SHAKESPEARE.
OTHERS abide our question.
We ask and ask.

Thou art free.

Thou smilest and art still,

Out-topping knowledge.

For the loftiest hill,

Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,
Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea,
Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,
Spares but the cloudy border of his base
To the foiled searching of mortality;
And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,
Self-schooled, self-scanned, self-honoured, self-secure,
Didst tread on earth unguessed at.

Better so !

All pains the immortal spirit must endure,
All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow,
Find their sole speech in that victorious brow.
MATTHEW ARNOLD.

SHAKESPEARE'S
TRAGEDY

OF

HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK.
EDITED, WITH NOTES,
BY

HOMER B. SPRAGUE, A.M.,

PH.D.,

PRESIDENT OF MILLS COLLEGE; FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE GIRLS'
HIGH-SCHOOL, BOSTON.

WITH

CRITICAL COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS AND PLANS FOR
STUDY, SPECIMENS OF EXAMINATION PAPERS,
AND TOPICS FOR ESSAYS.

CHICAGO:
S. R. WINCIIELL & CO., PUBLISHERS.

COPYRIGHT,

1885,

B Y HOMER B. SPRAGUE.

ELECTROTYPED AND
BY

R A N D , AVERY, AND
BOSTON.

PRINTED
COMPANY,

[The title-page of the second quarto, 1604.]

THE

Tragicall Historie of

H A M L E T ,
Prince of

By • WILLIAM

Denmarke.

SHAKESPEARE.

Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much
again as it was, according to the true and perfect
Coppie.

AT LONDON,
Printed by I. R. for N. L., and are to be sold at his
Shoppe under Saint Dunstons Church in
Fleet-street.

1179741

PREFACE.
T H I S edition of Hamlet is intended for the special needs of
students, b u t it is hoped that the general reader may find it useful.
I t will be found to differ from all other editions in four important
respects: —
First, The notes, though copious, are all arranged upon the principle of stimulating rather than superseding thought.

A glance at

any page will show this.
Secondly, It gives results of the latest etymological and critical
research.
Thirdly, I t gives the opinions of some of the best critics on
almost all disputed interpretations.
Fourthly, I t presents the best metliods of studying English literature by class-exercises, by essays, and by examinations.

(See the

Appendix.)
The editor will be very grateful for any suggestions of errors
that may have escaped his notice.
HOMER

B.

SPRAGUE.

G I R L S ' H I G H SCHOOL, BOSTON,
A u g u s t 1, 1885.

7

CONTENTS.
PAGE

INTRODUCTION TO H A M L E T

11

Early Editions. — Sources of the Plot. — Hystorie of Hamblet.
C R I T I C A L COMMENTS

13

Voltaire. — Goethe. — Coleridge. — Schlegel. — Mrs. Jameson.
— Klein. —Victor Hugo. — Taine. — Lowell. — Hudson. —
March. — Werder.—Weiss. — Furness. — Dowden.
HAMLET

23

APPENDIX :
How

TO STUDY E N G L I S H L I T E R A T U R E

213

Martin. —Williston. — Buchan. — Fleay. — Hudson. — Johnson. — Kellogg. — Blaisdell. — The present editor.
SPECIMEN EXAMINATION P A P E R S

218

TOPICS FOR ESSAYS

222

INDEX

223

9

INTRODUCTION TO HAMLET.

EARLY EDITIONS.

F o l i o s . — The earliest collected edition of Shakespeare's plays
was the Folio of 1623. It contains all the dramas usually attributed
to him except Pericles, and is known as the First Folio.
The Second Folio, containing Milton's famous epitaph on Shakespeare, was issued in 1632. It is a reprint of the first, with some
emendations which are not always improvements.
The Third Folio, 1663 and 1664, contains seven added plays, of
which but one, Pericles, is now assigned to Shakespeare.
The Fourth Folio was printed in 1685.
Q u a r t o s . — During his life, and after his death, appeared plays of
Shakespeare in quarto form. Among them were these of Hamlet: —
Quarto of 1603, known as the First Quarto (imperfect);
Quarto of 1604, known as the Second Quarto (good);
Quarto of 1605, known as the Third Quarto (reprint of second);
Quarto of 1611, known as the -Fourth Quarto;
Quarto undated, apparent reprint of the preceding, and known as
the Fifth Quarto.
These quartos all appeared during Shakespeare's lifetime.
SOUKCES OF THE PLOT.

There appears to have been an old play, no longer extant, on the
same subject, perhaps the joint work of Shakespeare and Marlow.
" He will affoord you whole Hamlets, I should say Handfulls of tragical speaches," writes Thomas Nash in an Epistle " T o the Gentlemen
Students of both Universities," in 1589. The following entry, " 9 of
June 1594, Rd at hamlet , . . viij s ," in Henslowe's Diary, is associated with an apparent allusion to Shakespeare's company of actors.
" Ye ghost which cried so miserally at ye theator, like an oisterwife,
Hamlet reuenge.,J
This is in Lodge's Wits miserie, and the Worlds
madnesse, 1586.
HYSTORIE OF HAMBLET.

In Belieforest's Ilistoires Tragiques, printed at Paris in 1570, is found
the Ilystorie of Ilamblet, a story taken from the Illstoria Danica of
11

12

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

Saxo Grammaticus, written near the close of the twelfth century. In
some important particulars the narrative is the same as Shakespeare's:
in others it is very different.
We have space but for the titles of the chapters in The Hystorie of
Hamblet (London: 1608). They are as follows: —
C H A P . I. How Horvendile and Fengon were made Governours of
the Province of Ditmarse, and how Horvendile marryed Geruth, the
daughter to Roderick, chief K. of Denmark, by whom he had Hamblet:
and how after his marriage his brother Fengon slewe him trayterously,
and marryed his brothers wife, and what followed.
C H A P . II. How Hamblet counterfeited the mad man, to escape the
tyrannie of his uncle, and how he was tempted by a woman (through
his uncles procurement) who thereby thought to undermine the Prince,
and by that meanes to find out whether he counterfeited madnesse or
not: and how Hamblet would by no meanes be brought to consent unto
her, and what followed.
C H A P . III. How Fengon, uncle to Hamblet, a second time to intrap him in his politic madness, caused one of his counsellors to be
secretly hidden in the queenes chamber, behind the arras, to heare
what speeches passed between Hamblet and the Queen; and how
Hamblet killed him, and escaped that danger, and what followed.
C H A P . I I I I . HOW Fengon the third time devised to send Hamblet
to the King of England, with secret letters to have him put to death:
and how Hamblet, when his companions slept, read the letters, and
instead of them counterfeited others, willing the King of England to
put the two messengers to death, and to marry his daughter to Hamblet,
which was effected; and how Hamblet escaped out of England.
C H A P . V. How Hamblet, having escaped out of England, arrived
in Denmarke the same day that the Danes were celebrating his funerals,
supposing him to be dead in England; and how he revenged his fathers
death upon his uncle and the rest of the courtiers; and what followed.
C H A P . VI. How Hamlet, having slaine his Uncle, and burnt his
Palace, made an Oration to the Danes to shew them what he had
done; and how they made him King of Denmark; and what followed.
C H A P . VII. How Hamlet, after his coronation, went into England ; and how the King of England secretly would have put him to
death; and how he slew the King of England, and returned againe
into Denmarke with two wives; and what followed.
C H A P . V I I I . How Hamblet, being in Denmarke, was assailed by
Wiglerus his Uncle, and after betrayed by his last wife, called Hermetrude, and was slaine; after whose death she married his enemie,
Wiglerus.
There is extant an old German play entitled Der Bestrafte Brudermord oder Prinz Hamlet cats Daenmark ("Fratricide punished, or
Prince Hamlet of D e n m a r k " ) , supposed to be " a translation of an

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

13

old English tragedy, and most probably the one which is the groundwork of the Quarto of 1603." For an admirable translation of it, as
well as for an interesting resume of the discussion of the subject of
English actors in Germany.in Shakespeare's time, see the second
volume of Furness's Variorum edition.
CRITICAL COMMENTS.

[From Voltaire's " Theatre Complet," 1708.]
A vulgar and barbarous drama, which would not be tolerated by the
vilest populace of France or Italy. Hamlet becomes crazy in the second
act, and his mistress becomes crazy in the third. The prince slays the
father of his mistress under the pretence of killing a rat, and the heroine
throws herself into the river. A grave is dug on the stage ; and the
grave-diggers talk quodlibets worthy of themselves, while holding
skulls in their hands. Hamlet responds to their nasty vulgarities, in
sillinesses no less disgusting. In the mean while another^of the actors
conquers Poland. Hamlet, his mother, and his father-in-law carouse
on the stage ; songs are sung at table ; there is quarrelling, fighting,
killing. One would imagine this piece to be the work of a drunken
savage. But amidst all these vulgar irregularities, which to this day
make the English drama so absurd and so barbarous, there are to be
found in Hamlet, by a bizarrerie still greater, some sublime passages
worthy of the greatest genius. It seems as though nature had mingled
in the brain of Shakespeare the greatest conceivable strength and
grandeur with whatsoever witless vulgarity can devise that is lowest
and most detestable.
[From Goethe's " Wilhelm Meister," 1795.]
I sought for every indication of what the character of Hamlet was
before the death of his father; I took note of all that this interesting
youth had been, independently of that sad event, independently of the
subsequent terrible consequences, and I imagined what he might have
been without them.
Tender and nobly descended, this royal flower grew up under the
direct influences of majesty; the idea of the right and of princely dignity, the feeling for the good and the graceful, with the consciousness
of his high birth, were unfolded in him together. He was a prince, a
born prince. Pleasing in figure, polished by nature, courteous from the
heart, he was to be the model of youth and the delight of the world. . . .
Figure to yourself this youth, this son of princes, conceive him vividly, bring his condition before your eyes, and then observe him when he
learns that his father's spirit walks; stand by him in the terrible night
when the venerable Ghost itself appears before him. A horrid shudder
seizes him; bespeaks to the mysterious form; he sees it beckon him;
he follows it and hearkens. The fearful accusation of his uncle rings
in his ears; the summons to revenge, and the piercing, reiterated prayer,
"Eememberme." . . .
And, when the Ghost has vanished, who is it we see standing before

14

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

us? A young hero panting for vengeance? A born prince, feeling
himself favored in being summoned to punish the usurper of his crown ?
No! Amazement and sorrow overwhelm the solitary young man: he
becomes bitter against smiling villains, swears never to forget the departed, and concludes with the significant ejaculation,
" The time is out of joint: O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right! "

In these words, I imagine, will be found the key to Hamlet's whole
procedure. To me it is clear that Shakespeare meant, in the present
case, to represent the effects of a great action laid upon a soul unfit for
the performance of it. In this view the whole piece peems to me to be
composed. Here is an oak-tree planted in a costly vase, which should
have borne only pleasant flowers in its bosom; the roots expand, the
vase is shivered.
A lovely, pure, noble, and most moral nature, without the strength
of nerve which forms a hero, sinks beneath a burden which it cannot
bear, and must not cast away. All duties are holy for him; the present is too Hard. Impossibilities have been required of him; not in
themselves impossibilities, but such for him. He winds, and turns, and
torments himself; he advances and recoils; is ever put in mind, ever
puts himself in mind; at last does all but lose his purpose from his
thoughts, yet still without recovering his peace of mind.
[From Coleridge's " Notes and Lectures on Shakespeare," 1808 ]
In Hamlet, Shakespeare seems to have wished to exemplify the moral
necessity of a due balance between our attention to the objects of our
senses, and our meditations on the workings of our minds, — an equilibrium between the real and the imaginary worlds. In Hamlet this
balance is disturbed; his thoughts, and the images of his fancy, are far
more vivid than his actual perceptions; and his very perceptions, instantly passing through the medium of his contemplations, acquire, as
they pass, a form and a color not naturally their own. Hence we see a
great, an almost enormous, intellectual activity, and a proportionate
aversion to real action, consequent upon it, with all its symptoms and
accompanying qualities. This character Shakespeare places in circumstances under which it is obliged to act on the spur of the moment.
Hamlet is brave, and careless of death; but he vacillates from sensibility, and procrastinates from- thought, and loses the power of action in
the energy of resolve. Thus it is that this tragedy presents a direct
contrast to that of Macbeth: the one proceeds with the utmost slowness,
the other with a crowded and breathless rapidity.
The effect of this overbalance of the imaginative power is beautifully
illustrated in the everlasting broodings and superfluous activities of
Hamlet's mind, which, unseated from its healthy relation, is constantly
occupied with the world within, and abstracted from the world without,
— giving substance to shadows, and throwing a mist over all commonplace actualities. . . . He mistakes the seeing his chains for the breaking of them, delays action till action is of no use, and dies the victim of
mere circumstance and accident.

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

15

[From SchlegeVs " Dramatic Literature" 1809.]
Hamlet has no firm belief, either in himself or in any thing else.
From expressions of religious confidence he passes over to sceptical
doubts. He believes in the ghost of his father as long as he sees i t ;
but as soon as it has disappeared, it appears to him almost in the light
of a deception. He has even got so far as to say, " There is nothing
either good or bad but thinking makes it so." With him the poet loses
himself here in labyrinths of thought, in which neither end nor beginning is discoverable. The stars themselves, from the course of events,
afford no answer to the question so urgently proposed to them. A
voice from another world, commissioned, it would appear, by Heaven,
demands vengeance for a monstrous enormity, and the demand remains
without effect. The criminals are at last punished, but, as it were, by
an accidental blow, and not in the solemn way requisite to convey to
the world a warning example of justice. Irresolute foresight, cunningtreachery, and impetuous rage, hurry on to a common destruction ; the
less guilty and the innocent are equally involved in the general ruin.
The destiny of humanity is there exhibited as a gigantic sphinx, which
threatens to precipitate into the abyss of scepticism ail who are unable
to solve her dreadful enigmas.
[From Mrs. Jameson's (< Characteristics of Women," 1832.]
Ophelia—poor Ophelia! Oh, far too soft, too good, too fair, to be cast
among the briers of this working-day world, and fall and bleed upon the
thorns of life! What shall be said of her ? for eloquence is mute before
her! Like a strain of sad, sweet music which comes floating by us on the
wings of night and silence, and which we rather feel than hear; like
the exhalation of the violet, dying even upon the sense it charms;
like the snow-flake dissolved in air before it has caught a stain of earth;
like the light surf severed from the billow, which a breath disperses,—
such is the character of Ophelia: so exquisitely delicate, it seems as
if a touch would profane it; so sanctified in our thoughts by the last and
worst of human woes, that we scarcely dare to consider it too deeply.
The love of Ophelia, which she never once confesses, is like a secret
which we have stolen from her, and which ought to die upon our hearts
as upon her own. Her sorrows ask not words, but tears; and her madness has precisely the same effect that would be produced by the spectacle of real insanity, if brought before u s : we feel inclined to turn
away, and veil our eyes in reverential pity and too painful sympathy.
Beyond every character that Shakespeare has drawn (Hamlet alone
excepted), that of Ophelia makes us forget the poet in his own creation.
Whenever we bring her to mind, it is with the same exclusive sense of
her real existence, without reference to the wondrous power which
called her into life. The effect (and what an effect!) is produced by
means so simple, by strokes so few and so unobtrusive, that we take no
thought of them. It is so purely natural and unsophisticated, yet so
profound in its pathos, that, as Hazlitt observes, it takes us back to the
old ballads; we forget that, in its perfect artlessness, it is the supreme
and consumate triumph of art.

16

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

The situation of Ophelia in the story is that of a young girl who, at
an early age, is brought from a life of privacy into the circle of a court,
such as we read of in those early times, at once rude, magnificent, and
corrupted. She is placed immediately about the person of the queen,
and is apparently her favorite attendant. The affection of the wicked
queen for this gentle and innocent creature is one of those beautiful
redeeming touches, one of those penetrating glances into the secret
springs of natural and feminine feeling, which we find only in Shakespeare. Gertrude, who is not so wholly abandoned but that there remains within her heart son\e sense of the virtue she has forfeited, seems
to look with a kind yet melancholy complacency on the lovely being
she has destined for the bride of her son ; and the scene in which she
is introduced as scattering flowers on the grave of Ophelia is one of
those effects of contrast in poetry, in character, and in feeling, at once
natural and unexpected ; which fill the eye, and make the heart swell
and tremble within itself, — like the nightingales singing in the grove
of the Furies in Sophocles.1
It is the helplessness of Ophelia, arising merely from her innocence,
and pictured without any indication of weakness, which melts us with
such profound pity. She is so young, that neither her mind nor her
person has attained maturity. She is not aware of the nature of her
own feelings : they are prematurely developed in their full force before
she has strength to bear them ; and love and grief together rend and
shatter the frail texture of her existence, like the burning fluid poured
into a crystal vase. She says very little, and what she does say seems
rather intended to hide than to reveal the emotions of her heart; yet,
in those few words we are made as perfectly acquainted with her character, and with what is passing in her mind, as if she had thrown forth
her soul with all the glowing eloquence of Juliet.
[L. Klein's Berliner Modenspiegel, 1846.]
The tragic root of this deepest of all tragedies is secret guilt. Over
fratricide, with which history introduces its horrors, there rests here in
this drama a heavier and more impenetrable veil than over the primeval
crime. There the blood of a brother, murdered without any witness of
the deed, visibly streaming, cries to Heaven for vengeance. Here the
brother in sleep, far from all witnesses or the possible knowledge of any
one, is stolen upon and murdered. . . . The horror of this crime is its
security; the horror of this murder is that it murders discovery. .. . .
This Cain's deed is known to no one but the murderer, and to Him who
witnesses the murderer's secret remorse. The son has no other certainty of the unwitnessed murder than the suspicion generated by his
ardent filial love, the prophecy of his bleeding heart, " O my prophetic
soul! " no other conviction but the inner psychological conviction of
his acute mind; no other power of proving it but that which results
from the strength of his strong, horror-struck understanding, highly
and philosophically cultivated by reflection and education; no other
1

In the (Edipus Coloneus.

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

17

testimony than the voice of his own soul inflamed and penetrated by
his filial affection; no other light upon the black crime hidden in the
bosom of the murderer than the clear insight of his own soul. Vengeance is impossible, for its aim hovers in an ideal sphere. It falters,
it shrinks back from itself, and it must do so, for it lacks the sure basis,
the tangible hilt; it lacks what alone can justify it before God and the
world, material proof. . . . In Hamlet, Shakespeare has illustrated his
great historical theorem by modes of proof different from those employed in his other tragedies: that punishment is only guilt developed,
the necessary consequence of a guilt voluntarily incurred. . . . The
dogma that " F o u l deeds will rise, though all the earth o'er whelm them,
to men's eyes," is proved here with fearful import. By this fundamental
idea is Hamlet to be explained.
[From Victor Hugo's "William Shakespeare," 1864.]
One of the probable causes of Hamlet's feigning madness has never
yet been indicated by the critics. Hamlet, it is said, played the madman to hide his thought, like Brutus. In fact, it is easy to cover a great
purpose under apparent imbecility. The supposed idiot carries out his
designs at his leisure. But the case of Brutus is not that of Hamlet.
Hamlet plays the madman for his safety. Brutus cloaks his project ;
Hamlet, his person. The manners of these tragic courts being understood, from the moment that Hamlet learns from the Ghost of the crime
of Claudius, Hamlet is in danger. The superior historian that is in the
poet is here manifest, and we perceive in Shakespeare the profound
penetration into the dark shades of ancient royalty. In the middle
ages and in the later empire, and even more anciently, woe to him who
discovered a murder or a poisoning committed by a king! . . . To know
that the king was an assassin, was treason!
[From Taine*s <l Histoire de la Literature Anglaise," 1866.]
This convulsive outburst [i.e., his brief soliloquy immediately after
his interview with the Ghost], this fevered writing hand, this frenzy
of intentness (de Vattention), prelude the approach of a monomania.
"When his friends come up, he treats them with the speeches of a child
or an idiot. He is no longer master of his words ; hollow phrases whirl
in his brain, and fall from his mouth as in a dream. They call him ; he
answers by imitating the cry of a sportsman whistling to his falcon :
" Hillo, ho, ho, boy ! come, bird, come." Whilst he is in the act of
swearing them to secrecy, the Ghost below repeats, " Swear." Hamlet
cries, with a nervous excitement and a fitful gayety : —
" Ah ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there, true-penny? —
Come on — you hear this fellow in the cellarage —
Consent to swear. . . .
Ghost. [Beneath.'] Swear.
Hamlet. Hie et ubique ? then we'll shift our ground.
Come hither, gentlemen, . . . swear by my sword.
Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear.
Hamlet. Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast?
A worthy pioner! "

18

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

Understand that, as he says this, his teeth chatter, "pale as his
shirt, his knees knocking each other." Intense anguish ends with a
burst of laughter, which is nothing else than a spasm. Thenceforth
Hamlet speaks as though lie had a chronic nervous attack. His
madness is feigned, I admit ; but his mind, as a door whose hinges are
twisted, swings and bangs to every wind with a mad precipitance and
with a discordant noise. He has no need to search for the strange ideas,
apparent incoherencies, exaggerations, the deluge of sarcasms, which
he accumulates: he finds them within him. He does himself no violence ; he simply gives himself up to them. . . . It is clear that this
state is a disease, and that the man will die.
[From James Russell Lowell's "Shakespeare Once More" in "Among My
Books," 1870.]
In Hamlet, though there is no Denmark of the ninth century, Shakespeare has suggested the prevailing rudeness of manners quite enough
for his purpose. We see it in the single combat of Hamlet's father with
the elder Fortinbras, in the vulgar wassail of the king, in the English
monarch being expected to hang Rosencrantz and Guildenstern out of
hand merely to oblige his cousin of Denmark, in Laertes, sent to Paris
to be made a gentleman of, becoming instantly capable of any the most
barbarous treachery to glut his vengeance. We cannot fancy Ragnar
Lodbrog or Eric the Red matriculating at Wittenberg; but it was essential that Hamlet should be a scholar, and Shakespeare sends him
thither without more ado. All through the play we get the notion of a
state of society in which a savage nature has disguised itself in the
externals of civilization, like a Maori deacon, wTho has only to strip and
he becomes once more a tattooed Pagan with his mouth watering for a
spare-rib of his pastor. Historically, at the date of Hamlet, the Danes
were in the habit of burning their enemies alive in their houses, with
as much of their family about them as might be to make it comfortable.
Shakespeare seems purposely to have dissociated his play from history
by changing nearly every name in the original legend.
The grave-diggers' scene always impresses me as one of the most
pathetic in the whole tragedy. That Shakespeare introduced such scenes
and characters with deliberate intention, and with a view to artistic
relief and contrast, there can hardly be a doubt. We must take it for
granted that a man whose works show everywhere the results of judgment sometimes acted with forethought. I find the springs of the
profoundest sorrow and pity in this hardened indifference of the gravediggers, in their careless discussion as to whether Ophelia's death was
by suicide or no, in their singing and jesting at their dreary work.
" A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,
For— and a shrouding-sheet:
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet! "

We know who is to be the guest of this earthen hospitality, — how much
beauty, love, and heartbreak are to be covered in that pit of clay. All

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

19

we remember of Ophelia reacts upon us with tenfold force, and we
recoil from our amusement at the ghastly drollery of the two delvers
with a shock of horror. That the unconscious Hamlet should stumble
on this grave of all others, that it should be here that he should pause
to muse humorously on death and decay,— all this prepares us for the
revulsion of passion in the next scene, and for the frantic confession, —
" I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers
Could not with all their quantity of love
Make up my sum."

[From Hudson's "Shakespeare: his Life, Art, and Characters" 1872.]
The Ghost calls for revenge, but specifies no particular kind of revenge. Hamlet naturally supposes the meaning to be payment in kind,
— " a n eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." Is this, from Hamlet's
own point of view, right ? It is nothing less than to kill at ©nee his
uncle, his mother's husband, and his king; and this, not in a judicial
manner, but by assassination. How shall he justify such a deed to the
world? how vindicate himself from, the very crime which he must
allege against another? For, as he cannot subpoena the Ghost, the
evidence on which he is to act is available only in the court of his own
conscience. To serve any good end, the deed must so stand in the
public eye as it does in his own; else he will be in effect setting an
example of murder, not of justice. . . .
And it should be noted further, that, whenever he sees or even thinks
of the king, his calmness instantly forsakes him, and a fury of madness
takes possession of him, throwing his mind into the wildest exorbitancy. The best instance of this is in the horrid excuses which he raves
out for sparing the king when he finds him praying; where it is plainly
neither his moral reason nor his understanding, but simply his madness, that speaks, and this, too, in its fiercest strain.
[From Dr. March of Lafayette College, 1875.]
Professor F. A. March, in a paper on The Immaturity of Shakespeare
as shown in Hamlet, read before the American Philological Association
in 1875, discusses the following topics to establish his positions : (1) The
metre. (2) Many things not the natural utterance of the characters, to
carry out the thought of the play; but good things brought in to make
hits. (3) The want of lively characterization of the subordinate characters. (4) The youthful point of view from which the characters are seen.
(5) Immature view of the problems of life and death. (6) Immature
treatment of the ghost. (7) Immature treatment of insanity. (8) The
general atmosphere of lechery. (9) The character of Hamlet is not
brought to unity.
[From Karl Werder's " Vorlesungen iiber Shakespeare's Hamlet," 1875.]
The critics one and all, (with two exceptions,) Goethe at their head,
have taken up the idea that personally, from the beginning, throughout
the piece, Hamlet is at fault, on account of some subjective deficiency,

20

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

failing, or ill desert. Were he not, unfortunately for his work and himself, just what he happens to be; had he been by nature fitted for what
he had to do, —then all would instantly, from the outset, have taken
another, and indeed, according to its nature and its spirit, a more direct
course. Thus he is the obstacle; he it is, who, through his natural disposition, drags every thing out of place, and gets every thing in confusion by giving it a direction wrong in itself and ruinous to himself and
others.
Now, from all this I must, for my part, utterly dissent.
One thing I deny, first of all; the one point upon which all the rest
depends, and with which it all stands or falls: this one point, namely,
that it is possible for Hamlet to dare to do what all the critics, notwithstanding their nuances, almost unanimously require of him. Whether
or not he were naturally capable of doing it, is a question altogether
impertinent. For it simply was not possible, and this for.reasons entirely
objective. The situation of things, the force of circumstances, the nature
of his task, directly forbid it, and so imperatively that he was compelled to respect the prohibition, if he were to keep his reason; above
all, his poetic and dramatic, ay, and his human reason. The critics
have been so absorbed in the study of his character, that the task imposed upon him has been lost sight of. Here is the fundamental mistake. (See Furness, vol. ii. pp. 354-371.)
[From Weiss's " Wit, Humor, and Shakespeare," 1876.]
After Hamlet's interview with the Ghost, the " antic disposition "
which tints his behavior is ironical. . . . The subsequent behavior of
Hamlet is the exact counterpart in Irony of the conviction that was so
suddenly thrust upon him, and terribly emphasized by his father, that
" a man may smile and smile, and be a villain." . . . It is by unconsciously remanding Hamlet to irony, that Shakespeare has expressed
the effect of an apparition, and of the disenchanting news it brought.
. . . The state of Denmark is rotten with this irony. . . . He is really
in love with Ophelia, but this irony conceals it.
[From the Preface to Furness's Variorum Edition, 1877.]
The present editor's [Furness's] opinion . . . is that Hamlet is neither
mad, nor pretends to be so. And in view of the fact that he has faithfully read and reported all the arguments on that side, the editor begs
the advocates of the theory of feigned insanity to allow him, out of
reciprocal courtesy, to ask how they account for Hamlet's being able,
in the flash of time between the vanishing of the Ghost and the coming
of Horatio and Marcellus, to form, horror-struck as he was, a plan for
the whole conduct of his future life ?
[From the " Shakespeare Primer " of Edward Doivden, LL.D., 1879.]
No play of Shakespeare's has had a higher power of interesting
spectators and readers, and none has given rise to a greater variety
of conflicting interpretations. It has been rightly named a tragedy of
thought, and in this respect, as well as others, takes its place beside

INTRODUCTION

TO

HAMLET.

21

Julms Caesar. Neither Brutus nor Hamlet is the victim of an overmastering passion, as are the chief persons of the later tragedies ;
e.g., Othello, Macbeth, Coriolanus. The burden of a terrible dutyis laid upon each of them, and neither is fitted for bearing such a
burden. Brutus is disqualified for action by his moral idealism, his
student-like habits, his capacity for dealing with .abstractions rather
than with men and things. Hamlet is disqualified for action by his
excess of the reflective tendency, and by his unstable will, which alternates between complete inactivity and fits of excited energy. Naturally
sensitive, he receives a painful shock from the hasty second marriage
of his mother ; already the springs of faith and joy in his nature are
embittered ; then follows the terrible discovery of his father's murder,
with the injunction laid upon him to revenge the crime ; upon this,
again, follow the repulses he receives from Ophelia. A deep melancholy
lays hold of his spirit, and all of life grows dark and sad to his vision.
Although hating his father's murderer, he has little heart to push on
his revenge. He is aware that he is suspected and surrounded by spies.
Partly to baffle them, partly to create a veil behind which to seclude
his true self, partly because his whole moral nature is indeed deeply
disordered, he assumes the part of one whose wits have gone astray.
Except for one loyal friend, he is alone among enemies or supposed
traitors. Ophelia he regards as no more loyal or honest to him than his
mother had been to her dead husband. The ascertainment of Claudius's
guilt, by means of the play, still leaves him incapable of the last decisive
act of vengeance. Not so, however, with the king, who, now recognizing his foe in Hamlet, does not delay to despatch him to a bloody death
in England. But there is in Hamlet a terrible power of sudden and
desperate action. From the melancholy which broods over him after
the burial of Ophelia, he rouses himself to the play of swords with
Laertes ; and at the last, with strength which leaps up before its final
extinction, he accomplishes the punishment of the malefactor.
EXPLANATIONS.

Abbott = the Shakespearian Grammar of Dr. E. A. Abbott, third edition, 1873.
A. £ . = Anglo-Saxon ; 'Dan. = Danish ; F r . = French ; Gael. = Gaelic;
Ger.= German; Gr. = Greek; O. E . = Old English, etc.
Bracket=Etymological French Dictionary, by A. Brachet, translation,
1873.
Furness = the Variorum Shakespeare, Hamlet, by Dr. Horace Howard
Furness, 1877.
Maetzner— Englische GrammatiJc, von E. Maetzner, 1860-65.
Skeat = Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, by Walter
W. Skeat, 1882.
Stormonth = Dictionary of the English Language, by Rev. James Stormonth, 1885.
Webster = Noah Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
Wedgwood = Dictionary of English Etymology, by H. A. Wedgwood,
second edition, 1878.
g y As to the numbers of the lines, Rolfe's admirable school edition
has been followed.

DRAMATIS PERSONS.
CLAUDIUS, king of Denmark.
HAMLET, son to the late, and nephew to the present king.
POLONIUS, lord chamberlain.
HORATIO, friend to Hamlet.
LAERTES, son to Polonius. •
VOLTIMAND,
CORNELIUS,
ROSENCRANTZ,
GUILDENSTERN,
OSRIC,

Y courtiers.

A Gentleman,
A Priest.
MARCELLUS, )

^

_

> officers.

BERNARDO,

)

FRANCISCO, a soldier.

•

REYNALDO, servant to Polonius.
Players.
Two Clowns, grave-diggers.
FORTINBRAS, prince of Norway.
A Captain.
English Ambassadors.
GERTRUDE, queen of Denmark, and mother to Hamlet.
OPHELIA, daughter to Polonius.
Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and
other Attendants.
Ghost of Hamlet's father.
SCENE:

Elsinore.

HAMLET.
ACT
SCENE I .

Elsinore.

I.

A Platform

FRANCISCO at Ms post.

before the Castle,

Enter to Mm BERNARDO.

Bernardo. W h o ' s there?
l
Francisco. Nay, answer me ; stand, and unfold yourself.
Bernardo. Long live the king !
Francisco. Bernardo?
Bernardo. H e .
5
Francisco. You come most carefully upon your hour.
Bernardo. 'Tis now struck twelve ; get thee, to bed, Francisco.
Francisco. For this relief much thanks ; 'tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.
Bernardo. Have you had quiet guard?
Francisco.
Not a mouse stirring.
10
Elsinore (Danish Helsingor) is on the east coast of the island of
Zealand, about twenty-four miles north by east from Copenhagen.
Accent of Elsinore ? Here, on a projecting spit of land, stands the castle of Kronborg, built during Shakespeare's youth. I t commands the
entrance to the Baltic. What of the mythic champion Holger, fabled
to be asleep in its vaults? — !. Who's t h e r e ? The usual military
challenge was, " W h o goes t h e r e ? " With what feelings does Bernardo
approach? — 2. m e . Is me emphatic? yourself? Is Francisco startled?
impatient? —3. Long live the k i n g ! Is thfs phrase the watchword?
See line 15 below. The old French challenge Qui vive? (i.e , " F o r
whom do you cry vive? ") was answered by Vive le roil (" Long live the
k i n g ! " ) —6. upon your hour. Like our modern " o n t i m e " ? —Is
the clock striking? Note with what ease and naturalness the precise
time, the weather, and the star-lit sky are indicated. —8. much = great ?
much of? many? May thanks be a singular noun? See " Soul, thou
hast much goods laid up for many years " (Luke xii. 19). — bitter = bitterly ? Is cold a noun ? Abbott, § 1 . - 9 . sick at heart. The key-note of
the tragedy struck? Skill in this? or lucky accident? —10. mouse.
Coleridge says, " The attention to minute sounds — naturally associated
23

24

HAMLET,

[ACT I .

Bernardo. Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
Francisco. I think I hear them. — Stand, ho ! W h o is there ?
Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS.
Horatio. Friends to this ground.
Marcellus.
And liegemen to the Dane.
15
Francisco. Give you good night.
Marcellus.
O, farewell, honest soldier :
Who hath relieved you ?
Francisco.
Bernardo has my place.
Give you good night.
[Exit.
Marcellus.
Holla ! Bernardo !
Bernardo.
*
Say, —
What, is Horatio there ?
Horatio.
A piece of him.
19
Bernardo. Welcome, Horatio ; welcome, good Marcellus.
Horatio. What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?
Bernardo. I have seen nothing.
Marcellus. Horatio sa}Ts 'tis but our fantasy,
And will not let belief take hold of him
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us ;
25
with the recollection of minute objects, and the more familiar and
trifling, the more impressive from the unusualness of their producing
any impression at all — gives a philosophical pertinency to this image;
but it has likewise its dramatic use and purpose." D o e s i t produce a
sense of reality? —13. rivals, partners? Lat. rivus, rivalis, a brook;
French, rival, one who uses the same brook; rivals, those who dwell on
opposite banks of it. Hence ?— m a k e haste. Why ? —14. Stand, etc.
The modern challenge and responses are: " W h o comes t h e r e ? " Answer, " Friend [or " Friends," if there are two or more], with the countersign." — " Advance, friend, [or, ''Halt, friends. Advance one,] with
the countersign." The one challenged advances, and whispers the password, and the sentinel replies, " The countersign is correct; pass." —15.
the Dane, the chief Dane, the king? See I. ii. line 44. So Turk for
Grand Turk, in King Henry V., V. ii. 322. —16. Give = May God give ? — O.
What does 0 here denote ? surprise ? sudden recognition ? or — ? —19.
Horatio. Why his special inquiry about Horatio ? — piece. A jocular
response showing incredulity ? Or is there deep meaning here ? He
says this as he gives his hand [Warburton] ? — 21. What. " Marcellus
imagines from Bernardo's excited manner that the Ghost has visited
him already " ?—Most of the quartos assign this speech to Horatio; the
folios, to Marcellus. Which is the better way ? — again. Says Coleridge,
" Even the word ' again' has its credibiliziny effect. From speaking of
'this thing,' Marcellus rises into'this dreaded sight,' which immediately
afterwards becomes 'this apparition,' and that, too, an intelligent spirit
that is to be spoken to."—23. fantasy (Qaivw, phaino, I show, 4>dvraaiJ.a,
phantasma, appearance), imagination; caprice, whim ?— 25. of, by? Fre-

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

25

Therefore I have entreated him along
With us to watch the minutes of this night,
That if again this apparition come,
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.
Horatio. Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.
Bernardo.
Sit down awhile ; 30
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.
Horatio.
Well, sit we down,
And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.
Bernardo. Last night of all,
35
When yond same star that's westward from the pole
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one, —
Enter GHOST.
Marcellus. Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes
again!
40
Bernardo. In the same figure, like the king that's dead.
Marcellus. Thou art a scholar ; speak to it, Horatio.
Bernardo. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.
quent meaning? See IV. ii. 12; 1 Cor. xv. 5-8, etc. — 26. along. Should
there be a comma after along? — 29. approve, corroborate the testimony
of, confirm ? See Merchant of Venice, III. ii. 79. — 30. Tush. A common
exclamation of impatience in Shakespeare. Does it originate, like pooh,
in an expulsion of the breath, as if one would spit out what is distasteful ? — 31, 32. assail . . . fortify, appropriate military terms? —
33. What, etc. = let us tell what? or with or by relating what we have
seen? —sit w e . First person plural imperative? or subjunctive? —
(Abbott, 361.) —35. Last night, etc. Does Bernardo, consciously or
unconsciously, elevate his style? —36. yond and yon are interchangeable ? — pole = pole-star? — 37. his = its? In Shakespeare, it,-as possessive, occurs fourteen times; it's nine times; its once. Rolfe. Milton
uses its three times.—illume, not found elsewhere in Shakespeare.—
Difference between prose diction and poetic? —39. beating. The first
quarto has " fowling." Which is the better word? — bell. German
glocke.—40. thee, for thou? The Elizabethans reduced thou to thee,
especially after an emphatic imperative, as here. — Macbeth, I. v. 23;
Abbott, 212.—42. scholar. — Much Ado About Nothing, I I . i. 231. —The
prescribed formula? of exorcism were in Latin. In Beaumont and
Fletcher we read,
" Let's call the butler up, for he speaks Latin,
And that will daunt the devil."

Coleridge calls attention to " the exquisite judgment of Shakespeare in
this scene," awakening a sense of its reality, the two believers silencing

26

HAMLET.

[ACT I .

Horatio. Most like ; it harrows me with fear and wonder.
Bernardo. I t would be spoke to.
Marcellus.
Question it, Horatio. 45
Horatioo W h a t art thou that usurp'st this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak!
Marcellus. I t is offended.
Bernardo.
See, it stalks away!
50
Horatio. Stay ! speak, speak ! I charge thee, speak !
[Exit GHOST.
Marcellus. 'Tis gone, and will not answer.
Bernardo. How now, Horatio ! you tremble and look pale ;
I s not this something more than fantasy ?
W h a t think you on ' t ?
55
Horatio. Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.
Marcellus.
Is it not like the king?
Horatio. As thou art to thyself :
Such was the very armor he had on
60
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle,
H e smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.
' T is strange.
the sceptic. —44. harrows. Real meaning? — Milton's Comiis, line 565.
See I. v. 16. The quartos read horrowes. —45. w o u l d , wishes to? or ought
to? See Abbott, 329. — Could not a ghost speak before being spoken to ?
— 46. Usurp'st . . . time . . . form. Zeugma? The Ghost invades
the night and assumes the form [Moberly] ? — 49. sometimes = sometime — formerly, at one time? Shakespeare uses both indifferently.—
55. on't = o/ i t ? or on i t ? Abbott, 181. — 56. m i g h t = could?
"Might,
the past tense of may, was originally used in the sense of was able,ov
could." Abbott, 312. — 57. sensible. Active or passive sense ? Merchant
of Venice, I I . ix. 88; Macbeth, I I . i. 36; Abbott, 3.— avouch, avowal, testimony? Not elsewhere a noun in Shakespeare. — Lat. ad, to ; votum,
vow; Fr. avouer, to confess. — For verbs used as nouns, see Abbott,
451. — 60. armor. Worn by him how long before? See V. i. 136-141.
How old is Horatio ? Hamlet ? — 61. N o r w a y , the king of Norway ?
or the Norwegian? Macbeth, I. ii. 59. Louis XIV. was not the only
monarch that imagined himself to be the state! See line 15.—62.
parle, parley. Lat. parabolare, to relate, becomes successively parablare, paraidare, paroler, parler. Drachet. — Parlor is the talking-room, and
parliament what Carlyle calls the " talking apparatus " ! —63. P o l a e k s ,
Polanders. In first quarto (1603), it is pollax; in first and second folios
(1623 and 1632), it is Pollax; in third folio (1663), Polax; in the fourth
(1685) Poleaxe, Did he strike the Polanders " sledded," i.e., who ride in
sleds, sledges, or sleighs ? Or did he smite his sledded (sledged, sledge-

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

27

Marcellus. Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
m
Horatio. In what particular thought to work I know n o t ;
But in the gross and scope of my opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
Marcellus. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
71
So nightly toils the subject of the land,
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of w a r ;
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
75
Does not divide the Sunday from the week;
W h a t might be toward, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint-laborer with the day :
Who is 't that can inform me?
Horatio.
That can I ;
A t least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
80
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick'cl on by a most emulate pride,
Dar'd to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet —
For so this side of our known world esteem'd h i m —
85
like) pole-axe on the ice ? See I I . ii. 63. — For a good deal of " admirable fooling " on this line, see Furness. — 65. jump, just, exactly ? V. ii.
363. The folios have just. — dead. S e e l . ii. 198. So " dead midnight"
in Measure for Measure.—67, 68. particular thought, special line of
thought ?—work, study, build an opinion ? — gross a n d scope, general
tendency, general interpretation, large view? —70. Good. Abbott
(Shakes. Gram. § 13) makes this a " vocative use," as if it were, " Good
sirs." In this he is followed by Corson, Eolfe, and others. Hudson
makes it equivalent to " well." "Dr. Johnson makes good now mean in
good time, a la bonne heure. What interpretation do you prefer? — 72.
toils = causes to toil ? Abbott, 290, 291; Macbeth, II. iv. 4.— s u b j e c t ^
the people ? Collective noun ? See " the general," I I . ii. 423. — 73. cast,
making in moulds? — 74. mart. (Shortened from market) purchasing,
trade ? Lat. mer-ere, to get, gain; merx, gain, or ' the earning one '; mercdri, to trade. Skeat. — 75. impress, impressment ? or what ? What was
a " press-gang " ? Were shipwrights as well as common sailors liable
to be " pressed" into the English service ? See Lord Campbell's Legal
Knoicledge of Shakespeare.— 76. divide, distinguish? — week, weekdays?— 77. toward, at hand, imminent, approaching, in preparation?
See V. ii. 353. A. S. to, supposed to be related to Gr. suffix -8e, de,
towards; A. S. iceard = becoming or tending to. Skeat. — 80. so, as I
am going to tell ? — 82. Fortinbras, he of the iron arm ? Lat. ferri
brachium, arm of iron, — 83. pricked on, spurred on ? Who was
pricked on ? — emulate is not found elsewhere in Shakespeare. — He is
partial to these passive forms. Moberly. — 84. the combat. The is used
to denote notoriety ? A French-like use of the word ? The combat

28

HAMLET.

Did slay this Fortinbras ; who, by a seal'd compact,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
Which he stood seiz'd of, to the conqueror:
Against the which a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king ; which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant
And carriage of the article design'd,
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there
Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes.
For food and diet, to some enterprise
That hath a stomach i n ' t ; which is no other—

[ACT r.

90

95

100

is the decisive or mortal combat ? — 86. Is this line an Alexandrine (i.e.,
twelve-syllabled) ? Abbott, 469, 490. Or may we scan thus:
Compact, accented on the last syllable through Latin influence ? Note
the tendency to throw the accent back in English. Corson (introduction to Legende of Goode Women) gives a multitude of examples. — 87.
l a w and heraldry = law of heraldry? "code of h o n o r " ? Latin jus
fetiale. Hendiadys here? Like "beset with shame and courtesy," i.e.,
shame of discourtesy, in Merchant of Venice? Or are law and heraldry to
be taken separately; " ratified by law " meaning so as to be binding in
laiv, and "ratified by heraldry " meaning so as"to be binding in honor?
— 88. those his. Legal and Latinized phraseology? Abbott, 239;
Henry V., III. vi. 142; Julius Cazsar, III. i. 113.—89. seized, possessed?
This legal term is still in use in the sense of possessed.—90. moiety
(Lat. medietas; Fr. moitie), half. Here it means portion? — Moiety, like
half, originally means only a part. Moberly. — 91. gaged, pledged?
wagered? Gage and wage are doublets? — Low Lat. vadium, akin to
A. S. wed, a pledge. — The French gages=wages. Dissyllable? — 93.
covenant. One quarto (1676) reads compact; others have comart.
Same meaning? Lat. con, together; venire, to come; convenire, to
agree.— Scan as in line 86? Covenant a dissyllable? Abbott, 494.—
94. carriage of the article designed = carrying out of the design of
the articles [White] ? purport of the articles of agreement drawn up
[Johnson] ? — 96. unimproved = untutored [Clark and Wright] ? undisciplined [Johnson] ? unimpeached [Singer and Dyce] ? ungovernable
[Staunton]? unemployed [Schmidt]? — mettle, spirit, temper? Gr.
ixeraWdw, metallao, I search after; fj.era\\ov, metallon, a pit, cave, mine,
mineral, metal. Skeat. Lat. metallum, element, material, metal.
" T h e early editions make no distinction between metal and mettle."
Rolfe. — 97. skirts. In As You Like It, I I I . ii. 315, we read, "skirts of
a forest like fringe upon a petticoat." —98. Shark'd up = clutched
together [Moberly] ? The undiscriminating voracity of the fish implied
here? —list, muster-roll? catalogue? or fellows named therein? —
lawless. The folios read landless. Better ? — resolutes = desperadoes,
roughs, "food for p o w d e r " ? Abbott, 433.—99. food and diet. Pleonasm? They served for their " k e e p " alone ? —100. stomach.

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

As it doth well appear unto our state —
But to recover of us, by strong hand
And terms compulsative, those foresaid lands
So by his father lost: and this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The source of this our watch, and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.
Bernardo. I think it be no other but e'en so.
Well may it sort that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch, so like the king
That was and is the question of these wars.
Horatio. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets :
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,

29

105

110

115

Repeatedly in Shakespeare this word means courage, as in Henry V.,
IV. iii. 35. Gr. aro/xaxos, stomachus, stomach, seat of courage ? But
may not another meaning, suggested by the context, be included? —
102. But=than?—103. compulsative. The quartos read compulsatory. Compulsive is found I I I . iv. 86. Which best suits the metre here ?
—107. romage, ransacking, rummaging? or bustle, turmoil? Not used
elsewhere in Shakespeare. Dutch ruim — room ; or hold of a ship.
Roomage, from room, is like stowage from stow, and means nearly the
same. ' A sailor term ? To rummage =.to clear the ship's hold ; to
search narrowly. Skeat. Webster gives the etymology of re, again,
and mutare, to change. What did Shakespeare know of navigation ?
See Tempest, I. i. —108. be = may be ? " Be expresses more doubt than
is, after a verb of thinking." Abbott, 299 ; Othello, III. iii. 384. —109.
sort, suit, assort itself? or fall out, happen? — The cause and effect are
proportionate and suitable [Johnson]? — 111. question = subject and
cause?—112, mote. In three quartos it is moth, "which," says Rolfe,
" probably had the same pronunciation." Is the metaphor felicitous ?
A. S. mot, particle of dust, speck? or A. S. moththe, a moth? —114.
mightiest. " T h e superlative inflection est, like the Latin superlative, is sometimes used to signify 'very,' with little or no idea^of excess." Abbott, 8. —116. gibber (g hard as in give), to speak rapidly and
inarticulately. " An imitative word, formed as a variant of jabber, and
allied to gabble. The suffix ~er is frequentative, and the base gib is a
weak form of gab." Skeat. — lll. As stars, etc. Nearly all the commentators agree that the text is here corrupt. May we explain the obscurity by supposing Horatio to be in some excitement? Note that in
the kindred passages in Julius Ccesar, Act I. sc. iii. 15-25; I I . ii. 18-25,
" Men all in fire walk up and down the streets," " And ghosts did shriek
and squeal about the streets." Putting these together, we may understand Horatio's elliptical expressions thus: " T h e sheeted dead, looking like stars all ablaze, did utter shrieks and gibberish; and there were
dews of blood" ("which drizzled blood upon the Capitol"), disasters
foreboded, etc. Or, as there is no difficulty until we reach the 117th
line, supply mentally, before " As stars," etc., " A mote it is to trouble

30

HAMLET.

Disasters in the sun ; and the moist star
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands
W a s sick almost to doomsday with eclipse :
And even the like precurse of fierce events,
As harbingers preceding still the fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen. —
But soft, behold ! lo, where it comes again !

[ACT I.

120

125

Be-enter GHOST.
I'll cross it, though it blast me. — Stay, illusion !
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me ;
If there be any good thing to be done,
That may to thee do ease and grace to me,
Speak to m e ;
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,

130

the mind's eye." Another interpretation is suggested by Massey (1872),
viz.: Take lines 121 to 125, and insert them between lines 116 and 117.
Try it. —118. moist star, the moon? Water in the moon? Moist because of dews? tides? or — ? — See Matt. xxiv. 29, 30; Winter's Tale, I.
ii. 1, 415; Midsummer Night's Dream, I I . i. 159; Plutarch's Julius Ccesar.
— Disasters. Lat. dis, ill, and astrum, star (Gr. Sv?, dys, i l l ; ao-r^p,
aster, star), an astrological word, like influence, aspect, retrograde, etc.—
119. Neptune's. Whodiscovered that the moon sways the tides? What
did Shakespeare know of it ? —120. to, to the same extent as if it were ?
— doomsday, III. iv. 50.— 121. precurse (Latin prce, before; cursor,
runner).—fierce, terrible? glaring? extreme? —122. harbingers. A
harbinger (as in Macbeth, I. iv. 45) originally was an officer who went in
advance to prepare lodgings (herberge, harborage) for the king.—still =
ever, constantly ? " Allied to A. S. stilldre, to remain in a stall or place
. . . still is ' brought to a stall or resting place' . . . continually, abidingly, always, ever." Skeat. — 123. omen = portentous approaching
event ? Metonymy ? —124. demonstrated. Shakespeare sometimes
accents this word on the first and sometimes on the second syllable.
Which is better here ? Subject of demonstrated ? object ? —125. climatures = regions ?— Gr. KMVCLV, Minein, to lean, slope; KAI><X, Mima,
slope, zone, region, climate. Does climate originate in the slope of the
sun's rays ? Lines 108 to 125 are not in the folio (1623). Are they important?—127. I'll cross it, etc. What has given him more courage? —
blast. It was once believed that whoever crossed a spectre's path, or the
spot where a spectre was seen, would pretty surely be blasted by it. Of
the Earl of Derby, who was supposed to have died by witchcraft in 1594,
it was said, " On Friday there appeared a tall man who twice crossed him
swiftly, and when the Earl came to this place where he saw this man
he fell sick." Lodge. —129,132,135. The imperfect lines to be filled out
by pauses, as if to give the Ghost opportunity to answer ? —131. ease.
It was believed that a ghost might be " laid " by doing for it what it had

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

31

O, speak!
136
Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,
[ The cock croivs.
Speak of i t ; stay, and speak ! — Stop it, Marcellus.
Marcellus. Shall I strike at it with my partisan ?
140
Horatio. Do, if it will not stand.
Bernardo.
'Tis h e r e !
Horatio.
'Tis h e r e !
Marcellus. 'Tis gone !
[Exit GHOST.
We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the show of violence ;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
145
And our vain blows malicious mockery.
Bernardo. I t was about to speak, when the cock crew.
Horatio. And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
150
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of day ; and at his warning,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
The extravagant and erring spirit hies
left undone in life. —134. h a p p i l y , haply, perhaps [-Clark & Wright,
Nares, etc.] ? luckily, fortunately [Hudson, Tsehischwitz, etc.] ? Modifies may avoid? or foreknowing? Hudson thinks happily foreknowing
= fortunate foreknowledge. For a passage parallel in structure, see
As You Like It, I I . iv. 30 to 38 —138. w a l k . Extortioners not permitted
to repose quietly after death? — t h e y say. Does Horatio imply that
he does not believe it ? What does the use of the word illusion imply
in line 127? —140. p a r t i s a n , a pike ; or a kind of halberd, or steelpointed pole with a sort of axe on it. The halberd of Miles Standish is
shown at Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. — Low Lat. partizare, to
divide ? or O. H. Ger. parta; later, barte, battle-axe, the -herd of English
hal-berd. Skeat. —141. D o . Horatio does not reverence this spirit?
See line 148;.II. ii. 585, 586; I I I . ii. 77. Very significant is "guilty
t h i n g " ? Milton's Comus, 432.— 149. s u m m o n s (Fr. semonce, from
O. Fr. somonse, from Lat. sub, under, and monere, to warn ;/ summonere,
to remind privately. The 5 at the end of summons is not plural, nor is
it from Lat. summoneas. Skeat.—150. t r u m p e t = trumpeter? as in
Henry V., IV. ii. 61. —151. lofty = elevated ? or lofty-sounding ? —153.
sea o r fire, in e a r t h o r a i r , the four elements of the old philosophers,
each inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits ? So Milton (II Penseroso,
93, 94) speaks of "those demons that are found In fire, air, flood, or
under ground." See Pope's Rape of the Lock. —154. e x t r a v a g a n t
(Lat. extra, beyond; vagans, wandering), wandering beyond its proper
limits? — e r r i n g (Lat. err are, to rove, stray), roving? Note Shakespeare's use of Latin words in their strict etymological sense. Do they
add dignity? Verify it.— hies. See Milton's Hymn on the Nativity,

32

HAMLET.

[ACT i.

To his confine : and of the truth herein
155
This present object made probation.
Marcellus. I t faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long ;
160
And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
Horatio. So have I heard and do in part believe it.
165
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill.
Break we our watch up ; and, by my advice,
Let us impart what we have seen to-night
Unto young H a m l e t ; for, upon my life,
170
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
Marcellus. Let's do't, I pray ; and I this morning know
Where we shall find him most conveniently.
[Exeunt.
175
stanza 26.—155. confine, bound, limit? or place of confinement?
Shakespeare accents first or second syllable. Which here ? Sonnet
84; also Tempest, IV. i. 121.—156. probation = proof (as in Macbeth,
III. i. 79, etc.) ? Lat. probus, good ; probare, to judge of the goodness,
to test, prove. — Four syllables ? The ending -ion is very often dissyllable in Shakespeare? —158. 'gaiasti Often used metaphorically, of
time in the writers of Shakespeare's day. See I I I . iv. 50. —161. spirit.
This word often seems a monosyllable in Shakespeare. Is it necessary
so to suppose it? — can w a l k . The folios read can walke; the first
quarto, dare walke; the other quartos, dare sturre. Preference ? —162.
strike = exercise a malignant influence? Moonstruck is still used.—
Titus Andronicus, I I . iv. 14. Horace fears that Maecenas may be
" struck " by the constellation Scorpio? —163. takes = infests, bewitches,
blasts, smites? Often so in Shakespeare. —164. gracious, touched
with divine grace, blessed. See V. ii. 85. — Gr. x<*Pl?> charts, favor,
grace; Lat. gratia, grace.— 165. in part. Well said by Horatio?
See note on 141. Moberly pronounces it " a happy expression of the
half-sceptical, half-complying spirit of Shakespeare's time." But was
Shakespeare thinking of that? —166, 167. " I t must have been," says
Hunter, " i n emulation . . . that Milton wrote, 'Now Morn, her rosy
steps in the eastern clime Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl.'
. . .. * Russet,' rosy; ' eastern hill,' eastern clime; ' the dew,' orient pearl."
— What time of the year was this scene? See I. i. 8; I. ii. 138; I. v.
59; IV. vii. 165-168, etc. —173. loves. Abstract noun in the plural ? I t
is often so in Shakespeare, when it relates to several persons. See I. ii.
15,251,254; Macbeth, I I I . i. 121. —175. conveniently. So the folios. The
quartos all have convenient, which was allowable enough, as adjective
forms are very often used as adverbs in Shakespeare's time ? Which
makes the better metre for the line ? — Value of this scene in the plot ?

SCENE I I . ]

SCENE I I .
Enter

HAMLET.

33

A Room of State in the Castle.

the K I N G , QUEEN, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants.

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's deathThe memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
5
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
The imperial jointress of this warlike state,
Have we, as ' t were with a defeated joy, —
10
With one auspicious and one dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole, —
Taken to wife ; nor have we herein barr'd
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
15
With this affair along. For all, our thanks.
Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,
Holding a weak supposal of our worth,
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death
SCENE II. Coleridge calls attention to " the set and pedantically antithetic form of the sentences " in the first part of the king's speech, —
" t h e strain of undignified rhetoric," — and yet " a certain appropriate
majesty " in what follows. Is his estimate sound ? — 2. that. Though
that, while that, lest that, tohen that, etc., were frequent in the old writers;
but often the simpler form that alone was used, when, as here, the preceding word might readily he supplied. Scan this line. — 4.-brow of
woe. In Love's labor's Lost, V. ii. 734, we have " mourning brow." So
" mind of love," in Merchant of Feniee = loving mind. IV. vi. 18, 19. —
8. sometime, as in I. i. 49? —9. jointress = joint possessor? A jointure was an estate settled on a wife to be in lieu of dower ? Latin jungere,
to join; junctura, joining ; English jointress, shortened from jointuress.
—10. defeated = disfeatured, disfigured, marred? See II. ii. 556. So
in Othello, I. iii. 337. —11. auspicious, betokening happiness? — dropping = tear-dropping? or downcast V White substitutes drooping for
dropping. Wisely? See Winter's Tale, V. ii. 70, 71. —13. delight'and
dole, etc. Do these antitheses border on the ludicrous V What is their
rhetorical effect? —14. to = as? Often so in the.Bible? Mark xii. 23.
Tempest, II. i. 75 ; Macbeth, IV. iii. 10. — barr'd, excluded ? thwarted ?
Henry V., I. ii. 12, 92 ; Cymbeline, I. i. 82, " T h e pangs of barr'd affection.''—15. wisdoms. See note on loves, I. i. 173. — 17. that = what?
The relative is often omitted. This may arise from the frequent identity of that with the antecedent. Thus, " t h a t , that you know." Abbott,
244. —18. Supposal —estimate, opinion, notion? Not used elsewhere

34

HAMLET.

Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,
He hath not faiFd to pester us with message,
Importing the surrender of those lands
Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,
To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting.
Thus much the business is : we have here writ
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras, —
Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose, — t o suppress
His further gait herein ; in that the levies,
The lists, and full proportions, are all made
Out of his subject; and we here dispatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway,
Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the king more than the scope
Of these dilated articles allow.
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.

[ACT I.
20

25

30

35

39

Voltimand.
]• In that and all things will we show our duty.
in Shakespeare. —20. disjoint. For euphony, or because they already
resembled past participles, many verbs ending in the sound of t or d
omit the suffix -ed. So deject, in Hamlet, III. i. 155 ; hoist, III. iv. 205,
etc. Abbott, 342. —21. Colleagued = allied? co-leagued? He? or his
supposed? or what? No ally but a dream? —22. H e . Is the word he
needed here ? See John i. 18. — pester = annoy ? — Milton's Comus, 7. —
Originally to encumber, clog ; from pastorium, a clog for horses at pasture
(fr. pascere, to feed). Nothing to do with pest, but allied to pastern. Skeat.
—23. Importing = purporting [Meiklejohn] ? importuning [Abbott] ? IV.
vii. 80 ; V. ii. 21. —24. w i t h = in accordance with ? — 29. bed-rid. Ingeniously derived by Earle (Philology) from A. S. bedrian, to bewitch.
— Skeat prefers to make it from A. S. bed, a bed, and ridda, a knight.
" Thug the sense is, a bed-rider, — a sarcastic term for a disabled man."
— 31. gait = procedure, progress, course ? Skeat says it is from get, not
go; which may remind old soldiers of the expression often heard during
our civil war, " Get up and get! " (i. e., go !) — in that = in consideration
that, inasmuch as? — 32. proportions = contingents, quotas of men
and means? So in Henry V., I. ii. 137, 304. —33. subject. Collective
noun ? See I. i. 72. — 35. For = as ? Theobald shrewdly conjectured
our.—38. dilated = detailed? explained at full? — The quartos have
delated, which Moberly prefers = delivered. Better? — allow. May or
shall allow? Or is this, as is often the case in Shakespeare, a "confusion of proximity;" the verb being, as it were, attracted to the number
of the noun which is nearer than the grammatical subject? I I I . iii. 14 ;
Abbott, 332, 412.—39. commend = show to your credit that you have

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

35

King. We doubt it nothing ; heartily farewell. —
\_Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS.

And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
You told us of some suit; what is 't, Laertes ?
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,
And lose your voice ; what wouldst thou beg, Laertes,
45
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
The head is not more native to the heart,
The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
Laertes.
Dread my lord,
50
Your leave and favor to return to France ;
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
To show my duty in your coronation,
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
55
A n d bow them t o your gracious leave and pardon.
King. Have you your father's leave? — What says Polonius ?
Polonius. H e hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
By laborsome petition, and at last
Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent;
60
I d o beseech you, give him leave t o g o .
King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes ; time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will! —
done? —41. nothing. Often an adverb in Shakespeare? — Twelfth
Night, II. iii. 93; Coriolanus, I. iii. 97. — Like Latin nihil, and Greek
/u-TjSei/, not at all.—43. suit. Meaning? —44. the Dane. What Dane?
I. i. 15 ; V. i. 248. — 45. voice. Sense ? So prayers, line 118 ? — thou.
The change from you to thou is a change in the direction of loving
familiarity? Abbott, 235. — 47. native to. Connected by nature with.
— 48. instrumental, etc., II. ii. 42. Had Polonius secured the election
of Claudius to the throne ? Was he bright enough in his dotage for that?
How was the succession determined ? — 50. Dread my lord. This order
of words is very common in Shakespeare, my lord being almost a compound noun, like the French milord, monsieur, and Dutch mynheer. So
"dear my brother," "sweet my sister," etc. — The quartos have My
dread lord,, which many follow. Better?—53. coronation. Staunton
says, that in the early sketch Laertes' motive was alleged to be a desire
to attend the late king's funeral. Why should Shakespeare assign a different desire? — 56. pardon = indulgence ? forgiveness? permission?
Latin per, thoroughly ; donare, to give ; donum, gift; French pardonner.
— 58 to 60, omitted in the folios. Needed? — 60. hard, reluctant? —
62. take t h y fair hour = take an auspicious hour? "' Carpe diem."
Clark & Wright.—63. graces, etc. = accomplishments use the time

36

HAMLET.

[ACT I .

But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son, —
Hamlet. [Aside] A little more than kin, and less than
kind.
65
King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you ?
Hamlet, Not so, my lord ; I am too much i' the sun.
Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not forever with thy vailed lids
70
Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
Thou know'st ' t i&.common ;, all that live must die,Passing through nature to eternity.
Hamlet. Ay, madam, it is common.
Queen.
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee ?
75
Hamlet. Seems, madam ! nay, it is ; I know not ' s e e m s /
' T is not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
«*
Nor windy suspiration of forc'cl breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
80
Nor the dejected havior of the visage,
as thou pleasest. Graces personified here ?— 64. Cousin. See cozened,
I I I . iv. 77. Uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, brother-in-law, and grandchild
were included, as well as cousins proper. — Latin con, together, with,*
sobrinus, for sos-brinus, own cousin by the mother's side; from soror, for
sos-or, sister. 65. more than kin, uncle and father ? nephew and stepson? or — ? —less than kind. Because he is no friend? or does kind
mean natural? less than kind = unnatural? or, as Johnson supposed, does
kind (as German word) mean child? " In marrying my mother you have
made yourself something more than my kinsman, and at the same time
have shown yourself unworthy of our race, our kind." White. — The
original sense is " b o r n ; " A. S. cynde, natural, native, inborn. Skeat.
See Furness. — 67. in the sun. Antithesis to the king's clouds? Punning play on the word sun ? or does in the sun mean " out of house and
home " ? or in the sunshine and gayety of the court? or basking in idleness? or something else? An old proverb runs, " Out of God's blessing
into the warm sun! "—68. nighted. The folios have nightly. Equally
good word? — Abbott, 294.— Scarlet was the color then worn by kings,
queens, and royal princes in Denmark. — 69. Denmark = the state? or
the king? I. i. 61. — 70. vailed, lowered, downcast ? See vailing = letting fall, in Merchant of Venice, I. i. 28. French aval, downward; Latin
ad, to, toward, vallem, the valley; opposite of ad montem, toward the
hill. Meaning traceable in avalanche? — 72. live. The quartos and
first folio read lives. Better ? — 73. nature = human life V or — ? — 74.
it is common. What is? frailty like his mother's? or death? or — ?
Coleridge comments on Hamlet's delicacy to his mother, his reticence
in lines 65 and 74, followed by an overflow of beautiful and suggestive
characteristic thoughts, and his respectful answer to his mother contrasting with his silence to the long speech of the king. Verify or
disprove. — 77. inky, spoken of brows in As You Like It, III. v. 46. —
79. suspiration (Latin suspiratus, sighing). Nowhere else in Shake-

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

37

Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief,
That can denote me truly; these indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might p l a y :
But I have that within which passeth show ;
85
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
King. *T is sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your father:
But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his ; and the survivor bound
90
In filial obligation for some term C/**?fc ^ i
T o do obsequious sorrow : but to persever
I n obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness ; 't is unmanly grief;
I t shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
95
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
An understanding simple and unschool'd :
For what we know must be and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
speare. — 80. fruitful. Meaning?—81. havior occurs seven times
in Shakespeare? Many prefixes are dropped by him. Abbott, 460. —
82. modes in the folios and one quarto; moodes in the other quartos.
Which is better V — 83. denote = characterize ? describe ? indicate ?
mark? or—? Scan.— 85. passeth. Better than passes? — 86. w o e .
What of rhymes in the earlier plays of Shakespeare? in the middle?
the later? —87. Scan thus:
— 89, etc. Lowell says, " I n the Electra of Sophocles, which is almost
identical in its leading motive with Hamlet, the Chorus consoles Electra
for the supposed death of Orestes, in the same commonplace way which
Hamlet's uncle tries with him.
©J'TJTOU ire<f)VKa<; irarpos 'HXeierpa, <f>povei,'
©VTJTOS 8' 'OpecrTTj?' wcrre /urj kiav orive,
TLOLCTLV yap rjy.lv TOUT' 6</>ei'AeTai iraOelv,

" T o u r father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his. . . .
. . . But to persever
In obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness. . . .
. . . 'Tis common: all that live must die."
— LOWELL'S Among My Books, I. p. 191.

— See Tennyson's In Memoriam, vi. — 90. bound. Supply what word before bound? It is, there is, is,'was, etc., are often omitted in Shakespeare.
— 92. obsequious = pertaining to obsequies, funereal? So obsequiously,
Richard III., I. ii. 3. Latin obsequiai, " followings," funeral rites; o'b,
near; sequi, to follow. — persever. Accent and spelling in Shakespeare? 4 9 2 . - 9 3 . condolement, grief. The Latinized, artificial, and
rather pompous diction of the king throughout the play, indicates selfconsciousness and guilt? —95. incorrect, contumacious? unsubmissive? unsubdued? or incorrigible? — 97. simple = foolish ? silly? or
stupid ? which? Latin sim-,'a& in sem-el, one, once; smdplex, fold, from
plicdre, to fold; opposed to du-plex, twofold. By what depravity came the

38

HAMLET.

[ACT I .

Why should we in our peevish opposition
Take it to heart? Fie ! ' t is a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd ; whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse till he that died to-day,
' This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe, and think of us
As of a father; for let the world take note,
You are the mosj^naHi^^le to our throne,
And with no less nobility of love
Than that which dearest father bears his son
Do I impart toward you. For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
I t is most retrograde to our desire ;
And we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, H a m l e t :
I pray thee, stay with us ; go not to Wittenberg.
Hamlet. I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
King. Why, 't is a loving and a fair reply ;
Be as ourself in Denmark. — M a d a m , come ;
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my h e a r t : in grace whereof,

100

105

no

115

120

meaning foolish from simple, guileless [Trench] ? — 99. any the most.
So one tlie tvisest, Henry VIII., II. iv. 48 ; any the rarest, Cymbeline, I. iv.
56. Abbott, 419 a. —to sense = addressed to sense, offering itself to observation [Caldecott]? follows vulgar? vulgar to sense = commonly perceived?
—104. w h o . Shakespeare uses who in personifying irrational antecedents ? Abbott, 264. — still. I. i. 122.—105. till he. Till a preposition?
he correct? Till is often used for to in old writers. — 107. unprevailing = unavailing [Malone]? Prevail is used for avail in Romeo and
Juliet, III. iii. 60. — 109. immediate = near in blood? If the crown was
elective, what weight would consanguinity have? what the voice of the
king ? —110. nobility = greatness ? generosity ? eminence and distinction ? dignity ? —112. impart — what? love ? nobility of love? myself ?
Is here a " confusion of construction " ? Abbott, 415. — For = As for ?—
Abbott, 14*9. —113. Wittenberg University was founded in 1502. Anachronism here ? — school = university in As You Like It, I. i. 6 ? About
what date may we suppose these scenes to have occurred? At what
age might Hamlet go to school ? Why to Wittenberg, rather than to
Paris like Laertes ? —114. r e t r o g r a d e . Astrological term? Contrary?
Affected speech?—115. bend you = incline? be inclined? Note that
the king uses the less colloquial, less affectionate you. — 118. lose. See
line 45. —119. Scan. Abbott (Shakes. Gram. § 469) insists that polysyllabic names often receive but one accent at the end of the line. —120,

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

39

No jocuDd health that Denmark drinks to-day,
125
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit again,
Respeaking earthly thunder. — Come away.
[Exeunt all but HAMLET.
Hamlet. 0 that this too, too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew !
130
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter ! O God ! O God !
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world !
Fie on ' t ! O fie ! 't is an unweeded garden
135
That grows to seed ; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. T h a t it should come to this !
But two months dead ! nay, not so much, not two :
So excellent a king ; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr ; so loving to my mother
140
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
shall • . . obey. Does he ?— 124. sits to my heart ? or smiling to my
heart ? — grace = honor ? In grace whereof, to grace or honor which ? —
125. Denmark. King ? or nation ? " T h e king's intemperance," says
Johnson, " is very strongly impressed; every thing that happens to him
gives him occasion to drink." —127. rouse (Danish rds, noise ; Swedish
rue, drunkenness ; Dutch roes, tipsiness), bumperV drinking bout? carousal ? deep draught? — " Its signification," says White, " is preserved
in 'rouser ' and ' rousing.' " But — ? — bruit, report loudly or noisily.
Akin to broil (tumult) ? —129. too, too. Emphatic repetition not uncommon in Shakespeare. See Merchant of Venice, I I . vi. 42. Compound
wrord ? Similar reduplications were not uncommon : one occurs in
Shakespeare's 110th sonnet. " The base affinities of our nature are ever
present to Hamlet's mind. Here he thinks of the body as hiding from
us the freshness, life, and nobleness of God's creation." Moberly. — 130.
resolve = dissolve ? So sometimes Latin resolvere, dissolvere. Three
synonymes here used lor emphasis? — 132. canon = ecclesiastical law ?
divine decree ? In all the folios, and most of the quartos, it is spelled
cannon, and Mr. Hunter fears " that the noise of' cannon' in the king's
speech was still ringing in the poet's e a r s ! " —Where is to be found
this divine law? sixth commandment? natural religion? Cymbeline,
III. iv. 75-77. —134. uses = usages, customs?—136. rank. A. S., ranc,
strong ; proud, forward. The sense ' rancid,' or ' strong-scented,' is due
to confusion with Latin rancidus, rancid. —137. merely = completely ?
absolutely ? Latin m,ere, without mixture, wholly. —140. Hyperion
(virep iw, hvper ion, he that goes on high ? father of Helius, the sun, but
often identified with Apollo ?) the sun-god, god of poetry, music, archery, etc., embodiment of manly beauty. See I I I . iv. 55, 56. — to =
compared to. So I. v. 52 ; I I I . i. 52. — Satyr (pronounce sa'-tiir ?) a lascivious sylvan deity, in form part man and part goat. He usually had
bristly hair, round and somewhat upturned nose, ears pointed at top,
two small horns on the top of his forehead, and a tail like that of a
horse or goat. —141. m i g h t = could ? — beteem, permit. I n Midsum-

40

HAMLET.

[ACT I.

Visit her face too r o u g h l y . H e a v e n a n d e a r t h !
M u s t I r e m e m b e r ? w h y , she would h a n g on him,
A s if increase of a p p e t i t e h a d g r o w n
B y w h a t i t fed on ; a n d y e t , within a m o n t h —
145
L e t me n o t t h i n k on ' t — F r a i l t y , t h y n a m e is w o m a n ! —
A little m o n t h , or ere t h o s e shoes were old
W i t h which she follow'd m y poor f a t h e r ' s b o d y ,
L i k e N i o b e , all t e a r s , — w h y s h e , even she —
0 G o d ! a b e a s t , t h a t w a n t s discourse of r e a s o n ,
150
W o u l d have m o u r n ' d l o n g e r — m a r r i e d with m y u n c l e ,
M y f a t h e r ' s b r o t h e r , b u t n o m o r e like m y f a t h e r

Than I to Hercules. Within a month?
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married. O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets !
It is not, nor it cannot come to good ; —
But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue.

155

mev Night's Dream, the word appears to have the sense of pour out.
According to Skeat, teem once meant to think fit ; akin to A. S. suffix
-te'me, -tyme, with the notion of fitting, suitable ; related to tame, domesticated, rendered suitable ; German ziemen, to befit ; root clam, to
tame, subdue. —142. Visit. After what words is to omitted before
present infinitives ? Abbott, 349. —146. Frailty, etc. One of Shakespeare's famous proverbs ; like Virgil's Varium et mutabile semper
fcemina ! —147. or ere. " It is probable that or ere arose as a reduplicated expression, in which ere repeats and explains or; later this was
confused with e'er; whence or ever." Skeat. This or, then, is & doublet of ere? See I. ii. 183 ; Tempest, I. ii. 11. ; Abbott, 131. —149. Niobe.
Daughter of Tantalus, and wife of Amphion king of Thebes, sister of
Pelops, proud of her seven sons and seven daughters, she gave offence
to Latona, mother of Apollo and Diana. These two With arrows slew
her children. Zeus transformed her into a rock in Lydia. This rock
during the summer always sheds tears ! Is the allusion felicitous, or the
reverse ? —150. discourse (Latin dis, apart, in different directions ;
cursus, running ; discursus, a running of lines of thought in different
directions?) of reason = the inferring power of reason [Moberly] ?
" Season is but choosing," says Milton, discourse of reason = the
power of looking this way and that, and at length choosing [Meiklejohn]? See IV. iv. 36. —153. I to Hercules. Was Hamlet large?
slender ? See V. ii. 275. " The sign of the Globe (Shakespeare's) Theatre was Hercules carrying the round earth." See IT. ii. 353. —155.
left = left off, ceased from ? Often used so in Shakespeare. See I I I .
iv. 34. — flushing. Flush = (1) to blush, redden ; (2) to fill with water.
Left the flushing = (3) " ceased to produce redness " ? or, " had had time
to produce redness " ? or — ? — galled, sore (with weeping) ? So in
Richard III., IV. iv. 53. — 157. dexterity = adroitness ? nimbleness?
celerity? Would " celerity " involve pleonasm ?—158. nor it c a n n o t .
Double negatives in English, before the time of Milton, had what effect
on tlie negation ? Abbott, 406. —159. break. Subjunctive used opta-

SCENE I I . ]

Enter

41

HAMLET,
HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and

BERNARDO.

Horatio. Hail to your lordship !
Hamlet.
I am glad to see you well: 160
Horatio, — or I do forget myself.
Horatio. The same, my lord, and your poor servant
ever.
Hamlet. Sir, my good friend; I '11 change that name with
you:
And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio ? —
Marcellus ?
Marcellus. My good lord —
165
Hamlet. I am very glad to see you. — \_To Bernardo.~\
Good even, sir. —
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
Horatio. A truant disposition, good my lord.
Hamlet. I would not have your enemy say so,
170
Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself ; I know }rou are no truant.
But what is your affair in Elsinore ?
We '11 teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
175
Horatio. My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
Hamlet. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;
I think it was to see my mother's wedding.
Horatio. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.
Hamlet. Thrift, thrift, Horatio ! the funeral bak'd-meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
181
tively ? or third person imperative ? or second person imperative ? Is
heart a vocative ? or subject nominative ? — m u s t hold. Does he ? till
his heart breaks ? — 163. I'll change that name = I'll be your servant;
you shall be my friend [Johnson] ? I'll exchange the name of friend
with you ; we'll not talk of servants? —164. w h a t m a k e y o u ? German, Was machen Sief ("What are you doing? how do you do?) " I
suspect we should read makes with an ellipsis of be." Keiyhtley.—
I I . ii. 266. As You Like It, I. i. 26. —167. even. See I. i. 174. It may
have been past noon ? In Shakespeare's time, as in some portions of the
South to-day, " Good-evening " is a common salutation after midday. —
170. have. The quartos have hear. Better? —171. that = such? So
in I. v. 48. Abbott, 277. —177. pray thee. Better than prithee, because
more deliberate and more earnest [Corson] ? —179. upon. Adverb ?
preposition ? —180. Thrift = economy ? frugality ? —r " What a blast of
sarcasm whistles through the consonants of this w ord ! " Coleridge.
Eeally so ? — baked-meats. Gen. xl. 17. " Old custom to furnish
a cold entertainment for the mourners." Rolfe. " Customary, as it
still is in Scotland, to have a great feast at a funeral." Meikle^ohn. —See Scott's Ivanhoe (funeral of Athelstane), also his Bride of Lammer*

42

HAMLET.

[ACT I.

Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio !
My father! — methinks I see my father.
Horatio. O where, my lord?
Hamlet.
I n my mind's eye, Horatio. 185
Horatio. I saw him once ; he was a goodly king.
Hamlet. He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.
Horatio. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
Hamlet. Saw? who?
190
Horatio.
M y lord, t h e k i n g y o u r father.
Hamlet.
The king my father !
Horatio. Season your admiration for a while
With an attent ear, till I may deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.
Hamlet.
For God's love, let me hear.
195
Horatio. Two nights together had these gentlemen
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
In the dead vast and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe,
200
moor. See Furness. —182. met. In III. iii. 73, etc., wre see how unwilling he would be to meet his foe in heaven. — dearest. A.S., dee're,
dyi e, dear, beloved. " Dearest was applied to any person or thing that
excited the liveliest interest, whether love or hate." Hudson. Is it =
most heart-touching? A.S. derian, to-hurt ; Gael, dur, hard, whence
Stormonth derives this word. —183. or ever. See line 147. The
folios have Ere I had ever, which many of the best editors adopt. Which
is preferable ? —185. mind's eye. So in Rape of Lucrece, 1426 ; Chaucer's Man of Lawes Tale, line 497, has "with eyen of his mynde." See
Much Ado About Nothing, IV. i. 227. A similar expression is found in
Greek. —186. goodly = good-looking ? Milton says, " A d a m , the goodliest man."—187. a man = a true man? pronounced with falling slide
and emphasis on man? Or does it mean, " He was a man " such that
" I shall not look," etc. ? — 188. I shall. It has been suggested t h a t /
should be Eye! Would the meaning be bettered by this change ? — 190.
w h o ? Who is often used for whom in Shakespeare. Abbott, 274. —192.
Season = temper, qualify, control ? I. iii. 81; II. i. 28 ; III. ii. 192. So
Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 188. — admiration = Latin admiratio, wonder,
amazement? —193. attent. Twice found in Shakespeare. — deliver.
See line 209; V. ii. 374. Latin deliberdre, to set free; de, from; liber, free.
As if the thought were locked up or imprisoned until set free in speech ?
Tempest, V. i. 313.— 194. witness. Is this still used for testimony?
—195. God's. The folios have Heavens: in obedience to the statute 3
James I., forbidding the utterance of the sacred name on the stage ? —
198. vast and ivaste are two forms of the same word ? Tempest, I. ii. 327.
Latin vastus, empty, void, waste, desolate.—dead. Used with darkness, night, and midnight. — 200. at point (Lat. punctum, pointj Italian,

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

43

Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately by t h e m : thrice he walk'd
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,
Within his truncheon's length ; whilst they, distilFd
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
205
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secrecy impart they did ;
And I with them the third night kept the watch:
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,
Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
210
The apparition comes. I knew your father;
These hands are not more like.
Hamlet.
But where was this ?
Murcellus. My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.
Hamlet. Did you not speak to it ?
Horatio.
My lord, I did ;
But answer made it none : yet once methought
215
I t lifted up it head, and did address
Itself to motion, like as it would speak;
But even then the morning cock crew loud,
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,
And vanish'd from our sight.

inpunto, in readiness; appunto, exactly), completely. The folios read at
all points. — cap-a-pe = French, cap-a-pied, head to foot. — 201. Force
of the present tense ?—202. thrice in the folios is joined with the preceding; thus : " By them thrice he," etc. Which is preferable ? —204.
truncheon = cudgel, short staff? marshal's baton ; 2^rtisan, as in I.i.
140? Latin, truncus, trunk, stock, stem ; French, troncon ; Old French,
tronchon, diminutive of tronc. — distill'd. Many have been the conjectures and emendations proposed in regard to this word. Hudson says,
" To distil is to fall in drops to melt; so that distill'd is a very natural
and fit expression for the cold sweat caused by intense fear." The folio
has bestWd, which Corson prefers, meaning made still. Judge. — 205.
jelly. Because it trembles and quivers? — a c t = action, operation? —
-with = by ? — 207. dreadful = filled with dread ? or causing dread ? —
impart they did. Better order than they did impart ? Effect of the
inversion?—212. like what? —216. it. "Its is found," says Abbott
(§ 228), " i n Measure for Measure, I. ii. 4, where it is emphatic; in Winter's Tale, I. ii. 151, 152, 266; Henry VIII., I. i. 18; Lear, IV. ii. 32, and
elsewhere." See his in I. i. 37. Its is not found in King James's Version
of the Bible (1611); but modern editions have substituted its for it in
Lev. xxv. 5. The A:S. personal pronoun of third person had nominative masculine he, feminine hed (whence she), neuter hit; genitive (possessive) masculine his, feminine hire (whence her), neuter his. The
Elizabethan authors generally avoid its. — 217. like as. " As appears to
be (though it is not) used for as if." Abbott, 107. The if is implied in the
subjunctive ? — 219. shrunk. What was the superstition about ghosts

44

HAMLET.

[ACT I.

Hamlet.
' T is very strange.
Horatio. As I do live, my honour'cl lord, 't is true ;
And we did think it writ down in our duty
To let you know of it.
Hamlet. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch to-night?
Marcellus. )
,
, ,
w
W e do m lorcL
Bernardo. \
' y
Hamlet. Arm'd, say you ?
Marcellus. )
* ,-,
, -,
Bernardo. \ A r m d ' m? l o r ( L
Hamlet. From top to toe ?

220

225

M
BernarZl }
? l o r d ' f r o m h e a d t o foot*
Hamlet. Then saw you not his face ?
Horatio. O, yes, my lord ; he wore his beaver up.
230
Hamlet. What, look'd he frowningly?
Horatio. A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
Hamlet. Pale ; or red ?
Horatio. Nay, very pale.
Hamlet.
And fix'd his eyes upon you?
Horatio. Most constantly.
Hamlet.
I wrould I had been there. 235
Horatio. It would have much amaz'd you.
Hamlet. Very like, very like. Stay'd it long?
Horatio. While one with moderate haste might tell a
hundred.
Marcellus. ) T
,
f
Longer, longer.
Bernardo.
Horatio. Not when I saw 't.
Hamlet.
His beard was grizzled? no? 240
Horatio. I t was, as I have seen it in his life,
A sable silver'd.

and evil spirits fleeing at dawn ? I. i. 161. —222. writ. In Byron's Childe
Harold we have, " What is writ, is writ." See I. ii. 27; Meetzner, I. 368 ;
^4?;5o^,343. —226. Arm'd. Ghost? or observers? —230. beaver = lower
front part of a helmet. French, baviere, primarily a child's bib. . . .
" The lower part of the helmet was named from a fancied resemblance to
a child's bib. The derivation from Italian bevere, to drink [Latin bibere],
is quite unfounded." Skeat. See Stormonth, and Webster's Unabridged.
— 233. Pale. " The word should be uttered with a falling inflection, and
then ' or red' added, after a pause, with a certain anxious impatience."
Corson. Correct? —237. like. II. ii. 341. Provincial use ? —237. tell.
So we say, " all told," meaning all counted ; " tell one's beads ; " a " teller
in a bank." — 240. grizzled = gray, mixed white and black ? or foul and

SCENE I I I . ]

45

HAMLET.

Hamlet.
I '11 watch to-night;
Perchance ' t will walk again.
Horatio.
I warrant it will.
Hamlet. If it assume my noble father's person,
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape
And bid me hold- my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still;
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue :
I will requite your loves. So, fare you well;
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.
All.
Our duty to your honor.
Hamlet. Your loves, as mine to you ; farewell. —
[Exeunt

A Room in Polonius's

250

all but HAMLET.

My father's spirit in arms ! all is not well;
I doubt some foul play: would the night were come !
Till then sit still, my soul; foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'er whelm them, to men's eyes.
SCENE I I I .

245

255

House.

Enter LAERTES and OPHELIA.

Laertes. My necessaries are embark'd ; farewell:
And, sister, as the winds give benefit
disordered [Moberly] ?—no? Corson,—who would follow the first folio,
and read, His beard ivas grisly ? No, — says, " ' No ' should be read with
a strong downward inflection," as though Hamlet in this searching examination had caught them on this point. I t is plausibly argued that
this " N o " should be spoken by Horatio, not Hamlet. Which is better ?
— 242. I '11 w a t c h . " I '11 is strongly emphatic." Corson. — 243. warrant. Monosyllable ? Does Shakespeare ever put three sj^llables into
one poetic foot ? See I. i. 161. Abbott, 467. Spelled warn't in the quartos.
— 245. gape = yawn ? or roar, howl ? — 248. tenable = " holdable " ?
held? retained? The folios read treble or trebble, and plausible arguments are assigned for retaining treble. See Furness, and judge. — 251.
loves. See I. i. 173. — 254. loves. Don't say duty; say loves ! How
graceful this courtesy! He'll "change that w o r d " with t h e m ! —
256. doubt = suspect ? Often so in Shakespeare. — 258. to men's
eyes. Corson inclines to connect this phrase with overwhelms rather
than rise. Judiciously ? —What progress in the plot in scene ii. ? Its
dramatic value ?
SCENE I I I . — 2 . as. " H e r e a modern reader would at first naturally suppose ' a s ' to mean since or because; but the context shows it

46

HAMLET.

And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
But let me hear from you.
Ophelia.
Do you doubt that?
Laertes. For Hamlet and the trifling of his favor,
Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood,
A violet in the youth of primy nature^
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
The perfume and suppliance of a minute ;
No more.
Ophelia. No more but so ?
Laertes.
Think it no m o r e ;
For nature crescent does not grow alone
I n thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch

[ACT I .

5

10

15

means 'according as1" [Abbott, 109]? — 3. convoy is assistant = conveyance is at hand? Old French conveier, convoier, to convey, bring
on the way; Latin con, together, via, way. French assister, assist;
Latin ad-sistere, to stand by. — 4. B u t let = without letting? —5. For
= as for ? I. ii. 112; I. v..139. — 6. fashion = matter of form? That which
good breeding requires [Schmidt] ? or that which is changeable and temporary [Clark & Wright] ? See lines 111 and 116 of this scene. — toy =
caprice [Rolfe, Furness, etc.]? a pastime and fancy [Clark & Wright] ?
— blood = passions, as in III. ii. 64 [Caldecott] V disposition, inclination, temperament, impulse [Dyce]? " a high state of health and good
spirits " [Meiklejohn] ? —7. youth. Is Hamlet quite young ? — primy
= vernal, of the spring-time? "Shakespeare twice uses prime for
spring." Meiklejohn. — 9. suppliance, etc. = " what supplies, or fills up,
a minute" [Steevens]? " a n amusement to fill up a vacant moment"
[Mason] ? " gratification, pastime " [Schmidt] ? Not found elsewhere in .
Shakespeare. —10. No more but s o ? All the early editions have a
period after so. Corson says, " This speech is certainly meant to express
Ophelia's submissiveness to her brother's opinion, not to question the .
correctness of it." Says Lowell, " T h e range between the piteous 'No
more but so V ' in which Ophelia compresses the heart-break whose compression was to make her mad, and that sublime appeal of Lear to the
elements of Nature, only to be matched, if matched at all, in the ' Prometheus,' is a wide one; and Shakespeare is as truly simple in the one as in
the other." Lowell's Among My Books, i. pp. 182, 183. — 11. crescent.
Latin crescens, growing, —12. t h e w s = muscular powers ? Used three '
times by Shakespeare. — From Teutonic base thu, to be strong, to swell.
Compare Sanscrit tu, to be strong, to increase. The sense of bulk,
strength, comes straight from the root. Thigh is from the same root.
Skeat —12. temple. John ii. 19, 21; Matt. xxvi. 61; 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, vi.
19. I t is remarked by Caldecott, that the word " temple " is applied to the
body on grave occasions only; as Macbeth, II. iii. 49. Moberly quotes from
Herodotus, III. 134, the almost exact equivalent of the sentence ending
with withal'm line 14. —13. service. Suggested by temple? —15. cautel
= craft, deceit [Dyce] ? cunning trick [Stormonth] ? Shakespeare uses
cautelous (= deceitful) in Coriolanus, IV. i. 33; Julius Caesar, I I . i. 129.

SCENE I I I . ]

HAMLET.

The virtue of his will; but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own ;
For he himself is subject to his birth.
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself, for on his choice depends
The safety and health of this whole state ;
And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
I t fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed ; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
T h e chariest maid is prodigal enough,
If she u n m a s k her beauty t o t h e m o o n .
Virtue itself scapes n o t calumnious strokes ;
T h e c a n k e r galls t h e infants of t h e s p r i n g ,

47

20

25

30

35

Latin cavere, cavtum, to be on one's guard; Mid. Lat. cantela, prudence.
Obsolete ? — For a possible trace here of Shakespeare's legal studies, see
Furness. —16. w i l l = intentions ? — 17. w i l l . The folios have fear! —
18. birth = born rank ? Line 18 is not in the quartos. Is it of any use ?
—19. unvalued = low-born, worthless ? or invaluable, as in Richard III.,
I. iv. 27 ? — 20. carve for himself. Another trace, perhaps, of Shakespeare's legal reading, as in line 15 ? The book is Swinburn's Treatise
on Wills (1590).—21. safety. Trisyllable? The folios read sanctity.
Theobald suggested sanity, and several editors adopt it, Collier says
that safety was often a trisyllable. —health. A.S. hdl, whole. The -th
denotes condition ? — 23. yielding = concession ? permission? — 26. particular act and place = the peculiar line of conduct prescribed to hira
by his rank [Schmidt] ? special semi-official conduct and position? —27.
give his saying deed = verify or fulfil his words by acts? — 28. withal.
Emphatic form of with? Abbott, 196; II. ii. 215. — 30. credent, in Winter's Tale, I. ii. 142, means credible. Here it means what?—songs.
Spoken sneeringly?— 32. unmastered = licentious [Johnson]? unbridled? " not kept in subjection by the austere virtue of Ophelia" [Seymour] ?— 34, 35. Military terms ? Where did Shakespeare learn military
matters ? — For keep you in, the folios have keep within. Preference? —
36. chariest = most scrupulous [Dyce] ? or most careful in regard to
expense ? who is far gone in chariness, who is really chary [Moberly] ?
— A.S. cearig, full of care; Dutch karigh, sordid. Wedgwood. Hudson
reads " The unchariest maid," etc. Wisely ? —39. canker worm. So

48

HAMLET.

Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd ;
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then ; best safety lies in fear :
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
Ophelia. I shall the effect of this good lesson keep,
As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.
Laertes.
O, fear me not.
I stay too long; but here my father comes.

[ACT I.

40

45

50

Enter POLONIUS.
A double blessing is a double g r a c e ;
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
'
54
Polonius. Yet here, Laertes ! aboard, aboard, for shame !
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for. There ; my blessing with thee !
in Midsummer Night's Dream, I I . ii. 3; Milton's Lycidas, line 45.—
40. buttons=buds? Old Fr. boter, to push out; bonton, what pushes out,
a bud. Bracket. — 42. blastments = blights ? Not elsewhere used in
Shakespeare. — 43. safety, etc. The converse is, '' Security Is mortals'
chiefest enemy." Macbeth, III. v. 32, 3 3 . - 4 4 . youth, etc. = In the
absence of any tempter, youth rebels against itself ; i.e., the passions of
youth revolt from the power of self-restraint ; there is a traitor in the
camp [Clark and Wright]? — 45. effect = purport? or result ? —46. good
my brother. See I. ii. 50. — 47. ungracious = graceless ? without
divine grace V 1 Henry IV., II. iv. 411. — pastors. Note that this plural
is followed by the singular in line 50.— 49. w h i l e s , while, and ivhilst
are used interchangeably in Shakespeare. — puffed = bloated [Caldecott] ? or puffed up with pride, inflated [Moberly]?—50. primrose.
" I had thought to have let in some of all professions, that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire." Macbeth, II. iii. 17; so All's Well
That, etc., IV. v. 45, 46. —51. recks, heeds ? — A.S. re'can, to care; akin to
Gr. a\eyeiv, for apeyeiv, aregein, to have a care, heed.— Cymbeline, IV. ii.
155. — rede, advice, counsel. A.S. raed, counsel. Burns, in his Ephtle
to a Young Friend, says, —
" And may you better reck the rede
Than ever did the adviser."

— Iii. fear = fear for?—52. I stay too long. Laertes seems to think
that . . . for sisters to lecture brothers is an inversion of the natural
order [Moberly'] ? But is this the reason why Laertes now cuts short the
interview V — 53, double, etc. Why said? — 56. w i n d sits. This expression, or its equivalent, is frequent in Shakespeare. Merchant of
Venice, I. i. 18 ; Henry V., II. ii. 12. What is the mental picture ? —57.
There. Where ? Does the word accompany the laying of his hand on

SCENE I I I . ]

BAMLET.

And these few precepts in thy memory
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in,
B e a r ' t that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice ;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy ; rich, not gaudy ;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous, chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be ;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

4&

60

65

70

75

Laertes' head ? Corson upholds the folio reading, " you are stay'd for
there ; " i.e., at theport where the ship is. Which is preferable ? — 59.
character = write, engrave? Gr. xapao-o-eii' (charassein), to sharpen,
engrave. Shakspeare accents either the first or the second syllable.
Which here? Tendency in English accent? I. i. 86.—The maxims
that follow are largely from the Euphues of Lyly (John Lyly or Lilly,
dramatist, from about 1553 to about 1600. Eyphiies, The Anatomy of
Wit, published about 1580. What was Euphuism?) —§0. unproportioned = disorderly ? inappropriate ? —his act. The converse of the
- proposition is implied [Coleridge] ? his. See I. ii. 216. —61. vulgar =
the extreme of familiar, or "free and easy" with everybody [Rolfe]?
I. ii. 99. — 62. tried = " having been tried " ? or " hast tried '' ? " Nominative absolute"? Maetzner, I I I . 8 5 . - 6 3 . hoops. Pope substituted
hooks. Does grapple go well with hoops? Is a grapple with hooks a
friendly or a hostile act? Are hoops made of steef? " A s often as
hearts are, or as foreheads are of brass ! " says Pye. Macbeth, I I I . i. 105.
— 64:. dull = dull the sensibility of V make callous [Johnson] ? V. i. 67.
— 65. comrade. Accent? The quartos read courage, which is said to
be euphuistic for a gallant. — 67. The editions vary between opposed and
opposer. Which is the better ? What is the emphatic word in this line ?
— 69. censure = opinion, judgment? — Lat. censura, opinion; censere,
to estimate, judge. So in Macbeth, V. iv. 14, and often elsewhere. — 71.
expressed in fancy = marked or singular in device [Moberly] ? In
modern slang, " loud" [Rolfe]?—74. chief in that = but chiefly or especially so in the matter of dress [Hudson] ? The reading is doubtful,
and the interpretations are many. See Furness. — ll. husbandry =
economy? So Macbeth, I I . i. 4. Husband is " not a true A. S. word, but
borrowed from the Scandinavian. Icel. husbdndi, the master or 'goodm a n ' of a house . . . Icel. Ms, a house ; and buandi, dwelling, inhabiting,

50

HAMLET.

[ACT I,

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the clay,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
80
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee !
Laertes. Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
Polonius. The time invites you ; go, your servants tend.
Laertes.
Farewell, Ophelia ; and remember well
W h a t I have said to you.
Ophelia.
' T is in my memory lock'd,
85
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
Laertes. Farewell.
[Exit.
Polonius.
W h a t is ' t , O p h e l i a , h e h a t h said t o y o u ?
Ophelia. S o please y o u , s o m e t h i n g t o u c h i n g t h e L o r d
Hamlet.
Polonius.
M a r r y , well b e t h o u g h t :
90
' T is told m e , he h a t h v e r y oft of late
G i v e n p r i v a t e t i m e t o y o u , a n d y o u yourself
H a v e of y o u r a u d i e n c e b e e n m o s t free a n d b o u n t e o u s ;
I f it be so — a s so ' t is p u t on m e ,
A n d t h a t in w a y of caution — I m u s t tell y o u ,
95
Y o u d o n o t u n d e r s t a n d yourself so clearly
A s it b e h o v e s m y d a u g h t e r a n d y o u r h o n o u r .
W h a t is b e t w e e n y o u ? give m e u p t h e t r u t h .
Ophelia. H e h a t h , m y l o r d , of l a t e m a d e m a n y t e n d e r s
Of his affection t o m e .
100
Polonius.
Affection ! p o o h ! y o u s p e a k like a g r e e n girl,
U n s i f t e d in such perilous c i r c u m s t a n c e .
present participle of bua, to abide, dwell." Skeat. — 78. This, etc.
—•as you inwardly resolve, so do [Moberly]?— "Polonius has got one
great truth among his copy-book maxims." Dowden. Is it a great
truth ? — 81. season = infix so that it may never wear out [Johnson] ?
give a relish to it, or keep it alive [CaldecottJ? ingrain [Moberly]? —
ripen? I I I . iii. 86; Merchant of Venice, V. i. 107. —83. tend = wait?
attend ? IV. iii. 44; Tempest, I. ii. 47. — 85, 86. Prettily said. Reminding
of Macbeth, I. iii. 150, 151, 152? —90. Marry = By Mary, the Blessed
Virgin ? — bethought = thought of ? — 92. private time = time in private visits [Caldecott] ? time which he had at his own disposal [Delius] ?
— 93. audience=Lat. audientia, hearing, listening? — 94. put = urged,
impressed? put on = toldV represented to? As You Like It, I. ii. 84;
Twelfth Night, V. i. 61. —98. Give m e up the truth. " Polonius
generally employs the most formal and official phrases he can find."
Meiklejohn. Is this comment pertinent ? —101. green = immature, inexperienced, unsophisticated ? Still so used colloquially ? IV. v. 66.
" Greenhorn " ? In King John, III. iv. 145, we read, u How green you are
and fresh in this old world! "—102. Unsifted=untried, untempted [Warburton] ? Luke xxii. 31. " We still speak of sifting a matter." Hudson.

SCENE III.]

HAMLET.

51

Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
Ophelia. I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
Polonius. Marry, I '11 teach you ; think yourself a baby, 105
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly ;
Or — not to crack the wind of the poor phrase —
Roaming it thus, you '11 tender me a fool.
Ophelia. My lord, he hath importun'd me with love
no
In honourable fashion.
Polonius. Ay, fashion you may call i t ; go to, go to.
Ophelia. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
> 114
Polonius. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows ; these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,
You must not take for fire. From this time
120
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence ;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
—circumstance. Collective noun?—103, 106. tenders. Promises?
Like " g r e e n b a c k s " ? Fr. tendre, to offer to; Lat. tendere, to extend,
sterling = genuine? "TheEsterlings were . . . theHanse merchants."
Skeat. Their money was of the purest. " First applied to the English
penny, and then to standard current coin in general." Skeat. —107.
tender = value ; esteem, regard (with affection)?—108. crack, etc.=
ride the poor phrase as a hobby till it is wind-broken (i.e., diseased in
the power of respiration) ? —109. Roaming. The quartos read wrong ;
the folios,roaming; some editors read wronging ; more, running. " T h e
folios are probably right. Polonius has reference to his varying application of the word tender." Corson. — tender = offer, present to ? Meiklejohn interprets " tender me a fool" as meaning " m a k e an ass of
m e ' " ! - 1 1 0 . importuned. Often used in Shakespeare, and accented
on second syllable. — 111. fashion = what ? —112. go to. An old phrase
of varying import, sometimes meaning hush up, sometimes come on,
sometimes go ahead. Hudson. —114. almost . . . holy. These two
words are not in the folios. Could they be well spared ? —115. springes
= snares, as in V. ii. 294? Springe (g like j) is a noose fastened to an
elastic body, and drawn close by a sudden spring, so as to catch the
animal whose head is inserted therein; what the boys call a " twitch-up" ?
— woodcocks = simpletons ? Popularly supposed to have no brains ? —
116. "blood = passion ? — prodigal. Shakespeare constantly uses adjectives as adverbs ? Is this an instance ? —117. v o w s . This line apparently lacking a syllable or two, some lengthen vows or daughter to three
syllables. The strong irony on the word [vows] . . . makes it occupy
the time of three syllables [Moberly] ?—119. a-making. A here represents on (or old an) ? * There is no purer or more logically correct Eng*
lish than the idiom a-making." White. —120. fire. Dissyllable, as often
in Shakespeare ? —122. entreatments = invitations ? solicitations [Clark

52

[ACT I.

HAMLET.

Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young,
A ad with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given y o u : in few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows ; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds,
The better to beguile. This is for a l l ;
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to 't, I charge you ; come your ways.
Ophelia. I shall obey, my lord.
SCENE IV.

The

130

135
[Exeunt.

Platform.

Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS.
Hamlet. The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
Horatio. I t is a nipping and an eager air.
and Wright] ? company ? conversations [Johnson] ? Not elsewhere in
Shakespeare. —125. tether. Felicitous metaphor? So roaming, 109?
Does he wish to disparage Hamlet?—126. in f e w , in brief? Lat.
panels (verbis).—127. brokers = procurers, go-betweens, panders ? So,
often, in Old English. —128. dye = tinge? real stamp? " T h e folios
have the eye, which means the same." Rolfe. Knight quotes Tempest, I I .
i. 55, to show that e?/e=a slight tint, — investments = vesture? dress?
— 129. implorators = solicitors ? 130. pious bonds = law papers
headed with religious formulae? So policies of marine insurance begin
. . . with the words " In the name of God, Amen " [Moberly] ? Says
Corson, " The general term bonds, suggested, no doubt, by brokers, is
used for the more special term vows." Most of the critics read baivds, the
conjecture of Theobald (1733). See Furness. —131. for all. Like " once
for a l l " ? —133. slander = abuse? disgrace [Johnson]? misuse [Moberly]? use so as to give rise to slander? — moment = momentary ? So
read the folios and the earlier quartos; but most critics change moment
to moment's? May the meaning be the same ? See Lethe wharf, I. v.
33. —135. w a y s is here a relic of the old genitive ? Importance of Scene
III. ?
SCENE TV. — Coleridge says, " T h e unimportant conversation with
which this scene opens is a proof of Shakespeare's minute knowledge of
human nature. I t is a well-established fact, that on the brink of any
serious enterprise or event of moment, men almost invariably endeavor
to elude the pressure of their own thoughts by turning aside to trivial
objects arfd familiar circumstances." — 1 . shrewdly = sharply, keenly ?
" I would interpret A. S. scredwa as ' the biter,' from the Teutonic base
skrv, to cut, tear, preserved in modern English shred. . . . The sense of
' niter' or ' scratcher' will well apply to a cross child or scolding
woman." Skeat. i t is. The first and second folios read, is it very cold?
A plausible reading? — 2. eager. Fr. aigre, Lat. acer, sharp, severe,

SCENE IV.]

HAMLET,

53

Hamlet, What hour now ?
Horatio.
I think it lacks of twelve.
Hamlet. No, it is struck.
Horatio. Indeed? I heard it n o t : it then draws near the
season
5
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
\_A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off within.
W h a t does this mean, my lord?
Hamlet. The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels;
And as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
10
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
Horatio.
I s it a custom ?
Hamlet. Ay, marry is ' t ;
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
15
More honor'd in the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel east and west
Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations:
They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition ; and indeed it takes
20
From our achievements, though perform'd at height,
acid. I. v. 69. — hour. Dissyllable. — 6. wont. "Properly a perfect
participle of won, to dwell, to be used to. When the fact that it was a
participle was forgotten, it came to be used as a substantive." — 8. w a k e
= feast late ? or sit up late ? hold a night-feast ? A. S. icacian, to wake,
watch; wacu in niht-wacu, a night-wake. Skeat. — rouse. I. ii. 127. —9.
wassail (A. S. ivaes hdel! — be hale ! Answered, in drinking healths,
by drinchdel = drink hale!) = a festive occasion, a merry carouse, a drinking bout ? Macbeth, I. vii. 64. — up-spring = upstart [Johnson] ? last and
wildest dance (Iliip fan g = upswing) at a German merry-making [Steevens and Elze] ? or, collectively, the risers from the table [Keightley] ?
" ' Reels' is a verb with ' upspring ' for its object." Rolfe. —10. Rhenish = the wine of the district between Bonn and Bingen ? Mer. of Venice,
I. ii.83; I I I . i. 31; Hamlet, V. i. 170. —12. triumph, etc. = the universal
acceptance of his pledge [Moberly] ? or the victory consequent upon such
acceptance [Caldecott] ? or— ? Delius says, " I t is here the bitterest
irony." — pledge=health drink or pledge? —15. manner = custom? any
pun implied on manor? —16. honored = honorable ? Abbott, 375. —This
line a proverb ? Is he reflecting on the drinking habits of the English ?
Lines 17-38 omitted in the folios. Can they well be spared? —east
and west goes with traduced, not revel ? —18. tax'd = censured ? —19.
clepe. A. S. cleopian, to call. Macbeth, III. i. 93. Obsolete? — Yclept,
how used ? — swinish. " Could Shakespeare have had in his mind any
pun upon ' Swein,' which was a common name of the kings of Denmark ? " Clark and Wright. — 20. addition = title ? Macbeth, I. iii. 106. —
21. at height = to the utmost? Is the " t h e " absorbed? or omitted?

54

HAMLET.

The pith and marrow of our attribute*
So, oft it chances in particular men,
That for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth — wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin —
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason^
Or by some habit that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners, that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star, —
Their virtues else — be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo —
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault: the dram of eale
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt

[ACT I.

30

Abbott, 90. See Furness. —22. pith and marrow = main and vital part
[Moberly] ? most valuable part [Johnson] ? — attribute = reputation ? —
24 mole of nature = natural blemish ? — Silberschlag, 1860, thinks that
King James is Hamlet, and the " vicious mole " his aversion to a drawn
dagger ! — 25. As = namely ? or for instance ? See Abbott, 113. —26. his
= its? I. ii. 216.— 27. complexion = constitutional texture? aptitude?
temperament? natural temper ? habit of body? " I n the old medical
language, there were four complexions, or temperaments,— the sanguine,
melancholy, choleric, and phlegmatic." Clark and Wright. Complexio n, quadrisyllable ? — o'ergrowth = excess ? — 28. pales = palings ?
Lat. palus, stake. Pole is a doublet. —30. plausive=gracious? approvable ? pleasing ? plausible ? Lat. plausibilis, Fr. applaudir, to clap
the hands in approbation. — 32. nature's livery = natural "badgedress "? "distinctive i d i o m " ? natural defect (like "mole of n a t u r e "
above) ?— s t a r = mark star-shaped ? Theobald suggested scar for star;
would scar be better V — 33. their virtues. Note the change from these
men. The quartos have his for their? Is his preferable V 34. undergo
= " experience, enjoy" [Schmidt]? " e n d u r e , s u p p o r t " [Clark and
Wright] ? " c a r r y " [Meiklejohn] ? have accumulated upon him [Johnson] ? —35. c e n s u r e = opinion, judgment? I. iii. 69.—36. the dram of
eale, etc. This passage is generally supposed to be hopelessly corrupt.
There are about fifty conjectural readings. Two quartos have ease for
eale. Scholars have suggested base, ill, bale, eel, ale, evil, ail, vile, lead,
leaven, etc., etc. For of a doubt, it has been proposed to read oft worth
out, oft eat out, soil with doubt, often daub, oft adopt, oft loork out, of
good out, of worth dout, often doubt, often dout, ever dout, oft adoubt, oft
debase, over-cloud, of a pound, oft corrupt, oft subdue, of 'em sour, etc.,
etc. William Leighton, jun., in Shakespeariana, February, 1884, makes a
strong case for often flout, etc. See Furness. Mr. Kinnear in Shakespeariana, February, 1885, argues well for ' defect.' Dyce alleges that in
the West of England eale means reproach. The general sense-is clear.
In Shakespeariana, May, 1884, the editor of this edition wrote as follows:
Professor Scott and Dr. March, in the November issue of Shakespeariana,
show that eale is eule or evil. A common meaning of doth in Shakespeare is doeth or maketh. Of a doubt may mean doubted, or doubtful,

SCENE IV.]
To his own scandal.
Horatio.

HAMLET.

00

Look, my lord, it comes !
Enter

GHOST.

Hamlet. Angels and ministers of grace defend us ! —
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to t h e e : I '11 call thee Hamlet,
King, father ! Royal Dane, O, answer me !
Let me not burst in ignorance ; but tell
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements ; why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,

40

45

50

distrusted, as in Hamlet, I I I . i. 69, " T h a t makes calamity of so long
life," means that makes calamity so long-lived [and in V. ii. 377, " rights
of memory " are probably remembered rights], to his o w n scandal = to
the evil's own scandal; i.e., to the disgrace that properly attaches to the
evil. The word to belongs with doth. The action in doth has a twofold
effect: it makes the nobleness doubtful, and it subjects the nobleness to
scandal. . . . Interpret, then, thus: —
" The dram of eale [evil]
Doth [maketh] all the noble substance of a doubt [doubtful]
To [reducing or subjecting the nobleness to] its [its, the evil's] own scandal."

Possibly of a doubt = because of a doubt; in which case we may interpret
thus: Because of a doubt or distrust, the dram of evil reduceth all the
nobleness to its own scandal. Abbott, 168, gives examples of of in this
sense. " M y first labor," says Dr. Johnson in speaking of the textual
difficulties in Shakespeare, " is always to turn the old text on every
side, and try if there be any interstice through which light can find its
way." — 39. Angels, etc. " The idea of surprise predominates over the
idea of apprehension." Hunter. Correct? — 40. of health = healed, or
saved? —42. intents. The folio reads "events," meaning issues, and
some prefer this reading. Choose ! — 43. questionable = that forces me
to question thee [Moberly] ? that may be questioned or conversed with ?
conversable ? inviting conversation [Theobald] ? So doubtful that I will
at least make inquiry to obtain a solution [Caldecott] ? See Macbeth,
I. iii.43; .4s You Like It, III. ii. 348.-45. father. " T h e climax naturally and beautifully ends with the endearing appellation of ' father.' "
Pye. How should the line be punctuated? —47. canoniz'd = made sacred ? Accented usually in Shakespeare on second syllable. How
here ? — hearsed = " coffined'' [Rolfe] ? entombed [Clark and Wright] ?
Merchant of Venice, III. i. 7 3 . - 4 8 . cerements = shroudV cere-cloth in
Merchant of Venice ? Lat. cera, wax. ' * So applied from the use of wax
or pitch in sealing up coffins or caskets to make them water-proof."
Hudson. — 49. inurn'd. So the folios. The quartos read interred. " T h e
change can hardly have been made by any one but the poet himself."
Clark and Wright. Judicious change?— 50. j a w s . Note this treinen-

56 .

HAMLET.

[ACT r.

To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous • and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition
55
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls ?
Say, why is this ? wherefore ? what should we do ?
[GHOST beckons HAMLET.
Horatio. I t beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
60
Marcelhis.
Look, with what courteous action
I t waves you to a more removed g r o u n d :
But do not go with it.
Horatio.
No, by no means.
Hamlet. I t will not speak ; then I will follow it.
Horatio. Do not, my lord.
Hamlet.
Why, what should be the fear ?
I do not set my life at a pin's fee ;
65
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself ?
I t waves me forth again ; I '11 follow it.
Horatio. What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
70
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form,
dous imagery. Personification V - - 52, complete. Shakespeare accents
either syllable. Which here ? Abbott, 492 — steel. Importance is attached to the fact that the Ghost is armed V Why ? Greater solemnity ?
WTere Danish kings buried in armor? —53. glim p s e s = g l earns? glimmering light? through clouds? through embrasures? — w e = us, after
making f May we regard the conjunction and as introducing a new sentence, supplying are made after we? or is it better to supply that before
we, and change to shake into do shake? This random connection of the
clause suits well with the headlong impetuosity of the speech [Moberly] ? See Furness. — fools of nature = natural fools ? playthings of nature?— 55. disposition = constitution? nature? mood? feelings? I. v.
172; I I I . i. 12; Macbeth, III. iv. 113. —56. reaches, I. i. 173; 2 Henry VI.,
I. ii. 46. General meaning, that man's intellectual eye is not strong
enough to bear the unmuffled light of eternity [Hudson] ? — wherefore.
Accent here? —59. impartment. Not elsewhere in Shakespeare.—
61. w a v e s . The folios read wafts. Preference ? —65. fee = value?
A. S. feoh, fed, cattle, property. Cattle were money ? As Latin pecunia,
money, from pecus, cattle? See fee, IV. iv. 22. •—71. beetles. Middle
English bitel-browed, having projecting or sharp brows . . . with biting
brows . . . brows projecting like an upper jaw. Skeat, " Thus beetle

SCENE IV.]

HAMLET.

57

Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness ? think of i t ;
The very place puts toys of desperation,
75
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.
Hamlet.
I t waves me still. —
Go on ; I '11 follow thee.
79
Marcellus. You shall not go, my lord.
Hamlet.
Hold off your hands !
Horatio. Be rul'd ; you shall not go.
Hamlet.
My fate cries out,
A n d makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.
Still am I c a l l ' d . — Unhand me, gentlemen.
By heaven, I '11 make a ghost of him that lets me !
85
I s a y , a w a y ! — G o on ; I '11 follow thee.
[Exeunt G H O S T and H A M L E T .
Horatio.
H e w a x e s d e s p e r a t e with i m a g i n a t i o n .
Marcellus.
L e t ' s follow ; ' t is n o t fit thus t o obey h i m .
Horatio.
H a v e after. — T o w h a t issue will this come ? 89
Marcellus.
S o m e t h i n g is rotten in % the state of D e n m a r k .
Horatio.
H e a v e n will d i r e c t it.
Marcellus.
Nay, l e t ' s follow him.
[Exeunt.
means the biting insect." Idem. — 73. deprive = take away [Johnson] ?
depose [Walker] ? —sovereignty of reason=government of reason
[Hudson]? sovereign reason [Warburton]? the command of reason [Steevens]V noble control of reason [Moberly]? sovereignty = your lordship
or your highness [Gifford] ? your sovereignty of reason — the sovereignty
of your reason, or the command of your reason [Rolfe\ ? For transpositions of nouns connected by of, see Abbott, 423. " Sovereignty of reason "
is to be looked upon as one word [Meiklejohn] ? — 74. draw, etc. I t was
believed that evil spirits, assuming the forms of deceased persons, sometimes drew men to madness or suicide ? — 75. toys = freaks, whims, fancies V mad impulses ? — 76. without, etc. " An allusion to what many
persons feel when on lofty heights, —a desire of throwing themselves headlong." Hunter. Is this true ? — Lines 75-78 omitted in the folios because
expanded and elaborated in King Lear? — 82. artery = nerve, sinew
[Hudson]? vein? —83. Nemean. Accent? Neinga (or Nemee) was a
valley in Argolis, where Hercules (as his first labor) slew the famous
lion. I. ii. 153. — nerve = muscle [Meiklejohn] ? sinew [Schmidt] ? Rolfe
prefers the latter. — 85. lets. Not A. S- laetan, letan, to allow, but A. S.
lettan, to hinder; A. S. laet, slow, late. — 89. Have after = let us after?
V. ii.290. Have = take or hold one's self, proceed promptly. Webster.
— 90. Something, etc. One of those many Shakespearian saws that
have become familiar as household words. There are how many in this
first Act of Hamlet ? — 91. it = the issue ? or what ? Compare this ghost
with that in Macbeth.

58

[ACT

HAMLET.

SCENE V.

Another

Enter

Part of the

GHOST and

IO

Platform,

HAMLET.

Hamlet. Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I ' l l go
further.
Ghost. Mark me.
.Hamlet.
I will.
Ghost.
My hour is almost come,
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.
Hamlet.
Alas, poor ghost!
Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold.
Hamlet.
Speak ; I am bound to hear.
Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
Hamlet. What?
Ghost. I am thy father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confin'd to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of mf prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine ;

no

5

10

15

20

SCENE V. — 1. Where ? How far did the Ghost lead him? Tschischloitz changes the scene to a wilderness, because Hamlet must have followed the Ghost a long distance, since he refuses to go farther.— In line 162
of this scene, is the Ghost underground ? What time elapses before Hamlet's companions rejoin him ?—2. hour. What hour of the day? — 6.
bound = ready? Does the Ghost imply a different sense in the next
line?—7. revenge. What of revenge as a supposed duty in pagan
times? the Christian idea ? Prayer of Cyrus the Younger, referred to by
Xenophon in the Anabasis, that he might live till he outdid both his
friends and his enemies, rendering like for like ! —11. fast. Chaucer
(Parson's Tale) says, " The misese of hell shall be in defaute of meat
and drink." —13. burnt and purg'd. So in Virgil's sEneid, VI. 742,
anc context. A poetic and pagan rather than a Roman-Catholic purgatory [Moberly] V —16. freeze. Does terror chill ? See ASneid, I. 92. —
18. s t a n d . Does terror have this effect on the hair? See Virgil's repeated line, JEneid, I I . 774. — a n end = on end ? An is often used for on
in Shakespeare, as in III. iv. 120. — 20. fretful = irritable ? — porpen-

SCENE V . ]

HAMLET.

59

But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love —
Hamlet. O G o d !
Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
25
Hamlet. Murder!.
Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is ;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
Hamlet. Haste me to know't, that I , with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
30
May sweep to my revenge.
Ghost.
I find thee a p t ;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, h e a r :
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
35
A serpent stung me ; so the whole ear of Denmark
I s by a forged process of my death
Rankly abus'd ; but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
tine. Lat. porcas, pig; spina, thorn. "PorJc-point was little used, and
simply meant a ' pork' or pig furnished with points or sharp quills: . . .
the modern porcupine is due to the Middle English form porkepyn . . .
three syllables . . . with y long." Skeat. — 21. eternal blazon = promulgation of the mysteries of eternity [Caldecott] ? infernal proclamation [Abbott]? <c A blaze is a white mark on a horse; whence to blaze
trees is to notch them with an axe, so as to mark the way back." Moberly.
blazon •= revelation ? Rolfe suggests that the Yankee slang word
" tarnal," meaning " abominable," is similar to the use of " eternal" in
the provincial dialects of the east of England. Is it likely ? See eterne,
II. ii. 476. —30. meditation . . . love. " The two most rapid things in
nature are here employed, — the ardency of divine and human passion
in an enthusiast and a lover." Warburton. He gives to meditation a
mystic meaning. Note the rapidity of the metrical movement in these
lines. — 32. shouldst. Should and would were largely interchangeable
in Shakespeare's time? Abbott, 322.—fat weed = asphodel, with its
numerous bulbs thick sown over the meadows of the lower regions ?
So Tschischwitz, who quotes Lucian introducing asphodel " in connection with the Lethean draught."—33. roots. The folios have rots.
Which gives the better sense? — Lethe. The river of oblivion in the
lower world.- By drinking of it, the spirits obtain forgetfulness of
the past. —Nouns, especially names of rivers, easily become adjectives ?
Abbott, 22; Maetzner, III. 158; Hamlet, I. iii. 133.— wharf, where Charon
moored his boat? river-bank? " Thus the name Antwerp means town
on the bank, an t'Werpen." Moberly. — 37. process = Fr. proces verbal?
official narrative [Clark and Wright] ? See Merchant of Venice, IV. i.
265.-38. rankly. A.S. rank, strong; Old Eng. rank, coarse in growth;
Old Fr. ranee, musty. I. ii. 136.— 39. serpent . . . sting, etc. Note

60

HAMLET.

Hamlet.
O my prophetic soul!
My uncle!
Ghost, Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts, —
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce ! — won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen ;
0 Hamlet, what a falling-off was there !
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
1 made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine !
But virtue, as it never will be mov'd,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always in the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through

[ACT I.

40

45

50

55

60

65

the'hissing, stinging intensity of this line.—40. prophetic soul. I.
ii. 255-258. " Hamlet's ' prophetic soul,'" says Lowell, " may be
matched with the Trpd/xavTi? fluids, promantis thumos, of Peleus (Eurip. ~
Androm. 1075)."—42. adulterate occurs oftener in Shakespeare than
adulterous. So emulate in I. i. 83. Abbott, 342.—47. seeming-virtuous.
Note how plastic the language was to allow such compounds ! Abbott,
2 . - 4 8 . that = such, as in I. ii. 171? Abbott, 277.—50. decline = turn
aside [Clark and Wright] ? sink down [Rolfe] ? So Tennyson's Locksley
Hall, line 4 3 . - 5 2 . to, as in I. ii. 140? I I I . i. 52; Tempest, I. ii. 480.—
those of mine. Accurate construction ? — 53. virtue. Noun absolute? pleonastic construction? Abbott, 417. —58. soft = hold, stop?
III. i. 88. See Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 311, and I. iii. 52. —60. in.
The quartos have of. Preferable? —61. secure. Lat. se, free from;
cura, care.—62. hebenon = henbane, the oil of which, according to
Pliny, dropped into the ear, disturbs the brain [Hudson] ? by metathesis for henebon, henbane (hyoscyamus niger) [Grey]? — 63. e a r s . It
was a belief, even among medical men in that day, that poison might
be thus introduced [Caldecott] ? So Francis II. (died in 1560) was supposed to have been poisoned by his surgeon, Ambroise Pare, " the father
of French surgery" (1517-1590). —66. courses, etc. What was known

SCENE V . ]

HAMLET.

The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigor it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood : so did it mine ;
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
Thus was I , sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd;
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
UnhousePd, disappointed, unanePd,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my h e a d :
O, horrible ! O, horrible ! most horrible !
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it n o t ;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven

61

70

75

80

85

in Shakespeare's time, of the circulation of the blood ? Harvey published
his great discovery in 1628 ? See Julius Cassar, I I . i. 289,290. —68. posset
= coagulate, curdle ? " Posset is hot milk poured on ale or sack, having sugar, grated biscuit, and eggs, with other ingredients, boiled in it,
which goes all to a curd." I t was eaten or drunk before going to bed.
See Macbeth, I I . ii. 6. —Posset is a verb here only. —69. eager = sour ? I.
iv. 2. —71. instant = instantaneous, as in I I . ii. 501 [Clark and Wright] ?
urgent, importunate, itching, in the sense of Lat. instans [Hudson] ? — 72.
lazar-like = leper-like ? Lazar is from the name of the beggar Lazarus, in the parable Luke xvi. 20, derived from the Hebrew name Eleazar
= he whom God helps?—73. Any rhetorical or poetic reason for the shortness of this line ?—75. dispatch'd= despatched? bereft [Warburton]?
deprived by death [Schmidt] ? Does the word express suddenness ?
apply equally well to life, queen, and crown ? Zeugma ? Lat. dis-, apart;
pes, ped-is, a foot; pedica, a fetter; Old Fr. despescher, to remove hinderances. Skeat. Brachet makes it from Lat. dis- and paetare, from
im-ping$re, impactus, to impinge on, struck upon.—77. unhouseled =
without having received the consecrated wafer ? — disappointed = unappointed, unprepared ? — unanel'd = without extreme unction ? A. S.
hiisel = the eucharist; Gothic hunsl = a. sacrifice (no doubt, from a root
signifying to kill). Skeat. — unaneled is from un, not; and A. S. onelan,
to put oil on; from A. S. on, prefix, and ele, oil. Wedgwood makes it
from " n i e l l o " (nigellum) enamel. James v. 14. — In the Antigone of
Sophocles, 1071, we have a^oipoi/, aKrepiarov, avocriov v<=Kw = eL corpse unprovided with sacrifice for the infernal gods, without holy oil or honors
of burial, without the sacrament or holy rites; and in Milton's Paradise
Lost, I I . 185, "unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved."— 80. Many give this
line to Hamlet. Does it come better from him ? O h . Difference between oh and 0 ? Which is vocative ? — l u x u r y always = lascivious-

62

HAMLET.

[ACT I.

And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And gins to pale his uneffectual fire ;
90
Adieu, adieu ! Hamlet, remember me.
[Exit.
Hamlet. O all you host of heaven ! O earth ! what else?
And shall I couple hell? 0 , fie ! Hold, hold, my heart;
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee !
95
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee !
Yea, from the table of my memory
I '11 wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
100
That youth and observation copied there ;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'cl with baser matter : yes, by heaven !
O most pernicious woman !
105
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables, —meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I 'm sure it may be so in Denmark. —
[ Writing.
So, uncle, there you are. — Now to my word ;
110
c
I t Is Adieu, adieu ! remember me.'
ness, lust, in Shakespeare.—85, 86. taint . . . aught. It is important
to remember these two limitations imposed by the Ghost. III. ii. 368,
369. —89. g l o w - w o r m . An insect of the order of coleoptera. The female, which is wingless, emits a shining green light, — matin = Fr.
matin, morning; Lat. matutinus, of morning. So Milton, 12Allegro, 114.
NOG elsewhere in Shakespeare. — 90. uneffectual. Because shining
without heat [Warburton, Hudson, Dyce, etc.] ? lost in the light of the
morning [Steevens, Schmidt, etc.] ? — 91. The quartos read Adieu, adieu,
adieu. Which reading is preferable? Why ? —92. O. See 80. —93. fie.
At the word " h e l l " ?— 96. memory is, in Macbeth, I. 7, 65, a sentinel or
warder of the brain. —97. globe = head [Clark and Wright] ? or world
[Schmidt]? If head, does a gesture accompany? — 98. table = tablet ?
memorandum-book? —99. fond = foolish? So in Merchant of Venice,
III. iii. 9. — Swedish fane, a fool; fanig, foolish. — records. Accent
where ? —100. saws = sayings, maxims ? So in Comus, 110; As You Like
It, II. vii. 156. Ger. sagen, A. S. sagu, a saying. — pressures = impressions ? expressions ? See III. ii. 22. —105. Why a defective line here ? —
107. tables. " A n y substances prepared for writing, erasures, and rewriting, were called tables." White. See in Luke i. 63. — See 1. 98; also
I I . ii. 136; 2 Henry IV., II. iv. 289, "his master's old tables, his notebook," etc. — set it d o w n . Does he really write it down? See Furness, II. ii. 135. — 108. Is this line what he writes on his "tables," if he

SCENE V.]

63

HAMLET.

I have sworn 't.
Horn?™' } LWithin] My lord, my lord!
Marcellus.
[ Within'] Lord Hamlet!
Horatio.
[ Within] Heaven secure him !
Hamlet. So be i t !
Horatio. [ Within] Hillo, ho, ho, my lord !
115
Hamlet. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.
Enter

HORATIO and

MARCELLUS.

Marcellus. How is 't, my noble lord?
Horatio.
What news, my lord?
Hamlet. O, wonderful!
Horatio. Good my lord, tell it.
Hamlet.
No ; you will reveal it.
Horatio. Not I, my lord, by heaven.
Marcellus.
Nor I, my lord. 120
Hamlet. How say you, then ; would heart of man once
think it?
But you '11 be secret?
Horatio.
)
, ,
i ^
A
^r
\
Ay, by heaven, my lord.
77
J
Marcellus. )
' J
' J
Hamlet. There 's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he 's an arrant knave.
Horatio. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the
grave.
125
To tell us .this.
Hamlet.
Why, right: you are r the right;
And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold it tit that we shake hands and p a r t :
You, as your business and desire shall point you, —
For every man has business and desire,
130
Such as it is ; — a n d for mine own poor p a r t ,
Look you, I '11 g o pray.
writes at all? —110. word = watchword ? So in Richard III., V. iii.
349. " Our ancient word of courage, fair ' St. George.' " —115. Hillo,
etc. A falconer's cry to call back his hawk from its flight high in air.
See extract from Taine in the Introduction. —121. o n c e = e v e r , as in
Antony and Cleopatra, V. ii. 50? Macbeth, IV. iii. 167. —124. arrant =
cowardly ? downright ? A. S. eargian, to be a coward. See III. i. 128.
—125. come = that has come? or to come? For the omission of to
before the infinitive, see Abbott, 349. —127.»circumstance = ceremony
[Schmidt]? circumlocution [Clark and Wright]? See III. i. 1; Merchant of Venice, I. i. 154, " To wind about my love with circumstance."

64

HAMLET.

[ACT I.

Horatio.
T h e s e a r e b u t wild a n d whirling w o r d s , m y lord.
Hamlet. I ' m sorry they offend you, heartily ;
Y e s , faith, heartily.
Horatio.
T h e r e ' s no offence, m y lord.
135
Hamlet. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offence too. Touching this vision here,
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you;
For your desire to know what is between us,
O'ermaster ' t as you may. And now, good friends,
140
As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
Grive me one poor request.
Horatio. What is 't, my lord? we will.
Hamlet. Never make known what you have seen to-night.
Horatio.
) M j d we m
u
J
Marcellus. j
Hamlet.
Nay, but swear 't.
Horatio.
In faith,
My lord, not I .
Marcellus.
Nor I , my lord, in faith.
146
Hamlet. U p o n m y sword.
Marcellus.
We have sworn, my lord, already.
Hamlet. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
Ghost. [Beneath'] Swear.
—129. You, as. You do what ? —132. go pray = go to pray ? or go and
pray ? Abbott, 349. —133. w i l d , etc. Are they indicative of real, or pretended, madness ? —136. Saint Patrick. Why is he mentioned ? The
patron saint of all blunders and confusions [Moberly] ? He naturally
thought of St. Patrick, who kept a purgatory of his own [Tschischwitzj?
The name of a saint familiar and popular [Caldecott] ? The whole
northern world had their learning from Ireland. . . . But it [St.
Patrick] was . . . only sakl at random [Warburton] ? St. Patrick, of
Scotch birth, is supposed to have been one of the first and greatest
preachers of Christianity in Ireland. Horatio. Instead of this word,
the folios read " my lord." Corson prefers the latter as a retort to
" m y lord" in the preceding line. Which is the better? 137. m u c h
offence, etc. Does Hamlet purposely misinterpret " offence " in order
to evade inquiry ? — The folios have a comma after " too," and a colon
after " here." Does that give a better meaning ? —138. honest = real,
genuine? or truth-telling, trustworthyV —140. O'ermaster ' t , etc.=
subdue it as you best can [Hudson] ? — soldiers. Trisyllable ? It
seems to be in Julius Ccesar, IV. i 28, " B u t he's a tried and valiant
soldier." —147. upon m y sword. Soldier-like and agreeably to the
ancient custom of his country [Upton] ? Common to swear upon the
cross which the old swords always had upon the hilt [Johnson] ? In
consequence of this practice, the name of Jesus was sometimes inscribed
on the handle [Douce] ? In a plain sword . . . between the blade and
the hilt, . . . a straight transverse bar . . . suggesting . . . a cross
[Nares]? See 1 Henry IV., II. iv. 192. — already. Meaning that " i n

SCENE V . ]

HAMLET.

65

Hamlet. Ah, ha, boy ! say'st thou so? art thou there, truepenny ? —
150
Come on — you hear this fellow in the cellarage —
Consent to swear.
Horatio.
Propose the oath, my lord.
Hamlet. Never to speak of this that you have seen.
Swear by my sword.
Ghost. \_Beneath~] Swear.
155
Hamlet. Hie et ubique? then we fll shift our ground. —
Come hither, gentlemen,
And lay your hands again upon my sword,
Never to speak of this that you have heard.
Swear by my sword.
160
Ghost. \JBeneath~\ Swear.
Hamlet. Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so
fast?
A worthy pioner ! — Once more remove, good friends.
Horatio. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange !
Hamlet. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. 165
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
But come;
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, —
170
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on, —
faith" was equivalent to an oath ? —148. Indeed = not in words only,
but in act, in form [Staunton] ? —150. true-penny. A mining term.
. . . Hamlet may with propriety address the Ghost under ground by
that name [Collier] ? Hearty old fellow, stanch and trusty [Forbes] ?
Honest fellow [Johnson, Schmidt, Hudson, etc.] ? —156. The repetition
. . . shifting of the ground, and the Latin phrase are taken from the
ceremonies of conjuration [Tschischwitz]? Hie et ubique = here and
everywhere. —161. The quartos add to " swear," in this line, the words
" by his sword." Do they better the sense ? —163. pioner. A pioneer
goes before the army to clear the road, dig trenches, etc. " Pioneers
with spade and pickaxe armed," Paradise Lost, I. 676. Fr. pied, Lat.
pes, a foot. The Fr. pion, Eng. paivn, in chess, is one of the foot-soldiers of the game. V. ii. 144. — Purpose and effect of Hamlet's levity ?
—165. as a stranger, etc. = receive it . . . under your own roof . . .
keep it secret. Alluding to the laws of hospitality [Warburton] ? jSeern
not to know it [Mason] ? Receive it without doubt or question [Clark
and Wright] ? Choose. — 167. your. The folios have our Which is
better here ? I I I . ii. 3, 108; IV. iii. 21. Is a philosophic as opposed to
a credulous spirit discernible in Horatio ? Hudson and others think that
here is a mild sneer at philosophy. Lat. iste = that of yours [with contempt].— antic. Originally a doublet of antique, Lat. antiquus, of the

66

HAMLET.

[ACT I.

T h a t y o u , a t such time seeing m e , never shall,
W i t h a r m s e n c u m b e r ' d t h u s , or this h e a d - s h a k e ,
Or b y pronouncing of some doubtful p h r a s e ,
175
A s ' W e l l , well, we k n o w , ' or ' W e could, a n if we would,'
O r ' If we list t o s p e a k , ' or ' T h e r e b e , a n if they m i g h t , '
Or such ambiguous giving-out, to note
T h a t you know a u g h t of m e : this n o t t o d o ,
So g r a c e a n d mercy a t your m o s t need help y o u ,
180
Swear.
Ghost. [Beneatli]
Swear.
Hamlet. Rest, rest, perturbed s p i r i t ! — S o , gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to y o u ;
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
185
M a y d o , t o e x p r e s s his love a n d friending t o y o u ,
G o d willing, shall n o t lack. L e t us g o in t o g e t h e r ;
A n d still your fingers on your lips, I p r a y .
T h e time is o u t of j o i n t ; — O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right! —
190
Nay, come, let's go together.
[Exeunt.
olden time; then fanciful, odd, capricious, foolish [Moberly] ? disguised
[Clark and Wright] ? Has he already begun to counterfeit madness ?
See Introduction. —174. arms encumbered = arms folded in sign of
wisdom [Moberly] ? arms [of another person] seized as if to whisper in
his ear, or button-hole him ? —173. time. The quartos read times.
Better ? seeing. Dissyllable ? in scanning ? never. Dissyllable
here? Must we reduce these lines to a tame uniformity of ten syllables each ? Abbott, 470. —175. of naturally followed a verbal noun.
Abbott, 178. Why is not the used before it ? Abbott, 89. —176, 177.
an if. Icelandic enda, moreover, if. "Shakespeare's an is nothing
but a Scandinavian use of the common word and. When the force of
an grew misty, it was reduplicated by the addition O ' if' . . . an if
f
really meaning if if." So and if in Matthew, xxiv. 48. Skeat. See I. li.
147. —177. be is used instead of are for euphony or variety ? See Abbott,
300.—178. giving out = indication, intimation, profession ? — to. Superfluous ? Does it make the meaning more clear ? Abbott, 416. —180.
most = greatest ? Frequent usage in Shakespeare? See Abbott, 17.—
183. perturbed, etc. Pathos here? —184. commend = recommend to
kind remembrance? intrust? —185. Hamlet frequently speaks of himself in the third person [Clarke] ? characteristic oi what sort of men ? —
186. friending —friendliness? Friend is often a verb in Shakespeare?
— 187. lack = be wanting? as in I. iv. 3? See Gen. xviii. 28, " P e r adventure there shall lack five." -—*189. out of joint, etc. How ? Does
he realize that the burden laid on him is too great for his strength ?
How is he hampered in his surroundings ? Which is the emphatic word
in line 190 ? —191. Nay. Why " nay " ? Progress made thus far in the
plot ? in the development of character ?

67

HAMLET.

SCENE I.]

ACT
SCENE I .

II.

A Room in Polonius's

House.

Enter POLONIUS and REYNALDO.
Polonius. Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.
Reynaldo. I will, my lord.
Polonius. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before you visit him, to make inquiry
Of his behavior.
Beynaldo.
My lord, I did intend it.
5
Polonius. Marry, well said, very well said. Look you,
sir,
Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris,
And how, and who ; what means, and where they keep ;
What company, at what expense ; and finding
By this encompassment and drift of question
10
That they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch i t :
Take you, as ' t were, some distant knowledge of him,
How long a time elapses between the first and second acts? — 3
shall = will? See Ps. xxiii. 6. Abbott, 315. — marvellous. Adjectives are continually used in Shakespeare for adverbs. Any special
reason here? Abbott, 1. — 4. inquiry. The quartos have inquire. Better? Abbott, 451. — 7. me = for rne? The so-called " ethical dative " ?
See II. ii. 560. The ethical dative denotes a person to whom the thought
is of special interest. Julius Ccesar,!. ii. 256, " he plucked me ope his
doublet." See Abbott, 220. — Danskers. The old name of Denmark
was Danske. The Scandinavian sk is softened into the English ish? —
8. k e e p . So in Merchant of Venice, I I I . iii. 19; Measure for Measure,
III. i. 10. So Tennyson in In Memoriam . . . " a s yet I keep within his
courts." 10. encompassment and drift = scope and tendency [Clark
and Wright]? winding and circuitous course [Caldecott]? encompassment = circumlocution [Webster]? " Lat. com for cum, together, and
passus, a pace, step, way, pass, route; whence compassus, a route that
comes together or joins itself, a circuit." Skeat.—11. come you = you
come? you are sure to come? — more nearer. "Er and est . . . lost
something of their force, and sometimes received . . . more and most
. . . for greater emphasis." Abbott, 11. In Merchant of Venice, IV. i.
242, " How much more elder art thou than thy looks! " See Hamlet, III.
ii. 283; III. iv. 155; V. ii. 121. —12. it. W h a t ? "It is sometimes used
indefinitely, as the object of a verb, and seems to indicate a pre-existing
object in the mind." Abbott, 226. —13. Take you = assume [Clark and

68

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

As thus, 4 I know his father and his friends,
And in part him,' — d o you mark this, Re}maldo?
15
Reynaldo. Ay, very well, my lord.
Polonius. ' And in part h i m ; b u t ' you may say ' not
well;
But, if 't be he I mean, he's very wild,
Addicted ' so and so : and there put on him
What forgeries you please ; marry, none so rank
20
As may dishonor him ; take heed of t h a t ;
But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.
Reynaldo.
As gaming, my lord.
24
Polonius. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,
Drabbing ; you may go so far.
Reynaldo. My lord, that would dishonor him.
Polonius. Faith, no ; as you may season it in the charge.
You must not put another scandal on him,
That he is open to incontinency ;
30
T h a t 's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly
T h a t they may seem the taints of liberty,
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,
A savageness in unreclaimed blood,
Of general assault.
Reynaldo.
But, my good lord, —
35
Polonius. Wherefore should you do this ?
Wright] ? assume the appearance of having [Rolfe, Delius, etc.] ? —20.
forgeries = fabrications, false charges ? (Lat. fabrica, a workshop, also
a fabric; whence, by usual letter changes, fabr'ca, faurca, faurga, forga,
and finally forge. Thus forge is a doublet of fabric. Skeai.—22. slips =
offences? slight offences. — 24. to youth, etc. = companions to youth?
or most known to youth ? — 25. fencing. Why is this included among
slips? " T h e cunning of Fencers [is now] applied to quarrelling."
Gosi-on (1554-1623) in Schoole of Abuse, 1579. — 28. season. As in I. ii.
192 ? modify? qualify ? — 29. another = quite different ? a further [Hudson] ? a deeper, as aAAw?, alios, means particularly, and akXoq 'oSt-n^, alios
hodites, an out-of-the-way or foreign traveller [Moberly]? — 31. breathe
= whisper [Clark and Wright]? utter, speak [Dyce, Rolfe, etc.]? —
quaintly = ingeniously, cleverly, artfully, neatly? Certainly derived
from Lat. cognitus, known, well-known, famous; though confused with
Lat. comptvs, neat, adorned. Skeat. — 32. taints. Lat. tinge're, to
tinge, dye; Fr. teindre, to stain.—34. unreclaimed. " Cotgrave has
' Adomestiquer: to tame, reclaim, make gentle.' A term of falconry."
Clark and Wright. See Romeo and Juliet, IV. ii. 47. — 35. of general
assault = such as youth is generally assailed by [Hudson] ? to which
all young men are liable [Dyce] ? such as generally attacks people

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

69

Beynaldo.
Ay, my lord,
I would know that.
Polonius.
Marry, sir, here 5 s my drift;
And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant.
You laying these slight sullies on my son,
As 't were a thing a little soil'd V the working,
40
Mark you,
Your party in converse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assur'd
He closes with you in this consequence:
45
' Good s i r / or so, or ' friend,' or ' gentleman,'
According to the phrase or the addition
Of man and country.
Beynaldo.
Very good, my lord.
Polonius. And then, sir, does he this — he does — what was
I about to say? By the mass, I was about to say something ;
where did I leave ?
51
Beynaldo. A t ' closes in the consequence,' at 'friend or
so,' and 'gentleman.'
Polonius. A t ' closes in the consequence,' ay, m a r r y ;
H e closes thus : ' I know the gentleman ;
55
I saw him yesterday, or t' other day,
Or then, or then, with such, or such, and, as you say,
There was he gaming, there o'ertook in 's rouse,
[Moberly]?— 36. Ay. Metrically a dissyllable. Rolfe. "Monosyllables which are emphatic . . . often take the place of a whole foot."
Abbott, 481, 482. See IV. vii. 5 8 . - 3 8 . fetch of warrant = warranted
artifice [DyceJV allowable stratagem [Hudson]? an artful stratagem
[Moberly]? — 40. As 't were, etc. = as you might speak of an article
slightly soiled [Moberly] ? as having . . . unavoidably contracted some
small blemishes [Caldecott] ? — 42. converse = conversation ? Accented
as in Othello, III. i. 34? Shakespeare uses the noun three times. — him
= he whom [Clark and Wright]? I mean him whom? Abbott, 208,
gives several examples in which Shakespeare uses him for Tie.— 43. prenominate = forenamed, aforesaid? Lat. prm, before; nomen, name.
As to the omission of d, see I. ii. 20. Abbott, 342. —44. breathe. Line
31. —45. closes, etc. = falls in with you into this conclusion [Caldecott] ?
in this consequence = by the consequence or drift of your talk [Moberly? in thus following up your remark [Schmidt]? — 47. addition =
as in I. iv. 20? Macbeth, I. ii'i. 106; I I I . i. 99.—50. mass = Lord's Supper, eucharist ? Lat. missa, dismissal; mittere, to send. Either because
the congregation is dismissed, or because the catechumens are sent
away. By the mass is omitted from the folios, as being an oath [Collier] ? — 51. leave = leave off ? Often so in Shakespeare. — 58. o'ertook
= overtaken by intoxication ? There was a tendency in the age of Elizabeth to drop the en, and use the past tense for the participle. Abbott,

70

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

There falling out at tennis ; ' or perchance,
4
1 saw him enter such a house of sale,'
60
Videlicet, a brothel, or so forth.
See you now;
Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of t r u t h ;
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlasses and with assays of bias,
65
By indirections find directions o u t :
So, by my former lecture and advice,
Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?
lleynaldo. My lord, I have.
Polonius.
God be wi' you ; fare you well.
lleynaldo. Good my lord !
70
Polonius. Observe his inclination in yourself.
lleynaldo. I shall, my lord.
Polonius. And let him ply his music.
lleynaldo.
Well, my lord.
Polonius. Farewell!
[Exit
lleynaldo.
Enter OPHELIA. "
How now, Ophelia ! what 's the matter?
Ophelia. O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
343. —rouse, as in I. ii. 127. —61. videlicet = to wit, viz. — 64. of w i s dom = wise? See of mercy, IV. vi. 18. — reach = mental grasp? of
reach = with far-reaching minds ? Abbott, 168, gives this of the sense of
by means of. See I. iv. 56. I n Love's iMbor's Lost, " we of taste and
feeling." — 65. windlasses = winding, roundabout ways? subtleties?
" Apparently compounded of wind (a verb) and lace . . . the old sense
of lace was a snare or bit of twisted string, so that the use of it in the
sense of ' bend' is not remarkable. Thus windlass probably — wind-lace,
a winding bend, a circuitous track." Skeat. — assays, attempts, essays,
trials ? — bias. " A bias is a weight in one side of a bowl, which keeps
it from rolling straight to the mark, as in nine-pins." Hudson. " The
player does not aim . . . directly, but in a curve, so that the bias brings
the ball round." Clark and Wright. Bias = an inclination to one side,
aslope? Assays of bias — indirect attempts? — 68. have me = understand me ? me = my meaning? —69. God be w i ' you. Three folios
have God buy you. Gbod-by is a contraction of these words? Macbeth,
I I I . i. 43. —fare originally=travel, speed. Life is a journey, a pilgrimage ? A. S. faran, to travel. —70. Good m y lord! I. ii. 169; II. ii.
508. Why put an exclamation point (!) after lord? — 71. Observe his
inclination in yourself = Observe his inclination in your own person,
not by spies [Johnson] ? The temptations you feel, suspect in him
[Copell] ? Find them out by personal observation [Caldecott] ? Conform your own conduct to his inclinations [Clark and Wright] ? Use
your own eyes upon him, as well as learn from others; or the meaning
may be, comply with his inclinations in order to draw him out [Hudson} ? Choose. — 73. ply his music = attend to his music-lessons

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

71

Polonius. With what, i' the name of God ?
Ophelia. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd;
No hat upon his head ; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ankle ;
80
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors, — he comes before me.
Polonius. Mad for thy love ?
Ophelia.
My lord, I do not know ; 85
But truly, I do fear it.
Polonius.
W h a t said he?
Ophelia. He took me by the wrist and held me h a r d ;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm,
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
90
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so ;
[Schmidt] ? go on to what tune he pleases . . . conduct himself in any
style, and at any rate he chooses [Clark] ? fiddle his secrets all out
[Hudson]? gamble, swear, quarrel, drab, enter houses of sale, videlicet
brothels; only let him ply his music: true cavalier breeding ! [Vischer]? — 76. God. Changed to Heaven in the folios. Was it on account
of the act of Parliament forbidding the utterance of the sacred name on
the stage? —77. closet = chamber, which word is used in the folios.
III. ii. 307. Old Fr. clus, an enclosed space; diminutive ending -et. Lat.
clausum, closed; claud&re, to shut. — 78. doublet = a close, tightly-fitting
waistcoat, the skirts reaching a little below the girdle. Fr. double, and
diminutive -et. Lat. duo, two, and plicare, to fold. — unbraced — unfastened, as in Julius Ccesar, I. iii. 48, and II. i. 262 ? —80. ungartered, as
a lover's ought to be in As You Like It, I I I . ii. 352 ! —down-gyved ~
hanging like gyves or fetters [Clark and Wright]? hanging down like
the loose cincture that confines the fetters or gyves round the ankles
[Hudson] ? rolled down [Theobald] ? Welsh gefyn, a fetter. — 82. purport. How accented ? Scan. Not found elsewhere in Shakespeare. —
82, 83. so . . . do. " Bearing in mind that as is simply a contraction
for' all-so,' we shall not be surprised at some interchanging of so and as."
Abbott, 275. Macbeth, I. ii. 43. — 84. The line lacks a syllable? Hence
Abbott, 478, makes horrors a trisyllable. Says Furness, " W h y not let
Ophelia's strong emotion shudderingly fill up the g a p ? " Yes; and
why not in the same way fill many an incomplete line? — 84. mad.
Many think so; but Lowell (Among My Books, I. p. 220) says, " I f you
deprive Hamlet of reason, there is no truly tragic motive left. He
would be a fit subject for Bedlam, but not for the stage. We might have
pathology enough, but no pathos. . . . If Hamlet is irresponsible, the
whole play is a chaos." Was he, then, necessarily shamming? See
quotations from Taine, Hugo, Furness, etc., in the Introduction. —90.
perusal = examination [Clark and Wright] ? study [Rolfe, etc.]? —91.
as = as if ? See I. ii. 217. — draw = make a picture of ? — Scan. Lines
with four accents, where there is a change of thought, are not uncom-

72

HAMLET.

[ACT

II.

A t last, a little shaking of mine arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
H e rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound
T h a t it did seem to shatter all his bulk
95
A n d end his being : that done, he lets me go ;
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'cl,
H e seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their help,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.
100
Polonius. Come, go with me ; I will go seek the king.
This is the very ecstasy of love,
Whose violent property fordoes itself
And leads the will to desperate undertakings,
As oft as any passion under heaven
105
T h a t does afflict our natures. I am sorry, —
W h a t , have you given him any hard words of late ?
Ophelia. N o , my good lord, but, as you did command,
I did repel his letters, and denied
His access to me.
Polonius.
T h a t hath made him mad.
no
I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I Lad not quoted him. I fear'd he did but trifle,
And meant to wreck thee ; but beshrew my jealousy !
moo [Abbott, 507] ? Let the pause after it supply the gap ? See note on
line 84. — 92. shaking. "A verbal substantive, is made, is understood."
Tschischwitz. " Of naturally followed a verbal noun." Abbott, 178. — 95.
b u l k = chest [Singer, White, Hudson, etc.] ? body [Malone, Dyce, etc.] ?
The original idea in bulk is a swelling. Gaelic bulg, belly, lump, mass;
bulk, the trunk of the body, and bulk, magnitude, connected by the notion of bulging. Skeat. —100. their light, etc. "There is more than
the love of forty thousand brothers in that hard grasp of the wrist; in that
long gaze at arm's length; in the force that might, but will not, draw her
nearer; and never a word from this king of words ! His first great
silence; the second is death ! " Miles (Review of Hamlet, p. 28, cited by
Furness). —101. go seek. To omitted ? or and? I. v. 132. Abbott,349.
—102. ecstasy, Gr. ZKCTTOKTK;, ecstasis; ex, out, o-racrt?, standing; Lat. ecstasis, a being beside one's self (as Ophelia is "divided from herself"
in IV. v. 08; the condition of one who is out of his head; alienation
of mind, madness, any violent perturbation of soul. III. i. 160; III.
iv. 74, 136, 137; Macbeth, III. ii. 22; IV. iii. 170. —103. fordoes= undoes, destroys? "For, like the German ver, has a negative sense in
composition . . . sometimes intensive." Clark and Wright. See V.
i. 210.—109. repel = send back? refuse to receive? —112. quoted =
noted, marked? " Invariably used by Shakespeare in the sense of observe." M. Mason. Lat. quotus, quota, how much, how many; Low
La", quotdre, to say how many (with reference as to the numbering of
chapters), to mark off into chapters and verses. —113. wreck. As a
noun this means " that which is cast on shore," as sea-weed; then, ship-

HAMLET.

SCENE I I . ]

n

By heaven, it is as proper to our age
T o cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
115
A s it is common for the younger sort
T o lack discretion. Come, go we to the king :
This must be known ; which, being kept close, might move
More grief to hide than hate to utter love.
[Exeunt.
SCENE I I .
Enter

A Room in the Castle.

K I N O , QUEEN, EOSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and Attendants.

King. Welcome, dear Eosencrantz and Guildenstern!
Moreover that we much did long to see you,
The need we have to use you did provoke
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation ; so I call it,
Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man
Eesembles that it was. W h a t it should be,

5

wreck, ruin. A. S. wrecan = drive, cast forth. The folios and most of
the quartos spell the word with an a, and some editors interpret the word
as meaning rack, torture, grieve. Better ? — besfirew = a mischief on,
plague on ? See note on shrewdly, I. iv. 1. " The prefix be- or by- (Gothic
bi-; O. Sax. bi-; Ger. be-, bei-; Dutch be-) denotes nearness, or is intensive. Sometimes it seems to have lost its force. Sometimes it renders
an intransitive verb transitive, as beseem, befall, bemoan; or it changes
the direction of the transitive relation, as behold, beset, betake; or it
spreads the action, as bedaub, bedeck, bespot." Sprague {Masterpieces in
English Literature, p. 297). —jealousy. "Used by Shakespeare in a
wider sense than now." Clark and Wright. —114. proper = appropriate ? peculiar ?' proper to = characteristic of ? —115. cast = compute, calculate [Schmidt]? contrive, design, plan [Clark and Wright]? — cast
beyond, etc. = to forecast more than we ought for our own interests
[Moberly]? let cunning go farther than reason can attend it [Johnson]?
overreach ourselves with our own policy [Hudson] ? —118, 119. close =
secret? might move more grief, etc. = the king may be angry at my
telling of Hamlet's love; but more grief would come from hiding it
[Moberly] ? Hamlet's mad conduct might cause more grief if it were
hidden, than the revelation of his love for Ophelia would cause hatred,
i.e., on the part of the king and queen [Clark and Wright] ? We may
cause more of grief to others than of hatred on his [Hamlet's] part by
disclosing it [Hudson]? Hudson adds, " T h e poet sometimes strains
language pretty hard in order to close a scene with a rhyme."
SCENE II. —2. Moreover = over and above the fact? besides? — 3.
provoke (Lat. pro, forth; vocdre, to call).—5. I. The quartos omit
this I. Effect on the meaning ? the scanning ? ^ 6. Sith = since ? A. S.
sith, after, later, akin to Gothic seithus, late; Icel. senin, slow, late; Lat.
se-ro, late. A. S. siththan, sidhdhan — after that. Sithens arose from addition of adverbial ending -s or -es to the older form sithen. Sins is
abbreviation of Mid. Eng. sithens. Since is written for sins to keep the

74

HAMLET.

[ACT IT.

More than his father's death, that thus hath put him
So much from the understanding of himself,
I cannot dream of. I entreat you both,
That, being of so young days brought up with him,
And sith so neighbor'd to his youth and humor,
That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
Some little time ; so by your companies
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
So much as from occasion you may glean,
Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus,
That, open'd, lies within our remedy.
Queen, Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you;
And sure I am two men there are not living
T o w h o m he m o r e a d h e r e s . I f it will p l e a s e y o u
T o show us so m u c h g e n t r y a n d good will
A s t o e x p e n d your time with u s awhile,
F o r t h e s u p p l y a n d profit of o u r h o p e ,
Your visitation shall receive such thanks
As fits a king's remembrance.
Rosencrantz.
Both your majesties
Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,
P u t your dread pleasures more into command
Than to entreaty.

10

15

20

25

final s sharp. Skeat.—S, 9. p u t h i m . . . from. So III. i. 174, 175?
Repeatedly found in Shakespeare as in Romeo and Juliet, I I I . v. 107.
— 10. of. Superfluous? The folios have deemef Better? —11. of =
from? as we still say " of late " ? Abbott, 167. So " of long time," Acts
viii. 11; Maetzner, ii. 221. —12. sith. Line 6. — neighbor'd = associated
or intimate with [Rolfe? So Henry V.,I. i. 62. — humor = temper of
mind, disposition [Corson]? The quartos have havior, hav, havour?
Preferable? Lat. humere or umere, to be moist; humor, moisture. Fr.
humeur, humor, temper, disposition. The state of the mind was once
believed to depend on the condition of the fluids of the body; the four
humors causing the four " complexions " or temperaments, — choleric,
melancholic, phlegmatic, and sanguine. See note on I. iv. 27. —13.
That. Needless? — vouchsafe your rest = please to reside [Calde=
cott] ? kindly remain ? —14. companies. See note on loves, I. i. 173; wisdoms, I. ii. 15. —17. Whether. Monosyllable ? as it is said to be often
in Shakespeare. Often it is written whefr or where ? Must we reduce
the foot to an iambus? Abbott, 466. —This line is omitted in the folios.
Is. it needed ? —18. open'd = disclosed ? So repeatedly in Shakespeare.
— 22. gentry = courtesy [Schmidt, Wright, etc.]? complaisance [Warbarton ? courtesy, gentleness, or good-breeding [Hudson] ? So in V. ii.
109. Old Fr. genteris^ rank; gentil, gentle, gracious; Lat. gentilis,
belonging to a gens o r clan; akin to genteel, of noble race, well-bred.
See Stormonth. — 2'i. supply and profit = aid and furtherance [Caldecott]? feeling and realizing [Hudson] ? —25. visitation. Present
meaning of this word ? — 27. of = over ? Abbott, 174. — 29. to = into ? —

SCENE I I . ]

75

HAMLET.

Guildenstern.
But we both obey,
And here give up ourselves, in the full bent
30
To lay our service freely at your feet,
To be commanded.
King. Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.
Queen. Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz ;
And I beseech you instantly to visit
35
M y too much changed son. — G o , some of you,
A n d bring these gentlemen where H a m l e t is.
Guildenstern.
H e a v e n s m a k e o u r presence a n d o u r practices
Pleasant and helpful to him!
Queen.
Ay, amen!
{Exeunt

ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and some Attendants.
Enter

POLONIUS.

Polonius. The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord,
Are joyfully return'd.
41
King. Thou still hast been the father of good news.
Polonius. Have I, my lord ? Assure you, my good liege,
I hold my duty, as I hold my soul,
Both to my God and to my gracious king ;
45
And I do think, or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure.
As it hath'us'd to do, that I have found
The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.
King. O, speak of t h a t ; that do I long to hear.
50
Polonius. Give first admittance to the ambassadors ;
My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.
King. Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in. —
{Exit

POLONIUS.

B u t . Omitted in the folios. Is it needed ? Might a pause between the
speeches rill out the time? —30. bent = endeavor, straining [Schmidt]?
utmost degree . . . the expression is derived from archery [Johnson] ?
inclination, as in I I I . ii. 359; Twelfth Night, I I . iv. 37? — 34. gentle.
Prettily the queen applies this word? — 38. H e a v e n s . This plural is
often so used in Shakespeare; as in Antony and Cleopatra, I. ii. 57. —42.
still. See I. i. 122; I. ii. 4 8 . - 4 3 . Assure you=-I assure you? be
assured? assure yourself ?—liege. Old High Ger. ledec; Mod. Ger.
ledig, free. A liege lord seems to have been a lord of a free band, and
his lieges . . .free from all other obligation. Skeat. — 45. and. The
folios have " o n e . " As good? — 47. trail = course of an animal pursued by the scent [Johnson] ? —52. fruit == dessert after meat [John^
son] ? Two folios have newes instead of fruit; two have news; whence

76

BAMLET.

[ACT I I .

He tells me, my sweet queen, that he hath found
The head and source of all your son's distemper.
Queen. I doubt it is no other but the main, —
His father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage.
King. Well, we shall sift him. —

55

Re-enter POLONIUS, with VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS.

Welcome, my good friends !
Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway?
Voltimand. Most fair return of greetings and desires. 60
Upon our first, he sent out to suppress
His nephew's levies, which to him appear'd
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack,
Bub, better look'd into, he truly found
It was against your highness : whereat griev'd,
65
That so his sickness, age, and impotence,
Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests
On Fortinbras ; which he, in brief, obeys,
Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine
Makes vow before his uncle never more
70
To give the assay of arms against your majesty.
Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee,
And his commission to employ those soldiers,
So levied as before, against the Polack ;
75
W i t h a n entreaty, herein further shown,
[Giving a paper.
T h a t it might please you t o give quiet pass
T h r o u g h your dominions for this enterprise,
Tschisehwitz, following Hunter, changes u fruit" to " nuts " ! — 54. m y
sweet queen. Two quartos have " my dear Gertrude." Preference ?
White says the quarto reading " smacks less of the honeymoon." — 56.
doubt = suspect? fear? Lines 116, 117, 118, 119. — but = than? I. i.
102.—the main = the main point? in the main point [Staunton]? the
main cause, as in 2 Henry VI., I. i. 208? Lat. magnus, great; Icel.
megin, strength, chief. — 60. desires = kind wishes ? — 61. first = greeting and desire, first expression of the ambassador's request [Clark and
Wright] ? audience or opening of our business [Caldecott] ? — 63. P o lack. I. i. 6 3 . - 6 4 . truly was? or truly found? The Elizabethan
authors took great liberties in the transposition of adverbs. Abbott, 420.
— 67. borne in hand = deceived, deluded? cheated [Moberly] ? deluded by false assurances or expectations [Hudson] ? Macbeth, III. i.
80. — sends. " When there can be no doubt what is the nominative, it
is sometimes omitted." Abbott, 399. So III. i. 8 ? — assay = proof, trial,
test. III. iii. 69. — arms = war ? battle ? — 73. three. The quartos

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

11

On such regards of safety and allowance
A s therein are set down.
King.
I t likes us well;
80
And at our more consider'd time we '11 read,
Answer, and think upon this business.
Meantime we thank you for your well-took labor.
Go to your r e s t ; at night we '11 feast together :
Most welcome home !
[Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS.
Polonius.
This business is well ended. —
85
My liege, and madam, to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night night, and time is time,
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time.
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
90
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief. Your noble son is m a d :
Mad call I i t ; for, to define true madness,
What is ' t but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that go.
Queen,
More matter, with less art.
95
have three-score. Preferable ? Commercial value of money in those
ages? — 79. regards, etc. = terms securing the safety of the country,
and regulating the passage of the troops through it [Clark and
Wright] ? conditions safe and allowable, [Rolfe] ? pledges of safety to
the country, and terms of permission [Hudson] ? — 80. likes = pleases ?
" There are more impersonal verbs in Early English than in Elizabethan, and many more in Elizabethan than in Modern English." Abbott, 297, tries to account for it. —81. considered time = time for consideration ? Abbott, 294, 374, shows how such indefinite and apparently
not passive use (of passive participles like " considered ") arose. — 82.
Answer, etc. Is the order of words right in this line ? — 83. well-took.
Shakespeare also uses taken and ta'en. I. ii. 14; I. iii. 106.—84. feast.
The king's intemperance is never suffered to be forgotten [Johnson] ?
— 86. ex postulate = discuss fully [ClarR and Wright] V reason earnestly
[Skeat] ? show by discussion, to put the pros and cons, to answer demands upon the question [Caldecott] ? " Shakespeare also uses the word
in its modern and legitimate sense." Clark and Wright. Probably from
Lat. postuldre, to ask, fr. poscere. Ex- as prefix signifies out, out-and-out,
thoroughly, earnestly. — 90. w i t = knowledge [Clark and Wright] ? understanding [Johnson] ? wisdom [Staunton] ? common sense, as is often
the case in Shakespeare ? Note the beauty of the proverb; but does the
next line help i t ? —91. flourishes. Dissyllable? or is the line an
Alexandrine ? —93, 94. " Murder is when a man is murderously killed;
the killing in such a case constitutes murder." Western judge charging
a jury. — 93. Mad call I it, etc. The use of language like that of Polonius would not, in Shakespeare's euphuistic days, argue that complete
folly which it would at the present time [Moberly] ? — 95. more matter^ etc. = more matter with less mannerism [Rolfe, etc.] ? — less art =
a less stilted style ?. less rhetoric ? The queen uses " a r t " with refer-

78

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

Polonius. Madam, I swear I use no art at all
That he is mad, 't is true ; ' t is true ' t is pity,
And pity ' t is 't is true : a foolish figure ;
But farewell it, for I will use no art.
100
Mad let us grant him, then ; and now remains
That we find out the cause of this effect,
Or rather say, the cause of this defect,
For this effect defective comes by cause:
Thus it remains, and the remainder thus.
Perpend.
105
I h ave a daughter — have while she is mine —
Who, in her duty and obedience, mark,
Hath given me this ; now gather, and surmise.
[Reads] ' To the celestial and my soul's idol, the most beautified Ophelia,9—
no
T h a t ' s an ill phrase, a vile phrase; 'beautified' is a vile
phrase : but you shall hear. Thus :
[Reads] ' In her excellent white bosom, these, etc.9
Queen. Came this from Hamlet to her?
Polonius. Good madam, stay awhile ; I will be faithful. 115
[Reads]
' Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
ii9
6
0 dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers.
I have not art

enc 3 to Polonius' stilted style; the latter uses it as opposed to truth and
nature [Delius]? —100. remains. It remains? or there remains? Abbott, 404.—105. Perpend. Lat. perpend&re, to weigh carefully, ponder.
A word used only by Pistol, Polonius, and the clowns [Schmidt] ? May
we suppose that a long pause ensues to fill out this line ? Is Polonius
hesitating from embarrassment"? —110. beautified is a vile phrase.
Do you agree with Polonius? Is the word a mongrel or hybrid of
French and Latin? The Elizabethans were not " s o particular " about
hybrids as we. Abbott, 428. Does the word indicate that her beauty is
the work of art? Is it, as Johnson says, " a vile phrase for the ambiguity of its meaning " ? I t is a verb in Tivo Gentlemen of Verona, IV. i.
55.-—113. in = into ? Like in when we say " fell in love " ? V. ii. 70.
So in Two Gentlemen of Verona, I I I . i. 249, 250. Abbott, 159. — bosom.
Steevens says, " Women anciently had a pocket " there for love-letters,
money, etc. Is Hamlet more poetic than that ? Storffrich thinks Polonius adroitly interpolates the words, " I n her excellent white bosom,
these " ! —these. The word these was usually added at the end of the
superscription of letters [Hudson] ? —116. Doubt = be doubtful about
[Meiklejohn] ? have a misgiving, have a half belief [Clarke] ? suspect, as
in I. ii. 256 [Clark and Wright] ? —119. doubt = disbelieve ? Is it necessary thus to give two meanings to doubt t —120. numbers. Is a play

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

79

to reckon my groans; but that I love thee best, 0 most best,
believe it.
Adieu.
' Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this
machine is to him, HAMLET.'
T h i s in obedience h a t h m y d a u g h t e r s h o w n m e ,
125
A n d m o r e a b o v e , h a t h his solicitings,
A s t h e y fell o u t b y t i m e , b y m e a n s , a n d p l a c e ,
A l l given t o mine e a r .
King.
B u t how h a t h s h e
R e c e i v ' d his love?
Polonius.
W h a t d o you t h i n k of m e ?
King. A s of a m a n faithful a n d h o n o r a b l e .
130
Polonius.
I would fain prove s o . B u t w h a t m i g h t y o u
think,
When I had seen this hot love on the wing —
As I perceiv'd it, I must tell you that,
Before my daughter told me — what might you,
Or my dear majesty your queen here, think,
135
If I had play'd the desk or table-book,
Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,
Or look'd upon this love with idle s i g h t ;
What might you think ? No, I went round to work,
And my young mistress thus I did bespeak :
140
' Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star ;
This must not be : ' and then I precepts gave her,
on this word implied in the next line ? — 121. reckon = count, number
[Schmidt] ? express in verse, to number metrically [Delius] V — most
best lady ? or love thee most best ? —124. machine = body ? Not
elsewhere used by Shakespeare. " Hamlet's letter is written in the
affected language of euphuism [Clark and Wright] ? Euphuism, V. ii.
90, et seq. —126. more above = moreover ? besides ? See line 2. — hath
= she h a t h ? —127. by = with [Abbott, 145]? —133. I perceived, etc,
"There is muoh s humor in the old man's inveterate foible for omniscience." Moberly. Is Polonius consciously lying ?—136. played, etc. =
just minuted the matter down in my own mind [Moberly] ? been the
agent of their correspondence, their confidant [Warburton, etc.] ? noted
it down in my tables or memorandum-book, and let it go no further
[Meiklejohn] ? " A desk or table-book does not prate of what it contains." Hudson. — 137. -winking = hint ? connivance? For winking
the quartos read working. Admissible? —138. idle = indifferent ? —
139. round = squarely ? downright ? directly, without ceremony ? The
reverse of its literal meaning, i.e., without circuity [Caldecott] ? Abbott,
60. — 140. bespeak. See note on beshrew, II. i. 113.—.141. star = destiny [Hudson, Collier]? sphere [White]? influence of the star which
governs thy fortunes [Staunton] ? — out of t h y star = beyond the horoscope of your fortune [Moberly]? above thee in fortune [Schmidt]?
Twelfth Night, II. v. 156. —142« precepts. The quartos h&vQpreseiHpts.

80

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

That she should lock herself from his resort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.
Which done, she took the fruits of my advice ;
145
And he, repulsed — a short tale to make —
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
Thence to a lightness, and by this declension
Into-the madness wherein now he raves,
150
And all we mourn for.
King.
Do you think 't is this?
Queen. It may be, very likely.
Polonius. Hath there been such a time — I ' d fain know
that —
That I have positively said ' ' T is s o /
When it prov'd otherwise?
King.
Not that I know.
155
Polonius. [Pointing to his head and shoulder^ Take this
from this, if this be otherwise.
It circumstances lead me, I will find
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the centre.
King.
How may we try it further?
Polonius. You know, sometimes he walks four hours together
160
Here in the lobby.
Queen.
So he does indeed.
Polonius, At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him :
Equally good ? —145. took the fruits of = profited by [Schmidt] ? She
took the fruits of my advice when she obeyed advice; the advice was
then made fruitful [Johnson]? —148. w a t c h = a sleepless state [Caldecott] ? insomnia? Scan. Abbott, 481, et seq. —149. lightness = lightheadedness ? — declension. How much of this account by Polonius is
true ? In wrhat does the humor of the passage consist ? —151. all w e .
" A feeling of the unemphatic nature of the nominatives we and they
prevents us from saying ' all we.' " Abbott, 240. See Mark xii. 44: " All
they did cast in of their abundance, —for. Supply the object implied
in uherein. — 151. 't is this. The quartos followed by Pope and others
omit yt is. Well? —159. c e n t r e = the middle of the palm of the hand
[Tschischwitz] ? the earth, the centre of the solar system, or of the Ptolemaic universe [Hudson, Clark, and Wright] ? the centre of the earth
[Rol fe] ? Shakespeare, like Bacon, held to the Ptolemaic system ? See
Midsummer Night's Dream, III. ii. 54. —160. four hours together was
a common expression. Four, forty, and forty thousand (as in V. i. 259)
were oft-repeated colloquialisms. Any real inconsistency between these
lines and line II. ii. 292 ? —162. loose. I n what way had she been tied ?

SCENE I I . ]

81

HAMLET.

Be you and I behind an arras then ;
Mark the encounter : if he love her not,
And be not from his reason falPn thereon,
165
Let me be no assistant for a state,
But keep a farm and carters.
King.
We will try it.
Queen. But, look, where sadly the poor wretch comes
reading.
Polonius. Away, I do beseech you, both away ;
I'll board him presently. —
[Exeunt KING, QUEEN, and Attendants.
Enter HAMLET,

reading.

O, give me leave ;
170
How does my good Lord Hamlet ?
Hamlet. Well, God-a-mercy.
Polonius. Do you know me, my lord?
Hamlet. Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.
Polonius. Not I , my lord.
175
Hamlet. Then I would you were so honest a man.
Polonius. Honest, my lord !
Hamlet. Ay, s i r ; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be
one man picked out of ten thousand.
Polonius. T h a t 's very true, my lord.
180
Hamlet. For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion, — H a v e you a daughter?
Polonius. I have, my lord.
Is the metaphor like that in I. iii. 125 ? —163. arras = tapestry hangings. So called from the place of manufacture, Arras, in the North of
France ? So bayonet, pistol, muslin, damask, currant, parchment, cordwainer, etc., from the places noted for their production. —168. wretch
was the stongest term of endearment in the language, says Hudson.
Othello's words illustrate it: "excellent wretch, perdition catch my
soul, but I do love thee." Othello, III. iii. 90.—170. board = accost?
address? Metaphor from w h a t ? — presently = immediately. This is
its usual meaning in Shakespeare. See line 578 in this scene.—give
m e leave. To whom does Polonius say this ? — Merchant of Venice, I. i.
183. —172. a-mercy = have mercy ? or of mercy ? See IV. v. 179. —174.
a fishmonger = a dealer in staleness [Weiss]'? you deal in wares that
will not bear the sun [Moberly] ? an angler as well as a dealer in fish.
Hamlet probably thinks that Polonius has come to fish out his secret
[Coleridge, Hudson, etc.] ? Is this metaphorical meaning probable ? —
182. good-kissing = good for kissing [Corson, Caldecott, Hudson, etc.] ?
We would like to read with Warburton, Wright, etc., god, kissing. But
the uniform text of the old editions makes very good sense, and what
right have we to improve upon it ? See Furness. — Are we to regard lines

82

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

Hamlet, Let her not walk i' the sun : conception is a blessing ; but not as your daughter may conceive. —Friend, look
toSt.
186
Polonius. [Aside] How say you by that ? Still harping on
my daughter: yet he knew me not at first; he said I was a
fishmonger ; he is far gone, far gone : and truly in my youth
I suffered much extremity for love ; very near this. I '11
speak to him again. — W h a t do you read, my lord?
191
Hamlet. Words, words, words.
Polonius. What is the matter, my lord ?
Hamlet. Between who?
Polonius. I mean, the matter that you read, my lord. 105
Hamlet. Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here
that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled,
their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that
they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak
hams: all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently
believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set clown ;
for you yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab you
could go backward.
203
Polonius. \_Aside~] Though this be madness, yet there is
method in 't. —Will you walk out of the air, my lord?
205
Hamlet. Into my grave ? .
Polonius. Indeed, that is out o' the air. — [_Aside~] How
pregnant sometimes his replies are ! a happiness that often
181. 182, as a part of the text that Hamlet is reading ? —184. conception
= understanding [Moberly] ? Corson interprets it literally. —187. say
you = mean you [Hudson] ? — by that = about that [Abbott, 145] ? Merchant of Venice, I. ii. 46; 1 Cor. iv. 4. —193. matter = subject matter?
Hamlet purposely misunderstands ? —194. w h o for whom, as often in
Shakespeare. Abbott, 274. —196. satirical rogue. Warburton and
Moberly see a reference to Juvenal, Satire X., 188. The folios have
slave in place of rogue. Any better? —198. purging = discharging?
Lat. purgave, purigare, to make pure; fr. purus, pure, arid ?(/weakened
form of root ag, in aggrv, to do, make, cause. Skeat. —199. plentiful
lack. Shakespearian use of opposed words? —201. honesty = Lat. honestas, honorableness, honor, right, an honorable act ? — 202. should and
ivovld were not carefully differentiated. Abbott, 322. So III. ii. 283. —
you yourself, etc. = you yourself, sir, should be young as I am, if,
etc. [Corson] ? Instead of saying, " I shall some time be as old as you
are now," Hamlet inverts the statement? If so, why? — 204. method
in madness has become proverbial. What of Shakespeare's wisdom as
evinced by the multitude of proverbs he originates? — 208. pregnant
=f ull of meaning or of pertinency [Hudson] V ready, dexterous, apt
[Steevens] ? ingenious, full of art or intelligence [Nares] ? big with '
meaning [Caldecott] ? I I I . ii. 56. Lat. prae, before, and gnare, obsolete, to bear; whence gnatus, or, as usually spelled, natus, born; prce-

83

HAMLET.

SCENE I I . ]

madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I will leave him, and suddenly
contrive the means of meeting between him and my daughter. — My honorable lord, I will most humbly take my leave
of you.
Hamlet. You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I
will more willingly part withal; except my life, except my
life, except my life.
216
Polonius. Fare you well, my lord. •
Hamlet. These tedious old fools !
Enter

Polonius.

ROSENCRANTZ and

GUILDENSTERN.

You go to seek the Lord Hamlet; there he is.

Rosencrantz.

\_To POLONIUS] God save you, sir!
220
[Exit POLONIUS.

Guildenstern. My honored lord !
Rosencrantz. My most dear lord !
Hamlet. My excellent good friends!
How dost thou,
Guildenstern ? — Ah, Rosencrantz ! Good lads, how do ye
both?
225
Rosencrantz. As the indifferent children of the earth.
Guildenstern. Happy, in that we are not over-happy ;
On Fortune's cap we are not the very button.
Hamlet. Nor the soles of her shoe ?
Rosencrantz. Neither, my lord.
230
Hamlet. Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of
her favours ? What \s the news ?
Rosencrantz. None, my lord, but that the world ' s grown
honest.
234
Hamlet. Then is doomsday n e a r ; but your news is not
true. Let me question more in particular; what have you,
my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune, that she
sends you to prison hither?
Guildenstern. Prison, my lord !
Hamlet. Denmark ' s a prison.
240
gnans, before a birth. Skeat.—215. w i t h a l ; emphatic for with, at the
end of a sentence ? The object is usually a relative pronoun. I. iii. 28.
Abbott, 196. — 215, 216. Significance of this repetition ? its pathos ? object
of Hamlet in it ? effect on our sympathy, which might have sided with
Polonius ? —223. friends. Does Hamlet mean to emphasize this word,
and intimate that he prefers it to lord? I . ii. 163, 254. —226. indifferent = middling, tolerably well off [Hudson, Capell, etc.] ? —233, 234.
grown honest. Do they come to cheer him ? to induce him to acquiesce in the status of affairs ? —236-265. Let m e . . . attended. Not in

84

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

Rosencrantz.
T h e n is t h e world o n e .
Hamlet.
A goodly one ; in which t h e r e a r e m a n y confines,
w a r d s , a n d d u n g e o n s , D e n m a r k being one o ' t h e w o r s t .
Rosencrantz.
W e t h i n k n o t so, m y lord.
244
Hamlet.
W h y , t h e n ' t is n o n e to you ; for t h e r e is n o t h i n g
either g o o d or b a d , b u t t h i n k i n g m a k e s it s o : t o m e it is a
prison.
Rosencrantz.
W h y , t h e n y o u r a m b i t i o n m a k e s it one ; ' t is
t o o n a r r o w for y o u r m i n d .
249
Hamlet.
O G o d , I could be b o u n d e d in a nut-shell, a n d
c o u n t myself a k i n g of infinite s p a c e , were it n o t t h a t I h a v e
bad dreams.
Guildenstern.
W h i c h d r e a m s i n d e e d a r e a m b i t i o n , for t h e
v e r y s u b s t a n c e of t h e a m b i t i o u s is merely t h e s h a d o w of a
dream.
255
Hamlet.
A d r e a m itself is but a s h a d o w .
Rosencrantz.
T r u l y , a n d I hold a m b i t i o n of so airy a n d

light a quality that it is but a shadow's shadow.
Hamlet. Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs
and outstretched heroes the beggars' shadows. Shall we to
the court? for, by my fay, I cannot reason.
2G1
Rosencrantz. ) ™r m
•*.
,-y .7 •.

.

> We

11 wait u p o n y o u .

r
J
(ruilaenstern. j
Hamlet. No such matter: I will not sort you with the rest
of my servants; for, to speak to you like an honest man, I

the quartos. Was it worth inserting? — 242. confines = places of confinement? See I. i. 155. Lat. conftnis, bordering on; con, together,
finis, a boundary. — 246. thinking, etc. A great truth ? See Milton's
" The mind is its own place," etc., Paradise Lost, I. 254, 255. Moberly
quotes Lovelace's pretty lines, "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor
iron bars a cage," etc.—254. substance of = object aimed at b y ? component material ? —259. Then are our beggars, etc. = If ambition is
the shadow of pomp, and pomp the shadow of a man, then the only
true; substantial men are beggars, who are stript of all pomp and ail
ambition [Moberly] ? Substance and shadow are antithetic and correlative terms, and Hamlet assumes beggar and king to be so too. As a
shadow must be cast by some substance, so our beggars are the substances antithetic and correlative to the shadows cast by them. All
whiah infers that our kings and heroes are but the shadows of our beggars [Hudson] ? Assume as a postulate that ambition is but a shadow;
then kings, being ambition incarnate, are but shadows: beggars, being
the antithesis of kings, must be solid, substantial, i.e., bodies: shadows
belong to substances; and so monarchs and heroes are beggars' shadows. Hamlet half mystifies himself, and says he cannot reason; therefore he'll go where they don't reason, but eat, dress, and dance ? — outstretched = strained, exaggerated? gigantic, like shadows? strutting
stage heroes [DeliusJ ? — 261. fay. Abbreviation of faith; or a corruption of Fr. foi [Clark and Wright] ? diminutive of faith [Hudson] ? Lat.

SCENE II.]

HAMLET.

85

am most dreadfully attended. But, in the beaten way of
friendship, what make you at Elsinore ?
266
Rosencrantz. To visit you, my lord ; no other occasion.
Hamlet. Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks ; but
I thank you: and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear
a halfpenny. Were you not sent for ? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come, deal justly with me :
come, come ; nay, speak.
272
Guildenstern. What should we say, my lord?
Hamlet. Why, any thing, but to the purpose. You were
sent for; and there is a kind of confession in your looks
which your modesties have not craft enough to color. I
know the good king and queen have sent for you.
Rosencrantz. To what end, my lord ?
Hamlet. That you must teach me. But let me conjure
you, by the rights of our fellowship, by the consonancy of our
youth, by the obligation of our ever-preserved love, and by
what more dear a better proposer could charge you withal,
be even and direct with me, whether you were sent for, or
no?
Rosencrantz.

[Aside to GUILDENSTERN] W h a t say you? 285

Hamlet. [Aside'] Nay, then I have an eye of you. — I f you
love me, hold not off.
Guildenstern. My lord, we were sent for.
Hamlet. I will tell you why ; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king and queen
moult no feather. I have of late — but wherefore I know not
fides, faith; Old Fr. fei; Early Eng. fey : th was added (making faith)
to make it analogous with truth, ruth, health, etc. Skeat. — 265. attended, etc. By bad dreams [Hudson] ? By miserable thoughts [Moberly] ? My retinue, my service, is detestable [Delius] ? watched by
spies? —beaten = familiar, unceremonious ? old, usually trod? plain,
open? —266. make. See I. ii. 164. — 269. too dear a halfpenny. This
use of a occurs twice in Chaucer; as, " dere y-nough a jane " (a jane being
a coin of Genoa) in the Clerk's Tale of Patient Gris'elda. Why are his
thanks £oo dear? IsTo need of changing a to at? — 271. visitation. Is
there a difference in meaning between this and visit? — 274. but = only
[Staunton] ? only let it be (spoken in sarcasm) [Clark] ? —276. modesties. See loves, I. i. 173; wisdoms, I. ii. 15.—color = conceal, disguise
[Hudson] ? —280. consonancy = harmony? Lat. con, with; sonare, to
sound; consonans, sounding together with. —youth. See line 11. —282.
proposer = speaker, advocate ? —283. even = plain, honest, straightforward? A. S. efen; akin to Dutch even; equal, level.— 286. of =
upon, after [Caldecott] ?— eye of you = glimpse of your meaning
[Steevens]? II. ii. 27. Abbott, 174,175. — 289. p r e v e n t s precede, come
before? Lat. prce, before; venire, to come. — discovery = disclosure ?
Abbott, 439. — 291. moult = shed ? Lat. mutare, to change; Fr. muer, to

86

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

— lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises ; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly
frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this
most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, —•
why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.
What a piece of work is a
man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty ! in form
and moving how express and admirable ! in action how like
an angel! in apprehension how like a god ! the beauty of the
world ! the paragon of animals ! And yet, to me, what is
this quintessence of dust? man delights not m e ; no, nor
woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say
so.
305
Rosencrantz. My lord, there was no such stuff in my
thoughts.
Hamlet. Why did you laugh then, when I said ' man delights not m e ' ?
Rosencrantz. To think, my lord, if you delight not in man,
what lenten entertainment the players shall receive from you ;
moult. — 292. exercises, etc. Is he telling the truth? See II. ii. 159;
V. ii. 200. —294. promontory. Thrust out into the dread ocean of the
unknown [Moberly] ? A promontory in the ocean of infinite space ? in
the ocean of eternity V — 295. brave = beautiful, grand? Gaelic breagh,
fine; Swed. 6m, good; Scotch braw ; Fr. brave, fine. — 296. firmament.
The folios omit the word. Is it indispensable ? —fretted = embossed ?
variegated? adorned? A. S. fraetwian, to adorn? or A. S. fretan, to
eat away ? Fret in architecture is defined as " an ornament consisting of
small fillets intersecting each other at right angles." See illustration in
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary; Cymbeline, I I . iv. 88; Paradise Lost,
I. 717.—298. congregation. Lat. congregare, to assemble; con, together; grex, a flock. The commentators here quote the beautiful 33d
sonnet of Shakespeare.—a m a n . So the folios and quartos. Most
editors omit this a; wisely?—299. faculty. The quartos read faculties. Prefer. — 300. express = expressive [Schmidt]? exact, fitted to
its purpose [Clark and Wright] ? See in Hebrews i. 3.— 302. paragon
= model of excellence ? peerless one ? perfection ? flower ? Span.
pa>-a, in comparison, con, with; from Lat. pro, forth, before; ad, to;
and cum, with. This description is well worth memorizing. — 303.
quintessence. Lat. quinta, fifth, essentia, essence. In alchemy the
four elements were earth, air, fire, and water. To these they added
a :ifth, aether, highest and subtlest of all. — Mther or ether is from
Greek aiOeiv, aithein, to burn, glow, and was perhaps something like
light, heat, or electricity? — 304. smiling. What did Rosencrantz really
smile a t ? Does he tell the truth in line 306? — 311. lenten = meagre,
poor, sparing ? appropriate to the forty days' fast beginning with Ash
Wednesday? A. S. lenten, the spring. Supposed to"be derived from
A. S., Dutch, and Ger. lang, long, because in spring the days lengthen;
this is possible, but not certain. . . The suffix -en is not adjectival.

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

87

we coted them on the way, and hither are they coming to
offer you service.
313
Hamlet. He that plays the king shall be welcome; his
majesty shall have tribute of me ; the adventurous knight
shall use his foil and t a r g e t ; the lover shall not sigh gratis ;
the humorous man shall end his part in peace ; the clown
shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o' the sere;
and the lady shall say her mind freely, or the blank verse
shall halt for 't. What players are they?
Rosencrantz. Even those you were wont to take delight in,
the tragedians of the city.
322
Hamlet, How chances it they travel? their residence, both
in reputation and profit, was better both ways.
Rosencrantz. I think their inhibition comes by the means
of the late innovation.
326
Skeat. — 312. coted = overtook [Steevens, etc.] ? passed by, outstripped
[Rolfe, etc.] ? pressed them side by side, like greyhounds coursing a
hare [Moberly] ? Rosen, and Guilden. overtook and passed the players,
and came first to the palace ? Probably from Lat. costa, rib; whence
Fr. cote, side; cotoyer, to go by the side of, coast along? — 316. humorous = fretful, capricious, crotchety? " N o t the funny man, or jester,"
says Staunton. See note on I I . ii. 12. — 318. tickle o' the sere = tickled
not by his jokes, but by a dry cough [White]? — " Lombard (1596) . . .
says, Even as a pistole that is ready charged and bent will flie off byand-by [i.e., instantly], if a man do but touch the seare." Quoted by
Furness from Nicholson in Notes and Queries, July, 1871. Sere is a bar
or balance lever, a sort of pawl, stop-catch, or ratchet. Tickle is ticklish, delicate, sensitive to the touch. — From tick, akin to take, but weaker in sound and meaning. (Little things are appropriately expressed by
corresponding little sounds?) In old match-lock muskets the sear and
trigger were in one piece. Tickle o' the se?"e = like a hair-trigger, exploding into laughter at the slightest provocation ? This is one of many
passages showing Shakespeare's minute military knowledge ? Was he
ever a soldier? Fr. serrer, to grasp, press, lock; serre, claw, talon of
birds (from its grip ?); hence sear, the catch in a gun-lock by which it is
held cocked or half-cocked. — 319. lady, etc. = The lady shall mar the
measure of the verse, rather than not express herself freely or fully
[Henderson]? If the lady, through affectation or delicacy, should
suppress any thing, her omission will be detected in the lameness of
the metre [Seymour]? — 323. residence = remaining in the city? —325,
326. inhibition . . . innovation. Johnson would transpose these two
words, and interpret innovation as new practice of strolling. Hudson
adopts the suggestion, and says of inhibition, " Referring, no doubt, to
an order of the Privy Council issued in June, 1600. By this order the
players were inhibited from acting in or near the city during the season
of Lent, . . . and hence 'chances it they travel,' or stroll into the
country." Dowden says, "Does Rosencrantz allude to the Order in
Council of June, 1600, limiting the number of playhouses to two ? . . .
Or shall we understand the ' innovation' as referring to the license
given January, .1603-1604, to the children of the Queen's Revels to play
at the Blackfriars' Theatre, — a building belonging to the company of
which Shakespeare was a member? The license to the children ! . .

88

HAMLET.

[ACT I I .

Hamlet. Do they hold the same estimation they did when
I was in the city? are they so followed?
Rosencrantz. No, indeed, are they not.
Hamlet. How comes it? do they grow rusty?
330
Rosencrantz.
Nay, their endeavor keeps in the wonted
pace ; but there is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases, that
cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically
clapped for ' t : these are now the fashion, and so berattle
the common stages — so they call them — that many wearing
rapiers are afraid of goose-quills, and dare scarce come
thither.
337
Hamlet. What, are they children? who maintains 'em?
how are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no
would act as an inhibition to the company of adult actors whose place
they occupied." See Furness. — Inhibition, from Lat. inhibere, to have
in hand, to check ; in, in; and habere, to have. —332. aery = a brood of
nestlings (literally, an eagle's or a hawk's nest) [Rolfe, etc.] ? Icel. ari,
an eagle; probably from root AE, to raise one's self. Gr. bpvv;, a bird;
Lat. oriri, to rise. " When fairly imported into English, the word was
ingeniously connected with Middle-English ey, an egg, as if the word
meant an egg-ery: hence it came to be'spelt eyrie or eyry, and to be
misinterpreted accordingly." Skeat. — eyases = unfledged hawks, nestlings ? The performance of these young eyases was the innovation
alluded to [White] ? " From the Fr." niais, which Cotgrave explains as
' nestling.' The initial h is dropped by mistake." Clark and Wright.—
333. top of question = top of their voices [Steevens, Rolfe, etc.]? in a
high key [Clark and Wright]? very height of conversation [Elze] ? —
cry out, etc. = crow over, or challenge all comers to a contention [Staunton] ? T o cry in the top = to assume superiority [White] ? — Cry out
on the top of question = exclaim against those who are at the top of
their profession [Hudson]? As "question "sometimes meant torture,
Wellesley interprets thus: cry out as one might do on the rack. See
Furness. Moberly thus paraphrases: " W h a t brings down the professional actors is the competition of a nest of young hawks (the boys of
the Chapel Royal, etc.), who carry on the whole dialogue without modulation, at the top of their voices, get absurdly applauded for it, and
make such a noise on the common stage that true dramatists, whose wit
is as strong and keen as a rapier, are afraid to encounter these chits, who
fight, as it were, with a goose-quill." — tyrannically = vehemently, vociferously, extravagantly [Rolfe, etc.] ? So as to put down all adverse
opinions? — 334. berattle = berate, squib [Hudson, who quotes an interesting paraphrase of the passage from Mr. Joseph Crosby] ? — 335.
common stages = public theatres ?— many wearing = many grownup men wearing [Crosby] ? — 336. goose-quills = the penny-a-liners
[who write] for the boys [Joseph Crosby, approved by Hudson] ? those
little eyases [Meiklejohn]? — 337. thither = to the playhouse [Hudson
ana Crosby]? — 339. escoted = paid [Dyce, Hudson, etc.]? paid for
[Clark and Wright] ? A. S. sceotan, to shoot; scot, stem of past participle of sceotan. The literal sense is " contribution," that which is " s h o t "
into the general fund. Skeat. The word not found elsewhere in Shakespeare. The phrase scot-free = free from payment, or " scot." — quality
= profession ? So Chettle (1592) sajrs of Shakespeare, '*' Myself have seen
his demeanor, no less civil than he is excellent in the quality he pro-

SCENE II.]

HAMLET.

89

l o n g e r t h a n t h e y can s i n g ? will t h e y n o t s a y a f t e r w a r d s , if
t h e y should g r o w t h e m s e l v e s t o c o m m o n p l a y e r s — as it is m o s t
like, if their m e a n s a r e n o b e t t e r — t h e i r w r i t e r s d o t h e m
w r o n g t o m a k e t h e m exclaim a g a i n s t their o w n succession ?
Bosencrantz.
F a i t h , t h e r e h a s been m u c h to-do on b o t h
s i d e s , a n d t h e n a t i o n holds it n o sin t o t a r r e t h e m to controv e r s y ; t h e r e w a s for a while n o m o n e y bid for a r g u m e n t ,
u n l e s s t h e p o e t a n d t h e p l a y e r w e n t to cuffs in t h e q u e s t i o n .
Hamlet.
I s ' t possible?
Guildenstem.
O , t h e r e h a s b e e n m u c h t h r o w i n g a b o u t of
brains.
350
Hamlet.
D o t h e b o y s c a r r y it a w a y ?
Bosencrantz.
A y , t h a t t h e y d o , m y lord ; H e r c u l e s a n d his
load too.
Hamlet.
I t is n o t v e r y s t r a n g e ; for m i n e uncle is k i n g of
fesses." Gifford says that the word " quality," rn the old writers, seems
particularly applied to the calling of the actor. See line 418. — 340. can
sing. When their boy-voices change, they cannot sing. — 341. common
= strolling [Staunton] ? of the usual sort? — 343. exclaim a g a i n s t , etc.
= r u n down the profession to which they are themselves to succeed
[Hudson]? exclaim against what they are themselves to be ?— succession = futurity [Schmidt] ? future (as substantive) ? Mr. Joseph Crosby
suggests that a contest was waging between those who wrote parts for
the boy-players, and those who wrote for " t h e common stages." — 344.
to-do = ado [Schmidt, etc.] ? Middle English (i. e., about A.D. 1200 to
1500) at do (meaning to do) was shortened in course of time to ado, in
one word, and regarded as a substantive. In Icelandic and other Scandinavian tongues, the sign of the infinitive is at. Skeat. — 345. tarre =
set on (to fight); used literally of dogs in Shakespeare's King John, IV.
i. 117, and Troihis and Cressida,!. iii. 392. Grant White makes it from
A. S. tyrian, to excite or incite, and suspects that the word terrier is akin
to it. Ben Jonson says that the letter r is " t h e dog's letter, and hurreth
[snarleth] in the sound," and perhaps the word originated in imitation
of the sound of a dog snarling. Wedgwood. — 346. argument = plot of
the play [Delius, etc.] ? Subject-matter or plot of the play, and so the
play itself [Hudson]? Lat. arguere, to make clear; argumentum, the
matter which lies at the basis of a composition, the theme, abstract of
the subject-matter. Boot AKG, to shine. See I I I . ii. 215 ; Henry IV., II.
iv. 260.—unless, etc. = unless the dialogue (the "question") is well
seasoned with warfare, "cuffs" [Delius]? unless both the " e y a s e s "
and the "goose-quills" (that is, the boy-actors and their writers) in
their dialogue, went to abusing or berating the authors and actors of
the "common stages" [Hudson]? "See I I I . ii. 35 to 41, where the
same (sic) contest between actor and dramatist is spoken of." Moberly.
— 349, 350. throwing, etc. = bandying of wit, or pelting each other with
words [Hudson] ? sharp and nice discussion [Caldecott] ? —351. carry
it a w a y = carry off the palm [Wright, Rolfe, etc.] ? carry all the world
before them [Hudson] ? —352. Hercules, etc. Probable allusion to
the Globe Theatre, " t h e sign* of which was Hercules carrying the
globe"? — 354. not very strange, etc. " I do not wonder that the
new players have so suddenly risen in reputation : my uncle supplies
another example of the facility with which honor is conferred on new

90

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

Denmark, and those that would make mows at him while my
father lived give twenty, forty, fifty, an hundred ducats
apiece for his picture in little. 'Sblood, there is something
in this more than natural, if philosophy could find it out.
[Flourish of trumpets within.
Guildenstern. There are the players.
359
Hamlet. Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your
hands, come; the appurtenance of welcome is fashion. and
ceremony : let me comply with you in this garb, lest my extent to the players, which, I tell you, must show fairly outward, should more appear like entertainment than yours.
You are welcome ; but my uncle-father and aunt-mother are
deceived.
366
Guildenstern. I n what, my dear lord?
Hamlet. I am but mad north-north-west; when the wind
is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.
claimants." Johnson. Is Johnson's explanation sufficient ? — 355. m o w s
= grimaces ? mouths? Old Dutch mouwe, the protruded under-lip,
allied to mock; from imitative root mu, to make a muttered sound.
Skeat. Tempest, IV. i. 47 ; I I . ii. 9.—356. ducats. The silver ducat
was about one dollar; the gold, two. — 357. in little = in miniature
[Steevens, etc.] ? Does he allude to such pictures worn by Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern ?—'Sblood = God's blood ; i. e., the biood of Christ.
One of the modes of swearing by the eucharist. The word is omitted
in -;he folio ; why ? See note on I I . i. 76. See I I . i. 50 ; ii. 514; I I I . ii.
345. In Romeo and Juliet, I I I . v. 175, it is " God's bread." — 361. appurtenance = proper accompaniment [Clark and Wright, etc.] ? From
appertain; Fr. appartenir; Lat. pertinere, to pertain ; per, through,
thoroughly ; and tenere, to hold. — 362. comply w i t h = he formally civil
or polite to, or to compliment [Hudson] ? embrace [Singer] ? compliment
[White, Steevens, etc.] ? fraternize or conjoin with [Staunton] ? comply w i t h you in this fashion = use ceremony with you in this fashion
[Clark and Wright] ? So V, ii. 179 ? Shall we pronounce it com-ply' or
com'plp ? Comply is really a doublet of complete. Lat. complere, to fill up,
satisfy ; Ital. complire, to fulfil; also, to use compliments, ceremonies,
or kind offices and offers. Skeat. — extent = behavior, deportment
[Schmidt]? extension of courtesy and civility [Hudson] V degree of
courtesy dealt out [Caldecott] ? condescension [Clark and Wright] ?
elaborate kindliness [Meiklejohn] ? I t appears to mean conduct
in Tivelfth Night, IV. i. 53, " T h i s uncivil and unjust extent."—368. north-north-west, etc. A wild hawk or heron, frightened by
a falconer or his dog, flies with the wind, not against it. About
half-past ten A.M., a likely time for hawking, the bird, if the wind were
north-north-west, would fly towards the sun, which would blind
the fowler's eye. But if the wind were southerly, the bird would fly
north, and the falconer, with undazzled vision, could easily distinguish
a hawk from another fowl. J. C. Heath, Cambridge, Eng. Interpretation sufficient ? Meaning, stripped of metaphor ? Francke, quoted by
Furness (Var. Edition), gives the following explanation, which amuses
Rolfe : "Great, powerful tempests in the moral world, apparitions
from the mysterious Hereafter, can make me mad, . . . but such people
as you are . . . I have yet wit enough to elude," —369. handsaw.

SCENE II.]

HAMLET,
Enter

91

POLONIUS.

Polonius.
W e l l b e with you, g e n t l e m e n !
370
Hamlet.
H a r k you, G u i l d e n s t e r n ; — a n d you too ; — a t
e a c h ear a h e a r e r : t h a t g r e a t b a b y you see t h e r e is n o t y e t
out of his s w a d d l i n g - c l o u t s .
Rosenerantz.
H a p p i l y he ' s t h e s e c o n d t i m e come to t h e m ;
for t h e y s a y an old m a n is twice a child.
375
Hamlet.
I will p r o p h e s y he comes to tell m e of t h e p l a y e r s ;
m a r k i t . — Y o u s a y r i g h t , s i r : o' M o n d a y m o r n i n g ; t w a s
so i n d e e d .
Polonius.
M y lord, I h a v e n e w s t o tell y o u .
Hamlet.
M y lord, I h a v e n e w s to tell y o u . W h e n E o s c i u s
was a n a c t o r in R o m e , —
381
Polonius.
T h e a c t o r s a r e come h i t h e r , m y lord.
Hamlet.
Buz, buz !
Polonius.
Upon mine honor, —
Hamlet.
T h e n c a m e each a c t o r on his a s s , —
385
Polonius.
T h e best a c t o r s in t h e world, either for t r a g e d y ,
c o m e d y , h i s t o r y , p a s t o r a l , p a s t o r a l - c o m i c a l , historical-past o r a l , tragical-historical, t r a g i c a l - c o m i c a l - h i s t o r i c a l - p a s t o r a l ,
scene individable, or p o e m unlimited : S e n e c a c a n n o t be too
Says Rolfe, " A writer in Notes and Queries, with evident ' fellow-feeling,' suggests arise?' " (Latin for goose) In place of handsav). Handschuh
(German for glove) has been suggested ! White says, " There was . . .
a hooked cutting tool called a hawk " ! Handsale in this passage is generally supposed to be a corruption of heronshaw (young heron), which is
itself a corruption of heronsew, a name still common in Lincolnshire and
Yorkshire. White remarks, that " I know a hawk from a handsaw," is
an alliterative folk-phrase, like " B from a bull's foot; " and he suspects
that, in popular use, the original meaning was lost. Likely ? &ee Furness.— 370. w e l l . Chaucer, in the Nun's Priest's Tale (line 16362), " H e
loved hir so that well was him therewith." A. S. wela, weal, welfare ;
from A. S. adverb wel, suitably to one's will; akin to Lat. vblo, Gr.
fiovk-ofjiai, I wish. — 373. s w a d d l i n g . The folios have swathing. Better? —
clouts. Irish and Gaelic, dud, a rag, patch, piece of cloth. —374. Happily = perhaps, haply? fortunately? See I. i. 134. Icel. happ = h&p,
chance, good luck ; A. S. gehaep, = fit. — Abbott, 42. — 377. You say right,
etc. Throwing dust in Polonius' eyes ? — 380. Roscius, the most celebrated comic actor of Rome, friend of Cicero, who greatly admired him.
Died B.C. 62.? Humor in this passage ? —383. B u z = mere idle talk
=
[Johnson] ? interjection, to interrupt Polonius [Steevens] ? interjection
at Oxford when one began a stale story [Blackstone] ? all a mere buzzing or rumor [Hudson] ? A directly imitative word in its origin ? See
V. i. 190. Moberly cites Macbeth, IV. iii. 175. —385. Then came, etc.
A quotation ? — on his ass. Supposed by some to be responsive to upon
my honor! as if Polonius were thoroughly asinine ? —389. individable
= observing the unity of place [Delius] ? undivided into scenes, and so
like Greek tragedy [Hudson] ? not to be distinguished by a particular
appellation, as tragedy, comedy, etc. [Schmidt and Rolfe] ? — unlim-

92

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the
liberty, these are the only men.
391
Hamlet. O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure
hadst thou?
Polonius. What a treasure had he, my lord?
Hamlet. Why,
4
One fair daughter, and no more,
395
The which he loved passing well.'
Polonius. [Aside~] Still on my daughter.
Hamlet. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah ?
Polonius. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a
daughter that I love passing well.
400
Hamlet. Nay, that follows not.
Polonius. What follows, then, my lord ?
Hamlet. Why,
' A s by lot, God wot,'
and then, you know,
4
I t came to pass, as most like it was,' —
the first row of the pious chanson will show you more ; for
look, where my abridgments come. —
408
ited = undefined [Schmidt and Rolfe] ? extemporized [Tschischwitz]?
unrestricted as to unity of place? undivided into scenes? The three
unities in the Greek drama were of action, time, and place; i.e., there
should be but one main plot, the time supposed should not exceed
twenty-four hours, and the place of the action should be one and the
same throughout the piece. Is the humorous characterization by Polonius a fair description of the mixed drama of Shakespeare? — Seneca
(who died by Nero's order A.D. 65) was famous as a tragic writer ; and
Plautus (who died B.C. 184) was equally noted for comedy. Their
plays were often acted at the English universities. — 390. l a w of writ,
etc. = adhering to the text, or extemporizing when need requires [Moberly, etc.]? observing dramatic rules while taking allowable liberties
[CaldecottJ ? The quarto of 1676 reads ivit for writ. More distinct or
more satisfactory ? — Corson prefers to put a period after liberty, and a
slight pause, or none, before for, referring laio and liberty respectively
to heavy and light, and, to bring out the meaning, changing the order
to the law and the liberty of writ, i. e. writing. " The meaning probably is," says White, " t h a t the players were good, whether at written
productions or at extemporal plays." — 392. Jephthah, ninth judge of
the Israelites, from 1256 to 1250 B.C. ? See Judges xi. 30-40 ; Tennyson's
Dream of Fair Women. Percy's Eeliques gives the song from which
Hamlet quotes. —394. a in this question by Polonius is thought by most
to be an interpolation. — 401. that follows = that conclusion follows?
or that language follows in the song? —406. I t came to pass. " A s ,
he had a daughter, of course he got into a scrape," is the inference suggested [Moberly] ? 407. row = line V stanza? — pious chanson = ballad
containing Scripture history [Steevens] ? See Furness for the reading
pious chanson, and comments thereon. Fr. chanson, song ; Lat. cantdre,
to sing, chant. —408. my abridgment (folios), abridgments (quartos),
= j)astime that makes me brief [Schmidt] ? players that by coming

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

93

Enter four or Jive Players.
You are welcome., masters; welcome, all. I am glad to see
ye well. Welcome, good friends. — O, my old friend! thy
face is valanced since I saw thee l a s t ; comest thou to beard
me in Denmark ? — What, my young lady and mistress!
By 'r lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven than when I saw
you last, by the altitude of a chopine. Pray God, your voice,
like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the
ring. — M a s t e r s , you are all welcome. W e '11 e'en to 't like
French falconers, fly at any thing we s e e ; we '11 have a
speech straight. Come, give us a taste of your quality;
come, a passionate speech;
1 Player. What speech, my lord?
420
Hamlet. I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was
never acted; or, if it was, not above once, for the play, I
shorten my talk [Rolfe, etc.] ? " A double sense. The players by entering abridge his talk. Technically, also, ' abridgment' means a dramatic performance." Clark and Wright. " By abridgment Shakespeare
may mean a dramatic performance, which crowds the events of years
into a few hours." Steevens. See line 509. Lat. abbreviate, to shorten.
Abbreviation is a doublet. Nothing to do with bridge ? — 411. valanced
= fringed ? " Valance, a fringe of drapery, now applied to a part of the
bed-hangings. . . . Probably named from Valens in France . . . where
silk is made even to this day." Skeat. I I . ii. 163. Lat. valentia = the
strong town ; valere, to be strong. The folios read valiant, which some
retain. — beard explains valanced ; and to beard is explained in line 558 ?
412. young lady. Female parts were acted by boys in Shakespeare's
time. So Cleopatra foresees herself represented by a boy on the stage,
" I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness." Antony and
Cleopatra, V. ii. 219, 220. The first woman player on the English stage
personated Desdemona in December, 1660? See Farness. — 413. By'r =
by our, and pronounced beer, according to Walker. — lady = the Blessed
Virgin? — 414. chopine (spelled in the folios choppine), " a kind of high
shoe, clog, or patten, formerly worn by ladies, to raise them above the
ground." Webster. Furness tells us, that in 1856, at a Jewish wedding
in Jerusalem, the bride wore chopines at least ten inches high. They
were sometimes eighteen. See Furness. Spelled also chioppine, and
then pronounced chop-peen', in Webster. Span, chapin ; Ital. cioppino,
a high cork-shoe; perhaps akin to Ital. zocco and Lat. soccus. — 415.
cracked w i t h i n the ring. A coin cracked from the edge to a point
within the ring wrhich encircled the sovereign's head, was uncurrent.
Paronomasia in cracked and ring? — 416. like French falconers = capriciously and indiscriminately [Capell, Wright, etc.] ? boldly and spiritedly ? Sir Thomas Brown (1605-1682) says that " the French seem to
have been the first and noblest falconers in Europe ; " and he mentions
a falcon of Henry of Navarre that struck down " a buzzard, two wild
geese, divers kites, a crane, and a swan."—418. straight = straightway ? See I I I . iv. 1 ; Mer. of Venice, I. iii. 164.— quality = profession ?
peculiar power, or particular capacity or merit ? See line 338 ; Mer. of
Venice, IV. i. 175. Lat. qualis, of what sort, eow constituted ; qualitas,
quality, property.—421. m e , Ethical dative, as in I I . i. 7 ? V. i. 158 ;

94

HAMLET.

[ACT IT.

remember, pleased not the million ; ' t was caviare to the
general; but it was — as I received it, and others, whose
judgments in such matters cried in the top of mine — an
excellent play, well digested in the scenes, set down with as
much modesty as cunning. I remember, one said there were
no sallets in the lines to make the matter savory, nor no
matter in the phrase that might indict the author of affectation ; but called it an honest method, as wholesome as sweet,
and by very much more handsome than fine. One speech in
it I chiefly loved: ' t was JEneas' tale to D i d o ; and thereabout of it especially, where he speaks of Priam's slaughter.
If it live in your memory, begin at this line ; let me see, let
me s e e —
435
The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast, —
' t is not so : — it begins with ' Pyrrhus.'
Mcetzner, I I . 211. — 423. caviare (Fr. caviar; Ital. caviaro: Turk, havyar), a Russian condiment of sturgeons' roes pickled ; in Shakespeare's
time, a new and fashionable delicacy, not obtained or relished by the
vulgar. Nares. Metaphorical meaning? — general = common people, as
in Julius Ccesar, II. i. 12 V—425. cried in the top of mine = were better
than mine [Hudson] ? = were higher than mine [Johnson, Schmidt, etc.] ?
were more clamorously delivered than mine [Steevens] ? A metaphor
from the hunting field, where a dog is said to overtop when he out-barks
the rest; but it is the superior weight of the judgments, not loudness of
voice, that is here meant [Henley, Clark and Wright, etc.]? — 427. sallet!* = impertinent high seasoning or false brilliancy [Hudson] ? salt
(ribald) words and allusions [Dyce]? — Sallet is a corruption of salad?
Ital. salato is defined by Florio (who published an Italian Dictionary in
1597, and is supposed by some to be ridiculed by Shakespeare as Holofernes, and who died in 1625), " salt, powdered, sowsed, pickled, salted."
Lat. sal, salt.—429. indict = accuse [Rolf e, etc.] ? convict [Steevens]?
Old. Fr. endicter, to indict, accuse, impeach ; Low Lat. indictare, to accuse ; Lat. in and dicere, to speak. — affectation. The quartos read affection. In the same sense V —431. handsome = having genuine, natural
beauty [Delius] ? fine = having artistic, labored beauty [Delius] ? Handsome (from hand) originally meant dexterous, able, adroit, afterwards
comely ; fine (from Lat. finitus, brought [by art ?] to an end, finished, accomplished) has here something of the sense of loaded with ornament,
or aiming at show? —432. thereabout. "Used as a substantive, like
whereabout in Macbeth, I I . i. 58 " [Clark and Wright] ? " Thereabout of
it seems to be merely = there. We might now say colloquially : I liked
that speech —there especially where," etc. [Rolfe] ? — JEneas . . .
Dido. See the second book of the ^Eneid, or consult any classical dictionary.—433. Priam's. See Virgil's ^Eneid, I I . 506-559. — 436. Pyrrhus, son of Achilles. See Smith's Class. Diet. On the question whether
the description that follows (lines 436-504) is sublime or ridiculous,
superb or bombastic, the Shakespearians are divided. Pope thought
it purely ironical; Coleridge pronounced it superb. Some have regarded it as part of an old play by some other author. Select from it
what you think is good, or the reverse. Remember, the diction is that
of epic narrative rather than dramatic dialogue. The style should be
grand rather than conversational ? — See Furness, Hyrcanian beast —

SCENE II.]

95

HAMLET.

The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,
Black as his purpose, did the night resemble
When he lay couched in the ominous horse,
Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd
With heraldry more dismal: head to foot
Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
Bak'd and impasted with the parching streets,
That lend a tyrannous and damned light
To their lord's murder. Koasted in wrath and fire,
And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore,
With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus
Old grandsire Priam seeks.

440

445

450

So, proceed you.
Polonius. 'Fore God, my lord, well spoken, with good
accent and good discretion.
1 Player.
Anon he finds him
Striking too short at Greeks; his antique sword,
Kebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
Repugnant to command: unequal match'd,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage strikes wide;
But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword
The unnerv'd father falls. Then senseless Ilium,
Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top
Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash
Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear; for, lo! his sword,
Which was declining on the milky head
Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick:
So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood,

455

460

•

465

" the Hyrcan tiger " of Macbeth, I I I . iv. 101. Hyrcania was a province of
ancient "Persia, on the south and south-east of the Caspian. Shakespeare
had probably read Virgil's " Hyrcanazqne admoritnt libera tigres," and
Hyrcanian tigers gave (thee) suck, Mneid, IV. 367 ? How much classical learning had Shakespeare ? — 440. horse. The vast wooden structure that proved fatal to Troy. jEneid, I I . 13-20, and passim. — 442.
h e r a l d r y = blazonry of arms or armorial ensigns? — 443. g u l e s . "This
signifies red in the barbarous jargon of heraldry." Steevens. "This
word is nothing but the plural of Fr. gaeule, the mouth. . . . Lat.
gula, throat." Skeat; who adds that the reference is probably to the
color of the (heraldic) lion. —The inside color of a wild beast's throat.
Moberly. — t r i c k e d = adorned ? colored? delineated in heraldry ? —445.
i m p a s t e d = made into a paste. Not elsewhere in Shakespeare.—448.
o'er-sized. Size is weak glue. Ital. sisa; from Lat. assidere, to sit at
or near. We speak of " making a thing sit." Skeat. —449. c a r b u n c l e s
= glowing coals? or bright glowing gems? So Milton, Par. Lost, IX.
500 ? Lat. carbunculus, a little coal, diminutive of ca,rbo, coal, live coal.
— 452. F o r e . A. S./ore, for ; before.—445. too short, etc. This is im>lied in Virgil's Mneid, I I . 544-546.-459. B u t w i t h = merely with
Delius]? —460-462. Ilium . . . flaming . . . base. jEneid,II.62±, 625.
— 464. declining. Peculiar use? See Troilus and Cres., IV. v. 189.—
milky = white [Rolfe, etc.] ? weak [Schmidt] ? Which ? —466. painted
tyrant. Macduff proposed to paint and exhibit Macbeth's likeness;

?

%

HAMLET.
And, like a neutral to his will and matter,
Did nothing.
But, as we often see, against some storm,
A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,
The bold winds speechless, and the orb below
As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
Doth rend the region; so, after Pyrrhus' pause,
Aroused vengeance sets him new a-work,
And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall
On Mars's armor forg'd for proof eterne
With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword
Now falls on Priam.
Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods,
In general synod, take away her power;
Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven
As low as to the fiends!

[ACT I I .

470

475

Macbeth, V. 8, 25-27. Tremendous pictures of hideous tyrants with
brandished swords were not uncommon on old tapestry.—467. neutral
= one indifferent [Clark and Wright]? unable to resolve [Moberly]?
taking no part in the contest [Schmidt] ? Neutral is opposed to loyal in
Macbeth, I I . hi. 91. — m a t t e r = t h a t on which his will is to be exercised
[Moberly] ? — 468. Why this shortness of verse ? Abbott, 512, p. 425. —470.
rack = a mass of vapory clouds [Dyce] ? highest and lightest clouds
[Hudson] ? drifting clouds ? In origin the same word with wrack, and
allied to wreck, as we still say, " rack and ruin " ? See note I I . i. 113 ;
Tempest, IV. i. 156 ; and the 33d sonnet of Shakespeare. — 472. hush.
An interjection (or verb ?) become an adjective ? So whist, in Tempest,
I. i:. 379, and in Milton's Nativity Ode. Skeat says, " the word is purely
imitative." Is it? —473. region = air? See Sonnet 33 ; also line 565
of this scene. In Par. Lost, VII. 425, the fowls " wing the region." Lat.
recfere, to rule (as king) ; root BAG, to stretch, to govern ; Gr. bpeyu, orego,
I stretch, akin to reach; Lat. regio, direction ; rule ; district; division
of the heavens marked out by the Roman augurs.—474. a-work = at
work? Abbott, 24. The expression recurs in 2 Henry IF., IV. iii. 105.—
475. Cyclops'. The Cyclopes, assistants of the blacksmith god Vulcan,
forged armor for gods and heroes under Mount Etna. See Class. Diet. —
476, Mars's. The quartos have Marses. The apostrophe (introduced
when?) takes the place of the e? The folios have Mars his. Whence
came the his in such cases ? — eterne. Lat. ozvnm, age ; Gr. aidtv, aion,
lifetime, ceon; Gr. £«', aei, always. The suffix -ternus indicates quality?
Chaucer uses eterne for eternal. So Shakespeare in Macbeth, I I I . ii. 38.
— proof = resisting-power, impenetrability? Lat. probdre, to prove;
Fr. prouver ; Old Fr. prover, to prove, try. — 477. r e m o r s e = pity
[Wright], Rolfe, etc.]? pain or anguish for guilt? Relenting, pity, is
its usual meaning in Shakespeare. Rolfe on Mer. of Ven., IV. i. 20. —
479. Fortune has a wheel, to signify, according to Fluellen in Henry
V., III. vi. 31, 32, " t h a t she is turning, and inconstant, and mutability
and variation." — 472. synod is used six times in Shakespeare; five
times of an assembly of the gods. Rolfe. In Paradise Lost, I I . 391, Beelzebub, addressing the council of fallen angels, calls them " Synod of
gods." Gr. <TVV, sun, together : 6S6?, hodos, a way, a coming.— 481. fellies = pieces of the rim of a wheel. The outer ends of the spokes are in
the felly (spelled also/e//oe); the inner ends, in the nave? A. S. feign, a
felly ; feolan, to stick ; Old High Ger. felahan, to put together ; Mid.
Eng. (about 1200 to 1500 ?) felwe, felly or felloe. — 482. nave. A. S. nafu;

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

97

Polonius. This is too long.
484
Hamlet. I t shall to the barber's, with your b e a r d . — P r i thee, say o n : — h e 's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he
sleeps. — Say on ; come to Hecuba.
1 Player. But who, O, who had seen the mobled queen —
Hamlet. ' The mobled queen ?'
Polonius. T h a t ' s good ; ' mobled queen ' is good.
490
1 Player.
Kun barefoot up and down, threatening the flames
With bisson rheum; a clouf about that head
Where late the diadem stood; and for a robe,
About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,
A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught u p ;
& 495
Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd,
'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounc'd:
But if the gods themselves did see her then,
When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
I n mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,
500
The instant burst of clamor that she made —
Unless things mortal move them not at all —
Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven
And passion in the gods.
Sanskrit ndbhi, from nabh, to burst; whence sense of swelling or projection; and from same root nebula, nimbus, etc. Dryden in 1679 criticised savagely the whole of this remarkable speech, supposing it not to
be Shakespeare's. —485. P r i t h e e = pray thee, I pray thee. — s h a l l =
shall go. See Abbott, 405. —48(5. jig=facetious ballad [Schmidt] ? ballad or ditty sung to the fiddle [Hudson] ? a lively tune or dance [Skeat] ?
— Ital. giga, a fiddle ; allied to Mid. Eng. gigge (a whirling thing, whirligig), and to Scandinavian gig, what easily whirls or twirls. Skeat. —
III.ii. 108. — 488. mobled=veiled [Warburton, etc.]? muffled [White]?
mob-led, led by a mob, magna comitante caterva (a great throng accompanying) [Upton] ? hastily or carelessly dressed [Hudson] ? To mob
or mab is still used in the North of England for to dress in a slatternly
manner. Hudson. Mob-cap = morning-cap, an imitation of a night-cap.
Coleridge. Dutch moppen, to wrap up. — 409. t h a t ' s good. Why does
Polonius say so ? To make up for his blunder in objecting to the length
[Moberly] ? Because it is a quaint and fantastical word [Warburton] ?
Because it was archaic [Clark and Wright] ? — 492. bisson r h e u m =
blinding tears [Schmidt, etc.] ? A. S. bisen may be a corruption of
bisednd, near-sighted. Skeat. See Coriolanus, I I . i. 59. Rheum, Gr.
peuwa, rheuma, a flow; from peeiv, to flow. Shakespeare uses it many
times in sense of tears. — 494. over-teemed = o'er-fruitful ? A. S.
tyman, to teem, team, a progeny; Mid. Eng. temen, to produce. Hecuba,
wife of Priam, was mother of Hector and how many other children?-500. m i n c i n g = chopping small? cutting to pieces? A. S. min, small.
Suffix -s = to make. Hence mins would mean to make small; akin to
Lat. min-or, less. Skeat. Timon of Athens, IV. iii. 121. — 501. i n s t a n t , as
in I. Vc 71? —503. m i l c h = moist '[Staunton] ? milk-giving, a metaphor
for tearful [Rolfe] ? — m a d e m i l c h = filled with tears [Hudson]? A
weakened form of milk. Its use as adjective, meaning milk-giving, is
Scandinavian. Teutonic base MALK, to stroke. Gr. a^dXyeiv, amalgein;
Lat. mulgere, to milk. Skeat. — eyes. What ? — 504. passion = compas-

98

HAMLET.

[ACT IT.

Polonius. Look, whether he has not turned his color and
has tears in 's eyes. — Pray you, no more.
506
Hamlet. ' T is well, I'll have thee speak out the rest soon.
— Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed?
Do you hear, let them be well used, for they are the abstract
and brief chronicles of the time ; after your death you were
better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.
Polonius. My lord, I will use them according to their
desert.
513
Hamlet. God's bodykins, man, much better! Use every
man after his desert, and who should scape whipping? Use
t h e m ' after your own honor and dignity; the less they
deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in.
Polonius. Come, sirs.
Hamlet. Follow him, friends ; we '11 hear a play to-morrow.

[Exit

POLONIUS with all the Players but the F i r s t . ]

Dost thou hear me, old friend; can you play the Murder of
Gonzago ?
522
1 Player. Ay, my lord.
Hamlet. W e '11 ha' ' t to-morrow night. You could, for a
need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I
would set down and insert in 't, could you not?
1 Player. Ay, my lord.
Hamlet. Very well. Follow that lord ; and look you mock
him not. — [Exit Player.] My good friends, I '11 leave you
till night; you are welcome to Elsinore.
530
Rosencrantz. Good my lord !
Hamlet. Ay, so, God be wi' ye I — [Exeunt
and GUILDENSTERN.]
Now I am alone.

ROSENCRANTZ

sion [Singer, Hudson, etc.] ? sorrow [Schmidt]? —Lines 536, 545. —508.
bestowed = lodged, taken care of [Rolfe, etc.] ? III. iv. 174 ; IV. iii. 12.
A. S. stdiv, a place; Mid. Eng. stowen, to put in a place. For the force of
the prefix be-, see note on beshrew, II. i. 113. — 509. abstract. The folios
have abstracts. Allowable ? — 510. you were better have. Originally
the full construction would have been,/o?* you it were better to have; but
the dative slipped ungrammatically into a nominative, owing to its position before the verb. Abbott, 230, 352. —514. bodykins. -kin is a diminutive suffix, said to be allied to Dutch and Ger. kind, a child. Thus
manikin, little man; Wilkin, little Will; lambkin; Peterkin, shortened to
Perkin, little Peter ; bodykin, little body. Other examples ? Here the
consecrated wafer representing the body of our Saviour. The words = By
the mass, in II. i. 50V — 515. after = according to ? So in Psalm ciii. 10. —
515. scape. I. iii. 38. —525. dozen or sixteen lines. Can you find them
in Act III. sc. ii., lines 138-239V —528, 529. mock h i m not. Said sincerely ? So Clark thinks. Is Hamlet a true gentleman ? — 532. God b e
w i ' ye. Origin of our good-bye f — 533. alone. Is he eager to be alone ?

SCENE I I . ]

BAMLET.

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I !
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in 's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit ? and all for nothing !
For Hecuba!
What 's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have ? H e would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears.
Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing ; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life

99

535

540

545

550

555

If so, what may we infer as to his sanity ? See Rolfe's or Furness's
ed.—537. conceit = conception, imagination? — 538. her. Soul feminine here? Not in Richard II., V. v. 7. Milton makes it fern., Par.
Lost, V. 486, 487, etc. — wann'd. The folios read warm'd. Better? —
539. aspect. Always so accented in Shakespeare ? Scan. Abbott, 490,
492. —540. function = energies of soul and body [Caldecott] ? action of
the body [Clark and Wright]? power of action [Johnson] ? delivery?
liat.functio, performance ; fungi, to perform, originally to enjoy. — 541.
conceit = conception, idea (of the character he was personating) [Clark
and Wright]? Line 537 ; I I I . iv. 112 ; IV. v. 4 4 . - 5 4 5 . cue = hint or
prompt-word [Hudson] ? Yet a stage term. — Lat. coda, cauda, tail ; Fr.
queue, tail. Cue = " the tail-end of the speech of the preceding speaker,
. . . sometimes denoted by Q, owing to similarity in sound." Skeat. Figurative meaning here ? — 548. free from guilt ? I I I . ii. 224. As if guilt
enslaved? —552. muddy-mettled = heavy, irresolute [Schmidt]? —
rascal. The literal sense is scrapings. Old Fr. rascler; Fr. racier;
Lat. radere, to scrape. Skeat. Radere; frequentative rasicare; dim. rasiculare; vasculare t rasclare; rascler, racier. Bracket. Note the slang
use of our scrape. — peak = mope [Singer]? sneak [Schmidt]? grow
lean [Rolfe] ? pine away [Clark and Wright] ? Peak as noun = a sharp
point, akin to pike. I n Dorsetshire, peeked = thin, sharp-featured.—
553. John-a-dreams = John of dreams, John the dreamer, a dreamy,
idle fellow ? So Rolfe, etc. The word is formed like Jack-a-lantern ?
— unpregnant of = not quickened by, not inspired with [Rolfe] ? having no living thoughts within relating to [Clark and Wright] ? incapable [Moberly] ? — 555. property = " own person," or, possibly, " kingly
r i g h t " [Clark and Wright] ? crown, wife, every thing which he might

100

HAMLET.

[ACT II.

A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain ? breaks my pate across ?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose ? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs ? who does me this ?
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take i t ; for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain !
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain !
O vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I ! This is most brave,
That I , the son of a dear father murther'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Fie upon ' t ! foh ! About, my brain ! I have heard
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene

560

565

570

575

be said to be possessed of, except his life [Furness] ? — 556. defeat = destruction [Warburton, etc.] ? See I. ii. 10. Old Fr. defaire, desfaire, to
defeat, undo. Old Fr. des, Lat. dis [with the force of English verbal an-] ;
and /aire ; Lat. facere, to do. Skeat. — 557. pate. From plate, by loss
of I. Plate is the crown of the head. Low Lat. plata, a plate of metal;
Gr. nXarvs, platus, broad. —559. the lie, etc. So Richard II., I. i. 124. —
560. me = for me? t o m e ? See I I . i. 7. Abbott, 220. — 562. 'Swounds =
God's wounds, wounds of Christ = Zounds! So V. i. 264. Instead of
this oath, the folios have why. See note on II. i. 76. — 563. pigeonlivered, etc. "It was supposed that pigeons and doves owed the
gentleness of their disposition to the absence of gall." White. — gall,
metaphorically for courage [Clark and Wright] ? — 564. To make, etc.
= to make me feel the bitterness of oppression [Dyce] ? — 565. region =
of the air or sky ? See note on 1. 473. —566. offal. Sievers sees in this
word and sentence a revelation of Hamlet's plan to bring the king
to legal trial, execution, quartering, etc. Reasonable inference? — 567.
M n d l e s s = unnatural [Johnson] ? The opposite is kindly. See note on
I. ii. 65. — 570. father. Two quartos omit this word; the folios read, the
dear murthered. Which makes the better sense?—571. heaven a n d
hell —all the best and all the worst passions [Hudson ] ? — 573. a-cursing. Like a-making, I. iii. 119. Abbott, 24.—574. scullion = a kitchen
menial? a servant that cleans pots and kettles? Fr. escouillon, " SL
wispe, dishclout (dishcloth), maukin, or drag, to cleanse or sweep an
oven." Skeat. — Other readings are scalion, stallyon, and stallion. —575.
About = to your work [Johnson]? Steevens and Monk Mason make
about a sea-phrase = " be my thoughts shifted into a contrary direc-

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions ;
For murther, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I '11 have these players
Play something like the murther of my father
Before mine uncle : I '11 observe his looks ;
I '11 tent him to the quick : if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil; and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape ; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. I '11 have grounds
More relative than this ; the play's the thing
Wherein I '11 catch the conscience of the king.

101

530

585

590
[Exit.

tion." Well ? —577-580. Instances are cited by Rolfe, Wright, etc. —578.
presently = immediately, as in line 170? Lat. prce, before ; sens, being ;
prcesens, being in front, being in sight. Skeat. Hence the adverb means
immediately, as in the Bible and Shakespeare. — 581. Macbeth, I I I . iv.
122-126. — 584. tent = probe ? Tent, a roll of lint used to dilate a wound.
Fr. tenter, to prove, try, etc. ; Lat. tentdre, to handle, touch, test. Skeat.
— quick. A. S. civic, alive ; from Teutonic base kwiwa. Akin to Lat.
vivus, alive, Gr. /3ios, bios, life. — blench = shrink [Steevens, etc.] ? flinch
[Hunter, etc.] ? wink, glance [Halliwell] ? A. S. blican, to twinkle ;
Eng. blink, to wink, glance ; Mid. Eng. blenche, to turn aside ; Eng.
blench, to cause to blink ; to shrink, start from, flinch. A different word from blanch, to whiten. — 586. devil. Coleridge quotes Sir
Thomas Browne's (1605-1682) belief that ghosts, etc., are not souls of
the dead, but devils bent to harm and deceive mankind (2 Cor. xi. 14.)
590. abuses=deceives, deludes, imposes upon, practises upon with illusions ? Repeatedly so in Shakespeare. — 591. relative = nearly related,
closely connected [Johnson] ? to the purpose [Schmidt, Wright, etc.] ?
in closer and clearer relation [Hudson]? " T h e word is not known to
exist elsewhere in this sense." Clark and Wright. What progress in
the plot is made in the second act ? Is Hamlet to be praised or blamed
for his caution ? for his delay in shedding his uncle's blood ?

102

ACT
SCENE I .
Enter

[ACT III.

HAMLET.

III.

A Room

in the

Castle.

K I N G , QUEEN, POLONIUS, OPHELIA, ROSENCRANTZ, and
GUILDENSTERN.

King. And can you, by no drift of circumstance,
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?
Rosencrantz. He does confess he feels himself distracted ;
But from what cause he will by no means speak.
6
Guildenstern. Nor do we find him forward to be sounded,
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof,
When we would bring him on to some confession
Of his true state.
Queen.
Did he receive you well?
10
Rosencrantz. Most like a gentleman.
Guildenstern. But with much forcing of his disposition.
Rosencrantz. Niggard of question, but of our demands
Most free in his reply.
How much time between Act II. and III. ? 1. drift of circumstance = course of indirect inquiry [Hudson]? roundabout method
[Clark and Wright] ? II. i. 10; I. v. 127. For circumstance, the quartos
read conference. Equally good? — 2. puts on. Does the king think
Hamlet is shamming? — confusion, of mind? — 3. Grating = vexing
[Rolfe] ? disturbing, irritating [Clark and Wright] ? Old Fr. grater, to
scratch, scrape; Swed. kratta, to scrape; Dutch krassen; Ger. kratzen,
to scratch. Skeat. — k. lunacy. Lat. luna, moon. Connection? — 7.
forward = disposed, inclined [Caldecott, etc.] ? — sounded. Metaphor
from sound, to fathom ? or sound, to ring or make to ring? — 8. keeps.
Where there can be no doubt as to the nominative, it is sometimes
omitted. Abbott, 399. II. ii. 67; IV. i. 10. —crafty madness. III. iv.
186.—12. w i t h m u c h , etc. = with apparent unwillingness [Moberly] ?
— disposition = mood [Clark and Wright]? I. iv. 55. Do this scene
and II. ii. show that Guildenstern has more discernment than Rosencrantz? Moberly says so.— 13, 14. niggard . . . most free, etc.
Warburton, Hudson, etc., transpose these words, to make the statement
better accord with the facts. But does Rosencrantz mean to state the
facts ? —question. This has been variously interpreted inquiry conversation, cross-examination (or "inquisition," as on the rack). Baffled
by Hamlet, yet desirous of standing well with the king and queen, the

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

103

Queen.
Did you assay him
p
T o any pastime?
>
15
Bosencrantz. Madam, it so fell out that certain players
W e o'er-raught on the w a y ; of these we told him,
And there did seem in him a kind of joy
T o hear of it. They are about the court,
And, as I think, they have already order
20
This night to play before him.
Polonius.
'Tis most true ;
And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties
To hear and see the matter.
King. With all my h e a r t ; and it doth much content
me
T o hear him so inclin'd. —
25
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge,
And drive his purpose on to these delights.
Bosencrantz. We shall, my lord.
[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.
King.
Sweet Gertrude, leave us too ;
For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither,
T h a t he, as ' t were by accident, may here
30
Affront Ophelia.
H e r father and myself, lawful espials,
Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen,
W e may of their encounter frankly judge,
And gather by him, as he is behav'd,
35
two young men answer vaguely? —14, 15. assay . . . p a s t i m e = t r y
his disposition towards pastime [Caldecott] ? try him by the test of any
pastime [Clark and Wright]? —Old Fr. essai, a trial; Lat. exagium, a
weighing, a trial of exact weight; Gr. ii-dyiov, exagion, a weighing; Gr.
i£, out, dyeev, to lead; Zgdyw, to export merchandise. —17. o'er-raught
= over-reached, that is, overtook [Johnson] ? Raught is obsolete past
"participle of reach. A. S. raecan seems to mean, to get into one's power;
raec, occasion, allied to rice, power, powerful, from Teutonic base RAK =
root RAG, to rule. Skeat. Hence reach = to attain, extend to, arrive at,
^gain. — 20. order. This singular is repeatedly found for the plural in
Shakespeare. , V. ii. 365. — 22. heseech'd. Obsolete ? — 24. content
= graciiy, jplease ? — 26. edge = incitement, stimulus ? Root AK, to
pierce;"&r."a*cif, ake, a point; Lat. acies, edge; Mid. Eng. egge; Eng.
edge, border, sharpness.—29. closely = privately, secretly? Repeatedly so in Shakespeare. " So as not to let Hamlet know whence the
message comes." Hudson. Gr. icAeiw, kleio, I shut; Lat. claudere, to
shut, shut in; Ger. schliessen, to shut.-r-31. affront = meet directly
[Johnson]? confront [Clark and Wright]? Lat. from, forehead;
akin to brow. Front to front'is
forehead to forehead? Affront =
meet face to face?—32. l a w f u l espials = spies justifiably inquisitive
[Caldecott] ? Shakespeare several times uses espials for spies.—33. b e -

104

[ACT III.

HAMLET.

If ' t be the affliction of his love or no
That thus he suffers for.
Queen.
I shall obey you. —
A n d for your part, Ophelia, I d o wish
T h a t your good beauties be t h e happy cause
Of H a m l e t ' s wildness ; so shall I hope your virtues
Will bring him to his wonted w a y again,
T o both your honors.
Ophelia.

M a d a m , I wish it m a y .

[Exit

40
QUEEN.

Polonius. Ophelia, walk you h e r e . — G r a c i o u s , so please
you,
W e will bestow ourselves. [To O P H E L I A ] R e a d on this book ;

T h a t show of such a n exercise m a y color
45
Y o u r loneliness. W e a r e oft to blame in this —
' T is too much p r o v ' d — t h a t with devotion's visage
A n d pious action we d o sugar o ' e r
T h e devil himself.
King. \_Aside~]
O, ' t is too true !
H o w smart a lash t h a t speech doth give m y conscience!
50
T h e harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering a r t ,
I s n o t more ugly to t h e thing t h a t helps it
T h a n is m y deed to m y most painted word.
O heavy burthen !
Polonius. I hear him c o m i n g ; let ' s withdraw, m y lord. 55
[Exeunt
Enter

K I N G and P O L O N I U S .

HAMLET.

Hamlet. T o b e , or n o t to b e , — t h a t is the q u e s t i o n :
W h e t h e r ' t is nobler in t h e mind to suffer
T h e slings a n d arrows of outrageous fortune,
s t o w = s t o w away? II. ii. 508.—39-42. beauties . . . virtues . . .
honors. These plurals = what ? Walker suggests, and Furness adopts,
beauty and virtue, instead of the plural. Wisely ? See I. ii. 15, 254. — it
= what ? —43. G r a c i o u s . I. i. 164. The word is not used elsewhere in
Shakespeare without its substantive. —45. color = give plausibility to?.
— 47. too m u c h proved = found by too frequent experience [Johnson] ?
proved by too frequent examples [Clark and Wright] ? —-51^..beautied.
Not elsewhere a verb in Shakespeare. — 52. to=comparecl t o ? I. ii.
140.—53. p a i n t e d = falsely colored, unreal [Kolfe, etc.]? fictitious, disguised [Clark and Wright] ? — 56. T o be, or not t o b e ; i.e., after
death ? are we to exist, or not to exist, after our present state [Johnson] ?
" Johnson is wrong. . . . Hamlet is . . . deliberating . . . whether he
should continue to live, or put an end to his life." Malone. " In I. ii.,
Hamlet has spoken of suicide as being against the canon of the Everlasting. Here he considers it as viewed by philosophy." Moberly.—
58. slings = " the strong cables or chains which are bound round the

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them ? To die, — to sleep, —
No more ; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, — 't is a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, — t o sleep, —
To sleep ! perchance to dream ! ay, there 's the r u b ;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause : there 's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life ;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns .
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

105

60

65

70

buoys, commonly barrels, that float upon the surface of the water, holding fast the anchors to which they are attached " [Dr. A. Gerth, 1861] ?
instruments for throwing stones ? — 59. arms against a sea. Mixed
metaphor? two metaphors blended into one [Clark and Wright]? arms
against a host of troubles which break in upon us like a sea [Clark and
Wright]? — sea of troubles = KCLKUV ireAayo?, kakon pelagos, in the Hippoly tits. Lowell (Among My Books, p. 191). — Ingleby quotes Ritson's
Memoirs of the Celts, " to the effect that the Celts in the wantonness of
their bravery ' oppose the overwhelming sea,' and ' taking a r m s ' rush
upon the waves." " Is not the metaphor sound? If there be an incongruity in the notion of taking arms . . . against the sea, is there not
just as great an incongruity in using a bare bodkin against the soul " ?
Ingleby. In Hamlet's distress and perplexity, is not a mixed metaphor
quite natural? See III. iii. 57. — 61. No more = it is nothing more
[Knight,Rolfe, etc.]? —65. rub. A metaphor from bowling, "meaning
a collision hindering the bowl in its course" [Clark and Wright] ? —
67. coil = turmoil [WarburtonJ ? incumbrance [Heath]? entanglement
[Clark and Wright] V " Turmoil or bustle, and that which intwines or
wraps around. Snakes generally lie like the coils of ropes; . . . allusion
is had to the struggle . . . that animal . . . casting his slough " ! Catdecott. See Rom. vii. 24. " T h e coil received its quietus on 18th Sept.,
1858, by ' A. M. of Greenock,' who cites a derivation from the Gaelic co~
chul, meaning the scaly integument which clothes the lower limbs of a
mermaid "! See Furness, who concurs with Caldecott. " Tumult and bustle of this mortal life. Perhaps coil here means also the body." Hudson.
"Shakespeare never uses coil in the familiar modern sense." Rolfe. — 68.
Must. What must ? — give us pause = stop our career, occasion reflection [Caldecott] ? — pause is . . . to take up the time of three syllables
in pronunciation [Moberly] ? — III. iii. 42 ; IV. iii. 9. — respect = consideration, motive. Usually so in Shakespeare. III. ii. 166.—69. of
so long life = so long lived [Clark and Wright]?— respect, etc. . . .
life = consideration that induces us to undergo the calamity of so long
a life [Hudson]? See note on of a doubt, I. iv. 36, 37. —70. time = the
times [Hunter] ? the world? Shakespeare generally uses the article as
in I. v. 189. Rolfe. — Johnson says that the wrongs enumerated (70-74)
" are not the evils that Would particularly strike a prince." Is Shake-

106

HAMLET.

When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin ? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of ?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. — Soft you now !
The fair Ophelia ! — Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
Ophelia.
Good my lord,
How does your honor for this many a day ?

[ACT III.
75

80

85

90

speare, then, speaking of his own experience ? —75. quietus (est) = (he
is) discharged, (is) at rest; a law phrase in settling accounts. Quietus =
acquittance? settlement? final discharge ? Lat. quiescere, to rest; quietus, quiet. Hence come ac-quit and quit, requite. V. ii. 68, 257; IV.
vii. 1. — 76. bare = mere [Schmidt, Rolfe, etc.]? unsheathed [Malone] ?
— bodkin = least weapon ? small dagger [Steevens, etc.] ? Welsh bidogyn, small dagger, diminutive of bidog, dagger, —fardels = burdens;
literally packs, bundles? Low Lat. fardellus, a burden, pack. Fardel
is a diminutive of Fr. farde, a burden. Skeat. Arabic fardah, a package ? The folios read, Who'd these fardels, etc. Better?—77. grunt is
"one of the many words," says White, "which have been degraded
since Shakespeare wrote." —The word is imitative, and so originated?
— 79. bourn = limit, boundary? Fr. borne, landmark, boundary; old
Fr. bonne; Low Lat. bonna, bound. Bound is a doublet of bourn. Skeat.
— 80. returns, i.e., to the state of mortal life [Hudson, etc.]? returns
to live here [Coleridge] ? Had the Ghost returned ? —Steevens cites Catullus, Qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum, Illuc unde negant redire quenquam, Who now passes through gloomy route thither, whence they say
no one returns. No translation into English print having been made,
had Shakespeare read this in the original Latin ? — 83. conscience, etc.
So in Richard III., I. iv. 131. Point out the proverbial expressions in
this soliloquy. — 84. native hue. What color is meant ? Mer. of Venice, I I . i. 7; III. ii. 8 6 . - 8 5 . thought = grief [Hudson]? melancholy
[Hunter] ? care, anxiety [Clark and Wright]? See " t a k e thought, and
die for Caesar." Julius Cozsar, I I . i. 187. So Matt. vi. 3 4 . - 8 6 . pith.
The quartos read pitch. Allowable ? — 87. currents. Mixed metaphor?— awry. The folios have away, which Corson prefers as denoting more of a change. — 88. Soft = hush [Clark and Wright] ? hold,
stop [Schmidt] ? a gentler pace [Caldecott] ? Mer. of Venice, IV. i. 310,
311. " Soft! no haste." Othello, V. ii. 338.-89. Nymph - maiden ? Gr.
j/u'H>rj, numphe, a bride; literally, " a veiled one," like Lat. nupta. — orisons = prayers. Fr. oraisons, prayers; Lat. orare, to pray. — Johnson
thinks that Hamlet here for the moment forgets that he is to appear

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

107

Hamlet. I humbly thank you ; well, well, well.
Ophelia. My lord, I have remembrances of yours,
That I have longed long to re-deliver;
I pray you, now receive them.
Hamlet.
No, not 1 :
95
I never gave you aught.
Ophelia. My honor'd lord, I know right well you did;
And with them words of so sweet breath compos'd
As made the things more rich: their perfume lost,
Take these again ; for to the noble mind
100
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
There, my lord.
Hamlet. Ha, ha ! are you honest?
Ophelia. My lord?
Hamlet. Are you fair?
105
Ophelia. What means your lordship ?
Hamlet. That if you be honest and fair, your honesty
should admit no discourse to your beauty.
Ophelia. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce
than with honesty?
110
Hamlet. Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner
transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force
of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness : this was
sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did
love you once.
115
Ophelia. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.
insane. Does he intend her to hear his words ? — 92. w e l l . Dissyllable
twice over by ironical modulation [Moberly] ?— 93. r e m e m b r a n c e s =
mementos? II. ii. 144. —96. aught, etc. Does he mean that he accounts his presents of no value ? — 97. I k n o w . The quartos read " you
know." Which is better? Reasons? Corson interprets thus: " T h e
remembrances you gave me may have been trifles to you, such trifles as
left no impression on your mind of having given them; but I know right
well you did, as they were most dear to me at the time." —103. honest
= free from fraud, not acting as a decoy ? virtuous [Staunton, etc.] ? It
means chaste in Winter's Tale, I I . i. 64, 72. — Hudson thinks that Hamlet, suspecting that there are listeners and spies, means the afterspeeches in this scene for them rather than for Ophelia. Probable ? —
107. your honesty, etc. = your chastity should have no conversation or
acquaintance with your beauty [Hudson] V virtue, personified as the
guardian of beauty, should allow none, not even himself, to discourse
with the latter [Clark and Wright] ? = your honesty should be so chary
of your beauty as not to suffer a thing so fragile to entertain discourse,
or be parleyed with [Caldecott] ? — 109. commerce = intercourse
[Rolfe, e t c ] ? conversation [Clark] ? dealings ? Milton's II Penswoso,
39. —114. sometime. I. ii. 8. —116. Here, and in lines 155, 156 (and in
what others, if any?), she alludes to herself and her own feelings? —

103

HAMLET.

[ACT III.

Hamlet. You should not have believed m e ; for virtue
cannot so inoculate our old stock b u t we shall relish of i t : I
loved you not.
Ophelia. I w a s the more deceived.
120
Hamlet. G e t thee to a n u n n e r y ; why wouldst thou be a
breeder of sinners? I a m myself indifferent h o n e s t ; b u t yet
I could accuse m e of such things that it were better m y
mother h a d not borne m e : I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences a t m y beck than I have thoughts
to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to
act them in. W h a t should such fellows as I do crawling
between earth a n d heaven ? W e are a r r a n t k n a v e s a l l ; believe none of u s . G o thy ways to a nunnery. W h e r e ' s your
father?
130
Ophelia. A t home, my lord.
Hamlet. L e t the doors be shut upon him, t h a t he m a y play
the fool nowhere b u t in ' s own house. Farewell.
Ophelia. \_Aside~\ O help him, you sweet heavens !
134
Hamlet. If thou dost m a r r y , I '11 give thee this plague for
thy d o w r y : be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou
shalt not escape calumny. G e t thee to a nunnery, go ; farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs m a r r y , m a r r y a fool; for wise
men know well enough what monsters you m a k e of them.
T o a nunnery, go ; a n d quickly too. Farewell.
140
Ophelia. \_Aside~] O heavenly powers, restore him !
Hamlet. I have heard of your paintings too, well enough ;
G o d h a s given you one face, a n d you m a k e yourselves another : you jig, you amble, a n d you lisp, a n d nickname G o d ' s
118. relish = have a strong taste [Hudson] ? have a flavor, retain a trace
[Rolfe, etc.]? —it = the old stock [Delius] ? —121. Get thee. A common reflexive use of get in Shakespeare, but never with the full form of
the pronouns thyself, etc. Schmidt. So the Duke says to Shylock, " Get
thee gone, but do it." Mer. of Venice, III. i. 388. —122. indifferent =
fairly, ordinarily, tolerably? II. ii. 226. —125. at my beck = always
ready to come about me [Steevens] ? like evil genii, ready at a nod to
start into act [Caldecott] ? ready to come about me on a signal of permission [Hudson] ? —128. arrant. I. v. 124. — 129. w a y s . I. iii. 135. —
131. at home. The poor girl must have shown by her manner that she
was falsifying? and hence Hamlet's angry answer ? —134 and 14L The
"Aside" was first inserted by Furness. Rightly?—monsters = monstrosities ? " A horned man's a monster." Othello, IV. i. 55. —142. your
p a i n t i n g s = t h e paintings of you women [Collier, etc.]? Ophelia's paintings ? The folios have pratlings or pratling, also pace for face. Better ?—
144. jig = walk as if dancing a jig [Rolfe, etc.] ? See II. ii. 486. — amble
= g o a t a p a c e between a walk and a trot [Skeat] ? walk effeminately
['Wright and Clark] ? Lat. ambulare, to walk; Old Fr. ambler, to go at

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

109

creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go
to, I '11 no more on ' t ; it hath made me mad. I say, we will
have no more marriages : those that are married already, all
but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a
nunnery, go.
•
[Exit.
Ophelia. O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown !
The courtier's, scholar's, soldier's, eye, tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observ'd of all observers, quite, quite down!
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That suck'd the honey of his music vows,
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled out of tune, and harsh ;
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth

150

155

an easy pace. I n 1 Henry IV., III. ii. 60; Richard III., I. i. 17; and Romeo
and Juliet, I. iv. 11, Shakespeare uses the word with contempt ? — nickname = give wrong names to [Clark and Wright]? misname, miscall
[Rolfe, etc.]? — A. S. ecan, to augment; Eng. eke, also; A. S. nama,
name; whence Mid. Eng. ekename, additional name (like Lat. agnomen,
surname). The initial n is not original, but acquired. Skeat.—145.
make, etc. = use ambiguous words as if you did not know their meaning [Moberly] ? mistake wantonly, and pretend you do it through ignorance [Johnson] ? It seems to imply that the women affected a pretty,
innocent ignorance as a mask for wantonness. White.—147. a l l but
one. Would Ophelia understand this ? —149. To a nunnery, etc. I n
this dialogue, does Hamlet speak in sorrow, or in anger ? Amid the impending ruin and terror, was not a nunnery the best possible place for
her ? —151. courtier's, scholar's, soldier's, eye, tongue, sword. In
all the folios and quartos but one, the order is, courtier's, soldier's, scholar's. Hanmer re-arranged the words to make them correspond respectively to eye, tongue, sword. Rightly and wisely ? Ought Ophelia to
speak with faultless rhetoric? Rohrbach thinks Hamlet's tongue a soldier's tongue, his sword a scholar's or student's sword. Likely ? —152.
fair. Because Hamlet adorns it as the rose. Delins. Abbott, 4. — What
is prolepsis? For proleptic use of the adjective, see Macbeth, I. iii. 84,
and I. vi. 3; III. iv. 76. —153. glass, etc. So in 2 Henry IV., I I . iii. 21,
22, " He was indeed the glass, Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves."— mould, of form = model by which all endeavored to form
themselves [Johnson] ? the cast in which is shaped the only perfect
form [Caldecott]? " ' Mould of form' would be a disagreeable pleonasm,
were not 'form' to be understood as equivalent to ceremony, external
rites." Tschischwitz. Judge. —155. deject. See I. ii. 20; IV. v. 2.
Abbott, 342. —156. honey, etc. Mixed metaphor [Clark and Wright] ?
Abbott, 22. —158. jangled o u t of tune. ' " O u t of tune' is adverbial
element to 'jangled.' . . . The two ideas attached to ' b e l l s ' are: 1.
'jangled out of t u n e ' ; 2. 'harsh,' which expresses to what extent
' jangled out of t u n e ' " [Corson] ? —159. feature = figure, form, person.
Old Fr. faiture, Lat. factum, formation; facere, to make. — b l o w n . The
metaphor in line 152 resumed ? A. S. bldwan, to bloom. Allied to Lat.

110

HAMLET.

[ACT III.

Blasted with ecstasy : O, woe is me,
To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!

160

Enter K I N G and POLONIUS.

King. Love ! his affections do not that way tend ;
Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little,
Was not like madness. There's something in his soul
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood,
A n d I do doubt the hatch a n d the disclose
Will be some d a n g e r ; which for to prevent,
I have in quick determination
T h u s set it down : he shall with speed to E n g l a n d ,
F o r t h e d e m a n d of our neglected tribute.
H a p l y the seas a n d countries different
With variable objects shall expel
This something-settled matter in his heart,
Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus
From fashion of himself. What think you on ' t ?
Polonius. I t shall do w e l l ; b u t yet do I believe
T h e origin a n d commencement of his grief
S p r u n g from neglected love. — H o w now, O p h e l i a !
You need n o t tell us what L o r d H a m l e t s a i d ;
W e heard it all. — M y lord, d o as you please ;
B u t , if you hold it fit, after t h e play
L e t his queen m o t h e r all alone entreat him
T o show his griefs : let h e r be round with him ;

165

170

175

180

florere, to bloom; Eng. flourish; Fr.fleurir,flo?Hr. — 160. ecstasy. I I . i.
102. —162. affections = feelings, inclinations [Rolfe, etc.]? manner in
which his mind is affected [White] ? —163, 164. Force of double negative ? I. ii. 158; III. ii. 4. — not like madness. Too much " method "
in it? —165. on brood-a-brood, brooding? Abbott, 24, 180. —166.
doubt. I. ii. 256. — disclose. Technical term for young birds chipping
the shell [Steevens, Wright, etc.] ? V. i. 277. —167. for to. To coming to be regarded as a mere sign of the infinitive, for was prefixed to
denote motion or purpose. See Abbott, 152. V. i. 92. —169. shall. As
in I I . ii. 485. The verb of motion is often omitted after an auxiliary.
Abbott, 405. —172. variable = varying, various ? —173. something-settled. Shakespeare has great freedom in compounding adjectives.
Abbott, 2, 68. —174. whereon . . . beating = the constant beating of
his thoughts upon which [White] ? White reads brain's ; others, brains.
To explain the singular puts, the editors treat brains as singular, or
brains still beating as virtually a compound noun, or "noun-clause."
Well? Abbott, 337. — 175. fashion of h i m s e l f = h i s usual behavior?
his ordinary habits V —178. H o w n o w . Has she been out, and returned ?
or absorbed in her own distress? —183. griefs = grievances [Corson]?

SCENE II.]

HAMLET.

And I'll be plac'd, so please you, in the ear
Of all their conference. If she find him not,
To England send him, or confine him where
Your wisdom best shall think.
King.
I t shall be so ;
Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go.
SCENE I I .

Ill

185

[Exeunt.

A Hall in the Castle.

Enter HAMLET and Players.
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 your 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, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and
beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-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 could
— round = " square " ? plain-spoken ? See I I . ii. 139. —184. so please
= if it so please V may it so please? So is much used in Shakespeare
in the sense of provided that. Abbott, 133. — in t h e e a r = within hearing [Wright, Schmidt, etc.] ? — 185. find = find out ? detect, unmask
[Schmidt]? —find him not = discover not his secret [Clark and Wright] ?
Found= found out in All's Well, I I . iii. 205, and in other passages in
Shakespeare. — What are we to think of the development of plot and
characters in this scene ?
SCENE I I . 1. the speech = the dozen or sixteen lines of II. ii. 525 ? —
2. mouth = utter with an affectedly big or bawling voice ? V. i. 273. —
3. had a s lief = should be just as much pleased if ? would as soon ? Had
in this phrase a corruption of ivould f Webster. A. S. leof, dear, beloved;
Ger. lieb, dear; Lat. libet, it pleases. Eng. lief, gladly, willingly. The
old English form would have been, Me [i.e., to me] were [i.e., it would
be, or would have been] as lief [i.e., as pleasing].—4. Nor do not. I.
ii. 158; I I I . i. 163, 164. —8. h e a r . The folios say see. Better? " T h e
ears of the groundlings are not split by what they see." Fnrness. — 9.
periwig-pated. Periwig (anglicised from Fr. perruque, which comes
from Ital. pilucca, a mass of severed hair; Span, peluca; Lat. pilus, hair)
dropped its peri from a notion that it was the Greek prefix irepi, peri!
Hence arises wig ! Wigs were worn by actors, but not commonly by
gentlemen, in the time of Shakespeare. For pate, head, see I I . ii. 557.
—10. g r o u n d l i n g s = the rabble on the ground or floorless pit of the
theatre ? They paid a penny for admission. — c a p a b l e of = able to understand or appreciate ? —11. i n e x p l i c a b l e = unintelligible [Schmidt] V
without words to explain them [Johnson] ? too confusedly conducted
to explain themselves [Steevens] ? — dumb-shows. See lines 118-120.

112

HAMLET.

[ACT I I I .

have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing T e r m a g a n t ; it'outherods Herod : pray you, avoid it.
1 Player. I warrant your honor.
14
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 any thing so overdone is from
the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now,
was and is, to hold, as 't were, the mirror up to nature ; to
show virtue her own 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 make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve ; the censure
of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole
theatre of others. O, there be players that I have seen play,
and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it pro—12. Termagant. One of the idols the Saracens were supposed to
worship. Old Fr. tervagant; Ital. trivagante. Possibly the moon; Lat.
ter (thrice: in heaven, Selene or Luna; on earth, Artemis or Diana; in
the lower world, Persephone or Proserpina); Lat. vagans (wandering).
Skeat. Like the " triple Hecate " ? Termagant was often introduced in
the old mysteries, moralities, farces, and puppet-shows, as a most violent and boisterous character. Present meaning?—13. Herod was
also a violent, noisy character in many of the old plays, " of course,
a furious tyrant," a "vaunting braggart." — out-herods. Like outvillained villany in All's Well, IV. iii. 250. Horace Mann used the expression " out-calhouns Calhoun." See Matt. ii. 16. —18. modesty implies a little more than moderation? — from = apart from, away from
[Abbott, 158]? contrary to [Clark and Wright] ? —Macbeth, III. ii. 131,
and III. iv. 36; Julius Ccesar, I. iii. 35. — 22. his. See note on I. ii. 216.
— pressure = imprint, character [Rolfe] ? resemblance, as in a print
[Johnson] ? See I. v. 100. This description of the purpose of playing
is famous. Is it accurate ? Are the words scorn and age happily chosen ?
scorn = vice, that which is foul [Moberly] ? — 23. come tardy off— " underdone " ? too feebly represented, where the actor, as it were, limps behind the true conception of the character [Clark and Wright] ? without
spirit or animation [Caldecott] ? come short of [Mason] ? The quarto
of 1676 has of for off, and Hudson, Furness, and others read of. — Abbott,
165, — 24. censure, as in I. iii. 69.—one = one class [Caldecott]? one
person [Delius, etc.] ? " Of the ivhich one " means of one of which, or of
whom. Hudson. — 25. allowance = estimation, approval [Hudson]? —
26. b e . Abbott, 300. Been or ben was anciently the plural of the indicative present; afterwards be, as in King James's version of the Bible. —
27. not to speak it profanely = to avoid profane swearing? Says
Johnson, " Any gross or indelicate language was called profane."
" Highly, not to speak it profanely," says Mason, " refers to the praise
given to the players; Hamlet considering it a kind of profanation to
praise persons highly who were so undeserving of it. The construction
is 'highly, not to say profanely.' " Caldecott remarks, "Hamlet-says
that he does not mean to speak profanely by saying that there could be
any such thing as a journeyman Creator." " The profanity consists in

SCENE I I . ]

113

HAMLET.

fanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians nor the
gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had
made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity
so abominably.
32
1 Player. I hope we have reformed that indifferently with
us, sir.
34
Hamlet. 0 , 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
mean time some necessary question of the play be then to be
considered: that's villanous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready.
41
[Exeunt Players.
Enter POLONIUS, EOSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN.

How now, my lord ! will the king hear this piece of work ?
Polonius. And the queen too, and that presently.
Hamlet.

Bid the players make haste. —

[Exit POLONIUS.

Will you two help to hasten them ?
Posencrantz.
Tw
-n
i ^
Guildenstem. J
' J
•
[Exeunt

Hamlet.

45

ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

What ho ! Horatio !
Enter

HORATIO.

Horatio. Here, sweet lord, at your service.
Hamlet. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man
alluding to Christians." Furness. Well, which ? or — ?— 29. nor m a n
= nor even man [Clark and Wright, etc.]? nor even of any human being whatever ? The 1st quarto has nor Turk, which Hudson adopts.
White reads " or Turk." The folios have " or Norman." Farmer suggested Mussulman. What think you of these readings? — 31. m a d e m e n .
So all the early editions. Theobald suggested them for men, and Hudson
and Furness have adopted it. Wisely? The journeymen " h a d tried
their hand at making men (instead of sticking to their regular work on
inferior creatures). This seems in keeping with ' imitated humanity.' "
Rolfe. — 33. indifferently = measurably, tolerably well? III. i. 122.—
36. c l o w n s speak no more, etc. The clown used to try to make fun
by extemporized buffoonery, sometimes bandying raillerjr and sarcasm
with persons in the audience. See White or Rolfe for specimens of such
extemporizing. — 37. there be. Abbott, 399, and following. I I I . i. 8.
Leviticus iv. 16. — 38. quantity = insignificant portion? The word appears to be repeatedly used contemptuously in Shakespeare. — barren
of sense, witV—43. presently. See II. ii. 170, 578,-49. just a. m a n .

114

HAMLET.

[ACT III.

As e'er my conversation cop'd withal.
50
Horatio. O, my dear lord, —
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 flatter'd?
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,
55
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
Hath seal'd thee for herself ; for thou hast been
60
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing,
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Hath ta'en with equal thanks : and blest are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled
" Horatio is the only complete man in the play, — solid, well-knit, and
true; a noble, quiet nature, with that highest of all qualities, judgment,
always sane and prompt." Lowell (see the whole passage in Among My
Books, vol. i. pp. 216, 217. — 50. conversation = converse, intercourse ?
— cop'd = encountered [Caldecott, Wright, etc.] ? dealt ?—A. S. cedpian,
to cheapen; cedp, a bargain; Dutch koop, a bargain; koopen, to buy;
Lat. caupo, a huckster; copa, a barmaid; Gr. /ca^Ao?, kapelos, a peddler.
The original sense of cope was " to bargain with," " t o chaffer with; " a
word introduced into England by Flemish and Dutch traders. Skeat.
In Mer. of Venice, IV. i. 403, cope = reward, requite, pay. — w i t h a l =
with. I. iii. 28. Abbott, 196.—53. revenue. Shakespeare accents
either 1st or 2d syllable at pleasure. Hudson remarks that Webster,
Choate, and Everett accented 2d syllable. What tendency in accentuation is illustrated by this word and " character " (I. iii. 59), " aspect" (II.
ii. 539) " contrary " (III. ii. 194) ? Abbott, 490. —55. candied = sugared,
flattering, glozing [Dyce] ? Arabic and Per. qand, sugar, sugar-candy;
qandi, made of sugar, sugared; Ital. candire, to candy; candi, candy.
No connection with Lat. Candidas, white. — absurd. Accent? — 56.
crook, etc. = let the tongue crook [Wright and Clark] ? crook thou?
let the hinges crook (i.e., bend, be bent) [Tschischwitz] ? let the person
who has a candied tongue crook [Rolfe, Wright, etc.] ? — pregnant =
quick, ready, prompt [Johnson] ? artful [Moberly] ? designing, full of
deceit [Nares] ? bowed, swelled out [Caldecott] ? * Twelfth Niqht, I I . ii.
26, and III. i. 88, favor Johnson's. So Lear, I I . i. 76, and IV. vi. 203.
" ' Pregnant,' because untold thrift is born from a cunning use of the
knee." Furness. II. ii. 208. —57. thrift = gain, profit? In I. ii. 180,
thrift — economy. — f a w n i n g . " Faiming of the folios is . . . another
form of fawning, just as good, if not better." Stratmann. — 58. dear
soul. See on dearest, I. ii. 182. This resembles the childlike phrases
of Homer, as <t>L\ov ^rop, philon etor, (my) dear heart. — 59. of = about
[Abbott, 174]? The second and third quartos read "distinguish her
election, S'hath [i.e., she hath] sealed," etc. This is favored by Ritson,
and Corson thinks it may be right. Better sense ? In 2 Henry VI., I I .
i. 130, we read " distinguish of colors." For sealed, see John vi. 27. Was
Shakespeare familiar with the Bible? —64. blood and judgment =

SCENE II.]

HAMLET.

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
I n my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee. — Something too much of this. —
There is a play to-night before the k i n g ;
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 mine uncle ; if his occulted guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
I t 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
I n censure of his seeming.
Horatio.
Well, my lord ;

115
65

70

75

80

passions and reason [Caldecott] ? According to the doctrine of the four
humors, desire and confidence were seated in the blood, judgment in the
phlegm, and the due mixture of the humors made a perfect character.
Johnson. See Julius Ccesar, V. v. 73-75; Hamlet, IV". iv. 58. — 69. As I
do thee. Is Hamlet at all like Horatio ? Why is he so attracted to
him ? Do opposites draw or repel each other ? — Something too much,
etc. W h y ? The genuine manliness of this little sentence, where
Hamlet checks himself . . . is precisely one of Shakespeare's exquisite
touches of innate propriety in questions of feeling. Clarke. Is Clarke
right ? What light does all this speech to Horatio throw on the question of Hamlet's sanity ? — 72. told thee. Had told Horatio all ? Why
had he not told Ophelia? —73. afoot = being performed [Rolfe]? going
on [Meiklejohn] V acting, in progress ? The a in afoot is for on. A. S.
on; allied to Icel. d, and Gr. dva, ana, up, upon. —74. t h e very comment of the soul = the most intense direction of every faculty [Caldecott] ? all thy powers of observation [Clark and Wright] ? the most
intimate and real intuition of thy mind [Meiklejohn] ? The folios have
" m y soul," which some prefer. Your choice? — 75. occulted = hidden, concealed? Lat. occulere, to cover over; occultus, hidden.—76.
one speech. II. ii. 525. — unkennel. In Merry Wives of Windsor,
I I I . iii. 142, we have, " We'll unkennel the fox." Ital. canile, a kennel;
Lat. canis, dog; Old Fr. chenil, dog-house. The termination il is imitated from Lat. -He = a place for. Skeat. — 77. damned = sentenced for
his wickedness to damnation [Douce] ? " a goblin damned" (I. iv. 40),
and therefore not to be believed [Rolfe] ? I I . ii. 585-590. — 79. stithy =
smithy, forge, workshop? anvil? A. S. stathol, firm; a foundation,
basis; Icel. stethi, an anvil. Stith-y, properly a smithy, but also used
with the sense of anvil. Skeat. — note = attention ? So repeatedly in
Shakespeare. — 82. censure = judgment, opinion (I. iii. 69)? making
=
estimate [Caldecott]? forming an opinion [Rolfe, etc.]. — seeming =.

116

HAMLET.

[ACT H I .

If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing,
And scape detecting, I will pay the theft.
Hamlet. They are coming to the play ; I must be idle :
Get you a place.

85

Danish march.
A flourish. Enter KING, QUEEN, POLONIUS,
OPHELIA, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and others.
King. How fares our cousin Hamlet?
Hamlet. Excellent, i' faith ; of the chameleon's d i s h : I
eat the air, promise-crammed ; you cannot feed capons so.
King. I have nothing with this answer, H a m l e t ; these
words are not mine.
91
Hamlet. No, nor mine now. — \_To POLONIUS] My lord, you
played once i' the university, you say?
',
Polonius. T h a t did I , my lord, and was accounted a good
actor.
95
Hamlet. W h a t did you enact?
Polonius. I did enact Julius Csesar: I was killed i' the
Capitol; Brutus killed me.
appearance ?— 83. steal, etc. = contrive so to carry it off as [sic] that the
slightest conscious feeling he shows should escape unobserved [Caldecott] ? If he were trying to steal something, I would pledge myself to
detect him or else to pay for the stolen property [Rolfe] ? — 84. theft.
See Exodus xxii. 4.—"85. idle = unoccupied ? foolish, light-headed, crazy [Clark and Wright] ? aimless, going hither and thither like an idiot
[Delius] ? mad [Staunton] ? appearing to have nothing to do with the
matter [Moberly, Rolfe, etc.]? behaving as if my mind were purposeless, or intent upon nothing in particular [Hudson] ? —87. fares. In
his answer, Hamlet gives a different sense to the word. Is it a habit of
his ? I I . ii. 193, 195. The word originally meant to travel. Ger. fahren;
A. S. faran, to go. — 88. chameleon's. It was a current belief that this
animal fed on air. Gravely discussed by Sir Thomas Browne in Vulgar Errors, III. 21. — of, used partitively ? Abbott, 177. —89. promisecrammed. What promises ? — 90. I have nothing, etc. = this answer
is not founded on any act of mine [Moberly]? I have nothing to do
with it [Rolfe] ? — 91. not mine, etc. No relation to any thing said by
me [Caldecott] ? — 92. nor mine n o w = they are now anybody's [Caldecott]? I am mad, and therefore not answerable for what I said a minute ago [Moberly] ? " A man's words," says the proverb, " are his own
no longer than he keeps them unspoken." Johnson. Choose. — 93. university. Why does Hamlet turn so abruptly from the king ? Is he conscious of the latter's enmity ? fearful of a possible display of it ? Latin
and sometimes English plays w^ere acted by students in the English
universities, especially for the entertainment of great personages. The
titlepage of the first quarto of Hamlet shows that it had been played
" in the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford." See Fumess. — 96.
enact. Affected style of speech [Delius]? Shakespeare uses it in
Tempest, IV. i. 121, where there is no affectation. —97. Caesar, A Latin
play on this subject was performed at Oxford in 1582. Malone. — 98.
Capitol. Rather the Curia Pompeii (council-hall of Pompey) near

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

117

Hamlet.
I t w a s a b r u t e p a r t of him t o kill so c a p i t a l a calf
t h e r e . — B e the players ready?
100
Rosencrantz.
A y , m y lord ; t h e y s t a y u p o n y o u r p a t i e n c e .
Queen.
C o m e h i t h e r , m y d e a r H a m l e t , sit b y m e .
Hamlet.
N o , good mother, here's metal more attractive.
\_Lying down at O P H E L I A ' S / ^ .
Polonius. [To the K I N G ] O, ho ! do you mark that?

Ophelia. You are merry, my lord.
105
Hamlet. Who, I ?
Ophelia. Ay, my lord.
Hamlet. 0 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 hours.
110
Ophelia. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord.
Hamlet. So long? Nay then, let the devil wear black, for
I '11 have a suit of sables. O heavens ! die two months ago,
Pompey's Theatre in the Campus Martius, March 15, B.C. 44 ? — 99.
b r u t e . i . c a p i t a l . These puns may be allowable, but what are we
to think of his treatment of Polonius? Insanity ? —101. p a t i e n c e =
consent, permission [Rolfe, Delius, etc.] ? slowest and tardiest convenience [Caldecott] ? Tempest, I I I . iii. 3. Gr. naOelv, pathein, to suffer ;
Lat. pati, to suffer, endure. — s t a y upon = await.—108. y o u r only =
only your [White] ? Abbott, 420 —jig-maker. See I I . ii. 486. —110,
within's = within this [Delius]? within these [White, Dyce, etc.]? I n
Rom. and Juliet, V. ii. 25, is " Within this three hours will fair Juliet
wake." — 111. t w i c e t w o m o n t h s . Shall we accept this as fixing the
time? —113. sables, etc. " T h e fur of sables is not black." Johnson.
" Sables, the furs so called, are the finery of most northern nations ; so
that Hamlet's saying amounts to a declaration that he would leave off
his blacks." Capell. — suit of sables = the most splendid array; prohibited by the statute of apparel, 24 Henry IV. c. 13, to any one below the
rank of an earl [Moberly] ? " Sables, . . . the fur used for the trimming
of rich robes worn by persons of a grave and dignified character. . . .
There is an intended contrast combined with a play on words. Hamlet
having mentioned 'black,' the word which suggests itself as a contrast
to it is one which might be confounded with it. . . . The sables and
weeds of age are in this play, IV. vii. 79, [contrasted] with the careless
livery of youth." Clark and Wright. So Schmidt. Warburton and
White change for to fore, or make it = before ; " as much as to say, ' Let
the devil wear black for me, I'll have none.''' Wight wick, followed
by Hudson, reads sabell (i.e., couleur d'isabelle), flame-color. Halliwell
says, " Shakespeare's intention was most likely to make Hamlet here
speak incoherently." " The contrast," says Elze, "between a suit of
Gables and a black mourning garment, lies not in the color, but in the
costliness and splendor of the material. . . . Mourning garments . . .
are made of coarse and harsh material, whereas for the trimming of a
suit of sable the most gorgeous and brilliant stuff was selected." Keightley would insert not before have a suit! — " In summer the color of the
sable is reddish or brownish yellow, clouded with black and becoming
lighter toward the head ; in winter it is dark. The Siberian in winter
often has the whole body covered with lustrous blackish brown, or

118

[ACT m .

HAMLET.

and not forgotten yet? Then there 's hope a great man's
memory may outlive his life half a y e a r : 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 f o r g o t ! '
Hautboys

play.

The dumb-show

enters.

Enter a King and a Queen very lovingly; the Queen embracing him, and he her. She kneels, and makes show of
protestation unto him.
He takes her up, and declines his
head upon her neck; lays him down upon a bank of flowers:
she, seeing him asleep, leaves him.
Anon comes in a fellow,
takes off his crown, kisses it, and pours poison in the King's
ears, and exit.
The Queen returns, finds the King dead,
and makes passionate action.
The Poisoner, with some two
or three Mutes, comes in again, seeming to lament with her.
Tlie dead body is carried away.
The Poisoner ivooes the
Queen with gifts; she seems loath and unwilling awhile, but
in the end accepts his love.
[Exeunt.
Ophelia.
W h a t means this, my lord?
Hamlet. Marry, this is miching mallecho ; it means mischief.
121
sometimes quite black hairs, but with these are generally intermingled
white ones." Gill, in Johnson's Cyclopaedia. —115. lady = the Blessed
Virgin? —116, 117. not thinking on = being forgotten [Knight, etc.],
oblivion ?—118. the hobby-horse. Made by the figure of a horse fastened round the waist of a man, his own legs going through the body of
the horse and enabling him to walk, but concealed by a long foot-cloth ;..
while false legs appeared where those of the man should be at the sides
of the horse [Nares] ? The hobby-horse was used in the old Morrisdances and May games ; but the Puritans put a stop to it, to the grief.
of the boys. — dumb-shows. " Why the dumb-show should have been
introduced, is a question that has been much discussed but not satisfactorily settled." Rolfe. Hunter professes to have found out. He says :
" No one has hitherto hit upon the true origin of the show in Hamlet.
It seems that such strange and unsuitable anticipations were according
to the common practice of the Danish theatre." For particulars of his
discovery, see Fiimess, p. 242. Caldecott and Knight think that ''Ham- '
let, intent on 'catching the conscience of the king,' would naturally
wish that his 'mouse-trap' should be doubly set." Why, then, is not
the king frightened at the dumb-show ? Halliwell thinks that the king
and queen were inattentive to it, whispering confidentially to each
other. Likely ? — 120. miching mallecho = sneaking mischief [Moberlyj ? secret and insidious mischief [Schmidt] ? — Mich = to skulk,
hide, play truant. Mid. Eng. michen; Old Fr. miicer; later musser, to
hide,, conceal, lurk, squat in a corner. Skeat. Miching, written also
meaching, or meeching = retiring, skulking, mean. Webster. Mallecho is
Span, mal, i l l ; hecho, deed, or done ; Lat. male, ill ; factum, deed. (Lat.

SCENE I I . ]

EAMLET.

119

Ophelia. Belike this show imports the argument of the
play?
Enter Prologue.
Hamlet. We shall know by this fellow : the players cannot
keep counsel; they '11 tell all.
125
Ophelia. Will he tell us what this show meant?
Hamlet. Ay, or any show that you '11 show him ; be not
you ashamed to show, he '11 not shame to tell you what it
means.
Ophelia. You are naught, you are n a u g h t ; I '11 mark the
play.
131
Prologue.
For us, and for our tragedy,
Here stooping to your clemency,
We beg your hearing patiently.
[Exit.
Hamlet. Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?
Ophelia. ' T is brief, my lord.
Hamlet. A s woman's love.

135

Enter tivo Players, King and Queen.
Player King. Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone round
Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground,
And thirty dozen moons with borrow'd sheen
140
About the world have times twelve thirties been,
Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands
Unite commutual in most sacred bands.
Player Queen. So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make us again count o'er ere love be done!
145
/ o f t e n becomes Span, h.) Micher = skulker, truant; it occurs in 1 Henri)
IV., I I . iv. 378. — 122. B e l i k e = perhaps [Wright and Clark]? as it seems,
I suppose [Schmidt]? probably? I I I . ii. 273. — a r g u m e n t . I I . ii. 346.
—130. n a u g h t = nothing, worthless; a stronger word in Shakespeare
than in present speech. A. S. ndwiht, contracted to ndht; na, no, loiht,
whit, thing.— 135. posy = motto? Mer. of Venice, V. i. 146-149.. Posy
is a contraction of poesy. Lat. poesis, poetry ; Gr. TTO<VIS, poiesis, a making, a poem; noielv, poiein, to make; the poet was a maker! —138.
Phoebus' (the Bright or the Pure, the Shining One), the god of light, the
sun-god, Apollo. Gr. 4>ao?, phaos, ^w?, phos, light.— c a r t = chariot? In
this sense, cart was archaic, or even obsolete, in Shakespeare's time.
" The style of the interlude here is distinguished from the real dialogue
by rhyme." Coleridge. — 139. N e p t u n e ' s , god of ocean. See Class. Diet.
— w a s h = land washed by sea [Delius] ? sea itself [Wright and Clark] ?
— T e l l u s ' , earth. See Class. Vict. Akin to Lat. terra, land; or from
root TAL, to sustain. Skeat.— orbed = round, spherical [Wright and
Clark]? —140. sheen = shine, light, lustre? —142. H y m e n . G r . ' Y ^ ,
Humen, god of marriage. See Class, Diet. —143. c o m m u t u a l , stronger

120

HAMLET.

[ACT I I I .

But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So far from cheer and from your former state,
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must;
For women's fear and love holds quantity,
150
In neither aught, or in extremity.)
Now, what my love is, proof hath made you know,
And as my love is siz'd, my fear is so;
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear;
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.
155
Player 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,
Honor'd, belov'd; and haply one as kind
For husband shalt thou —
Player Queen.
O, confound the rest!
160
Such love must needs be treason in my breast;
In second husband let me be accurst!
None wed the second but who kill'd the first.
Hamlet.

\_Aside~\ W o r m w o o d , w o r m w o o d !

Player Queen. 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.

165

than mutual? —146. m e = to me = mine? Abbott, 230. —147. cheer =
cheerfulness? —148. d i s t r u s t you = distrust your health [Hudson] ? am
solicitous about you [Schmidt] ?—150. h o l d s q u a n t i t y = are in proportion to each other ? keep their relative proportion [Clark and Wright] ?
For holds, supposed to be an old form of the plural in s, see Abbott, 333,
336. Quantity — proportion. Lat. quantitas, quantity, extent; qvantus,
how much. —151. I n n e i t h e r , etc. = nothing in either, or else in extreme measure? no fear and no love, or both in excess [Moberly] ? —
153. sized. Small-sized, large-sized, are still in colloquial use. —154.
littlest. Comparative and superlative how regularly formed ? See the
grammars. Gobder, goodest, badder, baddest, are found in Elizabethan
writers. Inference as to the plastic, unsettled character of the language ? —157. o p e r a n t , active, operative V — Lat. operdri, to work; opus,
work. — Used again in Timon of Athens, IV. iii. 25, "operant poison." —
163. wed.. Imperative [Tschischwitz] ?—164. wormwood,
absinthium?
A. S, wermo'd, loerian, to protect; mdd, mood, mind, courage. A. S.
ivermdd unquestionably means ware-mood, or "mind-preserver." It has
nothing to do with loorm nor with ivood. Skeat.—165. instances = motives, inducements [Johnson, etc.]? —166. respects. I I I . i. 68. —167.
k i l l . . . d e a d . This phrase kill dead occurs also in Titus Andronicus,
I I I . i. 92, and Midsummer Night's Dream, I I I . ii. 269. May it mean kill
my dead husband, or is it tautological? —171-196. "Mr. and Mrs. Cowden Clarke believe that these are the ' dozen or sixteen lines' of II. ii.
525, because the diction is different from the rest of the dialogue, and is
signally like Hamlet's own argumentative mood." Rolfe. Does not this
supposition attach too much value to the outward form, and too little to
the intense desire of Hamlet to expose the murder V What do these lines
amount to ? What other lines hold up the mirror at the very crisis ?

SCENE II.]

BAM LET.

Player 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, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree,
But fall unshaken when they mellow be.
Most necessary 't is 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 enactures with themselves destroy:
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament;
Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident.
This world is not for aye, nor 't is not strange
That even our loves should with our fortunes change j)
For 't is a question left us yet to prove,
Whether love lead fortune or else fortune love.
The great man down, you mark his favorites flies;
The poor advanc'd 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 devices 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.

121

170

175

180

185

190

195

See the matter discussed in Furness.—171. purpose lasts but while
fresh in memory? —172. validity = value, worth, strength, efficacy?
Lat. valere, to be strong; Lithuanian wala, Sanskrit bala, strength. —
174. fall. Plural for singular on account of the intervening word
"fruit," the construction being changed by change of thought? See
Abbott, 415. Tschischwitz would read, " Like fruit unripe which now
sticks on the tree ; " for " purpose " cannot stick on a tree. — See use of
destroy in line 180. — 176. necessary = unavoidable ? natural [Hudson] ?
—180. enactures = determinations [Hudson]? action [Schmidt]? resolutions [Johnson] ? enactments [Wright] ? —183. aye. A. S. a, ever,
always; Gr. £«', aei, always. —184. loves = the love which others feel
for us [Moberly] ? lovers, friends ? See Mar, of Venice, V. i. 168, " I gave
my love a ring." —186. Whether. Monosyllable? II. ii. 17. Abbott,
466. Must we reduce every line to a regular iambic pentameter? —
187. favorite. So all the early editions but one, which reads favorites.
Says Abbott, 333, (and Furness, Corson, etc., concur,) " The Cxlobe reads
'favourite,' completely missing, as it seems to me, the intention to describe the crowd of favorites scattering in flight"
But how do they
know that a crowd scattering was intended? Hudson, Wright, etc.,
read " favourite." — 190. not needs. So " not bites," Tempest, V. i. 38 ;
" not doubt," Tempest, II. i. 121, etc. Abbott, 305. — seasons = matures,
ripens [Schmidt] ? brings to maturity in his true character [Clark and
Wright] ? confirms, establishes [Dyce] ? throws in an ingredient which
constitutes [Caldecott] ? See I. iii. 81. —194. contrary. Accent here ?
I. iii. 59. —198. die = let die V Is it third person imperative ? subjunc-

122

HAMLET.

[ACT

HI.

Player Queen. Nor earth id me give food, nor heaven light!
Sport and repose lock from me day and night!
200'
To desperation turn my trust and hope!
An 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,
205 •
If, once a widow, ever I be wife!
Hamlet.

If she should break it now !

Player King. >T is deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here a while;;
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.
[Sleeps:.
Player Queen.
Sleep rock thy brain;
210)
And never come mischance between us twain!
[Exiti*
Hamlet.
Madam, how like you this play?
Queen. The lady protests too much, methinks*
Hamlet. O, but she '11 keep her word.
King. Have you heard the argument? I s there no offence
in't?
216
Hamlet. No, no, they do but jest, poison in j e s t ; no offence i' the world.
King. What do you call the play ?
219
Hamlet. The Mouse-trap. 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 ; 't is
a knavish piece of work : but what o' that ? your majesty and
we that have free souls, it touches us n o t ; let the galled jade
wince, our withers are unwrung. —
225
tive used optatively or imperatively [Abbott, 364] ? — 202. anchor's
cheer, anchoret's fare. Gr. avaxapelv, anachorein, to retire ; avaxoipwyst
anachoretes, a recluse, a hermit, one who has retired from the world. —
scope = utmost aim. Gr. O-KOTTO?, scopos; Ital. scopo, a mark to shoot
at.—203. opposite = contrary thing? obstacle? opponent? —blanks =
blanches, makes pale? — joy. Its natural color ? —213. protests = solemnly affirms? — Often quoted? — 215. argument. III. ii. 122, II. ii.346.
Had the king and queen seen the dumb-show? — 216. offence = intended offence, insult, or insinuation by Hamlet? The king means a
moral " offence," Hamlet a physical " offence," or crime [Delius] ? — 220..
Tropically = figuratively, by a trope, or turn we give things ? Nowhere1
else used by Shakespeare. — Gr. TPOTTO?, tropos, a turning, the use of a.
word in a different sense from that which property belongs to i t ; as in.
metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony ? The quarto of 1603 reads>
trapically ; punning ? — 221. image = representation. — 222. duke's..
Duke is used indifferently for king. — Baptista, usually a man's name ;.
occasionally a woman's. —224. free. II. ii. 548.— 225. galled = rubbed
sore (by saddle or harness) ? Old Fr. (jailer, to gall, fret, itch, rub ; Lat.
callus; Fr. gale, scab, hardness, cutaneous disorder. Bracket. — jade =

SCENE I I . ]

.HAMLET.
Enter

123

LUCIANUS.

This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king.
Ophelia. You are as good as a chorus, my lord.
Hamlet. I could interpret between you and your love, if I
could see the puppets dallying.
Ophelia. You are keen, my lord, you are keen.
230
Hamlet. Begin, murderer ; pox, leave thy damnable faces,
and begin. Come: the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.
Lucianus. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing;
Confederate season, else no creature seeing;
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected,
With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected,
Thy natural magic and dire property,
On wholesome life usurp immediately.
239
\_Pours the poison into the sleeper's ear.
a sorry nag, a tired-out horse. — withers = the ridge between the shoulder-blades of a horse? A. S. withre, resistance ; Goth, withra, against.
It is the part which the horse opposes to his load, or on which the stress
of the collar comes. Skeat.— u n w r u n g = untwisted, unwrenched, ungalled, untortured ?—The emphasis to be placed on galled and our?—
227. chorus. In the Greek drama, the company wlio were called the
chorus beheld the scenes, and commented upon them in song. A chorus
explains the action in Henry V., Winter's Tale, and Romeo and Juliet. —
228. interpret. Every " Motion," or puppet-show, had its interpreter
on the stage to explain. — love = lover? The allusion is to a puppetshow in which Ophelia and her lover were to play a part. Schmidt. —
229. dallying = interchanging caresses? sporting? — 231. pox = smallpox be upon thee ? or, thou small-pox ? A. S. poc, a pustule. Pox is a
corrupt spelling of the plural pocks, which Webster defines as " a n exanthematic disease, consisting of a constitutional febrile affection, and a
cutaneous eruption." Very naturally used to anathematize? — 232. The
croaking, etc. Hamlet rolls into one two lines of an old familiar
play. . . . ."The sereeking raven sits croking for revenge Whole herds
of beasts comes bellowing for revenge." Simpson, 1874. The raven and
his voice were ominous? Macbeth, I. v. 3(5 to 38.-235. Confederate
season = opportunity conspiring [Clark and Wright] ? No creature but
time looking on, and that a confederate in the act [Hudson]? —236.
midnight w e e d s . So in Macbeth, IV. i. 25, " Root of hemlock digg'd
i' the dark ; " and Virgil, sEneid, IV. 513, 514, " messm ad lunam qnceruntur . . . Pubentes herbw nigri cum lacte veneni," downy herbs cropped
by moonlight, with milk (sap) of deadly poison. — 237. Hecate's. Dissyl., as in Milton's Comus, line 135 ? Hecate was a mysterious divinity,
representing perhaps the phases of the moon. She was sometimes
identified with Selene or Luna in heaven, Artemis or Diana on earth,
Persephone or Proserpina in Hades. A threefold goddess, she is represented with three faces or heads. She became a deity of the lower
world, whence she sent demons and phantoms at night. She taught
sorcery and witchcraft. Her approach was announced by the whining and howling of dogs. — 239. usurp —let them usurp [Walker]? —

124

HAMLET.

[ACT III.

Hamlet, H e poisons him i' the garden for 's estate. His
name 's Gonzago; the story is extant, and writ in choice
Italian. Yon shall see anon how the murtherer gets the love
of Gonzago's wife.
Ophelia. The king rises !
Hamlet. What, frighted with false fire !
245
Queen. How fares my lord?
Polonius. Give o'er the play !
King. Give me some light! — away !
All. Lights, lights, lights !
[Exeunt all but HAMLET and HORATIO.
Hamlet. Why, let the strucken deer go weep,
250
The hart ungalled p l a y ;
For\some must watch, while some must sleep:
So runs the world away.
Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers — if the rest of
my fortunes turn Turk with me — with two Provincial roses
on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players,
sir ?
* 257
Horatio. Half a share.
Hamlet. A whole one, I .
For thou dost know, O Damon dear,
260
This realm dismantled was
Of Jove himself ; and now reigns here
A very, very — pajock.
245. false fire = blank cartridges? mere fireworks [Moberly] ? — 250.
strucken. Repeatedly used by Shakespeare. He has also fretten,
fouc/hten, siveaten. Abbott, 344. That is, the arrow has struck the king
in the vitals [Moberly] ? — go w e e p . See the beautiful description of the
stricken deer weeping " big round tears," in As You Like It, II. i. 33-40.
— 254. feathers "were much worn on the stage in Shakespeare's time"
[Malone] ? — 255. turn Turk = undergo a complete change for the
worse [Schmidt] ? change completely [Clark and Wright] ? turn traitor
[Hudson] ? —Provincial roses = rosettes of ribbons from Provins (near
Paris), or Provence in South of France [Clark and Wright] ? Both
were famous for roses. Such rosettes were worn on shoes by actors.
Says Tschischwitz, " I t is clear that Shakespeare here wrote provisional . . . that is, make-shift roses." Likely? —256. razed = slashed or
streaked in patterns [Clark and Wright] ? embroidered [Hudson] ?
" Some (shoes) of black velvet, some of white, some of red, some of greene,
razed, carved, cut, and stitched all over with Silke." Stubbes, 1595. To
raze = to stripe. Hudson. Some would read raised for razed, explaining
by high heels and soles. Better? — cry = troop, company? a f e l l o w ship in a cry = a partnership in a company [Hudson] ? Cry is several
times used by Shakespeare for pack of dogs, as in Coriolanus, III. iii.
120, " Y o u common cry of curs."—258. share. Theatre receipts were
divided into shares, of which each actor had a part of one, or had more.
No one received a salary. Theatrical property was joint stock. See

SCENE II.]

125

HAMLET.

Horatio. You might have rhymed.
Hamlet. O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a
thousand pound. Didst perceive ?
266
Horatio.
V e r y well, m y lord.
Hamlet.
U p o n t h e talk of t h e p o i s o n i n g ?
Horatio.
I d i d very well n o t e h i m .
Hamlet.
A h , h a ! Come, some music ! come, t h e recorders ! —
*
271
F o r if t h e k i n g like n o t t h e comedy,
W h y t h e n , belike, — h e likes it n o t , p e r d y . —
C o m e , some m u s i c !
Re-enter
Guildenstern.
yOU.

ROSENCRANTZ and G U I L D E N S T E R N .
G o o d m y lord, vouchsafe

m e a word with
276

Hamlet. Sir, a whole history.
Guildenstern. The king, sir, —
Hamlet. Ay, sir, what of him ?
Guildenstern. I s in his retirement marvellous distempered.
Hamlet. With drink, sir?
281
Guildenstern. No, my lord, rather with choler.
Hamlet. Your wisdom should show itself more richer to
signify this to his doctor; for, for me to put him to his purgation would perhaps plunge him into far more choler.
285
Furness. — 258. I = say I [Caldecott] ? Malone, Hudson, Singer, and
others, change I to ay. Well ? Ay or aye is always printed / in the
oldest editions. — 260. D a m o n and Pythias are Horatio and Hamlet ?
Story of their friendship ? — 262. Jove. See III. iv. 56. — 263. pajock =
peacock [Dyce and Furness] ? This alludes to the fable of the birds
choosing a king; instead of the eagle, a peacock [Pope] ? Instead of
peacock, learned commentators have argued that the right word was paddock, a toad ; puttock, a kite ; meacock, a cravenly bird ; bawcock, fine
fellow ; pajuck, doorkeeper ; patchock, clown ; hedjocke, hedgehog! Leo
suggests that Hamlet does not use any word at all, but leaves the line
incomplete, and that pajock is a misprint for the stage direction [hiccups] ! The peacock in Shakespeare's day had a very ill repute, " voice
of a fiend, head of a serpent, pace of a thief," and was regarded as the
incarnation of pride, envy, cruelty, lust. — 264. rhymed. To what V —
266. pound. Shakespeare also uses shilling, mile, year, horse, etc., as
plurals. Maetzner, vol. i. pp. 230, 240. SeeV. i. 158. —270. r e c o r d e r s .
Bacon (Century, I I I . sec. 221) says the recorder is straight, with a less
bore and a greater. See Milton's Paradise Lost, I. 551. — 273. perdy.
^Corrupted from French par Dieu.—280. marvellous. See I I . i. 3.—
distempered = discomposed, overtaken [Caldecott] ? disordered (in
mind or body) [Clark and Wright] ? Guild, uses it in one sense ; Hamlet applies it in the other? —281. drink. Innuendo by Hamlet?—282.
choler — anger ? Gr. x6Ao<r, cholos, bile, wrath. " Go, show your slaves
how choleric you are." Julius Ccesar, IV. iii. 43. — 283. should. I I . ii.
202.—more richer. So more nearer, II. i. 11.— 284. purgation. A

126

HAMLET.

[ACT I I I .

Giiildenstern. Good my lord, put your discourse into some
frame, and start not so wildly from my affair.
Hamlet. I am tame, sir; pronounce.
Giiildenstern. The queen, your mother, in most great affliction of spirit, hath sent me to you.
290
Hamlet. You are welcome.
Giiildenstern. 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 my business.
Hamlet. Sir, I cannot.
296
Giiildenstern. What, my lord ?
Hamlet. Make you a wholesome answer; my wit 's 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, —
301
Bosencrantz. Then thus she s a y s : 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.
306
Bosencrantz. 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 ?
310
Bosencrantz.s My lord, you once did love me.
Hamlet. So I do still, by these pickers and stealers.
Bosencrantz. Good my lord, what is your cause of distemplay on the legal and medical senses of the word ; clearing one's self
from crime, and purifying the body? —286. frame = order, orderly
arrangement ? In Love's Labor's Lost, III. i. 188, " out of frame " = disordered.—288. pronounce. Lat. pro, forth, nunciare, to tell, speak.—
295. pardon = leave to go? I. ii. 56. Lat. per, thoroughly ; don are, to
give, donitm, gift. —298. wholesome = reasonable [Schmidt]? sane, sensible [Clark and Wright] ? —wit's diseased. Seriously spoken ? —303.
amazement = utter bewilderment ? perturbation of mind ? See 1 Peter
iii. 6. A. S. d, intensive ; Norwegian masa-st [st = one's self], to lose one's
senses, and begin to dream ; -ment, Lat. -men or -mentum, result. — admiration = wonder ? I. ii. 192. — 307. closet. II. i. 77. — 309. shall as
in II. i. 3 ?—310. trade = business, dealing [Johnson] ? Is there a sneer
implied ? Trade originally meant way of life, occupation ; from A. S.
tredan, to tread. — 312. So. Coleridge sees much meaning in so; he
would make it very emphatic. Does Hamlet falsify here? Does his
old regard for his schoolmate shine out for a moment ?— pickers, etc.
" My duty towards my neighbor is . . . to keep my hands from picking
and stealing." Catechism, Book of Common Prayer. " By this hand,"
was a familiar oath, as in Tempest, III. ii. 56, 78. — 313. your cause of

SCENE I I , ]

SAMLET.

127

per? you do, surely, bar the door upon your own liberty, if
yon deny your griefs to your friend.
315
Hamlet. Sir, I lack advancement.
Rosencrantz. How can that be, when you have the voice
cof the king himself for your succession in Denmark ?
Hamlet. Ay,, sir^ but ' while the grass grows,' — t h e proverb is something musty. —
320
Re-enter Players with Recorders.
^0, the "recorders ! let me see o n e . — T o withdraw with you,
—xwhy do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you
*w©uld drive me into a toil ?
Guildenstern. O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love
is too unmannerly.
325
Hamlet. I do not well understand that. Will you play
upon this pipe?
Guildenstern. My lord, I cannot.
Hamlet. I pray you.
Guildenstern. Believe me, I cannot*
330
Hamlet* I do beseech you.
Guildenstern. I know no touch of it, my lord.
#
Hotmlet. ' T is as easy as lying; govern these ventages
with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth,
'distemper = the muse of your disorder [Clark and Wright] ? or is causeof-distemper a compound noun ? I. iv. 73.— 317. the voice, etc. Allusion to I. ii. 109 ? The crown was elective, not hereditary [Blackstone] ?
See V. ii. 343.—319. w h i l e the grass, etc. The proverb in full, as
given in Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra, 1578, is, " While grass doth
grow, «offt starves the silly steed." — 321. To w i t h d r a w , etc. = to have
done with you [Capell] V to speak a word in private with you [Schmidt]?
" T o withdraw with you ? " Is that your meaning (by the gesture you
imaike) [Steevens and Caldecott] ? To draw back with you ; i. e., leave
tthat scent or trail (a hunting term like that which follows) [Singer] V
Tjust step aside for a moment [Moberly] ? Various emendations are suggested, as So, or Go, for To; but without authority. — 322. go about —
attempt, undertake [Rolfe, etc.] ? go in a roundabout way to work ?—to
recover the w i n d " i s a term borrowed from hunting, and means to
take advantage of the animal pursued, by getting to the windward of it,
that it may not scent its pursuers." Hudson, Windward or leeward ?
Clark and Wright explain thus : to get to windward of the game, so as
to startle it and make it run in the direction of the toil. Choose ! — 323,
toil. Lat. tela, web, thing woven ; texZre, to weave ; Fr. toile, cloth. —
324. if m y duty, etc. = if I am using an unmannerly boldness with
=
you, it is my love that makes me do so [Hudson] ? if my sense of duty
makes me too bold, it is my love for you that causes it [Eolfe]?* " Probably . . . an unmeaning compliment. As Hamlet did not well understand, . . . commentators may be excused from attempting to explain."
Clark and Wright. — 333. lying. Insinuating, or twitting. — ventages =
air-holes of the pipe ? Lat, ventus, wind ; Fr. vent, wind. Ventages was

128

[ACT III.

HAMLET.

and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these
are the stops.
Guildenstern. But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony ; I have not the skill.
338
Hamlet. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you
make of m e ! 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 the
top of 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 can
fret me, you cannot play upon me. —
Enter POLONIUS.

God bless you, sir !
Polonius. My lord, the queen would speak with you, and
presently.
350
Hamlet. D o you see yonder cloud t h a t ' s almost in shape
of a camel?
Polonius. B y the m a s s , a n d ' t is like a camel, indeed.
•Hamlet. M e t h i n k s it is like a weasel.
Polonius. I t is b a c k e d like a weasel.
355
Hamlet. O r like a whale ?
Polonius. V e r y like a whale.
Hamlet. T h e n will I come to m y mother b y a n d b y . —
[Aside'] T h e y fool m e to the t o p of my bent. — I will come
by a n d b y .
360
Polonius.

Hamlet.

I will s a y s o .

[Exit

POLONIUS.

B y a n d by is easily said. — L e a v e m e , friends.
[Exeunt

all but H A M L E T .

' T is now t h e very witching time of night,
perhaps coined by Shakespeare ? — 335. eloquent. The folios read excellent. Any better? — 336. stops = the mode of stopping, the ventages
so as to make the notes [Singer, Hudson] ? sounds formed by stopping
the holes [Malone] ?—344. s p e a k = discourse [in 335] ? — 345; 'Sblood.
II. ii. 358.-347. fret = annoy? use the stops? Play on the word?
" Frets are small lengths of wire on which the fingers press the strings."
Dyce, quoting from Busby's Dictionary. " Though you can vex me,
you can not impose on me." Douce.— 353, 355, 357. Any real resemblance ? or is Polonius dropping into his old habit ? — 358. by and b y =*
immediately, very soon? So in the Bible, as Matthew xiii. 21. — 359.
fool me,' etc. — humor me to the full height of my inclination [Hudson]
to the utmost, as much as I could wish [Rolfe] ? For bent, see I I . ii. 30,
" Polonius has been using the method, common in the treatment of all
crazy people, of assenting to all that Hamlet says. This is what Hamlet refers t o " [Hudson] ? — 363. w i t c h i n g c= witchcraf t-plying ? A. S.

SCENE III.]

HAMLET.

When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world ; now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother.
0 heart, lose not thy nature ; let not ever
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom ;
Let me be cruel, not unnatural.
1 will speak daggers to her, but use n o n e ;
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites:
How in my words soever she be shent,
To give them seals never, my soul, consent!
SCENE I I I .

129

355

370

[Exit.

A Room in the Castle.

Enter K I N G , ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN.
King. I Jike him not, nor stands it safe with us
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare y o u ;
I your commission will forthwith dispatch,
And he to England shall along with you.
The terms of our estate may not endure
Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow
Out of his lunacies.
Guildenstern.
W e will ourselves provide ;
Most holy and religious fear it is

5

vricca, a wizard ; wicce, a witch. Macbeth, II. i. 51,52. Midnight ? — 364.
y a w n , in order to let forth the ghosts ? See the tremendous image in
I. iv. 48 to 51. —366. bitter business. So the folios ; the quartos transpose bitter, so as to read bitter day. I n which place is bitter better? —
369. Nero (Emperor A.D. 54-68) murdered his mother Agrippina, who,
after the death of her husband Domitius, married her uncle, the Emperor Claudius. — 371. speak daggers. So Lord Chatham: " I have
now a few words to say to Mr. Attorney (Mansfield); they shall be few,
but they shall be daggers ! Felix trembles ! " See III. iv. 93 ; Much Ado,
II. i. 223. — Is this thought of matricide creditable to Hamlet ? Why
should he discuss it?-—372. tongue and soul . . . hypocrites. How?
— 373. shent = reproved harshly [Steevens]? hurt, wounded [Henderson] ? hardly entreated [White] ? threatened with angry words [Hudson] ? punished [Moberly] ? A. S. scendan, to disgrace, dishonor,
shame; Eng. shend, to injure, m a r ; blame, Webster. — 374. Seals are
what transform words into deeds, as in making law documents? To
give them seals = to confirm them by actions? carry the punishment
beyond reproof [Hudson] ?
SCENE III.—2. range = have free course? Fr. rang, a rank. The
sense of " t o r o v e " arose from the scouring of a country by troops or
ranks of armed men. Skeat. — 3. commission. Are they, then, consciously in the plot to kill Hamlet ? — 4. along. Abbott, 30. As to omission of go, Abbott, 405. — 6. near us. The folios read "dangerous."
Better?—7. lunacies. Theobald suggested " limes." The quartos
have browes, which Steevens thought might be a metaphor from horned

130

[ACT I I I .

HAMLET.

To keep those many, many bodies safe
That live and feed upon your majesty.
Rosencrantz. The single and peculiar life is bound
With all the strength and armor of the mind
T o keep itself from noyanee ; but much more
That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests
The lives of many. The cease of majesty
Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw
W h a t 's near it with i t : it is a massy wheel,
F i x ' d on the summit of the highest mount,
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things
Are mortis'd and adjoin'd ; which, when it falls,
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan.
King. Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage ;
For we will fetters put upon this fear,
Which now goes too free-footed.
Rosencrantz. )
^T
.,, , ,
n

ni

.

(ruilaenstern.

\

10

15

20

25

We will haste us.

j
[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.
Enter POLONIUS.

Polonius. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet.
Behind the arras I'll convey myself,
T o hear the process ; I'll warrant she'll tax him home :
cattle ! Henley thinks that the king conceived of Hamlet metaphorically as a bull! — Retaining the word lunacies, and recurring to line 2,
may we infer that the king now thinks Hamlet insane ? or would have
others think so ? — Scan. May the first two feet be dactyls ? — 9. many,
many. Emphatic, like " verily, verily " ? — 11. single and peculiar
life =: the private individual [Clark and Wright],—13. noyanee = injury (not to be printed 'noyanee) [Rolfe] ? annoyance [Webster] ?
Old Fr. anoi, annoyance; Lat. in odio, in hatred; FT. ennui. —14. depends a n d rests. Abbott, 335. See III. iv. 200. —15. cease = decease ?
Cease of majesty = the king dying? deceasing majesty [Bailey]. I n
line 11, life = the living man. Clark and Wright. —16. gulf = whirlpool ?
So used often in Shakespeare. — Fr. golfe, a gulfe, whirlpool; Gr. KOATTOS,
kolpos, bosom, bay, lap, deep hollow. —17. massy is five times used in
Shakespeare , massive, not at all. Rolfe. —18. mount, etc. = at the top
*
of the bank, at the edge of a mine [Moberly] ? — 21. annexment. Not
found elsewhere. Clark and Wright. — 24. arm = prepare? Lat. armare. to furnish with arma, i. e., with weapons or implements; furnish,
equip. — 25. fear = object of fear [Rolfe, etc.] ? — 29. process = proceedings?— Lat. pro, forth ; cedere, to go ; processus, progress, going-on.—
t a x = charge, censure, reprove ? —Lat taxdre, to touch sharply, inten=
sive of tangere, to touch. — home = thoroughly, soundly, to the utmost ?

SCENE III.]

131

HAMLET.

And, as you said, and wisely was it said,
' T is meet that some more audience than a mother,
Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear
The speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my liege ;
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,
And tell you what I know.
King.
Thanks, dear my lord.
^

,.„

.

,

.,

„

,

,

[Exit

30

35

POLONIUS.

0 , my offence is rank, it smells to heaven ;
I t hath the primal eldest curse upon 't,
A brother's murder ! Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence ?
And what 's in prayer but this twofold force, —
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I '11 look up ;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? ' Forgive me my foul murder? '
That cannot b e ; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.

40

45

50

55

III. iv. 1. — 30. you said = Polonius's own suggejstion, which he, courtier-like, ascribes to the king [Moberly]? probability? — 32. them =
whom? —33. of v a n t a g e = by some opportunity of secret observation
[Warburton] ? from the vantage-ground of concealment [Abbott, 165] ?
(speech) having an advantage (in that nature makes the speakers partial to each other) [Hudson] ? To " o'erhear of vantage " is to overhear
from an advantageous position [Clark and Wright]?—37. eldest.
The earliest? See Genesis iii. 14, iv. 11.—38. murder in apposition
with curse? or offence? — Pray. Account for defective metre. See
1. i. 129,132, etc. —39. w i l l was changed by Hanmer, Johnson, Heath,
Keightley and others, on suggestion of Theobald, to 't will; Warburton
substituted th* ill. — The distinction between " inclination " and " will"
is philosophically correct [Boswell] ? — " No change is needed." Clark
and Wright. " The inclination is the craving or impulse, . . . the will
is the determination of the reasoil or judgment." Hudson. See the treatises on mental philosophy. —45. rain enough. Macbeth, II. ii. 60, 61.
— 47. confront, etc. = oppose directly, and so to break down, the sin
[Clark and Wright] ? outface, etc. [Rolfe, etc.] ? —49, 50, forestalled
. . . or pardoned. Reference to " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" ? — 51. past = what ? — 55. ambition = the realiza-

132

HAMLET.

[ACT III.

May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 't is seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law ; but 't is not so above :
60
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can : what can it not ?
65
Yet what can it when one cannot repent?
O wretched state ! O bosom black as death !
*
O limed soul, that struggling to be free
Art more engag'd ! Help, angels ! Make assay !
Bow, stubborn knees ; and, heart with strings of steel,
70
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe !
All may be well.
[Retires and kneels.
tion of ambition [Delius] ? — Metonymy ? — 56. offence = effects of the
offence, or advantage gained by it ? Metonymy ? — He that does not
amend what can be amended, retains the offence [Johnson] ? — Similarly explain " ambition " ? — 57. c u r r e n t s = courses [Schmidt] ? Many
adopt Walker's emendation changing currents to 'currents = occurrents.
See V. ii. 345. Their object is to avoid the confusion of metaphor in
lines 57, 58. But what more natural than a mixed metaphor in the
king's anguish ? See I I I . i. 59. — 58. by = aside V — 59, prize, etc. The
Collier MS. reads purse. Better V " The thing acquired by wicked
means " [Dyce and White] ? — 60. B u y s o u t = is used to bribe [Rolfe] ?
Instances ? — 60, 61, etc. See the splendid outburst of Queen Katherine's wrath, "Heaven is above all yet! there sits a Judge That no
king can corrupt." Henry VIII., I I I . i. — 61. lies = is sustainable, can
be maintained ? This, the legal sense of lies, is accepted here by most *
critics. Necessarily?—62. his. "Neuter possessive" for its? See note
on it, I. ii. 216.—compelled. Ellipsis? Abbott, 228, 403, 9 5 . - 6 3 .
f a u l t s . Personification ? Picture the scene ! In our courts a witness
cannot be compelled to criminate himself ; " but 't is not so above " !
— 64. rests = remains ? Fr. rester, to remain; Lat. re, back, stare, to
stand, stay ; restdre, to stay behind, remain.—65. c a n . A. S. citnnan,
Icelandic kenna, to know;' Lat. (g) noscere; Gr. yi-yvioo-Keiv, gignoskein,
to know. As *' knowledge is power," the sense of ability gradually
arose.—68. limed = entangled, insnared ? To catch small birds, birdlime (extract of holly-bark mixed with grease) being very viscous, was
smeared on where they were likely to alight. The more they tried to
extricate their feet, the more firmly were they held. —69. e n g a g e d =
entangled, hampered? So in Milton's Comus, 193; Paradise Regained,
I I I . 347. Fv.gage, a pledge, a pawn ; A. S. icaed, a pledge, whence iced,
to marry ; wages, pledged pay; wager, property staked. Lat. vas, vadis,
bail, security, surety. " In architecture, engaged columns are probably
so called because they are caught or entangled, as it were, in the wall."
Rolfe.—assay = trial? m a k e assay = make onset, throng to the rescue [Brae] ? — Are the words addressed to the angels, or to himself ?
See quotation from Brae in Furness. — I I . i. 65. — 72. A l l m a y be w e l l

SCENE III.]

HAMLET.

133

Enter HAMLET.
Hamlet. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And now I '11 do 't. — A n d so he goes to heaven ;
And so am I reveng'd. That would be scann'd :
A villain kills my father; and for that,
I , his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven.
O, this is hire and salary, not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread,
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as M a y ;
And how his audit stands who knows save heaven ?
But in our circumstance and course of thought,
' T is heavy with him ; and am I then reveng'd,
To take him in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and season'd for his passage?

75

80

85

No!
'Ms remarkable; the degree of merit attributed by the self-flattering
soul to its own struggles, though baffled, and to the indefinite half
promise, half command, to persevere in religious duties." Coleridge.—
73. pat = quite to the purpose, fitly ? The sense is due to an extraordinary confusion of pat, a tap, a light stroke, with Dutch pas, pat, fit, convenient, in time. Skeat. — The quartos read ' ' but " for " pat." Equally
good ? — 74. heaven. I. ii. 182. — w o u l d = requires to [Abbott, 329]? —
77. sole. Three folios have foule; one, foul. Warburton conjectured
faVn; Heath, fool! Any need of change ? — 79. hire and salary. The
quartos read base and silly. Allowable ? — 80. grossly. Should this be
gross? in a gross, unshriven condition? full of impurity? With what
word does it belong, took, or father ? — f u l l of bread = pampered V
" This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and
abundance of idleness." Ezekiel xvi. 49. See Wordsworth on Shakespeare's Knowledge of the Bible. — As fasting was supposed to be conducive to sanctity, so the opposite, fulness of bread, would lead to sinfulness ? — 81. broad b l o w n . I. v. 76. —flush = full of sap and vigor
[Clark and Wright]? rosy r e d ? — The folios have fresh. Which is
preferable ? — Lat. flh&re, to flow; fluxus, a flowing? Or is it from Mid.
"Eng. flushent to redden, as " flushing " in I. ii. 155; akin to Swed. flossa,
to blaze ? — 82. audit stands = account stands ? Warburton thinks
Shakespeare forgot; " for the Ghost had told him very circumstantially
how his audit stood." Ritson replies that Hamlet was doubtful how long
the Ghost must remain in purgatory. Explanation satisfactory ?— Lat.
audire, to hear ; auditus, hearing, or audit, he hears. Audit is the technical term for examination of accounts, debits and credits, or the submission of an account?—83. in our circumstance, etc. = according
to human relations and thoughts [Delius] ? in the circumstance and
course of our thought [Clark and Wright] ? in our circumstances and
according to our way of thinking ? — Clark and Wright join " our" to
" thought; " as in I. iv. 73, they join " your " to " reason," and in III.
ii. 313, " y o u r " with "distemper." — 84. 't is heavy = punishment is
hard, it goes hard ? In Henry V., IV. i. 128, 129, we read, " The king
himself hath a heavy reckoning to make," i.e., at the judgment day. —
85. to take = were I to take [Moberly] ? in taking? Abbott, 356, 357.

134

HAMLET.

[ACT III.

U p , sword, and know thou a more horrid h e n t :
W h e n he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,
At gaming, swearing, or about some act
91
That has no relish of salvation in ' t ;
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,
And that his soul may be as damn'd and black
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays. —
95
This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.
[Exit.
King. [Rising'] My words fly up, my thoughts remain
below;
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
[Exit.
SCENE I V .
Enter

The Queen's Closet.

QUEEN and POLONIUS.

Polonius. H e will come straight. Look you lay home to
him ;
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
Macbeth, IV. ii. 69. " Gerundive use of infinitive " ? — 88. hent = hold,
seizure [Johnson] ? grasp (on the villain) [Moberly] ? grip, occasion to
be grasped [Clark and Wright] ? having, taking, opportunity [White] ?
" Hamlet's words would convey to the mind of a West-countryman a
very forcible image ; the sword, in its shearing through the flesh, being
compared to the passage of a ploughshare through the earth. This is
the Welsh hynt, Old Welsh hent" John Davies, 1876.—Hent, akin to
hand? Goth, hinthan; Lat. fjrehendere (pre-hend-ere) to seize; Gr.
Xav8dveiv, chandanein, to hold. —89. drunk asleep = " dead drunk " ? —
94. soul, etc. " T h i s speech. . . . is too horrible to be read or to be
uttered." Johnson. " Yet some moral may be extracted from it, as all
his subsequent calamities were owing to this savage refinement of
revenge." M. Mason. " Here Hamlet flies off to a sort of ideal revenge,
in order to quiet his filial feelings without violating his reason." Hudson. " Shakespeare had a full justification in the practice of the age in
which he lived. The true question is . . . whether or not Shakespeare
gave a faithful picture of human nature in a barbarous age." Caldecott. " Dr. Johnson's mistaking of the marks of reluctance and procrastination for impetuous, horror-striking fiendishness ! — of such importance is it to understand the germ of a character." Coleridye. " T h i s
refinement of malice here expressed by Hamlet is in truth only an
excuse for his own want of resolution." Hazlitt. " A s an excuse for
not then executing the command [of the Ghost], it is poor and trivial."
Hunter. — 95. stays = waits? — 96. physic, etc. Hamlet calls his temporary forbearance a physic which does not impart life to his foe, but
prolongs his illness [Delius] ? Physic refers to the reasons Hamlet has
been giving for not striking now [Hudson] ? Physic = delay [Moberly] ?
— 97, 98. " Oh, what a lesson concerning the essential difference between
wishing and willing, and the folly of all motive-mongering, while the
individual self remains ! " Coleridge.
SCENE IV. — 1 . s t r a i g h t . I I . ii. 418. — h o m e . I I I . iii. 2 9 . - 2 . broad
= free, open, unrestrained. Macbeth, III. iv. 23. Note that words indi-

SCENE I V . ]

HAMLET,

135

And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I '11 silence me even here.
P r a y you, be round with him.
5
Hamlet. [ WitJwi] Mother ! mother! mother !
Queen.
I '11 warrant you ;
Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.
[POLONIUS hides behind the arras.
Enter

HAMLET.

Hamlet. Now, mother, what 's the matter?
Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Hamlet. Mother, you have my father much offended.
io
Queen. Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Hamlet. Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Queen. Why, how now, Hamlet I
Hamlet.
W h a t ' s the matter now?
Queen. Have you forgot me ?
Hamlet.
No, by the rood, not so :
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife ;
15
And — would it were not so ! — you are my mother.
Queen. Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
Hamlet. Come, come, and sit you down ; you shall not
budge:
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
20
Queen. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, h o !
eating largeness, as compared with those indicating smallness, are very
likely to acquire an unfavorable sense, as if great quantity were inconsistent with precious quality! Is this shown in comparing coarse and
fine, broad and delicate, gross and nice?—4. silence me = use no more
words [Johnson] ? keep silence even here (in my place of concealment) ?
Hudson, Clark, Clark and Wright, Dyce, and others, change silence to
sconce, meaning ensconce. Wisely ? Does " silence," the uniform reading of the old editions, make good sense? —In Merry Wives of W.,
III. iii. 76, we read, " I will ensconce me behind the a r r a s : " would
Shakespeare be likely to repeat? or avoid repeating? —5. round. II.
ii. 139. — 7. Fear m e not. I. iii. 51. —12. wicked. The folios read
idle. Better? Is " w i c k e d " too strong? —13. What's the matter
n o w ? Walker suggested that these words are the queen's : Hudson
adopts the suggestion. Rightly?—14. rood = cross, crucifix? " I t
would appear that, at least in earlier times, the ' rood' signified not
merely the cross, but the image of Christ on the cross." Dyce.—A. S.
rdd, a gallows, cross ; properly a rod or pole. Skeat. Rolfe remarks
that we have the word in Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. —18. budge =
stir? —Fr. boitger, to stir. — Mer. of Ven., II. ii. 14, 15. —19. set . . .
glass. See III. ii. 20.— 21. murder. Is Hamlet so furious that she

136

HAMLET.

[ACT III.

Polonius. [Behind] What, h o ! help, help, help!
Hamlet. [Draiving] How now ! a rat? Dead, for a ducat,
dead !
[Makes a pass through the arras.
Polonius. [Behind'] O, I am slain !
[Falls and dies.
Queen. O me, what hast thou done?
Hamlet.
Nay, I know n o t ;
Is it the king ?
Queen. O, what a rash and bloody deed is this !
Hamlet. A bloody deed ! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Queen. As kill a king !
Hamlet.
Ay, lady, 't was my word. — 30
[Lifts up the arras and discovers POLONIUS.

Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune ;
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger. —
Leave wringing of your hands : peace ! sit you down,
And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
35
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not braz'd it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
Queen. What have I done, that thou darest wag thy
tongue
In noise so rude against me ?
Hamlet.
Such an act
40
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
really fears for her life? — 23. rat. This follows very closely The
Hystorie of Hamblet. Had Shakespeare read it V —dead, for a d u c a t ,
d e a d = I'll lay a wager for a ducat that he's dead ? Other explanation ?
For ducat, see Webster's Dictionary and IV. iv. 20.— 33. b u s y = officious ? meddlesome ? like a busybody ? — A. S. bysig, busy. — 34. w r i n g ing- of. I. v. 175. Abbott, 178, 8 9 . - 3 7 . brazM*. The quartos read
brasd; Hudson, etc., brass d. Any preference between the two?—38.
proof = impenetrable ? impenetrability itself ? Clark and Wright make
" proof " and " bulwark " both adjectives here. — b u l w a r k = fortified,
impregnable? or, a fortification? The association of proof with bidwark
suggests that proof may be a noun. Rolfe. — sense = feeling [Caldecott,
Wright, etc.] ? reason [Schmidt] ? — 39. w a g . So Henry VIII., I. i. 32, 33.
V. i. 257, " No discerner durst wag his tongue in censure." Old Swed.
wagga, to wag, fluctuate; Icelandic vagga, a cradle; akin to A. S. wagian,
to bear, move, and to ivaggon. — This word war/was not in Shakespeare's
time undignified. — 41. That. As and that seem to be used indifferently
after such in Shakespeare. Abbott, 279.—42. rose = ornament, grace
[Boswell] ? Warburton thinks it refers to an actual flower worn on the

SCENE IV.]

HAMLET.

And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths ; O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words : heaven's face doth glow,
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
Queen.
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud and thunders in the index ?
Hamlet. Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow :
Hyperion's curls ; the front of Jove himself ;

137

45

,
50

55

side of the face ! I I I . i. 152.—44. sets a blister = brands as a harlot
[Clark and Wright] ? Comedij of Errors, I I . ii. 135. See IV. v. 101,102.
— Aside from the Ghost's statement, is there any evidence that she had
been false to her former husband ? — 46. contraction = all engagements [Moberly] ? marriage contract [Warburton, White, etc.]? the
making of the marriage contract [Clark and Wright] ? The word is not
elsewhere in Shakespeare. — 48. rhapsody. '' Mingie-mangles of many
kinds of stuff, or, as the Grecians call them, Rhapsodies." Florio's
Montaigne. Gr. pdnreiv, rhaptein, to stitch or string together ; £S-q, ode,
song ; hence rhapsody, a wild, disconnected composition. —49. solidity
and compound mass = earth [Knight, Wright, etc.] solid and composite globe ? — In Shakespeare's conception, the earth Was an immovable mass at the centre of the universe [Clark and Wright] ? — 50. tristful = sorrowful ?— li&t.tristis, sad, mournful. —as against the doom
= as if doomsday were coming [Rolfe, etc.] ? as if to face the judgment
d a y ? — A. S. ddm, judgment; akin to Gr. 0e>-is, them-is, l a w ; Eng.
deem. — 51. thought-sick = sick with anxiety [Clark and Wright]?
supposed (to be) sick [Tschischwitz] ? See note on III. i. 85.—act =
dramatic act? — 52. index = prologue [Rolfe]? preface [Clark and
Wright] ? In Shakespeare's time an index, or table of contents, was
often prefixed. — 53. This picture, a n d on this. Are pictures of the
former and the present king hanging there ? Or does Hamlet seize a
miniature which he wears of his father, and one which his mother wears
of Claudius ? Or are the likenesses with his " mind's eye " only ? Steevens well suggests that " s t a t i o n " in line 58 implies a full-length portrait ? See Furness. — 54. counterfeit = imitated, mimic ? Lat. contra,
against; face're, to make ; Fr. contre, /aire, contrefeit. — presentment =
representation, portrait? " Counterfeit presentment, or counterfeit simply, was used for likeness." Hudson. — 55. This brow. The folios
and two quartos have his brow. Preference?—Hyperion's. I. ii. 140.
Hyperion, father of Helius, the sun-god, is often identified with Apollo,
who is represented as " the perfection of manly strength and beauty.
His long, curling hair hangs loose, and is bound behind with the strophium (wreath) ; his brows are wreathed with bay ; in his hands he
bears his bow or lyre." See the Apollo Belvedere. — 56. front. Lat.
fronb, forehead. — Jove. I I I . ii. 263. The majesty of the brow of Jupiter
is suggested by the magnificent Vatican head. See Milton's sublime
(lescription of Beelzebub, Parqdise Lost, II. 302, etc. ; also Iliad} I, 528,—

138

HAMLET.

[ACT i n .

An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Wh€;re every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man.
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows :
Here is your husband ; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes ?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor ? H a ! have you eyes ?
You cannot call it love, for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it 's humble,
And waits upon the judgment; and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion ; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd : for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd

60

65

70

57. Mars, the Greek Ares, was fierce and gigantic, but handsome withal.
58. station = posture? attitude in. standing [Theobald, etc.]? —Lat.
statio,& standing still; store, to stand.—Mercury, the Greek Hermes,
messenger of the gods, was represented as the perfect embodiment of
lightness and grace. So the famous statues represent him. See Class.
Diet.—59. new-lighted. "Shakespeare is fond of compounds with
neic." Rolfe. — heaven-kissing. In the Mneid, IV. 246, 247, 252, 253,
Mercury " in his flight espies the crest and steep sides of rugged [Mt.]
Atlas, who with his top supports the sky," and on the summit, " poising himself on his wings, he rested." Sumner, in one of his great
speeches in the U. S. Senate, speaks of " t h e earth-rooted, heaven-kissing granite that crowns the historic sod of Bunker's Hill." — 61, 62, 63.
See Julius Ccesar, V. v. 73, 74, 75. See Pandora, Class. Diet. — 64. ear.
See Genesis xli. 5-7.-66. leave = leave off, cease? So in I. ii. 155?
II. i. 51 ? line 34 of this scene ? — Gerundial infinitive ? " When a verb
is followed by another preceded by the preposition to, the construction
must be considered to have grown out of the so-called gerund, that is,
the form in -nne, i.e., the dative case. This is the construction with the
great majority of English verbs." Latham. —67. batten = fatten, feed
grossly? — Icel. batna, to grow better; Goth, gabatnan, to profit;
Gothic root BAT, preserved in better and best.— Milton has transitive
battening in Lycidas, 29.—69. hey-fIey = frolicsome wildness ? — The
word stands for high-day, Middle English hey or heigh, and day. Shakespeare uses it in three other places as interjection. See Mer. of Venice,
II. ix. 97 ; John xix. 31. —71. sense = sensation, sensibility [Staunton,
etc.]? reason [Capell] ? feeling [Clark and Wright] ? perception [Moberly] ? — 72. motion = impulse, desire [Staunton, Rolfe, etc.] ? emotion
[Clark and Wright]? bodily motion [Hudson] ? —73. apoplex'd =
paralyzed ? Gr. a™, apo, off; nkriaaetv, plessein, to strike ; aTroTrA^'a, apoplexia, stupor, apoplexy. — err, so ? — 74. sense. The first sense [injine
71] is sensation as necessary to bodily motion ; the second [in line 74]
refers to the mind, and comes pretty near meaning reason [Hudson] ? —

SCENE IV.]

HAMLET.

But it reserv'd some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. What devil was 't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes; smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame ! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell.
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire ; proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardor gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn,
And reason panders will.
Queen.
O Hamlet, speak no more ;
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul,
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.

139
75

80

85

90

75. quantity = measure, degree [Rolfe] ? portion [Clark and Wright]?
See III. ii. 38 ; V. i. 260. —76. serve in such a difference = help your
decision where the difference is so complete [Moberly] ? Sense was
never so dominated by the delusions of insanity, but that it still retained
some power of choice [Hudson]? — 77. cozened = cheated [Clark and
Wright]? flattered, beguiled?—Cozen is evolved out of cousin. Fr.cousiner, to call cousin, to sponge, to live upon other people ? See I. ii.
64. — hoodman-blind = blind-man's-buff ? A. S. hdd = hood, a covering for the head. Akin to hat? To hoodwink is to make one wink or
close his e^es, by covering his head. Skeat. — 79. sans. Lat. si, if.; ne,
not ; sine, without. Nares says the poets seem to have combined to
introduce this convenient French word into the English language, but
failed. Shakespeare uses sans four times in line 166, Act II. sc. vii.,
As You Like It. — 81. mope = be dull, be stupid, be incapable of reason ?
— Dutch moppen, to pout, grimace, sulk ; like mock and mop, from imitative root MU, to make a muttered sound. Skeat. — Why is this line
left short? I. i. 129, 132, etc.—83. mutine = rebel, mutiny? —The
original sense, says Skeat, is movement, well expressed by our commotion. Lat. motus, from movitus, moved; movere, to move; Old Fr. meute,
sedition ; Fr. emeute. — See " mutines," V. ii. 6. — 87. frost, etc. Par.
Lost, II. 595. — 88. panders w i l l = panders to appetite ? Pandarus'
name has become infamous through mediaeval romances that represent
him as a pimp. Hence the verb. — 90. grained = darkly stained
[White] ? deeply dyed [Skeat.] ? dyed in grain [Wright, Hudson, Rolfe,
etc.] ?— Grain (Lat. granum, a seed) originally meant the dye kerm.es,
obtained from the coccus (cochineal), insect. The round, seed-like body
or ovarium of this insect furnished a variety of red dyes that wrere peculiarly durable. When the original sense of grain faded, and the word
became expressive of fastness of color, then dyed in grain, originally
meaning dyed with kermes, then dyed with fast color, came to signify
dyed in the wool or other raw material; because fabrics so dyed held
their color remarkably well. See Marsh's Lectures on the English language, pp. 66 to 74. — 91. leave their tinct = part with or give up their

140

HAMLET.

[ACT III.

Hamlet,
Nay, but to live
Stew'd in corruption,—
Queen.
O, speak to me no more ;
These words like daggers enter in mine ears :
No more, sweet H a m l e t !
Hamlet.
A murderer and a villain ;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord ; a vice of kings ;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!
Queen.
No more !
Hamlet. A king of shreds and patches, —
Enter

95

100

Ghost.

Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards ! — What would your gracious figure ?
Queen. Alas ! he 's mad !
Hamlet. Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, laps'd in time and passion, lets go by
105
T h e i m p o r t a n t a c t i n g of y o u r d r e a d c o m m a n d ?
O, s a y !
dye [Rolfe, etc.] ? allow their stain to be blotted out [Moberly] ? So
leave in Mer. of Venice, V. i. 170. Tinct = dye ; Lat. tine/ere, to tinge. —
93. in = into? In was used freely for into in Shakespeare's time. Abbott, 159. 96. tithe = tenth part. A. S. tedn, ten ; teontha, tedtha,tenth.
— 97. precedent = former ? — Lat. prat, before, ced&re, to go. Observe
the accent of this adjective; accent of the noun {Mer. of Venice, IV. i.
211); accent of "precedence" (Par. Lost, ii. 33). —vice of kings = buffoon king [Clark and Wright] ? clown of a king [Rolfe] ? " An allusion
to the Vice, or inferior comic character of the old stage, who, as his name
implies, was generally wicked as well as ridiculous." White. The Vice
wore a motley or patchwork dress, a pair of spectacles, and a wooden
sword with which he used to beat the devil and sometimes tried to pare
his nails. — 98. cutpurse. Purses were usually worn outside, attached
to the girdle. Clark and Wright. — 99. stole, like a sneak thief, not
having courage to take it by open force ? — 101. shreds and patches.
This refers to the motley dress of the fool, or Vice ? See line 96. —102.
Save me, etc. Addressed to whom ? See I. iv. 39. This ghost is subjective ? visible to Hamlet alone ? how attired ? come opportunely ?
" Just as Hamlet's rage is on the verge of becoming impotent and verbose, it is restored to overpowering grandeur by the Ghost's re-appearance, . . . who with divine compassion interferes to save his erring wife
from distraction." Moberly. — 105. lapsed in time a n d passion =
having failed in respect both of time and purpose [Hudson] ? or, having
allowed passion to cool by lapse of time [Hudson] ? having suffered
time to slip and passion to cool [Johnson] ? diverted from the execution
of his purpose by mere passion [Clark and Wright] ? given up to delay
and mere sentiment [Moberly] ? —106. important = urgent, requiring

SCENE I V . ]

HAMLET.

141

Gliost. Do not forget. This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits :
110
O, step between her and her fighting soul;
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.
Hamlet.
How is it with you, lady?
Queen. Alas, how is 't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
115
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse ?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep ;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and stands an end. O gentle son,
120
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
Hamlet. On him, on him ! Look you, how pale he glares !
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable. — Do not look upon me ;
125
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects : then what I have to do
Will want true color; tears perchance for blood.
Que&n. To whom do you speak this ?
Hamlet.
Do you see nothing there ?
Queen. Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
130
Hamlet. Nor did you nothing hear?
Queen.
No, nothing but ourselves.
Hamlet. Why, look you there ! look, how it steals away !
My father, in his habit as he liv'd!
immediate attention [Clark and Wright] ? momentous [Rolfe]? —110.
amazement = bewilderment ? III. ii. 303. — 112. conceit = emotion
[Moberly] ? imagination [Furness, etc.] ? — Lat. conceptus, a conception ;
concipere, to conceive. In Shakespeare, conceit —(1) idea; (2) invention ; (3) mental faculty ; (4) imagination ; never the modern sense
[Meiklejohn] ? —116. incorporal = immaterial, incorporeal V — Shakespeare never uses corporeal nor incorporeal? —118. alarm = call to arms?
— Ital. aW arme, to arms !— Doublet of alarum.—119. bedded = lying
flat [Schmidt] ? matted [Clark and Wright] ?— " Bedded " suggested by
" sleeping " ? — excrements = outgrowths, excrescences ? excretions ?
As if from Lat. ex, out; crescere, to grow. Hair, nails, feathers, etc.,
were excrements in this sense. Others derive it from Lat. excernere, to
throw off, excrete. —120. an end. I. v. 19. —121. distemper. III. ii.
280. —125. capable = susceptible, capable of feeling ? —126, 127. convert m y stern effects = change my stern action? change the accomplishment of my stern purpose ? —128. color = character ? — May we
interpret color literally ? See line 91. — 133. habit = ordinary dress

142

HAMLET.

[ACT H I .

Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
[Exit GHOST.
Queen. This is the very coinage of your brain ;
135
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
Hamlet.
Ecstasy!
v
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'cl; bring me to the test,
140
And I the matter will re-word, which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass but my madness speaks ;
I t will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
145
W h i l s t r a n k c o r r u p t i o n , m i n i n g all within,
I n f e c t s u n s e e n . Confess yourself t o heaven ;
R e p e n t w h a t ' s p a s t , avoid w h a t is t o come ;
A n d d o n o t s p r e a d t h e c o m p o s t on t h e w e e d s ,
T o m a k e them r a n k e r . F o r g i v e m e this m y v i r t u e ;
150
F o r in t h e f a t n e s s of t h e s e p u r s y times
V i r t u e itself of vice m u s t p a r d o n b e g ,
Y e a , curb a n d woo for leave t o d o h i m "good.
Queen, O H a m l e t , thou h a s t cleft m y h e a r t in t w a i n .
Hamlet.
O , t h r o w a w a y t h e w o r s e r p a r t of it,
155
[Clark and Wright] ? — as he lived = as when alive, as if alive [Rolfe,
etc.] ? At line 101, the stage direction, 1st quarto (1603), is, " Enter the
Ghost in his night gowne," i.e., dressing-gown. Macbeth, II. ii. 70.—
136. Ecstasy. II. i. 102. —141. re-word = repeat word for word ? Lat.
re- or red- — again. — 142. gambol = skip ? — Lat. gamba, hoof, or joint of
the leg ? So Bracket. —148. w h a t is to come, i.e., if the future be as the
past ? — 149. forgive me this m y virtue = forgive this candor of virtuous reproof on my part [Clarke] ? O my virtue, forgive me this [Staun-~
ton]? —151. pursy = swelled with pamperings [Schmidt]? inflated
(with pride and prosperity) ? — Metaphor from a well-filled purse [Meiklejohn] ?— " The word has reference to the pantings or quick pulsations of breath made by a pursy person " Skeat. Lat. pulsdre, to beat,
push ; Fr. pousser, to push ; Old Fr. pourcif, "short-winded, or stuffed
about the stomach." Palsgrave. Webster allows the spelling pussy,'
and this pronunciation is often heard ? —153. curb and w o o = bow
and beg [Clark and Wright]? bend and truckle [Steevens] ? curb =
keep back, refrain [Schmidt] ? Milton has " bow and sue for grace,"
Par. Lost, I. 111. — Lat. curvare, to curve, bend ; curvus, b e n t ; Fr. courier, to bend. " Curb " ordinarily = restrain. —154. thou, in the old writers, is more familiar and affectionate than " you." V. i. 116. —154, 155.
worser. Shakespeare has many double -comparatives, and many times
has worser. I I . i. 11. The singular felicity of this inspiring advice in
reply to the queen's expression of heart-break is worthy of Shakespeare's best mood. What does it show of his own tenderness and mag-

SCENE IV.]

143

HAMLET.

And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed ;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not..
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence : the next more easy ;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either master the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night t
And when you are desirous to be blest,
I '11 blessing beg of you. — F o r this same lord,
[Pointing

160

165

170

to POLONIUS.

I do repent; but Heaven hath pleas'd it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. — So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind ;
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.
Queeii.
What shall I do ?
Hamlet. Not this, by no means, that I bid you do :
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed,

175

180

nanimity? —159. sense = natural feeling [Wright] ? sensibility, or consciousness of evil habits [Hudson] ? — eat = eat out [Hudson] ? destroy
[Clark and Wright] ?— 160. of habits devil = the evil genius or fiend
attendant on bad habits ? —163. aptly = conveniently, with an easy fit ?
— The meaning of this much-discussed passage appears to be, " T h a t
monster, custom, who destroys all sensibility (or sensitiveness), the evil
genius of our habits (that is, bad ones), is yet an angel in this respect,
that it tends to give to our good actions also the ease and readiness of
habit." Eolfe. —Habits, line 160, suggests frock and livery, line 162? —
167. master. This is the reading of a late quarto. It seems to injure
the metre ? Hudson reads " shame ; " others, " curb," " quell," " house,"
"usher," " a i d , " " h i e there," " l a y , " " t h r o n e , " "lodge," " a b a t e , "
" m a s k , " " t a m e , " "entertain," etc.— 169. blest of God, i.e., because
of penitence ? — 170. beg, etc. = when you kneel to God, I will kneel to
you ? Any beauty in this idea ? — For. I. iii. 5 ; v. 139 ? —172. this
man ? —173. their = of Heaven ? — Heaven = heavenly powers [Hudson] ? Shakespeare several times uses heaven as plural. How explain
the construction of pleas'd it?— scourge. So Attila, " t h e scourge of
God." ---174. bestow = stow away? See II. ii. 508. — answer = account
for? —180. bloat. On the omission of -ed, s e e l . ii. 20; III. i. 155; Abbott,

144

HAMLET.

[ACT H I .

Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,'
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
185
B u t m a d in craft.
' T w e r e good y o u let h i m k n o w ;
F o r w h o , t h a t ' s b u t a q u e e n , fair, sober, wise,
W o u l d from a p a d d o c k , from a b a t , a g i b ,
S u c h d e a r c o n c e r n i n g s h i d e ? w h o would d o s o ?
N o , in despite of sense a n d secrecy,
190
Unpeg the basket on the house's top,
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.
Queen. Be thou assur'd, if words be made of breath, 195
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
W h a t thou hast said to me.
Hamlet. I must to England ; you know that ?
Queen.
Alack,
I had forgot; ' t is so concluded on.
Hamlet. There 's letters seal'd, and my two schoolfellows—
Whom I will trust as I will adders f a n g ' d —
201
They bear the mandate ; they must sweep my way,
342.—182. reechy = dirty? —A. S. redcan, re'can, to reek, to smoke;
recv vapor ; English reek, smoke. The Scotch used to call smoky Edinburgh " Auld reekie." Skeat. —184. r a v e l . . . out = unravel, disentangle.—185. essentially = really? —187-189. For w h o , etc. Ironical?
Equivalent ? Being only a fair, sober, wise queen, of course she'll not
hide such precious secrets from a human beast ? — paddock. Icel. padda, a toad ; Swed. padda, a toad or frog. The probable sense is " jerker," i.e., the animal which moves by jerks. Sanscrit spand, to vibrate.
-ock is dimin. as in hill-ock, bull-ock. " Paddock-stool" is toadstool.
Skeat. The boys in parts of New England still say "bull-paddock" for
bull-frog. — gib is shortened from Gilbert, the old name for a male cat.
The poetic name is now Thomas, or Tom ? The female was Graymalkin or grimalkin = little gray Molly or Mary ? {-kin is diminutive.) —191
to 193. The story is forgotten. So that in 192, 193, 194. — Reconstruct
these fables. — See Rolfe's ed. or Furness. —193. conclusions = experiments ? This is what young Gobbo means in Mer. of Venice, I I . ii. 30 ?
— 198. to E n g l a n d . How did he know i t ? See IV. iii. 45.—199.
forgot. The Elizabethan authors were inclined to drop the inflection
-en, and so to curtail past participles. Abbott, 343. — 200. T h e r e ' s .
" W h e n the subject [of the verb] is as yet future, and, as it were, unsettled, the third person singular might be regarded as the normal inflection." Abbott, 335. — This and the next seven lines are not in the folios.
Are they important?—201. f a n g e d = fangless [Seymour, Caldecott,
etc.] ? with fangs unextracted [Johnson, Schmidt, etc.] V In 2 Henry
IV., IV. i. 218, we find " fangless lion." — Adders with fangs ? or with-

SCENE I V . ]

HAMLET.

145

And marshal me to knavery. Let it work ;
For 't is the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petar : and *'t shall go hard
205
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon. O, ' t is most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet!
This man shall set me packing;
I '11 lug the . . . into the neighbor room.
210
Mother, good night. Indeed this counsellor
I s now most still, most secret, and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave. —
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you. —
Good night, mother.
215
[Exeunt severally; HAMLET dragging in POLONIUS.
out?—204. enginer. Like pioner, I. v. 163. — "-er is sometimes appended to a noun for the purpose of signifying an agent." Abbott, 443.
As to accent, Abbott, 492.—205. hoist = hoisted ? " The verb is properly
hoise, with pp. hoist = hoised . . . Dan. heise, hisse; Swed. hissa, to hoist;
from the Scandinavian is borrowed Fr. hisser, to hoist a sail." Skeat.
— petar = petard, a case filled with explosive materials; " a n engine
(made like a bell or mortar) wherewith strong gates are burst open."
Cotgrave. 't shall go hard = I will try hard [Hudson, etc.]. Mer. of
Venice, III. i. 57. — 206. delve. See V. i. 13. — 207. at = up to [Abbott,
143] ? towards ? At is used like " near " with a verb of motion, where
we should use " up to." So " at foot" is " near his heels " in IV. iii.
53. Abbott. — 208. crafts. Did Hamlet secretly pre-arrange the seafight and capture in Act IV. sc. vi. ? — Was his confidence due in part to
his having his father's signet ? V. ii. 49 ? — 209. packing = going off in
a hurry [Schmidt] ? contriving, plotting (with a play on the other sense)
[Clark and Wright] ? loading myself and lugging off Polonius [Delius] ? — 210. The coarse word which we have omitted in this line, the
equivalent of "entrails," was not so indelicate in Shakespeare's time.
Staunton thinks it is merely equivalent to shallow-pate. — It is supposed
that for want of stage attendants, such servile offices as dragging out a
corpse were sometimes necessarily performed by leading actors, and
that suitable lines were introduced by the dramatist to explain the
action, as here. Probable? — 214. to draw, etc. A mocking reference to Polonius's interminable speeches [Meiklejohn] ? See Abbott,
356, for use of to; and III. ii. 321, for draiv. — severally = in different
directions ? —Moberly finds in the last four lines, traces of the story
of Mary, Queen of Scots, married to her husband's murderer, and what
was said by the porter over Rizzio's body at Holyrood. Froude, V I I I .
254. — What progress is made in the plot in this tremendous scene ?
What development of character ?

146

HAMLET.

[ACT IT.

ACT I V .
SCENE I .
Enter

A Boom

in the Castle,

K I N G , QUEEN, EOSENCRANTZ, and

GUILDENSTERN.

King. There's matter in these sighs: these profound
heaves
You must translate ; ' t is fit we understand them.
Where is your son ?
Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while. —
[Exeunt

ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night!
5
King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend Which is the mightier; in his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, Cries, ' A rat, a r a t ! '
10
And in this brainish apprehension kills
The unseen good old man.
King.
O heavy deed !
I t had been so with us, had we been t h e r e ;
His liberty is full of threats to all,
To you yourself, to us, to every one.
15
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt,
[Hudson and some others make this Act III. sc. v.] Does this scene
properly begin a new act, or is it a mere continuance of the doings of
that eventful night ? — 1. profound. Two senses of this word here ? If
so, to wliich does translate apply ? Has the queen been agitated beyond
the power of speech? — 7. mad, etc. Is she obeying Hamlet's injunction (III. iv., lines 179-186), keeping up the belief in his madness, and
ingeniously making it the excuse for the homicide ? So Clarke, etc. —
9. something stir. Is this truthful ? —10. Whips. He omitted, as in
III. i. 8 ? The root of ichip is the same as of vib-rate, to shake, to tremble. The folios have He before lohips, and and before cries. Plausible?
—11. brainish = brainsick [Schmidt, Caldecott, etc.] ? imaginary, ungrounded in fact [Clarke and Wright] ? crazy [Hudson]? — Not elsewhere
used in Shakespeare. —16. answered. See III. iv. 174 ; Julius Ccesar,
I. iii. 113. —18. short = with a short tether, under control, opposite of

SCENE I . ]

147

HAMLET.

T h i s m a d y o u n g m a n ; b u t s o m u c h w a s our love,
W e would n o t u n d e r s t a n d w h a t w a s m o s t
fit,
B u t , like t h e o w n e r of a foul d i s e a s e ,
T o k e e p it from d i v u l g i n g , l e t it feed
E v e n o n t h e p i t h of life. W h e r e is h e g o n e ?
Queen. T o d r a w a p a r t t h e b o d y h e h a t h k i l l ' d ;
O ' e r whom h i s v e r y m a d n e s s , like s o m e o r e
A m o n g a m i n e r a l of m e t a l s b a s e ,
Shows itself p u r e . H e w e e p s for w h a t is d o n e .
King. O G e r t r u d e , come a w a y !
T h e sun n o sooner shall t h e m o u n t a i n s t o u c h ,
B u t w e will ship him h e n c e ; a n d this vile d e e d
W e m u s t , with all o u r m a j e s t y a n d skill,
Both countenance and excuse. — H o , Guildenstern !
Re-enter

R O S E N C R A N T Z and

25

30

GUILDENSTERN.

F r i e n d s b o t h , g o join y o u with s o m e further a i d ;
H a m l e t in m a d n e s s h a t h P o l o n i u s slain,
A n d from h i s m o t h e r ' s closet h a t h h e d r a g g ' d him.
G o seek him o u t ; s p e a k fair, a n d b r i n g t h e body
I n t o t h e c h a p e l . I p r a y you, h a s t e in t h i s . —
[Exeunt

20

R O S E N C R A N T Z and

35

GUILDENSTERN.

C o m e , G e r t r u d e , w e '11 call u p o u r wisest friends,
A n d l e t t h e m k n o w b o t h w h a t we m e a n t o d o

And what's untimely done ; [so, haply, slander,]
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,

40

" loose " in IV. iii. 2 ? See I. iii. 125. — h a u n t = company [Steevens] ?
frequented places ? — 22. divulging = being divulged, becoming known?
"Certain diseases appear to be attended with an instinct of concealment." Hudson. Lat. de for dis, apart ; vulgare, to make common.—
24. apart = aside? See IV. v. 183. —25. ore = vein of gold [Hudson]?
precious metal [Clark and Wright] ? — A. S. or, seems to be merely another form of dr, brass ; akin to Lat. aes, ore, bronze. Skeat. " Ore has
here its radical meaning, — gold." White. — 26. mineral = heap of ore
[White] ? mass or compound mine [Caldecott] ? metallic vein [Staunton] ? mine [Hudson, Steevens, etc.] ? lode [Clark and Wright] V — 27.
weeps. Truly? or is the queen trying to deceive the king and awaken
pity for Hamlet V — 36. fair = gently, kindly, courteously? — 40. u n timely = unseasonably ? prematurely ? unfortunately ? Usually what
" part of speech " ? — so haply, slander. The words " for, haply, slander," were interpolated by Theobald to fill out the line and sense. Malone suggested " so, haply, slanders," and these have been quite widely
adopted. Tschischwitz suggests that we read, by this, suspicion • Stratmann, so that suspicion ; Staunton, thus calumny. Are the " discord and
dismay," line 45, sufficient to account for the imperfection of line 40,
and for any break in the sense or syntax ? — 41. o'er the world's diameter = in direct line to the antipodes [Moberly] V to the ends of the

148

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

As level as the cannon to his blank,
Transports his poison'd shot — may miss our name, .
And hit the woundless air. O, come away !
My soul is full of discord and dismay.
[Exeunt.
SCENE I I .

Another
Enter

Hamlet.

Boom in the Castle.
HAMLET.

Safely stowed.

oZdZZm.
} Within] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!
Hamlet. What noise? who calls on Hamlet? O, here they
come.
Enter

ROSENCRANTZ and

GUILDENSTERN.

Bosencrantz. What have you done, my lord, with the dead
body?
5
Hamlet. Compounded it with dust, whereto 't is kin.
Bosencrantz. Tell us where ' t is, that we may take it
thence
And bear it to the chapel.
Hamlet. Do not believe it.
Bosencrantz. Believe what?
10
Hamlet. That I can keep your counsel and not mine own.
Besides, to be demanded of a sponge, what replication should
be made by the son of a king?
Bosencrantz. Take you me for a sponge, my lord?
Hamlet. Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his
rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best
service in the end; he keeps them, as an ape doth nuts, in
earth [Rolfe] ? — 42. level = direct, sure-aimed [Hudson] ? See level in
Mer. of Venice, I. ii. 33. — blank = the white mark at which shot or
arrows were aimed [Steevens] ? % Fr. blanc — white ; Ger. blinken, to
shine ; Gr. (/>Ae'yeu/, phlegein, to shine ; Eng. blank, originally pale ;
blanket, originally " of a white color." Skeat.—44. woundless. I. i.
145. Macbeth, V. viii. 9. — Suppose we interpret 40 to 44 thus: " and the
untimely deed ; the rumor of which, speeding to the ends of the earth
as straight as the cannon transports its poisoned shot to the white of the
target, may yet miss injuring our reputation, and may hit the woundless air."
SCENE II. [Act III. scene vi. in Hudson.] —6. Compounded.
Truthfully spoken ? —12. to b e , etc. See to take, I I I . iii. 85. " On being questioned by," etc. ? —12. sponge. Frederick called Voltaire a
squeezed orange ! See Moberly. — 13. replication = reply ?
Julius
Ccesar, I. i. 51. Legal meaning? —15. countenance = patronage, favor?
— 16. authorities = attributes or offices of authority [Rolfe] ? —17. as

SCENE I I I . ]

149

HAMLET,

t h e corner of his j a w , first m o u t h e d , to b e last s w a l l o w e d :
when he needs w h a t y o u h a v e g l e a n e d , it is b u t squeezing
you, a n d , s p o n g e , y o u shall be d r y a g a i n .
20
Bosencrantz.
I u n d e r s t a n d you n o t , m y lord.
Hamlet. I a m g l a d of i t ; a k n a v i s h speech sleeps in a
foolish e a r .
Bosencrantz.
M y lord, you m u s t tell u s where t h e b o d y i s ,
a n d go with u s t o t h e k i n g .
25
Hamlet.
T h e body is with t h e k i n g , b u t t h e k i n g is n o t
with the body.
T h e k i n g is a t h i n g —
Quildenstern.
A t h i n g , m y lord !
Hamlet.
Of n o t h i n g ; b r i n g m e t o h i m . H i d e f o x , a n d all
after.
[Exeunt.
SCENE III.

Another

Enter

Room

KING,

in the

Castle.

attended.

King. I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
Yet must not we put the strong law on him :
He ' s lov'd of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes ;
And where ' t is so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause ; diseases desperate grown

5

an ape. This is the reading of the quarto of 1603. Other readings are
" like an ape," " like an apple," "like an ape doth apples." — 18. first
mouthed, to be last, etc. = the first to be mouthed being the last to be
swallowed ? or, first they are mouthed, and last they are swallowed ? —
" Apes are provided with a pouch on each side of the jaw, in which they
stow away the food first taken, and there keep it till they have eaten the
rest." Hudson. — 22. a knavish speech, etc. A proverb probably
coined by Shakespeare. Clark and Wright. — 26. The body, etc.
Numerous have been the interpretations of this passage ; none of them
quite satisfactory. Perhaps this is as good as any : The body is with
(i.e., close to) the king ; but the king is not with the body (i.e., dead, as
he deserves to be). Dr. Johnson and some others think that it is intentional nonsense. Likely? — 29. Of nothing = of no value? — Hide
fox, etc. A children's game apparently, like hide-and-seek. Clark and
Wright. Moberly makes fox = sword, and thinks Hamlet says "hide
fox," as he sheathed his sword, " a Toledo or an English fox." White
makes the exclamation to be " merely one of Hamlet's signs of feigned
madness."
SCENE I I I . [Act I I I . scene vii. in Hudson.] — 4. distracted = discordant ? fickle ? senseless ? — 6. scourge •= punishment ? — 9. Deliberate
pause = a thing that we have paused and deliberated upon [Hudson] ? a

150

HAMLET.

By desperate appliance are reliev'd,
Or not at all. —
Enter

[ACT IV.

10

ROSENCRANTZ.

How now ! what hath befalFn ?
Rosencrantz. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
We cannot get from him.
King.
But where is he ?
Rosencrantz. Without, my lord ; guarded, to know your
pleasure.
King. Bring him before us.
15
Rosencrantz. H o , Guildenstern ! bring in my lord.
Enter

HAMLET and

GUILDENSTERN.

King. Now, Hamlet, where 's Polonius?
Hamlet. A t supper.
King. A t supper ! where ?
19
Hamlet. Not where he eats, but where he is e a t e n ; a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your
worm is your only emperor for diet; we fat all creatures else
to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king
and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but
to one table ; that 's the end.
King. Alas, alas!
Hamlet. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a
king,.and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
King. What dost thou mean by this ?
Hamlet. Nothing but to show you how a king may go a
progress through . . . a, beggar.
31
King. Where is Polonius?
matter of deliberate arrangement [Moberly] ? III. iii. 42. —12. "bestowed. III. iv. 174.—21. politic w o r m s .
" Of a diet of worms he [Luther] was forced to partake —
Of a diet of worms — for conscience' sake ! "
Alluding to the Diet of Worms, April, 1521, which some regarded as an
assembly of politicians [Hudson]? — politic = polite, social, and discriminating [writer in Blackwood, Oct., 1853] ? " Worms feeding on so
distinguished a politician must needs partake of his character and become politic" [Delius] ? so Joseph Crosby, quoted by Hudson. —Your.
I. v. 167 ; I I I . ii. 108 ; V. i. 162.—24. variable. I I I . i. 172. — 27. eat.
The -en is dropped, owing to a very prevalent tendency in Elizabethan
authors to drop this inflection. Abbott, 343. — Lines 26, 27, 28, are not in
the folios. Needed ? — 31. progress = a royal journey of state ? — We

SCENE III.]

HAMLET.

151

Hamlet. In heaven; send thither to s e e : if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself.
But indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall
nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.
King. Go seek him there.
[To some Attendants.
Hamlet. He will stay till ye come.
[Exeunt Attendants.
King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety, —
Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
40
For that which thou hast done, — must send thee hence
With fiery quickness ; therefore prepare thyself.
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
The associates tend, and every thing is bent
For England.
Hamlet.
For England!
King.
Ay, Hamlet.
Hamlet.
Good.
45
King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
Hamlet. I see a cherub that sees them. — But, come ; for
England ! — Farewell, dear mother.
King. Thy loving father, Hamlet.
49
Hamlet. My mother : father and mother is man and wife ;
man and wife is one flesh ; and so, my mother. — Come, for
England!
[Exit.
King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard ;
Delay it n o t ; I '11 have him hence to-night.
Away ! for every thing is seaPcl and done
55
That else leans on the affair ; pray you, make haste. —
[Exeunt

ROSENCRANTZ and

GUILDENSTERN.

omit the coarse word for "entrails." — 33. send. Because you cannot
go in person V —40. tender — have regard lor [Furness] ? regard, cherish
[Rolfe]? are careful of [Hudson] ? — DearlyAs to be understood before tender [Delius] ? — dearly = heartily [Clark and Wright] ? I. ii. 182. — 42.
fiery = as rapid as the progress of flames [Caldecott] ? fiery quickness = intensely hot haste ? — 43. at help. The A. S. prep, on, or an, —
on, in, was contracted to a-, as in aback, abed, aboard, abreast, afield, afire,
afoot, etc., and in Shakespeare's time it became fashionable to change
the a-, then obsolescent, into at. This at often means near, close by, as
in at foot [ = a t h i s heels], line 52. — Abbott, 143 ; Gibbs's Teutonic Etymology, pp. 91, 9 2 . - 4 4 . tend. I. iii. 83. —is bent. The folios read at
bent, which Corson prefers as indicating suspended readiness. — 47.
cherub. Beauteous and sudden intimation of heavenly insight and
interference [Caldecott] ? — Cherubs are angels of love, and therefore
they know how the king loves Hamlet [Moberly] ? — Is Hamlet, to keep
up a show of madness, trying to make the king believe he sees a spirit?
51. due flesh. Biblical ? — Which father ? — 53. at foot. See line 43.
— 56. leans = depends. A. S. hleonian,. hlinian; Lat. in-dm-are, to

152

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

And, England, if my love thou hold'st at a u g h t As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Plays homage to us — thou may'st not coldly set
Our sovereign process ; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, E n g l a n d ;
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me : till I know ' t is done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.
SCENE I V .
Enter

A Plain

in

65
[Exit.

Denmark.

FORTINBRAS, a Captain, and Soldiers,

marching.

Fortinbras. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king ;
Tell him that by his license Fortinbras
Claims the conveyance of a promis'd march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
lean.—57. E n g l a n d = king of England? English nation ? —aught =
any value [Clark and Wright]? Aught is for a ivhit, one whit; and
ought is for o ivhit, one w h i t : A. S. a for an, one ; whit, a wight, creature,
thing. Sheat. — 58. As is sometimes used in parenthetical expressions for
"for so." Abbott, 110. IV. vii. 157 ; V. li. 324.—59. cicatrice. Lat.
cicatrix, scar of a wound. —60. free = still felt, though not enforced by
the presence of Danish armies [Clark and "Wright] ? willing, ready
[Schmidt] ? unforced [Moberly] ?— " O r we may say that free awe pay's
homage = awe pays free homage." Rolfe, who refers to Schmidt's
Appendix to Shakes. Diet., p. 1423, on Transposition of Epithets.—61.
coldly set = regard with indifference [Schmidt] ? esteem slightly
[Clark and Wright] ? — 62. process = procedure, action ? — 63. conjuring = earnestly entreating ? solemnly beseeching or invoking ? Lat.
con, together, jvrdre, to swear. Con'jure, to juggle, is the same word,
and refers to invocation of spirits. The two senses had not yet differentiated the pronunciation in Shakespeare? —The quartos read congruing, which many prefer. Rightly V — 64. present. See presently, II.
ii 170,578. — 65. hectic = constitutional fever [Skeat] ? continual fever ?
Gr. e'xw, echo, I hold ; e£i?, hexis, a possession, a habit of body ; Fr.
hectique, hectic, " the fever of irritation and debility occurring usually
at an advanced stage of exhausting disease." Webster. 6/CTIKTJ voo-os, hectike nosos, consumption. Moberly. — Not elsewhere in Shakespeare. —
67. haps. Icelandic happ, hap, chance, good luck ; A. S. gehaep, fit. —
begun. During the utterance of the preceding line and this, the
speaker imagines himself transported to the future and looking back,
so that instead of finishing with the words " m y joys will ne'er begin "
[the quartos read nere begin], he concludes, " m y joys were ne'er begun."— Tschischwitz, with a soldier's daring, considering that gin
sometimes means begin, takes a shot at the meaning thus : " my joys
will ne'er be gun " !
SCENE IV. [In Hudson and some others, this is Act IV. scene i.] —
3. claims. The quartos have craves. Better ? — 4, rendezvous, where

SCENE I V . ]

HAMLET.

153

If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his e y e ;
And let him know so.
Captain.
I will do % my lord.
Fortinbras.
Go softly on.
[Exeunt
Enter

5

FORTINBRAS and SOLDIERS.

HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and others.

Hamlet. Good sir, whose powers are these ?
Captain. They are of Norway, sir.
10
Hamlet. How purpos'd, sir, I pray you?
Captain. Against some part of Poland.
Hamlet. Who commands them, sir?
Captain. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
Hamlet. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,
15
Or for some frontier?
Captain. Truly to speak, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm i t ;
20
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
Hamlet. Why, then the Polack never will defend it.
Captain. Yes, ' t is already garrison'd.
Hamlet. Two thousand souls and twent}7 thousand ducats
Will not debate the question of this straw ;
26
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,
Fortinbras is to wait for the captain ?— 5. If that = if so be t h a t ?
Abbott, 287. — Mer. of Venice, II. vi. 54, and III. ii. 216. —6. express
our duty = pay our respects [Hudson]? — eye = sight, presence? especially used for royal presence. Steevens. — 8. softly = slowly, gently ?
Julius Cvesar, V. i. 16.—The folios have ''safely." Sense ? — The rest
of this scene, line 9 to the end, is omitted in the folios. Can it be
spared? —9. powers — troops, forces? Julius Ccesar, IV. i. 42. — 14.
old Norway. I. ii. 28, 35 ; I. i. 61. —15. main = chief power [Clark
and Wright? country as a whole [Schmidt]? I I . ii. 56.— 17. Pope inserted it, Capell sir, after speak, to improve the metre. Wisely? — 20.
ducats. The silver ducat was generally 4s. 6d. ; the gold, 9,9. Named
from the inscription, " Sit, tibi, Christe, datus, quern tu regis, iste ducatus " = Be this duchy, which thou rulest, devoted to thee, O Christ! —
Ital. ducato. —farm = take on lease [Rolfe] ? — " I would not pay five
ducats for the exclusive privilege of collecting all the revenue it will
yield to the state." Hudson. —22. ranker = richer, more abundant?
See note on I. ii. 136. — 22. fee. I. iv. 65. Fee, or fee-simple, is " the
tenure conferring the highest rights of ownership;" ownership absolute, simple, unconditional ? — 27. imposthume = inward sore, abscess?

154

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why the man dies. — I humbly thank you, sir.
Captain. God be wi' you, sir.
[Exit.
Rosencrantz.
Will ' t please you go, my lord?
Hamlet. I '11 be with you straight. Go a little before. 31
[Exeunt all except HAMLET.
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge ! W h a t is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed ? a beast, no more.
35
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
T h a t capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
40
Of thinking too precisely on the event, —
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward, — I do not know
Why yet I live to say ' This thing 's to d o /
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
45
To do 't. Examples gross as earth exhort me ;
Witness this army of such mass and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puffd
Gi\ aTTocrr-rifxa, apostema, a separation of corrupt matter into an ulcer ;
arro, away, off; aT-n^a from 077 , ste, base of io-n^i, I set, stand, place ;
--7
Lat. apostema, abscess ; Old Fr. apostume. Here the prefix im-, as also
in impoverish, is a corruption. Skeat.— 34. market, etc. = that for
which he exchanges, markets, or sells, his time [Johnson, etc.]? possibly,
" t h e business in which he employs his t i m e " [Clark and Wright] ?
prime of life, the time at which he ought to exert his faculties to the
best advantage and profit [Seymour]? — 36. discourse = comprehension ? [Johnson] ? range of reasoning faculty [Clark and Wright] ? See
I. ii. 150. — 37. looking before and after. A purely Homeric expression. Theobald. As in Iliad, I. 343, " to view at once before and
after " [future and past] ; Iliad, I I I . 109, 110, " looks at once both backward and forward ; " and so XVIII. 250. Had Shakespeare read Homer?
Chapman's version of the Iliad was published in 1598. — 39. fust = grow
mouldy [Wedgwood] ? Old Fr. fvste, tasting of the cask; fust, log,
stump, trunk of a tree. The Old Fr. fuste, cask, was named from its
resemblance to the trunk of a tree. Skeat. — Not elsewhere used by
Shakespeare. — 41. of = consisting in, or resulting from [Clark and
Wright] ? in consequence of [Rolfe] ? — Hamlet envies the quick, resolute, energetic, and despises his own inaction. Rightly?—44. T o do.
Iniin. active is often found where we use the passive. See Macbeth, V.
vi. 5. Abbott, 359. —45. sith. II. ii. 0. — 46. gross = fat, large, palpable, obvious; coarse? III. iii. 80.—47. charge = cost, expense? —

SCENE V . ]

155

HAMLET.

Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honor 's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That for a fantasy and trick of fame
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth !
SCENE V.
Enter

Elsinore.

A Room

55

60

65

[Exit.

in the Castle.

QUEEN, HORATIO, and a Gentleman.

Queen. I will not speak with her.
Gentleman. She is importunate, indeed distract;
Her mood will needs be pitied.
Queen.
What would she have ?
Gentleman. She speaks much of her father ; says she hears
There 's tricks i' the world ; and hems, and beats her heart;
Spurns enviously at straws ; speaks things in doubt,
50. makes . • . event = moc£s at the unseen issue? II. ii. 356.-54.
argument = subject, matter in dispute ? " To stir without great argument . . . is not an attribute of greatness, . . . but to stir instantly and
at a trifle when honor is touched." Furness. — 58. reason and m y
blood. See III. ii. 64.—61. trick of fame = point of honor [Caldecott] ? imaginary point of honor [Moberly] V — " ' Of fame' belongs to
fantasy as well as to ' trick' = an illusion and a whim that promises
fame." Delius. — Rolfe cites As You Like It. II. vii. 152, 153, as a
parallel or kindred thought.—I. i. 23.—63. Whereon, etc. = not large
enough to hold the armies that fight for it (Rolfe] V—64. continent =
receptacle, that which contains or encloses ? In Midsummer iVV D., continents means river-banks. Lat. con, together, tenere, to hold ; continere,
to hold together, to contain.
SCENE V. [Hudson makes it Act IV. sc. ii.] — 2. importunate. Lat.
importunis, unfit, unseasonable, troublesome; in, not,portus, harbor. —
distract. I. ii. 20; III. i. 155. Abbott, 342. — 3. w i l l . II. i. 3. Abbott,S15,
319.—5. There's. III. iv. 200. Abbott,335. —6. Spurns. Aryan base,
SPARN, to kick against; A. S. speoman, to kick against. Akin to Lat.
sperne're, to despise. — Mer. of Venice, I iii. 108, " foot me as you spurn
a stranger cur," etc. — enviously — angrily, spitefully? Lat. invidia,

156

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

T h a t carry but half sense : her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to.collection ; they aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts ;
10
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
Horatio. ' T were good she were spoken with, for she may
strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
15
Queen. Let her come in.
[Exit HORATIO.
[Aside'] To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,
Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss ;
So full of artless jealousy is guilt,
I t spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
20
Be-enter HORATIO, with OPHELIA.
Ophelia. Where is tke beauteous majesty of Denmark ?
Queen. How now, Ophelia !
Ophelia. [Sings] How should I your true love know
From another one f
By his cockle hat and staff,
25
And his sandal shoon.
envy; in, against; videre, to look; invidere, to look with evil eye against.
English envy, malicious grudging. Envy in Shakespeare often = malice,
as in Mer. of Venice, IV. i. 10; Julius Ccesar, III. i. 46; Mark xv. 10. —8.
unshaped = formless, confused ? Trisyl.? — 9. collection = gathering
meaning [Clark and Wright] ? inference, conjecture [Hudson]? endeavor to collect some meaning [Mason] ? — aim = guess V —10. botch
= patch ? Old Low Ger. and mod. Dutch botsen, to strike, beat; repair.
Akin to beat; A. S. bedlan, beat. —11-13. ^Which thoughts, as her winks,
etc., reveal them [i.e., thoughts], would make one think that much of
an unhappy [i.e., mischievous?] character might be inferred, though
there would be no certainty about it ? — 14. she were spoken, etc.
Scan. Walker makes she vjere one syllable. Is this necessary ? Abbott,
461. —ill-breeding = mischief-hatching ? — 18. toy . . 0 amiss = trifle
(seems prelude to some great) misfortune ? Amiss is a noun in Shakespeare. Sonnets, XXXV. 7; CLI. 3. —19. artless = ignorant [Moberly] ?
—jealousy = suspicion ? II. i. 113. — 20. spills = destroys ? A.S.spildan,
spillan, to destroy; spild, destruction. The original sense of spild was a
splitting, cleaving. Akin to split. Skeat. — It " betrays itself in fearing
to be betrayed." Clark and Wright. Sir Joshua Reynolds ascribes the
pathos of this scene to Ophelia's insensibility to her own misfortunes.
Rightly ? — 25. cockle hat. The cockle shell, or scallop shell, worn in
the hat, was the badge of a pilgrim. Cockle (Mid. Eng. cokel) is a bivalve
with pretty corrugated shell. The word is akin to Gr. *6yxy, konche,
Lat. concha, a muscle, cockle. — Byron, in the last stanza of Chtide Harold's Pilgrimage, says, " Not in vain He wore his sandal shoon and scallop shell." Lovers assumed, sometimes, the disguise of pilgrims? — 26.
shoon is a relic of the old Eng. plural in -en, as is ox-en. Milton's

SCENE V . ]

HAMLET.

Queen. A l a s , s w e e t l a d y , w h a t i m p o r t s t h i s s o n g ?
Ophelia. S a y y o u ? n a y , p r a y y o u , m a r k .
[ S i n g s ] He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone;
At his head a grass-green
turf,
At his heels a stone.
Queen. N a y , b u t , Ophelia, —
Ophelia. P r a y y o u , m a r k .
[ S i n g s ] White his shroud as the mountain
snow, —
Enter

157

30

35

KING.

Queen. A l a s , look h e r e , m y lord.
Ophelia. [ S i n g s ] Larded with siveet
flowers;
Which bewept to the grave did not go
With true-love
showers.
King. H o w d o y o u , p r e t t y l a d y ?
40
Ophelia. W e l l , G o d 'ield y o u ! T h e y s a y t h e owl w a s a
baker's daughter.
L o r d , we k n o w w h a t we a r e , b u t k n o w
n o t w h a t we m a y b e . G o d be a t y o u r t a b l e !
King. [Aside*] Conceit u p o n h e r f a t h e r .
Ophelia. P r a y y o u , l e t ' s h a v e n o w o r d s of t h i s ; b u t when
t h e y a s k y o u w h a t it m e a n s , s a y y o u t h i s :
46

[Sings] To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.

50

Comus, 635. " This form was archaic in Shakespeare's time." Delius,
Clark and Wright.—37. larded = garnished [Caldecott, Hudson, etc.]?
thickly strewn ? — Lard is fr. Lat. tarda, lard; akin to Gr. Aapd?, pleasant
to the taste, nice, dainty, sweet. Skeat. —38. did not g o . This is the
reading of all the early editions. Modern editors mostly follow Pope in
striking out the not. Are we bound to correct Ophelia's incoherencies?
But is this one of them ?— " His shroud or corpse did not go bewept with
true-love showers, for his was no love case; his death had the tragical
character of fierce outrage, and this was the primary and deepest impression on her lost mind." Caldecott. "Though the printers often
omitted the negative (as once already in this play), they rarely added it."
Keightley. —41. 'ield = yield, reward? Originally yield was pay. A. S.
gieldan, geldan, gildan, to pay, restore, give up. Skeat. — o w l , etc.
" Our Saviour went into a baker's shop where they were baking, and
asked for some bread. The mistress of the shop immediately put a
piece of dough into the oven to bake for him, but was reprimanded by
her daughter, who, insisting that the piece was too large, reduced it to
a very small size. The dough, however, began to swell, and presently
became of a most enormous size. Whereupon the baker's daughter
cried out, 'Heugh, heugh, heugh !' which owl-like noise probably induced our Saviour to transform her into that bird." (A Gloucestershire
story told by Douce.) — Relevancy of the allusion ? — 44. conceit =
thought? — I I I . iv. 112.—4o. of = about? Abbott jin.— 47. Valentine's

158

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

King. How long hath she been thus?
Ophelia. I hope all will be well. W e must be patient;
but I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him
i' the cold ground. My brother shall know of i t ; and so I
thank you for your good counsel. — Come, my coach ! —Good
night, ladies ; good night, sweet ladies ; good night, good
night.
[Exit.
King. Follow her close ; give her good watch, I pray you. —
[Exit HORATIO.
O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs
All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,
60
When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions. First, her father slain ;
Next, your son gone ; and he most violent author
Of his own just remove : the people muddied,
Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers,
65
For good Polonius' death ; and we have done but greenly,
I n hugger-mugger to inter him : poor Ophelia
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,
Without the which we are pictures, or mere b e a s t s :
Last, and as much containing as all these,
70
Her brother is in secret come from France,
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,
day. St. Valentine was said to have been martyred Feb. 14, A.D. 270.
It was supposed that birds began to choose mates the middle of February. " The first girl seen by a man on the morning of this day was considered his valentine or true-love." Prettily illustrated in Scott's Fair
Maid of Perth?—59. This is. Abbott, 461, and most commentators
shorten these two syllables to one. Is it necessary ? — 60. O Gertrude,
Gertrude. The quartos read, death and now behold, O Gertrude,
Gertrude. The better reading?—61. When sorrows, etc. Is Shakespeare's military form of statement finer than " misfortunes never come
singly"? — Spies = scouts ?— The quartos read battaliam; two folios,
batidliaes. — 64. remove. See avouch, I. i. 57; Abbott, 451.—muddied,
Thick and unwholesome. Alluding to the " b a d blood" which Polonius' death had stirred up among the people [Clark and Wright] ? —
66. greenly. I. iii. 101.—67. hugger-mugger = confusion, hurry, and
secrecy [White] ? — Shakespeare probably took the expression from
North's Plutarch. Steevens.—Etymology
uncertain. — Our ancestors
were very fond of reduplicated words like bibble-babble, ding-dong, flimflam, knick-knack, pit-a-pat, riff-raff, shilly-shally, zig-zag, dilly-dally ; in
which words we notice a regular euphonic change, the slight sound
in the first part being a preparation for the larger sound in the second,
alliteration adding smoothness. Hugger-mugger is different; it is simple rhyme; as in hum-drum, higgledy-piggledy, hurly-burly, hoity-toity,
harum-scarum, namby-pamby, hocus-pocus, pell-mell, helter-skelter, tagrag, etc., etc., — words for trie most part more expressive than elegant.
Other illustrations? — 68. divided, etc. See ecstasy, I I . i. 102.— 72.
Feeds. The folios read keepes. As good ? — his. The quartos read this.

SCENE V . ]

HAMLET.

159

And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father's d e a t h ;
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd,
75
Will nothing stick our person to arraign
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,
Like to a murdering-piece, in many places
Gives me superfluous death.
\_A noise within.
Queen.
Alack, what noise is this ? 79
King. Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the
door. —
Enter another Gentleman.
What is the matter?
Gentleman.
Save yourself, my lord ;
The ocean, overpeering of his list,
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head,
O'erbears your officers. The rabble call him lord ;
A n d , a s t h e world were n o w b u t t o b e g i n ,
Antiquity forgot, custom not known,
The ratifiers and props of every word,

85

Good sense? — " T h e mysterious death of Polonius filled his son with
doubt and amazement" [Clark and Wright] ? —in clouds = reserved
and mysterious in his conduct [Theobald] ? at lofty distance and seclusion [Caldecott] ? keeps himself in clouds = keeps his intentions
secret [Clark and Wright]? — 73. buzzers = whisperers, tale-bearers?
Onomatopoetic ? — 75. wherein = in which pestilent speeches ? — necessity = the obligation of an accuser to support his charges [Johnson]?
of matter beggared = having no proper data or basis of truth ? — 76.
stick = hesitate ?—person. So the quartos; the folios read persons.
Preferable? See line 106. —78. murdering-piece = a small piece of
artillery, called a murderer, in which case-shot filled with small bullets,
nails, old iron, etc., was used [Hudson] ? a rude mitrailleuse . . . which
discharged stones so that they shattered into many fragments [Moberly]? —79. superfluous death. Like "twenty mortal murders" on
Banquo's head? Macbeth, III. iv. 81.—80. Switzers. " L a w , logic,
and Switzers may be hired to fight for anybody." Nash's Christ's Tears
over Jerusalem, 1594. The Lucerne lion testifies how they fought for
Louis XVI.? " To this day the Pope's body-guard consists chiefly of
Swiss soldiers." Meiklejohn. — 82. overpeering of = rising above,
looking over [Rolfe] ? overflowing [Hudson] ? — Peer is fr. Low German piren, for pliren, to look closely. For of, see I. v. 175; I I . i. 92;
Abbott, 178. — list = boundary, i.e. shore [Malone] ? — List = a stripe or
border of cloth, selvage. A. S. list; Icel. lista, a border. See Goldsmith's Traveller, 283-292. — 83. eats = devours, swallows ? — 84. head
repeatedly in Shakespeare = armed force ? — 86. as = as if ? Abbott, 107;
III. iv. 133.—87. forgot. III. ii. 118. Abbott, 343, 376.-88. of every
word he utters [Toilet] ? every human establishment [Caldecott] V of
every thing that is to serve as a watchword and shibboleth to the multitude [Schmidt] ? " Antiquity and custom are the ratifiers and props of

160

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

They cry ' Choose we ; Laertes shall be king ! '
Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds,
' Laertes shall be king, Laertes k i n g ! '
Queen. How cheerfully on the false trail they cry !
0 , this is counter, you false Danish dogs!
King. The doors are broke.
[Noise
Enter LAERTES, armed;

Danes

90

within.

following.

Laertes. Where is this king? — Sirs, stand you all without.
Danes. No, let 's come in.
Laertes.
I pray you, give me leave.
Danes. We will, we will.
[They retire without the door.
Laertes. I thank you : keep the door. — O thou vile king,
Give me my father !
Queen.
Calmly, good Laertes.
Laertes. That drop of blood that 's calm proclaims me
bastard,
100
Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot
Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brows
Of my true mother.
King.
What is the cause, Laertes,
That thy rebellion looks so giant-like ? —
105
Let him go, Gertrude ; do not fear our person :
There 's such divinity doth hedge a king,
That treason can but peep to what it would,
Acts little of his will. — T e l l me, Laertes,
Why thou art thus incens'd. — Let him go, Gertrude. —
Speak, man.
HO
Laertes. Where is my father?
King.
Dead.
Queen.
But not by him.
King. Let him demand his fill.
Ijaertes. How came he dead? I '11 not be juggled with :
To hell, allegiance ! vows, to the blackest devil!
every sound word touching the matter in hand, the ordering of human
society, and the state " [Hudson] ? — 93. counter = in the wrong direction ? " Hounds run counter when they trace the scent backward "
[Rolfe, etc.] ? — Lat. contra, in opposition, against; Fr. contre. —102. unsmirched. Smirch, an extension from Mid. Eng. smeren, to smear; Gr.
(Tud-eiv, sma-ein; a^ri-x^v, sme-chein, to smear, rub, wipe. Skeat. I I I .
iv. 43.— 105. fear = fear for? I. iii. 51. But for appetite, this king
were kingly? Does the queen hold Laertes from striking? —106. divinity, etc. A quite common belief till Charles I. and Louis XVI. died?
— For hedge, see Job i. 10, iii. 21. — '* Shakespeare never intended us to

SCENE V.]

HAMLET.

161

Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!
I dare damnation. To this point I stand :
115
That both the worlds I give to negligence,
Let come what comes ; only I '11 be reveng'd
Most throughly for my father.
King.
Who shall stay you ?
Laertes. My will, not all the world ;
120
And for my means, I '11 husband them so well,
They shall go far with little.
King.
Good Laertes,
If you desire to know the certainty
Of your dear father's death, is 't writ in your revenge,
That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe,
Winner and loser ?
Laertes. None but his enemies.
125
King.
Will you know them then ?
Laertes. To his good friends thus wide I '11 ope my a r m s ;
And like the kind life-rendering pelican,
Repast them with my blood.
King.
Why, now you speak
130
Like a good child and a true gentleman.
That I am guiltless of your father's death,
And am most sensibly in grief for it,
I t shall as level to your judgment pierce
As day does to your eye.
135
Danes. [ Within']
Let her come in.
Laertes. How now ! what noise is that ? —
see the king with Hamlet's eyes." Coleridge. —116. To this point, etc.
Luther's Hier stehe ich f —117. both the worlds = this world and the
next ? Not as in Macbeth, III. ii. 16 ? —119. throughly = thoroughly ?
— A. S. thurgh, through. Thorough is a later form of through. The
fundamental notion is that of boring or piercing; A. S. thyrlian, to pierce
through ; thyrel, a hole so made. — Matthew iii. 12. —124. writ. I. ii. 222.
—125. swoop-stake = indiscriminately ? The metaphor is from a game
at cards, where the winner sweeps or " d r a w s " the whole stake [Clark
and Wright] ? Like a gambler who insists on sweeping the stakes,
whether the point is in his favor or not [Moberly] ? — A. S. swdpan (past
tense,.swedp), to sweep along, rush; swoop; A. S. staca, a stake, post;
Old Dutch, stake, staeck, " a stake for which one playeth." Akin to
stack, a pile. —129. pelican. See device on State Seal of Louisiana!
Allusion to the belief that the pelican pierces her own breast to feed
her young ; a belief founded on the posture of the bird while feeding
her young, and on the appearance of the " capacious pouch lined with a
fine flesh-colored skin " ? See Furness or Rolfe. — Folio 1 has politician
for pelican! — 133. sensibly = feelingly. The folios have sensible.
Equally good ? — 134f level = direct, point-blank ? —135. Let her come

162

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

He-enter OPHELIA.
O heat, dry up my brains ! tears seven times salt,
Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye ! —
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight,
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May !
140
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia ! —
O heavens ! is ' t possible, a young maid's wits
Should be as mortal as an old man's life?
Nature is fine in love, and where 't is fine
I t sends some precious instance of itself
145
After the thing it loves.
Ophelia. [Sings] They bore him harefac'd on the bier;
Iley non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;
And on his grave rains many a tear. —
F a r e you well, my dove !
150
Laertes.
H a d s t thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,
I t could n o t move t h u s .
Ophelia. You must sing, Down a-down, and you call him
a-down-a.
O, how the wheel becomes i t ! I t is the false
steward, that stole his master's daughter.
Laertes. This nothing ' s more than matter.
Ophelia. There 's rosemary, that 's for remembrance;
in. Assigned to Laertes in the quartos. Wrongly? —137. virtue =
strength, power? Lat. virtus, manly excellence; vir, a manly man.—
139. b y w e i g h t . The quartos read "with weight." As well? —144146. These lines not in the quartos. Are they of value ? — fine = spiritualized [Moherly] ? delicately tender [Clark and Wright] ? — instance
= sample [Moberly] ? proof, example [Clark and Wright] ? — the thing
it loves = Polonius (in this case) [Clark and Wright] ? Ophelia's sanity
has, as it were, been sent after Polonius ? — Some part of nature, purified
and refined by love, flies off after the attracting object, after the thing it
loves [Johnson]? Moberly quotes In Memoriam, LXIV. —149. rains.
The quartos have rain'd, which Hudson retained. —153. You m u s t
sing. A song found in a collection of 1618. Moberly. —154. w h e e l =
burden, refrain [Hudson, etc.] ? Spinning-wheel (to which the song
might be sung)? " A peculiar rhythm recurring at the end of each
stave of a ballad, and which was sometimes produced by a repetition of
the same words, . . . was called a wheel." White. — " From the Latin
rota, a round, which is usually accompanied with a burden frequently
repeated." Hudson. A roundel (Lat. rotundas, round, fr. Lat. rota,
wheel, with suffix -undus) is so called from the first line's coming round
again. Skea't. — false, etc. -Story lost? —156. matter = sense, meaning? I I . ii. 95.— 157. rosemary " w a s supposed to strengthen the
memory, hence it came to symbolize remembrance and fidelity. . . . I t
was therefore worn at funerals and weddings " [Clark and Wright] ?
Winter's Tale, IV. iv. 74, 75, 76. —Rosemary (Lat. ros, dew; maris, of
the sea ; Ovid has ros maris, sea-dew), an evergreen shrub named from
some fancied connection with the sea. I n English it seems to have

SCENE V . ]

HAMLET.

163

pray you, love, remember: and there is pansies, that 's for
thoughts.
Laertes, A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance
fitted.
160
Ophelia. There 's fennel for you, and columbines ; there 's
rue for you; and here 's some for me ; we may call it herb
of grace o' Sundays ; O, you must wear your rue with a difference. There 's a daisy: I would give you some violets,
but they withered all when my father died ; they say he made
a good e n d , —
[Sings] For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
Laertes. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,
She turns to favor and to prettiness.
been altered from rosmarine to rosemary, from a popular etymology
conecting it with a rose of Mary. Skeat. —158. love. In her bewilderment does she give the rosemary to Laertes with a vague notion that
she is giving it to Hamlet ? and the pansies, too? (Fr. pensie, thought;
penser, Lat. pensare, to think ; pendfre, to weigh. Called, also, " heart'sease " ? —159. document = precept, instruction, lesson ? Lat. docere,
to teach ; mentum, suffix denoting means, subject, act, or result. — The
word has lost its etymological sense?—161. fennel. Emblem of flattery ? It was said also to clear the sight. Did Ophelia therefore give
it to the king? Fennel is fragrant, and supposed to have many virtues.
{A. S.j£»©Z; MM. TSmg.fenel; Lat. feniculum, fennel ; fr. Lat. fenum,
hay.) See Longfellow's Goblet of Life. — columbines. Signifying
thanklessness? cuckoldom? forsaken love? Given, like the fennel, to
the king? Lat. columba, dove ; columbinus, dove-like, " so called from
the beak-like spurs of its flowers." Webster. — 162. rue. Symbol of
sorry remembrance [Schmidt] ? repentance ? sorrow ? A. S. hredioan,
to sorrow, to grieve? —herb of g r a c e . " T h e priests forced the * possessed ' to swallow it on Sundays in church, to cast out the evil spirit."
— The queen may with peculiar propriety on Sundays, when she solicits
pardon, . . . call her rue herb of grace [Malone] ? — Called herb-grace
from the moral and medicinal virtues ascribed to it [Hudson] ? Malone
shows that " h e r b of grace was wormwood." Caldecott.— Rue has a
strong, heavy odor, and a bitter taste. —163. w i t h a difference, because your sorrow has a different origin from mine ? — " It is sometimes
called herb of grace, and in that sense I take some for myself; with a
slight difference of spelling it means ruth, and in that respect it will do
for you." Skeat, who savs this is Shakespeare's own explanation in
Richard II., I I I . iv. 104-107. But —?—164. daisy. Type of dissembling ? given to the king ? or queen ? Henley says that Greene calls it
" the dissembling daisy." Chaucer loves it above all other flowers, as
he repeatedly says in his Legend of Good Women. — A. S. daeges, day's ;
tge, eye ; daegese'ge, day's-eye. The eye of day is the sun ? Resemblance ? — violets. From " Sonnets," published in 1584, Malone quotes
"Violet is for faithfulness." To whom would she give these? To
Horatio [Clark and Wright] Gr. lov, ion, for Fiov, vion, violet ; Lat.
vidla, violet.— I. iii. 7; V. i. 229. —167. Robin, etc. A familiar ballad
of the time. —168. thought = melancholy [Malone]? grief, anxiety,
trouble, care [Rolfe, Hudson, Clark, etc.]? I I I . i. 85. — passion = violent sorrow [Schmidt]? Suffering [Furness]? Gr. ndeuv, pathein; Lat.
pati, to bear, suffer, undergo ; passio, suffering. —169. favor = attrac-

164
Ophelia.

[ACT IV.

HAMLET.
[ S i n g s ] And ivill lie not come again?
Arid tvill he not come again f
No, no, he is dead;
Go to thy
death-bed,
He never will come again.
His beard was
All flaxen ivas
He is gone,
And ive cast
God ha9 mercy

ivhite as snow.
his poll;
he is gone,
away
moan:
on his soul I

170

175

179

A n d of all Christian souls, I p r a y G o d . — G o d be wi' y e .
{Exit.
Laertes.
D o you see t h i s , O G o d ?
King. L a e r t e s , I m u s t c o m m u n e with your grief,
O r you deny me r i g h t . G o b u t a p a r t ,
M a k e choice of w h o m , your wisest friends, you will,
A n d they shall h e a r a n d j u d g e ' t w i x t you a n d m e .
185
If by direct or by collateral h a n d
T h e y find us t o u c h ' d , we will our kingdom give,
O u r crown, our life, a n d all t h a t we call ours,
T o you in satisfaction ; but if not,
Be you content to lend your patience to u s ,
190
A n d we shall jointly labor with your soul
T o give it due content.
/"
v
Laertes.
Let this be s o ;
H i s m e a n s of d e a t h , his obscure funeral —
N o t r o p h y , sword, nor h a t c h m e n t o'er his b o n e s ,
N o noble rite nor formal ostentation —
195
tiveness, grace, charm? —176. poll = the head ; especially the back of
it, or the rounded part of the head. —179. The folios have Gramercy. To
avoid the sacred name? I I . i. 76. —180. of =.on? For of see Abbott,
165-181. —179, 180. The common conclusion to many ancient monumental inscriptions. Steevens. —182. commune. Accent? The 1st folio
has common, substantially the same word once. —187. touched = implicated, accessory? —193. his means of = the means of his ? I. iv. 73;
I I I . ii. 313. .Abbott, 423. — obscure. Accent? Usually on first syllable
in Shakespeare? Macbeth, I I . iii. 40; Mer. of Venice, Il.Vii. 51. — burial.
The quartos have funeral.
Preferable? — 194. hatchment = the
escutcheon (of a deceased person) publicly displayed. Atch'ment, shortened from achievement, and pronounced by the Englishman /iatchment,
is'the heraldic name of the escutcheon, or field or ground on which a
coat of arms is represented. Webster's Diet. —195. ostentation, or ostentf seems to have been a term which fashion had in some sort appro-

HAMLET

SCENE V I . ]

Cry to be heard, as ' t were from heaven to earth,
That I must call ' t in question.
King.
So you shall;
And where the offence is let the great axe fall.
I pray you, go with me.

SCENE VI.
Enter

Another

165

[Exeunt.

Room in the Castle.

HORATIO and a Servant.

Horatio. What are they that would speak with me?
Servant. Sailors, sir ; they say they have letters for you.
Horatio. Let them come in. —
[Exit Servant.
I do not know from what part of the world
I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.
5
Enter Sailors.
1 Sailor. God bless you, sir.
Horatio. Let him bless thee too.
1 Sailor. He shall, sir, an 't please him. There 's a letter
for you, sir — it comes from the ambassador that was bound
for England — if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know
it is.
11
Horatio. [Eeads] ' Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means to the king; they
have letters for him. Ere ive were tivo days old at sea, a
pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chase. Finding
priated to funeral pomp, etc. Caklecott. —197. that = so that ? Julius
Ccesar, I. i. 45, " That Tiber trembled underneath her banks." Abbott,
283. — 198. the g r e a t a x e . Felicitous? —Could Scene V. have been
spared? How, if at all, does it help?
SCENE VI. — How long a time between scene v. and this ? — 1. W h a t =
who ? " Often used so, but only in the predicate." " Often used apparently . . . where we should use xoho, especially in the phrase ' what is
he?'"
Schmidt. " But in the Elizabethan and earlier periods, when
the distinction in ranks was much more marked than now, it may have
seemed natural to ask, as the first question about any one, ' of what
condition or rank is h e ? ' " Abbott, 254.—10. let = caused [Clark and
Wright, Schmidt, etc.]? allowed, suffered, permitted? A. S. Idtan, to
permit. I. iv. 85. — Let, to suffer, and let, to hinder, may either take or
omit to in Shakespeare. — 12. overlooked = looked over, read? —13.
means, of access, introduction ? — d a y s old. I n Comedy of Er., II. ii.
147, we read, " In Ephesus I am but two hours old." — 15. appointment
= armament, equipment? Old Fr. apointer, to prepare, arrange; Lat. ad,
to; Low Lat punctdre, to mark by a prick; pungere, base pug or puk,

166

[ACT IV.

HAMLET.

ourselves too sloiv of sail, we put on a compelled valor; in the
grapple I boarded them: on the instant they got dear of our
ship; so I alone became their prisoner.
They have dealt with
me like thieves of mercy: but they knew what they did; I am
to do a good turn for them. Let the king have the letters I
have sent; and repair thou to me ivith as much speed as thou
wouldst fly death. I have ivords to speak in thine ear will
make thee dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of
the matter.
These good fellows will bring thee where I am.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England;
of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell.
' He that thou knowest thine,

HAMLET.'

Come, I will make you way for these your letters ;
And do 't the speedier, that you may direct me
To him from whom you brought them.
SCENE V I I .
Enter

Another

27
[Exeunt.

Room in the Castle.

KING and

LAERTES.

King. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,
And you must put me in your heart for friend,
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
That he which hath your noble father slain
Pursued my life.
Laertes.
I t well appears ; but tell me

5

to prick. — 16. compelled = enforced, involuntary ? —18. thieves of
mercy = merciful thieves ? See " sisters of mercy; " to " brow of woe/'
I. ii iv.; III i. 69. —19. they k n e w , etc. It has been strongly argued
that this capture was pre-arranged by Hamlet; hinted at in IV. iii. 47;
III. iv. 203-208, with a pun on ' ' c r a f t s " (vessels !). See V. ii. Collect and weigh the arguments pro and con. — 21. as thou, etc. As = as
though, or we must supply " w i t h a l " after death [Clark and Wright] ?
Abbott, 384. — 22. w i l l = which will ? Abbott, 244. — 23. bore, etc. =
calibre of the facts [Rolfe] ? the matter would carry heavier words
[Johnson] ? " A metaphor from a gun-barrel, which, in proportion to
the size of its bore, requires a heavier charge." Clark and Wright. The
unvexed Tschischwitz will have it that bore is averbal substantive from
" to bear," and means "capacity for bearing" ! —A. S. borian, Dutch
boren, to pierce, perforate. — 27. make. The folios have give. The
early quartos omit make. —Does this letter throw light on the question
of Hamlet's sanity ? Note its sinewy Saxon speech.
SCENE VII.—1. Acquittance = discharge ? receipt in full? See
quietus, III. i. 75, Low Lat. acquietdre, to settle a claim, to set a claim
at rest; ad, to, at; quies, quietem, rest. — Note the abounding legal and
military phraseology in the play. How acquired by Shakespeare ? — 3.
Sith. II. ii. 6; IV. iv. 45. — 4. w h i c h , used interchangeably with ivho
and that? Abbott, 265. A. S. hwylc, why-like, contracted from hivi,

SCENE VII.]

HAMLET.

Why you proceeded not against these feats,
So crimeful and so capital in nature,
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,
You mainly were stirr'd up.
King.
O, for two special reasons,
Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinew'd,
But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother
Lives almost by his looks ; and for myself —
My virtue or my plague, be it either which —
She 's so conjunctive to my life and soul,
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
I could not but by her. The other motive,
Why to a public count I might not go,
Is the great love the general gender bear him ;
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
Convert his gyves to graces : so that my arrows,

167

10

15

20

why, by what, and lie, like; akin to Lat. qua-lis, what-like,of what sort.
Skeat.— 7. crimeful. Used by Shakespeare in Rape of Lucrece, 970.
The quartos read criminall. The better? — 8. wisdom. The quartos
insert greatness before wisdom. Objection to this ? Scan the next line.
— 9. mainly = greatly, strongly [Hudson]? chiefly1 — Main, strength,
might, as in the phrase "might and main," is A. S. maegen, strength.
Main, chief, is Old Fr. magne, as in Charlemagne; Lat. magnus. Both,
however, are from the same Aryan root? —10. much unsinewed =
very weak, wanting nerve? Sineived = strengthened in King John,Y.
vii. 88. Rolfe. — A. S. sinv, a tendon, that which joins the muscle to the
bone.—11. And. The quartos have but. Preference? —13. be it
either w h i c h = be it which of the two it may ? Abbott, 273. To what
does it, before either, refer ? —14. conjunctive = conjoined, united, knit,
as in Othello, I. iii. 362 ? —15. sphere. One of the eight revolving crystal shells, in which the heavenly bodies were once supposed to be firmlyfastened, that of the moon being nearest; then, in order, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, fixed stars; the earth being the common centre ? Their swift revolution through the ether of the planetary
spaces " caused the music of the spheres." —17. count = account, trial ?
Covnt is a doublet of compute; Lat. cornputare, to sum up; Fr. compte,
account, reckoning, cornpt. — 18. general gender = the common race
of the people [Johnson] V — Lat. genus, geneve, kind, sort, cognate with
kin; Fr. genre, kind. The d is excrescent, as in tender. Skeat. — 20.
spring, etc. The dropping-well at Knaresborough, Yorkshire, incrusts
things with a calcareous deposit. Reed. — " If the spring had changed
base metals to gold, the thought had been more proper " [Johnson] ? —
21. gyves, etc = his fetters would make him appear the lovelier [Hudson] ? the bonds would give him more general favor [Moberly] V make
his gyves precious to the people as relics (as the cross is to us a precious
and sacred ornament)? Theobald suggested to read gibes or gybes;
Tschischwitz adopts the suggestion; Elze suggests crimes ; Daniel, gyres,
wild and whirling actions; Elze and Stratmann would change graces to
graves, i.e., greaves, armor-boots ! —Welsh gefyn, a fetter, gyve (g as j).

168

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,
Would have reverted to my bow again,
And not where I had aim'd them.
Laertes. And so have I a noble father lost;
25
A sister driven into desperate terms,
Whose worth, if praises may go back again,
Stood challenger on mount of all the age
For her perfections : but my revenge will come.
King. Break not your sleeps for t h a t ; you must not think
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
31
That we can let our beard be shook with danger,
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more:
I lov'd your father, and we love ourself;
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine —
35
Enter

a Messenger.

How now ! what news ?
Messenger.
Letters, my lord, from H a m l e t :
This to your majesty; this to the queen.
King. From Hamlet! who brought them ?
Messenger. Sailors, my lord, they s a y ; I saw them n o t :
They were given to me by Claudio ; he received them
40
Of him that brought them.
King.
Laertes, you shall hear them.—
Leave us.
[Exit Messenger.
— 22. loud a w i n d . " Weak bows and light shafts cannot stand in a
rough wind." Ascham's Toxophihis (1589). Two quartos have loued
arm'd; two, loued armes. Jennens adopts the former {loved, arm'd),
and interprets thus, " T o o slightly timbered for one so loved and
armed." Reasonable? — 24. not where = not gone where ? " T h e Elizabethan authors objected to scarcely any ellipsis, provided the deficiency
could be easily supplied from the context." Abbott, 382.— 25. h a v e =
find [Abbott, see 425; Rolfe] ? possess as my lot or situation? have I =
there is to me; Lat. est mihi ? — 27. if, etc. = if I may praise what once
was, but now is no more? —28. of a l l the age, etc. = on the highest
ground, in the fullest presence of the age, to give a general chaHenge
[Caldecott] ? challenged all the age to deny her perfection [Furness,
Hudson, Rolfe, etc.] ? At the coronation of the Emperor of iVustria as
king of Hungary, be unsheathes the ancient sword of state on the
Mount of Defiance at Presburg, and shaking it towards north, east,
south, and west, challenges the world to dispute his rights. — 30.
sleeps. See loves, I. i. 173; ivisdoms, I. ii. 15. —you must not, etc. Is
here a threat to Laertes as well as Hamlet ? — 32. shook. Shakespeare
generally uses shook both for past tense and participle; sometimes
shaked; five times, shaken. Rolfe. Abbott, 343. — 34. I loved . . . w e
love. Why this change to the royal style ? — 35. imagine what ? — 36.
l e t t e r s = a letter; like the Latin plural literal, an epistle? — 41. of h i m
that brought them. These words are not in the folios. Are they of

SCENE VII.]

169

HAMLET.

[Reads] ; High and mighty, You shall know I am
on your kingdom.
To-morrow shall I beg leave to
kingly eyes; when I shall, first asking your pardon
recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange

set naked
see your
thereunto,
return.

HAMLET.'

W h a t should this mean ? Are all the rest come back ?
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
Laertes. Know you the hand ?
King.
' T is Hamlet's character. 4 Naked ! '
And in a postscript here, he says ' a l o n e . '
51
Can you advise me ?
Laertes. I 'm lost in it, my lord. But let him come ;
I t warms the very sickness in my heart,
T h a t I shall live and tell him to his teeth,
55
'This didestthou.'
King.
If it be so, Laertes —
As how should it be so ? how otherwise ? —
Will you be rul'd by me?
Laertes.
Ay, my l o r d ;
So you will not o'errule me to a peace.
King. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd,
60
As checking at his voyage, and that he means
No more to undertake it, I will work him
To an exploit now ripe in my device,
Under the which he shall not choose but fall;
And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,
65
any value ? — 45. your kindly eyes. See in his eye, IV. iv. 6. — 46.
more strange [than sudden] ? So Abbott, 6. —48. should, etc. = was
this (destined, likely) to mean [Abbott, 325] ? " It seems to increase the
emphasis of the interrogation, since a doubt about the past (time having
been given for investigation) implies more perplexity than a doubt about
the future." Abbott, 325. — 49. abuse = deception, cheat, delusion?
See abuses, II. ii. 590. — 50. character = handwriting? See character,
I. iii. 59. — The verse seems to require that this word . . . should be
pronounced character [Walker] ? — 56. didest. Diddest, didst, and diest,
are in early editions. — 57. As h o w , etc. How should it be so, that
Hamlet has returned ? How should it be otherwise, with this written
evidence before us to prove it ? Hudson, substantially. — " Perhaps the
first clause refers to Hamlet's return, the second to Laertes' failings"
[Clark and Wright] ? — 58. ruled, etc. The folios omit Ay, my lord.
Abbott makes Ay a dissyl., as in I I . i. 3 6 . - 5 9 . So is used with the
future and subjunctive in the sense of " provided t h a t " ? Abbott, 133. —
61. checking at = objecting to ? rebelling against ? starting away from?
Metaphor from falconry, technically applied to a falcon that forsakes her
proper game to fly after some other bird. Clark and Wright, Dyce, etc. —
The word check is from the game of chess, and meant king ; " check ! "
i.e., mind your king ! Fr. e'chec, a sudden stop, repulse, defeat; e'checs,

17a

BAM LET.

[ACT IV.

But even his mother shall uncharge the practice
And call it accident.
Laertes.
My lord, I will be ruTd ;
The rather, if you could devise it so
That I might be the organ.
King.
I t falls right.
You have been talk'd of since your travel much,
And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality
Wherein, they say, you shine ; your sum of parts
Did not together pluck such envy from him
As did that one, and that, in my regard,
Of the unworthiest siege.
Laertes.
W h a t part is that, my lord ?
King. A very riband in the cap of youth,
Yet needful too ; for youth no less becomes
The light and careless livery that it wears
Than settled age his sables and his weeds,
Importing health and graveness. Two months since,
Here was a gentleman of Normandy : —
I 've seen myself, and serv'd against, the French,
And they can well on horseback ; but this gallant
Had witchcraft in ' t : he grew into his seat,

70

75

80

chess.— 66. uncharge = acquit of blame, not accuse [Schmidt]? make
no accusation against [Clark and Wright] ? " The word is probably
coined by Shakespeare." — practice = artifice, plot, stratagem, treachery?—67-80. Lines 67-80, m y lord . . . graveness, are not in the
folios. Can they be spared? — 69. organ = instrument ? Gr. bpyavov,
organon ; Lat. orgdnum, an implement: epyov, ergon, a work. — 72.
parts = talents, qualities, gifts? Says Pope, " I f parts allure thee,
think how Bacon shined." Parts in the sense of talents was in constant
use in the old writers. —75. siege = rank [Johnson, etc.] V — Lat. sedere,
to sit; sedes, a seat; Fr. siege, a seat. " Seat, thence rank, because people sat at table and elsewhere in the order of precedence." Clark and
Wright. See Luke xiv. 8, 10. — 76. very = real? mere? Lat. verus,
true? —weed. A. S. wa\d, garment.—79. sables. III. ii. 113. — 80.
t w o months since. The folios read, Some two months hence. Equally
good?— health = prosperity [Schmidt, Rolfe, etc.]? care for health
[Malone, Clark and Wright, etc.] ? I. iii. 2 1 ; V. ii. 21. Corson, and
after him Furness, thinks that here is a distributive or''respective "
construction; health referring to careless livery, and graveness to sables
and weeds. For such construction, see III. i. 151 ; Macbeth, I. iii. 60, 61.
— Shakespeare wrote wealth. Warbarton. — A. S. hwlan, to make
whole ; health, wholeness, soundness. — Importing = implying ? denoting an attention to [Malone]? producing [Johnson] ? —83. can = (have
knowledge, and consequently) have ability, are skilled? Abbott, 307.
— In Par. Lost, viii. 630, Raphael says, " B u t I can now no more."—
A. S. cunnan, to know, to be able. — The folios have ran, which presents a queer image, but is adopted by Rowe, Caldecott, Knight, and
others. — 84. into. Unto in the quartos, adopted by many. Wisely ? —

SCENE VII.]

HAMLET.

And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,
As he had been incorps'd and demi-natur'd
With the brave beast. So far he topp'd my thought
That I , in forgery of shapes and tricks,
Come short of what he did.
Laertes.
'
A Norman was ' t ?
King. A Norman.
Laertes. Upon my life, Lamond.
King.
The very same.
Laertes. I know him well; he is the brooch indeed
And gem of all the nation.
King. H e made confession of you,
And gave you such a masterly report
For art and exercise in your defence,
And for your rapier most especially,
T h a t he cried out, 't would be a sight indeed,
If one could match you ; the scrimers of their nation,
He swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye,
If you oppos'd them. Sir, this report of his
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy
That he could nothing do but wish and beg
Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.

171
85

90

95

ioo

86. As h e h a d is as had he in the earliest quartos and all the folios. — As
nearly or quite = as if? Abbott, 107.—incorps'd = made one body, incorporate ? Lat. corpus was a body, living or lifeless. — demi-natur'd.
Demi is from Lat. dimidius, half ; dl-, dis-, apart ; medius, middle ; Fr.
demi, half. Not akin to semi-, or hemi, which are doublets. — 87. brave.
II. ii. 295. — topp'd = surpassed, exceeded. So top in Macbeth, IV. iii.
57. Note with what facility Shakespeare turns any word into a verb.
Vivid imagination ? — The folios have past, which Rowe, Pope, and some
others prefer. Your choice ? — 88. forgery = invention [Hudson,
Schmidt] ? imagination [Clark and Wright] ? Ijat. fabrica, a workshop,
a fabric ; whence,1 by usual letter changes, fabr'ca, faurca, faurga, forga,
and finally forge. * Skeat, after Bracket.—92. brooch = conspicuous
ornament [Hudson] ? ornamental buckle (for the hat) [Rolfe, etc.] ? — So
named from its being fastened with a pin. Lat. broccus, a sharp tooth,
a point; Fr. broche, a spit; Gaelic brog, a shoemaker's awl ; (l)a point;
(2) a pin ; (3) an ornament fastened with a pin, tongue, or loop. Skeat,
Webster. Pronounced with o long? —94. confession = unwilling acknowledgment of the superiority [Delius, etc.] ?— 95. masterly report
report of mastership, account of consummate skill [Schmidt] ? report
which describes you as a master of fence [Clark and Wright] ? — 96.
defence = fencing, sword-practice [Hudson, etc.] ? the science of defence [Johnson] ? — 99. scrimers = fencers? — Fr. escrimeurs, fencers. —
Not found elsewhere. Perhaps we should read with White, th'escrimeurs. —100. Coleridge calls attention to the skill of the king in awakening, gratifying, and pointing the A^anity of Laertes.— 101. r e p o r t .
Subject or object of envenom ? —102. his. Hudson changes his to your.

172

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

N o w , o u t of t h i s —
Laertes.
W h a t out of this, my lord?
King. Laertes, was your father dear to you?
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
A face without a heart?
Laertes.
W h y ask you this ?
King. Not that I think you did not love your father ;
But that I know love is begun by time,
,
And that I see, in passages of proof,
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate i t ;
And nothing is at a like goodness still,
For goodness, growing to a plurisy,
Dies in his own too-much. That we would do,
We should do when we would ; for this ' would ' changes
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents ;
And then this ' should' is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer:
Hamlet comes back ; what would you undertake,
To show yourself your father's son in deed
More than in words ?
Laertes.
To cut his throat i' the church.

105

110

115

120

125

Wisely ? —105. Here the king pauses. Why ? —110. by time = at some
given point of time (in other words, love is not innate) [Moberly] ? by
time, and has its gradual increase [Hudson] ? — 111. passages of "proof
= circumstances that prove (it) [Clark and Wright] ? instances of trial,
or experience [Hudson] ? events which have come within my own experience [Meiklejohn]? In Julius Caesar, I I . i. 21, proof = experience.—
113-122. There lives . . . ulcer, omitted in the folios. Necessary ?
— 115. like = uniform ? — still = always ? II. ii. 42. —116. plurisy =
plethora, excess ? much the same as Burns's unco c/uid [Hudson] ? Lat.
plus, more. Not to be confounded with pleurisy, inflammation of the
pleura (from Gr. TrAevpa, pleura, a rib, the side), the membrane that
covers the lungs. —118. too-much. Noun? Like " a great amiss"
[Moberly]? Like the vulgar too muchness [Meiklejohn]? — w o u l d =
wish to, would like to ? and should = ought to ? Abbott, 323, 329. —121.
spendthrift sigh, etc. = wasting sigh, etc.? " Alluding to the old notion that every sigh caused the loss of a drop of blood from the heart "
[Rolfe] ? " The mere recognition of a duty without the will to perform
it, while it satisfies for a moment, enfeebles the moral nature " [Clark
and Wright]? " He who vainly acknowledges that he 'should' have
done a thing, is like a spendthrift sighing for his squandered estate "
[Moberly] ? " As, according to the old saying, every sigh takes away a
pound of flesh, any sigh hurts by easing, and so is spendthrift" [White]?
— Mid. Night's Bream, I I I . ii. 97 ; Mer. of Venice, I. i. 82. —122. q u i c k .

SCENE VII.]

HAMLET.

King. N o place, indeed, should m u r d e r s a n c t u a r i z e ;
R e v e n g e should h a v e n o b o u n d s . * B u t , good L a e r t e s ,
W i l l you d o t h i s , k e e p close within your c h a m b e r .
H a m l e t r e t u r n ' d shall k n o w you a r e come home :
W e '11 p u t on those shall praise your excellence
A n d set a double v a r n i s h on t h e fame
T h e F r e n c h m a n g a v e you ; b r i n g y o u , in fine, t o g e t h e r
A n d w a g e r on your h e a d s . H e , b e i n g r e m i s s ,
M o s t g e n e r o u s a n d free from all contriving,
W i l l n o t peruse t h e foils ; so t h a t , with ease
O r with a little shuffling, y o u m a y choose
A sword u n b a t e d , a n d in a p a s s of p r a c t i c e
R e q u i t e him for y o u r father.
Laertes.
I will do ' t ;
And, for that purpose, I '11 anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue

173

130

135

140

II. ii. 584.—126. murder sanctuarize = protect murder from punishment, be a sanctuary to a murderer ? So temples and " cities of refuge "
once formed an asylum to homicides. See Joshua xx.; Comedy of Errors, V. i. 94, 95. — Word coined by Shakespeare. — 177. Revenge, etc.
This devilish doctrine was religiously believed, and should continually
be borne in mind. —130. put on = instigate, stir up, incite, set on ? V.
ii. 371. —shall. I. ii. 17 ; IV. vi. 22. —133. remiss = careless, indifferent ? This word now always refers to some particular act ? —134. contriving = j)lotting? planning? Lat. con, with ; turbdre, move, disturb ;
Fr. trouver, to find. —135. peruse = scrutinize, closely examine ? — 136.
shuffling (shuffle is a doublet of scuffle, and the frequentative of shove,
to push, thrust) = pushing about, practising shifts, fighting confusedly.
137. unbated = not blunted, having no cap or button on the point?
with sharpness undiminished? Bate is a contraction of abate, to diminish ; Old Fr. abatre ; Low Lat. abbatere, to beat down. — Bate, abate, and
rebate = blunt in Shakespeare. — pass of practice = treacherous thrust
[Rolfe, Clark and Wright, etc.] ? pass that Laertes was well practised in
[M. Mason] ? thrust for exercise [Johnson] ? thrust made as in exercise
of skill, and without any purpose of harm [Hudson] ? See line 66. —
139. anoint, etc. "Laertes shows . . . how little need there was for
the king to prepare the temptation so carefully [Moberly] ? — 140.
unction. Abstract for concrete? So contagion, 146? — mountebank
= quack [Schmidt] ? druggist, apothecary [Hudson] ? Ital. montambanco, a mountebank ; montare, to mount; in, on ; banco, a bench; Lat.
mons, montem, a mountain. Bank is a doublet of bench, and the oldest
sense seems to have been ridge. The charlatan mounts a bench to proclaim his nostrums ? —142. cataplasm = soft plaster, poultice ? Gr.
KaroLTrXaafjia, kataplasma, a piaster; KaranKaacr^v, kataplassein, to spread
down, spread over ; plaster and plastic are from the verb. —143. simples = herbs, so called as being the simple ingredients of compound
mixture [Clark and Wright] ? or as having a single specific medicinal

174

HAMLET.

[ACT IV.

Under the moon, can save the thing from death
That is but scratch'd withal; I '11 touch my point
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,
I t may be death.
King.
Let 's further think of this ;
Weigh what convenience both of time and means
May fit us to our shape. If this should fail,
And that our drift look through our bad performance,
' T were better not a s s a y ' d ; therefore this project
Should have a back or second, that might hold
If this should blast in proof. Soft! — let me s e e : —
We '11 make a solemn wager on your cunnings, —
I ha ' t :
When in your motion you are hot and dry —
As make your bouts more violent to that end —
And that he calls for drink, I '11 have prepar'd him
A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,
Our purpose may hold there. —
Enter

145

150

155

160

QUEEN.

How now, sweet queen !
Queen. One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
So fast they follow. — Y o u r sister 's drown'd, Laertes.
virtue ? Lat. simplex, literally one-fold, as duplex is two-fold ; Lat. sim,
from basesama, base of sem-el, once, sim-nl, at one time, together; plic-,
from plicdre, to fold. —144. under the moon = on the earth [Rolfe] ?
gathered by moonlight [Furness] ? —145. w i t h a l = with this, or with
it? Abbott, 196.—146. c o n t a g i o n = poison? See 140 —that. IV. v.
197. —149. m a y fit us, etc. = may enable us to act our part [Johnson] ?
— 150. that = if? Abbott, 285.—drift = that which one "drives a t " ?
A. S. drifan, to drive; meaning? purpose? end in view? — look =
show, appear. —152. b a c k = support in reserve [Schmidt] ? some reserve
to fall back on ? —153. b l a s t , etc. = break down in the trial. The image
is of proving guns, which sometimes burst in the testing [Hudson] ?
Note the military allusions. —154. cunnings. II. ii. 427, 577; I. l. 173;
I. ii. 15. — The folios have comings, which some adopt, meaning bouts,
meetings (in assault), passes. Your preference? —157. As = for so? and
so? IV. iii. 58 ; Mer. of Venice, I iii. 67. —157. bouts = conflicts, "settos." Bout is properly a turn, a bend, from Danish bugne, to bend ;
bugt, a t u r n ; bight, a bay; related to bow. —158. prepar'd. Some
editions, following the quartos, have prefer1 d. Better reading? —159.
the nonce = the special occasion? The sense is for the once; the older
spelling is for then ones. The n really belongs to the dative case of the
article ! —160. stuck = thrust? — ItaL and Span, stoccata and staccado.
White, Clark and Wright, and some others adopt from the quarto of
1676 the word tuck, which means rapier. Twelfth Night, I I I . iv. 262. —
161. H o w n o w , s w e e t q u e e n ! Omitted in the quartos. Words
needed? —162. One woe, etc. The same idea as in IV. v. 61, 62?

SCENE VII.]

HAMLET.

Laertes. Drown'd ! 0 , where?
Queen. There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
T h a t shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream ;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them :
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,
And, mermaid-like, a while they bore her up ;
W h i c h t i m e s h e c h a n t e d s n a t c h e s of old t u n e s ,
A s o n e i n c a p a b l e of h e r own d i s t r e s s ,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,

175

165

170

175

180

Could the two expressions properly change places, the queen's words
befitting the king's lips, and vice versa ? —165,166. Note the picturesqueness of the word a s l a n t . Lowell says of these two lines, " Shakespeare
understood perfectly the art of indirectness, of making his readers seem
to discover for themselves what he means to show them. If he wishes
to tell that the leaves of the willow are gray on the under side, he does
not make it a mere fact of observation by bluntly saying so, but makes
it picturesquely reveal itself to us as it might in nature." Among My
Books, I. p. 185.—willow. See Mer. of Venice, V. i. 10. The earliest
reference to the willow, as a symbol of forsaken love, is found in a MS.
collection of poems by John Heywood, about 1530." Rolfe.—167.
come. The 2d and 3d quartos read, " Therewith fantastic garlands did
she make." Better? —168. crow-flowers, etc. Says Farren, " T h i s
line is an exquisite specimen of emblematic or picture writing," and he
interprets thus : crow-flowers = a fair maid; nettles = stung to the
quick; daisies = her virgin bloorn; long purples = under the cold hand of
death ! But — V — crow-flowers = crow-foot [Beisley] ? — long purples = the early purple orchis [Beisley]? One of the grosser names
Gertrude had particular reason to avoid was " t h e rampant widow " !
Malone. — Wd. liberal = loose-tongued V licentious? — In Richard II.,
I I . i. 229, we have " a liberal tongue." —170. cold = chaste? Tempest,
IV. i. 66. — In opposition to "liberal." Delius. —172. sliver. A. S.
slifan, to cleave. " When Komeo must leave Juliet, the private pang of
the lovers becomes a property of Nature herself, and ' envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east.' " Lowell. —175. mermaid.
A. S. mere, lake, mere ; maigd, maid. The kindred Fr. mer, sea, caused
the change- of meaning. Skeat. —176. w h i c h t i m e . All constantly
repeated adverbial expressions have a tendency to abbreviate or lose
their prepositions. Abbott, 202. Here the preposition is omitted for
brevity's sake? — t u n e s . The quartos have laudes or lauds, psalms.
Which should be adopted? —177. i n c a p a b l e = having no understanding or knowledge [Malone]? unconscious [Hudson] ? —178. native. I.
ii.47. — indued = fitted, suited [Rolfe]? clothed, endowed, or furnished

176

HAMLET,

[ACT IV.

Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
Laertes.
Alas, then, is she clrowii'd?
Queen. Drown'd, drown'd.
Laertes. Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
And therefore I forbid my tears. But yet
185
I t is our trick ; nature her custom holds,
Let shame say what it will: when these are gone,
The woman will be out. — A d i e u , my lord ;
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze,
But that this folly douts it.
[Exit.
King.
Let 's follow, G e r t r u d e ;
190
How much I had to do to calm his r a g e !
Now fear I this will give it start again;
Therefore let 's follow.
[Exeunt.
with properties suited [Malone] ? — 181. poor wretch. I I . ii. 168.
Note the vivid personification in the sentence. —182. d e a t h . Was it
suicide? V. i. 210, 216. — "This speech of the queen is certainly unworthy of its author and of the occasion. The enumeration of plants is
quite as unsuitable to so tragical a scene as the description of the Dover
cliff in King Lear. Besides, there was no one by to witness the death
of Ophelia, else she would have been rescued." Clark and Wright.
" This passage is deservedly celebrated, and aptly illustrates the poet's
power of making the description of a thing better than the thing itself,
by giving us his eyes to see it with." Hudson. " Perhaps this description by the queen is poetical rather than dramatic; but its exquisite
beauty prevails, and Ophelia, dying and dead, is still the same Ophelia
that first won our love." Thomas Campbell^] — Choose. — 184. Too
much of water, etc. Is this good?—186. trick = peculiar habit? —
Teutonic base STRIK, to stroke; Ger. streich, a stroke, a trick; Dutch
streek, a trick, a prank. —.188. The w o m a n , etc. This recalls the exquisite lines in Henry V.f I V . vi. 30-32, —
" But I had not so much of man in me,
And all the mother came into mine eyes,
And gave me up to tears."
See Mer. of Venice, I I . iii. 10, 11; Macbeth, IV. iii. 230; Twelfth Night,
I I . i. 34-36. —190. douts = does out, extinguishes? So don is do on;
doff, do off; and obsolete dup, do up. — " T h a t Laertes might be excused
in some degree for not cooling, the act concludes with the affecting death
of Ophelia," Coleridge.

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

177

A C T V.
SCENE I .

A

Churchyard.

Enter two Clowns, with spades, etc.
1 Cloivn. Is she to be buried in Christian burial that wilfully seeks her own salvation ?
2 Clown. I tell thee she is ; and therefore make her grave
straight: the crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian
burial.
5
1 Clown. How can that be, unless she drowned herself in
her own defence ?
2 Cloivn. Why, 't is found so.
1 Clown. It must be se offendendo; it cannot be else. For
here lies the point: if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an
act, and an act hath three branches ; it is, to act, to do, and
to perform : argal, she drowned herself wittingly.
12
2 Clown. Nay, but hear you, goodman delver,—
1 Clown. Give me leave. Here lies the water; good:
here stands the man ; good: if the man go to this water,
and drown himself, it is, will he nill he, he goes, — mark you
t h a t ; but if the water come to him and drown him, he
drowns not himself: argal, he that is not guilty of his own
death shortens not his own life.
How long a time between the fourth and fifth Acts ? — 2. salvation. The blunders of the Gobbos in Merchant of Venice, and of Dogberry in Much Ado about Nothing, are equalled by these clowns? — 4.
straight = east to west in a direct line, parallel with the church [Johnson]? " not the mere hole " in which a suicide should be buried [Moberly]? straightway, immediately [Hudson, White, etc.]? I I . ii. 418.—
crowner. Generally supposed to be a corruption of the clown's, but it
is merely the English of the Low Latin corondtor, from corona, crown
[Rushton]? — sat = held a session?— 9. se offendendo = by offending
herself, in self-offence; the clown's blunder for se defendendo, in selfdefence? " J. H . " thinks here is no blunder. Which interpretation is
the more reasonable? — argal, clown Latin = ergo, therefore? — 13.
delver. " Hence it would appear that the second clown is not a gravedigger " [Walker] ? A. S. del/an, to dig; literally, to make a dale; A. S.
d(El, orig. a " cleft," " separation." Related to deal and dell. — 16. nill
= will not? A. S. ne, not, willan, to will. Like kindred Lat. nolle, to be

178

HAMLET.

[ACT v.

2 Clown. But is this law?
20
1 Clown. Ay, marry, is ' t ; crowrier's quest law.
2 Clown. Will you ha' the truth on ' t ? If this had not
been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o'
Christian burial.
1 Clown. Why, there thou s a y ' s t ; and the more pity that
great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or
hang themselves, more than their even-Christian. — Come,
my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners,
ditchers, and grave-makers ; they hold up A d a m ' s profession.
30
2 Clown. W a s he a gentleman?
1 Clown. He was the first that ever bore arms.
2 Clown. Why, he had none.
1 Clown. What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand the Scripture ? The Scripture says ' Adam digged ; '
unwilling; from ne and velle. —21. marry. I. iii. 90. — quest = pertaining to inquest; inquiry by a coroner's jury? —A noun in Richard III.,
I. iv. 178. — Lat. quwsita (res) a thing sought; qucerere, to seek; Old Fr.
queste, search, inquiry.—law. Sir John Hawkins says: " I strongly
suspect that this is in ridicule of a case of forfeiture to the Crown reported by Plowden [died 1584]. I t seems that Sir James Hales drowned
himself in a river, in a fit of insanity, produced, it is supposed, by his
having been one of the judges who condemned Lady Jane Grey. The
coroner sat on him, and a verdict of felo de se (suicide) was rendered.
. . . Sergeant Walsh said that the act consists of three parts. The
first is the imagination, which is a reflection or meditation . . . whether
or no it is convenient for him to destroy himself, and what way it can
be done. The second is the resolution, which is a determination to destroy himself and in this or that particular way. The third is the . . .
execution of what the mind has resolved to do. And this [execution]
consists of two parts, viz., the beginning and the end. The beginning is
the doing of the act that causes death, and the end is the death, which
is only a sequel to the act. . . . Sir James was dead, and how came he
to his death? . . . By drowning. And who drowned him? Sir James.
When did he drown him? In his lifetime. So that Sir James being
alive caused Sir James to die, and the act of the living man was the
death of the dead man. And then for this offence it is reasonable to
punish the living man who committed the offence, and not the dead
man. But how can he be said to be punished alive when the-punishment comes after d e a t h ? " Plowden's Commentaries were not translated from French into English till long after Shakespeare's death?
Could Shakespeare read French? —25. thou say'st = thou say'st it (it
being absorbed by the t of say'st) [Furness] ? thou say'st well, or to the
purpose [Schmidt]? thou say'st true [Walker]? Luke xxiii. 3 . - 2 7 .
even = fellow ? Chaucer has " even cristen," fellow Christian. A. S.
efcn, equal, level. — 29. hold up = follow up, continue, maintain ? —
" Concealed wit in the clown's allusion to the spade. Adam's spade is
set down in some of the books of heraldry as the most ancient form of
escutcheons; nor is it improbable that the lower part of the utensil suggested the well-known form of the old triangular shields." Furness. —
*

SCENE I . ]

179

HAMLET.

could, he dig without arms? I ' l l put another question to
thee; if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess thyself—
2 Clown. Go to.
1 Clown. What is he that builds stronger than either the
mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?
41
2 Clown. The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a
thousand tenants.
1 Clown. I like thy wit well, in good faith: the gallows
does well; but how does it well ? it does well to those that
do ill; now thou dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger
than the church: argal, the.gallows may do well to thee.
To ' t again, come.
2 Cloivn. Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright,
or a carpenter?
50
1 Clown. A y , tell me that, and unyoke.
2 Clown. Marry, now I can tell.
1 Clown. T o ' t .
2 Clown. Mass, I cannot tell.
Enter

HAMLET and HORATIO, at a

distance.

1 Clown. Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your
dull ass will not mend his pace with beating ; and when you
are asked this question next, say ' a grave-maker : ' the houses
that he makes last till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan ;
fetch me a stoup of liquor.
[Exit 2 Clown.
[He digs, and sings.
See Tennyson's Clara Vere de Vere about the gardener Adam. —39. G o
to = come ! A phrase of varying import [Hudson] ?— A phrase of exhortation, or encouragement, sometimes used scornfully. Rolfe. Mer.
of Venice, I. iii. 105. Genesis xi. 4.—40. What. IV. vi. 1. — 49. W h o
builds, etc. = Do you ask who builds, etc.? — 51. unyoke. Metaphor
from what? —54. Mass. I I . i. 50; I I I . ii. 3 5 3 . - 5 8 . Yaughan. Possibly a stage direction to the player to yawn at this point [Collier] ? I suspect that it is a misprint for tavern [White] ? Shakespeare's English
way of representing the Danish Johcm, John [J. San] ? Most probably
the well-known keeper of a tavern near the theatre [Nicholson] ? Impossible to detect the meaning which lies under this corruption [Clark
and Wright]? Common W'elsh name . . . borne by some Welsh tavernkeeper near the theatre [C. E. Browne] ? The Hebrew name John is
written in Hebrew Yohannan; Syriac, Yuhannon; Nestorian Syriac,
Yohanna; Armenian, Hohannes; Gr. Ioannes; Lat. Johannes; Ital. Giovanni ; Spanish, Juan; Fr. Jean; Ger. Johann ; Russian, Ivan; Welsh,
Evan or Owen. From it come Jenks, Jack, Jones, Hanson, etc.?—59.
stoup = a drinking-cup, still used in college halls. A. S. stedp ; Dutch,
stoop, a gallon; IceJ. staup, a knobby lump; a beaker, cup....— The origi-

180

HAMLET.

[ACT V.

In youth, when 1 did love, did love,
60
Methought it was very sweet,
To contract — O ! — the time, for — ah ! — m y behove,
0, methought, there was nothing meet,
Hamlet. Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that
he sings at grave-making?
65
Horatio.
Custom h a t h m a d e it in him a p r o p e r t y of easiness.
Hamlet.
' T is e ' e n so ; t h e h a n d of little e m p l o y m e n t h a t h '
the daintier sense.
1 Clown. [Sings]
But age, with his stealing steps,
70
Hath claw'd me in his clutch,
And hath shipped me intil the land.
As if I had never been such.
\_Throws up a skull.
Hamlet. That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing
once ; how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were
Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder! I t might be the
nal sense a mass of molten metal. Skeat. — 60-63, 70-73, 90-93. In
youth, etc. Disjointed lines of a song written by Lord Vaux, and
found in a collection of " Songs and Sonnets " by Henry Howard, Earl
of Surrey, published in 1557. I t may be found in full in Percy's Reliques.
— 62. The O and ah form no part of the song, but are the clown's grunting as he digs [Hudson, Jennens, etc.] ? Clark and Wright adopt the
reading f or-a my behove, and in the next line there-a w a s nothing-a
meet, and they say that " doubtless Shakespeare made it unintelligible
to suit the character of the singer, and that for-a, there-a, and nothing-a
represent the drawling notes." — behove. A. S. behdf advantage.—
66. property of easiness = easy individual peculiarity [Clark and
Wright]? easy property, easy thing for him [Rolfe]? Easiness is freedom from emotion, unconcernedness. Schmidt. — See thieves of mercy, ~
IV. vi. 19 ; substance of a doubt, I. iv. 37. — 69. daintier *= more delicate ? Cotgrave gives us dain, dainty, fine, quaint, curious, the popular
French form of Lat. dignus, worthy; the more learned form being digne.
— Is Hamlet's statement true? True of coarse work, but not of nice ? —
72. intil = into ? — Clark and Wright quote Chaucer's Knight's Tale,
1. 2064, Tyrwhitt's ed., " Tlier saugh I Dyan turned intil a tree," but in
Oilman's edition the line (2062) reads " Ther sawgh I Dane [i.e., Daphne]
yturned til a tree." So in Morris's, line 1204. In A. S. in to', in is adverb (inwards), and to' is preposition.—75. j o w l s = knocks? dashes?
— From A. S. ceaji, jaw (or littie jaw, the -I being a diminutive suffix),
whence successively chafle, chavel, chawl, chaul, choljoljolejovjl
I Allied
to chaps. Skeat. — Clarke remarks on the propriety i and force with
which Shakespeare uses even homely words like jowls. ' AVhat strength
it gives to the impression of the head and cheek-bone smiting against
the earth ! " The sound of J is naturally adapted to express energy?
See Sprague's Masterpieces in English Literature, pp. 58, 60. — pate =
head ? — Fate stands for plate, crown of the head. Ger. platte, plate,

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

181

pate of a politician, which this ass now o'er reaches; one
that would circumvent God, might it not ?
Horatio. I t might, my lord.
79
Hamlet. Or of a courtier, which could say ' Good morrow,
sweet lord ! How dost thou, good lord? ' This might be my
lord such-a-one, that praised my lord such-a-one's horse when
he meant to beg it, might it not?
Horatio. Ay, my lord.
Hamlet. Why, e'en so ; and now my Lady "Worm's, chapless, and knocked about the mazzard with a sexton's spade :
here 's fine revolution, an we had the trick to see 't. Did
these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at loggats
with 'em? mine ache to think on 't.
1 Clown. [Sings]
A pick-axe, and a spade, a spjade,
90
For and a shrouding sheet;
0 , a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
[ Throws up another sTcull.
Hamlet. There 's another; why may not that be the skull
of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his
cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this
bald pate, in vulgar lang. the head; Gr. TrAaru?, broad. — 77. politician
= conspirator, schemer, wire-puller ? " Alwa}7s used in a bad sense by
Shakespeare.'' Clark and Wright. — o'er-reaches = gets the better of V
reaches over [Moberly] ? Hudson sees an equivoque in the word. The
folios yield us o'er-offices (is superior to in office), which Corson thinks
more expressive. Your opinion? Does circumvent help us to decide?
— 82. praised, etc. For a happy illustration see Timon of Athens, I. ii.
194-197. — 85. and n o w (is my Lady, etc.) ? — 86. mazzard = the head,
skull (jocular or contemptuous)? Many derive it from Fr. machoire,
jaw ; macher, Lat. masticare, to chew ; but it is probably from mazer, a
bowl or large goblet (often of maple wood), the head being likened to
that! Because of the shape ? wooden material ? contents ? — sexton's.
= Lat. sacra, sacred things ; Gr. suffix -ICTTT^, -istes; sacristan, one who
takes care of sacred vessels, vestments, etc. Grave-digging has been
added. — 87. revolution. Lat. re, back ; volvZre, to roll; revolution, a
rolling round, complete change? —trick = knack, faculty [Caldecott]?
acquired habit, skill, or art [Clark and Wright] ? IV. vii. 186. — 88.
loggats = a species of Aunt Sally [Moberly] ? A once popular game
now played nowhere in England but at Norwich. Small conical logs of
apple-wood are tossed at a mark. Icel. lag; Swedish, laga, a felled
tree ; Gr. base, Ae^-, lech-, to lie ; at for ei, diminutive, as in lancet,
trumpet, pocket (small pouch). — 92. For and. The accent on and? I n
the original song, the line begins, And eke. — 92. for to. III. i 167.—
95. quiddits = cavillings ; captious arguments? — Low Lat. quidditas,
the " whatness; " quid, what. — quillets = sly tricks in argument ? quibbles ? Lat. quidlibet, which you please, which pleases you. — 96. tenures = titles by which landed property is held. Lat. tenere, to hold ;

182

HAMLET,

[ACT

v.

r u d e k n a v e n o w to k n o c k him a b o u t t h e sconce with a d i r t y
shovel, a n d will n o t tell him of his action of b a t t e r y ? H u m !
T h i s fellow m i g h t b e in ' s t i m e a g r e a t b u y e r of l a n d , with
his s t a t u t e s , his r e c o g n i z a n c e s , his fines, his double v o u c h e r s ,
his recoveries ; is this t h e fine of his fines, a n d t h e r e c o v e r y
of his recoveries, t o h a v e his fine p a t e full of fine d i r t ? will
his v o u c h e r s vouch him n o m o r e of his p u r c h a s e s , a n d double
o n e s too, t h a n t h e l e n g t h a n d b r e a d t h of a pair of i n d e n t u r e s ? T h e v e r y c o n v e y a n c e s of his l a n d s will h a r d l y lie in
this b o x ; a n d m u s t t h e i n h e r i t o r himself h a v e n o m o r e , h a ?
Horatio.
N o t a j o t m o r e , m y lord.
Hamlet.
I s n o t p a r c h m e n t m a d e of s h e e p - s k i n s ?
Horatio.
A y , m y lord, a n d of calf-skins t o o .
109
Hamlet.
T h e y a r e s h e e p a n d calves which seek o u t a s s u r a n c e in t h a t . I will s p e a k to t h i s fellow. — W h o s e g r a v e ' s

this, sirrah?
1 Clown. Mine, sir.—
[Sings] 0 , a pit of day for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
Fr. tenure. — 97. sconce = head (colloquial and jocose) ? — Old Fr.
esconser, to hide, cover ; Lat. abscondere, to hide, conceal. Hence sconce,
a small fort; a helmet; the head itself ! —98. battery = assault and
battery? Fr. battre ; Lat. batuere, to beat.—100. statutes. Not acts of
parliament here, but modes of recognizance or acknowledgment for securing debts: " a process by which lands of a debtor were placed in
possession of a creditor until the claim was satisfied out of the rents
and profits." White. — Statutes and recognizances are continually coupled
in the old law-books. —fines and recoveries are processes for converting an "estate t a i l " [limited estate] into a "fee simple" [absolute estate]. — double vouchers. So called because two persons were successively called upon (vouched) to warrant the tenant's title. —101. fine =
end [Rolfe]? last [Rushton]. ~L&t. finis, end. " H i s fine pate is filled,
not with fine dirt, but with the last dirt which will ever occupy it," implying that even in his lifetime his head was filled with dirt [Rushton]?
— Hudson says there are here four meanings of fine; 1. end ; 2. law processes ; 3. proud, elegant; 4. small. — Choose. —104. indentures =
deeds with edges cut to tally ? Agreements made in duplicate ? — Each
party kept one. Both were written on the same sheet, which was then
cut in two in a crooked or indented line. If a dispute arose, the fitting
or tallying of the two parts would prove the genuineness ? Lat. indenture, to notch, or cut into teeth ; dens, dentis, a tooth. — 106. box. Alluding to box in which attorneys keep deeds [Rushton] ? — inheritor =
owner, possessor [Schmidt] ? Lat. hereditdre, to inherit; heres, an heir;
allied to Lat. herus, master; Gr. x^tp, cheir, the hand (the idea being of
seizing). Shakespeare often uses inherit in the sense of possess. —108.
parchment was invented by Eumenes, founder of the celebrated
library at Pergamos in Mysia, Asia Minor, about 190 B.C.? From Pergamos comes pergamena, parchment; as muslin from Mosul, calico from
Calicut, arras from Arras. — 110. assurance = safety, security ? Play
on the legal sense, legal evidence of the conveyance of real estate ? -r-

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

183

Hamlet. I think it be thine, indeed, for thou liest in 't.
1 Clown. You lie out on 't, sir, and therefore it is not
yours ; for my part, I do not lie in 't, and yet it is mine.
Hamlet. Thou dost lie in 't, to be in ' t and say it is thine ;
' t is for the dead, not for the quick : therefore thou liest.
1 Clown. ' T is a quick lie, s i r ; ' t will away again, from
me to you.
122
Hamlet. W h a t man dost thou dig it for ?
1 Clown. For no man, sir.
Hamlet. What woman, then?
1 Clown. For none, neither.
Hamlet. Who is to be buried in ' t ?
1 Clown. One that was a woman, s i r ; but, rest her soul,
she 's dead.
129
Hamlet. How absolute the knave is ! we must speak by
the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of i t ; the age is
grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near
the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe. — How long hast
thou been a grave-maker ?
1 Clown. Of all the days i' the year, I came to ' t that day
that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.
Hamlet. How long is that since ?
1 Cloivn. Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell t h a t :
116. thine. Hamlet uses the second person singular to the clown, and
the latter uses the second plural to Hamlet in this dialogue ? Which is
the more colloquial and familiar ? Inference ? III. iv. 154. —120. quick
= living ? II. ii. 584 ; IV. vii. 122 ; see 2 Tim. iv. 1. — 130. absolute.=
positive? certain? exact? Lat. absolutus, freed (from any limitation
or condition); ab, from ; solvere, to free, to loose. — Macbeth, III. vi. 40.
— by the card = with the utmost precision ? according to a prescribed
course [Hudson] ? — card = seaman's card containing the points of the
compass [Johnson]? navigator's, chart [Rolfe, etc.] ? card and calendar
of etiquette, or book of manners [Staunton] ? V. ii. 109 ; As You Like It,
V. iv. 87; Macbeth,!, iii. 17. — Gr. x«PTri> charte; Lat. charta, a piece of
paper. In the Elizabethan age a map was often called a card.—133.
picked = refined [Schmidt] ? curious, over-nice [Hudson] ? smart, sharp
[Haumer] ? spruce, quaint, affected [Malone] ? precise, smart [Clark
and Wright] ? Allusion seems to be made to a picked shoe, that is, a
shoe with a long pointed toe [Johnson] ? No allusion to picked shoes,
because this fashion had expired long before Shakespeare's time [Douce]?
Are the events in Hamlet supposed to have taken place five hundred
years or more before Shakespeare's time ? — All the senses [of pick] ultimately go back to the idea of using a sharply-pointed instrument. Skeat.
—134. kibe = chilblain ? — Probably the same word with cup. Welsh,
cib, a cup ; Gaelic, copan, a cup ; A. S. cuppe, cup ; Lat. cupa, a vat, a
drinking vessel ; Gr. nvneXkov, kupellon, cup. " The sense would appear

184

HAMLET.

[ACT V.

it was the very d a y t h a t young H a m l e t was born ; he that is
mad, a n d sent into E n g l a n d .
141
Hamlet. A y , m a r r y , why was he sent into E n g l a n d ?
1 Clown. W h y , because he was .mad : he shall recover his
wits there ; or, if he do not, it ' s no g r e a t matter there.
Hamlet. W h y ?
1 Clown. ' T will not be seen in him there ; there t h e m e n
are as mad as he.
Hamlet. H o w came he m a d ?
1 Clown. Very strangely, they s a y .
Hamlet. H o w strangely?
150
1 Clown. F a i t h , e'en with losing his wits.
Hamlet. U p o n what ground ?
1 Cloivn. W h y , here in D e n m a r k ; I have been sexton
here ? m a n a n d boy, thirty years.
Hamlet. H o w long will a man lie i' t h e earth ere he rot ?
1 Clown. I ' faith, if he be not rotten before he die — as we
have m a n y pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce hold the
laying in — he will last you some eight year or nine year ; a
tanner will last you nine year.
Hamlet. W h y he more t h a n a n o t h e r ?
160
1 Clown. W h y , sir, his hide is so tanned with his t r a d e ,
t h a t he will keep out water a great while ; and your water is
a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body. H e r e ' s a skull
n o w ; this skull h a s lain in the earth three a n d twTenty years.
Hamlet. W h o s e was i t ?
105
1 Clown. A whoreson m a d fellow's it w a s ; whose d o you
think it was ?
Hamlet. N a y , I know not.
1 Clown. A pestilence on him for a m a d rogue ! a' p o u r e d
to be ' a malady in the shape of a cup,' from the swelling or rounded
form." Skeat. Tempest, II. i. 276. — 140. Hamlet w a s born. How
long before ? — Investigate. — Most critics think that Shakespeare is inconsistent as to Hamlet's age ; that at the opening of the play he is
about eighteen or twenty, and at the close about thirty. But — ? — See
Fvrness. — " I f any critic will efficiently knock upon the mazzard that
'absolute' knave, the clown, I accept as satisfactory the age assigned
by Marshall, — twenty-five." Dowden. — Hamlet shows him to be a
liar ; and, if so, may he not, in his conceit and bragging, exaggerate his
experience as grave-digger, and say thirty for twenty ? — 146. there
the men, etc. Shakespeare enjovs a good hit at the English ? Mer. of
Venice, I. ii. 59-66; Tempest, II." ii. 26-31; Othello, II. iii. 65-68. —158.
you. The "ethical dative" again? See I I . i. 7; I I . ii. 560; Abbott,
220. —year. In the A. S. we read eighteen year. See III. ii. 266. —170.
This same, etc. It has been suggested that this is not the skull men-

SCENE I.J

HAMLET.

185

a flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir,
was Yorick's skull, the king's jester.
171
Hamlet. This?
1 Clown. E'en that.
Hamlet. Let me s e e — [ T a k e s the skull."] Alas, poor Yorick !— I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of
most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times ; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is !
my gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed
I know not how oft. — Where be your gibes now ? your gambols ? your songs ? your flashes of merriment, that were wont
to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own
grinning? quite chop-fallen? Now get you to my lady's
chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this
favor she must come; make her laugh at that.—Prithee,
Horatio, tell me one thing.
185
Horatio. What 's that, my lord?
Hamlet. Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion
i' the earth?
Horatio. E'en so.
Hamlet. And smelt so ? pah !
[Puts down the skull.
Horatio. E'en so, my lord.
191
Hamlet. To what base uses we may return, Horatio ! Why
may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till
he find it stopping a bung-hole ?
Horatio. ' T were to consider too curiously, to consider so.
tioned in line 163. Is it ? — 171. Yorick. Corruption of Roriek (Roricus), name of Hamlet's maternal grandfather ? Danish, Jorg (George), y
representing,;.? Latham (quoted by Furness) suggests that out of Gesta
Erici Regis (achievements of King Eric) may have come Yorick the
king's jester ! — 178. i t = the skull [Rolfe]? the idea, imagination
[Clark and Wright] ? —gorge = throat? stomach? Lat. gurges, and
Sanscrit gargara, a whirlpool; Fr. gorge, throat; also Lat. gurges, gullet.
Is the root gar onomatopoetic ? —180. on a roar. " We say still ' to set
on lire,' and in Exodus xix. 18, we find ' on a smoke ' = smoking." Clark
and Wright. Abbott, 180.— Note the vividness of the language, flashes,
etc.— 181. chop-fallen. Play on the word? Dejected? with-lower
jaw depressed? mouth corners drawn down V colloquially, " down in
the m o u t h " ? — Chaps (or chops) is jaws. See jowls, V. i. 75. —184.
favor = look, appearance [Rolfe]? applied to features of the face [Clark
and Wright] ? — See Jidius Ccesar, I. ii. 87, " A s well as I do know your
outward favor." — 187. Alexander. B.C. 356-323. — pah. Imitative
word, from the act of blowing away, like pooh, "pztgh," puff, etc. The
folios have pull. Whitney {Language and the Study of Language, p. 429)
declares that " the imitative principle " was " more actively productive
than any other in the earliest processes of language-making." — See II.
ii, 382. —192. Proverbial ? —195. curiously = fancifully ? ingeniously ?

186

HAMLET.

[ACT v .

Hamlet. No, faith, not a j o t ; but to follow him thither
with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead i t ; as thus :
Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth
into d u s t ; the dust is earth ; of earth we make loam; and
why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not
stop a beer-barrel?
201
Imperial Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away;
O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw!
But soft! but soft! aside ! here comes the king.
206
Enter Priests, etc., in procession; the Corpse of OPHELIA,
LAERTES and Mourners following)
KING, QUEEN, their
trains, etc.
The queen, the courtiers ; who is that they follow?
And with such maimed rites ? This doth betoken
The corse they follow did with desperate hand
Fordo it own life ; ' t was of some estate.
210
Couch we awhile, and mark.
[Retiring with HORATIO.
Laertes. What ceremony else ?
Hamlet. That is Laertes, a very noble youth ; mark.
Laertes. W h a t ceremony else ?
215
1 Priest. Her obsequies have been as far enlarg'd
— Lat. curiosus, careful ; cura, care. —Horatio anticipates some fanciful
or far-fetched reasoning by Hamlet [Rolfe] ? —199. loam. A. S. lam, a
strengthened form of the A S. wrord lim, which meant bitumen, cement.
The base is in Lat. li-nere, to smear. Akin to lime, which meant a
viscous substance, mortar, etc. Evidently something more tenacious
than our mixture of sand, clay, etc. —202. imperial. The quartos have
imperious. Different sense now ? then ? — 205. flaw = violent gust or
sudden blast? Norwegian, flage, flaag, sudden gust of wind. Akin to
Lat. flare, to blow? — For similarity of idea, Rolfe cites In Memoriam,
LV.L; and Moberly, Wordsworth 11.93.—208. maimed = imperfect ?
curtailed? Suicides were buried where cross-roads met ; a stake was
thrust-through the body; no service was read? — 210. fordo. The
inseparable preposition A. S./or = forth, away (perhaps akin to fare). I t
denotes, (1) removal, as in forbid = bid away; (2) with accessory idea
of disappearing, as forgive = give away, or out of sight, fordo; (3) with
accessory idea of going wrong, as forswear = swear falsely; (4) with
added idea of entireness, as forlorn = utterly lost. Besides these uses,
note the prefix for in forsooth, and the sense of fore in forward. Gibbs.
— i t . See I. ii. 216. —estate = rank ? So in Mer. of Venice, I I . ix. 40. —
Old Fr. estat; Lat. status, standing, civil r a n k ; stare, to stand. — 211.
couch = lie down, and so hide [Clark and Wright] ? hide, perhaps lie
down [Rolfe] ? — Lat. collocdre (from con, together, locare, to place), to

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

187

As we have warrantise : her death was doubtful;
And, but that great command o'ersways the order,
She should in ground unsanctified have lodg'd
Till the last trumpet; for charitable prayers,
Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on h e r :
220
Yet here she is allow'd her virgin rites,
Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.
Laertes. Must there no more be done ?
1 Priest.
No more be done ;
W e should profane the service of the dead
226
To sing a requiem and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.
Laertes.
Lay her i' the earth ; —
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring ! — I tell thee, churlish priest,
A ministering angel shall my sister be,
230
When thou liest howling.
place together; Old Fr. colcher; Fr. coucher, to lie down. Bracket and
Skeat. — 216. warrantise. Warrantie in most early editions. Possible
allusion to coroner's warrant permitting Christian burial ? — Initial
w = gu before a; so that guaranty is a doublet of warranty? — doubtful. See the queen's description, IV. vii. 165-182. — 217. order = course
prescribed by ecclesiastical rules [Caldecott] ? The rubric before the
Burial Office in the Book of Common Prayer reads, " H e r e it is to be
noted that the Office ensuing is not to be used for any . . . who have
laid violent hands upon themselves." —219. For = instead of ? Abbott,
148. — 220. shards = fragments of pots, tiles, rubbish ? potsherds ? —
A. S. sceard, broken, a broken thing ; scearu, a share ; seeran, to shear.
Allied to shred. — rites. The quartos have crants; meaning garlands,
or a crown, a chaplet? Johnson thinks that Shakespeare first wrote
crants, and afterwards changed it to a "less proper" word, rites. —222.
strewments. The custom is indicated in Romeo and Juliet, IV. v. 74,
75, 85 ; V. iii. 281 ; Winter's Tale, IV. iv. 129 ; Cymbeline, IV. ii. 219-225.
Strewjnents is not found elsewhere in Shakespeare.—bringing home
Of = bringing home with ? As the bride was brought to her husbamTs
house with bell and festivity and floral bloom, so, larded with sweet
flowers, Ophelia is borne to her long home with bell and prayers and
shrouding sheet. — 226. requiem = mass for the repose of the soul ?
From the words Requiem cetemam dona eis, Domine, Rest everlasting
give them, Lord.—Lat. requies, rest.—The folios have sage, instead
of a, before requiem. Plausibly ? — 227. peace-parted = peacefully
parted, departed in peace [Clark and Wright] ? To parallel this compound, we have death-practised, in Lear, IV. vi. 255 ; timely-parted in
2 Henry VI., III. ii. 161. — 229. violets, etc. Tennyson (In Memoriam,
XVIII.) and Persius (Sat. I. 37) have parallel passages. —230. ministering angel. " A r e they [the angels] not all ministering spirits?" See
Hebrews i. 14 ; and the exquisitely tender lines of Spenser on the ministry of angels, Faerie Queene, Book II., canto viii., stanzas 1, 2. — 231.

188

HAMLET.

[ACT V.

Hamlet.
What, the fair Ophelia !
Queen. Sweets to the sweet; farewell!
[Scattering flowers*
I hop'd thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife ;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
235
And not t' have strew'd thy grave.
Laertes.
0 , treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that cursed head
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Depriv'd thee of ! —Hold off the earth awhile,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.
[Leaps into the grave.
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
240
Till of this flat a mountain you have made
To o'ertop old Pelion or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.
Hamlet. [Advancing] What is he whose grief
Bears such an emphasis ? whose phrase of sorrow
45
Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
Hamlet the Dane !
[Leaps into the grave.
Laertes.
The devil take thy soul!
[Grappling with him.
Hamlet. Thou pray'st not well.
I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat;
250
For, though I am not splenitive and rash,
What, the fair Ophelia! Where is his language of grief at this supreme moment?— 233,234. "Would shouldst have been and to have now
be allowable after hoped and thought ? Abbott, 360. — 237. ingenious
= intelligent, keen in apprehension [Clark and Wright, etc.] ? ingenuous,
guileless [Hudson] ? — " Shakespeare often uses ingenious indiscriminately with ingenuous."
Schmidt. — Lat. inyenium, temper; natural
capacity ; genius. — sense = intellect [Rolfe] ? Was she intellectual ?
guileless rather ? — 240. quick. V. i. 120. — 242. Pelion, etc. The giants
battling against the gods piled Pelion on Ossa, and both on the slopes
of Olympus, to scale Olympus itself, whose summit was the abode of
the gods. These three mountains are on the east side of ancient Thessaly. Olympus is near ten thousand feet high. See Class. Diet. — 244.
conjures. See IV. iii. 63. — Accent?—wandering stars = planets ?
the stars, generally, moving through the heavens ? — Had Laertes conjured them ? — 248. Hamlet the Dane. White thinks this a proclamation of his royal rank, a claim that he is the rightful king? Probable ?
See I. i. 15 ; I. ii. 44. — Werder thinks this sentence, " This is I," etc., is
Hamlet's answer to the question he has just asked. Reasonable ? — 249.
Thou pray'st, etc. A litotes, marking the perfect self-possession of
Hamlet and his real love for Laertes [Moberly] ? Likely ? — 251. splen-

SCENE I . ]

HAMLET.

189

Yet have I something in me dangerous,
Which let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand !
King. Pluck them asunder.
Queen.
Hamlet, H a m l e t !
255
All. Gentlemen, —
Horatio.
Good my lord, be quiet.
[The Attendants part them, and they come out of the grave.
Hamlet. Why, I will fight with him upon this theme
Until my eyelids will no longer wag.
Queen. O my son, what theme ?
Hamlet. I lov'd Ophelia ; forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
260
Make up my sum. — W h a t wilt thou do for her?
King. O, he is mad, Laertes.
Queen. For love of God, forbear him.
Hamlet. 'Swounds, show me what thou 'It do :
Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself ?
W o o ' t drink up eisel? eat a crocodile?
266
I '11 do 't. Dost thou come here to whine?
To outface me with leaping in her grave ? .
Be buried quick with her, and so will I ;
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
270
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,

itive = passionate ? We find spleeny and spleenful in Shakespeare in
this sense. — The spleen was supposed to be the seat of anger and illhumored melancholy. Gr. O-TTA^, splen ; Lat. splen, the milt or spleen.
— 253. wisdom. The folios have iviseness, which Knight and others
adopt. Is it equally good ? — Note the personification. — 257. w a g .
I I I . iv. 39.-259. forty. II.ii. 159. — 260. quantity. III. iv. 75. " H e r e
the context implies that the word has a depreciatory meaning" [Clark
and Wright]? —263. forbear = bear with, hold away from V A. S.for,
away; heran, bear. Akin to Lat./erre; Gr. ^epeiv, pherein, to bear. V. i.
210. —264. Swounds. II. ii. 562.-265. Woo't. Contracted from wouldst
thou or loilt thou [Rolfe]? A colloquialism, by which Hamlet marks
his contempt for Laertes [Clark and Wright]? — 266. eisel. This word,
like eale in I. iv. 36, has been a standing puzzle. See Fumess.—Eisel
or eysell = vinegar ? This seems plausible to Furness, who cites a multitude of opinions. The next best interpretation makes it the river
Yssel, the most northern branch of the Rhine towards Denmark? — A. S.
and Old Fr. aisel; Lat. acetum, vinegar. See Shakespeare's Sonnet
CXI. — crocodile. The learned commentators think that a dried or
stuffed or pickled one is meant. I t is Schmidt and not Tschischwitz
who remarks that " t h e crocodile is a mournful animal" ! — 268. in =
into? Abbott, 159. —269. quick. Line 120.—272. zone = the sun's
diurnal orbit in the celestial sphere ? the sun's sphere in the Ptolemaic

190

HAMLET.

[ACT

Y.

Make Ossa like a w a r t ! Nay, an thou 'It mouth,
I '11 rant as well as thou.
Queen.
T h i s is m e r e m a d n e s s :
275
A n d thus awhile t h e fit will work on him ;
A n o n , a s p a t i e n t as t h e female d o v e ,
W h e n t h a t her golden couplets a r e d i s c l o s ' d ,
H i s silence will sit d r o o p i n g .
Hamlet.
H e a r y o u , sir ;
W h a t is t h e reason t h a t y o u use me t h u s ?
I lov'd you ever. — B u t it is no matter ;
280
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.
[Exit.
King. I p r a y y o u , good H o r a t i o , wait u p o n h i m . —
{Exit H O R A T I O .
[To L A E R T E S ] S t r e n g t h e n y o u r patience in o u r last n i g h t ' s
speech;
286
W e '11 p u t t h e m a t t e r t o t h e p r e s e n t p u s h . —
G o o d G e r t r u d e , set some w a t c h over your s o n .
T h i s g r a v e shall h a v e a living m o n u m e n t :
A n hour of quiet shortly shall we see ;
Till t h e n , in patience o u r proceeding b e .
[Exeunt,
astronomy? —273. mouth. III. ii. 2. — 278. that. See IV. iv. 5. So,
as, and that were frequently affixed to who, when, where, to give a relative meaning to these original interrogatives, and afterwards they made
the relative sense more general and indefinite. Abbott, 287. — golden
couplets. The pigeon sits on two eggs, and the newly-hatched birds
are covered with a yellow down ? — disclosed = hatched ? — Lines
275-278 are assigned by the folios to the king. Properly ? Would he
talk of doves, etc.? —282. cat . . . dog, etc. = it is the very nature of
mankind to act capriciously [Moberly] ? things will have their appointed
course [Caldecott] ? Tsch'ischwitz rises to explain, thus : " Let the herculean power of Laertes do what it may; the cat [i.e., the king], which
creeps stealthily in the dark, mew; the faithful dog [i.e., Hamlet] will
have his turn at last " ! —284. in = in the thought of? Abbott, 162. —
285. put, etc. = push on the matter immediately [Schmidt]?— present.
IV. iii. 64; II. it. 170, 578.—push = test [Clark and Wright]? Lat.
pulsare, to beat, strike, thrust; Fr. pousser, to push, thrust, sprout.—
287. living = lasting [Schmidt] V like life itself [Moberly] ? A double
sense ; first, " enduring," as the queen would understand it ; secondly,
menacing Hamlet's life, as Laertes might darkly infer [Clark and
Wright] V — Some critics will have it that Hamlet is calm, philosophical,
through this whole scene. —How do his words and deeds bear on the
question of his insanity ?

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

SCENE I I .
Enter

191

A Hall in the Castle.

HAMLET and HORATIO.

Hamlet. So much for this, sir ; now let me see the other :
You do remember all the circumstance ?
Horatio. Remember it, my^lord !
Hamlet. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting,
That would not let me sleep ; methought I lay
5
Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly, —
And prais'd be rashness for it, let us know,
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,
When our deep plots do p a l l ; and that should teach us
There 's a divinity that shapes our endsj
10
Rough-hew them how we will, —
Horatio.
That is most certain.
Hamlet. Up from my cabin,
SCENE II. — 1. F o r this = for Ophelia's death, etc. [Weiss]?—the
other = the further matter intimated in that letter: " I have words to
speak in thine ear will make thee dumb " [Hudson]? IV. vi. 22, 23. —
4. w o u l d not let m e sleep. He has a vague general apprehension of
mischief [Hudson] ? — 6. mutines = mutineers ? III. iv. 83. — bilboes
= stocks made of a bar of iron, with rings attached, in which the legs of
prisoners on board ship were placed? Such fetters, spoils of the famous
Armada, are still shown in the Tower of London. Bilboa in Spain was
for many centuries famous for its iron and steel. Swords made there
were also called bilboes. — Rashly = hastily? Danish and Swedish rask,
brisk, quick, rash ; Mid. Eng. rasch. The final -sch stands for -sk, as usual.
The original sense is excitable, prompt to attack. The -ly is A. S. lie,
like. Skeat. — 7. l e t us k n o w , etc. = let us not think these things
casual; but let us know, that is, take notice and remember [Johnson] ?
k n o w = recognize and acknowledge [Clark and Wright]? — 9. deep.
The folios have dear, which many prefer? Wisely ? — pail. Pall is from
the Old Fr. palser, to fade, or fall away. Hudson. Pall = grow vapid
and tasteless, like wine ; hence, become vain and worthless [Clark and
Wright] ? — Akin to Welsh palln, to fail, to cease ; Cornish palch, weak,
sickly ; Gr. <r<f>d\Ae<T0ai, sphallesthai, to stumble, stagger, fall, fail; Latin
fallere, passive ; falli, to be deceived, duped. Pall is a mere doublet of
fall or fail. Skeat. Pope read fail, and most editors have followed
him. But, if a good sense can be got from the old text, should we not
adhere to it? In Antony and Cleopatra, I I . vii. 83, we read " palled fortunes," meaning, evidently, impaired, waning fortunes. —10,11. shapes
our ends, etc. Dr. Farmer's learned explanation of these noble lines is
as follows : " These words are merely technical. A wood-man, butcher,
and dealer in skewers, lately observed to him [Dr. Farmer] that his
nephew (an idle lad) could only assist him in making them: ' he could
rough-hew them, but I was obliged to shape their ends.' " What was the
business of Shakespeare's father ? —11. That is most certain. Moberly
regards this as expressive of slight impatience at Hamlet's generalization. Probable? —12. U p from, etc. The idea in the word rashly,

192

HAMLET.

[ACT v.

My sea-gown scarf 'd about me, in the dark
Grop'd I to find out them ; had my desire,
15
Finger'd their packet, and in fine withdrew
To mine own room again ; making so bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unseal
Their grand commission ; where I found, Horatio, —
O royal knavery ! — an exact command,
Larded with many several sorts of reasons
20
Importing Denmark's health and England's too,
With, ho ! such bugs and goblins in my life,
That, on the supervise, no leisure bated,
No, not to stay the grinding of the axe,
My head should be struck off.
25
Horatio.
I s ' t possible?
Hamlet. Here 's the commission ; read it at more leisure.
But wilt thou hear me how I did proceed ?
Horatio. I beseech you.
Hamlet. Being thus be-netted round with villanies —
Ere I could make a prologue to my brains,
30

interrupted by the parenthesis, is resumed here? —13. sea-gown,—
high-collared, short-sleeved, reaching to the mid leg, and used most by
seamen. Cotgrave. — s c a r f d = thrown on like a scarf? —14. find out
them. Note the order of these words. Now such arrangement would
give emphasis to them? Abbott, 240. —15. finger'd, etc. Hamlet's
stratagem was possible, but not very probable [Hanmer] ? —17. to unseal = as to unseal? Mer. of Venice, III. iii. 10; Macbeth, I I . iii. 32; Abbott,
281. — The quartos read unfold. Which is better? See lines 47,52.—
19. O h . The quartos have A f Better ? A might stand for ah ? — 20.
larded. IV. v. 37. — several = separate, different ? — 21. Importing
= gravely affecting, concerning [Clark and Wright] ? signifying ? Lat.
importare, introduce, bring, cause ; Fr. importer, to be of consequence,
to concern. —Different meaning in I. ii. 23 ; IV. iii. 62 ; IV. vii. 80? —
22. bugs = bugbears ? So used several times in Shakespeare. Welsh
bwg; Cornish bucca; Gaelic and Irish bocan, a hobgoblin, spectre, terrifying object. Bugbear, a spectre in shape of a bear ! Skeat. — goblins.
"Goblins . . . belonged to the genus Humbug." Hudson. Gr. /cd^aAo?,
kobalos, an impudent rogue, sprite, goblin ; Low Lat. gobelinus, cobdlus,
a goblin, demon. The reddish-gray mineral, cobalt i appears to have
received its name as a nickname, given it by miners because it poisoned
and troubled them ! — 23. supervise = supervision, first reading? — Lat.
super, over; visere, to survey, view. Abbott, 451. — bated = taken out
(of the interval between the receipt of the command and its execution)
[Clark and Wright]? excepted, allowed [Eolfe, etc.]? subtracted so as
to diminish the sudden sharpness? IV. vii. 137. —29. be-netted. The
be intensifies? See beshreio, I I . i. 113. Abbott, 438. — villanies. The
quartos read villaines. Reasons for preferring villanies? — 30. Ere. The
quartos have Or in the same sense. — a prologue often introduced
a play. Gr. 7rp6Aoyo<?, prologos, a " fore-speech; " wpo, before, A6yo?, dis-

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

They had begun the play — I sat me down,
Devis'd a new commission, wrote it fair;
I once did hold it, as our statists do,
A baseness to write fair, and labor'd much
How to forget that learning, but, sir, now
I t did m e y e o m a n ' s service. W i l t thou k n o w
T h e effect of w h a t I wrote ?
Horatio.
A y , good m y lord.
Hamlet. A n earnest conjuration from t h e k i n g ,
As England was his faithful tributary,
As love between them like the palm might
flourish,
As peace should still her wheaten garland wear
And stand a comma 'tween their amities,
And many such-like as's of great charge,
That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more or less,
He should the bearers put to sudden death,

193

35

40

45

course. — 31. They = the brains [Johnson, Hudson, Moberly, etc.]? the
villains [Theobald, Warburton, etc.] ? " Clarke sees here a vivid picture
of Shakespeare's own mode of composition, his teeming brains beginning a play and seeing all its scope and bearing before he had well
penned the opening words." Likely?—31. sat me. " T h i s reflexive
use of sit [in " I sit me down," Goldsmith's Traveller, line 32] is not
unusual in our old writers." Rolfe, who cites Paradise Lost, IX. 1121 ;
Tennyson's Lotus-Eaters, line 37, and suggests the French s'asseoir. — 33*
statists = statesmen ? " A hybrid word, coined from the substantive
state by adding the suffix -ist (Fr. -iste; Lat. -ista, Gr. -IO-TT??, -istes)."
Skeat. In Cymbeline, I I . iv. 16, and in Paradise Regained, IV. 354, the
word means-statesmen. —" It was accounted a mechanical and vulgar
accomplishment to write a fair hand." Hudson. — 36. yeoman's — good
and faithful [Clark and Wright] ? " The English yeomanry, with their
huge bows and long arrows, were the most terrible fighters in Europe."
Hudson. — Old Friesic ga, go, district, village ; gaman, a villager ; allied
to Ger. gaii, a province. —42. comma, Critics have tried their hands at
emendations here, suggesting, for comma, " commere," " co-mate," " comere," " as one," "at-one," "cement," etc. Clarke ingeniously suggests
that comma is here a musical term expressing " the ninth part of a
tone," " the least of all the sensible intervals in music," " showing the
exact proportions between accords.^ Observe, however, that a comma
connects what it separates. Note, too, that Hamlet is at this moment
writing with the utmost care a state document, with due attention to
rhetorical construction, capitals, spelling, punctuation points, seal, etc.
He must even think of commas ! — 43. as's. As was pronounced ass,
and Johnson thinks there is a quibble here.— charge = load, burden,
weight? — Lat. carrus, a car; Low Lat. carricare, to load a c a r ;
carr(i)care, car'care; Fr. charger, to load. Skeat and Bracket.—44.
knowing. The folios read know. Your preference? In Macbeth, II.
iv. 4, and elsewhere, Shakespeare uses knowings and knowing as nouns.
— 45. debatement = consideration? discussion? — Lat. de, down ; batuIre, to beat ; popular form, batere; Fr. de'battre, to argue, debate. —

194

HAMLET.

[ACT V.

Not shriving-time allow'd.
Horatio.
How was this seal'd?
Hamlet. Why, even in that was heaven ordinant.
I had my father's signet in my purse,
Which was the model of that Danish seal;
50
Folded the writ up in form of the other,
Subscrib'd it, gave 't the impression, plac'd it safely,
The changeling never known. Now, the next day
Was our sea-fight; and what to this was sequent
Thou know'st already.
55
Horatio.
So Guilclenstern a n d R o s e n c r a n t z g o to ' t .
Hamlet. W h y , m a n , they did m a k e love t o this employment :
T h e y are n o t n e a r m y conscience ; their defeat
D o e s by their own insinuation grow.
' T is d a n g e r o u s when t h e b a s e r n a t u r e comes
'*
60
B e t w e e n t h e pass a n d fell incensed points
Of m i g h t y opposites.
Horatio.
W h y , w h a t a k i n g is this !
Hamlet. D o e s it n o t , t h i n k s ' t t h e e , s t a n d m e n o w upon —
47. shriving-time==time for confession and absolution [Hudson]? A
term in common use for any short period [Hunter]? — A. S. serif an, to
shrive, impose a penance or compensation. The particular sense is due
to the legal use of Lat. scribere; (1) to write, draw up a law; (2) to impose
a legal obligation or penalty; (3) to impose or prescribe a penance. Skeat.
—Was Hamlet cruel in his treatment of his old friends ? — 48. ordinant
— ordaining, arranging, ruling? Lat. ordinare, to set in order. Rowe,
Pope, and others follow the folio reading, " ordinate." • Well? — 50.
model = pattern ? original ? copy ? exact counterpart ? Old Fr. modelle;
Ital. modello, a model, a mould; as if from Lat. modellus, diminutive
of modulus, diminutive of modus, measure, manner, way. — 51. w r i t =
mandate written and sealed? See Laic Dictionary. — 53. changeling.
" A child left or taken in the place of another, as by fairies." Webster.
The paper left ? or the one taken? — A hybrid word? Late Lat. cambidre, to change ; Fr. changer, to change ; Eng. suffix -ling, diminutive, as
darling, duckling, seedling, etc.—56. go to ' t . Justly? Had they
known the contents of the first " commission," would they have turned
back to Denmark after Hamlet's capture ? — 57. Why, man, etc. This
line not in the quartos. Needful? — 58. defeat = overthrow? destruction?— The folios have debate. Possibly right? — See II. ii. 556. — 59.
insinuation = artful intrusion ? crooked policy [Clark and Wright] ?
— Lat. insinudre, to introduce by winding and bending ; in, in ; sinuare,
to wind about; sinus, a bend. — 61. pass = thrust, a push ? Lat, passus,
a step. — See stage direction, III. iv. 23. — incensed = inflamed, fiery,
on fire with anger? Lat. incendere, to kindle, set on fire. — 62. opposites = opponents ? III. ii. 203 ; Twelfth Night, III. iv. 254. —The picture is of two mighty combatants fighting with swords ? — 63. thinks 't
thee = seems it to thee ? " Thinks " in methinks is the impersonal A. S.
thynceth, it seems, from thyncan, to seem ; and is quite different from

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

195

He that hath kill'd my king and w
d my mother,
65
Popp'd in between the election and my hopes,
Thrown out his angle for my proper life,
And with such cozenage — is 't not perfect conscience,
To quit him with this arm? and is 't not to be damn'd,
To let this canker of our nature come
In.further evil?
70
Horatio. I t must be shortly known to him from England
W h a t is the issue of the business there.
Hamlet. It will be short: the interim is mine ;
And a man's life 's no more than to say ; One.'
But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
75
That to Laertes I forgot myself;
For, by the image of my cause, I see
The portraiture of his. I '11 count his favors ;
But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering passion.
Horatio.
P e a c e ! who comes here?
so
thinks, meaning to exercise the mind, suppose, opine, from A. S. thencan, to think ? " There are many more impersonal verbs in Early English than in Elizabethan, and many more in Elizabethan than in Modern English." Why ? Abbott, 297. — stand . . . upon = be incumbent
or imperative upon ? — The readings of the early eds. vary, thinkst,
think'st, thinks or thinke, and think. Choose ! — 64. We omit the coarse
word before " mother." —65. election. Throne elective ? — 66. angle =
fishing-hook? hook and line? angling line? — Gr. dyK^v, angkon, a
bend ; Lat. uncus, a hook ; A. S. angel, in Matt. xvii. 27, is fish-hook.
— proper = own? Lat. proprius, one's own. —cozenage. III. iv. 77.
— 67. perfect conscience = perfectly consistent with a good conscience
[Rolfe] ? in keeping with a perfect conscience ? — 68. quit = requite?
Line 257; see quietus, III. i. 75.—70. in = into? come in = commit?
V. I. 268. Abbott, 159.—71. It must be shortly, etc. Cautious, indirect suggestion of the need of instant action ? — 73. interim. How short
is that interim? See lines 355-358. Hudson says, " Hamlet justly looks
forward to the coming of that news as the crisis of his task : it will bring
things to a head, and give him a practicable twist [sic] on the king. He
can then meet both him and the public with justifying proof of his
guilt." But is Hamlet to wait for that arrival? Must he not act before?—Says Miles: Hamlet " i s transformed by a great resolve; his
mind is made up ! The return of the vessel from England will be the
signal for his own execution, and therefore the moral problem is solved:
the only chance of saving his life from a lawless murderer is to slay
him; . . . he can do it with a perfect conscience. He has calculated the
return voyage ; he has allowed the longest duration to his own existence and the king's. At the very moment he encounters the clown in
the churchyard, he is on his death-march to the palace at Elsinore." —
78. his, etc. Each has lost a father ; both have lost Ophelia? Is this
the meaning?—count. E-owe, followed by White, Hudson, Rolfe,
Clark and Wright, etc., reads court. The folio reading, count, may mean
make account of, take into account, reckon up, value. — 79. bravery =

196

HAMLET.
Enter

[ACT V.

OSRIC.

Osric. Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.
Hamlet. I humbly thank you, sir. — [Aside to HORATIO]
Dost know this water-fly ?
Horatio. [Aside to HAMLET] N O , my good lord.
Hamlet. [Aside to HORATIO] Thy state is the more gracious ;
for 't is a vice to know him. He hath much land, and fertile ; let a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at
the king's mess. ' T is a chough, but, as I say, spacious in
the possession of dirt.
Osric. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should
impart a thing to you from his majesty.
91
Hamlet. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit.
P u t your bonnet to his right use ; 't is for the head.
Osric. I thank your lordship, it is very hot.
Hamlet. No, believe me, ' t is very cold ; the wind is northerly.
Osric. I t is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed.
Hamlet. But yet methinks it is very sultry and hot for my
complexion.
Osric. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry, — as ' t
w e r e , — I cannot tell how. But, my lord, his majesty bade

ostentatious display [Clark and Wright]? bravado [Dyce] ? — See brave,
I I . ii. 295 ; Julius Ccesar, V. i. 10.— 83. water-fly. " A water-fly skips
up and down upon the surface of the water without any apparent purpose or reason, and is thence the proper emblem of a busy trifler. ,,
Johnson.— 85. gracious. I. i. 164. —87. crib. A. S. -crib, manger,
rack, stall. — Hudson sees rightly a sarcastic fling at the king ? — 88.
chough = jackdaw [Johnson]? wealthy boor [Caldecott] ? "Called a
chough, bird of the jackdaw sort, because he chatters euphuistic jargon
by r o t e " [Hudson] ? Macbeth, III. iv. 125 ; Tempest, I I . i. 265.—A. S.
cetf, a bird of the crow family ; Mid. Eng chough. Imitative name from
the sound of cawing; Dutch kaauw ; Danish kaa ? It should be remembered that letters silent now were sounded once. So sound chough,
cough, etc., and you see with Byron how harsh the language was, —
''Our northern whistling grunting guttural,
Which we're obliged to hiss and spit and sputter all."
— 90. sweet. Elizabethan court language ? I I I . ii. 48. lordship.
The folios have friendship. As good ? — 93. bonnet = cap? The original sense is " stuff: " origin unknown. Bracket. Chapel de bonnet, cap
of stuff, was abridged as " a beaver h a t " is abridged to " a beaver."
Skeat. — 97. indifferent. I I I . i. 122. Osric resembles Polonius? SeeI l l , ii. 351-358.—98. hot for. The quartos have hot or, which many
prefer, as if Hamlet were interrupted when about to add, deceives me.
— complexion = constitution ? bodily condition ? See I. iv. 27.— 104.

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

197

me signify to you that he has laid a great wager on your
head. Sir, this is the matter, —
103
Hamlet.
I beseech y o u , r e m e m b e r —
[ H A M L E T moves Mm to put on his hat.
Osric. N a y , in good faith ; for mine e a s e , in good faith.
Sir, here is newly come t o court L a e r t e s ; believe m e , an a b solute g e n t l e m a n , full of m o s t excellent differences, of v e r y
soft society a n d g r e a t showing : i n d e e d , t o s p e a k feelingly of
h i m , h e is t h e card or c a l e n d a r of g e n t r y , for you shall find
in him t h e c o n t i n e n t of w h a t p a r t a g e n t l e m a n would s e e . 110
Hamlet.
S i r , his definement suffers n o perdition in you ;
t h o u g h , I k n o w , t o divide him inventorially would dizzy t h e
a r i t h m e t i c of m e m o r y , a n d y e t b u t y a w neither, in r e s p e c t of
his quick sail. B u t , in t h e v e r i t y of e x t o l i n e n t , I t a k e him
to b e a soul of g r e a t article, a n d his infusion of such d e a r t h
a n d r a r e n e s s , a s , t o m a k e t r u e diction of h i m , his semblable
remember. The full phrase is supposed to have been remember your
courtesy, which implied, says Hudson, " Complete your courtesy and
replace your hat." Love's Labor's Lost, V. i. 87. —105. for mine ease,
one of the affected or ceremonial phrases of the time. — Lines 106-139
omitted in the folios. Are they important? —107. excellent differences = distinctive excellences [Hudson]? distinctions marking him
out from the rest of men [Clark and Wright] ? "Affected phrase, probably suggested by the heraldic use of the word" (differences)? See
Unabridged Diet.—108. feelingly = so as to hit it exactly [Schmidt]?
rightly [Dyce] ? with insight and intelligence [Caldecott] ? appreciatively ? —109. card or calendar. " The card by which a gentleman
is to direct his course ; the calendar by which he is to choose his time ;
that what he does may be both excellent and seasonable." Johnson.
V. i. 131. — gen try=gentility [Clark and Wright]? courtesy, gentlemanliness [Rolfe] ? —110. continent = container ? sum total ? See IV.
iv. 64. Does card mean map, and does it suggest continent? — part =
talent. See IV. vii. 72. — 111. definement = description ? Hamlet is
meeting Osric on his own ground, and outdoing him in euphuism? —
perdition = loss ? Lat. perditio, utter loss, destruction ; perdere, to lose
utterly; destroy.— 112. dizzy, etc. = make a mathematician's head
swim? —113. y a w = vacillate, reel hither and thither [Hudson]? hold
too unsteady a course to overtake his deserts [Moberly] ? swerve ?—
Scandinavian word. Norwegian gaga, to bend backward ; Icel. gagr,
bent back. Probably a reduplicated form of go [as if go go /]. Skeatl — in
respect of = in comparison with [Hudson] ? in view of [Elze] ? in pursuit of (his swift-sailing ship) [Clark and Wright]? —115. great article
= large comprehension, many contents [Johnson] ? many items [Rolfe]?
of great account or value [Caldecott]? Does inventory suggest article?
— infusion = endowments, qualities [Schmidt]? essential qualities
[Clark and Wright] ? qualities with which he is imbued or tinctured
[Caldecott] ? Lat. in, into ; fundere, to pour. — dearth = scarcity, dearness, high value ? From A. S. dedre, dear ; akin to Icel. dyrdh, value.
The suffix -th, annexed to adjectives, denotes the quality, as leng-th,
warm-th, dear-th. —116. semblable = semblance, resemblance, likeness ?
Lat. simulare, to assume the appearance of, simulate ; Fr. sembler, to

198

HAMLET.

[ACT v.

is his mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage,
nothing more.
Osric. Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him.
Hamlet. The concernancy, sir? why do we wrap the gentleman in our more rawer breath ?
121
Osric. Sir?
Horatio. Is 't not possible to understand in another tongue ?
You will do 't, sir, really.
Hamlet. What imports the nomination of this gentleman ?
Osric. Of Laertes?
Horatio. [Aside to HAMLET] His purse is empty already;
all 's golden words are spent.
Hamlet. Of him, sir.
Osric. I know you are not ignorant—
130
Hamlet. I would you did, s i r ; yet, in faith, if you did, it
would not much approve me. Well, sir?
Osric. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes
is —
Hamlet. I dare not confess that, lest I should compare
with him in excellence ; but, to know a man well, were to
know himself.
Osric. I mean, sir, for his weapon ; but in the imputation
laid on him by them, in his meed he 's unfellowed.
Hamlet. What 's his weapon?
140
Osric. Rapier and dagger.
Hamlet. That 's two of his weapons ; but, well.
resemble, seem; semblable, like. —117. trace = follow [Rolfe, etc.]?
delineate [Meiklejohn] ? track, or keep pace with [Hudson] ?— Lat. trahere, to draw; tractus, drawn ; Fr. tracer, to trace ; trace, a track. Is it
akin to drag ? — umbrage = shadow. Lat. umbra, shade, shadow.—
120. concernancy = relevancy, application, pertinency? meaning? —
121. rawer. See nearer, I I . i. 11. —123,124. another tongue, than
this euphuism ? " Can't you understand your own absurd language ©n
another man's tongue ? Use your wits, sir, and you'll soon be at the
bottom of it." Moberly.— Malone and others think that the speech is
addressed to Hamlet. You? —125. nomination = naming. Lat. nomen,
that by which a thing is known, a name, (g)no-sco, I know. —132. approve = commend, make approved; be to (my) credit? Lat. probus,
good ; probdre., to test the goodness of, try; approbdre, to commend.—
135. compare w i t h = assume to rival [Rolfe] V — but to k n o w = only
to know [Hudson] ?— " No man can completely know another but by
knowing himself." Johnson. —138. imputation = reputation V opinion?
Lat. in, in, on ; putare, to reckon; imputdre, to bring into a reckoning ;
Fr. imputer, to impute, ascribe, attribute to. — by them = by the public
voice [Caldecott] ? Them like they indefinitely in " they say " ? — 139.
meed. = merit. A. S. me'd, reward, wages, hire, reward of merit. Used

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

199

Osric. The king, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary
horses ; against the which he has impon'd, as I take it, six
French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle,
hangers, and so. Three of the carriages, in faith, are very
dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit.
Hamlet. What call you the carriages ?
Horatio. [Aside to HAMLET] I knew you must be edified
by the margent ere you had done.
151
Osric. The carriages, sir, are the hangers.
Hamlet. The phrase would be more germane to the matter,
if we could carry cannon by our sides ; I would it might be
hangers till then. But, o n : six Barbary horses against six
French swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited carriages ; that 's the French bet against the Danish. Why is
this c imponed,' as you call it?
Osric. The king, sir, hath laid that in a dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three h i t s :
he hath laid on twelve for nine * and it would come to im,
mediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer.
Hamlet. How if I answer no ?
163
in Matt. vi. 1; akin to Gr. jiuo-0ds, misthos, pay. — 144. impon'd =
staked [Schmidt] ? This is Osric's affected pronunciation of impawn'd
[White]? Pawn is from Lat. pes,pedis, foot; Old Fr. paon, a pawn or
foot-soldier in chess; Mod. Fr. pion. I . v. 163. —The quartos have impavnd; the folios, impon'd, in which perhaps we should give o its short
sound. —145. assigns = appendages, belongings? More euphuism? —
146. hangers = the straps by which the sword hangs from the belt ? —
148. liberal conceit = elaborate design [Clark and Wright]? tasteful
design [Rolfe] ? —150. edified by the margent = instructed by the
explanation in the margin [Rolfe] ? enlightened or taught by marginal
notes or comments?—Lat. cedes, a building, originally a fire-place,
hearth ; -fie-, foifac-ere, to make ; Fr. edifier, to build up (mentally), instruct.— Lat. margo, brink, margin, border. Margent (the only form in
Shakespeare) is a doublet of margin. — I n old books the notes were often
in the margin. —153. germane = akin, pertinent ? Lat. germdnus, fully
akin, said of brothers and sisters having the same parents ; from Lat.
germen, a sprout, shoot, bud. —161. t w e l v e for nine. Johnson has
pointed out the impossibility of this wager. Clark and Wright. The
king is planning to bring about a long contest? I n each " p a s s " (or
bout, V. ii. 272), both may be hit, or one, or neither. Laertes must hit
Hamlet four times more than Hamlet hits Laertes. The possible hits
are twelve on each side. If Laertes hits Hamlet twelve times, and
Hamlet hits Laertes nine times, Hamlet wins. The king bets that
Laertes cannot hit twelve times to Hamlet's eight; in other words, the
king lays (wagers, claims, goes in for) at least nine hits by Hamlet, on
twelve (against the possible twelve] hits by Laertes? —162. answer =
meeting his wishes [Caldecott] ? acceptance of the challenge [Rolfe] ?
exposure of person in hostile combat ? — Hamlet takes answer in another

200

HAMLET.

[ACT V .

Osric. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in
trial.
Hamlet. Sir, I will walk here in the hall: if it please his
majesty, ' t is the breathing time of day with me ; let the
foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the king hold
his purpose, I will win for him if I can ; if not, I will gain
nothing but my shame and the odd hits.
170
Osric. Shall I re-deliver you e ' e n s o ?
Hamlet.
T o this effect, sir, after w h a t flourish y o u r n a t u r e
will.
Osric. I c o m m e n d m y d u t y t o y o u r l o r d s h i p .
Hamlet. Yours, yours. — [Exit O S R I C ]
He does well to
commend it himself ; there are no tongues else for 's turn.
Horatio. This lapwing runs away with the shell on his
head.
Hamlet. He did comply with his dug, before he sucked it.
Thus has he — and many more of the same bevy that I know
the drossy age dotes on — only got the tune of the time and
outward habit of encounter ; a kind of yesty collection, which
carries them through and through the most fond and winsense, because he likes to quiz Osric?—A. S. andsiverian, to swear in
opposition to, in trials at law ; and, Gr. kvrl, anti, in opposition ; swerian,
to swear. —167. breathing = exercise [Schmidt] ? relaxation and rest
[Clark and Wright]? —168. hold. Capelle changes this to holding. Is
there a " confusion of constructions " ? Abbott, 411-416. —169. w i l l , for
shall? Abbott, 319. —171. re-deliver = report [Clark and Wright]?
See deliver'd, I. ii. 209; III. i. 94.—177. l a p w i n g . In Meres's Wit's
Treasury (1598) we read, " As the lapwing runneth away with the shell
on her head as soon as she is hatched." " A symbol of insincerity"
from its " habit of alluring intruders from its nest by crying far away
from it." Hence, "forward and insincere"? A. S. hledpan, to run,
spring, leap; A. S. wincan (pt. t. wane), to move from side to side, vacilate, waver. The sense is one who turns about in running or flight! —
Awading bird of the plover family. —179. comply = use compliment,
play the courtier [Rolfe] ? embrace [Singer] ? exchange compliments
[White] ? I I . ii. 363. " The very sucking babes hath a kind of adulation towards their nurses for the dug." Fulwel's Arte of Flatterie, 1579.
— Swedish dilgga, to suckle, fondle. —bevy. Wedgwood cites the Fr.
bevee, and explains it as " a brood, flock of quails, larks, roebucks;
thence applied to a company of ladies generally." Hamlet has called
Osric a chough and a lapwing. " Modern Ital. beva means a drink ;
. . . the Italian points to the original sense as being a company for
drinking, from Old Fr. bevre, Ital. bevere [Lat. bibere], to drink." Skeat.
The quartos have breed. May it be right? —181. o u t w a r d habit, etc.
external address appropriate to an interview [Clark and Wright] ? exterior politeness of address [Henley] ? — yesty collection = a frothy and
superficial knowledge gathered in fragments [Clark and Wright] a gathering of mental and lingual froth [Hudson] ? — A. S. gist, gyst, yeast;
Gr. £eet!/, zeein, to boil. — Histy or misty in the quartos. Will either da?
— Macbeth, IV. i. 53, has " t h e yesty waves." — 183. fond = affected

SCENE II.J

HAMLET.

201

no wed opinions ; and do but blow them to their trial, the
bubbles are out.
^ .
185
T
7
Enter a L o r d .
Lord. M y lord, his m a j e s t y c o m m e n d e d him t o y o u b y
y o u n g Osrie, w h o brings b a c k t o h i m , t h a t you a t t e n d him
in t h e h a l l ; he s e n d s t o k n o w if your pleasure hold t o play
with L a e r t e s , or t h a t you will t a k e longer time.
Hamlet. I a m c o n s t a n t t o m y purposes ; t h e y follow t h e
k i n g ' s pleasure : if his fitness s p e a k s , mine is r e a d y ; n o w or
whensoever, provided I be so able as n o w .
192
Lord. T h e king a n d queen a n d all a r e coming d o w n .
Hamlet. I n h a p p y time.
Lord. T h e queen desires you t o use s o m e gentle entertainm e n t to L a e r t e s before you fall t o play.
Hamlet. S h e well instructs m e .
[Exit Lord.
Horatio. You will lose this wager, my lord.
Hamlet. I do not think s o : since he went into France, I
have been in continual practice ; I shall win at the odds.
But thou wouldst not think how all here about my heart —
but it is no matter.
202
[Hudson] ? foolish [Rolfe] ? "White, with Warburton, Dyce, Singer, etc.,
thinks fond a misprint for fand — fanned, or fannd; fan being often
coupled with minnow in Shakespeare's time. Tschischwitz would read
profound, and Bailey, Clark and Wright incline to that reading. Many
other emendations have been proposed. Fond, etc. = most sifted and
wisest judgments [Caldecott] ? absurdest and most over-refined notions
[Moberly] ? " Osric, and others like him, are compared to the chaff
which mounts higher than the sifted wheat, and to the bubbles which
rise to the surface through the deeper water." Clark and Wright; Hudson concurs. — The quartos read prophane or profane. —184. trial. The
folios use the plural. Well ? —185-197. The folios omit from Enter a
Lord to Exit Lord. Is the passage worth retaining ? — 186. commended
him to you, sent his compliments to you ? committed himself to you?
placed himself in your hands ? Lat. com for cam, with ; manddre, to
commit. Is manddre from manvs, hand, and dare, to give ; meaning
literally to put into one's hand V See Mer. of Venice, III. ii. 227; As
You Like It, IV. iii. 91. —189. or that - or if ? So in IV. vii. 61, 150. —
191. fitness = convenience [Schmidt] ?—194. in happy time. Like the
French a la bonne heure? in good time; just in time? Repeatedly in
Shakespeare. Julius Caesar, II. ii. 60. —195. gentle entertainment =
conciliating behavior [Caldecott] ? Old Fr. entretenir, to entertain ; Low
Lat. inter, among ; tenere, to hold. — What is her motive? —200. continual practice. Can you reconcile this with II. ii. 291, 292 V — at
the odds = with the advantage given me ? — 201. B u t thou wouldst,
etc. " Shakespeare seems to mean all Hamlet's character to be brought
together before his final disappearance ; his meditative excess in the
grave-digging, his yielding to passion with Laertes, his love for Ophelia
blazing out, his tendency to generalize on all occasions in the dialogue
with Horatio, his fine gentlemanly manners with Osric, and his and
Shakespeare's own fondness for presentiment." Coleridge. Is Coleridge
right ? his summary complete ? — h o w a l l here about m y heart —.

202

HAMLET.

[ACT V

Horatio. Nay, good my lord, —
Hamlet. I t is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gaingiving, as would perhaps trouble a woman.
Horatio, If your mind dislike any thing, obey it) I will
forestall their repair hither, and say you are not fit.
Hamlet. Not a whit; we defy augury: there 's a special
providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ' t is not
to come ; if it be not to come, it will be now ; if it be not
now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man,
of aught he leaves, knows, what is ' t to leave betimes?
Let be.
Enter

KING, QUEEN, LAERTES, Lords, OSRIC, and
ants with foils, etc.

Attend-

King.

Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.
[The KING puts LAERTES'S hand into HAMLET'S.
Hamlet. Give me your pardon, sir : I 've done you wrong ;
But pardon 't, as you are a gentleman.
215
This presence knows,
And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd
With sore distraction. W h a t I have done,
That might your nature, honor, and exception
So the folios. The quartos, which almost every editor follows, have, how
ill airs here, etc. Which is more euphonious? more significant ? — 204.
gain-giving = misgiving ? — A. S. gegn, against (like re- or red- in
Latin), as in gainsay, which is still used, though gainstand, gainstrive,
and gaingive are obsolete. — 206. obey it. The folios omit it. Well ?
— 207. repair. Noun, like avouch. I. i. 57. — Old Fr. repairer, to return
home; Lat. repatridre; re-, back; patria, fatherland.
Brachet.—fit,
Ready ? suitable. The provincial English fettle, arrange, is from the
same root. Skeat. — 209. f a l l of a sparrow. See Matthew x. 29. —
211, 212. Since no m a n . . . betimes. This is the reading of the
quartos. The folios print, " Since no man ha's ought of what he leaves.
What is't," etc. Choice betwixt the two ? Any emendation necessary?
Furness adopts the quarto reading, as we have punctuated i t ; White,
the folio, remarking that the text of the quartos is manifestly wrong.
Ilolfe and Hudson follow Johnson and Steevens, thus : " Since no man
knows aught of what he leaves, what," etc. — In Hamlet's mood, which
is better, " no man knoivs," or " no man has " ? — 212. betimes = in good
time ? — A. S. be or hi, by, and tirna, time. Teutonic base, TI, to divide,
apportion. The -s is due to the habit of adding -s or -es to form adverbs,
as in whiles. Skeat. — 214. your pardon, etc. " I wish Hamlet had
made some other defence ; it is unsuitable to the character of a brave or
a good man to shelter himself in falsehood." Johnson. Seymour thinks
that the passage from line 216 to 227 is an interpolation, because " the
falsehood is too ignoble." But is there any falsehood? —216. This
presence. Abstract for concrete V So audience, line 228 ? — 219. e x ception = objection, disapprobation ? As in the phrase to take exception

SCENE II.]

HAMLET.

Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was 't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet:
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,
And when he 's not himself does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not; Hamlet denies it.
Who does it, then ? His madness : if 't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd ;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Sir, in this audience,
Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.
Laertes.
I am satisfied in nature,
Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most
To my revenge ; but in my terms of honor
I stand aloof, and will no reconcilement
Till by some elder masters of known honor
I have a voice and precedent of peace,
To keep my name ungor'd. But till that time,
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.
Hamlet.
I embrace it freely,
And will this brother's wager frankly play. —
Give us the foils. — Come on.
Laertes.
Come, one for me.
Hamlet. I '11 be your foil, Laertes ; in mine ignorance
Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night,
Stick fiery off indeed.
Laertes.
You mock me, sir.
\ Hamlet. No, by this hand.

203
220

225

230

235

240

245

[Clark and Wright] ? Henry V., I I . iv. 34 ; All's Well, I. ii. 40. — 228.
The words " Sir, in this audience," are not in the quartos. Needed ? —
232. brother. The folios have mother, which Rowe followed : wisely ?
— in nature, etc. A piece of satire on fantastical honor [Steevens] ?
The duellists' code still refers such questions to the "seconds," or to
supposed experts? Clarke thinks that Laertes here acts " the artificial
and not the true gentleman." Is it so? — 237. precedent, etc. = which
justify me in making peace [Clark and Wright] ? — 238. ungored = unhurt ? — Metaphor from bull-baiting? The folios have ungorg'd, which
Rowe follows.—A. S. gar, Icel. geirr, a spear. —243. foil = contrast?
Set-off (as in the setting of a gem) ? like a foil in which a diamond is set
to increase its lightness [Moberly] ? — Lat. folium, Old FY.fueille, a leaf.
— 245. Stick fiery off = stand in brilliant relief ? Says Keightly, "Stick

204

HAMLET.

[ACT V.

King. Give them the foils, young Osric. —Cousin Hamlet,
You know the wager?
Hamltt.
Very well, my lord ;
Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side.
King. I do not fear i t ; I have seen you both :
250
But since he is better'd, we have therefore odds.
Laertes. This is too heavy, let me see another.
Hamlet. This likes me well. — These foils have all a
length ?
254 "
Osric. Ay, my good lord.
[They prepare to play.
King. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table. —
If Hamlet give the first or second hit,
;
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire :
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath ;
And in the cup an union shall he throw,
260
Richer than that which four successive kings
I n Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups ;
And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth,
265
4
Now the king drinks to H a m l e t ! ' — Come, begin ; —
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
off then meant set off, show off, display." — 247. cousin. I. ii. 64. — 249.
odds = greater value (six horses against six rapiers, etc.) [Jennens] ?
Bitson computes the values as about twenty to one. Moberly interprets,
" Your grace has taken care that points shall be given me ; but, for all
that, I fear I shall be the weaker." Johnson, who is thinking of the
three odd hits, suspects that Shakespeare has blundered. — 251. is b e t t e r ' d = is improved (by French practice) [Heath] ? is perfected in his
art [Schmidt] ? stands higher in estimation [Caldecott] ? Jennens says,
" Since the wager he gains if he should win, is better that what we shall
gain if he loses, therefore we have odds ; i.e., we are not to make as
many hits as Laertes." — Is odds here the same as in line 249? — The
quartos read better. Better ? — 253. likes. II. ii. 80. — 255. stoups.
V. i. 59. Same as cups, line 262? —257. quit = pay off (Laertes) in
meeting him at the third encounter [Clark and Wright] V requite, or
retaliate [Hudson] ? — V. ii. 68. — 258. ordnance = artillery ? — The old
spelling was ordinance, which is found in folio 1. The original meaning
was bore or size of the cannon. Skeat; who quotes Cotgrave, il or donnance, bulk, size, or bore." — 260. union = " a fair, great, orient pearl."
Florio's Ital. Dictionary, 1598. " Our dainties and delicates have devised
this name for them, and call them unions ; as a man would say, singular, and by themselves alone." Holland's translation of Pliny. Pliny
tells of Cleopatra's dissolving a pearl in vinegar, and drinking it off to
win a bet of Antony. — " Pearls were supposed to possess an exhilarating quality." — 263. kettle = kettle-drum? I. iv. 11. — Lat. catillus,

SCENE II.]

HAMLET.

20.5

Hamlet. Come on, sir.
Laertes.
Come, my lord.
[They play.
Hamlet.
One.
Laertes.
No.
Hamlet.
Judgment.
Osric. A hit, a very palpable hit.
Jjaertes.
W e l l ; again.
King. Stay ; give me drink. — Hamlet, this pearl is thine ;
Here 's to thy health. —
[Trumpets
sound, and cannon shot off within.
G i v e him t h e c u p .
271
Hamlet.
I '11 play this b o u t first; s e t it b y awhile. —
Come.
[They play.]
Another h i t ; what say you?
Laertes.
A t o u c h , a t o u c h , I d o confess.
King. O u r son shall w i n .
Queen.
H e 's fat and scant of breath. —
Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows ;
The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.
Hamlet. Good madam, —
King.
Gertrude, do not drink.
Queen. I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon me.
King. [Aside'] I t is the poison'd cup ; it is too late.
280
Hamlet. I dare not drink yet, madam ; by and by.
Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face.
Laertes. My lord, I '11 hit him now.
small bowl; catinus, deep bowl. — 270. this pearl, etc. Here the king
drops the poison in ? — 272. bout. Danish bugt, a bend, turn ; bugne,
to bend ; akin to bow ; A. S. bugan, to bow. — 274. A touch, etc. This
line omitted in the quartos. Is it needed ? injurious to the measure
[Keightley] ? — 275. fat, etc, Shakespeare's friend and fellow-player,
Richard Burbadge, on whose tombstone was inscribed, " Exit Burbadge," was the original Hamlet ; and to suit his corpulency, it is said,
this line was inserted. In an elegy on him we read,
" No more young Hamlet, though but scant of breath,
Shall cry ' Revenge !' for his dear father's death."
— "Was Hamlet " t h e glass of fashion and the mould of form"?-—
Plehioe, in 1862, proposed to read hot, which Hudson adopts, referring to
IV. vii. 156. Judicious change ? — See Furness. —$76. napkin = handkerchief, in Shakespeare. — Originally a small cloth at table. Lat.
mappa, a cloth ; Fr. nappe. The -kin, of course, is diminutive suffix. —
277. carouses = drinks a health [Rolfe] ? — From Ger. c/araus, right out,
specially used of emptying a bumper to any one's health. So carouse
was originally an adverb signifying "completely," or " a l l out," " t o
the bottom " ? used of drinking. Skeat. — 277. Good, madam = many
thanks, madam [Moberly] ? — Hudson thinks Hamlet suspects the contents of that cup, and so intimates in line 281. Probable?—281. dare

206

HAMLET.

[ACT V.

'King.
I do not think 't.
Laertes. [Aside] And yet ' t is almost 'gainst my conscience.
Hamlet. Come, for the third, Laertes. You but dally ;
I pray you, pass with your best violence ;
I am afeard you make a wanton of me.
Laertes. Say you so? come on.
[Theyplay.
Osrie. Nothing, neither way.
289
Laertes. Have at you now !
[LAERTES wounds HAMLET ; then, m scuffling, they
change rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES.
King.
P a r t them ; they are incens'd,
Hamlet. Nay, come, again.
[The QUEEN falls.
Osric.
Look to the queen there, ho !
Horatio. They bleed on both sides. — H o w is it, my lord?
Osric. How is 't, Laertes?
Laertes. Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric;
I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.
Hamlet. How does the queen?
King.
She swoons to see them bleed.
Queen. No, no, the drink, the d r i n k , — O my dear Hamlet, — '
The drink, the drink ! — I am poison'd,
[Dies.
Hamlet. 0 villany ! — Ho ! let the door be lock'd ! .
Treachery ! Seek it o u t !
300
not. Why ? — b y and b y . III. iii. 358. — 284. And yet, etc. Clarke,
quoted by Rolfe, neatly points out this relenting as a redeeming touch
in the character of Laertes, as well as a connecting link between his
original malice and his final confession. — 286. pass. IV. vii. 137.—
287. afeard. " Shakespeare uses afeard thirty-two times, and afraid
forty-four times." Rolfe. — m a k e a wanton of me = trifle with me
as if you were playing with a child [Ritson] ? play the game into my
hands [Hudson] ? play the fool with me [Clark and Wright] ?— " This
is a quiet but very significant stroke of delineation. Laertes is not
playing his best, and it is his conscience [sic] of what is at the point of
his foil that keeps him from doing s o " [Hudson] ? —290. Stage direction. " Hamlet, on being unexpectedly pierced, is instantly stung into
fiery action." Hudson. Tieck thinks that the king lets Osric or some
other courtier, in the pause between two rounds, change the rapiers,
desiring that Laertes as well as Hamlet should perish ! Probable? —
See Furness.— 291. h o . " M r . Staunton supposes this to be a signal
to the combatants to stop." Clark'and Wright. — 294. woodcock.
"Trained to decoy other birds, it sometimes, while strutting incautiously too near, becomes itself entangled." See I. iii. 115. —296. H o w
does = what ails ? — " Perhaps the phrase ' how do you do * is a translation of Old French ' comment lefaites vos ?' See Wedgivood." Skeat. —
swoons. The quartos and two folios have sounds, other folios, swounds,

SCENE I I . ]

207

HAMLET.

Laertes. It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain ;
No medicine in the world can do thee good,
In thee there is not half an hour of life:
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenomed. The foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me ; lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again. Thy mother 's poison'd ;
I can no more, — t h e king — the king 's to blame.
Hamlet. The point envenom'd too ! —
Then, venom, to thy work !

305

[Stabs the KING.

AIL Treason ! treason !
311
King. O, yet defend me, friends ; I am but hurt.
Hamlet. Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane,
Drink off this potion ! I s thy union here ?
Follow my mother !

[ K I N G dies.

Laertes.
H e is justly serv'd ;
It is a poison temper'd by himself. —
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble H a m l e t ;
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,
Nor thine on me !
[Dies.
Hamlet. Heaven make thee free of i t ! I follow thee. —
I am dead, Horatio. — Wretched queen, adieu ! —
321
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time — as this fell sergeant, death,
Is strict in his arrest — O, I could tell y o u —
325
a pet word with Mrs. Browning. Rolfe.—A. S. swdgan, to move or
sweep along noisily, to sough, to sigh ; originally used especially of the
wind." Skeat. — 305. unbated. IV. vii. 137. — practice. IV. vii. 66,
137. —309. too = besides being " u n b a t e d " ? The usual punctuation
makes it read, " T h e point envenom'd t o o ! " As good? —314. thy
union. See line 270. — Several quartos read onyx or onixe. Allowable?
— 316. temper'd = mixed, compounded ? See Exodus xxix. 2. — Lat.
temperdre, to apportion, moderate, regulate, qualify ; allied to temperi
or tempdri, adv., seasonably, and to tempvs, fit season, time. Skeat.—
319. Dies. Why does Laertes die first ? of poison ? of mortal wound ?
— 323. mutes = dumb personages who take part in a play [Clark and
Wright] ? — 324. as. An ellipsis here ? " H a d I but time, which I have
not, as," etc. Abbott, 110. IV. iii. 58.—sergeant. Usually explained
as a sheriff's officer ; more likely here a sergeant-at-arms, like the high
executive officer of a parliamentary body or of the high court of chancery ? As in Henry VIII., I. i. 198.— Lat. servire, to serve ; servientern,
serving, one who serves. By regular and usual changes from Latin to
French, servientern, servjentem, serjentem, serjent, sergent; whence English sergeant. Brachet. — " And Death, drad serjant of th' eternal
Judge." Silvester's Du Bartas. Silvester is the earlier writer, but
Shakespeare's substitution of " fell" for " dread " shows a master hand*

208

HAMLET.

[ACT V.

But let it be. — Horatio, I am dead ;
Thou livest; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.
Horatio.
Never believe it ;
I am more an antique Roman than a D a n e :
Here 's yet some liquor left.
Hamlet.
As thou 'rt a man,
330
Give me the cup : let go ; by heaven, I '11 have 't. —
0 God ! — Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind m e !
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
335
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story. —
[March afar off, and shot within.
What warlike noise is this ?
Osric. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,
To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.
Hamlet.
O, I die, Horatio;
340
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit.
1 cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras : he has my dying voice ;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,
345
Which have solicited — the rest is silence.
[Dies.
Hunter.— 329. antique. Accent as in II. ii. 455. — Roman. Horatio
was a scholar (I. i. 42), and his " mind was cast In the bright mould
of ages p a s t " ? I. i. 112-120. Is he thinking of Brutus? of Cato? —
332. The folios have, " Oh good Horatio," which many prefer. — 333.
live. The quartos have I leave, which, Stratmann says, is more natural.
"White changes live to leave, and makes things the subject of shall leave.
In the first folio, " Things standing thus unknown," is enclosed in marks
of parenthesis. — 341. o'er-crows = triumphs over, as a cock over his
beaten antagonist [Clark and Wright] ? overcomes, subdues [Hudson] ?
" Tschischwitz adopts over-awes, ' as the only word which affords a suitable sense.' " Fumess. — Shakespeare's contemporaries, Chapman,
Nash, and Edmund Spenser, similarly use overcrow. — 345. occurrents
= occurrences, incidents, circumstances, events. 1 Kings v. 4. — Lat.
occurrere, to run to meet, meet, occur ; ob, over against, curre're, to
run. — 345. m o r e = greater ? — 346. solicited = urged, prompted, excited ? brought on the event [Warburton] ? induced me to act as I have
done [Moberly] ? moved me to recommend Fortinbras as successor to
the throne [Lettsom] ? — Old Lat. sollus, whole, entire ; ciere, to shake,
excite, cite; citus, aroused; sollicitus, wholly agitated, aroused, anxious;
sollicitare, excite, incite, urge. — " T h e sentence is left imperfect."

SCENE II.]

HAMLET.

209

Horatio. Now cracks a noble h e a r t . — G o o d n i g h t , sweet
prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
Why does the drum come hither?
\_March within.
Enter

FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and

others.

Fortinbras. Where is this sight?
Horatio.
What is it ye would see?
If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.
^
351
Fortinbras. This quarry cries on havoc. — O proud death,
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes at a shot
So bloodily hast struck ?
1 Ambassador.
.The sight is dismal;
355
And our affairs from England come too l a t e :
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing,
To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Where should we have our thanks ?
Horatio.
Not from his mouth,
Had it the ability of life to thank you ;
36i
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arriv'd, give order that these bodies
365
High on a stage be placed to the view ;
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world
How these things came about: so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
Mason. — 347. cracks = breaks, as often in Shakespeare. — 352. quarry.
A general term for the inwards of a slain animal, and so called from
containing the heart. Lat. cor, heart. A heap of slaughtered game.
Skeat. — cries on havoc = proclaims an indiscriminate slaughter
[White]? urges to merciless slaughter [Clark and Wright] ? cries out
against indiscriminate slaughter [Hudson] ? has been wastefully slain
[Gervinus, who thinks Hamlet the unpractised remiss sportsman]? In
Othello,V. i. 48, " cries on murder," appears to mean " cries out murder; "
and so Rolfe, following Schmidt, prefers to explain it here. To " cry
havoc" (the signal that no quarter was to be given), seems altogether
different from to " cry on havoc." See Julius Ccesar, III. i. 274. Probably from A. S. hafoc, hawk ; from which probably comes the Welsh
hafog, destruction, havoc. Skeat. — 353. toward. I. i. 77. -— eternal.
II. ii. 476 ; I. v. 21. — 360. his mouth. Theobald referred this to Hamlet ! — 363. jump. I. i. 65. — 369. carnal = sanguinary, cruel, or inhuman, referring to the murder of Hamlet's father [Hudson] ? sensual

210

HAMLET.

[ACT V.

Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause,
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' heads. All this can I
Truly deliver.
Fortinbras.
Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune ;
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me
Horatio. Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more ;
But let this same be presently perform'cl,
Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mischance,
On plots and errors, happen.
N
Fortinbras.
Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage ;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have prov'd most royally : and, for his passage,

370

375

380

385

[Schmidt]? — 370. accidental, as that of Polonius? — 371. put on.
IV. vii. 130. — cunning. That of Hamlet in forging the commission ?
— forced. The quartos have for no, and Jennens follows that reading.
May it be right? — Were the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
forced on Hamlet? — 372. upshot = conclusion, final issue? — " I n
archery, the 'upshot' was the final shot, which decided the match."
Clark and Wright. — Webster says the word is "from up and shot or
scot, share, reckoning. Compare the phrase, to cast up an account." —
In Twelfth Night., IV. ii. 69, Sir Toby says, " I cannot pursue with any
safety this sport to the upshot." — mistook. Abbott, 343. — 373. inventors'." Who are they? —374. deliver. I. ii. 193. — 377. rights of
memory = remembered rights [Malone, etc.] ? rights founded in prescription or the order of inheritance [Hudson] ? See of a doubt, I. iv.
37. — 380. his = Hamlet's? — draw on more = be seconded by others
[Theobald, etc.] ? induce others to vote the same way [Hudson] ? —
383. — on = in consequence of ? Abbott, 180, four captains, etc. "At
that time the accustomed mode of burial of a soldier of rank." Hunter.
— 385. put on = put to the proof, tried [Caldecott] ?— 386. passage =
departure, death, as in III. iii. 86 above [Rolfe] ? So in Paradise Lost,
XI. 365, 366, "endure Thy mortal passage when it comes."—Do you
agree with the following comments by Moberly ? — " Hamlet has gained
the haven for which he longed so often ; yet without bringing guilt on
himself by his death ; no fear that his sleep should have bad dreams in it
noiv. Those whom he loved, his mother, Laertes, Ophelia, have all died
guiltless or forgiven. Late, and under the strong compulsion of approaching death, he has done, and well done, the inevitable task from
which his gentle nature shrank. Why, then, any farther thought, in
the awful presence of death, of crimes, conspiracies, vengeance? Think
that he has been slain in battle, like his sea-king forefathers ; and let
the booming cannon be his mourners,"

SCENE I I . ]

HAMLET.

211

The soldiers' music and the rites of war
Speak loudly for him, —
Take up the bodies. — Such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. —
390
Go, bid the soldiers shoot.
[-4 dead march. Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies;
after which a peal of ordnance is shot off.

APPENDIX.
HOW TO STUDY ENGLISH LITEKATUKE.
[From George H. Martin, Agent of the Mass. Board of

Education.]

W H A T is wanted is a carefully graded course, which, beginning with
the poetry of action, should lead the student step by step to the sentimental and the reflective, all in their simplest forms, thence through
the more elaborate narrative to the epic and the dramatic. The aim
here is not to teach authors or works, but poetry; and the works are
selected for their value as illust-rations, without reference to their
authors. A parallel course in the study of prose should be pursued
with the same end. Then, having learned what poetry is and what
prose is, what they contain and how to find their contents, the pupils
would be prepared to take up the study of individual authors. Having studied the authors, the final step would be to study the history of
the literature, in which the relation of the authors to each other and
to their times would appear. This would place the study of literature
on a scientific basis, — first elementary ideas, then individual wholes,
then relations and classifications.
[From an address by L. B. Williston, A. M., Supervisor of Public
Schools, Boston.]
How shall the teacher bring his pupils best to see and feel the
thoughts of his author as he saw and felt them?
First, Kead the work carefully with them. Let the teacher read,
and question as he reads. Let him often ask for paraphrases, and
draw out in every way the thought of his class, making sure that all is
clear. Let every impression have a corresponding expression, which
shall re-act, and deepen the impression.
Second, When a part of the work, an act, book, or canto, has been
carefully read, assign a theme for a written essay. Let the class tell
what the poet has attempted, how he has succeeded, what are the impressions made by the characters, scenes, and descriptions.
Let the teacher himself write upon the themes assigned to his class,
and thus give them a model of what he wishes them to do.
Third, When the book or play has been carefully read and studied
in this way in all its parts, let it be re-read in a larger and freer way
than before. Let the pupils read, and the teacher watch to see if the
thought is clearly apprehended by the pupil. Let the fine passages be
213

214

APPENDIX.

read again and again by different members of the class, and their rendering be criticised by class and teacher. If the work read be a play,
let the parts be taken by different members of the class. Let all the
parts of the work now be studied in their relation to each other and to
the whole. Essays now should be written upon subjects suggested by
this more comprehensive study of the work, — a comparison of characters, noteworthy scenes and their bearing upon the whole, the style of
the author, and his skill in description, dramatic presentation, or
invention.
If it is objected that it is impossible for a teacher w7ith a large class
to revise and correct such a mass of written wTork, I answer that it is
not to be expected that all the written work of a class should be read
and carefully corrected by the teacher. Let him criticise, or rather
call upon his class to do so, what is noticeably wrong in the essays as
they are read. In these exercises, let the attention be directed chiefly
to the thought. Let thought govern and direct expression. From time
to time, according to the number of his class and the teacher's ability,
let him assign essays to be carefully written and handed in for his own
careful reading and criticism. But let there be an abundance of free
and rapid writing, that composition, that is, thought put into writing,
may become easy and natural. The object of the writing is not to
teach the correct use of English, so much as to make clear thinkers
and to fix and deepen impressions.
Fourth, With the careful reading and study of some book in school,
I think it important that there should go the reading of some other
book out of school. Flowers are not all to be picked and analyzed,
but are to be enjoyed as they are seen by " h i m who runs." "Some
books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, some few to be chewed
and digested." Let the pupil have his exercise in merely " tasting"
books, with enjoyment as the chief end. Let the teacher be his guide,
and merely ask him to report what he finds. In other wrords, let him
read, as we all read when we read for pleasure, — with his mind at
ease and open to every charm that genius can present. Let the
teacher make the book the subject of conversation with his class, and
draw their attention by his questions to the chief points which make
it noteworthy.
To what extent shall the memory be called upon in the study of
English literature? Not, I think, to commit long passages, whole
books, and cantos of poems. Let the pupil absorb as much as possible in frequent reading and in study. Now and then, let a few striking lines, that have been learned by heart rather than committed to
memory, be recited. Do not make a disagreeable task of any such
exercise. For, that our pupils may receive the highest and best influence from this study of English literature, it is essential that they love
it, and retain only pleasant memories of the hours spent at school in
the society of its best authors.
[From J. M. Buchan, Inspector of High Schools, Ontario, Canada;
quoted in BlaisdelVs " Outline Studies in English Classics," a
work that should be in the hands of every teacher of our literature.]
With all classes of pupils alike, the main thing to be aimed at by
the teacher is to lead them clearly and fully to understand the mean-

215

APPENDIX.

ing of the author they are reading, and to appreciate the beauty, the
nobleness, the justness, or the sublimity of his thoughts and language.
Parsing, the analysis of sentences, the derivation of words, the explanation of allusions, the scansion of verse, the pointing-out of figures
of speech, the hundred and one minor matters on which the teacher
may easily dissipate the attention of the pupil, should be strictly subordinated to this great aim. . . . It is essential that the mind of the
reader should be put en rapport with that of the writer. There is
something in the influence of a great soul upon another, which defies
analysis. No analysis of a poem, however subtle, can produce the
same effect upon the mind and heart as the reading of the poem itself.
Though the works of Shakespeare and Milton and our other great
writers were not intended by their authors to serve as text-books for
future generations, yet it is unquestionably the case that a large amount
of information may be imparted, and a very valuable training given, if
we deal with them as we deal with Homer and Horace in our best
schools. Parsing, grammatical analysis, the derivation of words, prosody, composition, the history of the language, and to a certain extent
the history of the race, may be both more pleasantly and more profitably taught in this than in any other way. It is advisable for these
reasons, also, that the study of these subjects should be conjoined
with that of the English literature. Not only may time be thus economized, but the difficulty of fixing the attention of flighty and inappreciative pupils may more easily be overcome.
[From F. G. Fleaifs

" Guide to Chancer and

Spenser."]

No doubtful critical point should ever be set before the student as
ascertained. One great advantage of these studies is the acquirement
of a powrer of forming a judgment in cases of conflicting evidence.
Give the student the evidence; state your own opinion, if you like,
but let him judge for himself.
No extracts or incomplete works should be used. The capability of
appreciating a whole work, as a whole, is one of the principal aims in
aesthetic culture.
It is better to read thoroughly one simple play or poem than to know
details about all the dramatists and poets. The former trains the
brain to judge of other plays or poems: the latter only loads the memory with details that can at any time be found, when required, in books
of reference.
For these studies to completely succeed, they must be as thorough
as our classical studies used to be. No difficult point in syntax, prosody, accidence, or pronunciation; no variation in manners or customs; no historical or geographical allusion,—must be passed over
without explanation. This training in exactness will not interfere
with, but aid, the higher aims of literary training.
[From Rev. Henry N. Hudson, Shakespearian

Editor.']

I have never had and never will have any thing but simple exercises;
the pupils reading the author under the teacher's direction, correction,
and explanation; the teacher not even requiring, though usually advising, them to read over the matter in advance. Thus it is a joint

216

APPENDIX.

communing of teacher and pupils with the author for the time being;
just that, and nothing more. Nor, assuredly, can such communion,
in so far as it is genial and free, be without substantial and lasting
good, — far better, indeed, than any possible cramming of mouth and
memory for recitation. The one thing needful here is, that the pupils
rightly understand and feel what they read • this secured, all the rest
will take care of itself.
[From Dr. Johnson, 1765.]
Let him that is yet unacquainted with the powers of Shakespeare,
and who desires to feel the greatest pleasure that the drama can give,
read every play, from the first scene to the last, with utter negligence
of all his commentators. When his fancy is once on the wing, let it
not stoop at correction or explanation. Let him read on through
brightness and obscurity, through integrity and corruption; let him
preserve his comprehension of the dialogue, and his interest in the
fable. And when the pleasures of novelty have ceased, let him attempt
exactness, and read the commentators.
[From Professor Brainerd Kellogg."]
The student ought, first of all, to read the play as a pleasure; then
to read over again, with his mind upon the characters and the plot;
and, lastly, to read it for the meanings, grammar, etc.
1. The P l o t and S t o r y of t h e Play.
(a) The general plot;
\b) The special incidents.
2. The Characters: Ability to give a connected account of all that
is done and most of what is said by each character in the play.
3. The Influence and Interplay of the Characters u p o n each
other.
(a) Kelation of A to B, and of B to A ;
(b) Relation of A to C and D.
4. Complete P o s s e s s i o n of the Language.
(a) Meanings of words;
(6) Use of old words, or of words in an old meaning;
(e) Grammar;
(d) Ability to quote lines to illustrate a grammatical point.
5. P o w e r t o Reproduce, or Quote.
(a) What was said by A or B on a particular occasion;
(b) What was said by A in reply to B ;
(c) What argument was used by C at a particular juncture;
(d) To quote a line in instance of an idiom or of a peculiar
meaning.
6. P o w e r to Locate.
(a) To attribute a line or statement to a certain person on a
certain occasion;
(b) To cap a line;
(c) To fill in the right word or epithet.

APPENDIX.
[From BlaisdelVs

" Outlines for the study of English

217
Classics."]

The following summary of points to be exacted . . . may prove
useful: —
I. — P o i n t s relative t o substance.
1. A general knowledge of the purport of the passages, and
line of argument pursued.
2. An exact paraphrase of parts of the whole, producing exactly and at length the author's meaning.
3. The force and character of epithets.
4. The meaning of similes, and expansions of metaphors.
5. The exact meaning of individual words.
II. — P o i n t s w i t h regard t o form.
1. General grammar rules; if necessary, peculiarities of English grammar.
2. Derivations: (1) General laws and principles of derivations,
including a knowledge of affixes and suffixes. (2) Interesting historical derivation of particular words.
III.—The k n o w l e d g e of all allusions.
IV. — A k n o w l e d g e of s u c h parallel passages and illustrations
as the teacher has supplied.

From all that has been quoted from the foregoing authorities, it
may justly be inferred that somehow or other the pupil must be
made to feel an interest in the author, to admire what is admirable
in the composition, and really to ENJOY its study. Secure this,
and all else will follow as a matter of course : fail in this, and the
time is wasted.
The following suggestions, 1 or some of them, may be helpful in
daily class-work: —
1. At the beginning of the exercise, or as often as need be, require
a statement of —
(«) The main object of the author in the whole poem, oration, play, or other production of which to-day's lesson is a
part.
(b) The object of the author in this particular canto, chapter, act, or other division of the main work.
2. Read or recite from memory (or have the pupils do it) the finest
part or parts of the last lesson. The elocutionary talent of
the class should be utilized here, so that the author may appear at his best.
3. Require at times (often enough to keep the whole fresh in memory) a resume of the " argument," story, or succession of
topics, up to the present lesson.
1
See Suggestions to Teachers, in Sprague's edition of the First Two Books of
Paradise Lost and Lycidas.

218

APPENDIX.

4. Have the student read aloud the sentence, paragraph, or lines,
now (or previously) assigned. The appointed portion should
have some unity.
5. Let the student interpret exactly the meaning by substituting
his own words ; explain peculiarities. This paraphrase should
often be in 'writing.
6. Let him state the immediate object of the author in these lines.
Is this object relevant ? important ? appropriate in this place ?
7. Let him point out the ingredients (particular thoughts) that
make up the passage. Are they in good taste? j u s t ? natural ? well arranged ?
8. Let him point out other merits or defects, — any thing noteworthy as regards nobleness of principle or sentiment, grace,
delicacy, beauty, rhythm, sublimity, wit, wisdom, humor, naivete, kindliness, pathos, energy, concentrated truth, logical
force, originality; give allusions, kindred passages, principles
illustrated, etc.
SPECIMEN EXAMINATION PAPERS.
[From the English Civil Service Commission

Papers.]

A (FIRST ACT),

1. Give a brief but connected account of the incidents in the First Act.
2. What state of feeling seeins to exist in Hamlet's mind in relation to
the King, and to the Queen ? Quote lines in justification of your view.
3. State by whom, to whom, and on what occasions, the following
lines were uttered: —
(a) What art thou that iisurp'st this time of night?
(6) Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.
(c) An understanding simple and unschooled.
\d) Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven.
(e) More honored in the breach than the observance.
4. Quote the lines which precede or which follow the above.
5. Explain fully and annotate the words in Italics.
6. Explain fully the following words and phrases: (a) the sensible and
true avouch; (b) romage; (c) extravagant; (d) lose your voice; (e) defeated ;
(f) slow leave; (g) discourse of reason; (h) primy nature; (i) addition; (j)
bound to hear; (k) unhouseled; (I) without more circumstance.
7. Give some examples of the peculiarities of Shakespeare's grammar.
B (SECOND ACT).

1. What new personages are introduced in the Second Act, and wiiat
are their respective functions in the play ?
2. Describe shortly Hamlet's interview with the players.
3. State in your own words the sum of Hamlet's reflections at the end
of this Act.
4. State by whom, of whom, and on what occasions, the following
lines were said: —
(a) With windlaces, and with assays of bias.
(b) Ungarter'd and down-gyved to his ankle.
(c) To show us so much gentry and good-will.
(d) If I had play'd the desk or table-book.

APPENDIX.

219

(e) How express and admirable !
(/) I know a hawk from a hernsaw.
5. Annotate the words in Italics.
6. Explain fully the following words and phrases: (a) keep; (b)fetch
of warrant; (c) shatter all his bulk; (d) borne in hand; (e) round with him;
(/) lungs tickle o' the sere; (g) eyases; (h) region; (i) the general ear; (J)
organ.
• 7. Quote the lines in which the above words and phrases occur.
8. Give some examples of Shakespeare's use of the dative.
C (THIRD ACT).

1. Describe the character of Ophelia, and contrast her with the Queen.
2. Give the substance of the King's soliloquy in scene third.
3. Quote lines from this and from the first Act to show the opinion
which Hamlet held of his father and of his uncle.
4. State by whom, of whom, and on what occasions, the following
lines were said: —
(a)
Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life?
(b) And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose.
(c) O'erstep not the modesty of nature.
(d) Confederate season, else no creature seeing.
(e) Up, sword ! and know thou a more horrid hentl
( / ) Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
5. Annotate fully the words in Italics.
6. Give some instances (a) of Shakespeare's use of a verb as a noun;
and (b) of his employment of prolepsis.
7. Explain fully the following words and phrases: (a) affront; (b) the
rub; (c) in the ear; (d) by and by; (e) the cease of majesty; ( / ) broadblown ; (g) mope ; (h) capable of; (i) conclusions.
D (FOURTH ACT).

1. Give a short but connected account of the incidents in this Act.
2. Give the substance of Hamlet's soliloquy in the fourth scene.
3. State the substance of the conversation of the King with Laertes in
the seventh scene.
4. State by whom, of whom or what, and on what occasions, the following lines were said: —
(a) As level as the cannon to his blank.
(b) Your fat king is but variable service.
(c) Thinking too precisely on the event.
(d) The ocean, overpeering of his list.
(e) They have dealt with'me like thieves of mercy.
(/) For goodness, growing to a plurisy.
5. Explain fully the words in Italics.
(>. Explain the following words and phrases: {a) the main; (b) makes
mouths; (c) of large discourse; (d) not continent enough; (e) a riotous
head; (/) a document in madness; (g) much unsineiced; (h) uncharge; (i)
passages, of proof; {j) mortal.
7. Quote examples (a) of Shakespeare's use of the Northern plural;
and (b) of such phrases as his means of death.
E ( F I F T H ACT).

1. What are the events outside and also within the play that are
gradually maturing the catastrophe; and what change seems to come
over Hamlet's own mind ?

220

APPENDIX.

2. Q u o t e passages from P o l o n i u s ' s a n d from Osric's speeches to illust r a t e t h e e u p h u i s m of t h e t i m e .
3. Quote t h e passage w h i c h s h o w s t h a t H a m l e t h a d a p r e s e n t i m e n t of
what was coming.
4. S t a t e b y w h o m , of w h o m or w h a t , a n d on w h a t occasions, t h e foll o w i n g lines w e r e u t t e r e d : —
(a) Tell m e t h a t , a n d unyoke.
(b) T h e l e n g t h a n d b r e a d t h of a pair of indentures.
(c) T h i s g r a v e s h a l l h a v e a living m o n u m e n t .
(d) W i t h , ho ! s u c h bugs'&i\d goblins in my life.
(e) A n d in t h e c u p a n union s h a l l he t h r o w .
[PRIZE

EXAMINATION

IN

HAMLET.

HOLLINS

INSTITUTE,

VIRGINIA,

M A Y , 1881. Questions by Horace Howard Furness, Esq., of Philadelphia.
Those in brackets ivere added by Prof. Wm. Taylor Thorn.]
H I S T O R I C A L AND

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL.

1. On w h a t s t o r y is S h a k e s p e a r e ' s t r a g e d y of Hamlet founded ?
2. D i d S h a k e s p e a r e get it from t h e D a n i s h h i s t o r i a n ?
3. W h a t is t h e d a t e of t h e earliest edition of S h a k e s p e a r e ' s Hamlet f
4. W h a t is t h e d a t e of t h e second e d i t i o n ?
5. I s t h e r e m u c h difference i n b u l k b e t w e e n t h e s e t w o editions ?
6. W h e n w a s t h e first edition said to h a v e b e e n a c t e d ?
7. A n d p r o b a b l y on w h a t occasion ?
8. H o w was t h e copy of t h e first edition p r o b a b l y o b t a i n e d for t h e
printer ?
9. Does F r a n c i s M e r e s m e n t i o n it ?
10. W h a t is t h e t h e o r y of t h e editors of t h e C l a r e n d o n P r e s s edition
i n r e g a r d to t h e q u a r t o of 1603 ?
11. I s t h e r e a n y difference b e t w e e n t h e first a n d s e c o n d editions o n
t h e score of H a m l e t ' s m a d n e s s ?
12. I s t h e r e a n y difference in t h e n a m e s of t h e c h a r a c t e r s ?
13. I s t h e r e a n y c o n t e m p o r a n e o u s p l a y of Hamlet in a n y o t h e r language t h a n English ?
14. W h a t is t h e d a t e of t h e first edition of S h a k e s p e a r e ' s collected
works ?
15. H o w m a n y y e a r s after S h a k e s p e a r e ' s d e a t h w a s it p u b l i s h e d ?
16. A n d b y w h o m w a s it p u b l i s h e d ?
GRAMMATICAL.

17. E x p l a i n t h e u s e of " sensible," in I . i. 57. 1 Give o t h e r i n s t a n c e s
of adjectives similarly u s e d in t h i s play ; i n Macbeth; in Merchant of
Venice.
18. W h a t is the m e a n i n g of " still" in I. i. 122 ? Can y o u recall' a n y
o t h e r i n s t a n c e s in this p l a y ? a n y in Macbeth? in Merchant of Venice?
19. W h a t w a s S h a k e s p e a r e ' s use of " thou " a n d " you " ? I l l u s t r a t e
b y references to Hamlet.
20. W h a t ellipsis is t h e r e in " T h a t father lost, lost h i s , a n d t h e survivor b o u n d ? "
21. C a n you r e c a l l a n y i n s t a n c e s of suffixes a p p e n d e d to n o u n s for t h e
p u r p o s e of signifying an a g e n t ? in Macbeth? in Merchant of Venice?
22. C a n y o u give a n y i n s t a n c e s of t h e use of t h e prefix a before n o u n s ?
before participles ?
1

The references here are to the Clarendon Press editions of the plays.

APPENDIX.

221

23. Give instances of Shakespeare's use of double comparatives.
24. Can you recall any instances where Shakespeare neglects the
inflection of the pronoun who ? in Macbeth 9 in Merchant of Venice 9
25. Give some instances of the conversion of one part of speech into
another.
26. Give some account of the rise of the use of its.
27. What is Marsh's rule about the use by Elizabethan writers of sith
and since 9 Does the rule hold uniformly good in Shakespeare ?
2§. Explain the meaning of the line: " When we have shuffled off this
mortal coil." What peculiarity in the use of the adjective ? Illustrate
by examples.
29. " The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, and 'gins to pale his
uneffectual fire." What is the meaning of uneffectual? Give examples
of adjectives used proleptically.
PHILOLOGICAL.

30. What is the meaning of, " I ' l l make a ghost of him that lets me " V
31. What is the meaning of unhouseVd, disappointed, unaneled?
32. What is the meaning of windlasses and assays of bias 9
33. Is Shakespeare's use of the word closet the same as ours ?
34. What is the meaning of, " T h e clown shall make those laugh,
whose lungs are tickle o' the sere " ?
35. Explain: " I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is
southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw."
36. What is the meaning of extravagant 9 I. i. 154.
37. What is the meaning of, " No fairy takes " ? I. i. 163.
38. Is Shakespeare's accent of Hyperion (I. ii. 140), correct ?
39. Explain the meaning of " dearest foe," I. ii. 182.
40. What is the derivation of " nickname" ? I I I . i. 144.
41. Was a "jig " any thing more than a dance in Shakespeare's day ?
, 42. Explain " black and grained spots." III. iv. 90.
43. What is the meaning of " curb and woo " ? I I I . iv. 152.
44. Explain the allusion in " the owl was a baker's daughter."
45. What was Shakespeare's opinion of politicians, as inferred from
his use of the word ?
46. What is the meaning of " Woo't drink up eisel ? "
47. Explain: " I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant. It out-herods Herod."
48. Explain: " W o u l d not this, sir, and a forest of feathers —if the
rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me — with two provincial roses on
my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players, sir ? "
49. Explain: " T h e king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,
keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels."
50. What does Bernardo mean by calling Horatio and Marcellus " the
rivals of my watch " ?
51. Explain : " Methought I lay worse than the mutines in the bilboes."
52. What is Shakespeare's use of " ecstasy " ?
53. What is the meaning of eager, in " like eager droppings into milk,"
and in " a nipping and an eager air " ?
54. Explain: "They can well on horseback."
55. What does Hamlet mean by saying to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, " Let me comply with you in this garb ? "
[56.] Explain: " T o split the ears of the groundlings."
[57.] Explain: " For, O, For, O, the hobby-horse is forgot,"

222

APPENDIX.
^ESTHETIC.

58. What is Goethe's view of Hamlet ?
59. What is Coleridge's ?
[60] What is Taine's and Hudson's ?
[61.] What is your own ?
62. How do you account for Hamlet's levity after his interview with
the Ghost ?
63. Does Hamlet, or Horatio, say: " T h e rest is silence " ?
64. Are the flowers which Ophelia distributes to the King, Queen, and
others, real or imaginary ?
65. Was the Queen an accessory to her husband's murder?
66. Was Hamlet mad ?
[67.] What is your opinion of Hamlet's treatment of Ophelia in I I I . i. ?
SOME TOPICS FOR ESSAYS.
Revenge in Hamlet.
I
Hamlet's Age.
Hamlet's Treatment of Ophelia.
Did Hamlet really love Ophelia ?
Hamlet's Inaction.
Hamlet's feigning Insanity.
Was Hamlet really Insane ?
Hamlet's Forgery of the Commission.
Did Hamlet contrive the Capture
by the Pirates ?
Hamlet's Scene with the Clowns.
Hamlet's Advice to the Players.
Hamlet's Mouse-trap Pantomime.
Hamlet's Presentiments.
Hamlet's Letters.
Hamlet's Soliloquies.
Hamlet's Ruling Motives.
Hamlet's Wit.
Hamlet's Imagination.
Shakespeare himself.
Hamlet's Treatment of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Hamlet's Treatment of Polonius.
Hamlet's Treatment of his Mother.
The Superstition about Ghosts'
walking.
Euphuism.
Moral Lessons taught in Hamlet.
Hamlet's Self-disparagement.
Hamlet's Limitations.
Significance of the Proper Names
in Hamlet.
The Time covered by the Play.
Hamlet's Courtesy.
Hamlet's Idea of Providence.
I

The twelve or sixteen Inserted
Lines.
The King's Remorse.
The Hystorie of Hamblet.
The German play Brudermord.
The Poetic Diction in the Play.
Contrast Ophelia's Madness with
Hamlet's.
Essay on Polonius.
Essay on Ophelia.
Essay on Rosericrantz and Guildenstern.
Essay on Osric.
Essay on Horatio.
Essay on Laertes.
Essay on the Queen.
Essay on the King.
Essay on Old Hamlet.
Essay on Fortinbras.
Essay on some one scene in the
play.
What Scenes might be omitted ?
Relations between Denmark and
England in the play.
Elective Monarchy in Denmark.
The Globe Theatre.
Rise of English Drama.
Mystery Plays.
Miracle Plays.
Moral Plays.
Interludes.
Is Hamlet Shakespeare ?
Is Hamlet Germany ?
Proverbs in Hamlet.
Estimate of Mrs. Jameson's views;
of Goethe's; Werder's, Voltaire's, Victor Hugo's, etc.

INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES.

a = a t ? 85.
a = one, in a length t 204.
a-; prefix, 51.
a b o u t ; m e a n i n g ? 100,127.
a b r i d g m e n t , 92, 93.
absolute, 183.
a b s u r d , 114.
a b u s e , 169.
abuses, 101.
acquittance, 166.
act, 43.
addition = title? 53, 69.
a d m i r a t i o n , 42, 126.
a d u l t e r a t e , 60.
i E n e a s , 94.
a e r y , 88.
afeard, 206.
affection, 110.
afoot, 115.
a g a i n ; credibilizing effect ?
24.
against, 96, 137.
alarm, 141.
A l e x a n d e r , 185.
all we = we all, 80.
allowance, 112.
'a-mercy, 81.
a m a z e m e n t , 126, 141.
ambition, 131.
amble, 108.
amiss, 156.
a n c h o r ' s cheer, 122.
an end = o n e n d ? 58.
angle, 195.
a n n e x m e n t , 130.
a n o t h e r , 68.
a n s w e r , 143, 146, 199.
antic, 65.
a n t i q u e , 208.
any t h e most, 37, 38.
a p a r t , 147.
a p o p l e x ' d , 138.
a p p o i n t m e n t , 165.
a p p r o v e , 25, 198.
a p p u r t e n a n c e , 90.
a p t l y , 143.
argal, 177.
a r g u m e n t , 89, 119, 122,155.

a r m = p r e p a r e ? 130.
a r r a n t , 63,108.
a r r a s , 81.
art, 77.
a r t e r y , 57.
article, great, 197.
artless, 156.
as = as if? 69,171.
as = as for? 169.
as = for so? 152,174.
as's, 193.
aspect, 99. \
assault, general, 68.
assay, 103, 132.
assays, 70, 76k
assigns, 199.
assistant, 46.
assurance, 182.
a s s u r e you, 75.
at = u p t o ? 145, 151,152.
at foot, 151.
at height, 53.
at point, 42.
attended, 83, 85.
attent, 42.
a t t r i b u t e , 54.
audience, 50, 207.
audit, 133.
a u g h t , 152.
auspicious, 33.
avouch, 26.
a-work, 96.
a y ; dissyl.? 69.

back, 174.
b a k ' d - m e a t s , 41.
B a p t i s t a , 122.
bare, 106.
b a r r e d , 33.
b a r r e n , 113.
bated, 192.
b a t t e n , 138.
b a t t e r y , 182.
be = m a y be? 29.
be (there b e ) , 113.
beaten, 85.
b e a t i n g ; tolling? 25.

beau tied, 104.
beauties, 104.
beautified, 78.
beaver, 44.
beck,108.
bedded, 141.
bedrid, 34.
behove, 180.
belike, 119.
bell, 25.
be-netted, 192.
bent, 75, 128.
berattle, 88.
beseeched, 103.
b e s h r e w , 73.
bespeak, 79.
bestow, 143.
bestowed, 98, 150.
beteem, 39.
betimes, 202.
bettered, 204.
bias, 70.
bilboes, 191.
bisson, 97.
bitter = b i t t e r l y ? 23.
blank, 148.
blanks, 122.
blast = blight? 30.
blast = b u r s t ? 174.
b l a s t m e n t s , 48.
blazon, 59.
blench, 101.
bloal, 143.
blood, 46, 51, 114, 155.
b l o w n , 109, 133.
board, 81.
bodkin, 106.
b o d y k i n s , 98.
bonnet, 196.
bore, 166.
borne in h a n d , 76.
botch, 156.
b o u r n , 106.
b o u t s , 174, 205.
brainish, 146.
brave,86.
b r a v e r y , 195.
b r a z e d , 136.
bread, full of, 133.
b r e a t h e , 68, 69.

223

224
b r e a t h i n g , 200.
bringing home of, 187.
broad, 134.
broad-blown, 133.
b r o k e r s , 52.
brooch, 171.
brood (on b r o o d ) , 110.
b r o w of woe, 33.
b r u i t , 39.
b u g s , 192.
bulk, 72.
b u l w a r k , 136.
but = only? 85.
but = t h a n ? 29.
b u t to k n o w , 198.
b u t t o n s , 48.
b u z , 91.
b u z z e r s , 159.
by = as to? 82.
by = w i t h ? 79.
by and by, 128, 205.
b y ' r = b y o u r ? 93.
b y t h e card, 183.
by t i m e ; m e a n i n g ? 172.

Caesar, 116.
calendar, 197.
can, 132.
candied, 114.
c a n k e r , 47.
canon, 39.
capable, 141.
cap-a-pe, 43.
Capitol, 116.
carbuncles, 95.
card, 183, 197.
carnal, 209.
carouses, 205.
carriage, 28.
carriages ( h a n g e r s ) , 199.
c a r r y it a w a y , 85.
cart, 119.
carve (legal t e r m ? ) , 47.
cast beyond, 73.
cat will m e w , 190.
cataplasm, 173.
cautel, 46.
caviare, 94.
cease, 130.
c e n s u r e , 49, 112, 115.
centre, 80.
challenge, 23, 24.
chameleon's dish, 116.
c h a n g e = e x c h a n g e ? 41.
changeling, 194.
chanson, 92.
character, 49, 169.
charge, 154, 193.
chariest, 47.
checking at, 169.
cheer, 120, 122.
c h e r u b , 151.
chief, 49.
choler, 125.
chop-fallen, 185.

INDEX.
chopine, 93.
chorus, 123.
chough, 196.
cicatrice, 152.
circumstance, 50, 51, 63,
102, 133.
climatures, 30.
c l o s e = s e c r e t ? 73.
closes = falls i n ? 69.
closet, 71, 126.
clouds (in c l o u d s ) , 154.
clouts, 91.
c l o w n s , 113.
cockle h a t , 156.
coil, 105.
cold; n o u n ? 23.
cold = chaste? 175.
coldly set, 152.
colleagued, 34.
collection, 156.
columbines, 163.
comma, 193.
c o m m e n d , 34, 66.
c o m m e n d e d , 201.
c o m m e n t of t h y soul, 115.
c o m m e r c e , 107.
c o m m o n stages, 88.
c o m m u n e , 164.
c o m m u t u a l , 119.
c o m p a c t ; accent? 28.
c o m p a n i e s ; p l u . for sing.?
74.
c o m p a r e w i t h , 198.
complexion, 196.
c o m p l e t e ; accent? 56.
comply w i t h , 90, 200.
compulsative, 29.
c o m r a d e ; accent? 49.
conceit, 99, 141, 157, 199.
conception, 82. .
concernancy, 198.
conclusions, 144.
condolement, 37.
confederate s e a s o n , 1 2 3 .
confession, 171.
confine, 32.
confront, 131.
confusion (puts on this), 102.
congregation, 86.
conjunctive, 167.
conjures, 188.
conjuring, 152.
convoy, 46.
consequence, 69'.
conscience (perfect), 195.
considered time, 77.
consonancy, 85.
contagion, 174. .
content, 103.
continent, 155, 197.
contraction, 137.
c o n t r a r y ; accent? 121.
contriving, 173.
convoy, 46.
conversation, 114.
converse, 69.
coped, 114.
coted, 87,

couch, 95,186.
count, 195.
countenance, 148.
counter, 160.
counterfeit, 137.
couplets, 190.
cousin, 36.
covenant, 28.
cozenage, 195.
cozen'd, 139.
cracked (voice), 93.
cracked within the ring,
crafts, 145.
credent, 47.
crescent, 46.
crib, 196.
cried in t h e t o p , 94.
crimeful, 167.
croaking, 123.
crocodile, 189.
cross (a s p i r i t ) , 30.
crow-flowers, 175.
c r o w n e r , 177.
cry, 124.
cry out on, 88.
cue, 99.
c u n n i n g s , 174.
c u r b a n d woo, 142.
curiously, 185.
c u r r e n t s , 132.
cut-purse, 140.
Cyclops, 96.

D
daintier, 180.
daisy, 163.
dallying, 123.
d a m n e d , 115.
D a m o n , 124.
D a n e ( t h e ) , 24,33,188.
D a n s k e r s , 67.
d e b a t e m e n t , 193.
d e a d ; m e a n i n g ? 27,42.
dead, for a ducat, 136.
dead m e n ' s fingers, 175.
dear soul, 114.
dearest foe, 42.
dearly, 151.
d e a r t h , 197.
declension, 80.
declining, 95.
defeat, 100, 194.
defeated, 33.
defence, 171.
definement, 197.
deject, 109.
deliver, 42, 210.
delver, 177.
demanded of, 148.
demi-natured, 171.
d e m o n s t r a t e d , 30.
D e n m a r k , 36, 39.
denote, 37.
d e x t e r i t y , 40.
didest, 169.
D i d o , 94.

225

INDEX.
differences (excellent), 197.
dilated, 34.
disappointed, 61.
disasters in the s u n , 30.
disclose, 110, 190.
discourse, 154.
discourse of reason, 40,154.
discovery, 85.
disjoint, 34.
dispatch'd, 61.
d i s t e m p e r e d , 125,141.
distilled, 43.
distracted, 149, 155.
distrust you, 120.
divulging, 147.
d o c u m e n t , 163.
does (how d o e s ) , 203.
dog will have his day, 190.
doom, 137.
doomsday, 30.
double-vouchers, 182.
doublet, 71.
d o u b t ; m e a n i n g ? 45,76,78,
110.
douts, 176.
down-gyved, 71.
d r a m of eale, 54.
d r a w on more, 210.
dread my lord, 35.
dreadful, 43.
drift, 174.
drift of circumstance, 102.
drunk-asleep, 134.
ducats, 90, 136, 153.
d u k e , 122.
d u m b - s h o w s , 111, 118.
d y e , 52.

-est; superlative ending, 29.
estate, 186.
eternal, 59, 209.
e t e r n e , 96.
even = h o n e s t ? 85.
even Christian, 178.
excellent differences, 197.
exception, 202.
e x c r e m e n t s , 141.
exorcism (by scholars), 25.
expostulate, 77.
express, 86.
extent, 90.
extravagant, 31.
eyases, 88.
eye, 153.

F

falconers ( F r e n c h ) , 93.
false fire, 124.
f a n c y ; m e a n i n g ? 49.
fang'd, 144.
fantasy, 24.
fardels, 106.
fares, 70, 116.
farm, 153.
fashion, 46, 51, 110.
fat; is H a m l e t ? 205.
favor, 163, 185.
fay, 84.
fear = object of fear? 130.
fear = fear for? 48,135,160.
feature, 109.
fee, 153.
feelingly, 197.
fellies, 96.
fellowship, 124.
fennel, 163.
E
fetch of w a r r a n t , 69.
few (in hi few), 52.
eager, 52, 61.
fierce, 30.
eale (dram of), 54.
find = find o u t ? 111.
easiness, p r o p e r t y of, 180.
find out t h e m , 192.
e a t ; eaten? 150.
fine; and h a n d s o m e , 94.
ecstasy, 72, 110, 142.
-ed; suffix omitted, 109, fine; m e a n i n g ? 94,162.
finger'd, 192.
143, 145.
fire; dissyl.? 51.
edge, 103.
fishmonger, 81.
edified, 199.
fitness, 201.
effects, 141.
flaw; g u s t ? 186.
eisel, 189.
flourishes, 77.
eldest, 131.
flush, 133.
E l s i n o r e , 23.
flushing, 40.
ends, 191.
foil, 203.
emulate, 27.
-en; suffix, as in eaten, 150. fond, 62, 200, 201.
enact, 116.
food and diet, 28.
enactures, 121.
forbear, 189.
encompassment, 67
for = as? 34.
encumbered, 66.
for = as for? 38,143.
engaged, 132.
for = instead of? 187.
enginer, 145.
for to, 110, 181.
e n t e r t a i n m e n t , 201.
fordo, 186.
e n t r e a t m e n t s , 51.
fordoes, 72.
enviously, 155.
fore, 95.
ere, 40, 192.
forgeries, 68, 171.
erring, 31.
forgot, 144, 159.
escoted, 88,
, F o r tin bras, 27.

F o r t u n e (her w h e e l ) , 96.
forty t h o u s a n d , 189.
f o r w a r d , 102.
four h o u r s together, 80,189.
fox, 149.
frailty (thy n a m e , etc.), 40.
frame, 126.
free, 99, 122.
F r e n c h falconers, 93.
fret, 128.
fretted, 86.
friending, 66.
f r o m ; sense? 112.
front, 137.
fruit, 75.
full of bread, 133.
function, 99.
fust, 154.
Gr
gaged, 28.
gain-giving, 202.
'gainst, 32.
gait, 34.
gall, 100.
galled, 40, 122.
gambol, 142.
gender, 167.
general, 94, 167.
general assault, 68.
gentle e n t e r t a i n m e n t , 201.
g e n t r y , 74, 197.
g e r m a n e , 199.
get thee, 108.
gib, 144.
gibber, 29.
gins, 62, 152.
give = m a y Grod give? 24.
give deed = verify? 47.
giving-out, 66.
g l o b e ; sense? 62.
glow-worm, 62.
go about, 127.
go seek, 72.
go to, 51.
goblins, 192.
G o d ; changed to H e a v e n ?
71.
God-a-mercy, 81.
g o o d ; vocative? 27.
good m a d a m , 205.
good m y b r o t h e r , 48.
good m y lord, 70.
good-by, 70, 98.
good-kissing, 81.
goodly, 42.
goose-quills, 88.'
gorge,185.
grace, 38, 39.
grace, herb o', 163.
gracious, 32, 196.
grained, 139.
grating, 102.
greenly, 158.
griefs, 110.
grizzled, 44.
gross, 154.

226
gross a n d scope, 27.
grossly, 133.
g r o u n d l i n g s , 111.
g r u n t , 106.
gules, 95.
gulf, 130.
gyved, down-, 71.
gyves, 167.

INDEX.
H y p e r i o n , 39, 137.
H y r c a n i a n , 94.

I ; for a y e ? 124.
I ; or w e ? royal style? 168.
idle, 79, 116.
'ield; for yield? 157.
H
if that, 153.
habit, o u t w a r d , 200.
ill-breeding, 156.
h a n d s a w , h a w k from a, 90, illume, 25.
91.
image, 122.
h a n d s o m e ; fine? 94.
immediate, 38.
h a n g e r s , 199.
i m p a r t m e n t , 56.
h a p p i l y , 30, 41.
i m p a s t e d , 95.
h a p p v time, 201.
imperial, 186.
haps,' 152.
i m p l o r a t o r s , 52.
h a r b i n g e r s , 30.
i m p o n ' d , 199.
hard = reluctant? 35.
important^ 140.
h a r r o w s , 26.
importing, 34, 170, 192.
h a t c h m e n t , 164.
i m p o r t s , 198.
h a u n t , 147.
i m p o r t u n a t e , 155.
have after, 57.
i m p o r t u n e d ; accent? 51.
havior, 36, 37.
i m p o s t h u m e , 153.
havoc, cries on, 209.
i m p r e s s , 27.
h a w k from a h a n d s a w , 90. in = i n the t h o u g h t of? 190.
head, 159.
in = into? 178,195.
health, 47, 170.
in little, 90.
hearsed, 55.
in that, 34.
heaven-kissing, 138.
in the sun, 36.
H e a v e n s , 75, 143.
incapable, 175.
hebenon, 60.
incensed, 194.
H e c a i e ' s , 123.
incorporal, 141.
hectic, 152.
incorps'd, 171.
h e n t , 134.
incorrect, 37.
h e r a l d r y , 95.
i n d e n t u r e s , 182.
h e r n s h a w , 90.
i n d e x , 137.
h e r b o' grace, 163.
indict, 94.
H e r c u l e s , 40, 89.
indifferent, 83,108,196.
H e r o d , 112.
indifferently, 113.
hey-day, 138.
individable, 91.
hie et ubique, 65.
indued, 175.
hide fox, 149.
inexplicable, 111.
hillo, 63.
infusion, 197.
h i m ; for he t 69.
ingenious, 188.
his (for its?), 43, 49,132.
inheritor, 182.
ho = s t o p ? 206.
inhibition, 87.
hobby-horse, 118.
innovation, 87.
hoist, 145.
insinuation, 194.
hold, 200.
instance, 162.
hold u p = u p h o l d ? 178.
instances, 120.
hold'st at a u g h t , 152.
instant, 61, 97.
holds q u a n t i t y , 120.
interim, 195.
home, 130, 134.
i' t h e sun, 36.
honest, 107.
intil, 180.
honestly, 82, 107.
inventors', 210.
hoodman-blind, 139.
investments, 52.
hoops ; or hooks t 49.
i t ; for i t s ? 43.
h o r s e ; T r o j a n ? 95.
h o u r ; dissyl.? 53.
hugger-mugger, 158.
h u m o r , 74.
h u m o r o u s , 87.
jade, 122.
h u s b a n d r y , 49.
jangled out of t u n e , 109.
h u s h ; adjective? 96.
jealousy, 73.
H y m e n , 139.
J e p h t h a h , 92.

jig, 97, 108, 117.
J o h n - a - d r e a m s , 99.
jointress, 33.
J o v e , 125, 137.
jowls, 180.
j u m p , 27, 209.

K
keeps himself in clouds,
158, 159.
kettle, 204.
k e p t short, 146.
kibe, 183.
kill . . . dead, 120.
kin, a n d less t h a n kind, 36.
kindless, 100.
k n o w = recognize? 191.
k n o w i n g , 193.
K r o n b o r g (castle), 23.

l a c k ; intransitive? 66.
lady, our, 93, 118.
lapsed in time and passion,
140.
lapwing, 200.
larded, 157, 192.
law and h e r a l d r y , 28.
law of w r i t , etc., 92.
lazar-like, 61.
leans on, 151.
leave = leave off? 69, 120,
138.
left, 40.
lenten, 86.
l e t ; caused? 165.
l e t s ; h i n d e r s ? 57.
L e t h e , 59.
level, 148, 161.
liberal, 175, 199.
liege, 75.
l i e s ; legal sense? 132.
lightness, 80.
like = likely? 44.
l i k e s ; suits? 204.
limed, 132.
-ling (in changeling),
194.
list, 159.
litotes, 188.
littlest, 120.
living, 190.
loam, 186.
loggats, 181.
long p u r p l e s , 175.
look = a p p e a r ? 174.
loves; plu. for sing. ? 32,45.
loves = lovers? 121.
lunacy, 102, 129.
l u x u r y , 61.

M
m a c h i n e , 79.
mad n o r t h - n o r t h w e s t , 90.

227

INDEX.
maimed rites, 186.
m a i n , 76, 153.
mainly, 167.
m a k e , 85.
m a k e assay, 132.
m a k e m o u t h s , 155.
m a n n e r ; or manor f 53.
m a r g e n t , 199.
m a r k e t , 154.
m a r k e t of his time, 154.
m a r r y , 50, 178.
M a r s , 96, 138.
m a r t , 27.
marvellous, 67, 125.
mass, 69.
m a s t e r l y report, 171.
m a t i n , 62.
m a t t e r , 77, 82,162.
m a z z a r d , 181.
m e = for m e ? 67, 93, 100,
135.
m e = to m e ? 120.
m e a n s ; of access? 165.
m e e d = m e r i t ? 198.
M e r c u r y , 138.
m e r e l y , 39.
mermaid-like, 175.
mettle, 28.
miching mallecho, 118.
might = could? 26,39.
mightiest J u l i u s , 29.
milch, 97.
m i l k y ; m e a n i n g ? 95.
military t e r m s , 25.
m i n c i n g , 97.
mineral, 147.
ministering angel, 187.
mistook, 210.
mobled, 97.
model, 194.
m o d e s t i e s ; p l u . for sing.?
85.
m o d e s t y , 112.
moist star, 30.
mole of n a t u r e , 54.
m o m e n t , 52.
m o p e , 139.
m o r e above, 79.
m o r e (and m o s t ) , 67.
m o r e nearer, 67.
moreover, 73.
most = greatest ? 66.
most best, 79.
mote, 29.
motion, 138.
mould of form, 109.
moult, 85.
m o u n t of all t h e age, 168.
m o u n t e b a n k , 173.
mouse stirring, 23.
m o u t h , 111, 190.
m o w s , 90.
m u c h ; m e a n i n g ? 23.
muddy-mettled", 99.
murdering-piece, 159.
m u t e s , 207.
m u t i n e , 139.
m u t i n e s , 191.

.JM
n a p k i n , 205.
native to, 35, 53, 175.
n a t u r e , 36.
n a u g h t , 119.
neighbored, 74.
N e m e a n , 57.
N e p t u n e ' s , 30, 119.
N e r o , 129.
nerve, 57.
n e u t r a l , 96.
n i c k n a m e , 108, 109.
nighted, 36.
nill, 177.
N i o b e , 40.
nobility, 38.
nomination, 198.
nominative w a n t i n g , 76.
nonce, 174.
nor it cannot, 40.
n o r . . . not, 111.
N o r w a y ( k i n g ? ) , 26, 153.
not needs, 121.
note = a t t e n t i o n ? 115.
n o t h i n g ; adverb? 35.
noyance, 130.
n u m b e r s , 78.
n y m p h , 106.

or ( e % ) , 40.
o r d i n a n t , 194.
ordnance, 204.
ore, 147.
organ, 170.
orisons, 106.
ostentation, 164.
o u r lady, 93.
out-herods, 112.
out-stretched, 84.
o u t w a r d habit, 200.
overlooked, 165.
overpeering, 159.
owl was a b a k e r ' s daughter, 157.

P

packing, 145.
paddock, 144.
p a h , 185.
painted t y r a n t , 95.
pajock, 124, 125.
pall, 191.
p a n d e r s , 139.
pansies, 163.
p a r a g o n , 86.
p a r c h m e n t , 182.
p a r d o n , 35, 126, 202.
parle, 26.
p a r t = t a l e n t ? 170,197.
partisan, 31.
pass, 194.
o b s c u r e ; accent? 164.
pass of practice, 173, 206.
obsequious, 37.
passage, 210.
occulted, 115.
passion, 97, 163.
occurrents, 208.
pat, 133.
o d d s , 201, 204.
p a t e , 100, 111, 180.
o'er-crows, 208.
patience, 117.
o'er-raught, 103.
Patrick, 64.
o'er-reaches, 181.
peace-parted, 187.
o'er-sized, 95.
peak, 99.
o'er-teemed, 97.
pearl, 205.
o'ertook, 69.
peculiar life, 130.
of = a b o u t ? 157.
pelican, 161.
of = b y ? 24, 25,148.
of = consisting in? in con- Pelion, 188.
perdition, 197.
sequence of? 154.
of = from, 74.
p e r d y , 125.
of = on? 164.
periwig-pated, 111.
of = over? 74.
p e r p e n d , 78.
of = u p o n , 85.
persever, 37.
of = w i t h ? 187.
p e r u s a l , 71.
of; superfluous? 74,136.
p e r u s e , 173.
of a doubt, 54.
pester, 34.
of m e m o r y , rights, 210.
petar, 145.
of w i s d o m = wise? 70.
Phcebus, 119.
offal, 100.
picked, 183.
offend endo, 177.
pickers, 126.
offence, 122, 132.
pigeon-livered, 100.
o l d ; m e a n i n g ? 165.
pioner, 65.
omen, 30.
pious b o n d s , 52.
on a roar, 185.
pious chanson, 92.
on brood, 110.
plausive, 54.
o n = i n consequence of? 210. P l a u t u s , 92.
once, 63.
played the desk, 79.
o p e n e d ; made k n o w n ? 74. plurisy, 172.
operant, 120.
ply his music, 90, 71.
opposites, 194,
point, 42, 43.

o

228

INDEX.

Polacks (or poleaxe ?) 26.
pole = pole-star? 25.
politic w o r m s , 150.
politician, 181.
poll, 164.
p o r p e n t i n e , 58, 59.
posset, 61.
posy, 119.
p o u n d ; p l u r a l ? 125.
practice, 170,173, 201, 207.
precedent, 140, 203.
p r e c u r s e , 30.
p r e g n a n t , 82, 114.
prenorainate, 69.
presence, 202.
p r e s e n t , 152.
presently, 81, 101, 113.
p r e s e n t m e n t , 137.
p r e s s u r e s , 62, 112.
prevent, 85.
pricked on, 27.
p r i m r o s e , 48.
p r i m y , 46.
p r i t h e e , 97.
p r o b a t i o n , 32.
process, 130, 152.
p r o d i g a l ; a d v e r b ? 51.
profanely, 112.
profound, 146.
p r o g r e s s , 150.
prologue, 192.
p r o n o u n c e , 126.
proof, 96, 136.
p r o p e r , 196.
p r o p e r t y , 99.
p r o p e r t y of easiness, 180.
p r o p h e t i c soul, 60.
p r o p o r t i o n s , 34.
proposer, 85.
protests, 122.
Provincial (roses), 124.
p r o v o k e , 73.
puffed, 48.
p u r g a t i o n , 125.
p u r g i n g , 82.
p u r p l e s (long), 175.
p u r p o r t ; accent? 71.
p u r s y , 142.
p u s h , 190.
p u t on, 210.
p u t s on, 102, 173.
P y r r h u s , 94.

Q.
quaintly, 68.
quality, 88, 89, 93.
q u a n t i t y , 113, 120, 139,189.
q u a r r y , 208.
quest, 178.
question, 29, 102.
question, top of the, 88.
questionable, 55.
q u i c k ; alive? 101,172,188,
189.
quiddits, 181.
q u i e t u s , 106.
quillets, 181.

quintessence, 86.
quit, 195, 204.
qui vive, 23.
quoted, 72.

I r o w , 92.
r u b , 105.
r u e , 163.

S.
R.

sables, 117, 170.
rack, 96.
safety; trisyl.? 47.
range, 129.
Saint Patrick, 64.
rank, 39, 153.
sallets, 94.
r a n k l y , 59.
sanctuarize, 173.
rascal, 99.
sans, 139.
rashly, 191.
sat me, 193.
ravel . . . out, 144.
satirical rogue, 82.
r a w e r , m o r e r a w e r , 198.
satyr, 39.
razed, 124.
saws, 62.
r e a c h ; m e n t a l ? 70.
sayst (thou s a y s t ) , 178.
reckon, 79.
'sblood, 90, 128.
recognizances, 182.
scapes, 45, 98.
recorders, 125.
scarf'd, 192.
r e c o r d s ; accent? 62.
scholar, 25.
recover the w i n d of, 127.
sconce, 182.
rede, 48.
scope, 122.
re-deliver, 200.
scrimers, 171.
reechy, 144.
scullion, 100.
regards, 77.
se offendendo, 177.
region, 96, 100.
sea-gown, 192.
relative, 101.
sea of troubles, 105.
relish of, 108.
season, 42, 50, 68, 121.
r e m e m b e r ; y o u r c o u r t e s y ? seasons, 121.
?
197.
secure, 60.
remiss, 173.
seeming-virtuous, 60.
remorse, 96.
seized = possessed? 28.
remove, 158.
semblable, 197.
repair, 202.
. Seneca, 92.
replication, 148.
sense, 138, 143, 188.
requiem, 187.
sensible, 26.
residence, 87.
sensibly, 161.
resolutes, 28.
sere (tickle o' t h e ) , 87.
resolve = dissolve? 39.
sergeant, 207.
respect, 105, 197.
service, 46.
rest = t a r r y i n g ? 74.
several, 192.
rests = r e m a i n s ? 132.
severally, 145.
retrograde, 38.
shall = will? 67, 126.
revenge, 58, 173.
shall (ellipsis of g o ? ) , 97,
revenue, 114.
110.
revolution, 181.
shapes our e n d s , 191.
r h a p s o d y , 137.
s h a r d s , 187.
Rhenish, 53.
share, 124.
r h e u m , 97.
s h a r k ' d u p , 28.
sheen,119.
richer (more r i c h e r ) , 125.
shent, 129.
rights of m e m o r y , 210.
ring (within t h e ) , 93.
shook, 168.
rites, 187.
shoon, 156.
rivals, 24.
should = would, 82,125.
roaming it, 51.
should^= was to? 169.
R o b i n ; ballad, 163.
shouldst = w o u l d s t ? 56.
R o m a n , 208.
s h r e w d l y , 52.
romage, 29.
shriving-time, 194.
rood, 135.
shuffling, 173.
Roscius, 91.
sick at heart, 23.
r o s e m a r y , 162.
siege, 170.
r o s e s ; Provincial? 124.
sigh, 172.
r o s e m a r y , 162.
silence, 135.
rough-hew, 191.
simple, 37.
round = " s q u a r e " ? 79, simples, 173.
,
single and peculiar, 130.
111, 135.
' sit we, 25.
rouse, 39, 69, 70..

229

INDEX.
sith, 73, 74,154, 156.
sits (the w i n d s i t s ) , 48.
sized, 120.
skirts, 28.
slander, 52.
sledded, 26.
slips, 68.
sliver, 175.
smirched, 160.
so please you, 111.
s o ; omitted before
that?
165, 174.
soft, 60.
softly, 153.
soldiers; trisyl.? 64.
solicited, 208.
solidity, 137.
something-settled, 110.
sometime, 33, 107.
sometimes, 26.
sort, 29.
soul ( d e a r ) , 114.
sounded, 102. '
sovereignty of reason, 57.
s p a r r o w (fall of a ) , 202.
speak daggers., 129.
speak fair, 147.
spendthrift sigh, 172.
s p h e r e , 167.
spies, 158.
spills, 156.
s p i r i t ; monosyl.? 32.
splenitive, 188, 189.
sponge, 148.
springes, 51, 206.
s p u r n s , 155.
stages ( c o m m o n ) , 88.
s t a n d ; challenge? 24.
stand . . . u p o n , 195.
star (moist s t a r ) , 30.
star = s p h e r e ? 79.
stars ( w a n d e r i n g ) , 188.
stars with t r a i n s of fire, 29.
station, 138.
statists, 193.
statutes, 182.
stay u p o n , 117.
steal, 116.
sterling, 51.
stick fiery off, 203.
still, 30, 38, 172.
stithy, 115.
stomach, 28, 29.
stops, 128.
s t o u p , 179, 204.
straight, 93,134, 177.
s t r e w m e n t s , 187.
strike (planets s t r i k e ) , 32.
s t r u c k e n , 124.
stuck, 174.
subject, 25, 34.
substance of a d o u b t , 54.
succession, 89.
sum of p a r t s , 170.
s u m m o n s , 31.
s u n (too m u c h i' t h e ) , 34.
supervise, 192.
suppliance, 46.

s u p p l y and profit, 74.
supposal, 33, 34.
suspiration, 36.
swaddling, 91.
s w e e t ; euphuistic? 196.
S w i t z e r s , 159.
swoons, 206.
swoopstake, 161.
sword (upon m y ) , 64.
' s w o u n d s , 100, 189.
synod, 96.

T.
table, tables, 62.
t a k c a r m s against a sea, 105.
take = a s s u m e ? 67.
takes (fairy t a k e s ) , 32.
t a r d y (come t a r d y off), 112.
t a r r e , 89.
tax = c e n s u r e ? 53.
tax h i m h o m e , 130.
T e l l u s ' , 119.
t e m p e r e d , 207.
t e m p l e = t h e b o d y ? 46.
tenable, 45.
tend, 50, 151.
tender, 51, 151.
t e n d e r s , 51.
t e n u r e s , 181.
T e r m a g a n t , 112.
t h a n k s ; singular? 23.
t h a t ; superfluous? 74,153,
174, 190.
that = a s ? 136.
t h a t = if? 174,201.
that = s u c h ? 41, 60.
t h a t = so t h a t ? 165, 174.
t h a t = t h o u g h ? 33, 174.
t h e ; F r e n c h use of? 27, 28,
35.
thee = t h o u ? 25, 108.
theft = thing stolen? 116.
t h e r e a b o u t , 94.
t h e r e ' s = t h e r e a r e ? 144,155.
t h e s e ; in superscription ?
78.
t h e w s , 46.
thieves of m e r c y , 165.
t h i n k s 't thee, 194.
those h i s ; legal and L a t i n ?
28.
t h o u ; familiar u s e ? 38,142,
183.
t h o u say'st, 178.
t h o u g h t , 106, 163.
thought-sick, 137.
thrift, 41, 114.
t h r o u g h l y , 161.
t h r o w i n g about of brains,
89.
tickle o' t h e sere, 87.
till, 38.
time (in h a p p y t i m e ) , 201.
ti me = the times ? 105.
tinct. 139.
tithe, 140.
t o ; omitted? 40.

to = a s ? 33.
t o = c o r a p a r e d w i t h ? 39, 60.
to-do, 89.
toil, 127.
toils; causative? 27.
t o o - m u c h ; n o u n ? 172.
too m u c h i' t h e sun, 34.
too m u c h proved, 104.
top (cried in t h e ) , 94.
top of m y bent, 128.
top of question, 88.
t o p p ' d , 171.
touched, 164.
t o w a r d , 27, 209.
toy, 46.
toys, 57.
trace, 198.
trade, 126.
trail, 174.
trick, 176, 181.
trick of fame, 156.
tricked, 95.
tristful, 137.
t r i u m p h , 53.
tropically, 122.
true-penny, 65.
t r u m p e t , 31.
t r u n c h e o n , 43.
t u r n T u r k , 124.
T u r k , 124.
t u s h ! 25.
twelve for nine, 199.
t w o d a y s old at sea, 165.
tyrannically, 88.

TJ.
u m b r a g e , 198.
u n a n e l ' d , 61.
u n b a t e d , 173, 207.
u n b r a c e d , 71.
u n c h a r g e , 170.
u n d e r g o , 54.
uneffectual, 62.
u n g a r t e r e d , 71.
ungored, 203.
ungracious, 48.
unhousel'd, 61.
unimproved, 28.
union, 204, 207.
u n k e n n e l , 115.
unlimited, 91, 92.
u n m a s t e r e d , 47.
u n p r e g n a n t , 99.
unprevailing, 38.
u n p r o p o r t i o n ' d , 48.
unreclaimed, 68.
u n s h a p e d , 156.
unsifted, 50.
unsinewed, 167.
u n s m i r c h e d , 160.
u n t i m e l y , 147.
unvalued, 47.
u n w r u n g , 123.
u n y o k e , 179.
upon, 23, 41.
upshot, 210.

230

INDEX.

u p s p r i n g , 53.
uses, 39.
u s u r p ' s t , 26.

V.
vailed, 36.
valanced, 93.
Valentine's day, 157.
validity, 121.
vantage, 131.
variable, 110, 150.
vast, 42.
ventages, 127.
g e r y , 170.
vice of kings, 140.
videlicet, 70.
violets, 44, 163, 187,
virtue, 162.
voice; sense? 35.
vouchers (double), 182.
vouchsafe y o u r rest, 74.
v o w s ; syllab.? 51.
vulgar, 49.

W.
wag, 136, 189.
walk in death, 31.
w a n d e r i n g stars, 188.
w a n n e d , 99.
w a n t o n , m a k e a wanton of,
206.
w a r r a n t ; monosyl. ? 45.

w a r r a n t i s e , 187.
w a s h (salt w a s h ) , 119.
wassail, 53.
watch = insomnia t 80.
water-fly, 196.
w e ; for I, royal style? 168.
weeds (midnight w e e d s ) ,
123.
weeds = g a r m e n t s ? 170.
week, 27.
well-took, 77.
well = welfare? 91.
wharf, 59.
w h a t = w h o ? 165, 179.
wheel, 162.
w h e t h e r ; monosyl.? 74,121.
w h i c h ; for w h o or t h a t ?
166.
which t i m e ; adverbial ? 175.
whiles, 48.
w h i p s , 146.
w h o ; personification? 38.
w h o ; for whom ? 82, 190.
wholesome, 126.
w i l l ; sense? 47, 155, 200.
willow, 175.
wind sits, 48.
windlasses, 70.
w i n k i n g , 79.
w i n n o w e d , 200, 201.
w i s d o m s , 33.
wit, 77.
witching, 128.
w i t h , 34, 43.
withal, 47, 82, 114, 174.

w i t h d r a w , 127.
w i t h e r s , 123.
witness, 42.
w o m a n = tears, 176.
w o n d e r - w o u n d e d , 188.
woodcock, 51, 206.
woo't, 189.
w o r m w o o d , 120.
w o r d = w a t c h w o r d ? 63,159.
worser, 142.
would = s h o u l d ? 133.
would = wishes to? 26.
wreck, 72.
w r e t c h , 81, 176.
w r i t ; for w r i t t e n ? 44.
w r i t (law of), 92.
writ = written mandate ?
194.

Y.
Y a u g h a n , 179.
y a w , 197.
y e a r ; plu. for sing.? 184.
y e o m a n ' s service, 193.
yesty collection, 200.
yield f i e l d ) , 157.
y o n d ; and yon ? 25.
Yorick, 185.
your, 108, 127.

z.
zone, 189.

GRUBE'S

METHOD

OF TEACHING ARITHMETIC EXPLAINED. W I T H A LARGE NUMBER
OF PRACTICAL H I N T S AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
B Y P R O F . F. L O U I S SOLDAN,
Principal

of the Normal

School,

St. Louis,

Mo.

Many teachers know of " Grube's M e t h o d " by the hearing of the ear.^ T h e y will be
thankful for the day which first gave them a clear^understanding of it. H e r e it is in full, by
one of the most eminent and successful teachers in the country. T h e first and only publication of the kind in this country. Price 30 cents.

OUTLINES OF' MAP-DRAWING,
WITH

DIAGRAMS

FOUNDED

ON

PARALLELS

AND

MERIDIANS.

BY F. E. BANGS,
PRINCIPAL OF WOOSTER SCHOOL, NEW HAVEN, CONN.

FROM T H E INTRODUCTION.
" T h e aim of the author has been to construct approximately accurate outline-maps by the
use of diagrams founded on parallels and meridians. These lines are common to all maps, and
the system here presented may be used in connection with any series of geographies.
" The simplicity and uniformity of the system are its merits. The rectangle, 5 by 4 inches,
is common to all the maps. The side lines on the sectional maps of the United States, and the
centre meridian on the maps of the continents, are divided into equal parts; and the length of
one degree, as measured on these lines, is taken as the unit of measurement. The relative
areas of the sections, or countries, may be found by comparing the squares, each square being
one square degree, or equal to the area of the State of Connecticut.
" In the sectional maps of the United Stales the side lines are divided into a given number
of equal parts. T h e slant of the meridian is determined by a convenient measurement. The
remainder of the top line, and the base line, are divided into the same number of equal parts as
the side line, giving the location of the parallels and meridians. These sectional maps, with
their diagrams, are readily combined to form the map of the United States.
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and polar circles. The parallels of North America, Europe, and Asia, are formed by circles
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other continents are formed by straight lines.
" The hemispheres are presented in outline, and are easily completed. These outlines enclose
certain prominent geographical features, which determine the position and direction of the remainder. The parallels and meridians are formed by circles with different centres.
" The list of topics is designed to accompany the drawing of the map, and to present in the
outline the prominent physical features of the section or country. The cities are grouped, by
states or countries, in order of size and with reference to their leading industries. The description of these countries and cities, as -indicated in the list of topics, may be found in the
text-book and gazetteer.
" This system is a product of the schoolroom, and has been taught successfully, both in the
primary and intermediate grades, proving itself fully within the ability of young pupils to comprehend and practice."

The maps are printed on tinted plates ruled to show comparative area;
the diagrams and directions are simple and definite; and the list of topics,
while a guide to the drawing, furnishes valuable suggestions and information. The work contains suggestions to teachers, a relief-map for each of
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C H I C A G O , ILL.

PRIMARY FRIDAYS. No. 1.
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REVISED

EDITION.

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SUPPLEMENTARY READING.
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2.

T H E S T O R Y W I T H O U T A N E N D . Translated from the German of F . W .
CAROVE, by J C. PICKARD. Suitable for Fourth-Reader Classes. 10 c e n t s .
LITTLE P E O P L E : THEIR DOINGS A N D MISDOINGS.
By K A T E L .
BROWN. Suitable for Second-Reader Classes. 10 c e n t s .

GAMES.
BY ALICE M. GUERNSEY.
1.
2.
3.

Q U O T A T I O N S . Designed for the Shakspeare D a y of the C. L. S. C. 25 c e n t s .
E L E M E N T S A N D C O M P O U N D S . A Chemical Game. For School and H o m e
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P H Y S I O L O G Y A N D H Y G I E N E . In
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INE THOUSAND WAYS
OF ONE THOUSAND TEACHERS.
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teachers of the country have contributed to its pages. It
is a book for every teacher who wishes to know

of all work done in the schoolroom. It covers the entire
field, as may be seen by the table of
CONTENTS.
Chapter 1—Opening and Closing of School; Chapter 2—Reading;
Chapter 3—Arithmetic; Chapter 4—Writing; Chapter 5—Spelling; Chapter 6^Grammar; Chapter 7—Geography; Chapter
8—History; Chapter 9—Discipline and School Management;
Chapter 10—Absence and Tardiness; Chapter 11—Sayings of Experienced Educators. Chapter 12—Forms.
TESTIMONIALS.
Many teachers are inquiring " What shall I do with this case, and
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find an answer,—NORMAL TEACHER.
As each extract is short, often only two or three lines and very seldom so much as a page, no elaborate methods are given, but a great
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JONES.
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Y. SCHOOL BULLETIN .
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it is one of the best.—PROF. G. DALLAS LIND.
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—Oltf T H E —

THEORY AND PRACTISE OP TEAGHIEG.
•"TOBY

DUANE

DOTY.nj^-

Prepared for the Teachers of the Public Schools of Chicago.
Contains
Rules on the Duties of Teachers to Pupils', on their Duties to
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on Duties to School Property, to the School Authorities, to the School, to
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numerous hints strike t h e eye with their full force without the consumption
of a n y appreciable time. T h e discretion a n d labor manifest in t h e work,
leave very little room for criticism."—W. C. S A W Y E R , Professor in Normal
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LATIN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
AN AFFIRMATIVE ARGUMENT.
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A RHYME OF THE DISTRICT SCHOOL.
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Masterpieces in English Literature.
"YOU CANIOT BEAD EVERY THING: READ, THEN, THE BEST."

By HOMER B. SPRAGUE, A.M., Ph.D.,
President of Mills College ; late Head Master of the Girls' High School, Boston ; formerly
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This work presents some of those productions of genius which are the glory of our
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PROGRESS, yields studies in syntactical analysis and comparative philology.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
lu.

Among the prominent features of this work may be named the following •
It contains acknowledged Masterpieces only.
It exhibits the author himself, rather than fine talk about him.
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It contains, at the close of successive extracts, comprehensive summaries.
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also,
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The work contains 445 pages, on fine paper, bound in extra cloth. Price $2.00.

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SCHOOL SONGS.
IN FOUR GRADES, 32 PAGES EACH.
Primary:

for Primary Grades only.

in Two Parts.
Parts.
Six

Intermediate:

Grammar-School:

Music written mostly

Music written mostly in Three

High School: Music written in Four Parts.

BOOKS

A R E N O W READY.
BY

PROFESSOR H. W.

OTHERS

WILL

FOLLOW.

FAIRBANK.

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They are just what we need.
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•
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FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS.

MANUAL OF QUESTIONS ON THE FRENCH
GRAMMAR.
Intended for Reviews, Examinations, and the Analysis of Selections in
Readers.

Prepared to meet the requirements for admission to the

University of Michigan, and other Colleges and Universities.
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Paper-cover edition, 35 cents.

MILTON'S MASK OF COMUS.
Edited, with copious Explanatory Notes, and with Exercises in Synonymes, for the use of
classes in Reading, Analysis, and Parsing.
Reprinted from Sprague's "Masterpieces in
English Literature." By H O M E R B . SPRAGUE, A.M., P h . D . , President of Mills College.
Bound in manila covers.

Mailing price, 25 cents.

Liberal discount for class supply.

S. R. WINCHELL & CO.,
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS

. . . .

CHICAGO, ILL.