H A M L E T (Regained) - Original Language version

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. the Tragical History of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .

(Notes)

Scene 7 [~ R & G Arrive ~] (Act 2 Scene 2)
hw 1019, to hw 1020: (... Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter); The names "Rosencrantz" and "Guildenstern" are not the names as written by the author. The names, as they're now known, first appeared in an edition of Shakespeare that was published in 1790, nearly two centuries after the first printings of Hamlet.; The author was apparently aware of those ordinary personal names, and used them as models, or inspirations, for the names he wrote into the play. The names he used were slightly different. The difference is significant, because he used spelling to give the names meaning in relation to the play.; In Q2, the first name is Rosencraus, which means "rose-and-cross," where "rose" means "red." So, the name means "Red-and-cross," and is a description of the flag of Denmark. The Danish flag is red with a (white) cross on it. The name is perfect for a Dane, a citizen under the Danish flag. The name, itself, is a verbal description of the flag.; The second name appears in Q1 as "Gilderstone," which makes the meaning especially clear. (Q1 is not generally reliable, but is useful in this particular instance.) Gilder means "gold," and stone means "rock." The name means "gold rock," which is a reference to fool's gold. The name means the person is not a true friend of Hamlet, not the real thing, but only "fool's gold," a worthless imitation.; The idea of fool's gold was very well known, and notorious, in Elizabethan times, because of an unfortunate episode in which Queen Elizabeth and other notables of the time became involved. Briefly, a sailor named Frobisher had been searching for the Northwest Passage which was then thought to exist. He landed his ship on Baffin Island, Canada, where he happened to notice some rocks that looked interesting. He brought back a sample on his return to England. A fellow in England told him the rock contained gold. In addition to the usual interest that the idea of gold always stimulates, the Spanish had been taking a lot of gold from Central and South America, so the English were very interested in being able to do the same from North America. There was international competition involved, in addition to common greed. Frobisher returned to Baffin Island with a couple of ships, and brought back about 200 tons of the rock. Without even waiting for that load to be carefully examined, he and a fellow named Lok put together another expedition of 15 ships, including a ship provided by the Queen from her personal property. Many wealthy and influential Englishmen pledged their financial support. The large expedition brought back over 1300 tons of the rock. The rock turned out to be ordinary rock. There wasn't a bit of real gold in any of it. It was all fool's gold. The whole effort was worthless, and a huge embarrassment. It happened in the years 1576 to 1578. In the author's time, everybody in England would have known about it, and would have recognized the idea of a worthless "gold rock."; Thus, the second name, "Guildenstern" or "Gilderstone," is the author's use of the fool's gold idea to provide a name for a false friend of Hamlet, a person who isn't the real thing. Guildenstern is only a "gold rock," not a genuine friend.; Since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are always together, the meanings of the names are properly combined to get the full meaning. Together, the names mean, "Danish persons who are not genuine (as friends of Hamlet.)"; The names go along with a difference in their motivations. Rosencrantz, the "flag of Denmark" one, is motivated more by what he sees as loyalty to his King and country. Guildenstern, the "gold" one, is motivated more by the idea of becoming rich.; The "red and gold" colors in the names are also alluded to elsewhere in the play. As Rosencrantz and Guildenstern appear on the stage, they're the colors red and gold personified.; In casting, or costuming, Rosencrantz should have red hair, and Guildenstern should have golden blond hair.; I abbreviate "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern" as "R & G" in the rest of the notes.
hw 1021, to hw 1027: Claudius: Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern;
Moreover, that we much did long to see you,
The need we have to use you, did provoke
Our hasty sending; something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation, so call it,
Sith nor th'exterior, nor the inward man
Resembles that it was, what it should be;; Moreover means "further." The meaning is seen by reordering the wording and changing it slightly: "We much did long to see you, and further, the need we have..." It's a touch of humor by the author, that Claudius says Moreover before he's said anything beyond a simple greeting. The word would typically appear in the midst of long remarks.; Also, when Claudius says moreover as the first word of his speech to R & G, it implies that he has already spoken to them in private, and his public speech is in addition to what he said then. Something have you heard means "you've already been told something," which is a reference to what Claudius, himself, has told them. Claudius has told them Hamlet is mad, and as Claudius will go on to say, he wants to know if there's anything beyond the death of Hamlet Sr that's bothering Hamlet. Especially, Claudius wants to know how much it bothers Hamlet that Claudius became King, instead of him.; Claudius is being deceptive in saying he had a personal desire to see R & G. He didn't summon them to be his personal friends. His interest in them is only in how he can use them, as he says in his third line. Gertrude did want them there, for personal reasons, to keep Hamlet company, since she thought it would make Hamlet feel better to have friends his own age around. Claudius doesn't really care whether Hamlet feels better or not, but is quite interested in finding out as much as he can about Hamlet, and particularly, he wants to know if Hamlet has serious ambitions for the crown, while Claudius is wearing it. Claudius wants to know if Hamlet is ambitious for the crown, in a dangerous way, like Claudius was.; Sith means "because." Claudius is explaining why he used the word "transformation," that being because Hamlet has changed.; Claudius's remarks about Hamlet are not accurate. In truth, Hamlet's external "transformation" is only that he's still wearing his mourning clothes, and he looks sad and worried. That's all, in fact. Claudius is exaggerating, for psychological effect. Claudius speaks of the inward Hamlet being transformed, but he doesn't know that. The inward Hamlet is exactly what he wants to find out about, and is hoping R & G can discover.; Claudius is a murderer, he is not a moral person. It means, he's also a liar. He's especially motivated to lie about those he thinks are his enemies, or potential enemies, and that includes Hamlet. A reader must not take Claudius's statements about Hamlet at face value.; The clause, what it should be, goes both with what precedes it, and what follows it. In the way the author wrote the passage, it's as though this clause is repeated. First, Claudius is saying Hamlet doesn't resemble what he should be. Then, it refers to what the cause is, what the cause could be. The author often gets two meanings from his words, and here, he gets two meanings out of a clause, to give the clause a dual use in the passage.
hw 1028, to hw 1037: More than his father's death, that thus hath put him
So much from th'understanding of himself,
I cannot dream of; I entreat you both,
That being of so young days brought up with him,
And sith so neighbored to his youth and 'havior,
That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
Some little time, so, by your companies,
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather
So much as from occasion you may glean
Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus,
That opened, lies within our remedy.; Claudius says he can't dream of anything, beyond the fact of Hamlet Sr's death, that could be bothering Hamlet, but indeed he can. He can "dream" that Hamlet wants the crown, and the idea worries him. Having gone to such effort and risk to get the crown, Claudius is now very sensitive about defending it.; Claudius says that Hamlet doesn't understand himself, but the truth is that Claudius doesn't understand Hamlet. Claudius phrases his remarks to put the onus on Hamlet. Claudius is devious with the way he says things, to try to turn any unfavorable implications away from himself, toward somebody else.; "Sith again means "because." Claudius is saying that R & G can be helpful because they've known Hamlet for so long.; Neighbored has reference to Hamlet being a person known to them, like a neighbor. It repeats the idea of "rivals" that was used in the first Scene, referring to known persons, as opposed to strangers.; Claudius gives R & G a clear hint that they're supposed to tell him anything unusual they find out, that might be of interest to him.; There's a nice paradox in the relationship of Claudius and Hamlet. Claudius is worrying about Hamlet, and wondering about him, and even employing new people, especially because of Hamlet. It's as though Hamlet were King, and Claudius, only his follower. Hamlet is the center of attention, not King Claudius. Normally, the King would be the center of attention.
hw 1038, to hw 1045: Gertrude: Good gentlemen, he hath much talked of you,
And sure I am, two men there is not living
To whom he more adheres; if it will please you
To show us so much gentry and good will
As to expend your time with us a while,
For the supply and profit of our hope,
Your visitation shall receive such thanks
As fits a king's remembrance.; Gertrude doesn't go into detail, as to exactly what Hamlet has said about R & G. She has the impression they're good friends. This reveals that it's Gertrude who's behind the arrival of R & G. She asked Claudius to contact them, in the name of the King, to motivate them to show up. She's the one who knows them, Claudius only knows about them.; Horatio is Hamlet's best friend now, but Gertrude doesn't know that, because she wasn't at the university to see it. She knows best about Hamlet's friendships before he went away to school.; Gentry means "nobility." Gertrude is using figurative language to make a polite role reversal, as though R & G were noble persons, and the King and Queen were supplicants, begging them to do something. But it's only the language of politeness, and is not for a moment to be taken seriously. There's no actual question of who are the King and Queen, and who are the peons.; Her supply and profit phrase anticipates Hamlet's "hawk and handsaw" remark, in respect to the allusion to ships. Both England and Spain used ships for the "supply and profit" of their respective dominions. Gertrude's hope is to see Hamlet happy again.; It's Gertrude who says that if R & G do well, they'll be well rewarded. A king's remembrance means a handsome reward.; In his remarks, Claudius didn't offer them anything for their services - and as events proceed, the king's remembrance for R & G is going to be non-existent, in the mortal world. The phrase is ironic, in that the King whose remembrance is most at issue in the play is King Hamlet, and he's dead.
hw 1046, to hw 1053: Rosencrantz: Both your Majesties
Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,
Put your dread pleasures more into command
Than to entreaty.
Guildenstern: But we both obey,; And here give up ourselves in the full bent,
To lay our service freely at your feet
To be commanded.; R's phrase power you have of us has a double meaning. First, the of means "over," which is the plain reading of what R intends as he says it. In undertone, it's a follow-on to Gertrude's gentry remark. There's role reversal in the language, again, with R speaking as though R & G were the powerful ones, and of meant "from."; There's a bit of truth in the figurative role reversal, since R & G are Hamlet's friends, and Hamlet is the center of attention, not the King and Queen. R & G have the power that they might be able to find out about Hamlet, and be good company for him, which Claudius and Gertrude are not able to do, themselves.; R says that he and G could simply be commanded to do what they're being asked to do. G doesn't like the implication that they would do it and get nothing out of it. G quickly steps in and mentions their service, a "service" being something a person expects to get paid for. G means they'll do it, whole-heartedly, as long as it's understood to be a service. G wants the money.; This goes along with the characterization of R as the patriotic "flag-of-Denmark" one, and G as the greedy "gold" one, who emphasizes that they're doing a service.; When G says freely it's irony. He definitely doesn't mean "unpaid." He means "voluntarily." Full bent means their full inclination, with no restraint.; The phrase at your feet is ironic, in relation to subsequent events. Hamlet will soon ask R & G if they're the soles of Fortune's shoes, that Fortune steps on. Those who know the story of the play know what happens to R & G.; Commanded is a notable word. Command derives from "mandate," which comes from a meaning of "hand." G is saying, in that second-hand way, that R & G place themselves at Claudius's feet, to be his hands.; R & G are delighted and extremely flattered that the King and Queen have summoned them, especially, to do a valuable service, and have offered a big reward. They think it's the best thing that's ever happened for them. They've got high hopes, and stars in their eyes. They were just part of the crowd at the university, only a few days earlier, but now they're top assistants to the King, himself. Wow! They can't believe their good luck.
hw 1054, to hw 1062: Clau: Thanks, Rosencrantz, and gentle Guildenstern.
Gert: Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rosencrantz,
And I beseech you instantly to visit
My too-much-changed son; go, some of you,
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
Guil: Heavens make our presence and our practices
Pleasant and helpful to him.
Gert: Aye, amen.; We see that Claudius does not know R & G, since he accidentally got the names switched. He doesn't know which is which. Gertrude does know, and she politely corrects Claudius's error. Claudius will not be bothered by this in the least. Whether he knows the names of servants is of little concern to him. He'll shrug, if he takes any notice at all.; Gertrude has been influenced by Claudius's defamation of Hamlet. She doesn't use the same language he did, but she calls Hamlet too-much-changed, which is a mild acknowledgement of what Claudius is promoting more aggressively about Hamlet.; G does the honors of the goodbye, in a form that resembles a religious prayer. One might surmise, he's the one who says grace at dinner. Gertrude's amen further makes it sound like a dinnertime prayer.; The Folio places the exit of R & G before Gertrude's amen line, but that's certainly an error. It would not be proper for Gertude to say "amen" to R & G's backs. They must be facing her when she says that, so, Q2 is correct with the exit after her line. It's a little amusing, in a way, to think of Gertrude thanking God behind their backs as they leave, but that is not what is intended here.
hw 1063, to hw 1069: (Polonius enters)
Polonius: Th'ambassadors from Norway, my good Lord,
Are joyfully returned.
Claudius: Thou still hast been the father of good news.
Pol: Have I, my Lord? I assure my good Liege
I hold my duty as I hold my soul,
Both to my God, and to my gracious King;; The ambassadors are back with surprising speed. The negotiations must have gone quite easily - despite the war preparations and the hostile situation, and the fact that Claudius apparently didn't offer anything substantial to old Norway. One would have thought the negotiations would be difficult and time consuming. Somehow, the diplomats got a very quick agreement.; Kronborg Castle, the inspiration for Elsinore Castle, sits directly on the strait that separates Denmark from modern Sweden. At that point, the strait is less than 3 miles wide. The town opposite Kronborg is Helsingborg, Sweden. Historically, Sweden and Norway were united for a time. Taking it that Sweden and Norway are united here, and that old King Norway is in Helsingborg, a very quick trip would be physically possible. The travel distance would be only three miles or so, roughly, under those assumptions. It would be possible for the diplomats to leave one day, and return the next day.; Polonius's use of Liege has an ironic undertone. Polonius is calling the King his lord, but liege also means servant, or vassal. Although Polonius intends to state his loyalty as a servant of the King, in what closely follows, below, as Polonius gets going on his own ideas, he'll get bossy, as though the King were his servant.; Immediately after Claudius mentions Polonius being a father, Polonius commits his soul to Claudius, as much as to God. Polonius is being rhetorical, assuring Claudius of his devotion in the highest terms he knows, but it's a remarkable, and disturbing, thing for him to say. Polonius's remark is a hint of what Jephthah means in the play, and a hint of the content of Hamlet's bad dreams. In the Bible, Jephthah killed his own daughter for his Lord, his God. Judging solely by his unfortunate remark here, Polonius would do the same. (The Folio change in language is certainly wrong, as it undermines the Jephthah allusion; Q2 is correctly followed.)
hw 1070, to hw 1073: And I do think, or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure
As it hath used to do, that I have found
The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.; Polonius compares his brain to a dog's nose. Cold and wet, with a couple holes in it?? No, he means to say that his brain follows a trail of clues the way a dog can follow a trail by scent. The trail has led him to the cause of Hamlet's lunacy, he says. Hamlet has not really been displaying symptoms of lunacy; Polonius has completely fallen for Claudius's defamation of Hamlet.
hw 1074, to hw 1077: Clau: Oh, speak of that! That do I long to hear.
Pol: Give first admittance to th'ambassadors;
My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.
Clau: Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in;
(Polonius exits); Claudius is personally and intensely interested in whether Hamlet has designs against him, the way Claudius had against Hamlet Sr. Observe that Claudius speaks in personal terms - I - and does not use the royal "we."; Polonius has a reason for wanting the ambassadors to be admitted, first. The diplomatic mission was his suggestion to Claudius, that Claudius adopted. Polonius wants the successful return of the ambassadors to show that he was right, about the mission, which will then support him in his claim of being right about Hamlet, too.; However, Polonius has gotten bossy here, in wanting to do things a certain way, for his own reasons, and Claudius doesn't particularly like it. Claudius goes along, but puts Polonius back in his place by instructing him to admit them. On stage, Claudius's line should be spoken in a firm tone.; Claudius recognizes the importance of the diplomatic mission, nationally, so he allows it the top priority. He's sensitive to appearances. But personally, he'd much rather hear about Hamlet.; The language nicely characterizes events in terms of a meal. What the ambassadors have to say will be the feast, then what Polonius says about Hamlet will be the fruit, or dessert, that follows, and Claudius tells Polonius to do grace in admitting the ambassadors, analogous to saying grace before a meal. Hamlet has a continual Feast motif.
hw 1078, to hw 1083: (Claudius continues):
He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found
The head and source of all your son's distemper.
Gert: I doubt it is no other but the main:
His father's death, and our o'er-hasty marriage.
Claudius: Well, we shall sift him;
(the ambassadors Voltemand and Cornelius enter,
escorted by Polonius)
(Claudius continues): Welcome, my good friends;; In the first two lines, Claudius is not informing Gertrude of anything she doesn't know. He's requesting Gertrude's opinion, as to whether Polonius has found out anything significant. Claudius is so interested in Hamlet that he can't resist talking about him, and wondering about him.; Distemper means "disease" or "disorder." It was especially used to refer to a disorder in the humors of the body, under the four humors theory of health.; In speaking to Gertrude, Claudius calls Hamlet "her son," and says he has a disease. Gertrude doesn't like it. She loves Hamlet, and dotes on him. She is not at all pleased to hear Claudius say "her son," who has something wrong with him. She subtly informs Claudius that he has stepped over the line with her, in what he said.; Gertrude's reply calls their marriage o'er-hasty, meaning overly hasty. Her implication is that they shouldn't have gotten married so soon - or maybe at all. Claudius gets the hint, drops the subject immediately, and turns to the ambassadors.; I accept the Folio change from Q2, inserting the word o'er (over,) to obtain the phrase o'er-hasty, because of the meaning of the exchange between Claudius and Gertrude. Claudius went too far with his language, and she expressed her displeasure through a reference to the wisdom of their marriage. The absence of o'er in Q2 is a printing oversight.; Sift refers to Claudius questioning Polonius more, to examine what Polonius may know. Claudius's use of him is ambiguous, so there's also reference to examining, or "sorting out," Hamlet, as a second meaning.; With respect to the characterization of Claudius in the play, it's notable that after apparently expressing such personal concern for Hamlet when he was talking to R & G, when Claudius turns to Gertrude, he says your son, and not "our son." Claudius's occasional expressions of personal affection for Hamlet are not sincere.
hw 1084, to hw 1085: Say, Voltemand, what from our brother, Norway?
Voltemand: Most fair return of greetings and desires;; The kings speak of other kings as their "brothers." It's the style of the language used. However, it is not a compliment when Claudius calls somebody his brother. By implication, from what we know about Claudius and his idea of brothers, Claudius is wishing Old Norway was dead.; Following that, Voltemand's line about the fair return of desires, means that Old Norway wishes Claudius was dead, too. "The same to you," says Norway. It all sounds pleasant enough, but both kings are wishing the other was dead.; Fortinbrasse Sr was Old Norway's brother, and he's dead, killed by Hamlet Sr, as we recall. The notion of kings being "brothers" has a wicked undertone, in Hamlet, where the king's brothers are dead.
hw 1086, to hw 1093: Upon our first, he sent out to suppress
His nephew's levies, which to him appeared
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack,
but better looked into, he truly found
It was against your highness; whereat grieved,
That so his sickness, age, and impotence
Was falsely born in hand; sends out arrests
On Fortinbrasse, which he, in brief, obeys;; Our first means the primary negotiating point. It concerned Fortinbrasse's recruitment of an army against Denmark.; Old Norway was grieved to hear about it, says the ambassador. Norway had heard something, but thought Fortinbrasse was preparing to fight the Poles, the ambassador reports.; The word Polack refers to the people of Poland, or alternatively, the Polish King. It is not being used as a compliment here, since Poland and Denmark were traditional enemies. As used here, the word is not a strong insult, however. It became a strongly insulting term later, in the centuries after Hamlet was written. Here, Polack is being used as merely a common word, like "British" or "French," more or less.; Where the ambassador says that King Norway's sickness, age, and impotence were falsely borne in hand, he means Norway behaved energetically, as though it were false he had those infirmities. It was as though Norway's sickness was "false." In other words, Norway was apparently not nearly as sick as Claudius had been led to believe. The ambassadors saw old Norway active and energetic. Norway must have made an amazingly quick recovery, perhaps. Or, it could be, he was pretending to be sick when he wasn't. If so, it's curious, he would do that. Why would he pretend to be sick?; Since the ambassadors returned so soon, Fortinbrasse must have been nearby, and agreed to be arrested without resistance or reluctance, even though he had an army at his command, which he might have used to resist arrest. It's another odd thing. It's almost as if Fortinbrasse was waiting to be summoned by King Norway.; It all sounds very good for Denmark, though - if you don't look too closely.
hw 1094, to hw 1105: Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine,
Makes vow before his uncle never more
To give th'assay of arms against your Majesty;
Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
Gives him threescore thousand crowns in annual fee,
And his commission to employ those soldiers
So levied, (as before,) against the Polack,
With an entreaty herein further shown,
That it might please you to give quiet pass
Through your dominions for this enterprise,
On such regards of safety and allowance
As therein are set down.; Fine means the settlement, or completion, the final result. Fortinbrasse promised, cross his heart, never to attack Denmark. Norway was so happy to hear it, that he rewarded Fortinbrasse with a huge amount of money, and let him keep his army. That's so nice. Warm and fuzzy, is the phrase.; Except, it was a diplomatic goal of Denmark to have Fortinbrasse disband his army. Looks as though that didn't quite work out.; To give Fortinbrasse something to do, to keep him busy and out of mischief, Norway said Fortinbrasse could attack Poland. So, Norway is asking Claudius to agree that Fortinbrasse can bring his army into Denmark, on the way to Poland - which is absurd (and the author of Hamlet knew that.) Elsinore is at the northeast corner of a large island. It's physically impossible to march an army, on the ground, from Elsinore to Poland.; Is somebody cooking fish? I could swear I smell fish.; The Danish ambassadors got taken. Norway and Fortinbrasse put on a show for them. (Putting On A Show is a major theme of the play.) Norway knew all along what Fortinbrasse was doing, and approved of it. Norway pretended to be sick to fool people about the knowledge and involvement of the King, to hide that Fortinbrasse was raising a Norwegian army against Denmark, and not just a personal militia. Now, Norway and Fortinbrasse have found a diplomatic wedge to get Fortinbrasse's army, actually the Norwegian army, into Denmark and close to Elsinore, and they're hoping Claudius will go for it. The Danish ambassadors, in their eagerness for an agreement, have opened the gate.; The word fee was used at that time with particular reference to land, real estate. What real estate? Elsinore. The land here is Elsinore, and its surroundings.; That large amount of money, the threescore thousand crowns in annual fee that was mentioned, is the annual revenue of Elsinore Castle, from taxes on shipping, and taxes on that part of Denmark. Old Norway knew the amount, and he has told Fortinbrasse that if he can take Elsinore Castle, he can have the revenue. The Danish ambassadors, however, didn't know what the number meant.; The commission is an officer's commission, from the King. It means that Fortinbrasse is not the informal commander of a scrounged force, as it seemed earlier when Horatio was talking about him. Fortinbrasse is officially the commanding general of a Norwegian army.; There are the assurances written on paper, but what good will that do Claudius if he's dead in the cemetery, chopped up by Fortinbrasse's sword? Is Claudius going to come back as a ghost and sue?; The relationship between old King Norway and Fortinbrasse is vastly different from that between Claudius and Hamlet. Norway isn't slandering Fortinbrasse and spying on him, he's giving Fortinbrasse valuable assistance to have his own kingdom, by trying to recover the land Hamlet Sr won from Fortinbrasse Sr, land that includes Elsinore.; Fortinbrasse couldn't have been raising the army, himself. He has no money of his own. His father lost his land, and in those days land was money. It takes a lot of money to recruit an army. But a king can finance an army. Old Norway was financing Fortinbrasse's army - against Denmark! - from the beginning. Norway pretended to be sick, and out of touch, to hide that fact.; The ambassador's name, Voltemand, means "turned man." Volte is from the French, as in the phrase volte-face, meaning to do an about-face and go the opposite direction. Voltemand is not a traitor, he's a dupe. He was fooled by the show Norway and Fortinbrasse put on. He was "turned," in that he left Denmark carrying an agreement Claudius wanted, to keep Fortinbrasse's army out of Denmark, and he's come back with an agreement that Norway wants, to get the Norwegian army into Denmark.; Will Claudius take the bait?
hw 1106: Clau: It likes us well,; Hook, line, and sinker. Sneaky old King Norway and Fortinbrasse have caught a fish.; Likes means "pleases."
hw 1107, to hw 1111: And at our more considered time we'll read,
Answer, and think upon this business;
Meantime, we thank you for your well took labor;
Go to your rest, at night we'll feast together;
Most welcome home!
(the ambassadors exit); Observe the order of Claudius's statements. He said he'd answer it, before he thinks about it. The statement order is intentional by the author, expressing an ironic truth. Claudius will answer without thinking about it.; The word "consider" comes from a root meaning of "star." The stars are seen at night. So Claudius's considered time implies "at night." It won't be this night when he considers it, however, because he's going to feast, which for Claudius includes drinking.; Claudius doesn't ask any questions or otherwise pursue the subject. He wants to get to what Polonius has to say about Hamlet. His considered time, the time when he'll carefully consider the agreement, will be never. He's too preoccupied with Hamlet to take any further interest in the mission, now that he believes it's successfully concluded. He'll simply sign the agreement. There'll be a feast that night, with a big rouse, and when Claudius wakes up the next day, groggy and with a headache, he'll splash a little water on his face and immediately start worrying about Hamlet, again.; That's while Fortinbrasse is preparing to enter Denmark, as the commanding general of a Norwegian army, (and he will not be on his way to Poland.)
hw 1112: Polonius: This business is well ended;; So they believe.; (Except, there's one person in the room who knows exactly what Fortinbrasse and Norway are doing, but she won't say a word. She was expecting it. More on that, later.); Since the diplomatic mission was Polonius's suggestion, and they think it went so well, he's now in excellent position for making his case about Hamlet and Ophelia.
hw 1113, to hw 1116: My Liege and Madam, to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night, night, and time is time,
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time;; Polonius has used the wrong word with expostulate. He's intending to refer to his "postulates," his premeses, as he begins his remarks - meaning, simply, that he takes certain things for granted. With his mistake, however, he has just said, literally, that he intends to argue vehemently against the King and Queen about what "majesty" and "duty" ought to be, or are. That is not what he intends, not at all. He has confused expostulate with the idea of "postulate."; With his mentions of majesty and duty, Polonius is trying to say that he takes it as givens, that the King can be influential in getting Hamlet to marry Ophelia, and that it's Polonius's duty to tell Claudius what he's discovered.; With his mentions of night, day, and time Polonius is trying to say that he doesn't intend to waste time, but will get right to the point. Polonius is so caught up in the importance of his own thoughts, that his daughter may become the wife of a Prince, he's having trouble getting started with what he wants to say. Also, he's attempting to express himself in sayings, which is his favorite form of expression.
hw 1117, to hw 1122: Therefore, brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limns and outward flourishes;
I will be brief; your noble son is mad;
Mad call I it, for to define true madness,
What is't but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that go.; When Polonius thinks of being brief, he inevitably thinks of a common saying, "brevity is the soul of wit." He has expressed himself in sayings for so long, he's now trapped in his speech habit, and he can't get away from it. Nearly everything he thinks of, reminds him of a saying. He didn't really mean to say that, but he couldn't help it.; The word limns - spelled "lymmes" in the original printing - is ambiguous. The original can be interpreted to mean either "appendage" (limb) or "illustration" (limn.) I take the word as best meaning "illustration," so I give a modern spelling of limns in the text. However, "limbs" is entirely acceptable, as long as the ambiguity is noted. (The ambiguity is intentional, from Shakespeare; double meaning is supposed to be there.) The outward flourishes are the overt extensions, or illustrations. In the first meaning, "limn," Polonius is saying that tediousness is the illustration of intellect. Which means, in plain language, that people who are boring are smart. In the second meaning, "limb," Polonius would be saying that tediousness is an appendage of intellect, a natural part of it. In plain language, that would mean that being tedious is a natural part of being smart. The irony is delicious, as Polonius, who thinks he's smart, rambles in such a tedious way - without realizing the actual meaning of what he's saying. Polonius has just accidentally argued that he's so boring because he's smart, as he foolishly says things that have nothing to do with his subject. He has just "logically" excused himself, for being so pointlessly verbose, and he doesn't even know it.; Polonius does manage to get to the subject of Hamlet's "madness." He would like to say a platitude or epigram about madness, to define madness, but he can't think of one, so he wanders for a moment, and then drops it. Without a platitude to voice, he doesn't know quite what to say. What he really means when he says let that go is, "I can't think of a platitude about madness." It bothers him.
hw 1123: Gertrude: More matter with less art.; Gertrude knows that people think her son is mad, but she doesn't like hearing it. She speaks up to tell Polonius to get to the point. Observe that she speaks in an epigram form, contrasting matter and art, that she hopes Polonius will understand. She knows his fondness for speaking in the form of sayings, so she tries to communicate with him like that. Gertrude is quite sharp. Further, Polonius's use of sayings is contagious, so to speak, and we'll see more on that, later.
hw 1124: Pol: Madam, I swear I use no art at all;; Polonius is trying to deny that he's using embellishment, which is what he takes art to mean. Art can also mean "skill," so as an undertone, Polonius is accidentally saying he uses no skill at all.
hw 1125, to hw 1127: That he's mad, 'tis true, 'tis pity
And pity 'tis, 'tis true, a foolish figure;
But farewell it, for I will use no art;; Polonius's attempt to describe Hamlet's madness sounds: mad. In trying to describe Hamlet's madness, Polonius has lost his mind.; He's still stuck in trying to find a saying about madness, and his thoughts spin as he tries to think of one. So, he babbles, a foolish figure, himself.; He then has to give up completely on his hope for a madness epigram, and move on. His repetition of art is in deference to Gertrude. He knows he needs her on his side in persuading Hamlet to marry Ophelia, and he doesn't want to annoy her. He surrenders in his internal struggle to think of a madness saying, and continues.
hw 1128, to hw 1132: Mad let us grant him, then, and now remains
That we find out the cause of this effect,
Or rather say, the cause of this defect,
For this effect defective comes by cause;
Thus it remains, and the remainder thus:; Still struggling, Polonius is starting to get to the point. He's trying to tell them he's found the cause of Hamlet's madness. He quibbles with his own thoughts as he tries to formulate familiar-sounding expressions.; His mention of what remains is almost painfully ironic. What remains to be stated, after all his verbiage so far, is: his whole argument.; Polonius's actual argument, that he's trying to make, is this:; * Hamlet is mad;; * Hamlet is in love with Ophelia;; * Hamlet became "mad"/angry when Ophelia refused to see him under Polonius's orders.; * It's necessary to bring Hamlet and Ophelia together again, to cure Hamlet's "madness."; * So, Claudius, and Gertrude, ought to get involved to insure the marriage happens.; It's really as simple as that. He's trying to show Claudius and Gertrude that they should approve and encourage the marriage of Hamlet and Ophelia.; But Hamlet and Ophelia have already privately agreed to marry, and are secretly engaged, and Polonius doesn't know it. One reason they wanted to keep it secret was to avoid outlandish interference from their elders. Like this.
hw 1133, to hw 1141: Perpend,
I have a daughter, have while she is mine,
Who, in her duty and obedience, mark,
Hath given me this, now gather and surmise:
(Polonius reads from a letter)
To the celestial, and my soul's idol,
the most beautified Ophelia . . .
(Polonius interrupts his own reading):
That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase,
"Beautified" is a vile phrase, but you shall hear;
Thus, in her excellent white bosom, these, &tc.; Perpend is a pompous word meaning "consider the following." Polonius mentions duty and obedience in trying to impress the King with how dutiful and obedient he is, and his whole family is, but Ophelia did not give up her love letters voluntarily. Polonius demanded and took them, without explaining why.; It's clear Polonius can't explain things, even when he gives it a serious try. We can be sure Ophelia does not understand why he wanted the love letters. Polonius wanted the letters as solid proof of Hamlet's love for Ophelia, as part of his intent to prove that Claudius and Gertrude should get involved to make the marriage happen.; Ophelia doesn't know that. Polonius probably babbled a few sayings at her as he took the letters, but nothing she could follow. From Ophelia's perspective, first her father made Hamlet hate her - as Polonius said in the earlier scene, when he was intending to speak rhetorically - and now he's taken away her love letters from Hamlet. With no understanding of why, she thinks Polonius has done it to be cruel to her. She thinks her father is only being mean. At the end of the earlier scene, Polonius said to her "we" must go to the King, but he had to leave her in her room. She's in there crying her heart out. First, her father made her true love hate her, and now he's cruelly taken away her love letters, which were all she had left. She's firmly convinced, at this point, that her father is the meanest, most hateful man in the world. If there's any more inflicted on her by Polonius, as she sees it, she'll develop an enduring hatred for her father.; Polonius wanted the letters from Hamlet, in place of a personal statement from Hamlet, because he doesn't know what Hamlet will say at this point. He accepts that Hamlet is mad/angry at Ophelia, which makes Hamlet's personal statement at this time unpredictable. So he doesn't trust what Hamlet might say. He's using the letters, instead, as proof of the love. It's tangible evidence, and it's safer, in Polonius's view.; Polonius calls beautified a "vile phrase" because he has mistaken the word. He thinks it's "beatified," referring to a saint of the Church. He thinks Hamlet was being heretical by calling Ophelia a saint of the Church. Polonius tries to present himself as a strictly religious man, especially as he appears in public, so he takes exception, and shows his religious indignation. But Hamlet merely meant that Ophelia is beautiful.; As often, however, Polonius has accidentally said something significant. Hamlet does view Ophelia as his "angel," and angels are technically classed as saints. Ophelia is a devout girl, who has considered entering a nunnery. There are "dog" references to her, later, which are not the insults in the modern slang, but are allusions to Saint Guinefort, the strange case of the heroic greyhound that became a saint. So once again, Polonius has accidentally touched on things that have meaning for the play, with no idea what he's saying.; There's considerable irony that Polonius missed the phrase in Hamlet's letter that could with some legitimacy be classed as heretical. The phrase is my soul's idol. Idol worship is expressly forbidden by Christian doctrine (by the Second Commandment,) which requires that God, alone, be worshipped. So Polonius's burst of indignation is doubly foolish. The objection that he did make came from his own misunderstanding, and also, he completely missed the phrase to which he might have made a legitimate objection. However, there is not any actual heresy, of course. It's merely a love letter in which certain ideas are used for emphasis of affection.; Polonius's mention of her excellent white bosom reveals that Ophelia was keeping her love letters from Hamlet in her clothing next to her heart. Polonius is intending to praise Ophelia's female characteristics, as part of promoting her as a prospective bride for Hamlet, but it reflects very poorly on him that he demanded and took letters she was keeping by her heart.; Aristophanes is relevant to certain utterances in the play, and Frogs by Aristophanes contains these lines, in translation:
A sweet pretty girl I observed in the show, Her robe had been torn in the scuffle, and lo, There peeped through the tatters a bosom of snow.: The implication, of the phrase excellent white bosom, is that Polonius forcibly took the letters by scuffling with Ophelia, and tore her clothing in the process.
hw 1142: Gertrude: Came this from Hamlet to her?; Gertrude doesn't like it that Polonius has gotten hold of her son's personal letters. This is after she didn't like it when Polonius spoke of her son being mad. Polonius is damaging his standing with her.
hw 1143: Polonius: Good Madam, stay a while, I will be faithful;; Although, he isn't being faithful (loyal) at the moment by refusing to answer her question. Polonius is intent on what he's trying to prove, and he doesn't observe the warning signs. The Queen is upset with what she's hearing, and seeing, from him. Her displeasure is moderated by her curiosity, however; she wants to know all she can about her son's problems, especially where there's hope for improvement.
hw 1144, to hw 1152: (Polonius continues reading the letter)
Doubt that the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.
Oh, dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers,
I have not art to reckon my groans,
But that I love thee best, oh, most best,
Believe it, adieu.
Thine evermore, most dear Lady,
Whilst this machine is to him,
Hamlet; Doubt means to have uncertainty about. The mention of the sun and stars has an astronomy allusion. The old Ptolemaic theory was being displaced by Copernican theory, in the era when Hamlet was written, and the different ideas about astronomy were a topic of the day. Galileo made his famous telescope observations about five years after Hamlet was printed. Tycho Brahe, whose observations were used in support of Copernican theory, was a Dane.; Numbers means "verses," and ill means unskilled, not adept. The author did a masterful job of presenting Hamlet as a poet who is sincere but unprofessional. The author's own skill shows in his ability to write a convincing "unskilled" poem. It is not nearly as easy as that little poem might make it look.; Try it yourself, to write nice, short poetic statements expressing ideas about things like the sun, stars, truth, lies, and love, in only four quick lines that rhyme, while repeating the same word, such as doubt, to good effect in each line. And, you're not allowed to copy from this poem, you have to do it yourself. Good luck. You'll need it.; Groans means groans of loving desire, and machine is a reference to the human body. In the ideas of the time, the human body was seen as a mechanical thing, that was operated by the human spirit. The person, himself, was the spirit inside his machine. The body and the essential person were two different things, in that view. The spirit, without its mechanical body, would be a ghost. Thus, when Hamlet writes Whilst this machine is to him, he means, until he dies, and becomes a ghost. It's an allusion to the Ghost, and also to his bad dream.
hw 1153, to hw 1156: Polonius: This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me,
And more about, hath his solicitings,
As they fell out by time, by means, and place,
All given to mine ear.; Polonius's ear means his eye. He means he read them. The use of the ear metaphor is an instance on the Ear motif of the play.; Polonius says Ophelia was obedient in showing him the letter. It isn't the truth. He demanded, and she unwillingly complied, not knowing why he wanted it. She wasn't obedient, she was forced. He uses obedience in connection with emphasizing that he's obedient to the King.; More about means there were more letters around, from Hamlet to Ophelia, that he also obtained, as he could get hold of them. It implies he's been using the servants to intercept Hamlet's letters to Ophelia. That would go along with his use of a servant to try to find out about Laertes in France. Hath his solicitings means the other letters also have statements of Hamlet's love for Ophelia. His use of the word solicitings is unfortunate, since the word has both an innocent meaning, and a meaning not so innocent. Polonius is still stuck a little on his first idea, that Hamlet was like Laertes, and in the non-innocent meaning solicitings connects back to his fear about Laertes patronizing bawds. Polonius has a dim view of female virtue.
hw 1157: Claudius: But how hath she received his love?; Claudius's question goes exactly along with what Polonius wants to achieve. Polonius is trying to prove that Claudius should become involved, to approve and encourage the marriage of Hamlet and Ophelia. Claudius's question indicates that, if Ophelia is agreeable, he would approve. From Claudius's view, marriage would be something to distract Hamlet from his possible ambition for the crown, and a wife would give him something else to think about. Claudius would like that. Anything that might distract Hamlet from violent action to get the crown sounds good to Claudius.
hw 1158: Pol: What do you think of me?; Polonius blunders here, badly. He's won his point with the King - and he doesn't know it!; If Polonius had answered the question simply and directly, he could have achieved his goal. A problem Polonius has, in providing a direct answer to Claudius's question, is that he doesn't know how Ophelia feels; he never had the simple courtesy to ask her. But primarily, Polonius is so concerned that the King properly understand how loyal he is, that he goes off on a tangent. He is trying to ensure Claudius understands that he's acting out of duty to the King, not because of how anybody feels, least of all Ophelia. Polonius's loyalty is not in question here, but he's so sensitive on that subject, that he takes the opportunity to emphasize his loyalty, and wanders away from the marriage issue. What the King thinks of him, is the main issue on Polonius's mind, and the thought diverts him.
hw 1159: Clau: As of a man faithful and honorable.; Polonius's question takes Claudius by surprise. Claudius did not have any untoward ideas about Polonius in connection with the issue of the marriage.; In the larger way, in the course of events, Polonius's excessive insistence on his loyalty will have a counter effect, as Claudius will turn more to R & G. Polonius works against himself by emphasizing his loyalty when it isn't even in question.
hw 1160: Pol: I would fain prove so, but what might you think; Polonius asserts that his main interest in the marriage of his own daughter is his concern about what the King would think. It's excessive, and not convincing; one would normally take it that a father's interest in the marriage of his daughter is simply and primarily because she's his daughter. No further justification is actually needed. Polonius is lost. He's wandered away from trying to prove Claudius should get involved for the marriage, and has set out on proving he's loyal to Claudius, which is a different subject.
hw 1161, to hw 1163: When I had seen this hot love on the wing,
As I perceived it, (I must tell you that,)
Before my daughter told me; what might you,; Polonius is not telling the truth. He was aware that Hamlet had spent some time with Ophelia, but he didn't perceive it as hot love until Ophelia told him how Hamlet rushed into her room and stared at her without saying a word. It was only then that Polonius assumed - for the wrong reason - the love of which he speaks here. Polonius is trying to impress Claudius with how perceptive he is, although it isn't true. Polonius's own idea, before Ophelia told him of Hamlet's behavior that morning, was that Hamlet's only interest in Ophelia was sexual, and it wasn't love at all. Polonius was basing his judgment of Hamlet on his concerns about Laertes in Paris. So, Polonius is lying here, to try to impress his boss, the King.
hw 1163, to hw 1168: Or my dear Majesty your Queen here think,
If I had played the desk, or table book,
Or given my heart a working mute and dumb,
Or looked upon this love with idle sight,
What might you think?; Actually, they probably wouldn't think much of anything about it, except it was his decision as to how he conducted himself in relation to the marriage of his own daughter. But Polonius is trying to impress Claudius with his dutifulness.; Polonius's brief nod to Gertrude is both politeness, and also because he recognizes she has influence in relation to marriage for Hamlet. However, his remarks are primarily directed to Claudius, his boss.; A desk and table book are used for making notes. In his reference to them, Polonius means if he had only noted what he observed, and done nothing in particular about it.; The word working in the third line is correct, from Q2, and the Folio was in error in changing it to "winking." It means "job" and is intrinsic to Polonius's characterization. Polonius is the epitome of the unromantic, who sees love as only a job the heart does, and even beyond that, he sees love as being a job the heart can be ordered to do.; Mute and dumb means "silent and speechless." But if Polonius's heart were literally silent, he'd be dead. So, as an undertone to his remarks, it means what if, when he saw the love between Hamlet and Ophelia, he had dropped dead. He does not actually mean that, as he says it. It's another of the innumerable Death undertones in the play, a facetious one this time. Since Polonius is waving Hamlet and Ophelia's private love letters around in public, they'd probably forgive him at this point if he did drop dead.; Idle sight means if he had only observed, and done nothing. Idle additionally has the connotation of "crazy," which is irony as Polonius speaks of himself. He then repeats his rhetorical question of what the King might think, to again emphasize how loyal and dutiful he is, with his highest priority being service to the King.
hw 1168, to hw 1171: No, I went round to work,
And my young Mistress thus I did bespeak:
Lord Hamlet is a Prince out of thy star;
This must not be;; That is not what Polonius told Ophelia. He made no mention of social status to her, but emphatically told her that Hamlet's sentiments of affection were not sincere. However, Laertes mentioned Hamlet's status when he was talking to Ophelia, so it's something Polonius had mentioned to Laertes, and Laertes then repeated. Polonius may simply have forgotten to which of his children he mentioned Hamlet's status. Whether an innocent mistake by Polonius or not, he has a motive to say it here, since Ophelia's status follows from his own. Polonius is portraying himself to Claudius as a humble, loyal servant, with no pretensions such as the family marrying into royalty. So, he states his awareness of the respective social status.; Round means that he went directly to work, in a straightforward way. The word is ironic, since Polonius's idea of directness is to speak at great length in a meandering way, and to do things by subterfuge.; His repetition of work, (after working noted earlier,) is intended to reinforce to Claudius how hard-working and dutiful he is on behalf of the King.; His use of bespeak is ironic. The word has the connotation of "speak for," and Polonius does presume to speak for Ophelia, without concern for what she might say, herself. It further carries allusion to Ophelia not being there.; The word star refers to social status, and the usage comes from astrology. The "stars," actually the planets, were thought to influence human events. Star was a general term that included the planets. In the astrological idea, a person was born under the influence of a particular star, that controlled the person's life in significant ways. The star idea is on the theme of Luck/Fortune, the things beyond a person's control.; Polonius means that Ophelia's star, in control of her future, wouldn't allow her to marry Hamlet. He wouldn't really know about that. He's actually referring to social status, and also that he doesn't see Ophelia as being important enough for a Prince to want to marry her. Polonius doesn't see his daughter as an important person.; His line, Lord Hamlet is a Prince out of thy star, can also be read with a contrary meaning, that Hamlet was sent to her from her star, or by her star, as her fate or destiny. So it is, in the play. In undertone, Polonius once again speaks a truth, accidentally, with a meaning opposite to what he intends.; His emphasis, on Hamlet being beyond Ophelia in social status, makes it sound like he's arguing against them getting married. In trying to show Claudius how dutiful and humble he is, Polonius is accidentally arguing against what he wants to achieve. He's confusing his own argument.
hw 1171, to hw 1174: and then I prescripts gave her,
That she should lock herself from her resort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens;
Which done, she took the fruits of my advice;; The word prescripts is correct, in Q2; the Folio change to "Precepts" is erroneous. Although Polonius typically deals in platitudes, in this connection he did indeed give Ophelia orders, which is what prescripts means. The Folio error is explainable, from Polonius's general behavior, but departs from the meaning here, and must be taken as an editorial misunderstanding, or other error.; Polonius did instruct Ophelia as stated, to avoid Hamlet, and not communicate with him.; Resort comes from a meaning of "to go out." When Polonius speaks of Ophelia being locked from "going out," it implies he's left her locked in her room. He did that so she wouldn't come crying after him to get her love letters back, as he went to the King, and so that she wouldn't go to Hamlet and tell him that Polonius had stolen his love letters.; The fruits means that Ophelia reaped the harvest of his advice, and thereby gained, or profited, by what Polonius said, with the intended implication that Claudius will also profit from his advice. This is ironic, in that the harvest Ophelia thinks she reaped from her father's advice is that Hamlet now hates her. Claudius would not think much of Polonius's advice and its fruits if he knew that.; Polonius softens his terms in using the word advice, although "advice" is not what he gave Ophelia. He switches words, since he's now advising the King, and he recognizes that he can't order the King as he does his daughter. Polonius is making a transition from what he told Ophelia, to what he's trying to tell Claudius. This is confirmation that the Folio "Precepts" is wrong, because it deprives Polonius's utterance of the transition from prescripts to advice as he changes thoughts from Ophelia to the King.; Also, prescripts connects to the Luck/Fortune theme in the aspect of destiny being "pre-written."
hw 1175, to hw 1180: And he, repulsed, a short tale to make,
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness
Thence to lightness, and by this declension,
Into the madness wherein now he raves,
And all we mourn for.; Polonius has not really observed what he says about Hamlet, although the passage contains good references to various things in the play. Polonius is using rhetoric he's picked up someplace. The pertinent references by Polonius are accidental, which is in keeping with his characterization.; Hamlet is sad, but they all know that. Apparently he is not eating heartily at dinner, to account for the use of "fast;" the term is undoubtedly exaggerated, or intentionally ironic, since Hamlet is later described by Gertude as "fat." Also, by the evidence, the play is set in springtime, which is the season of Lent. Observance of Lent involves fasting, so if Hamlet was fasting because of Lent it would be only that, and not any sign of madness.; All that Polonius would be saying, with his first two observations, about sadness and fast, is that first Hamlet was sad about his father's death, and then later he was fasting during Lent. Neither of those is "mad."; Hamlet did go to a watch when he accompanied the sentinels to see the Ghost, but Polonius doesn't know about that. Apparently Polonius is informed that Hamlet has stayed up late at night, on one or more occasions, which is what he means. Q2 misprints "wath" in the third line, and the Folio correction to Watch is proper, supported by the pertinent allusion to the sentinels' watch, which became so significant to Hamlet. (Here, as often, the Folio substitute is capitalized for some reason; however, capitalization is not reliable as to whether a Folio change is right or wrong.); Lightness means "light headed." Following Hamlet's encounter, on the watch, with the Ghost, he did feel weak and light headed, (he called on his sinews to bear him up, and spoke in whirling words, as described by Horatio,) corresponding to the weakness and lightness Polonius mentions. Still, Polonius knows nothing of Hamlet's reaction after seeing the Ghost. It continues Polonius's characterization as one who is right by accident, in a strange way. On the play's theme of Fortune, Polonius is occasionally lucky in what he says, in that his words mean something significant - but he doesn't know it.; Continuing Polonius's accidental allusion, Hamlet's madness or "raving," such as it is, is indeed consequent to the Ghost calling upon Hamlet for revenge, after Hamlet's watch. Polonius also inadvertently anticipates Hamlet "raving" to Ophelia and Gertrude later, as his listeners will hear it.; At this point, however, Hamlet has made various remarks, but he has not been raving, not in the least. Claudius, in his own interest, is promoting the idea that Hamlet's mourning for his father is madness. As Claudius has cast it, Hamlet is "raving" in his normal grief for his father. Claudius's motive is the personal benefit to him if a potential competitor for the crown is thought to be mad. Claudius also has a strong motive to denigrate anybody who takes too much interest in Hamlet Sr. Polonius has loyally and mindlessly picked up on Claudius's defamation, thus his description of Hamlet as "raving," even though it isn't true.; Polonius's use of mourn is unintentional irony. Polonius is saying that they are mourning over Hamlet's "madness," which is actually just Hamlet's own sincere mourning for his father. (It's certain the Folio was in error to substitute "waile" in the last line, because of the loss of the allusion to Hamlet mourning his father; the author, himself, would not credibly have discarded such an apt allusion.); All we would be rendered in modern prose as "all of us." The author was strictly grammatical in using the nominative we before the verb mourn - and then he ended the sentence with a preposition! Shakespeare knew 'schoolroom' grammar well, but used it as it suited him.; For the first line, I adopt the Folio change to repulsed, over Q2 "repell'd" because repulsed contains the word "pulse" which has reference to the heart and blood. In speaking to Ophelia earlier, Laertes described Hamlet's feelings for her as a "toy in blood," and then Polonius spoke of how the "blood burns." Repulsed and "repelled" are the same in their plain meaning, but repulsed follows better from the earlier phrases, and from the association of love with the heart. I judge repulsed to be credibly an authorial fine tuning that didn't make the printing of Q2. The editorial changes in the Folio are not this apt, and detract from meaning rather than adding. If this change is editorial in the Folio, it is lucky. I therefore accept the change as authorial.; Polonius says that when he ordered Ophelia not to see Hamlet, it caused Hamlet's madness. He makes it sound like he is personally responsible for Hamlet's madness, which Polonius believes he is. But he certainly isn't intending to inform the King and Queen that he should be blamed for it. What he's trying to argue is that he has the cure for Hamlet's madness - a marriage between Hamlet and Ophelia - for which he'd like to have credit with the King and Queen. With all his verbiage, and his confusion of subjects, while Polonius is trying to get credit, he's making it sound like he should be blamed, instead, exactly the opposite of what he really wants. He hasn't even gotten to the subject of the marriage (and he never will manage to do that.)
hw 1181: Clau: Do you think this?; Claudius is not prepared to attribute Hamlet's madness to his love for Ophelia, because it's different from his own propaganda about Hamlet's madness, in connection with Hamlet Sr, so he diverts the question to Gertrude. Claudius is interested in whether Polonius has convinced her, because that could bear on his own future statements, as to whether he'll have to change his approach in promoting the idea of Hamlet being mad.
hw 1182: Gertrude: It may be, very like.; Gertrude is expressing skepticism. She's not convinced, partly because she simply doesn't like what she's heard and seen from Polonius, that has to do with her son. Her use of like is a manner of speaking. She means "very like that," but has dropped "that." The Folio change to "likely" is both unnecessary and undesirable, for meaning and meter, and is not credibly authorial.
hw 1183, to hw 1185: Pol: Hath there been such a time, (I would fain know that,)
That I have positively said, 'tis so,
When it proved otherwise?; Polonius wanders, in response to Gertrude's skepticism. Other times are not the point. He has taken her attitude as a challenge, and responds indignantly, and it will lead him into a mistake. His remarks here are addressed to Claudius; he has turned to Claudius, again.
hw 1186: Clau: Not that I know.; Claudius is giving Polonius the benefit of the doubt, not prepared to say he's wrong. Between Polonius's advocacy, and Gertrude's skepticism, Claudius is uncertain, and it doesn't really matter very much to him if Hamlet and Ophelia are in love. His primary concern is the crown. He'd be pleased if Hamlet is diverted by Ophelia.
hw 1187, to hw 1190: Pol: Take this, from this, if this be otherwise;
If circumstances lead me, I will find
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the center.; Polonius indicates taking his head from his shoulders; the gesture is merely dramatic. He is exaggeratedly betting his life on being right. He would not be executed for being wrong. It's bluster. There is a wickedly ironic undertone in him betting his life on what he can prove about Hamlet, in anticipation of the Closet Scene, later.; The center that Polonius means is Hamlet's heart, the center of his love. Polonius is saying that he can prove the truth in Hamlet's heart, that Hamlet loves his daughter. (Astronomical or geographical ideas about "center," which sometimes get mentioned in presentations of Hamlet, have nothing to do with Polonius's point. The idea of the center of the earth is found in the "bad" Q1, and has somehow persisted, to crop up here and there, despite obviously having nothing to do with what Polonius is saying. Polonius means Hamlet's heart, where the truth of his love for Ophelia will be found. The reporter for Q1 did not understand the context.); The word "circumstance" derives from Latin, and has the root meaning of "to stand around." In that sense, Polonius is claiming he can discover the truth about Hamlet by standing around. Polonius will proceed to stand around, hiding behind arrases, and when he stands around in Gertrude's closet, he will, indeed, discover a significant truth about Hamlet: the truth is, Hamlet doesn't like him standing around.; The author also used "circumstance" to mean circumlocution, meaning to talk around a subject. In this sense, Polonius is saying he can find the truth of a subject by talking around it. He has talked around his subject so much here - not even using the word "marriage" - that Claudius and Gertrude still don't know what he's trying to advocate.
hw 1191: Clau: How may we try it further?; Polonius's mistake in being too insistent tells here. Instead of pondering what Polonius has already said, Claudius's thoughts turn toward getting more information. He does want the truth about Hamlet, but not out of curiosity about love between Hamlet and Ophelia, rather the truth of Hamlet's ambition for the crown. That's what's important to Claudius. He's interested in any way he can find out more about Hamlet, for his own reasons. Polonius thinks he's persuaded Claudius, but in fact, Polonius has lost Claudius's attention to what he was trying to argue.
hw 1192-93, to hw 1194: Pol: You know sometimes he walks four hours together
Here in the lobby.; The phrase four hours together means for four continuous hours, but that is not to be taken literally. It means "all morning," or "all afternoon." The phrase is not as precise as it appears, and Polonius is saying only that Hamlet sometimes spends most of the morning or afternoon in the lobby. The author sometimes used an exact number to mean "many." Such false precision is seen in the "four" here, and also later in Hamlet's phrases "twenty thousand souls" and "forty thousand brothers." It's essentially the poetic use of a specific to express a more general idea.; The lobby is the large room next to the throne room. It's the waiting area for those who wish to see the King on business. The ambassadors were waiting in the lobby until Polonius admitted them to the throne room to see the King.
hw 1195: Gert: So he does, indeed.; A side effect of Claudius pushing the idea that Hamlet is mad, is that everybody is very aware of Hamlet, and is watching what he's doing. Both Gertrude and Polonius know Hamlet spends long hours in the lobby.
hw 1196, to hw 1201: Pol: At such a time, I'll loose my daughter to him;
Be you and I behind an arras then;
Mark the encounter; if he love her not,
And be not from his reason fallen thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state,
But keep a farm and carters.; Although Gertrude has just spoken, Polonius addresses his remarks to Claudius. The you and I means Claudius and Polonius, not Gertrude and Polonius. However, there is a fine subtlety here in Polonius's use of the word "you" just after Gertrude has spoken. As we'll see, Gertrude will also hide to listen to the encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia. That is not what Polonius meant, although according to the flow of dialogue it's exactly what he said. Polonius again expresses a truth of the play without intending or knowing it.; The word loose means to unleash, and follows from Polonius's earlier remark about keeping Ophelia on a tether. The word is ironic, in that according to Polonius's plan Ophelia will still be "leashed," with her father close by, doing what she's told to do, and not "loose" at all. Polonius intends that Hamlet will believe Ophelia is at liberty.; The "unleash" idea again supports the association of Ophelia with Saint Guinefort, the greyhound.; Polonius's idea of hiding behind an arras is not wise. Polonius knows an arras is a poor sound barrier, and will enable them to hear Hamlet. He doesn't take into account that it works both ways, however, and Hamlet will be able to hear Claudius and Polonius if they make any noise. Neither of them can expect to be very stealthy. They aren't that type.; Mark means to observe closely or carefully. It's an injunction, and Mark is correctly the first word of the sentence. Polonius is being bossy to Claudius, telling him what to do. It's part of Polonius's character that he tells people to "mark" even when they're already paying attention.; Thereon means "because of that." Polonius is claiming that Hamlet has fallen from his reason, or normal state of mind, because of his love for Ophelia.; At this point, after Claudius has expressed an interest, Polonius becomes bold enough to allow the thought of whether he's fit for his job. A carter is a person who drives a vegetable cart. Polonius means he could be a truck farmer instead of an aide for the state. But again, it's bluster. Polonius thinks he's won.
hw 1202: Clau: We will try it.; Claudius agrees to go along with Polonius's idea, but for his own reasons. He wants to find out more about Hamlet's attitude toward him, and listening in on what Hamlet takes to be a private conversation may give him some indication of that.; Now, what has Polonius achieved? He intended to argue that Claudius, and Gertrude, should get involved to make Hamlet marry Ophelia. Polonius's result is:; * There is no marriage plan mentioned and discussed for Hamlet and Ophelia, and despite all his blah blah Polonius never even got around to saying the word, marriage;; * Polonius has abused and severely offended his daughter, the prospective bride, by forcibly taking away her love letters for no good reason she knew about;; * If Hamlet, the prospective groom, finds out, he'll be severely offended that Polonius has confiscated and read his personal mail;; * Gertrude is upset with Polonius for getting hold of her son's personal mail, and for his behavior in general;; * Claudius, whose support Polonius was trying to get, has been diverted onto a different issue, that of finding out about Hamlet's ambition for the crown.; A fine day's work by Polonius. He's gone to such trouble, and to such length, and he's gotten worse than nothing out of it, in relation to what he was trying to achieve.
hw 1203: (Hamlet enters); It's unclear why Hamlet enters the throne room from the lobby at this point. Perhaps he wanders in because he has nothing better to do, or he does so to motivate himself with a look at Claudius. Since he enters with a book, as Gertrude says, he is not entering with an intent to converse. A notable possibility is, he may be curious about what's going on, and is using the book as a prop, for cover, the same way Polonius will later have Ophelia use a book. It's clear in what follows that he does not enter with the idea of talking to Polonius.; Hamlet does not hear the plan to spy on him in his later Nunnery Scene encounter with Ophelia, and does not have to overhear the plan to explain his later behavior in that scene.; The stage direction is correctly located in the Q2 playscript, but Hamlet's approach to center stage - the speakers' area of the stage - is slow and casual, and gives time for brief conversation among the others that he does not hear. (An "enter" in the playscript is an instruction to the actor that he must move to the speakers' area of the stage, where he can properly address the audience; it does not mean he's already there.) Hamlet notices that Claudius and Gertrude quickly depart, looking toward him as they leave, and he becomes aware that something is going on, concerning him. When Polonius immediately approaches to talk to him, it tells him that Polonius is up to something involving him, which will motivate Hamlet's insults to Polonius.; (The Folio stage direction, which specifies that Hamlet is reading a book, is not correct, in that Hamlet may only be using the book as cover, and is not really reading it. It is not desirable to specify as a fact that Hamlet is reading the book. The book idea should be left to Gertrude's remark in dialogue, where she will naturally assume that since he has a book he's reading it, whether that's exactly the case or not. Hamlet may be using the book only as a prop.)
hw 1204, to hw 1205: Gert: But look where, sadly, the poor wretch comes reading.; Gertrude's sympathy and pity for her son are sincere. She has no immediate answer for the problem. (She does have a longer term answer, if it works out the way she expects.); Wretch means "outcast." The events, and Claudius's defamation, have alienated Hamlet from nearly everybody else. Gertrude wanted him to stay in Denmark, and by doing so, in a paradoxical way Hamlet has virtually become a man without a country. It's pertinent in that way for Gertrude to speak the word.
hw 1206: Pol: Away, I do beseech you both, away;; Polonius again becomes bossy when he's intent on some idea of his own, and here he tells the King and Queen what to do. His conduct here undermines all his earlier assertions of loyalty and humility, which is an amusing irony. He's hardly being the faithful servant. He does not really mean to be insubordinate, but is so intent on his sudden impulse of talking to Hamlet that other concerns have slipped his mind.; Observe that Polonius is, quite shockingly, telling the King and Queen to get out of their own throne room - and they will! It's astonishing. We're treated to the sight of the King and Queen of the nation fleeing from their own throne room, just because Hamlet casually strolled in, with nothing more dangerous than a book in his hand. The wretch sends the nation's highest nobility scurrying.; Claudius doesn't think of telling Polonius to speak with Hamlet in the lobby. Claudius hurries out of the throne room when Hamlet simply strolls in. Who's the King of Denmark?
hw 1206 +: (Claudius and Gertrude exit); The King and Queen may resent Polonius's manner, but they comply because they're both very curious about Hamlet, from their respective points of view, and they hope Polonius will be able to tell them something about him.; I use the plus sign after the line number to mean that I have placed the stage direction on its own line following hw1206. As originally printed in Q2, and as it appears on the Hamlet Works website, the stage direction is on the same line as hw1206.; The exit is correctly placed in Q2, or as close as it can be properly done. Since an exit marks an actor's departure from the speakers' area, it is better placed early rather than late, as long as it's after the actor has finished speaking. There will still be a short time, after his "exit," until an actor is gone from the stage, so parting comments to the actor are possible as he leaves. The actor does not instantly become invisible to the audience at the point where the exit is given in the playscript.
hw 1207, to hw 1208: I'll board him presently . . . oh, give me leave . . .
How does my good Lord Hamlet?; Polonius speaks his first line above to Claudius and Gertrude as they exit. The expression "give me leave" is a polite form of requesting permission. Polonius realizes that he may have been too insistent, and he says it as an afterthought to the King and Queen as they depart. However, they are already gone by the time he says it, and they don't hear it, but Hamlet hears it as he approaches, and it appears to Hamlet as if Polonius is talking to nobody. To Hamlet, Polonius seems to be asking the empty air to "give him leave." It's like hearing somebody say, "I beg your pardon," but there's nobody there. This incident anticipates Hamlet in the Closet Scene with Gertrude, where it will appear to her that Hamlet is talking to nobody as he speaks to the Ghost.; By board Polonius means he'll accost Hamlet, approach and talk to him. Further, board is a nautical term, as in boarding a ship. It anticipates Hamlet's encounter with the pirates. It's humor that Polonius is cast here as a pirate intent on boarding Hamlet's vessel. Polonius is hardly the type to make a good buccaneer. But once again, Polonius has accidentally used a word that has significance to something else.; Presently means "now," or "at this present time." The meaning of presently has changed over the years to become "soon," but it originally meant "now" and that's how it's used here.; There is a pause while Polonius and Hamlet meet, and then Polonius speaks his greeting to Hamlet.
hw 1209: Hamlet: Well, God a mercy!; God a mercy is a colloquial expression meaning "God be thanked." Hamlet says it facetiously, upon Polonius perceiving him and greeting him, after Polonius seemed to be talking to somebody who wasn't there. Hamlet is giving thanks that Polonius is not as crazy as he looked, and is still able to see a real person. To Polonius, Hamlet's remark is an odd way to greet somebody, and it goes along with his idea that Hamlet is mad. Their conversation thus begins with both of them thinking the other is crazy.
hw 1210: Pol: Do you know me, my Lord?; Polonius's inquiry follows from his notion that Hamlet is mad.
hw 1211: Hamlet: Excellent well, you are a fishmonger.; A fishmonger is both an angler who catches more than he can personally make use of, and a person who sells fish. The second follows from the first. Hamlet means that Polonius is angling for something he can peddle, and that Hamlet knows him as a promoter of fishy schemes, a seller of things that smell bad, so to speak. Polonius fishes for things he can sell, figuratively speaking, and also has fishy ideas.; Recall that as Hamlet entered, he saw the King and Queen hastily leave, and then Polonius approached him. Thus, Hamlet knows that Polonius is "fishing" for something from him, to "sell" to the King and Queen.; There is additionally the simple joke that Polonius has a body odor problem, reminiscent of old fish, or even worse. We'll see more on that.; There was apparently a superstition, mentioned by Jenkins (1982,) that fishing at sea was somehow related to having offspring without sex, at least in the case of mice aboard ship. If such allusion was intended, in connection with the term fishmonger here, it would be an inside joke by the author about his own play, where Polonius has children without a wife. As Polonius has no wife, he must have somehow had children without sex. This would be merely a facetious sidenote, if intended by the author at all, since Polonius is taken to be a widower, and is the wrong sex for immaculate conception, anyway. The superstition about mice makes the subject worth a passing mention, since the author made allusion to Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, who is associated with mice; however, I do not know of any real evidence that the author intended such an inside joke about Polonius, and I include this note only for what value it might have as humor. One should not take this paragraph too seriously as meaningful comment about the play.; More to the point, is the historical belief that the wives of fishmongers were unusually fertile. As Hamlet looks at Polonius, he's thinking that Polonius's wife must have had children without having sex. It goes along with fishmonger including a joke about smell - Hamlet implies Polonius's wife would not have wanted to get close enough to him for sex.; Fishmonger was also a slang term for a pimp. Hamlet knows that Polonius treats his daughter as property, with his main interest being what she's worth. For this implication of the term, it's important to note that Hamlet is only insulting Polonius for the way he treats his daughter, and is not insulting Ophelia, herself. The insult is confined to Polonius, to whom he's speaking.; However, there is an undertone relevant to Ophelia, but it's in connection with a tragic mistake Hamlet will make about her later, as we'll see.; Polonius takes Hamlet's fishmonger remark as symptomatic of his madness.
hw 1212: Pol: Not I, my Lord.; Hamlet has put Polonius on the defensive, shown by Polonius's uncharacteristically short utterances in this passage. Polonius was outspoken, and even bossy, to the King and Queen, but with Hamlet he's subdued. He's intimidated by Hamlet.
hw 1213: Ham: Then I would you were so honest a man.; Would means "wish." Hamlet uses honest to mean "honorable." Being honorable also means being truthful, but when Hamlet says honest he means more than only "truthful," he means a person who conducts himself properly in all important respects. His remark is sarcastic, and a strong insult, that Polonius is not as honorable as a typical fishmonger.; There is a strong undertone of self criticism in Hamlet's remark, since he takes killing Claudius as a point of honor, and he has not done that yet. Hamlet is wondering whether he, himself, is honorable.
hw 1214: Pol: Honest, my Lord?; The unusual brevity of Polonius's response continues to show that he's intimidated when he finds himself face to face with Hamlet's "madness."
hw 1215, to hw 1216: Hamlet: Aye, sir, to be honest, as this world goes,
Is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.; In thinking about honest (honorable) men, Hamlet comments on the scarcity of such people. The phrase ten thousand is figurative, meaning "a large number." The term man here embraces mankind, both men and women. He considers Gertrude not to be honorable since she married Claudius, or at least much less honorable; Hamlet stills obeys her.
hw 1217: Pol: That's very true, my Lord.; Polonius is again reduced to mere agreement.
hw 1218, to hw 1220: Hamlet: For, if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a
good kissing carrion . . . Have you a daughter?; Hamlet is teasing Polonius, by phrasing the daughter remark as a question, after Polonius asked if Hamlet knew him. Hamlet facetiously pretends, for the moment, not to know him - in his thoughts, Hamlet is wishing he didn't know Polonius.; In thinking about honorable (honest) people, Hamlet's thoughts turn to Ophelia. She's honorable, he knows. Hamlet's use of honest, in the lines above, anticipates his question to Ophelia near the beginning of their Nunnery Scene conversation, where he will rhetorically ask her, "Are you honest?"; Breed means to cause or to produce, and carrion refers to flesh, meaning the body, dead or alive.; The words good and "god" were much closer in meaning and pronunciation in Elizabethan times, so their use of one word, suggested the other word, as well. Good strongly puns on "god." The sun is taken to be a god, as it was viewed in ancient times. Good is the correct word in the playscript, but with the understanding that the pun with "god" is firmly there.; The word dog has reference to Ophelia, but is not an insult to her by Hamlet, rather it refers again to the way Polonius mistreats his daughter, as though she were only his dog. Hamlet uses the word in speaking to Polonius, as a criticism of him. There is allusion to association between Ophelia and Saint Guinefort, a saint who, strangely, turns out to be a dog, a greyhound.; Hamlet's use of sun is the already-established sun/son pun, and contains a self reference by Hamlet. The basis for the pun is the medieval superstition that sunlight was the cause of maggots. The touch of sunlight is poetically called a "kiss."; In superficial meaning, Hamlet's statement is the ordinary, repulsive observation about maggots appearing in a carcass left in the sun. The undertone is Hamlet's fear that his kiss of Ophelia, his love for her, may lead to her death.; Following his encounter with the Ghost, and his nightmare, Hamlet is worried that the only "breeding" he may do with Ophelia will be to put her in peril of death, if he fails in trying to kill Claudius. Hamlet fears that the only new life that may come from Ophelia's body is maggots, because of him and the revenge the Ghost has called upon him to carry out. Hamlet also fears for his own life, naturally and properly so, as he contemplates regicide. Hamlet could also be a "dead dog." It is not a trivial thing, to try to kill a king, especially when Hamlet isn't even sure how he should try to do it.; The phrase good kissing is important in the play to reveal that Hamlet and Ophelia have kissed. One could assume so, but the phrase establishes the fact. The phrase proves that the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is not merely an odd friendship or a fantasy, as might arise from the Madness theme, but is a real romance between them. The immediately significant occasion when Hamlet and Ophelia kissed was when they sealed their engagement.; Hamlet pictures himself as god-like, like the sun, in that what he does will determine whether people live or die. Immediately after he talked to the Ghost, he thought only of killing Claudius, but Hamlet's thoughts have expanded to others now. His actions could mean life or death for others also, perhaps, and he worries about that, in addition to himself. (A person who dwelt too much on the idea of having life-or-death power, like a god, would not be entirely sane; it's normal enough for the mere idea to occur to a thoughtful person, however.); We see that while talking to Polonius, Hamlet thinks of a dead dog. Following fishmonger, we can now be confident that Polonius has a body odor problem, and it's very noticeable.; Hamlet's lines may be approximately translated, showing his pun and undertone: "For if I, the son of my father, only cause maggots in a dead Ophelia . . . a good kissing dead body . . .; It's important to note that Hamlet's remarks are not "mad," they are instead intricately allusive. Forget "antic disposition;" that is not what is happening here.; His thoughts turning to Ophelia, and his concern about her, Hamlet then addresses the daughter question to Polonius.
hw 1221: Pol: I have, my Lord.; Polonius remains baffled and subdued, reduced to monosyllables.
hw 1222, to hw 1224: Hamlet: Let her not walk i'th sun; conception is a blessing,
But, as your daughter may conceive, friend, look to it.; Hamlet again uses the sun/son pun, alluding to himself, and i'th means "in the." The author, and the Elizabethans in general, were more free with prepositions than is modern usage, so "in" can be taken as "with" here.; Hamlet is telling Polonius not to let Ophelia be with him, not be close to him, the son of Hamlet Sr and "son" of Claudius, lest his daughter's only conception be maggots. The normal conception of a grandchild, if Hamlet and Ophelia could marry, would be a blessing to Polonius, but this "conception" of death would not be. Polonius does not understand the remark. Hamlet can't say the warning to Polonius in plain language, because Polonius is so subservient to Claudius, the man Hamlet intends to kill. Anything Hamlet tells Polonius, he might tell Claudius. Hamlet knows Polonius won't understand, but Hamlet can't help trying to communicate in some way, since Ophelia is so important to him.; There is a great irony in Hamlet's remark. Hamlet is telling Polonius to keep Ophelia away from him, for her safety, while Hamlet does not know that Ophelia was avoiding him, earlier, under Polonius's orders. Hamlet mistakenly thinks Ophelia changed her mind about him because she's fickle, as Hamlet also misunderstands Gertrude to be, and thinks all women must be. So, Hamlet is telling Polonius to do exactly what Polonius did, earlier, that Hamlet doesn't know about. However, Polonius is now trying to undo what he thinks was a bad decision earlier, and bring Hamlet and Ophelia together. Hamlet wanted to be with Ophelia, earlier, but Polonius ordered her away; now Hamlet wants Ophelia away from him, while Polonius is trying to bring them together.; Hamlet calls Polonius friend because of their respective relationships with Ophelia. Hamlet does not really see Polonius as a personal friend. He means friend in the sense of "ally," that Polonius should ally with him in trying to keep Ophelia safe. The word is sarcastic, in that sense; Hamlet knows Polonius would do nearly anything to prove his loyalty to Claudius.; Hamlet's phrase, conception is a blessing, carries additionally the undertone, "it would be a blessing if you could understand," as he speaks to Polonius.; As your daughter may conceive also reveals Hamlet's concern for what Ophelia may think, when he kills Claudius, if he can. Hamlet does not want Ophelia to think he's a crazy, traitorous, assassin.
hw 1225, to hw 1229: Pol (aside): How say you by that, still harping on my daughter, yet he
knew me not at first, and said I was a fishmonger; he is far gone,
and truly, in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love, very
near this; I'll speak to him again.
(to Hamlet): What do you read, my Lord?; Although Polonius doesn't understand Hamlet, he's relieved that Hamlet called him "friend," and is pleased at the mention of his daughter. He's still too intimidated by Hamlet to address him directly, however, and expresses his thoughts in an aside.; How say you by that means, "what do you say to that?" The question is rhetorical; Polonius is telling the audience he was right about Hamlet loving Ophelia.; Polonius's word harping is another accidentally apt word from him. In stereotype, angels play harps. Hamlet does envision Ophelia as an angel, but Polonius isn't aware of that. A person becomes an angel by dying, so harping is a death reference for Ophelia, as well, accidental by Polonius.; Polonius says Hamlet didn't know him at first, but Hamlet used the word fishmonger because he knows Polonius all too well (and is standing closer to Polonius than he really wants to.); Far gone means deeply in love, and extremity means extreme emotion and behavior, going beyond what's considered normal. Polonius doesn't say what his own "extremes" were, in his youth, but Laertes is presented as being to some degree the image of his father. Polonius's worry about Laertes getting involved in sexual scandal in Paris probably reflects his own youthful behavior, somehow. On the subject, one can't help wondering, in passing, if Laertes was conceived out of wedlock. Not to start any Rumors.; Having reassured himself of being right about Hamlet in love with his daughter, Polonius speaks again to Hamlet. But instead of asking Hamlet about Ophelia, he changes the subject. Polonius was brashly insistent to Claudius, about Hamlet loving Ophelia, but with Hamlet he doesn't want to press the issue. It's a nice irony that Polonius is unintentionally more respectful to Hamlet than he was to Claudius, to whom he claims such great loyalty. Polonius makes no attempt to lecture Hamlet, either about his "madness" or about Ophelia, and he keeps his remarks brief. It's as though Hamlet were the King, before whom Polonius is humble.; The mention of Polonius's daughter is a perfect opportunity for Polonius to introduce the subject of Hamlet's love for Ophelia, of which Polonius is so certain, but he takes no advantage of it. Polonius has already made his plans with Claudius to eavesdrop on Hamlet and Ophelia, to prove Hamlet's love for her, so a direct approach is out of the question for Polonius, even with Hamlet standing right in front of him. Polonius could simply ask, but he doesn't. This is an irony in the play, since Polonius's subterfuge will lead to his disappointment. Hamlet would probably also disappoint him here, however, because Hamlet now wants Ophelia kept away from him, for her safety.; Polonius's question about the book is a mere attempt to chat. Because he already has his spying plan in place, and also because he thinks Hamlet is mad, Polonius is not directly relying on anything Hamlet tells him in person. Hamlet called him friend, so now Polonius is trying to be friendly.
hw 1230: Hamlet: Words, words, words.; Hamlet doesn't want to discuss literature with Polonius, and puts him off. Also, Hamlet may be using the book only as a prop.
hw 1231: Pol: What is the matter, my Lord?; Polonius hardly ever asks a simple, direct question, but he does so here. The word matter can be taken several ways.
hw 1232: Ham: Between who?; Hamlet's first reaction is that matter means "trouble." His "trouble" about Claudius is the main thing on his mind.
hw 1233: Pol: I mean the matter that you read, my Lord.; Polonius clarifies that he meant the subject matter of the book. It's unusual for Polonius to clarify, and this continues to show that he's intimidated by Hamlet.
hw 1234, to hw 1242: Hamlet: Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here, that old
men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes
purging thick amber, & plumtree gum, & that they have a
plentiful lack of wit, together with most weake hams; all which, sir,
though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not
honesty to have it thus set down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old
as I am, if like a crab, you could go backward.; Hamlet has become irritated by Polonius, and is showing it with insults. He is not really describing the subject of the book.; Hamlet says that although he considers the statements true, he regards them as slander. This expresses a legal subtlety the average person would not know. The truth can indeed be slanderous, if the truth is told to harm a person. It's unlawful to harm a person intentionally, and that applies even if truth is used to cause the harm. However, Hamlet's statements here are not really slander against Polonius, or against old men in general, but are only insults.; Hamlet's disapproval of what he believes to be true, as a general idea, expresses his situation, in general. He's dismayed by the truth of the situation he faces.; Hamlet's remark about slander is an instance on the Slander/Rumor motif of the play. The main victim of slander in the play is Hamlet, who is slandered by Claudius as "mad" when he is naturally and normally grieving for his father.; Hamlet uses honesty to mean "honorableness." Slander is dishonorable, although, strictly speaking, it is not always untrue. Hamlet says he believes what he states, so he is not using the word honesty to mean "truthfulness."; The idea of the eyes of old men purging (secreting) gum is found in Clouds by Aristophanes, which is also relevant elsewhere.; Although he's irritated by Polonius, Hamlet excuses him by noting that Polonius is not intentionally old and the way he is, and would be younger if he could. Hamlet is fundamentally kind.; When Hamlet says Polonius shall grow as old as he is, he further means that the burden of taking revenge on Claudius has made him feel even older than Polonius. It's weighing heavily on Hamlet, making him feel very old. Hamlet, himself, is wishing he could go backward like a crab, through time, and change his decision about talking to the Ghost.; While speaking to R & G, later, Hamlet will mention Polonius being a baby, and R will speak of Polonius's second childhood. From Polonius's second childhood, if he could go backward in time, he would become "older" in the sense of becoming more mature. So, by old Hamlet also means "mature," and Hamlet's crab line anticipates the later conversation with R & G.
hw 1243, to hw 1245: Pol (aside): Though this be madness, yet there is method in't;
(to Hamlet): will you walk out of the air, my Lord?; Polonius still assumes Hamlet is mad, and Hamlet's allusive remarks have done nothing to change his mind. Polonius has perceived that there is a kind of sense in what Hamlet has said, but he would be hard pressed to specify what it is. Hamlet's actual method is that he's telling Polonius to get lost, but not in a way that Polonius will take as being offensive, or could use against him.; Polonius is solicitous of Hamlet, as his prospective son in law, and invites Hamlet to a warmer area. Apparently the throne room is drafty. They are not outdoors. Polonius has the simple idea about health that many people have, that a person who is not feeling well should be in a warm, closed room.; It is also an irony that Polonius speaks "madly," in a way that implies going inside, when they are already indoors. This is characterization of Polonius, as being "mad" in his own way.; Hamlet is wishing he had walked in out of the air that bit him shroudly the night he saw the Ghost, but it's too late now.
hw 1246: Hamlet: Into my grave.; The statement reemphasizes Hamlet's morbid preoccupation, and is a flat declaration, not a question. Hamlet is hinting again to Polonius of death in prospect for somebody.
hw 1247, to hw 1257: Pol (aside): Indeed, that's out of the air; how pregnant sometimes
his replies are, a happiness that often madness hits on, which reason
and sanctity could not so prosperously be delivered of; I will leave
him and my daughter.
(to Hamlet): My Lord, I will take my leave of you.; Polonius again expresses his thoughts in an aside, rather than to Hamlet. Polonius's speech is ironic, with respect to the way that he frequently says something which has a meaning he doesn't know or realize. By his own terms, based on the various significant things he says accidentally, Polonius is mad. He didn't intend to imply that.; Polonius speaks of sanctity because he shares the superstition of his times that madness is caused by diabolical forces. Hamlet, being mad, is unholy, in his view.; Happiness means "happy accident." It further goes along with the concept that crazy people are "always happy."; Polonius gives no thought to any specific reason for Hamlet saying what he said. It doesn't occur to Polonius that Hamlet has particular reasons for each of his statements.; The word reason has a religious undertone as Polonius uses it here. He takes reason as a gift of God which separates man from the beasts. Hamlet will comment on this point further along in the play. So Polonius takes it, theoretically, that madness, a departure from reason, is caused by evil. Madness is both unreasonableness and unholiness, in his view, so he mentions both reason and sanctity.; His phrase be delivered of is wordplay following the term pregnant. Here, pregnant means mentally productive.; The author is also teasing the reader with the concept of pregnancy in association with Ophelia. It is not correct that she's pregnant, however. The author of Hamlet was a bit of a scamp. Ophelia's pregnancy is in the future, if things work out so that Hamlet can marry her.; Observe that Polonius claims madness more easily produces sensible statements than sanity does. It's a mad thing to say.; Ophelia is not physically present, so when Polonius says he will leave Hamlet and his daughter, he means he'll leave Hamlet to his thoughts about Ophelia. Polonius has misspoken. Since Polonius believes Hamlet's "madness" results from his love for Ophelia, he thinks Ophelia is constantly on Hamlet's mind, and must be present in Hamlet's imagination. It's true she's frequently on Hamlet's mind.; It is not a misprint in the play that Polonius speaks as though Ophelia is present. The end of the conversation, between Hamlet and Polonius, reflects the beginning of it, when Hamlet saw Polonius apparently talking to nobody. So, at the end of the conversation Polonius speaks of Ophelia as though she's there when she isn't. In the Folio, the editor inserted lines to try to make Polonius literally correct, but that's the wrong thing to do, because it loses the effect of Polonius talking as if people were there when they are not. Polonius has been convinced of Hamlet's madness, so the author is showing Polonius saying mad things, for the irony of it. Polonius's reference to his daughter, as if she were there, is not a mistake to be corrected, it's intended to make the audience look suspiciously at Polonius, wondering if he is mad.; Having satisfied himself that Hamlet is thinking about his daughter, Polonius decides to leave. Hamlet's love for Ophelia is the main point for Polonius, and he's confirmed that, to his own satisfaction, after Hamlet spontaneously referred to her. But Polonius made no attempt at all to discuss it directly.
hw 1258, to hw 1260: Hamlet: You cannot take from me anything that I will not more
willingly part withal . . . except my life, except my life, except my
life.; Withal is merely a form of "with" that was used in ending a clause or sentence. The idea was to avoid grammatical error by not ending a sentence with a preposition, so "all" was tacked on. The author knew grammar very well, but used exact grammar, or not, as it suited his style.; Hamlet means that his leave, to Polonius, is what he would most willingly part with. In other words, Polonius is what Hamlet would most willingly part with. In other words, good riddance. Hamlet expresses it in a confusing way to suggest he regrets parting with Polonius, but that isn't what he means.; Further, Hamlet's reference to his life means, that although he would willingly part with his life in some way or another, Polonius may not take it, as he leaves. It's a sarcastic comment at Polonius, darkly humorous, and a reflection of Hamlet's morbid thoughts. As Polonius leaves, Hamlet is hinting, again, at the life and death issues he's really concerned about, that Polonius was not able to find out with his "fishing." As he ponders regicide, Hamlet is thinking about how he might lose his own life, if he happens to blunder.; The idea of Polonius taking Hamlet's life is ironic in anticipation of the Closet Scene, where the contrary will occur. But ultimately, Polonius will take Hamlet's life, in a way, since it will be the death of Polonius that leads to the fencing match. Polonius will indirectly take Hamlet's life - by dying.; Polonius departs to see Claudius, to report on what Hamlet said. Ah, to be a fly on the wall, and see the expression on Claudius's face, as Polonius tells him that Hamlet didn't know him at first, called him a fishmonger, spoke of sun kissing and dead dogs, mentioned Ophelia, said that old men had gray beards, and crabs went backwards. Claudius won't be able to make the slightest sense of any of it, especially with the way Polonius talks, and Polonius won't be able to remember exactly how it all went. Polonius will end up saying things like, dead dogs go backwards, and crabs have beards. He'll never keep it all straight. Imagine trying to repeat this conversation to somebody, and then further imagine that it's Polonius who will be trying to do it. Claudius will look at Polonius like he's the one who's lost his mind. Hamlet knew that Polonius would report to Claudius, and he's given Polonius plenty to try to tell Claudius, if he dares, none of which will make any sense.
hw 1260+: (Guildenstern and Rosencrantz enter); I call Rosencrantz and Guildenstern "R & G" in these notes, for brevity. Considered separately, I call them "R" and "G."; In Q2, and on the Hamlet Works website, the entry of R & G is printed on dialogue line 1260. In my text I have put their entry on its own line, following 1260, so I use the plus sign after the hw number.
hw 1261: Polonius: Fare you well, my Lord.; Polonius's verbosity reemerges when he says an unnecessary "farewell" to Hamlet after already saying he would take his leave. It annoys Hamlet. Hamlet has also noticed the approach of R & G, with whom he has had a friendly relationship, but who are not his first choice in friends (Horatio is his best friend.) Gertrude overestimated Hamlet's friendship with R & G; she does not really know how he feels about the various people he knows (including her.)
hw 1262: Hamlet: These tedious old fools.; Hamlet says this loud enough so the others can hear it. R & G look at Polonius because Hamlet said old. Polonius looks at R & G because Hamlet used the plural, fools. They all think he meant the other. Hamlet sees them look at each other, and gets a chuckle to himself at all of them.
hw 1263, to hw 1264: Pol: You go to seek the Lord Hamlet, there he is.; When Hamlet said to Polonius, "for yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am..." Polonius took it that Hamlet, in his madness, had confused young and old. Polonius now thinks that Hamlet thinks that young people are old, and vice versa. So, when Hamlet said "old fools" Polonius thought Hamlet meant R & G, who are young men. Polonius therefore speaks to R & G. He takes them to be the "old fools" Hamlet meant. And, if they're such fools, Polonius supposes they might need help finding Hamlet, so he points them to Hamlet, who is standing there in plain sight.; Hamlet notices what Polonius does, and is amused by it. Hamlet will later tease Polonius more with young-old confusion, as we'll see.
hw 1265, to hw 1266: Rosencrantz: God save you, sir.; R has not yet been introduced to Polonius, and doesn't know his proper title is "Lord," since he's an aristocrat. Polonius is sensitive to his status at court, but will ascribe the sir mistake to R & G being the fools Hamlet said. R & G take it that Polonius is telling them the whereabouts of somebody they can plainly see, because he's the fool Hamlet meant.
hw 1267, to 1268: Guildenstern: My honored Lord.
Ros: My most dear Lord.; The spoken greeting from R & G to Hamlet is correct enough, but it becomes apparent later that they don't shake hands with him. They're standoffish because they think he's mad. They're afraid to touch him.
hw 1269, to hw 1271: Hamlet: My extent good friends; how dost thou, Guildenstern?
A' Rosencrantz, good lads, how do you both?; Extent means "valued." It's a legal term, as in the phrase "writ of extent." Because of the financial connotation, it carries the ironic undertone that R & G can be bought. The idea of "writ of extent" also anticipates "the boys carry it away," as will be noted further on.; Hamlet's use of extent is also sarcastic, since he extended his hand to shake hands, but they didn't. They had no "extent" for him, with their hands.; A' is an abbreviation for "and." It could be pronounced "Ah."; Hamlet greets R & G happily enough, since he has been friendly with them, and he expects it will be pleasant having them as company, especially by comparison with his elders at Elsinore. They were not at the funeral of Hamlet Sr, which is forgiveable since they were busy at the university and are not persons of high rank, but he also expects them to commiserate over the death of his father, which will be good to hear since the older people at Elsinore are not sympathetic. In that hope, of friendly condolence, Hamlet will be greatly disappointed.
hw 1272, to hw 1274: Ros: As the indifferent children of the earth.
Guil: Happy, in that we are not ever-happy on Fortune's lap,
We are not the very button.; Indifferent means "average," neither favored nor unfavored by Fortune. It also has a connotation of "unchanged," "not different." R is not telling Hamlet the truth. Fortune has favored R & G with a summons from the King, and things have changed very much for them. Indifferent further implies casualness, as R tries to imply their visit is only casual.; G means that, although they are not the eternally-happy favorites of Dame Fortune, whom she coddles on her lap, on the other hand they aren't the most trivial thing to Fortune, not the very least thing to Her. Button is used to mean "least thing," a trivial thing.; Ever-happy suggests the idea of a crazy person, or a fool, being "always happy." It hints of R & G having the idea Hamlet is mad.; Also, G's comment, about being ever-happy on Fortune's lap, has an undertone of jealousy of Hamlet. Since the time when R & G became old enough to be aware of such things, they've known he was a Prince. They assume everything is extremely easy for him.
hw 1275, to hw 1276: Hamlet: Nor the soles of Her shoe?
Ros: Neither, my Lord.; Hamlet expresses how he feels. He feels that Dame Fortune is trying to tread him underfoot. (I capitalize Her because it refers to Dame Fortune, or Lady Fortune, the goddess Fortune, which is the proper name of a mythic figure.); R replies simply that, no, they are not doing that badly. He does not anticipate becoming a sole of Fortune's shoe, that She will step on.
hw 1277, to hw 1278: Hamlet: Then you live about Her waist, or in the middle of Her favors.; Hamlet's remark is conversational, following their description of their luck as average, or middling. With Fortune depicted as a woman, her lap, waist, and middle would all be the same anatomical area, and neither the highest point of Fortune, nor the lowest. Hamlet is saying that, although G denied they were the children whom Fortune holds on her lap, nevertheless they're at about the middle of Fortune, or luck. As he makes the remark, he doesn't mean sexual favors in particular, rather luck in general, albeit his remark is suggestive.
hw 1279, to hw 1281: Guil: Faith, her privates, we.
Hamlet: In the secret parts of Fortune; oh most true, She is a strumpet!
What news?; G plays on the idea of the middle of Dame Fortune's anatomy by making a bawdy joke. Privates also carries the undertone that R & G have private, or secret, business.; Hamlet was once a greatly-favored child of Fortune, when he was the son of a highly-respected and famous King. Now, Fortune has turned against him. He calls Dame Fortune a strumpet in how She favors first one man, then another. It connects with the fickleness he mistakenly sees in the real women in his life, Gertrude and Ophelia. He's observing that even the 'woman' Fortune is fickle, and changes Her affections. G's remark was a fairly good joke, but Hamlet does not find much amusement in his own thoughts that follow.; There is the implication that, in the past, R & G have complained to Hamlet about their luck, so now, if their luck is middling, they've come up in the world. It would explain why G mentions Fortune right away, in talking to Hamlet, if bad luck has previously been a topic of conversation with him, earlier in their lives.; (The Folio changes lap to "Cap," but that's wrong. The conversational flow is that G's mention of lap leads to the comments about favors and privates. The word lap is necessary, to begin. The Folio error leaves the subsequent remarks without their cue. Lap leads to favors, which leads to privates - it's the flow of the dialogue. The Folio word "Cap" ruins the flow, and is not authorial.); Hamlet then asks R & G what's new with them. It's a sincere question; he's truly interested.
hw 1282, to hw 1283: Ros: None, my Lord, but the world's grown honest.; Hamlet has turned serious, but R remains facetious. That's alright, as friendly conversation, but it makes Hamlet curious why they think the world is honest when he doesn't think so. It also leads to Hamlet being more expressive about his depressed mood, in his normal expectation of hearing some remark from them of sympathy about his father. One expects condolence, from friends.; R's word honest means honorable, including being truthful, which doesn't agree with Hamlet's recent experiences at Elsinore, his world.
hw 1284, to hw 1287: Hamlet: Then is doomsday near, but your news is not true;
Let me question more in particular: what have
you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune,
that She sends you to prison hither?; Hamlet's view is that it would take the threat of divine judgment at the end of the world to make the world of men honest. He disagrees with R because of his recent experience of Elsinore, and in the general way. His remark carries a little allusion to R & G, and hints he may not think of them as always truthful. Hamlet flatly says their news is not true, almost as though it may not be the first time.; He calls Elsinore a prison because, for him, it is. He's confined there in obedience to his mother, and contrary to his personal desires. Also, he's treated as a prisoner, as Claudius, Polonius, and even Gertrude watch him as though they're suspicious of him.; The "Prison Passage" is not in Q2, and was probably deleted because the wife of the new King of England, James I, his Queen Anne, was a native of Denmark. In 1604 and 1605, it was probably not politically acceptable to print that Denmark was a prison. The passage contains numerous remarks highly relevant to the play, so it's assured the deletion of the whole passage was done by the printer/publisher. The author would have made the necessary change differently so as to preserve his meanings in relation to the play, meanings which he clearly worked hard to achieve. Fortunately, the passage remained with the author's papers where the Folio editor found it and used it in the Folio printing in 1623, properly so.; With his remark about Fortune sending R & G to prison, Hamlet is also implying to them that their luck is not as good as they think it is. They don't perceive his meaning.
hw 1288, to hw 1289: Guil: Prison, my Lord?
Hamlet: Denmark's a prison.; When G inquires, Hamlet reiterates to emphasize the thought. One would expect a friend to inquire why he thinks he's imprisoned.; Since "den" as in Denmark can mean a cave, a kind of enclosure with stone walls, there may be some play with the word "Denmark," but that's obscure. Den/cave/dungeon/prison wordplay might be intended on the name Denmark.
hw 1290: Ros: Then is the world one.; R tries a philosophical statement, presuming that's what Hamlet means. He still does not ask Hamlet why he thinks so. It would be polite if he did express curiosity about Hamlet's point of view.
hw 1291, to hw 1293: Hamlet: A goodly one, in which there are many confines,
wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o'th' worst.; Goodly means spacious; the suggestion of prison being "good" is irony. To the Elizabethans, "good" and "god" were much more similar words than they are today. At times, the words were practically interchangeable. This provides an undertone of Hamlet saying the world is a prison made by God, a "godly" prison, to confine men. It's irreverent.; The word confines harks back to Scene 1 when Horatio spoke of the Ghost returning to his confine when the rooster crowed. Horatio thought the Ghost was returning to his grave, so confine has a connotation of "grave" in the play. In plain meaning for the play, confines means prison cells, places of confinement, but as Hamlet speaks to R & G it carries a hint of them going to their graves because of them being at Elsinore.; A ward is a section of an institution such as a prison, but it also carries a meaning of "watch." This goes back to Hamlet's "watch" with Horatio and Marcellus when he saw the Ghost. Again the undertone is an idea of death, by virtue of connections in the play. It also alludes to the way Hamlet is being watched at Elsinore, as though he were a ward.; The word dungeons relates to Hamlet's bad dream, and to his fear of what could happen to him if he fails in trying to kill Claudius. The dungeon is a typical feature of a castle, such as Elsinore, and is an especially harsh prison. The word "dungeon" has an original meaning of "cellar," and is thereby associated with the Ghost's voice calling out from the cellerage, in the earlier Scene, and also anticipates Fortinbrasse speaking of death's eternal cell in the final Scene. So, dungeons also carries a strong undertone of death as Hamlet uses the word here. This is on the Death theme of the play.; In each of the terms Hamlet uses in his utterance, in speaking to R & G, he hints of death. They don't realize it.; Hamlet then repeats that Denmark is a prison, to make the point again, since they're not getting it. He can't tell R & G directly what his concerns are, and can only hint. He expects them to ask why he thinks so, since it would be friendly if they inquired about his point of view. They never will.
hw 1294, to hw 1297: Ros: We think not so, my Lord.
Hamlet: Why, then 'tis none to you, for there is nothing
either good or bad, but thinking makes it so; to me, it is
a prison.; R simply disagrees, rather than trying to go further into what Hamlet means. R is not curious, at all, about what Hamlet is saying. Hamlet then essentially gives up on trying to communicate with R & G, and turns philosophical, but still repeats the prison idea one more time in hopes they'll "get" it.; It's a commonplace that things are taken as either good or bad because people think so, but there's generally an underlying reason why something is viewed as good or bad, beyond mere opinion, that the commonplace sentiment does not express. Hamlet is hinting that there's more to his remarks than what he's stated. He's not just repeating a saying, like Polonius.; If R & G would respond to him, and ask why he thought so, Hamlet could explain how he wanted to return to Wittenberg, but remained at Elsinore because his mother requested it, so he's "imprisoned" there. They could then talk about Wittenberg and the University, and complain about parents, and have a normal, friendly conversation. R & G could commiserate with him, and would remark on the death of his father, and everything would be fine. But R & G are not responding to Hamlet, not paying attention to what he says in any friendly or sympathetic way, so Hamlet now knows that there's something unusual going on with them.
hw 1298, to hw 1299: Ros: Why, then your ambition makes it one; 'tis
too narrow for your mind.; R gets to the essence of their conversation with Hamlet, from their point of view. R & G want to know whether ambition is on his mind. For an ambitious Prince there would be only one step up, to King. They want to know how ambitious Hamlet is to be King, since they're working for Claudius. R still did not ask why Hamlet thinks Denmark is a prison. He presumes to know. He doesn't know, and his presumption is offensive, and unwise.
hw 1300, to hw 1302: Hamlet: Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and
count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that
I have bad dreams.; Hamlet has given up on them. He no longer takes R & G seriously. He tosses rhetoric at them.; Being bound in a nutshell, and only thinking he's the King of infinite space, is not much of an ambition. Hamlet is saying that, no, he's not personally very ambitious. Being King of a nutshell would suit him. R & G don't follow that.; Nutshell alludes to Elsinore, and of infinite space means "as far as I could see," or "of all I survey."; Additionally, Hamlet is saying if he were king at Elsinore, he'd only be king of a "nutshell," as far as he can see (as he talks to R & G.); Hamlet is also implying that he would probably already have killed Claudius, and would be King in the "nutshell" of Elsinore, and the ruler of all he surveyed, except his bad dream gave him more to think about, causing a delay in his assassination attempt against Claudius. R & G don't follow that, nor does he intend they should.
hw 1303, to hw 1305: Guil: Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the
very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow
of a dream.; G follows up R's comment about ambition, saying ambition is an insubstantial thing. He overdoes it, in mentioning both "ambition" and "ambitious" in the same speech. Hamlet needs no such lecture from them, and their presumption, in trying to dictate his personal ambitions, is quite offensive.; Ambition has a root meaning of "go around," and indeed ambition is going around, as though it were contagious. Claudius had it, Polonius has it, and now R & G have it.; G is doing the same thing Polonius does, in accidentally making significant remarks. Substance means the essential part, the soul or spirit. Shadow means both "ghost" and "image" in addition to its plain meaning. The "shadow of a dream" can mean a ghost in a dream. G's remark can be understood as, "the spirit of the ambitious is merely the ghost in a dream." Hamlet did dream that when he became ambitious, in trying to kill Claudius, he ended up as a ghost.; But R & G are the ambitious ones, as they speak. Their concern about Hamlet being ambitious is the image of their own ambition. The summons from the King, to do a special job, has given them dreams of their own. Dream also can mean aspiration, that is, ambition. When G associates the idea of shadow (ghost) with them in their ambitions, he's making an ominous remark about their fate in the play. He doesn't know it. R & G are on their way to being shadows (ghosts) from their ambitious dreams.; R & G's attempt to lecture Hamlet on the subject of ambition is like the earlier Scene when Laertes tried to lecture Ophelia about sex. The hypocrisy is thick.
hw 1306: Hamlet: A dream, itself, is but a shadow.; A dream is only an "image" of reality, of a kind, Hamlet means, and Hamlet's dream, or mental image, that motivates him, is the Ghost of his father, the image of his father. Hamlet is also saying, as an undertone, that he dreamed he was a ghost, a shadow in his dream.
hw 1307, to hw 1308: Ros: Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and
light a quality, that it is but a shadow's shadow.; R would do better to heed his own words, and take note of his own ambition, but he doesn't know what he's saying. In undertone, he's associating his own ambition with a ghost's image. In R's case, it would be a ghost of himself, and we know how a person becomes a ghost - by dying. R is making a death reference to himself without realizing it.
hw 1309, to hw 1312: Hamlet: Then are our beggars, bodies, and our monarchs
and out-stretched heroes, the beggars' shadows;
shall we to the court, for by my fay, I cannot reason.; Hamlet will shortly call himself a beggar, at Elsinore, where he's completely dependent on what Claudius and Gertrude allow him, and he has no opportunity for independence. Thus, Hamlet's phrase that beggars are bodies; he, the "beggar," is a living person.; Then, the "beggar's shadow" would be Hamlet's ghost, if he were dead. Hamlet dreamed that in trying to be the monarch, in killing Claudius, he was out-stretched, trying to do more than he could, and he ended up a ghost, his "beggar's shadow." This is the first allusion.; Further, the monarch is Hamlet Sr. Hamlet called the Ghost, poor Ghost. The word poor implies "beggar," so a "beggar's shadow" is the poor Ghost. Hamlet is saying the monarch, Hamlet Sr, is out-stretched, laid out in death, and is a poor Ghost.; A "shadow" is also something that follows a person. What has followed the monarch, Hamlet Sr, is his poor Ghost. What may follow Hamlet, if he's not very careful, is his own poor ghost.; Hamlet is additionally hinting to R & G that they are out-stretched heroes in trying to handle him, with the "ghost" idea following in reference to them. It's a hint that he'll make ghosts of these "heroes." The monarch Claudius, and his out-stretched heroes, R & G, are on their way to becoming "shadows," "poor ghosts," if Hamlet can manage it.; The court means the tennis court, in first meaning. Hamlet is saying that instead of batting words back and forth, the way R & G are doing with him, they might as well go to a tennis court and bat a ball back and forth.; Court further means the royal court, where Claudius lectured Hamlet, earlier, about reason, as Claudius displayed none to speak of. Claudius said, "you cannot speak of reason to the Dane." So, Hamlet means that since he can't reason, he should be "the Dane" at the royal court.; Fay is short for "faith." By my fay is a mild profanity from Hamlet to express his irritation. The phrase is a weak form of "by God." There's a wicked undertone going back to Hamlet saying he'd live by the Ghost's commandment, alone. He thereby made the Ghost his "god." This follows the talk of "shadows." Hamlet is implying that "by his god," the Ghost, he's been driven beyond reason.; When Hamlet says he can't reason, he also means he has perceived he can't reason with R & G, because of their attitude. Also, he's flooded with allusions to things that concern him, more than he wants to deal with at the moment. The reader probably knows the feeling.
hw 1313, to hw 1317: (They both say): We'll wait upon you.
Hamlet: No such matter; I will not sort you with the
rest of my servants, for, to speak to you like an honest
man, I am most dreadfully attended;
But in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?; R & G offer to serve Hamlet, that is, to become his servants. Their intent is to find out more to tell Claudius. Hamlet's No such matter means "No such thing."; Matter further means "trouble." Hamlet is saying he wants "no such trouble" as R & G would cause, if they were his servants.; Sort means to place in the same category, or status. Similar things are sorted together. To R & G it sounds like a compliment that he doesn't want to include them among his regular servants, but it is not a compliment. Hamlet doesn't want them in service to him because he doesn't trust them now.; On the subject of friendship, enthusiastically offering to be his servants is not something his friends would do, and Hamlet knows it. Why would they suddenly say such a thing? R & G understood Hamlet's word "court" to mean the royal court. They're eagerly offering to be servants at the royal court. But being a servant at the royal court, at this time, means being a servant of Claudius.; Hamlet says he speaks to them like an honest man, which is not the same as saying he's being honest with them. But he is telling them the truth, in one meaning of his words.; When Hamlet says he's dreadfully attended, he means at the moment, by them. To R & G it sounds like a complaint about his usual servants. As an undertone, Hamlet is dreadfully attended by his own thoughts of how he's going to gain revenge against Claudius. Further, there's an ambiguity of whether the Ghost is the true Ghost of his father, or an evil creature. If the Ghost is evil, and has Hamlet under its influence, he's dreadfully attended in that way.; By beaten way Hamlet means that the friendship has been beaten, or defeated. He is no longer friends with them. He then asks, in a simple, direct way, why they've come to Elsinore. At this point he knows it isn't because of friendship. Most saliently, although they've had plenty of opportunity, neither of them has expressed any sympathy about the death of his father. A true friend would do that promptly. (Horatio mentioned the death of Hamlet's father after only two brief remarks of greeting, and one quick, friendly joke.)
hw 1318: Ros: To visit you, my Lord; no other occasion.; This was a perfect opportunity for R to mention the death of Hamlet Sr, but he didn't. He could have said, to condole about Hamlet's father, but he didn't say it. R spoke as though nothing significant had happened. It's very unfriendly, that he makes no comment, at all, about Hamlet's father dying.
hw 1319, to hw 1323: Hamlet: Beggar that I am, I am ever poor in thanks, but I thank
you, and sure dear friends, my thanks are too dear a halfpenny;
were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation?
Come, come, deal justly with me; come, come, nay, speak.; When Hamlet says he's ever poor in thanks he means he's always lacking in thanks for worthless things. He calls himself a beggar, in a facetious way, here. To R & G it sounds as though Hamlet is engaging in self deprecation. He's really telling them he thinks they're worthless.; By too dear a halfpenny he means the thanks he gives them is a halfpenny more than they're worth (which is nothing.) To them, it sounds as if he means he's giving them a thanks that's generous, even a little more than it should be.; Since Hamlet now knows R & G are not visiting him out of friendship, he insists on them telling him the real reason for their presence.
hw 1324: Guil: What should we say, my Lord?; G asks Hamlet what he wants to hear. R & G are prepared to say whatever Hamlet wants to hear, to reassure him, whether it's true or not.
hw 1325, to hw 1328: Hamlet: Anything but to the purpose; you were sent for, and there is
a kind of confession in your looks, which your modesties have not
craft enough to color; I know the good King and Queen have
sent for you.; Hamlet's first remark means, in modern terms, "anything other than what I asked you, apparently." He is not pleased that G was evasive.; When Hamlet confronts them, they're abashed, and it shows. In this utterance, "modesty" refers to self restraint or self discipline, craft means skill, and color refers to concealment. The word color carries an implication that they blush. On the play theme of Putting On A Show, R & G are not good enough actors to maintain their composure when Hamlet challenges them.; Now that he knows they're not there out of friendship, Hamlet concludes that R & G were sent for by Claudius and Gertrude, because it's the only alternative to explain their presence.
hw 1329: Ros: To what end, my Lord?; R tries to feign innocence by pretending he can't think of any reason why Claudius would send for them. He's also trying to divert Hamlet from the basic question of them being sent for.
hw 1330, to hw 1335: Hamlet: That you must teach me; but let me conjure you, by the
rites of our fellowship, by the consonancy of our youth, by the
obligation of our ever-preserved love, and by what more dear a
better proposer can charge you withal: be even and direct with
me whether you were sent for or no.; Hamlet is not diverted into playing guessing games about why they may have been summoned by Claudius. He responds that they must tell him.; Hamlet speaks of "conjuring" them, as though it takes some special technique to get plain truth out of them. Apparently, it does. Conjure has an undertone of allusion to the Ghost, as in conjuring a spirit.; Rites of our fellowship implies that they're fraternity brothers. According to the oaths that are taken, one is not supposed to lie to a frat brother.; Hamlet appeals to their honor, in all the terms he can think of offhand, to try to get a straight answer to his basic question.
hw 1336: Ros (to Guildenstern): What say you?; R is asking G for advice on what they should say.; The confusion and evasion by R & G is ludicrous. They could easily tell Hamlet a simplified form of what Claudius and Gertrude said in welcoming them: essentially, that Hamlet was unhappy and they thought it would do him good to have friends around. Simple as that. R & G could have told Hamlet that right away, but now they've put themselves into difficulty by trying to evade the question.; R & G never thought about having to explain to Hamlet why they are there, and when pressed on the issue, it has left them at a loss. They have no idea what to say. They are not very swift. The touchy point is that they're working for Claudius, and have been promised a reward. They don't know how to admit they were sent for without telling Hamlet the rest, as well. They want to ingratiate themselves with Hamlet, but they know it would alienate him if he were aware their friendship is for hire.
hw 1337, to hw 1338: Hamlet: Nay, then I have an eye of you? If you love me, hold not off.; Hamlet's question means, "no, will you look me in the eye?" He says it because R looked at G for help in what to say. It could be stated as, "no, you're talking to me, so look at me, at least with one eye." Of means "from." Hamlet insists that, if they're truly his friends, they mustn't hold off, they must look at him, and tell him the truth.
hw 1339: Guil: My Lord, we were sent for.; FInding no way out, G states the truth. There's nothing earth-shaking about it, and they could have said it at once. Hamlet had already perceived it, and their manner has told him more about them than words could say. They're not his friends any more, and they're not honest with him.
hw 1340, to hw 1342: Hamlet: I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your
discovery, and your secrecy to the King & Queen molt no feather;; Hamlet is tired of the run-around R & G are giving him, and he can guess easily enough that they're interested in how he feels, and why, so he prepares to tell them about his feelings. But he isn't going to be any more honest with them, than they were with him.; A bird molts when it grows wing feathers to fly. When Hamlet says their secrecy will molt no feather, he means the secret won't fly away like a bird, and be lost. It's facetious; since he knows, the secret has already flown, to him. The idea of a secret as a bird is reflected in the old saying, "a little bird told me."
hw 1342, to hw 1357: I have, of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth,
forgone all custom of exercises, and indeed, it goes so heavily with
my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a
sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air - look
you - this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul
and pestilent congregation of vapors. What piece of work is a
man? How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties; in form and
moving, how express and admirable in action; how like an angel
in apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world, the
paragon of animals . . . and yet to me, what is this quintessence of
dust? Man delights not me, nor women neither, though by your
smiling, you seem to say so.; Since R & G have been giving Hamlet a run-around, he decides to return the favor. He embarks on what in modern vernacular might be called "blowing smoke" at them. Now that he knows R & G will report to Claudius, he's pouring it on. Let them tell Claudius the above, if they wish. Hamlet's real concern is how to get revenge against Claudius, but he certainly isn't going to tell R & G that, so he gives them high-flown philosophical rhetoric of no immediate relevance. It sounds as though he's telling them something profound, and in a way he is, but it isn't the kind of down-to-earth facts they could handle, and would like to know (and report.); This passage in the play has stimulated a lot of commentary, historically, on the source and philosophical meaning of it. It has been overlooked, however, that Hamlet's motive, in saying what he does, is to befuddle R & G. Even after the passage is interpreted it cannot be taken exactly at face value, as to what Hamlet means. Hamlet is not perfectly serious with his rhetoric here, and also, it has undertones.; Hamlet is indeed expressing a truth of how he feels, in poetic, all-encompassing terms. The responsibility of revenge against Claudius is a great burden to him, and is denying him his appreciation of the glory and beauty of the world. The situation he's in has tainted his whole outlook on life. He's telling the truth, philosophically, when he says he doesn't know the wherefore (why) of it. He doesn't know the ultimate truths of why he was born into that place and time, and subjected to the experiences he has had, which put him in that situation. Only a god would know why a certain person is born into a certain place and time, with certain people for parents and acquaintances, and is subjected to certain experiences.; Where Hamlet says, look you, he is pointing to the sky, telling R & G to look at it. He will do a similar thing again, later, when he tells Polonius to look at clouds. He will also do a similar thing in the later Closet Scene when he tells Gertrude to look at pictures.; When Hamlet says women do not delight him, he's talking about Gertrude and Ophelia. He was formerly very proud that a great and respected Queen was his mother, and he took joy in that fact, but his view has changed since she married Claudius, and he talked to the Ghost. Also, the situation has denied him the delight he would normally feel in his love for Ophelia.; The phrase foul and pestilent congregation of vapors has the undertone of being Hamlet's view of the Ghost at this time. Even if the Ghost is the true Ghost of his father, Hamlet is resentful of the responsibility the Ghost has placed on him. As allusion to the Ghost, and as provided by the author for the reader, it's something to keep in mind. Hamlet is describing the air with his phrase, and in the later Closet Scene, Gertrude will see only the air when he's talking to the Ghost. He will see the foul and pestilent congregation of vapors, but she'll see only the "incorporeal air." Air means "sky," here, but also anticipates Gertrude's later use of the word air.; Congregation has a connotation of being "with friends." Hamlet is with his supposed friends, R & G, but he now considers them foul and pestilent.; With his rhetorical question, What piece of work is a man? Hamlet is pondering whether man is not a masterpiece. A masterpiece is a craftsman's highest achievement, his greatest piece of work, so Hamlet is asking whether a man is God's highest achievement. A man is used in the sense of "mankind," or "any man." Piece means "kind," and it's incorrect to put an "a" in front of it. The line is equivalent to, "what kind of work is a man, (a masterpiece?)" Hamlet is revealing personal doubts that mankind is God's masterpiece. Among God's pieces of work, Hamlet suspects a man is less than a masterpiece, although in some ways, at some times, man can be impressive. Hamlet praises man but his exaggerated praise is not entirely serious.; Form and moving refers to both body and spirit. In the Elizabethan view, the human body was the form, the physical entity, which was moved by the spirit inside. Both body and spirit were God's creations, so the phrase form and moving encompasses the totality of man on earth, the form and its motive force. This second-hand reference to the human spirit brings in the Ghost, again, through the suggestion of the spirit.; When Hamlet says express and admirable in action, he's referring to actors on stage, as the major undertone. Express means "expressive;" although the author was writing in the form of prose in this passage, he still shortened the word for poetic rhythm. Actors are admired for how expressive they are, verbally and non-verbally. The phrase anticipates the imminent arrival of the players. In plain meaning, the phrase can be viewed with the notion, "all the world's a stage," meaning humanity in general. Express follows form, with reference to the human form, comprising the artistic expression of the divinity that created it, and the expressiveness of the body, itself. Admirable essentially means "wonderful;" it's wonderful how the spirit can move the body, making it active, and expressive.; In context, the word admirable has an undertone of "wonder" in the negative sense. That is, sometimes things are so bad they're a "wonder." Some sarcasm is present in Hamlet's remarks.; Hamlet's phrase express and admirable, as he speaks to R & G, certainly carries a sarcastic undertone. He sees nothing admirable in their failure to express the truth to him when they're supposed to be his friends.; As far as men being admirable in action, Hamlet sees nothing admirable in Claudius's action in killing his father, of course, but neither does Hamlet see his own prospective killing of Claudius as anything "admirable," however necessary it may be. Hamlet does not see it as admirable that men should go around killing each other, or lying to each other, or otherwise abusing and deceiving each other. Hamlet's statement, that man does not delight him, also includes the idea that he is not happy with himself. He includes himself in his general statement. With the word delight, Hamlet says that man does not light his darkness.; R & G manage to fathom part of the last sentence of the passage, about man delighting Hamlet, and they pick up on that in relation to the players.
hw 1358, to hw 1361: Ros: My Lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts.
Ham: Why did ye laugh then, when I said man delights not me?; Hamlet's question is the author's little joke about his bisexuality, or rumors thereof. Hamlet asks his question with a frown of suspicion.; Apart from the joke, Hamlet is concerned his rhetoric didn't deceive R & G, as a possible cause of their laugh. He doesn't want them to get it, that he's blowing smoke. He'll be quickly reassured to learn they were only laughing at part of one sentence, in connection with something else.
hw 1362, to hw 1365: Ros: To think, my Lord, if you delight not in man, what Lenten
entertainment the players shall receive from you; we coted them
on the way, and hither are they coming to offer you service.; Lenten means "cheerless." The reference to Lent also implies fasting, and compares with a later passage where Hamlet characterizes a play as a feast by describing a play in terms of food. It's an instance on the Feast motif.; The reference to Lent is one of several indications that the play is set in springtime. The word "lent" derives from the Anglo-Saxon term for Spring, and Lent is a springtime observance.; Entertainment means hospitality. Hamlet will entertain the players by welcoming them. The word is ironic in that the players also provide entertainment, meaning amusement, and they'll entertain Hamlet.; Coted means "passed." The players were traveling slower than R & G, and R & G passed them. The term cote is, or was, also used in a technical way to describe a kind of pass in the running of greyhounds.; For greyhounds, a cote was in the context of releasing greyhounds to chase a hare. If two greyhounds were released, to chase a hare, and one of them passed the other, and reached the hare, it was called a cote. The point here is that a quarry - the hare - is involved when the term cote is used. The implication is that Hamlet is the quarry, the hare, that both R & G and the players are "chasing." R & G have gotten the cote, in that they have passed the players, and have arrived to see Hamlet first.; Saint Guinefort, who has some association with Ophelia, was a greyhound, by the way.; Actors in Elizabethan times were servant-class people, thus R speaks of them offering Hamlet service.; Acting companies at the time were in service to members of the aristocracy or nobility. When R speaks of the Players offering Hamlet service, it implies the playing company wants to be sponsored by Hamlet, to become "The Prince's Men."
hw 1366, to hw 1373: Hamlet: He that plays the King shall be welcome: his Majesty shall
have tribute on me; the adventurous Knight shall use his foil and
target; the Lover shall not sigh gratis; the humorous Man shall end
his part in peace; the Clown shall make those laugh whose lungs
are tickled a'th'sere, and the Lady shall say her mind freely, or the
black verse shall halt for it. What players are they?; Hamlet's statements have multiple references to events and characters in the play. The King is Hamlet Sr, and Hamlet's intended revenge against Claudius is Hamlet's tribute to his father. Also, Hamlet's mourning for his father is a tribute to Hamlet Sr.; Further, the King can be taken as Claudius, and Hamlet's "tribute" to him, involving the Players, will be the later Mousetrap Play designed to confirm Claudius's guilt; in this connection, the word "tribute" is sarcastic.; The comment about the Knight with the foil anticipates the fencing match at the conclusion of the play. The knight would be the black knight, that is, Hamlet in his mourning clothes. A "black knight" is one who does not wear his true heraldic colors, but uses black instead, for some reason. Since Hamlet is a prince, in this case the "black knight" would be the Black Prince.; Also, Laertes will be a Knight at the fencing match, and a "black knight" at that, when he doesn't show his "true colors," as he tries to kill Hamlet, in what is supposed to be a friendly competition.; Gratis means "for nothing." Hamlet is the Lover, who sighs for Ophelia and hopes it isn't for nothing. Ophelia, the Lover, also sighs, and hopes it's not for nothing.; The humorous Man is Hamlet, and his part is to kill Claudius. He hopes to get that done "in peace." Humorous is used as in the four humors theory of health. As Hamlet speaks, by peace he means successfully and without dire consequences, with an undertone of "rest in peace," for Claudius. Also, we'll see Laertes, later, in a "humor," and Laertes will "end his part" in peace.; The statement about "the Clown" has allusion to the sexton Gravedigger, a character who appears later, and it also has a further allusion to Hamlet at the Mousetrap Play, where Hamlet will act clownish. Sere means "dry," as in "dry humor." Much of the humor in Hamlet is "dry," that is, ironic and subtle. The Clown will make people laugh, if their lungs are tickled by dry humor, says Hamlet.; The Lady has reference to both Ophelia and Gertrude, and Hamlet says he wants them to speak their minds freely. This is ironic, since Hamlet will, himself, prevent each of them from speaking freely when he talks to them in the later Nunnery Scene and Closet Scene, respectively, after pledging here that they'll be allowed to speak freely. Speaking of dry humor.; The phrase black verse is correct in the text. By black Hamlet means the verse will be mournful, or grievous, if the Lady can't speak her mind freely. The phrase black verse is wordplay on the term "blank verse." (The Folio used the word "blank," and it appears in the typical Hamlet playtext. However, "blank" loses the wordplay and undertone, so we can be confident that black is the right word, as Q2 shows.); It's worth noting that Hamlet indicates the verse shall halt when the Lady speaks. The Lady in the Mousetrap Play will be the Queen. There is a point in the Mousetrap Play where the Queen speaks to interrupt the King's verse, just as Hamlet predicts here. The event will be discussed in notes for the "Mousetrap" Scene when it occurs.; Hamlet asks R & G for information about the players, wanting to know which players they are.
hw 1374, to hw 1375: Ros: Even those you were wont to take such delight in, the
tragedians of the city.; R says delight because he's delighted that he can contradict Hamlet on the utterly trivial point of Hamlet's earlier use of "delight." R is quite pleased with himself.; Since it's an English play, the city most would think of, would be London. However, London is not in Denmark. With respect to Denmark, the city is left unidentified. But in Denmark, the city would almost certainly be Copenhagen.
hw 1376, to hw 1378: Hamlet: How chances it they travel? Their residence, both in
reputation and profit, was better, both ways.; Hamlet doesn't think the players would travel just to visit him (although it does appear they have done so.) He observes that the players were better off, both financially and for publicity, in the city. It turns out that things have changed from what he knew when he saw them in the city.
hw 1379, to hw 1380: Ros: I think their inhibition comes by the means of the late
innovation.; Inhibition means that something is inhibiting, or discouraging, the players from continuing their regular performances in the city.; The late Innovation - "recent change" - in the play is the death of Hamlet Sr, and the succession of Claudius to the throne. Something associated with the change of government has changed the situation for this troupe of players, or at least R thinks so. R does not express certainty. R is either unsure, or he's being coy for some reason.; (Historically, much Hamlet commentary has been devoted to attempts to associate R's remark with some specific event in England around the year 1600, often to the point that commentators have completely lost track of the play, itself. However, the play is set in Denmark, and the author knew that Denmark was not England, even if later commentators have sometimes neglected that fact. The author did know, from his experiences in England, that political change could greatly affect actors, and he used that general idea for his Denmark setting, to get the actors to Elsinore. But the exact innovation, among political events in England in that era, is not the point for the play, and no event in England is relevant on its own account. The author knew his play was set in Denmark, and English events can only be relevant if they somehow add meaning for the play.); It's an irony that the change of government, making Claudius King, has brought the Players to Elsinore to stage the Mousetrap Play, which Hamlet will design to work against Claudius.; R's vague and almost meaningless sentence is as close as R & G get to mentioning the death of Hamlet's father. Their rudeness is despicable.
hw 1381, to hw 1384: Hamlet: Do they hold the same estimation they did when I was in
the city; are they so followed?
Ros: No, indeed are they not.
Hamlet: How comes it? Do they grow resty?; Hamlet asks whether the Players are still as highly esteemed and popular. R replies that they are not. Hamlet then wonders why, and asks whether the Players are still energetic and active, in anticipation of seeing them perform. He wants to see them express and admirable in action.; The ideas of fad and fashion are thematic in the play, and the change in the Players' situation is an element on that theme, as Hamlet will soon remark.; Resty means "lazy" or "lethargic," essentially meaning slow paced. Hamlet is asking whether the loss of popularity is the Players' own fault, due to lack of energy or enthusiasm by them. (The word resty from Q1 is correct, astonishingly, as shown by R's reply about pace. Q1 is generally very unreliable.) Resty provides allusion to Hamlet's lack of energy against Claudius, also. The Folio word "rusty" is not a reference to pace, and does not provide allusion to Hamlet's lack of zeal; it is an error. When Hamlet asks if the Players grow resty, he means "like me." Hamlet is a resty regicide, not a rusty one - his problem is that he's slow to take action, not that he's out of practice at killing kings.)
hw 1385, to hw 1391: Ros: Nay, their endeavor keeps in the wonted pace,
but there is an aerie of children, little eyases,
that cry out on the top of question, and are
most tyrannically clapped for it; these are now
the fashion, and so berattle the common stages,
so they call them, that many wearing rapiers are
afraid of goose quills, and dare scarce come thither.; R assures Hamlet that the Players are still energetic. He then explains that fashion has changed, and the audience now favors child performers.; The child performers are depicted as nestling hawks, little eyases. This goes along with the idea of persons as birds, an idea that appears here and there in the play.; Cry means to sing. The children sing above and beyond any questions about them. In other words, regardless of any doubts about them, the children keep singing and performing. Boy performers were especially chosen, and trained, for their singing. Nestling birds "sing out," and are fed by their parents instinctively with no questions asked. On the top of question means "over and above doubt, or inquiry." The image is that the "little birds" are in a nest high in the tree, at the top of the tree, while those who question their performances are down on the ground.; There is some allusion to R & G, themselves. They tried to cry out on the top of question - to ignore Hamlet's questions to them, earlier, and keep talking - but they were not successful at it. Hamlet did not play parent to these "birds," R & G, and did not "feed" them what they wanted to know.; Berattle means to shake up, to thoroughly unsettle. It implies "chatter," a lot of talk.; Tyrannically means "royally." The children are "applauded" by royalty, so to speak, which means they have royal approval, or sponsorship. For the bird metaphor, the "parent bird" is royalty, then. (This further connects to the royalty, Claudius, being the "parent" of the "little birds," R & G.); There could be a topical allusion, and one which adds significant meaning for the play. When James I gained the throne of England in 1603, his Queen, Queen Anne, began to sponsor the Children of Queen Anne's Revels, a company of boy performers. Her interest in child performers would probably have been known for some time before she became Queen.; (The author could have anticipated Queen Anne's ascension, for purposes of his play. From the author's point of view, he could anticipate, and if it didn't happen, it would be no real problem, as long as he wasn't explicit about any specific event. He could simply use the idea, before Anne became Queen, based on Queen Anne's known interest. In other words, there could be topical allusion, but not necessarily written after Anne became Queen. It could reflect expectation.); If this circumstance in English history is relevant, it would imply by analogy that the royal favor extended to the child performers in the play traces to Gertrude, the Queen. It would be Claudius's marriage to Gertrude that leads to the adult players being at Elsinore, where they can perform the Mousetrap Play aimed at Claudius. Such a conclusion is necessarily interpretive, but it has support in the idea of royal sponsorship, by a Queen. It is much more plausible that Gertrude would sponsor child actors, than that Claudius would; his idea of entertainment is a rouse.; So, we may take it that after Gertrude married Claudius, and she was looking for something to do, she decided to sponsor some child performers, (by analogy with Queen Anne.) Because the Queen is a trend setter, this led to the children being more popular with the public; also, the financial support would be significant. It hurt the adult actors' business in the city, and led to them being on the road, where they arrive at Elsinore. The Players are hoping for some royal sponsorship, to equalize the competition. That would be a natural conclusion, for why they wish to appear where the King and Queen are, and the Prince. They want sponsorship, too.; It accounts for R's vagueness in replying to Hamlet about why the adult actors are traveling, if the child actors are sponsored by the Queen. R would be reluctant to tell Hamlet that the problem, for the adult actors, is because of something Hamlet's mother did - and especially after it was Gertrude who made the statement to R & G that they would be rewarded. R would not want to say some specific thing that might sound critical of Gertrude, as he speaks to Hamlet.; It may also be that the death of Hamlet Sr caused the loss of royal support from the King for the adult actors. Perhaps, when Hamlet Sr was King, they had his support, and were the "King's Men." That could easily explain how Hamlet became friends with them. Then, if Claudius did not renew their royal sponsorship, it would be a serious blow to them, to lose royal support from the King at the same time the children gained royal support from the Queen.; There is allusion to Hamlet losing the "sponsorship" of his father, so to speak, with his father's death, and then Claudius and Gertrude bringing in "the little birds," R & G, who work against Hamlet. By analogy, this makes Hamlet the tragedian, and R & G the "singing children." It is not that R & G are actually children, but they're children in the sense of being new to Elsinore, where they have a lot to learn.; In using tyrannically, as a word for royalty, R unintentionally casts Claudius as a tyrant. R doesn't think so. However, it agrees with Hamlet's view of Claudius.; Goose quills were used for writing. R means that people were avoiding the common stage as though they were afraid of the goose quills used to write the plays. Those wearing rapiers would have been the better class of people, the trend setters. It plays on the old saying about the pen being mightier than the sword.; Fear of goose quills is something R & G should have, in anticipation of Hamlet's forged order to England. If R & G could get a glimpse of that in their future, they would dare scarce come thither to Elsinore, for fear of Hamlet's goose quill.; (The passage about the child actors does not appear in Q2, although it is undoubtedly authorial, overall. The relevant allusions are enough to establish that, if there were any question. Unfortunately, it's clear the Folio editor took it upon himself to change the passage, at least slightly. The Folio word "Sir" on line hw1386 is an editorial insertion. R does not correctly call Hamlet "sir," and he knows it. Later in the play, G will call Hamlet "sir" and Hamlet will immediately interrupt him. Hamlet's status as "Lord" is very much on his mind, since it proceeds from him being the son of the late King, an inescapable fact for him. For R to call Hamlet "sir" in this passage, casually and with no notice taken of it, goes directly against the play motivations and themes, and the flow of events, and cannot be authorial. The word is an editorial error in the Folio. Like many editorial changes in the Folio, the word is capitalized, but capitalization is so eccentric in the Folio that it is not reliably predictive. The error raises the unpleasant question of whether the Folio editor changed any other wording in this passage, and for that question there is no easy answer. The Folio version of Hamlet is rife with errors in individual words, and in phrases, which can usually be found by comparison with Q2; however, since the Folio version of this passage is the only one in existence, except for a couple lines in Q1, no comparison is possible. Ben Jonson was an editor of the Folio, and perhaps editor-in-chief, and he was inordinately fond of the word "sir" in his own plays, sometimes to the point of absurdity. Jonson's plays are heavily peppered with the word. Perhaps he inserted only the word, "Sir," merely because he couldn't stand not seeing it more often. So, one can hope it's the only editorial change inflicted on the passage. As best I can tell, it seems to be.); Hamlet's curiosity is piqued, and he goes on to ask about the child performers.
hw 1392, to hw 1398: Hamlet: What, are they children? Who maintains them?
How are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no
longer than they can sing? Will they not say afterwards,
if they should grow themselves to common players,
as it is likemost if their means are not better,
their writers do them wrong to make them exclaim
against their own succession?; Hamlet's use of sing confirms that R's cry meant "sing," as the plain meaning. Escoted means "paid" or "financially supported." Escoted is not quite the same as maintained, which refers also to protection and supervision. Hamlet is wondering how the business of the child performers works. He then wonders about their future, and whether they ought to be in competition with the adult actors of the kind they, themselves, may wish to be in the future. In a way, they could be putting themselves, as individuals, out of business as they grow older, if they put adult playing companies out of business.; The word quality means "career" or "occupation," and had special use, in those days, for the career of acting, since terms such as "acting," "playing," and "aping" had some inappropriate or disreputable connotations. The term was ironic, since "quality" was mainly used in reference to high social position, which actors in Elizabethan times did not personally have. However, acting companies were sponsored by aristocrats and nobility, and actors gained "quality" in that way. The use of quaity, to mean acting, was significantly in deference to the fact that acting companies were servants to aristocrats or noblemen.; (Where I have likemost in the playscript, the original Folio text has the two words "like most," which makes no sense. The meaning is "most likely" or "likeliest." Since the suffix -most is used in forming superlatives, the simplest solution is merely to remove the space between the words. It is not necessary to rearrange any words, or change or add any. If the author did indeed write "likemost" and the printer did not recognize it, the printer would have separated it into two words, most likely.); Hamlet's remarks are allusive. Since Hamlet has remained at Elsinore, his best prospect in that setting is to become King. He ponders whether he should be exclaiming against - arguing against, in his thoughts - his own succession to the crown. As long as his means are not better, his best future would be if he "grows" to be King. So, as he superficially asks about the children, Hamlet is also questioning his resistance to the idea of becoming King, and thinking that perhaps he ought to be ambitious.; (An historical incident may explain why the Aerie of Children Passage was not printed in Q2, although the historical incident adds no meaning for the play, itself. In 1600 a boy was 'kidnapped' while on his way to school, and was recruited to be a child actor. The boy was probably thrilled to be a performer instead of going to school, so there was likely no force involved, but he was below the age of consent. The boy's father had political influence and made an issue of it. The case was taken up by the Privy Council, and then went to a court inquiry of the Star Chamber. Hamlet's questions sound like questions that would be raised in a Star Chamber inquiry involving boy actors, questions of maintenance and support, and what would become of them, especially without a proper school education.); (The Star Chamber incident involved Blackfriars, under the proprietorship of Henry Evans. The outcome was that Evans was censured, and forbidden to have any further ownership of the company. The company was the Children of the Chapel, which became the Children of Queen Anne's Revels, mentioned earlier. Anne was the Queen when Q2 was printed. The passage in Hamlet may have been deleted for political reasons, to avoid a printed reminder that the company the Queen was sponsoring had recently been subject to a Star Chamber proceeding, with serious questions about the business. The passage would have remained with the author's papers, to be printed, properly so, in the Folio in 1623, after the incident had passed into history.); (The deletion, for whatever reason, was done by the printer/publisher, most assuredly. The author would have been more adroit, than to make a crude cut that loses some meaning for his play.); R goes on to try to answer Hamlet's questions.
hw 1399, to hw 1403: Ros: Faith, there has been much to-do on both sides,
and the nation holds it no sin to tar them to controversy;
there was, for a while, no money bid for argument,
unless the Poet and the Player went to cuffs in the question.; Tar means to glue or attach; tar is used as a cement. R means the nation has stuck the two sides in controversy, or in other words, the country insists on the controversy between them. Tar can also be read as "provoke."; The nation is Denmark, and "Denmark" is also the word used for the King. In that undertone, in relation to the play in general, R is saying the "controversy" is Claudius's fault.; The Poet represents the child performers, known for their singing. Song lyrics are a form of poetry. The Player represents the adult actors. R is saying the contention is so heated it may become a fight.; R's remark is superficially about the adult actors versus the child performers, but the speech has allusion to Hamlet versus Claudius, and also to Hamlet versus Laertes at the fencing match in the final Scene. The money bid for argument means a wager.; Cuffs means blows, that is, a fight. So, Denmark is wagering on a fight. Since "Denmark" also means the King, personally, the speech alludes to Claudius's wager on the fencing match that will conclude the play. The Poet is Hamlet, and the Player is Laertes. At the fencing match, Laertes will be acting (a "player") by pretending to participate honestly. The word tar implies a dirty fight, which also connects to the fencing match.; Question means "issue," or point of contention. The main question in Hamlet is the one between Hamlet and Claudius, so they are also Poet and Player, respectively; As R speaks the lines, one can see his money is on the Player, Claudius, since he's working for the King, but that will prove to be a bad bet by R & G.; R does the same thing Polonius does, in making remarks accidentally that have relevance to other things in the play.
hw 1404: Hamlet: Is it possible?; Hamlet doubts that the rivalry, between the Players and the children, could really come to blows.; As personal allusion, to himself, in terms of the play overall, Hamlet expresses surprise that the nation wants him to fight Claudius for the crown. Confined to Elsinore, he does not know the public mood.; As a jesting undertone, the author is having Hamlet express skepticism that R can predict their future in such detail that he can allude to the wager on the fencing match, which neither of them could possibly know about. That's highly tongue-in-cheek.
hw 1405, to hw 1406: Guil: Oh, there has been much throwing about of brains.; G means that people have been discussing all sorts of possibilities. He's telling Hamlet that a fight is only one idea people have talked about.; As an undertone of meaning for Hamlet, Hamlet has been "throwing his brains about" to try to figure out exactly what to do about Claudius. Claudius has been "throwing his brain about" trying to figure out Hamlet.; Additionally, G makes allusion to himself and R, who have been throwing their brains about, as to how they can best take advantage of the opportunity of working for the King.; "Brain" can refer to the head, as can also the word "skull," so, in that way G's remark anticipates the sexton gravedigger throwing skulls about, in a later Scene.
hw 1407, to hw 1408: Hamlet: Do the boys carry it away?
Ros: Aye, that they do, my Lord; Hercules & his load too.; Hamlet asks whether the betting, and the ideas of most people, favor the child performers, and R replies, very much so. The boys are the favorites.; In legend, Hercules's load, or burden, was the world, when he substituted for Atlas. The child performers are "carrying" the world of acting, says R.; (The lines have a wonderful undertone that provides a pictorial illustration for the play. Elsinore, a castle by the sea, is Hamlet's world. The boys newly arrived at Elsinore are R & G. As allusion, the lines mean R & G carrying Elsinore, Hamlet's world, the way Hercules carried the world. That is exactly the illustration on the World card of the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck, which was created in the 15th century. The card depicts two "boys" carrying a castle by the sea. See the Tarot link on the Home page of this Hamlet (Regained) website for a picture and comment. Tarot was originally a card game similar to bridge, and apparently the author was familiar with the game, had some decks of cards, and made reference to one of them in these lines in Hamlet.); As allusion to R & G, Hamlet has compared himself to Hercules, unfavorably, and his "load" is his burden of revenge against Claudius. R asserts that the "boys" - R & G - carry Hamlet and his burden away. They do "carry" Hamlet and his burden away, when they take him on the ship to England, but it will not turn out well for them.
hw 1409, to hw 1414: Hamlet: It is not very strange, for my uncle is King of Denmark,
and those that would make mouths at him while my father lived,
give twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece for his picture
in little; s'blood, there is something in this more than natural,
if philosophy could find it out.; To make mouths is to sneer, or to make some other facial expression of dislike. A picture in little is a miniature portrait, such as would be worn as a pendant or badge. Some people who sneered at Claudius before he became King, are now wearing his picture as an ornament, and have paid a lot for it.; Miniature portraits could be worn on pendants, or badges, like the political buttons of today that sometimes depict the candidates for an election. Hamlet may think of such a picture in little because R & G are wearing pendants or badges of Claudius. If they are, (although it is not necessary or explicit in the play,) it could certainly contribute to Hamlet's suspicion of them. The easiest way to make such a pendant or badge would probably be to use a coin with the king's likeness stamped on it.; Hamlet says change of affection, such as has occurred for the Players, is not strange to him. He has seen his mother's apparent change of affection in marrying Claudius, Ophelia's apparent change of affection in refusing to see him, Polonius's easy change of loyalty in serving Claudius after being a career servant for his father, and now he's experienced R & G's unfriendly behavior. Even the public now seems to favor Claudius, although, from his isolated perspective inside Elsinore, Hamlet doesn't really know much about public sentiment; Laertes will be able to recruit a large mob to challenge Claudius, later. Hamlet is saying that change of loyalty and affection is becoming all too familiar to him, and he wonders what causes it.; The author knew the cause, for each case directly involving Hamlet, but he doesn't let Hamlet 'know' it. Each instance that's most immediate to Hamlet has a personal cause or motive. Ophelia was ordered by her father to avoid Hamlet, Polonius and R & G are motivated by their personal career ambitions, and so on. Particularly, it doesn't occur to Hamlet that Gertrude could have a motive he doesn't know, and that she cannot mention to anybody. We'll get to that.
hw 1415: (a flourish of trumpets sounds); These are not the royal musicians who play for Claudius. The Players, themselves, play a flourish on their trumpets to announce their presence. It's part of how they present themselves as something different and special. They don't usually have the royal trumpeters on hand, so they've learned to "toot their own horns," as the saying goes. (However, in stage performance, to simplify the cast, it may be taken that the Players will persuade the royal trumpeters to announce them, if trumpeters appear on stage instead of using sound effects.)
hw 1416: Guil: There are the players.; G states the reason for the trumpets, lest anybody think it's Claudius. On an average day, the sound of trumpets would be to announce Claudius.
hw 1417, to 1423: Hamlet (to R & G): Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore;
your hands, come then, the appurtenance of welcome is fashion
and ceremony; let me comply with you in this garb, lest my extent
to the players, which I tell you must show fairly outwards, should more
appear like entertainment then yours; you are welcome,
but my uncle-father, and aunt-mother, are deceived.; The fact that Hamlet shakes hands with R & G now, insistently, shows they didn't extend their hands to him at first. It's a sign of how rude they've been to him, that Hamlet has to insist they shake hands.; By insisting they shake hands with him here, Hamlet is chiding R & G for their poor manners, for one thing. His mention of welcome is a sarcastic, because he is really shaking hands goodbye, since he intends to talk to the players, instead.; Also, by "welcoming" R & G when the Players enter, Hamlet is, in a sense, welcoming them as "actors" - poor actors, that is, as they've tried to play a certain part while talking to him, and not done it well. His "welcome" to them, as "actors," is deeply sarcastic.; Extent follows from the idea of extending the hand for a handshake, and means to extend a greeting. It further refers to the degree of enthusiasm in the greeting.; This garb, that Hamlet is wearing as he speaks, is his mourning clothes. By referring them to his garb he is mourning the loss of their friendship, figuratively saying the friendship is dead. He's also alluding to the death of his father, a fact of which they took no notice. He's been standing there in front of them all this time in his garb, his mourning clothes, and it has meant nothing to them. They offered no word at all of sympathy or condolence. In surface meaning, garb means fashion or style, and continues the Fashion motif.; R & G don't fathom Hamlet's behavior, and take it that, when Hamlet shakes hands and welcomes them so long after the beginning of the conversation, it's a symptom of his madness.; Hamlet knows his happiness will show when he greets the Players. He does not want to give the appearance that his greeting for the Players is more proper than for R & G. He wants Claudius and Gertrude to continue to think that R & G are his friends. Also, Hamlet is well educated in proper manners, and respects good manners, and he does not want to be ill-mannered, himself, at least according to formal requirements, even if R & G deserve worse treatment. This anticipates the lecture Hamlet gives Polonius, soon to follow, that the way a person treats people reflects on himself.; Hamlet says uncle-father and aunt-mother to R & G to give them something to think about, since they've bought into the idea that he's mad. He's teasing R & G. The terms are literally true, but that isn't why Hamlet uses them. Hamlet is now intentionally saying odd things to R & G that they can try to repeat to Claudius, if they dare to.; By deceived, Hamlet means, first, that if R & G tell Claudius the simple fact that Hamlet insisted on shaking hands with them, it will look to Claudius as if R & G are still his friends.; Then, in general, Claudius and Gertrude are deceived in thinking that R & G are good company for Hamlet, and that R & G can find out anything significant. R & G may have fooled the King and Queen that they're good friends of Hamlet, but they haven't fooled him.
hw 1424: Guil: In what, my dear Lord?; Any way in which Hamlet might be deceiving Claudius is exactly the kind of thing R & G would like to find out. Hamlet knows that now.
hw 1425, to hw 1426: Hamlet: I am but mad north-northwest; when the wind is southerly,
I know a hawk from a handsaw.; Hamlet blows smoke at them, again. There's no chance R & G will understand that, and it's perfectly fine with Hamlet if they repeat it to Claudius. However, Hamlet's lines have fantastic meaning for the play.; Hamlet's mention of north-northwest is adapted from Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls. That work contains the line, "as wisely as I saw thee north-northwest." The author has adapted Chaucer's line by changing the idea of "wise" to mad. The change is not much of a stretch, since Chaucer was presenting a character who was confused, or "mad," loosely speaking, on the subject of love, and Chaucer's line is ironic. The Chaucer line would have been familiar to the more literate members of the original Hamlet audience.; Hamlet means he's mad only on the subject of love. We've seen that Hamlet uses love in a way to include good friendship, and family feelings, as well as romantic love. It's love in the general sense, including friendship and family loyalty, that has both motivated and stymied Hamlet. His love for his father motivates him to seek revenge against Claudius. Gertrude's apparent love for Claudius, as he sees it, mystifies him and balks him. Ophelia's apparent change of affection upsets him. Now his former friends, R & G, have turned against him. It's all maddening. Especially, his love for Ophelia, after his bad dream, has made his situation more difficult. That strong reminder, that his actions could have consequences to people he cares about, has caused his delay as he seeks an assured way to kill Claudius, without serious repercussions to others even if he should fail in the attempt. However, he resents every minute that goes by with Claudius alive, and he can't help thinking he ought to have killed Claudius right away, as he originally intended after the Ghost talked to him. Maddening, indeed.; Also, northwest connects back to when Barnardo pointed out a star in the first Scene. He said the star was west of the "pole," which is Polaris, the North Star. The star indicated was north, and west of north. The star was probably Capella, which has an association with madness in mythology.; The mention of southerly wind is a reference to R & G, themselves. Wittenberg, from which they arrived, is nearly straight south of Elsinore. They "blew in on a southerly wind," as the saying has it. The terms southerly and north-northwest are in different clauses as Hamlet speaks them, and refer to different ideas. The wind idea is associated only with southerly.; Following that reference to R & G, Hamlet says he knows a hawk from a handsaw. The hawk - handsaw line has many allusions, and is astonishingly subtle.; In first meaning, the plainest meaning, handsaw refers to a remark Hamlet will make later, when he's coaching the players before the Mousetrap play. There, he will tell the players they mustn't "saw the air too much with your hand." So handsaw means a person who saws the air too much with his hand when he's trying to act - which means a bad actor. Hamlet is calling R & G bad actors. They haven't "performed" well enough to fool him that they're still his same friends. R & G are like a bad actor on stage, who "saws" the air too much with his hand.; Thus, the first meaning of handsaw is "bad actor." The allusion, to Hamlet's later remark, which contains the words "saw" and "hand," proves beyond doubt that handsaw is the correct word in the playscript. It is not a misprint (a question which has sometimes arisen.); By contrast, hawk must then mean "good actor." Again, this is an allusion to a later remark by Hamlet, when he will say to his professional actor friends that they will into it like friendly falconers, fly at anything we see. Hamlet associates good acting with falconers and falcons, who can "fly." A really good actor is a hawk because he can "fly" at any role, and make it look natural and right, is the idea.; A hawk, who can "fly" at his role, is a good actor. A handsaw, who waves his hands like he's trying to fly, but can't, is a bad actor.; So, the most basic meaning for the play, of the hawk - handsaw line, is the difference between good acting, and bad acting, understood by reference to Hamlet's later remarks. Hamlet's professional friends are good actors, hawks, but R & G are bad actors, handsaws. The line is a significant instance on the Putting On A Show theme.; There's more, a lot more.; Hamlet's phrase is based on an older expression, "I know a hawk from a hernshaw." The word "hernshaw" means a heron. The word handsaw is not a misprint for "hernshaw," as already shown. The "hawk and hernshaw" phrase was a known saying in the author's time, so he could change the wording slightly and still maintain allusion to a heron. People who heard "handsaw" would still think "hernshaw," because they knew the saying.; A hawk is predatory, and other birds are among the game it hunts. In falconry, a hawk could be used to hunt a pigeon. A heron is also predatory, but in a much different way; it's a wading bird that hunts fish. So, one thing Hamlet means, is that R & G are not like a hawk, who could take him like a pigeon, but instead they're like a heron and they're fishing for something. The idea of a fisher connects back to Hamlet calling Polonius a fishmonger, earlier. Hamlet knows that R & G, like Polonius, are "fishing," thus, R & G are a heron, not a hawk. This allusion continues the play's occasional depiction of persons as birds.; (It's correct that there are hawks which fish, but Hamlet is not being an ornithologist while saying the phrase. He's making a general distinction, in common terms.); "Hero" is another word for heron, so the heron idea connects back to Hamlet's phrase, "out-stretched heroes." R & G are "out-stretched" herons in trying to fish for information from Hamlet.; Herons, in England, were formerly classed as game birds, and were sometimes taken with hawks. In this facet, Hamlet casts himself as the hawk, and R & G as the heron. He's telling them they're mistaken about which is the "predator," and which the "prey." R & G think they're the hawks, "preying" on Hamlet, but he's telling them it's the other way around. As undertone for the play, in anticipation of subsequent events, it's a hint he's going to kill them. Hawks kill herons.; However, the author did make the word change to handsaw. The basic meaning for that has already been given, above, but there's still more.; A handsaw is a common tool that's held in the hand. Hamlet additionally means he now knows R & G are not acting out of friendship with him, and instead, they're a tool in Claudius's hand, so to speak. They're a common "tool" doing a job for Claudius. This connects back to R & G telling Claudius they were his to command; the word "command" has reference to the hand.; The "hawk and handsaw" phrase further alludes to two Spanish ensigns of the time, flags that were flown by Spanish naval vessels. Spain was England's archenemy in those days. By alluding to the Spanish flags, Hamlet is saying that R & G are "flying the enemy flag" as agents of Claudius.; One Spanish ensign, the one flown by the galleons sailing to America, had a royal eagle design in the center, and the eagle was surrounded by a gold wreath. The other ensign, flown by ships sailing to the Netherlands, had the Burgundy Cross as a center design, done in red. The Burgundy Cross was stylized and simplified, to look as though it depicted saw teeth. An eagle is akin to a hawk. The ensign designs can therefore be called, loosely speaking, a hawk and a handsaw. This would especially occur to those familiar with the "hawk and hernshaw" saying, in those days.; A southerly wind would have brought Spanish ships northward toward England. It would have been strategically significant to English sailors whether a Spanish ship they sighted was intending to sail west to America, on a treasure mission, or up the Channel to the Netherlands, to support the war in the Low Countries.; With the ensign reference, Hamlet casts R & G as "enemy vessels," in working for Claudius, and also says that he can tell the difference between R & G, the difference between the "hawk" and the "handsaw." The Burgundy Cross on the Netherlands ensign is red. The "Rose" part of "Rosencrantz" means "red." The wreath on the galleon ensign is gold. The "guild" part of "Guildenstern" means "gold." The difference between R & G that Hamlet means, first, is that R is "red," and G is "gold," the same as a prominent difference in colors on the Spanish ensigns. It's wordplay between the character names and the Spanish flag designs, with respect to the colors.; Even further, a ship bearing the ensign with the red Bugundy Cross, the handsaw ensign, would have been on a patriotic mission for the Spanish, to support their war in the Low Countries. Rosencrantz, the "red" one, is motivated more by what he sees as patriotism, in his service to Claudius.; A ship showing the Spanish Royal Eagle hawk ensign would have been sailing to America for treasure, gold. Guildenstern, the "gold" one, is motivated more by greed.; In addition to matching up with the colors, the respective missions of the Spanish ships match up with the characterizations of R & G in the play, where R shows the "red" of Danish patriotism, versus G's "gold" of greed.; So, with this part of his lines, ... when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw, Hamlet is saying to R & G:; * They blew in from the south, from Wittenberg, like Spanish ships sailing toward England on a southerly wind;; * They're both "flying the enemy flag," in working for Claudius, like Spanish ships against England;; * But he can tell the difference between them, because:; * Rosencrantz is "red" like the red of the Burgundy Cross, and; * Guildenstern is "gold" like the wreath around the Royal Eagle, and further,; * Rosencrantz is motivated by what he sees as patriotism, like the Spanish Burgundy Cross ships supporting the war in the Low Countries, and; * Guildenstern is motivated by greed, like the Spanish Eagle ships sailing to America for gold.; Illustrations of the Spanish ensigns can be found on this Hamlet (Regained) website, and also on the Flags of the World website.; In sum, through the allusions in Hamlet's north-northwest - hawk - handsaw lines, Hamlet has told R & G:

* He's only "mad" where love is concerned,
(so, since he doesn't love them now, he can see them clearly;)
* They blew in from the south;
* They're "herons" who are fishing (like Polonius was;)
* They're "out-stretched" in fishing for what's on his mind;
* They're bad actors, by contrast with the good actors who have just arrived;
* They're tools in the hand of Claudius;
* They're "flying the enemy flag" in working for Claudius;
* A difference between them is, R is "red" and G is "gold";
* G is motivated by money, while R is motivated by patriotism;
* They're confused about which is the predator, and which the prey;
* And he's going to kill them, like a hawk on a heron.; It may seem impossible the author could do all that in only two lines. It is not impossible. You have been told Shakespeare was a genius. That is not merely something people say. It is absolutely true, he was a genius with words. Those allusions, in only two lines, are the kind of thing that real genius can do. Fortunately, a lesser person, like me, can gradually figure it out, or at least that much of it, through hard work.; R & G don't perceive any of Hamlet's meaning. They take his statements as symptoms of the madness they've been told he has.
hw 1427, to hw 1428: (Polonius enters)
Polonius (to the players): Well be with you, Gentlemen.; Polonius is a busybody, and when he hears the trumpets he hurries to find out what's going on. He thought, at first, it was something to do with Claudius, so he rushed to prove how dutiful he is to the King. He's the first to greet the Players.; Although the Players are visible in the background, as Polonius speaks to them, the Players do not have an "enter" yet, which will be explained.
hw 1429, to 1436: Hamlet: Hark you, Guildenstern, and you too, at each ear a hearer:
that great baby you see there is not yet out of his swadling clouts.
Ros: Happily, he is the second time come to them, for they say an
old man is twice a child.
Hamlet: I will prophecy, he comes to tell me of the players; mark it;
You say right, sir, a Monday morning, t'was then indeed.; As Polonius enters and approaches, Hamlet pulls R & G closer to him, for Polonius to see, and speaks in a quieter tone. Hamlet knows how snoopy Polonius is, and he wants to give Polonius the idea that he's whispering secrets to R & G, telling them important things he didn't tell Polonius. It will worry Polonius, and he'll wonder about it. But here, the deep, dark secret, that Polonius will worry about and wonder about, is: Polonius is a big baby.; R & G are in competition with Polonius, as servants to Claudius, and are easily critical of him even though they don't know him yet, and haven't even been properly introduced.; Hamlet's prediction, of what Polonius wants to say to him, is not very difficult. When R & G entered, earlier, as Polonius exited, Polonius told them where Hamlet was, even though Hamlet was standing in plain sight in front of them. It's the same here. Polonius thinks he has to tell Hamlet about the Players, even though the Players are standing in the background in plain sight.; Polonius would also like to find out what Hamlet has been saying to R & G. He thinks he would.; Hamlet's Monday morning remark is spoken to mislead Polonius that he was being talked about.
hw 1437, to hw 1439: Pol: My Lord, I have news to tell you.
Hamlet: My Lord, I have news to tell you: when Roscius was an actor
in Rome . . .; Hamlet indicates what he expects Polonius to say by mentioning an actor. However, Roscius was a famous actor in ancient Rome, and there is nothing new in the mention of him. Hamlet means that what Polonius is going to tell him, about the Players arriving, is 'old news.'; Polonius takes it that Hamlet's mention of an actor is just one of those times when madness accidentally produces a meaningful remark, as he stated in an aside to the audience during his earlier conversation with Hamlet. He doesn't catch that Hamlet is telling him it's old news.
hw 1440, to hw 1441: Pol: The actors are come hither, my Lord.
Hamlet: Buzz, buzz.; When Polonius tells Hamlet about the Players, as expected, Hamlet facetiously dismisses it as only a "buzz" of rumor, that can't be true. Hamlet is pretending he doesn't believe it.
hw 1442, to 1443: Pol: Upon my honor!
Hamlet: Then came each actor on his ass.; Polonius takes Hamlet seriously, and swears on his honor that what he's telling Hamlet is true. Polonius, himself, could properly be called "your honor," so the word honor has a double meaning here. Hamlet says if the actors were upon "your honor" (Polonius) they'd be riding a jackass.
hw 1444, to hw 1450: Pol: The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy,
history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, scene
undividable, or poem unlimited; Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor
Plautus too light; for the law of writ, and the liberty, these are the
only men.; Since Hamlet expressed scepticism about the Players, as Polonius perceived it, Polonius thinks he now has to 'sell' the Players to Hamlet. He does so by reciting a list of everything they can do, as he understands it. He makes it sound as though he's reading from the playing company's advertising. When Laertes left for France, Polonius gave him advice by reciting a list of sayings. It's one of Polonius's habits, that when he's trying to persuade somebody, he recites a list.; Seneca was an ancient Roman writer of tragedies, and Plautus, a writer of comedies. By mentioning them, Polonius is redundantly saying the Players can do everything from tragedy to comedy, which he already said. Polonius's speech habit shows when he contrasts heavy and light; he can't resist an epigram.; Law of writ has reference to London, where written ordinances controlled where and when actors could perform. Writ means legal writing, a written statute or legal order; the word is still used that way in legal practice. The liberty was the area outside the jurisdiction of the city of London, beyond the city limits, where actors could perform more freely. The plain meaning for the play, of the law - liberty line, is simply: "in the city or outside it." It was mentioned that Hamlet enjoyed the Players' performances in the city, and they're outside the city now in traveling to Elsinore.; The law - liberty line further implies that the Players are the best either at following a written script, or at improvised performance, without a script. As so often in Hamlet, the line has more than one meaning. We'll soon see Hamlet call upon one of the Players to recite without a script, and later Hamlet will slightly modify a script the playing company will use to perform a play. Performance both with, and without a script will be shown.; The phrase further supports the conjecture that the Players were sponsored by Hamlet Sr, and had a written document to that effect, loosely a "writ," which became null when King Hamlet died. So, the Players are now "at liberty" without any written document of sponsorship, and they have hopes for Hamlet about that problem.
hw 1451, to hw 1452: Hamlet: Oh, Jephthah, Judge of Israel, what a treasure had'st thou?; Hamlet is telling Polonius that in praising the Players, he's "preaching to the choir." He does so very indirectly, by making a Bible reference. The connection of ideas is Bible = preaching = preaching to the choir. Thus, the Bible reference, as in preaching. Hamlet already knows about the Players, and holds them in high regard. The specific Bible reference, to Jephthah, is important. The story of Jephthah is in the Book of Judges, thus Hamlet's use of the word Judge.; It's worth noting that Jephthah, in the Bible, was the son of a harlot. Various words in the play, including fishmonger and nunnery, have unsavory connotations, in addition to their usual meanings. Fishmonger was a slang term for a pimp, and likewise nunnery for a brothel. It has sometimes been taken that the connotations refer to Ophelia being unchaste. That is not correct. They are actually innuendo about Polonius, via the Jephthah analogy that Hamlet makes to Polonius. The unsavory connotations also link to a tragic mistake Hamlet will make about Ophelia, later.
hw 1453, to hw 1461: Pol: What a treasure had he, my Lord?
Hamlet: Why, one fair daughter and no more, the which he loved
passing well.
Pol (aside): Still on my daughter.
Hamlet: Am I not in the right, old Jephthah?
Pol: If you call me Jephthah, my Lord, I have a daughter that I love
passing well.
Hamlet: Nay, that follows not.
Pol: What follows then, my Lord?; Polonius is mystified at Hamlet's Bible reference, and asks about it. But instead of asking for clarification of why Hamlet mentioned something from the Bible, he asks a question about the Bible story, itself. He is apparently not very familiar with the story.; Hamlet's use of treasure contains irony, in view of how Polonius thinks of Ophelia in terms of her financial value, shown in the earlier scene. There's also a link back to Laetes's phrase "chaste treasure" when he talked to Ophelia.; Hamlet replies about Jephthah, that he had a daughter. Hamlet's remark about Jephthah loving his daughter is sarcastic, in that Jephthah killed his daughter in the Bible story, for no good earthly reason beyond something he happened to say.; Polonius is pleased that Hamlet has referred to his daughter again, and takes it as a sign of Hamlet's "mad" love for Ophelia.; Hamlet indicates he expects a response from Polonius.; Polonius emphasizes his daughter, expecting that to suit Hamlet.; Hamlet says Polonius's response follows not. He means what follows in the Bible story. Also, it doesn't mean, from what Hamlet said about Jephthah, that Polonius really loves his daughter.; Hamlet's nightmare is on his mind as he looks at Polonius. He can't say what he means in plain language, so he attempts to inform Polonius through allusion. For one thing, Hamlet means Polonius should be careful what he says to Claudius, Polonius's Lord, for the safety of his own daughter.; Hamlet is not so much worried about his nightmare coming literally true, but he knows he's vulnerable where Ophelia is concerned. Claudius could use her against him, and Hamlet does not want that to happen.
hw 1462, to hw 1465: Hamlet: Why, as by lot, God wot, and then you know, it came to
pass, as most like it was; the first row of the pious chanson will
show you more, for look where my abridgment comes.; Hamlet is quoting, more or less, from a ballad, or carol, about Jephthah, that was known in Elizabethan times. A chanson is a song.; Hamlet has a low opinion of Polonius as a Bible scholar, and doesn't expect him to read the story in the Bible with care, but perhaps Polonius would take an interest in a song to learn the story. That's why Hamlet refers to the song. Hamlet will later remark, while talking to the players, that a long, serious story puts Polonius to sleep. Although Polonius presents himself as a highly moral and religious man, his wisdom, such as it is, consists mostly of the many common sayings he's picked up, and he doesn't know much of the Bible.; The salient fact about the story of Jephthah, that Hamlet has not mentioned, is the father killing his daughter, in obedience to his Lord. That's what came to pass. Polonius's Lord is Claudius.; By lot means by chance, and is on the Fortune theme of the play.; Hamlet's use of most like alludes to how disturbingly similar he sees Polonius compared to Jephthah, in their views of the importance of a daughter, their thoughtless, accidental remarks, and obedience to their Lord. The author made excellent use of the ballad lyric, to provide allusions for his play.; Hamlet says that the chanson will show Polonius "more," not that the first row (line) of the chanson will state his exact point. He's telling Polonius to begin at the first line of the song, and then learn it all.; Hamlet pretends that he has to abridge, or cut short, what he says, because the Players are approaching, but he wouldn't have stated exactly what he meant, anyway.; The term abridgement was used to mean an amusement, in that amusement seems to shorten the time, to make time pass more quickly. Thus, the term abridgement refers to the Players, who provide amusement, a pastime. Abridgement has more than one meaning, as usual in Hamlet, and refers both to the Players and to Hamlet cutting short his remarks. It further anticipates Hamlet calling the players, the abstract and brief chronicles of the time, later. An abstract is an abridgement.
hw 1466, to hw 1477: (the Players enter)
Hamlet: You are welcome, masters, welcome all; I am glad to see thee
well; welcome good friends; oh, old friend, why, thy face is valanced
since I saw thee last, comest thou to beard me in Denmark?
What, my young lady and mistress, by laddie, Your Ladyship is
nearer to heaven, then when I saw you last by the altitude of a
chopine; pray God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold,
be not cracked within the ring; masters, you are all welcome;
we'll into it like friendly falconers, fly at anything we see;
we'll have a speech straight, come, give us a taste of your quality,
come, a passionate speech.; The enter for the Players means they step forward into the speakers' area of the stage, where they can properly orate to the audience when, and if, they have lines. They were already in sight in the background.; The Elizabethan stage was large, and mostly open, so the entries, as originally marked in Hamlet, do not mean the same as they would on a modern, enclosed set. The entries, as originally marked in Hamlet, do not necessarily mean physical visibility to the audience. The entries mean the actors must move into correct speaking position, so the audience can hear them, because they have lines coming up, or they need to accompany an actor who has lines. The entries, as marked in the original playscript, are for verbal purposes, not visual purposes. An actor could be onstage without an "enter" if he was not supposed to be in speaking position on the stage yet. His "enter" would be given when, and if, he had lines to say.; In Hamlet, (as it was originally printed in Q2,) a character can be onstage without an "enter." That is a very important fact to know, to understand the original printing of the play.; It is particularly vital to know about Hamlet entries in advance of the Prayer Scene, Scene 10. Hamlet, himself, will be onstage in that Scene before he gets his entry in the original Q2 printing.; Hamlet is enthusiastic in greeting the Players, some of whom he knows personally as his friends. He calls the lead actor old friend, so, Hamlet has apparently known him a long time. He also gives a special greeting to the boy who plays the women's parts. Women did not appear on stage in Elizabethan times, so the parts for women were played by boys.; Hamlet's exclamation, by laddy, is reference to the "lady" being a boy, with wordplay between "lady" and "laddie." In the original, the word laddy is spelled l-a-d-y, but the phrase can be interpreted either as "by lady" or "by laddie." It means both at the same time. I have chosen to spell the phrase by laddy in the playtext, for the wordplay. My departure from Q2 spelling is an editorial judgment call, to indicate the special meaning.; A chopine was a shoe with a very thick sole, worn onstage to increase an actor's height and make him look more impressive to the audience, and also worn to bring the actor's height up to the other actors, if he was shorter, so he didn't look out of place. We learn it's been some time since Hamlet last saw the actors, since the lead actor has grown a beard, and the boy has grown by a noticeable amount.; Chopines were also worn by women as a fashion item, so Hamlet's mention of them is a statement on the Fashion motif of the play, as well.; Uncurrent gold means counterfeit, in the sense of not acceptable as currency. The boy is a kind of "counterfeit," since he's a male playing female roles.; With cracked within the ring, Hamlet is expressing concern about the change in the male voice that occurs at puberty. Hamlet is hoping the boy's voice still sounds authentic for a woman's role, that his voice still rings true, and doesn't sound like a cracked bell. This connects back to Hamlet's conversation with R & G about the children performers, and his question of what would become of them as they got older.; Coins of the time were unacceptable as currency if they were so aged and worn they had developed significant cracks at the edge. The circle around the center design on the coin was called the "ring." If a coin had a crack that extended from the edge to within the "ring," it was not acceptable, even if the coin was genuine in its origin. So, as Hamlet speaks the phrase, he refers both to a cracked sound, of something not ringing true, and to physical change associated with aging, like an unacceptable coin.; Nearer to heaven is a quick allusion to the Death theme of the play, not emphasized here. Nearer to Heaven, is nearer to death. It means "taller," in the plain reading.; A friendly falconer is one who releases his hawk indiscriminately, or unselectively, to fly at any game bird, or at any bird the falconer sees. It's "friendly" behavior in the sense of being promiscuous and indiscriminate. Hamlet uses friendly as wordplay on the Players being friends of his. (The word "French" that appears in the Folio does not provide the allusion to the actors being friends of Hamlet, and is an error, perhaps originating in the French having a reputation as devoted falconers. If "French" were indeed the word, it would have to be read as synonymous with "promiscuous.") As already observed, the "falcon" idea connects back to the hawk in Hamlet's hawk - handsaw line.; Falcon comes from a word for "sickle," and the sickle is associated with the figure of Death, personified. Thus, friendly falconer alludes faintly to the promiscuous sickle of Death, which eventually swings to cut down everything mortal. Death is the "friendly" sickler. It's another little death allusion, between the lines, on the Death theme. The author was quite interested in both hawking and words, and he certainly knew where the word "falcon" came from.; Hamlet's enthusiasm for the Players leads him to insist they do something at once. Passionate means "emotional." Hamlet is eager to see a good display of human emotion, even if it's only acted, after the coldness and insensitivity he's been experiencing at Elsinore.
hw 1478, to hw 1488: Player: What speech, my good Lord?
Hamlet: I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was never acted,
or if it was, not above once, for the play, I remember, pleased not
the million; it was caviary to the general, but it was, as I received
it & others, whose judgements in such matters cried in the top
of mine, an excellent play, well digested in the scenes, set down
with as much modesty as cunning; I remember one said there
were no salads in the lines, to make the matter savory, nor no
matter in the phrase that might indict the author of affection,
but called it an honest method, as wholesome as sweet, & by very
much, more handsome than fine;; Hamlet says he was treated to a special performance by the Players, of a play that was not acted for the public, or not more than once. This would be in keeping with him being a personal friend of the Players. By never acted he means on the public stage, in regular performance.; The play was not the kind that pleases the public. The play suited a refined taste, analogous to caviar. Caviary is an adjective meaning "like caviar;" it is not a noun. Hamlet, then, is a dedicated play-goer, or was when he had the chance, and he has developed an educated view of what he likes. He has become a connoisseur of theater. The simpler entertainments that please most people, in a casual way, don't please him, is what he means.; Set down means set down in writing. Further, it means "served up," as when food is set down on a table for a meal, and thereby served up for the diners. Hamlet is comparing the play performance to a meal. The play that the playwright set down in writing, and the actors served up, was like a fine meal set down by the chef, and served up by good waiters. Hamlet will use the "meal" metaphor for a play again, later. This is a significant instance on the Feast motif.; By modesty Hamlet means decorum and "class." The presentation was allowed to "speak for itself" as the Players performed it, with a natural display of emotion that suited the writing. Cunning means skill and intelligence.; Received means "heard and appreciated," as a member of the audience. Cried in the top means "harmonized," sang in the upper voice range. The idea is as though Hamlet sang baritone, and the others sang tenor in harmony with him, in praise of the play. The others who were there agreed with him, and they all "sang the same tune," that the play was good. The audience was a select group of aficionados, apparently.; The word salads means that one person thought the play was too "meaty," with not enough "salad" to lighten the meal. But even the person who criticized it in that way called it excellent, overall. Affection means pretense; the phrasing was sincere, not pretentious. In other words, it was not bombastic.; More handsome than fine means it had natural quality or beauty, rather than being flashy or showy in an artificial way.; Upon the word affection, Hamlet introduces an undertone about Ophelia. In this undertone, he says Ophelia is honest, wholesome, sweet, and "handsome" rather than "fine," that is, with a natural beauty rather than a made-up showiness. This anticipates Hamlet's encounter with Ophelia in the Nunnery Scene, where he'll ask her if she's "honest" and mention women using makeup. It's revealing of Hamlet's feelings for Ophelia that he alludes to her attractions even when she has nothing to do with the subject at hand. When Hamlet thinks of affection he thinks of Ophelia.
hw 1489, to 1492: one speech in it I chiefly loved,
'twas Aeneas' talk to Dido, & there about of it especially, when he
speaks of Priam's slaughter; if it live in your memory, begin at
this line, let me see, let me see;; Hamlet must have liked the play, indeed, since he memorized part of it. His preference for this speech means that it has meaning for him in his current situation. Or in other words, the author is telling us to look for meaning in the speech in relation to the play. The speech describes the fall of Troy, specifically, the killing of King Priam of Troy by Pyrrhus of the Greeks. In legend, the fall of Troy led to various travels and adventures, and eventually to the founding of Rome. Aeneas was a survivor from Troy who stopped at Carthage on his travels, before he reached Italy, and he told the story to Dido, the Queen of Carthage.; Priam was the old King of Troy. Hamlet wants to hear about the killing of an old king.
hw 1493, to 1506: The rugged Pyrrhus, like th'Hyrcanian beast . . .
'Tis not so . . . it begins with Pyrrhus:
The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,
Black as his purpose, did the night resemble,
When he lay couched in th'ominous horse,
Hath now this dread and black complexion smeared,
With heraldy more dismal, head to foot;
Now is he total gules horridly tricked
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
Baked and empasted with the parching streets
That lend a tyrannous and a damned light
To their lord's murder, roasted in wrath and fire;
And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore,
With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus,
Old grandsire Priam seeks;
So, proceed you.; Pyrrhus killed Priam, in the legend of the fall of Troy. Pyrrhus was after vengeance in that his father was killed by Priam's son. (There is also an historical Greek king named Pyrrhus, but that's a different person.) The Hyrcanian beast is the Caspian tiger, now extinct.; In trying to remember the speech, and thinking about how vicious Pyrrhus was, Hamlet thinks of the tiger, at first, but it wasn't right for the speech. Sable arms means sable armor, that is, a black suit of armor. The ominous horse is the Trojan Horse. The Trojans thought the Horse was a good omen, and took it into their city, but it was a trick; a bad omen, not a good one, for them.; Heraldy is a variant of "heraldry," the traditional study of coats of arms. In heraldry, sable is black, and gules is red. Tricked is a technical term in heraldry; it refers to an illustration, as opposed to a written description. (A heraldic description in words is called a blazon, a word which the Ghost used when it talked to Hamlet.); The blood is baked on, to Pyrrhus's armor, and stuck on with the hot dust of the streets. Parching streets also means burning streets, that is, it refers to the burning buildings along the streets; and the streets, themselves, have been intensely heated by the fires. Pyrrhus is pictured against a background of burning streets of buildings, and covered with baked-on blood. O'er-sized has a dual meaning; it means both covered over, or glazed (with blood,) and also that Pyrrhus looks larger than life, larger than he really is, because of being armored and bloody. Tyrannous refers to victory by murder, which is something a tyrant would do. The firelight illuminates Pyrrhus as a damned tyrant in a hellish nighttime scene. Carbuncles are coals; Pyrrhus's eyes glowed red, like hot coals in a fire, as the firelight reflected from his eyes. Further, a carbuncle is a red gem; Pyrrhus's eyes glittered red.; The Greek name Pyrrhus means "the color of fire," or "red-blond." "Red-blond" can also be taken as red & gold; blond is frequently called "gold" in poetry, and often in prose, as well. This is another allusion to red & gold, through Pyrrhus's name, in addition to the "colors" of the characters R & G, already discussed.; Pyrrhus, as described, was wearing sable armor, sable being the color black, in heraldry. Night, in the fourth line above, is a play on words with "knight." Pyrrhus "did the black night/knight resemble," in that although he was ancient Greek, he resembled a Medieval black knight by wearing black armor. He was like a black knight.; Hamlet is exaggeratedly likened to Pyrrhus, in seeking to kill a king: King Claudius, in Hamlet's case. The idea of Pyrrhus's black armor being covered in blood, relates to Hamlet getting blood on his black mourning clothes when he kills Claudius, as he hopes to do. Hamlet is not the kind of violent, merciless character Pyrrhus was, however, so the analogy is a caricature.; The "black knight" idea transfers to Hamlet, by the analogy. Hamlet is a "black knight" in his black mourning clothes.; Priam is likened to Claudius, and the speech calls Priam, old grandfather. By analogy, Claudius would be a grandfather, and his "son" is Hamlet. Going further with the notion, Hamlet's child would be by Ophelia, so if Claudius is old grandfather, it would imply Ophelia is pregnant by Hamlet. However, this is not a fact in the play. Ophelia is a virgin, not pregnant. By using the phrase old grandfather the author is teasing the reader who gets carried away with his allusions, as he knew some people did, and would. As mentioned earlier, the author was a bit of a scamp, and he knew that people sometimes take ideas too far, so he played with that a little, here and there. In the speech, in its plain meaning, the phrase old grandfather is used to produce sympathy for Priam, which is also pertinent to Claudius. Hamlet does hate Claudius, but pities him, also.; Another old grandfather, of such a future child, would be Polonius, the father of Ophelia, who is standing there listening to the recital. Thus, old grandfather is a teasing allusion to Polonius. There is a wicked irony that Polonius, a weak old man, more resembles the Priam described by Hamlet than Claudius does, and Hamlet will kill Polonius with a sword. Hamlet, while reciting and thinking about killing Claudius, is making a reference more pertinent to Polonius. Hamlet does what Polonius more typically does, an accidental allusion. Hamlet indeed pictures Polonius as old grandfather, in the future, if he can kill Claudius and get away with it, and then marry Ophelia.; Fortinbrasse also wants vengeance for the death of his father, and wants the land back, so if Elsinore is Troy, and the diplomatic agreement is a Trojan Horse, there's more trouble on the way than they know.; The speech can be read in allusion to the Ghost, that Hamlet and the sentinels saw during the nighttime, in armor. The Ghost spoke of fire, and of vengeance against the king. Thus, the Ghost becomes a possible analogy to Pyrrhus. In this notion, Hamlet would be expressing that the Ghost was a trick, a false appearance, a kind of Trojan Horse, and was actually an evil, vicious creature, which seeks the blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, in motivating Hamlet to try to kill Claudius. Is the Ghost the genuine spirit of his father, or a vicious beast out for blood? Hamlet doesn't know for sure.
hw 1507, to hw 1508: Polonius: 'Foregod, my Lord, well spoken, with good accent and
good discretion!; Polonius has misspoken, he means "expression." Since the speech alludes to Hamlet wanting to kill Claudius, the use of discretion gives an amusing undertone of Polonius congratulating Hamlet for his "discretion" in wanting to hunt down Claudius and slaughter him. That is not really what Polonius intended to say.
hw 1509, to hw 1515: Player: Anon he finds him,
Striking too short at Greeks, his antique sword,
Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
Repugnant to command; unequal matched,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide,
But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword,
Th'unnerved father falls:; Pyrrhus missed with his first swing. The idea has relevance to Hamlet. If Hamlet misses in his attempt against Claudius, he might not get a second chance. It worries Hamlet.; Anon means "soon." Striking too short means missing, not swinging wide enough and hard enough.; Antique means old, out of date, and refers more to Priam than to the sword, itself; the days when Priam could swing a sword well are long past. The exact spelling of antique in Q2 - "anticke" - gives wordplay with "antic," meaning "foolish." As poor old Priam tries to fight, he only looks foolish. Again by analogy to Claudius, Hamlet is expressing some pity for Claudius. And again, the person Hamlet will kill, later, is Polonius.; Unequal is short for "unequally;" the word was shortened for poetic rhythm. Unnerved means weakened, enervated, and also means "frightened." Priam has no "nerve" to stand, he's too weakened by age and fear. Priam drops to his knees.
hw 1516, to hw 1532: then senseless Ilium,
Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top,
Stoops to his base; and with a hideous crash
Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear, for lo, his sword,
Which was declining on the milky head
Of reverent Priam, seem'd i'th air to stick;
So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood,
Like a neutral to his will and matter,
Did nothing;
But, as we often see against some storm,
A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,
The bold winds speechless, and the orb below
As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
Doth rend the region; so after Pyrrhus' pause,
A roused vengeance sets him new a' work,
And never did the cyclops' hammers fall
On Mars's armor, forged for proof etern,
With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword
Now falls on Priam.
---; The phrase then senseless Ilium was accidentally omitted in the printing of Q2, but is authorial, and is found in the Folio where it was correctly added. It means the tower of Ilium, which was the citadel of Troy. Ilium is the Latin name for Troy. An illustration of the top of a tower falling is found on the Tower card of some historical tarot decks that date from Elizabethan times, and earlier. The Tower card shows a flaming tower with its top broken loose and falling, which corresponds to what's described. This is additional evidence that the author knew the game of tarot, had some cards at hand as he was writing, and made occasional use of the pictures in his writing. Tarot was invented as a card game similar to bridge, and was popular. (The use of tarot cards in fortune telling is a more recent historical development, and is not applicable to Hamlet.); Senseless Ilium means the tower had no senses, no eyes or ears to perceive what was happening, but coincidentally it seemed to respond. Senseless also carries the undertone of the events as senseless, that is, purposeless and without good reason. By analogy, it casts Elsinore as a senseless place, a place where good sense is not found.; In the later Closet Scene, Hamlet will speak to Gertrude of the connection between sense and motion, an idea that comes from Aristotle. The mention of the senseless tower falling, moving, is in a sense Shakespeare's answer to Aristotle.; Stoops means falls or descends. Takes prisoner means captures, arrests, with the idea of Pyrrhus being arrested, or stopped. Milky means white; Priam had white hair.; Reverent means a person who ought to be revered. Hamlet thinks kings ought to be revered, as his father was, but for Claudius he makes an exception (but even in exception, it still bothers him, the idea of killing a king.) Reverent carries the undertone that Priam fell to his knees, and appeared to be praying. This alludes to the later Prayer Scene, where Hamlet will find Claudius at prayer, on his knees. When Hamlet finds Claudius at prayer, later, he'll be stopped, and will stand and do nothing, as the recital states.; R's earlier phrase, inhibition comes by ... the late innovation, anticipates Hamlet finding Claudius at prayer, and being inhibited by Claudius's "innovation" of trying to pray. Claudius has no habit of praying. I mention R's phrase here, instead of earlier, for this allusion, because I think it can be better understood in association with this recital reference.; Rack means the storm clouds. It carries allusion to the torture device, also, the idea that left Hamlet speechless after his bad dream, and caused his delay in trying to kill Claudius. Notice that speechless quickly follows the word rack. Hamlet was speechless when he rushed to Ophelia's room. "Rack" is just before "speechless," in this recital.; The dreadful thunder that rends the region alludes to Hamlet "thundering dreadfully" at Gertrude, later, in the Closet Scene, where he'll lecture her in a very heated, emotional way and at great length. The word region goes back to a root meaning of "rule" and thereby refers to a ruler, such as a Queen. That would be Gertrude, in the Closet Scene. Hamlet will "rend" Gertrude by making her very upset, emotionally. Then, in the Closet Scene, Hamlet will see the Ghost again, and will have a roused vengeance, after he passes up the chance to kill Claudius at prayer, in the later Prayer Scene. For plain reading, region means the air.; The exact sequence of events in the recital, as Pyrrhus attacks Priam, is significant to the play, overall. First, Pyrrhus misses. Then, Pyrrhus stands still as Priam is "reverent." Then, finally Pyrrhus strikes Priam with the sword. In the sequence of Hamlet's attack on Claudius, we will first see the Mousetrap Play, which will "miss." Then, Hamlet will stand and do nothing as Claudius prays, in the Prayer Scene. Finally, at the fencing match, Hamlet will stab Claudius. The recital contains a sketch of future events as Hamlet tries to get Claudius.; A very important point, is that the Mousetrap Play must be counted a "miss." Hamlet's strike will go wide, and it will be only whiff and wind, as the recital states. This must be kept in mind to interpret the Mousetrap properly. Hamlet will plan the Mousetrap to catch Claudius's conscience, but it will be a "miss."; Additionally, region means "realm;" the realm of Priam is rent as he is slain. Hamlet is worried about the effect on the nation of Denmark, his realm, if he kills Claudius. What will happen to Denmark if two kings are killed in such a short time? Will the nation remain stable? And if Fortinbrasse kills Claudius, and takes back Elsinore, that will rend the region of Denmark.; In legend, the cyclops were workers who made things for the gods, such as the armor for Mars. Hamlet will liken his father to Mars, in the Closet Scene, and his father's armor serves as a reminder that his father was a great warrior. The thought inspires Hamlet, here, in his intent against Claudius.; But was the armor worn by the Ghost forged for proof, that is, was it a forged proof, and not the real thing?
hw 1533, to hw 1537: Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods,
In general synod take away Her power!
Break all the spokes, and fellies from Her wheel,
And bowl the round nave down the hill of Heaven
As low as to the fiends!; The goddess Fortune is again called a strumpet, as Hamlet did, earlier. The speech calls upon the other gods to take away Fortune's power, and break up the Wheel of Fortune. Spokes, fellies, and nave are parts of a wheel. The nave is the hub, and the fellies are the curved pieces that make up the rim.; In Q2, fellies is spelled "follies," which is intentional to suggest the idea that it's folly by the gods to make men subject to Fortune, or that the Wheel shouldn't be spun to come up "folly" for men, by luck. Fellies/follies is another instance of the author taking advantage of non-standardized Elizabethan spelling. To bowl is to roll.; The Wheel of Fortune is a classic depiction of the vagaries of luck, as luck affects people, and is a standard card in historical tarot.; The "round knave" in the play is fat Claudius, whom Hamlet wants to bowl down the hill of Heaven, all the way down to the fiends of Hell. The "round knave" he will get in the Closet Scene, will be, by misfortune, as the Wheel of Fortune turns, the wrong man.
hw 1538, to hw 1541: Pol:This is too long.
Hamlet: It shall to the barber's with your beard; prithee say on, he's
for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps; say on, come to Hecuba.; Polonius's attention span has been exceeded. This explains why Hamlet referred him to the popular song, instead of the Bible passage, to learn about Jephthah.; Bawdry means a lewd story. Jig refers to a comic musical composition, perhaps with dancing to the music (which Polonius would watch, not do.); Children have no beards, and as the saying goes, "children should be seen and not heard." Hamlet's beard remark to Polonius is Hamlet telling Polonius he should be seen and not heard, like a child who has no beard. Hamlet is allusively telling Polonius to shut up. It connects to Hamlet talking with R & G about Polonius being in his second childhood.; Hamlet wants to hear about the Queen in the story. The Queen at Elsinore is his mother.
hw 1542, to hw 1544: Player: But who, ah woe, had seen the mobled Queen . . .
Hamlet: The mob-led Queen.
Pol: That's good.; Mobled means led by the mob, and is probably best hyphenated in modern printings, at least when Hamlet says it. Instead of leading the people, as she would in normal times, Queen Hecuba was caught up in the panic of the populace. She was being pushed around by the crowd, the mob was "leading" her.; The word is important in the play to understand why Hamlet does not do as Laertes will do, later: recruit a mob from the general population to overthrow Claudius. The Queen is his mother, and Hamlet worries about what could happen to her if she gets caught up in mob violence. She could be injured, or even killed. He refuses to accept that possibility, and it restrains him from telling the public about Claudius and recruiting a mob to take action.; (The author had Hamlet repeat mob-led, and Polonius commend it, to draw attention to the word. As stated, it's important for making a distinction between Hamlet and Laertes, as to how they can respectively take action against Claudius. Gertrude is Hamlet's mother, but she is not Laertes's mother, thus, Laertes has no thought of her when he raises his mob. It's different for Hamlet. In the historical commentary on Hamlet, the word mob-led has been misunderstood, unfortunately, despite the author's effort to draw attention to it, but now we know what it means, and how it adds meaning for the play.); Polonius does not really understand why Hamlet repeated the word, but he perceives he offended Hamlet by interrupting earlier, so Polonius agrees now, to appease Hamlet. Polonius has hopes for Hamlet as his son-in-law, and doesn't want to offend him. But it would hardly be "good" if Gertrude were trampled in a riotous mob.
hw 1545, to hw 1552: Player: . . . Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames
With bisson rheum, a clout upon that head
Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,
A blanket in the alarm of fear caught up;
Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steeped,
'Gainst Fortune's state, would treason have pronounced;; Bisson rheum means blinding tears. Hecuba was crying so much that, in poetic exaggeration, she could almost extinguish the fires with her tears. Hecuba is representative of Gertrude. Allegorically, for Hamlet, the flames are the flames, or fires, of vengeance. The idea of his mother crying almost extinguishes his desire for vengeance. A clout is a nightcap. The Greeks inside the Trojan Horse emerged and opened the gates of Troy for their army at night.; (The word bisson is treated oddly in Q2. It's spelled "Bison," with a capital B, and is italicized as though it were a name. The word "bison" is from Latin, with a root meaning of "wild ox."); This part of the recital has allusion to the thought of Hamlet killing Claudius at night, in his bed while he's sleeping. Hamlet has thought of that possibility, but thinks Gertrude would be there. If he stabs Claudius in bed, he fears she would awake and jump from the bed, wearing her nightcap, grab a blanket to cover herself, cry, and scream. The possibility dismays and daunts Hamlet. He has a lower opinion of his mother since she married Claudius, and since the Ghost talked to him, but he still couldn't terrorize her like that, and he couldn't face her tears and screams. This anticipates Hamlet's emotional lecture to Gertrude in the Closet Scene, where he will insist she must stay out of Claudius's bed.; O'er-teemed means "overpopulated." In legend, Hecuba had some 19 sons, and also unnumbered daughters. The associated thought for Hamlet is that Gertrude's loins were overpopulated in having only him: "oh, cursed spite, That ever I was born..."; Hecuba is associated with Fortune, and the Wheel of Fortune, in the Carmina Burana, part of which reads, in translation:
The wheel of Fortune turns; I descend and am abased; Another to the heights is lifted; he is too much exalted! The king sits at the peak; let him fear ruin! For under the axle we read: "Hecuba is Queen.": Hecuba was one of the best known "bad luck" figures of antiquity.; The Wheel of Fortune is a standard card in tarot, as already mentioned, and appears in historical decks. The Visconti-Sforza Wheel card is particularly interesting in relation to Hamlet.; The mention of treason refers to the legal fact that if Hamlet kills Claudius it will be treason, a crime against the state, because Claudius is King. This also discourages Hamlet. Fortune has put him in a state, or situation, where he has to commit treason to achieve revenge.; Hamlet fears his own mother, seeing him kill Claudius, would accuse him of treason, and speak against him - a dreadful prospect.; Also, treason refers to the murder of his father by Claudius. Venom has reference to the poison, and the false story of snakebite. Anybody who saw the situation that Fortune had made, at Elsinore, would speak with venomous words against Claudius, but Hamlet is the only one who knows.
hw 1553, to hw 1559: But if the gods, themselves, did see her then,
When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,
The instant burst of clamor that she made,
Unless things mortal move them not at all,
Would have made milk the burning eyes of heaven
And passion in the gods.; The verse says that Hecuba's woe would have brought sympathy from the gods, unless human events can't move them. Passion means agony, and is a Biblical reference to the passion (suffering) of Christ. The burning eyes of heaven are the stars, and the word milk is used for the tears of the stars crying, because of the Milky Way. The depiction is that the Milky Way is the tears of the stars, weeping in sympathy for Hecuba.; The allusion for Hamlet, is the grief he fears it would cause his mother if he kills Claudius. He does not understand their relationship. He mistakenly believes Gertrude loves Claudius. He imagines the grief he would suffer if Ophelia, whom he dearly loves, were killed, and he thinks of the real grief he feels for his father. He sympathizes with the grief he thinks Gertrude would feel at being twice a widow, because of him. He doesn't know it isn't quite that way, with Gertrude.; In the history of commentary on Hamlet, there has been occasional question of whether the author wrote the player's recital about Troy, or may have borrowed it. The many significant allusions prove he wrote it, especially for Hamlet. Nothing else could credibly have provided such allusions, in such number; nobody else could have done it. The change of style, from the play in general to the recital, speaks to the author's skill, which was nonpareil.
hw 1560, to hw 1561: Pol: Look whe'r he has not turned his color, and has tears in his
eyes; prithee, no more.; Whe'r is "whether." Polonius is asking Hamlet to observe whether what he describes is correct. Polonius has become alarmed that the Player is in real pain, and asks Hamlet to let the actor stop. The Player must be very good.
hw 1562, to hw 1567: Hamlet (to the Player):
'Tis well; I'll have thee speak out the rest of this soon;
(to Polonius):
Good my Lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you
hear? Let them be well used, for they are the abstract and brief
chronicles of the time; after your death you were better have a
bad epitaph, than their ill report while you live.; Hamlet has heard what he most wanted to hear, about the killing of the king, so he agrees to leave the rest for later.; Hamlet knows that Polonius is not usually sensitive to how anybody else feels, and he takes special note of how Polonius responded to the Player. Hamlet is surprised by Polonius's reaction, and it gives Hamlet a thought. His comment 'Tis well means both "that's good enough for now," as he speaks to the Player, and is also an observation that it's good Polonius responded. He calls Polonius Good my Lord, a term of respect.; Bestowed means "lodged," or "housed." We'll see bestowed more, later, with a meaning of "house," and implying a person being "at home." Hamlet wants Polonius to find good quarters in the castle for the Players. Used means "treated." Hamlet is telling Polonius to treat the Players well, in his own self interest.; Hamlet's instructions to Polonius have great irony, in anticipation of how Hamlet will later treat Polonius, in the Closet Scene, and subsequently "bestow" him, which will strongly work against Hamlet's own interest.; If the Players are abused or offended by Polonius, they could satirize Polonius in a play and make him look ridiculous, with the public laughing at his character. The Players, and their playwright, could make Polonius look like a silly old man, who babbles like a fool, and makes idiotic mistakes, and mistreats his own daughter, and who maybe even smells bad. A play that makes Polonius look that way might be around a long time, perhaps even centuries, long after the man, himself, no matter how high ranking he was, has faded into obscurity. Hamlet means Polonius would not rest well knowing that could happen. After his death he would rest in peace, under a bad epitaph, better than he would rest in life knowing his character is being ridiculed on the public stage, and always will be.; In the phrase you were better have, the word "to" would normally be used before "have." As poetry, the line flows better without it. This is another example of the free use of prepositions, even including their omission, to achieve a better sound, for poetic effect. If the author didn't like the sound of a certain preposition he'd change it, or sometimes just drop it.; Bad epitaph anticipates Polonius's "huggermugger" funeral services, which will lack a proper tribute. He will, indeed, get a bad epitaph, essentially none at all.
hw 1568, to hw 1569: Pol: My Lord, I will use them according to their desert.; Polonius is trying to reassure Hamlet that he'll treat the Players as they deserve to be treated.; Since this is after the Player's performance, and an acting performance has been likened to a meal, there is a pun of desert with "dessert" at the end of a meal.
hw 1570, to hw 1574: Hamlet: God's bodkin, man! Much better! Use every man after his desert,
and who shall 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honor
and dignity; the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty.
Take them in.; Hamlet does not trust Polonius's judgment of what people deserve. He tells Polonius to treat the Players better than he thinks they deserve. He says that if everybody got exactly what he deserved, everybody would be whipped. The undertone is that what Hamlet really thinks, is that Polonius should be whipped. He tells Polonius to treat the Players in line with what he's supposed to be, a man of honor and dignity; the way he treats the Players reflects on him. A low, hateful person abuses others; a kind person does not. The better Polonius treats the Players, the better he'll look in the eyes of others.; Merit means "quality," and bounty means "goodness." Polonius's goodness will be of higher quality if he treats others well. Hamlet's outburst follows from his knowledge of how Polonius treats Ophelia, which is not nearly as well as he should, and it reflects poorly on Polonius.; There is continuing, ironic allusion to how Hamlet will later treat Polonius.; Notice that, in his outburst at Polonius, Hamlet expressed himself in a way that contrasts less and more, like an epigram. He also did it with death and live in the earlier speech. Hamlet, in talking to Polonius, speaks in a "saying" form to try to be understood by Polonius. Gertrude did the same, earlier. It's another indication that Polonius is, in a way, contagious.; It's questionable how well Polonius is able to follow what Hamlet said, but he'll get the point that he had better treat the Players well, or he'll incur Hamlet's wrath.
hw 1575, to hw 1586: Pol: Come, sirs.
Hamlet: Follow him friends, we'll hear a play tomorrow . . .
dost thou hear me old friend, can you play "The murder of Gonzago?"
Player: Aye, my Lord.
Hamlet: We'll 'hate' tomorrow night; you could, for need, study
a speech of some dozen lines, or sixteen lines, which I would set
down and insert in it, could you not?
Player: Aye, my Lord.
Hamlet: Very well, follow that Lord, and, look you! - mock him not!
My good friends, I'll leave you till night; You are welcome to Elsinore.
(Polonius and the players exit); Dost is an archaic form of "do" that was used with "thou."; When Hamlet detains his Player friend, Polonius and the others stop at a distance, and wait for the Player to rejoin them. Polonius is close enough to hear Hamlet say old friend.; Hamlet observed that Polonius responded to the Player's recital, and the idea has occurred to him that Claudius might also respond to acting. It leads Hamlet to request a particular play, to which he might add a few lines. He doesn't have the idea in final form yet, but has decided to try something since Claudius will be at the performance.; Dost thou hear me is not a question about the Player's ability to hear, it means "I'd like to talk to you." Also, this Player is not old; it's the lad who plays the female roles. That's confirmed later. Hamlet is checking with the lad, to be sure he feels up to the task of learning lines on such short notice. Hamlet would take it for granted with one of the truly older, veteran actors. Hamlet says old to tease the lad a little, and also to tease Polonius. Polonius will think Hamlet has confused the lad with the older player, and that Hamlet, in his "madness," can't tell a young person from an old one. Recall that Polonius spoke to R & G, who are young men, after Hamlet said "old fools" earlier.; Hate is an abbreviation of "have it," done without an apostrophe, on the pattern of "ore." The use of that form of abbreviation provides wordplay. The word also does mean "hate," in undertone. Hamlet and Claudius will "hate" each other at the Mousetrap Play, tomorrow night, and the Players will "hate" it that their performance will be interrupted. For plain reading, the word should rightly be ha't in modern spelling in the playscript, but I leave it "hate" because of the significant wordplay that the original spelling provides. I use single quotes to indicate it has a special meaning.; When Hamlet - very sternly! - tells his young actor friend not to mock Polonius, he is joking. Hamlet makes a fake frown, and then quickly winks, with a little smile. Hamlet is giving the lad a heads-up about Polonius. Knowing Polonius, and how snoopy he is, Hamlet expects Polonius to ask the lad what Hamlet said to him. Hamlet is giving the lad the okay to divert Polonius when he asks.; Further, to mock is to imitate, as in acting. This makes Hamlet's caution to the lad a facetious instruction that the lad must not imitate Polonius when he acts in the play. The lad will play the queen character at the Mousetrap Play, so of course he shouldn't act like Polonius in doing that.; Hamlet's warning to the lad can also be read simply as Hamlet saying: don't grow up to be like Polonius. So, Hamlet's little three-word line has three discernible meanings, simultaneously, which is another sign of Shakespeare's genius with words.
hw 1587+: Rosencrantz: Good my Lord.
(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit); R has to speak to get Hamlet's attention as R & G leave. Hamlet got so involved talking to the Players, he forgot R & G were there.
hw 1588, to hw 1598: Hamlet: Aye, so goodbye to you; now I am alone;
Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I;
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all the visage waned -
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
A broken voice - and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit; and all for nothing,
For Hecuba.; Monstrous means "unnatural." It seems unnatural that the Player who did the recital can show such passion in a fiction, but Hamlet can't find enough passion in his real situation to take action. In his show of emotion, the Player seemed more human than Hamlet, who can't feel enough passion to motivate his revenge.; Conceit refers to one's concept of oneself. The Player envisioned himself as Aeneas, and acted as though he were. Her refers to the Player's soul; his soul is cast as female. The reason is that displays of emotion are stereotypically female behavior. Men are supposed to be the strong silent types. (Shakespeare actually knew better than that, but used the male and female stereotypes poetically and symbolically, and also sometimes with considerable irony.) The Elizabethans saw the soul as the source of expressive emotion. Thus, the Player's soul, the source of his expressive emotion, gets the female pronoun.; Also, conceit has a root meaning of "take." This links back to the first Scene, when Marcellus spoke of Christmastime, when "no fairy takes." It was reference to a fairy casting a spell. A good actor's "take" in playing his role "casts a spell" on the audience, so to speak. The "take" meaning for conceit will appear again, later, in the Closet Scene, with special significance in relation to casting spells.; Suiting means "dressing," or "costuming," in the figurative sense. In his function as an actor, the Player "dressed himself" with the postures, facial expressions, and tones of voice to suit his role.; The Player didn't personally have the experiences that he portrayed. He was motivated by an idea that had no personal relevance to him. Yet he showed all the emotions of having been there, when Troy fell, as if he had personally seen Priam slain, and had heard Hecuba's lamentations. Yet, to him personally, Hecuba is nothing. She isn't his mother.
hw 1599, to hw 1606: What's Hecuba to him, or he to her,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty, and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears;; But Gertrude is Hamlet's mother. Hamlet is trying to persuade himself that he should be indifferent to how Gertrude feels, or what would happen to her, in his quest for revenge against Claudius. But he isn't able to be indifferent about Gertrude; it simply isn't possible. He still loves and respects her.; Motive and cue are acting terms. The motive is the reason, and the cue is the signal for action. For Hamlet, his motive is his love for his father, and his respect for the memory of his father, and his cue was when the Ghost told him about Claudius. (I accept the Folio wording, the motive and the cue, as authorial; it's in the author's style, and with good sense and pertinent allusion. The difference in Q2 is credibly a misprint.); Hamlet asks what the Player would do in his situation. He imagines the Player orating in even more impressive fashion, even more convincing, if he had a strong personal motive in addition to his acting ability. The general ear is the public ear; Hamlet is envisioning the Player making a speech to the public. The guilty is Claudius; the free are the electors who chose Claudius King, innocent victims of Claudius's deception. Hamlet is saying that if he were a really good actor, and could make an emotional speech to the people of Denmark about Claudius, he could astonish them all, make Claudius mad, and appall anybody who had innocently supported Claudius. Hamlet is stopped from trying that because Gertrude is his mother (and he doesn't know if she's innocent in her support for Claudius.) Mob action against the King could harm the Queen, in addition to being dreadful for her. It connects back to when Hamlet took notice of mob-led. Or, even without mob action, the overthrow of Claudius would take the crown from Gertrude's head also, which is something Hamlet doesn't want to do. He thinks it would devastate Gertrude to lose her crown (but, depending on how that happened, it might not.); In undertone, the motive and cue lines take on different meaning. In the Player's performance, he was acting out a known story, from known literature, and doing it for a known reason, to provide dramatic entertainment. Thus, he could be taken seriously in his role, and take it seriously, himself. But what if the Player did, indeed, have Hamlet's own motive and cue? How would the Player present it, the story of a Prince who claimed to act on honor alone, when the result of his act of killing the King would be that he would obtain the crown, and then with a claim that a ghost told him to do it? The actor would see no way to play it except as farce, and the tears drowning the stage would be tears of laughter. It could not be taken seriously. A prince kills a king for no ambitious motive, but only for honor, and does so because of a ghost? People would laugh at him, for thinking them so naive. The result would be horrid for him. The guilty would be mad, angry, at being slandered, or would easily and convincingly pretend to be. The free would be appalled at such transparent nonsense - does he take them for fools? The ignorant wouldn't know what to say. The very faculties of eyes and ears would be amazed that anybody would be so silly as to make such claims, and expect them to be believed.; So, Hamlet is stymied, when it comes to presenting his case to the people, in a passionate speech. They would never believe his motive was purely honor, with him in line to be King. As for the Ghost, they would laugh. And even if he could somehow, in some way, manage to make it convincing, there's still his mother's position and safety to take into account, in addition to her affection for Claudius, which Hamlet thinks exists.
hw 1607, to hw 1622: Yet I, a dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain, breaks my pate across,
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face,
Tweaks me by the nose, gives me the lie i'th throat
As deep as to the lungs, who does me this?
Hah, zounds, I should take it! For it cannot be
But I am pigeon livered, and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal; bloody, bawdy villain,
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!; Dull means stupid and sluggish. Muddy-mettled means having a confused temperament or character. Hamlet is calling himself stupid, sluggish, and confused. Mettle also refers to "metal;" the two were originally the same word. The word mettle arose as a figurative use of "metal." A "muddy metal" would be tarnished or contaminated, not pure. Hamlet is asking whether he's the "pure metal" of his father's son. His father was a great warrior, not reluctant to swing his sword in a good cause, but then, his father was already the King, and battled against the nation's known enemies.; John-a-dreams characterizes a person who fantasizes, without taking action. To peak is to languish, with a pun on "peek." The pun is supported by Claudius's later statement that treason only peeps at what it would do. Unpregnant means "unproductive." Property means "kingdom," in the case of a king. Defeat has reference to Hamlet Sr's military victories; Norway, Poland, and England couldn't defeat his father, but the despicable Claudius did, and did so in a Biblically damned way, and it rankles.; Regarding lie i'th throat, when a person told a lie, the deeper it came from, the more serious it was considered to be. The "depth" of a lie was a measure of its seriousness. A lie from the throat was more serious than a lie that might only be a slip of the tongue. A lie from the lungs is as deep as it gets; it would cause real trouble. To "give the lie" was to call somebody a liar. The person lied about would "give the lie" back to the one who said it, forcibly, if it was serious.; Hamlet is trying to motivate himself in a personal way. He imagines somebody, Claudius that is, calling him a coward, pulling his beard, calling him a liar, and so on. If that happened, he would take violent action in response. But nobody is really doing that, and he can't get himself worked into a passion, as the Player did, from only the idea of it. He can't raise a violent, urgent anger against Claudius by imagining direct, insulting actions Claudius might be doing to him, but isn't.; With zounds, I should take it! Hamlet is condemning himself, exclaiming that even if somebody did call him a liar, and so on, he would probably tolerate it. Should means "would." He blames himself for lacking gall, meaning "nerve" or "boldness." He can't manage to motivate himself with mere words and abstract ideas, however offensive in theory.; Pigeons were thought to be meek because they lacked gall, the bodily fluid. This relates to the four humors theory of temperament.; Region means "realm," the kingdom of Denmark. A kite is a hawk-like bird that both hunts and scavenges. Offal is entrails, guts. Hamlet is saying he ought to have fed Claudius's guts to all the scavengers in Denmark by now.; Region further refers to the air. Here, Hamlet is saying he should already have fed all the kites of the air with Claudius's guts, which is essentially the same idea.; "Kite" is also a word for a cheater, or for the type of greedy person who preys on his own kind. The word appears with that general sense in Ralph Roister Doister. Hamlet additionally means he should already have "fed" all the grasping persons in Denmark on Claudius's financial remains.; "Kite" also refers to a person who gossips, so Hamlet is also saying he should have "fed" the gossips of Denmark with news of Claudius's death.; Even further, a kite is a kind of hawk, and as we've seen, Hamlet uses "hawk" to mean a good actor. For this last meaning, Hamlet is saying he should've "fed" Claudius's death to the "kites" of the playing company, to do a play about it. Then, he'd be planning to watch his Player friends perform "The Murder of Claudius," rather than The Murder of Gonzago. Hamlet would like that better.; Treacherous refers to Claudius having committed treason in killing King Hamlet Sr. It carries a plain meaning of "furtive" or "sly."; Kindless connects back to Hamlet's first line in the play, A little more than kin, and less than kind, where he denied that Claudius was his kind of person, after Claudius called him son and cousin. The idea of being the same kind of person as Claudius continues to bother Hamlet. With kindless Hamlet asserts that Claudius has no "kind," and certainly not him. It additionally alludes to the murder; Claudius killed his "kind," his closest blood relative, so he's "kindless" because of his own act. The word has the additional, simple meaning of Claudius being an unkind person.
hw 1623, to hw 1645: Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of he, dear murdered,
Prompted to my revenge by Heaven and Hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing like a very drab, a stallion; fie upon it, foh!
About, my brains; hm, I have heard
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have, by the very cunning of the scene,
Been struck so to the soul, that presently
They have proclaimed their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ; I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle; I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick; If he do blench
I know my course; the spirit that I have seen
May be a devil, and the devil hath power
T'assume a pleasing shape; Yea, and perhaps,
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me; I'll have grounds
More relative than this; the play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.
(Hamlet exits); (A word may be missing from the second line in the Q2 printing of Hamlet. That intuition has traditionally been addressed by editorial insertion of the word "father." However, the problem can also be addressed by taking a, in the original printing, to mean "he," as a is often used elsewhere in the play, and then inserting a comma. I adopt this latter method, since it requires no real change in wording from Q2. One should stay as close as possible to what's known. The phrase "of he" is a rarity in the author's writing, but does appear elsewhere, once, in The Tempest. Q1 has no authority here, since the passage is so badly mangled in it.); Hamlet says, "prompted by Hell." It tends to reflect on the Ghost, perhaps. Mainly, it reflects Hamlet's moral and religious education that killing is wrong and damnable.; (In Q2, devil is oddly spelled "deale." This is in the style of an abbreviation where the "v" is omitted, as with "o'er." The "deale" spelling suggests "deal," obviously. One deals cards, in a game such as tarot. Via the unusual spelling, the author is having Hamlet say that in meeting the Ghost, he might have been dealt the Devil card. One should look at the Devil cards in the historical tarot decks for illustration for the play at this point in reading the play.); Unpack means Hamlet's heart is overstuffed with emotion, and he unpacks, or relieves, the emotion by voicing insults. He observes that what he's doing, in speaking as he does, is the kind of thing a low-class woman would do.; Stallion was a slang term for a male whore; it follows drab, as the male variety. Hamlet is correcting that he's male, not female, but still being low class with his manner of speaking.; Having let off steam with words, and having chastised himself for it, he then turns to thinking about what to do. With About, my brains he's telling his mind to turn about, and go a different direction, also meaning his brains should be going about their proper work. The phrase has a humorous undertone, on the Madness theme, of Hamlet asking himself about his brains, whether his mind is working correctly. For this latter meaning, the comma would be omitted.; Hamlet has heard that guilty persons have reacted to plays to reveal their guilt. Presently means "immediately." He now finalizes his idea of using the Players' performance against Claudius, with that in mind. Earlier, he thought only of using the play to irritate Claudius, as psychological warfare in general, but now he adopts a more purposeful and specific goal, aiming directly at Claudius's guilt. Tent him to the quick means "probe him to the nerve," to see where it hurts. Blench means "flinch," or "shrink from." Historically, the word blench was especially used in reference to the sensitivity of the eye; the play will be something Claudius sees.; The miraculous organ is the murderer's own tongue. Although the abstract concept of murder has no tongue, the murderer, himself, can speak for his own crime, in a marvelous way.; More relative is a rich play on words. If the Ghost is not really the spirit of Hamlet's father, Claudius is "more relative" to Hamlet than the Ghost is. Or, if the Ghost is Hamlet's father, Claudius is "more relative" in still having a body, which the Ghost lacks; there's literally more of Claudius. Relative also means "pertinent;" the direct evidence of Hamlet's own eyes is more pertinent to his personal motivation, than are the words of the Ghost, which are second-hand to Hamlet, no matter how much he believes them. The phrase additionally alludes to the concept of relevance in the legal sense.; Hamlet openly expresses his concern that the Ghost may have been an evil imposter, trying to take advantage of him. He wants to have something more than what the Ghost said, and he'll try to get tangible evidence from Claudius's reaction to the play, that he can see for himself.
End of Scene 7

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