View source for Scene 7 Extended Notes

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These are the Extended Notes for Scene 7, which offer material beyond what's found in the regular Notes for the Scene.

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=====061=====
Sifting is done with a sieve.  The sieve was an important symbol in Elizabethan England, going back to the ancient Roman legend of a vestal virgin carrying water in a sieve, without spilling it, to prove her purity.

At least two major portraits of Queen Elizabeth I show her holding s sieve.  The one by Quentin Metsys, 1583, includes a background panel painted to depict the story of Aeneas and Dido.

Now certainly, this is not to suggest one should imagine Claudius as a vestal virgin.  It concerns the culture in which Shakespeare worked.  The sift-sieve concept was an established part of Elizabethan culture, used figuratively, and was associated with the monarchy in the time of Shakespeare.

Return: [[Scene 7#07-061]]

=====072=====
Return: [[Scene 7#07-072]]

=====073=====
Return: [[Scene 7#07-073]]

=====171=====
''Within the center.''

 Sonnet 146 begins:
 
 Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
 ...

 From the First Quarto:
 
 Corambis: ...
     Nay, if circumstances leade me on,
     Ile finde it out, if it were hid
     As deepe as the centre of the earth.


Return: [[Scene 7#07-171]]

=====182-SD=====
''(Hamlet enters, with a book)'' - 

BOOKMARK for me, satires of Horace, here, fishmonger, etc.

Return: [[Scene 7#07-182-SD]]

=====332=====
''Hamlet:  How comes it?  Do they grow resty?''

''Resty'' appears in Sonnet 100:
 ...
 Return, forgetful Muse, and straight redeem
 In gentle numbers time so idly spent;
 Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem
 And gives thy pen both skill and argument.
 Rise, resty Muse, my love's sweet face survey,
 ...

In addition to what's mentioned in the regular Scene Note, and in the Folio Difference note, we see that in Shakespeare's vocabulary ''resty'' is also associated with forgetfulness, which is another significant concept in ''Hamlet.''

Return: [[Scene 7#07-332]]

=====371=====
[[File:Hawk_ensign.jpg|right|The Spanish "hawk" ensign.]]
''I know a hawk from a handsaw'' - Hamlet, at the time he says that, has identified R & G as "flying the enemy flag" in that they are employed by Claudius.

England's archenemy in those days was the Spanish empire.  Spanish vessels flew two different ensigns of note.  One was the Spanish royal eagle, and the other was the Burgundy Cross.  Both ensigns were on a background of the red-white-yellow tricolor of Spain.

The royal eagle was flown by the galleons which were headed to the Americas.  The Burgundy Cross was flown by Spanish ships that were supporting the Spanish side in the war in the Netherlands.  Both ensigns were on enemy ships, from the English point of view, but they were distinct, both symbolically and strategically.
[[File:Handsaw_ensign.jpg|right|The Spanish "handsaw" ensign.]]
The name Guildenstern means "gold star."  Observe that the royal eagle ensign, which one could diminish to a "hawk," poetically, has a gold wreath.  The wreath color matches with the "color" of Guildenstern, and Guildenstern is the one who Hamlet acts "hawk" at.

The crossed branches on the Burgundy Cross ensign are simplified and stylized.  The side branch stubs look like saw teeth, to an imaginative eye.  The crossed branches rather resemble crossed handsaw blades.

The name Rosencrantz means "rose crown," and can also be understood as "ruddy crown."  Stereotypically, "roses are red."  The cross on the Burgundy Cross ensign is red.  That color matches with R, and R is the one Hamlet acts "handsaw" at.

(By the way, in the image of the dictionary definition, the dagger after the word "rosen" means "obsolete."  It was an obsolete word when the Century Dictionary was published.)
[[File:Century_rosen.jpg|right|"rosen" in the Century Dictionary]]

The tricolor background of the ensigns can be matched to R and G as well, since yellow can be considered "gold" or vice versa.  Without the central designs, the tricolor alone would still provide a matchup with the "red and gold" of R & G.

Hamlet mentioned southerly wind just before saying this line.  Traveling from Wittenberg to Elsinore, R & G did indeed, "blow in on a southerly wind."  For England vs Spain, a southerly wind would bring Spanish vessels from the south up to Britain.  Then, the difference between the "hawk" ensign and the "handsaw" ensign (I have no idea if sailors really called them that) would have been strategic for England.

The "handsaw" might well be trying to go up the Channel, or if it did seem to be going west, it might be trying to circle the British Isles, and approach the Netherlands from the north.  The "hawk" would probably be continuing west to the Americas.  Spotting those ensigns would have been of both tactical and strategic significance to the English navy.  Any English sailor worth his salt should have known the hawk from the handsaw.

So, in addition to providing appropriate actions toward R and G by Hamlet, the line contains English topicality, and pegs R and G, although different "vessels," as both "flying the enemy flag" for Claudius.

For further ensign info:<br>
[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/es1520am.html Flags of the World, Galleons' Ensign]<br>
[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/es1520nl.html Flags of the World, Burgundy Cross]

There is even more that can be gleaned.

Observe in the dialogue that Hamlet uses a "falcon" idea in association with good actors.  When he speaks to the Players, he says, "we'll into it like friendly falconers."  [[Scene 7#412]]  A good actor will look as natural in playing his role as a falcon on the wing, is the concept.

Later, when coaching the Players before the 'Mousetrap' play, Hamlet uses a "hand saw" idea in association with bad acting.  He says, "do not saw the air too much with your hand."  [[Scene 9 #004]]  Hamlet means, an actor who does hand sawing type of actions doesn't look natural, he looks puppet-like, mechanical.

So, "falcon" (or hawk) = good actor.  "Hand saw" = bad actor.

It was Guildenstern who shook Hamlet's hand, and also Guildenstern who admitted the truth that R & G had been sent for.  When Hamlet does "hawk" at Guildenstern, he means G. is a good actor, or at least a passable one, at "acting" like his true friend.  When Hamlet does "hand saw" at Rosencrantz, he means R. is not a good actor, at "acting" like his true friend.

Altogether, when Hamlet says and does hawk-handsaw, he means:

* G is a good "hawk" who shook his hand, while R did not shake, although R saw his hand.
* He sees R and G as "flying the enemy flag" for Claudius, but still, he can tell them apart, like the "hawk" and "handsaw" ensigns.
* G is a better "actor," while R is a worse one.

Moreover on the ensigns in relation to the R & G characters, the ensign difference goes along with G being more motivated by money, while R is more motivated by service to the King, as the dialogue subtly reflects.  R is the one who, in the Prayer Scene, Scene 10, makes the long speech about the importance of the King.  (Beginning at [[Scene 10#012]])  Historically, the "hawk" ensign was a ship after gold, and the "handsaw" was in service to the king, in war.

Return: [[Scene 7#07-371]]

=====429=====
The Hyrcanian tiger is used for simile in Book 4 line 367 of Vergil's ''Aeneid'':

 'nec tibi diva parens generis nec Dardanus auctor,  365
 perfide, sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens
 Caucasus Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres.

One possible translation is:
 “Deceiver, your mother was no goddess, nor was Dardanus
 the father of your race: harsh Caucasus engendered you
 on the rough crags, and Hyrcanian tigers nursed you.

Christopher Marlowe, in ''Dido, Queen of Carthage,'' written about 1586, rendered Dido's speech in Act 5 scene 1 as:
 Dido  ...
 Thy mother was no Goddesse perjurd man,
 Nor Dardanus the author of thy stocke:
 But thou art sprung from Scythian Caucasus,
 And Tygers of Hircania gave thee sucke:

So, we can understand that Hamlet, the university student, recalls the Hyrcanian tiger from his study Vergil.  For Shakespeare's knowledge, Marlowe's play is a possible stepping stone.

Return:  [[Scene 7#07-429]]

=====481=====
More about ''mabled.''

John Upton is the first I know of to observe that "mabled" could mean "carelessly dressed."  He made that observation in a 1748 publication.

See the ''Enfolded Hamlet'' page:<br>
[[http://triggs.djvu.org/global-language.com/ENFOLDED/output4.php?file=HWORKS1500/HW-1542cn.xml Line 1542 - Commentary Note (CN)]]<br>
(checked 02/25/2014)<br>
Then see the Upton 1748 note.  There, you will find:

Upton (1748, pp. 320-1): “The mobled queen: ... I once thought it should be mabled, I. carelesly dressed."  (The spelling "carelesly" is ''sic'' on that web page; I have not seen the 1748 publication itself.)

Upton should have stayed with what he "once thought."  He was essentially right, for what the Player says.

That Upton publication is:<br>
Upton, John. ''Critical Observations on Shakespeare.'' 2nd ed., with alterations and additions. London: Printed for G. Hawkins, in Fleet-street. 1748.

Then, Henry N. Hudson got it right in 1881 (for what the Player says!  Hamlet's word is different.)

From that same ''Enfolded Hamlet'' web page, linked above:<br>
Hudson (ed. 1881): “Mobled is hastily or carelessly dressed."

The publication is:<br>
Hudson, Henry N., ed. ''Plays of Shakespeare,'' Boston: Ginn Brothers, 1872.

Return:  [[Scene 7#07-481]]

=====482=====
[[File:Century_mobled.jpg|right|The word "mobled" in the Century Dictionary]]
''Moble'' is listed in the Middle English Dictionary online under "moeble," which the MED apparently takes as now the standard spelling.  It's found as ''moble'' in the Century Dictionary Online, as the image shows.  [[http://www.global-language.com/CENTURY/ Century Dictionary link]]

See the MED page:<br>
[[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=byte&byte=117487274&egdisplay=open&egs=117493717 MED moeble]]<br>
(checked 02/26/2014)

The MED entry lists numerous quotations, including the following which is especially interesting in the context of the Player's speech, that being the fall of Troy:

John Lydgate, ''The Troy Book'' aka ''The Siege of Troy,'' (written ''c.'' 1412-1420; pub. 1513) book 2 line 4927:<br>
''Of gold and mebles passing gret tresour.''  [mebles = mobles]

Lydgate's ''Troy Book'' is at the Internet Archive.<br>
[[https://archive.org/stream/lydgatestroybono9701lydguoft/lydgatestroybono9701lydguoft_djvu.txt Lydgate's Troy Book, full text]]<br>
(checked 02/26/2014)<br>
Do a browser Find on that page for "mebles."

Return: [[Scene 7#07-482]]

=====564=====
Thomas Heywood, ''An Apology for Actors,'' 1612, excerpt:

 At Lin in Norfolke, the then Earle of Sussex players acting the
 old History of Fryer Francis, & presenting a woman, who insatiately
 doting on a yong gentleman, had (the more securely to enioy his
 affection) mischieuously and seceretly murdered her husband, whose
 ghost haunted her, and at diuers times in her most solitary and
 priuate contemplations, in most horrid and fearefull shapes, appeared,
 and stood before her. As this was acted, a townes-woman (till then
 of good estimation and report) finding her conscience (at this
 presenment) extremely troubled, suddenly skritched and cryd out Oh
 my husband, my husband! I see the ghost of my husband fiercely
 threatning and menacing me. At which shrill and vexpected out-cry,
 the people about her, moou'd to a strange amazement, inquired the
 reason of her clamour, when presently vn-urged, she told them, that
 seuen yeares ago, she, to be possest of such a Gentleman (meaning
 him) had poysoned her husband, whose fearefull image personated
 it selfe in the shape of that ghost: whereupon the murdresse was
 apprehended, before the Iustices further examined, & by her
 voluntary confession after condemned. That this is true, as well
 by the report of the Actors as the re∣cords of the Towne, there
 are many eye-witnesses of this accident yet liuing, vocally to
 confirme it.

From link: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A03185.0001.001/1:16?rgn=div1;view=fulltext <br>
(checked 06/12/2015)

BOOKMARK do more on this, Heywood "Treatise 3" includes mention of Roscius, "Reynaldo" (sp?), Plautus, Marcellus, Pyrrhus, "Is thy mind noble?", Horace, etc.

Return: [[Scene 7#07-564]]

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© 2014 Jeffrey Paul Jordan

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