter with Polonius's body, and immediately summon guards and arrest Hamlet for murder. Gertrude doesn't perceive Hamlet intends to kill Claudius, because she thinks he madly thinks he already has.<br />
<br />
Gertrude exits, a minute or two after Hamlet. (Gertrude's exit is not printed in Q2, because Q2 is only a playscript printing. It does not include description to separate Gertrude's exit from Hamlet's. Printing Gertrude's exit, in Q2, would have made it look as if she leaves at the same time as Hamlet, which is quite wrong. Thus, her exit was omitted from the Q2 publication. Unfortunately, that has led previous editors and commentators on ''Hamlet'' to believe she doesn't exit at all, which is quite wrong.)<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
* ''Intrascene 11:'' During the course of this Scene, R & G finish their packing for the trip to England, and return to Claudius's room to get their diplomatic credentials and the letter from Claudius to the King of England.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
''Interscene 11 - 12:'' Hamlet drags Polonius's body near the doorway to Claudius's room, but discovers R & G are in the room with Claudius, which foils Hamlet's plan to use Polonius's body in connection with killing Claudius. Hamlet drags Polonius's body on down the hallway, and around the corner, to hide it under the Lobby stairs until Claudius is alone in his room.<br />
<br />
Gertrude rushes into the hallway, from her room, and seeing the hallway empty, concludes Hamlet must already have gone into Claudius's room, and is probably already under arrest for murder there. She sprints down the hallway, and runs into Claudius's room, intending to try to defend her son against a charge of murder.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==[[Scene 12]]==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius is giving R & G the paperwork for the trip to England when Gertrude runs in. Gertrude tells R & G to leave, and they do so, without saying anything.<br />
<br />
(It is clear that whoever did the First Folio version of ''Hamlet'' did not know the play well enough. Because R & G say nothing, the Folio editor left them out of the initial stage direction, in the First Folio printing of ''Hamlet.'' However, by omitting R & G from that stage direction, the Folio editor killed Claudius. He did not realize the importance of their physical presence to prevent Hamlet carrying out his plan of using Polonius in the death of Claudius. If Hamlet is not stopped by R & G being present at the start of Scene 12, Hamlet will kill Claudius. Amusingly, in the Folio ''Hamlet,'' from Scene 12 onwards Claudius is a ghost; Hamlet has killed him.)<br />
<br />
Claudius asks how Hamlet is. Gertrude reveals the death of Polonius, and tries to defend Hamlet as mad (which implies him being not responsible.) Claudius says he'll ship Hamlet away as soon as possible, and tells R & G, who have reentered, to find Hamlet and Polonius's body.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Interscene 12 - 13:'' Hamlet is hiding Polonius's body underneath the stairs that go up to the Lobby.<br />
<br />
R & G get whomever they can stir at that early time of the morning, and look for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Claudius goes to the Chapel, where he told R & G to take both Polonius's body and Hamlet. Claudius expects that R & G will be able to obey his order.<br />
<br />
Gertrude returns to her room to try to get some sleep, in preparation for talking to political supporters (their "wisest friends" mentioned during Scene 12) the first thing in the morning.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
==[[Scene 13]]==<br />
Hamlet has just finished stowing Polonius's body underneath the stairs. He is standing only a few feet from the stairs as R & G enter. Hamlet refuses to tell them where Polonius's body is, and all leave to return to Claudius, (leaving Polonius's body unfound, only a few feet from where R & G were speaking to Hamlet. R & G, and the others with them, did not even search for Polonius's body, and when Hamlet refused to tell them where it was, they were baffled. In modern terms, R & G's ability as "detectives" could be expressed by the sarcastic question, "are you guys really from Scotland Yard?")<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Interscene 13 - 14:'' Hamlet is escorted to the Chapel.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
==[[Scene 14]]==<br />
In the Chapel, Claudius speaks about Hamlet's political popularity. Hamlet and R & G arrive, and Rosencrantz tells Claudius they've found Hamlet but not Polonius. Hamlet talks to Claudius, and gives him a verbal runaround before finally revealing where Polonius's body is.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that because he cares so much about Hamlet, he's sending him away, to England. Hamlet is astonished. He expected that, since Claudius now knows he's killed Polonius, he'd be imprisoned to await trial, and the trip to England would be cancelled. Kill your ex-girlfriend's father and win a free ocean cruise? – It's unheard of. Hamlet leaves, as does everyone else, except Claudius. Claudius, talking to himself, reveals that his letter to the King of England is an order to execute Hamlet.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Interscene 14 - 15:'' Hamlet, accompanied by R & G, goes to his room to pack. Escorted by them, he then leaves the Castle, on his way to the harbor at the local town of Elsinore.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
==[[Scene 15]]==<br />
Hamlet sees Fortinbrasse's army arrive in Denmark, speaks to a Captain, then exits to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Interscene 15 - 16:'' Two days out from Elsinore, the ship carrying Hamlet and R & G is attacked by pirates, and Hamlet is taken prisoner.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
==[[Scene 16]]==<br />
Ophelia appears, greatly changed since the death of her father. She sings odd songs about death and sex, says "good night" during the daytime, and exits.<br />
<br />
Laertes storms the castle with a band of recruits from the local town, and challenges Claudius, over the death of Polonius. (Based on the simple facts, that Hamlet killed Polonius and then Claudius sent Hamlet on a trip to collect money, it looks like "hire and salary," that is, Laertes has gotten the idea that Claudius hired Hamlet to kill Polonius. That's why Laertes is so irate at Claudius. Those who support Laertes against Claudius have gotten the same idea.)<br />
<br />
Ophelia appears again, sings, and hands out flowers.<br />
<br />
Claudius tells Laertes that he can explain his innocence in Polonius's death.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Interscene 16 - 17:'' Claudius leaves with Laertes to try to convince Laertes and his supporters that Claudius is innocent in Polonius's death.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
==[[Scene 17]]==<br />
Sailors bring a letter from Hamlet to Horatio. Hamlet writes that his ship was attacked by a pirate ship, and he was taken captive, but the pirates have returned him to Denmark. Horatio leaves with the sailors/pirates to go where Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
It is important to observe that this Scene 17 is intrascene during Scene 16. Horatio speaks to the sailors in the Lobby while Laertes is confronting Claudius in the Throne Room.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Interscene 17 - 18:''<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
==[[Scene 18]]==<br />
Claudius has explained to Laertes that Hamlet is solely responsible for Polonius's death, and Claudius is blameless.<br />
<br />
Claudius, to his surprise, receives a letter from Hamlet saying that Hamlet is back. Claudius and Laertes conspire to arrange a fencing match at which Laertes can kill Hamlet in revenge for the death of Polonius.<br />
<br />
Gertrude reports that Ophelia is dead, after a fall from a willow tree into the brook, where she drowned.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Interscene 18 - 19:'' To appease Laertes, Claudius orders an immediate coroner's inquest into the death of Ophelia, and the court quickly returns a verdict of accidental death. The court sends a deputy to inform the sexton, as we find at the start of the next Scene. Arrangements proceed for Ophelia's funeral.<br />
<br />
Horatio has found Hamlet, and is returning to Elsinore Castle with him.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
==[[Scene 19]]==<br />
Two Clowns, the church Sexton and the coroner's court Deputy, discuss Ophelia's death while the Clown Sexton digs her grave. Contrary to the coroner's verdict, they conclude (without any factual basis) she must have committed suicide.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and Horatio see the grave being dug, without knowing whose grave it is. Hamlet talks to the Clown Sexton, during which Hamlet utters his famous "alas, poor Yorick" speech.<br />
<br />
The funeral procession nears, and Hamlet and Horatio hide to watch. Hamlet is shocked to learn it's Ophelia's funeral.<br />
<br />
Laertes jumps into the grave excavation for Ophelia, and proclaims his love for her in high-flown terms. Hamlet challenges Laertes that he loved Ophelia more than "forty thousand" brothers could, and they scuffle.<br />
<br />
Claudius calms Laertes, and reminds him of the rigged fencing match they've arranged to kill Hamlet.<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Interscene 19 - 20:''<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
==[[Scene 20]]==<br />
Hamlet explains to Horatio that he became suspicious about the trip to England, so he looked at Claudius's letter to the King of England during the night when R & G were asleep. Hamlet discovered that it was an order to the King of England to have Hamlet executed. Hamlet substituted a forgery, ordering England to kill R & G, instead of him. Hamlet gives Claudius's letter to Horatio to read later.<br />
<br />
Ostrick tells Hamlet of the fencing match, and despite his misgivings, Hamlet agrees to participate.<br />
<br />
At the match, Claudius and Laertes have arranged for Laertes to use a poisoned foil, and Claudius also poisons Hamlet's wine, in case the poisoned foil doesn't work.<br />
<br />
The match begins, and Hamlet scores the first hit, "a very palpable hit." Gertrude innocently drinks from Hamlet's poisoned wine to salute him. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned foil, then they grapple and exchange foils, and Hamlet wounds Laertes, with the same poisoned foil. Gertrude exclaims that she's been poisoned by the wine, and dies. Laertes, also dying, reveals that Claudius is to blame, and asks Hamlet to exchange forgiveness with him, which Hamlet does. Laertes dies.<br />
<br />
Hamlet wounds Claudius with the poisoned foil, and also holds the cup of poisoned wine to Claudius's lips. Claudius, an alcoholic, can't help but swallow some wine, even when he knows it's poisoned. Claudius dies.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, dying of his injury from the poisoned foil, says he supports Fortinbras as the next king, and speaks his final words, "the rest is silence." When Hamlet dies, Horatio says "flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."<br />
<br />
Fortinbras enters, with ambassadors from England who announce that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Fortinbras takes over at Elsinore, says that Hamlet would have "proved most royal," and orders a salute to be fired, which concludes the play.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Main]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Claudio
Claudio
2018-05-24T20:52:29Z
<p>Administrator: /* Name */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
Claudio is an intermediary provided by Shakespeare to handle letters from Hamlet that are delivered to Horatio in Scene 17, and in turn delivered to Claudius in Scene 18.<br />
<br />
===ROLE===<br />
Pirates, pretending to be ordinary sailors, bring letters to Horatio in Scene 17. One of the letters is to Horatio, but there are also letters from Hamlet to Claudius, and to Gertrude. The delivery of the letters to Horatio, in Scene 17, takes place in the Lobby, while Laertes is confronting Claudius in the Throne Room in Scene 16. (Scene 17 is simultaneous with part of Scene 16.)<br />
<br />
Horatio does not want to wait around until Claudius is available, nor do the pirates want to linger. So, what to do? Horatio is acquainted with a trustworthy fellow named Claudio, who is available, and Horatio gives the letters to Claudio for delivery to Claudius when possible. Horatio and the pirates then leave.<br />
<br />
Essentially, Shakespeare provided the Claudio character to handle the necessary timing in the play, so that Claudius would not receive the letters from Hamlet too soon. Events would have taken a different course had Claudius received the letters in Scene 16 instead of Scene 18.<br />
<br />
* <b>Costume</b> - is irrelevant for Claudio, unless we take it that he is one of the courtiers (or messengers or pages) who is present on stage for atmosphere in some Scenes. In that case, he is of course costumed appropriately.<br />
<br />
===Name===<br />
The name similarity between Claudius and Claudio is because Claudio acts as a kind of stand-in for Claudius for the role of receiving the letters from Hamlet.<br />
<br />
===Lines===<br />
Claudio has no lines.<br />
<br />
===Themes and Motifs===<br />
Most immediate for Claudio:<br />
<br />
[[Duty]]<br />
<br />
Claudio does his ''duty,'' offstage, by insuring the letters get delivered to Claudius.<br />
<br />
===On Stage===<br />
Claudio does not appear on stage, unless we take it he is among the courtiers, or perhaps among the messengers or pages. If he does appear on stage, he is anonymous at that time. His name appears in the dialogue in Scene 18. ([[Scene 18#043]])<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2015 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Characters]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_19
Scene 19
2018-02-12T03:47:28Z
<p>Administrator: /* 19-115 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
At the Graveyard, the coroner's court Deputy has already informed the Sexton of the court's decision. As the Scene begins, we find the Sexton arguing with the Deputy. The Clown Sexton asserts that Ophelia killed herself, and he questions whether she deserves Christian burial. After wasting a lot of time giving the Deputy a hard time, the Sexton begins digging. The Deputy, having done his duty for the court, leaves.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and Horatio enter. They discuss the Sexton's behavior and the grave, then Hamlet speaks to the Sexton. Hamlet and the Sexton engage in some repartee. Hamlet says the famous "poor Yorick" speech.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's funeral procession approaches. Hamlet and Horatio hide to watch, wondering whose funeral it is.<br />
<br />
Laertes argues with the Doctor of Divinity who's conducting the service and, carried away, jumps down into the grave excavation. Hamlet, having learned it's Ophelia's funeral, and outraged by Laertes's behavior, jumps into the grave excavation to confront him. They're separated after a brief scuffle.<br />
<br />
Hamlet exits, followed by Horatio. Claudius draws Laertes aside, reminds him of their fencing match scheme to kill Hamlet, and says they'll proceed with that right away.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 19 Characters are: [[Clown Sexton]], [[Clown Deputy]], [[Hamlet]], [[Horatio]], [[Laertes]], [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Gertrude]], [[Claudius]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"<br />
| Hamlet and Horatio entry [[#056-SD]], || "poor Yorick" speech [[#155]], || funeral procession entry [[#182-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
| Hamlet jumps into grave [[#229-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 19</b> [ ~ Poor Yorick ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 5 Scene 1)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
The Graveyard;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-001]]<span id="001"></span> Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is she to have a Christian burial, when she intentionally''</span><br />
[[#19-002]]<span id="002"></span> seeks her own salvation?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''seeks her own path to Heaven?''</span><br />
[[#19-003]]<span id="003"></span> Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I tell you she is, so make her grave properly. The''</span><br />
[[#19-004]]<span id="004"></span> crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''coroner has sat in judgment on her case, and his verdict is for a Christian burial.''</span><br />
[[#19-005]]<span id="005"></span> Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''</span><br />
[[#19-006]]<span id="006"></span> defense?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''defense?''</span><br />
[[#19-007]]<span id="007"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, it is adjudged so.''</span><br />
[[#19-008]]<span id="008"></span> Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It must be a legal technicality, it can't be otherwise, because, here's the''</span><br />
[[#19-009]]<span id="009"></span> point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''point: if I drown myself intentionally it's an act, and an act has''</span><br />
[[#19-010]]<span id="010"></span> three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her<br />
<span style="color:gray">''three branches, which are to act, to do, to perform, or all of those, ergo she''</span><br />
[[#19-011]]<span id="011"></span> self wittingly.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''drowned herself intentionally.''</span><br />
[[#19-012]]<span id="012"></span> Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but listen, good man digger . . .''</span><br />
[[#19-013]]<span id="013"></span> Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water, good; here stands the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me continue. Here is the water, okay, and here stands a''</span><br />
[[#19-014]]<span id="014"></span> man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man, very well, now, if the man goes to the water and drowns himself it is''</span><br />
[[#19-015]]<span id="015"></span> he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''willy-nilly he goes, be sure of that. But if the water comes to him and''</span><br />
[[#19-016]]<span id="016"></span> drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' drowns him, he doesn't drown himself, ergo, he who is not guilty of''</span><br />
[[#19-017]]<span id="017"></span> his own death, shortens not his own life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his own death, doesn't shorten his own life.''</span><br />
[[#19-018]]<span id="018"></span> Clown Deputy: But is this law?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But is this the law?''</span><br />
[[#19-019]]<span id="019"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, indeed! It's coroner's inquest law.''</span><br />
[[#19-020]]<span id="020"></span> Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you want the truth about it? Had she not been a gentlewoman''</span><br />
[[#19-021]]<span id="021"></span> she should have been buried out of Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''she would have been buried without Christian ceremony.''</span><br />
[[#19-022]]<span id="022"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, you have said it there. And more's the pity that high-status people''</span><br />
[[#19-023]]<span id="023"></span> should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''should have permission in this world to drown or hang themselves,''</span><br />
[[#19-024]]<span id="024"></span> more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient<br />
<span style="color:gray">''moreso than equally-Christian others. Hand me my spade. There are no ancestral''</span><br />
[[#19-025]]<span id="025"></span> gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''gentlemen except gardeners, ditchers, and gravediggers - they sustain''</span><br />
[[#19-026]]<span id="026"></span> up Adam's profession.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adam's profession.''</span><br />
[[#19-027]]<span id="027"></span> Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was Adam a gentleman?''</span><br />
[[#19-028]]<span id="028"></span> Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was the first to ever bear arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-029]]<span id="029"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, he had no such arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-030]]<span id="030"></span> Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What, are you a heathen? How do you understand''</span><br />
[[#19-031]]<span id="031"></span> the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the Bible? The Bible says Adam digged -''</span><br />
[[#19-032]]<span id="032"></span> could he dig without arms?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''could he dig without arms?''</span><br />
[[#19-033]]<span id="033"></span> I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll put another question to you, and if you can't answer it''</span><br />
[[#19-034]]<span id="034"></span> purpose, confess thyself.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''properly, admit that I've got you.''</span><br />
[[#19-035]]<span id="035"></span> Clown Deputy: Go to.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead.''</span><br />
[[#19-036]]<span id="036"></span> Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the man who builds stronger than either a mason, a''</span><br />
[[#19-037]]<span id="037"></span> shipwright, or the carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shipwright, or a carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-038]]<span id="038"></span> Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The gallows maker, because what he builds outlasts a thousand occupants.''</span><br />
[[#19-039]]<span id="039"></span> Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I like your cleverness well. Indeed, "the gallows" is an answer that does well -''</span><br />
[[#19-040]]<span id="040"></span> but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but how does it do well? The gallows does well to those who do ill. Now you''</span><br />
[[#19-041]]<span id="041"></span> dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, ergo,''</span><br />
[[#19-042]]<span id="042"></span> the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the gallows might do you well. Try again, come on.''</span><br />
[[#19-043]]<span id="043"></span> Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''</span><br />
[[#19-044]]<span id="044"></span> carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-045]]<span id="045"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, tell me the answer, and your job is done.''</span><br />
[[#19-046]]<span id="046"></span> Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, now I know.''</span><br />
[[#19-047]]<span id="047"></span> Clown Sexton: To it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's hear it.''</span><br />
[[#19-048]]<span id="048"></span> Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-049]]<span id="049"></span> Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't beat your brain any more about it, since a slow jackass will''</span><br />
[[#19-050]]<span id="050"></span> not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not go faster if you beat it. When you're asked this question,''</span><br />
[[#19-051]]<span id="051"></span> next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''next time, say "a gravemaker," because the "houses" he makes last until doomsday.''</span><br />
[[#19-052]]<span id="052"></span> Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor. [[#19-052-SD]]<span id="052-SD"></span> (points in the direction of the church;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, go in there, and fetch me a mug of wine.''</span> the Clown Deputy exits)<br />
[[#19-053]]<span id="053"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In my youth when I did love, did love,''</span><br />
[[#19-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought it was very sweet,''</span><br />
[[#19-055]]<span id="055"></span> To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To take the time for all I pleased,''</span><br />
[[#19-056]]<span id="056"></span> Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I thought there was nothing as fit and proper.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio enter)<br />
<br />
[[#19-057]]<span id="057"></span> Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Doesn't this fellow have any feeling for what he's doing? He's singing while''</span><br />
[[#19-058]]<span id="058"></span> grave making.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''digging a grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-059]]<span id="059"></span> Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's so used to it, it doesn't bother him.''</span><br />
[[#19-060]]<span id="060"></span> Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So it is. A hand not callused by hard work is more easily impressed.''</span><br />
[[#19-061]]<span id="061"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But age, with its stealthy steps,''</span><br />
[[#19-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''has caught me in its clutches''</span><br />
[[#19-063]]<span id="063"></span> ''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has sent me into the ground''</span><br />
[[#19-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''as if I had never been such.'' [[#19-064-SD]]<span id="064-SD"></span> (tosses out a skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as if I had never been a youth.''</span><br />
[[#19-065]]<span id="065"></span> Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That skull once had a tongue in it, and could sing. Look how the''</span><br />
[[#19-066]]<span id="066"></span> knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''knave tosses it on the ground, as if it were the jawbone of Cain, who did the''</span><br />
[[#19-067]]<span id="067"></span> first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now<br />
<span style="color:gray">''first murder. It might be the head of a politician, whom this jackass now''</span><br />
[[#19-068]]<span id="068"></span> o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''outranks - one who hoped to outwit God, might it not be?''</span><br />
[[#19-069]]<span id="069"></span> Horatio: It might, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It might be, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-070]]<span id="070"></span> Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, that of a courtier, who could say, "Good morning, sweet Lord,''</span><br />
[[#19-071]]<span id="071"></span> how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''how are you, sweet Lord?" It might be Lord So-and-so, who once''</span><br />
[[#19-072]]<span id="072"></span> praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''praised my Lord Whoever's horse when he hoped to borrow it, might it not?''</span><br />
[[#19-073]]<span id="073"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-074]]<span id="074"></span> Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so, and now it's Lady Worm's - jawless, and knocked''</span><br />
[[#19-075]]<span id="075"></span> about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''around in the grave excavation with a sexton's spade. Here's a fine turn of events, and''</span><br />
[[#19-076]]<span id="076"></span> we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''we had the luck to see it. Were these bones worth no more in bearing, rearing, and educating them,''</span><br />
[[#19-077]]<span id="077"></span> but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''than to play games with them? My bones ache as I think about it.''</span><br />
[[#19-078]]<span id="078"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''</span><br />
[[#19-079]]<span id="079"></span> ''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and also a shrouding sheet,''</span><br />
[[#19-080]]<span id="080"></span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-081]]<span id="081"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.'' [[#19-081-SD]]<span id="081-SD"></span> (tosses out another skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-082]]<span id="082"></span> Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's another one! Why, couldn't that be the skull of a lawyer?''</span><br />
[[#19-083]]<span id="083"></span> Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where are his various legal technicalities now, his cases, his terms, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-084]]<span id="084"></span> tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about<br />
<span style="color:gray">''legal tricks? Why does he tolerate that this cross knave can now knock him about''</span><br />
[[#19-085]]<span id="085"></span> the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the head with a dirty shovel, and will not inform him that he has been sued''</span><br />
[[#19-086]]<span id="086"></span> of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for battery? Hmm, this fellow might have been, in his time, a great buyer of''</span><br />
[[#19-087]]<span id="087"></span> land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land, with his statutory bonds, his personal bonds, his fines, his double vouchers, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-088]]<span id="088"></span> recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lawsuits. Is this the finality of his fines, and the attainment of his attainments -''</span><br />
[[#19-089]]<span id="089"></span> to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to have his fine head full of fine dirt, and will vouchers''</span><br />
[[#19-090]]<span id="090"></span> vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length<br />
<span style="color:gray">''vouch him no more land out of his purchases and doubles, than the length''</span><br />
[[#19-091]]<span id="091"></span> and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and width of a pair of contract indentures? All his paperwork for his''</span><br />
[[#19-092]]<span id="092"></span> lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lands would barely fit inside his grave plot, but is the only land he's''</span><br />
[[#19-093]]<span id="093"></span> no more? Ha.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ended up occupying just the size of his own grave? Ha!''</span><br />
[[#19-094]]<span id="094"></span> Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not a bit more than that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-095]]<span id="095"></span> Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Isn't parchment made of sheepskin?''</span><br />
[[#19-096]]<span id="096"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord, and of calfskin, too.''</span><br />
[[#19-097]]<span id="097"></span> Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Persons are only sheep and calves when they look for certainty in''</span><br />
[[#19-098]]<span id="098"></span> that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land deeds. I'll talk to the fellow. Whose grave is this, sirrah?''</span><br />
[[#19-099]]<span id="099"></span> Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's mine, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-100]]<span id="100"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-101]]<span id="101"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-102]]<span id="102"></span> Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I think it must be your grave, indeed, because you're lying in it.''</span><br />
[[#19-103]]<span id="103"></span> Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're lying out of it, sir, so it can't be yours. As for me, I''</span><br />
[[#19-104]]<span id="104"></span> do not lie in it, yet it is mine.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do not lie in it, but yet, it is mine.''</span><br />
[[#19-105]]<span id="105"></span> Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You do lie in it, to be in it and say it's yours - it's for the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-106]]<span id="106"></span> not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not for the living, therefore, you lie.''</span><br />
[[#19-107]]<span id="107"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a quick lie, sir, because it will quickly go again from me to you.''</span><br />
[[#19-108]]<span id="108"></span> Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What man do you dig it for?''</span><br />
[[#19-109]]<span id="109"></span> Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no man, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-110]]<span id="110"></span> Hamlet: What woman, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What woman, then?''</span><br />
[[#19-111]]<span id="111"></span> Clown Sexton: For none, neither.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no woman, either.''</span><br />
[[#19-112]]<span id="112"></span> Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who's to be buried in it?''</span><br />
[[#19-113]]<span id="113"></span> Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One who was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''</span><br />
[[#19-114]]<span id="114"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How impertinent the knave is. We must speak according to the script, or''</span><br />
[[#19-115]]<span id="115"></span> equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ambiguity will be our downfall. By Lord, Horatio, during these three years since we met, I''</span><br />
[[#19-116]]<span id="116"></span> have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''have taken notice of it: the times have become so socially jumbled, that the toe of the''</span><br />
[[#19-117]]<span id="117"></span> peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kybe.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''peasant walks so close on the heel of the courtier, he chafes his chilblain.''</span><br />
[[#19-118]]<span id="118"></span> <span style="color:gray">(resumes):</span> How long hast thou been gravemaker?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long have you been a gravemaker?''</span><br />
[[#19-119]]<span id="119"></span> Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of the dates in the year, I began this job on the date that our late King,''</span><br />
[[#19-120]]<span id="120"></span> Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, defeated Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#19-121]]<span id="121"></span> Hamlet: How long is that since?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long ago was that?''</span><br />
[[#19-122]]<span id="122"></span> Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you know? Any fool could answer that question. It was the''</span><br />
[[#19-123]]<span id="123"></span> very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into<br />
<span style="color:gray">''very same date that young Hamlet was born - he who is mad and has been sent to''</span><br />
[[#19-124]]<span id="124"></span> England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''England.''</span><br />
[[#19-125]]<span id="125"></span> Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, goodness, why was he sent to England?''</span><br />
[[#19-126]]<span id="126"></span> Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why? Because he was mad. He'll recover his wits there, or if''</span><br />
[[#19-127]]<span id="127"></span> he do not, 'tis no great matter there.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''he doesn't, it won't matter much there.''</span><br />
[[#19-128]]<span id="128"></span> Hamlet: Why?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why not?''</span><br />
[[#19-129]]<span id="129"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It won't be noticed in him there, because there, all the men are as crazy''</span><br />
[[#19-130]]<span id="130"></span> as he.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as he is.''</span><br />
[[#19-131]]<span id="131"></span> Hamlet: How came he mad?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How did he become mad?''</span><br />
[[#19-132]]<span id="132"></span> Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very strangely, they say.''</span><br />
[[#19-133]]<span id="133"></span> Hamlet: How strangely?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How strangely?''</span><br />
[[#19-134]]<span id="134"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, he went mad by losing his mind.''</span><br />
[[#19-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet: Upon what ground?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But upon what grounds?''</span><br />
[[#19-136]]<span id="136"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, here in Denmark. I have been sixteen years here, a man''</span><br />
[[#19-137]]<span id="137"></span> and boy thirty years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and boy for thirty years.''</span><br />
[[#19-138]]<span id="138"></span> Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long will a man lie in the earth before he rots?''</span><br />
[[#19-139]]<span id="139"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, if he isn't already rotten before he dies, (and we get many''</span><br />
[[#19-140]]<span id="140"></span> pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''diseased corpses now that will hardly hold together,) a body will last some eight''</span><br />
[[#19-141]]<span id="141"></span> year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''years, or nine years. A tanner will last for nine years.''</span><br />
[[#19-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet: Why he more then another?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why will his body last longer than another?''</span><br />
[[#19-143]]<span id="143"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, sir, his own hide is so tanned from his occupation, that it will keep''</span><br />
[[#19-144]]<span id="144"></span> out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson<br />
<span style="color:gray">''water out a long time, and water is a severe decayer of your bastard''</span><br />
[[#19-145]]<span id="145"></span> dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''dead body. Now, here's a skull that has lain for you in the earth for 23 years.''</span><br />
[[#19-146]]<span id="146"></span> Hamlet: Whose was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose was it?''</span><br />
[[#19-147]]<span id="147"></span> Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A bastard mad fellow's, it was! Whose do you suppose it was?''</span><br />
[[#19-148]]<span id="148"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-149]]<span id="149"></span> Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A plague on him as a mad rogue! He poured a mug of''</span><br />
[[#19-150]]<span id="150"></span> Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rhenish wine over my head once. This exact skull, sir - this same one - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''</span><br />
[[#19-151]]<span id="151"></span> King's Jester.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''King's jester.''</span><br />
[[#19-152]]<span id="152"></span> Hamlet: This?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That?''</span><br />
[[#19-153]]<span id="153"></span> Clown Sexton: Even that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exactly that.''</span><br />
[[#19-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Let me see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me see it.''</span><br />
[[#19-155]]<span id="155"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, poor Yoricke. I knew him, Horatio, he was a fellow of endless''</span><br />
[[#19-156]]<span id="156"></span> jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''jests, of most excellent whimsy. He carried me aboard his back a thousand''</span><br />
[[#19-157]]<span id="157"></span> times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''times, and now how abhorrent to my thoughts this skull is. I feel nauseous''</span><br />
[[#19-158]]<span id="158"></span> rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how<br />
<span style="color:gray">''looking at it. Here were those lips that I once kissed, I don't know how''</span><br />
[[#19-159]]<span id="159"></span> often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''often. Where is your teasing, now? Your frolicking, your songs, your bursts''</span><br />
[[#19-160]]<span id="160"></span> of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of merriment, that would make everyone at the table laugh out loud? No one,''</span><br />
[[#19-161]]<span id="161"></span> now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you [[#19-161-SD]]<span id="161-SD"></span> (drops the skull into the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''now, to ape your own grinning? - very down at the mouth. Now, go''</span> grave excavation)<br />
[[#19-162]]<span id="162"></span> to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to my lady's dressing room, and tell her: put her makeup on an inch thick, this kindness is''</span><br />
[[#19-163]]<span id="163"></span> she must come; make her laugh at that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what she must come to, and make her laugh at that.''</span><br />
[[#19-164]]<span id="164"></span> Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, Horatio, tell me one thing.''</span><br />
[[#19-165]]<span id="165"></span> Horatio: What's that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#19-166]]<span id="166"></span> Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you think, Alexander the Great, did he look this way in the earth?''</span><br />
[[#19-167]]<span id="167"></span> Horatio: Even so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so.''</span><br />
[[#19-168]]<span id="168"></span> Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And smelled like this? P. U.''</span><br />
[[#19-169]]<span id="169"></span> Horatio: Even so, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even so, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-170]]<span id="170"></span> Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To what crude uses might we return, Horatio? Why can't''</span><br />
[[#19-171]]<span id="171"></span> imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping<br />
<span style="color:gray">''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, until we find it plugging''</span><br />
[[#19-172]]<span id="172"></span> a bunghole?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a cask?''</span><br />
[[#19-173]]<span id="173"></span> Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be to contemplate too meticulously, to contemplate like that.''</span><br />
[[#19-174]]<span id="174"></span> Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, goodness, not a bit. Only, to follow him there with humility''</span><br />
[[#19-175]]<span id="175"></span> enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was<br />
<span style="color:gray">''enough, and probability to lead the way, like so: Alexander died, Alexander was''</span><br />
[[#19-176]]<span id="176"></span> buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we<br />
<span style="color:gray">''buried, Alexander returned to the dust, the dust is earth, out of earth we''</span><br />
[[#19-177]]<span id="177"></span> make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might<br />
<span style="color:gray">''make loam, so why couldn't that loam into which Alexander was converted''</span><br />
[[#19-178]]<span id="178"></span> they not stop a beer-barrel?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''be used to make a plug for a beer barrel?''</span><br />
[[#19-179]]<span id="179"></span> <span style="color:gray">(recites):</span> ''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned into clay,''</span><br />
[[#19-180]]<span id="180"></span> ''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might plug a hole to keep the draft away.''</span><br />
[[#19-181]]<span id="181"></span> ''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, that that flesh which held the world in awe''</span><br />
[[#19-182]]<span id="182"></span> ''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should patch a wall to keep out the winter's flurry.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-182-SD]]<span id="182-SD"></span> (Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse;<br />
Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners;<br />
the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#19-183]]<span id="183"></span> But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But hush, let's move quietly away, here comes the King, and''</span><br />
[[#19-184]]<span id="184"></span> The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Queen, the courtiers . . . whose body do they follow?''</span><br />
[[#19-185]]<span id="185"></span> And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And with such deficient rites? This indicates,''</span><br />
[[#19-186]]<span id="186"></span> The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The corpse they follow did, with a desperate hand,''</span><br />
[[#19-187]]<span id="187"></span> Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take its own life. It was of some high social status.''</span><br />
[[#19-188]]<span id="188"></span> Couch we a while, and mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's lie here a while and watch.''</span><br />
[[#19-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony, in addition to this?''</span><br />
[[#19-190]]<span id="190"></span> Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That is Laertes, a very noble youth, notice.''</span><br />
[[#19-191]]<span id="191"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony in addition?''</span><br />
[[#19-192]]<span id="192"></span> Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her funeral rites have been elaborated as far''</span><br />
[[#19-193]]<span id="193"></span> As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we have religious authority. Her death was suspicious,''</span><br />
[[#19-194]]<span id="194"></span> And but that great command o'er-sways the order,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And except that a royal command has overruled religious directives,''</span><br />
[[#19-195]]<span id="195"></span> She should in ground unsanctified been lodged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She would, in unblessed ground, have been housed''</span><br />
[[#19-196]]<span id="196"></span> Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until Judgment Day. Instead of charitable prayers,''</span><br />
[[#19-197]]<span id="197"></span> {Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sharp flints and pebbles would be thrown on her.''</span><br />
[[#19-198]]<span id="198"></span> Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, here she is privileged to have her virgin crown wreaths,''</span><br />
[[#19-199]]<span id="199"></span> Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her maidenly flowers, and the escort to her final place of rest''</span><br />
[[#19-200]]<span id="200"></span> Of bell and burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the church bell, and Christian burial services.''</span><br />
[[#19-201]]<span id="201"></span> Laertes: Must there no more be done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Must there be no more done than this?''</span><br />
[[#19-202]]<span id="202"></span> Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more can be done.''</span><br />
[[#19-203]]<span id="203"></span> We should profane the service of the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We would desecrate the service for the dead, itself,''</span><br />
[[#19-204]]<span id="204"></span> To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If we chanted the solemn requiem, and that kind of repose to her,''</span><br />
[[#19-205]]<span id="205"></span> As to peace-parted souls.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we do for peacefully-departed souls.''</span><br />
[[#19-206]]<span id="206"></span> Laertes: Lay her in the earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Place her body in the earth,''</span><br />
[[#19-207]]<span id="207"></span> And from her fair and unpolluted flesh<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And from her beautiful and pure remains''</span><br />
[[#19-208]]<span id="208"></span> May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May violets abound. I tell you, stingy priest,''</span><br />
[[#19-209]]<span id="209"></span> A ministering angel shall my sister be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A ministering angel is what my sister shall be''</span><br />
[[#19-210]]<span id="210"></span> When thou liest howling.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When you lie down below wailing.''</span><br />
[[#19-211]]<span id="211"></span> Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What? The lovely Ophelia?!''</span><br />
[[#19-212]]<span id="212"></span> Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#19-213]]<span id="213"></span> I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hoped you would have been my Hamlet's wife.''</span><br />
[[#19-214]]<span id="214"></span> I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought I'd be decorating your bridal bed with flowers, sweet maiden,''</span><br />
[[#19-215]]<span id="215"></span> And not have strewed thy grave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And not be scattering them on your grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-216]]<span id="216"></span> Laertes: Oh, treble woe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, may three times as much sorrow''</span><br />
[[#19-217]]<span id="217"></span> Fall ten times double on that cursed head,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fall ten times, doubly, down on that accursed head, of he''</span><br />
[[#19-218]]<span id="218"></span> Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose evil deed, your most sensible rationality''</span><br />
[[#19-219]]<span id="219"></span> Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Took from thee. Don't fill in the grave for a while,''</span><br />
[[#19-220]]<span id="220"></span> Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. [[#19-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Laertes jumps into the excavation)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until I have hugged her, once more, in my arms!''</span><br />
[[#19-221]]<span id="221"></span> Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Now pile the dirt on both the living and the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-222]]<span id="222"></span> Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until, out of this flatland, you've made a mountain''</span><br />
[[#19-223]]<span id="223"></span> To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's higher than ancient Mount Pelion, or the lofty peak''</span><br />
[[#19-224]]<span id="224"></span> Of blue Olympus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of blue Mount Olympus.''</span><br />
[[#19-225]]<span id="225"></span> Hamlet: What is he whose grief<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is he, whose grief''</span><br />
[[#19-226]]<span id="226"></span> Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Carries such an emphasis on himself, whose expression of "sorrow"''</span><br />
[[#19-227]]<span id="227"></span> Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Calls out to the wandering stars, and makes them stop''</span><br />
[[#19-228]]<span id="228"></span> Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like what they hear has wounded their ears with astonishment? It is I,''</span><br />
[[#19-229]]<span id="229"></span> Hamlet the Dane!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, the Dane!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-229-SD]]<span id="229-SD"></span> (Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)<br />
<br />
[[#19-230]]<span id="230"></span> Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Devil take your soul!''</span><br />
[[#19-231]]<span id="231"></span> Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You don't pray properly. I pray you remove your fingers''</span><br />
[[#19-232]]<span id="232"></span> From my throat.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From my throat.''</span><br />
[[#19-233]]<span id="233"></span> For, though I am not splenative and rash,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, although I am not quick to anger,''</span><br />
[[#19-234]]<span id="234"></span> Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, I do have within me something hazardous''</span><br />
[[#19-235]]<span id="235"></span> Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, if you're smart, you'll fear. Take away your hand.''</span><br />
[[#19-236]]<span id="236"></span> Claudius: Pluck them asunder.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pull them apart!''</span><br />
[[#19-237]]<span id="237"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, Hamlet!''</span><br />
[[#19-238]]<span id="238"></span> All: Gentlemen!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gentlemen!''</span><br />
[[#19-239]]<span id="239"></span> Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good my Lord, be still!''</span><br />
[[#19-240]]<span id="240"></span> Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, I will fight with him, from this motive,''</span><br />
[[#19-241]]<span id="241"></span> Until my eyelids will no longer wag.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the last twitch of my eyelids.''</span><br />
[[#19-242]]<span id="242"></span> Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, my son, what motive?''</span><br />
[[#19-243]]<span id="243"></span> Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved Ophelia. Any huge number of brothers''</span><br />
[[#19-244]]<span id="244"></span> Could not, with all their quantity of love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not, even adding together all their love,''</span><br />
[[#19-245]]<span id="245"></span> Make up my sum.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Equal my love for her.''</span><br />
[[#19-246]]<span id="246"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> What wilt thou do for her?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What will you do for her now?''</span><br />
[[#19-247]]<span id="247"></span> Claudius: Oh, he ''is'' mad, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See, he is mad, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#19-248]]<span id="248"></span> Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For God's sake, shut your mouth about my son!''</span><br />
[[#19-249]]<span id="249"></span> Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By God, show me what you'll do!''</span><br />
[[#19-250]]<span id="250"></span> Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you weep, fight, starve yourself, tear your own flesh,''</span><br />
[[#19-251]]<span id="251"></span> Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you gulp down vinegar, eat a crocodile?''</span><br />
[[#19-252]]<span id="252"></span> I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will if you do! Did you come here to whine?''</span><br />
[[#19-253]]<span id="253"></span> To outface me with leaping in her grave?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To outdo me, by leaping into her grave?''</span><br />
[[#19-254]]<span id="254"></span> Be buried quick with her, and so will I!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be buried alive with her, well so will I!''</span><br />
[[#19-255]]<span id="255"></span> And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And if you want to prate about mountains, let them throw''</span><br />
[[#19-256]]<span id="256"></span> Millions of acres on us, till our ground,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Millions of acres of land on us, until this ground,''</span><br />
[[#19-257]]<span id="257"></span> Singeing his pate against the burning zone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Singeing its top against the sphere of fire,''</span><br />
[[#19-258]]<span id="258"></span> Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Makes Mount Ossa look small as a wart! Further, if you're going to be so mouthy,''</span><br />
[[#19-259]]<span id="259"></span> I'll rant as well as thou.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll rant as well as you do!''</span><br />
[[#19-260]]<span id="260"></span> Gertrude: This is mere madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is only a tantrum,</span><br />
[[#19-261]]<span id="261"></span> And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And like that, for a while, the outburst will have its effect on him.''</span><br />
[[#19-262]]<span id="262"></span> Anon, as patient as the female dove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Wait patiently - like the female dove''</span><br />
[[#19-263]]<span id="263"></span> When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until her golden chicks are hatched -''</span><br />
[[#19-264]]<span id="264"></span> His silence will sit drooping.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then he will sit drooping in silence.''</span><br />
[[#19-265]]<span id="265"></span> Hamlet: Hear you, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You listen to me, sir -''</span><br />
[[#19-266]]<span id="266"></span> What is the reason that you use me thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you treat me like this?''</span><br />
[[#19-267]]<span id="267"></span> I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I always liked you. But it doesn't matter.''</span><br />
[[#19-268]]<span id="268"></span> Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No matter what even the most mighty person does, or wants to do,''</span><br />
[[#19-269]]<span id="269"></span> The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even a lowly cat will still meow, and a dog will have his day in the sun.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-269-SD]]<span id="269-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio exit)<br />
<br />
[[#19-270]]<span id="270"></span> Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, good Horatio, attend him.''</span><br />
[[#19-271]]<span id="271"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be more patient, by recalling what we talked about last night.''</span><br />
[[#19-272]]<span id="272"></span> We'll put the matter to the present push. [[#19-272-SD]]<span id="272-SD"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll press ahead with that subject right away.''</span><br />
[[#19-273]]<span id="273"></span> Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Gertrude, have somebody keep an eye on your son.''</span><br />
[[#19-274]]<span id="274"></span> This grave shall have a living monument;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This grave will have an enduring memorial.''</span><br />
[[#19-275]]<span id="275"></span> An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll thereby have a time of peace.''</span><br />
[[#19-276]]<span id="276"></span> Till then, in patience our proceeding be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until then, I'll proceed with patience.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-276-SD]]<span id="276-SD"></span> (Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit;<br />
the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 19<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====19-Setting=====<br />
[[File:St_olai_helsingor.jpg|left|Church of St Olai, Helsingor]]<br />
[[File:Performers_memorial.jpg|right|Performer's Memorial at St Leonard]]<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Graveyard.<br />
<br />
We are at the graveyard by the church in Elsinore Town, the same place where the Ghost led Hamlet in Scene 5.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Late morning.<br />
<br />
Indications are that Ophelia died at dawn, or shortly after. To appease Laertes, Claudius ordered the coroner to act quickly. The coroner promptly returned a verdict of accidental death, and the funeral was arranged immediately. So it is still the same day Ophelia died, and no later than the middle of the day.<br />
<br />
* <b>Weather</b> - Clear and sunny in the early morning when Ophelia was alive, but the day has now turned dark and gloomy.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====19-000-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto clowns entry.jpg|right|The Second Quarto Clowns entry]]<br />
''(a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)''<br />
<br />
In the original Second Quarto publication, the Clowns are called only that at their entry, with no further specification of who they are. Their roles are deduced from their lines in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
The first Clown, who has the speech prefix "Clown" in the original publication, is the church sexton. The second clown, who has the speech prefix "Other," is a coroner's court deputy.<br />
<br />
It is important to be aware that clowns are for amusement. Statements they make are not to be interpreted as objective declarations of fact.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-001=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully''<br />
<br />
''she'' - as events proceed, we will learn they are talking about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====19-002=====<br />
''seeks her own salvation?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====19-003=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the''<br />
<br />
''I tell thee...'' - The Clown Deputy has already told the Clown Sexton at least once, we see.<br />
<br />
''straight'' - straightaway; now (here in the churchyard.) The body of a person who committed suicide would not be allowed burial in the churchyard, in consecrated ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====19-004=====<br />
''crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
''crowner'' - coroner. The word "coroner" is from Latin 'corona' ("crown.") So the Clown Deputy is both wrong, and right, in the way he says it.<br />
<br />
This line identifies the second clown as the Clown Deputy. The character is informing the Clown Sexton of the coroner's decision, so he is therefore the coroner's court deputy assigned that duty. It is a menial task, befitting the least capable man the coroner had available.<br />
<br />
''sat on her'' - heard her case. Sat in judgment of her case. Obviously an inelegant way of expressing it.<br />
<br />
The coroner's verdict is that Ophelia's death was accidental, thus an act of God, and therefore her mortal remains are accorded the privilege of burial in a Christian manner. Queen Gertrude was certainly the primary witness at the coroner's hearing, and we heard, in Scene 18, what she had to say about it. The verdict of accidental death was clearly indicated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====19-005=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''<br />
<br />
''drowned herself'' - we'll see that the Clown Sexton tries to be logical, but he has started out begging the question, that is, with a fallacy called 'petitio principii,' a.k.a. circular reasoning. He has no factual, or rational, reason to say that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====19-006=====<br />
''defense?''<br />
<br />
''(drowned herself in her own) defense'' - is a crackpot notion. Other than offenses, and acts of defense, there are, of course, accidents.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====19-007=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy knows the coroner's court found so, because he's the one dispatched by the court to inform the Sexton. However, he is not equipped to argue the coroner's verdict. The Clown Deputy is not a man educated in the law (nor is the Clown Sexton.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====19-008=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====19-009=====<br />
''point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====19-010=====<br />
''three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her''<br />
<br />
''three branches'' - a pun on "tree branches," the actual proximate cause of Ophelia's death.<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====19-011=====<br />
''self wittingly.''<br />
<br />
''wittingly'' - can be charitably glossed as "intentionally," but it is a poor word choice by the Clown (and a masterful choice by Shakespeare.) The Clown makes it sound like he means "cleverly," as if he's praising such cleverness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====19-012=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .''<br />
<br />
''hear you'' - may remind one of "hear ye, hear ye," the formulaic utterance at court sessions. The Clown Deputy is trying a "hear ye" to get the Clown Sexton's attention.<br />
<br />
''delver'' - digger. Shakespeare did use "delve" figuratively, in ''Cymbeline'' Act 1 scene 1:<br />
<br />
First Gentleman: I cannot delve him to the root: his father <br />
Was call'd Sicilius, ...<br />
<br />
So, it is also possible to take ''delver'' figuratively as "inquirer" or "inquisitor." The Clown Deputy thinks the Clown Sexton is "digging into it" too much. Compare Horatio's remark, later in this Scene, line 173, about considering too curiously.<br />
<br />
''good man delver'' - is patronizing. Digging graves is only an occasional part of the Clown Sexton's job. We will see that the Clown Sexton doesn't like being spoken to as if he were nothing better than a menial laborer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====19-013=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water; good, here stands the''<br />
<br />
''Give me leave'' - give me permission, i.e. let me continue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====19-014=====<br />
''man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====19-015=====<br />
''he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &''<br />
<br />
''(will) he, nill he'' - means the opposite of what the Clown Sexton is trying to say. He's trying to argue intent, but "willy nilly" means haphazardly, regardless of intent. Literally, ''will he, nill he'' means "(whether) he does will, or he does not will." ''Nill'' is an archaic word from Old English 'nylle' ("not to will;" "to be unwilling.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====19-016=====<br />
''drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of''<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====19-017=====<br />
''his own death, shortens not his own life.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====19-018=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: But is this law?''<br />
<br />
A very apt question. Not only is it not law, it isn't even sanity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====19-019=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====19-020=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy has his own personal opinion about this, we see. Not surprising.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====19-021=====<br />
''she should have been buried out of Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====19-022=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====19-023=====<br />
''should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====19-024=====<br />
''more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====19-025=====<br />
''gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====19-026=====<br />
''up Adam's profession.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====19-027=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====19-028=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====19-029=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====19-030=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====19-031=====<br />
''the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;''<br />
<br />
''The Scripture says Adam digged'' - no, the Bible doesn't say that. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====19-032=====<br />
''could he dig without arms?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====19-033=====<br />
''I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====19-034=====<br />
''purpose, confess thyself.''<br />
<br />
There's a droll old saying, "confess, and be hanged." The Clown Deputy thinks of that, and it leads to his guess below.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton probably actually means, "confess you're a fool" / "confess you can be made a fool." In the dialogue, I use just the simple paraphrase, "admit I've got you," which is near the point.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====19-035=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Go to.''<br />
<br />
Go ahead / get to it / let's hear it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====19-036=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the''<br />
<br />
''mason'' - The patron saint of masons, or at least "a" patron saint of masons, is St Claudius, a point of interest in a play where "Claudius" is the King.<br />
<br />
About Saint Claudius: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-claudius/ Saint Claudius at catholicsaints.info]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====19-037=====<br />
''shipwright, or the carpenter?''<br />
<br />
''shipwright'' - The patron saint of shipwrights is Saint Peter the Apostle.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-the-apostle/ Saint Peter]<br />
<br />
''carpenters'' - The patron saint of carpenters is Saint Joseph of Nazareth.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph/ Saint Joseph of Nazareth]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====19-038=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====19-039=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====19-040=====<br />
''but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====19-041=====<br />
''dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====19-042=====<br />
''the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====19-043=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====19-044=====<br />
''carpenter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====19-045=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====19-046=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.''<br />
<br />
The Deputy apparently supposes that when the Sexton said "unyoke" he was giving a hint.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====19-047=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: To it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====19-048=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====19-049=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====19-050=====<br />
''not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====19-051=====<br />
''next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.''<br />
<br />
''gravemaker'' - The patron saint of gravediggers is St Anthony the Abbot a.k.a. the Great.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-the-abbot/ St Anthony the Abbot]<br />
<br />
Observe that the Clown Sexton calls a grave a "house." That's pertinent later. Graves house the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052=====<br />
''Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor.''<br />
<br />
''get thee in'' - The Clown Sexton waves, or points, in the general direction of the church.<br />
<br />
''stoup'' - flagon; tankard. A drinking vessel.<br />
<br />
However, the word ''stoup'' can also mean the holy water basin in a church. So, Shakespeare's choice of word provides a joke, that the Clown Sexton is telling the Clown Deputy to go to the church, dump out the holy water, and bring the basin to him filled with liquor. (We do hope the Sexton, himself, does not really mean that.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052-SD=====<br />
''(points in the direction of the church; the Clown Deputy exits)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy will not return. The Deputy's duty for the coroner's court is done, and he is not going to bring the Sexton anything.<br />
<br />
It is vital that the Clown Sexton point in the general direction of the church when he says the previous line, else the joke be lost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-053=====<br />
''(sings): In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====19-054=====<br />
''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====19-055=====<br />
''To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056=====<br />
''Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio enter)''<br />
<br />
Horatio is dressed as usual, Hamlet is not. Hamlet is coming directly from the pirate ship, and he hasn't been to his quarters in the Castle yet to clean up and change clothes. The pirates stole Hamlet's expensive, fancy clothing, we can be sure. So he'd have something to wear, the pirates gave him some ratty old clothes that none of the pirates particularly wanted. Hamlet is now in "shreds and patches."<br />
<br />
This is why, when Hamlet talks to the Clown Sexton, the Sexton will have no idea Hamlet could possibly be the Prince. The Clown will never imagine the Prince could be dressed the way Hamlet is dressed here. Hamlet is also unwashed and unkempt. The pirate ship offered no facilities for him to groom and bathe properly. Hamlet may have had a basin of seawater for washing his face, but that's about it. The "show" the Clown Sexton sees of Hamlet, when they talk, is that he's a sailor who's extremely down on his luck. The Clown Sexton has no notion of how deceptive that "show" is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-057=====<br />
''Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in''<br />
<br />
''feeling of'' - sensitivity to. It strikes Hamlet as insensitive to sing like that in connection with a death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====19-058=====<br />
''grave making.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====19-059=====<br />
''Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====19-060=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_dintier.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "dintier"]]<br />
''Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.''<br />
<br />
''dintier'' - more impressionable; more easily impressed.<br />
<br />
From 'dint' = "an impression in a surface." (Ultimately from Old English 'dynt.')<br />
<br />
Hamlet means the Clown Sexton is "not impressed" by what he's doing, although a more sensitive person would be. The callused hand feels less than the uncallused hand, is another way of saying it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====19-061=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====19-062=====<br />
''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<br />
''caught'' - is an embedded stage direction. The Clown Sexton tosses a skull in the air, and catches it. Within the lyric it means BOOKMARK, more here<br />
<br />
''clutch'' - clutches. More simply, grasp.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#062|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-063=====<br />
''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<br />
''intil'' - into.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064=====<br />
''as if I had never been such.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out a skull)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton treats skulls so cavalierly, it is impossible he could keep track of which is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-065=====<br />
''Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====19-066=====<br />
''knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the''<br />
<br />
''Cain's jawbone'' - not the jawbone of Cain, himself, but the jawbone Cain used as a weapon.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====19-067=====<br />
''first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====19-068=====<br />
''o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====19-069=====<br />
''Horatio: It might, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====19-070=====<br />
''Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====19-071=====<br />
''how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====19-072=====<br />
''praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====19-073=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====19-074=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====19-075=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_massene.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "massene"]]<br />
''about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and''<br />
<br />
''massen'' - an anglicization of French 'maison' ("house.") This is a Shakespeare neologism. It is not an exact synonym for "house," rather, it means "house of the dead," like the French phrase 'maison mortuaire.' It's an English word to cast the grave as a kind of "house."<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#075|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-076=====<br />
''we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,''<br />
<br />
''trick'' - luck; good fortune. As in taking a ''trick'' at cards. Might also be read as "cleverness," but in that sense, Hamlet is facetious.<br />
<br />
''breeding'' - encompasses the bearing, rearing, and educating of an offspring. The process of raising a person.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====19-077=====<br />
''but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.''<br />
<br />
''loggets'' - a game in which wooden playing pieces are tossed at a stake. The winner is he whose playing piece lies nearest the stake. ''Loggets'' is therefore a game of lies. The best lie wins. One may keep this in mind, in advance of Hamlet's "lie" banter with the Clown Sexton, which begins at line 102.<br />
<br />
"Logget" is a diminutive of "log," and the word "log" apparently traces back to Old Norse 'lag' which meant "felled tree," thus literally a tree that lies. In a forest, most of the trees are upstanding, but some of them lie. ''Logget" being a diminutive, ''loggets'' is a game of little liers. As 'twere.<br />
<br />
There is now some disagreement among etymologists about the origin of the word "log," and the safe way out is to call it obscure, but it seems clear enough what Shakespeare thought. The "lie" concept is why Shakespeare had Hamlet speak of ''loggets'' in particular.<br />
<br />
''Loggets'' was made illegal in England by a statute in the time of Henry VIII, probably because of gambling and fighting over it.<br />
<br />
The Hamlet character, himself, only means to say it's as if the Clown Sexton is playing a game with the buried, or now unburied bones, the way he tosses them around.<br />
<br />
''Mine ache to think on it'' - a mark of how sympathetic, and empathetic, Hamlet is. He feels for others.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====19-078=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<br />
''pickaxe'' - a word to note in advance of Hamlet saying "picked" in line 116 below.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====19-079=====<br />
''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====19-080=====<br />
''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out another skull)''<br />
<br />
As before, the Clown Sexton is obviously careless, and uncaring, about which skull is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-082=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====19-083=====<br />
''Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====19-084=====<br />
''tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about''<br />
<br />
''tricks'' - legal stratagems. Sophisms. Legal technicalities, in the pejorative sense.<br />
<br />
''rude'' - ill-mannered, however, the point of this word usage may be the pun with "rood," the Christian cross. This ''rude'' knave is a "rood" knave, which makes him a "cross" knave, which he must be since he is employed by the church.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#084|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-085=====<br />
''the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action''<br />
<br />
''sconce'' - skull. For a living man the ''sconce'' would be the head, but a skull is what the Clown Sexton has dug up.<br />
<br />
''action'' - legal action, a lawsuit. Paradoxically, because of the peculiarities of legal jargon, in this instance the ''action'' is not the act.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====19-086=====<br />
''of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of''<br />
<br />
''battery'' - the offense of beating another unlawfully.<br />
<br />
''might be'' - might have been.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====19-087=====<br />
''land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====19-088=====<br />
''recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====19-089=====<br />
''to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====19-090=====<br />
''vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====19-091=====<br />
''and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====19-092=====<br />
''lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====19-093=====<br />
''no more? Ha.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====19-094=====<br />
''Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====19-095=====<br />
''Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====19-096=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====19-097=====<br />
''Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====19-098=====<br />
''that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?''<br />
<br />
''sirrah'' - was a term used to address an inferior and it indicated contempt. Based on what he's seen, Hamlet thinks the sexton is a dullard of no merit.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind Hamlet's shabby dress at this time, and his lack of grooming, after his experience with the pirates. The Clown Sexton hears himself called ''sirrah'' by a fellow who looks like the lowest ''sirrah'' in Denmark.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is misled by the "show" of Hamlet, as the sexton sees him. The thought of that fellow, the way he looks, being the Prince will never cross the sexton's mind. The sexton will probably conclude that the pitiful tramp he sees is using the term ''sirrah'' because he has heard it so often applied to himself.<br />
<br />
We have already seen, in the earlier passage with the Clown Deputy,, how the Clown Sexton is. He'd rather have a good argument than dig, any day, and particularly when he can cast his partner in conversation as a fool. The sexton thinks he sees a good opportunity for that with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Here we go, again, with the Clown Sexton, who has no clue he's bandying words with the Prince of Denmark.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====19-099=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.''<br />
<br />
That's clever in its way, but not true. The churchyard is church property, so technically, it's the church's grave, if we were speaking of who owns it.<br />
<br />
It's the Clown Sexton's to dig. That's true enough, while he's digging.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====19-100=====<br />
''(sings): Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not singing to Hamlet here, he is singing as he continues to dig. He is paying no attention to Hamlet yet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====19-101=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
''guest'' - In Christian theology, the occupants of graves are there temporarily, until Judgment Day. So, ''guest'' - a temporary occupant.<br />
<br />
''meet'' - proper; suitable. Goes back to Old English 'gemǣte' ("suitable.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====19-102=====<br />
''Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is intending to get the Clown Sexton's attention, and his "lie" line does the trick.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====19-103=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====19-104=====<br />
''do not lie in it, yet it is mine.''<br />
<br />
''mine'' - to dig. The Clown Sexton doesn't like digging, at least not nearly as much as he likes quibbling and drinking, so having to dig is much on his mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====19-105=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====19-106=====<br />
''not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====19-107=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====19-108=====<br />
''Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====19-109=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====19-110=====<br />
''Hamlet: What woman, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====19-111=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For none, neither.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====19-112=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====19-113=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====19-114=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside to Horatio): How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or''<br />
<br />
''absolute'' - Can be read a number of ways: free, as in free-tongued; loose, as in unrestrained; irrelevant; dissolute; scattered; etc.<br />
<br />
Hamlet's complaint is that the Clown Sexton is being rude by being uncommunicative. By the way, it's the same complaint R & G voiced about Hamlet in Scene 8. ([[Scene 8#014]] and 015) Hamlet doesn't realize how he looks to the Clown Sexton, as he stands there in his pirate castoffs. From the way Hamlet looks, the Clown Sexton sees no need to take him seriously.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare went back to the Latin root for his meaning with ''absolute'' in this case. Latin 'solvere' ("to loosen, dissolve; release, detach; scatter;" etc.)<br />
<br />
It is also possible to read ''absolute'' as "uncharitable" in the sense of being uncharitable when interpreting a statement. There is obvious meaning in speaking of a man of the church as uncharitable.<br />
<br />
''How absolute the knave is'' - This phrase can also be understood as Hamlet calling the Clown Sexton an "absolute knave."<br />
<br />
''card'' - perhaps a reference to the "compass card," used as part of a navigational compass. Hamlet is talking about navigating his way through what the Clown Sexton says. Otherwise, Hamlet could be using ''card'' to mean "map" or "chart" but that's the same idea. Hamlet would have seen first-hand a navigational compass while he was aboard ship.<br />
<br />
However, it appears that ''card'' was also theater jargon for an actor's speech, written down. If that's what Hamlet means, he is talking about following the script, and not trying to ad lib.<br />
<br />
It would not be surprising if Shakespeare fully intended his audience to struggle through all the possibilities for this line, trying to figure out what he meant, exactly, while he was deliberately being ambiguous. The word "equivocation" appears in the next line, and Shakespeare may have done some of that himself, deliberately, in this line. He was a bit of a scamp.<br />
<br />
(It is a curiosity that the phrase ''by the card'' is the exact English equivalent of French "a la carte." However, restaurant menus are a relatively recent development, and were not in use in Shakespeare's time. The phrasing cannot be a figurative use of the idea of choosing specific items from a menu of possibilities.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====19-115=====<br />
''equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I''<br />
<br />
''equivocation'' - quibbling. Ambiguity; uncertainty of meaning; changes in meaning.<br />
<br />
''these three years'' - the amount of time Hamlet has known Horatio, therefore the length of time since Hamlet went away to the university, where he met Horatio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====19-116=====<br />
''have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the''<br />
<br />
''picked'' - socially mixed up, socially jumbled. The figure of speech is based on a pick being used for digging. Picture the social strata being like strata in the soil. When a pick is used for digging, the different soil strata are mixed up and jumbled together. Hamlet means it's as if some power has taken a pick to the social strata, mixing up the social classes and jumbling them together. The figure of speech follows from watching the Clown Sexton dig, of course. The Clown Sexton sang "pickaxe" in line 078 above.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====19-117=====<br />
''peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.''<br />
<br />
''galls'' - chafes, to produce a sore spot.<br />
<br />
''kibe'' - chillblain, on the heel in this case.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the heel of the courtier being stepped on by the peasant, figuratively speaking, meaning there is inadequate respect for the courtier from the peasant, from the point of view of Hamlet the Courtier. Earlier in the Scene, we saw the Clown Sexton and the Clown Deputy agreed in resenting the special treatment of "great ones."<br />
<br />
This Scene presents some social class resentment, from both sides. Shakespeare was perceptive enough to notice signs of social trouble on the way, it appears. The English Civil War began in 1642.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====19-118=====<br />
''(resumes): How long hast thou been gravemaker?''<br />
<br />
The question arose implicitly earlier, between Hamlet and Horatio, at line 059. Hamlet is curious how long a man would have to dig graves to become so fully accustomed to it that he could sing at his work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====19-119=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,''<br />
<br />
''the days in the year'' - It is important to understand that the Clown Sexton is referring to a calendar date.<br />
<br />
''that day'' - that date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#119|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-120=====<br />
''Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not saying King Hamlet defeated the Elder Fortinbrasse on the identical day he became sexton (and gravedigger,) he is saying those events were on the same calendar date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====19-121=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long is that since?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking how many years ago the Clown Sexton became the sexton.<br />
<br />
However, in what follows, we see the Clown Sexton takes it, or at least plays it, that Hamlet is asking how long it's been since a calendar date, as if Hamlet asked, "How long has it been since April 23?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====19-122=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====19-123=====<br />
''very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into''<br />
<br />
''day'' - date. The Clown Sexton is continuing to speak of dates. He is not saying all three events happened in the same year.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a hint about what '''date''' he means. However, Hamlet was asking about the passage of years, not about calendar dates.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====19-124=====<br />
''England.''<br />
<br />
We see it's common knowledge Claudius sent Hamlet to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====19-125=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is curious whether any inkling of the true reason is circulating. The correct answer would be, "to be executed."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====19-126=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====19-127=====<br />
''he do not, 'tis no great matter there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====19-128=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====19-129=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad''<br />
<br />
''seen'' - observed; noticed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====19-130=====<br />
''as he.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====19-131=====<br />
''Hamlet: How came he mad?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====19-132=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====19-133=====<br />
''Hamlet: How strangely?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====19-134=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====19-135=====<br />
''Hamlet: Upon what ground?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, "for what reason (did Hamlet go mad)?"<br />
<br />
''ground'' - basis; cause; reason. We would now say "grounds."<br />
<br />
The word ''ground'' is from Old English 'grund' ("bottom, foundation, ground, surface of the earth, bottom of the sea.") So, asking "upon what ground" is like asking what is at the bottom of it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====19-136=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man''<br />
[[File:Second quarto sexten.jpg|right|the Second Quarto word "Sexten"]]<br />
[[File:Folio sixteen.jpg|right|the word "sixteen" in the First Folio]]<br />
''here in Denmark'' - The Clown Sexton misunderstands Hamlet, or pretends to. He replies as if "ground" meant "land area."<br />
<br />
''Sexten'' - sexton, is the first meaning. It identifies the Clown as the church sexton, by his own statement. There is more, however. The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a word puzzle, to try to show him up as a fool. It's the same behavior the Clown Sexton exhibited with the Clown Deputy at the beginning of the Scene. In other words, it's a word puzzle from Shakespeare. I preserve the Second Quarto spelling, duly marked, because it's a special word.<br />
<br />
Observe that in the First Folio the word is spelled "sixeteene." The Folio is revealing the second meaning, which is "sixteen." The word spelled ''Sexten'' in the Second Quarto has to be read ''twice'' to get the full meaning.<br />
<br />
Combining the relevant part of this line with the next line gives:<br><br />
''I have been 'Sexten' here, man and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton's total meaning is, "I have been sixteen (years) here (as the sexton) (and alive as a) man and boy thirty years." He has intentionally phrased it to give the impression he has been sexton for thirty years, but that is wrong. Apparently whoever did the work on the First Folio ''Hamlet'' was aware of the importance of "sixteen" in this line.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#136|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-137=====<br />
''and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton means that he, himself, has been alive as a man and boy for thirty years. (Ben Jonson was 30 in 1602.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====19-138=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====19-139=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many''<br />
<br />
The Sexton missed Hamlet's "lie" remark at his expense, and took the question as a serious one.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====19-140=====<br />
''pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====19-141=====<br />
''year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====19-142=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why he more then another?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====19-143=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====19-144=====<br />
''out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====19-145=====<br />
''dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====19-146=====<br />
''Hamlet: Whose was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====19-147=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====19-148=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====19-149=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====19-150=====<br />
''Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====19-151=====<br />
''King's Jester.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====19-152=====<br />
''Hamlet: This?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====19-153=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Even that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====19-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Let me see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====19-155=====<br />
''(aside to Horatio): Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====19-156=====<br />
''jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====19-157=====<br />
''times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====19-158=====<br />
''rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====19-159=====<br />
''often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====19-160=====<br />
''of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161=====<br />
''now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161-SD=====<br />
''(drops the skull into the grave excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-162=====<br />
''to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====19-163=====<br />
''she must come; make her laugh at that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====19-164=====<br />
''Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====19-165=====<br />
''Horatio: What's that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====19-166=====<br />
''Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====19-167=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====19-168=====<br />
''Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====19-169=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====19-170=====<br />
''Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====19-171=====<br />
''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====19-172=====<br />
''a bunghole?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====19-173=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====19-174=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====19-175=====<br />
''enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====19-176=====<br />
''buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====19-177=====<br />
''make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====19-178=====<br />
''they not stop a beer-barrel?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====19-179=====<br />
''(recites): Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====19-180=====<br />
''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====19-181=====<br />
''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182=====<br />
''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#182|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse; Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners; the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)''<br />
<br />
Ophelia is borne bare-faced on the bier. That is, her body is shrouded except for the face. Ophelia, herself, told us of that burial practice in one of her songs in Scene 16 ([[Scene 16#170]].)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-183=====<br />
''But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====19-184=====<br />
''The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====19-185=====<br />
''And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,''<br />
<br />
''maimed'' - less than whole. Hamlet can see at a distance that the funeral procession does not include everything it might. BOOKMARK go into detail on this<br />
<br />
''betoken'' - signify; indicate. Goes back to Old English 'tacen' ("sign.") This is a subtle instance of the Omen Motif in the play. Hamlet uses an "omen" word, with no idea how ominous it is, for his future happiness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====19-186=====<br />
''The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====19-187=====<br />
''Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====19-188=====<br />
''Couch we a while, and mark.''<br />
<br />
''Couch'' - lie down. From Old French 'couche' ("a bed,") from 'coucher' ("to lay down.")<br />
<br />
''mark'' - watch; pay attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====19-189=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====19-190=====<br />
''Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====19-191=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
As an instance of the themes of the play, Laertes thinks there should be more of a Show.<br />
<br />
We heard Laertes's objections earlier, in Scene 16, ([[Scene 16 #213]] and ff) over what he had heard about the lack of a proper show for his father's funeral.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====19-192=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====19-193=====<br />
''As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,''<br />
<br />
''doubtful'' - in whose opinion? And why would they think so?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====19-194=====<br />
''And but that great command o'er-sways the order,''<br />
<br />
''great command'' - the King's command, following the coroner's court decision of accidental death.<br />
<br />
''o'er-sways'' - holds sway over. Overrules.<br />
<br />
''the order'' - the funeral service that the church would have followed, if left to its own devices. The word ''order'' referring to religious procedure goes back to Medieval times.<br />
<br />
There is church-state conflict; the state has overruled the church, to dictate Christian burial for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
There's nothing factual about why the cleric thinks the service should be different. The ideas of the cleric, and the Clown Sexton before him, are based on suspicion and presumption.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====19-195=====<br />
''She should in ground unsanctified been lodged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====19-196=====<br />
''Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,''<br />
<br />
''last trumpet'' - the trumpet that will sound on Judgment Day.<br />
<br />
''For'' - in place of; instead of.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====19-197=====<br />
''{Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.''<br />
<br />
''{Sharp}'' - is an editorial change, by me.<br />
<br />
The Second Quarto publication of ''Hamlet'' has no word before ''flints,'' and the First Folio has "Shardes," which would be "shards" in modern spelling. However, in a search of the Shakespeare canon, I find that Shakespeare never used the word "shards" in that way in any other of his writing.<br />
<br />
The three other uses of "shard" or a form of it are:<br />
<br />
Antony and Cleopatra [III, 2]: "They are his shards, and he their beetle."<br />
<br />
Cymbeline [III, 3]: "The sharded beetle..."<br />
<br />
Macbeth [III, 2]: "The shard-borne beetle..."<br />
<br />
In all other appearances of "shard" in the Shakespeare canon it is used to mean the elytron (wing case) of a beetle.<br />
<br />
I do not find the word "shards" credible in this speech in ''Hamlet,'' where it is apparently supposed to mean "potshards." One could contend that Shakespeare used "shards" in such a way just this once, but that is to argue that the word is right just because it's there, and I can't accept that in the face of the other usages.<br />
<br />
I think the Folio editor misread "sharp," perhaps because he was dealing with faded 20-year old manuscript. If the word were "sharp" it would be entirely credible, with no hesitation. "Sharp" goes perfectly with ''flints,'' it provides an instance for the Edge Motif, and it leaves ''flints and pebbles'' as the kind of conjunction of nouns which is a characteristic of Shakespeare's style. So, I have changed the word, against the direct evidence of the First Folio "Shardes." My only defense, for this offense, is that it is my best judgment. I do not think the Folio is right.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#197|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-198=====<br />
''Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,''<br />
<br />
''crants'' - wreaths.<br />
<br />
The word ''crants'' sounds like the last syllable in the name "Rosencrantz," a name which means "rose crown." By that, based on the sound, one can hear ''crants'' as "crown," and the line becomes, "she is allowed her virgin crown."<br />
<br />
The idea of a "virgin crown" was a powerful one in the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====19-199=====<br />
''Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====19-200=====<br />
''Of bell and burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====19-201=====<br />
''Laertes: Must there no more be done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====19-202=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====19-203=====<br />
''We should profane the service of the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====19-204=====<br />
''To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====19-205=====<br />
''As to peace-parted souls.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====19-206=====<br />
''Laertes: Lay her in the earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====19-207=====<br />
''And from her fair and unpolluted flesh''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====19-208=====<br />
[[File:Viola_odorata.jpg|right|violet]]<br />
''May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is initiating a myth here, in the classical tradition. In mythology, various persons were turned into flowers, notably Narcissus. Here, Shakespeare turns Ophelia into violets.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====19-209=====<br />
''A ministering angel shall my sister be''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====19-210=====<br />
''When thou liest howling.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====19-211=====<br />
''Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====19-212=====<br />
''Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====19-213=====<br />
''I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====19-214=====<br />
''I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====19-215=====<br />
''And not have strewed thy grave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====19-216=====<br />
''Laertes: Oh, treble woe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====19-217=====<br />
''Fall ten times double on that cursed head,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====19-218=====<br />
''Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====19-219=====<br />
''Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220=====<br />
''Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes jumps into the excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-221=====<br />
''Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====19-222=====<br />
''Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]]<br />
<br />
=====19-223=====<br />
''To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====19-224=====<br />
''Of blue Olympus.''<br />
<br />
''Blue'' because of the altitude.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====19-225=====<br />
''Hamlet: What is he whose grief''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====19-226=====<br />
''Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====19-227=====<br />
''Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====19-228=====<br />
''Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229=====<br />
''Hamlet the Dane!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-230=====<br />
''Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====19-231=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====19-232=====<br />
''From my throat.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====19-233=====<br />
''For, though I am not splenative and rash,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====19-234=====<br />
''Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====19-235=====<br />
''Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====19-236=====<br />
''Claudius: Pluck them asunder.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#236]]<br />
<br />
=====19-237=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#237]]<br />
<br />
=====19-238=====<br />
''All: Gentlemen!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#238]]<br />
<br />
=====19-239=====<br />
''Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#239]]<br />
<br />
=====19-240=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#240]]<br />
<br />
=====19-241=====<br />
''Until my eyelids will no longer wag.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#241]]<br />
<br />
=====19-242=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#242]]<br />
<br />
=====19-243=====<br />
''Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#243]]<br />
<br />
=====19-244=====<br />
''Could not, with all their quantity of love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#244]]<br />
<br />
=====19-245=====<br />
''Make up my sum.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#245]]<br />
<br />
=====19-246=====<br />
''(to Laertes): What wilt thou do for her?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#246]]<br />
<br />
=====19-247=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, he is mad, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#247]]<br />
<br />
=====19-248=====<br />
''Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#248]]<br />
<br />
=====19-249=====<br />
''Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#249]]<br />
<br />
=====19-250=====<br />
''Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#250]]<br />
<br />
=====19-251=====<br />
[[File:Paradin crocodile.jpg|right|crocodile, 1591]]<br />
''Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?''<br />
<br />
''eisel'' - vinegar.<br />
<br />
''crocodile'' - a notoriously savage creature, as known in Shakespeare's England. The idea of "crocodile tears" was also known, and there is an accusation of insincerity in Hamlet's lines to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the kind of stunts an immature young man might perform, to try to be impressive, and likewise, the kind of pledges he might make, to try to impress. "I'd climb the highest mountain for you, I'd swim the deepest river for you, I'd drink a gallon of vinegar for you, I'd eat a crocodile for you!" That sort of thing. One often does not expect the stunt to really be performed, it's the thought that counts.<br />
<br />
Ophelia is beyond being impressed by any such pronouncement.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#251]]<br />
<br />
=====19-252=====<br />
''I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#252]]<br />
<br />
=====19-253=====<br />
''To outface me with leaping in her grave?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#253]]<br />
<br />
=====19-254=====<br />
''Be buried quick with her, and so will I!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#254]]<br />
<br />
=====19-255=====<br />
''And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#255]]<br />
<br />
=====19-256=====<br />
''Millions of acres on us, till our ground,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#256]]<br />
<br />
=====19-257=====<br />
''Singeing his pate against the burning zone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#257]]<br />
<br />
=====19-258=====<br />
''Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#258]]<br />
<br />
=====19-259=====<br />
''I'll rant as well as thou.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#259]]<br />
<br />
=====19-260=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is mere madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#260]]<br />
<br />
=====19-261=====<br />
''And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#261]]<br />
<br />
=====19-262=====<br />
''Anon, as patient as the female dove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#262]]<br />
<br />
=====19-263=====<br />
''When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#263]]<br />
<br />
=====19-264=====<br />
''His silence will sit drooping.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#264]]<br />
<br />
=====19-265=====<br />
''Hamlet: Hear you, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#265]]<br />
<br />
=====19-266=====<br />
''What is the reason that you use me thus?''<br />
<br />
Since Hamlet knows his killing of Polonius was accidental, he supposes everyone knows that. However, they do not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#266]]<br />
<br />
=====19-267=====<br />
''I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#267]]<br />
<br />
=====19-268=====<br />
''Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#268]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269=====<br />
''The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.''<br />
<br />
That is, things will proceed according to their nature.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-270=====<br />
''Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.''<br />
<br />
Claudius is talking to Horatio's back, as he pretends to be, or strives to be, in control.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#270]]<br />
<br />
=====19-271=====<br />
''(to Laertes): Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#271]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272=====<br />
''We'll put the matter to the present push.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-273=====<br />
''Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.''<br />
<br />
Again, Claudius is trying to retain control, but he is talking to Gertrude's back.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#273]]<br />
<br />
=====19-274=====<br />
''This grave shall have a living monument;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#274]]<br />
<br />
=====19-275=====<br />
''An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#275]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276=====<br />
''Till then, in patience our proceeding be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit; the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_19
Scene 19
2018-02-12T03:45:02Z
<p>Administrator: /* 19-078 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
At the Graveyard, the coroner's court Deputy has already informed the Sexton of the court's decision. As the Scene begins, we find the Sexton arguing with the Deputy. The Clown Sexton asserts that Ophelia killed herself, and he questions whether she deserves Christian burial. After wasting a lot of time giving the Deputy a hard time, the Sexton begins digging. The Deputy, having done his duty for the court, leaves.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and Horatio enter. They discuss the Sexton's behavior and the grave, then Hamlet speaks to the Sexton. Hamlet and the Sexton engage in some repartee. Hamlet says the famous "poor Yorick" speech.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's funeral procession approaches. Hamlet and Horatio hide to watch, wondering whose funeral it is.<br />
<br />
Laertes argues with the Doctor of Divinity who's conducting the service and, carried away, jumps down into the grave excavation. Hamlet, having learned it's Ophelia's funeral, and outraged by Laertes's behavior, jumps into the grave excavation to confront him. They're separated after a brief scuffle.<br />
<br />
Hamlet exits, followed by Horatio. Claudius draws Laertes aside, reminds him of their fencing match scheme to kill Hamlet, and says they'll proceed with that right away.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 19 Characters are: [[Clown Sexton]], [[Clown Deputy]], [[Hamlet]], [[Horatio]], [[Laertes]], [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Gertrude]], [[Claudius]].<br />
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==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"<br />
| Hamlet and Horatio entry [[#056-SD]], || "poor Yorick" speech [[#155]], || funeral procession entry [[#182-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
| Hamlet jumps into grave [[#229-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
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Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
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<b>Scene 19</b> [ ~ Poor Yorick ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 5 Scene 1)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
The Graveyard;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-001]]<span id="001"></span> Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is she to have a Christian burial, when she intentionally''</span><br />
[[#19-002]]<span id="002"></span> seeks her own salvation?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''seeks her own path to Heaven?''</span><br />
[[#19-003]]<span id="003"></span> Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I tell you she is, so make her grave properly. The''</span><br />
[[#19-004]]<span id="004"></span> crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''coroner has sat in judgment on her case, and his verdict is for a Christian burial.''</span><br />
[[#19-005]]<span id="005"></span> Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''</span><br />
[[#19-006]]<span id="006"></span> defense?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''defense?''</span><br />
[[#19-007]]<span id="007"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, it is adjudged so.''</span><br />
[[#19-008]]<span id="008"></span> Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It must be a legal technicality, it can't be otherwise, because, here's the''</span><br />
[[#19-009]]<span id="009"></span> point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''point: if I drown myself intentionally it's an act, and an act has''</span><br />
[[#19-010]]<span id="010"></span> three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her<br />
<span style="color:gray">''three branches, which are to act, to do, to perform, or all of those, ergo she''</span><br />
[[#19-011]]<span id="011"></span> self wittingly.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''drowned herself intentionally.''</span><br />
[[#19-012]]<span id="012"></span> Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but listen, good man digger . . .''</span><br />
[[#19-013]]<span id="013"></span> Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water, good; here stands the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me continue. Here is the water, okay, and here stands a''</span><br />
[[#19-014]]<span id="014"></span> man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man, very well, now, if the man goes to the water and drowns himself it is''</span><br />
[[#19-015]]<span id="015"></span> he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''willy-nilly he goes, be sure of that. But if the water comes to him and''</span><br />
[[#19-016]]<span id="016"></span> drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' drowns him, he doesn't drown himself, ergo, he who is not guilty of''</span><br />
[[#19-017]]<span id="017"></span> his own death, shortens not his own life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his own death, doesn't shorten his own life.''</span><br />
[[#19-018]]<span id="018"></span> Clown Deputy: But is this law?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But is this the law?''</span><br />
[[#19-019]]<span id="019"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, indeed! It's coroner's inquest law.''</span><br />
[[#19-020]]<span id="020"></span> Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you want the truth about it? Had she not been a gentlewoman''</span><br />
[[#19-021]]<span id="021"></span> she should have been buried out of Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''she would have been buried without Christian ceremony.''</span><br />
[[#19-022]]<span id="022"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, you have said it there. And more's the pity that high-status people''</span><br />
[[#19-023]]<span id="023"></span> should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''should have permission in this world to drown or hang themselves,''</span><br />
[[#19-024]]<span id="024"></span> more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient<br />
<span style="color:gray">''moreso than equally-Christian others. Hand me my spade. There are no ancestral''</span><br />
[[#19-025]]<span id="025"></span> gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''gentlemen except gardeners, ditchers, and gravediggers - they sustain''</span><br />
[[#19-026]]<span id="026"></span> up Adam's profession.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adam's profession.''</span><br />
[[#19-027]]<span id="027"></span> Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was Adam a gentleman?''</span><br />
[[#19-028]]<span id="028"></span> Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was the first to ever bear arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-029]]<span id="029"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, he had no such arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-030]]<span id="030"></span> Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What, are you a heathen? How do you understand''</span><br />
[[#19-031]]<span id="031"></span> the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the Bible? The Bible says Adam digged -''</span><br />
[[#19-032]]<span id="032"></span> could he dig without arms?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''could he dig without arms?''</span><br />
[[#19-033]]<span id="033"></span> I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll put another question to you, and if you can't answer it''</span><br />
[[#19-034]]<span id="034"></span> purpose, confess thyself.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''properly, admit that I've got you.''</span><br />
[[#19-035]]<span id="035"></span> Clown Deputy: Go to.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead.''</span><br />
[[#19-036]]<span id="036"></span> Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the man who builds stronger than either a mason, a''</span><br />
[[#19-037]]<span id="037"></span> shipwright, or the carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shipwright, or a carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-038]]<span id="038"></span> Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The gallows maker, because what he builds outlasts a thousand occupants.''</span><br />
[[#19-039]]<span id="039"></span> Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I like your cleverness well. Indeed, "the gallows" is an answer that does well -''</span><br />
[[#19-040]]<span id="040"></span> but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but how does it do well? The gallows does well to those who do ill. Now you''</span><br />
[[#19-041]]<span id="041"></span> dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, ergo,''</span><br />
[[#19-042]]<span id="042"></span> the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the gallows might do you well. Try again, come on.''</span><br />
[[#19-043]]<span id="043"></span> Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''</span><br />
[[#19-044]]<span id="044"></span> carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-045]]<span id="045"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, tell me the answer, and your job is done.''</span><br />
[[#19-046]]<span id="046"></span> Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, now I know.''</span><br />
[[#19-047]]<span id="047"></span> Clown Sexton: To it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's hear it.''</span><br />
[[#19-048]]<span id="048"></span> Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-049]]<span id="049"></span> Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't beat your brain any more about it, since a slow jackass will''</span><br />
[[#19-050]]<span id="050"></span> not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not go faster if you beat it. When you're asked this question,''</span><br />
[[#19-051]]<span id="051"></span> next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''next time, say "a gravemaker," because the "houses" he makes last until doomsday.''</span><br />
[[#19-052]]<span id="052"></span> Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor. [[#19-052-SD]]<span id="052-SD"></span> (points in the direction of the church;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, go in there, and fetch me a mug of wine.''</span> the Clown Deputy exits)<br />
[[#19-053]]<span id="053"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In my youth when I did love, did love,''</span><br />
[[#19-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought it was very sweet,''</span><br />
[[#19-055]]<span id="055"></span> To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To take the time for all I pleased,''</span><br />
[[#19-056]]<span id="056"></span> Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I thought there was nothing as fit and proper.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio enter)<br />
<br />
[[#19-057]]<span id="057"></span> Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Doesn't this fellow have any feeling for what he's doing? He's singing while''</span><br />
[[#19-058]]<span id="058"></span> grave making.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''digging a grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-059]]<span id="059"></span> Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's so used to it, it doesn't bother him.''</span><br />
[[#19-060]]<span id="060"></span> Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So it is. A hand not callused by hard work is more easily impressed.''</span><br />
[[#19-061]]<span id="061"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But age, with its stealthy steps,''</span><br />
[[#19-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''has caught me in its clutches''</span><br />
[[#19-063]]<span id="063"></span> ''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has sent me into the ground''</span><br />
[[#19-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''as if I had never been such.'' [[#19-064-SD]]<span id="064-SD"></span> (tosses out a skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as if I had never been a youth.''</span><br />
[[#19-065]]<span id="065"></span> Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That skull once had a tongue in it, and could sing. Look how the''</span><br />
[[#19-066]]<span id="066"></span> knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''knave tosses it on the ground, as if it were the jawbone of Cain, who did the''</span><br />
[[#19-067]]<span id="067"></span> first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now<br />
<span style="color:gray">''first murder. It might be the head of a politician, whom this jackass now''</span><br />
[[#19-068]]<span id="068"></span> o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''outranks - one who hoped to outwit God, might it not be?''</span><br />
[[#19-069]]<span id="069"></span> Horatio: It might, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It might be, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-070]]<span id="070"></span> Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, that of a courtier, who could say, "Good morning, sweet Lord,''</span><br />
[[#19-071]]<span id="071"></span> how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''how are you, sweet Lord?" It might be Lord So-and-so, who once''</span><br />
[[#19-072]]<span id="072"></span> praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''praised my Lord Whoever's horse when he hoped to borrow it, might it not?''</span><br />
[[#19-073]]<span id="073"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-074]]<span id="074"></span> Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so, and now it's Lady Worm's - jawless, and knocked''</span><br />
[[#19-075]]<span id="075"></span> about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''around in the grave excavation with a sexton's spade. Here's a fine turn of events, and''</span><br />
[[#19-076]]<span id="076"></span> we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''we had the luck to see it. Were these bones worth no more in bearing, rearing, and educating them,''</span><br />
[[#19-077]]<span id="077"></span> but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''than to play games with them? My bones ache as I think about it.''</span><br />
[[#19-078]]<span id="078"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''</span><br />
[[#19-079]]<span id="079"></span> ''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and also a shrouding sheet,''</span><br />
[[#19-080]]<span id="080"></span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-081]]<span id="081"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.'' [[#19-081-SD]]<span id="081-SD"></span> (tosses out another skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-082]]<span id="082"></span> Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's another one! Why, couldn't that be the skull of a lawyer?''</span><br />
[[#19-083]]<span id="083"></span> Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where are his various legal technicalities now, his cases, his terms, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-084]]<span id="084"></span> tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about<br />
<span style="color:gray">''legal tricks? Why does he tolerate that this cross knave can now knock him about''</span><br />
[[#19-085]]<span id="085"></span> the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the head with a dirty shovel, and will not inform him that he has been sued''</span><br />
[[#19-086]]<span id="086"></span> of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for battery? Hmm, this fellow might have been, in his time, a great buyer of''</span><br />
[[#19-087]]<span id="087"></span> land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land, with his statutory bonds, his personal bonds, his fines, his double vouchers, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-088]]<span id="088"></span> recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lawsuits. Is this the finality of his fines, and the attainment of his attainments -''</span><br />
[[#19-089]]<span id="089"></span> to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to have his fine head full of fine dirt, and will vouchers''</span><br />
[[#19-090]]<span id="090"></span> vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length<br />
<span style="color:gray">''vouch him no more land out of his purchases and doubles, than the length''</span><br />
[[#19-091]]<span id="091"></span> and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and width of a pair of contract indentures? All his paperwork for his''</span><br />
[[#19-092]]<span id="092"></span> lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lands would barely fit inside his grave plot, but is the only land he's''</span><br />
[[#19-093]]<span id="093"></span> no more? Ha.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ended up occupying just the size of his own grave? Ha!''</span><br />
[[#19-094]]<span id="094"></span> Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not a bit more than that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-095]]<span id="095"></span> Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Isn't parchment made of sheepskin?''</span><br />
[[#19-096]]<span id="096"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord, and of calfskin, too.''</span><br />
[[#19-097]]<span id="097"></span> Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Persons are only sheep and calves when they look for certainty in''</span><br />
[[#19-098]]<span id="098"></span> that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land deeds. I'll talk to the fellow. Whose grave is this, sirrah?''</span><br />
[[#19-099]]<span id="099"></span> Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's mine, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-100]]<span id="100"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-101]]<span id="101"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-102]]<span id="102"></span> Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I think it must be your grave, indeed, because you're lying in it.''</span><br />
[[#19-103]]<span id="103"></span> Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're lying out of it, sir, so it can't be yours. As for me, I''</span><br />
[[#19-104]]<span id="104"></span> do not lie in it, yet it is mine.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do not lie in it, but yet, it is mine.''</span><br />
[[#19-105]]<span id="105"></span> Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You do lie in it, to be in it and say it's yours - it's for the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-106]]<span id="106"></span> not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not for the living, therefore, you lie.''</span><br />
[[#19-107]]<span id="107"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a quick lie, sir, because it will quickly go again from me to you.''</span><br />
[[#19-108]]<span id="108"></span> Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What man do you dig it for?''</span><br />
[[#19-109]]<span id="109"></span> Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no man, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-110]]<span id="110"></span> Hamlet: What woman, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What woman, then?''</span><br />
[[#19-111]]<span id="111"></span> Clown Sexton: For none, neither.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no woman, either.''</span><br />
[[#19-112]]<span id="112"></span> Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who's to be buried in it?''</span><br />
[[#19-113]]<span id="113"></span> Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One who was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''</span><br />
[[#19-114]]<span id="114"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How impertinent the knave is. We must speak according to the script, or''</span><br />
[[#19-115]]<span id="115"></span> equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ambiguity will be our downfall. By Lord, Horatio, during these three years since we met, I''</span><br />
[[#19-116]]<span id="116"></span> have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''have taken notice of it: the times have become so socially jumbled, that the toe of the''</span><br />
[[#19-117]]<span id="117"></span> peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kybe.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''peasant walks so close on the heel of the courtier, he chafes his chilblain.''</span><br />
[[#19-118]]<span id="118"></span> <span style="color:gray">(resumes):</span> How long hast thou been gravemaker?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long have you been a gravemaker?''</span><br />
[[#19-119]]<span id="119"></span> Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of the dates in the year, I began this job on the date that our late King,''</span><br />
[[#19-120]]<span id="120"></span> Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, defeated Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#19-121]]<span id="121"></span> Hamlet: How long is that since?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long ago was that?''</span><br />
[[#19-122]]<span id="122"></span> Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you know? Any fool could answer that question. It was the''</span><br />
[[#19-123]]<span id="123"></span> very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into<br />
<span style="color:gray">''very same date that young Hamlet was born - he who is mad and has been sent to''</span><br />
[[#19-124]]<span id="124"></span> England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''England.''</span><br />
[[#19-125]]<span id="125"></span> Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, goodness, why was he sent to England?''</span><br />
[[#19-126]]<span id="126"></span> Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why? Because he was mad. He'll recover his wits there, or if''</span><br />
[[#19-127]]<span id="127"></span> he do not, 'tis no great matter there.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''he doesn't, it won't matter much there.''</span><br />
[[#19-128]]<span id="128"></span> Hamlet: Why?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why not?''</span><br />
[[#19-129]]<span id="129"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It won't be noticed in him there, because there, all the men are as crazy''</span><br />
[[#19-130]]<span id="130"></span> as he.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as he is.''</span><br />
[[#19-131]]<span id="131"></span> Hamlet: How came he mad?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How did he become mad?''</span><br />
[[#19-132]]<span id="132"></span> Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very strangely, they say.''</span><br />
[[#19-133]]<span id="133"></span> Hamlet: How strangely?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How strangely?''</span><br />
[[#19-134]]<span id="134"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, he went mad by losing his mind.''</span><br />
[[#19-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet: Upon what ground?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But upon what grounds?''</span><br />
[[#19-136]]<span id="136"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, here in Denmark. I have been sixteen years here, a man''</span><br />
[[#19-137]]<span id="137"></span> and boy thirty years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and boy for thirty years.''</span><br />
[[#19-138]]<span id="138"></span> Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long will a man lie in the earth before he rots?''</span><br />
[[#19-139]]<span id="139"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, if he isn't already rotten before he dies, (and we get many''</span><br />
[[#19-140]]<span id="140"></span> pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''diseased corpses now that will hardly hold together,) a body will last some eight''</span><br />
[[#19-141]]<span id="141"></span> year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''years, or nine years. A tanner will last for nine years.''</span><br />
[[#19-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet: Why he more then another?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why will his body last longer than another?''</span><br />
[[#19-143]]<span id="143"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, sir, his own hide is so tanned from his occupation, that it will keep''</span><br />
[[#19-144]]<span id="144"></span> out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson<br />
<span style="color:gray">''water out a long time, and water is a severe decayer of your bastard''</span><br />
[[#19-145]]<span id="145"></span> dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''dead body. Now, here's a skull that has lain for you in the earth for 23 years.''</span><br />
[[#19-146]]<span id="146"></span> Hamlet: Whose was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose was it?''</span><br />
[[#19-147]]<span id="147"></span> Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A bastard mad fellow's, it was! Whose do you suppose it was?''</span><br />
[[#19-148]]<span id="148"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-149]]<span id="149"></span> Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A plague on him as a mad rogue! He poured a mug of''</span><br />
[[#19-150]]<span id="150"></span> Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rhenish wine over my head once. This exact skull, sir - this same one - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''</span><br />
[[#19-151]]<span id="151"></span> King's Jester.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''King's jester.''</span><br />
[[#19-152]]<span id="152"></span> Hamlet: This?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That?''</span><br />
[[#19-153]]<span id="153"></span> Clown Sexton: Even that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exactly that.''</span><br />
[[#19-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Let me see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me see it.''</span><br />
[[#19-155]]<span id="155"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, poor Yoricke. I knew him, Horatio, he was a fellow of endless''</span><br />
[[#19-156]]<span id="156"></span> jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''jests, of most excellent whimsy. He carried me aboard his back a thousand''</span><br />
[[#19-157]]<span id="157"></span> times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''times, and now how abhorrent to my thoughts this skull is. I feel nauseous''</span><br />
[[#19-158]]<span id="158"></span> rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how<br />
<span style="color:gray">''looking at it. Here were those lips that I once kissed, I don't know how''</span><br />
[[#19-159]]<span id="159"></span> often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''often. Where is your teasing, now? Your frolicking, your songs, your bursts''</span><br />
[[#19-160]]<span id="160"></span> of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of merriment, that would make everyone at the table laugh out loud? No one,''</span><br />
[[#19-161]]<span id="161"></span> now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you [[#19-161-SD]]<span id="161-SD"></span> (drops the skull into the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''now, to ape your own grinning? - very down at the mouth. Now, go''</span> grave excavation)<br />
[[#19-162]]<span id="162"></span> to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to my lady's dressing room, and tell her: put her makeup on an inch thick, this kindness is''</span><br />
[[#19-163]]<span id="163"></span> she must come; make her laugh at that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what she must come to, and make her laugh at that.''</span><br />
[[#19-164]]<span id="164"></span> Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, Horatio, tell me one thing.''</span><br />
[[#19-165]]<span id="165"></span> Horatio: What's that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#19-166]]<span id="166"></span> Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you think, Alexander the Great, did he look this way in the earth?''</span><br />
[[#19-167]]<span id="167"></span> Horatio: Even so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so.''</span><br />
[[#19-168]]<span id="168"></span> Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And smelled like this? P. U.''</span><br />
[[#19-169]]<span id="169"></span> Horatio: Even so, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even so, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-170]]<span id="170"></span> Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To what crude uses might we return, Horatio? Why can't''</span><br />
[[#19-171]]<span id="171"></span> imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping<br />
<span style="color:gray">''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, until we find it plugging''</span><br />
[[#19-172]]<span id="172"></span> a bunghole?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a cask?''</span><br />
[[#19-173]]<span id="173"></span> Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be to contemplate too meticulously, to contemplate like that.''</span><br />
[[#19-174]]<span id="174"></span> Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, goodness, not a bit. Only, to follow him there with humility''</span><br />
[[#19-175]]<span id="175"></span> enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was<br />
<span style="color:gray">''enough, and probability to lead the way, like so: Alexander died, Alexander was''</span><br />
[[#19-176]]<span id="176"></span> buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we<br />
<span style="color:gray">''buried, Alexander returned to the dust, the dust is earth, out of earth we''</span><br />
[[#19-177]]<span id="177"></span> make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might<br />
<span style="color:gray">''make loam, so why couldn't that loam into which Alexander was converted''</span><br />
[[#19-178]]<span id="178"></span> they not stop a beer-barrel?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''be used to make a plug for a beer barrel?''</span><br />
[[#19-179]]<span id="179"></span> <span style="color:gray">(recites):</span> ''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned into clay,''</span><br />
[[#19-180]]<span id="180"></span> ''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might plug a hole to keep the draft away.''</span><br />
[[#19-181]]<span id="181"></span> ''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, that that flesh which held the world in awe''</span><br />
[[#19-182]]<span id="182"></span> ''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should patch a wall to keep out the winter's flurry.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-182-SD]]<span id="182-SD"></span> (Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse;<br />
Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners;<br />
the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#19-183]]<span id="183"></span> But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But hush, let's move quietly away, here comes the King, and''</span><br />
[[#19-184]]<span id="184"></span> The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Queen, the courtiers . . . whose body do they follow?''</span><br />
[[#19-185]]<span id="185"></span> And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And with such deficient rites? This indicates,''</span><br />
[[#19-186]]<span id="186"></span> The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The corpse they follow did, with a desperate hand,''</span><br />
[[#19-187]]<span id="187"></span> Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take its own life. It was of some high social status.''</span><br />
[[#19-188]]<span id="188"></span> Couch we a while, and mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's lie here a while and watch.''</span><br />
[[#19-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony, in addition to this?''</span><br />
[[#19-190]]<span id="190"></span> Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That is Laertes, a very noble youth, notice.''</span><br />
[[#19-191]]<span id="191"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony in addition?''</span><br />
[[#19-192]]<span id="192"></span> Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her funeral rites have been elaborated as far''</span><br />
[[#19-193]]<span id="193"></span> As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we have religious authority. Her death was suspicious,''</span><br />
[[#19-194]]<span id="194"></span> And but that great command o'er-sways the order,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And except that a royal command has overruled religious directives,''</span><br />
[[#19-195]]<span id="195"></span> She should in ground unsanctified been lodged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She would, in unblessed ground, have been housed''</span><br />
[[#19-196]]<span id="196"></span> Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until Judgment Day. Instead of charitable prayers,''</span><br />
[[#19-197]]<span id="197"></span> {Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sharp flints and pebbles would be thrown on her.''</span><br />
[[#19-198]]<span id="198"></span> Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, here she is privileged to have her virgin crown wreaths,''</span><br />
[[#19-199]]<span id="199"></span> Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her maidenly flowers, and the escort to her final place of rest''</span><br />
[[#19-200]]<span id="200"></span> Of bell and burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the church bell, and Christian burial services.''</span><br />
[[#19-201]]<span id="201"></span> Laertes: Must there no more be done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Must there be no more done than this?''</span><br />
[[#19-202]]<span id="202"></span> Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more can be done.''</span><br />
[[#19-203]]<span id="203"></span> We should profane the service of the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We would desecrate the service for the dead, itself,''</span><br />
[[#19-204]]<span id="204"></span> To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If we chanted the solemn requiem, and that kind of repose to her,''</span><br />
[[#19-205]]<span id="205"></span> As to peace-parted souls.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we do for peacefully-departed souls.''</span><br />
[[#19-206]]<span id="206"></span> Laertes: Lay her in the earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Place her body in the earth,''</span><br />
[[#19-207]]<span id="207"></span> And from her fair and unpolluted flesh<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And from her beautiful and pure remains''</span><br />
[[#19-208]]<span id="208"></span> May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May violets abound. I tell you, stingy priest,''</span><br />
[[#19-209]]<span id="209"></span> A ministering angel shall my sister be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A ministering angel is what my sister shall be''</span><br />
[[#19-210]]<span id="210"></span> When thou liest howling.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When you lie down below wailing.''</span><br />
[[#19-211]]<span id="211"></span> Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What? The lovely Ophelia?!''</span><br />
[[#19-212]]<span id="212"></span> Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#19-213]]<span id="213"></span> I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hoped you would have been my Hamlet's wife.''</span><br />
[[#19-214]]<span id="214"></span> I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought I'd be decorating your bridal bed with flowers, sweet maiden,''</span><br />
[[#19-215]]<span id="215"></span> And not have strewed thy grave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And not be scattering them on your grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-216]]<span id="216"></span> Laertes: Oh, treble woe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, may three times as much sorrow''</span><br />
[[#19-217]]<span id="217"></span> Fall ten times double on that cursed head,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fall ten times, doubly, down on that accursed head, of he''</span><br />
[[#19-218]]<span id="218"></span> Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose evil deed, your most sensible rationality''</span><br />
[[#19-219]]<span id="219"></span> Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Took from thee. Don't fill in the grave for a while,''</span><br />
[[#19-220]]<span id="220"></span> Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. [[#19-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Laertes jumps into the excavation)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until I have hugged her, once more, in my arms!''</span><br />
[[#19-221]]<span id="221"></span> Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Now pile the dirt on both the living and the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-222]]<span id="222"></span> Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until, out of this flatland, you've made a mountain''</span><br />
[[#19-223]]<span id="223"></span> To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's higher than ancient Mount Pelion, or the lofty peak''</span><br />
[[#19-224]]<span id="224"></span> Of blue Olympus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of blue Mount Olympus.''</span><br />
[[#19-225]]<span id="225"></span> Hamlet: What is he whose grief<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is he, whose grief''</span><br />
[[#19-226]]<span id="226"></span> Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Carries such an emphasis on himself, whose expression of "sorrow"''</span><br />
[[#19-227]]<span id="227"></span> Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Calls out to the wandering stars, and makes them stop''</span><br />
[[#19-228]]<span id="228"></span> Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like what they hear has wounded their ears with astonishment? It is I,''</span><br />
[[#19-229]]<span id="229"></span> Hamlet the Dane!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, the Dane!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-229-SD]]<span id="229-SD"></span> (Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)<br />
<br />
[[#19-230]]<span id="230"></span> Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Devil take your soul!''</span><br />
[[#19-231]]<span id="231"></span> Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You don't pray properly. I pray you remove your fingers''</span><br />
[[#19-232]]<span id="232"></span> From my throat.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From my throat.''</span><br />
[[#19-233]]<span id="233"></span> For, though I am not splenative and rash,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, although I am not quick to anger,''</span><br />
[[#19-234]]<span id="234"></span> Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, I do have within me something hazardous''</span><br />
[[#19-235]]<span id="235"></span> Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, if you're smart, you'll fear. Take away your hand.''</span><br />
[[#19-236]]<span id="236"></span> Claudius: Pluck them asunder.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pull them apart!''</span><br />
[[#19-237]]<span id="237"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, Hamlet!''</span><br />
[[#19-238]]<span id="238"></span> All: Gentlemen!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gentlemen!''</span><br />
[[#19-239]]<span id="239"></span> Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good my Lord, be still!''</span><br />
[[#19-240]]<span id="240"></span> Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, I will fight with him, from this motive,''</span><br />
[[#19-241]]<span id="241"></span> Until my eyelids will no longer wag.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the last twitch of my eyelids.''</span><br />
[[#19-242]]<span id="242"></span> Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, my son, what motive?''</span><br />
[[#19-243]]<span id="243"></span> Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved Ophelia. Any huge number of brothers''</span><br />
[[#19-244]]<span id="244"></span> Could not, with all their quantity of love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not, even adding together all their love,''</span><br />
[[#19-245]]<span id="245"></span> Make up my sum.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Equal my love for her.''</span><br />
[[#19-246]]<span id="246"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> What wilt thou do for her?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What will you do for her now?''</span><br />
[[#19-247]]<span id="247"></span> Claudius: Oh, he ''is'' mad, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See, he is mad, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#19-248]]<span id="248"></span> Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For God's sake, shut your mouth about my son!''</span><br />
[[#19-249]]<span id="249"></span> Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By God, show me what you'll do!''</span><br />
[[#19-250]]<span id="250"></span> Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you weep, fight, starve yourself, tear your own flesh,''</span><br />
[[#19-251]]<span id="251"></span> Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you gulp down vinegar, eat a crocodile?''</span><br />
[[#19-252]]<span id="252"></span> I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will if you do! Did you come here to whine?''</span><br />
[[#19-253]]<span id="253"></span> To outface me with leaping in her grave?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To outdo me, by leaping into her grave?''</span><br />
[[#19-254]]<span id="254"></span> Be buried quick with her, and so will I!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be buried alive with her, well so will I!''</span><br />
[[#19-255]]<span id="255"></span> And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And if you want to prate about mountains, let them throw''</span><br />
[[#19-256]]<span id="256"></span> Millions of acres on us, till our ground,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Millions of acres of land on us, until this ground,''</span><br />
[[#19-257]]<span id="257"></span> Singeing his pate against the burning zone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Singeing its top against the sphere of fire,''</span><br />
[[#19-258]]<span id="258"></span> Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Makes Mount Ossa look small as a wart! Further, if you're going to be so mouthy,''</span><br />
[[#19-259]]<span id="259"></span> I'll rant as well as thou.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll rant as well as you do!''</span><br />
[[#19-260]]<span id="260"></span> Gertrude: This is mere madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is only a tantrum,</span><br />
[[#19-261]]<span id="261"></span> And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And like that, for a while, the outburst will have its effect on him.''</span><br />
[[#19-262]]<span id="262"></span> Anon, as patient as the female dove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Wait patiently - like the female dove''</span><br />
[[#19-263]]<span id="263"></span> When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until her golden chicks are hatched -''</span><br />
[[#19-264]]<span id="264"></span> His silence will sit drooping.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then he will sit drooping in silence.''</span><br />
[[#19-265]]<span id="265"></span> Hamlet: Hear you, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You listen to me, sir -''</span><br />
[[#19-266]]<span id="266"></span> What is the reason that you use me thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you treat me like this?''</span><br />
[[#19-267]]<span id="267"></span> I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I always liked you. But it doesn't matter.''</span><br />
[[#19-268]]<span id="268"></span> Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No matter what even the most mighty person does, or wants to do,''</span><br />
[[#19-269]]<span id="269"></span> The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even a lowly cat will still meow, and a dog will have his day in the sun.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-269-SD]]<span id="269-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio exit)<br />
<br />
[[#19-270]]<span id="270"></span> Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, good Horatio, attend him.''</span><br />
[[#19-271]]<span id="271"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be more patient, by recalling what we talked about last night.''</span><br />
[[#19-272]]<span id="272"></span> We'll put the matter to the present push. [[#19-272-SD]]<span id="272-SD"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll press ahead with that subject right away.''</span><br />
[[#19-273]]<span id="273"></span> Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Gertrude, have somebody keep an eye on your son.''</span><br />
[[#19-274]]<span id="274"></span> This grave shall have a living monument;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This grave will have an enduring memorial.''</span><br />
[[#19-275]]<span id="275"></span> An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll thereby have a time of peace.''</span><br />
[[#19-276]]<span id="276"></span> Till then, in patience our proceeding be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until then, I'll proceed with patience.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-276-SD]]<span id="276-SD"></span> (Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit;<br />
the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 19<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====19-Setting=====<br />
[[File:St_olai_helsingor.jpg|left|Church of St Olai, Helsingor]]<br />
[[File:Performers_memorial.jpg|right|Performer's Memorial at St Leonard]]<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Graveyard.<br />
<br />
We are at the graveyard by the church in Elsinore Town, the same place where the Ghost led Hamlet in Scene 5.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Late morning.<br />
<br />
Indications are that Ophelia died at dawn, or shortly after. To appease Laertes, Claudius ordered the coroner to act quickly. The coroner promptly returned a verdict of accidental death, and the funeral was arranged immediately. So it is still the same day Ophelia died, and no later than the middle of the day.<br />
<br />
* <b>Weather</b> - Clear and sunny in the early morning when Ophelia was alive, but the day has now turned dark and gloomy.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====19-000-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto clowns entry.jpg|right|The Second Quarto Clowns entry]]<br />
''(a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)''<br />
<br />
In the original Second Quarto publication, the Clowns are called only that at their entry, with no further specification of who they are. Their roles are deduced from their lines in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
The first Clown, who has the speech prefix "Clown" in the original publication, is the church sexton. The second clown, who has the speech prefix "Other," is a coroner's court deputy.<br />
<br />
It is important to be aware that clowns are for amusement. Statements they make are not to be interpreted as objective declarations of fact.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-001=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully''<br />
<br />
''she'' - as events proceed, we will learn they are talking about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====19-002=====<br />
''seeks her own salvation?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====19-003=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the''<br />
<br />
''I tell thee...'' - The Clown Deputy has already told the Clown Sexton at least once, we see.<br />
<br />
''straight'' - straightaway; now (here in the churchyard.) The body of a person who committed suicide would not be allowed burial in the churchyard, in consecrated ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====19-004=====<br />
''crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
''crowner'' - coroner. The word "coroner" is from Latin 'corona' ("crown.") So the Clown Deputy is both wrong, and right, in the way he says it.<br />
<br />
This line identifies the second clown as the Clown Deputy. The character is informing the Clown Sexton of the coroner's decision, so he is therefore the coroner's court deputy assigned that duty. It is a menial task, befitting the least capable man the coroner had available.<br />
<br />
''sat on her'' - heard her case. Sat in judgment of her case. Obviously an inelegant way of expressing it.<br />
<br />
The coroner's verdict is that Ophelia's death was accidental, thus an act of God, and therefore her mortal remains are accorded the privilege of burial in a Christian manner. Queen Gertrude was certainly the primary witness at the coroner's hearing, and we heard, in Scene 18, what she had to say about it. The verdict of accidental death was clearly indicated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====19-005=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''<br />
<br />
''drowned herself'' - we'll see that the Clown Sexton tries to be logical, but he has started out begging the question, that is, with a fallacy called 'petitio principii,' a.k.a. circular reasoning. He has no factual, or rational, reason to say that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====19-006=====<br />
''defense?''<br />
<br />
''(drowned herself in her own) defense'' - is a crackpot notion. Other than offenses, and acts of defense, there are, of course, accidents.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====19-007=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy knows the coroner's court found so, because he's the one dispatched by the court to inform the Sexton. However, he is not equipped to argue the coroner's verdict. The Clown Deputy is not a man educated in the law (nor is the Clown Sexton.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====19-008=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====19-009=====<br />
''point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====19-010=====<br />
''three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her''<br />
<br />
''three branches'' - a pun on "tree branches," the actual proximate cause of Ophelia's death.<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====19-011=====<br />
''self wittingly.''<br />
<br />
''wittingly'' - can be charitably glossed as "intentionally," but it is a poor word choice by the Clown (and a masterful choice by Shakespeare.) The Clown makes it sound like he means "cleverly," as if he's praising such cleverness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====19-012=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .''<br />
<br />
''hear you'' - may remind one of "hear ye, hear ye," the formulaic utterance at court sessions. The Clown Deputy is trying a "hear ye" to get the Clown Sexton's attention.<br />
<br />
''delver'' - digger. Shakespeare did use "delve" figuratively, in ''Cymbeline'' Act 1 scene 1:<br />
<br />
First Gentleman: I cannot delve him to the root: his father <br />
Was call'd Sicilius, ...<br />
<br />
So, it is also possible to take ''delver'' figuratively as "inquirer" or "inquisitor." The Clown Deputy thinks the Clown Sexton is "digging into it" too much. Compare Horatio's remark, later in this Scene, line 173, about considering too curiously.<br />
<br />
''good man delver'' - is patronizing. Digging graves is only an occasional part of the Clown Sexton's job. We will see that the Clown Sexton doesn't like being spoken to as if he were nothing better than a menial laborer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====19-013=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water; good, here stands the''<br />
<br />
''Give me leave'' - give me permission, i.e. let me continue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====19-014=====<br />
''man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====19-015=====<br />
''he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &''<br />
<br />
''(will) he, nill he'' - means the opposite of what the Clown Sexton is trying to say. He's trying to argue intent, but "willy nilly" means haphazardly, regardless of intent. Literally, ''will he, nill he'' means "(whether) he does will, or he does not will." ''Nill'' is an archaic word from Old English 'nylle' ("not to will;" "to be unwilling.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====19-016=====<br />
''drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of''<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====19-017=====<br />
''his own death, shortens not his own life.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====19-018=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: But is this law?''<br />
<br />
A very apt question. Not only is it not law, it isn't even sanity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====19-019=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====19-020=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy has his own personal opinion about this, we see. Not surprising.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====19-021=====<br />
''she should have been buried out of Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====19-022=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====19-023=====<br />
''should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====19-024=====<br />
''more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====19-025=====<br />
''gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====19-026=====<br />
''up Adam's profession.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====19-027=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====19-028=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====19-029=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====19-030=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====19-031=====<br />
''the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;''<br />
<br />
''The Scripture says Adam digged'' - no, the Bible doesn't say that. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====19-032=====<br />
''could he dig without arms?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====19-033=====<br />
''I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====19-034=====<br />
''purpose, confess thyself.''<br />
<br />
There's a droll old saying, "confess, and be hanged." The Clown Deputy thinks of that, and it leads to his guess below.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton probably actually means, "confess you're a fool" / "confess you can be made a fool." In the dialogue, I use just the simple paraphrase, "admit I've got you," which is near the point.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====19-035=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Go to.''<br />
<br />
Go ahead / get to it / let's hear it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====19-036=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the''<br />
<br />
''mason'' - The patron saint of masons, or at least "a" patron saint of masons, is St Claudius, a point of interest in a play where "Claudius" is the King.<br />
<br />
About Saint Claudius: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-claudius/ Saint Claudius at catholicsaints.info]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====19-037=====<br />
''shipwright, or the carpenter?''<br />
<br />
''shipwright'' - The patron saint of shipwrights is Saint Peter the Apostle.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-the-apostle/ Saint Peter]<br />
<br />
''carpenters'' - The patron saint of carpenters is Saint Joseph of Nazareth.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph/ Saint Joseph of Nazareth]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====19-038=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====19-039=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====19-040=====<br />
''but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====19-041=====<br />
''dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====19-042=====<br />
''the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====19-043=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====19-044=====<br />
''carpenter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====19-045=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====19-046=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.''<br />
<br />
The Deputy apparently supposes that when the Sexton said "unyoke" he was giving a hint.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====19-047=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: To it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====19-048=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====19-049=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====19-050=====<br />
''not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====19-051=====<br />
''next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.''<br />
<br />
''gravemaker'' - The patron saint of gravediggers is St Anthony the Abbot a.k.a. the Great.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-the-abbot/ St Anthony the Abbot]<br />
<br />
Observe that the Clown Sexton calls a grave a "house." That's pertinent later. Graves house the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052=====<br />
''Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor.''<br />
<br />
''get thee in'' - The Clown Sexton waves, or points, in the general direction of the church.<br />
<br />
''stoup'' - flagon; tankard. A drinking vessel.<br />
<br />
However, the word ''stoup'' can also mean the holy water basin in a church. So, Shakespeare's choice of word provides a joke, that the Clown Sexton is telling the Clown Deputy to go to the church, dump out the holy water, and bring the basin to him filled with liquor. (We do hope the Sexton, himself, does not really mean that.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052-SD=====<br />
''(points in the direction of the church; the Clown Deputy exits)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy will not return. The Deputy's duty for the coroner's court is done, and he is not going to bring the Sexton anything.<br />
<br />
It is vital that the Clown Sexton point in the general direction of the church when he says the previous line, else the joke be lost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-053=====<br />
''(sings): In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====19-054=====<br />
''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====19-055=====<br />
''To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056=====<br />
''Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio enter)''<br />
<br />
Horatio is dressed as usual, Hamlet is not. Hamlet is coming directly from the pirate ship, and he hasn't been to his quarters in the Castle yet to clean up and change clothes. The pirates stole Hamlet's expensive, fancy clothing, we can be sure. So he'd have something to wear, the pirates gave him some ratty old clothes that none of the pirates particularly wanted. Hamlet is now in "shreds and patches."<br />
<br />
This is why, when Hamlet talks to the Clown Sexton, the Sexton will have no idea Hamlet could possibly be the Prince. The Clown will never imagine the Prince could be dressed the way Hamlet is dressed here. Hamlet is also unwashed and unkempt. The pirate ship offered no facilities for him to groom and bathe properly. Hamlet may have had a basin of seawater for washing his face, but that's about it. The "show" the Clown Sexton sees of Hamlet, when they talk, is that he's a sailor who's extremely down on his luck. The Clown Sexton has no notion of how deceptive that "show" is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-057=====<br />
''Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in''<br />
<br />
''feeling of'' - sensitivity to. It strikes Hamlet as insensitive to sing like that in connection with a death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====19-058=====<br />
''grave making.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====19-059=====<br />
''Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====19-060=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_dintier.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "dintier"]]<br />
''Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.''<br />
<br />
''dintier'' - more impressionable; more easily impressed.<br />
<br />
From 'dint' = "an impression in a surface." (Ultimately from Old English 'dynt.')<br />
<br />
Hamlet means the Clown Sexton is "not impressed" by what he's doing, although a more sensitive person would be. The callused hand feels less than the uncallused hand, is another way of saying it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====19-061=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====19-062=====<br />
''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<br />
''caught'' - is an embedded stage direction. The Clown Sexton tosses a skull in the air, and catches it. Within the lyric it means BOOKMARK, more here<br />
<br />
''clutch'' - clutches. More simply, grasp.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#062|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-063=====<br />
''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<br />
''intil'' - into.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064=====<br />
''as if I had never been such.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out a skull)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton treats skulls so cavalierly, it is impossible he could keep track of which is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-065=====<br />
''Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====19-066=====<br />
''knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the''<br />
<br />
''Cain's jawbone'' - not the jawbone of Cain, himself, but the jawbone Cain used as a weapon.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====19-067=====<br />
''first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====19-068=====<br />
''o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====19-069=====<br />
''Horatio: It might, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====19-070=====<br />
''Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====19-071=====<br />
''how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====19-072=====<br />
''praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====19-073=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====19-074=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====19-075=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_massene.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "massene"]]<br />
''about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and''<br />
<br />
''massen'' - an anglicization of French 'maison' ("house.") This is a Shakespeare neologism. It is not an exact synonym for "house," rather, it means "house of the dead," like the French phrase 'maison mortuaire.' It's an English word to cast the grave as a kind of "house."<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#075|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-076=====<br />
''we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,''<br />
<br />
''trick'' - luck; good fortune. As in taking a ''trick'' at cards. Might also be read as "cleverness," but in that sense, Hamlet is facetious.<br />
<br />
''breeding'' - encompasses the bearing, rearing, and educating of an offspring. The process of raising a person.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====19-077=====<br />
''but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.''<br />
<br />
''loggets'' - a game in which wooden playing pieces are tossed at a stake. The winner is he whose playing piece lies nearest the stake. ''Loggets'' is therefore a game of lies. The best lie wins. One may keep this in mind, in advance of Hamlet's "lie" banter with the Clown Sexton, which begins at line 102.<br />
<br />
"Logget" is a diminutive of "log," and the word "log" apparently traces back to Old Norse 'lag' which meant "felled tree," thus literally a tree that lies. In a forest, most of the trees are upstanding, but some of them lie. ''Logget" being a diminutive, ''loggets'' is a game of little liers. As 'twere.<br />
<br />
There is now some disagreement among etymologists about the origin of the word "log," and the safe way out is to call it obscure, but it seems clear enough what Shakespeare thought. The "lie" concept is why Shakespeare had Hamlet speak of ''loggets'' in particular.<br />
<br />
''Loggets'' was made illegal in England by a statute in the time of Henry VIII, probably because of gambling and fighting over it.<br />
<br />
The Hamlet character, himself, only means to say it's as if the Clown Sexton is playing a game with the buried, or now unburied bones, the way he tosses them around.<br />
<br />
''Mine ache to think on it'' - a mark of how sympathetic, and empathetic, Hamlet is. He feels for others.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====19-078=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<br />
''pickaxe'' - a word to note in advance of Hamlet saying "picked" in line 116 below.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====19-079=====<br />
''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====19-080=====<br />
''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out another skull)''<br />
<br />
As before, the Clown Sexton is obviously careless, and uncaring, about which skull is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-082=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====19-083=====<br />
''Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====19-084=====<br />
''tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about''<br />
<br />
''tricks'' - legal stratagems. Sophisms. Legal technicalities, in the pejorative sense.<br />
<br />
''rude'' - ill-mannered, however, the point of this word usage may be the pun with "rood," the Christian cross. This ''rude'' knave is a "rood" knave, which makes him a "cross" knave, which he must be since he is employed by the church.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#084|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-085=====<br />
''the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action''<br />
<br />
''sconce'' - skull. For a living man the ''sconce'' would be the head, but a skull is what the Clown Sexton has dug up.<br />
<br />
''action'' - legal action, a lawsuit. Paradoxically, because of the peculiarities of legal jargon, in this instance the ''action'' is not the act.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====19-086=====<br />
''of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of''<br />
<br />
''battery'' - the offense of beating another unlawfully.<br />
<br />
''might be'' - might have been.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====19-087=====<br />
''land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====19-088=====<br />
''recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====19-089=====<br />
''to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====19-090=====<br />
''vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====19-091=====<br />
''and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====19-092=====<br />
''lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====19-093=====<br />
''no more? Ha.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====19-094=====<br />
''Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====19-095=====<br />
''Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====19-096=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====19-097=====<br />
''Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====19-098=====<br />
''that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?''<br />
<br />
''sirrah'' - was a term used to address an inferior and it indicated contempt. Based on what he's seen, Hamlet thinks the sexton is a dullard of no merit.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind Hamlet's shabby dress at this time, and his lack of grooming, after his experience with the pirates. The Clown Sexton hears himself called ''sirrah'' by a fellow who looks like the lowest ''sirrah'' in Denmark.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is misled by the "show" of Hamlet, as the sexton sees him. The thought of that fellow, the way he looks, being the Prince will never cross the sexton's mind. The sexton will probably conclude that the pitiful tramp he sees is using the term ''sirrah'' because he has heard it so often applied to himself.<br />
<br />
We have already seen, in the earlier passage with the Clown Deputy,, how the Clown Sexton is. He'd rather have a good argument than dig, any day, and particularly when he can cast his partner in conversation as a fool. The sexton thinks he sees a good opportunity for that with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Here we go, again, with the Clown Sexton, who has no clue he's bandying words with the Prince of Denmark.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====19-099=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.''<br />
<br />
That's clever in its way, but not true. The churchyard is church property, so technically, it's the church's grave, if we were speaking of who owns it.<br />
<br />
It's the Clown Sexton's to dig. That's true enough, while he's digging.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====19-100=====<br />
''(sings): Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not singing to Hamlet here, he is singing as he continues to dig. He is paying no attention to Hamlet yet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====19-101=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
''guest'' - In Christian theology, the occupants of graves are there temporarily, until Judgment Day. So, ''guest'' - a temporary occupant.<br />
<br />
''meet'' - proper; suitable. Goes back to Old English 'gemǣte' ("suitable.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====19-102=====<br />
''Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is intending to get the Clown Sexton's attention, and his "lie" line does the trick.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====19-103=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====19-104=====<br />
''do not lie in it, yet it is mine.''<br />
<br />
''mine'' - to dig. The Clown Sexton doesn't like digging, at least not nearly as much as he likes quibbling and drinking, so having to dig is much on his mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====19-105=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====19-106=====<br />
''not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====19-107=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====19-108=====<br />
''Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====19-109=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====19-110=====<br />
''Hamlet: What woman, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====19-111=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For none, neither.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====19-112=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====19-113=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====19-114=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside to Horatio): How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or''<br />
<br />
''absolute'' - Can be read a number of ways: free, as in free-tongued; loose, as in unrestrained; irrelevant; dissolute; scattered; etc.<br />
<br />
Hamlet's complaint is that the Clown Sexton is being rude by being uncommunicative. By the way, it's the same complaint R & G voiced about Hamlet in Scene 8. ([[Scene 8#014]] and 015) Hamlet doesn't realize how he looks to the Clown Sexton, as he stands there in his pirate castoffs. From the way Hamlet looks, the Clown Sexton sees no need to take him seriously.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare went back to the Latin root for his meaning with ''absolute'' in this case. Latin 'solvere' ("to loosen, dissolve; release, detach; scatter;" etc.)<br />
<br />
It is also possible to read ''absolute'' as "uncharitable" in the sense of being uncharitable when interpreting a statement. There is obvious meaning in speaking of a man of the church as uncharitable.<br />
<br />
''How absolute the knave is'' - This phrase can also be understood as Hamlet calling the Clown Sexton an "absolute knave."<br />
<br />
''card'' - perhaps a reference to the "compass card," used as part of a navigational compass. Hamlet is talking about navigating his way through what the Clown Sexton says. Otherwise, Hamlet could be using ''card'' to mean "map" or "chart" but that's the same idea. Hamlet would have seen first-hand a navigational compass while he was aboard ship.<br />
<br />
However, it appears that ''card'' was also theater jargon for an actor's speech, written down. If that's what Hamlet means, he is talking about following the script, and not trying to ad lib.<br />
<br />
It would not be surprising if Shakespeare fully intended his audience to struggle through all the possibilities for this line, trying to figure out what he meant, exactly, while he was deliberately being ambiguous. The word "equivocation" appears in the next line, and Shakespeare may have done some of that himself, deliberately, in this line. He was a bit of a scamp.<br />
<br />
(It is a curiosity that the phrase ''by the card'' is the exact English equivalent of French "a la carte." However, restaurant menus are a relatively recent development, and were not in use in Shakespeare's time. The phrasing cannot be a figurative use of the idea of choosing specific items from a menu of possibilities.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====19-115=====<br />
''equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I''<br />
<br />
''equivocation'' - quibbling. Ambiguity; uncertainty of meaning.<br />
<br />
''these three years'' - the amount of time Hamlet has known Horatio, therefore the length of time since Hamlet went away to the university, since he met Horatio there.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====19-116=====<br />
''have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the''<br />
<br />
''picked'' - socially mixed up, socially jumbled. The figure of speech is based on a pick being used for digging. Picture the social strata being like strata in the soil. When a pick is used for digging, the different soil strata are mixed up and jumbled together. Hamlet means it's as if some power has taken a pick to the social strata, mixing up the social classes and jumbling them together. The figure of speech follows from watching the Clown Sexton dig, of course. The Clown Sexton sang "pickaxe" in line 078 above.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====19-117=====<br />
''peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.''<br />
<br />
''galls'' - chafes, to produce a sore spot.<br />
<br />
''kibe'' - chillblain, on the heel in this case.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the heel of the courtier being stepped on by the peasant, figuratively speaking, meaning there is inadequate respect for the courtier from the peasant, from the point of view of Hamlet the Courtier. Earlier in the Scene, we saw the Clown Sexton and the Clown Deputy agreed in resenting the special treatment of "great ones."<br />
<br />
This Scene presents some social class resentment, from both sides. Shakespeare was perceptive enough to notice signs of social trouble on the way, it appears. The English Civil War began in 1642.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====19-118=====<br />
''(resumes): How long hast thou been gravemaker?''<br />
<br />
The question arose implicitly earlier, between Hamlet and Horatio, at line 059. Hamlet is curious how long a man would have to dig graves to become so fully accustomed to it that he could sing at his work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====19-119=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,''<br />
<br />
''the days in the year'' - It is important to understand that the Clown Sexton is referring to a calendar date.<br />
<br />
''that day'' - that date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#119|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-120=====<br />
''Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not saying King Hamlet defeated the Elder Fortinbrasse on the identical day he became sexton (and gravedigger,) he is saying those events were on the same calendar date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====19-121=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long is that since?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking how many years ago the Clown Sexton became the sexton.<br />
<br />
However, in what follows, we see the Clown Sexton takes it, or at least plays it, that Hamlet is asking how long it's been since a calendar date, as if Hamlet asked, "How long has it been since April 23?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====19-122=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====19-123=====<br />
''very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into''<br />
<br />
''day'' - date. The Clown Sexton is continuing to speak of dates. He is not saying all three events happened in the same year.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a hint about what '''date''' he means. However, Hamlet was asking about the passage of years, not about calendar dates.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====19-124=====<br />
''England.''<br />
<br />
We see it's common knowledge Claudius sent Hamlet to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====19-125=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is curious whether any inkling of the true reason is circulating. The correct answer would be, "to be executed."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====19-126=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====19-127=====<br />
''he do not, 'tis no great matter there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====19-128=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====19-129=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad''<br />
<br />
''seen'' - observed; noticed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====19-130=====<br />
''as he.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====19-131=====<br />
''Hamlet: How came he mad?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====19-132=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====19-133=====<br />
''Hamlet: How strangely?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====19-134=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====19-135=====<br />
''Hamlet: Upon what ground?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, "for what reason (did Hamlet go mad)?"<br />
<br />
''ground'' - basis; cause; reason. We would now say "grounds."<br />
<br />
The word ''ground'' is from Old English 'grund' ("bottom, foundation, ground, surface of the earth, bottom of the sea.") So, asking "upon what ground" is like asking what is at the bottom of it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====19-136=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man''<br />
[[File:Second quarto sexten.jpg|right|the Second Quarto word "Sexten"]]<br />
[[File:Folio sixteen.jpg|right|the word "sixteen" in the First Folio]]<br />
''here in Denmark'' - The Clown Sexton misunderstands Hamlet, or pretends to. He replies as if "ground" meant "land area."<br />
<br />
''Sexten'' - sexton, is the first meaning. It identifies the Clown as the church sexton, by his own statement. There is more, however. The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a word puzzle, to try to show him up as a fool. It's the same behavior the Clown Sexton exhibited with the Clown Deputy at the beginning of the Scene. In other words, it's a word puzzle from Shakespeare. I preserve the Second Quarto spelling, duly marked, because it's a special word.<br />
<br />
Observe that in the First Folio the word is spelled "sixeteene." The Folio is revealing the second meaning, which is "sixteen." The word spelled ''Sexten'' in the Second Quarto has to be read ''twice'' to get the full meaning.<br />
<br />
Combining the relevant part of this line with the next line gives:<br><br />
''I have been 'Sexten' here, man and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton's total meaning is, "I have been sixteen (years) here (as the sexton) (and alive as a) man and boy thirty years." He has intentionally phrased it to give the impression he has been sexton for thirty years, but that is wrong. Apparently whoever did the work on the First Folio ''Hamlet'' was aware of the importance of "sixteen" in this line.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#136|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-137=====<br />
''and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton means that he, himself, has been alive as a man and boy for thirty years. (Ben Jonson was 30 in 1602.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====19-138=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====19-139=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many''<br />
<br />
The Sexton missed Hamlet's "lie" remark at his expense, and took the question as a serious one.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====19-140=====<br />
''pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====19-141=====<br />
''year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====19-142=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why he more then another?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====19-143=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====19-144=====<br />
''out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====19-145=====<br />
''dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====19-146=====<br />
''Hamlet: Whose was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====19-147=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====19-148=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====19-149=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====19-150=====<br />
''Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====19-151=====<br />
''King's Jester.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====19-152=====<br />
''Hamlet: This?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====19-153=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Even that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====19-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Let me see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====19-155=====<br />
''(aside to Horatio): Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====19-156=====<br />
''jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====19-157=====<br />
''times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====19-158=====<br />
''rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====19-159=====<br />
''often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====19-160=====<br />
''of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161=====<br />
''now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161-SD=====<br />
''(drops the skull into the grave excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-162=====<br />
''to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====19-163=====<br />
''she must come; make her laugh at that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====19-164=====<br />
''Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====19-165=====<br />
''Horatio: What's that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====19-166=====<br />
''Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====19-167=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====19-168=====<br />
''Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====19-169=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====19-170=====<br />
''Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====19-171=====<br />
''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====19-172=====<br />
''a bunghole?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====19-173=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====19-174=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====19-175=====<br />
''enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====19-176=====<br />
''buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====19-177=====<br />
''make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====19-178=====<br />
''they not stop a beer-barrel?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====19-179=====<br />
''(recites): Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====19-180=====<br />
''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====19-181=====<br />
''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182=====<br />
''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#182|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse; Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners; the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)''<br />
<br />
Ophelia is borne bare-faced on the bier. That is, her body is shrouded except for the face. Ophelia, herself, told us of that burial practice in one of her songs in Scene 16 ([[Scene 16#170]].)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-183=====<br />
''But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====19-184=====<br />
''The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====19-185=====<br />
''And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,''<br />
<br />
''maimed'' - less than whole. Hamlet can see at a distance that the funeral procession does not include everything it might. BOOKMARK go into detail on this<br />
<br />
''betoken'' - signify; indicate. Goes back to Old English 'tacen' ("sign.") This is a subtle instance of the Omen Motif in the play. Hamlet uses an "omen" word, with no idea how ominous it is, for his future happiness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====19-186=====<br />
''The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====19-187=====<br />
''Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====19-188=====<br />
''Couch we a while, and mark.''<br />
<br />
''Couch'' - lie down. From Old French 'couche' ("a bed,") from 'coucher' ("to lay down.")<br />
<br />
''mark'' - watch; pay attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====19-189=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====19-190=====<br />
''Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====19-191=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
As an instance of the themes of the play, Laertes thinks there should be more of a Show.<br />
<br />
We heard Laertes's objections earlier, in Scene 16, ([[Scene 16 #213]] and ff) over what he had heard about the lack of a proper show for his father's funeral.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====19-192=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====19-193=====<br />
''As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,''<br />
<br />
''doubtful'' - in whose opinion? And why would they think so?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====19-194=====<br />
''And but that great command o'er-sways the order,''<br />
<br />
''great command'' - the King's command, following the coroner's court decision of accidental death.<br />
<br />
''o'er-sways'' - holds sway over. Overrules.<br />
<br />
''the order'' - the funeral service that the church would have followed, if left to its own devices. The word ''order'' referring to religious procedure goes back to Medieval times.<br />
<br />
There is church-state conflict; the state has overruled the church, to dictate Christian burial for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
There's nothing factual about why the cleric thinks the service should be different. The ideas of the cleric, and the Clown Sexton before him, are based on suspicion and presumption.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====19-195=====<br />
''She should in ground unsanctified been lodged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====19-196=====<br />
''Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,''<br />
<br />
''last trumpet'' - the trumpet that will sound on Judgment Day.<br />
<br />
''For'' - in place of; instead of.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====19-197=====<br />
''{Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.''<br />
<br />
''{Sharp}'' - is an editorial change, by me.<br />
<br />
The Second Quarto publication of ''Hamlet'' has no word before ''flints,'' and the First Folio has "Shardes," which would be "shards" in modern spelling. However, in a search of the Shakespeare canon, I find that Shakespeare never used the word "shards" in that way in any other of his writing.<br />
<br />
The three other uses of "shard" or a form of it are:<br />
<br />
Antony and Cleopatra [III, 2]: "They are his shards, and he their beetle."<br />
<br />
Cymbeline [III, 3]: "The sharded beetle..."<br />
<br />
Macbeth [III, 2]: "The shard-borne beetle..."<br />
<br />
In all other appearances of "shard" in the Shakespeare canon it is used to mean the elytron (wing case) of a beetle.<br />
<br />
I do not find the word "shards" credible in this speech in ''Hamlet,'' where it is apparently supposed to mean "potshards." One could contend that Shakespeare used "shards" in such a way just this once, but that is to argue that the word is right just because it's there, and I can't accept that in the face of the other usages.<br />
<br />
I think the Folio editor misread "sharp," perhaps because he was dealing with faded 20-year old manuscript. If the word were "sharp" it would be entirely credible, with no hesitation. "Sharp" goes perfectly with ''flints,'' it provides an instance for the Edge Motif, and it leaves ''flints and pebbles'' as the kind of conjunction of nouns which is a characteristic of Shakespeare's style. So, I have changed the word, against the direct evidence of the First Folio "Shardes." My only defense, for this offense, is that it is my best judgment. I do not think the Folio is right.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#197|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-198=====<br />
''Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,''<br />
<br />
''crants'' - wreaths.<br />
<br />
The word ''crants'' sounds like the last syllable in the name "Rosencrantz," a name which means "rose crown." By that, based on the sound, one can hear ''crants'' as "crown," and the line becomes, "she is allowed her virgin crown."<br />
<br />
The idea of a "virgin crown" was a powerful one in the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====19-199=====<br />
''Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====19-200=====<br />
''Of bell and burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====19-201=====<br />
''Laertes: Must there no more be done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====19-202=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====19-203=====<br />
''We should profane the service of the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====19-204=====<br />
''To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====19-205=====<br />
''As to peace-parted souls.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====19-206=====<br />
''Laertes: Lay her in the earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====19-207=====<br />
''And from her fair and unpolluted flesh''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====19-208=====<br />
[[File:Viola_odorata.jpg|right|violet]]<br />
''May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is initiating a myth here, in the classical tradition. In mythology, various persons were turned into flowers, notably Narcissus. Here, Shakespeare turns Ophelia into violets.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====19-209=====<br />
''A ministering angel shall my sister be''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====19-210=====<br />
''When thou liest howling.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====19-211=====<br />
''Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====19-212=====<br />
''Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====19-213=====<br />
''I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====19-214=====<br />
''I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====19-215=====<br />
''And not have strewed thy grave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====19-216=====<br />
''Laertes: Oh, treble woe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====19-217=====<br />
''Fall ten times double on that cursed head,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====19-218=====<br />
''Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====19-219=====<br />
''Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220=====<br />
''Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes jumps into the excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-221=====<br />
''Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====19-222=====<br />
''Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]]<br />
<br />
=====19-223=====<br />
''To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====19-224=====<br />
''Of blue Olympus.''<br />
<br />
''Blue'' because of the altitude.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====19-225=====<br />
''Hamlet: What is he whose grief''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====19-226=====<br />
''Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====19-227=====<br />
''Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====19-228=====<br />
''Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229=====<br />
''Hamlet the Dane!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-230=====<br />
''Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====19-231=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====19-232=====<br />
''From my throat.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====19-233=====<br />
''For, though I am not splenative and rash,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====19-234=====<br />
''Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====19-235=====<br />
''Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====19-236=====<br />
''Claudius: Pluck them asunder.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#236]]<br />
<br />
=====19-237=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#237]]<br />
<br />
=====19-238=====<br />
''All: Gentlemen!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#238]]<br />
<br />
=====19-239=====<br />
''Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#239]]<br />
<br />
=====19-240=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#240]]<br />
<br />
=====19-241=====<br />
''Until my eyelids will no longer wag.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#241]]<br />
<br />
=====19-242=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#242]]<br />
<br />
=====19-243=====<br />
''Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#243]]<br />
<br />
=====19-244=====<br />
''Could not, with all their quantity of love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#244]]<br />
<br />
=====19-245=====<br />
''Make up my sum.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#245]]<br />
<br />
=====19-246=====<br />
''(to Laertes): What wilt thou do for her?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#246]]<br />
<br />
=====19-247=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, he is mad, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#247]]<br />
<br />
=====19-248=====<br />
''Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#248]]<br />
<br />
=====19-249=====<br />
''Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#249]]<br />
<br />
=====19-250=====<br />
''Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#250]]<br />
<br />
=====19-251=====<br />
[[File:Paradin crocodile.jpg|right|crocodile, 1591]]<br />
''Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?''<br />
<br />
''eisel'' - vinegar.<br />
<br />
''crocodile'' - a notoriously savage creature, as known in Shakespeare's England. The idea of "crocodile tears" was also known, and there is an accusation of insincerity in Hamlet's lines to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the kind of stunts an immature young man might perform, to try to be impressive, and likewise, the kind of pledges he might make, to try to impress. "I'd climb the highest mountain for you, I'd swim the deepest river for you, I'd drink a gallon of vinegar for you, I'd eat a crocodile for you!" That sort of thing. One often does not expect the stunt to really be performed, it's the thought that counts.<br />
<br />
Ophelia is beyond being impressed by any such pronouncement.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#251]]<br />
<br />
=====19-252=====<br />
''I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#252]]<br />
<br />
=====19-253=====<br />
''To outface me with leaping in her grave?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#253]]<br />
<br />
=====19-254=====<br />
''Be buried quick with her, and so will I!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#254]]<br />
<br />
=====19-255=====<br />
''And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#255]]<br />
<br />
=====19-256=====<br />
''Millions of acres on us, till our ground,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#256]]<br />
<br />
=====19-257=====<br />
''Singeing his pate against the burning zone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#257]]<br />
<br />
=====19-258=====<br />
''Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#258]]<br />
<br />
=====19-259=====<br />
''I'll rant as well as thou.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#259]]<br />
<br />
=====19-260=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is mere madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#260]]<br />
<br />
=====19-261=====<br />
''And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#261]]<br />
<br />
=====19-262=====<br />
''Anon, as patient as the female dove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#262]]<br />
<br />
=====19-263=====<br />
''When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#263]]<br />
<br />
=====19-264=====<br />
''His silence will sit drooping.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#264]]<br />
<br />
=====19-265=====<br />
''Hamlet: Hear you, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#265]]<br />
<br />
=====19-266=====<br />
''What is the reason that you use me thus?''<br />
<br />
Since Hamlet knows his killing of Polonius was accidental, he supposes everyone knows that. However, they do not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#266]]<br />
<br />
=====19-267=====<br />
''I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#267]]<br />
<br />
=====19-268=====<br />
''Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#268]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269=====<br />
''The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.''<br />
<br />
That is, things will proceed according to their nature.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-270=====<br />
''Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.''<br />
<br />
Claudius is talking to Horatio's back, as he pretends to be, or strives to be, in control.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#270]]<br />
<br />
=====19-271=====<br />
''(to Laertes): Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#271]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272=====<br />
''We'll put the matter to the present push.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-273=====<br />
''Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.''<br />
<br />
Again, Claudius is trying to retain control, but he is talking to Gertrude's back.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#273]]<br />
<br />
=====19-274=====<br />
''This grave shall have a living monument;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#274]]<br />
<br />
=====19-275=====<br />
''An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#275]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276=====<br />
''Till then, in patience our proceeding be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit; the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_19
Scene 19
2018-02-12T03:41:28Z
<p>Administrator: /* 19-077 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
At the Graveyard, the coroner's court Deputy has already informed the Sexton of the court's decision. As the Scene begins, we find the Sexton arguing with the Deputy. The Clown Sexton asserts that Ophelia killed herself, and he questions whether she deserves Christian burial. After wasting a lot of time giving the Deputy a hard time, the Sexton begins digging. The Deputy, having done his duty for the court, leaves.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and Horatio enter. They discuss the Sexton's behavior and the grave, then Hamlet speaks to the Sexton. Hamlet and the Sexton engage in some repartee. Hamlet says the famous "poor Yorick" speech.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's funeral procession approaches. Hamlet and Horatio hide to watch, wondering whose funeral it is.<br />
<br />
Laertes argues with the Doctor of Divinity who's conducting the service and, carried away, jumps down into the grave excavation. Hamlet, having learned it's Ophelia's funeral, and outraged by Laertes's behavior, jumps into the grave excavation to confront him. They're separated after a brief scuffle.<br />
<br />
Hamlet exits, followed by Horatio. Claudius draws Laertes aside, reminds him of their fencing match scheme to kill Hamlet, and says they'll proceed with that right away.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 19 Characters are: [[Clown Sexton]], [[Clown Deputy]], [[Hamlet]], [[Horatio]], [[Laertes]], [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Gertrude]], [[Claudius]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"<br />
| Hamlet and Horatio entry [[#056-SD]], || "poor Yorick" speech [[#155]], || funeral procession entry [[#182-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
| Hamlet jumps into grave [[#229-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 19</b> [ ~ Poor Yorick ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 5 Scene 1)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
The Graveyard;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-001]]<span id="001"></span> Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is she to have a Christian burial, when she intentionally''</span><br />
[[#19-002]]<span id="002"></span> seeks her own salvation?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''seeks her own path to Heaven?''</span><br />
[[#19-003]]<span id="003"></span> Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I tell you she is, so make her grave properly. The''</span><br />
[[#19-004]]<span id="004"></span> crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''coroner has sat in judgment on her case, and his verdict is for a Christian burial.''</span><br />
[[#19-005]]<span id="005"></span> Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''</span><br />
[[#19-006]]<span id="006"></span> defense?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''defense?''</span><br />
[[#19-007]]<span id="007"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, it is adjudged so.''</span><br />
[[#19-008]]<span id="008"></span> Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It must be a legal technicality, it can't be otherwise, because, here's the''</span><br />
[[#19-009]]<span id="009"></span> point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''point: if I drown myself intentionally it's an act, and an act has''</span><br />
[[#19-010]]<span id="010"></span> three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her<br />
<span style="color:gray">''three branches, which are to act, to do, to perform, or all of those, ergo she''</span><br />
[[#19-011]]<span id="011"></span> self wittingly.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''drowned herself intentionally.''</span><br />
[[#19-012]]<span id="012"></span> Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but listen, good man digger . . .''</span><br />
[[#19-013]]<span id="013"></span> Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water, good; here stands the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me continue. Here is the water, okay, and here stands a''</span><br />
[[#19-014]]<span id="014"></span> man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man, very well, now, if the man goes to the water and drowns himself it is''</span><br />
[[#19-015]]<span id="015"></span> he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''willy-nilly he goes, be sure of that. But if the water comes to him and''</span><br />
[[#19-016]]<span id="016"></span> drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' drowns him, he doesn't drown himself, ergo, he who is not guilty of''</span><br />
[[#19-017]]<span id="017"></span> his own death, shortens not his own life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his own death, doesn't shorten his own life.''</span><br />
[[#19-018]]<span id="018"></span> Clown Deputy: But is this law?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But is this the law?''</span><br />
[[#19-019]]<span id="019"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, indeed! It's coroner's inquest law.''</span><br />
[[#19-020]]<span id="020"></span> Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you want the truth about it? Had she not been a gentlewoman''</span><br />
[[#19-021]]<span id="021"></span> she should have been buried out of Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''she would have been buried without Christian ceremony.''</span><br />
[[#19-022]]<span id="022"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, you have said it there. And more's the pity that high-status people''</span><br />
[[#19-023]]<span id="023"></span> should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''should have permission in this world to drown or hang themselves,''</span><br />
[[#19-024]]<span id="024"></span> more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient<br />
<span style="color:gray">''moreso than equally-Christian others. Hand me my spade. There are no ancestral''</span><br />
[[#19-025]]<span id="025"></span> gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''gentlemen except gardeners, ditchers, and gravediggers - they sustain''</span><br />
[[#19-026]]<span id="026"></span> up Adam's profession.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adam's profession.''</span><br />
[[#19-027]]<span id="027"></span> Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was Adam a gentleman?''</span><br />
[[#19-028]]<span id="028"></span> Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was the first to ever bear arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-029]]<span id="029"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, he had no such arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-030]]<span id="030"></span> Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What, are you a heathen? How do you understand''</span><br />
[[#19-031]]<span id="031"></span> the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the Bible? The Bible says Adam digged -''</span><br />
[[#19-032]]<span id="032"></span> could he dig without arms?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''could he dig without arms?''</span><br />
[[#19-033]]<span id="033"></span> I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll put another question to you, and if you can't answer it''</span><br />
[[#19-034]]<span id="034"></span> purpose, confess thyself.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''properly, admit that I've got you.''</span><br />
[[#19-035]]<span id="035"></span> Clown Deputy: Go to.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead.''</span><br />
[[#19-036]]<span id="036"></span> Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the man who builds stronger than either a mason, a''</span><br />
[[#19-037]]<span id="037"></span> shipwright, or the carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shipwright, or a carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-038]]<span id="038"></span> Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The gallows maker, because what he builds outlasts a thousand occupants.''</span><br />
[[#19-039]]<span id="039"></span> Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I like your cleverness well. Indeed, "the gallows" is an answer that does well -''</span><br />
[[#19-040]]<span id="040"></span> but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but how does it do well? The gallows does well to those who do ill. Now you''</span><br />
[[#19-041]]<span id="041"></span> dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, ergo,''</span><br />
[[#19-042]]<span id="042"></span> the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the gallows might do you well. Try again, come on.''</span><br />
[[#19-043]]<span id="043"></span> Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''</span><br />
[[#19-044]]<span id="044"></span> carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-045]]<span id="045"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, tell me the answer, and your job is done.''</span><br />
[[#19-046]]<span id="046"></span> Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, now I know.''</span><br />
[[#19-047]]<span id="047"></span> Clown Sexton: To it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's hear it.''</span><br />
[[#19-048]]<span id="048"></span> Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-049]]<span id="049"></span> Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't beat your brain any more about it, since a slow jackass will''</span><br />
[[#19-050]]<span id="050"></span> not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not go faster if you beat it. When you're asked this question,''</span><br />
[[#19-051]]<span id="051"></span> next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''next time, say "a gravemaker," because the "houses" he makes last until doomsday.''</span><br />
[[#19-052]]<span id="052"></span> Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor. [[#19-052-SD]]<span id="052-SD"></span> (points in the direction of the church;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, go in there, and fetch me a mug of wine.''</span> the Clown Deputy exits)<br />
[[#19-053]]<span id="053"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In my youth when I did love, did love,''</span><br />
[[#19-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought it was very sweet,''</span><br />
[[#19-055]]<span id="055"></span> To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To take the time for all I pleased,''</span><br />
[[#19-056]]<span id="056"></span> Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I thought there was nothing as fit and proper.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio enter)<br />
<br />
[[#19-057]]<span id="057"></span> Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Doesn't this fellow have any feeling for what he's doing? He's singing while''</span><br />
[[#19-058]]<span id="058"></span> grave making.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''digging a grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-059]]<span id="059"></span> Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's so used to it, it doesn't bother him.''</span><br />
[[#19-060]]<span id="060"></span> Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So it is. A hand not callused by hard work is more easily impressed.''</span><br />
[[#19-061]]<span id="061"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But age, with its stealthy steps,''</span><br />
[[#19-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''has caught me in its clutches''</span><br />
[[#19-063]]<span id="063"></span> ''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has sent me into the ground''</span><br />
[[#19-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''as if I had never been such.'' [[#19-064-SD]]<span id="064-SD"></span> (tosses out a skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as if I had never been a youth.''</span><br />
[[#19-065]]<span id="065"></span> Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That skull once had a tongue in it, and could sing. Look how the''</span><br />
[[#19-066]]<span id="066"></span> knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''knave tosses it on the ground, as if it were the jawbone of Cain, who did the''</span><br />
[[#19-067]]<span id="067"></span> first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now<br />
<span style="color:gray">''first murder. It might be the head of a politician, whom this jackass now''</span><br />
[[#19-068]]<span id="068"></span> o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''outranks - one who hoped to outwit God, might it not be?''</span><br />
[[#19-069]]<span id="069"></span> Horatio: It might, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It might be, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-070]]<span id="070"></span> Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, that of a courtier, who could say, "Good morning, sweet Lord,''</span><br />
[[#19-071]]<span id="071"></span> how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''how are you, sweet Lord?" It might be Lord So-and-so, who once''</span><br />
[[#19-072]]<span id="072"></span> praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''praised my Lord Whoever's horse when he hoped to borrow it, might it not?''</span><br />
[[#19-073]]<span id="073"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-074]]<span id="074"></span> Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so, and now it's Lady Worm's - jawless, and knocked''</span><br />
[[#19-075]]<span id="075"></span> about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''around in the grave excavation with a sexton's spade. Here's a fine turn of events, and''</span><br />
[[#19-076]]<span id="076"></span> we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''we had the luck to see it. Were these bones worth no more in bearing, rearing, and educating them,''</span><br />
[[#19-077]]<span id="077"></span> but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''than to play games with them? My bones ache as I think about it.''</span><br />
[[#19-078]]<span id="078"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''</span><br />
[[#19-079]]<span id="079"></span> ''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and also a shrouding sheet,''</span><br />
[[#19-080]]<span id="080"></span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-081]]<span id="081"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.'' [[#19-081-SD]]<span id="081-SD"></span> (tosses out another skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-082]]<span id="082"></span> Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's another one! Why, couldn't that be the skull of a lawyer?''</span><br />
[[#19-083]]<span id="083"></span> Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where are his various legal technicalities now, his cases, his terms, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-084]]<span id="084"></span> tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about<br />
<span style="color:gray">''legal tricks? Why does he tolerate that this cross knave can now knock him about''</span><br />
[[#19-085]]<span id="085"></span> the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the head with a dirty shovel, and will not inform him that he has been sued''</span><br />
[[#19-086]]<span id="086"></span> of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for battery? Hmm, this fellow might have been, in his time, a great buyer of''</span><br />
[[#19-087]]<span id="087"></span> land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land, with his statutory bonds, his personal bonds, his fines, his double vouchers, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-088]]<span id="088"></span> recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lawsuits. Is this the finality of his fines, and the attainment of his attainments -''</span><br />
[[#19-089]]<span id="089"></span> to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to have his fine head full of fine dirt, and will vouchers''</span><br />
[[#19-090]]<span id="090"></span> vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length<br />
<span style="color:gray">''vouch him no more land out of his purchases and doubles, than the length''</span><br />
[[#19-091]]<span id="091"></span> and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and width of a pair of contract indentures? All his paperwork for his''</span><br />
[[#19-092]]<span id="092"></span> lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lands would barely fit inside his grave plot, but is the only land he's''</span><br />
[[#19-093]]<span id="093"></span> no more? Ha.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ended up occupying just the size of his own grave? Ha!''</span><br />
[[#19-094]]<span id="094"></span> Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not a bit more than that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-095]]<span id="095"></span> Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Isn't parchment made of sheepskin?''</span><br />
[[#19-096]]<span id="096"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord, and of calfskin, too.''</span><br />
[[#19-097]]<span id="097"></span> Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Persons are only sheep and calves when they look for certainty in''</span><br />
[[#19-098]]<span id="098"></span> that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land deeds. I'll talk to the fellow. Whose grave is this, sirrah?''</span><br />
[[#19-099]]<span id="099"></span> Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's mine, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-100]]<span id="100"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-101]]<span id="101"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-102]]<span id="102"></span> Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I think it must be your grave, indeed, because you're lying in it.''</span><br />
[[#19-103]]<span id="103"></span> Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're lying out of it, sir, so it can't be yours. As for me, I''</span><br />
[[#19-104]]<span id="104"></span> do not lie in it, yet it is mine.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do not lie in it, but yet, it is mine.''</span><br />
[[#19-105]]<span id="105"></span> Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You do lie in it, to be in it and say it's yours - it's for the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-106]]<span id="106"></span> not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not for the living, therefore, you lie.''</span><br />
[[#19-107]]<span id="107"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a quick lie, sir, because it will quickly go again from me to you.''</span><br />
[[#19-108]]<span id="108"></span> Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What man do you dig it for?''</span><br />
[[#19-109]]<span id="109"></span> Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no man, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-110]]<span id="110"></span> Hamlet: What woman, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What woman, then?''</span><br />
[[#19-111]]<span id="111"></span> Clown Sexton: For none, neither.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no woman, either.''</span><br />
[[#19-112]]<span id="112"></span> Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who's to be buried in it?''</span><br />
[[#19-113]]<span id="113"></span> Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One who was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''</span><br />
[[#19-114]]<span id="114"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How impertinent the knave is. We must speak according to the script, or''</span><br />
[[#19-115]]<span id="115"></span> equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ambiguity will be our downfall. By Lord, Horatio, during these three years since we met, I''</span><br />
[[#19-116]]<span id="116"></span> have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''have taken notice of it: the times have become so socially jumbled, that the toe of the''</span><br />
[[#19-117]]<span id="117"></span> peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kybe.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''peasant walks so close on the heel of the courtier, he chafes his chilblain.''</span><br />
[[#19-118]]<span id="118"></span> <span style="color:gray">(resumes):</span> How long hast thou been gravemaker?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long have you been a gravemaker?''</span><br />
[[#19-119]]<span id="119"></span> Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of the dates in the year, I began this job on the date that our late King,''</span><br />
[[#19-120]]<span id="120"></span> Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, defeated Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#19-121]]<span id="121"></span> Hamlet: How long is that since?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long ago was that?''</span><br />
[[#19-122]]<span id="122"></span> Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you know? Any fool could answer that question. It was the''</span><br />
[[#19-123]]<span id="123"></span> very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into<br />
<span style="color:gray">''very same date that young Hamlet was born - he who is mad and has been sent to''</span><br />
[[#19-124]]<span id="124"></span> England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''England.''</span><br />
[[#19-125]]<span id="125"></span> Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, goodness, why was he sent to England?''</span><br />
[[#19-126]]<span id="126"></span> Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why? Because he was mad. He'll recover his wits there, or if''</span><br />
[[#19-127]]<span id="127"></span> he do not, 'tis no great matter there.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''he doesn't, it won't matter much there.''</span><br />
[[#19-128]]<span id="128"></span> Hamlet: Why?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why not?''</span><br />
[[#19-129]]<span id="129"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It won't be noticed in him there, because there, all the men are as crazy''</span><br />
[[#19-130]]<span id="130"></span> as he.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as he is.''</span><br />
[[#19-131]]<span id="131"></span> Hamlet: How came he mad?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How did he become mad?''</span><br />
[[#19-132]]<span id="132"></span> Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very strangely, they say.''</span><br />
[[#19-133]]<span id="133"></span> Hamlet: How strangely?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How strangely?''</span><br />
[[#19-134]]<span id="134"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, he went mad by losing his mind.''</span><br />
[[#19-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet: Upon what ground?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But upon what grounds?''</span><br />
[[#19-136]]<span id="136"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, here in Denmark. I have been sixteen years here, a man''</span><br />
[[#19-137]]<span id="137"></span> and boy thirty years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and boy for thirty years.''</span><br />
[[#19-138]]<span id="138"></span> Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long will a man lie in the earth before he rots?''</span><br />
[[#19-139]]<span id="139"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, if he isn't already rotten before he dies, (and we get many''</span><br />
[[#19-140]]<span id="140"></span> pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''diseased corpses now that will hardly hold together,) a body will last some eight''</span><br />
[[#19-141]]<span id="141"></span> year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''years, or nine years. A tanner will last for nine years.''</span><br />
[[#19-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet: Why he more then another?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why will his body last longer than another?''</span><br />
[[#19-143]]<span id="143"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, sir, his own hide is so tanned from his occupation, that it will keep''</span><br />
[[#19-144]]<span id="144"></span> out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson<br />
<span style="color:gray">''water out a long time, and water is a severe decayer of your bastard''</span><br />
[[#19-145]]<span id="145"></span> dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''dead body. Now, here's a skull that has lain for you in the earth for 23 years.''</span><br />
[[#19-146]]<span id="146"></span> Hamlet: Whose was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose was it?''</span><br />
[[#19-147]]<span id="147"></span> Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A bastard mad fellow's, it was! Whose do you suppose it was?''</span><br />
[[#19-148]]<span id="148"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-149]]<span id="149"></span> Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A plague on him as a mad rogue! He poured a mug of''</span><br />
[[#19-150]]<span id="150"></span> Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rhenish wine over my head once. This exact skull, sir - this same one - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''</span><br />
[[#19-151]]<span id="151"></span> King's Jester.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''King's jester.''</span><br />
[[#19-152]]<span id="152"></span> Hamlet: This?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That?''</span><br />
[[#19-153]]<span id="153"></span> Clown Sexton: Even that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exactly that.''</span><br />
[[#19-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Let me see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me see it.''</span><br />
[[#19-155]]<span id="155"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, poor Yoricke. I knew him, Horatio, he was a fellow of endless''</span><br />
[[#19-156]]<span id="156"></span> jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''jests, of most excellent whimsy. He carried me aboard his back a thousand''</span><br />
[[#19-157]]<span id="157"></span> times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''times, and now how abhorrent to my thoughts this skull is. I feel nauseous''</span><br />
[[#19-158]]<span id="158"></span> rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how<br />
<span style="color:gray">''looking at it. Here were those lips that I once kissed, I don't know how''</span><br />
[[#19-159]]<span id="159"></span> often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''often. Where is your teasing, now? Your frolicking, your songs, your bursts''</span><br />
[[#19-160]]<span id="160"></span> of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of merriment, that would make everyone at the table laugh out loud? No one,''</span><br />
[[#19-161]]<span id="161"></span> now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you [[#19-161-SD]]<span id="161-SD"></span> (drops the skull into the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''now, to ape your own grinning? - very down at the mouth. Now, go''</span> grave excavation)<br />
[[#19-162]]<span id="162"></span> to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to my lady's dressing room, and tell her: put her makeup on an inch thick, this kindness is''</span><br />
[[#19-163]]<span id="163"></span> she must come; make her laugh at that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what she must come to, and make her laugh at that.''</span><br />
[[#19-164]]<span id="164"></span> Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, Horatio, tell me one thing.''</span><br />
[[#19-165]]<span id="165"></span> Horatio: What's that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#19-166]]<span id="166"></span> Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you think, Alexander the Great, did he look this way in the earth?''</span><br />
[[#19-167]]<span id="167"></span> Horatio: Even so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so.''</span><br />
[[#19-168]]<span id="168"></span> Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And smelled like this? P. U.''</span><br />
[[#19-169]]<span id="169"></span> Horatio: Even so, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even so, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-170]]<span id="170"></span> Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To what crude uses might we return, Horatio? Why can't''</span><br />
[[#19-171]]<span id="171"></span> imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping<br />
<span style="color:gray">''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, until we find it plugging''</span><br />
[[#19-172]]<span id="172"></span> a bunghole?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a cask?''</span><br />
[[#19-173]]<span id="173"></span> Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be to contemplate too meticulously, to contemplate like that.''</span><br />
[[#19-174]]<span id="174"></span> Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, goodness, not a bit. Only, to follow him there with humility''</span><br />
[[#19-175]]<span id="175"></span> enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was<br />
<span style="color:gray">''enough, and probability to lead the way, like so: Alexander died, Alexander was''</span><br />
[[#19-176]]<span id="176"></span> buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we<br />
<span style="color:gray">''buried, Alexander returned to the dust, the dust is earth, out of earth we''</span><br />
[[#19-177]]<span id="177"></span> make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might<br />
<span style="color:gray">''make loam, so why couldn't that loam into which Alexander was converted''</span><br />
[[#19-178]]<span id="178"></span> they not stop a beer-barrel?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''be used to make a plug for a beer barrel?''</span><br />
[[#19-179]]<span id="179"></span> <span style="color:gray">(recites):</span> ''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned into clay,''</span><br />
[[#19-180]]<span id="180"></span> ''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might plug a hole to keep the draft away.''</span><br />
[[#19-181]]<span id="181"></span> ''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, that that flesh which held the world in awe''</span><br />
[[#19-182]]<span id="182"></span> ''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should patch a wall to keep out the winter's flurry.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-182-SD]]<span id="182-SD"></span> (Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse;<br />
Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners;<br />
the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#19-183]]<span id="183"></span> But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But hush, let's move quietly away, here comes the King, and''</span><br />
[[#19-184]]<span id="184"></span> The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Queen, the courtiers . . . whose body do they follow?''</span><br />
[[#19-185]]<span id="185"></span> And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And with such deficient rites? This indicates,''</span><br />
[[#19-186]]<span id="186"></span> The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The corpse they follow did, with a desperate hand,''</span><br />
[[#19-187]]<span id="187"></span> Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take its own life. It was of some high social status.''</span><br />
[[#19-188]]<span id="188"></span> Couch we a while, and mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's lie here a while and watch.''</span><br />
[[#19-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony, in addition to this?''</span><br />
[[#19-190]]<span id="190"></span> Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That is Laertes, a very noble youth, notice.''</span><br />
[[#19-191]]<span id="191"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony in addition?''</span><br />
[[#19-192]]<span id="192"></span> Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her funeral rites have been elaborated as far''</span><br />
[[#19-193]]<span id="193"></span> As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we have religious authority. Her death was suspicious,''</span><br />
[[#19-194]]<span id="194"></span> And but that great command o'er-sways the order,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And except that a royal command has overruled religious directives,''</span><br />
[[#19-195]]<span id="195"></span> She should in ground unsanctified been lodged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She would, in unblessed ground, have been housed''</span><br />
[[#19-196]]<span id="196"></span> Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until Judgment Day. Instead of charitable prayers,''</span><br />
[[#19-197]]<span id="197"></span> {Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sharp flints and pebbles would be thrown on her.''</span><br />
[[#19-198]]<span id="198"></span> Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, here she is privileged to have her virgin crown wreaths,''</span><br />
[[#19-199]]<span id="199"></span> Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her maidenly flowers, and the escort to her final place of rest''</span><br />
[[#19-200]]<span id="200"></span> Of bell and burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the church bell, and Christian burial services.''</span><br />
[[#19-201]]<span id="201"></span> Laertes: Must there no more be done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Must there be no more done than this?''</span><br />
[[#19-202]]<span id="202"></span> Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more can be done.''</span><br />
[[#19-203]]<span id="203"></span> We should profane the service of the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We would desecrate the service for the dead, itself,''</span><br />
[[#19-204]]<span id="204"></span> To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If we chanted the solemn requiem, and that kind of repose to her,''</span><br />
[[#19-205]]<span id="205"></span> As to peace-parted souls.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we do for peacefully-departed souls.''</span><br />
[[#19-206]]<span id="206"></span> Laertes: Lay her in the earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Place her body in the earth,''</span><br />
[[#19-207]]<span id="207"></span> And from her fair and unpolluted flesh<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And from her beautiful and pure remains''</span><br />
[[#19-208]]<span id="208"></span> May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May violets abound. I tell you, stingy priest,''</span><br />
[[#19-209]]<span id="209"></span> A ministering angel shall my sister be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A ministering angel is what my sister shall be''</span><br />
[[#19-210]]<span id="210"></span> When thou liest howling.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When you lie down below wailing.''</span><br />
[[#19-211]]<span id="211"></span> Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What? The lovely Ophelia?!''</span><br />
[[#19-212]]<span id="212"></span> Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#19-213]]<span id="213"></span> I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hoped you would have been my Hamlet's wife.''</span><br />
[[#19-214]]<span id="214"></span> I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought I'd be decorating your bridal bed with flowers, sweet maiden,''</span><br />
[[#19-215]]<span id="215"></span> And not have strewed thy grave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And not be scattering them on your grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-216]]<span id="216"></span> Laertes: Oh, treble woe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, may three times as much sorrow''</span><br />
[[#19-217]]<span id="217"></span> Fall ten times double on that cursed head,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fall ten times, doubly, down on that accursed head, of he''</span><br />
[[#19-218]]<span id="218"></span> Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose evil deed, your most sensible rationality''</span><br />
[[#19-219]]<span id="219"></span> Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Took from thee. Don't fill in the grave for a while,''</span><br />
[[#19-220]]<span id="220"></span> Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. [[#19-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Laertes jumps into the excavation)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until I have hugged her, once more, in my arms!''</span><br />
[[#19-221]]<span id="221"></span> Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Now pile the dirt on both the living and the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-222]]<span id="222"></span> Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until, out of this flatland, you've made a mountain''</span><br />
[[#19-223]]<span id="223"></span> To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's higher than ancient Mount Pelion, or the lofty peak''</span><br />
[[#19-224]]<span id="224"></span> Of blue Olympus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of blue Mount Olympus.''</span><br />
[[#19-225]]<span id="225"></span> Hamlet: What is he whose grief<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is he, whose grief''</span><br />
[[#19-226]]<span id="226"></span> Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Carries such an emphasis on himself, whose expression of "sorrow"''</span><br />
[[#19-227]]<span id="227"></span> Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Calls out to the wandering stars, and makes them stop''</span><br />
[[#19-228]]<span id="228"></span> Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like what they hear has wounded their ears with astonishment? It is I,''</span><br />
[[#19-229]]<span id="229"></span> Hamlet the Dane!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, the Dane!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-229-SD]]<span id="229-SD"></span> (Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)<br />
<br />
[[#19-230]]<span id="230"></span> Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Devil take your soul!''</span><br />
[[#19-231]]<span id="231"></span> Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You don't pray properly. I pray you remove your fingers''</span><br />
[[#19-232]]<span id="232"></span> From my throat.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From my throat.''</span><br />
[[#19-233]]<span id="233"></span> For, though I am not splenative and rash,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, although I am not quick to anger,''</span><br />
[[#19-234]]<span id="234"></span> Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, I do have within me something hazardous''</span><br />
[[#19-235]]<span id="235"></span> Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, if you're smart, you'll fear. Take away your hand.''</span><br />
[[#19-236]]<span id="236"></span> Claudius: Pluck them asunder.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pull them apart!''</span><br />
[[#19-237]]<span id="237"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, Hamlet!''</span><br />
[[#19-238]]<span id="238"></span> All: Gentlemen!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gentlemen!''</span><br />
[[#19-239]]<span id="239"></span> Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good my Lord, be still!''</span><br />
[[#19-240]]<span id="240"></span> Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, I will fight with him, from this motive,''</span><br />
[[#19-241]]<span id="241"></span> Until my eyelids will no longer wag.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the last twitch of my eyelids.''</span><br />
[[#19-242]]<span id="242"></span> Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, my son, what motive?''</span><br />
[[#19-243]]<span id="243"></span> Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved Ophelia. Any huge number of brothers''</span><br />
[[#19-244]]<span id="244"></span> Could not, with all their quantity of love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not, even adding together all their love,''</span><br />
[[#19-245]]<span id="245"></span> Make up my sum.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Equal my love for her.''</span><br />
[[#19-246]]<span id="246"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> What wilt thou do for her?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What will you do for her now?''</span><br />
[[#19-247]]<span id="247"></span> Claudius: Oh, he ''is'' mad, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See, he is mad, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#19-248]]<span id="248"></span> Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For God's sake, shut your mouth about my son!''</span><br />
[[#19-249]]<span id="249"></span> Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By God, show me what you'll do!''</span><br />
[[#19-250]]<span id="250"></span> Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you weep, fight, starve yourself, tear your own flesh,''</span><br />
[[#19-251]]<span id="251"></span> Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you gulp down vinegar, eat a crocodile?''</span><br />
[[#19-252]]<span id="252"></span> I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will if you do! Did you come here to whine?''</span><br />
[[#19-253]]<span id="253"></span> To outface me with leaping in her grave?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To outdo me, by leaping into her grave?''</span><br />
[[#19-254]]<span id="254"></span> Be buried quick with her, and so will I!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be buried alive with her, well so will I!''</span><br />
[[#19-255]]<span id="255"></span> And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And if you want to prate about mountains, let them throw''</span><br />
[[#19-256]]<span id="256"></span> Millions of acres on us, till our ground,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Millions of acres of land on us, until this ground,''</span><br />
[[#19-257]]<span id="257"></span> Singeing his pate against the burning zone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Singeing its top against the sphere of fire,''</span><br />
[[#19-258]]<span id="258"></span> Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Makes Mount Ossa look small as a wart! Further, if you're going to be so mouthy,''</span><br />
[[#19-259]]<span id="259"></span> I'll rant as well as thou.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll rant as well as you do!''</span><br />
[[#19-260]]<span id="260"></span> Gertrude: This is mere madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is only a tantrum,</span><br />
[[#19-261]]<span id="261"></span> And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And like that, for a while, the outburst will have its effect on him.''</span><br />
[[#19-262]]<span id="262"></span> Anon, as patient as the female dove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Wait patiently - like the female dove''</span><br />
[[#19-263]]<span id="263"></span> When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until her golden chicks are hatched -''</span><br />
[[#19-264]]<span id="264"></span> His silence will sit drooping.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then he will sit drooping in silence.''</span><br />
[[#19-265]]<span id="265"></span> Hamlet: Hear you, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You listen to me, sir -''</span><br />
[[#19-266]]<span id="266"></span> What is the reason that you use me thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you treat me like this?''</span><br />
[[#19-267]]<span id="267"></span> I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I always liked you. But it doesn't matter.''</span><br />
[[#19-268]]<span id="268"></span> Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No matter what even the most mighty person does, or wants to do,''</span><br />
[[#19-269]]<span id="269"></span> The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even a lowly cat will still meow, and a dog will have his day in the sun.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-269-SD]]<span id="269-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio exit)<br />
<br />
[[#19-270]]<span id="270"></span> Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, good Horatio, attend him.''</span><br />
[[#19-271]]<span id="271"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be more patient, by recalling what we talked about last night.''</span><br />
[[#19-272]]<span id="272"></span> We'll put the matter to the present push. [[#19-272-SD]]<span id="272-SD"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll press ahead with that subject right away.''</span><br />
[[#19-273]]<span id="273"></span> Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Gertrude, have somebody keep an eye on your son.''</span><br />
[[#19-274]]<span id="274"></span> This grave shall have a living monument;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This grave will have an enduring memorial.''</span><br />
[[#19-275]]<span id="275"></span> An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll thereby have a time of peace.''</span><br />
[[#19-276]]<span id="276"></span> Till then, in patience our proceeding be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until then, I'll proceed with patience.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-276-SD]]<span id="276-SD"></span> (Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit;<br />
the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 19<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====19-Setting=====<br />
[[File:St_olai_helsingor.jpg|left|Church of St Olai, Helsingor]]<br />
[[File:Performers_memorial.jpg|right|Performer's Memorial at St Leonard]]<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Graveyard.<br />
<br />
We are at the graveyard by the church in Elsinore Town, the same place where the Ghost led Hamlet in Scene 5.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Late morning.<br />
<br />
Indications are that Ophelia died at dawn, or shortly after. To appease Laertes, Claudius ordered the coroner to act quickly. The coroner promptly returned a verdict of accidental death, and the funeral was arranged immediately. So it is still the same day Ophelia died, and no later than the middle of the day.<br />
<br />
* <b>Weather</b> - Clear and sunny in the early morning when Ophelia was alive, but the day has now turned dark and gloomy.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====19-000-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto clowns entry.jpg|right|The Second Quarto Clowns entry]]<br />
''(a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)''<br />
<br />
In the original Second Quarto publication, the Clowns are called only that at their entry, with no further specification of who they are. Their roles are deduced from their lines in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
The first Clown, who has the speech prefix "Clown" in the original publication, is the church sexton. The second clown, who has the speech prefix "Other," is a coroner's court deputy.<br />
<br />
It is important to be aware that clowns are for amusement. Statements they make are not to be interpreted as objective declarations of fact.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-001=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully''<br />
<br />
''she'' - as events proceed, we will learn they are talking about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====19-002=====<br />
''seeks her own salvation?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====19-003=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the''<br />
<br />
''I tell thee...'' - The Clown Deputy has already told the Clown Sexton at least once, we see.<br />
<br />
''straight'' - straightaway; now (here in the churchyard.) The body of a person who committed suicide would not be allowed burial in the churchyard, in consecrated ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====19-004=====<br />
''crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
''crowner'' - coroner. The word "coroner" is from Latin 'corona' ("crown.") So the Clown Deputy is both wrong, and right, in the way he says it.<br />
<br />
This line identifies the second clown as the Clown Deputy. The character is informing the Clown Sexton of the coroner's decision, so he is therefore the coroner's court deputy assigned that duty. It is a menial task, befitting the least capable man the coroner had available.<br />
<br />
''sat on her'' - heard her case. Sat in judgment of her case. Obviously an inelegant way of expressing it.<br />
<br />
The coroner's verdict is that Ophelia's death was accidental, thus an act of God, and therefore her mortal remains are accorded the privilege of burial in a Christian manner. Queen Gertrude was certainly the primary witness at the coroner's hearing, and we heard, in Scene 18, what she had to say about it. The verdict of accidental death was clearly indicated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====19-005=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''<br />
<br />
''drowned herself'' - we'll see that the Clown Sexton tries to be logical, but he has started out begging the question, that is, with a fallacy called 'petitio principii,' a.k.a. circular reasoning. He has no factual, or rational, reason to say that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====19-006=====<br />
''defense?''<br />
<br />
''(drowned herself in her own) defense'' - is a crackpot notion. Other than offenses, and acts of defense, there are, of course, accidents.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====19-007=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy knows the coroner's court found so, because he's the one dispatched by the court to inform the Sexton. However, he is not equipped to argue the coroner's verdict. The Clown Deputy is not a man educated in the law (nor is the Clown Sexton.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====19-008=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====19-009=====<br />
''point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====19-010=====<br />
''three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her''<br />
<br />
''three branches'' - a pun on "tree branches," the actual proximate cause of Ophelia's death.<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====19-011=====<br />
''self wittingly.''<br />
<br />
''wittingly'' - can be charitably glossed as "intentionally," but it is a poor word choice by the Clown (and a masterful choice by Shakespeare.) The Clown makes it sound like he means "cleverly," as if he's praising such cleverness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====19-012=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .''<br />
<br />
''hear you'' - may remind one of "hear ye, hear ye," the formulaic utterance at court sessions. The Clown Deputy is trying a "hear ye" to get the Clown Sexton's attention.<br />
<br />
''delver'' - digger. Shakespeare did use "delve" figuratively, in ''Cymbeline'' Act 1 scene 1:<br />
<br />
First Gentleman: I cannot delve him to the root: his father <br />
Was call'd Sicilius, ...<br />
<br />
So, it is also possible to take ''delver'' figuratively as "inquirer" or "inquisitor." The Clown Deputy thinks the Clown Sexton is "digging into it" too much. Compare Horatio's remark, later in this Scene, line 173, about considering too curiously.<br />
<br />
''good man delver'' - is patronizing. Digging graves is only an occasional part of the Clown Sexton's job. We will see that the Clown Sexton doesn't like being spoken to as if he were nothing better than a menial laborer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====19-013=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water; good, here stands the''<br />
<br />
''Give me leave'' - give me permission, i.e. let me continue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====19-014=====<br />
''man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====19-015=====<br />
''he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &''<br />
<br />
''(will) he, nill he'' - means the opposite of what the Clown Sexton is trying to say. He's trying to argue intent, but "willy nilly" means haphazardly, regardless of intent. Literally, ''will he, nill he'' means "(whether) he does will, or he does not will." ''Nill'' is an archaic word from Old English 'nylle' ("not to will;" "to be unwilling.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====19-016=====<br />
''drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of''<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====19-017=====<br />
''his own death, shortens not his own life.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====19-018=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: But is this law?''<br />
<br />
A very apt question. Not only is it not law, it isn't even sanity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====19-019=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====19-020=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy has his own personal opinion about this, we see. Not surprising.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====19-021=====<br />
''she should have been buried out of Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====19-022=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====19-023=====<br />
''should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====19-024=====<br />
''more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====19-025=====<br />
''gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====19-026=====<br />
''up Adam's profession.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====19-027=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====19-028=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====19-029=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====19-030=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====19-031=====<br />
''the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;''<br />
<br />
''The Scripture says Adam digged'' - no, the Bible doesn't say that. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====19-032=====<br />
''could he dig without arms?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====19-033=====<br />
''I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====19-034=====<br />
''purpose, confess thyself.''<br />
<br />
There's a droll old saying, "confess, and be hanged." The Clown Deputy thinks of that, and it leads to his guess below.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton probably actually means, "confess you're a fool" / "confess you can be made a fool." In the dialogue, I use just the simple paraphrase, "admit I've got you," which is near the point.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====19-035=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Go to.''<br />
<br />
Go ahead / get to it / let's hear it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====19-036=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the''<br />
<br />
''mason'' - The patron saint of masons, or at least "a" patron saint of masons, is St Claudius, a point of interest in a play where "Claudius" is the King.<br />
<br />
About Saint Claudius: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-claudius/ Saint Claudius at catholicsaints.info]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====19-037=====<br />
''shipwright, or the carpenter?''<br />
<br />
''shipwright'' - The patron saint of shipwrights is Saint Peter the Apostle.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-the-apostle/ Saint Peter]<br />
<br />
''carpenters'' - The patron saint of carpenters is Saint Joseph of Nazareth.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph/ Saint Joseph of Nazareth]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====19-038=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====19-039=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====19-040=====<br />
''but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====19-041=====<br />
''dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====19-042=====<br />
''the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====19-043=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====19-044=====<br />
''carpenter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====19-045=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====19-046=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.''<br />
<br />
The Deputy apparently supposes that when the Sexton said "unyoke" he was giving a hint.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====19-047=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: To it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====19-048=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====19-049=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====19-050=====<br />
''not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====19-051=====<br />
''next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.''<br />
<br />
''gravemaker'' - The patron saint of gravediggers is St Anthony the Abbot a.k.a. the Great.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-the-abbot/ St Anthony the Abbot]<br />
<br />
Observe that the Clown Sexton calls a grave a "house." That's pertinent later. Graves house the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052=====<br />
''Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor.''<br />
<br />
''get thee in'' - The Clown Sexton waves, or points, in the general direction of the church.<br />
<br />
''stoup'' - flagon; tankard. A drinking vessel.<br />
<br />
However, the word ''stoup'' can also mean the holy water basin in a church. So, Shakespeare's choice of word provides a joke, that the Clown Sexton is telling the Clown Deputy to go to the church, dump out the holy water, and bring the basin to him filled with liquor. (We do hope the Sexton, himself, does not really mean that.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052-SD=====<br />
''(points in the direction of the church; the Clown Deputy exits)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy will not return. The Deputy's duty for the coroner's court is done, and he is not going to bring the Sexton anything.<br />
<br />
It is vital that the Clown Sexton point in the general direction of the church when he says the previous line, else the joke be lost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-053=====<br />
''(sings): In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====19-054=====<br />
''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====19-055=====<br />
''To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056=====<br />
''Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio enter)''<br />
<br />
Horatio is dressed as usual, Hamlet is not. Hamlet is coming directly from the pirate ship, and he hasn't been to his quarters in the Castle yet to clean up and change clothes. The pirates stole Hamlet's expensive, fancy clothing, we can be sure. So he'd have something to wear, the pirates gave him some ratty old clothes that none of the pirates particularly wanted. Hamlet is now in "shreds and patches."<br />
<br />
This is why, when Hamlet talks to the Clown Sexton, the Sexton will have no idea Hamlet could possibly be the Prince. The Clown will never imagine the Prince could be dressed the way Hamlet is dressed here. Hamlet is also unwashed and unkempt. The pirate ship offered no facilities for him to groom and bathe properly. Hamlet may have had a basin of seawater for washing his face, but that's about it. The "show" the Clown Sexton sees of Hamlet, when they talk, is that he's a sailor who's extremely down on his luck. The Clown Sexton has no notion of how deceptive that "show" is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-057=====<br />
''Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in''<br />
<br />
''feeling of'' - sensitivity to. It strikes Hamlet as insensitive to sing like that in connection with a death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====19-058=====<br />
''grave making.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====19-059=====<br />
''Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====19-060=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_dintier.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "dintier"]]<br />
''Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.''<br />
<br />
''dintier'' - more impressionable; more easily impressed.<br />
<br />
From 'dint' = "an impression in a surface." (Ultimately from Old English 'dynt.')<br />
<br />
Hamlet means the Clown Sexton is "not impressed" by what he's doing, although a more sensitive person would be. The callused hand feels less than the uncallused hand, is another way of saying it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====19-061=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====19-062=====<br />
''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<br />
''caught'' - is an embedded stage direction. The Clown Sexton tosses a skull in the air, and catches it. Within the lyric it means BOOKMARK, more here<br />
<br />
''clutch'' - clutches. More simply, grasp.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#062|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-063=====<br />
''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<br />
''intil'' - into.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064=====<br />
''as if I had never been such.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out a skull)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton treats skulls so cavalierly, it is impossible he could keep track of which is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-065=====<br />
''Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====19-066=====<br />
''knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the''<br />
<br />
''Cain's jawbone'' - not the jawbone of Cain, himself, but the jawbone Cain used as a weapon.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====19-067=====<br />
''first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====19-068=====<br />
''o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====19-069=====<br />
''Horatio: It might, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====19-070=====<br />
''Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====19-071=====<br />
''how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====19-072=====<br />
''praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====19-073=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====19-074=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====19-075=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_massene.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "massene"]]<br />
''about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and''<br />
<br />
''massen'' - an anglicization of French 'maison' ("house.") This is a Shakespeare neologism. It is not an exact synonym for "house," rather, it means "house of the dead," like the French phrase 'maison mortuaire.' It's an English word to cast the grave as a kind of "house."<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#075|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-076=====<br />
''we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,''<br />
<br />
''trick'' - luck; good fortune. As in taking a ''trick'' at cards. Might also be read as "cleverness," but in that sense, Hamlet is facetious.<br />
<br />
''breeding'' - encompasses the bearing, rearing, and educating of an offspring. The process of raising a person.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====19-077=====<br />
''but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.''<br />
<br />
''loggets'' - a game in which wooden playing pieces are tossed at a stake. The winner is he whose playing piece lies nearest the stake. ''Loggets'' is therefore a game of lies. The best lie wins. One may keep this in mind, in advance of Hamlet's "lie" banter with the Clown Sexton, which begins at line 102.<br />
<br />
"Logget" is a diminutive of "log," and the word "log" apparently traces back to Old Norse 'lag' which meant "felled tree," thus literally a tree that lies. In a forest, most of the trees are upstanding, but some of them lie. ''Logget" being a diminutive, ''loggets'' is a game of little liers. As 'twere.<br />
<br />
There is now some disagreement among etymologists about the origin of the word "log," and the safe way out is to call it obscure, but it seems clear enough what Shakespeare thought. The "lie" concept is why Shakespeare had Hamlet speak of ''loggets'' in particular.<br />
<br />
''Loggets'' was made illegal in England by a statute in the time of Henry VIII, probably because of gambling and fighting over it.<br />
<br />
The Hamlet character, himself, only means to say it's as if the Clown Sexton is playing a game with the buried, or now unburied bones, the way he tosses them around.<br />
<br />
''Mine ache to think on it'' - a mark of how sympathetic, and empathetic, Hamlet is. He feels for others.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====19-078=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====19-079=====<br />
''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====19-080=====<br />
''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out another skull)''<br />
<br />
As before, the Clown Sexton is obviously careless, and uncaring, about which skull is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-082=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====19-083=====<br />
''Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====19-084=====<br />
''tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about''<br />
<br />
''tricks'' - legal stratagems. Sophisms. Legal technicalities, in the pejorative sense.<br />
<br />
''rude'' - ill-mannered, however, the point of this word usage may be the pun with "rood," the Christian cross. This ''rude'' knave is a "rood" knave, which makes him a "cross" knave, which he must be since he is employed by the church.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#084|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-085=====<br />
''the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action''<br />
<br />
''sconce'' - skull. For a living man the ''sconce'' would be the head, but a skull is what the Clown Sexton has dug up.<br />
<br />
''action'' - legal action, a lawsuit. Paradoxically, because of the peculiarities of legal jargon, in this instance the ''action'' is not the act.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====19-086=====<br />
''of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of''<br />
<br />
''battery'' - the offense of beating another unlawfully.<br />
<br />
''might be'' - might have been.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====19-087=====<br />
''land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====19-088=====<br />
''recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====19-089=====<br />
''to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====19-090=====<br />
''vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====19-091=====<br />
''and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====19-092=====<br />
''lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====19-093=====<br />
''no more? Ha.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====19-094=====<br />
''Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====19-095=====<br />
''Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====19-096=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====19-097=====<br />
''Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====19-098=====<br />
''that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?''<br />
<br />
''sirrah'' - was a term used to address an inferior and it indicated contempt. Based on what he's seen, Hamlet thinks the sexton is a dullard of no merit.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind Hamlet's shabby dress at this time, and his lack of grooming, after his experience with the pirates. The Clown Sexton hears himself called ''sirrah'' by a fellow who looks like the lowest ''sirrah'' in Denmark.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is misled by the "show" of Hamlet, as the sexton sees him. The thought of that fellow, the way he looks, being the Prince will never cross the sexton's mind. The sexton will probably conclude that the pitiful tramp he sees is using the term ''sirrah'' because he has heard it so often applied to himself.<br />
<br />
We have already seen, in the earlier passage with the Clown Deputy,, how the Clown Sexton is. He'd rather have a good argument than dig, any day, and particularly when he can cast his partner in conversation as a fool. The sexton thinks he sees a good opportunity for that with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Here we go, again, with the Clown Sexton, who has no clue he's bandying words with the Prince of Denmark.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====19-099=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.''<br />
<br />
That's clever in its way, but not true. The churchyard is church property, so technically, it's the church's grave, if we were speaking of who owns it.<br />
<br />
It's the Clown Sexton's to dig. That's true enough, while he's digging.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====19-100=====<br />
''(sings): Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not singing to Hamlet here, he is singing as he continues to dig. He is paying no attention to Hamlet yet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====19-101=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
''guest'' - In Christian theology, the occupants of graves are there temporarily, until Judgment Day. So, ''guest'' - a temporary occupant.<br />
<br />
''meet'' - proper; suitable. Goes back to Old English 'gemǣte' ("suitable.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====19-102=====<br />
''Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is intending to get the Clown Sexton's attention, and his "lie" line does the trick.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====19-103=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====19-104=====<br />
''do not lie in it, yet it is mine.''<br />
<br />
''mine'' - to dig. The Clown Sexton doesn't like digging, at least not nearly as much as he likes quibbling and drinking, so having to dig is much on his mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====19-105=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====19-106=====<br />
''not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====19-107=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====19-108=====<br />
''Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====19-109=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====19-110=====<br />
''Hamlet: What woman, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====19-111=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For none, neither.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====19-112=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====19-113=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====19-114=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside to Horatio): How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or''<br />
<br />
''absolute'' - Can be read a number of ways: free, as in free-tongued; loose, as in unrestrained; irrelevant; dissolute; scattered; etc.<br />
<br />
Hamlet's complaint is that the Clown Sexton is being rude by being uncommunicative. By the way, it's the same complaint R & G voiced about Hamlet in Scene 8. ([[Scene 8#014]] and 015) Hamlet doesn't realize how he looks to the Clown Sexton, as he stands there in his pirate castoffs. From the way Hamlet looks, the Clown Sexton sees no need to take him seriously.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare went back to the Latin root for his meaning with ''absolute'' in this case. Latin 'solvere' ("to loosen, dissolve; release, detach; scatter;" etc.)<br />
<br />
It is also possible to read ''absolute'' as "uncharitable" in the sense of being uncharitable when interpreting a statement. There is obvious meaning in speaking of a man of the church as uncharitable.<br />
<br />
''How absolute the knave is'' - This phrase can also be understood as Hamlet calling the Clown Sexton an "absolute knave."<br />
<br />
''card'' - perhaps a reference to the "compass card," used as part of a navigational compass. Hamlet is talking about navigating his way through what the Clown Sexton says. Otherwise, Hamlet could be using ''card'' to mean "map" or "chart" but that's the same idea. Hamlet would have seen first-hand a navigational compass while he was aboard ship.<br />
<br />
However, it appears that ''card'' was also theater jargon for an actor's speech, written down. If that's what Hamlet means, he is talking about following the script, and not trying to ad lib.<br />
<br />
It would not be surprising if Shakespeare fully intended his audience to struggle through all the possibilities for this line, trying to figure out what he meant, exactly, while he was deliberately being ambiguous. The word "equivocation" appears in the next line, and Shakespeare may have done some of that himself, deliberately, in this line. He was a bit of a scamp.<br />
<br />
(It is a curiosity that the phrase ''by the card'' is the exact English equivalent of French "a la carte." However, restaurant menus are a relatively recent development, and were not in use in Shakespeare's time. The phrasing cannot be a figurative use of the idea of choosing specific items from a menu of possibilities.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====19-115=====<br />
''equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I''<br />
<br />
''equivocation'' - quibbling. Ambiguity; uncertainty of meaning.<br />
<br />
''these three years'' - the amount of time Hamlet has known Horatio, therefore the length of time since Hamlet went away to the university, since he met Horatio there.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====19-116=====<br />
''have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the''<br />
<br />
''picked'' - socially mixed up, socially jumbled. The figure of speech is based on a pick being used for digging. Picture the social strata being like strata in the soil. When a pick is used for digging, the different soil strata are mixed up and jumbled together. Hamlet means it's as if some power has taken a pick to the social strata, mixing up the social classes and jumbling them together. The figure of speech follows from watching the Clown Sexton dig, of course. The Clown Sexton sang "pickaxe" in line 078 above.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====19-117=====<br />
''peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.''<br />
<br />
''galls'' - chafes, to produce a sore spot.<br />
<br />
''kibe'' - chillblain, on the heel in this case.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the heel of the courtier being stepped on by the peasant, figuratively speaking, meaning there is inadequate respect for the courtier from the peasant, from the point of view of Hamlet the Courtier. Earlier in the Scene, we saw the Clown Sexton and the Clown Deputy agreed in resenting the special treatment of "great ones."<br />
<br />
This Scene presents some social class resentment, from both sides. Shakespeare was perceptive enough to notice signs of social trouble on the way, it appears. The English Civil War began in 1642.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====19-118=====<br />
''(resumes): How long hast thou been gravemaker?''<br />
<br />
The question arose implicitly earlier, between Hamlet and Horatio, at line 059. Hamlet is curious how long a man would have to dig graves to become so fully accustomed to it that he could sing at his work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====19-119=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,''<br />
<br />
''the days in the year'' - It is important to understand that the Clown Sexton is referring to a calendar date.<br />
<br />
''that day'' - that date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#119|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-120=====<br />
''Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not saying King Hamlet defeated the Elder Fortinbrasse on the identical day he became sexton (and gravedigger,) he is saying those events were on the same calendar date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====19-121=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long is that since?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking how many years ago the Clown Sexton became the sexton.<br />
<br />
However, in what follows, we see the Clown Sexton takes it, or at least plays it, that Hamlet is asking how long it's been since a calendar date, as if Hamlet asked, "How long has it been since April 23?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====19-122=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====19-123=====<br />
''very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into''<br />
<br />
''day'' - date. The Clown Sexton is continuing to speak of dates. He is not saying all three events happened in the same year.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a hint about what '''date''' he means. However, Hamlet was asking about the passage of years, not about calendar dates.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====19-124=====<br />
''England.''<br />
<br />
We see it's common knowledge Claudius sent Hamlet to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====19-125=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is curious whether any inkling of the true reason is circulating. The correct answer would be, "to be executed."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====19-126=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====19-127=====<br />
''he do not, 'tis no great matter there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====19-128=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====19-129=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad''<br />
<br />
''seen'' - observed; noticed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====19-130=====<br />
''as he.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====19-131=====<br />
''Hamlet: How came he mad?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====19-132=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====19-133=====<br />
''Hamlet: How strangely?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====19-134=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====19-135=====<br />
''Hamlet: Upon what ground?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, "for what reason (did Hamlet go mad)?"<br />
<br />
''ground'' - basis; cause; reason. We would now say "grounds."<br />
<br />
The word ''ground'' is from Old English 'grund' ("bottom, foundation, ground, surface of the earth, bottom of the sea.") So, asking "upon what ground" is like asking what is at the bottom of it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====19-136=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man''<br />
[[File:Second quarto sexten.jpg|right|the Second Quarto word "Sexten"]]<br />
[[File:Folio sixteen.jpg|right|the word "sixteen" in the First Folio]]<br />
''here in Denmark'' - The Clown Sexton misunderstands Hamlet, or pretends to. He replies as if "ground" meant "land area."<br />
<br />
''Sexten'' - sexton, is the first meaning. It identifies the Clown as the church sexton, by his own statement. There is more, however. The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a word puzzle, to try to show him up as a fool. It's the same behavior the Clown Sexton exhibited with the Clown Deputy at the beginning of the Scene. In other words, it's a word puzzle from Shakespeare. I preserve the Second Quarto spelling, duly marked, because it's a special word.<br />
<br />
Observe that in the First Folio the word is spelled "sixeteene." The Folio is revealing the second meaning, which is "sixteen." The word spelled ''Sexten'' in the Second Quarto has to be read ''twice'' to get the full meaning.<br />
<br />
Combining the relevant part of this line with the next line gives:<br><br />
''I have been 'Sexten' here, man and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton's total meaning is, "I have been sixteen (years) here (as the sexton) (and alive as a) man and boy thirty years." He has intentionally phrased it to give the impression he has been sexton for thirty years, but that is wrong. Apparently whoever did the work on the First Folio ''Hamlet'' was aware of the importance of "sixteen" in this line.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#136|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-137=====<br />
''and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton means that he, himself, has been alive as a man and boy for thirty years. (Ben Jonson was 30 in 1602.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====19-138=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====19-139=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many''<br />
<br />
The Sexton missed Hamlet's "lie" remark at his expense, and took the question as a serious one.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====19-140=====<br />
''pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====19-141=====<br />
''year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====19-142=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why he more then another?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====19-143=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====19-144=====<br />
''out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====19-145=====<br />
''dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====19-146=====<br />
''Hamlet: Whose was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====19-147=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====19-148=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====19-149=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====19-150=====<br />
''Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====19-151=====<br />
''King's Jester.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====19-152=====<br />
''Hamlet: This?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====19-153=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Even that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====19-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Let me see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====19-155=====<br />
''(aside to Horatio): Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====19-156=====<br />
''jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====19-157=====<br />
''times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====19-158=====<br />
''rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====19-159=====<br />
''often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====19-160=====<br />
''of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161=====<br />
''now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161-SD=====<br />
''(drops the skull into the grave excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-162=====<br />
''to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====19-163=====<br />
''she must come; make her laugh at that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====19-164=====<br />
''Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====19-165=====<br />
''Horatio: What's that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====19-166=====<br />
''Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====19-167=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====19-168=====<br />
''Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====19-169=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====19-170=====<br />
''Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====19-171=====<br />
''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====19-172=====<br />
''a bunghole?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====19-173=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====19-174=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====19-175=====<br />
''enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====19-176=====<br />
''buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====19-177=====<br />
''make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====19-178=====<br />
''they not stop a beer-barrel?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====19-179=====<br />
''(recites): Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====19-180=====<br />
''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====19-181=====<br />
''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182=====<br />
''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#182|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse; Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners; the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)''<br />
<br />
Ophelia is borne bare-faced on the bier. That is, her body is shrouded except for the face. Ophelia, herself, told us of that burial practice in one of her songs in Scene 16 ([[Scene 16#170]].)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-183=====<br />
''But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====19-184=====<br />
''The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====19-185=====<br />
''And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,''<br />
<br />
''maimed'' - less than whole. Hamlet can see at a distance that the funeral procession does not include everything it might. BOOKMARK go into detail on this<br />
<br />
''betoken'' - signify; indicate. Goes back to Old English 'tacen' ("sign.") This is a subtle instance of the Omen Motif in the play. Hamlet uses an "omen" word, with no idea how ominous it is, for his future happiness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====19-186=====<br />
''The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====19-187=====<br />
''Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====19-188=====<br />
''Couch we a while, and mark.''<br />
<br />
''Couch'' - lie down. From Old French 'couche' ("a bed,") from 'coucher' ("to lay down.")<br />
<br />
''mark'' - watch; pay attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====19-189=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====19-190=====<br />
''Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====19-191=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
As an instance of the themes of the play, Laertes thinks there should be more of a Show.<br />
<br />
We heard Laertes's objections earlier, in Scene 16, ([[Scene 16 #213]] and ff) over what he had heard about the lack of a proper show for his father's funeral.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====19-192=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====19-193=====<br />
''As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,''<br />
<br />
''doubtful'' - in whose opinion? And why would they think so?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====19-194=====<br />
''And but that great command o'er-sways the order,''<br />
<br />
''great command'' - the King's command, following the coroner's court decision of accidental death.<br />
<br />
''o'er-sways'' - holds sway over. Overrules.<br />
<br />
''the order'' - the funeral service that the church would have followed, if left to its own devices. The word ''order'' referring to religious procedure goes back to Medieval times.<br />
<br />
There is church-state conflict; the state has overruled the church, to dictate Christian burial for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
There's nothing factual about why the cleric thinks the service should be different. The ideas of the cleric, and the Clown Sexton before him, are based on suspicion and presumption.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====19-195=====<br />
''She should in ground unsanctified been lodged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====19-196=====<br />
''Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,''<br />
<br />
''last trumpet'' - the trumpet that will sound on Judgment Day.<br />
<br />
''For'' - in place of; instead of.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====19-197=====<br />
''{Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.''<br />
<br />
''{Sharp}'' - is an editorial change, by me.<br />
<br />
The Second Quarto publication of ''Hamlet'' has no word before ''flints,'' and the First Folio has "Shardes," which would be "shards" in modern spelling. However, in a search of the Shakespeare canon, I find that Shakespeare never used the word "shards" in that way in any other of his writing.<br />
<br />
The three other uses of "shard" or a form of it are:<br />
<br />
Antony and Cleopatra [III, 2]: "They are his shards, and he their beetle."<br />
<br />
Cymbeline [III, 3]: "The sharded beetle..."<br />
<br />
Macbeth [III, 2]: "The shard-borne beetle..."<br />
<br />
In all other appearances of "shard" in the Shakespeare canon it is used to mean the elytron (wing case) of a beetle.<br />
<br />
I do not find the word "shards" credible in this speech in ''Hamlet,'' where it is apparently supposed to mean "potshards." One could contend that Shakespeare used "shards" in such a way just this once, but that is to argue that the word is right just because it's there, and I can't accept that in the face of the other usages.<br />
<br />
I think the Folio editor misread "sharp," perhaps because he was dealing with faded 20-year old manuscript. If the word were "sharp" it would be entirely credible, with no hesitation. "Sharp" goes perfectly with ''flints,'' it provides an instance for the Edge Motif, and it leaves ''flints and pebbles'' as the kind of conjunction of nouns which is a characteristic of Shakespeare's style. So, I have changed the word, against the direct evidence of the First Folio "Shardes." My only defense, for this offense, is that it is my best judgment. I do not think the Folio is right.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#197|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-198=====<br />
''Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,''<br />
<br />
''crants'' - wreaths.<br />
<br />
The word ''crants'' sounds like the last syllable in the name "Rosencrantz," a name which means "rose crown." By that, based on the sound, one can hear ''crants'' as "crown," and the line becomes, "she is allowed her virgin crown."<br />
<br />
The idea of a "virgin crown" was a powerful one in the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====19-199=====<br />
''Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====19-200=====<br />
''Of bell and burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====19-201=====<br />
''Laertes: Must there no more be done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====19-202=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====19-203=====<br />
''We should profane the service of the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====19-204=====<br />
''To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====19-205=====<br />
''As to peace-parted souls.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====19-206=====<br />
''Laertes: Lay her in the earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====19-207=====<br />
''And from her fair and unpolluted flesh''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====19-208=====<br />
[[File:Viola_odorata.jpg|right|violet]]<br />
''May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is initiating a myth here, in the classical tradition. In mythology, various persons were turned into flowers, notably Narcissus. Here, Shakespeare turns Ophelia into violets.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====19-209=====<br />
''A ministering angel shall my sister be''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====19-210=====<br />
''When thou liest howling.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====19-211=====<br />
''Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====19-212=====<br />
''Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====19-213=====<br />
''I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====19-214=====<br />
''I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====19-215=====<br />
''And not have strewed thy grave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====19-216=====<br />
''Laertes: Oh, treble woe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====19-217=====<br />
''Fall ten times double on that cursed head,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====19-218=====<br />
''Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====19-219=====<br />
''Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220=====<br />
''Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes jumps into the excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-221=====<br />
''Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====19-222=====<br />
''Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]]<br />
<br />
=====19-223=====<br />
''To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====19-224=====<br />
''Of blue Olympus.''<br />
<br />
''Blue'' because of the altitude.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====19-225=====<br />
''Hamlet: What is he whose grief''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====19-226=====<br />
''Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====19-227=====<br />
''Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====19-228=====<br />
''Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229=====<br />
''Hamlet the Dane!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-230=====<br />
''Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====19-231=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====19-232=====<br />
''From my throat.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====19-233=====<br />
''For, though I am not splenative and rash,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====19-234=====<br />
''Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====19-235=====<br />
''Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====19-236=====<br />
''Claudius: Pluck them asunder.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#236]]<br />
<br />
=====19-237=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#237]]<br />
<br />
=====19-238=====<br />
''All: Gentlemen!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#238]]<br />
<br />
=====19-239=====<br />
''Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#239]]<br />
<br />
=====19-240=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#240]]<br />
<br />
=====19-241=====<br />
''Until my eyelids will no longer wag.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#241]]<br />
<br />
=====19-242=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#242]]<br />
<br />
=====19-243=====<br />
''Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#243]]<br />
<br />
=====19-244=====<br />
''Could not, with all their quantity of love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#244]]<br />
<br />
=====19-245=====<br />
''Make up my sum.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#245]]<br />
<br />
=====19-246=====<br />
''(to Laertes): What wilt thou do for her?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#246]]<br />
<br />
=====19-247=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, he is mad, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#247]]<br />
<br />
=====19-248=====<br />
''Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#248]]<br />
<br />
=====19-249=====<br />
''Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#249]]<br />
<br />
=====19-250=====<br />
''Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#250]]<br />
<br />
=====19-251=====<br />
[[File:Paradin crocodile.jpg|right|crocodile, 1591]]<br />
''Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?''<br />
<br />
''eisel'' - vinegar.<br />
<br />
''crocodile'' - a notoriously savage creature, as known in Shakespeare's England. The idea of "crocodile tears" was also known, and there is an accusation of insincerity in Hamlet's lines to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the kind of stunts an immature young man might perform, to try to be impressive, and likewise, the kind of pledges he might make, to try to impress. "I'd climb the highest mountain for you, I'd swim the deepest river for you, I'd drink a gallon of vinegar for you, I'd eat a crocodile for you!" That sort of thing. One often does not expect the stunt to really be performed, it's the thought that counts.<br />
<br />
Ophelia is beyond being impressed by any such pronouncement.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#251]]<br />
<br />
=====19-252=====<br />
''I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#252]]<br />
<br />
=====19-253=====<br />
''To outface me with leaping in her grave?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#253]]<br />
<br />
=====19-254=====<br />
''Be buried quick with her, and so will I!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#254]]<br />
<br />
=====19-255=====<br />
''And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#255]]<br />
<br />
=====19-256=====<br />
''Millions of acres on us, till our ground,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#256]]<br />
<br />
=====19-257=====<br />
''Singeing his pate against the burning zone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#257]]<br />
<br />
=====19-258=====<br />
''Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#258]]<br />
<br />
=====19-259=====<br />
''I'll rant as well as thou.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#259]]<br />
<br />
=====19-260=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is mere madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#260]]<br />
<br />
=====19-261=====<br />
''And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#261]]<br />
<br />
=====19-262=====<br />
''Anon, as patient as the female dove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#262]]<br />
<br />
=====19-263=====<br />
''When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#263]]<br />
<br />
=====19-264=====<br />
''His silence will sit drooping.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#264]]<br />
<br />
=====19-265=====<br />
''Hamlet: Hear you, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#265]]<br />
<br />
=====19-266=====<br />
''What is the reason that you use me thus?''<br />
<br />
Since Hamlet knows his killing of Polonius was accidental, he supposes everyone knows that. However, they do not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#266]]<br />
<br />
=====19-267=====<br />
''I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#267]]<br />
<br />
=====19-268=====<br />
''Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#268]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269=====<br />
''The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.''<br />
<br />
That is, things will proceed according to their nature.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-270=====<br />
''Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.''<br />
<br />
Claudius is talking to Horatio's back, as he pretends to be, or strives to be, in control.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#270]]<br />
<br />
=====19-271=====<br />
''(to Laertes): Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#271]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272=====<br />
''We'll put the matter to the present push.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-273=====<br />
''Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.''<br />
<br />
Again, Claudius is trying to retain control, but he is talking to Gertrude's back.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#273]]<br />
<br />
=====19-274=====<br />
''This grave shall have a living monument;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#274]]<br />
<br />
=====19-275=====<br />
''An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#275]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276=====<br />
''Till then, in patience our proceeding be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit; the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_19
Scene 19
2018-02-12T03:36:49Z
<p>Administrator: /* Dialogue */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
At the Graveyard, the coroner's court Deputy has already informed the Sexton of the court's decision. As the Scene begins, we find the Sexton arguing with the Deputy. The Clown Sexton asserts that Ophelia killed herself, and he questions whether she deserves Christian burial. After wasting a lot of time giving the Deputy a hard time, the Sexton begins digging. The Deputy, having done his duty for the court, leaves.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and Horatio enter. They discuss the Sexton's behavior and the grave, then Hamlet speaks to the Sexton. Hamlet and the Sexton engage in some repartee. Hamlet says the famous "poor Yorick" speech.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's funeral procession approaches. Hamlet and Horatio hide to watch, wondering whose funeral it is.<br />
<br />
Laertes argues with the Doctor of Divinity who's conducting the service and, carried away, jumps down into the grave excavation. Hamlet, having learned it's Ophelia's funeral, and outraged by Laertes's behavior, jumps into the grave excavation to confront him. They're separated after a brief scuffle.<br />
<br />
Hamlet exits, followed by Horatio. Claudius draws Laertes aside, reminds him of their fencing match scheme to kill Hamlet, and says they'll proceed with that right away.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 19 Characters are: [[Clown Sexton]], [[Clown Deputy]], [[Hamlet]], [[Horatio]], [[Laertes]], [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Gertrude]], [[Claudius]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"<br />
| Hamlet and Horatio entry [[#056-SD]], || "poor Yorick" speech [[#155]], || funeral procession entry [[#182-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
| Hamlet jumps into grave [[#229-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 19</b> [ ~ Poor Yorick ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 5 Scene 1)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
The Graveyard;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-001]]<span id="001"></span> Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is she to have a Christian burial, when she intentionally''</span><br />
[[#19-002]]<span id="002"></span> seeks her own salvation?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''seeks her own path to Heaven?''</span><br />
[[#19-003]]<span id="003"></span> Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I tell you she is, so make her grave properly. The''</span><br />
[[#19-004]]<span id="004"></span> crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''coroner has sat in judgment on her case, and his verdict is for a Christian burial.''</span><br />
[[#19-005]]<span id="005"></span> Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''</span><br />
[[#19-006]]<span id="006"></span> defense?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''defense?''</span><br />
[[#19-007]]<span id="007"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, it is adjudged so.''</span><br />
[[#19-008]]<span id="008"></span> Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It must be a legal technicality, it can't be otherwise, because, here's the''</span><br />
[[#19-009]]<span id="009"></span> point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''point: if I drown myself intentionally it's an act, and an act has''</span><br />
[[#19-010]]<span id="010"></span> three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her<br />
<span style="color:gray">''three branches, which are to act, to do, to perform, or all of those, ergo she''</span><br />
[[#19-011]]<span id="011"></span> self wittingly.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''drowned herself intentionally.''</span><br />
[[#19-012]]<span id="012"></span> Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but listen, good man digger . . .''</span><br />
[[#19-013]]<span id="013"></span> Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water, good; here stands the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me continue. Here is the water, okay, and here stands a''</span><br />
[[#19-014]]<span id="014"></span> man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man, very well, now, if the man goes to the water and drowns himself it is''</span><br />
[[#19-015]]<span id="015"></span> he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''willy-nilly he goes, be sure of that. But if the water comes to him and''</span><br />
[[#19-016]]<span id="016"></span> drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' drowns him, he doesn't drown himself, ergo, he who is not guilty of''</span><br />
[[#19-017]]<span id="017"></span> his own death, shortens not his own life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his own death, doesn't shorten his own life.''</span><br />
[[#19-018]]<span id="018"></span> Clown Deputy: But is this law?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But is this the law?''</span><br />
[[#19-019]]<span id="019"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, indeed! It's coroner's inquest law.''</span><br />
[[#19-020]]<span id="020"></span> Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you want the truth about it? Had she not been a gentlewoman''</span><br />
[[#19-021]]<span id="021"></span> she should have been buried out of Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''she would have been buried without Christian ceremony.''</span><br />
[[#19-022]]<span id="022"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, you have said it there. And more's the pity that high-status people''</span><br />
[[#19-023]]<span id="023"></span> should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''should have permission in this world to drown or hang themselves,''</span><br />
[[#19-024]]<span id="024"></span> more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient<br />
<span style="color:gray">''moreso than equally-Christian others. Hand me my spade. There are no ancestral''</span><br />
[[#19-025]]<span id="025"></span> gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''gentlemen except gardeners, ditchers, and gravediggers - they sustain''</span><br />
[[#19-026]]<span id="026"></span> up Adam's profession.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adam's profession.''</span><br />
[[#19-027]]<span id="027"></span> Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was Adam a gentleman?''</span><br />
[[#19-028]]<span id="028"></span> Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was the first to ever bear arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-029]]<span id="029"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, he had no such arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-030]]<span id="030"></span> Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What, are you a heathen? How do you understand''</span><br />
[[#19-031]]<span id="031"></span> the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the Bible? The Bible says Adam digged -''</span><br />
[[#19-032]]<span id="032"></span> could he dig without arms?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''could he dig without arms?''</span><br />
[[#19-033]]<span id="033"></span> I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll put another question to you, and if you can't answer it''</span><br />
[[#19-034]]<span id="034"></span> purpose, confess thyself.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''properly, admit that I've got you.''</span><br />
[[#19-035]]<span id="035"></span> Clown Deputy: Go to.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead.''</span><br />
[[#19-036]]<span id="036"></span> Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the man who builds stronger than either a mason, a''</span><br />
[[#19-037]]<span id="037"></span> shipwright, or the carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shipwright, or a carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-038]]<span id="038"></span> Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The gallows maker, because what he builds outlasts a thousand occupants.''</span><br />
[[#19-039]]<span id="039"></span> Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I like your cleverness well. Indeed, "the gallows" is an answer that does well -''</span><br />
[[#19-040]]<span id="040"></span> but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but how does it do well? The gallows does well to those who do ill. Now you''</span><br />
[[#19-041]]<span id="041"></span> dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, ergo,''</span><br />
[[#19-042]]<span id="042"></span> the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the gallows might do you well. Try again, come on.''</span><br />
[[#19-043]]<span id="043"></span> Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''</span><br />
[[#19-044]]<span id="044"></span> carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-045]]<span id="045"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, tell me the answer, and your job is done.''</span><br />
[[#19-046]]<span id="046"></span> Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, now I know.''</span><br />
[[#19-047]]<span id="047"></span> Clown Sexton: To it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's hear it.''</span><br />
[[#19-048]]<span id="048"></span> Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-049]]<span id="049"></span> Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't beat your brain any more about it, since a slow jackass will''</span><br />
[[#19-050]]<span id="050"></span> not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not go faster if you beat it. When you're asked this question,''</span><br />
[[#19-051]]<span id="051"></span> next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''next time, say "a gravemaker," because the "houses" he makes last until doomsday.''</span><br />
[[#19-052]]<span id="052"></span> Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor. [[#19-052-SD]]<span id="052-SD"></span> (points in the direction of the church;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, go in there, and fetch me a mug of wine.''</span> the Clown Deputy exits)<br />
[[#19-053]]<span id="053"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In my youth when I did love, did love,''</span><br />
[[#19-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought it was very sweet,''</span><br />
[[#19-055]]<span id="055"></span> To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To take the time for all I pleased,''</span><br />
[[#19-056]]<span id="056"></span> Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I thought there was nothing as fit and proper.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio enter)<br />
<br />
[[#19-057]]<span id="057"></span> Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Doesn't this fellow have any feeling for what he's doing? He's singing while''</span><br />
[[#19-058]]<span id="058"></span> grave making.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''digging a grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-059]]<span id="059"></span> Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's so used to it, it doesn't bother him.''</span><br />
[[#19-060]]<span id="060"></span> Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So it is. A hand not callused by hard work is more easily impressed.''</span><br />
[[#19-061]]<span id="061"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But age, with its stealthy steps,''</span><br />
[[#19-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''has caught me in its clutches''</span><br />
[[#19-063]]<span id="063"></span> ''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has sent me into the ground''</span><br />
[[#19-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''as if I had never been such.'' [[#19-064-SD]]<span id="064-SD"></span> (tosses out a skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as if I had never been a youth.''</span><br />
[[#19-065]]<span id="065"></span> Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That skull once had a tongue in it, and could sing. Look how the''</span><br />
[[#19-066]]<span id="066"></span> knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''knave tosses it on the ground, as if it were the jawbone of Cain, who did the''</span><br />
[[#19-067]]<span id="067"></span> first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now<br />
<span style="color:gray">''first murder. It might be the head of a politician, whom this jackass now''</span><br />
[[#19-068]]<span id="068"></span> o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''outranks - one who hoped to outwit God, might it not be?''</span><br />
[[#19-069]]<span id="069"></span> Horatio: It might, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It might be, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-070]]<span id="070"></span> Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, that of a courtier, who could say, "Good morning, sweet Lord,''</span><br />
[[#19-071]]<span id="071"></span> how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''how are you, sweet Lord?" It might be Lord So-and-so, who once''</span><br />
[[#19-072]]<span id="072"></span> praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''praised my Lord Whoever's horse when he hoped to borrow it, might it not?''</span><br />
[[#19-073]]<span id="073"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-074]]<span id="074"></span> Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so, and now it's Lady Worm's - jawless, and knocked''</span><br />
[[#19-075]]<span id="075"></span> about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''around in the grave excavation with a sexton's spade. Here's a fine turn of events, and''</span><br />
[[#19-076]]<span id="076"></span> we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''we had the luck to see it. Were these bones worth no more in bearing, rearing, and educating them,''</span><br />
[[#19-077]]<span id="077"></span> but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''than to play games with them? My bones ache as I think about it.''</span><br />
[[#19-078]]<span id="078"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''</span><br />
[[#19-079]]<span id="079"></span> ''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and also a shrouding sheet,''</span><br />
[[#19-080]]<span id="080"></span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-081]]<span id="081"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.'' [[#19-081-SD]]<span id="081-SD"></span> (tosses out another skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-082]]<span id="082"></span> Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's another one! Why, couldn't that be the skull of a lawyer?''</span><br />
[[#19-083]]<span id="083"></span> Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where are his various legal technicalities now, his cases, his terms, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-084]]<span id="084"></span> tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about<br />
<span style="color:gray">''legal tricks? Why does he tolerate that this cross knave can now knock him about''</span><br />
[[#19-085]]<span id="085"></span> the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the head with a dirty shovel, and will not inform him that he has been sued''</span><br />
[[#19-086]]<span id="086"></span> of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for battery? Hmm, this fellow might have been, in his time, a great buyer of''</span><br />
[[#19-087]]<span id="087"></span> land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land, with his statutory bonds, his personal bonds, his fines, his double vouchers, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-088]]<span id="088"></span> recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lawsuits. Is this the finality of his fines, and the attainment of his attainments -''</span><br />
[[#19-089]]<span id="089"></span> to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to have his fine head full of fine dirt, and will vouchers''</span><br />
[[#19-090]]<span id="090"></span> vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length<br />
<span style="color:gray">''vouch him no more land out of his purchases and doubles, than the length''</span><br />
[[#19-091]]<span id="091"></span> and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and width of a pair of contract indentures? All his paperwork for his''</span><br />
[[#19-092]]<span id="092"></span> lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lands would barely fit inside his grave plot, but is the only land he's''</span><br />
[[#19-093]]<span id="093"></span> no more? Ha.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ended up occupying just the size of his own grave? Ha!''</span><br />
[[#19-094]]<span id="094"></span> Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not a bit more than that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-095]]<span id="095"></span> Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Isn't parchment made of sheepskin?''</span><br />
[[#19-096]]<span id="096"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord, and of calfskin, too.''</span><br />
[[#19-097]]<span id="097"></span> Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Persons are only sheep and calves when they look for certainty in''</span><br />
[[#19-098]]<span id="098"></span> that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land deeds. I'll talk to the fellow. Whose grave is this, sirrah?''</span><br />
[[#19-099]]<span id="099"></span> Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's mine, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-100]]<span id="100"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-101]]<span id="101"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-102]]<span id="102"></span> Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I think it must be your grave, indeed, because you're lying in it.''</span><br />
[[#19-103]]<span id="103"></span> Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're lying out of it, sir, so it can't be yours. As for me, I''</span><br />
[[#19-104]]<span id="104"></span> do not lie in it, yet it is mine.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do not lie in it, but yet, it is mine.''</span><br />
[[#19-105]]<span id="105"></span> Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You do lie in it, to be in it and say it's yours - it's for the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-106]]<span id="106"></span> not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not for the living, therefore, you lie.''</span><br />
[[#19-107]]<span id="107"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a quick lie, sir, because it will quickly go again from me to you.''</span><br />
[[#19-108]]<span id="108"></span> Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What man do you dig it for?''</span><br />
[[#19-109]]<span id="109"></span> Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no man, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-110]]<span id="110"></span> Hamlet: What woman, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What woman, then?''</span><br />
[[#19-111]]<span id="111"></span> Clown Sexton: For none, neither.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no woman, either.''</span><br />
[[#19-112]]<span id="112"></span> Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who's to be buried in it?''</span><br />
[[#19-113]]<span id="113"></span> Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One who was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''</span><br />
[[#19-114]]<span id="114"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How impertinent the knave is. We must speak according to the script, or''</span><br />
[[#19-115]]<span id="115"></span> equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ambiguity will be our downfall. By Lord, Horatio, during these three years since we met, I''</span><br />
[[#19-116]]<span id="116"></span> have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''have taken notice of it: the times have become so socially jumbled, that the toe of the''</span><br />
[[#19-117]]<span id="117"></span> peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kybe.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''peasant walks so close on the heel of the courtier, he chafes his chilblain.''</span><br />
[[#19-118]]<span id="118"></span> <span style="color:gray">(resumes):</span> How long hast thou been gravemaker?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long have you been a gravemaker?''</span><br />
[[#19-119]]<span id="119"></span> Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of the dates in the year, I began this job on the date that our late King,''</span><br />
[[#19-120]]<span id="120"></span> Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, defeated Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#19-121]]<span id="121"></span> Hamlet: How long is that since?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long ago was that?''</span><br />
[[#19-122]]<span id="122"></span> Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you know? Any fool could answer that question. It was the''</span><br />
[[#19-123]]<span id="123"></span> very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into<br />
<span style="color:gray">''very same date that young Hamlet was born - he who is mad and has been sent to''</span><br />
[[#19-124]]<span id="124"></span> England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''England.''</span><br />
[[#19-125]]<span id="125"></span> Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, goodness, why was he sent to England?''</span><br />
[[#19-126]]<span id="126"></span> Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why? Because he was mad. He'll recover his wits there, or if''</span><br />
[[#19-127]]<span id="127"></span> he do not, 'tis no great matter there.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''he doesn't, it won't matter much there.''</span><br />
[[#19-128]]<span id="128"></span> Hamlet: Why?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why not?''</span><br />
[[#19-129]]<span id="129"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It won't be noticed in him there, because there, all the men are as crazy''</span><br />
[[#19-130]]<span id="130"></span> as he.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as he is.''</span><br />
[[#19-131]]<span id="131"></span> Hamlet: How came he mad?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How did he become mad?''</span><br />
[[#19-132]]<span id="132"></span> Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very strangely, they say.''</span><br />
[[#19-133]]<span id="133"></span> Hamlet: How strangely?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How strangely?''</span><br />
[[#19-134]]<span id="134"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, he went mad by losing his mind.''</span><br />
[[#19-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet: Upon what ground?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But upon what grounds?''</span><br />
[[#19-136]]<span id="136"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, here in Denmark. I have been sixteen years here, a man''</span><br />
[[#19-137]]<span id="137"></span> and boy thirty years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and boy for thirty years.''</span><br />
[[#19-138]]<span id="138"></span> Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long will a man lie in the earth before he rots?''</span><br />
[[#19-139]]<span id="139"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, if he isn't already rotten before he dies, (and we get many''</span><br />
[[#19-140]]<span id="140"></span> pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''diseased corpses now that will hardly hold together,) a body will last some eight''</span><br />
[[#19-141]]<span id="141"></span> year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''years, or nine years. A tanner will last for nine years.''</span><br />
[[#19-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet: Why he more then another?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why will his body last longer than another?''</span><br />
[[#19-143]]<span id="143"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, sir, his own hide is so tanned from his occupation, that it will keep''</span><br />
[[#19-144]]<span id="144"></span> out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson<br />
<span style="color:gray">''water out a long time, and water is a severe decayer of your bastard''</span><br />
[[#19-145]]<span id="145"></span> dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''dead body. Now, here's a skull that has lain for you in the earth for 23 years.''</span><br />
[[#19-146]]<span id="146"></span> Hamlet: Whose was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose was it?''</span><br />
[[#19-147]]<span id="147"></span> Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A bastard mad fellow's, it was! Whose do you suppose it was?''</span><br />
[[#19-148]]<span id="148"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-149]]<span id="149"></span> Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A plague on him as a mad rogue! He poured a mug of''</span><br />
[[#19-150]]<span id="150"></span> Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rhenish wine over my head once. This exact skull, sir - this same one - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''</span><br />
[[#19-151]]<span id="151"></span> King's Jester.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''King's jester.''</span><br />
[[#19-152]]<span id="152"></span> Hamlet: This?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That?''</span><br />
[[#19-153]]<span id="153"></span> Clown Sexton: Even that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exactly that.''</span><br />
[[#19-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Let me see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me see it.''</span><br />
[[#19-155]]<span id="155"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, poor Yoricke. I knew him, Horatio, he was a fellow of endless''</span><br />
[[#19-156]]<span id="156"></span> jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''jests, of most excellent whimsy. He carried me aboard his back a thousand''</span><br />
[[#19-157]]<span id="157"></span> times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''times, and now how abhorrent to my thoughts this skull is. I feel nauseous''</span><br />
[[#19-158]]<span id="158"></span> rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how<br />
<span style="color:gray">''looking at it. Here were those lips that I once kissed, I don't know how''</span><br />
[[#19-159]]<span id="159"></span> often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''often. Where is your teasing, now? Your frolicking, your songs, your bursts''</span><br />
[[#19-160]]<span id="160"></span> of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of merriment, that would make everyone at the table laugh out loud? No one,''</span><br />
[[#19-161]]<span id="161"></span> now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you [[#19-161-SD]]<span id="161-SD"></span> (drops the skull into the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''now, to ape your own grinning? - very down at the mouth. Now, go''</span> grave excavation)<br />
[[#19-162]]<span id="162"></span> to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to my lady's dressing room, and tell her: put her makeup on an inch thick, this kindness is''</span><br />
[[#19-163]]<span id="163"></span> she must come; make her laugh at that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what she must come to, and make her laugh at that.''</span><br />
[[#19-164]]<span id="164"></span> Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, Horatio, tell me one thing.''</span><br />
[[#19-165]]<span id="165"></span> Horatio: What's that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#19-166]]<span id="166"></span> Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you think, Alexander the Great, did he look this way in the earth?''</span><br />
[[#19-167]]<span id="167"></span> Horatio: Even so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so.''</span><br />
[[#19-168]]<span id="168"></span> Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And smelled like this? P. U.''</span><br />
[[#19-169]]<span id="169"></span> Horatio: Even so, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even so, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-170]]<span id="170"></span> Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To what crude uses might we return, Horatio? Why can't''</span><br />
[[#19-171]]<span id="171"></span> imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping<br />
<span style="color:gray">''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, until we find it plugging''</span><br />
[[#19-172]]<span id="172"></span> a bunghole?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a cask?''</span><br />
[[#19-173]]<span id="173"></span> Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be to contemplate too meticulously, to contemplate like that.''</span><br />
[[#19-174]]<span id="174"></span> Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, goodness, not a bit. Only, to follow him there with humility''</span><br />
[[#19-175]]<span id="175"></span> enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was<br />
<span style="color:gray">''enough, and probability to lead the way, like so: Alexander died, Alexander was''</span><br />
[[#19-176]]<span id="176"></span> buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we<br />
<span style="color:gray">''buried, Alexander returned to the dust, the dust is earth, out of earth we''</span><br />
[[#19-177]]<span id="177"></span> make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might<br />
<span style="color:gray">''make loam, so why couldn't that loam into which Alexander was converted''</span><br />
[[#19-178]]<span id="178"></span> they not stop a beer-barrel?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''be used to make a plug for a beer barrel?''</span><br />
[[#19-179]]<span id="179"></span> <span style="color:gray">(recites):</span> ''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned into clay,''</span><br />
[[#19-180]]<span id="180"></span> ''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might plug a hole to keep the draft away.''</span><br />
[[#19-181]]<span id="181"></span> ''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, that that flesh which held the world in awe''</span><br />
[[#19-182]]<span id="182"></span> ''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should patch a wall to keep out the winter's flurry.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-182-SD]]<span id="182-SD"></span> (Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse;<br />
Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners;<br />
the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#19-183]]<span id="183"></span> But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But hush, let's move quietly away, here comes the King, and''</span><br />
[[#19-184]]<span id="184"></span> The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Queen, the courtiers . . . whose body do they follow?''</span><br />
[[#19-185]]<span id="185"></span> And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And with such deficient rites? This indicates,''</span><br />
[[#19-186]]<span id="186"></span> The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The corpse they follow did, with a desperate hand,''</span><br />
[[#19-187]]<span id="187"></span> Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take its own life. It was of some high social status.''</span><br />
[[#19-188]]<span id="188"></span> Couch we a while, and mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's lie here a while and watch.''</span><br />
[[#19-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony, in addition to this?''</span><br />
[[#19-190]]<span id="190"></span> Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That is Laertes, a very noble youth, notice.''</span><br />
[[#19-191]]<span id="191"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony in addition?''</span><br />
[[#19-192]]<span id="192"></span> Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her funeral rites have been elaborated as far''</span><br />
[[#19-193]]<span id="193"></span> As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we have religious authority. Her death was suspicious,''</span><br />
[[#19-194]]<span id="194"></span> And but that great command o'er-sways the order,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And except that a royal command has overruled religious directives,''</span><br />
[[#19-195]]<span id="195"></span> She should in ground unsanctified been lodged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She would, in unblessed ground, have been housed''</span><br />
[[#19-196]]<span id="196"></span> Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until Judgment Day. Instead of charitable prayers,''</span><br />
[[#19-197]]<span id="197"></span> {Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sharp flints and pebbles would be thrown on her.''</span><br />
[[#19-198]]<span id="198"></span> Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, here she is privileged to have her virgin crown wreaths,''</span><br />
[[#19-199]]<span id="199"></span> Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her maidenly flowers, and the escort to her final place of rest''</span><br />
[[#19-200]]<span id="200"></span> Of bell and burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the church bell, and Christian burial services.''</span><br />
[[#19-201]]<span id="201"></span> Laertes: Must there no more be done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Must there be no more done than this?''</span><br />
[[#19-202]]<span id="202"></span> Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more can be done.''</span><br />
[[#19-203]]<span id="203"></span> We should profane the service of the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We would desecrate the service for the dead, itself,''</span><br />
[[#19-204]]<span id="204"></span> To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If we chanted the solemn requiem, and that kind of repose to her,''</span><br />
[[#19-205]]<span id="205"></span> As to peace-parted souls.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we do for peacefully-departed souls.''</span><br />
[[#19-206]]<span id="206"></span> Laertes: Lay her in the earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Place her body in the earth,''</span><br />
[[#19-207]]<span id="207"></span> And from her fair and unpolluted flesh<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And from her beautiful and pure remains''</span><br />
[[#19-208]]<span id="208"></span> May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May violets abound. I tell you, stingy priest,''</span><br />
[[#19-209]]<span id="209"></span> A ministering angel shall my sister be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A ministering angel is what my sister shall be''</span><br />
[[#19-210]]<span id="210"></span> When thou liest howling.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When you lie down below wailing.''</span><br />
[[#19-211]]<span id="211"></span> Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What? The lovely Ophelia?!''</span><br />
[[#19-212]]<span id="212"></span> Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#19-213]]<span id="213"></span> I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hoped you would have been my Hamlet's wife.''</span><br />
[[#19-214]]<span id="214"></span> I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought I'd be decorating your bridal bed with flowers, sweet maiden,''</span><br />
[[#19-215]]<span id="215"></span> And not have strewed thy grave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And not be scattering them on your grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-216]]<span id="216"></span> Laertes: Oh, treble woe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, may three times as much sorrow''</span><br />
[[#19-217]]<span id="217"></span> Fall ten times double on that cursed head,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fall ten times, doubly, down on that accursed head, of he''</span><br />
[[#19-218]]<span id="218"></span> Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose evil deed, your most sensible rationality''</span><br />
[[#19-219]]<span id="219"></span> Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Took from thee. Don't fill in the grave for a while,''</span><br />
[[#19-220]]<span id="220"></span> Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. [[#19-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Laertes jumps into the excavation)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until I have hugged her, once more, in my arms!''</span><br />
[[#19-221]]<span id="221"></span> Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Now pile the dirt on both the living and the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-222]]<span id="222"></span> Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until, out of this flatland, you've made a mountain''</span><br />
[[#19-223]]<span id="223"></span> To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's higher than ancient Mount Pelion, or the lofty peak''</span><br />
[[#19-224]]<span id="224"></span> Of blue Olympus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of blue Mount Olympus.''</span><br />
[[#19-225]]<span id="225"></span> Hamlet: What is he whose grief<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is he, whose grief''</span><br />
[[#19-226]]<span id="226"></span> Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Carries such an emphasis on himself, whose expression of "sorrow"''</span><br />
[[#19-227]]<span id="227"></span> Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Calls out to the wandering stars, and makes them stop''</span><br />
[[#19-228]]<span id="228"></span> Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like what they hear has wounded their ears with astonishment? It is I,''</span><br />
[[#19-229]]<span id="229"></span> Hamlet the Dane!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, the Dane!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-229-SD]]<span id="229-SD"></span> (Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)<br />
<br />
[[#19-230]]<span id="230"></span> Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Devil take your soul!''</span><br />
[[#19-231]]<span id="231"></span> Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You don't pray properly. I pray you remove your fingers''</span><br />
[[#19-232]]<span id="232"></span> From my throat.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From my throat.''</span><br />
[[#19-233]]<span id="233"></span> For, though I am not splenative and rash,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, although I am not quick to anger,''</span><br />
[[#19-234]]<span id="234"></span> Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, I do have within me something hazardous''</span><br />
[[#19-235]]<span id="235"></span> Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, if you're smart, you'll fear. Take away your hand.''</span><br />
[[#19-236]]<span id="236"></span> Claudius: Pluck them asunder.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pull them apart!''</span><br />
[[#19-237]]<span id="237"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, Hamlet!''</span><br />
[[#19-238]]<span id="238"></span> All: Gentlemen!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gentlemen!''</span><br />
[[#19-239]]<span id="239"></span> Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good my Lord, be still!''</span><br />
[[#19-240]]<span id="240"></span> Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, I will fight with him, from this motive,''</span><br />
[[#19-241]]<span id="241"></span> Until my eyelids will no longer wag.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the last twitch of my eyelids.''</span><br />
[[#19-242]]<span id="242"></span> Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, my son, what motive?''</span><br />
[[#19-243]]<span id="243"></span> Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved Ophelia. Any huge number of brothers''</span><br />
[[#19-244]]<span id="244"></span> Could not, with all their quantity of love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not, even adding together all their love,''</span><br />
[[#19-245]]<span id="245"></span> Make up my sum.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Equal my love for her.''</span><br />
[[#19-246]]<span id="246"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> What wilt thou do for her?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What will you do for her now?''</span><br />
[[#19-247]]<span id="247"></span> Claudius: Oh, he ''is'' mad, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See, he is mad, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#19-248]]<span id="248"></span> Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For God's sake, shut your mouth about my son!''</span><br />
[[#19-249]]<span id="249"></span> Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By God, show me what you'll do!''</span><br />
[[#19-250]]<span id="250"></span> Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you weep, fight, starve yourself, tear your own flesh,''</span><br />
[[#19-251]]<span id="251"></span> Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you gulp down vinegar, eat a crocodile?''</span><br />
[[#19-252]]<span id="252"></span> I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will if you do! Did you come here to whine?''</span><br />
[[#19-253]]<span id="253"></span> To outface me with leaping in her grave?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To outdo me, by leaping into her grave?''</span><br />
[[#19-254]]<span id="254"></span> Be buried quick with her, and so will I!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be buried alive with her, well so will I!''</span><br />
[[#19-255]]<span id="255"></span> And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And if you want to prate about mountains, let them throw''</span><br />
[[#19-256]]<span id="256"></span> Millions of acres on us, till our ground,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Millions of acres of land on us, until this ground,''</span><br />
[[#19-257]]<span id="257"></span> Singeing his pate against the burning zone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Singeing its top against the sphere of fire,''</span><br />
[[#19-258]]<span id="258"></span> Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Makes Mount Ossa look small as a wart! Further, if you're going to be so mouthy,''</span><br />
[[#19-259]]<span id="259"></span> I'll rant as well as thou.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll rant as well as you do!''</span><br />
[[#19-260]]<span id="260"></span> Gertrude: This is mere madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is only a tantrum,</span><br />
[[#19-261]]<span id="261"></span> And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And like that, for a while, the outburst will have its effect on him.''</span><br />
[[#19-262]]<span id="262"></span> Anon, as patient as the female dove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Wait patiently - like the female dove''</span><br />
[[#19-263]]<span id="263"></span> When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until her golden chicks are hatched -''</span><br />
[[#19-264]]<span id="264"></span> His silence will sit drooping.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then he will sit drooping in silence.''</span><br />
[[#19-265]]<span id="265"></span> Hamlet: Hear you, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You listen to me, sir -''</span><br />
[[#19-266]]<span id="266"></span> What is the reason that you use me thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you treat me like this?''</span><br />
[[#19-267]]<span id="267"></span> I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I always liked you. But it doesn't matter.''</span><br />
[[#19-268]]<span id="268"></span> Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No matter what even the most mighty person does, or wants to do,''</span><br />
[[#19-269]]<span id="269"></span> The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even a lowly cat will still meow, and a dog will have his day in the sun.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-269-SD]]<span id="269-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio exit)<br />
<br />
[[#19-270]]<span id="270"></span> Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, good Horatio, attend him.''</span><br />
[[#19-271]]<span id="271"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be more patient, by recalling what we talked about last night.''</span><br />
[[#19-272]]<span id="272"></span> We'll put the matter to the present push. [[#19-272-SD]]<span id="272-SD"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll press ahead with that subject right away.''</span><br />
[[#19-273]]<span id="273"></span> Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Gertrude, have somebody keep an eye on your son.''</span><br />
[[#19-274]]<span id="274"></span> This grave shall have a living monument;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This grave will have an enduring memorial.''</span><br />
[[#19-275]]<span id="275"></span> An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll thereby have a time of peace.''</span><br />
[[#19-276]]<span id="276"></span> Till then, in patience our proceeding be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until then, I'll proceed with patience.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-276-SD]]<span id="276-SD"></span> (Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit;<br />
the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 19<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====19-Setting=====<br />
[[File:St_olai_helsingor.jpg|left|Church of St Olai, Helsingor]]<br />
[[File:Performers_memorial.jpg|right|Performer's Memorial at St Leonard]]<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Graveyard.<br />
<br />
We are at the graveyard by the church in Elsinore Town, the same place where the Ghost led Hamlet in Scene 5.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Late morning.<br />
<br />
Indications are that Ophelia died at dawn, or shortly after. To appease Laertes, Claudius ordered the coroner to act quickly. The coroner promptly returned a verdict of accidental death, and the funeral was arranged immediately. So it is still the same day Ophelia died, and no later than the middle of the day.<br />
<br />
* <b>Weather</b> - Clear and sunny in the early morning when Ophelia was alive, but the day has now turned dark and gloomy.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====19-000-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto clowns entry.jpg|right|The Second Quarto Clowns entry]]<br />
''(a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)''<br />
<br />
In the original Second Quarto publication, the Clowns are called only that at their entry, with no further specification of who they are. Their roles are deduced from their lines in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
The first Clown, who has the speech prefix "Clown" in the original publication, is the church sexton. The second clown, who has the speech prefix "Other," is a coroner's court deputy.<br />
<br />
It is important to be aware that clowns are for amusement. Statements they make are not to be interpreted as objective declarations of fact.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-001=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully''<br />
<br />
''she'' - as events proceed, we will learn they are talking about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====19-002=====<br />
''seeks her own salvation?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====19-003=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the''<br />
<br />
''I tell thee...'' - The Clown Deputy has already told the Clown Sexton at least once, we see.<br />
<br />
''straight'' - straightaway; now (here in the churchyard.) The body of a person who committed suicide would not be allowed burial in the churchyard, in consecrated ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====19-004=====<br />
''crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
''crowner'' - coroner. The word "coroner" is from Latin 'corona' ("crown.") So the Clown Deputy is both wrong, and right, in the way he says it.<br />
<br />
This line identifies the second clown as the Clown Deputy. The character is informing the Clown Sexton of the coroner's decision, so he is therefore the coroner's court deputy assigned that duty. It is a menial task, befitting the least capable man the coroner had available.<br />
<br />
''sat on her'' - heard her case. Sat in judgment of her case. Obviously an inelegant way of expressing it.<br />
<br />
The coroner's verdict is that Ophelia's death was accidental, thus an act of God, and therefore her mortal remains are accorded the privilege of burial in a Christian manner. Queen Gertrude was certainly the primary witness at the coroner's hearing, and we heard, in Scene 18, what she had to say about it. The verdict of accidental death was clearly indicated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====19-005=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''<br />
<br />
''drowned herself'' - we'll see that the Clown Sexton tries to be logical, but he has started out begging the question, that is, with a fallacy called 'petitio principii,' a.k.a. circular reasoning. He has no factual, or rational, reason to say that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====19-006=====<br />
''defense?''<br />
<br />
''(drowned herself in her own) defense'' - is a crackpot notion. Other than offenses, and acts of defense, there are, of course, accidents.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====19-007=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy knows the coroner's court found so, because he's the one dispatched by the court to inform the Sexton. However, he is not equipped to argue the coroner's verdict. The Clown Deputy is not a man educated in the law (nor is the Clown Sexton.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====19-008=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====19-009=====<br />
''point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====19-010=====<br />
''three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her''<br />
<br />
''three branches'' - a pun on "tree branches," the actual proximate cause of Ophelia's death.<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====19-011=====<br />
''self wittingly.''<br />
<br />
''wittingly'' - can be charitably glossed as "intentionally," but it is a poor word choice by the Clown (and a masterful choice by Shakespeare.) The Clown makes it sound like he means "cleverly," as if he's praising such cleverness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====19-012=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .''<br />
<br />
''hear you'' - may remind one of "hear ye, hear ye," the formulaic utterance at court sessions. The Clown Deputy is trying a "hear ye" to get the Clown Sexton's attention.<br />
<br />
''delver'' - digger. Shakespeare did use "delve" figuratively, in ''Cymbeline'' Act 1 scene 1:<br />
<br />
First Gentleman: I cannot delve him to the root: his father <br />
Was call'd Sicilius, ...<br />
<br />
So, it is also possible to take ''delver'' figuratively as "inquirer" or "inquisitor." The Clown Deputy thinks the Clown Sexton is "digging into it" too much. Compare Horatio's remark, later in this Scene, line 173, about considering too curiously.<br />
<br />
''good man delver'' - is patronizing. Digging graves is only an occasional part of the Clown Sexton's job. We will see that the Clown Sexton doesn't like being spoken to as if he were nothing better than a menial laborer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====19-013=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water; good, here stands the''<br />
<br />
''Give me leave'' - give me permission, i.e. let me continue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====19-014=====<br />
''man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====19-015=====<br />
''he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &''<br />
<br />
''(will) he, nill he'' - means the opposite of what the Clown Sexton is trying to say. He's trying to argue intent, but "willy nilly" means haphazardly, regardless of intent. Literally, ''will he, nill he'' means "(whether) he does will, or he does not will." ''Nill'' is an archaic word from Old English 'nylle' ("not to will;" "to be unwilling.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====19-016=====<br />
''drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of''<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====19-017=====<br />
''his own death, shortens not his own life.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====19-018=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: But is this law?''<br />
<br />
A very apt question. Not only is it not law, it isn't even sanity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====19-019=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====19-020=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy has his own personal opinion about this, we see. Not surprising.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====19-021=====<br />
''she should have been buried out of Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====19-022=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====19-023=====<br />
''should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====19-024=====<br />
''more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====19-025=====<br />
''gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====19-026=====<br />
''up Adam's profession.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====19-027=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====19-028=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====19-029=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====19-030=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====19-031=====<br />
''the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;''<br />
<br />
''The Scripture says Adam digged'' - no, the Bible doesn't say that. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====19-032=====<br />
''could he dig without arms?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====19-033=====<br />
''I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====19-034=====<br />
''purpose, confess thyself.''<br />
<br />
There's a droll old saying, "confess, and be hanged." The Clown Deputy thinks of that, and it leads to his guess below.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton probably actually means, "confess you're a fool" / "confess you can be made a fool." In the dialogue, I use just the simple paraphrase, "admit I've got you," which is near the point.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====19-035=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Go to.''<br />
<br />
Go ahead / get to it / let's hear it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====19-036=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the''<br />
<br />
''mason'' - The patron saint of masons, or at least "a" patron saint of masons, is St Claudius, a point of interest in a play where "Claudius" is the King.<br />
<br />
About Saint Claudius: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-claudius/ Saint Claudius at catholicsaints.info]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====19-037=====<br />
''shipwright, or the carpenter?''<br />
<br />
''shipwright'' - The patron saint of shipwrights is Saint Peter the Apostle.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-the-apostle/ Saint Peter]<br />
<br />
''carpenters'' - The patron saint of carpenters is Saint Joseph of Nazareth.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph/ Saint Joseph of Nazareth]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====19-038=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====19-039=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====19-040=====<br />
''but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====19-041=====<br />
''dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====19-042=====<br />
''the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====19-043=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====19-044=====<br />
''carpenter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====19-045=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====19-046=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.''<br />
<br />
The Deputy apparently supposes that when the Sexton said "unyoke" he was giving a hint.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====19-047=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: To it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====19-048=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====19-049=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====19-050=====<br />
''not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====19-051=====<br />
''next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.''<br />
<br />
''gravemaker'' - The patron saint of gravediggers is St Anthony the Abbot a.k.a. the Great.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-the-abbot/ St Anthony the Abbot]<br />
<br />
Observe that the Clown Sexton calls a grave a "house." That's pertinent later. Graves house the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052=====<br />
''Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor.''<br />
<br />
''get thee in'' - The Clown Sexton waves, or points, in the general direction of the church.<br />
<br />
''stoup'' - flagon; tankard. A drinking vessel.<br />
<br />
However, the word ''stoup'' can also mean the holy water basin in a church. So, Shakespeare's choice of word provides a joke, that the Clown Sexton is telling the Clown Deputy to go to the church, dump out the holy water, and bring the basin to him filled with liquor. (We do hope the Sexton, himself, does not really mean that.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052-SD=====<br />
''(points in the direction of the church; the Clown Deputy exits)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy will not return. The Deputy's duty for the coroner's court is done, and he is not going to bring the Sexton anything.<br />
<br />
It is vital that the Clown Sexton point in the general direction of the church when he says the previous line, else the joke be lost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-053=====<br />
''(sings): In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====19-054=====<br />
''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====19-055=====<br />
''To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056=====<br />
''Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio enter)''<br />
<br />
Horatio is dressed as usual, Hamlet is not. Hamlet is coming directly from the pirate ship, and he hasn't been to his quarters in the Castle yet to clean up and change clothes. The pirates stole Hamlet's expensive, fancy clothing, we can be sure. So he'd have something to wear, the pirates gave him some ratty old clothes that none of the pirates particularly wanted. Hamlet is now in "shreds and patches."<br />
<br />
This is why, when Hamlet talks to the Clown Sexton, the Sexton will have no idea Hamlet could possibly be the Prince. The Clown will never imagine the Prince could be dressed the way Hamlet is dressed here. Hamlet is also unwashed and unkempt. The pirate ship offered no facilities for him to groom and bathe properly. Hamlet may have had a basin of seawater for washing his face, but that's about it. The "show" the Clown Sexton sees of Hamlet, when they talk, is that he's a sailor who's extremely down on his luck. The Clown Sexton has no notion of how deceptive that "show" is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-057=====<br />
''Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in''<br />
<br />
''feeling of'' - sensitivity to. It strikes Hamlet as insensitive to sing like that in connection with a death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====19-058=====<br />
''grave making.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====19-059=====<br />
''Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====19-060=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_dintier.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "dintier"]]<br />
''Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.''<br />
<br />
''dintier'' - more impressionable; more easily impressed.<br />
<br />
From 'dint' = "an impression in a surface." (Ultimately from Old English 'dynt.')<br />
<br />
Hamlet means the Clown Sexton is "not impressed" by what he's doing, although a more sensitive person would be. The callused hand feels less than the uncallused hand, is another way of saying it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====19-061=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====19-062=====<br />
''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<br />
''caught'' - is an embedded stage direction. The Clown Sexton tosses a skull in the air, and catches it. Within the lyric it means BOOKMARK, more here<br />
<br />
''clutch'' - clutches. More simply, grasp.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#062|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-063=====<br />
''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<br />
''intil'' - into.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064=====<br />
''as if I had never been such.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out a skull)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton treats skulls so cavalierly, it is impossible he could keep track of which is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-065=====<br />
''Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====19-066=====<br />
''knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the''<br />
<br />
''Cain's jawbone'' - not the jawbone of Cain, himself, but the jawbone Cain used as a weapon.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====19-067=====<br />
''first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====19-068=====<br />
''o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====19-069=====<br />
''Horatio: It might, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====19-070=====<br />
''Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====19-071=====<br />
''how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====19-072=====<br />
''praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====19-073=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====19-074=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====19-075=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_massene.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "massene"]]<br />
''about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and''<br />
<br />
''massen'' - an anglicization of French 'maison' ("house.") This is a Shakespeare neologism. It is not an exact synonym for "house," rather, it means "house of the dead," like the French phrase 'maison mortuaire.' It's an English word to cast the grave as a kind of "house."<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#075|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-076=====<br />
''we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,''<br />
<br />
''trick'' - luck; good fortune. As in taking a ''trick'' at cards. Might also be read as "cleverness," but in that sense, Hamlet is facetious.<br />
<br />
''breeding'' - encompasses the bearing, rearing, and educating of an offspring. The process of raising a person.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====19-077=====<br />
''but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.''<br />
<br />
''loggets'' - a game in which wooden playing pieces are tossed at a stake. The winner is he whose playing piece lies nearest the stake. ''Loggets'' is therefore a game of lies. The best lie wins. There is a pun, in advance of Hamlet's "lie" banter with the Clown Sexton, which begins at line 102.<br />
<br />
"Logget" is a diminutive of "log," and the word "log" apparently traces back to Old Norse 'lag' which meant "felled tree," thus literally a tree that lies. In a forest, most of the trees are upstanding, but some of them lie. ''Logget" being a diminutive, ''loggets'' is a game of little liers. As 'twere.<br />
<br />
There is now some disagreement among etymologists about the origin of the word "log," and the safe way out is to call it obscure, but it seems clear enough what Shakespeare thought. The "lie" concept is why Shakespeare had Hamlet speak of ''loggets'' in particular.<br />
<br />
''Loggets'' was made illegal in England by a statute in the time of Henry VIII, probably because of gambling and fighting over it.<br />
<br />
The Hamlet character, himself, only means to say it's as if the Clown Sexton is playing a game with the buried, or now unburied bones, the way he tosses them around.<br />
<br />
''Mine ache to think on it'' - a mark of how sympathetic, and empathetic, Hamlet is. He feels for others.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====19-078=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====19-079=====<br />
''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====19-080=====<br />
''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out another skull)''<br />
<br />
As before, the Clown Sexton is obviously careless, and uncaring, about which skull is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-082=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====19-083=====<br />
''Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====19-084=====<br />
''tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about''<br />
<br />
''tricks'' - legal stratagems. Sophisms. Legal technicalities, in the pejorative sense.<br />
<br />
''rude'' - ill-mannered, however, the point of this word usage may be the pun with "rood," the Christian cross. This ''rude'' knave is a "rood" knave, which makes him a "cross" knave, which he must be since he is employed by the church.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#084|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-085=====<br />
''the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action''<br />
<br />
''sconce'' - skull. For a living man the ''sconce'' would be the head, but a skull is what the Clown Sexton has dug up.<br />
<br />
''action'' - legal action, a lawsuit. Paradoxically, because of the peculiarities of legal jargon, in this instance the ''action'' is not the act.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====19-086=====<br />
''of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of''<br />
<br />
''battery'' - the offense of beating another unlawfully.<br />
<br />
''might be'' - might have been.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====19-087=====<br />
''land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====19-088=====<br />
''recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====19-089=====<br />
''to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====19-090=====<br />
''vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====19-091=====<br />
''and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====19-092=====<br />
''lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====19-093=====<br />
''no more? Ha.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====19-094=====<br />
''Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====19-095=====<br />
''Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====19-096=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====19-097=====<br />
''Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====19-098=====<br />
''that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?''<br />
<br />
''sirrah'' - was a term used to address an inferior and it indicated contempt. Based on what he's seen, Hamlet thinks the sexton is a dullard of no merit.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind Hamlet's shabby dress at this time, and his lack of grooming, after his experience with the pirates. The Clown Sexton hears himself called ''sirrah'' by a fellow who looks like the lowest ''sirrah'' in Denmark.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is misled by the "show" of Hamlet, as the sexton sees him. The thought of that fellow, the way he looks, being the Prince will never cross the sexton's mind. The sexton will probably conclude that the pitiful tramp he sees is using the term ''sirrah'' because he has heard it so often applied to himself.<br />
<br />
We have already seen, in the earlier passage with the Clown Deputy,, how the Clown Sexton is. He'd rather have a good argument than dig, any day, and particularly when he can cast his partner in conversation as a fool. The sexton thinks he sees a good opportunity for that with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Here we go, again, with the Clown Sexton, who has no clue he's bandying words with the Prince of Denmark.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====19-099=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.''<br />
<br />
That's clever in its way, but not true. The churchyard is church property, so technically, it's the church's grave, if we were speaking of who owns it.<br />
<br />
It's the Clown Sexton's to dig. That's true enough, while he's digging.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====19-100=====<br />
''(sings): Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not singing to Hamlet here, he is singing as he continues to dig. He is paying no attention to Hamlet yet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====19-101=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
''guest'' - In Christian theology, the occupants of graves are there temporarily, until Judgment Day. So, ''guest'' - a temporary occupant.<br />
<br />
''meet'' - proper; suitable. Goes back to Old English 'gemǣte' ("suitable.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====19-102=====<br />
''Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is intending to get the Clown Sexton's attention, and his "lie" line does the trick.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====19-103=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====19-104=====<br />
''do not lie in it, yet it is mine.''<br />
<br />
''mine'' - to dig. The Clown Sexton doesn't like digging, at least not nearly as much as he likes quibbling and drinking, so having to dig is much on his mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====19-105=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====19-106=====<br />
''not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====19-107=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====19-108=====<br />
''Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====19-109=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====19-110=====<br />
''Hamlet: What woman, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====19-111=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For none, neither.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====19-112=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====19-113=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====19-114=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside to Horatio): How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or''<br />
<br />
''absolute'' - Can be read a number of ways: free, as in free-tongued; loose, as in unrestrained; irrelevant; dissolute; scattered; etc.<br />
<br />
Hamlet's complaint is that the Clown Sexton is being rude by being uncommunicative. By the way, it's the same complaint R & G voiced about Hamlet in Scene 8. ([[Scene 8#014]] and 015) Hamlet doesn't realize how he looks to the Clown Sexton, as he stands there in his pirate castoffs. From the way Hamlet looks, the Clown Sexton sees no need to take him seriously.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare went back to the Latin root for his meaning with ''absolute'' in this case. Latin 'solvere' ("to loosen, dissolve; release, detach; scatter;" etc.)<br />
<br />
It is also possible to read ''absolute'' as "uncharitable" in the sense of being uncharitable when interpreting a statement. There is obvious meaning in speaking of a man of the church as uncharitable.<br />
<br />
''How absolute the knave is'' - This phrase can also be understood as Hamlet calling the Clown Sexton an "absolute knave."<br />
<br />
''card'' - perhaps a reference to the "compass card," used as part of a navigational compass. Hamlet is talking about navigating his way through what the Clown Sexton says. Otherwise, Hamlet could be using ''card'' to mean "map" or "chart" but that's the same idea. Hamlet would have seen first-hand a navigational compass while he was aboard ship.<br />
<br />
However, it appears that ''card'' was also theater jargon for an actor's speech, written down. If that's what Hamlet means, he is talking about following the script, and not trying to ad lib.<br />
<br />
It would not be surprising if Shakespeare fully intended his audience to struggle through all the possibilities for this line, trying to figure out what he meant, exactly, while he was deliberately being ambiguous. The word "equivocation" appears in the next line, and Shakespeare may have done some of that himself, deliberately, in this line. He was a bit of a scamp.<br />
<br />
(It is a curiosity that the phrase ''by the card'' is the exact English equivalent of French "a la carte." However, restaurant menus are a relatively recent development, and were not in use in Shakespeare's time. The phrasing cannot be a figurative use of the idea of choosing specific items from a menu of possibilities.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====19-115=====<br />
''equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I''<br />
<br />
''equivocation'' - quibbling. Ambiguity; uncertainty of meaning.<br />
<br />
''these three years'' - the amount of time Hamlet has known Horatio, therefore the length of time since Hamlet went away to the university, since he met Horatio there.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====19-116=====<br />
''have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the''<br />
<br />
''picked'' - socially mixed up, socially jumbled. The figure of speech is based on a pick being used for digging. Picture the social strata being like strata in the soil. When a pick is used for digging, the different soil strata are mixed up and jumbled together. Hamlet means it's as if some power has taken a pick to the social strata, mixing up the social classes and jumbling them together. The figure of speech follows from watching the Clown Sexton dig, of course. The Clown Sexton sang "pickaxe" in line 078 above.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====19-117=====<br />
''peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.''<br />
<br />
''galls'' - chafes, to produce a sore spot.<br />
<br />
''kibe'' - chillblain, on the heel in this case.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the heel of the courtier being stepped on by the peasant, figuratively speaking, meaning there is inadequate respect for the courtier from the peasant, from the point of view of Hamlet the Courtier. Earlier in the Scene, we saw the Clown Sexton and the Clown Deputy agreed in resenting the special treatment of "great ones."<br />
<br />
This Scene presents some social class resentment, from both sides. Shakespeare was perceptive enough to notice signs of social trouble on the way, it appears. The English Civil War began in 1642.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====19-118=====<br />
''(resumes): How long hast thou been gravemaker?''<br />
<br />
The question arose implicitly earlier, between Hamlet and Horatio, at line 059. Hamlet is curious how long a man would have to dig graves to become so fully accustomed to it that he could sing at his work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====19-119=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,''<br />
<br />
''the days in the year'' - It is important to understand that the Clown Sexton is referring to a calendar date.<br />
<br />
''that day'' - that date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#119|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-120=====<br />
''Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not saying King Hamlet defeated the Elder Fortinbrasse on the identical day he became sexton (and gravedigger,) he is saying those events were on the same calendar date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====19-121=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long is that since?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking how many years ago the Clown Sexton became the sexton.<br />
<br />
However, in what follows, we see the Clown Sexton takes it, or at least plays it, that Hamlet is asking how long it's been since a calendar date, as if Hamlet asked, "How long has it been since April 23?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====19-122=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====19-123=====<br />
''very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into''<br />
<br />
''day'' - date. The Clown Sexton is continuing to speak of dates. He is not saying all three events happened in the same year.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a hint about what '''date''' he means. However, Hamlet was asking about the passage of years, not about calendar dates.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====19-124=====<br />
''England.''<br />
<br />
We see it's common knowledge Claudius sent Hamlet to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====19-125=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is curious whether any inkling of the true reason is circulating. The correct answer would be, "to be executed."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====19-126=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====19-127=====<br />
''he do not, 'tis no great matter there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====19-128=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====19-129=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad''<br />
<br />
''seen'' - observed; noticed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====19-130=====<br />
''as he.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====19-131=====<br />
''Hamlet: How came he mad?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====19-132=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====19-133=====<br />
''Hamlet: How strangely?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====19-134=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====19-135=====<br />
''Hamlet: Upon what ground?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, "for what reason (did Hamlet go mad)?"<br />
<br />
''ground'' - basis; cause; reason. We would now say "grounds."<br />
<br />
The word ''ground'' is from Old English 'grund' ("bottom, foundation, ground, surface of the earth, bottom of the sea.") So, asking "upon what ground" is like asking what is at the bottom of it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====19-136=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man''<br />
[[File:Second quarto sexten.jpg|right|the Second Quarto word "Sexten"]]<br />
[[File:Folio sixteen.jpg|right|the word "sixteen" in the First Folio]]<br />
''here in Denmark'' - The Clown Sexton misunderstands Hamlet, or pretends to. He replies as if "ground" meant "land area."<br />
<br />
''Sexten'' - sexton, is the first meaning. It identifies the Clown as the church sexton, by his own statement. There is more, however. The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a word puzzle, to try to show him up as a fool. It's the same behavior the Clown Sexton exhibited with the Clown Deputy at the beginning of the Scene. In other words, it's a word puzzle from Shakespeare. I preserve the Second Quarto spelling, duly marked, because it's a special word.<br />
<br />
Observe that in the First Folio the word is spelled "sixeteene." The Folio is revealing the second meaning, which is "sixteen." The word spelled ''Sexten'' in the Second Quarto has to be read ''twice'' to get the full meaning.<br />
<br />
Combining the relevant part of this line with the next line gives:<br><br />
''I have been 'Sexten' here, man and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton's total meaning is, "I have been sixteen (years) here (as the sexton) (and alive as a) man and boy thirty years." He has intentionally phrased it to give the impression he has been sexton for thirty years, but that is wrong. Apparently whoever did the work on the First Folio ''Hamlet'' was aware of the importance of "sixteen" in this line.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#136|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-137=====<br />
''and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton means that he, himself, has been alive as a man and boy for thirty years. (Ben Jonson was 30 in 1602.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====19-138=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====19-139=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many''<br />
<br />
The Sexton missed Hamlet's "lie" remark at his expense, and took the question as a serious one.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====19-140=====<br />
''pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====19-141=====<br />
''year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====19-142=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why he more then another?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====19-143=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====19-144=====<br />
''out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====19-145=====<br />
''dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====19-146=====<br />
''Hamlet: Whose was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====19-147=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====19-148=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====19-149=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====19-150=====<br />
''Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====19-151=====<br />
''King's Jester.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====19-152=====<br />
''Hamlet: This?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====19-153=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Even that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====19-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Let me see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====19-155=====<br />
''(aside to Horatio): Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====19-156=====<br />
''jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====19-157=====<br />
''times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====19-158=====<br />
''rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====19-159=====<br />
''often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====19-160=====<br />
''of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161=====<br />
''now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161-SD=====<br />
''(drops the skull into the grave excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-162=====<br />
''to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====19-163=====<br />
''she must come; make her laugh at that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====19-164=====<br />
''Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====19-165=====<br />
''Horatio: What's that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====19-166=====<br />
''Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====19-167=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====19-168=====<br />
''Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====19-169=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====19-170=====<br />
''Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====19-171=====<br />
''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====19-172=====<br />
''a bunghole?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====19-173=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====19-174=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====19-175=====<br />
''enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====19-176=====<br />
''buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====19-177=====<br />
''make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====19-178=====<br />
''they not stop a beer-barrel?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====19-179=====<br />
''(recites): Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====19-180=====<br />
''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====19-181=====<br />
''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182=====<br />
''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#182|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse; Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners; the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)''<br />
<br />
Ophelia is borne bare-faced on the bier. That is, her body is shrouded except for the face. Ophelia, herself, told us of that burial practice in one of her songs in Scene 16 ([[Scene 16#170]].)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-183=====<br />
''But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====19-184=====<br />
''The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====19-185=====<br />
''And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,''<br />
<br />
''maimed'' - less than whole. Hamlet can see at a distance that the funeral procession does not include everything it might. BOOKMARK go into detail on this<br />
<br />
''betoken'' - signify; indicate. Goes back to Old English 'tacen' ("sign.") This is a subtle instance of the Omen Motif in the play. Hamlet uses an "omen" word, with no idea how ominous it is, for his future happiness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====19-186=====<br />
''The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====19-187=====<br />
''Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====19-188=====<br />
''Couch we a while, and mark.''<br />
<br />
''Couch'' - lie down. From Old French 'couche' ("a bed,") from 'coucher' ("to lay down.")<br />
<br />
''mark'' - watch; pay attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====19-189=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====19-190=====<br />
''Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====19-191=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
As an instance of the themes of the play, Laertes thinks there should be more of a Show.<br />
<br />
We heard Laertes's objections earlier, in Scene 16, ([[Scene 16 #213]] and ff) over what he had heard about the lack of a proper show for his father's funeral.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====19-192=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====19-193=====<br />
''As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,''<br />
<br />
''doubtful'' - in whose opinion? And why would they think so?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====19-194=====<br />
''And but that great command o'er-sways the order,''<br />
<br />
''great command'' - the King's command, following the coroner's court decision of accidental death.<br />
<br />
''o'er-sways'' - holds sway over. Overrules.<br />
<br />
''the order'' - the funeral service that the church would have followed, if left to its own devices. The word ''order'' referring to religious procedure goes back to Medieval times.<br />
<br />
There is church-state conflict; the state has overruled the church, to dictate Christian burial for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
There's nothing factual about why the cleric thinks the service should be different. The ideas of the cleric, and the Clown Sexton before him, are based on suspicion and presumption.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====19-195=====<br />
''She should in ground unsanctified been lodged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====19-196=====<br />
''Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,''<br />
<br />
''last trumpet'' - the trumpet that will sound on Judgment Day.<br />
<br />
''For'' - in place of; instead of.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====19-197=====<br />
''{Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.''<br />
<br />
''{Sharp}'' - is an editorial change, by me.<br />
<br />
The Second Quarto publication of ''Hamlet'' has no word before ''flints,'' and the First Folio has "Shardes," which would be "shards" in modern spelling. However, in a search of the Shakespeare canon, I find that Shakespeare never used the word "shards" in that way in any other of his writing.<br />
<br />
The three other uses of "shard" or a form of it are:<br />
<br />
Antony and Cleopatra [III, 2]: "They are his shards, and he their beetle."<br />
<br />
Cymbeline [III, 3]: "The sharded beetle..."<br />
<br />
Macbeth [III, 2]: "The shard-borne beetle..."<br />
<br />
In all other appearances of "shard" in the Shakespeare canon it is used to mean the elytron (wing case) of a beetle.<br />
<br />
I do not find the word "shards" credible in this speech in ''Hamlet,'' where it is apparently supposed to mean "potshards." One could contend that Shakespeare used "shards" in such a way just this once, but that is to argue that the word is right just because it's there, and I can't accept that in the face of the other usages.<br />
<br />
I think the Folio editor misread "sharp," perhaps because he was dealing with faded 20-year old manuscript. If the word were "sharp" it would be entirely credible, with no hesitation. "Sharp" goes perfectly with ''flints,'' it provides an instance for the Edge Motif, and it leaves ''flints and pebbles'' as the kind of conjunction of nouns which is a characteristic of Shakespeare's style. So, I have changed the word, against the direct evidence of the First Folio "Shardes." My only defense, for this offense, is that it is my best judgment. I do not think the Folio is right.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#197|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-198=====<br />
''Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,''<br />
<br />
''crants'' - wreaths.<br />
<br />
The word ''crants'' sounds like the last syllable in the name "Rosencrantz," a name which means "rose crown." By that, based on the sound, one can hear ''crants'' as "crown," and the line becomes, "she is allowed her virgin crown."<br />
<br />
The idea of a "virgin crown" was a powerful one in the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====19-199=====<br />
''Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====19-200=====<br />
''Of bell and burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====19-201=====<br />
''Laertes: Must there no more be done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====19-202=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====19-203=====<br />
''We should profane the service of the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====19-204=====<br />
''To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====19-205=====<br />
''As to peace-parted souls.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====19-206=====<br />
''Laertes: Lay her in the earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====19-207=====<br />
''And from her fair and unpolluted flesh''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====19-208=====<br />
[[File:Viola_odorata.jpg|right|violet]]<br />
''May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is initiating a myth here, in the classical tradition. In mythology, various persons were turned into flowers, notably Narcissus. Here, Shakespeare turns Ophelia into violets.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====19-209=====<br />
''A ministering angel shall my sister be''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====19-210=====<br />
''When thou liest howling.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====19-211=====<br />
''Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====19-212=====<br />
''Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====19-213=====<br />
''I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====19-214=====<br />
''I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====19-215=====<br />
''And not have strewed thy grave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====19-216=====<br />
''Laertes: Oh, treble woe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====19-217=====<br />
''Fall ten times double on that cursed head,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====19-218=====<br />
''Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====19-219=====<br />
''Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220=====<br />
''Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes jumps into the excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-221=====<br />
''Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====19-222=====<br />
''Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]]<br />
<br />
=====19-223=====<br />
''To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====19-224=====<br />
''Of blue Olympus.''<br />
<br />
''Blue'' because of the altitude.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====19-225=====<br />
''Hamlet: What is he whose grief''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====19-226=====<br />
''Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====19-227=====<br />
''Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====19-228=====<br />
''Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229=====<br />
''Hamlet the Dane!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-230=====<br />
''Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====19-231=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====19-232=====<br />
''From my throat.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====19-233=====<br />
''For, though I am not splenative and rash,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====19-234=====<br />
''Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====19-235=====<br />
''Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====19-236=====<br />
''Claudius: Pluck them asunder.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#236]]<br />
<br />
=====19-237=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#237]]<br />
<br />
=====19-238=====<br />
''All: Gentlemen!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#238]]<br />
<br />
=====19-239=====<br />
''Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#239]]<br />
<br />
=====19-240=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#240]]<br />
<br />
=====19-241=====<br />
''Until my eyelids will no longer wag.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#241]]<br />
<br />
=====19-242=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#242]]<br />
<br />
=====19-243=====<br />
''Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#243]]<br />
<br />
=====19-244=====<br />
''Could not, with all their quantity of love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#244]]<br />
<br />
=====19-245=====<br />
''Make up my sum.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#245]]<br />
<br />
=====19-246=====<br />
''(to Laertes): What wilt thou do for her?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#246]]<br />
<br />
=====19-247=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, he is mad, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#247]]<br />
<br />
=====19-248=====<br />
''Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#248]]<br />
<br />
=====19-249=====<br />
''Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#249]]<br />
<br />
=====19-250=====<br />
''Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#250]]<br />
<br />
=====19-251=====<br />
[[File:Paradin crocodile.jpg|right|crocodile, 1591]]<br />
''Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?''<br />
<br />
''eisel'' - vinegar.<br />
<br />
''crocodile'' - a notoriously savage creature, as known in Shakespeare's England. The idea of "crocodile tears" was also known, and there is an accusation of insincerity in Hamlet's lines to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the kind of stunts an immature young man might perform, to try to be impressive, and likewise, the kind of pledges he might make, to try to impress. "I'd climb the highest mountain for you, I'd swim the deepest river for you, I'd drink a gallon of vinegar for you, I'd eat a crocodile for you!" That sort of thing. One often does not expect the stunt to really be performed, it's the thought that counts.<br />
<br />
Ophelia is beyond being impressed by any such pronouncement.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#251]]<br />
<br />
=====19-252=====<br />
''I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#252]]<br />
<br />
=====19-253=====<br />
''To outface me with leaping in her grave?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#253]]<br />
<br />
=====19-254=====<br />
''Be buried quick with her, and so will I!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#254]]<br />
<br />
=====19-255=====<br />
''And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#255]]<br />
<br />
=====19-256=====<br />
''Millions of acres on us, till our ground,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#256]]<br />
<br />
=====19-257=====<br />
''Singeing his pate against the burning zone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#257]]<br />
<br />
=====19-258=====<br />
''Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#258]]<br />
<br />
=====19-259=====<br />
''I'll rant as well as thou.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#259]]<br />
<br />
=====19-260=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is mere madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#260]]<br />
<br />
=====19-261=====<br />
''And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#261]]<br />
<br />
=====19-262=====<br />
''Anon, as patient as the female dove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#262]]<br />
<br />
=====19-263=====<br />
''When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#263]]<br />
<br />
=====19-264=====<br />
''His silence will sit drooping.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#264]]<br />
<br />
=====19-265=====<br />
''Hamlet: Hear you, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#265]]<br />
<br />
=====19-266=====<br />
''What is the reason that you use me thus?''<br />
<br />
Since Hamlet knows his killing of Polonius was accidental, he supposes everyone knows that. However, they do not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#266]]<br />
<br />
=====19-267=====<br />
''I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#267]]<br />
<br />
=====19-268=====<br />
''Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#268]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269=====<br />
''The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.''<br />
<br />
That is, things will proceed according to their nature.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-270=====<br />
''Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.''<br />
<br />
Claudius is talking to Horatio's back, as he pretends to be, or strives to be, in control.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#270]]<br />
<br />
=====19-271=====<br />
''(to Laertes): Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#271]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272=====<br />
''We'll put the matter to the present push.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-273=====<br />
''Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.''<br />
<br />
Again, Claudius is trying to retain control, but he is talking to Gertrude's back.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#273]]<br />
<br />
=====19-274=====<br />
''This grave shall have a living monument;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#274]]<br />
<br />
=====19-275=====<br />
''An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#275]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276=====<br />
''Till then, in patience our proceeding be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit; the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_19
Scene 19
2018-02-12T03:33:03Z
<p>Administrator: /* Dialogue */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
At the Graveyard, the coroner's court Deputy has already informed the Sexton of the court's decision. As the Scene begins, we find the Sexton arguing with the Deputy. The Clown Sexton asserts that Ophelia killed herself, and he questions whether she deserves Christian burial. After wasting a lot of time giving the Deputy a hard time, the Sexton begins digging. The Deputy, having done his duty for the court, leaves.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and Horatio enter. They discuss the Sexton's behavior and the grave, then Hamlet speaks to the Sexton. Hamlet and the Sexton engage in some repartee. Hamlet says the famous "poor Yorick" speech.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's funeral procession approaches. Hamlet and Horatio hide to watch, wondering whose funeral it is.<br />
<br />
Laertes argues with the Doctor of Divinity who's conducting the service and, carried away, jumps down into the grave excavation. Hamlet, having learned it's Ophelia's funeral, and outraged by Laertes's behavior, jumps into the grave excavation to confront him. They're separated after a brief scuffle.<br />
<br />
Hamlet exits, followed by Horatio. Claudius draws Laertes aside, reminds him of their fencing match scheme to kill Hamlet, and says they'll proceed with that right away.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 19 Characters are: [[Clown Sexton]], [[Clown Deputy]], [[Hamlet]], [[Horatio]], [[Laertes]], [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Gertrude]], [[Claudius]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"<br />
| Hamlet and Horatio entry [[#056-SD]], || "poor Yorick" speech [[#155]], || funeral procession entry [[#182-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
| Hamlet jumps into grave [[#229-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 19</b> [ ~ Poor Yorick ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 5 Scene 1)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
The Graveyard;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-001]]<span id="001"></span> Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is she to have a Christian burial, when she intentionally''</span><br />
[[#19-002]]<span id="002"></span> seeks her own salvation?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''seeks her own path to Heaven?''</span><br />
[[#19-003]]<span id="003"></span> Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I tell you she is, so make her grave properly. The''</span><br />
[[#19-004]]<span id="004"></span> crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''coroner has sat in judgment on her case, and his verdict is for a Christian burial.''</span><br />
[[#19-005]]<span id="005"></span> Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''</span><br />
[[#19-006]]<span id="006"></span> defense?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''defense?''</span><br />
[[#19-007]]<span id="007"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, it is adjudged so.''</span><br />
[[#19-008]]<span id="008"></span> Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It must be a legal technicality, it can't be otherwise, because, here's the''</span><br />
[[#19-009]]<span id="009"></span> point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''point: if I drown myself intentionally it's an act, and an act has''</span><br />
[[#19-010]]<span id="010"></span> three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her<br />
<span style="color:gray">''three branches, which are to act, to do, to perform, or all of those, ergo she''</span><br />
[[#19-011]]<span id="011"></span> self wittingly.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''drowned herself intentionally.''</span><br />
[[#19-012]]<span id="012"></span> Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but listen, good man digger . . .''</span><br />
[[#19-013]]<span id="013"></span> Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water, good; here stands the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me continue. Here is the water, okay, and here stands a''</span><br />
[[#19-014]]<span id="014"></span> man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man, very well, now, if the man goes to the water and drowns himself it is''</span><br />
[[#19-015]]<span id="015"></span> he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''willy-nilly he goes, be sure of that. But if the water comes to him and''</span><br />
[[#19-016]]<span id="016"></span> drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' drowns him, he doesn't drown himself, ergo, he who is not guilty of''</span><br />
[[#19-017]]<span id="017"></span> his own death, shortens not his own life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his own death, doesn't shorten his own life.''</span><br />
[[#19-018]]<span id="018"></span> Clown Deputy: But is this law?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But is this the law?''</span><br />
[[#19-019]]<span id="019"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, indeed! It's coroner's inquest law.''</span><br />
[[#19-020]]<span id="020"></span> Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you want the truth about it? Had she not been a gentlewoman''</span><br />
[[#19-021]]<span id="021"></span> she should have been buried out of Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''she would have been buried without Christian ceremony.''</span><br />
[[#19-022]]<span id="022"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, you have said it there. And more's the pity that high-status people''</span><br />
[[#19-023]]<span id="023"></span> should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''should have permission in this world to drown or hang themselves,''</span><br />
[[#19-024]]<span id="024"></span> more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient<br />
<span style="color:gray">''moreso than equally-Christian others. Hand me my spade. There are no ancestral''</span><br />
[[#19-025]]<span id="025"></span> gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''gentlemen except gardeners, ditchers, and gravediggers - they sustain''</span><br />
[[#19-026]]<span id="026"></span> up Adam's profession.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adam's profession.''</span><br />
[[#19-027]]<span id="027"></span> Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was Adam a gentleman?''</span><br />
[[#19-028]]<span id="028"></span> Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was the first to ever bear arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-029]]<span id="029"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, he had no such arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-030]]<span id="030"></span> Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What, are you a heathen? How do you understand''</span><br />
[[#19-031]]<span id="031"></span> the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the Bible? The Bible says Adam digged -''</span><br />
[[#19-032]]<span id="032"></span> could he dig without arms?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''could he dig without arms?''</span><br />
[[#19-033]]<span id="033"></span> I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll put another question to you, and if you can't answer it''</span><br />
[[#19-034]]<span id="034"></span> purpose, confess thyself.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''properly, admit that I've got you.''</span><br />
[[#19-035]]<span id="035"></span> Clown Deputy: Go to.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead.''</span><br />
[[#19-036]]<span id="036"></span> Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the man who builds stronger than either a mason, a''</span><br />
[[#19-037]]<span id="037"></span> shipwright, or the carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shipwright, or a carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-038]]<span id="038"></span> Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The gallows maker, because what he builds outlasts a thousand occupants.''</span><br />
[[#19-039]]<span id="039"></span> Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I like your cleverness well. Indeed, "the gallows" is an answer that does well -''</span><br />
[[#19-040]]<span id="040"></span> but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but how does it do well? The gallows does well to those who do ill. Now you''</span><br />
[[#19-041]]<span id="041"></span> dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, ergo,''</span><br />
[[#19-042]]<span id="042"></span> the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the gallows might do you well. Try again, come on.''</span><br />
[[#19-043]]<span id="043"></span> Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''</span><br />
[[#19-044]]<span id="044"></span> carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-045]]<span id="045"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, tell me the answer, and your job is done.''</span><br />
[[#19-046]]<span id="046"></span> Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, now I know.''</span><br />
[[#19-047]]<span id="047"></span> Clown Sexton: To it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's hear it.''</span><br />
[[#19-048]]<span id="048"></span> Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-049]]<span id="049"></span> Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't beat your brain any more about it, since a slow jackass will''</span><br />
[[#19-050]]<span id="050"></span> not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not go faster if you beat it. When you're asked this question,''</span><br />
[[#19-051]]<span id="051"></span> next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''next time, say "a gravemaker," because the "houses" he makes last until doomsday.''</span><br />
[[#19-052]]<span id="052"></span> Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor. [[#19-052-SD]]<span id="052-SD"></span> (points in the direction of the church;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, go in there, and fetch me a mug of wine.''</span> the Clown Deputy exits)<br />
[[#19-053]]<span id="053"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In my youth when I did love, did love,''</span><br />
[[#19-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought it was very sweet,''</span><br />
[[#19-055]]<span id="055"></span> To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To take the time for all I pleased,''</span><br />
[[#19-056]]<span id="056"></span> Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I thought there was nothing as fit and proper.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio enter)<br />
<br />
[[#19-057]]<span id="057"></span> Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Doesn't this fellow have any feeling for what he's doing? He's singing while''</span><br />
[[#19-058]]<span id="058"></span> grave making.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''digging a grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-059]]<span id="059"></span> Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's so used to it, it doesn't bother him.''</span><br />
[[#19-060]]<span id="060"></span> Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So it is. A hand not callused by hard work is more easily impressed.''</span><br />
[[#19-061]]<span id="061"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But age, with its stealthy steps,''</span><br />
[[#19-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''has caught me in its clutches''</span><br />
[[#19-063]]<span id="063"></span> ''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has shipped me to the land of no return''</span><br />
[[#19-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''as if I had never been such.'' [[#19-064-SD]]<span id="064-SD"></span> (tosses out a skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as if I had never been a youth.''</span><br />
[[#19-065]]<span id="065"></span> Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That skull once had a tongue in it, and could sing. Look how the''</span><br />
[[#19-066]]<span id="066"></span> knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''knave tosses it on the ground, as if it were the jawbone of Cain, who did the''</span><br />
[[#19-067]]<span id="067"></span> first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now<br />
<span style="color:gray">''first murder. It might be the head of a politician, whom this jackass now''</span><br />
[[#19-068]]<span id="068"></span> o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''outranks - one who hoped to outwit God, might it not be?''</span><br />
[[#19-069]]<span id="069"></span> Horatio: It might, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It might be, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-070]]<span id="070"></span> Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, that of a courtier, who could say, "Good morning, sweet Lord,''</span><br />
[[#19-071]]<span id="071"></span> how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''how are you, sweet Lord?" It might be Lord So-and-so, who once''</span><br />
[[#19-072]]<span id="072"></span> praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''praised my Lord Whoever's horse when he hoped to borrow it, might it not?''</span><br />
[[#19-073]]<span id="073"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-074]]<span id="074"></span> Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so, and now it's Lady Worm's - jawless, and knocked''</span><br />
[[#19-075]]<span id="075"></span> about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''around in the grave excavation with a sexton's spade. Here's a fine turn of events, and''</span><br />
[[#19-076]]<span id="076"></span> we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''we had the luck to see it. Were these bones worth no more in bearing, rearing, and educating them,''</span><br />
[[#19-077]]<span id="077"></span> but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''than to play games with them? My bones ache as I think about it.''</span><br />
[[#19-078]]<span id="078"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''</span><br />
[[#19-079]]<span id="079"></span> ''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and also a shrouding sheet,''</span><br />
[[#19-080]]<span id="080"></span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-081]]<span id="081"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.'' [[#19-081-SD]]<span id="081-SD"></span> (tosses out another skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-082]]<span id="082"></span> Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's another one! Why, couldn't that be the skull of a lawyer?''</span><br />
[[#19-083]]<span id="083"></span> Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where are his various legal technicalities now, his cases, his terms, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-084]]<span id="084"></span> tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about<br />
<span style="color:gray">''legal tricks? Why does he tolerate that this cross knave can now knock him about''</span><br />
[[#19-085]]<span id="085"></span> the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the head with a dirty shovel, and will not inform him that he has been sued''</span><br />
[[#19-086]]<span id="086"></span> of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for battery? Hmm, this fellow might have been, in his time, a great buyer of''</span><br />
[[#19-087]]<span id="087"></span> land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land, with his statutory bonds, his personal bonds, his fines, his double vouchers, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-088]]<span id="088"></span> recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lawsuits. Is this the finality of his fines, and the attainment of his attainments -''</span><br />
[[#19-089]]<span id="089"></span> to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to have his fine head full of fine dirt, and will vouchers''</span><br />
[[#19-090]]<span id="090"></span> vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length<br />
<span style="color:gray">''vouch him no more land out of his purchases and doubles, than the length''</span><br />
[[#19-091]]<span id="091"></span> and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and width of a pair of contract indentures? All his paperwork for his''</span><br />
[[#19-092]]<span id="092"></span> lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lands would barely fit inside his grave plot, but is the only land he's''</span><br />
[[#19-093]]<span id="093"></span> no more? Ha.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ended up occupying just the size of his own grave? Ha!''</span><br />
[[#19-094]]<span id="094"></span> Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not a bit more than that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-095]]<span id="095"></span> Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Isn't parchment made of sheepskin?''</span><br />
[[#19-096]]<span id="096"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord, and of calfskin, too.''</span><br />
[[#19-097]]<span id="097"></span> Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Persons are only sheep and calves when they look for certainty in''</span><br />
[[#19-098]]<span id="098"></span> that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land deeds. I'll talk to the fellow. Whose grave is this, sirrah?''</span><br />
[[#19-099]]<span id="099"></span> Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's mine, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-100]]<span id="100"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-101]]<span id="101"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-102]]<span id="102"></span> Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I think it must be your grave, indeed, because you're lying in it.''</span><br />
[[#19-103]]<span id="103"></span> Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're lying out of it, sir, so it can't be yours. As for me, I''</span><br />
[[#19-104]]<span id="104"></span> do not lie in it, yet it is mine.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do not lie in it, but yet, it is mine.''</span><br />
[[#19-105]]<span id="105"></span> Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You do lie in it, to be in it and say it's yours - it's for the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-106]]<span id="106"></span> not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not for the living, therefore, you lie.''</span><br />
[[#19-107]]<span id="107"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a quick lie, sir, because it will quickly go again from me to you.''</span><br />
[[#19-108]]<span id="108"></span> Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What man do you dig it for?''</span><br />
[[#19-109]]<span id="109"></span> Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no man, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-110]]<span id="110"></span> Hamlet: What woman, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What woman, then?''</span><br />
[[#19-111]]<span id="111"></span> Clown Sexton: For none, neither.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no woman, either.''</span><br />
[[#19-112]]<span id="112"></span> Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who's to be buried in it?''</span><br />
[[#19-113]]<span id="113"></span> Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One who was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''</span><br />
[[#19-114]]<span id="114"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How impertinent the knave is. We must speak according to the script, or''</span><br />
[[#19-115]]<span id="115"></span> equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ambiguity will be our downfall. By Lord, Horatio, during these three years since we met, I''</span><br />
[[#19-116]]<span id="116"></span> have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''have taken notice of it: the times have become so socially jumbled, that the toe of the''</span><br />
[[#19-117]]<span id="117"></span> peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kybe.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''peasant walks so close on the heel of the courtier, he chafes his chilblain.''</span><br />
[[#19-118]]<span id="118"></span> <span style="color:gray">(resumes):</span> How long hast thou been gravemaker?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long have you been a gravemaker?''</span><br />
[[#19-119]]<span id="119"></span> Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of the dates in the year, I began this job on the date that our late King,''</span><br />
[[#19-120]]<span id="120"></span> Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, defeated Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#19-121]]<span id="121"></span> Hamlet: How long is that since?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long ago was that?''</span><br />
[[#19-122]]<span id="122"></span> Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you know? Any fool could answer that question. It was the''</span><br />
[[#19-123]]<span id="123"></span> very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into<br />
<span style="color:gray">''very same date that young Hamlet was born - he who is mad and has been sent to''</span><br />
[[#19-124]]<span id="124"></span> England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''England.''</span><br />
[[#19-125]]<span id="125"></span> Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, goodness, why was he sent to England?''</span><br />
[[#19-126]]<span id="126"></span> Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why? Because he was mad. He'll recover his wits there, or if''</span><br />
[[#19-127]]<span id="127"></span> he do not, 'tis no great matter there.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''he doesn't, it won't matter much there.''</span><br />
[[#19-128]]<span id="128"></span> Hamlet: Why?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why not?''</span><br />
[[#19-129]]<span id="129"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It won't be noticed in him there, because there, all the men are as crazy''</span><br />
[[#19-130]]<span id="130"></span> as he.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as he is.''</span><br />
[[#19-131]]<span id="131"></span> Hamlet: How came he mad?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How did he become mad?''</span><br />
[[#19-132]]<span id="132"></span> Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very strangely, they say.''</span><br />
[[#19-133]]<span id="133"></span> Hamlet: How strangely?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How strangely?''</span><br />
[[#19-134]]<span id="134"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, he went mad by losing his mind.''</span><br />
[[#19-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet: Upon what ground?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But upon what grounds?''</span><br />
[[#19-136]]<span id="136"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, here in Denmark. I have been sixteen years here, a man''</span><br />
[[#19-137]]<span id="137"></span> and boy thirty years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and boy for thirty years.''</span><br />
[[#19-138]]<span id="138"></span> Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long will a man lie in the earth before he rots?''</span><br />
[[#19-139]]<span id="139"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, if he isn't already rotten before he dies, (and we get many''</span><br />
[[#19-140]]<span id="140"></span> pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''diseased corpses now that will hardly hold together,) a body will last some eight''</span><br />
[[#19-141]]<span id="141"></span> year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''years, or nine years. A tanner will last for nine years.''</span><br />
[[#19-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet: Why he more then another?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why will his body last longer than another?''</span><br />
[[#19-143]]<span id="143"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, sir, his own hide is so tanned from his occupation, that it will keep''</span><br />
[[#19-144]]<span id="144"></span> out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson<br />
<span style="color:gray">''water out a long time, and water is a severe decayer of your bastard''</span><br />
[[#19-145]]<span id="145"></span> dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''dead body. Now, here's a skull that has lain for you in the earth for 23 years.''</span><br />
[[#19-146]]<span id="146"></span> Hamlet: Whose was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose was it?''</span><br />
[[#19-147]]<span id="147"></span> Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A bastard mad fellow's, it was! Whose do you suppose it was?''</span><br />
[[#19-148]]<span id="148"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-149]]<span id="149"></span> Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A plague on him as a mad rogue! He poured a mug of''</span><br />
[[#19-150]]<span id="150"></span> Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rhenish wine over my head once. This exact skull, sir - this same one - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''</span><br />
[[#19-151]]<span id="151"></span> King's Jester.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''King's jester.''</span><br />
[[#19-152]]<span id="152"></span> Hamlet: This?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That?''</span><br />
[[#19-153]]<span id="153"></span> Clown Sexton: Even that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exactly that.''</span><br />
[[#19-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Let me see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me see it.''</span><br />
[[#19-155]]<span id="155"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, poor Yoricke. I knew him, Horatio, he was a fellow of endless''</span><br />
[[#19-156]]<span id="156"></span> jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''jests, of most excellent whimsy. He carried me aboard his back a thousand''</span><br />
[[#19-157]]<span id="157"></span> times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''times, and now how abhorrent to my thoughts this skull is. I feel nauseous''</span><br />
[[#19-158]]<span id="158"></span> rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how<br />
<span style="color:gray">''looking at it. Here were those lips that I once kissed, I don't know how''</span><br />
[[#19-159]]<span id="159"></span> often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''often. Where is your teasing, now? Your frolicking, your songs, your bursts''</span><br />
[[#19-160]]<span id="160"></span> of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of merriment, that would make everyone at the table laugh out loud? No one,''</span><br />
[[#19-161]]<span id="161"></span> now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you [[#19-161-SD]]<span id="161-SD"></span> (drops the skull into the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''now, to ape your own grinning? - very down at the mouth. Now, go''</span> grave excavation)<br />
[[#19-162]]<span id="162"></span> to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to my lady's dressing room, and tell her: put her makeup on an inch thick, this kindness is''</span><br />
[[#19-163]]<span id="163"></span> she must come; make her laugh at that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what she must come to, and make her laugh at that.''</span><br />
[[#19-164]]<span id="164"></span> Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, Horatio, tell me one thing.''</span><br />
[[#19-165]]<span id="165"></span> Horatio: What's that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#19-166]]<span id="166"></span> Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you think, Alexander the Great, did he look this way in the earth?''</span><br />
[[#19-167]]<span id="167"></span> Horatio: Even so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so.''</span><br />
[[#19-168]]<span id="168"></span> Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And smelled like this? P. U.''</span><br />
[[#19-169]]<span id="169"></span> Horatio: Even so, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even so, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-170]]<span id="170"></span> Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To what crude uses might we return, Horatio? Why can't''</span><br />
[[#19-171]]<span id="171"></span> imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping<br />
<span style="color:gray">''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, until we find it plugging''</span><br />
[[#19-172]]<span id="172"></span> a bunghole?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a cask?''</span><br />
[[#19-173]]<span id="173"></span> Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be to contemplate too meticulously, to contemplate like that.''</span><br />
[[#19-174]]<span id="174"></span> Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, goodness, not a bit. Only, to follow him there with humility''</span><br />
[[#19-175]]<span id="175"></span> enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was<br />
<span style="color:gray">''enough, and probability to lead the way, like so: Alexander died, Alexander was''</span><br />
[[#19-176]]<span id="176"></span> buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we<br />
<span style="color:gray">''buried, Alexander returned to the dust, the dust is earth, out of earth we''</span><br />
[[#19-177]]<span id="177"></span> make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might<br />
<span style="color:gray">''make loam, so why couldn't that loam into which Alexander was converted''</span><br />
[[#19-178]]<span id="178"></span> they not stop a beer-barrel?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''be used to make a plug for a beer barrel?''</span><br />
[[#19-179]]<span id="179"></span> <span style="color:gray">(recites):</span> ''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned into clay,''</span><br />
[[#19-180]]<span id="180"></span> ''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might plug a hole to keep the draft away.''</span><br />
[[#19-181]]<span id="181"></span> ''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, that that flesh which held the world in awe''</span><br />
[[#19-182]]<span id="182"></span> ''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should patch a wall to keep out the winter's flurry.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-182-SD]]<span id="182-SD"></span> (Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse;<br />
Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners;<br />
the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#19-183]]<span id="183"></span> But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But hush, let's move quietly away, here comes the King, and''</span><br />
[[#19-184]]<span id="184"></span> The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Queen, the courtiers . . . whose body do they follow?''</span><br />
[[#19-185]]<span id="185"></span> And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And with such deficient rites? This indicates,''</span><br />
[[#19-186]]<span id="186"></span> The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The corpse they follow did, with a desperate hand,''</span><br />
[[#19-187]]<span id="187"></span> Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take its own life. It was of some high social status.''</span><br />
[[#19-188]]<span id="188"></span> Couch we a while, and mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's lie here a while and watch.''</span><br />
[[#19-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony, in addition to this?''</span><br />
[[#19-190]]<span id="190"></span> Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That is Laertes, a very noble youth, notice.''</span><br />
[[#19-191]]<span id="191"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony in addition?''</span><br />
[[#19-192]]<span id="192"></span> Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her funeral rites have been elaborated as far''</span><br />
[[#19-193]]<span id="193"></span> As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we have religious authority. Her death was suspicious,''</span><br />
[[#19-194]]<span id="194"></span> And but that great command o'er-sways the order,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And except that a royal command has overruled religious directives,''</span><br />
[[#19-195]]<span id="195"></span> She should in ground unsanctified been lodged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She would, in unblessed ground, have been housed''</span><br />
[[#19-196]]<span id="196"></span> Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until Judgment Day. Instead of charitable prayers,''</span><br />
[[#19-197]]<span id="197"></span> {Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sharp flints and pebbles would be thrown on her.''</span><br />
[[#19-198]]<span id="198"></span> Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, here she is privileged to have her virgin crown wreaths,''</span><br />
[[#19-199]]<span id="199"></span> Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her maidenly flowers, and the escort to her final place of rest''</span><br />
[[#19-200]]<span id="200"></span> Of bell and burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the church bell, and Christian burial services.''</span><br />
[[#19-201]]<span id="201"></span> Laertes: Must there no more be done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Must there be no more done than this?''</span><br />
[[#19-202]]<span id="202"></span> Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more can be done.''</span><br />
[[#19-203]]<span id="203"></span> We should profane the service of the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We would desecrate the service for the dead, itself,''</span><br />
[[#19-204]]<span id="204"></span> To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If we chanted the solemn requiem, and that kind of repose to her,''</span><br />
[[#19-205]]<span id="205"></span> As to peace-parted souls.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we do for peacefully-departed souls.''</span><br />
[[#19-206]]<span id="206"></span> Laertes: Lay her in the earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Place her body in the earth,''</span><br />
[[#19-207]]<span id="207"></span> And from her fair and unpolluted flesh<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And from her beautiful and pure remains''</span><br />
[[#19-208]]<span id="208"></span> May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May violets abound. I tell you, stingy priest,''</span><br />
[[#19-209]]<span id="209"></span> A ministering angel shall my sister be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A ministering angel is what my sister shall be''</span><br />
[[#19-210]]<span id="210"></span> When thou liest howling.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When you lie down below wailing.''</span><br />
[[#19-211]]<span id="211"></span> Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What? The lovely Ophelia?!''</span><br />
[[#19-212]]<span id="212"></span> Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#19-213]]<span id="213"></span> I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hoped you would have been my Hamlet's wife.''</span><br />
[[#19-214]]<span id="214"></span> I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought I'd be decorating your bridal bed with flowers, sweet maiden,''</span><br />
[[#19-215]]<span id="215"></span> And not have strewed thy grave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And not be scattering them on your grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-216]]<span id="216"></span> Laertes: Oh, treble woe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, may three times as much sorrow''</span><br />
[[#19-217]]<span id="217"></span> Fall ten times double on that cursed head,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fall ten times, doubly, down on that accursed head, of he''</span><br />
[[#19-218]]<span id="218"></span> Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose evil deed, your most sensible rationality''</span><br />
[[#19-219]]<span id="219"></span> Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Took from thee. Don't fill in the grave for a while,''</span><br />
[[#19-220]]<span id="220"></span> Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. [[#19-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Laertes jumps into the excavation)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until I have hugged her, once more, in my arms!''</span><br />
[[#19-221]]<span id="221"></span> Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Now pile the dirt on both the living and the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-222]]<span id="222"></span> Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until, out of this flatland, you've made a mountain''</span><br />
[[#19-223]]<span id="223"></span> To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's higher than ancient Mount Pelion, or the lofty peak''</span><br />
[[#19-224]]<span id="224"></span> Of blue Olympus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of blue Mount Olympus.''</span><br />
[[#19-225]]<span id="225"></span> Hamlet: What is he whose grief<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is he, whose grief''</span><br />
[[#19-226]]<span id="226"></span> Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Carries such an emphasis on himself, whose expression of "sorrow"''</span><br />
[[#19-227]]<span id="227"></span> Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Calls out to the wandering stars, and makes them stop''</span><br />
[[#19-228]]<span id="228"></span> Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like what they hear has wounded their ears with astonishment? It is I,''</span><br />
[[#19-229]]<span id="229"></span> Hamlet the Dane!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, the Dane!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-229-SD]]<span id="229-SD"></span> (Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)<br />
<br />
[[#19-230]]<span id="230"></span> Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Devil take your soul!''</span><br />
[[#19-231]]<span id="231"></span> Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You don't pray properly. I pray you remove your fingers''</span><br />
[[#19-232]]<span id="232"></span> From my throat.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From my throat.''</span><br />
[[#19-233]]<span id="233"></span> For, though I am not splenative and rash,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, although I am not quick to anger,''</span><br />
[[#19-234]]<span id="234"></span> Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, I do have within me something hazardous''</span><br />
[[#19-235]]<span id="235"></span> Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, if you're smart, you'll fear. Take away your hand.''</span><br />
[[#19-236]]<span id="236"></span> Claudius: Pluck them asunder.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pull them apart!''</span><br />
[[#19-237]]<span id="237"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, Hamlet!''</span><br />
[[#19-238]]<span id="238"></span> All: Gentlemen!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gentlemen!''</span><br />
[[#19-239]]<span id="239"></span> Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good my Lord, be still!''</span><br />
[[#19-240]]<span id="240"></span> Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, I will fight with him, from this motive,''</span><br />
[[#19-241]]<span id="241"></span> Until my eyelids will no longer wag.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the last twitch of my eyelids.''</span><br />
[[#19-242]]<span id="242"></span> Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, my son, what motive?''</span><br />
[[#19-243]]<span id="243"></span> Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved Ophelia. Any huge number of brothers''</span><br />
[[#19-244]]<span id="244"></span> Could not, with all their quantity of love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not, even adding together all their love,''</span><br />
[[#19-245]]<span id="245"></span> Make up my sum.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Equal my love for her.''</span><br />
[[#19-246]]<span id="246"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> What wilt thou do for her?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What will you do for her now?''</span><br />
[[#19-247]]<span id="247"></span> Claudius: Oh, he ''is'' mad, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See, he is mad, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#19-248]]<span id="248"></span> Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For God's sake, shut your mouth about my son!''</span><br />
[[#19-249]]<span id="249"></span> Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By God, show me what you'll do!''</span><br />
[[#19-250]]<span id="250"></span> Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you weep, fight, starve yourself, tear your own flesh,''</span><br />
[[#19-251]]<span id="251"></span> Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you gulp down vinegar, eat a crocodile?''</span><br />
[[#19-252]]<span id="252"></span> I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will if you do! Did you come here to whine?''</span><br />
[[#19-253]]<span id="253"></span> To outface me with leaping in her grave?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To outdo me, by leaping into her grave?''</span><br />
[[#19-254]]<span id="254"></span> Be buried quick with her, and so will I!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be buried alive with her, well so will I!''</span><br />
[[#19-255]]<span id="255"></span> And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And if you want to prate about mountains, let them throw''</span><br />
[[#19-256]]<span id="256"></span> Millions of acres on us, till our ground,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Millions of acres of land on us, until this ground,''</span><br />
[[#19-257]]<span id="257"></span> Singeing his pate against the burning zone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Singeing its top against the sphere of fire,''</span><br />
[[#19-258]]<span id="258"></span> Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Makes Mount Ossa look small as a wart! Further, if you're going to be so mouthy,''</span><br />
[[#19-259]]<span id="259"></span> I'll rant as well as thou.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll rant as well as you do!''</span><br />
[[#19-260]]<span id="260"></span> Gertrude: This is mere madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is only a tantrum,</span><br />
[[#19-261]]<span id="261"></span> And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And like that, for a while, the outburst will have its effect on him.''</span><br />
[[#19-262]]<span id="262"></span> Anon, as patient as the female dove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Wait patiently - like the female dove''</span><br />
[[#19-263]]<span id="263"></span> When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until her golden chicks are hatched -''</span><br />
[[#19-264]]<span id="264"></span> His silence will sit drooping.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then he will sit drooping in silence.''</span><br />
[[#19-265]]<span id="265"></span> Hamlet: Hear you, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You listen to me, sir -''</span><br />
[[#19-266]]<span id="266"></span> What is the reason that you use me thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you treat me like this?''</span><br />
[[#19-267]]<span id="267"></span> I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I always liked you. But it doesn't matter.''</span><br />
[[#19-268]]<span id="268"></span> Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No matter what even the most mighty person does, or wants to do,''</span><br />
[[#19-269]]<span id="269"></span> The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even a lowly cat will still meow, and a dog will have his day in the sun.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-269-SD]]<span id="269-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio exit)<br />
<br />
[[#19-270]]<span id="270"></span> Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, good Horatio, attend him.''</span><br />
[[#19-271]]<span id="271"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be more patient, by recalling what we talked about last night.''</span><br />
[[#19-272]]<span id="272"></span> We'll put the matter to the present push. [[#19-272-SD]]<span id="272-SD"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll press ahead with that subject right away.''</span><br />
[[#19-273]]<span id="273"></span> Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Gertrude, have somebody keep an eye on your son.''</span><br />
[[#19-274]]<span id="274"></span> This grave shall have a living monument;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This grave will have an enduring memorial.''</span><br />
[[#19-275]]<span id="275"></span> An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll thereby have a time of peace.''</span><br />
[[#19-276]]<span id="276"></span> Till then, in patience our proceeding be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until then, I'll proceed with patience.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-276-SD]]<span id="276-SD"></span> (Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit;<br />
the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 19<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====19-Setting=====<br />
[[File:St_olai_helsingor.jpg|left|Church of St Olai, Helsingor]]<br />
[[File:Performers_memorial.jpg|right|Performer's Memorial at St Leonard]]<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Graveyard.<br />
<br />
We are at the graveyard by the church in Elsinore Town, the same place where the Ghost led Hamlet in Scene 5.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Late morning.<br />
<br />
Indications are that Ophelia died at dawn, or shortly after. To appease Laertes, Claudius ordered the coroner to act quickly. The coroner promptly returned a verdict of accidental death, and the funeral was arranged immediately. So it is still the same day Ophelia died, and no later than the middle of the day.<br />
<br />
* <b>Weather</b> - Clear and sunny in the early morning when Ophelia was alive, but the day has now turned dark and gloomy.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====19-000-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto clowns entry.jpg|right|The Second Quarto Clowns entry]]<br />
''(a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)''<br />
<br />
In the original Second Quarto publication, the Clowns are called only that at their entry, with no further specification of who they are. Their roles are deduced from their lines in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
The first Clown, who has the speech prefix "Clown" in the original publication, is the church sexton. The second clown, who has the speech prefix "Other," is a coroner's court deputy.<br />
<br />
It is important to be aware that clowns are for amusement. Statements they make are not to be interpreted as objective declarations of fact.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-001=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully''<br />
<br />
''she'' - as events proceed, we will learn they are talking about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====19-002=====<br />
''seeks her own salvation?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====19-003=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the''<br />
<br />
''I tell thee...'' - The Clown Deputy has already told the Clown Sexton at least once, we see.<br />
<br />
''straight'' - straightaway; now (here in the churchyard.) The body of a person who committed suicide would not be allowed burial in the churchyard, in consecrated ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====19-004=====<br />
''crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
''crowner'' - coroner. The word "coroner" is from Latin 'corona' ("crown.") So the Clown Deputy is both wrong, and right, in the way he says it.<br />
<br />
This line identifies the second clown as the Clown Deputy. The character is informing the Clown Sexton of the coroner's decision, so he is therefore the coroner's court deputy assigned that duty. It is a menial task, befitting the least capable man the coroner had available.<br />
<br />
''sat on her'' - heard her case. Sat in judgment of her case. Obviously an inelegant way of expressing it.<br />
<br />
The coroner's verdict is that Ophelia's death was accidental, thus an act of God, and therefore her mortal remains are accorded the privilege of burial in a Christian manner. Queen Gertrude was certainly the primary witness at the coroner's hearing, and we heard, in Scene 18, what she had to say about it. The verdict of accidental death was clearly indicated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====19-005=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''<br />
<br />
''drowned herself'' - we'll see that the Clown Sexton tries to be logical, but he has started out begging the question, that is, with a fallacy called 'petitio principii,' a.k.a. circular reasoning. He has no factual, or rational, reason to say that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====19-006=====<br />
''defense?''<br />
<br />
''(drowned herself in her own) defense'' - is a crackpot notion. Other than offenses, and acts of defense, there are, of course, accidents.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====19-007=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy knows the coroner's court found so, because he's the one dispatched by the court to inform the Sexton. However, he is not equipped to argue the coroner's verdict. The Clown Deputy is not a man educated in the law (nor is the Clown Sexton.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====19-008=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====19-009=====<br />
''point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====19-010=====<br />
''three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her''<br />
<br />
''three branches'' - a pun on "tree branches," the actual proximate cause of Ophelia's death.<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====19-011=====<br />
''self wittingly.''<br />
<br />
''wittingly'' - can be charitably glossed as "intentionally," but it is a poor word choice by the Clown (and a masterful choice by Shakespeare.) The Clown makes it sound like he means "cleverly," as if he's praising such cleverness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====19-012=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .''<br />
<br />
''hear you'' - may remind one of "hear ye, hear ye," the formulaic utterance at court sessions. The Clown Deputy is trying a "hear ye" to get the Clown Sexton's attention.<br />
<br />
''delver'' - digger. Shakespeare did use "delve" figuratively, in ''Cymbeline'' Act 1 scene 1:<br />
<br />
First Gentleman: I cannot delve him to the root: his father <br />
Was call'd Sicilius, ...<br />
<br />
So, it is also possible to take ''delver'' figuratively as "inquirer" or "inquisitor." The Clown Deputy thinks the Clown Sexton is "digging into it" too much. Compare Horatio's remark, later in this Scene, line 173, about considering too curiously.<br />
<br />
''good man delver'' - is patronizing. Digging graves is only an occasional part of the Clown Sexton's job. We will see that the Clown Sexton doesn't like being spoken to as if he were nothing better than a menial laborer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====19-013=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water; good, here stands the''<br />
<br />
''Give me leave'' - give me permission, i.e. let me continue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====19-014=====<br />
''man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====19-015=====<br />
''he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &''<br />
<br />
''(will) he, nill he'' - means the opposite of what the Clown Sexton is trying to say. He's trying to argue intent, but "willy nilly" means haphazardly, regardless of intent. Literally, ''will he, nill he'' means "(whether) he does will, or he does not will." ''Nill'' is an archaic word from Old English 'nylle' ("not to will;" "to be unwilling.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====19-016=====<br />
''drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of''<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====19-017=====<br />
''his own death, shortens not his own life.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====19-018=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: But is this law?''<br />
<br />
A very apt question. Not only is it not law, it isn't even sanity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====19-019=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====19-020=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy has his own personal opinion about this, we see. Not surprising.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====19-021=====<br />
''she should have been buried out of Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====19-022=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====19-023=====<br />
''should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====19-024=====<br />
''more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====19-025=====<br />
''gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====19-026=====<br />
''up Adam's profession.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====19-027=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====19-028=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====19-029=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====19-030=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====19-031=====<br />
''the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;''<br />
<br />
''The Scripture says Adam digged'' - no, the Bible doesn't say that. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====19-032=====<br />
''could he dig without arms?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====19-033=====<br />
''I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====19-034=====<br />
''purpose, confess thyself.''<br />
<br />
There's a droll old saying, "confess, and be hanged." The Clown Deputy thinks of that, and it leads to his guess below.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton probably actually means, "confess you're a fool" / "confess you can be made a fool." In the dialogue, I use just the simple paraphrase, "admit I've got you," which is near the point.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====19-035=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Go to.''<br />
<br />
Go ahead / get to it / let's hear it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====19-036=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the''<br />
<br />
''mason'' - The patron saint of masons, or at least "a" patron saint of masons, is St Claudius, a point of interest in a play where "Claudius" is the King.<br />
<br />
About Saint Claudius: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-claudius/ Saint Claudius at catholicsaints.info]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====19-037=====<br />
''shipwright, or the carpenter?''<br />
<br />
''shipwright'' - The patron saint of shipwrights is Saint Peter the Apostle.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-the-apostle/ Saint Peter]<br />
<br />
''carpenters'' - The patron saint of carpenters is Saint Joseph of Nazareth.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph/ Saint Joseph of Nazareth]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====19-038=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====19-039=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====19-040=====<br />
''but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====19-041=====<br />
''dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====19-042=====<br />
''the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====19-043=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====19-044=====<br />
''carpenter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====19-045=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====19-046=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.''<br />
<br />
The Deputy apparently supposes that when the Sexton said "unyoke" he was giving a hint.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====19-047=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: To it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====19-048=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====19-049=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====19-050=====<br />
''not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====19-051=====<br />
''next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.''<br />
<br />
''gravemaker'' - The patron saint of gravediggers is St Anthony the Abbot a.k.a. the Great.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-the-abbot/ St Anthony the Abbot]<br />
<br />
Observe that the Clown Sexton calls a grave a "house." That's pertinent later. Graves house the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052=====<br />
''Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor.''<br />
<br />
''get thee in'' - The Clown Sexton waves, or points, in the general direction of the church.<br />
<br />
''stoup'' - flagon; tankard. A drinking vessel.<br />
<br />
However, the word ''stoup'' can also mean the holy water basin in a church. So, Shakespeare's choice of word provides a joke, that the Clown Sexton is telling the Clown Deputy to go to the church, dump out the holy water, and bring the basin to him filled with liquor. (We do hope the Sexton, himself, does not really mean that.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052-SD=====<br />
''(points in the direction of the church; the Clown Deputy exits)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy will not return. The Deputy's duty for the coroner's court is done, and he is not going to bring the Sexton anything.<br />
<br />
It is vital that the Clown Sexton point in the general direction of the church when he says the previous line, else the joke be lost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-053=====<br />
''(sings): In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====19-054=====<br />
''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====19-055=====<br />
''To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056=====<br />
''Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio enter)''<br />
<br />
Horatio is dressed as usual, Hamlet is not. Hamlet is coming directly from the pirate ship, and he hasn't been to his quarters in the Castle yet to clean up and change clothes. The pirates stole Hamlet's expensive, fancy clothing, we can be sure. So he'd have something to wear, the pirates gave him some ratty old clothes that none of the pirates particularly wanted. Hamlet is now in "shreds and patches."<br />
<br />
This is why, when Hamlet talks to the Clown Sexton, the Sexton will have no idea Hamlet could possibly be the Prince. The Clown will never imagine the Prince could be dressed the way Hamlet is dressed here. Hamlet is also unwashed and unkempt. The pirate ship offered no facilities for him to groom and bathe properly. Hamlet may have had a basin of seawater for washing his face, but that's about it. The "show" the Clown Sexton sees of Hamlet, when they talk, is that he's a sailor who's extremely down on his luck. The Clown Sexton has no notion of how deceptive that "show" is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-057=====<br />
''Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in''<br />
<br />
''feeling of'' - sensitivity to. It strikes Hamlet as insensitive to sing like that in connection with a death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====19-058=====<br />
''grave making.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====19-059=====<br />
''Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====19-060=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_dintier.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "dintier"]]<br />
''Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.''<br />
<br />
''dintier'' - more impressionable; more easily impressed.<br />
<br />
From 'dint' = "an impression in a surface." (Ultimately from Old English 'dynt.')<br />
<br />
Hamlet means the Clown Sexton is "not impressed" by what he's doing, although a more sensitive person would be. The callused hand feels less than the uncallused hand, is another way of saying it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====19-061=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====19-062=====<br />
''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<br />
''caught'' - is an embedded stage direction. The Clown Sexton tosses a skull in the air, and catches it. Within the lyric it means BOOKMARK, more here<br />
<br />
''clutch'' - clutches. More simply, grasp.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#062|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-063=====<br />
''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<br />
''intil'' - into.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064=====<br />
''as if I had never been such.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out a skull)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton treats skulls so cavalierly, it is impossible he could keep track of which is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-065=====<br />
''Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====19-066=====<br />
''knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the''<br />
<br />
''Cain's jawbone'' - not the jawbone of Cain, himself, but the jawbone Cain used as a weapon.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====19-067=====<br />
''first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====19-068=====<br />
''o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====19-069=====<br />
''Horatio: It might, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====19-070=====<br />
''Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====19-071=====<br />
''how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====19-072=====<br />
''praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====19-073=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====19-074=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====19-075=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_massene.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "massene"]]<br />
''about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and''<br />
<br />
''massen'' - an anglicization of French 'maison' ("house.") This is a Shakespeare neologism. It is not an exact synonym for "house," rather, it means "house of the dead," like the French phrase 'maison mortuaire.' It's an English word to cast the grave as a kind of "house."<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#075|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-076=====<br />
''we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,''<br />
<br />
''trick'' - luck; good fortune. As in taking a ''trick'' at cards. Might also be read as "cleverness," but in that sense, Hamlet is facetious.<br />
<br />
''breeding'' - encompasses the bearing, rearing, and educating of an offspring. The process of raising a person.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====19-077=====<br />
''but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.''<br />
<br />
''loggets'' - a game in which wooden playing pieces are tossed at a stake. The winner is he whose playing piece lies nearest the stake. ''Loggets'' is therefore a game of lies. The best lie wins. There is a pun, in advance of Hamlet's "lie" banter with the Clown Sexton, which begins at line 102.<br />
<br />
"Logget" is a diminutive of "log," and the word "log" apparently traces back to Old Norse 'lag' which meant "felled tree," thus literally a tree that lies. In a forest, most of the trees are upstanding, but some of them lie. ''Logget" being a diminutive, ''loggets'' is a game of little liers. As 'twere.<br />
<br />
There is now some disagreement among etymologists about the origin of the word "log," and the safe way out is to call it obscure, but it seems clear enough what Shakespeare thought. The "lie" concept is why Shakespeare had Hamlet speak of ''loggets'' in particular.<br />
<br />
''Loggets'' was made illegal in England by a statute in the time of Henry VIII, probably because of gambling and fighting over it.<br />
<br />
The Hamlet character, himself, only means to say it's as if the Clown Sexton is playing a game with the buried, or now unburied bones, the way he tosses them around.<br />
<br />
''Mine ache to think on it'' - a mark of how sympathetic, and empathetic, Hamlet is. He feels for others.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====19-078=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====19-079=====<br />
''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====19-080=====<br />
''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out another skull)''<br />
<br />
As before, the Clown Sexton is obviously careless, and uncaring, about which skull is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-082=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====19-083=====<br />
''Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====19-084=====<br />
''tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about''<br />
<br />
''tricks'' - legal stratagems. Sophisms. Legal technicalities, in the pejorative sense.<br />
<br />
''rude'' - ill-mannered, however, the point of this word usage may be the pun with "rood," the Christian cross. This ''rude'' knave is a "rood" knave, which makes him a "cross" knave, which he must be since he is employed by the church.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#084|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-085=====<br />
''the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action''<br />
<br />
''sconce'' - skull. For a living man the ''sconce'' would be the head, but a skull is what the Clown Sexton has dug up.<br />
<br />
''action'' - legal action, a lawsuit. Paradoxically, because of the peculiarities of legal jargon, in this instance the ''action'' is not the act.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====19-086=====<br />
''of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of''<br />
<br />
''battery'' - the offense of beating another unlawfully.<br />
<br />
''might be'' - might have been.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====19-087=====<br />
''land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====19-088=====<br />
''recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====19-089=====<br />
''to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====19-090=====<br />
''vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====19-091=====<br />
''and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====19-092=====<br />
''lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====19-093=====<br />
''no more? Ha.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====19-094=====<br />
''Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====19-095=====<br />
''Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====19-096=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====19-097=====<br />
''Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====19-098=====<br />
''that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?''<br />
<br />
''sirrah'' - was a term used to address an inferior and it indicated contempt. Based on what he's seen, Hamlet thinks the sexton is a dullard of no merit.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind Hamlet's shabby dress at this time, and his lack of grooming, after his experience with the pirates. The Clown Sexton hears himself called ''sirrah'' by a fellow who looks like the lowest ''sirrah'' in Denmark.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is misled by the "show" of Hamlet, as the sexton sees him. The thought of that fellow, the way he looks, being the Prince will never cross the sexton's mind. The sexton will probably conclude that the pitiful tramp he sees is using the term ''sirrah'' because he has heard it so often applied to himself.<br />
<br />
We have already seen, in the earlier passage with the Clown Deputy,, how the Clown Sexton is. He'd rather have a good argument than dig, any day, and particularly when he can cast his partner in conversation as a fool. The sexton thinks he sees a good opportunity for that with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Here we go, again, with the Clown Sexton, who has no clue he's bandying words with the Prince of Denmark.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====19-099=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.''<br />
<br />
That's clever in its way, but not true. The churchyard is church property, so technically, it's the church's grave, if we were speaking of who owns it.<br />
<br />
It's the Clown Sexton's to dig. That's true enough, while he's digging.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====19-100=====<br />
''(sings): Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not singing to Hamlet here, he is singing as he continues to dig. He is paying no attention to Hamlet yet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====19-101=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
''guest'' - In Christian theology, the occupants of graves are there temporarily, until Judgment Day. So, ''guest'' - a temporary occupant.<br />
<br />
''meet'' - proper; suitable. Goes back to Old English 'gemǣte' ("suitable.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====19-102=====<br />
''Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is intending to get the Clown Sexton's attention, and his "lie" line does the trick.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====19-103=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====19-104=====<br />
''do not lie in it, yet it is mine.''<br />
<br />
''mine'' - to dig. The Clown Sexton doesn't like digging, at least not nearly as much as he likes quibbling and drinking, so having to dig is much on his mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====19-105=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====19-106=====<br />
''not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====19-107=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====19-108=====<br />
''Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====19-109=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====19-110=====<br />
''Hamlet: What woman, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====19-111=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For none, neither.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====19-112=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====19-113=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====19-114=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside to Horatio): How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or''<br />
<br />
''absolute'' - Can be read a number of ways: free, as in free-tongued; loose, as in unrestrained; irrelevant; dissolute; scattered; etc.<br />
<br />
Hamlet's complaint is that the Clown Sexton is being rude by being uncommunicative. By the way, it's the same complaint R & G voiced about Hamlet in Scene 8. ([[Scene 8#014]] and 015) Hamlet doesn't realize how he looks to the Clown Sexton, as he stands there in his pirate castoffs. From the way Hamlet looks, the Clown Sexton sees no need to take him seriously.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare went back to the Latin root for his meaning with ''absolute'' in this case. Latin 'solvere' ("to loosen, dissolve; release, detach; scatter;" etc.)<br />
<br />
It is also possible to read ''absolute'' as "uncharitable" in the sense of being uncharitable when interpreting a statement. There is obvious meaning in speaking of a man of the church as uncharitable.<br />
<br />
''How absolute the knave is'' - This phrase can also be understood as Hamlet calling the Clown Sexton an "absolute knave."<br />
<br />
''card'' - perhaps a reference to the "compass card," used as part of a navigational compass. Hamlet is talking about navigating his way through what the Clown Sexton says. Otherwise, Hamlet could be using ''card'' to mean "map" or "chart" but that's the same idea. Hamlet would have seen first-hand a navigational compass while he was aboard ship.<br />
<br />
However, it appears that ''card'' was also theater jargon for an actor's speech, written down. If that's what Hamlet means, he is talking about following the script, and not trying to ad lib.<br />
<br />
It would not be surprising if Shakespeare fully intended his audience to struggle through all the possibilities for this line, trying to figure out what he meant, exactly, while he was deliberately being ambiguous. The word "equivocation" appears in the next line, and Shakespeare may have done some of that himself, deliberately, in this line. He was a bit of a scamp.<br />
<br />
(It is a curiosity that the phrase ''by the card'' is the exact English equivalent of French "a la carte." However, restaurant menus are a relatively recent development, and were not in use in Shakespeare's time. The phrasing cannot be a figurative use of the idea of choosing specific items from a menu of possibilities.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====19-115=====<br />
''equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I''<br />
<br />
''equivocation'' - quibbling. Ambiguity; uncertainty of meaning.<br />
<br />
''these three years'' - the amount of time Hamlet has known Horatio, therefore the length of time since Hamlet went away to the university, since he met Horatio there.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====19-116=====<br />
''have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the''<br />
<br />
''picked'' - socially mixed up, socially jumbled. The figure of speech is based on a pick being used for digging. Picture the social strata being like strata in the soil. When a pick is used for digging, the different soil strata are mixed up and jumbled together. Hamlet means it's as if some power has taken a pick to the social strata, mixing up the social classes and jumbling them together. The figure of speech follows from watching the Clown Sexton dig, of course. The Clown Sexton sang "pickaxe" in line 078 above.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====19-117=====<br />
''peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.''<br />
<br />
''galls'' - chafes, to produce a sore spot.<br />
<br />
''kibe'' - chillblain, on the heel in this case.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the heel of the courtier being stepped on by the peasant, figuratively speaking, meaning there is inadequate respect for the courtier from the peasant, from the point of view of Hamlet the Courtier. Earlier in the Scene, we saw the Clown Sexton and the Clown Deputy agreed in resenting the special treatment of "great ones."<br />
<br />
This Scene presents some social class resentment, from both sides. Shakespeare was perceptive enough to notice signs of social trouble on the way, it appears. The English Civil War began in 1642.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====19-118=====<br />
''(resumes): How long hast thou been gravemaker?''<br />
<br />
The question arose implicitly earlier, between Hamlet and Horatio, at line 059. Hamlet is curious how long a man would have to dig graves to become so fully accustomed to it that he could sing at his work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====19-119=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,''<br />
<br />
''the days in the year'' - It is important to understand that the Clown Sexton is referring to a calendar date.<br />
<br />
''that day'' - that date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#119|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-120=====<br />
''Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not saying King Hamlet defeated the Elder Fortinbrasse on the identical day he became sexton (and gravedigger,) he is saying those events were on the same calendar date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====19-121=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long is that since?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking how many years ago the Clown Sexton became the sexton.<br />
<br />
However, in what follows, we see the Clown Sexton takes it, or at least plays it, that Hamlet is asking how long it's been since a calendar date, as if Hamlet asked, "How long has it been since April 23?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====19-122=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====19-123=====<br />
''very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into''<br />
<br />
''day'' - date. The Clown Sexton is continuing to speak of dates. He is not saying all three events happened in the same year.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a hint about what '''date''' he means. However, Hamlet was asking about the passage of years, not about calendar dates.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====19-124=====<br />
''England.''<br />
<br />
We see it's common knowledge Claudius sent Hamlet to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====19-125=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is curious whether any inkling of the true reason is circulating. The correct answer would be, "to be executed."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====19-126=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====19-127=====<br />
''he do not, 'tis no great matter there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====19-128=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====19-129=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad''<br />
<br />
''seen'' - observed; noticed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====19-130=====<br />
''as he.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====19-131=====<br />
''Hamlet: How came he mad?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====19-132=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====19-133=====<br />
''Hamlet: How strangely?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====19-134=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====19-135=====<br />
''Hamlet: Upon what ground?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, "for what reason (did Hamlet go mad)?"<br />
<br />
''ground'' - basis; cause; reason. We would now say "grounds."<br />
<br />
The word ''ground'' is from Old English 'grund' ("bottom, foundation, ground, surface of the earth, bottom of the sea.") So, asking "upon what ground" is like asking what is at the bottom of it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====19-136=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man''<br />
[[File:Second quarto sexten.jpg|right|the Second Quarto word "Sexten"]]<br />
[[File:Folio sixteen.jpg|right|the word "sixteen" in the First Folio]]<br />
''here in Denmark'' - The Clown Sexton misunderstands Hamlet, or pretends to. He replies as if "ground" meant "land area."<br />
<br />
''Sexten'' - sexton, is the first meaning. It identifies the Clown as the church sexton, by his own statement. There is more, however. The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a word puzzle, to try to show him up as a fool. It's the same behavior the Clown Sexton exhibited with the Clown Deputy at the beginning of the Scene. In other words, it's a word puzzle from Shakespeare. I preserve the Second Quarto spelling, duly marked, because it's a special word.<br />
<br />
Observe that in the First Folio the word is spelled "sixeteene." The Folio is revealing the second meaning, which is "sixteen." The word spelled ''Sexten'' in the Second Quarto has to be read ''twice'' to get the full meaning.<br />
<br />
Combining the relevant part of this line with the next line gives:<br><br />
''I have been 'Sexten' here, man and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton's total meaning is, "I have been sixteen (years) here (as the sexton) (and alive as a) man and boy thirty years." He has intentionally phrased it to give the impression he has been sexton for thirty years, but that is wrong. Apparently whoever did the work on the First Folio ''Hamlet'' was aware of the importance of "sixteen" in this line.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#136|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-137=====<br />
''and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton means that he, himself, has been alive as a man and boy for thirty years. (Ben Jonson was 30 in 1602.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====19-138=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====19-139=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many''<br />
<br />
The Sexton missed Hamlet's "lie" remark at his expense, and took the question as a serious one.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====19-140=====<br />
''pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====19-141=====<br />
''year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====19-142=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why he more then another?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====19-143=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====19-144=====<br />
''out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====19-145=====<br />
''dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====19-146=====<br />
''Hamlet: Whose was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====19-147=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====19-148=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====19-149=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====19-150=====<br />
''Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====19-151=====<br />
''King's Jester.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====19-152=====<br />
''Hamlet: This?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====19-153=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Even that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====19-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Let me see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====19-155=====<br />
''(aside to Horatio): Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====19-156=====<br />
''jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====19-157=====<br />
''times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====19-158=====<br />
''rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====19-159=====<br />
''often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====19-160=====<br />
''of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161=====<br />
''now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161-SD=====<br />
''(drops the skull into the grave excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-162=====<br />
''to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====19-163=====<br />
''she must come; make her laugh at that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====19-164=====<br />
''Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====19-165=====<br />
''Horatio: What's that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====19-166=====<br />
''Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====19-167=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====19-168=====<br />
''Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====19-169=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====19-170=====<br />
''Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====19-171=====<br />
''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====19-172=====<br />
''a bunghole?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====19-173=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====19-174=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====19-175=====<br />
''enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====19-176=====<br />
''buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====19-177=====<br />
''make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====19-178=====<br />
''they not stop a beer-barrel?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====19-179=====<br />
''(recites): Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====19-180=====<br />
''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====19-181=====<br />
''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182=====<br />
''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#182|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse; Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners; the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)''<br />
<br />
Ophelia is borne bare-faced on the bier. That is, her body is shrouded except for the face. Ophelia, herself, told us of that burial practice in one of her songs in Scene 16 ([[Scene 16#170]].)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-183=====<br />
''But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====19-184=====<br />
''The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====19-185=====<br />
''And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,''<br />
<br />
''maimed'' - less than whole. Hamlet can see at a distance that the funeral procession does not include everything it might. BOOKMARK go into detail on this<br />
<br />
''betoken'' - signify; indicate. Goes back to Old English 'tacen' ("sign.") This is a subtle instance of the Omen Motif in the play. Hamlet uses an "omen" word, with no idea how ominous it is, for his future happiness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====19-186=====<br />
''The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====19-187=====<br />
''Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====19-188=====<br />
''Couch we a while, and mark.''<br />
<br />
''Couch'' - lie down. From Old French 'couche' ("a bed,") from 'coucher' ("to lay down.")<br />
<br />
''mark'' - watch; pay attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====19-189=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====19-190=====<br />
''Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====19-191=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
As an instance of the themes of the play, Laertes thinks there should be more of a Show.<br />
<br />
We heard Laertes's objections earlier, in Scene 16, ([[Scene 16 #213]] and ff) over what he had heard about the lack of a proper show for his father's funeral.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====19-192=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====19-193=====<br />
''As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,''<br />
<br />
''doubtful'' - in whose opinion? And why would they think so?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====19-194=====<br />
''And but that great command o'er-sways the order,''<br />
<br />
''great command'' - the King's command, following the coroner's court decision of accidental death.<br />
<br />
''o'er-sways'' - holds sway over. Overrules.<br />
<br />
''the order'' - the funeral service that the church would have followed, if left to its own devices. The word ''order'' referring to religious procedure goes back to Medieval times.<br />
<br />
There is church-state conflict; the state has overruled the church, to dictate Christian burial for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
There's nothing factual about why the cleric thinks the service should be different. The ideas of the cleric, and the Clown Sexton before him, are based on suspicion and presumption.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====19-195=====<br />
''She should in ground unsanctified been lodged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====19-196=====<br />
''Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,''<br />
<br />
''last trumpet'' - the trumpet that will sound on Judgment Day.<br />
<br />
''For'' - in place of; instead of.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====19-197=====<br />
''{Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.''<br />
<br />
''{Sharp}'' - is an editorial change, by me.<br />
<br />
The Second Quarto publication of ''Hamlet'' has no word before ''flints,'' and the First Folio has "Shardes," which would be "shards" in modern spelling. However, in a search of the Shakespeare canon, I find that Shakespeare never used the word "shards" in that way in any other of his writing.<br />
<br />
The three other uses of "shard" or a form of it are:<br />
<br />
Antony and Cleopatra [III, 2]: "They are his shards, and he their beetle."<br />
<br />
Cymbeline [III, 3]: "The sharded beetle..."<br />
<br />
Macbeth [III, 2]: "The shard-borne beetle..."<br />
<br />
In all other appearances of "shard" in the Shakespeare canon it is used to mean the elytron (wing case) of a beetle.<br />
<br />
I do not find the word "shards" credible in this speech in ''Hamlet,'' where it is apparently supposed to mean "potshards." One could contend that Shakespeare used "shards" in such a way just this once, but that is to argue that the word is right just because it's there, and I can't accept that in the face of the other usages.<br />
<br />
I think the Folio editor misread "sharp," perhaps because he was dealing with faded 20-year old manuscript. If the word were "sharp" it would be entirely credible, with no hesitation. "Sharp" goes perfectly with ''flints,'' it provides an instance for the Edge Motif, and it leaves ''flints and pebbles'' as the kind of conjunction of nouns which is a characteristic of Shakespeare's style. So, I have changed the word, against the direct evidence of the First Folio "Shardes." My only defense, for this offense, is that it is my best judgment. I do not think the Folio is right.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#197|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-198=====<br />
''Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,''<br />
<br />
''crants'' - wreaths.<br />
<br />
The word ''crants'' sounds like the last syllable in the name "Rosencrantz," a name which means "rose crown." By that, based on the sound, one can hear ''crants'' as "crown," and the line becomes, "she is allowed her virgin crown."<br />
<br />
The idea of a "virgin crown" was a powerful one in the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====19-199=====<br />
''Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====19-200=====<br />
''Of bell and burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====19-201=====<br />
''Laertes: Must there no more be done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====19-202=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====19-203=====<br />
''We should profane the service of the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====19-204=====<br />
''To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====19-205=====<br />
''As to peace-parted souls.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====19-206=====<br />
''Laertes: Lay her in the earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====19-207=====<br />
''And from her fair and unpolluted flesh''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====19-208=====<br />
[[File:Viola_odorata.jpg|right|violet]]<br />
''May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is initiating a myth here, in the classical tradition. In mythology, various persons were turned into flowers, notably Narcissus. Here, Shakespeare turns Ophelia into violets.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====19-209=====<br />
''A ministering angel shall my sister be''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====19-210=====<br />
''When thou liest howling.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====19-211=====<br />
''Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====19-212=====<br />
''Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====19-213=====<br />
''I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====19-214=====<br />
''I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====19-215=====<br />
''And not have strewed thy grave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====19-216=====<br />
''Laertes: Oh, treble woe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====19-217=====<br />
''Fall ten times double on that cursed head,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====19-218=====<br />
''Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====19-219=====<br />
''Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220=====<br />
''Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes jumps into the excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-221=====<br />
''Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====19-222=====<br />
''Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]]<br />
<br />
=====19-223=====<br />
''To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====19-224=====<br />
''Of blue Olympus.''<br />
<br />
''Blue'' because of the altitude.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====19-225=====<br />
''Hamlet: What is he whose grief''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====19-226=====<br />
''Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====19-227=====<br />
''Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====19-228=====<br />
''Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229=====<br />
''Hamlet the Dane!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-230=====<br />
''Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====19-231=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====19-232=====<br />
''From my throat.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====19-233=====<br />
''For, though I am not splenative and rash,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====19-234=====<br />
''Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====19-235=====<br />
''Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====19-236=====<br />
''Claudius: Pluck them asunder.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#236]]<br />
<br />
=====19-237=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#237]]<br />
<br />
=====19-238=====<br />
''All: Gentlemen!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#238]]<br />
<br />
=====19-239=====<br />
''Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#239]]<br />
<br />
=====19-240=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#240]]<br />
<br />
=====19-241=====<br />
''Until my eyelids will no longer wag.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#241]]<br />
<br />
=====19-242=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#242]]<br />
<br />
=====19-243=====<br />
''Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#243]]<br />
<br />
=====19-244=====<br />
''Could not, with all their quantity of love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#244]]<br />
<br />
=====19-245=====<br />
''Make up my sum.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#245]]<br />
<br />
=====19-246=====<br />
''(to Laertes): What wilt thou do for her?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#246]]<br />
<br />
=====19-247=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, he is mad, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#247]]<br />
<br />
=====19-248=====<br />
''Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#248]]<br />
<br />
=====19-249=====<br />
''Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#249]]<br />
<br />
=====19-250=====<br />
''Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#250]]<br />
<br />
=====19-251=====<br />
[[File:Paradin crocodile.jpg|right|crocodile, 1591]]<br />
''Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?''<br />
<br />
''eisel'' - vinegar.<br />
<br />
''crocodile'' - a notoriously savage creature, as known in Shakespeare's England. The idea of "crocodile tears" was also known, and there is an accusation of insincerity in Hamlet's lines to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the kind of stunts an immature young man might perform, to try to be impressive, and likewise, the kind of pledges he might make, to try to impress. "I'd climb the highest mountain for you, I'd swim the deepest river for you, I'd drink a gallon of vinegar for you, I'd eat a crocodile for you!" That sort of thing. One often does not expect the stunt to really be performed, it's the thought that counts.<br />
<br />
Ophelia is beyond being impressed by any such pronouncement.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#251]]<br />
<br />
=====19-252=====<br />
''I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#252]]<br />
<br />
=====19-253=====<br />
''To outface me with leaping in her grave?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#253]]<br />
<br />
=====19-254=====<br />
''Be buried quick with her, and so will I!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#254]]<br />
<br />
=====19-255=====<br />
''And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#255]]<br />
<br />
=====19-256=====<br />
''Millions of acres on us, till our ground,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#256]]<br />
<br />
=====19-257=====<br />
''Singeing his pate against the burning zone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#257]]<br />
<br />
=====19-258=====<br />
''Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#258]]<br />
<br />
=====19-259=====<br />
''I'll rant as well as thou.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#259]]<br />
<br />
=====19-260=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is mere madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#260]]<br />
<br />
=====19-261=====<br />
''And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#261]]<br />
<br />
=====19-262=====<br />
''Anon, as patient as the female dove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#262]]<br />
<br />
=====19-263=====<br />
''When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#263]]<br />
<br />
=====19-264=====<br />
''His silence will sit drooping.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#264]]<br />
<br />
=====19-265=====<br />
''Hamlet: Hear you, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#265]]<br />
<br />
=====19-266=====<br />
''What is the reason that you use me thus?''<br />
<br />
Since Hamlet knows his killing of Polonius was accidental, he supposes everyone knows that. However, they do not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#266]]<br />
<br />
=====19-267=====<br />
''I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#267]]<br />
<br />
=====19-268=====<br />
''Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#268]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269=====<br />
''The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.''<br />
<br />
That is, things will proceed according to their nature.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-270=====<br />
''Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.''<br />
<br />
Claudius is talking to Horatio's back, as he pretends to be, or strives to be, in control.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#270]]<br />
<br />
=====19-271=====<br />
''(to Laertes): Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#271]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272=====<br />
''We'll put the matter to the present push.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-273=====<br />
''Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.''<br />
<br />
Again, Claudius is trying to retain control, but he is talking to Gertrude's back.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#273]]<br />
<br />
=====19-274=====<br />
''This grave shall have a living monument;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#274]]<br />
<br />
=====19-275=====<br />
''An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#275]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276=====<br />
''Till then, in patience our proceeding be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit; the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_19
Scene 19
2018-02-12T03:31:51Z
<p>Administrator: /* 19-063 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
At the Graveyard, the coroner's court Deputy has already informed the Sexton of the court's decision. As the Scene begins, we find the Sexton arguing with the Deputy. The Clown Sexton asserts that Ophelia killed herself, and he questions whether she deserves Christian burial. After wasting a lot of time giving the Deputy a hard time, the Sexton begins digging. The Deputy, having done his duty for the court, leaves.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and Horatio enter. They discuss the Sexton's behavior and the grave, then Hamlet speaks to the Sexton. Hamlet and the Sexton engage in some repartee. Hamlet says the famous "poor Yorick" speech.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's funeral procession approaches. Hamlet and Horatio hide to watch, wondering whose funeral it is.<br />
<br />
Laertes argues with the Doctor of Divinity who's conducting the service and, carried away, jumps down into the grave excavation. Hamlet, having learned it's Ophelia's funeral, and outraged by Laertes's behavior, jumps into the grave excavation to confront him. They're separated after a brief scuffle.<br />
<br />
Hamlet exits, followed by Horatio. Claudius draws Laertes aside, reminds him of their fencing match scheme to kill Hamlet, and says they'll proceed with that right away.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 19 Characters are: [[Clown Sexton]], [[Clown Deputy]], [[Hamlet]], [[Horatio]], [[Laertes]], [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Gertrude]], [[Claudius]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"<br />
| Hamlet and Horatio entry [[#056-SD]], || "poor Yorick" speech [[#155]], || funeral procession entry [[#182-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
| Hamlet jumps into grave [[#229-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 19</b> [ ~ Poor Yorick ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 5 Scene 1)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
The Graveyard;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-001]]<span id="001"></span> Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is she to have a Christian burial, when she intentionally''</span><br />
[[#19-002]]<span id="002"></span> seeks her own salvation?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''seeks her own path to Heaven?''</span><br />
[[#19-003]]<span id="003"></span> Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I tell you she is, so make her grave properly. The''</span><br />
[[#19-004]]<span id="004"></span> crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''coroner has sat in judgment on her case, and his verdict is for a Christian burial.''</span><br />
[[#19-005]]<span id="005"></span> Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''</span><br />
[[#19-006]]<span id="006"></span> defense?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''defense?''</span><br />
[[#19-007]]<span id="007"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, it is adjudged so.''</span><br />
[[#19-008]]<span id="008"></span> Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It must be a legal technicality, it can't be otherwise, because, here's the''</span><br />
[[#19-009]]<span id="009"></span> point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''point: if I drown myself intentionally it's an act, and an act has''</span><br />
[[#19-010]]<span id="010"></span> three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her<br />
<span style="color:gray">''three branches, which are to act, to do, to perform, or all of those, ergo she''</span><br />
[[#19-011]]<span id="011"></span> self wittingly.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''drowned herself intentionally.''</span><br />
[[#19-012]]<span id="012"></span> Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but listen, good man digger . . .''</span><br />
[[#19-013]]<span id="013"></span> Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water, good; here stands the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me continue. Here is the water, okay, and here stands a''</span><br />
[[#19-014]]<span id="014"></span> man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man, very well, now, if the man goes to the water and drowns himself it is''</span><br />
[[#19-015]]<span id="015"></span> he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''willy-nilly he goes, be sure of that. But if the water comes to him and''</span><br />
[[#19-016]]<span id="016"></span> drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' drowns him, he doesn't drown himself, ergo, he who is not guilty of''</span><br />
[[#19-017]]<span id="017"></span> his own death, shortens not his own life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his own death, doesn't shorten his own life.''</span><br />
[[#19-018]]<span id="018"></span> Clown Deputy: But is this law?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But is this the law?''</span><br />
[[#19-019]]<span id="019"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, indeed! It's coroner's inquest law.''</span><br />
[[#19-020]]<span id="020"></span> Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you want the truth about it? Had she not been a gentlewoman''</span><br />
[[#19-021]]<span id="021"></span> she should have been buried out of Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''she would have been buried without Christian ceremony.''</span><br />
[[#19-022]]<span id="022"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, you have said it there. And more's the pity that high-status people''</span><br />
[[#19-023]]<span id="023"></span> should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''should have permission in this world to drown or hang themselves,''</span><br />
[[#19-024]]<span id="024"></span> more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient<br />
<span style="color:gray">''moreso than equally-Christian others. Hand me my spade. There are no ancestral''</span><br />
[[#19-025]]<span id="025"></span> gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''gentlemen except gardeners, ditchers, and gravediggers - they sustain''</span><br />
[[#19-026]]<span id="026"></span> up Adam's profession.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adam's profession.''</span><br />
[[#19-027]]<span id="027"></span> Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was Adam a gentleman?''</span><br />
[[#19-028]]<span id="028"></span> Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was the first to ever bear arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-029]]<span id="029"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, he had no such arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-030]]<span id="030"></span> Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What, are you a heathen? How do you understand''</span><br />
[[#19-031]]<span id="031"></span> the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the Bible? The Bible says Adam digged -''</span><br />
[[#19-032]]<span id="032"></span> could he dig without arms?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''could he dig without arms?''</span><br />
[[#19-033]]<span id="033"></span> I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll put another question to you, and if you can't answer it''</span><br />
[[#19-034]]<span id="034"></span> purpose, confess thyself.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''properly, admit that I've got you.''</span><br />
[[#19-035]]<span id="035"></span> Clown Deputy: Go to.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead.''</span><br />
[[#19-036]]<span id="036"></span> Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the man who builds stronger than either a mason, a''</span><br />
[[#19-037]]<span id="037"></span> shipwright, or the carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shipwright, or a carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-038]]<span id="038"></span> Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The gallows maker, because what he builds outlasts a thousand occupants.''</span><br />
[[#19-039]]<span id="039"></span> Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I like your cleverness well. Indeed, "the gallows" is an answer that does well -''</span><br />
[[#19-040]]<span id="040"></span> but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but how does it do well? The gallows does well to those who do ill. Now you''</span><br />
[[#19-041]]<span id="041"></span> dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, ergo,''</span><br />
[[#19-042]]<span id="042"></span> the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the gallows might do you well. Try again, come on.''</span><br />
[[#19-043]]<span id="043"></span> Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''</span><br />
[[#19-044]]<span id="044"></span> carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-045]]<span id="045"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, tell me the answer, and your job is done.''</span><br />
[[#19-046]]<span id="046"></span> Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, now I know.''</span><br />
[[#19-047]]<span id="047"></span> Clown Sexton: To it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's hear it.''</span><br />
[[#19-048]]<span id="048"></span> Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-049]]<span id="049"></span> Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't beat your brain any more about it, since a slow jackass will''</span><br />
[[#19-050]]<span id="050"></span> not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not go faster if you beat it. When you're asked this question,''</span><br />
[[#19-051]]<span id="051"></span> next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''next time, say "a gravemaker," because the "houses" he makes last until doomsday.''</span><br />
[[#19-052]]<span id="052"></span> Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor. [[#19-052-SD]]<span id="052-SD"></span> (points in the direction of the church;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, go in there, and fetch me a mug of wine.''</span> the Clown Deputy exits)<br />
[[#19-053]]<span id="053"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In my youth when I did love, did love,''</span><br />
[[#19-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought it was very sweet,''</span><br />
[[#19-055]]<span id="055"></span> To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To take the time for all I pleased,''</span><br />
[[#19-056]]<span id="056"></span> Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I thought there was nothing as fit and proper.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio enter)<br />
<br />
[[#19-057]]<span id="057"></span> Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Doesn't this fellow have any feeling for what he's doing? He's singing while''</span><br />
[[#19-058]]<span id="058"></span> grave making.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''digging a grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-059]]<span id="059"></span> Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's so used to it, it doesn't bother him.''</span><br />
[[#19-060]]<span id="060"></span> Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So it is. A hand not callused by hard work is more easily impressed.''</span><br />
[[#19-061]]<span id="061"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But age, with its stealthy steps,''</span><br />
[[#19-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''has caught me in its clutches''</span><br />
[[#19-063]]<span id="063"></span> ''And hath shipped me intill the land,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has shipped me to the land of no return''</span><br />
[[#19-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''as if I had never been such.'' [[#19-064-SD]]<span id="064-SD"></span> (tosses out a skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as if I had never been a youth.''</span><br />
[[#19-065]]<span id="065"></span> Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That skull once had a tongue in it, and could sing. Look how the''</span><br />
[[#19-066]]<span id="066"></span> knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''knave tosses it on the ground, as if it were the jawbone of Cain, who did the''</span><br />
[[#19-067]]<span id="067"></span> first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now<br />
<span style="color:gray">''first murder. It might be the head of a politician, whom this jackass now''</span><br />
[[#19-068]]<span id="068"></span> o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''outranks - one who hoped to outwit God, might it not be?''</span><br />
[[#19-069]]<span id="069"></span> Horatio: It might, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It might be, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-070]]<span id="070"></span> Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, that of a courtier, who could say, "Good morning, sweet Lord,''</span><br />
[[#19-071]]<span id="071"></span> how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''how are you, sweet Lord?" It might be Lord So-and-so, who once''</span><br />
[[#19-072]]<span id="072"></span> praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''praised my Lord Whoever's horse when he hoped to borrow it, might it not?''</span><br />
[[#19-073]]<span id="073"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-074]]<span id="074"></span> Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so, and now it's Lady Worm's - jawless, and knocked''</span><br />
[[#19-075]]<span id="075"></span> about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''around in the grave excavation with a sexton's spade. Here's a fine turn of events, and''</span><br />
[[#19-076]]<span id="076"></span> we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''we had the luck to see it. Were these bones worth no more in bearing, rearing, and educating them,''</span><br />
[[#19-077]]<span id="077"></span> but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''than to play games with them? My bones ache as I think about it.''</span><br />
[[#19-078]]<span id="078"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''</span><br />
[[#19-079]]<span id="079"></span> ''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and also a shrouding sheet,''</span><br />
[[#19-080]]<span id="080"></span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-081]]<span id="081"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.'' [[#19-081-SD]]<span id="081-SD"></span> (tosses out another skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-082]]<span id="082"></span> Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's another one! Why, couldn't that be the skull of a lawyer?''</span><br />
[[#19-083]]<span id="083"></span> Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where are his various legal technicalities now, his cases, his terms, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-084]]<span id="084"></span> tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about<br />
<span style="color:gray">''legal tricks? Why does he tolerate that this cross knave can now knock him about''</span><br />
[[#19-085]]<span id="085"></span> the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the head with a dirty shovel, and will not inform him that he has been sued''</span><br />
[[#19-086]]<span id="086"></span> of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for battery? Hmm, this fellow might have been, in his time, a great buyer of''</span><br />
[[#19-087]]<span id="087"></span> land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land, with his statutory bonds, his personal bonds, his fines, his double vouchers, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-088]]<span id="088"></span> recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lawsuits. Is this the finality of his fines, and the attainment of his attainments -''</span><br />
[[#19-089]]<span id="089"></span> to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to have his fine head full of fine dirt, and will vouchers''</span><br />
[[#19-090]]<span id="090"></span> vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length<br />
<span style="color:gray">''vouch him no more land out of his purchases and doubles, than the length''</span><br />
[[#19-091]]<span id="091"></span> and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and width of a pair of contract indentures? All his paperwork for his''</span><br />
[[#19-092]]<span id="092"></span> lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lands would barely fit inside his grave plot, but is the only land he's''</span><br />
[[#19-093]]<span id="093"></span> no more? Ha.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ended up occupying just the size of his own grave? Ha!''</span><br />
[[#19-094]]<span id="094"></span> Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not a bit more than that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-095]]<span id="095"></span> Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Isn't parchment made of sheepskin?''</span><br />
[[#19-096]]<span id="096"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord, and of calfskin, too.''</span><br />
[[#19-097]]<span id="097"></span> Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Persons are only sheep and calves when they look for certainty in''</span><br />
[[#19-098]]<span id="098"></span> that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land deeds. I'll talk to the fellow. Whose grave is this, sirrah?''</span><br />
[[#19-099]]<span id="099"></span> Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's mine, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-100]]<span id="100"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-101]]<span id="101"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-102]]<span id="102"></span> Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I think it must be your grave, indeed, because you're lying in it.''</span><br />
[[#19-103]]<span id="103"></span> Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're lying out of it, sir, so it can't be yours. As for me, I''</span><br />
[[#19-104]]<span id="104"></span> do not lie in it, yet it is mine.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do not lie in it, but yet, it is mine.''</span><br />
[[#19-105]]<span id="105"></span> Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You do lie in it, to be in it and say it's yours - it's for the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-106]]<span id="106"></span> not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not for the living, therefore, you lie.''</span><br />
[[#19-107]]<span id="107"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a quick lie, sir, because it will quickly go again from me to you.''</span><br />
[[#19-108]]<span id="108"></span> Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What man do you dig it for?''</span><br />
[[#19-109]]<span id="109"></span> Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no man, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-110]]<span id="110"></span> Hamlet: What woman, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What woman, then?''</span><br />
[[#19-111]]<span id="111"></span> Clown Sexton: For none, neither.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no woman, either.''</span><br />
[[#19-112]]<span id="112"></span> Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who's to be buried in it?''</span><br />
[[#19-113]]<span id="113"></span> Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One who was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''</span><br />
[[#19-114]]<span id="114"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How impertinent the knave is. We must speak according to the script, or''</span><br />
[[#19-115]]<span id="115"></span> equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ambiguity will be our downfall. By Lord, Horatio, during these three years since we met, I''</span><br />
[[#19-116]]<span id="116"></span> have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''have taken notice of it: the times have become so socially jumbled, that the toe of the''</span><br />
[[#19-117]]<span id="117"></span> peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kybe.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''peasant walks so close on the heel of the courtier, he chafes his chilblain.''</span><br />
[[#19-118]]<span id="118"></span> <span style="color:gray">(resumes):</span> How long hast thou been gravemaker?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long have you been a gravemaker?''</span><br />
[[#19-119]]<span id="119"></span> Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of the dates in the year, I began this job on the date that our late King,''</span><br />
[[#19-120]]<span id="120"></span> Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, defeated Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#19-121]]<span id="121"></span> Hamlet: How long is that since?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long ago was that?''</span><br />
[[#19-122]]<span id="122"></span> Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you know? Any fool could answer that question. It was the''</span><br />
[[#19-123]]<span id="123"></span> very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into<br />
<span style="color:gray">''very same date that young Hamlet was born - he who is mad and has been sent to''</span><br />
[[#19-124]]<span id="124"></span> England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''England.''</span><br />
[[#19-125]]<span id="125"></span> Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, goodness, why was he sent to England?''</span><br />
[[#19-126]]<span id="126"></span> Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why? Because he was mad. He'll recover his wits there, or if''</span><br />
[[#19-127]]<span id="127"></span> he do not, 'tis no great matter there.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''he doesn't, it won't matter much there.''</span><br />
[[#19-128]]<span id="128"></span> Hamlet: Why?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why not?''</span><br />
[[#19-129]]<span id="129"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It won't be noticed in him there, because there, all the men are as crazy''</span><br />
[[#19-130]]<span id="130"></span> as he.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as he is.''</span><br />
[[#19-131]]<span id="131"></span> Hamlet: How came he mad?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How did he become mad?''</span><br />
[[#19-132]]<span id="132"></span> Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very strangely, they say.''</span><br />
[[#19-133]]<span id="133"></span> Hamlet: How strangely?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How strangely?''</span><br />
[[#19-134]]<span id="134"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, he went mad by losing his mind.''</span><br />
[[#19-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet: Upon what ground?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But upon what grounds?''</span><br />
[[#19-136]]<span id="136"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, here in Denmark. I have been sixteen years here, a man''</span><br />
[[#19-137]]<span id="137"></span> and boy thirty years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and boy for thirty years.''</span><br />
[[#19-138]]<span id="138"></span> Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long will a man lie in the earth before he rots?''</span><br />
[[#19-139]]<span id="139"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, if he isn't already rotten before he dies, (and we get many''</span><br />
[[#19-140]]<span id="140"></span> pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''diseased corpses now that will hardly hold together,) a body will last some eight''</span><br />
[[#19-141]]<span id="141"></span> year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''years, or nine years. A tanner will last for nine years.''</span><br />
[[#19-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet: Why he more then another?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why will his body last longer than another?''</span><br />
[[#19-143]]<span id="143"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, sir, his own hide is so tanned from his occupation, that it will keep''</span><br />
[[#19-144]]<span id="144"></span> out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson<br />
<span style="color:gray">''water out a long time, and water is a severe decayer of your bastard''</span><br />
[[#19-145]]<span id="145"></span> dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''dead body. Now, here's a skull that has lain for you in the earth for 23 years.''</span><br />
[[#19-146]]<span id="146"></span> Hamlet: Whose was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose was it?''</span><br />
[[#19-147]]<span id="147"></span> Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A bastard mad fellow's, it was! Whose do you suppose it was?''</span><br />
[[#19-148]]<span id="148"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-149]]<span id="149"></span> Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A plague on him as a mad rogue! He poured a mug of''</span><br />
[[#19-150]]<span id="150"></span> Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rhenish wine over my head once. This exact skull, sir - this same one - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''</span><br />
[[#19-151]]<span id="151"></span> King's Jester.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''King's jester.''</span><br />
[[#19-152]]<span id="152"></span> Hamlet: This?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That?''</span><br />
[[#19-153]]<span id="153"></span> Clown Sexton: Even that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exactly that.''</span><br />
[[#19-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Let me see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me see it.''</span><br />
[[#19-155]]<span id="155"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, poor Yoricke. I knew him, Horatio, he was a fellow of endless''</span><br />
[[#19-156]]<span id="156"></span> jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''jests, of most excellent whimsy. He carried me aboard his back a thousand''</span><br />
[[#19-157]]<span id="157"></span> times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''times, and now how abhorrent to my thoughts this skull is. I feel nauseous''</span><br />
[[#19-158]]<span id="158"></span> rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how<br />
<span style="color:gray">''looking at it. Here were those lips that I once kissed, I don't know how''</span><br />
[[#19-159]]<span id="159"></span> often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''often. Where is your teasing, now? Your frolicking, your songs, your bursts''</span><br />
[[#19-160]]<span id="160"></span> of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of merriment, that would make everyone at the table laugh out loud? No one,''</span><br />
[[#19-161]]<span id="161"></span> now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you [[#19-161-SD]]<span id="161-SD"></span> (drops the skull into the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''now, to ape your own grinning? - very down at the mouth. Now, go''</span> grave excavation)<br />
[[#19-162]]<span id="162"></span> to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to my lady's dressing room, and tell her: put her makeup on an inch thick, this kindness is''</span><br />
[[#19-163]]<span id="163"></span> she must come; make her laugh at that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what she must come to, and make her laugh at that.''</span><br />
[[#19-164]]<span id="164"></span> Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, Horatio, tell me one thing.''</span><br />
[[#19-165]]<span id="165"></span> Horatio: What's that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#19-166]]<span id="166"></span> Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you think, Alexander the Great, did he look this way in the earth?''</span><br />
[[#19-167]]<span id="167"></span> Horatio: Even so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so.''</span><br />
[[#19-168]]<span id="168"></span> Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And smelled like this? P. U.''</span><br />
[[#19-169]]<span id="169"></span> Horatio: Even so, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even so, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-170]]<span id="170"></span> Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To what crude uses might we return, Horatio? Why can't''</span><br />
[[#19-171]]<span id="171"></span> imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping<br />
<span style="color:gray">''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, until we find it plugging''</span><br />
[[#19-172]]<span id="172"></span> a bunghole?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a cask?''</span><br />
[[#19-173]]<span id="173"></span> Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be to contemplate too meticulously, to contemplate like that.''</span><br />
[[#19-174]]<span id="174"></span> Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, goodness, not a bit. Only, to follow him there with humility''</span><br />
[[#19-175]]<span id="175"></span> enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was<br />
<span style="color:gray">''enough, and probability to lead the way, like so: Alexander died, Alexander was''</span><br />
[[#19-176]]<span id="176"></span> buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we<br />
<span style="color:gray">''buried, Alexander returned to the dust, the dust is earth, out of earth we''</span><br />
[[#19-177]]<span id="177"></span> make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might<br />
<span style="color:gray">''make loam, so why couldn't that loam into which Alexander was converted''</span><br />
[[#19-178]]<span id="178"></span> they not stop a beer-barrel?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''be used to make a plug for a beer barrel?''</span><br />
[[#19-179]]<span id="179"></span> <span style="color:gray">(recites):</span> ''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned into clay,''</span><br />
[[#19-180]]<span id="180"></span> ''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might plug a hole to keep the draft away.''</span><br />
[[#19-181]]<span id="181"></span> ''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, that that flesh which held the world in awe''</span><br />
[[#19-182]]<span id="182"></span> ''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should patch a wall to keep out the winter's flurry.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-182-SD]]<span id="182-SD"></span> (Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse;<br />
Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners;<br />
the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#19-183]]<span id="183"></span> But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But hush, let's move quietly away, here comes the King, and''</span><br />
[[#19-184]]<span id="184"></span> The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Queen, the courtiers . . . whose body do they follow?''</span><br />
[[#19-185]]<span id="185"></span> And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And with such deficient rites? This indicates,''</span><br />
[[#19-186]]<span id="186"></span> The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The corpse they follow did, with a desperate hand,''</span><br />
[[#19-187]]<span id="187"></span> Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take its own life. It was of some high social status.''</span><br />
[[#19-188]]<span id="188"></span> Couch we a while, and mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's lie here a while and watch.''</span><br />
[[#19-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony, in addition to this?''</span><br />
[[#19-190]]<span id="190"></span> Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That is Laertes, a very noble youth, notice.''</span><br />
[[#19-191]]<span id="191"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony in addition?''</span><br />
[[#19-192]]<span id="192"></span> Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her funeral rites have been elaborated as far''</span><br />
[[#19-193]]<span id="193"></span> As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we have religious authority. Her death was suspicious,''</span><br />
[[#19-194]]<span id="194"></span> And but that great command o'er-sways the order,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And except that a royal command has overruled religious directives,''</span><br />
[[#19-195]]<span id="195"></span> She should in ground unsanctified been lodged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She would, in unblessed ground, have been housed''</span><br />
[[#19-196]]<span id="196"></span> Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until Judgment Day. Instead of charitable prayers,''</span><br />
[[#19-197]]<span id="197"></span> {Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sharp flints and pebbles would be thrown on her.''</span><br />
[[#19-198]]<span id="198"></span> Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, here she is privileged to have her virgin crown wreaths,''</span><br />
[[#19-199]]<span id="199"></span> Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her maidenly flowers, and the escort to her final place of rest''</span><br />
[[#19-200]]<span id="200"></span> Of bell and burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the church bell, and Christian burial services.''</span><br />
[[#19-201]]<span id="201"></span> Laertes: Must there no more be done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Must there be no more done than this?''</span><br />
[[#19-202]]<span id="202"></span> Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more can be done.''</span><br />
[[#19-203]]<span id="203"></span> We should profane the service of the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We would desecrate the service for the dead, itself,''</span><br />
[[#19-204]]<span id="204"></span> To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If we chanted the solemn requiem, and that kind of repose to her,''</span><br />
[[#19-205]]<span id="205"></span> As to peace-parted souls.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we do for peacefully-departed souls.''</span><br />
[[#19-206]]<span id="206"></span> Laertes: Lay her in the earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Place her body in the earth,''</span><br />
[[#19-207]]<span id="207"></span> And from her fair and unpolluted flesh<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And from her beautiful and pure remains''</span><br />
[[#19-208]]<span id="208"></span> May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May violets abound. I tell you, stingy priest,''</span><br />
[[#19-209]]<span id="209"></span> A ministering angel shall my sister be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A ministering angel is what my sister shall be''</span><br />
[[#19-210]]<span id="210"></span> When thou liest howling.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When you lie down below wailing.''</span><br />
[[#19-211]]<span id="211"></span> Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What? The lovely Ophelia?!''</span><br />
[[#19-212]]<span id="212"></span> Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#19-213]]<span id="213"></span> I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hoped you would have been my Hamlet's wife.''</span><br />
[[#19-214]]<span id="214"></span> I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought I'd be decorating your bridal bed with flowers, sweet maiden,''</span><br />
[[#19-215]]<span id="215"></span> And not have strewed thy grave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And not be scattering them on your grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-216]]<span id="216"></span> Laertes: Oh, treble woe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, may three times as much sorrow''</span><br />
[[#19-217]]<span id="217"></span> Fall ten times double on that cursed head,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fall ten times, doubly, down on that accursed head, of he''</span><br />
[[#19-218]]<span id="218"></span> Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose evil deed, your most sensible rationality''</span><br />
[[#19-219]]<span id="219"></span> Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Took from thee. Don't fill in the grave for a while,''</span><br />
[[#19-220]]<span id="220"></span> Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. [[#19-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Laertes jumps into the excavation)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until I have hugged her, once more, in my arms!''</span><br />
[[#19-221]]<span id="221"></span> Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Now pile the dirt on both the living and the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-222]]<span id="222"></span> Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until, out of this flatland, you've made a mountain''</span><br />
[[#19-223]]<span id="223"></span> To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's higher than ancient Mount Pelion, or the lofty peak''</span><br />
[[#19-224]]<span id="224"></span> Of blue Olympus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of blue Mount Olympus.''</span><br />
[[#19-225]]<span id="225"></span> Hamlet: What is he whose grief<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is he, whose grief''</span><br />
[[#19-226]]<span id="226"></span> Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Carries such an emphasis on himself, whose expression of "sorrow"''</span><br />
[[#19-227]]<span id="227"></span> Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Calls out to the wandering stars, and makes them stop''</span><br />
[[#19-228]]<span id="228"></span> Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like what they hear has wounded their ears with astonishment? It is I,''</span><br />
[[#19-229]]<span id="229"></span> Hamlet the Dane!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, the Dane!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-229-SD]]<span id="229-SD"></span> (Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)<br />
<br />
[[#19-230]]<span id="230"></span> Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Devil take your soul!''</span><br />
[[#19-231]]<span id="231"></span> Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You don't pray properly. I pray you remove your fingers''</span><br />
[[#19-232]]<span id="232"></span> From my throat.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From my throat.''</span><br />
[[#19-233]]<span id="233"></span> For, though I am not splenative and rash,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, although I am not quick to anger,''</span><br />
[[#19-234]]<span id="234"></span> Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, I do have within me something hazardous''</span><br />
[[#19-235]]<span id="235"></span> Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, if you're smart, you'll fear. Take away your hand.''</span><br />
[[#19-236]]<span id="236"></span> Claudius: Pluck them asunder.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pull them apart!''</span><br />
[[#19-237]]<span id="237"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, Hamlet!''</span><br />
[[#19-238]]<span id="238"></span> All: Gentlemen!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gentlemen!''</span><br />
[[#19-239]]<span id="239"></span> Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good my Lord, be still!''</span><br />
[[#19-240]]<span id="240"></span> Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, I will fight with him, from this motive,''</span><br />
[[#19-241]]<span id="241"></span> Until my eyelids will no longer wag.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the last twitch of my eyelids.''</span><br />
[[#19-242]]<span id="242"></span> Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, my son, what motive?''</span><br />
[[#19-243]]<span id="243"></span> Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved Ophelia. Any huge number of brothers''</span><br />
[[#19-244]]<span id="244"></span> Could not, with all their quantity of love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not, even adding together all their love,''</span><br />
[[#19-245]]<span id="245"></span> Make up my sum.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Equal my love for her.''</span><br />
[[#19-246]]<span id="246"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> What wilt thou do for her?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What will you do for her now?''</span><br />
[[#19-247]]<span id="247"></span> Claudius: Oh, he ''is'' mad, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See, he is mad, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#19-248]]<span id="248"></span> Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For God's sake, shut your mouth about my son!''</span><br />
[[#19-249]]<span id="249"></span> Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By God, show me what you'll do!''</span><br />
[[#19-250]]<span id="250"></span> Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you weep, fight, starve yourself, tear your own flesh,''</span><br />
[[#19-251]]<span id="251"></span> Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you gulp down vinegar, eat a crocodile?''</span><br />
[[#19-252]]<span id="252"></span> I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will if you do! Did you come here to whine?''</span><br />
[[#19-253]]<span id="253"></span> To outface me with leaping in her grave?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To outdo me, by leaping into her grave?''</span><br />
[[#19-254]]<span id="254"></span> Be buried quick with her, and so will I!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be buried alive with her, well so will I!''</span><br />
[[#19-255]]<span id="255"></span> And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And if you want to prate about mountains, let them throw''</span><br />
[[#19-256]]<span id="256"></span> Millions of acres on us, till our ground,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Millions of acres of land on us, until this ground,''</span><br />
[[#19-257]]<span id="257"></span> Singeing his pate against the burning zone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Singeing its top against the sphere of fire,''</span><br />
[[#19-258]]<span id="258"></span> Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Makes Mount Ossa look small as a wart! Further, if you're going to be so mouthy,''</span><br />
[[#19-259]]<span id="259"></span> I'll rant as well as thou.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll rant as well as you do!''</span><br />
[[#19-260]]<span id="260"></span> Gertrude: This is mere madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is only a tantrum,</span><br />
[[#19-261]]<span id="261"></span> And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And like that, for a while, the outburst will have its effect on him.''</span><br />
[[#19-262]]<span id="262"></span> Anon, as patient as the female dove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Wait patiently - like the female dove''</span><br />
[[#19-263]]<span id="263"></span> When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until her golden chicks are hatched -''</span><br />
[[#19-264]]<span id="264"></span> His silence will sit drooping.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then he will sit drooping in silence.''</span><br />
[[#19-265]]<span id="265"></span> Hamlet: Hear you, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You listen to me, sir -''</span><br />
[[#19-266]]<span id="266"></span> What is the reason that you use me thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you treat me like this?''</span><br />
[[#19-267]]<span id="267"></span> I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I always liked you. But it doesn't matter.''</span><br />
[[#19-268]]<span id="268"></span> Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No matter what even the most mighty person does, or wants to do,''</span><br />
[[#19-269]]<span id="269"></span> The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even a lowly cat will still meow, and a dog will have his day in the sun.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-269-SD]]<span id="269-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio exit)<br />
<br />
[[#19-270]]<span id="270"></span> Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, good Horatio, attend him.''</span><br />
[[#19-271]]<span id="271"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be more patient, by recalling what we talked about last night.''</span><br />
[[#19-272]]<span id="272"></span> We'll put the matter to the present push. [[#19-272-SD]]<span id="272-SD"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll press ahead with that subject right away.''</span><br />
[[#19-273]]<span id="273"></span> Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Gertrude, have somebody keep an eye on your son.''</span><br />
[[#19-274]]<span id="274"></span> This grave shall have a living monument;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This grave will have an enduring memorial.''</span><br />
[[#19-275]]<span id="275"></span> An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll thereby have a time of peace.''</span><br />
[[#19-276]]<span id="276"></span> Till then, in patience our proceeding be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until then, I'll proceed with patience.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-276-SD]]<span id="276-SD"></span> (Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit;<br />
the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 19<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====19-Setting=====<br />
[[File:St_olai_helsingor.jpg|left|Church of St Olai, Helsingor]]<br />
[[File:Performers_memorial.jpg|right|Performer's Memorial at St Leonard]]<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Graveyard.<br />
<br />
We are at the graveyard by the church in Elsinore Town, the same place where the Ghost led Hamlet in Scene 5.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Late morning.<br />
<br />
Indications are that Ophelia died at dawn, or shortly after. To appease Laertes, Claudius ordered the coroner to act quickly. The coroner promptly returned a verdict of accidental death, and the funeral was arranged immediately. So it is still the same day Ophelia died, and no later than the middle of the day.<br />
<br />
* <b>Weather</b> - Clear and sunny in the early morning when Ophelia was alive, but the day has now turned dark and gloomy.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====19-000-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto clowns entry.jpg|right|The Second Quarto Clowns entry]]<br />
''(a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)''<br />
<br />
In the original Second Quarto publication, the Clowns are called only that at their entry, with no further specification of who they are. Their roles are deduced from their lines in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
The first Clown, who has the speech prefix "Clown" in the original publication, is the church sexton. The second clown, who has the speech prefix "Other," is a coroner's court deputy.<br />
<br />
It is important to be aware that clowns are for amusement. Statements they make are not to be interpreted as objective declarations of fact.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-001=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully''<br />
<br />
''she'' - as events proceed, we will learn they are talking about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====19-002=====<br />
''seeks her own salvation?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====19-003=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the''<br />
<br />
''I tell thee...'' - The Clown Deputy has already told the Clown Sexton at least once, we see.<br />
<br />
''straight'' - straightaway; now (here in the churchyard.) The body of a person who committed suicide would not be allowed burial in the churchyard, in consecrated ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====19-004=====<br />
''crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
''crowner'' - coroner. The word "coroner" is from Latin 'corona' ("crown.") So the Clown Deputy is both wrong, and right, in the way he says it.<br />
<br />
This line identifies the second clown as the Clown Deputy. The character is informing the Clown Sexton of the coroner's decision, so he is therefore the coroner's court deputy assigned that duty. It is a menial task, befitting the least capable man the coroner had available.<br />
<br />
''sat on her'' - heard her case. Sat in judgment of her case. Obviously an inelegant way of expressing it.<br />
<br />
The coroner's verdict is that Ophelia's death was accidental, thus an act of God, and therefore her mortal remains are accorded the privilege of burial in a Christian manner. Queen Gertrude was certainly the primary witness at the coroner's hearing, and we heard, in Scene 18, what she had to say about it. The verdict of accidental death was clearly indicated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====19-005=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''<br />
<br />
''drowned herself'' - we'll see that the Clown Sexton tries to be logical, but he has started out begging the question, that is, with a fallacy called 'petitio principii,' a.k.a. circular reasoning. He has no factual, or rational, reason to say that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====19-006=====<br />
''defense?''<br />
<br />
''(drowned herself in her own) defense'' - is a crackpot notion. Other than offenses, and acts of defense, there are, of course, accidents.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====19-007=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy knows the coroner's court found so, because he's the one dispatched by the court to inform the Sexton. However, he is not equipped to argue the coroner's verdict. The Clown Deputy is not a man educated in the law (nor is the Clown Sexton.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====19-008=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====19-009=====<br />
''point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====19-010=====<br />
''three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her''<br />
<br />
''three branches'' - a pun on "tree branches," the actual proximate cause of Ophelia's death.<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====19-011=====<br />
''self wittingly.''<br />
<br />
''wittingly'' - can be charitably glossed as "intentionally," but it is a poor word choice by the Clown (and a masterful choice by Shakespeare.) The Clown makes it sound like he means "cleverly," as if he's praising such cleverness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====19-012=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .''<br />
<br />
''hear you'' - may remind one of "hear ye, hear ye," the formulaic utterance at court sessions. The Clown Deputy is trying a "hear ye" to get the Clown Sexton's attention.<br />
<br />
''delver'' - digger. Shakespeare did use "delve" figuratively, in ''Cymbeline'' Act 1 scene 1:<br />
<br />
First Gentleman: I cannot delve him to the root: his father <br />
Was call'd Sicilius, ...<br />
<br />
So, it is also possible to take ''delver'' figuratively as "inquirer" or "inquisitor." The Clown Deputy thinks the Clown Sexton is "digging into it" too much. Compare Horatio's remark, later in this Scene, line 173, about considering too curiously.<br />
<br />
''good man delver'' - is patronizing. Digging graves is only an occasional part of the Clown Sexton's job. We will see that the Clown Sexton doesn't like being spoken to as if he were nothing better than a menial laborer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====19-013=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water; good, here stands the''<br />
<br />
''Give me leave'' - give me permission, i.e. let me continue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====19-014=====<br />
''man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====19-015=====<br />
''he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &''<br />
<br />
''(will) he, nill he'' - means the opposite of what the Clown Sexton is trying to say. He's trying to argue intent, but "willy nilly" means haphazardly, regardless of intent. Literally, ''will he, nill he'' means "(whether) he does will, or he does not will." ''Nill'' is an archaic word from Old English 'nylle' ("not to will;" "to be unwilling.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====19-016=====<br />
''drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of''<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====19-017=====<br />
''his own death, shortens not his own life.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====19-018=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: But is this law?''<br />
<br />
A very apt question. Not only is it not law, it isn't even sanity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====19-019=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====19-020=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy has his own personal opinion about this, we see. Not surprising.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====19-021=====<br />
''she should have been buried out of Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====19-022=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====19-023=====<br />
''should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====19-024=====<br />
''more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====19-025=====<br />
''gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====19-026=====<br />
''up Adam's profession.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====19-027=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====19-028=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====19-029=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====19-030=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====19-031=====<br />
''the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;''<br />
<br />
''The Scripture says Adam digged'' - no, the Bible doesn't say that. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====19-032=====<br />
''could he dig without arms?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====19-033=====<br />
''I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====19-034=====<br />
''purpose, confess thyself.''<br />
<br />
There's a droll old saying, "confess, and be hanged." The Clown Deputy thinks of that, and it leads to his guess below.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton probably actually means, "confess you're a fool" / "confess you can be made a fool." In the dialogue, I use just the simple paraphrase, "admit I've got you," which is near the point.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====19-035=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Go to.''<br />
<br />
Go ahead / get to it / let's hear it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====19-036=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the''<br />
<br />
''mason'' - The patron saint of masons, or at least "a" patron saint of masons, is St Claudius, a point of interest in a play where "Claudius" is the King.<br />
<br />
About Saint Claudius: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-claudius/ Saint Claudius at catholicsaints.info]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====19-037=====<br />
''shipwright, or the carpenter?''<br />
<br />
''shipwright'' - The patron saint of shipwrights is Saint Peter the Apostle.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-the-apostle/ Saint Peter]<br />
<br />
''carpenters'' - The patron saint of carpenters is Saint Joseph of Nazareth.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph/ Saint Joseph of Nazareth]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====19-038=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====19-039=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====19-040=====<br />
''but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====19-041=====<br />
''dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====19-042=====<br />
''the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====19-043=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====19-044=====<br />
''carpenter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====19-045=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====19-046=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.''<br />
<br />
The Deputy apparently supposes that when the Sexton said "unyoke" he was giving a hint.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====19-047=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: To it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====19-048=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====19-049=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====19-050=====<br />
''not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====19-051=====<br />
''next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.''<br />
<br />
''gravemaker'' - The patron saint of gravediggers is St Anthony the Abbot a.k.a. the Great.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-the-abbot/ St Anthony the Abbot]<br />
<br />
Observe that the Clown Sexton calls a grave a "house." That's pertinent later. Graves house the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052=====<br />
''Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor.''<br />
<br />
''get thee in'' - The Clown Sexton waves, or points, in the general direction of the church.<br />
<br />
''stoup'' - flagon; tankard. A drinking vessel.<br />
<br />
However, the word ''stoup'' can also mean the holy water basin in a church. So, Shakespeare's choice of word provides a joke, that the Clown Sexton is telling the Clown Deputy to go to the church, dump out the holy water, and bring the basin to him filled with liquor. (We do hope the Sexton, himself, does not really mean that.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052-SD=====<br />
''(points in the direction of the church; the Clown Deputy exits)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy will not return. The Deputy's duty for the coroner's court is done, and he is not going to bring the Sexton anything.<br />
<br />
It is vital that the Clown Sexton point in the general direction of the church when he says the previous line, else the joke be lost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-053=====<br />
''(sings): In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====19-054=====<br />
''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====19-055=====<br />
''To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056=====<br />
''Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio enter)''<br />
<br />
Horatio is dressed as usual, Hamlet is not. Hamlet is coming directly from the pirate ship, and he hasn't been to his quarters in the Castle yet to clean up and change clothes. The pirates stole Hamlet's expensive, fancy clothing, we can be sure. So he'd have something to wear, the pirates gave him some ratty old clothes that none of the pirates particularly wanted. Hamlet is now in "shreds and patches."<br />
<br />
This is why, when Hamlet talks to the Clown Sexton, the Sexton will have no idea Hamlet could possibly be the Prince. The Clown will never imagine the Prince could be dressed the way Hamlet is dressed here. Hamlet is also unwashed and unkempt. The pirate ship offered no facilities for him to groom and bathe properly. Hamlet may have had a basin of seawater for washing his face, but that's about it. The "show" the Clown Sexton sees of Hamlet, when they talk, is that he's a sailor who's extremely down on his luck. The Clown Sexton has no notion of how deceptive that "show" is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-057=====<br />
''Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in''<br />
<br />
''feeling of'' - sensitivity to. It strikes Hamlet as insensitive to sing like that in connection with a death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====19-058=====<br />
''grave making.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====19-059=====<br />
''Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====19-060=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_dintier.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "dintier"]]<br />
''Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.''<br />
<br />
''dintier'' - more impressionable; more easily impressed.<br />
<br />
From 'dint' = "an impression in a surface." (Ultimately from Old English 'dynt.')<br />
<br />
Hamlet means the Clown Sexton is "not impressed" by what he's doing, although a more sensitive person would be. The callused hand feels less than the uncallused hand, is another way of saying it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====19-061=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====19-062=====<br />
''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<br />
''caught'' - is an embedded stage direction. The Clown Sexton tosses a skull in the air, and catches it. Within the lyric it means BOOKMARK, more here<br />
<br />
''clutch'' - clutches. More simply, grasp.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#062|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-063=====<br />
''And hath shipped me intil the land,''<br />
<br />
''intil'' - into.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064=====<br />
''as if I had never been such.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out a skull)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton treats skulls so cavalierly, it is impossible he could keep track of which is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-065=====<br />
''Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====19-066=====<br />
''knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the''<br />
<br />
''Cain's jawbone'' - not the jawbone of Cain, himself, but the jawbone Cain used as a weapon.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====19-067=====<br />
''first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====19-068=====<br />
''o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====19-069=====<br />
''Horatio: It might, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====19-070=====<br />
''Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====19-071=====<br />
''how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====19-072=====<br />
''praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====19-073=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====19-074=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====19-075=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_massene.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "massene"]]<br />
''about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and''<br />
<br />
''massen'' - an anglicization of French 'maison' ("house.") This is a Shakespeare neologism. It is not an exact synonym for "house," rather, it means "house of the dead," like the French phrase 'maison mortuaire.' It's an English word to cast the grave as a kind of "house."<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#075|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-076=====<br />
''we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,''<br />
<br />
''trick'' - luck; good fortune. As in taking a ''trick'' at cards. Might also be read as "cleverness," but in that sense, Hamlet is facetious.<br />
<br />
''breeding'' - encompasses the bearing, rearing, and educating of an offspring. The process of raising a person.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====19-077=====<br />
''but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.''<br />
<br />
''loggets'' - a game in which wooden playing pieces are tossed at a stake. The winner is he whose playing piece lies nearest the stake. ''Loggets'' is therefore a game of lies. The best lie wins. There is a pun, in advance of Hamlet's "lie" banter with the Clown Sexton, which begins at line 102.<br />
<br />
"Logget" is a diminutive of "log," and the word "log" apparently traces back to Old Norse 'lag' which meant "felled tree," thus literally a tree that lies. In a forest, most of the trees are upstanding, but some of them lie. ''Logget" being a diminutive, ''loggets'' is a game of little liers. As 'twere.<br />
<br />
There is now some disagreement among etymologists about the origin of the word "log," and the safe way out is to call it obscure, but it seems clear enough what Shakespeare thought. The "lie" concept is why Shakespeare had Hamlet speak of ''loggets'' in particular.<br />
<br />
''Loggets'' was made illegal in England by a statute in the time of Henry VIII, probably because of gambling and fighting over it.<br />
<br />
The Hamlet character, himself, only means to say it's as if the Clown Sexton is playing a game with the buried, or now unburied bones, the way he tosses them around.<br />
<br />
''Mine ache to think on it'' - a mark of how sympathetic, and empathetic, Hamlet is. He feels for others.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====19-078=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====19-079=====<br />
''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====19-080=====<br />
''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out another skull)''<br />
<br />
As before, the Clown Sexton is obviously careless, and uncaring, about which skull is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-082=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====19-083=====<br />
''Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====19-084=====<br />
''tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about''<br />
<br />
''tricks'' - legal stratagems. Sophisms. Legal technicalities, in the pejorative sense.<br />
<br />
''rude'' - ill-mannered, however, the point of this word usage may be the pun with "rood," the Christian cross. This ''rude'' knave is a "rood" knave, which makes him a "cross" knave, which he must be since he is employed by the church.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#084|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-085=====<br />
''the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action''<br />
<br />
''sconce'' - skull. For a living man the ''sconce'' would be the head, but a skull is what the Clown Sexton has dug up.<br />
<br />
''action'' - legal action, a lawsuit. Paradoxically, because of the peculiarities of legal jargon, in this instance the ''action'' is not the act.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====19-086=====<br />
''of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of''<br />
<br />
''battery'' - the offense of beating another unlawfully.<br />
<br />
''might be'' - might have been.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====19-087=====<br />
''land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====19-088=====<br />
''recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====19-089=====<br />
''to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====19-090=====<br />
''vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====19-091=====<br />
''and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====19-092=====<br />
''lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====19-093=====<br />
''no more? Ha.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====19-094=====<br />
''Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====19-095=====<br />
''Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====19-096=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====19-097=====<br />
''Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====19-098=====<br />
''that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?''<br />
<br />
''sirrah'' - was a term used to address an inferior and it indicated contempt. Based on what he's seen, Hamlet thinks the sexton is a dullard of no merit.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind Hamlet's shabby dress at this time, and his lack of grooming, after his experience with the pirates. The Clown Sexton hears himself called ''sirrah'' by a fellow who looks like the lowest ''sirrah'' in Denmark.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is misled by the "show" of Hamlet, as the sexton sees him. The thought of that fellow, the way he looks, being the Prince will never cross the sexton's mind. The sexton will probably conclude that the pitiful tramp he sees is using the term ''sirrah'' because he has heard it so often applied to himself.<br />
<br />
We have already seen, in the earlier passage with the Clown Deputy,, how the Clown Sexton is. He'd rather have a good argument than dig, any day, and particularly when he can cast his partner in conversation as a fool. The sexton thinks he sees a good opportunity for that with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Here we go, again, with the Clown Sexton, who has no clue he's bandying words with the Prince of Denmark.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====19-099=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.''<br />
<br />
That's clever in its way, but not true. The churchyard is church property, so technically, it's the church's grave, if we were speaking of who owns it.<br />
<br />
It's the Clown Sexton's to dig. That's true enough, while he's digging.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====19-100=====<br />
''(sings): Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not singing to Hamlet here, he is singing as he continues to dig. He is paying no attention to Hamlet yet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====19-101=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
''guest'' - In Christian theology, the occupants of graves are there temporarily, until Judgment Day. So, ''guest'' - a temporary occupant.<br />
<br />
''meet'' - proper; suitable. Goes back to Old English 'gemǣte' ("suitable.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====19-102=====<br />
''Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is intending to get the Clown Sexton's attention, and his "lie" line does the trick.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====19-103=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====19-104=====<br />
''do not lie in it, yet it is mine.''<br />
<br />
''mine'' - to dig. The Clown Sexton doesn't like digging, at least not nearly as much as he likes quibbling and drinking, so having to dig is much on his mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====19-105=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====19-106=====<br />
''not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====19-107=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====19-108=====<br />
''Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====19-109=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====19-110=====<br />
''Hamlet: What woman, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====19-111=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For none, neither.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====19-112=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====19-113=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====19-114=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside to Horatio): How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or''<br />
<br />
''absolute'' - Can be read a number of ways: free, as in free-tongued; loose, as in unrestrained; irrelevant; dissolute; scattered; etc.<br />
<br />
Hamlet's complaint is that the Clown Sexton is being rude by being uncommunicative. By the way, it's the same complaint R & G voiced about Hamlet in Scene 8. ([[Scene 8#014]] and 015) Hamlet doesn't realize how he looks to the Clown Sexton, as he stands there in his pirate castoffs. From the way Hamlet looks, the Clown Sexton sees no need to take him seriously.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare went back to the Latin root for his meaning with ''absolute'' in this case. Latin 'solvere' ("to loosen, dissolve; release, detach; scatter;" etc.)<br />
<br />
It is also possible to read ''absolute'' as "uncharitable" in the sense of being uncharitable when interpreting a statement. There is obvious meaning in speaking of a man of the church as uncharitable.<br />
<br />
''How absolute the knave is'' - This phrase can also be understood as Hamlet calling the Clown Sexton an "absolute knave."<br />
<br />
''card'' - perhaps a reference to the "compass card," used as part of a navigational compass. Hamlet is talking about navigating his way through what the Clown Sexton says. Otherwise, Hamlet could be using ''card'' to mean "map" or "chart" but that's the same idea. Hamlet would have seen first-hand a navigational compass while he was aboard ship.<br />
<br />
However, it appears that ''card'' was also theater jargon for an actor's speech, written down. If that's what Hamlet means, he is talking about following the script, and not trying to ad lib.<br />
<br />
It would not be surprising if Shakespeare fully intended his audience to struggle through all the possibilities for this line, trying to figure out what he meant, exactly, while he was deliberately being ambiguous. The word "equivocation" appears in the next line, and Shakespeare may have done some of that himself, deliberately, in this line. He was a bit of a scamp.<br />
<br />
(It is a curiosity that the phrase ''by the card'' is the exact English equivalent of French "a la carte." However, restaurant menus are a relatively recent development, and were not in use in Shakespeare's time. The phrasing cannot be a figurative use of the idea of choosing specific items from a menu of possibilities.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====19-115=====<br />
''equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I''<br />
<br />
''equivocation'' - quibbling. Ambiguity; uncertainty of meaning.<br />
<br />
''these three years'' - the amount of time Hamlet has known Horatio, therefore the length of time since Hamlet went away to the university, since he met Horatio there.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====19-116=====<br />
''have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the''<br />
<br />
''picked'' - socially mixed up, socially jumbled. The figure of speech is based on a pick being used for digging. Picture the social strata being like strata in the soil. When a pick is used for digging, the different soil strata are mixed up and jumbled together. Hamlet means it's as if some power has taken a pick to the social strata, mixing up the social classes and jumbling them together. The figure of speech follows from watching the Clown Sexton dig, of course. The Clown Sexton sang "pickaxe" in line 078 above.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====19-117=====<br />
''peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.''<br />
<br />
''galls'' - chafes, to produce a sore spot.<br />
<br />
''kibe'' - chillblain, on the heel in this case.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the heel of the courtier being stepped on by the peasant, figuratively speaking, meaning there is inadequate respect for the courtier from the peasant, from the point of view of Hamlet the Courtier. Earlier in the Scene, we saw the Clown Sexton and the Clown Deputy agreed in resenting the special treatment of "great ones."<br />
<br />
This Scene presents some social class resentment, from both sides. Shakespeare was perceptive enough to notice signs of social trouble on the way, it appears. The English Civil War began in 1642.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====19-118=====<br />
''(resumes): How long hast thou been gravemaker?''<br />
<br />
The question arose implicitly earlier, between Hamlet and Horatio, at line 059. Hamlet is curious how long a man would have to dig graves to become so fully accustomed to it that he could sing at his work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====19-119=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,''<br />
<br />
''the days in the year'' - It is important to understand that the Clown Sexton is referring to a calendar date.<br />
<br />
''that day'' - that date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#119|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-120=====<br />
''Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not saying King Hamlet defeated the Elder Fortinbrasse on the identical day he became sexton (and gravedigger,) he is saying those events were on the same calendar date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====19-121=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long is that since?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking how many years ago the Clown Sexton became the sexton.<br />
<br />
However, in what follows, we see the Clown Sexton takes it, or at least plays it, that Hamlet is asking how long it's been since a calendar date, as if Hamlet asked, "How long has it been since April 23?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====19-122=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====19-123=====<br />
''very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into''<br />
<br />
''day'' - date. The Clown Sexton is continuing to speak of dates. He is not saying all three events happened in the same year.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a hint about what '''date''' he means. However, Hamlet was asking about the passage of years, not about calendar dates.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====19-124=====<br />
''England.''<br />
<br />
We see it's common knowledge Claudius sent Hamlet to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====19-125=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is curious whether any inkling of the true reason is circulating. The correct answer would be, "to be executed."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====19-126=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====19-127=====<br />
''he do not, 'tis no great matter there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====19-128=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====19-129=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad''<br />
<br />
''seen'' - observed; noticed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====19-130=====<br />
''as he.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====19-131=====<br />
''Hamlet: How came he mad?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====19-132=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====19-133=====<br />
''Hamlet: How strangely?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====19-134=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====19-135=====<br />
''Hamlet: Upon what ground?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, "for what reason (did Hamlet go mad)?"<br />
<br />
''ground'' - basis; cause; reason. We would now say "grounds."<br />
<br />
The word ''ground'' is from Old English 'grund' ("bottom, foundation, ground, surface of the earth, bottom of the sea.") So, asking "upon what ground" is like asking what is at the bottom of it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====19-136=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man''<br />
[[File:Second quarto sexten.jpg|right|the Second Quarto word "Sexten"]]<br />
[[File:Folio sixteen.jpg|right|the word "sixteen" in the First Folio]]<br />
''here in Denmark'' - The Clown Sexton misunderstands Hamlet, or pretends to. He replies as if "ground" meant "land area."<br />
<br />
''Sexten'' - sexton, is the first meaning. It identifies the Clown as the church sexton, by his own statement. There is more, however. The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a word puzzle, to try to show him up as a fool. It's the same behavior the Clown Sexton exhibited with the Clown Deputy at the beginning of the Scene. In other words, it's a word puzzle from Shakespeare. I preserve the Second Quarto spelling, duly marked, because it's a special word.<br />
<br />
Observe that in the First Folio the word is spelled "sixeteene." The Folio is revealing the second meaning, which is "sixteen." The word spelled ''Sexten'' in the Second Quarto has to be read ''twice'' to get the full meaning.<br />
<br />
Combining the relevant part of this line with the next line gives:<br><br />
''I have been 'Sexten' here, man and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton's total meaning is, "I have been sixteen (years) here (as the sexton) (and alive as a) man and boy thirty years." He has intentionally phrased it to give the impression he has been sexton for thirty years, but that is wrong. Apparently whoever did the work on the First Folio ''Hamlet'' was aware of the importance of "sixteen" in this line.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#136|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-137=====<br />
''and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton means that he, himself, has been alive as a man and boy for thirty years. (Ben Jonson was 30 in 1602.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====19-138=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====19-139=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many''<br />
<br />
The Sexton missed Hamlet's "lie" remark at his expense, and took the question as a serious one.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====19-140=====<br />
''pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====19-141=====<br />
''year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====19-142=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why he more then another?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====19-143=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====19-144=====<br />
''out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====19-145=====<br />
''dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====19-146=====<br />
''Hamlet: Whose was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====19-147=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====19-148=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====19-149=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====19-150=====<br />
''Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====19-151=====<br />
''King's Jester.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====19-152=====<br />
''Hamlet: This?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====19-153=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Even that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====19-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Let me see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====19-155=====<br />
''(aside to Horatio): Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====19-156=====<br />
''jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====19-157=====<br />
''times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====19-158=====<br />
''rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====19-159=====<br />
''often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====19-160=====<br />
''of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161=====<br />
''now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161-SD=====<br />
''(drops the skull into the grave excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-162=====<br />
''to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====19-163=====<br />
''she must come; make her laugh at that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====19-164=====<br />
''Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====19-165=====<br />
''Horatio: What's that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====19-166=====<br />
''Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====19-167=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====19-168=====<br />
''Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====19-169=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====19-170=====<br />
''Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====19-171=====<br />
''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====19-172=====<br />
''a bunghole?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====19-173=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====19-174=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====19-175=====<br />
''enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====19-176=====<br />
''buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====19-177=====<br />
''make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====19-178=====<br />
''they not stop a beer-barrel?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====19-179=====<br />
''(recites): Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====19-180=====<br />
''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====19-181=====<br />
''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182=====<br />
''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#182|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse; Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners; the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)''<br />
<br />
Ophelia is borne bare-faced on the bier. That is, her body is shrouded except for the face. Ophelia, herself, told us of that burial practice in one of her songs in Scene 16 ([[Scene 16#170]].)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-183=====<br />
''But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====19-184=====<br />
''The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====19-185=====<br />
''And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,''<br />
<br />
''maimed'' - less than whole. Hamlet can see at a distance that the funeral procession does not include everything it might. BOOKMARK go into detail on this<br />
<br />
''betoken'' - signify; indicate. Goes back to Old English 'tacen' ("sign.") This is a subtle instance of the Omen Motif in the play. Hamlet uses an "omen" word, with no idea how ominous it is, for his future happiness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====19-186=====<br />
''The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====19-187=====<br />
''Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====19-188=====<br />
''Couch we a while, and mark.''<br />
<br />
''Couch'' - lie down. From Old French 'couche' ("a bed,") from 'coucher' ("to lay down.")<br />
<br />
''mark'' - watch; pay attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====19-189=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====19-190=====<br />
''Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====19-191=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
As an instance of the themes of the play, Laertes thinks there should be more of a Show.<br />
<br />
We heard Laertes's objections earlier, in Scene 16, ([[Scene 16 #213]] and ff) over what he had heard about the lack of a proper show for his father's funeral.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====19-192=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====19-193=====<br />
''As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,''<br />
<br />
''doubtful'' - in whose opinion? And why would they think so?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====19-194=====<br />
''And but that great command o'er-sways the order,''<br />
<br />
''great command'' - the King's command, following the coroner's court decision of accidental death.<br />
<br />
''o'er-sways'' - holds sway over. Overrules.<br />
<br />
''the order'' - the funeral service that the church would have followed, if left to its own devices. The word ''order'' referring to religious procedure goes back to Medieval times.<br />
<br />
There is church-state conflict; the state has overruled the church, to dictate Christian burial for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
There's nothing factual about why the cleric thinks the service should be different. The ideas of the cleric, and the Clown Sexton before him, are based on suspicion and presumption.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====19-195=====<br />
''She should in ground unsanctified been lodged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====19-196=====<br />
''Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,''<br />
<br />
''last trumpet'' - the trumpet that will sound on Judgment Day.<br />
<br />
''For'' - in place of; instead of.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====19-197=====<br />
''{Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.''<br />
<br />
''{Sharp}'' - is an editorial change, by me.<br />
<br />
The Second Quarto publication of ''Hamlet'' has no word before ''flints,'' and the First Folio has "Shardes," which would be "shards" in modern spelling. However, in a search of the Shakespeare canon, I find that Shakespeare never used the word "shards" in that way in any other of his writing.<br />
<br />
The three other uses of "shard" or a form of it are:<br />
<br />
Antony and Cleopatra [III, 2]: "They are his shards, and he their beetle."<br />
<br />
Cymbeline [III, 3]: "The sharded beetle..."<br />
<br />
Macbeth [III, 2]: "The shard-borne beetle..."<br />
<br />
In all other appearances of "shard" in the Shakespeare canon it is used to mean the elytron (wing case) of a beetle.<br />
<br />
I do not find the word "shards" credible in this speech in ''Hamlet,'' where it is apparently supposed to mean "potshards." One could contend that Shakespeare used "shards" in such a way just this once, but that is to argue that the word is right just because it's there, and I can't accept that in the face of the other usages.<br />
<br />
I think the Folio editor misread "sharp," perhaps because he was dealing with faded 20-year old manuscript. If the word were "sharp" it would be entirely credible, with no hesitation. "Sharp" goes perfectly with ''flints,'' it provides an instance for the Edge Motif, and it leaves ''flints and pebbles'' as the kind of conjunction of nouns which is a characteristic of Shakespeare's style. So, I have changed the word, against the direct evidence of the First Folio "Shardes." My only defense, for this offense, is that it is my best judgment. I do not think the Folio is right.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#197|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-198=====<br />
''Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,''<br />
<br />
''crants'' - wreaths.<br />
<br />
The word ''crants'' sounds like the last syllable in the name "Rosencrantz," a name which means "rose crown." By that, based on the sound, one can hear ''crants'' as "crown," and the line becomes, "she is allowed her virgin crown."<br />
<br />
The idea of a "virgin crown" was a powerful one in the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====19-199=====<br />
''Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====19-200=====<br />
''Of bell and burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====19-201=====<br />
''Laertes: Must there no more be done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====19-202=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====19-203=====<br />
''We should profane the service of the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====19-204=====<br />
''To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====19-205=====<br />
''As to peace-parted souls.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====19-206=====<br />
''Laertes: Lay her in the earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====19-207=====<br />
''And from her fair and unpolluted flesh''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====19-208=====<br />
[[File:Viola_odorata.jpg|right|violet]]<br />
''May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is initiating a myth here, in the classical tradition. In mythology, various persons were turned into flowers, notably Narcissus. Here, Shakespeare turns Ophelia into violets.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====19-209=====<br />
''A ministering angel shall my sister be''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====19-210=====<br />
''When thou liest howling.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====19-211=====<br />
''Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====19-212=====<br />
''Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====19-213=====<br />
''I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====19-214=====<br />
''I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====19-215=====<br />
''And not have strewed thy grave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====19-216=====<br />
''Laertes: Oh, treble woe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====19-217=====<br />
''Fall ten times double on that cursed head,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====19-218=====<br />
''Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====19-219=====<br />
''Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220=====<br />
''Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes jumps into the excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-221=====<br />
''Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====19-222=====<br />
''Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]]<br />
<br />
=====19-223=====<br />
''To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====19-224=====<br />
''Of blue Olympus.''<br />
<br />
''Blue'' because of the altitude.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====19-225=====<br />
''Hamlet: What is he whose grief''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====19-226=====<br />
''Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====19-227=====<br />
''Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====19-228=====<br />
''Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229=====<br />
''Hamlet the Dane!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-230=====<br />
''Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====19-231=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====19-232=====<br />
''From my throat.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====19-233=====<br />
''For, though I am not splenative and rash,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====19-234=====<br />
''Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====19-235=====<br />
''Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====19-236=====<br />
''Claudius: Pluck them asunder.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#236]]<br />
<br />
=====19-237=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#237]]<br />
<br />
=====19-238=====<br />
''All: Gentlemen!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#238]]<br />
<br />
=====19-239=====<br />
''Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#239]]<br />
<br />
=====19-240=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#240]]<br />
<br />
=====19-241=====<br />
''Until my eyelids will no longer wag.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#241]]<br />
<br />
=====19-242=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#242]]<br />
<br />
=====19-243=====<br />
''Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#243]]<br />
<br />
=====19-244=====<br />
''Could not, with all their quantity of love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#244]]<br />
<br />
=====19-245=====<br />
''Make up my sum.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#245]]<br />
<br />
=====19-246=====<br />
''(to Laertes): What wilt thou do for her?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#246]]<br />
<br />
=====19-247=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, he is mad, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#247]]<br />
<br />
=====19-248=====<br />
''Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#248]]<br />
<br />
=====19-249=====<br />
''Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#249]]<br />
<br />
=====19-250=====<br />
''Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#250]]<br />
<br />
=====19-251=====<br />
[[File:Paradin crocodile.jpg|right|crocodile, 1591]]<br />
''Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?''<br />
<br />
''eisel'' - vinegar.<br />
<br />
''crocodile'' - a notoriously savage creature, as known in Shakespeare's England. The idea of "crocodile tears" was also known, and there is an accusation of insincerity in Hamlet's lines to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the kind of stunts an immature young man might perform, to try to be impressive, and likewise, the kind of pledges he might make, to try to impress. "I'd climb the highest mountain for you, I'd swim the deepest river for you, I'd drink a gallon of vinegar for you, I'd eat a crocodile for you!" That sort of thing. One often does not expect the stunt to really be performed, it's the thought that counts.<br />
<br />
Ophelia is beyond being impressed by any such pronouncement.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#251]]<br />
<br />
=====19-252=====<br />
''I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#252]]<br />
<br />
=====19-253=====<br />
''To outface me with leaping in her grave?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#253]]<br />
<br />
=====19-254=====<br />
''Be buried quick with her, and so will I!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#254]]<br />
<br />
=====19-255=====<br />
''And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#255]]<br />
<br />
=====19-256=====<br />
''Millions of acres on us, till our ground,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#256]]<br />
<br />
=====19-257=====<br />
''Singeing his pate against the burning zone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#257]]<br />
<br />
=====19-258=====<br />
''Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#258]]<br />
<br />
=====19-259=====<br />
''I'll rant as well as thou.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#259]]<br />
<br />
=====19-260=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is mere madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#260]]<br />
<br />
=====19-261=====<br />
''And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#261]]<br />
<br />
=====19-262=====<br />
''Anon, as patient as the female dove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#262]]<br />
<br />
=====19-263=====<br />
''When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#263]]<br />
<br />
=====19-264=====<br />
''His silence will sit drooping.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#264]]<br />
<br />
=====19-265=====<br />
''Hamlet: Hear you, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#265]]<br />
<br />
=====19-266=====<br />
''What is the reason that you use me thus?''<br />
<br />
Since Hamlet knows his killing of Polonius was accidental, he supposes everyone knows that. However, they do not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#266]]<br />
<br />
=====19-267=====<br />
''I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#267]]<br />
<br />
=====19-268=====<br />
''Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#268]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269=====<br />
''The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.''<br />
<br />
That is, things will proceed according to their nature.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-270=====<br />
''Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.''<br />
<br />
Claudius is talking to Horatio's back, as he pretends to be, or strives to be, in control.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#270]]<br />
<br />
=====19-271=====<br />
''(to Laertes): Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#271]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272=====<br />
''We'll put the matter to the present push.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-273=====<br />
''Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.''<br />
<br />
Again, Claudius is trying to retain control, but he is talking to Gertrude's back.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#273]]<br />
<br />
=====19-274=====<br />
''This grave shall have a living monument;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#274]]<br />
<br />
=====19-275=====<br />
''An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#275]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276=====<br />
''Till then, in patience our proceeding be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit; the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_19
Scene 19
2018-02-12T03:25:23Z
<p>Administrator: /* 19-057 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
At the Graveyard, the coroner's court Deputy has already informed the Sexton of the court's decision. As the Scene begins, we find the Sexton arguing with the Deputy. The Clown Sexton asserts that Ophelia killed herself, and he questions whether she deserves Christian burial. After wasting a lot of time giving the Deputy a hard time, the Sexton begins digging. The Deputy, having done his duty for the court, leaves.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and Horatio enter. They discuss the Sexton's behavior and the grave, then Hamlet speaks to the Sexton. Hamlet and the Sexton engage in some repartee. Hamlet says the famous "poor Yorick" speech.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's funeral procession approaches. Hamlet and Horatio hide to watch, wondering whose funeral it is.<br />
<br />
Laertes argues with the Doctor of Divinity who's conducting the service and, carried away, jumps down into the grave excavation. Hamlet, having learned it's Ophelia's funeral, and outraged by Laertes's behavior, jumps into the grave excavation to confront him. They're separated after a brief scuffle.<br />
<br />
Hamlet exits, followed by Horatio. Claudius draws Laertes aside, reminds him of their fencing match scheme to kill Hamlet, and says they'll proceed with that right away.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 19 Characters are: [[Clown Sexton]], [[Clown Deputy]], [[Hamlet]], [[Horatio]], [[Laertes]], [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Gertrude]], [[Claudius]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"<br />
| Hamlet and Horatio entry [[#056-SD]], || "poor Yorick" speech [[#155]], || funeral procession entry [[#182-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
| Hamlet jumps into grave [[#229-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 19</b> [ ~ Poor Yorick ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 5 Scene 1)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
The Graveyard;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-001]]<span id="001"></span> Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is she to have a Christian burial, when she intentionally''</span><br />
[[#19-002]]<span id="002"></span> seeks her own salvation?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''seeks her own path to Heaven?''</span><br />
[[#19-003]]<span id="003"></span> Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I tell you she is, so make her grave properly. The''</span><br />
[[#19-004]]<span id="004"></span> crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''coroner has sat in judgment on her case, and his verdict is for a Christian burial.''</span><br />
[[#19-005]]<span id="005"></span> Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''</span><br />
[[#19-006]]<span id="006"></span> defense?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''defense?''</span><br />
[[#19-007]]<span id="007"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, it is adjudged so.''</span><br />
[[#19-008]]<span id="008"></span> Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It must be a legal technicality, it can't be otherwise, because, here's the''</span><br />
[[#19-009]]<span id="009"></span> point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''point: if I drown myself intentionally it's an act, and an act has''</span><br />
[[#19-010]]<span id="010"></span> three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her<br />
<span style="color:gray">''three branches, which are to act, to do, to perform, or all of those, ergo she''</span><br />
[[#19-011]]<span id="011"></span> self wittingly.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''drowned herself intentionally.''</span><br />
[[#19-012]]<span id="012"></span> Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but listen, good man digger . . .''</span><br />
[[#19-013]]<span id="013"></span> Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water, good; here stands the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me continue. Here is the water, okay, and here stands a''</span><br />
[[#19-014]]<span id="014"></span> man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man, very well, now, if the man goes to the water and drowns himself it is''</span><br />
[[#19-015]]<span id="015"></span> he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''willy-nilly he goes, be sure of that. But if the water comes to him and''</span><br />
[[#19-016]]<span id="016"></span> drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' drowns him, he doesn't drown himself, ergo, he who is not guilty of''</span><br />
[[#19-017]]<span id="017"></span> his own death, shortens not his own life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his own death, doesn't shorten his own life.''</span><br />
[[#19-018]]<span id="018"></span> Clown Deputy: But is this law?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But is this the law?''</span><br />
[[#19-019]]<span id="019"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, indeed! It's coroner's inquest law.''</span><br />
[[#19-020]]<span id="020"></span> Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you want the truth about it? Had she not been a gentlewoman''</span><br />
[[#19-021]]<span id="021"></span> she should have been buried out of Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''she would have been buried without Christian ceremony.''</span><br />
[[#19-022]]<span id="022"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, you have said it there. And more's the pity that high-status people''</span><br />
[[#19-023]]<span id="023"></span> should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''should have permission in this world to drown or hang themselves,''</span><br />
[[#19-024]]<span id="024"></span> more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient<br />
<span style="color:gray">''moreso than equally-Christian others. Hand me my spade. There are no ancestral''</span><br />
[[#19-025]]<span id="025"></span> gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''gentlemen except gardeners, ditchers, and gravediggers - they sustain''</span><br />
[[#19-026]]<span id="026"></span> up Adam's profession.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adam's profession.''</span><br />
[[#19-027]]<span id="027"></span> Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was Adam a gentleman?''</span><br />
[[#19-028]]<span id="028"></span> Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was the first to ever bear arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-029]]<span id="029"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, he had no such arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-030]]<span id="030"></span> Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What, are you a heathen? How do you understand''</span><br />
[[#19-031]]<span id="031"></span> the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the Bible? The Bible says Adam digged -''</span><br />
[[#19-032]]<span id="032"></span> could he dig without arms?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''could he dig without arms?''</span><br />
[[#19-033]]<span id="033"></span> I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll put another question to you, and if you can't answer it''</span><br />
[[#19-034]]<span id="034"></span> purpose, confess thyself.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''properly, admit that I've got you.''</span><br />
[[#19-035]]<span id="035"></span> Clown Deputy: Go to.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead.''</span><br />
[[#19-036]]<span id="036"></span> Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the man who builds stronger than either a mason, a''</span><br />
[[#19-037]]<span id="037"></span> shipwright, or the carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shipwright, or a carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-038]]<span id="038"></span> Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The gallows maker, because what he builds outlasts a thousand occupants.''</span><br />
[[#19-039]]<span id="039"></span> Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I like your cleverness well. Indeed, "the gallows" is an answer that does well -''</span><br />
[[#19-040]]<span id="040"></span> but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but how does it do well? The gallows does well to those who do ill. Now you''</span><br />
[[#19-041]]<span id="041"></span> dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, ergo,''</span><br />
[[#19-042]]<span id="042"></span> the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the gallows might do you well. Try again, come on.''</span><br />
[[#19-043]]<span id="043"></span> Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''</span><br />
[[#19-044]]<span id="044"></span> carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-045]]<span id="045"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, tell me the answer, and your job is done.''</span><br />
[[#19-046]]<span id="046"></span> Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, now I know.''</span><br />
[[#19-047]]<span id="047"></span> Clown Sexton: To it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's hear it.''</span><br />
[[#19-048]]<span id="048"></span> Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-049]]<span id="049"></span> Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't beat your brain any more about it, since a slow jackass will''</span><br />
[[#19-050]]<span id="050"></span> not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not go faster if you beat it. When you're asked this question,''</span><br />
[[#19-051]]<span id="051"></span> next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''next time, say "a gravemaker," because the "houses" he makes last until doomsday.''</span><br />
[[#19-052]]<span id="052"></span> Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor. [[#19-052-SD]]<span id="052-SD"></span> (points in the direction of the church;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, go in there, and fetch me a mug of wine.''</span> the Clown Deputy exits)<br />
[[#19-053]]<span id="053"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In my youth when I did love, did love,''</span><br />
[[#19-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought it was very sweet,''</span><br />
[[#19-055]]<span id="055"></span> To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To take the time for all I pleased,''</span><br />
[[#19-056]]<span id="056"></span> Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I thought there was nothing as fit and proper.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio enter)<br />
<br />
[[#19-057]]<span id="057"></span> Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Doesn't this fellow have any feeling for what he's doing? He's singing while''</span><br />
[[#19-058]]<span id="058"></span> grave making.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''digging a grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-059]]<span id="059"></span> Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's so used to it, it doesn't bother him.''</span><br />
[[#19-060]]<span id="060"></span> Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So it is. A hand not callused by hard work is more easily impressed.''</span><br />
[[#19-061]]<span id="061"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But age, with its stealthy steps,''</span><br />
[[#19-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''has caught me in its clutches''</span><br />
[[#19-063]]<span id="063"></span> ''And hath shipped me intill the land,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has shipped me to the land of no return''</span><br />
[[#19-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''as if I had never been such.'' [[#19-064-SD]]<span id="064-SD"></span> (tosses out a skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as if I had never been a youth.''</span><br />
[[#19-065]]<span id="065"></span> Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That skull once had a tongue in it, and could sing. Look how the''</span><br />
[[#19-066]]<span id="066"></span> knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''knave tosses it on the ground, as if it were the jawbone of Cain, who did the''</span><br />
[[#19-067]]<span id="067"></span> first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now<br />
<span style="color:gray">''first murder. It might be the head of a politician, whom this jackass now''</span><br />
[[#19-068]]<span id="068"></span> o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''outranks - one who hoped to outwit God, might it not be?''</span><br />
[[#19-069]]<span id="069"></span> Horatio: It might, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It might be, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-070]]<span id="070"></span> Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, that of a courtier, who could say, "Good morning, sweet Lord,''</span><br />
[[#19-071]]<span id="071"></span> how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''how are you, sweet Lord?" It might be Lord So-and-so, who once''</span><br />
[[#19-072]]<span id="072"></span> praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''praised my Lord Whoever's horse when he hoped to borrow it, might it not?''</span><br />
[[#19-073]]<span id="073"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-074]]<span id="074"></span> Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so, and now it's Lady Worm's - jawless, and knocked''</span><br />
[[#19-075]]<span id="075"></span> about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''around in the grave excavation with a sexton's spade. Here's a fine turn of events, and''</span><br />
[[#19-076]]<span id="076"></span> we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''we had the luck to see it. Were these bones worth no more in bearing, rearing, and educating them,''</span><br />
[[#19-077]]<span id="077"></span> but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''than to play games with them? My bones ache as I think about it.''</span><br />
[[#19-078]]<span id="078"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''</span><br />
[[#19-079]]<span id="079"></span> ''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and also a shrouding sheet,''</span><br />
[[#19-080]]<span id="080"></span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-081]]<span id="081"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.'' [[#19-081-SD]]<span id="081-SD"></span> (tosses out another skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-082]]<span id="082"></span> Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's another one! Why, couldn't that be the skull of a lawyer?''</span><br />
[[#19-083]]<span id="083"></span> Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where are his various legal technicalities now, his cases, his terms, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-084]]<span id="084"></span> tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about<br />
<span style="color:gray">''legal tricks? Why does he tolerate that this cross knave can now knock him about''</span><br />
[[#19-085]]<span id="085"></span> the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the head with a dirty shovel, and will not inform him that he has been sued''</span><br />
[[#19-086]]<span id="086"></span> of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for battery? Hmm, this fellow might have been, in his time, a great buyer of''</span><br />
[[#19-087]]<span id="087"></span> land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land, with his statutory bonds, his personal bonds, his fines, his double vouchers, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-088]]<span id="088"></span> recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lawsuits. Is this the finality of his fines, and the attainment of his attainments -''</span><br />
[[#19-089]]<span id="089"></span> to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to have his fine head full of fine dirt, and will vouchers''</span><br />
[[#19-090]]<span id="090"></span> vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length<br />
<span style="color:gray">''vouch him no more land out of his purchases and doubles, than the length''</span><br />
[[#19-091]]<span id="091"></span> and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and width of a pair of contract indentures? All his paperwork for his''</span><br />
[[#19-092]]<span id="092"></span> lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lands would barely fit inside his grave plot, but is the only land he's''</span><br />
[[#19-093]]<span id="093"></span> no more? Ha.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ended up occupying just the size of his own grave? Ha!''</span><br />
[[#19-094]]<span id="094"></span> Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not a bit more than that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-095]]<span id="095"></span> Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Isn't parchment made of sheepskin?''</span><br />
[[#19-096]]<span id="096"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord, and of calfskin, too.''</span><br />
[[#19-097]]<span id="097"></span> Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Persons are only sheep and calves when they look for certainty in''</span><br />
[[#19-098]]<span id="098"></span> that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land deeds. I'll talk to the fellow. Whose grave is this, sirrah?''</span><br />
[[#19-099]]<span id="099"></span> Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's mine, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-100]]<span id="100"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-101]]<span id="101"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-102]]<span id="102"></span> Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I think it must be your grave, indeed, because you're lying in it.''</span><br />
[[#19-103]]<span id="103"></span> Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're lying out of it, sir, so it can't be yours. As for me, I''</span><br />
[[#19-104]]<span id="104"></span> do not lie in it, yet it is mine.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do not lie in it, but yet, it is mine.''</span><br />
[[#19-105]]<span id="105"></span> Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You do lie in it, to be in it and say it's yours - it's for the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-106]]<span id="106"></span> not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not for the living, therefore, you lie.''</span><br />
[[#19-107]]<span id="107"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a quick lie, sir, because it will quickly go again from me to you.''</span><br />
[[#19-108]]<span id="108"></span> Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What man do you dig it for?''</span><br />
[[#19-109]]<span id="109"></span> Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no man, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-110]]<span id="110"></span> Hamlet: What woman, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What woman, then?''</span><br />
[[#19-111]]<span id="111"></span> Clown Sexton: For none, neither.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no woman, either.''</span><br />
[[#19-112]]<span id="112"></span> Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who's to be buried in it?''</span><br />
[[#19-113]]<span id="113"></span> Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One who was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''</span><br />
[[#19-114]]<span id="114"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How impertinent the knave is. We must speak according to the script, or''</span><br />
[[#19-115]]<span id="115"></span> equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ambiguity will be our downfall. By Lord, Horatio, during these three years since we met, I''</span><br />
[[#19-116]]<span id="116"></span> have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''have taken notice of it: the times have become so socially jumbled, that the toe of the''</span><br />
[[#19-117]]<span id="117"></span> peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kybe.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''peasant walks so close on the heel of the courtier, he chafes his chilblain.''</span><br />
[[#19-118]]<span id="118"></span> <span style="color:gray">(resumes):</span> How long hast thou been gravemaker?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long have you been a gravemaker?''</span><br />
[[#19-119]]<span id="119"></span> Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of the dates in the year, I began this job on the date that our late King,''</span><br />
[[#19-120]]<span id="120"></span> Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, defeated Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#19-121]]<span id="121"></span> Hamlet: How long is that since?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long ago was that?''</span><br />
[[#19-122]]<span id="122"></span> Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you know? Any fool could answer that question. It was the''</span><br />
[[#19-123]]<span id="123"></span> very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into<br />
<span style="color:gray">''very same date that young Hamlet was born - he who is mad and has been sent to''</span><br />
[[#19-124]]<span id="124"></span> England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''England.''</span><br />
[[#19-125]]<span id="125"></span> Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, goodness, why was he sent to England?''</span><br />
[[#19-126]]<span id="126"></span> Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why? Because he was mad. He'll recover his wits there, or if''</span><br />
[[#19-127]]<span id="127"></span> he do not, 'tis no great matter there.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''he doesn't, it won't matter much there.''</span><br />
[[#19-128]]<span id="128"></span> Hamlet: Why?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why not?''</span><br />
[[#19-129]]<span id="129"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It won't be noticed in him there, because there, all the men are as crazy''</span><br />
[[#19-130]]<span id="130"></span> as he.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as he is.''</span><br />
[[#19-131]]<span id="131"></span> Hamlet: How came he mad?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How did he become mad?''</span><br />
[[#19-132]]<span id="132"></span> Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very strangely, they say.''</span><br />
[[#19-133]]<span id="133"></span> Hamlet: How strangely?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How strangely?''</span><br />
[[#19-134]]<span id="134"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, he went mad by losing his mind.''</span><br />
[[#19-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet: Upon what ground?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But upon what grounds?''</span><br />
[[#19-136]]<span id="136"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, here in Denmark. I have been sixteen years here, a man''</span><br />
[[#19-137]]<span id="137"></span> and boy thirty years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and boy for thirty years.''</span><br />
[[#19-138]]<span id="138"></span> Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long will a man lie in the earth before he rots?''</span><br />
[[#19-139]]<span id="139"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, if he isn't already rotten before he dies, (and we get many''</span><br />
[[#19-140]]<span id="140"></span> pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''diseased corpses now that will hardly hold together,) a body will last some eight''</span><br />
[[#19-141]]<span id="141"></span> year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''years, or nine years. A tanner will last for nine years.''</span><br />
[[#19-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet: Why he more then another?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why will his body last longer than another?''</span><br />
[[#19-143]]<span id="143"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, sir, his own hide is so tanned from his occupation, that it will keep''</span><br />
[[#19-144]]<span id="144"></span> out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson<br />
<span style="color:gray">''water out a long time, and water is a severe decayer of your bastard''</span><br />
[[#19-145]]<span id="145"></span> dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''dead body. Now, here's a skull that has lain for you in the earth for 23 years.''</span><br />
[[#19-146]]<span id="146"></span> Hamlet: Whose was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose was it?''</span><br />
[[#19-147]]<span id="147"></span> Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A bastard mad fellow's, it was! Whose do you suppose it was?''</span><br />
[[#19-148]]<span id="148"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-149]]<span id="149"></span> Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A plague on him as a mad rogue! He poured a mug of''</span><br />
[[#19-150]]<span id="150"></span> Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rhenish wine over my head once. This exact skull, sir - this same one - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''</span><br />
[[#19-151]]<span id="151"></span> King's Jester.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''King's jester.''</span><br />
[[#19-152]]<span id="152"></span> Hamlet: This?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That?''</span><br />
[[#19-153]]<span id="153"></span> Clown Sexton: Even that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exactly that.''</span><br />
[[#19-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Let me see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me see it.''</span><br />
[[#19-155]]<span id="155"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, poor Yoricke. I knew him, Horatio, he was a fellow of endless''</span><br />
[[#19-156]]<span id="156"></span> jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''jests, of most excellent whimsy. He carried me aboard his back a thousand''</span><br />
[[#19-157]]<span id="157"></span> times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''times, and now how abhorrent to my thoughts this skull is. I feel nauseous''</span><br />
[[#19-158]]<span id="158"></span> rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how<br />
<span style="color:gray">''looking at it. Here were those lips that I once kissed, I don't know how''</span><br />
[[#19-159]]<span id="159"></span> often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''often. Where is your teasing, now? Your frolicking, your songs, your bursts''</span><br />
[[#19-160]]<span id="160"></span> of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of merriment, that would make everyone at the table laugh out loud? No one,''</span><br />
[[#19-161]]<span id="161"></span> now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you [[#19-161-SD]]<span id="161-SD"></span> (drops the skull into the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''now, to ape your own grinning? - very down at the mouth. Now, go''</span> grave excavation)<br />
[[#19-162]]<span id="162"></span> to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to my lady's dressing room, and tell her: put her makeup on an inch thick, this kindness is''</span><br />
[[#19-163]]<span id="163"></span> she must come; make her laugh at that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what she must come to, and make her laugh at that.''</span><br />
[[#19-164]]<span id="164"></span> Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, Horatio, tell me one thing.''</span><br />
[[#19-165]]<span id="165"></span> Horatio: What's that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#19-166]]<span id="166"></span> Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you think, Alexander the Great, did he look this way in the earth?''</span><br />
[[#19-167]]<span id="167"></span> Horatio: Even so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so.''</span><br />
[[#19-168]]<span id="168"></span> Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And smelled like this? P. U.''</span><br />
[[#19-169]]<span id="169"></span> Horatio: Even so, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even so, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-170]]<span id="170"></span> Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To what crude uses might we return, Horatio? Why can't''</span><br />
[[#19-171]]<span id="171"></span> imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping<br />
<span style="color:gray">''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, until we find it plugging''</span><br />
[[#19-172]]<span id="172"></span> a bunghole?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a cask?''</span><br />
[[#19-173]]<span id="173"></span> Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be to contemplate too meticulously, to contemplate like that.''</span><br />
[[#19-174]]<span id="174"></span> Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, goodness, not a bit. Only, to follow him there with humility''</span><br />
[[#19-175]]<span id="175"></span> enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was<br />
<span style="color:gray">''enough, and probability to lead the way, like so: Alexander died, Alexander was''</span><br />
[[#19-176]]<span id="176"></span> buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we<br />
<span style="color:gray">''buried, Alexander returned to the dust, the dust is earth, out of earth we''</span><br />
[[#19-177]]<span id="177"></span> make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might<br />
<span style="color:gray">''make loam, so why couldn't that loam into which Alexander was converted''</span><br />
[[#19-178]]<span id="178"></span> they not stop a beer-barrel?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''be used to make a plug for a beer barrel?''</span><br />
[[#19-179]]<span id="179"></span> <span style="color:gray">(recites):</span> ''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned into clay,''</span><br />
[[#19-180]]<span id="180"></span> ''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might plug a hole to keep the draft away.''</span><br />
[[#19-181]]<span id="181"></span> ''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, that that flesh which held the world in awe''</span><br />
[[#19-182]]<span id="182"></span> ''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should patch a wall to keep out the winter's flurry.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-182-SD]]<span id="182-SD"></span> (Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse;<br />
Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners;<br />
the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#19-183]]<span id="183"></span> But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But hush, let's move quietly away, here comes the King, and''</span><br />
[[#19-184]]<span id="184"></span> The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Queen, the courtiers . . . whose body do they follow?''</span><br />
[[#19-185]]<span id="185"></span> And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And with such deficient rites? This indicates,''</span><br />
[[#19-186]]<span id="186"></span> The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The corpse they follow did, with a desperate hand,''</span><br />
[[#19-187]]<span id="187"></span> Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take its own life. It was of some high social status.''</span><br />
[[#19-188]]<span id="188"></span> Couch we a while, and mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's lie here a while and watch.''</span><br />
[[#19-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony, in addition to this?''</span><br />
[[#19-190]]<span id="190"></span> Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That is Laertes, a very noble youth, notice.''</span><br />
[[#19-191]]<span id="191"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony in addition?''</span><br />
[[#19-192]]<span id="192"></span> Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her funeral rites have been elaborated as far''</span><br />
[[#19-193]]<span id="193"></span> As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we have religious authority. Her death was suspicious,''</span><br />
[[#19-194]]<span id="194"></span> And but that great command o'er-sways the order,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And except that a royal command has overruled religious directives,''</span><br />
[[#19-195]]<span id="195"></span> She should in ground unsanctified been lodged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She would, in unblessed ground, have been housed''</span><br />
[[#19-196]]<span id="196"></span> Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until Judgment Day. Instead of charitable prayers,''</span><br />
[[#19-197]]<span id="197"></span> {Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sharp flints and pebbles would be thrown on her.''</span><br />
[[#19-198]]<span id="198"></span> Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, here she is privileged to have her virgin crown wreaths,''</span><br />
[[#19-199]]<span id="199"></span> Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her maidenly flowers, and the escort to her final place of rest''</span><br />
[[#19-200]]<span id="200"></span> Of bell and burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the church bell, and Christian burial services.''</span><br />
[[#19-201]]<span id="201"></span> Laertes: Must there no more be done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Must there be no more done than this?''</span><br />
[[#19-202]]<span id="202"></span> Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more can be done.''</span><br />
[[#19-203]]<span id="203"></span> We should profane the service of the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We would desecrate the service for the dead, itself,''</span><br />
[[#19-204]]<span id="204"></span> To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If we chanted the solemn requiem, and that kind of repose to her,''</span><br />
[[#19-205]]<span id="205"></span> As to peace-parted souls.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we do for peacefully-departed souls.''</span><br />
[[#19-206]]<span id="206"></span> Laertes: Lay her in the earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Place her body in the earth,''</span><br />
[[#19-207]]<span id="207"></span> And from her fair and unpolluted flesh<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And from her beautiful and pure remains''</span><br />
[[#19-208]]<span id="208"></span> May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May violets abound. I tell you, stingy priest,''</span><br />
[[#19-209]]<span id="209"></span> A ministering angel shall my sister be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A ministering angel is what my sister shall be''</span><br />
[[#19-210]]<span id="210"></span> When thou liest howling.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When you lie down below wailing.''</span><br />
[[#19-211]]<span id="211"></span> Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What? The lovely Ophelia?!''</span><br />
[[#19-212]]<span id="212"></span> Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#19-213]]<span id="213"></span> I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hoped you would have been my Hamlet's wife.''</span><br />
[[#19-214]]<span id="214"></span> I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought I'd be decorating your bridal bed with flowers, sweet maiden,''</span><br />
[[#19-215]]<span id="215"></span> And not have strewed thy grave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And not be scattering them on your grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-216]]<span id="216"></span> Laertes: Oh, treble woe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, may three times as much sorrow''</span><br />
[[#19-217]]<span id="217"></span> Fall ten times double on that cursed head,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fall ten times, doubly, down on that accursed head, of he''</span><br />
[[#19-218]]<span id="218"></span> Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose evil deed, your most sensible rationality''</span><br />
[[#19-219]]<span id="219"></span> Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Took from thee. Don't fill in the grave for a while,''</span><br />
[[#19-220]]<span id="220"></span> Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. [[#19-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Laertes jumps into the excavation)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until I have hugged her, once more, in my arms!''</span><br />
[[#19-221]]<span id="221"></span> Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Now pile the dirt on both the living and the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-222]]<span id="222"></span> Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until, out of this flatland, you've made a mountain''</span><br />
[[#19-223]]<span id="223"></span> To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's higher than ancient Mount Pelion, or the lofty peak''</span><br />
[[#19-224]]<span id="224"></span> Of blue Olympus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of blue Mount Olympus.''</span><br />
[[#19-225]]<span id="225"></span> Hamlet: What is he whose grief<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is he, whose grief''</span><br />
[[#19-226]]<span id="226"></span> Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Carries such an emphasis on himself, whose expression of "sorrow"''</span><br />
[[#19-227]]<span id="227"></span> Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Calls out to the wandering stars, and makes them stop''</span><br />
[[#19-228]]<span id="228"></span> Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like what they hear has wounded their ears with astonishment? It is I,''</span><br />
[[#19-229]]<span id="229"></span> Hamlet the Dane!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, the Dane!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-229-SD]]<span id="229-SD"></span> (Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)<br />
<br />
[[#19-230]]<span id="230"></span> Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Devil take your soul!''</span><br />
[[#19-231]]<span id="231"></span> Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You don't pray properly. I pray you remove your fingers''</span><br />
[[#19-232]]<span id="232"></span> From my throat.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From my throat.''</span><br />
[[#19-233]]<span id="233"></span> For, though I am not splenative and rash,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, although I am not quick to anger,''</span><br />
[[#19-234]]<span id="234"></span> Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, I do have within me something hazardous''</span><br />
[[#19-235]]<span id="235"></span> Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, if you're smart, you'll fear. Take away your hand.''</span><br />
[[#19-236]]<span id="236"></span> Claudius: Pluck them asunder.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pull them apart!''</span><br />
[[#19-237]]<span id="237"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, Hamlet!''</span><br />
[[#19-238]]<span id="238"></span> All: Gentlemen!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gentlemen!''</span><br />
[[#19-239]]<span id="239"></span> Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good my Lord, be still!''</span><br />
[[#19-240]]<span id="240"></span> Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, I will fight with him, from this motive,''</span><br />
[[#19-241]]<span id="241"></span> Until my eyelids will no longer wag.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the last twitch of my eyelids.''</span><br />
[[#19-242]]<span id="242"></span> Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, my son, what motive?''</span><br />
[[#19-243]]<span id="243"></span> Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved Ophelia. Any huge number of brothers''</span><br />
[[#19-244]]<span id="244"></span> Could not, with all their quantity of love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not, even adding together all their love,''</span><br />
[[#19-245]]<span id="245"></span> Make up my sum.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Equal my love for her.''</span><br />
[[#19-246]]<span id="246"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> What wilt thou do for her?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What will you do for her now?''</span><br />
[[#19-247]]<span id="247"></span> Claudius: Oh, he ''is'' mad, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See, he is mad, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#19-248]]<span id="248"></span> Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For God's sake, shut your mouth about my son!''</span><br />
[[#19-249]]<span id="249"></span> Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By God, show me what you'll do!''</span><br />
[[#19-250]]<span id="250"></span> Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you weep, fight, starve yourself, tear your own flesh,''</span><br />
[[#19-251]]<span id="251"></span> Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you gulp down vinegar, eat a crocodile?''</span><br />
[[#19-252]]<span id="252"></span> I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will if you do! Did you come here to whine?''</span><br />
[[#19-253]]<span id="253"></span> To outface me with leaping in her grave?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To outdo me, by leaping into her grave?''</span><br />
[[#19-254]]<span id="254"></span> Be buried quick with her, and so will I!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be buried alive with her, well so will I!''</span><br />
[[#19-255]]<span id="255"></span> And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And if you want to prate about mountains, let them throw''</span><br />
[[#19-256]]<span id="256"></span> Millions of acres on us, till our ground,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Millions of acres of land on us, until this ground,''</span><br />
[[#19-257]]<span id="257"></span> Singeing his pate against the burning zone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Singeing its top against the sphere of fire,''</span><br />
[[#19-258]]<span id="258"></span> Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Makes Mount Ossa look small as a wart! Further, if you're going to be so mouthy,''</span><br />
[[#19-259]]<span id="259"></span> I'll rant as well as thou.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll rant as well as you do!''</span><br />
[[#19-260]]<span id="260"></span> Gertrude: This is mere madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is only a tantrum,</span><br />
[[#19-261]]<span id="261"></span> And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And like that, for a while, the outburst will have its effect on him.''</span><br />
[[#19-262]]<span id="262"></span> Anon, as patient as the female dove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Wait patiently - like the female dove''</span><br />
[[#19-263]]<span id="263"></span> When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until her golden chicks are hatched -''</span><br />
[[#19-264]]<span id="264"></span> His silence will sit drooping.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then he will sit drooping in silence.''</span><br />
[[#19-265]]<span id="265"></span> Hamlet: Hear you, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You listen to me, sir -''</span><br />
[[#19-266]]<span id="266"></span> What is the reason that you use me thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you treat me like this?''</span><br />
[[#19-267]]<span id="267"></span> I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I always liked you. But it doesn't matter.''</span><br />
[[#19-268]]<span id="268"></span> Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No matter what even the most mighty person does, or wants to do,''</span><br />
[[#19-269]]<span id="269"></span> The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even a lowly cat will still meow, and a dog will have his day in the sun.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-269-SD]]<span id="269-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio exit)<br />
<br />
[[#19-270]]<span id="270"></span> Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, good Horatio, attend him.''</span><br />
[[#19-271]]<span id="271"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be more patient, by recalling what we talked about last night.''</span><br />
[[#19-272]]<span id="272"></span> We'll put the matter to the present push. [[#19-272-SD]]<span id="272-SD"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll press ahead with that subject right away.''</span><br />
[[#19-273]]<span id="273"></span> Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Gertrude, have somebody keep an eye on your son.''</span><br />
[[#19-274]]<span id="274"></span> This grave shall have a living monument;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This grave will have an enduring memorial.''</span><br />
[[#19-275]]<span id="275"></span> An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll thereby have a time of peace.''</span><br />
[[#19-276]]<span id="276"></span> Till then, in patience our proceeding be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until then, I'll proceed with patience.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-276-SD]]<span id="276-SD"></span> (Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit;<br />
the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 19<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====19-Setting=====<br />
[[File:St_olai_helsingor.jpg|left|Church of St Olai, Helsingor]]<br />
[[File:Performers_memorial.jpg|right|Performer's Memorial at St Leonard]]<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Graveyard.<br />
<br />
We are at the graveyard by the church in Elsinore Town, the same place where the Ghost led Hamlet in Scene 5.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Late morning.<br />
<br />
Indications are that Ophelia died at dawn, or shortly after. To appease Laertes, Claudius ordered the coroner to act quickly. The coroner promptly returned a verdict of accidental death, and the funeral was arranged immediately. So it is still the same day Ophelia died, and no later than the middle of the day.<br />
<br />
* <b>Weather</b> - Clear and sunny in the early morning when Ophelia was alive, but the day has now turned dark and gloomy.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====19-000-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto clowns entry.jpg|right|The Second Quarto Clowns entry]]<br />
''(a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)''<br />
<br />
In the original Second Quarto publication, the Clowns are called only that at their entry, with no further specification of who they are. Their roles are deduced from their lines in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
The first Clown, who has the speech prefix "Clown" in the original publication, is the church sexton. The second clown, who has the speech prefix "Other," is a coroner's court deputy.<br />
<br />
It is important to be aware that clowns are for amusement. Statements they make are not to be interpreted as objective declarations of fact.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-001=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully''<br />
<br />
''she'' - as events proceed, we will learn they are talking about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====19-002=====<br />
''seeks her own salvation?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====19-003=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the''<br />
<br />
''I tell thee...'' - The Clown Deputy has already told the Clown Sexton at least once, we see.<br />
<br />
''straight'' - straightaway; now (here in the churchyard.) The body of a person who committed suicide would not be allowed burial in the churchyard, in consecrated ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====19-004=====<br />
''crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
''crowner'' - coroner. The word "coroner" is from Latin 'corona' ("crown.") So the Clown Deputy is both wrong, and right, in the way he says it.<br />
<br />
This line identifies the second clown as the Clown Deputy. The character is informing the Clown Sexton of the coroner's decision, so he is therefore the coroner's court deputy assigned that duty. It is a menial task, befitting the least capable man the coroner had available.<br />
<br />
''sat on her'' - heard her case. Sat in judgment of her case. Obviously an inelegant way of expressing it.<br />
<br />
The coroner's verdict is that Ophelia's death was accidental, thus an act of God, and therefore her mortal remains are accorded the privilege of burial in a Christian manner. Queen Gertrude was certainly the primary witness at the coroner's hearing, and we heard, in Scene 18, what she had to say about it. The verdict of accidental death was clearly indicated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====19-005=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''<br />
<br />
''drowned herself'' - we'll see that the Clown Sexton tries to be logical, but he has started out begging the question, that is, with a fallacy called 'petitio principii,' a.k.a. circular reasoning. He has no factual, or rational, reason to say that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====19-006=====<br />
''defense?''<br />
<br />
''(drowned herself in her own) defense'' - is a crackpot notion. Other than offenses, and acts of defense, there are, of course, accidents.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====19-007=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy knows the coroner's court found so, because he's the one dispatched by the court to inform the Sexton. However, he is not equipped to argue the coroner's verdict. The Clown Deputy is not a man educated in the law (nor is the Clown Sexton.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====19-008=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====19-009=====<br />
''point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====19-010=====<br />
''three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her''<br />
<br />
''three branches'' - a pun on "tree branches," the actual proximate cause of Ophelia's death.<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====19-011=====<br />
''self wittingly.''<br />
<br />
''wittingly'' - can be charitably glossed as "intentionally," but it is a poor word choice by the Clown (and a masterful choice by Shakespeare.) The Clown makes it sound like he means "cleverly," as if he's praising such cleverness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====19-012=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .''<br />
<br />
''hear you'' - may remind one of "hear ye, hear ye," the formulaic utterance at court sessions. The Clown Deputy is trying a "hear ye" to get the Clown Sexton's attention.<br />
<br />
''delver'' - digger. Shakespeare did use "delve" figuratively, in ''Cymbeline'' Act 1 scene 1:<br />
<br />
First Gentleman: I cannot delve him to the root: his father <br />
Was call'd Sicilius, ...<br />
<br />
So, it is also possible to take ''delver'' figuratively as "inquirer" or "inquisitor." The Clown Deputy thinks the Clown Sexton is "digging into it" too much. Compare Horatio's remark, later in this Scene, line 173, about considering too curiously.<br />
<br />
''good man delver'' - is patronizing. Digging graves is only an occasional part of the Clown Sexton's job. We will see that the Clown Sexton doesn't like being spoken to as if he were nothing better than a menial laborer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====19-013=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water; good, here stands the''<br />
<br />
''Give me leave'' - give me permission, i.e. let me continue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====19-014=====<br />
''man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====19-015=====<br />
''he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &''<br />
<br />
''(will) he, nill he'' - means the opposite of what the Clown Sexton is trying to say. He's trying to argue intent, but "willy nilly" means haphazardly, regardless of intent. Literally, ''will he, nill he'' means "(whether) he does will, or he does not will." ''Nill'' is an archaic word from Old English 'nylle' ("not to will;" "to be unwilling.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====19-016=====<br />
''drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of''<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====19-017=====<br />
''his own death, shortens not his own life.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====19-018=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: But is this law?''<br />
<br />
A very apt question. Not only is it not law, it isn't even sanity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====19-019=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====19-020=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy has his own personal opinion about this, we see. Not surprising.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====19-021=====<br />
''she should have been buried out of Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====19-022=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====19-023=====<br />
''should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====19-024=====<br />
''more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====19-025=====<br />
''gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====19-026=====<br />
''up Adam's profession.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====19-027=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====19-028=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====19-029=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====19-030=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====19-031=====<br />
''the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;''<br />
<br />
''The Scripture says Adam digged'' - no, the Bible doesn't say that. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====19-032=====<br />
''could he dig without arms?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====19-033=====<br />
''I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====19-034=====<br />
''purpose, confess thyself.''<br />
<br />
There's a droll old saying, "confess, and be hanged." The Clown Deputy thinks of that, and it leads to his guess below.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton probably actually means, "confess you're a fool" / "confess you can be made a fool." In the dialogue, I use just the simple paraphrase, "admit I've got you," which is near the point.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====19-035=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Go to.''<br />
<br />
Go ahead / get to it / let's hear it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====19-036=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the''<br />
<br />
''mason'' - The patron saint of masons, or at least "a" patron saint of masons, is St Claudius, a point of interest in a play where "Claudius" is the King.<br />
<br />
About Saint Claudius: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-claudius/ Saint Claudius at catholicsaints.info]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====19-037=====<br />
''shipwright, or the carpenter?''<br />
<br />
''shipwright'' - The patron saint of shipwrights is Saint Peter the Apostle.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-the-apostle/ Saint Peter]<br />
<br />
''carpenters'' - The patron saint of carpenters is Saint Joseph of Nazareth.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph/ Saint Joseph of Nazareth]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====19-038=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====19-039=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====19-040=====<br />
''but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====19-041=====<br />
''dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====19-042=====<br />
''the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====19-043=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====19-044=====<br />
''carpenter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====19-045=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====19-046=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.''<br />
<br />
The Deputy apparently supposes that when the Sexton said "unyoke" he was giving a hint.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====19-047=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: To it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====19-048=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====19-049=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====19-050=====<br />
''not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====19-051=====<br />
''next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.''<br />
<br />
''gravemaker'' - The patron saint of gravediggers is St Anthony the Abbot a.k.a. the Great.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-the-abbot/ St Anthony the Abbot]<br />
<br />
Observe that the Clown Sexton calls a grave a "house." That's pertinent later. Graves house the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052=====<br />
''Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor.''<br />
<br />
''get thee in'' - The Clown Sexton waves, or points, in the general direction of the church.<br />
<br />
''stoup'' - flagon; tankard. A drinking vessel.<br />
<br />
However, the word ''stoup'' can also mean the holy water basin in a church. So, Shakespeare's choice of word provides a joke, that the Clown Sexton is telling the Clown Deputy to go to the church, dump out the holy water, and bring the basin to him filled with liquor. (We do hope the Sexton, himself, does not really mean that.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052-SD=====<br />
''(points in the direction of the church; the Clown Deputy exits)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy will not return. The Deputy's duty for the coroner's court is done, and he is not going to bring the Sexton anything.<br />
<br />
It is vital that the Clown Sexton point in the general direction of the church when he says the previous line, else the joke be lost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-053=====<br />
''(sings): In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====19-054=====<br />
''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====19-055=====<br />
''To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056=====<br />
''Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio enter)''<br />
<br />
Horatio is dressed as usual, Hamlet is not. Hamlet is coming directly from the pirate ship, and he hasn't been to his quarters in the Castle yet to clean up and change clothes. The pirates stole Hamlet's expensive, fancy clothing, we can be sure. So he'd have something to wear, the pirates gave him some ratty old clothes that none of the pirates particularly wanted. Hamlet is now in "shreds and patches."<br />
<br />
This is why, when Hamlet talks to the Clown Sexton, the Sexton will have no idea Hamlet could possibly be the Prince. The Clown will never imagine the Prince could be dressed the way Hamlet is dressed here. Hamlet is also unwashed and unkempt. The pirate ship offered no facilities for him to groom and bathe properly. Hamlet may have had a basin of seawater for washing his face, but that's about it. The "show" the Clown Sexton sees of Hamlet, when they talk, is that he's a sailor who's extremely down on his luck. The Clown Sexton has no notion of how deceptive that "show" is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-057=====<br />
''Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in''<br />
<br />
''feeling of'' - sensitivity to. It strikes Hamlet as insensitive to sing like that in connection with a death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====19-058=====<br />
''grave making.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====19-059=====<br />
''Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====19-060=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_dintier.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "dintier"]]<br />
''Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.''<br />
<br />
''dintier'' - more impressionable; more easily impressed.<br />
<br />
From 'dint' = "an impression in a surface." (Ultimately from Old English 'dynt.')<br />
<br />
Hamlet means the Clown Sexton is "not impressed" by what he's doing, although a more sensitive person would be. The callused hand feels less than the uncallused hand, is another way of saying it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====19-061=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====19-062=====<br />
''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<br />
''caught'' - is an embedded stage direction. The Clown Sexton tosses a skull in the air, and catches it. Within the lyric it means BOOKMARK, more here<br />
<br />
''clutch'' - clutches. More simply, grasp.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#062|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-063=====<br />
''And hath shipped me intill the land,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064=====<br />
''as if I had never been such.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out a skull)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton treats skulls so cavalierly, it is impossible he could keep track of which is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-065=====<br />
''Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====19-066=====<br />
''knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the''<br />
<br />
''Cain's jawbone'' - not the jawbone of Cain, himself, but the jawbone Cain used as a weapon.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====19-067=====<br />
''first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====19-068=====<br />
''o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====19-069=====<br />
''Horatio: It might, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====19-070=====<br />
''Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====19-071=====<br />
''how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====19-072=====<br />
''praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====19-073=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====19-074=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====19-075=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_massene.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "massene"]]<br />
''about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and''<br />
<br />
''massen'' - an anglicization of French 'maison' ("house.") This is a Shakespeare neologism. It is not an exact synonym for "house," rather, it means "house of the dead," like the French phrase 'maison mortuaire.' It's an English word to cast the grave as a kind of "house."<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#075|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-076=====<br />
''we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,''<br />
<br />
''trick'' - luck; good fortune. As in taking a ''trick'' at cards. Might also be read as "cleverness," but in that sense, Hamlet is facetious.<br />
<br />
''breeding'' - encompasses the bearing, rearing, and educating of an offspring. The process of raising a person.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====19-077=====<br />
''but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.''<br />
<br />
''loggets'' - a game in which wooden playing pieces are tossed at a stake. The winner is he whose playing piece lies nearest the stake. ''Loggets'' is therefore a game of lies. The best lie wins. There is a pun, in advance of Hamlet's "lie" banter with the Clown Sexton, which begins at line 102.<br />
<br />
"Logget" is a diminutive of "log," and the word "log" apparently traces back to Old Norse 'lag' which meant "felled tree," thus literally a tree that lies. In a forest, most of the trees are upstanding, but some of them lie. ''Logget" being a diminutive, ''loggets'' is a game of little liers. As 'twere.<br />
<br />
There is now some disagreement among etymologists about the origin of the word "log," and the safe way out is to call it obscure, but it seems clear enough what Shakespeare thought. The "lie" concept is why Shakespeare had Hamlet speak of ''loggets'' in particular.<br />
<br />
''Loggets'' was made illegal in England by a statute in the time of Henry VIII, probably because of gambling and fighting over it.<br />
<br />
The Hamlet character, himself, only means to say it's as if the Clown Sexton is playing a game with the buried, or now unburied bones, the way he tosses them around.<br />
<br />
''Mine ache to think on it'' - a mark of how sympathetic, and empathetic, Hamlet is. He feels for others.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====19-078=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====19-079=====<br />
''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====19-080=====<br />
''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out another skull)''<br />
<br />
As before, the Clown Sexton is obviously careless, and uncaring, about which skull is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-082=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====19-083=====<br />
''Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====19-084=====<br />
''tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about''<br />
<br />
''tricks'' - legal stratagems. Sophisms. Legal technicalities, in the pejorative sense.<br />
<br />
''rude'' - ill-mannered, however, the point of this word usage may be the pun with "rood," the Christian cross. This ''rude'' knave is a "rood" knave, which makes him a "cross" knave, which he must be since he is employed by the church.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#084|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-085=====<br />
''the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action''<br />
<br />
''sconce'' - skull. For a living man the ''sconce'' would be the head, but a skull is what the Clown Sexton has dug up.<br />
<br />
''action'' - legal action, a lawsuit. Paradoxically, because of the peculiarities of legal jargon, in this instance the ''action'' is not the act.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====19-086=====<br />
''of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of''<br />
<br />
''battery'' - the offense of beating another unlawfully.<br />
<br />
''might be'' - might have been.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====19-087=====<br />
''land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====19-088=====<br />
''recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====19-089=====<br />
''to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====19-090=====<br />
''vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====19-091=====<br />
''and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====19-092=====<br />
''lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====19-093=====<br />
''no more? Ha.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====19-094=====<br />
''Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====19-095=====<br />
''Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====19-096=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====19-097=====<br />
''Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====19-098=====<br />
''that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?''<br />
<br />
''sirrah'' - was a term used to address an inferior and it indicated contempt. Based on what he's seen, Hamlet thinks the sexton is a dullard of no merit.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind Hamlet's shabby dress at this time, and his lack of grooming, after his experience with the pirates. The Clown Sexton hears himself called ''sirrah'' by a fellow who looks like the lowest ''sirrah'' in Denmark.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is misled by the "show" of Hamlet, as the sexton sees him. The thought of that fellow, the way he looks, being the Prince will never cross the sexton's mind. The sexton will probably conclude that the pitiful tramp he sees is using the term ''sirrah'' because he has heard it so often applied to himself.<br />
<br />
We have already seen, in the earlier passage with the Clown Deputy,, how the Clown Sexton is. He'd rather have a good argument than dig, any day, and particularly when he can cast his partner in conversation as a fool. The sexton thinks he sees a good opportunity for that with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Here we go, again, with the Clown Sexton, who has no clue he's bandying words with the Prince of Denmark.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====19-099=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.''<br />
<br />
That's clever in its way, but not true. The churchyard is church property, so technically, it's the church's grave, if we were speaking of who owns it.<br />
<br />
It's the Clown Sexton's to dig. That's true enough, while he's digging.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====19-100=====<br />
''(sings): Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not singing to Hamlet here, he is singing as he continues to dig. He is paying no attention to Hamlet yet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====19-101=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
''guest'' - In Christian theology, the occupants of graves are there temporarily, until Judgment Day. So, ''guest'' - a temporary occupant.<br />
<br />
''meet'' - proper; suitable. Goes back to Old English 'gemǣte' ("suitable.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====19-102=====<br />
''Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is intending to get the Clown Sexton's attention, and his "lie" line does the trick.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====19-103=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====19-104=====<br />
''do not lie in it, yet it is mine.''<br />
<br />
''mine'' - to dig. The Clown Sexton doesn't like digging, at least not nearly as much as he likes quibbling and drinking, so having to dig is much on his mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====19-105=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====19-106=====<br />
''not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====19-107=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====19-108=====<br />
''Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====19-109=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====19-110=====<br />
''Hamlet: What woman, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====19-111=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For none, neither.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====19-112=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====19-113=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====19-114=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside to Horatio): How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or''<br />
<br />
''absolute'' - Can be read a number of ways: free, as in free-tongued; loose, as in unrestrained; irrelevant; dissolute; scattered; etc.<br />
<br />
Hamlet's complaint is that the Clown Sexton is being rude by being uncommunicative. By the way, it's the same complaint R & G voiced about Hamlet in Scene 8. ([[Scene 8#014]] and 015) Hamlet doesn't realize how he looks to the Clown Sexton, as he stands there in his pirate castoffs. From the way Hamlet looks, the Clown Sexton sees no need to take him seriously.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare went back to the Latin root for his meaning with ''absolute'' in this case. Latin 'solvere' ("to loosen, dissolve; release, detach; scatter;" etc.)<br />
<br />
It is also possible to read ''absolute'' as "uncharitable" in the sense of being uncharitable when interpreting a statement. There is obvious meaning in speaking of a man of the church as uncharitable.<br />
<br />
''How absolute the knave is'' - This phrase can also be understood as Hamlet calling the Clown Sexton an "absolute knave."<br />
<br />
''card'' - perhaps a reference to the "compass card," used as part of a navigational compass. Hamlet is talking about navigating his way through what the Clown Sexton says. Otherwise, Hamlet could be using ''card'' to mean "map" or "chart" but that's the same idea. Hamlet would have seen first-hand a navigational compass while he was aboard ship.<br />
<br />
However, it appears that ''card'' was also theater jargon for an actor's speech, written down. If that's what Hamlet means, he is talking about following the script, and not trying to ad lib.<br />
<br />
It would not be surprising if Shakespeare fully intended his audience to struggle through all the possibilities for this line, trying to figure out what he meant, exactly, while he was deliberately being ambiguous. The word "equivocation" appears in the next line, and Shakespeare may have done some of that himself, deliberately, in this line. He was a bit of a scamp.<br />
<br />
(It is a curiosity that the phrase ''by the card'' is the exact English equivalent of French "a la carte." However, restaurant menus are a relatively recent development, and were not in use in Shakespeare's time. The phrasing cannot be a figurative use of the idea of choosing specific items from a menu of possibilities.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====19-115=====<br />
''equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I''<br />
<br />
''equivocation'' - quibbling. Ambiguity; uncertainty of meaning.<br />
<br />
''these three years'' - the amount of time Hamlet has known Horatio, therefore the length of time since Hamlet went away to the university, since he met Horatio there.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====19-116=====<br />
''have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the''<br />
<br />
''picked'' - socially mixed up, socially jumbled. The figure of speech is based on a pick being used for digging. Picture the social strata being like strata in the soil. When a pick is used for digging, the different soil strata are mixed up and jumbled together. Hamlet means it's as if some power has taken a pick to the social strata, mixing up the social classes and jumbling them together. The figure of speech follows from watching the Clown Sexton dig, of course. The Clown Sexton sang "pickaxe" in line 078 above.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====19-117=====<br />
''peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.''<br />
<br />
''galls'' - chafes, to produce a sore spot.<br />
<br />
''kibe'' - chillblain, on the heel in this case.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the heel of the courtier being stepped on by the peasant, figuratively speaking, meaning there is inadequate respect for the courtier from the peasant, from the point of view of Hamlet the Courtier. Earlier in the Scene, we saw the Clown Sexton and the Clown Deputy agreed in resenting the special treatment of "great ones."<br />
<br />
This Scene presents some social class resentment, from both sides. Shakespeare was perceptive enough to notice signs of social trouble on the way, it appears. The English Civil War began in 1642.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====19-118=====<br />
''(resumes): How long hast thou been gravemaker?''<br />
<br />
The question arose implicitly earlier, between Hamlet and Horatio, at line 059. Hamlet is curious how long a man would have to dig graves to become so fully accustomed to it that he could sing at his work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====19-119=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,''<br />
<br />
''the days in the year'' - It is important to understand that the Clown Sexton is referring to a calendar date.<br />
<br />
''that day'' - that date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#119|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-120=====<br />
''Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not saying King Hamlet defeated the Elder Fortinbrasse on the identical day he became sexton (and gravedigger,) he is saying those events were on the same calendar date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====19-121=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long is that since?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking how many years ago the Clown Sexton became the sexton.<br />
<br />
However, in what follows, we see the Clown Sexton takes it, or at least plays it, that Hamlet is asking how long it's been since a calendar date, as if Hamlet asked, "How long has it been since April 23?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====19-122=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====19-123=====<br />
''very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into''<br />
<br />
''day'' - date. The Clown Sexton is continuing to speak of dates. He is not saying all three events happened in the same year.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a hint about what '''date''' he means. However, Hamlet was asking about the passage of years, not about calendar dates.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====19-124=====<br />
''England.''<br />
<br />
We see it's common knowledge Claudius sent Hamlet to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====19-125=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is curious whether any inkling of the true reason is circulating. The correct answer would be, "to be executed."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====19-126=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====19-127=====<br />
''he do not, 'tis no great matter there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====19-128=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====19-129=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad''<br />
<br />
''seen'' - observed; noticed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====19-130=====<br />
''as he.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====19-131=====<br />
''Hamlet: How came he mad?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====19-132=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====19-133=====<br />
''Hamlet: How strangely?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====19-134=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====19-135=====<br />
''Hamlet: Upon what ground?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, "for what reason (did Hamlet go mad)?"<br />
<br />
''ground'' - basis; cause; reason. We would now say "grounds."<br />
<br />
The word ''ground'' is from Old English 'grund' ("bottom, foundation, ground, surface of the earth, bottom of the sea.") So, asking "upon what ground" is like asking what is at the bottom of it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====19-136=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man''<br />
[[File:Second quarto sexten.jpg|right|the Second Quarto word "Sexten"]]<br />
[[File:Folio sixteen.jpg|right|the word "sixteen" in the First Folio]]<br />
''here in Denmark'' - The Clown Sexton misunderstands Hamlet, or pretends to. He replies as if "ground" meant "land area."<br />
<br />
''Sexten'' - sexton, is the first meaning. It identifies the Clown as the church sexton, by his own statement. There is more, however. The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a word puzzle, to try to show him up as a fool. It's the same behavior the Clown Sexton exhibited with the Clown Deputy at the beginning of the Scene. In other words, it's a word puzzle from Shakespeare. I preserve the Second Quarto spelling, duly marked, because it's a special word.<br />
<br />
Observe that in the First Folio the word is spelled "sixeteene." The Folio is revealing the second meaning, which is "sixteen." The word spelled ''Sexten'' in the Second Quarto has to be read ''twice'' to get the full meaning.<br />
<br />
Combining the relevant part of this line with the next line gives:<br><br />
''I have been 'Sexten' here, man and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton's total meaning is, "I have been sixteen (years) here (as the sexton) (and alive as a) man and boy thirty years." He has intentionally phrased it to give the impression he has been sexton for thirty years, but that is wrong. Apparently whoever did the work on the First Folio ''Hamlet'' was aware of the importance of "sixteen" in this line.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#136|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-137=====<br />
''and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton means that he, himself, has been alive as a man and boy for thirty years. (Ben Jonson was 30 in 1602.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====19-138=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====19-139=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many''<br />
<br />
The Sexton missed Hamlet's "lie" remark at his expense, and took the question as a serious one.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====19-140=====<br />
''pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====19-141=====<br />
''year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====19-142=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why he more then another?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====19-143=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====19-144=====<br />
''out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====19-145=====<br />
''dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====19-146=====<br />
''Hamlet: Whose was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====19-147=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====19-148=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====19-149=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====19-150=====<br />
''Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====19-151=====<br />
''King's Jester.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====19-152=====<br />
''Hamlet: This?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====19-153=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Even that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====19-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Let me see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====19-155=====<br />
''(aside to Horatio): Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====19-156=====<br />
''jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====19-157=====<br />
''times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====19-158=====<br />
''rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====19-159=====<br />
''often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====19-160=====<br />
''of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161=====<br />
''now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161-SD=====<br />
''(drops the skull into the grave excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-162=====<br />
''to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====19-163=====<br />
''she must come; make her laugh at that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====19-164=====<br />
''Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====19-165=====<br />
''Horatio: What's that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====19-166=====<br />
''Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====19-167=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====19-168=====<br />
''Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====19-169=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====19-170=====<br />
''Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====19-171=====<br />
''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====19-172=====<br />
''a bunghole?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====19-173=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====19-174=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====19-175=====<br />
''enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====19-176=====<br />
''buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====19-177=====<br />
''make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====19-178=====<br />
''they not stop a beer-barrel?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====19-179=====<br />
''(recites): Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====19-180=====<br />
''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====19-181=====<br />
''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182=====<br />
''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#182|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse; Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners; the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)''<br />
<br />
Ophelia is borne bare-faced on the bier. That is, her body is shrouded except for the face. Ophelia, herself, told us of that burial practice in one of her songs in Scene 16 ([[Scene 16#170]].)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-183=====<br />
''But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====19-184=====<br />
''The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====19-185=====<br />
''And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,''<br />
<br />
''maimed'' - less than whole. Hamlet can see at a distance that the funeral procession does not include everything it might. BOOKMARK go into detail on this<br />
<br />
''betoken'' - signify; indicate. Goes back to Old English 'tacen' ("sign.") This is a subtle instance of the Omen Motif in the play. Hamlet uses an "omen" word, with no idea how ominous it is, for his future happiness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====19-186=====<br />
''The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====19-187=====<br />
''Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====19-188=====<br />
''Couch we a while, and mark.''<br />
<br />
''Couch'' - lie down. From Old French 'couche' ("a bed,") from 'coucher' ("to lay down.")<br />
<br />
''mark'' - watch; pay attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====19-189=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====19-190=====<br />
''Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====19-191=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
As an instance of the themes of the play, Laertes thinks there should be more of a Show.<br />
<br />
We heard Laertes's objections earlier, in Scene 16, ([[Scene 16 #213]] and ff) over what he had heard about the lack of a proper show for his father's funeral.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====19-192=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====19-193=====<br />
''As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,''<br />
<br />
''doubtful'' - in whose opinion? And why would they think so?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====19-194=====<br />
''And but that great command o'er-sways the order,''<br />
<br />
''great command'' - the King's command, following the coroner's court decision of accidental death.<br />
<br />
''o'er-sways'' - holds sway over. Overrules.<br />
<br />
''the order'' - the funeral service that the church would have followed, if left to its own devices. The word ''order'' referring to religious procedure goes back to Medieval times.<br />
<br />
There is church-state conflict; the state has overruled the church, to dictate Christian burial for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
There's nothing factual about why the cleric thinks the service should be different. The ideas of the cleric, and the Clown Sexton before him, are based on suspicion and presumption.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====19-195=====<br />
''She should in ground unsanctified been lodged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====19-196=====<br />
''Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,''<br />
<br />
''last trumpet'' - the trumpet that will sound on Judgment Day.<br />
<br />
''For'' - in place of; instead of.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====19-197=====<br />
''{Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.''<br />
<br />
''{Sharp}'' - is an editorial change, by me.<br />
<br />
The Second Quarto publication of ''Hamlet'' has no word before ''flints,'' and the First Folio has "Shardes," which would be "shards" in modern spelling. However, in a search of the Shakespeare canon, I find that Shakespeare never used the word "shards" in that way in any other of his writing.<br />
<br />
The three other uses of "shard" or a form of it are:<br />
<br />
Antony and Cleopatra [III, 2]: "They are his shards, and he their beetle."<br />
<br />
Cymbeline [III, 3]: "The sharded beetle..."<br />
<br />
Macbeth [III, 2]: "The shard-borne beetle..."<br />
<br />
In all other appearances of "shard" in the Shakespeare canon it is used to mean the elytron (wing case) of a beetle.<br />
<br />
I do not find the word "shards" credible in this speech in ''Hamlet,'' where it is apparently supposed to mean "potshards." One could contend that Shakespeare used "shards" in such a way just this once, but that is to argue that the word is right just because it's there, and I can't accept that in the face of the other usages.<br />
<br />
I think the Folio editor misread "sharp," perhaps because he was dealing with faded 20-year old manuscript. If the word were "sharp" it would be entirely credible, with no hesitation. "Sharp" goes perfectly with ''flints,'' it provides an instance for the Edge Motif, and it leaves ''flints and pebbles'' as the kind of conjunction of nouns which is a characteristic of Shakespeare's style. So, I have changed the word, against the direct evidence of the First Folio "Shardes." My only defense, for this offense, is that it is my best judgment. I do not think the Folio is right.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#197|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-198=====<br />
''Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,''<br />
<br />
''crants'' - wreaths.<br />
<br />
The word ''crants'' sounds like the last syllable in the name "Rosencrantz," a name which means "rose crown." By that, based on the sound, one can hear ''crants'' as "crown," and the line becomes, "she is allowed her virgin crown."<br />
<br />
The idea of a "virgin crown" was a powerful one in the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====19-199=====<br />
''Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====19-200=====<br />
''Of bell and burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====19-201=====<br />
''Laertes: Must there no more be done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====19-202=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====19-203=====<br />
''We should profane the service of the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====19-204=====<br />
''To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====19-205=====<br />
''As to peace-parted souls.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====19-206=====<br />
''Laertes: Lay her in the earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====19-207=====<br />
''And from her fair and unpolluted flesh''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====19-208=====<br />
[[File:Viola_odorata.jpg|right|violet]]<br />
''May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is initiating a myth here, in the classical tradition. In mythology, various persons were turned into flowers, notably Narcissus. Here, Shakespeare turns Ophelia into violets.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====19-209=====<br />
''A ministering angel shall my sister be''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====19-210=====<br />
''When thou liest howling.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====19-211=====<br />
''Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====19-212=====<br />
''Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====19-213=====<br />
''I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====19-214=====<br />
''I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====19-215=====<br />
''And not have strewed thy grave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====19-216=====<br />
''Laertes: Oh, treble woe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====19-217=====<br />
''Fall ten times double on that cursed head,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====19-218=====<br />
''Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====19-219=====<br />
''Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220=====<br />
''Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes jumps into the excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-221=====<br />
''Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====19-222=====<br />
''Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]]<br />
<br />
=====19-223=====<br />
''To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====19-224=====<br />
''Of blue Olympus.''<br />
<br />
''Blue'' because of the altitude.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====19-225=====<br />
''Hamlet: What is he whose grief''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====19-226=====<br />
''Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====19-227=====<br />
''Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====19-228=====<br />
''Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229=====<br />
''Hamlet the Dane!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-230=====<br />
''Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====19-231=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====19-232=====<br />
''From my throat.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====19-233=====<br />
''For, though I am not splenative and rash,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====19-234=====<br />
''Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====19-235=====<br />
''Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====19-236=====<br />
''Claudius: Pluck them asunder.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#236]]<br />
<br />
=====19-237=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#237]]<br />
<br />
=====19-238=====<br />
''All: Gentlemen!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#238]]<br />
<br />
=====19-239=====<br />
''Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#239]]<br />
<br />
=====19-240=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#240]]<br />
<br />
=====19-241=====<br />
''Until my eyelids will no longer wag.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#241]]<br />
<br />
=====19-242=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#242]]<br />
<br />
=====19-243=====<br />
''Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#243]]<br />
<br />
=====19-244=====<br />
''Could not, with all their quantity of love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#244]]<br />
<br />
=====19-245=====<br />
''Make up my sum.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#245]]<br />
<br />
=====19-246=====<br />
''(to Laertes): What wilt thou do for her?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#246]]<br />
<br />
=====19-247=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, he is mad, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#247]]<br />
<br />
=====19-248=====<br />
''Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#248]]<br />
<br />
=====19-249=====<br />
''Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#249]]<br />
<br />
=====19-250=====<br />
''Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#250]]<br />
<br />
=====19-251=====<br />
[[File:Paradin crocodile.jpg|right|crocodile, 1591]]<br />
''Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?''<br />
<br />
''eisel'' - vinegar.<br />
<br />
''crocodile'' - a notoriously savage creature, as known in Shakespeare's England. The idea of "crocodile tears" was also known, and there is an accusation of insincerity in Hamlet's lines to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the kind of stunts an immature young man might perform, to try to be impressive, and likewise, the kind of pledges he might make, to try to impress. "I'd climb the highest mountain for you, I'd swim the deepest river for you, I'd drink a gallon of vinegar for you, I'd eat a crocodile for you!" That sort of thing. One often does not expect the stunt to really be performed, it's the thought that counts.<br />
<br />
Ophelia is beyond being impressed by any such pronouncement.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#251]]<br />
<br />
=====19-252=====<br />
''I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#252]]<br />
<br />
=====19-253=====<br />
''To outface me with leaping in her grave?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#253]]<br />
<br />
=====19-254=====<br />
''Be buried quick with her, and so will I!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#254]]<br />
<br />
=====19-255=====<br />
''And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#255]]<br />
<br />
=====19-256=====<br />
''Millions of acres on us, till our ground,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#256]]<br />
<br />
=====19-257=====<br />
''Singeing his pate against the burning zone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#257]]<br />
<br />
=====19-258=====<br />
''Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#258]]<br />
<br />
=====19-259=====<br />
''I'll rant as well as thou.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#259]]<br />
<br />
=====19-260=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is mere madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#260]]<br />
<br />
=====19-261=====<br />
''And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#261]]<br />
<br />
=====19-262=====<br />
''Anon, as patient as the female dove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#262]]<br />
<br />
=====19-263=====<br />
''When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#263]]<br />
<br />
=====19-264=====<br />
''His silence will sit drooping.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#264]]<br />
<br />
=====19-265=====<br />
''Hamlet: Hear you, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#265]]<br />
<br />
=====19-266=====<br />
''What is the reason that you use me thus?''<br />
<br />
Since Hamlet knows his killing of Polonius was accidental, he supposes everyone knows that. However, they do not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#266]]<br />
<br />
=====19-267=====<br />
''I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#267]]<br />
<br />
=====19-268=====<br />
''Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#268]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269=====<br />
''The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.''<br />
<br />
That is, things will proceed according to their nature.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-270=====<br />
''Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.''<br />
<br />
Claudius is talking to Horatio's back, as he pretends to be, or strives to be, in control.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#270]]<br />
<br />
=====19-271=====<br />
''(to Laertes): Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#271]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272=====<br />
''We'll put the matter to the present push.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-273=====<br />
''Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.''<br />
<br />
Again, Claudius is trying to retain control, but he is talking to Gertrude's back.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#273]]<br />
<br />
=====19-274=====<br />
''This grave shall have a living monument;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#274]]<br />
<br />
=====19-275=====<br />
''An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#275]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276=====<br />
''Till then, in patience our proceeding be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit; the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_19
Scene 19
2018-02-12T03:12:48Z
<p>Administrator: /* 19-051 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
At the Graveyard, the coroner's court Deputy has already informed the Sexton of the court's decision. As the Scene begins, we find the Sexton arguing with the Deputy. The Clown Sexton asserts that Ophelia killed herself, and he questions whether she deserves Christian burial. After wasting a lot of time giving the Deputy a hard time, the Sexton begins digging. The Deputy, having done his duty for the court, leaves.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and Horatio enter. They discuss the Sexton's behavior and the grave, then Hamlet speaks to the Sexton. Hamlet and the Sexton engage in some repartee. Hamlet says the famous "poor Yorick" speech.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's funeral procession approaches. Hamlet and Horatio hide to watch, wondering whose funeral it is.<br />
<br />
Laertes argues with the Doctor of Divinity who's conducting the service and, carried away, jumps down into the grave excavation. Hamlet, having learned it's Ophelia's funeral, and outraged by Laertes's behavior, jumps into the grave excavation to confront him. They're separated after a brief scuffle.<br />
<br />
Hamlet exits, followed by Horatio. Claudius draws Laertes aside, reminds him of their fencing match scheme to kill Hamlet, and says they'll proceed with that right away.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 19 Characters are: [[Clown Sexton]], [[Clown Deputy]], [[Hamlet]], [[Horatio]], [[Laertes]], [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Gertrude]], [[Claudius]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"<br />
| Hamlet and Horatio entry [[#056-SD]], || "poor Yorick" speech [[#155]], || funeral procession entry [[#182-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
| Hamlet jumps into grave [[#229-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 19</b> [ ~ Poor Yorick ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 5 Scene 1)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
The Graveyard;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#19-001]]<span id="001"></span> Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is she to have a Christian burial, when she intentionally''</span><br />
[[#19-002]]<span id="002"></span> seeks her own salvation?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''seeks her own path to Heaven?''</span><br />
[[#19-003]]<span id="003"></span> Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I tell you she is, so make her grave properly. The''</span><br />
[[#19-004]]<span id="004"></span> crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''coroner has sat in judgment on her case, and his verdict is for a Christian burial.''</span><br />
[[#19-005]]<span id="005"></span> Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''</span><br />
[[#19-006]]<span id="006"></span> defense?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''defense?''</span><br />
[[#19-007]]<span id="007"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, it is adjudged so.''</span><br />
[[#19-008]]<span id="008"></span> Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It must be a legal technicality, it can't be otherwise, because, here's the''</span><br />
[[#19-009]]<span id="009"></span> point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''point: if I drown myself intentionally it's an act, and an act has''</span><br />
[[#19-010]]<span id="010"></span> three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her<br />
<span style="color:gray">''three branches, which are to act, to do, to perform, or all of those, ergo she''</span><br />
[[#19-011]]<span id="011"></span> self wittingly.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''drowned herself intentionally.''</span><br />
[[#19-012]]<span id="012"></span> Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but listen, good man digger . . .''</span><br />
[[#19-013]]<span id="013"></span> Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water, good; here stands the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me continue. Here is the water, okay, and here stands a''</span><br />
[[#19-014]]<span id="014"></span> man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man, very well, now, if the man goes to the water and drowns himself it is''</span><br />
[[#19-015]]<span id="015"></span> he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''willy-nilly he goes, be sure of that. But if the water comes to him and''</span><br />
[[#19-016]]<span id="016"></span> drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' drowns him, he doesn't drown himself, ergo, he who is not guilty of''</span><br />
[[#19-017]]<span id="017"></span> his own death, shortens not his own life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his own death, doesn't shorten his own life.''</span><br />
[[#19-018]]<span id="018"></span> Clown Deputy: But is this law?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But is this the law?''</span><br />
[[#19-019]]<span id="019"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, indeed! It's coroner's inquest law.''</span><br />
[[#19-020]]<span id="020"></span> Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you want the truth about it? Had she not been a gentlewoman''</span><br />
[[#19-021]]<span id="021"></span> she should have been buried out of Christian burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''she would have been buried without Christian ceremony.''</span><br />
[[#19-022]]<span id="022"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, you have said it there. And more's the pity that high-status people''</span><br />
[[#19-023]]<span id="023"></span> should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''should have permission in this world to drown or hang themselves,''</span><br />
[[#19-024]]<span id="024"></span> more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient<br />
<span style="color:gray">''moreso than equally-Christian others. Hand me my spade. There are no ancestral''</span><br />
[[#19-025]]<span id="025"></span> gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''gentlemen except gardeners, ditchers, and gravediggers - they sustain''</span><br />
[[#19-026]]<span id="026"></span> up Adam's profession.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adam's profession.''</span><br />
[[#19-027]]<span id="027"></span> Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was Adam a gentleman?''</span><br />
[[#19-028]]<span id="028"></span> Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was the first to ever bear arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-029]]<span id="029"></span> Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, he had no such arms.''</span><br />
[[#19-030]]<span id="030"></span> Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What, are you a heathen? How do you understand''</span><br />
[[#19-031]]<span id="031"></span> the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the Bible? The Bible says Adam digged -''</span><br />
[[#19-032]]<span id="032"></span> could he dig without arms?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''could he dig without arms?''</span><br />
[[#19-033]]<span id="033"></span> I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll put another question to you, and if you can't answer it''</span><br />
[[#19-034]]<span id="034"></span> purpose, confess thyself.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''properly, admit that I've got you.''</span><br />
[[#19-035]]<span id="035"></span> Clown Deputy: Go to.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead.''</span><br />
[[#19-036]]<span id="036"></span> Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the man who builds stronger than either a mason, a''</span><br />
[[#19-037]]<span id="037"></span> shipwright, or the carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shipwright, or a carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-038]]<span id="038"></span> Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The gallows maker, because what he builds outlasts a thousand occupants.''</span><br />
[[#19-039]]<span id="039"></span> Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I like your cleverness well. Indeed, "the gallows" is an answer that does well -''</span><br />
[[#19-040]]<span id="040"></span> but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but how does it do well? The gallows does well to those who do ill. Now you''</span><br />
[[#19-041]]<span id="041"></span> dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, ergo,''</span><br />
[[#19-042]]<span id="042"></span> the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the gallows might do you well. Try again, come on.''</span><br />
[[#19-043]]<span id="043"></span> Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''</span><br />
[[#19-044]]<span id="044"></span> carpenter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''carpenter?''</span><br />
[[#19-045]]<span id="045"></span> Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, tell me the answer, and your job is done.''</span><br />
[[#19-046]]<span id="046"></span> Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, now I know.''</span><br />
[[#19-047]]<span id="047"></span> Clown Sexton: To it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's hear it.''</span><br />
[[#19-048]]<span id="048"></span> Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-049]]<span id="049"></span> Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't beat your brain any more about it, since a slow jackass will''</span><br />
[[#19-050]]<span id="050"></span> not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not go faster if you beat it. When you're asked this question,''</span><br />
[[#19-051]]<span id="051"></span> next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''next time, say "a gravemaker," because the "houses" he makes last until doomsday.''</span><br />
[[#19-052]]<span id="052"></span> Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor. [[#19-052-SD]]<span id="052-SD"></span> (points in the direction of the church;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, go in there, and fetch me a mug of wine.''</span> the Clown Deputy exits)<br />
[[#19-053]]<span id="053"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In my youth when I did love, did love,''</span><br />
[[#19-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought it was very sweet,''</span><br />
[[#19-055]]<span id="055"></span> To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To take the time for all I pleased,''</span><br />
[[#19-056]]<span id="056"></span> Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I thought there was nothing as fit and proper.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio enter)<br />
<br />
[[#19-057]]<span id="057"></span> Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Doesn't this fellow have any feeling for what he's doing? He's singing while''</span><br />
[[#19-058]]<span id="058"></span> grave making.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''digging a grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-059]]<span id="059"></span> Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's so used to it, it doesn't bother him.''</span><br />
[[#19-060]]<span id="060"></span> Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So it is. A hand not callused by hard work is more easily impressed.''</span><br />
[[#19-061]]<span id="061"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But age, with its stealthy steps,''</span><br />
[[#19-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''has caught me in its clutches''</span><br />
[[#19-063]]<span id="063"></span> ''And hath shipped me intill the land,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has shipped me to the land of no return''</span><br />
[[#19-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''as if I had never been such.'' [[#19-064-SD]]<span id="064-SD"></span> (tosses out a skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as if I had never been a youth.''</span><br />
[[#19-065]]<span id="065"></span> Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That skull once had a tongue in it, and could sing. Look how the''</span><br />
[[#19-066]]<span id="066"></span> knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''knave tosses it on the ground, as if it were the jawbone of Cain, who did the''</span><br />
[[#19-067]]<span id="067"></span> first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now<br />
<span style="color:gray">''first murder. It might be the head of a politician, whom this jackass now''</span><br />
[[#19-068]]<span id="068"></span> o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''outranks - one who hoped to outwit God, might it not be?''</span><br />
[[#19-069]]<span id="069"></span> Horatio: It might, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It might be, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-070]]<span id="070"></span> Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, that of a courtier, who could say, "Good morning, sweet Lord,''</span><br />
[[#19-071]]<span id="071"></span> how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''how are you, sweet Lord?" It might be Lord So-and-so, who once''</span><br />
[[#19-072]]<span id="072"></span> praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''praised my Lord Whoever's horse when he hoped to borrow it, might it not?''</span><br />
[[#19-073]]<span id="073"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-074]]<span id="074"></span> Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so, and now it's Lady Worm's - jawless, and knocked''</span><br />
[[#19-075]]<span id="075"></span> about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''around in the grave excavation with a sexton's spade. Here's a fine turn of events, and''</span><br />
[[#19-076]]<span id="076"></span> we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''we had the luck to see it. Were these bones worth no more in bearing, rearing, and educating them,''</span><br />
[[#19-077]]<span id="077"></span> but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''than to play games with them? My bones ache as I think about it.''</span><br />
[[#19-078]]<span id="078"></span> Clown Sexton <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''</span><br />
[[#19-079]]<span id="079"></span> ''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and also a shrouding sheet,''</span><br />
[[#19-080]]<span id="080"></span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-081]]<span id="081"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.'' [[#19-081-SD]]<span id="081-SD"></span> (tosses out another skull)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-082]]<span id="082"></span> Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's another one! Why, couldn't that be the skull of a lawyer?''</span><br />
[[#19-083]]<span id="083"></span> Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where are his various legal technicalities now, his cases, his terms, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-084]]<span id="084"></span> tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about<br />
<span style="color:gray">''legal tricks? Why does he tolerate that this cross knave can now knock him about''</span><br />
[[#19-085]]<span id="085"></span> the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the head with a dirty shovel, and will not inform him that he has been sued''</span><br />
[[#19-086]]<span id="086"></span> of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for battery? Hmm, this fellow might have been, in his time, a great buyer of''</span><br />
[[#19-087]]<span id="087"></span> land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land, with his statutory bonds, his personal bonds, his fines, his double vouchers, and his''</span><br />
[[#19-088]]<span id="088"></span> recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lawsuits. Is this the finality of his fines, and the attainment of his attainments -''</span><br />
[[#19-089]]<span id="089"></span> to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to have his fine head full of fine dirt, and will vouchers''</span><br />
[[#19-090]]<span id="090"></span> vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length<br />
<span style="color:gray">''vouch him no more land out of his purchases and doubles, than the length''</span><br />
[[#19-091]]<span id="091"></span> and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and width of a pair of contract indentures? All his paperwork for his''</span><br />
[[#19-092]]<span id="092"></span> lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lands would barely fit inside his grave plot, but is the only land he's''</span><br />
[[#19-093]]<span id="093"></span> no more? Ha.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ended up occupying just the size of his own grave? Ha!''</span><br />
[[#19-094]]<span id="094"></span> Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not a bit more than that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-095]]<span id="095"></span> Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Isn't parchment made of sheepskin?''</span><br />
[[#19-096]]<span id="096"></span> Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord, and of calfskin, too.''</span><br />
[[#19-097]]<span id="097"></span> Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Persons are only sheep and calves when they look for certainty in''</span><br />
[[#19-098]]<span id="098"></span> that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''land deeds. I'll talk to the fellow. Whose grave is this, sirrah?''</span><br />
[[#19-099]]<span id="099"></span> Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's mine, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-100]]<span id="100"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, a pit of clay that's to be made,''</span><br />
[[#19-101]]<span id="101"></span> ''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for such a guest, is proper.''</span><br />
[[#19-102]]<span id="102"></span> Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I think it must be your grave, indeed, because you're lying in it.''</span><br />
[[#19-103]]<span id="103"></span> Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're lying out of it, sir, so it can't be yours. As for me, I''</span><br />
[[#19-104]]<span id="104"></span> do not lie in it, yet it is mine.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do not lie in it, but yet, it is mine.''</span><br />
[[#19-105]]<span id="105"></span> Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You do lie in it, to be in it and say it's yours - it's for the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-106]]<span id="106"></span> not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''not for the living, therefore, you lie.''</span><br />
[[#19-107]]<span id="107"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a quick lie, sir, because it will quickly go again from me to you.''</span><br />
[[#19-108]]<span id="108"></span> Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What man do you dig it for?''</span><br />
[[#19-109]]<span id="109"></span> Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no man, sir.''</span><br />
[[#19-110]]<span id="110"></span> Hamlet: What woman, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What woman, then?''</span><br />
[[#19-111]]<span id="111"></span> Clown Sexton: For none, neither.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For no woman, either.''</span><br />
[[#19-112]]<span id="112"></span> Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who's to be buried in it?''</span><br />
[[#19-113]]<span id="113"></span> Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One who was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''</span><br />
[[#19-114]]<span id="114"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How impertinent the knave is. We must speak according to the script, or''</span><br />
[[#19-115]]<span id="115"></span> equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ambiguity will be our downfall. By Lord, Horatio, during these three years since we met, I''</span><br />
[[#19-116]]<span id="116"></span> have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''have taken notice of it: the times have become so socially jumbled, that the toe of the''</span><br />
[[#19-117]]<span id="117"></span> peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kybe.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''peasant walks so close on the heel of the courtier, he chafes his chilblain.''</span><br />
[[#19-118]]<span id="118"></span> <span style="color:gray">(resumes):</span> How long hast thou been gravemaker?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long have you been a gravemaker?''</span><br />
[[#19-119]]<span id="119"></span> Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of the dates in the year, I began this job on the date that our late King,''</span><br />
[[#19-120]]<span id="120"></span> Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, defeated Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#19-121]]<span id="121"></span> Hamlet: How long is that since?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long ago was that?''</span><br />
[[#19-122]]<span id="122"></span> Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you know? Any fool could answer that question. It was the''</span><br />
[[#19-123]]<span id="123"></span> very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into<br />
<span style="color:gray">''very same date that young Hamlet was born - he who is mad and has been sent to''</span><br />
[[#19-124]]<span id="124"></span> England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''England.''</span><br />
[[#19-125]]<span id="125"></span> Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, goodness, why was he sent to England?''</span><br />
[[#19-126]]<span id="126"></span> Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why? Because he was mad. He'll recover his wits there, or if''</span><br />
[[#19-127]]<span id="127"></span> he do not, 'tis no great matter there.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''he doesn't, it won't matter much there.''</span><br />
[[#19-128]]<span id="128"></span> Hamlet: Why?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why not?''</span><br />
[[#19-129]]<span id="129"></span> Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It won't be noticed in him there, because there, all the men are as crazy''</span><br />
[[#19-130]]<span id="130"></span> as he.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as he is.''</span><br />
[[#19-131]]<span id="131"></span> Hamlet: How came he mad?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How did he become mad?''</span><br />
[[#19-132]]<span id="132"></span> Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very strangely, they say.''</span><br />
[[#19-133]]<span id="133"></span> Hamlet: How strangely?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How strangely?''</span><br />
[[#19-134]]<span id="134"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, he went mad by losing his mind.''</span><br />
[[#19-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet: Upon what ground?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But upon what grounds?''</span><br />
[[#19-136]]<span id="136"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, here in Denmark. I have been sixteen years here, a man''</span><br />
[[#19-137]]<span id="137"></span> and boy thirty years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and boy for thirty years.''</span><br />
[[#19-138]]<span id="138"></span> Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long will a man lie in the earth before he rots?''</span><br />
[[#19-139]]<span id="139"></span> Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, if he isn't already rotten before he dies, (and we get many''</span><br />
[[#19-140]]<span id="140"></span> pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''diseased corpses now that will hardly hold together,) a body will last some eight''</span><br />
[[#19-141]]<span id="141"></span> year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''years, or nine years. A tanner will last for nine years.''</span><br />
[[#19-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet: Why he more then another?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why will his body last longer than another?''</span><br />
[[#19-143]]<span id="143"></span> Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, sir, his own hide is so tanned from his occupation, that it will keep''</span><br />
[[#19-144]]<span id="144"></span> out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson<br />
<span style="color:gray">''water out a long time, and water is a severe decayer of your bastard''</span><br />
[[#19-145]]<span id="145"></span> dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''dead body. Now, here's a skull that has lain for you in the earth for 23 years.''</span><br />
[[#19-146]]<span id="146"></span> Hamlet: Whose was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose was it?''</span><br />
[[#19-147]]<span id="147"></span> Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A bastard mad fellow's, it was! Whose do you suppose it was?''</span><br />
[[#19-148]]<span id="148"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know.''</span><br />
[[#19-149]]<span id="149"></span> Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A plague on him as a mad rogue! He poured a mug of''</span><br />
[[#19-150]]<span id="150"></span> Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rhenish wine over my head once. This exact skull, sir - this same one - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''</span><br />
[[#19-151]]<span id="151"></span> King's Jester.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''King's jester.''</span><br />
[[#19-152]]<span id="152"></span> Hamlet: This?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That?''</span><br />
[[#19-153]]<span id="153"></span> Clown Sexton: Even that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exactly that.''</span><br />
[[#19-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Let me see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me see it.''</span><br />
[[#19-155]]<span id="155"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside to Horatio)</span>: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, poor Yoricke. I knew him, Horatio, he was a fellow of endless''</span><br />
[[#19-156]]<span id="156"></span> jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''jests, of most excellent whimsy. He carried me aboard his back a thousand''</span><br />
[[#19-157]]<span id="157"></span> times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''times, and now how abhorrent to my thoughts this skull is. I feel nauseous''</span><br />
[[#19-158]]<span id="158"></span> rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how<br />
<span style="color:gray">''looking at it. Here were those lips that I once kissed, I don't know how''</span><br />
[[#19-159]]<span id="159"></span> often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''often. Where is your teasing, now? Your frolicking, your songs, your bursts''</span><br />
[[#19-160]]<span id="160"></span> of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of merriment, that would make everyone at the table laugh out loud? No one,''</span><br />
[[#19-161]]<span id="161"></span> now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you [[#19-161-SD]]<span id="161-SD"></span> (drops the skull into the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''now, to ape your own grinning? - very down at the mouth. Now, go''</span> grave excavation)<br />
[[#19-162]]<span id="162"></span> to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to my lady's dressing room, and tell her: put her makeup on an inch thick, this kindness is''</span><br />
[[#19-163]]<span id="163"></span> she must come; make her laugh at that.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what she must come to, and make her laugh at that.''</span><br />
[[#19-164]]<span id="164"></span> Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, Horatio, tell me one thing.''</span><br />
[[#19-165]]<span id="165"></span> Horatio: What's that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#19-166]]<span id="166"></span> Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you think, Alexander the Great, did he look this way in the earth?''</span><br />
[[#19-167]]<span id="167"></span> Horatio: Even so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, even so.''</span><br />
[[#19-168]]<span id="168"></span> Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And smelled like this? P. U.''</span><br />
[[#19-169]]<span id="169"></span> Horatio: Even so, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even so, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#19-170]]<span id="170"></span> Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To what crude uses might we return, Horatio? Why can't''</span><br />
[[#19-171]]<span id="171"></span> imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping<br />
<span style="color:gray">''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, until we find it plugging''</span><br />
[[#19-172]]<span id="172"></span> a bunghole?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a cask?''</span><br />
[[#19-173]]<span id="173"></span> Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be to contemplate too meticulously, to contemplate like that.''</span><br />
[[#19-174]]<span id="174"></span> Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, goodness, not a bit. Only, to follow him there with humility''</span><br />
[[#19-175]]<span id="175"></span> enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was<br />
<span style="color:gray">''enough, and probability to lead the way, like so: Alexander died, Alexander was''</span><br />
[[#19-176]]<span id="176"></span> buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we<br />
<span style="color:gray">''buried, Alexander returned to the dust, the dust is earth, out of earth we''</span><br />
[[#19-177]]<span id="177"></span> make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might<br />
<span style="color:gray">''make loam, so why couldn't that loam into which Alexander was converted''</span><br />
[[#19-178]]<span id="178"></span> they not stop a beer-barrel?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''be used to make a plug for a beer barrel?''</span><br />
[[#19-179]]<span id="179"></span> <span style="color:gray">(recites):</span> ''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Imperial Caesar dead, and turned into clay,''</span><br />
[[#19-180]]<span id="180"></span> ''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might plug a hole to keep the draft away.''</span><br />
[[#19-181]]<span id="181"></span> ''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, that that flesh which held the world in awe''</span><br />
[[#19-182]]<span id="182"></span> ''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should patch a wall to keep out the winter's flurry.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-182-SD]]<span id="182-SD"></span> (Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse;<br />
Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners;<br />
the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#19-183]]<span id="183"></span> But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But hush, let's move quietly away, here comes the King, and''</span><br />
[[#19-184]]<span id="184"></span> The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Queen, the courtiers . . . whose body do they follow?''</span><br />
[[#19-185]]<span id="185"></span> And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And with such deficient rites? This indicates,''</span><br />
[[#19-186]]<span id="186"></span> The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The corpse they follow did, with a desperate hand,''</span><br />
[[#19-187]]<span id="187"></span> Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take its own life. It was of some high social status.''</span><br />
[[#19-188]]<span id="188"></span> Couch we a while, and mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's lie here a while and watch.''</span><br />
[[#19-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony, in addition to this?''</span><br />
[[#19-190]]<span id="190"></span> Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That is Laertes, a very noble youth, notice.''</span><br />
[[#19-191]]<span id="191"></span> Laertes: What ceremony else?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ceremony in addition?''</span><br />
[[#19-192]]<span id="192"></span> Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her funeral rites have been elaborated as far''</span><br />
[[#19-193]]<span id="193"></span> As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we have religious authority. Her death was suspicious,''</span><br />
[[#19-194]]<span id="194"></span> And but that great command o'er-sways the order,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And except that a royal command has overruled religious directives,''</span><br />
[[#19-195]]<span id="195"></span> She should in ground unsanctified been lodged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She would, in unblessed ground, have been housed''</span><br />
[[#19-196]]<span id="196"></span> Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until Judgment Day. Instead of charitable prayers,''</span><br />
[[#19-197]]<span id="197"></span> {Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sharp flints and pebbles would be thrown on her.''</span><br />
[[#19-198]]<span id="198"></span> Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, here she is privileged to have her virgin crown wreaths,''</span><br />
[[#19-199]]<span id="199"></span> Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her maidenly flowers, and the escort to her final place of rest''</span><br />
[[#19-200]]<span id="200"></span> Of bell and burial.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the church bell, and Christian burial services.''</span><br />
[[#19-201]]<span id="201"></span> Laertes: Must there no more be done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Must there be no more done than this?''</span><br />
[[#19-202]]<span id="202"></span> Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more can be done.''</span><br />
[[#19-203]]<span id="203"></span> We should profane the service of the dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We would desecrate the service for the dead, itself,''</span><br />
[[#19-204]]<span id="204"></span> To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If we chanted the solemn requiem, and that kind of repose to her,''</span><br />
[[#19-205]]<span id="205"></span> As to peace-parted souls.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As we do for peacefully-departed souls.''</span><br />
[[#19-206]]<span id="206"></span> Laertes: Lay her in the earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Place her body in the earth,''</span><br />
[[#19-207]]<span id="207"></span> And from her fair and unpolluted flesh<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And from her beautiful and pure remains''</span><br />
[[#19-208]]<span id="208"></span> May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May violets abound. I tell you, stingy priest,''</span><br />
[[#19-209]]<span id="209"></span> A ministering angel shall my sister be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A ministering angel is what my sister shall be''</span><br />
[[#19-210]]<span id="210"></span> When thou liest howling.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When you lie down below wailing.''</span><br />
[[#19-211]]<span id="211"></span> Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What? The lovely Ophelia?!''</span><br />
[[#19-212]]<span id="212"></span> Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#19-213]]<span id="213"></span> I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hoped you would have been my Hamlet's wife.''</span><br />
[[#19-214]]<span id="214"></span> I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thought I'd be decorating your bridal bed with flowers, sweet maiden,''</span><br />
[[#19-215]]<span id="215"></span> And not have strewed thy grave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And not be scattering them on your grave.''</span><br />
[[#19-216]]<span id="216"></span> Laertes: Oh, treble woe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, may three times as much sorrow''</span><br />
[[#19-217]]<span id="217"></span> Fall ten times double on that cursed head,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fall ten times, doubly, down on that accursed head, of he''</span><br />
[[#19-218]]<span id="218"></span> Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose evil deed, your most sensible rationality''</span><br />
[[#19-219]]<span id="219"></span> Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Took from thee. Don't fill in the grave for a while,''</span><br />
[[#19-220]]<span id="220"></span> Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. [[#19-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Laertes jumps into the excavation)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until I have hugged her, once more, in my arms!''</span><br />
[[#19-221]]<span id="221"></span> Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Now pile the dirt on both the living and the dead,''</span><br />
[[#19-222]]<span id="222"></span> Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until, out of this flatland, you've made a mountain''</span><br />
[[#19-223]]<span id="223"></span> To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's higher than ancient Mount Pelion, or the lofty peak''</span><br />
[[#19-224]]<span id="224"></span> Of blue Olympus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of blue Mount Olympus.''</span><br />
[[#19-225]]<span id="225"></span> Hamlet: What is he whose grief<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is he, whose grief''</span><br />
[[#19-226]]<span id="226"></span> Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Carries such an emphasis on himself, whose expression of "sorrow"''</span><br />
[[#19-227]]<span id="227"></span> Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Calls out to the wandering stars, and makes them stop''</span><br />
[[#19-228]]<span id="228"></span> Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like what they hear has wounded their ears with astonishment? It is I,''</span><br />
[[#19-229]]<span id="229"></span> Hamlet the Dane!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, the Dane!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-229-SD]]<span id="229-SD"></span> (Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)<br />
<br />
[[#19-230]]<span id="230"></span> Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Devil take your soul!''</span><br />
[[#19-231]]<span id="231"></span> Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You don't pray properly. I pray you remove your fingers''</span><br />
[[#19-232]]<span id="232"></span> From my throat.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From my throat.''</span><br />
[[#19-233]]<span id="233"></span> For, though I am not splenative and rash,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, although I am not quick to anger,''</span><br />
[[#19-234]]<span id="234"></span> Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet, I do have within me something hazardous''</span><br />
[[#19-235]]<span id="235"></span> Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, if you're smart, you'll fear. Take away your hand.''</span><br />
[[#19-236]]<span id="236"></span> Claudius: Pluck them asunder.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pull them apart!''</span><br />
[[#19-237]]<span id="237"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, Hamlet!''</span><br />
[[#19-238]]<span id="238"></span> All: Gentlemen!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gentlemen!''</span><br />
[[#19-239]]<span id="239"></span> Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good my Lord, be still!''</span><br />
[[#19-240]]<span id="240"></span> Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, I will fight with him, from this motive,''</span><br />
[[#19-241]]<span id="241"></span> Until my eyelids will no longer wag.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the last twitch of my eyelids.''</span><br />
[[#19-242]]<span id="242"></span> Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, my son, what motive?''</span><br />
[[#19-243]]<span id="243"></span> Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved Ophelia. Any huge number of brothers''</span><br />
[[#19-244]]<span id="244"></span> Could not, with all their quantity of love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not, even adding together all their love,''</span><br />
[[#19-245]]<span id="245"></span> Make up my sum.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Equal my love for her.''</span><br />
[[#19-246]]<span id="246"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> What wilt thou do for her?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What will you do for her now?''</span><br />
[[#19-247]]<span id="247"></span> Claudius: Oh, he ''is'' mad, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See, he is mad, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#19-248]]<span id="248"></span> Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For God's sake, shut your mouth about my son!''</span><br />
[[#19-249]]<span id="249"></span> Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By God, show me what you'll do!''</span><br />
[[#19-250]]<span id="250"></span> Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you weep, fight, starve yourself, tear your own flesh,''</span><br />
[[#19-251]]<span id="251"></span> Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you gulp down vinegar, eat a crocodile?''</span><br />
[[#19-252]]<span id="252"></span> I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will if you do! Did you come here to whine?''</span><br />
[[#19-253]]<span id="253"></span> To outface me with leaping in her grave?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To outdo me, by leaping into her grave?''</span><br />
[[#19-254]]<span id="254"></span> Be buried quick with her, and so will I!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be buried alive with her, well so will I!''</span><br />
[[#19-255]]<span id="255"></span> And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And if you want to prate about mountains, let them throw''</span><br />
[[#19-256]]<span id="256"></span> Millions of acres on us, till our ground,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Millions of acres of land on us, until this ground,''</span><br />
[[#19-257]]<span id="257"></span> Singeing his pate against the burning zone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Singeing its top against the sphere of fire,''</span><br />
[[#19-258]]<span id="258"></span> Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Makes Mount Ossa look small as a wart! Further, if you're going to be so mouthy,''</span><br />
[[#19-259]]<span id="259"></span> I'll rant as well as thou.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll rant as well as you do!''</span><br />
[[#19-260]]<span id="260"></span> Gertrude: This is mere madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is only a tantrum,</span><br />
[[#19-261]]<span id="261"></span> And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And like that, for a while, the outburst will have its effect on him.''</span><br />
[[#19-262]]<span id="262"></span> Anon, as patient as the female dove,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Wait patiently - like the female dove''</span><br />
[[#19-263]]<span id="263"></span> When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until her golden chicks are hatched -''</span><br />
[[#19-264]]<span id="264"></span> His silence will sit drooping.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then he will sit drooping in silence.''</span><br />
[[#19-265]]<span id="265"></span> Hamlet: Hear you, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You listen to me, sir -''</span><br />
[[#19-266]]<span id="266"></span> What is the reason that you use me thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you treat me like this?''</span><br />
[[#19-267]]<span id="267"></span> I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I always liked you. But it doesn't matter.''</span><br />
[[#19-268]]<span id="268"></span> Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No matter what even the most mighty person does, or wants to do,''</span><br />
[[#19-269]]<span id="269"></span> The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even a lowly cat will still meow, and a dog will have his day in the sun.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-269-SD]]<span id="269-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Horatio exit)<br />
<br />
[[#19-270]]<span id="270"></span> Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, good Horatio, attend him.''</span><br />
[[#19-271]]<span id="271"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Laertes):</span> Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be more patient, by recalling what we talked about last night.''</span><br />
[[#19-272]]<span id="272"></span> We'll put the matter to the present push. [[#19-272-SD]]<span id="272-SD"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll press ahead with that subject right away.''</span><br />
[[#19-273]]<span id="273"></span> Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Gertrude, have somebody keep an eye on your son.''</span><br />
[[#19-274]]<span id="274"></span> This grave shall have a living monument;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This grave will have an enduring memorial.''</span><br />
[[#19-275]]<span id="275"></span> An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll thereby have a time of peace.''</span><br />
[[#19-276]]<span id="276"></span> Till then, in patience our proceeding be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until then, I'll proceed with patience.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#19-276-SD]]<span id="276-SD"></span> (Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit;<br />
the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 19<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====19-Setting=====<br />
[[File:St_olai_helsingor.jpg|left|Church of St Olai, Helsingor]]<br />
[[File:Performers_memorial.jpg|right|Performer's Memorial at St Leonard]]<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Graveyard.<br />
<br />
We are at the graveyard by the church in Elsinore Town, the same place where the Ghost led Hamlet in Scene 5.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Late morning.<br />
<br />
Indications are that Ophelia died at dawn, or shortly after. To appease Laertes, Claudius ordered the coroner to act quickly. The coroner promptly returned a verdict of accidental death, and the funeral was arranged immediately. So it is still the same day Ophelia died, and no later than the middle of the day.<br />
<br />
* <b>Weather</b> - Clear and sunny in the early morning when Ophelia was alive, but the day has now turned dark and gloomy.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====19-000-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto clowns entry.jpg|right|The Second Quarto Clowns entry]]<br />
''(a Clown Sexton and a Clown Deputy enter)''<br />
<br />
In the original Second Quarto publication, the Clowns are called only that at their entry, with no further specification of who they are. Their roles are deduced from their lines in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
The first Clown, who has the speech prefix "Clown" in the original publication, is the church sexton. The second clown, who has the speech prefix "Other," is a coroner's court deputy.<br />
<br />
It is important to be aware that clowns are for amusement. Statements they make are not to be interpreted as objective declarations of fact.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-001=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully''<br />
<br />
''she'' - as events proceed, we will learn they are talking about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====19-002=====<br />
''seeks her own salvation?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====19-003=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: I tell thee she is; therefore, make her grave straight; the''<br />
<br />
''I tell thee...'' - The Clown Deputy has already told the Clown Sexton at least once, we see.<br />
<br />
''straight'' - straightaway; now (here in the churchyard.) The body of a person who committed suicide would not be allowed burial in the churchyard, in consecrated ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====19-004=====<br />
''crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
''crowner'' - coroner. The word "coroner" is from Latin 'corona' ("crown.") So the Clown Deputy is both wrong, and right, in the way he says it.<br />
<br />
This line identifies the second clown as the Clown Deputy. The character is informing the Clown Sexton of the coroner's decision, so he is therefore the coroner's court deputy assigned that duty. It is a menial task, befitting the least capable man the coroner had available.<br />
<br />
''sat on her'' - heard her case. Sat in judgment of her case. Obviously an inelegant way of expressing it.<br />
<br />
The coroner's verdict is that Ophelia's death was accidental, thus an act of God, and therefore her mortal remains are accorded the privilege of burial in a Christian manner. Queen Gertrude was certainly the primary witness at the coroner's hearing, and we heard, in Scene 18, what she had to say about it. The verdict of accidental death was clearly indicated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====19-005=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own''<br />
<br />
''drowned herself'' - we'll see that the Clown Sexton tries to be logical, but he has started out begging the question, that is, with a fallacy called 'petitio principii,' a.k.a. circular reasoning. He has no factual, or rational, reason to say that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====19-006=====<br />
''defense?''<br />
<br />
''(drowned herself in her own) defense'' - is a crackpot notion. Other than offenses, and acts of defense, there are, of course, accidents.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====19-007=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, 'tis found so.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy knows the coroner's court found so, because he's the one dispatched by the court to inform the Sexton. However, he is not equipped to argue the coroner's verdict. The Clown Deputy is not a man educated in the law (nor is the Clown Sexton.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====19-008=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: It must be 'se offendendo', it cannot be else; for, here lies the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====19-009=====<br />
''point: if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====19-010=====<br />
''three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; argal she drowned her''<br />
<br />
''three branches'' - a pun on "tree branches," the actual proximate cause of Ophelia's death.<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====19-011=====<br />
''self wittingly.''<br />
<br />
''wittingly'' - can be charitably glossed as "intentionally," but it is a poor word choice by the Clown (and a masterful choice by Shakespeare.) The Clown makes it sound like he means "cleverly," as if he's praising such cleverness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====19-012=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Nay, but hear you, good man delver . . .''<br />
<br />
''hear you'' - may remind one of "hear ye, hear ye," the formulaic utterance at court sessions. The Clown Deputy is trying a "hear ye" to get the Clown Sexton's attention.<br />
<br />
''delver'' - digger. Shakespeare did use "delve" figuratively, in ''Cymbeline'' Act 1 scene 1:<br />
<br />
First Gentleman: I cannot delve him to the root: his father <br />
Was call'd Sicilius, ...<br />
<br />
So, it is also possible to take ''delver'' figuratively as "inquirer" or "inquisitor." The Clown Deputy thinks the Clown Sexton is "digging into it" too much. Compare Horatio's remark, later in this Scene, line 173, about considering too curiously.<br />
<br />
''good man delver'' - is patronizing. Digging graves is only an occasional part of the Clown Sexton's job. We will see that the Clown Sexton doesn't like being spoken to as if he were nothing better than a menial laborer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====19-013=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Give me leave; here lies the water; good, here stands the''<br />
<br />
''Give me leave'' - give me permission, i.e. let me continue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====19-014=====<br />
''man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====19-015=====<br />
''he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &''<br />
<br />
''(will) he, nill he'' - means the opposite of what the Clown Sexton is trying to say. He's trying to argue intent, but "willy nilly" means haphazardly, regardless of intent. Literally, ''will he, nill he'' means "(whether) he does will, or he does not will." ''Nill'' is an archaic word from Old English 'nylle' ("not to will;" "to be unwilling.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====19-016=====<br />
''drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is not guilty of''<br />
<br />
''argal'' - ergo.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====19-017=====<br />
''his own death, shortens not his own life.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====19-018=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: But is this law?''<br />
<br />
A very apt question. Not only is it not law, it isn't even sanity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====19-019=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, marry, is it! Crowner's quest law.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====19-020=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy has his own personal opinion about this, we see. Not surprising.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====19-021=====<br />
''she should have been buried out of Christian burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====19-022=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====19-023=====<br />
''should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====19-024=====<br />
''more than their even 'Christen.' Come, my spade; there is no ancient''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====19-025=====<br />
''gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====19-026=====<br />
''up Adam's profession.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====19-027=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Was he a gentleman?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====19-028=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: He was the first that ever bore arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====19-029=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Why, he had none.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====19-030=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====19-031=====<br />
''the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;''<br />
<br />
''The Scripture says Adam digged'' - no, the Bible doesn't say that. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====19-032=====<br />
''could he dig without arms?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====19-033=====<br />
''I'll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====19-034=====<br />
''purpose, confess thyself.''<br />
<br />
There's a droll old saying, "confess, and be hanged." The Clown Deputy thinks of that, and it leads to his guess below.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton probably actually means, "confess you're a fool" / "confess you can be made a fool." In the dialogue, I use just the simple paraphrase, "admit I've got you," which is near the point.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====19-035=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Go to.''<br />
<br />
Go ahead / get to it / let's hear it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====19-036=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the''<br />
<br />
''mason'' - The patron saint of masons, or at least "a" patron saint of masons, is St Claudius, a point of interest in a play where "Claudius" is the King.<br />
<br />
About Saint Claudius: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-claudius/ Saint Claudius at catholicsaints.info]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====19-037=====<br />
''shipwright, or the carpenter?''<br />
<br />
''shipwright'' - The patron saint of shipwrights is Saint Peter the Apostle.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-the-apostle/ Saint Peter]<br />
<br />
''carpenters'' - The patron saint of carpenters is Saint Joseph of Nazareth.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph/ Saint Joseph of Nazareth]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====19-038=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====19-039=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: I like thy wit well, in good faith, the gallows does well,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====19-040=====<br />
''but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====19-041=====<br />
''dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argal,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====19-042=====<br />
''the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====19-043=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====19-044=====<br />
''carpenter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====19-045=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====19-046=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Marry, now I can tell.''<br />
<br />
The Deputy apparently supposes that when the Sexton said "unyoke" he was giving a hint.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====19-047=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: To it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====19-048=====<br />
''Clown Deputy: Mass, I cannot tell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====19-049=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for, your dull ass will''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====19-050=====<br />
''not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====19-051=====<br />
''next, say "a gravemaker." The houses he makes last till doomsday.''<br />
<br />
''gravemaker'' - The patron saint of gravediggers is St Anthony the Abbot a.k.a. the Great.<br><br />
Info link: [http://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-the-abbot/ St Anthony the Abbot]<br />
<br />
Observe that the Clown Sexton calls a grave a "house." That's pertinent later. Graves house the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052=====<br />
''Go, get thee in, and fetch me a stoup of liquor.''<br />
<br />
''get thee in'' - The Clown Sexton waves, or points, in the general direction of the church.<br />
<br />
''stoup'' - flagon; tankard. A drinking vessel.<br />
<br />
However, the word ''stoup'' can also mean the holy water basin in a church. So, Shakespeare's choice of word provides a joke, that the Clown Sexton is telling the Clown Deputy to go to the church, dump out the holy water, and bring the basin to him filled with liquor. (We do hope the Sexton, himself, does not really mean that.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====19-052-SD=====<br />
''(points in the direction of the church; the Clown Deputy exits)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Deputy will not return. The Deputy's duty for the coroner's court is done, and he is not going to bring the Sexton anything.<br />
<br />
It is vital that the Clown Sexton point in the general direction of the church when he says the previous line, else the joke be lost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-053=====<br />
''(sings): In youth, when I did love, did love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====19-054=====<br />
''Methought it was very sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====19-055=====<br />
''To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056=====<br />
''Oh, methought there was nothing a' meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====19-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio enter)''<br />
<br />
Horatio is dressed as usual, Hamlet is not. Hamlet is coming directly from the pirate ship, and he hasn't been to his quarters in the Castle yet to clean up and change clothes. The pirates stole Hamlet's expensive, fancy clothing, we can be sure. So he'd have something to wear, the pirates gave him some ratty old clothes that none of the pirates particularly wanted. Hamlet is now in "shreds and patches."<br />
<br />
This is why, when Hamlet talks to the Clown Sexton, the Sexton will have no idea Hamlet could possibly be the Prince. The Clown will never imagine the Prince could be dressed the way Hamlet is dressed here. Hamlet is also unwashed and unkempt. The pirate ship offered no facilities for him to groom and bathe properly. Hamlet may have had a basin of seawater for washing his face, but that's about it. The "show" the Clown Sexton sees of Hamlet, when they talk, is that he's a sailor who's extremely down on his luck. The Clown Sexton has no notion of how deceptive that "show" is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-057=====<br />
''Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in''<br />
<br />
''this fellow'' - the "show" Hamlet sees of the Clown Sexton is also deceptive. The Sexton has religious garb he normally wears, but he isn't wearing it here because he doesn't want to get it dirty. Rather than a sexton, he looks like a common laborer of the most menial kind, as Hamlet sees him. Horatio doesn't recognize the man as being a sexton, either.<br />
<br />
In Scene 3 Polonius spoke to Laertes on the general point of how "the clothes make the man." There's a way that's true, when particular clothing is associated with a particular social status, or occupation. It's a point that will come into play here, when Hamlet and the Sexton talk. They'll both be misled by appearances.<br />
<br />
''feeling of'' - sensitivity to. It strikes Hamlet as insensitive for the laborer to sing like that in connection with a death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====19-058=====<br />
''grave making.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====19-059=====<br />
''Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====19-060=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_dintier.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "dintier"]]<br />
''Hamlet: 'Tis even so; the hand of little employment hath the dintier sense.''<br />
<br />
''dintier'' - more impressionable; more easily impressed.<br />
<br />
From 'dint' = "an impression in a surface." (Ultimately from Old English 'dynt.')<br />
<br />
Hamlet means the Clown Sexton is "not impressed" by what he's doing, although a more sensitive person would be. The callused hand feels less than the uncallused hand, is another way of saying it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====19-061=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): But age, with his stealing steps,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====19-062=====<br />
''hath caught me in his clutch,''<br />
<br />
''caught'' - is an embedded stage direction. The Clown Sexton tosses a skull in the air, and catches it. Within the lyric it means BOOKMARK, more here<br />
<br />
''clutch'' - clutches. More simply, grasp.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#062|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-063=====<br />
''And hath shipped me intill the land,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064=====<br />
''as if I had never been such.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====19-064-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out a skull)''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton treats skulls so cavalierly, it is impossible he could keep track of which is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-065=====<br />
''Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once; how the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====19-066=====<br />
''knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the''<br />
<br />
''Cain's jawbone'' - not the jawbone of Cain, himself, but the jawbone Cain used as a weapon.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====19-067=====<br />
''first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====19-068=====<br />
''o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====19-069=====<br />
''Horatio: It might, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====19-070=====<br />
''Hamlet: Or of a courtier, which could say good morrow, sweet lord,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====19-071=====<br />
''how dost thou, sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====19-072=====<br />
''praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====19-073=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====19-074=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's; chopless, & knocked''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====19-075=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_massene.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "massene"]]<br />
''about the massen with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and''<br />
<br />
''massen'' - an anglicization of French 'maison' ("house.") This is a Shakespeare neologism. It is not an exact synonym for "house," rather, it means "house of the dead," like the French phrase 'maison mortuaire.' It's an English word to cast the grave as a kind of "house."<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#075|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-076=====<br />
''we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,''<br />
<br />
''trick'' - luck; good fortune. As in taking a ''trick'' at cards. Might also be read as "cleverness," but in that sense, Hamlet is facetious.<br />
<br />
''breeding'' - encompasses the bearing, rearing, and educating of an offspring. The process of raising a person.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====19-077=====<br />
''but to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on it.''<br />
<br />
''loggets'' - a game in which wooden playing pieces are tossed at a stake. The winner is he whose playing piece lies nearest the stake. ''Loggets'' is therefore a game of lies. The best lie wins. There is a pun, in advance of Hamlet's "lie" banter with the Clown Sexton, which begins at line 102.<br />
<br />
"Logget" is a diminutive of "log," and the word "log" apparently traces back to Old Norse 'lag' which meant "felled tree," thus literally a tree that lies. In a forest, most of the trees are upstanding, but some of them lie. ''Logget" being a diminutive, ''loggets'' is a game of little liers. As 'twere.<br />
<br />
There is now some disagreement among etymologists about the origin of the word "log," and the safe way out is to call it obscure, but it seems clear enough what Shakespeare thought. The "lie" concept is why Shakespeare had Hamlet speak of ''loggets'' in particular.<br />
<br />
''Loggets'' was made illegal in England by a statute in the time of Henry VIII, probably because of gambling and fighting over it.<br />
<br />
The Hamlet character, himself, only means to say it's as if the Clown Sexton is playing a game with the buried, or now unburied bones, the way he tosses them around.<br />
<br />
''Mine ache to think on it'' - a mark of how sympathetic, and empathetic, Hamlet is. He feels for others.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====19-078=====<br />
''Clown Sexton (sings): A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====19-079=====<br />
''for and a shrouding sheet,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====19-080=====<br />
''Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====19-081-SD=====<br />
''(tosses out another skull)''<br />
<br />
As before, the Clown Sexton is obviously careless, and uncaring, about which skull is whose.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-082=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====19-083=====<br />
''Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====19-084=====<br />
''tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about''<br />
<br />
''tricks'' - legal stratagems. Sophisms. Legal technicalities, in the pejorative sense.<br />
<br />
''rude'' - ill-mannered, however, the point of this word usage may be the pun with "rood," the Christian cross. This ''rude'' knave is a "rood" knave, which makes him a "cross" knave, which he must be since he is employed by the church.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#084|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-085=====<br />
''the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action''<br />
<br />
''sconce'' - skull. For a living man the ''sconce'' would be the head, but a skull is what the Clown Sexton has dug up.<br />
<br />
''action'' - legal action, a lawsuit. Paradoxically, because of the peculiarities of legal jargon, in this instance the ''action'' is not the act.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====19-086=====<br />
''of battery? Hmm, this fellow might be, in his time, a great buyer of''<br />
<br />
''battery'' - the offense of beating another unlawfully.<br />
<br />
''might be'' - might have been.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====19-087=====<br />
''land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====19-088=====<br />
''recoveries; is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====19-089=====<br />
''to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====19-090=====<br />
''vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====19-091=====<br />
''and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====19-092=====<br />
''lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====19-093=====<br />
''no more? Ha.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====19-094=====<br />
''Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====19-095=====<br />
''Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====19-096=====<br />
''Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins too.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====19-097=====<br />
''Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====19-098=====<br />
''that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?''<br />
<br />
''sirrah'' - was a term used to address an inferior and it indicated contempt. Based on what he's seen, Hamlet thinks the sexton is a dullard of no merit.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind Hamlet's shabby dress at this time, and his lack of grooming, after his experience with the pirates. The Clown Sexton hears himself called ''sirrah'' by a fellow who looks like the lowest ''sirrah'' in Denmark.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is misled by the "show" of Hamlet, as the sexton sees him. The thought of that fellow, the way he looks, being the Prince will never cross the sexton's mind. The sexton will probably conclude that the pitiful tramp he sees is using the term ''sirrah'' because he has heard it so often applied to himself.<br />
<br />
We have already seen, in the earlier passage with the Clown Deputy,, how the Clown Sexton is. He'd rather have a good argument than dig, any day, and particularly when he can cast his partner in conversation as a fool. The sexton thinks he sees a good opportunity for that with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Here we go, again, with the Clown Sexton, who has no clue he's bandying words with the Prince of Denmark.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====19-099=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Mine, sir.''<br />
<br />
That's clever in its way, but not true. The churchyard is church property, so technically, it's the church's grave, if we were speaking of who owns it.<br />
<br />
It's the Clown Sexton's to dig. That's true enough, while he's digging.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====19-100=====<br />
''(sings): Oh, a pit of clay for to be made''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not singing to Hamlet here, he is singing as he continues to dig. He is paying no attention to Hamlet yet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====19-101=====<br />
''for such a guest is meet.''<br />
<br />
''guest'' - In Christian theology, the occupants of graves are there temporarily, until Judgment Day. So, ''guest'' - a temporary occupant.<br />
<br />
''meet'' - proper; suitable. Goes back to Old English 'gemǣte' ("suitable.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====19-102=====<br />
''Hamlet: I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is intending to get the Clown Sexton's attention, and his "lie" line does the trick.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====19-103=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: You lie out of it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====19-104=====<br />
''do not lie in it, yet it is mine.''<br />
<br />
''mine'' - to dig. The Clown Sexton doesn't like digging, at least not nearly as much as he likes quibbling and drinking, so having to dig is much on his mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====19-105=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====19-106=====<br />
''not for the quick, therefore, thou liest.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====19-107=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Tis a quick lie, sir, 'twill away again from me to you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====19-108=====<br />
''Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====19-109=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For no man, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====19-110=====<br />
''Hamlet: What woman, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====19-111=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: For none, neither.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====19-112=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====19-113=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====19-114=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside to Horatio): How absolute the knave is. We must speak by the card, or''<br />
<br />
''absolute'' - Can be read a number of ways: free, as in free-tongued; loose, as in unrestrained; irrelevant; dissolute; scattered; etc.<br />
<br />
Hamlet's complaint is that the Clown Sexton is being rude by being uncommunicative. By the way, it's the same complaint R & G voiced about Hamlet in Scene 8. ([[Scene 8#014]] and 015) Hamlet doesn't realize how he looks to the Clown Sexton, as he stands there in his pirate castoffs. From the way Hamlet looks, the Clown Sexton sees no need to take him seriously.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare went back to the Latin root for his meaning with ''absolute'' in this case. Latin 'solvere' ("to loosen, dissolve; release, detach; scatter;" etc.)<br />
<br />
It is also possible to read ''absolute'' as "uncharitable" in the sense of being uncharitable when interpreting a statement. There is obvious meaning in speaking of a man of the church as uncharitable.<br />
<br />
''How absolute the knave is'' - This phrase can also be understood as Hamlet calling the Clown Sexton an "absolute knave."<br />
<br />
''card'' - perhaps a reference to the "compass card," used as part of a navigational compass. Hamlet is talking about navigating his way through what the Clown Sexton says. Otherwise, Hamlet could be using ''card'' to mean "map" or "chart" but that's the same idea. Hamlet would have seen first-hand a navigational compass while he was aboard ship.<br />
<br />
However, it appears that ''card'' was also theater jargon for an actor's speech, written down. If that's what Hamlet means, he is talking about following the script, and not trying to ad lib.<br />
<br />
It would not be surprising if Shakespeare fully intended his audience to struggle through all the possibilities for this line, trying to figure out what he meant, exactly, while he was deliberately being ambiguous. The word "equivocation" appears in the next line, and Shakespeare may have done some of that himself, deliberately, in this line. He was a bit of a scamp.<br />
<br />
(It is a curiosity that the phrase ''by the card'' is the exact English equivalent of French "a la carte." However, restaurant menus are a relatively recent development, and were not in use in Shakespeare's time. The phrasing cannot be a figurative use of the idea of choosing specific items from a menu of possibilities.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====19-115=====<br />
''equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I''<br />
<br />
''equivocation'' - quibbling. Ambiguity; uncertainty of meaning.<br />
<br />
''these three years'' - the amount of time Hamlet has known Horatio, therefore the length of time since Hamlet went away to the university, since he met Horatio there.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====19-116=====<br />
''have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the''<br />
<br />
''picked'' - socially mixed up, socially jumbled. The figure of speech is based on a pick being used for digging. Picture the social strata being like strata in the soil. When a pick is used for digging, the different soil strata are mixed up and jumbled together. Hamlet means it's as if some power has taken a pick to the social strata, mixing up the social classes and jumbling them together. The figure of speech follows from watching the Clown Sexton dig, of course. The Clown Sexton sang "pickaxe" in line 078 above.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====19-117=====<br />
''peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.''<br />
<br />
''galls'' - chafes, to produce a sore spot.<br />
<br />
''kibe'' - chillblain, on the heel in this case.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the heel of the courtier being stepped on by the peasant, figuratively speaking, meaning there is inadequate respect for the courtier from the peasant, from the point of view of Hamlet the Courtier. Earlier in the Scene, we saw the Clown Sexton and the Clown Deputy agreed in resenting the special treatment of "great ones."<br />
<br />
This Scene presents some social class resentment, from both sides. Shakespeare was perceptive enough to notice signs of social trouble on the way, it appears. The English Civil War began in 1642.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====19-118=====<br />
''(resumes): How long hast thou been gravemaker?''<br />
<br />
The question arose implicitly earlier, between Hamlet and Horatio, at line 059. Hamlet is curious how long a man would have to dig graves to become so fully accustomed to it that he could sing at his work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====19-119=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,''<br />
<br />
''the days in the year'' - It is important to understand that the Clown Sexton is referring to a calendar date.<br />
<br />
''that day'' - that date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#119|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-120=====<br />
''Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is not saying King Hamlet defeated the Elder Fortinbrasse on the identical day he became sexton (and gravedigger,) he is saying those events were on the same calendar date.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====19-121=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long is that since?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking how many years ago the Clown Sexton became the sexton.<br />
<br />
However, in what follows, we see the Clown Sexton takes it, or at least plays it, that Hamlet is asking how long it's been since a calendar date, as if Hamlet asked, "How long has it been since April 23?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====19-122=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====19-123=====<br />
''very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into''<br />
<br />
''day'' - date. The Clown Sexton is continuing to speak of dates. He is not saying all three events happened in the same year.<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a hint about what '''date''' he means. However, Hamlet was asking about the passage of years, not about calendar dates.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====19-124=====<br />
''England.''<br />
<br />
We see it's common knowledge Claudius sent Hamlet to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====19-125=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is curious whether any inkling of the true reason is circulating. The correct answer would be, "to be executed."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====19-126=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why? Because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or if''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====19-127=====<br />
''he do not, 'tis no great matter there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====19-128=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====19-129=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad''<br />
<br />
''seen'' - observed; noticed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====19-130=====<br />
''as he.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====19-131=====<br />
''Hamlet: How came he mad?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====19-132=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Very strangely, they say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====19-133=====<br />
''Hamlet: How strangely?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====19-134=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, even with losing his wits.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====19-135=====<br />
''Hamlet: Upon what ground?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, "for what reason (did Hamlet go mad)?"<br />
<br />
''ground'' - basis; cause; reason. We would now say "grounds."<br />
<br />
The word ''ground'' is from Old English 'grund' ("bottom, foundation, ground, surface of the earth, bottom of the sea.") So, asking "upon what ground" is like asking what is at the bottom of it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====19-136=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, here in Denmark. I have been 'Sexten' here, man''<br />
[[File:Second quarto sexten.jpg|right|the Second Quarto word "Sexten"]]<br />
[[File:Folio sixteen.jpg|right|the word "sixteen" in the First Folio]]<br />
''here in Denmark'' - The Clown Sexton misunderstands Hamlet, or pretends to. He replies as if "ground" meant "land area."<br />
<br />
''Sexten'' - sexton, is the first meaning. It identifies the Clown as the church sexton, by his own statement. There is more, however. The Clown Sexton is giving Hamlet a word puzzle, to try to show him up as a fool. It's the same behavior the Clown Sexton exhibited with the Clown Deputy at the beginning of the Scene. In other words, it's a word puzzle from Shakespeare. I preserve the Second Quarto spelling, duly marked, because it's a special word.<br />
<br />
Observe that in the First Folio the word is spelled "sixeteene." The Folio is revealing the second meaning, which is "sixteen." The word spelled ''Sexten'' in the Second Quarto has to be read ''twice'' to get the full meaning.<br />
<br />
Combining the relevant part of this line with the next line gives:<br><br />
''I have been 'Sexten' here, man and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton's total meaning is, "I have been sixteen (years) here (as the sexton) (and alive as a) man and boy thirty years." He has intentionally phrased it to give the impression he has been sexton for thirty years, but that is wrong. Apparently whoever did the work on the First Folio ''Hamlet'' was aware of the importance of "sixteen" in this line.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#136|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-137=====<br />
''and boy thirty years.''<br />
<br />
The Clown Sexton means that he, himself, has been alive as a man and boy for thirty years. (Ben Jonson was 30 in 1602.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====19-138=====<br />
''Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====19-139=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many''<br />
<br />
The Sexton missed Hamlet's "lie" remark at his expense, and took the question as a serious one.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====19-140=====<br />
''pocky corpses nowadays, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====19-141=====<br />
''year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====19-142=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why he more then another?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====19-143=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====19-144=====<br />
''out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====19-145=====<br />
''dead body; here's a skull now hath 'lyen' you in the earth 23 years.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====19-146=====<br />
''Hamlet: Whose was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====19-147=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====19-148=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====19-149=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====19-150=====<br />
''Rhenish on my head once; this same skull, sir - this same skull, sir - was Sir Yorick's skull, the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====19-151=====<br />
''King's Jester.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====19-152=====<br />
''Hamlet: This?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====19-153=====<br />
''Clown Sexton: Even that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====19-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Let me see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====19-155=====<br />
''(aside to Horatio): Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====19-156=====<br />
''jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====19-157=====<br />
''times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====19-158=====<br />
''rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====19-159=====<br />
''often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====19-160=====<br />
''of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161=====<br />
''now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen? Now get you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====19-161-SD=====<br />
''(drops the skull into the grave excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-162=====<br />
''to my lady's chamber, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====19-163=====<br />
''she must come; make her laugh at that.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====19-164=====<br />
''Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====19-165=====<br />
''Horatio: What's that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====19-166=====<br />
''Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====19-167=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====19-168=====<br />
''Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====19-169=====<br />
''Horatio: Even so, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====19-170=====<br />
''Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====19-171=====<br />
''imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====19-172=====<br />
''a bunghole?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====19-173=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====19-174=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====19-175=====<br />
''enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====19-176=====<br />
''buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====19-177=====<br />
''make loam, & why, of that loam whereto he was converted, might''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====19-178=====<br />
''they not stop a beer-barrel?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====19-179=====<br />
''(recites): Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====19-180=====<br />
''Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====19-181=====<br />
''Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182=====<br />
''Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]] - or - [[Scene 19 Folio Differences#182|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-182-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse; Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter, accompanied by the royal entourage, and mourners; the Clown Sexton exits to ring the church bell)''<br />
<br />
Ophelia is borne bare-faced on the bier. That is, her body is shrouded except for the face. Ophelia, herself, told us of that burial practice in one of her songs in Scene 16 ([[Scene 16#170]].)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-183=====<br />
''But soft, but soft aside; here comes the King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====19-184=====<br />
''The Queen, the courtiers; who is this they follow?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====19-185=====<br />
''And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,''<br />
<br />
''maimed'' - less than whole. Hamlet can see at a distance that the funeral procession does not include everything it might. BOOKMARK go into detail on this<br />
<br />
''betoken'' - signify; indicate. Goes back to Old English 'tacen' ("sign.") This is a subtle instance of the Omen Motif in the play. Hamlet uses an "omen" word, with no idea how ominous it is, for his future happiness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====19-186=====<br />
''The 'corse' they follow, did with desperate hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====19-187=====<br />
''Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====19-188=====<br />
''Couch we a while, and mark.''<br />
<br />
''Couch'' - lie down. From Old French 'couche' ("a bed,") from 'coucher' ("to lay down.")<br />
<br />
''mark'' - watch; pay attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====19-189=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====19-190=====<br />
''Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====19-191=====<br />
''Laertes: What ceremony else?''<br />
<br />
As an instance of the themes of the play, Laertes thinks there should be more of a Show.<br />
<br />
We heard Laertes's objections earlier, in Scene 16, ([[Scene 16 #213]] and ff) over what he had heard about the lack of a proper show for his father's funeral.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====19-192=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====19-193=====<br />
''As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,''<br />
<br />
''doubtful'' - in whose opinion? And why would they think so?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====19-194=====<br />
''And but that great command o'er-sways the order,''<br />
<br />
''great command'' - the King's command, following the coroner's court decision of accidental death.<br />
<br />
''o'er-sways'' - holds sway over. Overrules.<br />
<br />
''the order'' - the funeral service that the church would have followed, if left to its own devices. The word ''order'' referring to religious procedure goes back to Medieval times.<br />
<br />
There is church-state conflict; the state has overruled the church, to dictate Christian burial for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
There's nothing factual about why the cleric thinks the service should be different. The ideas of the cleric, and the Clown Sexton before him, are based on suspicion and presumption.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====19-195=====<br />
''She should in ground unsanctified been lodged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====19-196=====<br />
''Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,''<br />
<br />
''last trumpet'' - the trumpet that will sound on Judgment Day.<br />
<br />
''For'' - in place of; instead of.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====19-197=====<br />
''{Sharp} flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.''<br />
<br />
''{Sharp}'' - is an editorial change, by me.<br />
<br />
The Second Quarto publication of ''Hamlet'' has no word before ''flints,'' and the First Folio has "Shardes," which would be "shards" in modern spelling. However, in a search of the Shakespeare canon, I find that Shakespeare never used the word "shards" in that way in any other of his writing.<br />
<br />
The three other uses of "shard" or a form of it are:<br />
<br />
Antony and Cleopatra [III, 2]: "They are his shards, and he their beetle."<br />
<br />
Cymbeline [III, 3]: "The sharded beetle..."<br />
<br />
Macbeth [III, 2]: "The shard-borne beetle..."<br />
<br />
In all other appearances of "shard" in the Shakespeare canon it is used to mean the elytron (wing case) of a beetle.<br />
<br />
I do not find the word "shards" credible in this speech in ''Hamlet,'' where it is apparently supposed to mean "potshards." One could contend that Shakespeare used "shards" in such a way just this once, but that is to argue that the word is right just because it's there, and I can't accept that in the face of the other usages.<br />
<br />
I think the Folio editor misread "sharp," perhaps because he was dealing with faded 20-year old manuscript. If the word were "sharp" it would be entirely credible, with no hesitation. "Sharp" goes perfectly with ''flints,'' it provides an instance for the Edge Motif, and it leaves ''flints and pebbles'' as the kind of conjunction of nouns which is a characteristic of Shakespeare's style. So, I have changed the word, against the direct evidence of the First Folio "Shardes." My only defense, for this offense, is that it is my best judgment. I do not think the Folio is right.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#197|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====19-198=====<br />
''Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,''<br />
<br />
''crants'' - wreaths.<br />
<br />
The word ''crants'' sounds like the last syllable in the name "Rosencrantz," a name which means "rose crown." By that, based on the sound, one can hear ''crants'' as "crown," and the line becomes, "she is allowed her virgin crown."<br />
<br />
The idea of a "virgin crown" was a powerful one in the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====19-199=====<br />
''Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====19-200=====<br />
''Of bell and burial.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====19-201=====<br />
''Laertes: Must there no more be done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====19-202=====<br />
''Doctor of Divinity: No more be done.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====19-203=====<br />
''We should profane the service of the dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====19-204=====<br />
''To sing sage requiem and such rest to her,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====19-205=====<br />
''As to peace-parted souls.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====19-206=====<br />
''Laertes: Lay her in the earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====19-207=====<br />
''And from her fair and unpolluted flesh''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====19-208=====<br />
[[File:Viola_odorata.jpg|right|violet]]<br />
''May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,''<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is initiating a myth here, in the classical tradition. In mythology, various persons were turned into flowers, notably Narcissus. Here, Shakespeare turns Ophelia into violets.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====19-209=====<br />
''A ministering angel shall my sister be''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====19-210=====<br />
''When thou liest howling.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====19-211=====<br />
''Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====19-212=====<br />
''Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====19-213=====<br />
''I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====19-214=====<br />
''I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====19-215=====<br />
''And not have strewed thy grave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====19-216=====<br />
''Laertes: Oh, treble woe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====19-217=====<br />
''Fall ten times double on that cursed head,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====19-218=====<br />
''Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====19-219=====<br />
''Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220=====<br />
''Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====19-220-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes jumps into the excavation)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-221=====<br />
''Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====19-222=====<br />
''Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]]<br />
<br />
=====19-223=====<br />
''To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====19-224=====<br />
''Of blue Olympus.''<br />
<br />
''Blue'' because of the altitude.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====19-225=====<br />
''Hamlet: What is he whose grief''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====19-226=====<br />
''Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====19-227=====<br />
''Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====19-228=====<br />
''Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229=====<br />
''Hamlet the Dane!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====19-229-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet jumps down into the grave excavation to confront Laertes)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-230=====<br />
''Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====19-231=====<br />
''Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====19-232=====<br />
''From my throat.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====19-233=====<br />
''For, though I am not splenative and rash,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====19-234=====<br />
''Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====19-235=====<br />
''Which let thy wiseness fear; hold off thy hand.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====19-236=====<br />
''Claudius: Pluck them asunder.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#236]]<br />
<br />
=====19-237=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#237]]<br />
<br />
=====19-238=====<br />
''All: Gentlemen!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#238]]<br />
<br />
=====19-239=====<br />
''Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#239]]<br />
<br />
=====19-240=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#240]]<br />
<br />
=====19-241=====<br />
''Until my eyelids will no longer wag.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#241]]<br />
<br />
=====19-242=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#242]]<br />
<br />
=====19-243=====<br />
''Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#243]]<br />
<br />
=====19-244=====<br />
''Could not, with all their quantity of love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#244]]<br />
<br />
=====19-245=====<br />
''Make up my sum.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#245]]<br />
<br />
=====19-246=====<br />
''(to Laertes): What wilt thou do for her?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#246]]<br />
<br />
=====19-247=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, he is mad, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#247]]<br />
<br />
=====19-248=====<br />
''Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#248]]<br />
<br />
=====19-249=====<br />
''Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#249]]<br />
<br />
=====19-250=====<br />
''Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#250]]<br />
<br />
=====19-251=====<br />
[[File:Paradin crocodile.jpg|right|crocodile, 1591]]<br />
''Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?''<br />
<br />
''eisel'' - vinegar.<br />
<br />
''crocodile'' - a notoriously savage creature, as known in Shakespeare's England. The idea of "crocodile tears" was also known, and there is an accusation of insincerity in Hamlet's lines to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is talking about the kind of stunts an immature young man might perform, to try to be impressive, and likewise, the kind of pledges he might make, to try to impress. "I'd climb the highest mountain for you, I'd swim the deepest river for you, I'd drink a gallon of vinegar for you, I'd eat a crocodile for you!" That sort of thing. One often does not expect the stunt to really be performed, it's the thought that counts.<br />
<br />
Ophelia is beyond being impressed by any such pronouncement.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#251]]<br />
<br />
=====19-252=====<br />
''I'll do it! Dost thou come here to whine?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#252]]<br />
<br />
=====19-253=====<br />
''To outface me with leaping in her grave?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#253]]<br />
<br />
=====19-254=====<br />
''Be buried quick with her, and so will I!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#254]]<br />
<br />
=====19-255=====<br />
''And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#255]]<br />
<br />
=====19-256=====<br />
''Millions of acres on us, till our ground,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#256]]<br />
<br />
=====19-257=====<br />
''Singeing his pate against the burning zone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#257]]<br />
<br />
=====19-258=====<br />
''Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thou'lt mouth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#258]]<br />
<br />
=====19-259=====<br />
''I'll rant as well as thou.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#259]]<br />
<br />
=====19-260=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is mere madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#260]]<br />
<br />
=====19-261=====<br />
''And thus, a while, the fit will work on him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#261]]<br />
<br />
=====19-262=====<br />
''Anon, as patient as the female dove,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#262]]<br />
<br />
=====19-263=====<br />
''When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#263]]<br />
<br />
=====19-264=====<br />
''His silence will sit drooping.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#264]]<br />
<br />
=====19-265=====<br />
''Hamlet: Hear you, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#265]]<br />
<br />
=====19-266=====<br />
''What is the reason that you use me thus?''<br />
<br />
Since Hamlet knows his killing of Polonius was accidental, he supposes everyone knows that. However, they do not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#266]]<br />
<br />
=====19-267=====<br />
''I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#267]]<br />
<br />
=====19-268=====<br />
''Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#268]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269=====<br />
''The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.''<br />
<br />
That is, things will proceed according to their nature.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269]]<br />
<br />
=====19-269-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Horatio exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-270=====<br />
''Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.''<br />
<br />
Claudius is talking to Horatio's back, as he pretends to be, or strives to be, in control.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#270]]<br />
<br />
=====19-271=====<br />
''(to Laertes): Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#271]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272=====<br />
''We'll put the matter to the present push.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272]]<br />
<br />
=====19-272-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====19-273=====<br />
''Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.''<br />
<br />
Again, Claudius is trying to retain control, but he is talking to Gertrude's back.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#273]]<br />
<br />
=====19-274=====<br />
''This grave shall have a living monument;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#274]]<br />
<br />
=====19-275=====<br />
''An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#275]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276=====<br />
''Till then, in patience our proceeding be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276]]<br />
<br />
=====19-276-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius, Laertes, and the rest of the funeral procession exit; the Clown Sexton approaches to finish the grave)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - Scene 19 - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T05:10:36Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-168 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
<br />
A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Laertes repeats Claudius's phrase "noble father" seen in line 004 above. This subtly reveals how Claudius has begun leading Laertes's thoughts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, taking him to mean an object to be appraised, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly at the root of Laertes's word. Now, Laertes is certainly not trying to slander his sister, it's a peculiarity of Shakespeare's word choice, and his knowledge probably guided his choice.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
The "show" of his sister is about all Laertes could claim to know, from what we've seen. What does he know of her mind or feelings? He gave her little chance to speak in Scene 3, and dismissed the little she did say; then in Scene 16 he merely took it she was mad, and made no effort to gather any more than that. He doesn't know her, as a person, at all, so the best he can do is an "object" reference.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
''perfections'' - of form, Laertes means, knowing nothing of her mind, or heart, or soul.<br />
<br />
It is much of the tragedy of Ophelia: who knew her?<br />
<br />
''my revenge will come'' - sooner than you think, is what crosses Claudius's mind now, as he expects soon to have news of Hamlet's death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Perhaps this is it already, news of Hamlet's death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
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Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
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Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
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Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
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Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
''solemn'' - official; stately. This sense of ''solemn'' goes back to the Middle English found in Chaucer.<br />
<br />
One can understand the meaning of ''solemn'' here as "showy." Claudius intends to Put On A Show with the wager.<br />
<br />
The wicked irony in the language of the passage continues. ''Solemn'' is from Latin 'sollemnis' ("consecrated," "holy.") Claudius uses "holy" language as he plots mortal sin.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
<br />
''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
<br />
''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
<br />
''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T04:23:38Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-038 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
<br />
A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
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==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
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==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
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Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Laertes repeats Claudius's phrase "noble father" seen in line 004 above. This subtly reveals how Claudius has begun leading Laertes's thoughts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, taking him to mean an object to be appraised, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly at the root of Laertes's word. Now, Laertes is certainly not trying to slander his sister, it's a peculiarity of Shakespeare's word choice, and his knowledge probably guided his choice.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
The "show" of his sister is about all Laertes could claim to know, from what we've seen. What does he know of her mind or feelings? He gave her little chance to speak in Scene 3, and dismissed the little she did say; then in Scene 16 he merely took it she was mad, and made no effort to gather any more than that. He doesn't know her, as a person, at all, so the best he can do is an "object" reference.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
''perfections'' - of form, Laertes means, knowing nothing of her mind, or heart, or soul.<br />
<br />
It is much of the tragedy of Ophelia: who knew her?<br />
<br />
''my revenge will come'' - sooner than you think, is what crosses Claudius's mind now, as he expects soon to have news of Hamlet's death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Perhaps this is it already, news of Hamlet's death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
<br />
''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
<br />
''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
<br />
''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T04:21:20Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-031 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
<br />
A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Laertes repeats Claudius's phrase "noble father" seen in line 004 above. This subtly reveals how Claudius has begun leading Laertes's thoughts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, taking him to mean an object to be appraised, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly at the root of Laertes's word. Now, Laertes is certainly not trying to slander his sister, it's a peculiarity of Shakespeare's word choice, and his knowledge probably guided his choice.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
The "show" of his sister is about all Laertes could claim to know, from what we've seen. What does he know of her mind or feelings? He gave her little chance to speak in Scene 3, and dismissed the little she did say; then in Scene 16 he merely took it she was mad, and made no effort to gather any more than that. He doesn't know her, as a person, at all, so the best he can do is an "object" reference.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
''perfections'' - of form, Laertes means, knowing nothing of her mind, or heart, or soul.<br />
<br />
It is much of the tragedy of Ophelia: who knew her?<br />
<br />
''my revenge will come'' - sooner than you think, is what crosses Claudius's mind now, as he expects soon to have news of Hamlet's death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
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=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
<br />
''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
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Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
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Return: [[#193]]<br />
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=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
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=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
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''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
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Return: [[#195]]<br />
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=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
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Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
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Return: [[#197]]<br />
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=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
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Return: [[#198]]<br />
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=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
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=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
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=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
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Return: [[#201]]<br />
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=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
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Return: [[#202]]<br />
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=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
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Return: [[#203]]<br />
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=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
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=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
<br />
''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
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Return: [[#205]]<br />
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=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
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Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
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=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
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Return: [[#206]]<br />
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=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
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Return: [[#207]]<br />
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=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
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Return: [[#208]]<br />
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=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
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Return: [[#209]]<br />
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=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T04:16:53Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-031 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
<br />
A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Laertes repeats Claudius's phrase "noble father" seen in line 004 above. This subtly reveals how Claudius has begun leading Laertes's thoughts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, taking him to mean an object to be appraised, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly at the root of Laertes's word. Now, Laertes is certainly not trying to slander his sister, it's a peculiarity of Shakespeare's word choice, and his knowledge probably guided his choice.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
The "show" of his sister is about all Laertes could claim to know, from what we've seen. What does he know of her mind or feelings? He gave her little chance to speak in Scene 3, and dismissed the little she did say; then in Scene 16 he merely took it she was mad, and made no effort to gather any more than that. He doesn't know her, as a person, at all, so the best he can do is an "object" reference.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
''perfections'' - of form, Laertes means, knowing nothing of her mind, or heart, or soul.<br />
<br />
It is much of the tragedy of Ophelia: who knew her?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
<br />
''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
<br />
''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
<br />
''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
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Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T04:09:27Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-030 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
<br />
A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Laertes repeats Claudius's phrase "noble father" seen in line 004 above. This subtly reveals how Claudius has begun leading Laertes's thoughts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, taking him to mean an object to be appraised, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly at the root of Laertes's word. Now, Laertes is certainly not trying to slander his sister, it's a peculiarity of Shakespeare's word choice, and his knowledge probably guided his choice.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
The "show" of his sister is about all Laertes could claim to know, from what we've seen. What does he know of her mind or feelings? He gave her little chance to speak in Scene 3, and dismissed the little she did say; then in Scene 16 he merely took it she was mad, and made no effort to gather any more than that. He doesn't know her, as a person, at all, so the best he can do is an "object" reference.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
<br />
''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
<br />
''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
<br />
''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T04:07:35Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-030 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
<br />
A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Laertes repeats Claudius's phrase "noble father" seen in line 004 above. This subtly reveals how Claudius has begun leading Laertes's thoughts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, taking him to mean an object to be appraised, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly at the root of Laertes's word. Now, Laertes is certainly not trying to slander his sister, it's a peculiarity of Shakespeare's word choice, and his knowledge probably guided his choice.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
The "show" of his sister is about all Laertes could claim to know, from what we've seen. What does he know of her mind or feelings? He gave her little chance to speak in Scene 3, and dismissed the little she did say; then in Scene 16 he merely took it she was mad, and made no effort to gather any more than that. He doesn't know her, as a person, at all.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
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''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
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So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
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''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
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However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
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BOOKMARK<br />
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Return: [[#184]]<br />
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=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
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''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
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''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
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''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
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''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
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Return: [[#185]]<br />
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=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
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''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
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''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
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Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
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''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
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Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
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''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
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Return: [[#186]]<br />
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=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
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''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
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However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
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The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
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Return: [[#187]]<br />
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=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
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''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
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Return: [[#188]]<br />
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=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
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Return: [[#189]]<br />
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=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
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''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
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''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
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''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
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Return: [[#190]]<br />
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=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
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''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
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Return: [[#191]]<br />
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=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
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''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
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''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
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Return: [[#192]]<br />
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=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
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''that element'' - water.<br />
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Return: [[#193]]<br />
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=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
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Return: [[#194]]<br />
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=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
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''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
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''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
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Return: [[#195]]<br />
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=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
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Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
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Return: [[#196]]<br />
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=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
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Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
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Return: [[#197]]<br />
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=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
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Return: [[#198]]<br />
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=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
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Return: [[#199]]<br />
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=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
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Return: [[#200]]<br />
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=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
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Return: [[#201]]<br />
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=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
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Return: [[#202]]<br />
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=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
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Return: [[#203]]<br />
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=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
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Return: [[#204]]<br />
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=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
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''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
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''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
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Return: [[#205]]<br />
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=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
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Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
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=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
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Return: [[#206]]<br />
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=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
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Return: [[#207]]<br />
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=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
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Return: [[#208]]<br />
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=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
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Return: [[#209]]<br />
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=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
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Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
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<hr><br />
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==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
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<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
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All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
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[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T03:49:42Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-029 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
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A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
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Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
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==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
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==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
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Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
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==Dialogue==<br />
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<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
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[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
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[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
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[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Laertes repeats Claudius's phrase "noble father" seen in line 004 above. This subtly reveals how Claudius has begun leading Laertes's thoughts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, taking him to mean an object to be appraised, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
<br />
''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
<br />
''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
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Return: [[#195]]<br />
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=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
<br />
''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
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Return: [[#205]]<br />
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=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
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=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
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Return: [[#208]]<br />
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=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T03:46:10Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-027 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
<br />
A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Laertes repeats Claudius's phrase "noble father" seen in line 004 above. This subtly reveals how Claudius has begun leading Laertes's thoughts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
<br />
''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
<br />
''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
<br />
''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
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© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
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All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
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[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T03:44:07Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-027 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
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A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
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Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
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==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
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==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
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Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
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==Dialogue==<br />
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<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Laertes repeats Claudius's phrase "noble father." This subtly reveals how Claudius has begun leading Laertes's thoughts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
<br />
''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
<br />
''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
<br />
''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T03:38:59Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-017 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
<br />
A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
''star'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
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BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
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Return: [[#182]]<br />
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=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
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Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
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BOOKMARK<br />
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Return: [[#184]]<br />
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=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
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''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
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=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
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Return: [[#187]]<br />
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=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
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=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
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=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
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Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
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Return: [[#191]]<br />
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=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
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Return: [[#192]]<br />
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=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
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Return: [[#193]]<br />
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=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
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Return: [[#194]]<br />
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=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
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''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
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Return: [[#195]]<br />
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=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
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Return: [[#196]]<br />
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=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
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Return: [[#197]]<br />
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=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
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Return: [[#198]]<br />
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=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
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Return: [[#199]]<br />
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=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
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Return: [[#200]]<br />
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=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
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Return: [[#201]]<br />
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=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
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Return: [[#202]]<br />
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=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
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Return: [[#203]]<br />
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=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
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Return: [[#204]]<br />
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=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
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''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
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Return: [[#205]]<br />
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=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
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Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
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=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
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Return: [[#206]]<br />
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=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
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Return: [[#207]]<br />
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=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
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Return: [[#208]]<br />
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=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
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Return: [[#209]]<br />
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=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_18
Scene 18
2018-02-10T03:36:22Z
<p>Administrator: /* 18-013 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the King's Room, Claudius mentions how he's explained his innocence in the death of Polonius, and asserts he has a claim on Laertes's friendship.<br />
<br />
A messenger delivers the letters from Hamlet, to Claudius's astonishment. Laertes speaks of revenge against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes conspire to kill Hamlet at a fencing match.<br />
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Gertrude enters, and announces that Ophelia is dead. Laertes departs, weeping, and Claudius and Gertrude follow him out.<br />
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==Characters==<br />
The Scene 18 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Laertes]], [[messenger]], [[Gertrude]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Messenger entry [[#037-SD]], || Gertrude entry [[#174-SD2]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 18</b> [ ~ There Is a Willow ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 7)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The King's Room;<br />
Nightfall.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#18-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now your conscience must finally absolve me,''</span><br />
[[#18-002]]<span id="002"></span> And you must put me in your heart for friend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must admit me into your heart as your friend,''</span><br />
[[#18-003]]<span id="003"></span> Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because you have heard, and with a perceptive ear,''</span><br />
[[#18-004]]<span id="004"></span> That he which hath your noble father slain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he who has killed your noble father''</span><br />
[[#18-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pursued my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Was trying to kill me.''</span><br />
[[#18-006]]<span id="006"></span> Laertes: It well appears: but tell me<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It very well looks that way. But tell me,''</span><br />
[[#18-007]]<span id="007"></span> Why you proceed not against these feats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you don't proceed legally against these deeds, that are''</span><br />
[[#18-008]]<span id="008"></span> So crimeful and so capital in nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So criminal and so murderous in their nature,''</span><br />
[[#18-009]]<span id="009"></span> As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since, because of your own safety, your rule, your judgment, and everything else,''</span><br />
[[#18-010]]<span id="010"></span> You mainly were stirred up.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You should have been strongly motivated.''</span><br />
[[#18-011]]<span id="011"></span> Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh . . . for two especially important reasons,''</span><br />
[[#18-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, perhaps, may seem very feeble to you,''</span><br />
[[#18-013]]<span id="013"></span> But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But yet, to me they're strong: the Queen, his mother,''</span><br />
[[#18-014]]<span id="014"></span> Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dotes on him, and in relation to myself -''</span><br />
[[#18-015]]<span id="015"></span> My virtue or my plague, be it either which,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether it's my blessing or my curse, whichever -''</span><br />
[[#18-016]]<span id="016"></span> She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is so connected to my life and soul''</span><br />
[[#18-017]]<span id="017"></span> That as the star moves not but in his sphere<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, the way a planet has to move only in its orbit,''</span><br />
[[#18-018]]<span id="018"></span> I could not but by her; the other motive,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I could not get by without her. The other reason,''</span><br />
[[#18-019]]<span id="019"></span> Why to a public count I might not go,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I can't plead my case to the people and win,''</span><br />
[[#18-020]]<span id="020"></span> Is the great love the general gender bear him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is the great love people in general have for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-021]]<span id="021"></span> Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, downplaying all his faults in their affection for him,''</span><br />
[[#18-022]]<span id="022"></span> Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Work like the magic spring that turns wood to stone:''</span><br />
[[#18-023]]<span id="023"></span> Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would turn his shackles into favors, so that my arrows of accusation''</span><br />
[[#18-024]]<span id="024"></span> Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Too lightly built to penetrate such an armor of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-025]]<span id="025"></span> Would have reverted to my bow again,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have ricocheted back on me again,''</span><br />
[[#18-026]]<span id="026"></span> But not where I have aimed them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Instead of sticking where I aimed them.''</span><br />
[[#18-027]]<span id="027"></span> Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And so I've lost a noble father, and I have''</span><br />
[[#18-028]]<span id="028"></span> A sister driven into desperate terms,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sister driven into hopeless extremities,''</span><br />
[[#18-029]]<span id="029"></span> Whose worth, if praises may go back again<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose value - if I may praise the way she used to be -''</span><br />
[[#18-030]]<span id="030"></span> Stood challenger on mount of all the age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stood, on a pedestal, to rival any of this era,''</span><br />
[[#18-031]]<span id="031"></span> For her perfections, but my revenge will come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because of her perfection. But my revenge will come!''</span><br />
[[#18-032]]<span id="032"></span> Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't lose any sleep over that. You mustn't think''</span><br />
[[#18-033]]<span id="033"></span> That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am made of stuff so insipid and stupid''</span><br />
[[#18-034]]<span id="034"></span> That we can let our beard be shook with danger,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can let my chin be trembled by fear of danger''</span><br />
[[#18-035]]<span id="035"></span> And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And think it's fun. You will soon hear more from me.''</span><br />
[[#18-036]]<span id="036"></span> I loved your father, and we love our self,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I loved your father, and I love myself,''</span><br />
[[#18-037]]<span id="037"></span> And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . . [[#18-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that, I hope, will give you something to imagine . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-038]]<span id="038"></span> How now? What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is it? What news?''</span><br />
[[#18-039]]<span id="039"></span> Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#18-040]]<span id="040"></span> These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These for your Majesty, and this one is to the Queen.''</span><br />
[[#18-041]]<span id="041"></span> Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From Hamlet? Who brought them?''</span><br />
[[#18-042]]<span id="042"></span> Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was told it was sailors, my Lord, I didn't see them.''</span><br />
[[#18-043]]<span id="043"></span> They were given me by Claudio; he received them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They were given to me by Claudio. He received them''</span><br />
[[#18-044]]<span id="044"></span> Of him that brought them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the one who brought them.''</span><br />
[[#18-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. [[#18-045-SD]]<span id="045-SD"></span> (the messenger exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I'll let you hear what these letters say. Messenger, leave us.''</span><br />
[[#18-046]]<span id="046"></span> <span style="color:gray">(reads): </span>''High and mighty,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''High and mighty,''</span><br />
[[#18-047]]<span id="047"></span> ''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.''</span><br />
[[#18-048]]<span id="048"></span> ''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow I shall beg permission to look into your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''</span><br />
[[#18-049]]<span id="049"></span> ''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''begging your pardon, relate, in your eyes, explain the reason for my sudden,''</span><br />
[[#18-050]]<span id="050"></span> ''and more strange return.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and even more strange, return.''</span><br />
[[#18-051]]<span id="051"></span> Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What should I understand this to mean? Are all the rest come back,''</span><br />
[[#18-052]]<span id="052"></span> Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or is it some trick, and no such thing has happened?''</span><br />
[[#18-053]]<span id="053"></span> Laertes: Know you the hand?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you recognize the handwriting?''</span><br />
[[#18-054]]<span id="054"></span> Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's Hamlet's kind of writing. "Naked?"''</span><br />
[[#18-055]]<span id="055"></span> And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And in a postscript here, he says: "alone."''</span><br />
[[#18-056]]<span id="056"></span> Can you devise me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Can you tell me?''</span><br />
[[#18-057]]<span id="057"></span> Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I am at a loss, my Lord. But let him come.''</span><br />
[[#18-058]]<span id="058"></span> It warms the very sickness in my heart<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It increases the choler in my heart''</span><br />
[[#18-059]]<span id="059"></span> That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I shall be here, and can tell him to his face:''</span><br />
[[#18-060]]<span id="060"></span> Thus didst thou! [[#18-060-SD]]<span id="060-SD"></span> (Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"This is what you did."''</span><br />
[[#18-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: If it be so Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it is so, Laertes -''</span><br />
[[#18-062]]<span id="062"></span> As how should it be so, how otherwise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if it could be otherwise, than so -''</span><br />
[[#18-063]]<span id="063"></span> Will you be ruled by me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you be led by me?''</span><br />
[[#18-064]]<span id="064"></span> Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As long as you don't order me to be peaceful.''</span><br />
[[#18-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lead you to your own peace, if Hamlet has returned.''</span><br />
[[#18-066]]<span id="066"></span> As the King at his voyage, and that he means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the King who ordered his voyage to England - and since he intends''</span><br />
[[#18-067]]<span id="067"></span> No more to undertake it, I will work him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not to undertake it further - I will manipulate him''</span><br />
[[#18-068]]<span id="068"></span> To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To an outcome, that I have ready now in my plan,''</span><br />
[[#18-069]]<span id="069"></span> Under the which he shall not choose but fall;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under which he'll have no choice but to fall.''</span><br />
[[#18-070]]<span id="070"></span> And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, for his death, no whisper of blame will breathe on me,''</span><br />
[[#18-071]]<span id="071"></span> But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But even his mother will not take notice of the treachery,''</span><br />
[[#18-072]]<span id="072"></span> And call it accident.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will call it an accident.''</span><br />
[[#18-073]]<span id="073"></span> Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will be ruled by you,''</span><br />
[[#18-074]]<span id="074"></span> The rather if you could devise it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd prefer if you could arrange it so''</span><br />
[[#18-075]]<span id="075"></span> That I might be the organ.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I can be the instrument, of his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-076]]<span id="076"></span> Claudius: It falls right;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's all falling into place . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-077]]<span id="077"></span> You have been talked of since your travel much,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have been much talked about, while you were gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-078]]<span id="078"></span> And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where Hamlet could hear it, for a talent''</span><br />
[[#18-079]]<span id="079"></span> Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where they say you are outstanding. All the rest of your abilities''</span><br />
[[#18-080]]<span id="080"></span> Did not together pluck such envy from him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Put together, didn't draw such jealousy from him''</span><br />
[[#18-081]]<span id="081"></span> As did that one, and that in my regard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As that one did, even though I see it as''</span><br />
[[#18-082]]<span id="082"></span> Of the unworthiest siege.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Among the least valuable attainments.''</span><br />
[[#18-083]]<span id="083"></span> Laertes: What part is that, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ability is that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-084]]<span id="084"></span> Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a highly admired hobby for a youth,''</span><br />
[[#18-085]]<span id="085"></span> Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But necessary, too. For, youth is no less suited to''</span><br />
[[#18-086]]<span id="086"></span> The light and careless livery that it wears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The easy-going and carefree style that it has''</span><br />
[[#18-087]]<span id="087"></span> Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than mature age suits its expensive coats, and its clothing that''</span><br />
[[#18-088]]<span id="088"></span> Importing health and graveness; some two months since,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Symbolizes soundness and seriousness. About two months ago,''</span><br />
[[#18-089]]<span id="089"></span> Here was a gentleman of Normandy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A gentleman from Normandy was here.''</span><br />
[[#18-090]]<span id="090"></span> I have seen myself, and served against the French,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have personally seen, in service against the French -''</span><br />
[[#18-091]]<span id="091"></span> And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they galloped well on horseback - but this cavalier''</span><br />
[[#18-092]]<span id="092"></span> Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rode like magic, as though he grew out of his saddle,''</span><br />
[[#18-093]]<span id="093"></span> And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And he made his horse do such wondrous things''</span><br />
[[#18-094]]<span id="094"></span> As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if he were embodied with the horse, and combined his own nature''</span><br />
[[#18-095]]<span id="095"></span> With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With that of the bold beast. He so excelled, I thought,''</span><br />
[[#18-096]]<span id="096"></span> That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, even in fantasy about form and tricks on horseback,''</span><br />
[[#18-097]]<span id="097"></span> Come short of what he did.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come up short of what he really did.''</span><br />
[[#18-098]]<span id="098"></span> Laertes: A Norman, was it?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He was a Norman, you say?''</span><br />
[[#18-099]]<span id="099"></span> Claudius: A Norman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a Norman.''</span><br />
[[#18-100]]<span id="100"></span> Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll swear, it must have been Lamord!''</span><br />
[[#18-101]]<span id="101"></span> Claudius: The very same.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, the very man.''</span><br />
[[#18-102]]<span id="102"></span> Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I know him well. He's the jewel, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#18-103]]<span id="103"></span> And gem of all our nation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And ornament of all our nation.''</span><br />
[[#18-104]]<span id="104"></span> Claudius: He made confession of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He said he had to admit it about you,''</span><br />
[[#18-105]]<span id="105"></span> And gave you such a masterly report<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And gave you such a glowing report,''</span><br />
[[#18-106]]<span id="106"></span> For art and exercise in your defense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For skill and training, as your advocate -''</span><br />
[[#18-107]]<span id="107"></span> And for your rapier most especially,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for your skill with a rapier, especially -''</span><br />
[[#18-108]]<span id="108"></span> That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he exclaimed it would be a sight to behold''</span><br />
[[#18-109]]<span id="109"></span> If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he saw anyone to equal you. The fencers of their nation,''</span><br />
[[#18-110]]<span id="110"></span> He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He affirmed, did not have good enough quickness, defense, or accuracy''</span><br />
[[#18-111]]<span id="111"></span> If you opposed them; sir, this report of his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you were the opponent. Sir, this report from him''</span><br />
[[#18-112]]<span id="112"></span> Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Made Hamlet so stung with jealousy,''</span><br />
[[#18-113]]<span id="113"></span> That he could nothing do but wish and beg<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he could do nothing but wish and solicit''</span><br />
[[#18-114]]<span id="114"></span> Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your prompt visit, to fence with him.''</span><br />
[[#18-115]]<span id="115"></span> Now, out of this . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, out of this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-116]]<span id="116"></span> Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What follows from this, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#18-117]]<span id="117"></span> Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, was your father dear to you?''</span><br />
[[#18-118]]<span id="118"></span> Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or are you like only a painting of sorrow,''</span><br />
[[#18-119]]<span id="119"></span> A face without a heart?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The appearance, without the heart?''</span><br />
[[#18-120]]<span id="120"></span> Laertes: Why ask you this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why do you ask that?''</span><br />
[[#18-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't that I think you didn't love your father,''</span><br />
[[#18-122]]<span id="122"></span> But that I know, love is begun by time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's only that I do know, love is begun at a certain time,''</span><br />
[[#18-123]]<span id="123"></span> And that I see in passages of proof,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that I see proof, with the passage of time,''</span><br />
[[#18-124]]<span id="124"></span> Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Time diminishes the spark and fire of love.''</span><br />
[[#18-125]]<span id="125"></span> There lives within the very flame of love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There exists within the flame itself, of love,''</span><br />
[[#18-126]]<span id="126"></span> A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of wick or snuff that will bring love to an end,''</span><br />
[[#18-127]]<span id="127"></span> And nothing is at a like goodness still,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And nothing keeps its same quality, always.''</span><br />
[[#18-128]]<span id="128"></span> For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,'<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since goodness, increasing to a heartache,''</span><br />
[[#18-129]]<span id="129"></span> Dies in his own too much; that we would do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dies from its own excess. What we want to do,''</span><br />
[[#18-130]]<span id="130"></span> We ''should'' do when we would. For, this "would" changes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We should do it when we first want. Because, our desires change,''</span><br />
[[#18-131]]<span id="131"></span> And hath abatements and delays as many,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And face suspensions and delays in as much quantity''</span><br />
[[#18-132]]<span id="132"></span> As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As there are tongues to dissuade us, hands to impede us, and accidents,''</span><br />
[[#18-133]]<span id="133"></span> And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then that "should" becomes like a wastrel's sigh,''</span><br />
[[#18-134]]<span id="134"></span> That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That hurts our resolve by easing our feelings. But, now to the heart of the matter,''</span><br />
[[#18-135]]<span id="135"></span> Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet has come back. What action would you undertake''</span><br />
[[#18-136]]<span id="136"></span> To show yourself your father's son in deed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To prove that you are your father's son in action,''</span><br />
[[#18-137]]<span id="137"></span> More than in words?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Moreso than just in talk?''</span><br />
[[#18-138]]<span id="138"></span> Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'd cut his throat in church.''</span><br />
[[#18-139]]<span id="139"></span> Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, murder should not make any place a sanctuary.''</span><br />
[[#18-140]]<span id="140"></span> Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Revenge should have no limits. But good Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#18-141]]<span id="141"></span> Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you do the following? Stay secluded in your room;''</span><br />
[[#18-142]]<span id="142"></span> Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, when he's returned here, will be informed you're back;''</span><br />
[[#18-143]]<span id="143"></span> We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll put someone up to praising your excellence,''</span><br />
[[#18-144]]<span id="144"></span> And set a double varnish on the fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put an extra shine on the renown''</span><br />
[[#18-145]]<span id="145"></span> The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The Frenchman accorded you; bring you, ultimately, together,''</span><br />
[[#18-146]]<span id="146"></span> And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And bet on your respective abilities. He, being unmindful,''</span><br />
[[#18-147]]<span id="147"></span> Most generous, and free from all contriving,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very noble, and innocent of all scheming,''</span><br />
[[#18-148]]<span id="148"></span> Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will not scrutinize the foils, so that with ease,''</span><br />
[[#18-149]]<span id="149"></span> Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or with a little trickery, you can select''</span><br />
[[#18-150]]<span id="150"></span> A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A sword that's not blunted, and in an artful pass''</span><br />
[[#18-151]]<span id="151"></span> Requite him for your father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repay him for your father.''</span><br />
[[#18-152]]<span id="152"></span> Laertes: I will do it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do it,''</span><br />
[[#18-153]]<span id="153"></span> And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And to that end I'll oil my sword.''</span><br />
[[#18-154]]<span id="154"></span> I bought an unction of a mountebank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I bought an ointment from a mountebank''</span><br />
[[#18-155]]<span id="155"></span> So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So lethal that, if you only dip a knife in it,''</span><br />
[[#18-156]]<span id="156"></span> Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When the knife draws blood, no poultice however rare,''</span><br />
[[#18-157]]<span id="157"></span> Collected from all simples that have virtue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Assembled from all the medicinal herbs that have healing power,''</span><br />
[[#18-158]]<span id="158"></span> Under the moon, can save the thing from death<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under the magic of the moonlight, can save the person from death''</span><br />
[[#18-159]]<span id="159"></span> That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who is only scratched with it. I'll touch up my sword point''</span><br />
[[#18-160]]<span id="160"></span> With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With this toxin, so that if I injure him even slightly, it can be his death.''</span><br />
[[#18-161]]<span id="161"></span> Claudius: Lets further think of this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's think even further about this . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-162]]<span id="162"></span> Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ponder what opportunity - taking into account both time and resources -''</span><br />
[[#18-163]]<span id="163"></span> May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May provide us, toward achieving our design if that idea should fail,''</span><br />
[[#18-164]]<span id="164"></span> And that our drift look through our bad performance,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, should our plotted course of action not foresee possible failure,''</span><br />
[[#18-165]]<span id="165"></span> 'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be better not to try it. Therefore, this joint effort''</span><br />
[[#18-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should have a back or second that might hold<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should include a backup, or secondary plan, that might succeed''</span><br />
[[#18-167]]<span id="167"></span> If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If this idea fails when tried. Hm, let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-168]]<span id="168"></span> We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll make a serious wager on your cunning . . .''</span><br />
[[#18-169]]<span id="169"></span> I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have it: When your activity makes you hot and dry -''</span><br />
[[#18-170]]<span id="170"></span> As make your bouts more violent to that end -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So make your bouts more strenuous for that result -''</span><br />
[[#18-171]]<span id="171"></span> And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when he wants a drink, I'll have prearranged for him''</span><br />
[[#18-172]]<span id="172"></span> A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A cup of wine for just this occasion, from which he need only sip;''</span><br />
[[#18-173]]<span id="173"></span> If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he, by luck, avoids your poisoned jab''</span><br />
[[#18-174]]<span id="174"></span> Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise? [[#18-174-SD1]]<span id="174-SD1"></span> (sounds of women lamenting)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Our goal can be achieved in that way. But wait, what's that noise?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-174-SD2]]<span id="174-SD2"></span> (Gertrude enters, distraught)<br />
<br />
[[#18-175]]<span id="175"></span> Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, sweet Queen?''</span><br />
[[#18-176]]<span id="176"></span> Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One woeful event steps on the heels of another,''</span><br />
[[#18-177]]<span id="177"></span> So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So closely they seem to follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#18-178]]<span id="178"></span> Laertes: Drowned? O where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned?! Oh, tell me where?''</span><br />
[[#18-179]]<span id="179"></span> Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There is a willow tree which grows beside the brook,''</span><br />
[[#18-180]]<span id="180"></span> That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shows its white leaves in the mirror-like water.''</span><br />
[[#18-181]]<span id="181"></span> Therewith fantastic garlands did she make<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the willow twigs she did make fantastic garlands''</span><br />
[[#18-182]]<span id="182"></span> Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''</span><br />
[[#18-183]]<span id="183"></span> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That licentious shepherds give a coarser name''</span><br />
[[#18-184]]<span id="184"></span> But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But our modest sort of maids do call them "dead-men's-fingers;"''</span><br />
[[#18-185]]<span id="185"></span> There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There, on the drooping branches, with her crown wreaths of flowers,''</span><br />
[[#18-186]]<span id="186"></span> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Clambering to find places to hang them, a malicious small branch broke,''</span><br />
[[#18-187]]<span id="187"></span> When down her weedy trophies and herself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then down her floral prizes and herself''</span><br />
[[#18-188]]<span id="188"></span> Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the watery brook. Her clothes spread wide,''</span><br />
[[#18-189]]<span id="189"></span> And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And for a while they buoyed her up, as if she were a mermaid, during''</span><br />
[[#18-190]]<span id="190"></span> Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which time she sang parts of traditional religious morning songs,''</span><br />
[[#18-191]]<span id="191"></span> As one incapable of her own distress,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if she was unaware of her own distressing situation,''</span><br />
[[#18-192]]<span id="192"></span> Or like a creature native and endued<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, as if she was like a creature natural to, and outfitted''</span><br />
[[#18-193]]<span id="193"></span> Unto that element, but long it could not be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For life in water, but it could not be long, and wasn't,''</span><br />
[[#18-194]]<span id="194"></span> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until it happened that her clothing, heavy from soaking up water,''</span><br />
[[#18-195]]<span id="195"></span> Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dragged the poor, pitiful girl down from her melodious singing''</span><br />
[[#18-196]]<span id="196"></span> To muddy death.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To a muddy death.''</span><br />
[[#18-197]]<span id="197"></span> Laertes: Alas, then she ''is'' drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, then she is drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-198]]<span id="198"></span> Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Drowned . . . drowned.''</span><br />
[[#18-199]]<span id="199"></span> Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have too much of water, poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#18-200]]<span id="200"></span> And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And therefore I forbid myself to shed tears. But yet,''</span><br />
[[#18-201]]<span id="201"></span> It is our trick; nature her custom holds;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's a trick men play on themselves, to pretend we don't cry. Nature enforces her ritual.''</span><br />
[[#18-202]]<span id="202"></span> Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let those say "shame" who want to, when these tears are gone,''</span><br />
[[#18-203]]<span id="203"></span> The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll no more act like a woman. Adieu, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#18-204]]<span id="204"></span> I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a fiery speech ready that I would blaze away with,''</span><br />
[[#18-205]]<span id="205"></span> But that this folly douts it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that this misfortune extinguishes it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-205-SD]]<span id="205-SD"></span> (Laertes exits, weeping)<br />
<br />
[[#18-206]]<span id="206"></span> Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's follow him, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#18-207]]<span id="207"></span> How much I had to do, to calm his rage;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There was so much I had to do to calm his rage,''</span><br />
[[#18-208]]<span id="208"></span> Now fear I, this will give it start again;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And now I'm afraid this will get him going, again.''</span><br />
[[#18-209]]<span id="209"></span> Therefore lets follow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, let's follow him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#18-209-SD]]<span id="209-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 18<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====18-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Claudius's room, the King's Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====18-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,''<br />
<br />
''conscience'' - Claudius is sure he has caught Laertes's conscience, so to speak.<br />
<br />
''my acquittance seal'' - reach an official verdict of "not guilty" for me.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====18-002=====<br />
''And you must put me in your heart for friend,''<br />
<br />
Poetically and figuratively, friends are "housed in one's heart," in the language of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====18-003=====<br />
''Sith you have heard and with a knowing ear,''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because; since. Shakespeare used ''sith,'' instead of "since," from Claudius because it sounds more like a serpent's hiss.<br />
<br />
''knowing'' - intelligent; perceptive. Shrewd / sharp. Claudius is flattering Laertes as "sharp," which Laertes is not, however.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====18-004=====<br />
''That he which hath your noble father slain''<br />
<br />
''noble'' - distinguished, is how Laertes hears it. But Claudius could call Polonius ''noble'' without meaning anything more than that he was a Lord. Thus, this is ambiguous, as to precisely what Claudius means. Certainly, Claudius is trying to be congenial to Laertes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====18-005=====<br />
''Pursued my life.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed pursue Claudius's life, but was not doing so at the time he killed Polonius. Claudius thinks Hamlet was trying to kill him when he killed Poloius, but that is mistaken.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====18-006=====<br />
''Laertes: It well appears: but tell me''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====18-007=====<br />
''Why you proceed not against these feats''<br />
<br />
''proceed'' - legally. Legal proceedings.<br />
<br />
''feats'' - deeds, in a pejorative sense. In the most general paraphrase, actions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====18-008=====<br />
''So crimeful and so capital in nature,''<br />
<br />
''crimeful'' - Laertes probably means morally wrong, full of sin. In the history of English, it appears "crime" meant sinfulness before it meant something punishable by law. We might take it Laertes uses ''crimeful'' meaning something both sinful and a crime.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used many '-ful' words in the play: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, wonderful, doubtful, helpful, etc. It is not so very surprising to see ''crimeful.'' Shakespeare had used the word one other time, earlier, in ''The Rape of Lucrece."<br />
<br />
''capital'' - as in "capital offense," punishable by death. It is ironic that ''capital'' can also mean "excellent," "first-rate." We do not suppose that is what Laertes means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#008|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-009=====<br />
''As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====18-010=====<br />
''You mainly were stirred up.''<br />
<br />
''mainly'' - strongly. As in "might and main."<br />
<br />
''stirred up'' - spurred into action. Motivated.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====18-011=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, for two special reasons''<br />
<br />
''special'' - personal, as opposed to general. Also, especially significant. Both can be understood, with Claudius meaning the reasons are especially significant to him, personally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====18-012=====<br />
''Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,''<br />
<br />
''much unsinewed'' - very weak. Claudius spoke of sinew in Scene 10, "soft as sinews of the newborn babe." ([[Scene 10#074]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====18-013=====<br />
''But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother''<br />
<br />
''the Queen, his mother'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====18-014=====<br />
''Lives almost by his looks, and for myself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====18-015=====<br />
''My virtue or my plague, be it either which,''<br />
<br />
''either which'' - whichever.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====18-016=====<br />
''She is so conjunctive to my life and soul,''<br />
<br />
''conjunctive'' - connective. Conjunctions are conjunctive. The word "and" which is between the words ''life'' and ''soul'' is a conjunction in the line. Without the conjunction, ''life'' and ''soul'' would lack connection. If a man's soul were disconnected from his life, he would be dead. By this, Claudius credits Gertrude with keeping his life and soul together.<br />
<br />
Claudius's line is ominous, though he does not know it. We know, if we have read ahead, that at the Fencing Match Claudius will die, after Gertrude dies and Claudius thereby loses his life + soul connective, as he expresses it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#016|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-017=====<br />
''That as the star moves not but in his sphere''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====18-018=====<br />
''I could not but by her; the other motive,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====18-019=====<br />
''Why to a public count I might not go,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====18-020=====<br />
''Is the great love the general gender bear him,''<br />
<br />
''general gender'' - general kind (of people.) ''Gender'' goes back to Latin 'genus' ("kind.") thus it is a "kind" word. Claudius means Hamlet is popular with the masses. Second, ''gender'' can be understood, in context, as a reference to women in particular. By that, Claudius means Hamlet has the affection of women in general. While women do not have the vote in Claudius's Denmark, still, their views cannot be ignored.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius is making excuses with all this. We know he intends that Hamlet should be executed in England. Claudius is just offering Laertes some plausible reasons for not imprisoning Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====18-021=====<br />
''Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,''<br />
<br />
One may be reminded of the infant Achilles being dipped into the river Styx by his mother. One will recall that while the treatment made Achilles invulnerable in general, it did leave him with an Achilles' heel, a point of vulnerability.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====18-022=====<br />
''Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#022|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-023=====<br />
''Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,''<br />
<br />
''gyves'' - fetters; shackles. We recall Claudius speaking in Scene 10 to R & G about putting fetters on his fear. ([[Scene 10#026]])<br />
<br />
''graces'' - favors. As if Claudius had, in the process of trying to punish Hamlet, done him a favor instead.<br />
<br />
''arrows'' - accusations. A figurative usage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====18-024=====<br />
''Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,''<br />
<br />
''slightly'' - slenderly; weakly; lightly.<br />
<br />
''timbered'' - constructed; built. Arrows are of wood (in those days,) and one could say that wood is "timber." In Old English, the verb 'timbran' was the main word used for "to build."<br />
<br />
''loved, armed'' - so loved and so armored. The "and so" is implicit. Carries through on what Claudius said in lines 021 and 022.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#024|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-025=====<br />
''Would have reverted to my bow again,''<br />
<br />
''reverted'' - ricocheted. ''Revert'' is from Latin 'revertere' ("to turn back.")<br />
<br />
''my bow'' - synecdoche for "me." The bow being the relevant item when an arrow is shot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====18-026=====<br />
''But not where I have aimed them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====18-027=====<br />
''Laertes: And so have I a noble father lost,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====18-028=====<br />
''A sister driven into desperate terms,''<br />
<br />
''desperate'' - hopeless. Latin 'desperare' ("to be without hope.") Laertes has no idea what to do about Ophelia.<br />
<br />
''into desperate terms'' - into hopeless extremities. ''Terms'' -> Latin 'terminus' ("limit,") the limit being the extremity. See Polonius's line in Scene 7, "... in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love." ([[Scene 7#203]]) Also see the Play Queen's line in the 'Mousetrap'/''Gonzago'' play, "In neither ought, or in extremity." ([[Scene 9#151]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====18-029=====<br />
''Whose worth, if praises may go back again''<br />
<br />
''worth'' - "value," if one is uncharitable to Laertes, or "merit," if one cuts him some slack.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====18-030=====<br />
''Stood challenger on mount of all the age''<br />
<br />
''challenger'' - Oddly, the word "challenge" traces back to Latin 'calumnia' ("calumny.") Hamlet told Ophelia, in Scene 8, that she would not escape calumny, and there it is, lurking so unexpectedly.<br />
<br />
''mount'' - pedestal, for mounting a statue. Laertes is invoking the stereotype of "putting a woman on a pedestal." The ''mount'' is a raised place to stand, like the stage in a theater.<br />
<br />
''of all the age'' - of all our era.<br />
<br />
Picturing Ophelia as a statue, Laertes is talking about how she would "show."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====18-031=====<br />
''For her perfections, but my revenge will come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====18-032=====<br />
''Claudius: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think''<br />
<br />
''Break'' - interrupt. Claudius is telling Laertes not to lose sleep over it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====18-033=====<br />
''That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====18-034=====<br />
''That we can let our beard be shook with danger,''<br />
<br />
The idea is that the beard is shaking because the chin is trembling from fear.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====18-035=====<br />
''And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;''<br />
<br />
''pastime'' - amusement; fun.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====18-036=====<br />
''I loved your father, and we love our self,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037=====<br />
''And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====18-037-SD=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-038=====<br />
''How now? What news?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====18-039=====<br />
''Messenger: Letters, my Lord, from Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====18-040=====<br />
''These to your Majesty, this to the Queen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====18-041=====<br />
''Claudius: From Hamlet, who brought them?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====18-042=====<br />
''Messenger: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====18-043=====<br />
''They were given me by Claudio; he received them''<br />
<br />
''Claudio'' - the name similarity, Claudius/Claudio, is because Claudio acted as Claudius's stand-in to receive the letters.<br />
<br />
Horatio wasn't able to have the letters delivered to Claudius directly because Claudius was in conference with Laertes at that time, and Horatio did not want to wait to depart, nor did the pirates want to linger at the Castle. So, Shakespeare provided an intermediary, Claudio.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====18-044=====<br />
''Of him that brought them.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====18-045-SD=====<br />
''(the messenger exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-046=====<br />
''(reads): High and mighty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====18-047=====<br />
[[File:Hatton_hilliard.jpg|right|Sir Christopher Hatton by Hilliard c. 1590]]<br />
''you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;''<br />
<br />
''naked'' - like a newborn baby. Hamlet now knows Claudius intended him to die in England. Hamlet is playing with that. He means that after being "dead" in England, he is "reborn" in Denmark. To be reborn is to be like a newborn baby, and newborn babies are, of course, ''naked.'' Hamlet knows Claudius won't understand that, nor does he want Claudius to. Hamlet is giving Claudius a hard time, again.<br />
<br />
More meaning can be found, as is usual in the way Shakespeare wrote ''Hamlet.'' We know that pirates are thieves. We also know that Hamlet was supposed to be the Danish ambassador to England, according to how Claudius set it up. Hamlet didn't yet know that Claudius's appointment of him was only a ruse, when Hamlet packed and dressed for the trip. When the pirates captured him, Hamlet was dressed for the role of ambassador, wearing some of his most fancy clothing. Fancy clothing in those days was amazing. It had embroidery with gold and silver thread, inlaid gems, and heaven knows what else. Certainly the pirates stole his clothing. They didn't really leave him naked, but we can be sure they then gave him some clothes to wear that none of the pirates particularly wanted. It would be old, worn, patched-together items. (In the Closet Scene, Scene 11, Hamlet spoke of "shreds and patches," and he himself is now dressed like that, "courtesy" of the pirates. Therefore, by ''naked'' Hamlet also means"without (my) clothes." Claudius won't figure that out, either, since he doesn't know what happened.<br />
<br />
So, in the altogether, ''naked'' means both "like a newborn baby" and also, "without ''my'' clothing."<br />
<br />
The image shows how fancy men's clothing could be in that era, and the clothing of a Prince acting as an ambassador would be even fancier than that.<br />
<br />
This is an important thing to know, about Hamlet's clothing, in advance of the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, where Hamlet talks with the Clown Sexton. Hamlet will be dressed in "shreds and patches" in that passage, and knowing that helps greatly in understanding why the Clown Sexton doesn't know, or guess, that Hamlet is the Prince. The Clown would never imagine that a man wearing raggedy clothing could be the Prince.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]] - or - [[Scene 18 Extended Notes#047|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====18-048=====<br />
''tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====18-049=====<br />
''asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====18-050=====<br />
''and more strange return.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====18-051=====<br />
''Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====18-052=====<br />
''Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?''<br />
<br />
''abuse'' - deceit; trick; an abuse of one's credulity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====18-053=====<br />
''Laertes: Know you the hand?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====18-054=====<br />
''Claudius: 'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked?"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====18-055=====<br />
''And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====18-056=====<br />
''Can you devise me?''<br />
<br />
''devise'' - tell. It's a meaning found in, for example, Chaucer, ''Monk's Tale,'' the line "The world was his - what sholde I moore devyse?" Chaucer means, "what more should I tell?" (By the way, that line in Chaucer is followed rather closely by "De Julio Cesare" which means "Concerning Julius Caesar." Hercules and Nero also get mention in the ''Monk's Tale.'' Chaucer is readily available online, including here: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mkt-par.htm)<br />
<br />
Because of the Putting on a Show Theme in ''Hamlet,'' it is of interest that ''devise'' can mean "show." For example see, James Shirley, (or John Fletcher?) ''The Coronation,'' 1634, Act 3 scene 2: "Masques and devices welcome, I salute you." So, Claudius could also be understood as asking Laertes, "Can you show me (what this means?)" <br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#056|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-057=====<br />
''Laertes: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====18-058=====<br />
''It warms the very sickness in my heart''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====18-059=====<br />
''That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060=====<br />
''Thus didst thou!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====18-060-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes imitates stabbing with a sword)''<br />
<br />
Or, Laertes can draw his sword, make a lunging stab with it, then sheath it again. The actual drawing of the sword is more dramatic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-061=====<br />
''Claudius: If it be so Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====18-062=====<br />
''As how should it be so, how otherwise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====18-063=====<br />
''Will you be ruled by me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====18-064=====<br />
''Laertes: If so you will not o'errule me to a peace.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====18-065=====<br />
''Claudius: To thine own peace, if he be now returned''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====18-066=====<br />
''As the King at his voyage, and that he means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#066|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-067=====<br />
''No more to undertake it, I will work him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====18-068=====<br />
''To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====18-069=====<br />
''Under the which he shall not choose but fall;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====18-070=====<br />
''And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====18-071=====<br />
''But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====18-072=====<br />
''And call it accident.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====18-073=====<br />
''Laertes: My Lord, I will be ruled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====18-074=====<br />
''The rather if you could devise it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====18-075=====<br />
''That I might be the organ.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====18-076=====<br />
''Claudius: It falls right;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====18-077=====<br />
''You have been talked of since your travel much,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====18-078=====<br />
''And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====18-079=====<br />
''Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts''<br />
<br />
''shine'' - excel. ''Shine'' like a star. In Scene 20 we'll hear Hamlet compliment Laertes's skill with a sword in "stellar" terms: "Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night..." ([[Scene 20#239]])<br />
<br />
''your sum of parts'' - your total abilities; your total distinctions; all your good characteristics. Everything good about you. A "part" here is a distinction, a feature that sets a person apart, from the average.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====18-080=====<br />
''Did not together pluck such envy from him''<br />
<br />
''envy'' - jealousy. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====18-081=====<br />
''As did that one, and that in my regard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====18-082=====<br />
''Of the unworthiest siege.''<br />
<br />
''unworthiest'' - least valuable.<br />
<br />
''siege'' - throne. From Old French 'sege' ("seat" / "throne") then back to Latin 'sedere' ("to sit.") King Claudius speaks figuratively of a "throne." He speaks of it (ability with a sword, we'll learn,) as not valuable, because being a great swordsman is not one of his fantasies. Claudius admires horsemanship (we'll also learn.) Claudius doesn't think being "the king of swordplay" is a very valuable attainment. One could see it as jealousy about something he isn't good at.<br />
<br />
Claudius also downplays swordplay in connection with asserting dominance over Laertes, so that Laertes will do what he's told. There's more than one psychological factor at work.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====18-083=====<br />
''Laertes. What part is that, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====18-084=====<br />
''Claudius: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====18-085=====<br />
''Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====18-086=====<br />
''The light and careless livery that it wears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====18-087=====<br />
''Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====18-088=====<br />
''Importing health and graveness; some two months since,''<br />
<br />
''health'' - soundness; or, prosperity.<br />
<br />
''graveness'' - seriousness; somberness.<br />
<br />
''two months since'' - would have been at the time of the state funeral for King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#088|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-089=====<br />
''Here was a gentleman of Normandy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====18-090=====<br />
''I have seen myself, and served against the French,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====18-091=====<br />
''And they ran well on horseback, but this gallant''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#091|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-092=====<br />
''Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====18-093=====<br />
''And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====18-094=====<br />
''As had he been incorpsed, and deminatured''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====18-095=====<br />
''With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#095|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-096=====<br />
''That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====18-097=====<br />
''Come short of what he did.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====18-098=====<br />
''Laertes: A Norman, was it?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====18-099=====<br />
''Claudius: A Norman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====18-100=====<br />
''Laertes: Upon my life, Lamord!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, check root of "remorse" in addition to all the rest<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#100|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-101=====<br />
''Claudius: The very same.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====18-102=====<br />
''Laertes: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,''<br />
<br />
''brooch'' - ornament; jewel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====18-103=====<br />
''And gem of all our nation.''<br />
<br />
''gem'' - exactly what it says; or, more generally, adornment. With his phrase ''(brooch) and gem" Laertes means "jewel and gem," or in more general terms, "ornament and adornment." He is speaking of Lamord as a "treasure."<br />
<br />
''our nation'' - is a slip of the tongue by Laertes. Laertes is Danish, but Lamord is French. Laertes has spent enough time in France, and likes it so well, that he now reacts as if France is his home.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#103|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-104=====<br />
''Claudius: He made confession of you,''<br />
<br />
''made confession'' - admitted. That is, Lamord said something like, "I do have to admit..."<br />
<br />
The religious tone of ''confession'' is irony, as Claudius plots to commit the mortal sin of murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====18-105=====<br />
''And gave you such a masterly report''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====18-106=====<br />
''For art and exercise in your defense,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill.<br />
<br />
''exercise'' - training. From Latin 'exercitium' ("training.")<br />
<br />
''in your defense'' - in defense of your ability. Claudius means Lamord spoke as Laertes's advocate, defending Laertes against any question about his swordsmanship. A second meaning is that of Laertes's defensive ability. Shakespeare once again used wording with a deliberate double meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====18-107=====<br />
''And for your rapier most especially,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====18-108=====<br />
''That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====18-109=====<br />
''If one could match you; the scrimures of their nation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====18-110=====<br />
''He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====18-111=====<br />
''If you opposed them; sir, this report of his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====18-112=====<br />
''Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====18-113=====<br />
''That he could nothing do but wish and beg''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====18-114=====<br />
''Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#114|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-115=====<br />
''Now, out of this . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====18-116=====<br />
''Laertes: What out of this, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]] - or - [[Scene 18 Folio Differences#116|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====18-117=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, was your father dear to you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====18-118=====<br />
''Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====18-119=====<br />
''A face without a heart?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====18-120=====<br />
''Laertes: Why ask you this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====18-121=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I think you did not love your father,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====18-122=====<br />
''But that I know, love is begun by time,''<br />
<br />
''love is begun by time'' - a person falls in love at a certain time, in his life. The actual figure of speech is as if time is a decision-making ruler, who decrees, "you shall now fall in love," so that time, itself, is responsible for the beginning of love. Claudius, the ruler of Denmark, is speaking of time as a kind of ruler, of love. We could deduce that Claudius wishes he could dictate his feelings, the way he can dictate executive orders, but that power is beyond him. As far as his feelings go, Claudius is subject to greater powers, including time, the same way we all are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====18-123=====<br />
''And that I see in passages of proof,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====18-124=====<br />
''Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====18-125=====<br />
''There lives within the very flame of love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====18-126=====<br />
''A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,''<br />
<br />
''abate'' - extinguish. Terminate. "Kill." Used here in the legal sense, as in an abatement of action. ("At common law, a suit, when it abates, is absolutely dead." - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====18-127=====<br />
''And nothing is at a like goodness still,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====18-128=====<br />
''For goodness, growing to a 'pleurisy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====18-129=====<br />
''Dies in his own too much; that we would do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====18-130=====<br />
''We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====18-131=====<br />
''And hath abatements and delays as many,''<br />
<br />
''abatements'' - suspensions. Used in the legal sense. ("... in courts of equity, abatement signifies only a present suspension of all proceedings... - http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/abatement-of-action/ )<br />
<br />
Some difference can be found between a plan being suspended, and it being delayed. Delay is more a matter of an unexpected obstacle, while suspension is more a matter of choice. The ideas of "suspension" and "delay" are close to synonymous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====18-132=====<br />
''As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====18-133=====<br />
''And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====18-134=====<br />
''That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====18-135=====<br />
''Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====18-136=====<br />
''To show yourself your father's son in deed''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====18-137=====<br />
''More than in words?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====18-138=====<br />
''Laertes: To cut his throat in the church.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====18-139=====<br />
''Claudius: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====18-140=====<br />
''Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====18-141=====<br />
''Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====18-142=====<br />
''Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====18-143=====<br />
''We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====18-144=====<br />
''And set a double varnish on the fame''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====18-145=====<br />
''The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,''<br />
<br />
''together'' - at fencing, that is. Claudius is speaking of a fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====18-146=====<br />
''And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,''<br />
<br />
''remiss'' - casual, or another word to that effect. Of course Hamlet will be supposed to think it's only a casual fencing match.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====18-147=====<br />
''Most generous, and free from all contriving,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====18-148=====<br />
''Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====18-149=====<br />
''Or with a little shuffling, you may choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====18-150=====<br />
''A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====18-151=====<br />
''Requite him for your father.''<br />
<br />
''requite'' - repay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====18-152=====<br />
''Laertes: I will do it,''<br />
<br />
So, Laertes seals his own doom, without knowing it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====18-153=====<br />
''And for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.''<br />
<br />
''anoint'' - oil. Fencers always oil their swords. However, Laertes is talking about a special oil, as he will go on to say.<br />
<br />
The word choice is wicked. In Biblical tradition, anointing is an act of consecration of an item. In Scene 16 we heard Laertes say, "I dare damnation," [[Scene 16#136]], and now what he says could be taken as "consecrating" his sword, to commit murder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====18-154=====<br />
''I bought an unction of a mountebank''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - salve; ointment. The word ''unction'' originally referred to the use of a grease or oil for medicinal purposes, and later came to mean religious anointment, including anointment as a last rite.<br />
<br />
''mountebank'' - quack doctor. A purveyor of supposed remedies and potions. Laertes is a sucker. The Laertes character, himself, means "peddler of potions." It's clear that he is not clear on what a "mountebank" is.<br />
<br />
However, there is the logical point that just because an item comes from a ''mountebank'' that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work as claimed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====18-155=====<br />
''So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,''<br />
<br />
''mortal'' - deadly; lethal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====18-156=====<br />
''Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,''<br />
<br />
''draws blood'' - breaks the skin.<br />
<br />
''cataplasm'' - poultice, applied to a wound to draw out poison, and promote healing.<br />
<br />
''so rare'' - however rare.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====18-157=====<br />
''Collected from all simples that have virtue''<br />
<br />
''Collected'' - assembled. Gathered. From Latin 'com-' ("together") + 'legere' ("to gather.")<br />
<br />
''simples'' - medicinal herbs, considered individually. Called "simple" before they are compounded into a mixture of ingredients. Goes back to Latin ''simplex'' in the sense of "uncompounded."<br />
<br />
''virtue'' - goodness. More specifically in this context, "healing power."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====18-158=====<br />
''Under the moon, can save the thing from death''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====18-159=====<br />
''That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point''<br />
<br />
''withal'' - with it. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====18-160=====<br />
''With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====18-161=====<br />
''Claudius: Lets further think of this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====18-162=====<br />
''Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====18-163=====<br />
''May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====18-164=====<br />
''And that our drift look through our bad performance,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====18-165=====<br />
'''Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====18-166=====<br />
''Should have a back or second that might hold''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====18-167=====<br />
''If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .''<br />
<br />
''blast in proof'' - fail when put to the test. It's understandable that Claudius would not fully trust a product bought from a mountebank.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius seems not to realize he had Laertes set up perfectly.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====18-168=====<br />
''We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====18-169=====<br />
''I 'hate'; when, in your motion, you are hot and dry -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====18-170=====<br />
''As make your bouts more violent to that end -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====18-171=====<br />
''And that he calls for drink, I'll have 'prefared' him''<br />
<br />
''prefared'' - is the correct word, it means "prearranged as fare," for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====18-172=====<br />
''A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,''<br />
<br />
''chalice'' - cup. It's a wicked term in this context, however, since ''chalice'' can mean in particular the cup used for sacramental wine. We infer that Claudius is praying this will rid him of Hamlet. In Scene 19 we will hear Hamlet say to Laertes, "Thou prayest not well," ([[Scene 19#231]],) and the same can be said about Claudius.<br />
<br />
''for the nonce'' - for the occasion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====18-173=====<br />
''If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,''<br />
<br />
''by chance'' - An instance of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
''venomed'' - poisoned.<br />
<br />
''stuck'' - jab; stab. The ungrammatical-looking form is apparently because it is fencing jargon, a term shortened and anglicized either from Old French 'estocade' or from Italian 'stoccata.' The English "stuck" is of course the past tense of "stick," which is from Old English 'stician' ("to pierce;" "to thrust,") related to German 'stechen' ("to sting.") So the phrase ''venomed stuck'' carries the concept of a poisonous sting. We recall the Ghost telling Hamlet, in Scene 5, about Claudius being "the serpent that stung." ([[Scene 5#044]]: "The "serpent" that did sting thy father's life...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174=====<br />
''Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD1=====<br />
''(sounds of women lamenting)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====18-174-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters, distraught)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====18-175=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, sweet Queen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====18-176=====<br />
''Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====18-177=====<br />
''So fast they'll follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====18-178=====<br />
''Laertes: Drowned? O where?''<br />
<br />
Elsinore Castle is a castle by the sea, like Kronborg Castle upon which Elsinore is based. So, when one hears of a drowning, one's first thought is that it happened in the sea. However, Laertes is skeptical that Ophelia could have been allowed to wander to the sea, so he questions ''where,'' (and rightly so, it turns out.)<br />
<br />
Further, Laertes's question is supposed to lead the audience to think about the "wheres" of the play. An attentive person may remember the cliff Horatio mentioned to Hamlet, in Scene 4, the cliff that "beetles o'er his base into the sea." ([[Scene 4#076]] ff) If one wanted to die by drowning, that cliff would be the very place. It's a perfect "Suicide Cliff." If Horatio, who has been at Elsinore only a short time, knows of the cliff, Ophelia must have known of it, too. However, did Ophelia die at Suicide Cliff?<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare is telling us something, if we're paying attention.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====18-179=====<br />
[[File:Willow_askant.jpg|right|willow growing "askant" water]]<br />
''Gertrude: There is a willow grows askant the brook,''<br />
<br />
''askant'' - aslant; leaning. As the image shows, and as willows often do. The willow was growing close beside the brook, and leaning over it.<br />
<br />
''brook'' - this introduction of the ''brook'' might seem to be an ad hoc contrivance, but further reflection indicates it is only common sense applied to any human settlement. People cannot drink salt water. For a settlement to exist at Elsinore there must be fresh water available. We may take it that the brook, carrying fresh water, is what made Elsinore Town and Elsinore Castle possible. The brook would have been flowing there, already, when the very first human wanderers happened by, and discovered that location as a place where they could live.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====18-180=====<br />
''That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,''<br />
<br />
''hoary'' - white, but literally, ''hoary'' means white with age. So we're told it's an old tree, not a young one. This is significant information, because old trees are more likely to have diseases or damage that can cause branch breakage. Gertrude, herself, is saying in a poetic way that it's as if the tree, with the whiteness of its leaves, is like a person whose hair is going white with age. In actually, in the case of a tree the color is a species characteristic. Anyway, Shakespeare did use Gertrude's poetic expression to tell us the tree is an old one, and that knowledge is relevant to Ophelia's fall.<br />
<br />
''Hoary'' is from Old English 'har' which could mean any of "hoary" (as now understood,) "gray," "venerable," or "old."<br />
<br />
''hoary leaves'' - identifies the tree as probably white willow, ''Salix alba.'' The twigs of the white willow are said to be still used for basket making, because they are long and can be bent rather sharply without damage.<br />
<br />
''glassy'' - reflective, like a mirror. There's a Mirror Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====18-181=====<br />
''Therewith fantastic garlands did she make''<br />
<br />
''Therewith'' - by means of, that is, Ophelia was using long, supple willow twigs to make the frames for her floral wreaths.<br />
<br />
''fantastic'' - fanciful. Gertrude does not know Ophelia's symbolism with the floral wreaths, so she takes them as being merely products of a wild imagination.<br />
<br />
''garlands'' - wreaths of flowers. Namely, chaplets.<br />
<br />
''make'' - construct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====18-182=====<br />
''Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples''<br />
<br />
The mere variety of flowers implies madness, in Shakespeare's theatrical universe. Compare ''King Lear,'' Act 4 scene 4, Cordelia speaking:<br />
<br />
As mad as the vex'd sea, singing aloud,<br />
Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,<br />
With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo flow'rs,<br />
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow...<br />
<br />
Here in ''Hamlet,'' the colors of the flowers are purple and white. Shakespeare associated a flower color of purple and white with the death of Adonis in ''Venus and Adonis,'' at line 1190:<br />
<br />
...the boy that by her side lay kill'd<br />
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,<br />
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,<br />
A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white 1190<br />
...<br />
<br />
By using the same colors, purple and white, for Ophelia's death flowers, Shakespeare honored her at the high status of immortal myth, and more specifically, a mythical loved one, like Adonis. Per Shakespeare's symbolism, established in ''Venus and Adonis,'' the purple and white flower colors express an especially tragic death.<br />
<br />
[[File:Ragged robin.jpg|left|crowflower a.k.a. ragged robin]]<br />
''crowflowers'' - a.k.a. Ragged Robins, ''Lychnis flos-cuculi.'' The blossoms are purple. It is also called the cuckoo-flower because it blooms around the same time the cuckoo is heard in spring. The Latin "flos-cuculi" means "cuckoo flower." Madness has long been associated with the cuckoo. From that well-known association, it provides an instance of the Madness Theme.<br />
<br />
During the course of the play it is subtly revealed that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet name for Hamlet, (namely in Ophelia's "bonny sweet Robin" line in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#188]]) When we next see Hamlet, he will be "ragged," wearing "shreds and patches," in Scene 19 (because of the pirates stealing his clothing.) The alternative name of this flower, "ragged robin," points directly toward Hamlet, and is implicitly an instance of the Love Theme, from Ophelia having the pet name for Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" the ragged robin expresses ardor. "Ardor" meant lust, the heat of desire, in Middle English. The word "ardor" goes back to Latin 'ardere' ("to burn.") Thus, in the crowflower/ragged robin one can also find an implicit instance of the Fire Motif.<br />
<br />
In folklore, a crowflower under the pillow at night will produce a dream of one's future mate. By that, the crowflower informs us that Ophelia went to her "sleep" of death dreaming of her Robin, Hamlet. The crowflower is therefore also thematic on the concepts of sleep and dreams.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, in the Latin name ''Lychnis flos-cuculi'', 'Lychnis' means "lamp," from the use of the leaves of such plants as makeshift lamp wicks, which makes them "lamp plants.")<br />
<br />
In sum, the crowflower expresses instances of the Madness, Love, Fire, Sleep, and Dream themes and motifs, and it symbolizes Ophelia's loving desire for Hamlet. It's easy to see why Shakespeare chose the crowflower.<br />
<br />
[[File:White dead nettle.jpg|right|white dead nettle, Lamium album]]<br />
''nettle'' - This can be understood as white dead nettle (dead = does not sting,) ''Lamium album,'' or perhaps as purple dead nettle, ''Lamium purpureum.'' Either the white or the purple variety will work here, or even a mixture of the two. The flower colors are purple and white, as mentioned above, and the nettle can provide either.<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers," nettle expresses slander and, especially for a woman, bad luck. Thus, we are told that Ophelia's fall from the tree was bad luck. It's also clear Ophelia has bad luck throughout the play, when various events go against her, through no fault of her own. Being the most innocent victim, she is the most sympathetic character. The nettle is thematic, since part of its meaning provides an instance of the Fortune Theme of the play, bad fortune in this case.<br />
<br />
Further, the nettle cautions us about the later slander of Ophelia as a suicide, which we'll see in Scene 19. The "slander" that the nettle expresses supports what Hamlet said to Ophelia in Scene 8, "thou shalt not escape calumny." ([[Scene 8#141]]) The nettle provides an instance of the Talk Motif, which, as I categorize the play concepts, includes gossip and slander.<br />
<br />
The name of the white dead nettle is "dovenetel" in Dutch. The English speaker sees "dove" in that name. I do not know if Shakespeare would have taken that into account, but it is intriguing. Recall Ophelia's flowers and her speech in Scene 16, which included the columbine and her saying "dove."<br />
<br />
Herbals recommend ingestion of nettle seeds to treat venomous stings, and as an antidote for poison. So, nettle connects to play concepts of "sting" and "poison," as well.<br />
<br />
(I will add, in this context it would be unwise to be fussy about exactly what is a ''nettle'' versus a dead nettle, and whether ''nettle'' meanings apply to the dead nettle. Shakespeare was doing theater, not a herbal. It's the theatrical, or literary, concepts that count, not scientific distinctions of species and variety.)<br />
<br />
In sum, the nettle expresses the play concepts of the Talk Motif (specifically slander,) bad luck (the Fortune Theme,) perhaps "dove," and the highly pertinent ideas of "sting" and "poison." It is clearly another superb choice by Shakespeare.<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy.jpg|left|the English daisy, Bellis perennis]]<br />
''daisies'' - ''Bellis perennis,'' the English or common daisy. ''Bellis'' = "beautiful;" ''perennis'' = "everlasting." However, there is some possibility that the oxeye daisy is meant, which is ''Leucanthemum vulgare'' ("common white flower.")<br />
<br />
The daisy is a subject of numerous legends.<br />
<br />
The daisy expresses innocence, and loyalty in love.<br />
<br />
The daisy is a "sun" flower, in that it has long been especially associated with the sun.<br />
<br />
Per Gerard's ''Herbal,'' daisy juice applied to the eyes will clear them.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, if a fellow asked a lady for her hand, she would symbolize affirmation by wearing a crown wreath of daisies. Ophelia's crown wreath of daisies was especially for Hamlet, her Robin, meaning that if given the chance, she would marry him. In that way, the daisy confirms the crowflower meaning.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
[[File:Early purple orchid.jpg|right|early purple orchid]]<br />
''long purples'' - early purple orchids. ''Orchis mascula.'' The blossoms are, as stated, purple. Like the crowflower, this flower has also been called the cuckoo flower.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====18-183=====<br />
''That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,''<br />
<br />
''liberal'' - indecent; unrestrained in their speech. Ill-mannered in their speech. Rude, in the sense of primitive, in their speech. There is a Manner/Manners Motif in the play. "Immodest" would be another paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''grosser'' - coarser; less decent. From Old French 'gros' ("coarse, rude.") The botanical term ''Orchis'' is from the Greek and means "testicle." The name comes from many varieties having paired, globular tubers in their root systems, which in appearance can be likened to testicles. In John Gerard's ''Herbal,'' various of the orchids have the common names "dog's stones," "goat's stones," etc. ("stone" meaning "testicle.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====18-184=====<br />
[[File:Dead_man's_fingers.jpg|left|orchid tuber "hand" with "fingers" as illustrated in Gerard's Herbal]]<br />
''But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.''<br />
<br />
The phrase ''cull-cold'' is a little word puzzle Shakespeare composed for us.<br />
<br />
''cull'' - to ''cull'' is to sort, and to sort is to separate into kinds. Gertrude is clearly talking about a certain kind of maids. It's an instance of the "kind" idea that appears occasionally in the play.<br />
<br />
''cold'' - unimpassioned, that is, not inclined to use sexual terms which don't really apply. Not feeling the "heat" of passion to incline them to see, and describe, things in sexual terms. The simplest paraphrase would probably be "modest." At the time Shakespeare was writing, the word "modest" when applied to women meant "not improper or lewd." The use of a term for the flowers other than that which the liberal shepherds use, is explained by such maids being shy about using sexual terms.<br />
<br />
So, the ''cull-cold'' are literally the "sort modest," and in normal phrasing that's the "modest sort" or the "modest kind."<br />
<br />
''dead-men's-fingers'' - as listed in Gerard's herbal, (first published in 1597,) and judging from the pictures, this is likely a reference to one of the "Serapia's stones," as Gerard has them, in particular what Gerard calls "Sweet-smelling Satyrion." See the image at left, which shows the roots of that plant with its "hand" and "fingers." It has purple blooms and would qualify as a "long purple."<br />
<br />
However, the sweet-smelling Satyrion does not appear to be the same flower as the early purple orchid. That's of no matter. As with the nettle, it would be a mistake to be too strict with plant identification. Shakespeare was providing symbolism and conceptual expression for his play. It would be unwise to suppose that the shepherds, the maids, the Gertrude character, and Shakespeare himself were engaged in botanical classification. <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====18-185=====<br />
''There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds''<br />
<br />
''pendant'' - curving downward at the ends; drooping; sagging. From Latin 'pendere' ("to hang.") This is a fact of the willow, that there is a tendency of some of the branches to curve downward.<br />
<br />
''boughs'' - branches; limbs. From Old English 'bog' ("arm,") then, the arm being a limb, the meaning extended, in Old English, to "branch," a limb of a tree.<br />
<br />
''weeds'' - plants. In this case flowering plants, we see.<br />
<br />
''crownet weeds'' - plants for crowns; plants to use in making floral crowns. Ophelia was making chaplets, i.e. floral wreaths to wear on the head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====18-186=====<br />
''Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;''<br />
<br />
''Clambering'' - climbing awkwardly, with difficulty. The difficulty was in carrying the flowers, and also, it's extremely doubtful Ophelia was an experienced tree climber. We've seen how Polonius was, so even when Ophelia was much younger, if Polonius had caught Ophelia climbing a tree, or heard of her doing such a thing, we can predict he would have scolded her severely, and punished her in some way, for such unladylike behavior. This could be the first time in her life she climbed a tree.<br />
<br />
''hang'' - as it says; hang up, so they wouldn't fall. Ophelia was hanging the chaplets in the tree as she made them. The easiest way to hang such things in a tree is to use stubs of twigs or stubs of small branches that have broken off. However, the limb with the most broken-off twigs, or the most broken-off small branches, is a limb that's dead or dying, and thus dangerous to climb on.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare described all this perfectly. The tree being old, a willow, that splits, hanging chaplets in it, easiest to do on stubs, of course, implying a dead or dying limb... this is absolutely authentic. The poetry is superb, but the "natural history" of it is equally so. It could happen in reality, exactly as described.<br />
<br />
''envious'' - malicious; full of ill will. The word "envy" derives from Latin 'invidere' ("look at (with malice)," "cast the evil eye upon.") At root "envy" is a "see" word, going along with the play concept of eyes and vision, under the Vision Motif.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's word ''envious'' can be read as that exactly, the "hoary" tree being envious of Ophelia's youth and beauty, and her innocence, and therefore acting maliciously toward her. That's if we anthropomorphize the tree, as an old, broken-down woman, who has the bad temper which goes along with its old age and ill health, and consider then how the tree would view Ophelia, with envy, and react to her, with malice.<br />
<br />
''sliver'' - a limb that was split from the trunk, or, a smaller branch that had split off from a larger one. The noun ''sliver'' derives from the obsolete verb 'sliven' ("to split.") This is a fact of willow trees, that they tend to split at a fork. Gertrude is saying that Ophelia climbed onto a limb that was already splitting off (thus a ''sliver'',) and Ophelia's weight caused it to split away completely.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====18-187=====<br />
''When down her weedy trophies and herself''<br />
<br />
''trophies'' - prizes. We may take it that Gertrude speaks of the flowers as prizes because it was clear Ophelia prized them. An alternative paraphrase would be "bounty," since the "bounty of nature" is a well-known idea.<br />
<br />
However, "trophy" can mean "memorial" and it does appear in that sense earlier in the dialogue, in Scene 16. ([[Scene 16#214]]: "No trophy sword...") By that, the flowers are memorials for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
The word "trophy" goes back to Greek 'tropos' ("turn.") There is, of course, a "turn" concept in the play, associated with the Fortune Theme. One has to suspect Shakespeare knew the derivation of the word "trophy" to use ''trophies'' in describing this bad turn of events for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====18-188=====<br />
''Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,''<br />
<br />
''weeping'' - tears are running water, thus, the running water of the brook is cast as ''weeping,'' for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====18-189=====<br />
''And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====18-190=====<br />
''Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,''<br />
<br />
''chanted'' - sang. "Chant" is from Latin 'cantus' ("song;" "bird-song.") The play characters are associated with birds, so one suspects Shakespeare used ''chanted'' with knowledge of its derivation.<br />
<br />
''snatches'' - brief excerpts; a few lines. In the history of the word "snatch," an earlier meaning of the verb was "to make a sudden bite" (at something,) and the noun could mean "a trap," or "a sudden grab," all of which is of interest because concepts of "bite," "trap," and "grab/seize" are repeated with some prominence in the play.<br />
<br />
''lauds'' - songs of praise to God. Additionally, "Lauds" with a capital-L refers to a religious service, the hour of morning prayer, traditionally at daybreak. So we may see these ''lauds'' as morning songs, which brings in an implicit pun with "mourning." We are to understand "mourning songs" for Ophelia's death. (Ophelia, herself, did not mean that, the idea comes from her creator's choice of wording.) ''Lauds'' as the name for the canonical hour comes from Latin 'laudate' ("praise ye",) which begins psalms 148 and 150.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====18-191=====<br />
''As one incapable of her own distress,''<br />
<br />
''incapable'' - unaware. Not capable of perception. Literally, ''incapable of'' = not able to grasp. The word "capable" is from Latin 'capabilis' ("able to grasp or hold,") so it's another use in the play of a "grasp / grab / seize" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====18-192=====<br />
''Or like a creature native and endued''<br />
<br />
''native'' - born to. Gertrude means like a creature born to live in water.<br />
<br />
''endued'' - equipped; outfitted. "Dressed." The "clothe" meaning of "endue" applies here, but in figurative use. "Endue" goes back to Latin 'inducere' ("to cover,") which is where the "clothe" meaning comes form. In the sound, one hears "dew," of which Hamlet has spoken in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2#132]],) and we know that dew rises. ''Endued'' is therefore a word compatible with Ophelia rising to Heaven, as (from "lauds" above,) her new day dawns.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====18-193=====<br />
''Unto that element, but long it could not be''<br />
<br />
''that element'' - water.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====18-194=====<br />
''Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====18-195=====<br />
''Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay''<br />
<br />
''Pulled'' - pulled down.<br />
<br />
''lay'' - "brief song," but also, from the phrasing it's possible to understand this as meaning Ophelia lying on the surface. The ambiguity is undoubtedly deliberate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====18-196=====<br />
''To muddy death.''<br />
<br />
Death in the mud, at the bottom of the brook. In the 1580s, ''muddy'' could mean "low," so we can also understand this as a "low death." Ophelia has fallen from the heights, in the tree, to the depths, in the brook.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====18-197=====<br />
''Laertes: Alas, then she is drowned.''<br />
<br />
Spoken with stress on ''is.'' Laertes believes it now.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====18-198=====<br />
''Gertrude: Drowned. Drowned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====18-199=====<br />
''Laertes: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====18-200=====<br />
'' And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====18-201=====<br />
''It is our trick; nature her custom holds;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====18-202=====<br />
''Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====18-203=====<br />
''The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====18-204=====<br />
''I have a speech afire that fain would blaze,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205=====<br />
''But that this folly douts it.''<br />
<br />
''folly'' - BOOKMARK "bad turn" of the Wheel of Fortune.<br />
<br />
''douts'' - literally "does out." Douses; extinguishes. ''Dout'' is simply "do" + "out."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====18-205-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes exits, weeping)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====18-206=====<br />
''Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====18-207=====<br />
''How much I had to do, to calm his rage;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====18-208=====<br />
''Now fear I, this will give it start again;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209=====<br />
''Therefore lets follow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====18-209-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - Scene 18 - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_16
Scene 16
2018-02-04T17:27:53Z
<p>Administrator: /* 16-089 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Throne Room, Horatio and a Gentleman persuade Gertrude to speak with Ophelia. At first, Gertrude doesn't want to see Ophelia because, since her son has killed Ophelia's father, Gertrude anticipates an unpleasant confrontation.<br />
<br />
Ophelia enters slowly, doing a leisurely, graceful dance, as Gertrude speaks her "guilt" speech aside. Ophelia then speaks oddly to Gertrude, and sings.<br />
<br />
Claudius enters, because he heard the singing. Ophelia sings more. Claudius speaks of Ophelia and grief, as he draws the wrong conclusion. Ophelia exits.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that Laertes has returned, and Laertes is hearing condemnations of Claudius in connection with the death of Polonius. Loud noises are heard, and a messenger enters, to inform Claudius that Laertes is leading a riotous rabble to storm the Castle.<br />
<br />
Laertes enters, sword in hand, and irate. He demands Claudius explain things.<br />
<br />
While Claudius is talking with Laertes, Ophelia reenters. Ophelia sings to Laertes, and hands him flowers. He is totally at a loss, except he's sure she's mad. Ophelia departs, with a final word of blessing for everyone. Gertrude and her ladies follow Ophelia, to keep watch on her.<br />
<br />
Claudius asks to meet with Laertes and his "wisest friends" to explain his innocence in the death of Polonius. Laertes says he's willing to listen, and they exit.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 16 Characters are: [[Gertrude]], [[Gentleman]], [[Horatio]], [[Ophelia]], [[Claudius]], [[Messenger]], [[Laertes]], [[Ruffians]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Claudius entry [[#038-SD]], || Ophelia first exit [[#071-SD]], || Messenger entry [[#092-SD2]]<br />
|-<br />
| Laertes entry [[#108-SD]], || Ophelia reentry [[#158-SD]], || Ophelia last exit [[#199-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 16</b> [ ~ Baker's Daughter ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 5)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Throne Room;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude enters;<br />
Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-001]]<span id="001"></span> Gertrude: I will not speak with her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will not speak with her.''</span><br />
[[#16-002]]<span id="002"></span> Gentleman: She is importunate,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is insistent for attention,''</span><br />
[[#16-003]]<span id="003"></span> Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Distracted in what she does. Her state of mind will necessarily be pitied.''</span><br />
[[#16-004]]<span id="004"></span> Gertrude: What would she have?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What does she want?''</span><br />
[[#16-005]]<span id="005"></span> Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She says a lot about her father, and says she hears''</span><br />
[[#16-006]]<span id="006"></span> There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's tricks in the world, and equivocates, and pounds her chest,''</span><br />
[[#16-007]]<span id="007"></span> Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Reacts scornfully, in a bad natured way, over trifles, and says things in suspicion,''</span><br />
[[#16-008]]<span id="008"></span> That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That sound only half sensible. Her speech is naughty,''</span><br />
[[#16-009]]<span id="009"></span> Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Still, the illogical employment of her speech motivates''</span><br />
[[#16-010]]<span id="010"></span> The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Those who hear it to try to gather meaning from it. They gape at what she says,''</span><br />
[[#16-011]]<span id="011"></span> And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And misconstrue her words in fitting them to their own preconceptions,''</span><br />
[[#16-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield to them,''</span><br />
[[#16-013]]<span id="013"></span> Indeed would make one think there would be thought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed would make one think there should be grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-014]]<span id="014"></span> Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Although not for sure, still very expressive of misfortune.''</span><br />
[[#16-015]]<span id="015"></span> Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be good to speak with her, for she might breed''</span><br />
[[#16-016]]<span id="016"></span> Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. [[#16-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Gertrude nods to Horatio)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hazardous surmises in minds that jump to conclusions.''</span><br />
[[#16-017]]<span id="017"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to the doorman):</span> Let her come in. [[#16-017-SD1]]<span id="017-SD1"></span> (said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let her come in.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-017-SD2]]<span id="017-SD2"></span> (Horatio and the Gentleman exit;<br />
Ophelia enters, dancing)<br />
<br />
[[#16-018]]<span id="018"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To my sick soul, (which is the true nature of sin,)''</span><br />
[[#16-019]]<span id="019"></span> Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Each idea that crosses my mind seems to lead to disaster.''</span><br />
[[#16-020]]<span id="020"></span> So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Guilt is so full of natural misery,''</span><br />
[[#16-021]]<span id="021"></span> It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It reveals itself, from its fear of being revealed.''</span><br />
[[#16-022]]<span id="022"></span> Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''</span><br />
[[#16-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Greetings, Ophelia?''</span><br />
[[#16-024]]<span id="024"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''How should I your true love know''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can I, your true love, know you''</span><br />
[[#16-025]]<span id="025"></span> ''From another one?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From someone else?''</span><br />
[[#16-026]]<span id="026"></span> ''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By his cock-le top, and shaft''</span><br />
[[#16-027]]<span id="027"></span> ''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And his silken slippers.''</span><br />
[[#16-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, sweet Lady, what brings out that song?''</span><br />
[[#16-029]]<span id="029"></span> Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't say? No, please pay attention:''</span><br />
[[#16-030]]<span id="030"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone, Lady''</span><br />
[[#16-031]]<span id="031"></span> ''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone''</span><br />
[[#16-032]]<span id="032"></span> ''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his head there is green grass turf''</span><br />
[[#16-033]]<span id="033"></span> ''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his heels there is a stone''</span><br />
[[#16-034]]<span id="034"></span> <span style="color:gray">(exclaims):</span> Oh ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh ho!''</span><br />
[[#16-035]]<span id="035"></span> Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but Ophelia . . .''</span><br />
[[#16-036]]<span id="036"></span> Ophelia: Pray you, mark!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please pay attention!''</span><br />
[[#16-037]]<span id="037"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''White his shroud as the mountain snow.'' [[#16-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (Claudius enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His shroud was as white as mountain snow''</span><br />
[[#16-038]]<span id="038"></span> Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord. [[#16-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, look there, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#16-039]]<span id="039"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With sweet flowers strewn all around,''</span><br />
[[#16-040]]<span id="040"></span> ''Which bewept to the grave did not go'' [[#16-040-SD]]<span id="040-SD"></span> (the word "not" is spoken aside)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, falling like tears on the grave did -not- go''</span><br />
[[#16-041]]<span id="041"></span> ''With true love showers.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Accompanied by any shower of real love.''</span><br />
[[#16-042]]<span id="042"></span> Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are you feeling, pretty Lady?''</span><br />
[[#16-043]]<span id="043"></span> Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well may goodness refrain you, musically.''</span><br />
[[#16-044]]<span id="044"></span> They say the owl was a baker's daughter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say the owl was a baker's daughter.''</span><br />
[[#16-045]]<span id="045"></span> Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lord, I know what I am now, but don't know what I may become.''</span><br />
[[#16-046]]<span id="046"></span> God be at your table.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May God be at work on your gravestone, now.''</span><br />
[[#16-047]]<span id="047"></span> Claudius: Conceit upon her father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A caprice due to her father's death.''</span><br />
[[#16-048]]<span id="048"></span> Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, let's have no words about him - but if anyone asks you''</span><br />
[[#16-049]]<span id="049"></span> what it means, say you this:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what all this means, you can tell them this:''</span><br />
[[#16-050]]<span id="050"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day, and''</span><br />
[[#16-051]]<span id="051"></span> ''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Quite in the morning, before it's too late,''</span><br />
[[#16-052]]<span id="052"></span> ''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's me, a maiden tapping at your window''</span><br />
[[#16-053]]<span id="053"></span> ''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be your valentine''</span><br />
[[#16-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So he rose up, put on some clothes, and opened up his bedroom door,''</span><br />
[[#16-055]]<span id="055"></span> ''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let in the maiden, who never again went out as a virgin.''</span><br />
[[#16-056]]<span id="056"></span> Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pretty, Ophelia.''</span><br />
[[#16-057]]<span id="057"></span> Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end to it.''</span><br />
[[#16-058]]<span id="058"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Jesus and by Saint Charity,''</span><br />
[[#16-059]]<span id="059"></span> ''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''oh dear, and fie, for shame,''</span><br />
[[#16-060]]<span id="060"></span> ''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Young men will do it if they come to it''</span><br />
[[#16-061]]<span id="061"></span> ''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''by cock they are to blame.''</span><br />
[[#16-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Said she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''</span><br />
[[#16-063]]<span id="063"></span> (He answers): ''So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''(He answers): So would I have done, by yonder sun,''</span><br />
[[#16-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had not come to my bed.''</span><br />
[[#16-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: How long hath she been thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long has she been like this?''</span><br />
[[#16-066]]<span id="066"></span> Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hope all will be well. I must be patient, but I cannot choose''</span><br />
[[#16-067]]<span id="067"></span> but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but weep to think they would lay him in the cold ground. My brother''</span><br />
[[#16-068]]<span id="068"></span> shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shall learn of it - and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come''</span><br />
[[#16-069]]<span id="069"></span> my coach; good night, Ladies, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''my coach, goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''</span><br />
[[#16-070]]<span id="070"></span> Sweet Lady, good night, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-070-SD]]<span id="070-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits)<br />
<br />
[[#16-071]]<span id="071"></span> Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [[#16-071-SD]]<span id="071-SD"></span> (the ladies-in-waiting curtsy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow her closely, and keep a close watch on her, please.''</span> and exit to follow Ophelia)<br />
[[#16-072]]<span id="072"></span> Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the poison of deep grief, it all springs from her father's''</span><br />
[[#16-073]]<span id="073"></span> death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''death, and now behold the result. Oh, Gertrude, Gertrude,''</span><br />
[[#16-074]]<span id="074"></span> When sorrows come, they come not single spies,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When sorrows come, they don't come one at a time,''</span><br />
[[#16-075]]<span id="075"></span> But in battalions. First her father slain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But in battalions. First, her father slain,''</span><br />
[[#16-076]]<span id="076"></span> Next, your son gone, and he most violent author<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Next, your son gone - and he himself the very violent cause''</span><br />
[[#16-077]]<span id="077"></span> Of his own just remove, the people muddied,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of his own justified departure - the people stirred up,''</span><br />
[[#16-078]]<span id="078"></span> Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dense and unhealthy in their minds, and rumor mongering''</span><br />
[[#16-079]]<span id="079"></span> For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over good Polonius's death - and I have acted only recently,''</span><br />
[[#16-080]]<span id="080"></span> In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In seclusion, to have him buried - poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#16-081]]<span id="081"></span> Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Beside herself, and diverted from her good judgment -''</span><br />
[[#16-082]]<span id="082"></span> Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Without which we humans are mindless as images in pictures, or mere beasts -''</span><br />
[[#16-083]]<span id="083"></span> Last, and as much containing as all these:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Last - and as difficult to deal with as all of those, combined -''</span><br />
[[#16-084]]<span id="084"></span> Her brother is in secret come from France,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her brother has returned, in secret, from France, and''</span><br />
[[#16-085]]<span id="085"></span> Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Takes in all these strange events, keeps out of sight,''</span><br />
[[#16-086]]<span id="086"></span> And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has no lack of scandalmongers to poison his mind''</span><br />
[[#16-087]]<span id="087"></span> With pestilent speeches of his father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With pernicious gossip about his father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-088]]<span id="088"></span> Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which they feel the need to blame sombody, and lacking the facts,''</span><br />
[[#16-089]]<span id="089"></span> Will nothing stick our person to arraign<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll stop at nothing to accuse me''</span><br />
[[#16-090]]<span id="090"></span> In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the word goes from ear to ear. Oh, my dear Gertrude, this,''</span><br />
[[#16-091]]<span id="091"></span> Like to a murdering piece, in many places<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a huge shotgun, hits me in many vital spots, and''</span><br />
[[#16-092]]<span id="092"></span> Gives me superfluous death. [[#16-092-SD1]]<span id="092-SD1"></span> (an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just kills me, over and over.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-092-SD2]]<span id="092-SD2"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-093]]<span id="093"></span> Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, what's that noise?''</span><br />
[[#16-094]]<span id="094"></span> Claudius: Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Attention, everyone! Where are my Swiss guards? Have them guard the door!''</span><br />
[[#16-095]]<span id="095"></span> What is the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#16-096]]<span id="096"></span> Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save yourself, my Lord!''</span><br />
[[#16-097]]<span id="097"></span> The ocean, over-peering of his list<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ocean, overflowing at its margins,''</span><br />
[[#16-098]]<span id="098"></span> Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not engulf the flats with more merciless speed''</span><br />
[[#16-099]]<span id="099"></span> Than young Laertes, in a riotous head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than young Laertes, at the head of the riot,''</span><br />
[[#16-100]]<span id="100"></span> O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Overwhelms your soldiers and guards. The rabble call him "Lord,"''</span><br />
[[#16-101]]<span id="101"></span> And, as the world were now but to begin,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, as if the human world were only now beginning,''</span><br />
[[#16-102]]<span id="102"></span> Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Precedent forgotten, ceremony unknown,''</span><br />
[[#16-103]]<span id="103"></span> The ratifiers and props of every word,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The only validators and supports for their every word is''</span><br />
[[#16-104]]<span id="104"></span> The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The outcry: "We choose!" "Laertes shall be King!''</span><br />
[[#16-105]]<span id="105"></span> Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They toss their caps in the air, raise their hands, and cheer it to the clouds:''</span><br />
[[#16-106]]<span id="106"></span> Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''</span><br />
[[#16-107]]<span id="107"></span> Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! [[#16-107-SD]]<span id="107-SD"></span> (loud noise just outside the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How cheerfully they cry, as they follow this false trail!''</span> closed door to the Lobby)<br />
[[#16-108]]<span id="108"></span> Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the wrong way, you traitorous Danish dogs!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-108-SD]]<span id="108-SD"></span> (Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)<br />
<br />
[[#16-109]]<span id="109"></span> Claudius: The doors are broke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The doors are broken in.''</span><br />
[[#16-110]]<span id="110"></span> Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is this so-called "King?" Sirs, wait outside.''</span><br />
[[#16-111]]<span id="111"></span> Ruffians: No, lets come in!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, let us come in!''</span><br />
[[#16-112]]<span id="112"></span> Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I beg you, allow me to talk to him.''</span><br />
[[#16-113]]<span id="113"></span> Ruffians: We will, we will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alright, we will, we will.''</span><br />
[[#16-114]]<span id="114"></span> Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thank you. Control the doorway. Oh, you vile King,''</span><br />
[[#16-115]]<span id="115"></span> Give me my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Give me my father!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-115-SD]]<span id="115-SD"></span> (Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)<br />
<br />
[[#16-116]]<span id="116"></span> Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be calm, good Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#16-117]]<span id="117"></span> Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If any drop of my blood is calm it reveals I'm a bastard,''</span><br />
[[#16-118]]<span id="118"></span> Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shouts that my father was a cuckold, puts the brand of the harlot''</span><br />
[[#16-119]]<span id="119"></span> Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right here, between the chaste, undefiled brows''</span><br />
[[#16-120]]<span id="120"></span> Of my true mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of my virtuous mother.''</span><br />
[[#16-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the reason, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-122]]<span id="122"></span> That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That the rebellion you lead looks so ambitious?''</span><br />
[[#16-123]]<span id="123"></span> Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him go, Gertrude, do not worry about my personal safety.''</span><br />
[[#16-124]]<span id="124"></span> There's such divinity doth hedge a King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's such divinity to shield a King,''</span><br />
[[#16-125]]<span id="125"></span> That treason can but peep to what it would,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That treason can only peek at what it wants, and''</span><br />
[[#16-126]]<span id="126"></span> Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Acts little of what it desires. Tell me, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-127]]<span id="127"></span> Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you are so incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#16-128]]<span id="128"></span> Speak, man.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak, man.''</span><br />
[[#16-129]]<span id="129"></span> Laertes: Where is my father?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is my father?''</span><br />
[[#16-130]]<span id="130"></span> Claudius: Dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dead.''</span><br />
[[#16-131]]<span id="131"></span> Gertrude: But not by him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But not killed by him!''</span><br />
[[#16-132]]<span id="132"></span> Claudius: Let him demand his fill.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him question until he's satisfied.''</span><br />
[[#16-133]]<span id="133"></span> Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What led to his death? I won't be taken lightly!''</span><br />
[[#16-134]]<span id="134"></span> To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To hell with loyalty to the crown, and religious dedication - to the most evil devil!''</span><br />
[[#16-135]]<span id="135"></span> Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Conscience, and nobility, into the deepest pit!''</span><br />
[[#16-136]]<span id="136"></span> I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I dare damnation! On this point I make my stand,''</span><br />
[[#16-137]]<span id="137"></span> That both the worlds I give to negligence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, for my fate in both this world and the next, I couldn't care less.''</span><br />
[[#16-138]]<span id="138"></span> Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let whatever happens, happen, but I'll have revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-139]]<span id="139"></span> Most throughly for my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In every way, for my father.''</span><br />
[[#16-140]]<span id="140"></span> Claudius: Who shall stay you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who will stop you?''</span><br />
[[#16-141]]<span id="141"></span> Laertes: My will, not all the world's.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only my own will, no matter what the rest of the world wants!''</span><br />
[[#16-142]]<span id="142"></span> And for my means, I'll husband them so well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As for my resources, I'll manage them so well,''</span><br />
[[#16-143]]<span id="143"></span> They shall go far with little.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll take me far, though they be slight.''</span><br />
[[#16-144]]<span id="144"></span> Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Laertes, if you desire to know the reliable truth''</span><br />
[[#16-145]]<span id="145"></span> Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''About your dear father, is it "officially written" in your duty for revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-146]]<span id="146"></span> That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, (as in winning a sweepstakes,) you will execute both friend and foe,''</span><br />
[[#16-147]]<span id="147"></span> Winner and loser?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only yourself the winner, anyone else, the loser?''</span><br />
[[#16-148]]<span id="148"></span> Laertes: None but his enemies.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll kill no one except his enemies.''</span><br />
[[#16-149]]<span id="149"></span> Claudius: Will you know them, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you know who his enemies are, then?''</span><br />
[[#16-150]]<span id="150"></span> Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms, [[#16-150-SD]]<span id="150-SD"></span> (Laertes sheaths his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To his good friends, I'll spread my arms wide, like this,''</span><br />
[[#16-151]]<span id="151"></span> And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like the proverbially caring, life-sustaining pelican,''</span><br />
[[#16-152]]<span id="152"></span> Repast them with my blood.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nourish them with my own blood.''</span><br />
[[#16-153]]<span id="153"></span> Claudius: Why, now you speak<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, now you speak''</span><br />
[[#16-154]]<span id="154"></span> Like a good child, and a true gentleman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a good child, and a real gentleman.''</span><br />
[[#16-155]]<span id="155"></span> That I am guiltless of your father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am free of guilt in your father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-156]]<span id="156"></span> And am most sensible in grief for it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And am fully rational in my grief over it,''</span><br />
[[#16-157]]<span id="157"></span> It shall as level to your judgment pierce<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It will get through to your judgment as truly,''</span><br />
[[#16-158]]<span id="158"></span> As day does to your eye.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As day does, to your eye.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-158-SD]]<span id="158-SD"></span> (noise is heard at the doorway;<br />
Ophelia enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-159]]<span id="159"></span> Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's happening? Why the noise? Let her come in.''</span><br />
[[#16-160]]<span id="160"></span> O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times as irritating as pure salt,''</span><br />
[[#16-161]]<span id="161"></span> Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Burn out the vision and goodness of my eyes!''</span><br />
[[#16-162]]<span id="162"></span> By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Heaven, your madness will be repaid with weight''</span><br />
[[#16-163]]<span id="163"></span> Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the scales of justice swings its beam. Oh, Rose of May!''</span><br />
[[#16-164]]<span id="164"></span> Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dear maiden, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''</span><br />
[[#16-165]]<span id="165"></span> O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, heavens, is it possible a young maiden's intelligence''</span><br />
[[#16-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should be as mortal as an old man's life?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could be as mortal as an old man's life?''</span><br />
[[#16-167]]<span id="167"></span> Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Human nature, in love, is delicate, and when it's delicate,''</span><br />
[[#16-168]]<span id="168"></span> It sends some precious instance of itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It sends a valuable part of its human nature,''</span><br />
[[#16-169]]<span id="169"></span> After the thing it loves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''After the object of its love.''</span><br />
[[#16-170]]<span id="170"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They carried him bare-faced on the bier,''</span><br />
[[#16-171]]<span id="171"></span> ''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And into his grave rained many a tear.''</span><br />
[[#16-172]]<span id="172"></span> ''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''</span><br />
[[#16-173]]<span id="173"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> Fare you well, my dove!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fare you well, my dove!''</span><br />
[[#16-174]]<span id="174"></span> Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had your wits about you, and prevailed on me to seek revenge,''</span><br />
[[#16-175]]<span id="175"></span> It could not move thus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It could not move me as much as this does.''</span><br />
[[#16-176]]<span id="176"></span> Ophelia: You must sing ''a down, a down,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must sing a down, a down,''</span><br />
[[#16-177]]<span id="177"></span> And you call him ''a down a.'' Oh, how the wheel becomes it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the refrain befits it!''</span><br />
[[#16-178]]<span id="178"></span> It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is lying Hamlet who stole Jesus's daughter from the nunnery.''</span><br />
[[#16-179]]<span id="179"></span> Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This nothingness tells me more than an explanation would.''</span><br />
[[#16-180]]<span id="180"></span> Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, (pray you love,''</span><br />
[[#16-181]]<span id="181"></span> remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''remember,) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''</span><br />
[[#16-182]]<span id="182"></span> Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lesson in madness, thoughts and remembrance tangled in a fit.''</span><br />
[[#16-183]]<span id="183"></span> Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for''</span><br />
[[#16-184]]<span id="184"></span> you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, and here's some for me. We may call it "herb of grace" on Sundays.''</span><br />
[[#16-185]]<span id="185"></span> you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You may wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would''</span><br />
[[#16-186]]<span id="186"></span> give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''give you some violets but they all died when my father did.''</span><br />
[[#16-187]]<span id="187"></span> they say he made a good end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say he did well at the end.''</span><br />
[[#16-188]]<span id="188"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''</span><br />
[[#16-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Grief and torment! Agony! She makes Hell itself''</span><br />
[[#16-190]]<span id="190"></span> She turns to favor and to prettiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look like a favor, and something pretty.''</span><br />
[[#16-191]]<span id="191"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-192]]<span id="192"></span> ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-193]]<span id="193"></span> ''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, no, he is dead. Go to thy death bed!''</span><br />
[[#16-194]]<span id="194"></span> ''He never will come again.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He never will come again.''</span><br />
[[#16-195]]<span id="195"></span> ''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His beard was as white as snow,''</span><br />
[[#16-196]]<span id="196"></span> ''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The skin of his head was yellowish,''</span><br />
[[#16-197]]<span id="197"></span> ''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''</span><br />
[[#16-198]]<span id="198"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''God have mercy on his soul, and on all Christians' souls.''</span><br />
[[#16-199]]<span id="199"></span> God buy you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye to you.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-199-SD]]<span id="199-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits;<br />
Gertrude exits to follow her)<br />
<br />
[[#16-200]]<span id="200"></span> Laertes: Do you this, O God?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you done this, oh God?''</span><br />
[[#16-201]]<span id="201"></span> Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I must share your grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-202]]<span id="202"></span> Or you deny me right; go but apart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or you deny me my right. But go your own way,''</span><br />
[[#16-203]]<span id="203"></span> Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Choose from among your wisest friends whomever you wish,''</span><br />
[[#16-204]]<span id="204"></span> And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they shall hear and judge, between you and me.''</span><br />
[[#16-205]]<span id="205"></span> If by direct, or by collateral hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If in any direct or indirect way''</span><br />
[[#16-206]]<span id="206"></span> They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They find me touched by guilt, I'll give up my kingdom,''</span><br />
[[#16-207]]<span id="207"></span> Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My crown, my life, and all that I call mine,''</span><br />
[[#16-208]]<span id="208"></span> To you in satisfaction; but if not,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To you in satisfaction, of your revenge. But if not,''</span><br />
[[#16-209]]<span id="209"></span> Be you content to lend your patience to us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be content to give me time,''</span><br />
[[#16-210]]<span id="210"></span> And we shall jointly labor with your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I will work together with you''</span><br />
[[#16-211]]<span id="211"></span> To give it due content.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make you content in your soul.''</span><br />
[[#16-212]]<span id="212"></span> Laertes: Let this be so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let it be so.''</span><br />
[[#16-213]]<span id="213"></span> His means of death, his obscure burial,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The way he was killed . . . his hidden burial,''</span><br />
[[#16-214]]<span id="214"></span> No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No trophy sword . . . nor coat of arms over his body,''</span><br />
[[#16-215]]<span id="215"></span> No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No noble privilege . . . nor formal exhibition -''</span><br />
[[#16-216]]<span id="216"></span> Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All of that cries out so much to be understood, as it were, from Heaven to earth,''</span><br />
[[#16-217]]<span id="217"></span> That I must call it in question.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I must call it all into question.''</span><br />
[[#16-218]]<span id="218"></span> Claudius: So you shall,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So you may,''</span><br />
[[#16-219]]<span id="219"></span> And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where the guilt lies, let the executioner's axe fall on him.''</span><br />
[[#16-220]]<span id="220"></span> I pray you go with me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please go with me.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes exit)<br />
<hr> <br />
End of Scene 16<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====16-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Throne Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - <br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====16-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters; Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting are present with the Queen in the Throne Room. Claudius is absent, for whatever reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-001=====<br />
''Gertrude: I will not speak with her.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude supposes that Ophelia wants to complain to her about the death of Polonius, and to demand justice, but there is nothing Gertrude can do about the death of Polonius, or about Claudius sending Hamlet to England. This is not to imply Gertrude would condemn her son, even if she could. We see elsewhere in the play that Gertrude likes Ophelia, so one can understand that Gertrude does not wish to face Ophelia's reproaches.<br />
<br />
Gertrude has no inkling of what Ophelia's speech and behavior will turn out to be, as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====16-002=====<br />
''Gentleman: She is importunate,''<br />
<br />
''importunate'' - assertive. Resolute. Forward.<br />
<br />
For the second, "resolute," recall Horatio's mention in Scene 1 of "landless resolutes," ([[Scene 1#108]],) as Horatio spoke of determined men.<br />
<br />
For the third, "forward," see Shakespeare Sonnet 99, which is partly about Shakespeare's choice of flowers for Ophelia's "crownet weeds" which Gertrude tells us of in Scene 18.<br />
<br />
The forward violet thus did I chide:<br />
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,<br />
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride<br />
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells<br />
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.<br />
The lily I condemned for thy hand, ...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====16-003=====<br />
''Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.''<br />
<br />
''Indeed'' - primarily takes the literal meaning "in deed," referring to what she does, how she acts. Second, can be read as "very," or "truly."<br />
<br />
''distract'' - distracted - emotionally disturbed. The way she acts reveals emotional disturbance.<br />
<br />
''mood'' - state of mind.<br />
<br />
''needs'' - of necessity; necessarily.<br />
<br />
''pitied'' - viewed with sympathy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====16-004=====<br />
''Gertrude: What would she have?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude wonders if there's anything in particular Ophelia wants her to do. If so, perhaps it might be possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====16-005=====<br />
''Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====16-006=====<br />
''There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,''<br />
<br />
''hems'' - equivocates. The meaning of what she says is not clear. Can also be interpreted as in "hem and haw."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====16-007=====<br />
''Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====16-008=====<br />
''That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,''<br />
<br />
''nothing'' - naughty. ''Nothing'' is "naught," so nothing speech is naughty speech, which we shall hear from Ophelia as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====16-009=====<br />
''Yet the unshaped use of it doth move''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====16-010=====<br />
''The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,''<br />
<br />
''collection'' - gathering. The figure of speech is as in the use of "gather." An example modern sentence would be, "As I gather from what he said, he meant..."<br />
<br />
''yawn'' - gape. Stare open-mouthed, as if yawning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====16-011=====<br />
''And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====16-012=====<br />
''Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====16-013=====<br />
''Indeed would make one think there would be thought,''<br />
<br />
''thought'' - grief (a definition now obsolete.) For example, see Chaucer, ''Troilus and Criseyde'':<br />
<br />
But if thou wene I be thus sik for drede, 575<br />
It is not so, and ther-for scorne nought;<br />
Ther is a-nother thing I take of hede<br />
Wel more than ought the Grekes han y-wrought,<br />
Which cause is of my deeth, for sorwe and thought.<br />
...<br />
<br />
It is supposed that Ophelia would be suffering from grief, over her father's death, but what she's saying and doing is not a display of the usual behavior of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#013|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-014=====<br />
''Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====16-015=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016=====<br />
''Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude nods to Horatio)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017=====<br />
''Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD1=====<br />
''(said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD2=====<br />
''(Horatio and the Gentleman exit; Ophelia enters, dancing)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-018=====<br />
''Gertrude (aside): To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====16-019=====<br />
''Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,''<br />
<br />
''toy'' - idea, something the mind plays with, turning it over, looking at it with the mind's eye. Can be understood as a puzzle Gertrude is trying to solve, to get a favorable outcome (but with no luck.)<br />
<br />
''prologue'' - lead-in; introduction. In this usage, ''prologue'' means "that which leads to some consequence."<br />
<br />
''amiss'' - failure, to achieve what she wants, like missing a target. So, ''great amiss'' - great failure; disaster.<br />
<br />
Every idea Gertrude can come up with, when she examines it, and turns it over in her mind, it leads to disaster. She finds no way to envision a positive outcome to all this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====16-020=====<br />
''So full of artless jealousy is guilt,''<br />
<br />
''artless'' - natural.<br />
<br />
''jealousy'' - anxiety; misery. Wretchedness. Intensely unpleasant emotion. Could be extended to "malice." The word ''jealousy'' here is a kind of figure of speech, the use of a more specific word to express a more general concept.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====16-021=====<br />
''It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====16-022=====<br />
''Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''<br />
<br />
Said because after agreeing to grant Ophelia an audience, Gertrude is not on the throne. Gertrude stepped down and wandered away from the throne for her "guilt" speech, aside.<br />
<br />
''beauteous'' - Ophelia is returning the compliment Gertrude earlier bestowed on Ophelia, in Scene 8, "That your good beauties be the happy cause..." ([[Scene 8#043]]) Ophelia was gratified by Gertrude's compliment to her beauty, remembered it, and is returning it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====16-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude has now returned to her throne, in response to Ophelia's question.<br />
<br />
''How now'' - greetings. Quite similar to the modern slang greeting, "what's up?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====16-024=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): How should I your true love know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====16-025=====<br />
''From another one?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====16-026=====<br />
''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====16-027=====<br />
''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<br />
''sendal'' - silk, that is, a silk fabric. Mentioned by Chaucer, among others.<br><br />
The Middle English Dictionary lists it "cendā̆l" as their primary spelling, which is impossible to find with an ordinary lookup, but anyway, here it is.<br><br />
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED7072<br><br />
(checked 06/02/2015)<br />
<br />
For where Shakespeare might have learned ''sendal,'' see for example ''The Canterbury Tales,'' General Prologue, The Physician, line 442:<br />
<br />
But of greet norissyng, and digestible.<br />
His studie was but litel on the Bible.<br />
In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,<br />
Lyned with taffata and with sendal;<br />
<br />
Further, according to some writers, ''sendal'' was the shrouding fabric used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
''shoon'' - an archaic plural of "shoe." Shoes.<br />
<br />
''sendal shoon'' - silk shoes; silk slippers. Dancing shoes. As compared to all the ordinary pilgrims wearing sandals, Ophelia pictures Hamlet on his "pilgrimage" wearing silk slippers.<br />
<br />
Also, with the death of her father Ophelia has put on her dancing shoes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#027|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?''<br />
<br />
''imports'' - to import is to bring, in some way: bring out, bring up, bring forth. The question is, "what brings forth this song?"<br />
<br />
There is simultaneously the question of what import the song has, what its significance is. Shakespeare implied both of the relevant definitions of ''imports.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====16-029=====<br />
''Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====16-030=====<br />
''(sings): He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====16-031=====<br />
''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====16-032=====<br />
''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====16-033=====<br />
''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====16-034=====<br />
''(exclaims): Oh ho!''<br />
<br />
An exclamation of delight.<br />
<br />
Recall what we have seen of Polonius and Ophelia.<br />
<br />
First, in Scene 3, Polonius forbade Ophelia to have any further communication with her fiance, Prince Hamlet. She obeyed, but she did not like that.<br />
<br />
When Hamlet rushed to Ophelia's room, before Scene 6, Ophelia then went to Polonius to try to get him to change his mind, and allow her to talk to Hamlet, to find out why he did that. She never even got the chance to ask Polonius, who decided immediately to take Ophelia and Hamlet's private relationship public. She did not like that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then confiscated (or just plain stole) Ophelia's love letters from Hamlet, since Polonius wanted tangible evidence to show the King, proving that Hamlet had expressed love for Ophelia. When Ophelia tried to fight back, to keep her love letters, and threatened to tell Hamlet, Polonius locked Ophelia in her room, to prevent her resort to Hamlet. She hated that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then persuaded Ophelia to participate in the Nunnery Scene eavesdropping scheme, on the ground that it would get her married to Hamlet, when the King heard Hamlet express love for her. The scheme turned into a disaster, that left her abandoned and heartbroken. It was her father's scheme, and she blamed her father for the result.<br />
<br />
At that point, Ophelia, being a young lady of normal psychology, was wishing her father would get out of her life, and just drop dead. In this Scene, she is ''not'' grieving over his death. She is hysterically happy. Her secret wish has come true.<br />
<br />
The other characters have not seen everything we in the audience have seen, and they do not understand this. They think Ophelia is displaying some weird, mad symptoms of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====16-035=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====16-036=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray you, mark!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037=====<br />
''(sings): White his shroud as the mountain snow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters)''<br />
<br />
Claudius enters because he heard a woman singing in the Throne Room. His first thought is that it's Gertrude, since Gertrude is the woman anyone would associate with the Throne Room. Claudius is curious why Gertrude would be singing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
From the way Claudius looks at her, Gertrude realizes Claudius thought she was the one singing. So she points at Ophelia, and tells Claudius, ''look here.''<br />
<br />
''here'' - not here. "There," that is. When Gertrude says ''look here'' she means "look there," at Ophelia. Claudius is looking ''here,'' at Gertrude, and she says ''here'' to tell him to look "not here."<br />
<br />
The language is perfectly understandable to anybody familiar with English, while the explanation sounds like madness. It is a peculiarity of English that the word ''here'' can mean "there," (and the word "there" can mean ''here,'') depending on what is indicated. Shakespeare had some fun in the play with "here" v "there," (and also "this" v "that.")<br />
<br />
When Gertrude says ''look here,'' and points at Ophelia, we all understand she means "look there." Claudius does so.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Claudius, curious, approaches Ophelia as she sings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-039=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<br />
''Larded'' - "flavored," as a feast for the eye. A figure of speech based on the concept of a ceremony being a kind of show, and a show being a feast for the eye, so to speak. The idea of a show as a feast arose earlier.<br />
<br />
Also, Hamlet spoke of Polonius being at supper "where he's eaten," and Ophelia now speaks of Polonius being ''larded,'' which would make him more tasty for the worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040=====<br />
''Which bewept to the grave did not go''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040-SD=====<br />
''(the word "not" is spoken aside)''<br />
<br />
The other characters don't hear Ophelia sing ''not,'' only the audience hears it. She is telling us something that the other play characters do not know: she did not truly love her father, and she is not really in grief over his death. Powerful social inhibitions prevent her from being open in saying that. She can only express it in a highly indirect way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-041=====<br />
''With true love showers.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====16-042=====<br />
''Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====16-043=====<br />
''Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;''<br />
<br />
''dild' '' - dildo. It is an obsolete music term. Also appears in ''The Winter's Tale.''<br />
<br />
''Winter's Tale'' Act 4 scene 4,<br />
<br />
Servant: He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; ...<br />
... with such delicate <br />
burthens of dildos and fadings, ...<br />
<br />
A ''dildo'' is a nonsense phrase within the burden of a ditty, such as the "hey nonny nonny" mentioned in ''Much Ado about Nothing,'' Act 2 scene 3:<br />
<br />
Balthasar. Sigh no more, ladies, ...<br />
...<br />
And be you blithe and bonny, <br />
Converting all your sounds of woe <br />
Into Hey nonny, nonny.<br />
...<br />
<br />
The term comes from the fact of the word ''dildo'' itself being used, as in Thomas Morley's ''Will You Buy a Fine Dog?'':<br />
<br />
Will you buy a fine dog, with a hole in his head?<br />
With a dildo, dildo, dildo; ...<br />
<br />
The entire song can be found here:<br><br />
http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Will_you_buy_a_fine_dog%3F_(Thomas_Morley)<br />
<br />
''Dildo'' in this sense is the same sort of thing as "hey diddle diddle" in the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. It's some wording that is rhythmic, and rhymes, but has no meaning apart from its use in the verse.<br />
<br />
However, having said that, it is not possible to exclude the better-known, vulgar meaning, since that meaning did also exist in Shakespeare's time. For example, see the lewd verse "Choise of Valentines or the Merie Ballad of Nash his Dildo," T. Nashe, c.1593, which can be found at the Project Gutenberg website:<br><br />
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17779/17779-h/17779-h.htm<br />
<br />
It is safe to say that Ophelia's remark to Claudius is not entirely polite. An interpretation is available for Ophelia to be saying that, in her opinion, Claudius would benefit from the insertion into him of a dildo. That is not, however, her primary meaning. We once again have multiple meanings from the Bard.<br />
<br />
Primarily, she is saying she would like to sing a dildo about Claudius being dead, to go with her song about her father being dead.<br />
<br />
Ophelia says she wants Claudius to die, so she can sing about it.<br />
<br />
Claudius does not understand her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====16-044=====<br />
''They say the owl was a baker's daughter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====16-045=====<br />
''Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====16-046=====<br />
''God be at your table.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====16-047=====<br />
''Claudius: Conceit upon her father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====16-048=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====16-049=====<br />
''what it means, say you this:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====16-050=====<br />
''(sings): Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====16-051=====<br />
''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====16-052=====<br />
''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====16-053=====<br />
''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====16-054=====<br />
''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<br />
''clothes'' - a dressing gown, probably. A robe, as Americans now call it. We are not talking about the gentleman taking time to dress himself up in black tie and tails. He just grabs his robe, to go to the door. Well, more particularly, in the case of Hamlet, he'll grab his cloak, at least to wrap around himself.<br />
<br />
''dupt'' - dupped, in current standard spelling, a spelling which matters not at all since nobody says this any more. The word "dup" is formed merely from "do" + "up" and goes back to Middle English 'don up' which meant "to open," and probably referred to lifting up the simple kind of door latch used in those days. To open a door, one "did up" the latch.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====16-055=====<br />
''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====16-056=====<br />
''Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====16-057=====<br />
''Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====16-058=====<br />
''(sings): By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<br />
''Gis'' - slang for "Jesus."<br />
<br />
''Saint Charity'' - A daughter of Saint Sophia. According to an allegorical legend, Saint Charity was tortured and martyred for her faith at the age of nine during the persecutions of Hadrian. See the following link: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=242<br />
<br />
The concept of the death of a daughter is ominous for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====16-059=====<br />
''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====16-060=====<br />
''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====16-061=====<br />
''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====16-062=====<br />
''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====16-063=====<br />
''(He answers): So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====16-064=====<br />
''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====16-065=====<br />
''Claudius: How long hath she been thus?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====16-066=====<br />
''Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====16-067=====<br />
''but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====16-068=====<br />
''shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come''<br />
<br />
''(my brother) shall know of it'' - and won't he have a fit!<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====16-069=====<br />
''my coach; goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Ladies'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#069|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070=====<br />
''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Sweet Lady'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, address Q2 "Ladyes"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#70|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits)''<br />
<br />
Running like Cinderella running to her coach at midnight, before it turns into a pumpkin.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.''<br />
<br />
Spoken to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071-SD=====<br />
''(the ladies-in-waiting curtsy, and exit to follow Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-072=====<br />
''Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====16-073=====<br />
''death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====16-074=====<br />
''When sorrows come, they come not single spies,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====16-075=====<br />
''But in battalions. First her father slain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====16-076=====<br />
''Next, your son gone, and he most violent author''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====16-077=====<br />
''Of his own just remove, the people muddied,''<br />
<br />
''just remove'' - justified removal; justified departure.<br />
<br />
''muddied'' - astir; stirred up. The way clear water in a brook becomes muddy when it's stirred up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====16-078=====<br />
''Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====16-079=====<br />
''For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly''<br />
<br />
''greenly'' - freshly; recently. Claudius is using the same figure of speech he used in speaking of his brother in Scene 2, in Claudius's first two lines in the play. ([[Scene 2 #001]] "Though yet of Hamlet, our dear brother's, death, The memory be green..."<br />
<br />
Fresh plantings are green. Claudius again speaks of a recent funeral as a "recent plant." This goes along with the analogy of Claudius with Cain, who was a tiller of the ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====16-080=====<br />
''In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia''<br />
<br />
''In hugger mugger'' - surreptitiously. Without public ceremony. Claudius wanted to draw as little attention to Polonius's death as possible, since Claudius did not take the usual legal action against Hamlet, and Claudius knows the public will wonder why not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====16-081=====<br />
''Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====16-082=====<br />
''Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====16-083=====<br />
''Last, and as much containing as all these:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====16-084=====<br />
''Her brother is in secret come from France,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====16-085=====<br />
''Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,''<br />
<br />
''in clouds'' - hidden from Claudius's sight. The figure of speech is that of a "sun (son) hidden in clouds," so that one cannot see it. There is an implicit son/sun pun.<br />
<br />
Properly, Laertes would have presented himself to the King upon his return, but Laertes has not done so. (We know Laertes ought to have presented himself to Claudius upon his return, because he needed Claudius's permission to leave, as we saw in Scene 2. Laertes is a Danish courtier, or is otherwise under some obligation to the Throne, probably because Polonius arranged a government position for Laertes.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====16-086=====<br />
''And wants not buzzers to infect his ear''<br />
<br />
''buzzers'' - gossips; rumor mongers. Recall Hamlet facetiously saying "buzz buzz" to Polonius in Scene 7.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====16-087=====<br />
''With pestilent speeches of his father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====16-088=====<br />
''Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====16-089=====<br />
''Will nothing stick our person to arraign''<br />
<br />
How could Claudius be blamed? Look at the most basic facts. 1) Hamlet killed Polonius. 2) Claudius sent Hamlet on a trip out of the country, beyond the reach of Danish law, to get a lot of money.<br />
<br />
By appearance, it looks like "hire and salary." If one knew only those slight facts, he could conclude that Claudius hired Hamlet to kill Polonius. We know better, but the people in the local town have not seen what we have seen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====16-090=====<br />
''In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====16-091=====<br />
''Like to a murdering piece, in many places''<br />
<br />
''murdering piece'' - a cannon loaded with small projectiles, to produce a spray of shot, analogous to a shotgun blast. A ''murdering piece'' was so called because it was especially designed to kill enemy personnel, as opposed to knocking down walls.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092=====<br />
''Gives me superfluous death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD1=====<br />
''(an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)''<br />
<br />
Men shouting. Scuffling sounds, loud thuds. Some noise of steel hitting steel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD2=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Running, excited.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-093=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?''<br />
<br />
Addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====16-094=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto swissers.jpg|right]]<br />
''Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!''<br />
<br />
''Attend'' - take heed. From Latin 'attendere' ("give heed to.")<br />
<br />
''Swissers'' - Swiss guards. The modern standard spelling is "Switzer," but I see no overwhelming need to change the original Second Quarto spelling. Claudius is calling for his royal guards, his bodyguards.<br />
<br />
Where are they? Well since Claudius entered the way he did, just coming in out of curiosity to see what the singing was about, and did not enter the Throne Room in his usual kingly style, the Swissers probably don't even know he's in the Throne Room. They were not mustered for the royal entourage, to accompany Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#094|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-095=====<br />
''What is the matter?''<br />
<br />
Also addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====16-096=====<br />
''Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====16-097=====<br />
''The ocean, over-peering of his list''<br />
<br />
''over-peering'' - a peer is at the same level. Therefore, to ''over-peer'' is to rise higher, to rise above, to achieve a higher elevation than that which was formerly at the same level.<br />
<br />
''list'' - boundary; bounds. In this case, the former bounds.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====16-098=====<br />
''Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste''<br />
<br />
''Eats'' - engulfs.<br />
<br />
''flats'' - same as it means today: "flat land at the edge of the sea." See the current term "mud flat," or "mud flats."<br />
<br />
''impiteous'' - unconscionable; undutiful. BOOKMARK for me Originates in Latin 'pietas' ("dutiful conduct.") Duty Theme instance.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====16-099=====<br />
''Than young Laertes, in a riotous head''<br />
<br />
''in a riotous head'' - has the double meaning, "at the head of the riot," and "riotous in his thoughts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====16-100=====<br />
''O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"''<br />
<br />
''Lord'' - may be Laertes's technically-correct title. Polonius was a lord, and one would suppose Laertes has inherited his father's title. However, the title might depend, formally, upon royal ratification. Laertes's title inheritance is not clear in the play. He continues to be addressed as "sir" when he appears on stage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====16-101=====<br />
''And, as the world were now but to begin,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====16-102=====<br />
''Antiquity forgot, custom not known,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====16-103=====<br />
''The ratifiers and props of every word,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====16-104=====<br />
''The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====16-105=====<br />
''Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====16-106=====<br />
''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107=====<br />
''Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107-SD=====<br />
''(loud noise just outside the closed door to the Lobby)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108=====<br />
''Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!''<br />
<br />
''counter'' - the wrong way. Strictly, ''counter'' is when a dog goes the wrong way on a scent trail, getting farther from the game rather than closer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-109=====<br />
''Claudius: The doors are broke.''<br />
<br />
Important to note, for some actions that happen later. The rabble are breaking down doors throughout the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====16-110=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====16-111=====<br />
''Ruffians: No, lets come in!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====16-112=====<br />
''Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====16-113=====<br />
''Ruffians: We will, we will.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====16-114=====<br />
''Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115=====<br />
''Give me my father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)''<br />
<br />
Contrary to appearances, she is not primarily protecting Claudius, she is primarily protecting Hamlet's succession.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-116=====<br />
''Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====16-117=====<br />
''Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#117|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-118=====<br />
''Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====16-119=====<br />
''Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====16-120=====<br />
''Of my true mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====16-121=====<br />
''Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
''cause'' - reason. One might compare this to Claudius's use of "reason" in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2 #044]] "You cannot speak of reason to the Dane...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====16-122=====<br />
''That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====16-123=====<br />
''Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====16-124=====<br />
''There's such divinity doth hedge a King,''<br />
<br />
Has reference to the "divine right of kings."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====16-125=====<br />
''That treason can but peep to what it would,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====16-126=====<br />
''Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====16-127=====<br />
''Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====16-128=====<br />
''Speak, man.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====16-129=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is my father?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====16-130=====<br />
''Claudius: Dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====16-131=====<br />
''Gertrude: But not by him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====16-132=====<br />
''Claudius: Let him demand his fill.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====16-133=====<br />
''Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,''<br />
<br />
''juggled with'' - toyed with; treated as a buffoon. Laertes is emphasizing his deadly seriousness. ''Juggle'' is from Old French 'jogler' = "to be a buffoon or jester." So Laertes is telling King Claudius, "I am not here to be a king's jester for you."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====16-134=====<br />
''To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====16-135=====<br />
''Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====16-136=====<br />
''I dare damnation. To this point I stand,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====16-137=====<br />
''That both the worlds I give to negligence,''<br />
<br />
''both the worlds'' - the world of the living, and the afterlife.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====16-138=====<br />
''Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====16-139=====<br />
''Most throughly for my father.''<br />
<br />
''throughly'' - is the exact word printed in the Second Quarto. The words "through" and "thorough" were not clearly distinguished until Early Modern English. ''Throughly'' is probably the intended word, with no printing error. It can be understood as "completely," or as "through and through," that is, "in every way." A substitution of modern "thoroughly" would probably be acceptable, if one were neurotic about modernizing the text to the greatest degree possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====16-140=====<br />
''Claudius: Who shall stay you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====16-141=====<br />
''Laertes: My will, not all the world's.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====16-142=====<br />
''And for my means, I'll husband them so well,''<br />
<br />
''means'' - resources, especially financial resources. It does not seem to have occurred yet to Laertes that he must have a valuable inheritance, since Polonius was a rich man. There's no hint in the play of any other heir Polonius might have.<br />
<br />
''husband'' - manage, simply put. Further, ''husband'' can mean "conserve" or "manage thriftily," which is probably the intended full meaning, based on the idea of "thrift" already expressed in the play ([[Scene 2 #182]] "Hamlet: Thrift, thrift, Horatio...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====16-143=====<br />
''They shall go far with little.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====16-144=====<br />
''Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====16-145=====<br />
''Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,''<br />
<br />
''writ'' - used figuratively to mean "officially written" (like a law, or a king's order.) Claudius knows that Laertes's desire for revenge has no written conditions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====16-146=====<br />
''That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe''<br />
<br />
''swoopstake'' - the original word, which I retain because it doesn't necessarily mean exactly the same as modern "sweepstake." Clearly, the meaning is close to the modern term. BOOKMARK, for me.<br />
<br />
''draw'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====16-147=====<br />
''Winner and loser?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====16-148=====<br />
''Laertes: None but his enemies.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====16-149=====<br />
''Claudius: Will you know them, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150=====<br />
''Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes sheaths his sword)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-151=====<br />
[[File:Pelican.jpg|right|image of a pelican]]<br />
''And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,''<br />
<br />
''pelican'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#151|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-152=====<br />
''Repast them with my blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====16-153=====<br />
''Claudius: Why, now you speak''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====16-154=====<br />
''Like a good child, and a true gentleman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====16-155=====<br />
''That I am guiltless of your father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====16-156=====<br />
''And am most sensible in grief for it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====16-157=====<br />
''It shall as level to your judgment pierce''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158=====<br />
''As day does to your eye.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158-SD=====<br />
''(noise is heard at the doorway; Ophelia enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-159=====<br />
''Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====16-160=====<br />
''O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====16-161=====<br />
''Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====16-162=====<br />
''By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====16-163=====<br />
''Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====16-164=====<br />
''Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====16-165=====<br />
''O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====16-166=====<br />
''Should be as mortal as an old man's life?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====16-167=====<br />
''Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====16-168=====<br />
''It sends some precious instance of itself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====16-169=====<br />
''After the thing it loves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====16-170=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<br />
Informs us of Danish funeral practices. Polonius was borne to his grave like that, and Ophelia will be, shrouded but with the face visible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====16-171=====<br />
''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====16-172=====<br />
''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====16-173=====<br />
''(speaks): Fare you well, my dove!''<br />
<br />
Ophelia acts releasing a dove in the direction of Hamlet. The sight of a dove in flight is a good omen. Ophelia is intending to show Hamlet that the death of Polonius is a good omen for them, she believes.<br />
<br />
By the way, the use of an actual dove in stage performance would be authentic, where that is possible. The Globe was an outdoor theater.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====16-174=====<br />
''Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====16-175=====<br />
''It could not move thus.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====16-176=====<br />
''Ophelia: You must sing a down, a down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====16-177=====<br />
''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the wheel becomes it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====16-178=====<br />
''It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====16-179=====<br />
''Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====16-180=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,''<br />
[[File:Rosemary.jpg|right|rosemary blooms]]<br />
''rosemary'' - ''Rosmarinus officinalis'' is a traditional funeral flower. We know of a recent funeral, that of Polonius.<br />
<br />
The available colors of ''rosemary'' include purple and white. Ophelia's "crownet weeds" that will be mentioned in Scene 18 have the colors of purple, and white.<br />
<br />
Ophelia gives the rosemary to Laertes, who was not present for his father's funeral. Correctly performed, Ophelia gives all the flowers to Laertes.<br />
<br />
The word ''rosemary'' is from Latin 'rosmarinus' ("dew of the sea.") So, ''rosemary'' implicitly presents the "dew" idea again, that Hamlet brought to some prominence in Scene 2. ([[Scene 2#132]]) The English spelling of ''rosemary'' was influenced by "rose" and the name "Mary."<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" ''rosemary'' says "remembrance. So, ''rosemary'' is indeed the traditional flower of remembrance, as Ophelia says.<br />
<br />
This line is partly to Laertes, and partly aside, aside in the ordinary sense, that is; it is not an "aside" in theatrical jargon. The others hear it. Ophelia turns away from Laertes when she says, "(pray you love, remember.)" She is addressing that to Hamlet. Traditionally, ''rosemary'' is also associated with weddings. Ophelia is praying that Hamlet will remember he asked her to marry him. The word ''love'' is on the mark. From its use as a wedding flower, rosemary is considered a love charm.<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal,'' page 1293, says that rosemary is good for "all infirmities of the head and brain" (at least where the infirmity is from a "cold and moist cause,") and that it "quickens the senses and memory." Also, rosemary will "strengthen the sinewy parts." The head and brain, the senses, and the memory are all significant, repeated elements in the play dialogue, and both Hamlet ([[Scene 5#098]]) and Claudius ([[Scene 10#074]]) speak of the sinews. It becomes easy to see why Shakespeare included ''rosemary'' as one of the flowers in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====16-181=====<br />
''remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''<br />
[[File:Pansy.jpg|right|Viola tricolor, "pansy"]]<br />
''(pray you love, remember)'' - spoken in the direction where Ophelia supposes Hamlet to be. She turns aside from Laertes for this, but it is not an aside in the theatrical sense. The others hear it, although they do not know what to make of it.<br />
<br />
''pansies'' - like the rosemary, is also a traditional funeral flower. The name is from Old French 'pensée' ("thought.") This is not the modern cultivated pansy, it is the wild pansy, ''Viola tricolor.'' It is a flower in the violet family, ''Viola.''<br />
<br />
(The play dialogue associates the violet with Ophelia, in lines spoken by Laertes, and by Ophelia, herself. ([[Scene 3#008]],) (line 186 below,) and ([[Scene 19#208]].) Where Shakespeare wrote "violet" he probably meant the sweet violet, ''Viola odorata,'' with its heart-shaped leaves.)<br />
<br />
As with the rosemary, the color is once again purple and white (or close enough to that.) The ''Viola tricolo'' may have yellow on the lower petal, but that would not be out of place, since the daisy, that Ophelia will soon mention, has a yellow center.<br />
<br />
The ''rosemary'' and ''pansies'' are flowers from Polonius's funeral which Ophelia saved for Laertes since he wasn't there. It was kind and thoughtful of her to save them for him. However, Laertes has no idea where the flowers came from, or why she's giving them to him. Laertes doesn't know about flowers, and, well, he is not very smart. It doesn't occur to him where these flowers must have come from.<br />
<br />
In a painfully tragic irony, by Ophelia giving Laertes these flowers from Polonius's funeral, she is, at the same time, providing Laertes with flowers for her funeral. None of them knows that.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''pansies'' do indeed express "thoughts," as Ophelia says. In Middle English, and on into Shakespeare's time, "thought" could mean "grief," as I note for line 013 above.<br />
<br />
The pansy is also called "love-in-idleness." Shakespeare used that name in ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' Act 2 scene 1, Oberon speaking:<br />
<br />
...<br />
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:<br />
It fell upon a little western flower,<br />
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,<br />
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.<br />
...<br />
<br />
Notice the mention of white and purple colors.<br />
<br />
The word "idle" goes back to Old English 'idel' ("vain,") so the name love-in-idleness can be read as "love in vain." That can be seen, tragically, to apply to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
In Gerard's ''Herbal'' the wild pansy is listed under the name "Hearts ease." Knowing that Ophelia will die after a fall, one may be intrigued to find Gerard recommends the pansy as a cure for "falling sickness." Gerard meant epilepsy, but still.<br />
<br />
The name heartsease may come both from the pansy being used in love potions, and in its being used for heart ailments. THe "heart" concept is highly significant in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
In action, Ophelia gives all of the rosemary and pansies to Laertes. She is giving him all the remembrance and thoughts of their father.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====16-182=====<br />
''Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.''<br />
<br />
''document'' - lesson. Latin 'documentum' "lesson," from 'docere' "to teach." It's unclear what Laertes supposes he is learning from it, since he didn't even understand the funeral flowers.<br />
<br />
''fitted'' - in a fit, "fit" as in an attack or paroxysm. Joined in a fit, tangled in a fit, of madness.<br />
<br />
Or, ''fitted'' to ''madness,'' that is, "thoughts and remembrance fitted to madness," or "adapted to fit madness." The multiplicity of meaning is intentional in the author's phrasing, we can be sure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====16-183=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for''<br />
<br />
[[File:Fennel.jpg|left|fennel blooms]]<br />
All of these flowers are also given to Laertes, when the play is correctly done. This is an encounter between Laertes and Ophelia following the death of their father. It's a family matter, even if Laertes can't grasp it. Gertrude and Claudius are "audience to this act," to quote from the last Scene. They are watching, and wondering what it all means.<br />
<br />
''fennel'' - ''Foeniculum vulgare.'' It has tiny yellow flowers. Hardly worth calling a flower at all, it is a culinary herb, and a medicinal herb.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's meaning with the ''fennel'' is "open your eyes," "see clearly." Fennel is used in herbal medicine as an eye remedy, or to preserve eyesight. (Gerard, ''Herbal,'' page 1032.)<br />
<br />
Ophelia is telling Laertes to open his eyes, and see that these flowers have meaning. It is reasonable to take it that she is also trying to tell him to open his eyes to things in general. The ''fennel'' provides an implicit instance of the Vision Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
[[File:Columbine2.jpg|left|columbine flower]]<br />
[[File:Columbine1.jpg|right|columbine blooms]]<br />
''columbines'' - from Latin 'columbīnus' ("dovelike.") As the image to the right shows, the flower can be likened to a group of five doves facing each other.<br />
<br />
The scientific classification is ''Aquilegia vulgaris.'' The genus name, ''Aquilegia,'' comes from 'aquila', the Latin word for eagle, perhaps because the flower petals of some varieties can be seen to resemble an eagle's claw, or perhaps because some may take the "doves" of the flower for eagles, instead.<br />
<br />
The color is purple and white.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, the columbine expresses "folly," or, "you're a fool." Ophelia is calling Laertes a fool, who is engaged in folly. After Laertes said, above, that he would "dare damnation" to get revenge, in other words, throw away his soul, one cannot help but think Ophelia is right. Ophelia was not present to hear Laertes say that, but she knows her brother.<br />
<br />
We recall the Player, in Scene 7, speaking of breaking all the follies from the Wheel of Fortune. ([[Scene 7#474]]) A tragic, unfortunate death would be such a folly. In Scene 18, we will hear Laertes call Ophelia's death "this folly." None of them knows it, but the "folly" that the columbine expresses is ominous for Ophelia, herself, when the Wheel of Fortune will take a bad turn for her.<br />
<br />
[[File:Rue.jpg|right|common rue]]<br />
''rue'' - ''Ruta graveolens,'' known as common rue, or herb-of-grace. The blooms are yellow. Like fennel, it is not much for being a flower, but it is a traditional medicinal herb, and has found sparing use as a culinary herb. It has a strong smell. Gerard's chapter on rue, "Of Rue, or herbe Grace. Chap. 511" begins on ''Herball'' page 1070.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''rue'' expresses "regret," however, Ophelia will go on to speak of a "difference."<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal'' credits it with many virtues, including its use in tonics for making vision sharp and clear, for remedying "dim eyes," to cure earache, to cure headache, as an antidote to poison, and as a "counterpoison" against scorpion and insect stings, and serpent bites. The eyes, the ears, the head, and poison are all significant concepts in the play.<br />
<br />
As already mentioned, all of the flowers are given to Laertes, when the play is correctly performed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====16-184=====<br />
''you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====16-185=====<br />
''you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would''<br />
<br />
''rue with a difference'' - no regret. The ''difference'' Ophelia means is the negative. Ophelia is symbolically telling Laertes to feel no regret over the death of Polonius, since she does not.<br />
<br />
In older ''Hamlet'' commentary you may see ''difference'' interpreted according to heraldic definition, but that does not work. Laertes is now the senior male of the family, so he does not use a heraldic difference, and Ophelia knows Laertes's status after their father's death (as did Shakespeare, of course.)<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy2.jpg|right|there's a daisy]]<br />
''daisy'' - Ophelia shows the ''daisy'' to everyone, but keeps it. By the way, it isn't hard to guess where it came from, what it signifies, and why she keeps it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====16-186=====<br />
''give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;''<br />
<br />
''violets'' - <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK knowing enough of the play, once can appreciate that the violet can deaden the sense of smell<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====16-187=====<br />
''they say he made a good end.''<br />
<br />
Ophelia approves that people should say the end of her father was good. She makes it sound like a more socially acceptable sentiment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====16-188=====<br />
''(sings): For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''<br />
<br />
Adapted by Shakespeare from ''Greensleeves.'' Observe the last line below.<br />
<br />
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,<br />
To cast me off discourteously.<br />
For I have loved you well and long,<br />
Delighting in your company.<br />
<br />
Greensleeves was all my joy<br />
...<br />
<br />
There was apparently also in Shakespeare's time a song called "Bonny Robin," or perhaps "Bonny Sweet Robin," of which the lyrics have not survived. ''Greensleeves'' is written to a woman. Ophelia "masculinizes" the lyric by substituting "bonny sweet Robin" for "Greensleeves," and Ophelia also makes it present tense.<br />
<br />
Sendal is mentioned in the old lyrics of ''Greensleeves,'' from the Tudor era, by the way.<br />
<br />
With this line, we are privileged to learn that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet nickname for Hamlet. Among the characters, only she and Hamlet know that.<br />
<br />
(The question might arise, what is Hamlet's pet name for Ophelia? Has Shakespeare given us the privilege of knowing that? Well... there's a daisy.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====16-189=====<br />
''Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself''<br />
<br />
''Thought'' - Grief.<br />
<br />
''affliction'' - torment.<br />
<br />
''Passion'' - Agony.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====16-190=====<br />
''She turns to favor and to prettiness.''<br />
<br />
''favor'' - Laertes means Ophelia acts as if the hell of madness were a favor.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK more here<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====16-191=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====16-192=====<br />
''And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====16-193=====<br />
''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====16-194=====<br />
''He never will come again.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====16-195=====<br />
''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<br />
But Polonius's beard was neatly trimmed, we suppose, after what Hamlet said to Polonius (that Polonius misunderstood) in Scene 7. ([[Scene 7#478]])<br />
<br />
This is, of course, a costuming note for the Polonius character. It is mandatory that his beard be white. Nothing else will do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====16-196=====<br />
''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<br />
''Flaxen'' - pale yellow.<br />
<br />
''poll'' - head, that is, the skin of his head. Polonius was borne bare-faced on the bier, as Ophelia just told us, which means that Ophelia could see the skin of his face. The yellowing of his skin was part of what finally convinced her that Polonius was really dead, and it wasn't only a mean trick, to fool her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====16-197=====<br />
''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====16-198=====<br />
''(speaks): God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199=====<br />
''God buy you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits; Gertrude exits to follow her)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude will reclaim her clothing and jewelry.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-200=====<br />
''Laertes: Do you this, O God?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====16-201=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====16-202=====<br />
''Or you deny me right; go but apart,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====16-203=====<br />
''Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====16-204=====<br />
''And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====16-205=====<br />
''If by direct, or by collateral hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====16-206=====<br />
''They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====16-207=====<br />
''Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====16-208=====<br />
''To you in satisfaction; but if not,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====16-209=====<br />
''Be you content to lend your patience to us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====16-210=====<br />
''And we shall jointly labor with your soul''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====16-211=====<br />
''To give it due content.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====16-212=====<br />
''Laertes: Let this be so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====16-213=====<br />
''His means of death, his obscure burial,''<br />
<br />
''obscure burial'' - which Claudius ordered in hopes the death of Polonius would attract little attention, and not cause him trouble.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#213|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-214=====<br />
''No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====16-215=====<br />
''No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====16-216=====<br />
''Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====16-217=====<br />
''That I must call it in question.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====16-218=====<br />
''Claudius: So you shall,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====16-219=====<br />
''And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.''<br />
<br />
''great axe'' - executioner's axe.<br />
<br />
Claudius believes he has already arranged that, for Hamlet in England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220=====<br />
''I pray you go with me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_16
Scene 16
2018-02-04T17:21:55Z
<p>Administrator: /* 16-058 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Throne Room, Horatio and a Gentleman persuade Gertrude to speak with Ophelia. At first, Gertrude doesn't want to see Ophelia because, since her son has killed Ophelia's father, Gertrude anticipates an unpleasant confrontation.<br />
<br />
Ophelia enters slowly, doing a leisurely, graceful dance, as Gertrude speaks her "guilt" speech aside. Ophelia then speaks oddly to Gertrude, and sings.<br />
<br />
Claudius enters, because he heard the singing. Ophelia sings more. Claudius speaks of Ophelia and grief, as he draws the wrong conclusion. Ophelia exits.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that Laertes has returned, and Laertes is hearing condemnations of Claudius in connection with the death of Polonius. Loud noises are heard, and a messenger enters, to inform Claudius that Laertes is leading a riotous rabble to storm the Castle.<br />
<br />
Laertes enters, sword in hand, and irate. He demands Claudius explain things.<br />
<br />
While Claudius is talking with Laertes, Ophelia reenters. Ophelia sings to Laertes, and hands him flowers. He is totally at a loss, except he's sure she's mad. Ophelia departs, with a final word of blessing for everyone. Gertrude and her ladies follow Ophelia, to keep watch on her.<br />
<br />
Claudius asks to meet with Laertes and his "wisest friends" to explain his innocence in the death of Polonius. Laertes says he's willing to listen, and they exit.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 16 Characters are: [[Gertrude]], [[Gentleman]], [[Horatio]], [[Ophelia]], [[Claudius]], [[Messenger]], [[Laertes]], [[Ruffians]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Claudius entry [[#038-SD]], || Ophelia first exit [[#071-SD]], || Messenger entry [[#092-SD2]]<br />
|-<br />
| Laertes entry [[#108-SD]], || Ophelia reentry [[#158-SD]], || Ophelia last exit [[#199-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 16</b> [ ~ Baker's Daughter ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 5)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Throne Room;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude enters;<br />
Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-001]]<span id="001"></span> Gertrude: I will not speak with her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will not speak with her.''</span><br />
[[#16-002]]<span id="002"></span> Gentleman: She is importunate,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is insistent for attention,''</span><br />
[[#16-003]]<span id="003"></span> Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Distracted in what she does. Her state of mind will necessarily be pitied.''</span><br />
[[#16-004]]<span id="004"></span> Gertrude: What would she have?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What does she want?''</span><br />
[[#16-005]]<span id="005"></span> Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She says a lot about her father, and says she hears''</span><br />
[[#16-006]]<span id="006"></span> There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's tricks in the world, and equivocates, and pounds her chest,''</span><br />
[[#16-007]]<span id="007"></span> Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Reacts scornfully, in a bad natured way, over trifles, and says things in suspicion,''</span><br />
[[#16-008]]<span id="008"></span> That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That sound only half sensible. Her speech is naughty,''</span><br />
[[#16-009]]<span id="009"></span> Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Still, the illogical employment of her speech motivates''</span><br />
[[#16-010]]<span id="010"></span> The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Those who hear it to try to gather meaning from it. They gape at what she says,''</span><br />
[[#16-011]]<span id="011"></span> And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And misconstrue her words in fitting them to their own preconceptions,''</span><br />
[[#16-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield to them,''</span><br />
[[#16-013]]<span id="013"></span> Indeed would make one think there would be thought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed would make one think there should be grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-014]]<span id="014"></span> Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Although not for sure, still very expressive of misfortune.''</span><br />
[[#16-015]]<span id="015"></span> Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be good to speak with her, for she might breed''</span><br />
[[#16-016]]<span id="016"></span> Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. [[#16-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Gertrude nods to Horatio)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hazardous surmises in minds that jump to conclusions.''</span><br />
[[#16-017]]<span id="017"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to the doorman):</span> Let her come in. [[#16-017-SD1]]<span id="017-SD1"></span> (said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let her come in.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-017-SD2]]<span id="017-SD2"></span> (Horatio and the Gentleman exit;<br />
Ophelia enters, dancing)<br />
<br />
[[#16-018]]<span id="018"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To my sick soul, (which is the true nature of sin,)''</span><br />
[[#16-019]]<span id="019"></span> Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Each idea that crosses my mind seems to lead to disaster.''</span><br />
[[#16-020]]<span id="020"></span> So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Guilt is so full of natural misery,''</span><br />
[[#16-021]]<span id="021"></span> It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It reveals itself, from its fear of being revealed.''</span><br />
[[#16-022]]<span id="022"></span> Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''</span><br />
[[#16-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Greetings, Ophelia?''</span><br />
[[#16-024]]<span id="024"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''How should I your true love know''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can I, your true love, know you''</span><br />
[[#16-025]]<span id="025"></span> ''From another one?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From someone else?''</span><br />
[[#16-026]]<span id="026"></span> ''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By his cock-le top, and shaft''</span><br />
[[#16-027]]<span id="027"></span> ''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And his silken slippers.''</span><br />
[[#16-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, sweet Lady, what brings out that song?''</span><br />
[[#16-029]]<span id="029"></span> Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't say? No, please pay attention:''</span><br />
[[#16-030]]<span id="030"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone, Lady''</span><br />
[[#16-031]]<span id="031"></span> ''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone''</span><br />
[[#16-032]]<span id="032"></span> ''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his head there is green grass turf''</span><br />
[[#16-033]]<span id="033"></span> ''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his heels there is a stone''</span><br />
[[#16-034]]<span id="034"></span> <span style="color:gray">(exclaims):</span> Oh ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh ho!''</span><br />
[[#16-035]]<span id="035"></span> Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but Ophelia . . .''</span><br />
[[#16-036]]<span id="036"></span> Ophelia: Pray you, mark!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please pay attention!''</span><br />
[[#16-037]]<span id="037"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''White his shroud as the mountain snow.'' [[#16-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (Claudius enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His shroud was as white as mountain snow''</span><br />
[[#16-038]]<span id="038"></span> Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord. [[#16-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, look there, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#16-039]]<span id="039"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With sweet flowers strewn all around,''</span><br />
[[#16-040]]<span id="040"></span> ''Which bewept to the grave did not go'' [[#16-040-SD]]<span id="040-SD"></span> (the word "not" is spoken aside)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, falling like tears on the grave did -not- go''</span><br />
[[#16-041]]<span id="041"></span> ''With true love showers.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Accompanied by any shower of real love.''</span><br />
[[#16-042]]<span id="042"></span> Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are you feeling, pretty Lady?''</span><br />
[[#16-043]]<span id="043"></span> Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well may goodness refrain you, musically.''</span><br />
[[#16-044]]<span id="044"></span> They say the owl was a baker's daughter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say the owl was a baker's daughter.''</span><br />
[[#16-045]]<span id="045"></span> Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lord, I know what I am now, but don't know what I may become.''</span><br />
[[#16-046]]<span id="046"></span> God be at your table.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May God be at work on your gravestone, now.''</span><br />
[[#16-047]]<span id="047"></span> Claudius: Conceit upon her father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A caprice due to her father's death.''</span><br />
[[#16-048]]<span id="048"></span> Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, let's have no words about him - but if anyone asks you''</span><br />
[[#16-049]]<span id="049"></span> what it means, say you this:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what all this means, you can tell them this:''</span><br />
[[#16-050]]<span id="050"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day, and''</span><br />
[[#16-051]]<span id="051"></span> ''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Quite in the morning, before it's too late,''</span><br />
[[#16-052]]<span id="052"></span> ''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's me, a maiden tapping at your window''</span><br />
[[#16-053]]<span id="053"></span> ''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be your valentine''</span><br />
[[#16-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So he rose up, put on some clothes, and opened up his bedroom door,''</span><br />
[[#16-055]]<span id="055"></span> ''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let in the maiden, who never again went out as a virgin.''</span><br />
[[#16-056]]<span id="056"></span> Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pretty, Ophelia.''</span><br />
[[#16-057]]<span id="057"></span> Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end to it.''</span><br />
[[#16-058]]<span id="058"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Jesus and by Saint Charity,''</span><br />
[[#16-059]]<span id="059"></span> ''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''oh dear, and fie, for shame,''</span><br />
[[#16-060]]<span id="060"></span> ''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Young men will do it if they come to it''</span><br />
[[#16-061]]<span id="061"></span> ''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''by cock they are to blame.''</span><br />
[[#16-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Said she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''</span><br />
[[#16-063]]<span id="063"></span> (He answers): ''So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''(He answers): So would I have done, by yonder sun,''</span><br />
[[#16-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had not come to my bed.''</span><br />
[[#16-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: How long hath she been thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long has she been like this?''</span><br />
[[#16-066]]<span id="066"></span> Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hope all will be well. I must be patient, but I cannot choose''</span><br />
[[#16-067]]<span id="067"></span> but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but weep to think they would lay him in the cold ground. My brother''</span><br />
[[#16-068]]<span id="068"></span> shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shall learn of it - and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come''</span><br />
[[#16-069]]<span id="069"></span> my coach; good night, Ladies, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''my coach, goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''</span><br />
[[#16-070]]<span id="070"></span> Sweet Lady, good night, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-070-SD]]<span id="070-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits)<br />
<br />
[[#16-071]]<span id="071"></span> Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [[#16-071-SD]]<span id="071-SD"></span> (the ladies-in-waiting curtsy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow her closely, and keep a close watch on her, please.''</span> and exit to follow Ophelia)<br />
[[#16-072]]<span id="072"></span> Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the poison of deep grief, it all springs from her father's''</span><br />
[[#16-073]]<span id="073"></span> death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''death, and now behold the result. Oh, Gertrude, Gertrude,''</span><br />
[[#16-074]]<span id="074"></span> When sorrows come, they come not single spies,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When sorrows come, they don't come one at a time,''</span><br />
[[#16-075]]<span id="075"></span> But in battalions. First her father slain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But in battalions. First, her father slain,''</span><br />
[[#16-076]]<span id="076"></span> Next, your son gone, and he most violent author<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Next, your son gone - and he himself the very violent cause''</span><br />
[[#16-077]]<span id="077"></span> Of his own just remove, the people muddied,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of his own justified departure - the people stirred up,''</span><br />
[[#16-078]]<span id="078"></span> Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dense and unhealthy in their minds, and rumor mongering''</span><br />
[[#16-079]]<span id="079"></span> For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over good Polonius's death - and I have acted only recently,''</span><br />
[[#16-080]]<span id="080"></span> In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In seclusion, to have him buried - poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#16-081]]<span id="081"></span> Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Beside herself, and diverted from her good judgment -''</span><br />
[[#16-082]]<span id="082"></span> Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Without which we humans are mindless as images in pictures, or mere beasts -''</span><br />
[[#16-083]]<span id="083"></span> Last, and as much containing as all these:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Last - and as difficult to deal with as all of those, combined -''</span><br />
[[#16-084]]<span id="084"></span> Her brother is in secret come from France,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her brother has returned, in secret, from France, and''</span><br />
[[#16-085]]<span id="085"></span> Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Takes in all these strange events, keeps out of sight,''</span><br />
[[#16-086]]<span id="086"></span> And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has no lack of scandalmongers to poison his mind''</span><br />
[[#16-087]]<span id="087"></span> With pestilent speeches of his father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With pernicious gossip about his father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-088]]<span id="088"></span> Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which they feel the need to blame sombody, and lacking the facts,''</span><br />
[[#16-089]]<span id="089"></span> Will nothing stick our person to arraign<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll stop at nothing to accuse me''</span><br />
[[#16-090]]<span id="090"></span> In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the word goes from ear to ear. Oh, my dear Gertrude, this,''</span><br />
[[#16-091]]<span id="091"></span> Like to a murdering piece, in many places<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a huge shotgun, hits me in many vital spots, and''</span><br />
[[#16-092]]<span id="092"></span> Gives me superfluous death. [[#16-092-SD1]]<span id="092-SD1"></span> (an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just kills me, over and over.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-092-SD2]]<span id="092-SD2"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-093]]<span id="093"></span> Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, what's that noise?''</span><br />
[[#16-094]]<span id="094"></span> Claudius: Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Attention, everyone! Where are my Swiss guards? Have them guard the door!''</span><br />
[[#16-095]]<span id="095"></span> What is the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#16-096]]<span id="096"></span> Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save yourself, my Lord!''</span><br />
[[#16-097]]<span id="097"></span> The ocean, over-peering of his list<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ocean, overflowing at its margins,''</span><br />
[[#16-098]]<span id="098"></span> Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not engulf the flats with more merciless speed''</span><br />
[[#16-099]]<span id="099"></span> Than young Laertes, in a riotous head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than young Laertes, at the head of the riot,''</span><br />
[[#16-100]]<span id="100"></span> O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Overwhelms your soldiers and guards. The rabble call him "Lord,"''</span><br />
[[#16-101]]<span id="101"></span> And, as the world were now but to begin,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, as if the human world were only now beginning,''</span><br />
[[#16-102]]<span id="102"></span> Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Precedent forgotten, ceremony unknown,''</span><br />
[[#16-103]]<span id="103"></span> The ratifiers and props of every word,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The only validators and supports for their every word is''</span><br />
[[#16-104]]<span id="104"></span> The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The outcry: "We choose!" "Laertes shall be King!''</span><br />
[[#16-105]]<span id="105"></span> Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They toss their caps in the air, raise their hands, and cheer it to the clouds:''</span><br />
[[#16-106]]<span id="106"></span> Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''</span><br />
[[#16-107]]<span id="107"></span> Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! [[#16-107-SD]]<span id="107-SD"></span> (loud noise just outside the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How cheerfully they cry, as they follow this false trail!''</span> closed door to the Lobby)<br />
[[#16-108]]<span id="108"></span> Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the wrong way, you traitorous Danish dogs!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-108-SD]]<span id="108-SD"></span> (Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)<br />
<br />
[[#16-109]]<span id="109"></span> Claudius: The doors are broke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The doors are broken in.''</span><br />
[[#16-110]]<span id="110"></span> Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is this so-called "King?" Sirs, wait outside.''</span><br />
[[#16-111]]<span id="111"></span> Ruffians: No, lets come in!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, let us come in!''</span><br />
[[#16-112]]<span id="112"></span> Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I beg you, allow me to talk to him.''</span><br />
[[#16-113]]<span id="113"></span> Ruffians: We will, we will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alright, we will, we will.''</span><br />
[[#16-114]]<span id="114"></span> Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thank you. Control the doorway. Oh, you vile King,''</span><br />
[[#16-115]]<span id="115"></span> Give me my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Give me my father!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-115-SD]]<span id="115-SD"></span> (Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)<br />
<br />
[[#16-116]]<span id="116"></span> Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be calm, good Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#16-117]]<span id="117"></span> Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If any drop of my blood is calm it reveals I'm a bastard,''</span><br />
[[#16-118]]<span id="118"></span> Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shouts that my father was a cuckold, puts the brand of the harlot''</span><br />
[[#16-119]]<span id="119"></span> Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right here, between the chaste, undefiled brows''</span><br />
[[#16-120]]<span id="120"></span> Of my true mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of my virtuous mother.''</span><br />
[[#16-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the reason, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-122]]<span id="122"></span> That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That the rebellion you lead looks so ambitious?''</span><br />
[[#16-123]]<span id="123"></span> Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him go, Gertrude, do not worry about my personal safety.''</span><br />
[[#16-124]]<span id="124"></span> There's such divinity doth hedge a King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's such divinity to shield a King,''</span><br />
[[#16-125]]<span id="125"></span> That treason can but peep to what it would,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That treason can only peek at what it wants, and''</span><br />
[[#16-126]]<span id="126"></span> Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Acts little of what it desires. Tell me, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-127]]<span id="127"></span> Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you are so incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#16-128]]<span id="128"></span> Speak, man.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak, man.''</span><br />
[[#16-129]]<span id="129"></span> Laertes: Where is my father?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is my father?''</span><br />
[[#16-130]]<span id="130"></span> Claudius: Dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dead.''</span><br />
[[#16-131]]<span id="131"></span> Gertrude: But not by him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But not killed by him!''</span><br />
[[#16-132]]<span id="132"></span> Claudius: Let him demand his fill.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him question until he's satisfied.''</span><br />
[[#16-133]]<span id="133"></span> Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What led to his death? I won't be taken lightly!''</span><br />
[[#16-134]]<span id="134"></span> To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To hell with loyalty to the crown, and religious dedication - to the most evil devil!''</span><br />
[[#16-135]]<span id="135"></span> Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Conscience, and nobility, into the deepest pit!''</span><br />
[[#16-136]]<span id="136"></span> I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I dare damnation! On this point I make my stand,''</span><br />
[[#16-137]]<span id="137"></span> That both the worlds I give to negligence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, for my fate in both this world and the next, I couldn't care less.''</span><br />
[[#16-138]]<span id="138"></span> Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let whatever happens, happen, but I'll have revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-139]]<span id="139"></span> Most throughly for my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In every way, for my father.''</span><br />
[[#16-140]]<span id="140"></span> Claudius: Who shall stay you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who will stop you?''</span><br />
[[#16-141]]<span id="141"></span> Laertes: My will, not all the world's.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only my own will, no matter what the rest of the world wants!''</span><br />
[[#16-142]]<span id="142"></span> And for my means, I'll husband them so well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As for my resources, I'll manage them so well,''</span><br />
[[#16-143]]<span id="143"></span> They shall go far with little.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll take me far, though they be slight.''</span><br />
[[#16-144]]<span id="144"></span> Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Laertes, if you desire to know the reliable truth''</span><br />
[[#16-145]]<span id="145"></span> Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''About your dear father, is it "officially written" in your duty for revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-146]]<span id="146"></span> That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, (as in winning a sweepstakes,) you will execute both friend and foe,''</span><br />
[[#16-147]]<span id="147"></span> Winner and loser?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only yourself the winner, anyone else, the loser?''</span><br />
[[#16-148]]<span id="148"></span> Laertes: None but his enemies.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll kill no one except his enemies.''</span><br />
[[#16-149]]<span id="149"></span> Claudius: Will you know them, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you know who his enemies are, then?''</span><br />
[[#16-150]]<span id="150"></span> Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms, [[#16-150-SD]]<span id="150-SD"></span> (Laertes sheaths his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To his good friends, I'll spread my arms wide, like this,''</span><br />
[[#16-151]]<span id="151"></span> And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like the proverbially caring, life-sustaining pelican,''</span><br />
[[#16-152]]<span id="152"></span> Repast them with my blood.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nourish them with my own blood.''</span><br />
[[#16-153]]<span id="153"></span> Claudius: Why, now you speak<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, now you speak''</span><br />
[[#16-154]]<span id="154"></span> Like a good child, and a true gentleman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a good child, and a real gentleman.''</span><br />
[[#16-155]]<span id="155"></span> That I am guiltless of your father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am free of guilt in your father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-156]]<span id="156"></span> And am most sensible in grief for it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And am fully rational in my grief over it,''</span><br />
[[#16-157]]<span id="157"></span> It shall as level to your judgment pierce<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It will get through to your judgment as truly,''</span><br />
[[#16-158]]<span id="158"></span> As day does to your eye.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As day does, to your eye.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-158-SD]]<span id="158-SD"></span> (noise is heard at the doorway;<br />
Ophelia enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-159]]<span id="159"></span> Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's happening? Why the noise? Let her come in.''</span><br />
[[#16-160]]<span id="160"></span> O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times as irritating as pure salt,''</span><br />
[[#16-161]]<span id="161"></span> Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Burn out the vision and goodness of my eyes!''</span><br />
[[#16-162]]<span id="162"></span> By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Heaven, your madness will be repaid with weight''</span><br />
[[#16-163]]<span id="163"></span> Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the scales of justice swings its beam. Oh, Rose of May!''</span><br />
[[#16-164]]<span id="164"></span> Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dear maiden, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''</span><br />
[[#16-165]]<span id="165"></span> O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, heavens, is it possible a young maiden's intelligence''</span><br />
[[#16-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should be as mortal as an old man's life?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could be as mortal as an old man's life?''</span><br />
[[#16-167]]<span id="167"></span> Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Human nature, in love, is delicate, and when it's delicate,''</span><br />
[[#16-168]]<span id="168"></span> It sends some precious instance of itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It sends a valuable part of its human nature,''</span><br />
[[#16-169]]<span id="169"></span> After the thing it loves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''After the object of its love.''</span><br />
[[#16-170]]<span id="170"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They carried him bare-faced on the bier,''</span><br />
[[#16-171]]<span id="171"></span> ''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And into his grave rained many a tear.''</span><br />
[[#16-172]]<span id="172"></span> ''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''</span><br />
[[#16-173]]<span id="173"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> Fare you well, my dove!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fare you well, my dove!''</span><br />
[[#16-174]]<span id="174"></span> Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had your wits about you, and prevailed on me to seek revenge,''</span><br />
[[#16-175]]<span id="175"></span> It could not move thus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It could not move me as much as this does.''</span><br />
[[#16-176]]<span id="176"></span> Ophelia: You must sing ''a down, a down,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must sing a down, a down,''</span><br />
[[#16-177]]<span id="177"></span> And you call him ''a down a.'' Oh, how the wheel becomes it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the refrain befits it!''</span><br />
[[#16-178]]<span id="178"></span> It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is lying Hamlet who stole Jesus's daughter from the nunnery.''</span><br />
[[#16-179]]<span id="179"></span> Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This nothingness tells me more than an explanation would.''</span><br />
[[#16-180]]<span id="180"></span> Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, (pray you love,''</span><br />
[[#16-181]]<span id="181"></span> remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''remember,) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''</span><br />
[[#16-182]]<span id="182"></span> Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lesson in madness, thoughts and remembrance tangled in a fit.''</span><br />
[[#16-183]]<span id="183"></span> Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for''</span><br />
[[#16-184]]<span id="184"></span> you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, and here's some for me. We may call it "herb of grace" on Sundays.''</span><br />
[[#16-185]]<span id="185"></span> you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You may wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would''</span><br />
[[#16-186]]<span id="186"></span> give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''give you some violets but they all died when my father did.''</span><br />
[[#16-187]]<span id="187"></span> they say he made a good end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say he did well at the end.''</span><br />
[[#16-188]]<span id="188"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''</span><br />
[[#16-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Grief and torment! Agony! She makes Hell itself''</span><br />
[[#16-190]]<span id="190"></span> She turns to favor and to prettiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look like a favor, and something pretty.''</span><br />
[[#16-191]]<span id="191"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-192]]<span id="192"></span> ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-193]]<span id="193"></span> ''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, no, he is dead. Go to thy death bed!''</span><br />
[[#16-194]]<span id="194"></span> ''He never will come again.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He never will come again.''</span><br />
[[#16-195]]<span id="195"></span> ''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His beard was as white as snow,''</span><br />
[[#16-196]]<span id="196"></span> ''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The skin of his head was yellowish,''</span><br />
[[#16-197]]<span id="197"></span> ''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''</span><br />
[[#16-198]]<span id="198"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''God have mercy on his soul, and on all Christians' souls.''</span><br />
[[#16-199]]<span id="199"></span> God buy you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye to you.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-199-SD]]<span id="199-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits;<br />
Gertrude exits to follow her)<br />
<br />
[[#16-200]]<span id="200"></span> Laertes: Do you this, O God?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you done this, oh God?''</span><br />
[[#16-201]]<span id="201"></span> Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I must share your grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-202]]<span id="202"></span> Or you deny me right; go but apart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or you deny me my right. But go your own way,''</span><br />
[[#16-203]]<span id="203"></span> Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Choose from among your wisest friends whomever you wish,''</span><br />
[[#16-204]]<span id="204"></span> And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they shall hear and judge, between you and me.''</span><br />
[[#16-205]]<span id="205"></span> If by direct, or by collateral hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If in any direct or indirect way''</span><br />
[[#16-206]]<span id="206"></span> They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They find me touched by guilt, I'll give up my kingdom,''</span><br />
[[#16-207]]<span id="207"></span> Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My crown, my life, and all that I call mine,''</span><br />
[[#16-208]]<span id="208"></span> To you in satisfaction; but if not,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To you in satisfaction, of your revenge. But if not,''</span><br />
[[#16-209]]<span id="209"></span> Be you content to lend your patience to us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be content to give me time,''</span><br />
[[#16-210]]<span id="210"></span> And we shall jointly labor with your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I will work together with you''</span><br />
[[#16-211]]<span id="211"></span> To give it due content.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make you content in your soul.''</span><br />
[[#16-212]]<span id="212"></span> Laertes: Let this be so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let it be so.''</span><br />
[[#16-213]]<span id="213"></span> His means of death, his obscure burial,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The way he was killed . . . his hidden burial,''</span><br />
[[#16-214]]<span id="214"></span> No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No trophy sword . . . nor coat of arms over his body,''</span><br />
[[#16-215]]<span id="215"></span> No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No noble privilege . . . nor formal exhibition -''</span><br />
[[#16-216]]<span id="216"></span> Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All of that cries out so much to be understood, as it were, from Heaven to earth,''</span><br />
[[#16-217]]<span id="217"></span> That I must call it in question.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I must call it all into question.''</span><br />
[[#16-218]]<span id="218"></span> Claudius: So you shall,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So you may,''</span><br />
[[#16-219]]<span id="219"></span> And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where the guilt lies, let the executioner's axe fall on him.''</span><br />
[[#16-220]]<span id="220"></span> I pray you go with me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please go with me.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes exit)<br />
<hr> <br />
End of Scene 16<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====16-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Throne Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - <br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====16-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters; Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting are present with the Queen in the Throne Room. Claudius is absent, for whatever reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-001=====<br />
''Gertrude: I will not speak with her.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude supposes that Ophelia wants to complain to her about the death of Polonius, and to demand justice, but there is nothing Gertrude can do about the death of Polonius, or about Claudius sending Hamlet to England. This is not to imply Gertrude would condemn her son, even if she could. We see elsewhere in the play that Gertrude likes Ophelia, so one can understand that Gertrude does not wish to face Ophelia's reproaches.<br />
<br />
Gertrude has no inkling of what Ophelia's speech and behavior will turn out to be, as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====16-002=====<br />
''Gentleman: She is importunate,''<br />
<br />
''importunate'' - assertive. Resolute. Forward.<br />
<br />
For the second, "resolute," recall Horatio's mention in Scene 1 of "landless resolutes," ([[Scene 1#108]],) as Horatio spoke of determined men.<br />
<br />
For the third, "forward," see Shakespeare Sonnet 99, which is partly about Shakespeare's choice of flowers for Ophelia's "crownet weeds" which Gertrude tells us of in Scene 18.<br />
<br />
The forward violet thus did I chide:<br />
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,<br />
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride<br />
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells<br />
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.<br />
The lily I condemned for thy hand, ...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====16-003=====<br />
''Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.''<br />
<br />
''Indeed'' - primarily takes the literal meaning "in deed," referring to what she does, how she acts. Second, can be read as "very," or "truly."<br />
<br />
''distract'' - distracted - emotionally disturbed. The way she acts reveals emotional disturbance.<br />
<br />
''mood'' - state of mind.<br />
<br />
''needs'' - of necessity; necessarily.<br />
<br />
''pitied'' - viewed with sympathy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====16-004=====<br />
''Gertrude: What would she have?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude wonders if there's anything in particular Ophelia wants her to do. If so, perhaps it might be possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====16-005=====<br />
''Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====16-006=====<br />
''There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,''<br />
<br />
''hems'' - equivocates. The meaning of what she says is not clear. Can also be interpreted as in "hem and haw."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====16-007=====<br />
''Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====16-008=====<br />
''That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,''<br />
<br />
''nothing'' - naughty. ''Nothing'' is "naught," so nothing speech is naughty speech, which we shall hear from Ophelia as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====16-009=====<br />
''Yet the unshaped use of it doth move''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====16-010=====<br />
''The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,''<br />
<br />
''collection'' - gathering. The figure of speech is as in the use of "gather." An example modern sentence would be, "As I gather from what he said, he meant..."<br />
<br />
''yawn'' - gape. Stare open-mouthed, as if yawning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====16-011=====<br />
''And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====16-012=====<br />
''Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====16-013=====<br />
''Indeed would make one think there would be thought,''<br />
<br />
''thought'' - grief (a definition now obsolete.) For example, see Chaucer, ''Troilus and Criseyde'':<br />
<br />
But if thou wene I be thus sik for drede, 575<br />
It is not so, and ther-for scorne nought;<br />
Ther is a-nother thing I take of hede<br />
Wel more than ought the Grekes han y-wrought,<br />
Which cause is of my deeth, for sorwe and thought.<br />
...<br />
<br />
It is supposed that Ophelia would be suffering from grief, over her father's death, but what she's saying and doing is not a display of the usual behavior of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#013|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-014=====<br />
''Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====16-015=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016=====<br />
''Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude nods to Horatio)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017=====<br />
''Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD1=====<br />
''(said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD2=====<br />
''(Horatio and the Gentleman exit; Ophelia enters, dancing)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-018=====<br />
''Gertrude (aside): To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====16-019=====<br />
''Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,''<br />
<br />
''toy'' - idea, something the mind plays with, turning it over, looking at it with the mind's eye. Can be understood as a puzzle Gertrude is trying to solve, to get a favorable outcome (but with no luck.)<br />
<br />
''prologue'' - lead-in; introduction. In this usage, ''prologue'' means "that which leads to some consequence."<br />
<br />
''amiss'' - failure, to achieve what she wants, like missing a target. So, ''great amiss'' - great failure; disaster.<br />
<br />
Every idea Gertrude can come up with, when she examines it, and turns it over in her mind, it leads to disaster. She finds no way to envision a positive outcome to all this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====16-020=====<br />
''So full of artless jealousy is guilt,''<br />
<br />
''artless'' - natural.<br />
<br />
''jealousy'' - anxiety; misery. Wretchedness. Intensely unpleasant emotion. Could be extended to "malice." The word ''jealousy'' here is a kind of figure of speech, the use of a more specific word to express a more general concept.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====16-021=====<br />
''It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====16-022=====<br />
''Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''<br />
<br />
Said because after agreeing to grant Ophelia an audience, Gertrude is not on the throne. Gertrude stepped down and wandered away from the throne for her "guilt" speech, aside.<br />
<br />
''beauteous'' - Ophelia is returning the compliment Gertrude earlier bestowed on Ophelia, in Scene 8, "That your good beauties be the happy cause..." ([[Scene 8#043]]) Ophelia was gratified by Gertrude's compliment to her beauty, remembered it, and is returning it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====16-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude has now returned to her throne, in response to Ophelia's question.<br />
<br />
''How now'' - greetings. Quite similar to the modern slang greeting, "what's up?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====16-024=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): How should I your true love know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====16-025=====<br />
''From another one?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====16-026=====<br />
''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====16-027=====<br />
''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<br />
''sendal'' - silk, that is, a silk fabric. Mentioned by Chaucer, among others.<br><br />
The Middle English Dictionary lists it "cendā̆l" as their primary spelling, which is impossible to find with an ordinary lookup, but anyway, here it is.<br><br />
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED7072<br><br />
(checked 06/02/2015)<br />
<br />
For where Shakespeare might have learned ''sendal,'' see for example ''The Canterbury Tales,'' General Prologue, The Physician, line 442:<br />
<br />
But of greet norissyng, and digestible.<br />
His studie was but litel on the Bible.<br />
In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,<br />
Lyned with taffata and with sendal;<br />
<br />
Further, according to some writers, ''sendal'' was the shrouding fabric used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
''shoon'' - an archaic plural of "shoe." Shoes.<br />
<br />
''sendal shoon'' - silk shoes; silk slippers. Dancing shoes. As compared to all the ordinary pilgrims wearing sandals, Ophelia pictures Hamlet on his "pilgrimage" wearing silk slippers.<br />
<br />
Also, with the death of her father Ophelia has put on her dancing shoes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#027|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?''<br />
<br />
''imports'' - to import is to bring, in some way: bring out, bring up, bring forth. The question is, "what brings forth this song?"<br />
<br />
There is simultaneously the question of what import the song has, what its significance is. Shakespeare implied both of the relevant definitions of ''imports.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====16-029=====<br />
''Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====16-030=====<br />
''(sings): He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====16-031=====<br />
''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====16-032=====<br />
''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====16-033=====<br />
''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====16-034=====<br />
''(exclaims): Oh ho!''<br />
<br />
An exclamation of delight.<br />
<br />
Recall what we have seen of Polonius and Ophelia.<br />
<br />
First, in Scene 3, Polonius forbade Ophelia to have any further communication with her fiance, Prince Hamlet. She obeyed, but she did not like that.<br />
<br />
When Hamlet rushed to Ophelia's room, before Scene 6, Ophelia then went to Polonius to try to get him to change his mind, and allow her to talk to Hamlet, to find out why he did that. She never even got the chance to ask Polonius, who decided immediately to take Ophelia and Hamlet's private relationship public. She did not like that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then confiscated (or just plain stole) Ophelia's love letters from Hamlet, since Polonius wanted tangible evidence to show the King, proving that Hamlet had expressed love for Ophelia. When Ophelia tried to fight back, to keep her love letters, and threatened to tell Hamlet, Polonius locked Ophelia in her room, to prevent her resort to Hamlet. She hated that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then persuaded Ophelia to participate in the Nunnery Scene eavesdropping scheme, on the ground that it would get her married to Hamlet, when the King heard Hamlet express love for her. The scheme turned into a disaster, that left her abandoned and heartbroken. It was her father's scheme, and she blamed her father for the result.<br />
<br />
At that point, Ophelia, being a young lady of normal psychology, was wishing her father would get out of her life, and just drop dead. In this Scene, she is ''not'' grieving over his death. She is hysterically happy. Her secret wish has come true.<br />
<br />
The other characters have not seen everything we in the audience have seen, and they do not understand this. They think Ophelia is displaying some weird, mad symptoms of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====16-035=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====16-036=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray you, mark!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037=====<br />
''(sings): White his shroud as the mountain snow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters)''<br />
<br />
Claudius enters because he heard a woman singing in the Throne Room. His first thought is that it's Gertrude, since Gertrude is the woman anyone would associate with the Throne Room. Claudius is curious why Gertrude would be singing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
From the way Claudius looks at her, Gertrude realizes Claudius thought she was the one singing. So she points at Ophelia, and tells Claudius, ''look here.''<br />
<br />
''here'' - not here. "There," that is. When Gertrude says ''look here'' she means "look there," at Ophelia. Claudius is looking ''here,'' at Gertrude, and she says ''here'' to tell him to look "not here."<br />
<br />
The language is perfectly understandable to anybody familiar with English, while the explanation sounds like madness. It is a peculiarity of English that the word ''here'' can mean "there," (and the word "there" can mean ''here,'') depending on what is indicated. Shakespeare had some fun in the play with "here" v "there," (and also "this" v "that.")<br />
<br />
When Gertrude says ''look here,'' and points at Ophelia, we all understand she means "look there." Claudius does so.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Claudius, curious, approaches Ophelia as she sings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-039=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<br />
''Larded'' - "flavored," as a feast for the eye. A figure of speech based on the concept of a ceremony being a kind of show, and a show being a feast for the eye, so to speak. The idea of a show as a feast arose earlier.<br />
<br />
Also, Hamlet spoke of Polonius being at supper "where he's eaten," and Ophelia now speaks of Polonius being ''larded,'' which would make him more tasty for the worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040=====<br />
''Which bewept to the grave did not go''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040-SD=====<br />
''(the word "not" is spoken aside)''<br />
<br />
The other characters don't hear Ophelia sing ''not,'' only the audience hears it. She is telling us something that the other play characters do not know: she did not truly love her father, and she is not really in grief over his death. Powerful social inhibitions prevent her from being open in saying that. She can only express it in a highly indirect way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-041=====<br />
''With true love showers.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====16-042=====<br />
''Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====16-043=====<br />
''Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;''<br />
<br />
''dild' '' - dildo. It is an obsolete music term. Also appears in ''The Winter's Tale.''<br />
<br />
''Winter's Tale'' Act 4 scene 4,<br />
<br />
Servant: He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; ...<br />
... with such delicate <br />
burthens of dildos and fadings, ...<br />
<br />
A ''dildo'' is a nonsense phrase within the burden of a ditty, such as the "hey nonny nonny" mentioned in ''Much Ado about Nothing,'' Act 2 scene 3:<br />
<br />
Balthasar. Sigh no more, ladies, ...<br />
...<br />
And be you blithe and bonny, <br />
Converting all your sounds of woe <br />
Into Hey nonny, nonny.<br />
...<br />
<br />
The term comes from the fact of the word ''dildo'' itself being used, as in Thomas Morley's ''Will You Buy a Fine Dog?'':<br />
<br />
Will you buy a fine dog, with a hole in his head?<br />
With a dildo, dildo, dildo; ...<br />
<br />
The entire song can be found here:<br><br />
http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Will_you_buy_a_fine_dog%3F_(Thomas_Morley)<br />
<br />
''Dildo'' in this sense is the same sort of thing as "hey diddle diddle" in the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. It's some wording that is rhythmic, and rhymes, but has no meaning apart from its use in the verse.<br />
<br />
However, having said that, it is not possible to exclude the better-known, vulgar meaning, since that meaning did also exist in Shakespeare's time. For example, see the lewd verse "Choise of Valentines or the Merie Ballad of Nash his Dildo," T. Nashe, c.1593, which can be found at the Project Gutenberg website:<br><br />
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17779/17779-h/17779-h.htm<br />
<br />
It is safe to say that Ophelia's remark to Claudius is not entirely polite. An interpretation is available for Ophelia to be saying that, in her opinion, Claudius would benefit from the insertion into him of a dildo. That is not, however, her primary meaning. We once again have multiple meanings from the Bard.<br />
<br />
Primarily, she is saying she would like to sing a dildo about Claudius being dead, to go with her song about her father being dead.<br />
<br />
Ophelia says she wants Claudius to die, so she can sing about it.<br />
<br />
Claudius does not understand her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====16-044=====<br />
''They say the owl was a baker's daughter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====16-045=====<br />
''Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====16-046=====<br />
''God be at your table.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====16-047=====<br />
''Claudius: Conceit upon her father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====16-048=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====16-049=====<br />
''what it means, say you this:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====16-050=====<br />
''(sings): Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====16-051=====<br />
''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====16-052=====<br />
''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====16-053=====<br />
''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====16-054=====<br />
''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<br />
''clothes'' - a dressing gown, probably. A robe, as Americans now call it. We are not talking about the gentleman taking time to dress himself up in black tie and tails. He just grabs his robe, to go to the door. Well, more particularly, in the case of Hamlet, he'll grab his cloak, at least to wrap around himself.<br />
<br />
''dupt'' - dupped, in current standard spelling, a spelling which matters not at all since nobody says this any more. The word "dup" is formed merely from "do" + "up" and goes back to Middle English 'don up' which meant "to open," and probably referred to lifting up the simple kind of door latch used in those days. To open a door, one "did up" the latch.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====16-055=====<br />
''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====16-056=====<br />
''Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====16-057=====<br />
''Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====16-058=====<br />
''(sings): By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<br />
''Gis'' - slang for "Jesus."<br />
<br />
''Saint Charity'' - A daughter of Saint Sophia. According to an allegorical legend, Saint Charity was tortured and martyred for her faith at the age of nine during the persecutions of Hadrian. See the following link: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=242<br />
<br />
The concept of the death of a daughter is ominous for Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====16-059=====<br />
''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====16-060=====<br />
''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====16-061=====<br />
''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====16-062=====<br />
''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====16-063=====<br />
''(He answers): So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====16-064=====<br />
''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====16-065=====<br />
''Claudius: How long hath she been thus?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====16-066=====<br />
''Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====16-067=====<br />
''but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====16-068=====<br />
''shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come''<br />
<br />
''(my brother) shall know of it'' - and won't he have a fit!<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====16-069=====<br />
''my coach; goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Ladies'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#069|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070=====<br />
''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Sweet Lady'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, address Q2 "Ladyes"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#70|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits)''<br />
<br />
Running like Cinderella running to her coach at midnight, before it turns into a pumpkin.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.''<br />
<br />
Spoken to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071-SD=====<br />
''(the ladies-in-waiting curtsy, and exit to follow Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-072=====<br />
''Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====16-073=====<br />
''death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====16-074=====<br />
''When sorrows come, they come not single spies,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====16-075=====<br />
''But in battalions. First her father slain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====16-076=====<br />
''Next, your son gone, and he most violent author''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====16-077=====<br />
''Of his own just remove, the people muddied,''<br />
<br />
''just remove'' - justified removal; justified departure.<br />
<br />
''muddied'' - astir; stirred up. The way clear water in a brook becomes muddy when it's stirred up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====16-078=====<br />
''Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====16-079=====<br />
''For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly''<br />
<br />
''greenly'' - freshly; recently. Claudius is using the same figure of speech he used in speaking of his brother in Scene 2, in Claudius's first two lines in the play. ([[Scene 2 #001]] "Though yet of Hamlet, our dear brother's, death, The memory be green..."<br />
<br />
Fresh plantings are green. Claudius again speaks of a recent funeral as a "recent plant." This goes along with the analogy of Claudius with Cain, who was a tiller of the ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====16-080=====<br />
''In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia''<br />
<br />
''In hugger mugger'' - surreptitiously. Without public ceremony. Claudius wanted to draw as little attention to Polonius's death as possible, since Claudius did not take the usual legal action against Hamlet, and Claudius knows the public will wonder why not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====16-081=====<br />
''Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====16-082=====<br />
''Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====16-083=====<br />
''Last, and as much containing as all these:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====16-084=====<br />
''Her brother is in secret come from France,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====16-085=====<br />
''Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,''<br />
<br />
''in clouds'' - hidden from Claudius's sight. The figure of speech is that of a "sun (son) hidden in clouds," so that one cannot see it. There is an implicit son/sun pun.<br />
<br />
Properly, Laertes would have presented himself to the King upon his return, but Laertes has not done so. (We know Laertes ought to have presented himself to Claudius upon his return, because he needed Claudius's permission to leave, as we saw in Scene 2. Laertes is a Danish courtier, or is otherwise under some obligation to the Throne, probably because Polonius arranged a government position for Laertes.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====16-086=====<br />
''And wants not buzzers to infect his ear''<br />
<br />
''buzzers'' - gossips; rumor mongers. Recall Hamlet facetiously saying "buzz buzz" to Polonius in Scene 7.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====16-087=====<br />
''With pestilent speeches of his father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====16-088=====<br />
''Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====16-089=====<br />
''Will nothing stick our person to arraign''<br />
<br />
How could Claudius be blamed? Look at the most basic facts. 1) Hamlet killed Polonius. 2) Claudius sent Hamlet on a trip out of the country, beyond the reach of Danish law, to get a lot of money.<br />
<br />
By appearance, it looks like "hire and salary." A person could argue, just from that, that Claudius hired Hamlet to kill Polonius. We know better, but the average person in the local town has not seen what we have seen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====16-090=====<br />
''In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====16-091=====<br />
''Like to a murdering piece, in many places''<br />
<br />
''murdering piece'' - a cannon loaded with small projectiles, to produce a spray of shot, analogous to a shotgun blast. A ''murdering piece'' was so called because it was especially designed to kill enemy personnel, as opposed to knocking down walls.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092=====<br />
''Gives me superfluous death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD1=====<br />
''(an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)''<br />
<br />
Men shouting. Scuffling sounds, loud thuds. Some noise of steel hitting steel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD2=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Running, excited.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-093=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?''<br />
<br />
Addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====16-094=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto swissers.jpg|right]]<br />
''Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!''<br />
<br />
''Attend'' - take heed. From Latin 'attendere' ("give heed to.")<br />
<br />
''Swissers'' - Swiss guards. The modern standard spelling is "Switzer," but I see no overwhelming need to change the original Second Quarto spelling. Claudius is calling for his royal guards, his bodyguards.<br />
<br />
Where are they? Well since Claudius entered the way he did, just coming in out of curiosity to see what the singing was about, and did not enter the Throne Room in his usual kingly style, the Swissers probably don't even know he's in the Throne Room. They were not mustered for the royal entourage, to accompany Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#094|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-095=====<br />
''What is the matter?''<br />
<br />
Also addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====16-096=====<br />
''Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====16-097=====<br />
''The ocean, over-peering of his list''<br />
<br />
''over-peering'' - a peer is at the same level. Therefore, to ''over-peer'' is to rise higher, to rise above, to achieve a higher elevation than that which was formerly at the same level.<br />
<br />
''list'' - boundary; bounds. In this case, the former bounds.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====16-098=====<br />
''Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste''<br />
<br />
''Eats'' - engulfs.<br />
<br />
''flats'' - same as it means today: "flat land at the edge of the sea." See the current term "mud flat," or "mud flats."<br />
<br />
''impiteous'' - unconscionable; undutiful. BOOKMARK for me Originates in Latin 'pietas' ("dutiful conduct.") Duty Theme instance.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====16-099=====<br />
''Than young Laertes, in a riotous head''<br />
<br />
''in a riotous head'' - has the double meaning, "at the head of the riot," and "riotous in his thoughts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====16-100=====<br />
''O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"''<br />
<br />
''Lord'' - may be Laertes's technically-correct title. Polonius was a lord, and one would suppose Laertes has inherited his father's title. However, the title might depend, formally, upon royal ratification. Laertes's title inheritance is not clear in the play. He continues to be addressed as "sir" when he appears on stage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====16-101=====<br />
''And, as the world were now but to begin,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====16-102=====<br />
''Antiquity forgot, custom not known,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====16-103=====<br />
''The ratifiers and props of every word,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====16-104=====<br />
''The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====16-105=====<br />
''Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====16-106=====<br />
''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107=====<br />
''Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107-SD=====<br />
''(loud noise just outside the closed door to the Lobby)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108=====<br />
''Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!''<br />
<br />
''counter'' - the wrong way. Strictly, ''counter'' is when a dog goes the wrong way on a scent trail, getting farther from the game rather than closer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-109=====<br />
''Claudius: The doors are broke.''<br />
<br />
Important to note, for some actions that happen later. The rabble are breaking down doors throughout the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====16-110=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====16-111=====<br />
''Ruffians: No, lets come in!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====16-112=====<br />
''Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====16-113=====<br />
''Ruffians: We will, we will.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====16-114=====<br />
''Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115=====<br />
''Give me my father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)''<br />
<br />
Contrary to appearances, she is not primarily protecting Claudius, she is primarily protecting Hamlet's succession.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-116=====<br />
''Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====16-117=====<br />
''Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#117|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-118=====<br />
''Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====16-119=====<br />
''Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====16-120=====<br />
''Of my true mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====16-121=====<br />
''Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
''cause'' - reason. One might compare this to Claudius's use of "reason" in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2 #044]] "You cannot speak of reason to the Dane...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====16-122=====<br />
''That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====16-123=====<br />
''Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====16-124=====<br />
''There's such divinity doth hedge a King,''<br />
<br />
Has reference to the "divine right of kings."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====16-125=====<br />
''That treason can but peep to what it would,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====16-126=====<br />
''Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====16-127=====<br />
''Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====16-128=====<br />
''Speak, man.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====16-129=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is my father?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====16-130=====<br />
''Claudius: Dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====16-131=====<br />
''Gertrude: But not by him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====16-132=====<br />
''Claudius: Let him demand his fill.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====16-133=====<br />
''Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,''<br />
<br />
''juggled with'' - toyed with; treated as a buffoon. Laertes is emphasizing his deadly seriousness. ''Juggle'' is from Old French 'jogler' = "to be a buffoon or jester." So Laertes is telling King Claudius, "I am not here to be a king's jester for you."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====16-134=====<br />
''To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====16-135=====<br />
''Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====16-136=====<br />
''I dare damnation. To this point I stand,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====16-137=====<br />
''That both the worlds I give to negligence,''<br />
<br />
''both the worlds'' - the world of the living, and the afterlife.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====16-138=====<br />
''Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====16-139=====<br />
''Most throughly for my father.''<br />
<br />
''throughly'' - is the exact word printed in the Second Quarto. The words "through" and "thorough" were not clearly distinguished until Early Modern English. ''Throughly'' is probably the intended word, with no printing error. It can be understood as "completely," or as "through and through," that is, "in every way." A substitution of modern "thoroughly" would probably be acceptable, if one were neurotic about modernizing the text to the greatest degree possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====16-140=====<br />
''Claudius: Who shall stay you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====16-141=====<br />
''Laertes: My will, not all the world's.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====16-142=====<br />
''And for my means, I'll husband them so well,''<br />
<br />
''means'' - resources, especially financial resources. It does not seem to have occurred yet to Laertes that he must have a valuable inheritance, since Polonius was a rich man. There's no hint in the play of any other heir Polonius might have.<br />
<br />
''husband'' - manage, simply put. Further, ''husband'' can mean "conserve" or "manage thriftily," which is probably the intended full meaning, based on the idea of "thrift" already expressed in the play ([[Scene 2 #182]] "Hamlet: Thrift, thrift, Horatio...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====16-143=====<br />
''They shall go far with little.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====16-144=====<br />
''Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====16-145=====<br />
''Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,''<br />
<br />
''writ'' - used figuratively to mean "officially written" (like a law, or a king's order.) Claudius knows that Laertes's desire for revenge has no written conditions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====16-146=====<br />
''That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe''<br />
<br />
''swoopstake'' - the original word, which I retain because it doesn't necessarily mean exactly the same as modern "sweepstake." Clearly, the meaning is close to the modern term. BOOKMARK, for me.<br />
<br />
''draw'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====16-147=====<br />
''Winner and loser?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====16-148=====<br />
''Laertes: None but his enemies.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====16-149=====<br />
''Claudius: Will you know them, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150=====<br />
''Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes sheaths his sword)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-151=====<br />
[[File:Pelican.jpg|right|image of a pelican]]<br />
''And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,''<br />
<br />
''pelican'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#151|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-152=====<br />
''Repast them with my blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====16-153=====<br />
''Claudius: Why, now you speak''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====16-154=====<br />
''Like a good child, and a true gentleman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====16-155=====<br />
''That I am guiltless of your father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====16-156=====<br />
''And am most sensible in grief for it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====16-157=====<br />
''It shall as level to your judgment pierce''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158=====<br />
''As day does to your eye.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158-SD=====<br />
''(noise is heard at the doorway; Ophelia enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-159=====<br />
''Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====16-160=====<br />
''O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====16-161=====<br />
''Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====16-162=====<br />
''By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====16-163=====<br />
''Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====16-164=====<br />
''Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====16-165=====<br />
''O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====16-166=====<br />
''Should be as mortal as an old man's life?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====16-167=====<br />
''Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====16-168=====<br />
''It sends some precious instance of itself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====16-169=====<br />
''After the thing it loves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====16-170=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<br />
Informs us of Danish funeral practices. Polonius was borne to his grave like that, and Ophelia will be, shrouded but with the face visible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====16-171=====<br />
''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====16-172=====<br />
''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====16-173=====<br />
''(speaks): Fare you well, my dove!''<br />
<br />
Ophelia acts releasing a dove in the direction of Hamlet. The sight of a dove in flight is a good omen. Ophelia is intending to show Hamlet that the death of Polonius is a good omen for them, she believes.<br />
<br />
By the way, the use of an actual dove in stage performance would be authentic, where that is possible. The Globe was an outdoor theater.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====16-174=====<br />
''Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====16-175=====<br />
''It could not move thus.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====16-176=====<br />
''Ophelia: You must sing a down, a down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====16-177=====<br />
''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the wheel becomes it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====16-178=====<br />
''It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====16-179=====<br />
''Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====16-180=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,''<br />
[[File:Rosemary.jpg|right|rosemary blooms]]<br />
''rosemary'' - ''Rosmarinus officinalis'' is a traditional funeral flower. We know of a recent funeral, that of Polonius.<br />
<br />
The available colors of ''rosemary'' include purple and white. Ophelia's "crownet weeds" that will be mentioned in Scene 18 have the colors of purple, and white.<br />
<br />
Ophelia gives the rosemary to Laertes, who was not present for his father's funeral. Correctly performed, Ophelia gives all the flowers to Laertes.<br />
<br />
The word ''rosemary'' is from Latin 'rosmarinus' ("dew of the sea.") So, ''rosemary'' implicitly presents the "dew" idea again, that Hamlet brought to some prominence in Scene 2. ([[Scene 2#132]]) The English spelling of ''rosemary'' was influenced by "rose" and the name "Mary."<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" ''rosemary'' says "remembrance. So, ''rosemary'' is indeed the traditional flower of remembrance, as Ophelia says.<br />
<br />
This line is partly to Laertes, and partly aside, aside in the ordinary sense, that is; it is not an "aside" in theatrical jargon. The others hear it. Ophelia turns away from Laertes when she says, "(pray you love, remember.)" She is addressing that to Hamlet. Traditionally, ''rosemary'' is also associated with weddings. Ophelia is praying that Hamlet will remember he asked her to marry him. The word ''love'' is on the mark. From its use as a wedding flower, rosemary is considered a love charm.<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal,'' page 1293, says that rosemary is good for "all infirmities of the head and brain" (at least where the infirmity is from a "cold and moist cause,") and that it "quickens the senses and memory." Also, rosemary will "strengthen the sinewy parts." The head and brain, the senses, and the memory are all significant, repeated elements in the play dialogue, and both Hamlet ([[Scene 5#098]]) and Claudius ([[Scene 10#074]]) speak of the sinews. It becomes easy to see why Shakespeare included ''rosemary'' as one of the flowers in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====16-181=====<br />
''remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''<br />
[[File:Pansy.jpg|right|Viola tricolor, "pansy"]]<br />
''(pray you love, remember)'' - spoken in the direction where Ophelia supposes Hamlet to be. She turns aside from Laertes for this, but it is not an aside in the theatrical sense. The others hear it, although they do not know what to make of it.<br />
<br />
''pansies'' - like the rosemary, is also a traditional funeral flower. The name is from Old French 'pensée' ("thought.") This is not the modern cultivated pansy, it is the wild pansy, ''Viola tricolor.'' It is a flower in the violet family, ''Viola.''<br />
<br />
(The play dialogue associates the violet with Ophelia, in lines spoken by Laertes, and by Ophelia, herself. ([[Scene 3#008]],) (line 186 below,) and ([[Scene 19#208]].) Where Shakespeare wrote "violet" he probably meant the sweet violet, ''Viola odorata,'' with its heart-shaped leaves.)<br />
<br />
As with the rosemary, the color is once again purple and white (or close enough to that.) The ''Viola tricolo'' may have yellow on the lower petal, but that would not be out of place, since the daisy, that Ophelia will soon mention, has a yellow center.<br />
<br />
The ''rosemary'' and ''pansies'' are flowers from Polonius's funeral which Ophelia saved for Laertes since he wasn't there. It was kind and thoughtful of her to save them for him. However, Laertes has no idea where the flowers came from, or why she's giving them to him. Laertes doesn't know about flowers, and, well, he is not very smart. It doesn't occur to him where these flowers must have come from.<br />
<br />
In a painfully tragic irony, by Ophelia giving Laertes these flowers from Polonius's funeral, she is, at the same time, providing Laertes with flowers for her funeral. None of them knows that.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''pansies'' do indeed express "thoughts," as Ophelia says. In Middle English, and on into Shakespeare's time, "thought" could mean "grief," as I note for line 013 above.<br />
<br />
The pansy is also called "love-in-idleness." Shakespeare used that name in ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' Act 2 scene 1, Oberon speaking:<br />
<br />
...<br />
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:<br />
It fell upon a little western flower,<br />
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,<br />
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.<br />
...<br />
<br />
Notice the mention of white and purple colors.<br />
<br />
The word "idle" goes back to Old English 'idel' ("vain,") so the name love-in-idleness can be read as "love in vain." That can be seen, tragically, to apply to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
In Gerard's ''Herbal'' the wild pansy is listed under the name "Hearts ease." Knowing that Ophelia will die after a fall, one may be intrigued to find Gerard recommends the pansy as a cure for "falling sickness." Gerard meant epilepsy, but still.<br />
<br />
The name heartsease may come both from the pansy being used in love potions, and in its being used for heart ailments. THe "heart" concept is highly significant in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
In action, Ophelia gives all of the rosemary and pansies to Laertes. She is giving him all the remembrance and thoughts of their father.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====16-182=====<br />
''Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.''<br />
<br />
''document'' - lesson. Latin 'documentum' "lesson," from 'docere' "to teach." It's unclear what Laertes supposes he is learning from it, since he didn't even understand the funeral flowers.<br />
<br />
''fitted'' - in a fit, "fit" as in an attack or paroxysm. Joined in a fit, tangled in a fit, of madness.<br />
<br />
Or, ''fitted'' to ''madness,'' that is, "thoughts and remembrance fitted to madness," or "adapted to fit madness." The multiplicity of meaning is intentional in the author's phrasing, we can be sure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====16-183=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for''<br />
<br />
[[File:Fennel.jpg|left|fennel blooms]]<br />
All of these flowers are also given to Laertes, when the play is correctly done. This is an encounter between Laertes and Ophelia following the death of their father. It's a family matter, even if Laertes can't grasp it. Gertrude and Claudius are "audience to this act," to quote from the last Scene. They are watching, and wondering what it all means.<br />
<br />
''fennel'' - ''Foeniculum vulgare.'' It has tiny yellow flowers. Hardly worth calling a flower at all, it is a culinary herb, and a medicinal herb.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's meaning with the ''fennel'' is "open your eyes," "see clearly." Fennel is used in herbal medicine as an eye remedy, or to preserve eyesight. (Gerard, ''Herbal,'' page 1032.)<br />
<br />
Ophelia is telling Laertes to open his eyes, and see that these flowers have meaning. It is reasonable to take it that she is also trying to tell him to open his eyes to things in general. The ''fennel'' provides an implicit instance of the Vision Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
[[File:Columbine2.jpg|left|columbine flower]]<br />
[[File:Columbine1.jpg|right|columbine blooms]]<br />
''columbines'' - from Latin 'columbīnus' ("dovelike.") As the image to the right shows, the flower can be likened to a group of five doves facing each other.<br />
<br />
The scientific classification is ''Aquilegia vulgaris.'' The genus name, ''Aquilegia,'' comes from 'aquila', the Latin word for eagle, perhaps because the flower petals of some varieties can be seen to resemble an eagle's claw, or perhaps because some may take the "doves" of the flower for eagles, instead.<br />
<br />
The color is purple and white.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, the columbine expresses "folly," or, "you're a fool." Ophelia is calling Laertes a fool, who is engaged in folly. After Laertes said, above, that he would "dare damnation" to get revenge, in other words, throw away his soul, one cannot help but think Ophelia is right. Ophelia was not present to hear Laertes say that, but she knows her brother.<br />
<br />
We recall the Player, in Scene 7, speaking of breaking all the follies from the Wheel of Fortune. ([[Scene 7#474]]) A tragic, unfortunate death would be such a folly. In Scene 18, we will hear Laertes call Ophelia's death "this folly." None of them knows it, but the "folly" that the columbine expresses is ominous for Ophelia, herself, when the Wheel of Fortune will take a bad turn for her.<br />
<br />
[[File:Rue.jpg|right|common rue]]<br />
''rue'' - ''Ruta graveolens,'' known as common rue, or herb-of-grace. The blooms are yellow. Like fennel, it is not much for being a flower, but it is a traditional medicinal herb, and has found sparing use as a culinary herb. It has a strong smell. Gerard's chapter on rue, "Of Rue, or herbe Grace. Chap. 511" begins on ''Herball'' page 1070.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''rue'' expresses "regret," however, Ophelia will go on to speak of a "difference."<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal'' credits it with many virtues, including its use in tonics for making vision sharp and clear, for remedying "dim eyes," to cure earache, to cure headache, as an antidote to poison, and as a "counterpoison" against scorpion and insect stings, and serpent bites. The eyes, the ears, the head, and poison are all significant concepts in the play.<br />
<br />
As already mentioned, all of the flowers are given to Laertes, when the play is correctly performed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====16-184=====<br />
''you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====16-185=====<br />
''you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would''<br />
<br />
''rue with a difference'' - no regret. The ''difference'' Ophelia means is the negative. Ophelia is symbolically telling Laertes to feel no regret over the death of Polonius, since she does not.<br />
<br />
In older ''Hamlet'' commentary you may see ''difference'' interpreted according to heraldic definition, but that does not work. Laertes is now the senior male of the family, so he does not use a heraldic difference, and Ophelia knows Laertes's status after their father's death (as did Shakespeare, of course.)<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy2.jpg|right|there's a daisy]]<br />
''daisy'' - Ophelia shows the ''daisy'' to everyone, but keeps it. By the way, it isn't hard to guess where it came from, what it signifies, and why she keeps it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====16-186=====<br />
''give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;''<br />
<br />
''violets'' - <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK knowing enough of the play, once can appreciate that the violet can deaden the sense of smell<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====16-187=====<br />
''they say he made a good end.''<br />
<br />
Ophelia approves that people should say the end of her father was good. She makes it sound like a more socially acceptable sentiment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====16-188=====<br />
''(sings): For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''<br />
<br />
Adapted by Shakespeare from ''Greensleeves.'' Observe the last line below.<br />
<br />
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,<br />
To cast me off discourteously.<br />
For I have loved you well and long,<br />
Delighting in your company.<br />
<br />
Greensleeves was all my joy<br />
...<br />
<br />
There was apparently also in Shakespeare's time a song called "Bonny Robin," or perhaps "Bonny Sweet Robin," of which the lyrics have not survived. ''Greensleeves'' is written to a woman. Ophelia "masculinizes" the lyric by substituting "bonny sweet Robin" for "Greensleeves," and Ophelia also makes it present tense.<br />
<br />
Sendal is mentioned in the old lyrics of ''Greensleeves,'' from the Tudor era, by the way.<br />
<br />
With this line, we are privileged to learn that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet nickname for Hamlet. Among the characters, only she and Hamlet know that.<br />
<br />
(The question might arise, what is Hamlet's pet name for Ophelia? Has Shakespeare given us the privilege of knowing that? Well... there's a daisy.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====16-189=====<br />
''Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself''<br />
<br />
''Thought'' - Grief.<br />
<br />
''affliction'' - torment.<br />
<br />
''Passion'' - Agony.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====16-190=====<br />
''She turns to favor and to prettiness.''<br />
<br />
''favor'' - Laertes means Ophelia acts as if the hell of madness were a favor.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK more here<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====16-191=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====16-192=====<br />
''And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====16-193=====<br />
''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====16-194=====<br />
''He never will come again.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====16-195=====<br />
''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<br />
But Polonius's beard was neatly trimmed, we suppose, after what Hamlet said to Polonius (that Polonius misunderstood) in Scene 7. ([[Scene 7#478]])<br />
<br />
This is, of course, a costuming note for the Polonius character. It is mandatory that his beard be white. Nothing else will do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====16-196=====<br />
''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<br />
''Flaxen'' - pale yellow.<br />
<br />
''poll'' - head, that is, the skin of his head. Polonius was borne bare-faced on the bier, as Ophelia just told us, which means that Ophelia could see the skin of his face. The yellowing of his skin was part of what finally convinced her that Polonius was really dead, and it wasn't only a mean trick, to fool her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====16-197=====<br />
''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====16-198=====<br />
''(speaks): God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199=====<br />
''God buy you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits; Gertrude exits to follow her)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude will reclaim her clothing and jewelry.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-200=====<br />
''Laertes: Do you this, O God?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====16-201=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====16-202=====<br />
''Or you deny me right; go but apart,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====16-203=====<br />
''Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====16-204=====<br />
''And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====16-205=====<br />
''If by direct, or by collateral hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====16-206=====<br />
''They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====16-207=====<br />
''Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====16-208=====<br />
''To you in satisfaction; but if not,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====16-209=====<br />
''Be you content to lend your patience to us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====16-210=====<br />
''And we shall jointly labor with your soul''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====16-211=====<br />
''To give it due content.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====16-212=====<br />
''Laertes: Let this be so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====16-213=====<br />
''His means of death, his obscure burial,''<br />
<br />
''obscure burial'' - which Claudius ordered in hopes the death of Polonius would attract little attention, and not cause him trouble.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#213|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-214=====<br />
''No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====16-215=====<br />
''No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====16-216=====<br />
''Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====16-217=====<br />
''That I must call it in question.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====16-218=====<br />
''Claudius: So you shall,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====16-219=====<br />
''And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.''<br />
<br />
''great axe'' - executioner's axe.<br />
<br />
Claudius believes he has already arranged that, for Hamlet in England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220=====<br />
''I pray you go with me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_16
Scene 16
2018-02-04T16:28:48Z
<p>Administrator: /* 16-040-SD */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Throne Room, Horatio and a Gentleman persuade Gertrude to speak with Ophelia. At first, Gertrude doesn't want to see Ophelia because, since her son has killed Ophelia's father, Gertrude anticipates an unpleasant confrontation.<br />
<br />
Ophelia enters slowly, doing a leisurely, graceful dance, as Gertrude speaks her "guilt" speech aside. Ophelia then speaks oddly to Gertrude, and sings.<br />
<br />
Claudius enters, because he heard the singing. Ophelia sings more. Claudius speaks of Ophelia and grief, as he draws the wrong conclusion. Ophelia exits.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that Laertes has returned, and Laertes is hearing condemnations of Claudius in connection with the death of Polonius. Loud noises are heard, and a messenger enters, to inform Claudius that Laertes is leading a riotous rabble to storm the Castle.<br />
<br />
Laertes enters, sword in hand, and irate. He demands Claudius explain things.<br />
<br />
While Claudius is talking with Laertes, Ophelia reenters. Ophelia sings to Laertes, and hands him flowers. He is totally at a loss, except he's sure she's mad. Ophelia departs, with a final word of blessing for everyone. Gertrude and her ladies follow Ophelia, to keep watch on her.<br />
<br />
Claudius asks to meet with Laertes and his "wisest friends" to explain his innocence in the death of Polonius. Laertes says he's willing to listen, and they exit.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 16 Characters are: [[Gertrude]], [[Gentleman]], [[Horatio]], [[Ophelia]], [[Claudius]], [[Messenger]], [[Laertes]], [[Ruffians]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Claudius entry [[#038-SD]], || Ophelia first exit [[#071-SD]], || Messenger entry [[#092-SD2]]<br />
|-<br />
| Laertes entry [[#108-SD]], || Ophelia reentry [[#158-SD]], || Ophelia last exit [[#199-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 16</b> [ ~ Baker's Daughter ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 5)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Throne Room;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude enters;<br />
Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-001]]<span id="001"></span> Gertrude: I will not speak with her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will not speak with her.''</span><br />
[[#16-002]]<span id="002"></span> Gentleman: She is importunate,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is insistent for attention,''</span><br />
[[#16-003]]<span id="003"></span> Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Distracted in what she does. Her state of mind will necessarily be pitied.''</span><br />
[[#16-004]]<span id="004"></span> Gertrude: What would she have?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What does she want?''</span><br />
[[#16-005]]<span id="005"></span> Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She says a lot about her father, and says she hears''</span><br />
[[#16-006]]<span id="006"></span> There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's tricks in the world, and equivocates, and pounds her chest,''</span><br />
[[#16-007]]<span id="007"></span> Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Reacts scornfully, in a bad natured way, over trifles, and says things in suspicion,''</span><br />
[[#16-008]]<span id="008"></span> That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That sound only half sensible. Her speech is naughty,''</span><br />
[[#16-009]]<span id="009"></span> Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Still, the illogical employment of her speech motivates''</span><br />
[[#16-010]]<span id="010"></span> The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Those who hear it to try to gather meaning from it. They gape at what she says,''</span><br />
[[#16-011]]<span id="011"></span> And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And misconstrue her words in fitting them to their own preconceptions,''</span><br />
[[#16-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield to them,''</span><br />
[[#16-013]]<span id="013"></span> Indeed would make one think there would be thought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed would make one think there should be grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-014]]<span id="014"></span> Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Although not for sure, still very expressive of misfortune.''</span><br />
[[#16-015]]<span id="015"></span> Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be good to speak with her, for she might breed''</span><br />
[[#16-016]]<span id="016"></span> Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. [[#16-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Gertrude nods to Horatio)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hazardous surmises in minds that jump to conclusions.''</span><br />
[[#16-017]]<span id="017"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to the doorman):</span> Let her come in. [[#16-017-SD1]]<span id="017-SD1"></span> (said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let her come in.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-017-SD2]]<span id="017-SD2"></span> (Horatio and the Gentleman exit;<br />
Ophelia enters, dancing)<br />
<br />
[[#16-018]]<span id="018"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To my sick soul, (which is the true nature of sin,)''</span><br />
[[#16-019]]<span id="019"></span> Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Each idea that crosses my mind seems to lead to disaster.''</span><br />
[[#16-020]]<span id="020"></span> So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Guilt is so full of natural misery,''</span><br />
[[#16-021]]<span id="021"></span> It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It reveals itself, from its fear of being revealed.''</span><br />
[[#16-022]]<span id="022"></span> Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''</span><br />
[[#16-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Greetings, Ophelia?''</span><br />
[[#16-024]]<span id="024"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''How should I your true love know''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can I, your true love, know you''</span><br />
[[#16-025]]<span id="025"></span> ''From another one?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From someone else?''</span><br />
[[#16-026]]<span id="026"></span> ''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By his cock-le top, and shaft''</span><br />
[[#16-027]]<span id="027"></span> ''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And his silken slippers.''</span><br />
[[#16-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, sweet Lady, what brings out that song?''</span><br />
[[#16-029]]<span id="029"></span> Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't say? No, please pay attention:''</span><br />
[[#16-030]]<span id="030"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone, Lady''</span><br />
[[#16-031]]<span id="031"></span> ''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone''</span><br />
[[#16-032]]<span id="032"></span> ''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his head there is green grass turf''</span><br />
[[#16-033]]<span id="033"></span> ''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his heels there is a stone''</span><br />
[[#16-034]]<span id="034"></span> <span style="color:gray">(exclaims):</span> Oh ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh ho!''</span><br />
[[#16-035]]<span id="035"></span> Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but Ophelia . . .''</span><br />
[[#16-036]]<span id="036"></span> Ophelia: Pray you, mark!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please pay attention!''</span><br />
[[#16-037]]<span id="037"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''White his shroud as the mountain snow.'' [[#16-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (Claudius enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His shroud was as white as mountain snow''</span><br />
[[#16-038]]<span id="038"></span> Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord. [[#16-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, look there, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#16-039]]<span id="039"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With sweet flowers strewn all around,''</span><br />
[[#16-040]]<span id="040"></span> ''Which bewept to the grave did not go'' [[#16-040-SD]]<span id="040-SD"></span> (the word "not" is spoken aside)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, falling like tears on the grave did -not- go''</span><br />
[[#16-041]]<span id="041"></span> ''With true love showers.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Accompanied by any shower of real love.''</span><br />
[[#16-042]]<span id="042"></span> Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are you feeling, pretty Lady?''</span><br />
[[#16-043]]<span id="043"></span> Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well may goodness refrain you, musically.''</span><br />
[[#16-044]]<span id="044"></span> They say the owl was a baker's daughter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say the owl was a baker's daughter.''</span><br />
[[#16-045]]<span id="045"></span> Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lord, I know what I am now, but don't know what I may become.''</span><br />
[[#16-046]]<span id="046"></span> God be at your table.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May God be at work on your gravestone, now.''</span><br />
[[#16-047]]<span id="047"></span> Claudius: Conceit upon her father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A caprice due to her father's death.''</span><br />
[[#16-048]]<span id="048"></span> Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, let's have no words about him - but if anyone asks you''</span><br />
[[#16-049]]<span id="049"></span> what it means, say you this:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what all this means, you can tell them this:''</span><br />
[[#16-050]]<span id="050"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day, and''</span><br />
[[#16-051]]<span id="051"></span> ''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Quite in the morning, before it's too late,''</span><br />
[[#16-052]]<span id="052"></span> ''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's me, a maiden tapping at your window''</span><br />
[[#16-053]]<span id="053"></span> ''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be your valentine''</span><br />
[[#16-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So he rose up, put on some clothes, and opened up his bedroom door,''</span><br />
[[#16-055]]<span id="055"></span> ''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let in the maiden, who never again went out as a virgin.''</span><br />
[[#16-056]]<span id="056"></span> Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pretty, Ophelia.''</span><br />
[[#16-057]]<span id="057"></span> Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end to it.''</span><br />
[[#16-058]]<span id="058"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Jesus and by Saint Charity,''</span><br />
[[#16-059]]<span id="059"></span> ''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''oh dear, and fie, for shame,''</span><br />
[[#16-060]]<span id="060"></span> ''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Young men will do it if they come to it''</span><br />
[[#16-061]]<span id="061"></span> ''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''by cock they are to blame.''</span><br />
[[#16-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Said she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''</span><br />
[[#16-063]]<span id="063"></span> (He answers): ''So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''(He answers): So would I have done, by yonder sun,''</span><br />
[[#16-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had not come to my bed.''</span><br />
[[#16-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: How long hath she been thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long has she been like this?''</span><br />
[[#16-066]]<span id="066"></span> Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hope all will be well. I must be patient, but I cannot choose''</span><br />
[[#16-067]]<span id="067"></span> but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but weep to think they would lay him in the cold ground. My brother''</span><br />
[[#16-068]]<span id="068"></span> shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shall learn of it - and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come''</span><br />
[[#16-069]]<span id="069"></span> my coach; good night, Ladies, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''my coach, goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''</span><br />
[[#16-070]]<span id="070"></span> Sweet Lady, good night, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-070-SD]]<span id="070-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits)<br />
<br />
[[#16-071]]<span id="071"></span> Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [[#16-071-SD]]<span id="071-SD"></span> (the ladies-in-waiting curtsy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow her closely, and keep a close watch on her, please.''</span> and exit to follow Ophelia)<br />
[[#16-072]]<span id="072"></span> Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the poison of deep grief, it all springs from her father's''</span><br />
[[#16-073]]<span id="073"></span> death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''death, and now behold the result. Oh, Gertrude, Gertrude,''</span><br />
[[#16-074]]<span id="074"></span> When sorrows come, they come not single spies,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When sorrows come, they don't come one at a time,''</span><br />
[[#16-075]]<span id="075"></span> But in battalions. First her father slain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But in battalions. First, her father slain,''</span><br />
[[#16-076]]<span id="076"></span> Next, your son gone, and he most violent author<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Next, your son gone - and he himself the very violent cause''</span><br />
[[#16-077]]<span id="077"></span> Of his own just remove, the people muddied,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of his own justified departure - the people stirred up,''</span><br />
[[#16-078]]<span id="078"></span> Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dense and unhealthy in their minds, and rumor mongering''</span><br />
[[#16-079]]<span id="079"></span> For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over good Polonius's death - and I have acted only recently,''</span><br />
[[#16-080]]<span id="080"></span> In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In seclusion, to have him buried - poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#16-081]]<span id="081"></span> Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Beside herself, and diverted from her good judgment -''</span><br />
[[#16-082]]<span id="082"></span> Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Without which we humans are mindless as images in pictures, or mere beasts -''</span><br />
[[#16-083]]<span id="083"></span> Last, and as much containing as all these:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Last - and as difficult to deal with as all of those, combined -''</span><br />
[[#16-084]]<span id="084"></span> Her brother is in secret come from France,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her brother has returned, in secret, from France, and''</span><br />
[[#16-085]]<span id="085"></span> Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Takes in all these strange events, keeps out of sight,''</span><br />
[[#16-086]]<span id="086"></span> And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has no lack of scandalmongers to poison his mind''</span><br />
[[#16-087]]<span id="087"></span> With pestilent speeches of his father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With pernicious gossip about his father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-088]]<span id="088"></span> Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which they feel the need to blame sombody, and lacking the facts,''</span><br />
[[#16-089]]<span id="089"></span> Will nothing stick our person to arraign<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll stop at nothing to accuse me''</span><br />
[[#16-090]]<span id="090"></span> In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the word goes from ear to ear. Oh, my dear Gertrude, this,''</span><br />
[[#16-091]]<span id="091"></span> Like to a murdering piece, in many places<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a huge shotgun, hits me in many vital spots, and''</span><br />
[[#16-092]]<span id="092"></span> Gives me superfluous death. [[#16-092-SD1]]<span id="092-SD1"></span> (an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just kills me, over and over.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-092-SD2]]<span id="092-SD2"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-093]]<span id="093"></span> Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, what's that noise?''</span><br />
[[#16-094]]<span id="094"></span> Claudius: Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Attention, everyone! Where are my Swiss guards? Have them guard the door!''</span><br />
[[#16-095]]<span id="095"></span> What is the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#16-096]]<span id="096"></span> Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save yourself, my Lord!''</span><br />
[[#16-097]]<span id="097"></span> The ocean, over-peering of his list<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ocean, overflowing at its margins,''</span><br />
[[#16-098]]<span id="098"></span> Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not engulf the flats with more merciless speed''</span><br />
[[#16-099]]<span id="099"></span> Than young Laertes, in a riotous head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than young Laertes, at the head of the riot,''</span><br />
[[#16-100]]<span id="100"></span> O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Overwhelms your soldiers and guards. The rabble call him "Lord,"''</span><br />
[[#16-101]]<span id="101"></span> And, as the world were now but to begin,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, as if the human world were only now beginning,''</span><br />
[[#16-102]]<span id="102"></span> Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Precedent forgotten, ceremony unknown,''</span><br />
[[#16-103]]<span id="103"></span> The ratifiers and props of every word,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The only validators and supports for their every word is''</span><br />
[[#16-104]]<span id="104"></span> The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The outcry: "We choose!" "Laertes shall be King!''</span><br />
[[#16-105]]<span id="105"></span> Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They toss their caps in the air, raise their hands, and cheer it to the clouds:''</span><br />
[[#16-106]]<span id="106"></span> Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''</span><br />
[[#16-107]]<span id="107"></span> Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! [[#16-107-SD]]<span id="107-SD"></span> (loud noise just outside the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How cheerfully they cry, as they follow this false trail!''</span> closed door to the Lobby)<br />
[[#16-108]]<span id="108"></span> Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the wrong way, you traitorous Danish dogs!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-108-SD]]<span id="108-SD"></span> (Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)<br />
<br />
[[#16-109]]<span id="109"></span> Claudius: The doors are broke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The doors are broken in.''</span><br />
[[#16-110]]<span id="110"></span> Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is this so-called "King?" Sirs, wait outside.''</span><br />
[[#16-111]]<span id="111"></span> Ruffians: No, lets come in!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, let us come in!''</span><br />
[[#16-112]]<span id="112"></span> Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I beg you, allow me to talk to him.''</span><br />
[[#16-113]]<span id="113"></span> Ruffians: We will, we will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alright, we will, we will.''</span><br />
[[#16-114]]<span id="114"></span> Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thank you. Control the doorway. Oh, you vile King,''</span><br />
[[#16-115]]<span id="115"></span> Give me my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Give me my father!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-115-SD]]<span id="115-SD"></span> (Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)<br />
<br />
[[#16-116]]<span id="116"></span> Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be calm, good Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#16-117]]<span id="117"></span> Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If any drop of my blood is calm it reveals I'm a bastard,''</span><br />
[[#16-118]]<span id="118"></span> Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shouts that my father was a cuckold, puts the brand of the harlot''</span><br />
[[#16-119]]<span id="119"></span> Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right here, between the chaste, undefiled brows''</span><br />
[[#16-120]]<span id="120"></span> Of my true mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of my virtuous mother.''</span><br />
[[#16-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the reason, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-122]]<span id="122"></span> That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That the rebellion you lead looks so ambitious?''</span><br />
[[#16-123]]<span id="123"></span> Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him go, Gertrude, do not worry about my personal safety.''</span><br />
[[#16-124]]<span id="124"></span> There's such divinity doth hedge a King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's such divinity to shield a King,''</span><br />
[[#16-125]]<span id="125"></span> That treason can but peep to what it would,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That treason can only peek at what it wants, and''</span><br />
[[#16-126]]<span id="126"></span> Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Acts little of what it desires. Tell me, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-127]]<span id="127"></span> Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you are so incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#16-128]]<span id="128"></span> Speak, man.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak, man.''</span><br />
[[#16-129]]<span id="129"></span> Laertes: Where is my father?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is my father?''</span><br />
[[#16-130]]<span id="130"></span> Claudius: Dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dead.''</span><br />
[[#16-131]]<span id="131"></span> Gertrude: But not by him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But not killed by him!''</span><br />
[[#16-132]]<span id="132"></span> Claudius: Let him demand his fill.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him question until he's satisfied.''</span><br />
[[#16-133]]<span id="133"></span> Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What led to his death? I won't be taken lightly!''</span><br />
[[#16-134]]<span id="134"></span> To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To hell with loyalty to the crown, and religious dedication - to the most evil devil!''</span><br />
[[#16-135]]<span id="135"></span> Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Conscience, and nobility, into the deepest pit!''</span><br />
[[#16-136]]<span id="136"></span> I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I dare damnation! On this point I make my stand,''</span><br />
[[#16-137]]<span id="137"></span> That both the worlds I give to negligence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, for my fate in both this world and the next, I couldn't care less.''</span><br />
[[#16-138]]<span id="138"></span> Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let whatever happens, happen, but I'll have revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-139]]<span id="139"></span> Most throughly for my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In every way, for my father.''</span><br />
[[#16-140]]<span id="140"></span> Claudius: Who shall stay you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who will stop you?''</span><br />
[[#16-141]]<span id="141"></span> Laertes: My will, not all the world's.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only my own will, no matter what the rest of the world wants!''</span><br />
[[#16-142]]<span id="142"></span> And for my means, I'll husband them so well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As for my resources, I'll manage them so well,''</span><br />
[[#16-143]]<span id="143"></span> They shall go far with little.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll take me far, though they be slight.''</span><br />
[[#16-144]]<span id="144"></span> Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Laertes, if you desire to know the reliable truth''</span><br />
[[#16-145]]<span id="145"></span> Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''About your dear father, is it "officially written" in your duty for revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-146]]<span id="146"></span> That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, (as in winning a sweepstakes,) you will execute both friend and foe,''</span><br />
[[#16-147]]<span id="147"></span> Winner and loser?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only yourself the winner, anyone else, the loser?''</span><br />
[[#16-148]]<span id="148"></span> Laertes: None but his enemies.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll kill no one except his enemies.''</span><br />
[[#16-149]]<span id="149"></span> Claudius: Will you know them, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you know who his enemies are, then?''</span><br />
[[#16-150]]<span id="150"></span> Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms, [[#16-150-SD]]<span id="150-SD"></span> (Laertes sheaths his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To his good friends, I'll spread my arms wide, like this,''</span><br />
[[#16-151]]<span id="151"></span> And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like the proverbially caring, life-sustaining pelican,''</span><br />
[[#16-152]]<span id="152"></span> Repast them with my blood.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nourish them with my own blood.''</span><br />
[[#16-153]]<span id="153"></span> Claudius: Why, now you speak<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, now you speak''</span><br />
[[#16-154]]<span id="154"></span> Like a good child, and a true gentleman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a good child, and a real gentleman.''</span><br />
[[#16-155]]<span id="155"></span> That I am guiltless of your father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am free of guilt in your father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-156]]<span id="156"></span> And am most sensible in grief for it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And am fully rational in my grief over it,''</span><br />
[[#16-157]]<span id="157"></span> It shall as level to your judgment pierce<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It will get through to your judgment as truly,''</span><br />
[[#16-158]]<span id="158"></span> As day does to your eye.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As day does, to your eye.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-158-SD]]<span id="158-SD"></span> (noise is heard at the doorway;<br />
Ophelia enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-159]]<span id="159"></span> Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's happening? Why the noise? Let her come in.''</span><br />
[[#16-160]]<span id="160"></span> O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times as irritating as pure salt,''</span><br />
[[#16-161]]<span id="161"></span> Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Burn out the vision and goodness of my eyes!''</span><br />
[[#16-162]]<span id="162"></span> By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Heaven, your madness will be repaid with weight''</span><br />
[[#16-163]]<span id="163"></span> Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the scales of justice swings its beam. Oh, Rose of May!''</span><br />
[[#16-164]]<span id="164"></span> Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dear maiden, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''</span><br />
[[#16-165]]<span id="165"></span> O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, heavens, is it possible a young maiden's intelligence''</span><br />
[[#16-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should be as mortal as an old man's life?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could be as mortal as an old man's life?''</span><br />
[[#16-167]]<span id="167"></span> Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Human nature, in love, is delicate, and when it's delicate,''</span><br />
[[#16-168]]<span id="168"></span> It sends some precious instance of itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It sends a valuable part of its human nature,''</span><br />
[[#16-169]]<span id="169"></span> After the thing it loves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''After the object of its love.''</span><br />
[[#16-170]]<span id="170"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They carried him bare-faced on the bier,''</span><br />
[[#16-171]]<span id="171"></span> ''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And into his grave rained many a tear.''</span><br />
[[#16-172]]<span id="172"></span> ''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''</span><br />
[[#16-173]]<span id="173"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> Fare you well, my dove!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fare you well, my dove!''</span><br />
[[#16-174]]<span id="174"></span> Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had your wits about you, and prevailed on me to seek revenge,''</span><br />
[[#16-175]]<span id="175"></span> It could not move thus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It could not move me as much as this does.''</span><br />
[[#16-176]]<span id="176"></span> Ophelia: You must sing ''a down, a down,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must sing a down, a down,''</span><br />
[[#16-177]]<span id="177"></span> And you call him ''a down a.'' Oh, how the wheel becomes it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the refrain befits it!''</span><br />
[[#16-178]]<span id="178"></span> It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is lying Hamlet who stole Jesus's daughter from the nunnery.''</span><br />
[[#16-179]]<span id="179"></span> Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This nothingness tells me more than an explanation would.''</span><br />
[[#16-180]]<span id="180"></span> Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, (pray you love,''</span><br />
[[#16-181]]<span id="181"></span> remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''remember,) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''</span><br />
[[#16-182]]<span id="182"></span> Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lesson in madness, thoughts and remembrance tangled in a fit.''</span><br />
[[#16-183]]<span id="183"></span> Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for''</span><br />
[[#16-184]]<span id="184"></span> you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, and here's some for me. We may call it "herb of grace" on Sundays.''</span><br />
[[#16-185]]<span id="185"></span> you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You may wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would''</span><br />
[[#16-186]]<span id="186"></span> give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''give you some violets but they all died when my father did.''</span><br />
[[#16-187]]<span id="187"></span> they say he made a good end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say he did well at the end.''</span><br />
[[#16-188]]<span id="188"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''</span><br />
[[#16-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Grief and torment! Agony! She makes Hell itself''</span><br />
[[#16-190]]<span id="190"></span> She turns to favor and to prettiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look like a favor, and something pretty.''</span><br />
[[#16-191]]<span id="191"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-192]]<span id="192"></span> ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-193]]<span id="193"></span> ''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, no, he is dead. Go to thy death bed!''</span><br />
[[#16-194]]<span id="194"></span> ''He never will come again.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He never will come again.''</span><br />
[[#16-195]]<span id="195"></span> ''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His beard was as white as snow,''</span><br />
[[#16-196]]<span id="196"></span> ''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The skin of his head was yellowish,''</span><br />
[[#16-197]]<span id="197"></span> ''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''</span><br />
[[#16-198]]<span id="198"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''God have mercy on his soul, and on all Christians' souls.''</span><br />
[[#16-199]]<span id="199"></span> God buy you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye to you.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-199-SD]]<span id="199-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits;<br />
Gertrude exits to follow her)<br />
<br />
[[#16-200]]<span id="200"></span> Laertes: Do you this, O God?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you done this, oh God?''</span><br />
[[#16-201]]<span id="201"></span> Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I must share your grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-202]]<span id="202"></span> Or you deny me right; go but apart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or you deny me my right. But go your own way,''</span><br />
[[#16-203]]<span id="203"></span> Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Choose from among your wisest friends whomever you wish,''</span><br />
[[#16-204]]<span id="204"></span> And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they shall hear and judge, between you and me.''</span><br />
[[#16-205]]<span id="205"></span> If by direct, or by collateral hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If in any direct or indirect way''</span><br />
[[#16-206]]<span id="206"></span> They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They find me touched by guilt, I'll give up my kingdom,''</span><br />
[[#16-207]]<span id="207"></span> Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My crown, my life, and all that I call mine,''</span><br />
[[#16-208]]<span id="208"></span> To you in satisfaction; but if not,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To you in satisfaction, of your revenge. But if not,''</span><br />
[[#16-209]]<span id="209"></span> Be you content to lend your patience to us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be content to give me time,''</span><br />
[[#16-210]]<span id="210"></span> And we shall jointly labor with your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I will work together with you''</span><br />
[[#16-211]]<span id="211"></span> To give it due content.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make you content in your soul.''</span><br />
[[#16-212]]<span id="212"></span> Laertes: Let this be so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let it be so.''</span><br />
[[#16-213]]<span id="213"></span> His means of death, his obscure burial,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The way he was killed . . . his hidden burial,''</span><br />
[[#16-214]]<span id="214"></span> No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No trophy sword . . . nor coat of arms over his body,''</span><br />
[[#16-215]]<span id="215"></span> No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No noble privilege . . . nor formal exhibition -''</span><br />
[[#16-216]]<span id="216"></span> Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All of that cries out so much to be understood, as it were, from Heaven to earth,''</span><br />
[[#16-217]]<span id="217"></span> That I must call it in question.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I must call it all into question.''</span><br />
[[#16-218]]<span id="218"></span> Claudius: So you shall,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So you may,''</span><br />
[[#16-219]]<span id="219"></span> And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where the guilt lies, let the executioner's axe fall on him.''</span><br />
[[#16-220]]<span id="220"></span> I pray you go with me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please go with me.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes exit)<br />
<hr> <br />
End of Scene 16<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====16-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Throne Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - <br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====16-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters; Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting are present with the Queen in the Throne Room. Claudius is absent, for whatever reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-001=====<br />
''Gertrude: I will not speak with her.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude supposes that Ophelia wants to complain to her about the death of Polonius, and to demand justice, but there is nothing Gertrude can do about the death of Polonius, or about Claudius sending Hamlet to England. This is not to imply Gertrude would condemn her son, even if she could. We see elsewhere in the play that Gertrude likes Ophelia, so one can understand that Gertrude does not wish to face Ophelia's reproaches.<br />
<br />
Gertrude has no inkling of what Ophelia's speech and behavior will turn out to be, as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====16-002=====<br />
''Gentleman: She is importunate,''<br />
<br />
''importunate'' - assertive. Resolute. Forward.<br />
<br />
For the second, "resolute," recall Horatio's mention in Scene 1 of "landless resolutes," ([[Scene 1#108]],) as Horatio spoke of determined men.<br />
<br />
For the third, "forward," see Shakespeare Sonnet 99, which is partly about Shakespeare's choice of flowers for Ophelia's "crownet weeds" which Gertrude tells us of in Scene 18.<br />
<br />
The forward violet thus did I chide:<br />
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,<br />
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride<br />
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells<br />
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.<br />
The lily I condemned for thy hand, ...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====16-003=====<br />
''Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.''<br />
<br />
''Indeed'' - primarily takes the literal meaning "in deed," referring to what she does, how she acts. Second, can be read as "very," or "truly."<br />
<br />
''distract'' - distracted - emotionally disturbed. The way she acts reveals emotional disturbance.<br />
<br />
''mood'' - state of mind.<br />
<br />
''needs'' - of necessity; necessarily.<br />
<br />
''pitied'' - viewed with sympathy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====16-004=====<br />
''Gertrude: What would she have?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude wonders if there's anything in particular Ophelia wants her to do. If so, perhaps it might be possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====16-005=====<br />
''Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====16-006=====<br />
''There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,''<br />
<br />
''hems'' - equivocates. The meaning of what she says is not clear. Can also be interpreted as in "hem and haw."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====16-007=====<br />
''Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====16-008=====<br />
''That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,''<br />
<br />
''nothing'' - naughty. ''Nothing'' is "naught," so nothing speech is naughty speech, which we shall hear from Ophelia as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====16-009=====<br />
''Yet the unshaped use of it doth move''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====16-010=====<br />
''The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,''<br />
<br />
''collection'' - gathering. The figure of speech is as in the use of "gather." An example modern sentence would be, "As I gather from what he said, he meant..."<br />
<br />
''yawn'' - gape. Stare open-mouthed, as if yawning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====16-011=====<br />
''And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====16-012=====<br />
''Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====16-013=====<br />
''Indeed would make one think there would be thought,''<br />
<br />
''thought'' - grief (a definition now obsolete.) For example, see Chaucer, ''Troilus and Criseyde'':<br />
<br />
But if thou wene I be thus sik for drede, 575<br />
It is not so, and ther-for scorne nought;<br />
Ther is a-nother thing I take of hede<br />
Wel more than ought the Grekes han y-wrought,<br />
Which cause is of my deeth, for sorwe and thought.<br />
...<br />
<br />
It is supposed that Ophelia would be suffering from grief, over her father's death, but what she's saying and doing is not a display of the usual behavior of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#013|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-014=====<br />
''Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====16-015=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016=====<br />
''Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude nods to Horatio)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017=====<br />
''Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD1=====<br />
''(said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD2=====<br />
''(Horatio and the Gentleman exit; Ophelia enters, dancing)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-018=====<br />
''Gertrude (aside): To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====16-019=====<br />
''Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,''<br />
<br />
''toy'' - idea, something the mind plays with, turning it over, looking at it with the mind's eye. Can be understood as a puzzle Gertrude is trying to solve, to get a favorable outcome (but with no luck.)<br />
<br />
''prologue'' - lead-in; introduction. In this usage, ''prologue'' means "that which leads to some consequence."<br />
<br />
''amiss'' - failure, to achieve what she wants, like missing a target. So, ''great amiss'' - great failure; disaster.<br />
<br />
Every idea Gertrude can come up with, when she examines it, and turns it over in her mind, it leads to disaster. She finds no way to envision a positive outcome to all this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====16-020=====<br />
''So full of artless jealousy is guilt,''<br />
<br />
''artless'' - natural.<br />
<br />
''jealousy'' - anxiety; misery. Wretchedness. Intensely unpleasant emotion. Could be extended to "malice." The word ''jealousy'' here is a kind of figure of speech, the use of a more specific word to express a more general concept.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====16-021=====<br />
''It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====16-022=====<br />
''Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''<br />
<br />
Said because after agreeing to grant Ophelia an audience, Gertrude is not on the throne. Gertrude stepped down and wandered away from the throne for her "guilt" speech, aside.<br />
<br />
''beauteous'' - Ophelia is returning the compliment Gertrude earlier bestowed on Ophelia, in Scene 8, "That your good beauties be the happy cause..." ([[Scene 8#043]]) Ophelia was gratified by Gertrude's compliment to her beauty, remembered it, and is returning it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====16-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude has now returned to her throne, in response to Ophelia's question.<br />
<br />
''How now'' - greetings. Quite similar to the modern slang greeting, "what's up?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====16-024=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): How should I your true love know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====16-025=====<br />
''From another one?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====16-026=====<br />
''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====16-027=====<br />
''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<br />
''sendal'' - silk, that is, a silk fabric. Mentioned by Chaucer, among others.<br><br />
The Middle English Dictionary lists it "cendā̆l" as their primary spelling, which is impossible to find with an ordinary lookup, but anyway, here it is.<br><br />
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED7072<br><br />
(checked 06/02/2015)<br />
<br />
For where Shakespeare might have learned ''sendal,'' see for example ''The Canterbury Tales,'' General Prologue, The Physician, line 442:<br />
<br />
But of greet norissyng, and digestible.<br />
His studie was but litel on the Bible.<br />
In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,<br />
Lyned with taffata and with sendal;<br />
<br />
Further, according to some writers, ''sendal'' was the shrouding fabric used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
''shoon'' - an archaic plural of "shoe." Shoes.<br />
<br />
''sendal shoon'' - silk shoes; silk slippers. Dancing shoes. As compared to all the ordinary pilgrims wearing sandals, Ophelia pictures Hamlet on his "pilgrimage" wearing silk slippers.<br />
<br />
Also, with the death of her father Ophelia has put on her dancing shoes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#027|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?''<br />
<br />
''imports'' - to import is to bring, in some way: bring out, bring up, bring forth. The question is, "what brings forth this song?"<br />
<br />
There is simultaneously the question of what import the song has, what its significance is. Shakespeare implied both of the relevant definitions of ''imports.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====16-029=====<br />
''Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====16-030=====<br />
''(sings): He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====16-031=====<br />
''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====16-032=====<br />
''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====16-033=====<br />
''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====16-034=====<br />
''(exclaims): Oh ho!''<br />
<br />
An exclamation of delight.<br />
<br />
Recall what we have seen of Polonius and Ophelia.<br />
<br />
First, in Scene 3, Polonius forbade Ophelia to have any further communication with her fiance, Prince Hamlet. She obeyed, but she did not like that.<br />
<br />
When Hamlet rushed to Ophelia's room, before Scene 6, Ophelia then went to Polonius to try to get him to change his mind, and allow her to talk to Hamlet, to find out why he did that. She never even got the chance to ask Polonius, who decided immediately to take Ophelia and Hamlet's private relationship public. She did not like that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then confiscated (or just plain stole) Ophelia's love letters from Hamlet, since Polonius wanted tangible evidence to show the King, proving that Hamlet had expressed love for Ophelia. When Ophelia tried to fight back, to keep her love letters, and threatened to tell Hamlet, Polonius locked Ophelia in her room, to prevent her resort to Hamlet. She hated that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then persuaded Ophelia to participate in the Nunnery Scene eavesdropping scheme, on the ground that it would get her married to Hamlet, when the King heard Hamlet express love for her. The scheme turned into a disaster, that left her abandoned and heartbroken. It was her father's scheme, and she blamed her father for the result.<br />
<br />
At that point, Ophelia, being a young lady of normal psychology, was wishing her father would get out of her life, and just drop dead. In this Scene, she is ''not'' grieving over his death. She is hysterically happy. Her secret wish has come true.<br />
<br />
The other characters have not seen everything we in the audience have seen, and they do not understand this. They think Ophelia is displaying some weird, mad symptoms of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====16-035=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====16-036=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray you, mark!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037=====<br />
''(sings): White his shroud as the mountain snow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters)''<br />
<br />
Claudius enters because he heard a woman singing in the Throne Room. His first thought is that it's Gertrude, since Gertrude is the woman anyone would associate with the Throne Room. Claudius is curious why Gertrude would be singing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
From the way Claudius looks at her, Gertrude realizes Claudius thought she was the one singing. So she points at Ophelia, and tells Claudius, ''look here.''<br />
<br />
''here'' - not here. "There," that is. When Gertrude says ''look here'' she means "look there," at Ophelia. Claudius is looking ''here,'' at Gertrude, and she says ''here'' to tell him to look "not here."<br />
<br />
The language is perfectly understandable to anybody familiar with English, while the explanation sounds like madness. It is a peculiarity of English that the word ''here'' can mean "there," (and the word "there" can mean ''here,'') depending on what is indicated. Shakespeare had some fun in the play with "here" v "there," (and also "this" v "that.")<br />
<br />
When Gertrude says ''look here,'' and points at Ophelia, we all understand she means "look there." Claudius does so.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Claudius, curious, approaches Ophelia as she sings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-039=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<br />
''Larded'' - "flavored," as a feast for the eye. A figure of speech based on the concept of a ceremony being a kind of show, and a show being a feast for the eye, so to speak. The idea of a show as a feast arose earlier.<br />
<br />
Also, Hamlet spoke of Polonius being at supper "where he's eaten," and Ophelia now speaks of Polonius being ''larded,'' which would make him more tasty for the worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040=====<br />
''Which bewept to the grave did not go''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040-SD=====<br />
''(the word "not" is spoken aside)''<br />
<br />
The other characters don't hear Ophelia sing ''not,'' only the audience hears it. She is telling us something that the other play characters do not know: she did not truly love her father, and she is not really in grief over his death. Powerful social inhibitions prevent her from being open in saying that. She can only express it in a highly indirect way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-041=====<br />
''With true love showers.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====16-042=====<br />
''Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====16-043=====<br />
''Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;''<br />
<br />
''dild' '' - dildo. It is an obsolete music term. Also appears in ''The Winter's Tale.''<br />
<br />
''Winter's Tale'' Act 4 scene 4,<br />
<br />
Servant: He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; ...<br />
... with such delicate <br />
burthens of dildos and fadings, ...<br />
<br />
A ''dildo'' is a nonsense phrase within the burden of a ditty, such as the "hey nonny nonny" mentioned in ''Much Ado about Nothing,'' Act 2 scene 3:<br />
<br />
Balthasar. Sigh no more, ladies, ...<br />
...<br />
And be you blithe and bonny, <br />
Converting all your sounds of woe <br />
Into Hey nonny, nonny.<br />
...<br />
<br />
The term comes from the fact of the word ''dildo'' itself being used, as in Thomas Morley's ''Will You Buy a Fine Dog?'':<br />
<br />
Will you buy a fine dog, with a hole in his head?<br />
With a dildo, dildo, dildo; ...<br />
<br />
The entire song can be found here:<br><br />
http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Will_you_buy_a_fine_dog%3F_(Thomas_Morley)<br />
<br />
''Dildo'' in this sense is the same sort of thing as "hey diddle diddle" in the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. It's some wording that is rhythmic, and rhymes, but has no meaning apart from its use in the verse.<br />
<br />
However, having said that, it is not possible to exclude the better-known, vulgar meaning, since that meaning did also exist in Shakespeare's time. For example, see the lewd verse "Choise of Valentines or the Merie Ballad of Nash his Dildo," T. Nashe, c.1593, which can be found at the Project Gutenberg website:<br><br />
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17779/17779-h/17779-h.htm<br />
<br />
It is safe to say that Ophelia's remark to Claudius is not entirely polite. An interpretation is available for Ophelia to be saying that, in her opinion, Claudius would benefit from the insertion into him of a dildo. That is not, however, her primary meaning. We once again have multiple meanings from the Bard.<br />
<br />
Primarily, she is saying she would like to sing a dildo about Claudius being dead, to go with her song about her father being dead.<br />
<br />
Ophelia says she wants Claudius to die, so she can sing about it.<br />
<br />
Claudius does not understand her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====16-044=====<br />
''They say the owl was a baker's daughter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====16-045=====<br />
''Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====16-046=====<br />
''God be at your table.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====16-047=====<br />
''Claudius: Conceit upon her father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====16-048=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====16-049=====<br />
''what it means, say you this:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====16-050=====<br />
''(sings): Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====16-051=====<br />
''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====16-052=====<br />
''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====16-053=====<br />
''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====16-054=====<br />
''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<br />
''clothes'' - a dressing gown, probably. A robe, as Americans now call it. We are not talking about the gentleman taking time to dress himself up in black tie and tails. He just grabs his robe, to go to the door. Well, more particularly, in the case of Hamlet, he'll grab his cloak, at least to wrap around himself.<br />
<br />
''dupt'' - dupped, in current standard spelling, a spelling which matters not at all since nobody says this any more. The word "dup" is formed merely from "do" + "up" and goes back to Middle English 'don up' which meant "to open," and probably referred to lifting up the simple kind of door latch used in those days. To open a door, one "did up" the latch.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====16-055=====<br />
''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====16-056=====<br />
''Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====16-057=====<br />
''Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====16-058=====<br />
''(sings): By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====16-059=====<br />
''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====16-060=====<br />
''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====16-061=====<br />
''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====16-062=====<br />
''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====16-063=====<br />
''(He answers): So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====16-064=====<br />
''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====16-065=====<br />
''Claudius: How long hath she been thus?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====16-066=====<br />
''Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====16-067=====<br />
''but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====16-068=====<br />
''shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come''<br />
<br />
''(my brother) shall know of it'' - and won't he have a fit!<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====16-069=====<br />
''my coach; goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Ladies'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#069|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070=====<br />
''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Sweet Lady'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, address Q2 "Ladyes"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#70|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits)''<br />
<br />
Running like Cinderella running to her coach at midnight, before it turns into a pumpkin.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.''<br />
<br />
Spoken to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071-SD=====<br />
''(the ladies-in-waiting curtsy, and exit to follow Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-072=====<br />
''Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====16-073=====<br />
''death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====16-074=====<br />
''When sorrows come, they come not single spies,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====16-075=====<br />
''But in battalions. First her father slain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====16-076=====<br />
''Next, your son gone, and he most violent author''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====16-077=====<br />
''Of his own just remove, the people muddied,''<br />
<br />
''just remove'' - justified removal; justified departure.<br />
<br />
''muddied'' - astir; stirred up. The way clear water in a brook becomes muddy when it's stirred up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====16-078=====<br />
''Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====16-079=====<br />
''For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly''<br />
<br />
''greenly'' - freshly; recently. Claudius is using the same figure of speech he used in speaking of his brother in Scene 2, in Claudius's first two lines in the play. ([[Scene 2 #001]] "Though yet of Hamlet, our dear brother's, death, The memory be green..."<br />
<br />
Fresh plantings are green. Claudius again speaks of a recent funeral as a "recent plant." This goes along with the analogy of Claudius with Cain, who was a tiller of the ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====16-080=====<br />
''In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia''<br />
<br />
''In hugger mugger'' - surreptitiously. Without public ceremony. Claudius wanted to draw as little attention to Polonius's death as possible, since Claudius did not take the usual legal action against Hamlet, and Claudius knows the public will wonder why not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====16-081=====<br />
''Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====16-082=====<br />
''Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====16-083=====<br />
''Last, and as much containing as all these:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====16-084=====<br />
''Her brother is in secret come from France,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====16-085=====<br />
''Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,''<br />
<br />
''in clouds'' - hidden from Claudius's sight. The figure of speech is that of a "sun (son) hidden in clouds," so that one cannot see it. There is an implicit son/sun pun.<br />
<br />
Properly, Laertes would have presented himself to the King upon his return, but Laertes has not done so. (We know Laertes ought to have presented himself to Claudius upon his return, because he needed Claudius's permission to leave, as we saw in Scene 2. Laertes is a Danish courtier, or is otherwise under some obligation to the Throne, probably because Polonius arranged a government position for Laertes.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====16-086=====<br />
''And wants not buzzers to infect his ear''<br />
<br />
''buzzers'' - gossips; rumor mongers. Recall Hamlet facetiously saying "buzz buzz" to Polonius in Scene 7.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====16-087=====<br />
''With pestilent speeches of his father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====16-088=====<br />
''Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====16-089=====<br />
''Will nothing stick our person to arraign''<br />
<br />
How could Claudius be blamed? Look at the most basic facts. 1) Hamlet killed Polonius. 2) Claudius sent Hamlet on a trip out of the country, beyond the reach of Danish law, to get a lot of money.<br />
<br />
By appearance, it looks like "hire and salary." A person could argue, just from that, that Claudius hired Hamlet to kill Polonius. We know better, but the average person in the local town has not seen what we have seen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====16-090=====<br />
''In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====16-091=====<br />
''Like to a murdering piece, in many places''<br />
<br />
''murdering piece'' - a cannon loaded with small projectiles, to produce a spray of shot, analogous to a shotgun blast. A ''murdering piece'' was so called because it was especially designed to kill enemy personnel, as opposed to knocking down walls.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092=====<br />
''Gives me superfluous death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD1=====<br />
''(an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)''<br />
<br />
Men shouting. Scuffling sounds, loud thuds. Some noise of steel hitting steel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD2=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Running, excited.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-093=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?''<br />
<br />
Addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====16-094=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto swissers.jpg|right]]<br />
''Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!''<br />
<br />
''Attend'' - take heed. From Latin 'attendere' ("give heed to.")<br />
<br />
''Swissers'' - Swiss guards. The modern standard spelling is "Switzer," but I see no overwhelming need to change the original Second Quarto spelling. Claudius is calling for his royal guards, his bodyguards.<br />
<br />
Where are they? Well since Claudius entered the way he did, just coming in out of curiosity to see what the singing was about, and did not enter the Throne Room in his usual kingly style, the Swissers probably don't even know he's in the Throne Room. They were not mustered for the royal entourage, to accompany Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#094|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-095=====<br />
''What is the matter?''<br />
<br />
Also addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====16-096=====<br />
''Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====16-097=====<br />
''The ocean, over-peering of his list''<br />
<br />
''over-peering'' - a peer is at the same level. Therefore, to ''over-peer'' is to rise higher, to rise above, to achieve a higher elevation than that which was formerly at the same level.<br />
<br />
''list'' - boundary; bounds. In this case, the former bounds.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====16-098=====<br />
''Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste''<br />
<br />
''Eats'' - engulfs.<br />
<br />
''flats'' - same as it means today: "flat land at the edge of the sea." See the current term "mud flat," or "mud flats."<br />
<br />
''impiteous'' - unconscionable; undutiful. BOOKMARK for me Originates in Latin 'pietas' ("dutiful conduct.") Duty Theme instance.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====16-099=====<br />
''Than young Laertes, in a riotous head''<br />
<br />
''in a riotous head'' - has the double meaning, "at the head of the riot," and "riotous in his thoughts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====16-100=====<br />
''O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"''<br />
<br />
''Lord'' - may be Laertes's technically-correct title. Polonius was a lord, and one would suppose Laertes has inherited his father's title. However, the title might depend, formally, upon royal ratification. Laertes's title inheritance is not clear in the play. He continues to be addressed as "sir" when he appears on stage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====16-101=====<br />
''And, as the world were now but to begin,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====16-102=====<br />
''Antiquity forgot, custom not known,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====16-103=====<br />
''The ratifiers and props of every word,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====16-104=====<br />
''The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====16-105=====<br />
''Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====16-106=====<br />
''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107=====<br />
''Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107-SD=====<br />
''(loud noise just outside the closed door to the Lobby)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108=====<br />
''Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!''<br />
<br />
''counter'' - the wrong way. Strictly, ''counter'' is when a dog goes the wrong way on a scent trail, getting farther from the game rather than closer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-109=====<br />
''Claudius: The doors are broke.''<br />
<br />
Important to note, for some actions that happen later. The rabble are breaking down doors throughout the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====16-110=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====16-111=====<br />
''Ruffians: No, lets come in!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====16-112=====<br />
''Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====16-113=====<br />
''Ruffians: We will, we will.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====16-114=====<br />
''Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115=====<br />
''Give me my father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)''<br />
<br />
Contrary to appearances, she is not primarily protecting Claudius, she is primarily protecting Hamlet's succession.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-116=====<br />
''Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====16-117=====<br />
''Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#117|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-118=====<br />
''Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====16-119=====<br />
''Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====16-120=====<br />
''Of my true mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====16-121=====<br />
''Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
''cause'' - reason. One might compare this to Claudius's use of "reason" in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2 #044]] "You cannot speak of reason to the Dane...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====16-122=====<br />
''That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====16-123=====<br />
''Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====16-124=====<br />
''There's such divinity doth hedge a King,''<br />
<br />
Has reference to the "divine right of kings."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====16-125=====<br />
''That treason can but peep to what it would,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====16-126=====<br />
''Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====16-127=====<br />
''Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====16-128=====<br />
''Speak, man.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====16-129=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is my father?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====16-130=====<br />
''Claudius: Dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====16-131=====<br />
''Gertrude: But not by him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====16-132=====<br />
''Claudius: Let him demand his fill.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====16-133=====<br />
''Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,''<br />
<br />
''juggled with'' - toyed with; treated as a buffoon. Laertes is emphasizing his deadly seriousness. ''Juggle'' is from Old French 'jogler' = "to be a buffoon or jester." So Laertes is telling King Claudius, "I am not here to be a king's jester for you."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====16-134=====<br />
''To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====16-135=====<br />
''Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====16-136=====<br />
''I dare damnation. To this point I stand,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====16-137=====<br />
''That both the worlds I give to negligence,''<br />
<br />
''both the worlds'' - the world of the living, and the afterlife.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====16-138=====<br />
''Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====16-139=====<br />
''Most throughly for my father.''<br />
<br />
''throughly'' - is the exact word printed in the Second Quarto. The words "through" and "thorough" were not clearly distinguished until Early Modern English. ''Throughly'' is probably the intended word, with no printing error. It can be understood as "completely," or as "through and through," that is, "in every way." A substitution of modern "thoroughly" would probably be acceptable, if one were neurotic about modernizing the text to the greatest degree possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====16-140=====<br />
''Claudius: Who shall stay you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====16-141=====<br />
''Laertes: My will, not all the world's.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====16-142=====<br />
''And for my means, I'll husband them so well,''<br />
<br />
''means'' - resources, especially financial resources. It does not seem to have occurred yet to Laertes that he must have a valuable inheritance, since Polonius was a rich man. There's no hint in the play of any other heir Polonius might have.<br />
<br />
''husband'' - manage, simply put. Further, ''husband'' can mean "conserve" or "manage thriftily," which is probably the intended full meaning, based on the idea of "thrift" already expressed in the play ([[Scene 2 #182]] "Hamlet: Thrift, thrift, Horatio...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====16-143=====<br />
''They shall go far with little.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====16-144=====<br />
''Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====16-145=====<br />
''Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,''<br />
<br />
''writ'' - used figuratively to mean "officially written" (like a law, or a king's order.) Claudius knows that Laertes's desire for revenge has no written conditions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====16-146=====<br />
''That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe''<br />
<br />
''swoopstake'' - the original word, which I retain because it doesn't necessarily mean exactly the same as modern "sweepstake." Clearly, the meaning is close to the modern term. BOOKMARK, for me.<br />
<br />
''draw'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====16-147=====<br />
''Winner and loser?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====16-148=====<br />
''Laertes: None but his enemies.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====16-149=====<br />
''Claudius: Will you know them, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150=====<br />
''Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes sheaths his sword)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-151=====<br />
[[File:Pelican.jpg|right|image of a pelican]]<br />
''And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,''<br />
<br />
''pelican'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#151|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-152=====<br />
''Repast them with my blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====16-153=====<br />
''Claudius: Why, now you speak''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====16-154=====<br />
''Like a good child, and a true gentleman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====16-155=====<br />
''That I am guiltless of your father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====16-156=====<br />
''And am most sensible in grief for it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====16-157=====<br />
''It shall as level to your judgment pierce''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158=====<br />
''As day does to your eye.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158-SD=====<br />
''(noise is heard at the doorway; Ophelia enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-159=====<br />
''Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====16-160=====<br />
''O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====16-161=====<br />
''Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====16-162=====<br />
''By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====16-163=====<br />
''Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====16-164=====<br />
''Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====16-165=====<br />
''O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====16-166=====<br />
''Should be as mortal as an old man's life?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====16-167=====<br />
''Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====16-168=====<br />
''It sends some precious instance of itself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====16-169=====<br />
''After the thing it loves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====16-170=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<br />
Informs us of Danish funeral practices. Polonius was borne to his grave like that, and Ophelia will be, shrouded but with the face visible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====16-171=====<br />
''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====16-172=====<br />
''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====16-173=====<br />
''(speaks): Fare you well, my dove!''<br />
<br />
Ophelia acts releasing a dove in the direction of Hamlet. The sight of a dove in flight is a good omen. Ophelia is intending to show Hamlet that the death of Polonius is a good omen for them, she believes.<br />
<br />
By the way, the use of an actual dove in stage performance would be authentic, where that is possible. The Globe was an outdoor theater.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====16-174=====<br />
''Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====16-175=====<br />
''It could not move thus.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====16-176=====<br />
''Ophelia: You must sing a down, a down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====16-177=====<br />
''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the wheel becomes it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====16-178=====<br />
''It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====16-179=====<br />
''Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====16-180=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,''<br />
[[File:Rosemary.jpg|right|rosemary blooms]]<br />
''rosemary'' - ''Rosmarinus officinalis'' is a traditional funeral flower. We know of a recent funeral, that of Polonius.<br />
<br />
The available colors of ''rosemary'' include purple and white. Ophelia's "crownet weeds" that will be mentioned in Scene 18 have the colors of purple, and white.<br />
<br />
Ophelia gives the rosemary to Laertes, who was not present for his father's funeral. Correctly performed, Ophelia gives all the flowers to Laertes.<br />
<br />
The word ''rosemary'' is from Latin 'rosmarinus' ("dew of the sea.") So, ''rosemary'' implicitly presents the "dew" idea again, that Hamlet brought to some prominence in Scene 2. ([[Scene 2#132]]) The English spelling of ''rosemary'' was influenced by "rose" and the name "Mary."<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" ''rosemary'' says "remembrance. So, ''rosemary'' is indeed the traditional flower of remembrance, as Ophelia says.<br />
<br />
This line is partly to Laertes, and partly aside, aside in the ordinary sense, that is; it is not an "aside" in theatrical jargon. The others hear it. Ophelia turns away from Laertes when she says, "(pray you love, remember.)" She is addressing that to Hamlet. Traditionally, ''rosemary'' is also associated with weddings. Ophelia is praying that Hamlet will remember he asked her to marry him. The word ''love'' is on the mark. From its use as a wedding flower, rosemary is considered a love charm.<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal,'' page 1293, says that rosemary is good for "all infirmities of the head and brain" (at least where the infirmity is from a "cold and moist cause,") and that it "quickens the senses and memory." Also, rosemary will "strengthen the sinewy parts." The head and brain, the senses, and the memory are all significant, repeated elements in the play dialogue, and both Hamlet ([[Scene 5#098]]) and Claudius ([[Scene 10#074]]) speak of the sinews. It becomes easy to see why Shakespeare included ''rosemary'' as one of the flowers in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====16-181=====<br />
''remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''<br />
[[File:Pansy.jpg|right|Viola tricolor, "pansy"]]<br />
''(pray you love, remember)'' - spoken in the direction where Ophelia supposes Hamlet to be. She turns aside from Laertes for this, but it is not an aside in the theatrical sense. The others hear it, although they do not know what to make of it.<br />
<br />
''pansies'' - like the rosemary, is also a traditional funeral flower. The name is from Old French 'pensée' ("thought.") This is not the modern cultivated pansy, it is the wild pansy, ''Viola tricolor.'' It is a flower in the violet family, ''Viola.''<br />
<br />
(The play dialogue associates the violet with Ophelia, in lines spoken by Laertes, and by Ophelia, herself. ([[Scene 3#008]],) (line 186 below,) and ([[Scene 19#208]].) Where Shakespeare wrote "violet" he probably meant the sweet violet, ''Viola odorata,'' with its heart-shaped leaves.)<br />
<br />
As with the rosemary, the color is once again purple and white (or close enough to that.) The ''Viola tricolo'' may have yellow on the lower petal, but that would not be out of place, since the daisy, that Ophelia will soon mention, has a yellow center.<br />
<br />
The ''rosemary'' and ''pansies'' are flowers from Polonius's funeral which Ophelia saved for Laertes since he wasn't there. It was kind and thoughtful of her to save them for him. However, Laertes has no idea where the flowers came from, or why she's giving them to him. Laertes doesn't know about flowers, and, well, he is not very smart. It doesn't occur to him where these flowers must have come from.<br />
<br />
In a painfully tragic irony, by Ophelia giving Laertes these flowers from Polonius's funeral, she is, at the same time, providing Laertes with flowers for her funeral. None of them knows that.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''pansies'' do indeed express "thoughts," as Ophelia says. In Middle English, and on into Shakespeare's time, "thought" could mean "grief," as I note for line 013 above.<br />
<br />
The pansy is also called "love-in-idleness." Shakespeare used that name in ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' Act 2 scene 1, Oberon speaking:<br />
<br />
...<br />
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:<br />
It fell upon a little western flower,<br />
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,<br />
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.<br />
...<br />
<br />
Notice the mention of white and purple colors.<br />
<br />
The word "idle" goes back to Old English 'idel' ("vain,") so the name love-in-idleness can be read as "love in vain." That can be seen, tragically, to apply to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
In Gerard's ''Herbal'' the wild pansy is listed under the name "Hearts ease." Knowing that Ophelia will die after a fall, one may be intrigued to find Gerard recommends the pansy as a cure for "falling sickness." Gerard meant epilepsy, but still.<br />
<br />
The name heartsease may come both from the pansy being used in love potions, and in its being used for heart ailments. THe "heart" concept is highly significant in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
In action, Ophelia gives all of the rosemary and pansies to Laertes. She is giving him all the remembrance and thoughts of their father.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====16-182=====<br />
''Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.''<br />
<br />
''document'' - lesson. Latin 'documentum' "lesson," from 'docere' "to teach." It's unclear what Laertes supposes he is learning from it, since he didn't even understand the funeral flowers.<br />
<br />
''fitted'' - in a fit, "fit" as in an attack or paroxysm. Joined in a fit, tangled in a fit, of madness.<br />
<br />
Or, ''fitted'' to ''madness,'' that is, "thoughts and remembrance fitted to madness," or "adapted to fit madness." The multiplicity of meaning is intentional in the author's phrasing, we can be sure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====16-183=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for''<br />
<br />
[[File:Fennel.jpg|left|fennel blooms]]<br />
All of these flowers are also given to Laertes, when the play is correctly done. This is an encounter between Laertes and Ophelia following the death of their father. It's a family matter, even if Laertes can't grasp it. Gertrude and Claudius are "audience to this act," to quote from the last Scene. They are watching, and wondering what it all means.<br />
<br />
''fennel'' - ''Foeniculum vulgare.'' It has tiny yellow flowers. Hardly worth calling a flower at all, it is a culinary herb, and a medicinal herb.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's meaning with the ''fennel'' is "open your eyes," "see clearly." Fennel is used in herbal medicine as an eye remedy, or to preserve eyesight. (Gerard, ''Herbal,'' page 1032.)<br />
<br />
Ophelia is telling Laertes to open his eyes, and see that these flowers have meaning. It is reasonable to take it that she is also trying to tell him to open his eyes to things in general. The ''fennel'' provides an implicit instance of the Vision Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
[[File:Columbine2.jpg|left|columbine flower]]<br />
[[File:Columbine1.jpg|right|columbine blooms]]<br />
''columbines'' - from Latin 'columbīnus' ("dovelike.") As the image to the right shows, the flower can be likened to a group of five doves facing each other.<br />
<br />
The scientific classification is ''Aquilegia vulgaris.'' The genus name, ''Aquilegia,'' comes from 'aquila', the Latin word for eagle, perhaps because the flower petals of some varieties can be seen to resemble an eagle's claw, or perhaps because some may take the "doves" of the flower for eagles, instead.<br />
<br />
The color is purple and white.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, the columbine expresses "folly," or, "you're a fool." Ophelia is calling Laertes a fool, who is engaged in folly. After Laertes said, above, that he would "dare damnation" to get revenge, in other words, throw away his soul, one cannot help but think Ophelia is right. Ophelia was not present to hear Laertes say that, but she knows her brother.<br />
<br />
We recall the Player, in Scene 7, speaking of breaking all the follies from the Wheel of Fortune. ([[Scene 7#474]]) A tragic, unfortunate death would be such a folly. In Scene 18, we will hear Laertes call Ophelia's death "this folly." None of them knows it, but the "folly" that the columbine expresses is ominous for Ophelia, herself, when the Wheel of Fortune will take a bad turn for her.<br />
<br />
[[File:Rue.jpg|right|common rue]]<br />
''rue'' - ''Ruta graveolens,'' known as common rue, or herb-of-grace. The blooms are yellow. Like fennel, it is not much for being a flower, but it is a traditional medicinal herb, and has found sparing use as a culinary herb. It has a strong smell. Gerard's chapter on rue, "Of Rue, or herbe Grace. Chap. 511" begins on ''Herball'' page 1070.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''rue'' expresses "regret," however, Ophelia will go on to speak of a "difference."<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal'' credits it with many virtues, including its use in tonics for making vision sharp and clear, for remedying "dim eyes," to cure earache, to cure headache, as an antidote to poison, and as a "counterpoison" against scorpion and insect stings, and serpent bites. The eyes, the ears, the head, and poison are all significant concepts in the play.<br />
<br />
As already mentioned, all of the flowers are given to Laertes, when the play is correctly performed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====16-184=====<br />
''you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====16-185=====<br />
''you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would''<br />
<br />
''rue with a difference'' - no regret. The ''difference'' Ophelia means is the negative. Ophelia is symbolically telling Laertes to feel no regret over the death of Polonius, since she does not.<br />
<br />
In older ''Hamlet'' commentary you may see ''difference'' interpreted according to heraldic definition, but that does not work. Laertes is now the senior male of the family, so he does not use a heraldic difference, and Ophelia knows Laertes's status after their father's death (as did Shakespeare, of course.)<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy2.jpg|right|there's a daisy]]<br />
''daisy'' - Ophelia shows the ''daisy'' to everyone, but keeps it. By the way, it isn't hard to guess where it came from, what it signifies, and why she keeps it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====16-186=====<br />
''give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;''<br />
<br />
''violets'' - <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK knowing enough of the play, once can appreciate that the violet can deaden the sense of smell<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====16-187=====<br />
''they say he made a good end.''<br />
<br />
Ophelia approves that people should say the end of her father was good. She makes it sound like a more socially acceptable sentiment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====16-188=====<br />
''(sings): For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''<br />
<br />
Adapted by Shakespeare from ''Greensleeves.'' Observe the last line below.<br />
<br />
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,<br />
To cast me off discourteously.<br />
For I have loved you well and long,<br />
Delighting in your company.<br />
<br />
Greensleeves was all my joy<br />
...<br />
<br />
There was apparently also in Shakespeare's time a song called "Bonny Robin," or perhaps "Bonny Sweet Robin," of which the lyrics have not survived. ''Greensleeves'' is written to a woman. Ophelia "masculinizes" the lyric by substituting "bonny sweet Robin" for "Greensleeves," and Ophelia also makes it present tense.<br />
<br />
Sendal is mentioned in the old lyrics of ''Greensleeves,'' from the Tudor era, by the way.<br />
<br />
With this line, we are privileged to learn that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet nickname for Hamlet. Among the characters, only she and Hamlet know that.<br />
<br />
(The question might arise, what is Hamlet's pet name for Ophelia? Has Shakespeare given us the privilege of knowing that? Well... there's a daisy.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====16-189=====<br />
''Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself''<br />
<br />
''Thought'' - Grief.<br />
<br />
''affliction'' - torment.<br />
<br />
''Passion'' - Agony.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====16-190=====<br />
''She turns to favor and to prettiness.''<br />
<br />
''favor'' - Laertes means Ophelia acts as if the hell of madness were a favor.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK more here<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====16-191=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====16-192=====<br />
''And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====16-193=====<br />
''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====16-194=====<br />
''He never will come again.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====16-195=====<br />
''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<br />
But Polonius's beard was neatly trimmed, we suppose, after what Hamlet said to Polonius (that Polonius misunderstood) in Scene 7. ([[Scene 7#478]])<br />
<br />
This is, of course, a costuming note for the Polonius character. It is mandatory that his beard be white. Nothing else will do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====16-196=====<br />
''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<br />
''Flaxen'' - pale yellow.<br />
<br />
''poll'' - head, that is, the skin of his head. Polonius was borne bare-faced on the bier, as Ophelia just told us, which means that Ophelia could see the skin of his face. The yellowing of his skin was part of what finally convinced her that Polonius was really dead, and it wasn't only a mean trick, to fool her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====16-197=====<br />
''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====16-198=====<br />
''(speaks): God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199=====<br />
''God buy you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits; Gertrude exits to follow her)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude will reclaim her clothing and jewelry.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-200=====<br />
''Laertes: Do you this, O God?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====16-201=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====16-202=====<br />
''Or you deny me right; go but apart,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====16-203=====<br />
''Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====16-204=====<br />
''And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====16-205=====<br />
''If by direct, or by collateral hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====16-206=====<br />
''They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====16-207=====<br />
''Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====16-208=====<br />
''To you in satisfaction; but if not,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====16-209=====<br />
''Be you content to lend your patience to us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====16-210=====<br />
''And we shall jointly labor with your soul''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====16-211=====<br />
''To give it due content.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====16-212=====<br />
''Laertes: Let this be so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====16-213=====<br />
''His means of death, his obscure burial,''<br />
<br />
''obscure burial'' - which Claudius ordered in hopes the death of Polonius would attract little attention, and not cause him trouble.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#213|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-214=====<br />
''No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====16-215=====<br />
''No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====16-216=====<br />
''Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====16-217=====<br />
''That I must call it in question.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====16-218=====<br />
''Claudius: So you shall,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====16-219=====<br />
''And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.''<br />
<br />
''great axe'' - executioner's axe.<br />
<br />
Claudius believes he has already arranged that, for Hamlet in England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220=====<br />
''I pray you go with me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_16
Scene 16
2018-02-04T16:21:28Z
<p>Administrator: /* 16-039 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Throne Room, Horatio and a Gentleman persuade Gertrude to speak with Ophelia. At first, Gertrude doesn't want to see Ophelia because, since her son has killed Ophelia's father, Gertrude anticipates an unpleasant confrontation.<br />
<br />
Ophelia enters slowly, doing a leisurely, graceful dance, as Gertrude speaks her "guilt" speech aside. Ophelia then speaks oddly to Gertrude, and sings.<br />
<br />
Claudius enters, because he heard the singing. Ophelia sings more. Claudius speaks of Ophelia and grief, as he draws the wrong conclusion. Ophelia exits.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that Laertes has returned, and Laertes is hearing condemnations of Claudius in connection with the death of Polonius. Loud noises are heard, and a messenger enters, to inform Claudius that Laertes is leading a riotous rabble to storm the Castle.<br />
<br />
Laertes enters, sword in hand, and irate. He demands Claudius explain things.<br />
<br />
While Claudius is talking with Laertes, Ophelia reenters. Ophelia sings to Laertes, and hands him flowers. He is totally at a loss, except he's sure she's mad. Ophelia departs, with a final word of blessing for everyone. Gertrude and her ladies follow Ophelia, to keep watch on her.<br />
<br />
Claudius asks to meet with Laertes and his "wisest friends" to explain his innocence in the death of Polonius. Laertes says he's willing to listen, and they exit.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 16 Characters are: [[Gertrude]], [[Gentleman]], [[Horatio]], [[Ophelia]], [[Claudius]], [[Messenger]], [[Laertes]], [[Ruffians]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Claudius entry [[#038-SD]], || Ophelia first exit [[#071-SD]], || Messenger entry [[#092-SD2]]<br />
|-<br />
| Laertes entry [[#108-SD]], || Ophelia reentry [[#158-SD]], || Ophelia last exit [[#199-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 16</b> [ ~ Baker's Daughter ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 5)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Throne Room;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude enters;<br />
Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-001]]<span id="001"></span> Gertrude: I will not speak with her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will not speak with her.''</span><br />
[[#16-002]]<span id="002"></span> Gentleman: She is importunate,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is insistent for attention,''</span><br />
[[#16-003]]<span id="003"></span> Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Distracted in what she does. Her state of mind will necessarily be pitied.''</span><br />
[[#16-004]]<span id="004"></span> Gertrude: What would she have?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What does she want?''</span><br />
[[#16-005]]<span id="005"></span> Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She says a lot about her father, and says she hears''</span><br />
[[#16-006]]<span id="006"></span> There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's tricks in the world, and equivocates, and pounds her chest,''</span><br />
[[#16-007]]<span id="007"></span> Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Reacts scornfully, in a bad natured way, over trifles, and says things in suspicion,''</span><br />
[[#16-008]]<span id="008"></span> That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That sound only half sensible. Her speech is naughty,''</span><br />
[[#16-009]]<span id="009"></span> Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Still, the illogical employment of her speech motivates''</span><br />
[[#16-010]]<span id="010"></span> The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Those who hear it to try to gather meaning from it. They gape at what she says,''</span><br />
[[#16-011]]<span id="011"></span> And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And misconstrue her words in fitting them to their own preconceptions,''</span><br />
[[#16-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield to them,''</span><br />
[[#16-013]]<span id="013"></span> Indeed would make one think there would be thought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed would make one think there should be grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-014]]<span id="014"></span> Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Although not for sure, still very expressive of misfortune.''</span><br />
[[#16-015]]<span id="015"></span> Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be good to speak with her, for she might breed''</span><br />
[[#16-016]]<span id="016"></span> Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. [[#16-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Gertrude nods to Horatio)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hazardous surmises in minds that jump to conclusions.''</span><br />
[[#16-017]]<span id="017"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to the doorman):</span> Let her come in. [[#16-017-SD1]]<span id="017-SD1"></span> (said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let her come in.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-017-SD2]]<span id="017-SD2"></span> (Horatio and the Gentleman exit;<br />
Ophelia enters, dancing)<br />
<br />
[[#16-018]]<span id="018"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To my sick soul, (which is the true nature of sin,)''</span><br />
[[#16-019]]<span id="019"></span> Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Each idea that crosses my mind seems to lead to disaster.''</span><br />
[[#16-020]]<span id="020"></span> So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Guilt is so full of natural misery,''</span><br />
[[#16-021]]<span id="021"></span> It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It reveals itself, from its fear of being revealed.''</span><br />
[[#16-022]]<span id="022"></span> Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''</span><br />
[[#16-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Greetings, Ophelia?''</span><br />
[[#16-024]]<span id="024"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''How should I your true love know''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can I, your true love, know you''</span><br />
[[#16-025]]<span id="025"></span> ''From another one?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From someone else?''</span><br />
[[#16-026]]<span id="026"></span> ''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By his cock-le top, and shaft''</span><br />
[[#16-027]]<span id="027"></span> ''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And his silken slippers.''</span><br />
[[#16-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, sweet Lady, what brings out that song?''</span><br />
[[#16-029]]<span id="029"></span> Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't say? No, please pay attention:''</span><br />
[[#16-030]]<span id="030"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone, Lady''</span><br />
[[#16-031]]<span id="031"></span> ''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone''</span><br />
[[#16-032]]<span id="032"></span> ''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his head there is green grass turf''</span><br />
[[#16-033]]<span id="033"></span> ''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his heels there is a stone''</span><br />
[[#16-034]]<span id="034"></span> <span style="color:gray">(exclaims):</span> Oh ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh ho!''</span><br />
[[#16-035]]<span id="035"></span> Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but Ophelia . . .''</span><br />
[[#16-036]]<span id="036"></span> Ophelia: Pray you, mark!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please pay attention!''</span><br />
[[#16-037]]<span id="037"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''White his shroud as the mountain snow.'' [[#16-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (Claudius enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His shroud was as white as mountain snow''</span><br />
[[#16-038]]<span id="038"></span> Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord. [[#16-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, look there, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#16-039]]<span id="039"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With sweet flowers strewn all around,''</span><br />
[[#16-040]]<span id="040"></span> ''Which bewept to the grave did not go'' [[#16-040-SD]]<span id="040-SD"></span> (the word "not" is spoken aside)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, falling like tears on the grave did -not- go''</span><br />
[[#16-041]]<span id="041"></span> ''With true love showers.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Accompanied by any shower of real love.''</span><br />
[[#16-042]]<span id="042"></span> Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are you feeling, pretty Lady?''</span><br />
[[#16-043]]<span id="043"></span> Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well may goodness refrain you, musically.''</span><br />
[[#16-044]]<span id="044"></span> They say the owl was a baker's daughter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say the owl was a baker's daughter.''</span><br />
[[#16-045]]<span id="045"></span> Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lord, I know what I am now, but don't know what I may become.''</span><br />
[[#16-046]]<span id="046"></span> God be at your table.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May God be at work on your gravestone, now.''</span><br />
[[#16-047]]<span id="047"></span> Claudius: Conceit upon her father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A caprice due to her father's death.''</span><br />
[[#16-048]]<span id="048"></span> Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, let's have no words about him - but if anyone asks you''</span><br />
[[#16-049]]<span id="049"></span> what it means, say you this:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what all this means, you can tell them this:''</span><br />
[[#16-050]]<span id="050"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day, and''</span><br />
[[#16-051]]<span id="051"></span> ''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Quite in the morning, before it's too late,''</span><br />
[[#16-052]]<span id="052"></span> ''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's me, a maiden tapping at your window''</span><br />
[[#16-053]]<span id="053"></span> ''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be your valentine''</span><br />
[[#16-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So he rose up, put on some clothes, and opened up his bedroom door,''</span><br />
[[#16-055]]<span id="055"></span> ''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let in the maiden, who never again went out as a virgin.''</span><br />
[[#16-056]]<span id="056"></span> Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pretty, Ophelia.''</span><br />
[[#16-057]]<span id="057"></span> Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end to it.''</span><br />
[[#16-058]]<span id="058"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Jesus and by Saint Charity,''</span><br />
[[#16-059]]<span id="059"></span> ''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''oh dear, and fie, for shame,''</span><br />
[[#16-060]]<span id="060"></span> ''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Young men will do it if they come to it''</span><br />
[[#16-061]]<span id="061"></span> ''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''by cock they are to blame.''</span><br />
[[#16-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Said she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''</span><br />
[[#16-063]]<span id="063"></span> (He answers): ''So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''(He answers): So would I have done, by yonder sun,''</span><br />
[[#16-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had not come to my bed.''</span><br />
[[#16-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: How long hath she been thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long has she been like this?''</span><br />
[[#16-066]]<span id="066"></span> Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hope all will be well. I must be patient, but I cannot choose''</span><br />
[[#16-067]]<span id="067"></span> but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but weep to think they would lay him in the cold ground. My brother''</span><br />
[[#16-068]]<span id="068"></span> shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shall learn of it - and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come''</span><br />
[[#16-069]]<span id="069"></span> my coach; good night, Ladies, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''my coach, goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''</span><br />
[[#16-070]]<span id="070"></span> Sweet Lady, good night, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-070-SD]]<span id="070-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits)<br />
<br />
[[#16-071]]<span id="071"></span> Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [[#16-071-SD]]<span id="071-SD"></span> (the ladies-in-waiting curtsy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow her closely, and keep a close watch on her, please.''</span> and exit to follow Ophelia)<br />
[[#16-072]]<span id="072"></span> Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the poison of deep grief, it all springs from her father's''</span><br />
[[#16-073]]<span id="073"></span> death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''death, and now behold the result. Oh, Gertrude, Gertrude,''</span><br />
[[#16-074]]<span id="074"></span> When sorrows come, they come not single spies,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When sorrows come, they don't come one at a time,''</span><br />
[[#16-075]]<span id="075"></span> But in battalions. First her father slain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But in battalions. First, her father slain,''</span><br />
[[#16-076]]<span id="076"></span> Next, your son gone, and he most violent author<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Next, your son gone - and he himself the very violent cause''</span><br />
[[#16-077]]<span id="077"></span> Of his own just remove, the people muddied,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of his own justified departure - the people stirred up,''</span><br />
[[#16-078]]<span id="078"></span> Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dense and unhealthy in their minds, and rumor mongering''</span><br />
[[#16-079]]<span id="079"></span> For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over good Polonius's death - and I have acted only recently,''</span><br />
[[#16-080]]<span id="080"></span> In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In seclusion, to have him buried - poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#16-081]]<span id="081"></span> Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Beside herself, and diverted from her good judgment -''</span><br />
[[#16-082]]<span id="082"></span> Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Without which we humans are mindless as images in pictures, or mere beasts -''</span><br />
[[#16-083]]<span id="083"></span> Last, and as much containing as all these:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Last - and as difficult to deal with as all of those, combined -''</span><br />
[[#16-084]]<span id="084"></span> Her brother is in secret come from France,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her brother has returned, in secret, from France, and''</span><br />
[[#16-085]]<span id="085"></span> Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Takes in all these strange events, keeps out of sight,''</span><br />
[[#16-086]]<span id="086"></span> And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has no lack of scandalmongers to poison his mind''</span><br />
[[#16-087]]<span id="087"></span> With pestilent speeches of his father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With pernicious gossip about his father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-088]]<span id="088"></span> Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which they feel the need to blame sombody, and lacking the facts,''</span><br />
[[#16-089]]<span id="089"></span> Will nothing stick our person to arraign<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll stop at nothing to accuse me''</span><br />
[[#16-090]]<span id="090"></span> In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the word goes from ear to ear. Oh, my dear Gertrude, this,''</span><br />
[[#16-091]]<span id="091"></span> Like to a murdering piece, in many places<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a huge shotgun, hits me in many vital spots, and''</span><br />
[[#16-092]]<span id="092"></span> Gives me superfluous death. [[#16-092-SD1]]<span id="092-SD1"></span> (an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just kills me, over and over.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-092-SD2]]<span id="092-SD2"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-093]]<span id="093"></span> Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, what's that noise?''</span><br />
[[#16-094]]<span id="094"></span> Claudius: Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Attention, everyone! Where are my Swiss guards? Have them guard the door!''</span><br />
[[#16-095]]<span id="095"></span> What is the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#16-096]]<span id="096"></span> Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save yourself, my Lord!''</span><br />
[[#16-097]]<span id="097"></span> The ocean, over-peering of his list<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ocean, overflowing at its margins,''</span><br />
[[#16-098]]<span id="098"></span> Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not engulf the flats with more merciless speed''</span><br />
[[#16-099]]<span id="099"></span> Than young Laertes, in a riotous head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than young Laertes, at the head of the riot,''</span><br />
[[#16-100]]<span id="100"></span> O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Overwhelms your soldiers and guards. The rabble call him "Lord,"''</span><br />
[[#16-101]]<span id="101"></span> And, as the world were now but to begin,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, as if the human world were only now beginning,''</span><br />
[[#16-102]]<span id="102"></span> Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Precedent forgotten, ceremony unknown,''</span><br />
[[#16-103]]<span id="103"></span> The ratifiers and props of every word,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The only validators and supports for their every word is''</span><br />
[[#16-104]]<span id="104"></span> The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The outcry: "We choose!" "Laertes shall be King!''</span><br />
[[#16-105]]<span id="105"></span> Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They toss their caps in the air, raise their hands, and cheer it to the clouds:''</span><br />
[[#16-106]]<span id="106"></span> Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''</span><br />
[[#16-107]]<span id="107"></span> Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! [[#16-107-SD]]<span id="107-SD"></span> (loud noise just outside the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How cheerfully they cry, as they follow this false trail!''</span> closed door to the Lobby)<br />
[[#16-108]]<span id="108"></span> Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the wrong way, you traitorous Danish dogs!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-108-SD]]<span id="108-SD"></span> (Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)<br />
<br />
[[#16-109]]<span id="109"></span> Claudius: The doors are broke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The doors are broken in.''</span><br />
[[#16-110]]<span id="110"></span> Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is this so-called "King?" Sirs, wait outside.''</span><br />
[[#16-111]]<span id="111"></span> Ruffians: No, lets come in!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, let us come in!''</span><br />
[[#16-112]]<span id="112"></span> Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I beg you, allow me to talk to him.''</span><br />
[[#16-113]]<span id="113"></span> Ruffians: We will, we will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alright, we will, we will.''</span><br />
[[#16-114]]<span id="114"></span> Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thank you. Control the doorway. Oh, you vile King,''</span><br />
[[#16-115]]<span id="115"></span> Give me my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Give me my father!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-115-SD]]<span id="115-SD"></span> (Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)<br />
<br />
[[#16-116]]<span id="116"></span> Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be calm, good Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#16-117]]<span id="117"></span> Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If any drop of my blood is calm it reveals I'm a bastard,''</span><br />
[[#16-118]]<span id="118"></span> Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shouts that my father was a cuckold, puts the brand of the harlot''</span><br />
[[#16-119]]<span id="119"></span> Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right here, between the chaste, undefiled brows''</span><br />
[[#16-120]]<span id="120"></span> Of my true mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of my virtuous mother.''</span><br />
[[#16-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the reason, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-122]]<span id="122"></span> That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That the rebellion you lead looks so ambitious?''</span><br />
[[#16-123]]<span id="123"></span> Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him go, Gertrude, do not worry about my personal safety.''</span><br />
[[#16-124]]<span id="124"></span> There's such divinity doth hedge a King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's such divinity to shield a King,''</span><br />
[[#16-125]]<span id="125"></span> That treason can but peep to what it would,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That treason can only peek at what it wants, and''</span><br />
[[#16-126]]<span id="126"></span> Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Acts little of what it desires. Tell me, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-127]]<span id="127"></span> Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you are so incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#16-128]]<span id="128"></span> Speak, man.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak, man.''</span><br />
[[#16-129]]<span id="129"></span> Laertes: Where is my father?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is my father?''</span><br />
[[#16-130]]<span id="130"></span> Claudius: Dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dead.''</span><br />
[[#16-131]]<span id="131"></span> Gertrude: But not by him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But not killed by him!''</span><br />
[[#16-132]]<span id="132"></span> Claudius: Let him demand his fill.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him question until he's satisfied.''</span><br />
[[#16-133]]<span id="133"></span> Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What led to his death? I won't be taken lightly!''</span><br />
[[#16-134]]<span id="134"></span> To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To hell with loyalty to the crown, and religious dedication - to the most evil devil!''</span><br />
[[#16-135]]<span id="135"></span> Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Conscience, and nobility, into the deepest pit!''</span><br />
[[#16-136]]<span id="136"></span> I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I dare damnation! On this point I make my stand,''</span><br />
[[#16-137]]<span id="137"></span> That both the worlds I give to negligence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, for my fate in both this world and the next, I couldn't care less.''</span><br />
[[#16-138]]<span id="138"></span> Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let whatever happens, happen, but I'll have revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-139]]<span id="139"></span> Most throughly for my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In every way, for my father.''</span><br />
[[#16-140]]<span id="140"></span> Claudius: Who shall stay you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who will stop you?''</span><br />
[[#16-141]]<span id="141"></span> Laertes: My will, not all the world's.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only my own will, no matter what the rest of the world wants!''</span><br />
[[#16-142]]<span id="142"></span> And for my means, I'll husband them so well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As for my resources, I'll manage them so well,''</span><br />
[[#16-143]]<span id="143"></span> They shall go far with little.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll take me far, though they be slight.''</span><br />
[[#16-144]]<span id="144"></span> Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Laertes, if you desire to know the reliable truth''</span><br />
[[#16-145]]<span id="145"></span> Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''About your dear father, is it "officially written" in your duty for revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-146]]<span id="146"></span> That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, (as in winning a sweepstakes,) you will execute both friend and foe,''</span><br />
[[#16-147]]<span id="147"></span> Winner and loser?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only yourself the winner, anyone else, the loser?''</span><br />
[[#16-148]]<span id="148"></span> Laertes: None but his enemies.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll kill no one except his enemies.''</span><br />
[[#16-149]]<span id="149"></span> Claudius: Will you know them, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you know who his enemies are, then?''</span><br />
[[#16-150]]<span id="150"></span> Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms, [[#16-150-SD]]<span id="150-SD"></span> (Laertes sheaths his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To his good friends, I'll spread my arms wide, like this,''</span><br />
[[#16-151]]<span id="151"></span> And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like the proverbially caring, life-sustaining pelican,''</span><br />
[[#16-152]]<span id="152"></span> Repast them with my blood.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nourish them with my own blood.''</span><br />
[[#16-153]]<span id="153"></span> Claudius: Why, now you speak<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, now you speak''</span><br />
[[#16-154]]<span id="154"></span> Like a good child, and a true gentleman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a good child, and a real gentleman.''</span><br />
[[#16-155]]<span id="155"></span> That I am guiltless of your father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am free of guilt in your father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-156]]<span id="156"></span> And am most sensible in grief for it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And am fully rational in my grief over it,''</span><br />
[[#16-157]]<span id="157"></span> It shall as level to your judgment pierce<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It will get through to your judgment as truly,''</span><br />
[[#16-158]]<span id="158"></span> As day does to your eye.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As day does, to your eye.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-158-SD]]<span id="158-SD"></span> (noise is heard at the doorway;<br />
Ophelia enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-159]]<span id="159"></span> Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's happening? Why the noise? Let her come in.''</span><br />
[[#16-160]]<span id="160"></span> O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times as irritating as pure salt,''</span><br />
[[#16-161]]<span id="161"></span> Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Burn out the vision and goodness of my eyes!''</span><br />
[[#16-162]]<span id="162"></span> By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Heaven, your madness will be repaid with weight''</span><br />
[[#16-163]]<span id="163"></span> Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the scales of justice swings its beam. Oh, Rose of May!''</span><br />
[[#16-164]]<span id="164"></span> Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dear maiden, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''</span><br />
[[#16-165]]<span id="165"></span> O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, heavens, is it possible a young maiden's intelligence''</span><br />
[[#16-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should be as mortal as an old man's life?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could be as mortal as an old man's life?''</span><br />
[[#16-167]]<span id="167"></span> Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Human nature, in love, is delicate, and when it's delicate,''</span><br />
[[#16-168]]<span id="168"></span> It sends some precious instance of itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It sends a valuable part of its human nature,''</span><br />
[[#16-169]]<span id="169"></span> After the thing it loves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''After the object of its love.''</span><br />
[[#16-170]]<span id="170"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They carried him bare-faced on the bier,''</span><br />
[[#16-171]]<span id="171"></span> ''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And into his grave rained many a tear.''</span><br />
[[#16-172]]<span id="172"></span> ''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''</span><br />
[[#16-173]]<span id="173"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> Fare you well, my dove!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fare you well, my dove!''</span><br />
[[#16-174]]<span id="174"></span> Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had your wits about you, and prevailed on me to seek revenge,''</span><br />
[[#16-175]]<span id="175"></span> It could not move thus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It could not move me as much as this does.''</span><br />
[[#16-176]]<span id="176"></span> Ophelia: You must sing ''a down, a down,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must sing a down, a down,''</span><br />
[[#16-177]]<span id="177"></span> And you call him ''a down a.'' Oh, how the wheel becomes it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the refrain befits it!''</span><br />
[[#16-178]]<span id="178"></span> It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is lying Hamlet who stole Jesus's daughter from the nunnery.''</span><br />
[[#16-179]]<span id="179"></span> Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This nothingness tells me more than an explanation would.''</span><br />
[[#16-180]]<span id="180"></span> Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, (pray you love,''</span><br />
[[#16-181]]<span id="181"></span> remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''remember,) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''</span><br />
[[#16-182]]<span id="182"></span> Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lesson in madness, thoughts and remembrance tangled in a fit.''</span><br />
[[#16-183]]<span id="183"></span> Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for''</span><br />
[[#16-184]]<span id="184"></span> you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, and here's some for me. We may call it "herb of grace" on Sundays.''</span><br />
[[#16-185]]<span id="185"></span> you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You may wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would''</span><br />
[[#16-186]]<span id="186"></span> give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''give you some violets but they all died when my father did.''</span><br />
[[#16-187]]<span id="187"></span> they say he made a good end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say he did well at the end.''</span><br />
[[#16-188]]<span id="188"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''</span><br />
[[#16-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Grief and torment! Agony! She makes Hell itself''</span><br />
[[#16-190]]<span id="190"></span> She turns to favor and to prettiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look like a favor, and something pretty.''</span><br />
[[#16-191]]<span id="191"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-192]]<span id="192"></span> ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-193]]<span id="193"></span> ''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, no, he is dead. Go to thy death bed!''</span><br />
[[#16-194]]<span id="194"></span> ''He never will come again.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He never will come again.''</span><br />
[[#16-195]]<span id="195"></span> ''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His beard was as white as snow,''</span><br />
[[#16-196]]<span id="196"></span> ''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The skin of his head was yellowish,''</span><br />
[[#16-197]]<span id="197"></span> ''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''</span><br />
[[#16-198]]<span id="198"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''God have mercy on his soul, and on all Christians' souls.''</span><br />
[[#16-199]]<span id="199"></span> God buy you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye to you.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-199-SD]]<span id="199-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits;<br />
Gertrude exits to follow her)<br />
<br />
[[#16-200]]<span id="200"></span> Laertes: Do you this, O God?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you done this, oh God?''</span><br />
[[#16-201]]<span id="201"></span> Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I must share your grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-202]]<span id="202"></span> Or you deny me right; go but apart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or you deny me my right. But go your own way,''</span><br />
[[#16-203]]<span id="203"></span> Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Choose from among your wisest friends whomever you wish,''</span><br />
[[#16-204]]<span id="204"></span> And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they shall hear and judge, between you and me.''</span><br />
[[#16-205]]<span id="205"></span> If by direct, or by collateral hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If in any direct or indirect way''</span><br />
[[#16-206]]<span id="206"></span> They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They find me touched by guilt, I'll give up my kingdom,''</span><br />
[[#16-207]]<span id="207"></span> Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My crown, my life, and all that I call mine,''</span><br />
[[#16-208]]<span id="208"></span> To you in satisfaction; but if not,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To you in satisfaction, of your revenge. But if not,''</span><br />
[[#16-209]]<span id="209"></span> Be you content to lend your patience to us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be content to give me time,''</span><br />
[[#16-210]]<span id="210"></span> And we shall jointly labor with your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I will work together with you''</span><br />
[[#16-211]]<span id="211"></span> To give it due content.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make you content in your soul.''</span><br />
[[#16-212]]<span id="212"></span> Laertes: Let this be so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let it be so.''</span><br />
[[#16-213]]<span id="213"></span> His means of death, his obscure burial,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The way he was killed . . . his hidden burial,''</span><br />
[[#16-214]]<span id="214"></span> No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No trophy sword . . . nor coat of arms over his body,''</span><br />
[[#16-215]]<span id="215"></span> No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No noble privilege . . . nor formal exhibition -''</span><br />
[[#16-216]]<span id="216"></span> Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All of that cries out so much to be understood, as it were, from Heaven to earth,''</span><br />
[[#16-217]]<span id="217"></span> That I must call it in question.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I must call it all into question.''</span><br />
[[#16-218]]<span id="218"></span> Claudius: So you shall,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So you may,''</span><br />
[[#16-219]]<span id="219"></span> And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where the guilt lies, let the executioner's axe fall on him.''</span><br />
[[#16-220]]<span id="220"></span> I pray you go with me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please go with me.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes exit)<br />
<hr> <br />
End of Scene 16<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====16-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Throne Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - <br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====16-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters; Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting are present with the Queen in the Throne Room. Claudius is absent, for whatever reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-001=====<br />
''Gertrude: I will not speak with her.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude supposes that Ophelia wants to complain to her about the death of Polonius, and to demand justice, but there is nothing Gertrude can do about the death of Polonius, or about Claudius sending Hamlet to England. This is not to imply Gertrude would condemn her son, even if she could. We see elsewhere in the play that Gertrude likes Ophelia, so one can understand that Gertrude does not wish to face Ophelia's reproaches.<br />
<br />
Gertrude has no inkling of what Ophelia's speech and behavior will turn out to be, as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====16-002=====<br />
''Gentleman: She is importunate,''<br />
<br />
''importunate'' - assertive. Resolute. Forward.<br />
<br />
For the second, "resolute," recall Horatio's mention in Scene 1 of "landless resolutes," ([[Scene 1#108]],) as Horatio spoke of determined men.<br />
<br />
For the third, "forward," see Shakespeare Sonnet 99, which is partly about Shakespeare's choice of flowers for Ophelia's "crownet weeds" which Gertrude tells us of in Scene 18.<br />
<br />
The forward violet thus did I chide:<br />
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,<br />
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride<br />
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells<br />
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.<br />
The lily I condemned for thy hand, ...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====16-003=====<br />
''Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.''<br />
<br />
''Indeed'' - primarily takes the literal meaning "in deed," referring to what she does, how she acts. Second, can be read as "very," or "truly."<br />
<br />
''distract'' - distracted - emotionally disturbed. The way she acts reveals emotional disturbance.<br />
<br />
''mood'' - state of mind.<br />
<br />
''needs'' - of necessity; necessarily.<br />
<br />
''pitied'' - viewed with sympathy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====16-004=====<br />
''Gertrude: What would she have?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude wonders if there's anything in particular Ophelia wants her to do. If so, perhaps it might be possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====16-005=====<br />
''Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====16-006=====<br />
''There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,''<br />
<br />
''hems'' - equivocates. The meaning of what she says is not clear. Can also be interpreted as in "hem and haw."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====16-007=====<br />
''Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====16-008=====<br />
''That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,''<br />
<br />
''nothing'' - naughty. ''Nothing'' is "naught," so nothing speech is naughty speech, which we shall hear from Ophelia as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====16-009=====<br />
''Yet the unshaped use of it doth move''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====16-010=====<br />
''The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,''<br />
<br />
''collection'' - gathering. The figure of speech is as in the use of "gather." An example modern sentence would be, "As I gather from what he said, he meant..."<br />
<br />
''yawn'' - gape. Stare open-mouthed, as if yawning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====16-011=====<br />
''And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====16-012=====<br />
''Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====16-013=====<br />
''Indeed would make one think there would be thought,''<br />
<br />
''thought'' - grief (a definition now obsolete.) For example, see Chaucer, ''Troilus and Criseyde'':<br />
<br />
But if thou wene I be thus sik for drede, 575<br />
It is not so, and ther-for scorne nought;<br />
Ther is a-nother thing I take of hede<br />
Wel more than ought the Grekes han y-wrought,<br />
Which cause is of my deeth, for sorwe and thought.<br />
...<br />
<br />
It is supposed that Ophelia would be suffering from grief, over her father's death, but what she's saying and doing is not a display of the usual behavior of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#013|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-014=====<br />
''Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====16-015=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016=====<br />
''Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude nods to Horatio)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017=====<br />
''Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD1=====<br />
''(said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD2=====<br />
''(Horatio and the Gentleman exit; Ophelia enters, dancing)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-018=====<br />
''Gertrude (aside): To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====16-019=====<br />
''Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,''<br />
<br />
''toy'' - idea, something the mind plays with, turning it over, looking at it with the mind's eye. Can be understood as a puzzle Gertrude is trying to solve, to get a favorable outcome (but with no luck.)<br />
<br />
''prologue'' - lead-in; introduction. In this usage, ''prologue'' means "that which leads to some consequence."<br />
<br />
''amiss'' - failure, to achieve what she wants, like missing a target. So, ''great amiss'' - great failure; disaster.<br />
<br />
Every idea Gertrude can come up with, when she examines it, and turns it over in her mind, it leads to disaster. She finds no way to envision a positive outcome to all this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====16-020=====<br />
''So full of artless jealousy is guilt,''<br />
<br />
''artless'' - natural.<br />
<br />
''jealousy'' - anxiety; misery. Wretchedness. Intensely unpleasant emotion. Could be extended to "malice." The word ''jealousy'' here is a kind of figure of speech, the use of a more specific word to express a more general concept.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====16-021=====<br />
''It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====16-022=====<br />
''Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''<br />
<br />
Said because after agreeing to grant Ophelia an audience, Gertrude is not on the throne. Gertrude stepped down and wandered away from the throne for her "guilt" speech, aside.<br />
<br />
''beauteous'' - Ophelia is returning the compliment Gertrude earlier bestowed on Ophelia, in Scene 8, "That your good beauties be the happy cause..." ([[Scene 8#043]]) Ophelia was gratified by Gertrude's compliment to her beauty, remembered it, and is returning it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====16-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude has now returned to her throne, in response to Ophelia's question.<br />
<br />
''How now'' - greetings. Quite similar to the modern slang greeting, "what's up?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====16-024=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): How should I your true love know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====16-025=====<br />
''From another one?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====16-026=====<br />
''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====16-027=====<br />
''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<br />
''sendal'' - silk, that is, a silk fabric. Mentioned by Chaucer, among others.<br><br />
The Middle English Dictionary lists it "cendā̆l" as their primary spelling, which is impossible to find with an ordinary lookup, but anyway, here it is.<br><br />
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED7072<br><br />
(checked 06/02/2015)<br />
<br />
For where Shakespeare might have learned ''sendal,'' see for example ''The Canterbury Tales,'' General Prologue, The Physician, line 442:<br />
<br />
But of greet norissyng, and digestible.<br />
His studie was but litel on the Bible.<br />
In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,<br />
Lyned with taffata and with sendal;<br />
<br />
Further, according to some writers, ''sendal'' was the shrouding fabric used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
''shoon'' - an archaic plural of "shoe." Shoes.<br />
<br />
''sendal shoon'' - silk shoes; silk slippers. Dancing shoes. As compared to all the ordinary pilgrims wearing sandals, Ophelia pictures Hamlet on his "pilgrimage" wearing silk slippers.<br />
<br />
Also, with the death of her father Ophelia has put on her dancing shoes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#027|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?''<br />
<br />
''imports'' - to import is to bring, in some way: bring out, bring up, bring forth. The question is, "what brings forth this song?"<br />
<br />
There is simultaneously the question of what import the song has, what its significance is. Shakespeare implied both of the relevant definitions of ''imports.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====16-029=====<br />
''Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====16-030=====<br />
''(sings): He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====16-031=====<br />
''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====16-032=====<br />
''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====16-033=====<br />
''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====16-034=====<br />
''(exclaims): Oh ho!''<br />
<br />
An exclamation of delight.<br />
<br />
Recall what we have seen of Polonius and Ophelia.<br />
<br />
First, in Scene 3, Polonius forbade Ophelia to have any further communication with her fiance, Prince Hamlet. She obeyed, but she did not like that.<br />
<br />
When Hamlet rushed to Ophelia's room, before Scene 6, Ophelia then went to Polonius to try to get him to change his mind, and allow her to talk to Hamlet, to find out why he did that. She never even got the chance to ask Polonius, who decided immediately to take Ophelia and Hamlet's private relationship public. She did not like that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then confiscated (or just plain stole) Ophelia's love letters from Hamlet, since Polonius wanted tangible evidence to show the King, proving that Hamlet had expressed love for Ophelia. When Ophelia tried to fight back, to keep her love letters, and threatened to tell Hamlet, Polonius locked Ophelia in her room, to prevent her resort to Hamlet. She hated that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then persuaded Ophelia to participate in the Nunnery Scene eavesdropping scheme, on the ground that it would get her married to Hamlet, when the King heard Hamlet express love for her. The scheme turned into a disaster, that left her abandoned and heartbroken. It was her father's scheme, and she blamed her father for the result.<br />
<br />
At that point, Ophelia, being a young lady of normal psychology, was wishing her father would get out of her life, and just drop dead. In this Scene, she is ''not'' grieving over his death. She is hysterically happy. Her secret wish has come true.<br />
<br />
The other characters have not seen everything we in the audience have seen, and they do not understand this. They think Ophelia is displaying some weird, mad symptoms of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====16-035=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====16-036=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray you, mark!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037=====<br />
''(sings): White his shroud as the mountain snow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters)''<br />
<br />
Claudius enters because he heard a woman singing in the Throne Room. His first thought is that it's Gertrude, since Gertrude is the woman anyone would associate with the Throne Room. Claudius is curious why Gertrude would be singing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
From the way Claudius looks at her, Gertrude realizes Claudius thought she was the one singing. So she points at Ophelia, and tells Claudius, ''look here.''<br />
<br />
''here'' - not here. "There," that is. When Gertrude says ''look here'' she means "look there," at Ophelia. Claudius is looking ''here,'' at Gertrude, and she says ''here'' to tell him to look "not here."<br />
<br />
The language is perfectly understandable to anybody familiar with English, while the explanation sounds like madness. It is a peculiarity of English that the word ''here'' can mean "there," (and the word "there" can mean ''here,'') depending on what is indicated. Shakespeare had some fun in the play with "here" v "there," (and also "this" v "that.")<br />
<br />
When Gertrude says ''look here,'' and points at Ophelia, we all understand she means "look there." Claudius does so.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Claudius, curious, approaches Ophelia as she sings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-039=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<br />
''Larded'' - "flavored," as a feast for the eye. A figure of speech based on the concept of a ceremony being a kind of show, and a show being a feast for the eye, so to speak. The idea of a show as a feast arose earlier.<br />
<br />
Also, Hamlet spoke of Polonius being at supper "where he's eaten," and Ophelia now speaks of Polonius being ''larded,'' which would make him more tasty for the worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040=====<br />
''Which bewept to the grave did not go''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040-SD=====<br />
''(the word "not" is spoken aside)''<br />
<br />
The other characters don't hear Ophelia sing ''not,'' only the audience hears it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-041=====<br />
''With true love showers.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====16-042=====<br />
''Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====16-043=====<br />
''Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;''<br />
<br />
''dild' '' - dildo. It is an obsolete music term. Also appears in ''The Winter's Tale.''<br />
<br />
''Winter's Tale'' Act 4 scene 4,<br />
<br />
Servant: He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; ...<br />
... with such delicate <br />
burthens of dildos and fadings, ...<br />
<br />
A ''dildo'' is a nonsense phrase within the burden of a ditty, such as the "hey nonny nonny" mentioned in ''Much Ado about Nothing,'' Act 2 scene 3:<br />
<br />
Balthasar. Sigh no more, ladies, ...<br />
...<br />
And be you blithe and bonny, <br />
Converting all your sounds of woe <br />
Into Hey nonny, nonny.<br />
...<br />
<br />
The term comes from the fact of the word ''dildo'' itself being used, as in Thomas Morley's ''Will You Buy a Fine Dog?'':<br />
<br />
Will you buy a fine dog, with a hole in his head?<br />
With a dildo, dildo, dildo; ...<br />
<br />
The entire song can be found here:<br><br />
http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Will_you_buy_a_fine_dog%3F_(Thomas_Morley)<br />
<br />
''Dildo'' in this sense is the same sort of thing as "hey diddle diddle" in the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. It's some wording that is rhythmic, and rhymes, but has no meaning apart from its use in the verse.<br />
<br />
However, having said that, it is not possible to exclude the better-known, vulgar meaning, since that meaning did also exist in Shakespeare's time. For example, see the lewd verse "Choise of Valentines or the Merie Ballad of Nash his Dildo," T. Nashe, c.1593, which can be found at the Project Gutenberg website:<br><br />
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17779/17779-h/17779-h.htm<br />
<br />
It is safe to say that Ophelia's remark to Claudius is not entirely polite. An interpretation is available for Ophelia to be saying that, in her opinion, Claudius would benefit from the insertion into him of a dildo. That is not, however, her primary meaning. We once again have multiple meanings from the Bard.<br />
<br />
Primarily, she is saying she would like to sing a dildo about Claudius being dead, to go with her song about her father being dead.<br />
<br />
Ophelia says she wants Claudius to die, so she can sing about it.<br />
<br />
Claudius does not understand her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====16-044=====<br />
''They say the owl was a baker's daughter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====16-045=====<br />
''Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====16-046=====<br />
''God be at your table.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====16-047=====<br />
''Claudius: Conceit upon her father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====16-048=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====16-049=====<br />
''what it means, say you this:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====16-050=====<br />
''(sings): Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====16-051=====<br />
''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====16-052=====<br />
''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====16-053=====<br />
''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====16-054=====<br />
''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<br />
''clothes'' - a dressing gown, probably. A robe, as Americans now call it. We are not talking about the gentleman taking time to dress himself up in black tie and tails. He just grabs his robe, to go to the door. Well, more particularly, in the case of Hamlet, he'll grab his cloak, at least to wrap around himself.<br />
<br />
''dupt'' - dupped, in current standard spelling, a spelling which matters not at all since nobody says this any more. The word "dup" is formed merely from "do" + "up" and goes back to Middle English 'don up' which meant "to open," and probably referred to lifting up the simple kind of door latch used in those days. To open a door, one "did up" the latch.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====16-055=====<br />
''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====16-056=====<br />
''Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====16-057=====<br />
''Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====16-058=====<br />
''(sings): By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====16-059=====<br />
''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====16-060=====<br />
''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====16-061=====<br />
''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====16-062=====<br />
''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====16-063=====<br />
''(He answers): So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====16-064=====<br />
''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====16-065=====<br />
''Claudius: How long hath she been thus?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====16-066=====<br />
''Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====16-067=====<br />
''but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====16-068=====<br />
''shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come''<br />
<br />
''(my brother) shall know of it'' - and won't he have a fit!<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====16-069=====<br />
''my coach; goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Ladies'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#069|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070=====<br />
''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Sweet Lady'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, address Q2 "Ladyes"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#70|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits)''<br />
<br />
Running like Cinderella running to her coach at midnight, before it turns into a pumpkin.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.''<br />
<br />
Spoken to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071-SD=====<br />
''(the ladies-in-waiting curtsy, and exit to follow Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-072=====<br />
''Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====16-073=====<br />
''death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====16-074=====<br />
''When sorrows come, they come not single spies,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====16-075=====<br />
''But in battalions. First her father slain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====16-076=====<br />
''Next, your son gone, and he most violent author''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====16-077=====<br />
''Of his own just remove, the people muddied,''<br />
<br />
''just remove'' - justified removal; justified departure.<br />
<br />
''muddied'' - astir; stirred up. The way clear water in a brook becomes muddy when it's stirred up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====16-078=====<br />
''Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====16-079=====<br />
''For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly''<br />
<br />
''greenly'' - freshly; recently. Claudius is using the same figure of speech he used in speaking of his brother in Scene 2, in Claudius's first two lines in the play. ([[Scene 2 #001]] "Though yet of Hamlet, our dear brother's, death, The memory be green..."<br />
<br />
Fresh plantings are green. Claudius again speaks of a recent funeral as a "recent plant." This goes along with the analogy of Claudius with Cain, who was a tiller of the ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====16-080=====<br />
''In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia''<br />
<br />
''In hugger mugger'' - surreptitiously. Without public ceremony. Claudius wanted to draw as little attention to Polonius's death as possible, since Claudius did not take the usual legal action against Hamlet, and Claudius knows the public will wonder why not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====16-081=====<br />
''Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====16-082=====<br />
''Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====16-083=====<br />
''Last, and as much containing as all these:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====16-084=====<br />
''Her brother is in secret come from France,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====16-085=====<br />
''Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,''<br />
<br />
''in clouds'' - hidden from Claudius's sight. The figure of speech is that of a "sun (son) hidden in clouds," so that one cannot see it. There is an implicit son/sun pun.<br />
<br />
Properly, Laertes would have presented himself to the King upon his return, but Laertes has not done so. (We know Laertes ought to have presented himself to Claudius upon his return, because he needed Claudius's permission to leave, as we saw in Scene 2. Laertes is a Danish courtier, or is otherwise under some obligation to the Throne, probably because Polonius arranged a government position for Laertes.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====16-086=====<br />
''And wants not buzzers to infect his ear''<br />
<br />
''buzzers'' - gossips; rumor mongers. Recall Hamlet facetiously saying "buzz buzz" to Polonius in Scene 7.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====16-087=====<br />
''With pestilent speeches of his father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====16-088=====<br />
''Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====16-089=====<br />
''Will nothing stick our person to arraign''<br />
<br />
How could Claudius be blamed? Look at the most basic facts. 1) Hamlet killed Polonius. 2) Claudius sent Hamlet on a trip out of the country, beyond the reach of Danish law, to get a lot of money.<br />
<br />
By appearance, it looks like "hire and salary." A person could argue, just from that, that Claudius hired Hamlet to kill Polonius. We know better, but the average person in the local town has not seen what we have seen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====16-090=====<br />
''In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====16-091=====<br />
''Like to a murdering piece, in many places''<br />
<br />
''murdering piece'' - a cannon loaded with small projectiles, to produce a spray of shot, analogous to a shotgun blast. A ''murdering piece'' was so called because it was especially designed to kill enemy personnel, as opposed to knocking down walls.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092=====<br />
''Gives me superfluous death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD1=====<br />
''(an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)''<br />
<br />
Men shouting. Scuffling sounds, loud thuds. Some noise of steel hitting steel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD2=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Running, excited.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-093=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?''<br />
<br />
Addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====16-094=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto swissers.jpg|right]]<br />
''Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!''<br />
<br />
''Attend'' - take heed. From Latin 'attendere' ("give heed to.")<br />
<br />
''Swissers'' - Swiss guards. The modern standard spelling is "Switzer," but I see no overwhelming need to change the original Second Quarto spelling. Claudius is calling for his royal guards, his bodyguards.<br />
<br />
Where are they? Well since Claudius entered the way he did, just coming in out of curiosity to see what the singing was about, and did not enter the Throne Room in his usual kingly style, the Swissers probably don't even know he's in the Throne Room. They were not mustered for the royal entourage, to accompany Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#094|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-095=====<br />
''What is the matter?''<br />
<br />
Also addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====16-096=====<br />
''Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====16-097=====<br />
''The ocean, over-peering of his list''<br />
<br />
''over-peering'' - a peer is at the same level. Therefore, to ''over-peer'' is to rise higher, to rise above, to achieve a higher elevation than that which was formerly at the same level.<br />
<br />
''list'' - boundary; bounds. In this case, the former bounds.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====16-098=====<br />
''Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste''<br />
<br />
''Eats'' - engulfs.<br />
<br />
''flats'' - same as it means today: "flat land at the edge of the sea." See the current term "mud flat," or "mud flats."<br />
<br />
''impiteous'' - unconscionable; undutiful. BOOKMARK for me Originates in Latin 'pietas' ("dutiful conduct.") Duty Theme instance.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====16-099=====<br />
''Than young Laertes, in a riotous head''<br />
<br />
''in a riotous head'' - has the double meaning, "at the head of the riot," and "riotous in his thoughts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====16-100=====<br />
''O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"''<br />
<br />
''Lord'' - may be Laertes's technically-correct title. Polonius was a lord, and one would suppose Laertes has inherited his father's title. However, the title might depend, formally, upon royal ratification. Laertes's title inheritance is not clear in the play. He continues to be addressed as "sir" when he appears on stage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====16-101=====<br />
''And, as the world were now but to begin,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====16-102=====<br />
''Antiquity forgot, custom not known,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====16-103=====<br />
''The ratifiers and props of every word,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====16-104=====<br />
''The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====16-105=====<br />
''Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====16-106=====<br />
''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107=====<br />
''Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107-SD=====<br />
''(loud noise just outside the closed door to the Lobby)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108=====<br />
''Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!''<br />
<br />
''counter'' - the wrong way. Strictly, ''counter'' is when a dog goes the wrong way on a scent trail, getting farther from the game rather than closer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-109=====<br />
''Claudius: The doors are broke.''<br />
<br />
Important to note, for some actions that happen later. The rabble are breaking down doors throughout the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====16-110=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====16-111=====<br />
''Ruffians: No, lets come in!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====16-112=====<br />
''Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====16-113=====<br />
''Ruffians: We will, we will.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====16-114=====<br />
''Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115=====<br />
''Give me my father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)''<br />
<br />
Contrary to appearances, she is not primarily protecting Claudius, she is primarily protecting Hamlet's succession.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-116=====<br />
''Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====16-117=====<br />
''Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#117|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-118=====<br />
''Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====16-119=====<br />
''Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====16-120=====<br />
''Of my true mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====16-121=====<br />
''Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
''cause'' - reason. One might compare this to Claudius's use of "reason" in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2 #044]] "You cannot speak of reason to the Dane...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====16-122=====<br />
''That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====16-123=====<br />
''Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====16-124=====<br />
''There's such divinity doth hedge a King,''<br />
<br />
Has reference to the "divine right of kings."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====16-125=====<br />
''That treason can but peep to what it would,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====16-126=====<br />
''Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====16-127=====<br />
''Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====16-128=====<br />
''Speak, man.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====16-129=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is my father?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====16-130=====<br />
''Claudius: Dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====16-131=====<br />
''Gertrude: But not by him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====16-132=====<br />
''Claudius: Let him demand his fill.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====16-133=====<br />
''Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,''<br />
<br />
''juggled with'' - toyed with; treated as a buffoon. Laertes is emphasizing his deadly seriousness. ''Juggle'' is from Old French 'jogler' = "to be a buffoon or jester." So Laertes is telling King Claudius, "I am not here to be a king's jester for you."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====16-134=====<br />
''To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====16-135=====<br />
''Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====16-136=====<br />
''I dare damnation. To this point I stand,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====16-137=====<br />
''That both the worlds I give to negligence,''<br />
<br />
''both the worlds'' - the world of the living, and the afterlife.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====16-138=====<br />
''Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====16-139=====<br />
''Most throughly for my father.''<br />
<br />
''throughly'' - is the exact word printed in the Second Quarto. The words "through" and "thorough" were not clearly distinguished until Early Modern English. ''Throughly'' is probably the intended word, with no printing error. It can be understood as "completely," or as "through and through," that is, "in every way." A substitution of modern "thoroughly" would probably be acceptable, if one were neurotic about modernizing the text to the greatest degree possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====16-140=====<br />
''Claudius: Who shall stay you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====16-141=====<br />
''Laertes: My will, not all the world's.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====16-142=====<br />
''And for my means, I'll husband them so well,''<br />
<br />
''means'' - resources, especially financial resources. It does not seem to have occurred yet to Laertes that he must have a valuable inheritance, since Polonius was a rich man. There's no hint in the play of any other heir Polonius might have.<br />
<br />
''husband'' - manage, simply put. Further, ''husband'' can mean "conserve" or "manage thriftily," which is probably the intended full meaning, based on the idea of "thrift" already expressed in the play ([[Scene 2 #182]] "Hamlet: Thrift, thrift, Horatio...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====16-143=====<br />
''They shall go far with little.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====16-144=====<br />
''Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====16-145=====<br />
''Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,''<br />
<br />
''writ'' - used figuratively to mean "officially written" (like a law, or a king's order.) Claudius knows that Laertes's desire for revenge has no written conditions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====16-146=====<br />
''That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe''<br />
<br />
''swoopstake'' - the original word, which I retain because it doesn't necessarily mean exactly the same as modern "sweepstake." Clearly, the meaning is close to the modern term. BOOKMARK, for me.<br />
<br />
''draw'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====16-147=====<br />
''Winner and loser?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====16-148=====<br />
''Laertes: None but his enemies.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====16-149=====<br />
''Claudius: Will you know them, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150=====<br />
''Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes sheaths his sword)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-151=====<br />
[[File:Pelican.jpg|right|image of a pelican]]<br />
''And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,''<br />
<br />
''pelican'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#151|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-152=====<br />
''Repast them with my blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====16-153=====<br />
''Claudius: Why, now you speak''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====16-154=====<br />
''Like a good child, and a true gentleman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====16-155=====<br />
''That I am guiltless of your father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====16-156=====<br />
''And am most sensible in grief for it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====16-157=====<br />
''It shall as level to your judgment pierce''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158=====<br />
''As day does to your eye.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158-SD=====<br />
''(noise is heard at the doorway; Ophelia enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-159=====<br />
''Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====16-160=====<br />
''O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====16-161=====<br />
''Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====16-162=====<br />
''By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====16-163=====<br />
''Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====16-164=====<br />
''Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====16-165=====<br />
''O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====16-166=====<br />
''Should be as mortal as an old man's life?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====16-167=====<br />
''Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====16-168=====<br />
''It sends some precious instance of itself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====16-169=====<br />
''After the thing it loves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====16-170=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<br />
Informs us of Danish funeral practices. Polonius was borne to his grave like that, and Ophelia will be, shrouded but with the face visible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====16-171=====<br />
''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====16-172=====<br />
''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====16-173=====<br />
''(speaks): Fare you well, my dove!''<br />
<br />
Ophelia acts releasing a dove in the direction of Hamlet. The sight of a dove in flight is a good omen. Ophelia is intending to show Hamlet that the death of Polonius is a good omen for them, she believes.<br />
<br />
By the way, the use of an actual dove in stage performance would be authentic, where that is possible. The Globe was an outdoor theater.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====16-174=====<br />
''Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====16-175=====<br />
''It could not move thus.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====16-176=====<br />
''Ophelia: You must sing a down, a down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====16-177=====<br />
''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the wheel becomes it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====16-178=====<br />
''It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====16-179=====<br />
''Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====16-180=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,''<br />
[[File:Rosemary.jpg|right|rosemary blooms]]<br />
''rosemary'' - ''Rosmarinus officinalis'' is a traditional funeral flower. We know of a recent funeral, that of Polonius.<br />
<br />
The available colors of ''rosemary'' include purple and white. Ophelia's "crownet weeds" that will be mentioned in Scene 18 have the colors of purple, and white.<br />
<br />
Ophelia gives the rosemary to Laertes, who was not present for his father's funeral. Correctly performed, Ophelia gives all the flowers to Laertes.<br />
<br />
The word ''rosemary'' is from Latin 'rosmarinus' ("dew of the sea.") So, ''rosemary'' implicitly presents the "dew" idea again, that Hamlet brought to some prominence in Scene 2. ([[Scene 2#132]]) The English spelling of ''rosemary'' was influenced by "rose" and the name "Mary."<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" ''rosemary'' says "remembrance. So, ''rosemary'' is indeed the traditional flower of remembrance, as Ophelia says.<br />
<br />
This line is partly to Laertes, and partly aside, aside in the ordinary sense, that is; it is not an "aside" in theatrical jargon. The others hear it. Ophelia turns away from Laertes when she says, "(pray you love, remember.)" She is addressing that to Hamlet. Traditionally, ''rosemary'' is also associated with weddings. Ophelia is praying that Hamlet will remember he asked her to marry him. The word ''love'' is on the mark. From its use as a wedding flower, rosemary is considered a love charm.<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal,'' page 1293, says that rosemary is good for "all infirmities of the head and brain" (at least where the infirmity is from a "cold and moist cause,") and that it "quickens the senses and memory." Also, rosemary will "strengthen the sinewy parts." The head and brain, the senses, and the memory are all significant, repeated elements in the play dialogue, and both Hamlet ([[Scene 5#098]]) and Claudius ([[Scene 10#074]]) speak of the sinews. It becomes easy to see why Shakespeare included ''rosemary'' as one of the flowers in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====16-181=====<br />
''remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''<br />
[[File:Pansy.jpg|right|Viola tricolor, "pansy"]]<br />
''(pray you love, remember)'' - spoken in the direction where Ophelia supposes Hamlet to be. She turns aside from Laertes for this, but it is not an aside in the theatrical sense. The others hear it, although they do not know what to make of it.<br />
<br />
''pansies'' - like the rosemary, is also a traditional funeral flower. The name is from Old French 'pensée' ("thought.") This is not the modern cultivated pansy, it is the wild pansy, ''Viola tricolor.'' It is a flower in the violet family, ''Viola.''<br />
<br />
(The play dialogue associates the violet with Ophelia, in lines spoken by Laertes, and by Ophelia, herself. ([[Scene 3#008]],) (line 186 below,) and ([[Scene 19#208]].) Where Shakespeare wrote "violet" he probably meant the sweet violet, ''Viola odorata,'' with its heart-shaped leaves.)<br />
<br />
As with the rosemary, the color is once again purple and white (or close enough to that.) The ''Viola tricolo'' may have yellow on the lower petal, but that would not be out of place, since the daisy, that Ophelia will soon mention, has a yellow center.<br />
<br />
The ''rosemary'' and ''pansies'' are flowers from Polonius's funeral which Ophelia saved for Laertes since he wasn't there. It was kind and thoughtful of her to save them for him. However, Laertes has no idea where the flowers came from, or why she's giving them to him. Laertes doesn't know about flowers, and, well, he is not very smart. It doesn't occur to him where these flowers must have come from.<br />
<br />
In a painfully tragic irony, by Ophelia giving Laertes these flowers from Polonius's funeral, she is, at the same time, providing Laertes with flowers for her funeral. None of them knows that.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''pansies'' do indeed express "thoughts," as Ophelia says. In Middle English, and on into Shakespeare's time, "thought" could mean "grief," as I note for line 013 above.<br />
<br />
The pansy is also called "love-in-idleness." Shakespeare used that name in ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' Act 2 scene 1, Oberon speaking:<br />
<br />
...<br />
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:<br />
It fell upon a little western flower,<br />
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,<br />
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.<br />
...<br />
<br />
Notice the mention of white and purple colors.<br />
<br />
The word "idle" goes back to Old English 'idel' ("vain,") so the name love-in-idleness can be read as "love in vain." That can be seen, tragically, to apply to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
In Gerard's ''Herbal'' the wild pansy is listed under the name "Hearts ease." Knowing that Ophelia will die after a fall, one may be intrigued to find Gerard recommends the pansy as a cure for "falling sickness." Gerard meant epilepsy, but still.<br />
<br />
The name heartsease may come both from the pansy being used in love potions, and in its being used for heart ailments. THe "heart" concept is highly significant in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
In action, Ophelia gives all of the rosemary and pansies to Laertes. She is giving him all the remembrance and thoughts of their father.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====16-182=====<br />
''Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.''<br />
<br />
''document'' - lesson. Latin 'documentum' "lesson," from 'docere' "to teach." It's unclear what Laertes supposes he is learning from it, since he didn't even understand the funeral flowers.<br />
<br />
''fitted'' - in a fit, "fit" as in an attack or paroxysm. Joined in a fit, tangled in a fit, of madness.<br />
<br />
Or, ''fitted'' to ''madness,'' that is, "thoughts and remembrance fitted to madness," or "adapted to fit madness." The multiplicity of meaning is intentional in the author's phrasing, we can be sure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====16-183=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for''<br />
<br />
[[File:Fennel.jpg|left|fennel blooms]]<br />
All of these flowers are also given to Laertes, when the play is correctly done. This is an encounter between Laertes and Ophelia following the death of their father. It's a family matter, even if Laertes can't grasp it. Gertrude and Claudius are "audience to this act," to quote from the last Scene. They are watching, and wondering what it all means.<br />
<br />
''fennel'' - ''Foeniculum vulgare.'' It has tiny yellow flowers. Hardly worth calling a flower at all, it is a culinary herb, and a medicinal herb.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's meaning with the ''fennel'' is "open your eyes," "see clearly." Fennel is used in herbal medicine as an eye remedy, or to preserve eyesight. (Gerard, ''Herbal,'' page 1032.)<br />
<br />
Ophelia is telling Laertes to open his eyes, and see that these flowers have meaning. It is reasonable to take it that she is also trying to tell him to open his eyes to things in general. The ''fennel'' provides an implicit instance of the Vision Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
[[File:Columbine2.jpg|left|columbine flower]]<br />
[[File:Columbine1.jpg|right|columbine blooms]]<br />
''columbines'' - from Latin 'columbīnus' ("dovelike.") As the image to the right shows, the flower can be likened to a group of five doves facing each other.<br />
<br />
The scientific classification is ''Aquilegia vulgaris.'' The genus name, ''Aquilegia,'' comes from 'aquila', the Latin word for eagle, perhaps because the flower petals of some varieties can be seen to resemble an eagle's claw, or perhaps because some may take the "doves" of the flower for eagles, instead.<br />
<br />
The color is purple and white.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, the columbine expresses "folly," or, "you're a fool." Ophelia is calling Laertes a fool, who is engaged in folly. After Laertes said, above, that he would "dare damnation" to get revenge, in other words, throw away his soul, one cannot help but think Ophelia is right. Ophelia was not present to hear Laertes say that, but she knows her brother.<br />
<br />
We recall the Player, in Scene 7, speaking of breaking all the follies from the Wheel of Fortune. ([[Scene 7#474]]) A tragic, unfortunate death would be such a folly. In Scene 18, we will hear Laertes call Ophelia's death "this folly." None of them knows it, but the "folly" that the columbine expresses is ominous for Ophelia, herself, when the Wheel of Fortune will take a bad turn for her.<br />
<br />
[[File:Rue.jpg|right|common rue]]<br />
''rue'' - ''Ruta graveolens,'' known as common rue, or herb-of-grace. The blooms are yellow. Like fennel, it is not much for being a flower, but it is a traditional medicinal herb, and has found sparing use as a culinary herb. It has a strong smell. Gerard's chapter on rue, "Of Rue, or herbe Grace. Chap. 511" begins on ''Herball'' page 1070.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''rue'' expresses "regret," however, Ophelia will go on to speak of a "difference."<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal'' credits it with many virtues, including its use in tonics for making vision sharp and clear, for remedying "dim eyes," to cure earache, to cure headache, as an antidote to poison, and as a "counterpoison" against scorpion and insect stings, and serpent bites. The eyes, the ears, the head, and poison are all significant concepts in the play.<br />
<br />
As already mentioned, all of the flowers are given to Laertes, when the play is correctly performed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====16-184=====<br />
''you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====16-185=====<br />
''you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would''<br />
<br />
''rue with a difference'' - no regret. The ''difference'' Ophelia means is the negative. Ophelia is symbolically telling Laertes to feel no regret over the death of Polonius, since she does not.<br />
<br />
In older ''Hamlet'' commentary you may see ''difference'' interpreted according to heraldic definition, but that does not work. Laertes is now the senior male of the family, so he does not use a heraldic difference, and Ophelia knows Laertes's status after their father's death (as did Shakespeare, of course.)<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy2.jpg|right|there's a daisy]]<br />
''daisy'' - Ophelia shows the ''daisy'' to everyone, but keeps it. By the way, it isn't hard to guess where it came from, what it signifies, and why she keeps it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====16-186=====<br />
''give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;''<br />
<br />
''violets'' - <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK knowing enough of the play, once can appreciate that the violet can deaden the sense of smell<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====16-187=====<br />
''they say he made a good end.''<br />
<br />
Ophelia approves that people should say the end of her father was good. She makes it sound like a more socially acceptable sentiment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====16-188=====<br />
''(sings): For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''<br />
<br />
Adapted by Shakespeare from ''Greensleeves.'' Observe the last line below.<br />
<br />
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,<br />
To cast me off discourteously.<br />
For I have loved you well and long,<br />
Delighting in your company.<br />
<br />
Greensleeves was all my joy<br />
...<br />
<br />
There was apparently also in Shakespeare's time a song called "Bonny Robin," or perhaps "Bonny Sweet Robin," of which the lyrics have not survived. ''Greensleeves'' is written to a woman. Ophelia "masculinizes" the lyric by substituting "bonny sweet Robin" for "Greensleeves," and Ophelia also makes it present tense.<br />
<br />
Sendal is mentioned in the old lyrics of ''Greensleeves,'' from the Tudor era, by the way.<br />
<br />
With this line, we are privileged to learn that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet nickname for Hamlet. Among the characters, only she and Hamlet know that.<br />
<br />
(The question might arise, what is Hamlet's pet name for Ophelia? Has Shakespeare given us the privilege of knowing that? Well... there's a daisy.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====16-189=====<br />
''Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself''<br />
<br />
''Thought'' - Grief.<br />
<br />
''affliction'' - torment.<br />
<br />
''Passion'' - Agony.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====16-190=====<br />
''She turns to favor and to prettiness.''<br />
<br />
''favor'' - Laertes means Ophelia acts as if the hell of madness were a favor.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK more here<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====16-191=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====16-192=====<br />
''And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====16-193=====<br />
''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====16-194=====<br />
''He never will come again.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====16-195=====<br />
''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<br />
But Polonius's beard was neatly trimmed, we suppose, after what Hamlet said to Polonius (that Polonius misunderstood) in Scene 7. ([[Scene 7#478]])<br />
<br />
This is, of course, a costuming note for the Polonius character. It is mandatory that his beard be white. Nothing else will do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====16-196=====<br />
''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<br />
''Flaxen'' - pale yellow.<br />
<br />
''poll'' - head, that is, the skin of his head. Polonius was borne bare-faced on the bier, as Ophelia just told us, which means that Ophelia could see the skin of his face. The yellowing of his skin was part of what finally convinced her that Polonius was really dead, and it wasn't only a mean trick, to fool her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====16-197=====<br />
''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====16-198=====<br />
''(speaks): God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199=====<br />
''God buy you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits; Gertrude exits to follow her)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude will reclaim her clothing and jewelry.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-200=====<br />
''Laertes: Do you this, O God?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====16-201=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====16-202=====<br />
''Or you deny me right; go but apart,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====16-203=====<br />
''Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====16-204=====<br />
''And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====16-205=====<br />
''If by direct, or by collateral hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====16-206=====<br />
''They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====16-207=====<br />
''Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====16-208=====<br />
''To you in satisfaction; but if not,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====16-209=====<br />
''Be you content to lend your patience to us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====16-210=====<br />
''And we shall jointly labor with your soul''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====16-211=====<br />
''To give it due content.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====16-212=====<br />
''Laertes: Let this be so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====16-213=====<br />
''His means of death, his obscure burial,''<br />
<br />
''obscure burial'' - which Claudius ordered in hopes the death of Polonius would attract little attention, and not cause him trouble.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#213|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-214=====<br />
''No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====16-215=====<br />
''No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====16-216=====<br />
''Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====16-217=====<br />
''That I must call it in question.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====16-218=====<br />
''Claudius: So you shall,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====16-219=====<br />
''And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.''<br />
<br />
''great axe'' - executioner's axe.<br />
<br />
Claudius believes he has already arranged that, for Hamlet in England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220=====<br />
''I pray you go with me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_16
Scene 16
2018-02-04T16:00:43Z
<p>Administrator: /* 16-034 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Throne Room, Horatio and a Gentleman persuade Gertrude to speak with Ophelia. At first, Gertrude doesn't want to see Ophelia because, since her son has killed Ophelia's father, Gertrude anticipates an unpleasant confrontation.<br />
<br />
Ophelia enters slowly, doing a leisurely, graceful dance, as Gertrude speaks her "guilt" speech aside. Ophelia then speaks oddly to Gertrude, and sings.<br />
<br />
Claudius enters, because he heard the singing. Ophelia sings more. Claudius speaks of Ophelia and grief, as he draws the wrong conclusion. Ophelia exits.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that Laertes has returned, and Laertes is hearing condemnations of Claudius in connection with the death of Polonius. Loud noises are heard, and a messenger enters, to inform Claudius that Laertes is leading a riotous rabble to storm the Castle.<br />
<br />
Laertes enters, sword in hand, and irate. He demands Claudius explain things.<br />
<br />
While Claudius is talking with Laertes, Ophelia reenters. Ophelia sings to Laertes, and hands him flowers. He is totally at a loss, except he's sure she's mad. Ophelia departs, with a final word of blessing for everyone. Gertrude and her ladies follow Ophelia, to keep watch on her.<br />
<br />
Claudius asks to meet with Laertes and his "wisest friends" to explain his innocence in the death of Polonius. Laertes says he's willing to listen, and they exit.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 16 Characters are: [[Gertrude]], [[Gentleman]], [[Horatio]], [[Ophelia]], [[Claudius]], [[Messenger]], [[Laertes]], [[Ruffians]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Claudius entry [[#038-SD]], || Ophelia first exit [[#071-SD]], || Messenger entry [[#092-SD2]]<br />
|-<br />
| Laertes entry [[#108-SD]], || Ophelia reentry [[#158-SD]], || Ophelia last exit [[#199-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 16</b> [ ~ Baker's Daughter ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 5)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Throne Room;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude enters;<br />
Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-001]]<span id="001"></span> Gertrude: I will not speak with her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will not speak with her.''</span><br />
[[#16-002]]<span id="002"></span> Gentleman: She is importunate,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is insistent for attention,''</span><br />
[[#16-003]]<span id="003"></span> Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Distracted in what she does. Her state of mind will necessarily be pitied.''</span><br />
[[#16-004]]<span id="004"></span> Gertrude: What would she have?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What does she want?''</span><br />
[[#16-005]]<span id="005"></span> Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She says a lot about her father, and says she hears''</span><br />
[[#16-006]]<span id="006"></span> There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's tricks in the world, and equivocates, and pounds her chest,''</span><br />
[[#16-007]]<span id="007"></span> Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Reacts scornfully, in a bad natured way, over trifles, and says things in suspicion,''</span><br />
[[#16-008]]<span id="008"></span> That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That sound only half sensible. Her speech is naughty,''</span><br />
[[#16-009]]<span id="009"></span> Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Still, the illogical employment of her speech motivates''</span><br />
[[#16-010]]<span id="010"></span> The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Those who hear it to try to gather meaning from it. They gape at what she says,''</span><br />
[[#16-011]]<span id="011"></span> And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And misconstrue her words in fitting them to their own preconceptions,''</span><br />
[[#16-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield to them,''</span><br />
[[#16-013]]<span id="013"></span> Indeed would make one think there would be thought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed would make one think there should be grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-014]]<span id="014"></span> Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Although not for sure, still very expressive of misfortune.''</span><br />
[[#16-015]]<span id="015"></span> Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be good to speak with her, for she might breed''</span><br />
[[#16-016]]<span id="016"></span> Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. [[#16-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Gertrude nods to Horatio)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hazardous surmises in minds that jump to conclusions.''</span><br />
[[#16-017]]<span id="017"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to the doorman):</span> Let her come in. [[#16-017-SD1]]<span id="017-SD1"></span> (said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let her come in.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-017-SD2]]<span id="017-SD2"></span> (Horatio and the Gentleman exit;<br />
Ophelia enters, dancing)<br />
<br />
[[#16-018]]<span id="018"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To my sick soul, (which is the true nature of sin,)''</span><br />
[[#16-019]]<span id="019"></span> Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Each idea that crosses my mind seems to lead to disaster.''</span><br />
[[#16-020]]<span id="020"></span> So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Guilt is so full of natural misery,''</span><br />
[[#16-021]]<span id="021"></span> It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It reveals itself, from its fear of being revealed.''</span><br />
[[#16-022]]<span id="022"></span> Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''</span><br />
[[#16-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Greetings, Ophelia?''</span><br />
[[#16-024]]<span id="024"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''How should I your true love know''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can I, your true love, know you''</span><br />
[[#16-025]]<span id="025"></span> ''From another one?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From someone else?''</span><br />
[[#16-026]]<span id="026"></span> ''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By his cock-le top, and shaft''</span><br />
[[#16-027]]<span id="027"></span> ''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And his silken slippers.''</span><br />
[[#16-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, sweet Lady, what brings out that song?''</span><br />
[[#16-029]]<span id="029"></span> Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't say? No, please pay attention:''</span><br />
[[#16-030]]<span id="030"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone, Lady''</span><br />
[[#16-031]]<span id="031"></span> ''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone''</span><br />
[[#16-032]]<span id="032"></span> ''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his head there is green grass turf''</span><br />
[[#16-033]]<span id="033"></span> ''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his heels there is a stone''</span><br />
[[#16-034]]<span id="034"></span> <span style="color:gray">(exclaims):</span> Oh ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh ho!''</span><br />
[[#16-035]]<span id="035"></span> Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but Ophelia . . .''</span><br />
[[#16-036]]<span id="036"></span> Ophelia: Pray you, mark!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please pay attention!''</span><br />
[[#16-037]]<span id="037"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''White his shroud as the mountain snow.'' [[#16-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (Claudius enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His shroud was as white as mountain snow''</span><br />
[[#16-038]]<span id="038"></span> Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord. [[#16-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, look there, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#16-039]]<span id="039"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With sweet flowers strewn all around,''</span><br />
[[#16-040]]<span id="040"></span> ''Which bewept to the grave did not go'' [[#16-040-SD]]<span id="040-SD"></span> (the word "not" is spoken aside)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, falling like tears on the grave did -not- go''</span><br />
[[#16-041]]<span id="041"></span> ''With true love showers.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Accompanied by any shower of real love.''</span><br />
[[#16-042]]<span id="042"></span> Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are you feeling, pretty Lady?''</span><br />
[[#16-043]]<span id="043"></span> Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well may goodness refrain you, musically.''</span><br />
[[#16-044]]<span id="044"></span> They say the owl was a baker's daughter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say the owl was a baker's daughter.''</span><br />
[[#16-045]]<span id="045"></span> Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lord, I know what I am now, but don't know what I may become.''</span><br />
[[#16-046]]<span id="046"></span> God be at your table.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May God be at work on your gravestone, now.''</span><br />
[[#16-047]]<span id="047"></span> Claudius: Conceit upon her father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A caprice due to her father's death.''</span><br />
[[#16-048]]<span id="048"></span> Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, let's have no words about him - but if anyone asks you''</span><br />
[[#16-049]]<span id="049"></span> what it means, say you this:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what all this means, you can tell them this:''</span><br />
[[#16-050]]<span id="050"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day, and''</span><br />
[[#16-051]]<span id="051"></span> ''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Quite in the morning, before it's too late,''</span><br />
[[#16-052]]<span id="052"></span> ''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's me, a maiden tapping at your window''</span><br />
[[#16-053]]<span id="053"></span> ''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be your valentine''</span><br />
[[#16-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So he rose up, put on some clothes, and opened up his bedroom door,''</span><br />
[[#16-055]]<span id="055"></span> ''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let in the maiden, who never again went out as a virgin.''</span><br />
[[#16-056]]<span id="056"></span> Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pretty, Ophelia.''</span><br />
[[#16-057]]<span id="057"></span> Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end to it.''</span><br />
[[#16-058]]<span id="058"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Jesus and by Saint Charity,''</span><br />
[[#16-059]]<span id="059"></span> ''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''oh dear, and fie, for shame,''</span><br />
[[#16-060]]<span id="060"></span> ''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Young men will do it if they come to it''</span><br />
[[#16-061]]<span id="061"></span> ''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''by cock they are to blame.''</span><br />
[[#16-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Said she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''</span><br />
[[#16-063]]<span id="063"></span> (He answers): ''So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''(He answers): So would I have done, by yonder sun,''</span><br />
[[#16-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had not come to my bed.''</span><br />
[[#16-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: How long hath she been thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long has she been like this?''</span><br />
[[#16-066]]<span id="066"></span> Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hope all will be well. I must be patient, but I cannot choose''</span><br />
[[#16-067]]<span id="067"></span> but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but weep to think they would lay him in the cold ground. My brother''</span><br />
[[#16-068]]<span id="068"></span> shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shall learn of it - and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come''</span><br />
[[#16-069]]<span id="069"></span> my coach; good night, Ladies, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''my coach, goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''</span><br />
[[#16-070]]<span id="070"></span> Sweet Lady, good night, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-070-SD]]<span id="070-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits)<br />
<br />
[[#16-071]]<span id="071"></span> Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [[#16-071-SD]]<span id="071-SD"></span> (the ladies-in-waiting curtsy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow her closely, and keep a close watch on her, please.''</span> and exit to follow Ophelia)<br />
[[#16-072]]<span id="072"></span> Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the poison of deep grief, it all springs from her father's''</span><br />
[[#16-073]]<span id="073"></span> death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''death, and now behold the result. Oh, Gertrude, Gertrude,''</span><br />
[[#16-074]]<span id="074"></span> When sorrows come, they come not single spies,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When sorrows come, they don't come one at a time,''</span><br />
[[#16-075]]<span id="075"></span> But in battalions. First her father slain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But in battalions. First, her father slain,''</span><br />
[[#16-076]]<span id="076"></span> Next, your son gone, and he most violent author<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Next, your son gone - and he himself the very violent cause''</span><br />
[[#16-077]]<span id="077"></span> Of his own just remove, the people muddied,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of his own justified departure - the people stirred up,''</span><br />
[[#16-078]]<span id="078"></span> Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dense and unhealthy in their minds, and rumor mongering''</span><br />
[[#16-079]]<span id="079"></span> For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over good Polonius's death - and I have acted only recently,''</span><br />
[[#16-080]]<span id="080"></span> In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In seclusion, to have him buried - poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#16-081]]<span id="081"></span> Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Beside herself, and diverted from her good judgment -''</span><br />
[[#16-082]]<span id="082"></span> Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Without which we humans are mindless as images in pictures, or mere beasts -''</span><br />
[[#16-083]]<span id="083"></span> Last, and as much containing as all these:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Last - and as difficult to deal with as all of those, combined -''</span><br />
[[#16-084]]<span id="084"></span> Her brother is in secret come from France,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her brother has returned, in secret, from France, and''</span><br />
[[#16-085]]<span id="085"></span> Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Takes in all these strange events, keeps out of sight,''</span><br />
[[#16-086]]<span id="086"></span> And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has no lack of scandalmongers to poison his mind''</span><br />
[[#16-087]]<span id="087"></span> With pestilent speeches of his father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With pernicious gossip about his father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-088]]<span id="088"></span> Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which they feel the need to blame sombody, and lacking the facts,''</span><br />
[[#16-089]]<span id="089"></span> Will nothing stick our person to arraign<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll stop at nothing to accuse me''</span><br />
[[#16-090]]<span id="090"></span> In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the word goes from ear to ear. Oh, my dear Gertrude, this,''</span><br />
[[#16-091]]<span id="091"></span> Like to a murdering piece, in many places<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a huge shotgun, hits me in many vital spots, and''</span><br />
[[#16-092]]<span id="092"></span> Gives me superfluous death. [[#16-092-SD1]]<span id="092-SD1"></span> (an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just kills me, over and over.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-092-SD2]]<span id="092-SD2"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-093]]<span id="093"></span> Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, what's that noise?''</span><br />
[[#16-094]]<span id="094"></span> Claudius: Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Attention, everyone! Where are my Swiss guards? Have them guard the door!''</span><br />
[[#16-095]]<span id="095"></span> What is the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#16-096]]<span id="096"></span> Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save yourself, my Lord!''</span><br />
[[#16-097]]<span id="097"></span> The ocean, over-peering of his list<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ocean, overflowing at its margins,''</span><br />
[[#16-098]]<span id="098"></span> Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not engulf the flats with more merciless speed''</span><br />
[[#16-099]]<span id="099"></span> Than young Laertes, in a riotous head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than young Laertes, at the head of the riot,''</span><br />
[[#16-100]]<span id="100"></span> O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Overwhelms your soldiers and guards. The rabble call him "Lord,"''</span><br />
[[#16-101]]<span id="101"></span> And, as the world were now but to begin,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, as if the human world were only now beginning,''</span><br />
[[#16-102]]<span id="102"></span> Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Precedent forgotten, ceremony unknown,''</span><br />
[[#16-103]]<span id="103"></span> The ratifiers and props of every word,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The only validators and supports for their every word is''</span><br />
[[#16-104]]<span id="104"></span> The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The outcry: "We choose!" "Laertes shall be King!''</span><br />
[[#16-105]]<span id="105"></span> Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They toss their caps in the air, raise their hands, and cheer it to the clouds:''</span><br />
[[#16-106]]<span id="106"></span> Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''</span><br />
[[#16-107]]<span id="107"></span> Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! [[#16-107-SD]]<span id="107-SD"></span> (loud noise just outside the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How cheerfully they cry, as they follow this false trail!''</span> closed door to the Lobby)<br />
[[#16-108]]<span id="108"></span> Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the wrong way, you traitorous Danish dogs!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-108-SD]]<span id="108-SD"></span> (Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)<br />
<br />
[[#16-109]]<span id="109"></span> Claudius: The doors are broke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The doors are broken in.''</span><br />
[[#16-110]]<span id="110"></span> Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is this so-called "King?" Sirs, wait outside.''</span><br />
[[#16-111]]<span id="111"></span> Ruffians: No, lets come in!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, let us come in!''</span><br />
[[#16-112]]<span id="112"></span> Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I beg you, allow me to talk to him.''</span><br />
[[#16-113]]<span id="113"></span> Ruffians: We will, we will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alright, we will, we will.''</span><br />
[[#16-114]]<span id="114"></span> Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thank you. Control the doorway. Oh, you vile King,''</span><br />
[[#16-115]]<span id="115"></span> Give me my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Give me my father!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-115-SD]]<span id="115-SD"></span> (Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)<br />
<br />
[[#16-116]]<span id="116"></span> Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be calm, good Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#16-117]]<span id="117"></span> Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If any drop of my blood is calm it reveals I'm a bastard,''</span><br />
[[#16-118]]<span id="118"></span> Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shouts that my father was a cuckold, puts the brand of the harlot''</span><br />
[[#16-119]]<span id="119"></span> Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right here, between the chaste, undefiled brows''</span><br />
[[#16-120]]<span id="120"></span> Of my true mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of my virtuous mother.''</span><br />
[[#16-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the reason, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-122]]<span id="122"></span> That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That the rebellion you lead looks so ambitious?''</span><br />
[[#16-123]]<span id="123"></span> Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him go, Gertrude, do not worry about my personal safety.''</span><br />
[[#16-124]]<span id="124"></span> There's such divinity doth hedge a King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's such divinity to shield a King,''</span><br />
[[#16-125]]<span id="125"></span> That treason can but peep to what it would,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That treason can only peek at what it wants, and''</span><br />
[[#16-126]]<span id="126"></span> Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Acts little of what it desires. Tell me, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-127]]<span id="127"></span> Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you are so incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#16-128]]<span id="128"></span> Speak, man.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak, man.''</span><br />
[[#16-129]]<span id="129"></span> Laertes: Where is my father?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is my father?''</span><br />
[[#16-130]]<span id="130"></span> Claudius: Dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dead.''</span><br />
[[#16-131]]<span id="131"></span> Gertrude: But not by him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But not killed by him!''</span><br />
[[#16-132]]<span id="132"></span> Claudius: Let him demand his fill.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him question until he's satisfied.''</span><br />
[[#16-133]]<span id="133"></span> Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What led to his death? I won't be taken lightly!''</span><br />
[[#16-134]]<span id="134"></span> To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To hell with loyalty to the crown, and religious dedication - to the most evil devil!''</span><br />
[[#16-135]]<span id="135"></span> Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Conscience, and nobility, into the deepest pit!''</span><br />
[[#16-136]]<span id="136"></span> I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I dare damnation! On this point I make my stand,''</span><br />
[[#16-137]]<span id="137"></span> That both the worlds I give to negligence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, for my fate in both this world and the next, I couldn't care less.''</span><br />
[[#16-138]]<span id="138"></span> Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let whatever happens, happen, but I'll have revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-139]]<span id="139"></span> Most throughly for my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In every way, for my father.''</span><br />
[[#16-140]]<span id="140"></span> Claudius: Who shall stay you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who will stop you?''</span><br />
[[#16-141]]<span id="141"></span> Laertes: My will, not all the world's.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only my own will, no matter what the rest of the world wants!''</span><br />
[[#16-142]]<span id="142"></span> And for my means, I'll husband them so well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As for my resources, I'll manage them so well,''</span><br />
[[#16-143]]<span id="143"></span> They shall go far with little.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll take me far, though they be slight.''</span><br />
[[#16-144]]<span id="144"></span> Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Laertes, if you desire to know the reliable truth''</span><br />
[[#16-145]]<span id="145"></span> Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''About your dear father, is it "officially written" in your duty for revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-146]]<span id="146"></span> That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, (as in winning a sweepstakes,) you will execute both friend and foe,''</span><br />
[[#16-147]]<span id="147"></span> Winner and loser?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only yourself the winner, anyone else, the loser?''</span><br />
[[#16-148]]<span id="148"></span> Laertes: None but his enemies.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll kill no one except his enemies.''</span><br />
[[#16-149]]<span id="149"></span> Claudius: Will you know them, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you know who his enemies are, then?''</span><br />
[[#16-150]]<span id="150"></span> Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms, [[#16-150-SD]]<span id="150-SD"></span> (Laertes sheaths his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To his good friends, I'll spread my arms wide, like this,''</span><br />
[[#16-151]]<span id="151"></span> And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like the proverbially caring, life-sustaining pelican,''</span><br />
[[#16-152]]<span id="152"></span> Repast them with my blood.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nourish them with my own blood.''</span><br />
[[#16-153]]<span id="153"></span> Claudius: Why, now you speak<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, now you speak''</span><br />
[[#16-154]]<span id="154"></span> Like a good child, and a true gentleman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a good child, and a real gentleman.''</span><br />
[[#16-155]]<span id="155"></span> That I am guiltless of your father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am free of guilt in your father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-156]]<span id="156"></span> And am most sensible in grief for it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And am fully rational in my grief over it,''</span><br />
[[#16-157]]<span id="157"></span> It shall as level to your judgment pierce<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It will get through to your judgment as truly,''</span><br />
[[#16-158]]<span id="158"></span> As day does to your eye.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As day does, to your eye.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-158-SD]]<span id="158-SD"></span> (noise is heard at the doorway;<br />
Ophelia enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-159]]<span id="159"></span> Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's happening? Why the noise? Let her come in.''</span><br />
[[#16-160]]<span id="160"></span> O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times as irritating as pure salt,''</span><br />
[[#16-161]]<span id="161"></span> Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Burn out the vision and goodness of my eyes!''</span><br />
[[#16-162]]<span id="162"></span> By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Heaven, your madness will be repaid with weight''</span><br />
[[#16-163]]<span id="163"></span> Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the scales of justice swings its beam. Oh, Rose of May!''</span><br />
[[#16-164]]<span id="164"></span> Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dear maiden, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''</span><br />
[[#16-165]]<span id="165"></span> O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, heavens, is it possible a young maiden's intelligence''</span><br />
[[#16-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should be as mortal as an old man's life?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could be as mortal as an old man's life?''</span><br />
[[#16-167]]<span id="167"></span> Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Human nature, in love, is delicate, and when it's delicate,''</span><br />
[[#16-168]]<span id="168"></span> It sends some precious instance of itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It sends a valuable part of its human nature,''</span><br />
[[#16-169]]<span id="169"></span> After the thing it loves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''After the object of its love.''</span><br />
[[#16-170]]<span id="170"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They carried him bare-faced on the bier,''</span><br />
[[#16-171]]<span id="171"></span> ''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And into his grave rained many a tear.''</span><br />
[[#16-172]]<span id="172"></span> ''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''</span><br />
[[#16-173]]<span id="173"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> Fare you well, my dove!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fare you well, my dove!''</span><br />
[[#16-174]]<span id="174"></span> Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had your wits about you, and prevailed on me to seek revenge,''</span><br />
[[#16-175]]<span id="175"></span> It could not move thus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It could not move me as much as this does.''</span><br />
[[#16-176]]<span id="176"></span> Ophelia: You must sing ''a down, a down,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must sing a down, a down,''</span><br />
[[#16-177]]<span id="177"></span> And you call him ''a down a.'' Oh, how the wheel becomes it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the refrain befits it!''</span><br />
[[#16-178]]<span id="178"></span> It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is lying Hamlet who stole Jesus's daughter from the nunnery.''</span><br />
[[#16-179]]<span id="179"></span> Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This nothingness tells me more than an explanation would.''</span><br />
[[#16-180]]<span id="180"></span> Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, (pray you love,''</span><br />
[[#16-181]]<span id="181"></span> remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''remember,) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''</span><br />
[[#16-182]]<span id="182"></span> Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lesson in madness, thoughts and remembrance tangled in a fit.''</span><br />
[[#16-183]]<span id="183"></span> Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for''</span><br />
[[#16-184]]<span id="184"></span> you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, and here's some for me. We may call it "herb of grace" on Sundays.''</span><br />
[[#16-185]]<span id="185"></span> you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You may wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would''</span><br />
[[#16-186]]<span id="186"></span> give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''give you some violets but they all died when my father did.''</span><br />
[[#16-187]]<span id="187"></span> they say he made a good end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say he did well at the end.''</span><br />
[[#16-188]]<span id="188"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''</span><br />
[[#16-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Grief and torment! Agony! She makes Hell itself''</span><br />
[[#16-190]]<span id="190"></span> She turns to favor and to prettiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look like a favor, and something pretty.''</span><br />
[[#16-191]]<span id="191"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-192]]<span id="192"></span> ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-193]]<span id="193"></span> ''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, no, he is dead. Go to thy death bed!''</span><br />
[[#16-194]]<span id="194"></span> ''He never will come again.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He never will come again.''</span><br />
[[#16-195]]<span id="195"></span> ''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His beard was as white as snow,''</span><br />
[[#16-196]]<span id="196"></span> ''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The skin of his head was yellowish,''</span><br />
[[#16-197]]<span id="197"></span> ''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''</span><br />
[[#16-198]]<span id="198"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''God have mercy on his soul, and on all Christians' souls.''</span><br />
[[#16-199]]<span id="199"></span> God buy you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye to you.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-199-SD]]<span id="199-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits;<br />
Gertrude exits to follow her)<br />
<br />
[[#16-200]]<span id="200"></span> Laertes: Do you this, O God?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you done this, oh God?''</span><br />
[[#16-201]]<span id="201"></span> Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I must share your grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-202]]<span id="202"></span> Or you deny me right; go but apart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or you deny me my right. But go your own way,''</span><br />
[[#16-203]]<span id="203"></span> Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Choose from among your wisest friends whomever you wish,''</span><br />
[[#16-204]]<span id="204"></span> And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they shall hear and judge, between you and me.''</span><br />
[[#16-205]]<span id="205"></span> If by direct, or by collateral hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If in any direct or indirect way''</span><br />
[[#16-206]]<span id="206"></span> They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They find me touched by guilt, I'll give up my kingdom,''</span><br />
[[#16-207]]<span id="207"></span> Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My crown, my life, and all that I call mine,''</span><br />
[[#16-208]]<span id="208"></span> To you in satisfaction; but if not,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To you in satisfaction, of your revenge. But if not,''</span><br />
[[#16-209]]<span id="209"></span> Be you content to lend your patience to us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be content to give me time,''</span><br />
[[#16-210]]<span id="210"></span> And we shall jointly labor with your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I will work together with you''</span><br />
[[#16-211]]<span id="211"></span> To give it due content.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make you content in your soul.''</span><br />
[[#16-212]]<span id="212"></span> Laertes: Let this be so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let it be so.''</span><br />
[[#16-213]]<span id="213"></span> His means of death, his obscure burial,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The way he was killed . . . his hidden burial,''</span><br />
[[#16-214]]<span id="214"></span> No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No trophy sword . . . nor coat of arms over his body,''</span><br />
[[#16-215]]<span id="215"></span> No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No noble privilege . . . nor formal exhibition -''</span><br />
[[#16-216]]<span id="216"></span> Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All of that cries out so much to be understood, as it were, from Heaven to earth,''</span><br />
[[#16-217]]<span id="217"></span> That I must call it in question.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I must call it all into question.''</span><br />
[[#16-218]]<span id="218"></span> Claudius: So you shall,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So you may,''</span><br />
[[#16-219]]<span id="219"></span> And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where the guilt lies, let the executioner's axe fall on him.''</span><br />
[[#16-220]]<span id="220"></span> I pray you go with me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please go with me.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes exit)<br />
<hr> <br />
End of Scene 16<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====16-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Throne Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - <br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====16-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters; Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting are present with the Queen in the Throne Room. Claudius is absent, for whatever reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-001=====<br />
''Gertrude: I will not speak with her.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude supposes that Ophelia wants to complain to her about the death of Polonius, and to demand justice, but there is nothing Gertrude can do about the death of Polonius, or about Claudius sending Hamlet to England. This is not to imply Gertrude would condemn her son, even if she could. We see elsewhere in the play that Gertrude likes Ophelia, so one can understand that Gertrude does not wish to face Ophelia's reproaches.<br />
<br />
Gertrude has no inkling of what Ophelia's speech and behavior will turn out to be, as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====16-002=====<br />
''Gentleman: She is importunate,''<br />
<br />
''importunate'' - assertive. Resolute. Forward.<br />
<br />
For the second, "resolute," recall Horatio's mention in Scene 1 of "landless resolutes," ([[Scene 1#108]],) as Horatio spoke of determined men.<br />
<br />
For the third, "forward," see Shakespeare Sonnet 99, which is partly about Shakespeare's choice of flowers for Ophelia's "crownet weeds" which Gertrude tells us of in Scene 18.<br />
<br />
The forward violet thus did I chide:<br />
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,<br />
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride<br />
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells<br />
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.<br />
The lily I condemned for thy hand, ...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====16-003=====<br />
''Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.''<br />
<br />
''Indeed'' - primarily takes the literal meaning "in deed," referring to what she does, how she acts. Second, can be read as "very," or "truly."<br />
<br />
''distract'' - distracted - emotionally disturbed. The way she acts reveals emotional disturbance.<br />
<br />
''mood'' - state of mind.<br />
<br />
''needs'' - of necessity; necessarily.<br />
<br />
''pitied'' - viewed with sympathy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====16-004=====<br />
''Gertrude: What would she have?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude wonders if there's anything in particular Ophelia wants her to do. If so, perhaps it might be possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====16-005=====<br />
''Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====16-006=====<br />
''There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,''<br />
<br />
''hems'' - equivocates. The meaning of what she says is not clear. Can also be interpreted as in "hem and haw."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====16-007=====<br />
''Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====16-008=====<br />
''That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,''<br />
<br />
''nothing'' - naughty. ''Nothing'' is "naught," so nothing speech is naughty speech, which we shall hear from Ophelia as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====16-009=====<br />
''Yet the unshaped use of it doth move''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====16-010=====<br />
''The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,''<br />
<br />
''collection'' - gathering. The figure of speech is as in the use of "gather." An example modern sentence would be, "As I gather from what he said, he meant..."<br />
<br />
''yawn'' - gape. Stare open-mouthed, as if yawning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====16-011=====<br />
''And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====16-012=====<br />
''Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====16-013=====<br />
''Indeed would make one think there would be thought,''<br />
<br />
''thought'' - grief (a definition now obsolete.) For example, see Chaucer, ''Troilus and Criseyde'':<br />
<br />
But if thou wene I be thus sik for drede, 575<br />
It is not so, and ther-for scorne nought;<br />
Ther is a-nother thing I take of hede<br />
Wel more than ought the Grekes han y-wrought,<br />
Which cause is of my deeth, for sorwe and thought.<br />
...<br />
<br />
It is supposed that Ophelia would be suffering from grief, over her father's death, but what she's saying and doing is not a display of the usual behavior of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#013|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-014=====<br />
''Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====16-015=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016=====<br />
''Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude nods to Horatio)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017=====<br />
''Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD1=====<br />
''(said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD2=====<br />
''(Horatio and the Gentleman exit; Ophelia enters, dancing)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-018=====<br />
''Gertrude (aside): To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====16-019=====<br />
''Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,''<br />
<br />
''toy'' - idea, something the mind plays with, turning it over, looking at it with the mind's eye. Can be understood as a puzzle Gertrude is trying to solve, to get a favorable outcome (but with no luck.)<br />
<br />
''prologue'' - lead-in; introduction. In this usage, ''prologue'' means "that which leads to some consequence."<br />
<br />
''amiss'' - failure, to achieve what she wants, like missing a target. So, ''great amiss'' - great failure; disaster.<br />
<br />
Every idea Gertrude can come up with, when she examines it, and turns it over in her mind, it leads to disaster. She finds no way to envision a positive outcome to all this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====16-020=====<br />
''So full of artless jealousy is guilt,''<br />
<br />
''artless'' - natural.<br />
<br />
''jealousy'' - anxiety; misery. Wretchedness. Intensely unpleasant emotion. Could be extended to "malice." The word ''jealousy'' here is a kind of figure of speech, the use of a more specific word to express a more general concept.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====16-021=====<br />
''It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====16-022=====<br />
''Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''<br />
<br />
Said because after agreeing to grant Ophelia an audience, Gertrude is not on the throne. Gertrude stepped down and wandered away from the throne for her "guilt" speech, aside.<br />
<br />
''beauteous'' - Ophelia is returning the compliment Gertrude earlier bestowed on Ophelia, in Scene 8, "That your good beauties be the happy cause..." ([[Scene 8#043]]) Ophelia was gratified by Gertrude's compliment to her beauty, remembered it, and is returning it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====16-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude has now returned to her throne, in response to Ophelia's question.<br />
<br />
''How now'' - greetings. Quite similar to the modern slang greeting, "what's up?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====16-024=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): How should I your true love know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====16-025=====<br />
''From another one?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====16-026=====<br />
''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====16-027=====<br />
''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<br />
''sendal'' - silk, that is, a silk fabric. Mentioned by Chaucer, among others.<br><br />
The Middle English Dictionary lists it "cendā̆l" as their primary spelling, which is impossible to find with an ordinary lookup, but anyway, here it is.<br><br />
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED7072<br><br />
(checked 06/02/2015)<br />
<br />
For where Shakespeare might have learned ''sendal,'' see for example ''The Canterbury Tales,'' General Prologue, The Physician, line 442:<br />
<br />
But of greet norissyng, and digestible.<br />
His studie was but litel on the Bible.<br />
In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,<br />
Lyned with taffata and with sendal;<br />
<br />
Further, according to some writers, ''sendal'' was the shrouding fabric used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
''shoon'' - an archaic plural of "shoe." Shoes.<br />
<br />
''sendal shoon'' - silk shoes; silk slippers. Dancing shoes. As compared to all the ordinary pilgrims wearing sandals, Ophelia pictures Hamlet on his "pilgrimage" wearing silk slippers.<br />
<br />
Also, with the death of her father Ophelia has put on her dancing shoes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#027|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?''<br />
<br />
''imports'' - to import is to bring, in some way: bring out, bring up, bring forth. The question is, "what brings forth this song?"<br />
<br />
There is simultaneously the question of what import the song has, what its significance is. Shakespeare implied both of the relevant definitions of ''imports.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====16-029=====<br />
''Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====16-030=====<br />
''(sings): He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====16-031=====<br />
''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====16-032=====<br />
''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====16-033=====<br />
''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====16-034=====<br />
''(exclaims): Oh ho!''<br />
<br />
An exclamation of delight.<br />
<br />
Recall what we have seen of Polonius and Ophelia.<br />
<br />
First, in Scene 3, Polonius forbade Ophelia to have any further communication with her fiance, Prince Hamlet. She obeyed, but she did not like that.<br />
<br />
When Hamlet rushed to Ophelia's room, before Scene 6, Ophelia then went to Polonius to try to get him to change his mind, and allow her to talk to Hamlet, to find out why he did that. She never even got the chance to ask Polonius, who decided immediately to take Ophelia and Hamlet's private relationship public. She did not like that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then confiscated (or just plain stole) Ophelia's love letters from Hamlet, since Polonius wanted tangible evidence to show the King, proving that Hamlet had expressed love for Ophelia. When Ophelia tried to fight back, to keep her love letters, and threatened to tell Hamlet, Polonius locked Ophelia in her room, to prevent her resort to Hamlet. She hated that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then persuaded Ophelia to participate in the Nunnery Scene eavesdropping scheme, on the ground that it would get her married to Hamlet, when the King heard Hamlet express love for her. The scheme turned into a disaster, that left her abandoned and heartbroken. It was her father's scheme, and she blamed her father for the result.<br />
<br />
At that point, Ophelia, being a young lady of normal psychology, was wishing her father would get out of her life, and just drop dead. In this Scene, she is ''not'' grieving over his death. She is hysterically happy. Her secret wish has come true.<br />
<br />
The other characters have not seen everything we in the audience have seen, and they do not understand this. They think Ophelia is displaying some weird, mad symptoms of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====16-035=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====16-036=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray you, mark!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037=====<br />
''(sings): White his shroud as the mountain snow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters)''<br />
<br />
Claudius enters because he heard a woman singing in the Throne Room. His first thought is that it's Gertrude, since Gertrude is the woman anyone would associate with the Throne Room. Claudius is curious why Gertrude would be singing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
From the way Claudius looks at her, Gertrude realizes Claudius thought she was the one singing. So she points at Ophelia, and tells Claudius, ''look here.''<br />
<br />
''here'' - not here. "There," that is. When Gertrude says ''look here'' she means "look there," at Ophelia. Claudius is looking ''here,'' at Gertrude, and she says ''here'' to tell him to look "not here."<br />
<br />
The language is perfectly understandable to anybody familiar with English, while the explanation sounds like madness. It is a peculiarity of English that the word ''here'' can mean "there," (and the word "there" can mean ''here,'') depending on what is indicated. Shakespeare had some fun in the play with "here" v "there," (and also "this" v "that.")<br />
<br />
When Gertrude says ''look here,'' and points at Ophelia, we all understand she means "look there." Claudius does so.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Claudius, curious, approaches Ophelia as she sings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-039=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040=====<br />
''Which bewept to the grave did not go''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040-SD=====<br />
''(the word "not" is spoken aside)''<br />
<br />
The other characters don't hear Ophelia sing ''not,'' only the audience hears it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-041=====<br />
''With true love showers.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====16-042=====<br />
''Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====16-043=====<br />
''Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;''<br />
<br />
''dild' '' - dildo. It is an obsolete music term. Also appears in ''The Winter's Tale.''<br />
<br />
''Winter's Tale'' Act 4 scene 4,<br />
<br />
Servant: He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; ...<br />
... with such delicate <br />
burthens of dildos and fadings, ...<br />
<br />
A ''dildo'' is a nonsense phrase within the burden of a ditty, such as the "hey nonny nonny" mentioned in ''Much Ado about Nothing,'' Act 2 scene 3:<br />
<br />
Balthasar. Sigh no more, ladies, ...<br />
...<br />
And be you blithe and bonny, <br />
Converting all your sounds of woe <br />
Into Hey nonny, nonny.<br />
...<br />
<br />
The term comes from the fact of the word ''dildo'' itself being used, as in Thomas Morley's ''Will You Buy a Fine Dog?'':<br />
<br />
Will you buy a fine dog, with a hole in his head?<br />
With a dildo, dildo, dildo; ...<br />
<br />
The entire song can be found here:<br><br />
http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Will_you_buy_a_fine_dog%3F_(Thomas_Morley)<br />
<br />
''Dildo'' in this sense is the same sort of thing as "hey diddle diddle" in the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. It's some wording that is rhythmic, and rhymes, but has no meaning apart from its use in the verse.<br />
<br />
However, having said that, it is not possible to exclude the better-known, vulgar meaning, since that meaning did also exist in Shakespeare's time. For example, see the lewd verse "Choise of Valentines or the Merie Ballad of Nash his Dildo," T. Nashe, c.1593, which can be found at the Project Gutenberg website:<br><br />
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17779/17779-h/17779-h.htm<br />
<br />
It is safe to say that Ophelia's remark to Claudius is not entirely polite. An interpretation is available for Ophelia to be saying that, in her opinion, Claudius would benefit from the insertion into him of a dildo. That is not, however, her primary meaning. We once again have multiple meanings from the Bard.<br />
<br />
Primarily, she is saying she would like to sing a dildo about Claudius being dead, to go with her song about her father being dead.<br />
<br />
Ophelia says she wants Claudius to die, so she can sing about it.<br />
<br />
Claudius does not understand her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====16-044=====<br />
''They say the owl was a baker's daughter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====16-045=====<br />
''Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====16-046=====<br />
''God be at your table.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====16-047=====<br />
''Claudius: Conceit upon her father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====16-048=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====16-049=====<br />
''what it means, say you this:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====16-050=====<br />
''(sings): Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====16-051=====<br />
''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====16-052=====<br />
''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====16-053=====<br />
''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====16-054=====<br />
''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<br />
''clothes'' - a dressing gown, probably. A robe, as Americans now call it. We are not talking about the gentleman taking time to dress himself up in black tie and tails. He just grabs his robe, to go to the door. Well, more particularly, in the case of Hamlet, he'll grab his cloak, at least to wrap around himself.<br />
<br />
''dupt'' - dupped, in current standard spelling, a spelling which matters not at all since nobody says this any more. The word "dup" is formed merely from "do" + "up" and goes back to Middle English 'don up' which meant "to open," and probably referred to lifting up the simple kind of door latch used in those days. To open a door, one "did up" the latch.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====16-055=====<br />
''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====16-056=====<br />
''Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====16-057=====<br />
''Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====16-058=====<br />
''(sings): By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====16-059=====<br />
''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====16-060=====<br />
''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====16-061=====<br />
''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====16-062=====<br />
''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====16-063=====<br />
''(He answers): So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====16-064=====<br />
''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====16-065=====<br />
''Claudius: How long hath she been thus?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====16-066=====<br />
''Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====16-067=====<br />
''but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====16-068=====<br />
''shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come''<br />
<br />
''(my brother) shall know of it'' - and won't he have a fit!<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====16-069=====<br />
''my coach; goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Ladies'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#069|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070=====<br />
''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Sweet Lady'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, address Q2 "Ladyes"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#70|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits)''<br />
<br />
Running like Cinderella running to her coach at midnight, before it turns into a pumpkin.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.''<br />
<br />
Spoken to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071-SD=====<br />
''(the ladies-in-waiting curtsy, and exit to follow Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-072=====<br />
''Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====16-073=====<br />
''death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====16-074=====<br />
''When sorrows come, they come not single spies,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====16-075=====<br />
''But in battalions. First her father slain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====16-076=====<br />
''Next, your son gone, and he most violent author''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====16-077=====<br />
''Of his own just remove, the people muddied,''<br />
<br />
''just remove'' - justified removal; justified departure.<br />
<br />
''muddied'' - astir; stirred up. The way clear water in a brook becomes muddy when it's stirred up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====16-078=====<br />
''Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====16-079=====<br />
''For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly''<br />
<br />
''greenly'' - freshly; recently. Claudius is using the same figure of speech he used in speaking of his brother in Scene 2, in Claudius's first two lines in the play. ([[Scene 2 #001]] "Though yet of Hamlet, our dear brother's, death, The memory be green..."<br />
<br />
Fresh plantings are green. Claudius again speaks of a recent funeral as a "recent plant." This goes along with the analogy of Claudius with Cain, who was a tiller of the ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====16-080=====<br />
''In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia''<br />
<br />
''In hugger mugger'' - surreptitiously. Without public ceremony. Claudius wanted to draw as little attention to Polonius's death as possible, since Claudius did not take the usual legal action against Hamlet, and Claudius knows the public will wonder why not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====16-081=====<br />
''Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====16-082=====<br />
''Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====16-083=====<br />
''Last, and as much containing as all these:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====16-084=====<br />
''Her brother is in secret come from France,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====16-085=====<br />
''Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,''<br />
<br />
''in clouds'' - hidden from Claudius's sight. The figure of speech is that of a "sun (son) hidden in clouds," so that one cannot see it. There is an implicit son/sun pun.<br />
<br />
Properly, Laertes would have presented himself to the King upon his return, but Laertes has not done so. (We know Laertes ought to have presented himself to Claudius upon his return, because he needed Claudius's permission to leave, as we saw in Scene 2. Laertes is a Danish courtier, or is otherwise under some obligation to the Throne, probably because Polonius arranged a government position for Laertes.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====16-086=====<br />
''And wants not buzzers to infect his ear''<br />
<br />
''buzzers'' - gossips; rumor mongers. Recall Hamlet facetiously saying "buzz buzz" to Polonius in Scene 7.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====16-087=====<br />
''With pestilent speeches of his father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====16-088=====<br />
''Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====16-089=====<br />
''Will nothing stick our person to arraign''<br />
<br />
How could Claudius be blamed? Look at the most basic facts. 1) Hamlet killed Polonius. 2) Claudius sent Hamlet on a trip out of the country, beyond the reach of Danish law, to get a lot of money.<br />
<br />
By appearance, it looks like "hire and salary." A person could argue, just from that, that Claudius hired Hamlet to kill Polonius. We know better, but the average person in the local town has not seen what we have seen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====16-090=====<br />
''In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====16-091=====<br />
''Like to a murdering piece, in many places''<br />
<br />
''murdering piece'' - a cannon loaded with small projectiles, to produce a spray of shot, analogous to a shotgun blast. A ''murdering piece'' was so called because it was especially designed to kill enemy personnel, as opposed to knocking down walls.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092=====<br />
''Gives me superfluous death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD1=====<br />
''(an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)''<br />
<br />
Men shouting. Scuffling sounds, loud thuds. Some noise of steel hitting steel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD2=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Running, excited.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-093=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?''<br />
<br />
Addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====16-094=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto swissers.jpg|right]]<br />
''Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!''<br />
<br />
''Attend'' - take heed. From Latin 'attendere' ("give heed to.")<br />
<br />
''Swissers'' - Swiss guards. The modern standard spelling is "Switzer," but I see no overwhelming need to change the original Second Quarto spelling. Claudius is calling for his royal guards, his bodyguards.<br />
<br />
Where are they? Well since Claudius entered the way he did, just coming in out of curiosity to see what the singing was about, and did not enter the Throne Room in his usual kingly style, the Swissers probably don't even know he's in the Throne Room. They were not mustered for the royal entourage, to accompany Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#094|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-095=====<br />
''What is the matter?''<br />
<br />
Also addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====16-096=====<br />
''Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====16-097=====<br />
''The ocean, over-peering of his list''<br />
<br />
''over-peering'' - a peer is at the same level. Therefore, to ''over-peer'' is to rise higher, to rise above, to achieve a higher elevation than that which was formerly at the same level.<br />
<br />
''list'' - boundary; bounds. In this case, the former bounds.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====16-098=====<br />
''Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste''<br />
<br />
''Eats'' - engulfs.<br />
<br />
''flats'' - same as it means today: "flat land at the edge of the sea." See the current term "mud flat," or "mud flats."<br />
<br />
''impiteous'' - unconscionable; undutiful. BOOKMARK for me Originates in Latin 'pietas' ("dutiful conduct.") Duty Theme instance.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====16-099=====<br />
''Than young Laertes, in a riotous head''<br />
<br />
''in a riotous head'' - has the double meaning, "at the head of the riot," and "riotous in his thoughts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====16-100=====<br />
''O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"''<br />
<br />
''Lord'' - may be Laertes's technically-correct title. Polonius was a lord, and one would suppose Laertes has inherited his father's title. However, the title might depend, formally, upon royal ratification. Laertes's title inheritance is not clear in the play. He continues to be addressed as "sir" when he appears on stage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====16-101=====<br />
''And, as the world were now but to begin,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====16-102=====<br />
''Antiquity forgot, custom not known,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====16-103=====<br />
''The ratifiers and props of every word,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====16-104=====<br />
''The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====16-105=====<br />
''Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====16-106=====<br />
''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107=====<br />
''Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107-SD=====<br />
''(loud noise just outside the closed door to the Lobby)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108=====<br />
''Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!''<br />
<br />
''counter'' - the wrong way. Strictly, ''counter'' is when a dog goes the wrong way on a scent trail, getting farther from the game rather than closer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-109=====<br />
''Claudius: The doors are broke.''<br />
<br />
Important to note, for some actions that happen later. The rabble are breaking down doors throughout the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====16-110=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====16-111=====<br />
''Ruffians: No, lets come in!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====16-112=====<br />
''Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====16-113=====<br />
''Ruffians: We will, we will.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====16-114=====<br />
''Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115=====<br />
''Give me my father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)''<br />
<br />
Contrary to appearances, she is not primarily protecting Claudius, she is primarily protecting Hamlet's succession.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-116=====<br />
''Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====16-117=====<br />
''Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#117|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-118=====<br />
''Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====16-119=====<br />
''Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====16-120=====<br />
''Of my true mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====16-121=====<br />
''Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
''cause'' - reason. One might compare this to Claudius's use of "reason" in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2 #044]] "You cannot speak of reason to the Dane...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====16-122=====<br />
''That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====16-123=====<br />
''Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====16-124=====<br />
''There's such divinity doth hedge a King,''<br />
<br />
Has reference to the "divine right of kings."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====16-125=====<br />
''That treason can but peep to what it would,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====16-126=====<br />
''Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====16-127=====<br />
''Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====16-128=====<br />
''Speak, man.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====16-129=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is my father?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====16-130=====<br />
''Claudius: Dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====16-131=====<br />
''Gertrude: But not by him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====16-132=====<br />
''Claudius: Let him demand his fill.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====16-133=====<br />
''Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,''<br />
<br />
''juggled with'' - toyed with; treated as a buffoon. Laertes is emphasizing his deadly seriousness. ''Juggle'' is from Old French 'jogler' = "to be a buffoon or jester." So Laertes is telling King Claudius, "I am not here to be a king's jester for you."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====16-134=====<br />
''To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====16-135=====<br />
''Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====16-136=====<br />
''I dare damnation. To this point I stand,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====16-137=====<br />
''That both the worlds I give to negligence,''<br />
<br />
''both the worlds'' - the world of the living, and the afterlife.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====16-138=====<br />
''Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====16-139=====<br />
''Most throughly for my father.''<br />
<br />
''throughly'' - is the exact word printed in the Second Quarto. The words "through" and "thorough" were not clearly distinguished until Early Modern English. ''Throughly'' is probably the intended word, with no printing error. It can be understood as "completely," or as "through and through," that is, "in every way." A substitution of modern "thoroughly" would probably be acceptable, if one were neurotic about modernizing the text to the greatest degree possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====16-140=====<br />
''Claudius: Who shall stay you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====16-141=====<br />
''Laertes: My will, not all the world's.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====16-142=====<br />
''And for my means, I'll husband them so well,''<br />
<br />
''means'' - resources, especially financial resources. It does not seem to have occurred yet to Laertes that he must have a valuable inheritance, since Polonius was a rich man. There's no hint in the play of any other heir Polonius might have.<br />
<br />
''husband'' - manage, simply put. Further, ''husband'' can mean "conserve" or "manage thriftily," which is probably the intended full meaning, based on the idea of "thrift" already expressed in the play ([[Scene 2 #182]] "Hamlet: Thrift, thrift, Horatio...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====16-143=====<br />
''They shall go far with little.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====16-144=====<br />
''Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====16-145=====<br />
''Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,''<br />
<br />
''writ'' - used figuratively to mean "officially written" (like a law, or a king's order.) Claudius knows that Laertes's desire for revenge has no written conditions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====16-146=====<br />
''That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe''<br />
<br />
''swoopstake'' - the original word, which I retain because it doesn't necessarily mean exactly the same as modern "sweepstake." Clearly, the meaning is close to the modern term. BOOKMARK, for me.<br />
<br />
''draw'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====16-147=====<br />
''Winner and loser?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====16-148=====<br />
''Laertes: None but his enemies.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====16-149=====<br />
''Claudius: Will you know them, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150=====<br />
''Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes sheaths his sword)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-151=====<br />
[[File:Pelican.jpg|right|image of a pelican]]<br />
''And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,''<br />
<br />
''pelican'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#151|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-152=====<br />
''Repast them with my blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====16-153=====<br />
''Claudius: Why, now you speak''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====16-154=====<br />
''Like a good child, and a true gentleman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====16-155=====<br />
''That I am guiltless of your father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====16-156=====<br />
''And am most sensible in grief for it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====16-157=====<br />
''It shall as level to your judgment pierce''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158=====<br />
''As day does to your eye.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158-SD=====<br />
''(noise is heard at the doorway; Ophelia enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-159=====<br />
''Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====16-160=====<br />
''O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====16-161=====<br />
''Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====16-162=====<br />
''By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====16-163=====<br />
''Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====16-164=====<br />
''Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====16-165=====<br />
''O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====16-166=====<br />
''Should be as mortal as an old man's life?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====16-167=====<br />
''Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====16-168=====<br />
''It sends some precious instance of itself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====16-169=====<br />
''After the thing it loves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====16-170=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<br />
Informs us of Danish funeral practices. Polonius was borne to his grave like that, and Ophelia will be, shrouded but with the face visible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====16-171=====<br />
''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====16-172=====<br />
''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====16-173=====<br />
''(speaks): Fare you well, my dove!''<br />
<br />
Ophelia acts releasing a dove in the direction of Hamlet. The sight of a dove in flight is a good omen. Ophelia is intending to show Hamlet that the death of Polonius is a good omen for them, she believes.<br />
<br />
By the way, the use of an actual dove in stage performance would be authentic, where that is possible. The Globe was an outdoor theater.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====16-174=====<br />
''Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====16-175=====<br />
''It could not move thus.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====16-176=====<br />
''Ophelia: You must sing a down, a down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====16-177=====<br />
''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the wheel becomes it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====16-178=====<br />
''It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====16-179=====<br />
''Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====16-180=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,''<br />
[[File:Rosemary.jpg|right|rosemary blooms]]<br />
''rosemary'' - ''Rosmarinus officinalis'' is a traditional funeral flower. We know of a recent funeral, that of Polonius.<br />
<br />
The available colors of ''rosemary'' include purple and white. Ophelia's "crownet weeds" that will be mentioned in Scene 18 have the colors of purple, and white.<br />
<br />
Ophelia gives the rosemary to Laertes, who was not present for his father's funeral. Correctly performed, Ophelia gives all the flowers to Laertes.<br />
<br />
The word ''rosemary'' is from Latin 'rosmarinus' ("dew of the sea.") So, ''rosemary'' implicitly presents the "dew" idea again, that Hamlet brought to some prominence in Scene 2. ([[Scene 2#132]]) The English spelling of ''rosemary'' was influenced by "rose" and the name "Mary."<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" ''rosemary'' says "remembrance. So, ''rosemary'' is indeed the traditional flower of remembrance, as Ophelia says.<br />
<br />
This line is partly to Laertes, and partly aside, aside in the ordinary sense, that is; it is not an "aside" in theatrical jargon. The others hear it. Ophelia turns away from Laertes when she says, "(pray you love, remember.)" She is addressing that to Hamlet. Traditionally, ''rosemary'' is also associated with weddings. Ophelia is praying that Hamlet will remember he asked her to marry him. The word ''love'' is on the mark. From its use as a wedding flower, rosemary is considered a love charm.<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal,'' page 1293, says that rosemary is good for "all infirmities of the head and brain" (at least where the infirmity is from a "cold and moist cause,") and that it "quickens the senses and memory." Also, rosemary will "strengthen the sinewy parts." The head and brain, the senses, and the memory are all significant, repeated elements in the play dialogue, and both Hamlet ([[Scene 5#098]]) and Claudius ([[Scene 10#074]]) speak of the sinews. It becomes easy to see why Shakespeare included ''rosemary'' as one of the flowers in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====16-181=====<br />
''remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''<br />
[[File:Pansy.jpg|right|Viola tricolor, "pansy"]]<br />
''(pray you love, remember)'' - spoken in the direction where Ophelia supposes Hamlet to be. She turns aside from Laertes for this, but it is not an aside in the theatrical sense. The others hear it, although they do not know what to make of it.<br />
<br />
''pansies'' - like the rosemary, is also a traditional funeral flower. The name is from Old French 'pensée' ("thought.") This is not the modern cultivated pansy, it is the wild pansy, ''Viola tricolor.'' It is a flower in the violet family, ''Viola.''<br />
<br />
(The play dialogue associates the violet with Ophelia, in lines spoken by Laertes, and by Ophelia, herself. ([[Scene 3#008]],) (line 186 below,) and ([[Scene 19#208]].) Where Shakespeare wrote "violet" he probably meant the sweet violet, ''Viola odorata,'' with its heart-shaped leaves.)<br />
<br />
As with the rosemary, the color is once again purple and white (or close enough to that.) The ''Viola tricolo'' may have yellow on the lower petal, but that would not be out of place, since the daisy, that Ophelia will soon mention, has a yellow center.<br />
<br />
The ''rosemary'' and ''pansies'' are flowers from Polonius's funeral which Ophelia saved for Laertes since he wasn't there. It was kind and thoughtful of her to save them for him. However, Laertes has no idea where the flowers came from, or why she's giving them to him. Laertes doesn't know about flowers, and, well, he is not very smart. It doesn't occur to him where these flowers must have come from.<br />
<br />
In a painfully tragic irony, by Ophelia giving Laertes these flowers from Polonius's funeral, she is, at the same time, providing Laertes with flowers for her funeral. None of them knows that.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''pansies'' do indeed express "thoughts," as Ophelia says. In Middle English, and on into Shakespeare's time, "thought" could mean "grief," as I note for line 013 above.<br />
<br />
The pansy is also called "love-in-idleness." Shakespeare used that name in ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' Act 2 scene 1, Oberon speaking:<br />
<br />
...<br />
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:<br />
It fell upon a little western flower,<br />
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,<br />
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.<br />
...<br />
<br />
Notice the mention of white and purple colors.<br />
<br />
The word "idle" goes back to Old English 'idel' ("vain,") so the name love-in-idleness can be read as "love in vain." That can be seen, tragically, to apply to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
In Gerard's ''Herbal'' the wild pansy is listed under the name "Hearts ease." Knowing that Ophelia will die after a fall, one may be intrigued to find Gerard recommends the pansy as a cure for "falling sickness." Gerard meant epilepsy, but still.<br />
<br />
The name heartsease may come both from the pansy being used in love potions, and in its being used for heart ailments. THe "heart" concept is highly significant in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
In action, Ophelia gives all of the rosemary and pansies to Laertes. She is giving him all the remembrance and thoughts of their father.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====16-182=====<br />
''Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.''<br />
<br />
''document'' - lesson. Latin 'documentum' "lesson," from 'docere' "to teach." It's unclear what Laertes supposes he is learning from it, since he didn't even understand the funeral flowers.<br />
<br />
''fitted'' - in a fit, "fit" as in an attack or paroxysm. Joined in a fit, tangled in a fit, of madness.<br />
<br />
Or, ''fitted'' to ''madness,'' that is, "thoughts and remembrance fitted to madness," or "adapted to fit madness." The multiplicity of meaning is intentional in the author's phrasing, we can be sure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====16-183=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for''<br />
<br />
[[File:Fennel.jpg|left|fennel blooms]]<br />
All of these flowers are also given to Laertes, when the play is correctly done. This is an encounter between Laertes and Ophelia following the death of their father. It's a family matter, even if Laertes can't grasp it. Gertrude and Claudius are "audience to this act," to quote from the last Scene. They are watching, and wondering what it all means.<br />
<br />
''fennel'' - ''Foeniculum vulgare.'' It has tiny yellow flowers. Hardly worth calling a flower at all, it is a culinary herb, and a medicinal herb.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's meaning with the ''fennel'' is "open your eyes," "see clearly." Fennel is used in herbal medicine as an eye remedy, or to preserve eyesight. (Gerard, ''Herbal,'' page 1032.)<br />
<br />
Ophelia is telling Laertes to open his eyes, and see that these flowers have meaning. It is reasonable to take it that she is also trying to tell him to open his eyes to things in general. The ''fennel'' provides an implicit instance of the Vision Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
[[File:Columbine2.jpg|left|columbine flower]]<br />
[[File:Columbine1.jpg|right|columbine blooms]]<br />
''columbines'' - from Latin 'columbīnus' ("dovelike.") As the image to the right shows, the flower can be likened to a group of five doves facing each other.<br />
<br />
The scientific classification is ''Aquilegia vulgaris.'' The genus name, ''Aquilegia,'' comes from 'aquila', the Latin word for eagle, perhaps because the flower petals of some varieties can be seen to resemble an eagle's claw, or perhaps because some may take the "doves" of the flower for eagles, instead.<br />
<br />
The color is purple and white.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, the columbine expresses "folly," or, "you're a fool." Ophelia is calling Laertes a fool, who is engaged in folly. After Laertes said, above, that he would "dare damnation" to get revenge, in other words, throw away his soul, one cannot help but think Ophelia is right. Ophelia was not present to hear Laertes say that, but she knows her brother.<br />
<br />
We recall the Player, in Scene 7, speaking of breaking all the follies from the Wheel of Fortune. ([[Scene 7#474]]) A tragic, unfortunate death would be such a folly. In Scene 18, we will hear Laertes call Ophelia's death "this folly." None of them knows it, but the "folly" that the columbine expresses is ominous for Ophelia, herself, when the Wheel of Fortune will take a bad turn for her.<br />
<br />
[[File:Rue.jpg|right|common rue]]<br />
''rue'' - ''Ruta graveolens,'' known as common rue, or herb-of-grace. The blooms are yellow. Like fennel, it is not much for being a flower, but it is a traditional medicinal herb, and has found sparing use as a culinary herb. It has a strong smell. Gerard's chapter on rue, "Of Rue, or herbe Grace. Chap. 511" begins on ''Herball'' page 1070.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''rue'' expresses "regret," however, Ophelia will go on to speak of a "difference."<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal'' credits it with many virtues, including its use in tonics for making vision sharp and clear, for remedying "dim eyes," to cure earache, to cure headache, as an antidote to poison, and as a "counterpoison" against scorpion and insect stings, and serpent bites. The eyes, the ears, the head, and poison are all significant concepts in the play.<br />
<br />
As already mentioned, all of the flowers are given to Laertes, when the play is correctly performed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====16-184=====<br />
''you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====16-185=====<br />
''you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would''<br />
<br />
''rue with a difference'' - no regret. The ''difference'' Ophelia means is the negative. Ophelia is symbolically telling Laertes to feel no regret over the death of Polonius, since she does not.<br />
<br />
In older ''Hamlet'' commentary you may see ''difference'' interpreted according to heraldic definition, but that does not work. Laertes is now the senior male of the family, so he does not use a heraldic difference, and Ophelia knows Laertes's status after their father's death (as did Shakespeare, of course.)<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy2.jpg|right|there's a daisy]]<br />
''daisy'' - Ophelia shows the ''daisy'' to everyone, but keeps it. By the way, it isn't hard to guess where it came from, what it signifies, and why she keeps it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====16-186=====<br />
''give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;''<br />
<br />
''violets'' - <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK knowing enough of the play, once can appreciate that the violet can deaden the sense of smell<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====16-187=====<br />
''they say he made a good end.''<br />
<br />
Ophelia approves that people should say the end of her father was good. She makes it sound like a more socially acceptable sentiment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====16-188=====<br />
''(sings): For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''<br />
<br />
Adapted by Shakespeare from ''Greensleeves.'' Observe the last line below.<br />
<br />
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,<br />
To cast me off discourteously.<br />
For I have loved you well and long,<br />
Delighting in your company.<br />
<br />
Greensleeves was all my joy<br />
...<br />
<br />
There was apparently also in Shakespeare's time a song called "Bonny Robin," or perhaps "Bonny Sweet Robin," of which the lyrics have not survived. ''Greensleeves'' is written to a woman. Ophelia "masculinizes" the lyric by substituting "bonny sweet Robin" for "Greensleeves," and Ophelia also makes it present tense.<br />
<br />
Sendal is mentioned in the old lyrics of ''Greensleeves,'' from the Tudor era, by the way.<br />
<br />
With this line, we are privileged to learn that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet nickname for Hamlet. Among the characters, only she and Hamlet know that.<br />
<br />
(The question might arise, what is Hamlet's pet name for Ophelia? Has Shakespeare given us the privilege of knowing that? Well... there's a daisy.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====16-189=====<br />
''Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself''<br />
<br />
''Thought'' - Grief.<br />
<br />
''affliction'' - torment.<br />
<br />
''Passion'' - Agony.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====16-190=====<br />
''She turns to favor and to prettiness.''<br />
<br />
''favor'' - Laertes means Ophelia acts as if the hell of madness were a favor.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK more here<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====16-191=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====16-192=====<br />
''And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====16-193=====<br />
''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====16-194=====<br />
''He never will come again.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====16-195=====<br />
''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<br />
But Polonius's beard was neatly trimmed, we suppose, after what Hamlet said to Polonius (that Polonius misunderstood) in Scene 7. ([[Scene 7#478]])<br />
<br />
This is, of course, a costuming note for the Polonius character. It is mandatory that his beard be white. Nothing else will do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====16-196=====<br />
''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<br />
''Flaxen'' - pale yellow.<br />
<br />
''poll'' - head, that is, the skin of his head. Polonius was borne bare-faced on the bier, as Ophelia just told us, which means that Ophelia could see the skin of his face. The yellowing of his skin was part of what finally convinced her that Polonius was really dead, and it wasn't only a mean trick, to fool her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====16-197=====<br />
''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====16-198=====<br />
''(speaks): God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199=====<br />
''God buy you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits; Gertrude exits to follow her)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude will reclaim her clothing and jewelry.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-200=====<br />
''Laertes: Do you this, O God?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====16-201=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====16-202=====<br />
''Or you deny me right; go but apart,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====16-203=====<br />
''Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====16-204=====<br />
''And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====16-205=====<br />
''If by direct, or by collateral hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====16-206=====<br />
''They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====16-207=====<br />
''Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====16-208=====<br />
''To you in satisfaction; but if not,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====16-209=====<br />
''Be you content to lend your patience to us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====16-210=====<br />
''And we shall jointly labor with your soul''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====16-211=====<br />
''To give it due content.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====16-212=====<br />
''Laertes: Let this be so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====16-213=====<br />
''His means of death, his obscure burial,''<br />
<br />
''obscure burial'' - which Claudius ordered in hopes the death of Polonius would attract little attention, and not cause him trouble.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#213|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-214=====<br />
''No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====16-215=====<br />
''No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====16-216=====<br />
''Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====16-217=====<br />
''That I must call it in question.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====16-218=====<br />
''Claudius: So you shall,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====16-219=====<br />
''And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.''<br />
<br />
''great axe'' - executioner's axe.<br />
<br />
Claudius believes he has already arranged that, for Hamlet in England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220=====<br />
''I pray you go with me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_16
Scene 16
2018-02-04T15:59:52Z
<p>Administrator: /* 16-034 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Throne Room, Horatio and a Gentleman persuade Gertrude to speak with Ophelia. At first, Gertrude doesn't want to see Ophelia because, since her son has killed Ophelia's father, Gertrude anticipates an unpleasant confrontation.<br />
<br />
Ophelia enters slowly, doing a leisurely, graceful dance, as Gertrude speaks her "guilt" speech aside. Ophelia then speaks oddly to Gertrude, and sings.<br />
<br />
Claudius enters, because he heard the singing. Ophelia sings more. Claudius speaks of Ophelia and grief, as he draws the wrong conclusion. Ophelia exits.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that Laertes has returned, and Laertes is hearing condemnations of Claudius in connection with the death of Polonius. Loud noises are heard, and a messenger enters, to inform Claudius that Laertes is leading a riotous rabble to storm the Castle.<br />
<br />
Laertes enters, sword in hand, and irate. He demands Claudius explain things.<br />
<br />
While Claudius is talking with Laertes, Ophelia reenters. Ophelia sings to Laertes, and hands him flowers. He is totally at a loss, except he's sure she's mad. Ophelia departs, with a final word of blessing for everyone. Gertrude and her ladies follow Ophelia, to keep watch on her.<br />
<br />
Claudius asks to meet with Laertes and his "wisest friends" to explain his innocence in the death of Polonius. Laertes says he's willing to listen, and they exit.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 16 Characters are: [[Gertrude]], [[Gentleman]], [[Horatio]], [[Ophelia]], [[Claudius]], [[Messenger]], [[Laertes]], [[Ruffians]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Claudius entry [[#038-SD]], || Ophelia first exit [[#071-SD]], || Messenger entry [[#092-SD2]]<br />
|-<br />
| Laertes entry [[#108-SD]], || Ophelia reentry [[#158-SD]], || Ophelia last exit [[#199-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 16</b> [ ~ Baker's Daughter ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 5)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Throne Room;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude enters;<br />
Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-001]]<span id="001"></span> Gertrude: I will not speak with her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will not speak with her.''</span><br />
[[#16-002]]<span id="002"></span> Gentleman: She is importunate,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is insistent for attention,''</span><br />
[[#16-003]]<span id="003"></span> Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Distracted in what she does. Her state of mind will necessarily be pitied.''</span><br />
[[#16-004]]<span id="004"></span> Gertrude: What would she have?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What does she want?''</span><br />
[[#16-005]]<span id="005"></span> Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She says a lot about her father, and says she hears''</span><br />
[[#16-006]]<span id="006"></span> There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's tricks in the world, and equivocates, and pounds her chest,''</span><br />
[[#16-007]]<span id="007"></span> Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Reacts scornfully, in a bad natured way, over trifles, and says things in suspicion,''</span><br />
[[#16-008]]<span id="008"></span> That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That sound only half sensible. Her speech is naughty,''</span><br />
[[#16-009]]<span id="009"></span> Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Still, the illogical employment of her speech motivates''</span><br />
[[#16-010]]<span id="010"></span> The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Those who hear it to try to gather meaning from it. They gape at what she says,''</span><br />
[[#16-011]]<span id="011"></span> And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And misconstrue her words in fitting them to their own preconceptions,''</span><br />
[[#16-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield to them,''</span><br />
[[#16-013]]<span id="013"></span> Indeed would make one think there would be thought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed would make one think there should be grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-014]]<span id="014"></span> Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Although not for sure, still very expressive of misfortune.''</span><br />
[[#16-015]]<span id="015"></span> Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be good to speak with her, for she might breed''</span><br />
[[#16-016]]<span id="016"></span> Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. [[#16-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Gertrude nods to Horatio)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hazardous surmises in minds that jump to conclusions.''</span><br />
[[#16-017]]<span id="017"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to the doorman):</span> Let her come in. [[#16-017-SD1]]<span id="017-SD1"></span> (said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let her come in.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-017-SD2]]<span id="017-SD2"></span> (Horatio and the Gentleman exit;<br />
Ophelia enters, dancing)<br />
<br />
[[#16-018]]<span id="018"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To my sick soul, (which is the true nature of sin,)''</span><br />
[[#16-019]]<span id="019"></span> Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Each idea that crosses my mind seems to lead to disaster.''</span><br />
[[#16-020]]<span id="020"></span> So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Guilt is so full of natural misery,''</span><br />
[[#16-021]]<span id="021"></span> It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It reveals itself, from its fear of being revealed.''</span><br />
[[#16-022]]<span id="022"></span> Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''</span><br />
[[#16-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Greetings, Ophelia?''</span><br />
[[#16-024]]<span id="024"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''How should I your true love know''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can I, your true love, know you''</span><br />
[[#16-025]]<span id="025"></span> ''From another one?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From someone else?''</span><br />
[[#16-026]]<span id="026"></span> ''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By his cock-le top, and shaft''</span><br />
[[#16-027]]<span id="027"></span> ''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And his silken slippers.''</span><br />
[[#16-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, sweet Lady, what brings out that song?''</span><br />
[[#16-029]]<span id="029"></span> Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't say? No, please pay attention:''</span><br />
[[#16-030]]<span id="030"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone, Lady''</span><br />
[[#16-031]]<span id="031"></span> ''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone''</span><br />
[[#16-032]]<span id="032"></span> ''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his head there is green grass turf''</span><br />
[[#16-033]]<span id="033"></span> ''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his heels there is a stone''</span><br />
[[#16-034]]<span id="034"></span> <span style="color:gray">(exclaims):</span> Oh ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh ho!''</span><br />
[[#16-035]]<span id="035"></span> Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but Ophelia . . .''</span><br />
[[#16-036]]<span id="036"></span> Ophelia: Pray you, mark!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please pay attention!''</span><br />
[[#16-037]]<span id="037"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''White his shroud as the mountain snow.'' [[#16-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (Claudius enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His shroud was as white as mountain snow''</span><br />
[[#16-038]]<span id="038"></span> Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord. [[#16-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, look there, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#16-039]]<span id="039"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With sweet flowers strewn all around,''</span><br />
[[#16-040]]<span id="040"></span> ''Which bewept to the grave did not go'' [[#16-040-SD]]<span id="040-SD"></span> (the word "not" is spoken aside)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, falling like tears on the grave did -not- go''</span><br />
[[#16-041]]<span id="041"></span> ''With true love showers.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Accompanied by any shower of real love.''</span><br />
[[#16-042]]<span id="042"></span> Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are you feeling, pretty Lady?''</span><br />
[[#16-043]]<span id="043"></span> Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well may goodness refrain you, musically.''</span><br />
[[#16-044]]<span id="044"></span> They say the owl was a baker's daughter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say the owl was a baker's daughter.''</span><br />
[[#16-045]]<span id="045"></span> Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lord, I know what I am now, but don't know what I may become.''</span><br />
[[#16-046]]<span id="046"></span> God be at your table.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May God be at work on your gravestone, now.''</span><br />
[[#16-047]]<span id="047"></span> Claudius: Conceit upon her father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A caprice due to her father's death.''</span><br />
[[#16-048]]<span id="048"></span> Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, let's have no words about him - but if anyone asks you''</span><br />
[[#16-049]]<span id="049"></span> what it means, say you this:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what all this means, you can tell them this:''</span><br />
[[#16-050]]<span id="050"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day, and''</span><br />
[[#16-051]]<span id="051"></span> ''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Quite in the morning, before it's too late,''</span><br />
[[#16-052]]<span id="052"></span> ''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's me, a maiden tapping at your window''</span><br />
[[#16-053]]<span id="053"></span> ''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be your valentine''</span><br />
[[#16-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So he rose up, put on some clothes, and opened up his bedroom door,''</span><br />
[[#16-055]]<span id="055"></span> ''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let in the maiden, who never again went out as a virgin.''</span><br />
[[#16-056]]<span id="056"></span> Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pretty, Ophelia.''</span><br />
[[#16-057]]<span id="057"></span> Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end to it.''</span><br />
[[#16-058]]<span id="058"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Jesus and by Saint Charity,''</span><br />
[[#16-059]]<span id="059"></span> ''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''oh dear, and fie, for shame,''</span><br />
[[#16-060]]<span id="060"></span> ''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Young men will do it if they come to it''</span><br />
[[#16-061]]<span id="061"></span> ''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''by cock they are to blame.''</span><br />
[[#16-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Said she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''</span><br />
[[#16-063]]<span id="063"></span> (He answers): ''So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''(He answers): So would I have done, by yonder sun,''</span><br />
[[#16-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had not come to my bed.''</span><br />
[[#16-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: How long hath she been thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long has she been like this?''</span><br />
[[#16-066]]<span id="066"></span> Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hope all will be well. I must be patient, but I cannot choose''</span><br />
[[#16-067]]<span id="067"></span> but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but weep to think they would lay him in the cold ground. My brother''</span><br />
[[#16-068]]<span id="068"></span> shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shall learn of it - and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come''</span><br />
[[#16-069]]<span id="069"></span> my coach; good night, Ladies, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''my coach, goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''</span><br />
[[#16-070]]<span id="070"></span> Sweet Lady, good night, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-070-SD]]<span id="070-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits)<br />
<br />
[[#16-071]]<span id="071"></span> Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [[#16-071-SD]]<span id="071-SD"></span> (the ladies-in-waiting curtsy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow her closely, and keep a close watch on her, please.''</span> and exit to follow Ophelia)<br />
[[#16-072]]<span id="072"></span> Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the poison of deep grief, it all springs from her father's''</span><br />
[[#16-073]]<span id="073"></span> death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''death, and now behold the result. Oh, Gertrude, Gertrude,''</span><br />
[[#16-074]]<span id="074"></span> When sorrows come, they come not single spies,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When sorrows come, they don't come one at a time,''</span><br />
[[#16-075]]<span id="075"></span> But in battalions. First her father slain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But in battalions. First, her father slain,''</span><br />
[[#16-076]]<span id="076"></span> Next, your son gone, and he most violent author<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Next, your son gone - and he himself the very violent cause''</span><br />
[[#16-077]]<span id="077"></span> Of his own just remove, the people muddied,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of his own justified departure - the people stirred up,''</span><br />
[[#16-078]]<span id="078"></span> Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dense and unhealthy in their minds, and rumor mongering''</span><br />
[[#16-079]]<span id="079"></span> For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over good Polonius's death - and I have acted only recently,''</span><br />
[[#16-080]]<span id="080"></span> In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In seclusion, to have him buried - poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#16-081]]<span id="081"></span> Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Beside herself, and diverted from her good judgment -''</span><br />
[[#16-082]]<span id="082"></span> Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Without which we humans are mindless as images in pictures, or mere beasts -''</span><br />
[[#16-083]]<span id="083"></span> Last, and as much containing as all these:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Last - and as difficult to deal with as all of those, combined -''</span><br />
[[#16-084]]<span id="084"></span> Her brother is in secret come from France,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her brother has returned, in secret, from France, and''</span><br />
[[#16-085]]<span id="085"></span> Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Takes in all these strange events, keeps out of sight,''</span><br />
[[#16-086]]<span id="086"></span> And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has no lack of scandalmongers to poison his mind''</span><br />
[[#16-087]]<span id="087"></span> With pestilent speeches of his father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With pernicious gossip about his father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-088]]<span id="088"></span> Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which they feel the need to blame sombody, and lacking the facts,''</span><br />
[[#16-089]]<span id="089"></span> Will nothing stick our person to arraign<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll stop at nothing to accuse me''</span><br />
[[#16-090]]<span id="090"></span> In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the word goes from ear to ear. Oh, my dear Gertrude, this,''</span><br />
[[#16-091]]<span id="091"></span> Like to a murdering piece, in many places<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a huge shotgun, hits me in many vital spots, and''</span><br />
[[#16-092]]<span id="092"></span> Gives me superfluous death. [[#16-092-SD1]]<span id="092-SD1"></span> (an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just kills me, over and over.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-092-SD2]]<span id="092-SD2"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-093]]<span id="093"></span> Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, what's that noise?''</span><br />
[[#16-094]]<span id="094"></span> Claudius: Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Attention, everyone! Where are my Swiss guards? Have them guard the door!''</span><br />
[[#16-095]]<span id="095"></span> What is the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#16-096]]<span id="096"></span> Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save yourself, my Lord!''</span><br />
[[#16-097]]<span id="097"></span> The ocean, over-peering of his list<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ocean, overflowing at its margins,''</span><br />
[[#16-098]]<span id="098"></span> Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not engulf the flats with more merciless speed''</span><br />
[[#16-099]]<span id="099"></span> Than young Laertes, in a riotous head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than young Laertes, at the head of the riot,''</span><br />
[[#16-100]]<span id="100"></span> O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Overwhelms your soldiers and guards. The rabble call him "Lord,"''</span><br />
[[#16-101]]<span id="101"></span> And, as the world were now but to begin,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, as if the human world were only now beginning,''</span><br />
[[#16-102]]<span id="102"></span> Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Precedent forgotten, ceremony unknown,''</span><br />
[[#16-103]]<span id="103"></span> The ratifiers and props of every word,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The only validators and supports for their every word is''</span><br />
[[#16-104]]<span id="104"></span> The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The outcry: "We choose!" "Laertes shall be King!''</span><br />
[[#16-105]]<span id="105"></span> Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They toss their caps in the air, raise their hands, and cheer it to the clouds:''</span><br />
[[#16-106]]<span id="106"></span> Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''</span><br />
[[#16-107]]<span id="107"></span> Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! [[#16-107-SD]]<span id="107-SD"></span> (loud noise just outside the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How cheerfully they cry, as they follow this false trail!''</span> closed door to the Lobby)<br />
[[#16-108]]<span id="108"></span> Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the wrong way, you traitorous Danish dogs!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-108-SD]]<span id="108-SD"></span> (Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)<br />
<br />
[[#16-109]]<span id="109"></span> Claudius: The doors are broke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The doors are broken in.''</span><br />
[[#16-110]]<span id="110"></span> Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is this so-called "King?" Sirs, wait outside.''</span><br />
[[#16-111]]<span id="111"></span> Ruffians: No, lets come in!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, let us come in!''</span><br />
[[#16-112]]<span id="112"></span> Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I beg you, allow me to talk to him.''</span><br />
[[#16-113]]<span id="113"></span> Ruffians: We will, we will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alright, we will, we will.''</span><br />
[[#16-114]]<span id="114"></span> Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thank you. Control the doorway. Oh, you vile King,''</span><br />
[[#16-115]]<span id="115"></span> Give me my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Give me my father!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-115-SD]]<span id="115-SD"></span> (Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)<br />
<br />
[[#16-116]]<span id="116"></span> Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be calm, good Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#16-117]]<span id="117"></span> Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If any drop of my blood is calm it reveals I'm a bastard,''</span><br />
[[#16-118]]<span id="118"></span> Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shouts that my father was a cuckold, puts the brand of the harlot''</span><br />
[[#16-119]]<span id="119"></span> Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right here, between the chaste, undefiled brows''</span><br />
[[#16-120]]<span id="120"></span> Of my true mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of my virtuous mother.''</span><br />
[[#16-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the reason, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-122]]<span id="122"></span> That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That the rebellion you lead looks so ambitious?''</span><br />
[[#16-123]]<span id="123"></span> Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him go, Gertrude, do not worry about my personal safety.''</span><br />
[[#16-124]]<span id="124"></span> There's such divinity doth hedge a King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's such divinity to shield a King,''</span><br />
[[#16-125]]<span id="125"></span> That treason can but peep to what it would,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That treason can only peek at what it wants, and''</span><br />
[[#16-126]]<span id="126"></span> Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Acts little of what it desires. Tell me, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-127]]<span id="127"></span> Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you are so incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#16-128]]<span id="128"></span> Speak, man.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak, man.''</span><br />
[[#16-129]]<span id="129"></span> Laertes: Where is my father?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is my father?''</span><br />
[[#16-130]]<span id="130"></span> Claudius: Dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dead.''</span><br />
[[#16-131]]<span id="131"></span> Gertrude: But not by him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But not killed by him!''</span><br />
[[#16-132]]<span id="132"></span> Claudius: Let him demand his fill.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him question until he's satisfied.''</span><br />
[[#16-133]]<span id="133"></span> Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What led to his death? I won't be taken lightly!''</span><br />
[[#16-134]]<span id="134"></span> To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To hell with loyalty to the crown, and religious dedication - to the most evil devil!''</span><br />
[[#16-135]]<span id="135"></span> Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Conscience, and nobility, into the deepest pit!''</span><br />
[[#16-136]]<span id="136"></span> I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I dare damnation! On this point I make my stand,''</span><br />
[[#16-137]]<span id="137"></span> That both the worlds I give to negligence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, for my fate in both this world and the next, I couldn't care less.''</span><br />
[[#16-138]]<span id="138"></span> Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let whatever happens, happen, but I'll have revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-139]]<span id="139"></span> Most throughly for my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In every way, for my father.''</span><br />
[[#16-140]]<span id="140"></span> Claudius: Who shall stay you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who will stop you?''</span><br />
[[#16-141]]<span id="141"></span> Laertes: My will, not all the world's.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only my own will, no matter what the rest of the world wants!''</span><br />
[[#16-142]]<span id="142"></span> And for my means, I'll husband them so well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As for my resources, I'll manage them so well,''</span><br />
[[#16-143]]<span id="143"></span> They shall go far with little.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll take me far, though they be slight.''</span><br />
[[#16-144]]<span id="144"></span> Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Laertes, if you desire to know the reliable truth''</span><br />
[[#16-145]]<span id="145"></span> Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''About your dear father, is it "officially written" in your duty for revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-146]]<span id="146"></span> That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, (as in winning a sweepstakes,) you will execute both friend and foe,''</span><br />
[[#16-147]]<span id="147"></span> Winner and loser?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only yourself the winner, anyone else, the loser?''</span><br />
[[#16-148]]<span id="148"></span> Laertes: None but his enemies.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll kill no one except his enemies.''</span><br />
[[#16-149]]<span id="149"></span> Claudius: Will you know them, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you know who his enemies are, then?''</span><br />
[[#16-150]]<span id="150"></span> Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms, [[#16-150-SD]]<span id="150-SD"></span> (Laertes sheaths his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To his good friends, I'll spread my arms wide, like this,''</span><br />
[[#16-151]]<span id="151"></span> And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like the proverbially caring, life-sustaining pelican,''</span><br />
[[#16-152]]<span id="152"></span> Repast them with my blood.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nourish them with my own blood.''</span><br />
[[#16-153]]<span id="153"></span> Claudius: Why, now you speak<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, now you speak''</span><br />
[[#16-154]]<span id="154"></span> Like a good child, and a true gentleman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a good child, and a real gentleman.''</span><br />
[[#16-155]]<span id="155"></span> That I am guiltless of your father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am free of guilt in your father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-156]]<span id="156"></span> And am most sensible in grief for it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And am fully rational in my grief over it,''</span><br />
[[#16-157]]<span id="157"></span> It shall as level to your judgment pierce<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It will get through to your judgment as truly,''</span><br />
[[#16-158]]<span id="158"></span> As day does to your eye.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As day does, to your eye.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-158-SD]]<span id="158-SD"></span> (noise is heard at the doorway;<br />
Ophelia enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-159]]<span id="159"></span> Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's happening? Why the noise? Let her come in.''</span><br />
[[#16-160]]<span id="160"></span> O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times as irritating as pure salt,''</span><br />
[[#16-161]]<span id="161"></span> Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Burn out the vision and goodness of my eyes!''</span><br />
[[#16-162]]<span id="162"></span> By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Heaven, your madness will be repaid with weight''</span><br />
[[#16-163]]<span id="163"></span> Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the scales of justice swings its beam. Oh, Rose of May!''</span><br />
[[#16-164]]<span id="164"></span> Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dear maiden, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''</span><br />
[[#16-165]]<span id="165"></span> O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, heavens, is it possible a young maiden's intelligence''</span><br />
[[#16-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should be as mortal as an old man's life?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could be as mortal as an old man's life?''</span><br />
[[#16-167]]<span id="167"></span> Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Human nature, in love, is delicate, and when it's delicate,''</span><br />
[[#16-168]]<span id="168"></span> It sends some precious instance of itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It sends a valuable part of its human nature,''</span><br />
[[#16-169]]<span id="169"></span> After the thing it loves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''After the object of its love.''</span><br />
[[#16-170]]<span id="170"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They carried him bare-faced on the bier,''</span><br />
[[#16-171]]<span id="171"></span> ''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And into his grave rained many a tear.''</span><br />
[[#16-172]]<span id="172"></span> ''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''</span><br />
[[#16-173]]<span id="173"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> Fare you well, my dove!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fare you well, my dove!''</span><br />
[[#16-174]]<span id="174"></span> Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had your wits about you, and prevailed on me to seek revenge,''</span><br />
[[#16-175]]<span id="175"></span> It could not move thus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It could not move me as much as this does.''</span><br />
[[#16-176]]<span id="176"></span> Ophelia: You must sing ''a down, a down,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must sing a down, a down,''</span><br />
[[#16-177]]<span id="177"></span> And you call him ''a down a.'' Oh, how the wheel becomes it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the refrain befits it!''</span><br />
[[#16-178]]<span id="178"></span> It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is lying Hamlet who stole Jesus's daughter from the nunnery.''</span><br />
[[#16-179]]<span id="179"></span> Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This nothingness tells me more than an explanation would.''</span><br />
[[#16-180]]<span id="180"></span> Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, (pray you love,''</span><br />
[[#16-181]]<span id="181"></span> remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''remember,) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''</span><br />
[[#16-182]]<span id="182"></span> Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lesson in madness, thoughts and remembrance tangled in a fit.''</span><br />
[[#16-183]]<span id="183"></span> Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for''</span><br />
[[#16-184]]<span id="184"></span> you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, and here's some for me. We may call it "herb of grace" on Sundays.''</span><br />
[[#16-185]]<span id="185"></span> you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You may wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would''</span><br />
[[#16-186]]<span id="186"></span> give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''give you some violets but they all died when my father did.''</span><br />
[[#16-187]]<span id="187"></span> they say he made a good end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say he did well at the end.''</span><br />
[[#16-188]]<span id="188"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''</span><br />
[[#16-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Grief and torment! Agony! She makes Hell itself''</span><br />
[[#16-190]]<span id="190"></span> She turns to favor and to prettiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look like a favor, and something pretty.''</span><br />
[[#16-191]]<span id="191"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-192]]<span id="192"></span> ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-193]]<span id="193"></span> ''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, no, he is dead. Go to thy death bed!''</span><br />
[[#16-194]]<span id="194"></span> ''He never will come again.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He never will come again.''</span><br />
[[#16-195]]<span id="195"></span> ''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His beard was as white as snow,''</span><br />
[[#16-196]]<span id="196"></span> ''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The skin of his head was yellowish,''</span><br />
[[#16-197]]<span id="197"></span> ''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''</span><br />
[[#16-198]]<span id="198"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''God have mercy on his soul, and on all Christians' souls.''</span><br />
[[#16-199]]<span id="199"></span> God buy you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye to you.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-199-SD]]<span id="199-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits;<br />
Gertrude exits to follow her)<br />
<br />
[[#16-200]]<span id="200"></span> Laertes: Do you this, O God?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you done this, oh God?''</span><br />
[[#16-201]]<span id="201"></span> Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I must share your grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-202]]<span id="202"></span> Or you deny me right; go but apart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or you deny me my right. But go your own way,''</span><br />
[[#16-203]]<span id="203"></span> Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Choose from among your wisest friends whomever you wish,''</span><br />
[[#16-204]]<span id="204"></span> And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they shall hear and judge, between you and me.''</span><br />
[[#16-205]]<span id="205"></span> If by direct, or by collateral hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If in any direct or indirect way''</span><br />
[[#16-206]]<span id="206"></span> They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They find me touched by guilt, I'll give up my kingdom,''</span><br />
[[#16-207]]<span id="207"></span> Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My crown, my life, and all that I call mine,''</span><br />
[[#16-208]]<span id="208"></span> To you in satisfaction; but if not,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To you in satisfaction, of your revenge. But if not,''</span><br />
[[#16-209]]<span id="209"></span> Be you content to lend your patience to us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be content to give me time,''</span><br />
[[#16-210]]<span id="210"></span> And we shall jointly labor with your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I will work together with you''</span><br />
[[#16-211]]<span id="211"></span> To give it due content.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make you content in your soul.''</span><br />
[[#16-212]]<span id="212"></span> Laertes: Let this be so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let it be so.''</span><br />
[[#16-213]]<span id="213"></span> His means of death, his obscure burial,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The way he was killed . . . his hidden burial,''</span><br />
[[#16-214]]<span id="214"></span> No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No trophy sword . . . nor coat of arms over his body,''</span><br />
[[#16-215]]<span id="215"></span> No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No noble privilege . . . nor formal exhibition -''</span><br />
[[#16-216]]<span id="216"></span> Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All of that cries out so much to be understood, as it were, from Heaven to earth,''</span><br />
[[#16-217]]<span id="217"></span> That I must call it in question.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I must call it all into question.''</span><br />
[[#16-218]]<span id="218"></span> Claudius: So you shall,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So you may,''</span><br />
[[#16-219]]<span id="219"></span> And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where the guilt lies, let the executioner's axe fall on him.''</span><br />
[[#16-220]]<span id="220"></span> I pray you go with me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please go with me.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes exit)<br />
<hr> <br />
End of Scene 16<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====16-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Throne Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - <br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====16-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters; Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting are present with the Queen in the Throne Room. Claudius is absent, for whatever reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-001=====<br />
''Gertrude: I will not speak with her.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude supposes that Ophelia wants to complain to her about the death of Polonius, and to demand justice, but there is nothing Gertrude can do about the death of Polonius, or about Claudius sending Hamlet to England. This is not to imply Gertrude would condemn her son, even if she could. We see elsewhere in the play that Gertrude likes Ophelia, so one can understand that Gertrude does not wish to face Ophelia's reproaches.<br />
<br />
Gertrude has no inkling of what Ophelia's speech and behavior will turn out to be, as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====16-002=====<br />
''Gentleman: She is importunate,''<br />
<br />
''importunate'' - assertive. Resolute. Forward.<br />
<br />
For the second, "resolute," recall Horatio's mention in Scene 1 of "landless resolutes," ([[Scene 1#108]],) as Horatio spoke of determined men.<br />
<br />
For the third, "forward," see Shakespeare Sonnet 99, which is partly about Shakespeare's choice of flowers for Ophelia's "crownet weeds" which Gertrude tells us of in Scene 18.<br />
<br />
The forward violet thus did I chide:<br />
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,<br />
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride<br />
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells<br />
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.<br />
The lily I condemned for thy hand, ...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====16-003=====<br />
''Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.''<br />
<br />
''Indeed'' - primarily takes the literal meaning "in deed," referring to what she does, how she acts. Second, can be read as "very," or "truly."<br />
<br />
''distract'' - distracted - emotionally disturbed. The way she acts reveals emotional disturbance.<br />
<br />
''mood'' - state of mind.<br />
<br />
''needs'' - of necessity; necessarily.<br />
<br />
''pitied'' - viewed with sympathy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====16-004=====<br />
''Gertrude: What would she have?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude wonders if there's anything in particular Ophelia wants her to do. If so, perhaps it might be possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====16-005=====<br />
''Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====16-006=====<br />
''There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,''<br />
<br />
''hems'' - equivocates. The meaning of what she says is not clear. Can also be interpreted as in "hem and haw."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====16-007=====<br />
''Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====16-008=====<br />
''That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,''<br />
<br />
''nothing'' - naughty. ''Nothing'' is "naught," so nothing speech is naughty speech, which we shall hear from Ophelia as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====16-009=====<br />
''Yet the unshaped use of it doth move''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====16-010=====<br />
''The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,''<br />
<br />
''collection'' - gathering. The figure of speech is as in the use of "gather." An example modern sentence would be, "As I gather from what he said, he meant..."<br />
<br />
''yawn'' - gape. Stare open-mouthed, as if yawning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====16-011=====<br />
''And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====16-012=====<br />
''Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====16-013=====<br />
''Indeed would make one think there would be thought,''<br />
<br />
''thought'' - grief (a definition now obsolete.) For example, see Chaucer, ''Troilus and Criseyde'':<br />
<br />
But if thou wene I be thus sik for drede, 575<br />
It is not so, and ther-for scorne nought;<br />
Ther is a-nother thing I take of hede<br />
Wel more than ought the Grekes han y-wrought,<br />
Which cause is of my deeth, for sorwe and thought.<br />
...<br />
<br />
It is supposed that Ophelia would be suffering from grief, over her father's death, but what she's saying and doing is not a display of the usual behavior of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#013|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-014=====<br />
''Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====16-015=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016=====<br />
''Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude nods to Horatio)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017=====<br />
''Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD1=====<br />
''(said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD2=====<br />
''(Horatio and the Gentleman exit; Ophelia enters, dancing)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-018=====<br />
''Gertrude (aside): To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====16-019=====<br />
''Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,''<br />
<br />
''toy'' - idea, something the mind plays with, turning it over, looking at it with the mind's eye. Can be understood as a puzzle Gertrude is trying to solve, to get a favorable outcome (but with no luck.)<br />
<br />
''prologue'' - lead-in; introduction. In this usage, ''prologue'' means "that which leads to some consequence."<br />
<br />
''amiss'' - failure, to achieve what she wants, like missing a target. So, ''great amiss'' - great failure; disaster.<br />
<br />
Every idea Gertrude can come up with, when she examines it, and turns it over in her mind, it leads to disaster. She finds no way to envision a positive outcome to all this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====16-020=====<br />
''So full of artless jealousy is guilt,''<br />
<br />
''artless'' - natural.<br />
<br />
''jealousy'' - anxiety; misery. Wretchedness. Intensely unpleasant emotion. Could be extended to "malice." The word ''jealousy'' here is a kind of figure of speech, the use of a more specific word to express a more general concept.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====16-021=====<br />
''It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====16-022=====<br />
''Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''<br />
<br />
Said because after agreeing to grant Ophelia an audience, Gertrude is not on the throne. Gertrude stepped down and wandered away from the throne for her "guilt" speech, aside.<br />
<br />
''beauteous'' - Ophelia is returning the compliment Gertrude earlier bestowed on Ophelia, in Scene 8, "That your good beauties be the happy cause..." ([[Scene 8#043]]) Ophelia was gratified by Gertrude's compliment to her beauty, remembered it, and is returning it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====16-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude has now returned to her throne, in response to Ophelia's question.<br />
<br />
''How now'' - greetings. Quite similar to the modern slang greeting, "what's up?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====16-024=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): How should I your true love know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====16-025=====<br />
''From another one?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====16-026=====<br />
''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====16-027=====<br />
''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<br />
''sendal'' - silk, that is, a silk fabric. Mentioned by Chaucer, among others.<br><br />
The Middle English Dictionary lists it "cendā̆l" as their primary spelling, which is impossible to find with an ordinary lookup, but anyway, here it is.<br><br />
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED7072<br><br />
(checked 06/02/2015)<br />
<br />
For where Shakespeare might have learned ''sendal,'' see for example ''The Canterbury Tales,'' General Prologue, The Physician, line 442:<br />
<br />
But of greet norissyng, and digestible.<br />
His studie was but litel on the Bible.<br />
In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,<br />
Lyned with taffata and with sendal;<br />
<br />
Further, according to some writers, ''sendal'' was the shrouding fabric used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
''shoon'' - an archaic plural of "shoe." Shoes.<br />
<br />
''sendal shoon'' - silk shoes; silk slippers. Dancing shoes. As compared to all the ordinary pilgrims wearing sandals, Ophelia pictures Hamlet on his "pilgrimage" wearing silk slippers.<br />
<br />
Also, with the death of her father Ophelia has put on her dancing shoes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#027|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?''<br />
<br />
''imports'' - to import is to bring, in some way: bring out, bring up, bring forth. The question is, "what brings forth this song?"<br />
<br />
There is simultaneously the question of what import the song has, what its significance is. Shakespeare implied both of the relevant definitions of ''imports.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====16-029=====<br />
''Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====16-030=====<br />
''(sings): He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====16-031=====<br />
''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====16-032=====<br />
''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====16-033=====<br />
''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====16-034=====<br />
''(exclaims): Oh ho!''<br />
<br />
An exclamation of delight.<br />
<br />
Recall what we have seen of Polonius and Ophelia.<br />
<br />
First, in Scene 3, Polonius forbade Ophelia to have any further communication with her fiance, Prince Hamlet. She obeyed, but she did not like that.<br />
<br />
When Hamlet rushed to Ophelia's room, before Scene 6, Ophelia then went to Polonius to try to get him to change his mind, and allow her to talk to Hamlet, to find out why he did that. She never even got the chance to ask Polonius, who decided immediately to take Ophelia and Hamlet's private relationship public. She did not like that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then confiscated (or just plain stole) Ophelia's love letters from Hamlet, since Polonius wanted tangible evidence to show the King, proving that Hamlet had expressed love for Ophelia. When Ophelia tried to fight back, to keep her love letters, and threatened to tell Hamlet, Polonius locked Ophelia in her room, to prevent her resort to Hamlet. She hated that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then persuaded Ophelia to participate in the Nunnery Scene eavesdropping scheme, on the ground that it would get her married to Hamlet, when the King heard Hamlet express love for her. The scheme turned into a disaster, that left her abandoned and heartbroken. It was her father's scheme, and she blamed her father for the result.<br />
<br />
At that point, Ophelia, being a young lady of normal psychology, was wishing her father would get out of her life, and just drop dead. In this Scene, she is ''not'' grieving over his death. She is hysterically happy. Her secret wish has come true.<br />
<br />
The other characters have not seen everything we in the audience have seen, and they do not understand this. They think Ophelia is displaying some weird, mad symptom of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====16-035=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====16-036=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray you, mark!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037=====<br />
''(sings): White his shroud as the mountain snow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters)''<br />
<br />
Claudius enters because he heard a woman singing in the Throne Room. His first thought is that it's Gertrude, since Gertrude is the woman anyone would associate with the Throne Room. Claudius is curious why Gertrude would be singing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
From the way Claudius looks at her, Gertrude realizes Claudius thought she was the one singing. So she points at Ophelia, and tells Claudius, ''look here.''<br />
<br />
''here'' - not here. "There," that is. When Gertrude says ''look here'' she means "look there," at Ophelia. Claudius is looking ''here,'' at Gertrude, and she says ''here'' to tell him to look "not here."<br />
<br />
The language is perfectly understandable to anybody familiar with English, while the explanation sounds like madness. It is a peculiarity of English that the word ''here'' can mean "there," (and the word "there" can mean ''here,'') depending on what is indicated. Shakespeare had some fun in the play with "here" v "there," (and also "this" v "that.")<br />
<br />
When Gertrude says ''look here,'' and points at Ophelia, we all understand she means "look there." Claudius does so.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Claudius, curious, approaches Ophelia as she sings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-039=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040=====<br />
''Which bewept to the grave did not go''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040-SD=====<br />
''(the word "not" is spoken aside)''<br />
<br />
The other characters don't hear Ophelia sing ''not,'' only the audience hears it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-041=====<br />
''With true love showers.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====16-042=====<br />
''Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====16-043=====<br />
''Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;''<br />
<br />
''dild' '' - dildo. It is an obsolete music term. Also appears in ''The Winter's Tale.''<br />
<br />
''Winter's Tale'' Act 4 scene 4,<br />
<br />
Servant: He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; ...<br />
... with such delicate <br />
burthens of dildos and fadings, ...<br />
<br />
A ''dildo'' is a nonsense phrase within the burden of a ditty, such as the "hey nonny nonny" mentioned in ''Much Ado about Nothing,'' Act 2 scene 3:<br />
<br />
Balthasar. Sigh no more, ladies, ...<br />
...<br />
And be you blithe and bonny, <br />
Converting all your sounds of woe <br />
Into Hey nonny, nonny.<br />
...<br />
<br />
The term comes from the fact of the word ''dildo'' itself being used, as in Thomas Morley's ''Will You Buy a Fine Dog?'':<br />
<br />
Will you buy a fine dog, with a hole in his head?<br />
With a dildo, dildo, dildo; ...<br />
<br />
The entire song can be found here:<br><br />
http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Will_you_buy_a_fine_dog%3F_(Thomas_Morley)<br />
<br />
''Dildo'' in this sense is the same sort of thing as "hey diddle diddle" in the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. It's some wording that is rhythmic, and rhymes, but has no meaning apart from its use in the verse.<br />
<br />
However, having said that, it is not possible to exclude the better-known, vulgar meaning, since that meaning did also exist in Shakespeare's time. For example, see the lewd verse "Choise of Valentines or the Merie Ballad of Nash his Dildo," T. Nashe, c.1593, which can be found at the Project Gutenberg website:<br><br />
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17779/17779-h/17779-h.htm<br />
<br />
It is safe to say that Ophelia's remark to Claudius is not entirely polite. An interpretation is available for Ophelia to be saying that, in her opinion, Claudius would benefit from the insertion into him of a dildo. That is not, however, her primary meaning. We once again have multiple meanings from the Bard.<br />
<br />
Primarily, she is saying she would like to sing a dildo about Claudius being dead, to go with her song about her father being dead.<br />
<br />
Ophelia says she wants Claudius to die, so she can sing about it.<br />
<br />
Claudius does not understand her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====16-044=====<br />
''They say the owl was a baker's daughter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====16-045=====<br />
''Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====16-046=====<br />
''God be at your table.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====16-047=====<br />
''Claudius: Conceit upon her father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====16-048=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====16-049=====<br />
''what it means, say you this:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====16-050=====<br />
''(sings): Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====16-051=====<br />
''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====16-052=====<br />
''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====16-053=====<br />
''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====16-054=====<br />
''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<br />
''clothes'' - a dressing gown, probably. A robe, as Americans now call it. We are not talking about the gentleman taking time to dress himself up in black tie and tails. He just grabs his robe, to go to the door. Well, more particularly, in the case of Hamlet, he'll grab his cloak, at least to wrap around himself.<br />
<br />
''dupt'' - dupped, in current standard spelling, a spelling which matters not at all since nobody says this any more. The word "dup" is formed merely from "do" + "up" and goes back to Middle English 'don up' which meant "to open," and probably referred to lifting up the simple kind of door latch used in those days. To open a door, one "did up" the latch.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====16-055=====<br />
''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====16-056=====<br />
''Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====16-057=====<br />
''Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====16-058=====<br />
''(sings): By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====16-059=====<br />
''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====16-060=====<br />
''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====16-061=====<br />
''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====16-062=====<br />
''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====16-063=====<br />
''(He answers): So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====16-064=====<br />
''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====16-065=====<br />
''Claudius: How long hath she been thus?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====16-066=====<br />
''Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====16-067=====<br />
''but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====16-068=====<br />
''shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come''<br />
<br />
''(my brother) shall know of it'' - and won't he have a fit!<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====16-069=====<br />
''my coach; goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Ladies'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#069|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070=====<br />
''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Sweet Lady'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, address Q2 "Ladyes"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#70|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits)''<br />
<br />
Running like Cinderella running to her coach at midnight, before it turns into a pumpkin.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.''<br />
<br />
Spoken to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071-SD=====<br />
''(the ladies-in-waiting curtsy, and exit to follow Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-072=====<br />
''Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====16-073=====<br />
''death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====16-074=====<br />
''When sorrows come, they come not single spies,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====16-075=====<br />
''But in battalions. First her father slain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====16-076=====<br />
''Next, your son gone, and he most violent author''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====16-077=====<br />
''Of his own just remove, the people muddied,''<br />
<br />
''just remove'' - justified removal; justified departure.<br />
<br />
''muddied'' - astir; stirred up. The way clear water in a brook becomes muddy when it's stirred up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====16-078=====<br />
''Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====16-079=====<br />
''For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly''<br />
<br />
''greenly'' - freshly; recently. Claudius is using the same figure of speech he used in speaking of his brother in Scene 2, in Claudius's first two lines in the play. ([[Scene 2 #001]] "Though yet of Hamlet, our dear brother's, death, The memory be green..."<br />
<br />
Fresh plantings are green. Claudius again speaks of a recent funeral as a "recent plant." This goes along with the analogy of Claudius with Cain, who was a tiller of the ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====16-080=====<br />
''In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia''<br />
<br />
''In hugger mugger'' - surreptitiously. Without public ceremony. Claudius wanted to draw as little attention to Polonius's death as possible, since Claudius did not take the usual legal action against Hamlet, and Claudius knows the public will wonder why not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====16-081=====<br />
''Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====16-082=====<br />
''Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====16-083=====<br />
''Last, and as much containing as all these:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====16-084=====<br />
''Her brother is in secret come from France,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====16-085=====<br />
''Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,''<br />
<br />
''in clouds'' - hidden from Claudius's sight. The figure of speech is that of a "sun (son) hidden in clouds," so that one cannot see it. There is an implicit son/sun pun.<br />
<br />
Properly, Laertes would have presented himself to the King upon his return, but Laertes has not done so. (We know Laertes ought to have presented himself to Claudius upon his return, because he needed Claudius's permission to leave, as we saw in Scene 2. Laertes is a Danish courtier, or is otherwise under some obligation to the Throne, probably because Polonius arranged a government position for Laertes.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====16-086=====<br />
''And wants not buzzers to infect his ear''<br />
<br />
''buzzers'' - gossips; rumor mongers. Recall Hamlet facetiously saying "buzz buzz" to Polonius in Scene 7.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====16-087=====<br />
''With pestilent speeches of his father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====16-088=====<br />
''Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====16-089=====<br />
''Will nothing stick our person to arraign''<br />
<br />
How could Claudius be blamed? Look at the most basic facts. 1) Hamlet killed Polonius. 2) Claudius sent Hamlet on a trip out of the country, beyond the reach of Danish law, to get a lot of money.<br />
<br />
By appearance, it looks like "hire and salary." A person could argue, just from that, that Claudius hired Hamlet to kill Polonius. We know better, but the average person in the local town has not seen what we have seen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====16-090=====<br />
''In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====16-091=====<br />
''Like to a murdering piece, in many places''<br />
<br />
''murdering piece'' - a cannon loaded with small projectiles, to produce a spray of shot, analogous to a shotgun blast. A ''murdering piece'' was so called because it was especially designed to kill enemy personnel, as opposed to knocking down walls.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092=====<br />
''Gives me superfluous death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD1=====<br />
''(an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)''<br />
<br />
Men shouting. Scuffling sounds, loud thuds. Some noise of steel hitting steel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD2=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Running, excited.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-093=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?''<br />
<br />
Addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====16-094=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto swissers.jpg|right]]<br />
''Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!''<br />
<br />
''Attend'' - take heed. From Latin 'attendere' ("give heed to.")<br />
<br />
''Swissers'' - Swiss guards. The modern standard spelling is "Switzer," but I see no overwhelming need to change the original Second Quarto spelling. Claudius is calling for his royal guards, his bodyguards.<br />
<br />
Where are they? Well since Claudius entered the way he did, just coming in out of curiosity to see what the singing was about, and did not enter the Throne Room in his usual kingly style, the Swissers probably don't even know he's in the Throne Room. They were not mustered for the royal entourage, to accompany Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#094|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-095=====<br />
''What is the matter?''<br />
<br />
Also addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====16-096=====<br />
''Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====16-097=====<br />
''The ocean, over-peering of his list''<br />
<br />
''over-peering'' - a peer is at the same level. Therefore, to ''over-peer'' is to rise higher, to rise above, to achieve a higher elevation than that which was formerly at the same level.<br />
<br />
''list'' - boundary; bounds. In this case, the former bounds.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====16-098=====<br />
''Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste''<br />
<br />
''Eats'' - engulfs.<br />
<br />
''flats'' - same as it means today: "flat land at the edge of the sea." See the current term "mud flat," or "mud flats."<br />
<br />
''impiteous'' - unconscionable; undutiful. BOOKMARK for me Originates in Latin 'pietas' ("dutiful conduct.") Duty Theme instance.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====16-099=====<br />
''Than young Laertes, in a riotous head''<br />
<br />
''in a riotous head'' - has the double meaning, "at the head of the riot," and "riotous in his thoughts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====16-100=====<br />
''O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"''<br />
<br />
''Lord'' - may be Laertes's technically-correct title. Polonius was a lord, and one would suppose Laertes has inherited his father's title. However, the title might depend, formally, upon royal ratification. Laertes's title inheritance is not clear in the play. He continues to be addressed as "sir" when he appears on stage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====16-101=====<br />
''And, as the world were now but to begin,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====16-102=====<br />
''Antiquity forgot, custom not known,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====16-103=====<br />
''The ratifiers and props of every word,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====16-104=====<br />
''The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====16-105=====<br />
''Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====16-106=====<br />
''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107=====<br />
''Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107-SD=====<br />
''(loud noise just outside the closed door to the Lobby)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108=====<br />
''Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!''<br />
<br />
''counter'' - the wrong way. Strictly, ''counter'' is when a dog goes the wrong way on a scent trail, getting farther from the game rather than closer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-109=====<br />
''Claudius: The doors are broke.''<br />
<br />
Important to note, for some actions that happen later. The rabble are breaking down doors throughout the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====16-110=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====16-111=====<br />
''Ruffians: No, lets come in!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====16-112=====<br />
''Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====16-113=====<br />
''Ruffians: We will, we will.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====16-114=====<br />
''Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115=====<br />
''Give me my father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)''<br />
<br />
Contrary to appearances, she is not primarily protecting Claudius, she is primarily protecting Hamlet's succession.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-116=====<br />
''Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====16-117=====<br />
''Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#117|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-118=====<br />
''Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====16-119=====<br />
''Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====16-120=====<br />
''Of my true mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====16-121=====<br />
''Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
''cause'' - reason. One might compare this to Claudius's use of "reason" in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2 #044]] "You cannot speak of reason to the Dane...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====16-122=====<br />
''That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====16-123=====<br />
''Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====16-124=====<br />
''There's such divinity doth hedge a King,''<br />
<br />
Has reference to the "divine right of kings."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====16-125=====<br />
''That treason can but peep to what it would,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====16-126=====<br />
''Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====16-127=====<br />
''Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====16-128=====<br />
''Speak, man.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====16-129=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is my father?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====16-130=====<br />
''Claudius: Dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====16-131=====<br />
''Gertrude: But not by him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====16-132=====<br />
''Claudius: Let him demand his fill.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====16-133=====<br />
''Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,''<br />
<br />
''juggled with'' - toyed with; treated as a buffoon. Laertes is emphasizing his deadly seriousness. ''Juggle'' is from Old French 'jogler' = "to be a buffoon or jester." So Laertes is telling King Claudius, "I am not here to be a king's jester for you."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====16-134=====<br />
''To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====16-135=====<br />
''Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====16-136=====<br />
''I dare damnation. To this point I stand,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====16-137=====<br />
''That both the worlds I give to negligence,''<br />
<br />
''both the worlds'' - the world of the living, and the afterlife.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====16-138=====<br />
''Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====16-139=====<br />
''Most throughly for my father.''<br />
<br />
''throughly'' - is the exact word printed in the Second Quarto. The words "through" and "thorough" were not clearly distinguished until Early Modern English. ''Throughly'' is probably the intended word, with no printing error. It can be understood as "completely," or as "through and through," that is, "in every way." A substitution of modern "thoroughly" would probably be acceptable, if one were neurotic about modernizing the text to the greatest degree possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====16-140=====<br />
''Claudius: Who shall stay you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====16-141=====<br />
''Laertes: My will, not all the world's.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====16-142=====<br />
''And for my means, I'll husband them so well,''<br />
<br />
''means'' - resources, especially financial resources. It does not seem to have occurred yet to Laertes that he must have a valuable inheritance, since Polonius was a rich man. There's no hint in the play of any other heir Polonius might have.<br />
<br />
''husband'' - manage, simply put. Further, ''husband'' can mean "conserve" or "manage thriftily," which is probably the intended full meaning, based on the idea of "thrift" already expressed in the play ([[Scene 2 #182]] "Hamlet: Thrift, thrift, Horatio...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====16-143=====<br />
''They shall go far with little.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====16-144=====<br />
''Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====16-145=====<br />
''Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,''<br />
<br />
''writ'' - used figuratively to mean "officially written" (like a law, or a king's order.) Claudius knows that Laertes's desire for revenge has no written conditions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====16-146=====<br />
''That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe''<br />
<br />
''swoopstake'' - the original word, which I retain because it doesn't necessarily mean exactly the same as modern "sweepstake." Clearly, the meaning is close to the modern term. BOOKMARK, for me.<br />
<br />
''draw'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====16-147=====<br />
''Winner and loser?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====16-148=====<br />
''Laertes: None but his enemies.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====16-149=====<br />
''Claudius: Will you know them, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150=====<br />
''Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes sheaths his sword)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-151=====<br />
[[File:Pelican.jpg|right|image of a pelican]]<br />
''And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,''<br />
<br />
''pelican'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#151|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-152=====<br />
''Repast them with my blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====16-153=====<br />
''Claudius: Why, now you speak''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====16-154=====<br />
''Like a good child, and a true gentleman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====16-155=====<br />
''That I am guiltless of your father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====16-156=====<br />
''And am most sensible in grief for it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====16-157=====<br />
''It shall as level to your judgment pierce''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158=====<br />
''As day does to your eye.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158-SD=====<br />
''(noise is heard at the doorway; Ophelia enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-159=====<br />
''Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====16-160=====<br />
''O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====16-161=====<br />
''Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====16-162=====<br />
''By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====16-163=====<br />
''Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====16-164=====<br />
''Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====16-165=====<br />
''O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====16-166=====<br />
''Should be as mortal as an old man's life?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====16-167=====<br />
''Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====16-168=====<br />
''It sends some precious instance of itself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====16-169=====<br />
''After the thing it loves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====16-170=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<br />
Informs us of Danish funeral practices. Polonius was borne to his grave like that, and Ophelia will be, shrouded but with the face visible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====16-171=====<br />
''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====16-172=====<br />
''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====16-173=====<br />
''(speaks): Fare you well, my dove!''<br />
<br />
Ophelia acts releasing a dove in the direction of Hamlet. The sight of a dove in flight is a good omen. Ophelia is intending to show Hamlet that the death of Polonius is a good omen for them, she believes.<br />
<br />
By the way, the use of an actual dove in stage performance would be authentic, where that is possible. The Globe was an outdoor theater.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====16-174=====<br />
''Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====16-175=====<br />
''It could not move thus.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====16-176=====<br />
''Ophelia: You must sing a down, a down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====16-177=====<br />
''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the wheel becomes it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====16-178=====<br />
''It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====16-179=====<br />
''Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====16-180=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,''<br />
[[File:Rosemary.jpg|right|rosemary blooms]]<br />
''rosemary'' - ''Rosmarinus officinalis'' is a traditional funeral flower. We know of a recent funeral, that of Polonius.<br />
<br />
The available colors of ''rosemary'' include purple and white. Ophelia's "crownet weeds" that will be mentioned in Scene 18 have the colors of purple, and white.<br />
<br />
Ophelia gives the rosemary to Laertes, who was not present for his father's funeral. Correctly performed, Ophelia gives all the flowers to Laertes.<br />
<br />
The word ''rosemary'' is from Latin 'rosmarinus' ("dew of the sea.") So, ''rosemary'' implicitly presents the "dew" idea again, that Hamlet brought to some prominence in Scene 2. ([[Scene 2#132]]) The English spelling of ''rosemary'' was influenced by "rose" and the name "Mary."<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" ''rosemary'' says "remembrance. So, ''rosemary'' is indeed the traditional flower of remembrance, as Ophelia says.<br />
<br />
This line is partly to Laertes, and partly aside, aside in the ordinary sense, that is; it is not an "aside" in theatrical jargon. The others hear it. Ophelia turns away from Laertes when she says, "(pray you love, remember.)" She is addressing that to Hamlet. Traditionally, ''rosemary'' is also associated with weddings. Ophelia is praying that Hamlet will remember he asked her to marry him. The word ''love'' is on the mark. From its use as a wedding flower, rosemary is considered a love charm.<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal,'' page 1293, says that rosemary is good for "all infirmities of the head and brain" (at least where the infirmity is from a "cold and moist cause,") and that it "quickens the senses and memory." Also, rosemary will "strengthen the sinewy parts." The head and brain, the senses, and the memory are all significant, repeated elements in the play dialogue, and both Hamlet ([[Scene 5#098]]) and Claudius ([[Scene 10#074]]) speak of the sinews. It becomes easy to see why Shakespeare included ''rosemary'' as one of the flowers in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====16-181=====<br />
''remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''<br />
[[File:Pansy.jpg|right|Viola tricolor, "pansy"]]<br />
''(pray you love, remember)'' - spoken in the direction where Ophelia supposes Hamlet to be. She turns aside from Laertes for this, but it is not an aside in the theatrical sense. The others hear it, although they do not know what to make of it.<br />
<br />
''pansies'' - like the rosemary, is also a traditional funeral flower. The name is from Old French 'pensée' ("thought.") This is not the modern cultivated pansy, it is the wild pansy, ''Viola tricolor.'' It is a flower in the violet family, ''Viola.''<br />
<br />
(The play dialogue associates the violet with Ophelia, in lines spoken by Laertes, and by Ophelia, herself. ([[Scene 3#008]],) (line 186 below,) and ([[Scene 19#208]].) Where Shakespeare wrote "violet" he probably meant the sweet violet, ''Viola odorata,'' with its heart-shaped leaves.)<br />
<br />
As with the rosemary, the color is once again purple and white (or close enough to that.) The ''Viola tricolo'' may have yellow on the lower petal, but that would not be out of place, since the daisy, that Ophelia will soon mention, has a yellow center.<br />
<br />
The ''rosemary'' and ''pansies'' are flowers from Polonius's funeral which Ophelia saved for Laertes since he wasn't there. It was kind and thoughtful of her to save them for him. However, Laertes has no idea where the flowers came from, or why she's giving them to him. Laertes doesn't know about flowers, and, well, he is not very smart. It doesn't occur to him where these flowers must have come from.<br />
<br />
In a painfully tragic irony, by Ophelia giving Laertes these flowers from Polonius's funeral, she is, at the same time, providing Laertes with flowers for her funeral. None of them knows that.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''pansies'' do indeed express "thoughts," as Ophelia says. In Middle English, and on into Shakespeare's time, "thought" could mean "grief," as I note for line 013 above.<br />
<br />
The pansy is also called "love-in-idleness." Shakespeare used that name in ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' Act 2 scene 1, Oberon speaking:<br />
<br />
...<br />
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:<br />
It fell upon a little western flower,<br />
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,<br />
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.<br />
...<br />
<br />
Notice the mention of white and purple colors.<br />
<br />
The word "idle" goes back to Old English 'idel' ("vain,") so the name love-in-idleness can be read as "love in vain." That can be seen, tragically, to apply to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
In Gerard's ''Herbal'' the wild pansy is listed under the name "Hearts ease." Knowing that Ophelia will die after a fall, one may be intrigued to find Gerard recommends the pansy as a cure for "falling sickness." Gerard meant epilepsy, but still.<br />
<br />
The name heartsease may come both from the pansy being used in love potions, and in its being used for heart ailments. THe "heart" concept is highly significant in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
In action, Ophelia gives all of the rosemary and pansies to Laertes. She is giving him all the remembrance and thoughts of their father.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====16-182=====<br />
''Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.''<br />
<br />
''document'' - lesson. Latin 'documentum' "lesson," from 'docere' "to teach." It's unclear what Laertes supposes he is learning from it, since he didn't even understand the funeral flowers.<br />
<br />
''fitted'' - in a fit, "fit" as in an attack or paroxysm. Joined in a fit, tangled in a fit, of madness.<br />
<br />
Or, ''fitted'' to ''madness,'' that is, "thoughts and remembrance fitted to madness," or "adapted to fit madness." The multiplicity of meaning is intentional in the author's phrasing, we can be sure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====16-183=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for''<br />
<br />
[[File:Fennel.jpg|left|fennel blooms]]<br />
All of these flowers are also given to Laertes, when the play is correctly done. This is an encounter between Laertes and Ophelia following the death of their father. It's a family matter, even if Laertes can't grasp it. Gertrude and Claudius are "audience to this act," to quote from the last Scene. They are watching, and wondering what it all means.<br />
<br />
''fennel'' - ''Foeniculum vulgare.'' It has tiny yellow flowers. Hardly worth calling a flower at all, it is a culinary herb, and a medicinal herb.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's meaning with the ''fennel'' is "open your eyes," "see clearly." Fennel is used in herbal medicine as an eye remedy, or to preserve eyesight. (Gerard, ''Herbal,'' page 1032.)<br />
<br />
Ophelia is telling Laertes to open his eyes, and see that these flowers have meaning. It is reasonable to take it that she is also trying to tell him to open his eyes to things in general. The ''fennel'' provides an implicit instance of the Vision Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
[[File:Columbine2.jpg|left|columbine flower]]<br />
[[File:Columbine1.jpg|right|columbine blooms]]<br />
''columbines'' - from Latin 'columbīnus' ("dovelike.") As the image to the right shows, the flower can be likened to a group of five doves facing each other.<br />
<br />
The scientific classification is ''Aquilegia vulgaris.'' The genus name, ''Aquilegia,'' comes from 'aquila', the Latin word for eagle, perhaps because the flower petals of some varieties can be seen to resemble an eagle's claw, or perhaps because some may take the "doves" of the flower for eagles, instead.<br />
<br />
The color is purple and white.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, the columbine expresses "folly," or, "you're a fool." Ophelia is calling Laertes a fool, who is engaged in folly. After Laertes said, above, that he would "dare damnation" to get revenge, in other words, throw away his soul, one cannot help but think Ophelia is right. Ophelia was not present to hear Laertes say that, but she knows her brother.<br />
<br />
We recall the Player, in Scene 7, speaking of breaking all the follies from the Wheel of Fortune. ([[Scene 7#474]]) A tragic, unfortunate death would be such a folly. In Scene 18, we will hear Laertes call Ophelia's death "this folly." None of them knows it, but the "folly" that the columbine expresses is ominous for Ophelia, herself, when the Wheel of Fortune will take a bad turn for her.<br />
<br />
[[File:Rue.jpg|right|common rue]]<br />
''rue'' - ''Ruta graveolens,'' known as common rue, or herb-of-grace. The blooms are yellow. Like fennel, it is not much for being a flower, but it is a traditional medicinal herb, and has found sparing use as a culinary herb. It has a strong smell. Gerard's chapter on rue, "Of Rue, or herbe Grace. Chap. 511" begins on ''Herball'' page 1070.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''rue'' expresses "regret," however, Ophelia will go on to speak of a "difference."<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal'' credits it with many virtues, including its use in tonics for making vision sharp and clear, for remedying "dim eyes," to cure earache, to cure headache, as an antidote to poison, and as a "counterpoison" against scorpion and insect stings, and serpent bites. The eyes, the ears, the head, and poison are all significant concepts in the play.<br />
<br />
As already mentioned, all of the flowers are given to Laertes, when the play is correctly performed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====16-184=====<br />
''you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====16-185=====<br />
''you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would''<br />
<br />
''rue with a difference'' - no regret. The ''difference'' Ophelia means is the negative. Ophelia is symbolically telling Laertes to feel no regret over the death of Polonius, since she does not.<br />
<br />
In older ''Hamlet'' commentary you may see ''difference'' interpreted according to heraldic definition, but that does not work. Laertes is now the senior male of the family, so he does not use a heraldic difference, and Ophelia knows Laertes's status after their father's death (as did Shakespeare, of course.)<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy2.jpg|right|there's a daisy]]<br />
''daisy'' - Ophelia shows the ''daisy'' to everyone, but keeps it. By the way, it isn't hard to guess where it came from, what it signifies, and why she keeps it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====16-186=====<br />
''give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;''<br />
<br />
''violets'' - <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK knowing enough of the play, once can appreciate that the violet can deaden the sense of smell<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====16-187=====<br />
''they say he made a good end.''<br />
<br />
Ophelia approves that people should say the end of her father was good. She makes it sound like a more socially acceptable sentiment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====16-188=====<br />
''(sings): For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''<br />
<br />
Adapted by Shakespeare from ''Greensleeves.'' Observe the last line below.<br />
<br />
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,<br />
To cast me off discourteously.<br />
For I have loved you well and long,<br />
Delighting in your company.<br />
<br />
Greensleeves was all my joy<br />
...<br />
<br />
There was apparently also in Shakespeare's time a song called "Bonny Robin," or perhaps "Bonny Sweet Robin," of which the lyrics have not survived. ''Greensleeves'' is written to a woman. Ophelia "masculinizes" the lyric by substituting "bonny sweet Robin" for "Greensleeves," and Ophelia also makes it present tense.<br />
<br />
Sendal is mentioned in the old lyrics of ''Greensleeves,'' from the Tudor era, by the way.<br />
<br />
With this line, we are privileged to learn that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet nickname for Hamlet. Among the characters, only she and Hamlet know that.<br />
<br />
(The question might arise, what is Hamlet's pet name for Ophelia? Has Shakespeare given us the privilege of knowing that? Well... there's a daisy.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====16-189=====<br />
''Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself''<br />
<br />
''Thought'' - Grief.<br />
<br />
''affliction'' - torment.<br />
<br />
''Passion'' - Agony.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====16-190=====<br />
''She turns to favor and to prettiness.''<br />
<br />
''favor'' - Laertes means Ophelia acts as if the hell of madness were a favor.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK more here<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====16-191=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====16-192=====<br />
''And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====16-193=====<br />
''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====16-194=====<br />
''He never will come again.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====16-195=====<br />
''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<br />
But Polonius's beard was neatly trimmed, we suppose, after what Hamlet said to Polonius (that Polonius misunderstood) in Scene 7. ([[Scene 7#478]])<br />
<br />
This is, of course, a costuming note for the Polonius character. It is mandatory that his beard be white. Nothing else will do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====16-196=====<br />
''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<br />
''Flaxen'' - pale yellow.<br />
<br />
''poll'' - head, that is, the skin of his head. Polonius was borne bare-faced on the bier, as Ophelia just told us, which means that Ophelia could see the skin of his face. The yellowing of his skin was part of what finally convinced her that Polonius was really dead, and it wasn't only a mean trick, to fool her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====16-197=====<br />
''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====16-198=====<br />
''(speaks): God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199=====<br />
''God buy you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits; Gertrude exits to follow her)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude will reclaim her clothing and jewelry.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-200=====<br />
''Laertes: Do you this, O God?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====16-201=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====16-202=====<br />
''Or you deny me right; go but apart,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====16-203=====<br />
''Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====16-204=====<br />
''And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====16-205=====<br />
''If by direct, or by collateral hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====16-206=====<br />
''They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====16-207=====<br />
''Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====16-208=====<br />
''To you in satisfaction; but if not,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====16-209=====<br />
''Be you content to lend your patience to us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====16-210=====<br />
''And we shall jointly labor with your soul''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====16-211=====<br />
''To give it due content.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====16-212=====<br />
''Laertes: Let this be so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====16-213=====<br />
''His means of death, his obscure burial,''<br />
<br />
''obscure burial'' - which Claudius ordered in hopes the death of Polonius would attract little attention, and not cause him trouble.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#213|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-214=====<br />
''No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====16-215=====<br />
''No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====16-216=====<br />
''Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====16-217=====<br />
''That I must call it in question.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====16-218=====<br />
''Claudius: So you shall,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====16-219=====<br />
''And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.''<br />
<br />
''great axe'' - executioner's axe.<br />
<br />
Claudius believes he has already arranged that, for Hamlet in England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220=====<br />
''I pray you go with me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_16
Scene 16
2018-02-04T15:51:28Z
<p>Administrator: /* 16-019 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Throne Room, Horatio and a Gentleman persuade Gertrude to speak with Ophelia. At first, Gertrude doesn't want to see Ophelia because, since her son has killed Ophelia's father, Gertrude anticipates an unpleasant confrontation.<br />
<br />
Ophelia enters slowly, doing a leisurely, graceful dance, as Gertrude speaks her "guilt" speech aside. Ophelia then speaks oddly to Gertrude, and sings.<br />
<br />
Claudius enters, because he heard the singing. Ophelia sings more. Claudius speaks of Ophelia and grief, as he draws the wrong conclusion. Ophelia exits.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that Laertes has returned, and Laertes is hearing condemnations of Claudius in connection with the death of Polonius. Loud noises are heard, and a messenger enters, to inform Claudius that Laertes is leading a riotous rabble to storm the Castle.<br />
<br />
Laertes enters, sword in hand, and irate. He demands Claudius explain things.<br />
<br />
While Claudius is talking with Laertes, Ophelia reenters. Ophelia sings to Laertes, and hands him flowers. He is totally at a loss, except he's sure she's mad. Ophelia departs, with a final word of blessing for everyone. Gertrude and her ladies follow Ophelia, to keep watch on her.<br />
<br />
Claudius asks to meet with Laertes and his "wisest friends" to explain his innocence in the death of Polonius. Laertes says he's willing to listen, and they exit.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 16 Characters are: [[Gertrude]], [[Gentleman]], [[Horatio]], [[Ophelia]], [[Claudius]], [[Messenger]], [[Laertes]], [[Ruffians]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Claudius entry [[#038-SD]], || Ophelia first exit [[#071-SD]], || Messenger entry [[#092-SD2]]<br />
|-<br />
| Laertes entry [[#108-SD]], || Ophelia reentry [[#158-SD]], || Ophelia last exit [[#199-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 16</b> [ ~ Baker's Daughter ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 5)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Throne Room;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude enters;<br />
Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-001]]<span id="001"></span> Gertrude: I will not speak with her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will not speak with her.''</span><br />
[[#16-002]]<span id="002"></span> Gentleman: She is importunate,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is insistent for attention,''</span><br />
[[#16-003]]<span id="003"></span> Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Distracted in what she does. Her state of mind will necessarily be pitied.''</span><br />
[[#16-004]]<span id="004"></span> Gertrude: What would she have?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What does she want?''</span><br />
[[#16-005]]<span id="005"></span> Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She says a lot about her father, and says she hears''</span><br />
[[#16-006]]<span id="006"></span> There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's tricks in the world, and equivocates, and pounds her chest,''</span><br />
[[#16-007]]<span id="007"></span> Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Reacts scornfully, in a bad natured way, over trifles, and says things in suspicion,''</span><br />
[[#16-008]]<span id="008"></span> That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That sound only half sensible. Her speech is naughty,''</span><br />
[[#16-009]]<span id="009"></span> Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Still, the illogical employment of her speech motivates''</span><br />
[[#16-010]]<span id="010"></span> The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Those who hear it to try to gather meaning from it. They gape at what she says,''</span><br />
[[#16-011]]<span id="011"></span> And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And misconstrue her words in fitting them to their own preconceptions,''</span><br />
[[#16-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield to them,''</span><br />
[[#16-013]]<span id="013"></span> Indeed would make one think there would be thought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed would make one think there should be grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-014]]<span id="014"></span> Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Although not for sure, still very expressive of misfortune.''</span><br />
[[#16-015]]<span id="015"></span> Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be good to speak with her, for she might breed''</span><br />
[[#16-016]]<span id="016"></span> Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. [[#16-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Gertrude nods to Horatio)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hazardous surmises in minds that jump to conclusions.''</span><br />
[[#16-017]]<span id="017"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to the doorman):</span> Let her come in. [[#16-017-SD1]]<span id="017-SD1"></span> (said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let her come in.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-017-SD2]]<span id="017-SD2"></span> (Horatio and the Gentleman exit;<br />
Ophelia enters, dancing)<br />
<br />
[[#16-018]]<span id="018"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To my sick soul, (which is the true nature of sin,)''</span><br />
[[#16-019]]<span id="019"></span> Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Each idea that crosses my mind seems to lead to disaster.''</span><br />
[[#16-020]]<span id="020"></span> So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Guilt is so full of natural misery,''</span><br />
[[#16-021]]<span id="021"></span> It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It reveals itself, from its fear of being revealed.''</span><br />
[[#16-022]]<span id="022"></span> Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''</span><br />
[[#16-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Greetings, Ophelia?''</span><br />
[[#16-024]]<span id="024"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''How should I your true love know''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can I, your true love, know you''</span><br />
[[#16-025]]<span id="025"></span> ''From another one?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From someone else?''</span><br />
[[#16-026]]<span id="026"></span> ''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By his cock-le top, and shaft''</span><br />
[[#16-027]]<span id="027"></span> ''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And his silken slippers.''</span><br />
[[#16-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, sweet Lady, what brings out that song?''</span><br />
[[#16-029]]<span id="029"></span> Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't say? No, please pay attention:''</span><br />
[[#16-030]]<span id="030"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone, Lady''</span><br />
[[#16-031]]<span id="031"></span> ''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone''</span><br />
[[#16-032]]<span id="032"></span> ''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his head there is green grass turf''</span><br />
[[#16-033]]<span id="033"></span> ''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his heels there is a stone''</span><br />
[[#16-034]]<span id="034"></span> <span style="color:gray">(exclaims):</span> Oh ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh ho!''</span><br />
[[#16-035]]<span id="035"></span> Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but Ophelia . . .''</span><br />
[[#16-036]]<span id="036"></span> Ophelia: Pray you, mark!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please pay attention!''</span><br />
[[#16-037]]<span id="037"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''White his shroud as the mountain snow.'' [[#16-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (Claudius enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His shroud was as white as mountain snow''</span><br />
[[#16-038]]<span id="038"></span> Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord. [[#16-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, look there, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#16-039]]<span id="039"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With sweet flowers strewn all around,''</span><br />
[[#16-040]]<span id="040"></span> ''Which bewept to the grave did not go'' [[#16-040-SD]]<span id="040-SD"></span> (the word "not" is spoken aside)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, falling like tears on the grave did -not- go''</span><br />
[[#16-041]]<span id="041"></span> ''With true love showers.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Accompanied by any shower of real love.''</span><br />
[[#16-042]]<span id="042"></span> Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are you feeling, pretty Lady?''</span><br />
[[#16-043]]<span id="043"></span> Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well may goodness refrain you, musically.''</span><br />
[[#16-044]]<span id="044"></span> They say the owl was a baker's daughter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say the owl was a baker's daughter.''</span><br />
[[#16-045]]<span id="045"></span> Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lord, I know what I am now, but don't know what I may become.''</span><br />
[[#16-046]]<span id="046"></span> God be at your table.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May God be at work on your gravestone, now.''</span><br />
[[#16-047]]<span id="047"></span> Claudius: Conceit upon her father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A caprice due to her father's death.''</span><br />
[[#16-048]]<span id="048"></span> Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, let's have no words about him - but if anyone asks you''</span><br />
[[#16-049]]<span id="049"></span> what it means, say you this:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what all this means, you can tell them this:''</span><br />
[[#16-050]]<span id="050"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day, and''</span><br />
[[#16-051]]<span id="051"></span> ''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Quite in the morning, before it's too late,''</span><br />
[[#16-052]]<span id="052"></span> ''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's me, a maiden tapping at your window''</span><br />
[[#16-053]]<span id="053"></span> ''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be your valentine''</span><br />
[[#16-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So he rose up, put on some clothes, and opened up his bedroom door,''</span><br />
[[#16-055]]<span id="055"></span> ''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let in the maiden, who never again went out as a virgin.''</span><br />
[[#16-056]]<span id="056"></span> Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pretty, Ophelia.''</span><br />
[[#16-057]]<span id="057"></span> Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end to it.''</span><br />
[[#16-058]]<span id="058"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Jesus and by Saint Charity,''</span><br />
[[#16-059]]<span id="059"></span> ''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''oh dear, and fie, for shame,''</span><br />
[[#16-060]]<span id="060"></span> ''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Young men will do it if they come to it''</span><br />
[[#16-061]]<span id="061"></span> ''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''by cock they are to blame.''</span><br />
[[#16-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Said she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''</span><br />
[[#16-063]]<span id="063"></span> (He answers): ''So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''(He answers): So would I have done, by yonder sun,''</span><br />
[[#16-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had not come to my bed.''</span><br />
[[#16-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: How long hath she been thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long has she been like this?''</span><br />
[[#16-066]]<span id="066"></span> Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hope all will be well. I must be patient, but I cannot choose''</span><br />
[[#16-067]]<span id="067"></span> but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but weep to think they would lay him in the cold ground. My brother''</span><br />
[[#16-068]]<span id="068"></span> shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shall learn of it - and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come''</span><br />
[[#16-069]]<span id="069"></span> my coach; good night, Ladies, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''my coach, goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''</span><br />
[[#16-070]]<span id="070"></span> Sweet Lady, good night, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-070-SD]]<span id="070-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits)<br />
<br />
[[#16-071]]<span id="071"></span> Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [[#16-071-SD]]<span id="071-SD"></span> (the ladies-in-waiting curtsy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow her closely, and keep a close watch on her, please.''</span> and exit to follow Ophelia)<br />
[[#16-072]]<span id="072"></span> Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the poison of deep grief, it all springs from her father's''</span><br />
[[#16-073]]<span id="073"></span> death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''death, and now behold the result. Oh, Gertrude, Gertrude,''</span><br />
[[#16-074]]<span id="074"></span> When sorrows come, they come not single spies,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When sorrows come, they don't come one at a time,''</span><br />
[[#16-075]]<span id="075"></span> But in battalions. First her father slain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But in battalions. First, her father slain,''</span><br />
[[#16-076]]<span id="076"></span> Next, your son gone, and he most violent author<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Next, your son gone - and he himself the very violent cause''</span><br />
[[#16-077]]<span id="077"></span> Of his own just remove, the people muddied,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of his own justified departure - the people stirred up,''</span><br />
[[#16-078]]<span id="078"></span> Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dense and unhealthy in their minds, and rumor mongering''</span><br />
[[#16-079]]<span id="079"></span> For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over good Polonius's death - and I have acted only recently,''</span><br />
[[#16-080]]<span id="080"></span> In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In seclusion, to have him buried - poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#16-081]]<span id="081"></span> Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Beside herself, and diverted from her good judgment -''</span><br />
[[#16-082]]<span id="082"></span> Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Without which we humans are mindless as images in pictures, or mere beasts -''</span><br />
[[#16-083]]<span id="083"></span> Last, and as much containing as all these:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Last - and as difficult to deal with as all of those, combined -''</span><br />
[[#16-084]]<span id="084"></span> Her brother is in secret come from France,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her brother has returned, in secret, from France, and''</span><br />
[[#16-085]]<span id="085"></span> Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Takes in all these strange events, keeps out of sight,''</span><br />
[[#16-086]]<span id="086"></span> And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has no lack of scandalmongers to poison his mind''</span><br />
[[#16-087]]<span id="087"></span> With pestilent speeches of his father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With pernicious gossip about his father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-088]]<span id="088"></span> Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which they feel the need to blame sombody, and lacking the facts,''</span><br />
[[#16-089]]<span id="089"></span> Will nothing stick our person to arraign<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll stop at nothing to accuse me''</span><br />
[[#16-090]]<span id="090"></span> In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the word goes from ear to ear. Oh, my dear Gertrude, this,''</span><br />
[[#16-091]]<span id="091"></span> Like to a murdering piece, in many places<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a huge shotgun, hits me in many vital spots, and''</span><br />
[[#16-092]]<span id="092"></span> Gives me superfluous death. [[#16-092-SD1]]<span id="092-SD1"></span> (an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just kills me, over and over.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-092-SD2]]<span id="092-SD2"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-093]]<span id="093"></span> Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, what's that noise?''</span><br />
[[#16-094]]<span id="094"></span> Claudius: Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Attention, everyone! Where are my Swiss guards? Have them guard the door!''</span><br />
[[#16-095]]<span id="095"></span> What is the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#16-096]]<span id="096"></span> Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save yourself, my Lord!''</span><br />
[[#16-097]]<span id="097"></span> The ocean, over-peering of his list<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ocean, overflowing at its margins,''</span><br />
[[#16-098]]<span id="098"></span> Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not engulf the flats with more merciless speed''</span><br />
[[#16-099]]<span id="099"></span> Than young Laertes, in a riotous head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than young Laertes, at the head of the riot,''</span><br />
[[#16-100]]<span id="100"></span> O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Overwhelms your soldiers and guards. The rabble call him "Lord,"''</span><br />
[[#16-101]]<span id="101"></span> And, as the world were now but to begin,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, as if the human world were only now beginning,''</span><br />
[[#16-102]]<span id="102"></span> Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Precedent forgotten, ceremony unknown,''</span><br />
[[#16-103]]<span id="103"></span> The ratifiers and props of every word,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The only validators and supports for their every word is''</span><br />
[[#16-104]]<span id="104"></span> The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The outcry: "We choose!" "Laertes shall be King!''</span><br />
[[#16-105]]<span id="105"></span> Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They toss their caps in the air, raise their hands, and cheer it to the clouds:''</span><br />
[[#16-106]]<span id="106"></span> Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''</span><br />
[[#16-107]]<span id="107"></span> Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! [[#16-107-SD]]<span id="107-SD"></span> (loud noise just outside the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How cheerfully they cry, as they follow this false trail!''</span> closed door to the Lobby)<br />
[[#16-108]]<span id="108"></span> Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the wrong way, you traitorous Danish dogs!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-108-SD]]<span id="108-SD"></span> (Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)<br />
<br />
[[#16-109]]<span id="109"></span> Claudius: The doors are broke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The doors are broken in.''</span><br />
[[#16-110]]<span id="110"></span> Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is this so-called "King?" Sirs, wait outside.''</span><br />
[[#16-111]]<span id="111"></span> Ruffians: No, lets come in!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, let us come in!''</span><br />
[[#16-112]]<span id="112"></span> Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I beg you, allow me to talk to him.''</span><br />
[[#16-113]]<span id="113"></span> Ruffians: We will, we will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alright, we will, we will.''</span><br />
[[#16-114]]<span id="114"></span> Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thank you. Control the doorway. Oh, you vile King,''</span><br />
[[#16-115]]<span id="115"></span> Give me my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Give me my father!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-115-SD]]<span id="115-SD"></span> (Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)<br />
<br />
[[#16-116]]<span id="116"></span> Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be calm, good Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#16-117]]<span id="117"></span> Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If any drop of my blood is calm it reveals I'm a bastard,''</span><br />
[[#16-118]]<span id="118"></span> Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shouts that my father was a cuckold, puts the brand of the harlot''</span><br />
[[#16-119]]<span id="119"></span> Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right here, between the chaste, undefiled brows''</span><br />
[[#16-120]]<span id="120"></span> Of my true mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of my virtuous mother.''</span><br />
[[#16-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the reason, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-122]]<span id="122"></span> That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That the rebellion you lead looks so ambitious?''</span><br />
[[#16-123]]<span id="123"></span> Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him go, Gertrude, do not worry about my personal safety.''</span><br />
[[#16-124]]<span id="124"></span> There's such divinity doth hedge a King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's such divinity to shield a King,''</span><br />
[[#16-125]]<span id="125"></span> That treason can but peep to what it would,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That treason can only peek at what it wants, and''</span><br />
[[#16-126]]<span id="126"></span> Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Acts little of what it desires. Tell me, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-127]]<span id="127"></span> Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you are so incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#16-128]]<span id="128"></span> Speak, man.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak, man.''</span><br />
[[#16-129]]<span id="129"></span> Laertes: Where is my father?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is my father?''</span><br />
[[#16-130]]<span id="130"></span> Claudius: Dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dead.''</span><br />
[[#16-131]]<span id="131"></span> Gertrude: But not by him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But not killed by him!''</span><br />
[[#16-132]]<span id="132"></span> Claudius: Let him demand his fill.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him question until he's satisfied.''</span><br />
[[#16-133]]<span id="133"></span> Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What led to his death? I won't be taken lightly!''</span><br />
[[#16-134]]<span id="134"></span> To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To hell with loyalty to the crown, and religious dedication - to the most evil devil!''</span><br />
[[#16-135]]<span id="135"></span> Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Conscience, and nobility, into the deepest pit!''</span><br />
[[#16-136]]<span id="136"></span> I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I dare damnation! On this point I make my stand,''</span><br />
[[#16-137]]<span id="137"></span> That both the worlds I give to negligence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, for my fate in both this world and the next, I couldn't care less.''</span><br />
[[#16-138]]<span id="138"></span> Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let whatever happens, happen, but I'll have revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-139]]<span id="139"></span> Most throughly for my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In every way, for my father.''</span><br />
[[#16-140]]<span id="140"></span> Claudius: Who shall stay you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who will stop you?''</span><br />
[[#16-141]]<span id="141"></span> Laertes: My will, not all the world's.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only my own will, no matter what the rest of the world wants!''</span><br />
[[#16-142]]<span id="142"></span> And for my means, I'll husband them so well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As for my resources, I'll manage them so well,''</span><br />
[[#16-143]]<span id="143"></span> They shall go far with little.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll take me far, though they be slight.''</span><br />
[[#16-144]]<span id="144"></span> Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Laertes, if you desire to know the reliable truth''</span><br />
[[#16-145]]<span id="145"></span> Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''About your dear father, is it "officially written" in your duty for revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-146]]<span id="146"></span> That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, (as in winning a sweepstakes,) you will execute both friend and foe,''</span><br />
[[#16-147]]<span id="147"></span> Winner and loser?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only yourself the winner, anyone else, the loser?''</span><br />
[[#16-148]]<span id="148"></span> Laertes: None but his enemies.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll kill no one except his enemies.''</span><br />
[[#16-149]]<span id="149"></span> Claudius: Will you know them, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you know who his enemies are, then?''</span><br />
[[#16-150]]<span id="150"></span> Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms, [[#16-150-SD]]<span id="150-SD"></span> (Laertes sheaths his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To his good friends, I'll spread my arms wide, like this,''</span><br />
[[#16-151]]<span id="151"></span> And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like the proverbially caring, life-sustaining pelican,''</span><br />
[[#16-152]]<span id="152"></span> Repast them with my blood.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nourish them with my own blood.''</span><br />
[[#16-153]]<span id="153"></span> Claudius: Why, now you speak<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, now you speak''</span><br />
[[#16-154]]<span id="154"></span> Like a good child, and a true gentleman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a good child, and a real gentleman.''</span><br />
[[#16-155]]<span id="155"></span> That I am guiltless of your father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am free of guilt in your father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-156]]<span id="156"></span> And am most sensible in grief for it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And am fully rational in my grief over it,''</span><br />
[[#16-157]]<span id="157"></span> It shall as level to your judgment pierce<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It will get through to your judgment as truly,''</span><br />
[[#16-158]]<span id="158"></span> As day does to your eye.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As day does, to your eye.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-158-SD]]<span id="158-SD"></span> (noise is heard at the doorway;<br />
Ophelia enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-159]]<span id="159"></span> Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's happening? Why the noise? Let her come in.''</span><br />
[[#16-160]]<span id="160"></span> O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times as irritating as pure salt,''</span><br />
[[#16-161]]<span id="161"></span> Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Burn out the vision and goodness of my eyes!''</span><br />
[[#16-162]]<span id="162"></span> By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Heaven, your madness will be repaid with weight''</span><br />
[[#16-163]]<span id="163"></span> Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the scales of justice swings its beam. Oh, Rose of May!''</span><br />
[[#16-164]]<span id="164"></span> Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dear maiden, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''</span><br />
[[#16-165]]<span id="165"></span> O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, heavens, is it possible a young maiden's intelligence''</span><br />
[[#16-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should be as mortal as an old man's life?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could be as mortal as an old man's life?''</span><br />
[[#16-167]]<span id="167"></span> Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Human nature, in love, is delicate, and when it's delicate,''</span><br />
[[#16-168]]<span id="168"></span> It sends some precious instance of itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It sends a valuable part of its human nature,''</span><br />
[[#16-169]]<span id="169"></span> After the thing it loves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''After the object of its love.''</span><br />
[[#16-170]]<span id="170"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They carried him bare-faced on the bier,''</span><br />
[[#16-171]]<span id="171"></span> ''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And into his grave rained many a tear.''</span><br />
[[#16-172]]<span id="172"></span> ''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''</span><br />
[[#16-173]]<span id="173"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> Fare you well, my dove!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fare you well, my dove!''</span><br />
[[#16-174]]<span id="174"></span> Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had your wits about you, and prevailed on me to seek revenge,''</span><br />
[[#16-175]]<span id="175"></span> It could not move thus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It could not move me as much as this does.''</span><br />
[[#16-176]]<span id="176"></span> Ophelia: You must sing ''a down, a down,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must sing a down, a down,''</span><br />
[[#16-177]]<span id="177"></span> And you call him ''a down a.'' Oh, how the wheel becomes it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the refrain befits it!''</span><br />
[[#16-178]]<span id="178"></span> It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is lying Hamlet who stole Jesus's daughter from the nunnery.''</span><br />
[[#16-179]]<span id="179"></span> Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This nothingness tells me more than an explanation would.''</span><br />
[[#16-180]]<span id="180"></span> Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, (pray you love,''</span><br />
[[#16-181]]<span id="181"></span> remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''remember,) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''</span><br />
[[#16-182]]<span id="182"></span> Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lesson in madness, thoughts and remembrance tangled in a fit.''</span><br />
[[#16-183]]<span id="183"></span> Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for''</span><br />
[[#16-184]]<span id="184"></span> you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, and here's some for me. We may call it "herb of grace" on Sundays.''</span><br />
[[#16-185]]<span id="185"></span> you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You may wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would''</span><br />
[[#16-186]]<span id="186"></span> give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''give you some violets but they all died when my father did.''</span><br />
[[#16-187]]<span id="187"></span> they say he made a good end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say he did well at the end.''</span><br />
[[#16-188]]<span id="188"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''</span><br />
[[#16-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Grief and torment! Agony! She makes Hell itself''</span><br />
[[#16-190]]<span id="190"></span> She turns to favor and to prettiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look like a favor, and something pretty.''</span><br />
[[#16-191]]<span id="191"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-192]]<span id="192"></span> ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-193]]<span id="193"></span> ''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, no, he is dead. Go to thy death bed!''</span><br />
[[#16-194]]<span id="194"></span> ''He never will come again.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He never will come again.''</span><br />
[[#16-195]]<span id="195"></span> ''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His beard was as white as snow,''</span><br />
[[#16-196]]<span id="196"></span> ''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The skin of his head was yellowish,''</span><br />
[[#16-197]]<span id="197"></span> ''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''</span><br />
[[#16-198]]<span id="198"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''God have mercy on his soul, and on all Christians' souls.''</span><br />
[[#16-199]]<span id="199"></span> God buy you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye to you.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-199-SD]]<span id="199-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits;<br />
Gertrude exits to follow her)<br />
<br />
[[#16-200]]<span id="200"></span> Laertes: Do you this, O God?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you done this, oh God?''</span><br />
[[#16-201]]<span id="201"></span> Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I must share your grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-202]]<span id="202"></span> Or you deny me right; go but apart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or you deny me my right. But go your own way,''</span><br />
[[#16-203]]<span id="203"></span> Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Choose from among your wisest friends whomever you wish,''</span><br />
[[#16-204]]<span id="204"></span> And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they shall hear and judge, between you and me.''</span><br />
[[#16-205]]<span id="205"></span> If by direct, or by collateral hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If in any direct or indirect way''</span><br />
[[#16-206]]<span id="206"></span> They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They find me touched by guilt, I'll give up my kingdom,''</span><br />
[[#16-207]]<span id="207"></span> Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My crown, my life, and all that I call mine,''</span><br />
[[#16-208]]<span id="208"></span> To you in satisfaction; but if not,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To you in satisfaction, of your revenge. But if not,''</span><br />
[[#16-209]]<span id="209"></span> Be you content to lend your patience to us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be content to give me time,''</span><br />
[[#16-210]]<span id="210"></span> And we shall jointly labor with your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I will work together with you''</span><br />
[[#16-211]]<span id="211"></span> To give it due content.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make you content in your soul.''</span><br />
[[#16-212]]<span id="212"></span> Laertes: Let this be so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let it be so.''</span><br />
[[#16-213]]<span id="213"></span> His means of death, his obscure burial,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The way he was killed . . . his hidden burial,''</span><br />
[[#16-214]]<span id="214"></span> No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No trophy sword . . . nor coat of arms over his body,''</span><br />
[[#16-215]]<span id="215"></span> No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No noble privilege . . . nor formal exhibition -''</span><br />
[[#16-216]]<span id="216"></span> Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All of that cries out so much to be understood, as it were, from Heaven to earth,''</span><br />
[[#16-217]]<span id="217"></span> That I must call it in question.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I must call it all into question.''</span><br />
[[#16-218]]<span id="218"></span> Claudius: So you shall,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So you may,''</span><br />
[[#16-219]]<span id="219"></span> And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where the guilt lies, let the executioner's axe fall on him.''</span><br />
[[#16-220]]<span id="220"></span> I pray you go with me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please go with me.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes exit)<br />
<hr> <br />
End of Scene 16<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====16-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Throne Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - <br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====16-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters; Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting are present with the Queen in the Throne Room. Claudius is absent, for whatever reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-001=====<br />
''Gertrude: I will not speak with her.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude supposes that Ophelia wants to complain to her about the death of Polonius, and to demand justice, but there is nothing Gertrude can do about the death of Polonius, or about Claudius sending Hamlet to England. This is not to imply Gertrude would condemn her son, even if she could. We see elsewhere in the play that Gertrude likes Ophelia, so one can understand that Gertrude does not wish to face Ophelia's reproaches.<br />
<br />
Gertrude has no inkling of what Ophelia's speech and behavior will turn out to be, as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====16-002=====<br />
''Gentleman: She is importunate,''<br />
<br />
''importunate'' - assertive. Resolute. Forward.<br />
<br />
For the second, "resolute," recall Horatio's mention in Scene 1 of "landless resolutes," ([[Scene 1#108]],) as Horatio spoke of determined men.<br />
<br />
For the third, "forward," see Shakespeare Sonnet 99, which is partly about Shakespeare's choice of flowers for Ophelia's "crownet weeds" which Gertrude tells us of in Scene 18.<br />
<br />
The forward violet thus did I chide:<br />
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,<br />
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride<br />
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells<br />
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.<br />
The lily I condemned for thy hand, ...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====16-003=====<br />
''Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.''<br />
<br />
''Indeed'' - primarily takes the literal meaning "in deed," referring to what she does, how she acts. Second, can be read as "very," or "truly."<br />
<br />
''distract'' - distracted - emotionally disturbed. The way she acts reveals emotional disturbance.<br />
<br />
''mood'' - state of mind.<br />
<br />
''needs'' - of necessity; necessarily.<br />
<br />
''pitied'' - viewed with sympathy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====16-004=====<br />
''Gertrude: What would she have?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude wonders if there's anything in particular Ophelia wants her to do. If so, perhaps it might be possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====16-005=====<br />
''Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====16-006=====<br />
''There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,''<br />
<br />
''hems'' - equivocates. The meaning of what she says is not clear. Can also be interpreted as in "hem and haw."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====16-007=====<br />
''Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====16-008=====<br />
''That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,''<br />
<br />
''nothing'' - naughty. ''Nothing'' is "naught," so nothing speech is naughty speech, which we shall hear from Ophelia as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====16-009=====<br />
''Yet the unshaped use of it doth move''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====16-010=====<br />
''The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,''<br />
<br />
''collection'' - gathering. The figure of speech is as in the use of "gather." An example modern sentence would be, "As I gather from what he said, he meant..."<br />
<br />
''yawn'' - gape. Stare open-mouthed, as if yawning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====16-011=====<br />
''And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====16-012=====<br />
''Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====16-013=====<br />
''Indeed would make one think there would be thought,''<br />
<br />
''thought'' - grief (a definition now obsolete.) For example, see Chaucer, ''Troilus and Criseyde'':<br />
<br />
But if thou wene I be thus sik for drede, 575<br />
It is not so, and ther-for scorne nought;<br />
Ther is a-nother thing I take of hede<br />
Wel more than ought the Grekes han y-wrought,<br />
Which cause is of my deeth, for sorwe and thought.<br />
...<br />
<br />
It is supposed that Ophelia would be suffering from grief, over her father's death, but what she's saying and doing is not a display of the usual behavior of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#013|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-014=====<br />
''Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====16-015=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016=====<br />
''Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude nods to Horatio)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017=====<br />
''Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD1=====<br />
''(said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD2=====<br />
''(Horatio and the Gentleman exit; Ophelia enters, dancing)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-018=====<br />
''Gertrude (aside): To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====16-019=====<br />
''Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,''<br />
<br />
''toy'' - idea, something the mind plays with, turning it over, looking at it with the mind's eye. Can be understood as a puzzle Gertrude is trying to solve, to get a favorable outcome (but with no luck.)<br />
<br />
''prologue'' - lead-in; introduction. In this usage, ''prologue'' means "that which leads to some consequence."<br />
<br />
''amiss'' - failure, to achieve what she wants, like missing a target. So, ''great amiss'' - great failure; disaster.<br />
<br />
Every idea Gertrude can come up with, when she examines it, and turns it over in her mind, it leads to disaster. She finds no way to envision a positive outcome to all this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====16-020=====<br />
''So full of artless jealousy is guilt,''<br />
<br />
''artless'' - natural.<br />
<br />
''jealousy'' - anxiety; misery. Wretchedness. Intensely unpleasant emotion. Could be extended to "malice." The word ''jealousy'' here is a kind of figure of speech, the use of a more specific word to express a more general concept.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====16-021=====<br />
''It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====16-022=====<br />
''Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''<br />
<br />
Said because after agreeing to grant Ophelia an audience, Gertrude is not on the throne. Gertrude stepped down and wandered away from the throne for her "guilt" speech, aside.<br />
<br />
''beauteous'' - Ophelia is returning the compliment Gertrude earlier bestowed on Ophelia, in Scene 8, "That your good beauties be the happy cause..." ([[Scene 8#043]]) Ophelia was gratified by Gertrude's compliment to her beauty, remembered it, and is returning it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====16-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude has now returned to her throne, in response to Ophelia's question.<br />
<br />
''How now'' - greetings. Quite similar to the modern slang greeting, "what's up?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====16-024=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): How should I your true love know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====16-025=====<br />
''From another one?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====16-026=====<br />
''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====16-027=====<br />
''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<br />
''sendal'' - silk, that is, a silk fabric. Mentioned by Chaucer, among others.<br><br />
The Middle English Dictionary lists it "cendā̆l" as their primary spelling, which is impossible to find with an ordinary lookup, but anyway, here it is.<br><br />
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED7072<br><br />
(checked 06/02/2015)<br />
<br />
For where Shakespeare might have learned ''sendal,'' see for example ''The Canterbury Tales,'' General Prologue, The Physician, line 442:<br />
<br />
But of greet norissyng, and digestible.<br />
His studie was but litel on the Bible.<br />
In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,<br />
Lyned with taffata and with sendal;<br />
<br />
Further, according to some writers, ''sendal'' was the shrouding fabric used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
''shoon'' - an archaic plural of "shoe." Shoes.<br />
<br />
''sendal shoon'' - silk shoes; silk slippers. Dancing shoes. As compared to all the ordinary pilgrims wearing sandals, Ophelia pictures Hamlet on his "pilgrimage" wearing silk slippers.<br />
<br />
Also, with the death of her father Ophelia has put on her dancing shoes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#027|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?''<br />
<br />
''imports'' - to import is to bring, in some way: bring out, bring up, bring forth. The question is, "what brings forth this song?"<br />
<br />
There is simultaneously the question of what import the song has, what its significance is. Shakespeare implied both of the relevant definitions of ''imports.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====16-029=====<br />
''Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====16-030=====<br />
''(sings): He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====16-031=====<br />
''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====16-032=====<br />
''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====16-033=====<br />
''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====16-034=====<br />
''(exclaims): Oh ho!''<br />
<br />
An exclamation of delight.<br />
<br />
Recall what we have seen of Polonius and Ophelia.<br />
<br />
First, in Scene 3, Polonius forbade Ophelia to have any further communication with her fiance, Prince Hamlet. She obeyed, but she did not like that.<br />
<br />
When Hamlet rushed to Ophelia's room, before Scene 6, Ophelia then went to Polonius to try to get him to change his mind, and allow her to talk to Hamlet, to find out why he did that. She never even got the chance to ask Polonius, who decided immediately to take Ophelia and Hamlet's private relationship public. She did not like that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then confiscated (or just read "stole") Ophelia's love letters from Hamlet, since Polonius wanted tangible evidence to show the King, that Hamlet had expressed love for Ophelia. When Ophelia tried to fight back, to keep her love letters, and threatened to tell Hamlet, Polonius locked Ophelia in her room, to prevent her resort to Hamlet. She hated that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then persuaded Ophelia to participate in the Nunnery Scene eavesdropping scheme, on the ground that it would get her married to Hamlet, when the King heard Hamlet express love for her. The scheme turned into a disaster, that left her abandoned and heartbroken. It was her father's scheme, and she blamed her father for the result.<br />
<br />
At that point, Ophelia, being a young lady of normal psychology, was wishing her father would get out of her life, and just drop dead. In this Scene, she is ''not'' grieving over his death. She is hysterically happy.<br />
<br />
The other characters have not seen everything we in the audience have seen, and they do not understand this. They think Ophelia is displaying some weird, mad symptom of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====16-035=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====16-036=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray you, mark!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037=====<br />
''(sings): White his shroud as the mountain snow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters)''<br />
<br />
Claudius enters because he heard a woman singing in the Throne Room. His first thought is that it's Gertrude, since Gertrude is the woman anyone would associate with the Throne Room. Claudius is curious why Gertrude would be singing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
From the way Claudius looks at her, Gertrude realizes Claudius thought she was the one singing. So she points at Ophelia, and tells Claudius, ''look here.''<br />
<br />
''here'' - not here. "There," that is. When Gertrude says ''look here'' she means "look there," at Ophelia. Claudius is looking ''here,'' at Gertrude, and she says ''here'' to tell him to look "not here."<br />
<br />
The language is perfectly understandable to anybody familiar with English, while the explanation sounds like madness. It is a peculiarity of English that the word ''here'' can mean "there," (and the word "there" can mean ''here,'') depending on what is indicated. Shakespeare had some fun in the play with "here" v "there," (and also "this" v "that.")<br />
<br />
When Gertrude says ''look here,'' and points at Ophelia, we all understand she means "look there." Claudius does so.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Claudius, curious, approaches Ophelia as she sings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-039=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040=====<br />
''Which bewept to the grave did not go''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040-SD=====<br />
''(the word "not" is spoken aside)''<br />
<br />
The other characters don't hear Ophelia sing ''not,'' only the audience hears it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-041=====<br />
''With true love showers.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====16-042=====<br />
''Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====16-043=====<br />
''Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;''<br />
<br />
''dild' '' - dildo. It is an obsolete music term. Also appears in ''The Winter's Tale.''<br />
<br />
''Winter's Tale'' Act 4 scene 4,<br />
<br />
Servant: He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; ...<br />
... with such delicate <br />
burthens of dildos and fadings, ...<br />
<br />
A ''dildo'' is a nonsense phrase within the burden of a ditty, such as the "hey nonny nonny" mentioned in ''Much Ado about Nothing,'' Act 2 scene 3:<br />
<br />
Balthasar. Sigh no more, ladies, ...<br />
...<br />
And be you blithe and bonny, <br />
Converting all your sounds of woe <br />
Into Hey nonny, nonny.<br />
...<br />
<br />
The term comes from the fact of the word ''dildo'' itself being used, as in Thomas Morley's ''Will You Buy a Fine Dog?'':<br />
<br />
Will you buy a fine dog, with a hole in his head?<br />
With a dildo, dildo, dildo; ...<br />
<br />
The entire song can be found here:<br><br />
http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Will_you_buy_a_fine_dog%3F_(Thomas_Morley)<br />
<br />
''Dildo'' in this sense is the same sort of thing as "hey diddle diddle" in the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. It's some wording that is rhythmic, and rhymes, but has no meaning apart from its use in the verse.<br />
<br />
However, having said that, it is not possible to exclude the better-known, vulgar meaning, since that meaning did also exist in Shakespeare's time. For example, see the lewd verse "Choise of Valentines or the Merie Ballad of Nash his Dildo," T. Nashe, c.1593, which can be found at the Project Gutenberg website:<br><br />
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17779/17779-h/17779-h.htm<br />
<br />
It is safe to say that Ophelia's remark to Claudius is not entirely polite. An interpretation is available for Ophelia to be saying that, in her opinion, Claudius would benefit from the insertion into him of a dildo. That is not, however, her primary meaning. We once again have multiple meanings from the Bard.<br />
<br />
Primarily, she is saying she would like to sing a dildo about Claudius being dead, to go with her song about her father being dead.<br />
<br />
Ophelia says she wants Claudius to die, so she can sing about it.<br />
<br />
Claudius does not understand her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====16-044=====<br />
''They say the owl was a baker's daughter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====16-045=====<br />
''Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====16-046=====<br />
''God be at your table.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====16-047=====<br />
''Claudius: Conceit upon her father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====16-048=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====16-049=====<br />
''what it means, say you this:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====16-050=====<br />
''(sings): Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====16-051=====<br />
''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====16-052=====<br />
''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====16-053=====<br />
''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====16-054=====<br />
''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<br />
''clothes'' - a dressing gown, probably. A robe, as Americans now call it. We are not talking about the gentleman taking time to dress himself up in black tie and tails. He just grabs his robe, to go to the door. Well, more particularly, in the case of Hamlet, he'll grab his cloak, at least to wrap around himself.<br />
<br />
''dupt'' - dupped, in current standard spelling, a spelling which matters not at all since nobody says this any more. The word "dup" is formed merely from "do" + "up" and goes back to Middle English 'don up' which meant "to open," and probably referred to lifting up the simple kind of door latch used in those days. To open a door, one "did up" the latch.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====16-055=====<br />
''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====16-056=====<br />
''Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====16-057=====<br />
''Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====16-058=====<br />
''(sings): By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====16-059=====<br />
''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====16-060=====<br />
''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====16-061=====<br />
''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====16-062=====<br />
''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====16-063=====<br />
''(He answers): So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====16-064=====<br />
''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====16-065=====<br />
''Claudius: How long hath she been thus?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====16-066=====<br />
''Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====16-067=====<br />
''but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====16-068=====<br />
''shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come''<br />
<br />
''(my brother) shall know of it'' - and won't he have a fit!<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====16-069=====<br />
''my coach; goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Ladies'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#069|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070=====<br />
''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Sweet Lady'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, address Q2 "Ladyes"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#70|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits)''<br />
<br />
Running like Cinderella running to her coach at midnight, before it turns into a pumpkin.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.''<br />
<br />
Spoken to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071-SD=====<br />
''(the ladies-in-waiting curtsy, and exit to follow Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-072=====<br />
''Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====16-073=====<br />
''death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====16-074=====<br />
''When sorrows come, they come not single spies,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====16-075=====<br />
''But in battalions. First her father slain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====16-076=====<br />
''Next, your son gone, and he most violent author''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====16-077=====<br />
''Of his own just remove, the people muddied,''<br />
<br />
''just remove'' - justified removal; justified departure.<br />
<br />
''muddied'' - astir; stirred up. The way clear water in a brook becomes muddy when it's stirred up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====16-078=====<br />
''Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====16-079=====<br />
''For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly''<br />
<br />
''greenly'' - freshly; recently. Claudius is using the same figure of speech he used in speaking of his brother in Scene 2, in Claudius's first two lines in the play. ([[Scene 2 #001]] "Though yet of Hamlet, our dear brother's, death, The memory be green..."<br />
<br />
Fresh plantings are green. Claudius again speaks of a recent funeral as a "recent plant." This goes along with the analogy of Claudius with Cain, who was a tiller of the ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====16-080=====<br />
''In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia''<br />
<br />
''In hugger mugger'' - surreptitiously. Without public ceremony. Claudius wanted to draw as little attention to Polonius's death as possible, since Claudius did not take the usual legal action against Hamlet, and Claudius knows the public will wonder why not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====16-081=====<br />
''Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====16-082=====<br />
''Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====16-083=====<br />
''Last, and as much containing as all these:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====16-084=====<br />
''Her brother is in secret come from France,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====16-085=====<br />
''Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,''<br />
<br />
''in clouds'' - hidden from Claudius's sight. The figure of speech is that of a "sun (son) hidden in clouds," so that one cannot see it. There is an implicit son/sun pun.<br />
<br />
Properly, Laertes would have presented himself to the King upon his return, but Laertes has not done so. (We know Laertes ought to have presented himself to Claudius upon his return, because he needed Claudius's permission to leave, as we saw in Scene 2. Laertes is a Danish courtier, or is otherwise under some obligation to the Throne, probably because Polonius arranged a government position for Laertes.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====16-086=====<br />
''And wants not buzzers to infect his ear''<br />
<br />
''buzzers'' - gossips; rumor mongers. Recall Hamlet facetiously saying "buzz buzz" to Polonius in Scene 7.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====16-087=====<br />
''With pestilent speeches of his father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====16-088=====<br />
''Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====16-089=====<br />
''Will nothing stick our person to arraign''<br />
<br />
How could Claudius be blamed? Look at the most basic facts. 1) Hamlet killed Polonius. 2) Claudius sent Hamlet on a trip out of the country, beyond the reach of Danish law, to get a lot of money.<br />
<br />
By appearance, it looks like "hire and salary." A person could argue, just from that, that Claudius hired Hamlet to kill Polonius. We know better, but the average person in the local town has not seen what we have seen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====16-090=====<br />
''In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====16-091=====<br />
''Like to a murdering piece, in many places''<br />
<br />
''murdering piece'' - a cannon loaded with small projectiles, to produce a spray of shot, analogous to a shotgun blast. A ''murdering piece'' was so called because it was especially designed to kill enemy personnel, as opposed to knocking down walls.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092=====<br />
''Gives me superfluous death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD1=====<br />
''(an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)''<br />
<br />
Men shouting. Scuffling sounds, loud thuds. Some noise of steel hitting steel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD2=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Running, excited.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-093=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?''<br />
<br />
Addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====16-094=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto swissers.jpg|right]]<br />
''Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!''<br />
<br />
''Attend'' - take heed. From Latin 'attendere' ("give heed to.")<br />
<br />
''Swissers'' - Swiss guards. The modern standard spelling is "Switzer," but I see no overwhelming need to change the original Second Quarto spelling. Claudius is calling for his royal guards, his bodyguards.<br />
<br />
Where are they? Well since Claudius entered the way he did, just coming in out of curiosity to see what the singing was about, and did not enter the Throne Room in his usual kingly style, the Swissers probably don't even know he's in the Throne Room. They were not mustered for the royal entourage, to accompany Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#094|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-095=====<br />
''What is the matter?''<br />
<br />
Also addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====16-096=====<br />
''Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====16-097=====<br />
''The ocean, over-peering of his list''<br />
<br />
''over-peering'' - a peer is at the same level. Therefore, to ''over-peer'' is to rise higher, to rise above, to achieve a higher elevation than that which was formerly at the same level.<br />
<br />
''list'' - boundary; bounds. In this case, the former bounds.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====16-098=====<br />
''Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste''<br />
<br />
''Eats'' - engulfs.<br />
<br />
''flats'' - same as it means today: "flat land at the edge of the sea." See the current term "mud flat," or "mud flats."<br />
<br />
''impiteous'' - unconscionable; undutiful. BOOKMARK for me Originates in Latin 'pietas' ("dutiful conduct.") Duty Theme instance.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====16-099=====<br />
''Than young Laertes, in a riotous head''<br />
<br />
''in a riotous head'' - has the double meaning, "at the head of the riot," and "riotous in his thoughts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====16-100=====<br />
''O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"''<br />
<br />
''Lord'' - may be Laertes's technically-correct title. Polonius was a lord, and one would suppose Laertes has inherited his father's title. However, the title might depend, formally, upon royal ratification. Laertes's title inheritance is not clear in the play. He continues to be addressed as "sir" when he appears on stage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====16-101=====<br />
''And, as the world were now but to begin,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====16-102=====<br />
''Antiquity forgot, custom not known,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====16-103=====<br />
''The ratifiers and props of every word,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====16-104=====<br />
''The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====16-105=====<br />
''Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====16-106=====<br />
''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107=====<br />
''Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107-SD=====<br />
''(loud noise just outside the closed door to the Lobby)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108=====<br />
''Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!''<br />
<br />
''counter'' - the wrong way. Strictly, ''counter'' is when a dog goes the wrong way on a scent trail, getting farther from the game rather than closer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-109=====<br />
''Claudius: The doors are broke.''<br />
<br />
Important to note, for some actions that happen later. The rabble are breaking down doors throughout the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====16-110=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====16-111=====<br />
''Ruffians: No, lets come in!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====16-112=====<br />
''Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====16-113=====<br />
''Ruffians: We will, we will.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====16-114=====<br />
''Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115=====<br />
''Give me my father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)''<br />
<br />
Contrary to appearances, she is not primarily protecting Claudius, she is primarily protecting Hamlet's succession.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-116=====<br />
''Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====16-117=====<br />
''Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#117|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-118=====<br />
''Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====16-119=====<br />
''Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====16-120=====<br />
''Of my true mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====16-121=====<br />
''Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
''cause'' - reason. One might compare this to Claudius's use of "reason" in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2 #044]] "You cannot speak of reason to the Dane...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====16-122=====<br />
''That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====16-123=====<br />
''Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====16-124=====<br />
''There's such divinity doth hedge a King,''<br />
<br />
Has reference to the "divine right of kings."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====16-125=====<br />
''That treason can but peep to what it would,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====16-126=====<br />
''Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====16-127=====<br />
''Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====16-128=====<br />
''Speak, man.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====16-129=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is my father?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====16-130=====<br />
''Claudius: Dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====16-131=====<br />
''Gertrude: But not by him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====16-132=====<br />
''Claudius: Let him demand his fill.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====16-133=====<br />
''Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,''<br />
<br />
''juggled with'' - toyed with; treated as a buffoon. Laertes is emphasizing his deadly seriousness. ''Juggle'' is from Old French 'jogler' = "to be a buffoon or jester." So Laertes is telling King Claudius, "I am not here to be a king's jester for you."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====16-134=====<br />
''To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====16-135=====<br />
''Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====16-136=====<br />
''I dare damnation. To this point I stand,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====16-137=====<br />
''That both the worlds I give to negligence,''<br />
<br />
''both the worlds'' - the world of the living, and the afterlife.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====16-138=====<br />
''Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====16-139=====<br />
''Most throughly for my father.''<br />
<br />
''throughly'' - is the exact word printed in the Second Quarto. The words "through" and "thorough" were not clearly distinguished until Early Modern English. ''Throughly'' is probably the intended word, with no printing error. It can be understood as "completely," or as "through and through," that is, "in every way." A substitution of modern "thoroughly" would probably be acceptable, if one were neurotic about modernizing the text to the greatest degree possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====16-140=====<br />
''Claudius: Who shall stay you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====16-141=====<br />
''Laertes: My will, not all the world's.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====16-142=====<br />
''And for my means, I'll husband them so well,''<br />
<br />
''means'' - resources, especially financial resources. It does not seem to have occurred yet to Laertes that he must have a valuable inheritance, since Polonius was a rich man. There's no hint in the play of any other heir Polonius might have.<br />
<br />
''husband'' - manage, simply put. Further, ''husband'' can mean "conserve" or "manage thriftily," which is probably the intended full meaning, based on the idea of "thrift" already expressed in the play ([[Scene 2 #182]] "Hamlet: Thrift, thrift, Horatio...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====16-143=====<br />
''They shall go far with little.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====16-144=====<br />
''Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====16-145=====<br />
''Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,''<br />
<br />
''writ'' - used figuratively to mean "officially written" (like a law, or a king's order.) Claudius knows that Laertes's desire for revenge has no written conditions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====16-146=====<br />
''That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe''<br />
<br />
''swoopstake'' - the original word, which I retain because it doesn't necessarily mean exactly the same as modern "sweepstake." Clearly, the meaning is close to the modern term. BOOKMARK, for me.<br />
<br />
''draw'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====16-147=====<br />
''Winner and loser?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====16-148=====<br />
''Laertes: None but his enemies.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====16-149=====<br />
''Claudius: Will you know them, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150=====<br />
''Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes sheaths his sword)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-151=====<br />
[[File:Pelican.jpg|right|image of a pelican]]<br />
''And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,''<br />
<br />
''pelican'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#151|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-152=====<br />
''Repast them with my blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====16-153=====<br />
''Claudius: Why, now you speak''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====16-154=====<br />
''Like a good child, and a true gentleman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====16-155=====<br />
''That I am guiltless of your father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====16-156=====<br />
''And am most sensible in grief for it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====16-157=====<br />
''It shall as level to your judgment pierce''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158=====<br />
''As day does to your eye.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158-SD=====<br />
''(noise is heard at the doorway; Ophelia enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-159=====<br />
''Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====16-160=====<br />
''O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====16-161=====<br />
''Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====16-162=====<br />
''By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====16-163=====<br />
''Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====16-164=====<br />
''Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====16-165=====<br />
''O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====16-166=====<br />
''Should be as mortal as an old man's life?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====16-167=====<br />
''Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====16-168=====<br />
''It sends some precious instance of itself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====16-169=====<br />
''After the thing it loves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====16-170=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<br />
Informs us of Danish funeral practices. Polonius was borne to his grave like that, and Ophelia will be, shrouded but with the face visible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====16-171=====<br />
''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====16-172=====<br />
''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====16-173=====<br />
''(speaks): Fare you well, my dove!''<br />
<br />
Ophelia acts releasing a dove in the direction of Hamlet. The sight of a dove in flight is a good omen. Ophelia is intending to show Hamlet that the death of Polonius is a good omen for them, she believes.<br />
<br />
By the way, the use of an actual dove in stage performance would be authentic, where that is possible. The Globe was an outdoor theater.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====16-174=====<br />
''Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====16-175=====<br />
''It could not move thus.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====16-176=====<br />
''Ophelia: You must sing a down, a down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====16-177=====<br />
''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the wheel becomes it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====16-178=====<br />
''It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====16-179=====<br />
''Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====16-180=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,''<br />
[[File:Rosemary.jpg|right|rosemary blooms]]<br />
''rosemary'' - ''Rosmarinus officinalis'' is a traditional funeral flower. We know of a recent funeral, that of Polonius.<br />
<br />
The available colors of ''rosemary'' include purple and white. Ophelia's "crownet weeds" that will be mentioned in Scene 18 have the colors of purple, and white.<br />
<br />
Ophelia gives the rosemary to Laertes, who was not present for his father's funeral. Correctly performed, Ophelia gives all the flowers to Laertes.<br />
<br />
The word ''rosemary'' is from Latin 'rosmarinus' ("dew of the sea.") So, ''rosemary'' implicitly presents the "dew" idea again, that Hamlet brought to some prominence in Scene 2. ([[Scene 2#132]]) The English spelling of ''rosemary'' was influenced by "rose" and the name "Mary."<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" ''rosemary'' says "remembrance. So, ''rosemary'' is indeed the traditional flower of remembrance, as Ophelia says.<br />
<br />
This line is partly to Laertes, and partly aside, aside in the ordinary sense, that is; it is not an "aside" in theatrical jargon. The others hear it. Ophelia turns away from Laertes when she says, "(pray you love, remember.)" She is addressing that to Hamlet. Traditionally, ''rosemary'' is also associated with weddings. Ophelia is praying that Hamlet will remember he asked her to marry him. The word ''love'' is on the mark. From its use as a wedding flower, rosemary is considered a love charm.<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal,'' page 1293, says that rosemary is good for "all infirmities of the head and brain" (at least where the infirmity is from a "cold and moist cause,") and that it "quickens the senses and memory." Also, rosemary will "strengthen the sinewy parts." The head and brain, the senses, and the memory are all significant, repeated elements in the play dialogue, and both Hamlet ([[Scene 5#098]]) and Claudius ([[Scene 10#074]]) speak of the sinews. It becomes easy to see why Shakespeare included ''rosemary'' as one of the flowers in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====16-181=====<br />
''remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''<br />
[[File:Pansy.jpg|right|Viola tricolor, "pansy"]]<br />
''(pray you love, remember)'' - spoken in the direction where Ophelia supposes Hamlet to be. She turns aside from Laertes for this, but it is not an aside in the theatrical sense. The others hear it, although they do not know what to make of it.<br />
<br />
''pansies'' - like the rosemary, is also a traditional funeral flower. The name is from Old French 'pensée' ("thought.") This is not the modern cultivated pansy, it is the wild pansy, ''Viola tricolor.'' It is a flower in the violet family, ''Viola.''<br />
<br />
(The play dialogue associates the violet with Ophelia, in lines spoken by Laertes, and by Ophelia, herself. ([[Scene 3#008]],) (line 186 below,) and ([[Scene 19#208]].) Where Shakespeare wrote "violet" he probably meant the sweet violet, ''Viola odorata,'' with its heart-shaped leaves.)<br />
<br />
As with the rosemary, the color is once again purple and white (or close enough to that.) The ''Viola tricolo'' may have yellow on the lower petal, but that would not be out of place, since the daisy, that Ophelia will soon mention, has a yellow center.<br />
<br />
The ''rosemary'' and ''pansies'' are flowers from Polonius's funeral which Ophelia saved for Laertes since he wasn't there. It was kind and thoughtful of her to save them for him. However, Laertes has no idea where the flowers came from, or why she's giving them to him. Laertes doesn't know about flowers, and, well, he is not very smart. It doesn't occur to him where these flowers must have come from.<br />
<br />
In a painfully tragic irony, by Ophelia giving Laertes these flowers from Polonius's funeral, she is, at the same time, providing Laertes with flowers for her funeral. None of them knows that.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''pansies'' do indeed express "thoughts," as Ophelia says. In Middle English, and on into Shakespeare's time, "thought" could mean "grief," as I note for line 013 above.<br />
<br />
The pansy is also called "love-in-idleness." Shakespeare used that name in ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' Act 2 scene 1, Oberon speaking:<br />
<br />
...<br />
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:<br />
It fell upon a little western flower,<br />
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,<br />
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.<br />
...<br />
<br />
Notice the mention of white and purple colors.<br />
<br />
The word "idle" goes back to Old English 'idel' ("vain,") so the name love-in-idleness can be read as "love in vain." That can be seen, tragically, to apply to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
In Gerard's ''Herbal'' the wild pansy is listed under the name "Hearts ease." Knowing that Ophelia will die after a fall, one may be intrigued to find Gerard recommends the pansy as a cure for "falling sickness." Gerard meant epilepsy, but still.<br />
<br />
The name heartsease may come both from the pansy being used in love potions, and in its being used for heart ailments. THe "heart" concept is highly significant in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
In action, Ophelia gives all of the rosemary and pansies to Laertes. She is giving him all the remembrance and thoughts of their father.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====16-182=====<br />
''Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.''<br />
<br />
''document'' - lesson. Latin 'documentum' "lesson," from 'docere' "to teach." It's unclear what Laertes supposes he is learning from it, since he didn't even understand the funeral flowers.<br />
<br />
''fitted'' - in a fit, "fit" as in an attack or paroxysm. Joined in a fit, tangled in a fit, of madness.<br />
<br />
Or, ''fitted'' to ''madness,'' that is, "thoughts and remembrance fitted to madness," or "adapted to fit madness." The multiplicity of meaning is intentional in the author's phrasing, we can be sure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====16-183=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for''<br />
<br />
[[File:Fennel.jpg|left|fennel blooms]]<br />
All of these flowers are also given to Laertes, when the play is correctly done. This is an encounter between Laertes and Ophelia following the death of their father. It's a family matter, even if Laertes can't grasp it. Gertrude and Claudius are "audience to this act," to quote from the last Scene. They are watching, and wondering what it all means.<br />
<br />
''fennel'' - ''Foeniculum vulgare.'' It has tiny yellow flowers. Hardly worth calling a flower at all, it is a culinary herb, and a medicinal herb.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's meaning with the ''fennel'' is "open your eyes," "see clearly." Fennel is used in herbal medicine as an eye remedy, or to preserve eyesight. (Gerard, ''Herbal,'' page 1032.)<br />
<br />
Ophelia is telling Laertes to open his eyes, and see that these flowers have meaning. It is reasonable to take it that she is also trying to tell him to open his eyes to things in general. The ''fennel'' provides an implicit instance of the Vision Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
[[File:Columbine2.jpg|left|columbine flower]]<br />
[[File:Columbine1.jpg|right|columbine blooms]]<br />
''columbines'' - from Latin 'columbīnus' ("dovelike.") As the image to the right shows, the flower can be likened to a group of five doves facing each other.<br />
<br />
The scientific classification is ''Aquilegia vulgaris.'' The genus name, ''Aquilegia,'' comes from 'aquila', the Latin word for eagle, perhaps because the flower petals of some varieties can be seen to resemble an eagle's claw, or perhaps because some may take the "doves" of the flower for eagles, instead.<br />
<br />
The color is purple and white.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, the columbine expresses "folly," or, "you're a fool." Ophelia is calling Laertes a fool, who is engaged in folly. After Laertes said, above, that he would "dare damnation" to get revenge, in other words, throw away his soul, one cannot help but think Ophelia is right. Ophelia was not present to hear Laertes say that, but she knows her brother.<br />
<br />
We recall the Player, in Scene 7, speaking of breaking all the follies from the Wheel of Fortune. ([[Scene 7#474]]) A tragic, unfortunate death would be such a folly. In Scene 18, we will hear Laertes call Ophelia's death "this folly." None of them knows it, but the "folly" that the columbine expresses is ominous for Ophelia, herself, when the Wheel of Fortune will take a bad turn for her.<br />
<br />
[[File:Rue.jpg|right|common rue]]<br />
''rue'' - ''Ruta graveolens,'' known as common rue, or herb-of-grace. The blooms are yellow. Like fennel, it is not much for being a flower, but it is a traditional medicinal herb, and has found sparing use as a culinary herb. It has a strong smell. Gerard's chapter on rue, "Of Rue, or herbe Grace. Chap. 511" begins on ''Herball'' page 1070.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''rue'' expresses "regret," however, Ophelia will go on to speak of a "difference."<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal'' credits it with many virtues, including its use in tonics for making vision sharp and clear, for remedying "dim eyes," to cure earache, to cure headache, as an antidote to poison, and as a "counterpoison" against scorpion and insect stings, and serpent bites. The eyes, the ears, the head, and poison are all significant concepts in the play.<br />
<br />
As already mentioned, all of the flowers are given to Laertes, when the play is correctly performed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====16-184=====<br />
''you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====16-185=====<br />
''you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would''<br />
<br />
''rue with a difference'' - no regret. The ''difference'' Ophelia means is the negative. Ophelia is symbolically telling Laertes to feel no regret over the death of Polonius, since she does not.<br />
<br />
In older ''Hamlet'' commentary you may see ''difference'' interpreted according to heraldic definition, but that does not work. Laertes is now the senior male of the family, so he does not use a heraldic difference, and Ophelia knows Laertes's status after their father's death (as did Shakespeare, of course.)<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy2.jpg|right|there's a daisy]]<br />
''daisy'' - Ophelia shows the ''daisy'' to everyone, but keeps it. By the way, it isn't hard to guess where it came from, what it signifies, and why she keeps it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====16-186=====<br />
''give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;''<br />
<br />
''violets'' - <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK knowing enough of the play, once can appreciate that the violet can deaden the sense of smell<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====16-187=====<br />
''they say he made a good end.''<br />
<br />
Ophelia approves that people should say the end of her father was good. She makes it sound like a more socially acceptable sentiment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====16-188=====<br />
''(sings): For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''<br />
<br />
Adapted by Shakespeare from ''Greensleeves.'' Observe the last line below.<br />
<br />
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,<br />
To cast me off discourteously.<br />
For I have loved you well and long,<br />
Delighting in your company.<br />
<br />
Greensleeves was all my joy<br />
...<br />
<br />
There was apparently also in Shakespeare's time a song called "Bonny Robin," or perhaps "Bonny Sweet Robin," of which the lyrics have not survived. ''Greensleeves'' is written to a woman. Ophelia "masculinizes" the lyric by substituting "bonny sweet Robin" for "Greensleeves," and Ophelia also makes it present tense.<br />
<br />
Sendal is mentioned in the old lyrics of ''Greensleeves,'' from the Tudor era, by the way.<br />
<br />
With this line, we are privileged to learn that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet nickname for Hamlet. Among the characters, only she and Hamlet know that.<br />
<br />
(The question might arise, what is Hamlet's pet name for Ophelia? Has Shakespeare given us the privilege of knowing that? Well... there's a daisy.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====16-189=====<br />
''Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself''<br />
<br />
''Thought'' - Grief.<br />
<br />
''affliction'' - torment.<br />
<br />
''Passion'' - Agony.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====16-190=====<br />
''She turns to favor and to prettiness.''<br />
<br />
''favor'' - Laertes means Ophelia acts as if the hell of madness were a favor.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK more here<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====16-191=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====16-192=====<br />
''And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====16-193=====<br />
''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====16-194=====<br />
''He never will come again.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====16-195=====<br />
''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<br />
But Polonius's beard was neatly trimmed, we suppose, after what Hamlet said to Polonius (that Polonius misunderstood) in Scene 7. ([[Scene 7#478]])<br />
<br />
This is, of course, a costuming note for the Polonius character. It is mandatory that his beard be white. Nothing else will do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====16-196=====<br />
''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<br />
''Flaxen'' - pale yellow.<br />
<br />
''poll'' - head, that is, the skin of his head. Polonius was borne bare-faced on the bier, as Ophelia just told us, which means that Ophelia could see the skin of his face. The yellowing of his skin was part of what finally convinced her that Polonius was really dead, and it wasn't only a mean trick, to fool her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====16-197=====<br />
''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====16-198=====<br />
''(speaks): God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199=====<br />
''God buy you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits; Gertrude exits to follow her)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude will reclaim her clothing and jewelry.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-200=====<br />
''Laertes: Do you this, O God?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====16-201=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====16-202=====<br />
''Or you deny me right; go but apart,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====16-203=====<br />
''Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====16-204=====<br />
''And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====16-205=====<br />
''If by direct, or by collateral hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====16-206=====<br />
''They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====16-207=====<br />
''Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====16-208=====<br />
''To you in satisfaction; but if not,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====16-209=====<br />
''Be you content to lend your patience to us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====16-210=====<br />
''And we shall jointly labor with your soul''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====16-211=====<br />
''To give it due content.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====16-212=====<br />
''Laertes: Let this be so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====16-213=====<br />
''His means of death, his obscure burial,''<br />
<br />
''obscure burial'' - which Claudius ordered in hopes the death of Polonius would attract little attention, and not cause him trouble.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#213|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-214=====<br />
''No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====16-215=====<br />
''No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====16-216=====<br />
''Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====16-217=====<br />
''That I must call it in question.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====16-218=====<br />
''Claudius: So you shall,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====16-219=====<br />
''And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.''<br />
<br />
''great axe'' - executioner's axe.<br />
<br />
Claudius believes he has already arranged that, for Hamlet in England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220=====<br />
''I pray you go with me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_16
Scene 16
2018-02-04T15:46:31Z
<p>Administrator: /* 16-013 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Throne Room, Horatio and a Gentleman persuade Gertrude to speak with Ophelia. At first, Gertrude doesn't want to see Ophelia because, since her son has killed Ophelia's father, Gertrude anticipates an unpleasant confrontation.<br />
<br />
Ophelia enters slowly, doing a leisurely, graceful dance, as Gertrude speaks her "guilt" speech aside. Ophelia then speaks oddly to Gertrude, and sings.<br />
<br />
Claudius enters, because he heard the singing. Ophelia sings more. Claudius speaks of Ophelia and grief, as he draws the wrong conclusion. Ophelia exits.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that Laertes has returned, and Laertes is hearing condemnations of Claudius in connection with the death of Polonius. Loud noises are heard, and a messenger enters, to inform Claudius that Laertes is leading a riotous rabble to storm the Castle.<br />
<br />
Laertes enters, sword in hand, and irate. He demands Claudius explain things.<br />
<br />
While Claudius is talking with Laertes, Ophelia reenters. Ophelia sings to Laertes, and hands him flowers. He is totally at a loss, except he's sure she's mad. Ophelia departs, with a final word of blessing for everyone. Gertrude and her ladies follow Ophelia, to keep watch on her.<br />
<br />
Claudius asks to meet with Laertes and his "wisest friends" to explain his innocence in the death of Polonius. Laertes says he's willing to listen, and they exit.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 16 Characters are: [[Gertrude]], [[Gentleman]], [[Horatio]], [[Ophelia]], [[Claudius]], [[Messenger]], [[Laertes]], [[Ruffians]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5"<br />
| Claudius entry [[#038-SD]], || Ophelia first exit [[#071-SD]], || Messenger entry [[#092-SD2]]<br />
|-<br />
| Laertes entry [[#108-SD]], || Ophelia reentry [[#158-SD]], || Ophelia last exit [[#199-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 16</b> [ ~ Baker's Daughter ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 5)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Throne Room;<br />
Daytime.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude enters;<br />
Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#16-001]]<span id="001"></span> Gertrude: I will not speak with her.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will not speak with her.''</span><br />
[[#16-002]]<span id="002"></span> Gentleman: She is importunate,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She is insistent for attention,''</span><br />
[[#16-003]]<span id="003"></span> Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Distracted in what she does. Her state of mind will necessarily be pitied.''</span><br />
[[#16-004]]<span id="004"></span> Gertrude: What would she have?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What does she want?''</span><br />
[[#16-005]]<span id="005"></span> Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears<br />
<span style="color:gray">''She says a lot about her father, and says she hears''</span><br />
[[#16-006]]<span id="006"></span> There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's tricks in the world, and equivocates, and pounds her chest,''</span><br />
[[#16-007]]<span id="007"></span> Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Reacts scornfully, in a bad natured way, over trifles, and says things in suspicion,''</span><br />
[[#16-008]]<span id="008"></span> That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That sound only half sensible. Her speech is naughty,''</span><br />
[[#16-009]]<span id="009"></span> Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Still, the illogical employment of her speech motivates''</span><br />
[[#16-010]]<span id="010"></span> The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Those who hear it to try to gather meaning from it. They gape at what she says,''</span><br />
[[#16-011]]<span id="011"></span> And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And misconstrue her words in fitting them to their own preconceptions,''</span><br />
[[#16-012]]<span id="012"></span> Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield to them,''</span><br />
[[#16-013]]<span id="013"></span> Indeed would make one think there would be thought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed would make one think there should be grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-014]]<span id="014"></span> Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Although not for sure, still very expressive of misfortune.''</span><br />
[[#16-015]]<span id="015"></span> Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It would be good to speak with her, for she might breed''</span><br />
[[#16-016]]<span id="016"></span> Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. [[#16-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Gertrude nods to Horatio)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hazardous surmises in minds that jump to conclusions.''</span><br />
[[#16-017]]<span id="017"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to the doorman):</span> Let her come in. [[#16-017-SD1]]<span id="017-SD1"></span> (said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let her come in.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-017-SD2]]<span id="017-SD2"></span> (Horatio and the Gentleman exit;<br />
Ophelia enters, dancing)<br />
<br />
[[#16-018]]<span id="018"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To my sick soul, (which is the true nature of sin,)''</span><br />
[[#16-019]]<span id="019"></span> Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Each idea that crosses my mind seems to lead to disaster.''</span><br />
[[#16-020]]<span id="020"></span> So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Guilt is so full of natural misery,''</span><br />
[[#16-021]]<span id="021"></span> It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It reveals itself, from its fear of being revealed.''</span><br />
[[#16-022]]<span id="022"></span> Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''</span><br />
[[#16-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Greetings, Ophelia?''</span><br />
[[#16-024]]<span id="024"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''How should I your true love know''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can I, your true love, know you''</span><br />
[[#16-025]]<span id="025"></span> ''From another one?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From someone else?''</span><br />
[[#16-026]]<span id="026"></span> ''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By his cock-le top, and shaft''</span><br />
[[#16-027]]<span id="027"></span> ''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And his silken slippers.''</span><br />
[[#16-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, sweet Lady, what brings out that song?''</span><br />
[[#16-029]]<span id="029"></span> Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't say? No, please pay attention:''</span><br />
[[#16-030]]<span id="030"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone, Lady''</span><br />
[[#16-031]]<span id="031"></span> ''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is dead and gone''</span><br />
[[#16-032]]<span id="032"></span> ''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his head there is green grass turf''</span><br />
[[#16-033]]<span id="033"></span> ''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At his heels there is a stone''</span><br />
[[#16-034]]<span id="034"></span> <span style="color:gray">(exclaims):</span> Oh ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh ho!''</span><br />
[[#16-035]]<span id="035"></span> Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, but Ophelia . . .''</span><br />
[[#16-036]]<span id="036"></span> Ophelia: Pray you, mark!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please pay attention!''</span><br />
[[#16-037]]<span id="037"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''White his shroud as the mountain snow.'' [[#16-037-SD]]<span id="037-SD"></span> (Claudius enters)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His shroud was as white as mountain snow''</span><br />
[[#16-038]]<span id="038"></span> Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord. [[#16-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, look there, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#16-039]]<span id="039"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With sweet flowers strewn all around,''</span><br />
[[#16-040]]<span id="040"></span> ''Which bewept to the grave did not go'' [[#16-040-SD]]<span id="040-SD"></span> (the word "not" is spoken aside)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which, falling like tears on the grave did -not- go''</span><br />
[[#16-041]]<span id="041"></span> ''With true love showers.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Accompanied by any shower of real love.''</span><br />
[[#16-042]]<span id="042"></span> Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are you feeling, pretty Lady?''</span><br />
[[#16-043]]<span id="043"></span> Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well may goodness refrain you, musically.''</span><br />
[[#16-044]]<span id="044"></span> They say the owl was a baker's daughter;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say the owl was a baker's daughter.''</span><br />
[[#16-045]]<span id="045"></span> Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lord, I know what I am now, but don't know what I may become.''</span><br />
[[#16-046]]<span id="046"></span> God be at your table.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May God be at work on your gravestone, now.''</span><br />
[[#16-047]]<span id="047"></span> Claudius: Conceit upon her father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A caprice due to her father's death.''</span><br />
[[#16-048]]<span id="048"></span> Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, let's have no words about him - but if anyone asks you''</span><br />
[[#16-049]]<span id="049"></span> what it means, say you this:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''what all this means, you can tell them this:''</span><br />
[[#16-050]]<span id="050"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day, and''</span><br />
[[#16-051]]<span id="051"></span> ''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Quite in the morning, before it's too late,''</span><br />
[[#16-052]]<span id="052"></span> ''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's me, a maiden tapping at your window''</span><br />
[[#16-053]]<span id="053"></span> ''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be your valentine''</span><br />
[[#16-054]]<span id="054"></span> ''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So he rose up, put on some clothes, and opened up his bedroom door,''</span><br />
[[#16-055]]<span id="055"></span> ''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let in the maiden, who never again went out as a virgin.''</span><br />
[[#16-056]]<span id="056"></span> Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pretty, Ophelia.''</span><br />
[[#16-057]]<span id="057"></span> Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end to it.''</span><br />
[[#16-058]]<span id="058"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> ''By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Jesus and by Saint Charity,''</span><br />
[[#16-059]]<span id="059"></span> ''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''oh dear, and fie, for shame,''</span><br />
[[#16-060]]<span id="060"></span> ''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Young men will do it if they come to it''</span><br />
[[#16-061]]<span id="061"></span> ''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''by cock they are to blame.''</span><br />
[[#16-062]]<span id="062"></span> ''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Said she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''</span><br />
[[#16-063]]<span id="063"></span> (He answers): ''So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''(He answers): So would I have done, by yonder sun,''</span><br />
[[#16-064]]<span id="064"></span> ''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had not come to my bed.''</span><br />
[[#16-065]]<span id="065"></span> Claudius: How long hath she been thus?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How long has she been like this?''</span><br />
[[#16-066]]<span id="066"></span> Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hope all will be well. I must be patient, but I cannot choose''</span><br />
[[#16-067]]<span id="067"></span> but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but weep to think they would lay him in the cold ground. My brother''</span><br />
[[#16-068]]<span id="068"></span> shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shall learn of it - and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come''</span><br />
[[#16-069]]<span id="069"></span> my coach; good night, Ladies, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''my coach, goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''</span><br />
[[#16-070]]<span id="070"></span> Sweet Lady, good night, good night.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-070-SD]]<span id="070-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits)<br />
<br />
[[#16-071]]<span id="071"></span> Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [[#16-071-SD]]<span id="071-SD"></span> (the ladies-in-waiting curtsy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow her closely, and keep a close watch on her, please.''</span> and exit to follow Ophelia)<br />
[[#16-072]]<span id="072"></span> Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the poison of deep grief, it all springs from her father's''</span><br />
[[#16-073]]<span id="073"></span> death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''death, and now behold the result. Oh, Gertrude, Gertrude,''</span><br />
[[#16-074]]<span id="074"></span> When sorrows come, they come not single spies,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When sorrows come, they don't come one at a time,''</span><br />
[[#16-075]]<span id="075"></span> But in battalions. First her father slain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But in battalions. First, her father slain,''</span><br />
[[#16-076]]<span id="076"></span> Next, your son gone, and he most violent author<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Next, your son gone - and he himself the very violent cause''</span><br />
[[#16-077]]<span id="077"></span> Of his own just remove, the people muddied,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of his own justified departure - the people stirred up,''</span><br />
[[#16-078]]<span id="078"></span> Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dense and unhealthy in their minds, and rumor mongering''</span><br />
[[#16-079]]<span id="079"></span> For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over good Polonius's death - and I have acted only recently,''</span><br />
[[#16-080]]<span id="080"></span> In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In seclusion, to have him buried - poor Ophelia,''</span><br />
[[#16-081]]<span id="081"></span> Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Beside herself, and diverted from her good judgment -''</span><br />
[[#16-082]]<span id="082"></span> Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Without which we humans are mindless as images in pictures, or mere beasts -''</span><br />
[[#16-083]]<span id="083"></span> Last, and as much containing as all these:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Last - and as difficult to deal with as all of those, combined -''</span><br />
[[#16-084]]<span id="084"></span> Her brother is in secret come from France,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Her brother has returned, in secret, from France, and''</span><br />
[[#16-085]]<span id="085"></span> Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Takes in all these strange events, keeps out of sight,''</span><br />
[[#16-086]]<span id="086"></span> And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And has no lack of scandalmongers to poison his mind''</span><br />
[[#16-087]]<span id="087"></span> With pestilent speeches of his father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With pernicious gossip about his father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-088]]<span id="088"></span> Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which they feel the need to blame sombody, and lacking the facts,''</span><br />
[[#16-089]]<span id="089"></span> Will nothing stick our person to arraign<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll stop at nothing to accuse me''</span><br />
[[#16-090]]<span id="090"></span> In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the word goes from ear to ear. Oh, my dear Gertrude, this,''</span><br />
[[#16-091]]<span id="091"></span> Like to a murdering piece, in many places<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a huge shotgun, hits me in many vital spots, and''</span><br />
[[#16-092]]<span id="092"></span> Gives me superfluous death. [[#16-092-SD1]]<span id="092-SD1"></span> (an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just kills me, over and over.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-092-SD2]]<span id="092-SD2"></span> (a messenger enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-093]]<span id="093"></span> Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, what's that noise?''</span><br />
[[#16-094]]<span id="094"></span> Claudius: Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Attention, everyone! Where are my Swiss guards? Have them guard the door!''</span><br />
[[#16-095]]<span id="095"></span> What is the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#16-096]]<span id="096"></span> Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save yourself, my Lord!''</span><br />
[[#16-097]]<span id="097"></span> The ocean, over-peering of his list<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ocean, overflowing at its margins,''</span><br />
[[#16-098]]<span id="098"></span> Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not engulf the flats with more merciless speed''</span><br />
[[#16-099]]<span id="099"></span> Than young Laertes, in a riotous head<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Than young Laertes, at the head of the riot,''</span><br />
[[#16-100]]<span id="100"></span> O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Overwhelms your soldiers and guards. The rabble call him "Lord,"''</span><br />
[[#16-101]]<span id="101"></span> And, as the world were now but to begin,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, as if the human world were only now beginning,''</span><br />
[[#16-102]]<span id="102"></span> Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Precedent forgotten, ceremony unknown,''</span><br />
[[#16-103]]<span id="103"></span> The ratifiers and props of every word,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The only validators and supports for their every word is''</span><br />
[[#16-104]]<span id="104"></span> The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The outcry: "We choose!" "Laertes shall be King!''</span><br />
[[#16-105]]<span id="105"></span> Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They toss their caps in the air, raise their hands, and cheer it to the clouds:''</span><br />
[[#16-106]]<span id="106"></span> Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''</span><br />
[[#16-107]]<span id="107"></span> Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! [[#16-107-SD]]<span id="107-SD"></span> (loud noise just outside the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How cheerfully they cry, as they follow this false trail!''</span> closed door to the Lobby)<br />
[[#16-108]]<span id="108"></span> Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, this is the wrong way, you traitorous Danish dogs!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-108-SD]]<span id="108-SD"></span> (Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)<br />
<br />
[[#16-109]]<span id="109"></span> Claudius: The doors are broke.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The doors are broken in.''</span><br />
[[#16-110]]<span id="110"></span> Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is this so-called "King?" Sirs, wait outside.''</span><br />
[[#16-111]]<span id="111"></span> Ruffians: No, lets come in!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, let us come in!''</span><br />
[[#16-112]]<span id="112"></span> Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I beg you, allow me to talk to him.''</span><br />
[[#16-113]]<span id="113"></span> Ruffians: We will, we will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alright, we will, we will.''</span><br />
[[#16-114]]<span id="114"></span> Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I thank you. Control the doorway. Oh, you vile King,''</span><br />
[[#16-115]]<span id="115"></span> Give me my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Give me my father!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-115-SD]]<span id="115-SD"></span> (Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)<br />
<br />
[[#16-116]]<span id="116"></span> Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be calm, good Laertes.''</span><br />
[[#16-117]]<span id="117"></span> Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If any drop of my blood is calm it reveals I'm a bastard,''</span><br />
[[#16-118]]<span id="118"></span> Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shouts that my father was a cuckold, puts the brand of the harlot''</span><br />
[[#16-119]]<span id="119"></span> Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right here, between the chaste, undefiled brows''</span><br />
[[#16-120]]<span id="120"></span> Of my true mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of my virtuous mother.''</span><br />
[[#16-121]]<span id="121"></span> Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is the reason, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-122]]<span id="122"></span> That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That the rebellion you lead looks so ambitious?''</span><br />
[[#16-123]]<span id="123"></span> Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him go, Gertrude, do not worry about my personal safety.''</span><br />
[[#16-124]]<span id="124"></span> There's such divinity doth hedge a King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's such divinity to shield a King,''</span><br />
[[#16-125]]<span id="125"></span> That treason can but peep to what it would,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That treason can only peek at what it wants, and''</span><br />
[[#16-126]]<span id="126"></span> Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Acts little of what it desires. Tell me, Laertes,''</span><br />
[[#16-127]]<span id="127"></span> Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why you are so incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.''</span><br />
[[#16-128]]<span id="128"></span> Speak, man.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak, man.''</span><br />
[[#16-129]]<span id="129"></span> Laertes: Where is my father?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is my father?''</span><br />
[[#16-130]]<span id="130"></span> Claudius: Dead.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dead.''</span><br />
[[#16-131]]<span id="131"></span> Gertrude: But not by him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But not killed by him!''</span><br />
[[#16-132]]<span id="132"></span> Claudius: Let him demand his fill.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let him question until he's satisfied.''</span><br />
[[#16-133]]<span id="133"></span> Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What led to his death? I won't be taken lightly!''</span><br />
[[#16-134]]<span id="134"></span> To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To hell with loyalty to the crown, and religious dedication - to the most evil devil!''</span><br />
[[#16-135]]<span id="135"></span> Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Conscience, and nobility, into the deepest pit!''</span><br />
[[#16-136]]<span id="136"></span> I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I dare damnation! On this point I make my stand,''</span><br />
[[#16-137]]<span id="137"></span> That both the worlds I give to negligence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, for my fate in both this world and the next, I couldn't care less.''</span><br />
[[#16-138]]<span id="138"></span> Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let whatever happens, happen, but I'll have revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-139]]<span id="139"></span> Most throughly for my father.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In every way, for my father.''</span><br />
[[#16-140]]<span id="140"></span> Claudius: Who shall stay you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who will stop you?''</span><br />
[[#16-141]]<span id="141"></span> Laertes: My will, not all the world's.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only my own will, no matter what the rest of the world wants!''</span><br />
[[#16-142]]<span id="142"></span> And for my means, I'll husband them so well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As for my resources, I'll manage them so well,''</span><br />
[[#16-143]]<span id="143"></span> They shall go far with little.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll take me far, though they be slight.''</span><br />
[[#16-144]]<span id="144"></span> Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Laertes, if you desire to know the reliable truth''</span><br />
[[#16-145]]<span id="145"></span> Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''About your dear father, is it "officially written" in your duty for revenge''</span><br />
[[#16-146]]<span id="146"></span> That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, (as in winning a sweepstakes,) you will execute both friend and foe,''</span><br />
[[#16-147]]<span id="147"></span> Winner and loser?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Only yourself the winner, anyone else, the loser?''</span><br />
[[#16-148]]<span id="148"></span> Laertes: None but his enemies.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll kill no one except his enemies.''</span><br />
[[#16-149]]<span id="149"></span> Claudius: Will you know them, then?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you know who his enemies are, then?''</span><br />
[[#16-150]]<span id="150"></span> Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms, [[#16-150-SD]]<span id="150-SD"></span> (Laertes sheaths his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To his good friends, I'll spread my arms wide, like this,''</span><br />
[[#16-151]]<span id="151"></span> And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like the proverbially caring, life-sustaining pelican,''</span><br />
[[#16-152]]<span id="152"></span> Repast them with my blood.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nourish them with my own blood.''</span><br />
[[#16-153]]<span id="153"></span> Claudius: Why, now you speak<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, now you speak''</span><br />
[[#16-154]]<span id="154"></span> Like a good child, and a true gentleman.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like a good child, and a real gentleman.''</span><br />
[[#16-155]]<span id="155"></span> That I am guiltless of your father's death,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am free of guilt in your father's death,''</span><br />
[[#16-156]]<span id="156"></span> And am most sensible in grief for it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And am fully rational in my grief over it,''</span><br />
[[#16-157]]<span id="157"></span> It shall as level to your judgment pierce<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It will get through to your judgment as truly,''</span><br />
[[#16-158]]<span id="158"></span> As day does to your eye.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As day does, to your eye.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-158-SD]]<span id="158-SD"></span> (noise is heard at the doorway;<br />
Ophelia enters)<br />
<br />
[[#16-159]]<span id="159"></span> Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's happening? Why the noise? Let her come in.''</span><br />
[[#16-160]]<span id="160"></span> O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times as irritating as pure salt,''</span><br />
[[#16-161]]<span id="161"></span> Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Burn out the vision and goodness of my eyes!''</span><br />
[[#16-162]]<span id="162"></span> By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By Heaven, your madness will be repaid with weight''</span><br />
[[#16-163]]<span id="163"></span> Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Until the scales of justice swings its beam. Oh, Rose of May!''</span><br />
[[#16-164]]<span id="164"></span> Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dear maiden, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''</span><br />
[[#16-165]]<span id="165"></span> O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, heavens, is it possible a young maiden's intelligence''</span><br />
[[#16-166]]<span id="166"></span> Should be as mortal as an old man's life?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could be as mortal as an old man's life?''</span><br />
[[#16-167]]<span id="167"></span> Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Human nature, in love, is delicate, and when it's delicate,''</span><br />
[[#16-168]]<span id="168"></span> It sends some precious instance of itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It sends a valuable part of its human nature,''</span><br />
[[#16-169]]<span id="169"></span> After the thing it loves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''After the object of its love.''</span><br />
[[#16-170]]<span id="170"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They carried him bare-faced on the bier,''</span><br />
[[#16-171]]<span id="171"></span> ''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And into his grave rained many a tear.''</span><br />
[[#16-172]]<span id="172"></span> ''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''</span><br />
[[#16-173]]<span id="173"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> Fare you well, my dove!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fare you well, my dove!''</span><br />
[[#16-174]]<span id="174"></span> Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you had your wits about you, and prevailed on me to seek revenge,''</span><br />
[[#16-175]]<span id="175"></span> It could not move thus.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It could not move me as much as this does.''</span><br />
[[#16-176]]<span id="176"></span> Ophelia: You must sing ''a down, a down,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must sing a down, a down,''</span><br />
[[#16-177]]<span id="177"></span> And you call him ''a down a.'' Oh, how the wheel becomes it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the refrain befits it!''</span><br />
[[#16-178]]<span id="178"></span> It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is lying Hamlet who stole Jesus's daughter from the nunnery.''</span><br />
[[#16-179]]<span id="179"></span> Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This nothingness tells me more than an explanation would.''</span><br />
[[#16-180]]<span id="180"></span> Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, (pray you love,''</span><br />
[[#16-181]]<span id="181"></span> remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''remember,) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''</span><br />
[[#16-182]]<span id="182"></span> Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lesson in madness, thoughts and remembrance tangled in a fit.''</span><br />
[[#16-183]]<span id="183"></span> Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for''</span><br />
[[#16-184]]<span id="184"></span> you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, and here's some for me. We may call it "herb of grace" on Sundays.''</span><br />
[[#16-185]]<span id="185"></span> you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You may wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would''</span><br />
[[#16-186]]<span id="186"></span> give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''give you some violets but they all died when my father did.''</span><br />
[[#16-187]]<span id="187"></span> they say he made a good end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They say he did well at the end.''</span><br />
[[#16-188]]<span id="188"></span> <span style="color:gray">(sings):</span> For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''</span><br />
[[#16-189]]<span id="189"></span> Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Grief and torment! Agony! She makes Hell itself''</span><br />
[[#16-190]]<span id="190"></span> She turns to favor and to prettiness.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look like a favor, and something pretty.''</span><br />
[[#16-191]]<span id="191"></span> Ophelia <span style="color:gray">(sings)</span>: ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-192]]<span id="192"></span> ''And will he not come again?''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And will he not come again?''</span><br />
[[#16-193]]<span id="193"></span> ''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, no, he is dead. Go to thy death bed!''</span><br />
[[#16-194]]<span id="194"></span> ''He never will come again.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He never will come again.''</span><br />
[[#16-195]]<span id="195"></span> ''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His beard was as white as snow,''</span><br />
[[#16-196]]<span id="196"></span> ''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The skin of his head was yellowish,''</span><br />
[[#16-197]]<span id="197"></span> ''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''</span><br />
[[#16-198]]<span id="198"></span> <span style="color:gray">(speaks):</span> God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''God have mercy on his soul, and on all Christians' souls.''</span><br />
[[#16-199]]<span id="199"></span> God buy you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye to you.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-199-SD]]<span id="199-SD"></span> (Ophelia exits;<br />
Gertrude exits to follow her)<br />
<br />
[[#16-200]]<span id="200"></span> Laertes: Do you this, O God?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you done this, oh God?''</span><br />
[[#16-201]]<span id="201"></span> Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Laertes, I must share your grief,''</span><br />
[[#16-202]]<span id="202"></span> Or you deny me right; go but apart,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or you deny me my right. But go your own way,''</span><br />
[[#16-203]]<span id="203"></span> Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Choose from among your wisest friends whomever you wish,''</span><br />
[[#16-204]]<span id="204"></span> And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And they shall hear and judge, between you and me.''</span><br />
[[#16-205]]<span id="205"></span> If by direct, or by collateral hand<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If in any direct or indirect way''</span><br />
[[#16-206]]<span id="206"></span> They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They find me touched by guilt, I'll give up my kingdom,''</span><br />
[[#16-207]]<span id="207"></span> Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My crown, my life, and all that I call mine,''</span><br />
[[#16-208]]<span id="208"></span> To you in satisfaction; but if not,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To you in satisfaction, of your revenge. But if not,''</span><br />
[[#16-209]]<span id="209"></span> Be you content to lend your patience to us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be content to give me time,''</span><br />
[[#16-210]]<span id="210"></span> And we shall jointly labor with your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I will work together with you''</span><br />
[[#16-211]]<span id="211"></span> To give it due content.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make you content in your soul.''</span><br />
[[#16-212]]<span id="212"></span> Laertes: Let this be so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let it be so.''</span><br />
[[#16-213]]<span id="213"></span> His means of death, his obscure burial,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The way he was killed . . . his hidden burial,''</span><br />
[[#16-214]]<span id="214"></span> No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No trophy sword . . . nor coat of arms over his body,''</span><br />
[[#16-215]]<span id="215"></span> No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No noble privilege . . . nor formal exhibition -''</span><br />
[[#16-216]]<span id="216"></span> Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All of that cries out so much to be understood, as it were, from Heaven to earth,''</span><br />
[[#16-217]]<span id="217"></span> That I must call it in question.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I must call it all into question.''</span><br />
[[#16-218]]<span id="218"></span> Claudius: So you shall,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So you may,''</span><br />
[[#16-219]]<span id="219"></span> And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And where the guilt lies, let the executioner's axe fall on him.''</span><br />
[[#16-220]]<span id="220"></span> I pray you go with me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please go with me.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#16-220-SD]]<span id="220-SD"></span> (Claudius and Laertes exit)<br />
<hr> <br />
End of Scene 16<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====16-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Throne Room.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - <br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====16-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude enters; Horatio enters, accompanied by the Gentleman)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting are present with the Queen in the Throne Room. Claudius is absent, for whatever reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-001=====<br />
''Gertrude: I will not speak with her.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude supposes that Ophelia wants to complain to her about the death of Polonius, and to demand justice, but there is nothing Gertrude can do about the death of Polonius, or about Claudius sending Hamlet to England. This is not to imply Gertrude would condemn her son, even if she could. We see elsewhere in the play that Gertrude likes Ophelia, so one can understand that Gertrude does not wish to face Ophelia's reproaches.<br />
<br />
Gertrude has no inkling of what Ophelia's speech and behavior will turn out to be, as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====16-002=====<br />
''Gentleman: She is importunate,''<br />
<br />
''importunate'' - assertive. Resolute. Forward.<br />
<br />
For the second, "resolute," recall Horatio's mention in Scene 1 of "landless resolutes," ([[Scene 1#108]],) as Horatio spoke of determined men.<br />
<br />
For the third, "forward," see Shakespeare Sonnet 99, which is partly about Shakespeare's choice of flowers for Ophelia's "crownet weeds" which Gertrude tells us of in Scene 18.<br />
<br />
The forward violet thus did I chide:<br />
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,<br />
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride<br />
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells<br />
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.<br />
The lily I condemned for thy hand, ...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====16-003=====<br />
''Indeed distract; her mood will needs be pitied.''<br />
<br />
''Indeed'' - primarily takes the literal meaning "in deed," referring to what she does, how she acts. Second, can be read as "very," or "truly."<br />
<br />
''distract'' - distracted - emotionally disturbed. The way she acts reveals emotional disturbance.<br />
<br />
''mood'' - state of mind.<br />
<br />
''needs'' - of necessity; necessarily.<br />
<br />
''pitied'' - viewed with sympathy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====16-004=====<br />
''Gertrude: What would she have?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude wonders if there's anything in particular Ophelia wants her to do. If so, perhaps it might be possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====16-005=====<br />
''Gentleman: She speaks much of her father, says she hears''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====16-006=====<br />
''There's tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart,''<br />
<br />
''hems'' - equivocates. The meaning of what she says is not clear. Can also be interpreted as in "hem and haw."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====16-007=====<br />
''Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====16-008=====<br />
''That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,''<br />
<br />
''nothing'' - naughty. ''Nothing'' is "naught," so nothing speech is naughty speech, which we shall hear from Ophelia as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====16-009=====<br />
''Yet the unshaped use of it doth move''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====16-010=====<br />
''The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,''<br />
<br />
''collection'' - gathering. The figure of speech is as in the use of "gather." An example modern sentence would be, "As I gather from what he said, he meant..."<br />
<br />
''yawn'' - gape. Stare open-mouthed, as if yawning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====16-011=====<br />
''And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====16-012=====<br />
''Which as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====16-013=====<br />
''Indeed would make one think there would be thought,''<br />
<br />
''thought'' - grief (a definition now obsolete.) For example, see Chaucer, ''Troilus and Criseyde'':<br />
<br />
But if thou wene I be thus sik for drede, 575<br />
It is not so, and ther-for scorne nought;<br />
Ther is a-nother thing I take of hede<br />
Wel more than ought the Grekes han y-wrought,<br />
Which cause is of my deeth, for sorwe and thought.<br />
...<br />
<br />
It is supposed that Ophelia would be suffering from grief, over her father's death, but what she's saying and doing is not a display of the usual behavior of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#013|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-014=====<br />
''Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====16-015=====<br />
''Horatio: 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016=====<br />
''Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====16-016-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude nods to Horatio)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017=====<br />
''Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD1=====<br />
''(said as Horatio and the Gentleman walk to the door)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-017-SD2=====<br />
''(Horatio and the Gentleman exit; Ophelia enters, dancing)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-018=====<br />
''Gertrude (aside): To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====16-019=====<br />
''Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss,''<br />
<br />
''toy'' - idea, something the mind plays with, turning it over, looking at it with the mind's eye. Can be understood as a puzzle Gertrude is trying to solve, to get a favorable outcome (but with no luck.)<br />
<br />
''prologue'' - lead-in; introduction. In this usage, ''prologue'' means "that which leads to some consequence."<br />
<br />
''amiss'' - failure, to achieve what she wants, like missing a target. So, ''great amiss'' - great failure; disaster.<br />
<br />
Every idea Gertrude can come up with, when she examines it, and turns it over in her mind, it leads to disaster.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====16-020=====<br />
''So full of artless jealousy is guilt,''<br />
<br />
''artless'' - natural.<br />
<br />
''jealousy'' - anxiety; misery. Wretchedness. Intensely unpleasant emotion. Could be extended to "malice." The word ''jealousy'' here is a kind of figure of speech, the use of a more specific word to express a more general concept.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====16-021=====<br />
''It spills itself, in fearing to be spilt.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====16-022=====<br />
''Ophelia: Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?''<br />
<br />
Said because after agreeing to grant Ophelia an audience, Gertrude is not on the throne. Gertrude stepped down and wandered away from the throne for her "guilt" speech, aside.<br />
<br />
''beauteous'' - Ophelia is returning the compliment Gertrude earlier bestowed on Ophelia, in Scene 8, "That your good beauties be the happy cause..." ([[Scene 8#043]]) Ophelia was gratified by Gertrude's compliment to her beauty, remembered it, and is returning it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====16-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: How now, Ophelia?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude has now returned to her throne, in response to Ophelia's question.<br />
<br />
''How now'' - greetings. Quite similar to the modern slang greeting, "what's up?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====16-024=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): How should I your true love know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====16-025=====<br />
''From another one?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====16-026=====<br />
''By his cockle hat, and staff,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====16-027=====<br />
''And his sendal shoon.''<br />
<br />
''sendal'' - silk, that is, a silk fabric. Mentioned by Chaucer, among others.<br><br />
The Middle English Dictionary lists it "cendā̆l" as their primary spelling, which is impossible to find with an ordinary lookup, but anyway, here it is.<br><br />
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED7072<br><br />
(checked 06/02/2015)<br />
<br />
For where Shakespeare might have learned ''sendal,'' see for example ''The Canterbury Tales,'' General Prologue, The Physician, line 442:<br />
<br />
But of greet norissyng, and digestible.<br />
His studie was but litel on the Bible.<br />
In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,<br />
Lyned with taffata and with sendal;<br />
<br />
Further, according to some writers, ''sendal'' was the shrouding fabric used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
''shoon'' - an archaic plural of "shoe." Shoes.<br />
<br />
''sendal shoon'' - silk shoes; silk slippers. Dancing shoes. As compared to all the ordinary pilgrims wearing sandals, Ophelia pictures Hamlet on his "pilgrimage" wearing silk slippers.<br />
<br />
Also, with the death of her father Ophelia has put on her dancing shoes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#027|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, sweet Lady, what imports this song?''<br />
<br />
''imports'' - to import is to bring, in some way: bring out, bring up, bring forth. The question is, "what brings forth this song?"<br />
<br />
There is simultaneously the question of what import the song has, what its significance is. Shakespeare implied both of the relevant definitions of ''imports.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====16-029=====<br />
''Ophelia: Say you? Nay, pray you mark:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====16-030=====<br />
''(sings): He is dead & gone, Lady,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====16-031=====<br />
''He is dead and gone;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====16-032=====<br />
''At his head a grass green turf,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====16-033=====<br />
''At his heels a stone.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====16-034=====<br />
''(exclaims): Oh ho!''<br />
<br />
An exclamation of delight.<br />
<br />
Recall what we have seen of Polonius and Ophelia.<br />
<br />
First, in Scene 3, Polonius forbade Ophelia to have any further communication with her fiance, Prince Hamlet. She obeyed, but she did not like that.<br />
<br />
When Hamlet rushed to Ophelia's room, before Scene 6, Ophelia then went to Polonius to try to get him to change his mind, and allow her to talk to Hamlet, to find out why he did that. She never even got the chance to ask Polonius, who decided immediately to take Ophelia and Hamlet's private relationship public. She did not like that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then confiscated (or just read "stole") Ophelia's love letters from Hamlet, since Polonius wanted tangible evidence to show the King, that Hamlet had expressed love for Ophelia. When Ophelia tried to fight back, to keep her love letters, and threatened to tell Hamlet, Polonius locked Ophelia in her room, to prevent her resort to Hamlet. She hated that.<br />
<br />
Polonius then persuaded Ophelia to participate in the Nunnery Scene eavesdropping scheme, on the ground that it would get her married to Hamlet, when the King heard Hamlet express love for her. The scheme turned into a disaster, that left her abandoned and heartbroken. It was her father's scheme, and she blamed her father for the result.<br />
<br />
At that point, Ophelia, being a young lady of normal psychology, was wishing her father would get out of her life, and just drop dead. In this Scene, she is ''not'' grieving over his death. She is hysterically happy.<br />
<br />
The other characters have not seen everything we in the audience have seen, and they do not understand this. They think Ophelia is displaying some weird, mad symptom of grief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====16-035=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, but Ophelia . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====16-036=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray you, mark!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037=====<br />
''(sings): White his shroud as the mountain snow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====16-037-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters)''<br />
<br />
Claudius enters because he heard a woman singing in the Throne Room. His first thought is that it's Gertrude, since Gertrude is the woman anyone would associate with the Throne Room. Claudius is curious why Gertrude would be singing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, look here, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
From the way Claudius looks at her, Gertrude realizes Claudius thought she was the one singing. So she points at Ophelia, and tells Claudius, ''look here.''<br />
<br />
''here'' - not here. "There," that is. When Gertrude says ''look here'' she means "look there," at Ophelia. Claudius is looking ''here,'' at Gertrude, and she says ''here'' to tell him to look "not here."<br />
<br />
The language is perfectly understandable to anybody familiar with English, while the explanation sounds like madness. It is a peculiarity of English that the word ''here'' can mean "there," (and the word "there" can mean ''here,'') depending on what is indicated. Shakespeare had some fun in the play with "here" v "there," (and also "this" v "that.")<br />
<br />
When Gertrude says ''look here,'' and points at Ophelia, we all understand she means "look there." Claudius does so.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====16-038-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude points Claudius to Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Claudius, curious, approaches Ophelia as she sings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-039=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): Larded all with sweet flowers,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040=====<br />
''Which bewept to the grave did not go''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====16-040-SD=====<br />
''(the word "not" is spoken aside)''<br />
<br />
The other characters don't hear Ophelia sing ''not,'' only the audience hears it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-041=====<br />
''With true love showers.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====16-042=====<br />
''Claudius: How do you, pretty Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====16-043=====<br />
''Ophelia: Well good 'dild' you;''<br />
<br />
''dild' '' - dildo. It is an obsolete music term. Also appears in ''The Winter's Tale.''<br />
<br />
''Winter's Tale'' Act 4 scene 4,<br />
<br />
Servant: He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; ...<br />
... with such delicate <br />
burthens of dildos and fadings, ...<br />
<br />
A ''dildo'' is a nonsense phrase within the burden of a ditty, such as the "hey nonny nonny" mentioned in ''Much Ado about Nothing,'' Act 2 scene 3:<br />
<br />
Balthasar. Sigh no more, ladies, ...<br />
...<br />
And be you blithe and bonny, <br />
Converting all your sounds of woe <br />
Into Hey nonny, nonny.<br />
...<br />
<br />
The term comes from the fact of the word ''dildo'' itself being used, as in Thomas Morley's ''Will You Buy a Fine Dog?'':<br />
<br />
Will you buy a fine dog, with a hole in his head?<br />
With a dildo, dildo, dildo; ...<br />
<br />
The entire song can be found here:<br><br />
http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Will_you_buy_a_fine_dog%3F_(Thomas_Morley)<br />
<br />
''Dildo'' in this sense is the same sort of thing as "hey diddle diddle" in the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. It's some wording that is rhythmic, and rhymes, but has no meaning apart from its use in the verse.<br />
<br />
However, having said that, it is not possible to exclude the better-known, vulgar meaning, since that meaning did also exist in Shakespeare's time. For example, see the lewd verse "Choise of Valentines or the Merie Ballad of Nash his Dildo," T. Nashe, c.1593, which can be found at the Project Gutenberg website:<br><br />
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17779/17779-h/17779-h.htm<br />
<br />
It is safe to say that Ophelia's remark to Claudius is not entirely polite. An interpretation is available for Ophelia to be saying that, in her opinion, Claudius would benefit from the insertion into him of a dildo. That is not, however, her primary meaning. We once again have multiple meanings from the Bard.<br />
<br />
Primarily, she is saying she would like to sing a dildo about Claudius being dead, to go with her song about her father being dead.<br />
<br />
Ophelia says she wants Claudius to die, so she can sing about it.<br />
<br />
Claudius does not understand her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====16-044=====<br />
''They say the owl was a baker's daughter;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====16-045=====<br />
''Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====16-046=====<br />
''God be at your table.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====16-047=====<br />
''Claudius: Conceit upon her father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====16-048=====<br />
''Ophelia: Pray, let's have no words of this - but when they ask you''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====16-049=====<br />
''what it means, say you this:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====16-050=====<br />
''(sings): Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====16-051=====<br />
''All in the morning, betime,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====16-052=====<br />
''And I, a maid at your window,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====16-053=====<br />
''To be your Valentine.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====16-054=====<br />
''Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, and dupt the chamber door;''<br />
<br />
''clothes'' - a dressing gown, probably. A robe, as Americans now call it. We are not talking about the gentleman taking time to dress himself up in black tie and tails. He just grabs his robe, to go to the door. Well, more particularly, in the case of Hamlet, he'll grab his cloak, at least to wrap around himself.<br />
<br />
''dupt'' - dupped, in current standard spelling, a spelling which matters not at all since nobody says this any more. The word "dup" is formed merely from "do" + "up" and goes back to Middle English 'don up' which meant "to open," and probably referred to lifting up the simple kind of door latch used in those days. To open a door, one "did up" the latch.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====16-055=====<br />
''Let in the maid, that out a maid, never departed more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====16-056=====<br />
''Claudius: Pretty, Ophelia.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====16-057=====<br />
''Ophelia: Indeed! La! Without an oath, I'll make an end on it;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====16-058=====<br />
''(sings): By Gis and by Saint Charity,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====16-059=====<br />
''alack, and fie, for shame,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====16-060=====<br />
''Young men will do't if they come to't,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====16-061=====<br />
''by Cock, they are to blame.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====16-062=====<br />
''Quoth she: Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====16-063=====<br />
''(He answers): So would I 'a done by yonder sun''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====16-064=====<br />
''And thou hadst not come to my bed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====16-065=====<br />
''Claudius: How long hath she been thus?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====16-066=====<br />
''Ophelia: I hope all will be well; we must be patient, but I cannot choose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====16-067=====<br />
''but weep to think they should lay him in the cold ground; my brother''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====16-068=====<br />
''shall know of it; and so, I thank you for your good counsel. Come''<br />
<br />
''(my brother) shall know of it'' - and won't he have a fit!<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====16-069=====<br />
''my coach; goodnight, Ladies, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Ladies'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#069|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070=====<br />
''Sweet Lady, goodnight, goodnight.''<br />
<br />
''Sweet Lady'' - spoken to Queen Gertrude.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, address Q2 "Ladyes"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#70|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-070-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits)''<br />
<br />
Running like Cinderella running to her coach at midnight, before it turns into a pumpkin.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.''<br />
<br />
Spoken to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====16-071-SD=====<br />
''(the ladies-in-waiting curtsy, and exit to follow Ophelia)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-072=====<br />
''Oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====16-073=====<br />
''death, and now behold; Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====16-074=====<br />
''When sorrows come, they come not single spies,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====16-075=====<br />
''But in battalions. First her father slain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====16-076=====<br />
''Next, your son gone, and he most violent author''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====16-077=====<br />
''Of his own just remove, the people muddied,''<br />
<br />
''just remove'' - justified removal; justified departure.<br />
<br />
''muddied'' - astir; stirred up. The way clear water in a brook becomes muddy when it's stirred up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====16-078=====<br />
''Thick and unwholesome in thoughts, and whispers''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====16-079=====<br />
''For good Polonius' death - and we have done but greenly''<br />
<br />
''greenly'' - freshly; recently. Claudius is using the same figure of speech he used in speaking of his brother in Scene 2, in Claudius's first two lines in the play. ([[Scene 2 #001]] "Though yet of Hamlet, our dear brother's, death, The memory be green..."<br />
<br />
Fresh plantings are green. Claudius again speaks of a recent funeral as a "recent plant." This goes along with the analogy of Claudius with Cain, who was a tiller of the ground.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====16-080=====<br />
''In hugger mugger to inter him - poor Ophelia''<br />
<br />
''In hugger mugger'' - surreptitiously. Without public ceremony. Claudius wanted to draw as little attention to Polonius's death as possible, since Claudius did not take the usual legal action against Hamlet, and Claudius knows the public will wonder why not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====16-081=====<br />
''Divided from herself, and her fair judgment -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====16-082=====<br />
''Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====16-083=====<br />
''Last, and as much containing as all these:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====16-084=====<br />
''Her brother is in secret come from France,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====16-085=====<br />
''Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,''<br />
<br />
''in clouds'' - hidden from Claudius's sight. The figure of speech is that of a "sun (son) hidden in clouds," so that one cannot see it. There is an implicit son/sun pun.<br />
<br />
Properly, Laertes would have presented himself to the King upon his return, but Laertes has not done so. (We know Laertes ought to have presented himself to Claudius upon his return, because he needed Claudius's permission to leave, as we saw in Scene 2. Laertes is a Danish courtier, or is otherwise under some obligation to the Throne, probably because Polonius arranged a government position for Laertes.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====16-086=====<br />
''And wants not buzzers to infect his ear''<br />
<br />
''buzzers'' - gossips; rumor mongers. Recall Hamlet facetiously saying "buzz buzz" to Polonius in Scene 7.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====16-087=====<br />
''With pestilent speeches of his father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====16-088=====<br />
''Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====16-089=====<br />
''Will nothing stick our person to arraign''<br />
<br />
How could Claudius be blamed? Look at the most basic facts. 1) Hamlet killed Polonius. 2) Claudius sent Hamlet on a trip out of the country, beyond the reach of Danish law, to get a lot of money.<br />
<br />
By appearance, it looks like "hire and salary." A person could argue, just from that, that Claudius hired Hamlet to kill Polonius. We know better, but the average person in the local town has not seen what we have seen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====16-090=====<br />
''In ear and ear. Oh my dear Gertrude, this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====16-091=====<br />
''Like to a murdering piece, in many places''<br />
<br />
''murdering piece'' - a cannon loaded with small projectiles, to produce a spray of shot, analogous to a shotgun blast. A ''murdering piece'' was so called because it was especially designed to kill enemy personnel, as opposed to knocking down walls.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092=====<br />
''Gives me superfluous death.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD1=====<br />
''(an uproar is heard outside the Throne Room)''<br />
<br />
Men shouting. Scuffling sounds, loud thuds. Some noise of steel hitting steel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====16-092-SD2=====<br />
''(a messenger enters)''<br />
<br />
Running, excited.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====16-093=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, what noise is this?''<br />
<br />
Addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====16-094=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto swissers.jpg|right]]<br />
''Attend! Where is my Swissers? Let them guard the door!''<br />
<br />
''Attend'' - take heed. From Latin 'attendere' ("give heed to.")<br />
<br />
''Swissers'' - Swiss guards. The modern standard spelling is "Switzer," but I see no overwhelming need to change the original Second Quarto spelling. Claudius is calling for his royal guards, his bodyguards.<br />
<br />
Where are they? Well since Claudius entered the way he did, just coming in out of curiosity to see what the singing was about, and did not enter the Throne Room in his usual kingly style, the Swissers probably don't even know he's in the Throne Room. They were not mustered for the royal entourage, to accompany Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#094|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-095=====<br />
''What is the matter?''<br />
<br />
Also addressed to the Messenger.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====16-096=====<br />
''Messenger: Save yourself, my Lord!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====16-097=====<br />
''The ocean, over-peering of his list''<br />
<br />
''over-peering'' - a peer is at the same level. Therefore, to ''over-peer'' is to rise higher, to rise above, to achieve a higher elevation than that which was formerly at the same level.<br />
<br />
''list'' - boundary; bounds. In this case, the former bounds.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====16-098=====<br />
''Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste''<br />
<br />
''Eats'' - engulfs.<br />
<br />
''flats'' - same as it means today: "flat land at the edge of the sea." See the current term "mud flat," or "mud flats."<br />
<br />
''impiteous'' - unconscionable; undutiful. BOOKMARK for me Originates in Latin 'pietas' ("dutiful conduct.") Duty Theme instance.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====16-099=====<br />
''Than young Laertes, in a riotous head''<br />
<br />
''in a riotous head'' - has the double meaning, "at the head of the riot," and "riotous in his thoughts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====16-100=====<br />
''O'er-bears your officers. The rabble call him "Lord,"''<br />
<br />
''Lord'' - may be Laertes's technically-correct title. Polonius was a lord, and one would suppose Laertes has inherited his father's title. However, the title might depend, formally, upon royal ratification. Laertes's title inheritance is not clear in the play. He continues to be addressed as "sir" when he appears on stage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====16-101=====<br />
''And, as the world were now but to begin,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====16-102=====<br />
''Antiquity forgot, custom not known,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====16-103=====<br />
''The ratifiers and props of every word,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====16-104=====<br />
''The cry "choose we!" Laertes shall be King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====16-105=====<br />
''Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====16-106=====<br />
''Laertes shall be King, Laertes, King!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107=====<br />
''Gertrude: How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====16-107-SD=====<br />
''(loud noise just outside the closed door to the Lobby)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108=====<br />
''Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!''<br />
<br />
''counter'' - the wrong way. Strictly, ''counter'' is when a dog goes the wrong way on a scent trail, getting farther from the game rather than closer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====16-108-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes enters, sword drawn, escorted by town ruffians)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-109=====<br />
''Claudius: The doors are broke.''<br />
<br />
Important to note, for some actions that happen later. The rabble are breaking down doors throughout the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====16-110=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is this King? Sirs, stand you all, without.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====16-111=====<br />
''Ruffians: No, lets come in!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====16-112=====<br />
''Laertes: I pray you, give me leave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====16-113=====<br />
''Ruffians: We will, we will.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====16-114=====<br />
''Laertes: I thank you; keep the door; oh thou vile King,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115=====<br />
''Give me my father.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====16-115-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude steps between Laertes and Claudius)''<br />
<br />
Contrary to appearances, she is not primarily protecting Claudius, she is primarily protecting Hamlet's succession.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-116=====<br />
''Gertrude: Calmly, good Laertes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====16-117=====<br />
''Laertes: That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#117|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-118=====<br />
''Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====16-119=====<br />
''Even here between the chaste, unsmirched brow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====16-120=====<br />
''Of my true mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====16-121=====<br />
''Claudius: What is the cause, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
''cause'' - reason. One might compare this to Claudius's use of "reason" in Scene 2 ([[Scene 2 #044]] "You cannot speak of reason to the Dane...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====16-122=====<br />
''That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====16-123=====<br />
''Let him go, Gertrude, do not fear our person;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====16-124=====<br />
''There's such divinity doth hedge a King,''<br />
<br />
Has reference to the "divine right of kings."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====16-125=====<br />
''That treason can but peep to what it would,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====16-126=====<br />
''Acts little of his will; tell me, Laertes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====16-127=====<br />
''Why thou art thus incensed; let him go Gertrude.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====16-128=====<br />
''Speak, man.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====16-129=====<br />
''Laertes: Where is my father?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====16-130=====<br />
''Claudius: Dead.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====16-131=====<br />
''Gertrude: But not by him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====16-132=====<br />
''Claudius: Let him demand his fill.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====16-133=====<br />
''Laertes: How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with,''<br />
<br />
''juggled with'' - toyed with; treated as a buffoon. Laertes is emphasizing his deadly seriousness. ''Juggle'' is from Old French 'jogler' = "to be a buffoon or jester." So Laertes is telling King Claudius, "I am not here to be a king's jester for you."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====16-134=====<br />
''To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====16-135=====<br />
''Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====16-136=====<br />
''I dare damnation. To this point I stand,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====16-137=====<br />
''That both the worlds I give to negligence,''<br />
<br />
''both the worlds'' - the world of the living, and the afterlife.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====16-138=====<br />
''Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====16-139=====<br />
''Most throughly for my father.''<br />
<br />
''throughly'' - is the exact word printed in the Second Quarto. The words "through" and "thorough" were not clearly distinguished until Early Modern English. ''Throughly'' is probably the intended word, with no printing error. It can be understood as "completely," or as "through and through," that is, "in every way." A substitution of modern "thoroughly" would probably be acceptable, if one were neurotic about modernizing the text to the greatest degree possible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====16-140=====<br />
''Claudius: Who shall stay you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====16-141=====<br />
''Laertes: My will, not all the world's.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====16-142=====<br />
''And for my means, I'll husband them so well,''<br />
<br />
''means'' - resources, especially financial resources. It does not seem to have occurred yet to Laertes that he must have a valuable inheritance, since Polonius was a rich man. There's no hint in the play of any other heir Polonius might have.<br />
<br />
''husband'' - manage, simply put. Further, ''husband'' can mean "conserve" or "manage thriftily," which is probably the intended full meaning, based on the idea of "thrift" already expressed in the play ([[Scene 2 #182]] "Hamlet: Thrift, thrift, Horatio...")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====16-143=====<br />
''They shall go far with little.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====16-144=====<br />
''Claudius: Good Laertes, if you desire to know the certainty''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====16-145=====<br />
''Of your dear father, is it writ in your revenge,''<br />
<br />
''writ'' - used figuratively to mean "officially written" (like a law, or a king's order.) Claudius knows that Laertes's desire for revenge has no written conditions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====16-146=====<br />
''That swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe''<br />
<br />
''swoopstake'' - the original word, which I retain because it doesn't necessarily mean exactly the same as modern "sweepstake." Clearly, the meaning is close to the modern term. BOOKMARK, for me.<br />
<br />
''draw'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====16-147=====<br />
''Winner and loser?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====16-148=====<br />
''Laertes: None but his enemies.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====16-149=====<br />
''Claudius: Will you know them, then?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150=====<br />
''Laertes: To his good friends, thus wide I'll ope' my arms''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====16-150-SD=====<br />
''(Laertes sheaths his sword)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-151=====<br />
[[File:Pelican.jpg|right|image of a pelican]]<br />
''And like the kind, life-rendering pelican,''<br />
<br />
''pelican'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#151|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-152=====<br />
''Repast them with my blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====16-153=====<br />
''Claudius: Why, now you speak''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====16-154=====<br />
''Like a good child, and a true gentleman.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====16-155=====<br />
''That I am guiltless of your father's death,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====16-156=====<br />
''And am most sensible in grief for it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====16-157=====<br />
''It shall as level to your judgment pierce''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158=====<br />
''As day does to your eye.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====16-158-SD=====<br />
''(noise is heard at the doorway; Ophelia enters)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-159=====<br />
''Laertes: How now, what noise is that? Let her come in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====16-160=====<br />
''O heat, dry up my brains, tears seven times salt''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====16-161=====<br />
''Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====16-162=====<br />
''By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====16-163=====<br />
''Till our scale turn the beam. O Rose of May!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====16-164=====<br />
''Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====16-165=====<br />
''O heavens, is it possible a young maid's wits''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====16-166=====<br />
''Should be as mortal as an old man's life?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====16-167=====<br />
''Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====16-168=====<br />
''It sends some precious instance of itself''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====16-169=====<br />
''After the thing it loves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====16-170=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): They bore him bare-faced on the bier,''<br />
<br />
Informs us of Danish funeral practices. Polonius was borne to his grave like that, and Ophelia will be, shrouded but with the face visible.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====16-171=====<br />
''And in his grave rained many a tear;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====16-172=====<br />
''Hey non nony, nony, hey nony;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====16-173=====<br />
''(speaks): Fare you well, my dove!''<br />
<br />
Ophelia acts releasing a dove in the direction of Hamlet. The sight of a dove in flight is a good omen. Ophelia is intending to show Hamlet that the death of Polonius is a good omen for them, she believes.<br />
<br />
By the way, the use of an actual dove in stage performance would be authentic, where that is possible. The Globe was an outdoor theater.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====16-174=====<br />
''Laertes: Hadst thou thy wits, and did'st persuade revenge''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====16-175=====<br />
''It could not move thus.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====16-176=====<br />
''Ophelia: You must sing a down, a down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====16-177=====<br />
''And you call him a down a. Oh, how the wheel becomes it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====16-178=====<br />
''It is the false Steward that stole his Master's daughter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====16-179=====<br />
''Laertes: This nothing's more than matter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====16-180=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; (pray you love,''<br />
[[File:Rosemary.jpg|right|rosemary blooms]]<br />
''rosemary'' - ''Rosmarinus officinalis'' is a traditional funeral flower. We know of a recent funeral, that of Polonius.<br />
<br />
The available colors of ''rosemary'' include purple and white. Ophelia's "crownet weeds" that will be mentioned in Scene 18 have the colors of purple, and white.<br />
<br />
Ophelia gives the rosemary to Laertes, who was not present for his father's funeral. Correctly performed, Ophelia gives all the flowers to Laertes.<br />
<br />
The word ''rosemary'' is from Latin 'rosmarinus' ("dew of the sea.") So, ''rosemary'' implicitly presents the "dew" idea again, that Hamlet brought to some prominence in Scene 2. ([[Scene 2#132]]) The English spelling of ''rosemary'' was influenced by "rose" and the name "Mary."<br />
<br />
In the "language of flowers" ''rosemary'' says "remembrance. So, ''rosemary'' is indeed the traditional flower of remembrance, as Ophelia says.<br />
<br />
This line is partly to Laertes, and partly aside, aside in the ordinary sense, that is; it is not an "aside" in theatrical jargon. The others hear it. Ophelia turns away from Laertes when she says, "(pray you love, remember.)" She is addressing that to Hamlet. Traditionally, ''rosemary'' is also associated with weddings. Ophelia is praying that Hamlet will remember he asked her to marry him. The word ''love'' is on the mark. From its use as a wedding flower, rosemary is considered a love charm.<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal,'' page 1293, says that rosemary is good for "all infirmities of the head and brain" (at least where the infirmity is from a "cold and moist cause,") and that it "quickens the senses and memory." Also, rosemary will "strengthen the sinewy parts." The head and brain, the senses, and the memory are all significant, repeated elements in the play dialogue, and both Hamlet ([[Scene 5#098]]) and Claudius ([[Scene 10#074]]) speak of the sinews. It becomes easy to see why Shakespeare included ''rosemary'' as one of the flowers in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====16-181=====<br />
''remember;) and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.''<br />
[[File:Pansy.jpg|right|Viola tricolor, "pansy"]]<br />
''(pray you love, remember)'' - spoken in the direction where Ophelia supposes Hamlet to be. She turns aside from Laertes for this, but it is not an aside in the theatrical sense. The others hear it, although they do not know what to make of it.<br />
<br />
''pansies'' - like the rosemary, is also a traditional funeral flower. The name is from Old French 'pensée' ("thought.") This is not the modern cultivated pansy, it is the wild pansy, ''Viola tricolor.'' It is a flower in the violet family, ''Viola.''<br />
<br />
(The play dialogue associates the violet with Ophelia, in lines spoken by Laertes, and by Ophelia, herself. ([[Scene 3#008]],) (line 186 below,) and ([[Scene 19#208]].) Where Shakespeare wrote "violet" he probably meant the sweet violet, ''Viola odorata,'' with its heart-shaped leaves.)<br />
<br />
As with the rosemary, the color is once again purple and white (or close enough to that.) The ''Viola tricolo'' may have yellow on the lower petal, but that would not be out of place, since the daisy, that Ophelia will soon mention, has a yellow center.<br />
<br />
The ''rosemary'' and ''pansies'' are flowers from Polonius's funeral which Ophelia saved for Laertes since he wasn't there. It was kind and thoughtful of her to save them for him. However, Laertes has no idea where the flowers came from, or why she's giving them to him. Laertes doesn't know about flowers, and, well, he is not very smart. It doesn't occur to him where these flowers must have come from.<br />
<br />
In a painfully tragic irony, by Ophelia giving Laertes these flowers from Polonius's funeral, she is, at the same time, providing Laertes with flowers for her funeral. None of them knows that.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''pansies'' do indeed express "thoughts," as Ophelia says. In Middle English, and on into Shakespeare's time, "thought" could mean "grief," as I note for line 013 above.<br />
<br />
The pansy is also called "love-in-idleness." Shakespeare used that name in ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' Act 2 scene 1, Oberon speaking:<br />
<br />
...<br />
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:<br />
It fell upon a little western flower,<br />
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,<br />
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.<br />
...<br />
<br />
Notice the mention of white and purple colors.<br />
<br />
The word "idle" goes back to Old English 'idel' ("vain,") so the name love-in-idleness can be read as "love in vain." That can be seen, tragically, to apply to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
In Gerard's ''Herbal'' the wild pansy is listed under the name "Hearts ease." Knowing that Ophelia will die after a fall, one may be intrigued to find Gerard recommends the pansy as a cure for "falling sickness." Gerard meant epilepsy, but still.<br />
<br />
The name heartsease may come both from the pansy being used in love potions, and in its being used for heart ailments. THe "heart" concept is highly significant in ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
In action, Ophelia gives all of the rosemary and pansies to Laertes. She is giving him all the remembrance and thoughts of their father.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====16-182=====<br />
''Laertes: A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.''<br />
<br />
''document'' - lesson. Latin 'documentum' "lesson," from 'docere' "to teach." It's unclear what Laertes supposes he is learning from it, since he didn't even understand the funeral flowers.<br />
<br />
''fitted'' - in a fit, "fit" as in an attack or paroxysm. Joined in a fit, tangled in a fit, of madness.<br />
<br />
Or, ''fitted'' to ''madness,'' that is, "thoughts and remembrance fitted to madness," or "adapted to fit madness." The multiplicity of meaning is intentional in the author's phrasing, we can be sure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====16-183=====<br />
''Ophelia: There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for''<br />
<br />
[[File:Fennel.jpg|left|fennel blooms]]<br />
All of these flowers are also given to Laertes, when the play is correctly done. This is an encounter between Laertes and Ophelia following the death of their father. It's a family matter, even if Laertes can't grasp it. Gertrude and Claudius are "audience to this act," to quote from the last Scene. They are watching, and wondering what it all means.<br />
<br />
''fennel'' - ''Foeniculum vulgare.'' It has tiny yellow flowers. Hardly worth calling a flower at all, it is a culinary herb, and a medicinal herb.<br />
<br />
Ophelia's meaning with the ''fennel'' is "open your eyes," "see clearly." Fennel is used in herbal medicine as an eye remedy, or to preserve eyesight. (Gerard, ''Herbal,'' page 1032.)<br />
<br />
Ophelia is telling Laertes to open his eyes, and see that these flowers have meaning. It is reasonable to take it that she is also trying to tell him to open his eyes to things in general. The ''fennel'' provides an implicit instance of the Vision Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
[[File:Columbine2.jpg|left|columbine flower]]<br />
[[File:Columbine1.jpg|right|columbine blooms]]<br />
''columbines'' - from Latin 'columbīnus' ("dovelike.") As the image to the right shows, the flower can be likened to a group of five doves facing each other.<br />
<br />
The scientific classification is ''Aquilegia vulgaris.'' The genus name, ''Aquilegia,'' comes from 'aquila', the Latin word for eagle, perhaps because the flower petals of some varieties can be seen to resemble an eagle's claw, or perhaps because some may take the "doves" of the flower for eagles, instead.<br />
<br />
The color is purple and white.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, the columbine expresses "folly," or, "you're a fool." Ophelia is calling Laertes a fool, who is engaged in folly. After Laertes said, above, that he would "dare damnation" to get revenge, in other words, throw away his soul, one cannot help but think Ophelia is right. Ophelia was not present to hear Laertes say that, but she knows her brother.<br />
<br />
We recall the Player, in Scene 7, speaking of breaking all the follies from the Wheel of Fortune. ([[Scene 7#474]]) A tragic, unfortunate death would be such a folly. In Scene 18, we will hear Laertes call Ophelia's death "this folly." None of them knows it, but the "folly" that the columbine expresses is ominous for Ophelia, herself, when the Wheel of Fortune will take a bad turn for her.<br />
<br />
[[File:Rue.jpg|right|common rue]]<br />
''rue'' - ''Ruta graveolens,'' known as common rue, or herb-of-grace. The blooms are yellow. Like fennel, it is not much for being a flower, but it is a traditional medicinal herb, and has found sparing use as a culinary herb. It has a strong smell. Gerard's chapter on rue, "Of Rue, or herbe Grace. Chap. 511" begins on ''Herball'' page 1070.<br />
<br />
In the language of flowers, ''rue'' expresses "regret," however, Ophelia will go on to speak of a "difference."<br />
<br />
Gerard's ''Herbal'' credits it with many virtues, including its use in tonics for making vision sharp and clear, for remedying "dim eyes," to cure earache, to cure headache, as an antidote to poison, and as a "counterpoison" against scorpion and insect stings, and serpent bites. The eyes, the ears, the head, and poison are all significant concepts in the play.<br />
<br />
As already mentioned, all of the flowers are given to Laertes, when the play is correctly performed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====16-184=====<br />
''you, & here's some for me; we may call it herb o' grace on Sundays;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====16-185=====<br />
''you may wear your rue with a difference; there's a daisy; I would''<br />
<br />
''rue with a difference'' - no regret. The ''difference'' Ophelia means is the negative. Ophelia is symbolically telling Laertes to feel no regret over the death of Polonius, since she does not.<br />
<br />
In older ''Hamlet'' commentary you may see ''difference'' interpreted according to heraldic definition, but that does not work. Laertes is now the senior male of the family, so he does not use a heraldic difference, and Ophelia knows Laertes's status after their father's death (as did Shakespeare, of course.)<br />
<br />
[[File:Daisy2.jpg|right|there's a daisy]]<br />
''daisy'' - Ophelia shows the ''daisy'' to everyone, but keeps it. By the way, it isn't hard to guess where it came from, what it signifies, and why she keeps it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====16-186=====<br />
''give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died;''<br />
<br />
''violets'' - <br />
<br />
BOOKMARK knowing enough of the play, once can appreciate that the violet can deaden the sense of smell<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====16-187=====<br />
''they say he made a good end.''<br />
<br />
Ophelia approves that people should say the end of her father was good. She makes it sound like a more socially acceptable sentiment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====16-188=====<br />
''(sings): For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy!''<br />
<br />
Adapted by Shakespeare from ''Greensleeves.'' Observe the last line below.<br />
<br />
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,<br />
To cast me off discourteously.<br />
For I have loved you well and long,<br />
Delighting in your company.<br />
<br />
Greensleeves was all my joy<br />
...<br />
<br />
There was apparently also in Shakespeare's time a song called "Bonny Robin," or perhaps "Bonny Sweet Robin," of which the lyrics have not survived. ''Greensleeves'' is written to a woman. Ophelia "masculinizes" the lyric by substituting "bonny sweet Robin" for "Greensleeves," and Ophelia also makes it present tense.<br />
<br />
Sendal is mentioned in the old lyrics of ''Greensleeves,'' from the Tudor era, by the way.<br />
<br />
With this line, we are privileged to learn that "Robin" is Ophelia's pet nickname for Hamlet. Among the characters, only she and Hamlet know that.<br />
<br />
(The question might arise, what is Hamlet's pet name for Ophelia? Has Shakespeare given us the privilege of knowing that? Well... there's a daisy.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====16-189=====<br />
''Laertes: Thought and affliction! Passion! Hell itself''<br />
<br />
''Thought'' - Grief.<br />
<br />
''affliction'' - torment.<br />
<br />
''Passion'' - Agony.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====16-190=====<br />
''She turns to favor and to prettiness.''<br />
<br />
''favor'' - Laertes means Ophelia acts as if the hell of madness were a favor.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK more here<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====16-191=====<br />
''Ophelia (sings): And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====16-192=====<br />
''And will he not come again?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====16-193=====<br />
''No, no, he is dead; go to thy death bed!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====16-194=====<br />
''He never will come again.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====16-195=====<br />
''His beard was as white as snow,''<br />
<br />
But Polonius's beard was neatly trimmed, we suppose, after what Hamlet said to Polonius (that Polonius misunderstood) in Scene 7. ([[Scene 7#478]])<br />
<br />
This is, of course, a costuming note for the Polonius character. It is mandatory that his beard be white. Nothing else will do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====16-196=====<br />
''Flaxen was his poll,''<br />
<br />
''Flaxen'' - pale yellow.<br />
<br />
''poll'' - head, that is, the skin of his head. Polonius was borne bare-faced on the bier, as Ophelia just told us, which means that Ophelia could see the skin of his face. The yellowing of his skin was part of what finally convinced her that Polonius was really dead, and it wasn't only a mean trick, to fool her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====16-197=====<br />
''He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====16-198=====<br />
''(speaks): God 'a mercy on his soul, and of all Christians' souls,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199=====<br />
''God buy you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====16-199-SD=====<br />
''(Ophelia exits; Gertrude exits to follow her)''<br />
<br />
Gertrude will reclaim her clothing and jewelry.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====16-200=====<br />
''Laertes: Do you this, O God?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====16-201=====<br />
''Claudius: Laertes, I must commune with your grief,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====16-202=====<br />
''Or you deny me right; go but apart,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====16-203=====<br />
''Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====16-204=====<br />
''And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====16-205=====<br />
''If by direct, or by collateral hand''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====16-206=====<br />
''They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====16-207=====<br />
''Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====16-208=====<br />
''To you in satisfaction; but if not,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====16-209=====<br />
''Be you content to lend your patience to us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====16-210=====<br />
''And we shall jointly labor with your soul''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====16-211=====<br />
''To give it due content.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====16-212=====<br />
''Laertes: Let this be so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====16-213=====<br />
''His means of death, his obscure burial,''<br />
<br />
''obscure burial'' - which Claudius ordered in hopes the death of Polonius would attract little attention, and not cause him trouble.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]] - or - [[Scene 16 Folio Differences#213|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====16-214=====<br />
''No trophy sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====16-215=====<br />
''No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====16-216=====<br />
''Cry to be heard as 'twere, from Heaven to earth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====16-217=====<br />
''That I must call it in question.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====16-218=====<br />
''Claudius: So you shall,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====16-219=====<br />
''And where the offense is, let the great axe fall.''<br />
<br />
''great axe'' - executioner's axe.<br />
<br />
Claudius believes he has already arranged that, for Hamlet in England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220=====<br />
''I pray you go with me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====16-220-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Laertes exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - Scene 16 - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T03:45:10Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-058 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) For simple meaning it can be paraphrased as "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, in Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
R & G follow Hamlet "at foot," very closely, that is, nearly stepping on his heels. We know this from what Claudius told them, [[Scene_14#057]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
''powers'' - military forces; troops.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway. Observe the captain does not say "of Fortinbrasse." It is an army of the nation of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking about the goal of the military expedition, their military objective. Hamlet entered too late in Scene 7 to hear what the ambassadors reported to Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The captain does not identify Fortinbrasse as the Prince of Norway, but only as the king's nephew. The notion you will encounter elsewhere, other than this website, that Fortinbrasse is the Prince of Norway, is wrong.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
''Truly to speak'' - well, not really.<br />
<br />
''no addition'' - no addition to the truth, no exaggeration.<br />
<br />
The captain is not under oath.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," the ordinary cliche.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T03:14:28Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-018 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) For simple meaning it can be paraphrased as "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, in Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
R & G follow Hamlet "at foot," very closely, that is, nearly stepping on his heels. We know this from what Claudius told them, [[Scene_14#057]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
''powers'' - military forces; troops.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway. Observe the captain does not say "of Fortinbrasse." It is an army of the nation of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking about the goal of the military expedition, their military objective. Hamlet entered too late in Scene 7 to hear what the ambassadors reported to Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The captain does not identify Fortinbrasse as the Prince of Norway, but only as the king's nephew. The notion you will encounter elsewhere, other than this website, that Fortinbrasse is the Prince of Norway, is wrong.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
''Truly to speak'' - well, not really.<br />
<br />
''no addition'' - no addition to the truth, no exaggeration.<br />
<br />
The captain is not under oath.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T03:09:25Z
<p>Administrator: /* Dialogue */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) For simple meaning it can be paraphrased as "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, in Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
R & G follow Hamlet "at foot," very closely, that is, nearly stepping on his heels. We know this from what Claudius told them, [[Scene_14#057]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
''powers'' - military forces; troops.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway. Observe the captain does not say "of Fortinbrasse." It is an army of the nation of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking about the goal of the military expedition, their military objective. Hamlet entered too late in Scene 7 to hear what the ambassadors reported to Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The captain does not identify Fortinbrasse as the Prince of Norway, but only as the king's nephew. The notion you will encounter elsewhere, other than this website, that Fortinbrasse is the Prince of Norway, is wrong.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T03:08:03Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-015 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) For simple meaning it can be paraphrased as "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, in Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
R & G follow Hamlet "at foot," very closely, that is, nearly stepping on his heels. We know this from what Claudius told them, [[Scene_14#057]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
''powers'' - military forces; troops.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway. Observe the captain does not say "of Fortinbrasse." It is an army of the nation of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking about the goal of the military expedition, their military objective. Hamlet entered too late in Scene 7 to hear what the ambassadors reported to Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbrasse.''<br />
<br />
The captain does not identify Fortinbrasse as the Prince of Norway, but only as the king's nephew. The notion you will encounter elsewhere, other than this website, that Fortinbrasse is the Prince of Norway, is wrong.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T03:02:50Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-012 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) For simple meaning it can be paraphrased as "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, in Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
R & G follow Hamlet "at foot," very closely, that is, nearly stepping on his heels. We know this from what Claudius told them, [[Scene_14#057]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
''powers'' - military forces; troops.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway. Observe the captain does not say "of Fortinbrasse." It is an army of the nation of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking about the goal of the military expedition, their military objective. Hamlet entered too late in Scene 7 to hear what the ambassadors reported to Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T02:57:32Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-011 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) For simple meaning it can be paraphrased as "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, in Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
R & G follow Hamlet "at foot," very closely, that is, nearly stepping on his heels. We know this from what Claudius told them, [[Scene_14#057]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
''powers'' - military forces; troops.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway. Observe the captain does not say "of Fortinbrasse." It is an army of the nation of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T02:45:53Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-010 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) For simple meaning it can be paraphrased as "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, in Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
R & G follow Hamlet "at foot," very closely, that is, nearly stepping on his heels. We know this from what Claudius told them, [[Scene_14#057]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
''powers'' - military forces; troops.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T02:43:42Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-009-SD2 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) For simple meaning it can be paraphrased as "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, in Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
R & G follow Hamlet "at foot," very closely, that is, nearly stepping on his heels. We know this from what Claudius told them, [[Scene_14#057]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T02:36:41Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-003 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) For simple meaning it can be paraphrased as "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, in Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T02:33:59Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-002 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway. This is the "allowance" stated by the ambassadors when they returned in Scene 7, [[Scene_7#083]].<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) In simple meaning, a paraphrase is "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, namely the island of Zealand, Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_7
Scene 7
2018-02-04T02:30:07Z
<p>Administrator: /* 07-083 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Throne Room, Claudius and Gertrude speak to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (often called R & G for short,) and instruct them to spend time with Hamlet. Claudius tells them he wants to find out anything that, unknown to him, might be bothering Hamlet. R & G exit to find Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Polonius tells Claudius he has discovered the cause of Hamlet's lunacy, but advises Claudius to see the ambassadors before hearing about that. The ambassadors enter, and describe to Claudius an agreement they've reached with King Norway. Claudius says he likes it, but will read it later, and dismisses the ambassadors, who exit.<br />
<br />
Polonius makes a long-winded speech during which he shows the love letters Hamlet has written to Ophelia, and he reads one of them. Claudius asks how the matter can be tested further, and Polonius recommends eavesdropping when Hamlet thinks he's alone with Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Hamlet enters, because he has heard the ambassadors are back, and he expects Claudius to be talking to them. Hamlet is curious whether an agreement has been reached that will prevent a war which might kill thousands. Seeing Hamlet, Polonius panics and begs Claudius and Gertrude to leave, lest they speak with Hamlet, and Hamlet discover Polonius has his letters. Claudius and Gertrude, and everyone else at the court do leave, as Polonius approaches Hamlet to talk to him. Polonius hopes to make friends with Hamlet, since he sees the prospect of Hamlet becoming his son-in-law, and also so that if Hamlet does discover Polonius took his letters, Hamlet won't do something mad like stabbing him to death. Hamlet and Polonius have an odd conversation, during which Hamlet says obscure things, but he does refer to Ophelia, and he does call Polonius "friend." Polonius, satisfied with that much, exits as R & G enter.<br />
<br />
Considering the time that has passed, R & G must have been all through the Castle, looking for Hamlet, and now they have finally found him in the Throne Room, which is where they originally left to look for him. (The "so it goes" amusement of that, provided by Shakespeare's subtle wit, has, unfortunately, apparently gone entirely unremarked in historical ''Hamlet'' commentary.) Hamlet greets R & G happily enough, but quickly discerns, from the course of the conversation, that they can't be there to visit him out of friendship, as purely their own idea, which leaves the alternative that Claudius and Gertrude sent for them, a fact which Guildenstern finally admits. R & G, during the course of the conversation, do try to query Hamlet on the subject of his ambition, but get no useful reply.<br />
<br />
Rosencrantz tells Hamlet that Players are on the way to offer Hamlet their services. Hamlet asks why the Players are traveling, and Rosencrantz says he thinks it's because of the change of government (from King Hamlet to King Claudius. Apparently King Hamlet had sponsored the Players, as the King's Men, but Claudius did not renew that sponsorship, leaving the Players at loose ends. Thus the Players, some of whom are Hamlet's friends, have come to Elsinore to offer Hamlet their services, hoping to gain Hamlet's royal sponsorship and become the Prince's Men.) R also says the Players have lost business due to competition from a children's company.<br />
<br />
The Players enter, to a fanfare of trumpets. Polonius reenters, having heard the fanfare. Hamlet greets the Players warmly, and requests a passionate (emotional) speech from the First Player, who performs it. The Player's performance is so good that Polonius reacts to it with alarm, as if it were real, giving Hamlet the idea that Claudius might react to a play, which could provide proof that what the Ghost said was true, about Claudius killing King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Hamlet asks the Lad of the Players if he knows a play about the murder of Gonzago, and if the Lad can learn a few lines Hamlet would add to it. The Lad assures Hamlet on both counts. Hamlet chooses the Gonzago play because he knows it includes a king being killed with poison in the ear. Hamlet gives no thought to where Claudius might have gotten the idea to use that method to kill his brother. All but Hamlet exit, and he bemoans the situation he is in, but expresses his hope that a play will "catch the conscience of the King."<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 7 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Gertrude]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]], [[Polonius]], [[Voltemand]], [[Cornelius]], [[Hamlet]], [[First Player]], [[Lad]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5"<br />
| colspan="2" | Polonius says the ambassadors are back [[#042-SD2]] || Polonius begins talking about Hamlet [[#091]]<br />
|-<br />
| Hamlet enters [[#182-SD]] || colspan="2" | (Guildenstern and Rosencrantz enter) [[#227-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
| the Players arrive [[#361-SD]] || the recital begins [[#429]] || Hamlet's closing speech [[#521]]<br />
|}<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 7</b> [ ~ The Play's the Thing ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 2 Scene 2)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#07-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: inside the Castle;<br />
The Throne Room;<br />
Late morning.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#07-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (a flourish of trumpets sounds;<br />
Claudius and Gertrude enter, with their entourage;<br />
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#07-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.''</span><br />
[[#07-002]]<span id="002"></span> Moreover, that we much did long to see you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Further, that I yearned greatly to see you,''</span><br />
[[#07-003]]<span id="003"></span> The need we have to use you, did provoke<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The need I have to employ you, prompted''</span><br />
[[#07-004]]<span id="004"></span> Our hasty sending; something have you heard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My speedy summons of you. You've heard something''</span><br />
[[#07-005]]<span id="005"></span> Of Hamlet's transformation, so call it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''About Hamlet's transformation, so to speak,''</span><br />
[[#07-006]]<span id="006"></span> Sith nor the exterior, nor the inward man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because neither his outer appearance, nor his spirit,''</span><br />
[[#07-007]]<span id="007"></span> Resembles that it was, what it should be;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is like what it used to be, or what it should be.''</span><br />
[[#07-008]]<span id="008"></span> More than his father's death, that thus hath put him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Anything beyond his father's death, that has put him, thusly,''</span><br />
[[#07-009]]<span id="009"></span> So much from the understanding of himself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So far from the recognition of himself,''</span><br />
[[#07-010]]<span id="010"></span> I cannot dream of; I entreat you both,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I cannot imagine. I ask you both,''</span><br />
[[#07-011]]<span id="011"></span> That being of so young days brought up with him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, as you were raised with him from childhood,''</span><br />
[[#07-012]]<span id="012"></span> And sith so neighbored to his youth and humor,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And because you're so close to him, in age and youthful temperament,''</span><br />
[[#07-013]]<span id="013"></span> That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That you agree to reside here at my court''</span><br />
[[#07-014]]<span id="014"></span> Some little time, so, by your companies,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For a while, so, through your services''</span><br />
[[#07-015]]<span id="015"></span> To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To lead him to enjoy himself - and also, to gather''</span><br />
[[#07-016]]<span id="016"></span> So much as from occasion you may glean<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As much from the opportunity as you can gather,''</span><br />
[[#07-017]]<span id="017"></span> Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whether anything unknown to me distresses him, as I've described, and''</span><br />
[[#07-018]]<span id="018"></span> That opened, lies within our remedy.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That when revealed, lies within my power to remedy.''</span><br />
[[#07-019]]<span id="019"></span> Gertrude: Good gentlemen, he hath much talked of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good gentlemen, he has talked a lot about you,''</span><br />
[[#07-020]]<span id="020"></span> And sure I am, two men there is not living<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I am sure there are not two living men''</span><br />
[[#07-021]]<span id="021"></span> To whom he more adheres; if it will please you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To whom he is more attached. If it will please you''</span><br />
[[#07-022]]<span id="022"></span> To show us so much gentry and good will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To show us so much courtesy and good will''</span><br />
[[#07-023]]<span id="023"></span> As to expend your time with us a while,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As to spend your time with us for a while''</span><br />
[[#07-024]]<span id="024"></span> For the supply and profit of our hope,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For the aid and benefit of our hopes''</span><br />
[[#07-025]]<span id="025"></span> Your visitation shall receive such thanks<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your visit will receive such a reward''</span><br />
[[#07-026]]<span id="026"></span> As fits a king's remembrance.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As is fitting for a King's endowment.''</span><br />
[[#07-027]]<span id="027"></span> Rosencrantz: Both your Majesties<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Both of your Majesties''</span><br />
[[#07-028]]<span id="028"></span> Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might, because of the sovereign power you have over us,''</span><br />
[[#07-029]]<span id="029"></span> Put your dread pleasures more into command<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shape your revered desires more into the form of a command''</span><br />
[[#07-030]]<span id="030"></span> Than to entreaty.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rather than a plea.''</span><br />
[[#07-031]]<span id="031"></span> Guildenstern: But we both obey,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But we both obey,''</span><br />
[[#07-032]]<span id="032"></span> And here give up ourselves in the full bent,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And we hereby surrender ourselves, bending fully to you,''</span><br />
[[#07-033]]<span id="033"></span> To lay our service freely at your feet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To place our services voluntarily at your feet,''</span><br />
[[#07-034]]<span id="034"></span> To be commanded. [[#07-034-SD]]<span id="034-SD"></span> (Polonius arrives)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be commanded by you.''</span><br />
[[#07-035]]<span id="035"></span> Claudius: Thanks, Rosencrantz, and gentle Guildenstern.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Thanks, Rosencrantz, and gentle Guildenstern.''</span><br />
[[#07-036]]<span id="036"></span> Gertrude: Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rosencrantz,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rosencrantz.''</span><br />
[[#07-037]]<span id="037"></span> And I beseech you instantly to visit<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I implore you, right away, to see''</span><br />
[[#07-038]]<span id="038"></span> My too-much-changed son; go, some of you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My too-much-changed son. Lead them, some of you attendants,''</span><br />
[[#07-039]]<span id="039"></span> And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And show these gentlemen where Hamlet is.''</span><br />
[[#07-040]]<span id="040"></span> Guildenstern: Heavens make our presence and our practices<br />
<span style="color:gray">''May Heaven make our presence and our doings''</span><br />
[[#07-041]]<span id="041"></span> Pleasant and helpful to him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pleasant and helpful to him.''</span><br />
[[#07-042]]<span id="042"></span> Gertrude: Aye, amen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, amen.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-042-SD1]]<span id="042-SD1"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit, led by servants)<br />
<br />
[[#07-042-SD2]]<span id="042-SD2"></span> (Polonius enters)<br />
<br />
[[#07-043]]<span id="043"></span> Polonius: The ambassadors from Norway, my good Lord,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ambassadors from Norway, my good Lord,''</span><br />
[[#07-044]]<span id="044"></span> Are joyfully returned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have returned, happily.''</span><br />
[[#07-045]]<span id="045"></span> Claudius: Thou still hast been the father of good news.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You have once again been the source of good news.''</span><br />
[[#07-046]]<span id="046"></span> Polonius: Have I, my Lord? I assure my good Liege<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have I, my Lord? I assure my good Lord''</span><br />
[[#07-047]]<span id="047"></span> I hold my duty as I hold my soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I pledge my duty to you the same as I pledge my soul,''</span><br />
[[#07-048]]<span id="048"></span> Both to my God, and to my gracious King;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Equally to my God and to my gracious King.''</span><br />
[[#07-049]]<span id="049"></span> And I do think, or else this brain of mine<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And also, I do think - or else this brain of mine''</span><br />
[[#07-050]]<span id="050"></span> Hunts not the trail of policy so sure<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Doesn't track the path of the public good as surely''</span><br />
[[#07-051]]<span id="051"></span> As it hath used to do, that I have found<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As it always has done - that I have found''</span><br />
[[#07-052]]<span id="052"></span> The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The true cause of Hamlet's lunacy.''</span><br />
[[#07-053]]<span id="053"></span> Claudius: Oh, speak of that, that do I long to hear!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, tell me about that! I long to hear about that!''</span><br />
[[#07-054]]<span id="054"></span> Polonius: Give first admittance to the ambassadors;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''First admit the ambassadors, and''</span><br />
[[#07-055]]<span id="055"></span> My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My news will be the dessert to that great feast.''</span><br />
[[#07-056]]<span id="056"></span> Claudius: Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in; [[#07-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Polonius exits)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do the courtesy personally, and escort them in.''</span><br />
[[#07-057]]<span id="057"></span> He tells me, my sweet Queen, that he hath found<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He tells me, my sweet Queen, that he has found''</span><br />
[[#07-058]]<span id="058"></span> The head and source of all your son's distemper.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The head and origin of your son's derangement.''</span><br />
[[#07-059]]<span id="059"></span> Gertrude: I doubt it is no other but the main:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I suspect it is nothing but the chief events:''</span><br />
[[#07-060]]<span id="060"></span> His father's death, and our o'er-hasty marriage.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His father's death, and our overly-hasty marriage.''</span><br />
[[#07-061]]<span id="061"></span> Claudius: Well, we shall sift him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, we'll sort him out.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-061-SD]]<span id="061-SD"></span> (the ambassadors Voltemand and Cornelius enter, escorted by Polonius)<br />
<span style="color:gray"> ''(Claudius continues):''</span><br />
[[#07-062]]<span id="062"></span> Welcome, my good friends;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Welcome, my good friends.''</span><br />
[[#07-063]]<span id="063"></span> Say, Voltemand, what from our brother, Norway?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell me, Voltemand, what do you bring from my brother king, Norway?''</span><br />
[[#07-064]]<span id="064"></span> Voltemand: Most fair return of greetings and desires;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The fairest return of greetings and wishes.''</span><br />
[[#07-065]]<span id="065"></span> Upon our first, he sent out to suppress<br />
<span style="color:gray">''On our primary diplomatic issue, he sent out orders to put an end to''</span><br />
[[#07-066]]<span id="066"></span> His nephew's levies, which to him appeared<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His nephew's enlistments of soldiers, which had appeared to him''</span><br />
[[#07-067]]<span id="067"></span> To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To be war preparations against Poland,''</span><br />
[[#07-068]]<span id="068"></span> But better looked into, he truly found<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But when looked into more closely, he found, in truth,''</span><br />
[[#07-069]]<span id="069"></span> It was against Your Highness; whereat grieved,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It was for action against Your Highness. He was so grieved by it,''</span><br />
[[#07-070]]<span id="070"></span> That so his sickness, age, and impotence<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he handled his sickness, old age, and weakness''</span><br />
[[#07-071]]<span id="071"></span> Was falsely borne in hand; sends out arrests<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As though it was false he had such infirmities. He then sent orders of arrest''</span><br />
[[#07-072]]<span id="072"></span> On Fortinbrasse, which he, in brief, obeys;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Against Fortinbrasse, which - to keep it brief - he obeyed.''</span><br />
[[#07-073]]<span id="073"></span> Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fortinbrasse received a rebuke from Norway, and in conclusion,''</span><br />
[[#07-074]]<span id="074"></span> Makes vow before his uncle never more<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He made a vow before his uncle never again''</span><br />
[[#07-075]]<span id="075"></span> To give the assay of arms against your Majesty;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To try any test of armed force against your Majesty.''</span><br />
[[#07-076]]<span id="076"></span> Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At hearing that, old King Norway was so overcome with joy that he''</span><br />
[[#07-077]]<span id="077"></span> Gives him threescore thousand crowns in annual fee,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gave Fortinbrasse 60,000 crowns in annual land revenue,''</span><br />
[[#07-078]]<span id="078"></span> And his commission to employ those soldiers<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And his official commission to employ the army''</span><br />
[[#07-079]]<span id="079"></span> So levied, (as before,) against the Polack,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fortinbrasse already had recruited, against Poland,''</span><br />
[[#07-080]]<span id="080"></span> With an entreaty herein further shown,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Also, with a humble request, herein further shown,''</span><br />
[[#07-081]]<span id="081"></span> That it might please you to give quiet pass<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That it might please you to allow the peaceful passage''</span><br />
[[#07-082]]<span id="082"></span> Through your dominions for his enterprise,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Through your dominions for his enterprise,''</span><br />
[[#07-083]]<span id="083"></span> On such regards of safety and allowance<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Under such conditions of security and license,''</span><br />
[[#07-084]]<span id="084"></span> As therein are set down.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As are detailed in writing, therein.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-084-SD]]<span id="084-SD"></span> (Voltemand offers the diplomatic agreement to Claudius, who waves it away)<br />
<br />
[[#07-085]]<span id="085"></span> Claudius: It likes us well,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It pleases me well,''</span><br />
[[#07-086]]<span id="086"></span> And at our more considered time we'll read,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when I have time to study it carefully, I'll read it,''</span><br />
[[#07-087]]<span id="087"></span> Answer, and think upon this business;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Answer it, and think about this business.''</span><br />
[[#07-088]]<span id="088"></span> Meantime, we thank you for your well took labor;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In the meantime, I thank you for your well-done work.''</span><br />
[[#07-089]]<span id="089"></span> Go to your rest, at night we'll feast together;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go get some rest, and tonight we'll feast together.''</span><br />
[[#07-090]]<span id="090"></span> Most welcome home!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're very welcome home!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-090-SD]]<span id="090-SD"></span> (Claudius waves the Ambassadors toward the doorway to the Royal Apartments,<br />
and they exit that direction, to leave the agreement on Claudius's desk)<br />
<br />
[[#07-091]]<span id="091"></span> Polonius: This business is well ended;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This business has ended well.''</span><br />
[[#07-092]]<span id="092"></span> My Liege and Madam, to expostulate <span style="color:red">[sic!]</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Liege, and Madam, to dispute vociferously''</span><br />
[[#07-093]]<span id="093"></span> What majesty should be, what duty is,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What majesty should be, what duty is,''</span><br />
[[#07-094]]<span id="094"></span> Why day is day, night, night, and time is time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why day is day, and night is night, and time is time,''</span><br />
[[#07-095]]<span id="095"></span> Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would be nothing but to waste night, day, and time.''</span><br />
[[#07-096]]<span id="096"></span> Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,''</span><br />
[[#07-097]]<span id="097"></span> And tediousness the limns and outward flourishes;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tediousness is the portrayals and visible ornaments,''</span><br />
[[#07-098]]<span id="098"></span> I will be brief; your noble son is mad;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will be brief: your noble son is mad.''</span><br />
[[#07-099]]<span id="099"></span> Mad call I it, for to define true madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Mad, I call it, for to define real madness,''</span><br />
[[#07-100]]<span id="100"></span> What is it but to be nothing else but mad?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What could it be, but to be nothing else but mad?''</span><br />
[[#07-101]]<span id="101"></span> But let that go.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But dismiss that.''</span><br />
[[#07-102]]<span id="102"></span> Gertrude: More matter with less art.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''More of substance with less artfulness.''</span><br />
[[#07-103]]<span id="103"></span> Polonius: Madam, I swear I use no art at all;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Madam, I swear I use no artfulness at all.''</span><br />
[[#07-104]]<span id="104"></span> That he's mad, 'tis true, 'tis pity<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he's mad, it's true. It's a pity,''</span><br />
[[#07-105]]<span id="105"></span> And pity 'tis, 'tis true, a foolish figure;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And a pity it is, it's true: a foolish figure.''</span><br />
[[#07-106]]<span id="106"></span> But farewell it, for I will use no art;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But dismiss that, for I will use no artfulness.''</span><br />
[[#07-107]]<span id="107"></span> Mad let us grant him, then, and now remains<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's grant he's mad, then. And now remains''</span><br />
[[#07-108]]<span id="108"></span> That we find out the cause of this effect,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That we find out the cause of this effect,''</span><br />
[[#07-109]]<span id="109"></span> Or rather say, the cause of this defect,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or rather I should say, the cause of this defect''</span><br />
[[#07-110]]<span id="110"></span> For this effect defective comes by cause;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For this effect becomes defective by a cause.''</span><br />
[[#07-111]]<span id="111"></span> Thus it remains, and the remainder thus:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So that's established, and what's left to say is this:''</span><br />
[[#07-112]]<span id="112"></span> Perpend,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Weigh the following:''</span><br />
[[#07-113]]<span id="113"></span> I have a daughter, have while she is mine,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have a daughter, (have her while she's mine,)''</span><br />
[[#07-114]]<span id="114"></span> Who, in her duty and obedience, mark,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who in her duty and obedience, take note,''</span><br />
[[#07-115]]<span id="115"></span> Hath given me this, now gather and surmise: [[#07-115-SD]]<span id="115-SD"></span> (Polonius displays a letter)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Has given me this. Now take this in, and guess what:''</span><br />
[[#07-116]]<span id="116"></span> ''To the celestial, and my soul's idol,'' [[#07-116-SD]]<span id="116-SD"></span> (Polonius reads the letter)<br />
<span style="color:gray"> ''"To the heavenly, and my soul's image,''</span><br />
[[#07-117]]<span id="117"></span> ''the most beautified Ophelia . . .''<br />
<span style="color:gray"> ''the most beautiful Ophelia . . ."''</span><br />
[[#07-118]]<span id="118"></span> That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase, [[#07-118-SD]]<span id="118-SD"> (Polonius interrupts his own reading)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's a sick term, an evil term!''</span><br />
[[#07-119]]<span id="119"></span> "Beautified" is a vile phrase, but you shall hear;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''"Beautified" is an evil term - but you shall have to hear.''</span><br />
[[#07-120]]<span id="120"></span> Thus, in her excellent white bosom, these, etc. [[#07-120-SD]]<span id="120-SD"></span> (Polonius demonstrates Ophelia handing him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Thusly, in her excellent white bosom, she had these, and etc.''</span> letters from her bodice, over her heart)<br />
[[#07-121]]<span id="121"></span> Gertrude: Came this from Hamlet to her?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Did Hamlet send this letter to her?''</span><br />
[[#07-122]]<span id="122"></span> Polonius: Good Madam, stay a while, I will be faithful;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good Madam, be patient, I will be loyal to you.''</span><br />
[[#07-123]]<span id="123"></span> ''Doubt that the stars are fire,'' [[#07-123-SD]]<span id="123-SD"></span> (Polonius resumes reading the letter)<br />
[[#07-124]]<span id="124"></span> ''Doubt that the sun doth move,''<br />
[[#07-125]]<span id="125"></span> ''Doubt truth to be a liar,''<br />
[[#07-126]]<span id="126"></span> ''But never doubt I love.''<br />
[[#07-127]]<span id="127"></span> ''Oh, dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, dear Ophelia, I am not good at such poems,''</span><br />
[[#07-128]]<span id="128"></span> ''I have not art to reckon my groans,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have not the skill to recount my love pangs,''</span><br />
[[#07-129]]<span id="129"></span> ''But that I love thee best, oh, most best,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But that I love you best, oh, extremely the best,''</span><br />
[[#07-130]]<span id="130"></span> ''Believe it, adieu.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Believe it, adieu.''</span><br />
[[#07-131]]<span id="131"></span> ''Thine evermore, most dear Lady,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yours forever, most dear Lady,''</span><br />
[[#07-132]]<span id="132"></span> ''Whilst this machine is to him,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''While my spirit lives in my body,''</span><br />
[[#07-133]]<span id="133"></span> ''Hamlet''<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' (Polonius continues):''</span><br />
[[#07-134]]<span id="134"></span> This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This, in obedience, my daughter has shown me,''</span><br />
[[#07-135]]<span id="135"></span> And more above, hath his solicitings,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And more of his letters, that I hold above, have his entreaties,''</span><br />
[[#07-136]]<span id="136"></span> As they fell out by time, by means, and place,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As they fell into my hands over time, by various means, in various places,''</span><br />
[[#07-137]]<span id="137"></span> All given to mine ear.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All read by me.''</span><br />
[[#07-138]]<span id="138"></span> Claudius: But how hath she received his love?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But how has she taken his sentiments of love?''</span><br />
[[#07-139]]<span id="139"></span> Polonius: What do you think of me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What do you think of me?''</span><br />
[[#07-140]]<span id="140"></span> Claudius: As . . . of a man faithful and honorable.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ass...of a man faithful and honorable.''</span><br />
[[#07-141]]<span id="141"></span> Polonius: I would fain prove so, but what might you think<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I would gladly prove so, but what might you have thought,''</span><br />
[[#07-142]]<span id="142"></span> When I had seen this hot love on the wing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When I saw this passionate love in progress -''</span><br />
[[#07-143]]<span id="143"></span> As I perceived it, (I must tell you that,)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As I did observe it, (I must tell you that,)''</span><br />
[[#07-144]]<span id="144"></span> Before my daughter told me; what might you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Before my daughter told me - what might you have thought,''</span><br />
[[#07-145]]<span id="145"></span> Or my dear Majesty your Queen here think,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or my dear Majesty, your Queen here have thought,''</span><br />
[[#07-146]]<span id="146"></span> If I had played the desk, or table book,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If I had acted as unmoving as a desk, or a table book,''</span><br />
[[#07-147]]<span id="147"></span> Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or had given my feelings a nap, speechless and silent,''</span><br />
[[#07-148]]<span id="148"></span> Or looked upon this love with idle sight,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or looked upon this love affair with an uncaring view,''</span><br />
[[#07-149]]<span id="149"></span> What might you think? No, I went round to work,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What would you have thought? No, I went directly to work,''</span><br />
[[#07-150]]<span id="150"></span> And my young Mistress thus I did bespeak:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I did order my young lady, thusly:''</span><br />
[[#07-151]]<span id="151"></span> Lord Hamlet is a prince out of thy star;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lord Hamlet is a prince, beyond the reach of your social status,''</span><br />
[[#07-152]]<span id="152"></span> This must not be; and then I precepts gave her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So such love must not be. And then I gave her rules''</span><br />
[[#07-153]]<span id="153"></span> That she should lock herself from her resort,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That she should lock herself away from her resort to him''</span><br />
[[#07-154]]<span id="154"></span> Admit no messengers, receive no tokens;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Admit no messengers with letters from him, receive no tokens of affection from him,''</span><br />
[[#07-155]]<span id="155"></span> Which done, she took the fruits of my advice;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when she did that, she harvested the fruits of my advice,''</span><br />
[[#07-156]]<span id="156"></span> And he, repulsed, a short tale to make,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then he, rejected by her - to keep the story short -''</span><br />
[[#07-157]]<span id="157"></span> Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He declined into sadness, then lost his appetite,''</span><br />
[[#07-158]]<span id="158"></span> Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then suffered insomnia, then became weak,''</span><br />
[[#07-159]]<span id="159"></span> Thence to a lightness, and by this declension,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then became witless, and by that decline,''</span><br />
[[#07-160]]<span id="160"></span> Into the madness wherein now he raves,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fell into the madness in which he now raves,''</span><br />
[[#07-161]]<span id="161"></span> And all we wail for.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And all of us lament about.''</span><br />
[[#07-162]]<span id="162"></span> Claudius: Do you think this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you think that's right?''</span><br />
[[#07-163]]<span id="163"></span> Gertrude: It may be very like.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It may be something very like that.''</span><br />
[[#07-164]]<span id="164"></span> Polonius: Hath there been such a time, I would fain know that,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Has there ever been a time, I would like to know that,''</span><br />
[[#07-165]]<span id="165"></span> That I have positively said, 'tis so,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I have definitely said something is so, and''</span><br />
[[#07-166]]<span id="166"></span> When it proved otherwise?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It has turned out otherwise?''</span><br />
[[#07-167]]<span id="167"></span> Claudius: Not that I know.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not that I know of.''</span><br />
[[#07-168]]<span id="168"></span> Polonius: Take this, from this, if this be otherwise;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take my head from my body, if this isn't as I say.''</span><br />
[[#07-169]]<span id="169"></span> If circumstances lead me, I will find<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If circumstances lead me, I will find''</span><br />
[[#07-170]]<span id="170"></span> Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where the truth is hidden, even though it's hidden deeply''</span><br />
[[#07-171]]<span id="171"></span> Within the center.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Within the heart.''</span><br />
[[#07-172]]<span id="172"></span> Claudius: How may we try it further?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How can we test the question further?''</span><br />
[[#07-173]]<span id="173"></span> Polonius: You know sometimes he walks four hours together<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You know, sometimes Hamlet walks for hours at a stretch''</span><br />
[[#07-174]]<span id="174"></span> Here in the Lobby.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Here in the Lobby.''</span><br />
[[#07-175]]<span id="175"></span> Gertrude: So he does, indeed.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So he does, indeed.''</span><br />
[[#07-176]]<span id="176"></span> Polonius: At such a time, I'll loose my daughter to him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At such a time, I'll unleash my daughter to him, and''</span><br />
[[#07-177]]<span id="177"></span> Be you and I behind an arras then;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You and I can hide behind an arras then,''</span><br />
[[#07-178]]<span id="178"></span> Mark the encounter; if he love her not,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To note their encounter. If he doesn't love her,''</span><br />
[[#07-179]]<span id="179"></span> And be not from his reason fallen thereon,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that isn't the cause for why he's lost his reason,''</span><br />
[[#07-180]]<span id="180"></span> Let me be no assistant for a state,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me be no civil servant for the nation,''</span><br />
[[#07-181]]<span id="181"></span> But keep a farm and carters.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But instead be a market gardener and employ vegetable cart drivers.''</span><br />
[[#07-182]]<span id="182"></span> Claudius: We will try it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll try it.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-182-SD]]<span id="182-SD"></span> (Hamlet enters, with a book)<br />
<br />
[[#07-183]]<span id="183"></span> Gertrude: But look where, sadly, the poor wretch comes reading.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But look where, sadly, the poor wretch comes reading.''</span><br />
[[#07-184]]<span id="184"></span> Polonius: Away, I do beseech you both, away; [[#07-184-SD]]<span id="184-SD"></span> (Claudius and Gertrude exit, with their entourage)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Away, I do implore you both, go away.''</span><br />
[[#07-185]]<span id="185"></span> I'll board him presently . . . oh, give me leave . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll accost him now . . . oh, with Your Majesties' permission . . .''</span><br />
[[#07-186]]<span id="186"></span> How does my good Lord Hamlet?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How do you do, my good Lord, Hamlet?''</span><br />
[[#07-187]]<span id="187"></span> Hamlet: Well, God a mercy!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Well, God have mercy!''</span><br />
[[#07-188]]<span id="188"></span> Polonius: Do you know me, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do you know me, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-189]]<span id="189"></span> Hamlet: Excellent well, you are a fishmonger.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Excellently well, you are a fish dealer.''</span><br />
[[#07-190]]<span id="190"></span> Polonius: Not I, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not me, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-191]]<span id="191"></span> Hamlet: Then I would you were so honest a man.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then I wish you were that honest a man.''</span><br />
[[#07-192]]<span id="192"></span> Polonius: Honest, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Honest, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-193]]<span id="193"></span> Hamlet: Aye, sir, to be honest, as this world goes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, sir, for to be honest, with the way this world is,''</span><br />
[[#07-194]]<span id="194"></span> Is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is to be one man chosen out of ten thousand.''</span><br />
[[#07-195]]<span id="195"></span> Polonius: That's very true, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's quite true, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-196]]<span id="196"></span> Hamlet: For, if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because, if the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog . . . being a''</span><br />
[[#07-197]]<span id="197"></span> good kissing carrion . . . Have you a daughter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''good kissing body . . . Have you a daughter?''</span><br />
[[#07-198]]<span id="198"></span> Polonius: I have, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes I have, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-199]]<span id="199"></span> Hamlet: Let her not walk i'th sun; conception is a blessing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let her not walk with the son. Understanding is a blessing,''</span><br />
[[#07-200]]<span id="200"></span> But as your daughter may conceive, friend, look to it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But, as your daughter may understand, friend, look to it.''</span><br />
[[#07-201]]<span id="201"></span> Polonius <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: How say you by that, still harping on my daughter; yet he<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What do you say to that, constantly meditating on my daughter. Yet, he''</span><br />
[[#07-202]]<span id="202"></span> knew me not at first, and said I was a fishmonger; he is far gone,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''didn't know me at first, and said I was a fish dealer. His mind is far away,''</span><br />
[[#07-203]]<span id="203"></span> and truly, in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love, very<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and indeed, in my youth, I suffered great distress over love, very much''</span><br />
[[#07-204]]<span id="204"></span> near this; I'll speak to him again.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''like this. I'll speak to him again.''</span><br />
[[#07-205]]<span id="205"></span> What do you read, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What are you reading, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-206]]<span id="206"></span> Hamlet: Words, words, words.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Words, words, words.''</span><br />
[[#07-207]]<span id="207"></span> Polonius: What is the matter, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-208]]<span id="208"></span> Hamlet: Between who?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Between whom?''</span><br />
[[#07-209]]<span id="209"></span> Polonius: I mean the matter that you read, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I mean the subject that you're reading, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-210]]<span id="210"></span> Hamlet: Slanders, sir; for the satirical slave says here, that old<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Slanders, sir. Because, the satirical rogue says here, that old''</span><br />
[[#07-211]]<span id="211"></span> men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes''</span><br />
[[#07-212]]<span id="212"></span> purging thick amber, and plumtree gum, and that they have a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''secrete thick amber, like tree sap, and that they have a''</span><br />
[[#07-213]]<span id="213"></span> plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all which, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''great lack of intelligence, and very weak hams, all of which, sir,''</span><br />
[[#07-214]]<span id="214"></span> though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''though I very firmly and strongly believe it, yet I don't think it's''</span><br />
[[#07-215]]<span id="215"></span> honesty to have it thus set down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old<br />
<span style="color:gray">''fair to have it written down, because you, sir, would be as old''</span><br />
[[#07-216]]<span id="216"></span> as I am, if like a crab, you could go backward.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''as I am, if you could go backward like a crab.''</span><br />
[[#07-217]]<span id="217"></span> Polonius <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Though this be madness, yet there is method in't;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Though this is madness, yet, there is order in it.''</span><br />
[[#07-218]]<span id="218"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Hamlet)</span>: will you walk out of the air, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will you walk in, out of the draft, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-219]]<span id="219"></span> Hamlet: Into my grave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Into my grave.''</span><br />
[[#07-220]]<span id="220"></span> Polonius <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Indeed, that's out of the air; how pregnant sometimes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, that would be out of the air. How occasionally apt''</span><br />
[[#07-221]]<span id="221"></span> his replies are, a happiness that often madness hits on, which reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his replies are, a happy result madness often achieves, that reason''</span><br />
[[#07-222]]<span id="222"></span> and sanctity could not so prosperously be delivered of; I will leave<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and righteousness could not so richly produce. I will leave''</span><br />
[[#07-223]]<span id="223"></span> him and my daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''him to his thoughts about my daughter.''</span><br />
[[#07-224]]<span id="224"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Hamlet)</span>: My Lord, I will take my leave of you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will take my leave of you.''</span><br />
[[#07-225]]<span id="225"></span> Hamlet: You cannot take from me anything that I<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You couldn't take from me anything that I''</span><br />
[[#07-226]]<span id="226"></span> will more willingly part withal . . . except my life,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''would more willingly part with . . . except my life,''</span><br />
[[#07-227]]<span id="227"></span> except my life, except my life.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''except my life, except my life.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-227-SD]]<span id="227-SD"></span> (Guildenstern and Rosencrantz enter)<br />
<br />
[[#07-228]]<span id="228"></span> Polonius: Fare you well, my Lord. [[#07-228-SD]]<span id="228-SD"></span> (Polonius starts toward his exit)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Farewell to you, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-229]]<span id="229"></span> Hamlet: These tedious old fools.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These tedious old fools.''</span><br />
[[#07-230]]<span id="230"></span> Polonius: You go to seek the Lord Hamlet, there he is.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You've gone to look for Lord Hamlet - there he is.''</span><br />
[[#07-231]]<span id="231"></span> Rosencrantz: God save you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''God bless you, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-231-SD]]<span id="231-SD"></span> (Polonius exits)<br />
<br />
[[#07-232]]<span id="232"></span> Guildenstern: My honored Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My honored Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-233]]<span id="233"></span> Rosencrantz: My most dear Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My most dear Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-234]]<span id="234"></span> Hamlet: My extent good friends; how dost thou, Guildenstern? [[#07-234-SD]]<span id="234-SD"></span> (G. shakes Hamlet's hand)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My valued, good friends. How are you, Guildenstern?''</span><br />
[[#07-235]]<span id="235"></span> Ah, Rosencrantz, good lads, how do you both? [[#07-235-SD]]<span id="235-SD"></span> (R. bows again, and does ''not''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ah, Rosencrantz . . . good lads, how are you both doing?''</span> shake Hamlet's hand)<br />
[[#07-236]]<span id="236"></span> Rosencrantz: As the indifferent children of the earth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like the ordinary children on the earth.''</span><br />
[[#07-237]]<span id="237"></span> Guildenstern: Happy, in that we are not ever-happy; on Fortune's cap<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Happy, in that we are not in eternal bliss, although, on Fortune's cap,''</span><br />
[[#07-238]]<span id="238"></span> We are not the very button.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We are not the very ornament.''</span><br />
[[#07-239]]<span id="239"></span> Hamlet: Nor the soles of Her shoe?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're not the soles of Her shoes, being trodden under foot?''</span><br />
[[#07-240]]<span id="240"></span> Rosencrantz: Neither, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not that either, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-241]]<span id="241"></span> Hamlet: Then you live about Her waist, or in the middle of Her favors.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then you live about Her waist, in the middling part of Her favors.''</span><br />
[[#07-242]]<span id="242"></span> Guildenstern: Faith, Her privates, we.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Truly, we are Her privates.''</span><br />
[[#07-243]]<span id="243"></span> Hamlet: In the secret parts of Fortune; oh most true, She is a strumpet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're in the secret parts of Fortune, oh it's true, Dame Fortune is a strumpet.''</span><br />
[[#07-244]]<span id="244"></span> What news?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What news do you know?''</span><br />
[[#07-245]]<span id="245"></span> Rosencrantz: None, my Lord, but the world's grown honest.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''None, my Lord, except that the world's become honest.''</span><br />
[[#07-246]]<span id="246"></span> Hamlet: Then is doomsday near, but your news is not true;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then doomsday must be near, but your news is not true.''</span><br />
[[#07-247]]<span id="247"></span> Let me question more in particular: what have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let me ask you more specifically: what have''</span><br />
[[#07-248]]<span id="248"></span> you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, my good friends, suffered at the hands of Dame Fortune,''</span><br />
[[#07-249]]<span id="249"></span> that She sends you to prison hither?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''that She sentences you to prison here?''</span><br />
[[#07-250]]<span id="250"></span> Guildenstern: Prison, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Prison, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-251]]<span id="251"></span> Hamlet: Denmark's a prison.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Denmark's a prison.''</span><br />
[[#07-252]]<span id="252"></span> Rosencrantz: Then is the world one.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then the whole world must be one.''</span><br />
[[#07-253]]<span id="253"></span> Hamlet: A goodly one, in which there are many confines,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, a grand one, in which there are many cells,''</span><br />
[[#07-254]]<span id="254"></span> wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o'the worst.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one of the worst.''</span><br />
[[#07-255]]<span id="255"></span> Rosencrantz: We think not so, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We don't think so, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-256]]<span id="256"></span> Hamlet: Why, then 'tis none to you, for there is nothing<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then it's no prison to you, since there's nothing''</span><br />
[[#07-257]]<span id="257"></span> either good or bad, but thinking makes it so;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''either good or bad, except when understanding identifies it as such.''</span><br />
[[#07-258]]<span id="258"></span> To me it is a prison.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To me, Denmark is a prison.''</span><br />
[[#07-259]]<span id="259"></span> Rosencrantz: Why, then your ambition makes it one;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why then, your ambition makes it one.''</span><br />
[[#07-260]]<span id="260"></span> It is too narrow for your mind.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's too confining for your mind.''</span><br />
[[#07-261]]<span id="261"></span> Hamlet: Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh God, I could put it in a nutshell,''</span><br />
[[#07-262]]<span id="262"></span> And count myself a king of infinite space,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And reckon myself a king, as far as I can see,''</span><br />
[[#07-263]]<span id="263"></span> Were it not that I have bad dreams.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Except that I have bad dreams.''</span><br />
[[#07-264]]<span id="264"></span> Guildenstern: Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Such dreams are, indeed, ambition, because the''</span><br />
[[#07-265]]<span id="265"></span> very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''true substance of the ambitious is only the shadow''</span><br />
[[#07-266]]<span id="266"></span> of a dream.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of a dream.''</span><br />
[[#07-267]]<span id="267"></span> Hamlet: A dream, itself, is but a shadow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A dream, itself, is only a shadow.''</span><br />
[[#07-268]]<span id="268"></span> Rosencrantz: Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Indeed, and I take ambition to be such an intangible and frivolous''</span><br />
[[#07-269]]<span id="269"></span> A quality, that it is but a shadow's shadow.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Attribute, that it is only a shadow's shadow.''</span><br />
[[#07-270]]<span id="270"></span> Hamlet: Then are our beggars, bodies, and our monarchs<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then our beggars are the material bodies, and our monarchs''</span><br />
[[#07-271]]<span id="271"></span> and out-stretched heroes, the beggars' shadows;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and out-stretched heroes are the beggar's shadows.''</span><br />
[[#07-272]]<span id="272"></span> shall we to the court, for by my fay, I cannot reason.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Shall we go to the tennis court? For, by my faith, I cannot figure it out.''</span><br />
[[#07-273]]<span id="273"></span> (Both R. and G.): We'll wait upon you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll attend you!''</span><br />
[[#07-274]]<span id="274"></span> Hamlet: No such matter; I will not sort you with the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No such thing. I won't mix you with the''</span><br />
[[#07-275]]<span id="275"></span> rest of my servants, for, to speak to you like an honest<br />
<span style="color:gray">''rest of my servants, because, to speak to you like an honest''</span><br />
[[#07-276]]<span id="276"></span> man, I am most dreadfully attended;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man, I am very dreadfully served.''</span><br />
[[#07-277]]<span id="277"></span> But in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But along the beaten path of friendship, what brings you to Elsinore?''</span><br />
[[#07-278]]<span id="278"></span> Rosencrantz: To visit you, my Lord; no other occasion.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To visit you, my Lord, that's all.''</span><br />
[[#07-279]]<span id="279"></span> Hamlet: Beggar that I am, I am ever poor in thanks, but I thank<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'm such a beggar, I'm always poor with thanks, but I thank''</span><br />
[[#07-280]]<span id="280"></span> you, and sure dear friends, my thanks are too dear a halfpenny;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''you, and for sure, friends, my thanks are too costly by a halfpenny.''</span><br />
[[#07-281]]<span id="281"></span> were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Were you not sent for? Is it your own desire? Is it a voluntary visit?''</span><br />
[[#07-282]]<span id="282"></span> Come, come, deal justly with me; come, come, nay, speak.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come come, deal fairly with me. Come come, don't remain silent, tell me.''</span><br />
[[#07-283]]<span id="283"></span> Guildenstern: What should we say, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What are we supposed to say, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-284]]<span id="284"></span> Hamlet: Why anything but to the purpose; you were sent for, and there is<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, anything but what I want to know, I guess. You were sent for, and there's''</span><br />
[[#07-285]]<span id="285"></span> a kind of confession in your looks, which your modesties have not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a kind of confession in your faces, that your manners are not''</span><br />
[[#07-286]]<span id="286"></span> craft enough to color; I know the good King and Queen have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''clever enough to conceal. I know that our King and Queen have''</span><br />
[[#07-287]]<span id="287"></span> sent for you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''sent for you.''</span><br />
[[#07-288]]<span id="288"></span> Rosencrantz: To what end, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why would they do that, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-289]]<span id="289"></span> Hamlet: That you must teach me; but let me conjure you, by the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, you'll have to tell me. But let me "summon" you, by the''</span><br />
[[#07-290]]<span id="290"></span> rites of our fellowship, by the consonancy of our youth, by the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''solemn ceremonies of our college fellowship, by the harmony of our youth, by the''</span><br />
[[#07-291]]<span id="291"></span> obligation of our ever-preserved love, and by what more dear a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''obligations of our abiding friendship, and by anything more charming, that a''</span><br />
[[#07-292]]<span id="292"></span> better proposer can charge you withal; be even and direct with<br />
<span style="color:gray">''better pleader could move you with: be on the level, and candid with''</span><br />
[[#07-293]]<span id="293"></span> me whether you were sent for or no.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''me about whether you were sent for or not.''</span><br />
[[#07-294]]<span id="294"></span> Rosencrantz <span style="color:gray">(to Guildenstern)</span>: What say you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What do you say?''</span><br />
[[#07-295]]<span id="295"></span> Hamlet: Nay then I have an eye of you? If you love me, hold not off.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, will you look at me, with at least one eye? If you're my friend, don't hold back.''</span><br />
[[#07-296]]<span id="296"></span> Guildenstern: My Lord, we were sent for.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, yes, we were sent for.''</span><br />
[[#07-297]]<span id="297"></span> Hamlet: I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll tell you why, and by doing that, my anticipation will preclude your disclosure to me,''</span><br />
[[#07-298]]<span id="298"></span> and your secrecy to the King and Queen molt no feather:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''so your vow of secrecy to the King and Queen won't be lost, like a bird flying away.''</span><br />
[[#07-299]]<span id="299"></span> I have, of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have lately, but I don't know for what reason, lost all my sense of humor,''</span><br />
[[#07-300]]<span id="300"></span> forgone all custom of exercises, and indeed, it goes so heavenly with<br />
<span style="color:gray">''given up all my habitual activities, and indeed, things are so dispirited with''</span><br />
[[#07-301]]<span id="301"></span> my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''my state of mind, that this grand structure, the earth, seems to me to be only a''</span><br />
[[#07-302]]<span id="302"></span> sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air - look<br />
<span style="color:gray">''lifeless promontory; and this very wonderful canopy, the sky - look''</span><br />
[[#07-303]]<span id="303"></span> you - this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted<br />
<span style="color:gray">''at it yourself - this splendid firmament hanging above us, this majestical roof inset''</span><br />
[[#07-304]]<span id="304"></span> with golden fire, why, it appeareth no other thing to me than a foul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''with the golden sun, why, it looks to me like nothing else than a foul''</span><br />
[[#07-305]]<span id="305"></span> and pestilent congregation of vapors. What piece of work is a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and unhealthy condensation of vapors. What piece of work is a''</span><br />
[[#07-306]]<span id="306"></span> man? How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties; in form and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''man? How noble his reason, how infinite his faculties. In form and''</span><br />
[[#07-307]]<span id="307"></span> moving, how express and admirable in action; how like an angel<br />
<span style="color:gray">''motion, how expressly admirable in action! How like an angel,''</span><br />
[[#07-308]]<span id="308"></span> in apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world, the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''in his apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world, the''</span><br />
[[#07-309]]<span id="309"></span> paragon of animals . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''model of excellence, among animals. Yet to me, what is this quintessence of''</span><br />
[[#07-310]]<span id="310"></span> dust? Man delights not me, nor woman neither, though by your<br />
<span style="color:gray">''dust? Man does not delight me, nor woman either - but judging by your''</span><br />
[[#07-311]]<span id="311"></span> smiling, you seem to say so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''smiles, you seem to think so.''</span><br />
[[#07-312]]<span id="312"></span> Rosencrantz: My Lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, there was no such thing in my thoughts.''</span><br />
[[#07-313]]<span id="313"></span> Hamlet: Why did ye laugh then, when I said man delights not me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then why did you laugh when I said man does not delight me?''</span><br />
[[#07-314]]<span id="314"></span> Rosencrantz: To think, my Lord, if you delight not in man, what Lenten<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I was thinking, my Lord, if you don't delight in man, what a cheerless''</span><br />
[[#07-315]]<span id="315"></span> entertainment the players shall receive from you; we coted them<br />
<span style="color:gray">''greeting the actors will receive from you. We passed them''</span><br />
[[#07-316]]<span id="316"></span> on the way, and hither are they coming to offer you service.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''along the way, and they're coming here to offer you their services.''</span><br />
[[#07-317]]<span id="317"></span> Hamlet: He that plays the King shall be welcome: his Majesty shall<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The actor who plays the King will be welcome, his Majesty shall''</span><br />
[[#07-318]]<span id="318"></span> have tribute on me; the adventurous Knight shall use his foil and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''receive tribute from me. The adventurous Knight shall use his sword and''</span><br />
[[#07-319]]<span id="319"></span> target; the Lover shall not sigh gratis; the Humorous Man shall end<br />
<span style="color:gray">''shield. The lover won't sigh for nothing. The sad man shall conclude''</span><br />
[[#07-320]]<span id="320"></span> his part in peace; the clown shall make those laugh whose lungs<br />
<span style="color:gray">''his part in peace. The clown shall make those in the audience laugh, whose lungs''</span><br />
[[#07-321]]<span id="321"></span> are tickled at the sere, and the Lady shall say her mind freely, or the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''are tickled at dry humor, and the Lady shall speak her mind freely, or I'll have the''</span><br />
[[#07-322]]<span id="322"></span> black verse shall halt for it. What players are they?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''grievous verse halted, if she can't. Which actors are they?''</span><br />
[[#07-323]]<span id="323"></span> Rosencrantz: Even those you were wont to take such delight in,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exactly those you were inclined to take such delight in,''</span><br />
[[#07-324]]<span id="324"></span> the tragedians of the city.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the tragedians of the city.''</span><br />
[[#07-325]]<span id="325"></span> Hamlet: How chances it they travel? Their residence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How has it happened they travel? Their residency,''</span><br />
[[#07-326]]<span id="326"></span> in reputation and profit was better, both ways.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for their fame and their income, was better in the city, in both respects.''</span><br />
[[#07-327]]<span id="327"></span> Rosencrantz: I think their inhibition comes by the means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I think their prohibition, from playing in the city, is because''</span><br />
[[#07-328]]<span id="328"></span> of the late innovation.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''of the recent change in government.''</span><br />
[[#07-329]]<span id="329"></span> Hamlet: Do they hold the same estimation they did<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do they have the same reputation they did''</span><br />
[[#07-330]]<span id="330"></span> when I was in the city; are they so followed?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''when I was in the city? Are they so closely followed?''</span><br />
[[#07-331]]<span id="331"></span> Rosencrantz: No, indeed are they not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, indeed, they are not.''</span><br />
[[#07-332]]<span id="332"></span> Hamlet: How comes it? Do they grow resty?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How did it happen? Do the actors grow lazy?''</span><br />
[[#07-333]]<span id="333"></span> Rosencrantz: Nay, their endeavor keeps in the wonted<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, they still perform at their usual energetic''</span><br />
[[#07-334]]<span id="334"></span> pace, but there is an aerie of children, little<br />
<span style="color:gray">''pace. But there is a company of children, little''</span><br />
[[#07-335]]<span id="335"></span> eyases, that cry out on the top of question, and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''birds, who sing out beyond any doubt, and''</span><br />
[[#07-336]]<span id="336"></span> are most tyrannically clapped for it; these are now the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''are very royally applauded for it. These children are now the''</span><br />
[[#07-337]]<span id="337"></span> fashion, and so berattle the common stages, (so they<br />
<span style="color:gray">''fashion, and they have so shaken up the common stages (as people''</span><br />
[[#07-338]]<span id="338"></span> call them,) that many wearing rapiers are afraid of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''call them,) it's as if many who wear swords are afraid of''</span><br />
[[#07-339]]<span id="339"></span> goose quills, and dare scarce come thither.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''pens, so they'll hardly dare go there.''</span><br />
[[#07-340]]<span id="340"></span> Hamlet: What, are they children? Who maintains them?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, they're children? Who supports them?''</span><br />
[[#07-341]]<span id="341"></span> How are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are their bills paid? Will they keep performing any''</span><br />
[[#07-342]]<span id="342"></span> longer than they can sing? Will they not say afterwards,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''longer than they can sing? Won't they say later,''</span><br />
[[#07-343]]<span id="343"></span> if they should grow themselves to common players, (as<br />
<span style="color:gray">''if they happen to grow up to be regular actors, (as''</span><br />
[[#07-344]]<span id="344"></span> it is likemost if their means are no better,) their<br />
<span style="color:gray">''is most likely if they can't do better,) that their''</span><br />
[[#07-345]]<span id="345"></span> writers do them wrong, to make them exclaim against their<br />
<span style="color:gray">''writers are doing them wrong, to have them compete against their''</span><br />
[[#07-346]]<span id="346"></span> own succession?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''own future career?''</span><br />
[[#07-347]]<span id="347"></span> Rosencrantz: Faith, there has been much to-do on both sides,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness, there has been much to-do on both sides of the issue,''</span><br />
[[#07-348]]<span id="348"></span> and the nation holds it no sin to tar them to controversy;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and the nation sees nothing wrong in inciting the sides into conflict.''</span><br />
[[#07-349]]<span id="349"></span> there was, for a while, no money bid for argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For a while, there was no money offered for play synopses''</span><br />
[[#07-350]]<span id="350"></span> unless the poet and the player went to cuffs in<br />
<span style="color:gray">''except those in which the lyricist and the orator came to blows over''</span><br />
[[#07-351]]<span id="351"></span> the question.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the issue.''</span><br />
[[#07-352]]<span id="352"></span> Hamlet: Is it possible?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is that possible?''</span><br />
[[#07-353]]<span id="353"></span> Guildenstern: Oh, there has been much throwing about of<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, there has been much tossing around of''</span><br />
[[#07-354]]<span id="354"></span> brains.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ideas.''</span><br />
[[#07-355]]<span id="355"></span> Hamlet: Do the boys carry it away?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do the children prevail?''</span><br />
[[#07-356]]<span id="356"></span> Rosencrantz: Aye, that they do, my Lord; Hercules and his load, too.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, indeed they do, my Lord, and like Hercules carrying the world.''</span><br />
[[#07-357]]<span id="357"></span> Hamlet: It is not very strange, for my uncle is King of Denmark, and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It doesn't surprise me, since my uncle is King of Denmark, and''</span><br />
[[#07-358]]<span id="358"></span> those that would make mouths at him while my father lived, give<br />
<span style="color:gray">''people who would sneer at him, while my father was alive, now give''</span><br />
[[#07-359]]<span id="359"></span> twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece for his picture<br />
<span style="color:gray">''twenty, forty, fifty, or a hundred ducats each for his image''</span><br />
[[#07-360]]<span id="360"></span> in little; s'blood, there is something in this more than natural, if<br />
<span style="color:gray">''in miniature. Zounds, there is something in all this beyond what's natural - if only''</span><br />
[[#07-361]]<span id="361"></span> philosophy could find it out.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''philosophy could find out what it is.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-361-SD]]<span id="361-SD"></span> (trumpets sound a flourish, as the Players arrive)<br />
<br />
[[#07-362]]<span id="362"></span> Guildenstern: There are the players.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There are the players.''</span><br />
[[#07-363]]<span id="363"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(to R. & G.)</span>: Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore -''</span><br />
[[#07-364]]<span id="364"></span> your hands, come then, the appurtenance of welcome is fashion [[#07-364-SD]]<span id="364-SD"></span> (G. shakes Hamlet's hand;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''your hands, come now - the facade of welcome is style''</span> again, R. does ''not'')<br />
[[#07-365]]<span id="365"></span> and ceremony; let me comply with you in this garb, lest my extent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and ceremony. Let me fulfill the needs of courtesy, dressed up like this, lest my magnanimity''</span><br />
[[#07-366]]<span id="366"></span> to the players, which I tell you must show fairly outwards, should more<br />
<span style="color:gray">''to the actors, which, I can tell you, must be a handsome show, outwardly, should more''</span><br />
[[#07-367]]<span id="367"></span> appear like entertainment then yours; you are welcome,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''resemble hospitality than your welcome. You are welcome,''</span><br />
[[#07-368]]<span id="368"></span> but my uncle-father, and aunt-mother, are deceived.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but my uncle-father and my aunt-mother are misled.''</span><br />
[[#07-369]]<span id="369"></span> Guildenstern: In what, my dear Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In what, my dear Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-370]]<span id="370"></span> Hamlet: I am but mad north-northwest; when the wind is southerly,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'm only mad when I'm dreaming. When the wind is southerly,''</span><br />
[[#07-371]]<span id="371"></span> I know a hawk from a handsaw.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I can tell a hawk from a handsaw.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-371-SD]]<span id="371-SD"></span> (Polonius enters)<br />
<br />
[[#07-372]]<span id="372"></span> Polonius <span style="color:gray">(to the Players)</span>: Well be with you, gentlemen. [[#07-372-SD]]<span id="372-SD"></span> (a Player hands Polonius a playbill)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I hope all is well with you, gentlemen.''</span><br />
[[#07-373]]<span id="373"></span> Hamlet: Hark you, Guildenstern, and you too, at each ear a hearer:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Listen, Guildenstern, and you also, at each side of me, listen:''</span><br />
[[#07-374]]<span id="374"></span> that great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling clouts.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''that huge infant you see there has not yet outgrown his baby clothes.''</span><br />
[[#07-375]]<span id="375"></span> Rosencrantz: Happily, he is the second time come to them, for they say an<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fortunately, he's wearing them for the second time, since they say an''</span><br />
[[#07-376]]<span id="376"></span> old man is twice a child.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''old man is a child for the second time.''</span><br />
[[#07-377]]<span id="377"></span> Hamlet: I will prophecy, he comes to tell me of the players; mark it . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will predict, he's approaching to tell me about the actors. Take notice . . .''</span><br />
[[#07-378]]<span id="378"></span> You say right, sir, a Monday morning, t'was then indeed.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You're right, sir, it was a Monday morning, yes, that's when it was, indeed.''</span><br />
[[#07-379]]<span id="379"></span> Polonius: My Lord, I have news to tell you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I have news to tell you.''</span><br />
[[#07-380]]<span id="380"></span> Hamlet: My Lord, I have news to tell you: when Roscius was an actor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I have something brand new to tell you: when Roscius was an actor''</span><br />
[[#07-381]]<span id="381"></span> in Rome . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''in ancient Rome hundreds of years ago . . .''</span><br />
[[#07-382]]<span id="382"></span> Polonius: The actors are come hither, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The actors have come here, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-383]]<span id="383"></span> Hamlet: Buzz, buzz.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, that's only a buzz of gossip.''</span><br />
[[#07-384]]<span id="384"></span> Polonius: Upon my honor!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I swear they have, upon my honor!''</span><br />
[[#07-385]]<span id="385"></span> Hamlet: Then came each actor on his ass.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then the actors arrived on a jackass.''</span><br />
[[#07-386]]<span id="386"></span> Polonius: The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, [[#07-386-SD]]<span id="386-SD"></span> (Polonius reads from the playbill)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The best actors in the world, whether for tragedy, comedy,''</span><br />
[[#07-387]]<span id="387"></span> history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral,''</span><br />
[[#07-388]]<span id="388"></span> tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral,''</span><br />
[[#07-389]]<span id="389"></span> scene individable, or poem unlimited; Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''scene unclassifiable, or any poetic presentation. Seneca isn't too melodramatic, nor''</span><br />
[[#07-390]]<span id="390"></span> Plautus too light . . . for the law of writ, and the liberty, these are the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Plautus too silly, as they do it. Either in the city or outside it, these are the''</span><br />
[[#07-391]]<span id="391"></span> only men.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''incomparable men.''</span><br />
[[#07-392]]<span id="392"></span> Hamlet: Oh, Jephthah, Judge of Israel, what a treasure had'st thou?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, Jephthah, judge of Israel, what treasure did he have?''</span><br />
[[#07-393]]<span id="393"></span> Polonius: What a treasure had he, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What treasure did he have, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-394]]<span id="394"></span> Hamlet: Why, one fair daughter and no more, the which he loved<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, one fair daughter, and no more, whom he loved''</span><br />
[[#07-395]]<span id="395"></span> passing well.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''surpassingly well.''</span><br />
[[#07-396]]<span id="396"></span> Polonius <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Still on my daughter.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Always thinking about my daughter!''</span><br />
[[#07-397]]<span id="397"></span> Hamlet: Am I not in the right, old Jephthah?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Am I not right, old Jephthah?''</span><br />
[[#07-398]]<span id="398"></span> Polonius: If you call me Jephthah, my Lord, I have a daughter that I love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you call me Jephthah, my Lord, I have a daughter that I love''</span><br />
[[#07-399]]<span id="399"></span> passing well.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''surpassingly well.''</span><br />
[[#07-400]]<span id="400"></span> Hamlet: Nay, that follows not.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, that isn't what follows.''</span><br />
[[#07-401]]<span id="401"></span> Polonius: What follows then, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What does follow, then, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-402]]<span id="402"></span> Hamlet: Why, as by lot, God wot, and then you know, it came to<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, as by chance, God knew, and then you know, it came to''</span><br />
[[#07-403]]<span id="403"></span> pass, as most like it was; the first row of the pious chanson will<br />
<span style="color:gray">''pass, as very like it was - the first verse of the religious song will''</span><br />
[[#07-404]]<span id="404"></span> show you more, for look where my abridgment comes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' show you more, just look where my abridgment comes.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-404-SD]]<span id="404-SD"></span> (Hamlet beckons to the Players; the Players enter)<br />
<br />
[[#07-405]]<span id="405"></span> Hamlet: You are welcome, masters, welcome all; I am glad to see thee<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You are welcome, masters, welcome all. I'm glad to see you're''</span><br />
[[#07-406]]<span id="406"></span> well; welcome good friends; oh, my old friend, why, thy face is valanced<br />
<span style="color:gray">''well. Welcome good friends. Oh, my old friend, why, your face is bearded''</span><br />
[[#07-407]]<span id="407"></span> since I saw thee last, comest thou to beard me in Denmark?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''since I last saw you - do you come to beard me in Denmark?''</span><br />
[[#07-408]]<span id="408"></span> What, my young lady and mistress, by lady, Your Ladyship is<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's this, my young actor who plays the ladies and mistresses, by lady, your Ladyship is''</span><br />
[[#07-409]]<span id="409"></span> nearer to heaven, then when I saw you last by the altitude of a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''taller than when I last saw you, by the height of a''</span><br />
[[#07-410]]<span id="410"></span> chopine; pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''thick-soled shoe. I pray to God that your voice hasn't become like a bad coin,''</span><br />
[[#07-411]]<span id="411"></span> be not cracked within the ring; masters, you are all welcome;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and has no crack within its ringing. Masters, you're all welcome.''</span><br />
[[#07-412]]<span id="412"></span> we'll into it like friendly falconers, fly at anything we see;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll get into this acting like indiscriminate falconers, and fly at anything we see.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-412-SD]]<span id="412-SD"></span> (dance routine)<br />
<span style="color:gray"> ''(Hamlet continues):''</span><br />
[[#07-413]]<span id="413"></span> we'll have a speech straight, come, give us a taste of your quality,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let's have a speech right away, come, let's have a taste of your ability.''</span><br />
[[#07-414]]<span id="414"></span> come, a passionate speech.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come, do an emotional speech.''</span><br />
[[#07-415]]<span id="415"></span> First Player: What speech, my good Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What speech, my good Lord?''</span><br />
[[#07-416]]<span id="416"></span> Hamlet: I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was never acted,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There's a speech I heard you recite for me once, but it was never staged -''</span><br />
[[#07-417]]<span id="417"></span> or if it was, not above once, for the play, I remember, pleased not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, if it was, not more than once, for I remember that the play did not please''</span><br />
[[#07-418]]<span id="418"></span> the million; it was caviary to the general, but it was, as I received<br />
<span style="color:gray">''the masses. It was like caviar to the public. But it was, as I took''</span><br />
[[#07-419]]<span id="419"></span> it, and others, whose judgements in such matters cried in the top<br />
<span style="color:gray">''it, and as some others did - whose judgments in such subjects harmonized''</span><br />
[[#07-420]]<span id="420"></span> of mine, an excellent play, well digested in the scenes, set down<br />
<span style="color:gray">''with mine - an excellent play, well arranged in its scenes, written''</span><br />
[[#07-421]]<span id="421"></span> with as much modesty as cunning; I remember one said there<br />
<span style="color:gray">''with as much naturalness as artfulness. I remember one person said there''</span><br />
[[#07-422]]<span id="422"></span> were no salads in the lines, to make the matter savory, nor no<br />
<span style="color:gray">''were no "salads" in the lines, to make the substance spicy, and no''</span><br />
[[#07-423]]<span id="423"></span> matter in the phrase that might indict the author of affection,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''material in the phrasing that might charge the author with pretense,''</span><br />
[[#07-424]]<span id="424"></span> but called it an honest method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very<br />
<span style="color:gray">''but he called it a true approach, as healthy as it was pleasurable, and by a wide''</span><br />
[[#07-425]]<span id="425"></span> much, more handsome than fine; one speech in it I chiefly loved,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''margin, more naturally attractive than fancified. There was one speech in it I mainly relished:''</span><br />
[[#07-426]]<span id="426"></span> 'twas Aeneas' talk to Dido, and there about of it especially, when he<br />
<span style="color:gray">''that was Aeneas' speech to Dido, and especially around the part of it where he''</span><br />
[[#07-427]]<span id="427"></span> speaks of Priam's slaughter; if it live in your memory, begin at<br />
<span style="color:gray">''speaks of the slaughter of Priam. If it still lives in your memory, begin at''</span><br />
[[#07-428]]<span id="428"></span> this line, let me see, let me see:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''this line - let me see . . . let me see . . .''</span><br />
[[#07-429]]<span id="429"></span> ''The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast . . .'' [[#07-429-SD]]<span id="429-SD"></span> (Hamlet begins to recite)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Caspian tiger . . .''</span><br />
[[#07-430]]<span id="430"></span> 'Tis not so . . . it begins with Pyrrhus:<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, that isn't right . . . but it does begin with Pyrrhus:''</span><br />
[[#07-431]]<span id="431"></span> ''The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The brutish Pyrrhus, he, whose sable armor, as''</span><br />
[[#07-432]]<span id="432"></span> ''Black as his purpose, did the night resemble,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Black as his intentions, did the black of night resemble,''</span><br />
[[#07-433]]<span id="433"></span> ''When he lay couched in the ominous horse,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When he lay hidden in the ominous Trojan Horse,''</span><br />
[[#07-434]]<span id="434"></span> ''Hath now this dread and black complexion smeared,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Has now smeared his dreadful and black colors''</span><br />
[[#07-435]]<span id="435"></span> ''With heraldy more dismal, head to foot;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With color even more dismal, from head to foot.''</span><br />
[[#07-436]]<span id="436"></span> ''Now is he total gules horridly tricked''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now he is totally and horridly dressed in red''</span><br />
[[#07-437]]<span id="437"></span> ''With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,''</span><br />
[[#07-438]]<span id="438"></span> ''Baked and empasted, with the parching streets -''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That is baked and stuck on by the hot, dry streets -''</span><br />
[[#07-439]]<span id="439"></span> ''That lend a tyrannous and a damned light''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That shine a tyrannous and a damned light''</span><br />
[[#07-440]]<span id="440"></span> ''To their vile murder - roasted in wrath and fire;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Upon their vile murders - as the buildings are roasted in wrath and fire.''</span><br />
[[#07-441]]<span id="441"></span> ''And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, thusly decorated and enlarged by coagulated gore,''</span><br />
[[#07-442]]<span id="442"></span> ''With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With eyes that glitter like red jewels, the hellish Pyrrhus''</span><br />
[[#07-443]]<span id="443"></span> ''Old grandsire Priam seeks;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Seeks old grandfather Priam.''</span><br />
[[#07-444]]<span id="444"></span> So, proceed you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So, you take it from there.''</span><br />
[[#07-445]]<span id="445"></span> Polonius: 'Foregod, my Lord, well spoken, with good accent <span style="color:gray">[sic]</span> and<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll say before God, my Lord, well spoken, with good pronunciation and''</span><br />
[[#07-446]]<span id="446"></span> good discretion! <span style="color:gray">[sic!]</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">''good tact!''</span><br />
[[#07-447]]<span id="447"></span> First Player: ''Anon he finds him,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Soon Pyrrhus finds Priam,''</span><br />
[[#07-448]]<span id="448"></span> ''Striking too short at Greeks, his antique sword''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Trying to strike at Greeks and coming up short. His old sword,''</span><br />
[[#07-449]]<span id="449"></span> ''Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rebellious against the control of his arm, falls and lies there,''</span><br />
[[#07-450]]<span id="450"></span> ''Repugnant to command; unequal matched,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In opposition to his command. Unequally matched,''</span><br />
[[#07-451]]<span id="451"></span> ''Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pyrrhus lunges at Priam, and swings wide in his rage.''</span><br />
[[#07-452]]<span id="452"></span> ''But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But from the breath and gust of his deadly sword''</span><br />
[[#07-453]]<span id="453"></span> ''The unnerved father falls; then senseless Ilium,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The enervated old man falls. Then the citadel of Ilium, though senseless,''</span><br />
[[#07-454]]<span id="454"></span> ''Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Seeming to feel this blow, with its top ablaze,''</span><br />
[[#07-455]]<span id="455"></span> ''Stoops to his base; and with a hideous crash''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dived to its foundations, and with a hideous crash,''</span><br />
[[#07-456]]<span id="456"></span> ''Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear, for lo, his sword,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Captured Pyrrhus' ear, for look! - his sword''</span><br />
[[#07-457]]<span id="457"></span> ''Which was declining on the milky head''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which was descending on the white-haired head''</span><br />
[[#07-458]]<span id="458"></span> ''Of reverent Priam, seemed in the air to stick;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of kneeling Priam, seemed to stick in the air.''</span><br />
[[#07-459]]<span id="459"></span> ''So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Thusly, like a tyrant in a picture, Pyrrhus stood,''</span><br />
[[#07-460]]<span id="460"></span> ''And like a neutral to his will and matter,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if his spirit were neutral to his own mind and body, and''</span><br />
[[#07-461]]<span id="461"></span> ''Did nothing;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Did nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-461-SD]]<span id="461-SD"></span> (the Players present a tableau)<br />
<br />
[[#07-462]]<span id="462"></span> ''But, as we often see against some storm,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But as we often see against the backdrop of a storm,''</span><br />
[[#07-463]]<span id="463"></span> ''A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A silence in the heavens, the clouds stand still,''</span><br />
[[#07-464]]<span id="464"></span> ''The bold winds speechless, and the orb below''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The boisterous winds mute, and the world below''</span><br />
[[#07-465]]<span id="465"></span> ''As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As silent as death - soon the dreadful thunder''</span><br />
[[#07-466]]<span id="466"></span> ''Doth rend the region; so after Pyrrhus' pause,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does blast the air. So it was after Pyrrhus' pause.''</span><br />
[[#07-467]]<span id="467"></span> ''A roused vengeance sets him new a' work,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''An awakened vengeance puts him to work once more.''</span><br />
[[#07-468]]<span id="468"></span> ''And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall''</span><br />
[[#07-469]]<span id="469"></span> ''On Mars's armor, forged for proof etern,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''On the god Mars' armor, which was forged for everlasting invulnerability,''</span><br />
[[#07-470]]<span id="470"></span> ''With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With less pity than Pyrrhus' bloody sword''</span><br />
[[#07-471]]<span id="471"></span> ''Now falls on Priam.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now falls on Priam.''</span><br />
[[#07-472]]<span id="472"></span> ''Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Be gone, be gone, you strumpet Fortune! All you gods,''</span><br />
[[#07-473]]<span id="473"></span> ''In general synod take away Her power!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In general council take away Her power!''</span><br />
[[#07-474]]<span id="474"></span> ''Break all the spokes, and follies from Her wheel,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Break all the spokes and human follies from Her Wheel of Fortune.''</span><br />
[[#07-475]]<span id="475"></span> ''And bowl the round nave down the hill of Heaven''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And roll the round hub of the wheel down from the height of Heaven''</span><br />
[[#07-476]]<span id="476"></span> ''As low as to the fiends!''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''All the way down to the fiends of Hell!''</span><br />
[[#07-477]]<span id="477"></span> Polonius: This is too long.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is too long.''</span><br />
[[#07-478]]<span id="478"></span> Hamlet: It shall to the barber's with your beard.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll take it along to the barber for a trim, when he shaves off your beard.''</span><br />
[[#07-479]]<span id="479"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to the First Player)</span>: prithee say on, he's<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please, continue, he likes''</span><br />
[[#07-480]]<span id="480"></span> for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps; say on, come to Hecuba.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a jig or bawdy story, or he falls asleep. Continue, get to Hecuba.''</span><br />
[[#07-481]]<span id="481"></span> First Player: ''But who, ah woe, had seen the mabled Queen . . .''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But who, oh woe, had seen the disarrayed Queen . . .''</span><br />
[[#07-482]]<span id="482"></span> Hamlet: The mobled Queen.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The moved good Queen . . .''</span><br />
[[#07-483]]<span id="483"></span> Polonius: That's good.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's good!''</span><br />
[[#07-484]]<span id="484"></span> First Player: . . . ''Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames''<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' . . . Run barefoot up and down, threatening to put out the fires''</span><br />
[[#07-485]]<span id="485"></span> ''With bisson rheum, a clout about that head''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With the flow of her blinding tears, a rag upon her head''</span><br />
[[#07-486]]<span id="486"></span> ''Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where her crown so recently stood, and, for a royal robe,''</span><br />
[[#07-487]]<span id="487"></span> ''About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Around her skinny and quite over-populated loins,''</span><br />
[[#07-488]]<span id="488"></span> ''A blanket in the alarm of fear caught up;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A blanket, grabbed up when the fearful alarm was raised.''</span><br />
[[#07-489]]<span id="489"></span> ''Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steeped,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whoever had seen this, with venomous language''</span><br />
[[#07-490]]<span id="490"></span> '''Gainst Fortune's state, would treason have pronounced;''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Against the rule of Fortune, would have spoken for treason.''</span><br />
[[#07-491]]<span id="491"></span> ''But if the gods, themselves, did see her then,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Though if the gods, themselves, did look upon her then,''</span><br />
[[#07-492]]<span id="492"></span> ''When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When she watched Pyrrhus perform his malicious sport''</span><br />
[[#07-493]]<span id="493"></span> ''In mincing with his sword her husband limbs,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By slicing, with his sword, her companion limbs,''</span><br />
[[#07-494]]<span id="494"></span> ''The instant burst of clamor that she made,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The stand-in outburst of outcry that she made -''</span><br />
[[#07-495]]<span id="495"></span> ''Unless things mortal move them not at all,''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Unless mortal happenings do not disturb the gods at all -''</span><br />
[[#07-496]]<span id="496"></span> ''Would have made milk the burning eyes of heaven''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would have made cry the shining eyes of heaven''</span><br />
[[#07-497]]<span id="497"></span> ''And passion in the gods.''<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And mortal agony among the gods, themselves.''</span><br />
[[#07-498]]<span id="498"></span> Polonius: Look whether he has not turned his color, and has tears in his<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look there, hasn't his face changed color, and he has tears in his''</span><br />
[[#07-499]]<span id="499"></span> eyes; prithee, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''eyes? I beg you, no more.''</span><br />
[[#07-500]]<span id="500"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(to the First Player)</span>: 'Tis well; I'll have thee speak out the rest of this soon;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That's good, I'll have you recite the rest later.''</span><br />
[[#07-501]]<span id="501"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Polonius)</span>: Good my Lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My good Lord, will you see that the players are well housed? Do you''</span><br />
[[#07-502]]<span id="502"></span> hear? Let them be well used, for they are the abstracts and brief<br />
<span style="color:gray">''hear? Treat them well, because they are, in an abstract and brief way, the''</span><br />
[[#07-503]]<span id="503"></span> chronicles of the time; after your death you were better have a<br />
<span style="color:gray">''chroniclers of our time. After your death, you'd be better off with a''</span><br />
[[#07-504]]<span id="504"></span> bad epitaph, than their ill report while you live.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''bad epitaph, than to have them do an unflattering portrayal of you during your life.''</span><br />
[[#07-505]]<span id="505"></span> Polonius: My Lord, I will use them according to their desert.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My Lord, I will treat them as they deserve.''</span><br />
[[#07-506]]<span id="506"></span> Hamlet: God's bodkin, man, much better! Use every man after his desert,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodness gracious, man, much better than that! If you treat every man as he deserves,''</span><br />
[[#07-507]]<span id="507"></span> and who shall 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''who's going to avoid a whipping? Instead, treat them so it reflects well on your own honor''</span><br />
[[#07-508]]<span id="508"></span> and dignity; the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''and dignity. The less they deserve, the more worth there is in your generosity.''</span><br />
[[#07-509]]<span id="509"></span> Take them in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Take them in.''</span><br />
[[#07-510]]<span id="510"></span> Polonius: Come, sirs.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This way, gentlemen.''</span><br />
[[#07-511]]<span id="511"></span> Hamlet: Follow him friends, we'll hear a play tomorrow -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go with him, my friends. We'll have a play tomorrow -''</span><br />
[[#07-512]]<span id="512"></span> <span style="color:red"><b>(to the Lad!)</b></span>: dost thou hear me "old" friend, can you play the murder of ''Gonzago''?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''do you hear me, "old" friend, can you do the play, The Murder of Gonzago?''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-512-SD]]<span id="512-SD"></span> (Polonius and the Players stop)<br />
<br />
[[#07-513]]<span id="513"></span> Lad: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-514]]<span id="514"></span> Hamlet: We'll 'hate' tomorrow night; you could, for need, study<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We'll have it tomorrow night. Could you, if needed, learn''</span><br />
[[#07-515]]<span id="515"></span> a speech of some dozen lines, or sixteen lines, which I would set<br />
<span style="color:gray">''a speech of some dozen lines, or sixteen, lines, which I would write''</span><br />
[[#07-516]]<span id="516"></span> down and insert in it, could you not?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''down and insert in it, couldn't you do that?''</span><br />
[[#07-517]]<span id="517"></span> Lad: Aye, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#07-518]]<span id="518"></span> Hamlet: Very well, follow that Lord, and look you mock him not. [[#07-518-SD]]<span id="518-SD"></span> (Hamlet winks at the Lad)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Very well. Follow that Lord, and, see here! - Don't mock him!''</span><br />
[[#07-519]]<span id="519"></span> My good friends, I'll leave you till night; You are welcome to Elsinore.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My good friends, I'll let you go until tonight. Welcome to Elsinore!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-519-SD]]<span id="519-SD"></span> (Polonius and the Players exit)<br />
<br />
[[#07-520]]<span id="520"></span> Rosencrantz: Good my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My good Lord.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-520-SD]]<span id="520-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
[[#07-521]]<span id="521"></span> Hamlet: Aye, so goodbye to you; now I ''am'' alone;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, so goodbye to you. Now I am alone.''</span><br />
[[#07-522]]<span id="522"></span> Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, what an offender and a peasant slave I am.''</span><br />
[[#07-523]]<span id="523"></span> Is it not monstrous that this player here,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Isn't it unnatural that this actor, here,''</span><br />
[[#07-524]]<span id="524"></span> But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Acting only in fiction, in a fantasy of deep emotion,''</span><br />
[[#07-525]]<span id="525"></span> Could force his soul so to his own conceit<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could compel his soul in that way, under his own conception''</span><br />
[[#07-526]]<span id="526"></span> That from her working all his visage waned -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That from her labors his entire face grew pale - with''</span><br />
[[#07-527]]<span id="527"></span> Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tears in his eyes, horror in the way he looked,''</span><br />
[[#07-528]]<span id="528"></span> A broken voice - and his whole function suiting<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His voice breaking, and his entire performance "costumed"''</span><br />
[[#07-529]]<span id="529"></span> With forms to his conceit; and all for nothing,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In the forms his role required - and all for nothing,''</span><br />
[[#07-530]]<span id="530"></span> For Hecuba.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For Hecuba.''</span><br />
[[#07-531]]<span id="531"></span> What's Hecuba to him, or he to her,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's Hecuba to him, and what's he to her,''</span><br />
[[#07-532]]<span id="532"></span> That he should weep for her? What would he do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That he should weep for her? What would the actor do''</span><br />
[[#07-533]]<span id="533"></span> Had he the motive and that cue for passion<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If he had the motive and that prompting for a display of emotion''</span><br />
[[#07-534]]<span id="534"></span> That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I have? He would flood the stage with tears,''</span><br />
[[#07-535]]<span id="535"></span> And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And transfix the public ear with hair-raising speech, to''</span><br />
[[#07-536]]<span id="536"></span> Make mad the guilty, and appall the free,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Provoke the guilty, and shock the innocent,''</span><br />
[[#07-537]]<span id="537"></span> Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Dumbfound the ignorant, and utterly overwhelm''</span><br />
[[#07-538]]<span id="538"></span> The very faculties of eyes and ears;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The very senses of sight and hearing.''</span><br />
[[#07-539]]<span id="539"></span> Yet I, a dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet I, a dull and flawed wretch, languish,''</span><br />
[[#07-540]]<span id="540"></span> Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Like an idle dreamer, unproductive toward my goal,''</span><br />
[[#07-541]]<span id="541"></span> And can say nothing; no, not for a King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I can't say anything. No, not even for a King''</span><br />
[[#07-542]]<span id="542"></span> Upon whose property and most dear life<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Upon whose kingdom, and most dear life,''</span><br />
[[#07-543]]<span id="543"></span> A damned defeat was made; am I a coward?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A damned defeat was inflicted. Am I a coward?''</span><br />
[[#07-544]]<span id="544"></span> Who calls me villain, breaks my pate across,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who calls me a villain, hits me over the head,''</span><br />
[[#07-545]]<span id="545"></span> Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pulls out my beard and blows it in my face,''</span><br />
[[#07-546]]<span id="546"></span> Tweaks me by the nose, gives me the lie i'th throat<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tweaks me on the nose, says that I'm lying in my throat''</span><br />
[[#07-547]]<span id="547"></span> As deep as to the lungs, who does me this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As deep as my lungs? Who does this to me?''</span><br />
[[#07-548]]<span id="548"></span> Hah, zounds, I should take it! For it cannot be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hah, by God, I would probably tolerate it! For, it can't be anything''</span><br />
[[#07-549]]<span id="549"></span> But I am pigeon livered, and lack gall<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But that I'm lily-livered, and don't have the brave character''</span><br />
[[#07-550]]<span id="550"></span> To make oppression bitter, or ere this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To feel the bitterness of oppression, or before this''</span><br />
[[#07-551]]<span id="551"></span> I should ha' fatted all the region kites<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I would have fattened all the scavenger birds in the area''</span><br />
[[#07-552]]<span id="552"></span> With this slave's offal; bloody, bawdy villain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''By letting them feed on that scoundrel's guts - that murderous, crude villain.''</span><br />
[[#07-553]]<span id="553"></span> Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!''</span><br />
[[#07-553-1]]<span id="553-1"></span> <span style="color:gray">''Oh vengeance!</span><br />
[[#07-554]]<span id="554"></span> Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, what a jackass I am. This is all very brave,''</span><br />
[[#07-555]]<span id="555"></span> That I, the son of he, dear murdered,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I, the son of a dear murdered one,''</span><br />
[[#07-556]]<span id="556"></span> Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Prompted to have my revenge by the forces of both Heaven and Hell,''</span><br />
[[#07-557]]<span id="557"></span> Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Must, like some whore, pour out my emotion in words,''</span><br />
[[#07-558]]<span id="558"></span> And fall a-cursing like a very drab,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And descend to cursing like a common harlot, or''</span><br />
[[#07-559]]<span id="559"></span> A scullion; fie upon it, foh.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The lowest class of woman. Shame one me! Shame.''</span><br />
[[#07-560]]<span id="560"></span> About, my brains; hm, I have heard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Turn in some other direction, my brains . . . hm, I have heard''</span><br />
[[#07-561]]<span id="561"></span> That guilty creatures sitting at a play<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That guilty persons in attendance at a play''</span><br />
[[#07-562]]<span id="562"></span> Have, by the very cunning of the scene,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have, by the very insightfulness of the show,''</span><br />
[[#07-563]]<span id="563"></span> Been struck so to the soul, that presently<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Been struck so much to their consciences, that right away''</span><br />
[[#07-564]]<span id="564"></span> They have proclaimed their malefactions;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They have confessed their evil deeds.''</span><br />
[[#07-565]]<span id="565"></span> For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For although murder has no tongue, it will speak''</span><br />
[[#07-566]]<span id="566"></span> With most miraculous organ; I'll have these players<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With some very miraculous voice. I'll have these actors''</span><br />
[[#07-567]]<span id="567"></span> Play something like the murder of my father<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Perform something like the murder of my father''</span><br />
[[#07-568]]<span id="568"></span> Before mine uncle; I'll observe his looks;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Before my uncle. I'll observe his reactions,''</span><br />
[[#07-569]]<span id="569"></span> I'll tent him to the quick; If he do blench<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll probe him down to his nerve. If he flinches''</span><br />
[[#07-570]]<span id="570"></span> I know my course; the spirit that I have seen<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll know my course of action. The spirit that I saw''</span><br />
[[#07-571]]<span id="571"></span> May be a devil, and the Devil hath power<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Might be a devil, since the Devil has power''</span><br />
[[#07-572]]<span id="572"></span> To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To take on a congenial shape. Yes, and perhaps,''</span><br />
[[#07-573]]<span id="573"></span> Out of my weakness and my melancholy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Working on my weakness, and my sadness -''</span><br />
[[#07-574]]<span id="574"></span> As he is very potent with such spirits,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since he is very powerful at taking advantage of low spirits,''</span><br />
[[#07-575]]<span id="575"></span> Abuses me to damn me; I'll have grounds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He uses me wrong to damn my soul. I'll find grounds for judgment''</span><br />
[[#07-576]]<span id="576"></span> More relative than this; the play's the thing<br />
<span style="color:gray">''More immediate than what the Ghost said: the play's the thing''</span><br />
[[#07-577]]<span id="577"></span> Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which I'll catch the conscience of the King.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#07-577-SD]]<span id="577-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
End of Scene 7<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#07-Daily Break]]<span id="Daily Break"></span> In the performances of ''Hamlet'' by Shakespeare's company at the Globe Theater,<br />
this point was the end of the first day of performance.<br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - Scene 7 - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====07-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Throne Room. There is no question of the Throne Room setting, because Claudius is doing official state business when he welcomes his ambassadors and receives their report of how the mission went. Were he not already in the Throne Room, he would go there to receive them.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Morning, certainly, and we take it as late morning to allow the events of Scene 6.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - Day 2 of the administration of King Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]] - or - [[Set Decoration#Scene 7|Set Decoration]]<br />
<br />
=====07-000-SD=====<br />
''(a flourish of trumpets sounds; Claudius and Gertrude enter, with their entourage; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter)''<br />
<br />
This is an official Royal entry into the Throne Room, so it is done with all the trimmings. The entry is from stage right (presuming we're using the right -> Royal / left -> Lobby mnemonic.) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter from stage right, also, following Claudius, which tells us they have been meeting with him in private before the Scene begins. Had they not been in private with Claudius, they would enter from the Lobby, stage left, since they are not royalty and are not part of the royal entourage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-001=====<br />
''Claudius: Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern;''<br />
<br />
It is correct in performance that when Claudius says "Rosencrantz" he nods to Guildenstern, and when he says "Guildenstern" he nods to Rosencrantz. He never paid attention to Hamlet's childhood friends.<br />
<br />
This ''welcome'' is a formal, public acknowledgment of their presence, in response to a King's summons. Claudius has already greeted them personally, in private. Claudius is now being "the King," doing public formalities.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====07-002=====<br />
''Moreover, that we much did long to see you,''<br />
<br />
''Moreover'' - is a word of continuation. We are thereby informed that Claudius has already spoken to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in private. That will be confirmed further as the Scene continues.<br />
<br />
In terms of protocol, it is correct that he should have spoken to them in private first, since they ought to have presented themselves to him as soon as they could upon their arrival. When the King summons you, you inform him you are there as soon as you arrive.<br />
<br />
Not that it's Claudius's intention to say that he's spoken to R & G in private. Claudius, himself, is using ''moreover'' to mean "in addition" (to what he goes on to say.)<br />
<br />
''did long to see you'' - is not true. He has no interest in R & G for themselves. Claudius is being polite to them, of course, because of what he wants them to do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====07-003=====<br />
''The need we have to use you, did provoke''<br />
<br />
''to use you'' - there is the truth of it.<br />
<br />
''provoke'' - "stir," in the terms of the language of the play. Motivate. ''Provoke'' is from Latin 'provocare' ("call forth,") so there is a little hint in the word of the notion of calling forth a spirit, an idea which is "atmospheric" for the play, and in fact, is relevant at a later point.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====07-004=====<br />
''Our hasty sending; something have you heard''<br />
<br />
''hasty sending'' - is tongue in cheek from Shakespeare. He knew a trip from Wittenberg to Elsinore could not be made, in reality, in the time that has passed during the play so far. It does not matter. "The play's the thing." Offstage events are merely in support of the onstage action. Besides, R & G could have been summoned before the play begins.<br />
<br />
The Claudius character, himself, can be understood as meaning he sent for them right away, when he observed, or allegedly observed, what he goes on to mention.<br />
<br />
Claudius knows R & G have heard ''something'' about Hamlet, because Claudius, himself, told them a few things in private. What Claudius told them was, of course, to Hamlet's detriment, and to Claudius's own advantage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====07-005=====<br />
''Of Hamlet's transformation, so call it,''<br />
<br />
''transformation'' - can be interpreted as "metamorphosis," since Shakespeare was familiar with Ovid's ''Metamorphoses.'' Claudius, himself, means Hamlet seems reshaped.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====07-006=====<br />
''Sith nor the exterior, nor the inward man''<br />
<br />
''Sith'' - because. Shakespeare made little use of ''sith'' in his writings, but he did so here, probably because of the "snaky" sibilance of the word. Claudius is being "snaky" in his use of R & G. The Ghost called Claudius a serpent, we recall.<br />
<br />
About Hamlet's ''exterior,'' all that's happened there is that Hamlet is continuing to wear his mourning clothes in disobedience to Claudius's wishes. Hamlet has been depressed, certainly.<br />
<br />
''inward man'' - can be understood as "spirit."<br />
<br />
Claudius is claiming knowledge of Hamlet's "inner man." He does not know that, instead, it's exactly what he wants R & G to find out. Claudius wants to know Hamlet's inner ideas about him, especially whether Hamlet has any violent intentions against him.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====07-007=====<br />
''Resembles that it was, what it should be;''<br />
<br />
''that it was'' - what it used to be. Well, it must be true that before King Hamlet died, Hamlet didn't wear mourning clothes, and he wasn't depressed like he is now. Claudius's remarks are highly disingenuous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====07-008=====<br />
''More than his father's death, that thus hath put him''<br />
<br />
The fact on Claudius's mind, ''more than his father's death,'' is the fact of Claudius becoming King instead of Hamlet. What does Hamlet really think about that, Claudius wonders.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====07-009=====<br />
''So much from the understanding of himself,''<br />
<br />
It isn't that Hamlet doesn't understand himself, it's that Claudius doesn't understand Hamlet, particularly Hamlet's intentions toward him. Claudius expresses it in a way to put the onus on Hamlet. That's dishonest, and no surprise that it is, from a man like Claudius. This is reminiscent of Polonius saying Ophelia didn't understand herself, in Scene 3, when in fact it was Polonius who didn't understand.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====07-010=====<br />
''I cannot dream of; I entreat you both,''<br />
<br />
''cannot dream of'' - Well, Claudius may not be able to ''dream'' of it, but he can have nightmares about it. Claudius is worried that Hamlet might be enough like himself that Hamlet would try to kill the King to get the Crown. An instance of the Sleep/Dream Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#010|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-011=====<br />
''That being of so young days brought up with him,''<br />
<br />
''of so young days'' - since childhood.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====07-012=====<br />
''And sith so neighbored to his youth and humor,''<br />
<br />
''sith'' - because. Shakespeare used ''sith'' instead of "since" to give Claudius a "snaky" hiss, again.<br />
<br />
''neighbored to'' - close to. Therefore, familiar with.<br />
<br />
''humor'' - mood. We'd now say "moods."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#012|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-013=====<br />
''That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court''<br />
<br />
''vouchsafe'' - assure, is one possible paraphrase. Claudius is asking R & G for their personal assurance that they will stay a while.<br />
<br />
''rest'' - so, the court will now be where R & G will sleep, and where they will dream.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====07-014=====<br />
''Some little time, so, by your companies,''<br />
<br />
''Some little time'' - for a while.<br />
<br />
''companies'' - we'd say "company" even for more than one person. Claudius wants R & G to be company for Hamlet. Claudius's use of the plural is ostentatious.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====07-015=====<br />
''To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather''<br />
<br />
''draw him on to pleasures'' - lead him to enjoy himself. A perfectly normal idea for friends.<br />
<br />
''gather'' - collect, if a different word is demanded. Otherwise, leave it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====07-016=====<br />
''So much as from occasion you may glean''<br />
<br />
''occasion'' - opportunity. Not to imply R & G have to leave it to chance. They can try leading their conversations with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
''glean'' - gather. "Harvest," figuratively speaking. There is a Cain and Abel analogy between Claudius and King Hamlet. Cain was a "tiller of the ground." (Genesis 4:2.) It is therefore appropriate for Claudius, Cain's analogue, to use the word ''glean,'' since it's a word associated with agriculture. ''Glean'' provides an instance of the Gardening Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====07-017=====<br />
''Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus,''<br />
<br />
This is Claudius's major concern. In particular, would Hamlet like to kill Claudius, to get the crown?<br />
<br />
''aught'' - anything. Claudius is not concerned about just anything, however.<br />
<br />
''afflicts'' - distresses. A fine word choice by Shakespeare, since ''afflict'' goes back to Latin 'affligere' which could mean "to overthrow," and that is precisely what Claudius is worried about, being overthrown by Hamlet.<br />
<br />
''thus'' - to cause the "transformation" he mentioned, Claudius means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#017|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-018=====<br />
''That opened, lies within our remedy.''<br />
<br />
''opened'' - revealed. "Unfolded," as the dialogue sometimes expresses the idea. Claudius can act this by holding his hands together, and then opening them like opening a book. When you "suit the action to the word," the word ''opened'' goes along exactly with an "opening" action of the hands.<br />
<br />
Claudius speaks as if he is a compassionate physician searching for a cure for whatever ails Hamlet, but the ''remedy'' Claudius has in mind is to get rid of Hamlet if he's a threat. Claudius has not told R & G that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====07-019=====<br />
''Gertrude: Good gentlemen, he hath much talked of you,''<br />
<br />
''much talked of you'' - spoken often of you. But one wonders, always in a complimentary way?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====07-020=====<br />
''And sure I am, two men there is not living''<br />
<br />
But after earlier events, one inevitably thinks of a man who is now dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====07-021=====<br />
''To whom he more adheres; if it will please you''<br />
<br />
''To whom he more adheres'' - can be read, for amusement, as "with whom he is more stuck." The possibility for amusement is deliberate in Shakespeare's phrasing. The Gertrude character, herself, means "is more attached."<br />
<br />
Hamlet is now more attached to Horatio, but their friendship developed at the University of Wittenberg, and Gertrude was not there to observe Horatio become Hamlet's best friend.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====07-022=====<br />
''To show us so much gentry and good will''<br />
<br />
''gentry'' - gentility. Gentlemanly conduct. This language anticipates the exchange between Gertrude and Rosencrantz in the next Scene, Scene 8: "Gertrude: Did he receive you well? Rosencrantz: Most like a gentleman." ([[Scene 8#011]] and 012)<br />
<br />
''Gentry'' further implies "kindness" in both senses: sympathetic, and also "our kind" of people. The root is Latin 'gens' ("clan.")<br />
<br />
Gertrude is asking R & G to "show" like Gentlemen. We may suppose she knows that when they were children they did not always "show" like gentlemen. What children do?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====07-023=====<br />
''As to expend your time with us a while,''<br />
<br />
''expend'' - spend. However, ''expend'' can also mean "use up." Indeed, R & G will use up nearly the entire remainder of their earthly existences at Elsinore. Gertrude is not intending to be so ominous as she speaks.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====07-024=====<br />
''For the supply and profit of our hope,''<br />
<br />
''supply'' - fulfillment, is probably the closest literal equivalent. Latin 'supplere' ("to fill up.")<br />
<br />
''profit'' - benefit; gain. Since ''profit'' is so well known as a financial word, this usage is compatible with the Money Motif, although it is not directly an instance. Shakespeare tended to use compatible language even when he did not directly provide an instance of a motif.<br />
<br />
''hope'' - is a "desire" word.<br />
<br />
Gertrude's ''hope'' is simply that R & G will be good company for Hamlet, for a while, to help tide Hamlet over during this difficult time. There is no reason to doubt her sincerity. She has no ulterior motive, where R & G are concerned. Her ulterior motives lie elsewhere.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====07-025=====<br />
''Your visitation shall receive such thanks''<br />
<br />
''visitation'' - a courtly, that is, grandiose way of saying "visit." Gertrude is not entirely immune to the contagious influence of the courtly manner of speech.<br />
<br />
Although Gertrude just means "visit," ''visitation'' is a word also used for 1) the arrival of a disaster; 2) the appearance of a supernatural spirit; and 3) a visit by ecclesiastical authority to examine the condition of a parish, all of which are worth considering in looking at Shakespeare's choice of word.<br />
<br />
Number 2, the appearance of a spirit, is clearly the most notable facet, especially with the line to follow.<br />
<br />
Number 1, the arrival of a disaster, earns a chuckle at R & G.<br />
<br />
Number 3, the ecclesiastical examination, is clever in advance of the religious turn the passage takes, when Guildenstern prays at line 040.<br />
<br />
So, several of the definitions of ''visitation'' have some relevance to the play beyond what Gertrude herself means to say. There are many cases in the play dialogue where Shakespeare chose a word not only for its immediately-pertinent definition, but also for its general "aura" of meaning, so to speak.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====07-026=====<br />
''As fits a king's remembrance.''<br />
<br />
''a king's remembrance'' - reminds us of King Hamlet, especially following the word "visitation" in the previous line. It is no accident in Shakespeare's phrasing that "visitation ... as fits a King's remembrance" sounds like the Ghost. It is accidental from Gertrude, who knows nothing of the Ghost.<br />
<br />
Gertrude, herself, is promising R & G a "kingly" reward if they fulfill the role of being good company for Hamlet. By ''remembrance'' she means "gift," although to maintain the courtly, overblown style one could paraphrase as "endowment" or "largess."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====07-027=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Both your Majesties''<br />
<br />
Rosencrantz should be addressing himself to the King. Per Court protocol, the King is the head honcho, in this patriarchal society, and when the Queen spoke, she was speaking in the name of the king (which is why she said "king's remembrance.") The Queen is privileged, certainly, but the King is "the man" in this Royal Court. So, the correct form is that one addresses the King (even if behind the scenes, the Queen is the most powerful political force in the nation.) There is not the equal consideration we find in some modern democracies.<br />
<br />
R is obviously new around here, and has not been clued in, on fine points of procedure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====07-028=====<br />
''Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,''<br />
<br />
''of us'' - over us. However, it is intentional in the phrasing that R makes it sound as if the King and Queen of Denmark got their power from R & G. One is amused.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====07-029=====<br />
''Put your dread pleasures more into command''<br />
<br />
''dread'' - awe-inspiring. Revered.<br />
<br />
''pleasures'' - wishes; desires. There is irony that King Claudius's ''pleasures'' are indeed something to be dreaded, in the sense of feared, since following the King's pleasures will ultimately lead R & G to their doom, but R, himself, knows nothing of that now, and is not trying to say that.<br />
<br />
''command'' - actually, what R heard ''was'' a command. He's too much the dunce to realize it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====07-030=====<br />
''Than to entreaty.''<br />
<br />
Rosencrantz is an imbecile. What he heard from the King and Queen ''was'' a command, but expressed in the courtly style, where orders are made to sound like a plea for a favor. There is, however, at all times, no matter how nice it sounds, the iron fist inside that velvet glove.<br />
<br />
Rosencrantz has not been given a "heads up" about the courtly style of expression. Even so, he most certainly should not be trying to correct the King and Queen on the subject of how they choose to express themselves. He is not a bright fellow. We might suppose that at the university he is on his way to becoming a pedant, if he isn't there already.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====07-031=====<br />
''Guildenstern: But we both obey,''<br />
<br />
Guildenstern is more aware, and he quickly speaks up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====07-032=====<br />
''And here give up ourselves in the full bent,''<br />
<br />
''in the full bent'' - to our full inclination. To the best of our ability. With nothing held back.<br />
<br />
G. kneels. At ''bent'' he "bends the knee." The word ''bent'' is an embedded stage direction, for correct action. R also kneels.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====07-033=====<br />
''To lay our service freely at your feet''<br />
<br />
''freely'' - voluntarily. Guildenstern certainly doesn't mean they'd do this for free. After hearing "profit" and getting an implicit promise from the Queen of payment ("king's remembrance"=royal gift,) G. feels safe saying ''freely'' and sounding noble.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====07-034=====<br />
''To be commanded.''<br />
<br />
Guildenstern got it, that they have been commanded.<br />
<br />
The word "command" goes back to a Latin root of 'manus' which means "hand." G is, in that way, saying that he and R will be the "hands" of the royalty, Claudius and Gertrude, to do as they wish.<br />
<br />
Going back to the previous line, the phrasing ''(at your feet) to be commanded'' carries the strange idea, taking the Latin root 'manus' into account, of R and G being Claudius and Gertrude's "hands at their feet." Now, Guildenstern, himself, isn't trying to say, "we volunteer to be your hands at your feet," but Shakespeare's choice of phrasing implies that amusingly "mad" notion.<br />
<br />
R & G have knelt, after "bent" at the end of line 032, and they now bow low while kneeling, placing the backs of their hands on the floor, at foot level to go along with "at your feet" in line 033, so they are now in the posture of the most humble supplicant.<br />
<br />
The obvious action, clearly visible from a distance, signals the Polonius actor to step onstage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====07-034-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius arrives)''<br />
<br />
Polonius gets his "enter" instruction later, after line 042. However, that is a playscript entry, to ensure the Polonius actor is in correct position to participate in the dialogue. To be in correct position at that point, Polonius must arrive on stage earlier. Polonius's "stage arrival" is earlier than his playscript entry.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare wrote the playscript in a way to ensure it would work for the dialogue, to put characters in the right position for the speeches. The exact timing of a character's presence onstage is a somewhat different issue, although dialogue presence does require stage presence (with the rare, peculiar exception such as the Ghost underneath the stage.)<br />
<br />
The timing of a character's stage presence is something for the director's notes, which we unfortunately do not have for ''Hamlet.'' Fortunately, knowing that Shakespeare included visual cueing lines in ''Hamlet,'' the timing of physical stage presence can be inferred. One looks for lines that go along with an obvious action, an action which can be seen from a distance, in the area of the dialogue that is shortly before the playscript entry is printed. One also takes into account what a character must hear, to justify any line he says later.<br />
<br />
We can be sure Polonius arrives on stage earlier than his Second Quarto entry printed in the course of the dialogue, because of a line Polonius speaks later. At line 230 Polonius will say to R and G, "You go to seek the Lord Hamlet." Polonius must therefore hear Gertrude give them that instruction, which she will do beginning at line 037. If Polonius doesn't hear that line 037, he will be left with no basis for what he later says. It confirms that Polonius must be present onstage now, or in this close vicinity in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
I place Polonius's arrival here, where it is visually cued by the kneeling and bowing of R & G. This timing works for Polonius to hear enough to support what he later says, at line 230. Arriving now, Polonius will hear Gertrude's next speech, so he will know R & G are supposed to visit Hamlet.<br />
<br />
In the overall flow of the play, Polonius is a little late to arrive for this session of the royal court because of the events involving Ophelia, and also, as we'll hear, he encountered Cornelius and Voltemand, the ambassadors who have returned from Noway, and it's safe to assume Polonius talked with them for a bit. He must have spoken to C. and V. at least for a moment, to know they have "joyfully" returned, which Polonius will tell Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-035=====<br />
''Claudius: Thanks, Rosencrantz, and gentle Guildenstern.''<br />
<br />
Claudius got them wrong, again. R & G don't care that he did, as long as they get that reward they've been promised.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====07-036=====<br />
''Gertrude: Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rosencrantz,''<br />
<br />
Gertrude addresses them correctly. She's the one who knows them, from Hamlet's childhood friendship with them. Claudius only shrugs, if he makes any reaction at all. He doesn't care which is which, as long as they both follow his orders.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====07-037=====<br />
''And I beseech you instantly to visit''<br />
<br />
''beseech'' - beg, but one understands this is mere courtly rhetoric. Gertrude is not really begging R & G, she is ordering them.<br />
<br />
''instantly'' - immediately. Now. R & G are being told to do this now, as quickly as their feet can go pitapat.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====07-038=====<br />
''My too-much-changed son; go, some of you,''<br />
<br />
Gertrude is not going to call Hamlet "mad," which she does not think he is, but she is bothered that events have produced more of a change in him than she would have wished.<br />
<br />
''some of you'' - any of you (servants.) This is spoken to the servants who are available to the Court. There are several present: one or more messengers, one or more pages, etc.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====07-039=====<br />
''And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.''<br />
<br />
''bring'' - escort. Show.<br />
<br />
Gertrude motions stage left, the Lobby direction. It will soon be stated that Hamlet spends hours in the Lobby, line 174, and Gertrude will voice her awareness of that. (Lines 174 & 175)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====07-040=====<br />
''Guildenstern: Heavens make our presence and our practices''<br />
<br />
Guildenstern offers a brief prayer. One may take it that at the University of Wittenberg he was devoted to the theological side of the studies (whereas we have heard Hamlet more inclined to the philosophical side.) R & G were probably trained at the University to pray before every significant activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====07-041=====<br />
''Pleasant and helpful to him.''<br />
<br />
''helpful to him'' - Guildenstern sincerely means that. Hamlet will come to see them as nothing but tools of the King, as the Scene continues, but they intend no such thing. It's that they're such clueless dunces, they can't come anywhere close to handling the situation in which they find themselves.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====07-042=====<br />
''Gertrude: Aye, amen.''<br />
<br />
Said a bit impatiently, with a wave of the hand: "enough talk, get going." When the Queen said "instantly" she didn't mean "keep talking," not even for a brief prayer.<br />
<br />
Ironically, as it will turn out, if R and G had just stood here and spent the next hour in prayer, they'd find Hamlet quicker than they end up doing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====07-042-SD1=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit, led by servants)''<br />
<br />
The exit is stage left -> Lobby. Later in this Scene Polonius will say that Hamlet spends hours in the Lobby, line 174, and Gertrude will agree, so that means it's general knowledge. Or, at least, Gertrude knows it. We are safe to conclude, then, when Gertrude said "go" she waved stage left, toward the Lobby.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====07-042-SD2=====<br />
''(Polonius enters)''<br />
<br />
As described earlier, at the line 034-SD, this is Polonius's playscript entry, or dialogue entry, to ensure the Polonius actor is now in his correct position for his participation in the dialogue. Polonius has been physically present on stage for some time. Polonius's action here is only to step forward to take his position to speak.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====07-043=====<br />
''Polonius: The ambassadors from Norway, my good Lord,''<br />
<br />
Polonius's manner here is very happy. He thinks everything is going his way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====07-044=====<br />
''Are joyfully returned.''<br />
<br />
Their return is remarkably quick. Ordinarily that would imply failure, the quick return being because the ambassadors encountered a refusal to receive them. This case must have turned out otherwise, for Polonius to say ''joyfully.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====07-045=====<br />
''Claudius: Thou still hast been the father of good news.''<br />
<br />
''still'' - continually. Once again, as before.<br />
<br />
''father'' - "parent" -> source. ''The father of good news'' = the source of good news. The word ''father'' from Claudius is unintentionally prophetic, because Polonius is going to go on to speak of his daughter, and Hamlet.<br />
<br />
The earlier ''good news'' from Polonius, for which Claudius was grateful, was the "news" that King Norway was out of touch with what his nephew was doing, thus an informative appeal to King Norway should be effective, to give Claudius a way out of the challenge to single combat. Claudius credits Polonius's advice with saving his reputation, if not his life. However, was that true, about King Norway? Who has been paying for Fortinbrasse to raise an army?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====07-046=====<br />
''Polonius: Have I, my Lord? I assure my good Liege''<br />
<br />
''Have I'' - is to be spoken in the manner of, "I'm so pleased to hear you say that!"<br />
<br />
''Liege'' - Polonius's use of the term is exaggerated humility, in the courtly style. He is not really a "liegeman to the Dane," as Marcellus in fact was. While Polonius is a servant of the King insofar as he is the King's councilor, he is not a vassal, strictly speaking.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====07-047=====<br />
''I hold my duty as I hold my soul,''<br />
<br />
''hold'' - pledge.<br />
<br />
Polonius heard Claudius's word "father" in line 45 as "minister," so he replies in religious terms. Polonius is a minister in the government, but not a minister in the religious sense. It's miscommunication.<br />
<br />
Polonius says ''hold'' twice, and ''hold'' is a "grasp" word, but grasping Claudius's meaning is something Polonius did not quite do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====07-048=====<br />
''Both to my God, and to my gracious King;''<br />
<br />
Polonius has made it sound as if he equates Claudius to God, and he pledges his soul to Claudius. It's a hint, for us, of why Hamlet will call Polonius "Jephthah" later in this Scene (line 392.) Hamlet is not hearing this, his remark follows from his bad dream before Scene 6. Jephthah sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering to demonstrate his commitment to his Lord.<br />
<br />
Polonius did not mean exactly what he said in these lines. He is trying to say that he pledges his duty to the King as much as he pledges his soul to God.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#048|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-049=====<br />
''And I do think, or else this brain of mine''<br />
<br />
Polonius taps the side of his head, and puts on a crafty facial expression, as best he can.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====07-050=====<br />
''Hunts not the trail of policy so sure''<br />
<br />
''policy'' - good government. The public good.<br />
<br />
Polonius's figure of speech is that of a dog hunting a trail, using its sense of smell.<br />
<br />
He says that his brain is his dog.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====07-051=====<br />
''As it hath used to do, that I have found''<br />
<br />
''hath used to do'' - "always has done," is the intended sentiment from Polonius. Literally however, "as it once did" which carries the implication of "no longer does."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#051|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-052=====<br />
''The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.''<br />
<br />
''very'' - true.<br />
<br />
Polonius thinks that Hamlet is mad for Ophelia, as the explanation for what Ophelia told him. His word ''lunacy'' is not well chosen to designate love madness, but people have always been pretty free with words that mean "crazy."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====07-053=====<br />
''Claudius: Oh, speak of that, that do I long to hear!''<br />
<br />
Claudius has been trying to advance the idea that Hamlet is mad, to try to suppress Hamlet as a political rival, so Claudius would like nothing better than some real evidence that Hamlet is a mad man. Real evidence would give Claudius a reason to lock Hamlet up, despite his mother being the Queen, and thereby eliminate the danger Claudius feels from Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Claudius is now deeply distracted with wondering what Polonius has learned, and how it will benefit Claudius. Claudius has credited Polonius with saving his life once, in the face of the single combat challenge, and he wonders if Polonius has done it again, by giving Claudius a way to remove Hamlet as a potentially deadly threat.<br />
<br />
Claudius is, of course, worried that Hamlet might kill to get the Crown. Claudius, himself, would.<br />
<br />
Anyway, Claudius is now fully occupied with wondering what Polonius has found out. One's mind would be well occupied, if he heard something implying that he was about to receive life-saving information.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====07-054=====<br />
''Polonius: Give first admittance to the ambassadors;''<br />
<br />
Since the diplomatic mission was based on Polonius's advice, and the mission has been a great success (so Polonius believes,) he wants Claudius to hear the ambassadors first. Claudius should take what Polonius says about Hamlet even more seriously when Polonius's track record is even further enhanced, in Claudius's eyes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====07-055=====<br />
''My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.''<br />
<br />
''fruit'' - dessert.<br />
<br />
''feast'' - implies celebration. Polonius is hinting repeatedly that the ambassadors have been successful. He's as happy as can be, because the diplomatic mission was his idea.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====07-056=====<br />
''Claudius: Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in;''<br />
<br />
''do grace to them'' - do them the favor. Claudius uses phrasing that goes along with the "feast" idea. One thinks of the ritual of saying grace before a meal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====07-056-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius exits)''<br />
<br />
As lightly as his old legs can move. He's happy.<br />
<br />
His exit is stage left, the Lobby side. Coming directly in from the Elsinore town harbor, the ambassadors have followed the same route the public uses when they enter the Castle. This is confirmed by later events.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-057=====<br />
''He tells me, my sweet Queen, that he hath found''<br />
<br />
Claudius is in hopes Polonius has found out something about Hamlet that will justify Claudius locking Hamlet up, despite the Queen's opposition. Feeling himself in a stronger position, Claudius presumes to speak to Gertrude in a way he would not have done earlier.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#057|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-058=====<br />
''The head and source of all your son's distemper.''<br />
<br />
''head'' - means the same as now, for plain reading. Chief cause. Can be taken as "center" based on the language of the passage. The head is the center of the intellect. Polonius will later claim, line 169 ff, that he can find truth even if it's hidden in the center.<br />
<br />
''source'' - origin. First cause. From Old French 'sourse. ("fountainhead.")<br />
<br />
''distemper'' - derangement. In Middle English ''distemper'' referred to an upset or derangement. The root is Latin 'distemperare' ("mix in the wrong proportions,") so it carries the idea of the "humors" (under the four humors theory) being in the wrong proportions.<br />
<br />
The word ''distemper'' appears in the ''Satires'' of Horace, in translation; Book II Satire 3 says, "... what it is to be mad: and, if this distemper be in you..." Several words, phrases, and lines in this Scene are reminiscent of the ''Satires'' of Horace, which implies the book Hamlet is carrying when he enters, later, is the ''Satires'' of Horace, with Hamlet turned in particular to that ''Satire'' (Book II S 3) which argues "most men are mad."<br />
<br />
''your son's'' - There's none of Claudius calling Hamlet "my son" here. Claudius thinks, or at least hopes, Polonius has found evidence Hamlet wants to kill him, and perhaps even evidence Hamlet intends to kill him, which will justify Claudius taking strong action against Hamlet, and leaving Gertrude with no power to save Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====07-059=====<br />
''Gertrude: I doubt it is no other but the main:''<br />
<br />
''doubt'' - suspect, but here the meaning tends more toward "surmise."<br />
<br />
''main'' - the ''main'' causes they already know about.<br />
<br />
Gertrude observes Claudius's smirking attitude toward her, and she doesn't like it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====07-060=====<br />
''His father's death, and our o'er-hasty marriage.''<br />
<br />
''our o'er-hasty marriage'' - Gertrude is implying that she was too hasty in marrying a man who would speak to her in such a manner. She accompanies the phrase with a sharp, cold look toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#060|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-061=====<br />
''Claudius: Well, we shall sift him;''<br />
<br />
''sift him'' - examine him, in detail. Sort him out. ''Sift'' is acted by lowering the hand slowly while wiggling the fingers, to indicate fine powder falling slowly. Claudius is referring to "sorting it all out."<br />
<br />
''him'' - is ambiguous. It can be taken to refer to either Polonius or Hamlet. It is intended to be that way.<br />
<br />
Claudius backs off, in his behavior toward Gertrude, since he doesn't yet know what Polonius has found out, but still, Claudius is happier than he was.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]] - or - [[Scene 7 Extended Notes#061|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====07-061-SD=====<br />
''(the ambassadors Voltemand and Cornelius enter, escorted by Polonius)''<br />
<br />
All are cheerful, with a spring in their step. Voltemand carries an official-looking document.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-062=====<br />
''Welcome, my good friends;''<br />
<br />
''good friends'' - One can't say it's anything but a fine greeting, but is it literally true? Are Cornelius and Voltemand Claudius's personal ''friends,'' that is, are they a couple of his old drinking buddies? If that's what they are, and all they basically are, one wouldn't expect much from them as diplomats.<br />
<br />
If they are a couple of Claudius's old drinking buddies, did King Norway begin the negotiations by offering them a glass of wine? Or two? Or three...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====07-063=====<br />
''Say, Voltemand, what from our brother, Norway?''<br />
<br />
''brother'' - We know how Claudius feels about brothers. It sounds nice for Claudius to call King Norway his ''brother,'' but behind that term, when Claudius speaks it, is the sentiment he wishes King Norway was dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====07-064=====<br />
''Voltemand: Most fair return of greetings and desires;''<br />
<br />
''return'' - This statement from Voltemand also sounds nice, but following the above, the idea of "the same back at you" implies King Norway wishes Claudius was dead, too. None of them is actually going to say that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====07-065=====<br />
''Upon our first, he sent out to suppress''<br />
<br />
''first'' - the main point. The primary issue to be negotiated. That being, we recall, the military activities of Fortinbrasse.<br />
<br />
''suppress'' - quash. Prohibit. End.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====07-066=====<br />
''His nephew's levies, which to him appeared''<br />
<br />
''levies'' - army enlistments.<br />
<br />
''appeared'' - had appeared. Appeared to be, until he was informed otherwise.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====07-067=====<br />
''To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack,''<br />
<br />
''the Polack'' - the King of Poland. That is, against the state of Poland.<br />
<br />
What grievance does Fortinbrasse have against Poland? It was Denmark which gained the land his father lost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====07-068=====<br />
''But better looked into, he truly found''<br />
<br />
''truly'' - in truth.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====07-069=====<br />
''It was against Your Highness; whereat grieved,''<br />
<br />
''against Your Highness'' - against Denmark, that is.<br />
<br />
''grieved'' - instead of pleased? The land the Elder Fortinbrasse lost was Norwegian land. That land was King Norway's land, earlier. It makes no sense he would be ''grieved'' by an attempt to regain it for Norway.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====07-070=====<br />
''That so his sickness, age, and impotence''<br />
<br />
Which Claudius told them about in Scene 2. How did Claudius know the state of King Norway's health? Since the diplomatic mission was Polonius's advice, he probably also passed along the word about King Norway's health, which Polonius had picked up somewhere, as rumor going around. Rumor / talk / gossip is a Motif of the play. Who started that particular rumor?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====07-071=====<br />
''Was falsely borne in hand; sends out arrests''<br />
<br />
''borne in hand'' - controlled. Taken in hand.<br />
<br />
''falsely borne in hand'' - controlled so well it seemed false that he had such ailments.<br />
<br />
King Norway carried himself so well you wouldn't think he was sick, is what Voltemand is saying. Voltemand phrases it so it doesn't challenge what Claudius said earlier. Voltemand isn't going to tell the King he was wrong. Indeed, Voltemand takes the word of his King, Claudius, as he truth, therefore, when King Norway seemed hale and hearty it must have been, he was being deceptive.<br />
<br />
King Norway didn't look sick when they saw him. Hm. Somebody hath been kidding somebody.<br />
<br />
''arrests'' - orders to arrest.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====07-072=====<br />
''On Fortinbrasse, which he, in brief, obeys;''<br />
<br />
Should it be that easy to arrest a man who commands an army, if he doesn't want to be arrested? One can't help but wonder. One might think it should be extremely difficult, or even impossible, to arrest a man who commands an army. No difficulty arose in this case, however, for some reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====07-073=====<br />
''Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine,''<br />
<br />
So Fortinbrasse was there. He wasn't somewhere out in the wilds of Norway, the "skirts of Norway" as Horatio termed it in Scene 1, ([[Scene 1#107]],) where it could take weeks just to find him. Fortinbrasse was already present, close to King Norway.<br />
<br />
Like Fortinbrasse was waiting in the next room for his cue to enter.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====07-074=====<br />
''Makes vow before his uncle never more''<br />
<br />
''Makes vow'' - Did they look behind him to see if he had his fingers crossed?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====07-075=====<br />
''To give the assay of arms against your Majesty;''<br />
<br />
''assay'' - trial. Test.<br />
<br />
''To give the assay of arms'' - to put (an issue) to the test of war.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====07-076=====<br />
''Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,''<br />
<br />
So happy that the poor, sick old man danced a jig and clicked his heels. It sounds like.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====07-077=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_threescore.jpg|right|"threescore thousand" in the Second Quarto]]<br />
''Gives him threescore thousand crowns in annual fee,''<br />
<br />
''threescore thousand crowns'' - is the correct number. It is quite a large amount of money. It is such a large amount that it is the approximate annual revenue that Denmark receives through duties and taxes collected at Elsinore Castle.<br />
[[File:Century_fee2.jpg|right|"fee"(2) in the Century Dictionary]]<br />
''in annual fee'' - in annual income from land value, that is, from the proceeds of land ownership. In the case of a government installation, that would be government revenue.<br />
<br />
See the dictionary definition. The service Norway wants from Fortinbrasse, for him to earn that fee, is the restoration of the land to Norwegian sovereignty.<br />
<br />
Claudius doesn't know that the land Norway means, for that ''fee,'' is the land Claudius is currently occupying. Claudius hasn't been King a year yet, far from it, and he hasn't "done his homework" to find out how much annual revenue Elsinore Castle produces.<br />
<br />
Claudius is distracted by what Polonius said about Hamlet, so he isn't paying attention to any of this, anyway.<br />
<br />
Gertrude recognizes the number, and the scheme, but says nothing. It doesn't surprise her. Oh, it isn't that Gertrude wants to lose Elsinore, far from it, but it's an outcome that seems inevitable under the circumstances, and she has therefore adjusted her priorities.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====07-078=====<br />
''And his commission to employ those soldiers''<br />
<br />
''commission'' - a royal commission, as in "commissioned officer." King Norway has named Fortinbrasse a general of the Norwegian Army.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====07-079=====<br />
''So levied, (as before,) against the Polack,''<br />
<br />
Ok, so, first he was only pretending he was going to attack Poland, but the army was really for use against Denmark, but now he's not pretending, really he's not, and he's going to employ the army, that he really raised against Denmark, to really really attack Poland, and he really means it this time. And he can't pretend twice that he's going to attack Poland, because it's a rule that if you're going to pretend to attack Poland, you can only do it once.<br />
<br />
So now, whew, it's a relief to know that he's really going to attack Poland, and not Denmark, with the army he raised against Denmark, and not Poland. Now we're all safe.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====07-080=====<br />
''With an entreaty herein further shown,''<br />
<br />
''entreaty'' - request. A nicely chosen word, in that it's a provision in the treaty. It's literally "in treaty."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====07-081=====<br />
''That it might please you to give quiet pass''<br />
<br />
''quiet pass'' - peaceful passage. Would now be called "safe passage," perhaps. Whatever call it, it's guaranteed in writing to be peaceful. Says it right there in ink, in fancy handwriting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====07-082=====<br />
''Through your dominions for his enterprise,''<br />
<br />
''his'' - one supposes "Fortinbrasse's" but tracing back through the dialogue, one discovers it connects back to Old Norway.<br />
<br />
Voltemand, himself, is attempting to speak this of Fortinbrasse. However, he has run on, and gotten a bit tangled in his phrasing, so that he has accidentally spoken the truth behind the facade. It is Old Norway's enterprise. Neither Voltemand, nor any of the other characters, catches what he actually said.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#082|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-083=====<br />
''On such regards of safety and allowance''<br />
<br />
''On such regards'' - under such conditions. Under such terms.<br />
<br />
''safety'' - security. The presumption is advanced that words on paper can create security.<br />
<br />
''allowance'' - (official) approval; license. Means license from Claudius is required, as a separate document, when the occasion arises. We'll see Fortinbrasse's Captain sent to get the license in Scene 15.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====07-084=====<br />
''As therein are set down.''<br />
<br />
''set down'' - written. Set down in writing; specified in writing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====07-084-SD=====<br />
''(Voltemand offers the diplomatic agreement to Claudius, who waves it away)''<br />
<br />
We know Claudius refuses to take the agreement now, from what he goes on to say. He wants to hear about Hamlet, rather than deal with paperwork.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-085=====<br />
''Claudius: It likes us well,''<br />
<br />
''likes'' - pleases. Claudius phrases statements as if it's up to everyone, and everything, else to respond to him.<br />
<br />
It's a happy agreement, as Claudius sees it, thus, being a happy agreement, it smiles, so to speak, and from the smile he can see it likes him, and he says so.<br />
<br />
Recall in Scene 2 Claudius saying Hamlet's agreement to stay at Elsinore, "sits smiling to my heart." When Claudius gets his way, as he believes, he pictures things smiling at him, and liking him. Not that Claudius is crazy, you understand. Which he is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====07-086=====<br />
''And at our more considered time we'll read,''<br />
<br />
''more considered'' can be understood as "less hurried." Claudius wants to hurry on to whatever Polonius has found out about Hamlet. Claudius doesn't want to take time now to consider the diplomatic agreement.<br />
<br />
The word "consider" is from Latin 'com-' ("with") + 'sidus' ("star,") so Claudius could be heard as saying this isn't the right time "with the stars" for him to examine the treaty. It's an astrological statement, at root. However, Claudius is expressing his personal desire. The fault is not in his stars, but in himself, as 'twere.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====07-087=====<br />
''Answer, and think upon this business;''<br />
<br />
''(read,) Answer, and think'' - Claudius, distracted by what Polonius said about Hamlet, is paying no attention to his phrasing. He has inadvertently revealed the truth, that he will glance at the proposed treaty, reply favorably to it, and ''think'' about it, oh, someday. As in "never."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====07-088=====<br />
''Meantime, we thank you for your well took labor;''<br />
<br />
''took'' - "take" is from late Old English 'tacan' ("to grasp.") The idea of "grasp" appears again.<br />
<br />
Claudius is complimenting Cornelius and Voltemand for how well they grasped what they were supposed to do. In fact, they did not. They were misled by what Claudius said when he sent them on the mission, and they have done the wrong thing. Claudius doesn't remember, and he isn't paying attention anyway. He wants to hear about Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====07-089=====<br />
''Go to your rest, at night we'll feast together;''<br />
<br />
''at night'' - tonight. Although, just the phrase ''at night'' sounds rather like "any and every night." There's the suggestion that Cornelius and Voltemand are his drinking buddies ''at night'' every night.<br />
<br />
''feast'' - which, for Claudius, will include consumption of a large quantity of wine.<br />
<br />
Now, Claudius has both Hamlet and feasting on his mind. How much attention is he going to devote to that proposed treaty?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====07-090=====<br />
''Most welcome home!''<br />
<br />
Smiles all around! What a great success!<br />
<br />
Gertrude can't help but smile, too, but her smile is of a different kind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====07-090-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius waves the Ambassadors toward the doorway to the Royal Apartments, and they exit that direction, to leave the agreement on Claudius's desk)''<br />
<br />
We know this both because of what Claudius said, and because of Hamlet's later entry after line 182.<br />
<br />
Hamlet will enter stage left (the Lobby side,) so the ambassadors must exit stage right (the Royal doorway side,) so that Hamlet does not see them leave the Throne Room. If Hamlet saw the ambassadors leave the Throne Room, he would not enter.<br />
<br />
The reason Hamlet will enter later is because he expects to find Claudius talking to the ambassadors, and Hamlet wants to find out whether his country is going to war.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-091=====<br />
''Polonius: This business is well ended;''<br />
<br />
So they believe. It is hardly the end of the business for Fortinbrasse and wily old King Norway. They have managed to get an agreement under which the Norwegian army will enter Denmark unopposed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====07-092=====<br />
''My Liege and Madam, to expostulate [sic!]''<br />
<br />
''Liege'' - Polonius's term is once again incorrect, and highfalutin, but he thinks it sounds appropriate.<br />
<br />
''expostulate'' - Polonius is trying to say that he accepts what he goes on to mention as postulates, as things to be taken for granted because they are self evident. He thinks ''expostulate'' has to do with stating postulates. He's trying to say that he won't bother with things that are self evident, as he goes on to state those very "self evident" things.<br />
<br />
''to expostulate'' - What Polonius means by that is "to state as postulates." But instead he has actually said, "to dispute vociferously," which makes it sound like, when there's time, he'd like to have a verbal donnybrook with Claudius over what "majesty" should be, why day is day, etc. Polonius does ''not'' mean that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====07-093=====<br />
''What majesty should be, what duty is,''<br />
<br />
''majesty'' - Polonius gestures toward the King, and bows.<br />
<br />
''duty'' - Polonius places a hand over his heart, and assumes his most respectful, sober expression, as he plays "the dutiful man."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====07-094=====<br />
''Why day is day, night, night, and time is time,''<br />
<br />
Polonius mentions more things he thinks aren't worth mentioning, for what he wants to talk about.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====07-095=====<br />
''Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time;''<br />
<br />
Well, he hasn't wasted any ''night'' yet, but ''day'' and ''time'' are going by.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====07-096=====<br />
''Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,''<br />
<br />
Polonius is inordinately fond of sayings, whether he appreciates what they mean, or not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#096|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-097=====<br />
''And tediousness the limns and outward flourishes;''<br />
<br />
''limns'' - portrayals. The definition of "portrayals" or "depictions" is from the 1590s. The paraphrase here is guided by the meaning most pertinent to acting.<br />
<br />
''outward'' - external; visible. The part that shows.<br />
<br />
''flourishes'' - ornaments. ''Flourish'' is ultimately from Latin 'flos' ("flower.") We can be guided here by Shakespeare's overall vocabulary. See Sonnet 1.<br />
<br />
... beauty's rose ...<br />
...<br />
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,<br />
And only herald to the gaudy spring,<br />
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,<br />
...<br />
<br />
We see "flower" called "ornament," and ornamentation, in verbiage, is what Polonius is talking about. So we can understand ''flourishes'' as "ornaments."<br />
<br />
The ''limns and outward flourishes'' can be called the "show" (of wit) according to what Polonius said. It's a subtle instance of the Putting on a Show Theme.<br />
<br />
The structure of Polonius's argument, so far, is idiotic. He has recited the saying, brevity is the soul of wit, and followed up by saying tediousness is the "show" of wit. Per that, to show that you're witty, be tedious.<br />
<br />
Polonius has argued, accidentally, that the reason he's boring is because he's smart. He isn't really trying to argue that, but that's the way the words came out as he tossed them around, trying to be rhetorically impressive.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====07-098=====<br />
''I will be brief; your noble son is mad;''<br />
<br />
''I will be brief'' - by which he means, following the above, that he will now display wit. In other words, he is now going to start saying smart things.<br />
<br />
''your noble son is mad;'' - So, immediately, he smartly says something that will offend the Queen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====07-099=====<br />
''Mad call I it, for to define true madness,''<br />
<br />
''to define true madness'' - "to define real madness" or "to specify madness truly." Can be read either way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====07-100=====<br />
''What is it but to be nothing else but mad?''<br />
<br />
"For in the first place, I will inquire, what it is to be mad" - Horace, Book II, Satire 3.<br />
<br />
Polonius has stated he calls it madness, because madness is being mad.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====07-101=====<br />
''But let that go.''<br />
<br />
Some may not like it, but in an authentic performance of ''Hamlet,'' this line is immediately followed by a loud noise of flatulence from Polonius. ''Hamlet'' was written for the common stage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====07-102=====<br />
''Gertrude: More matter with less art.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude is telling Polonius to get to the point.<br />
<br />
Correctly performed, when Gertrude speaks this line, she is waving her hand for air circulation. Polonius is a polluter.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====07-103=====<br />
''Polonius: Madam, I swear I use no art at all;''<br />
<br />
''art'' - artfulness. Trickery. That's what Polonius means, but ''art'' also has a definition of "skill," by which one may be amused at Polonius saying he uses no skill at all.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====07-104=====<br />
''That he's mad, 'tis true, 'tis pity''<br />
<br />
Polonius has no actual evidence of it being true that Hamlet is mad. Polonius does firmly believe it, because he wants to believe it, in his own interest. He is, however, correct that Hamlet is mad, but it's luck that he's correct.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====07-105=====<br />
''And pity 'tis, 'tis true, a foolish figure;''<br />
<br />
''figure'' - There is indeed a ''figure,'' of rhetoric, in these last two lines, namely anadiplosis. That is not what Polonius is trying to say. He is unaware that he used any kind of figure of speech. Polonius is trying to say that Hamlet is a foolish figure, because of his madness, as Polonius, himself, babbles pointlessly like a fool.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====07-106=====<br />
''But farewell it, for I will use no art;''<br />
<br />
This line is, again, followed by the flatulence noise.<br />
<br />
''farewell it'' - dismiss that; wave it away. One waves ''farewell.'' An embedded stage direction is implicit, when one does what Shakespeare said to do: "suit the action to the word." Most of those in the room are now waving, to try to dissipate Polonius's air pollution. Polonius, himself, waves here, not because he is sensitive to his own pollution, but to act ''farewell.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====07-107=====<br />
''Mad let us grant him, then, and now remains''<br />
<br />
''and now remains'' - everything. Polonius has spoken fifteen lines, and he still hasn't gotten to his point, or anywhere near it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====07-108=====<br />
''That we find out the cause of this effect,''<br />
<br />
This line is followed by a loud noise of flatulence.<br />
<br />
''effect'' - result. From Old French 'efet,' which became Modern French 'effet' ("result.")<br />
<br />
Polonius is intending to speak of the cause that resulted in Hamlet's madness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====07-109=====<br />
''Or rather say, the cause of this defect,''<br />
<br />
Followed by flatulence from Polonius, again.<br />
<br />
''defect'' - From Latin 'defectus' ("failure.") Polonius is trying to speak of a failing of Hamlet's, namely his madness, of course.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====07-110=====<br />
''For this effect defective comes by cause;''<br />
<br />
"Since this result was caused, to become a failing." Words to that effect.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====07-111=====<br />
''Thus it remains, and the remainder thus:''<br />
<br />
''Thus it remains'' - so it stands. That much is established. That much is behind us (as I continue.) Relevant root and meaning is Latin 'remanere' "be left behind."<br />
<br />
''the remainder thus'' - what's left (for me to speak of) is the following. Here the relevant root is more Old French 'remain-', the stressed stem of 'remanoir' ("be left.")<br />
<br />
Polonius has used the same word, remain, to point in opposite directions: "left behind," and "left ahead."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====07-112=====<br />
''Perpend,''<br />
<br />
''perpend'' - literally "weigh thoroughly." From Latin 'per-' ("thoroughly") + 'pendere' ("to weigh.")<br />
<br />
Actable by holding the hands out, palms upward, and moving them up and down in imitation of the pans of a scale coming into balance. One can use a scale to measure a weight, and beam-and-balance scales are of great antiquity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====07-113=====<br />
''I have a daughter, have while she is mine,''<br />
<br />
Yes, they all know he has a daughter. Polonius makes it sound as if he's giving Ophelia up for adoption.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====07-114=====<br />
''Who, in her duty and obedience, mark,''<br />
<br />
Polonius is trying to emphasize how dutiful and obedient he is, to the King, and his family is, to him. Ergo, they are all dutiful, and obedient, to the King.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====07-115=====<br />
''Hath given me this, now gather and surmise:''<br />
<br />
''given me this'' - Polonius is lying. Ophelia certainly did not just give her father her love letter. Do we not know people at all? We know better than that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====07-115-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius displays a letter)''<br />
<br />
Prominently, for all to see. Polonius wanted tangible proof of Hamlet expressing love for Ophelia, because, after Hamlet's behavior as Ophelia described it, Polonius does not know what Hamlet might say now if questioned directly. Would he say anything? Ophelia said he remained silent the last time she saw him.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-116=====<br />
''To the celestial, and my soul's idol,''<br />
<br />
''celestial'' - heavenly. In other words, an angel. Hamlet chose a poetic way to call Ophelia his angel.<br />
<br />
''idol'' - an idol is an image. Ophelia's image is "graven" in Hamlet' soul, one might say. Impressed in his soul, that is. It's a bit reminiscent of the Second Commandment:<br />
<br />
Thou shalt make thee no graven image, neither any similitude<br />
of things that are in heaven above, neither that are in the<br />
earth beneath, nor that are in the waters under the earth.<br />
Thou shalt not bow down to them, neither serve them: for I am<br />
the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of<br />
the fathers upon the children, ... [Geneva wording]<br />
<br />
Hamlet's ''soul's idol'' way of expressing himself is iffy for a student of Wittenberg, or any Christian, but he is being poetic in love, in the most high-flown language at his command.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====07-116-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius reads the letter)''<br />
<br />
Polonius wants tangible proof, on the record, that Hamlet has expressed love to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-117=====<br />
''the most beautified Ophelia . . .''<br />
<br />
Hamlet means ''beautified'' by nature. She is naturally lovely.<br />
<br />
Hamlet may also be making an allusion to the ''Homily on the State of Matrimony'' which speaks of how a woman can be ''beautified'' before God:<br />
<br />
[II:18.1-187] ... O woman, doe thou the like, and so shalt thou<br />
[II:18.1-188] be most excellently beautified before GOD and all his Angels & Saints,<br />
[II:18.1-189] and thou needest not to seeke further for doing any better workes.<br />
<br />
(http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/ret/homilies/bk2hom18.html checked 05/27/2015)<br />
<br />
The ''Homily on the State of Matrimony'' is in "The Books of Homilies" which provided sermons to be read in English churches. There were two books, both fully in print by AD 1571. (Another homily, or sermon that is, deals with idolatry, by the way.)<br />
<br />
Going by the ''Homily,'' Hamlet would be referring to the prospect of Ophelia - to whom he has proposed marriage - being "most excellently beautified before God."<br />
<br />
Which Polonius indignantly calls vile, as he proceeds. This is known as a misunderstanding.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====07-118=====<br />
''That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase,''<br />
<br />
''an ill phrase'' - a bad phrase. The word ''ill'' is From Old Norse 'illr' ("bad.")<br />
<br />
''vile'' - cheap. From Latin 'vīlis' ("cheap.")<br />
<br />
Polonius has misunderstood. He thinks Hamlet meant Ophelia is beautified by cosmetics, that she is a painted woman, which implies a woman of negotiable virtue. Polonius deeply resents such a statement about his daughter. However, if the old fool would pause and think, on the point of whether Ophelia paints her face, he would realize the answer is "no," so Hamlet must mean something else. Polonius is reacting without thinking, again.<br />
<br />
It is a nature v. art misunderstanding by Polonius. Hamlet meant Ophelia is beautified naturally, while Polonius thinks he meant she is beautified artificially. The Show concept underlies it. Show versus reality. Hamlet meant reality, but Polonius thought he meant "show," to express it in terms of the fundamental Show Theme of the play.<br />
<br />
Polonius missed the actual ''ill phrase,'' or at least dubious phrase, which was "soul's idol."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====07-118-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius interrupts his own reading)''<br />
<br />
For a reason that has nothing to do with what he's trying to argue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-119=====<br />
''"Beautified" is a vile phrase, but you shall hear;''<br />
<br />
Polonius is deeply offended that Hamlet has called his daughter a painted woman. Polonius thinks. Hamlet has done no such thing, of course.<br />
<br />
No, Polonius, Hamlet has not slandered Ophelia as a painted woman.<br />
<br />
Yet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====07-120=====<br />
''Thus, in her excellent white bosom, these, etc.''<br />
<br />
''excellent white bosom'' - The play ''Frogs'' by Aristophanes contains the following lines.<br />
<br />
A sweet pretty girl I observed in the show,<br />
Her robe had been torn in the scuffle, and lo,<br />
There peeped through the tatters a bosom of snow.<br />
<br />
Polonius is unintentionally revealing that when he fought with Ophelia to take her love letters away from her, he tore her clothing in the scuffle.<br />
<br />
Polonius phrases the line the way he does to try to include a compliment and recommendation of Ophelia's wifely characteristics. This is all about Polonius trying to get Ophelia married to Hamlet. Unfortunately, Polonius's remark is as maladroit as any one might encounter. It sounds perverted, to suddenly hear a father talking about his daughter's excellent bosom.<br />
<br />
''these'' - these words of love Hamlet wrote to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====07-120-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius demonstrates Ophelia handing him letters from her bodice, over her heart)''<br />
<br />
In action, for line 120, when Polonius says ''Thus'' he holds the letter to his heart, showing how Ophelia had it in her bodice. At ''these'' he taps the letter as he holds it to his chest, then at ''etc.'' he acts giving the letter to someone, as Ophelia giving it to him.<br />
<br />
It's a lie. He had to fight her to get that letter.<br />
<br />
How did Polonius know Ophelia had that letter over her heart? He didn't, but, sadly, she "told" him, via a natural human reaction. Think about how it would go, and you'll see.<br />
<br />
Polonius held out his hand, and ordered, in a stern voice, "Ophelia, give me any love letters you've gotten from Hamlet!" Ophelia, dismayed, answered "No!" and put her hands protectively over her heart, where she kept her favorite letter, the one with the poem. It's a natural reflex. When Ophelia continued to refuse, and try to protect her possession of Hamlet's letter, Polonius took it away from her by main force, even tearing her clothing.<br />
<br />
Polonius doesn't see himself as a mean man. He's arranging a marriage for Ophelia to Hamlet, which he's sure will make everyone happy, when it all works out. Ophelia will understand, and appreciate what he's accomplished, later. He's sure.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-121=====<br />
''Gertrude: Came this from Hamlet to her?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude doesn't like the sound of what she's hearing. Does Polonius have her son's private correspondence?<br />
<br />
Over the span of her three decades as Queen, Gertrude has had offenders flogged for less than the theft of a royal family member's correspondence. However, Gertrude is human, and she is also curious to hear what the letter says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====07-122=====<br />
''Polonius: Good Madam, stay a while, I will be faithful;''<br />
<br />
''be faithful'' - keep faith. Be true.<br />
<br />
Polonius is not being true as he evades the question. He does not want to admit to the Queen that he has misappropriated her son's love letters, and especially not before he gets them "on the record."<br />
<br />
We are treated to the sight of a government official saying, "I'll be honest . . . later."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====07-123=====<br />
''Doubt that the stars are fire,''<br />
<br />
"The man is either mad, or making verses." - Horace, Book II, Satire VII, Line 117.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====07-124=====<br />
''Doubt that the sun doth move,''<br />
<br />
Pertains to competing astronomical theories of whether the earth is the center of the universe, or not. Essentially, Ptolemy versus Copernicus. This line suits a university student of the time.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====07-125=====<br />
''Doubt truth to be a liar,''<br />
<br />
Reminiscent of Sonnet 138:<br />
When my love swears that she is made of truth,<br />
I do believe her, though I know she lies,<br />
...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====07-126=====<br />
''But never doubt I love.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet, himself, will make her doubt, later, in Scene 8, the Nunnery Scene.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====07-127=====<br />
''Oh, dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers,''<br />
<br />
''ill'' - unwell; unable to do well; bad.<br />
<br />
''these numbers'' - verses like this. However, Hamlet is too modest, in this case. That sweet little verse is superb, it is obviously an inspired effort. We see the fact that Ophelia inspires Hamlet, with all that that implies.<br />
<br />
It expresses Hamlet's feelings for Ophelia that he doesn't see his writing as good enough for her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====07-128=====<br />
''I have not art to reckon my groans,''<br />
<br />
''art'' - skill. Expressive ability.<br />
<br />
''reckon'' - recount; express. With a verse being a "number," the word "recount" is perhaps the better paraphrase.<br />
<br />
''groans'' - inarticulate sounds that express emotions, including love. ''Groans'' is not literal. Hamlet is using it to mean "love pangs."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====07-129=====<br />
''But that I love thee best, oh, most best,''<br />
<br />
''most'' - is simply used as an intensifier.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====07-130=====<br />
''Believe it, adieu.''<br />
<br />
In the next Scene, when he is lying to her, Hamlet will assert that Ophelia should not have believed him.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====07-131=====<br />
''Thine evermore, most dear Lady,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====07-132=====<br />
''Whilst this machine is to him,''<br />
<br />
''machine'' - body. ''Machine'' goes back to a meaning of "device" or "contrivance," and was originally a broader term than it is now. Hamlet casts himself as the spirit, or soul, within the ''machine'' of his body (while he lives.)<br />
<br />
Observe that Hamlet promises himself to Ophelia while he lives, but we know, from what Hamlet has stated, that Hamlet expected Gertrude to be faithful to King Hamlet after King Hamlet was dead. The discrepancy, or one might say hypocrisy, does not seem to occur to Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====07-133=====<br />
''Hamlet''<br />
<br />
Polonius speaks the name with stress, and a tapping of the paper. He now has it on the record, in the Royal Court, that Hamlet has written an expression of love to Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====07-134=====<br />
''This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me,''<br />
<br />
Polonius is still lying, of course. He is attempting to impress upon Claudius how dutiful and obedient he and his entire family are, in any way that might serve the King. However, there is no chance Ophelia said to her father, "oh yes, father, please do take my love letters, and read them all, and show them to the King, and wave them around in public, because I am your own obedient daughter, fully aware of my duty, thus I gladly surrender my most precious love letter to you for this high and noble purpose."<br />
<br />
Puh-leeze.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====07-135=====<br />
''And more above, hath his solicitings,''<br />
<br />
''above'' - Polonius is holding the letters high, to display them. The word ''above'' is an embedded stage direction.<br />
<br />
''solicitings'' - entreaties. Wooings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#135|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-136=====<br />
''As they fell out by time, by means, and place,''<br />
<br />
Polonius basically means, as he chanced to get hold of the letters, now and then, by hook or by crook, and here or there. So he claims. But he must have found all of them, except the one he read, by searching Ophelia's room. Polonius isn't going to admit that. He's concerned it would sound too autocratic, and not like something a loving father would do. Yeah.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====07-137=====<br />
''All given to mine ear.''<br />
<br />
''given'' - ironic, since Polonius stole the letters.<br />
<br />
''ear'' - actually "eye." Polonius means he read them. Perhaps he read them out loud, and heard himself.<br />
<br />
The reason Polonius wanted the love letters is that they are tangible proof that Hamlet has expressed love for Ophelia. Polonius does not trust what Hamlet might say if asked directly. Polonius is trying to get Claudius involved, both as the King and as Hamlet's adoptive father, to make Hamlet marry Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Polonius is doing this without knowledge that Ophelia and Hamlet are engaged to be married, a fact Ophelia hinted to Polonius in Scene 3, but which he missed because of his attitude. (See [[Scene 3#119]] and its Note.)<br />
<br />
Yes, Polonius is using subterfuge to try to force a marriage between two persons... who are engaged to be married. It's insane.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====07-138=====<br />
''Claudius: But how hath she received his love?''<br />
<br />
A perfectly reasonable question. The answer is that she was thrilled, and happier than she has ever been.<br />
<br />
Will Polonius say that in his reply?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====07-139=====<br />
''Polonius: What do you think of me?''<br />
<br />
He did not answer the question. Why not?<br />
<br />
Again, Polonius is on the verge of getting exactly what he wanted, which is the King's involvement to require Hamlet to marry Ophelia, and Polonius didn't answer Claudius's question, with the reply which would likely have set the whole business in motion, down the aisle and toward the altar.<br />
<br />
The reason why not is because of how touchy Polonius thinks this situation is, politically. Hamlet was the clear favorite to become the next King, after his father died. It was astonishing that Claudius was chosen instead. Many might have preferred Hamlet.<br />
<br />
If Polonius promotes his daughter's marriage to Hamlet, which will give Polonius himself a tie to Hamlet via the marriage, will Claudius see that as disloyal? Will Claudius see it that Polonius would have preferred Hamlet had become the King? Polonius worries.<br />
<br />
Polonius asks what Claudius thinks of him because he is now worried that Claudius might think his loyalty to Claudius is in doubt.<br />
<br />
There's even more. Polonius is also worried that Claudius, or anyone, might think he pushed his daughter toward Hamlet, hoping to entice Hamlet and trap him into marrying her. Polonius is worried that some, even the King and Queen, might think he's no better than a pimp. This is the issue, in particular, he goes on to address and try to quash. He speaks at such length on the issue, to try to defend himself against an accusation (that no one has made) of pimping his daughter, it raises suspicion about his state of mind. It almost sounds like he wishes he'd thought of it and tried it.<br />
<br />
Then, if you really want to know, in authentic performance, before the common crowd, this line is correctly followed by a loud noise of flatulence from Polonius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====07-140=====<br />
''Claudius: As . . . of a man faithful and honorable.''<br />
<br />
Correctly spoken, there is a noticeable pause after ''As,'' as Claudius thinks what to say. In Shakespeare's day, the word "as" was pronounced as it is spelled. Ass. Claudius's immediate response is to the flatulence.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius does want to hear what Polonius has to say about Hamlet, so Claudius promptly compliments Polonius to get him to continue.<br />
<br />
''faithful'' - Claudius credits Polonius with what Polonius said in line 122 above about being faithful.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====07-141=====<br />
''Polonius: I would fain prove so, but what might you think''<br />
<br />
''fain'' - gladly.<br />
<br />
''what might you think'' - Polonius is so worried that Claudius might think he acted improperly, he's getting badly sidetracked.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====07-142=====<br />
''When I had seen this hot love on the wing,''<br />
<br />
''hot'' - passionate.<br />
<br />
''on the wing'' - on the rise. Taking flight. Burgeoning. The ''wing'' figure of speech provides an instance of the Bird Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====07-143=====<br />
''As I perceived it, (I must tell you that,)''<br />
<br />
''I must tell you that'' - even though I blush to mention that I did, because I am so humble, but my unfailing pursuit of the unvarnished truth demands that I inform you of how perceptive I have been, and therefore how invaluable I am to you. Says the government bureaucrat. As he lies.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====07-144=====<br />
''Before my daughter told me; what might you,''<br />
<br />
''Before my daughter told me'' - Polonius is lying. As we have seen, Polonius did not think it was love, he thought it was only Hamlet trying to seduce Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====07-145=====<br />
''Or my dear Majesty your Queen here think,''<br />
<br />
Polonius is patronizing the Queen. Not a wise move.<br />
<br />
In correct performance, Polonius bows to Gertrude, emitting flatus as he does so.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====07-146=====<br />
''If I had played the desk, or table book,''<br />
<br />
''played'' - acted; acted like.<br />
<br />
''desk'' and ''table book'' - are inanimate objects, which merely stay as they are, and do nothing. Polonius has chosen an odd way to speak of doing nothing.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====07-147=====<br />
''Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,''<br />
<br />
''a winking'' - a nap. We still speak of a nap as "forty winks." Polonius means, what if he had let his feelings sleep, and so, not felt any motivation to do anything. It's also an embedded stage direction. Polonius closes his eyes.<br />
<br />
''mute and dumb'' - silent and speechless. It's on Polonius's mind that Ophelia told him Hamlet said nothing to her when Hamlet rushed to her room. Polonius is thinking about how he might have to overcome Hamlet's silence.<br />
<br />
''Mute and dumb'' is also an embedded stage direction. Polonius has a habit of acting what he says. After speaking the line, Polonius puts both hands, one after the other, over his mouth. Two words for not speaking, because of the desired action of two hands over the mouth.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#147|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-148=====<br />
''Or looked upon this love with idle sight,''<br />
<br />
''idle'' - puns with "idol," a word Hamlet used in his letter. Hamlet wrote that he looked upon his love, Ophelia, with "idol" sight, as 'twere.<br />
<br />
However, Polonius means "vain." ''Idle'' is from Old English 'idel' ("empty;" "vain;" "worthless.") Can be heard as "indifferent," "uncaring."<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK not done here<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====07-149=====<br />
''What might you think? No, I went round to work,''<br />
<br />
''round'' - directly, is what he means in this context, with an additional implication of "briskly," "vigorously.". Polonius uses a "circular" word to express doing something.<br />
<br />
It is characteristic that Polonius does things in a roundabout way. Observe that nowhere in all this does he even raise any hint of speaking directly to Hamlet.<br />
<br />
The word ''round'' goes back to Latin 'rota' ("wheel,") so it's one of the "wheel" words in the play, which is worth noting because of the Wheel of Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====07-150=====<br />
''And my young Mistress thus I did bespeak:''<br />
<br />
''Mistress'' - perhaps not the best choice of word after Polonius has spoken of Ophelia's excellent bosom. The word "mistress" could mean "kept woman" in Shakespeare's time. One is amused at Polonius.<br />
<br />
''thus'' - thusly.<br />
<br />
''bespeak'' - address. However, ''bespeak'' has an archaic definition of "engage," and if a person did happen to hear it that way, he would hear Polonius say he engaged his daughter. Given the strict theological view of Gertrude marrying Claudius as being incestuous, Shakespeare then tossed in some hints of incest here and there in the particular choice of words in the dialogue. It is for amusement, not to be taken seriously. Polonius is trying to get Claudius involved to make Hamlet marry Ophelia, but in Polonius's speech Shakespeare gave him wording to sound a little like Polonius, himself, is engaged to Ophelia. Polonius has accidentally made it sound, a little, as if, when he saw the "hot love" of Hamlet for Ophelia, he "went round to work," and became engaged to his daughter, himself.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====07-151=====<br />
''Lord Hamlet is a prince out of thy star;''<br />
<br />
''out of thy star'' - outside the path where your guiding star can lead you. Out of your star's path. There is the astrological notion that a person has a guiding star. The idea of a person existing in a certain "social sphere" is essentially the same.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK consider ambiguity<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====07-152=====<br />
''This must not be; and then I precepts gave her,''<br />
<br />
''This must not be'' - makes it sound like Polonius is against Ophelia marrying Hamlet. Sounds like Polonius is going to ask Claudius to keep Hamlet away from Ophelia, which is precisely the opposite of Polonius's desire.<br />
<br />
In trying, so dishonestly, to present how forthright he has been, Polonius is in danger of totally misleading Claudius about what he wants done.<br />
<br />
''precepts'' - orders. However, ''precepts'' can also mean "maxims," and we have seen Polonius's propensity for sayings.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#152|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-153=====<br />
''That she should lock herself from her resort,''<br />
<br />
''lock'' - Informs us of why Ophelia is not present. Polonius has left her locked in her room. The reason why, is because of something she said when Polonius was fighting her to take away her love letters.<br />
<br />
We know what Ophelia said, while trying to defend her possession of her love letters: "Father, if you take my letters, I'll tell Hamlet!" Of course she said that.<br />
<br />
It wouldn't do, because Polonius is trying to arrange for Claudius to get involved, to make Hamlet marry Ophelia, before Hamlet finds out, and can say anything against it. So Polonius has left Ophelia locked in her room, locked ''from her resort'' to Hamlet, to tell Hamlet that Polonius has stolen her love letters from him.<br />
<br />
We now know that Ophelia is locked in her room, weeping.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#153|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-154=====<br />
''Admit no messengers, receive no tokens;''<br />
<br />
''messengers'' - bringing letters from Hamlet.<br />
<br />
''tokens'' - tokens of affection. This anticipates the "remembrances" Ophelia will speak of in Scene 8.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====07-155=====<br />
''Which done, she took the fruits of my advice;''<br />
<br />
''Which done'' - yes, Ophelia did obey her father, though with a heavy heart.<br />
<br />
''fruits'' - gains; profits.<br />
<br />
''took the fruits of my advice'' - Polonius means, enjoyed the fruits, i.e. enjoyed the profits, from my (good) advice. Polonius says this with a smile. As a King's advisor, Polonius is assuring Claudius that he, too, will profit by Polonius's advice.<br />
<br />
The truth is that for Ophelia it was a bitter harvest.<br />
<br />
Polonius acts this line. He acts nearly all of them. At the conclusion of the line, Polonius looks a bit to the side, as if looking at an apple on a tree. He reaches out, and does a small tugging motion, as if picking the apple. He polishes the apple on his sleeve. He takes a big bite of the apple. He shows a delighted smile, and pats his stomach, to express how wonderfully good the "fruits of his advice" is. As he pats his stomach, with a big smile on his face, he emits a loud noise of flatulence (which Polonius, himself, does not notice.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====07-156=====<br />
''And he, repulsed, a short tale to make,''<br />
<br />
''repulsed'' - repelled. Refused; denied. ''Repulsed'' contains within it the word "pulse," which makes it apt while discussing affairs of the heart.<br />
<br />
''tale'' - has a connotation of fiction. Polonius is, from here, going to just make things up, as he tries to provide a big conclusion to his presentation.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#156|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-157=====<br />
''Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,''<br />
<br />
''Fell'' - declined, from normal.<br />
<br />
''fast'' - Polonius acts this. Fasting means hunger pangs, which can be painful. Polonius adopts a pained facial expression, and he clutches at his stomach. While appearing to be in pain, and clutching his stomach, he emits a loud noise of flatulence.<br />
<br />
Since the play is set in springtime, and Lent is a springtime observance, for Hamlet to fast would not necessarily imply love sickness, it would more likely imply he was observing Lent. But Polonius is just talking. (See [[Time of Year]] about ''Hamlet'' being set in the spring.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====07-158=====<br />
''Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness''<br />
<br />
Hamlet did indeed go to a ''watch,'' with Horatio and Marcellus, but Polonius knows nothing of that.<br />
<br />
After his encounter with the Ghost, Hamlet did experience a great ''weakness,'' but again, Polonius knows nothing of it.<br />
<br />
The Wheel of Fortune spins, and Polonius gets it right twice, in a way, purely by accident, without knowing a bit of what he's talking about.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====07-159=====<br />
''Thence to a lightness, and by this declension,''<br />
<br />
''lightness'' - witlessness. Foolishness, of the witless kind. Brainlessness. Compare how the phrase "light of brain" is used in ''Othello'', Act 4 scene 1:<br />
<br />
Othello: ... Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on,<br />
And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep;<br />
And she's obedient, as you say, obedient,<br />
Very obedient. Proceed you in your tears.<br />
Concerning this, sir — O well-painted passion! —<br />
I am commanded home. Get you away;<br />
I'll send for you anon. Sir, I obey the mandate,<br />
And will return to Venice. Hence, avaunt!<br />
...<br />
You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus. Goats and monkeys!<br />
...<br />
Lodovico. Are his wits safe? is he not light of brain?<br />
<br />
Essentially, Polonius is once again calling Hamlet a foolish figure, as Polonius himself, once again, presents the figure of a babbling fool.<br />
<br />
''declension'' - deterioration, is what Polonius is trying to say. Mental decline.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====07-160=====<br />
''Into the madness wherein now he raves,''<br />
<br />
Polonius is Putting on a Show to try to persuade Claudius, but the truth is that he has not seen any raving from Hamlet, nor heard of any.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====07-161=====<br />
''And all we wail for.''<br />
<br />
Polonius reaches the conclusion of his presentation without ever stating what he is advocating, namely, the marriage of Hamlet and Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#161|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-162=====<br />
''Claudius: Do you think this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#162|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-163=====<br />
''Gertrude: It may be very like.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#163|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-164=====<br />
''Polonius: Hath there been such a time, I would fain know that,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====07-165=====<br />
''That I have positively said, 'tis so,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====07-166=====<br />
''When it proved otherwise?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====07-167=====<br />
''Claudius: Not that I know.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====07-168=====<br />
''Polonius: Take this, from this, if this be otherwise;''<br />
<br />
The first ''this'' - his head, indicated by pointing, placing the tip of his index finger to the side of his head.<br />
<br />
The second ''this'' - his body, indicated by placing his hand over his heart.<br />
<br />
The third ''this'' - his contention that Hamlet loves Ophelia.<br />
<br />
However, Claudius takes Polonius's meaning rather differently, because of something that happens, namely, Polonius's flatulence. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====07-169=====<br />
''If circumstances lead me, I will find''<br />
<br />
''circumstances'' - goes back to Latin 'circumstare' ("stand around.") The ''circumstances'' are the facts or conditions that "stand around" the central issue. We see again how Polonius's methods are circuitous.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====07-170=====<br />
''Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed''<br />
<br />
''hid indeed'' - hidden very much; hidden well. Deeply hidden.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====07-171=====<br />
''Within the center.''<br />
<br />
''center'' - Hamlet's heart, the ''center'' of his love. Polonius is claiming he can find the truth hidden in Hamlet's heart.<br />
<br />
(You may elsewhere see an editor, or commentator, misinterpret this as referring to the center of the earth, which is a patently bizarre notion. What the center of the earth has to do with Hamlet loving Ophelia is, of course, nothing. Polonius is referring to the state of Hamlet's heart, as he attempts to argue that Hamlet loves his daughter. However, see the extended note.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]] - or - [[Scene 7 Extended Notes#171|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====07-172=====<br />
''Claudius: How may we try it further?<br />
<br />
Claudius is dissatisfied because he doesn't see Polonius's argument as pertaining to whether Hamlet is a threat to Claudius. That is still Claudius's overriding concern, the question of whether Hamlet is a deadly threat to him. Again, Claudius's worry about Hamlet stems from his own plot against his brother. How far would Hamlet go, to get the Crown?<br />
<br />
So, Claudius wonders if Polonius can think of some further action, that might incriminate Hamlet. Claudius doesn't state what his true aim is. He's far less interested in whether Hamlet loves Ophelia than in whether Hamlet might try to kill him.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====07-173=====<br />
''Polonius: You know sometimes he walks four hours together''<br />
<br />
''four hours together'' - the entire length of a morning, or afternoon, session of the royal court. Polonius has noticed that Hamlet will be in the Lobby, sometimes, when a session of the court begins, and then, Hamlet will be there when the royal court session is adjourned. However, when he's in the Throne Room with the door closed, Polonius does not see whether Hamlet is constantly in the Lobby, or if he goes someplace else, and returns.<br />
<br />
In any event, Polonius is referring to the entire length of a session of the royal court. It's a length of time corresponding to an ordinary workday afternoon, from 1 to 5 pm.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====07-174=====<br />
''Here in the Lobby.''<br />
<br />
''Lobby'' - the room where petitioners wait before seeing the King. It's a room accessible to the public. For the mnemonic, make it stage left from the Throne Room.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====07-175=====<br />
''Gertrude: So he does, indeed.''<br />
<br />
Gertrude has observed the same about Hamlet, that he will be in the Lobby when a court session begins, and there when it adjourns (although she will not see whether he's there when the Throne Room door is closed.) As mentioned earlier, this confirms that when Gertrude orders R & G escorted to find Hamlet she waves in the direction of the Lobby.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#175|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-176=====<br />
''Polonius: At such a time, I'll loose my daughter to him;''<br />
<br />
As opposed to keeping Ophelia "tethered." Recall what Polonius said to Ophelia in [[Scene 3#130|Scene 3 line 130-1]]:<br />
<br />
And with a larger tether may he walk<br />
Than may be given you;<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK address "loose" as "lose" as in give, in marriage. Spelling "loose" / "lose" was ambiguous<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====07-177=====<br />
''Be you and I behind an arras then;''<br />
<br />
Polonius is saying ''you'' to Claudius, but observe in the flow of the dialogue that the pronoun ''you'' actually points to Gertrude. It is a hint of the correct action in the Nunnery Scene, the next Scene. Polonius has inadvertently voiced an omen: Gertrude will be behind an arras. That is correct for the action in Scene 8, yes, she will be behind an arras, although not the same arras as Polonius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====07-178=====<br />
''Mark the encounter; if he love her not,''<br />
<br />
''Mark'' - observe carefully; pay heed to. However, the ability to observe Hamlet and Ophelia will be severely diminished because Claudius and Polonius, behind the arras, will not be able to see them.<br />
<br />
''encounter'' - casual, unexpected meeting, is what Polonius means. However, ''encounter'' goes back, historically, to the meaning of a confrontation between adversaries, a hostile confrontation. That subtlety of the word is ominous for how the ''encounter'' between Hamlet and Ophelia will turn out, as we'll see in the next Scene.<br />
<br />
''love'' - It is vital to keep in mind what the eavesdropping setup is intended to prove. As Polonius plans it, the scheme is simply to prove Hamlet "madly" loves Ophelia.<br />
<br />
Hamlet will talk to Ophelia, and in the course of his speech, he will say he loves Ophelia, with Claudius listening. After Claudius hears that, Polonius will be justified in urging Claudius to act as both the King, and as Hamlet's adoptive father, and make Hamlet marry Ophelia. That is what Polonius expects to happen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====07-179=====<br />
''And be not from his reason fallen thereon,''<br />
<br />
''fallen'' - man's capacity to reason is by the grace of God. So, loss of reason is a "fall" from grace. Reason is a "high" quality; madness is a "low" state.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====07-180=====<br />
''Let me be no assistant for a state,''<br />
<br />
''assistant for a state'' - councilor to a king. Statesman.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====07-181=====<br />
''But keep a farm and carters.''<br />
<br />
Polonius is speaking of being what Americans call a truck farmer, and what the British call a market gardener. The ''carters'' would be employed to haul the vegetables to market. This line provides an instance of the Gardening Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====07-182=====<br />
''Claudius: We will try it.''<br />
<br />
Claudius has had enough, in more ways than one, and wishes to conclude this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====07-182-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters, with a book)''<br />
<br />
Hamlet enters because he has heard the big news of the day. We all know what that news is: the ambassadors are back from Norway. News of their return has swept through the Castle. Hamlet expects that Claudius will be debriefing the ambassadors for an extensive length of time, as any worthy king would do. Hamlet has come to the Throne Room to listen, and find out if his country is going to war.<br />
<br />
The quick return of the ambassadors implies diplomatic failure, a refusal by Norway to negotiate, leaving the ambassadors nothing to do but turn around and come back. Hamlet is expecting to hear of a diplomatic failure, and a continuation of the threat of war.<br />
<br />
Hamlet was reading when he heard the news, and he has come directly to the Throne Room, still carrying the book.<br />
<br />
By the way, a reasonable guess can be made as to what the book is. It is probably the ''Satires'' of Horace, and Hamlet is probably turned in particular to the third satire in the second book, the satire which argues that most men are mad.<br />
<br />
In action, Hamlet steps a short distance into the room, say three steps, and stops, looking ahead, wondering why the ambassadors are not present. Hamlet was intending to stay to the side and just listen, anyway, but now he is wondering if he was misinformed about the ambassadors' return, or what. Hamlet is positioned very much toward stage left when he stops.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182-SD]] - or - [[Scene 7 Extended Notes#182-SD|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====07-183=====<br />
''Gertrude: But look where, sadly, the poor wretch comes reading.''<br />
<br />
''wretch'' - unlucky man. The meaning is a subtle instance of the Fortune Theme.<br />
<br />
Gertrude feels sorry for Hamlet, but she does not think this situation will last very long.<br />
<br />
In action, when Gertrude says this line, everyone looks toward Hamlet. Gertrude does not speak the line loud enough for Hamlet, well toward stage left, to hear her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====07-184=====<br />
''Polonius: Away, I do beseech you both, away;''<br />
<br />
Polonius panics at the sight of Hamlet. He recognizes instantly that if Claudius and Gertrude talk to Hamlet, one of them will inevitably ask Hamlet about the letters. One of them will say, "Hamlet, is it true what you wrote in those letters?" Hamlet will reply, "What letters?" Hamlet will then be told, "Your love letters to Ophelia that Polonius has. He read one to us, and showed us more. Is it true, what you wrote?" Hamlet will look at Polonius, and say, in a very displeased tone, "You have ''my'' love letters to Ophelia?"<br />
<br />
Uh-oh. The jig will be up. But Polonius has not yet persuaded Claudius to get involved to make Hamlet marry Ophelia. Also, Polonius is sure Hamlet is mad, but he doesn't know how mad. Is Hamlet so mad, at that point he would exclaim, "You rat! Dead, dead for a ducat!" and then draw his sword and kill Polonius? If Hamlet is ''that'' mad, Polonius doesn't want to find it out, here and now. So, Polonius panics, and he begs Claudius and Gertrude to leave.<br />
<br />
Polonius speaks this line in a low voice, and with his back turned to Hamlet, to prevent Hamlet hearing him, and wondering why Polonius says it. (There is staging information in this, in that Polonius must be able to turn his back toward stage left while speaking to the King and Queen.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]]<br />
<br />
=====07-184-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius and Gertrude exit, with their entourage)''<br />
<br />
This exit is, of course, impossible under any ordinary conditions. A servant asks a King to leave his Throne Room, and the King immediately gets up and does leave? Think about it. From the point of view of a King, other persons of his court, including his highest counselor, are still merely his servants.<br />
<br />
I know this exit is impossible, and you know it is impossible (if you do think about it.) It absolutely will not happen under any ordinary conditions.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare knew full well it was impossible . . . under ordinary conditions!<br />
<br />
There is something very wrong in that room, after Polonius has been so gassy for so long.<br />
<br />
One keeps in mind, amusement of the common crowd was one of Shakespeare's objectives in writing ''Hamlet.'' He had to do that to make a living. He achieved that objective, of common crowd amusement, much better than the historical ''Hamlet'' commentary has recognized.<br />
<br />
Kindly pardon me for pointing out that the common crowd is amused by flatulence. Which produces air pollution, that is, an unpleasant smell. Should the atmospheric unpleasantness become bad enough, it is enough to make a person want to leave a room.<br />
<br />
Claudius is not, of course, leaving just because a servant asked him to. A king would not do that. Claudius is leaving because he is finding the air in the room too polluted, by Polonius, to tolerate any longer. When Polonius said "away" it sounded to Claudius like the best idea he had heard all day. Claudius is exiting to go out to the courtyard and get some fresh air. Claudius does want very much to learn everything he can about Hamlet, but he has decided that being able to breathe is a higher priority at the moment.<br />
<br />
In action, Claudius rises immediately after Polonius's "away" line, and walks briskly toward the Royal Doorway, stage right. Gertrude is close behind Claudius, and the rest of the court is close behind them. The departure is very brisk. Given the chance now, they are all eager to escape Polonius's air pollution.<br />
<br />
Picture how all this looks to Hamlet. The Throne Room is large, and Hamlet is well to the side, stage left, and not in the center area where Polonius's air pollution is so overpowering.<br />
<br />
Hamlet stepped into the room, intending to keep to the side and listen to Claudius debriefing the ambassadors. Hamlet stopped, just a short distance into the room, when he observed the ambassadors were not present, and he wondered why not.<br />
<br />
Everyone in the room looked at Hamlet (when Gertrude said "look" and spoke of him.)<br />
<br />
Now, everyone in the room rushes out the opposite doorway (except Polonius.)<br />
<br />
Consider . . . you step into a room . . . everybody in the room looks at you . . . and they all quickly leave through the opposite doorway.<br />
<br />
Hamlet of course thinks everyone is leaving because of him. That's how it looks to Hamlet. It appears to Hamlet that no one else, not even his mother, wants to so much as be in the same room with him. Except, good heavens, Polonius.<br />
<br />
There's an old expression about an experience like that: "what's the matter with me, do I smell bad?" No, Hamlet, it isn't you, it's Polonius. But Hamlet doesn't know that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-185=====<br />
''I'll board him presently . . . oh, give me leave . . .''<br />
<br />
''board him'' - address him; greet him. Accost him. From the nautical term ''board'' which means one ship coming alongside another. ''Board'' is a word on the ship concept in the play.<br />
<br />
''presently'' - at this present time. Now.<br />
<br />
Polonius is now intent on having a friendly chat with Hamlet. Since Polonius now views Hamlet as his prospective son in law, he wants to be sure he's friendly to Hamlet. Also, Polonius wants to be friends with Hamlet so that if Hamlet does find out Polonius purloined his love letters, Hamlet won't kill him.<br />
<br />
Doubly motivated, Polonius approaches Hamlet with a big smile, intending to have a nice, friendly chat with Hamlet. Polonius is not intending to speak of Ophelia to Hamlet, since Polonius has already made the eavesdropping arrangement with Claudius about that. This is to be simply a friendly chat.<br />
<br />
''give me leave'' - spoken to Claudius. However, Polonius's approach to Hamlet has taken long enough that Claudius has already left the room when Polonius says this. This is spoken after a passage of time, several seconds, following Polonius's word ''presently,'' as old Polonius has made his slow approach to Hamlet, who is still standing stage left.<br />
<br />
Knowledge of the action is vital to understanding this. That is true of this entire passage. If you don't know the correct action, you won't fathom any of this.<br />
<br />
So, again, Polonius approaches Hamlet to have a friendly chat with him. Just as Polonius gets within speaking distance of Hamlet, it suddenly strikes Polonius that he should not have spoken as he did to the King. It was improper for him to tell the King to leave.<br />
<br />
Hoping to make up for what he did, Polonius exclaims ''oh, give me leave'' as he turns away from Hamlet toward the royal doorway, and bows. Polonius is afraid he's too late, but hopes to catch Claudius at the doorway, and show Claudius that he does know how to address the King properly, and bow properly.<br />
<br />
When Polonius bows, he emits a blast of gas at Hamlet, while Polonius is bent over, about three feet from Hamlet, facing away from him.<br />
<br />
Polonius doesn't have eyes in the back of his head, so that he could see Claudius was already gone. However, Hamlet can see beyond Polonius that Claudius has left, as have the others. It's only the two of them, Hamlet and Polonius, in the room now.<br />
<br />
Therefore, Hamlet thinks Polonius was speaking to him, asking him for leave. Leave to do what? From Hamlet's point of view, Polonius was asking for leave to do what he proceeds to do: turn around, bend over, and gas him.<br />
<br />
Hamlet thinks Polonius has walked up to him, with a big smile, and said to him, "oh, give me leave . . . to fart at you!" Taking leave for granted, Polonius proceeds to turn around, bend over, and do so.<br />
<br />
That is what Hamlet thinks Polonius has done.<br />
<br />
All Polonius knows he has done, is that he has tried to bow to Claudius, and speak more respectfully to the King. Polonius then sees that, as he feared, he is too late. Claudius has already left.<br />
<br />
As Polonius stands again, he consoles himself with the thought that he did try. He tried to show his respect for the royalty.<br />
<br />
Polonius then turns again to Hamlet, smiling, to have that friendly chat with him.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====07-186=====<br />
''How does my good Lord Hamlet?''<br />
<br />
Spoken with the biggest, friendliest smile Polonius can muster.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====07-187=====<br />
''Hamlet: Well, God a mercy!''<br />
<br />
''God a mercy!'' - Lord have mercy! This means exactly what it says. The historical ''Hamlet'' commentary which will try to tell you that this is some kind of normal greeting is just plain foolishness. It is no such thing. Hamlet is exclaiming "Good God!" He is doing so for good reason, explained in the Note for line 185.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====07-188=====<br />
''Polonius: Do you know me, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Polonius did not hear the "good day, your lordship," or a similar phrase, he was expecting Hamlet to speak. Also, Polonius observes that Hamlet is staring at him strangely. Polonius wonders why. There must be a reason.<br />
<br />
Polonius takes it for granted that Hamlet is mad. He has heard of cases where mad people do not recognize their own family, friends, and neighbors. Polonius hopes that's not the case with Hamlet, but he decides to check. He very very much wants his future son-in-law and good friend to recognize him.<br />
<br />
The tone of Polonius's line is solicitous and a bit plaintive.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====07-189=====<br />
''Hamlet: Excellent well, you are a fishmonger.''<br />
<br />
"... an order that the fishmonger, the fruiterer ..." - Horace, Book II, Satire 3.<br />
<br />
''fishmonger'' - merchants in Shakespeare's time did not have refrigerators and freezers to preserve their perishable merchandise. That includes the fishmonger. He could not freeze or refrigerate his fish. It is well known about fish that they go bad rather quickly, and also, that it is all too obvious when fish go bad.<br />
<br />
The fishmonger, in Shakespeare's time, spent all day close to fish that were going bad. Did ordinary people bathe every day in Shakespeare's time? No, they did not. Did they do laundry every day? No, they did not. The "bad fish" smell permeated. It permeated the fishmonger's clothing, his hair, his very person. The fishmonger was a person you could recognize without seeing him, when he was upwind.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is saying that Polonius is the source of a bad smell.<br />
<br />
There's more. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====07-190=====<br />
''Polonius: Not I, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Polonius does not understand what Hamlet meant, since people so quickly become accustomed to their own odor.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====07-191=====<br />
''Hamlet: Then I would you were so honest a man.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====07-192=====<br />
''Polonius: Honest, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
We are treated to the sight of a high government official saying ''honest'' as if he's wondering what that has to do with anything.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====07-193=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, sir, to be honest, as this world goes,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====07-194=====<br />
''Is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====07-195=====<br />
''Polonius: That's very true, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====07-196=====<br />
''Hamlet: For, if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a''<br />
<br />
''a dead dog'' - Hamlet means, "which is what you smell like."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====07-197=====<br />
''good kissing carrion . . . Have you a daughter?''<br />
<br />
''Have you a daughter?'' - can be interpreted multiple ways, at least two of which are jokes.<br />
<br />
One - 'You mean to tell me there was once a woman who let you get close enough to her that you have a daughter? Hm, it's now a proven fact that there was once a woman in Denmark who had absolutely no sense of smell.'<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK more<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====07-198=====<br />
''Polonius: I have, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Polonius is delighted that Hamlet has spontaneously spoken of his daughter. He takes it as further proof that the Prince loves Ophelia and would marry her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====07-199=====<br />
''Hamlet: Let her not walk i'th sun; conception is a blessing,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====07-200=====<br />
''But as your daughter may conceive, friend, look to it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#200|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-201=====<br />
''Polonius (aside): How say you by that, still harping on my daughter; yet he''<br />
<br />
''still harping'' - always dwelling; constantly meditating. The latter goes along with what Hamlet said in Scene 5, ([[Scene 5#033]],) "...with wings as swift | As meditation, or the thoughts of love ..."<br />
<br />
It is true that Ophelia is very much on Hamlet's mind.<br />
<br />
Associates "harp" with Ophelia. Angels in Heaven play harps, in the stereotype of Christian theology. However, to go to Heaven is to die.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====07-202=====<br />
''knew me not at first, and said I was a fishmonger; he is far gone,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====07-203=====<br />
''and truly, in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love, very''<br />
<br />
''extremity'' - extreme emotion; intensity of emotion.<br />
<br />
''Much extremity'' - great or frequent distress, emotionally.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====07-204=====<br />
''near this; I'll speak to him again.''<br />
<br />
''near this'' - like this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====07-205=====<br />
''What do you read, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Polonius is trying to make friendly chitchat.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====07-206=====<br />
''Hamlet: Words, words, words.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is not so inclined.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====07-207=====<br />
''Polonius: What is the matter, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====07-208=====<br />
''Hamlet: Between who?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====07-209=====<br />
''Polonius: I mean the matter that you read, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
''matter'' - subject matter.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====07-210=====<br />
''Hamlet: Slanders, sir; for the satirical slave says here, that old''<br />
<br />
''satirical slave'' - probably Horace, Quintus Horatius Flaccus.<br />
<br />
A theatrical reference to Horace is found in ''Poetaster,'' (acted 1601 by the Children of the Chapel,) by Ben Jonson, Act IV, scene III,<br />
<br />
Dem. Alas, Sir, Horace! he is a meer Spunge; nothing<br />
but Humours and Observation; he goes up and down<br />
sucking from every Society, and when he comes home<br />
squeezes himself dry again. I know him, I.<br />
Tuc. Thou saist true, my poor poetical Fury, he will<br />
pen all he knows. A sharp Thorny-tooth'd Satyrical<br />
Rascal, fly him; he carries Hey in his Horn: he will<br />
sooner lose his best Friend, than his least Jest. What<br />
he once drops upon Paper, against a Man, lives eternal-<br />
ly to upbraid him in the Mouth of every Slave, Tankard-<br />
bearer, or Water-man; not a Bawd, or a Boy that<br />
comes from the Bake-house, but shall point at him: 'tis<br />
all Dog, and Scorpion; he carries Poyson in his Teeth,<br />
and a Sting in his Tail. Fough, Body of Jove! I'll<br />
have the Slave whipt one of these days for his Sa-<br />
tyrs and his Humours, by one casheer'd Clark or ano-<br />
ther.<br />
<br />
Observe Horace called "satyrical" and a "slave." We need not take it that Hamlet is engaged in objective historical interpretation as opposed to contemporary theatrical interpretation, contemporary with ''Hamlet'' in Shakespeare's time, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#210|Folio Differences]]<br />
<br />
=====07-211=====<br />
''men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====07-212=====<br />
''purging thick amber, and plumtree gum, and that they have a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====07-213=====<br />
''plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all which, sir,''<br />
<br />
''weak hams'' - In action, Hamlet makes as if to kick Polonius in the backside.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====07-214=====<br />
''though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not''<br />
<br />
Hamlet called it "slander" although he believes it to be true. This reveals that Shakespeare was aware of a little-known subtlety of the law, which is that truth can be slanderous. The test of whether a slander has been committed is whether harm has been done (which is the same as the test for any offense. No harm no foul.) If a truth is told, not primarily to inform, but primarily to cause harm, it could indeed be slanderous. Such a case would be difficult to pursue, one expects.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====07-215=====<br />
''honesty to have it thus set down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old''<br />
<br />
''honesty'' - fairness. It is not fair to criticize one for what one cannot help, Hamlet is saying.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====07-216=====<br />
''as I am, if like a crab, you could go backward.''<br />
<br />
''(old) as I am'' - Polonius gets lost in what Hamlet is saying, and takes it that Hamlet means he believes he is older than Polonius.<br />
<br />
Following this, Polonius thinks Hamlet madly believes young people are old. Polonius thinks age confusion is one of the symptoms of Hamlet's madness. We know this because of what happens at the entry of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, soon to come.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====07-217=====<br />
''Polonius (aside): Though this be madness, yet there is method in't;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====07-218=====<br />
''(to Hamlet): will you walk out of the air, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
''air'' - draft. The Throne Room is large and drafty. Polonius has the conventional view that a person who is not feeling well should be in a warm, closed room, and kept out of drafts.<br />
<br />
This line is, once again, followed immediately by a loud noise of flatulence from Polonius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====07-219=====<br />
''Hamlet: Into my grave.''<br />
<br />
'If I keep breathing ''this'' air, close to you! It's a killer!' Hamlet means.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====07-220=====<br />
''Polonius (aside): Indeed, that's out of the air; how pregnant sometimes''<br />
<br />
''pregnant'' - fruitful = productive, of meaning = meaningful. Recall Polonius's earlier claim about Ophelia, line 155, "she took the fruits of my advice." Polonius thinks his conversation with Hamlet is bearing fruit, so to speak.<br />
<br />
Polonius is trying to be friends with Hamlet, and he hears Hamlet joking with him, he thinks. It's working! Polonius thought Hamlet's "grave" reply was a friendly witticism, the kind of reply a friend might make.<br />
<br />
Pregnancy is on Polonius's mind because should his daughter marry the Prince, as hoped, and Prince Hamlet succeed to the throne as expected, their child, Polonius's grandchild, would be in line to become the King of Denmark.<br />
<br />
Polonius, the least ambitious man alive, who asks nothing beyond the opportunity to be the King's most humble and dutiful servant, ha ha, is dreaming of being the founder of a line of Danish kings, who will owe their existence to the brilliance of their humble ancestor, the plain, simple, diligent, honest Polonius. If his eavesdropping scheme works out with Hamlet, that is. Ah, dreams.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====07-221=====<br />
''his replies are, a happiness that often madness hits on, which reason''<br />
<br />
''happiness'' - felicity. Cheerful, fruitful luck.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, relocate this appropriately -- ["Felicity" is from Old French 'felicite' ("happiness,") and goes back to Latin 'felix' ("happy," "fortunate," "fruitful.")]<br />
<br />
''often'' - is an odd notion. Madness, by definition, is unproductive of meaning, and productive of quite the opposite, which is why it's called madness. But Polonius is counting himself lucky that Hamlet's madness is because of his daughter (so Polonius has firmly concluded, convinced primarily by the potential benefit.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====07-222=====<br />
''and sanctity could not so prosperously be delivered of; I will leave''<br />
<br />
'''(reason) and sanctity'' - reason and righteousness.<br />
<br />
''prosperously'' - greater wealth is on Polonius's mind as he contemplates his daughter married to the future King. He is intending to speak of richness of meaning, but his thoughts are going beyond that.<br />
<br />
''be delivered of'' - his choice of phrasing reflects Polonius's hope for that future grandchild who will be born to inherit the Crown.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#222|Folio Differences]]<br />
<br />
=====07-223=====<br />
''him and my daughter.''<br />
<br />
Polonius means he'll leave Hamlet with his thoughts of Ophelia. Polonius is sure Ophelia is on Hamlet's mind.<br />
<br />
Also, Polonius, in his mind's eye, is picturing Ophelia standing beside Hamlet at the altar as they're married, and Polonius becomes the father in law of the future King. It's a dream so real, and so close, he can almost touch it, Polonius thinks.<br />
<br />
So, Polonius speaks of Ophelia as if she is really there, which she is not. He sounds a bit mad (which is Shakespeare's intention for him, of course.)<br />
<br />
(The difference that exists in the First Folio, as compared to the Second Quarto, in this immediate area of the dialogue should be disregarded. The Folio has an editorial blunder, resulting from a bad misinterpretation of what Polonius says in the Second Quarto, which the Folio editor felt needed correction. The Folio editor was wrong.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====07-224=====<br />
''(to Hamlet): My Lord, I will take my leave of you.''<br />
<br />
Polonius bows to Hamlet . . . and emits gas.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====07-225=====<br />
''Hamlet: You cannot take from me anything that I''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====07-226=====<br />
''will more willingly part withal . . . except my life,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#226|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-227=====<br />
''except my life, except my life.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====07-227-SD=====<br />
[[File:G_and_r_enter_sc7.jpg|right|Guildenstern and Rosencrantz entry]]<br />
''(Guildenstern and Rosencrantz enter)''<br />
<br />
In that order. Rosencrantz is hanging back, because Claudius (in private) has told them Hamlet is mad, over the death of his father, and it worries R. to approach a mad person. He has the superstition that it's dangerous to be near a mad person, and certainly dangerous to touch a mad person, because the madness might be contagious. Guildenstern does not share that superstition, and he is walking toward Hamlet in a normal way, with a smile.<br />
<br />
That is why the Second Quarto prints the entries of R. and G. out of the usual order. Generally, R. is named first.<br />
<br />
This entry is from stage right, after they exited stage left, earlier. They have made an entire circuit of the Castle, looking for Hamlet. It's one of those situations where they just missed him. He was going out a door as they were coming in another door, or some such. So they have spent all this time searching, all around the Castle, and where do they find him? They find him standing right there in the Throne Room where they were when they left to look for him. They would have found him sooner if they had not looked for him, but had only stood where they were.<br />
<br />
Brilliant work by Shakespeare. Isn't that just the way it goes, sometimes?<br />
<br />
By the way, it's verified that R and G enter stage right, because they pass Polonius, as the dialogue reveals, and Polonius will assuredly exit through the Royal doorway, to stay as near as he can to Claudius. We can be confident of that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-228=====<br />
''Polonius: Fare you well, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====07-228-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius starts toward his exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-229=====<br />
''Hamlet: These tedious old fools.''<br />
<br />
Polonius concluded above, in his misunderstanding of what Hamlet said, that Hamlet had madly confused young and old. So here, when Hamlet says ''tedious old fools,'' Polonius thinks he means R & G, who are young men Hamlet's age, and who are now approaching, just in front of Polonius.<br />
<br />
Hearing Hamlet, Polonius doesn't hesitate, or look back, he continues to look toward R & G, and he decides to speak to them.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====07-230=====<br />
''Polonius: You go to seek the Lord Hamlet, there he is.''<br />
<br />
To know what he says in this line, Polonius must have been present on stage before Gertrude's line 037 above, even though that is before Polonius's entry as printed for the dialogue. As I explained in the note at the [[#07-034-SD]] stage direction, the dialogue entries are not directly marks of stage presence.<br />
<br />
R & G are already walking toward Hamlet, who is standing there in plain sight ahead of them. Polonius supposes that since Hamlet just said they are fools, they may still need a little help. It does appear they're fools, since it has taken them so long to find Hamlet.<br />
<br />
R & G give Polonius a look, as if to say, 'thanks a lot, except, where were you an hour ago when we needed you?'<br />
<br />
Seeing Polonius speak to R & G after he said "tedious old fools," Hamlet is amused, realizes how he confused Polonius, and remembers it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====07-231=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: God save you, sir.''<br />
<br />
''God save you'' - God bless you. Gesundheit, that is.<br />
<br />
Rosencrantz heard a noise, as Polonius went by, and Rosencrantz thought Polonius sneezed. So, Rosencrantz said, "bless you." Yes, Polonius did make a noise, however, it was not a sneeze.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====07-231-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius exits)''<br />
<br />
And the "air quality" forecast for the Throne Room becomes much more optimistic.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-232=====<br />
''Guildenstern: My honored Lord.''<br />
<br />
G. speaks first because he arrives within conversational distance of Hamlet first, confirming the order of their entry as originally printed in the Second Quarto.<br />
<br />
G. bows to Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====07-233=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: My most dear Lord.''<br />
<br />
R maintains a greater distance from Hamlet than G does.<br />
<br />
R. also bows to Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====07-234=====<br />
[[File:Century_extent.jpg|right|"extent" in the Century Dictionary]]<br />
''Hamlet: My extent good friends; how dost thou, Guildenstern?''<br />
<br />
''extent'' - valued. Worthy, as in being worth an amount. The usage is legalistic, as in the phrase "writ of extent." It has a financial connotation, which implies that R and G can be bought. We've seen that Gertrude has promised them a reward. The Hamlet character, himself, doesn't mean anything as complicated as ''extent'' can be read to imply. We can take it he simply means "worthy" or "valued."<br />
<br />
Shakespeare used the "valuation" meaning of ''extent'' in ''As You Like It'' Act 3 scene 1.<br />
<br />
Duke Frederick: ... Well, push him out of doors;<br />
And let my officers of such a nature<br />
Make an extent upon his house and lands:<br />
<br />
Observe in the dictionary definition, a "writ of extent" has to do with the Crown. Thus, the word ''extent'' has a subtle implication of R and G being in service to the Crown, King Claudius. It's another superb word choice by Shakespeare, wonderfully compatible with the situation. Hamlet doesn't yet suspect that about R and G.<br />
<br />
In action, ''extent'' implies extending the hand. After R and G have done the formality of bowing to the Prince, Hamlet transitions to the personal level, as he extends his hand for a handshake.<br />
<br />
It's another case where Shakespeare used a word which is profound in the dialogue, while at the same time being suggestive for the action.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#234|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-234-SD=====<br />
''(G. shakes Hamlet's hand)''<br />
<br />
G shakes Hamlet's hand with a smile. He has no hesitation about it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-235=====<br />
''Ah, Rosencrantz, good lads, how do you both?''<br />
<br />
''Ah, Rosencrantz'' - Spoken with some surprise at R's behavior. R extends his hand, as if to shake, but then pulls it back. He then does the same again. He tries, but he can't bring himself to touch Hamlet.<br />
<br />
R does a sort of "sawing" action with his hand, toward Hamlet, and then back again. This action by R leads to Hamlet saying "handsaw" later in this Scene, and then later, speaking of an actor who "saws the air" with his hands, when Hamlet is coaching the actors at the start of Scene 9.<br />
<br />
Hamlet's a bit puzzled by R's behavior, for the moment, but he shrugs it off, and asks how they are.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====07-235-SD=====<br />
''(R. bows again, and does not shake Hamlet's hand)''<br />
<br />
This action is actually in the midst of the line above, just after Hamlet says "Rosencrantz." When R finds he can't bring himself to touch Hamlet, he does a proper bow, again. R is not trying to be rude. He can't help it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-236=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: As the indifferent children of the earth.''<br />
<br />
''indifferent'' - ordinary. Typical.<br />
<br />
R's word implies that there's nothing different going on with them, but there is, as we have seen. It is quite new that they should be summoned to serve a king.<br />
<br />
''children of the earth'' - Has a literal reference to natural persons, "in the flesh," as opposed to supernatural entities. They are neither cherubs nor imps from Hell. From the theological point of view the human body is "clay," of the earth, and in that way we are all ''children of the earth.''<br />
<br />
In mythology, the children of Tellus, the earth goddess, include Janus and Saturn. Tellus is mentioned in the 'Mousetrap' play dialogue, in Scene 9. The symbolisms, of Janus and Saturn, need more study in relation to ''Hamlet,'' especially in how well R & G might match up with Janus and Saturn, in some way or other. I do not yet know whether there's anything to that, or not.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#236]]<br />
<br />
=====07-237=====<br />
''Guildenstern: Happy, in that we are not ever-happy; on Fortune's cap''<br />
<br />
''ever-happy'' - "eternally happy," which implies being in Heaven, which implies being dead. Guildenstern has chosen an interesting way of saying he and Rosencrantz are happy to be alive. It provides a subtle, roundabout instance of the Death Theme.<br />
<br />
A difference in characterization is revealed. R said "indifferent" but G says ''happy.'' Shakespeare drew R and G with different personalities. G is more casual, and happy. R is more formal, and prim.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#237]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#237|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-238=====<br />
[[File:Cap_button.jpg|right|"button" on Sir Christopher Hatton's cap]]<br />
''We are not the very button.''<br />
<br />
''button'' - does not mean a button at the peak of the cap, like on a beanie. It means a decoration, or a badge, on the front of a cap.<br />
<br />
An ornament, or badge, is sometimes still called a "button." A common example, in the U.S., is the political campaign "button" which is actually a pin-on badge.<br />
<br />
With the idea of a ''button'' on a cap, Shakespeare is talking about an ornament, or a badge, on the front of the cap. The image, showing detail from the portrait of Sir Christopher Hatton, provides an example. Indeed, it provides more than one example, if we count the jeweled "buttons" that circle the cap. The singular "button" is the one at the front.<br />
<br />
Likening oneself to such a ''button,'' on Fortune's cap, would be to describe oneself as "Fortune's ornament." In what Guildenstern says, he means that he and Rosencrantz are "not the very ornament of Fortune."<br />
<br />
It was also sometimes the fashion in those days to wear emblems on the fronts of caps. That would be exactly analogous to a person wearing a campaign button on the front of a hat these days. If we take it that's what Guildenstern means, he is saying that he and R. are "not the very emblem of Fortune."<br />
<br />
So, that's the idea. G. means that he and R. are not the very ornament of Fortune, or not the very emblem of Fortune, that She would display on the front of Her cap. (By the way, an interpretation you might find elsewhere, about a button on the top of a cap, is incorrect.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#238]]<br />
<br />
=====07-239=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nor the soles of Her shoe?''<br />
<br />
There's an implicit pun. Hamlet feels like a "soul" that Dame Fortune is treading under foot, like the soles of her shoes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#239]]<br />
<br />
=====07-240=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Neither, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
''Neither'' - not that, either.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#240]]<br />
<br />
=====07-241=====<br />
''Hamlet: Then you live about Her waist, or in the middle of Her favors.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#241]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#241|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-242=====<br />
''Guildenstern: Faith, Her privates, we.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#242]]<br />
<br />
=====07-243=====<br />
''Hamlet: In the secret parts of Fortune; oh most true, She is a strumpet.''<br />
<br />
''strumpet'' - Hamlet casts Lady Fortune as a strumpet because she bestows her favors first on one man, then another, indiscriminately. Lady Fortune is not faithful to one man, at least not for long.<br />
<br />
Luck occurs at random, by definition.<br />
<br />
There is an implication, which is not unintended by Hamlet, that the kind of fellows R and G are, they would have to purchase the favor of a woman. R & G do not catch that implication.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#243]]<br />
<br />
=====07-244=====<br />
''What news?''<br />
<br />
Same as the modern phrase, "what's new?"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#244]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#244|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-245=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: None, my Lord, but the world's grown honest.''<br />
<br />
''None'' - is not true. In addition to everything we already know about, later in this passage we will hear the news, from Rosencrantz, that a company of Players is on their way to Elsinore Castle to offer Hamlet their services. No news? R is such a dunce he cannot think to mention that offhand. It will be a while until it occurs to him.<br />
<br />
''the world's grown honest'' - is an abominable foot-in-mouth remark. Part of the news is, of course, that King Hamlet has died. R has made it sound like, ''the world's grown honest'' since your father died.<br />
<br />
R is trying to express that he feels the world is treating him better, but the way he says it is a shocking faux pas. R is off to an almost hopelessly bad start with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#245]]<br />
<br />
=====07-246=====<br />
''Hamlet: Then is doomsday near, but your news is not true;''<br />
<br />
''doomsday'' - Hamlet raises a fist in front of Rosencrantz's face, because of how R's remark sounded. Hamlet is sure R didn't really mean anything by it, but still.<br />
<br />
Philosophically, and sociologically, the concept is that it would take the threat of imminent death, and Almighty Judgment, to make the world honest.<br />
<br />
''not true'' - In action, at this point Hamlet gives a backhanded wave of dismissal toward R, dismissing that "news," and Hamlet turns more toward Guildenstern.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#246]]<br />
<br />
=====07-247=====<br />
''Let me question more in particular: what have''<br />
<br />
''question'' - inquire. Or just "ask."<br />
<br />
''more in particular'' - more specifically.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#247]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#247|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-248=====<br />
''you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune,''<br />
<br />
''deserved'' - earned; merited. However, in this case "suffered" is more to the point, since Hamlet takes it they have "earned" a punishment.<br />
<br />
The paradoxical notion is presented that Fortune has done something to R & G intentionally. There are deep waters here, since events that look like luck in ''Hamlet'' are intentional from the author, but then, by what chance did Shakespeare come to write ''Hamlet,'' and by what chance did he elect to include certain concepts in the play, including the concept of Fortune, and by what chance did England, and the English language come to exist, and so how much of what does appear in ''Hamlet'' can truly be called intentional, since it could be viewed as one of the literary culminations of a billion years of undirected evolution by vertebrates on earth, and... down into those deep, murky waters we go. Best to avoid all that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#248]]<br />
<br />
=====07-249=====<br />
''that She sends you to prison hither?''<br />
<br />
''prison'' - Hamlet is informing R and G that he would be willing to talk about how confined he feels at Elsinore. Friends talk with friends about how they're doing, and how they feel. Elsinore Castle does have some resemblance to a prison, with the big stone walls, and the guards, and we know Hamlet's stay there is not voluntary, or at least it was not his idea to be there now.<br />
<br />
Also, ''prison'' is on Hamlet's mind after the Ghost spoke of his "prison house" in Scene 5. ([[Scene 5#018]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#249]]<br />
<br />
=====07-250=====<br />
''Guildenstern: Prison, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Guildenstern is curious about Hamlet's use of the word, and he inquires. That's normal.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#250]]<br />
<br />
=====07-251=====<br />
''Hamlet: Denmark's a prison.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#251]]<br />
<br />
=====07-252=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Then is the world one.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#252]]<br />
<br />
=====07-253=====<br />
''Hamlet: A goodly one, in which there are many confines,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#253]]<br />
<br />
=====07-254=====<br />
''wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o'the worst.''<br />
<br />
''wards'' - In this sense, "ward" means a section of a prison. Goes back to Old English 'weard' which meant either a man who guards, or the act of guarding.<br />
<br />
Kronborg Castle does, indeed, have a torturous dungeon. Shakespeare did not have to know that, to write these lines. It's a fact that he could have known, however.<br />
<br />
It is not that Hamlet so dislikes the nation of Denmark, rather, he considers Denmark one of the worst "prisons" because its ruler murdered his father, according to the Ghost. Something like that would taint anybody's view of a place.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#254]]<br />
<br />
=====07-255=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: We think not so, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#255]]<br />
<br />
=====07-256=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then 'tis none to you, for there is nothing''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#256]]<br />
<br />
=====07-257=====<br />
''either good or bad, but thinking makes it so;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#257]]<br />
<br />
=====07-258=====<br />
''To me it is a prison.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#258]]<br />
<br />
=====07-259=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Why, then your ambition makes it one;''<br />
<br />
''ambition'' - out of the clear blue, for no apparent reason, R raises an accusation of ambition against Hamlet, or so it sounds. That cannot be R's own idea. We are learning some of what Claudius said to R & G in private.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is surprised to hear such a statement from R. Where could that have come from?<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, examine Polonius and Reynaldo, versus Claudius and R & G, on the point of saying something and looking for a reaction. This, same as the Reynaldo strategy, basically.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#259]]<br />
<br />
=====07-260=====<br />
''It is too narrow for your mind.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#260]]<br />
<br />
=====07-261=====<br />
''Hamlet: Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell,''<br />
<br />
A person bounded in a nutshell would have to express himself in a nutshell. He would have to "put it in a nutshell," as the saying goes. Hamlet means, "If I were bound to put it in a nutshell..."<br />
<br />
There is additionally the point that Elsinore Castle is sort of a "nutshell world," being a relatively small area with a hard shell in the form of the Castle walls.<br />
<br />
The skull is a sort of nutshell, in a way. Hamlet can act this by putting his hands to his head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#261]]<br />
<br />
=====07-262=====<br />
''And count myself a king of infinite space,''<br />
<br />
''count'' - reckon.<br />
<br />
''Infinite space'' is as far as a person can see. With that phrase, Hamlet can be understood to mean, "as far as I can see."<br />
<br />
More possibilities exist for interpretation.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#262]]<br />
<br />
=====07-263=====<br />
''Were it not that I have bad dreams.''<br />
<br />
Except I had that bad dream, which gave me a setback. The bad dream on Hamlet's mind is the nightmare he had between Scene 5 and Scene 6.<br />
<br />
There is further the point that when persons you thought were your friends behave in an oblivious and unfriendly way, as if they don't care about you at all, it's like a bad dream.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#263]]<br />
<br />
=====07-264=====<br />
''Guildenstern: Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#264]]<br />
<br />
=====07-265=====<br />
''very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#265]]<br />
<br />
=====07-266=====<br />
''of a dream.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#266]]<br />
<br />
=====07-267=====<br />
''Hamlet: A dream, itself, is but a shadow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#267]]<br />
<br />
=====07-268=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#268]]<br />
<br />
=====07-269=====<br />
''A quality, that it is but a shadow's shadow.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#269]]<br />
<br />
=====07-270=====<br />
''Hamlet: Then are our beggars, bodies, and our monarchs''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#270]]<br />
<br />
=====07-271=====<br />
''and out-stretched heroes, the beggars' shadows;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#271]]<br />
<br />
=====07-272=====<br />
''shall we to the court, for by my fay, I cannot reason.''<br />
<br />
''the court'' - the tennis court. Hamlet means, "instead of going back and forth with you like this, with words, we might as well go to the tennis court, and hit a ball back and forth."<br />
<br />
''I cannot reason'' - I cannot figure you out. Hamlet is wondering why R and G came up with "ambition" out of the blue, and are going back and forth with him about it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#272]]<br />
<br />
=====07-273=====<br />
''(Both R. and G.): We'll wait upon you.''<br />
<br />
But Hamlet meant playing against them, at tennis. They have misunderstood. They somehow thought he meant going to the Royal Court, which is an idiotic blunder, because they already happen to be standing in the Throne Room. Where do they think the Royal Court is??<br />
<br />
R & G are not bright.<br />
<br />
Hamlet hears R & G volunteer to wait upon him, and he understands they must mean at the Royal Court. And that is what they are already doing now. This earns R & G a look from Hamlet, even a bit of a double take.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#273]]<br />
<br />
=====07-274=====<br />
''Hamlet: No such matter; I will not sort you with the''<br />
<br />
''No such matter'' - no such thing; "I wouldn't hear of it."<br />
<br />
''sort'' - mix, in this case. ''Sort'' is one of those odd words in English which can have opposite meanings. Sometimes ''sort'' means "separate," and at other times it means "mix." Here, it means the latter.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#274]]<br />
<br />
=====07-275=====<br />
''rest of my servants, for, to speak to you like an honest''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#275]]<br />
<br />
=====07-276=====<br />
''man, I am most dreadfully attended;''<br />
<br />
Hamlet means, 'by you two, here, at this time.' He's made it sound like he's criticizing his regular servants.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#276]]<br />
<br />
=====07-277=====<br />
''But in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#277]]<br />
<br />
=====07-278=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: To visit you, my Lord; no other occasion.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#278]]<br />
<br />
=====07-279=====<br />
''Hamlet: Beggar that I am, I am ever poor in thanks, but I thank''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#279]]<br />
<br />
=====07-280=====<br />
''you, and sure dear friends, my thanks are too dear a halfpenny;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#280]]<br />
<br />
=====07-281=====<br />
''were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#281]]<br />
<br />
=====07-282=====<br />
''Come, come, deal justly with me; come, come, nay, speak.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#282]]<br />
<br />
=====07-283=====<br />
''Guildenstern: What should we say, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#283]]<br />
<br />
=====07-284=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why anything but to the purpose; you were sent for, and there is''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#284]]<br />
<br />
=====07-285=====<br />
''a kind of confession in your looks, which your modesties have not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#285]]<br />
<br />
=====07-286=====<br />
''craft enough to color; I know the good King and Queen have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#286]]<br />
<br />
=====07-287=====<br />
''sent for you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#287]]<br />
<br />
=====07-288=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: To what end, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#288]]<br />
<br />
=====07-289=====<br />
''Hamlet: That you must teach me; but let me conjure you, by the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#289]]<br />
<br />
=====07-290=====<br />
''rites of our fellowship, by the consonancy of our youth, by the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#290]]<br />
<br />
=====07-291=====<br />
''obligation of our ever-preserved love, and by what more dear a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#291]]<br />
<br />
=====07-292=====<br />
''better proposer can charge you withal; be even and direct with''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#292]]<br />
<br />
=====07-293=====<br />
''me whether you were sent for or no.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#293]]<br />
<br />
=====07-294=====<br />
''Rosencrantz (to Guildenstern): What say you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#294]]<br />
<br />
=====07-295=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay then I have an eye of you? If you love me, hold not off.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#295]]<br />
<br />
=====07-296=====<br />
''Guildenstern: My Lord, we were sent for.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#296]]<br />
<br />
=====07-297=====<br />
''Hamlet: I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#297]]<br />
<br />
=====07-298=====<br />
''and your secrecy to the King and Queen molt no feather:''<br />
<br />
''secrecy to the King and Queen'' - It's only the King, but R & G don't correct Hamlet. Gertrude wanted R & G to be company for Hamlet. She had no ulterior motive.<br />
<br />
''molt no feather'' - Young birds molt when they grow wing feathers to fly. Hamlet means, "so that your secrecy won't fly away, like a bird." It's on the concept of birds representing secrets, or carrying secrets. You're familiar with the saying, "a little bird told me." This is a clear instance of the Bird Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#298]]<br />
<br />
=====07-299=====<br />
''I have, of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#299]]<br />
<br />
=====07-300=====<br />
''forgone all custom of exercises, and indeed, it goes so heavenly with''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#300]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#300|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-301=====<br />
''my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#301]]<br />
<br />
=====07-302=====<br />
''sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air - look''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#302]]<br />
<br />
=====07-303=====<br />
''you - this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#303]]<br />
<br />
=====07-304=====<br />
''with golden fire, why, it appeareth no other thing to me than a foul''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#304]]<br />
<br />
=====07-305=====<br />
''and pestilent congregation of vapors. What piece of work is a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#305]]<br />
<br />
=====07-306=====<br />
''man? How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties; in form and''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#306]]<br />
<br />
=====07-307=====<br />
''moving, how express and admirable in action; how like an angel''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#307]]<br />
<br />
=====07-308=====<br />
''in apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world, the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#308]]<br />
<br />
=====07-309=====<br />
''paragon of animals . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#309]]<br />
<br />
=====07-310=====<br />
''dust? Man delights not me, nor woman neither, though by your''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#310]]<br />
<br />
=====07-311=====<br />
''smiling, you seem to say so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#311]]<br />
<br />
=====07-312=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: My Lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#312]]<br />
<br />
=====07-313=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why did ye laugh then, when I said man delights not me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#313]]<br />
<br />
=====07-314=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: To think, my Lord, if you delight not in man, what Lenten''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#314]]<br />
<br />
=====07-315=====<br />
''entertainment the players shall receive from you; we coted them''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#315]]<br />
<br />
=====07-316=====<br />
''on the way, and hither are they coming to offer you service.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#316]]<br />
<br />
=====07-317=====<br />
''Hamlet: He that plays the King shall be welcome: his Majesty shall''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#317]]<br />
<br />
=====07-318=====<br />
''have tribute on me; the adventurous Knight shall use his foil and''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#318]]<br />
<br />
=====07-319=====<br />
''target; the Lover shall not sigh gratis; the Humorous Man shall end''<br />
<br />
''gratis'' - for nothing.<br />
<br />
''Humorous Man'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#319]]<br />
<br />
=====07-320=====<br />
''his part in peace; the clown shall make those laugh whose lungs''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#320]]<br />
<br />
=====07-321=====<br />
''are tickled at the sere, and the Lady shall say her mind freely, or the''<br />
<br />
''sere'' - dry; dryness. This is a reference to dry humor. The idea of dryness in humor goes back to Middle English. The notion probably derives from the Four Humors, since the melancholy temperament is the one associated with dryness. (See Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism "Humorism."]) Dry humor is delivered in a deadpan, or melancholy, way, as if the person is too melancholy to smile or laugh, himself.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#321]]<br />
<br />
=====07-322=====<br />
''black verse shall halt for it. What players are they?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#322]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#322|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-323=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Even those you were wont to take such delight in,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#323]]<br />
<br />
=====07-324=====<br />
''the tragedians of the city.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#324]]<br />
<br />
=====07-325=====<br />
''Hamlet: How chances it they travel? Their residence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#325]]<br />
<br />
=====07-326=====<br />
''in reputation and profit was better, both ways.''<br />
<br />
''reputation'' - fame; popularity. Repute.<br />
<br />
''profit'' - income.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#326]]<br />
<br />
=====07-327=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: I think their inhibition comes by the means''<br />
<br />
''inhibition'' - prohibition. The word ''inhibition'' as used here is stronger than the mere idea of an obstacle.<br />
<br />
''by the means (of)'' - because (of.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#327]]<br />
<br />
=====07-328=====<br />
''of the late innovation.''<br />
<br />
''innovation'' - change in government, from King Hamlet to Claudius. The implication is that these Players were "The King's Men" under King Hamlet, but Claudius did not renew that patronage when he became the King. It's not surprising, since we've seen that Claudius's preference in amusement is for carousing while the cannons fire, and not for plays.<br />
<br />
That directly explains why the Players are traveling to Elsinore to "offer [Hamlet] service," as Rosencrantz stated in line 316. The Players are in need of patronage, and wish to become "The Prince's Men." (Had Hamlet been chosen King, as everyone expected at first, the Players would be seeking to have Hamlet renew their status as "The King's Men.")<br />
<br />
This is as close as R and G get to any reference to the death of King Hamlet, as Hamlet stands there in front of them wearing his mourning clothes.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#328]]<br />
<br />
=====07-329=====<br />
''Hamlet: Do they hold the same estimation they did''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking whether the public holds the Players in such high esteem as it once did.<br />
<br />
''estimation'' - valuation, by the public. The word ''estimation'' is rooted in Latin 'aestimare' ("to value.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#329]]<br />
<br />
=====07-330=====<br />
''when I was in the city; are they so followed?''<br />
<br />
''the city'' - Copenhagen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#330]]<br />
<br />
=====07-331=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: No, indeed are they not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#331]]<br />
<br />
=====07-332=====<br />
[[File:First_quarto_restie.jpg|right|the word "resty" in the First Quarto]]<br />
''Hamlet: How comes it? Do they grow resty?''<br />
<br />
''resty'' - lethargic. Lacking in energy and motivation. Slothful.<br />
<br />
This is a case where I use a word from the First Quarto. See the Folio Difference note for my explanation.<br />
<br />
About ''resty'' as "slothful" consult this quote from ''Cymbeline'' Act 3 scene 6:<br />
<br />
Belarius: ... Come; our stomachs<br />
Will make what's homely savoury: weariness<br />
Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth<br />
Finds the down pillow hard. ...<br />
<br />
That speech in ''Cymbeline'' particularly associates ''resty'' with "sloth." It's worth noting because sloth is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, all of which appear in the dialogue either expressly or by allusion. This understanding of "sloth" is by allusion, with special reference to Shakespeare's vocabulary.<br />
<br />
The word ''resty'' also appears in Shakespeare Sonnet 100. See the Extended Note on that.<br />
<br />
When ''resty'' is understood as "sleepy" it gives an instance of the Sleep Motif. Hamlet feels that he is a ''resty'' revenger, and he is wondering if the Players are somehow having the same problem with what they're supposed to be doing. Maybe slothfulness and sleepiness are going around.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#332]] - or - [[Scene_7_Extended_Notes#332|Extended Note]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#332|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-333=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Nay, their endeavor keeps in the wonted''<br />
<br />
''endeavor'' - effort. At root, ''endeavor'' is a thematic word, on the Duty Theme, since it goes back to Old French 'dever' ("duty.")<br />
<br />
''keeps'' - continues.<br />
<br />
''wonted'' - accustomed. Usual. Customary. ''Wont'' goes back to Old English 'wunian' ("to be accustomed to.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#333]]<br />
<br />
=====07-334=====<br />
''pace, but there is an aerie of children, little''<br />
<br />
''pace'' - rate. We suppose that their ''wonted pace'' must be a lively, energetic rate of action.<br />
<br />
''an aerie'' - a lofty brood. A "high company," of children. Factually, an ''aerie'' is an eagle's nest, which is typically constructed in a high, inaccessible location. Social elevation of the children is implied. The children enjoy a high, protected status, for some reason.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#334]]<br />
<br />
=====07-335=====<br />
''eyases, that cry out on the top of question, and''<br />
<br />
''eyases'' - nestlings (literally.) Youngsters. We were just told they're children, and Rosencrantz now casts them as the offspring of a hawk or an eagle. The eagle is often a symbol of the Crown.<br />
<br />
''cry out'' - sing.<br />
<br />
''on the top of'' - over and above. Beyond.<br />
<br />
''question'' - doubt.<br />
<br />
Rosencrantz means that the youngsters can sing, beyond any doubt about it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#335]]<br />
<br />
=====07-336=====<br />
''are most tyrannically clapped for it; these are now the''<br />
<br />
''tyranically'' - oppressively, that is, in a way to oppress the competition. Can be understood as "favorably," in the sense of royal favoritism. Tyrants are oppressive, but they reward their favorites.<br />
<br />
''clapped'' - applauded. Approved. Implies "rewarded."<br />
<br />
The figure of speech is "eyases." Observe that the mother falcon is a predatory "tyrant" of the air, who rewards her nestlings, with food, when they cry out. That should help with understanding these lines.<br />
<br />
There is more than one hint that the children have royal sponsorship.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK incorporate this: . The boys, who were renamed Children of Queen Anne’s Revels,<br />
or just Children of the Queen's Revels, after the accession of James I in 1603,<br />
<br />
Return: [[#336]]<br />
<br />
=====07-337=====<br />
''fashion, and so berattle the common stages, (so they''<br />
<br />
''fashion'' - latest fad. ''Fashion'' means what it still means to us, in ordinary language. Style, trend, "the latest thing."<br />
<br />
''berattle'' - loudly agitate; shake up, in a noisy way. Think of the child actors toying with the common stage the way a child plays with a rattle. The child actors treat the common stages as their plaything.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare included mention of a child's rattle in ''Merry Wives of Windsor,'' Act 4 scene 4:<br />
<br />
Mistress Page: Nan Page my daughter and my little son<br />
And three or four more of their growth we'll dress<br />
Like urchins, ouphes and fairies, green and white,<br />
With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads,<br />
And rattles in their hands...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#337]]<br />
<br />
=====07-338=====<br />
''call them,) that many wearing rapiers are afraid of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#338]]<br />
<br />
=====07-339=====<br />
''goose quills, and dare scarce come thither.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#339]]<br />
<br />
=====07-340=====<br />
''Hamlet: What, are they children? Who maintains them?''<br />
<br />
''What'' - is merely a word used to introduce the question. It's idiom.<br />
<br />
''maintains them'' - provides the necessities for them. Clothing, food, etc. Apparently Hamlet supposes the children are not living with their parents.<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK, Henry Evans, Henry Clifton, Children of the Chapel, Star Chamber, 1601, censure of Giles, etc.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#340]]<br />
<br />
=====07-341=====<br />
''How are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#341]]<br />
<br />
=====07-342=====<br />
''longer than they can sing? Will they not say afterwards,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#342]]<br />
<br />
=====07-343=====<br />
''if they should grow themselves to common players, (as''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#343]]<br />
<br />
=====07-344=====<br />
''it is likemost if their means are no better,) their''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#344]]<br />
<br />
=====07-345=====<br />
''writers do them wrong, to make them exclaim against their''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#345]]<br />
<br />
=====07-346=====<br />
''own succession?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#346]]<br />
<br />
=====07-347=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Faith, there has been much to-do on both sides,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#347]]<br />
<br />
=====07-348=====<br />
''and the nation holds it no sin to tar them to controversy;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#348]]<br />
<br />
=====07-349=====<br />
''there was, for a while, no money bid for argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#349]]<br />
<br />
=====07-350=====<br />
''unless the poet and the player went to cuffs in''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#350]]<br />
<br />
=====07-351=====<br />
''the question.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#351]]<br />
<br />
=====07-352=====<br />
''Hamlet: Is it possible?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#352]]<br />
<br />
=====07-353=====<br />
''Guildenstern: Oh, there has been much throwing about of''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#353]]<br />
<br />
=====07-354=====<br />
''brains.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#354]]<br />
<br />
=====07-355=====<br />
[[File:Visconti_sforza_world_card.jpg|right|the World card of the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck]]<br />
''Hamlet: Do the boys carry it away?''<br />
<br />
''Do the boys carry it away?'' - Hamlet is asking whether the boy actors are "carrying the day" in the theatrical competition.<br />
<br />
The line is quite interesting in relation to a tarot card picture that was available in Shakespeare's time. The image shows the World card of the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck, which was created in the middle to late 1400s.<br />
<br />
The World card does show two "boys," cherubs, and they are indeed carrying "it" away, the "it" being the world. The world, on that card, is a castle by the sea, on an island. Elsinore Castle, the world of ''Hamlet,'' is a castle by the sea, on an island, since it's based on Kronborg Castle, which is exactly so. Further, notice that the "boys," the cherubs, have wings. One could see them as "little eyases," so to speak.<br />
<br />
That card picture provides an intriguingly apt illustration for this line and the next, in the context of the fictional world of ''Hamlet.'' One might go so far as to conclude that Shakespeare had that picture in mind when he wrote these two lines. It is not impossible, since cards of that design did exist in Shakespeare's time, and had for over a hundred years. (Tarot was not used for fortune telling in Shakespeare's day. The fortune telling aspect arose later, in France, in the 1700s. Tarot was originally a card game, and was the direct ancestor of bridge. The bridge term "trump" comes from the tarot term "triumph.") Perhaps Shakespeare played tarot. If he did not, some of his wealthy patrons probably did.<br />
<br />
It is also possible, since Shakespeare was such a brilliant writer, he could have "keyed" certain lines or speeches to certain tarot pictures which his patrons had, so that, when he told them about it, they would have illustrations, of a kind, for the play as they read it. Shakespeare had the skill with words to do precisely that, if he wished to. His wealthy patrons would presumably show their appreciation.<br />
<br />
(It is, by the way, an absolute certainty that Shakespeare knew the Second Quarto was going to be published, and he provided a special manuscript for that purpose. That isn't even hard to prove beyond any reasonable doubt. It's an easy one.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#355]]<br />
<br />
=====07-356=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Aye, that they do, my Lord; Hercules and his load, too.''<br />
<br />
''Hercules and his load'' - reference to the myth of Hercules carrying the world when he temporarily relieved the titan Atlas of that task.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#356]]<br />
<br />
=====07-357=====<br />
''Hamlet: It is not very strange, for my uncle is King of Denmark, and''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#357]]<br />
<br />
=====07-358=====<br />
''those that would make mouths at him while my father lived, give''<br />
<br />
''make mouths'' - make disrespectful faces. Sneer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#358]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#358|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-359=====<br />
[[File:Henry_vii_groat.jpg|right|groat with image of Henry VII]]<br />
''twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece for his picture''<br />
<br />
''his picture (in little)'' - probably refers to the image of Claudius on a coin. As soon as Claudius became King, the mint began producing coins with a likeness of Claudius on them. That's only as expected. The image at right is of a groat with a depiction of King Henry VII.<br />
<br />
''twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece'' - is probably a statement that coins with Claudius on them are being traded for many multiples of face value.<br />
<br />
In action, Hamlet can take a coin from his pocket, look at it, flip it, then put it away, as he says these lines.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#359]]<br />
<br />
=====07-360=====<br />
''in little; s'blood, there is something in this more than natural, if''<br />
<br />
''s'blood'' - short for "God's blood," which is a mild bit of swearing. I paraphrase it as "zounds" which is not an exact equivalent, since "zounds" is short for "God's wounds," but "zounds" is a word that might be recognized these days. Oaths like "God's blood" are hardly ever heard these days.<br />
<br />
''something in this more than natural'' - it's probably natural enough, in the case of the "picture in little."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#360]]<br />
<br />
=====07-361=====<br />
''(if) philosophy could find it out''<br />
<br />
The implication of what Hamlet says is not a philosophical matter, however. It's a "market" phenomenon.<br />
<br />
Apparently, buyers are bidding up the price of Claudius coins. When that happens, it implies scarcity, either current scarcity, or scarcity in prospect. The modern economic laws of supply and demand, and price points, were not formulated in Shakespeare's day. However, people of that era certainly knew that when there was scarcity, of an item people wanted, the price went up. Shakespeare knew that much, no doubt.<br />
<br />
Hamlet has no "market experience," of the kind Shakespeare himself had, and of the kind ordinary people have. Hamlet is still a youth, and his academic studies haven't dealt with this issue, of scarcity and prices.<br />
<br />
The implication is that there are persons who are paying huge multiples over "par" for Claudius coins, expecting scarcity of them in the future. How could that happen? Well, it could happen if few Claudius coins are minted, because Claudius isn't King for a very long time. What Hamlet says is "ominous" for Claudius, but Hamlet doesn't realize it.<br />
<br />
The "smart money" in Denmark is betting that Claudius won't be King for very long. <br />
<br />
Return: [[#361]]<br />
<br />
=====07-361-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_players_flourish.jpg|right|the flourish for the Players]]<br />
''(trumpets sound a flourish, as the Players arrive)''<br />
<br />
The Players do not get their playscript entry yet, because they are not yet supposed to move into position to participate in the dialogue. That is why the Second Quarto of ''Hamlet'' gives the Players only a "flourish" here, and not an entry. However, the Players are now onstage. They enter from stage left, the Lobby side.<br />
<br />
Claudius and the court departed abruptly stage right, out the Royal doorway, immediately after line 184. There was no fanfare when Claudius left. The doorman and the guards outside the Lobby door did not know the King had left the Throne Room. Nobody told the doorman, and there was no sound to signify the King's departure.<br />
<br />
The Players are entering under the impression the King is here in the Throne Room. The doorman has allowed them in as a special treat. They were hoping to give the King a pleasant surprise.<br />
<br />
So, the Players enter in grand style . . . and discover King Claudius is not there. Hm. It is they who are surprised.<br />
<br />
They do see Hamlet, of course. It will shortly be explicit in the dialogue that at least some of the Players know who Hamlet is. However, there is a protocol difficulty. Should they present themselves to the Prince before they have presented themselves to the King? Would that cause offense? The last thing they want is to cause immediate offense as soon as they arrive. The doorman thought the King was there. Has the King only stepped out for a moment? They don't know.<br />
<br />
The Players don't know what to do. Therefore, they wait for guidance, looking mostly toward Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#361-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-362=====<br />
''Guildenstern: There are the players.''<br />
<br />
Informs the audience that it was not the royal flourish for Claudius, in case the audience did not already realize that. In the Throne Room, if one hears a flourish, one's first thought is that the King is entering.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#362]]<br />
<br />
=====07-363=====<br />
''Hamlet (to R. & G.): Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore;''<br />
<br />
Recalling what Hamlet said a bit earlier, this is like him saying, "welcome to prison." R and G won't catch that implication.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#363]]<br />
<br />
=====07-364=====<br />
''your hands, come then, the appurtenance of welcome is fashion''<br />
<br />
''appurtenance'' - a precise synonym might be "accessory," but I make it "facade" because Hamlet is speaking of Putting on a Show of welcome.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#364]]<br />
<br />
=====07-364-SD=====<br />
''(G. shakes Hamlet's hand; again, R. does not)''<br />
<br />
Once again, Rosencrantz cannot bring himself to touch Hamlet. He cannot overcome his superstition, that Hamlet's madness might be contagious.<br />
<br />
Rosencrantz holds his hand in the handshake position, and starts to extend his hand to Hamlet, but then pulls back before he touches Hamlet. He does that, oh, twice. This should be done quickly, not dragged out. Finding he cannot bring himself to touch Hamlet, Rosencrantz bows, again. R. is not intending to be rude; he can't help it, it's the way he is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#364-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-365=====<br />
''and ceremony; let me comply with you in this garb, lest my extent''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#365]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#365|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-366=====<br />
''to the players, which I tell you must show fairly outwards, should more''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#366]]<br />
<br />
=====07-367=====<br />
''appear like entertainment then yours; you are welcome,''<br />
<br />
''appear'' - another reference to the Show Theme. Hamlet is Putting on a Show for R & G, at the same time he's telling them that's what he's doing. They don't understand how Hamlet is putting them on, but they smile and nod, and do their best to react appropriately.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#367]]<br />
<br />
=====07-368=====<br />
''but my uncle-father, and aunt-mother, are deceived.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#368]]<br />
<br />
=====07-369=====<br />
''Guildenstern: In what, my dear Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#369]]<br />
<br />
=====07-370=====<br />
''Hamlet: I am but mad north-northwest; when the wind is southerly,''<br />
<br />
''I am but mad north-northwest'' - probably adapted from Chaucer, ''[[Parliament of Fowls]].''<br />
<br />
In ''[[Parliament of Fowls]],'' there is a vision in a dream, and the writing contains a curious line: ''As wisely as I saw thee north-north-west,'' when the poet is speaking of Venus. The planet Venus is not seen in the NNW from England - while one is awake. A person who, when he was awake, thought he saw Venus in the NNW, would be mad.<br />
[[File:southerly_helsingor_wittenberg.jpg|right|Wittenberg south of Helsingor]]<br />
Shakespeare took Chaucer's line and changed the idea of "wisely" to "madly." Now, observe the dream element. It is the madness of dreams. So, what Hamlet's ''mad north-northwest'' line boils down to is...<br />
<br />
Hamlet means, "I'm only mad when I'm dreaming."<br />
<br />
There isn't a prayer R & G will understand that. Hamlet knows it. But if they want to run tell Claudius that Hamlet is "mad north-northwest" that's fine with Hamlet.<br />
<br />
However, is Hamlet right about himself? Um... not exactly. It's a fact he's "touched," but he doesn't know that.<br />
<br />
''when the wind is southerly'' - Wittenberg is nearly straight south of Helsingor, as the image shows. This line of Hamlet's refers to R & G, in that they "blew in on a southerly wind," as the saying goes, when they came to Elsinore from Wittenberg.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#370]]<br />
<br />
=====07-371=====<br />
''I know a hawk from a handsaw'' - is an action line. (As are they all, but this is special.) Knowledge of the correct action is mandatory to understand this, so I'll describe the correct action here in the regular Note. (The Extended Note has some literary and topical discussion.)<br />
<br />
The action begins in the previous line. When Hamlet says ''north-northwest'' he extends one arm to the side, and looks that direction, as if pointing at something in that direction (the actual compass direction does not matter.) He leaves that arm extended.<br />
<br />
At ''southerly'' Hamlet extends his other arm, to point the opposite direction, and looks that way. He then has both arms spread, like a bird's wings. (It's also a "cross" body position, just by the way, like both Horatio and the Ghost did in Scene 1.)<br />
<br />
Further, it is prerequisite to know that Rosencrantz did '''not''' shake Hamlet's hand, either when they entered, or when Hamlet gave him another chance. However, Guildenstern did shake Hamlet's hand, with a smile, both times.<br />
<br />
Now...<br />
<br />
''I know a hawk'' - Hamlet, with his arms spread, flaps his arms like a hawk flapping its wings, and he smiles at Guildenstern. Hamlet is saying with his body language, "you are a good hawk. You saw my hand, and you came to it and shook it, like a well-trained hawk will 'shake hands' with his master." Guildenstern doesn't understand that, but he's amused at Hamlet's flapping, and he smiles back, and even flaps his own arms a bit in imitation.<br />
<br />
''from a handsaw'' - Hamlet abruptly drops his arms, looks at Rosencrantz, holds his hand in a handshake position, thumb straight up, fingers together, and does a jabbing motion toward R. like a worker using a handsaw to cut lumber. His jabbing action is fast, and far enough that he almost touches R. Hamlet is saying, with his body language, "I know you saw my hand, but you didn't shake it. You are therefore not a hand''shake,'' you are only a hand''saw.''" Rosencrantz doesn't understand it, and he abruptly takes a step back, puts his hands to his midsection defensively, with a startled look on his face, thinking, "Gosh, he really ''is'' mad! He's trying to jab me!"<br />
<br />
Return: [[#371]] - or - [[Scene 7 Extended Notes#371|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====07-371-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius enters)''<br />
<br />
When Polonius heard the trumpets, he thought it was the usual fanfare for Claudius, and that the royal court was back in session. So, Polonius has rushed to the Throne Room, to serve the King.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#371-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-372=====<br />
''Polonius (to the Players): Well be with you, gentlemen.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#372]]<br />
<br />
=====07-372-SD=====<br />
''(a Player hands Polonius a playbill)''<br />
<br />
We know this because of what Polonius says later. When Polonius rattles off what the Players can do, while he's talking to Hamlet, the reasonable interpretation is that he's reading from a playbill.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#372-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-373=====<br />
''Hamlet: Hark you, Guildenstern, and you too, at each ear a hearer:''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#373]]<br />
<br />
=====07-374=====<br />
''that great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling clouts.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#374]]<br />
<br />
=====07-375=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Happily, he is the second time come to them, for they say an''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#375]]<br />
<br />
=====07-376=====<br />
''old man is twice a child.''<br />
<br />
''twice'' - for the second time.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#376]]<br />
<br />
=====07-377=====<br />
''Hamlet: I will prophecy, he comes to tell me of the players; mark it . . .''<br />
<br />
''prophecy'' - an instance of the Omen Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#377]]<br />
<br />
=====07-378=====<br />
''You say right, sir, a Monday morning, t'was then indeed.''<br />
<br />
As Polonius gets close enough to hear, Hamlet pretends they were talking about something other than him.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#378]]<br />
<br />
=====07-379=====<br />
''Polonius: My Lord, I have news to tell you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#379]]<br />
<br />
=====07-380=====<br />
''Hamlet: My Lord, I have news to tell you: when Roscius was an actor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#380]]<br />
<br />
=====07-381=====<br />
''in Rome . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#381]]<br />
<br />
=====07-382=====<br />
''Polonius: The actors are come hither, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#382]]<br />
<br />
=====07-383=====<br />
''Hamlet: Buzz, buzz.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#383]]<br />
<br />
=====07-384=====<br />
''Polonius: Upon my honor!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#384]]<br />
<br />
=====07-385=====<br />
''Hamlet: Then came each actor on his ass.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#385]]<br />
<br />
=====07-386=====<br />
''Polonius: The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#386]]<br />
<br />
=====07-386-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius reads from the playbill)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#386-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-387=====<br />
''history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#387]]<br />
<br />
=====07-388=====<br />
''tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#388]]<br />
<br />
=====07-389=====<br />
''scene individable, or poem unlimited; Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#389]]<br />
<br />
=====07-390=====<br />
''Plautus too light . . . for the law of writ, and the liberty, these are the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#390]]<br />
<br />
=====07-391=====<br />
''only men.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#391]]<br />
<br />
=====07-392=====<br />
''Hamlet: Oh, Jephthah, Judge of Israel, what a treasure had'st thou?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#392]]<br />
<br />
=====07-393=====<br />
''Polonius: What a treasure had he, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#393]]<br />
<br />
=====07-394=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, one fair daughter and no more, the which he loved''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#394]]<br />
<br />
=====07-395=====<br />
''passing well.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#395]]<br />
<br />
=====07-396=====<br />
''Polonius (aside): Still on my daughter.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#396]]<br />
<br />
=====07-397=====<br />
''Hamlet: Am I not in the right, old Jephthah?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#397]]<br />
<br />
=====07-398=====<br />
''Polonius: If you call me Jephthah, my Lord, I have a daughter that I love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#398]]<br />
<br />
=====07-399=====<br />
''passing well.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#399]]<br />
<br />
=====07-400=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, that follows not.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#400]]<br />
<br />
=====07-401=====<br />
''Polonius: What follows then, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#401]]<br />
<br />
=====07-402=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, as by lot, God wot, and then you know, it came to''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#402]]<br />
<br />
=====07-403=====<br />
''pass, as most like it was; the first row of the pious chanson will''<br />
<br />
''row'' - verse. This is roundabout, and takes several steps to understand. First, the word ''row'' is defined as "a number of items in a line," so, dropping the prepositional phrases gives ''row'' = "number." Second, we saw earlier in this Scene, in Hamlet's poem, line 127, that "number" can mean "verse." By that, we get ''row'' = "number" = "verse." Thus, when Hamlet says ''row'' here, he means "verse," through the intermediary of his own word "number" earlier. It is perhaps an intentional little word puzzle from Shakespeare, for how to get from ''row'' to "verse."<br />
<br />
''pious chanson'' - religious song. ''Chanson'' is related to the word "chant" and is from French 'chanson' ("song.")<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK for me, do I want "pons" here?? Dear Reader, please see the Folio Difference note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#403]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#403|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-404=====<br />
''show you more, for look where my abridgment comes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#404]]<br />
<br />
=====07-404-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet beckons to the Players; the Players enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#404-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-405=====<br />
''Hamlet: You are welcome, masters, welcome all; I am glad to see thee''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#405]]<br />
<br />
=====07-406=====<br />
''well; welcome good friends; oh, my old friend, why, thy face is valanced''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#406]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#406|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-407=====<br />
''since I saw thee last, comest thou to beard me in Denmark?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#407]]<br />
<br />
=====07-408=====<br />
''What, my young lady and mistress, by lady, Your Ladyship is''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#408]]<br />
<br />
=====07-409=====<br />
''nearer to heaven, then when I saw you last by the altitude of a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#409]]<br />
<br />
=====07-410=====<br />
''chopine; pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#410]]<br />
<br />
=====07-411=====<br />
''be not cracked within the ring; masters, you are all welcome;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#411]]<br />
<br />
=====07-412=====<br />
''we'll into it like friendly falconers, fly at anything we see;''<br />
<br />
''friendly'' - gregarious; indiscriminate; promiscuous. Overly-friendly, a meaning which we know from the phrase that follows, "fly at anything." (The word "French" which appears in the First Folio version of ''Hamlet'' is probably a joke on the stereotype of French promiscuity.)<br />
<br />
''fly at anything we see'' - is a cue for a dance routine. "Suit the action to the word," as Hamlet will tell the Players, about how to perform a play. A correct performance of ''Hamlet'' is required to do exactly that, at this point.<br />
<br />
Upon saying this line, Hamlet turns to the audience and spreads his arms, like a bird spreading its wings. The Players hurry to line up with him, three on each side of Hamlet, and they also spread their arms. (We can estimate a total of seven performers from the amount of space required. Seven people, allowing six feet for each, is just over forty feet, which was about the width of the Globe Theater stage, as best we can tell now.)<br />
<br />
When lined up, with their arms spread, the performers all look slightly upward, as if seeing something in the sky. They then flap their arms as if flying. The flapping is done in a graceful, timed way, in unison.<br />
<br />
It is a color display "chorus line" type of routine, which relies heavily on the colorful costumes. In addition to being colorful, Elizabethan costuming had big, bloused sleeves, which show well when the arms are flapped. Further, there is mention in the play of Hamlet's cloak, and the Players' costumes can include cloaks. Grasping the edges of the cloaks, and spreading the cloaks while flapping the arms, gives an even larger display.<br />
<br />
Try it yourself. You will find that the basic moves are very simple and easy. Stand straight and spread your arms. Look slightly upward. Flap. Now turn about 45 degrees left, as if seeing something else to fly at. Flap again. Turn 45 degrees more to the left, so that you're side-on to the audience, and flap again. Turn back to the right 45 degrees again, and flap again. Etc. Turning to 90 deg. left, and then to 90 deg. right, and then back to center takes eight flaps, which does not take very much time. (I say "45 degrees" because I believe most people will find that angle easy to do. Professional performers can, of course, work out a sophisticated routine.)<br />
<br />
So, Hamlet and the Players flap and turn, first one way and then the other, in unison, like a flight of exotic birds. Again, costuming is very much "the thing" here, as the routine shows off their bright, fancy garb. Hamlet, in the center, is in black, but the Players can be in red, green, blue, yellow, or whatever looks good. Make it colorful and flashy. Since this routine is basically simple arm work, the flapping of the arms, with no intricate footwork, it can be done by extras who are not professional dancers (and who therefore are much less expensive than professional dancers would be. By the way.)<br />
<br />
According to the dialogue, there are trumpets, drums, and recorders available to accompany the routine.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare was a showman. He did not just write playscripts, he did shows. One must keep that in mind to understand ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Having done the "fly at anything" routine enough, which may be just a minute, (leave them wanting more,) the Players rush back into their dialogue positions, and Hamlet continues speaking.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#412]]<br />
<br />
=====07-412-SD=====<br />
''(dance routine)''<br />
<br />
As just described.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#412-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-413=====<br />
''we'll have a speech straight, come, give us a taste of your quality,''<br />
<br />
Observe that Hamlet uses "royal" pronouns: ''we'' and ''us.'' Hamlet is speaking in "kingly" style, as he "commands" a performance. As mentioned earlier, the Players entered the Throne Room expecting to present themselves to the King. Hamlet knows that.<br />
<br />
''straight'' - straightaway; at once. Now.<br />
<br />
''taste'' - sample. The figure of speech is based on the idea of a performance being a feast for the senses.<br />
<br />
''quality'' - (high) ability. Distinction. "High status" as an actor. A person of ''quality'' is a person of high status.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind that the Players have come to Elsinore to offer Hamlet their services, as Rosencrantz mentioned. So, Hamlet is asking for an audition.<br />
<br />
This is quite a serious moment for the Players. We have been told of the difficulties that playing company is facing. If Hamlet doesn't like what they do, and doesn't agree to sponsor them, they're going to be out of luck. Failure here will probably mean the end of their company.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#413]]<br />
<br />
=====07-414=====<br />
''come, a passionate speech.''<br />
<br />
''passionate'' - tragic and strongly emotional.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#414]]<br />
<br />
=====07-415=====<br />
''First Player: What speech, my good Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#415]]<br />
<br />
=====07-416=====<br />
''Hamlet: I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was never acted,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#416]]<br />
<br />
=====07-417=====<br />
''or if it was, not above once, for the play, I remember, pleased not''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#417]]<br />
<br />
=====07-418=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_caviary.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "caviary"]]<br />
''the million; it was caviary to the general, but it was, as I received''<br />
<br />
''the million'' - the masses of people, humanity in general. In Shakespeare's day human populations were not yet thought of in billions.<br />
<br />
''caviary'' - like caviar. This is the adjective form of the word "caviar."<br />
<br />
''the general'' - the general public; people in general. It's another way of referring to the masses of common people.<br />
<br />
''caviary to the general'' - beyond the tastes of the public.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#418]]<br />
<br />
=====07-419=====<br />
''it, and others, whose judgements in such matters cried in the top''<br />
<br />
''cried'' - sang.<br />
<br />
''cried in the top (of mine)'' - sang in the top vocal range, in other words, in harmony. Hamlet means others "sang in harmony" with him, when he "sang the praises" of the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#419]]<br />
<br />
=====07-420=====<br />
''of mine, an excellent play, well digested in the scenes, set down''<br />
<br />
''digested'' - divided; arranged. The play had good scene divisions, that is, a good arrangement of distinct scenes. ''Digest'' is from Latin 'dīgerere' ("to divide.") Since ''digest'' is well known also to apply to food, this word helps cast a play as a feast for the senses.<br />
<br />
''set down'' - written. Recall Hamlet's line in Scene 5, "meet it is I set it down," where he meant he would write something down.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#420]]<br />
<br />
=====07-421=====<br />
''with as much modesty as cunning; I remember one said there''<br />
<br />
''modesty'' - moderation; restraint; naturalness. From Latin 'modestus' ("moderate.") In Scene 9 when he will be coaching the Players, Hamlet will speak of "the modesty of nature," so we see he considers a restrained type of performance as the natural kind, which he prefers. By that, this word might be best paraphrased as "naturalness."<br />
<br />
''cunning'' - might be best paraphrased as "artfulness." In mentioning ''modesty'' and ''cunning'' Hamlet is talking about both nature and art, the natural versus the artful. ''Cunning'' connotes skill, as well.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#421]]<br />
<br />
=====07-422=====<br />
''were no salads in the lines, to make the matter savory, nor no''<br />
<br />
''no salads'' - apparently means the play was "all meat." We understand why the play did not gain popularity. It offered "too much to chew on" for the average person.<br />
<br />
''savory'' - spicy. Hamlet will soon, later in this Scene, say of Polonius, "he's for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps." (Line 480.) The play had nothing to "spice it up," to hold the attention of those who weren't particularly interested in the subject matter.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#422]]<br />
<br />
=====07-423=====<br />
''matter in the phrase that might indict the author of affection,''<br />
<br />
''phrase'' - phrasing; mode of expression; style. From Greek 'phrasis' ("style" or "speech.") Reference is to the style of expression. This, in context, offers a subtle instance of the Fashion Motif.<br />
<br />
''indict'' - charge; accuse. The style of the writing was not such that the author could be accused of . . .<br />
<br />
''affection'' - being affected. Pretension. Being false to his subject. This meaning is established by the word "honest" (true) which follows in the next line. The idea is that of being false versus being true.<br />
<br />
There was nothing in the style of the writing such that the author of the play could be accused of being false to his subject matter.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#423]]<br />
<br />
=====07-424=====<br />
''but called it an honest method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very''<br />
<br />
''honest'' - true. By contrast with the idea, in the preceding line, of affectation, which is a kind of falsity.<br />
<br />
''wholesome'' - healthy.<br />
<br />
''sweet'' - pleasant; delightful. Pleasurable. In the next Scene, Scene 8, Claudius will tell R & G to "drive [Hamlet's] purpose into these delights," meaning plays. So one could use the gloss of "delight" here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#424]]<br />
<br />
=====07-425=====<br />
''much, more handsome than fine; one speech in it I chiefly loved,''<br />
<br />
''handsome'' - naturally attractive.<br />
<br />
''fine'' - dressed up; fancified. Artificially attractive. We again get a contrast between the natural and the artificial.<br />
<br />
''chiefly'' - primarily. Hamlet loved that one speech the best, oh, the most best.<br />
<br />
What is on Hamlet's mind to generate such phrasing as he has used in these last few lines? Look at his terms: "affection," "honest," "wholesome," "sweet," "handsome," and then "I chiefly loved."<br />
<br />
Hamlet is wishing Ophelia was here. He's sure she would enjoy the Players, and he could introduce her to them, and have them do something for her. Hamlet is sure she would enjoy that. He's right, she would. But Ophelia isn't here. Sigh.<br />
<br />
That's what produced Hamlet's phrasing. Ophelia is on his mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#425]]<br />
<br />
=====07-426=====<br />
'''twas Aeneas' talk to Dido, and there about of it especially, when he''<br />
<br />
''Aeneas'' - a mythological figure, protagonist of the ''Aeneid'' of Virgil. Aeneas survived the fall of Troy, traveled to Italy with a stopover in Carthage, where Queen Dido fell in love with him with tragic results, and in Italy became the ancestor of the Romans.<br />
<br />
''Dido'' - Queen of Carthage. We are to hear the playwright's interpretation of Aeneas telling Dido about the Fall of Troy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#426]]<br />
<br />
=====07-427=====<br />
''speaks of Priam's slaughter; if it live in your memory, begin at''<br />
<br />
''Priam'' - the elderly last King of Troy, who was killed when Troy fell.<br />
<br />
''Priam's slaughter'' - Hamlet wants to hear about the killing of a king. That is, of course, a subject very much on Hamlet's mind, in more than one way: the death of King Hamlet, and Hamlet's desire to kill King Claudius.<br />
<br />
''live in your memory'' - the phrasing is a result of Hamlet's thoughts of his father, of course, thus Hamlet's phrasing as he wonders if the Player remembers the speech.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#427]]<br />
<br />
=====07-428=====<br />
''this line, let me see, let me see:''<br />
<br />
The question arising whether it lives in Hamlet's memory.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#428]]<br />
<br />
=====07-429=====<br />
''The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast . . . ''<br />
<br />
''Pyrrhus'' - also known as Neoptolemus, in Greek mythology, was a son of Achilles who killed the Trojan king Priam during the fall of Troy.<br />
<br />
''Hyrcanian beast'' - the Caspian tiger, now extinct. Hamlet likens Pyrrhus to a predatory beast. "Hyrcania" (or perhaps more properly "Hyrkania") is the ancient Greek name for the area southeast of the Caspian Sea, which the Greeks called the "Hyrcanian Sea."<br />
<br />
The Hyrcanian tiger is used for simile in Vergil's ''Aeneid.'' We take it that Hamlet, the university student, recalls the Hyrcanian tiger from his study of classic literature, namely Vergil. See the Extended Note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#429]] - or - [[Scene 7 Extended Notes#429|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====07-429-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet begins to recite)''<br />
<br />
In action, when Hamlet speaks of the tiger, he "claws" his hands, bares his teeth, and advances on Polonius to back Polonius up. Polonius, so intent on being friendly with Hamlet, was too close, and in the way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#429-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-430=====<br />
'''Tis not so . . . it begins with Pyrrhus:''<br />
<br />
'''Tis not so'' - Hamlet did not really make a mistake. Hamlet acted "tiger" to move Polonius back.<br />
<br />
''Pyrrhus'' - a son of Achilles. He slew King Priam when Troy fell.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#430]]<br />
<br />
=====07-431=====<br />
''The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,''<br />
<br />
''rugged'' - bestial; brutish. The word ''rugged'' is at root related to "ragged" and was originally used to speak of an animal that was not domesticated, or was not well cared for, so that it was rough and shaggy. The general category of meaning is therefore "animal." It means Pyrrhus was a "rough beast," a brute, so I use "brutish" in the paraphrase.<br />
<br />
Compare ''Macbeth'' Act 3 scene 4:<br />
Macbeth: What man dare, I dare: <br />
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, <br />
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger;<br />
<br />
Since "Hyrcan tiger" in that Macbeth quote apparently means the Caspian tiger, which is mentioned in this speech by Hamlet, Macbeth's phrase "rugged Russian bear" should be a good guide for the meaning of ''rugged'' in this line: a rough, aggressive beast, a brute.<br />
<br />
''sable arms'' - black armor. Also, the ''sable'' is a member of the weasel family, and weasels are nocturnal predators, generally speaking. The idea arises of a nighttime predator.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#431]]<br />
<br />
=====07-432=====<br />
''Black as his purpose, did the night resemble,''<br />
<br />
''purpose'' - intent.<br />
<br />
''did the night resemble,'' - resembled the night. Pyrrhus, in his armor, was as black as night.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#432]]<br />
<br />
=====07-433=====<br />
''When he lay couched in the ominous horse,''<br />
<br />
''couched'' - hidden. Or, "lurking" would be suitable as a synonym in this case. ''Couch'' is from Old French 'couche' which could mean "lair," and a lair is a place to lurk, or a place to hide. Compare Hamlet's line to Horatio in Scene 19: ([[Scene 19#188]]) "Couch we a while, and mark," when Hamlet wants to hide and watch.<br />
<br />
''ominous'' - foreboding, although the Trojans did not realize that.<br />
<br />
''horse'' - the Trojan Horse.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#433]]<br />
<br />
=====07-434=====<br />
''Hath now this dread and black complexion smeared,''<br />
<br />
''complexion'' - coloration. Appearance. Character.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#434]]<br />
<br />
=====07-435=====<br />
''With heraldry more dismal, head to foot;''<br />
<br />
''heraldry'' - a "coat" one might say. It's reference to how Pyrrhus was "coated," now, over his armor.<br />
<br />
Indeed, historically, the "coat of arms" was once factually a coat, in that it was a tunic, or surcoat, embroidered with a knight's heraldic devices, and which the knight wore over his armor. The coat of arms was a coat for armor.<br />
<br />
''head to foot'' - one might be reminded of the Ghost's armor "cap-a-pe" that Horatio mentioned in Scene 2. ([[Scene 2#205]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#435]]<br />
<br />
=====07-436=====<br />
''Now is he total gules horridly tricked''<br />
<br />
''total gules'' - (in) all red. ''Gules'' is the heraldic term for "red." We know in this case it's blood red. Heraldry has to do with ancestry, so the heraldic terminology is appropriate to who Pyrrhus is.<br />
<br />
''tricked'' - dressed. The word ''trick'' has been used to refer to dress since ''c''. 1500.<br />
<br />
The word, ''trick'', that can mean "dress" can also mean "adorn." It may be that Shakespeare wanted ''tricked'' to be understood in a "contrary" way here, using the idea of "adorned," since "adorn" normally implies added beauty, but in this case the word ''tricked'' means added horror. Shakespeare often showed he liked the "contrariness" that the English language permits (such as being able to use "leave" in a statement about something remaining, etc.) So it could be the preferred synonym for ''tricked'' should be ''adorned'' in this case.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#436]]<br />
<br />
=====07-437=====<br />
''With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,''<br />
<br />
All of which will die, from among the characters, during the course of ''Hamlet.'' By the way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#437]]<br />
<br />
=====07-438=====<br />
''Baked and empasted, with the parching streets -''<br />
<br />
''Baked'' - either exactly as it says, or "scorched," "singed."<br />
<br />
''empasted'' - stuck on. Glued, glued on.<br />
<br />
''parching'' - very hot and very dry. The word "parch" is often used of thirst, and one might take it the streets were thirsty, in that the blood of the victims soaking into the ground made it look that way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#438]]<br />
<br />
=====07-439=====<br />
''That lend a tyrannous and a damned light''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#439]]<br />
<br />
=====07-440=====<br />
''To their vile murder - roasted in wrath and fire;''<br />
<br />
''murder'' - slaughter.<br />
<br />
''roasted in wrath and fire'' - roasted factually by the fire, and figuratively by the wrath of Pyrrhus and the Greeks. Treated as [[hendiadys]] the phrase itself becomes entirely figurative: "roasted in fiery wrath." For that, we understand the city is ablaze because of the fiery wrath of the Greeks.<br />
<br />
Wrath is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, all of which get mention in the dialogue, either expressly or by allusion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#440]]<br />
<br />
=====07-441=====<br />
''And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore,''<br />
<br />
''o'er-sized'' - covered with sizing, that is, coated with size, which is a substance used to glaze cloth or paper. The idea expressed in the line is that of being glazed. Pyrrhus was glazed over with gore. (Sizing is applied to paper to control moisture absorption, for one thing.)<br />
<br />
Sizing applied to paper before it's gilded is called "mordant," by the way, deriving from French 'mordre' ("to bite.") I note this offshoot because there's a Bite Motif in the play.<br />
<br />
''O'er-sized'' can also be understood as "enlarged." Viciously swinging his sword, killing anyone he comes upon, covered in gore, and backlit by the burning buildings, Pyrrhus looks larger than life. So the full meaning is both "glazed over" and "larger than life."<br />
<br />
''coagulate'' - coagulated. Clotted; curdled. One may recall the Ghost saying the poison, Hebona, caused his blood to curd. ([[Scene 5#073]])<br />
<br />
Return: [[#441]]<br />
<br />
=====07-442=====<br />
''With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus,''<br />
<br />
''carbuncles'' - red gems. "Fiery" gems. ''Carbuncle'' is from Latin 'carbo' ("coal") + the diminutive suffix '-cule.' The literal meaning is "small (burning) coal." Historically, the word was applied mostly to garnets and rubies. Pyrrhus's eyes are reflecting the firelight from the burning buildings, so it appears his eyes, themselves, are fiery gems.<br />
<br />
''hellish'' - like a sight from Hell, and we may take it, with hellish thoughts of slaughter on his mind.<br />
<br />
The name Pyrrhus can be taken to mean "flame-colored," based on the Greek prefix 'pyro-' ("fire".) Shakespeare followed through fully on the name in this passage.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#442]]<br />
<br />
=====07-443=====<br />
''Old grandsire Priam seeks;''<br />
<br />
''Priam'' - King Priam of Troy, an old man at that time. He was the last King of Troy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#443]]<br />
<br />
=====07-444=====<br />
''So, proceed you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#444]]<br />
<br />
=====07-445=====<br />
''Polonius: 'Foregod, my Lord, well spoken, with good accent [sic] and''<br />
<br />
''good accent'' - Polonius has just credited Hamlet with "good pronunciation." Well, he's trying to be friendly and complimentary.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#445]]<br />
<br />
=====07-446=====<br />
''good discretion! [sic!]''<br />
<br />
''discretion'' - prudence. Decorum. Tact. Polonius meant "expression" or some such. He's doing his best to compliment Hamlet, to be as friendly as he can. He also uses what he supposes to be theatrical technical jargon, but it's just the wrong word. Polonius has complimented the "good decorum" of an enraged killer covered in blood.<br />
<br />
Observing the subject of the speech, Polonius has called it "good discretion" where Pyrrhus is seeking to kill the king. Polonius doesn't realize the implication of what he said, that it's "very tactful" for Hamlet to want to slaughter Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#446]]<br />
<br />
=====07-447=====<br />
''First Player: Anon he finds him,''<br />
<br />
Soon Pyrrhus finds Priam.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#447]]<br />
<br />
=====07-448=====<br />
''Striking too short at Greeks, his antique sword''<br />
<br />
''Striking too short'' - the idea is, swinging but missing. Old Priam was not able to move fast enough or swing his sword far enough, to hit the Greek attackers. Thus, Priam made only a Show of an attack. This is a subtle instance of the Show Theme (within the show the Player is doing for Hamlet, within the show of ''Hamlet'' itself. Wheels within wheels.) This is reminiscent of the sentinels in Scene 1 trying to hit the Ghost, but being unable to.<br />
<br />
''antique'' - old. Very old, like an item from a bygone era. For Priam, the time when he was a warrior is long in the past. His sword is from a "bygone era" in his life.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#448]]<br />
<br />
=====07-449=====<br />
''Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,''<br />
<br />
''Rebellious'' - defiant. Based on Latin 'bellum' ("war.") It's as if Priam's old sword was at "civil war" against his arm.<br />
<br />
''lies where it falls'' - i.e. as we watch, he drops it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#449]]<br />
<br />
=====07-450=====<br />
''Repugnant to command; unequal matched,''<br />
<br />
''Repugnant'' - resistant, a meaning that is now archaic. From Latin 'repugnare' ("fight against, resist.") Can be taken as "in opposition." Old Priam's antique sword has betrayed him, one might say.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#450]]<br />
<br />
=====07-451=====<br />
''Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide,''<br />
<br />
''drives'' - rushes against. From Old English 'drifan' ("to rush against.")<br />
<br />
''rage'' - what it says, or "fury."<br />
<br />
''strikes wide'' - Age caused Priam to miss those he was trying to attack, but Pyrrhus missed because he was too furious.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#451]]<br />
<br />
=====07-452=====<br />
''But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword,''<br />
<br />
''whiff and wind'' - perhaps best seen as [[hendiadys]]: windy whiff = gusty breath. One speaks of a breath of wind. Also, wind blows. This is a "blow" from a sword that missed.<br />
<br />
''fell'' - deadly. Ultimately goes back to the same origin as "felon."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#452]]<br />
<br />
=====07-453=====<br />
[[File:Kärnan_the_core.jpg|right|Kärnan, "The Core" of Helsingborg Castle]]<br />
''The unnerved father falls; then senseless Ilium,''<br />
<br />
''unnerved'' - both "discouraged" and "debilitated," by age. Merely to use a different word, "enervated."<br />
<br />
''senseless'' - lacking sense organs. The adjective is significant in advance of the next line.<br />
<br />
''Ilium'' - the Tower of Ilium. The keep. The last defensive stronghold of Troy. We take it to be a structure analogous to "The Core" of Helsingborg Castle, shown in the image.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#453]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#453|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-454=====<br />
''Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top,''<br />
<br />
''Seeming'' - by chance, the coincidence is such that the tower appears to feel Pyrrhus's swing.<br />
<br />
''with flaming top'' - the tower is on fire, with flames shooting up at the top.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#454]]<br />
<br />
=====07-455=====<br />
''Stoops to his base; and with a hideous crash''<br />
<br />
''Stoops'' - descends from its heights. Collapses.<br />
<br />
''his'' - its. The masculine pronoun serves for the neuter.<br />
<br />
''base'' - foundation. Street level.<br />
<br />
The Tower card in some historical tarot decks, perhaps especially the Tarot of Marseilles, shows a tower on fire with its top falling. The Tarot of Marseilles design probably originated in northern Italy in the 15th century. It's one of the tarot designs that would have been available to Shakespeare, or his patrons. (Tarot cards were not used for fortune telling in Shakespeare's time. The tarot card game is the ancestor of bridge.)<br />
<br />
''hideous'' - shocking. Startling; frightful.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#455]]<br />
<br />
=====07-456=====<br />
''Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear, for lo, his sword,''<br />
<br />
''Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear'' - captures his ear, thereby "arresting" him. By the way, this hints of how the resolution between Hamlet and Claudius is to be acted, in Scene 20. There, Hamlet must "capture" Claudius by the ear, and "arrest" him, that is, hold him in position.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#456]]<br />
<br />
=====07-457=====<br />
''Which was declining on the milky head''<br />
<br />
''milky'' - white. Further, we may take it Priam's hair is long and, under the circumstances, unkempt, so it hangs down the sides of his head, like milk running down.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#457]]<br />
<br />
=====07-458=====<br />
''Of reverent Priam, seemed in the air to stick;''<br />
<br />
''reverent'' - Priam is on his knees, as if praying. This anticipates Hamlet with Claudius in the Prayer Scene, Scene 10.<br />
<br />
''seemed in the air to stick'' - an odd sight, since the air is "woundless," as Claudius will observe in Scene 12.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#458]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#458|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-459=====<br />
''So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood,''<br />
<br />
The Players now begin to pose, as if for a painting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#459]]<br />
<br />
=====07-460=====<br />
''And like a neutral to his will and matter,''<br />
<br />
''a neutral'' - one who is uninvolved; one who is only an observer.<br />
<br />
''his will and matter'' - his mind and body; or, alternatively, his intention and its object. The phrase is deliberately ambiguous, for multiple meanings. Pyrrhus has stopped as if, oh, his spirit had stepped outside his body, leaving his mind and body unmoved, and unmoving. Or, one could see it as if Pyrrhus stopped as if, abruptly, he was uncaring about his own desire and the object he pursued.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#460]]<br />
<br />
=====07-461=====<br />
''Did nothing;''<br />
<br />
Stopped entirely. Froze in position.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#461]]<br />
<br />
=====07-461-SD=====<br />
''(the Players present a tableau)''<br />
<br />
When ''Hamlet'' is correctly performed, Hamlet and the players now present a tableau: "The Death of Priam." Pyrrhus stands over Priam, ferociously intent, sword raised. Priam kneels, hands clasped, eyes toward Heaven. Hecuba stands, hands to her head, mouth open, screaming (although the actor is silent for the duration of this tableau.) The other players are strewn around the stage, representing dead victims.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#461-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-462=====<br />
''But, as we often see against some storm,''<br />
<br />
''see'' - observe.<br />
<br />
''against'' - against the backdrop of. Or, "as a counterpoint to." Either meaning can apply, or both simultaneously.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#462]]<br />
<br />
=====07-463=====<br />
''A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,''<br />
<br />
''rack'' - clouds. Particularly, wind-driven clouds. Here, stopped because of the sudden calm.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#463]]<br />
<br />
=====07-464=====<br />
''The bold winds speechless, and the orb below''<br />
<br />
''bold'' - boisterous, is probably a good equivalent.<br />
<br />
''speechless'' - mute, is the correct synonym, which we know because "mute" is a theatrical term we find in the play.<br />
<br />
''the orb'' - the world.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#464]]<br />
<br />
=====07-465=====<br />
''As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder''<br />
<br />
''hush as death'' - silent as death. The phrasing is ominous.<br />
<br />
''anon'' - in a short time. Soon. In this context, "quite soon."<br />
<br />
''dreadful'' - fearsome; awesome.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#465]]<br />
<br />
=====07-466=====<br />
''Doth rend the region; so after Pyrrhus' pause,''<br />
<br />
''rend'' - crack. A crack of thunder. Or, "split." The thunder was ear splitting.<br />
<br />
''region'' - the "airy region," the atmosphere, where storms happen and birds fly. Compare ''Romeo and Juliet'' Act 2 scene 2:<br />
<br />
Romeo: ... her eyes in heaven<br />
Would through the airy region stream so bright<br />
That birds would sing and think it were not night.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#466]]<br />
<br />
=====07-467=====<br />
''A roused vengeance sets him new a' work,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#467]]<br />
<br />
=====07-468=====<br />
''And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall''<br />
<br />
''Cyclops'' - In Greek mythology, then later in Roman mythology, ancient giants who among other activities forged magical items for the gods. Hamlet seems to be original in crediting them with forging Mars's armor.<br />
<br />
''hammers'' - blacksmith's hammers; forging hammers.<br />
<br />
''fall'' - strike.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#468]]<br />
<br />
=====07-469=====<br />
''On Mars's armor, forged for proof etern,''<br />
<br />
''Mars'' - the ancient Roman god of war.<br />
<br />
''armor'' - classically, depictions of Mars do not show him in armor, except a helmet. Immortal gods don't have a mortal's need for protection. The idea of Mars in armor seems again to be original with Hamlet. There is a point in relation to the play.<br />
<br />
''armor, forged'' - the notable armor is that of the Ghost, and "forged" can mean false, or counterfeit. It can be read as a hint of the Ghost not being the real thing. That is not what the Hamlet character is trying to say, and he does not realize the implication of his own words.<br />
<br />
''for proof etern'' - to pass the test of eternity, is one way to read it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#469]]<br />
<br />
=====07-470=====<br />
''With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword''<br />
<br />
''remorse'' - restraint; pity. ''Remorse'' is from Latin 're-' ("back") + 'mordēre' ("to bite.") The notion is that of one's offenses "biting back" at one's conscience. As we see from the root, ''remorse'' is one of the "bite" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''bleeding sword'' - bloody sword, but so covered in blood that it drips, to look like the sword itself is bleeding.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#470]]<br />
<br />
=====07-471=====<br />
''Now falls on Priam.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#471]]<br />
<br />
=====07-472=====<br />
''Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods,''<br />
<br />
''strumpet'' - unfaithful creature.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#472]]<br />
<br />
=====07-473=====<br />
''In general synod take away Her power!''<br />
<br />
''synod'' - assembly; council. From Greek 'synodos' ("assembly,") which could also mean a conjunction of planets. Since the mythological gods were associated with planets, the word ''synod'' is a perfect word choice by Shakespeare, correct in both plain meaning and root meaning.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#473]]<br />
<br />
=====07-474=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_follies.jpg|right|"follies" in the Second Quarto]]<br />
''Break all the spokes, and follies from Her wheel,''<br />
<br />
''follies'' - is the right word. Removing the ''follies'' from Fortune's Wheel would prevent folly from afflicting mankind because of luck.<br />
[[File:Century_felly.jpg|right|"felly" in the Century Dictionary]]<br />
<br />
The word ''follies'' was obviously intended to suggest "fellies," which is the technical term for the arc-shaped pieces that make up the rim of a spoked wheel, as the dictionary definition says. However, Shakespeare was dealing with human concepts, he was not writing a technical manual for wheel design. The human concern is "folly." There is wordplay with "fellies," but ''follies'' is the correct word in the ''Hamlet'' playscript.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#474]]<br />
<br />
=====07-475=====<br />
''And bowl the round nave down the hill of Heaven''<br />
<br />
''bowl'' - roll.<br />
<br />
''round nave'' - circular center. Makes Hamlet think of "round knave" = fat Claudius. We'll later hear Hamlet speak of sending Claudius to Hell.<br />
<br />
''hill'' - can give a picture of Heaven on a hill, or can be understood as "height." A hill is a height. There's a hint of the fall of Lucifer. The power of Fortune is cast as a devilish sort of power, which can destroy men, so, the call is for Fortune to be treated in a way similar to Lucifer.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#475]]<br />
<br />
=====07-476=====<br />
''As low as to the fiends!''<br />
<br />
''fiends'' - demons, in Hell. Thus, the sentiment is, "to hell with Fortune."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#476]]<br />
<br />
=====07-477=====<br />
''Polonius: This is too long.''<br />
<br />
At least, it's too long for Polonius unless he's the one who's talking. Earlier, we heard him talk at greater length. In the earlier passage in this Scene, Polonius did most of the talking over the course of some ninety lines. The Player is just short of thirty lines here. It always makes a difference whether you're the one who's talking.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#477]]<br />
<br />
=====07-478=====<br />
''Hamlet: It shall to the barber's with your beard.''<br />
<br />
''to the barber's with your beard'' - Hamlet is calling Polonius a child, who should be "seen and not heard." Children don't have beards. Thus, Polonius's beard should be removed, for him to be a proper child.<br />
<br />
Polonius doesn't understand he's being told to "be seen and not heard," but it gives him something to think about. He's quiet while he does.<br />
<br />
Being "seen and not heard" is the case with a "dumb show." Hamlet wants only a dumb show from the "child" Polonius, no dialogue from him. On the 'Putting on a Show' Theme, this line by Hamlet is a "dumb show" instance.<br />
<br />
Polonius will not figure this out, except as far as Hamlet saying his beard needs a trim. An alert production of ''Hamlet'' will have Polonius with a shorter, neater beard the next time he appears.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#478]]<br />
<br />
=====07-479=====<br />
''(to the First Player): prithee say on, he's''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#479]]<br />
<br />
=====07-480=====<br />
''for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps; say on, come to Hecuba.''<br />
<br />
''jig'' - lively dance; or, musical number.<br />
<br />
''tale of bawdry'' - sexy story; naughty story.<br />
<br />
''sleeps'' - falls asleep, from boredom. Hamlet is saying that Polonius's tastes in entertainment are common.<br />
<br />
''Hecuba'' - Priam's wife, and the Queen of Troy. Hamlet wants to hear about the Queen. He will inevitably think also of Gertrude.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#480]]<br />
<br />
=====07-481=====<br />
''First Player: But who, ah woe, had seen the mabled Queen . . .''<br />
<br />
''mabled'' - hurriedly dressed, as the Player will go on to describe in lines 485-488.<br />
<br />
I paraphrase it as "disarrayed," to go along with the Queen being in disarray, and also being without her usual fine array of clothing.<br />
<br />
NOTICE: The Player is '''''not''''' saying the same word Hamlet will say in the next line, although, given the lack of standardization in Shakespeare's time, the two words could be spelled the same.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#481]] - or - [[Scene 7 Extended Notes#481|Extended Note 481]]<br />
<br />
=====07-482=====<br />
[[File:Second quarto mobled.jpg|right|The Second Quarto word "mobled"]]<br />
''Hamlet: The mobled Queen.''<br />
<br />
''mobled'' - "moved good." Hamlet is '''''not''''' speaking the same word the Player spoke, he is speaking a homonym.<br />
<br />
Hamlet heard the Player's word as a word based on ''moble'' = movable good. The past tense makes it "moved good." He thinks the Player said, in effect, "moved good Queen." That phrase, moved good Queen, makes sense. It describes good Queen Hecuba as emotionally moved.<br />
<br />
(''Moble'' is a Middle English word that refers to an item of personal property which is transportable. It's found in Chaucer and elsewhere, as cited in the Extended Note. In plural, mobles, it basically means a person's "movables," the items of various kinds that a man might take along when he moves.)<br />
<br />
In relation to a queen, Hamlet is pondering the idea of his mother, Queen Gertrude, as a "moved good," a "good" that has moved from King Hamlet to Claudius. It's as though Gertrude is personal property to be traded from man to man. It's the idea of a woman as a chattel.<br />
<br />
Hamlet mulls the word because he doesn't like what it implies. He doesn't like it that his mother has been treated, or has allowed herself to be treated, as a movable good, a chattel. (However, Hamlet doesn't know everything that's going on, and his point of view is subjective.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#482]] - or - [[Scene 7 Extended Notes#482|Extended Note 482]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#482|Folio Difference 482]]<br />
<br />
=====07-483=====<br />
''Polonius: That's good.''<br />
<br />
''That's good'' - Polonius is trying to be agreeable, to be friendly with Hamlet. He thinks Hamlet remarked "mobled" because he thought it was good. That's often why listeners remark things in a show. However, what Hamlet took from it was not good, viewed as an allusion to Queen Gertrude. In action, Hamlet will momentarily look askance at Polonius.<br />
<br />
While giving Polonius a characteristic line, Shakespeare simultaneously provided us with a hint of what he used ''mobled'' to mean in Hamlet's speech. The word "good," in a sense, is indeed a part of how Hamlet took it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#483]]<br />
<br />
=====07-484=====<br />
''First Player: . . . Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames''<br />
<br />
''up and down'' - back and forth, in panic.<br />
<br />
''threatening the flames'' - she was weeping so copiously you'd almost think the tears would drown the flames.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#484]]<br />
<br />
=====07-485=====<br />
[[File:Bisson_rheum.jpg|right|"bisson rheum" in the Second Quarto]]<br />
''With bisson rheum, a clout about that head''<br />
<br />
''bisson'' - blind, blinding. A reference to not seeing, not being able to see. Apparently goes back to Old English 'bisene' ("blind.") Shakespeare also used ''bisson'' twice in ''Coriolanus.''<br />
<br />
''bisson rheum'' - blinding tears. Copious tears. As Hamlet called it in Scene 2, when speaking of himself, "the fruitful river in the eye" ([[Scene 2#082]].) ''Rheum'' goes back to Greek 'rheuma' ("that which flows.")<br />
<br />
''a clout'' - a piece of cloth; a scarf. We may take it that the Queen wore a scarf tied around her head to keep her hair from getting tangled while she slept, and she is still wearing it. The point is the commonness of the ordinary scarf in contrast to how she is usually seen in public, wearing her royal crown. The humiliation of the Queen is a sad and tragic show.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#485]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#485|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-486=====<br />
''Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,''<br />
<br />
''late'' - earlier. This is another of Shakespeare's clever "contrary" word usages, where he took advantage of the peculiarities of English to use ''late'' for essentially the opposite of the impression it gives, just seeing the word.<br />
<br />
''diadem'' - crown. Royal headdress. From Greek 'diadema.' Goes back to the term for the headband worn by Alexander the Great. Since Alexander gets mention in the play, in Scene 19, one suspects Shakespeare knew the history of this word.<br />
<br />
''for a robe'' - instead of her usual royal robe.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#486]]<br />
<br />
=====07-487=====<br />
''About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,''<br />
<br />
''lank'' - skinny, or bony, because of her age. ''Lank'' goes back to Old English 'hlanc' which could be understood as "empty," thus contrasting with the phrase ''o'er-teemed'' which follows it. "Lankness" is a kind of emptiness, while "teeming" is a kind of fullness. The line makes sense overall despite its internal conflict of concepts. English can be that way.<br />
<br />
''all'' - very; quite.<br />
<br />
''o'er-teemed'' - over populated. According to Homer's ''Iliad,'' Hecuba had 19 sons. By comparison with Hamlet's situation, we may take it that the question bothering Hamlet is whether Gertrude's loins were "over populated" in having only him. We did hear Hamlet at the end of Scene 5 complaining "that ever I was born," albeit his line there is better understood as an expression of disgust or irritation rather than actual regret about his birth.<br />
<br />
''loins'' - does not necessarily mean only the lower body, since, according to the ''Online Etymology Dictionary,'' "In Biblical translations, often used for "that part of the body that should be covered and about which the clothes are bound" (1520s)." Following the phrase "for a robe" in the previous line, the word ''loins'' here is probably best interpreted in the way of those Biblical translations. A queen's robe does cover the entire part of the body which is usually clothed. It appears Shakespeare knew the Biblical usage versus the common usage.<br />
<br />
Royal robes are plush, and are worn with undergarments that add fullness to the appearance of the monarch. A blanket over a simple night dress would make her look much thinner.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#487]]<br />
<br />
=====07-488=====<br />
''A blanket in the alarm of fear caught up;''<br />
<br />
''alarm of fear'' - fearful alarm; fearful outcry. The noise of people screaming in panic. This is probably best interpreted through [[hendiadys]]: ''alarm of fear'' -> "fearful alarm," even though the "of" is a preposition and not a conjunction as hendiadys generally requires.<br />
<br />
''caught up'' - grabbed.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#488]]<br />
<br />
=====07-489=====<br />
''Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steeped,''<br />
<br />
''tongue in venom steeped'' - means "poisonous" speech. Viperous speech; malicious speech. Venomous language. There was a belief in folklore that vipers poisoned with their sharp, forked, flicking tongues. So, the idea of a tongue steeped in venom suggests a viper.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#489]]<br />
<br />
=====07-490=====<br />
'''Gainst Fortune's state, would treason have pronounced;''<br />
<br />
''state'' - rule. Reference to how Fortune rules human events. Further, ''state'' suggests "state of things," which refers to the outcome brought about by Fortune, in the fall of Troy.<br />
<br />
''would treason have pronounced'' - would have advocated in favor of treason, against the rule of Fortune.<br />
<br />
In Scene 20, when the turn of events results in Hamlet wounding Claudius, Hamlet will hear a cry of "treason" from the spectators, voiced against himself.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#490]]<br />
<br />
=====07-491=====<br />
''But if the gods, themselves, did see her then,''<br />
<br />
''gods'' - the Greek gods, we take it, since the events recounted are in the time of the ancient Greeks.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#491]]<br />
<br />
=====07-492=====<br />
''When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#492]]<br />
<br />
=====07-493=====<br />
''In mincing with his sword her husband limbs,''<br />
<br />
''mincing'' - chopping to pieces; hacking to pieces.<br />
<br />
''husband limbs'' - "husband's limbs," however, the phrase can be read in the singular, as it stands, as "companion limbs," since a ''husband'' is a companion.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#493]]<br />
<br />
=====07-494=====<br />
''The instant burst of clamor that she made,''<br />
<br />
''instant'' - immediate, is the simple reading. However, ''instant'' is from Latin 'in-' + 'stāre' ("to stand,") so a playful writer could go by the Latin root to obtain a meaning of "stand in," which is a theatrical term. When Hecuba screamed, she did so on her husband's behalf, ergo she was "standing in" for him. I do not think Shakespeare was using only the simple, ordinary meaning here. Hecuba's ''burst of clamor'' was a "stand in" performance for Priam, who was dead and therefore unable to "go on." One might say.<br />
<br />
''burst of clamor'' - outburst of screaming.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#494]]<br />
<br />
=====07-495=====<br />
''Unless things mortal move them not at all,''<br />
<br />
''things mortal'' - mortal events. Earthly goings on.<br />
<br />
''move'' - disturb.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#495]]<br />
<br />
=====07-496=====<br />
''Would have made milk the burning eyes of heaven''<br />
<br />
''made milk'' - made weep; made cry. The word ''milk'' is probably used because of the Milky Way. We are to see the Milky Way as the tears of the stars weeping for Hecuba. Shakespeare did his own bit of myth creation here, it appears.<br />
<br />
''burning eyes'' - shining eyes. The shining stars. The stars are cast as the eyes of the heavens. Here, we take ''heaven'' as meaning "the heavens."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#496]]<br />
<br />
=====07-497=====<br />
''And passion in the gods.''<br />
<br />
''And passion'' - And (would have made) passion. The phrase at the start of the previous line carries through. "And would have caused passion..."<br />
<br />
''passion'' - suffering. Same sense as in the phrase, "the passion of Christ." "Mortal agony." The phrasing is paradoxical, since the immortal gods cannot experience mortal agony, by definition, however, one supposes they could appreciate it through empathy. There is irony in that these gods would be the gods of the Greek pantheon, or perhaps, since history is written by the winners, the Trojans were children of lesser gods, now unknown.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, in his desire to kill Claudius, might think of sneaking into Claudius's room when Claudius is asleep, and killing him. However, what Hamlet has heard here will dissuade him from trying that. Gertrude might be present, Hamlet fears, and might behave as Hecuba is described. Oh dear. That simply would not do. So, Hamlet scratches the possibility off his list. Hamlet will not try sneaking into Claudius's room at night to kill him while he sleeps. (With respect to plotting the play, Shakespeare used this passage to remove a possibility for Hamlet to kill Claudius. There is fine irony that the possibility of Gertrude being in bed with Claudius does not exist, but Hamlet doesn't know that.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#497]]<br />
<br />
=====07-498=====<br />
''Polonius: Look whether he has not turned his color, and has tears in his''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#498]]<br />
<br />
=====07-499=====<br />
''eyes; prithee, no more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#499]]<br />
<br />
=====07-500=====<br />
''Hamlet (to the First Player): 'Tis well; I'll have thee speak out the rest of this soon;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#500]]<br />
<br />
=====07-501=====<br />
''(to Polonius): Good my Lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you''<br />
<br />
''bestowed'' - lodged; housed. Based on Old English 'stōw' ("place.") The "house" meaning of "bestow" will appear again in the dialogue later.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#501]]<br />
<br />
=====07-502=====<br />
''hear? Let them be well used, for they are the abstracts and brief''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#502]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#502|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-503=====<br />
''chronicles of the time; after your death you were better have a''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#503]]<br />
<br />
=====07-504=====<br />
''bad epitaph, than their ill report while you live.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#504]]<br />
<br />
=====07-505=====<br />
''Polonius: My Lord, I will use them according to their desert.''<br />
<br />
''use'' - treat.<br />
<br />
''their desert'' - what they deserve. We now use the plural, "deserts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#505]]<br />
<br />
=====07-506=====<br />
''Hamlet: God's bodkin, man, much better! Use every man after his desert,''<br />
<br />
''Use'' - treat.<br />
<br />
''after his desert'' - according to what he deserves. We now use the plural, "deserts."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#506]]<br />
<br />
=====07-507=====<br />
''and who shall 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honor''<br />
<br />
''scape'' - based on "escape," was a word in its own right, earlier in the history of English. It now requires the initial apostrophe, however, since it is now back where it was, as just an apostrophized form of "escape."<br />
<br />
The word "escape" is probably from Vulgar Latin 'excappare,' which literally means "leave a pursuer with just one's cape." The idea is that an officer grabs a villain by his cape, but the villain slips off the cape and runs away, leaving the officer with nothing but the cape in his hand. This is worth noting since, with proper costuming, both Hamlet and the Players are wearing capes, or cloaks, as Hamlet speaks. Nothing major, just a little trivia on comformance of language to appearance.<br />
<br />
''after'' - according to; in accordance with.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#507]]<br />
<br />
=====07-508=====<br />
''and dignity; the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#508]]<br />
<br />
=====07-509=====<br />
''Take them in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#509]]<br />
<br />
=====07-510=====<br />
''Polonius: Come, sirs.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#510]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#510|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-511=====<br />
''Hamlet: Follow him friends, we'll hear a play tomorrow -''<br />
<br />
Hamlet suddenly thinks, what play?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#511]]<br />
<br />
=====07-512=====<br />
''(to the Lad!): dost thou hear me "old" friend, can you play the murder of Gonzago?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet, calling to the Lad, says ''old'' to tease Polonius. This follows from Hamlet observing Polonius speak to R & G after Hamlet said "tedious old fools" in line 229. Hamlet couldn't care less if Polonius runs to Claudius and tells him Hamlet thinks young people are old. Indeed, that might be amusing.<br />
<br />
There is also the point that an ''old friend'' is not necessarily an old person. Someone you've known since your first day of school could be called an "old friend" when you're both twelve.<br />
<br />
The first part of this line, up to ''friend,'' is spoken loudly, when the Players, led by Polonius, have taken a few steps away. Hamlet thought of this at the last moment, just as they were leaving.<br />
<br />
Hamlet beckons the Lad, who returns to him. The comma in the line marks the pause for that.<br />
<br />
The second part of the line is spoken in the way normal for close conversation, or even quieter. Hamlet doesn't want Polonius to hear what he says to the Lad.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#512]]<br />
<br />
=====07-512-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius and the Players stop)''<br />
<br />
They wait for the Lad, of course. Polonius will certainly not go off and leave the Lad after Hamlet just threatened him with a whipping if the Players are not well treated. Nor will the Players leave behind one of their own.<br />
<br />
They've stopped far enough away that Polonius can't hear what Hamlet says to the Lad.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#512-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-513=====<br />
''Lad: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
The Lad assures Hamlet that he is familiar with the ''Gonzago'' play, and can perform in it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#513]]<br />
<br />
=====07-514=====<br />
''Hamlet: We'll 'hate' tomorrow night; you could, for need, study''<br />
<br />
''hate'' - is exactly as spelled in the original Second Quarto publication. For plain reading, it is an abbreviation of "have it," done on the same pattern as changing "over" to "ore." However, "hate" is also a word in its own right, and Shakespeare probably intended that to be observed. The idea of "hating" tomorrow night is not auspicious. For that reason, I leave the original spelling in the dialogue.<br />
<br />
All the Hamlet character means is "we'll have it (the play) tomorrow night."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#514]]<br />
<br />
=====07-515=====<br />
''a speech of some dozen lines, or sixteen lines, which I would set''<br />
<br />
This verifies that Hamlet is speaking to the Lad. A veteran actor would be insulted by such a question. Of course a veteran actor can learn a few lines on short notice, and Hamlet knows it. Hamlet would never ask such a question of someone like the First Player. Look back at how the First Player recited a long speech from a play that, as Hamlet said, was performed only once, if that, before the public.<br />
<br />
In the case of the Lad, Hamlet is not certain, so he checks.<br />
<br />
''some dozen lines, or sixteen lines'' - this turns out to be two speeches of eight lines each, a fact which can be determined in Scene 9 simply by counting the lines in the ''Gonzago'' / 'Mousetrap' play, and looking for stanza. The ''Gonzago'' play was originally written in sestets, but two of the play queen's speeches are eight lines each. This further verifies that Hamlet is speaking to the Lad, since the Lad will play the queen in the ''Gonzago'' play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#515]]<br />
<br />
=====07-516=====<br />
''down and insert in it, could you not?''<br />
<br />
''(set) down'' - note down; compose. Make up.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#516]]<br />
<br />
=====07-517=====<br />
''Lad: Aye, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
The Lad verifies that he can learn a few lines on short notice.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#517]]<br />
<br />
=====07-518=====<br />
''Hamlet: Very well, follow that Lord, and look you mock him not.''<br />
<br />
Hamlet points at Polonius, and says this to the Lad in an overly stern, put-on way, but with a twinkle in his eye. Hamlet is cautioning the Lad about Polonius, as Hamlet, himself, mocks Polonius, in a way Polonius won't understand.<br />
<br />
Hamlet knows Polonius will ask the Lad what Hamlet said to him, so Hamlet is giving the Lad permission to deflect Polonius's question. When Polonius inqures, the Lad will tell him, oh, something like, "the Prince was telling me to pay attention to what you say, because you're so wise." Or whatever the Lad wants to say.<br />
<br />
To ''mock'' can be to imitate, so the further meaning can be found of Hamlet telling the Lad not to act like Polonius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#518]]<br />
<br />
=====07-518-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet winks at the Lad)''<br />
<br />
Of course.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#518-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-519=====<br />
''My good friends, I'll leave you till night; You are welcome to Elsinore.''<br />
<br />
''My good friends'' - is spoken to the Players, of course. I mention this explicitly because one may find the strange interpretation elsewhere that it's spoken to someone else.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#519]]<br />
<br />
=====07-519-SD=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_polonius_players_exit.jpg|right|the exit of Polonius and the Players in the Second Quarto]]<br />
''(Polonius and the Players exit)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#519-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-520=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Good my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Rosencrantz speaks to get Hamlet's attention as he and Guildenstern bow to Hamlet, before leaving. With his attention on the Players, and his pleasure from their company, Hamlet forgot R & G were there.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#520]]<br />
<br />
=====07-520-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
Strictly, this follows the word "you" in Hamlet's following line. However, one does not interrupt a line of dialogue by plopping a stage direction in the middle of it. The exit is forced to appear in print before Hamlet's line.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#520-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-521=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, so goodbye to you; now I am alone;''<br />
<br />
''Aye, so goodbye to you'' - spoken to R & G.<br />
<br />
The comma after ''you'' marks a pause lengthy enough to accommodate the exit of R & G. Hamlet need not wait until R & G are completely out of the room before proceeding, but he shouldn't continue until they're at enough distance so we understand they don't hear him.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#521]]<br />
<br />
=====07-522=====<br />
''Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#522]]<br />
<br />
=====07-523=====<br />
''Is it not monstrous that this player here,''<br />
<br />
''monstrous'' - unnatural. Monsters are unnatural, or, at least, are not typical of nature. From Latin 'monstrum' which could mean a portent, so, implicitly, this is an instance of the Omen Motif. If a creature had birth defects, and was a monstrosity, superstition took that as a bad omen.<br />
<br />
Hamlet means "unnatural," in that it seems unnatural to Hamlet that a person could appear more worked up over fiction, as the Player appeared in his performance, than Hamlet can manage in reality. Isn't it more natural that reality ought to produce a greater reaction than fiction does?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#523]]<br />
<br />
=====07-524=====<br />
''But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,''<br />
<br />
''a fiction'' - what it says. The Player's suffering was not real.<br />
<br />
''a dream of passion'' - a fantasy of suffering. Phrased as an instance of the Dream Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#524]]<br />
<br />
=====07-525=====<br />
''Could force his soul so to his own conceit''<br />
<br />
''force'' - fashion, voluntarily. Adjust.<br />
<br />
''his soul'' - his feelings. Were it love, Hamlet would speak of the heart, but for the full range of emotions, including terror, shock, etc., he speaks of the soul. The soul, or spirit, encompasses and expresses every emotion a person can know, in this cultural model.<br />
<br />
''so'' - so much.<br />
<br />
''his own conceit'' - his own imagination. His "take," on how to play the role. ''Conceit'' is a "take" word. Traces back to Latin 'capere' ("to take.") Acting jargon speaks of an actor's take.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#525]]<br />
<br />
=====07-526=====<br />
''That from her working all his visage waned -''<br />
<br />
''her'' - Hamlet casts the soul as female since he is ascribing emotions to it, and in stereotype emotional displays are a characteristic of the female. Shakespeare clearly knew the stereotype is dubious at best, but it's a stereotype that does have its dramatic uses.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#526]]<br />
<br />
=====07-527=====<br />
''Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,''<br />
<br />
''distraction'' - mental distress. More specifically, in context, his look was that of horror, at the slaughter of Priam, and the terrified panic of Hecuba.<br />
<br />
''his aspect'' - his look; the way he looked. Also, his gaze. Both apply, the way he looked, and the way he was looking.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#527]]<br />
<br />
=====07-528=====<br />
''A broken voice - and his whole function suiting''<br />
<br />
''A broken voice'' - a wavering, cracking voice.<br />
<br />
''whole function'' - entire performance. From Latin 'functionem' ("performance.")<br />
<br />
''suiting'' - "dressed," figuratively speaking. Reference to how the Player "dressed" himself in postures and actions. In theatrical terminology, how he "costumed" himself with moves and poses.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#528]]<br />
<br />
=====07-529=====<br />
''With forms to his conceit; and all for nothing,''<br />
<br />
''forms'' - impressions, in the sense of doing an impression, in acting. Reference to posture or pose, style of moving, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc.<br />
<br />
''conceit'' - "take," in the acting sense. ''Conceit'' derives ultimately from Latin 'capere' ("to take.") ''His conceit'' = his take; the way he played his role.<br />
<br />
''nothing'' - nothing personal, no personal connection or involvement. ''Nothing'' that truly affected him.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#529]]<br />
<br />
=====07-530=====<br />
''For Hecuba.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#530]]<br />
<br />
=====07-531=====<br />
''What's Hecuba to him, or he to her,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#531]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#531|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-532=====<br />
''That he should weep for her? What would he do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#532]]<br />
<br />
=====07-533=====<br />
''Had he the motive and that cue for passion''<br />
<br />
''motive'' - in context, "reason to be moved." There is reference to a moving performance. Further, "cause." Hamlet means both his cause, and his reason to make a moving speech. Hamlet feels he ought to be moved to get moving.<br />
<br />
''cue'' - prompting. Urging. Spur.<br />
<br />
''passion'' - great emotion, or in this case the display thereof. Derived from Latin 'pati' ("to suffer.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#533]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#533|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-534=====<br />
''That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,''<br />
<br />
Undoubtedly the Player, in Hamlet's shoes, could put on a moving performance, but the Player would still face the same fundamental difficulty Hamlet faces. Hamlet's cause is based on a ghost story. That is quite different from basing a performance on known history or great literature.<br />
<br />
''drown'' - flood.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#534]]<br />
<br />
=====07-535=====<br />
''And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,''<br />
<br />
''cleave'' - literally "split," but here, more like "cleave through," meaning penetrate, get through, like an arrow cleaving the air. By comparison, in Scene 9 Hamlet will coach the Players to show restraint, and not speak in a way "to split the ears of the groundlings."<br />
<br />
''general ear'' - public ear. From Latin 'generalis' ("relating to all,") as opposed to 'specialis.' The ''general ear'' is the ear of all.<br />
<br />
''horrid speech'' - speech that would make the hair stand on end. Goes back to Latin 'horrēre' ("to stand on end," "to bristle.") Compare what the Ghost said to Hamlet in Scene 5, "I could a tale unfold whose lightest word | Would ... Make ... Thy knotty and combined locks to part, | And each particular hair to stand on end." ([[Scene 5#019]] ff)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#535]]<br />
<br />
=====07-536=====<br />
''Make mad the guilty, and appall the free,''<br />
<br />
''Make mad'' - excite; make frantic; provoke. In advance of what Hamlet decides to do, the last, provoke, is probably the best paraphrase. He will put on a play in hopes of provoking Claudius. Further, we have seen "stir" used in the dialogue, and "provoke" can mean "stir up." So when Hamlet speaks of making mad the guilty, we can take it he means provoking the guilty, stirring them up.<br />
<br />
''appall the free'' - shock the innocent. ''Appall'' -> Old French 'apalir' ("to turn pale.") ''Appall'' can mean "shock" because paleness is a symptom of shock.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#536]]<br />
<br />
=====07-537=====<br />
''Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed''<br />
<br />
''Confound'' - astound; dumbfound.<br />
<br />
''amaze indeed'' - utterly overwhelm, is what Hamlet means. However, ''amaze'' can also mean "perplex." How will it be for the audience when the ''Gonzago'' play is performed? Will they end up overwhelmed, or perplexed? Has Hamlet said more than he intended?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#537]]<br />
<br />
=====07-538=====<br />
''The very faculties of eyes and ears;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#538]]<br />
<br />
=====07-539=====<br />
''Yet I, a dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,''<br />
<br />
''dull'' - not sharp; not keen. With no "edge." A word on the Edge Motif.<br />
<br />
''muddy-mettled'' - having an impure character or nature, tainted, like muddy water. Or, think of steel contaminated by slag. Earthy ("muddy") steel is not good steel.<br />
<br />
''rascal'' - Hamlet insults himself as a "low" kind of person.<br />
<br />
''peak'' - languish. Compare ''Macbeth'' Act 1 scene 3:<br />
<br />
First Witch: ...<br />
I will drain him dry as hay:<br />
Sleep shall neither night nor day<br />
Hang upon his pent-house lid;<br />
He shall live a man forbid:<br />
Weary seven-nights nine times nine<br />
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine:<br />
...<br />
<br />
Return: [[#539]]<br />
<br />
=====07-540=====<br />
''Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,''<br />
<br />
''John-a-dreams'' - "John who dreams," as opposed to taking action. "John" is merely the stock name for a male, and the character type is a daydreamer. Hamlet is speaking of a character type who daydreams instead of doing something productive.<br />
<br />
''unpregnant'' - unproductive. Not fruitful. There is also the idea of "not carrying." Hamlet feels he is not carrying the burden of revenge the way he should.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#540]]<br />
<br />
=====07-541=====<br />
''And can say nothing; no, not for a King,''<br />
<br />
''And can say nothing'' - and can't bring myself to say anything.<br />
<br />
''not for a King'' - not even for a King.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#541]]<br />
<br />
=====07-542=====<br />
''Upon whose property and most dear life''<br />
<br />
''property'' - the Kingdom. King Hamlet was the "proprietor," so to speak, of Denmark.<br />
<br />
''dear'' - both beloved and precious.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#542]]<br />
<br />
=====07-543=====<br />
''A damned defeat was made; am I a coward?''<br />
<br />
''A damned defeat'' - as opposed to an honorable defeat, in a fair competition. A damnable defeat.<br />
<br />
''made'' - imposed; inflicted.<br />
<br />
''am I a coward'' - not entirely rhetorical. Hamlet proceeds to mull the possibility.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#543]]<br />
<br />
=====07-544=====<br />
''Who calls me villain, breaks my pate across,''<br />
<br />
''breaks my pate across'' - breaks an object over the top of my head. A classic action in comedy theater.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#544]]<br />
<br />
=====07-545=====<br />
''Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#545]]<br />
<br />
=====07-546=====<br />
''Tweaks me by the nose, gives me the lie i'th throat''<br />
<br />
''Tweaks me by the nose'' - a typical way of giving offense intentionally.<br />
<br />
''gives me the lie i'th throat'' - accuses me, to my face, of telling a malicious lie. Such behavior could lead to a duel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#546]]<br />
<br />
=====07-547=====<br />
''As deep as to the lungs, who does me this?''<br />
<br />
The figurative "depth" of a lie was a measure of how serious it was. A lie from the lips was less significant than a lie from the tongue, and a lie from the tongue was less serious than a lie from the throat. Saying that a man had lied "from the lungs" was about as serious as an accusation could be, and a fight would result, for any man of honor.<br />
<br />
''who does me this?'' - Hamlet has suffered no such accusation, or such abuse, from Claudius, to justify Hamlet to take hostile, violent action. Hamlet is thinking how much easier it would be if Claudius would insult him to his face, in a manner that would justify a duel.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#547]]<br />
<br />
=====07-548=====<br />
''Hah, zounds, I should take it! For it cannot be''<br />
<br />
''I should take it'' - both "I would probably take it" and "the way I am I ought to take it."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#548]]<br />
<br />
=====07-549=====<br />
''But I am pigeon livered, and lack gall''<br />
<br />
The gallbladder is an organ just beneath the liver, which stores and concentrates bile produced by the liver. "Gall" is another word for bile. Bile aids in the digestion of fats. Pigeons do not have a gallbladder, (nor do horses, or some other animals.)<br />
<br />
In the ancient Four Humors theory of personality, gall (a.k.a. yellow bile) is associated with boldness. The gentleness and timidity of pigeons was ascribed to them having no gallbladder, thus no gall.<br />
<br />
So ''pigeon livered'' - timid; not bold; not brave. A figure of speech based on the Four Humors theory, and on the anatomical fact of pigeons having no gallbladder.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#549]]<br />
<br />
=====07-550=====<br />
''To make oppression bitter, or ere this''<br />
<br />
''to make oppression bitter'' - to feel oppression as a bitter situation. "Gall," in the previous line, can refer to "bitterness of spirit," which is a state of deep resentment. Hamlet is castigating himself, that he has not felt enough resentment to have dealt with the situation already.<br />
<br />
However, the Geneva Bible says, in Acts 8:23, "For I see that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity." It implies that if, indeed, Hamlet were deep in bitterness, he would also be deep into sin.<br />
<br />
Further, bitterness is associated with wormwood, a word Hamlet will use later, at the 'Mousetrap' play. I mention that merely as part of observing how concepts interconnect, and persist, or echo, through the ''Hamlet'' dialogue.<br />
<br />
''Bitter'' is related to the word "bite," a concept prominent in Scene 4, when Hamlet went to see the Ghost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#550]]<br />
<br />
=====07-551=====<br />
''I should ha' fatted all the region kites''<br />
<br />
''fatted'' - made fat; fattened.<br />
<br />
''kites'' - carnivorous birds; small members of the hawk family.<br />
<br />
''all the region kites'' - all the kites of the airy region; all the kites in the air. ''Region'' in this case can also be interpreted in a more down-to-earth way, referring to the realm of Denmark. ''All the region kites'' = all the kites in Denmark.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#551]]<br />
<br />
=====07-552=====<br />
''With this slave's offal; bloody, bawdy villain,''<br />
<br />
''slave'' - Hamlet insults Claudius as the lowest class of person. It may be worth noting that in Shakespeare's time, the idea of being a slave to habit, or a slave to vice, did exist. Claudius is a slave to his drinking habit.<br />
<br />
''offal'' - carrion or viscera.<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous. Murder is a "blood" crime even in cases of poisoning where blood is not shed. We recall the Ghost speaking of the effect of the poison, Hebona, on the blood. ([[Scene 5#069]] ff)<br />
<br />
''bawdy'' - based on what the Ghost said about Claudius in Scene 5, from [[Scene 5#047]] onward: incestuous, adulterate, lust, and lewdness are words the Ghost uses. But is it true?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#552]]<br />
<br />
=====07-553=====<br />
''Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!''<br />
<br />
''Remorseless'' - feeling no remorse, which is the same as having no conscience. This is a word to keep in mind, especially through the end of the Scene and Hamlet's decision about what he will try. Hamlet has just insulted Claudius as having no conscience. A play designed to catch the conscience would not work against such a villain.<br />
<br />
''treacherous'' - deceitful, and in this case with the implication of treason, since Claudius's brother was the King. BOOKMARK for me<br />
<br />
Return: [[#553]]<br />
<br />
=====07-553-1=====<br />
''Oh vengeance!''<br />
<br />
This line is found in the First Folio version of ''Hamlet,'' but not in the Second Quarto, which has raised a question of whether it is authorial, or an actor's interjection. So, I address that point.<br />
<br />
It is the 24th line after the short line "For Hecuba," line 530, and there are 24 lines after it to the end of the speech, at line 577. Such precise placement implies it is authorial, because one would not think an actor would take such care in locating his interjection. Shakespeare probably added this line, at some time after the Second Quarto manuscript went to the printer, to give the Hamlet actor an opportunity to pause and refocus, in the midst of a long speech, as the tenor of the speech changes.<br />
<br />
In action, the Hamlet actor, upon saying this line, can pause with his fists raised, turn sharply and pace, or whatever he wants to do, that goes with the tone and occupies a little time, as he gathers himself to continue.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#553-1]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#553-1|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-554=====<br />
''Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#554]]<br />
<br />
=====07-555=====<br />
''That I, the son of he, dear murdered,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#555]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#555|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-556=====<br />
''Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#556]]<br />
<br />
=====07-557=====<br />
''Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,''<br />
<br />
''like a whore'' - like a low-class person inclined to verbal outbursts. There is a stereotype of whores that they tend to voice obnoxious, angry outbursts.<br />
<br />
''unpack'' - unburden, like removing the load from a pack horse. Middle English 'packe' meant "bundle." There is a connotation of "unbind." The concept is that of relieving the pressure, or the weight, on his heart, by "venting" with words.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#557]]<br />
<br />
=====07-558=====<br />
''And fall a-cursing like a very drab,''<br />
<br />
''a very drab'' - nothing but a drab; nothing but a harlot.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#558]]<br />
<br />
=====07-559=====<br />
''A scullion; fie upon it, foh.''<br />
<br />
''scullion'' - literally, a scullery maid, who would have been in those days one of the lowest class of workers. It implies a person who is uneducated, quite common, and not noted for intellect. In stereotype, such persons curse and complain in a nonproductive way.<br />
<br />
In the original publications, both the Second Quarto and First Folio, in the Graveyard Scene, Scene 19, the word "skull" is spelled mostly with a 'k' but also with a 'c,' that is, "scull." Shakespeare probably chose to use the word ''scullion'' here because it can be understood to contain an embedded stage direction. ("Suit the word to the action.") Hamlet puts his hands to his head, his "scull." The action flows perfectly into the next line.<br />
<br />
''fie'' - for shame; phooey. It expresses disapproval.<br />
<br />
''foh'' - faugh. (That helped, didn't it?) It means phooey. Same as above, with a different word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#559]] - or - [[Scene 7 Folio Differences#559|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====07-560=====<br />
''About, my brains; hm, I have heard''<br />
<br />
''About'' - come about; turn a different direction; follow a different course. The original publications do not have a comma after ''About,'' allowing the interpretation of Hamlet asking himself about his brains, i.e. if his brain is working correctly. The idea is not irrelevant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#560]]<br />
<br />
=====07-561=====<br />
''That guilty creatures sitting at a play''<br />
<br />
''creatures'' - of God. Persons.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#561]]<br />
<br />
=====07-562=====<br />
''Have, by the very cunning of the scene,''<br />
<br />
''very cunning'' - sheer craft. Sheer skill. One could say "insightfulness," since the idea Hamlet goes on to express is that of looking into a malefactor's soul, although that might be too leading.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#562]]<br />
<br />
=====07-563=====<br />
''Been struck so to the soul, that presently''<br />
<br />
''struck so'' - attacked so much, figuratively speaking. Attacked so tellingly.<br />
<br />
''the soul'' - Here, same as the conscience, in that moral knowledge of right and wrong is credited to the ''soul.''<br />
<br />
''presently'' - at that present time; immediately; at once; right away.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#563]]<br />
<br />
=====07-564=====<br />
''They have proclaimed their malefactions;''<br />
<br />
''proclaimed'' - declared, publicly. Confessed, publicly. "Proclaim" is Latin 'prōclāmāre' ("to shout aloud," / "to cry out.")<br />
<br />
''malefactions'' - evil deeds. From Latin 'mal-' ("badly") + 'facere' ("to perform.") It's an "act" word.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#564]] - or - [[Scene 7 Extended Notes#564|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====07-565=====<br />
''For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak''<br />
<br />
''For'' - Because.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#565]]<br />
<br />
=====07-566=====<br />
''With most miraculous organ; I'll have these players''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#566]]<br />
<br />
=====07-567=====<br />
''Play something like the murder of my father''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#567]]<br />
<br />
=====07-568=====<br />
''Before mine uncle; I'll observe his looks;''<br />
<br />
''I'll observe his looks'' - I'll see how he looks; I'll observe his reactions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#568]]<br />
<br />
=====07-569=====<br />
''I'll tent him to the quick; If he do blench''<br />
<br />
''blench'' - cringe; recoil. Show that it hit a nerve, as more recent expression puts it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#569]]<br />
<br />
=====07-570=====<br />
''I know my course; the spirit that I have seen''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#570]]<br />
<br />
=====07-571=====<br />
''May be a devil, and the Devil hath power''<br />
<br />
''May be a devil'' - yep, may be. (And jolly damn well is.)<br />
<br />
''devil'' - from Greek 'diabolos' which is literally "slanderer." Coincidentally (or not?) there is a Talk/Gossip/Slander Motif in the play. For instance, in the next Scene Hamlet will say to Ophelia, "thou shalt not escape calumny." [[Scene 8 #08-140]]<br />
<br />
Return: [[#571]]<br />
<br />
=====07-572=====<br />
''To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps,''<br />
<br />
''assume'' - take on. One of the "take" words in the play. From Latin 'ad-' ("to" / "up") + 'sumere' ("to take.") The sense is that of misappropriation.<br />
<br />
''pleasing'' - agreeable; acceptable. Congenial. From Latin 'placēre' ("seem good.")<br />
<br />
Return: [[#572]]<br />
<br />
=====07-573=====<br />
''Out of my weakness and my melancholy,''<br />
<br />
''Out of'' - working on; taking advantage of.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#573]]<br />
<br />
=====07-574=====<br />
''As he is very potent with such spirits,''<br />
<br />
''potent'' - powerful. Reference to having great ability.<br />
<br />
''such spirits'' - Is deliberately ambiguous. Can be read either to mean spirits like the Ghost, or low spirits like Hamlet's state of mind. Hamlet is speaking of his state of mind, but Shakespeare phrased it so that we can find a reference to the Ghost, as well.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#574]]<br />
<br />
=====07-575=====<br />
''Abuses me to damn me; I'll have grounds''<br />
<br />
''Abuses'' - misuses; misleads, in a wicked way.<br />
<br />
''grounds'' - a basis; a foundation, for belief. Something solid to work from.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#575]]<br />
<br />
=====07-576=====<br />
''More relative than this; the play's the thing''<br />
<br />
''more relative'' - more related (to Claudius, himself, rather than hearsay.) More direct; more immediate (to Claudius, himself.) To use a figure of speech, "closer to home." Claudius being Hamlet's relative, Shakespeare's word choice is apt.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#576]]<br />
<br />
=====07-577=====<br />
''Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.''<br />
<br />
However, in line 553 above, Hamlet called Claudius "remorseless." Hamlet was engaged in insulting Claudius, obviously, but nevertheless, could that be true? Could Hamlet be right that Claudius does not feel remorse?<br />
<br />
If Claudius is not a man who has a conscience, Hamlet's idea about the play is doomed to failure before it's even tried. One cannot catch a conscience that does not exist.<br />
<br />
We must keep our eyes open for signs that Claudius does, or does not, have a conscience.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#577]]<br />
<br />
=====07-577-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
Feeling much better now that he has something to do.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#577-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====07-Daily Break=====<br />
In the performances of ''Hamlet'' by Shakespeare's company at the Globe Theater, this point was the end of the first day of performance.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Daily Break]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
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[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
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<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
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[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_15
Scene 15
2018-02-04T02:18:27Z
<p>Administrator: /* 15-001 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
Fortinbrasse and his Army of Norway have arrived in Denmark, at the harbor of Elsinore Town, and are starting to move inland. Fortinbrasse dispatches his Captain to Elsinore Castle, to get the written license from Claudius which Fortinbrasse can show to prove his army is in Denmark legally.<br />
<br />
Hamlet, on his way to the harbor with R & G, sees the army and meets the Captain. From talking with the Captain, Hamlet learns that the army is led by Fortinbrasse, and, so the Captain says, it's on its way to Poland. When Hamlet asks where their objective is, in Poland, the Captain doesn't say, he changes the subject.<br />
<br />
Hamlet makes a speech about what a man is, and should be. He ponders bravery, and cowardice, and contemplates Fortinbrasse's army. He berates himself for not taking revenge against Claudius yet. He then continues with R & G to board the ship to England.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 15 Characters are: [[Fortinbrasse]], [[Captain]], [[Hamlet]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
<br />
Hamlet's soliloquy [[#034]]<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 15</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Outside the Castle;<br />
Near the harbor of Elsinore Town;<br />
Just after sunrise.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#15-001]]<span id="001"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go, captain, and greet the Danish King for me.''</span><br />
[[#15-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him, that by his writ of authorization, Fortinbrasse''</span><br />
[[#15-003]]<span id="003"></span> Craves the conveyance of a promised march<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Desires the legal means for the agreed-upon passage''</span><br />
[[#15-004]]<span id="004"></span> Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Across his kingdom. You know the rendezvous point.''</span><br />
[[#15-005]]<span id="005"></span> If that his Majesty would ought with us,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Should it be, that his Majesty wants to deal with me, personally,''</span><br />
[[#15-006]]<span id="006"></span> We shall express our duty in his eye,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I shall express my duty, before him.''</span><br />
[[#15-007]]<span id="007"></span> And let him know so.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And tell him so.''</span><br />
[[#15-008]]<span id="008"></span> Captain: I will do it, my Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will do that, my Lord.''</span><br />
[[#15-009]]<span id="009"></span> Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go ahead, in a friendly way.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD1]]<span id="009-SD1"></span> (Fortinbrasse exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-009-SD2]]<span id="009-SD2"></span> (Hamlet enters;<br />
followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)<br />
<br />
[[#15-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good sir, whose military forces are these?''</span><br />
[[#15-011]]<span id="011"></span> Captain: They are of Norway, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They are from Norway, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What is their objective, sir, if I may ask?''</span><br />
[[#15-013]]<span id="013"></span> Captain: Against some part of Poland.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They're to attack a part of Poland.''</span><br />
[[#15-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who commands them, sir?''</span><br />
[[#15-015]]<span id="015"></span> Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The nephew of old King Norway, Fortinbrasse.''</span><br />
[[#15-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does it march against the Polish mainland, sir,''</span><br />
[[#15-017]]<span id="017"></span> Or for some frontier?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or someplace on the outskirts?''</span><br />
[[#15-018]]<span id="018"></span> Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To tell the truth, and with no exaggeration,''</span><br />
[[#15-019]]<span id="019"></span> We go to gain a little patch of ground<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We seek to win a little patch of ground''</span><br />
[[#15-020]]<span id="020"></span> That hath in it no profit but the name;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has no advantage to it, except the name.''</span><br />
[[#15-021]]<span id="021"></span> To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I wouldn't pay five ducats, only five, to rent it and try to farm it.''</span><br />
[[#15-022]]<span id="022"></span> Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nor would it yield to King Norway, or to the Polish King''</span><br />
[[#15-023]]<span id="023"></span> A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A higher price, if it were sold outright.''</span><br />
[[#15-024]]<span id="024"></span> Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, then, the Polish army will never defend it.''</span><br />
[[#15-025]]<span id="025"></span> Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it is already garrisoned.''</span><br />
[[#15-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats<br />
<span style="color:gray">''So many men, at so much cost,''</span><br />
[[#15-027]]<span id="027"></span> Will not ''debate'' the question of this straw;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't going to just deliberate the issue of this trifle.''</span><br />
[[#15-028]]<span id="028"></span> This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is like being eaten at by an abscess, caused by too much comfort and security,''</span><br />
[[#15-029]]<span id="029"></span> That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That bursts inside, without showing any external symptom of''</span><br />
[[#15-030]]<span id="030"></span> Why the man dies. <span style="color:gray">(to the Captain):</span> I humbly thank you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.''</span><br />
[[#15-031]]<span id="031"></span> Captain: God buy you, sir.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Goodbye, sir.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-031-SD]]<span id="031-SD"></span> (the Captain exits)<br />
<br />
[[#15-032]]<span id="032"></span> Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will it please you to keep going now, my Lord?''</span><br />
[[#15-033]]<span id="033"></span> Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll be with you right away, walk on ahead a little.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-033-SD]]<span id="033-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)<br />
<br />
<span style="color:gray">(Hamlet continues):</span><br />
[[#15-034]]<span id="034"></span> How all occasions do inform against me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How everything that happens shames me,''</span><br />
[[#15-035]]<span id="035"></span> And spur my dull revenge. What is a man<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And spurs onward my weary revenge! What is a man''</span><br />
[[#15-036]]<span id="036"></span> If his chief good and market of his time<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If his main motivation and business during his life''</span><br />
[[#15-037]]<span id="037"></span> Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sleep and eat? - An animal, no more than that.''</span><br />
[[#15-038]]<span id="038"></span> Sure, he that made us with such large discourse<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Surely, He who made us with such great power of reason,''</span><br />
[[#15-039]]<span id="039"></span> Looking before and after, gave us not<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To predict what's ahead, and remember what's behind, did not give us''</span><br />
[[#15-040]]<span id="040"></span> That capability and god-like reason<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That consciousness, and god-like mental capacity''</span><br />
[[#15-041]]<span id="041"></span> To fust in us unused; now whether it be<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To mold away in us, unused. Now, whether it might be''</span><br />
[[#15-042]]<span id="042"></span> Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The obliviousness of a beast, or some cowardly scruple''</span><br />
[[#15-043]]<span id="043"></span> Of thinking too precisely on the event -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From thinking too analytically about my fate -''</span><br />
[[#15-044]]<span id="044"></span> A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A kind of thinking that when quartered, itself, has only one part wisdom''</span><br />
[[#15-045]]<span id="045"></span> And ever three parts coward - I do not know<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And certainly three parts cowardice - I do not know''</span><br />
[[#15-046]]<span id="046"></span> Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why I still live to say, "this thing's yet to be done,"''</span><br />
[[#15-047]]<span id="047"></span> Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because I do have just cause, and desire, and the strength, and a way''</span><br />
[[#15-048]]<span id="048"></span> To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To do it. Exemplars as obvious as the earth encourage me.''</span><br />
[[#15-049]]<span id="049"></span> Witness this army of such mass and charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For one, in evidence: this army of such size and weight,''</span><br />
[[#15-050]]<span id="050"></span> Led by a delicate and tender prince,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Led by a young, mortal prince,''</span><br />
[[#15-051]]<span id="051"></span> Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whose spirit, inspired with noble ambition,''</span><br />
[[#15-052]]<span id="052"></span> Makes mouths at the invisible event,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sneers at his unknown fate, and''</span><br />
[[#15-053]]<span id="053"></span> Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Exposing his mortal body, with no guarantee,''</span><br />
[[#15-054]]<span id="054"></span> To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To everything that luck, death, and danger challenge him with,''</span><br />
[[#15-055]]<span id="055"></span> Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Even for a thing of little value. Rightly, to be "great,"''</span><br />
[[#15-056]]<span id="056"></span> Is not to stir without great argument,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Does not mean moving only when there's some great issue,''</span><br />
[[#15-057]]<span id="057"></span> But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But to fight valiantly over even a single burning straw,''</span><br />
[[#15-058]]<span id="058"></span> When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When honor's tied to the stake. How do things stand with me, then,''</span><br />
[[#15-059]]<span id="059"></span> That have a father killed, a mother stained,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who have a father killed, a mother disgraced, and with''</span><br />
[[#15-060]]<span id="060"></span> Excitements of my reason, and my blood,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Agitations of my mind, and of my emotions,''</span><br />
[[#15-061]]<span id="061"></span> And let all sleep, while to my shame I see<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And yet I let things go dormant, while, to my shame, I see''</span><br />
[[#15-062]]<span id="062"></span> The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent deaths of so many men,''</span><br />
[[#15-063]]<span id="063"></span> That for a fantasy and trick of fame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, for their dreams and the allure of fame,''</span><br />
[[#15-064]]<span id="064"></span> Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to their graves as easily as going to bed, as they fight for a little ground''</span><br />
[[#15-065]]<span id="065"></span> Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even big enough for the battle, and''</span><br />
[[#15-066]]<span id="066"></span> Which is not tomb enough and continent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which is not even tomb enough or enough land area''</span><br />
[[#15-067]]<span id="067"></span> To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To bury the dead. Oh, from this time forth,''</span><br />
[[#15-068]]<span id="068"></span> My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My thoughts must be murderous, or be worth nothing.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#15-068-SD]]<span id="068-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 15<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====15-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - Near the Elsinore Town harbor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Early morning.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> -<br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]]<br />
<br />
=====15-000-SD=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse enters, with his army, including a Captain at his side)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-001=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King,''<br />
<br />
''from me'' - on my behalf.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====15-002=====<br />
''Tell him, that by his license, Fortinbrasse''<br />
<br />
''license'' - written authorization, that is, a writ of authorization. Fortinbrasse is referring to an actual legal document which Claudius is required to issue under the terms of the "peace" treaty between Denmark and Norway.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====15-003=====<br />
''Craves the conveyance of a promised march''<br />
<br />
''Craves'' - is a word chosen especially for action. Fortinbrasse pats his stomach as he speaks the line. We recall from Scene 1 that his enterprise is a hungry one, "that hath a stomach in't." ([[Scene 1#110]]) In simple meaning, a paraphrase is "desires."<br />
<br />
''conveyance'' - has a wicked undertone. In law, a ''conveyance'' is a transfer of property from one person to another, or, the legal document that effects the transfer of the property. Fortinbrasse has in mind that the property will be that which he is standing on, namely the island of Zealand, Denmark, and the transfer will be from Claudius to himself.<br />
<br />
Viewing ''conveyance'' naively, which is not at all the wisest way to view it, Fortinbrasse is only speaking of the "means of transportation." That is, the license he mentioned will provide him with the (legal) "means of transportation" across Denmark. If Fortinbrasse were interrogated, he would claim that is all he meant.<br />
<br />
''march'' - naively, call it a "passage." However, ''march'' has the distinct flavor of military activity.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====15-004=====<br />
''Over his kingdom; you know the rendezvous;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====15-005=====<br />
''If that his Majesty would ought with us,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====15-006=====<br />
''We shall express our duty in his eye,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====15-007=====<br />
''And let him know so.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====15-008=====<br />
''Captain: I will do it, my Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009=====<br />
''Fortinbrasse: Go softly on.''<br />
<br />
''softly'' - quietly, so as not to arouse any suspicion of hostile intent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD1=====<br />
''(Fortinbrasse exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====15-009-SD2=====<br />
''(Hamlet enters; followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009-SD2]]<br />
<br />
=====15-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good sir, whose powers are these?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====15-011=====<br />
''Captain: They are of Norway, sir.''<br />
<br />
''of Norway'' - of the King of Norway.<br />
<br />
''sir'' - The Captain does not know who Hamlet is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====15-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: How purposed, sir, I pray you?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====15-013=====<br />
''Captain: Against some part of Poland.''<br />
<br />
Yeah, the part of "Poland" he's standing on, but the Captain isn't going to reveal that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====15-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: Who commands them, sir?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====15-015=====<br />
''Captain: The nephew to old Norway, Fortenbrasse.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====15-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====15-017=====<br />
''Or for some frontier?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====15-018=====<br />
''Captain: Truly to speak, and with no addition,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====15-019=====<br />
''We go to gain a little patch of ground''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====15-020=====<br />
''That hath in it no profit but the name;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====15-021=====<br />
''To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;''<br />
<br />
All that castle stonework would make the land impossible to plow.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====15-022=====<br />
''Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====15-023=====<br />
''A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.''<br />
<br />
''ranker'' - higher. Since the Captain is a military man, we can read some irreverent military jargon into this: a captain is "ranker" than a lieutenant, a major is "ranker" than a captain, a colonel is "ranker" than a major, etc. But the Captain's plain meaning when he says ''ranker rate'' is "higher rate."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====15-024=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, then the Polack never will defend it.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====15-025=====<br />
''Captain: Yes, it is already garrisoned.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====15-026=====<br />
''Hamlet (aside): Two thousand souls, & twenty thousand ducats''<br />
<br />
Hamlet hasn't done any accounting for personnel or expenditure. He's merely doing an off-the-cuff, order of magnitude estimate. It's a guess, in other words. Exactness is not the point, the point is that the Norwegians are risking a lot to gain very little, as Hamlet understands it. (But Hamlet doesn't know the Captain lied to him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====15-027=====<br />
''Will not debate the question of this straw;''<br />
<br />
With stress on ''debate.'' Debate is talk, deliberation. Hamlet means Fortinbrasse isn't just deliberating what he should do, he's taking action. In the course of his thought, Hamlet is reproaching himself for only talking, and not taking action against Claudius.<br />
<br />
''question'' - issue. Point of contention.<br />
<br />
"Debating the question" is, of course, a standard academic exercise at universities. Hamlet's language goes along with him being a university student. But Hamlet means Fortinbrasse is ''not'' treating the question, in which he takes an interest, as an academic exercise.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - object of little value. Hamlet means that even though Fortinbrasse's objective (as the Captain described it) is worth little, nevertheless, Fortinbrasse is going to fight for it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====15-028=====<br />
''This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====15-029=====<br />
''That inward breaks, and shows no cause without''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====15-030=====<br />
''Why the man dies. (to the Captain): I humbly thank you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031=====<br />
''Captain: God buy you, sir.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====15-031-SD=====<br />
''(the Captain exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-032=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Will it please you go, my Lord?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033=====<br />
''Hamlet: I'll be with you straight, go a little before.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====15-033-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, which is the opposite direction from the Castle.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====15-034=====<br />
''How all occasions do inform against me,''<br />
<br />
''all occasions'' - all occurrences; everything that happens. "Occasion" goes back to Latin 'cadere' ("to befall,") so at root it's one of the "fall" words in the play.<br />
<br />
''inform against'' - shame. Or, chide, scold. Literally, to ''inform against'' is to accuse, but further, to be accused is to be scolded, in a way, or shamed.<br />
<br />
To be publicly accused is to be publicly shamed (when the accusation is true, and it is true that Hamlet has only spoken against Claudius, so far, and has made no attempt to kill him.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====15-035=====<br />
''And spur my dull revenge. What is a man''<br />
<br />
''spur'' - urge onward. Like spurring a tired horse. This is implicitly an instance of the Horse Motif.<br />
<br />
''dull'' - tedious, weary. In relation to the concepts of the play, the best paraphrase might be "dispirited."<br />
<br />
That which is ''dull'' needs whetting. We may recall the Ghost speaking of "whetting Hamlet's purpose" in the Closet Scene, which was only a few hours ago. ([[Scene 11##122]]) Even though that was not really why the Ghost was there, the "whetting" didn't last long.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====15-036=====<br />
''If his chief good and market of his time''<br />
<br />
''good'' - used in the sense of the phrase, "for all the good it does." Implicitly takes for granted the desire to achieve a gain, the desire to accomplish something. So, motivation is implicit.<br />
<br />
''chief good'' - main accomplishment. Or, main motivation. Some ambiguity exists, as typical in ''Hamlet,'' and as is common in English.<br />
<br />
''market'' - profit, in the sense of "benefit." Second, raises the concept of "business" in the sense of activity.<br />
<br />
''Time'' - time on earth. His life, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====15-037=====<br />
''Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.''<br />
<br />
''beast'' - spoken after Hamlet thought of a horse when he said "spur" two lines ago.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is asking, rhetorically, what sort of man would be satisfied if, looking back over his life, he could only claim as his main achievements that he ate and slept?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====15-038=====<br />
''Sure, he that made us with such large discourse''<br />
<br />
''discourse'' - reasoning ability. "Reason" just below tells the meaning here.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====15-039=====<br />
''Looking before and after, gave us not''<br />
<br />
Discourse that looks before and after refers to the ability to learn from the past and plan for the future.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====15-040=====<br />
''That capability and god-like reason''<br />
<br />
''capability'' - capability of perceiving. Perception; awareness.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====15-041=====<br />
''To fust in us unused; now whether it be''<br />
<br />
''fust'' - become musty; become moldy; mildew. To go bad in storage. Hamlet means that reason and capability must be used or they will deteriorate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====15-042=====<br />
''Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====15-043=====<br />
''Of thinking too precisely on the event -''<br />
<br />
''precisely'' - analytically. Painstakingly. "Precise" goes back to Latin 'caedere' ("to cut,") so Hamlet is talking about "cutting the subject too fine."<br />
<br />
''the event'' - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====15-044=====<br />
''A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====15-045=====<br />
''And ever three parts coward - I do not know''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====15-046=====<br />
''Why yet I live to say "this thing's to do,"''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====15-047=====<br />
''Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====15-048=====<br />
''To do it; examples gross as earth exhort me;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====15-049=====<br />
''Witness this army of such mass and charge,''<br />
<br />
''mass'' - size. One of the meanings in Middle English.<br />
<br />
''charge'' - weight. That meaning is taken from early Middle English. Goes back to Old French 'charge' ("burden,") so again we encounter the "burden" concept. One will still encounter the idea of the "weight" of a military force, especially in terms like "light infantry," or "heavy artillery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====15-050=====<br />
''Led by a delicate and tender prince,''<br />
<br />
''delicate'' - mortal.<br />
<br />
''tender'' - young. Of "tender" years.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====15-051=====<br />
''Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====15-052=====<br />
''Makes mouths at the invisible event,''<br />
<br />
''Makes mouths'' - sneers.<br />
<br />
''the invisible event'' - of his fate, his death, an event Fortinbrasse cannot foresee, nor can Hamlet foresee his own fate.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====15-053=====<br />
''Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====15-054=====<br />
''To all that fortune, death, and danger dare;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====15-055=====<br />
''Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====15-056=====<br />
''Is not to stir without great argument,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====15-057=====<br />
''But greatly to find quarrel in a straw''<br />
<br />
''greatly'' - in this context, read "majestically." Hamlet's mind is on kings.<br />
<br />
''quarrel'' - a cause for battle.<br />
<br />
''straw'' - trifle, for simple reading, but see the next note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====15-058=====<br />
''When honor's at the stake; how stand I, then,''<br />
<br />
''at the stake'' - tied to the stake, i.e. in a position to be destroyed. The picture is that of being burned at the stake. One would quarrel over even a single burning straw when honor is tied to the stake. The Fire Motif is implicit.<br />
<br />
It can also be read in mundane terms as "at stake," a reading which is of no particular interest, however.<br />
<br />
Is ''Honor'' to be deemed a heretic, and burned at the stake, while Dishonor takes its place on the throne?<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====15-059=====<br />
''That have a father killed, a mother stained,''<br />
<br />
''stained'' - besmirched; disgraced.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====15-060=====<br />
''Excitements of my reason, and my blood,''<br />
<br />
''Excitements'' - agitations.<br />
<br />
''blood'' - emotions; passions.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====15-061=====<br />
''And let all sleep, while to my shame I see''<br />
<br />
''all'' - all my grievances; all my motivations.<br />
<br />
''sleep'' - lie dormant.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====15-062=====<br />
''The imminent death of twenty thousand men,''<br />
<br />
''twenty thousand'' - a great many. This is a figure of speech, like saying "a million" when one has not actually counted, but knows the quantity is great. Hamlet has not counted the men, but he has seen "many."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====15-063=====<br />
''That for a fantasy and trick of fame''<br />
<br />
''fantasy'' - dream. Notice "beds" in the next line, and recall "to sleep, perchance to dream." One can dream of ''fame'' with the eyes open.<br />
<br />
''trick'' - temptation; allure.<br />
<br />
''fantasy and trick'' - can be read as hendiadys: "alluring dream."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====15-064=====<br />
''Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot''<br />
<br />
''Go to their graves like beds'' - march toward death as if they were only going to bed.<br />
<br />
''plot'' - the area of land in contention, with an ironic implication of "burial plot."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====15-065=====<br />
''Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====15-066=====<br />
''Which is not tomb enough and continent''<br />
<br />
''continent'' - land area.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====15-067=====<br />
''To hide the slain; oh from this time forth,''<br />
<br />
''To hide the slain'' - To bury the dead.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068=====<br />
''My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.''<br />
<br />
''bloody'' - murderous, toward Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====15-068-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits)''<br />
<br />
In the direction of the harbor, to proceed on the voyage to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - Scene 15 - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_14
Scene 14
2018-02-02T17:55:35Z
<p>Administrator: /* 14-049 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Chapel, Claudius worries about Hamlet's political popularity - or so he says, with others listening.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and R & G arrive, and Rosencrantz tells Claudius they've found Hamlet but not Polonius. Hamlet talks to Claudius, and gives him a verbal runaround before finally revealing where Polonius's body is.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that because he cares so much about Hamlet, he's sending him away, to England. Hamlet is astonished. He of course expected that, since Claudius now knows he's killed Polonius, he'd be imprisoned to await trial, and the trip to England would be cancelled. Kill your ex-girlfriend's father and win a free ocean cruise? – It's unheard of. Hamlet leaves, as does everyone else, except Claudius. Claudius, talking to himself, reveals that his letter to the King of England is an order to execute Hamlet.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 14 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Hamlet]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="10"<br />
| Hamlet entry [[#018-SD]], || Hamlet exit [[#056-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 14</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 3)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Chapel;<br />
Minutes after the previous Scene.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have sent them to find Hamlet, and to find the body.''</span><br />
[[#14-002]]<span id="002"></span> How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How dangerous it is, that he's wandering around loose.''</span><br />
[[#14-003]]<span id="003"></span> Yet must not we put the strong law on him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet I cannot put the strong arm of the law upon him, because''</span><br />
[[#14-004]]<span id="004"></span> He's loved of the distracted multitude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's popular among the diverted public,''</span><br />
[[#14-005]]<span id="005"></span> Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who like things, not because they have judgment, but because of what they see,''</span><br />
[[#14-006]]<span id="006"></span> And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when that happens, the offender's punishment is censured,''</span><br />
[[#14-007]]<span id="007"></span> But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But his offense is overlooked. To make everything happen smoothly and easily''</span><br />
[[#14-008]]<span id="008"></span> This sudden sending him away must seem<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This quick send-off of him has to appear a result of''</span><br />
[[#14-009]]<span id="009"></span> Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Careful deliberation. Diseases that have become deadly''</span><br />
[[#14-010]]<span id="010"></span> By desperate appliance are relieved,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Are relieved by the application of desperate remedies,''</span><br />
[[#14-011]]<span id="011"></span> Or not at all.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or they don't get cured at all.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-011-SD]]<span id="011-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz enters;<br />
Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)<br />
<br />
[[#14-012]]<span id="012"></span> Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How now, what has come to pass?''</span><br />
[[#14-013]]<span id="013"></span> Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where he has put the body, my Lord,''</span><br />
[[#14-014]]<span id="014"></span> We cannot get from him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We can't get him to tell.''</span><br />
[[#14-015]]<span id="015"></span> Claudius: But where is he?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But where is Hamlet?''</span><br />
[[#14-016]]<span id="016"></span> Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Outside this room, my Lord, guarded, and waiting to know what you want done.''</span><br />
[[#14-017]]<span id="017"></span> Claudius: Bring him before us.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bring him in here to me.''</span><br />
[[#14-018]]<span id="018"></span> Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ho! Bring in the Lord!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-018-SD]]<span id="018-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and<br />
servants R & G roused earlier)<br />
<br />
[[#14-019]]<span id="019"></span> Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now . . . Hamlet, where's Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-020]]<span id="020"></span> Hamlet: At supper.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper.''</span><br />
[[#14-021]]<span id="021"></span> Claudius: At supper, where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper . . . where?''</span><br />
[[#14-022]]<span id="022"></span> Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not where he eats, but where he's eaten. A certain''</span><br />
[[#14-023]]<span id="023"></span> convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only<br />
<span style="color:gray">''meeting of politic worms is at him, even now. Your worm is your ultimate''</span><br />
[[#14-024]]<span id="024"></span> emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ruler, for diet. We fatten all creatures to fatten us, and then we fatten ourselves''</span><br />
[[#14-025]]<span id="025"></span> for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for maggots. Your fat King and your lean beggar are but different''</span><br />
[[#14-026]]<span id="026"></span> service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''orders on the menu, two dishes on the same table. That's all.''</span><br />
[[#14-027]]<span id="027"></span> Claudius: Alas, alas.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, alas.''</span><br />
[[#14-028]]<span id="028"></span> Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A man may fish with a worm that has eaten of a King, and then''</span><br />
[[#14-029]]<span id="029"></span> eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''eat the fish that has taken that worm.''</span><br />
[[#14-030]]<span id="030"></span> Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What do you mean by this?''</span><br />
[[#14-031]]<span id="031"></span> Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nothing, except to show how a King can go on a trip''</span><br />
[[#14-032]]<span id="032"></span> through the guts of a beggar.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''through the guts of a beggar.''</span><br />
[[#14-033]]<span id="033"></span> Claudius: Where is Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-034]]<span id="034"></span> Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In Heaven, send to there and see. If your messenger can't find him''</span><br />
[[#14-035]]<span id="035"></span> not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find<br />
<span style="color:gray">''there, look for him in the other place, yourself. But if, in fact, you don't find''</span><br />
[[#14-036]]<span id="036"></span> him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''him in a month, you'll nose him out as you go up the''</span><br />
[[#14-037]]<span id="037"></span> stairs into the lobby.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''stairs to the lobby.''</span><br />
[[#14-038]]<span id="038"></span> Claudius: Go seek him there. [[#14-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (a guard & servant exit)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go and look for him there.''</span><br />
[[#14-039]]<span id="039"></span> Hamlet: He will stay till you come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He'll wait until you get there.''</span><br />
[[#14-040]]<span id="040"></span> Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, because of this deed, and for your special safety,''</span><br />
[[#14-041]]<span id="041"></span> Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which I do offer, while I greatly grieve''</span><br />
[[#14-042]]<span id="042"></span> For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over what you've done, I must send you away.''</span><br />
[[#14-043]]<span id="043"></span> With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With blazing speed. Therefore, prepare for your trip.''</span><br />
[[#14-044]]<span id="044"></span> The bark is ready, and the wind at help,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ship is ready, and the wind is right.''</span><br />
[[#14-045]]<span id="045"></span> The associates tend, and everything is bent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your companions will attend you, and everything is aimed''</span><br />
[[#14-046]]<span id="046"></span> For England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England.''</span><br />
[[#14-047]]<span id="047"></span> Hamlet: For England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England?''</span><br />
[[#14-048]]<span id="048"></span> Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-049]]<span id="049"></span> Hamlet: Good.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good!''</span><br />
[[#14-050]]<span id="050"></span> Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it's good, if you knew my purposes.''</span><br />
[[#14-051]]<span id="051"></span> Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I see a spirit that sees you. But come, for England!''</span><br />
[[#14-052]]<span id="052"></span> Farewell, dear mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Farewell, dear mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-053]]<span id="053"></span> Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your loving father, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-054]]<span id="054"></span> Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, my mother: father and mother are man and wife,''</span><br />
[[#14-055]]<span id="055"></span> Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Man and wife are one flesh, and so, my mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-056]]<span id="056"></span> Come, for England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come on, for England.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits;<br />
then as Claudius speaks the ensuing lines:<br />
R & G exit close behind Hamlet;<br />
the rest exit, in a straggling way, bowing;<br />
except, the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)<br />
<br />
[[#14-057]]<span id="057"></span> Claudius: Follow him at foot,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow at his heels,''</span><br />
[[#14-058]]<span id="058"></span> Tempt him with speed aboard;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Prevail upon him to board the ship as soon as possible.''</span><br />
[[#14-059]]<span id="059"></span> Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't delay. I'll want him far away by tonight.''</span><br />
[[#14-060]]<span id="060"></span> Away! For, everything is sealed and done<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Away! Because everything is sealed and finalized''</span><br />
[[#14-061]]<span id="061"></span> That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That this business otherwise depends upon. Please, make haste.''</span> <br />
<span style="color:gray">(Claudius continues, aside):</span><br />
[[#14-062]]<span id="062"></span> And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And England, if you value my friendship at all, and''</span><br />
[[#14-063]]<span id="063"></span> As my great power thereof may give thee sense -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the great power of my friendship may make you see reason -''</span><br />
[[#14-064]]<span id="064"></span> Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since your scar is still fresh''</span><br />
[[#14-065]]<span id="065"></span> After the Danish sword, and thy free awe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the Danish sword that struck you, so that your own dread''</span><br />
[[#14-066]]<span id="066"></span> Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bows you to my will - you may not uncaringly delay''</span><br />
[[#14-067]]<span id="067"></span> Our sovereign process, which imports at full,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My sovereign legal writ, which communicates in full,''</span><br />
[[#14-068]]<span id="068"></span> By letters conjuring to that effect,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Through letters of summons to this effect:''</span><br />
[[#14-069]]<span id="069"></span> The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent death of Hamlet. Do it, England,''</span><br />
[[#14-070]]<span id="070"></span> For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because he rages in my blood like a fever,''</span><br />
[[#14-071]]<span id="071"></span> And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must cure me. Until I know it's done''</span><br />
[[#14-072]]<span id="072"></span> How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''However my luck goes, it'll be as if my joys never even began.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-072-SD]]<span id="072-SD"></span> (Claudius exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 14<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====14-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Chapel.<br />
<br />
We know this Scene is in the Chapel because Claudius explicitly said so in Scene 12, and Rosencrantz also mentioned it in Scene 13.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Just long enough after the previous Scene for Hamlet and R & G to come here from the base of the Lobby stairs. Make it two minutes or so.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]] - or - [[Set Decoration#Scene 14]]<br />
<br />
=====14-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)''<br />
<br />
Others may be present, but the above are mandatory. Not too many should be present since it's the middle of the night.<br />
<br />
The guard is a precaution by Claudius for his safety, with Hamlet at large. The Chapel cleric has been roused from sleep to receive Polonius's body in the required way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-001=====<br />
''Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====14-002=====<br />
''How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====14-003=====<br />
''Yet must not we put the strong law on him,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====14-004=====<br />
''He's loved of the distracted multitude,''<br />
<br />
''distracted'' - diverted. Inattentive (to what's important.) An implication of "amused." In his speech, Claudius is saying the public is inattentive to essential points, but takes an interest in a subject because of the "show" of it. The public only wants to be amused, and they like Hamlet's "show," Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====14-005=====<br />
''Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,''<br />
<br />
This is essentially a statement that the public is superficial.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====14-006=====<br />
''And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed''<br />
<br />
''scourge'' - punishment. From Old French 'escorgier' ("to whip.")<br />
<br />
''weighed'' - judged, by the public in what Claudius is talking about. From the concept of the scales of Justice.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====14-007=====<br />
''But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====14-008=====<br />
''This sudden sending him away must seem''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====14-009=====<br />
''Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====14-010=====<br />
''By desperate appliance are relieved,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011=====<br />
''Or not at all.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz enters; Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-012=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====14-013=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====14-014=====<br />
''We cannot get from him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====14-015=====<br />
''Claudius: But where is he?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====14-016=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====14-017=====<br />
''Claudius: Bring him before us.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and servants R & G roused earlier)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-019=====<br />
''Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====14-020=====<br />
[[File:Davinci_last_supper.jpg|right|The Last Supper by da Vinci]]<br />
''At supper'' - strangely enough, the statement by Hamlet does mean that Polonius is dead. It is circuitous.<br />
<br />
We are in a religious setting, the Chapel. In a religious setting, if you hear "supper," what might you think of? You might think of The Last Supper, by da Vinci. Being "at supper," in The Last Supper, is to be "with Jesus." However, at this time, to be "with Jesus" is to be dead. Thus, "at supper" = dead.<br />
<br />
The train of thought is:<br><br />
supper -> Last Supper -> with Jesus -> dead.<br />
<br />
Claudius, just hearing what Hamlet said, has no chance of following that, and Hamlet knows it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====14-021=====<br />
''Claudius: At supper, where?''<br />
<br />
Claudius plays along. There isn't much else he can do without ordering Hamlet arrested.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====14-022=====<br />
''Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====14-023=====<br />
''convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only''<br />
<br />
''politic worms'' - the kind of worms that like politics, and therefore like politicians. There is, further, an insulting implication that politicians are worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====14-024=====<br />
''emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====14-025=====<br />
''for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====14-026=====<br />
''service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====14-027=====<br />
''Claudius: Alas, alas.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====14-028=====<br />
''Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====14-029=====<br />
''eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.''<br />
<br />
In action, for ''eat'' - do a big chomping action of your jaw. Clack your teeth.<br />
<br />
''fish'' - while chomping, wave your hand in the manner of a fish's tail.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is doing these actions at Claudius, of course.<br />
<br />
''fed'' - more chomping. Keep doing that through what follows.<br />
<br />
''of that'' - point with your left index finger toward your right hand. This takes it you're right handed. If not, reverse. Hold that pointing position.<br />
<br />
''worm'' - now then, we know perfectly well how Hamlet feels about Claudius. Wiggly fingers are wiggly worms. Hamlet uses the singular, "worm." When Hamlet shows one "worm" finger to Claudius, which finger is it going to be? We know very well which finger it's going to be. So, again...<br />
<br />
''worm'' - wiggle the fingers of your right hand momentarily, to show wiggly worms, then display that finger "worm" at Claudius.<br />
<br />
While chomping, hold that pose of pointing at the finger "worm" for just a second, while looking at Claudius.<br />
<br />
Fold your hands across your midsection and look innocent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====14-030=====<br />
''Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?''<br />
<br />
Claudius very well knows what Hamlet meant, but he cannot take offense or he'll have to arrest Hamlet instead of sending him to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====14-031=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====14-032=====<br />
''through the guts of a beggar.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====14-033=====<br />
''Claudius: Where is Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====14-034=====<br />
''Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====14-035=====<br />
''not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====14-036=====<br />
''him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====14-037=====<br />
''stairs into the lobby.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038=====<br />
''Claudius: Go seek him there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038-SD=====<br />
''(a guard & servant exit)''<br />
<br />
In other words this is a job for a couple of the extras.<br />
<br />
The correct position for R & G now is one on either side of Hamlet, at his elbows. R & G are now "marshalling" Hamlet, as he unknowingly predicted near the end of the Closet Scene, [[Scene_11#222]]: "marshal me to knavery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-039=====<br />
''Hamlet: He will stay till you come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====14-040=====<br />
''Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====14-041=====<br />
''Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve''<br />
<br />
''tender'' - offer. Claudius claims he is offering Hamlet safety. ''Tender'' in this sense is from Anglo-French 'tendre' ("to extend," "to offer.") Claudius should extend his hand toward Hamlet in a palm-up, caring kind of way.<br />
<br />
''dearly grieve'' - Hamlet has a "dear grief" over the death of his dear father. Claudius, to appear sympathetic, says he too has a dear grief, over Hamlet's misdeed. The dear griefs are piling up at Elsinore. We're knee deep in dear griiefs already and it's going to get deeper. The ''dearly'' dictates that Claudius place his other hand to his heart.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====14-042=====<br />
''For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====14-043=====<br />
''With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====14-044=====<br />
''The bark is ready, and the wind at help,''<br />
<br />
''bark'' - sailing ship, often spelled "barque" now. <br />
<br />
''the wind at help'' - the wind is in the right direction, and strong enough for sailing. Claudius issued orders, and got word back on this subject, while we watched R & G with Hamlet during Scene 13.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====14-045=====<br />
''The associates tend, and everything is bent''<br />
<br />
''The associates'' - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are "tending" Hamlet, standing beside him, as Claudius speaks.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====14-046=====<br />
''For England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====14-047=====<br />
''Hamlet: For England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is astounded. Kill your ex-fiancee's father, and when you're brought before the judge, he tells you you've won a free trip to England?<br />
<br />
Hamlet knows perfectly well Claudius hates and fears him, and now, since Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius has a good and just reason to imprison Hamlet to await trial, and yet, nothing changes at all. It's the last thing you'd expect.<br />
<br />
Hamlet won't be able to get this out of his head. It's too good to be true. It will eventually lead him to want a look at the paperwork for the diplomatic mission.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====14-048=====<br />
''Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====14-049=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good.''<br />
<br />
Much better than the dungeon cell Hamlet was expecting.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====14-050=====<br />
''Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====14-051=====<br />
''Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;''<br />
<br />
''cherub'' - the Chapel is decorated with cherubs. However, a ''cherub'' is a spirit, and "spirit" can mean "ghost." Hamlet's line contains a subtle allusion to the Ghost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====14-052=====<br />
''Farewell, dear mother.''<br />
<br />
Offhand, Hamlet credits his mother's influence for keeping him out of prison.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====14-053=====<br />
''Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====14-054=====<br />
''Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====14-055=====<br />
''Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056=====<br />
''Come, for England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits; Claudius waves the guards and servants to follow [as he speaks the ensuing lines]; they do, in a straggling way, bowing as they exit; the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-057=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow him at foot,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====14-058=====<br />
''Tempt him with speed aboard;''<br />
<br />
''Tempt'' - lead; escort.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====14-059=====<br />
''Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====14-060=====<br />
''Away! For, everything is sealed and done''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====14-061=====<br />
''That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====14-062=====<br />
''And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,''<br />
<br />
Claudius's speech from this line onward is aside. The cleric is still present in the Chapel, to receive Polonius's body. Beyond this point, the cleric hears none of what Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====14-063=====<br />
''As my great power thereof may give thee sense -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====14-064=====<br />
''Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,''<br />
<br />
''cicatrice'' - scar. ''Cicatrice'' has a sibilance, a hiss. Shakespeare probably gave Claudius the word to make him sound snaky, as he engages in villainy. We recall the Ghost called Claudius a serpent.<br />
<br />
''raw and red'' - it's a recent scar. Claudius hasn't been to war with England, so that recent "scar" on England must have been inflicted by King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Claudius is trying to use King Hamlet's fearsome reputation in England to kill his son. That's truly slimy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====14-065=====<br />
''After the Danish sword, and thy free awe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====14-066=====<br />
'' Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set''<br />
<br />
''set'' - serve.<br />
<br />
''coldly set'' - like food being set on the table cold, after a delay. At supper. As 'twere. Claudius has written his order to England in a way to motivate them to act immediately, without delay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====14-067=====<br />
''Our sovereign process, which imports at full,''<br />
<br />
''process'' - writ. Claudius is ordering a legal proceeding against Hamlet, in England, for Hamlet's execution, so he uses the term ''process'' in the legal way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====14-068=====<br />
''By letters conjuring to that effect,''<br />
<br />
''conjuring'' - A term that goes along with the letters being Claudius's "magic" to rid himself of Hamlet. Claudius is trying to conjure Hamlet's spirit to rise, rise from his dead body, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====14-069=====<br />
''The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,''<br />
<br />
''present'' - immediate, is the strict definition. Claudius wants the immediate death of Hamlet when he arrives in England. In relation to the current time, as Claudius speaks, it can be read as "imminent."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====14-070=====<br />
''For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,''<br />
<br />
''hectic'' - fever. Goes back to Greek 'hektikos' ("habitual") which was applied to consumptive disease because of the persistent fever, so the English word ''hectic'' took on the meaning of a feverish condition.<br />
<br />
Claudius is saying Hamlet has "gotten under his skin" as the saying goes, all the way into his blood.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====14-071=====<br />
''And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072=====<br />
''How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius exits)''<br />
<br />
He exits in terms of the playscript. Claudius does not leave the room because he is still going to "Put on a Show" of grief over Polonius's body, if they can ever get the darn thing here to the Chapel. Claudius is still sensitive to the political appearance of it all. He may sit in a front pew to wait.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_14
Scene 14
2018-02-02T17:50:00Z
<p>Administrator: /* 14-045 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Chapel, Claudius worries about Hamlet's political popularity - or so he says, with others listening.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and R & G arrive, and Rosencrantz tells Claudius they've found Hamlet but not Polonius. Hamlet talks to Claudius, and gives him a verbal runaround before finally revealing where Polonius's body is.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that because he cares so much about Hamlet, he's sending him away, to England. Hamlet is astonished. He of course expected that, since Claudius now knows he's killed Polonius, he'd be imprisoned to await trial, and the trip to England would be cancelled. Kill your ex-girlfriend's father and win a free ocean cruise? – It's unheard of. Hamlet leaves, as does everyone else, except Claudius. Claudius, talking to himself, reveals that his letter to the King of England is an order to execute Hamlet.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 14 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Hamlet]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="10"<br />
| Hamlet entry [[#018-SD]], || Hamlet exit [[#056-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 14</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 3)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Chapel;<br />
Minutes after the previous Scene.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have sent them to find Hamlet, and to find the body.''</span><br />
[[#14-002]]<span id="002"></span> How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How dangerous it is, that he's wandering around loose.''</span><br />
[[#14-003]]<span id="003"></span> Yet must not we put the strong law on him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet I cannot put the strong arm of the law upon him, because''</span><br />
[[#14-004]]<span id="004"></span> He's loved of the distracted multitude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's popular among the diverted public,''</span><br />
[[#14-005]]<span id="005"></span> Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who like things, not because they have judgment, but because of what they see,''</span><br />
[[#14-006]]<span id="006"></span> And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when that happens, the offender's punishment is censured,''</span><br />
[[#14-007]]<span id="007"></span> But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But his offense is overlooked. To make everything happen smoothly and easily''</span><br />
[[#14-008]]<span id="008"></span> This sudden sending him away must seem<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This quick send-off of him has to appear a result of''</span><br />
[[#14-009]]<span id="009"></span> Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Careful deliberation. Diseases that have become deadly''</span><br />
[[#14-010]]<span id="010"></span> By desperate appliance are relieved,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Are relieved by the application of desperate remedies,''</span><br />
[[#14-011]]<span id="011"></span> Or not at all.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or they don't get cured at all.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-011-SD]]<span id="011-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz enters;<br />
Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)<br />
<br />
[[#14-012]]<span id="012"></span> Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How now, what has come to pass?''</span><br />
[[#14-013]]<span id="013"></span> Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where he has put the body, my Lord,''</span><br />
[[#14-014]]<span id="014"></span> We cannot get from him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We can't get him to tell.''</span><br />
[[#14-015]]<span id="015"></span> Claudius: But where is he?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But where is Hamlet?''</span><br />
[[#14-016]]<span id="016"></span> Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Outside this room, my Lord, guarded, and waiting to know what you want done.''</span><br />
[[#14-017]]<span id="017"></span> Claudius: Bring him before us.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bring him in here to me.''</span><br />
[[#14-018]]<span id="018"></span> Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ho! Bring in the Lord!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-018-SD]]<span id="018-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and<br />
servants R & G roused earlier)<br />
<br />
[[#14-019]]<span id="019"></span> Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now . . . Hamlet, where's Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-020]]<span id="020"></span> Hamlet: At supper.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper.''</span><br />
[[#14-021]]<span id="021"></span> Claudius: At supper, where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper . . . where?''</span><br />
[[#14-022]]<span id="022"></span> Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not where he eats, but where he's eaten. A certain''</span><br />
[[#14-023]]<span id="023"></span> convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only<br />
<span style="color:gray">''meeting of politic worms is at him, even now. Your worm is your ultimate''</span><br />
[[#14-024]]<span id="024"></span> emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ruler, for diet. We fatten all creatures to fatten us, and then we fatten ourselves''</span><br />
[[#14-025]]<span id="025"></span> for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for maggots. Your fat King and your lean beggar are but different''</span><br />
[[#14-026]]<span id="026"></span> service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''orders on the menu, two dishes on the same table. That's all.''</span><br />
[[#14-027]]<span id="027"></span> Claudius: Alas, alas.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, alas.''</span><br />
[[#14-028]]<span id="028"></span> Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A man may fish with a worm that has eaten of a King, and then''</span><br />
[[#14-029]]<span id="029"></span> eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''eat the fish that has taken that worm.''</span><br />
[[#14-030]]<span id="030"></span> Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What do you mean by this?''</span><br />
[[#14-031]]<span id="031"></span> Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nothing, except to show how a King can go on a trip''</span><br />
[[#14-032]]<span id="032"></span> through the guts of a beggar.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''through the guts of a beggar.''</span><br />
[[#14-033]]<span id="033"></span> Claudius: Where is Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-034]]<span id="034"></span> Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In Heaven, send to there and see. If your messenger can't find him''</span><br />
[[#14-035]]<span id="035"></span> not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find<br />
<span style="color:gray">''there, look for him in the other place, yourself. But if, in fact, you don't find''</span><br />
[[#14-036]]<span id="036"></span> him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''him in a month, you'll nose him out as you go up the''</span><br />
[[#14-037]]<span id="037"></span> stairs into the lobby.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''stairs to the lobby.''</span><br />
[[#14-038]]<span id="038"></span> Claudius: Go seek him there. [[#14-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (a guard & servant exit)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go and look for him there.''</span><br />
[[#14-039]]<span id="039"></span> Hamlet: He will stay till you come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He'll wait until you get there.''</span><br />
[[#14-040]]<span id="040"></span> Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, because of this deed, and for your special safety,''</span><br />
[[#14-041]]<span id="041"></span> Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which I do offer, while I greatly grieve''</span><br />
[[#14-042]]<span id="042"></span> For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over what you've done, I must send you away.''</span><br />
[[#14-043]]<span id="043"></span> With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With blazing speed. Therefore, prepare for your trip.''</span><br />
[[#14-044]]<span id="044"></span> The bark is ready, and the wind at help,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ship is ready, and the wind is right.''</span><br />
[[#14-045]]<span id="045"></span> The associates tend, and everything is bent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your companions will attend you, and everything is aimed''</span><br />
[[#14-046]]<span id="046"></span> For England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England.''</span><br />
[[#14-047]]<span id="047"></span> Hamlet: For England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England?''</span><br />
[[#14-048]]<span id="048"></span> Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-049]]<span id="049"></span> Hamlet: Good.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good!''</span><br />
[[#14-050]]<span id="050"></span> Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it's good, if you knew my purposes.''</span><br />
[[#14-051]]<span id="051"></span> Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I see a spirit that sees you. But come, for England!''</span><br />
[[#14-052]]<span id="052"></span> Farewell, dear mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Farewell, dear mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-053]]<span id="053"></span> Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your loving father, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-054]]<span id="054"></span> Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, my mother: father and mother are man and wife,''</span><br />
[[#14-055]]<span id="055"></span> Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Man and wife are one flesh, and so, my mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-056]]<span id="056"></span> Come, for England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come on, for England.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits;<br />
then as Claudius speaks the ensuing lines:<br />
R & G exit close behind Hamlet;<br />
the rest exit, in a straggling way, bowing;<br />
except, the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)<br />
<br />
[[#14-057]]<span id="057"></span> Claudius: Follow him at foot,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow at his heels,''</span><br />
[[#14-058]]<span id="058"></span> Tempt him with speed aboard;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Prevail upon him to board the ship as soon as possible.''</span><br />
[[#14-059]]<span id="059"></span> Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't delay. I'll want him far away by tonight.''</span><br />
[[#14-060]]<span id="060"></span> Away! For, everything is sealed and done<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Away! Because everything is sealed and finalized''</span><br />
[[#14-061]]<span id="061"></span> That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That this business otherwise depends upon. Please, make haste.''</span> <br />
<span style="color:gray">(Claudius continues, aside):</span><br />
[[#14-062]]<span id="062"></span> And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And England, if you value my friendship at all, and''</span><br />
[[#14-063]]<span id="063"></span> As my great power thereof may give thee sense -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the great power of my friendship may make you see reason -''</span><br />
[[#14-064]]<span id="064"></span> Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since your scar is still fresh''</span><br />
[[#14-065]]<span id="065"></span> After the Danish sword, and thy free awe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the Danish sword that struck you, so that your own dread''</span><br />
[[#14-066]]<span id="066"></span> Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bows you to my will - you may not uncaringly delay''</span><br />
[[#14-067]]<span id="067"></span> Our sovereign process, which imports at full,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My sovereign legal writ, which communicates in full,''</span><br />
[[#14-068]]<span id="068"></span> By letters conjuring to that effect,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Through letters of summons to this effect:''</span><br />
[[#14-069]]<span id="069"></span> The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent death of Hamlet. Do it, England,''</span><br />
[[#14-070]]<span id="070"></span> For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because he rages in my blood like a fever,''</span><br />
[[#14-071]]<span id="071"></span> And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must cure me. Until I know it's done''</span><br />
[[#14-072]]<span id="072"></span> How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''However my luck goes, it'll be as if my joys never even began.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-072-SD]]<span id="072-SD"></span> (Claudius exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 14<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====14-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Chapel.<br />
<br />
We know this Scene is in the Chapel because Claudius explicitly said so in Scene 12, and Rosencrantz also mentioned it in Scene 13.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Just long enough after the previous Scene for Hamlet and R & G to come here from the base of the Lobby stairs. Make it two minutes or so.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]] - or - [[Set Decoration#Scene 14]]<br />
<br />
=====14-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)''<br />
<br />
Others may be present, but the above are mandatory. Not too many should be present since it's the middle of the night.<br />
<br />
The guard is a precaution by Claudius for his safety, with Hamlet at large. The Chapel cleric has been roused from sleep to receive Polonius's body in the required way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-001=====<br />
''Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====14-002=====<br />
''How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====14-003=====<br />
''Yet must not we put the strong law on him,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====14-004=====<br />
''He's loved of the distracted multitude,''<br />
<br />
''distracted'' - diverted. Inattentive (to what's important.) An implication of "amused." In his speech, Claudius is saying the public is inattentive to essential points, but takes an interest in a subject because of the "show" of it. The public only wants to be amused, and they like Hamlet's "show," Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====14-005=====<br />
''Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,''<br />
<br />
This is essentially a statement that the public is superficial.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====14-006=====<br />
''And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed''<br />
<br />
''scourge'' - punishment. From Old French 'escorgier' ("to whip.")<br />
<br />
''weighed'' - judged, by the public in what Claudius is talking about. From the concept of the scales of Justice.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====14-007=====<br />
''But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====14-008=====<br />
''This sudden sending him away must seem''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====14-009=====<br />
''Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====14-010=====<br />
''By desperate appliance are relieved,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011=====<br />
''Or not at all.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz enters; Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-012=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====14-013=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====14-014=====<br />
''We cannot get from him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====14-015=====<br />
''Claudius: But where is he?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====14-016=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====14-017=====<br />
''Claudius: Bring him before us.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and servants R & G roused earlier)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-019=====<br />
''Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====14-020=====<br />
[[File:Davinci_last_supper.jpg|right|The Last Supper by da Vinci]]<br />
''At supper'' - strangely enough, the statement by Hamlet does mean that Polonius is dead. It is circuitous.<br />
<br />
We are in a religious setting, the Chapel. In a religious setting, if you hear "supper," what might you think of? You might think of The Last Supper, by da Vinci. Being "at supper," in The Last Supper, is to be "with Jesus." However, at this time, to be "with Jesus" is to be dead. Thus, "at supper" = dead.<br />
<br />
The train of thought is:<br><br />
supper -> Last Supper -> with Jesus -> dead.<br />
<br />
Claudius, just hearing what Hamlet said, has no chance of following that, and Hamlet knows it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====14-021=====<br />
''Claudius: At supper, where?''<br />
<br />
Claudius plays along. There isn't much else he can do without ordering Hamlet arrested.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====14-022=====<br />
''Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====14-023=====<br />
''convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only''<br />
<br />
''politic worms'' - the kind of worms that like politics, and therefore like politicians. There is, further, an insulting implication that politicians are worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====14-024=====<br />
''emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====14-025=====<br />
''for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====14-026=====<br />
''service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====14-027=====<br />
''Claudius: Alas, alas.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====14-028=====<br />
''Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====14-029=====<br />
''eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.''<br />
<br />
In action, for ''eat'' - do a big chomping action of your jaw. Clack your teeth.<br />
<br />
''fish'' - while chomping, wave your hand in the manner of a fish's tail.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is doing these actions at Claudius, of course.<br />
<br />
''fed'' - more chomping. Keep doing that through what follows.<br />
<br />
''of that'' - point with your left index finger toward your right hand. This takes it you're right handed. If not, reverse. Hold that pointing position.<br />
<br />
''worm'' - now then, we know perfectly well how Hamlet feels about Claudius. Wiggly fingers are wiggly worms. Hamlet uses the singular, "worm." When Hamlet shows one "worm" finger to Claudius, which finger is it going to be? We know very well which finger it's going to be. So, again...<br />
<br />
''worm'' - wiggle the fingers of your right hand momentarily, to show wiggly worms, then display that finger "worm" at Claudius.<br />
<br />
While chomping, hold that pose of pointing at the finger "worm" for just a second, while looking at Claudius.<br />
<br />
Fold your hands across your midsection and look innocent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====14-030=====<br />
''Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?''<br />
<br />
Claudius very well knows what Hamlet meant, but he cannot take offense or he'll have to arrest Hamlet instead of sending him to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====14-031=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====14-032=====<br />
''through the guts of a beggar.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====14-033=====<br />
''Claudius: Where is Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====14-034=====<br />
''Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====14-035=====<br />
''not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====14-036=====<br />
''him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====14-037=====<br />
''stairs into the lobby.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038=====<br />
''Claudius: Go seek him there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038-SD=====<br />
''(a guard & servant exit)''<br />
<br />
In other words this is a job for a couple of the extras.<br />
<br />
The correct position for R & G now is one on either side of Hamlet, at his elbows. R & G are now "marshalling" Hamlet, as he unknowingly predicted near the end of the Closet Scene, [[Scene_11#222]]: "marshal me to knavery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-039=====<br />
''Hamlet: He will stay till you come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====14-040=====<br />
''Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====14-041=====<br />
''Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve''<br />
<br />
''tender'' - offer. Claudius claims he is offering Hamlet safety. ''Tender'' in this sense is from Anglo-French 'tendre' ("to extend," "to offer.") Claudius should extend his hand toward Hamlet in a palm-up, caring kind of way.<br />
<br />
''dearly grieve'' - Hamlet has a "dear grief" over the death of his dear father. Claudius, to appear sympathetic, says he too has a dear grief, over Hamlet's misdeed. The dear griefs are piling up at Elsinore. We're knee deep in dear griiefs already and it's going to get deeper. The ''dearly'' dictates that Claudius place his other hand to his heart.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====14-042=====<br />
''For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====14-043=====<br />
''With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====14-044=====<br />
''The bark is ready, and the wind at help,''<br />
<br />
''bark'' - sailing ship, often spelled "barque" now. <br />
<br />
''the wind at help'' - the wind is in the right direction, and strong enough for sailing. Claudius issued orders, and got word back on this subject, while we watched R & G with Hamlet during Scene 13.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====14-045=====<br />
''The associates tend, and everything is bent''<br />
<br />
''The associates'' - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are "tending" Hamlet, standing beside him, as Claudius speaks.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====14-046=====<br />
''For England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====14-047=====<br />
''Hamlet: For England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is astounded. Kill your ex-fiancee's father, and when you're brought before the judge, he tells you you've won a free trip to England?<br />
<br />
Hamlet knows perfectly well Claudius hates and fears him, and now, since Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius has a good and just reason to imprison Hamlet to await trial, and yet, nothing changes at all. It's the last thing you'd expect.<br />
<br />
Hamlet won't be able to get this out of his head. It's too good to be true. It will eventually lead him to want a look at the paperwork for the diplomatic mission.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====14-048=====<br />
''Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====14-049=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====14-050=====<br />
''Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====14-051=====<br />
''Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;''<br />
<br />
''cherub'' - the Chapel is decorated with cherubs. However, a ''cherub'' is a spirit, and "spirit" can mean "ghost." Hamlet's line contains a subtle allusion to the Ghost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====14-052=====<br />
''Farewell, dear mother.''<br />
<br />
Offhand, Hamlet credits his mother's influence for keeping him out of prison.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====14-053=====<br />
''Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====14-054=====<br />
''Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====14-055=====<br />
''Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056=====<br />
''Come, for England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits; Claudius waves the guards and servants to follow [as he speaks the ensuing lines]; they do, in a straggling way, bowing as they exit; the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-057=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow him at foot,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====14-058=====<br />
''Tempt him with speed aboard;''<br />
<br />
''Tempt'' - lead; escort.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====14-059=====<br />
''Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====14-060=====<br />
''Away! For, everything is sealed and done''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====14-061=====<br />
''That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====14-062=====<br />
''And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,''<br />
<br />
Claudius's speech from this line onward is aside. The cleric is still present in the Chapel, to receive Polonius's body. Beyond this point, the cleric hears none of what Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====14-063=====<br />
''As my great power thereof may give thee sense -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====14-064=====<br />
''Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,''<br />
<br />
''cicatrice'' - scar. ''Cicatrice'' has a sibilance, a hiss. Shakespeare probably gave Claudius the word to make him sound snaky, as he engages in villainy. We recall the Ghost called Claudius a serpent.<br />
<br />
''raw and red'' - it's a recent scar. Claudius hasn't been to war with England, so that recent "scar" on England must have been inflicted by King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Claudius is trying to use King Hamlet's fearsome reputation in England to kill his son. That's truly slimy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====14-065=====<br />
''After the Danish sword, and thy free awe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====14-066=====<br />
'' Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set''<br />
<br />
''set'' - serve.<br />
<br />
''coldly set'' - like food being set on the table cold, after a delay. At supper. As 'twere. Claudius has written his order to England in a way to motivate them to act immediately, without delay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====14-067=====<br />
''Our sovereign process, which imports at full,''<br />
<br />
''process'' - writ. Claudius is ordering a legal proceeding against Hamlet, in England, for Hamlet's execution, so he uses the term ''process'' in the legal way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====14-068=====<br />
''By letters conjuring to that effect,''<br />
<br />
''conjuring'' - A term that goes along with the letters being Claudius's "magic" to rid himself of Hamlet. Claudius is trying to conjure Hamlet's spirit to rise, rise from his dead body, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====14-069=====<br />
''The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,''<br />
<br />
''present'' - immediate, is the strict definition. Claudius wants the immediate death of Hamlet when he arrives in England. In relation to the current time, as Claudius speaks, it can be read as "imminent."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====14-070=====<br />
''For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,''<br />
<br />
''hectic'' - fever. Goes back to Greek 'hektikos' ("habitual") which was applied to consumptive disease because of the persistent fever, so the English word ''hectic'' took on the meaning of a feverish condition.<br />
<br />
Claudius is saying Hamlet has "gotten under his skin" as the saying goes, all the way into his blood.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====14-071=====<br />
''And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072=====<br />
''How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius exits)''<br />
<br />
He exits in terms of the playscript. Claudius does not leave the room because he is still going to "Put on a Show" of grief over Polonius's body, if they can ever get the darn thing here to the Chapel. Claudius is still sensitive to the political appearance of it all. He may sit in a front pew to wait.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_14
Scene 14
2018-02-02T17:43:43Z
<p>Administrator: /* 14-044 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Chapel, Claudius worries about Hamlet's political popularity - or so he says, with others listening.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and R & G arrive, and Rosencrantz tells Claudius they've found Hamlet but not Polonius. Hamlet talks to Claudius, and gives him a verbal runaround before finally revealing where Polonius's body is.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that because he cares so much about Hamlet, he's sending him away, to England. Hamlet is astonished. He of course expected that, since Claudius now knows he's killed Polonius, he'd be imprisoned to await trial, and the trip to England would be cancelled. Kill your ex-girlfriend's father and win a free ocean cruise? – It's unheard of. Hamlet leaves, as does everyone else, except Claudius. Claudius, talking to himself, reveals that his letter to the King of England is an order to execute Hamlet.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 14 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Hamlet]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="10"<br />
| Hamlet entry [[#018-SD]], || Hamlet exit [[#056-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 14</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 3)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Chapel;<br />
Minutes after the previous Scene.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have sent them to find Hamlet, and to find the body.''</span><br />
[[#14-002]]<span id="002"></span> How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How dangerous it is, that he's wandering around loose.''</span><br />
[[#14-003]]<span id="003"></span> Yet must not we put the strong law on him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet I cannot put the strong arm of the law upon him, because''</span><br />
[[#14-004]]<span id="004"></span> He's loved of the distracted multitude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's popular among the diverted public,''</span><br />
[[#14-005]]<span id="005"></span> Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who like things, not because they have judgment, but because of what they see,''</span><br />
[[#14-006]]<span id="006"></span> And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when that happens, the offender's punishment is censured,''</span><br />
[[#14-007]]<span id="007"></span> But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But his offense is overlooked. To make everything happen smoothly and easily''</span><br />
[[#14-008]]<span id="008"></span> This sudden sending him away must seem<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This quick send-off of him has to appear a result of''</span><br />
[[#14-009]]<span id="009"></span> Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Careful deliberation. Diseases that have become deadly''</span><br />
[[#14-010]]<span id="010"></span> By desperate appliance are relieved,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Are relieved by the application of desperate remedies,''</span><br />
[[#14-011]]<span id="011"></span> Or not at all.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or they don't get cured at all.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-011-SD]]<span id="011-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz enters;<br />
Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)<br />
<br />
[[#14-012]]<span id="012"></span> Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How now, what has come to pass?''</span><br />
[[#14-013]]<span id="013"></span> Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where he has put the body, my Lord,''</span><br />
[[#14-014]]<span id="014"></span> We cannot get from him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We can't get him to tell.''</span><br />
[[#14-015]]<span id="015"></span> Claudius: But where is he?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But where is Hamlet?''</span><br />
[[#14-016]]<span id="016"></span> Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Outside this room, my Lord, guarded, and waiting to know what you want done.''</span><br />
[[#14-017]]<span id="017"></span> Claudius: Bring him before us.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bring him in here to me.''</span><br />
[[#14-018]]<span id="018"></span> Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ho! Bring in the Lord!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-018-SD]]<span id="018-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and<br />
servants R & G roused earlier)<br />
<br />
[[#14-019]]<span id="019"></span> Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now . . . Hamlet, where's Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-020]]<span id="020"></span> Hamlet: At supper.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper.''</span><br />
[[#14-021]]<span id="021"></span> Claudius: At supper, where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper . . . where?''</span><br />
[[#14-022]]<span id="022"></span> Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not where he eats, but where he's eaten. A certain''</span><br />
[[#14-023]]<span id="023"></span> convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only<br />
<span style="color:gray">''meeting of politic worms is at him, even now. Your worm is your ultimate''</span><br />
[[#14-024]]<span id="024"></span> emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ruler, for diet. We fatten all creatures to fatten us, and then we fatten ourselves''</span><br />
[[#14-025]]<span id="025"></span> for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for maggots. Your fat King and your lean beggar are but different''</span><br />
[[#14-026]]<span id="026"></span> service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''orders on the menu, two dishes on the same table. That's all.''</span><br />
[[#14-027]]<span id="027"></span> Claudius: Alas, alas.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, alas.''</span><br />
[[#14-028]]<span id="028"></span> Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A man may fish with a worm that has eaten of a King, and then''</span><br />
[[#14-029]]<span id="029"></span> eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''eat the fish that has taken that worm.''</span><br />
[[#14-030]]<span id="030"></span> Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What do you mean by this?''</span><br />
[[#14-031]]<span id="031"></span> Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nothing, except to show how a King can go on a trip''</span><br />
[[#14-032]]<span id="032"></span> through the guts of a beggar.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''through the guts of a beggar.''</span><br />
[[#14-033]]<span id="033"></span> Claudius: Where is Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-034]]<span id="034"></span> Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In Heaven, send to there and see. If your messenger can't find him''</span><br />
[[#14-035]]<span id="035"></span> not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find<br />
<span style="color:gray">''there, look for him in the other place, yourself. But if, in fact, you don't find''</span><br />
[[#14-036]]<span id="036"></span> him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''him in a month, you'll nose him out as you go up the''</span><br />
[[#14-037]]<span id="037"></span> stairs into the lobby.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''stairs to the lobby.''</span><br />
[[#14-038]]<span id="038"></span> Claudius: Go seek him there. [[#14-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (a guard & servant exit)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go and look for him there.''</span><br />
[[#14-039]]<span id="039"></span> Hamlet: He will stay till you come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He'll wait until you get there.''</span><br />
[[#14-040]]<span id="040"></span> Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, because of this deed, and for your special safety,''</span><br />
[[#14-041]]<span id="041"></span> Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which I do offer, while I greatly grieve''</span><br />
[[#14-042]]<span id="042"></span> For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over what you've done, I must send you away.''</span><br />
[[#14-043]]<span id="043"></span> With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With blazing speed. Therefore, prepare for your trip.''</span><br />
[[#14-044]]<span id="044"></span> The bark is ready, and the wind at help,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ship is ready, and the wind is right.''</span><br />
[[#14-045]]<span id="045"></span> The associates tend, and everything is bent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your companions will attend you, and everything is aimed''</span><br />
[[#14-046]]<span id="046"></span> For England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England.''</span><br />
[[#14-047]]<span id="047"></span> Hamlet: For England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England?''</span><br />
[[#14-048]]<span id="048"></span> Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-049]]<span id="049"></span> Hamlet: Good.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good!''</span><br />
[[#14-050]]<span id="050"></span> Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it's good, if you knew my purposes.''</span><br />
[[#14-051]]<span id="051"></span> Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I see a spirit that sees you. But come, for England!''</span><br />
[[#14-052]]<span id="052"></span> Farewell, dear mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Farewell, dear mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-053]]<span id="053"></span> Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your loving father, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-054]]<span id="054"></span> Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, my mother: father and mother are man and wife,''</span><br />
[[#14-055]]<span id="055"></span> Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Man and wife are one flesh, and so, my mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-056]]<span id="056"></span> Come, for England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come on, for England.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits;<br />
then as Claudius speaks the ensuing lines:<br />
R & G exit close behind Hamlet;<br />
the rest exit, in a straggling way, bowing;<br />
except, the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)<br />
<br />
[[#14-057]]<span id="057"></span> Claudius: Follow him at foot,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow at his heels,''</span><br />
[[#14-058]]<span id="058"></span> Tempt him with speed aboard;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Prevail upon him to board the ship as soon as possible.''</span><br />
[[#14-059]]<span id="059"></span> Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't delay. I'll want him far away by tonight.''</span><br />
[[#14-060]]<span id="060"></span> Away! For, everything is sealed and done<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Away! Because everything is sealed and finalized''</span><br />
[[#14-061]]<span id="061"></span> That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That this business otherwise depends upon. Please, make haste.''</span> <br />
<span style="color:gray">(Claudius continues, aside):</span><br />
[[#14-062]]<span id="062"></span> And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And England, if you value my friendship at all, and''</span><br />
[[#14-063]]<span id="063"></span> As my great power thereof may give thee sense -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the great power of my friendship may make you see reason -''</span><br />
[[#14-064]]<span id="064"></span> Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since your scar is still fresh''</span><br />
[[#14-065]]<span id="065"></span> After the Danish sword, and thy free awe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the Danish sword that struck you, so that your own dread''</span><br />
[[#14-066]]<span id="066"></span> Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bows you to my will - you may not uncaringly delay''</span><br />
[[#14-067]]<span id="067"></span> Our sovereign process, which imports at full,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My sovereign legal writ, which communicates in full,''</span><br />
[[#14-068]]<span id="068"></span> By letters conjuring to that effect,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Through letters of summons to this effect:''</span><br />
[[#14-069]]<span id="069"></span> The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent death of Hamlet. Do it, England,''</span><br />
[[#14-070]]<span id="070"></span> For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because he rages in my blood like a fever,''</span><br />
[[#14-071]]<span id="071"></span> And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must cure me. Until I know it's done''</span><br />
[[#14-072]]<span id="072"></span> How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''However my luck goes, it'll be as if my joys never even began.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-072-SD]]<span id="072-SD"></span> (Claudius exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 14<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====14-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Chapel.<br />
<br />
We know this Scene is in the Chapel because Claudius explicitly said so in Scene 12, and Rosencrantz also mentioned it in Scene 13.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Just long enough after the previous Scene for Hamlet and R & G to come here from the base of the Lobby stairs. Make it two minutes or so.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]] - or - [[Set Decoration#Scene 14]]<br />
<br />
=====14-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)''<br />
<br />
Others may be present, but the above are mandatory. Not too many should be present since it's the middle of the night.<br />
<br />
The guard is a precaution by Claudius for his safety, with Hamlet at large. The Chapel cleric has been roused from sleep to receive Polonius's body in the required way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-001=====<br />
''Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====14-002=====<br />
''How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====14-003=====<br />
''Yet must not we put the strong law on him,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====14-004=====<br />
''He's loved of the distracted multitude,''<br />
<br />
''distracted'' - diverted. Inattentive (to what's important.) An implication of "amused." In his speech, Claudius is saying the public is inattentive to essential points, but takes an interest in a subject because of the "show" of it. The public only wants to be amused, and they like Hamlet's "show," Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====14-005=====<br />
''Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,''<br />
<br />
This is essentially a statement that the public is superficial.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====14-006=====<br />
''And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed''<br />
<br />
''scourge'' - punishment. From Old French 'escorgier' ("to whip.")<br />
<br />
''weighed'' - judged, by the public in what Claudius is talking about. From the concept of the scales of Justice.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====14-007=====<br />
''But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====14-008=====<br />
''This sudden sending him away must seem''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====14-009=====<br />
''Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====14-010=====<br />
''By desperate appliance are relieved,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011=====<br />
''Or not at all.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz enters; Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-012=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====14-013=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====14-014=====<br />
''We cannot get from him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====14-015=====<br />
''Claudius: But where is he?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====14-016=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====14-017=====<br />
''Claudius: Bring him before us.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and servants R & G roused earlier)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-019=====<br />
''Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====14-020=====<br />
[[File:Davinci_last_supper.jpg|right|The Last Supper by da Vinci]]<br />
''At supper'' - strangely enough, the statement by Hamlet does mean that Polonius is dead. It is circuitous.<br />
<br />
We are in a religious setting, the Chapel. In a religious setting, if you hear "supper," what might you think of? You might think of The Last Supper, by da Vinci. Being "at supper," in The Last Supper, is to be "with Jesus." However, at this time, to be "with Jesus" is to be dead. Thus, "at supper" = dead.<br />
<br />
The train of thought is:<br><br />
supper -> Last Supper -> with Jesus -> dead.<br />
<br />
Claudius, just hearing what Hamlet said, has no chance of following that, and Hamlet knows it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====14-021=====<br />
''Claudius: At supper, where?''<br />
<br />
Claudius plays along. There isn't much else he can do without ordering Hamlet arrested.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====14-022=====<br />
''Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====14-023=====<br />
''convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only''<br />
<br />
''politic worms'' - the kind of worms that like politics, and therefore like politicians. There is, further, an insulting implication that politicians are worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====14-024=====<br />
''emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====14-025=====<br />
''for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====14-026=====<br />
''service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====14-027=====<br />
''Claudius: Alas, alas.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====14-028=====<br />
''Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====14-029=====<br />
''eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.''<br />
<br />
In action, for ''eat'' - do a big chomping action of your jaw. Clack your teeth.<br />
<br />
''fish'' - while chomping, wave your hand in the manner of a fish's tail.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is doing these actions at Claudius, of course.<br />
<br />
''fed'' - more chomping. Keep doing that through what follows.<br />
<br />
''of that'' - point with your left index finger toward your right hand. This takes it you're right handed. If not, reverse. Hold that pointing position.<br />
<br />
''worm'' - now then, we know perfectly well how Hamlet feels about Claudius. Wiggly fingers are wiggly worms. Hamlet uses the singular, "worm." When Hamlet shows one "worm" finger to Claudius, which finger is it going to be? We know very well which finger it's going to be. So, again...<br />
<br />
''worm'' - wiggle the fingers of your right hand momentarily, to show wiggly worms, then display that finger "worm" at Claudius.<br />
<br />
While chomping, hold that pose of pointing at the finger "worm" for just a second, while looking at Claudius.<br />
<br />
Fold your hands across your midsection and look innocent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====14-030=====<br />
''Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?''<br />
<br />
Claudius very well knows what Hamlet meant, but he cannot take offense or he'll have to arrest Hamlet instead of sending him to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====14-031=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====14-032=====<br />
''through the guts of a beggar.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====14-033=====<br />
''Claudius: Where is Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====14-034=====<br />
''Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====14-035=====<br />
''not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====14-036=====<br />
''him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====14-037=====<br />
''stairs into the lobby.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038=====<br />
''Claudius: Go seek him there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038-SD=====<br />
''(a guard & servant exit)''<br />
<br />
In other words this is a job for a couple of the extras.<br />
<br />
The correct position for R & G now is one on either side of Hamlet, at his elbows. R & G are now "marshalling" Hamlet, as he unknowingly predicted near the end of the Closet Scene, [[Scene_11#222]]: "marshal me to knavery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-039=====<br />
''Hamlet: He will stay till you come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====14-040=====<br />
''Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====14-041=====<br />
''Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve''<br />
<br />
''tender'' - offer. Claudius claims he is offering Hamlet safety. ''Tender'' in this sense is from Anglo-French 'tendre' ("to extend," "to offer.") Claudius should extend his hand toward Hamlet in a palm-up, caring kind of way.<br />
<br />
''dearly grieve'' - Hamlet has a "dear grief" over the death of his dear father. Claudius, to appear sympathetic, says he too has a dear grief, over Hamlet's misdeed. The dear griefs are piling up at Elsinore. We're knee deep in dear griiefs already and it's going to get deeper. The ''dearly'' dictates that Claudius place his other hand to his heart.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====14-042=====<br />
''For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====14-043=====<br />
''With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====14-044=====<br />
''The bark is ready, and the wind at help,''<br />
<br />
''bark'' - sailing ship, often spelled "barque" now. <br />
<br />
''the wind at help'' - the wind is in the right direction, and strong enough for sailing. Claudius issued orders, and got word back on this subject, while we watched R & G with Hamlet during Scene 13.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====14-045=====<br />
''The associates tend, and everything is bent''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====14-046=====<br />
''For England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====14-047=====<br />
''Hamlet: For England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is astounded. Kill your ex-fiancee's father, and when you're brought before the judge, he tells you you've won a free trip to England?<br />
<br />
Hamlet knows perfectly well Claudius hates and fears him, and now, since Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius has a good and just reason to imprison Hamlet to await trial, and yet, nothing changes at all. It's the last thing you'd expect.<br />
<br />
Hamlet won't be able to get this out of his head. It's too good to be true. It will eventually lead him to want a look at the paperwork for the diplomatic mission.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====14-048=====<br />
''Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====14-049=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====14-050=====<br />
''Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====14-051=====<br />
''Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;''<br />
<br />
''cherub'' - the Chapel is decorated with cherubs. However, a ''cherub'' is a spirit, and "spirit" can mean "ghost." Hamlet's line contains a subtle allusion to the Ghost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====14-052=====<br />
''Farewell, dear mother.''<br />
<br />
Offhand, Hamlet credits his mother's influence for keeping him out of prison.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====14-053=====<br />
''Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====14-054=====<br />
''Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====14-055=====<br />
''Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056=====<br />
''Come, for England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits; Claudius waves the guards and servants to follow [as he speaks the ensuing lines]; they do, in a straggling way, bowing as they exit; the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-057=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow him at foot,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====14-058=====<br />
''Tempt him with speed aboard;''<br />
<br />
''Tempt'' - lead; escort.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====14-059=====<br />
''Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====14-060=====<br />
''Away! For, everything is sealed and done''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====14-061=====<br />
''That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====14-062=====<br />
''And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,''<br />
<br />
Claudius's speech from this line onward is aside. The cleric is still present in the Chapel, to receive Polonius's body. Beyond this point, the cleric hears none of what Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====14-063=====<br />
''As my great power thereof may give thee sense -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====14-064=====<br />
''Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,''<br />
<br />
''cicatrice'' - scar. ''Cicatrice'' has a sibilance, a hiss. Shakespeare probably gave Claudius the word to make him sound snaky, as he engages in villainy. We recall the Ghost called Claudius a serpent.<br />
<br />
''raw and red'' - it's a recent scar. Claudius hasn't been to war with England, so that recent "scar" on England must have been inflicted by King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Claudius is trying to use King Hamlet's fearsome reputation in England to kill his son. That's truly slimy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====14-065=====<br />
''After the Danish sword, and thy free awe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====14-066=====<br />
'' Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set''<br />
<br />
''set'' - serve.<br />
<br />
''coldly set'' - like food being set on the table cold, after a delay. At supper. As 'twere. Claudius has written his order to England in a way to motivate them to act immediately, without delay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====14-067=====<br />
''Our sovereign process, which imports at full,''<br />
<br />
''process'' - writ. Claudius is ordering a legal proceeding against Hamlet, in England, for Hamlet's execution, so he uses the term ''process'' in the legal way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====14-068=====<br />
''By letters conjuring to that effect,''<br />
<br />
''conjuring'' - A term that goes along with the letters being Claudius's "magic" to rid himself of Hamlet. Claudius is trying to conjure Hamlet's spirit to rise, rise from his dead body, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====14-069=====<br />
''The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,''<br />
<br />
''present'' - immediate, is the strict definition. Claudius wants the immediate death of Hamlet when he arrives in England. In relation to the current time, as Claudius speaks, it can be read as "imminent."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====14-070=====<br />
''For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,''<br />
<br />
''hectic'' - fever. Goes back to Greek 'hektikos' ("habitual") which was applied to consumptive disease because of the persistent fever, so the English word ''hectic'' took on the meaning of a feverish condition.<br />
<br />
Claudius is saying Hamlet has "gotten under his skin" as the saying goes, all the way into his blood.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====14-071=====<br />
''And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072=====<br />
''How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius exits)''<br />
<br />
He exits in terms of the playscript. Claudius does not leave the room because he is still going to "Put on a Show" of grief over Polonius's body, if they can ever get the darn thing here to the Chapel. Claudius is still sensitive to the political appearance of it all. He may sit in a front pew to wait.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_14
Scene 14
2018-02-02T17:19:14Z
<p>Administrator: /* 14-041 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Chapel, Claudius worries about Hamlet's political popularity - or so he says, with others listening.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and R & G arrive, and Rosencrantz tells Claudius they've found Hamlet but not Polonius. Hamlet talks to Claudius, and gives him a verbal runaround before finally revealing where Polonius's body is.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that because he cares so much about Hamlet, he's sending him away, to England. Hamlet is astonished. He of course expected that, since Claudius now knows he's killed Polonius, he'd be imprisoned to await trial, and the trip to England would be cancelled. Kill your ex-girlfriend's father and win a free ocean cruise? – It's unheard of. Hamlet leaves, as does everyone else, except Claudius. Claudius, talking to himself, reveals that his letter to the King of England is an order to execute Hamlet.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 14 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Hamlet]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="10"<br />
| Hamlet entry [[#018-SD]], || Hamlet exit [[#056-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 14</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 3)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Chapel;<br />
Minutes after the previous Scene.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have sent them to find Hamlet, and to find the body.''</span><br />
[[#14-002]]<span id="002"></span> How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How dangerous it is, that he's wandering around loose.''</span><br />
[[#14-003]]<span id="003"></span> Yet must not we put the strong law on him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet I cannot put the strong arm of the law upon him, because''</span><br />
[[#14-004]]<span id="004"></span> He's loved of the distracted multitude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's popular among the diverted public,''</span><br />
[[#14-005]]<span id="005"></span> Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who like things, not because they have judgment, but because of what they see,''</span><br />
[[#14-006]]<span id="006"></span> And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when that happens, the offender's punishment is censured,''</span><br />
[[#14-007]]<span id="007"></span> But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But his offense is overlooked. To make everything happen smoothly and easily''</span><br />
[[#14-008]]<span id="008"></span> This sudden sending him away must seem<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This quick send-off of him has to appear a result of''</span><br />
[[#14-009]]<span id="009"></span> Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Careful deliberation. Diseases that have become deadly''</span><br />
[[#14-010]]<span id="010"></span> By desperate appliance are relieved,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Are relieved by the application of desperate remedies,''</span><br />
[[#14-011]]<span id="011"></span> Or not at all.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or they don't get cured at all.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-011-SD]]<span id="011-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz enters;<br />
Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)<br />
<br />
[[#14-012]]<span id="012"></span> Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How now, what has come to pass?''</span><br />
[[#14-013]]<span id="013"></span> Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where he has put the body, my Lord,''</span><br />
[[#14-014]]<span id="014"></span> We cannot get from him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We can't get him to tell.''</span><br />
[[#14-015]]<span id="015"></span> Claudius: But where is he?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But where is Hamlet?''</span><br />
[[#14-016]]<span id="016"></span> Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Outside this room, my Lord, guarded, and waiting to know what you want done.''</span><br />
[[#14-017]]<span id="017"></span> Claudius: Bring him before us.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bring him in here to me.''</span><br />
[[#14-018]]<span id="018"></span> Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ho! Bring in the Lord!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-018-SD]]<span id="018-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and<br />
servants R & G roused earlier)<br />
<br />
[[#14-019]]<span id="019"></span> Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now . . . Hamlet, where's Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-020]]<span id="020"></span> Hamlet: At supper.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper.''</span><br />
[[#14-021]]<span id="021"></span> Claudius: At supper, where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper . . . where?''</span><br />
[[#14-022]]<span id="022"></span> Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not where he eats, but where he's eaten. A certain''</span><br />
[[#14-023]]<span id="023"></span> convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only<br />
<span style="color:gray">''meeting of politic worms is at him, even now. Your worm is your ultimate''</span><br />
[[#14-024]]<span id="024"></span> emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ruler, for diet. We fatten all creatures to fatten us, and then we fatten ourselves''</span><br />
[[#14-025]]<span id="025"></span> for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for maggots. Your fat King and your lean beggar are but different''</span><br />
[[#14-026]]<span id="026"></span> service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''orders on the menu, two dishes on the same table. That's all.''</span><br />
[[#14-027]]<span id="027"></span> Claudius: Alas, alas.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, alas.''</span><br />
[[#14-028]]<span id="028"></span> Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A man may fish with a worm that has eaten of a King, and then''</span><br />
[[#14-029]]<span id="029"></span> eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''eat the fish that has taken that worm.''</span><br />
[[#14-030]]<span id="030"></span> Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What do you mean by this?''</span><br />
[[#14-031]]<span id="031"></span> Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nothing, except to show how a King can go on a trip''</span><br />
[[#14-032]]<span id="032"></span> through the guts of a beggar.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''through the guts of a beggar.''</span><br />
[[#14-033]]<span id="033"></span> Claudius: Where is Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-034]]<span id="034"></span> Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In Heaven, send to there and see. If your messenger can't find him''</span><br />
[[#14-035]]<span id="035"></span> not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find<br />
<span style="color:gray">''there, look for him in the other place, yourself. But if, in fact, you don't find''</span><br />
[[#14-036]]<span id="036"></span> him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''him in a month, you'll nose him out as you go up the''</span><br />
[[#14-037]]<span id="037"></span> stairs into the lobby.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''stairs to the lobby.''</span><br />
[[#14-038]]<span id="038"></span> Claudius: Go seek him there. [[#14-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (a guard & servant exit)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go and look for him there.''</span><br />
[[#14-039]]<span id="039"></span> Hamlet: He will stay till you come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He'll wait until you get there.''</span><br />
[[#14-040]]<span id="040"></span> Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, because of this deed, and for your special safety,''</span><br />
[[#14-041]]<span id="041"></span> Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which I do offer, while I greatly grieve''</span><br />
[[#14-042]]<span id="042"></span> For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over what you've done, I must send you away.''</span><br />
[[#14-043]]<span id="043"></span> With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With blazing speed. Therefore, prepare for your trip.''</span><br />
[[#14-044]]<span id="044"></span> The bark is ready, and the wind at help,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ship is ready, and the wind is right.''</span><br />
[[#14-045]]<span id="045"></span> The associates tend, and everything is bent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your companions will attend you, and everything is aimed''</span><br />
[[#14-046]]<span id="046"></span> For England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England.''</span><br />
[[#14-047]]<span id="047"></span> Hamlet: For England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England?''</span><br />
[[#14-048]]<span id="048"></span> Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-049]]<span id="049"></span> Hamlet: Good.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good!''</span><br />
[[#14-050]]<span id="050"></span> Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it's good, if you knew my purposes.''</span><br />
[[#14-051]]<span id="051"></span> Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I see a spirit that sees you. But come, for England!''</span><br />
[[#14-052]]<span id="052"></span> Farewell, dear mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Farewell, dear mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-053]]<span id="053"></span> Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your loving father, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-054]]<span id="054"></span> Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, my mother: father and mother are man and wife,''</span><br />
[[#14-055]]<span id="055"></span> Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Man and wife are one flesh, and so, my mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-056]]<span id="056"></span> Come, for England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come on, for England.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits;<br />
then as Claudius speaks the ensuing lines:<br />
R & G exit close behind Hamlet;<br />
the rest exit, in a straggling way, bowing;<br />
except, the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)<br />
<br />
[[#14-057]]<span id="057"></span> Claudius: Follow him at foot,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow at his heels,''</span><br />
[[#14-058]]<span id="058"></span> Tempt him with speed aboard;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Prevail upon him to board the ship as soon as possible.''</span><br />
[[#14-059]]<span id="059"></span> Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't delay. I'll want him far away by tonight.''</span><br />
[[#14-060]]<span id="060"></span> Away! For, everything is sealed and done<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Away! Because everything is sealed and finalized''</span><br />
[[#14-061]]<span id="061"></span> That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That this business otherwise depends upon. Please, make haste.''</span> <br />
<span style="color:gray">(Claudius continues, aside):</span><br />
[[#14-062]]<span id="062"></span> And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And England, if you value my friendship at all, and''</span><br />
[[#14-063]]<span id="063"></span> As my great power thereof may give thee sense -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the great power of my friendship may make you see reason -''</span><br />
[[#14-064]]<span id="064"></span> Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since your scar is still fresh''</span><br />
[[#14-065]]<span id="065"></span> After the Danish sword, and thy free awe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the Danish sword that struck you, so that your own dread''</span><br />
[[#14-066]]<span id="066"></span> Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bows you to my will - you may not uncaringly delay''</span><br />
[[#14-067]]<span id="067"></span> Our sovereign process, which imports at full,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My sovereign legal writ, which communicates in full,''</span><br />
[[#14-068]]<span id="068"></span> By letters conjuring to that effect,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Through letters of summons to this effect:''</span><br />
[[#14-069]]<span id="069"></span> The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent death of Hamlet. Do it, England,''</span><br />
[[#14-070]]<span id="070"></span> For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because he rages in my blood like a fever,''</span><br />
[[#14-071]]<span id="071"></span> And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must cure me. Until I know it's done''</span><br />
[[#14-072]]<span id="072"></span> How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''However my luck goes, it'll be as if my joys never even began.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-072-SD]]<span id="072-SD"></span> (Claudius exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 14<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====14-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Chapel.<br />
<br />
We know this Scene is in the Chapel because Claudius explicitly said so in Scene 12, and Rosencrantz also mentioned it in Scene 13.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Just long enough after the previous Scene for Hamlet and R & G to come here from the base of the Lobby stairs. Make it two minutes or so.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]] - or - [[Set Decoration#Scene 14]]<br />
<br />
=====14-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)''<br />
<br />
Others may be present, but the above are mandatory. Not too many should be present since it's the middle of the night.<br />
<br />
The guard is a precaution by Claudius for his safety, with Hamlet at large. The Chapel cleric has been roused from sleep to receive Polonius's body in the required way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-001=====<br />
''Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====14-002=====<br />
''How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====14-003=====<br />
''Yet must not we put the strong law on him,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====14-004=====<br />
''He's loved of the distracted multitude,''<br />
<br />
''distracted'' - diverted. Inattentive (to what's important.) An implication of "amused." In his speech, Claudius is saying the public is inattentive to essential points, but takes an interest in a subject because of the "show" of it. The public only wants to be amused, and they like Hamlet's "show," Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====14-005=====<br />
''Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,''<br />
<br />
This is essentially a statement that the public is superficial.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====14-006=====<br />
''And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed''<br />
<br />
''scourge'' - punishment. From Old French 'escorgier' ("to whip.")<br />
<br />
''weighed'' - judged, by the public in what Claudius is talking about. From the concept of the scales of Justice.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====14-007=====<br />
''But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====14-008=====<br />
''This sudden sending him away must seem''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====14-009=====<br />
''Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====14-010=====<br />
''By desperate appliance are relieved,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011=====<br />
''Or not at all.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz enters; Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-012=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====14-013=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====14-014=====<br />
''We cannot get from him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====14-015=====<br />
''Claudius: But where is he?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====14-016=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====14-017=====<br />
''Claudius: Bring him before us.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and servants R & G roused earlier)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-019=====<br />
''Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====14-020=====<br />
[[File:Davinci_last_supper.jpg|right|The Last Supper by da Vinci]]<br />
''At supper'' - strangely enough, the statement by Hamlet does mean that Polonius is dead. It is circuitous.<br />
<br />
We are in a religious setting, the Chapel. In a religious setting, if you hear "supper," what might you think of? You might think of The Last Supper, by da Vinci. Being "at supper," in The Last Supper, is to be "with Jesus." However, at this time, to be "with Jesus" is to be dead. Thus, "at supper" = dead.<br />
<br />
The train of thought is:<br><br />
supper -> Last Supper -> with Jesus -> dead.<br />
<br />
Claudius, just hearing what Hamlet said, has no chance of following that, and Hamlet knows it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====14-021=====<br />
''Claudius: At supper, where?''<br />
<br />
Claudius plays along. There isn't much else he can do without ordering Hamlet arrested.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====14-022=====<br />
''Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====14-023=====<br />
''convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only''<br />
<br />
''politic worms'' - the kind of worms that like politics, and therefore like politicians. There is, further, an insulting implication that politicians are worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====14-024=====<br />
''emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====14-025=====<br />
''for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====14-026=====<br />
''service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====14-027=====<br />
''Claudius: Alas, alas.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====14-028=====<br />
''Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====14-029=====<br />
''eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.''<br />
<br />
In action, for ''eat'' - do a big chomping action of your jaw. Clack your teeth.<br />
<br />
''fish'' - while chomping, wave your hand in the manner of a fish's tail.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is doing these actions at Claudius, of course.<br />
<br />
''fed'' - more chomping. Keep doing that through what follows.<br />
<br />
''of that'' - point with your left index finger toward your right hand. This takes it you're right handed. If not, reverse. Hold that pointing position.<br />
<br />
''worm'' - now then, we know perfectly well how Hamlet feels about Claudius. Wiggly fingers are wiggly worms. Hamlet uses the singular, "worm." When Hamlet shows one "worm" finger to Claudius, which finger is it going to be? We know very well which finger it's going to be. So, again...<br />
<br />
''worm'' - wiggle the fingers of your right hand momentarily, to show wiggly worms, then display that finger "worm" at Claudius.<br />
<br />
While chomping, hold that pose of pointing at the finger "worm" for just a second, while looking at Claudius.<br />
<br />
Fold your hands across your midsection and look innocent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====14-030=====<br />
''Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?''<br />
<br />
Claudius very well knows what Hamlet meant, but he cannot take offense or he'll have to arrest Hamlet instead of sending him to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====14-031=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====14-032=====<br />
''through the guts of a beggar.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====14-033=====<br />
''Claudius: Where is Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====14-034=====<br />
''Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====14-035=====<br />
''not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====14-036=====<br />
''him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====14-037=====<br />
''stairs into the lobby.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038=====<br />
''Claudius: Go seek him there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038-SD=====<br />
''(a guard & servant exit)''<br />
<br />
In other words this is a job for a couple of the extras.<br />
<br />
The correct position for R & G now is one on either side of Hamlet, at his elbows. R & G are now "marshalling" Hamlet, as he unknowingly predicted near the end of the Closet Scene, [[Scene_11#222]]: "marshal me to knavery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-039=====<br />
''Hamlet: He will stay till you come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====14-040=====<br />
''Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====14-041=====<br />
''Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve''<br />
<br />
''tender'' - offer. Claudius claims he is offering Hamlet safety. ''Tender'' in this sense is from Anglo-French 'tendre' ("to extend," "to offer.") Claudius should extend his hand toward Hamlet in a palm-up, caring kind of way.<br />
<br />
''dearly grieve'' - Hamlet has a "dear grief" over the death of his dear father. Claudius, to appear sympathetic, says he too has a dear grief, over Hamlet's misdeed. The dear griefs are piling up at Elsinore. We're knee deep in dear griiefs already and it's going to get deeper. The ''dearly'' dictates that Claudius place his other hand to his heart.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====14-042=====<br />
''For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====14-043=====<br />
''With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====14-044=====<br />
''The bark is ready, and the wind at help,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====14-045=====<br />
''The associates tend, and everything is bent''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====14-046=====<br />
''For England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====14-047=====<br />
''Hamlet: For England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is astounded. Kill your ex-fiancee's father, and when you're brought before the judge, he tells you you've won a free trip to England?<br />
<br />
Hamlet knows perfectly well Claudius hates and fears him, and now, since Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius has a good and just reason to imprison Hamlet to await trial, and yet, nothing changes at all. It's the last thing you'd expect.<br />
<br />
Hamlet won't be able to get this out of his head. It's too good to be true. It will eventually lead him to want a look at the paperwork for the diplomatic mission.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====14-048=====<br />
''Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====14-049=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====14-050=====<br />
''Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====14-051=====<br />
''Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;''<br />
<br />
''cherub'' - the Chapel is decorated with cherubs. However, a ''cherub'' is a spirit, and "spirit" can mean "ghost." Hamlet's line contains a subtle allusion to the Ghost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====14-052=====<br />
''Farewell, dear mother.''<br />
<br />
Offhand, Hamlet credits his mother's influence for keeping him out of prison.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====14-053=====<br />
''Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====14-054=====<br />
''Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====14-055=====<br />
''Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056=====<br />
''Come, for England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits; Claudius waves the guards and servants to follow [as he speaks the ensuing lines]; they do, in a straggling way, bowing as they exit; the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-057=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow him at foot,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====14-058=====<br />
''Tempt him with speed aboard;''<br />
<br />
''Tempt'' - lead; escort.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====14-059=====<br />
''Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====14-060=====<br />
''Away! For, everything is sealed and done''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====14-061=====<br />
''That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====14-062=====<br />
''And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,''<br />
<br />
Claudius's speech from this line onward is aside. The cleric is still present in the Chapel, to receive Polonius's body. Beyond this point, the cleric hears none of what Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====14-063=====<br />
''As my great power thereof may give thee sense -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====14-064=====<br />
''Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,''<br />
<br />
''cicatrice'' - scar. ''Cicatrice'' has a sibilance, a hiss. Shakespeare probably gave Claudius the word to make him sound snaky, as he engages in villainy. We recall the Ghost called Claudius a serpent.<br />
<br />
''raw and red'' - it's a recent scar. Claudius hasn't been to war with England, so that recent "scar" on England must have been inflicted by King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Claudius is trying to use King Hamlet's fearsome reputation in England to kill his son. That's truly slimy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====14-065=====<br />
''After the Danish sword, and thy free awe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====14-066=====<br />
'' Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set''<br />
<br />
''set'' - serve.<br />
<br />
''coldly set'' - like food being set on the table cold, after a delay. At supper. As 'twere. Claudius has written his order to England in a way to motivate them to act immediately, without delay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====14-067=====<br />
''Our sovereign process, which imports at full,''<br />
<br />
''process'' - writ. Claudius is ordering a legal proceeding against Hamlet, in England, for Hamlet's execution, so he uses the term ''process'' in the legal way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====14-068=====<br />
''By letters conjuring to that effect,''<br />
<br />
''conjuring'' - A term that goes along with the letters being Claudius's "magic" to rid himself of Hamlet. Claudius is trying to conjure Hamlet's spirit to rise, rise from his dead body, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====14-069=====<br />
''The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,''<br />
<br />
''present'' - immediate, is the strict definition. Claudius wants the immediate death of Hamlet when he arrives in England. In relation to the current time, as Claudius speaks, it can be read as "imminent."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====14-070=====<br />
''For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,''<br />
<br />
''hectic'' - fever. Goes back to Greek 'hektikos' ("habitual") which was applied to consumptive disease because of the persistent fever, so the English word ''hectic'' took on the meaning of a feverish condition.<br />
<br />
Claudius is saying Hamlet has "gotten under his skin" as the saying goes, all the way into his blood.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====14-071=====<br />
''And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072=====<br />
''How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius exits)''<br />
<br />
He exits in terms of the playscript. Claudius does not leave the room because he is still going to "Put on a Show" of grief over Polonius's body, if they can ever get the darn thing here to the Chapel. Claudius is still sensitive to the political appearance of it all. He may sit in a front pew to wait.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_14
Scene 14
2018-02-02T16:59:22Z
<p>Administrator: /* 14-041 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Chapel, Claudius worries about Hamlet's political popularity - or so he says, with others listening.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and R & G arrive, and Rosencrantz tells Claudius they've found Hamlet but not Polonius. Hamlet talks to Claudius, and gives him a verbal runaround before finally revealing where Polonius's body is.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that because he cares so much about Hamlet, he's sending him away, to England. Hamlet is astonished. He of course expected that, since Claudius now knows he's killed Polonius, he'd be imprisoned to await trial, and the trip to England would be cancelled. Kill your ex-girlfriend's father and win a free ocean cruise? – It's unheard of. Hamlet leaves, as does everyone else, except Claudius. Claudius, talking to himself, reveals that his letter to the King of England is an order to execute Hamlet.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 14 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Hamlet]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="10"<br />
| Hamlet entry [[#018-SD]], || Hamlet exit [[#056-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 14</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 3)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Chapel;<br />
Minutes after the previous Scene.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have sent them to find Hamlet, and to find the body.''</span><br />
[[#14-002]]<span id="002"></span> How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How dangerous it is, that he's wandering around loose.''</span><br />
[[#14-003]]<span id="003"></span> Yet must not we put the strong law on him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet I cannot put the strong arm of the law upon him, because''</span><br />
[[#14-004]]<span id="004"></span> He's loved of the distracted multitude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's popular among the diverted public,''</span><br />
[[#14-005]]<span id="005"></span> Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who like things, not because they have judgment, but because of what they see,''</span><br />
[[#14-006]]<span id="006"></span> And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when that happens, the offender's punishment is censured,''</span><br />
[[#14-007]]<span id="007"></span> But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But his offense is overlooked. To make everything happen smoothly and easily''</span><br />
[[#14-008]]<span id="008"></span> This sudden sending him away must seem<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This quick send-off of him has to appear a result of''</span><br />
[[#14-009]]<span id="009"></span> Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Careful deliberation. Diseases that have become deadly''</span><br />
[[#14-010]]<span id="010"></span> By desperate appliance are relieved,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Are relieved by the application of desperate remedies,''</span><br />
[[#14-011]]<span id="011"></span> Or not at all.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or they don't get cured at all.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-011-SD]]<span id="011-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz enters;<br />
Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)<br />
<br />
[[#14-012]]<span id="012"></span> Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How now, what has come to pass?''</span><br />
[[#14-013]]<span id="013"></span> Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where he has put the body, my Lord,''</span><br />
[[#14-014]]<span id="014"></span> We cannot get from him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We can't get him to tell.''</span><br />
[[#14-015]]<span id="015"></span> Claudius: But where is he?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But where is Hamlet?''</span><br />
[[#14-016]]<span id="016"></span> Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Outside this room, my Lord, guarded, and waiting to know what you want done.''</span><br />
[[#14-017]]<span id="017"></span> Claudius: Bring him before us.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bring him in here to me.''</span><br />
[[#14-018]]<span id="018"></span> Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ho! Bring in the Lord!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-018-SD]]<span id="018-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and<br />
servants R & G roused earlier)<br />
<br />
[[#14-019]]<span id="019"></span> Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now . . . Hamlet, where's Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-020]]<span id="020"></span> Hamlet: At supper.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper.''</span><br />
[[#14-021]]<span id="021"></span> Claudius: At supper, where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper . . . where?''</span><br />
[[#14-022]]<span id="022"></span> Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not where he eats, but where he's eaten. A certain''</span><br />
[[#14-023]]<span id="023"></span> convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only<br />
<span style="color:gray">''meeting of politic worms is at him, even now. Your worm is your ultimate''</span><br />
[[#14-024]]<span id="024"></span> emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ruler, for diet. We fatten all creatures to fatten us, and then we fatten ourselves''</span><br />
[[#14-025]]<span id="025"></span> for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for maggots. Your fat King and your lean beggar are but different''</span><br />
[[#14-026]]<span id="026"></span> service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''orders on the menu, two dishes on the same table. That's all.''</span><br />
[[#14-027]]<span id="027"></span> Claudius: Alas, alas.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, alas.''</span><br />
[[#14-028]]<span id="028"></span> Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A man may fish with a worm that has eaten of a King, and then''</span><br />
[[#14-029]]<span id="029"></span> eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''eat the fish that has taken that worm.''</span><br />
[[#14-030]]<span id="030"></span> Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What do you mean by this?''</span><br />
[[#14-031]]<span id="031"></span> Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nothing, except to show how a King can go on a trip''</span><br />
[[#14-032]]<span id="032"></span> through the guts of a beggar.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''through the guts of a beggar.''</span><br />
[[#14-033]]<span id="033"></span> Claudius: Where is Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-034]]<span id="034"></span> Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In Heaven, send to there and see. If your messenger can't find him''</span><br />
[[#14-035]]<span id="035"></span> not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find<br />
<span style="color:gray">''there, look for him in the other place, yourself. But if, in fact, you don't find''</span><br />
[[#14-036]]<span id="036"></span> him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''him in a month, you'll nose him out as you go up the''</span><br />
[[#14-037]]<span id="037"></span> stairs into the lobby.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''stairs to the lobby.''</span><br />
[[#14-038]]<span id="038"></span> Claudius: Go seek him there. [[#14-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (a guard & servant exit)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go and look for him there.''</span><br />
[[#14-039]]<span id="039"></span> Hamlet: He will stay till you come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He'll wait until you get there.''</span><br />
[[#14-040]]<span id="040"></span> Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, because of this deed, and for your special safety,''</span><br />
[[#14-041]]<span id="041"></span> Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which I do offer, while I greatly grieve''</span><br />
[[#14-042]]<span id="042"></span> For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over what you've done, I must send you away.''</span><br />
[[#14-043]]<span id="043"></span> With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With blazing speed. Therefore, prepare for your trip.''</span><br />
[[#14-044]]<span id="044"></span> The bark is ready, and the wind at help,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ship is ready, and the wind is right.''</span><br />
[[#14-045]]<span id="045"></span> The associates tend, and everything is bent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your companions will attend you, and everything is aimed''</span><br />
[[#14-046]]<span id="046"></span> For England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England.''</span><br />
[[#14-047]]<span id="047"></span> Hamlet: For England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England?''</span><br />
[[#14-048]]<span id="048"></span> Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-049]]<span id="049"></span> Hamlet: Good.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good!''</span><br />
[[#14-050]]<span id="050"></span> Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it's good, if you knew my purposes.''</span><br />
[[#14-051]]<span id="051"></span> Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I see a spirit that sees you. But come, for England!''</span><br />
[[#14-052]]<span id="052"></span> Farewell, dear mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Farewell, dear mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-053]]<span id="053"></span> Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your loving father, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-054]]<span id="054"></span> Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, my mother: father and mother are man and wife,''</span><br />
[[#14-055]]<span id="055"></span> Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Man and wife are one flesh, and so, my mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-056]]<span id="056"></span> Come, for England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come on, for England.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits;<br />
then as Claudius speaks the ensuing lines:<br />
R & G exit close behind Hamlet;<br />
the rest exit, in a straggling way, bowing;<br />
except, the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)<br />
<br />
[[#14-057]]<span id="057"></span> Claudius: Follow him at foot,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow at his heels,''</span><br />
[[#14-058]]<span id="058"></span> Tempt him with speed aboard;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Prevail upon him to board the ship as soon as possible.''</span><br />
[[#14-059]]<span id="059"></span> Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't delay. I'll want him far away by tonight.''</span><br />
[[#14-060]]<span id="060"></span> Away! For, everything is sealed and done<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Away! Because everything is sealed and finalized''</span><br />
[[#14-061]]<span id="061"></span> That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That this business otherwise depends upon. Please, make haste.''</span> <br />
<span style="color:gray">(Claudius continues, aside):</span><br />
[[#14-062]]<span id="062"></span> And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And England, if you value my friendship at all, and''</span><br />
[[#14-063]]<span id="063"></span> As my great power thereof may give thee sense -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the great power of my friendship may make you see reason -''</span><br />
[[#14-064]]<span id="064"></span> Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since your scar is still fresh''</span><br />
[[#14-065]]<span id="065"></span> After the Danish sword, and thy free awe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the Danish sword that struck you, so that your own dread''</span><br />
[[#14-066]]<span id="066"></span> Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bows you to my will - you may not uncaringly delay''</span><br />
[[#14-067]]<span id="067"></span> Our sovereign process, which imports at full,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My sovereign legal writ, which communicates in full,''</span><br />
[[#14-068]]<span id="068"></span> By letters conjuring to that effect,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Through letters of summons to this effect:''</span><br />
[[#14-069]]<span id="069"></span> The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent death of Hamlet. Do it, England,''</span><br />
[[#14-070]]<span id="070"></span> For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because he rages in my blood like a fever,''</span><br />
[[#14-071]]<span id="071"></span> And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must cure me. Until I know it's done''</span><br />
[[#14-072]]<span id="072"></span> How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''However my luck goes, it'll be as if my joys never even began.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-072-SD]]<span id="072-SD"></span> (Claudius exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 14<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====14-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Chapel.<br />
<br />
We know this Scene is in the Chapel because Claudius explicitly said so in Scene 12, and Rosencrantz also mentioned it in Scene 13.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Just long enough after the previous Scene for Hamlet and R & G to come here from the base of the Lobby stairs. Make it two minutes or so.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]] - or - [[Set Decoration#Scene 14]]<br />
<br />
=====14-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)''<br />
<br />
Others may be present, but the above are mandatory. Not too many should be present since it's the middle of the night.<br />
<br />
The guard is a precaution by Claudius for his safety, with Hamlet at large. The Chapel cleric has been roused from sleep to receive Polonius's body in the required way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-001=====<br />
''Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====14-002=====<br />
''How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====14-003=====<br />
''Yet must not we put the strong law on him,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====14-004=====<br />
''He's loved of the distracted multitude,''<br />
<br />
''distracted'' - diverted. Inattentive (to what's important.) An implication of "amused." In his speech, Claudius is saying the public is inattentive to essential points, but takes an interest in a subject because of the "show" of it. The public only wants to be amused, and they like Hamlet's "show," Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====14-005=====<br />
''Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,''<br />
<br />
This is essentially a statement that the public is superficial.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====14-006=====<br />
''And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed''<br />
<br />
''scourge'' - punishment. From Old French 'escorgier' ("to whip.")<br />
<br />
''weighed'' - judged, by the public in what Claudius is talking about. From the concept of the scales of Justice.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====14-007=====<br />
''But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====14-008=====<br />
''This sudden sending him away must seem''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====14-009=====<br />
''Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====14-010=====<br />
''By desperate appliance are relieved,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011=====<br />
''Or not at all.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz enters; Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-012=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====14-013=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====14-014=====<br />
''We cannot get from him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====14-015=====<br />
''Claudius: But where is he?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====14-016=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====14-017=====<br />
''Claudius: Bring him before us.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and servants R & G roused earlier)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-019=====<br />
''Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====14-020=====<br />
[[File:Davinci_last_supper.jpg|right|The Last Supper by da Vinci]]<br />
''At supper'' - strangely enough, the statement by Hamlet does mean that Polonius is dead. It is circuitous.<br />
<br />
We are in a religious setting, the Chapel. In a religious setting, if you hear "supper," what might you think of? You might think of The Last Supper, by da Vinci. Being "at supper," in The Last Supper, is to be "with Jesus." However, at this time, to be "with Jesus" is to be dead. Thus, "at supper" = dead.<br />
<br />
The train of thought is:<br><br />
supper -> Last Supper -> with Jesus -> dead.<br />
<br />
Claudius, just hearing what Hamlet said, has no chance of following that, and Hamlet knows it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====14-021=====<br />
''Claudius: At supper, where?''<br />
<br />
Claudius plays along. There isn't much else he can do without ordering Hamlet arrested.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====14-022=====<br />
''Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====14-023=====<br />
''convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only''<br />
<br />
''politic worms'' - the kind of worms that like politics, and therefore like politicians. There is, further, an insulting implication that politicians are worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====14-024=====<br />
''emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====14-025=====<br />
''for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====14-026=====<br />
''service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====14-027=====<br />
''Claudius: Alas, alas.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====14-028=====<br />
''Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====14-029=====<br />
''eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.''<br />
<br />
In action, for ''eat'' - do a big chomping action of your jaw. Clack your teeth.<br />
<br />
''fish'' - while chomping, wave your hand in the manner of a fish's tail.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is doing these actions at Claudius, of course.<br />
<br />
''fed'' - more chomping. Keep doing that through what follows.<br />
<br />
''of that'' - point with your left index finger toward your right hand. This takes it you're right handed. If not, reverse. Hold that pointing position.<br />
<br />
''worm'' - now then, we know perfectly well how Hamlet feels about Claudius. Wiggly fingers are wiggly worms. Hamlet uses the singular, "worm." When Hamlet shows one "worm" finger to Claudius, which finger is it going to be? We know very well which finger it's going to be. So, again...<br />
<br />
''worm'' - wiggle the fingers of your right hand momentarily, to show wiggly worms, then display that finger "worm" at Claudius.<br />
<br />
While chomping, hold that pose of pointing at the finger "worm" for just a second, while looking at Claudius.<br />
<br />
Fold your hands across your midsection and look innocent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====14-030=====<br />
''Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?''<br />
<br />
Claudius very well knows what Hamlet meant, but he cannot take offense or he'll have to arrest Hamlet instead of sending him to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====14-031=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====14-032=====<br />
''through the guts of a beggar.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====14-033=====<br />
''Claudius: Where is Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====14-034=====<br />
''Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====14-035=====<br />
''not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====14-036=====<br />
''him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====14-037=====<br />
''stairs into the lobby.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038=====<br />
''Claudius: Go seek him there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038-SD=====<br />
''(a guard & servant exit)''<br />
<br />
In other words this is a job for a couple of the extras.<br />
<br />
The correct position for R & G now is one on either side of Hamlet, at his elbows. R & G are now "marshalling" Hamlet, as he unknowingly predicted near the end of the Closet Scene, [[Scene_11#222]]: "marshal me to knavery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-039=====<br />
''Hamlet: He will stay till you come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====14-040=====<br />
''Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====14-041=====<br />
''Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve''<br />
<br />
''tender'' - offer. Claudius claims he is offering Hamlet safety. ''Tender'' in this sense is from Anglo-French 'tendre' ("to extend," "to offer.") Claudius should extend his hand toward Hamlet in a palm-up, caring kind of way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====14-042=====<br />
''For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====14-043=====<br />
''With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====14-044=====<br />
''The bark is ready, and the wind at help,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====14-045=====<br />
''The associates tend, and everything is bent''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====14-046=====<br />
''For England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====14-047=====<br />
''Hamlet: For England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is astounded. Kill your ex-fiancee's father, and when you're brought before the judge, he tells you you've won a free trip to England?<br />
<br />
Hamlet knows perfectly well Claudius hates and fears him, and now, since Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius has a good and just reason to imprison Hamlet to await trial, and yet, nothing changes at all. It's the last thing you'd expect.<br />
<br />
Hamlet won't be able to get this out of his head. It's too good to be true. It will eventually lead him to want a look at the paperwork for the diplomatic mission.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====14-048=====<br />
''Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====14-049=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====14-050=====<br />
''Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====14-051=====<br />
''Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;''<br />
<br />
''cherub'' - the Chapel is decorated with cherubs. However, a ''cherub'' is a spirit, and "spirit" can mean "ghost." Hamlet's line contains a subtle allusion to the Ghost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====14-052=====<br />
''Farewell, dear mother.''<br />
<br />
Offhand, Hamlet credits his mother's influence for keeping him out of prison.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====14-053=====<br />
''Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====14-054=====<br />
''Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====14-055=====<br />
''Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056=====<br />
''Come, for England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits; Claudius waves the guards and servants to follow [as he speaks the ensuing lines]; they do, in a straggling way, bowing as they exit; the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-057=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow him at foot,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====14-058=====<br />
''Tempt him with speed aboard;''<br />
<br />
''Tempt'' - lead; escort.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====14-059=====<br />
''Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====14-060=====<br />
''Away! For, everything is sealed and done''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====14-061=====<br />
''That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====14-062=====<br />
''And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,''<br />
<br />
Claudius's speech from this line onward is aside. The cleric is still present in the Chapel, to receive Polonius's body. Beyond this point, the cleric hears none of what Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====14-063=====<br />
''As my great power thereof may give thee sense -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====14-064=====<br />
''Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,''<br />
<br />
''cicatrice'' - scar. ''Cicatrice'' has a sibilance, a hiss. Shakespeare probably gave Claudius the word to make him sound snaky, as he engages in villainy. We recall the Ghost called Claudius a serpent.<br />
<br />
''raw and red'' - it's a recent scar. Claudius hasn't been to war with England, so that recent "scar" on England must have been inflicted by King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Claudius is trying to use King Hamlet's fearsome reputation in England to kill his son. That's truly slimy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====14-065=====<br />
''After the Danish sword, and thy free awe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====14-066=====<br />
'' Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set''<br />
<br />
''set'' - serve.<br />
<br />
''coldly set'' - like food being set on the table cold, after a delay. At supper. As 'twere. Claudius has written his order to England in a way to motivate them to act immediately, without delay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====14-067=====<br />
''Our sovereign process, which imports at full,''<br />
<br />
''process'' - writ. Claudius is ordering a legal proceeding against Hamlet, in England, for Hamlet's execution, so he uses the term ''process'' in the legal way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====14-068=====<br />
''By letters conjuring to that effect,''<br />
<br />
''conjuring'' - A term that goes along with the letters being Claudius's "magic" to rid himself of Hamlet. Claudius is trying to conjure Hamlet's spirit to rise, rise from his dead body, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====14-069=====<br />
''The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,''<br />
<br />
''present'' - immediate, is the strict definition. Claudius wants the immediate death of Hamlet when he arrives in England. In relation to the current time, as Claudius speaks, it can be read as "imminent."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====14-070=====<br />
''For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,''<br />
<br />
''hectic'' - fever. Goes back to Greek 'hektikos' ("habitual") which was applied to consumptive disease because of the persistent fever, so the English word ''hectic'' took on the meaning of a feverish condition.<br />
<br />
Claudius is saying Hamlet has "gotten under his skin" as the saying goes, all the way into his blood.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====14-071=====<br />
''And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072=====<br />
''How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius exits)''<br />
<br />
He exits in terms of the playscript. Claudius does not leave the room because he is still going to "Put on a Show" of grief over Polonius's body, if they can ever get the darn thing here to the Chapel. Claudius is still sensitive to the political appearance of it all. He may sit in a front pew to wait.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_14
Scene 14
2018-02-02T16:49:21Z
<p>Administrator: /* 14-038-SD */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In the Chapel, Claudius worries about Hamlet's political popularity - or so he says, with others listening.<br />
<br />
Hamlet and R & G arrive, and Rosencrantz tells Claudius they've found Hamlet but not Polonius. Hamlet talks to Claudius, and gives him a verbal runaround before finally revealing where Polonius's body is.<br />
<br />
Claudius says that because he cares so much about Hamlet, he's sending him away, to England. Hamlet is astonished. He of course expected that, since Claudius now knows he's killed Polonius, he'd be imprisoned to await trial, and the trip to England would be cancelled. Kill your ex-girlfriend's father and win a free ocean cruise? – It's unheard of. Hamlet leaves, as does everyone else, except Claudius. Claudius, talking to himself, reveals that his letter to the King of England is an order to execute Hamlet.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 14 Characters are: [[Claudius]], [[Rosencrantz]], [[Hamlet]], [[Guildenstern]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{| cellspacing="10"<br />
| Hamlet entry [[#018-SD]], || Hamlet exit [[#056-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 14</b> [ ~ For England? ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 4 Scene 3)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: Inside the Castle;<br />
The Chapel;<br />
Minutes after the previous Scene.<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#14-001]]<span id="001"></span> Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I have sent them to find Hamlet, and to find the body.''</span><br />
[[#14-002]]<span id="002"></span> How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How dangerous it is, that he's wandering around loose.''</span><br />
[[#14-003]]<span id="003"></span> Yet must not we put the strong law on him,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yet I cannot put the strong arm of the law upon him, because''</span><br />
[[#14-004]]<span id="004"></span> He's loved of the distracted multitude,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He's popular among the diverted public,''</span><br />
[[#14-005]]<span id="005"></span> Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who like things, not because they have judgment, but because of what they see,''</span><br />
[[#14-006]]<span id="006"></span> And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And when that happens, the offender's punishment is censured,''</span><br />
[[#14-007]]<span id="007"></span> But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But his offense is overlooked. To make everything happen smoothly and easily''</span><br />
[[#14-008]]<span id="008"></span> This sudden sending him away must seem<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This quick send-off of him has to appear a result of''</span><br />
[[#14-009]]<span id="009"></span> Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Careful deliberation. Diseases that have become deadly''</span><br />
[[#14-010]]<span id="010"></span> By desperate appliance are relieved,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Are relieved by the application of desperate remedies,''</span><br />
[[#14-011]]<span id="011"></span> Or not at all.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or they don't get cured at all.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-011-SD]]<span id="011-SD"></span> (Rosencrantz enters;<br />
Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)<br />
<br />
[[#14-012]]<span id="012"></span> Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How now, what has come to pass?''</span><br />
[[#14-013]]<span id="013"></span> Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where he has put the body, my Lord,''</span><br />
[[#14-014]]<span id="014"></span> We cannot get from him.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''We can't get him to tell.''</span><br />
[[#14-015]]<span id="015"></span> Claudius: But where is he?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But where is Hamlet?''</span><br />
[[#14-016]]<span id="016"></span> Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Outside this room, my Lord, guarded, and waiting to know what you want done.''</span><br />
[[#14-017]]<span id="017"></span> Claudius: Bring him before us.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bring him in here to me.''</span><br />
[[#14-018]]<span id="018"></span> Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Ho! Bring in the Lord!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-018-SD]]<span id="018-SD"></span> (Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and<br />
servants R & G roused earlier)<br />
<br />
[[#14-019]]<span id="019"></span> Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now . . . Hamlet, where's Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-020]]<span id="020"></span> Hamlet: At supper.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper.''</span><br />
[[#14-021]]<span id="021"></span> Claudius: At supper, where?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At supper . . . where?''</span><br />
[[#14-022]]<span id="022"></span> Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Not where he eats, but where he's eaten. A certain''</span><br />
[[#14-023]]<span id="023"></span> convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only<br />
<span style="color:gray">''meeting of politic worms is at him, even now. Your worm is your ultimate''</span><br />
[[#14-024]]<span id="024"></span> emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves<br />
<span style="color:gray">''ruler, for diet. We fatten all creatures to fatten us, and then we fatten ourselves''</span><br />
[[#14-025]]<span id="025"></span> for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable<br />
<span style="color:gray">''for maggots. Your fat King and your lean beggar are but different''</span><br />
[[#14-026]]<span id="026"></span> service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''orders on the menu, two dishes on the same table. That's all.''</span><br />
[[#14-027]]<span id="027"></span> Claudius: Alas, alas.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, alas.''</span><br />
[[#14-028]]<span id="028"></span> Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A man may fish with a worm that has eaten of a King, and then''</span><br />
[[#14-029]]<span id="029"></span> eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''eat the fish that has taken that worm.''</span><br />
[[#14-030]]<span id="030"></span> Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What do you mean by this?''</span><br />
[[#14-031]]<span id="031"></span> Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nothing, except to show how a King can go on a trip''</span><br />
[[#14-032]]<span id="032"></span> through the guts of a beggar.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''through the guts of a beggar.''</span><br />
[[#14-033]]<span id="033"></span> Claudius: Where is Polonius?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Where is Polonius?''</span><br />
[[#14-034]]<span id="034"></span> Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In Heaven, send to there and see. If your messenger can't find him''</span><br />
[[#14-035]]<span id="035"></span> not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find<br />
<span style="color:gray">''there, look for him in the other place, yourself. But if, in fact, you don't find''</span><br />
[[#14-036]]<span id="036"></span> him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the<br />
<span style="color:gray">''him in a month, you'll nose him out as you go up the''</span><br />
[[#14-037]]<span id="037"></span> stairs into the lobby.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''stairs to the lobby.''</span><br />
[[#14-038]]<span id="038"></span> Claudius: Go seek him there. [[#14-038-SD]]<span id="038-SD"></span> (a guard & servant exit)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go and look for him there.''</span><br />
[[#14-039]]<span id="039"></span> Hamlet: He will stay till you come.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He'll wait until you get there.''</span><br />
[[#14-040]]<span id="040"></span> Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, because of this deed, and for your special safety,''</span><br />
[[#14-041]]<span id="041"></span> Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which I do offer, while I greatly grieve''</span><br />
[[#14-042]]<span id="042"></span> For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Over what you've done, I must send you away.''</span><br />
[[#14-043]]<span id="043"></span> With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With blazing speed. Therefore, prepare for your trip.''</span><br />
[[#14-044]]<span id="044"></span> The bark is ready, and the wind at help,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The ship is ready, and the wind is right.''</span><br />
[[#14-045]]<span id="045"></span> The associates tend, and everything is bent<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your companions will attend you, and everything is aimed''</span><br />
[[#14-046]]<span id="046"></span> For England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England.''</span><br />
[[#14-047]]<span id="047"></span> Hamlet: For England?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For England?''</span><br />
[[#14-048]]<span id="048"></span> Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-049]]<span id="049"></span> Hamlet: Good.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good!''</span><br />
[[#14-050]]<span id="050"></span> Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, it's good, if you knew my purposes.''</span><br />
[[#14-051]]<span id="051"></span> Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I see a spirit that sees you. But come, for England!''</span><br />
[[#14-052]]<span id="052"></span> Farewell, dear mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Farewell, dear mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-053]]<span id="053"></span> Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your loving father, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#14-054]]<span id="054"></span> Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, my mother: father and mother are man and wife,''</span><br />
[[#14-055]]<span id="055"></span> Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Man and wife are one flesh, and so, my mother.''</span><br />
[[#14-056]]<span id="056"></span> Come, for England.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come on, for England.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-056-SD]]<span id="056-SD"></span> (Hamlet exits;<br />
then as Claudius speaks the ensuing lines:<br />
R & G exit close behind Hamlet;<br />
the rest exit, in a straggling way, bowing;<br />
except, the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)<br />
<br />
[[#14-057]]<span id="057"></span> Claudius: Follow him at foot,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Follow at his heels,''</span><br />
[[#14-058]]<span id="058"></span> Tempt him with speed aboard;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Prevail upon him to board the ship as soon as possible.''</span><br />
[[#14-059]]<span id="059"></span> Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't delay. I'll want him far away by tonight.''</span><br />
[[#14-060]]<span id="060"></span> Away! For, everything is sealed and done<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Away! Because everything is sealed and finalized''</span><br />
[[#14-061]]<span id="061"></span> That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That this business otherwise depends upon. Please, make haste.''</span> <br />
<span style="color:gray">(Claudius continues, aside):</span><br />
[[#14-062]]<span id="062"></span> And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And England, if you value my friendship at all, and''</span><br />
[[#14-063]]<span id="063"></span> As my great power thereof may give thee sense -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As the great power of my friendship may make you see reason -''</span><br />
[[#14-064]]<span id="064"></span> Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since your scar is still fresh''</span><br />
[[#14-065]]<span id="065"></span> After the Danish sword, and thy free awe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the Danish sword that struck you, so that your own dread''</span><br />
[[#14-066]]<span id="066"></span> Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Bows you to my will - you may not uncaringly delay''</span><br />
[[#14-067]]<span id="067"></span> Our sovereign process, which imports at full,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My sovereign legal writ, which communicates in full,''</span><br />
[[#14-068]]<span id="068"></span> By letters conjuring to that effect,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Through letters of summons to this effect:''</span><br />
[[#14-069]]<span id="069"></span> The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The imminent death of Hamlet. Do it, England,''</span><br />
[[#14-070]]<span id="070"></span> For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Because he rages in my blood like a fever,''</span><br />
[[#14-071]]<span id="071"></span> And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And you must cure me. Until I know it's done''</span><br />
[[#14-072]]<span id="072"></span> How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''However my luck goes, it'll be as if my joys never even began.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#14-072-SD]]<span id="072-SD"></span> (Claudius exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 14<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====14-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Chapel.<br />
<br />
We know this Scene is in the Chapel because Claudius explicitly said so in Scene 12, and Rosencrantz also mentioned it in Scene 13.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - Just long enough after the previous Scene for Hamlet and R & G to come here from the base of the Lobby stairs. Make it two minutes or so.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]] - or - [[Set Decoration#Scene 14]]<br />
<br />
=====14-000-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius enters, with an armed guard, and a cleric enters)''<br />
<br />
Others may be present, but the above are mandatory. Not too many should be present since it's the middle of the night.<br />
<br />
The guard is a precaution by Claudius for his safety, with Hamlet at large. The Chapel cleric has been roused from sleep to receive Polonius's body in the required way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-001=====<br />
''Claudius: I have sent to seek him, and to find the body;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====14-002=====<br />
''How dangerous is it that this man goes loose;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====14-003=====<br />
''Yet must not we put the strong law on him,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====14-004=====<br />
''He's loved of the distracted multitude,''<br />
<br />
''distracted'' - diverted. Inattentive (to what's important.) An implication of "amused." In his speech, Claudius is saying the public is inattentive to essential points, but takes an interest in a subject because of the "show" of it. The public only wants to be amused, and they like Hamlet's "show," Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====14-005=====<br />
''Who like, not in their judgment, but their eyes,''<br />
<br />
This is essentially a statement that the public is superficial.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====14-006=====<br />
''And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weighed''<br />
<br />
''scourge'' - punishment. From Old French 'escorgier' ("to whip.")<br />
<br />
''weighed'' - judged, by the public in what Claudius is talking about. From the concept of the scales of Justice.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]]<br />
<br />
=====14-007=====<br />
''But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====14-008=====<br />
''This sudden sending him away must seem''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====14-009=====<br />
''Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====14-010=====<br />
''By desperate appliance are relieved,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011=====<br />
''Or not at all.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====14-011-SD=====<br />
''(Rosencrantz enters; Guildenstern stands with Hamlet and the others at the doorway)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-012=====<br />
''Claudius: How now, what hath befallen?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====14-013=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Where the dead body is bestowed, my Lord''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====14-014=====<br />
''We cannot get from him.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====14-015=====<br />
''Claudius: But where is he?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====14-016=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Without, my Lord, guarded to know your pleasure.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====14-017=====<br />
''Claudius: Bring him before us.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018=====<br />
''Rosencrantz: Ho, bring in the Lord.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====14-018-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet and Guildenstern enter, with the guards and servants R & G roused earlier)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-019=====<br />
''Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====14-020=====<br />
[[File:Davinci_last_supper.jpg|right|The Last Supper by da Vinci]]<br />
''At supper'' - strangely enough, the statement by Hamlet does mean that Polonius is dead. It is circuitous.<br />
<br />
We are in a religious setting, the Chapel. In a religious setting, if you hear "supper," what might you think of? You might think of The Last Supper, by da Vinci. Being "at supper," in The Last Supper, is to be "with Jesus." However, at this time, to be "with Jesus" is to be dead. Thus, "at supper" = dead.<br />
<br />
The train of thought is:<br><br />
supper -> Last Supper -> with Jesus -> dead.<br />
<br />
Claudius, just hearing what Hamlet said, has no chance of following that, and Hamlet knows it.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====14-021=====<br />
''Claudius: At supper, where?''<br />
<br />
Claudius plays along. There isn't much else he can do without ordering Hamlet arrested.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====14-022=====<br />
''Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a certain''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====14-023=====<br />
''convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only''<br />
<br />
''politic worms'' - the kind of worms that like politics, and therefore like politicians. There is, further, an insulting implication that politicians are worms.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====14-024=====<br />
''emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====14-025=====<br />
''for maggots; your fat King and your lean beggar is but variable''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====14-026=====<br />
''service, two dishes but to one table; that's the end.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====14-027=====<br />
''Claudius: Alas, alas.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====14-028=====<br />
''Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King, &''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====14-029=====<br />
''eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.''<br />
<br />
In action, for ''eat'' - do a big chomping action of your jaw. Clack your teeth.<br />
<br />
''fish'' - while chomping, wave your hand in the manner of a fish's tail.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is doing these actions at Claudius, of course.<br />
<br />
''fed'' - more chomping. Keep doing that through what follows.<br />
<br />
''of that'' - point with your left index finger toward your right hand. This takes it you're right handed. If not, reverse. Hold that pointing position.<br />
<br />
''worm'' - now then, we know perfectly well how Hamlet feels about Claudius. Wiggly fingers are wiggly worms. Hamlet uses the singular, "worm." When Hamlet shows one "worm" finger to Claudius, which finger is it going to be? We know very well which finger it's going to be. So, again...<br />
<br />
''worm'' - wiggle the fingers of your right hand momentarily, to show wiggly worms, then display that finger "worm" at Claudius.<br />
<br />
While chomping, hold that pose of pointing at the finger "worm" for just a second, while looking at Claudius.<br />
<br />
Fold your hands across your midsection and look innocent.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====14-030=====<br />
''Claudius: What dost thou mean by this?''<br />
<br />
Claudius very well knows what Hamlet meant, but he cannot take offense or he'll have to arrest Hamlet instead of sending him to England.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====14-031=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a King may go a progress''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====14-032=====<br />
''through the guts of a beggar.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====14-033=====<br />
''Claudius: Where is Polonius?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====14-034=====<br />
''Hamlet: In Heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====14-035=====<br />
''not there, seek him in the other place yourself; but if indeed you find''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====14-036=====<br />
''him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====14-037=====<br />
''stairs into the lobby.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038=====<br />
''Claudius: Go seek him there.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====14-038-SD=====<br />
''(a guard & servant exit)''<br />
<br />
In other words this is a job for a couple of the extras.<br />
<br />
The correct position for R & G now is one on either side of Hamlet, at his elbows. R & G are now "marshalling" Hamlet, as he unknowingly predicted near the end of the Closet Scene, [[Scene_11#222]]: "marshal me to knavery."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-039=====<br />
''Hamlet: He will stay till you come.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====14-040=====<br />
''Claudius: Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====14-041=====<br />
''Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====14-042=====<br />
''For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====14-043=====<br />
''With fiery quickness, therefore prepare thyself,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====14-044=====<br />
''The bark is ready, and the wind at help,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====14-045=====<br />
''The associates tend, and everything is bent''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====14-046=====<br />
''For England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====14-047=====<br />
''Hamlet: For England?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is astounded. Kill your ex-fiancee's father, and when you're brought before the judge, he tells you you've won a free trip to England?<br />
<br />
Hamlet knows perfectly well Claudius hates and fears him, and now, since Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius has a good and just reason to imprison Hamlet to await trial, and yet, nothing changes at all. It's the last thing you'd expect.<br />
<br />
Hamlet won't be able to get this out of his head. It's too good to be true. It will eventually lead him to want a look at the paperwork for the diplomatic mission.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====14-048=====<br />
''Claudius: Aye, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====14-049=====<br />
''Hamlet: Good.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====14-050=====<br />
''Claudius: So is it if thou knewest our purposes.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====14-051=====<br />
''Hamlet: I see a cherub that sees thee; but come, for England;''<br />
<br />
''cherub'' - the Chapel is decorated with cherubs. However, a ''cherub'' is a spirit, and "spirit" can mean "ghost." Hamlet's line contains a subtle allusion to the Ghost.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====14-052=====<br />
''Farewell, dear mother.''<br />
<br />
Offhand, Hamlet credits his mother's influence for keeping him out of prison.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====14-053=====<br />
''Claudius: Thy loving father, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====14-054=====<br />
''Hamlet: My mother: father and mother is man and wife;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====14-055=====<br />
''Man and wife is one flesh; so, my mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056=====<br />
''Come, for England.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====14-056-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits; Claudius waves the guards and servants to follow [as he speaks the ensuing lines]; they do, in a straggling way, bowing as they exit; the cleric remains, to receive Polonius's body)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====14-057=====<br />
''Claudius: Follow him at foot,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====14-058=====<br />
''Tempt him with speed aboard;''<br />
<br />
''Tempt'' - lead; escort.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====14-059=====<br />
''Delay it not; I'll have him hence tonight.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]]<br />
<br />
=====14-060=====<br />
''Away! For, everything is sealed and done''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====14-061=====<br />
''That else leans on the affair; pray you, make haste;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====14-062=====<br />
''And England, if my love thou holdest at ought,''<br />
<br />
Claudius's speech from this line onward is aside. The cleric is still present in the Chapel, to receive Polonius's body. Beyond this point, the cleric hears none of what Claudius says.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====14-063=====<br />
''As my great power thereof may give thee sense -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====14-064=====<br />
''Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red,''<br />
<br />
''cicatrice'' - scar. ''Cicatrice'' has a sibilance, a hiss. Shakespeare probably gave Claudius the word to make him sound snaky, as he engages in villainy. We recall the Ghost called Claudius a serpent.<br />
<br />
''raw and red'' - it's a recent scar. Claudius hasn't been to war with England, so that recent "scar" on England must have been inflicted by King Hamlet.<br />
<br />
Claudius is trying to use King Hamlet's fearsome reputation in England to kill his son. That's truly slimy.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====14-065=====<br />
''After the Danish sword, and thy free awe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]]<br />
<br />
=====14-066=====<br />
'' Pays homage to us, thou mayest not coldly set''<br />
<br />
''set'' - serve.<br />
<br />
''coldly set'' - like food being set on the table cold, after a delay. At supper. As 'twere. Claudius has written his order to England in a way to motivate them to act immediately, without delay.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====14-067=====<br />
''Our sovereign process, which imports at full,''<br />
<br />
''process'' - writ. Claudius is ordering a legal proceeding against Hamlet, in England, for Hamlet's execution, so he uses the term ''process'' in the legal way.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====14-068=====<br />
''By letters conjuring to that effect,''<br />
<br />
''conjuring'' - A term that goes along with the letters being Claudius's "magic" to rid himself of Hamlet. Claudius is trying to conjure Hamlet's spirit to rise, rise from his dead body, that is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====14-069=====<br />
''The present death of Hamlet; do it, England,''<br />
<br />
''present'' - immediate, is the strict definition. Claudius wants the immediate death of Hamlet when he arrives in England. In relation to the current time, as Claudius speaks, it can be read as "imminent."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====14-070=====<br />
''For, like the hectic in my blood, he rages,''<br />
<br />
''hectic'' - fever. Goes back to Greek 'hektikos' ("habitual") which was applied to consumptive disease because of the persistent fever, so the English word ''hectic'' took on the meaning of a feverish condition.<br />
<br />
Claudius is saying Hamlet has "gotten under his skin" as the saying goes, all the way into his blood.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====14-071=====<br />
''And thou must cure me; till I know 'tis done,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072=====<br />
''How e'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====14-072-SD=====<br />
''(Claudius exits)''<br />
<br />
He exits in terms of the playscript. Claudius does not leave the room because he is still going to "Put on a Show" of grief over Polonius's body, if they can ever get the darn thing here to the Chapel. Claudius is still sensitive to the political appearance of it all. He may sit in a front pew to wait.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072-SD]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
[[Scene 11]] - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - Scene 14 - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_11
Scene 11
2018-02-02T16:46:04Z
<p>Administrator: /* 11-222 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In Queen Gertrude's closet - which is her parlor - Polonius hides behind an arras to eavesdrop on Hamlet talking to Gertrude. Hamlet accidentally stabs Polonius to death when he jabs through the arras.<br />
<br />
Hamlets attempts to do an improvised play for Gertrude, to catch her conscience, and get a confession from her about what she has done. However, Gertrude knows of no rational explanation for Hamlet's speech and behavior. In the midst of Hamlet's attempt at a play for Gertrude - that she doesn't know he's trying to do - the Ghost enters.<br />
<br />
After the Ghost exits, Hamlet tries to convince Gertrude he isn't mad. He also tries to warn Gertrude about Claudius, but speaks so obscurely she can't understand him, so his warning goes unheard. Hamlet mentions the trip to England - that he heard Claudius speak of, to R & G, in the Prayer Scene. Hamlet says he'll take Polonius's body to the "neighbor room." Hamlet intends to use Polonius's body in connection with killing Claudius.<br />
<br />
Hamlet drags Polonius's body out of Gertrude's room. He does not inform Gertrude that he intends to kill Claudius. And still, through it all, Hamlet never corrects Gertrude's misunderstanding on the point that he knows it's Polonius he has killed. Up to the end of Scene, and beyond, she still thinks he's so crazy he believes Polonius is Claudius.<br />
<br />
After Hamlet exits with Polonius, Gertrude frets and wrings her hands. Suddenly it strikes Gertrude, that when Hamlet said "neighbor room," he must have meant Claudius's room. Gertrude (not knowing Hamlet intends to kill Claudius) foresees that Claudius will call the guards and arrest Hamlet for murder.<br />
<br />
Gertrude then runs out of her room, to Claudius's room, to try to defend her son against a charge of murder. Her exit is a minute or two after Hamlet's.<br />
<br />
For greater detail: <b>[[Explication#Scene 11]]</b>.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 11 Characters are: [[Polonius]], [[Gertrude]], [[Hamlet]], [[Ghost]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellspacing="10"<br />
|Death of Polonius [[#027]] || mention of the pictures [[#059]] || Ghost entry [[#112-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
|Hamlet mentions England [[#216]] || || Ghost exit [[#151-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 11</b> [ ~ Closet Scene ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 3 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#11-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: inside the Castle;<br />
the Queen's Parlor;<br />
only a minute after [[Scene 10]].<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#11-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude and Polonius enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#11-001]]<span id="001"></span> Polonius: He will come straight; look you lay home to him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He'll be here very soon. Be sure you lay it on the line to him.''</span><br />
[[#11-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him that his wicked deeds have been too wild to tolerate,''</span><br />
[[#11-003]]<span id="003"></span> And that Your Grace hath screened and stood between<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that Your Majesty has hedged him, and protected him from''</span><br />
[[#11-004]]<span id="004"></span> Much heat and him; I'll silence me even here; [[#11-004-SD]]<span id="004-SD"></span> (Polonius moves close to an arras)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Taking a lot of heat. I'll hide myself right over here.''</span><br />
[[#11-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pray you, be round.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please be blunt with him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-005-SD]]<span id="005-SD"></span> (Hamlet is heard, approaching)<br />
<br />
[[#11-006]]<span id="006"></span> Gertrude: I'll wait you, fear me not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll attend to what you say, don't worry about me.''</span><br />
[[#11-007]]<span id="007"></span> Withdraw, I hear him coming.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hide, I hear him coming.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-007-SD]]<span id="007-SD"></span> (Polonius hides behind his chosen arras;<br />
Hamlet enters the room)<br />
<br />
[[#11-008]]<span id="008"></span> Hamlet: Now, mother, what's the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, mother, what's the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#11-009]]<span id="009"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, you have greatly offended your father.''</span><br />
[[#11-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Mother, you have greatly offended my father.''</span><br />
[[#11-011]]<span id="011"></span> Gertrude: Come come, you answer with an idle tongue.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come come, you answer with a meaningless tongue.''</span><br />
[[#11-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. [[#11-012-SD]]<span id="012-SD"></span> (Hamlet draws his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Go go, you question with a wicked tongue.''</span><br />
[[#11-013]]<span id="013"></span> Gertrude: Why, how now, Hamlet?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, what's the meaning of this, Hamlet?''</span><br />
[[#11-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: What's the matter now?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter now?''</span><br />
[[#11-015]]<span id="015"></span> Gertrude: Have you forgot me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you forgotten who I am?''</span><br />
[[#11-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so. [[#11-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Hamlet raises his sword, to "swear on the cross")<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I swear on the cross, I have not forgotten you.''</span><br />
[[#11-017]]<span id="017"></span> You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife.''</span><br />
[[#11-018]]<span id="018"></span> And would it were not so, you are my mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And though I wish it weren't so, you are my mother.''</span><br />
[[#11-019]]<span id="019"></span> Gertrude: Nay, then I'll set those to you that can speak.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, this won't do, I'll put those against you who can "speak the language" of swords.''</span><br />
[[#11-020]]<span id="020"></span> Hamlet: Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come, come here and sit down. Do not budge from here.''</span><br />
[[#11-021]]<span id="021"></span> You go not, till I set you up a glass<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You won't go, until after I set up a mirror for you,''</span><br />
[[#11-022]]<span id="022"></span> Where you may see the inmost part of you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which you can see the innermost part of yourself.''</span><br />
[[#11-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: ''What'' wilt thou do? Thou wilt ''not'' murder me!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You will do what? You will not murder me!''</span><br />
[[#11-024]]<span id="024"></span> Help ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Help, ho!''</span><br />
[[#11-025]]<span id="025"></span> Polonius: What ho! Help!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ho! Help!''</span><br />
[[#11-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet: How now, a rat! Dead for a ducat, dead!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How now, a rat! Dead for a ducat, dead!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-026-SD]]<span id="026-SD"></span> (Hamlet lunges and jabs his sword through the arras;<br />
Polonius totters out from behind the arras, clutching his chest)<br />
<br />
[[#11-027]]<span id="027"></span> Polonius: Oh, I am slain!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I am slain!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-027-SD]]<span id="027-SD"></span> (Polonius falls dead)<br />
<br />
[[#11-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Oh, me, what hast thou done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear me, what have you done?''</span><br />
[[#11-029]]<span id="029"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not. Is it the King?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know. Is it the King?''</span><br />
[[#11-030]]<span id="030"></span> Gertrude: Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, what a reckless and murderous deed this is.''</span><br />
[[#11-031]]<span id="031"></span> Hamlet: A bloody deed, almost as bad, good mother,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A murderous deed almost as bad, good mother,''</span><br />
[[#11-032]]<span id="032"></span> As kill a king, and marry with his brother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As kill a king, and marry with his brother.''</span><br />
[[#11-033]]<span id="033"></span> Gertrude: As kill a king?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As kill a king?''</span><br />
[[#11-034]]<span id="034"></span> Hamlet: Aye, Lady, it was my word.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, Lady, that's what I said.''</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">(to Polonius's body)</span>:<br />
[[#11-035]]<span id="035"></span> Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You wretched, reckless, intruding fool, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#11-036]]<span id="036"></span> I took thee for thy better; take thy fortune;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I mistook you for a better creature, so, take your luck.''</span><br />
[[#11-037]]<span id="037"></span> Thou findest to be too busy is some danger;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You've found out that being too snoopy is dangerous.''</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">(to Gertude)</span>:<br />
[[#11-038]]<span id="038"></span> Leave wringing of your hands, peace, sit you down,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stop that wringing of your hands. Hush, sit yourself down,''</span><br />
[[#11-039]]<span id="039"></span> And let me wring your heart, for so I shall<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And let me wring your heart - for I shall do that''</span><br />
[[#11-040]]<span id="040"></span> If it be made of penetrable stuff -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it's made of anything I can get through to -''</span><br />
[[#11-041]]<span id="041"></span> If damned custom have not braced it so,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If evil habits haven't braced it so much''</span><br />
[[#11-042]]<span id="042"></span> That it be proof and bulwark against sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That it is proofed and buttressed to withstand good sense.''</span><br />
[[#11-043]]<span id="043"></span> Gertrude: What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What have I done, that you dare to flap your tongue''</span><br />
[[#11-044]]<span id="044"></span> In noise so rude against me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In words so rudely offensive to me?''</span><br />
[[#11-045]]<span id="045"></span> Hamlet: Such an act<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's such an act''</span><br />
[[#11-046]]<span id="046"></span> That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That it stains the honor and rosy complexion of modesty,''</span><br />
[[#11-047]]<span id="047"></span> Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That slanders virtue as a hypocrite, removes the rosy glow''</span><br />
[[#11-048]]<span id="048"></span> From the fair forehead of an innocent love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the beautiful forehead of a blameless love,''</span><br />
[[#11-049]]<span id="049"></span> And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And sets the mark of the harlot there, and that makes the marriage vows''</span><br />
[[#11-050]]<span id="050"></span> As false as dicers' oaths; O, such a deed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As insincere as gamblers' cursing. Oh, such a deed''</span><br />
[[#11-051]]<span id="051"></span> As from the body of contraction plucks<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if, from the body of the marriage contract, it plucks out''</span><br />
[[#11-052]]<span id="052"></span> The very soul, and sweet religion makes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The very soul, and, of the sweet sermon, it makes only''</span><br />
[[#11-053]]<span id="053"></span> A rhapsody of words; heaven's face does glow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A meaningless jumble of words. Heaven's face glows''</span><br />
[[#11-054]]<span id="054"></span> O'er this solidity and compound mass<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Above this hard-heartedness and compounded heaviness of sin''</span><br />
[[#11-055]]<span id="055"></span> With tristful visage, as against the doom<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With a sorrowful expression, as if, seen against the day of judgment,''</span><br />
[[#11-056]]<span id="056"></span> 'Tis thought-sick at the act . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is sickened by thoughts of your act . . .''</span><br />
[[#11-057]]<span id="057"></span> Gertrude: Aye me, what act?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, unhappy me, what act are you talking about?''</span><br />
[[#11-058]]<span id="058"></span> Hamlet: . . . that roars so loud, and thunders in the Index!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''. . . that roars so loud, and thunders in the Index L.P.!''</span><br />
[[#11-059]]<span id="059"></span> Look here upon this picture, and on this,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look here, at this picture, and this one,''</span><br />
[[#11-060]]<span id="060"></span> The counterfeit presentment of two brothers;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The man-made representation of two brothers.''</span><br />
[[#11-061]]<span id="061"></span> See what a grace was seated on this brow;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See what grace was enthroned on this forehead:''</span><br />
[[#11-062]]<span id="062"></span> Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove, himself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Golden curls like the sun, the visage of Jove, himself,''</span><br />
[[#11-063]]<span id="063"></span> An eye like Mars, to threaten and command,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''An eye like the god of war, to threaten enemies and command forces,''</span><br />
[[#11-064]]<span id="064"></span> A station like the herald Mercury,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A posture like Mercury, the messenger of the gods,''</span><br />
[[#11-065]]<span id="065"></span> New lighted on a heave, a kissing hill;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just alighted on a rise, a sun-kissing hill,''</span><br />
[[#11-066]]<span id="066"></span> A combination, and a form, indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A combination of features, and a manly form, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#11-067]]<span id="067"></span> Where every god did seem to set his seal<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Upon which it would seem that every god put his seal of authenticity,''</span><br />
[[#11-068]]<span id="068"></span> To give the world assurance of a man;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To give the world assurance that here was a real man.''</span><br />
[[#11-069]]<span id="069"></span> This was your husband; look you now what follows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This was your husband. Now, you look at what follows:''</span><br />
[[#11-070]]<span id="070"></span> Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Here is your husband now, like a diseased, contagious ear of grain,''</span><br />
[[#11-071]]<span id="071"></span> Blasting ''his'' wholesome breath. Have you eyes?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Destroying his brother's healthy life. Do you have eyes?''</span><br />
[[#11-072]]<span id="072"></span> Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Could you cease grazing on this beautiful mountain''</span><br />
[[#11-073]]<span id="073"></span> And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And survive by scavenging on this wasteland? Ha! Have you eyes?''</span><br />
[[#11-074]]<span id="074"></span> You cannot call it "love," for at your age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't rightly call it "love," because at your age,''</span><br />
[[#11-075]]<span id="075"></span> The heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The high spirit of your passion is subdued, it's deferential''</span><br />
[[#11-076]]<span id="076"></span> And waits upon the judgement, and what judgement<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And submissive to judgment - and what kind of judgment''</span><br />
[[#11-077]]<span id="077"></span> Would step from this to this? Sense, sure you have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would descend from this, to this? Perception, of course you have,''</span><br />
[[#11-078]]<span id="078"></span> Else could you not have motion, but sure that sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Otherwise you couldn't even move, but surely that perception''</span><br />
[[#11-079]]<span id="079"></span> Is apoplexed, for madness would not err,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is disabled, for even madness would not err like that,''</span><br />
[[#11-080]]<span id="080"></span> Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And perception was never so much enthralled by delight,''</span><br />
[[#11-081]]<span id="081"></span> But it reserved some quantity of choice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But that it still retained some amount of the ability to choose,''</span><br />
[[#11-082]]<span id="082"></span> To serve in such a difference. What devil was it<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which should serve when there's such a big difference. What devil was it''</span><br />
[[#11-083]]<span id="083"></span> That thus hath cozened you at hoodman blind?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has cheated you like that at the game of love?''</span><br />
[[#11-084]]<span id="084"></span> Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Vision without any sense of touch, or touch without vision,''</span><br />
[[#11-085]]<span id="085"></span> Ears without hands, or eyes, smelling sans all;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hearing without touch or vision, smell without any other sense,''</span><br />
[[#11-086]]<span id="086"></span> Or, but a sickly part of one true sense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, even only a sickly part of any one good sense,''</span><br />
[[#11-087]]<span id="087"></span> Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not stupify like that. Oh shame, where is your blush?''</span><br />
[[#11-088]]<span id="088"></span> Rebellious Hell!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rebellious Hell!''</span><br />
[[#11-089]]<span id="089"></span> If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you can rebel, against judgment, at your matronly age,''</span><br />
[[#11-090]]<span id="090"></span> To flaming youth let virtue be as wax<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then, for passionate youth, let's allow virtue to be only like wax''</span><br />
[[#11-091]]<span id="091"></span> And melt in her own fire; proclaim no shame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And melt away in her own fire. So, let's declare there's no shame, for youth,''</span><br />
[[#11-092]]<span id="092"></span> When the compulsive ardor gives the charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whenever compulsive passion is leading the way,''</span><br />
[[#11-093]]<span id="093"></span> Since frost itself as actively doth burn,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since older age, itself, as actively melts away virtue,''</span><br />
[[#11-094]]<span id="094"></span> And reason pardons will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And rationalization only excuses whatever the carnal appetites do.''</span><br />
[[#11-095]]<span id="095"></span> Gertrude: Oh, Hamlet, speak no more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, Hamlet, don't say any more.''</span><br />
[[#11-096]]<span id="096"></span> Thou turn'st my very eyes into my soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You've made my eyes look truly into my soul,''</span><br />
[[#11-097]]<span id="097"></span> And there I see such black and grained spots<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And there, I see such ingrained black spots''</span><br />
[[#11-098]]<span id="098"></span> As will not leave their tinct.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As will not ever lose their stain.''</span><br />
[[#11-099]]<span id="099"></span> Hamlet: Nay, but to live<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, there's more to say - but to dwell''</span><br />
[[#11-100]]<span id="100"></span> In the rank sweat of an inseamed bed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In the foul sweat of a luxurious bed,''</span><br />
[[#11-101]]<span id="101"></span> Stewed in corruption, honeying, and making love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Steeped in corruption, kissing, and making love''</span><br />
[[#11-102]]<span id="102"></span> Over the nasty sty.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right above Hell.''</span><br />
[[#11-103]]<span id="103"></span> Gertrude: Oh, speak to me no more!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, speak to me no more!''</span><br />
[[#11-104]]<span id="104"></span> These words like daggers enter in my ears;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These words enter my ears like daggers.''</span><br />
[[#11-105]]<span id="105"></span> No more, sweet Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more, sweet Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#11-106]]<span id="106"></span> Hamlet: A murderer and a villain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A murderer and a villain!''</span><br />
[[#11-107]]<span id="107"></span> A slave that is not twentieth part the kith<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lowly creature who isn't even one twentieth the kind''</span><br />
[[#11-108]]<span id="108"></span> Of your precedent Lord, a vice of kings,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Of person your earlier Lord was. A clownish villain among kings!''</span><br />
[[#11-109]]<span id="109"></span> A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickpocket of the empire and the throne,''</span><br />
[[#11-110]]<span id="110"></span> That from a shelf the precious diadem stole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, from a shelf, stole the precious crown,''</span><br />
[[#11-111]]<span id="111"></span> And put it in his pocket.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put it in his pocket!''</span><br />
[[#11-112]]<span id="112"></span> Gertrude: No more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-112-SD]]<span id="112-SD"></span> (the Ghost enters, costumed in a nightshirt - but it's another<br />
line before Hamlet, now facing his mother, turns and sees it)<br />
<br />
[[#11-113]]<span id="113"></span> Hamlet: A King of shreds and patches!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A King of shreds and patches!''</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">(exclaimed in dismay)</span>:<br />
[[#11-114]]<span id="114"></span> Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save me, and hover over me with your angel's wings,''</span><br />
[[#11-115]]<span id="115"></span> You heavenly guards!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You heavenly guardians!''</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">(to the Ghost)</span>:<br />
[[#11-116]]<span id="116"></span> What would your gracious figure?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What would your noble figure have of me?''</span><br />
[[#11-117]]<span id="117"></span> Gertrude: Alas, he's mad.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas! He's mad!''</span><br />
[[#11-118]]<span id="118"></span> Hamlet: Do you not come your tardy son to chide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't you here to scold your son who is slow to act,''</span><br />
[[#11-119]]<span id="119"></span> That lapsed in time and passion lets go by<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, letting time and strong emotion slip away, has let go by''</span><br />
[[#11-120]]<span id="120"></span> The important acting of your dread command? O say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The momentous action dictated by your fearful command? Oh, go ahead and say it.''</span><br />
[[#11-121]]<span id="121"></span> Ghost: Do not forget! This visitation<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do not forget! This visitation''</span><br />
[[#11-122]]<span id="122"></span> Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sharpen your purpose, which has nearly dulled.''</span><br />
[[#11-123]]<span id="123"></span> But look, amazement on thy mother sits,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But look, your mother is wearing an expression of amazement,''</span><br />
[[#11-124]]<span id="124"></span> Oh, step between her, and her fighting soul;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to her and mediate peace for her conflicted soul.''</span><br />
[[#11-125]]<span id="125"></span> Conceit, in weakest bodies, strongest works;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fantasy gets the strongest grip on the weakest bodies.''</span><br />
[[#11-126]]<span id="126"></span> Speak to her, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak to her, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#11-127]]<span id="127"></span> Hamlet: How is it with you, Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are things with you, Lady?''</span><br />
[[#11-128]]<span id="128"></span> Gertrude: Alas, how is it with you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, how are things with you,''</span><br />
[[#11-129]]<span id="129"></span> That you do bend your eye on vacancy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That you stare at nothing,''</span><br />
[[#11-130]]<span id="130"></span> And with the incorporeal air do hold discourse?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And have conversation with the empty air?''</span><br />
[[#11-131]]<span id="131"></span> Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Forth, from your eyes, your inner spirits peek out wildly,''</span><br />
[[#11-132]]<span id="132"></span> And as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like sleeping soldiers suddenly awakened by a call to arms,''</span><br />
[[#11-133]]<span id="133"></span> Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your recumbent hair, like something living is suddenly growing on your head,''</span><br />
[[#11-134]]<span id="134"></span> Starts up and stands on end. Oh gentle son,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rises up and stands on end. Oh, my gentle son,''</span><br />
[[#11-135]]<span id="135"></span> Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Upon the inflamed heat of your disturbance''</span><br />
[[#11-136]]<span id="136"></span> Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sprinkle the cooling water of temperance. What are you looking at?''</span><br />
[[#11-137]]<span id="137"></span> Hamlet: On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At him, at him! Look for yourself how, wide-eyed, he dazzles.''</span><br />
[[#11-138]]<span id="138"></span> His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His form and his purpose combined, manifesting itself even in front of stones''</span><br />
[[#11-139]]<span id="139"></span> Would make them capable.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would make them aware.''</span><br />
[[#11-140]]<span id="140"></span> Do not look upon me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't look at me,''</span><br />
[[#11-141]]<span id="141"></span> Lest with this piteous action you convert<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lest with your piteous gaze you undo''</span><br />
[[#11-142]]<span id="142"></span> My stern effects, then what I have to do<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My staunch resolve, and then what I have to do''</span><br />
[[#11-143]]<span id="143"></span> Will want true color, tears perchance for blood. [[#11-143-SD]]<span id="143-SD"></span> (tears run down Hamlet's face)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will lack its proper hue, and I'll shed tears, by chance, instead of blood.''</span><br />
[[#11-144]]<span id="144"></span> Gertrude: To whom do you speak this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To whom do you speak those words?''</span><br />
[[#11-145]]<span id="145"></span> Hamlet: Do you see nothing there?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you see anything there?''</span><br />
[[#11-146]]<span id="146"></span> Gertrude: Nothing at all, yet all that is, I see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nothing at all, and yet, I see all that there is to see.''</span><br />
[[#11-147]]<span id="147"></span> Hamlet: Nor, did you nothing hear?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Didn't you hear anything, either?''</span><br />
[[#11-148]]<span id="148"></span> Gertrude: No, nothing but ourselves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, nothing but us.''</span><br />
[[#11-149]]<span id="149"></span> Hamlet: Why, look you there, look how it steals away;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, just look there, at how it stealthily moves away.''</span><br />
[[#11-150]]<span id="150"></span> My father, in his habit as he lived;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My father, wearing his usual clothing, the same as when he was alive.''</span><br />
[[#11-151]]<span id="151"></span> Look where he goes, even now, out at the portal.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look where he goes, just now, out at the doorway.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-151-SD]]<span id="151-SD"></span> (the Ghost exits)<br />
<br />
[[#11-152]]<span id="152"></span> Gertrude: This is the very coinage of your brain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is, truly, something created by your mind,''</span><br />
[[#11-153]]<span id="153"></span> This bodiless creation, ecstasy is very cunning in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The kind of hallucination that frenzy is quite crafty at producing.''</span><br />
[[#11-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Ecstasy?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Frenzy?''</span><br />
[[#11-155]]<span id="155"></span> My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My pulse beats as moderately as yours,''</span><br />
[[#11-156]]<span id="156"></span> And makes as healthful music; it is not madness<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And keeps as healthful a tempo. It is not madness''</span><br />
[[#11-157]]<span id="157"></span> That I haue uttered; bring me to the test,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I have uttered. Put me to the test,''</span><br />
[[#11-158]]<span id="158"></span> And the matter will reword, which madness<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I'll say the same thing in different words, something which a mad person''</span><br />
[[#11-159]]<span id="159"></span> Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would shy away from. Mother, for the love of God,''</span><br />
[[#11-160]]<span id="160"></span> Lay not that flattering unction to your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't apply a mere symptomatic treatment to your soul - the idea''</span><br />
[[#11-161]]<span id="161"></span> That not your trespass, but my madness speaks;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't your offense, but instead my madness that is the issue - because doing''</span><br />
[[#11-162]]<span id="162"></span> It will but skin and film the ulcerous place<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That will only hide and cover up the deeper malady,''</span><br />
[[#11-163]]<span id="163"></span> While rank corruption, mining all within,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''While foul corruption, digging its way deeper within you,''</span><br />
[[#11-164]]<span id="164"></span> Infects unseen; confess yourself to heaven,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Poisons you, unseen. Make confession of yourself to Heaven,''</span><br />
[[#11-165]]<span id="165"></span> Repent what's past, avoid what is to come,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repent what's over and done with, avoid future damnation for your sins,''</span><br />
[[#11-166]]<span id="166"></span> And do not spread the compost o'er the weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And don't be like a misguided gardener who spreads compost on weeds''</span><br />
[[#11-167]]<span id="167"></span> To make them rank; forgive me this my virtue,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make them luxuriant. Forgive me this, my efficacy,''</span><br />
[[#11-168]]<span id="168"></span> For in the fatness of these pursy times<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, in the sinfulness of these wealthy times,''</span><br />
[[#11-169]]<span id="169"></span> Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Virtue, itself, must beg pardon of Vice,''</span><br />
[[#11-170]]<span id="170"></span> Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, bow and beg for permission, to do him good.''</span><br />
[[#11-171]]<span id="171"></span> Gertrude: Oh, Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, Hamlet, you have broken my heart in two.''</span><br />
[[#11-172]]<span id="172"></span> Hamlet: Oh, throw away the worser part of it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, then throw away the worse part of it,''</span><br />
[[#11-173]]<span id="173"></span> And leave the purer with the other half,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And leave yourself more pure with just the better half.''</span><br />
[[#11-174]]<span id="174"></span> Good night, but go not to my uncle's bed;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good night . . . but do not go to my uncle's bed.''</span><br />
[[#11-175]]<span id="175"></span> Assume a virtue if you have it not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adopt any virtue you don't already have.''</span><br />
[[#11-176]]<span id="176"></span> That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That fiendish thing, routine, that can, on one hand, consume our awareness''</span><br />
[[#11-177]]<span id="177"></span> Of habit's devil, is angel yet in this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of devilish habits, can be an angel yet, in this way:''</span><br />
[[#11-178]]<span id="178"></span> That to the use of actions fair and good,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, in the employment of actions which are fair and good,''</span><br />
[[#11-179]]<span id="179"></span> He likewise gives a frock or livery<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Routine can also provide a kind of dress, or uniform,''</span><br />
[[#11-180]]<span id="180"></span> That aptly is put on to refrain night,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That appropriately is adopted, to hold off the time of evil-doing -''</span><br />
[[#11-181]]<span id="181"></span> And that shall lend a kind of easiness<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that will lend a kind of easiness''</span><br />
[[#11-182]]<span id="182"></span> To the next abstinence, the next more easy.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To your next abstinence, and the next, even more easy.''</span><br />
[[#11-183]]<span id="183"></span> For, use almost can change the stamp of nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, an established routine can almost change a person's very nature,''</span><br />
[[#11-184]]<span id="184"></span> And either {fetch} the devil, or throw him out<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And either summon the devil of bad habits in, or throw him out''</span><br />
[[#11-185]]<span id="185"></span> With wonderous potency: once more good night -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With amazing strength. Once more, good night -''</span><br />
[[#11-186]]<span id="186"></span> And when you are desirous to be blessed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, and if you wish me to say a prayer for you,''</span><br />
[[#11-187]]<span id="187"></span> I'll blessing beg of you; for this same Lord<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll beg you to say one for me. For this same Lord,''</span><br />
[[#11-188]]<span id="188"></span> I do repent; but Heaven hath pleased it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I do repent, but it has pleased Heaven to have it be so,''</span><br />
[[#11-189]]<span id="189"></span> To punish me with this, and this with me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To punish me with this misfortune, and use me to punish him, so''</span><br />
[[#11-190]]<span id="190"></span> That I must be their scourge and minister,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I have to be Heaven's scourge, and minister.''</span><br />
[[#11-191]]<span id="191"></span> I will bestow him and will answer well<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will dispose of him, and I will respond appropriately to''</span><br />
[[#11-192]]<span id="192"></span> The death I gave him; so again, good night -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The death I inflicted on him. So again, good night -''</span><br />
[[#11-193]]<span id="193"></span> I must be cruel only to be kind,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I must be cruel, only to be kind.''</span><br />
[[#11-194]]<span id="194"></span> This bad begins, and worse remains behind.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This begins bad, and worse remains to be done.''</span><br />
[[#11-195]]<span id="195"></span> One word more good Lady.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One more word, good Lady.''</span><br />
[[#11-196]]<span id="196"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(to herself)</span>: What shall I do?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What shall I do?''</span><br />
[[#11-197]]<span id="197"></span> Hamlet: Not this, by no means, that I bid you do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must not by any means do this, I order you:''</span><br />
[[#11-198]]<span id="198"></span> Let the blunt King tempt you again to bed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let the fat, dull-witted King tempt you to bed again, or''</span><br />
[[#11-199]]<span id="199"></span> Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pinch playfully on your cheek, call you his mouse,''</span><br />
[[#11-200]]<span id="200"></span> And let him for a pair of reechy kisses,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then allow him, with a couple of reeking kisses,''</span><br />
[[#11-201]]<span id="201"></span> Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or by massaging your neck with his damned fingers,''</span><br />
[[#11-202]]<span id="202"></span> Make you to ravel all this matter out,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Cause you to unravel all this subject out to him,''</span><br />
[[#11-203]]<span id="203"></span> That I essentially am not in madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am not mad by nature,''</span><br />
[[#11-204]]<span id="204"></span> But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But "mad" with a plan . . . Would it be good for you to tell him?''</span><br />
[[#11-205]]<span id="205"></span> For, who that's but a queen - fair, sober, wise -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For who, although a queen - fair, sober and wise -''</span><br />
[[#11-206]]<span id="206"></span> Would from a paddack, from a bat, a gib,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would, from a toad, a bat, a tomcat,''</span><br />
[[#11-207]]<span id="207"></span> Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hide such important concerns? Who would do so?''</span><br />
[[#11-208]]<span id="208"></span> No, in despite of sense and secrecy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, don't act, despite the need for sense and secrecy, to''</span><br />
[[#11-209]]<span id="209"></span> Unpeg the basket on the house's top,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Unfasten the basket on the roof, and''</span><br />
[[#11-210]]<span id="210"></span> Let the birds fly; and, like the famous ape,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let the birds fly - and then, do like the famous imitator,''</span><br />
[[#11-211]]<span id="211"></span> To try conclusions, in the basket creep,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To test outcomes, climb into the basket, yourself,''</span><br />
[[#11-212]]<span id="212"></span> And break your own neck down.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And fracture your own neck, outright.''</span><br />
[[#11-213]]<span id="213"></span> Gertrude: Be thou assured, if words be made of breath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I assure you, if words are made out of breath,''</span><br />
[[#11-214]]<span id="214"></span> And breath of life, I have no life to breathe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And breath is made out of life, I have no life to repeat''</span><br />
[[#11-215]]<span id="215"></span> What thou hast said to me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What you have said to me.''</span><br />
[[#11-216]]<span id="216"></span> Hamlet: I must to England, you know that?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I must go to England, did you know that?''</span><br />
[[#11-217]]<span id="217"></span> Gertrude: Alack, I had forgot.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, I had forgotten.''</span><br />
[[#11-218]]<span id="218"></span> 'Tis so concluded on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The decision has been made on that.''</span><br />
[[#11-219]]<span id="219"></span> Hamlet: There's letters sealed, and my two schoolfellows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There are sealed letters to go, too - and my two schoolfellows,''</span><br />
[[#11-220]]<span id="220"></span> Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whom I'll trust as much as I would poisonous snakes -''</span><br />
[[#11-221]]<span id="221"></span> They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll carry the King's orders, and they must lead my way''</span><br />
[[#11-222]]<span id="222"></span> And marshal me to knavery. Let it work,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And escort me to treachery. Let them try,''</span><br />
[[#11-223]]<span id="223"></span> For 'tis the sport to have the enginer<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For it is an amusement to see a schemer''</span><br />
[[#11-224]]<span id="224"></span> Hoist with his own petard, and it shall go hard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Destroyed by his own devices. And, it may be difficult,''</span><br />
[[#11-225]]<span id="225"></span> But I will delve one yard below their mines,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But I'll dig down just below their explosives,''</span><br />
[[#11-226]]<span id="226"></span> And blow them at the moon. O 'tis most sweet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And blow them to the moon. Oh, it is most sweet''</span><br />
[[#11-227]]<span id="227"></span> When in one line, two crafts directly meet;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When, with the same intention, two schemes unite.''</span><br />
[[#11-228]]<span id="228"></span> This man shall set me packing;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This man shall be the start of my "packing."''</span><br />
[[#11-229]]<span id="229"></span> I'll lug the guts into the neighbor room;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lug this fat body into the neighboring room.''</span><br />
[[#11-230]]<span id="230"></span> Mother, good night indeed.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Mother, good night, indeed.''</span><br />
[[#11-231]]<span id="231"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: This councilor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This councilor''</span><br />
[[#11-232]]<span id="232"></span> Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is now very still, very secret and very grave,''</span><br />
[[#11-233]]<span id="233"></span> Who was in life a most foolish prating knave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who was, in life, a very foolish blabbering scoundrel.''</span><br />
[[#11-234]]<span id="234"></span> Come sir, to draw toward an end with you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come, sir, let's draw toward the end of all this, with you.''</span><br />
[[#11-235]]<span id="235"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Gertrude)</span>: Good night, mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good night, mother.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-235-SD1]]<span id="235-SD1"></span> (Hamlet exits, dragging Polonius's body)<br />
<br />
[In silent action, Gertrude stands and paces, frets, and wrings her hands, asking herself what she can possibly do about her mad son and his killing of Polonius. Suddenly it strikes her, Hamlet said "neighbor room," and that must mean the King's Room, Claudius's room. Gertrude then foresees that Hamlet will drag Polonius's body into Claudius's room, Claudius will immediately call the guards, and Hamlet will be arrested for murder, caught absolutely red handed with his victim in his grasp. Wanting to stop Hamlet before he gets to Claudius's room, and is arrested for murder, she runs out as fast as she can, hoping to catch him in the hallway.]<br />
<br />
[[#11-235-SD2]]<span id="235-SD2"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 11<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
Scene 11 - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====11-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Queen's Room. This is Queen Gertrude's room for private conversation, her parlor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - only a minute or so after the previous Scene.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]] - or - [[Set Decoration#Scene 11|Set Decoration]]<br />
<br />
=====11-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude and Polonius enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-001=====<br />
''Polonius: He will come straight; look you lay home to him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====11-002=====<br />
''Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====11-003=====<br />
''And that Your Grace hath screened and stood between''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====11-004=====<br />
''Much heat and him; I'll silence me even here;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====11-004-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius moves close to an arras)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-005=====<br />
''Pray you, be round.''<br />
<br />
''round'' - blunt. Polonius is urging Gertrude to speak bluntly to Hamlet. An instance of the Edge Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====11-005-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet is heard, approaching)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-006=====<br />
''Gertrude: I'll wait you, fear me not;''<br />
<br />
''wait'' - attend. Gertrude means she will attend to what Polonius said. This is "contrary" language in that Polonius is the attendant, with respect to the Queen.<br />
<br />
Further, ''wait'' goes back to Old North French 'waitier' ("to watch,") and since watching is such a significant concept in the play, one has to suspect Shakespeare knew of the ''wait''-"watch" relationship. Indeed, the idea of "watch" makes sense in the line, if taken as "watch for": "I'll watch (for) you." Polonius, behind the arras, will not be able to watch Hamlet, so he'll need someone to watch for him.<br />
<br />
''fear me not'' - don't worry about me. Worrying about Hamlet, however, would be a good idea for Polonius, but he doesn't know that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]] - or - [[Scene 11 Folio Differences#006|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====11-007=====<br />
''Withdraw, I hear him coming.''<br />
<br />
There is the question of what Gertrude hears. It would be appropriate for Hamlet to whistle a dirge.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====11-007-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius hides behind his chosen arras; Hamlet enters the room)''<br />
<br />
This must be timed so that Hamlet does not see Polonius, and does not see the arras move. As far as Gertrude can tell, there must be no way for Hamlet to know Polonius is there.<br />
<br />
She does not know Hamlet overheard Polonius talking to Claudius in the previous Scene.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-008=====<br />
''Hamlet: Now, mother, what's the matter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====11-009=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====11-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====11-011=====<br />
''Gertrude: Come come, you answer with an idle tongue.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====11-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====11-012-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet draws his sword)''<br />
<br />
Hamlet knows Polonius is in the room, hiding behind one of the arrases. Hamlet heard Polonius say he was going to do that in the previous Scene.<br />
<br />
Hamlet draws his sword to poke at the arrases, and find Polonius, and then use his sword to threaten Polonius, to discourage Polonius from ever trying to eavesdrop on Hamlet again.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-013=====<br />
''Gertrude: Why, how now, Hamlet?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude does not know that Hamlet knows Polonius is in the room. It appears to Gertrude that Hamlet has drawn his sword against her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====11-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: What's the matter now?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet, knowing what he intends, doesn't realize how it looks to Gertrude. He doesn't understand why she suddenly seems so concerned.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====11-015=====<br />
''Gertrude: Have you forgot me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====11-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so.''<br />
<br />
''rood'' - the Christisn cross.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====11-016-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet raises his sword, to "swear on the cross")''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is repeating the same sword/cross representation he used in Scene 5, during the "Swear" passage.<br />
<br />
However, Gertrude is not informed about Hamlet using his sword to represent the cross. Hamlet's elevation of his sword looks like a threat to her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-017=====<br />
''You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====11-018=====<br />
''And would it were not so, you are my mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====11-019=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, then I'll set those to you that can speak.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====11-020=====<br />
''Hamlet: Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====11-021=====<br />
''You go not, till I set you up a glass''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====11-022=====<br />
''Where you may see the inmost part of you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====11-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====11-024=====<br />
''Help ho!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====11-025=====<br />
''Polonius: What ho! Help!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK, R.R.D.: "I will call for helpe, what hough, come forth Trupenie."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====11-026=====<br />
''Hamlet: How now, a rat! Dead for a ducat, dead!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====11-026-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet lunges and jabs his sword through the arras; Polonius totters out from behind the arras, clutching his chest)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-027=====<br />
''Polonius: Oh, I am slain!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====11-027-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius falls dead)''<br />
<br />
In full view of the audience, just far enough from downstage center so there's no danger of Hamlet or Gertrude tripping over him as the Scene continues. Polonius remains there until Hamlet begins dragging him out, much later.<br />
<br />
The stage floor is uncomfortably hard, to lie upon for an extended time. That is why Shakespeare made Polonius a hunchback, so that, built into his costume, he would have a pillow for his head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, me, what hast thou done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====11-029=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not. Is it the King?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====11-030=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====11-031=====<br />
''Hamlet: A bloody deed, almost as bad, good mother,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====11-032=====<br />
''As kill a king, and marry with his brother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====11-033=====<br />
''Gertrude: As kill a king?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====11-034=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, Lady, it was my word.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====11-035=====<br />
''Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell;''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is saying to Polonius dead what he had planned to say, more or less, to Polonius alive, as he chased Polonius from the room. To try to dissipate some of his annoyance, Hamlet is going ahead and saying his "get the heck out of here" speech to Polonius's corpse.<br />
<br />
''rash'' - is actually how Hamlet is feeling about himself. He regrets his rashness with his sword. There is psychological projection behind Hamlet's use of this word.<br />
<br />
Gertrude is watching Hamlet scold a dead body, as if Polonius's corpse could learn a lesson from what Hamlet says. This does not improve Gertrude's view of Hamlet's state of mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====11-036=====<br />
''I took thee for thy better; take thy fortune;''<br />
<br />
''took'' - mistook.<br />
<br />
''thy better'' - Hamlet means "rat," his insult to Polonius. He is still insulting Polonius, that a rat is a better creature than Polonius was. Contrary to what you might read in other places, Hamlet does '''not''' mean he thought Polonius was Claudius.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is being sarcastic. He did not really mistake Polonius for a rat. However, Gertrude, hearing this, thinks Hamlet means it. She thinks Hamlet did, indeed, mistake Polonius for a rat. Her misunderstanding is confirmed in the next Scene when she speaks to Claudius.<br />
<br />
''fortune'' - an explicit instance of the Fortune Theme. Certainly, it was bad luck for Polonius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====11-037=====<br />
''Thou findest to be too busy is some danger;''<br />
<br />
''busy'' - inquisitive, prying, meddlesome. This sense of ''busy'' appears in the word "busybody."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====11-038=====<br />
''Leave wringing of your hands, peace, sit you down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====11-039=====<br />
''And let me wring your heart, for so I shall''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====11-040=====<br />
''If it be made of penetrable stuff -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====11-041=====<br />
''If damned custom have not braced it so,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====11-042=====<br />
''That it be proof and bulwark against sense.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====11-043=====<br />
''Gertrude: What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====11-044=====<br />
''In noise so rude against me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====11-045=====<br />
''Hamlet: Such an act''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====11-046=====<br />
''That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====11-047=====<br />
''Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====11-048=====<br />
''From the fair forehead of an innocent love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====11-049=====<br />
''And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====11-050=====<br />
''As false as dicers' oaths; O, such a deed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====11-051=====<br />
''As from the body of contraction plucks''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====11-052=====<br />
''The very soul, and sweet religion makes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====11-053=====<br />
''A rhapsody of words; heaven's face does glow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====11-054=====<br />
''O'er this solidity and compound mass''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====11-055=====<br />
''With tristful visage, as against the doom''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====11-056=====<br />
'''Tis thought-sick at the act . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====11-057=====<br />
''Gertrude: Aye me, what act?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====11-058=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_index.jpg|right|"Index" in the Second Quarto]]<br />
''Hamlet: . . . that roars so loud, and thunders in the Index!''<br />
<br />
''the Index'' - refers to the ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum,'' which was the Catholic Church's list of books that good Catholics were forbidden to read. The Fifth Lateran Council, in 1515, adopted the idea of maintaining such a list, and their decision was confirmed by the Council of Trent in 1546. The first ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' was published in the time of Pope Paul IV, in 1557. The ''Index'' continued as an official publication of the Church until 1966.<br />
<br />
The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' is, indeed, called the ''Index'' for short. Quoting from the Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07721a.htm):<br />
<br />
"The Index of Prohibited Books, or simply "Index", is used in a restricted sense to signify the exact list or catalogue of books, the reading of which was once forbidden to Catholics by the highest ecclesiastical authority. ..."<br />
<br />
That's why the word ''Index'' is capitalized in the Second Quarto, as the image shows. The word should always be capitalized, because it's a proper name.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is using ''Index'' in a figurative way, to mean acts forbidden by religious authority (such as reading a forbidden book.) He takes it that whatever Gertrude has done, which he doesn't actually know, except that she married Claudius, must be an action contrary to religious principles. Hamlet is trying to "catch her conscience" about whatever it is she has done.<br />
<br />
Does Gertrude understand Hamlet? Um, no.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====11-059=====<br />
[[File:Kronborg_tapestries.jpg|right|King tapestries at Kronborg Castle]]<br />
''Look here upon this picture, and on this,''<br />
<br />
''this picture, and on this'' - these are king tapestries, based on the real ones at Kronborg Castle. They are large pictures, life size, that the audience can see. There's one of King Hamlet, and one of King Claudius.<br />
<br />
The image at right shows real king tapestries on display at Kronborg Castle.<br />
<br />
I provide a page on the issue of the pictures: <b>[[Closet Scene Pictures]]</b>.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]] - or - [[Scene 11 Extended Notes#059|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====11-060=====<br />
''The counterfeit presentment of two brothers;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====11-061=====<br />
''See what a grace was seated on this brow;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====11-062=====<br />
''Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove, himself,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====11-063=====<br />
''An eye like Mars, to threaten and command,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====11-064=====<br />
''A station like the herald Mercury,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====11-065=====<br />
''New lighted on a heave, a kissing hill;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]] - or - [[Scene 11 Folio Differences#065|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====11-066=====<br />
''A combination, and a form, indeed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====11-067=====<br />
''Where every god did seem to set his seal''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====11-068=====<br />
''To give the world assurance of a man;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====11-069=====<br />
''This was your husband; look you now what follows,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====11-070=====<br />
''Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====11-071=====<br />
''Blasting his wholesome breath. Have you eyes?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====11-072=====<br />
''Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====11-073=====<br />
''And batten on this Moor? Ha, have you eyes?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====11-074=====<br />
''You cannot call it "love," for at your age''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====11-075=====<br />
''The heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble,''<br />
<br />
''heyday'' - high spirits, a definition now archaic.<br />
<br />
''The heyday'' - the height of one's spirits. We still speak of persons being high spirited, and of whether one's spirits are high, or low.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare probably chose the word ''heyday'' here because of the importance of the "spirit" concept in the play. The phrase ''heyday in the blood'' refers to the passionate spirit being at its highest. The maximum height of the passionate spirit will decline as one ages.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====11-076=====<br />
''And waits upon the judgement, and what judgement''<br />
<br />
''waits upon'' - is subservient to; is submissive to.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====11-077=====<br />
''Would step from this to this? Sense, sure you have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====11-078=====<br />
''Else could you not have motion, but sure that sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====11-079=====<br />
''Is apoplexed, for madness would not err,''<br />
<br />
''apoplexed'' - struck; disabled.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====11-080=====<br />
''Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====11-081=====<br />
''But it reserved some quantity of choice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====11-082=====<br />
''To serve in such a difference. What devil was it''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====11-083=====<br />
''That thus hath cozened you at hoodman blind?''<br />
<br />
''cozened'' - cheated; tricked; deceived.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====11-084=====<br />
''Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====11-085=====<br />
''Ears without hands, or eyes, smelling sans all;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====11-086=====<br />
''Or, but a sickly part of one true sense,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====11-087=====<br />
''Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====11-088=====<br />
''Rebellious Hell!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====11-089=====<br />
''If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,''<br />
<br />
''mutine'' - to mutiny. Rebel against authority, in this case, Hamlet means the authority of (good) judgment, following his mention of judgment. ''Mutine'' is a standard word, but now obsolete.<br />
<br />
''bones'' - body. A synecdoche.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====11-090=====<br />
''To flaming youth let virtue be as wax''<br />
<br />
''flaming'' - impassioned.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====11-091=====<br />
''And melt in her own fire; proclaim no shame''<br />
<br />
''her'' - virtue's.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====11-092=====<br />
''When the compulsive ardor gives the charge,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====11-093=====<br />
''Since frost itself as actively doth burn,''<br />
<br />
''frost'' - older age (from the hair looking frosted as it turns white.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====11-094=====<br />
''And reason pardons will.''<br />
<br />
''will'' - desire; appetite. In action this can be represented by a hand placed on the abdomen. Hunger and thirst are the daily appetites, and they center on the stomach, or abdomen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====11-095=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, Hamlet, speak no more;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====11-096=====<br />
''Thou turn'st my very eyes into my soul,''<br />
<br />
''very eyes'' - true eyes; true-seeing eyes. ''Very'' takes its root meaning here, Latin 'verus' "true." Recall Hamlet asking Gertrude, "have you eyes?" just a bit earlier.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====11-097=====<br />
''And there I see such black and grained spots''<br />
<br />
''black and grained'' - ingrained black. An instance of hendiadys.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====11-098=====<br />
''As will not leave their tinct.''<br />
<br />
''tinct'' - tint; color; dye. The last is perhaps the most intended, because it puns with "die."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====11-099=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, but to live''<br />
<br />
''Nay'' - No, I must say more.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====11-100=====<br />
''In the rank sweat of an inseamed bed''<br />
<br />
''inseamed'' - sewn together; joined, like the inseam that joins two edges of cloth. (This is apparently a unique appearance of ''inseamed'' in Shakespeare, but ''Macbeth'' does contain "unseamed.") Since a seam is a kind of joint, ''inseamed'' is an instance of the Joint Motif ("The time is out of joint," etc.)<br />
<br />
Hamlet is speaking of two beds "sewn together" to make one, the specific beds at issue being those of Gertrude and Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====11-101=====<br />
''Stewed in corruption, honeying, and making love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====11-102=====<br />
''Over the nasty sty.''<br />
<br />
''the nasty sty'' - Hell. ''Sty'' is a euphemism for Hell, based on Hell being depicted in Medieval art, and elsewhere, as a beastly, filthy place.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====11-103=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, speak to me no more!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====11-104=====<br />
''These words like daggers enter in my ears;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====11-105=====<br />
''No more, sweet Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====11-106=====<br />
''Hamlet: A murderer and a villain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====11-107=====<br />
''A slave that is not twentieth part the kith''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====11-108=====<br />
''Of your precedent Lord, a vice of kings,''<br />
<br />
''precedent'' - earlier; previous. Hamlet does mean to imply that King Hamlet set a ''precedent.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====11-109=====<br />
''A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,''<br />
<br />
''cutpurse'' - pickpocket; thief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====11-110=====<br />
''That from a shelf the precious diadem stole''<br />
<br />
''diadem'' - royal headwear; royal crown. From Greek 'diadein' ("to bind around,") from 'dia-' + 'dein' ("to bind.")<br />
<br />
The "Online Etymology Dictionary" says about ''diadem'': "... Used of the headband worn by Persian kings and adopted by Alexander the Great and his successors," which is worth noting here because of Hamlet's later mention, in Scene 19, the Graveyard Scene, of Alexander the Great.<br />
<br />
(Link: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=diadem&allowed_in_frame=0 checked 07 Mar. 2015.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====11-111=====<br />
''And put it in his pocket.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====11-112=====<br />
''Gertrude: No more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====11-112-SD=====<br />
''(the Ghost enters, costumed in a nightshirt - but it's another line before Hamlet, now facing his mother, turns and sees it)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-113=====<br />
''Hamlet: A King of shreds and patches!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====11-114=====<br />
''Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====11-115=====<br />
''You heavenly guards!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====11-116=====<br />
''What would your gracious figure?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====11-117=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, he's mad.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====11-118=====<br />
''Hamlet: Do you not come your tardy son to chide,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====11-119=====<br />
''That lapsed in time and passion lets go by''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====11-120=====<br />
''The important acting of your dread command? O say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====11-121=====<br />
''Ghost: Do not forget! This visitation''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====11-122=====<br />
''Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====11-123=====<br />
''But look, amazement on thy mother sits,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====11-124=====<br />
''Oh, step between her, and her fighting soul;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====11-125=====<br />
''Conceit, in weakest bodies, strongest works;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====11-126=====<br />
''Speak to her, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====11-127=====<br />
''Hamlet: How is it with you, Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====11-128=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, how is it with you,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====11-129=====<br />
''That you do bend your eye on vacancy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====11-130=====<br />
''And with the incorporeal air do hold discourse?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====11-131=====<br />
''Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====11-132=====<br />
''And as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====11-133=====<br />
''Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====11-134=====<br />
''Starts up and stands on end. Oh gentle son,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====11-135=====<br />
''Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====11-136=====<br />
''Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====11-137=====<br />
''Hamlet: On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====11-138=====<br />
''His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====11-139=====<br />
''Would make them capable.''<br />
<br />
''capable'' - capable of perception; aware. Capable of seeing the Ghost; literally, able to take in the Ghost.<br />
<br />
''Capable'' is a "take" word at root, from Late Latin 'capabilis' ("able to take in,") from Latin 'capere' ("to take.") Thus, ''capable'' joins other "take" words in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====11-140=====<br />
''Do not look upon me,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====11-141=====<br />
''Lest with this piteous action you convert''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====11-142=====<br />
''My stern effects, then what I have to do''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====11-143=====<br />
''Will want true color, tears perchance for blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====11-143-SD=====<br />
''(tears run down Hamlet's face)''<br />
<br />
We know this fact because Gertrude will state expressly in the next Scene that Hamlet wept.<br />
<br />
Since Gertrude cannot see the Ghost, in the next Scene she will misinterpret, or misremember, why Hamlet wept. She will associate it with the killing of Polonius, based on Hamlet saying "tears for blood" just above. Recall Gertrude describing the death of Polonius as a "rash and bloody deed" earlier in this Scene (line 030 above.) She associates "blood," at this time, with Polonius's death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-144=====<br />
''Gertrude: To whom do you speak this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====11-145=====<br />
''Hamlet: Do you see nothing there?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====11-146=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nothing at all, yet all that is, I see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====11-147=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nor, did you nothing hear?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====11-148=====<br />
''Gertrude: No, nothing but ourselves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====11-149=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, look you there, look how it steals away;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====11-150=====<br />
''My father, in his habit as he lived;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====11-151=====<br />
''Look where he goes, even now, out at the portal.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====11-151-SD=====<br />
''(the Ghost exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-152=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is the very coinage of your brain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====11-153=====<br />
''This bodiless creation, ecstasy is very cunning in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====11-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Ecstasy?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====11-155=====<br />
''My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====11-156=====<br />
''And makes as healthful music; it is not madness''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====11-157=====<br />
''That I haue uttered; bring me to the test,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====11-158=====<br />
''And the matter will reword, which madness''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====11-159=====<br />
''Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====11-160=====<br />
''Lay not that flattering unction to your soul''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - ointment; salve. Also, in Christianity, the oil used in the sacramental ceremony called ''unction,'' or the ceremony itself. A superficial treatment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====11-161=====<br />
''That not your trespass, but my madness speaks;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====11-162=====<br />
''It will but skin and film the ulcerous place''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====11-163=====<br />
''While rank corruption, mining all within,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====11-164=====<br />
''Infects unseen; confess yourself to heaven,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====11-165=====<br />
''Repent what's past, avoid what is to come,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====11-166=====<br />
''And do not spread the compost o'er the weeds''<br />
<br />
On the point of Shakespeare retaining the name "Gertrude," Saint Gertrude of Nivelles is a patron of gardeners.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====11-167=====<br />
''To make them rank; forgive me this my virtue,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====11-168=====<br />
''For in the fatness of these pursy times''<br />
<br />
''fatness'' - sinfulness, since ''fatness'' shows self indulgence.<br />
<br />
''pursy'' - a synonym for "fat" (by the archaic definition of ''pursy.'') However, in this case ''pursy'' is probably figurative for "wealthy." The idea is of a purse heavy with money, (which is figuratively a "fat" purse.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====11-169=====<br />
''Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====11-170=====<br />
''Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====11-171=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====11-172=====<br />
''Hamlet: Oh, throw away the worser part of it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====11-173=====<br />
''And leave the purer with the other half,''<br />
<br />
Sounds to Gertrude as if Hamlet thinks a heart has three halves: the worser one, the purer one, and the other one. Which sounds nuts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====11-174=====<br />
''Good night, but go not to my uncle's bed;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====11-175=====<br />
''Assume a virtue if you have it not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====11-176=====<br />
''That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====11-177=====<br />
''Of habit's devil, is angel yet in this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====11-178=====<br />
''That to the use of actions fair and good,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====11-179=====<br />
''He likewise gives a frock or livery''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====11-180=====<br />
''That aptly is put on to refrain night''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====11-181=====<br />
''And that shall lend a kind of easiness''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====11-182=====<br />
''To the next abstinence, the next more easy.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====11-183=====<br />
''For, use almost can change the stamp of nature,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====11-184=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_omission.jpg|right|apparent word skip in the Second Quarto]]<br />
''And either {fetch} the devil, or throw him out''<br />
<br />
''{fetch}'' - an '''editorial guess''' at a word that is probably missing in the Second Quarto of ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Please see the Extended Note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]] - or - [[Scene 11 Extended Notes#184|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====11-185=====<br />
''With wonderous potency: once more good night -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====11-186=====<br />
''And when you are desirous to be blessed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====11-187=====<br />
''I'll blessing beg of you; for this same Lord''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====11-188=====<br />
''I do repent; but Heaven hath pleased it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====11-189=====<br />
''To punish me with this, and this with me,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====11-190=====<br />
''That I must be their scourge and minister,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====11-191=====<br />
''I will bestow him and will answer well''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====11-192=====<br />
''The death I gave him; so again, good night -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====11-193=====<br />
''I must be cruel only to be kind,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====11-194=====<br />
''This bad begins, and worse remains behind.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====11-195=====<br />
''One word more good Lady.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====11-196=====<br />
''Gertrude (to herself): What shall I do?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====11-197=====<br />
''Hamlet: Not this, by no means, that I bid you do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====11-198=====<br />
''Let the blunt King tempt you again to bed,''<br />
<br />
''blunt'' - Hamlet is insulting Claudius. Also, an instance of the Edge Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====11-199=====<br />
''Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====11-200=====<br />
''And let him for a pair of reechy kisses,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====11-201=====<br />
''Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====11-202=====<br />
''Make you to ravel all this matter out,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====11-203=====<br />
''That I essentially am not in madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====11-204=====<br />
''But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====11-205=====<br />
''For, who that's but a queen - fair, sober, wise -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====11-206=====<br />
''Would from a paddack, from a bat, a gib,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====11-207=====<br />
''Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====11-208=====<br />
''No, in despite of sense and secrecy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====11-209=====<br />
''Unpeg the basket on the house's top,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====11-210=====<br />
''Let the birds fly; and, like the famous ape,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====11-211=====<br />
''To try conclusions, in the basket creep,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====11-212=====<br />
''And break your own neck down.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====11-213=====<br />
''Gertrude: Be thou assured, if words be made of breath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====11-214=====<br />
''And breath of life, I have no life to breathe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====11-215=====<br />
''What thou hast said to me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====11-216=====<br />
''Hamlet: I must to England, you know that?''<br />
<br />
''I must to England'' - this line confirms to a certainty that Hamlet was hiding in Claudius's room from the beginning of the previous Scene, the Prayer Scene. It's the only way he could know this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====11-217=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, I had forgot.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====11-218=====<br />
'''Tis so concluded on.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====11-219=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's letters sealed, and my two schoolfellows,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====11-220=====<br />
''Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====11-221=====<br />
''They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====11-222=====<br />
''And marshal me to knavery. Let it work,''<br />
<br />
''marshal me to knavery'' - escort, or usher, me into something dishonest. I use the word "treachery" in the paraphrase to catch the sense of it.<br />
<br />
Hamlet doesn't know what Claudius has written in the orders, but he's sure it's dishonest somehow, just because of the way Claudius is.<br />
<br />
''Let it work'' - work is effort, so Hamlet is using a brief, and rather misleading way to say, "let them make the effort." He is not wishing them success against him.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]] - or - [[Scene 11 Extended Notes#222|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====11-223=====<br />
''For 'tis the sport to have the enginer''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====11-224=====<br />
''Hoist with his own petard, and it shall go hard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====11-225=====<br />
''But I will delve one yard below their mines,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====11-226=====<br />
''And blow them at the moon. O 'tis most sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====11-227=====<br />
''When in one line, two crafts directly meet;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====11-228=====<br />
''This man shall set me packing;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====11-229=====<br />
''I'll lug the guts into the neighbor room;''<br />
<br />
''neighbor room'' - neighboring room. Since this is the Queen's Room, the neighboring room is the King's Room, Claudius's room.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====11-230=====<br />
''Mother, good night indeed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====11-231=====<br />
''(aside): This councilor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====11-232=====<br />
''Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====11-233=====<br />
''Who was in life a most foolish prating knave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====11-234=====<br />
''Come sir, to draw toward an end with you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====11-235=====<br />
''(to Gertrude): Good night, mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====11-235-SD1=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits, dragging Polonius's body)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====11-235-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235-SD2]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
Scene 11 - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
Administrator
http://www.hamletonline.com/hamletwiki/index.php/Scene_11
Scene 11
2018-02-02T16:40:42Z
<p>Administrator: /* 11-222 */</p>
<hr />
<div>__NOTOC__<br />
==Synopsis==<br />
In Queen Gertrude's closet - which is her parlor - Polonius hides behind an arras to eavesdrop on Hamlet talking to Gertrude. Hamlet accidentally stabs Polonius to death when he jabs through the arras.<br />
<br />
Hamlets attempts to do an improvised play for Gertrude, to catch her conscience, and get a confession from her about what she has done. However, Gertrude knows of no rational explanation for Hamlet's speech and behavior. In the midst of Hamlet's attempt at a play for Gertrude - that she doesn't know he's trying to do - the Ghost enters.<br />
<br />
After the Ghost exits, Hamlet tries to convince Gertrude he isn't mad. He also tries to warn Gertrude about Claudius, but speaks so obscurely she can't understand him, so his warning goes unheard. Hamlet mentions the trip to England - that he heard Claudius speak of, to R & G, in the Prayer Scene. Hamlet says he'll take Polonius's body to the "neighbor room." Hamlet intends to use Polonius's body in connection with killing Claudius.<br />
<br />
Hamlet drags Polonius's body out of Gertrude's room. He does not inform Gertrude that he intends to kill Claudius. And still, through it all, Hamlet never corrects Gertrude's misunderstanding on the point that he knows it's Polonius he has killed. Up to the end of Scene, and beyond, she still thinks he's so crazy he believes Polonius is Claudius.<br />
<br />
After Hamlet exits with Polonius, Gertrude frets and wrings her hands. Suddenly it strikes Gertrude, that when Hamlet said "neighbor room," he must have meant Claudius's room. Gertrude (not knowing Hamlet intends to kill Claudius) foresees that Claudius will call the guards and arrest Hamlet for murder.<br />
<br />
Gertrude then runs out of her room, to Claudius's room, to try to defend her son against a charge of murder. Her exit is a minute or two after Hamlet's.<br />
<br />
For greater detail: <b>[[Explication#Scene 11]]</b>.<br />
<br />
==Characters==<br />
The Scene 11 Characters are: [[Polonius]], [[Gertrude]], [[Hamlet]], [[Ghost]].<br />
<br />
==Passage Links==<br />
{|cellspacing="10"<br />
|Death of Polonius [[#027]] || mention of the pictures [[#059]] || Ghost entry [[#112-SD]]<br />
|-<br />
|Hamlet mentions England [[#216]] || || Ghost exit [[#151-SD]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Jump down to the <b>[[#Notes|Notes]]</b>.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Dialogue==<br />
<br />
<b>Scene 11</b> [ ~ Closet Scene ~ ] <span style="color:gray">(Act 3 Scene 4)</span><br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#11-Setting]]<span id="Setting"></span>: inside the Castle;<br />
the Queen's Parlor;<br />
only a minute after [[Scene 10]].<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#11-000-SD]]<span id="000-SD"></span> (Gertrude and Polonius enter)<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
[[#11-001]]<span id="001"></span> Polonius: He will come straight; look you lay home to him;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''He'll be here very soon. Be sure you lay it on the line to him.''</span><br />
[[#11-002]]<span id="002"></span> Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Tell him that his wicked deeds have been too wild to tolerate,''</span><br />
[[#11-003]]<span id="003"></span> And that Your Grace hath screened and stood between<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that Your Majesty has hedged him, and protected him from''</span><br />
[[#11-004]]<span id="004"></span> Much heat and him; I'll silence me even here; [[#11-004-SD]]<span id="004-SD"></span> (Polonius moves close to an arras)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Taking a lot of heat. I'll hide myself right over here.''</span><br />
[[#11-005]]<span id="005"></span> Pray you, be round.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Please be blunt with him.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-005-SD]]<span id="005-SD"></span> (Hamlet is heard, approaching)<br />
<br />
[[#11-006]]<span id="006"></span> Gertrude: I'll wait you, fear me not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll attend to what you say, don't worry about me.''</span><br />
[[#11-007]]<span id="007"></span> Withdraw, I hear him coming.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hide, I hear him coming.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-007-SD]]<span id="007-SD"></span> (Polonius hides behind his chosen arras;<br />
Hamlet enters the room)<br />
<br />
[[#11-008]]<span id="008"></span> Hamlet: Now, mother, what's the matter?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Now, mother, what's the trouble?''</span><br />
[[#11-009]]<span id="009"></span> Gertrude: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hamlet, you have greatly offended your father.''</span><br />
[[#11-010]]<span id="010"></span> Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Mother, you have greatly offended my father.''</span><br />
[[#11-011]]<span id="011"></span> Gertrude: Come come, you answer with an idle tongue.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come come, you answer with a meaningless tongue.''</span><br />
[[#11-012]]<span id="012"></span> Hamlet: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. [[#11-012-SD]]<span id="012-SD"></span> (Hamlet draws his sword)<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Go go, you question with a wicked tongue.''</span><br />
[[#11-013]]<span id="013"></span> Gertrude: Why, how now, Hamlet?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, what's the meaning of this, Hamlet?''</span><br />
[[#11-014]]<span id="014"></span> Hamlet: What's the matter now?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What's the matter now?''</span><br />
[[#11-015]]<span id="015"></span> Gertrude: Have you forgot me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Have you forgotten who I am?''</span><br />
[[#11-016]]<span id="016"></span> Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so. [[#11-016-SD]]<span id="016-SD"></span> (Hamlet raises his sword, to "swear on the cross")<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I swear on the cross, I have not forgotten you.''</span><br />
[[#11-017]]<span id="017"></span> You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife.''</span><br />
[[#11-018]]<span id="018"></span> And would it were not so, you are my mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And though I wish it weren't so, you are my mother.''</span><br />
[[#11-019]]<span id="019"></span> Gertrude: Nay, then I'll set those to you that can speak.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, this won't do, I'll put those against you who can "speak the language" of swords.''</span><br />
[[#11-020]]<span id="020"></span> Hamlet: Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come, come here and sit down. Do not budge from here.''</span><br />
[[#11-021]]<span id="021"></span> You go not, till I set you up a glass<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You won't go, until after I set up a mirror for you,''</span><br />
[[#11-022]]<span id="022"></span> Where you may see the inmost part of you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In which you can see the innermost part of yourself.''</span><br />
[[#11-023]]<span id="023"></span> Gertrude: ''What'' wilt thou do? Thou wilt ''not'' murder me!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You will do what? You will not murder me!''</span><br />
[[#11-024]]<span id="024"></span> Help ho!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Help, ho!''</span><br />
[[#11-025]]<span id="025"></span> Polonius: What ho! Help!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What ho! Help!''</span><br />
[[#11-026]]<span id="026"></span> Hamlet: How now, a rat! Dead for a ducat, dead!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How now, a rat! Dead for a ducat, dead!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-026-SD]]<span id="026-SD"></span> (Hamlet lunges and jabs his sword through the arras;<br />
Polonius totters out from behind the arras, clutching his chest)<br />
<br />
[[#11-027]]<span id="027"></span> Polonius: Oh, I am slain!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, I am slain!''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-027-SD]]<span id="027-SD"></span> (Polonius falls dead)<br />
<br />
[[#11-028]]<span id="028"></span> Gertrude: Oh, me, what hast thou done?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh dear me, what have you done?''</span><br />
[[#11-029]]<span id="029"></span> Hamlet: Nay, I know not. Is it the King?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, I don't know. Is it the King?''</span><br />
[[#11-030]]<span id="030"></span> Gertrude: Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, what a reckless and murderous deed this is.''</span><br />
[[#11-031]]<span id="031"></span> Hamlet: A bloody deed, almost as bad, good mother,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A murderous deed almost as bad, good mother,''</span><br />
[[#11-032]]<span id="032"></span> As kill a king, and marry with his brother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As kill a king, and marry with his brother.''</span><br />
[[#11-033]]<span id="033"></span> Gertrude: As kill a king?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As kill a king?''</span><br />
[[#11-034]]<span id="034"></span> Hamlet: Aye, Lady, it was my word.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, Lady, that's what I said.''</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">(to Polonius's body)</span>:<br />
[[#11-035]]<span id="035"></span> Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You wretched, reckless, intruding fool, farewell.''</span><br />
[[#11-036]]<span id="036"></span> I took thee for thy better; take thy fortune;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I mistook you for a better creature, so, take your luck.''</span><br />
[[#11-037]]<span id="037"></span> Thou findest to be too busy is some danger;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You've found out that being too snoopy is dangerous.''</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">(to Gertude)</span>:<br />
[[#11-038]]<span id="038"></span> Leave wringing of your hands, peace, sit you down,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Stop that wringing of your hands. Hush, sit yourself down,''</span><br />
[[#11-039]]<span id="039"></span> And let me wring your heart, for so I shall<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And let me wring your heart - for I shall do that''</span><br />
[[#11-040]]<span id="040"></span> If it be made of penetrable stuff -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If it's made of anything I can get through to -''</span><br />
[[#11-041]]<span id="041"></span> If damned custom have not braced it so,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If evil habits haven't braced it so much''</span><br />
[[#11-042]]<span id="042"></span> That it be proof and bulwark against sense.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That it is proofed and buttressed to withstand good sense.''</span><br />
[[#11-043]]<span id="043"></span> Gertrude: What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What have I done, that you dare to flap your tongue''</span><br />
[[#11-044]]<span id="044"></span> In noise so rude against me?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In words so rudely offensive to me?''</span><br />
[[#11-045]]<span id="045"></span> Hamlet: Such an act<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It's such an act''</span><br />
[[#11-046]]<span id="046"></span> That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That it stains the honor and rosy complexion of modesty,''</span><br />
[[#11-047]]<span id="047"></span> Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That slanders virtue as a hypocrite, removes the rosy glow''</span><br />
[[#11-048]]<span id="048"></span> From the fair forehead of an innocent love,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''From the beautiful forehead of a blameless love,''</span><br />
[[#11-049]]<span id="049"></span> And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And sets the mark of the harlot there, and that makes the marriage vows''</span><br />
[[#11-050]]<span id="050"></span> As false as dicers' oaths; O, such a deed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As insincere as gamblers' cursing. Oh, such a deed''</span><br />
[[#11-051]]<span id="051"></span> As from the body of contraction plucks<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As if, from the body of the marriage contract, it plucks out''</span><br />
[[#11-052]]<span id="052"></span> The very soul, and sweet religion makes<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The very soul, and, of the sweet sermon, it makes only''</span><br />
[[#11-053]]<span id="053"></span> A rhapsody of words; heaven's face does glow<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A meaningless jumble of words. Heaven's face glows''</span><br />
[[#11-054]]<span id="054"></span> O'er this solidity and compound mass<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Above this hard-heartedness and compounded heaviness of sin''</span><br />
[[#11-055]]<span id="055"></span> With tristful visage, as against the doom<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With a sorrowful expression, as if, seen against the day of judgment,''</span><br />
[[#11-056]]<span id="056"></span> 'Tis thought-sick at the act . . .<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It is sickened by thoughts of your act . . .''</span><br />
[[#11-057]]<span id="057"></span> Gertrude: Aye me, what act?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, unhappy me, what act are you talking about?''</span><br />
[[#11-058]]<span id="058"></span> Hamlet: . . . that roars so loud, and thunders in the Index!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''. . . that roars so loud, and thunders in the Index L.P.!''</span><br />
[[#11-059]]<span id="059"></span> Look here upon this picture, and on this,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look here, at this picture, and this one,''</span><br />
[[#11-060]]<span id="060"></span> The counterfeit presentment of two brothers;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The man-made representation of two brothers.''</span><br />
[[#11-061]]<span id="061"></span> See what a grace was seated on this brow;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''See what grace was enthroned on this forehead:''</span><br />
[[#11-062]]<span id="062"></span> Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove, himself,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Golden curls like the sun, the visage of Jove, himself,''</span><br />
[[#11-063]]<span id="063"></span> An eye like Mars, to threaten and command,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''An eye like the god of war, to threaten enemies and command forces,''</span><br />
[[#11-064]]<span id="064"></span> A station like the herald Mercury,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A posture like Mercury, the messenger of the gods,''</span><br />
[[#11-065]]<span id="065"></span> New lighted on a heave, a kissing hill;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Just alighted on a rise, a sun-kissing hill,''</span><br />
[[#11-066]]<span id="066"></span> A combination, and a form, indeed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A combination of features, and a manly form, indeed,''</span><br />
[[#11-067]]<span id="067"></span> Where every god did seem to set his seal<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Upon which it would seem that every god put his seal of authenticity,''</span><br />
[[#11-068]]<span id="068"></span> To give the world assurance of a man;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To give the world assurance that here was a real man.''</span><br />
[[#11-069]]<span id="069"></span> This was your husband; look you now what follows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This was your husband. Now, you look at what follows:''</span><br />
[[#11-070]]<span id="070"></span> Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Here is your husband now, like a diseased, contagious ear of grain,''</span><br />
[[#11-071]]<span id="071"></span> Blasting ''his'' wholesome breath. Have you eyes?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Destroying his brother's healthy life. Do you have eyes?''</span><br />
[[#11-072]]<span id="072"></span> Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Could you cease grazing on this beautiful mountain''</span><br />
[[#11-073]]<span id="073"></span> And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And survive by scavenging on this wasteland? Ha! Have you eyes?''</span><br />
[[#11-074]]<span id="074"></span> You cannot call it "love," for at your age<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You can't rightly call it "love," because at your age,''</span><br />
[[#11-075]]<span id="075"></span> The heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The high spirit of your passion is subdued, it's deferential''</span><br />
[[#11-076]]<span id="076"></span> And waits upon the judgement, and what judgement<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And submissive to judgment - and what kind of judgment''</span><br />
[[#11-077]]<span id="077"></span> Would step from this to this? Sense, sure you have<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would descend from this, to this? Perception, of course you have,''</span><br />
[[#11-078]]<span id="078"></span> Else could you not have motion, but sure that sense<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Otherwise you couldn't even move, but surely that perception''</span><br />
[[#11-079]]<span id="079"></span> Is apoplexed, for madness would not err,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is disabled, for even madness would not err like that,''</span><br />
[[#11-080]]<span id="080"></span> Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And perception was never so much enthralled by delight,''</span><br />
[[#11-081]]<span id="081"></span> But it reserved some quantity of choice<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But that it still retained some amount of the ability to choose,''</span><br />
[[#11-082]]<span id="082"></span> To serve in such a difference. What devil was it<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Which should serve when there's such a big difference. What devil was it''</span><br />
[[#11-083]]<span id="083"></span> That thus hath cozened you at hoodman blind?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That has cheated you like that at the game of love?''</span><br />
[[#11-084]]<span id="084"></span> Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Vision without any sense of touch, or touch without vision,''</span><br />
[[#11-085]]<span id="085"></span> Ears without hands, or eyes, smelling sans all;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hearing without touch or vision, smell without any other sense,''</span><br />
[[#11-086]]<span id="086"></span> Or, but a sickly part of one true sense,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or, even only a sickly part of any one good sense,''</span><br />
[[#11-087]]<span id="087"></span> Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Could not stupify like that. Oh shame, where is your blush?''</span><br />
[[#11-088]]<span id="088"></span> Rebellious Hell!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rebellious Hell!''</span><br />
[[#11-089]]<span id="089"></span> If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''If you can rebel, against judgment, at your matronly age,''</span><br />
[[#11-090]]<span id="090"></span> To flaming youth let virtue be as wax<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Then, for passionate youth, let's allow virtue to be only like wax''</span><br />
[[#11-091]]<span id="091"></span> And melt in her own fire; proclaim no shame<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And melt away in her own fire. So, let's declare there's no shame, for youth,''</span><br />
[[#11-092]]<span id="092"></span> When the compulsive ardor gives the charge,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whenever compulsive passion is leading the way,''</span><br />
[[#11-093]]<span id="093"></span> Since frost itself as actively doth burn,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Since older age, itself, as actively melts away virtue,''</span><br />
[[#11-094]]<span id="094"></span> And reason pardons will.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And rationalization only excuses whatever the carnal appetites do.''</span><br />
[[#11-095]]<span id="095"></span> Gertrude: Oh, Hamlet, speak no more;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, Hamlet, don't say any more.''</span><br />
[[#11-096]]<span id="096"></span> Thou turn'st my very eyes into my soul,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You've made my eyes look truly into my soul,''</span><br />
[[#11-097]]<span id="097"></span> And there I see such black and grained spots<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And there, I see such ingrained black spots''</span><br />
[[#11-098]]<span id="098"></span> As will not leave their tinct.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''As will not ever lose their stain.''</span><br />
[[#11-099]]<span id="099"></span> Hamlet: Nay, but to live<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, there's more to say - but to dwell''</span><br />
[[#11-100]]<span id="100"></span> In the rank sweat of an inseamed bed<br />
<span style="color:gray">''In the foul sweat of a luxurious bed,''</span><br />
[[#11-101]]<span id="101"></span> Stewed in corruption, honeying, and making love<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Steeped in corruption, kissing, and making love''</span><br />
[[#11-102]]<span id="102"></span> Over the nasty sty.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Right above Hell.''</span><br />
[[#11-103]]<span id="103"></span> Gertrude: Oh, speak to me no more!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, speak to me no more!''</span><br />
[[#11-104]]<span id="104"></span> These words like daggers enter in my ears;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''These words enter my ears like daggers.''</span><br />
[[#11-105]]<span id="105"></span> No more, sweet Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more, sweet Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#11-106]]<span id="106"></span> Hamlet: A murderer and a villain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A murderer and a villain!''</span><br />
[[#11-107]]<span id="107"></span> A slave that is not twentieth part the kith<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A lowly creature who isn't even one twentieth the kind''</span><br />
[[#11-108]]<span id="108"></span> Of your precedent Lord, a vice of kings,<br />
<span style="color:gray">'' Of person your earlier Lord was. A clownish villain among kings!''</span><br />
[[#11-109]]<span id="109"></span> A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A pickpocket of the empire and the throne,''</span><br />
[[#11-110]]<span id="110"></span> That from a shelf the precious diadem stole<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, from a shelf, stole the precious crown,''</span><br />
[[#11-111]]<span id="111"></span> And put it in his pocket.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And put it in his pocket!''</span><br />
[[#11-112]]<span id="112"></span> Gertrude: No more.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No more.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-112-SD]]<span id="112-SD"></span> (the Ghost enters, costumed in a nightshirt - but it's another<br />
line before Hamlet, now facing his mother, turns and sees it)<br />
<br />
[[#11-113]]<span id="113"></span> Hamlet: A King of shreds and patches!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''A King of shreds and patches!''</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">(exclaimed in dismay)</span>:<br />
[[#11-114]]<span id="114"></span> Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Save me, and hover over me with your angel's wings,''</span><br />
[[#11-115]]<span id="115"></span> You heavenly guards!<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You heavenly guardians!''</span><br />
<span style="color:gray">(to the Ghost)</span>:<br />
[[#11-116]]<span id="116"></span> What would your gracious figure?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What would your noble figure have of me?''</span><br />
[[#11-117]]<span id="117"></span> Gertrude: Alas, he's mad.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas! He's mad!''</span><br />
[[#11-118]]<span id="118"></span> Hamlet: Do you not come your tardy son to chide,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Aren't you here to scold your son who is slow to act,''</span><br />
[[#11-119]]<span id="119"></span> That lapsed in time and passion lets go by<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who, letting time and strong emotion slip away, has let go by''</span><br />
[[#11-120]]<span id="120"></span> The important acting of your dread command? O say.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The momentous action dictated by your fearful command? Oh, go ahead and say it.''</span><br />
[[#11-121]]<span id="121"></span> Ghost: Do not forget! This visitation<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Do not forget! This visitation''</span><br />
[[#11-122]]<span id="122"></span> Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is only to sharpen your purpose, which has nearly dulled.''</span><br />
[[#11-123]]<span id="123"></span> But look, amazement on thy mother sits,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But look, your mother is wearing an expression of amazement,''</span><br />
[[#11-124]]<span id="124"></span> Oh, step between her, and her fighting soul;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Go to her and mediate peace for her conflicted soul.''</span><br />
[[#11-125]]<span id="125"></span> Conceit, in weakest bodies, strongest works;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Fantasy gets the strongest grip on the weakest bodies.''</span><br />
[[#11-126]]<span id="126"></span> Speak to her, Hamlet.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Speak to her, Hamlet.''</span><br />
[[#11-127]]<span id="127"></span> Hamlet: How is it with you, Lady?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''How are things with you, Lady?''</span><br />
[[#11-128]]<span id="128"></span> Gertrude: Alas, how is it with you,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alas, how are things with you,''</span><br />
[[#11-129]]<span id="129"></span> That you do bend your eye on vacancy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That you stare at nothing,''</span><br />
[[#11-130]]<span id="130"></span> And with the incorporeal air do hold discourse?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And have conversation with the empty air?''</span><br />
[[#11-131]]<span id="131"></span> Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Forth, from your eyes, your inner spirits peek out wildly,''</span><br />
[[#11-132]]<span id="132"></span> And as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And, like sleeping soldiers suddenly awakened by a call to arms,''</span><br />
[[#11-133]]<span id="133"></span> Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Your recumbent hair, like something living is suddenly growing on your head,''</span><br />
[[#11-134]]<span id="134"></span> Starts up and stands on end. Oh gentle son,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Rises up and stands on end. Oh, my gentle son,''</span><br />
[[#11-135]]<span id="135"></span> Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Upon the inflamed heat of your disturbance''</span><br />
[[#11-136]]<span id="136"></span> Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Sprinkle the cooling water of temperance. What are you looking at?''</span><br />
[[#11-137]]<span id="137"></span> Hamlet: On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''At him, at him! Look for yourself how, wide-eyed, he dazzles.''</span><br />
[[#11-138]]<span id="138"></span> His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones<br />
<span style="color:gray">''His form and his purpose combined, manifesting itself even in front of stones''</span><br />
[[#11-139]]<span id="139"></span> Would make them capable.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would make them aware.''</span><br />
[[#11-140]]<span id="140"></span> Do not look upon me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't look at me,''</span><br />
[[#11-141]]<span id="141"></span> Lest with this piteous action you convert<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Lest with your piteous gaze you undo''</span><br />
[[#11-142]]<span id="142"></span> My stern effects, then what I have to do<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My staunch resolve, and then what I have to do''</span><br />
[[#11-143]]<span id="143"></span> Will want true color, tears perchance for blood. [[#11-143-SD]]<span id="143-SD"></span> (tears run down Hamlet's face)<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Will lack its proper hue, and I'll shed tears, by chance, instead of blood.''</span><br />
[[#11-144]]<span id="144"></span> Gertrude: To whom do you speak this?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To whom do you speak those words?''</span><br />
[[#11-145]]<span id="145"></span> Hamlet: Do you see nothing there?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't you see anything there?''</span><br />
[[#11-146]]<span id="146"></span> Gertrude: Nothing at all, yet all that is, I see.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Nothing at all, and yet, I see all that there is to see.''</span><br />
[[#11-147]]<span id="147"></span> Hamlet: Nor, did you nothing hear?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Didn't you hear anything, either?''</span><br />
[[#11-148]]<span id="148"></span> Gertrude: No, nothing but ourselves.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, nothing but us.''</span><br />
[[#11-149]]<span id="149"></span> Hamlet: Why, look you there, look how it steals away;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Why, just look there, at how it stealthily moves away.''</span><br />
[[#11-150]]<span id="150"></span> My father, in his habit as he lived;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My father, wearing his usual clothing, the same as when he was alive.''</span><br />
[[#11-151]]<span id="151"></span> Look where he goes, even now, out at the portal.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Look where he goes, just now, out at the doorway.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-151-SD]]<span id="151-SD"></span> (the Ghost exits)<br />
<br />
[[#11-152]]<span id="152"></span> Gertrude: This is the very coinage of your brain,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This is, truly, something created by your mind,''</span><br />
[[#11-153]]<span id="153"></span> This bodiless creation, ecstasy is very cunning in.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The kind of hallucination that frenzy is quite crafty at producing.''</span><br />
[[#11-154]]<span id="154"></span> Hamlet: Ecstasy?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Frenzy?''</span><br />
[[#11-155]]<span id="155"></span> My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''My pulse beats as moderately as yours,''</span><br />
[[#11-156]]<span id="156"></span> And makes as healthful music; it is not madness<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And keeps as healthful a tempo. It is not madness''</span><br />
[[#11-157]]<span id="157"></span> That I haue uttered; bring me to the test,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I have uttered. Put me to the test,''</span><br />
[[#11-158]]<span id="158"></span> And the matter will reword, which madness<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And I'll say the same thing in different words, something which a mad person''</span><br />
[[#11-159]]<span id="159"></span> Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would shy away from. Mother, for the love of God,''</span><br />
[[#11-160]]<span id="160"></span> Lay not that flattering unction to your soul<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Don't apply a mere symptomatic treatment to your soul - the idea''</span><br />
[[#11-161]]<span id="161"></span> That not your trespass, but my madness speaks;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''It isn't your offense, but instead my madness that is the issue - because doing''</span><br />
[[#11-162]]<span id="162"></span> It will but skin and film the ulcerous place<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That will only hide and cover up the deeper malady,''</span><br />
[[#11-163]]<span id="163"></span> While rank corruption, mining all within,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''While foul corruption, digging its way deeper within you,''</span><br />
[[#11-164]]<span id="164"></span> Infects unseen; confess yourself to heaven,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Poisons you, unseen. Make confession of yourself to Heaven,''</span><br />
[[#11-165]]<span id="165"></span> Repent what's past, avoid what is to come,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Repent what's over and done with, avoid future damnation for your sins,''</span><br />
[[#11-166]]<span id="166"></span> And do not spread the compost o'er the weeds<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And don't be like a misguided gardener who spreads compost on weeds''</span><br />
[[#11-167]]<span id="167"></span> To make them rank; forgive me this my virtue,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To make them luxuriant. Forgive me this, my efficacy,''</span><br />
[[#11-168]]<span id="168"></span> For in the fatness of these pursy times<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, in the sinfulness of these wealthy times,''</span><br />
[[#11-169]]<span id="169"></span> Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Virtue, itself, must beg pardon of Vice,''</span><br />
[[#11-170]]<span id="170"></span> Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Yes, bow and beg for permission, to do him good.''</span><br />
[[#11-171]]<span id="171"></span> Gertrude: Oh, Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, Hamlet, you have broken my heart in two.''</span><br />
[[#11-172]]<span id="172"></span> Hamlet: Oh, throw away the worser part of it,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, then throw away the worse part of it,''</span><br />
[[#11-173]]<span id="173"></span> And leave the purer with the other half,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And leave yourself more pure with just the better half.''</span><br />
[[#11-174]]<span id="174"></span> Good night, but go not to my uncle's bed;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good night . . . but do not go to my uncle's bed.''</span><br />
[[#11-175]]<span id="175"></span> Assume a virtue if you have it not;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Adopt any virtue you don't already have.''</span><br />
[[#11-176]]<span id="176"></span> That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That fiendish thing, routine, that can, on one hand, consume our awareness''</span><br />
[[#11-177]]<span id="177"></span> Of habit's devil, is angel yet in this<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Of devilish habits, can be an angel yet, in this way:''</span><br />
[[#11-178]]<span id="178"></span> That to the use of actions fair and good,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That, in the employment of actions which are fair and good,''</span><br />
[[#11-179]]<span id="179"></span> He likewise gives a frock or livery<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Routine can also provide a kind of dress, or uniform,''</span><br />
[[#11-180]]<span id="180"></span> That aptly is put on to refrain night,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That appropriately is adopted, to hold off the time of evil-doing -''</span><br />
[[#11-181]]<span id="181"></span> And that shall lend a kind of easiness<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And that will lend a kind of easiness''</span><br />
[[#11-182]]<span id="182"></span> To the next abstinence, the next more easy.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To your next abstinence, and the next, even more easy.''</span><br />
[[#11-183]]<span id="183"></span> For, use almost can change the stamp of nature,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For, an established routine can almost change a person's very nature,''</span><br />
[[#11-184]]<span id="184"></span> And either {fetch} the devil, or throw him out<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And either summon the devil of bad habits in, or throw him out''</span><br />
[[#11-185]]<span id="185"></span> With wonderous potency: once more good night -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''With amazing strength. Once more, good night -''</span><br />
[[#11-186]]<span id="186"></span> And when you are desirous to be blessed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Oh, and if you wish me to say a prayer for you,''</span><br />
[[#11-187]]<span id="187"></span> I'll blessing beg of you; for this same Lord<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll beg you to say one for me. For this same Lord,''</span><br />
[[#11-188]]<span id="188"></span> I do repent; but Heaven hath pleased it so<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I do repent, but it has pleased Heaven to have it be so,''</span><br />
[[#11-189]]<span id="189"></span> To punish me with this, and this with me,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To punish me with this misfortune, and use me to punish him, so''</span><br />
[[#11-190]]<span id="190"></span> That I must be their scourge and minister,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I have to be Heaven's scourge, and minister.''</span><br />
[[#11-191]]<span id="191"></span> I will bestow him and will answer well<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I will dispose of him, and I will respond appropriately to''</span><br />
[[#11-192]]<span id="192"></span> The death I gave him; so again, good night -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The death I inflicted on him. So again, good night -''</span><br />
[[#11-193]]<span id="193"></span> I must be cruel only to be kind,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I must be cruel, only to be kind.''</span><br />
[[#11-194]]<span id="194"></span> This bad begins, and worse remains behind.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This begins bad, and worse remains to be done.''</span><br />
[[#11-195]]<span id="195"></span> One word more good Lady.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''One more word, good Lady.''</span><br />
[[#11-196]]<span id="196"></span> Gertrude <span style="color:gray">(to herself)</span>: What shall I do?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What shall I do?''</span><br />
[[#11-197]]<span id="197"></span> Hamlet: Not this, by no means, that I bid you do,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''You must not by any means do this, I order you:''</span><br />
[[#11-198]]<span id="198"></span> Let the blunt King tempt you again to bed,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let the fat, dull-witted King tempt you to bed again, or''</span><br />
[[#11-199]]<span id="199"></span> Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Pinch playfully on your cheek, call you his mouse,''</span><br />
[[#11-200]]<span id="200"></span> And let him for a pair of reechy kisses,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And then allow him, with a couple of reeking kisses,''</span><br />
[[#11-201]]<span id="201"></span> Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Or by massaging your neck with his damned fingers,''</span><br />
[[#11-202]]<span id="202"></span> Make you to ravel all this matter out,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Cause you to unravel all this subject out to him,''</span><br />
[[#11-203]]<span id="203"></span> That I essentially am not in madness,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''That I am not mad by nature,''</span><br />
[[#11-204]]<span id="204"></span> But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But "mad" with a plan . . . Would it be good for you to tell him?''</span><br />
[[#11-205]]<span id="205"></span> For, who that's but a queen - fair, sober, wise -<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For who, although a queen - fair, sober and wise -''</span><br />
[[#11-206]]<span id="206"></span> Would from a paddack, from a bat, a gib,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Would, from a toad, a bat, a tomcat,''</span><br />
[[#11-207]]<span id="207"></span> Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Hide such important concerns? Who would do so?''</span><br />
[[#11-208]]<span id="208"></span> No, in despite of sense and secrecy,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''No, don't act, despite the need for sense and secrecy, to''</span><br />
[[#11-209]]<span id="209"></span> Unpeg the basket on the house's top,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Unfasten the basket on the roof, and''</span><br />
[[#11-210]]<span id="210"></span> Let the birds fly; and, like the famous ape,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Let the birds fly - and then, do like the famous imitator,''</span><br />
[[#11-211]]<span id="211"></span> To try conclusions, in the basket creep,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''To test outcomes, climb into the basket, yourself,''</span><br />
[[#11-212]]<span id="212"></span> And break your own neck down.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And fracture your own neck, outright.''</span><br />
[[#11-213]]<span id="213"></span> Gertrude: Be thou assured, if words be made of breath<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I assure you, if words are made out of breath,''</span><br />
[[#11-214]]<span id="214"></span> And breath of life, I have no life to breathe<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And breath is made out of life, I have no life to repeat''</span><br />
[[#11-215]]<span id="215"></span> What thou hast said to me.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''What you have said to me.''</span><br />
[[#11-216]]<span id="216"></span> Hamlet: I must to England, you know that?<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I must go to England, did you know that?''</span><br />
[[#11-217]]<span id="217"></span> Gertrude: Alack, I had forgot.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Alack, I had forgotten.''</span><br />
[[#11-218]]<span id="218"></span> 'Tis so concluded on.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''The decision has been made on that.''</span><br />
[[#11-219]]<span id="219"></span> Hamlet: There's letters sealed, and my two schoolfellows,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''There are sealed letters to go, too - and my two schoolfellows,''</span><br />
[[#11-220]]<span id="220"></span> Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Whom I'll trust as much as I would poisonous snakes -''</span><br />
[[#11-221]]<span id="221"></span> They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way<br />
<span style="color:gray">''They'll carry the King's orders, and they must lead my way''</span><br />
[[#11-222]]<span id="222"></span> And marshal me to knavery. Let it work,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And escort me to treachery. Let them try,''</span><br />
[[#11-223]]<span id="223"></span> For 'tis the sport to have the enginer<br />
<span style="color:gray">''For it is an amusement to see a schemer''</span><br />
[[#11-224]]<span id="224"></span> Hoist with his own petard, and it shall go hard<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Destroyed by his own devices. And, it may be difficult,''</span><br />
[[#11-225]]<span id="225"></span> But I will delve one yard below their mines,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''But I'll dig down just below their explosives,''</span><br />
[[#11-226]]<span id="226"></span> And blow them at the moon. O 'tis most sweet<br />
<span style="color:gray">''And blow them to the moon. Oh, it is most sweet''</span><br />
[[#11-227]]<span id="227"></span> When in one line, two crafts directly meet;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''When, with the same intention, two schemes unite.''</span><br />
[[#11-228]]<span id="228"></span> This man shall set me packing;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This man shall be the start of my "packing."''</span><br />
[[#11-229]]<span id="229"></span> I'll lug the guts into the neighbor room;<br />
<span style="color:gray">''I'll lug this fat body into the neighboring room.''</span><br />
[[#11-230]]<span id="230"></span> Mother, good night indeed.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Mother, good night, indeed.''</span><br />
[[#11-231]]<span id="231"></span> <span style="color:gray">(aside)</span>: This councilor<br />
<span style="color:gray">''This councilor''</span><br />
[[#11-232]]<span id="232"></span> Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Is now very still, very secret and very grave,''</span><br />
[[#11-233]]<span id="233"></span> Who was in life a most foolish prating knave.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Who was, in life, a very foolish blabbering scoundrel.''</span><br />
[[#11-234]]<span id="234"></span> Come sir, to draw toward an end with you.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Come, sir, let's draw toward the end of all this, with you.''</span><br />
[[#11-235]]<span id="235"></span> <span style="color:gray">(to Gertrude)</span>: Good night, mother.<br />
<span style="color:gray">''Good night, mother.''</span><br />
<br />
[[#11-235-SD1]]<span id="235-SD1"></span> (Hamlet exits, dragging Polonius's body)<br />
<br />
[In silent action, Gertrude stands and paces, frets, and wrings her hands, asking herself what she can possibly do about her mad son and his killing of Polonius. Suddenly it strikes her, Hamlet said "neighbor room," and that must mean the King's Room, Claudius's room. Gertrude then foresees that Hamlet will drag Polonius's body into Claudius's room, Claudius will immediately call the guards, and Hamlet will be arrested for murder, caught absolutely red handed with his victim in his grasp. Wanting to stop Hamlet before he gets to Claudius's room, and is arrested for murder, she runs out as fast as she can, hoping to catch him in the hallway.]<br />
<br />
[[#11-235-SD2]]<span id="235-SD2"></span> (Gertrude exits)<br />
<hr><br />
End of Scene 11<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
Scene 11 - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
Jump up to the start of the <b>[[#Dialogue|Dialogue]]</b>.<br />
<br />
=====11-Setting=====<br />
* <b>Place</b> - The Queen's Room. This is Queen Gertrude's room for private conversation, her parlor.<br />
<br />
* <b>Time of Day</b> - only a minute or so after the previous Scene.<br />
<br />
* <b>Calendar Time</b> - <br />
<br />
Return: [[#Setting]] - or - [[Set Decoration#Scene 11|Set Decoration]]<br />
<br />
=====11-000-SD=====<br />
''(Gertrude and Polonius enter)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#000-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-001=====<br />
''Polonius: He will come straight; look you lay home to him;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#001]]<br />
<br />
=====11-002=====<br />
''Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#002]]<br />
<br />
=====11-003=====<br />
''And that Your Grace hath screened and stood between''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#003]]<br />
<br />
=====11-004=====<br />
''Much heat and him; I'll silence me even here;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004]]<br />
<br />
=====11-004-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius moves close to an arras)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#004-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-005=====<br />
''Pray you, be round.''<br />
<br />
''round'' - blunt. Polonius is urging Gertrude to speak bluntly to Hamlet. An instance of the Edge Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005]]<br />
<br />
=====11-005-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet is heard, approaching)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#005-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-006=====<br />
''Gertrude: I'll wait you, fear me not;''<br />
<br />
''wait'' - attend. Gertrude means she will attend to what Polonius said. This is "contrary" language in that Polonius is the attendant, with respect to the Queen.<br />
<br />
Further, ''wait'' goes back to Old North French 'waitier' ("to watch,") and since watching is such a significant concept in the play, one has to suspect Shakespeare knew of the ''wait''-"watch" relationship. Indeed, the idea of "watch" makes sense in the line, if taken as "watch for": "I'll watch (for) you." Polonius, behind the arras, will not be able to watch Hamlet, so he'll need someone to watch for him.<br />
<br />
''fear me not'' - don't worry about me. Worrying about Hamlet, however, would be a good idea for Polonius, but he doesn't know that.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#006]] - or - [[Scene 11 Folio Differences#006|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====11-007=====<br />
''Withdraw, I hear him coming.''<br />
<br />
There is the question of what Gertrude hears. It would be appropriate for Hamlet to whistle a dirge.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007]]<br />
<br />
=====11-007-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius hides behind his chosen arras; Hamlet enters the room)''<br />
<br />
This must be timed so that Hamlet does not see Polonius, and does not see the arras move. As far as Gertrude can tell, there must be no way for Hamlet to know Polonius is there.<br />
<br />
She does not know Hamlet overheard Polonius talking to Claudius in the previous Scene.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#007-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-008=====<br />
''Hamlet: Now, mother, what's the matter?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#008]]<br />
<br />
=====11-009=====<br />
''Gertrude: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#009]]<br />
<br />
=====11-010=====<br />
''Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#010]]<br />
<br />
=====11-011=====<br />
''Gertrude: Come come, you answer with an idle tongue.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#011]]<br />
<br />
=====11-012=====<br />
''Hamlet: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012]]<br />
<br />
=====11-012-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet draws his sword)''<br />
<br />
Hamlet knows Polonius is in the room, hiding behind one of the arrases. Hamlet heard Polonius say he was going to do that in the previous Scene.<br />
<br />
Hamlet draws his sword to poke at the arrases, and find Polonius, and then use his sword to threaten Polonius, to discourage Polonius from ever trying to eavesdrop on Hamlet again.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#012-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-013=====<br />
''Gertrude: Why, how now, Hamlet?''<br />
<br />
Gertrude does not know that Hamlet knows Polonius is in the room. It appears to Gertrude that Hamlet has drawn his sword against her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#013]]<br />
<br />
=====11-014=====<br />
''Hamlet: What's the matter now?''<br />
<br />
Hamlet, knowing what he intends, doesn't realize how it looks to Gertrude. He doesn't understand why she suddenly seems so concerned.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#014]]<br />
<br />
=====11-015=====<br />
''Gertrude: Have you forgot me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#015]]<br />
<br />
=====11-016=====<br />
''Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so.''<br />
<br />
''rood'' - the Christisn cross.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016]]<br />
<br />
=====11-016-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet raises his sword, to "swear on the cross")''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is repeating the same sword/cross representation he used in Scene 5, during the "Swear" passage.<br />
<br />
However, Gertrude is not informed about Hamlet using his sword to represent the cross. Hamlet's elevation of his sword looks like a threat to her.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#016-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-017=====<br />
''You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#017]]<br />
<br />
=====11-018=====<br />
''And would it were not so, you are my mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#018]]<br />
<br />
=====11-019=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nay, then I'll set those to you that can speak.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#019]]<br />
<br />
=====11-020=====<br />
''Hamlet: Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#020]]<br />
<br />
=====11-021=====<br />
''You go not, till I set you up a glass''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#021]]<br />
<br />
=====11-022=====<br />
''Where you may see the inmost part of you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#022]]<br />
<br />
=====11-023=====<br />
''Gertrude: What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#023]]<br />
<br />
=====11-024=====<br />
''Help ho!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#024]]<br />
<br />
=====11-025=====<br />
''Polonius: What ho! Help!''<br />
<br />
BOOKMARK, R.R.D.: "I will call for helpe, what hough, come forth Trupenie."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#025]]<br />
<br />
=====11-026=====<br />
''Hamlet: How now, a rat! Dead for a ducat, dead!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026]]<br />
<br />
=====11-026-SD=====<br />
''(Hamlet lunges and jabs his sword through the arras; Polonius totters out from behind the arras, clutching his chest)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#026-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-027=====<br />
''Polonius: Oh, I am slain!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027]]<br />
<br />
=====11-027-SD=====<br />
''(Polonius falls dead)''<br />
<br />
In full view of the audience, just far enough from downstage center so there's no danger of Hamlet or Gertrude tripping over him as the Scene continues. Polonius remains there until Hamlet begins dragging him out, much later.<br />
<br />
The stage floor is uncomfortably hard, to lie upon for an extended time. That is why Shakespeare made Polonius a hunchback, so that, built into his costume, he would have a pillow for his head.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#027-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-028=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, me, what hast thou done?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#028]]<br />
<br />
=====11-029=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, I know not. Is it the King?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#029]]<br />
<br />
=====11-030=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#030]]<br />
<br />
=====11-031=====<br />
''Hamlet: A bloody deed, almost as bad, good mother,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#031]]<br />
<br />
=====11-032=====<br />
''As kill a king, and marry with his brother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#032]]<br />
<br />
=====11-033=====<br />
''Gertrude: As kill a king?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#033]]<br />
<br />
=====11-034=====<br />
''Hamlet: Aye, Lady, it was my word.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#034]]<br />
<br />
=====11-035=====<br />
''Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell;''<br />
<br />
Hamlet is saying to Polonius dead what he had planned to say, more or less, to Polonius alive, as he chased Polonius from the room. To try to dissipate some of his annoyance, Hamlet is going ahead and saying his "get the heck out of here" speech to Polonius's corpse.<br />
<br />
''rash'' - is actually how Hamlet is feeling about himself. He regrets his rashness with his sword. There is psychological projection behind Hamlet's use of this word.<br />
<br />
Gertrude is watching Hamlet scold a dead body, as if Polonius's corpse could learn a lesson from what Hamlet says. This does not improve Gertrude's view of Hamlet's state of mind.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#035]]<br />
<br />
=====11-036=====<br />
''I took thee for thy better; take thy fortune;''<br />
<br />
''took'' - mistook.<br />
<br />
''thy better'' - Hamlet means "rat," his insult to Polonius. He is still insulting Polonius, that a rat is a better creature than Polonius was. Contrary to what you might read in other places, Hamlet does '''not''' mean he thought Polonius was Claudius.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is being sarcastic. He did not really mistake Polonius for a rat. However, Gertrude, hearing this, thinks Hamlet means it. She thinks Hamlet did, indeed, mistake Polonius for a rat. Her misunderstanding is confirmed in the next Scene when she speaks to Claudius.<br />
<br />
''fortune'' - an explicit instance of the Fortune Theme. Certainly, it was bad luck for Polonius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#036]]<br />
<br />
=====11-037=====<br />
''Thou findest to be too busy is some danger;''<br />
<br />
''busy'' - inquisitive, prying, meddlesome. This sense of ''busy'' appears in the word "busybody."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#037]]<br />
<br />
=====11-038=====<br />
''Leave wringing of your hands, peace, sit you down,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#038]]<br />
<br />
=====11-039=====<br />
''And let me wring your heart, for so I shall''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#039]]<br />
<br />
=====11-040=====<br />
''If it be made of penetrable stuff -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#040]]<br />
<br />
=====11-041=====<br />
''If damned custom have not braced it so,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#041]]<br />
<br />
=====11-042=====<br />
''That it be proof and bulwark against sense.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#042]]<br />
<br />
=====11-043=====<br />
''Gertrude: What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#043]]<br />
<br />
=====11-044=====<br />
''In noise so rude against me?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#044]]<br />
<br />
=====11-045=====<br />
''Hamlet: Such an act''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#045]]<br />
<br />
=====11-046=====<br />
''That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#046]]<br />
<br />
=====11-047=====<br />
''Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#047]]<br />
<br />
=====11-048=====<br />
''From the fair forehead of an innocent love,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#048]]<br />
<br />
=====11-049=====<br />
''And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#049]]<br />
<br />
=====11-050=====<br />
''As false as dicers' oaths; O, such a deed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#050]]<br />
<br />
=====11-051=====<br />
''As from the body of contraction plucks''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#051]]<br />
<br />
=====11-052=====<br />
''The very soul, and sweet religion makes''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#052]]<br />
<br />
=====11-053=====<br />
''A rhapsody of words; heaven's face does glow''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#053]]<br />
<br />
=====11-054=====<br />
''O'er this solidity and compound mass''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#054]]<br />
<br />
=====11-055=====<br />
''With tristful visage, as against the doom''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#055]]<br />
<br />
=====11-056=====<br />
'''Tis thought-sick at the act . . .''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#056]]<br />
<br />
=====11-057=====<br />
''Gertrude: Aye me, what act?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#057]]<br />
<br />
=====11-058=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_index.jpg|right|"Index" in the Second Quarto]]<br />
''Hamlet: . . . that roars so loud, and thunders in the Index!''<br />
<br />
''the Index'' - refers to the ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum,'' which was the Catholic Church's list of books that good Catholics were forbidden to read. The Fifth Lateran Council, in 1515, adopted the idea of maintaining such a list, and their decision was confirmed by the Council of Trent in 1546. The first ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' was published in the time of Pope Paul IV, in 1557. The ''Index'' continued as an official publication of the Church until 1966.<br />
<br />
The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' is, indeed, called the ''Index'' for short. Quoting from the Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07721a.htm):<br />
<br />
"The Index of Prohibited Books, or simply "Index", is used in a restricted sense to signify the exact list or catalogue of books, the reading of which was once forbidden to Catholics by the highest ecclesiastical authority. ..."<br />
<br />
That's why the word ''Index'' is capitalized in the Second Quarto, as the image shows. The word should always be capitalized, because it's a proper name.<br />
<br />
Hamlet is using ''Index'' in a figurative way, to mean acts forbidden by religious authority (such as reading a forbidden book.) He takes it that whatever Gertrude has done, which he doesn't actually know, except that she married Claudius, must be an action contrary to religious principles. Hamlet is trying to "catch her conscience" about whatever it is she has done.<br />
<br />
Does Gertrude understand Hamlet? Um, no.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#058]]<br />
<br />
=====11-059=====<br />
[[File:Kronborg_tapestries.jpg|right|King tapestries at Kronborg Castle]]<br />
''Look here upon this picture, and on this,''<br />
<br />
''this picture, and on this'' - these are king tapestries, based on the real ones at Kronborg Castle. They are large pictures, life size, that the audience can see. There's one of King Hamlet, and one of King Claudius.<br />
<br />
The image at right shows real king tapestries on display at Kronborg Castle.<br />
<br />
I provide a page on the issue of the pictures: <b>[[Closet Scene Pictures]]</b>.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#059]] - or - [[Scene 11 Extended Notes#059|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====11-060=====<br />
''The counterfeit presentment of two brothers;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#060]]<br />
<br />
=====11-061=====<br />
''See what a grace was seated on this brow;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#061]]<br />
<br />
=====11-062=====<br />
''Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove, himself,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#062]]<br />
<br />
=====11-063=====<br />
''An eye like Mars, to threaten and command,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#063]]<br />
<br />
=====11-064=====<br />
''A station like the herald Mercury,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#064]]<br />
<br />
=====11-065=====<br />
''New lighted on a heave, a kissing hill;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#065]] - or - [[Scene 11 Folio Differences#065|Folio Difference]]<br />
<br />
=====11-066=====<br />
''A combination, and a form, indeed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#066]]<br />
<br />
=====11-067=====<br />
''Where every god did seem to set his seal''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#067]]<br />
<br />
=====11-068=====<br />
''To give the world assurance of a man;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#068]]<br />
<br />
=====11-069=====<br />
''This was your husband; look you now what follows,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#069]]<br />
<br />
=====11-070=====<br />
''Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#070]]<br />
<br />
=====11-071=====<br />
''Blasting his wholesome breath. Have you eyes?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#071]]<br />
<br />
=====11-072=====<br />
''Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#072]]<br />
<br />
=====11-073=====<br />
''And batten on this Moor? Ha, have you eyes?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#073]]<br />
<br />
=====11-074=====<br />
''You cannot call it "love," for at your age''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#074]]<br />
<br />
=====11-075=====<br />
''The heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble,''<br />
<br />
''heyday'' - high spirits, a definition now archaic.<br />
<br />
''The heyday'' - the height of one's spirits. We still speak of persons being high spirited, and of whether one's spirits are high, or low.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare probably chose the word ''heyday'' here because of the importance of the "spirit" concept in the play. The phrase ''heyday in the blood'' refers to the passionate spirit being at its highest. The maximum height of the passionate spirit will decline as one ages.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#075]]<br />
<br />
=====11-076=====<br />
''And waits upon the judgement, and what judgement''<br />
<br />
''waits upon'' - is subservient to; is submissive to.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#076]]<br />
<br />
=====11-077=====<br />
''Would step from this to this? Sense, sure you have''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#077]]<br />
<br />
=====11-078=====<br />
''Else could you not have motion, but sure that sense''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#078]]<br />
<br />
=====11-079=====<br />
''Is apoplexed, for madness would not err,''<br />
<br />
''apoplexed'' - struck; disabled.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#079]]<br />
<br />
=====11-080=====<br />
''Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#080]]<br />
<br />
=====11-081=====<br />
''But it reserved some quantity of choice''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#081]]<br />
<br />
=====11-082=====<br />
''To serve in such a difference. What devil was it''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#082]]<br />
<br />
=====11-083=====<br />
''That thus hath cozened you at hoodman blind?''<br />
<br />
''cozened'' - cheated; tricked; deceived.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#083]]<br />
<br />
=====11-084=====<br />
''Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#084]]<br />
<br />
=====11-085=====<br />
''Ears without hands, or eyes, smelling sans all;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#085]]<br />
<br />
=====11-086=====<br />
''Or, but a sickly part of one true sense,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#086]]<br />
<br />
=====11-087=====<br />
''Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#087]]<br />
<br />
=====11-088=====<br />
''Rebellious Hell!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#088]]<br />
<br />
=====11-089=====<br />
''If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,''<br />
<br />
''mutine'' - to mutiny. Rebel against authority, in this case, Hamlet means the authority of (good) judgment, following his mention of judgment. ''Mutine'' is a standard word, but now obsolete.<br />
<br />
''bones'' - body. A synecdoche.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#089]]<br />
<br />
=====11-090=====<br />
''To flaming youth let virtue be as wax''<br />
<br />
''flaming'' - impassioned.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#090]]<br />
<br />
=====11-091=====<br />
''And melt in her own fire; proclaim no shame''<br />
<br />
''her'' - virtue's.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#091]]<br />
<br />
=====11-092=====<br />
''When the compulsive ardor gives the charge,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#092]]<br />
<br />
=====11-093=====<br />
''Since frost itself as actively doth burn,''<br />
<br />
''frost'' - older age (from the hair looking frosted as it turns white.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#093]]<br />
<br />
=====11-094=====<br />
''And reason pardons will.''<br />
<br />
''will'' - desire; appetite. In action this can be represented by a hand placed on the abdomen. Hunger and thirst are the daily appetites, and they center on the stomach, or abdomen.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#094]]<br />
<br />
=====11-095=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, Hamlet, speak no more;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#095]]<br />
<br />
=====11-096=====<br />
''Thou turn'st my very eyes into my soul,''<br />
<br />
''very eyes'' - true eyes; true-seeing eyes. ''Very'' takes its root meaning here, Latin 'verus' "true." Recall Hamlet asking Gertrude, "have you eyes?" just a bit earlier.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#096]]<br />
<br />
=====11-097=====<br />
''And there I see such black and grained spots''<br />
<br />
''black and grained'' - ingrained black. An instance of hendiadys.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#097]]<br />
<br />
=====11-098=====<br />
''As will not leave their tinct.''<br />
<br />
''tinct'' - tint; color; dye. The last is perhaps the most intended, because it puns with "die."<br />
<br />
Return: [[#098]]<br />
<br />
=====11-099=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nay, but to live''<br />
<br />
''Nay'' - No, I must say more.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#099]]<br />
<br />
=====11-100=====<br />
''In the rank sweat of an inseamed bed''<br />
<br />
''inseamed'' - sewn together; joined, like the inseam that joins two edges of cloth. (This is apparently a unique appearance of ''inseamed'' in Shakespeare, but ''Macbeth'' does contain "unseamed.") Since a seam is a kind of joint, ''inseamed'' is an instance of the Joint Motif ("The time is out of joint," etc.)<br />
<br />
Hamlet is speaking of two beds "sewn together" to make one, the specific beds at issue being those of Gertrude and Claudius.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#100]]<br />
<br />
=====11-101=====<br />
''Stewed in corruption, honeying, and making love''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#101]]<br />
<br />
=====11-102=====<br />
''Over the nasty sty.''<br />
<br />
''the nasty sty'' - Hell. ''Sty'' is a euphemism for Hell, based on Hell being depicted in Medieval art, and elsewhere, as a beastly, filthy place.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#102]]<br />
<br />
=====11-103=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, speak to me no more!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#103]]<br />
<br />
=====11-104=====<br />
''These words like daggers enter in my ears;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#104]]<br />
<br />
=====11-105=====<br />
''No more, sweet Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#105]]<br />
<br />
=====11-106=====<br />
''Hamlet: A murderer and a villain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#106]]<br />
<br />
=====11-107=====<br />
''A slave that is not twentieth part the kith''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#107]]<br />
<br />
=====11-108=====<br />
''Of your precedent Lord, a vice of kings,''<br />
<br />
''precedent'' - earlier; previous. Hamlet does mean to imply that King Hamlet set a ''precedent.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#108]]<br />
<br />
=====11-109=====<br />
''A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,''<br />
<br />
''cutpurse'' - pickpocket; thief.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#109]]<br />
<br />
=====11-110=====<br />
''That from a shelf the precious diadem stole''<br />
<br />
''diadem'' - royal headwear; royal crown. From Greek 'diadein' ("to bind around,") from 'dia-' + 'dein' ("to bind.")<br />
<br />
The "Online Etymology Dictionary" says about ''diadem'': "... Used of the headband worn by Persian kings and adopted by Alexander the Great and his successors," which is worth noting here because of Hamlet's later mention, in Scene 19, the Graveyard Scene, of Alexander the Great.<br />
<br />
(Link: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=diadem&allowed_in_frame=0 checked 07 Mar. 2015.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#110]]<br />
<br />
=====11-111=====<br />
''And put it in his pocket.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#111]]<br />
<br />
=====11-112=====<br />
''Gertrude: No more.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112]]<br />
<br />
=====11-112-SD=====<br />
''(the Ghost enters, costumed in a nightshirt - but it's another line before Hamlet, now facing his mother, turns and sees it)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#112-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-113=====<br />
''Hamlet: A King of shreds and patches!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#113]]<br />
<br />
=====11-114=====<br />
''Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#114]]<br />
<br />
=====11-115=====<br />
''You heavenly guards!''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#115]]<br />
<br />
=====11-116=====<br />
''What would your gracious figure?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#116]]<br />
<br />
=====11-117=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, he's mad.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#117]]<br />
<br />
=====11-118=====<br />
''Hamlet: Do you not come your tardy son to chide,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#118]]<br />
<br />
=====11-119=====<br />
''That lapsed in time and passion lets go by''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#119]]<br />
<br />
=====11-120=====<br />
''The important acting of your dread command? O say.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#120]]<br />
<br />
=====11-121=====<br />
''Ghost: Do not forget! This visitation''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#121]]<br />
<br />
=====11-122=====<br />
''Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#122]]<br />
<br />
=====11-123=====<br />
''But look, amazement on thy mother sits,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#123]]<br />
<br />
=====11-124=====<br />
''Oh, step between her, and her fighting soul;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#124]]<br />
<br />
=====11-125=====<br />
''Conceit, in weakest bodies, strongest works;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#125]]<br />
<br />
=====11-126=====<br />
''Speak to her, Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#126]]<br />
<br />
=====11-127=====<br />
''Hamlet: How is it with you, Lady?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#127]]<br />
<br />
=====11-128=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alas, how is it with you,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#128]]<br />
<br />
=====11-129=====<br />
''That you do bend your eye on vacancy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#129]]<br />
<br />
=====11-130=====<br />
''And with the incorporeal air do hold discourse?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#130]]<br />
<br />
=====11-131=====<br />
''Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#131]]<br />
<br />
=====11-132=====<br />
''And as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#132]]<br />
<br />
=====11-133=====<br />
''Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#133]]<br />
<br />
=====11-134=====<br />
''Starts up and stands on end. Oh gentle son,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#134]]<br />
<br />
=====11-135=====<br />
''Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#135]]<br />
<br />
=====11-136=====<br />
''Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#136]]<br />
<br />
=====11-137=====<br />
''Hamlet: On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#137]]<br />
<br />
=====11-138=====<br />
''His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#138]]<br />
<br />
=====11-139=====<br />
''Would make them capable.''<br />
<br />
''capable'' - capable of perception; aware. Capable of seeing the Ghost; literally, able to take in the Ghost.<br />
<br />
''Capable'' is a "take" word at root, from Late Latin 'capabilis' ("able to take in,") from Latin 'capere' ("to take.") Thus, ''capable'' joins other "take" words in the play.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#139]]<br />
<br />
=====11-140=====<br />
''Do not look upon me,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#140]]<br />
<br />
=====11-141=====<br />
''Lest with this piteous action you convert''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#141]]<br />
<br />
=====11-142=====<br />
''My stern effects, then what I have to do''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#142]]<br />
<br />
=====11-143=====<br />
''Will want true color, tears perchance for blood.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143]]<br />
<br />
=====11-143-SD=====<br />
''(tears run down Hamlet's face)''<br />
<br />
We know this fact because Gertrude will state expressly in the next Scene that Hamlet wept.<br />
<br />
Since Gertrude cannot see the Ghost, in the next Scene she will misinterpret, or misremember, why Hamlet wept. She will associate it with the killing of Polonius, based on Hamlet saying "tears for blood" just above. Recall Gertrude describing the death of Polonius as a "rash and bloody deed" earlier in this Scene (line 030 above.) She associates "blood," at this time, with Polonius's death.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#143-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-144=====<br />
''Gertrude: To whom do you speak this?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#144]]<br />
<br />
=====11-145=====<br />
''Hamlet: Do you see nothing there?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#145]]<br />
<br />
=====11-146=====<br />
''Gertrude: Nothing at all, yet all that is, I see.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#146]]<br />
<br />
=====11-147=====<br />
''Hamlet: Nor, did you nothing hear?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#147]]<br />
<br />
=====11-148=====<br />
''Gertrude: No, nothing but ourselves.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#148]]<br />
<br />
=====11-149=====<br />
''Hamlet: Why, look you there, look how it steals away;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#149]]<br />
<br />
=====11-150=====<br />
''My father, in his habit as he lived;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#150]]<br />
<br />
=====11-151=====<br />
''Look where he goes, even now, out at the portal.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151]]<br />
<br />
=====11-151-SD=====<br />
''(the Ghost exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#151-SD]]<br />
<br />
=====11-152=====<br />
''Gertrude: This is the very coinage of your brain,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#152]]<br />
<br />
=====11-153=====<br />
''This bodiless creation, ecstasy is very cunning in.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#153]]<br />
<br />
=====11-154=====<br />
''Hamlet: Ecstasy?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#154]]<br />
<br />
=====11-155=====<br />
''My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#155]]<br />
<br />
=====11-156=====<br />
''And makes as healthful music; it is not madness''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#156]]<br />
<br />
=====11-157=====<br />
''That I haue uttered; bring me to the test,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#157]]<br />
<br />
=====11-158=====<br />
''And the matter will reword, which madness''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#158]]<br />
<br />
=====11-159=====<br />
''Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#159]]<br />
<br />
=====11-160=====<br />
''Lay not that flattering unction to your soul''<br />
<br />
''unction'' - ointment; salve. Also, in Christianity, the oil used in the sacramental ceremony called ''unction,'' or the ceremony itself. A superficial treatment.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#160]]<br />
<br />
=====11-161=====<br />
''That not your trespass, but my madness speaks;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#161]]<br />
<br />
=====11-162=====<br />
''It will but skin and film the ulcerous place''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#162]]<br />
<br />
=====11-163=====<br />
''While rank corruption, mining all within,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#163]]<br />
<br />
=====11-164=====<br />
''Infects unseen; confess yourself to heaven,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#164]]<br />
<br />
=====11-165=====<br />
''Repent what's past, avoid what is to come,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#165]]<br />
<br />
=====11-166=====<br />
''And do not spread the compost o'er the weeds''<br />
<br />
On the point of Shakespeare retaining the name "Gertrude," Saint Gertrude of Nivelles is a patron of gardeners.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#166]]<br />
<br />
=====11-167=====<br />
''To make them rank; forgive me this my virtue,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#167]]<br />
<br />
=====11-168=====<br />
''For in the fatness of these pursy times''<br />
<br />
''fatness'' - sinfulness, since ''fatness'' shows self indulgence.<br />
<br />
''pursy'' - a synonym for "fat" (by the archaic definition of ''pursy.'') However, in this case ''pursy'' is probably figurative for "wealthy." The idea is of a purse heavy with money, (which is figuratively a "fat" purse.)<br />
<br />
Return: [[#168]]<br />
<br />
=====11-169=====<br />
''Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#169]]<br />
<br />
=====11-170=====<br />
''Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#170]]<br />
<br />
=====11-171=====<br />
''Gertrude: Oh, Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#171]]<br />
<br />
=====11-172=====<br />
''Hamlet: Oh, throw away the worser part of it,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#172]]<br />
<br />
=====11-173=====<br />
''And leave the purer with the other half,''<br />
<br />
Sounds to Gertrude as if Hamlet thinks a heart has three halves: the worser one, the purer one, and the other one. Which sounds nuts.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#173]]<br />
<br />
=====11-174=====<br />
''Good night, but go not to my uncle's bed;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#174]]<br />
<br />
=====11-175=====<br />
''Assume a virtue if you have it not;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#175]]<br />
<br />
=====11-176=====<br />
''That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#176]]<br />
<br />
=====11-177=====<br />
''Of habit's devil, is angel yet in this''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#177]]<br />
<br />
=====11-178=====<br />
''That to the use of actions fair and good,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#178]]<br />
<br />
=====11-179=====<br />
''He likewise gives a frock or livery''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#179]]<br />
<br />
=====11-180=====<br />
''That aptly is put on to refrain night''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#180]]<br />
<br />
=====11-181=====<br />
''And that shall lend a kind of easiness''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#181]]<br />
<br />
=====11-182=====<br />
''To the next abstinence, the next more easy.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#182]]<br />
<br />
=====11-183=====<br />
''For, use almost can change the stamp of nature,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#183]]<br />
<br />
=====11-184=====<br />
[[File:Second_quarto_omission.jpg|right|apparent word skip in the Second Quarto]]<br />
''And either {fetch} the devil, or throw him out''<br />
<br />
''{fetch}'' - an '''editorial guess''' at a word that is probably missing in the Second Quarto of ''Hamlet.''<br />
<br />
Please see the Extended Note.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#184]] - or - [[Scene 11 Extended Notes#184|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====11-185=====<br />
''With wonderous potency: once more good night -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#185]]<br />
<br />
=====11-186=====<br />
''And when you are desirous to be blessed,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#186]]<br />
<br />
=====11-187=====<br />
''I'll blessing beg of you; for this same Lord''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#187]]<br />
<br />
=====11-188=====<br />
''I do repent; but Heaven hath pleased it so''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#188]]<br />
<br />
=====11-189=====<br />
''To punish me with this, and this with me,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#189]]<br />
<br />
=====11-190=====<br />
''That I must be their scourge and minister,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#190]]<br />
<br />
=====11-191=====<br />
''I will bestow him and will answer well''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#191]]<br />
<br />
=====11-192=====<br />
''The death I gave him; so again, good night -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#192]]<br />
<br />
=====11-193=====<br />
''I must be cruel only to be kind,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#193]]<br />
<br />
=====11-194=====<br />
''This bad begins, and worse remains behind.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#194]]<br />
<br />
=====11-195=====<br />
''One word more good Lady.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#195]]<br />
<br />
=====11-196=====<br />
''Gertrude (to herself): What shall I do?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#196]]<br />
<br />
=====11-197=====<br />
''Hamlet: Not this, by no means, that I bid you do,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#197]]<br />
<br />
=====11-198=====<br />
''Let the blunt King tempt you again to bed,''<br />
<br />
''blunt'' - Hamlet is insulting Claudius. Also, an instance of the Edge Motif.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#198]]<br />
<br />
=====11-199=====<br />
''Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#199]]<br />
<br />
=====11-200=====<br />
''And let him for a pair of reechy kisses,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#200]]<br />
<br />
=====11-201=====<br />
''Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#201]]<br />
<br />
=====11-202=====<br />
''Make you to ravel all this matter out,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#202]]<br />
<br />
=====11-203=====<br />
''That I essentially am not in madness,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#203]]<br />
<br />
=====11-204=====<br />
''But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#204]]<br />
<br />
=====11-205=====<br />
''For, who that's but a queen - fair, sober, wise -''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#205]]<br />
<br />
=====11-206=====<br />
''Would from a paddack, from a bat, a gib,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#206]]<br />
<br />
=====11-207=====<br />
''Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#207]]<br />
<br />
=====11-208=====<br />
''No, in despite of sense and secrecy,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#208]]<br />
<br />
=====11-209=====<br />
''Unpeg the basket on the house's top,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#209]]<br />
<br />
=====11-210=====<br />
''Let the birds fly; and, like the famous ape,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#210]]<br />
<br />
=====11-211=====<br />
''To try conclusions, in the basket creep,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#211]]<br />
<br />
=====11-212=====<br />
''And break your own neck down.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#212]]<br />
<br />
=====11-213=====<br />
''Gertrude: Be thou assured, if words be made of breath''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#213]]<br />
<br />
=====11-214=====<br />
''And breath of life, I have no life to breathe''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#214]]<br />
<br />
=====11-215=====<br />
''What thou hast said to me.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#215]]<br />
<br />
=====11-216=====<br />
''Hamlet: I must to England, you know that?''<br />
<br />
''I must to England'' - this line confirms to a certainty that Hamlet was hiding in Claudius's room from the beginning of the previous Scene, the Prayer Scene. It's the only way he could know this.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#216]]<br />
<br />
=====11-217=====<br />
''Gertrude: Alack, I had forgot.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#217]]<br />
<br />
=====11-218=====<br />
'''Tis so concluded on.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#218]]<br />
<br />
=====11-219=====<br />
''Hamlet: There's letters sealed, and my two schoolfellows,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#219]]<br />
<br />
=====11-220=====<br />
''Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#220]]<br />
<br />
=====11-221=====<br />
''They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#221]]<br />
<br />
=====11-222=====<br />
''And marshal me to knavery. Let it work,''<br />
<br />
''marshal me to knavery'' - escort, or usher, me into something dishonest. I use the word "treachery" in the paraphrase to catch the sense of it.<br />
<br />
Hamlet doesn't know what Claudius has written in the orders, but he's sure it's dishonest somehow, just because of the way Claudius is.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#222]] - or - [[Scene 11 Extended Notes#222|Extended Note]]<br />
<br />
=====11-223=====<br />
''For 'tis the sport to have the enginer''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#223]]<br />
<br />
=====11-224=====<br />
''Hoist with his own petard, and it shall go hard''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#224]]<br />
<br />
=====11-225=====<br />
''But I will delve one yard below their mines,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#225]]<br />
<br />
=====11-226=====<br />
''And blow them at the moon. O 'tis most sweet''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#226]]<br />
<br />
=====11-227=====<br />
''When in one line, two crafts directly meet;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#227]]<br />
<br />
=====11-228=====<br />
''This man shall set me packing;''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#228]]<br />
<br />
=====11-229=====<br />
''I'll lug the guts into the neighbor room;''<br />
<br />
''neighbor room'' - neighboring room. Since this is the Queen's Room, the neighboring room is the King's Room, Claudius's room.<br />
<br />
Return: [[#229]]<br />
<br />
=====11-230=====<br />
''Mother, good night indeed.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#230]]<br />
<br />
=====11-231=====<br />
''(aside): This councilor''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#231]]<br />
<br />
=====11-232=====<br />
''Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#232]]<br />
<br />
=====11-233=====<br />
''Who was in life a most foolish prating knave.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#233]]<br />
<br />
=====11-234=====<br />
''Come sir, to draw toward an end with you.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#234]]<br />
<br />
=====11-235=====<br />
''(to Gertrude): Good night, mother.''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235]]<br />
<br />
=====11-235-SD1=====<br />
''(Hamlet exits, dragging Polonius's body)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235-SD1]]<br />
<br />
=====11-235-SD2=====<br />
''(Gertrude exits)''<br />
<br />
Return: [[#235-SD2]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
==Scene Links==<br />
<b>Go to:</b> [[Scene 1]] - [[Scene 2]] - [[Scene 3]] - [[Scene 4]] - [[Scene 5]] - [[Scene 6]] - [[Scene 7]] - [[Scene 8]] - [[Scene 9]] - [[Scene 10]]<br><br />
Scene 11 - [[Scene 12]] - [[Scene 13]] - [[Scene 14]] - [[Scene 15]] - [[Scene 16]] - [[Scene 17]] - [[Scene 18]] - [[Scene 19]] - [[Scene 20]]<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan<br />
<br />
All rights reserved. See the [[Copyright]] page for further information.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Scenes]]</div>
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