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. the Tragical History of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .
(Notes)
- Scene 18 [~ Naked ~] (Act 4 scene 7)
hw 3006- Setting: Inside the Castle;
The King's Room;
Daytime, morning.
(Claudius and Laertes enter)
---
This room is the King's Room, Claudius's private room, where he has brought Laertes for private conversation.
hw 3007, to hw 3011- Claudius: Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,
And you must put me in your heart for friend,
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
That he which hath your noble father slain
Pursued my life.
---
Acquittance is used in the semi-legal way; Claudius's "trial" by Laertes is over, and Laertes has "acquitted" Claudius. A seal is put on a document when it's final. Conscience is an allusion that Claudius put on a show, at the "trial," that caught Laertes's conscience.
Sith means "because." Knowing has the connotation of "receptive;" this is allusion to the ear receiving what is put into it. There is irony in that Claudius killed his brother with poison in the "receptive" ear. Laertes's receptive ear, receptive to Claudius's scheming, that is, will lead to his death, as we'll see later. In plain reading, knowing can be taken as "understanding."
Claudius does believe that when Hamlet killed Polonius, Hamlet was trying to kill him. It is not true, however. There is much irony that Claudius is right that Hamlet wants to kill him, but Claudius is wrong that the death of Polonius proves that. Hamlet killed Polonius entirely by accident, and was not trying to kill Claudius or anybody at that moment.
hw 3012, to hw 3016- Laertes: It well appears: but tell me
Why you proceed not against these feats
So crimeful and so capital in nature,
As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else
You mainly were stirred up.
---
I accept the word crimeful from the Folio; Q2 shows "criminal." Crimeful is credibly an author's improvement that came too late for the Q2 printing. In allusion, crimeful goes back to Hamlet saying, in the Prayer Scene, that Claudius had killed Hamlet Sr when he was "grossly full of bread," meaning his soul was full of common sin. Crimeful, here, means "full of crime," or "full of sin." Although the specific word crimeful is apparently unique in the author's writing, Hamlet has many "-ful" words: fearful, needful, fruitful, dreadful, shameful, and more.
Capital has the plain meaning that murder is a capital offense. In undertone, it alludes to Polonius saying, before the Mousetrap play, that he had acted Caesar and had been killed in the capital. There is the wicked irony of "capital" having a connotation of "excellent." It gives the undertone of Laertes saying that killing is "excellent" in nature, which reflects that Laertes is being drawn into evil.
The Q2 word greatness has been questioned in historical commentary, on no good grounds, and is omitted in the Folio. It is correctly included, as Q2 shows. It relates back to Laertes speaking to Ophelia of Hamlet's "greatness," before Laertes left for France, and his mention of Hamlet's will being not his own. Also, Laertes's use of safety in this speech confirms that "safety" was the right word when he spoke to Ophelia, and that "sanctity" in that speech in the Folio is editorial error there.
Stirred up has an undertone going back to Francisco mentioning, when he was relieved from sentinel duty by Barnardo in the first Scene, that there had not been a mouse stirring. Laertes is talking about what got the "mouse" Claudius stirred up.
hw 3017, to hw 3024- Clau: Oh, for two special reasons
Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,
But yet to me they're strong; the Queen, his mother,
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself,
My virtue or my plague, be it either which,
She is so concleave to my life and soul,
That as the star moves not but in his sphere,
I could not but by her; the other motive,
---
Unsinewed means "weak," or "soft," with allusion back to the Prayer Scene, when Claudius called on his heart to be soft as the sinews of a baby. Claudius hides the fact from Laertes that he did proceed against Hamlet with the order he wrote to England, which is what he began doing as the Prayer Scene ended.
Lives almost by his looks means that Gertrude dotes on Hamlet. There is a sun/son pun implicit; Gertrude virtually lives by Hamlet's "son light," that is, by the light of her son, implies Claudius.
For himself, Claudius says he doesn't know whether Gertrude is his virtue or his plague. That is hardly an affirmation of love. Claudius does not love Gertrude. Such ambiguity of feeling is not love.
The virtue - plague phrase follows from the concept of disease being caused by evil. Claudius means he doesn't know whether Gertrude is good or evil for him.
Claudius's My virtue also relates back to Hamlet saying "my virtue" to Gertrude in the Closet Scene, and the ambiguity of Hamlet's remark there, in the way he said it versus how Gertrude heard it.
Concleave means "bound up with," or "stuck to." The root is "cleave" in the sense of "adhere." The Q2 spelling is "conclive." In blunt meaning, it can be taken as Claudius saying he's "stuck with" Gertrude. He means Gertrude is so "stuck to" his life and soul that he can't do without her. There's irony in that "cleave" means both to adhere to, and to be split from; that irony is in the meanings of the word, itself. Claudius is both "stuck to" Gertrude politically, and separated from her, emotionally.
In ancient astronomy, the stars were considered to be stuck to crystalline spheres that kept them in the sky.
Immediately after saying he can't do without Gertrude, Claudius turns to politics. This additionally affirms that their marriage is political.
hw 3025, to hw 3032- Why to a public count I might not go,
Is the great love the general gender bear him,
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
Work like the spring that turneth wood to stone:
Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,
Too slightly timbered for so loved, armed,
Would have reverted to my bow again,
But not where I have aimed them.
---
General gender means women in general, as the first reading. Claudius speaks of women in general, after mentioning Gertrude in particular. He is not saying that women have the vote in Renaissance Denmark, but he is recognizing that women are politically influential, nevertheless, and that the women like Hamlet. Claudius is jealous. The general gender of women includes Ophelia, so there is undertone of Ophelia's love for Hamlet, as well. The meaning of general gender may also then be extended to mean the people in general, as Claudius proceeds.
Some mineral springs in England, and elsewhere, have the property of speeding the petrification of wood, or of coating wood with a mineral deposit, and this was noticed long ago. That's the spring - wood - stone concept that Claudius is referring to.
The idea, of Hamlet's faults being dipped in the public's affection, has allusion to the legend of Achilles being dipped in the river Styx by his mother to make him invulnerable. Achilles was later slain by a wound to the heel where his mother held him. Hamlet will allude to this undertone of Achilles later, in the Graveyard Scene, when he speaks of the peasant galling his "kybe."
Gyves are fetters, or shackles. Allusion is to Claudius earlier speaking of putting fetters on his fear, also Hamlet's later mention of "bilboes." There's also allusion back to Ophelia saying of Hamlet, when she told Polonius Hamlet rushed into her room without speaking, that his stockings were "down-gyved" to his ankles. Ophelia was unintentionally predicting Hamlet would be shackled, at least figuratively. In plain reading, Claudius means that if he literally shackled Hamlet, in Denmark, the public would sympathize with Hamlet, and turn against Claudius.
Loved, Armed, is correct in the playtext, as Q2 shows. The Folio wording is an editorial misunderstanding. A significant allusion is to the Ghost, which appeared in armor in the shape of Hamlet's beloved father, an image both loved by Hamlet, and also armed. In plain reading, Claudius means Hamlet is armored by the public's love of him, so that if Claudius shot arrows at Hamlet, politically speaking, the arrows would ricochet off Hamlet right back at Claudius. The phrase so loved, armed, is read as "one so loved, and so armored."
There is a paradoxical allusion to Cupid in Claudius's lines about arrow and bow. The further meaning is that if Claudius, like Cupid, tried to shoot "arrows of love" at the public, the public is armored against it by their preference for Hamlet, so Claudius's attempt to make the public love him, politically, instead of Hamlet, would do no good.
In sum, Claudius is talking about the idea of speaking against Hamlet to the public, as a political move, but he sees Hamlet as too strong, politically, to do that.
hw 3033, to hw 3037- Laer: And so have I a noble father lost,
A sister driven into desperate terms,
Whose worth, if praises may go back again
Stood challenger on mount of all the age
For her perfections, but my revenge will come.
---
Noble is ironic, in that Polonius was continually bossy to the King and Queen, as though he were the sovereign instead of the servant.
The exact word order of Laertes's first line is notable, in that it's in the form of a question, as though he isn't sure.
Terms means "expressions." Laertes has interpreted Ophelia's behavior, with her singing and flowers, as expressions of desperate grief.
A mount is a pedestal for mounting a statue. Laertes is using the cliche about putting a woman on a pedestal. Laertes had viewed his sister as like a nice statute, a thing, part of the furniture. This is characterization of Laertes as a male chauvinist.
Laertes expresses his desire for revenge.
hw 3038, to hw 3044- Clau: Break not your sleeps for that, you must not think
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull,
That we can let our beard be shook with danger,
And think it pastime, you shortly shall hear more;
I loved your father, and we love ourself,
And that I hope will teach you to imagine . . .
---
Break not your sleeps has an undertone of allusion to Hamlet's nightmare. In plain reading, Claudius means, "don't lose any sleep over it."
Flat means "insipid," and dull means "stupid." Both words also have connotations of "lifeless." Claudius is implying he isn't dead yet.
The stuff of which Claudius is made is only dust, in religious terms, and to the flat, dull dust he will soon return. He's mistaken in trying to deny being made of flat, dull stuff. The word stuff conjecturally comes from a root meaning of "to stop up," which anticipates Hamlet's remarks, in the next Scene, about the remains of Alexander the Great being potentially used as a plug for a beer barrel, and the "clay" of Caesar being used to "stop a hole," as Hamlet will phrase it.
Beard be shook refers to Claudius's chin trembling with fear, figuratively, which results in his beard trembling, too. Claudius is afraid, now. There is allusion back to Hamlet talking of his beard being pulled, in his attempt to motivate himself, after the Player's recital, although the sentiment is not the same. Hamlet is not shaking Claudius's beard directly, but indirectly, by causing the fear that makes Claudius's chin tremble.
Pastime refers back to the Mousetrap play, where Claudius first became frightened, by Hamlet. It was not an enjoyable evening for Claudius.
Claudius says Laertes shortly shall hear more, and so he will, but the news, about Hamlet, will not be what Claudius expects.
Claudius says he loved Polonius. It's a lie. However, Claudius is not necessarily lying as he says it. At this time, with Polonius dead, Claudius may really think he did love Polonius, as best Claudius can understand the concept. People's ideas change, when somebody dies, and the person, himself, is no longer there. However, if one person really loved another, he would not involve the other's son in a criminal murder plot, as we will see develop with Claudius and Laertes.
When Claudius says we love ourself, he uses the royal plural, that a king uses. It is not a personal statement; he means he loves being King. The phrase arises from his sinful ambition.
Claudius breaks off as the Messenger enters. The interruption makes his last line ironic. To imagine is to picture something that is not real. The undertone is of Claudius saying to Laertes that he hopes he has fooled Laertes about how he really feels, and what he's really done. Imagine further means to form an image in the mind, which is on the Mirror/Image theme, and there is the point of the Ghost being an "image."
hw 3045, to hw 3053- (a Messenger enters with letters)
Messenger: These to your Majesty; this to the Queen.
Claudius: From Hamlet? Who brought them?
Messen: Sailors, my Lord, they say; I saw them not;
They were given me by Claudio; he received them
Of him that brought them.
Clau: Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us.
(the Messenger exits)
---
At the end of the last Scene, Claudius had left to present his case to Laertes and his friends, and was not immediately available to receive the letters from Hamlet. Horatio and the pirates entrusted the letters to Claudio, and left, to go where Hamlet is. They had absolute confidence in Claudio to ensure the letters would be delivered, and their trust was not misplaced. Claudio is perfectly reliable.
Claudio is from the name of the Roman gens, "Claudius," which is from the Latin for "lame." A gens is a clan that recognizes descent through the male line. The offstage Claudio character is an author's self reference. In need of a character, the author used himself again, but this time as the "lame" man, Claudio. This relates to the mention of lameness in the Sonnets.
Claudius opens a letter to him, and reads from it.
hw 3054, to hw 3063- (Claudius continues, reading a letter):
High and mighty,
you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom;
tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall, first
asking you, "pardon," thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden
and more strange return.
Claudius: What should this mean, are all the rest come back,
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
Laertes: Know you the hand?
Clau: 'Tis Hamlet's character. Naked?
And in a postscript here he says: "alone;"
Can you devise me?
---
High and mighty is Biblical, as in "how are the mighty fallen!" Hamlet means he intends for Claudius to fall upon his return. Claudius will use the word "fall" twice, soon after reading the letter.
Naked means reborn, as a naked baby, as the first meaning. Hamlet has learned that Claudius was trying to kill him with the trip to England, and is saying that, in returning, he is reborn, figuratively. Second, it means "like a naked sword of vengeance," an unsheathed sword. Hamlet is returning with his sword drawn, figuratively speaking. This is irony in anticipation of the later fencing match.
The scallop shell, which Ophelia sang of, is particularly associated with a pilgrimmage to the shrine of Saint James of Compostela, as mentioned earlier. St James of C. is emblematically associated with The Sword. Hamlet has returned from his "pilgrimmage" with The Sword.
The lines from kingly eyes through occasion have allusion back to what Fortinbrasse said about the possibility Claudius would want to see him personally. The occasion Hamlet has in mind is to spit in Claudius's eye, after first asking his pardon. Hamlet is a polite fellow. Hamlet intends first to say, "I beg your pardon," and then spit in Claudius's kingly eyes.
The phrase and more strange does not appear in Q2, but is added in the Folio. I accept it because of pertinent allusion. It goes back to when Hamlet talked to Horatio after encountering the Ghost, and said that Horatio should welcome the experience as he'd welcome a stranger. Here, with his word strange, Hamlet is facetiously saying Claudius should welcome him, as he would a stranger.
Abuse means "deception," in plain reading. Claudius is wondering if his ears are being abused, figuratively speaking, by what Hamlet says in the letter. Claudius knows about ears being abused.
Character has a double meaning. It refers first, in plain reading, to Hamlet's handwriting, the way he shapes the characters, or letters. In undertone, it refers to Hamlet's nature; the author is facetiously having Claudius say that the way the letter is written is just like something Hamlet would do.
Devise means "advise," in plain reading. The word has an archaic meaning of "to plot," as in plotting a crime, which is advance allusion to the conspiracy between Claudius and Laertes. In law, a "devise" is a gift; Claudius is asking if Laertes can "give" him what the letter means. In undertone, devise goes back to the King's lines at the Mousetrap play: "Our wills and fates do so contrary run, That our devises still are overthrown." With devise, the author is providing an undertone that the plot Claudius and Laertes come up with will not work as they intend.
hw 3064, to hw 3067- Laer: I am lost in it, my Lord, but let him come;
It warms the very sickness in my heart
That I live, and tell him to his teeth:
Thus didst thou!
(Laertes imitates stabbing Hamlet with a sword)
---
Lost has the plain meaning that Laertes can't undertand what Hamlet wrote. Lost also has the general meaning of being destroyed, either physically or morally, which is an undertone of Laertes's fate.
Laertes's second line has the plain meaning that he's heartsick about his father's death, but he feels better that he'll soon have a chance for revenge against Hamlet. Before Ophelia first entered in her "mad" condition, Gertrude spoke of sin being a sickness in the soul. In undertone, Laertes's sin is only in his heart at this time, not yet in his soul, since he hasn't committed the sin yet. The "warming," in this respect, is Laertes's soul getting closer to Hell.
The Q2 wording, Thus didst thou is correct. As Laertes says it, he imitates a sword thrust at Hamlet. Laertes means, "this is what you did to my father (so I'll do the same to you.)" We know that's correct in the play, because it's the sight of Laertes imitating a sword thrust that gives Claudius the idea for the fencing match. The wording, and gesture, are necessary for the flow of events in the play.
Claudius, inspired by Laertes's gesture, then begins to lead Laertes into his scheme, gradually.
hw 3068, to hw 3078- Claudius: If it be so, Laertes,
As how should it be so, how otherwise,
Will you be ruled by me?
Laertes: Aye, my Lord, so you will not o'errule me to a peace.
Clau: To thine own peace, if he be now returned;
As the King at his voyage, and that he means
No more to undertake it, I will work him
To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,
Under the which he shall not choose but fall;
And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,
But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,
And call it accident.
---
The way it should be otherwise is if Laertes had any sense. Laertes is going to allow himself to be put in the position where he, alone, can be blamed for Hamlet's death, even though it will be Claudius's murder scheme. At the fencing match, Claudius will have a way to cover up for himself, which he isn't going to tell Laertes.
Claudius's To thine own peace is wickedly ironic. At the fencing match, Claudius will "rule" Laertes to r.i.p.
Claudius's As the King is correct in the playtext. The Folio wording is wrong. Claudius means he was the King who sent Hamlet on the voyage, intending to kill him, and Claudius is still King at Hamlet's return, with power to keep trying to kill Hamlet.
Devise is again ironic usage, in that the "devises" are overthrown in the play.
Not choose but fall has the undertone of allusion to Ophelia saying she couldn't choose but weep at Polonius's funeral, however, they were not tears of grief. Nor would Claudius's tears at Hamlet's funeral be tears of grief, but he doesn't know he won't be alive to shed tears of any kind then.
No wind of blame means no spoken accusations, against Claudius. Wind also goes back to the Player's recital to Hamlet, about the whiff and wind of the fell sword of Pyrrhus; this is anticipatory allusion to the fencing match. The warrior Pyrrhus missed, and when he did so, the King, Priam, fell. We'll see that the "warrior," Laertes, will "miss," in the sense of making his plan work out the way he hopes, and the King, Claudius, will fall, at the fencing match.
Uncharge means not to charge with any wrongdoing; it has the legal sense of "acquit." In undertone, Gertrude will indeed "uncharge" - take the power out of - Claudius's poison wine "practice" at the fencing match, when she sips from the cup, causing her death, by accident, and leading to Claudius's own death, from his own poisoning scheme. In plain reading, Claudius says he thinks his idea is clever enough to fool Gertrude that Hamlet's death was an accident. Or if not, he's intending to have somebody else to blame: Laertes.
hw 3078+1, to hw 3078+10- Laer: My Lord, I will be ruled,
The rather if you could devise it so
That I might be the organ.
Clau: It falls right;
You have been talked of since your travel much,
And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality
Wherein they say you shine; your sum of parts
Did not together pluck such envy from him
As did that one, and that in my regard
Of the unworthiest siege.
---
Again we see devise, with the same irony.
The organ Laertes intends, as he says it, is the hand. Laertes is agreeing to be the hand of Claudius, figuratively speaking. In undertone, organ alludes back to Hamlet saying, in connection with his intent for the Mousetrap play, that murder, although it has no tongue, will speak with miraculous organ. At the fencing match, Laertes's own tongue will be the miraculous organ that accuses Claudius and reveals the murder plot.
Siege means "throne," from a Middle English root word. Claudius is beginning to speak of Laertes's skill with a sword, and is implicitly calling Laertes the "King of Swords." There is a tarot allusion, to the suit of Swords. Claudius says that "King of Swords" is an "unworthy" throne, meaning it's a throne he doesn't want, or wouldn't try to compete for. He is both calling Laertes a kind of "king," and at the same time keeping Laertes subordinate.
Claudius begins using flattery to lead Laertes into his scheme. This misuse of flattery, as Claudius talks to Laertes, goes back in concept to Hamlet's denigration of flattery when he spoke to Horatio before the Mousetrap play.
hw 3078+11, to hw 3087- Laer. What part is that, my Lord?
Clau: A very ribbon in the cap of youth,
Yet needful to, for youth no less becomes
The light and careless livery that it wears
Than settled age, his sables, and his weeds
Importing health and graveness; two months since,
Here was a gentleman of Normandy;
I have seen myself, and served against the French,
And they can well on horseback, but this gallant
Had witchcraft in it; he grew unto his seat,
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,
As had he been incorpsed, and demi-natured
With the brave beast, so far he topped, methought,
That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,
Come short of what he did.
---
A ribbon is a decoration, a fashion item. Claudius says that skill with a sword is fashionable for a youth. This is on the Fashion motif. By needful Claudius means he has need for Laertes's skill with a sword now. Light and careless livery continues on the Fashion motif, and further implies Claudius has noticed Laertes is not very smart or careful.
Settled age has allusion to Polonius, who is now permanently "settled." In this allusion, the sables are the sable coat Polonius wore, particularly at the night of the Mousetrap play. Weeds, in plain reading, means "clothing," but in undertone it alludes to the plants growing on Polonius's grave.
Polonius's health is, well, "bad," and his graveness is exactly that.
Claudius speaks of the man from Normandy being there two months earlier, which means he was there to attend the funeral for Hamlet Sr. Claudius doesn't expressly mention his brother's funeral, but avoids the subject.
Claudius speaks of the Frenchman riding so well that it seemed he was part of the horse. A centaur is half man and half horse, and there are historical tarot cards with illustrations of a centaur.
Forgery means "fantasy," or "daydream." Claudius is referring to his fantasy of being a great horseman. There is also an undertone of the Ghost in the phrase forgery of shapes.
The Justice card of the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck shows a rider with a sword leaping over Lady Justice as she holds the scales and her own Sword of Justice. That's Claudius's fantasy, to be able to ride so well that he could simply leap over justice, on horseback. Topped, for plain reading, means "excelled." In undertone, topped raises the question, "topped what?" In Claudius's fantasy, the answer is: Justice. Claudius wishes he could get on a horse and jump right over Justice, as the tarot card illustrates, and thereby avoid punishment for his crimes.
hw 3088, to hw 3093- Laer: A Norman, was it?
Clau: A Norman.
Laer: Upon my life, Lamord!
Clau: The very same.
Laer: I know him well; he is the brooch indeed,
And gem of all the nation.
---
The word Norman offers the allusion that the horseman was neither beast nor man but a "demi-natured" creature, as Claudius said, half man and half beast. Also, a satyr is roughly half man and half beast, and Hamlet called Claudius a satyr.
Lamord - taken as French "la mort" - is a word ironically emblematic of death, in Laertes's exclamation about his life.
A brooch, as mentioned in the writings of Chaucer, is a gold ornament, and a gem mentioned in the play is the red carbuncle, when Hamlet recited about Pyrrhus and then asked the Player to continue the recital. So, brooch and gem offer another subtle allusion to the colors red and gold, as with R & G.
Claudius turns to what Lamord had to say about Laertes.
hw 3094, to hw 3104- Clau: He made confession of you,
And gave you such a masterly report
For art and exercise in your defense,
And for your rapier most especially,
That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed
If one could match you; the escrimeures of their nation,
He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,
If you opposed them; sir, this report of his
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,
That he could nothing do but wish and beg
Your sudden coming o'er, to play with you.
Now, out of this . . .
Laer: What out of this, my Lord?
---
Made confession has the plain meaning that the Frenchman "confessed," or admitted, that Laertes, a Dane, was better than the French swordsmen. In undertone, it alludes to religious confession, so that Claudius speaks in anticipation of his fencing match scheme, that he'll propose, as being something sinful, which it will be.
The idea of one person confessing for another anticipates the fencing match, where Laertes will confess Claudius's crime against Hamlet.
Masterly has the double meaning that the Frenchman's report was a report by a master, since the Frenchman is a master of the subject, and also that the report was about Laertes being a master of swordsmanship.
Defense is ironic, in that Claudius's scheme, that he'll propose, is highly offensive, criminal.
Escrimeures is the French word for "fencers."
Envenom is advance allusion to Claudius's plot to poison Hamlet.
Play has advance allusion that the fencing match idea, that Claudius will propose, will be only a show of a legitimate match, while Claudius plans that the reality will be different. It's an instance on the Putting On A Show theme. Hamlet planned the Mousetrap play to try to catch Claudius, and now Claudius is planning a kind of "play" that will catch Hamlet.
Out of this means "in consequence" of what Claudius said. Claudius pauses in thinking about how to carry further what he's been saying. Laertes is intrigued, and inquires.
hw 3105, to hw 3108- Clau: Laertes, was your father dear to you?
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
A face without a heart?
Laer: Why ask you this?
---
Claudius mentions Polonius to draw Laertes further in, still gradually working up to the specific idea for the fencing match.
In plain reading, with painting, Claudius is asking if Laertes has real feeling for the death of his father, or is only doing what he thinks he should, Putting On A Show of emotion, but without real feeling behind it. That's important for Claudius to know, about how motivated Laertes is, as Claudius works to involve Laertes in his plot. If Laertes is not sufficiently motivated, he might not follow through on the scheme.
The idea of painting, as Claudius speaks of it, also has an undertone of facial cosmetics, going back to Claudius's "confession" in response to Polonius's epigram in the Nunnery Scene, where Claudius's conscience was caught by Polonius's accidental remark, but there was no audience to see. Claudius likened the covering up of his "heartless" crime to the paint on a harlot's face.
Hamlet spoke of paintings in the Closet Scene while he lectured Gertrude about the difference between Hamlet Sr and Claudius. The idea here, of a painting as a face without a heart, tends to confirm that Polonius was hiding behind a king tapestry of Claudius, and Hamlet stabbed through the heart of Claudius's picture on the arras, leaving the picture of Claudius a face without a heart, so to speak.
Laertes wants to know why Claudius would ask him such a thing.
hw 3109, to hw 3112+10- Clau: Not that I think you did not love your father,
But that I know, love is begun by time,
And that I see in passages of proof,
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it;
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it,
And nothing is at a like goodness still,
For goodness, growing to a pleurisy,
Dies in his own too much; that we would do,
We should do when we would. For, this "would" changes,
And hath abatements and delays as many,
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents,
And then this "should" is like a spendthrift's sigh,
That hurts by easing; but to the quick of the ulcer:
---
Claudius says he knows, from personal experience, that love diminishes over time. He's revealing that in his youth he loved Gertrude, but he no longer does. Time has abated his love for her, and their marriage is only political.
His would and should remarks reveal that he wishes he had killed his brother years before he finally did, in the days when he did love Gertrude. There is also the undertone that Hamlet should have killed Claudius right away, to save his own life, when he first thought he would, after the Ghost talked to him.
Quick of the ulcer is on the concept of enemies being like diseases.
hw 3113, to hw 3129- Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake
To show yourself indeed your father's son
More than in words?
Laer: To cut his throat in the church.
Clau: No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;
Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes,
Will you do this: keep close within your chamber;
Hamlet, returned, shall know you are come home;
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,
And set a double varnish on the fame
The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,
And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A sword unbated, and in a pace of practice
Requite him for your Father.
---
Claudius's question of Laertes being his father's son echoes, in sentiment, what the Ghost said to Hamlet.
Laertes's vow, that he would cut Hamlet's throat in church, compares to Hamlet in the Prayer Scene, where he refrained from killing Claudius at prayer. Claudius's assertion that revenge should have no bounds is devilishly ironic in that Claudius doesn't know he was nearly killed while praying. If Hamlet shared Claudius's point of view, Claudius would be dead.
Claudius proposes that Laertes should stay out of sight, while he entices Hamlet into the rigged fencing match.
Pace is a reference to speed, and is the correct word in the playtext, as Q2 shows. Claudius means that Laertes is quick enough to stab Hamlet, and get away with it by having it called an accident.
hw 3130, to hw 3139- Laer: I will do it!
And for purpose, I'll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank
So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood, no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue
Under the moon, can save the thing from death
That is but scratched withal; I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly, it may be death.
---
Laertes agrees to try it, and adds that he has some poison to put on his sword.
The Magician card in tarot is also known, in some places, as the "Mountebank" card. The tarot Magician card, from an historical deck, would be an apt illustration for Laertes's remark about the mountebank.
hw 3140, to hw 3146- Clau: Lets further think of this.
Weigh what convenience, both of time and means,
May fit us to our shape, if this should fail;
And that our drift look through our bad performance,
'Twere better not assayed; therefore, this project,
Should have a back or second that might hold
If this did blast in proof; soft, let me see . . .
---
Claudius is competitive on the idea of poisoning people, so Laertes's idea of using poison stimulates him to further thought. He decides they should have a backup plan, and he'll think of using more poison, naturally.
hw 3147, to hw 3153- We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings;
I ha'te: when, in your motion, you are hot and dry,
(As make your bouts more violent to that end,)
And that he calls for drink, I'll have preferred him
A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,
Our purpose may hold there; but stay, what noise?
---
Claudius's word ha'te is impossible to render correctly in a single word. It has a double meaning, and is two words in one. I add the apostrophe to indicate that it's "different," from any single word. It means both "hate" and "have it" at the same time.
In plain reading, Claudius is simply saying, "I have it," to mean he's thought of something. In undertone, he's saying "I hate," which expresses the dominant emotion of his personality, as part of his characterization.
Preferred is from a root meaning of "to place before." Claudius means both that he'll reserve a special chalice for Hamlet, and also that he'll place the chalice before Hamlet, as Hamlet's drink.
Nonce means "occasion," and stuck was a technical term for a sword thrust.
Any further conversation about the fencing match is interrupted by the entry of Gertrude.
hw 3154, to hw 3157- (Gertrude enters)
Gertrude: One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
So fast they follow; your sister's drowned, Laertes.
Laertes: Drowned? O where?
---
Gertrude's tread - heel line anticipates Hamlet's remark to Horatio in the Graveyard Scene, later, about the peasant walking close on the heels of the courtier. Fast means "closely," in time.
Laertes's question of where is important. Elsinore Castle is close by the sea. Anybody at Elsinore who hears that someone has drowned would have the first thought that it would be in the ocean. Laertes can't believe Ophelia was allowed to wander out to the ocean and drown. Gertrude will immediately tell him that it wasn't in the ocean.
One of the places we know about, near Elsinore, is the cliff Horatio mentioned when he was trying to prevent Hamlet from following the Ghost. Horatio spoke of: "the dreadful summit of the cliff, That beetles o'er his base into the sea."
That cliff is "Suicide Cliff." Since Horatio knew of it, Ophelia certainly knew of it, and had been warned to stay away from it. If a person wanted to end his life by jumping into water, near Elsinore Castle, Suicide Cliff is the exact place he would do it. Did Ophelia jump off Suicide Cliff to drown?
No.
It comfirms the "King's Sonnet" at the Mousetrap play, when the King character spoke of something "mellow" falling from a tree, and where the final word was "accident."
This is why the author had Horatio mention Suicide Cliff when speaking to Hamlet. It's for response, here, to Laertes's question of where, about Ophelia's death. She did not drown in the ocean at Suicide Cliff. The idea of her committing suicide, which we'll see mentioned in the next Scene, is an untrue rumor, on the Slander/Rumor theme.
hw 3158, to hw 3175- Gert: There is a willow grows askant the brook,
That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream,
Therewith fantastic garlands did she make
Of crowflowers, nettles, daises, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cull-cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.
There on the pendant boughs, her crownet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook; her clothes spread wide,
And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,
Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and endewed
Unto that element, but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
---
Askant means "leaning over, above." It's a poetic variant of "askance," meaning to the side, or obliquely. The willow tree grows at a slant, leaning to the side, over the brook.
The reflection in the glassy water is an instance on the Mirror theme.
The willow is traditionally viewed as a "sad" tree, as in the name of the well-known weeping willow, so the willow tree symbolizes the sadness of Ophelia's death.
Crowflowers are also known as Ragged Robin, and "Robin" is Ophelia's nickname for Hamlet. The crowflower was traditionally used to forecast one's future mate. A crowflower was placed under the pillow at night, and the sleeper would dream about the one she would marry. With the crowflower, the author tells us that Ophelia would have married Hamlet, her Robin, had they lived.
Nettles traditionally symbolize slander, and also symbolize bad luck for a woman. It again confirms Ophelia's accidental death, that the suicide idea is slander. This is also further confirmation of the accident, in that Ophelia had "bad luck" right there in the tree with her, in the nettle, leading to her fall, in addition to the general "bad luck" idea.
Daisies traditionally symbolize gentleness, purity, innocence, and loyalty in love. The name is from "day's eye," which means the sun, symbolic of Heaven. The basic meaning of the daisy is that Ophelia was gentle, pure, innocent, and loyal in love, and she's in Heaven.
In association with the sun idea, of the daisy, is another implicit sun/son pun, referring to Hamlet. Ophelia's "loyalty in love" was for Hamlet, the "day's eye," that is, the "son."
The daisy also is the traditional symbol of a newborn baby. In relation to Ophelia, this does not mean she was pregnant. It means that Ophelia, herself, is a newborn angel, in Heaven.
In the days of chivalry, when a maiden received a proposal she would wear a wreath of daisies on her head to signify an affirmative reply. The daisies in Ophelia's crown wreath affirm that Hamlet had proposed to her, and she had accepted. Also, daisy roots under the pillow at night were said to cause dreams of one's true love, which supports the crowflower meaning.
In Christian legend, when the Wise Men were trying to find Baby Jesus, they prayed for a sign to show them where he was. They then saw a cluster of ox-eye daisies near a stable. The Wise Men recognized the star shape of the flowers, in relation to the Star they had followed, and entered the stable to find Jesus in the manger. So, the author is further saying, with the daisies, that he has led Ophelia to Jesus.
The scientific name of the common daisy is "bellis perennis," which can be read in English as "beautiful forever." That's Ophelia, as drawn in words by the author and poet.
The long purples are the early purple orchid. It's also known as the dead man's fingers, or dead man's hand. Those names come from the shape of the root of the plant, actually a tuber. The author used the plural, dead-men's-fingers, and the two notable dead men in the play, at this point, are the Ghost and Polonius. The primary symbolism is that the "root" cause of Ophelia's death is that she was pulled down by the dead men's hands, figuratively speaking. It was first the Ghost, and then the death of her father, that led to Ophelia's death.
The early purple orchid has several grosser, or more vulgar, names that derive from the tubers being seen as phallic symbols. The flower is also known as "bloody bones," which accords with unjust death being symbolized by blood in Hamlet.
The early purple orchid is also called the Devil's fingers, or Devil's hand, which alludes to the Ghost.
The early purple orchid blooms early in the year, as the name indicates, and can sometimes be seen in bloom at Easter. The plant has spots on the leaves, thought by some to resemble dried drops of blood. This led to religious folklore that the early purple orchid grew at the base of the cross of Jesus, and was stained by his blood. The religious folklore provides another Jesus allusion for Ophelia.
In Elizabethan times, orchids were known as satyrions, because they were thought to be the food of satyrs. This connects to Hamlet's dreadfully mistaken idea about Ophelia and Claudius, where he thought Ophelia had become Claudius's "feast," and after Hamlet characterized Claudius as a satyr.
In sum, and briefly, Ophelia's flowers have the essential meanings:
* Ophelia would have married Hamlet, her Robin;- * She had bad luck, and will be slandered;
- * She was gentle, innocent, and loyal in love, and she's in Heaven;
- * The dead men's hands pulled her down to her death.
Gertrude's word cold means "insensitive," in plain reading. In the context of Ophelia's death, Gertrude considers it insensitive of the maids to use the word dead so freely as to put it in the name of a flower. There is also allusion to the coldness of death for the maid, Ophelia.
The word cull, in the hyphenated term cull-cold, is usually presumed a misprint, but it is not. To cull is to choose, or to sort. Gertrude means that the maids are the insensitive sort of persons, and there is the further allusion that Ophelia was chosen for death.
Crownet means Ophelia was using willow twigs to make a crown wreath, or more than one, of the kind that maids wore on holidays such as May Day. Willow twigs work well as the frames for such wreaths, because of being long and supple.
Snatches, in plain reading, means "parts," but the word has a denotation referring to being grabbed or seized, with the undertone in the word that Ophelia has been gripped by death. The usage relates back to Hamlet saying, on the night he saw the Ghost, that the air bit shroudly.
Lauds are hymns, and in formal religious practice lauds are sung in the morning. The word implies that the time of day in the play is the morning, for this Scene, and with the undertone that it's the dawn of a new day for Ophelia, as an angel in Heaven.
Ophelia was indeed incapable, unperceptive, of her distress, since, as the oppressed daughter of Polonius, she had never been swimming, and did not realize the danger of the water.
The idea of a creature native to the water goes back to Hamlet calling Ophelia a "nymph" in the Nunnery Scene.
Endewed means "endued," but I retain the original spelling to show the "dew" in the word, which in undertone goes back to Hamlet's expressed wish to resolve into a dew, earlier in the play, and is an instance on the Dew motif, of an incorporeal vapor that rises, here meaning that Ophelia's incorporeal spirit rises to Heaven.
hw 3176, to hw 3184- Laer: Alas, then she is drowned?
Gert: Drowned. Drowned.
Laer: Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet
It is our trick; nature her custom holds;
Let shame say what it will, when these are gone,
The woman will be out. Adieu, my Lord;
I have a speech o' fire that fain would blaze,
But that this folly drowns it.
(Laertes exits)
---
Trick means "deception," in this case, self-deception. Laertes is saying that it's only self-deception by men to pretend they don't cry. Laertes accepts the stereotype that men are stern and only women cry. However, he finds that he can't help crying.
Laertes departs by saying adieu, which relates back to the Ghost saying "adieu" to Hamlet, and continues the Dew motif.
The word folly goes back to the Player's recital to Hamlet about Hecuba, the part about how the gods should break all the "follies" from Fortune's wheel.
The author had Laertes say that it's only self-deception by men to pretend they don't cry. Although the words were given to Laertes, they were stated by the author, of course. The author is permitting us to know that when he had to "kill" Ophelia in the play, he cried.
Shakespeare wept.
hw 3185, to hw 3188- Claudius: Let's follow, Gertrude;
How much I had to do, to calm his rage;
Now fear I, this will give it start again;
Therefore let's follow.
(they exit)
---
Claudius's follow follows from Gertrude's line shortly before: "One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow." The undertone is of Claudius saying he wants to quickly follow Laertes in woe, as indeed he will, in the final Scene.
Claudius says nothing about Ophelia. His only concern is in keeping Laertes calm, and under control, so he can use Laertes to kill Hamlet, to be sure he has somebody else he can blame for Hamlet's death. Claudius lacks normal human emotion and perception.
Gertrude departs in sincere grief about Ophelia. Claudius and Laertes depart with more death in mind.
End of Scene 18
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