|
. the Tragical History of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .
(Notes)
- Scene 19 [~ Poor Yorick ~] (Act 5 scene 1)
hw 3189- Setting: Outside the Castle;
The Graveyard;
Daytime.
(two Clowns enter, a Gravedigger and his Friend)
---
The word Clowns means that the characters are intended to be amusing, and does not imply they're wearing colorful costumes or strange makeup. The modern equivalent would be "comedian" or "comic."
hw 3190, to hw 3194- Gravedigger: Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully
seeks her own salvation?
Friend: I tell thee she is, therefore make her grave straight, the
crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.
---
The Gravedigger has heard an untrue rumor that Ophelia killed herself. This is on the Slander/Rumor theme.
Crowner means "coroner." The term comes from the coroner being an official of the Crown, the King, which is Claudius in this case.
Straight means "properly," and also implies "at once." Proper graves, for Christian burial, were dug in the east-to-west direction, and in consecrated ground. Such a grave was "straight." The graves of persons not approved by the church, such as suicides, were dug in the north-and-south direction, or at an angle, and outside of consecrated ground.
Sat on her means the coroner has "sat" as judge at a hearing about Ophelia's death. He ruled that her death was accidental.
The Gravedigger doesn't like his friend telling him what to do, so he starts arguing.
hw 3195, to hw 3202- Gravedigger: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own
defense?
Friend: Why, 'tis found so.
Gravedigger: It must be so offended, it cannot be else; for, here lies the
point - if I drown my self wittingly, it argues an act, & an act hath
three branches: it is to act, to do, to perform, or all; she drowned her
self wittingly.
---
The Gravedigger is sceptical about Ophelia's death, although he's entirely ignorant of the subject. He attempts to make a legal argument in favor of suicide. Mostly, he's just talking, to give his friend a difficult time for being bossy to him.
So offended is the Gravedigger's foolish mistake in terminology. There's a Latin term, "se defendendo," used in criminal law in reference to a kind of killing of one person by another. The term has nothing to do with Ophelia's death. He also says defense, but then says offended. The Gravedigger Clown is babbling.
The Gravedigger offers a circular argument, beginning with the idea of him drowning himself intentionally, and concluding that Ophelia drowned herself intentionally, because he premised that he did.
He says an act has three branches, but mentions four things, and the words he uses - act, do and perform - all mean the same thing. He also says an act is a branch of itself. The Gravedigger is no logician, to say the least.
Branch has an undertone of the broken tree branch that dropped Ophelia into the brook. "Acting," "doing," and "performing" are what actors do on stage; the terms are an instance of the Putting On A Show theme, as the Gravedigger tries to put on a legal/logical "show" for his friend. He's not good at acting as a lawyer or logician, however.
It's notable, as part of the Gravedigger's characterization, that the words he uses - act, do, and perform - all mean the same thing. The Gravedigger can't really tell one thing from another. It's all the same to the Gravedigger.
hw 3203, to hw 3209- Friend: Nay, but hear you good man delver . . .
Gravedigger: Give me leave; here lies the water, good, here stands the
man, good; if the man go to this water & drown himself, it is will
he, nill he, he goes, mark you that, but if the water come to him, &
drown him, he drowns not himself, argall, he that is not guilty of
his own death, shortens not his own life.
---
Good man delver is wordplay on "good man, deliver," as though the Gravedigger were the foreman of a jury delivering a verdict on an accused in court. Verdicts are said to be "delivered." The Friend calls the Gravedigger delver because to delve is to dig.
The Gravedigger is off and running with his "legal argument," and continues to give his friend his version of a legal lecture. Will he, nill he is the Gravedigger's garbled version of "willy-nilly." "Willy-nilly" refers to something happening by chance, whether a person wants it to or not, and the phrase makes no sense as the Gravedigger speaks it, where's he's trying to argue a man doing something intentionally, not by chance.
However, will he, nill he does make sense, for what the Gravedigger is trying to argue, if will is understood as "desire," and nill is understood as "nil," or "nothing." The phrase can be construed as meaning a man desiring to make himself into nothing. So, although the Gravedigger misspeaks, he has accidentally used a phrase that can be read in a way that works for what he's trying to argue. His incorrect usage is, in a way, right by mistake.
Argall is a corruption of Latin "ergo," meaning "therefore." It's possible there's also a reference to a man named John Argal, who was a logician of Elzabethan times.
In his concluding clauses, the Gravedigger offers a conclusion that is a mere truism, or epigram, and is a non sequitur that has nothing to do with his argument.
hw 3210, to hw 3214- Friend: But is this law?
Gravedigger: Aye, marry is it, crowner's quest law.
Friend: Will you have the truth on it? If this had not been a gentlewoman,
she should have been buried out o' Christian burial.
---
The Gravedigger's attempt to argue law, and logic, has convinced his Friend, who knows nothing of either subject. Although the Gravedigger is a "bad actor" when it comes to putting on a show of being a lawyer, or a logician, the Friend isn't educated enough, or perceptive enough to tell.
The Gravedigger asserts that he has stated crowner's quest law, which is his garbled version of "coroner's inquest law."
There is wordplay that Ophelia was on a "crowner's quest," to make herself crown wreaths, when she fell from the tree.
The Friend, convinced by the Gravedigger's preposterous excuse for an argument, now thinks that Ophelia shouldn't have Christian burial. This is an instance on the Slander/Rumor theme, showing how easily slander, or rumor, can spread.
hw 3215, to hw 3226- Gravedigger: Why there thou sayest, and the more pity that great folk
should have countenance in this world to drown or hang theyselves,
more then their even Christian. Come, my spade; there is no ancient
gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold
up Adam's profession.
Friend: Was he a gentleman?
Gravedigger: He was the first that ever bore arms.
Friend: Why, he had none.
Gravedigger: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand
the Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged;
could he dig without arms?
---
Countenance means "permission," and even Christian means "fellow Christian." The Gravedigger is complaining that people of high status have permission to kill themselves, while people of low status don't. It's an odd sort of class privilege to resent. His comment relates back to Hamlet's soliloquy in the Nunnery Scene, where Hamlet spoke of sweating under a weary life, and making one's quietus with a bodkin. Hamlet saw suicide as a religious concern, not a class privilege, however.
The Gravedigger says that Adam was an ancient gentleman who dug. The idea of Adam digging come from the Garden of Eden; since Adam was in the Garden, he must have been a gardener, that is, he must have dug. The Gravedigger is wrong about holy scripture saying expressly that Adam delved, however.
In the history of English heraldry there are arguments that Adam was a gentleman. In Elizabethan times, a gentleman was technically a man of the class entitled to be called "sir," allowed to carry weapons, and who had a coat of arms. The higher "Lord" class could also bear arms, and had family coats of arms, of course, and were referred to as "gentlemen," as well.
The Friend questions that Adam was a "gentleman" in the English status sense. The Gravedigger asserts, using a pun, that Adam was a gentleman, since he couldn't dig without "arms." There is a subtlety in the wordplay that the shape of the traditional coat of arms is about the same as the shape of the blade of a round-point shovel. The notion being, that if one attached a pole, or handle, to a coat of arms, one would have a shovel for digging.
hw 3227, to hw 3238- I'll put another question to thee, if thou answerest me not to the
purpose, confess thyself.
Friend: Go to.
Gravedigger: What is he that builds stronger then either the Mason, the
Shipwright, or the Carpenter?
Friend: The gallows-maker, for that out-lives a thousand tenants.
Gravedigger: I like thy wit well in good faith, the gallows does well,
but how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now thou
dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church, argall,
the gallows may do well to thee. To it again, come.
---
There's an old saying, "confess, and be hanged." When the Gravedigger says, confess thyself, the Friend thinks the Gravedigger is giving him a hint about the answer he wants for his riddle. So, the Friend says, the gallows-maker. But it turns out the Gravedigger was misleading him.
hw 3239, to hw 3241- Friend: Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a
carpenter?
Gravedigger: Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.
---
The patron saint of carpenters is Saint Joseph, the patron of shipwrights is Saint Peter the Apostle, and the patron of masons is Saint Claudius.
The undertone of allusion to St Claudius, in connection with the "gallows" answer by the Friend, hints that Claudius will not escape ultimate justice. The gallows-maker builds stronger than Claudius, is the implication, although Claudius will not survive to suffer the gallows, as we'll see in the next Scene.
Saint Claudius is also a patron against fever, which goes back to Claudius speaking of the "hectic" in his blood, and the mention, after the Mousetrap play, of Claudius having "choler." Saint Gertrude of Nivelles is another patron against fever.
Saint Claudius was one of the Four Martyrs of Rome, another of whom was Simplician. Simplician is depicted in art wielding a pickaxe, which offers a connection to the "simple" Gravedigger singing of wielding a pickaxe, in his verse that will follow.
Unyoke means "be done with it," as in unyoking a draft animal when its work is done.
hw 3242, to hw 3250- Friend: Marry, now I can tell.
Gravedigger: To it.
Friend: Mass, I cannot tell.
Gravedigger: Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will
not mend his pace with beating, and when you are asked this question
next, say a grave-maker: the houses he makes last till doomsday.
Go, get thee in, and fetch me a soup of liquor.
(the Friend exits)
---
The Friend at first thinks the Gravedigger has given him another hint with "unyoke," and believes he can get the answer, but then he can't think what that word would have to do with building, and he gives up.
The Friend's Marry has a facetious undertone of wordplay. He's speaking the oath that comes from the name of the Virgin Mary, but in colloquial speech to be "yoked" is to be married.
The Gravedigger then does let his Friend "unyoke," but calls him a jackass. And the Friend probably should have known the Gravedigger was referring to himself, somehow, with his riddle, since the Gravedigger is so egotistical.
Soup of liquor means ale broth, or possibly wine broth, or a broth made with both ale and wine. Liquor was the general term for any alcoholic beverage, including wine and ale. Recipes are known from at least as early as the mid-17th century for ale broth and wine broth, made with chicken or beef. The recipes tend to be heavy on the ale, and light on the chicken. Such broth was made in commercial quantities, and bottled. The original Q2 word is spelled "soop," which means "soup" or "sup." Jennens (1773) had it correct. The Gravedigger is telling his friend to bring him lunch, probably in the form of a chicken soup made with ale.
The Folio has the word "Yaughan" in the last line. It means "Johan," which is a variant of "John." The word is Ben Jonson's own mark in the Folio, where he recognized himself being lampooned as the Gravedigger Clown.
hw 3251, to hw 3261- (the Gravedigger continues, singing):
In youth when I did love did love,
Methought it was very sweet
To contract o' the time for a' my behoove,
Oh, methought there a was nothing a' meet.
(Hamlet and Horatio enter)
Hamlet: Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in
grave-making.
Horatio: Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
Hamlet: 'Tis even so, the hand of little employment hath the daintier sense.
---
The Gravedigger's song is adapted from verse written by Lord Vaux, published in 1557.
Hamlet speaks of the Gravedigger's insensitivity, and Horatio replies that it's because he's accustomed to his work. The concept of habit changing a person's point of view relates back to Hamlet's lecture to Gertrude in the Closet Scene, where Hamlet spoke of "habit's devil," and of how a person can develop good habits. As far as digging graves goes, the Gravedigger's habit of singing is neither good nor bad; it's irrelevant. It's a good habit when it helps him get his work done.
But singing and music are quite typically part of funerals, and other observances of death. We'll later see Laertes complain about not enough music at Ophelia's funeral, or at least the cleric will mention it in response to Laertes's complaint. It's only that the music considered proper for death services is customarily of a certain kind, and usually doesn't mention romantic love.
Hamlet observes that an uncallused hand has a more sensitive touch, implying he's more sensitive on the subject of death than the Gravedigger is. It's true, as the play shows, that Hamlet is sensitive about death.
hw 3262, to hw 3271- Gravedigger (sings):
But age, with his stealing steps,
hath clawed me in his clutch,
And hath shipped me into the land,
as if I had never been such.
(the Gravedigger tosses a skull out of the grave he's digging)
Hamlet: That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing, once; how the
knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the
first murder; this might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now
o'er-reaches; one that would circumvent God, might it not?
---
Stealing is used in the sense of "taking." The word usage appears in the original verse by Lord Vaux, so it was not only the author who used "steal" poetically for the more general idea of "take."
Hamlet observes that the singing Gravedigger has no respect for the remains of other who could sing when they were alive. Jowls means the Gravedigger tosses the skull in a "cheeky" way. Cain refers to the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible, about the killing of a brother.
O'er-reaches means both "outranks," and physically stands beyond, in both time and space. There is advance allusion to the Gravedigger reaching to hand over a skull to Hamlet, later in the Scene.
The politician in the play is Polonius. It hasn't been long since Hamlet killed Polonius, and he doesn't know that Polonius has already been buried. Hamlet wonders if he may have returned in time for Polonius's funeral.
hw 3272, to hw 3288- Horatio: It might, my Lord.
Hamlet: Or of a Courtier, which could say good morrow sweet lord,
how dost thou sweet lord? This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that
praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he went to beg it, might it not?
Hora: Aye, my Lord.
Hamlet: Why even so, & now my Lady Worm's, chopless, & knocked
about the mazzard with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution and
we had the trick to see it; did these bones cost no more the breeding,
but to play at loggats with them? Mine ache to think on it.
Gravedigger (sings):
A pickaxe and a spade a spade,
for and a shrouding sheet,
Oh, a pit of clay for to be made
for such a guest is meet.
---
The term sweet lord anticipates the courtier calling Hamlet "sweet Lord" in the next Scene. It's a style of address between courtiers.
Mazzard means "head," from a word meaning "bowl" or "cup." The idea of "cup" anticipates the events of the fencing match in the final Scene. (The Q2 word is "massene," for which I'm unable to find a meaning, so I accept mazzard from the Folio. I do suspect that "massene" deserves continued attention.)
Revolution means a change in social circumstances, and trick means "luck." However, Hamlet did not have the luck to see the most significant revolution, or attempt at revolution, in the play, when Laertes stormed the Castle with his mob. Revolution further refers to the turning of the Wheel of Fortune. Fine means "remarkable," and also "final" for whoever's skull it is, and Hamlet will go on to use "fine" in different senses.
Loggats is a game, played by tossing sticks at a target, often with gambling involved, and cost means "value." The game of loggats was forbidden by law in Elizabethan days, probably because of gambling. Hamlet wonders if the ultimate value of a man is only in being something for throwing around as a game. The idea of a game, and the implication of gambling, anticipate the fencing match.
hw 3289, to hw 3304- (the Gravedigger tosses out another skull)
Hamlet: There's another; why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer?
Where be his quiddities now, his quillites, his cases, his tenures, and his
tricks? Why does he suffer this mad knave now to knock him about
the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action
of battery? Hm, this fellow might be in his time a great buyer of
land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his
recoveries; to have his fine pate full of fine dirt, will vouchers
vouch him no more of his purchases & doubles than the length
and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his
lands will scarcely lie in this box, & must the inheritor himself have
no more? Ha.
Horatio: Not a jot more, my Lord.
---
Quiddities and quillities refer to legal technicalities, and the terms statutes, recognizances, etc. are used in the legal sense, in connection with land ownership. The idea of owning a lot of land anticipates Hamlet's encounter with the courtier in the final Scene.
Sconce means the head, from an original meaning of "fortress." Elsinore Castle is a fortress, so there is some allusion to Elsinore being "knocked about" by events.
The word "fine" is used in about five different ways, including meanings of a financial settlement; a final result; an elegant, well-groomed head; an intelligent mind; and in reference to small particles of dirt.
Indentures is from a root meaning of "teeth," so pair of indentures has the undertone of the skull's upper and lower teeth being exposed to view.
Conveyances are transfers of property from one person to another. The ultimate property that's been "conveyed" to the deceased is merely his own small grave plot. (The word conveyances, here, supports that "convey" was the correct word when Laertes was speaking to Ophelia before he left for France, in Scene 3, as Q2 shows.)
Box means the geometric rectangle of the grave excavation, the size of the grave plot. Land is measured by surface area, of course. Despite his extensive purchases of land during his life, the lawyer - as Hamlet would have it - has ended up "owning" only his own grave plot.
hw 3305, to hw 3320- Hamlet: Is not parchment made of sheepskins?
Horatio: Aye, my Lord, and of calfskins, too.
Hamlet: They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in
that; I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?
Gravedigger: Mine, sir, or a pit of clay for to be made.
Hamlet: I think it be thine, indeed, for thou liest in it.
Gravedigger: You lie out on it, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours; for my part I
do not lie in it, yet it is mine.
Hamlet: Thou dost lie in it, to be in it & say it is thine; 'tis for the dead,
not for the quick, therefore thou liest.
Gravedigger: 'Tis a quick lie sir, 'twill away again from me to you.
---
Land deeds were customarily written on parchment. There's wordplay in assurance since the word was used in legal language describing a deed. Hamlet says the "sheep and calves" who work to get a lot of land in their lives are only "skinning themselves," or fooling themselves by their efforts, since they'll ultimately end up with nothing.
Hamlet lies on the ground to talk to the Gravedigger, thus, the Gravedigger says Hamlet lies out of the grave excavation. It's wordplay between lying down, and telling a lie. Sirrah is a form of "sir" used in speaking to a low-class person.
Indeed plays on the idea of a deed for land, following on Hamlet's comments about land ownership.
The Gravedigger's for my part has the undertone of playing a role.
When Hamlet uses the word quick he means "living." The Gravedigger's usage in reply means both "living" and "speedy." The lie, the untruth, does quickly go back to Hamlet, since Hamlet teased that it was the Gravedigger's grave, but it can't be since, as Hamlet himself said, the Gravedigger is alive. "Quick lie" was also a term for a prostitute, so the Gravedigger imlies the lie is fickle, and will quickly go from one man to another (Andrews 1989;) this relates to Hamlet's dreadfully mistaken idea about Ophelia, also his mistaken idea about Gertrude being unfaithful.
hw 3321, to hw 3333- Hamlet: What man dost thou dig it for?
Gravedigger: For no man, sir.
Hamlet: What woman, then?
Gravedigger: For none, neither.
Hamlet: Who is to be buried in it?
Gravedigger: One that was a woman sir, but rest her soul, she's dead.
Hamlet: How absolute the knave is! We must speak by the card, or
equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, this three years I
have took note of it: the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the
peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he galls his kybe. How
long hast thou been grave-maker?
---
The Gravedigger quibbles with Hamlet that the grave is for no living - "quick" - man or woman. He's following up Hamlet's logic about it.
Hamlet doesn't know Ophelia is dead, nor does Horatio know to tell him. They were both away when Ophelia drowned.
Absolute means "literal." By the card means "by the dictionary," using literal definitions. Card means "tablet," which in turn means written reference material. Hamlet means they need a written reference, or the Gravedigger will take it wrong. The word card leads directly to his phrase about "taking note." The "compass" idea that has appeared in historical commentary is not apt.
Card also has an undertone implying the promptbook for the play, with the meaning of speaking the lines as written, without ad-libs. This goes back to Hamlet telling the Players, before the Mousetrap play, that the clowns should speak only the lines written for them. Hamlet's complaint about equivocation is supremely ironic, since nearly every speech in Hamlet offers ambiguity, undertone, or allusion, and Hamlet, himself, is a chief practitioner of equivocation in the play.
The exact significance of three years, if any, is unknown. With respect to the play it's an arbitrary number, used merely to indicate a moderate length of time. Hamlet means that "for some time" he has noticed what he mentions. The author occasionally uses specific numbers to mean an indefinite quantity.
Picked means, for one thing, that the best flowers have been picked, leaving weeds. This is on the Gardening motif, and goes back to Hamlet's complaint in Scene 2 about the world being an "unweeded garden." Hamlet Sr, a "flower," has been "picked," and Claudius, a "weed," is King. Picked also means "sharp pointed," as in something that pierces the class barrier, between peasants and courtiers. The peasants are poking through the class barrier that separates them from the courtiers, says Hamlet. There is allusion to the pickaxe of the Gravedigger, that ultimately "pokes through" all class barriers, so to speak. Wordplay with "pique" may also be intended, where "pique" has its archaic meaning of "pride;" Hamlet would be saying the Gravedigger, a "peasant," is excessively proud, and is offensive.
A kybe is a chillblain, on the heel in this case. Earlier, when Claudius was talking to Laertes, he stated the concept of Hamlet being dipped into magic water, like Achilles. Here, Hamlet is speaking of having an "Achilles heel," a vulnerability. When Achilles's "kybe was galled," figuratively speaking, in the legend of the fall of Troy, it killed him; the undertone of Hamlet's heel remark is a death implication for Hamlet. Hamlet feels that insufferable peasant, the Eternal Gravedigger, walking close behind him.
Hamlet inquires how long the Gravedigger has been at his work.
hw 3334, to hw 3339- Gravedigger: Of the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king,
Hamlet, overcame Fortinbrasse.
Hamlet: How long is that since?
Gravedigger: Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that; it was that
very day that young Hamlet was born: he that is mad and sent into
England.
---
The Gravedigger says, to Hamlet, that he started work on the day Hamlet was born. This is from the concept that the "Eternal Gravedigger" starts digging any person's grave, so to speak, on the day the person is born.
The Gravedigger says that the date when he began work was the same as Hamlet's birthday, and also the same date Fortinbrasse Sr was killed by Hamlet Sr. This does not mean Hamlet's date of birth and the death of Fortinbrasse Sr were in the same year, however.
The Gravedigger remarks on Hamlet being sent to England. He doesn't know Hamlet, and doesn't recognize Hamlet when he sees him face-to-face.
hw 3340, to hw 3345- Hamlet: Aye, marry, why was he sent into England?
Gravedigger: Why? Because he was mad! He shall recover his wits there, or if
he do not, 'tis no great matter there.
Hamlet: Why?
Gravedigger: 'Twill not be seen in him there; there, the men are as mad
as he.
---
Hamlet is amused, and asks why he was sent to England. The Gravedigger explains it as madness; he has no real idea why Claudius sent Hamlet to England, but has heard the rumor of Hamlet's madness.
The Gravedigger's comment about the English being mad reflects a cultural oddity, that peoples often take pride in their eccentricities, and not only the English.
hw 3346, to hw 3353- Hamlet: How came he mad?
Gravedigger: Very strangely, they say.
Hamlet: How strangely?
Gravedigger: Faith, even with losing his wits.
Hamlet: Upon what ground?
Gravedigger: Why, here in Denmark! I have been sexton here, man
and boy, thirty years.
Hamlet: How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?
---
Hamlet inquires how he went mad. The Gravedigger doesn't know, and only says, sarcastically, that it was strange. There is allusion back to Horatio saying it was "wondrous strange" when the Ghost called out from the earth, after the Ghost talked to Hamlet. The Gravedigger has accidentally used a pertinent word.
Hamlet's question Upon what ground means "on what basis" or simply "why," but the Gravedigger takes it as a question about place. There is allusion back to the night Horatio went with Marcellus to try to see the Ghost, and declared himself to Barnardo as a friend "to this ground." The "ground" is indeed Denmark.
The Gravedigger says he's been sexton there for thirty years. A sexton is an official in charge of church property, whose job included digging the graves, in earlier times. It has often been taken that the Gravedigger's statement is also a factual statement about Hamlet's age, but that is not correct, as is immediately proven here by Hamlet's reply.
Notice Hamlet's immediate response, about a man "lying" in the earth. The Gravedigger is "in the earth" as he digs the grave, and Hamlet is saying that the Gravedigger is "lying" about how old he, Hamlet, is. This goes back to the "lie" wordplay at the beginning of their conversation. Hamlet's implication is that if the Gravedigger has been digging graves for 30 years, then he's been "lying" in the earth for 30 years, too, so it's surprising he hasn't rotted away yet. Hamlet is really asking the Gravedigger, himself, facetiously, how long he can "lie in the earth" without rotting. Thus, we know the Gravedigger has not given Hamlet's age correctly.
The Gravedigger has gotten the various times mixed up. Thirty years, is how long Hamlet Sr and Gertrude were married, confirmed by the Mousetrap play. Hamlet is 23. Yorick has been dead sixteen years. The title sexton is printed in Q1 as "sixteen." Q1 is not generally reliable, but provides significant information in this case. The Gravedigger/sexton has confused his own job title with the length of time Yorick has been dead. The Gravedigger doesn't really keep track of how long anybody has been alive, or the time of various events. He simply buries the dead when he gets them, whenever that may be. This goes to the Gravedigger's characterization, and when he defined "act" by words that all meant the same. The Gravedigger can't tell one thing from another, he just digs. He knows the numbers 30, 23, and 16 - and his own job title - and he knows of various events, but he doesn't really know which is which, and he doesn't really know Hamlet's age. The Gravedigger is a clown, and the comedy is in him trying to tell Hamlet to his face how old he is, and being wrong about it.
hw 3354, to hw 3362- Gravedigger: Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, (as we have many
pocky corpses, that will scarce hold the laying in,) he will last you some eight
year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.
Hamlet: Why he more then another?
Gravedigger: Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep
out water a great while; & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson
dead body; here's a skull, now, hath lain you in the earth 23 years.
---
The Gravedigger misses Hamlet's impugnation of his veracity, and answers the question seriously. The mention of water is significant to a later line, for correct word choice there, between Q2 and the Folio.
The Gravedigger's comment about water can be taken to imply that he favors a beverage other than water, presumably something with an alcohol content. Although not a tanner, the Gravedigger is apparently "preserving" himself as best he can. Whoreson is a standard epithet of the time, meaning "bastard," and goes along with the Gravedigger's characterization as a low class, indignant fellow. He shows Hamlet a skull that he claims has been there 23 years, although he doesn't say how he knows that.
Notice the Gravedigger's exact phrasing to Hamlet: lain you in the earth 23 years. The time of 23 years is associated with you, which means Hamlet.
hw 3363, to hw 3369- Hamlet: Whose was it?
Gravedigger: A whoreson mad fellow's it was; whose do you think it was?
Hamlet: Nay, I know not.
Gravedigger: A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a flagon of
Rhenish on my head once; this same skull sir, was sir Yorick's skull, the
King's Jester.
---
Hamlet asks whose skull it was, and the Gravedigger, in response, asks whose he thinks it was. When Hamlet proves unwilling to guess, the Gravedigger tells him it was the skull of Yorick. The Gravedigger doesn't say how he knows that, or how he can tell one skull from another.
Yorick is formed from the word "yore," and the suffix "-ick" to make a Danish name. The name means: "a Danish person of yore."
We are not told how Yorick died; that's left implicit. The answer is found by extending what the Gravedigger says, so indignantly. The Gravedigger is saying, "He poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once, (so I killed him.)" The Gravedigger, himself, killed Yorick.
Since the Gravedigger lampoons Ben Jonson, Yorick has topical allusion to Gabriel Spencer, who was killed by Jonson. Hamlet's following praise of Yorick has the undertone of the author's expression of regret about Spencer's death.
hw 3370, to hw 3383- Hamlet: This?
Gravedigger: Even that.
(the Gravedigger withdraws)
Hamlet: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him Horatio; a fellow of infinite
jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath bore me on his back a thousand
times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge
rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how
often; where be your gibes now? Your gambols, your songs, your flashes
of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one,
now, to mock your own grinning, quite chopfallen. Now get you
to my lady's table, & tell her: let her paint an inch thick, to this favor
she must come; make her laugh at that.
Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.
---
The Gravedigger has said his last line, so I give him a "withdraw." He has no exit in Q2. He needs to get out of the grave excavation, to make way for Ophelia's body. It would be incorrect to give him an exit, since he must stand by, in the background, to fill in the grave after the funeral service.
Abhorred puns with "aboard." Hamlet means that, as a child, he was "aboard" Yorick's back, and now Yorick's skull is "aboard" his imagination, riding the back of his imagination, so to speak.
The phrase my lady, as spoken by Hamlet, is painfully tragic, since the grave is for Ophelia.
Favor means "reward," as in the final reward, or final result, with the sarcastic undertone of death and decay being a "favor." There is further wordplay with favor meaning favored with beauty. Hamlet means no matter how much makeup a lady uses, the unattractive skull is the hidden truth under the lovely skin. There is the undertone of allusion back to Claudius speaking of his crime as like an ugly harlot's face covered by makeup, also allusion to Hamlet's mention of paint to Ophelia under his terribly mistaken idea about her. Hamlet has no idea here, though, that it is "the fair Ophelia," herself, who has "come to this favor," in that very grave.
hw 3384, to hw 3389- Horatio: What's that, my Lord?
Hamlet: Dost thou think, Alexander, looked he this fashion in the earth?
Horatio: Even so.
Hamlet: And smelt so? Pah.
Horatio: Even so, my Lord.
---
The skull should not still smell bad after 23 years. The Gravedigger has given Hamlet the wrong skull, or rather, he has misidentified the skull he gave Hamlet. It isn't Yorick's skull. The Gravedigger can't tell one skull from another, and only mentioned Yorick because it occurred to him, as a significant event in his life, in answer to Hamlet's question. He's given Hamlet some anonymous skull. That makes no difference to Hamlet's sincere sentiment about Yorick.
hw 3390, to hw 3403- Hamlet: To what base uses we may return Horatio? Why may not
imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping
a bunghole?
Horatio: 'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.
Hamlet: No, faith, not a jot. But, to follow him thither with modesty
enough, and likelihood to lead it. Alexander died, Alexander was
buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we
make loam, & why, of that loam, whereto he was converted, might
they not stop a beer-barrel?
(recites):
Imperious Caesar dead, and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.
Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the water's flaw.
---
Hamlet muses on the "dust to dust" concept, using Alexander the Great as an example. Curiously means both "inquisitively" and "eccentrically." Hamlet's exercise in logic is not dissuaded.
Water's is the correct word in the playtext (not the "winter's" that the Folio shows.) Hamlet's line goes back to the Gravedigger's comment about water being a "sore decayer" of bodies. The point is that Caesar's clay might end up as part of the wall of somebody else's tomb or grave, helping to keep water away from somebody else's corpse, and making that corpse last a while longer.
Before the Mousetrap play, Polonius said to Hamlet that he acted the part of Julius Caesar, so Caesar is on Hamlet's mind, here in the graveyard, in connection with Polonius dying.
hw 3404, to hw 3411- (Ophelia's funeral procession enters, with her corpse;
Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes enter)
(Hamlet continues):
But soft, but soft awhile; here comes the King,
The Queen, the courtiers. Who is this they follow?
And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,
The corse they follow, did with desperate hand
Fordo its own life; 'twas of some estate;
Couch we a while, and mark.
---
Hamlet thought it might be Polonius's grave he was watching the Gravedigger dig, until the Gravedigger said it was for a woman. Hamlet now sees the funeral procession, with Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes, which again looks as though it would perhaps be a ceremony for Polonius, except that the rites are abbreviated, and don't look proper for Polonius.
Corse is an archaic form of "corpse," and puns with "course" as in path. The corse they follow is wordplay that the "course" they are all following is "to the grave."
Church officials, influenced by the slanderous gossip about Ophelia's death, have minimized the funeral service.
Couch means that Hamlet and Horatio lie down to hide themselves, presumably behind tombstones, while they watch.
hw 3412, to hw 3413- Laertes: What ceremony else?
Hamlet: That is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark.
---
Hamlet's comment is ironic, since Horatio knows more about Laertes being a noble youth than Hamlet does, because Horatio was present when Laertes took the Castle with his mob and almost became King.
Hamlet compliments Laetes, which goes along with his later statement that he always liked Laertes.
hw 3414, to hw 3423- Laer: What ceremony else?
Doctor: Her obsequies have been as far enlarged
As we have warranty; her death was doubtful,
And but that great command o'er-sways the order,
She should in ground unsanctified been lodged
Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,
Flints and pebbles should be thrown on her.
Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,
Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.
---
Laertes thinks that more ceremony should be in order for Ophelia.
The cleric doing the service is a Doctor of Divinity. Denmark was the first nation in Europe to make Lutheranism, a Protestant denomination, the state religion, so the cleric is not a Catholic priest. Hamlet is generally contemporary with Elizabethan England, although with some significant anachronisms.
The Doctor states the official church position, influenced by the rumors that Ophelia killed herself. Official church procedure was to deny Christian burial for suicides.
Great command means Claudius has ordered Christian burial for Ophelia, overruling the church, with Claudius's motivation being to appease Laertes, since he needs Laertes to try to kill Hamlet. However, the church officials have minimized the service to the least they can do and still have it be Christian burial.
Crants is a false plural, from the Danish word "krans," and refers to a floral wreath, or garland of flowers, that was traditionally part of the funeral service for a maiden. Bringing home refers to a proper funeral, to place a body in its final resting place on earth. Service included ringing of the church bell. The bell idea goes back to Ophelia commenting on "bells being jangled out of time" in her speech near the end of the Nunnery Scene, with the implication, here, that the church bell is ringing "out of time" for Ophelia, in that she should not have died so young.
Strewments refers to strewing flowers to decorate the body and bier, as Gertrude will proceed to do.
hw 3424, to hw 3434- Laer: Must there no more be done?
Doct: No more be done.
We should profane the service of the dead,
To sing a requiem and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.
Laer: Lay her in the earth,
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
A ministering angel shall my sister be
When thou liest howling.
Hamlet: What, the fair Ophelia?!
---
Laertes still wishes for more funeral service for Ophelia. The cleric merely continues with the notion of Ophelia killing herself. Laertes calls the cleric a priest, as the general term for a minister, and with the implication that the cleric is an elderly man.
Peace-parted means both "peacefully departed," and also with the implicated of playing a peaceful part in a show, or in life. Ophelia's "part" was very peaceful; she was never trying to hurt anybody.
Laertes expresses the wish that violets may spring from Ophelia's body. So they did, in a way, and more, as best the author could make it happen. See the Ophelia Sonnets link on the Home page of this website.
Hamlet is shocked that the funeral is for Ophelia.
hw 3435, to hw 3444- Gertrude: Sweets to the sweet, farewell.
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,
And not have strewed thy grave.
Laer: O treble woe
Fall ten times double on that cursed head,
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Deprived thee of; hold off the earth a while,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms!
(Laertes jumps down into the grave)
---
Gertrude strews flowers in the grave. It was customary that well-wishers would scatter flowers and flower petals on the bridal bed on the honeymoon night, which is what Gertrude is referring to when she speaks of decking the bride-bed.
Laertes condemns Hamlet. Hamlet's killing of Polonius did drive Ophelia "mad," but not at all in the way Laertes thinks it did. Laertes is right about Ophelia's ingenious sense, since she was an intelligent girl, but his use of the phrase is ironic, in that, from what we saw earlier, he only lectured her and paid no attention to what she said. She was smarter than he is.
In an excessive "Show" of grief, Laertes jumps into the grave. He is not honoring Ophelia by acting that way at her funeral.
hw 3445, to hw 3453- (Laertes continues):
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
Till, of this flat, a mountain you have made
To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.
Hamlet: What is he whose grief
Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
Hamlet the Dane!
(Hamlet jumps down into the grave with Laertes)
---
Laertes's lines are to the Gravedigger, who's nearby. The Gravedigger will ignore him, since, as has already been stated, the grave is for the dead, not the quick. Pelion and Olympus are mountains in Greek mythology.
Hamlet rises to his feet from behind the tombstone, like a person rising from the dead. Claudius, among the others, sees him, of course.
The word emphasis is from a root meaning of "show." Hamlet's grief - emphasis line means he's observed that Laertes is putting on a show of grief.
The "wandering" star who's been conjured, is Hamlet, himself, the star of the play, who has returned from his wandering. Hamlet casts it that Laertes's big show of grief, making himself the center of attention, is such "bad acting," and so offensive, that even the stars stop and gape.
The wandering stars are the planets, one of which is Mars. In mythology, Mars is the god of war, and Hamlet is "declaring war" on Laertes's behavior.
Hamlet's phrase, wonder-wounded hearers, goes back to Claudius talking about Laertes arriving from France, when he said Laertes fed on this "wonder," referring to the death of Polonius, and that "buzzers were infecting Laertes's ear." In this Scene, Hamlet's ear has been "wounded" by the "wonder" of Ophelia's death, and then further wounded by Laertes's speechifying.
Hamlet announces himself as the Dane, which is one of the ways the King of Denmark can be named. Hamlet's use of the term is from his intent to dispose of Claudius, and is ironic in that, as we'll learn, Hamlet has already impersonated the King in changing Claudius's commission to England. Hamlet has already acted as the King, illegally.
The Visconti-Sforza Judgment card shows two figures apparently in a grave, or coffin, along with a third figure, although the two appear to be a man and woman, and the third appears to be an old man. So, the card doesn't correspond well to Hamlet and Laertes in Ophelia's grave, but would instead better match a depiction of Hamlet and Ophelia in Polonius's grave.
It might seem too "stagy" for Hamlet to jump into the grave, but the action is correct, as symbolically anticipating both Hamlet and Laertes soon going to their own graves, like Ophelia.
hw 3454, to hw 3459- Laertes: The Devil take thy soul!
Hamlet: Thou prayest not well; I prithee, take thy fingers
From my throat;
For, though I am not splenative rash,
Yet have I, in me, something dangerous,
Which let thy wisdom fear; hold off thy hand.
---
Considering what Laertes has conspired with Claudius to do, his own soul is in as much danger of being taken by the Devil as Hamlet's is, or more.
Prithee is short for "pray thee." Hamlet first comments on Laertes's poor "prayer," and then politely "prays" to Laertes.
Splenative means "hot tempered." The word refers to the spleen; in ancient medicine, the spleen was taken to be the source of anger. What Hamlet has within him, that's dangerous, is the potential to become King, and to wield a king's power, which is indeed a dangerous power, as R & G will learn, to their misfortune.
Hamlet denies being splenative rash, but it was in a fit of temper that he jabbed at Polonius and accidentally killed him. Hamlet has forgotten, for the moment, how that happened. It's true he isn't generally rashly hot tempered, but he does have a temper.
hw 3460, to hw 3468- Claudius: Pluck them asunder!
Gertrude: Hamlet, Hamlet!
All: Gentlemen!
Horatio: Good my Lord, be quiet!
Hamlet: Why, I will fight with him upon this theme
Until my eyelids will no longer wag.
Gertrude: Oh, my son, what theme?
Hamlet: I loved Ophelia! Forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum.
(to Laertes):
What wilt thou do for her?
---
Claudius's exclamation, Pluck them asunder, has the plain meaning of an order to separate Hamlet and Laertes, but the undertone connotation of the word asunder is to tear them in pieces. Claudius phrases his order as though he's wishing they'd both be killed.
Theme is from the Latin and Greek "thema," which means "what is laid down." The word, as Hamlet speaks it, has allusion to Ophelia's body being laid to rest in her grave.
The movement of the eyelids was conventionally taken as the last external sign of life. Hamlet will, indeed, fight with Laertes to the death, but not knowingly so.
Forty thousand is authorial false precision, meaning "a very large number."
Hamlet asks what Laertes will do for Ophelia, implying, instead of for himself. Laertes's big show of grief, in jumping into the grave and declaiming, was something for himself, not Ophelia.
hw 3469, to hw 3470- Claudius: Oh, he is mad, Laertes.
Gertrude: For love of God, forbear him!
---
Claudius can't resist the opportunity to try to advance his "madness" slander against Hamlet. It doesn't work well for him here, because for one reason, it reminds Hamlet that he can explain his killing of Polonius as irrational behavior, which it was.
The second problem for Claudius is that his remark annoys Gertrude. Her phrase forbear him means, in vernacular, "give it a rest." She's basically telling Claudius to shut up. Forbear is also wordplay with "forebear," which means an ancestor. Hamlet's proximate forebear was his father, killed by Claudius. Gertrude's forbear him then has the undertone of giving Hamlet back his father, his forebear, but that won't happen, on earth.
hw 3471, to hw 3481- Hamlet: Zounds, show me what thou't do!
Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear thy self,
Woo't drink up eisel, eat a crocodile?
I'll do it! Dost come here to whine?
To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I!
And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, and thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.
---
Hamlet challenges Laertes to show him anything Laertes will do for Ophelia now that she's dead.
Woo't is an archaic abbreviation for "wilt thou." Hamlet mentions several specific things a person might do, as a display of strong feelings.
Eisel is vinegar. Baby crocodiles were sold preserved in alcohol, as a novelty. The drinking of vinegar, and the eating of a baby crocodile, are the kind of stunts that a man might do to amuse a lady, or at least make some kind of impression on her, by doing something disgusting.
With respect to woo't weep and woo't fight, Laertes has already wept, and has planned to fight Hamlet, and kill him, but Hamlet doesn't know those facts.
Hamlet proclaims that if Laertes will be buried quick with Ophelia, so will he. They won't be buried alive, in the earth with Ophelia, but they'll both be buried soon, in the earth with her.
Ossa is another mountain in Greek mythology, associated with Pelion. In mythology, the Titans put mount Ossa on top of mount Pelion to get enough height to challenge the gods on Olympus. Hamlet, here, is adding his "Ossa" on top of Laertes's "Pelion."
Burning zone means the upper atmosphere of the earth. It was thought to be burning hot because of fiery meteors that were seen, and because the aurora borealis can look like fire.
Thou'lt means "thou wilt," and the and means "and if." Hamlet says that if Laertes is going to "mouth" his expressions so dramatically (and so hopelessly,) that Hamlet will do the same.
hw 3482, to hw 3486- Gertrude: This is mere madness,
And this, a while, the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,
When that her golden cuplets are disclosed,
His silence will sit drooping.
---
Gertude told Claudius to shut up when he spoke of Hamlet's madness, but here she uses the word. However, she means it's a fit of temper, a temporary anger.
A cuplet is a chick, so called because the dove typically lays two eggs, a "couple." The chicks are usually yellow, or golden, in color. Disclosed means "hatched." There is allusion back to Claudius's lines, near the end of the Nunnery Scene, about Hamlet's melancholy sitting "on brood," and the "hatch and disclose" being some danger.
Cuplets is spelled that way in Q2, instead of the standard modern spelling of "couplets," and I preserve the original spelling for a reason. It hints of the cup of poisoned wine when Claudius hatches his murder scheme at the later fencing match. Gertrude will sip from the golden cup, which will disclose that the wine is poisoned, and then her own silence will sit drooping, when she dies from the poison. Likewise, Hamlet will sit drooping, when "the rest is silence," as he will express it. In plain reading, Gertrude merely means that Hamlet will calm down, shortly.
hw 3487, to hw 3491- Hamlet: Hear you, sir,
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I loved you, ever; but it is no matter;
Let Hercules, himself, do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.
---
Hamlet doesn't know that others think his killing of Polonius was intentional. He knows it was accidental. He's been away, with no chance to explain it.
The Hercules - cat - dog lines mean that regardless of human heroics, nature will run its course, where cats continue to meow, and dogs continue to sleep in the sunshine.
Cat has the undertone of reference to Hamlet, himself, the "He-cat" of the Mousetrap play. Hamlet means he still intends to mew as he pursues the "mouse," Claudius.
Dog has a tragic undertone of reference to Ophelia, going back to Hamlet's "dead dog" remark when speaking to Polonius. Despite Hamlet's best efforts to keep Ophelia safely away from him, while he tried to plan and carry out regicide, by rejecting her and emphatically telling her to go to a nunnery, she died anyway, when he wasn't even there. His beautiful, faithful Saint Guinefort greyhound had her day - to die. He's desolated.
hw 3492, to hw 3498- (Hamlet exits;
Horatio exits)
Claudius: I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.
(to Laertes):
Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech.
We'll put the matter to the present push.
(Gertrude exits)
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.
This grave shall have a living monument;
An hour of quiet thereby shall we see,
Till then, in patience our proceeding be.
(all exit)
---
As Claudius asks Horatio to attend Hamlet he's talking to Horatio's back. Horatio is already following Hamlet, and doesn't even glance at Claudius. Claudius is pretending to instruct Horatio, to try to give the appearance of being in control.
Claudius's attention immediately turns to keeping Laertes allied with him against Hamlet. Present push means Claudius will put his fencing match scheme into practice right away.
As Claudius speaks to Gertrude she is also walking away, and doesn't look at him. Again, Claudius is pretending to be in control, as he sees Gertrude leaving. The word watch goes back to the sentinels' watch when they saw the Ghost, and has the undertone, as Claudius speaks it, of Hamlet becoming a ghost.
The living monument Claudius means, is Hamlet, who is currently "quick," but whom Claudius plans to be dead. Living also means "remembered," as in something that lives in memory. Claudius wants Hamlet to be only a memory for him.
Thereby is the correct word in the playtext, with absolute certainty (and not the word "shortly" of the Folio.) The hour of quiet that Claudius intends, is the hour that funeral services for Hamlet will last. As Claudius says thereby, he gestures toward Ophelia's grave. The author is using Claudius to tell us where Hamlet will be buried. Hamlet's grave will be there, by Ophelia's grave, meaning his grave will be next to hers. It's extremely important to have thereby in the playtext, because the word tells us something we would not otherwise know, the location of Hamlet's grave. His grave will be beside Ophelia's.
Claudius again tells Laertes to be patient, and they leave.
End of Scene 19
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