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. the Tragical History of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .
(Notes)
- Scene 4 [~ Rotten in Denmark ~] (Act 1 Scene 4)
hw 603, to hw 610- Setting: the guard post at the cannon platform near the Castle;
Late at night.
(Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus enter)
Hamlet: The air bites shroudly, it is very cold.
Horatio: It is nipping, and an eager air.
Hamlet: What hour now?
Hora: I think it lacks of twelve.
Marcellus: No, it is struck.
Hora: Indeed, I heard it not; it then draws near the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
---
Bites means "seizes" or "grips," in plain meaning. The mouth metaphor goes back to Hamlet's statement, in Scene 2, that he'd talk to the Ghost even if hell, itself, should gape. There's a Mouth/Bite motif in the play.
Shroudly means "like a death shroud." Hamlet is saying the cold air grips him like a shroud of death. In other words, in combination with bites, the awful cold makes him feel as though he has stepped into the jaws of death. The feeling of cold is not only the weather, it's also psychological. Shroudly continues the many, many death references in the play, and is a consummate word leading up to Hamlet's encounter with the Ghost.
Horatio's eager air means not only sharply cold, but also a "sour" air, as opposed to being sweet and pleasant. Eager puns with French 'aigre' which means "biting" in reference to weather, and also means "sour." The "bite" idea continues on the Mouth/Bite motif. Horatio agrees that the air "bites."
Francisco isn't there, so one could guess it's after midnight without being told, since he was on duty until midnight in the earlier Scene. Hamlet doesn't know the sentinel rotation, and there's no reason he should. Horatio was there earlier, and briefly encountered Francisco, but of course Horatio was not there for the purpose of observing the details of the guard schedule. Marcellus, the military fellow, is keeping track of the time. Earlier, Hamlet said he'd visit the guard post between eleven and twelve o'clock, but they're a little late, perhaps because of spending time talking about the Ghost.
Held his wont means "kept his habit" or his custom. They're about to hear, very loudly, Claudius keeping his custom.
Horatio, who was the sceptic on the earlier occasion, is now the one who describes the Ghost's habitual behavior. He's been converted into a believer.
hw 611, to hw 616- (drums are pounded, trumpets blare, and cannons fire)
(Horatio continues): What does this mean, my Lord?
Hamlet: The King doth wake tonight, and takes his rouse;
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels;
And as he drains his drafts of Rhenish down,
The kettle drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
---
The earlier Scenes indicated that Barnardo should be present. The firing of the cannons tells why he isn't. He's been reassigned to help man the cannons, to fire the salutes for the King's toasts. Marcellus, the watch supervisor, has taken the sentinel duty, himself, as the escort for the Prince.
Notice that it's after midnight, and the local town is only a short distance away. The noise is keeping everybody awake, not only in the Castle, but in the town, and on the nearby farms. These are mostly people who will need to get up and go to work the next day. Claudius's behavior is extremely inconsiderate, and a serious problem for people who need their sleep. Laertes will later be able to recruit a mob from the town to storm the Castle and challenge Claudius, and it becomes easier to see how that could happen. Claudius is disturbing the peace.
There is also the strategic point that Denmark is under the threat of war from Fortinbrasse. If Fortinbrasse did invade, with cannon fire, people might be slow to react because they would think at first that it was only Claudius drinking again. Claudius's behavior is self-centered, and not wise.
Rouse is the same as "carouse," a celebration involving heavy drinking. There's wordplay with "rouse" meaning to awaken people. Also, there's an expression, "to wake the dead," meaning to rouse the dead back to life, used in reference to somebody who makes a lot of noise, especially at night. As events proceed, and Hamlet and his friends see the Ghost, it's coincidentally as though Claudius woke the Ghost with his noise.
Wake has multiple meanings. In the most obvious reading, it simply means Claudius is awake. Hamlet is also observing that Claudius is keeping people awake, that he doth wake everybody. Wake also has a meaning of nighttime revelry, which is what Claudius is doing. A wake is also a festive commemoration of the dead; this undertone is sarcastic by Hamlet, that Claudius is able to do his royal rouse because of Hamlet Sr's death. Wake further implies "watch," which is what Hamlet and his friends are doing. So, Shakespeare's use of wake carries about five ideas in this case, all at once, which is amazing.
Swaggering means "overbearing;" upspring means "upwell;" and reels means "staggers," as in making a person stagger. Hamlet says the overbearing upwell of noise is enough to stagger a person.
Upspring further means "upstart," so Hamlet's remark has reference to Claudius, himself. In this second meaning, Hamlet says the overbearing upstart, Claudius, is reeling with drunkenness.
So, Hamlet is saying, at the same time, and with the same words, that the overbearing upwell of noise is staggering, to him and his friends, and also that the overbearing upstart, Claudius, is staggering with drunkenness.
Claudius is celebrating that Hamlet will remain at Elsinore, as he earlier said he would do, in Scene 2. A wassail is a toast, in this case Claudius toasting Hamlet. With Keeps wassail Hamlet means "keeps his promise to toast me." Hamlet clearly does not feel very honored by such behavior.
A triumph is a public display. The word further implies Claudius triumphing over Hamlet in getting Hamlet to remain, against Hamlet's wishes, although Hamlet really stayed in obedience to his mother, not Claudius. Claudius's celebration is dishonest, in two ways. First, Hamlet stayed in obedience to his mother, not Claudius, so it isn't something for Claudius to celebrate as though he had personally achieved anything. Claudius is loudly taking credit for something he didn't do. Second, Claudius wanted Hamlet to stay, not out of affection, but so he could keep an eye on him, so it's dishonest of Claudius to behave as if he liked Hamlet and honored him.
Hamlet's phrase, bray out, casts Claudius as a jackass.
hw 617, to hw 621- Hora: Is it a custom?
Hamlet: Aye, marry, is't,
But to my mind, though I am native here,
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honored in the breach than the observance;
---
Horatio means a custom by the King, at the Castle. Mere drinking of wine doesn't surprise him. He's talking about the extremely noisy rouse, of toasts being saluted with cannon fire. He knows many people drink to excess, late at night, but they don't usually have drums and trumpets, and cannons going off.
By native here Hamlet means he was born and raised at the Castle. Manner means "behavior;" Hamlet is familiar with royal behavior, since he was born into it. Manner puns with "manor," meaning the royal manor, the royal residence and estate.
With his last line, Hamlet means the custom, of such noisy, drunken celebration, brings more honor if it generally isn't done.
hw 621+1, to hw 621+6- This heavy-headed revel, east and west,
Makes us traduced, and taxed of other nations;
They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition, and indeed, it takes
From our achievements; though performed at height:
The pith and marrow of our attribute;
---
Heavy-headed means both "drunken" and "dull-witted." East and west means "which is heard east and west," that is, all around. People in other countries have both heard, and heard about, drunken Danish behavior, especially when it's the King's behavior.
Traduced means "slandered," which is on the Slander/Rumor theme. Taxed means "burdened." Hamlet means that such foolish, drunken revelry is a burden to the Danish reputation among other nations, who slander the Danes in general as being chronic drunks.
To clepe is to call, to speak of. Hamlet complains that other people say the Danes are all drunkards. Claudius's revelry, supposedly in honor of Hamlet, is indirectly hurting Hamlet's reputation. If Hamlet did become King, many people would automatically assume he must be a drunk, since they would think that's how all the Danes are.
Swinish phrase means that others call the Danes, pigs. Here, phrase means "word." The phrase, or word, is literally "swinish" by being the word "pigs." An addition is something added to a name; in the name Joe Smith, Ph.D., the "Ph.D." is an addition. The title "Prince of Denmark" is Hamlet's own addition, to his personal name. Hamlet is complaining about people saying "Danish pigs," as though the word "pigs" were the Dane's proper addition, a part of their name.
With takes From our achievements Hamlet means the bad Danish reputation, in general, denies them the credit they ought to get when they do something that is truly notable. Hamlet will be thinking of his father here, who had great achievements as King. Claudius's behavior as the King reflects poorly on all Danish kings, including Hamlet's father.
Height means the height of achievement, when something that is really worth celebrating has been accomplished. Pith and marrow of our attribute means that it's basic and fundamental to their character, to celebrate real achievements. Attribute takes its root meaning of "tribe." Hamlet says that when the "tribe" celebrates an event that's really worth celebrating, it's not only acceptable, but a basic and natural thing to do.
hw 621+7, to hw 621+22- So oft' it chances in particular men,
That for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As in their birth wherein they are not guilty,
(Since nature cannot choose his origin,)
By their o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft' breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
Or, by some habit, that too much o'erleavens
The form of plausive manners, that these men
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,
His virtues else be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault; the dram of evil
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt,
To his own scandal.
---
Hamlet digresses into some philosophical remarks about human nature. Vicious refers to vice; a mole is a flaw, like a mole on the skin being a flaw in the skin; and nature means a person's character. The phrase vicious mole of nature means a flaw in a man's character that leads him into vice.
Hamlet will later call the Ghost mole. In that connection, the phrase here, vicious mole, anticipates that the Ghost is something evil, vicious, perhaps.
The word his in the phrase choose his origin means "its." The Elizabethans often used his where we use "its." The word "its" was just starting to come into use at that time. His was used as both the masculine pronoun, and the neuter pronoun.
O'ergrowth is "over-growth," excessive growth. Complexion is from the theory of the four humors, that were thought to determine a man's temperament, according to how the humors combined. An excess, or "over-growth," of one of the humors would give a man a certain kind of personality, or temperament. Complexion and "humor" could be roughly synonymous; Hamlet is using complexion here to mean "humor." In secondary meaning, complexion simply means "kind." Hamlet speaks of an over-growth, of some kind.
Pales means "fences" or "enclosures," and forts means "walls" or "strongholds." Hamlet means an excess of one of the humors could break down a man's reason, causing him to behave irrationally. The "fort" idea relates to Elsinore Castle, itself, which is a kind of fortress. In this connection, Hamlet implies that Claudius's behavior is a breakdown of the way things ought to be at Elsinore. Pales further hints of the earlier use of "pale," in reference to the Ghost.
O'erleavens is a metaphor from baking, referring to when too much yeast or soda is used to make bread rise. The bread will swell too much, and also become too delicate and crumble easily. Plausive means "praiseworthy." The idea is that a certain habit will "overswell" a person's praiseworthy manners, and cause him to behave with bad manners, instead. The word plausive is related to the word "applaud;" plausive manners are manners to be applauded.
Manners is used in a stronger sense than the usual current meaning. It means more than "politeness" here, and refers to morality, in addition to politeness.
Nature's livery means the way a person has been "dressed" by nature, referring to the characteristics a person has from birth. A livery is a uniform worn by a person to symbolize his service or trade; it's the symbol of his master or his calling. Here, Nature is cast as the master, who outfits a man to be what he is. Fortune's star refers to luck, from the astrological idea of different stars influencing people in different ways, for better or worse. Hamlet is making the distinction between a person having a bad characteristic because of the way he was born, or on the other hand, having the bad luck of being under the influence of a certain star which causes him to develop a bad habit. A modern phrasing would be "nature versus nurture." The fortune's star idea is on the Luck/Fortune motif of the play.
Hamlet says people will notice a particular fault, and condemn a person for it, even though the person may otherwise be entirely virtuous. A relatively small flaw in a person will put all his virtue into doubt, as others see it.
A significant undertone, of this vicious mole of nature passage, is the author talking about his own, unspecified, moral failing, which hurt his reputation. The author worked his personal "confession" and apology into the play quite nicely, in the shape of Hamlet commenting about Claudius, and men in general.
In the major anticipatory allusion, Claudius's "dram of evil" is the poison he'll add to the wine at the fencing match, which will "dout," meaning to snuff out, his own "noble substance," as we'll see. For this, doubt puns with "dout," an old word meaning to extinguish.
Hamlet is charitably giving Claudius the benefit of the doubt, saying that Claudius can't help how he is, that he was either born with a flaw in his personality, or had the bad luck to develop deplorable habits. Hamlet prefers to think of the King of his nation, and his blood relative, as having only a relatively minor flaw, and not as being a major villain. Hamlet doesn't yet know how bad Claudius really is. He's just about to find out that Claudius doesn't deserve his charitable view.
hw 622, to hw 630- (the Ghost enters)
Horatio: Look, my Lord, it comes!
Hamlet: Angels and ministers of grace, defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned?
Bring with thee airs from Heaven, or blasts from Hell?
Be thy intents wicked, or charitable?
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee; I'll call thee Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane! Oh, answer me,
---
Hamlet sees that the Ghost does look like his father, exactly as the men told him. Being told about it was one thing, but seeing the image of his own father, right in front of him, is overwhelming. He considers the alternatives, that the Ghost may be either good or evil.
The word questionable has both its usual meaning of "doubtful," and also means that the Ghost raises many questions for Hamlet. Hamlet tries to be objective, and keep the two alternatives in mind, but he decides to speak to the Ghost as if it's what it appears to be, his father.
hw 631, to hw 642- Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements? Why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly interred,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws
To cast thee up again? What may this mean
That thou dead corpse, again in complete steel
Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous, and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say why is this, wherefore, what should we do?
---
Hamlet takes it that the Ghost is his father's spirit, and would normally be interred with his father's body. The Elizabethan view of human structure, was that the body was a mechanical thing, which the spirit operated. The soul was the human essence, something beyond the spirit, but the ideas of the soul and the spirit were often combined, and spoken of as the same thing. For a rough computer analogy, the body would correspond to the hardware, the spirit would be the software, and the soul would be analogous to the computer user, perhaps. Seeing a ghost would be as strange as seeing software running without any hardware.
Burst in ignorance means "burst with curiosity," or burst with lack of knowledge (that he wants.)
Canonized means Hamlet Sr's funeral was conducted with all the proper and sacred religious rites, according to which, one would normally expect a person's spirit to rest in peace. It further means "glorified," exalted and honored, and, overall, can be read simply as "blessed."
Hearsed could mean "coffined," placed in a coffin, or alternatively, it could mean "borne on a bier." In either event, the body was appropriately placed, or borne, in death. Hamlet's basic meaning is "carried off" in death.
The cerements are the burial clothes, which may or may not have been shrouding. When Hamlet says burst their cerements it means his father was not buried in the armor in which the Ghost has appeared. He takes it that his father's spirit has burst out of its burial clothing, or shrouding, to appear dressed in the armor.
"Cerement" comes from a Latin word meaning "wax;" wax was used to treat burial wrappings. Hamlet's phrase burst their cerements implies the breaking of a wax seal. That's what Hamlet will later do, when he's "bursting with curiosity" and he decides to read Claudius's order to England. After breaking the wax seal on the order, in that later Scene, Hamlet will substitute a forged imitation.
Hamlet mentions that his father's body was placed in a marble tomb, which befits a king. Jaws indicates the "jaws of death." Hamlet means the Ghost has somehow emerged from the jaws of death that had earlier enveloped it. Hamlet's metaphor is somewhat humorous, unintentionally so by him as he says it, implying that the tomb has spit out the Ghost, or thrown it up.
Glimpses of the moon implies it's a partly cloudy night, with the moonlight being blocked by clouds from time to time. Also, to "revisit a glimpse" is to recall an image, which is pertinent to Hamlet seeing the image of his father, again.
Fools of nature refers to Hamlet and his friends as living men, of the natural world, now cast as "fools" by Hamlet since they earlier thought ghosts did not exist. It basically means "living fools," (who didn't believe in ghosts.)
Disposition refers to the men's frame of mind, or state of mind, and in second meaning refers to whether or not things are in their proper arrangement.
The "reach" of a living person's soul is only as far as his hand can reach, since his soul is confined to his body while he lives. Hamlet's thoughts that go beyond the "reach" of his soul, within his living body, are thoughts about the soul being outside the body, beyond the physical reach of the body's hand. The phrasing further refers to thoughts that are too much for a person's own soul, in his living body, to comprehend.
Hamlet naturally concludes that the Ghost is not there just to say "hello," but requires that something be done.
hw 643, to hw 657- (the Ghost beckons to Hamlet)
Horatio: It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you, alone.
Marcellus: Look with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removed ground;
But do not go with it!
Horatio: No, by no means!
Hamlet: It will not speak, then I will follow it.
Hora: Do not, my Lord!
Hamlet: Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life at a pin's fee,
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth, again; I'll follow it.
---
The Ghost beckons Hamlet to follow, meaning it desires private conversation with him. The Ghost will later show that it has the ability to be seen and heard only by Hamlet, but does not use that ability here. Instead, it uses the more usual human method of finding privacy. Apparently, it doesn't want the others to hear even Hamlet's side of the conversation, or have the opportunity to interrupt, or to question Hamlet, during the conversation.
Courteous means the Ghost's gesture is polite, and also implies "royal court" behavior, that the Ghost's gesture is confident, in the manner of a king.
Legally, fee has a meaning of an inheritance in land. Hamlet's phrase pin's fee has the undertone that, since Claudius became King instead of him, he inherited essentially nothing in land. His depression about that contributes to his disregard for the value of his life. In plain meaning, a pin's fee is the trivial cost of one pin (for sewing.)
Marcellus and Horatio don't trust the Ghost, and are fearful of danger to Hamlet. Hamlet says he's careless of danger to his life, and points out that the Ghost can do nothing to his immortal soul. Hamlet is basically correct, about his soul, but he doesn't at the moment consider that there can be a major difference in a soul's fate, whether it goes to Heaven or to Hell, depending on what a person does. In religious terms, a soul is immortal, but where it ends up is still a serious question.
hw 658, to hw 663+4- Hora: What if it tempt you toward the flood, my Lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And there assumes some other horrible form
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? Think of it;
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without any motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.
---
Elsinore Castle is built on a point of land, and situated very close to the ocean. Horatio fears the Ghost is beckoning Hamlet in the direction of the sea.
Flood means the tide. Since the moon is up, the tide is high, or rising, and Horatio is worried about that.
The word beetle, for the insect, comes from a meaning of "bite." With beetles o'er Horatio is saying that the cliff has an "overbite," that its upper part extends out farther than its lower part. Using the root meaning of "beetle," the phrase beetles o'er means literally "bites over." The idea of "bite" connects back to Hamlet's first line in this Scene, that the air bites shroudly, and in general links to the "jaws of death" idea. Horatio is worried that Hamlet could get "bitten" at the cliff with the "overbite."
We'll see that the cliff mentioned by Horatio is not where the Ghost leads Hamlet, so it's irrelevant here. However, the cliff should be remembered because it's highly significant to something later, as will be discussed in the Notes at that point.
The phrase deprive your sovereignty has an undertone of what Claudius has done, to both Hamlet and his father, and in this undertone the horrible form would be Claudius. Later, in the Closet Scene, Hamlet will describe Claudius as a "horrible form" in comparison with his father. In a plain reading, deprive your sovereignty of reason means "cause you to lose control of your mind."
A "toy" is poetically a thought or idea, something the mind "plays with," so to speak. With toys of desperation, Horatio means a suicideal idea,
on the concept that suicide is usually motivated by desperation.
In an effort to persuade Hamlet not to follow the Ghost, Horatio is pointing out specific dangers that could arise. Horatio is especially worried about Hamlet falling into the sea. Hamlet will not literally do that, but as events proceed, Hamlet will metaphorically "fall into a sea," which he will later express as "a sea of troubles."
hw 664, to hw 674- Hamlet: It waves me, still;
Go on, I'll follow thee.
Marcellus: You shall not go, my Lord.
Hamlet: Hold off your hands!
Hora: Be ruled, you shall not go.
Hamlet: My fate cries out,
And makes each petty arture in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve;
Still am I called; unhand me, gentlemen;
By Heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me;
I say, away! Go on, I'll follow thee.
(Hamlet and the Ghost exit)
---
The word arture means ligament connecting the joints, and is apparently a word coined by the author. Here, it's about equivalent to "tendon" or "sinew" and designates physical strength. In lion's nerve, the word nerve means "sinew" or "tendon" and again denotes physical strength. There was little distinction, at the time Hamlet was written, among the ideas of muscle, sinew, tendon, and ligament. They were all viewed as about the same thing, in reference to strength or weakness, at least in poetic usage.
Hamlet uses lets with the archaic meaning of "hinders" or "obstructs." This old meaning of "let" is still found in a legal phrase or two. There's wordplay with the "allow" meaning of "let:" if the men "allow" him to make ghosts of them, by choosing to hinder him, he will do so, threatens Hamlet.
In Greek mythology, the Nemean lion was an especially fierce beast that was slain by Hercules as one of his labors. The Visconti-Sforza Strength-Fortitude tarot card shows Hercules fighting the Nemean lion. A link to that card should be available from the Tarot Cards link on the Home page of this Hamlet (Regained) website.
Hamlet means he has a ferocious desire to follow the Ghost. With My fate cries out he says he thinks the Ghost represents his fate calling to him.
hw 664, to hw 674- Horatio: He waxes desperate with imagion.
Marcellus: Let's follow, 'tis not fit thus to obey him.
Hora: Have after; to what issue will this come?
Marc: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Hora: Heaven will direct it.
Marc: Nay, let's follow him.
(Horatio and Marcellus exit)
---
The word imagion is formed from "image" and the suffix "-ion," a suffix which means a result or a consequence. It's the author's coinage, apparently. Imagion means "the result of an image." Horatio says that Hamlet has grown desperate in consequence of seeing the image of his father.
Have after means to follow him. Horatio is agreeing they should follow.
With Something is rotten in the state of Denmark Marcellus means, in simple translation: "there's death here somewhere, I can smell it." Marcellus is afraid Hamlet may die, somehow. The line further has general allusion to the entire state of affairs being undesirable, in Denmark.
Horatio pauses for a moment to consider that Heaven will decide who lives or dies, but Marcellus, the military man, insists on action, and they follow.
End of Scene 4
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