Scene 9 Extended Notes
These are the Extended Notes for Scene 9, which offer material beyond what's found in the regular Notes for the Scene.
09-115
Ophelia: Nay, 'tis 'twice'... two months, my Lord.
09-165
Hamlet: That's wormwood.
About wormwood being an antidote to poison, or counteracting the effects of poison:
July's Husbandry, Tusser (1577), includes,
What saver is better (if physick be true,)
For places infected, than Wormwood and Rue?
(Found at: http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/w/wormwo37.html last checked 08/10/2015)
Gerard says of wormwood, "And being taken in wine, it is good against the poison of Ixia ... and of Hemlock, and against the biting of the shrew mouse, and of the Sea Dragon..."
("Herbal" of John Gerard, page 1098.)
The Brewer's Dictionary mention of wormwood and the serpent being driven out of Paradise can be found at:
http://www.bartleby.com/81/17621.html last checked 08/10/2015
Return: Scene 9#09-165
262
A very very . . . peacock.
Return: Scene 9#09-262
339
The relevant passage from The Clouds by Aristophanes.
Socrates. Have you ever, when you; looked up, seen a cloud
like to a centaur, or a panther, or a wolf, or a bull?
Strepsiades. By Jupiter, have I! But what of that?
Socrates. They become all things, whatever they please. And
then if they see a person with long hair, a wild one of
these hairy fellows, like the son of Xenophantes, in
derision of his folly, they liken themselves to
centaurs.
Strepsiades. Why, what, if they should see Simon, a plunderer
of the public property, what do they do?
Socrates. They suddenly become wolves, showing up his
disposition.
Strepsiades. For this reason, then, for this reason, when they
yesterday saw Cleonymus the recreant, on this account
they became stags, because they saw this most cowardly
fellow.
Socrates. And now too, because they saw Clisthenes, you
observe, on this account they became women.
A link to the play: The Clouds.
Return: Scene 9#09-339
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