|
. the Tragical History of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .
(Notes)
- Scene 9 [~ The Mousetrap ~] (Act 3 Scene 2)
hw 1848- Setting: Inside the Castle;
The Banquet Hall;
At night.
(Hamlet enters, with some of the Players)
---
The Banquet Hall setting is deduced simply by it being the expected place for a play performance before a large audience. Kronborg Castle, on which Elsinore Castle is based, has a grand Banquet Hall. Everybody at Elsinore will want to be there, to see the play, although some soldiers and servants will be required to remain on duty. The Castle has no theater, since there's generally no use for one.
hw 1849, to hw 1863- Hamlet: Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you,
trippingly on the tongue, but if you mouth it as many of our players do,
I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines; nor do not saw the air
too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for, in the very torrent
tempest, and as I may say, whirlwind of your passion, you must
acquire and beget a temperance, that may give it smoothness; oh, it
offends me to the soul, to hear a robustious perwig-pated fellow
tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings
who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable
dumb shows, and noise; I would have such a fellow whipped for
o'erdoing Termagant; it out-Herods Herod; pray you avoid it.
Player: I warrant Your Honor.
---
The primary comment about Hamlet's coaching of the players, is that the reader should keep it in mind in relation to Hamlet's own behavior as a member of the audience, as we'll see. He's providing excellent advice - but does he personally obey it?
Hamlet's line, do not saw the air . . . hand connects back to the word handsaw earlier in the play. It describes bad acting, the behavior of a bad actor.
Inexplicable dumb shows anticipates Ophelia's later question to Hamlet about what the Dumb Show meant. The phrase is relevant to the question of whether the Mousetrap audience will understand the Dumb Show.
The Player's Your Honor is a correct term of address to Hamlet, or to any Lord, although not the usual term for Hamlet. Hamlet the Prince, is a Lord, as well, and also an Honor. The term "Your Honor" is more typically used for a judge, so there is an undertone of the Player obeying Hamlet's good judgment.
The Player's term may also be left uncapitalized, to mean the players will uphold Hamlet's honor as his servants. The term is intentionally ambiguous. I capitalize it in connection with the "judge" idea which follows, significantly.
The Player also knows that "Your Honor" is more often used for a judge, so there is a bit of friendly teasing going on. The Player will smile at Hamlet as he says "Your Honor," and Hamlet, recognizing the "Judge Hamlet" idea, will nod and smile in return. Hamlet and the Player are friends.
Earlier, when the players arrived and Polonius unnecessarily told Hamlet of it, there was wordplay on the idea of "Your Honor" associated with a jackass, in reference to Polonius. The Player intends no such reference to Hamlet as he says it, but it provides an ironic undertone to Hamlet's forthcoming behavior at the Mousetrap play. In plain reading, the Player is simply assuring Hamlet that the players are aware of what he described, and will avoid such behavior.
hw 1864, to hw 1885- Hamlet: Be not too tame, neither, but let your own discretion be
your tutor; suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with
this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature;
for, anything so o'erdone, is from the purpose of playing,
whose end both at the first, and now, was and is to hold, as 'twere,
the mirror up to nature, to show Virtue Her feature, Scorn Her own
image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.
Now, this overdone, or come tardy off, though it makes the unskillful
laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve, the censure of
which one, must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theater of
others. Oh, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others
praise, and that highly - not to speak it profanely - that neither
having the accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, Pagan, nor
man, have so strutted & bellowed, that I have thought some of
Nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they
imitated humanity so abominably.
Player: I hope we have reformed that indifferently with us.
---
The Folio puts "Sir" at the end of the Player's line, and is in error. The author was attentive to proper address throughout Hamlet, for the most immediate reason that he used terms of address in his wordplay and allusions. The Folio "Sir" should not be there; it is editorial error.
Makes the unskillful laugh is in anticipation of Ophelia's amusement at some of Hamlet's sexually suggestive remarks, during the Mousetrap play. Ophelia is not a sophisticated playgoer. Hamlet will, himself, make the judicious grieve, with his conduct, as we'll see.
Hamlet's judicious follows the Player calling him "Your Honor." It's wordplay on the "judge" notion, as is censure that follows immediately.
Hamlet is misleading the players with his rhetoric. The Player just called him "Your Honor," and now Hamlet is telling them how to avoid the censure of the "judicious one." As Hamlet says one they think he means himself. But Hamlet is intending to speak more generally, and by one he actually means "a discriminating playgoer." Hamlet's rhetoric is misleading, as the players hear it, in that it makes the players think they must play to him, Hamlet, in particular, in the audience. However, Hamlet wants them to play for Claudius, in particular.
Hamlet's coaching is good, in the general way he intends it, but he has inadvertently given the players the wrong focus, himself, in the audience. The players will angle their performance toward Hamlet now, when he really wants the performance angled toward Claudius, to give Claudius the best view, and best hearing. There are no microphones, so the angle at which the players stand, as they orate, will make a difference in how well they're heard. Additionally, the angle at which the players position themselves will make a difference in how well their motion and gestures are seen. The players will now position themselves and orate for Hamlet, following what they think were specifics in his instructions, when his purpose requires them to be sure Claudius has the best view.
So, in his enthusiasm and nervousness before the play, as Hamlet has gone on at length to ensure it will all be just right, he has accidentally told the players to focus on him, as they understood it, instead of on Claudius. Now, they will not be performing to insure Claudius has the best view, and best hearing, but instead, Hamlet. Hamlet had better hope he sits very close to Claudius, or Claudius may be left with a side view of the play.
In the Dumb Show that will precede the play, a Poisoner will pour poison in a King's ears. Will Claudius be able to see that happen, or will the Poisoner's back be to Claudius, blocking the view of the poisoning? There won't be any dialogue in the Dumb Show to tell Claudius what is happening.
How will the Mousetrap be oriented, as Claudius sees it? Will the mouse see the cheese?
hw 1886, to hw 1893- Hamlet: Oh, reform it altogether; and, let those that play your clowns
speak no more than is set down for them, for there be of them that
will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators
to laugh, too, though in the meantime, some necessary question of
the play be then to be considered, that's villainous, and shows a most
pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it; go, make you ready.
(the Players withdraw)
---
Authentically performed, the Players do not "exit." The setting, at Elsinore Castle, is a Banquet Hall, not a theater. There is no backstage here. The Players withdraw to a corner of the room to make their preparations. This explains why there is no "exit" marked for the Players in Q2. Although they withdraw from the speaking position on the stage, the downstage center area, they are still visible to the audience in the background; they have not physically exited. The author, a master at stagecraft, knew that his setting was a large room, not a theater. The entries and exits in Q2, from the author's own hand, must be held in the highest regard, and interpreted with great care in respect to stagecraft.
Set down means written down, in the playscript. What is written down, in the Mousetrap playscript, for Hamlet to speak at the play? Nothing.
The "clown" making the barren spectator to laugh is allusion in anticipation of Hamlet's behavior to Ophelia during the Mousetrap performance. In plain reading, barren means "unoccupied" by the play, inattentive to the play. The word barren can also mean "childless," or "without child." This is the author telling us that Ophelia is not pregnant, despite any such suggestion. We are not being told that Ophelia is sterile; we are being told that, at the Mousetrap play, she is "unoccupied" with child.
Hamlet says that the clownishness he describes, to inattentive spectators, is villainous, and the mark of a pitifully ambitious fool. Again, observe Hamlet's own behavior at the play.
hw 1894, to hw 1900- (Polonius enters;
Guildenstern and Rosencrantz enter)
(Hamlet continues):
How now, my Lord, will the King hear this piece of work?
Polonius: And the Queen too, and that presently.
Hamlet (to Polonius): Bid the Players make haste.
(to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern):
Will you two help to hasten them?
Rosencrantz: Aye, my Lord.
(Polonius withdraws)
(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)
---
Hamlet's them means Claudius and Gertrude. He sends Polonius to assist the Players, in the background, and R & G to tell Claudius and Gertrude the play is about to start. Thus, Polonius only withdraws, while R & G exit. Q2 is correct in giving Polonius no exit.
Hamlet is intentionally separating Polonius from Claudius here. Based on his dreadful misunderstanding about Ophelia and Claudius, and Polonius, he sends R & G to tell Claudius and Gertrude the play is ready to begin, instead of sending Polonius. Hamlet doesn't like Polonius being with Claudius, in any way, now.
hw 1901, to hw 1902- Hamlet: What ho, Horatio.
(Horatio enters)
---
The order shown is correct, in Q2. Hamlet first speaks, then Horatio enters. This is significant, as a hint in anticipation of something later, which will be discussed at that time.
I cannot say exactly how Horatio's entry should be done. It should be quick, and rather surprising and amusing to the audience, with a suggestion that somehow Hamlet has summoned Horatio by magic. There's a reason.
hw 1903, to hw 1906- Horatio: Here, sweet Lord, at your service.
Hamlet: Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man
As e'er my conversation coped withal.
Horatio: Oh, my dear Lord?
---
Horatio is surprised by Hamlet's compliment. As with most friends, there's joking and teasing between them, frequently, but straightforward compliments such as this are rare, and Horatio wonders why Hamlet is saying it. After seeing Gertrude ally with Claudius, and R & G turn against him in favor of Claudius - and now with Hamlet's mistaken idea that even Ophelia has abandoned him in favor of Claudius - Hamlet is deeply and sincerely glad to have a true friend in Horatio, and he lets it show.
hw 1907, to hw 1925- Hamlet: Nay, do not think I flatter,
For what advancement may I hope from thee
That no revenue hast but thy good spirits
To feed and clothe thee. Why should the poor be flattered?
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice,
And could, of men, distinguish her election,
S'hath sealed thee for herself; for, thou hast been,
As one in suffering all, that suffers nothing,
A man that Fortune's buffets and rewards
Hast ta'en with equal thanks; and blessed are those
Whose blood and judgement are so well comedled,
That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please; give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, aye, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee. Something too much of this;
---
Hamlet makes clear that he is not flattering Horatio, but complimenting him. He denies seeking any advantage from Horatio.
Hamlet does wants a kind of advancement from Horatio; he wants Horatio's assistance in watching Claudius, as we'll learn. However, Hamlet could get Horatio's help without any compliment of Horatio by him, and Hamlet is trying to say he knows that. Hamlet continues at length because he's emotionally upset, and he alludes to his own feelings.
When Hamlet asks why the poor should be flattered, although he's overtly talking about Horatio, Hamlet is revealing his thoughts about himself. He has referred to himself as a "beggar." It's weighing heavily on him that Ophelia said he was "unkind," when she returned his gifts in the Nunnery Scene. That hurt Hamlet. He doesn't know she was only trying to recite an ad-lib, to have something to say, that she didn't mean it, and wasn't even aware of her words. He says he knows the poor shouldn't expect to be flattered (so he, a "beggar," shouldn't have expected flattery from Ophelia, he says.)
The candied tongue is both a "sugared" tongue, that speaks sweet flattery, for personal gain, and also refers to the tongue of a child, who likes sugar candy. Hamlet is calling the "sweet talk" of flattery both insincere and childish. There is allusion to Ophelia.
With candied tongue, Hamlet is thinking of Ophelia's sweet kisses, and with absurd pomp, in this undertone, he means Claudius. (In plain meaning, it simply means a servant flattering his master with sweet-sounding words.) Hamlet now thinks Ophelia is giving sweet kisses to Claudius, for her personal financial gain, (the "rich gifts" of the Nunnery Scene.)
Pregnant means "productive" of a reward. The flatterer bends his knee, figuratively speaking - or sometimes not figuratively - to the flattered person, in expectation of getting a reward by doing so. In the undertone of allusion to Ophelia, it is reference to female pregnancy. This must not be misunderstood as meaning Ophelia is pregnant now. Hamlet, working from his mistaken idea, is worried about Ophelia becoming pregnant by Claudius. He's worried about what would become of Ophelia, since he doesn't think Claudius would marry her. Claudius would probably cast her out, Hamlet thinks. Or, if Claudius did want to marry Ophelia, what would Claudius do about Gertrude? That's a serious worry, about a man who killed his own brother. Thrift refers to economic advantage, "profit," or "financial gain."
Hamlet's question, Dost thou hear? is because Horatio is looking away, since he's rather abashed at how Hamlet is going on. Horatio is not accustomed to hearing such compliments. Horatio will simply look back at Hamlet, and nod.
Dear soul alludes to Hamlet's concern that his soul might go to Hell if he murders Claudius. Hamlet doesn't take his soul lightly. He's also calling Horatio "my dear soul," meaning "my dear friend."
Hamlet uses mistress because the soul was thought to be the center of sentimental emotion, which is stereotypically a female trait. So, the soul is cast as female. In allusion, Hamlet believes Ophelia has made the choice to be a mistress of Claudius.
Hamlet's dear soul ... mistress of her choice is Hamlet's acceptance that his "dear soul" Ophelia can make her own choices. He hates it that, under his mistaken idea, Ophelia has chosen Claudius, but if he must accept it, he will, if that's her choice.
Distinguish carries the undertone of Horatio being a distinguished person, in Hamlet's view. In plain reading, election means "favorite," and is short for "election of a favorite." In political undertone, it means Hamlet's soul has elected Horatio the "King" among people Hamlet knows. In Hamlet's soul, Horatio is king. There is some allusion, also, to Claudius being elected King of Denmark, instead of Hamlet.
Hamlet compliments Horatio on his fortitude, integrity, and judgment. Hamlet, feeling so much need for a good friend, is making Horatio a little larger than life, but it's true Horatio is a good man. Thinking he has lost his father, his mother, and now his true love, Hamlet casts Horatio somewhat in the role of a father figure, since he greatly feels the need of one.
In casting the actors for Hamlet, Horatio should best be a little taller than Hamlet, and stronger looking, more athletic. This is emotionally significant to Hamlet's praise of Horatio here, as somewhat of a father figure, and is functionally significant in a later Scene, also later in this Scene, where Horatio will play a bodyguard role for Hamlet.
Blood means "passion" or "emotion." Comedled, in major undertone, means "co-medlied," referring to a musical medley. Hamlet is complimenting Horatio on how harmoniously he combines emotion and judgment. Hamlet doesn't feel his own emotions and judgment are "musical," but are, as Ophelia observed, "bells jangled out of time." In plain reading, comedled may be taken as "co-melded," or "co-mingled," but the idea of music ("medley") is strongly there, following from Ophelia's line in the earlier Scene.
Pipe for Fortune's finger anticipates Hamlet's talk to Guildenstern that we'll see after the Mousetrap play. It supports the "medley" interpretation of comedled that this line, with reference to music, immediately follows.
Passion's slave means Hamlet is feeling the power of his emotions over him. In other words, thinking now, that he has lost Ophelia, it's all Hamlet can do to keep from breaking down in tears.
Hamlet says, Something too much of this both because he realizes he's letting his emotions get the best of him at an important time, with the Mousetrap play coming up, and he's making Horatio uneasy.
An unintended side effect, of Hamlet's extended, sincere praise of Horatio, is that now Horatio will be more inclined to agree with Hamlet. Hamlet has "biased his witness." It is not that Horatio would be less than honest - he can still be depended upon to tell the truth exactly as he sees it - but Horatio is a normal person, not a robot. Any normal person is influenced by what is said to him, especially by friends. Horatio will be less objective now, and there is nothing he can do about it, because he's human.
hw 1926, to hw 1941- There is a play tonight before the King;
One scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which I have told thee of, my father's death;
I prithee when thou seest that act afoot,
Even with the very comment of thy soul
Observe my uncle; if his occulted guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damned ghost that we have seen,
And my imaginations are as foul
As Vulcan's stithy; give him heedful note;
For I, mine eyes will rivet to his face,
And after, we will both our judgments join
In censure of his seeming.
Hor: Well, my lord,
If he steal ought the whilst this play is playing
And 'scape detected, I will pay the theft.
---
Hamlet's first line is merely a comment as he changes the subject, and gathers his thoughts. He knows Horatio already knows about the play. Hamlet is nervous before his play.
The scene to which Claudius is expected to react is not specified. (The Dumb Show is not the "play.")
Comment of thy soul means Horatio should use his intuition, as well as his judgment. Since the soul is stereotypically female, by that stereotype the soul becomes the source of intuition. This rather goes against Hamlet's praise of Horatio's "manly" judgment, however. In his nervousness, Hamlet is unintentionally being confusing. The notion of a soul speaking carries a suggestion of the Ghost.
Occulted means "hidden," or "secret," in plain reading. "Occult" has a connotation of the mystic arts, including spirits and ghosts. Further, the sun in eclipse is said to be occulted, so this is another implicit sun/son pun; Claudius "occulted" the son, Hamlet, in attaining the crown. Also, the Latin equivalent of "occulted" was used in a legal phrase defining murder. (Credit to Neil, 1877.)
Unkennel is here most plainly related to "ken" meaning "to know." Hamlet intends to release Claudius's guilt, to make it known. There is further the idea of releasing dogs to hunt quarry: Claudius, himself, being hunted by the dogs of his own guilt. This latter sense comes from expressions such as "he was dogged by his guilt." There is a further, vulgar, meaning in that kennel can mean "sewer;" in this sense, Hamlet is hoping Claudius's reaction will be so strong that he will soil his pants.
Hamlet says that if Claudius does not react, it will prove the Ghost was an evil entity, telling him a lie. Imaginations means "suspicions." Stithy means "forge." The Titan, Vulcan, used his blacksmith forge to make items for the gods. This is "forgery" wordplay, carrying a meaning of "made up." The Devil may have forged the Ghost, is the idea.
Hamlet instructs Horatio to keep watch on Claudius, and says that he, himself, will watch Claudius's face. The King will be seated at front-row center, naturally, since he's the King. Horatio will have to be farther back in the audience, and will only be able to see Claudius's back. Hamlet and Horatio, between them, will have both front and back views of Claudius.
It is vitally important to note that Hamlet will sit where he can see Claudius's face. This will turn out to be astonishingly significant, because of the seating positions implied.
Censure of his seeming means to condemn how Claudius seemed to act. Hamlet's word choice is unfortunate, and revealing; it's the idea of guilt before trial. Hamlet is strongly biased, not an impartial judge of Claudius's behavior.
Horatio's ought is wordplay, meaning both "out" and "anything." Horatio is promising he won't let Claudius sneak out, or get away with anything. They do not know what Claudius's reaction may be, and Horatio is covering the possibility that Claudius might try to sneak out and get away.
Detected is the correct word in the playtext. Horatio will prevent Claudius from escaping although he's been detected in his crime. This goes along with casting the character of Horatio as a sturdy, "bodyguard" type of fellow who could manhandle Claudius, if necessary.
Horatio's I will pay the theft may sound innocuous, but it is an extremely serious promise. Horatio is pledging that if Claudius escapes with his life, although proven guilty, Horatio will pay with his own life. Horatio is very serious about the duty Hamlet has given him, and is quite matter-of-fact about it.
hw 1942, to hw 1947- (Claudius and Gertrude enter,
led by musicians playing trumpets and kettle drums;
Polonius and Ophelia enter)
Hamlet: They are coming to the play. I must be idle!
Get you a place.
---
Polonius did not "exit" earlier; he withdrew to the background where the players were. However, although he did not exit, he gets an entry here because of what "enter" means in the playscript. The Polonius actor must now position himself where he can speak and be heard, because Polonius has lines coming up.
Hamlet's abrupt remark, that he must be idle, is because of his nervousness. In plain reading, idle means "not doing anything." People know Horatio is his friend, and there is no real reason why Hamlet should not be seen talking to Horatio. Hamlet has the jitters.
Idle has a connotation of "mad," but this is teasing by the author. What Hamlet will proceed to do and say will not be any kind of "antic disposition," nor will it be madness. Hamlet will have a good reason, as he understands things, for everything he says and does.
In undertone, to be idle is to spend time unprofitably. This is deliciously ironic wordplay in anticipation of what Hamlet will really achieve with his Mousetrap, which will be discussed. The author was a grand master at theater, and Hamlet is a rank amateur, trying to stage his first show. Shakespeare is going to demonstrate to us how experience, and a professional approach, make a difference in theatrical performance.
At Hamlet's line to Horatio, Get you a place, the "antic disposition" idea takes on its only real meaning in Hamlet. In the earlier Scene, the antic disposition idea was stated by Hamlet to Horatio and Marcellus, and Hamlet instructed them to ignore it if they saw it. Horatio remembers that. As events proceed in this Scene, Horatio will notice Hamlet acting in a manner that's very abnormal for Hamlet. Without some excuse in his mind, Horatio would probably respond to his best friend's abnormal behavior, thinking that something was wrong. An abrupt change in behavior could mean, for one thing, well, a possible attempt to poison Hamlet, and Horatio knows the play is about Claudius poisoning Hamlet Sr. Poisoning can cause a sudden change in behavior. Horatio would go to Hamlet, and ask what was wrong. The author wanted to remove that behavior by Horatio in this Scene, so he gave Horatio the "antic dispositon" reason in the earlier Scene. Now, when Horatio notices Hamlet's behavior, Horatio will think it's only Hamlet acting up intentionally, for a reason of his own. Horatio will ignore it, and keep watching Claudius. In sum, in the functional structure of the play, "antic disposition" is for Horatio here, to keep him watching Claudius. And that's all it really is.
hw 1948, to hw 1953- Claudius: How fares our cousin, Hamlet?
Hamlet: Excellent, i'faith;
Of the chameleon's dish, I eat the air,
Promise-crammed; you cannot feed capons so.
Clau: I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet;
These words are not mine.
Hamlet: No, nor mine now, my Lord.
---
Claudius uses fares in the sense of "how are you doing?" He doesn't call Hamlet "son;" Claudius doesn't want to have Hamlet state his grief for his father, as Hamlet did in their first encounter when Claudius called him "son." Claudius is trying to suppress any mention of Hamlet Sr, or any thought of him, in connection with keeping his crime unknown, so he avoids saying something that might get Hamlet started on his father, in this very public situation. Claudius uses cousin, instead.
Hamlet plays with the word fares, treating it as though Claudius had meant food. This follows from Hamlet's earlier description of a play as a feast, with "caviar," "salad," etc.
I'faith is "in faith;" Hamlet is acting in faith to his father, by trying to prove Claudius's guilt, and he has faith that his play will prove whether the Ghost told him the truth.
In Hamlet's second line, of means "from." The chameleon line has numerous allusions, and is quite complicated. Chameleons, like many reptiles, can survive for a long time without food, which led to the superstition that they could survive only on air. A chameleon is something that is camouflaged.
The play will be a camouflaged attack on Claudius. Hamlet has described a play as a feast. The "food" idea makes the play a dish. So, the play is a camouflaged dish, for Claudius. Hamlet will "eat the air" in the sense that he will "consume" the words spoken during the play, that travel through the air to the audience. Hamlet, Claudius, and the entire audience will "eat the air" of words from the play, the camouflaged dish especially prepared for Claudius.
Chameleon additionally refers to Claudius. In this allusion, Claudius is a murderer who is "camouflaged" as a respectable king. Here, eat the air means that Hamlet is going to deflate Claudius, who will be called the "bloat king" in the Closet Scene that follows. Claudius is an inflated "chameleon," and Hamlet intends to deflate him.
Chameleon further refers to Hamlet. Hamlet is "camouflaged" in the sense that while he appears to be only putting on a play, he's really attacking Claudius. Hamlet is being a "warrior," so to speak, as he appears to be a play producer.
There is further meaning of Hamlet saying Claudius's words and promises are only air. More allusions can be found. By far the most significant remaining allusion, is the deeply ironic one of Hamlet "eating the air" in the sense of ending up with nothing from his Mousetrap play, as we will see.
Promise-crammed means Hamlet sees the air as being filled with promise, as he anticipates his play. It's a promising night, Hamlet thinks. There is additional allusion to Hamlet's promise to the Ghost.
The capon line means, first, that capons can't be "fed" with words, the way people can, who have language. A capon is a castrated rooster; that's done because a bird is not wanted for breeding, and the change in hormones makes it fatten better for market. Capons were force-fed to help fatten them, as well. Hamlet is calling Claudius a capon, and is saying he intends to remove Claudius's genitals, figuratively speaking, and shove the Mousetrap play down Claudius's throat.
Claudius's reply means, in plain reading, that he can't understand what Hamlet said. In undertone, nothing is a contraction of "no thing." Claudius is unintentionally replying to the effect that with the answer "capon" he has no "thing," where "thing" is a euphemism for a sexually-functional penis. Claudius accidentally says that if he's a capon, he has no "thing."
The "nothing" remark by Claudius is not merely a joke. Nothing in Hamlet is simple. That is to say, nothing in Hamlet is not simple. Claudius says he has no "thing." How could Gertrude commit adultery with Claudius if he has no "thing?" But one must not take the idea literally. Nothing in Hamlet is simple, and the same is true of "no thing."
Claudius is a chronic, long-term alcoholic. He has alcoholic impotence. Hamlet does not know that.
Additionally, "Thing" is an Old Norse word referring to a public assembly, particularly an assembly called by a king, or to choose a king. Thus the idea of "thing" carries the allusion of Hamlet challenging Claudius as king during the public assembly to watch the Mousetrap.
Claudius's These words... line is logical wordplay by the author. The words in that line are indeed not Claudius's as he gives them up when he speaks them. The line uses an ambiguity of logic, involving self reference, similar in a way to the trite example: "this sentence is not true." In plain reading, Claudius is only saying he doesn't think Hamlet's reply was pertinent.
Hamlet agrees with Claudius's "logic," in saying No, which is further logical wordplay, the use of a negative to express agreement. English No used in that way means logical "yes." Hamlet further observes, continuing with the logic, that the words he spoke earlier are not his now.
Hamlet's My Lord is still on the same logical line. He is calling Claudius My Lord on the basis that what he says are not "his" words, i.e. in calling Claudius My Lord it means Claudius is not his Lord, because those are not "his" words. The undertone of logic proves that Q2 is correct in showing My Lord addressed to Claudius; it's an error to have Hamlet address My Lord to Polonius. Hamlet is retaliating, in an extremely subtle way, for Claudius calling him "son." Extending this same "no means yes" oddity of logic to that earlier dialogue, Claudius would have meant Hamlet was not his son, an idea with which Hamlet would agree.
Hamlet then turns to Polonius.
hw 1954, to hw 1960- (to Polonius): You played once i'th university, you say.
Polonius: That did I, my Lord, and was accounted a good actor.
Ham. What did you enact?
Pol. I did enact Julius Caesar; I was killed in the Capital;
Brutus killed me.
Hamlet: It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there;
---
Hamlet says Polonius played at the university, as opposed to "studied." Hamlet has a low opinion of Polonius as a scholar. Polonius, as a student, must have been pretending, only playing the part of a student, Hamlet thinks.
Accounted, in undertone, means both "valued" and "killed." In the former sense, it reflects Polonius's financial view of things, which is immediately pertinent to Hamlet's mistaken idea about Ophelia. In the latter sense, Polonius is accidentally anticipating his own fate. The plain meaning is "thought to be."
Enact goes along with Polonius being a politician, and indicates the things Polonius, as a politician, achieves and has achieved. Hamlet is quietly enraged at what he thinks Polonius has achieved, as a politician, by using the value of Ophelia.
Caesar was assassinated, which alludes to Hamlet's desire to kill Claudius. Historically, Julius Caesar was apparently not killed in the capital of Rome, but any historical error here belongs to the Polonius character, of course, and not to the author. Hamlet has just said Polonius "played" at the university. Hamlet intends to kill Claudius at the capital of Denmark, Elsinore, if the Ghost's word proves true, so the author had his "player," Polonius, make the mistake to provide the "Capital" allusion.
Since Claudius continually obeys Polonius's advice and instructions, Polonius might as well be king. In this way, Polonius's mention of Caesar becomes self reference, with Hamlet cast as Brutus.
In Hamlet's line, brute comes from the Latin word, "brutus," and means "irrational" or "stupid." Hamlet will make a stupid mistake when he kills Polonius in the Closet Scene. Hamlet is making an unintentional self reference in that way.
Calf means "offspring," and is an advance allusion to Ophelia's death, following from Hamlet's brute part in killing Polonius. Hamlet's killing of Polonius will, indirectly, kill Ophelia. In this sense, capital alludes to both excellence and wealth. Ophelia is Polonius's excellent offspring, and Polonius's only appreciation of her is her financial value. Further, Hamlet's line alludes to Jephthah, his "bad dream" of Polonius torturing and killing Ophelia, in loyalty to his Lord.
hw 1961, to hw 1965- Be the players ready?
Pol: Aye, my Lord, they stay upon your patience.
Gertrude: Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me.
Hamlet: No, good mother, here's mettle more attractive.
Polonius (to Claudius): O ho, do you mark that?
---
I give the second line above to Polonius, even though the original Q2 printing ascribes it to Rosencrantz. I believe the speech prefix in Q2 to be a misprint, based on the facts that Hamlet sent Polonius to attend the Players, not R & G, and the original Q2 printing does not have a stage direction for R & G to enter for this passage. Hamlet is continuing to talk to Polonius, with his question about the Players.
Polonius's reply tells us, again, that the players are in service to Hamlet, meaning the players are Hamlet's servants, under his orders. This is important to know. Patience implies that the players, and everyone else, is impatient for the play to begin, eager for the "feast" to begin.
Gertrude has reserved a place for Hamlet beside her. He declines, because if he sits beside Gertrude he knows he won't be able to watch Claudius's face. Gertrude would be between Hamlet and Claudius. Gertrude is at Claudius's left, and Hamlet would be at her left. Hamlet would have to lean forward to see Claudius, and it would be far too obvious and difficult. It's a "staging" problem for Hamlet, so to speak: if he sits beside Gertrude he won't be able to see Claudius's "performance" in reaction to the play. Hamlet, therefore, goes toward Ophelia, a position from which he can easily see Claudius's face, like a choice of seating to get a better view of an actor.
Polonius is Claudius's "right hand man," and Ophelia is seated beside her father. In moving to Ophelia, it means Hamlet has gone forward of Claudius, where he can see Claudius's face, and to Claudius's right. This is important to know.
It's a theatrical situation, set up by the grand master of theater, Shakespeare, so think "staging." All the staging details that can be perceived, which might have relevance, must be noted and diligently assessed.
At the Mousetrap play you are looking at a play setting that was arranged by Shakespeare, and written down by his own hand, indirectly, using the dialogue. Extremely close attention to the staging details is mandatory, as best those details can be gleaned.
Polonius observes Hamlet going to Ophelia, and thinks it's evidence Hamlet loves her. He therefore points it out to Claudius, in connection with what Polonius has been trying to prove. Polonius is right by accident, again; Hamlet does love Ophelia, but that isn't why he goes toward Ophelia in this situation. Hamlet is choosing the best seat in the house for what he wishes to view. It's coincidental that, in Hamlet's opinion, Ophelia is indeed the "best seat in the house," where "seat" has reference to the human posterior.
hw 1966, to hw 1981- Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
Ophelia: No, my Lord!
Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters?
Ophelia: I think nothing, my Lord.
Hamlet: That's a fair thought to lie between maid's legs.
Ophelia: What is, my Lord?
Hamlet: Nothing.
Ophelia: You are merry, my Lord.
Hamlet: Who, I?
Ophelia: Aye, my Lord.
Hamlet: Oh God, your only jig-maker, what should a man do but
be merry, for look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my
father died within's two hour.
---
Hamlet's first line is from his mistaken idea that Ophelia has become a courtesan, and is wordplay on the sexual connotation of lie. The wordplay here on lap is, by the way, subtle confirmation that lap is the correct word in the playtext in the earlier phrase "Fortune's lap," when Hamlet was talking with R & G. Hamlet now believes Fortune has favored Claudius with Ophelia's lap.
Ophelia's No is emphatic. She loves Hamlet, but was frightened by his behavior in the Nunnery Scene, and she is still frightened of him, here, as he gets close to her. She fears such a scene with him again. She's reassured by the crowd at the play, but if it were a private encounter she might hurry away from him as he neared. She's afraid of the man she loves.
Hamlet does not lie with his head in Ophelia's lap. That fact is provable. The way it's shown in the Folio is not authorial, not from the hand of Shakespeare.
First, simply think about it. Hamlet's top priority, at his Mousetrap play, is to "rivet his eyes to Claudius's face." That's the reason Hamlet chose to sit with Ophelia. With his head down on Ophelia's lap he'd have difficulty seeing Claudius's face. He also wants to observe that the play is properly presented, with the necessary details correctly done, and needs an upright viewing position for that. The play won't catch Claudius's conscience if it isn't presented correctly.
Then, consider Ophelia's emotional reaction, after Hamlet's treatment of her in the Nunnery Scene. She's scared of him. She'd react by jumping up and moving, from fright. She's trembling, here, with Hamlet close to her.
Then, observe that in Q2, from the author's own hand, Ophelia's No ends the matter. Even the "bad" Q1 gives Ophelia a "no" to end it.
Hamlet's posture as it's done on stage, and appears in the Folio, is fine for mere audience entertainment, and cannot be criticized on that account, but it isn't Hamlet from the author's hand. The genuine Hamlet is different. We all know Hamlet is different from run-of-the-mill plays.
The author knew of the practice of the gallant having his head on his lady's lap, in other plays, and has alluded to that here, for irony and wordplay, but for himself, he did it differently. It isn't surprising, that he'd do it differently. Hamlet will sit beside Ophelia, upright. The characterizations, the original source documentation, and common sense, all support that.
When Hamlet says lie in your lap he makes a clownish move to sit on Ophelia's lap. It's the "best seat in the house" idea. There is wordplay between lie and "sit," which both carry the connotation of "to be positioned," and mean the same in that sense. Hamlet's lie means "sit."
His word lie, as he speaks it to Ophelia, also goes back to his "logical proof," in the Nunnery Scene, that he lied to her when he said he loved her. Earlier, he lied in her face, now he's asking if he can "lie" in her lap. She says, no, one lie from him was enough for her. Hamlet then sits upright beside Ophelia, in the normal way, where he has a good view of Claudius.
Following his lie wordplay, and given this opportunity, Hamlet gets the unfortunate idea that he can embarrass Ophelia and Claudius, in public, about their imagined sexual relationship. He's sure they're trying to keep it secret. This is why he continues with lewd remarks.
Country matters is wordplay on the obscene word "cunt," and a "cuntery" is a brothel. The country is Denmark, which is also the word used for the King. Hamlet is asking Ophelia whether she thinks he means her courtesan behavior with the King, using the pun country/cuntery, with the former alluding to the King. Hamlet hides his real meaning, like a chameleon.
In some of the older historical commentary on Hamlet, Shakespeare is persistently and mindlessly called the "poet of nature," and there are efforts to point out his "touches of nature" in his writings. Well, gentlemen, my old friends, there's a touch of nature for you: an obscene reference to a whorehouse.
Hamlet sees Ophelia look shocked, and sees Claudius scowl at him. He thinks it's working, that he has gotten a reaction from them about their sexual behavior. However, they are only reacting to the indecency of his remark.
Hamlet, like anybody, cannot perceive himself as others do. He observes that he's getting a reaction, but, misled by his own false notion, he mistakes the reason why. He thus continues, thinking his idea to embarrass Ophelia and Claudius is working.
The fair thought Hamlet had, earlier, was that he would lie between maid's legs with Ophelia, on their wedding night. Now Claudius is enjoying that privilege, he believes.
The nothing exchange means that Hamlet now thinks there's "no thing" there, with Ophelia, for him. Hamlet is also wishing there was no "thing" between Ophelia's legs for Claudius. This follows Claudius's nothing - "no thing" remark. It further means he's glad there's no male "thing" between maid's legs; it's good women are different.
Ophelia observes that Hamlet is merry. Although his remarks are improper, she's pleased to hear him making jokes, of any kind, and it warms her heart to see him smile. Even if he still isn't what he was, she welcomes the change from the way he behaved in the Nunnery Scene.
Hamlet responds with Who, I? because he isn't really merry, he's heartbroken. However, he's pleased in thinking he'll get proof about Claudius's guilt, he's enjoying being near Ophelia, and he likes play performances in general. He's as happy as he is able to be, and it shows, as he smiles.
Ophelia's reply is a pun, between Aye and "I." It makes her happy that he looks happy. Ophelia smiles back at him.
The jig-maker line is, first, wordplay that God makes people "sing his tune," so to speak, through God's control of mortal affairs. A jig means a lyric or verse, and including play dialogue. Hamlet is feeling a bit god-like, in thinking he's making Claudius and Ophelia "sing his tune," or "speak his verse," as he tries to embarrass them, and they apparently react. Further, Hamlet expects Claudius to "follow the script" he's written, by being caught in Hamlet's Mousetrap. We shall see about that. The jig-maker line is also a joke meaning, "Oh, God, I'm your only entertainment - at my play."
When Hamlet sees Ophelia is smiling at him, he can't resist continuing to joke and talk with her. His love for her demands to be heard, in some way, and he can't fully control it, as he sits so close to her, and her big, beautiful eyes glow at him.
Hamlet asks, rhetorically, what else a man should do. What else he should do, he believes, is kill Claudius, and then Polonius.
Hamlet says his mother is looking cheerful. The angle, from which Hamlet could easily see Gertrude's face, is important for correct staging. Gertrude is sitting to Claudius's left, in a dignified, upright posture.
Gertrude is pleased that her son is smiling - although she's displeased at his highly inappropriate remarks - and that he's been able to arrange for a professional play to be performed at Elsinore. She, like everyone else, likes a good play, and a top-quality, professional play at Elsinore is a unique event. Gertrude has occasionally been able to travel, to Copenhagen and elsewhere, and see plays, but not as often as she wanted, it's easy to surmise. Elsinore Castle is a remote fortress near a fishing village, and a professional play is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for much of the audience. Gertrude is proud of Hamlet now, for being able to arrange a play for everyone, although she wishes he'd watch his language. She is not looking cheerful because she's near Claudius, and her expression has nothing to do with Hamlet Sr's death. She's the Queen of the nation, with 30 years of disciplined experience, and her real expression at the thought of her husband's death is not something she shows in public. She is not a giddy adolescent.
Hamlet's within's means both "within this" and "within his," thus the unusual contraction. "Within this" anticipates Hamlet Sr's death being depicted in the next two hours, as the play proceeds. The standard length of a play was about two hours. "Within his" means Hamlet devotes the play to his father; the two hours of the play is for "him," Hamlet Sr.
hw 1982- Ophelia: Nay, 'tis twice . . . two months my Lord.
---
Ophelia's twice has been badly misinterpreted, historically. It is wordplay, not a statement of length of time.
The author is having Ophelia say that the two months since Hamlet Sr's death will occur twice. First, is the real, calendar passage of two months since King Hamlet died. Then, those two months will be represented again, for the second time, in the play. In that sense, the two month period happens "twice," or will happen twice, as they watch the play.
For the Ophelia character, herself, her twice is a slight stutter, and an error in sound, as she hesitantly corrects Hamlet. She's still unsure of his behavior, and doesn't know how he'll take being corrected. She's afraid of possibly causing an angry argument, depending on how he reacts. Recall that Hamlet, in the Nunnery Scene, mentioned her lisp, which is a slight, and very charming, speech disorder, and recall also that she stuttered with "longed long," under emotional stress. The author has used her mild speech disorder here to have her say twice by mistake, to provide his wordplay. I insert the ellipsis to mark the hesitation in her speech.
hw 1983, to hw 1989- Hamlet: So long? Nay! Then let the Devil wear black, for I'll have a
suit of sables; O heavens, die two months ago, and not forgotten yet?
Then there's hope a great man's memory may out-live his life half a
year, but, by'r Lady, he must build churches then, or else shall he suffer
not thinking on - with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is: for o, for
o, the hobby-horse is forgot.
---
The Devil was customarily depicted in black in Elizabethan times. As Hamlet sits there, in his black mourning clothes, one thing he means is that he's feeling devilish, in his expectation of catching Claudius. Thus, one meaning of the "devil" in black is Hamlet, himself, in a mischievous mood. This connects back to what Polonius said, in the Nunnery Scene, about "the Devil, himself," which had allusion to Hamlet in that context.
Further, Devil also refers to Polonius, whom Hamlet now views as a devil, for what Hamlet believes Polonius has done to Ophelia, in using her to bribe Claudius.
Hamlet's Nay! is sarcastic, and suit of sables follows in the sarcastic vein, in reference to Polonius. Here Hamlet means, that if such a great length of time as two months has gone by, he must now be an old man like Polonius, so he should be wearing a sable coat, like Polonius. A sable coat was the traditional garment for wealthy older men, and it's what Polonius is wearing at the play. In this meaning, overall, Hamlet is saying he should switch clothes with Polonius. Polonius, the old devil, should be in black, which is the devil's proper color. Hamlet, who must be an old man since two months have gone by, should be wearing sables, the proper garment for an old man. Those results could be achieved by Hamlet trading his black mourning clothes for Polonius's sables.
Suit of sables additionally refers back to the Player's recital about Pyrrhus in his "sable arms," his black suit of armor. Hamlet means his black mourning clothes are his "sable suit of armor" while he presents his play as an attack on Claudius.
There is further allusion to a "black knight," one who does not wear his true colors. Hamlet is a "black knight" in that he is not wearing his princely colors, but instead his black mourning clothes. This connects back to Gertrude saying he should cast off his nighted color, punning with "knighted."
Sable also puns with "sabell," which was a word used to mean "flame-colored," according to the writings of Henry Peacham. (Credit to Wightwick, "The Critic" 1854.) The name Pyrrhus means "the color of fire," which matches Peacham's meaning of "sabell." Thus, Hamlet is further likening himself to Pyrrhus, with both the "sable arms" idea, and the "color of fire" idea from Pyrrhus's name. Suit of sables, by the "sabell" pun, means "suit of Pyrrhus," or "suit like Pyrrhus." Hamlet is, figuratively speaking, hunting Claudius with his play, the way Pyrrhus hunted Priam in battle.
Hamlet's forgotten line is facetious reference to his intent to remind everyone of the death of his father, especially Claudius.
The by'r Lady and the mention of churches is Hamlet's attempt to rouse Ophelia's religious beliefs, and remind her of the nunnery. He hasn't given up hope she might go to a nunnery, well away from Elsinore.
Also, Hamlet's he, in the churches line, means himself; Hamlet intends, if he can become King, to build a church in memorial to his father, and Hamlet says if he can't do that, he, himself, doesn't deserve to be remembered. Hamlet's intent is specific enough, he hopes to get the church built within half a year, before winter sets in, with freezing weather, and interferes with construction. This supports that the play is set in springtime.
The hobby-horse was an act, in some shows, that was considered vulgar by the Puritans in England, and was sometimes banned. The idea of the hobby-horse being remembered, although banned, alludes to Hamlet's memory of his father, despite Claudius's attempt to "ban" the memory of Hamlet Sr. The general idea is of something being remembered by people despite being forbidden by authority.
Hobby-horse further alludes to Hamlet's fear Ophelia will be forgotten, although he thinks she should be his queen. A hobby is something people do for pleasure, and horse implies riding. Hamlet misapprehends that Claudius "rides" Ophelia for pleasure, so to speak, and he fears that, in consequence, she will ultimately end her life abandoned and forgotten. Suffer not thinking on, here, means Hamlet suffers to think about it, and would rather not.
hw 1990, to hw 2002- (trumpets sound;
a dumb show begins)
Enter a King and a Queen;
the Queen embracing him, and he her; he
takes her up, and declines his head upon her neck; he lies him down upon
a bank of flowers; she, seeing him asleep, leaves him. Anon come in
another man, takes off his crown, kisses it, pours poison in the sleeper's ears,
and leaves him. The Queen returns, finds the King dead, makes passionate
action; the Poisoner with some three or four come in again, seem to
condole with her; the dead body is carried away; the Poisoner woos the Queen
with gifts; she seems harsh awhile, but in the end accepts love.
---
The Dumb Show is a theatrical performance, and its staging is vastly important to whether it is appreciated by the audience, especially since it lacks dialogue. So, let's look at everything that can possibly be gleaned about the staging.
This is the Banquet Hall, not a theater. Elsinore doesn't have a theater, since there's generally no use for one. Everybody who can be there, is there, to enjoy this unique opportunity. The house is packed. There's no true stage; carpenters have probably nailed together a temporary stage, rather small and low by theatrical standards. It can't be theater-in-the-round because the actors couldn't enter and exit with a large audience pressing in all around them. The actors are performing at the end of the room, most likely, with the rest of the room filled with audience. This gives the semblance of a standard theater.
Claudius and Gertrude are front-row center, naturally, since they're the King and Queen of the nation. The performance is close in front of them. It might be as close as six feet or so. Hamlet will want it as close as practical, to try to ensure Claudius can see it well, and it would be pretty close in front of them, in any event. Claudius will need to be able to see the hand motion, as the Poisoner pours the poison in the King's ear, which is a small detail for viewing.
Gertrude is seated to Claudius's left. They both sit upright, in a dignified, formal way. This is not a "rouse," it's a formal, public occasion.
Polonius, Claudius's right hand man, would ordinarily be seated to Claudius's immediate right. That would make the seating, in a line from left to right, Gertrude - Claudius - Polonius - Ophelia - Hamlet. However, we can be sure that's wrong.
For one thing, Polonius has an obvious body odor problem. Claudius would not tolerate it for two hours. It's clear, later in Hamlet, that Claudius is aware of Polonius's odor. As King, Claudius can do something about it. He moves Polonius several feet away to the right, and probably blames the seating on servants who made a mistake, to excuse it to Polonius. That the seating is not in a simple line is confirmed when Hamlet says he can see his mother's face. If Hamlet were seated straight to the right, he couldn't see her face because Claudius would be in the way.
Since Hamlet can see his mother's face, beyond Claudius, the front-row chairs are set in an arc. The arc is made to focus on the small, one- and two-person show. With Hamlet some feet away, to the right, along the arc, he will be able to look beyond Claudius to see Gertrude's face. The arc is pretty severe; it's sort of theater in the half-round, nearly. This is confirmed in that Ophelia will notice immediately when Claudius rises. Claudius must be well within her field of view, for her to notice it instantly.
Shakespeare did not only do playscripts. He did theater. We can be fully confident he knew the Dumb Show was a performance, and he made his dialogue compatible with the show staging. He knew perfectly well, both from his own intelligence and from his experience, that the audience had to be able to see the show, and his characters had to be able to see what they talked about. Theater is fundamentally visual. The fact that we have only his remaining playscripts is misleading, tending to suggest that his primary activity was authoring, but it wasn't. His primary activity was Theater.
So, the front-row seating is a rather steep arc. Claudius, the King, is in the center. Hamlet is some distance away to the right along the arc, perhaps eight or ten feet.
How is the performance oriented, is it toward Claudius? The answer is: no.
The players are in service to Hamlet, and they are there especially to perform for Hamlet. Also, in his coaching instructions, he gave the players the impression they were to concentrate on him, in particular. He neglected to tell them to be sure Claudius had the best view. That is not an oversight by the author.
If Hamlet had sat beside Gertrude, it would have been no problem. Claudius and Hamlet would have had nearly the same viewing angle, from that close together. But, when Hamlet moved to Ophelia, so he could keep an eye on Claudius's face, Hamlet turned the player's performance significantly toward himself, by a rather large angle, and away from Claudius.
Hamlet left Claudius with a bad angle, to watch the show. If you don't think Shakespeare did that, or knew that, you are simply wrong. It's the explanation for why Claudius does not react to the Dumb Show. In other words, it's the explanation for why the author did not write any lines in the playscript for Claudius to react to the Dumb Show. He knew Claudius wouldn't react to the Dumb Show, from the way he had it set up.
In the Dumb Show, when the King lies down, he lies face-on to Hamlet. When the Poisoner approaches, he approaches from the King's back. He does not step in front of the King and kneel, since that would put his back to his audience. He kneels behind the King's back, facing his audience, Hamlet.
The Poisoner is, by all odds, right handed. He will pour the poison in the King's ear with his right hand. To Hamlet, it will look fine. What does Claudius see, from his position, so to speak, "in the wings?"
Claudius is to the Poisoner's right. As the Poisoner leans, and reaches to pour the poison in the King's ear, Claudius sees shoulder, and the sleeve of the upper arm, and . . . that's all. He cannot see the hand.
Claudius cannot see the detail that the Poisoner is pouring something into the King's ear. It will be clear enough, to Claudius, that the Poisoner has killed the King, somehow, but he doesn't know how. He may think the Poisoner has slit the King's throat, or stabbed him, or suffocated him, or any way a killing could be done. There is no dialogue in the Dumb Show to explain to Claudius what he can't see. The absence of dialogue, so there's no verbal explanation for Claudius, is why the author made it a dumb show.
The reason why Claudius doesn't react to the Dumb Show is: he can't see the poisoning, and there's no speech to tell him it's happening.
Hamlet is a connoisseur of acting, and playwriting, but he is a rank amateur at staging. This is his first staging attempt. Shakespeare, the grand master of theater in all its aspects, has given Hamlet a beginner's mistake: failure to orient his show properly so his intended audience can see what he wants them to see.
Historically, there has been much academic speculation about why Claudius doesn't react to the Dumb Show. Various logical, and psychological, explanations have been offered and debated. But it isn't a matter of logic, or a subtlety of psychology, and it isn't something you can look up in a library. The Dumb Show is theater, and the answer is theatrical. The historical commentators haven't even been working within the right subject category. It's a practical problem in theater.
Stage it. Perform it, precisely according to the "instructions" embedded in Hamlet. Then you'll know, and the answer is, oh, so simple.
The mouse can't see the cheese. The viewing angle is wrong.
Gertrude's viewing angle is even worse, by the way.
Shakespeare was a genius. It isn't an empty word, when applied to him. Believe it. Also, he did theater, not just writing. One must keep that in mind, as well. To appreciate a theatrical performance, the author well knew, one must be able to see it.
It's Shakespeare, the old pro, saying to the rank amateur, Hamlet: "y'know, kid, it kinda helps if you turn the show toward the audience."
Hamlet doesn't realize the problem with the Dumb Show because, to him, it looks great. He has the perfect viewing angle. Hamlet can't see it from Claudius's position. When Hamlet looks at Claudius, he'll see Claudius frowning, and think he's getting to Claudius. But Claudius is frowning because he can't tell exactly what's happening, and he's annoyed.
A significant detail of the Dumb Show is the gifts. There is association with the gifts Hamlet saw Claudius giving Gertrude before they were married, and his painfully mistaken idea about Claudius and Ophelia, and "rich gifts."
It is significant that the Queen seemed harsh a while, but then accepted the Poisoner, for some reason. Was it really gifts that changed the mind of the Queen of a nation, a woman who already has spectacular diamonds, and that motivated her to marry a man who has no "thing?"
hw 2003, to hw 2005- Ophelia: What means this, my Lord?
Hamlet: Marry, this munching malhechor, it means mischief.
---
Ophelia's question is a warning sign. She saw the Dumb Show as well as Hamlet did, but she doesn't know what it portrayed. It is not easily understandable how, in pantomime, merely holding a small object close to a person's ear could kill him. Hamlet doesn't realize that. His personal knowledge explained it, to him, but Ophelia and the audience are ignorant of what the Ghost said. Claudius would have known, if he'd seen it.
Ophelia, with her question, gave Hamlet an opportunity to clear up all the confusion and doubt by directly stating the facts of what the Dumb Show meant. He fails to do so. He knew what it all meant, and he doesn't realize how much an explanation to others is necessary. Hamlet, in his own way, can be nearly as bad as Polonius, even though he's much smarter and more knowledgeable: when he's wrapped up in his own ideas he's still quite verbal, but becomes uncommunicative. Polonius, by habit, recites sayings, while Hamlet makes wonderfully intricate and subtle allusions from his wealth of knowledge, and his sheer brainpower, but in either case, there is no communication with others, and the essential feature of language is lost in self indulgence.
This is an irony in the play, intentional by the author, that Hamlet, despite his word power, misses verbal opportunities.
Marry is both the archaic oath, and a reference to marriage, as Hamlet speaks to Ophelia.
Munching is correct in the playtext; it means "feasting," and has reference to the play as a "feast," the idea of the audience "feasting" on the play. As to the Folio word, "miching," I do not think the author would have given up his "eating" metaphor, especially since he continued to use it significantly, further along, so I cannot accept the Folio word as an authorial change. I suggest the Folio word, although it can be taken in a sensible way, is an editorial misunderstanding in the Folio, arising from the abundance of the English language. The capitalization in the Folio tends to indicate a word substitution by the editor, for something he had trouble understanding, although capitalization in the Folio is not reliable.
Malhechor is a Spanish word meaning "malefactor." The original printing drops the final "r," which may be intentional by the author, who was often careless of word endings as he sought the speech rhythm and sound he wanted. I take the liberty of adding the terminal "r."
The phrase munching malhechor then means "feasting bad actor." A "bad acter/bad actor" is both somebody who does evil, and also a bad stage performer. The phrase refers, first, to Claudius. Hamlet is calling Claudius a "bad actor" who is feasting on the play. Hamlet uses the Spanish word to ensure Claudius won't understand. Hamlet doesn't realize he'd be better off, at this point, if Claudius did understand what he was seeing.
When Hamlet says mischief, he's revealing what he means by the Spanish word, although it isn't the dictionary definition. Here, the it refers back to malhechor. Hamlet says the Spanish word, and then immediately "translates." A malefactor is one who does mischief.
Further, a king is a chief, so mischief (mis-chief) can be taken as "bad king." The "feasting bad actor" means a "bad king," says Hamlet. Still further, mischief has a root meaning of "causing grief," referring to Hamlet's grief for his father, that Claudius has caused.
Hamlet is telling Ophelia the truth, in that the Dumb Show was about Claudius's "mischief," and also the play is intended by Hamlet to do "mischief" to Claudius, in catching his conscience and revealing his guilt. For Claudius, in relation to the show, mischief has a double meaning.
Hamlet, himself, is being a "bad actor" in the audience, as he talks, makes crude jokes, confuses things, and distracts the audience members who can hear him. In this way, munching malhechor applies to Hamlet, himself, who is doing mischief, as he "feasts" on the play, and who is being a "bad acter" in the audience.
Further, the line has reference to Ophelia. The author wrote the mischief line to apply to three of his characters, all at the same time, with about nine different meanings, all told, in application to them. A person might suppose that impossible, except, there it is.
For Ophelia, she is "munching" on the play feast, like everyone else. Hamlet believes her to be a malefactor, in her imagined courtesan role with Claudius. He saw her be a "bad actor" in the Nunnery Scene. Here, the word marry becomes a reference to marriage. Mischief, in reference to Claudius, meant "murder," and here it has the same meaning. Hamlet is saying that if Ophelia marries Claudius, he'll kill her, with the "he" ambiguous. For this meaning, the comma after marry would be removed.
hw 2006, to hw 2008- Ophelia: Belike this show imports the argument of the play.
Hamlet: We shall know by this fellow.
---
Ophelia is disappointed that Hamlet didn't explain it. She always appreciated how well he was able to explain things, with his "courtier's eye," since it was such a welcome change from her father, who is hopeless at explaining anything, and with her, doesn't even try. She forgives Hamlet, sadly, because of his "madness."
Imports means "communicates," or "presents." Argument means "synopsis," and has undertone to the contention between Hamlet and Claudius. Ophelia takes it that the "communication" of the Dumb Show was a synopsis of the play to follow. Ophelia is not an experienced playgoer, and it's an impressively intelligent guess. The author continues to characterize Ophelia as a very intelligent young woman, hampered by a lack of facts, when people don't tell her things. She'd show both beauty, and brains, if people would give her a chance.
Her remark will produce a smile from those nearby who are experienced playgoers. A dumb show did not usually show the same thing as the play. The general topic would be the same, in some way. But despite her naiveté Ophelia has concluded correctly, and the more knowledgeable playgoers are wrong, in this instance. It's another instance of irony.
Hamlet made the Dumb Show storyline the same as the play, to help drive home the point to Claudius. But in doing so, he has misled the experienced playgoers in the audience, who will expect the play to be significantly different from the Dumb Show. Claudius has probably been to some plays that included dumb shows, and thinks the Dumb Show, that he couldn't see well, is different from the play. However, based on Ophelia's remark, where she was only guessing, Hamlet now mistakenly believes people are understanding it all, and that Claudius will.
Hamlet avoids confirming what Ophelia said. He thinks he has to be mysterious about everything, since he's trying to fool Claudius. It would be greatly to his benefit, however, if the audience, including Claudius, had a clear understanding of the story, to put pressure on Claudius. Claudius, at this time, is only annoyed; he is, indeed, fooled - completely, which is not the idea. Hamlet is fooling Claudius too much. Claudius's reaction, to things he can't understand at all, will only be puzzlement.
hw 2009, to hw 2022- (A player enters to do the Prologue)
(Hamlet continues): The players cannot keep, they'll tell all.
Ophelia: Will he tell us what this show meant?
Hamlet: Aye, or any show that you will show him; be not you ashamed
to show, he'll not shame to tell you what it means.
Ophelia: You are naught, you are naught, I'll mark the play.
Prologue: For us, and for our Tragedy,
Here stooping to your clemency,
We beg your hearing patiently.
Hamlet: Is this a Prologue, or the posy of a ring?
Ophelia: 'Tis brief, my Lord.
Hamlet: As woman's love.
---
A prologue is an introduction to a play. It would be the Prologue, typically, and not the Dumb Show, that would give a synopsis of the play, to assist the audience in following the events of the play. However, this prologue fails to give the synopsis.
Hamlet did not provide a proper Prologue, since he thought the Dumb Show would serve the purpose, making the usual kind of prologue redundant. Ophelia's imports the argument remark has now misled him that he was right.
The prologue that the players already had apparently did not suit Hamlet's purpose, so he must have told them to do something else. They've filled in with a short, generic, ad-lib. It's less than Hamlet expected, but if he wanted more he should have done it himself. The players don't know of his specific goal for the play.
Cannot keep is wordplay. The root meaning of "keep" is "behold." The players don't behold, the audience does, as the players do the telling, the oration. For a show, the audience "keeps" and the players "tell." If the players "kept," it would only be the audience and the players staring at each other, with no "telling." The players cannot "keep" if they're going to do a show. There's likewise the compatible meaning that the players cannot "keep it to themselves" if they're going to present a show. The Folio word "counsel" probably does not belong in the line, since it ruins the keep wordplay which is present in Q2. However, the Folio line can be read as offering advance allusion to Hamlet later attempting to keep Polonius's body hidden, where Polonius is the "counsel" and Hamlet is attempting to "keep counsel." It's possible Q2 and the Folio are both authorial, with the Folio change offering allusion to Polonius's body, and to Hamlet's conversation with R & G in the later Scene, where mention of "keeping counsel" will appear again.
Hamlet is being a player, as he speaks to his audience, Ophelia, and he is, in a way, telling all about his mistaken idea of Ophelia and Claudius, using intricately convoluted allusions. He's so emotional about his mistaken idea, he can't entirely keep it to himself. Although Ophelia is smart, she can't fathom his allusions, however.
Hamlet's Aye in reply to Ophelia's question is not really false. The Prologue player will say "tragedy," and the Dumb Show did mean tragedy. Hamlet's reply to her, although true in a way, is not informative.
In his show line, Hamlet is saying "shame" to Ophelia, based on his mistaken notion. He's telling her that her supposed conduct means shame. He phrases it in the form of a crude joke about her showing her nudity, he presumes, (to Claudius.) He thinks he was seeing her shame when she blushed at him in the Nunnery Scene, and he thinks he's seeing shame as she blushes at his remarks here. In neither case is he correct. She was embarrassed, earlier, when she first faced him in her father's scheme in the Nunnery Scene, and she's embarrassed at Hamlet's remarks, here, not showing shame.
Ophelia's naught is subtle wordplay. Naught means "nothing." It goes back to Claudius's nothing ("no thing") line. In this undertone, she's telling Hamlet, in response to his lewd remarks, that he's no "thing." In other words, she doesn't want his "thing," at least not right there in the audience. She was hoping he'd be her "thing" on their wedding night. In plain reading, she's saying his comments are improper, and are useless to explain what's going on in the play events. Naught also has an undertone of "evil" going back to Hamlet's "let the Devil wear black" line, alluding to his feeling devilish. In this concept, God is "everything," and the Devil is "nothing."
A posy is a short verse, from the idea of a poem being a flower, and wordplay with "poesy." A tiny poem can be engraved inside a ring, such as the wedding ring Hamlet had planned to give Ophelia.
Hamlet says woman's love is brief, while Ophelia, who loves him, looks at him and thinks that man's love is brief. She takes no offense at his line, because she knows from her own feelings that he can't mean her. Her love for him isn't "brief." It sounds to her that he's reciting a snippet of poesy, following the posy mention.
hw 2023, to hw 2039+2- (the play begins;
the King and Queen players enter)
King: Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone round
Neptune's salt wash, and Tellus orbed the ground,
And thirty dozen moons with borrowed sheen
About the world have times twelve thirties been
Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands
Unite comutual in most sacred bands.
Queen: So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make us again count o'er, ere love be done,
But woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So far from cheer, and from our former state,
That I distrust you, yet though I distrust,
Discomfort you my Lord it nothing must.
For women fear too much, even as they love,
And women's fear and love hold quantity,
Either none, in neither ought, or in extremity,
Now what my Lord is proof hath made you know,
And as my love is sized, my fear is so,
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear,
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.
---
The most important "scholarly" observation about the verse concerns the line, For women fear too much, even as they love. The line has no rhyming line to go with it. That fact has historically been interpreted as involving some error. Speculation has centered on whether the line is a cancellation which should not have been printed, or another line, to go with it, has been lost in printing. Both speculations are wrong. The line is correct, exactly as shown in Q2.
Observe the structure of the poetry. The King speaks six rhymed lines. Because he speaks first, his speech establishes the stanza structure of the poetry. The Queen then speaks six rhymed lines - then the line in question occurs - then the Queen speaks six more rhymed lines. The verse is in stanzas of six rhymed lines. The unrhymed line was used, intentionally, by the author, to maintain the poetic structure, dividing the Queen's twelve rhymed lines into two stanzas of six, and thereby matching the Queen's verse to the pattern set by the King.
The line in question is authorial and intentional, and stands alone, without a rhyming line. It must be included, as it stands, in any authentic edition of Hamlet. It is a divider, or spacer, substituting for a change of voice that does not occur. It preserves stanza. Without it, the Queen would have a stanza of twelve.
Historically, commentators have erred about the line in question, because they have neglected a basic fact of rhymed, structured poetry: the number of lines in a stanza. 12 is not the same as 6. The author, however, observed the basics carefully as he wrote this part of Hamlet. Shakespeare knew a 12-line stanza is not a 6-line stanza. I have, so far, found no evidence that any previous commentators on, or editors of, Hamlet have even bothered to count the lines to determine a stanza structure, or have even noticed stanzas were in use. That's highly unfortunate, and a black mark against Shakespeare scholarship. The play, "The Murder of Gonzago," that the Players already had in their repertoire, was written in six line stanzas.
It's true the lines that will follow do not preserve the stanza structure. Hamlet will disrupt the pre-existing stanzas with the changes he made.
In the King's speech, his first two lines mean a month. Phoebus' cart is the chariot of the sun god, which is reference to the sun, itself. Neptune's salt wash refers to the tides of the ocean. Those phrases combine to mean the sun circling the earth thirty times, causing the tides to ebb and flow at each revolution.
Tellus is the goddess of the earth, in Roman mythology. The phrase, Tellus orbed the ground means the earth goddess caused the dry land to rotate, or "circle" (thirty times, as the King stated.) The word "orb" comes from a root meaning of "circle." Orbed is used as a verb here, meaning circled, or turned, like a wheel. There is some allusion to the Wheel of Fortune, which is a theme in the play.
In sum, the King's first two lines mean the sun going around the earth thirty times, causing tides in the ocean, and then also the earth turning thirty times. The expressions accomodate both the fixed earth and the moving earth ideas of astronomy.
Thirty dozen moons means 360 months, which is thirty years. The phrase twelve times thirties then repeats the same numbers. However, the author has intentionally written the verse in a way that's hard to follow, and has done so for a reason. It is intended that the "Mousetrap" play audience should be uncertain about the amount of time the King is describing.
Most people are very poor at multiplication based on spoken words, without pencil and paper or a calculating device, and especially while they're listening to another person who continues to talk. Indeed, it is impossible for a normal person to do arithmetic in his head while he tries to listen carefully to poetry being recited.
Quickly, now, in your head, calculate thirty dozen, then reconcile it with times twelve thirties, and do that within the length of time it takes for you to hear the words spoken by somebody talking at normal conversational speed, while the person continues to talk, in verse, as you're trying to calculate. And, are you supposed to multiply thirty dozen times twelve thirties? If you do, you will get 129,600, which is 360 squared. What's that supposed to mean, in the play? Nothing, of course. The twelve thirties is merely a repeat of thirty dozen, but the word times between those phrases makes it seem like a double multiplication.
The author has done it intentionally. He has, brilliantly, written the verse to make it impossible for normal people to calculate the numbers while the lines are being spoken, and while the audience is trying to appreciate the poetry. The author knew people couldn't do it. The "Mousetrap" audience will be forced to give up on the arithmetic, but they'll easily hear "moon" which indicates a month. That would be about the length of time Gertrude and Claudius have been married.
Shakespeare was a genius. Take it seriously. He's offered the calculation correctly in writing, for a result of "30 years," but he phrased it, in verse, so no normal person will be able to handle the calculation from the spoken language recited in verse by the actors. The people in the audience will drop the arithmetic, and grasp at words. They'll get "moon" which means "month," and when they do, they'll think the King is Claudius, if they think "King" refers to anybody they know. A month is about how long Claudius and Gertrude have been married.
Hamlet doesn't perceive the problem. He already knows the play, and what the numbers are supposed to mean. Hamlet doesn't realize the difficulty for everyone else, including Claudius, who don't already know the play.
In the King's speech, his first two lines mean one month, and his next two lines mean thirty years. He is saying to his Queen that it has been one month since their thirtieth wedding anniversary. They've been married for thirty years, plus thirty days. Hamlet already knows that, and it sounds fine to him, that the "thirty years" will certainly make the King, Hamlet Sr. However, nobody else in the audience can handle the versified arithmetic to get the thirty years, and they'll grasp at the length of the marriage possibly being a month, which suggests Claudius as the King in the play, if the audience takes the play as having relevance to them.
The essential point about the Player King's first four lines is, that while Hamlet, who knows the play, will think the versified arithmetic firmly makes the King Hamlet Sr, the others in the audience cannot do the arithmetic as the speech goes by, and will easily think the play King is Claudius. Hamlet is not achieving his objective with the play, but he doesn't realize that.
The line, And as my love is sized, my fear is so, is ambiguous. Sized can mean "made large," or it can mean "glazed over," in the sense of "hidden." In the Player's recital to Hamlet, earlier, "o'ersized" was used to mean "covered," or "hidden." The line here could be read as, "Because my love is hidden, my fear is so..." Depending on how the audience hears it, they could again think the King is Claudius, and Gertrude had "hidden" love for him when she was married to Hamlet Sr.
People have noticed that Claudius is far from cheer as he frets about Hamlet. So, another phrase in the poetry could be heard as the King being Claudius.
People never saw any sign that Gertrude distrusted Hamlet Sr, or at least no such thing is mentioned in Hamlet. The "distrust" idea works against the play King being taken as Hamlet Sr. The Queen is intending to say she doesn't "trust" the King's health. Claudius drinks a lot and isn't in very good shape, so again this will tend to suggest, to those in the audience who follow it, that the play King is Claudius. Whether the audience hears the "distrust" line as a reference to the King, himself, or as a reference to his health, either way, it more suggests Claudius than Hamlet Sr.
If people get the Claudius as "King" idea, they'll hear the ought - extremity line as meaning Gertrude never loved Hamlet Sr at all, but always loved Claudius completely.
Hamlet intends the King to be Hamlet Sr. That's a certainty. The King has to be Hamlet Sr, to shows it's Claudius murdering him. People won't get it, if they think Claudius is the King. It will look to them like somebody killing Claudius. Hamlet doesn't notice the problem, because he already knows what the play is supposed to mean.
Gertrude is hearing it, too. The love - fear lines are odd, and can make it sound like the more one loves a person, the more one should fear that person. If fear and love go together, you should fear somebody you love. Gertrude loves Hamlet, so, should she fear him? In the Closet Scene, later, Gertrude, who loves Hamlet, will abruptly become worried about being murdered by him.
Ophelia, who loves Hamlet, was fearful of him in the Nunnery Scene. The lines in the play make that sound normal. It isn't.
And anyway, if the play King is Claudius, who would want to kill Claudius? If people happen to think the King is Claudius, who will they think the killer is?
If Claudius, himself, gets the idea that he's the King in the play, then as the play goes along, and the King in the play is murdered, who will he think wants to kill him? - after he heard Hamlet say emphatically, in the Nunnery Scene, "all but one shall live."
hw 2040, to hw 2053- King: Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly, too;
My operant powers their functions leave to do,
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honored, beloved, and haply one as kind,
For husband shalt thou . . .
Queen: Oh, confound the rest!
Such love must needs be treason in my breast;
In second husband let me be accurst;
None wed the second, but who killed the first.
Hamlet (aside): That's wormwood.
(Queen continues):
The instances that second marriage move
Are base respects of thrift, but none of love,
A second time I kill my husband dead,
When second husband kisses me in bed.
---
In some commentary in the past, it's been thought pointless to try to find lines Hamlet added to the play. However, it's an easy problem to find Hamlet's changes. Simply look for where Hamlet speaks, for one thing. He, himself, is marking where he added or changed lines. Notice, also, the interruption in the verse, above, indicating a change where the Queen begins to speak. Further, there's an abrupt change in emotion. The verse is sentimental up until the Queen's exclamation.
The Queen's speech is 8 lines - not 6. But as pointed out earlier in these Notes, the stanza scheme for "The Murder of Gonzago" is sestets, six line stanzas. The Queen's speech does not obey the poetry scheme of the play.
After the play, when Hamlet will talk with Horatio, he'll reveal his daydream of being a playwright. Here, while the play is being performed, and Hamlet hears his own lines being spoken in a real professional play - gosh! - he can't resist making a small remark.
Hamlet has changed the Queen's speech. We know that, because:- * There's an abrupt change of mood.
- * Hamlet comments.
- * The stanza changes, from 6 to 8 lines. Hamlet, with his changes, has not abided by the given stanza scheme of the Player's pre-existing play in their repertoire; "The Murder of Gonzago" was written as rhymed couplets in 6-line stanzas.
Regarding word usage, and allusion to events, Hamlet mentioned "thrift" to Horatio, earlier, when they first met at Elsinore, and Hamlet heard about the Ghost. In the Closet Scene, later, Hamlet will complain "madly" about Gertrude being in bed with Claudius. In that Scene, the Ghost will appear a second time to Hamlet.
Wormwood means "poison." In the Bible, Book of Revelations, Wormwood was the name of a star that fell into the rivers and poisoned them. Hamlet knew Jephthah, and he knows Wormwood, too. Hamlet is commenting where he added "poison" to Claudius's play "feast." Hamlet's comment is spoken aloud to himself; it is neither an aside to the audience, nor addressed to another character.
Claudius is supposed to hear the clause who killed the first as "who killed Gertrude's first husband?" It's supposed to start working on Claudius's conscience. It isn't going to work if Claudius thinks he's the King in the play.
If Gertrude is the play Queen, when the Queen says, A second time I kill my husband dead, it makes Gertrude sound like a "black widow" husband killer planning her second murder while she's in bed with Claudius. That would make the answer to who killed the first = Gertrude. But Hamlet wants to show Claudius as the murderer, in a way that Claudius and everyone will see it. Hm.
Gertrude, while in bed with Claudius, is planning to kill him? Gertrude? Interesting thought. Nothing in Hamlet is simple.
The play poetry is highly ambiguous as a story. This is intentional by the author.
It makes Claudius sound like the King, Gertrude sound like a "black widow" Queen, and as the play proceeds it'll give the impression somebody is out to kill Claudius. Not quite what Hamlet wanted.
hw 2054, to hw 2067- King: I do believe you think what now you speak,
But what we do determine, oft' we break,
Purpose is but the slave to memory,
Of violent birth, but poor validity,
Which now the fruit unripe sticks on the tree,
But fall unshaken when they mellow be.
Most necessary 'tis that we forget
To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt,
What to ourselves in passion we propose,
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose;
The violence of either, grief or joy,
Their own ennactures with themselves destroy,
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament,
Grief joy, joy grieves, on slender accident;
---
I skip detailed analysis of the above here. It contains nice allusions to Hamlet, Claudius, and Hamlet Sr, also the Ghost, the later Closet Scene, and the Prayer Scene.
The notable allusion is to Ophelia, in the third line from the bottom. Ophelia is Polonius's "enacture," so to speak, and her "violent" joy - grief? - at her father's death will lead to her own destruction. Where her joy most revels, when she will make crown wreaths in celebration, grief will most lament her death.
Notice, in the verse, the mention of something falling from a tree. Mellow means soft, sweet, gentle.
The word accident requires special attention. It was not written there by the author by accident. A "sliver" is slender.
In the last line, in the phrase Grief joy, the singular of joy is correct. Grief is an adjective there. Joy will grieve over the slender accident during Ophelia's grief joy.
The verse, here, says unshaken, but there's another verse somewhere that says, Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.
O, Rose of May! Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia . . . Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate, Ophelia.
- Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, from their slender slivers,
- And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
- Sometime too hot the "son" shines, as he glares at you in the Nunnery Scene,
- And often is his gold complexion dimmed, by melancholy,
- And every fair from fair sometime declines, as it falls from the tree of life,
- By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
- But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Ophelia,
- Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest, to the world,
- Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
- When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, in Hamlet.
- So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, to read Hamlet,
- So long lives this, your story, Ophelia, and this gives life to thee.
The King's speech is 14 lines up to the word accident - that's sonnet length. The rhyme pattern is different from a Shakespearean Sonnet, of course, since "The Murder of Gonzago" is in couplets.
In this "King's Sonnet," which contains allusion to Ophelia's death, the word accident is the final word. That's from the author's own hand.
Shakespeare did that intentionally. The author was a genius. Believe it. Take it seriously.
About the word temperate, the Temperance card in the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck shows the same maiden as the Moon card does.-
There are no "spacer" lines in the King's speech, as earlier in the Queen's, because it would have disrupted the 14-line sonnet form here. The author discontinued that, to keep the "sonnet."
The King then continues.
hw 2068, to hw 2083- This world is not for aye, nor 'tis not strange,
That even our loves should, with our fortunes, change.
For, 'tis a question left us yet to prove,
Whether love lead fortune, or else fortune love.
The great man down, you mark, his favorite flies;
The poor, advanced, makes friends of enemies;
And hitherto doth love on fortune tend,
For who not needs, shall never lack a friend,
And who in want, a hollow friend doth try,
Directly seasons him his enemy.
But orderly to end where I begun,
Our wills and fates do so contrary run,
That our devises still are overthrown,
Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own,
So think thou wilt no second husband wed,
But die thy thoughts when thy first Lord is dead.
---
The first two lines are on the Fortune theme, and Hamlet's fickleness mistake about women, and the lines connect back to Hamlet's talk with R & G when he said, "It is not very strange." The verse then proceeds with numerous pertinent allusions. These are not lines added by Hamlet, they're allusions by the author.
The love lead fortune line has allusions to both luck and wealth in relation to love. In that line, Whether is pronounced approximately as "where," so there is wordplay, and allusion, on "where" love leads fortune, in addition to "whether."
The great man, in plain reading, refers to Hamlet Sr, but Hamlet is also essentially a great man who is very "down" at this time, and under the misapprehension that his favorite, Ophelia, has flown.
The King's speech, altogether, is 30 lines, which is five stanzas of 6. It conforms with the sestet structure of "The Murder of Gonzago," and is correctly interpreted as part of the original play.
The most notable allusion is in the line, our devises still are overthrown. Hamlet's Mousetrap is a "devise," and the audience is getting the wrong idea about who the King is, in the play. The devise is being overthrown, by ambiguity, like Ralph's letter in Ralph Roister Doister.
hw 2084, to hw 2089- Queen: Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven light,
Sport and repose lock from me day and night,
To desperation turn my trust and hope,
And anchor's cheer in prison be my scope;
Each opposite that blanks the face of joy,
Meet what I would have well, and it destroy,
Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife . . .
Hamlet: If she should break it now.
(Queen continues):
. . . If once I be a widow, ever I be a wife.
---
Hamlet's comment again reveals lines he added. The Queen has eight lines here, as in her earlier speech already discussed. This, plus her earlier eight, gives sixteen. If Hamlet had added, or changed, 12 lines, he'd have obeyed the stanza length of the preexisting play. But, Hamlet is verbose, and did add, or change, 16 of the lines, departing from the sestet structure.
Also, Hamlet's addition of lines for the Queen shows that the Player he drew aside for a private talk, earlier, in Scene 7, about adding "12 or 16" lines to the play, was the lad who plays the women characters. The Queen is, of course, a woman. Hamlet's word "old" in the earlier dialogue was facetious, and spoken to tease Polonius. Hamlet was checking with the young actor, asking whether he felt up to the task of learning lines on such short notice. For his literal "old friend," the veteran actor of long experience, Hamlet would probably take it for granted he could learn a few lines on short notice.
When the players arrived, Hamlet commented on the lead actor's beard. Hamlet Sr had a beard, described by Horatio as sable silvered. The lead player is playing the King, most likely, and the lad is playing the Queen in this performance.
Claudius also has a beard, as he will later state. The detail of the beard does not differentiate Hamlet Sr from Claudius for the Mousetrap audience.
Anchor means "anchoress," a woman hermit. The word before it is correctly And, the conjunction, (not an article.) The Folio omission of the anchor line is serious error; the line provides allusion to where Hamlet saw Gertrude when he was a ghost in his nightmare.
Cheer means "sorrow," an ironical usage. In historical commentary, the idea of food has somehow snuck in, perhaps stemming from Johnson (1765,) but that's wrong. It's irony.
Blanks means "cancels."
Hamlet's interjection is spoken aloud, to himself, although loud enough that Gertrude can hear it. It should not be played as addressed to her, however. His interjection means that if the Queen breaks her promise, of not to be a wife again, lasting strife will indeed pursue her.
hw 2090, to hw 2096- King: 'Tis deeply sworn, sweet leave me here a while,
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.
Queen: Sleep rock thy brain,
And never come mischance between us twain.
(the King and Queen actors exit)
---
The stanza scheme fades out, appropriately, as the King sleeps. The Queen adds a closing couplet. The scene ends; the players exit - to applause, we're sure.
The Scene break is unfortunate, in a way. There's no continuity of action as there was in the Dumb Show. But the break is necessary to do the change of scene.
Deeply means "from the heart."
To beguile is to enjoy the time in a pleasant way. In plain reading, the King means he'll make the day pleasant by napping. In undertone, beguile means to deceive, to fool. The King will fool the day. How? The day would be fooled if the day thought it was night. Most sleeping is at night. By sleeping, the King intends to fool the day into thinking it's night.
If the day thought it was night, the day would put the moon in the sky instead of the sun. There is an historical tarot card which shows a man lying asleep, a woman nearby, and even though the background is light like daytime, it appears the moon is in the sky instead of the sun. Also, the man has a club close at hand in the tarot card picture, reminiscent of the mention of King Hamlet's truncheon.
The King is mistaken, however. It is not the day that is beguiled, but the King, himself, as his unsuspecting nap will turn the day into his eternal night.
The Ghost mentioned Hamlet Sr having the habit of an afternoon nap, a siesta, which is the time when Claudius killed him. Although it isn't specified for Claudius, he could easily have the same habit, as a royal custom, and a tendency from being near the same age as his brother. Be that as it may, it will not uniquely identify Hamlet Sr, in the eyes of the audience, when the King in the play takes a nap. Many people do, when they can.
hw 2097, to hw 2098- Hamlet: Madam, how like you this play?
Gertrude: The Lady doth protest too much, methinks.
---
Gertrude does not identify with the Queen character, for a basic reason. The Queen in the play isn't shown as having a son. She definitely, unmistakably has a son.
This is a fact that further makes it difficult for the audience to see the play King as Hamlet Sr. There's no Prince in the play, at least so far. Hamlet is the one producing the play, they all know, and as he talks, makes indecent remarks, and generally draws attention to himself, everybody in the room is very aware that Hamlet Sr and Gertrude had a son, with no doubt about it. Hamlet, himself, is reminding everybody of that fact in a way they can't miss. Hamlet doesn't see himself as others see him, and doesn't realize his own prominence.
Gertrude says the Queen protests too much, because Gertrude knows a specific reason why a Queen might remarry: a son she loves. Discussion of that, in these notes, will be given in a later Scene.
Gertrude is, by the way, unknowingly criticizing her son's playwrighting. One reason Hamlet asked her the question was to find out what she thought of his writing. Her reply disappoints him, in the artistic sense. Artistically, he was hoping she'd compliment the Queen's speech that he provided.
hw 2099- Hamlet: Oh, but she'll keep her word.
---
Hamlet means, about the strife, with the lines he added on his mind. Hamlet is hoping to catch Gertrude's conscience, too, with his Mousetrap play, if there's something there to catch. The remark is also allusive in anticipation of the Closet Scene, where Gertrude will experience "strife" from Hamlet, directly.
His allusive reply is a bad mistake, however. Hamlet makes it sound as though the play Queen will not remarry, which is her "word" she gave the King. That hurts the identification of Gertrude with the Queen in the play, among those who hear Hamlet say it, since Gertrude did remarry, of course. The more Hamlet says, the more it hurts what he's trying to do.
hw 2100, to hw 2103- Claudius: Have you heard the argument? Is there no offense in't?
Hamlet: No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest, no offense i'th world.
---
Since Claudius thinks he might be the King portrayed in the play, he's suspicious that Hamlet is intending to offend him somehow. He's gotten it that the King in the play is probably going to die. Hamlet's "truthful" reply, that there's no actual poisoning in the show, diverts the question. Hamlet is playing with the different meanings of offense.
Claudius's question of whether Hamlet has heard the argument of the play confirms that Claudius didn't see the Dumb Show synopsis in a way he could understand, as discussed earlier in these notes. Claudius is asking Hamlet for a synopsis of the play, and whether there's anything in the play that might be offensive to him. It affirms he didn't see the pantomime poisoning in the Dumb Show.
In jest puns with "ingest." Hamlet is punning on the idea of Claudius ingesting the "poison" he has figuratively added to the play "feast."
Hamlet still thinks he has to be mysterious, so he avoids a factual reply of what the play is about. He's hurting his own cause, again. A simple, factual statement of the events of the play - with no names mentioned - where others can hear it and understand, might startle Claudius at this point. But Hamlet diverts the question, leaving only uncertainty.
hw 2104, to hw 2111- Claudius: What do you call the play?
Hamlet: The Mousetrap. Marry, how tropically; this play is the image
of a murder done in Vienna; Gonzago is the Duke's name, his wife
Baptista; you shall see anon, 'tis a knavish piece of work, but what of
that? Your Majesty, and we that have free souls, it touches us not;
let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung. This is one
Lucianus, Nephew to the King.
---
Nephew?? Uh-oh.
Hamlet has talked too much (as he did in the earlier Nunnery Scene where he said "all but one shall live.") Anybody who talks too much will eventually make a mistake, and Hamlet, here, has talked too much to Claudius. Hamlet has just mistakenly identified the Poisoner in the play as the Nephew. Everyone nearby heard it.
Hamlet wants his play to be understood as Claudius killing Hamlet Sr, of course. That would be a brother killing a brother. Nephew has nothing to do with anything, as far as Hamlet's intent with the play is concerned.
Hamlet said "nephew" while speaking to Claudius because, for one reason, it's very much on Hamlet's mind that he's only Claudius's nephew, and not his son. So, the word slipped out, thoughtlessly. There is another reason for Hamlet's mistake, as will be mentioned further along. Hamlet doesn't hear his own mistake, and doesn't realize what he's done to confuse things.
Tropically means "figuratively;" the name Mousetrap is figurative. There's a pun with "trap - i - call - y," in response to Claudius's question. Claudius asked "What do you call..." and Hamlet's word, with the pun, can be read as, "Trap I call..."
Image is on the Mirror theme, with the idea of the play showing Claudius his own crime, like looking in a mirror. The Duke, etc., will be discussed at Claudius's exit. By the way, the galled jade line has allusion to equine coition; unwrung means "unclasped" in that allusion. The allusion relates to Hamlet's horribly mistaken idea about Ophelia and Claudius, and goes back to the hobby-horse mention.
Hamlet's Nephew mistake occurs after Claudius, and probably many others, have already gotten the idea that the King in the play might represent Claudius, if it's anyone they know. So, if the Poisoner is the Nephew - as Hamlet just blurted out by mistake - and the King is Claudius, that makes Hamlet, himself, the killer in the play.
Hamlet intended to present the play as being about Claudius killing King Hamlet, but through the ambiguity of the play, itself, and his own verbal errors, he's switched it all around, to make Claudius the King, and himself the Poisoner, as those in the audience may see it, if they take the play as relevant to them.
Hamlet has, however, gotten to Claudius by a different means, but Hamlet doesn't know it.
Killing a person by pouring poison into his ears is almost uniquely rare. Where would Claudius get such an idea? Would he really think of it all by himself?
The players already had a play in their repertoire: "The Murder of Gonzago." Why? Because the play was created to fictionalize an infamous crime that was publicized throughout Europe at the time it happened. The crime led to the play. So, Claudius already knew the Gonzago crime from a news story, as did everyone in Europe who paid attention to news events.
The Gonzago story is where Claudius got the idea for a way to kill his brother - and to get away with it, if he used a certain poison. Claudius's own inventiveness was only in the poison he used.
Hamlet, by mentioning Gonzago, has unknowingly identified Claudius's inspiration for how to kill his brother. That gets to Claudius, and scares him - when Hamlet mentions Gonzago it's like Hamlet can read his mind. And Hamlet said it right out loud, for everyone to hear.
Claudius didn't know the original name of the play. He didn't know "Gonzago" until Hamlet said it.
After Hamlet mentions the Gonzago story, Claudius is pale and shaken. His eyes glance around furtively to see if anybody has gotten any ideas from what Hamlet said. His throat moves as he swallows. Nobody notices the abrupt change in Claudius because their attention turns to the player who enters, as the play continues. Horatio is watching Claudius, but is behind him and can't see Claudius's face, or Horatio would spot it.
hw 2112, to hw 2113- (the Lucianus player enters)
Ophelia: You are as good as a chorus, my Lord.
---
No, Hamlet is not as good as a chorus. He's confused things terribly for the audience. But it's nice of Ophelia to say that. Ophelia is feeling comfortable with Hamlet again, and it makes her very happy.
Hamlet is paying attention to Ophelia - he can't resist her - and he doesn't see that Claudius has gone pale. Ophelia is paying attention to Hamlet; she can't resist him. They're in love.
A chorus was one or more performers who appeared at interludes in a play, to explain and elaborate on the story of the play. The chorus would recite prose or verse, and sometimes play music, sing or dance, in a performance relevant to the play.
hw 2114, to hw 2115- Hamlet: I could interpret between you and your love
If I could see the puppets dallying.
---
Hamlet is still on his mistaken idea about Ophelia and Claudius. He's referring to the Nunnery Scene, where he thinks he interrupted them while they were dallying, and Claudius tried to hide from him.
Ophelia's love is Hamlet. If he could see himself with her, objectively, with his keen eye, he would know who her love is, but he isn't able to see that he's the puppet dancing with Ophelia to Cupid's song.
The interpreter is a standard role for a puppet show, to explain the action. Hamlet's remark has further allusions.
An historical tarot card, the Love card in the Visconti-Sforza deck, shows the lover puppets dallying as Cupid pulls the strings.
hw 2116, to hw 2119- Ophelia: You are keen, my lord, you are keen.
Hamlet: It would cost you a groaning to take off mine edge.
Ophelia: Still better and worse.
---
Ophelia is complimenting Hamlet that he's sharp, intelligent. It follows her immediately earlier comment, and she's quite right; Hamlet is a bright fellow, but Shakespeare has put Hamlet way out of his league in trying to be a play producer.
Hamlet takes the opportunity to tease Ophelia about sex. She teases him back. His angry idea of embarrassing her in public has faded, as he enjoys being with her. His line here is only for her. She's more amused than offended, not really offended at all.
Keen means both "sharp-witted," and "ardent." Groaning refers to the groans, or moans, during sexual activity. But she has, indeed, "taken off his edge" by diverting him from keeping a keen eye on Claudius - Hamlet hasn't noticed that Claudius looks different now, after hearing Hamlet say "Gonzago."
In plain reading, Ophelia means Hamlet's words are better than she heard from him in the Nunnery Scene, but still not as proper as he should be and has previously been. She's gently attempting to correct him.
In significant undertone, Hamlet's "edge" is his desire to kill Claudius, and Hamlet mistakenly thinks Ophelia likes or even loves Claudius. He thinks Ophelia would groan with despair if he kills Claudius, and in that way it "takes off his edge."
The wedding vow includes the words better and worse. Hamlet plays with that as he continues.
hw 2120, to hw 2123- Hamlet: So you mistake your husbands. Begin murderer, leave
thy damnable faces and begin; come, the croaking raven doth bellow
for revenge!
---
Hamlet's husbands line refers to both Gertrude and Ophelia. He thinks Gertrude has "mis-taken" Claudius in taking him as her husband. Then, Hamlet feels in his heart that he's Ophelia's true husband, and thinks she's mistaken that emotional fact by abandoning him. She hasn't, that's his mistake.
Hamlet realizes that he's getting distracted by Ophelia, and overreacts when he turns his attention back to the play. Bellowing is something he specifically told the players not to do, but here, he does it in the audience.
"The Raven" is the historical war flag of Denmark, and is a triangular banner with a black raven on a red field. (Credit to Godwin, 1874.) With his Raven outburst, Hamlet is waving the war flag at Claudius, so to speak. Other allusions are there, including where the murderer is Claudius, who is showing a facial expression that "damns" him as Hamlet speaks. Following the Gonzago mention, Claudius is showing facial expressions of guilt, which Hamlet isn't observing, because Hamlet isn't expecting it yet.
Hamlet isn't doing a good job of riveting his eyes to Claudius's face as he'd intended, because, for one reason, he thinks Claudius is too ugly to look at. Hamlet will state that explicitly in the Closet Scene, later. He can hardly stand to look straight at Claudius.
Hamlet thinks it's near the point in the play where the play will get to Claudius. He doesn't see that he already "caught" Claudius with his own conversation at the mention of Gonzago. Hamlet is still trying to "chase" Claudius, with the play, not knowing Claudius is right there in Hamlet's personal grip. The "mousetrap" missed, but he's got the mouse in his hand and he doesn't know it.
hw 2124, to hw 2130- Lucianus: Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing,
Considerate season, else no creature seeing,
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected,
With Hecat's ban thrice blasted, thrice invected,
Thy natural magic, and dire property,
On wholesome life usurps immediately.
---
Black thoughts are evil thoughts. Season means "time." Else means "other," and the word order needs to be switched to see the meaning: else no means "no other." Lucianus is remarking that he's unobserved.
And, I guess I'd better point this out. I suppose I have to. If you don't want to know what the name Lucianus means, close your eyes. I do beg your pardon. Keep in mind Hamlet used the name in the play to refer to Claudius. The prefix "Luci-" is from the Latin for "light." The suffix, then, is "-anus." Put them together, and the name means, ahem, "bright asshole." It's Hamlet's choice of play name for Claudius as the Poisoner. Moving on. Well, one more thing. Look back at where Hamlet told everybody Lucianus was the Nephew of the King. Hamlet said more than he intended. In undertone, Hamlet's line there translates to him announcing right out loud to everybody: "This is one bright asshole, Nephew to the King," with reference to himself - and then Ophelia complimented him on being as good as a chorus. The name is not merely a joke. The author used the name meaning, along with the wording of the line for Hamlet, to make it inarguable that Hamlet's word Nephew is an egregious blunder by him. Now, moving on.
Mixture means that the weeds are more than one kind of plant.
Hecat's is "Hecate's" shortened for rhythm and wordplay. Hecate is the goddess of witchcraft. There is wordplay, in that Hamlet is the "he-cat" who is after the "mouse" Claudius.
A ban is a curse, also alluding to Hamlet's attempt to "ban" Claudius from the throne, and "curse" Claudius with the play. Blasted means "poisoned." Invected means "cursed." The natural magic is the natural poison already in the plants. Dire property refers to the additional poisonness that the curse adds.
The Thoughts - hands - drugs - time line somewhat anticipates Hamlet's later observation that he has "cause, and will, and strength, and means."
The Folio stage direction, "pours the poison in his ears," is impossible. It's a Folio error, at least for the literature version of the play. The King is not there to poison. There was a scene break, which allowed Hamlet to speak to both Gertrude and Claudius. Since it was a scene break, both the King and Queen exited, to applause one would hope. The "Exeunt" in Q2 is correct. The King has not re-entered here, only Lucianus has gotten an entry. The "dialogue entry" as used in the Hamlet playscript is no contradiction to this conclusion. The King, if he were there, would have to get an "enter" because he's a major character, and he would be in the speaking position on the stage beside Lucianus. Also, no matter what the Ghost said, it's unlikely a major play character would be allowed to die without saying anything (especially with the King being Hamlet's representation of his father. No last words, at all? No death speech?) The King demands an "enter" whether the character speaks or not. The author was not careless like that; all his entries and exits in Hamlet, from his own hand in Q2, are correct. The King simply isn't there, in the Second Quarto. This scene with Lucianus is a brief "spotlight" scene for him alone, to identify him to the audience, and characterize him. The Poisoner is in his "laboratory," so to speak, talking about the concoction he's come up with. Then, after this brief characterization scene, if the play continued there would be another scene showing him poisoning the King, after the audience has been introduced to the Poisoner. The audience is not seeing the murder in the play (and never will.)
However, having said that, it doesn't mean the Folio is entirely wrong. The Folio may easily reflect a stage adjustment to make matters more explicit for the theater audience. The printed version of Hamlet is a closet drama, by definition. One reads it; that's why it was published, of course, for reading. The literature version, Q2, incorporates elements that were not staged. That will be especially clear in the final Scene. The author wrote Lucianus's speech to accomodate both closet drama and theatrical performance, probably. He had the talent to do that.
Hamlet did not write Lucianus's speech. The speech is six lines, which makes it a "given" in the "Gonzago" play written in six-line stanzas. The Queen's speeches Hamlet changed are eight lines each, as we've already seen.
The poison is made of a mixture of the most poisonous plants, collected at midnight, and cursed with black magic. It isn't any particular plant poison, but is a fictional super-poison that's triply evil. Something triply evil is worst of all, because it's exactly "anti-Trinity" with respect to the Holy Trinity of the Roman Catholic Church. The number, three, is special in that way, in terms of good or evil, in relation to the Trinity.
hw 2131, to hw 2141- Hamlet: He poisons him in the Garden for his estate; his name's
Gonzago; the story is extant, and written in very choice Italian;
you shall see anon how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife.
Ophelia: The King rises!
Gertrude: How fares my Lord?
Polonius: Give o'er the play!
Claudius: Give me some light; away!
Pol: Lights, lights, lights!
---
Hamlet talks about Gonzago again, but still without paying close enough attention to Claudius's reaction to what he says. Hamlet is still relying on the play to catch Claudius's conscience, not knowing he's already done it, himself.
Claudius can't take it. As he hears the words spoken by Hamlet, it seems to him that not only has Hamlet somehow identified the Gonzago news story that inspired him to kill his brother, but Hamlet is telling everybody where to read about it! Hamlet must know everything! Claudius hurries out; the "mouse" runs for his life. The "mouse" isn't confessing, as Hamlet had hoped, he's scurrying away. If Polonius hadn't accidentally given Claudius "rehearsal" in dealing with his conscience, in the Nunnery Scene, Claudius might confess here, but instead, he runs.
The audience doesn't know what happened. They weren't able to follow the play that well, up to this point, and they haven't seen the murder yet. They don't even know if it's the King who'll be murdered, or there'll be some twist in the story as the play goes along, or what. It's left the audience hanging. As far as the audience can tell, just looking at the situation, it appears to them that Claudius left because of something Hamlet said (and they're right about that much.) They can't read minds, and they don't know quite what's going on. But it looks like Hamlet did something, or said something, that upset the King.
The audience is puzzled, and they talk among themselves. They don't know Claudius killed Hamlet Sr - only Hamlet, and Horatio, know that, and even if the audience has somehow been able to follow the ambiguous play, despite Hamlet's confusion of things, the murder hasn't been shown yet (in the literature Hamlet.) Nor does the audience know the Gonzago story inspired Claudius to do it - only Claudius knows that.
Hamlet's last line above offers a facetious allusion to Oedipus. With the notion of Claudius as the play King, that makes his wife Gertrude. Hamlet effectively, by mistake, announced himself as the murderer. From Hamlet's line, that would make it Hamlet killing Claudius and marrying Gertrude. It is an Oedipus joke, based on mistake and misunderstanding, intentionally written into Hamlet by the author, for its humor. I offer this as an object lesson to those who try to interpret Hamlet without a good, detailed understanding of it. There have been serious materials written by psychologists about an Oedipus complex in Hamlet. Yes, it's there: as a joke by the author. The psychoanalysts who have somberly pronounced on Oedipus in Hamlet have only been saying to the whole world: "we didn't get the joke." A similar joke will appear in undertone in the Closet Scene.
Ophelia's simple line, The King rises!, has been remarkably used to provide three very fine allusions in undertone. First, it's late at night, getting fairly close to the time when the sentinels saw the Ghost walk. At the moment Ophelia speaks, the Ghost is rising. She does not know that; her statement is coincidental. In this allusion, Ophelia's word King means King Hamlet. The King (Hamlet) rises, as she speaks. A stage with a trapdoor would make it possible for the Ghost to rise in performance, at Ophelia's line.
Gertrude's line immediately follows Ophelia's, as though Gertrude is greeting the Ghost, who has just risen, and asking him how he fares. It's as though she's greeting the Ghost.
We can be confident the Folio "false fires" line ascribed to Hamlet, between the lines of Ophelia and Gertrude, is a non-authorial insertion, because it disrupts the author's wonderful allusion to the Ghost. The author would not likely disrupt his own allusions to be found in Ophelia and Gertrude's consecutive lines.
On the same general allusion to King Hamlet, the specter of his brother has risen before Claudius, so to speak, as Claudius retreats from the room. In undertone, his exclamation, "away!" can be read as him telling his brother to get away from him.
In a second allusion, Hamlet is the "King" in Ophelia's heart. Hamlet rises to his feet at Ophelia's exclamation, when he sees Claudius leaving. Here, Ophelia's line, in undertone, is her announcement that her "King," Hamlet, is rising to stand beside her. It also connects with everyone always focusing their attention on Hamlet, even Claudius, as if Hamlet were the real King at Elsinore.
Hamlet rises to his feet a moment before the audience in general does. The audience remains seated in surprise for a moment, as Claudius gets up and goes toward the door, but then they all stand just after Hamlet does. It gives the appearance that Hamlet is the King, leading the people in standing, and that Ophelia has announced him.
I skip detailed presentation of the third allusion. Although good wordplay, it's convoluted, and not that significant for the play. Hamlet (the "King") "rises," so to speak, and how Claudius the King "fares" is, he's a capon with no "thing," is the idea of it. Penis jokes.
Bossy old Polonius orders the play stopped. He's acting far beyond his authority. The Players are performing for Hamlet, the Prince of the nation. The Players are in no way under Polonius's command.
Hamlet doesn't care if the play is stopped, because he's seen what he wanted (although he doesn't actually know how it happened.) However, he should have a better political instinct. The room is filled with an audience who are there to see the play, and they are all suddenly disappointed. Hamlet should immediately overrule Polonius, and order the play to continue. He'd be loudly applauded by everybody who's still in the room. It's a big letdown for the people.
One of the good things about Hamlet is that he isn't "political" in what he does. He's not bureaucratic. But if he thought to order the play to continue, he'd win the audience's gratitude, and even Gertrude might return to see the rest of the performance. Claudius and Polonius, and perhaps R & G, would find themselves outside alone, while everyone else enjoys the show, with smiles for Hamlet. He misses the opportunity, unfortunately.
As it is, the audience is annoyed at Hamlet. Something he did caused the King to leave, and the play to be stopped, as they saw it. Gertrude also thinks that. In his enthusiasm at achieving his goal, Hamlet doesn't perceive any problem, but the entire audience is disappointed that they didn't get to see the whole play. The Players are disappointed, as well.
About Gonzago, both the play and the news event:
There was factually a murder, or at least an alleged murder, in European history, similar to the play's Gonzago story. In 1538 the Duke of Urbino, Italy, died. It was rumored he was killed by his barber, who was bribed to put a poison lotion in his ears. The case was never proved. Two of the Duke's enemies were blamed, one of them named Gonzaga with an "-a."
Shakespeare did three things with that real news story.- 1. First, he adapted the news story for dramatic purposes, by adjusting the names and events to suit himself. The real news story in Europe was adapted to serve as a "real" news story in Hamlet.
- 2. Then he fictionalized that the news story, as adapted, was made into a play in the players' repertoire. The Duke and Duchess became a King and Queen in the play, because in fiction "King" sounds more important than "Duke."
- 3. Then, he had Hamlet adjust the players' stock play, a little, to better suit Hamlet's purpose.
In the author's adapted European news story, to make a "real" news story in Hamlet, Shakespeare did as follows.- He set it in Vienna (not Urbino.)
- He made the Duke, Gonzago.
- He made the Duchess, Baptista.
- He made the murderer the nephew (instead of the barber.)
That's in the "real" news story in Hamlet, the news that Hamlet had read in "choice Italian."
Then, for the play roughly based on the news, the players made their play, "The Murder of Gonzago," about a King and Queen, with the King's brother as the murderer, to achieve greater dramatic effect. They "promoted" the Duke and Duchess, and made the killer a closer relation, for drama.
When Hamlet said Nephew to Claudius he was getting the "real" news mixed up with the play. In thinking about the "real" news, Hamlet forgot, for a moment, that the play was about a brother killing a brother, not the same as the news story. This contributed to Hamlet's mistake, in addition to Hamlet's resentment of Claudius calling him "son." The author was showing Hamlet confuse truth with fiction, getting the news mixed up with the play that was based on the news.
Hamlet fails to realize that, with all his chatter during the play, he's given Claudius an excuse that Claudius can tell everybody, and will tell everybody, that Claudius left in anger because Hamlet was disruptive, and Claudius couldn't enjoy the performance.
hw 2142, to hw 2152- (everyone exits,
except for Hamlet and Horatio, and the players)
Hamlet: Why, let the stricken deer go weep,
The hart ungalled play,
For some must watch while some must sleep,
Thus runs the world away. Would not this, sir, & a forest of feathers,
if the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me, with provincial
roses on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players?
Horatio: Half a share.
Hamlet: A whole one, Aye.
---
Deer puns sarcastically with "dear." "Dear Claudius" is weeping. Hart puns with "heart." Watch alludes to when Hamlet went with Horatio and Marcellus on watch to see the Ghost, at night, when most people were asleep. World is a subtle allusion to Claudius. Denmark is the "world" of the Danish people, and "Denmark" is also a word for the King, who has just run away.
Hamlet's little poem is by the author, fitting his poetry to what his play character could do, and incorporating desired allusions.
It was thought that a deer fatally wounded by a hunter would shed tears. The first line of Hamlet's poem means he thinks he's fatally wounded Claudius.
Forest of feathers means, first, a large amount of bombast. Feathers were (and still sometimes are) used for stuffing. Hamlet means, if his own lines were padded out with a lot of bombast to make a full-length play. He's quite proud of what he thinks his play achieved, (not knowing he did it, himself.)
The phrase forest of feathers, by itself, has allusion to Claudius. Claudius is pictured as a capon, a chicken, fleeing in panic while shedding a large number of feathers, a "forest of feathers." Barnyard chickens tend to lose feathers when they run.
Forest of feathers also means "a lot of actors." Feathers were worn on hats by actors, and gallants, for show. The Mousetrap was a one- and two-player show. Hamlet imagines doing a major production of a play with a big cast, of actors with feathered hats, so they look like a "forest of feathers" onstage.
Turn Turk means "go bad," in plain reading. Provincial means "from the provinces," that is, from out of town, from someplace in the country away from the big city. Roses were ribbons that protected shoelaces and kept them tied. Roses would vary with fashion; a rose on a country shoe would be different from the latest fashion in roses in the city. A razed shoe is one that has been cut to allow a colored sock to show through. That was done for decoration and fashion. This is on the Fashion theme. Razed puns with "raised," referring to a chopin.
Hamlet means, if he pretended to be a country boy, bringing such a good play to a city players' company, they'd let him become part of the company. He'd get the share on the quality of his writing, not because he was a Prince. Hamlet, the aficionado of acting, is revealing his fantasy of being a playwright.
Horatio agrees with Hamlet, pleased that the play worked as Hamlet hoped. Horatio doesn't know why Claudius really reacted, that it was because Hamlet spoke of Gonzago, aloud in public. Horatio is a good man and true, but he can't read minds, and he was seated behind Claudius. Horatio is being perfectly honest here, and as far as he can tell, Hamlet is right. Neither of them knows Hamlet did it, himself.
The realistic Horatio allows Hamlet Half a share in the imagined players' company. Hamlet, being boisterous, claims a whole share. It's friendly chiding, and characterization of the difference in personalities and moods; there's no argument happening. Aye simply means "yes," in plain reading. There is a pun of whole/"hole" which can easily be skipped, going back to the name of the Poisoner, in which case the word Aye would become "I."
hw 2153, to hw 2162- For thou dost know, oh Damon dear,
This realm dismantled was,
Of Jove himself, and now reigns here:
A very very . . . peacock.
Hora: You might have rhymed.
Hamlet: Oh, good Horatio, I'll take the Ghost's word for a thousand
pound. Did'st perceive?
Hora: Very well, my Lord.
Hamlet: Upon the talk of the poisoning?
Hora: I did very well note him.
---
Damon refers to the legend of Damon and Pythias. In calling Horatio, Damon, Hamlet casts himself as Pythias, the one who was condemned to death for plotting to kill a tyrant.
Reference to the Damon and Pythias legend gives us a marvelous behind-the-scenes peek at the kind of man Horatio is. In legend, Damon offered to take the place of Pythias, and be executed instead. This informs us that when Hamlet told Horatio about Claudius, Horatio offered to kill Claudius for Hamlet, thus becoming subject to possible execution, and having his soul damned to Hell for murder, instead of Hamlet. It was the ultimate statement of friendship from Horatio. Hamlet immediately turned the offer down. It's Hamlet's own job to do, in honor of his father, and as the Prince.
Dismantled has allusion to removing the King's mantle, his royal robe.
Peacock is one of the occasional allusions to people as birds. The peacock was pictured in fable as a preening, overdecorated fool. It is also wordplay on "pee" and "cock." It continues Hamlet's "capon" reference to Claudius, that his penis is now only good for urination, nothing else.
The expected rhyme word would be "jackass." The Wheel of Fortune card in the Visconti-Sforza deck depicts what is apparently a king at the top of the wheel; the figure is shown with the ears of a jackass. The mating call of the peacock is loud and harsh, and could be likened in that respect to a mule braying.
Hamlet's last poem line has self reference, as he stands there preening and braying while Claudius gets away. Hamlet sees no need to pursue Claudius immediately, and challenge him in front of witnesses. Hamlet has now dismissed the possibility of bringing Claudius to trial, or obtaining a confession, and intends to kill him. Perhaps not a wise decision, to forgo the processes of justice in seeking vengeance.
Hamlet's talk of the poisoning confirms that the Folio stage direction, discussed earlier, is non-authorial, an error by the Folio editor, and should not be in the literature version of Hamlet. It's historically quite valuable, however, to indicate stage performance. In literature, the play audience only hears Lucianus talk about the poison, and does not see any murder in the play. The play King was not in that scene.
Talk of the poisoning is irony, in that Hamlet means the talk of poison in the play, but it was his own talk of poison that really did the trick.
Horatio agrees with Hamlet, having seen for himself that, indeed, Claudius did react.
But, is the Ghost of Hamlet's father the only one who would know of Claudius's murder? No. Hamlet has not taken that into account. Hamlet is not perfect - who is? - and he can't think of everything. The Devil knows of Claudius's murder. The Devil knows all about sin, wherever and whenever it occurs. Sin, especially mortal sin, is the Devil's specialty, it's how he gets souls. The Devil, or a forged minion of the Devil, could tell Hamlet as much about Claudius's murder as the genuine Ghost of Hamlet Sr could. Hamlet has proven the Ghost's word true (although he's misidentified how he did it.) Hamlet hasn't proven who the Ghost is.
hw 2163, to hw 2167- Hamlet: Ah ha, come, some music! Come, the recorders;
For, if the King like not the comedy,
Why then belike he likes it not, pardie;
Come, some music.
(the musicians play for a time)
---
Some of the players are also musicians. The play has been stopped, but the players are still well aware they're in service to Hamlet, and they gesture, offering to entertain him with music, instead.
The player musicians do not get an "enter" here because they remain in the background, and do not stand close to Hamlet at downstage center. They have gotten his attention from a distance by holding up the musical instruments for him to see. Hamlet nods and gestures to them as he speaks, and they begin to play.
A recorder is a wooden wind instrument, something like a cross between a flute and a clarinet, but simpler than those modern instruments. The recorder was so named because the sound is reminiscent of the human voice; it "called to mind" the human voice. The Latin root, recordari, means "to call to mind."
Hamlet calls the Mousetrap play a comedy because, as he saw it, it had a happy ending. He and Horatio are the only ones who think so, however. A comedy, in traditional terms, is a story that has a happy ending.
As observed by Wilson (1936) Hamlet's comedy line plays off a line in Thomas Kyd's Spanish Tragedy: "And if the world like not this Tragedie." Hamlet's "world" is Denmark, also a term for the King, so "world" in Kyd's line equates to Hamlet's word King. Then, Hamlet's comedy is Claudius's "tragedy."
The it in Hamlet's third line refers to the music. The word it is stressed as Hamlet indicates the musicians. Pardie is an oath, from the French, meaning literally "by god."
Hamlet is facetiously saying that if Claudius didn't like the "comedy" play, then Claudius probably doesn't like music either, so the musicians should go ahead and play without Claudius.
Hamlet listens to the music for a while. He's waiting for the crowd to clear out, and the residents of the Castle to go to their rooms. Then, unobserved, he intends to kill Claudius.
hw 2167+1, to hw 2178- (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter)
Guildenstern: Good my Lord, vouchsafe me a word with you.
Hamlet: Sir, a whole history.
Guil: The King, sir . . .
Hamlet: Aye, sir, what of him?
Guil: . . . Is in his retirement marvelous distempered.
Hamlet: With drink, sir?
Guil: No, my Lord, with choler.
Hamlet: Your wisdom should show itself more richer to signify
this to the doctor, for, for me to put him to his purgation, would
perhaps plunge him into more choler.
---
R & G's entry correctly occurs as above, from Q2, while Hamlet is listening to the music. The Folio placement of their entry is wrong; it could reflect a stage adjustment where the "musicians" in the cast were not really able to play, or where it was desired to speed the action, dispensing with the musical interlude. For literature, Q2 is correctly obeyed.
The play is, as originally printed, "The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark." When Hamlet says history it facetiously implies Hamlet is prepared to tell G the entire play of Hamlet. The author was having a little fun there.
G makes a social blunder in calling Hamlet sir. Hamlet is sensitive of his status, since his status proceeds from his father's status, and relates to Claudius's status. Hamlet does not tolerate R & G forgetting his status, and using an incorrect form of address to him. Hamlet immediately interrupts G, and speaks sir back at him, to correct G.
Retirement means Claudius has gone to his private room, the place where he retires for the night. Hamlet takes note of that. He now knows where to find Claudius. There is wordplay on Hamlet's view that Claudius is now a "retired" king.
Marvelous means "extremely," in plain reading. It goes back to Horatio calling the Ghost a "marvel" when he first told Hamlet of it. By using marvelous, G is unintentionally implying that Claudius is upset because of the Ghost. G knows nothing of the Ghost; it's accidental.
Distempered, in plain reading, means "in a bad mood." "Temper" and "distemper" were used especially with reference to the four humors, and "distemper" could be used to mean nearly any health disorder, or mood disorder. Choler means "anger," or "the heat of anger," again with reference to the four humors.
Claudius has told R & G he left the play because he was angry, due to Hamlet's behavior. They don't know anything different.
Observe that Hamlet says more richer to Guildenstern, the "gold" one who is more motivated by money, between the pair, R & G. The phrase is emphasis, not grammatical error; it was correct in Elizabethan usage. The standard modern phrasing is "much richer." Hamlet is reproving G for selling him out.
The word doctor is used later, as the title of the cleric who conducts the funeral service in the Graveyard Scene. So, Hamlet's use of the word, here, carries the undertone of his intent that Claudius will need a "doctor" - of Divinity, for his funeral. This is advance confirmation that the title "Doctor" should be obeyed in the later Graveyard Scene, as Q2 shows.
Under the four humors theory, medical treatment was by an attempt to relieve the body of the excess fluid. The treatment was referred to by some form of the word "purge." Depending on the malady, it could be done by letting blood. Where Hamlet says purgation he alludes to relieving Claudius of some of his blood, by stabbing him to death. Hamlet says G should inform the doctor, because Hamlet's "cure" would be worse than the disease. Purgation further implies Purgatory. Hamlet's "cure" would send Claudius's soul to the "sulfurous and tormenting flames" of Purgatory, or Hell, making Claudius's choler/heat problem worse. This anticipates Hamlet's speech in the Prayer Scene, later, where he'll talk of being sure Claudius goes to Hell.
Purgation can also refer to purifying the soul through religious confession or prayer. This connotation further anticipates the Prayer Scene.
hw 2179, to hw 2190- Guil: Good my Lord, put your discourse into some frame,
And stare not so wildly from my affair.
Hamlet: I am tame, sir, pronounce.
Guil: The Queen, your mother, in most great affliction of spirit,
hath sent me to you.
Hamlet: You are welcome.
Guil: Nay, good my Lord, this courtesy is not of the right breed; if
it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do your
mother's commandment; if not, your pardon and my return, shall
be the end of business.
Hamlet: Sir, I cannot.
---
Frame means "structure," like the frame constructed to hold a picture. G means he can't follow Hamlet's allusions; he can't "frame the picture" of what Hamlet is talking about. The "picture" idea anticipates the Closet Scene, when Hamlet will lecture Gertrude about pictures. Hamlet will also "stare wildly" in the Closet Scene when he will see the Ghost for the second time. Further, in the Closet Scene, Hamlet will assure Gertrude that he's "tame."
An historical tarot card, the Visconti-Sforza Traitor card, shows "The Traitor" hanging inside a "frame." If Hamlet told R & G he intended to kill Claudius, the King, he'd be identified as a traitor, and could end up hanging in a frame. Murdering the King is traitorous. When G says frame he unintentionally alludes to Hamlet hanging, as a traitor, or otherwise being executed, if Hamlet lets G know too much, and G then tells Claudius. Hamlet prefers not to talk himself into such a "frame" as the card shows.
Stare - wildly means Hamlet gave G a bug-eyed stare to tease him, when Hamlet spoke of purgation and Claudius. G has taken it seriously, under his notion that Hamlet is mad.
Discourse means "conversation." Pronounce is a high-flown word for "speak;" Hamlet is mocking G's verbiage. G, who was the more pleasant of the two earlier, has become insufferable.
G idiotically thinks he has to remind Hamlet that the Queen is his mother. It's reminiscent of Polonius using the term "Queen-mother" in speaking to Claudius at the end of the Nunnery Scene.
G's affliction of spirit has an undertone of allusion to the Ghost, accidentally by G. In plain reading it means Gertrude is upset. Also, G has made it sound that Gertrude is "afflicted" with G, so she's sent him away from her to Hamlet. It sounds like G is admitting he's an affliction to Gertrude.
Hamlet says You are welcome following from R & G's earlier offer to be his servants. He's now welcoming G as his servant. In other words, Hamlet is answering to the idea that his mother has found G an unsatisfactory servant, who afflicts her, and she's therefore sent him to Hamlet. Hamlet doubts that that's really the case, however. Note that G has not yet told Hamlet what he wants.
G tries to explain that a "welcome" is not what he's looking for. Wholesome means "healthy," following from G's idea that Hamlet is mad. G's word commandment makes it sound as if royalty is god to him. It's reminiscent of Polonius pledging his soul to Claudius. Hamlet doesn't like hearing that word usage.
Hamlet says I cannot for the simple reason that G has stupidly neglected to tell Hamlet the fact that his mother wants to see him. Hamlet can't answer without knowing the question. As far as Hamlet can tell at this point, G is talking to him only to inform him of Claudius and Gertrude's complaints.
hw 2191, to hw 2204- Ros: What, my Lord?
Hamlet: Make you a wholesome answer; my wits diseased; but sir, such
answer as I can make, you shall command, or rather as you say, my
mother; therefore, no more, but to the matter, my mother, you say . . .
Ros: Then thus she says: your behavior hath struck her into
amazement and admiration.
Hamlet: O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother! But is there
no sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration? Impart.
Ros: She desires to speak with you in her closet ere you go to bed.
Hamlet: We shall obey, were she ten times our mother, have you any
further trade with us?
---
R asks What, but Hamlet doesn't look at him. Hamlet is talking to G, and continues to look at G, and speak in G's direction. This goes back to Hamlet's "have an eye of you" in his earlier conversation with R & G. Hamlet looks at people he's talking to, as simple politeness, and expects his partner in conversation to look at him. All the time R is talking, in this passage, Hamlet continues to look at G, as if G were the one speaking, and Hamlet continues to answer to G. Hamlet does not like R's interruption.
G would have spoken, but R jumped in and didn't give him a chance.
Hamlet's wholesome answer statement means he can't make that kind of answer, or any kind of answer, since G has failed to tell him what the question is.
Diseased means "uneasy," and wits refers to intelligence, the operations of the mind. Hamlet means R & G are making his mind uneasy with their stupid and rude behavior. To them, it sounds as if Hamlet is admitting his "madness."
Hamlet says G shall command his answer, as he looks at G. It's a rebuke to R for interrupting. Hamlet requests G to continue, but R answers. Hamlet does not look at R as he speaks.
Hamlet exclaims on a son astonishing a mother, as sarcasm on the astonishment he felt when Gertrude married Claudius. The mother astonished the son, in that event.
The word heels anticipates Hamlet's later Graveyard Scene comment that the peasant's toe "galls the kybe" of the courtier. R is "galling" him here. Hamlet says Impart to G, but R again intrudes.
R finally reveals the mysterious secret of why they're talking to Hamlet, which is that his mother wants to speak to him. It took long enough. Hamlet doesn't mind it too much, since it gives him something to do while the Castle clears out, and things become quiet.
A closet is a private room. The name comes from a private room being "closed" except to invited visitors, not open to everyone like a public room.
Gertrude is "twice" Hamlet's mother. First she was his mother married to his father, and now she's his mother married to Claudius. With ten times our mother Hamlet means he'd continue to obey Gertrude even if she got married eight more times, and he, for some reason, had to kill them all.
Hamlet uses the royal "we," "our" and "us" while still looking at G, and speaking to G. He's giving R & G a subtle hint of his plans later that night, a hint he knows they won't get. Hamlet plans to take the royal "we" away from Claudius, by force. Hamlet's word trade follows from G's earlier use of "business." G, the "gold" one, said business, so Hamlet returns the sentiment with trade.
hw 2205, to hw 2206- Ros: My Lord, you once did love me.
Hamlet: And do still, by these pickers and stealers.
---
R is hurt that Hamlet refused to look at him, or speak in his direction. He can't understand why not.
Hamlet kept looking at G, and talking to him, until Hamlet understood what G wanted, and answered him. Now, having done that, Hamlet looks at R, and talks to him.
Pickers and stealers are hands, from the idea of a thief using his hands to pick pockets and steal things. The idea is stated in the catechism of the Church of England (as something not to do, of course. The catechism goes on to forbid lying and slander.) Hamlet swears a "thief's oath" that he still loves R; such an oath is no good. You wouldn't take the word of a thief. Hamlet is chiding R for being such a rude idiot, with manners not much better than a common thief, as R interrupted, trying to "steal" the conversation, when Hamlet was talking to G.
hw 2207, to hw 2212- Ros: Good my Lord, what is your cause of distemper? You do
surely bar the door upon your own liberty if you deny your griefs to
your friend.
Hamlet: Sir, I lack advancement.
Ros: How can that be, when you have the voice of the King, himself,
for your succession in Denmark?
---
R foolishly interprets Hamlet's "oath" as an oath to tell the truth. R believes he sees his chance, with Hamlet "under oath," and he asks Hamlet directly what the problem is, why Hamlet is "mad."
Bar the door reveals that Claudius, while speaking to R & G after the play, was threatening to have Hamlet locked up. R has mistakenly revealed it, and it's almost certainly something Claudius wouldn't want Hamlet to know. Hamlet notices, but it doesn't worry him. He intends Claudius will be in no position to lock up anybody.
When Hamlet says he lacks advancement, he first means he lacks advancement in his intent to kill Claudius, at the moment, because he's waiting for later at night. R & G don't figure that out from what he says. Hamlet additionally alludes to his own advancement to the crown, until Claudius is out of the way.
R's reply is high irony. If Claudius could still talk, after Hamlet killed him, Claudius would probably have something very different to say. It's more than doubtful Claudius would support his own killer for advancement to the crown.
The word King is ambiguous. In undertone, it refers to the Ghost, the image of King Hamlet, and voice of the King is reference to what the Ghost told Hamlet. What the Ghost voiced to Hamlet was a call for revenge against Claudius, and if Hamlet can dispose of Claudius, and get away with it, then Hamlet would succeed to become King. In that way, the Ghost's voice was for Hamlet's succession in Denmark.
R is a bureaucrat, like Polonius. He thinks words are everything, so the main thing to him is what Claudius has said. R takes Claudius's word to Hamlet as gospel.
hw 2212+1, to hw 2215- (Hamlet motions for some of the player-musicians to approach)
Hamlet: Aye, sir, but while the grass grows . . . the proverb is something
musty; oh, the recorders, let me see one.
(Hamlet draws Guildenstern aside;
Horatio stops Rosencrantz from following)
---
In Q2 the musicians get a simple "enter" as Hamlet motions to them to join him downstage center, the "speaker's position" on the stage. I modify and expand the stage direction, for clarity.
The proverb is, "while the grass grows, the steed starves." Hamlet discontinues it in the middle because he realizes that, in using a saying, he's sounding like Polonius. Musty means "old and stale." A musty odor is unpleasant, which alludes to Polonius's body odor problem. Polonius is "proverbial" to Hamlet, so when Hamlet says proverb he alludes to Polonius, in addition to referring to the saying about the grass.
With the abbreviated saying, Hamlet means he isn't content to let years go by until Claudius dies of old age, during which he "starves" as a "beggar." He's starving to "drink hot blood" soon, as he'll say in his closing speech in this Scene.
Hamlet is displeased with R's rudeness, and draws G aside, away from R, so R won't interrupt again. Horatio has observed that R annoyed Hamlet, and sees that Hamlet wants to speak to G alone.
R starts to follow, but Horatio steps in front of him, crosses his arms, and gives R a very direct look and a little smile. Horatio is definitely not somebody R wants to fight, so R quickly takes a step back, and stays where he is. Hamlet then speaks to G without R's interference.
hw 2216, to hw 2222- (Hamlet continues, to Guildenstern):
To withdraw with you . . . Why
do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive
me into a toil?
Guil: Oh, my Lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.
Hamlet: I do not well understand that; will you play upon this pipe?
---
A recorder "recovers the wind" of the human voice, in the sense of sounding like tones of voice. "Recover the wind" means "reproduce the sound." "Wind" is poetic for "sound."
Toil means "net," as the plain reading. The wind - toil line provides a hunting metaphor, referring to when two hunters work together. One tends the net, while the other goes upwind so the quarry can scent him. The quarry then runs toward the one with the net. Hamlet is displeased at R & G working together against him. He's trying to persuade G to be his own man, and make his own decisions. Hamlet likes G better than R, as was shown in the dialogue when they first talked with him. A notable point is, it was G who told Hamlet the truth about R & G being sent for, and Hamlet remembers that. Hamlet is attempting to return the favor to G, but he can't do so directly.
In undertone, toil means "labor." Hamlet will be driven into the labor, later, of dragging Polonius's body around. Hamlet will drive himself into a "toil."
To "recover the wind" of Hamlet would be to make him repeat his words, that is, to reveal his promise to the Ghost. If Hamlet repeated to them his vow of revenge, he'd be "trapped in the net."
Bold means "brash," or "forward." Hamlet says he doesn't understand, but he ought to. Hamlet was much too "bold" in his conduct at the Mousetrap play, and his love for Ophelia was too unmannerly. But people never see themselves as others see them.
G is attempting to apologize to Hamlet, but doing it clumsily. Hamlet takes it as a good sign, nevertheless. Hamlet holds the recorder up to G.
hw 2223, to hw 2243- Guil: My lord, I cannot.
Hamlet: I pray you.
Guil: Believe me, I cannot.
Hamlet: I do beseech you!
Guil: I know no touch of it, my Lord.
Hamlet: It is as easy as lying; govern these ventages with your fingers
& thumb, give it breath with your mouth, & it will discourse
most eloquent music; look you, these are the stops.
(Hamlet plays a little tune on the recorder, and offers it to G)
Guil: But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I
have not the skill.
Hamlet: Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of
me; you would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops,
you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me
from my lowest note to my compass - and there is much music,
excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood
do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what
instrument you will, though you fret me not, you cannot play upon me.
God bless you, sir.
(Hamlet returns the recorder to the musician)
---
Hamlet is, in a general way, trying to tell G that G should "play his own tune," instead of R's or Claudius's. He offers G the recorder as an object lesson. It's a friendly gesture.
G tells Hamlet he can't play the recorder. Hamlet facetiously treats it as if G is refusing to perform (analogous to G believing Hamlet is refusing to tell him something he should know.) Hamlet is trying to point out that it isn't because he doesn't want to tell G of his intent to kill Claudius; he simply can't. Under the circumstances, it isn't a practical possibility for Hamlet to tell G.
Hamlet's remark about lying is sarcasm that if G can lie, he should be able to play the recorder, too, since it's easy. However, it wasn't easy for Hamlet to lie in the Nunnery Scene, when he claimed to Ophelia that he didn't love her. That hurt Hamlet. Lying isn't always easy.
Govern means "regulate." Touch refers to how to hold the recorder and manipulate it. The ventages are the holes. Discourse means "speak," again alluding to the recorder sounding like a voice. Eloquent follows on the "voice" concept.
Hamlet quickly plays a few notes to show G how it's done, then offers the recorder to G, who refuses it. Utterance continues on the voice/words metaphor. G says he can't make the recorder "speak."
The lines are written so they work whether Hamlet can play the recorder or not. Onstage, if he can't, he doesn't. In literature, where the actor's talent is not at issue, he does.
G never touches the recorder. He's too shy of it, intimidated by it. The recorder remains always in Hamlet's hand until he gives it back to the player musician.
Hamlet's word unworthy means "simple," with an undertone of unworthiness for the crown. Hamlet is thinking that if he were as simple as all that, he'd be unworthy of being King. Hamlet is also hinting of G being simple, and unworthy of the task assigned him by Claudius.
Hamlet says mystery as a hint to G that there's something going on. It's a friendly attempt to warn G.
Shakespeare's questioning phrase, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, is also a mocking challenge to the reader of Hamlet. The author is saying to you, that if you would pluck out the heart of his mystery, in Hamlet, you will not do it easily. As millions have learned, over four centuries, he was quite right. Shakespeare's Hamlet is most certainly "not easily played on."
Compass means "range," here referring to musical notes up to the highest range. Hamlet is referring to G wanting Hamlet to tell him everything, which Hamlet isn't going to do.
'Sblood means "God's blood," an oath.
Though you fret me not means "but you don't fret me, (and)..." The Folio wording is wrong.
Hamlet's blessing to G is sincere. He hopes G gets the point.
hw 2244, to hw 2254- (Polonius enters)
Polonius: My Lord, the Queen would speak with you, & presently!
Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?
Pol: By'th masse and 'tis, like a camel, indeed.
Hamlet: Me thinks it is like a weasel.
Pol: It is backed like a weasel.
Hamlet: Or like a whale.
Pol: Very like a whale.
Hamlet: Then I will come to my mother by and by.
(Polonius exits)
---
Polonius is attempting to compete with R & G as the King and Queen's best servant. However, he's old and slow, and here he runs a distant second to R & G in conveying Gertrude's request to Hamlet. Seeing that he's late, Polonius skips his usual verbosity and gets right to the point, still hoping he's somehow beaten R & G in delivering the message. Presently means "immediately;" the meaning has changed since Elizabethan times. Polonius is being bossy to Hamlet. Hamlet doesn't like it, especially as he now views Polonius.
This "Cloud Talk" passage is modeled after the concept in Aristophanes' Clouds, that what one sees in the clouds is an image of oneself. Hamlet uses the Clouds concept to make fun of Polonius.
Polonius is not agreeing with Hamlet merely to humor him. As Polonius looks at the cloud, it does appear to him as he states. Polonius takes Hamlet's interest in clouds as a symptom of his "madness."
A camel is a stupid beast of burden with a big body, and skinny legs. A weasel is a sneaky creature; the Elizabethans also thought the weasel was an egg sucker. A whale is a large "fat" creature.
Polonius is being a "stupid beast of burden" by bearing a message to Hamlet that Hamlet already knows. And etc. for the other words. Notice Polonius mentions the back of the weasel. There is an animal in the weasel family with a very well-known back, with stripes: the skunk.
When Hamlet asks Polonius whether he sees such shapes in the clouds, he's asking Polonius if such shapes are correct images of Polonius, himself. This is on the Mirror theme. It anticipates Hamlet saying to Gertrude, in the later Closet Scene, that he'll put a mirror in front of her.
The windows of Kronborg Castle, Denmark, are quite large and tall. At night, with the moon up, and clouds in the sky, one could easily see the clouds.
In modern vernacular, with the meanings revealed, the Cloud Talk passage runs approximately as follows.
~~~~~~~- Polonius: My Lord, the Queen would speak with you, right now!
- Hamlet: Are you a stupid beast of burden with a big body and skinny legs?
- Pol: By god, I sure am.
- Hamlet: Are you a sneaky egg sucker?
- Pol: Well, I'm more of a skunk.
- Hamlet: Are you a whale?
- Pol: I'm fat like a whale.
- Hamlet: Okay, we agree, so I'll go to my mother soon.
- ~~~~~~~
Polonius's "backed like a weasel," meaning a skunk, is more about his body odor problem. Camels do not smell very good, either. I wouldn't know about whales.
Weasels hunt, sneak around, at night. The behavior anticipates Polonius hiding in Gertrude's room in the later Closet Scene, on this night, hunting for information.
Camels are known for their humps, and there is a whale called the humpback. A weasel, standing still and viewed from the side, is seen to hump its back.
An historical tarot card, the Old Man/Hermit card in the Visconti-Sforza deck, shows an old man with a hunched or humped back, who uses a walking stick, and whose beard is long enough one could say it needs a trip to the barber.
By and by means "soon." Hamlet has another chore to do first, before he goes to his mother.
Polonius heads for the door as soon as he has Hamlet's answer. Polonius wants to be the first to tell Claudius and Gertrude that Hamlet will talk to Gertrude.
hw 2255, to hw 2258- (Hamlet continues, aside):
They fool me to the top of my bent.
(to Guildenstern):
I will come, by & by.
(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit)
(Hamlet continues, to Horatio and the Players):
Leave me friends.
(Horatio exits;
the Players exit)
(Hamlet continues):
I will . . . say so: "By and by" is easily said.
---
Fool means, first, "play the fool for." Hamlet says that Polonius and R & G have played the fool for him as much as he wants to see. Bent means "inclination."
Second, fool means, "make me play the fool." Hamlet is tired of having to spin words and allusions at people so that he looks foolish.
The third meaning of fool is an allusion unintended by Hamlet. Ophelia, Polonius and Claudius fooled him as much as he could be fooled, in the Nunnery Scene, where he drew such a terribly wrong conclusion from what he saw and heard. And smelled.
Also, there is some undertone of Hamlet being a fool at the Mousetrap play.
Even further, return to the Cloud Talk passage for a moment, and consider the following. Although Hamlet was insulting Polonius, it wasn't Polonius who thought of the words camel, weasel, and whale as he looked at the clouds, it was Hamlet who thought of those words. As mentioned, the concept is that what one sees in the clouds is an image of oneself. Why did Hamlet, himself, think of those words as he looked at the clouds? Is Hamlet being a "stupid beast of burden" in the way he's pursuing his burden of revenge against Claudius? As for "weasel," we'll soon see Hamlet sneaking around on this night, with predation on his mind. Gertrude will later describe Hamlet as fat - like a whale? When Hamlet was giving Polonius a difficult time about the clouds, who was the fool?
Hamlet's I will come, by and by is his answer to Guildenstern. R is still at a distance, blocked by Horatio. At receiving Hamlet's answer, R & G quickly walk to the door and exit, passing Polonius, eager to be first to tell Gertrude and Claudius. The bureaucratic race is on! Poor old Polonius, who can't run. We'll see that Polonius will arrive a very distant second to R & G, again.
An "exit" is an instruction to the actor that he is to move to the door and leave. It does not mean he vanishes instantly. The audience for Hamlet will see R & G pass Polonius as they walk across the large Banquet Hall.
Hamlet's friends line is to Horatio and the Players, his friends, who then exit.
The various exits are not printed in Q2. The author, or printer, perhaps left the numerous exits to be inferred because they would only be a burden to the reader who would pause to try to figure them out, and they distract from, and interrupt, Hamlet's speech, as you can see they do here. Artistic judgment would omit the exits to have the dialogue flow much smoother, since it's clear enough as Hamlet continues that the others have left. As Q2 was printed, (Garrick copy, British Library,) all the exits would have been on three consecutive lines at the top of a page, quite disruptive to Hamlet's lines, and difficult for the reader. I surmise the omission of the multiple exits, in the original printing, was for literary reasons.
Hamlet's I will . . . say so: "By and by" is easily said is his musing, to himself. So means "this" or "thusly." The pause between will and say is marked in Q2 with a comma; I use an ellipsis for modern reading. Hamlet means it was easier for him to say "by and by" than it is for him to go ahead and do what he intends.
It's much easier to say "by and by" than it is to kill, for any moral person.
hw 2259, to hw 2270- (a distant church bell begins to slowly toll midnight)
'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breaks out
Contagion to this world; now could I drink hot blood,
And do such business as the bitter day
Would quake to look on: soft, now to my mother,
O heart, lose not thy nature, let not ever
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom,
Let me be cruel, not unnatural,
I will speak dagger to her, but use none,
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites,
How in my words somever she be shent,
To give them seals, never my soul consent.
(Hamlet exits)
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It's midnight, the same time of night as at the beginning of the play when Barnardo approached the platform to relieve Francisco on duty. A distant church bell slowly tolls midnight, ringing once for each of the twelve lines of Hamlet's speech.
Midnight is the witching hour. Breaks out is correct wording; it refers back to Hamlet's question of why the Ghost's bones had "burst their cerements," also the later use of "breaks" in reference to an abscess.
Churchyards yawn means an open grave for Claudius, in Hamlet's thoughts. There is allusion to the Ghost, as well.
Contagion refers to contagious disease, figuratively evil begetting evil. The drinking of fresh human blood was a rite of the witches's sabbath (Jenkins 1982,) and considered a stimulant to commit murder.
Bitter day is correct in Q2. It means "sorrowful" or "grievous" day. Hamlet intends that tomorrow will be a sorrowful, grievous day for anybody who wanted Claudius as King, particularly Gertrude, Hamlet believes. Hamlet hopes he won't be suffering even more sorrow and grief, himself, on the morrow.
Soft, now to my mother does not mean Hamlet is going immediately to his mother, before he kills Claudius. Now means he's turning his thoughts, now, to his mother, as he speaks, so he's telling himself to be quieter in his thoughts. He intends to go softly to her, gently, after killing Claudius, not continuing to be violent and murderous. Hamlet expects an emotional scene with Gertrude when he tells her the news that Claudius is dead.
Nature means natural affection, of Hamlet for his mother. The Roman emperor Nero killed his own mother, or had her killed. The Roman emperor Claudius had "Nero" as part of his name; Hamlet is resistant to being like his uncle Claudius, whom he thinks would not quail at killing Gertrude if he had to, since Claudius murdered his own brother. Firm means "steadfast." Hamlet means to be exactly constant to his purpose.
Hamlet intends his tongue and soul will be "hypocrites," in that however his speech threatens Gertrude, his soul will not permit violence against her. The word will be different from the deed.
"Hypocrite" is from the Greek, with a root meaning of "to play a part," that is, to be an actor. This continues the Putting On A Show theme. Hamlet intends that however violent he pretends to be to Gertrude, he won't really be violent to her.
Hamlet is anticipating the possibility that after he kills Claudius, and tells Gertrude of it, he might have to kill her too, to get away with it. His decision is, if it comes to that, he will not get away with it. He will let his mother live, and face execution for assassination and treason, himself, if she sides against him.
Shent means "condemned," with wordplay on verbal versus physical or religious condemnation. He will not put "official seals" on any threatening words to Gertrude, thus making his threats an act. The seals phrase is subtle advance allusion to the seal Hamlet will place on the forged order for R & G's deaths, later. He will later give them seals, of death, so to speak. The sentiment of the phrase here is ironic in that allusion.
The King's room and the Queen's room at Elsinore Castle are side-by-side, down a private hallway. In a real castle the king and queen would have luxury suites; the suites are simplified to rooms here. To reach the rooms from this public room, the Banquet Hall, Hamlet will go to that private hallway. The King's room is closest to the public area, so that the Queen will not be disturbed by the King's visitors when he conducts confidential business in his room; the King's visitors won't be constantly tromping by her room. The Queen gets the quieter room at the end of the hallway. Hamlet has to go by the King's room to reach the Queen's room. He plans to stop in Claudius's room, kill him, and present it to Gertrude as an accomplished fact.
End of Scene 9
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(Regained)