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. the Tragical History of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .
(Notes)
Scene 12 [~ Discord and Dismay ~] (Act 4 scene 1)
hw 2586, to hw 2586+1- Setting: Inside the Castle;
The King's Room;
Well after midnight.
(Claudius enters;
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter;
Gertrude enters)
---
This is the King's Room, again, where the earlier Prayer Scene was. Claudius is still here. He finished the commission for Hamlet's trip to England, and waited for R & G to return from their packing to get the commission, and they have now returned. It's still the same night, well after midnight, now early in the morning hours. Another reason Claudius is waiting up, here in his room, is to hear Polonius's report about what Hamlet said to Gertrude.
The presence of R & G, at the start of the Scene, is left out of the Folio. Apparently the Folio editor simply did not understand the play at this point; he may have mistaken that it was still the Queen's Room. It is not possible to omit the presence of R & G at the beginning of this Scene. Their presence is why Hamlet does not enter this room with Polonius's body, as Hamlet had intended. R & G must be here at the start of this Scene, otherwise, we would find Claudius dead here, killed by Hamlet, and with Polonius's body on the floor nearby. The presence of R & G is what keeps Claudius alive. Q2 is certainly correct, with no question of it. If the Folio is followed on this point, leaving out R & G at the start, it means Claudius is dead, Hamlet's revenge is done, and the play is over.
As Hamlet approached this King's Room, with Polonius's body, he heard the voices of R & G in conversation with Claudius. Hamlet's idea, of making it look like Claudius and Polonius had killed each other, was bad enough, he knew. But, trying to make it look like Claudius, Polonius, and R & G had all killed each other in a four-way swordfight was impossible. Hamlet had to think of something else, and he did, as we'll later see.
From what Hamlet said in the Closet Scene, with his failure to make clear what he meant by "kill a king," and the obscurity of his other remarks, Gertrude thinks that Hamlet madly believes he's killed Claudius instead of Polonius. So, she took Hamlet's phrase "neighbor room," once she understood it, to mean simply that he was going to return Claudius's dead body to the King's Room, because Hamlet thought that was the proper thing to do.
Gertrude rushes in, after realizing what Hamlet meant by "neighbor room," expecting Hamlet to be under arrest for murder here, caught red-handed with Polonius's body.
She's very relieved to find Hamlet is not under arrest here. She goes ahead and defends Hamlet, because she knows that the death of Polonius cannot be kept secret, so Hamlet needs as much defense as he can get.
hw 2587, to hw 2590+1- Claudius: There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves;
You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them;
Where is your son?
Gertrude: Bestow this place on us a little while.
(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)
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Claudius's matter means "trouble." Heaves means Gertrude's chest is heaving as she breathes deeply. That's partly from the exertion of running down the hallway, and partly it's a sigh of relief that Hamlet isn't under arrest for murder there. Fit offers wordplay on the Madness theme.
Claudius's word heaves goes back to the phrase, "a heave, a kissing hill" in the last Scene, the Closet Scene. As Claudius says heaves he is looking at Gertrude's bosom. In the Closet Scene, the author took the phrase "a heaven kissing hill," and then dropped the "n" and put a comma and an article there, to make it "a heave, a kissing hill." The author did that, so that here, it goes along with Claudius saying heaves as he looks at Gertrude's bosom, her "kissing hills." There's more.
The author wrote You must translate.
Very well. We shall translate. We now know that heaves = "kissing hills" = breasts. Let's try some Latin.
Matter is from "mother."
Profound is from Latin meaning "forward bottom." Forward bottom kissing hills? I think I'll exit that, pursued by a bear. A cross bear.
Translate is from Latin words meaning "across + bear," and it means "to bear across." That can be read as "bear a cross." Gertrude does "bear a cross;" her "mad" son Hamlet is her cross to bear, as she enters, expecting to have to defend him against a murder charge.
The author knew enough Latin to do this. He used many words in Hamlet based on their Latin roots. Small Latin? Somebody may be kidding somebody.
Fit is used in Hamlet to mean a fit of madness.
The word order of Claudius's fit sentence must be rearranged. The "translation" is as follows.
~~~~~- Claudius: There's "mother" in these sighs, these forward bottom kissing hills.
You must bear a cross. I understand your breasts: it's a fit of madness.
Where is your son?
- ~~~~~
Claudius is right; Gertrude is there because she saw her son in a fit of madness, as she understood it, and that's the profundity of her kissing hills.
The word translate has an ecclesiastical connotation, having to do with moving a body, particularly the body of a saint, from one place to another. This is another intricate undertone of wordplay by the author. Gertrude, associated with Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, has indeed moved her body from one room to another. Here, Claudius's You must translate, spoken to Gertrude, becomes "you must move the body of a saint." Then, there's the idea of Polonius's body being moved, although he was no saint. In plain reading, Claudius is asking Gertrude to explain what's going on.
Claudius dissociates himself from Hamlet, saying your son.
Gertrude's Bestow is ironic wordplay, following on Hamlet saying he'd "bestow" Polonius. Gertrude is wondering where Hamlet has "bestowed" Polonius's body, since it's not here as she expected. In plain reading, she's instructing R & G to leave so she can talk privately to Claudius.
hw 2591, to hw 2592- (Gertrude continues):
Ah, mine own Lord, what have I seen tonight?!
Claudius: What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
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Gertrude's line is mostly rhetorical and exclamatory; I attempt to convey her tone by using both a question mark and exclamation point. Her phrase mine own Lord has a double meaning. She is both talking to Claudius, and also saying, "my God." There's irony in her exclamation about what she did see, since she didn't see the most amazing thing of all, the Ghost.
Claudius easily concludes it has something to do with Hamlet.
hw 2593, to hw 2598- Gert: Mad as the sea and wind when both contend
Which is the mightier! In his lawless fit,
Behind the arras, hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries "a rat, a rat,"
And in this brainish apprehension kills
The unseen, good old man.
---
Gertrude is telling exactly the truth as best she knows it. Lawless means both "illegal," in that Hamlet killed Polonius, and also that Hamlet's mind was "lawless" as she saw it, not working right according to the laws, or rules, of rationality. She likens Hamlet's wild behavior to a strong storm at sea. The illegality of Hamlet's act is why she's there.
As far as she could tell, Hamlet did simply shout "a rat" and then stab Polonius. She does not have the details exactly right, about precisely when Hamlet drew his sword, and precisely what he said, but who would? In this brainish apprehension means "with this idea in his mind (about a rat.)"
She reveals Hamlet has killed Polonius. She sees no point in trying to hide that, and she thinks a strong offense is the best defense for Hamlet.
Gertrude refers to Polonius as a good old man even though she didn't really think he was that good. Polonius was a long-time servant, and she was used to him, and she did have some affection for him from old acquaintance. She sees no point here in blaming the victim, anyway, as she works to defend Hamlet. But she does believe that if Polonius hadn't been engaged in the foolish stunt of hiding behind the arras, he'd still be alive, as indeed he would. Unseen, good old man has allusion to the Ghost in the image of Hamlet Sr, and also that Hamlet's father actually went unseen.
Unfortunately, Gertrude is revealing that Hamlet has killed Polonius at the same time Hamlet is trying to hide the fact, for a while, by hiding Polonius's body. Hamlet is hiding the body, as we'll see in the next Scene. He's doing that to try to gain time during which he can kill Claudius.
hw 2599, to hw 2600- Clau: Oh, heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there;
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Yes, if Claudius had heard the "help" call, and gone to Gertrude's room, Hamlet would have killed him then. However, if Claudius had only been standing there in plain sight in Gertrude's room when Hamlet arrived, Hamlet would probably not have killed him in front of her, before talking to her. Claudius is also right in another way, that if he had been behind the arras with Polonius in Gertrude's room, as he was behind the arras with Polonius in the Nunnery Scene, Hamlet would likely have killed them both, even with Gertrude there, and then tried to explain it all to Gertrude. So, Claudius is both right, and wrong.
hw 2601, to hw 2602- His liberty is full of threats to all,
To you, yourself, to us, to everyone;
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Liberty alludes to Claudius's earlier threat, after the Mousetrap play, to have Hamlet locked up. Claudius is childishly taking a moment to say "I told you so" to Gertrude. It's foolish and pointless, especially since he has no intention, now, of having Hamlet jailed, but intends to send Hamlet to England. Claudius is not really concerned about everyone's safety, he's concerned about his own safety. But based on what Gertrude saw of Hamlet, as she interpreted it, she doesn't disagree with what Claudius says.
hw 2603, to hw 2610- Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answered?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrained, and out of haunt
This mad young man; but so much was our love,
We would not understand what was most fit,
But like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
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Claudius frets that he'll be blamed for not taking action earlier against Hamlet.
Bloody deed echoes what Gertrude said when Hamlet killed Polonius. It has an undertone, as Claudius speaks it, of worry about how his own "bloody deed," of killing Hamlet Sr, will be answered by fate or Fortune, and God.
Providence means "foresight," in plain reading. It alludes to the Fortune theme, and also the word usage goes back to G saying, in the Prayer Scene, "we will ourselves provide."
Out of haunt is an undertone of the Ghost.
Claudius claims his love for Hamlet kept him from doing something about Hamlet, but that's a lie. His problem in dealing with Hamlet has been the same as Hamlet's problem in killing Claudius: getting away with it. For Claudius, the question, of getting away with it, is one of his personal safety and status. For Hamlet, the question is much more encompassing. Hamlet's concern includes the safety of Gertrude and Ophelia, and his own moral and religious standing, in addition to his personal safety.
Fit has an undertone of "madness." In this undertone, Claudius's fit line can be read, "We would not understand what was most crazy." Gertrude knows the feeling.
Claudius's foul disease line has an undertone of allusion to his murder of his brother. He feels it's eating at his life as he tries to keep his crime hidden.
Pith of life also goes back to when Hamlet said, before the Mousetrap play, that he would "tent Claudius to the quick." Hamlet has done that very well, he has hit Claudius "right where he lives" so to speak, although it hasn't happened in the way Hamlet intended.
The phrasing from owner through life has an undertone of Hamlet hiding Polonius's body. Hamlet is the new "owner" of Polonius's body as the "foul disease" - a reference to Polonius's smell - and Hamlet is trying to keep Polonius's death from "divulging," and is placing Polonius's body as "food" for the worms, as Hamlet will later tell Claudius. It, in this undertone, means "the worm."
Claudius asks where Hamlet has gone. Gertrude doesn't know; she expected to find Hamlet here. And, as for Gertrude's normal, gentle, happy, rational son, she has no idea "Where is he gone?" As Gertrude sees it, it's almost as though her true son has died, and a strange impostor has taken his place.
hw 2611, to hw 2614- Gert: To draw apart the body he hath killed,
O'er whom, his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done.
---
Draw apart is wordplay in allusion to the Amleth story. In that story, Amleth chopped up, or roughly speaking "drew apart," the body of the man he killed. In plain reading, Gertrude is only saying Hamlet has dragged Polonius's body away.
There is allusion going back to how Hamlet began to recite, mistakenly, when the players arrived, and Hamlet mentioned the Caspian tiger. Hamlet has dragged Polonius's body away, like a tiger drags its prey away. Hamlet is an astonishingly interconnected writing.
Ore means "gold," and mineral of metals base means ordinary rock. Gertrude is saying that Hamlet's madness is a kind of gold, in that it provides him with an insanity defense. In Hamlet's crude act of killing Polonius, Gertrude has spotted "gold;" she pleads for Hamlet's acquittal on grounds of insanity. Her statement goes back to Claudius's phrase, "Offense's gilded hand," in the Prayer Scene. Gertrude sees that Hamlet's bloody "red" hand contains "gold," which is not money in this case, but his insanity, which provides him an excuse. Further, it's another red-gold undertone in the play, like R & G.
Gertrude is telling the truth that Hamlet shed tears. Hamlet did that upon viewing the Ghost, as the image of his father, wearing his ordinary clothing, and standing there in his mother's room, as Hamlet had so often seen his father in daily life. Gertrude, however, did not see the Ghost, and doesn't know that's why Hamlet wept. She is correct, and truthful, on the factual point that Hamlet did weep shortly after he killed Polonius. She is not lying, nor is she mistaken on the facts. It's only that she doesn't know the true reason for his tears.
In Gertrude's statements to Claudius, in this Scene, she has pointed out the following.
* Hamlet did not know Polonius was there, (which is true as far as Gertrude knows, although it isn't factually true.)- * Hamlet stabbed Polonius thinking it was a rat behind the arras. (Again, this appeared to be the case, as far as she could tell.)
- * Hamlet was insane at the time. (True again, as far as she could tell.)
- * Hamlet cried after the fact. (True again, as far as she knows.)
So, in legal terms, Gertrude has argued:
* By the victim's own action, the defendant had no knowledge the victim was present.- * The defendant acted under an openly-stated misapprehension.
- * The defendant was insane at the time.
- * The defendant showed remorse, and actually cried.
A barrister in court could hardly do better, with such a case. Gertrude should have been a lawyer.
hw 2615, to hw 2619- Clau: Oh, Gertrude, come away;
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,
But we will ship him hence, and this vile deed
We must with all our majesty and skill . . .
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Claudius says that as soon as the sun comes up, and it's light enough for the ship to sail, he'll have Hamlet put on the ship for England. When Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo saw the sunrise in the first Scene, it was a "russet" sunrise, hinting of a "dew of blood." At the sunrise on this morning, Hamlet will have the "dew" of Polonius's blood on his hands, so to speak.
Vile, at root, means "base;" in that way it follows from Gertrude's use of "base." Majesty refers to the King's power; the irony continues that most of the "majesty" we see in the play involves somebody being killed.
Claudius is not sincerely interested in protecting Hamlet. He wants to avoid having Polonius's death interfere with Hamlet's trip to England, that Claudius has now arranged in its final form.
hw 2620, to hw 2625- (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter)
(Claudius continues):
Both countenance and excuse.
Ho, Guildenstern,
Friends both; go join you with some further aid;
Hamlet, in madness, hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother's closet hath he dregged him;
Go seek him out, speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel; I pray you, haste in this;
---
Of the two, Claudius calls G by name. He trusts G, the "gold" one, who can be bought, a little more than he trusts R, the flag-waver who's pompously patriotic.
In Q2, the entry of R & G occurs exactly as shown, so that Claudius says Both countenance and excuse as they enter. That makes R correspond to countenance and G correspond to excuse. For this, countenance takes the obsolete meaning of "a false appearance." So, R is "false face" and G is "excuse," says Claudius.
In plain reading, countenance takes the obsolete meaning referring to the appearance of something, how it looks. Claudius means he's going to "try to put a good face" on what Hamlet has done.
Join ... with further aid means they are to enlist more help, that is, to get guards and more servants to help. Join is used in a contrary way, not that they should join others, but that others should join them.
I retain dregged as Q2 shows. The plain meaning is "dragged," but it means more than that. It has connotations of "draw," following Gertrude's remark, also "dregs," that Polonius's body is now a dreg, and a possible connotation of "dredge," in that dredging is a way to catch fish, and Hamlet called Polonius a "fishmonger." The Folio "dragged" is acceptable for plain reading, but not acceptable as the full meaning.
The author knew enough about Kronborg Castle to know of the chapel there. It's a splendid chapel.
The Folio places an exit for R & G after the haste line, while Q2 leaves them to exit at the end of the Scene. There is no urgent need for R & G to exit immediately, since Claudius and Gertrude will exit in only a few more lines. It's best to obey Q2 and have R & G tarry, to hear if Claudius might have more to tell them, and then exit as Claudius and Gertrude do, so I honor Q2 on that point.
Claudius tells R & G to speak fair to Hamlet, meaning they mustn't be abusive to him. Claudius wants no accusation that he was abusive to Hamlet before sending him to England.
hw 2626, to hw 2629- Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends,
And let them know both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done;
Whose whisper, o'er the world's diameter,
(As level as the cannon to his blank,
Transports his poisoned shot,) may miss our name,
And hit the woundless air; o come away,
My soul is full of discord and dismay.
(all exit)
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Wisest friends anticipates Claudius telling Laertes, later, to choose his wisest friends to judge whether Claudius is culpable in the death of Polonius. It's ironic, in that by wisest Claudius means people he hopes he can fool.
It has traditionally been interpreted that some unknown phrase is missing after untimely done, but there is no real reason to think so. With the understanding that the cannon lines are parenthetical, no change is called for. Editors seem always tempted to fuss with the author's own words in Hamlet, instead of making a greater effort to understand them as they are, which has only led, historically, to creating a mountain of inane drivel about Hamlet, with one misunderstanding piled on another, like Pelion on Ossa, and with the modern consequence that readers have been robbed, cheated of the enjoyment of the play as it truly is, and was written to be. Editors must exercise greater discipline, and observe higher standards of professionalism, if Hamlet is to be preserved as the literature the author wrote. The phrasing of this passage is correct as it stands, as the author wrote it, and as can be seen when properly punctuated for the modern eye. The untimely done line is intentionally short, to mark a thoughtful transition in Claudius's speech.
The subject, of the verb may miss, is the noun whisper. Claudius means he wants the whisper to only pass through the air, and not "hit" him, and "poison" his name.
By untimely done Claudius means that the killing of Polonius happened at a bad time for him, because it will raise questions about him going ahead with Hamlet's trip to England. People might think he should have had Hamlet arrested and put in the dungeon for killing Polonius, and that Claudius is showing gross favoritism, and corruption, in helping a member of his own family get away with murder. That's Claudius's political worry.
Whisper means "rumor," and world means "Denmark," the "world" of Hamlet.
The cannon remark has an undertone back to Hamlet's undertone, in his earlier "too too sallied" speech, when he wished Claudius would shoot himself with his own cannons during his rouse. Claudius is now the one feeling "too too sallied."
Claudius is hoping the whole "ear of Denmark" will not be "poisoned" by rumor against his ability as King.
Claudius and Gertrude leave to talk to their most highly-placed political supporters, to try to keep the political situation calm. They're closely followed by R & G, who will summon a couple of guards and more servants, and try to find Hamlet and Polonius's body.
End of Scene 12
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