Edition: HamletHamlet, Q2 Modern
1.1
Enter Barnardo and Francisco, two sentinels.1.1.Sp11Barnardo
Enter Horatio and Marcellus.
Exit Francisco.
Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
1.1.Sp24Marcellus
Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy,
And will not let belief take hold of him,
Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us.
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.
1.1.Sp26Barnardo
Sit down awhile,
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
What we have two nights seen.
1.1.Sp28Barnardo
Enter Ghost.
Last night of all,
When yond same star that’s westward from the pole
Had made his course t’illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one—
1.1.Sp36Horatio
Exit Ghost.
What 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!
1.1.Sp41Barnardo
How now, Horatio, you tremble and look pale.
Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you on’t?
1.1.Sp42Horatio
Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.
1.1.Sp44Horatio
As thou art to thyself.
Such was the very armor he had on
When he the ambitious Norway combated.
So frowned he once, when in an angry parle
He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.
’Tis strange.
1.1.Sp45Marcellus
Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
1.1.Sp46Horatio
In what particular thought to work I know not,
But in the gross and scope of mine opinion
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
1.1.Sp47Marcellus
Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land,
And with such daily cost of brazen cannon
And foreign mart for implements of war,
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week:
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint-laborer with the day?
Who is’t that can inform me?
1.1.Sp48Horatio
That can I.
At least the whisper goes so: our last King,
Whose image even but now appeared to us,
Was as you know by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride,
Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet—
For so this side of our known world esteemed him—
Did slay this Fortinbras, who by a sealed compact
Well ratified by law and heraldry
Did forfeit, with his life, all these his lands
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror;
Against the which a moiety competent
Was gagèd by our King, which had return
To the inheritance of Fortinbras
Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same comart
And carriage of the article design
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimprovèd mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there
Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes
For food and diet to some enterprise
That hath a stomach in’t, which is no other,
As it doth well appear unto our state,
But to recover of us by strong hand
And terms compulsatory 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 rummage in the land.
1.1.Sp49Barnardo
I think it be no other but e’en so.
Well may it sort that this portentous figure
Comes armèd through our watch so like the King
That was and is the question of these wars.
1.1.Sp50Horatio
Exit Ghost.
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,
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands,
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.
And even the like precurse of feared 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.
(Enter Ghost.)
But soft, behold, lo, where it comes again!
I’ll cross it though it blast me.—Stay, illusion!
It spreads his arms.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 me!
If thou art privy to thy country’s fate,
Which happily foreknowing may avoid,
Oh, speak!
Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, your spirits oft walk in death,
Speak of it. Stay and speak!
(The cock crows.)
Stop it, Marcellus!
1.1.Sp55Marcellus
’Tis gone.
We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the show of violence,
For it is as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery.
1.1.Sp57Horatio
And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
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,
Th’extravagant and erring spirit hies
To his confine; and of the truth herein
This present object made probation.
1.1.Sp58Marcellus
It faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes
Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long,
And then they say no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is that time.
1.1.Sp59Horatio
So have I heard and do in part believe it.
But look, the morn in russet mantle clad
Walks o’er the dew of yon high eastward hill.
Break we our watch up, and by my advice
Let us impart what we have seen tonight
Unto young Hamlet, for, upon my life,
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?
1.1.Sp60Marcellus
Exeunt.
Let’s do ’t, I pray, and I this morning know
Where we shall find him most convenient.
1.2
Flourish. Enter Claudius, King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, Council—as Polonius and his son Laertes, Hamlet, with others including Voltemand and Cornelius.1.2.Sp1King
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death
The 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
That we with wisest sorrow think on him
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
Th’imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have we as ’twere with a defeated joy,
With an auspicious and a 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 barred
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
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
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Co-leaguèd with this dream of his advantage,
He hath not failed to pester us with message
Importing the surrender of those lands
Lost by his father, with all bands 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, to 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, Voltemand,
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 delated articles allow.
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.
1.2.Sp3King
We doubt it nothing. Heartily farewell.
Exeunt Voltemand 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,
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?
1.2.Sp4Laertes
My dread lord,
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
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
1.2.Sp6Polonius
H’ath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
By laborsome petition, and at last
Upon his will I sealed my hard consent.
I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
1.2.Sp7King
Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will.
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—
1.2.Sp11Queen
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not forever with thy vailèd lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
Thou know’st ’tis common: all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
1.2.Sp14Hamlet
"Seems," madam? Nay, it is, I know not "seems."
’Tis not alone my inky cloak, cold mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected havior of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief
That can denote me truly. These indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play.
But I have that within which passes show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
1.2.Sp15King
’Tis 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
In filial obligation for some term
To do obsequious sorrow; but to persever
In obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness. ’Tis unmanly grief.
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, or mind impatient,
An understanding simple and unschooled;
For what we know must be and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we in our peevish opposition
Take it to heart? Fie, ’tis 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 today
"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 most immediate 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,
It 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.
1.2.Sp16Queen
Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet.
I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
1.2.Sp18King
Flourish. Exeunt all but Hamlet.
Why, ’tis a loving and a fair reply.
Be as ourself in Denmark.—Madam, come.
This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof
No jocund health that Denmark drinks today
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
And the King’s rouse the heaven shall bruit again,
Respeaking earthly thunder. Come, away!
1.2.Sp19Hamlet
Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo.
Oh, that this too too sallied flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! Oh, God, God,
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on’t, ah, fie! ’Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come thus!
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
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth,
Must I remember? Why, she should hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on. And yet within a month—
Let me not think on’t; frailty, thy name is woman!
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father’s body,
Like Niobe, all tears, why, she—
Oh, God, a beast that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourned longer!—married with my uncle,
My father’s brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules. Within a month,
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes,
She married. Oh, 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.
1.2.Sp23Hamlet
Sir, my good friend, I’ll change that name with you.
And what make you from Wittenberg,
Horatio?—
Marcellus.
1.2.Sp25Hamlet
I am very glad to see you.
To Barnardo.
Good even, sir.
To Horatio
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
1.2.Sp27Hamlet
I would not hear your enemy say so,
Nor shall you do my ear that violence
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself. I know you are no truant.
But what is your affair in Elsinore?
We’ll teach you for to drink ere you depart.
1.2.Sp31Hamlet
Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
My father—methinks I see my father.
1.2.Sp40Horatio
Season your admiration for a while
With an attent ear till I may deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.
1.2.Sp42Horatio
Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Barnardo, on their watch
In the dead waste and middle of the night
Been thus encountered: a figure like your father
Armed at point, exactly, cap-à-pie,
Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately by them. Thrice he walked
By their oppressed and fear-surprisèd eyes
Within his truncheon’s length, whilst they, distilled
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
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 delivered, both in time,
Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
The apparition comes. I knew your father.
These hands are not more like.
1.2.Sp46Horatio
My lord, I did,
But answer made it none. Yet once methought
It 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 vanished from our sight.
1.2.Sp48Horatio
As I do live, my honored lord, ’tis true,
And we did think it writ down in our duty
To let you know of it.
1.2.Sp73Hamlet
Exeunt all but 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 concealed this sight
Let it be tenable in your silence still,
And whatsomever else shall hap tonight,
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.
1.2.Sp75Hamlet
Exit.
Your loves, as mine to you. Farewell.
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. Fond deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.
1.3
Enter Laertes, and Ophelia his sister.1.3.Sp1Laertes
My necessaries are inbarked. Farewell.
And sister, as the winds give benefit
And convey is assistant, do not sleep
But let me hear from you.
1.3.Sp3Laertes
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.
1.3.Sp5Laertes
Think it no more.
For nature crescent does not grow alone
In thews and bulks, 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
The virtue of his will; but you must fear,
His greatness weighed, his will is not his own.
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 circumscribed
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
It 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 unmastered 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.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon.
Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes.
The canker galls the infants of the spring
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed,
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.
1.3.Sp6Ophelia
Enter Polonius.
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, a puffed and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.
1.3.Sp7Laertes
Oh, fear me not.
I stay too long. But here my father comes.
A double blessing is a double grace;
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
1.3.Sp8Polonius
Exit Laertes.
Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stayed for. There, my blessing with thee,
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged courage. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in,
Bear’t that th’opposèd 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 expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous, chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender, boy,
For love oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulleth edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell. My blessing season this in thee!
1.3.Sp16Polonius
Marry, well bethought.
’Tis told me he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you, and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous.
If it be so—as so ’tis put on me,
And that in way of caution—I must tell you
You do not understand yourself so clearly
As it behooves my daughter and your honor.
What is between you? Give me up the truth.
1.3.Sp18Polonius
Affection? Pooh, you speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his "tenders," as you call them?
1.3.Sp20Polonius
Marry, I will teach you. Think yourself a baby
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
Wronging it thus—you’ll tender me a fool.
1.3.Sp23Ophelia
And hath given countenance to his speech,
My lord, with almost all the holy vows of heaven.
1.3.Sp24Polonius
Exeunt.
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
Be something scanter of your maiden presence.
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parle. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him that he is young,
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you. 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 all:
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.
1.4
Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.1.4.Sp6Horatio
Indeed? I heard it not. It then draws near the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
(A flourish of trumpets, and two pieces goes off.)
What does this mean, my lord?
1.4.Sp7Hamlet
The King doth wake tonight and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail, and the swagg’ring upspring reels;
And as he drains his drafts of Rhenish down
The kettledrum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
1.4.Sp9Hamlet
Enter Ghost.
Ay, marry, is’t,
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honored in the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel east and west
Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations.
They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition, and indeed it takes
From our achievements, though performed at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
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’erleavens
The form of plausive manners, that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect
(Being Nature’s livery, or Fortune’s star),
His virtues else, be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of eale
Doth all the noble substance often dout
To his own scandal.
1.4.Sp11Hamlet
The Ghost beckons Hamlet.
Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou com’st in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee. I’ll call thee Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane. Oh, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsèd in death,
Have burst their cerements? Why the sepulcher
Wherein we saw thee quietly interred
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws
To cast thee up again? What may this mean
That thou, dead corse, again in compleat steel
Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous, and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?
1.4.Sp13Marcellus
Look with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removèd ground.
But do not go with it.
1.4.Sp17Hamlet
Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life at a pin’s fee,
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
The Ghost beckons Hamlet.
It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it.
1.4.Sp18Horatio
The Ghost beckons Hamlet.
They attempt to restrain him.
What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o’er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? Think of it:
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.
1.4.Sp23Hamlet
Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet.
Exeunt.
My fate cries out
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve.
The Ghost beckons Hamlet.
Still am I called. Unhand me, gentlemen!
By heav’n, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me.
I say, away!—Go on, I’ll follow thee.
1.5
Enter Ghost and Hamlet.1.5.Sp10Ghost
I am thy father’s spirit,
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my 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 combinèd locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end
Like quills upon the fearful porpentine.
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, oh, list:
If thou didst ever thy dear father love—
1.5.Sp15Hamlet
Haste me to know’t, that I with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love
May sweep to my revenge.
1.5.Sp16Ghost
I find thee apt,
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, hear:
’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forgèd process of my death
Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father’s life
Now wears his crown.
1.5.Sp18Ghost
Exit.
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wits, with traitorous gifts—
Oh, wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming virtuous queen.
Oh, Hamlet, what falling off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I 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 moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So but though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sort 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 of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour, thy uncle stole
With juice of cursèd hebona in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The lep’rous distillment, whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigor it doth possess
And curd like eager droppings into milk
The thin and wholesome blood; so did it mine,
And a most instant tetter barked about
Most lazarlike 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 dispatched,
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousled, disappointed, unaneled,
No reck’ning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.
Oh, horrible, oh, horrible, most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not.
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damnèd incest.
But howsomever thou pursues this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven
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.
Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me.
1.5.Sp19Hamlet
Enter Horatio and Marcellus
O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?
And shall I couple hell? Oh, fie! Hold, hold, my heart,
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me swiftly up. Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter. Yes, by heaven.
Oh, most pernicious woman!
Oh, villain, villain, smiling damnèd villain!
My tables—meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word.
It is "Adieu, adieu, remember me."
I have sworn’t.
1.5.Sp37Hamlet
Why, right, you are in the right.
And so, without more circumstance at all
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:
You as your business and desire shall point you
(For every man hath business and desire,
Such as it is), and for my own poor part
I will go pray.
1.5.Sp41Hamlet
He holds out his sword.
Ghost cries under the stage.
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offense 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 it as you may. And now, good friends,
As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
Give me one poor request.
1.5.Sp52Hamlet
They swear.
Ha, ha, boy, say’st thou so? Art thou there, truepenny?—
Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage.
Consent to swear.
1.5.Sp56Hamlet
They swear.
Hic et ubique? Then we’ll shift our ground.
He moves them to another spot.
Come hither, gentlemen,
And lay your hands again upon my sword.
Swear by my sword
Never to speak of this that you have heard.
1.5.Sp58Hamlet
They move once more.
Well said, old mole. Canst work i’th’ earth so fast?
A worthy pioneer!—Once more remove, good friends.
1.5.Sp60Hamlet
They swear.
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
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 some’er I bear myself
(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on),
That you at such times seeing me never shall,
With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase
As, "Well, well, we know," or "We could an if we would,"
Or "If we list to speak," or "There be, an if they might,"
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me. This do swear,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you.
1.5.Sp62Hamlet
Exeunt.
Rest, rest, perturbèd spirit.—So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you,
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do t’express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together,
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint. Oh, cursèd spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
They wait for him to leave first.
Nay, come, let’s go together.
2.1
Enter old Polonius, with his man Reynaldo or two. He gives money and papers.2.1.Sp3Polonius
You shall do marv’lous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before you visit him, to make inquire
Of his behavior.
2.1.Sp5Polonius
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
That they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch it;
Take you, as ’twere, some distant knowledge of him,
As thus: "I know his father, and his friends,
And in part him." Do you mark this, Reynaldo?
2.1.Sp7Polonius
"And in part him. But," 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
As may dishonor him, take heed of that,
But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.
2.1.Sp11Polonius
Faith, as you may season it in the charge.
You must not put another scandal on him
That he is open to incontinency;
That’s not my meaning. But breathe his faults so quaintly
That they may seem the taints of liberty,
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,
A savageness in unreclaimèd blood,
Of general assault.
2.1.Sp15Polonius
Marry sir, here’s my drift,
And I believe it is a fetch of wit.
You laying these slight sallies on my son
As ’twere a thing a little soiled with working,
Mark you, your party in converse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assured
He closes with you in this consequence:
"Good sir" (or so), or "friend," or "gentleman,"
According to the phrase, or the addition
Of man and country.
2.1.Sp17Polonius
And then, sir, does ’a this, ’a does—what was I about to say?
By the mass, I was about to say something.
Where did I leave?
2.1.Sp19Polonius
Exit Reynaldo.
Enter Ophelia.
At "closes in the consequence." Ay, marry,
He closes thus: "I know the gentleman,
I saw him yesterday"—or th’other day,
Or then, or then—"with such or such, and as you say,
There was ’a gaming there, or took in’s rouse,
There falling out at tennis," or perchance
"I saw him enter such a house of sale,"
Videlicet, a brothel, or so forth. See you now,
Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth,
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlasses and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out;
So by my former lecture and advice
Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?
2.1.Sp30Ophelia
My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced,
No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled,
Ungartered, and down-gyvèd to his ankle,
Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosèd out of hell
To speak of horrors, he comes before me.
2.1.Sp34Ophelia
He took me by the wrist, and held me hard.
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
As ’a would draw it. Long stayed he so.
At last, a little shaking of mine arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being. That done, he lets me go,
And with his head over his shoulder turned
He seemed to find his way without his eyes,
For out o’ doors he went without their helps,
And to the last bended their light on me.
2.1.Sp35Polonius
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 passions under heaven
That does afflict our natures. I am sorry.
What, have you given him any hard words of late?
2.1.Sp36Ophelia
No, my good lord, but as you did command
I did repel his letters, and denied
His access to me.
2.1.Sp37Polonius
Exeunt.
That hath made him mad.
I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I had not coted him. I feared he did but trifle
And meant to wrack thee; but beshrew my jealousy!
By heaven, it is as proper to our age
To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
As it is common for the younger sort
To 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.
Come.
2.2
Flourish. Enter King and Queen, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and other Courtiers.2.2.Sp1King
Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Moreover that we much did long to see you,
The need we have to use you did provoke
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet’s transformation—so call it,
Sith nor th’exterior nor the inward man
Resembles that it was. What it should be,
More than his father’s death, that thus hath put him
So much from th’understanding of himself,
I cannot dream of. I entreat you both
That, being of so young days brought up with him,
And sith so neighbored to his youth and havior,
That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
Some little time, so by your companies
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather
So much as from occasion you may glean,
Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus
That, opened, lies within our remedy.
2.2.Sp2Queen
Good gentlemen, he hath much talked of you,
And sure I am two men there is not living
To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
To show us so much gentry and good will
As to expend your time with us awhile
For the supply and profit of our hope,
Your visitation shall receive such thanks
As fits a king’s remembrance.
2.2.Sp3Rosencrantz
Both your majesties
Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,
Put your dread pleasures more into command
Than to entreaty.
2.2.Sp4Guildenstern
But we both obey,
And here give up ourselves in the full bent
To lay our service freely at your feet
To be commanded.
2.2.Sp6Queen
Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and other Courtiers.
Enter Polonius.
Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rosencrantz.
And I beseech you instantly to visit
My too-much-changèd son.—Go, some of you,
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
2.2.Sp11Polonius
Have I, my lord? I assure my good liege,
I hold my duty as I hold my soul,
Both to my God and to my gracious king;
And I do think—or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure
As it hath used to do—that I have found
The very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy.
2.2.Sp13Polonius
Give first admittance to th’ambassadors.
My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.
2.2.Sp14King
Enter Ambassadors Voltemand and Cornelius, ushered in by Polonius.
Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.
Polonius goes to bring in the ambassadors.
He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found
The head and source of all your son’s distemper.
2.2.Sp16King
Well, we shall sift him.—Welcome, my good friends.
Say, Voltemand, what from our brother Norway?
2.2.Sp17Voltemand
Most fair return of greetings and desires.
Upon our first, he sent out to suppress
His nephew’s levies, which to him appeared
To be a preparation ’gainst the Polack,
But, better looked into, he truly found
It was against your highness; whereat grieved
That so his sickness, age, and impotence
Was falsely 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
To give th’assay of arms against your majesty.
Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
Gives him threescore thousand crowns in annual fee
And his commission to employ those soldiers
So levied (as before) against the Polack,
With an entreaty herein further shown
Giving a letter to the King
That it might please you to give quiet pass
Through your dominions for this enterprise
On such regards of safety and allowance
As therein are set down.
2.2.Sp18King
Exeunt Ambassadors.
It likes us well,
And at our more considered time we’ll read,
Answer, and think upon this business.
Meantime, we thank you for your well-took labor.
Go to your rest. At night we’ll feast together.
Most welcome home!
2.2.Sp19Polonius
This business is well ended.
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, brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief. Your noble son is mad.
Mad call I it, for to define true madness,
What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that go.
2.2.Sp21Polonius
Madam, I swear I use no art at all.
That he’s mad, ’tis true. ’Tis true ’tis pity,
And pity ’tis ’tis true—a foolish figure,
But farewell it, for I will use no art.
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.
I have a daughter—have while she is mine—
Who in her duty and obedience, mark,
Hath given me this. Now gather and surmise.
He reads from the letter.
“To the celestial and my soul’s idol, the most
beautified Ophelia.” That’s an ill phrase, a vile phrase;
“beautified” is a vile phrase. But you shall hear. Thus: “In
her excellent white bosom, these, etc.”
2.2.Sp23Polonius
Good madam, stay awhile, I will be faithful.
(
He reads the letter.)
“Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.”
“O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers. I have not art to reckon
my groans. But that I love thee best, oh, most best, believe it. Adieu.
Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him. Hamlet.”
This in obedience hath my daughter shown me,
And more about hath his solicitings,
As they fell out, by time, by means, and place,
All given to mine ear.
2.2.Sp27Polonius
I would fain prove so. But what might you think,
When I had seen this hot love on the wing—
As I perceived it (I must tell you that)
Before my daughter told me—what might you,
Or my dear majesty your queen here, think
If I had played the desk or table-book,
Or given my heart a working, mute and dumb,
Or looked upon this love with idle sight,
What might you think? No, I went round to work,
And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:
"Lord Hamlet is a prince out of thy star.
This must not be." And then I prescripts gave her
That she should lock herself from her resort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.
Which done, she took the fruits of my advice,
And he, repellèd, a short tale to make,
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
Thence to lightness, and by this declension
Into the madness wherein now he raves,
And all we mourn for.
2.2.Sp30Polonius
Hath there been such a time—I would fain know that—
That I have positively said ’Tis so"
When it proved otherwise?
2.2.Sp32Polonius
Take this from this, if this be otherwise.
If circumstances lead me, I will find
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the center.
2.2.Sp36Polonius
Enter Hamlet.
At such a time, I’ll loose my daughter to him.
Be you and I behind an arras then;
Mark the encounter. If he love her not,
And be not from his reason fall’n thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state
But keep a farm and carters.
2.2.Sp39Polonius
Away, I do beseech you both away.
(Exit King and Queen.)
I’ll board him presently. Oh, give me leave.—
How does my good Lord Hamlet?
2.2.Sp46Hamlet
Ay, sir, to be honest, as this world goes,
is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.
2.2.Sp48Hamlet
For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion—Have you
a daughter?
2.2.Sp50Hamlet
Let her not walk i’th’sun. Conception is a blessing,
but as your daughter may conceive, friend, look to’t.
2.2.Sp51Polonius
Aside
How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter. Yet he
knew me not at first. ’A said I was a fishmonger. ’A is far gone,
and truly, in my youth I suffered much extremity for love, very
near this. I’ll speak to him again.—What do you read, my
lord?
2.2.Sp56Hamlet
Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old
men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes
purging thick amber and plumtree 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 down; for yourself, sir, shall grow old
as I am, if, like a crab, you could go backward.
2.2.Sp57Polonius
Aside
Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.—Will you
walk out of the air, my lord?
2.2.Sp59Polonius
Aside
Indeed, that’s out of the air. How pregnant sometimes
his replies are! A happiness that often madness hits on, which reason
and sanctity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I will leave
him and my daughter.—My lord, I will take my leave of you.
2.2.Sp60Hamlet
Enter Guildenstern and Rosencrantz.
Exit Polonius.
You cannot take from me anything that I will not more
willingly part withal—except my life, except my life, except my
life.
2.2.Sp67Hamlet
My excellent good friends! How dost thou, Guildenstern?
Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do you both?
2.2.Sp69Guildenstern
Happy in that we are not ever happy. On Fortune’s lap
we are not the very button.
2.2.Sp76Hamlet
Then is doomsday near. But your news is not true.
But, in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?
2.2.Sp78Hamlet
Beggar that I am, I am ever poor in thanks, but I thank
you; and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear a halfpenny.
Were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free
visitation? Come, come, deal justly with me. Come, come, nay, speak.
2.2.Sp80Hamlet
Anything but to th’ 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.
2.2.Sp82Hamlet
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 can charge you withal, be even and direct with
me whether you were sent for or no.
2.2.Sp86Hamlet
I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your
discovery, and your secrecy to the King and Queen molt no
feather. I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth,
forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with
my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a
sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy the air, look
you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof
fretted with golden fire, why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul
and pestilent congregation of vapors. What piece of work is a
man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and
moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an
angel in apprehension, how like a god; the beauty of the world; the
paragon of animals. And yet to me what is this quintessence of
dust? Man delights not me, nor women neither, though by your
smiling you seem to say so.
2.2.Sp89Rosencrantz
To think, my lord, if you delight not in man, what lenten
entertainment the players shall receive from you. We coted them
on the way, and hither are they coming to offer you service.
2.2.Sp90Hamlet
He that plays the King shall be welcome; his majesty shall
have tribute on me. The Adventurous Knight shall use his foil and
target, the Lover shall not sigh gratis, the Humorous Man shall end
his part in peace, and the Lady shall say her mind freely, or the
blank verse shall halt for’t. What players are they?
2.2.Sp92Hamlet
How chances it they travel? Their residence both in
reputation and profit was better both ways.
2.2.Sp94Hamlet
Do they hold the same estimation they did when I was in
the city? Are they so followed?
2.2.Sp96Hamlet
A flourish.
It is not very strange, for my uncle is King of Denmark, and
those that would make mouths at him while my father lived give
twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece for his picture
in little. ’Sblood, there is something in this more than natural, if
philosophy could find it out.
2.2.Sp98Hamlet
Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands, come,
then. Th’appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony. Let
me comply with you in this garb, lest my extent to the players,
which, I tell you, must show fairly outwards, should more
appear like entertainment than yours. You are welcome. But my
uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived.
2.2.Sp100Hamlet
Enter Polonius.
I am but mad north-north-west; when the wind is
southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw.
2.2.Sp102Hamlet
Hark you, Guildenstern, and you too, at each ear a hearer:
that great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling clouts.
2.2.Sp103Rosencrantz
Happily he is the second time come to them, for they say an
old man is twice a child.
2.2.Sp104Hamlet
I will prophesy he comes to tell me of the players. Mark it.—
You say right, sir, o’Monday morning, ’twas then indeed.
2.2.Sp111Polonius
The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy,
history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, scene
individable, or poem unlimited. Seneca cannot be too heavy nor
Plautus too light for the law of writ and the liberty: these are the
only men.
One fair daughter and no more, The which he lovèd passing well.
2.2.Sp120Hamlet
Enter the Players.
Why,
“
As by lot,
God wot,”
and then you know,
“
It came to
pass,
As most like it was.”
The first row of the pious chanson will
show you more, for look where my abridgment comes.
2.2.Sp121Hamlet
You are welcome, masters, welcome all.—I am glad to see thee
well. Welcome, good friends.—Oh, old friend, why, thy face is
valanced since I saw thee last. Com’st thou to beard me in Denmark?—
What, my young lady and mistress! By 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.—Masters, you are all welcome.
We’ll e’en to’t, like French falconers: fly at anything we see.
We’ll have a speech straight. Come, give us a taste of your quality.
Come, a passionate speech.
2.2.Sp123Hamlet
I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was never acted,
or if it was, not above once; for the play, I remember, pleased not
the million, ’twas caviary 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 affection, but called it an honest method, as wholesome
as sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine. One speech in’t I chiefly loved:
’twas Aeneas’ talk to Dido, and thereabout of it especially when he
speaks of Priam’s slaughter. If it live in your memory, begin at
this line—let me see, let me see—
The rugged Pyrrhus, like th’Hyrcanian beast—
’Tis not so, it begins with Pyrrhus.
The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,
Black as his purpose, did the night resemble
When he lay couchèd in th’ominous horse,
Hath now this dread and black complexion smeared
With heraldry more dismal head to foot;
Now is he total gules, horridly tricked
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
Baked and empasted with the parching streets
That lend a tyrannous and a damnèd light
To their lord’s murder. Roasted in wrath and fire,
And thus o’ersizèd with coagulate gore,
With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus
Old grandsire Priam seeks.
So proceed you.
2.2.Sp125Player
Anon he finds him,
Striking too short at Greeks. His anticke sword,
Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
Repugnant to command. Unequal matched,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide,
But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword
Th’unnervèd 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 reverent Priam, seemed i’th’ air to stick.
So as a painted tyrant Pyrrhus stood,
Like a neutral to his will and matter,
Did nothing.
But as we often see against some storm
A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,
The bold winds speechless, and the orb below
As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
Doth rend the region, so, after Pyrrhus’ pause,
A rousèd vengeance sets him new a-work,
And never did the Cyclops’ hammers fall
On Mars’s armor forged 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!
2.2.Sp127Hamlet
It shall to the barber’s with your beard.—Prithee, say on. He’s
for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps. Say on. Come to Hecuba.
2.2.Sp131Player
Run barefoot up and down, threat’ning the flames
With bisson rheum, a clout upon that head
Where late the diadem stood, and, for a robe,
About her lank and all-o’erteemèd loins
A blanket in the alarm of fear caught up—
Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steeped
’Gainst Fortune’s state would treason have pronounced;
But if the gods themselves did see her then,
When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
In mincing with his sword her husband limbs,
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.
2.2.Sp133Hamlet
’Tis well. I’ll have thee speak out the rest of this soon.
To Polonius
Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you
hear, let them be well used, for they are the abstract and brief
chronicles of the time. After your death you were better have a
bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.
2.2.Sp135Hamlet
God’s bodkin, man, much better. Use every man after his
desert and who shall scape whipping? Use them after your own honor
and dignity; the less they deserve, the more merit is in your
bounty. Take them in.
2.2.Sp137Hamlet
Follow him, friends. We’ll hear a play tomorrow.
Aside to the First Player
Dost thou
hear me, old friend, can you play "The Murder of Gonzago"?
2.2.Sp139Hamlet
We’ll ha’t tomorrow night. You could for need study
a speech of some dozen lines or sixteen lines, which I would set
down and insert in’t, could you not?
2.2.Sp141Hamlet
Exeunt Polonius and Players.
Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Very well. Follow that lord, and look you mock him not.
—My good friends, I’ll leave you till night. You are welcome to
Elsinore.
2.2.Sp143Hamlet
Exit.
Ay, so, God buy to you.—Now I am alone.
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all the visage wanned,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit, and all for nothing,
For Hecuba.
What’s Hecuba to him, or he to her,
That he should weep for her? What would he do
Had he the motive and that for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty, and 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
A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? Breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? Gives me the lie i’th’ throat
As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this,
Ha? ’Swounds, I should take it; for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-livered, and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should ha’ fatted all the region kites
With this slave’s offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear murderèd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must like a whore unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing like a very drab, a stallion. Fie upon’t, foh!
About, my brains! Hum, I have heard
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaimed their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I’ll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle. I’ll observe his looks;
I’ll tent him to the quick. If ’a do blench
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be a de’il, and the de’il hath power
T’assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps,
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds
More relative than this. The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.
3.1
Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Lords.3.1.Sp1King
And can you by no drift of conference
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?
3.1.Sp2Rosencrantz
He does confess he feels himself distracted,
But from what cause, ’a will by no means speak.
3.1.Sp3Guildenstern
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.
3.1.Sp9Rosencrantz
Madam, it so fell out that certain players
We o’erraught on the way. Of these we told him,
And there did seem in him a kind of joy
To hear of it. They are here about the court,
And, as I think, they have already order
This night to play before him.
3.1.Sp10Polonius
’Tis most true,
And he beseeched me to entreat your majesties
To hear and see the matter.
3.1.Sp11King
Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Lords.
With all my heart,and it doth much content me
To hear him so inclined.
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge,
And drive his purpose into these delights.
3.1.Sp13King
Sweet Gertrard, leave us two,
For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither,
That he, as ’twere by accident, may here
Affront Ophelia. Her father and myself,
We’ll so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen,
We may of their encounter frankly judge,
And gather by him, as he is behaved,
If’t be th’affliction of his love or no
That thus he suffers for.
3.1.Sp14Queen
Exit Queen.
I shall obey you.
And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish
That your good beauties be the happy cause
Of Hamlet’s wildness. So shall I hope your virtues
Will bring him to his wonted way again,
To both your honors.
3.1.Sp16Polonius
Ophelia, walk you here.—Gracious, so please you,
We will bestow ourselves.
To Ophelia, as he gives her a book
Read on this book,
That show of such an exercise may color
Your lowliness. We are oft too blame in this,
’Tis too much proved, that with devotion’s visage
And pious action we do sugar o’er
The devil himself.
3.1.Sp17King
Enter Hamlet.
The King and Polonius conceal themselves.
Aside
Oh, ’tis too true!
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
The harlot’s cheek, beautied with plast’ring art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than is my deed to my most painted word.
Oh, heavy burden!
3.1.Sp19Hamlet
To be, or not to be, that is the question,
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
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 heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to; ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub,
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,
Th’oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’unworthy takes,
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 traveler 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,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch 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 remembered.
3.1.Sp22Ophelia
My lord, I have remembrances of yours
That I have longèd long to redeliver.
I pray you now receive them.
3.1.Sp24Ophelia
She offers Hamlet the remembrances.
My honored lord, you know right well you did,
And with them words of so sweet breath composed
As made these things more rich. Their perfume lost,
Take these again, for to the noble mind
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind,
There, my lord.
3.1.Sp31Hamlet
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.
3.1.Sp33Hamlet
You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so
evocutate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not.
3.1.Sp35Hamlet
Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of
sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of
such things that it were better my mother had not borne me: I am
very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses at my beck
than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape,
or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling
between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves; believe none of us.
Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where’s your father?
3.1.Sp37Hamlet
Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool nowhere but in’s own house.
Farewell.
3.1.Sp39Hamlet
If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy
dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape
calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry,
marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you
make of them. To a nunnery go, and quickly too. Farewell.
3.1.Sp41Hamlet
Exit.
I have heard of your paintings well enough. God hath
given you one face, and you make yourselves another. You jig and
amble, and you lisp, you nickname God’s creatures, and make your
wantonness ignorance. Go to, I’ll no more on’t; it hath made me mad.
I say we will have no mo marriage. Those that are married already, all
but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go.
3.1.Sp42Ophelia
Enter King and Polonius stepping forward from concealment.
Oh, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!
The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword,
Th’expectation and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mold of form,
Th’observed of all observers, quite, quite down,
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That sucked the honey of his musicked vows,
Now see what noble and most sovereign reason
Like sweet bells jangled out of time, and harsh,
That unmatched form and stature of blown youth
Blasted with ecstasy. Oh, woe is me
T’have seen what I have seen, see what I see!
3.1.Sp43King
Love? His affections do not that way tend,
Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little,
Was not like madness. There’s something in his soul
O’er which his melancholy sits on brood,
And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose
Will be some danger; which for to prevent,
I have in quick determination
Thus set it down: he shall with speed to England,
For the demand of our neglected tribute.
Haply the seas, and 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?
3.1.Sp44Polonius
Exeunt.
It shall do well. But yet do I believe
the origin and commencement of his grief
Sprung from neglected love.—How now, Ophelia?
You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said,
We heard it all.—My lord, do as you please,
But if you hold it fit, after the play
Let his queen-mother all alone entreat him
To show his grief. Let her be round with him,
And I’ll be placed (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.
3.2
Enter Hamlet, and three of the Players.3.2.Sp1Hamlet
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you,
trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do,
I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air
too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very
torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and
beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. Oh, it offends me to the soul to hear
a robustious periwig-pated fellowtear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split
the ears of the
groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but
inexplicable dumb-shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipped for
o’erdoing Termagant. It out-Herods Herod. Pray you avoid it.
3.2.Sp3Hamlet
Be not too tame, neither, but let your own discretion be
your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with
this special observance, that you o’erstep not the modesty of
nature. For anything so o’erdone is from the purpose of playing,
whose end, both at the first and now, was and is to hold as ’twere
the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her feature, scorn her own
image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.
Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though it makes the
unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve, the censure of
which one must in your allowance o’erweigh a whole theater of
others. Oh, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others
praised, and that highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither
having th’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 abhominably.
3.2.Sp5Hamlet
Enter Polonius, Guildenstern, and Rosencrantz.
Exeunt they two.
Enter Horatio.
Oh, reform it altogether. And let those that play your clowns
speak no more than is set down for them; for there be of them that
will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators
to laugh too, though in the meantime some necessary question of
the play be then to be considered. That’s villainous, and shows a most
pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go make you ready.
Exeunt Players.
To Polonius
How
now, my lord, will the King hear this piece of work?
3.2.Sp13Hamlet
Nay, do not think I flatter,
For what advancement may I hope from thee
That no revenue hast but thy good spirits
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flattered?
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice
And could of men distinguish her election,
Sh’hath sealed thee for herself, for thou hast been
As one in suff’ring all that suffers nothing,
A man that Fortune’s buffets and rewards
Hast ta’en with equal thanks; and blest are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well commeddled
That they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man
That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him
In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee.—Something too much of this.—
There is a play tonight before the King.
One scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which I have told thee of my father’s death.
I prithee, when thou see’st that act afoot,
Even with the very comment of thy soul
Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damnèd ghost that we have seen,
And my imaginations are as foul
As Vulcan’s stithy. Give him heedful note,
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face,
And after we will both our judgments join
In censure of his seeming.
3.2.Sp14Horatio
Enter trumpets and kettledrums, King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and others.
Well, my lord,
If ’a steal aught the whilst this play is playing
And scape detected, I will pay the theft.
3.2.Sp17Hamlet
Excellent, i’faith, of the chameleon’s dish; I eat the air,
promise-crammed. You cannot feed capons so.
3.2.Sp38Hamlet
Oh, God, your only jig-maker. What should a man do but
be merry? For look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my
father died within’s two hours.
3.2.Sp40Hamlet
The trumpets sounds. Dumb-show follows.
Enter Players as a King and a Queen, the Queen embracing him, and he her. He
takes her up, and declines his head upon her neck. He lies him down
upon a bank of flowers. She, seeing him asleep, leaves him. Anon come in
another man, takes off his crown, kisses it, pours poison in the sleeper’s ears,
and leaves him. The Queen returns, finds the King dead, makes passionate
action. The poisoner, with some three or four, come in again, seem to
condole with her. The dead body is carried away. The poisoner woos the Queen
with gifts. She seems harsh awhile, but in the end accepts love. Exeunt players.
Enter a Player as Prologue.
So long? Nay, then, let the dev’l wear black, for I’ll have a
suit of sables. Oh, heavens! Die two months ago, and not forgotten yet?
Then there’s hope a great man’s memory may outlive his life half a
year. But, by’r Lady, ’a must build churches then, or else shall ’a suffer
not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is, "For oh, for
oh, the hobby-horse is forgot."
3.2.Sp46Hamlet
Ay, or any show that you will show him. Be not you ashamed
to show, he’ll not shame to tell you what it means.
3.2.Sp48Prologue
Exit.
Enter two Players as King and Queen.
For us and for our tragedy,
Here stooping to your clemency,
We beg your hearing patiently.
3.2.Sp52King
Full thirty times hath Phoebus’ cart gone round
Neptune’s salt wash and Tellus orbed the ground,
And thirty dozen moons with borrowed sheen
About the world have times twelve thirties been
Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands
Unite commutual in most sacred bands.
3.2.Sp53Queen
So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make us again count o’er ere love be done!
But woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So far from cheer and from our former state,
That I distrust you. Yet though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must.
For women fear too much, even as they love,
And women’s fear and love hold quantity:
Either none, in neither aught, or in extremity.
Now what my lord is, proof hath made you know,
And as my love is sized, my fear is so.
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear;
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.
3.2.Sp54King
Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly too;
My operant powers their functions leave to do.
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honored, beloved; and haply one as kind
For husband shalt thou—
3.2.Sp55Queen
Oh, confound the rest!
Such love must needs be treason in my breast.
In second husband let me be accurst!
None wed the second but who killed the first.
3.2.Sp57
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.
3.2.Sp58King
I do believe you think what now you speak,
But what we do determine, oft we break.
Purpose is but the slave to memory,
Of violent birth, but poor validity,
Which now the fruit unripe sticks on the tree,
But fall unshaken when they mellow be.
Most necessary ’tis that we forget
To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt.
What to ourselves in passion we propose,
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose.
The violence of either grief or joy
Their own enactures with themselves destroy.
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament;
Grief joy, joy grieves, on slender accident.
This world is not for aye, nor ’tis not strange
That even our loves should with our fortunes change;
For ’tis a question left us yet to prove
Whether love lead fortune, or else fortune love.
The great man down, you mark his favorite flies;
The poor advanced makes friends of enemies;
And hitherto doth love on fortune tend,
For who not needs shall never lack a friend,
And who in want a hollow friend doth try
Directly seasons him his enemy.
But orderly to end where I begun,
Our wills and fates do so contrary run
That our 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.
3.2.Sp59Queen
Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven light,
Sport and repose lock from me day and night,
To desperation turn my trust and hope,
And anchor’s cheer in prison be my scope!
Each opposite that blanks the face of joy
Meet what I would have well, and it destroy!
Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife,
If once I be a widow, ever I be a wife!
3.2.Sp61King
The Player King sleeps.
Exit Player Queen.
’Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here awhile.
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.
3.2.Sp69Hamlet
Enter Lucianus.
The Mousetrap. Marry, how? Tropically. This play is the image
of a murder done in Vienna. Gonzago is the Duke’s name, his wife
Baptista. You shall see anon. ’Tis a knavish piece of work, but what of
that? Your majesty and we that have free souls, it touches us not.
Let the galled jade winch, our withers are unwrung.
—This is one Lucianus, nephew to the King.
3.2.Sp75Hamlet
So you mistake your husbands.—Begin, murderer, leave
thy damnable faces and begin. Come, the croaking raven doth bellow
for revenge.
3.2.Sp76Lucianus
Pours the poison in his ears. Exit.
Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing,
Considerate season, else no creature seeing,
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected,
With Hecate’s ban thrice blasted, thrice invected,
Thy natural magic and dire property
On wholesome life usurps immediately.
3.2.Sp77Hamlet
Exeunt all but Hamlet and Horatio.
’A poisons him i’th’ garden for his estate. His name’s
Gonzago. The story is extant, and written in very choice Italian. You shall see
anon how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago’s wife.
3.2.Sp83Hamlet
"Why, let the strucken deer go weep,
The heart ungallèd play,
For some must watch while some must sleep;
Thus runs the world away."
Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers—if the rest of my fortunes turn Turk
with me—with provincial
roses on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players?
3.2.Sp85Hamlet
A whole one, I.
For thou dost know, O Damon dear,
This realm dismantled was
Of Jove himself, and now reigns here
A very, very pajock.
3.2.Sp91Hamlet
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Aha, come, some music! Come, the recorders.
For if the King like not the comedy,
Why, then belike he likes it not, perdy.
Come, some music.
3.2.Sp99Hamlet
Your wisdom should show itself more richer to signify
this to the doctor, for, for me to put him to his purgation would perhaps plunge him
into more choler.
3.2.Sp100Guildenstern
Good my lord, put your discourse into some frame,
and stare not so wildly from my affair.
3.2.Sp102Guildenstern
The Queen your mother, in most great affliction of spirit,
hath sent me to you.
3.2.Sp104Guildenstern
Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the right breed. If
it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do your
mother’s commandment. If not, your pardon and my return shall
be the end of business.
3.2.Sp107Hamlet
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.
3.2.Sp108Rosencrantz
Then thus she says: your behavior hath struck her into
amazement and admiration.
3.2.Sp109Hamlet
Oh, wonderful son, that can so ’stonish a mother! But is there
no sequel at the heels of this mother’s admiration? Impart.
3.2.Sp114Rosencrantz
Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper? You do
surely bar the door upon your own liberty if you deny your griefs to
your friend.
3.2.Sp116Rosencrantz
Enter the Players, with recorders.
How can that be, when you have the voice of the King
himself for your succession in Denmark?
3.2.Sp117Hamlet
Ay, sir, but "while the grass grows"—the proverb is something
musty.—Oh, the recorders. Let me see one.
He takes a recorder.
To withdraw with you, why
do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive
me into a toil?
3.2.Sp125Hamlet
It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages with your
fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse
most eloquent music. Look you, these are the stops.
3.2.Sp127Hamlet
Enter Polonius.
Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of
me! You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops,
you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me
from my lowest note to my compass, and there is much music,
excellent voice in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. ’Sblood,
do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what
instrument you will, though you fret me, you cannot play upon me.
To Polonius, as he enters
God bless you, sir.
3.2.Sp135Hamlet
Exit.
Then I will come to my mother by and by.
Aside
They fool me to the top of my bent.
Aloud
I will come by and by. Leave me, friends. I will, say so. "By and by" is easily said.
Exeunt all but Hamlet.
’Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breaks out
Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood,
And do such business as the bitter day
Would quake to look on. Soft, now to my mother.
O heart, loose not thy nature! Let not ever
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom.
Let me be cruel, not unnatural;
I will speak dagger to her, but use none.
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites:
How in my words somever she be shent,
To give them seals never my soul consent!
3.3
Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.3.3.Sp1King
I like him not, nor stands it safe with us
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you.
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’s as doth hourly grow
Out of his brows.
3.3.Sp2Guildenstern
We will ourselves provide.
Most holy and religious fear it is
To keep those many many bodies safe
That live and feed upon your majesty.
3.3.Sp3Rosencrantz
The single and peculiar life is bound
With all the strength and armor of the mind
To keep itself from noyance, but much more
That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests
The lives of many. The cess of majesty
Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw
What’s near it with it, or it is a massy wheel
Fixed on the summit of the highest mount,
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things
Are mortised and adjoined, which, when it falls,
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boist’rous ruin. Never alone
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan.
3.3.Sp4King
Exeunt gentlemen Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Enter Polonius.
Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage,
For we will fetters put about this fear
Which now goes too free-footed.
3.3.Sp6Polonius
Exit Polonius.
My lord, he’s going to his mother’s closet.
Behind the arras I’ll convey myself
To hear the process. I’ll warrant she’ll tax him home.
And, as you said—and wisely was it said—
’Tis 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.
3.3.Sp7King
He kneels.
Enter Hamlet.
Thanks, dear my lord.
Oh, my offense is rank! It smells to heaven.
It 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 cursèd 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 offense?
And what’s in prayer but this twofold force,
To be forestallèd ere we come to fall,
Or pardoned being down? Then I’ll look up.
My fault is past. But, oh, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? "Forgive me my foul murder"?
That cannot be, since I am still possessed
Of those effects for which I did the murder:
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
May one be pardoned and retain th’offense?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offense’s gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft ’tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law. But ’tis not so above:
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature, and we ourselves compelled,
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?
Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?
O wretched state, O bosom black as death,
O limèd soul, that, struggling to be free,
Art more engaged! Help, angels! Make assay.
Bow, stubborn knees, and heart with strings of steel,
Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe!
All may be well.
3.3.Sp8Hamlet
Exit.
Exit.
Now might I do it. But now ’a is a-praying,
And now I’ll do’t.
He draws his sword.
And so ’a goes to heaven,
And so am I revenged. That would be scanned:
A villain kills my father, and for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven.
Why, this is base and silly, not revenge.
’A took my father grossly full of bread,
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May,
And how his audit stands, who knows save heaven?
But in our circumstance and course of thought
’Tis heavy with him. And am I then revenged
To take him in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and seasoned for his passage?
No.
He sheathes his sword.
Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent.
When he is drunk, asleep, or in his rage,
Or in th’incestuous pleasure of his bed,
At game a-swearing, or about some act
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 damned and black
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays.
This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.
3.4
Enter Gertrude and Polonius.3.4.Sp1Polonius
Enter Hamlet.
Polonius conceals himself behind the arras.
’A will come straight. Look you lay home to him.
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screened and stood between
Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here.
Pray you, be round.
3.4.Sp11Hamlet
No, by the rood, not so.
You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife,
And, would it were not so, you are my mother.
3.4.Sp13Hamlet
Hamlet thrusts through the arras with his sword and fatally stabs Polonius.
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.
3.4.Sp23Hamlet
Ay, lady, it was my word.
He parts the arras and discovers the dead 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.
To the Queen
Leave wringing of your hands. Peace, sit you down,
And let me wring your heart, for so I shall
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damnèd custom have not brassed it so
That it be proof and bulwark against sense.
3.4.Sp25Hamlet
Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows
As false as dicers’ oaths—oh, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face does glow
O’er this solidity and compound mass
With heated visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
3.4.Sp27Hamlet
Showing her two likenesses, of Hamlet senior and Claudius
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,
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
Where 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 mildewed ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed
And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes?
You cannot call it love, for at your age
The heyday 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 apoplexed, for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne’er so thralled
But it reserved some quantity of choice
To serve in such a difference. What devil was’t
That thus hath cozened 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 pardons will.
3.4.Sp28Queen
Oh, Hamlet speak no more!
Thou turn’st my very eyes into my soul,
And there I see such black and grievèd spots
As will leave there their tinct.
3.4.Sp29Hamlet
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed
Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty!
3.4.Sp30Queen
Oh, speak to me no more!
These words like daggers enter in my ears.
No more, sweet Hamlet.
3.4.Sp31Hamlet
Enter Ghost in his nightgown.
A murderer and a villain,
A slave that is not twentieth part the kith
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—
3.4.Sp33Hamlet
A king of shreds and patches—
Seeing the Ghost
Save me and hover o’er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
3.4.Sp35Hamlet
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
Th’important acting of your dread command?
Oh, say!
3.4.Sp36Ghost
Do not forget. This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
Oh, step between her and her fighting soul!
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.
3.4.Sp38Queen
Alas, how is’t with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy,
And with th’incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,
And, as the sleeping soldiers in th’alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Start up and stand on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
3.4.Sp39Hamlet
On him, on him! Look you how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.
To the Ghost
Do not look upon me,
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects. Then what I have to do
Will want true color, tears perchance for blood.
3.4.Sp45Hamlet
Exit Ghost.
Why, look you there, look how it steals away!
My father in his habit as he lived.
Look where he goes, even now out at the portal!
3.4.Sp46Queen
This is the very coinage of your brain.
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
3.4.Sp47Hamlet
My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music. It is not madness
That I have uttered. Bring me to the test,
And I the matter will reword, 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.
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven,
Repent what’s past, avoid what is to come,
And do not spread the compost on the weeds
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue,
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
3.4.Sp49Hamlet
Oh, throw away the worser part of it,
And leave the purer with the other half.
Good night. But go not to my 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 tonight,
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 the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more good night,
And when you are desirous to be blest,
I’ll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
I do repent; but heaven hath pleased 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.
This bad begins, and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.
3.4.Sp51Hamlet
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat King tempt you again to bed,
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 damned fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. ’Twere good you let him know,
For who that’s but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?
No, in dispite of sense and secrecy,
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.
3.4.Sp52Queen
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
3.4.Sp55Hamlet
Exit.
There’s letters sealed, and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work,
For ’tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petard, and’t shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon. Oh ’tis most sweet
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
This man shall set me packing.
I’ll lug the guts into the neighbor room.
Mother, good night indeed. This counselor
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,
Who was in life a most foolish prating knave.—
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.—
Good night, mother.
4.1
Enter King, and Queen, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.4.1.Sp1King
There’s matter in these sighs, these profound heaves.
You must translate; ’tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?
4.1.Sp2Queen
To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Bestow this place on us a little while.
Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen tonight!
4.1.Sp4Queen
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 rat!"
And in this brainish apprehension kills
The unseen good old man.
4.1.Sp5King
Oh, heavy deed!
It had been so with us had we been there.
His liberty is full of threats to all—
To you yourself, to us, to everyone.
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answered?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrained, and out of haunt
This mad young man. But so much was our love,
We would not understand what was most fit,
But like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
4.1.Sp6Queen
To draw apart the body he hath killed,
O’er whom his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shows itself pure: ’a weeps for what is done.
4.1.Sp7King
Exeunt.
Oh, Gertrude, come away!
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch
But we will ship him hence, and this vile deed
We must with all our majesty and skill
Both countenance and excuse.—Ho, Guildenstern!
(Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.)
Friends both, go join you with some further aid.
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother’s closet hath he dragged him.
Go seek him out, speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you haste in this.
Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Come, Gertrude, we’ll call up our wisest friends
And let them know both what we mean to do
And what’s untimely done.
Whose whisper o’er the world’s diameter,
As level as the cannon to his blank,
Transports his poisoned shot, may miss our name
And hit the woundless air. Oh, come away!
My soul is full of discord and dismay.
4.2
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, and others.4.2.Sp7Hamlet
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?
4.2.Sp9Hamlet
Exeunt.
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, like an ape an apple in the corner of his jaw, first mouthed to be
last swallowed. When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but
squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again.
4.3
Enter King, and two or three.4.3.Sp1King
Enter Rosencrantz and all the rest.
They Guildenstern and Guards enter with Hamlet.
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 loved of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgment but their eyes,
And where ’tis so, th’offender’s scourge is weighed,
But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are relieved,
Or not at all.
4.3.Sp11Hamlet
Not where he eats, but where ’a is eaten. 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.
4.3.Sp13Hamlet
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and
eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
4.3.Sp17Hamlet
Exeunt attendants.
In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger find him
not there, seek him i’th’ other place yourself. But if indeed you find
him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the
stairs into the lobby.
4.3.Sp20King
Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety—
Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
For that which thou hast done—must send thee hence.
Therefore prepare thyself.
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
Th’associates tend, and everything is bent
For England.
4.3.Sp27Hamlet
Exit.
My mother. Father and mother is man and wife,
man and wife is one flesh, so, my mother.
Come, for England!
4.3.Sp28King
Exit.
Follow him at foot.
Tempt him with speed aboard.
Delay it not. I’ll have him hence tonight.
Away! For everything is sealed and done
That else leans on th’affair. Pray you, make haste.
Exeunt all but the King.
And England, if my love thou hold’st at aught,
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
Pays homage to us, thou mayst not coldly set
Our sovereign process, which imports at full
By letters congruing to that effect
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England,
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me. Till I know ’tis done,
Howe’er my haps, my joys will ne’er begin.
4.4
Enter Fortinbras and a Captain with his army over the stage.4.4.Sp1Fortinbras
Exeunt all but the Captain.
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, etc.
Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King.
Tell him that by his license Fortinbras
Craves the conveyance of a promised march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye;
And let him know so.
4.4.Sp11Captain
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 it,
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
4.4.Sp14Hamlet
Exit.
Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats
Will not debate the question of this straw.
This is th’impostume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.
4.4.Sp17Hamlet
Exit.
I’ll be with you straight. Go a little before.
Exeunt all but Hamlet.
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on th’event—
A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward—I do not know
Why yet I live to say this thing’s to do,
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means
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 puffed
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an eggshell. 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 killed, a mother stained,
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? Oh, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!
4.5
Enter Horatio, Queen Gertrude, and a Gentleman.4.5.Sp4Gentleman
She speaks much of her father, says she hears
There’s tricks i’th’ world, and hems, and beats her heart,
Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt
That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshapèd use of it doth move
The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,
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.
4.5.Sp5Horatio
Exit Gentleman.
Enter Ophelia.
’Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
Let her come in.
4.5.Sp6Queen
Enter Ophelia.
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,
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
4.5.Sp9Ophelia
(She sings.)
“How should I your true love know
From another one?
By his cockle hat and staff,
And his sandal shoon.”
4.5.Sp11Ophelia
Say you? Nay, pray you, mark.
Song. He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone.
At his head a grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone.
Oho!
White his shroud as the mountain snow—Enter King.
4.5.Sp15Ophelia
(Song.)
“Larded all with sweet flowers,
Which bewept to the ground did not go
With true-love showers.”
4.5.Sp17Ophelia
Song.
Well Good dild you. They say the owl was a baker’s
daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.
God be at your table!
Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s Day, All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window To be your Valentine. Then up he rose, and donned his close And dupped the chamber door, Let in the maid, that out a maid Never departed more.
4.5.Sp21Ophelia
Indeed? Without an oath I’ll make an end on’t.
Song
“By Gis and by Saint Charity,
Alack, and fie for shame!
Young men will do’t if they come to’t;
By Cock, they are too blame.
Quoth she, "Before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed.”
He answers,
“So would I ha’ done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed.”
4.5.Sp23Ophelia
Exit.
I hope all will be well. We must be patient. But I cannot choose
but weep to think they would lay him i’th’ cold ground. My brother
shall know of it. And so I thank you for your good counsel. Come,
my coach! Good night, ladies, good night,
sweet ladies, good night, good night.
4.5.Sp24King
A noise within.
Enter a Messenger.
To Horatio
Follow her close. Give her good watch, I pray you.
Exit Horatio.
Oh, this is the poison of deep grief! It springs
All from her father’s
death and now behold!
Oh, Gertrude, Gertrude,
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 thoughts and whispers
For good Polonius’ death, and we have done but greenly
In hugger-mugger to inter him; poor Ophelia
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,
Without the which we are pictures or mere beasts;
Last, and as much containing as all these,
Her brother is in secret come from France,
Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds,
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father’s death,
Wherein necessity, of matter beggared,
Will nothing stick our person to arraign
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,
Like to a murd’ring piece, in many places
Gives me superfluous death.
4.5.Sp26Messenger
Save yourself, my lord!
The ocean, overpeering of his list,
Eats not the flats with more impiteous haste
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head,
O’erbears your officers. The rabble call him lord,
And, as the world were now but to begin,
Antiquity forgot, custom not known,
The ratifiers and props of every word,
They cry, "Choose we! Laertes shall be king!"
Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds:
"Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!"
4.5.Sp27Queen
Enter Laertes with others.
How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!
(A noise within.)
Oh, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!
4.5.Sp33Laertes
I thank you. Keep the door.
Exeunt followers and Messenger.
O thou vile king,
Give me my father!
4.5.Sp35Laertes
That drop of blood that’s calm proclaims me bastard,
Cries "Cuckold!" to my father, brands the harlot
Even here between the chaste unsmirchèd brow
Of my true mother.
4.5.Sp36King
What is the cause, Laertes,
That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?—
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.—Tell me, Laertes,
Why thou art thus incensed?—Let him go, Gertrude.—
Speak, man.
4.5.Sp41Laertes
How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with.
To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil!
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!
I dare damnation. To this point I stand,
That both the worlds I give to negligence,
Let come what comes, only I’ll be revenged
Most throughly for my father.
4.5.Sp43Laertes
My will, not all the world’s.
And for my means, I’ll husband them so well
They shall go far with little.
4.5.Sp44King
Good Laertes,
If you desire to know the certainty
Of your dear father, is’t writ in your revenge
That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe,
Winner and loser?
4.5.Sp47Laertes
To his good friends thus wide I’ll ope my arms,
And, like the kind life-rend’ring pelican,
Repast them with my blood.
4.5.Sp48King
A noise within.
Enter Ophelia as before.
Why, now you speak
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,
It shall as level to your judgment ’pear
As day does to your eye.
4.5.Sp49Laertes
Let her come in.
How now, what noise is that?
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 with weight
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May,
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!
O heavens, is’t possible a young maid’s wits
Should be as mortal as a poor man’s life?
Nature is fine in love, and where ’tis fine
It sends some precious instance of itself
After the thing it loves.
4.5.Sp50Ophelia
(Song.)
“They bore him bare-faced on the bier,
And in his grave rained many a tear.”
Fare you well, my dove.
4.5.Sp52Ophelia
You must sing "a-down, a-down,"an you call him "a-down-a." Oh, how the wheel becomes
it!It is the false steward that stole his master’s daughter.
4.5.Sp54Ophelia
There’s rosemary; that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love,
remember. And there is pansies; that’s for thoughts.
4.5.Sp56Ophelia
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.
You may 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 ’a made a good end.
She sings.
For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
4.5.Sp58Ophelia
Exit Ophelia, followed by the Queen.
(Song.)
“And will ’a not come again?
And will ’a not come again?
No, no, he is dead,
Go to thy deathbed,
He never will come again.
His beard was as white as snow,
Flaxen was his poll.
He is gone, he is gone,
And we cast away moan.
God ’a’ mercy on his soul!”
And of all Christians’ souls, I pray God.
God b’wi’you!
4.5.Sp60King
Laertes, I must commune with your grief,
Or you deny me right. Go but apart,
Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,
And they shall hear and judge ’twixt you and me.
If by direct or by collateral hand
They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours
To you in satisfaction; but if not,
Be you content to lend your patience to us,
And we shall jointly labor with your soul
To give it due content.
4.5.Sp61Laertes
Exeunt.
Let this be so.
His means of death, his obscure funeral—
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o’er his bones,
No noble rite, nor formal ostentation—
Cry to be heard as ’twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call’t in question.
4.6
Enter Horatio, and others including a Gentleman.4.6.Sp3Horatio
Enter Sailors.
Let them come in.
Exit Gentleman.
I do not know from what part of the world
I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.
4.6.Sp6Sailor
He gives a letter.
’A shall, sir, an please him. There’s a letter for you, sir. It came
from th’ambassador that was bound for England, if your name be
Horatio, as I am let to know it is.
4.6.Sp7Horatio
Reads the letter
“Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these
fellows some means to the King; they have letters for him. Ere we
were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave
us chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled
valor, and in the grapple I boarded them. On the instant they got
clear 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 turn for them. Let the King have the letters I have sent, and
repair thou to me with as much speed as thou wouldest fly death.
I have words 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.”
4.6.Sp8Horatio
Exeunt.
Come, I will give you way for these your letters,
And do’t the speedier that you may direct me
To him from whom you brought them.
4.7
Enter King and Laertes.4.7.Sp1King
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.
4.7.Sp2Laertes
It well appears. But tell me
Why you proceed not against these feats
So criminal and so capital in nature,
As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else,
You mainly were stirred up.
4.7.Sp3King
Oh for two special reasons,
Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed,
But yet to me they’re strong. The Queen his mother
Lives almost by his looks, and for myself—
My virtue or my plague, be it either which—
She is so conjunct 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,
Work, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
Convert his gyves to graces, so that my arrows,
Too slightly timbered for so lovèd armed,
Would have reverted to my bow again,
But not where I have aimed them.
4.7.Sp4Laertes
And so have I a noble father lost,
A sister driven into desp’rate 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.
4.7.Sp5King
Enter a Messenger with letters.
He gives letters.
Break not your sleeps for that. You must not think
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
That we can let our beard be shook with danger
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more.
I loved your father, and we love ourself,
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine—
4.7.Sp8Messenger
Sailors, my lord, they say. I saw them not.
They were given me by Claudio. He received them
Of him that brought them.
4.7.Sp9King
Laertes, you shall hear them.
To the Messenger
Leave us.
Exit Messenger.
He reads.
High and mighty, you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.
Tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes, when I shall first,
asking you pardon, thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden
return. Hamlet.
What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
4.7.Sp11King
’Tis Hamlet’s character. "Naked!"
And in a postscript here he says "alone."
Can you devise me?
4.7.Sp12Laertes
I am lost in it, my lord. But let him come.
It warms the very sickness in my heart
That I live and tell him to his teeth
"Thus didst thou."
4.7.Sp15King
To thine own peace. If he be now returned
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,
But even his mother shall uncharge the practice
And call it accident.
4.7.Sp16Laertes
My lord, I will be ruled,
The rather if you could devise it so
That I might be the organ.
4.7.Sp17King
It falls right.
You have been talked 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.
4.7.Sp19King
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 have seen myself, and served against, the French,
And they can well on horseback, but this gallant
Had witchcraft in’t; he grew unto his seat,
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse
As had he been incorpsed and demi-natured
With the brave beast. So far he topped my thought
That I in forgery of shapes and tricks
Come short of what he did.
4.7.Sp25King
He made confession of you,
And gave you such a masterly report
For art and exercise in your defense,
And for your rapier most especial,
That he cried out ’twould be a sight indeed
If one could match you. Th’escrimers of their nation,
He swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye
If you opposed 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 you.
Now, out of this—
4.7.Sp27King
Laertes, was your father dear to you?
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
A face without a heart?
4.7.Sp29King
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 it,
And nothing is at a like goodness still,
For goodness, growing to a pleurisy,
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’s sigh,
That hurts by easing. But to the quick of th’ulcer:
Hamlet comes back. What would you undertake
To show yourself indeed your father’s son
More than in words?
4.7.Sp31King
No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize.
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,
Will you do this: keep close within your chamber.
Hamlet returned shall know you are come home.
We’ll put on those shall praise your excellence
And set a double varnish on the fame
The Frenchman gave you, bring you in fine together,
And wager o’er your heads. He being remiss,
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice
Requite him for your father.
4.7.Sp32Laertes
I will do’t,
And for that purpose I’ll 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
Under the moon, can save the thing from death
That is but scratched withal. I’ll touch my point
With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly,
It may be death.
4.7.Sp33King
Enter Queen.
Lets 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,
’Twere better not assayed. Therefore this project
Should have a back or second, that might hold
If this did blast in proof. Soft, let me see.
We’ll 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’ll have preferred him
A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,
Our purpose may hold there.
A cry within.
But stay, what noise?
4.7.Sp34Queen
One woe doth tread upon another’s heel,
So fast they follow. Your sister’s drowned, Laertes.
4.7.Sp36Queen
There is a willow grows askant the brook
That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream.
Therewith fantastic garlands did she make
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cull-cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them.
There on the pendent boughs her crownet weeds
Clamb’ring 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 awhile they bore her up,
Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and endued
Unto that element. But long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
4.7.Sp39Laertes
Exit.
Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
And therefore I forbid my tears. But yet
It is our trick; nature her custom holds,
Let shame say what it will.
He weeps.
When these are gone,
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord.
I have a speech o’fire that fain would blaze,
But that this folly drowns it.
4.7.Sp40King
Exeunt.
Let’s follow, Gertrude.
How much I had to do to calm his rage!
Now fear I this will give it start again;
Therefore let’s follow.
5.1
Enter two Clowns with spades and mattocks.5.1.Sp2Other
I tell thee she is; therefore make her grave straight. The
crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.
5.1.Sp5Clown
It must be so offended, 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.
5.1.Sp7Clown
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 that. 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.
5.1.Sp10Other
Will you ha’ the truth on’t? If this had not been a
gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o’Christian burial.
5.1.Sp11Clown
Why, there thou say’st, and the more pity that great folk
should have count’nance in this world to drown or hang themselves
more than their even-Christen. Come, my spade. There is no
ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and gravemakers. They hold
up Adam’s profession.
5.1.Sp13Clown
’A was the first that ever bore arms. I’ll put another question to thee. If thou answerest
me not to the purpose, confess thyself.
5.1.Sp15Clown
What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the
shipwright, or the carpenter?
5.1.Sp17Clown
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.
5.1.Sp23Clown
Song.
Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will
not mend his pace with beating; and when you are asked this question
next, say "a grave-maker." The houses he makes lasts till doomsday.
Go get thee in, and fetch me a soope of liquor.
Exit Second Clown.
The First Clown digs.
In youth when I did love, did love, Methought it was very sweet To contract—oh—the time for-a—my behove, Oh, methought there—a—was nothing—a—meet.Enter Hamlet and Horatio.
5.1.Sp27ClownSong.But age with his stealing steps
Hath clawed me in his clutch,
And hath shipped me into the land,
As if I had never been such.
The Clown throws up a skull.
5.1.Sp28Hamlet
That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once. How the
knave jowls it to the ground, as if ’twere Cain’s jawbone, that did the
first murder! This might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now
o’erreaches, one that would circumvent God, might it not?
5.1.Sp30Hamlet
Or of a courtier, which could say, "Good morrow, sweet lord,
how dost thou, sweet lord?" This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that
praised my Lord Such-a-one’s horse when ’a went to beg it, might it not?
5.1.Sp32Hamlet
Song.
Why, e’en so. And now my Lady Worm’s, chopless, and knocked
about the massene 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 loggets with them? Mine ache to think on’t.
5.1.Sp33ClownA pickax and a spade, a spade,
For and a shrouding sheet;
Oh, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
He throws up another skull.
5.1.Sp34Hamlet
There’s another. Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities
now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? Why does he suffer this
mad knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell
him of his action of battery? H’m! This fellow might be in’s time a great buyer of
land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries,
to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? Will
vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double ones too, than the length
and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his
lands will scarcely lie in this box, and must th’inheritor himself have
no more, ha?
5.1.Sp38Hamlet
Sings.
They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in
that. I will speak to this fellow.—Whose grave’s this, sirrah?
Oh, a pit of clay for to be made —
5.1.Sp41Clown
You lie out on’t, sir, and therefore ’tis not yours. For my part, I
do not lie in’t, yet it is mine.
5.1.Sp42Hamlet
Thou dost lie in’t, to be in’t and say it is thine. ’Tis for the dead,
not for the quick; therefore thou liest.
5.1.Sp50Hamlet
To Horatio
How absolute the knave is! We must speak by the card, or
equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, this three years I
have took note of it, the age is grown so picked that the toe of the
peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he galls his kibe.—How
long hast thou been grave-maker?
5.1.Sp51Clown
Of the days i’th’ year, I came to’t that day that our last King
Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.
5.1.Sp53Clown
Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that. It was that
very day that young Hamlet was born—he that is mad and sent into
England.
5.1.Sp55Clown
Why, because ’a was mad. ’A shall recover his wits there, or if
’a do not, ’tis no great matter there.
5.1.Sp65Clown
Faith, if ’a be not rotten before ’a die—as we have many
pocky corses nowadays that will scarce hold the laying in—’a will last you some eight
year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.
5.1.Sp67Clown
Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade that ’a will keep
out water a great while; and your water is a sore decayer of your
whoreson dead body.
He picks up a skull.
Here’s a skull now hath lyen you i’th’earth 23 years.
5.1.Sp71Clown
A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! ’A poured a flagon of
Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was, sir, Yorick’s skull, the
King’s jester.
5.1.Sp74Hamlet
He throws the skull down.
taking the skull
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite
jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a
thousand times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge
rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how
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 chopfall’n? Now get you
to my lady’s table 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.
5.1.Sp80Hamlet
To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may not
imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander till ’a find it stopping
a bunghole?
5.1.Sp82Hamlet
Hamlet and Horatio conceal themselves. Ophelia’s body is taken to the grave.
No, faith, not a jot. But to follow him thither with modesty
enough, and likelihood to lead it: Alexander died, Alexander was
buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we
make loam, and why of that loam whereto he was converted might
they not stop a beer-barrel?
“
Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe
Should patch a wall t’expel the water’s flaw!”
(Enter King, Queen, Laertes, and the corse of Ophelia, in funeral procession, with the "Doctor" or Priest, and others.)
But soft, but soft awhile! Here comes the King,
The Queen, the courtiers. Who is this they follow?
And with such maimèd rites? This doth betoken
The corse they follow did with desp’rate hand
Fordo it own life. ’Twas of some estate.
Couch we awhile and mark.
5.1.Sp86Doctor
Her obsequies have been as far enlarged
As we have warranty. Her death was doubtful,
And, but that great command o’ersways the order,
She should in ground unsanctified been lodged
Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,
Flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her;
Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,
Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.
5.1.Sp88Doctor
No more be done.
We should profane the service of the dead
To sing a requiem and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.
5.1.Sp89Laertes
Lay her i’th’ earth,
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
A minist’ring angel shall my sister be
When thou liest howling.
5.1.Sp91Queen
Scattering flowers
Sweets to the sweet! Farewell.
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife.
I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,
And not have strewed thy grave.
5.1.Sp92Laertes
Oh, treble woe
Fall ten times double on that cursèd head
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Deprived thee of!—Hold off the earth awhile,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.
He leaps in the grave
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
Till of this flat a mountain you have made
T’o’ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.
5.1.Sp93Hamlet
Coming forward
What is he whose grief
Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wand’ring stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
Hamlet the Dane.
5.1.Sp95Hamlet
Hamlet and Laertes are parted.
Thou pray’st not well. I prithee take thy fingers from my throat,
For, though I am not splenative rash,
Yet have I in me something dangerous,
Which let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand!
5.1.Sp102Hamlet
I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers
Could not with all their quantity of love
Make up my sum.—What wilt thou do for her?
5.1.Sp105Hamlet
’Swounds, show me what thou’lt do.
Woo’t weep? Woo’t fight? Woo’t fast? Woo’t tear thyself?
Woo’t drink up eisil? Eat a crocodile?
I’ll do’t. Dost come here to whine?
To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I.
And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart. Nay, an thou’lt mouth,
I’ll rant as well as thou.
5.1.Sp106Queen
This is mere madness,
And this awhile the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove
When that her golden couplets are disclosed,
His silence will sit drooping.
5.1.Sp107Hamlet
Exit Hamlet.
To Laertes
Hear you, sir,
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I loved you ever. But it is no matter.
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.
5.1.Sp108King
Exeunt.
I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.
(And Horatio exits too.)
Aside to Laertes
Strengthen your patience in our last night’s speech;
We’ll put the matter to the present push.—
Good Gertrard, set some watch over your son.—
This grave shall have a living monument.
An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;
Till then, in patience our proceeding be.
5.2
Enter Hamlet and Horatio.5.2.Sp1Hamlet
So much for this, sir. Now shall you see the other.
You do remember all the circumstance?
5.2.Sp3Hamlet
Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting
That would not let me sleep. Methought I lay
Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly,
And praised be rashness for it: let us know,
Our indiscretion sometime serves us well
When our deep plots do fall, and that should learn us
There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.
5.2.Sp5Hamlet
Up from my cabin,
My sea-gown scarfed about me, in the dark
Groped I to find out them, had my desire,
Fingered their packet, and in fine withdrew
To mine own room again, making so bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unfold
Their grand commission; where I found, Horatio—
Ah, royal knavery!—an exact command,
Larded with many several sorts of reasons
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 ax,
My head should be struck off.
5.2.Sp7Hamlet
Showing a document
Here’s the commission. Read it at more leisure.
But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?
5.2.Sp9Hamlet
Being thus benetted round with villains—
Or I could make a prologue to my brains,
They had begun the play—I sat me down,
Devised a new commission, wrote it fair.
I once did hold it, as our statists do,
A baseness to write fair, and labored much
How to forget that learning, but, sir, now
It did me yeoman’s service. Wilt thou know
Th’effect of what I wrote?
5.2.Sp11Hamlet
An earnest conjuration from the King,
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 suchlike "as, sir" of great charge,
That on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further more or less,
He should those bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving time allowed.
5.2.Sp13Hamlet
Why, even in that was heaven ordinant.
I had my father’s signet in my purse,
Which was the model of that Danish seal;
Folded the writ up in the form of th’other,
Subscribed it, gave’t th’impression, placed it safely,
The changeling never known. Now the next day
Was our sea fight, and what to this was sequent
Thou knowest already.
5.2.Sp15Hamlet
They are not near my conscience. Their defeat
Does by their own insinuation grow.
’Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes
Between the pass and fell incensèd points
Of mighty opposites.
5.2.Sp17Hamlet
Enter a Courtier Osric.
Does it not, think thee, stand me now upon?
He that hath killed my King and whored my mother,
Popped in between th’election and my hopes,
Thrown out his angle for my proper life,
And with such coz’nage—is’t not perfect conscience?
5.2.Sp21Hamlet
Aside to Horatio
Thy state is the more gracious, for ’tis 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. ’Tis a chough, but, as I say, spacious in the
possession of dirt.
5.2.Sp22Courtier
Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should
impart a thing to you from his majesty.
5.2.Sp23Hamlet
I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit. Put your bonnet
to his right use. ’Tis for the head.
5.2.Sp28Courtier
Exceedingly, my lord, it is very sultry, as ’twere—I
cannot tell how. My lord, his majesty bade me signify to you that ’a
has laid a great wager on your head. Sir, this is the matter—
5.2.Sp30Courtier
Nay, good my lord, for my ease, in good faith. Sir, here is newly
come to court Laertes—believe me, an absolute gentlemen, full of most
excellent differences, of very soft society and great showing.
Indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar of
gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what part a
gentleman would see.
5.2.Sp31Hamlet
Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you, though I
know to divide him inventorially would dazzle th’arithmetic of
memory, and yet but yaw neither, in respect of his quick sail. But
in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great article,
and his infusion of such dearth and rareness as, to make true diction
of him, his semblable is his mirror, and who else would trace him, his
umbrage, nothing more.
5.2.Sp35Horatio
To Hamlet
Is’t not possible to understand in another tongue? You will
do’t, sir, really.
5.2.Sp41Hamlet
I would you did, sir. Yet in faith if you did, it would not
much approve me. Well, sir?
5.2.Sp43Hamlet
I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with
him in excellence. But to know a man well were to know himself.
5.2.Sp44Cour.
I mean, sir, for his weapon. But in the imputation laid on
him by them, in his meed he’s unfellowed.
5.2.Sp48Courtier
The King, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses,
against the which he has impawned, as I take it, six French rapiers
and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hanger, 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.
5.2.Sp52Hamlet
The phrase would be more germane to the matter if we
could carry a cannon by our sides; I would it might be "hangers" till
then. But on. 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 all you call it?
5.2.Sp53Courtier
The King, sir, hath laid, sir, that in a dozen passes between
yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits. He hath
laid on twelve for nine, and it would come to immediate trial, if your lordship would
vouchsafe the answer.
5.2.Sp56Hamlet
Sir, I will walk here in the hall. If it please his majesty, it
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 an I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame and
the odd hits.
5.2.Sp60Hamlet
Yours.
Exit Courtier, Osric.
’A does well to commend it himself; there are no
tongues else for’s turn.
5.2.Sp62Hamlet
Enter a Lord.
’A did so, sir, with his dug before ’a sucked it. Thus has he, and
many more of the same breed that I know the drossy age dotes on,
only got the tune of the time and, out of an habit of encounter, a
kind of yeasty collection, which carries them through and through
the most profane and winnowed opinions; and do but blow
them to their trial, the bubbles are out.
5.2.Sp63Lord
My lord, his majesty commended him to you by young
Osric, who brings back to him that you attend him in the hall.
He sends to know if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that
you will take longer time?
5.2.Sp64Hamlet
I am constant to my purposes; they follow the King’s
pleasure. If his fitness speaks, mine is ready: now or whensoever,
provided I be so able as now.
5.2.Sp67Lord
Exit Lord.
The Queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment
to Laertes before you fall to play.
5.2.Sp70Hamlet
I do not think so. Since he went into France, I have been
in continual practice; I shall win at the odds. Thou wouldst not
think how ill all’s here about my heart, but it is no matter.
5.2.Sp72Hamlet
It is but foolery, but it is such a kind of gaingiving as
would perhaps trouble a woman.
5.2.Sp73Horatio
If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall their
repair hither and say you are not fit.
5.2.Sp74Hamlet
A table prepared. Enter Trumpets, drums, and officers with cushions,
King, Queen, Osric, and all the state, foils, daggers,
and Laertes. Wine is borne in.
The King puts Laertes’s hand into Hamlet’s.
Not a whit, we defy augury. There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.
If it be, ’tis 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 of what he leaves knows
what is’t to leave betimes.
Let be.
5.2.Sp76Hamlet
To Laertes
Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong,
But pardon’t as you are a gentleman. This presence knows,
And you must needs have heard, how I am punished
With a sore distraction. What I have done
That might your nature, honor, and exception
Roughly awake, I hear proclaim was madness.
Was’t Hamlet wronged 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 wronged;
His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy.
Let my disclaiming from a purposed evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts
That I have shot my arrow o’er the house
And hurt my brother.
5.2.Sp77Laertes
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 ungored. But all that time
I do receive your offered love like love,
And will not wrong it.
5.2.Sp80Hamlet
I’ll be your foil, Laertes. In mine ignorance
Your skill shall like a star i’th’ darkest night
Stick fiery off indeed.
5.2.Sp83King
He exchanges his foil for another.
They prepare to play.
Give them the foils, young Osric.
Foils are handed to Hamlet and Laertes.
Cousin Hamlet,
You know the wager.
5.2.Sp89King
They fence. Hamlet scores a hit.
Drum, trumpets, and shot. Flourish. A piece goes off.
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 onyx shall he throw
Richer then that which four successive kings
In 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 heaven to earth,
"Now the King drinks to Hamlet." Come, begin.
(Trumpets the while.)
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
5.2.Sp97King
Stay. Give me drink. Hamlet this pearl is thine.
He drinks, and throws a pearl in Hamlet’s cup.
Here’s to thy health.—Give him the cup.
5.2.Sp98Hamlet
I’ll play this bout first. Set it by awhile.
Come.
They fence.
Come, another hit. What say you?
5.2.Sp101Queen
She drinks.
He’s fat and scant of breath.—
Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows.
The Queen takes a cup of wine to offer a toast to Hamlet.
The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.
5.2.Sp111Hamlet
They fence.
Laertes wounds Hamlet with his unbated rapier. In scuffling they change rapiers. Hamlet wounds Laertes.
Laertes falls down. The Queen falls down.
Come for the third, Laertes, you do but dally.
I pray you, pass with your best violence;
I am sure you make a wanton of me.
5.2.Sp120Laertes
She dies.
Exit Osric.
Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric;
I am justly killed with mine own treachery.
5.2.Sp125Laertes
He stabs the King.
It is here. Hamlet, thou art slain.
No med’cine in the world can do thee good;
In thee there is not half an hour’s life.
The treacherous instrument is in my hand,
Unbated and envenomed. The foul practice
Hath turned itself on me. Lo, here I lie
Never to rise again. Thy mother’s poisoned.
I can no more. The King, the King’s to blame.
5.2.Sp129Hamlet
The King dies.
Forcing the King to drink
Here, thou incestuous, damnèd Dane,
Drink off this potion. Is the onyx here?
Follow my mother.
5.2.Sp130Laertes
He dies.
He is justly served.
It is a poison tempered by himself.
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet.
Mine and my father’s death come not upon thee,
Nor thine on me!
5.2.Sp131Hamlet
Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.
I am dead, Horatio. Wretched Queen, adieu.
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, oh, I could tell you—
But let it be. Horatio, I am dead,
Thou livest. Report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.
5.2.Sp132Horatio
He attempts to drink from the poisoned cup, but is prevented by Hamlet.
Never believe it.
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane.
Here’s yet some liquor left.
5.2.Sp133Hamlet
Enter Osric.
As thou’rt a man,
Give me the cup! Let go! By heaven I’ll ha’t.
Oh, God, Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall I leave behind me!
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain
To tell my story.
(A march afar off.)
What warlike noise is this?
5.2.Sp134Osric
Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,
To th’ambassadors of England gives this warlike volley.
5.2.Sp135Hamlet
He dies.
Oh, I die, Horatio.
The potent poison quite o’ercrows my spirit.
I cannot live to hear the news from England,
But I do prophesy th’election lights
On Fortinbras. He has my dying voice.
So tell him, with th’occurrents more and less
Which have solicited. The rest is silence.
5.2.Sp136Horatio
Enter Fortinbras, with the English Ambassadors, with Drum, Colors, and Attendants.
Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
March within.
Why does the drum come hither?
5.2.Sp139Fortinbras
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?
5.2.Sp140Ambassador
The sight is dismal,
And our affairs from England come too late.
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing,
To tell him his commandment is fulfilled,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Where should we have our thanks?
5.2.Sp141Horatio
Not from his mouth,
Had it th’ability of life to thank you;
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 arrived, give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placèd the view,
And let me speak to th’yet unknowing world
How these things came about. So shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
Of deaths put on by cunning and for no cause,
And in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall’n on th’inventors’ heads. All this can I
Truly deliver.
5.2.Sp142Fortinbras
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.
5.2.Sp143Horatio
Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw no more.
But let this same be presently performed,
Even while men’s minds are wild, lest more mischance
On plots and errors happen.
5.2.Sp144Fortinbras
Exeunt.
Let four captains
Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage,
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have proved most royal; and for his passage,
The soldiers’ music and the rite of war
Speak loudly for him.
Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.
Go bid the soldiers shoot.
FINIS.
Annotations
1.1
Location: Elsinore Castle, Denmark. A guard platform.
Who’s there?
Q2’s
WHose there?is presumably a typographical or copying error for
Who’s there?as in F1. Q1 reads
who is that?
answer me
Francisco lays stress on the word
me.Since he is the one who has been watch, he should be saying
Who’s thereto Barnardo, the new arrival, not the other way around. The inversion of proper order is indicative of the mood of uneasy terror.
unfold yourself
Identify who you are.
struck
Q2 reads
strooke,F1
strook.Omitted in Q1.
rivals
Partners.
Q1 reads
partners.
Stand, ho! Who is
F1’s
Stand: who’scould be authorial, or it could be a compositor’s approximation for Q2’s more metrically correct
stand, ho, who is.
ground
Country, land.
liegemen to the Dane
Subjects of the Danish king.
soldiers
Q2’s plural
souldierscan make sense if Marcellus, arriving with Horatio, assumes that the two of them are replacing two guardsmen previously on watch. Or plural could be a copying error. Most editors prefer Q1/F1’s
Soldier.
hath
Here and throughout, F1’s substitution of
hasfor Q1/Q2’s
hath,and similarly with
does/doth,etc., could be editorial or compositorial sophistication.
Give
May God give.
Horatio
Q1/F1 both assign this speech to Marcellus. The skeptical tone of the question favors
Q2, but either is possible, and Q1/F1 could be an authorial choice.
fantasy
Fantastic imaginings.
Touching
Regarding, concerning.
along, / With us
To come along with us.
F1’s
along / With vs,Q1’s
along with vs,and Q2’s
along, / With vsare equally plausible.
With … night
To keep watch with us tonight.
approve
Confirm, corroborate.
have two nights
F1’s
two Nights haueis plausible as an authorial correction of Q1/Q2’s
haue two nights,though both are possible.
Last … all
In the night just before the present one.
yond … pole
Probably Arcturus, a bright star just to the west of the Big Dipper and the pole star
or polaris that is directly north in the night sky.
his
Its.
t’illume
To illuminate.
beating
Q2/F1 read
beating.Q1’s
towling,i.e.,
tolling,is attractive, but may be a reporter’s word substitution for what he heard.
scholar
One trained in the Latin of the Church and thus qualified to interrogate a ghost.
Looks ’a not like
Doesn’t he look like.
The form
’aoccurs often in Q2, only once in Hamlet F1. The usual change to
hecould be scribal or compositorial (Arden 3), but F1’s
ithere could be authorial.
harrows
Harrows
Q2’s
horrowesmay be a variant form of F1’s
harrowes,or possibly a copying error. Q1 reads
horrors.
It … spoke to
According to a widely held belief, ghosts could not speak until spoken to.
Speak to it
Q1/F1’s
Question itis a plausible substitution for Q2’s
Speak to it,especially since Q2’s reading could be an inadvertent repetition from line 49,
be spoke to.
thou that usurp’st
You who wrongfully assert your authority over.
buried Denmark
The buried former King of Denmark, Hamlet’s dead father.
sometimes
Formerly.
on’t
Of it.
sensible
Evident to the senses (especially sight).
avouch
Authority, confirmation.
Norway
King of Norway.
parle
Parley, conference with the enemy.
sledded Polacks
Poles traveling on sleds.
Q1/Q2 read
sleaded pollax,F1
sledded Pollax.Most editors take this to represent sledded Polacks; pole-axe is another possibility, though
sleadedor
sleddedare hard to reconcile with that reading.
jump
Precisely.
F1’s
iust(just) is possibly an authorial change, though perhaps instead a copying error for the more striking
iumpin Q1/Q2.
stalk
Stride.
to work
To organize my thoughts.
in … opinion
In my opinion, as I consider the whole topic.
Q1/F1’s substitution of
myfor Q2’s
mineis likely to be editorial, like many similar substitutions in F1.
bodes
Foretells.
Good now
I.e., I implore you all.
toils the subject
Imposes toil on the subjects, the citizens.
with
Q2’s reading,
with,makes intelligible sense, though Q1/F1’s
whyproduces a better grammatical structure for the sentence and is favored by most editors. Q2’s reading could be a typographical or copying error.
cost
Expense.
F1’s
Castis favored by most editors, since the idea of casting goes so well with brass cannon. Although Q1/Q2’s
costis intelligible, it could be a copying error.
brazen
Brass.
foreign mart
Shopping abroad.
The fact that Q2 agrees with Q1 in the spelling
forrainehere, and
ship-writesin the next line, suggests that Q2 is following Q1 at this point (Arden 3).
impress
Impressment, conscription.
Does … week
I.e., Requires them to work on Sunday just like every day of the week.
toward
About to happen.
Doth … day
I.e., Demands that work continue all twenty-four hours.
Fortinbras of Norway
Old Fortinbras, King of Norway, with whom old Hamlet fought as described in lines
64-5 (TLN 76-7) above; not young Fortinbras, nephew of this present king.
pricked on
Egged on, incited.
emulate
Competitive, rivalrous.
Dared … combat
Challenged to fight, one on one.
this side … world
I.e., all of Western Europe.
sealed
Confirmed by an official seal.
heraldry
The laws and pageant customs of chivalry.
Q2’s
heraldyis either a variant spelling or copying error for Q1/F1’s
heraldrie (Heraldrie).
these
Q2’s
thesemay be an error correctly presented as
thosein Q1/F1, but both are intelligible.
seized of
Possessed of.
Q2’s
seaz’d ofis arguably more idiomatic than F1’s
seiz’d on,which could be a copying error.
Against … King
In return for which a comparable portion of land was pledged by our King of Denmark.
which had return
Which was to have been assigned.
F1’s
which had return’dis preferred by most editors, especially since Q2’s
which had returneis an easy error for F1’s more plausible reading; but Q2’s reading is possible. Omitted in Q1.
comart
I.e., bargain.
Q2’s
comartis a hapax legomenon or word occurring only once in English, and may be an error for the more familiar
Cou’nantin F1, but it is conceivably what Shakespeare first wrote. Omitted in Q1.
And … design
And fulfillment of agreed-upon terms.
Editors have generally preferred F2’s
And … designedas flowing more plausibly than the reading in Q2/F1, but the Q2/F1 reading is possible. Omitted in Q1.
His … Hamlet
Old Fortinbras’s lands would have been transferred to old Hamlet.
Of … full
Full of untested fiery spirits.
skirts
Outskirts.
Sharked … lawless resolutes
Rounded up a troop of lawless renegadoes.
F1’s
Sharked … Landlesse Resolutesmay be an authorial correction. it suggests a troop of restlessly ambitious younger sons and other gentry without landed title.
For food … in’t
To feed and supply a bold enterprise demanding appetite and raw courage for such a
venture.
As it doth … state
F1 treats this as a parenthetical remark, introduced by
And.Q2’s
Asintroduces an explanatory point. The F1 reading could be a copying error, but is intelligible. Omitted in Q1.
of us
From us.
compulsatory
F1’s
Compulsatiueis more or less equivalent to Q2’s
compulsatory,but F1’s reading is metrically superior in the line, and may be an authorial choice. Omitted in Q1.
his father
The old King of Norway, now dead, brother of the present Fortinbras of Norway.
source
Motivation.
post-haste and rummage
Frenetic activity and bustle.
Arden 3 wonders if the Q2 spelling,
Romeage,and that of F1,
Romage,anticipate the following discussion (in Q2 only, however) of
the most high and palmy state of Rome(line 117, TLN 124.6). Omitted in Q1.
I think … countrymen
These lines appear in Q2 only, not in F1 or Q1. The cut could have been to shorten
the play for performance.
Well … sort that
That could well explain why.
question
Focus of contention.
mote
Speck of dust.
Q2’s
mothis a common early modern spelling of
mote.
palmy
Flourishing, prosperous, worthy to
bear the palmin a conventional symbol of victory.
ere
Before.
Julius
Julius Caesar.
Caesar’s assassination in Rome on March 15, 44 BC, is dramatized in Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar, where the event is heralded by many of the same prodigious omens cited in these
lines.
tenantless
Unoccupied.
sheeted
Shrouded in grave-clothes.
As
Just as, like (?).
Something may be missing here from the original text.
stars … blood
Comets and their trails drizzling blood.
Disasters
Unfavorable astrological signs or aspects.
the moist star
I.e., the moon, governess of tides.
Neptune’s empire stands
The sea depends.
Neptune is the Roman god of the sea.
Was … eclipse
The moon in eclipse was a foreboding sign of the day of Judgment and second coming
of Christ predicted in Matthew 24.29 and Revelation 6.12.
And even … countrymen
And no less fearful predictions of frightening happenings, serving as prognostictors
and prologues incessantly preceding the calamatous events that are fated to come,
are the means by which heaven and earth together make manifest to our regions and
peoples what they can expect.
fear[ed]
Q2’s
fearecould easily be a copying error for
feared.
soft
I.e., gently, wait, hold on.
cross it
I.e., stand in its way, confront it; also, hold up a Christian cross in front of it,
as Horatio may do here.
blast me
Strike or wither me with a curse.
It spreads his arms
Hismeans
its.
This stage direction is omitted in Q1/F1.
art privy to
Are possessed with secret knowledge of.
happily
Haply, perchance.
your
Q2’s
youris possible as an indefinite pronoun, suggesting in
your spiritsthe meaning
the sorts of spirits people talk about,but the word in Q2 may be an easy error for
you,the Q1/F1 reading.
The cock crows
This Q2 stage direction is omitted Q1/F1.
strike it
Q2’s
itcould easily be an error for F1’s
at it,and F1 scans more smoothly, but Q2 is possible as it stands. Omitted in Q1.
partisan
Long-handled, broad-bladed spear.
[Exit Ghost.]
This F1/Q1 stage direction is omitted in Q2.
started
Moved suddenly and violently.
trumpet
Trumpeter, herald.
morn
Q2 reads
morne,Q1
morning.F1’s
dayis also possible, but may have been an anticipation of
dayin line 158.
the god of day
Eos or Aurora, goddess of the dawn.
extravagant and erring
Wandering, unrestrained.
hies
Hastens.
probation
Proof.
say
F1’s
sayesmay be an error for Q2’s
say.
ever ’gainst
Just before.
This bird of dawning
The rooster.
Q2’s
Thisand Q1/F1’s
Theare more or less interchangeable here.
dare stir
Q2’s
dare sturre,F1’s
can walke,and Q1’s
dare walke abroadeare more or less equally plausible. F1’s version may be authorial, though not certainly so.
no planets strike
No planets exert their baleful influence.
Q1 reads
no planet srikes.
takes
Bewitches.
Q1/Q2’s
takes,though rarely used without an object (Arden 3), seems more plausible than F1’s
talkes,which could be a misprint.
charm
Cast a spell, enchant.
gracious
Suffused with divine grace.
that
F1’s
themight possibly be an authorial revision, but it is also plausibly a weaker copying substitute for Q1/Q2’s more concrete
that.
russet
Reddish brown.
eastward
Q2’s
Eastwardand F1’s
Easterneare more or less interchangeable. Some editors (e.g., Oxford) prefer F1 as potentially an authorial revision, but it could be a copying error. Q1 reads
mountaine topfor
eastward (eastern) hill.
Let’s
F1’s
Letis presumably a transcription error for Q1/Q2’s
Lets.
convenient
Conveniently.
Q2’s
conuenientis an acceptable form of the adverb in early modern English, but Q1/F1’s
conuenientlymakes for an equally acceptable iambic pentameter line and may represent the author’s preference.
[1.2]
Location: A room of state in the castle.
Flourish
A trumpet fanfare announcing the arrival of royalty, etc.
Q2’s entry SD begins with a
Florishnot mentioned in Q1/F1, spells the Queen’s name Gertrad (most often Gertrard elsewhere), and specifies
Cum Alijs,
with others,to cover the
Lords Attendantincluded, along with
his [Laertes’s] Sister Ophelia,in F1’s SD. Q1 names Corambis as the equivalent of Polonius, names
the two Ambassadors,and specifies
with Attendants.
Council
Members of the King’s Privy Council.
as
Including such persons as.
our
My.
The royal
we,seen also in lines 2, 3, 6, 7 (ourselves), 8, 10, etc.
sometime
Former.
F1’s
sometimesis an alternate spelling. Q1 omits the first sixteen lines of Q2/F1.
imperial jointress
Joint possessor of the throne.
to
F1’s
ofoffers what may be a more precise meaning than Q2’s
to,and could be authorial. Omitted in Q1.
With an … a dropping eye
With one eye smiling and the other tear-stained and lowered in grief.
Q2’s
With an auspicious, and a dropping eyeis more or less equivalent in meaning to F1’s
With one Auspicious, and one Dropping eye.F1’s version is plausibly though not certainly authorial. Omitted in Q1.
dole
Sorrow.
Your better wisdoms
The sage advice of you elders and statesmen (like Polonius).
have freely … along
Have freely given consent to this marriage.
Now … know
You need to be aware of the following circumstances.
In Q2/F1,
knoweis followed by no punctuation mark. An editorially added colon seems useful to the sense. F1, with a comma after
followes,may suggest “Now it follows from what’s been said that you know already about Fortinbras.” Omitted in Q1.
a weak … worth
A low estimate of our power and authority.
late
Recent.
disjoint … frame
Totally disordered.
Co-leaguèd with this … advantage
Combined with this illusory dream of his having us at a disadvantage.
F1’s
the dreamcould be authorial, but Q2’s
this dreamis more deictically specific, and F1’s reading could be a copying or compositorial error. Omitted in Q1.
Importing
Concerning, signifying.
with … bands of law
well ratified by law and heraldry,as Horatio put it at 1.1.91, TLN 104.
Q2’s
bandsmeans the same as F1’s
Bondsand may be a simple spelling variant. Omitted in Q1.
impotent and bed-rid
Wasted by disease and confined to bed.
to suppress … subject
I.e., insisting that the Norwegian king put an end to Fortinbras’s proceeding any
further in this business, since the raising of troops and supplies is all made up
out of the King of Norway’s subjects (and are therefore at his disposal for military
purposes, not young Fortinbras’s). (
The listsmeans “The roster of the troops levied.”)
gait
Q2/F1 print
gate.
For bearers
To serve as bearers.
Q2’s
For bearersis a better reading than F1’s
For bearing,which may be a copying error.
delated
Offered for your acceptance, presented to you as herein limited and defined.
The word could be dilated, expanded, set out at length. (F1 reads
dilated.) Q1 reads
related.
let … duty
Let your swift carrying out of my command give testimony of your dutiful obedience.
nothing
Not in the slightest.
[Exeunt … Cornelius]
F1 prints
Exit Voltemand and Cornelius.Omitted in Q1/Q2.
the Dane
The Danish king.
lose your voice
Waste your speech.
F1 prints
loose your voyce.
That … asking
I.e., That I will offer almost before you ask.
native
Closely related.
instrumental … mouth
Useful in carrying out what is verbally commanded.
My dread lord
My awe-inspiring lord and master.
F1’s
Dread my Lordmay be an authorial substitution for Q2’s
My dread Lord.Q1 reads
My gratious Lord.
leave and favor
Gracious permission.
And … pardon
And submissively ask your gracious permission and forgiveness for my having asked
such a favor.
H’ath
He has.
Q2’s
Hathrepresents a contraction of
He hathto facilitate scansion. F1’s
He hath(also in Q1) may be a copyist’s or compositor’s sophistication.
wrung … consent
This Q2 passage is omitted in F1 and read quite differently in Q1.
I sealed … consent
I gave my reluctant consent, as though affixing a seal to a document of approval.
Take … hour
Seize your opportunity while there is still time, while you are young.
And … will
And may you spend your time guided by your best qualities and inclinations.
cousin
Anyone related by blood or kinship but not of the immediate family.
A little … kind
I.e., Involved in a family relationship that is at once too close and yet lacking
in loving affection.
Kindpuns on the ideas of (1) blood relationship and (2) kindly feeling. The line is often spoken as an aside, though not necessarily.
Not so much
F1’s
Not sois metrically better than Q2’s
Not so much,and avoids the chiming repetition of Q2’s
Not so much … too much.F1 is generally viewed as authorial here. Omitted in Q1.
too much in the
son.
I.e., (1) too much in the sunshine of royal favor (2) too closely related as step-son
to Claudius.
Q2 reads
in the sonne; F1 reads
i’th'Sun.Omitted in Q1.
nighted color
(1) dark mourning garments (2) melancholy.
F1’s
nightly colouris perfectly intelligible and could be an authorial revision, but could perhaps be instead a sophistication by a copyist or compositor puzzled by the more striking and unusual
nightedof Q2. Omitted in Q1.
Denmark
The King of Denmark.
vailèd lids
Lowered eyelids.
common
(1) a common occurrence (2) as Hamlet uses the term in line 74,
vulgar, disgusting.
particular
Personal.
cold mother
Q2’s
cold mother(
coold motherin the original) is perhaps intelligible, but Hamlet is not likely to accuse his mother publicly of lack of feeling, and F1’s
goodis a sensible correction of what may be a typographical error in Q2. Omitted in Q1.
customary
Traditional on a mourning occasion.
suspiration
Sighing.
fruitful river
Abundance of tears.
dejected
Q2/F1 read
deiected,presumably the authorized reading. Q1 reads
distracted.
havior
Expression.
moods
Outward manifestations of feeling.
shapes
Q2’s
chapesmay be a variant spelling or copying error for
shapes.F1’s
shewes,shows, could be authorial, or it could be a somewhat less vivid substitute in copying for Q2’s puzzling
chapes.Omitted in Q1.
denote
Q2’s
deuoteseems clearly to be an easy typographical error for
denote,the F1 reading. Omitted in Q1.
passes
Q2’s
passesis interchangeable with F1’s
passeth.Shakespeare may have preferred the latter, though it could also be a sophistication by copyist or compositor.
trappings
Outward decorative signs.
know
Q2/F1 read
know; Q1 reads
thinke.
That father lost
That father who is now dead.
obsequious
Appropriate to obsequies or funerals.
persever
This Q2/F1 spelling captures the accent needed on the second syllable. Omitted in
Q1.
condolement
Grieving, lamentation.
unfortified
Insufficiently armed against adversity.
or mind
Q2’s
or mindeis intelligible, but F1’s
a Mindemay well represent authorial revision or correction. Omitted in Q1.
simple
Ignorant.
For … to sense
For since everything that happens to us must be as common as the most ordinary experience.
still
Continually, always.
the first corse
The body of the first human ever to have died, Abel.
The murder of Abel at the hands of his brother Cain, depicted in Genesis 4, is the
first recorded death in the Bible after the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden for
their having disobeyed God. Q2’s
courseand F1’s
Coarseare variant spellings of
corse,corpse. Omitted in Q1.
unprevailing
Profitless.
most immediate
Next in succession.
For
As for.
Wittenberg
The German city on the River Elbe, home to the famous university where in 1517 Martin
Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Schlosskirche, in what is conventionally
regarded as the opening salvo of the Protestant Reformation.
Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus represents its protagonist as having studied and taught at Wittenberg.
retrograde
Contrary.
Q2 prints
retrogard.
bend you
To yield to our wishes.
courtier, cousin
F1 reads
Courtier Cosin.The lack of a comma after
Courtiercould suggest a compound idea,
courtier-cousin,but is more probably a simple misprint for Q2’s
courtier, cosin.
lose her prayers
Fail to achieve the thing she prays for.
Q2 prints
loose her prayers.
pray thee
F1’s
prytheecould be an authorial correction of Q2’s
pray thee,but could instead be an editorial sophistication.
in all my best
To the best of my ability.
Hamlet pointedly replies to his mother, not to the King. He uses the formal
yourather than thee, as was appropriate in addressing a parent.
Be as ourself
Enjoy the privileges and status of royalty. (The plural
ourselfindicates the royal plural; it means “myself, I as king.”) The King invites Hamlet to enjoy the same privileges as the King himself.
Sits smiling to
Pleases.
grace
Honor.
jocund
Cheerful, merry, joyful.
Denmark
The King of Denmark, Claudius.
Hamlet’s disapproval of heavy drinking among the Danes as
a custom / More honored in the breath than the observance,1.4.17-18 (TLN 620-1), is directed particularly at Claudius, who uses any public ceremony as the opportunity to raise a toast. Drinking is emblematic of his worldly covetousness.
tell
Sound, announce.
The firing of artillery is to mark the occasion, as at 1.4.7.1 (TLN 610).
rouse
Bout of drinking, ceremonial toast.
F1 prints
Rouce,presumably a spelling variant of Q2’s
rowse.
heaven
F1’s
Heauensmay be an authorial correction of Q2’s
heauen.
bruit again
Loudly echo.
Respeaking earthly thunder
Echoing our cannon.
Perhaps trumpets and kettledrums are to sound also, as at 1.4.7.1 (TLN 610) and 5.2.268.1
(TLN 3852).
Flourish … Hamlet
This is Q2’s stage direction. F1 reads
Exeunt. Manet Hamlet.Q1 reads
Exeunt all but Hamlet.
sallied
Assailed, beseiged.
Q1/Q2’s
salliedis possible in the sense given here.
Solid,the F1 reading, accords well with
meltin this same line. Editors have sometimes emended to sullied, contaminated, defiled.
resolve
Dissolve.
the Everlasting
God.
canon
Divine law.
self-slaughter
Q2’s
seale slaughterappears to be a typographical error in place of F1’s
Selfe-slaughter.
Oh, God, God
Q2’s reading here may seem metrically superior to F1’s
O God, O God,and F1’s reading could be a compositorial sophistication. On the other hand, Q2’s
seale slaughterand, in the next line,
waryfor weary point to carelessness in the setting of these Q2 lines. In Q1, Hamlet twice exclaims
O Godin this soliloquy.
w[e]ary
Q2’s
waryis an easy error for F1’s
weary.
Seem
F1’s
Seemesis a possible reading, since early modern usage allowed this use of the singular verb in agreement with a noun like
All,and Shakespeare sometimes uses this pattern; but Q2’s Seeme is a more reliable reading, since the line of transmission to the printed page is more direct than in F1, and
Seemesis an easy misprint for Seeme. Omitted in Q1.
uses
Customs, doings.
ah, fie
F1’s
Oh, fie, fiecould be authorial, or could be a sophistication of Q2’s
ah fie.
rank and gross in nature
Offensively vigorous in growth and coarse in their very natures.
Proverbially, Weeds come forth on the fattest soil if it is untilled (Dent W241).
merely
Completely.
come thus
Q2’s reading,
come thus,is possible in the sense of work out this way, but F1’s
come to thisseems better metrically and logically. Omitted in Q1.
two months
Hamlet may be exaggerating, for bitter effect, the brevity of interval between his
father’s death and his mother’s remarriage; at 3.2.73 (TLN 2982) Ophelia insists to
Hamlet that
twice two monthshave passed since the death of his father. (Of course she says this later on, in Act 2, after the ambassadors have returned from Norway.) A few lines later in this present scene Hamlet reduces the interval still further, to
within a month(lines 145-7, TLN 329-31).
to this
Compared to Claudius.
Hyperion
Titan sun-god in Greek mythology.
In Greek,
Hyperion
means “the high one.” He was one of the Titans, the son of Ge or Gaia (earth) and
Uranus (the heavens), and brother of Cronos.
satyr
Lecherous half-goat, half-human deity of classical mythology.
F1 reads
Satyre,Q2
satire.The satyr, a companion of Bacchus or Dionysus, god of wine and revelry, was half-human but typically with a goat’s legs, tail, ears, and horns. It was noted for its excessive sexual cravings and was habitually drunk (hence, in Hamlet’s mind, like Claudius).
might not beteem
Would not allow.
F1’s
beteeneis presumably a copying error for Q2’s
beteeme.
should
Q2’s
shouldimplies admonition to be dutiful. The F1 reading,
would,suggests habitual action, and is preferred by most editors.
As if … fed on
As if her desire and love for her husband was augmented by the intense pleasure of
that love.
Cleopatra, in Antony and Cleopatra, 2.2.247-8, is similarly described by Enobarbus as a woman who makes hungry where
most she satisfies.
within a month … A little month
Compare this interval of time with
But two months deadat line 138 (TLN 322) above.
or ere
Even before.
Niobe
When Niobe boasted that her fourteen children outnumbered those of Leto, Leto’s children
Apollo and Artemis slew all of Niobe’s children as a punishment for their mother’s
hubris or pride. Turned by Zeus into a stone, Niobe never ceased her bitter tears,
flowing as a spring from the rock.
The story of Niobe and her children is told by (among others) Ovid in his
Metamorphoses
, 6.146-312.
why, she—
F1’s repetition here,
Why she, euen she,improves the line’s meter and seems authorial; Q2’s version could be the result of inadvertent omission.
God
F1’s substitution of
Heauenfor Q1/Q2’s
Godhere may be in response to the Act to Restrain Abuses of Players, 1606. Also at 1.2.196 (TLN 386) and 1.5.25 (TLN 709).
wants discourse of reason
Lacks the ability to reason.
Hercules
Hero of classical mythology noted for his twelve labors, deeds requiring Herculean strength and courage.
in
F1’s
ofand Q2’s
inare more or less interchangeable—whether authorially intended or an accident of transmission in F1 is hard to say.
gallèd
Inflamed, irritated.
post
Hasten.
incestuous
Judeo-Christian tradition (see Leviticus 18:16 and 20:21), incorporated into the Anglican
Book of Common Prayer, forbade a man to marry his brother’s wife’ as Claudius has
done in this play, and, historically as Henry VIII may have done by marrying his dead
brother Arthur’s wife, Katharine of Aragon. As Arden 3 notes, Henry’s disavowal of
his marriage to Katharine on the grounds that it was sinful (so that the marriage
might be annulled and he be allowed to marry Anne Boleyn) was the precipitating event
of the English break with Rome and the beginning of the English Reformation. Yet as
Arden 3 also notes, Claudius and Gertrude, though burdened with many feelings of guilt
and remorse, do not include incest in the list of things for which they are sorry.
Enter … Barnardo
This is the Q2 stage direction, though spelled
Bernardohere. F1 reads
Enter Horatio, Barnard, and Marcellus.Q1 reads
Enter Horatio and Marcellus.
or I do … myself
I.e., I know you as well as I know myself.
Hamlet, distracted and unhappy, does not recognize at first that Horatio is among
those who have just entered and whom he initially greets with the conventional formula,
I am glad to see you well.Compare today’s formulaic
How are you?
change that name with you
Share and exchange mutually the name of
friendwith you, rather than having you address me as your master. If anything, I am your servant.
make you from
Are you doing away from.
As Arden 3 observes, the text does not explain how Hamlet could have failed to note
the presence of Horatio at the funeral and marriage, nor does it explain how Horatio
could be so knowledgeable about court politics in Denmark when he has been at Wittenberg
with Hamlet.
make you from
Are you doing away from.
As Arden 3 observes, the text does not explain how Hamlet could have failed to note
the presence of Horatio at the funeral and marriage, nor does it explain how Horatio
could be so knowledgeable about court politics in Denmark when he has been at Wittenberg
with Hamlet.
Marcellus … to see you
Hamlet, realizing that in his excitement at seeing Horatio he has not observed the
social niceties of greeting the others who have just arrived, repairs that little
slip by welcoming Marcellus by name and then Bernardo with
Good even, sir,before returning to his question to Horatio.
hear
Q2’s
heareand F1’s
haueare equally plausible. The F1 reading could be authorial, or it could be an editorial sophistication.
Nor … yourself
Nor will I trust my own ears if they tell me you are calling yourself a truant, a delinquent.
for to drink
Q2’s
for to drinkeis acceptable Elizabethan English, but F1’s
to drinke deepemay be an authorial revision. Omitted in Q1.
to [see]
The absence of
seein Q2, a word necessary for the sense and present in Q1/F1, is no doubt a simple omission.
hard upon
Quickly afterwards.
The funeral … tables
The food left uneaten from the funeral banquet, including meat pies and pastries,
provided cold leftovers for the marriage festivities.
A bitterly satiric exaggeration, as Arden 3 notes. Even Hamlet has admitted that a
month has elapsed between the two events (lines 145-7 above, TLN 329-31), and that
his father is
But two months dead(line 138, TLN 322), while Ophelia later avers at 3.2.73 (TLN 1982) that
twice two monthshave passed since the death of the old king.
dearest
Direst, most hated, bitterest.
Or ever I had
Ere, before I had.
F1’s
Ere I had euer,equivalent in meaning to the phrase in Q2, may be an authorial change, but Q2 is intelligible as it stands. Q1 reads
Ere euer I had.
Where
The Oh in F1’s
Oh wheremay be an interpolation, or could be authorial. Q1’s
Wheretends to support the reading of Q2.
’A
He.
He,the commonly used form in Q1/F1, is probably a sophistication of the colloquial form (
a) in Q2.
’A
He.
He,the commonly used form in Q1/F1, is probably a sophistication of the colloquial form (
a) in Q2.
yesternight
Last night.
Season your admiration
Moderate your astonishment.
attent
Attentive.
God’s
F1’s
Heauensis presumably an expurgation to avoid the blasphemy in Q1/Q2’s
Gods.
dead waste
Lifeless desolation.
Perhaps with a pun in
wasteon waist, middle. Q1’s
vasthas appealed to some editors as suggesting a huge empty space. Q2/F1 read
wast.
Armed at point
Provided with weapons in every detail.
Q2’s
Armed at pointconveys the same meaning as Q1’s
Armed to poyntand F1’s
Armed at all points,which may be an authorial change.
cap-à-pie
From head to foot.
Q1 and Q2 read Capapea, F1 Cap a Pe. From old French cap-a-pie; in modern French de pied en cap (Arden 3).
slow
Slowly.
stately by them. Thrice
F1’s punctuation (
stately: By them thrice) is possible, but may be a misprint for Q2’s more plausible
stately by them; thrice …
fear-surprisèd eyes
Eyes that show sudden surprise and fear.
truncheon’s
A truncheon is a military officer’s baton or staff, a sign of his office.
distilled
Editors generally prefer Q2’s
distil’dto F1’s
bestil’d,which could be an easy copying error.
act
Effect.
dreadful
Full of dread, dread-inspired.
Where, as
Q2/F1 both read
Whereas,an easy copying error.
These hands … like
These two hands of mine are not more like each other than this apparition was like
your father.
platform
Battlements of the castle.
watch
Customarily stand watch.
F1’s
watchtis certainly plausible as referring to the previous night, and is confirmed by Q1’s
watched,but Q2 also makes good sense.
it head
Its head. (
It headis the older, uninflected genitive form.)
Its is more common in Shakespeare, but the correction to
itsin Q4 has no authority. F1, like Q2, reads
it; Q1 reads
his.
did address … speak
Moved in such a way as to suggest that it was about to speak.
even
Just.
writ down in our duty
Prescribed in the duty we owe you.
Indeed
The repetition,
Indeed, indeedin Q1/F1 is, in the opinion of Arden 2, an actor’s interpolation, like
Very like, very likeat line 241 (TLN 435) below, but in both instances the repetition may suggest a verbal trait of the speaker. The second indeed in Q1/F1 improves the metrical pentameter line.
All
I.e., Marcellus, Barnardo, and Horatio.
F1’s
Bothin these lines points to Marcellus and Barnardo as those who respond here, without Horatio, who then steps in at line 232, TLN 426, but Q2’s
Allis confirmed by Q1. The difference here could point to changes in stage production at diffferent times.
All
I.e., Marcellus, Barnardo, and Horatio.
F1’s
Bothin these lines points to Marcellus and Barnardo as those who respond here, without Horatio, who then steps in at line 232, TLN 426, but Q2’s
Allis confirmed by Q1. The difference here could point to changes in stage production at diffferent times.
All
I.e., Marcellus, Barnardo, and Horatio.
F1’s
Bothin these lines points to Marcellus and Barnardo as those who respond here, without Horatio, who then steps in at line 232, TLN 426, but Q2’s
Allis confirmed by Q1. The difference here could point to changes in stage production at diffferent times.
Then … face
I.e., I assume, then, since he was fully armed, that you couldn’t see his face.
This hypothetical statement in Q2, ending in a (faint) period, is made a question
in Q1/F1.
beaver
Visor on the helmet.
What looked he, frowningly?
How did he look? Frowningly? Did it appear that he was frowning?
F1’s
What, lookt he frowningly?interprets What as an exclamation. Q1 reads
How look’t he, frowningly?
countenance
Expression.
I would
I wish.
Very like
Very likely.
The repetition,
Very like, very likein Q1/F1 is, in the opinion of Arden 2, an actor’s interpolation, like Indeed, indeed at line 225 in F1 (TLN 418), but the pattern may also suggest insistency, and the Q1/F1 reading could be authorial.
tell
Count.
hundred
Q2’s
hundrethis a common early modern spelling of hundred.
Both
I.e., Marcellus and Barnardo.
Q2’s
Bothseems preferable here to F1’s
All,since Horatio disagrees in the next line with the guards’ estimate of time. Q1 assigns to Marcellus alone, which is perfectly possible.
grizzled, no?
Grey or mingled with grey, was it not? (expecting an affirmative answer.)
F1’s
grisly? No.is possible as an alternative spelling and punctuation of grissly, no?, meaning “grizzled, was it not” (but not grisly, “inspiring horror or disgust”). Q1’s
grisleld, no.tends to confirm Q2’s
grissl’d, no.
sable silvered
Black sprinkled with silver-grey.
The sable, prized then and now for its fur, is a carnivorous weasel-like mammal.
watch
Stand watch.
walk
Q2’s
walke,confirmed by Q1, seems right, even though F1’s
wakeis possible in the sense of
be awake in the night.
warr’nt
Guarantee.
Q2’s spelling,
warn’t,indicates pronunciation in one syllable, as called for in the scansion as arranged in Q2. F1’s
warrant youmay be part of the rearrangement of the lineation, in which
I’le watch … walke againeis a single verse line, as it is not in Q2. This is perhaps more likely to be a rationalization by a copyist or compositor rather than by the author. Q1 reads
warrant.
hold my peace
Be silent.
tenable
Able to be held.
F1’s
trebleis perhaps possible in the sense of trebly, invoking a threefold obligation to remain silent, but Q2’s
tenableis more plausible, and is confirmed by Q1’s
tenible.
whatsomever
Whatsoever.
Q1/F1’s
whatsoeueris actually the preferred form in Shakespeare’s printed texts, but Q2’s
whatsomeueris also used and appears to be the original spelling here; whatsoeuer may be the Q1/F1 compositors’ following of printing house practice.
requite
Repay.
you
F1’s
ye,here and elsewhere, may represent compositorial practice. Q1/Q2 print
you.
eleven
Q2 reads
a leauen.
Exeunt
The placement of this stage direction here is thus indicated in Q1/Q2/F1, before Hamlet
says
Your loves, as mine to you. Farewell.Presumably he says this to them as they are leaving.
Your loves … to you
I.e., I accept your
dutyas love, and I pledge my love to you in that same sense.
Compare Hamlet’s insistence at line 163 above (TLN 350) on exchanging mutually the
name of
friendwith Horatio rather than allowing Horatio to speak of himself as Hamlet’s
servant.
Your loues,in Q2 at TLN 455, seems addressed to all the men (compare
Your louein F1), as indicated in the speech headings
Allin Q2/F1; so too with
youin TLN 453, where F1 has
ye.F1’s shift to the singular in these two instances seems out of keeping with you in TLN 451 and 453 in F1 and Q2.
doubt
Suspect, fear.
Fond
Foolish, mad.
Q2’s
fondecan be defended, but is more plausibly a simple misreading of Q1/F1’s
foule.
[1.3]
Location: Polonius’s apartment in the castle, or some place nearby.
Enter Laertes, and Ophelia his sister.
Q1/F1 omit
his sister.
inbarked
Embarked, loaded on board a sailing vessel.
Spelled
inbarkedin Q1/Q2 and
imbark’tin F1. The means of travel from the Danish court to Paris is perhaps unclear, but travel by water to Le Havre in France or indeed further upstream on the River Seine would lessen the need for a difficult and dangerous land journey. Laertes assumes too, in the following lines, that letters to and from his sister will travel by water.
as
Whenever.
And convey is assistant, do
And as means of conveyance are available, do.
F1’s
And Conuoy is assistant; doemay be an authorial revision of Q2’s seemingly erroneous
And conuay, in assistant doe.Q2’s
conuayis possible, but probably a misprint for F1’s
Conuoy.
But let
Without letting.
For … favor
As for Hamlet and the attentions he pays you, which must be regarded as trifing.
F1’s
favoursand Q2’s
favourare equally plausible. F1 might be an authorial change or a result of copying.
a fashion … blood
A passing fancy prompted by sexual attraction.
A violet … primy nature
I.e., Natural impulses in the springtime of their vigor.
Forward
Insistent, eagerly pulsating, early-blooming and soon to fade.
F1’s
Frowardmight possibly mean “ungovernable,” but is more likely a misprint or variant spelling for Q2’s
Forward.
The perfume … minute
Something sweet to supply the pleasures of a moment.
Q2’s
The perfume and suppliance of a minutegives an example of hendiadys, a figure of speech in which two usually independent words are connected by
andrather than having one modify the other. F1’s reading of this line,
The suppliance of a minute?may feature an unintentional omission of
perfume and,to the detriment of the scansion.
No more but so?
Printed as a statement ending in a period in Q2/F1, but plausibly a question. Omitted
in Q1.
For nature … withal
For all living creatures (especially humans), as they mature, grow not in physical
strength alone, but as the body ages the inner qualities of mind and soul develop
also. (
Thewsare sinews.
Inward serviceis the inner life.)
Laertes seems to be warning Ophelia that as Hamlet grows older, his interests may
change. Q2/F1 print
cressantfor crescent. Omitted in Q1.
bulks
Bulk.
The plural form of Q2’s
bulkesmay have been picked up in error from
thewespreviously in the line. F1’s
Bulkeis plausibly authorial.
this temple
The body, temple of the soul.
Q2’s
this templerefers to the body; F1’s
hiswould seem grammatically to refer back to nature, a possible reading but less clear, and his would be an easy misprint for this.
soil nor cautel
Stain or deceit.
The virtue of his will
The sincerity of his desires and intentions.
F1’s
The vertue of his feareis almost certainly an erroneous copying of Q2’s
The vertue of his will,prompted by the copyist’s eyeskip to feare at the end of the line. This is the last line on Folio page 115.
His greatness weighed
When his royal rank is taken into consideration.
F1 follows this line with a line missing from Q2:
For he himselfe is subiect to his Birth.The idea somewhat repeats that of the previous line, but the omission could have been an error.
unvalued persons
Persons of ordinary social standing.
Carve for himself
Help himself to the choicest morsel of the roast, i.e., choose for himself.
To be one’s own carver is a proverbial phrase (Dent C110).
safety
F1’s
sanctityis a possible reading. It is sometimes emended to sanity, which fits well with
health,but Q2’s
safetyis more secure as a reading.
this whole
F1’s
thecould be an authorial correction of Q2’s
this,or could be an editorial sophistication. F1’s
weoleis presumably a misprint for Q2’s
whole.
voice and yielding
Expressed opinion and consent.
that body
The body politic, the state.
in his particular act and place
In the particular circumstances to which he is restricted by his high station.
F1 reads
in his peculiar Sect and force,i.e., in his particular rank and power, a possible reading but arguably unconvincing in its wording. Editors disagree.
May … deed
May do as he promises.
Than … withal
Than general opinion in Denmark will go along with.
Cf. the proverb Saying and doing are two things (Dent S119).
weigh
Q2 reads
way,F1
weigh.
credent
Credulous, trusting.
list
Listen to.
lose
Q2’s
loosemay simply be a common variant spelling of F1’s
lose,but could suggest the loosening of moral restraints.
unmastered importunity
Uncontrolled urgency of desire.
And keep you in … desire
I.e., Don’t let your passionate feelings lead you where you will be vulnerable to
his amorous assaults.
A military metaphor. A shot
you in is the range of a weapon, such as a gun or bow and arrow. Q2’s make fine sense,
but F1’s
withincould be an authorial revision.
The chariest … The canker
Q2 introduces lines 499, 501, and 502 with quotation marks, suggesting their proverbial
nature.
chariest
Most modest.
is prodigal … moon
Is taking enough of a risk if she merely expose herself to the chaste moon.
The moon (Diana, Artemis, Phoebe), as a symbol of chaste affection, was widely associated
with Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabethan ladies were careful to mask themselves from the
sun; Ophelia is being urged to be even more cautious than that.
scapes
The aphetic form of escapes.
calumnious
Slanderous.
The canker … spring
The cankerworm injures the budding flowers of springtime.
before their buttons be disclosed
Before their buds are open.
F1’s
themay be a misprint for Q2’s
their.
in … youth
In the early time of life, a time that has the freshness and innocence of the dew-sprinkled
dawn.
blastments
Blightings.
Youth … near
Youth yields to the rebellion of the flesh without any outside promptings.
watchman to my heart
Guardian over my affections.
F1’s
watchmencould refer plurally to the various points Laertes has made, but it may instead be a simple copying error for Q2’s
watchman.
ungracious
Ungodly, lacking in spiritual grace.
Whiles, a
F1’s
Whilst like aimproves the metrical cadence and clarifies the meaning of Q2’s
Whiles a.The missing like in Q2 could easily be an error of omission, but the Q2 reading is intelligible.
puffed
Bloated or swollen (presumably with the arrogance of youth).
recks … rede
Pays no heed to his own best advice.
Q2 reads
reakes … reed.F1 reads
reaks … reade.
Enter Polonius
This Q2 text places this entrance before Laertes says,
Oh, fear me not.In F1 the entrance follows that line. The F1 arrangement is logical enough, suggesting that Laertes is then prompted by his father’s entrance to say
I stay too long.But on the large Elizabethan stage actors often enter a bit early to give them time to reach the other actors already on stage, and the overlap can be meaningful as the audience hears what the entering actor does not yet hear. Q2’s providing a speech prefix for Laertes’s
Oh, fear me notseems necessary only because the line occurs after the entrance. Q1 delays the entrance until Corambis, the Q1 equivalent of Polonius, is about to speak. Some editors choose to have Polonius enter before
I stay too long.Capell prefers to see the entrance after
But here my father comes.All are possible stagings.
fear me not
Don’t worry about me.
In some recent productions, Laertes is cutting off his sister by saying this; he doesn’t
need a lecture from her, even if he has just taken it upon himself to inform her of
her duty to self, family, and God.
A double … leave
The goddess Occasion or Opportunity has smiled upon me by provided me the chance to
say goodbye to my father a second time and thereby receive from him a second blessing.
In some modern productions, Laertes (and his sister too) are both rather put off by
their father’s tedious moralizing. If so, Laertes’s speech here is tinged with irony;
he thinks he’s already been through the business of saying goodbye to his father.
The wind … sail
I.e., You have a following wind now, so don’t delay.
your … you
Polonius’s use of the more formal pronoun
youhere has the effect of suggesting that the readiness of the wind for departure applies to Laertes and others on the vessel. Polonius shifts to the intimate
theeas he bestows his blessing and throughout his speech of advice to his son (though F1 does read
my blessing with you,perhaps influenced by the earlier uses of you).
you are stayed for. There, my blessing
You are being waited for on board. There now, take my blessing.
Presumably Polonius gestures, perhaps by laying his hands on the head of his kneeling
son, or an embrace, or a pat on the shoulder. F1’s
you are staid for there: my blessingsuggests instead,
you are being waited for there, on board. Take my blessing.Editors generally favor the Q2 reading,
you are stayed for, there my blessing.
Look thou character
See to it that you inscribe.
Q2’s
Lookemakes perfect sense, but F1’s
Seemay be an authorial revision.
Nor … act
And do not act upon any thought that is inadequately thought through or miscalculated.
Be … vulgar
Be sociable but not indiscriminate in your social dealings.
Those friends
F1’s
The friends,though perfectly intelligible, could be an error in transmission for Q2’s
Those friends.
and their adoption tried
And their suitability as potential companions having been tested and screened.
unto
F1’s
toscans better than Q2’s
vnto,and may be authorial.
hoops of steel
Metal hoops such as would be used to hold together the sides of a barrel.
dull thy palm
I.e., shake hands so often as to make the gesture essentially meaningless. Q1 reads
dull the palme.
entertainment
Greeting with a handshake.
Q1 reads
entertaine.
new-hatched, unfledged
Newly hatched in the nest and still unable to fly.
F1 reads
vnhatch’t, vnfleg’d.Q2 reads
new hatcht vnfledgd.Q1 reads
new vnfledgd.The prefix vn in F1’s vnhatch’t oould have been an erroneous anticipation of the following prefix vn in vnpledg’d, thereby misreading Q2’s
new hatcht.
courage
Swashbuckler.
F1’s
Comradeoffers an easier meaning, even if Q2’s
courageis confirmed by Q1, and, as Arden 3 points out, the u in courage could easily have been misread as m in Elizabethan handwriting.
Bear’t that th’opposèd
Manage the business so that your adversary.
censure
Opinion, judgment.
reserve thy judgment
Do not abandon your own opinion of what is said.
habit
Clothing, dress.
Q1 reads
apparrell.
fancy
Extravagant fashion.
Q1 reads
fashion.
For … man
We are what we wear.
Are of a … in that
Are especially refined in manners and in choosing what to wear.
Q2’s
Or of aand Q1/F1’s
Are of aboth seem in need of emendation. Many editors choose
Are of all.F1 reads
chefffor Q1/Q2’s
chiefe.Q1 reads
generallfor Q2/F1’s
generous.
boy
Q2’s
boyseems altogether less likely than F1’s
be,and could be an easy misprint, but possibly Polonius could be addressing Laertes this way while omitting the understood verb. Omitted in Q1.
love
I.e., imprudent generosity prompted by strong feelings of friendship.
Q2’s
loueis certainly less persuasive than F1’s
lone,i.e., loan, and a confusing of these two words is easy, but the Q2 reading is retained in this Q2 text since the word is defensible in the sense suggested here. Omitted in Q1.
loses
Q2 reads
looses,often a variant spelling of F1’s
loses.
dulleth
F1’s
duls theis certainly plausible, and could be authorial, but it could instead be a compositorial sophistication of Q2.
husbandry
Thrift.
My … thee
May my blessing enable my advice to mature and ripen in your mind.
invests
Beseiges, presses upon, or makes an investment in.
Q2’s
inuestsis possible in the senses suggested above, and thus is retained in this Q2 text, but F1’s
inuitesseems more plausible and may be authorial.
tend
Attend, are waiting.
touching
Concerning.
Marry
I.e., By the Virgin Mary. (A mild oath.)
well bethought
Appropriately thought of; I’m glad you mentioned that.
audience
Hearing, attention.
put on me
Presented or suggested to me.
understand yourself
Appreciate your situation.
behooves
Befits.
honor
Reputation.
tenders
Offers.
green
Inexperienced.
Unsifted
Untried.
I will
Corrected to
Ilein F1. The alteration could be authorial, or editorial sophistication.
these
Q2’s
theseand F1’s
hisare equally plausible. The alteration could be authorial, or it could be editorial sophistication or miscopying. Compare
hisin the same phrase three lines earlier.
sterling
Lawful currency.
Tender … dearly
(1) Take better care of yourself; (2) Hold out for a better bargain, i.e., marriage.
not to crack … thus
I.e., if I may use a metaphor from horsemanship, at the risk of running it so hard
that it is broken-winded.
Wrong[ing]
Q2’s
Wrongcan make sense if emended to Pope’s
Wronging.F1’s
Roaminglends itself to Collier’s emendation,
Running.Warburton proposes Wringing. Running applies well to the metaphor of running a horse until it is broken-winded.
tender … fool
(1) make me look foolish, and yourself as well; (2) present me with a grandchild.
(The word
foolcould be applied to babies, often endearingly.)
fashion
Mere form, conventional flattery. (Playing on Ophelia’s
fashionin the previous line in the more usual sense of
manner.)
Go to, go to
I.e., What nonsense. (An expression of impatient dismissal.)
countenance
Authority, confirmation.
with almost all the holy vows of heaven
F1’s slight abbreviation,
with all the vowes of Heauen,may possibly have been dictated by F1’s awkward re-lineation.
spring[e]s … woodcocks
Traps to catch proverbially gullible birds.
Cf. Dent F626, The fowler is caught in his own net, and Laertes’s similar reference
to the woodcock caught in its own springe or trap at 5.2.214 (TLN 3783) below. Q2’s
springsmay be a spelling variant for Q1/F1’s
springes.
When … vows
When passionate desire rages, how prodigally the soul prompts the tongue to promise
anything to the desired person.
Q2’s
Lendsand F1’s
Giuesare similar in meaning. F1’s reading could be authorial choice or a copyist’s substitution; perhaps it erroneously anticipates
Giuingin the next line.
extinct … a-making
Lacking any real feeling or warmth of affection even from the very first moment of
the promise-making.
take
Mistake.
From this time
From this time forth.
F1 reads
Forfor Q2’s
from,and adds
Daughterto the end of this line, plausibly enough but somewhat unmetrically, and perhaps mistakenly picking up the last word of line 117 (TLN 583). On the other hand, Polonius is much given to verbal repetitions of this sort.
something
Somewhat.
F1’s
somewhatmay be authorial, but it might instead be a compositor’s or copyist’s sophistication or misreading for Q2’s
something.
Set your entreatments … parle
Do not offer to surrender your chastity simply because he has requested a meeting
to discuss terms.
Q2 reads
intreatments.
Parleis a common form of parley, the form printed in F1.
For
As for.
so much in him
This much concerning him.
tether
Q2 prints
tider,F1
tether.
In few
In brief.
brokers
Go-betweens, solicitors.
Not of that dye … show
Not truly of the color that their garments seem to show. (The vows are not what they
seem.)
F1’s
the eyemay be a misprint for Q2’s
that die,i.e., dye, meaning much the same as in F1 but with a clearer image. Most editors prefer the Q2 reading as the more reliable. F1 could easily be a copying error of confusing d with e in secretary hand.
implorators
Solicitors.
F1’s
imploratorsand Q2’s
imploratotors,i.e.,
imploratators,presumably mean the same thing. Presumed derivation from the now-obsolete French implorateurs would seem to militate against imploratators, which the OED does not recognize as a separate word.
Breathing
Speaking.
bonds
Although Theobald’s widely adopted emendation of Q2/F1’s
bondsto
bawdsaptly continues the metaphor of
brokersand
implorators,Arden 3 retains
bonds,noting the link to
vowsand
suitsin the previous four lines.
beguile
Q2’s
beguideis authoritatively corrected to
beguilein F1.
This is for all
This is once for all; I don’t want to have to say it again.
slander any moment leisure
Abuse any moment’s leisure (or any occasion).
Come your ways
Come along.
[1.4]
Location: The battlements or rampart walls of the castle.
shrewdly
Keenly, sharply.
Q2’s
shroudlyis perhaps an inviting reading, but could well be a copying error for F1’s
shrewdly.Q1 reads
shrewd.
it is very cold.
F1 poses this as a question:
is it very cold?Probably this is a misprint for Q2.
It is nipping
Q2’s
It is nipping,without the article a, can mean “It is very cold,” but the rhythm of F1’s
It is a nippingseems more metrical and convincing.
eager
Biting, keen, sharp.
From French aigre, sour.
lacks of
Is just short of.
It then
F1’s
then itmay be a deliberate rewriting of Q2’s
it thenor else a miscopying; see a similar possible dislectic metathesis in note 1.4.1 above.
season
Time.
held his wont
Was accustomed.
pieces
I.e., of cannon, ordnance.
This Q2 stage direction is omitted in F1. Q1 prints
Sound Trumpetsat line 4.
doth wake
Revels into the night.
takes his rouse
Carouses.
Keeps wassail … reels
Drinks many toasts and drunkenly reels his way through a lively German dance called
the upspring.
Perhaps the dance itself is imagined to be performed with drunken reeling or staggering.
F1’s
wassels(i.e., wassails) is possibly an intentional rewriting of Q2’s
wassellin the singular, or may just be a result of miscopying. The difference in meaning of the two texts here is not material.
Rhenish
Rhine wine.
bray … pledge
Raucously celebrate his draining the cup in his many celebratory toasts.
marry
I.e., by the Virgin Mary. (A mild oath.)
As at 1.3.9, TLN 556.
But
Q2’s
Butand F1’s
Andboth make sense. F1’s reading could be an authorial choice, though it could instead be a mistaken anticipation of the same word in the next line.
to the manner born
Having a lifelong familiarity with this custom.
More … observance
Better neglected than followed.
This … scandal
This Q2 passage is omitted in Q1/F1, perhaps to shorten for performance, though some
editors argue that the passage may have been judged to be expendable because it slows
down the action.
heavy-headed revel … nations
This drunken reveling causes us to be defamed and censored everywhere (east and west)
by all other nations.
Q2’s
reuealeis presumably intended for revel.
clepe
Call.
Q2’s
clipis presumably intended for
clepe.
and with … addition
And tarnish our reputation by calling us swine.
Compare the proverb, As drunk as a swine (Dent S1042).
though performed at height
No matter how outstandingly performed.
The pith … attribute
The very essence of the reputation we should enjoy.
for … in them
Because of some inborn vicious inclination in them.
birth
The qualities bestowed on them by their parents and ancestors.
his
Its.
By the o’ergrowth … complexion
I.e., By one element of our constitution gaining undue dominance over the others.
Pope plausibly emends
their o-ergrow’thto
the overgrowth.
pales
Palisades, barrier fences, serving as a fortification.
o’erleavens … manners
I.e., prompts excessive behavior, thereby corrupting what would otherwise be acceptable
and pleasing manners (much as too much yeast causes excessive swelling in the dough).
Being … star
Being the result of an inborn condition or a gift of Fortune, goddess of chance.
Whether Nature and Fortune exerted the larger influence on human life was a favorite
debating topic in the Renaissance.
His virtues else
Such a person’s virtues in other respects.
Pope emended
His virtuesto
Their virtues,to agree grammatically with
particular men,
them,
their,
they,and
these menin lines 25-32, but Elizabethan usage gave Shakespeare a certain degree of flexibility in such matters.
undergo
Sustain.
Shall … corruption
Shall in the court of public opinion acquire a misconstrued reputation.
The dram … scandal
I.e., The tiny amount (literally, one eighth of an ounce) of evil qualities often
blots or brings disrepute upon the noble substance of the whole. (To
doutis to extinguish, blot out.)
A famously difficult passage, obscured by cruxes. Q2’s
ealeis often emended to evil and of a doubt to often dout, as it is in the editor’s choice text of this edition. Oxford emends Q2’s
of a doubtto over-daub. The Q2 forms are retained in the present conservative Q2 text. Possibly the sentence is incomplete owing to the entrance of the Ghost.
Angels … us
May angels who minister grace defend us!
Be thou … damned
Whether you are a good angel or a demon.
Bring … blasts
Whether you bring gentle breezes from heaven or pestilent gusts.
Be thy intents
Whether your intentions are.
F1’s
euentsis very probably an error for Q2’s
intents.
Oh
F1’s doubling of Q2’s
Ohinto
Oh, oh,could be an actor’s interpolation. Q2 scans better.
canonized
Consecrated.
Pronounced with the stress on the second of three syllables.
hearsèd
Coffined.
cerements
Grave clothes.
interred
Buried.
F1’s
enurn’dis an attractive reading, and plausibly authorial, even though urn burial is more a Roman custom than English practice, and Q2’s
interredis confirmed by Q1.
corse
Corpse.
Q2 prints
corse,F1
Coarse.
compleat steel
Full armor.
The spelling of Q2/F1 is
compleat; Q1 reads
compleate.Old spelling is retained in this Q2 text, making clear that the accent falls on the first syllable.
the glimpses … moon
The sublunary world, all that is fitfully lit by pale moonlight.
we fools of nature
We mere mortals, limited to natural knowledge and subject to nature.
So … disposition
To unsettle our mental composure so horrendously.
the reaches
The capacities.
F1’s
thee;reacheswould appear to be a miscopying error for Q1/Q2’s
the reaches.
[The Ghost] beckons [Hamlet]
Q2 prints
Beckins.F1 prints
Ghost beckons Hamlet.Omitted in Q1.
impartment
Communication, imparting of information.
A term seemingly coined by Shakespeare.
waves
F1’s
waftsis convincing as an emendation of Q1/Q2’s
waues.The same correction occurs in line 81 (TLN 664) below.
Then I will
Q2/F1’s
Then will Iin place of Q2’s
Then I willcould be either authorial or the result of imperfect copying. An easy error of metathesis. This scene in F1 appears to contain a number of copying errors; see notes above.
a pin’s fee
The value of a pin.
The proverb Not worth a pin (Dent P334) characterizes anything of very small value.
for
As for.
flood
Sea.
summit
Q2 reads
Somnet,F1
Sonnet.Both must be in error for
summit,as corrected by Rowe.
cliff
Q2 reads
cleefe.
beetles o’er his base
Threateningly overhangs its base like bushy eyebrows.
Q2’s
bettlesseems intended for F1’s
beetles.Q1 reads
beckles.
assume
F1’s shift to the indicative mood in
assumes,rather than the subjunctive
assumein Q2 that follows from the subjunctive
temptin the line 71 (TLN 658), may or may be a copying error.
deprive your sovereignty of reason
Take away from you the supremacy of reason over passion.
Your sovereigntyalso hints at the fact that Hamlet is Prince of Denmark and heir to the throne.
The very … beneath
This Q2 four-line passage is omitted in F1.
toys of desperation
Imaginings of desperate acts, such as suicide.
fathoms
Units of depth measurement at sea of about six feet.
waves
F1 replaces Q2’s
waueswith
wafts,as earlier at line 63, TLN 648.
hands
F1’s
handis intelligible if Hamlet is addressing one of the persons who are trying to restrain him, but it could easily be a copying error for Q2’s
hands.
My fate cries out
My destiny summons me.
each petty
Even the most insignificant.
artery
Spelled
arturein Q2,
Artirein F1, and
Artiuein Q1.
the Nemean lion’s nerve
A sinew of the huge lion (from Nemea, near Corinth in Greece) slain by Hercules in
the first of his twelve labors.
called.
F1 prints this as a question:
cal’d?perhaps implying that the Ghost has once again gestures to Hamlet to follow him. But question marks sometimes serve as exclamation marks in early printed texts.
lets
Hinders.
imag[inat]ion
Q2’s
imagionis presumably a copying error for F1’s
imagination.
Have after
Let’s go after him.
issue
Outcome.
direct it
I.e., direct the issue or outcome, line 91 (TLN 677).
[1.5]
Location: The battlements of the castle, as before. The scene is virtually continuous,
though the stage is momentarily bare and we are to understand that the Ghost and Hamlet
have moved to a new location on the battlements.
Whither
Q2’s
Whetheris a common early modern spelling of Whither. F1’s
Whereis possibly authorial, but could instead by a copyist’s or compositor’s sophistication. Q1’s
Ile go no farther, whither wilt thou leade me?inverts the order of Q2/F1’s
Whether (Where) wilt thou leade me, speake, Ile go no further.
bound
(1) destined, ready; (2) obligated, duty-bound. The Ghost replies to the second of
these meanings.
fast
Do penance by fasting.
A conventional punishment in Purgatory.
crimes
Sins.
my days of nature
My days on earth as a mortal.
purged
In Roman Catholic doctrine, Purgatory (not actually mentioned by name in this play)
is an intermediate state after death for the purging of sins. If an individual has
died in God’s grace but has committed sins not yet pardoned (owing, as in this present
instance, to a sudden death leaving no time for confessing those sins to a priest),
in Purgatory the soul can make satisfaction for those sins and thus become fit for
heaven.
Reformation leaders in Europe and England, beginning with Martin Luther in 1517, denounced
Purgatory as a Roman Catholic superstition placing unwarranted emphasis on the sacraments
of Confession and Last Rites or Extreme Unction, and on the essential role of priesthood
in offering forgiveness for sins. Reformation churches generally reduced the list
of Holy Sacraments from seven (Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Holy
Orders, Marriage, and Last Rites) to two (Baptism and the Eucharist).
But that
Were it not that.
harrow up
Lacerate, tear up, uproot.
spheres
Eye-sockets, compared here to the crystalline spheres or orbits in which, according
to Ptolemaic astronomy, the heavenly bodies moved around the earth.
knotted … locks
Hair neatly combed and arranged in its proper place.
F1’s
knottyis possible, and could be authorial, but it may instead be an error for Q1/Q2’s
knotted.
on end
The eighteenth-century actor-manager, David Garrick, wore a trick wig that would stand
its hairs on end as a sign of fright. Q2/F1’s
an endis a normal early modern spelling of Q1’s
on end.See 3.4.124-5 below, where the Queen sees Hamlet’s hair standing on end; the effect is caused there by the appearance of the Ghost, though the Queen in unable to see that.
fearful
Frightened.
F1’s
fretful(Q1,
fretfull) may be an authorial choice.
porpentine
Shakespeare’s usual spelling of porcupine.
The spelling is
Porpentinein Q1/Q2/F1.
eternal blazon
Revelation of the secrets of the supernatural world.
List, list, oh, list
Listen.
F1’s
List, Hamlet, oh listmay be authorial, or perhaps an actor’s interpolation.
O God!
F1’s
Oh Heauenis presumably an expurgation; see note at 1.2.150 (TLN 334) above. Q1 reads
O God.
Murder … it is
Murder is foul even under the best of circumstances.
Murderis regularly spelled Murther here and elsewhere in F1/Q2, though
Murderin Q1.
Haste … know’t, that I with
F1’s
Hast hast me to know it, / That withshows signs of interpolation in the second hast (haste), and in the omission of I after that, since F1 has adopted a makeshift lineation in place of Q2’s plausibly regular scansion. F1’s omission of I after That is also probably a copying error.
with wings … love
Compare the proverb, As swift as thought, Dent T240.
fat
Torpid, lethargic, gross, bloated.
roots itself
I.e., remains motionless, sluggish.
Q1/Q2’s
rootes it selfeand F1’s
rots it selfeare both plausible. F1’s reading emphasizes decay, and may be an authorial choice.
Lethe
The river of oblivion in Hades.
Wouldst thou
If you would not.
’Tis given out
The official story goes.
F1’s
It’s giuen outmay be an editorial sophistication.
my orchard
My garden.
Here and elsewhere (as in lines 42, 59, 63, and 137, TLNs 728, 744, 748, and 823 for
example), the shift from Q1/Q2’s frequent use of
myto F1’s
minebefore a vowel may be compositorial.
by a forgèd process
By a fabricated account.
In place of Q1’s
with,Q2/F1 read
by.
Rankly abused
Grossly deceived.
sting
Elizabethans generally believed that poisonous snakes attacked their victims with
their tongues rather than their fangs.
incestuous
See 1.2.157 (TLN 341) and note above.
adulterate
Adulterous.
Whether the Ghost suspects or knows that his brother had been involved with Queen
Gertrude in an adulterous affair before the murder is not clear, though the Ghost’s
insistence later in this speech that the Queen is to be spared and left to the workings
of her conscience (lines 84-8 below, TLN 769-73) tends to suggest that he does not
regard her as guilty to such a heinous degree. Neither Hamlet nor the Ghost ever applies
the term adulterous to her. The term is sometimes applied in Scripture to sexual unions that occasion
moral disapproval, as for example between partners that are of different religious
persuasions. The term is used several times in the sources for this play by Saxo Grammaticus
and Belleforest.
with traitorous gifts
(1) with perfidious natural gifts; (2) with seductive presents.
F1’s
hathin place of
withhere is presumably a copying error.
won to his
F1’s
won to to thisis very probably an error for Q2’s
won to his,even though this is defensible.
what falling off
F1’s
what a falling offis the more natural idiom. Q2’s
what falling offmay be a simple error.
even with the vow
With the very vow.
To
Compared with.
But virtue … garbage
But just as true virtue will remain steadfast even when tempted by unchaste desire
disguising itself as an angel, lust conversely will attempt to glut its insatiable
appetite even in a heavenly bed, and then, unsatisfied with that, turn to prey on
filth.
So but though
Even if.
This Q2 reading, implicitly linked to
lewdnessas the subject, is perhaps intelligible, and is thus retained here in this conservative Q2 text, but Q2 may be a misreading of F1’s
So Lust, though.
angel
Q2’s
Angle(Q1
angle) is a variant spelling of F1’s
Angell.
sort
Situate, place.
F1’s
sateis clearly superior to Q2’s
sort,which may be an error resulting from a misreading of a as
or.But Q2’s
sortis retained here in this conservatively Q2 text, since it can mean “situate, place.” Q1 reads
fate.
prey
Q2 prints
pray,a spelling variant. F1 prints
Will sate itself … prey on Garbageall on one line, TLN 742.
soft
Wait a minute, hold on.
methinks … morning air
The Ghost here confirms the tradition that Horatio has reported at 1.1.148 ff. (TLN
155 ff.): ghosts who visit the world of the living at night are supposed to return
to their confines by dawn.
Q1/F1’s
Morningsin place of Q2’s
morningis plausible, even if it could perhaps be a compositorial sophistication or misreading. Q1/Q2/F1’s
sentis a common spelling of scent.
of the afternoon
Q2’s idiom is more striking and unusual to our ears than Q1’s/F1’s
in the afternoon.Q1’s/F1’s reading could be authorial, or could be a compositorial sophistication or mishearing or copying error.
secure hour
A time free from worries, and a safe time when one can relax one’s guard.
stole
Q2/F1 read
stole,Q1
came.
hebona
A poison.
The name of this unidentified poison may be related to henbane, of the nightshade
family, the Latin name of which, Hyoscyamus niger, suggests ebony, or possibly ebanus,
yew.F1’s
Hebenonis a spelling of this word not found elsewhere other than in
the juice of Hebonin Marlowe’sThe Jew of Malta, 3.4.101. Q1/Q2 read
Hebona.
vial
F1’s
Viollis presumably intended for Q1/Q2’s
viall.
the porches of my ears
I.e., the entranceways to my head.
Supposedly an Italian method of poisoning, used to murder the Duke of Urbino in 1538
and mentioned in Marlowe’s Edward II, 5.4.34-5. The notion here, that such a method would introduce the poison to course
through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,is physiologically dubious.
lep’rous distillment
A distillation causing a leprosy-like disfigurement.
quicksilver
Mercury.
alleys
Q1/Q2 reads
allies,F1
Allies.
possess / And curd
Take control of and clot (like sour cream).
F1’s
possetis more persuasive than Q2’s
possesse,and is probably authorial, but Q2’s reading is kept here in this conservatively Q2 text since it is intelligible.
eager
Sour, acid.
F1 reads
Aygre,Q1/Q2
eager.
tetter
Eruption of scabs or blisters.
barked … crust
Enveloped with a loathsome scaly crust, like the bark on a tree-trunk.
F1’s
bak’dmay well be an error for Q2’s
barckt(Q1,
barked).
lazarlike
Leper-like.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the man had died of a grievous sickness and
had lain in the earth four days, so that his body was loathsome (John 11). Traditionally,
his putrid condition came to be associated with leprosy.
of queen
F1’s
and queenmay be a miscopying of Q2’s
of queen,which continues the rhetorical series of
of.
dispatched
Deprived.
Q1 reads
depriued.
even … sin
When my sins were at their height.
Unhousled … unaneled
Without having partaken of the sacrament of the Mass, unprepared because of not having
made deathbed confession and not having received absolution, and not anointed with
the holy oil of Extreme Unction.
These are specific terms from Roman Catholic practice.
Houselsignifies the host, the bread and wine that are consecrated in the Mass as the body and blood of Christ. Q2 prints
Vnhuzled, disappointed, vnanueld,F1
Vnhouzzeld, disappointed, vnnaneld.
reck’ning
Settling of spiritual accounts, making restitution for sins.
Oh … most horrible!
This line has sometimes been assigned to Hamlet by actor-managers and by editors,
partly at least to offer a break in the Ghost’s monologue. Q1 follows this line with
Hamlet’s interjection,
O God!
nature
I.e., the natural feelings of a son for his father.
luxury
Lechery.
incest
See notes at 1.2.157 (TLN 341) and 1.5.43 (TLN 729) above.
howsomever thou pursues
F1’s
howsoeuer thou pursuestmay be a sophistication of Q2’s
howsomeuer thou pursues.Compare
whatsomeverat 1.2.254 (TLN 449), above.
aught
Anything, any punishment.
Q2/F1 print
ought,Q1
aught.
matin
Morning.
Q1’s
Martinis presumably an error for Q2/F1’s
matine (Matine).
’gins … his
Begins … its.
Adieu, adieu, adieu
F1’s
Adue, adue, Hamletis no less intelligible than Q2’s reading, and may be authorial, but could instead be an interpolation.
[Exit.]
This exit, indicated in Q1/F1 but not Q2, could be effected by means of the stage
trap door, in light of the Ghost’s crying out
under the stageat line 157.1 (TLN 845) below. On the other hand, the Ghost’s entrance in 3.4
in his night gown,according to Q1, might seem more appropriate if he enters and leaves by means of a stage door. Stage tradition, at all events, has generally chosen to have him enter and exit in 1.4 and 1.5 by means of stage doors rather than the trap.
couple
Add.
Hold, hold
Hold fast; do not panic; do not waver.
Q2’s
hold, holdand F1’s
holdare equally plausible; F1 may be an authorial correction, or an omission in copying.
sinews
Tendons, muscles.
swiftly
F1’s
stifflysuggests
strongly, vigorously; Q2’s
swiftlyis possible, since Hamlet sees that he has reason for haste, and is accordingly retained here in this conservatively Q2 text, but stiffly seems more a propos here.
whiles … globe
As long as memory continues to function in my distracted head. (With perhaps a glance
at the Globe Theatre, where these lines are being spoken.)
Omitted in Q1. F1’s replacement of Q2’s
whileswith
whilemay be a compositorial sophistication.
table
Wax writing tablet.
Compare the use of the plural in
My tablesin line 107 (TLN 792) below.
fond
Foolish.
records
Stressed on the second syllable.
All saws … past
All wise sayings copied from books, all shapes or images drawn on the tablet of my
memory, all past impressions.
That … there
That I observed and noted down when I was young.
book and volume
Voluminous book.
Yes
F’s second
yes,added to Q2’s
yes,could be authorial, or an actor’s interpolation, or a copying error.
My tables … down
Hamlet may actually have a wax tablet on which he proceeds to note his observation,
or he may be speaking metaphorically. Two tablets might be hinged together as a sort
of notebook; hence perhaps the plural
tables.F1’s repetition of
My Tables, my Tablesmay be an interpolation; it is extra-metrical in F1’s verse line. But it may be authorial. Q2 reads
My tables.Compare the previous note.
meet
Fitting.
I am
F1’s
I’mcould be a sophistication of Q2’s
I am.
there you are
I.e., I’ve noted that down (literally or metaphorically).
Now to my word
Now to the business of fulfilling what I have promised.
Enter Horatio and Marcellus
The entrance here is as in Q2, before Horatio says
My lord, my lord!F1 places the SD after Horatio and Marcellus have said this line
within.Either they call out before they enter, or, as in Q2, enter on stage but are understood by the audience not yet to have seen Hamlet in the dark of night.
Horatio
F1 assigns this speech to Horatio and Marcellus. See previous note.
Heavens secure him
May heaven keep him safe.
Horatio and Marcellus have worried, at 1.4.71 (TLN 658), ff., that the Ghost might
tempt Hamlet toward the sea or cliff and there deprive him into madness. F1’s
Heauenreplaces Q2’s
Heauens.
Hamlet
Q2 here gives this line to Hamlet, spoken evidently to himself in confirmation of
his resolve to carry out his father’s commands. In F1, less plausibly, the line is
spoken by Marcellus as though by way of his agreeing with Horatio in wishing for Hamlet’s
safety.
Illo … lord
Marcellus is hallooing to Hamlet, seeking still to find him. Hamlet has not yet spoken
to them to assure them he is safe.
F1 assigns this hallooing to Horatio, not Marcellus as in Q2. The rapid-fire succession
of short speeches here leaves this passage vulnerable to errors in copying, though
F1’s reading could be authorial.
Hillo … come, and come
Hamlet halloos in reply to Marcellus, as though he were calling out to a hawk or falcon,
commanding it to return to its master.
Hamlet may be mocking their halloos, or this may be part of the
wild and whirling wordsor
antic dispositionthat he begins to adopt. F1’s
come bird, comemay be an authorial correction of Q2’s
come, and come.Q1 assigns the speech to
Mar.
you will
F1’s
you’lcould be authorial, or an editorial sophistication of Q2’s
you will.
once
Ever.
Ay, by heaven
F1 plausibly adds
my Lordto this line; the addition is testified to also by Q1.
There’s never … knave
Hamlet seems about ready to tell them what he has learned from the Ghost, but then
jestingly turns the matter aside with a self-evident truism: there’s no villain in
Denmark who is not a thoroughgoing villain.
F1’s
nerefor Q2’s
neueris an adjustment that may have been prompted by F1’s change in Q2’s lineation of TLN 814 from two lines to one.
in the right
F1’s slight abbreviation of Q2’s
in the rightmay be editorial, or could be authorial.
circumstance
Elaboration.
desire
F1’s
desiresis attractive and could be authorial, though the repetition of
business and desirein the next line makes a plausible case in TLN 821 for Q2’s
desire.
I will
F1’s
Looke you, Ileis plausibly an authorial emendation of Q2’s
I will; it could be an actor’s interpolation, but even then could have authorial endorsement.
whirling
F1’s
hurlingis possible, but it may also indicate an accidentally dropped w from Q2’s more plausible
whurlingand Q1’s
wherling.
offense … offense
Horatio in line 141 means
There was no offense in what you just said; no need to apologize.Hamlet, in line 143, changes the meaning of the word to apply to Claudius’s crime:
There certainly IS a great offense’ against all human decency and law.
offense … offense
Horatio in line 141 means
There was no offense in what you just said; no need to apologize.Hamlet, in line 143, changes the meaning of the word to apply to Claudius’s crime:
There certainly IS a great offense’ against all human decency and law.
Saint Patrick
The keeper of Purgatory, according to tradition.
Horatio
In F1’s version of this line, Hamlet repeats Horatio’s
my lordinstead of saying Horatio’s name. This may be simply a copying error, though it could be Hamlet’s sardonic way of emphasizing his point: There IS indeed an offense.
too
Q2 reads
to,a common spelling variant of F1’s
too.
Touching
Concerning, regarding.
honest
Genuine and truthful.
For
As for, regarding.
O’ermaster it
Q2 reads
Oremastret,F1
O’remaster't,Q1
Or’emaister it.
In faith … not I
Horatio insists that he will not tell anyone what they have seen this night. In the
next speech, Marcellus vows also to keep the secret. They are not refusing to swear;
in fact, they both seemingly take the view that they have sworn already by what they
just said
in faith.But Hamlet insists that they now swear by his sword, an especially solemn oath since the sword hilt can be held so as to form a crucifix. Hamlet may hold it that way.
Mel Gibson, in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1990 film Hamlet, holds his sword in such a way that the hilt forms a crucifix to ward off the potential
evil of a supernatural visitation.
Ghost cries under the stage
Q1/Q2/F1 all specify that the Ghost cries
under the stage,that is, beneath the main acting platform that was raised about 5 1/2 feet above the ground level of the
yard,thereby providing room for such ghostly effects. (There is another instance in Antony and Cleopatra, 4.3.12, when the music of hoboys, an early oboe, Is heard under the stage.) Evidently such sounds could be heard in the Globe Theatre.
truepenny
Honest fellow, as trustworthy as the penny.
Compare
sterling,thoroughly excellent, conforming to the highest standard.
Come on, you hear
F1’s
Come one you hereis presumably a misprint for Q2’s
Come on, you heare.
cellarage
Q2 prints
Sellerige,F1
selleredge.This is OED’s first citation of the term.
[They swear.]
Seemingly, though not marked by stage directions in Q1, Q2, or F1, Horatio and Marcellus
lay their hands on Hamlet’s sword to indicate that they are swearing the oath, here
and again at lines 170 and 189 below. The Ghost is not satisfied until the oath has
been sworn thrice’ a sacrosanct number. Alternatively, Horatio and Marcellus may resist
swearing on the first two tries, preferring to be on safer ground.
Hic et ubique?
Here and everywhere? (Latin.)
Traditionally, the devil was able to be everywhere at once.
shift our ground
Change where we are standing for another spot.
Q2’s
shift our groundis more comprehensible than F1’s
shift for ground,which may be a copying error, even if
shift for groundcan perhaps make intelligible sense.
heard
Q2/F1 read
heard,Q1
seene.
Swear … heard
F1’s reversal of this passage (
Neuer to speak … have heard: / Sweare by my Sword) seems convincingly authorial, since it repeats the order of phrase of lines 850-1 above, and ends with the phrase that is then reiterated by the Ghost.
mole … pioneer
The small tiny-eyed burrowing mole is here compared to the
pioneer,a foot soldier who dug tunnels and trenches used in warfare.
F1’s
i’th'groundto replace Q2’s
i’th'earthmay be in error as a result of recalling
groundin line 164 above.
Pioneeris spelled
Pionerin Q2/F1.
remove
Move.
And … welcome
Compare the proverbial admonition, Give the stranger welcome (Dent S914.1).
your philosophy
This natural philosophy (i.e., science) that people talk about.
The
youris probably impersonal, though Hamlet’s jibe does apply to Horatio particularly; the two of them love to argue over issues of natural history and skepticism vs. providential readings of human life on earth. (F1’s
our Philosophyis probably a copying error; if not, it would seem to suggest that Hamlet is still trying to sort out for himself the rival claims of religion and science. Q1’s
yoursupports the Q2 reading.)
so help you mercy
As you hope for God’s mercy.
How … some’er
However strangely or oddly.
Q2’s
so mere,i.e., some’er, is a common variant of
soe’er,
soever.F1’s
so eremay be a compositorial sophistication. Compare whatsoever/whatomever at 1.2.253 and howsoever/howsomever at 1.5.84. Q1 reads
soere.
think meet
See fit.
To put … on
To assume the wild and erratic behavior of a madman.
Q1/Q2/F1 print
Antickefor
antic.
times
F1’s
timein place of Q2’s
timesis possible, but could easily be a copying error.
encumbered
Folded.
The folded arms and headshake are intended to suggest that the person has knowledge
but dare not speak. Folded arms in particular could suggest love melancholy.
this headshake
Shaking my head thus.
Q2’s
this head shakeis clear, and F1’s
thus, head shakecould easily be an error from the compositor’s remembering
thusearlier in the line.
doubtful
Ambiguous.
Well, well
F1’s
wellmay be an error of transmission for Q1/Q2’s
well, well.
an if
If.
an if
If.
list
Wished, chose.
There be … they might
There are those (namely, ourselves) who could talk if they so chose.
F1’s
there mightis likely to be an error of transmission for Q1/Q2’s
they might.
giving out
Utterance, pronouncement.
note
Indicate.
aught
Anything.
Spelled
aughtin Q1,
oughtin Q2/F1.
This do swear
Q1’s
This not to doeand F1’s
this not to doefollow what Hamlet has said with more precise logic than Q2’s
this doe sweare,and may be an authorial correction.
So … you
As you hope for God’s grace and mercy at your hour of greatest spiritual need.
F1 follows this line with Hamlet’s saying,
Sweare.Omitted here in Q2.
With all
Q2 reads
Withall,F1
With all.
I do … you
I give you my best wishes.
friending
Friendliness, friendship.
lack
Be lacking, be left undone.
Q2/F1 read
lack(
lacke), Q1
want.
still
Always.
out of joint
Disjointed, lacking coherence.
The metaphor is derived from the medical procedure of setting bones that have been
broken or separated at the joint.
Nay … together
When Horatio and Marcellus politely defer to Hamlet as of senior rank and thus entitled
to go first, he insists on equalizing this business among friends.
[2.1]
Location: Polonius’s apartment in the castle, as in 1.3.
Enter old … or two
The characterization of Polonius as
old,the lack of a name here for Reynaldo, and the imprecise requirement of
his man or twopoint to an authorial manuscript behind the text of Q2. F1 reads simply
Enter Polonius, and Reynaldo.Q1 reads
Enter Corambis, and Montano.
him
Laertes (as confirmed in lines 6 ff.).
this
F1’s
his,though intelligible if Polonius means to send to Laertes some of his own money, is probably a misprint for Q2’s
this.
marv’lous
Marvelously.
Q2 spells this
meruiles,F1
maruels.
to make inquire
To inquire.
F1’s
you make inquirymay be the result of imperfect copying of Q2’s
to make inquire.
Marry
I.e., By the Virgin Mary. (A mild oath.)
As at 1.3.90 (TLN 556) and 1.4.15 (TLN 618) above.
Inquire me
Inquire on my behalf.
(The
meis colloquial.)
Danskers
Danes.
how
How they live.
what means
What wealth they have.
keep
Dwell, frequent.
By … question
By this roundabout way of asking questions.
come … touch it
You will find out more this way than you would by making pointed inquiries.
More neareris an emphatic double negative, an acceptable usage in Elizabethan English.
Take you
Assume, pretend.
As thus
F1’s
And thusis probably a misprint for Q1/Q2’s
As thus.
put on him
Impute to him.
forgeries
Invented tales.
rank
Gross.
wanton
Unrestrained.
gaming
Gambling.
Quarreling
Picking a quarrel with someone became an obsession with many young men intent on establishing
themselves as persons of chivalric honor, to judge by young Kastril’s eagerness to
learn how to quarrel in Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist, 3.3, and by Touchstone’s hilarious sendup of the seven causes or stages of quarreling
in As You Like It, 5.4.43-102.
drabbing
Whoring.
Faith, as … charge
Well, that would depend on how well you could temper or mitigate the accusation.
F1’s
Faith nois logically a negative response, and is thus a plausible correction of Q2’s
Fayth.
incontinency
Chronic sexual overindulgence.
breathe
Name, utter.
Q2/F1 print
breath,as also at l. 46 (TLN 936) below.
quaintly
Artfully, subtly.
Q2 spells the word
quently,F1
quaintly.
taints of liberty
Faults arising from too much free living.
A savageness … assault
A wildness in untamed youth that afflicts most young men.
a fetch of wit
A justifiable stratagem.
Q2’s
a fetch of witis plausible in the sense of
a witty trick.F1’s
a fetch of warrantcould be an authorial revision, or possibly a misreading of wit. It is generally preferred by editors. Q2’s wit could be a misreading of warrant.
sallies
Stains, blemishes.
Q2’s
salliesis possible, but a little forced, and an easy misreading of F1’s
sullies(i.e., stains, blemishes) in Elizabethan handwriting.
with working
With handling.
Q2’s
with workingmakes sense, and could also be rendered as
wi’th’ working,but F1’s
i’th'workingcould be an authorial correction.
your … converse
The person you are conversing with.
sound
Sound out.
Having … guilty
If he has ever detected the young man you are asking about to be guilty of the offenses
we have just enumerated.
Q2/F1 both print
breath,a common variant spelling of
breathe,as at line 32, TLN 923, above.
He closes … consequence
He takes you into his confidence in the following way.
or the addition
Or the title, form of address.
Q2’s
or the addistionis corrected in F1’s
and the Addition.Some editors prefer Q2’s reading.
By the mass
F1 expurgates this oath.
And then … say?
Printed in one line here in Q2. F1 prints in two lines.
leave
Leave off.
At
closes in the consequence.
F1 adds a line here (TLN 946) that appears to be authorial:
At friend, or so, and Gentleman.
closes thus
F1’s
closes with you thusmay be authorial. The line scans persuasively in both Q2 and F1. The omission of
with youin Q2 could be an oversight. Q1 reads
closeth with him thus.
such or such
F1’s
such and suchis a substitution for Q2’s
such or such.Either could be correct, and F1’s variant could be the work of some copyist of compositor, but the
orcould have been repeated mistakenly from earlier in the line.
There … rouse
There he was gambling in that place, or overcome by drink.
Q2’s
There was a gaming there, or tooke in’s rowseis possible, but is more plausibly corrected by F1’s
There was he gaming, there o’ertooke in’s Rouse.The F1 alteration of a to he, on the other hand, is more likely to be an editorial
improvementwithout authority. Q2’s
or tookeis presumably intended for
o’ertook.
falling out
Quarreling.
house of sale
Whorehouse.
F1 prints
Sailefor Q2’s
sale.
Videlicet
Namely (Latin).
Q2 prints
Videlizet,F1
Videlicet.
take
F1’s
takesis no doubt the corrected reading of Q2’s
take,even if Q2’s plural form can be explained as agreeing with an implicitly plural sense of
bait of falsehood.
carp
A fish.
F1’s
Capeappears to be an obvious misprint of Q2’s
carpe.
reach
Capacity, wide understanding.
windlasses
I.e., circuitous paths. (Literally, a hunter’s roundabout circuit to head off pursued
animals.)
assays of bias
Indirect courses (resembling the curved path or
biasof the bowling ball that is weighted to one side).
directions
The way things are going.
my former lecture
The set of instructions I’ve just given you.
have me
Understand me.
God … well
I.e., God be with you; farewell.
Q2 reads
God buy ye, far ye well,F1 God buy you; fare you well.
Observe … yourself
Take a personal interest in observing his habits; judge his behavior from the perspective
of your knowledge of your own inclinations.
Exit Reynaldo / Enter Ophelia
Q1/Q2/F1 all indicate that Reynaldo (called Montano in Q1) exits and that Ophelia
enters before Polonius says
Farewell,presumably to Reynaldo. The arrangement is possible on the large Elizabethan stage, where Reynaldo will no doubt still be visible for some moments longer—enough time for the loquacious Polonius to think of something further to say to him.
Oh, my lord, my lord
F1’s
Alas my Lordas a substitute for Q2’s
O my Lord, my Lordcould be the work of a copyist or compositor, or could be authorial.
God
F1’s
Heauenis an expurgated substitute for Q2’s
God.
closet
Q2’s
clossetis perfectly acceptable, in the sense of a private chamber, but F1’s
chambercould be an intentional alteration.
doublet all unbraced
Man’s close-fitting jacket all unfastened.
No … head
Hats were customarily worn indoors in the Elizabethan period.
fouled
Dirty and untidy.
Ungartered … ankle
Hamlet’s stockings, no longer held up by garters tied around the knees, have fallen
down around his ankles, like a prisoner’s
gyvesor shackles.
in purport
In what it expressed.
As ’a
As if he.
As in other instances of this sort, F1’s
correctingQ2’s
As a(i.e., “As if he”) to
As heis likely to be an editorial sophistication done by the compositor.
As
That.
F1’s
Thatcould be authorial, or possibly a copyist’s or compositor’s sophistication of Q2’s
As.
bulk
Body.
shoulder
F1’s
shouldersis probably an error for Q2’s
shoulder.
o’ doors
Q1 prints
of doores,Q2
adoores,F1
adores.
helps
Q1/F1’s
helpecould be authorial, or a copyist’s or compositor’s correction of Q2’s
helps.
Come, go with me
F1’s
Goe with meomits the first word (perhaps unintentionally) of Q2’s
Come, goe with mee.
ecstasy
Madness.
Whose … itself
Whose violent nature is self-destructive.
desperate
Polonius points to the possibility of suicide.
passions
F1’s
passionmay be authorial, though it could instead be a copying error for Q2’s
passions.
heed
Attentiveness, care.
F1’s
speedis intelligible, but could be a copying error for Q2’s more plausible
heede.
coted
Outmaneuvered.
Q2’s
cotedcould mean “outstripped, outmaneuvered,” but is more probably an alternative spelling of F1’s
quoted.
feared
F1’s
fearealso makes good sense, even if Q2’s
fear’dis more in keeping with the past tense of the preceding words. F1 could be an easy typographical error.
wrack
Ruin, seduce.
beshrew my jealousy
A plague on my suspicious nature!
By heaven, it is … opinions
I swear, it is as characteristic for old men overreach and read too much into the
things we see.
F1’s
It seemes it isas a replacement for Q2’s
By heauen it ismay be an expurgation of an oath.
known
Made known to the King.
close
Concealed.
might … love
Might ultimately cause even more unhappiness than would be the result of my well-intended
but unwelcome announcing of bad news (about Hamlet’s mad love of Ophelia).
Come
F1 omits this
Come,perhaps through oversight. Presumably Polonius does instruct his daughter to come with him.
[2.2]
Location: The castle.
Flourish. Enter … Guildenstern
Q2 reads
Flourish. Enter King and Queene, Rosencraus and Guyldensterne,F1
Enter King, Queene, Rosincrane, and Guildenstern Cum alijs,Q1
Enter King and Queene, Rossencraft, and Gilderstone.Spellings of these names vary throughout all three texts.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Spelled
Rosencraus, and Guyldensternein Q2,
Rosincrane, and Guildensternein F1,
Rossencraft, and Gilderstonein Q1.
Moreover that
Besides the fact that.
sending
Sending for you.
so call it
I.e., let us call it that.
F1’s change of Q2’s
so call itto
so I call itcould be a rephrasing on the part of a compositor or copyist, or could be authorial.
Sith nor
Since neither.
F1’s
Since notcould be an editorial sophistication, or could be authorial.
that
What.
dream of
F1’s
deeme ofis possible in the sense of judge. Q2 has the advantage of suggesting the bad dreams that a person guilty of murder might experience.
of
From.
brought … him
Compare 3.4.206 (TLN 2577.1) below, where Hamlet refers to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
as
my two schoolfellows.
And sith … havior
And since you have been so well acquainted with his youthful ways.
F1’s
sinceis substituted for Q2’s
sith,as in line 6 above. F1’s
humouris a plausible emendation of Q2’s
hauior,but could be a miscopying.
vouchsafe your rest
Consent to stay.
your companies
The company of you both.
occasion you may glean
Opportunity you may gather or infer.
F1’s
Occasionsin place of Q2’s
occasioncould be authorial, or a copying error.
Whether … thus
This Q2 line is omitted in F1, perhaps inadvertently.
opened
Being revealed.
is
This use of what is for us a singular verb form with a plural object (
two men) is common in Elizabethan usage. F1’s
arein place of Q2’s
iscould be an authorial correction, or it could be a sophistication introduced by a copyist of compositor.
gentry
Courtesy.
For … hope
In order to aid us in furthering what we hope for.
As … remembrance
As would be a fitting gift of a king in rewarding your service.
of us
Over us.
your dread pleasures
The wishes of you who inspire awe and fear.
But we both obey
F1’s omission of Q2’s
Butcould be an error of omission.
in the full bent
To the utmost extent of which we are capable. (A metaphor from drawing the bow in
archery.)
service
F1’s
Seruicescould be a compositor’s sophistication of Q2’s
seruice,or could be an authorial correction.
these gentlemen
F1’s
the Gentlemencould be a careless copying of Q2’s more specific
these gentlemen,or could be authorial.
practices
Doings.
Ay, amen
F1’s
Amencould be an unintentionally shortened version of Q2’s
I Amen.
Exeunt … Courtiers]
F1 places
Exitbefore the Queen says
Amen,presumably in response to what Guildenstern has just said. In effect, the exit must take place on the broad Elizabethan stage as she speaks. Q2 places its exit stage direction to the right of the Queen’s
I Amen,on the same line.
still
Always.
I assure … liege
F1’s
Assure you, my good Liege,scans better than Q2 and may be authorial.
and to
F1’s
one tomakes for a difficult reading and may be a misprint for Q2’s
and to.
policy
Statecraft.
As it hath used to do
As it has customarily done.
F1’s
As I haue vs’d to domay be a sophistication of miscopying of Q2. Q1 reads
As it had wont to doe.
That do I long
F1’s
that I do longmay be a compositor’s normalizing of Q2’s
that doe I long,or a simple error in copying; or could be authorial.
fruit
Dessert.
F1’s
the Neweserroneously echoes
My newesearlier in the line; Q2 must be correct in reading
the fruite.
grace
Ceremonious honor. (With a suggestion of a
gracesaid before a meal, continuing the metaphor of the previous line.)
[Polonius … ambassadors]
This exit is missing in all the early texts, but seems called for in order for Polonius
to re-enter at line 57.1. Exits are not infrequently omitted in early texts.
my dear Gertrude
F1’s
my sweet Queen, thatcould be an authorial recasting of Q2’s
my deere Gertrard,though it could instead by editorial tinkering.
head
Source.
doubt
Fear, suspect.
our hasty
F1’s
our o’re-hastyscans better than Q2’s
our hastie,and may be authorial.
Enter Ambassadors
Q2/F1 agree in placing the entrance of the
Embassadors(named Voltemand and Cornelius in F1) before Claudius says
Well, we shall sift him.The placement probably represents the necessity of bringing actors on stage in time to cross over its broad platform before they are addressed by the King. No doubt they are to enter as the King says his line to the Queen. The F1 entrance direction reads
Enter Polonius, Voltemand, and Cornelius.
sift him
Question Polonius.
my good friends
F1’s omission of
myin Q2’s
my good friendscould be an oversight. The line in Q2 scans better.
our brother
My fellow monarch.
return
Reciprocation.
desires
Good wishes.
Upon our first
At our first presentation of our mission.
His nephew’s levies
Young Fortinbras’s raising of troops.
he truly … was
He found that it in fact was.
impotence
Weakness.
borne in hand
Taken advantage of.
arrests
Orders to desist.
in fine
In conclusion.
give th’assay of arms
Make trial of military might.
threescore thousand crowns
Q1/F1’s
three thousand Crownesscans better than Q2’s
threescore thousand crownes,and is perhaps more plausible as a figure, but Q2 is defensible as a reading. A crown is a gold coin, often embossed with the figure of a crown.
fee
Income, payment.
quiet pass
Safe and uninterrupted passage.
this enterprise
F1’s
his enterpriseand Q2’s
this enterpriseare equally intelligible. F1 could authorial, or a simple error in transmission. Q1 reads
that enterprise.
On … allowance
With such consideration for Denmark’s safety and for the permission granted to Fortinbras.
therein
In the document we have just delivered to you.
likes
Pleases.
considered
Suitable for deliberation.
Exeunt Ambassadors
Any other courtiers who are on stage may leave at this time, though not so indicated
in any of the early texts.
well ended
F1’s
very well endedunnecessarily adds
veryto Q2’s
well ended,which scans better if the line is paired metrically with
Most welcome home.Q1 reads
very well dispatched.
liege
One who is entitled to feudal allegiance or service.
expostulate
Expound, debate.
brevity … wit
Brevity is essential to sound reasoning and argument.
F1’s
since Breuitie is the Soule of Witis clearly superior grammatically and metrically to Q2’s reading; the absence Q2’s of
sinceis easily explained as an inadvertent omission by a copyist or compositor. But the Q2 reading is kept here since it is intelligible.
And tediousness … flourishes
And since longwindedness can add nothing but decorative rhetorical flourishes.
More matter … art
Give us more substance with less artfulness.
he’s mad
F1’s
he is madscans better than Q2’s
hee’s mad.F1 could be a sophistication by copyist or compositor, but it could be authorial.
’tis ’tis true
F1’s
it is truehere may be an imprecise copying or sophistication of Q2’s
tis tis true.
figure
Figure of speech.
For … cause
For this defective behavior in Hamlet must have a cause.
Thus … thus
That pretty much sums up the situation, and leaves us to figure out what to make of
it, what to do.
Polonius uses the rhetorical figures of antimetabole, the symmetrical repetition of
words in inverted order, and epanalepsis, the symmeterical repetition of a word (or
words) at the beginning and ending of a line.
Perpend
Consider.
F1 includes this word at the end of the previous line; Q2 drops the word to a separate
line. Both are feasible metrically.
have while … mine
Who is legally mine until she marries.
F1’s substitution of
whilstfor Q2’s
whilecould be editorial sophistication or imprecise copying, or could be authorial.
gather and surmise
Think about this and draw your own conclusions. (
Gathermay also suggest gather around me.)
[He reads … letter]
This F1 stage direction is omitted in Q1/Q2.
Thus: In her … etc.
I.e., These words are addressed to the spotlessly white bosom of the one I love. (Young
ladies would often keep such love letters in their blouses, next to their hearts.)
The
etc.could be a part of the letter, or, more plausibly, Polonius’s way of summarizing what he chooses not to read.
F1 substitutes
these in herfor Q2’s
thus in her; both are possible. F1 may be authorial, or mistaken copying. F1 also omits Q2’s
&c.at the end of this speech; perhaps the compositor’s oversight.
stay
Hold on, wait.
I … faithful
I will do as I said I would.
[He reads the] letter
Q2 prints
Letter; it is omitted in Q1/F1.
Doubt … fire
Suspect or question the undoubted truth that the stars are fire (sooner than doubt
my love for you).
Doubt … move
(This
undoubted truthseems postulated on the traditional Ptolemaic cosmology with the earth at the center of the universe and the sun one celestial body that moves about it.)
ill … numbers
Lacking the skill needed to write verses like these, and too lovesick to do so.
reckon
(1) count, enumerate; (2) number metrically, scan.
machine is
Body belongs.
shown
F1’s
shew’d,in place of Q2’s
showne,could be the work of a copyist or compositor.
And more about … mine ear
And moreover she has let me know when, by what means, and where his solicitings occurred
(
fell out).
Q2’s
And more aboutcould easily be a copying error of F1’s
And more aboue.Conversely, Q2’s
solicitingsseems preferable to F1’s
solicitingin agreeing with
theyin the next line, and the plural also suggests frequent occurrences.
fain
Gladly, willingly.
If … table-book
I.e., If I had noted all this in my memory-book but had done nothing about it; or,
if I had acted as go-between.
Or … working, mute and dumb
Or if I had forced the workings of my heart to remain silent.
Q2’s
workingis plausibly an error for F1’s
winking,with the suggested meaning here of
Or if I had deliberately shut my eyes to what my heart suspected.
with idle sight
Complacently or uncomprehendingly.
round
Directly, energetically.
bespeak
Address.
out of thy star
Above your sphere or social station.
prescripts
Orders.
F1’s
preceptscould be an authorial revision or correction of Q2’s
prescripts,but Q2’s reading is intelligible and is kept here in this Q2 text.
her resort
His having access to her.
Q2’s
her resortmight mean “her having access to him,” but is more probably an copying error for F1’s
his Resort.
repellèd
Q2’s reading is perfectly intelligible, but F1’s
repulsedis perhaps more likely to be an authorial revision than a compositor’s choice.
watch
Sleepless state.
Q2’s
wathis presumably a misprint for F1’s
Watch.
to lightness
To lightheadedness.
F1’s
to a Lightnesseis plausibly an authorial correction, and is adopted by most editors.
declension
Decline, deterioration. (Playing also with a grammatical metaphor.)
wherein
F1’s
whereonmay be a miscopying of Q2.
mourn
F1’s
waileis plausible, and could be an authorial revision, but Q2 seems hardly to need revision.
Do you think this?
F1’s
Do you thinke ’tis this?arguably scans better than Q2’s
Do you thinke this?if one were to pair it as a half-line with the preceding
And all we mourn for,but Q2 scans better if paired with the following
It may be very like.With three half lines in a row, the safest is to do no pairing here of short lines and to leave the three speeches as they stand. F1 may or may not be an authorial revision.
very like
Very likely.
F1’s
very likelycould be a sophistication. See previous note on pairing of half lines.
I would fain
I would gladly.
F1’s
I’de fainis equally plausible, and could be authorial.
Take this from this
The actor’s various options here include a gesture of severing his head from his body,
or of removing the chain of office from around his neck or his staff of office from
his hands.
center
Center of the earth, traditionally regarded as wholly inaccessible.
try
Test.
lobby
Corridor or waiting-room.
does
Q2’s
doesis preferred by most editors to F1’s
ha’s.
loose
Let loose (as if she were a caged animal about to be mated).
arras
Wall-hanging, tapestry.
thereon
On that account.
But
F1’s
Andstrikes most editors as a weak substitution for Q2’s
But.
carters
Cart drivers.
Enter Hamlet
This is Q1/Q2’s stage direction; F1 reads
Enter Hamlet reading on a Booke.
Exit King and Queen
In F1, this exit occurs after Polonius has said,
Ile boord him presentlyand before
Oh give me leaue.Both the Q2 and F1 arrangements can be made to work on the broad Elizabethan stage, where exits (and entrances) take time as actors are speaking. In Q2, the King and Queen are directed to start leaving a little earlier than in F1; in both cases they do so as Polonius continues with things he wants to say to them. In Q1 only the Queen exits here; the King and Corambis remain on stage to instruct Ofelia how she is to read on a book, whereupon the King and Corambis hide; Hamlet enters to his
To be, or not to besoliloquy and subsequent conversation with Ofelia (TLN 1695 ff.).
board him presently
Accost him immediately.
give me leave
Leave this to me; leave me alone to handle this.
God-a-mercy
God have mercy, i.e., thank you.
Excellent well. You are
Q2’s line scans well; F1’s
Excellent, excellent well: y’arecould be an actor’s improvisation, but it also could be authorial. Q1 reads
Yea very well, y’are.
fishmonger
Fish merchant.
one man … ten thousand
Compare the proverb, A man (one) among a thousand (Dent M217). F1’s change of
ten thousandto
two thousandcould be authorial, but may well be a copying error.
good kissing carrion
A good piece of flesh for kissing.
Hamlet, in his mad guise, obliquely warns Polonius that Ophelia may respond to the
heat of sexual desire by becoming pregnant, just as the sun presumably breeds maggots
in rotting flesh—perhaps with a pun on
sunand
son,i.e., Hamlet himself, as son of the dead king.
i’th’sun
(1) in public; (2) into the sunshine of Hamlet’s princely favors (continuing the pun
on sun/son in the previous lines).
Conception
(1) Understanding; (2) Conceiving a child.
but as
F1’s change of Q2’s
but asinto
but not asyields up a different shade of meaning: “Conception (in the procreative sense) may be a blessing in most circumstances, but not if your daughter were to conceive. Keep that danger very much in mind.” The not could be authorial, or may be an erroneous addition.
look to’t
Take care, be wary.
harping on
Dwelling obsessively on.
Cf. the proverb, To harp on one (the same) string, Dent S936.
is far gone
F1’s
is farre gone, farre gonecould be an actor’s elaboration (compare TLN 1211 above), but may have been authorial or have his endorsement.
What is the matter
What is the substance of what you are reading? (But Hamlet deliberately misunderstands,
answering as if Polonius had asked,
What is the quarrel between the people you are talking about?)
the matter that you read
F1’s dropping the
thatin Q2’s
the matter that you readcould be inadvertent or editorial. F1 erroneously prints
the matter you meane,mistakenly picking up
meanefrom
I meaneearlier in the line. See also the next note on F1’s other inaccuracies in this passage. Q1 prints
the matter you reade.
rogue
F1’s
slaueis equally plausible, with much the same meaning as
rogue,and could be an authorial revision. But some of the numerous alterations of the speech in F1 seem questionable, such as
lockefor
lackin TLN 1237, the omission of
mostin 1238, and the substitution of
should be oldfor
shall grow oldin 1241, suggesting perhaps that the speech is best left as reported in Q2.
purging … and plumtree gum
Are dropping thick, moist discharges like the sticky resins from various trees.
F1’s
orcould be an authorial correction of Q2’s
and,but F1’s accuracy is questionable at this point; see previous notes.
lack
F1 reads
locke,presumably in error for Q2’s
lacke; see two previous notes.
wit
Understanding.
most weak hams
Exceedingly weak thighs.
F1’s dropping of most from Q2’s
most weake hamsmay have been inadvertent; see previous four notes.
honesty
Decency, honorable behavior.
yourself, sir, shall grow old
Q2’s
your selfe sirmay have inadvertently dropped F1’s
youat the start of this phrase. On the other hand, Q2’s
shall grow oldmay be more textually reliable than F1’s
should be oldfor reasons cited in the previous notes on line 182.
that’s out of the air
The air outdoors was thought to be noxious, especially for the sick and old.
pregnant
Cogent, full of meaning.
happiness
Aptness, felicity of expression.
sanctity
Q2’s
sanctityis manifestly a misprint for F1’s
Sanitie.
prosperously
Successfully, effectively.
I will leave … my daughter
Q2’s
I will leaue him and my daughteris more fully represented in F1 with
I will leaue him, / And sodainely contriue the meanes of meeting / Betweene him, and my daughter.Q2’s shorter version, as Arden 3 observes, may suggest that Shakespeare’s original intention was to have Hamlet’s encounter with Ophelia take place in this present scene, as happens in Q1, rather than in 3.1.
My lord, I will
F1’s
My Honourable Lord, I will most humblyplausibly replaces Q2’s shorter
My Lord, I will.
You cannot
The
Siradded in F1’s
You cannot Sircould be an actor’s interpolation, but it seems so in keeping with Hamlet’s sardonic way of addressing Polonius that it sounds genuine.
that I will not more
Q2’s
that I will not morecontains a double negative after
cannotearlier in the sentence—a usage that is common enough in Elizabethan English, but one that is eliminated by F1’s revision, and is usually omitted by editors.
withal
With.
except my life, except my life, except my life
F1’s abbreviation of Q2 to
except my life, my lifecould be authorial, but perhaps is more likely to be the unintentional result of copying. Editors generally prefer the plaintive repetition in Q2.
Enter Guildenstern and Rosencrantz
These two enter in Q2 after Hamlet says
except my life, except my life, except my life,and before Polonius says
Fare you well my Lordto Hamlet; he then addresses the two with
You go to seek the Lord Hamlet, there he is,and then presumably exits, though it is not marked in Q2. In F1 the two enter at TLN 1265, after Polonius has said (presumably to them)
You goe to seeke my Lord Hamlet; there hee is.Q2’s arrangement works better on the large Elizabethan stage. F1 also does not mark Polonius’s exit. Q2 spells the names
Guyldersterne, and Rosencraus,here and line 193 below.
the Lord Hamlet
Q2, and most editors, read the Lord Hamlet. F1 reads
my Lord Hamlet.Q2/F1 both follow Hamlet with a colon. amlee
[Exit Polonius.]
No early text marks Polonius’s exit.
excellent
Q2’s
extentis an obvious misprint, corrected in F1 to
excellent.
indifferent
Ordinary, neither extremely fortunate nor unfortunate.
Happy
Fortunate.
ever happy
Always fortunate.
Q2’s
euer happyis possible in the sense of “always happy,” and is retained here because it is defensible, but F1’s
over-happy(extremely happy) has the attraction of continuing the idea of opposed opposites.
Fortune’s lap
F1’s
Fortunes Capseems manifestly superior to Q2’s
Fortunes lap,which presumably would have no
button,but
lapis intelligible.
button
Presumably, Fortune’s cap has a button at its highest point.
waist
F1 prints
waste,Q2
wast.
in the middle … favors
In her genital area.
F1’s
fauourcould be a simple misprint for Q2’s
fauors.
Faith
In good faith. (A mild oath.)
privates
(1) sexual members; (2) ordinary foot-soldiers; (3) informal friends and counselors,
without official title.
strumpet
Whore. (Fortune was proverbially fickle in bestowing her favors.)
What news?
F1’s
Whats the newes?could be an authorial version of Q2’s
What newes?,though both are perfectly intelligible.
but the world’s
F1’s
but that the World’scould be authorial.
Then is doomsday near
The idea of the world growing honest is so radical as to be apocalyptic, a sure sign
that the end is near.
is not true. But, in the beaten
Between these sentences, after
true,F1 provides a substantial passage omitted in Q2 about Denmark as a prison. The idea that these lines might offend Anne of Denmark, consort of King James VI and I, seems unlikely; the passage is more general than specific in its view of life as a prison, touching only tangentially on Denmark.
beaten way
Well-trodden path, tried-and-true course.
what make you
What are you doing.
Elsinore
Spelled
Elsonourein Q2,
Elsonowerin F1, Elsanour in Q1.
ever
F1’s
euencould be an authorial revision, albeit it could also be an easy miscopying of r for n in Q2’s
euer.
too dear a halfpenny
Too expensive at even a mere halfpenny, a coin of little value; or, too expensive
by a halfpenny for me to give in return for such worthless kindness.
free
Voluntary.
Come, come, deal
F1’s
Come, dealecould be authorial, or an unintentional dropping of Q2’s second
come.
Anything … th’ purpose
Anything, so long as it is not a straightforward answer. (Said sardonically.)
F1’s
Why any thing. But to the purposesuggests “Say anything you like, but let’s get to the main point.” F1’s version may be authorial.
kind of
F1’s omission of Q2’s
ofis presumably inadvertent.
color
Disguise.
Q2’s spelling is
cullourfor F1’s
color.
conjure
Solemnly entreat.
the consonancy … youth
The close friendship of our younger days and closeness of our ages.
by what … can charge you withal
By whatever more earnest entreaty a more skillful proposer might urge.
F1’s
couldin place of Q2’s
cancould be authorial.
even
On the level, straightforward.
of you
On you.
hold not off
Don’t hold back.
so … discovery, and
In that way, my speaking first will spare you the embarrassment of confessing the
truth, and.
In place of Q2’s
and,F1 here reads
of,apparently in error.
molt no feather
I.e., lose none of its attractive appearance.
exercises
(Such as tennis or fencing.)
F1’s
exerciseand Q2’s
exercisesare equally intelligible; F1 may or may not be a conscious revision.
it goes so heavily … disposition
It weighs so heavily on my spirits.
F1’s
heauenlyseems opposite to the sense of what Hamlet is saying, and is probably an easy printing error for Q2’s
heauily.
frame
Structure.
brave o’erhanging firmament
Splendid heavenly canopy hanging over us.
F1 omits Q2’s
firmament,presumably in error.
fretted
Adorned, inlaid.
Probably with an allusions to the decorated
heavenson the underside of the roof over the players’ heads in the Globe Theatre.
it appeareth nothing to me but
F2’s
it appeares no other thing to mee, thenhere rewords Q2. The two are equally intelligible. F1 could be authorial.
congregation
Mass, assemblage.
What piece of work
F1’s
What a piece of workesupplies the indefinite article, a, that is missing from Q2.
how infinite in faculties … the world
The punctuation of this passage differs significantly in Q2 and F1. Q2’s
how infinit in faculties, in forme and moouing, how express and admirable in action, how like how like an Angel in apprehension; how like a God: the beautie of the worldis improved upon in F1’s
how infinite in faulty? in form and mouing how expresse and admirable? In Action, how like an Angel? in apprehension, how like a God? the beauty of the world.F1’s faculty may be a miscopying of Q2’s faculties, i.e., capabilities.
in form and moving
In shape and motion.
express
Well framed; expressive.
apprehension
Understanding, power of comprehending.
quintessence
Very essence.
Quintessence is the fifth essence, a distillation of the four elements of earth, air,
fire, and water.
Quintessence of dustis an oxymoron, an inherent contradiction.
nor women
Q2’s
nor womenand F1’s
no, nor Womanare equally intelligible. F1’s singular
Womanagrees better with
manearlier in the sentence. Q1 reads
nor woman.
ye laugh, then
F1’s omission of
thenin Q2’s
yee laugh thencould be a simple oversight, especially since the next word is
when.F1’s
youin place of Q2’s
yeecould be authorial.
lenten entertainment
Meager reception (appropriate to Lent, the forty or so days of penitence and fasting
from Ash Wednesday to Easter).
During Lent, the public theaters were not allowed to perform plays.
coted
Overtook and passed.
F1 reads
coated,Q2
coted.
tribute on me
Payment; homage, praise from me.
Q2’s
on memay be idiomatic in Elizabethan usage, or could be an error for Q1/F1’s
of me.
foil and target
Sword and shield.
gratis
In vain, for nothing.
the Humorous … peace
The eccentric character, displaying the dominance in him of a particular
humor(obsession, whim, fancy), will have full license to speak without interruption.
in peace, and the Lady
Between
peaceand
and the lady,Q2 omits a phrase found in F1:
the Clowne shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickled a’th’ sere.The omission could be inadvertent.
the Lady … blank verse shall halt for’t
The boy actor playing the female parts will be allowed to speak without interruption
also, or the blank verse will limp.
Q2’s
blackis an error corrected in F1’s
blanke.
were wont to take such delight in
Were accustomed to take such delight in.
F1 omits
suchin Q2’s
take such delight,perhaps inadvertently.
tragedians
Actors (of comedy or tragedy).
travel
I.e., tour the provinces.
The Q2/F1 spelling,
trauaile,suggests both travel and travail, labor. Q1 spells it
trauell.
residence
Remaining in the city, not on tour.
their inhibition … innovation
Their being restrained from public performance is the result of recent disturbances.
Hamlet may be referring to the recent revival in 1599-1600 of performances by the
juvenile acting companies, whose marked tendency toward potentially libelous political
satire had led to their being suppressed throughout the 1590s.
estimation
Esteem.
are they not
F1’s normalizing the word order (
they are not) of Q2’s
are they notcould be a sophistication, or could be authorial. Following this speech, Q2 omits an extended passage found in F1 (TLN 1384-1408) alluding to the rivalry between the adult players and the boy actors in London at the time Hamlet was written and performed.
very strange
F1’s alteration of Q2’s
very strangeto
strangeis perhaps inadvertent.
mouths
Faces, grimaces.
F1 reads
mowes,Q1
mops and moes,Q2
mouths,all yielding essentially the same meaning.
forty, fifty, a
F1’s alteration of Q2’s
fortie, fifty ato
forty, anis perhaps inadvertent.
ducats
Gold coins.
picture in little
Portrait in miniature.
’Sblood
By God’s (Christ’s) blood. (An oath.)
This Q2 profanity is excised from F1, presumably in response to the recently passed
law against profanity.
A flourish
A fanfare, usually on trumpets, for important entrances, here announcing the arrival
of the actors at Elsinore Castle. They do not enter on stage until later, at line
276 SD (TLN 1466).
F1 reads
Flourish for the players.
Your hands
Give me your hands.
come, then
F1 reads
come.
Th’appurtenance … ceremony
Ceremonious actions and gestures are the proper accompaniment to a welcome.
Let … this garb
Let me comply with ceremonious custom in the proper manner by shaking hands with you.
F1’s
the garbin place of Q2’s
this garbcould be a copying error.
lest my … players
Lest my extending a welcome to the actors.
Q2’s
let mewould appear to be an error, prompted by
let meeearlier in the same sentence. It is corrected in F1 to
lest my.
must … outwards
Must necessarily display all the customary signs of a courteous welcome.
F1 reads
outward,Q2
outwards.
entertainment
Reception, welcome.
than yours
Than the welcome I have extended to you.
uncle-father
Both uncle and stepfather.
aunt-mother
Both mother and now aunt (by the marriage which Hamlet considers incestuous).
mad north-north-west
Mad only a small degree from true north, i.e., not very mad; or, mad only when the
wind blows from that direction.
I know … hand saw
I.e., Only a mad person would be unable to distinguish a hawk from a hand saw, and
I have no trouble distinguishing them (or
hand sawmight be hernshaw, a heron).
Q2 prints
hand saw,F1
Handsaw.
Well be
May all be well. (A conventional greeting.)
swaddling clouts
Clothes in which a baby is wrapped to keep it safe and still.
F1 reads
swathing clouts,Q2
swadling clouts,Q1
swadling clowts.
Happily
Perhaps.
Happilyin Q2/F1 is a normal spelling variant of
Haply.
they say … child
Compare the proverb, Old men are twice children (Dent M570).
You say … o’Monday morning, ’twas then indeed
(Hamlet pretends to be in serious conversation with his friends.)
F1’s changes of Q2’s
a Mondayto
for a Mondayand of Q2’s
t’was thento
’twas socould be minor authorial adjustments or else copying errors.
Roscius
Quintus Roscius Gallus, the famous Roman actor, c. 126-62 BC.
Q2/F1 spell the name
Rossius,Q1
Rossios.Q1/Q2 follow this name with
was,omitted in F1.
Buzz, buzz
An interjection, here conveying Hamlet’s contempt for Polonius’s telling the already
stale news of the actors’ arrival.
came
F1’s
canis usually regarded as a copying error for Q2’s
came.
scene individable … unlimited
I.e., plays without scene breaks and unrestrained by rules, hence all-inclusive or
unclassifiable—an absurdly catchall conclusion to Polonius’s list of dramatic categories.
Shakespeare was already well known for writing plays that ignored the classical
rulesof time, place, and action. F1’s expansion of Q2’s amusing list of genres by adding
Tragicall-Historicall, Tragicall-Comicall-Historicall-Pastorallbefore
scene indeuidiblemay be authorial.
Seneca
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, known as Seneca the Younger (c. 3 BC-65 AD), the most widely
read of Latin writers of tragedy.
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254-184 BC), the most popular of Latin writers of the so-called
New Comedy.
too light for … liberty: these
F1 reads
too light, for … Liberty. These; Q2 reads
too light for … liberty: these.
for the law of … liberty
For plays written according to the classical rules as well as for those that disregard
these conventions.
these
I.e., the actors, or possibly Seneca and Plautus.
Jephthah … Israel
The old-Testament patriarch (Judges 11:30-40) who vowed that he would sacrifice the
first living thing he saw if God granted him the defeat of the Ammonites in battle;
the first thing he saw turned out to be his daughter and only child.
Q2/F1 spell the name
Iephtahere and in line 266.
One … well
Hamlet quotes from a ballad about Jephthah and his daughter.
passing
Surpassingly, extremely.
Nay … not
I.e., (1) Just because you resemble Jephthah in having a daughter does not logically
demonstrate that you love her; (2) You haven’t quoted the next line of the ballad.
What … lord?
Polonius asks, what does follow logically? But Hamlet answers as if Polonius had asked,
what is the next line of the ballad?
by lot
By chance.
God wot
God knows.
As … was
As was most likely.
The first row of the pious chanson … more
The first line or stanza of this pious ballad will tell you more.
F1’s
Pons Chansonin place of Q2’s
pious chansonmay be a simple copying error.
my abridgment comes
Actors are coming who will cut short what I was about to say, or who will make short
my entertainment or diversion.
F1’s substitution of
Abridgements comefor Q1/Q2’s
abridgment comescould be a copying error, or could be authorial.
Enter the Players
F1 reads
Enter foure or fiue Players,Q1
Enter players.
masters
Good sirs. (Said to social inferiors.)
Oh, old friend, why, thy
F1’s
O my olde Friend! Thycould be an authorial correction of Q2.
valanced
I.e., fringed with beard.
Q2’s
valanct,i.e., valanced, is preferred by editors. F1’s
valiantcould be a simple misprint.
beard
Confront, challenge, defy. (With obvious pun on the player’s beard.)
young lady
The boy actor, to whom the female roles are assigned.
mistress
Hamlet addresses the boy actor with playful and courtly hyperbole as if he/she, now
coming to age as a young adult, were a woman to be admired and courted. (With no necessary
suggestion of the modern sense of sexual partner.)
By Lady
By Our Lady (the Virgin Mary). A mild oath.
Q2’s
By ladyis perhaps a misprint for F1’s
Byrladyand Q1’s
burlady.
nearer to heaven
(1) taller; (2) older, and thus nearer death.
F1’s
neerer Heauencould be an authorial correction of Q2’s
nerer to heauen,or could be a miscopying or editorial sophistication.
chopine
High platform shoe of Italian fashion.
uncurrent gold
Gold coin not legal because it is cracked or chipped inside the ring enclosing the
image of the sovereign. Shaving or chipping gold coins was a common form of cheating.
cracked … ring
I.e., the young male’s voice having lost its soprano range suitable for acting female
parts. (See previous note.)
We’ll e’en to’t, like French falconers
We’ll go at it like the French (who are presumed here to be avid falconers, not discriminating
as to what they loose their birds to fly at).
Q2’s
weele ento’t like friendly Fanknersis sensibly corrected to
wee’l e’ne to’t like French Faulconersin F1, confirmed by Q1.
straight
At once.
quality
Skill in acting.
Player
Here and subsequently, Q2 generally identifies this speaker as
Player,F1 as
I Play.
my good lord
F1’s
my Lordmay have accidentally dropped good from Q2’s
my good Lord.
speak me
Speak for me or to me.
but it was
But the play containing this speech was.
caviary … general
I.e., a delicacy not generally appreciated by unsophisticated tastes.
F1 prints
Cauairie,Q1/Q2
cauairy.
judgments
F1’s
iudgementcould be a miscopying of Q2’s
iudgements.
cried … mine
Spoke with greater authority than mine.
well digested … scenes
Arranged in orderly fashion into scenes.
modesty
Moderation, restraint.
cunning
Skill.
were no sallets
I.e., were no spicy bits, improprieties. (Literally, salads.)
F1’s substitution of
wasfor Q2’s
werecould have been compositorial.
indict
Accuse.
Q2/F1 read
indite.
affection
Affectation.
as wholesome … than fine
F1 omits these words of Q2.
more handsome than fine
Graceful and natural in proportion rather than artfully ornamented.
One speech
F1’s
One cheefe Speechmay have been a result of the cut in F1 described two notes above, and perhaps erroneously anticipating
cheefely lou’da few words later in the same sentence.
Aeneas’ talk to Dido
The story of the fall of Troy, as told by Aeneas to Dido in Book I of Virgil’s
Aeneid.
The story, not told in Homer’s Iliad, had been dramatized by Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe in Dido Queen of Carthage (c. 1585). Shakespeare tells a similar story, about ancient Rome, in The Rape of Lucrece. Q2’s
talkis intelligible, and more or less interchangeable with F1’s
tale,but F1 is confirmed by Q1 and is generally accepted as authorial.
thereabout of it
Around that part of it.
when
F1’s
whereas a substitute for Q2’s
whencould be authorial.
Priam’s slaughter
The slaying of Priam, King of Troy, by Pyrrhus, as Troy fell to the Greeks.
Q1 reads
Princes slaughter.
rugged
Shaggy, savage.
Pyrrhus
Pyrrhus, also known as Neoptolemus, was the son of Achilles, and was thus another
son (like Hamlet or Laertes or Fortinbras) seeking to avenge his father’s death.
Greek legend reports that Achilles, having been smitten by the charms of King Priam’s
daughter Polyxena, went to the Temple of Apollo to negotiate the marriage, where he
was wounded fatally in the heel by a poisoned arrow shot by Paris. The heel was Achilles’s
only vulnerable spot—literally, his Achilles’ heel—since his mother, Thetis, in an
attempt to bestow immortality on him, had dipped him as an infant into the River Styx,
but held him by the ankle.
th’Hyrcanian beast
A tiger from Hyrcania, on the Caspian Sea, famed for its wild beasts.
Q1 reads
arganian,Q2
ircanian,F1
Hyrcanian.
sable arms
Black armor.
couchèd
Concealed.
th’ominous horse
The fateful wooden Trojan horse, hidden inside of which 30 Greek warriors deceitfully
gained access to the citadel of Troy.
heraldry more dismal
I.e., the blood that Pyrrhus has smeared on his already dark and terrifying appearance.
Q2’s
heraldymay be a misprint, or an alternative spelling for F1’s
Heraldry,confirmed by Q1.
dismal head to foot;
F1’s punctuation,
dismall: Head to footeis arguably more persuasively authorial than Q2’s
dismall head to foote.
total gules
Totally red, as if in heraldic colors.
F1’s
to take Geullesis presumably a misprint for Q2’s
totall Gules.Q1 reads
totall guise.
tricked
Smeared, decorated.
Baked … streets
Roasted and encrusted into a thick paste by the parching heat of the streets and burning
houses.
tyrannous
Cruel, fierce.
and a damnèd
F1’s omission of a in Q2’s
and a damnedcould be authorial, or a copying error or editorial sophistication.
To their lord’s murder
I.e., To the murder of Priam.
F1’s
their vilde Murtherscould be authorial, referring to the murder of
fathers, mothers, daughters, sonsrather than to Priam.
o’ersizèd
Covered with size (a glutinous substance applied to canvases to make them ready for
painting); also suggesting
larger than life size.
coagulate
Congealed.
carbuncles
Large, fiery-red gems, thought to emit their own light.
So proceed you
This Q2 sentence is omitted in F1.
Anon
Soon.
anticke
Ancient, long-used.
Q2/F1’s
antickemay suggest both “ancient” and “antic,” i.e., comically or absurdly inadequate.
Repugnant to command
Resistant to Priam’s bidding.
Q1 reads
vnable to resist.
Unequal matched
They being unequally matched.
F1’s
vnequall matchis defensible as meaning,
It was an unequal match!but Q2’s
vnequall matchtis preferred by most editors. F1 could be the result of miscopying.
fell
Cruel, fierce.
Th’unnervèd father
The strengthless old man (and father of many sons).
[Then senseless Ilium,]
Then the citadel of Troy, lacking the strength to defend itself.
F1’s
Then senseless Ilium,missing from Q2, seems necessary for the meaning of what follows.
this blow
F1’s
his blowand Q2’s
this bloware both intelligible. F1 could be a miscopying of Q2.
his base
Its base.
declining
Descending.
milky
White-haired.
reverent
Reverend, worthy of deep respect.
F1’s
reuerendand Q2’s
reuerentare alternative spellings of the same word.
painted
Motionless, as in a painting.
Like … matter
As though suspended between intent and fulfillment.
F1’s
Andat the head of this line, missing here in Q2, improves the meter and is generally accepted as authorial.
against
Just before.
rack
Mass of clouds.
orb
Globe, earth.
As hush as death
Compare the proverbial expression,
As dumb (silent, still) as death (the grave),Dent D133.1.
region
Sky.
Cyclops’
The Cyclopes were primordial one-eyed giants of Greek mythology who served as armor-makers
in Vulcan’s smithy. The next line here presumes that they were the makers of armor
for Mars, the god of war.
Mars’s
Mars’shere is a modernization of Q2’s
Marses,an unusual form indicating pronunciation in two syllables; F1’s
Mars hishas much the same metrical effect.
for proof eterne
To provide eternal protection against assault.
remorse
Pity.
bleeding
I.e., covered with the blood of previous assaults, and anticipating the blood that
is about to be shed by old Priam.
Out
An expression of outrage, fury, etc.
strumpet
Whore.
Said also of Fortune at 2.2.200, TLN 1280. F1 reads
Strumpet-Fortune.
synod
Assembly.
fellies
The curved pieces of wood forming the exterior rim of a wheel, to which the spokes
are attached.
Because Fortune’s wheel is ever turning (a proverbial expression, Dent F617), a person
who is at the top of Fortune’s wheel one day may find himself or herself at the bottom
the next. Q2’s
folliesand F1’s
Falliesappear to be various compositorial attempts to wrestle with an unusual word.
nave
Wheel hub (all that would be left on a wheel if its spokes and fellies were broken).
the hill of heaven
Mount Olympus, home of the gods in Greek mythology.
jig
Comic entertainment with dance, often performed irrelevantly at the end of a play.
Hecuba
Wife of Priam and Queen of Troy.
But who, ah, woe, had seen
But woe is me! Anyone who might have seen.
F1/Q1’s
But who, O whocould be an authorial revision of Q2.
moblèd
Veiled, muffled.
F1’s
inobled,here and in the next line, could mean “made noble” or perhaps “deprived of nobility,” but it may simply indicate how unusual and easily miscopied Q1/Q2’s
mobledappears to be.
That’s good.
F1 allows Polonius to repeat himself (
That’s good: Inobled Queene is good) in a way that seems in character and is generally accepted as authorial, though assuming that
Inobledis an error for moblèd.
threat’ning … rheum
I.e., weeping so with blinding tears that she seemed almost capable of extinguishing
the flames of burning Troy.
clout
Cloth.
upon
F1’s unconvincing replacement of Q2’s
vpponwith
aboutmight have been influenced by the previous word
clout.
late
Lately.
diadem
Crown.
lank … loins
Withered midriff, utterly worn out with child-bearing.
the alarm
F1’s
th’Alarum,seconded by Q1, is also possible, suggests a battle signal, but F1 may be authorial. Q2’s
the alarmesuggests anxiety, fearfulness.
Who this had seen
Whoever had seen this.
’Gainst … pronounced
Would have protested treasonously against Fortune’s fickle rule.
But if
But even if.
husband
F1’s
Husbandsseems a useful correction of Q2’s
husband,But
husbandis defensible as an archaic uninflected form of the genitive (Arden 3).
Would … heaven
Would have caused the sun and other heavenly bodies to weep. (
Milchmeans “milky, moist with tears.”)
And passion
And would have provoked compassionate pity.
where
(1) whe’er, whether; (2) there, on his cheek.
Prithee
F1’s
Pray youmay be an editorial or compositorial sophistication of Q2’s
prethee.
the rest of this
F1’s shortening of Q2’s
the rest of thisto
the restcould be a result of careless copying.
bestowed
Lodged.
well used
Well treated.
they are the abstract … time
Actors give us a concise epitome of the age in which we live.
F1’s
abstractsoffers a plural noun in place of Q2’s adjectival
abstract.F1 could be a copying error, or could be authorial.
you were … epitaph
I.e., you would do better to have been judged a bad person.
live
Q2’s
liuemakes good sense, and F1’s
liuedwould be an easy copying error.
God’s bodkin
By God’s (Christ’s) dear little body. (An oath.)
Q2’s
Gods bodkinis a variant spelling of F1’s
Gods bodykins,with presumably only a coincidental resemblance to
bodkinmeaning “dagger.”
much better
Q2’s
much betterseems better than F1’s
better,perhaps even much better. F1 could be a copying error. Q1 reads
farre better.
shall
F1/Q1’s
shouldcould be an authorial change of Q2’s
shall,or could be an editorial sophistication.
after
According to.
Come, sirs
In F1 Polonius exits at this point; in Q2 he exits with the players at line 333.1
below. Q1 indicates the exit here of Corambis.
ha’t
Have it performed.
for need
As required and necessary.
Q1/F1’s
for a needis plausibly authorial.
study
Learn, memorize.
dozen lines or sixteen lines
F1/Q1’s
dosen (dozen) or sixteene linescould be a deliberate improvement of Q2’s
dosen lines, or sixteene lines.
till
Q2’s
tellseems an obvious misprint, corrected in F1’s
til.Presumably Hamlet is here speaking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Exeunt … Players
Presumably this exit is to take place after Hamlet says
and look you mock him notat 354. In F1 Polonius exits at line 328 above. The delayed exit of Polonius in Q1/Q2 makes good sense of Hamlet’s
Follow that lord, and look you mock him notat line 354; perhaps Polonius starts to exit at 328 and then waits at the door for the players to follow him.
Good my lord
Rosencrantz politely bids Hamlet farewell, understanding that he has asked him and
Guildenstern to leave.
Ay, so, God buy to you … alone
Q2’s
God buy to youand F1’s
God buy’ye,i.e. God b’wi’ you, are early forms of our familiar
Goodbye,as at 2.1.69 above, TLN 962.
Presumably Hamlet says
Ay, so … to youto Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as they are leaving, then speaks in soliloquy. Both Q2 and F1 print this as a single line of verse, after the exeunt.
But
Merely.
force … own conceit
Bring his innermost being so entirely into accord with his conception of the role
he is playing.
F1 substitution of
wholefor Q2’s
ownecould be authorial.
from her working
As a result of, or in response to, his soul’s activity.
the visage
F1’s
his visageis plausibly an authorial emendation.
wanned
Turned pale.
F1’s
warm’dis an easy transcription error for Q2’s
wand,i.e.,
wanned.
in his aspect
In his look.
F1’s
in’sis a plausible substitution for Q2’s
in his.
an[d] his whole … conceit
And all his bodily gestures perfectly suited to what he is imagining.
Q2’s
anis presumably a misprint for F1’s
and.
to her
F2’s
to Hecubawould seem to be an authorial correction of Q2’s
to her.
that
That much cause.
F2’s
the cuewould seem to be an authorial correction of Q2’s
that.
the general ear
Everybody’s ear.
horrid
Horror-causing.
appal the free
Horrify the innocent. (
Appalconveys the literal sense of “make pale.”)
F1 reads
apale,Q2
appale.
Confound the ignorant
Dumbfound those who know nothing of the crime that has been committed.
amaze
Stun, bewilder.
faculties
F1’s
facultycould be a miscopying of Q2’s
faculties,or could be authorial.
muddy-mettled
Dull-spirited.
peak
Mope.
Like John-a-dreams … cause
Like an idle dreamer, not quickened into action by my cause.
property
Person and identity as king.
A damned defeat
A murderous act deserving damnation.
Breaks … across
Slaps me across the face. (A profound insult.)
Patemeans “head.”
To break someone’s head in Elizabethan English is not to break it in two but to deliver
a blow.
Plucks off my beard
Yanks at my beard. Another deep insult, questioning the manliness of the one thus
insulted. The beard could hardly be yanked entirely off, but the yank would be accompanied
by a sharp slap to the face.
Gives … throat
Calls me an out-and-out liar. (Again, an especially insulting gesture.)
Compare the proverbial expression, To lie in one’s throat, Dent T268).
does me this
Does this to me.
’Swounds
By his (Christ’s) wounds. (A strong oath.)
F1’s
Whyis presumably an expurgated substitution for Q2’s strong oath,
s’wounds.
take it
I.e., take it lying down, offering no response.
it cannot be / But
It cannot be otherwise than that.
pigeon-livered
Pigeons’ livers were thought to secrete no gall, thus making them mild and disinclined
to anger.
To … bitter
To make my oppression bitter to me, and thus make me dangerous to my enemy.
ere
Before.
ha’ fatted
Q2’s
a fatted,i.e., ha fatted or have fatted, may well be the authentic reading here, sophisticated into
haue fattedin F1.
all the region kites
All the kites (birds of prey) of the air.
this slave’s offal
This wretch’s entrails.
bawdy
Lewd, immoral.
F1’s
a Bawdymay be a miscopying of Q2’s
baudy.
Remorseles … villain
F1 follows this line with the interjection
Oh Vengeance!,omitted in Q1/Q2, and rejected by Arden 2 as an actor’s interpolation, but defended by other editors.
kindless
Unnatural, lacking in affection for one’s kind.
Why,
F1’s
Who?is seemingly a copying error for Q2’s
Why.
am I!
Following
Am I?F1 adds
I sure,often regarded as an unauthorized interpolation since the meter is clearer in Q2.
brave
Fine, admirable. (Said sarcastically.)
a dear murderèd
Q3’s
a deere father murtheredis a plausible emendation for Q2’s
a dear murderedand F1’s
the Deere murdered,either of which is possible but perhaps more likely to be copying errors.
drab
Whore.
stallion
I.e., whore.
Q2 reads
stallyon,i.e., whore; Q1 reads
scalion,perhaps meaning kitchen wench, like F1’s
Scullion.All are defensible and consistent with
drabin the same line.
About
Go about it, get to work.
brains
Q2’s
brainesand Q1/F1’s
Braineare equally defensible.
Hum
Q2’s
Humis omitted in Q1/F1.
cunning
Artfulness, skill.
presently
At once.
Compare the proverb, Murder will out (cannot be hid), Dent M1315.
malefactions
Evil deeds, crimes.
tent … quick
Probe his wound (i.e., his conscience) to its core.
If ’a do blench
If he flinches or turns pale.
F1’s
If he but blenchis generally accepted as authorial, though the changing of Q2’s
’ato F1’s
hecould be a copyist’s or printer’s sophistication.
be a de’il
Be a devil.
Q2’s
be a dealecould be a copying error for Q1/F1’s
be the Diuell,confirmed by the repetition of
the Diuellater in this line in F1.
Abuses
Deludes, deceives.
relative
Relevant, convincing.
[3.1]
Location: The castle.
And can … conference
Can you not, by means of steering the conversation where you want it to go.
The
And(Q2’s reads
An) indicates that the scene begins in the midst of a discussion. Q2’s
conferencemakes sense if it means conversation, but editors often prefer F1’s
circumstance,which may be authorial.
forward
Willing.
sounded
Probed, questioned.
disposition
Inclination, mood.
Niggard of question
Laconic, reluctant to initiate talk.
of our demands
In response to our questions.
assay him to
Endeavor to persuade him to try.
fell out
Happened.
o’erraught
Overtook, passed.
F1 reads
ore-wrought,Q2
ore-raught.
are here about
F1’s
are aboutscans better than Q2’s version, in which the unnecessary
heremay have been mistakenly picked up from
heareearlier in the line.
edge
Incitement.
into
Q2’s
intois plausible enough, but F1’s
on / Tomay be authorial. The lineation in F1 differs from that of Q2.
two
Q2’s
twois plausible enough, though F1’s
toocould be an authorial revision.
closely
Privately.
Affront
Confront, encounter.
and myself
F1 adds the phrase
lawful espialsomitted in Q2. The omission may be the result of unintentional oversight, or as a consequence of F1’s relineation of Q2.
We’ll
Q2’s
Wee’lecan make sense, but editors in general prefer F1’s
Will,which sounds more colloquial and may indeed be authorial.
by … behaved
By his behavior.
wonted
Customary.
[Exit Queen.]
This exit, omitted from Q2/F1, is indicated by an
exitin Q1, albeit at an earlier point than in the other texts. This business, and the famous
To be or not to be soliloquy,follow in Q1 after Polonius’s reading of Hamlet’s love letters to the King and Queen at TLN 1137-90.
Gracious
Your Grace (addressed to the King).
this book
Presumably, a book of devotion.
exercise
Religious exercise.
color
Give a plausible appearance to, justify.
lowliness
Pious humility.
Q2’s
lowlinessis here retained in this conservatively Q2 text, but F1’s
lonelinesseis more appropriate, and Q2’s reading is easily explained as an error in transmission.
too blame
Q2/F1’s
too blameconveys the sense of “too blameworthy,” though To blame and too blame are often interchangeable in early modern English.
’Tis … proved
It is too often shown to be the case and too often practiced.
sugar
F1’s
surgeis an easy misprint for Q2’s
sugar.
Oh, ’tis too true!
These words need not be said aside; they could be the King’s way of agreeing with
what Polonius has just said, before the King pursues in tortured soliloquy the dark
consequences of the idea. Conversely, the whole speech can be read as expressive of
a guilty conscience. Q2’s
O tis too truemay well be the authoritative reading; F1’s omission of
toocould be an easy oversight.
smart
Stinging.
beautied … art
Beautified by means of cosmetics.
to … helps it
In comparison with or in response to the cosmetic that gives the cheek its false beauty.
Enter Hamlet
Hamlet enters in Q2 before Polonius says
I hear him coming. Let’s withdraw, my lord.He enters in F1 as he is about to begin his famous
To be, or not to besoliloquy. The earlier Q2 entrance is sometimes interpreted as affording Hamlet an opportunity to quickly size up a plot to spy on him, but his soliloquy says nothing of the sort, and a likelier interpretation is that Q2’s entrance is directed at the actor playing Hamlet, giving him time to get on the large Elizabethan stage without a delay in the action, and for the audience to see him entering as the King and Polonius withdraw. Q1 gives an entirely different placement of this soliloquy and Hamlet’s confrontation of Ophelia; it occurs much earlier, after Polonius (called Corambis in Q1) has brought the King and Queen the letter that Ophelia (Ofelia) has received from Hamlet; this is at 2.2.154 and following in Q2/F1, and replaces the report in those texts of Hamlet’s craftily mad conversation with Polonius.
Withdraw
Q2’s
with-drawis perfectly clear, but F1’s
let’s withdrawimproves the meter, and the absence of
let’sin Q2 may be a simple error of omission.
[The King … themselves]
The King and Polonius may step aside, behind an arras or wall-hanging.
F1 specifies
Exeuntbefore Hamlet enters. The stage direction is omitted in Q2. Q2/F1 both specify
Enter King and Poloniusat line 131.1, TLN 1818, meaning probably that they come forward from concealment. The audience needs to be aware of their concealed presence throughout Hamlet’s encounter with Ophelia.
slings
Devices for propelling several kinds of missiles toward an enemy.
a sea of troubles
A sea of troubles (sorrows) is a proverbial expression (Dent S177.1).
To die, to sleep—
Q2 reads
to die to sleepewithout a comma or dash. The comma is supplied by F1. An easy omission in Q2.
No more
I.e., Death is nothing more than a prolonged sleep.
(A commonplace, beautifully rendered into music by Haydn in his round, Tod ist ein langer schlaf.)
wished. To
Q2’s lack of a period after
wishtis presumably a copying or compositorial oversight. F1’s
wish’d. Tois generally adopted by editors.
rub
Impediment, difficulty. (Literally, an obstacle in the path of the ball in the game
of bowls.)
shuffled … coil
Cast off our mortal flesh and the turmoil of existence.
respect
Consideration.
That … life
(1) That allows calamity to last so long; (2) that makes long life a calamity in itself.
the proud man’s contumely
The insolent abuse meted out by those of superior social rank.
Q2’s
the proude mans contumelyis universally preferred by editors to F1’s
the poore mans Contumely.F1’s reading could easily be a copying error.
despised
Q2’s
despiz’d,here modernized to
despised,is a viable reading, but may be a copying error corrected in F1’s
dispriz’d,undervalued.
office
Officialdom.
spurns
Insults; literally, kicks.
That … takes
That patient, deserving people must endure at the hands of unworthy persons.
might his quietus make
Might settle his accounts (at the end of his life). A quietus was an affirmation that
a bill had been paid, marked Quietus est, laid to rest.
With a bare bodkin
With nothing more elaborate than an unsheathed dagger.
fardels
Burdens.
F1’s
these Fardlesand Q2’s
fardelsare equally intelligible. Some editors regard these as unnecessary. Yet its presence in F1 may be authorial.
bourn
Boundary, border.
F1 reads
Borne,Q2
borne.
No traveler returns
Since the Ghost of Hamlet’s father has just returned from the
undiscovered countryof the afterlife, this phrase here may refer more simply to the general proposition that death is final. Q2 prints
trauiler,F1
Traueller.
have / Than
Q2/F1’s
haue, / Thencould suggest subsequently as a meaning for “Then,” but Then is a common early modern spelling of Than.
conscience
(1) introspection, consciousness; (2) moral promptings, attuned to fear of divine
punishment after death for sins committed while one is alive.
cowards
F1 adds
of vs allafter
cowards,in what appears to be an authorial correction.
the native hue of resolution
The natural color of one’s complexion (i.e., ruddiness) that signals manly courage.
sickl[i]ed
Q2’s
sickledis presumably a typographical error for F1’s
sicklied.
the pale cast of thought
The white-faced pallor that accompanies too much introspection.
great pitch
High seriousness.
Q2’s
pitch,height, said of the highest point of a falcon’s flight, is a plausible reading, though F1’s
pith,meaning “profound importance,” is generally preferred by editors and may indeed be authorial.
moment
Momentousness, significance.
regard
Consideration.
currents
Courses.
awry
Askew, off the expected course.
F1’s
away,though intelligible, may well be a misprint for Q2’s more incisive
awry.
lose
Q2/F1 print
loose,a common variant spelling.
Soft you now
I.e., Wait a minute. (Said as Hamlet sees Ophelia.)
in thy orisons / Be … remembered
Remember me in your prayers, sinner that I am.
Christian theology in medieval and Renaissance times dwelt on the innate sinfulness
of all humans since the fall of Adam and Eve.
well
F1’s
well, well, wellfills out the meter of a short phrase in Q2 (
well) and is generally regarded as authorial. The lack of a comma preceding well in Q2 could suggest that well here means “very much,” but more probably it answers Ophelia’s question,
How are you?by saying, in effect, “I’m fine, thank you.”
No, not I
F1’s
No, noand Q2’s
No, not Iare interchangeable for meaning. F1’s reading may be authorial, but Q2 produces a better line metrically, and F1 could be the result of imperfect copying.
aught
Anything.
Q2/F1 print
ought,a variant spelling.
you know
F1’s
I knowis intelligible, but Q2’s
you knowis more persuasive and is generally regarded as authorial. F1’s reading could easily be a miscopying.
these things
F1’s
the thingsis intelligible, but Q2’s
these thingsis more particular in its reference and is generally regarded as authorial. F1’s reading could easily be a miscopying.
Their perfume lost
F1’s
then perfume leftis perhaps intelligible (if left can be taken to mean “having departed”), but Q2’s
their perfume lostis more particular in its reference and is generally regarded as authorial. F1’s reading could easily be a miscopying.
wax
Grow.
honest
(1) chaste; (2) truthful.
fair
Beautiful.
you should … your beauty
You should be chastely wary of any dealings with your beauty (since a beautiful woman
is too often in danger of being seduced).
F1’s
your Honesty should admit no discourse to your Beautieconveys much the same idea as in Q2’s
you should admit / no discourse to your beautie,but with more pointed emphasis on the problematic nature of Honesty or chastity. F1’s version may be authorial. It is in a passage containing quite a few such misreadings.
commerce
Dealings.
than with honesty
F1’s
then your honestyis perhaps intelligible as a shortened form of than with your honesty, but Q2’s
then with honestieis clearer, and F1’s reading could be a typographical error in a passage containing quite a few such misreadings in F1.
his likeness
Its (honesty’s) likeness.
sometime a paradox
Formerly a seeming absurdity, a conundrum.
virtue cannot so evocutate … of it
Virtue cannot be grafted onto our inherently sinful nature without our retaining some
taste or trace of the old stock, i.e., Adam’s Original Sin.
Q2’s
euocutatis a problematic reading. Q3’s attempt at improvement with
euacuate,i.e., evacuate, is possible, but F1’s
innocculatemay well be authorial. Q2’s
euocutatis physically close to enocutat.
Get thee [to]
Q2’s omission of
toseems inadvertent, and is corrected by F1.
nunnery
Convent (perhaps too with the suggestion of a brothel, since Hamlet is openly skeptical
of the idea that beauty and chastity can coexist in women).
indifferent honest
Reasonably virtuous.
accuse me
Accuse myself.
beck
Command (as in beck and call).
in, imagination to give
F1’s
in imagination, to giuemisplaces the comma of Q2’s
in, imagination to giue.
earth and heaven
F1’s
Heauen and Earthinverts Q2’s
earth and heauen.Q1’s
heauen and earthagrees with F1. The inversion could be authorial, or the work of a copyist or compositor.
arrant
Downright.
knaves
Q1/F1 add
allafter
knaves,presumably reflecting the dramatist’s choice. Q2’s omission could be inadvertent.
nowhere
F1’s
no wayis possible, but may be a copying error for Q1/Q2’s
no where.
calumny
Slander.
a nunnery, farewell.
F1’s correction to
a Nunnery. Go, Farewellis plausibly, though not certainly, authorial.
monsters
Cuckolded men were popularly supposed to have monster-like horns on their foreheads
as a sign of their being cheated on by their wives.
you make
You women make.
quickly too.
Q2 reads
quickly to,F1
quickly too.
Heavenly
F1’s
O heauenlycould be authorial, or could be an editorial addition.
paintings
Use of cosmetics.
F1’s
pratlingsis possible, but could be a copying error for Q2’s
paintings,which seems more thematically consistent with Hamlet’s diatribe against women for making themselves faces other than what God has given them. On the other hand, the
tooin F1’s
pratlings toocould well be authorial.
face
F1’s
pace,meaning “gait,” can be linked to
pratlingsin F1’s version of Hamlet’s previous sentence, suggesting that both images are about mannerisms of speech and movement, but Q2’s
faceseems better suited to the image of women’s use of makeup, and is generally preferred as probably authorial.
yourselves
F1’s
your selfeis possible, but Q2’s
your selfesis more grammatically correct, and Q2 has the advantage of a more direct line of transmission from Shakespeare’s own papers.
You jig and amble … lisp
You dance about, you swing your hips suggestively when you walk, you speak with an
affected voice.
F1’s
you gidge, you amblemay well contain a copying error of
gidgefor Q2’s
You gig & amble,
you gigbeing probably a spelling variant of
You jig.On the other hand, F1 may be authorial in printing
you amblein place of Q2’s
& amble.The
&may anticipate the next
andin the sentence. Q2’s
listis an error, corrected in F1’s
lispe.Q1 reads
fig.
you nickname God’s creatures
I.e., you impose new names and false appearances on the creatures of this world instead
of accepting them as God made them.
In the Book of Genesis God gives names to his first creations, as when he called the
dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas, and then
ordained the abundance of moving creatures (1:10-25), but when he has created Adam,
he turns the naming of the beasts and fowl over to him: he brought them unto Adam
to see what he would call them, and so Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to the
fowl of the air (2:19-20). Hamlet accuses Ophelia of taking on this assignment frivolously
and superficially. F1’s and nickname Gods creatures is plausibly authorial in this
sequence of clauses in place of Q1/Q2’s you nickname God’s creatures.
and make your wantonness ignorance
And you excuse your bad behavior on the grounds that you didn’t know any better.
F1’s
and make your Wantonnesse, your Ignorancemay well be authorial in its second your, missing from Q2 in what could be a simple copying error.
Go to
An expression of impatience, as at 1.3.112 (TLN 578).
I’ll no more on’t
I won’t have any more of this.
no mo marriage
F1/Q1’s
no more Marriagesmay be authorial, though Q2 (
no mo marriage) is also possible. Mo is an allowable spelling variant in early modern English.
all but one
Presumably, all but the King. (Whether Hamlet says this in the knowledge that the
King is listening is a matter of interpretation.)
The courtier’s … sword
The three attributes are not listed in the same order as that used for the three types
of persons; the pattern is more rhetorical than strictly logical.
Swordclearly goes with the soldier;
eyeand
tonguecould indicate scholar and courtier, or the reverse (Arden 3).
Th’expectation and rose
The hope and ornament.
F1’s
Th’expectansie and Roseis better fitted metrically to the line than Q2’s reading, and may well be an authorial emendation. The sense of the two readings is similar.
The glass … form
The mirror of true self-fashioning and the model of courtly behavior.
Th’observed … observers
The admired center of attention in the court.
And I
F1’s
Haue Iappears to be a misreading of Q2’s
And I.
musicked
Sweetly and harmoniously uttered.
F1 reads
Musicke; Q2’s
musicktis also possible, and with much the same meaning, but F1 could well be the correction of a misprint.
what
Q2’s
whatmay well be a misprint for F1’s more intelligible
that,although, as Arden 2 notes, Ophelia’s syntax could be disjointed here.
sovereign reason
I.e., reason as properly the sovereign or ruler over the emotions and the senses.
time
Q2’s
timeis perhaps just as viable a reading as F1’s
tune,but
tunemay be an authorized revision.
stature
Form, image.
Q2’s
statureis a viable reading, but F1’s
Featureis more immediately understandable and may well be authorial.
blown youth
Youth in its full blossoming.
Blasted with ecstasy
Blighted with madness.
affections
Emotions, feelings.
sits on brood
Sits like a bird on a nest, about to hatch mischief (in the next line).
And … disclose
And I do fear that the fulfillment and the discovery (like the hatching of a chick
as it emerges from its shell).
for to prevent
F1’s
to preuentis a perfectly acceptable alternative to Q2’s
for to preuent,and is indeed more in line with twenty-first-century usage, even if F1 could be a sophistication or a copying error rather than authorial.
set it down
Determined, resolved the matter; put it in writing.
Haply
Perhaps.
variable objects
Various sights and surroundings to divert him.
something-settled
Somewhat fixated.
Q2/F1 do not hyphenate. Omitted in Q1.
Whereon … grief
Q2’s lineation varies from that of F1, which is more plausible and may well be authorial.
still
Continually.
From … himself
Out of his normal mode of behavior.
his grief
F1’s
this greefeis understandable, but may have been a mis-copying of Q2’s
his greefe.
grief
F1’s
Greefesis intelligible, but perhaps a mis-copying of Q2’s
griefe.
round
Blunt.
As at 3.4.5 (TLN 2380) below.
placed (so please you)
F1’s
plac’d so, please youis possible, with so meaning “thus” and please you an abbreviated version of so please you, but the F1 reading could easily be a copying error of Q2’s
plac’d (so please you)by the misplacement of the comma.
find him not
Is unable to discover what is troubling him.
unmatched
Countered by some stratagem, some opposite ploy.
Q2’s
vnmatchtcan make sense, but may well be a copying error for F1’s
vnwatch’d.
[3.2]
Location: A room of state in the castle.
three of the Players
F1 asks for
two or three of the Players,while Q1 merely specifies
the Players,suggesting how flexible and casual such arrangements could be in performances at various times and for various audiences. Only one Player here is needed to answer Hamlet, but his lecture on acting is suitably addressed to the players who have arrived at Elsinore.
pronounced
Q2’s
pronoun’dwould appear to be an obvious misprint corrected in F1’s
pronounc’d.
mouth
Declaim, speak exaggeratedly.
our players
Q2’s
our Playersis acceptable, but less idiomatic than Q1/F1’s
your Players,i.e., actors nowadays, the actors that people talk about. Q2’s version could be a copying error.
I had as lief
I’d just as soon, be just as willing.
Q2/F1 print
liueas a common spelling of
lief.
town crier
Person assigned with the responsibility for loudly proclaiming public announcements
in the streets.
spoke
Q2’s
spokeis perfectly intelligible, but F1’s
had spokeis plausibly authorial.
with your hand, thus
F1’s
your hand thuscan be made to yield good sense if punctuated with dashes before and after, but a simpler explanation is that Q2’s preceding
withwas inadvertently omitted by the F1 compositor.
whirlwind of your passion
F1’s
the Whirle-wind of Passionis acceptable, but the omission of
yourin Q2 may have been an oversight, and the seems an unnecessary addition.
acquire and beget
Cultivate and nurture.
to hear
F1’s
to seeand Q2’s
to heareare both intelligible, but Q2 can perhaps claim a more direct line of descent from Shakespeare’s papers, and the idea of hearing fits best with a noisy performance.
robustious
Boisterous, bombastic.
periwig-pated
Wig-wearing.
Q2’s
perwig-patedis corrected in F1’s
Pery-wig-pated.Q1 reads
periwig.
tear
Q2 prints
tere,Q1/F1
teare.
tatters
Q1/Q2’s
tottersis probably just a spelling variant of F1’s
tatters.
split
Q2’s
spleetis a spelling variant of Q1/F1’s
split.
groundlings
Spectators who paid the lowest price of admission (usually a penny) and who stood
in the yard around the raised platform stage.
The term
groundlings,seemingly Shakespeare’s invention, has condescending connotations of low taste and gullibility in the spectators.
capable of
Able to understand.
dumb-shows and noise
Noisy spectacles (as differentiated from complex and intellectually demanding drama).
would
F1’s
couldis plausible, but may be a miscopying of Q1/Q2’s
would.
Termagant
A supposed Mohammedan deity who, though not actually found in extant English medieval
drama, had become a byword for tyrannical bluster, like Herod (see next note).
Compare Falstaff’s characterization of the Scottish warrior the Douglas, as that hot
termagant Scot (1 Henry IV, 5.4.113-14).
Herod
King of Judea who ordered the massacre of all male children in his kingdom as a means
of destroying the child that, wise men told him, was born King of the Jews (Matthew
2.2)—namely, Christ. This Herod was a figure of comic bluster in
The Massacre of the Innocentsand other episodes from the Christmas story in medieval religious drama.
warrant
Assure, promise.
o’erstep
F1’s
ore-stopis presumably a simple misprint for Q2’s
ore-steppe.
the modesty of nature
Natural restraint and moderation.
anything
Q2/F1 print
any thing.
o’erdone
F1’s
ouer-doneis perfectly intelligible. It could be a compositorial sophistication of Q2’s
ore doone,though
ouer-donedoes appear later in Q2 (and F1) in this same speech (TLN 1873).
from the purpose
Contrary to the purpose.
to hold … image
To show human nature an image of itself and scornful persons a picture of what they
look like.
F1’s
her owne Featureis intelligible as a correction of Q2’s
her feature,introducing
ownas a parallel to her owne Image.
and the very … pressure
And the present state of affairs a likeness of itself as if impressed in wax. (
His formmeans “its form.”)
come tardy off
Done lamely.
makes the unskillful
Makes those who lack critical discernment; the opposite of
the judicious.
F1’s
makeis intelligible, and could be authorial, though it could instead be an editorial sophistication of Q2’s
makes.
the censure of … allowance
The critical judgment of even one of whom must, in your scale of values.
Q2’s
the censure of whichis plausible, but may be a copying error for
The censure of the which,as it appears in F1. Q2’s comma in
which, oneand F1’s comma in
which One,are both misleading for modern readers.
praised
Q2’s
prasydis intelligible, but could be an error for
praise,as in F1.
not to speak it profanely
I.e., I hope I will not be speaking profanely if I venture so far as to damn such
bad actors as neither Christian, pagan, or even human (as Hamlet says in the words
that follow here).
gait
Q2/F1 print
gate.Omitted in Q1.
nor man
Nor mankind in general.
F1’s
or Normanmay suggest that the reading should be
nor no man(Oxford).
nature’s journeymen
I.e., not Nature herself but merely one of her hired assistants.
Q2 prints Natures Iornimen.
abhominably
F1/Q2’s
abhominably,a spelling strongly preferred throughout Shakespeare’s texts, preserves a then-popular false etymology, as if the word were derived from Latin ab + homine, removed from human nature, instead of the truer derivation, ab + omen, far distant from the shades of the dead. Q1 reads
abhominable.
indifferently
Tolerably, moderately well.
with us
F1 plausibly adds
Sirat the end of this speech.
of them
Some among them.
set on
Incite.
barren
Devoid of wit or judgment.
to laugh too
Q2’s
to laugh tois a common spelling variant for F1’s
to laugh too.The same spelling occurs in line 7 below.
[Exeunt Players.]
Q1 reads
exeunt players,F1
Exit Players.Omitted in Q2.
Enter … Rosencrantz
F1 plausibly prints its stage direction (
Enter Polonius, Rosencrance, and Guildensterne) before Hamlet says to Polonius, in line 6,
How now, my lord, will the King hear this piece of work?Q2’s placement is nonetheless defensible from a theatrical point of view: Hamlet addresses Polonius as he and the two young men begin their entrance onto the broad Elizabethan stage.
Queen to[o]
Q2 prints
to,a common form of
too,the F1 reading.
presently
At once.
[Exit Polonius.]
This SD, plainly implied here and in Q1, is present in F1.
Ay, my lord
F1 reads
We will my lord,assigning the speech to
Both.The correction is plausibly authorial.
Exeunt they two
F1 simplifies this Q2 stage direction to
Exeunt.
What ho
Q2 reads
What howe,F1 What hoa.
Enter Horatio
F1 brings Horatio on before Hamlet says to him,
What hoa, Horatio?But Q2’s arrangement is equally good, or better; here, Hamlet calls out to his friend, who is offstage but near at hand, whereupon Horatio responds to the call. The SD is missing in Q1 but is clearly implied.
e’en
Even, absolutely.
just
Judicious, honorable, trustworthy.
As … coped withal
As I have ever encountered in my experience with people.
For
coped,Q2 prints
copt,F1
coap’d.
revenue
The word
revenueis here accented on the second syllable.
candied
Sugary, flattering.
tongue lick
Q2’s
tongue lickeis a necessary correction of F1’s
tongue, like.
pregnant
Compliant.
Where … fawning
Wherever profit may accrue from abject flattery.
F1’s
faining,i.e., putting on a pretense of flattering attention, is possible for Q2’s
fauning,but Shakespeare often pairs the ideas of fawning and candy, as in Hotspur’s Why, what a candy deal of courtesy / This fawning greyhound [Bolingbroke] then did offer me! (1 Henry IV, 1.3.249-50; noted by Arden 3).
of her choice
F1’s
of my choysecan make sense, suggesting that the soul is able to govern one’s choice of friends, but may be a copying error for Q2’s more easily intelligible
of her choice.
And could … for herself
And could make discriminating choices among men, she (my soul) has marked you as her
own, as though putting a legal seal on you to ensure possession.
Q2’s
And could … distinguish her election, / S’hath … for herselfeis clear; F1’s version,
And could … distinguish, her election / Hath … her selfe,though intelligible, may be a copying error.
Hast
Q2’s
Hastand F1’s
HHHathare both plausible, but Q2’s version has the advantages of being a better grammatical choice in a better textual line of authority. F1 could be an editorial attempt at correction or a copying error.
blood and judgment
Passion and reason.
commeddled
Commingled.
F1’s
co-mingledis a perfectly viable alternative to Q2’s
comedled,and could be authorial, though it could instead be an editorial sophistication in place of Q2’s less familiar form.
stop
Hole on a recorder or similar wind instrument for controlling pitch.
This observation about the
stopon a recorder anticipates Hamlet’s caustic exchange with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern later in this present scene (lines 233-41, TLN 2221-42).
Something … of this
I.e., I’ve already said too much on this subject. (Hamlet obliquely apologizes to
Horatio for having expressed so deeply and personally his affection and admiration.)
tonight
Q2/F1 read
to night.
Even … thy soul
With your utmost powers of concentration.
F1’s reading of
my soulcan be made to yield sense, but much more plausible is Q2’s
thy soul.
occulted
Hidden.
itself unkennel
Reveal itself (as a fox might be flushed from its lair).
The word
unkennelmay have come to Shakespeare from the similarity of sound to
uncleand
occultedin the previous line.
one speech
Presumably Hamlet here refers to the speech that he has asked the First Player to
memorize and insert into the upcoming performance of
The Murder of Gongazo.See 3.1.331, TLN 1581-2, above.
Vulcan’s stithy
The stithy or workshop of Vulcan, blacksmith-god of fire (and husband of Venus). Stiths
are anvils.
heedful note
Careful observation.
F1’s
needfull notecould be an easy copying error for Q2’s
heedfull note,though both are possible, and, as Arden 3 observes,
needfulis more frequently used by Shakespeare than
heedful.
In censure … seeming
In judgment of his appearance and behavior.
Q2’s
Inseems more idiomatic than F1’s
To,though F1 is possible and could be authorial.
If ’a steal aught the whilst
If he gets away with anything while.
Q2/F1 print
oughtfor
aught.Omitted in Q1.
detected
Detecting, having been detected.
Q2’s
detectedis defensible, but F1’s
detectingseems more plausible and may represent a deliberate correction and is commonly editors’ choice.
pay the theft
Pay for what has been stolen, i.e, make amends for my inadequate observation of the
King.
Enter … Ophelia
Q2 (
Enter Trumpets and Kettle Drummes, King, Queene, Polonius, Ophelia) neglects to mention Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, other lords, and the King’s guard carrying torches, who are named in F1’s equivalent stage direction (
Enter King, Queene, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrance, Guildensterne, and other Lords attendant with his Guard carrying torches. Danish March. Sound a Flourish). The
Trumpets and Kettle Drummesmentioned in Q2 are presumably needed to sound the Flourish called for in F1. The
Danish Marchis mentioned only in F1. Q1 reads, more simply,
Enter King, Queene, Corambis, and other Lords.
be idle
(1) be unoccupied; (2) resume my mad guise.
How fares … Hamlet?
How are things with you, my kinsman Hamlet? (But Hamlet, in his reply, plays on
faresin the sense of dines.)
of the … promise-crammed
(1) I am feeding on air, like the chameleon (which was fabled to feed thus); (2) I
am feeding myself with thoughts about succeeding to the Danish crown, having been
given nothing but empty promises of succession. (Hamlet is
heirapparent; the word sounds like air.)
Compare the proverb, Love is a chameleon that feeds on air (Dent L505.1, noted by
Arden 3). Compare too the cramming of geese with feed to make paté de foie gras.
capons
(1) castrated roosters, often crammed with feed to make them succulent for the dinner
table; (2) fools.
I have nothing with
I can make nothing of, can learn nothing from.
are not mine
Do not respond to what I asked and thus are meaningless to me.
nor mine now. [To Polonius] My lord,
These words are so longer mine, since I have uttered them and sent them forth into
the air. [To Polonius] My lord,
F1’s
nor mine. Now my Lordcould be a mistranscribing of Q2’s
nor mine now my Lord.
That did I
F1’s
That I didcould be an editorial or copying alteration of Q2’s
That did I,or it could be an authorial change.
What
F1’s
And whatcould be an authorial correction of Q2’s
What.
i’th’Capitol
In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Caesar is assassinated in the Capitol (3.1.12). Historically, Caesar was assassinated
in Pompey’s porch, the colonnade of Pompey’s great open theater, dedicated in 55 BC.
Shakespeare mentions in that play that the conspirators are waiting for Cassius In
Pompey’s porch (1.3.126).
brute
The word plays on Brutus, the name of one of the chief conspirators against Caesar and also a synonym in Latin
for stupid.
According to historical legend, Marcus Brutus’s great ancestor in the founding of
the Roman republic, Lucius Junius Brutus, pretended to be stupid (much as Hamlet assumes
a guise of madness) to throw off his tyrannical enemies; hence, his name Brutus, stupid. ). A passage in Henry V compares King Henry’s wild youth with the evasive tactics of the first Roman Brutus,
/ Covering discretion with a coat of folly (2.4.37-8; see Arden 3).
part
(1) action; (2) role in a play.
so capital a calf
I.e., so outstanding a fool.
With satirical wordplay on
capital/Capitol; see the previous line.
stay … patience
Await instructions from you as to when to begin.
dear
F1’s
goodmight be an authorial or editorial or copying substitution for Q2’s
dear.Both are perfectly possible. In F1, in his reply (line 58), Hamlet repeats the word
goodwith which his mother has addressed him; in Q2 he perhaps deliberately chooses not to use her word
dear,but
good.Either is potentially laden with ironic meaning.
mettle
(1) mettle, disposition, temperament (2) metal, an attractive quality (much as a magnet
attracts iron).
Q1/Q2 read
mettle,F1
Mettle.A common variant spelling, sometimes, as here, with ambiguous play of meaning.
Lady … lap?
On stage, Hamlet often reclines at Ophelia’s feet.
No, my lord
F1 at this point provides two lines omitted in Q2:
Ham. I meane, my Head vpon your Lap? / Oph. I my lord.Their omission in Q2 is presumably inadvertent.
country matters
Rustic goings-on. (The obscene punning here on cunt continues in
nothing; see next note.)
Nothing
(1) The oval figure of zero, suggesting a woman’s vagina; (2) No
thing,no penis. (Thing is a common euphemism in this sense.)
your only jig-maker
I.e., if you talk of being merry, let me tell you that I’m very best singer and dancer
of jigs (that is, of pointless vulgar merriment) you could hope to find. (Said sardonically.)
Jigs were often tacked on gratuitously at the ends of dramatic performances, for the
diversion of the audience; see 2.2.306 (TLN 1540), above.
within’s
Within these.
let the dev’l … sables
I.e., if mourning for my dead father has ceased after only two months, then the devil
can wear mourning black for all I care, while I shift to the dark fur of the sable,
outwardly suitable for remembrance of the dead but in fact quite soft and luxurious.
Q2’s
deule,Q1’s
diuell,and F1’s
Diuelare common spelling variants for dev’l or devil.
by’r Lady
Q2’s
ber Ladyis presumably intended for
by’r Lady.
or else … thinking on
Or else he must endure being wholly forgotten.
hobby-horse
A costuming device used in Morris dances and May-game sports in which the dancer is
made up to resemble a horse and its rider by strapping the shape of a horse’s body
around his waist.
Hamlet quotes from a lost ballad, occurring in Love’s Labor’s Lost, 3.1.27-8, lamenting the disappearance of Morris dancing and such folk customs under
pressure from zealous Puritan reformers.
The trumpets … accepts love
The wording of F1’s stage direction varies from that of Q2, commencing with
Hoboyes playin place of Q2’s trumpets, adding that the Queen
makes shew of Protestationto the King, instructing the Poisoner to enter a second time
with some two or three Mutes,substituting
lamentfor Q2’s
condole,and ending the SD with an
Exeuntnot in Q2, but otherwise with little or any substantive difference. Presumably the exeunt (also omitted in Q1) is implicit in Q2; such SDs are not uncommonly omitted in playhouse documents, since the actors could be counted on to get themselves off stage at the correct time.
condole
Commiserate.
this munching mallico
This stealthy mischief.
F1’s
this is Miching Malichomay be authoritative; the omission of
isin Q2 could be inadvertent, and
munchingseems to make little sense. Q1’s
myching Mallicotends to confirm F1’s reading, though the meaning is obscure in all three versions. The Spanish malhecho means “a wicked act,” as noted by Hanmer and Tronch-Pérez; see Arden 3.
it
F1’s
Thatcould an authorial correction of Q2’s
it,or it could be a misreading or editorial sophistication.
Belike
Probably, perhaps.
imports the argument of the play
Signifies the plot.
Enter … Prologue
F1 brings the Prologue on several lines later, at line 80 (TLN 2016), just as he is
about to speak. Q2’s placement is theatrically more logical; F1 seems to be following
a literary convention. Q1’s entrance, opposite TLN 2003, is still earlier than Q2’s.
this fellow
F1’s
these Fellowescould refer to the players who are about to appear in the play-within-the-play. Q2’s
this fellowrefers to the Prologue.
keep [counsel]
Keep a secret.
Q2’s omission of F1’s
counsellis presumably inadvertent; the word is needed for the sense.
’a
F1’s
theyagrees grammatically with F1’s
these fellowesin the previous line. Q2’s
a,meaning
he,is more likely to be authorial. It agrees with Q2’s
this fellow.
Be not you
Provided you are not.
naught
Naughty, indecent. (Ophelia sees all too clearly the offensive thrust of Hamlet’s
talk about her not being ashamed to show all.)
mark
Pay attention to.
For us … tragedy
F1 brings on the Prologue here as he is about to speak this line, not at 75.1 as in
Q2.
stooping … clemency
Bowing to you, merciful and generous patrons.
[Exit.]
None of the early texts specifies an exit for the Prologue, and conceivably he is
to remain on stage, but exits are often omitted.
posy … ring
Brief verse motto inscribed inside a ring.
Q1/F1’s
Poesieis the fuller form of Q2’s
posie.
Phoebus’ cart
The sun-god’s chariot, i.e., the sun itself.
Neptune’s salt wash
The sea, the realm of the god Neptune.
Tellus orbed the ground
The goddess of the earth, Tellus, has gone around the earth.
Q2’s reading is possible, treating
orbedas a verb, but is less likely than F1’s
Tellus Orbed ground,i.e., the round earth, the realm of the goddess Tellus, Earth.
borrowed sheen
Light reflected from the sun.
times twelve thirties
The King reckons that he and his queen have been married thirty years, each year comprising
a span of twelve lunar cycles.
Hymen
God of marriage.
commutual
Mutually, reciprocally.
bands
Bonds.
Queen
The Player Queen is called Baptista in F1.
our former
F1’s
youris convincing; Q2’s
ouris perhaps defensible in the sense of referring collectively to the married couple, but is more likely to be an easy error for F1’s reading. On the other hand, F1’s
formewould appear to be a simple misprint for Q2’s
former.
distrust you
Am anxious about you.
Discomfort … must
It must not distress you at all, my lord.
For women … love
Women are apt to be extreme in their loving, and are fearful to the same excessive
extent.
This line is omitted in F1. Q2, as it stands at the top of H2, offers this line without
a matching rhymed line in a passage of rhymed couplets, suggesting that Shakespeare
either began and then abandoned this couplet or else wrote a couplet of which a line
is still missing. The idea in this line is elaborated in the next two lines, suggesting
that this line was a first thought, reweritten by the author.
And
Andis found in Q2, not in F1, which reads
Forinstead.
hold quantity
Are equal in proportions to each other.
Either … extremity
Either women feel no anxiety if they do not love at all, or they suffer extreme anxiety
if they love extremely.
Q2’s
Eyther noneat the start of this line is superfluous and extra-metrical, and is omitted in F1; perhaps it was a start of the line that was then intended to be deleted. But since this is the first line on p. 268 of the Folio text, it too may be suspected to be a misreading (Arden 3).
lord
Q2’s
lordcan make sense if the line is taken to mean, “Experience has given you plentiful evidence of how I revere you as my lord and master,” but F1’s
loueis more plausible, and Q2’s reading could easily be a copying error.
proof
Experience.
And … so
And just as my love is great in quantity, my fear of losing you is proportionately
huge.
Q2’s
ciz’dis presumably a spelling variant of
siz’d,as in F1.
Where … there
These two lines are omitted in F1, possibly deleted by the dramatist in revision.
They repeat the idea of what the Player King has already said, but then such sententious
summaries are often characteristic of aging speakers in Shakespeare.
the littlest
Even the littlest.
My … their functions leave to do
My vital faculties are ceasing to perform their functions.
F1’s
my functionsis intelligible, but is probably a copying error of Q2’s
their functionsprompted by My at the head of this line.
behind
After I am gone.
shalt thou—
I.e., shalt thou find (to complete the couplet by rhyming
findwith
kind.The Player King is interrupted by his consort.)
None
(1) Let no wife; (2) No wife does.
but who
Except she who.
That’s wormwood
I.e., How bitter! (Wormwood is a bitter-tasting plant.)
F1’s
Wormwood, wormwoodmay be authorial. Q2 places its equivalent expostulation in the right margin; in F1 it is TLN 2049. The placement in the two texts is substantially the same.
instances
Motives, reasons.
move
Prompt, motivate.
base … thrift
Ignoble considerations of financial prudence.
you think
F1’s
you. Thinkis presumably a copying error for
you thinkeas in Q2. Q1 reads
you sweete.
Purpose … memory
Our good intentions are too often subject to forgetfulness.
Of … validity
Energetically conceived at first but lacking in staying power.
Which now the fruit unripe
Which purposeful intent, being immature and poorly thought through.
Q2’s version here is intelligible, but
theseems like an error that is corrected in F1’s
like.
Most … debt
It’s necessary and inevitable that in time we neglect to fulfill the obligations that
we have imposed on ourselves.
The violence … destroy
Violent extremes of both grief and joy engender their own destruction in the very
act of manifesting themselves.
F1’s
otherwould appear to be a typographical error for
eyther,other, as in Q2.
enactures
Fulfillments, enactments.
Q2’s
ennacturesand F1’s
ennactorsmay be spelling variants of a word unique to Shakespeare, as noted by Arden 3.
Grief … accident
Grief turns to joy and joy to grief on the slightest occasion.
Q2’s
Grief ioycould mean “Grief turns to joy,” but is more probably an error corrected in F1’s
Greefe ioyes.Q2’s
ioy griefesis probably meant for F1’s
Ioy greeues.
for aye
For ever.
Whether … love
Whether Fortune or Love prevailed more mightily in the world’s affairs was a favorite
debating topic in the Renaissance.
down
Fallen in fortune.
his favorite flies
His most favored supporter abandons him.
F1’s
fauoritesis a viable alternative to Q2’s
fauourite,and could be a deliberate revision or correction; the coupling of a plural noun with a singular verb form is common in Elizabethan English.
The poor … enemies
When one of humble station is promoted, you’ll see his former enemies now becoming
his friends.
hitherto
Up to this point in the argument, or, to this extent.
tend
Attend, play a subservient role.
who not needs
Anyone who has no need (of wealth or a friend).
And who … try
And anyone who, being in need, tests the generosity of an insincere friend.
Directly seasons him
Immediately turns him into.
begun
Began. (
Begunis acceptable usage in early modern English, and here rhymes with
runin the next line.)
Our … run
What we wish for ourselves and what in fact happens to us are so opposite to each
other.
devices still
Intentions continually.
Our thoughts … our own
No matter what we intend, the results go astray.
So, think
I.e., (1) So, go ahead and think, or, (2) So, even if you think now that.
Q1/Q2/F1 all provide no comma after
So,but it can clarify the sense for modern readers.
die thy thoughts
Either (1) your thoughts will die, or (2) let them die.
Nor earth to me give
Neither let earth give me.
F1’s
Nor Earth to giue meis presumably a simple inversion of Q2’s
Nor earth to me giue.
Sport … night
May day bar me from recreation and night from repose.
To … scope
These Q2 lines are omitted in F1, either inadvertently or deliberately. Q2’s
Andis probably a misprint for
An.
And anchor’s … scope
May an anchorite’s or hermit’s fare be the extent of my portion of food and drink.
Theobald emends
Andin Q2 to
An.Either sense is possible here, but And could easily be a copying error.
Each … destroy
May every adverse thing that causes the face of joy to turn blank or pale encounter
and destroy everything that I wish to see prosper!
Both … strife
May eternal punishment pursue me in this life and the next.
If … wife
Q2’s version of this line, presented here, is clear enough in meaning, but hypermetrical;
the unnecessary repetition of
I beis avoided in F1’s more satisfactory
If once a Widdow, euer I be Wife.
now
I.e., after the vows that she has sworn.
This line is printed in the right margin in Q2.
fain
Willingly.
[The Player King] … [Player Queen]
Q2’s
Exeuntis misleading; the Player King must remain on stage, asleep, until he is poisoned by Lucianus, as indicated in F1’s
Sleepes,with an
Exitfor the Player Queen, both in the right margin. The same distinction is implied in Q1 (
exit Lady).
doth … too much
Offers too many promises and protestations.
Q1/F1’s
protests to muchis certainly as intelligible as Q2’s
doth protest too much.F1 could be authorial, or a copyist’s or compositor’s sophistication.
argument
Plot.
offense … offense
(with wordplay): something that offends one’s sensibilities … crime.
jest
Make believe.
The Mousetrap
Hamlet’s nickname here for
The Murder of Gonzagohints to the audience at his plan to use the play to
catch the conscience of the King(2.2.390, TLN 1645).
Marry, how? Tropically
How, indeed? Figuratively, as a trope or figure of speech, playing on words.
Q1’s
trapicallymay suggest a play on words with
Mousetrap.Q2 punctuates this passage
marry how tropically; F1’s
Marry how? Tropicallyis more indicative of the apparent meaning.
the Duke’s
I.e., the King’s.
The use here of
Duke’sin Q1/Q2/F1 may suggest Shakespeare’s awareness of a historical incident in which the Duke of Urbino was allegedly murdered by Luigi Gonzaga in 1538. Gonzago is named
Albertusin Q1.
free
Guiltless, unfettered.
touches
Concerns; injures.
Let … unwrung
Let the chafed horse wince and kick at being galled by its saddle or harness; our
horse is not rubbed sore between its shoulder blades (i.e., only the guilty will be
made uncomfortable by this story of a duke who murders in order to win the wife of
his victim).
Q2 prints
gauledfor Q1’s
galldand F1’s
gall’d.Q2/F1’s
winchis probably a spelling variant of Q1’s
wince.Q2’s
vnwrongis presumably a variant of F1’s
vnrung.
Enter Lucianus
F1’s placement of this SD before Hamlet says
This is one Lucianus, nephew to the Kingmakes obvious sense, but in the Elizabethan theatre, with its broad stage, either placement can be made to work; in Q2’s version, Lucianus may be visible in the doorway as Hamlet speaks.
You are as good as a chorus
You serve as well as the actor whose function is to introduce forthcoming action on
stage, as in (as in Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Pericles,, and The Winter’s Tale).
F1’s shorter version (
You are a good Chorus) is intelligible, but may be a copying error, through simple omission, of Q2’s
You are as good as a Chorus.
I could … dallying
Hamlet imagines for himself the role of interpreter or chorus for a puppet show, with
the suggestion too of being a go-between in an affair.
Dallyingcontinues the sexual suggestion, as do Hamlet’s quips in the following lines; see notes.
keen
Sharp, bitterly satirical (but see next note for Hamlet’s wordplay).
It would cost … edge
It would cost you a pregnancy to satiate the keenness of my sexual appetite.
Still … worse
I.e., Witty as always, albeit incorrigibly smutty. (These exchanges are said as playful
banter, not as overt barbs.)
So … your husbands
I.e., That’s just the way you women take other men into your beds instead of your
husbands.
Hamlet plays on the language of the Form of Solemnization of Matrimony in the Book
of Common Prayer bidding bride and groom to take their new partners
for better, for worse.F1’s omission of
yourin its version of Q2’s
your husbandsis presumably simple eyeskip.
leave
Leave off.
Q2 omits Q1/F1’s
a poxe (Pox)before
leaue.
damnable faces
Deplorable and devilish grimaces.
the croaking … revenge
As Bullough and others editors note, this is a version of two lines from The True Tragedy of Richard III (c. 1591): The screeching Raven sits croaking for revenge. / Whole heads [herds]
of beasts come bellowing for revenge (Bullough, 3.339, 1892-3).
Considerate … seeing
A fitting time, providing darkness so that no one will discover the crime.
Q1/F1 read
Confederate,suggesting a time and occasion conspiring to assist the murderer by providing the secrecy of darkness. Q2’s
Consideratis intelligible, but it may well be a copying error, especially in view of the long s and its resemblance to f in Q2.
rank
Foul, offensive.
Hecate’s ban
The curse invoked by Hecate, goddess of witchcraft.
Q1’s
banefor Q2/F1’s
bancould mean “poison,” and is a plausible reading.
blasted
Blighted.
invected
I.e., cursed.
Q2’s
inuectedfor Q1/F1’s
infectedis probably a copying error, though Arden 3 speculates that the Q2 reading could be an adjectival form meaning “cursed,” from invect, to curse, or invective, a curse.
dire property
Baleful power or quality.
usurps
Q1/Q2’s
vsurpsfor F1’s
vsurpeis a defensible reading in the declarative mode, but F1’s imperative
usurpseems more appropriate to Lucianus’s murderous intent, and the error in Q1/Q2, if it is an error, would be an easy one.
[Pours … Exit]
F1 provides the stage direction,
Poures the poyson in his eares.Omitted in Q2, marked
exitin Q1.
’A
He.
Q1/F1 read
He.
estate
Property, i.e., the kingship.
written in very choice Italian
F1’s simplified version (
writ in choyce Italian) of Q2’s
written in very choice Italiancould be a copyist’s or compositor’s work.
The King rises
After
The King rises,Q2 omits a line found in Q1/F1:
Ham. What, frighted with false fires (fire).The omission could be inadvertent.
Polonius
The line is assigned in F1 to
All.In Q1, the King says,
Lights, I will to bed.
Exeunt … Horatio
F1 reads
Exeunt. / Manet Hamlet & Horatio,Q1
Exeunt King and Lordes.
Why … away
Seemingly from an unknown ballad, alluding to the folk tradition of the wounded deer
that retires from company to weep in solitude as it dies.
Compare As You Like It , 2.1.33-6. Q2’s
strookenand
vngauledare spelling variants of F!’s
struckenand
vngalled.Q1’s spellings are
strickenand
vngalled.
ungallèd
Unafflicted.
watch
Stay awake.
Thus … away
That is the way of the world.
F2’s
Soin place of Q2’s
Thuscould be authorial or could be a copying approximation.
this
I.e., the play I have just presented and contributed some lines to.
forest of feathers
I.e., extravagantly plumed headgear worn by the actors.
if … me
Even if good fortune should desert me. (To turn Turk is to renounce Christianity in favor of the Muslim religion.) Hamlet jestingly asks
if his newly proven skill in theatrical matters might offer him a mean of livelihood
if his fortunes turn otherwise against him.
provincial roses
Large rosettes of ribbon, worn decoratively over shoelaces and named for the region
of Provence in southern France.
F1’s
two Prouentiall Rosesis plausibly authorial, in place of Q2’s
prouinciall Roses.
razed
Decoratively slashed.
F1’s
rac’dis presumably a variant of Q2s
raz’d.
fellowship … players
Partnership in an acting company. (A cry is a pack.)
F1 plausibly adds
sirat the end of this phrase, though it could also be caught up from the same word earlier in the speech.
For … pajock
This stanza, like that at lines 186-9 (TLN 2143-6) above, appears to be adapted from
some unknown ballad.
Damon
Damon was a loyal friend of Pythias in classical mythology.
The steadfast friend of Pythias in the story as dramatized in Richard Edwards’s Damon and Pythias, c. 1564-5, and derived from the often-told tale as found in Aristoxenus (fl. 335
BC), Cicero (
De Officiis
3.45), Diodorus Siculus (10.4), Valerius Maximus (first century AD), Castiglione
(The Courtier, translated into English by Sir Thomas Hoby, 1561), and others, here appropriate
to the friendship of Hamlet and Horatio.
This realm … pajock
This realm has been divested of its greatness by Jove himself, leaving the kingdom
in the charge of a vain pretender to virtue and authority. (
Pajock,meaning “peacock” or “patchcock,” provides a ludicrous substitution for the word that would rhyme with
wasin line l94, presumably
ass.)
recorders
Wind instruments characterized by a conical tube, a whistle mouthpiece, and eight
finger holes; related to the flute.
For … perdy
As Arden 3 notes, a possible allusion to lines from Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, c. 1587: And if the world like not this tragedy, / Hard is the hap of old Hieronimo
(4.1.197-8). Q1 plausibly reads
tragedyin place of Q2/F1’s
Comediein line 203.
belike
Perhaps.
perdy
A version of the French par dieu, by God.
Enter … Guildenstern
In Q2, the two enter here. Their entrance some four lines earlier in F1 at TLN 2163
may well represent performance practice of giving actors ample time to get on stage
in the large Elizabethan theater. In Q2, Hamlet appears to call offstage at TLN 2164
(2.2.202) for music; in F1, Hamlet addresses his request to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
as they enter.
vouchsafe
Grant.
vouchsafe
Grant.
history
Story, account.
his retirement
His withdrawal to his private chambers.
distempered
Out of temper.
With drink
Hamlet deliberately takes Guildenstern’s
out of temperto mean “drunk,” supposing the four humors in the King’s body to have been thrown out of balance by excessive drinking.
with choler
With anger.
F1’s
rather with chollercould be an authorial revision, but could be an editorial sophistication.
Your … choler
Hamlet’s sarcastic reply interprets
cholerin terms of humors theory, which saw
choleras an excess of yellow bile producing indigestion as well as anger, and requiring purgation, usually bloodletting—with the ominous suggestion of Hamlet’s letting out some of the King’s blood.
Purgationalso suggests the spiritual cleaning through confession that the King is greatly in need of, with also the legal sense of clearing of guilt for a crime committed.
more richer
More rich in wisdom. The double comparative is allowable in early modern usage.
the doctor
F1’s
his Doctormay be an authorial correction of Q2’s
the Doctor.
more
F1’s
far morein place of Q2’s
moreis plausibly authorial.
frame
Coherent order.
stare
Stare wildly, like a madman.
F1’s
start,meaning to shy away like a nervous horse, seems more plausible as a reading, and Q2’s
starecould easily be an error of copying, but Q2’s version is retained here as possible.
Pronounce
Say what you have to say.
breed
(1) kind; (2) breeding, manners. (Guildenstern’s point is that Hamlet’s
You are welcome,while seemingly polite, seems instead to be sarcastic and not addressing the issue at hand.)
wholesome
Healthy, sane.
pardon
Permission for me to depart.
business
F1’s
my Businesseis persuasive, though Q2’s reading is kept here as possible. The omission of my would be an easy error.
Rosencrantz
F1 assigns this speech to Guildenstern. Either arrangement is possible. Guildenstern
has just spoken, and Hamlet’s reply in line 221 (TLN 2192-5) could well be a response
to him, but then in both Q2 and F1 Rosencrantz picks up the interrogation of Hamlet
in the next speech, at line 222 (TLN 2196-7). The two young men speak as one person.
such answer
F1’s
such answersis perfectly possible, but could be a copying error for Q2’s
such answere,which agrees in number with
answerpreviously in the sentence.
or rather, as you say, my mother
Instead, it is my mother’s command you are uttering, not your own.
F1’s
rather you sayperhaps inadvertently omits the
asin Q2’s
rather as you say.
struck
F1’s
strokeis either a variant spelling or copying error for Q2’s
strooke,i.e.,
struck.
admiration
Bewilderment.
’stonish
F1’s
astonishcould be a sophistication of Q2’s
stonish.
admiration? Impart
Bewilderment? Speak, say something.
Q2’s addition here of
impartafter
admirationis in keeping with Hamlet’s sardonic mode of discourse with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in this scene. Its omission in F1 could be an authorial choice, but it could be inadvertent.
closet
Private chamber.
And do still
F1’s
So I do stillcould be authorial revision, or could be the result of faulty transmission.
pickers and stealers
I.e., hands. In the Catechism in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, the person who
is being prepared for Confirmation must vow to keep my hands from picking and stealing.
your cause of distemper
The cause of your disorder.
surely
F1’s
freelycan mean “voluntarily,” and is thus defensible as a possible authorial revision, but could be the result of copying error.
upon … liberty
I.e., upon your own freedom to act as you choose (but also with the more threatening
suggestion that as an
insaneperson he may be locked up).
F1’s
of your owne Libertieseems less idiomatic than Q2’s
vpon your owne libertyand may be an error in copying.
deny your griefs to
Refuse to share your unhappiness with.
Enter the Players, with recorders
F1 places an equivalent SD,
Enter one with a Recorder,at TLN 2215, after
something mustyin line 231. Q2 plausibly indicates stage practice of getting characters on stage in a timely fashion. F1 limits the entrance to one Player, an indication perhaps of casting rearrangements or limitations. Hamlet’s dialogue shifts accordingly from his seeing the
Recordersand asking
let mee see onein Q2 to his seeing the
Recorderand asking simply,
Let me see.Q1 lacks any stage direction here.
Ay, sir, but
while … grows
The whole proverb reads While the grass grows, the horse (steed) starves (Dent G423).
Hamlet implies that his hopes of succeeding to the throne are distant at best, despite
the King’s having named him
most immediate to our throneat 1.2.109 (TLN 291).
Q2’s
I sir(
Ay, sir) may be correct; F1’s omission of the sir could be inadvertent, or could be authorial.
something
Somewhat. (Unless, less plausibly,
somewhat mustymeans “a stale thing.”)
withdraw
Speak privately.
recover … me
Get to my windward side (just as a hunter would position himself in such a way that
the hunted game, scenting danger, would then be driven in the opposite direction and
thus into the
toilor net).
if my duty … unmannerly
If I am being bold in an unmannerly fashion, it is my affection for you that prompts
me to be so.
I do … that
Hamlet sounds skeptical of Guildenstern’s protestations of love.
ventages
Finger holes, the
stops(TLN 2231) on the recorder.
fingers
F1’s
fingermay be a copying error for Q2’s
fingers.
thumb
Q2’s
the vmberappears to be a misprint corrected in F1 to
thumbe.
eloquent
F1’s
excellentcould possibly be an authorial change, or else a copying error for Q2’s
eloquent.
mystery
(1) secret; (2) skill in one of the craft guilds, as practiced for example by musicians.
sound me
(1) fathom me to the depths of my mystery; (2) cause me to emit a sound.
to my compass
To my limit or range.
F1’s
to the top of my Compasseis plausibly authorial; Q2’s shorter version may contain an inadvertent omission.
organ
Musical instrument (playing too on the idea of a human organ).
you make it speak
F1’s
you make itis perhaps intelligible, but seems more probably to be an inadvertent shortening of Q2’s
you make it speak.The correcting of
s’bloudto
Whyin the following word may have led the erroneous excision of
speak.
’Sblood
By God’s blood; a strong oath.
F1’s
Whyis a characteristic euphemism to meet the demands of censorship. Q1’s
Zownds,
By God’s wounds,is closely similar to Q2’s
s’bloudand may point to an actor’s improvisation.
think I am
F1’s
thinke, that I ammay be a sophistication of Q2’s
think I am.
fret me
(1) irritate me; (2) press down on the
fretsor ridges on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument to guide the fingers in playing various notes.
Q2’s
fret me notmay have inadvertently dropped F1’s
canwhile picking up an unnecessary negative from what follows in this sentence. F1’s
can fret meis plausibly authorial. Q1 reads
can frett me, yet,suggesting to some editors that Q2’s
notis a misprint for
yet(Arden 2).
play upon me
I.e., get me to play or dance to your tune.
Enter Polonius
Most editors follow Capell in moving this entrance to precede Hamlet’s
God bless you, sir,which Q2/F1 print as a continuation of Hamlet’s speech, even if on the Elizabethan stage the intent is clear: Hamlet speaks as Polonius begins to enter. Q1 omits
God bless you, sir.
and presently
I.e., and she means right now.
yonder cloud that’s … of a camel
F1’s
that Clowd? That’s … like a Camellis possible, but more likely an erroneous copying of Q2.
By th’mass, and ’tis like
By th’massis a familiar oath, invoking the Holy Sacrament.
Q2 reads
By’th masse and tis, like; F1 reads
By’th'Misse, and it’s like.
Then I will
F1’s
Then will Icould be authorial, but could easily be a copying error or sophistication of Q2.
by and by
At once.
They fool … bent
They humor my odd behavior to the limit of my endurance.
Literally,
to … bentmeans “to the extent to which a bow may be bent.”
I will, say so … is easily said
All this is printed in Q2 as a continuation of Hamlet’s speech, and provided with
a comma after
I willas though
I will, say so,should mean, “Tell others that I promise to return shortly.” F1 conversely assigns
I will say soto Polonius, indicating that he promises to pass on this information that Hamlet will return shortly. Polonius exits in F1 after this utterance. F1’s arrangement makes good sense of Hamlet’s
By and by, is easily saidas an acerbic riposte to what Polonius has just said, uttered to him as he is leaving or to anyone who will listen, including the audience.
Leaue me Friendsis then said in F1 to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who then presumably leave, though Q2/F1 provide no exit direction for them. F1’s version is clearly superior to that of Q2, and appears to be authorial.
[Exeunt … Hamlet]
In F1, Polonius exits after saying
I will say so.Neither Q2 nor F1 provide exits for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Q1 reads
Exit Rossencraft and Gilderstone.
witching time
A time for witchcraft, when spells are cast and evil is abroad.
breaks out / Contagion
Spreads it poisonous contagion.
F1’s
breaths out / Contagion,i.e., “breathes out contagion,” may seem more consistent with the image of graves in churchyards that are yawning or gaping.
such business as the bitter day
F1’s
such bitter businesse as the dayis plausibly authorial; Q2 appears to have reversed positions of words in error. But both versions are possible.
Soft, now
Gently, wait a minute, now.
F1’s punctuation,
Soft now,could be authorial, but it may more simply a miscopying of Q2’s
Soft, now.
loose
Loosen, unrestrain.
Q2/F1’s
loosemay well be a variant spelling of lose. Omitted in Q1.
nature
Natural feeling.
Nero
Despotic and emotionally unbalanced Roman emperor (37-68 AD) who had his mother Agrippina
put to death. The accusations against her that she had plotted against her paternal
uncle and second husband Claudius to enable her son Nero to succeed to the throne,
and that she had had an incestuous affair with her brother Caligula, suggest intriguing
parallels to the story of Hamlet.
firm
Resolved.
speak dagger
Q2’s
speak daggermay be an error easily corrected in Q1/F1’s
speak daggers (Daggers),which is more colloquial and closer to the proverbial look daggers. Cf. speak poniards in Much Ado, 2.1.232-3 (Arden 3).
How … consent
However much my words may rebuke her, let not my soul ever consent to ratify those
words with violence. (
Somevermeans “soever.”)
The royal seal serves to ratify acts and proclamations.
Exit
This stage direction, found in Q1/Q2, is omitted in F1.
[3.3]
Location: The castle.
him
I.e., Hamlet’s behavior.
range
Roam freely.
dispatch
Prepare, cause to be drawn up.
The terms … brows
A person in my exalted position should not have to put up with such hazardous threats
as seem hourly to be erupting out of Hamlet’s feverish brain.
F1’s substitutions of
dangerousfor Q2’s
near’sand
Lunaciesfor Q2’s
browesappear to be authorial revisions, though Q2 makes good sense as it stands.
We … provide
We will prepare ourselves.
religious fear
Sacred concern and wise caution.
bodies
I.e., subjects, the members of the
body politic.The King’s life must be protected because he is the embodiment of the body politic.
single and peculiar
Individual and private.
noyance
Harm.
That spirit
I.e., The monarch.
weal
Well-being.
F1’s repetition of
spirithere is almost certainly an error for Q2’s
weale.
depends and rests
A verb frequently takes a singular form when it precedes a plural object, i.e.,
the lives(Arden 3).
cess
Cease, cessation.
F1’s
ceasemay be the correct form here, though it could be a sophistication of Q2’s
ceaseintroduced by the copyist or printer. OED cites other usages of
cessas noun and verb.
gulf
Whirlpool.
with it, or it is
F1’s
with it. It iscould be an authorial correction of Q2, or could be a sophistication.
massy
Massive.
summit
Q2/F1 read
somnet (Somnet),evidently a variant spelling of
summit.
huge
Q2’s
houghappears to be a variant spelling or copying error for F1’s
huge.
mortised and adjoined
Fastened by inserting a tenon, or projecting member at the end of a timber, into a
groove or slot in an adjoining timber called the mortise.
falls
Descends, like the wheel of Fortune.
Each … consequence
I.e., Each lesser person serving and dependent on the King.
Attends
Takes part in, accompanies.
boist’rous
Tumultuous.
ruin
Q2’s
raine(rain) can possibly be defended as meaning “downpour,” but is much more likely to be a misprint for F1’s
Ruine.
but [with] a general
Q2’s
but a generallis possible, but is much more likely to be a misprint for F1’s
but with a generall.
Arm you … to
Prepare yourselves … for.
voyage
Q2’s
viageis a common early modern spelling of
voyage.
about
Q2’s
aboutis perfectly intelligible, but F1’s
vponmay well be authorial.
Rosencrantz
F1’s
Bothin place of Q2’s
Ros.may well be authorial.
closet
Private chamber (as at 3.2.224, TLN 2201).
arras
Tapestry hangings, as at 2.2.157, TLN 1197.
On the Elizabethan stage, the arras was presumably hung over a door or aperture such
as the
discovery spacein the façade of the tiring-house.
process
Proceedings.
warrant
Promise, assure.
tax him home
Reprove him severely.
meet
Fitting.
Since … partial
Since their nearness of blood might render them less likely to see the business objectively.
of vantage
(1) from a more advantageous point of view, or, (2) in addition.
Fare
Q2’s
farreis a spelling variant or copying error for F1’s
Fare.
liege
Liege lord, feudal superior to whom allegiance is due.
Exit
Q2 places this exit direction to the right, opposite Polonius’s
And tell you what I knowe.F1 omits the direction. Editors normally place it after the King’s
Thankes deere my Lord.In the theatre its Q2 placement probably means simply that Polonius exits as the King speaks this last line to him.
the primal eldest curse
The curse of Cain, whose murder of his brother Abel was the first such crime after
the Fall of Man from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 4). See 1.2.105 (TLN 287) and note,
above.
Though … will
Even though my desire (to seek forgiveness in prayer) is as strong as my determination
to do so. Or, as Arden 3 suggests,
willhere could mean “will to sin.”
to … bound
Simultaneously obliged to undertake two tasks that are mutually incompatible. (The
King wishes he could seek forgiveness while still holding on to the guilty rewards
of his crime.)
What … snow?
The King alludes to three proverbial ideas, which, as Hibbard and Arden 3 note, contradict
one another: (1) To wash one’s hands of a thing, Dent H122; (2) All the water in the
sea cannot wash out this stain, W85; and (3) As white as (the driven) snow, S591.
The Norton Shakespeare quotes Isaiah 1:15-18: I will not hear: your hands are full
of blood. / Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before
mine eyes … though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Were … blood
Were covered with a layer of a brother’s blood thicker than the hand itself.
Whereto … offense?
What function does mercy serve other than to confront sin face to face?
forestallèd
Prevented (from sinning).
pardon[ed]
F1’s
pardonedis the more persuasive reading because it is grammatically parallel with
forstallèd.Q2’s
pardoncan easily be explained as a copying error in which the final -d of pardond was read as an e, and then dropped (Arden 3).
past
I.e., already committed, but susceptible to pardon.
th’offense
The thing for which one committed the crime.
currents … world
Depraved ways of the world.
Offense’s gilded hand
The hand of the offender offering gold as a bribe.
shove by
Q2’s
showe bycould mean “appear next to” (Arden 3), but is more likely to be an easy copying error for F1’s
shoue by.
the wicked prize
The prize wickedly desired and achieved.
shuffling
Evasion, trickery.
there the action … nature
There, in heaven, each deed is seen for what it truly is, in its true form, like a
rigorously conducted case at law. (
Hismeans “its.”)
Even … faults
Face to face with our crimes.
To … evidence
To testify against ourselves. (In heaven, an accused can be compelled to do this,
not because heaven is tyrannical but because no guiltiness can be evaded at the heavenly
bar of justice.)
rests
Remains to be said or done.
repentance can
Repentance can do.
limèd
Caught as if with birdlime, a sticky substance smeared on twigs to snare birds.
engaged
Entangled.
Make assay
Make some attempt. (Said by the King to himself, or possibly to the angels he hopes
can hear him.)
steel
Q2’s
stealeis presumably a spelling variant of F1’s
Steele.
do it. But now
F1’s
do it pat, now,meaning “do it opportunely and neatly, now that,” is persuasive as a reading and seems likely to be authorial. Q2 could be a copying error.
’a
He.
See also TLN 2351 and 2356; F1’s
hein these instances, as elsewhere in this text, is likely to be an editorial sophistication in place of Q2’s
a.
revenge[d]
Q2’s
reuendgeis an easy error for F1’s
reueng’d.
would be scanned
Needs to be looked into, or, could be interpreted as follows.
sole
F1’s
fouleis defensible, but more likely to be a misprint for Q2’s
sole,all the more so in that the f of F1’s foule closely resembles a tall s.
Why, this is base and silly, not revenge
Q2’s
base and sillyis intelligible as meaning
unworthy and weak-spirited,but F1’s
hyre and Sallery(hire and salary) seems convincingly authorial. Q1’s
a benefitmay suggest that the phrase shifted in performance. On the other hand, Q2 offers what may be better readings in
Whyfor F1’s
Ohand in printing in two lines
To heauen / Why, … reuendge,printed in F1 in one line.
grossly full of bread
I.e., satiated with the pleasures of this world, rather than fasting and repenting;
excessively, indecently.
Hamlet seems to be talking about his father’s spiritual unpreparedness for death when
he was murdered; he died without being absolved of the normal but hazardous involvement
in sinful appetite to which all mortals are prone. See second note at line 81 (TLN
2357). Compare Ezekiel 16:49: Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride,
fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness. (
Grosslycould also refer to Claudius’s crime as lacking in decency.) The absence of a comma in Q2’s
grosly full of breadcould suggest “excessively and indecently filled with bread,” whereas F1’s
grossely, full of breadsuggests that grossely and full of bread are parallel observations:
excessive and indecent in his pleasures, satiated as he was with those sinful delights.
With all
Q2’s
Withallis presumably meant to mean, as in F1,
With all.
With all his crimes broad blown
With all of Hamlet Senior’s sins in full bloom.
The male personal pronouns are not perfectly clear in lines 81-5, but presumably Hamlet
refers to his father’s ghost in lines 81-2, suffering the pangs of Purgatory for the
sins not atoned for through Last Rites, so that (in lines 82-4) Hamlet cannot be sure
about his father’s present spiritual welfare. If these lines also seem relevant to
Claudius, the suggestion is appropriate. In line 85, at any rate, Hamlet then clearly
applies
himto Claudius, presently at prayer evidently trying to purge his soul of the crime and sin of brother-murder. We know that the prayer is ineffectual, but Hamlet cannot know that.
flush
Vigorously thriving.
F1’s
freshis intelligible and could be an authorial revision, but could instead be a copying error for Q2’s
flush.
his audit
Hamlet Senior’s spiritual reckoning.
save
Except for.
in … thought
As seen from our mortal and necessarily limited perspective.
him
Claudius.
seasoned
Prepared, made ready.
No
F1 prints
Noat the end of line 86, whereas Q2 prints it, as here, on a separate line. Either can work satisfactorily in terms of scansion. The revision may be compositorial.
hent
I.e., occasion to be grasped.
Hentis sometimes emended to hint.
drunk, asleep
F1 has no comma in
drunke asleepe; Q2’s
drunk, a sleepe,separates the two. Both readings are plausible; F1 could be an authorial correction.
in his rage
Perhaps,
in a fit of sexual passion,though being in an uncontrollable rage would also put Claudius in danger of hellfire.
At game a-swearing
Swearing profanely while gambling.
Q2’s
At game a swearing,supported by Q1’s
at game swaring,suggests swearing profanely while gambling, whereas the F1 reading,
At gaming, swearing,sets up the two as parallel and separate. F1 could be authorial.
relish
Trace, hint.
kick at heaven
Kick upwards as the body falls downward, suggesting also a spurning of heavenly reward
and ineffectual kicking at the gates of heaven.
stays
Is waiting.
physic
Medicine (both the King’s being at prayer, and Hamlet’s consequent decision to postpone
the killing).
[3.4]
Location: The castle.
Enter Gertrude and Polonius
Q2 reads
Enter Gertrard and Polonius,F1
Enter Queene and Polonius,Q1
Enter Queene and Corambis.
’A will come straight … him
He will be here any moment. Be sure to reprove him soundly.
Printed in two lines in F1, one line in Q2. Q2 prints
strait,F1
straight.
broad
Unrestrained, outrageous.
silence me even here
Q1’s
shrowde my selfeis tempting as a reading. Q2 reads
silence me euen heere; F1 reads
silence me e’ene heere.
be round
Be blunt, forthright.
F1’s
be round with himis clearer and appears to be authorial. F1 also adds, after this speech,
Mother, mother, mother,words omitted in Q2 but plausibly authorial as an offstage exclamation.
Enter Hamlet
Q2’s entry after
Pray you be roundis earlier than F1’s placement, just before Hamlet speaks in line 8. The F1 placement is more
literaryin that the entrance occurs just as Hamlet is to speak. The Q2 arrangement evidently reflects staging practice, giving Hsmlet time to get across the broad stage before he speaks. The earlier entrance also affords an interesting juxtaposition; we see him approaching as Polonius confers furtively with Queen and then withdraws to a hiding place. The arrangement surely does not mean that Hamlet overhears them and surmises what is going on; if that were the case, his killing of Polonius would be gratuitous murder.
I’ll wait you … not
I assure you on that score. Don’t worry about me.
Q2 reads
wait you,perhaps an error for
warn’t you; F1 reads
warrant you.
thou … you
Throughout most of the scene, except for lines 11, 14, 17, 127, 134, and 142, the
Queen uses the familiar
thouin addressing her son, as was customary; he addresses her as
you,the required respectful form.
thy father
Your stepfather, Claudius.
my father
The dead King Hamlet.
Hamlet’s replies to the Queen in lines 10 and 12 are replete with rhetorical devices
of parison and isocolon (equal grammatical construction, length, and sound) in the
antithetical pairing of statement and reply.
an idle
A foolish.
a wicked
F1’s
an idleis intelligible, but is probably a copyist’s or compositor’s erroneous repetition of
an idlein the previous line.
how now
What’s this.
forgot me
Forgotten that I am your mother, to whom you owe respect. (But Hamlet answers in the
sense of
How could I forget that, in view of what you have done?)
rood
Cross of Christ.
And, would it were not so, you
F1’s
But would you were not so. Youis possible, but may be an erroneous transcription of Q2’s
And would it were it were not so, you.
speak
I.e., talk sense into you.
glass
Mirror.
[in]most
Q2’s
mostis almost surely a minim misreading of F1’s
inmost.
Help, ho! / … Help! / Dead … ducat
F1’s
Helpe, helpe, hoe. / Pol. What hoa, helpe, helpe, helpecould be authorial or possibly a performance elaboration of Q2’s simpler
Helpe how. / Pol. What how helpe.
Dead … ducat
I.e., I bet a ducat he’s dead; or, a ducat as the price for his life. (A ducat is
a gold coin.)
Compare Hamlet’s reference to ducats at 2.2.222 (TLN 1412).
As kill
As to kill.
The Queen’s response seems to register shock and surprise at Hamlet’s suggestion of
killing a king. Some commentators see the fact that Hamlet now drops this line of
inquiry as evidence that he is satisfied on that score. In Q1, after the Ghost exits
from this scene, the Queen says to Hamlet,
But as I haue a soule, I sweare by heauen, / I neuer knew of this most horride murder.
thy better
I.e., the King, superior to you in social rank and moral worth.
Q2’s
thy betterseems more plausible than F1’s
thy Betters,which could be an error in transcription.
too busy
Nosy.
Compare the proverb, To be too busy is dangerous (Dent B759.1).
If it … stuff
If your heart still has any sensitivity to feeling and emotion.
In Q1,
youtakes the place of Q2/F1’s
it.
damnèd custom
Sinful habit.
brassed
Brazened, hardened.
The word, printed as
brasdin Q2 and
braz’din F1, is modernized here in the Q2 text to
brassed.
be
F1’s
isseems more colloquial and may be an authorial choice.
proof … sense
Armored and thus made impenetrable against natural feeling.
off
Q2’s
ofis presumably a variant spelling of F1’s
off.
sets a blister
I.e., brands as a prostitute.
As Arden 3 observes, Henry VIII’s government did threaten to enact such a branding
in 1537, though it seems not to have been put in practice in sixteenth-century England.
F1’s
makesis clear in meaning, but Q2’s
setsmay be the more authentic reading; makes could have been mistakenly picked up by a transcriber from the same word later in the line.
contraction
The marriage contract.
and sweet … words
And turns sweet religion into a mere senseless jumble of words.
Heaven’s … the act
Heaven’s face blushes with shame at this solid earth, compounded as it is of the four
elements, with sorrowful face as though the day of doom were at hand, and is sick
with horror at the deed—i.e., Gertrude’s second marriage.
F1’s
Yeain place of Q2’s
Orecan be defended, if
this solidity and compound massis regarded as the subject of
Is thought-sick(Arden 3), but Q2’s reading is easier. On the other hand, F1’s
doth glowmay be a truer reading than Q2’s
dooes glowe,and F1’s
tristfullin place of Q2’s
heatedappears to be an authorial revision; it is unlikely to have been the result of textual transmission.
index
Table of contents; prologue or preface.
Hamlet
Q2 mistakenly prints the speech prefix Ham. at the head of line 52,
That roares … Index,properly presented in F1 as a continuation of the Queen’s speech begun in line 51.
two likenesses
The likenesses may be formal portraits on the wall, or miniatures, or coins, etc.
counterfeit presentment
Painted representation.
this brow
F1’s
his Browis entirely plausible, though Q2’s
this browhas the advantage of pointing deictically to the portrait of Hamlet’s father rather than that of Claudius.
Hyperion’s
The sun-god’s.
front
Forehead, brow.
Mars
The god of war.
and
Q2’s
andand F1’s
orare equally possible.
station
Stance.
Mercury
Winged messenger of the gods.
New lighted
Newly alighted.
heaven-kissing
Reaching to the sky.
Q2’s
heaue, a kissinglooks like a misreading of a manuscript copy; F1’s
heauen-kissingappears to be authorial.
set his seal
Affix his seal of approval.
ear
Ear of grain.
Blasting
Blighting.
brother
F1’s
breathis just possible, but is more plausibly a misprint of Q2’s
brother.As Arden 3 points out, the misreading of a manuscript brother with its final
ersuspended would be easy.
leave
Leave off, cease.
And batten … moor
And gorge yourself on this barren, unfertile land.
The images of mountain and moor contrast high and low, handsome and barren.
Moormay also suggest “blackamoor,” dark-skinned.
heyday in the blood
Sexual arousal.
waits upon
Is subservient to.
step
Collier’s proposed emendation to
stoopappeals plausibly to some editors.
Sense … difference
This passage is omitted in F1, perhaps as an authorial choice or for purposes of shortening
in performance.
Sense
Sensation and perception and through the five senses.
Lines
apoplexed
Paralyzed.
err
Err in this fashion, as you have done.
Nor … difference
Nor could your physical senses ever have been so enslaved to ecstasy (i.e., lunacy)
as to have been unable to perceive the difference between Hamlet Senior and Claudius.
cozened … hoodman-blind
Cheated you at blindman’s bluff. (Hamlet imagines a diabolical trick in which the
devil, having covered the eyes of Gertrude with a scarf in the children’s game of
blindman’s bluff, steers her in such a way that she gropingly encountered Claudius.)
For
cozened,Q1 reads
cosoned,Q2
cosund,F1
cousend.For
hoodman-blind,Q1 reads
hob-man blinde,Q2
hodman blind,F1
hoodman-blinde.
Eyes without … mope
I.e., Even a person deprived of the normal use of eyes, touch, hearing, and smell,
or having nothing more a sickly portion of one of these physical senses, could err
so obtusely and aimlessly.
These lines are omitted in F1, perhaps as an authorial choice or for purposes of shortening
in performance.
sans
Without. (French.)
mutine
Mutiny.
To flaming … fire
Chastity among the young will melt like wax held over a candle flame. (We cannot hope
for self-restraint in young people when older women set such a bad example.)
Proclaim … will
Call it no shameful business when the compelling ardor of youth gives the signal for
attack by committing lechery, since the frost of old age burns with as active a fire
of lust and mature reason perverts its proper function by making excuses for lust
rather than restraining it.
On
frost of old age,compare the proverbial phrase, To find (seek) fire in frost (Dent F283.1).
And reason pardons will
And reason forgives or makes excuses for sexual passion.
Although Q2’s
pardonsmakes sense, F1’s
pandersis stronger, and may be authorial. Conversely, F1’s
Asmay be a error for Q2’s
And.
my very eyes … soul
F1’s
mine eyes into my very souleis more persuasive than Q2’s version, in which very may simply have been misplaced in transmission.
grievèd
Grievous.
Q2’s
greeuedmay well be a simple minim misreading of F1’s
grained,but is perhaps intelligible as it stands.
leave there their tinct
Leave their dark stain there.
F1’s
not leaue their Tinct,using
leavein the sense of leave off, give up, provides a forceful image of indelibility and may well be authorial.
enseamèd
Saturated with the greasy filth of lust.
Q2’s
inseemedappears to be a variant spelling of F1’s
enseamed.
Stewed
Steeped. (Suggesting also stew, brothel.)
honeying
Indulging in lovey-dovey romantic behavior.
sty
Pigsty.
kith
I.e., related or kindred part, as in
kith and kin.
F1’s
tythe,i.e., tithe,
tenth part,is a more persuasive reading than Q2’s
kyth,and may be the result of a copyist’s or printer’s confusing k with t in secretary hand (Arden 3); but Q2 is intelligible.
precedent lord
Former husband.
a vice of kings
A nonpareil of evil kings; with an allusion to the
Vice,the gloating and insidious tempter to vice of many a late-medieval and sixteenth-century morality play.
cutpurse
Pickpocket.
the rule
The kingdom.
diadem
Crown.
Enter Ghost [in his nightgown]
Q1 provides what appears to be an informative stage direction here:
Enter the ghost in his night gowne.Q2/F1 do not specify wear. Thomas Betterton, in the late seventeenth century, wore armor for this appearance, as in 1.1 and 1.4-5. Not until Henry Irving in 1874 was the
nightgownput in use (Arden 3). Many editors move this SD to follow Hamlet’s
A king of shreds and patches,but the placement in Q2/F1 is likely to represent stage practice, seen elsewhere in this play and especially in Q2, of giving the actor time to get on stage before he speaks. The overlap allows the audience to perceive the Ghost entering as Hamlet continues to upbraid his mother for her loose sexual conduct.
of shreds and patches
Of ragged patchwork, appropriate for a monarch (Claudius) who is a sham, in Hamlet’s
view; suitable also for a fool or jester attired in motley.
What would your gracious figure?
F1’s
What would you gracious figure?may be authorial in place of Q2.
lapsed … passion
Having let time and passionate commitment (to revenge) slip away; with a suggestion
too that Hamlet has allowed himself to be distracted from his duty by a passionate
berating of his mother.
important
Importunate, urgent.
Conceit
Imagination.
That you do bend
That you direct, focus.
Q2’s version scans better than F1’s
That you bend.Q1’s
That thus you bendis close metrically to Q2.
th’incorporal
The immaterial, bodiless.
F1’s
their corporallappears to be a misprint; perhaps, as Arden 3 suggest, the printer’s copy read
theincorporall.
as … th’alarm
Like sleeping soldiers awakened by the call to arms.
bedded
(previously) lying flat.
like life in excrements
As if the hair, an outgrowth of the body, could take on a life of its own.
Because hair was assumed to be lifeless, its standing on end would suggest the presence
of something ominous and unnatural.
Excrementis derived from the Latin ex-crescere, to grow out of. Compare 1.5.16-21 (TLN 700-5), where the Ghost tells Hamlet how even the
lighest worddescribing the horror of Purgatory would cause Hamlet’s hairs
to stand on end / Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.The famous eighteenth-century actor David Garrick employed a trick wig that would enable him to make his hair stand on end.
on end
Q2/F1 both read
an end,a common spelling variant of on end.
gentle
Nobly born; chivalrous; honorable; kind.
distemper
Disorder, imbalance of mind.
His … conjoined
His appearance joined to his cause for appearing and speaking.
to stones
Even to stones.
Would … capable
Would make the stones capable of feeling and responding.
Lest … effects
Lest your pitiful looks divert me from accomplishing what I have to do, prompting
me to weep when I should be shedding blood.
Q2/F1 print
Least(a common early modern spelling) for Lest.
Will want … blood
Will not suit the occasion and will lack the proper justification for revenge.
To whom
F1’s
To whois possible, since Shakespeare does sometimes use who in the accusative (Arden 3), but the idiom here is unusual and may be simply a copying error for Q2’s
To whom.
Why … away
The Ghost is presumably starting to leave at this point.
Portaltwo lines later appears to suggest that the Ghost will exit by a stage door, not a trap door in the stage floor.
habit
Garments.
as
(1) as when; (2) as if when.
portal
Doorway.
Q1/Q2/F1 agree here that the Ghost exits by a
portall,not a trapdoor, whatever arrangement may have been used in 1.1 and 1.4-5.
very coinage
Mere invention.
This bodiless … cunning in
Madness (ecstasy) is very skillful in creating this kind of hallucination.
F1 adds a one-word line,
Ham. Extasie?(TLN 2522), after
cunning in.
[I]
I,omitted here in Q2, is supplied from F1.
reword
Repeat word for word.
gambol from
Skip away from.
that flattering unction
An ointment that comforts without healing.
F1’s
a flattering Vnctionis possible, but may be a misprint for Q2’s
that flattering vnction.
skin and film
Cover with a thin layer of skin.
Whiles
F1’s
Whilstcould be authorial, or could be an editorial sophistication.
mining
Undermining.
on
F1’s
oris possible as signifying
o’er,but may be a misprint for Q2’s
on.
ranker
F1’s
rankeis possible, but may be a misprint for Q2’s
ranker.
this my virtue
My urging you to a virtuous course.
fatness
Grossness.
these pursy times
This corpulent, swollen, short-winded era. (
Pursyis often said of a horse.)
F1’s
this pursie timesis possible, but is likely to be a misreading of Q2’s
these pursie times.
curb … good
Bow obsequiously and beg permission to serve vice.
F1’s
courb, and woeis either a variant spelling or a misprint of Q2’s
curbe and wooe.
cleft … twain
Compare the proverbial phrase, To cleave a heart in twain (Dent H329.1).
leave
Depart.
Q2’s
leauecould mean “depart,” but F1’s
liueoffers a more plausible reading that may be authorial.
Assume
Give outward conformity to.
Q2’s
Assuneis presumably a misprint for F1’s
Assume.
That monster … put on
This passage is omitted in F1, perhaps to shorten the play a little for performance.
Some editors, finding the wording dense and obscure, wonder if the excision was for
that reason. These two possible reasons for cutting are not mutually exclusive.
That monster … eat
Our monstrous proclivity for habit-forming behavior, which can so easily consume and
overwhelm the physical senses.
Of habits devil
Being all too inclined toward evil habits.
a frock or livery
A garb, an outward appearance. (One can incline one’s soul, Hamlet says, toward virtue
by willing oneself to adopt a virtuous stance; the outward behavior can then begin
to shape the inner self.)
aptly
Readily.
Refrain tonight
Q2’s
to refraine nightis presumably a typographic or copying error (misplacing to) for
Refrain tonight.
the next more easy … potency
This passage is omitted in F1; compare lines 165-9 (TLN 2544.1-2544.5) and note above.
The printer may have tripped over the repetition of
the next … the nextin Q2,
To the next abstinence, the next more easie.
For use … nature
For by rigorously adopting a custom or habit we can come close to changing our very
inborn nature.
Compare the proverb, Custom (use) is another (a second) nature (Dent C932).
And either … devil
And custom or habit can either admit the devil into our hearts or throw him out.
To replace the seemingly missing word after
either,various editors have suggested
curb,
shame,and
in,among other possibilities. In plausibly sets up an antithetical thought in the line.
And when … of you
And when you are penitently ready to seek God’s blessing, I will ask your blessing
as a dutiful son should.
For
As for.
heaven … this with me
I.e., it is (evidently) heaven’s pleasure that I am to be punished for having killed
Polonius, just as he has been fatally punished at my hands for his snooping into other
people’s business.
their scourge and minister
I.e., the heavens’ agent of just retribution.
bestow
Dispose of.
answer well
Offer a suitable account of, pay for, atone for.
This bad … remains behind
I.e., We can begin to face difficulties, but at least the worst is over; or, worse
calamities are still to come.
Compare the proverb, An ill (bad) beginning has an ill (bad) ending (Dent B261). Q2’s
Thiscan plausibly refer to the killing of Polonius, but F1’s
Thusmay be authorial.
One … lady
This line is omitted in F1. Whether the omission was through oversight, or to shorten
the text for performance, or because the author thought it superfluous, cannot be
determined.
bloat
Bloated, puffy.
F1’s
bluntis possible in the senses of “insensitive, obtuse, abrupt of manner,” but could be an easy transcription error for Q2’s
blowt,i.e., bloat, “bloated, puffy.”
Pinch … cheek
Leave his sensual love pinches on your cheeks.
mouse
A term of endearment.
reechy
Reeking of filth.
paddling
Fingering amorously.
neck
(including the breasts).
ravel … out
Unravel, disclose.
Q2’s
rouellis presumably a misprint or copying error, corrected in F1’s
rauell.
mad in craft
Only seemingly mad as a cunning device.
F1’s
madein place of Q2’s
madappears to be a copying error.
’Twere good
(Said with a sardonic irony that continues in the following eight lines.)
For … hide?
For why would any attractive, temperate, and wise queen wish to hide such important
matters from a toad, a bat, a tom-cat? (Said sardonically; of course such a woman
would choose not to divulge Hamlet’s secret to a repulsive villain.)
sense and secrecy
The secrecy that common sense would seem to require.
Unpeg … down
In this AEsop-like beast fable, for which no source has been found, an ape releases
some birds from a basketlike birdcage on a roof and then, mindlessly wishing to imitate
them as an experiment (To try conclusions), gets into the cage himself and, attempting
to fly, falls to the ground and breaks his neck. Presumably Hamlet is warning the
Queen against coming too quickly to conclusions and rashly telling her husband that
Hamlet’s madness is only pretense.
down
In the fall; or, utterly.
to breathe
To utter.
Q2/F1 read
to breath,perhaps as a spelling variant of
to breatheor else mistakenly copying breath at the end of the previous line and in the midst of the present line 202.
There’s letters … directly meet
This passage is omitted in F1, perhaps to shorten for performance.
sweep my way
Prepare a path before me.
marshal … knavery
Conduct me to where some treachery lies in wait.
work
Proceed.
’tis the sport
It’s a fine ironic joke.
enginer
Deviser of
enginesof war, such as bombs.
Sometimes modernized as engineer, but the connotations of that word today are likely to mislead some readers into thinking
of a modern engineer.
Hoist … petar[d]
Blown skyward by his own explosive devices, such as were used to make a breach in
fortifications.
Q2’s
Hoistcould be modernized as Hoised—spelled either way, it means “Hoisted.” Q2’s
petaris presumably a misprint or spelling variant for
petard.
and’t … mines
And it will be bad luck for me if I do not dig my tunnels underneath theirs. (Tunnels
were used to attack enemy fortifications in siege warfare by undermining them and
blowing them up from below.) Hamlet vows to outmaneuver Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
at the moon
Moon-high, way up into the air.
When … meet
When two cunning plots are on a collision course, as when mines and countermines confront
each other.
This man shall set me packing
The dead Polonius will (1) set me to cooking up schemes (2) set me to lugging off
the corpse (3) pack me off to England.
good night indeed
F1’s punctuation—
goodnight. Indeede—is intelligible, but misses the point of Hamlet’s having said
good nighttwice already, at lines 163 (TLN 2543) and 181 (TLN 2553).
grave
(Playing on the
gravewhere Polonius will now be buried; see note to line 220.)
a most foolish prating knave
An egregiously chattering rascal.
F1’s omission of Q2’s
mostimproves the meter of the line, and may be authorial. Q2’s
mostmay be a mistaken repetition the word in the previous line.
draw … you
(1) finish up with you; (2) drag you to the place of burial, where you will continue
to be
most still, most secret, and most grave(line 218, TLN 2581).
Exit
Q1/Q2/F1 all specify that Hamlet exits here, Q1/F1 adding that he drags the dead body
of Polonius with him. Q1/F1 thus implicitly leave the Queen alone on stage; in Q2,
the simple
Exithere could apply to Hamlet only, implicitly leaving the Queen alone on stage, but then in Q2 the Queen enters with her husband and the two courtiers, implying that she has briefly left. See the next two notes.
[4.1]
Location: The castle, with implicitly a scene break in Q2 but continuous with the
previous action in F1. See next note.
Enter King … Guildenstern
No early text marks a new act at this point, or even a scene break. Q2, specifying
that the King and Queen enter here with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, implies a scene
break with the Queen exiting and immediately reentering; exits are not infrequently
omitted in these early texts. The King’s statement to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
at lines 34-5 (TLN 2622-3) in both Q2 and F1 that
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain, / And from his mother’s closet hath he dragged him,seems to imply that the present scene is not located in the Queen’s
closet,as it was in 3.4. In Q2, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter with the King and Queen at the opening of the scene but are then bidden to leave so that the King and Queen may converse privately, at which point the two courtiers presumably exit, to reenter in Q2 at line 32 (TLN 2619). In F1, on the other hand, The King enters alone at the scene’s opening and addresses the Queen, who has presumably remained on stage; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do not enter until line 32. Q1’s truncated version brings on the King
and Lordes(presumably Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) at the scene’s beginning; again, the Queen has implicitly remained on stage. The present edition treats each text individually: in Q2, the Queen enters with her husband at the start of this scene as though she exited briefly at the end of 3.4, whereas the arrangement in Q1/F1 keeps the Queen on stage, with no scene break. The
editor’s choicetext similarly leaves the Queen on stage; following F1, it also delays the entrance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern until line 32. The traditional marking of
Act IV Scene 1was not introduced until Q6, and has no textual authority.
matter
Significance, meaning.
F1’s
mattersmay be a simple misprint of Q2’s
matter.
sighs, these profound heaves. / You must translate
F1’s
sighes. / These profound heaues / You must translateis a possible reading, but Q2’s
sighes, these profound heaues, / You must translatemay be authorial.
heaves
Heaving of the breast and shoulders as the Queen sobs.
translate
I.e., give words to your grief.
Bestow … while
This line is omitted in F1, which delays the entrance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
until line 32 (TLN 2619). The omission could be unintentional, or it could point to
a change in staging.
[Exeunt … Guildenstern]
This exit is omitted in all the early texts. In F1 Rosesncrantz and Guildenstern have
not yet entered. See note above at 4.1.0.1.
mine own lord
F1’s
my good lordmay be an authorial correction of Q2.
Gertrude
Q2 prints
Gertrard,here and in line 28 (TLN 2615) below. F1 reads
Gertrude,Q1
Gertred.
Whips out his rapier, cries
F1’s
He whips his Rapier out, and criesis a perfectly intelligible substitute for Q2’s
Whips out his Rapier, cryes,but could be a copyist’s or compositor’s sophistication; Q2 enjoys a more reliable transmission. Q2’s line arguably scans better than F1’s. Q1’s
whips me / Out his rapier, and criestends to support Q2.
this brainish apprehension
This brainsick misapprehension.
F1’s
his brainish apprehensioncould be an authorial correction, but it could instead be a copying error for Q2’s
this brainish apprehension.Q2 generally enjoys a more reliable line of transmission.
heavy
Grievous.
us … we
(The royal plural.)
See also TLN 2602 and 2604.
answered
Explained, responded to, accounted for.
laid to us
Laid at our (my) doorstep, blamed on me.
providence
Foresight.
kept short
Kept on a short leash.
out of haunt
Secluded, away from public gatherings.
owner
Sufferer.
from divulging
From being made publicly known.
let
We let.
F1’s
let’smay represent lets, with
the ownerin line 21 (TLN 2608) as the subject of this verb, but F1 could be an error in transmission.
pith
Essential part.
O’er … pure
The Queen argues that Hamlet’s weeping over Polonius’s dead body shows his madness
to be like a vein of pure gold amidst a mine of baser metals, i.e., revealing his
finer nature even though he has madly done this deed.
The Queen is doing as she promised to Hamlet: keeping from her husband the knowledge
that Hamlet’s
madnessis only a cover.
’a
He.
countenance and excuse
Put the best face on and justify as well as we can.
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
In Q2, this SD is placed to the right opposite line 31,
We must … skill,probably because the compositor found adequate space there. In F1, the SD is to the right of
Both countenance and excuse,line 32 (TLN 2619), presumably for the same reason. In F1, this is their first entrance in this scene; in Q2 they enter briefly at the start of the scene and then are dismissed. In Q1
Lordesenter at the start of the scene and then are dispatched to look for Hamlet and the dead body.
go … aid
Take with you some others to help.
mother’s closet
Mother’s private chamber.
Compare 3.2.224 (TLN 2201) and 3.3.27 (TLN 2302). F1’s
Mother Clossetshere is clearly a misprint for Q2’s
mothers closet.
dragged
Q2’s
dreg’dis corrected in F1 to
drag’d.
speak fair
Speak gently and courteously to him.
[Exeunt … Guildenstern]
F1 prints
Exit Gent.Omitted in Q2. Q1 prints
Exeunt Lordes.
And
Q2’s
Andis perfectly intelligible, but could be an anticipation of
Andat the head of the next line. F1’s
Tois plausibly authorial.
[] / Whose whisper … woundless air
[In that way, envious slander], spreading far and wide its poisonous whisper as if
shot from a cannon at point-blank range, may be deflected from me as its target and
expend itself harmlessly on the invulnerable air.
The phrase
In that way, envious slander,or
So envious slander,something similar, is needed to complete what seems to have been inadvertently omitted in Q2/F1 from the place here marked by square brackets. The passage from
Whose whisperto
woundless air,lines 41-4, is missing from F1; whether inadvertently or by design (perhaps for shortening in performance) is not clear.
[4.2]
Location: The castle.
Enter Hamlet … others
In F1, Hamlet enters at the opening of the scene, whereupon Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
are heard shouting
within.They then enter in time for Rosencrantz’s first line (
What haue you doneetc.) F1 thus offers a clearer representation of stage action than Q2’s
Enter, Hamlet, Rosencraus, and others.
Safely … come
F1 provides dialogue for the offstage shouting to which Hamlet refers, while omitting
the phrase
but softin line 1. See previous note.
Compound[ed]
Mixed.
Q2’s
Compoundmay be an error for F1’s
Compounded,or an acceptable early modern form of the past participle, or possibly, as Arden 2 suggests, an imperative. F1’s version is likely to be authorial. Scansion favors Compounded. Compare the Anglican Order for the Burial of the Dead in The Book of Common Prayer: we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
That … own
I.e., Don’t expect me to do as you bid me and not follow my own counsel.
Q2 prints
counsailewhere F1 prints
counsell.
demanded of
Interrogated by.
replication
Reply.
countenance
Favor.
authorities
Influence.
like [an ape] an apple … swallowed
I.e., Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are kept in reserve by the King, always there but
to be used only when it serves the King’s purposes, not theirs.
Farmer’s suggested emendation,
like an ape an apple,makes clear what F1’s
like an Apeseems to have intended in emending only imperfectly the Q2 reading (
like an apple). Compare Q1’s
as an ape doth nuts.
it is … again
I.e., the King will squeeze you dry, taking back the benefits he seemingly bestowed
on you.
A knavish … ear
A crafty insult is not understood as such by a fool to whom the insult is directed.
The body … not with the body
A chiasmic riddle, perhaps suggesting that although Claudius’s body is necessarily
a part of him, the essence of true kingship is not to be found there. Claudius can
order the body of Polonius to be brought to him, but that also will not make him any
more a true king than he really is.
A reference to the doctrine of the King’s two bodies, one political and one natural,
thus differentiating the high office of kingship from any individual holder of the
title, whose claim to true authority may be far less.
is a thing
F1 provides a dash after
thingthat seems eminently plausible.
Of nothing
Compare Psalm 144:4: Man is like to vanity, i.e., Man is a thing of nought.
Bring me to him
F1 adds to this speech
hide Fox, and all after— a cry from the children’s game of fox-and-hounds, similar to hide-and-seek, to signal his running away from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The F1 revision could be authorial, or something added in production.
[4.3]
Location: The castle.
Enter King, and two or three
Q2’s stage direction is replaced in F1 by
Enter King.See next note.
I have … all
F1’s opening stage direction,
Enter King,implicitly treats this speech as a soliloquy addressed by Claudius to himself or to the audience. Q2’s
Enter King, and two or threedirects the speech toward unnamed courtiers, and makes sense as a statement of policy and concern about Hamlet, unlike the scene’s concluding soliloquy, which is intensely revealing of Claudius’s secret wishes to be rid of his stepson. Conceivably the F1 version reflects a shortage of extras, needed for Fortinbras’s army in the next scene.
of … multitude
By the irrationally unstable commoners.
Who … yes
Who choose not rationally but by appearances.
And … offense
And in such cases people are likely to censure the severity of the punishment without
sufficiently considering the gravity of the offense.
To bear … even
In order to manage the business without arousing suspicion.
Deliberate pause
The result of careful planning, or of a careful postponing of judgment.
appliance
Applying of remedies.
Enter Rosencrantz and all the rest
Q2’s stage direction,
Enter Rosencraus and all the rest,could be meant to include both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, along with guards. Q2 does not name Guildenstern in its unspecific
They enterat line 15.1; They here could refer to guards only. F1 conversely brings in Rosencrantz alone at line 11.1; he then calls out to Guildenstern and the others at line 15, whereupon
Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern,presumably with unnamed guards. The F1 revision may be authorial, perhaps as a result of staging practice.
How … befall’n
Now, what has happened?
Without
Outside (the door).
Ho! … the lord
Q2’s
How, bring in the Lordis metrically plausible as the second half of a shared iambic pentameter line. F1’s
Hoa, Guildensterne? Bring in my Lordmight be authorial, or it could be a theatrical alteration. Q2’s
Howis presumably a spelling variant for F1’s
Hoa.
They … [with Hamlet]
See note at 11.1 (TLN 2672) above on staging choices.
convocation … diet
Often taken to refer to the Imperial Diet of Worms, a famous convocation or assembly of the Holy Roman Empire convened in Worms, Germany on 28 January 1521,
on the authority of the Emperor Charles V, for the purpose of requiring Martin Luther
to renounce or recant his heretical views. Pope Leo X had condemned 41 of Luther’s
95 theses or propositions in June 1520, and, after a delay affording Luther time to
recant, had excommunicated him on 3 January 1521. The Edict of Worms, issued on 25
May 1521, forbade all loyal Christians to offer any support to Luther, declaring him
to be an obstinate heretic. In the light of this seeming allusion, Not where ’a eats,
but where ’a is eaten (TLN 2685) could refer to the ceremony of the Mass in which
the eating of bread signifies the eating of Christ’s body. F1’s omission of
politicbefore
wormsmay have been inadvertent; the word is present in Q1 as well as Q2. Politic worms are crafty worms, such as might deal with a crafty spy like Polonius.
e’en
Even now, just now.
Q1 reads
even now.
Your worm … diet
Worms are emperors in their diet in that they devour emperors and commoners alike.
Compare the proverbial phrase, Food for worms.
Your worm means, colloquially, this worm that people talk about.
ourselves
F1’s
our selfecould be a misprint for Q2’s
our selues.
variable service
Various dishes or courses served at table. (Worms feed on kings and beggars alike.)
two … table
I.e., rich and poor alike come at last to serve as food for one grisly emperor, the
worm.
F1’s
seruice to dishesis presumably a misprint for Q2’s
seruice, two dishes.Q1 reads
two dishes to one messe.
Alas … that worm
F1 omits these two speeches; perhaps a cut for length in performance. Q1 contains
a version of these lines (see Q1 text and notes), confirming that they were part of
a staged version.
hath eat
Has eaten.
progress
Royal state journey.
if indeed
F1’s inversion of Q2’s
if indeedto
indeed ifcould have been authorial, or else simply a copying error.
if indeed
F1’s inversion of Q2’s
if indeedto
indeed, ifcould have been authorial, or else simply a copying error.
within this month
F1’s shortening of Q2’s
within this monthto
this monethcould have been inadvertent.
nose
Smell.
To some attendants
The persons addressed here could include Rosencrantz or Guildenstern together with
one or more unnamed attendants, but in any case at least one of those two gentlemen
must remain to keep guard on Hamlet and exit with him at line 41.1 (TLN 2717).
this deed
F1’s
this deed of thinemight seem to anticipate unnecessarily the
thinein the following phrase, but the alteration may be authorial.
tender
Value, hold dear.
dearly
Intensely.
Therefore prepare thyself
F1 precedes this phrase with
With fierie Quicknesse—a plausibly authorial alteration.
bark
Sailing vessel.
Th’associates tend
Those who will escort you are waiting.
is bent
Is in readiness.
F1’s
at bentis possible, but is less idiomatic than Q2’s
is bentand could be a copying error resulting from the compositor’s remembering
at helpin the previous line (Arden 3).
cherub
Cherubim, in the second order of angels, were possessors of a special wisdom and knowledge
that would enable them, in Hamlet’s view, to perceive the full extent of Claudius’s
treachery.
sees them
Q2’s
sees themagrees better with
our purposesin the previous line than does F1’s
him,which could be a copying error.
man and wife is one flesh
Arden 3 among other editors cites Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5-6, and Mark 10:8.
so, my mother
F1’s alteration of Q2’s
so my motherto
and so my motheris plausibly authorial.
at foot
Close at his heels.
Tempt
Entice, persuade.
everything … th’affair
Everything else that relates to this business is taken care of.
[Exeunt … King]
This Q1 exit SD is omitted in Q2/F1.
England
The King of England.
As … sense
As indeed my great power should persuade you of the importance of valuing my high
regard for you.
cicatrice
Scar.
free awe
Unconstrained show of respect and obedience.
coldly set
Regard with indifference, ignore.
sovereign process
Royal command.
imports at full
Conveys in full detail its message.
congruing
Agreeing, conforming.
F1’s
coniuringis also a plausible reading, preferred by some editors, but might be an error in copying.
present
Immediate.
hectic
Fluctuating but persistent fever.
Howe’er … will ne’er begin
Whatever else my fortunes might be, I cannot begin to be happy.
Q2’s
will nere beginis a plausible reading, but the rhyme with
donein the previous line at the scene’s end confirms the superior authority of F1’s
were ne’re begun.
[4.4]
Location: The Danish coast.
with his army over the stage
With his army marching across the stage (and then exiting at line 9.1, TLN 2743).
F1 substitutes
an Armiefor Q2’s
his Army,and omits Q2’s
over the stage.
license
Permission.
Compare 2.2.73-80 (TLN 1098-1105).
Craves
F1’s
Claimesis perfectly possible, and could be an authorial revision, even though Q2’s
Crauesseems suitably in keeping with the diplomatic language required by the present situation.
conveyance
Unhindered and escorted passage; or, fulfillment of a promise made.
If that
If.
would … us
Wishes to confer with me for any reason.
We … eye
I will pay my respects in person.
softly on
Quietly, without creating a disturbance.
F1’s
safely onis also possible, but could be a misprint for Q2’s more plausible
softly on.
[Exeunt … Captain]
F1 reads
Exit.Omitted in Q2.
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, … be nothing worth
This long passage is omitted in F1, perhaps for reason of length in performance.
powers
Soldiers, armed forces.
it
The army.
main
Major part, heart.
addition
Exaggeration.
name
I.e., reputation to be gained by conquering it.
To … it
I.e., I would not take a lease on it as tenant farmer even for a mere five ducats
a year. (The ducat is a gold coin.)
Norway or the Pole
The King of Norway or of Poland.
ranker
Higher.
sold in fee
Sold outright as a freehold,
fee simple.
the Polack
The King of Poland (and his army).
Will … straw
Appear to be insufficient stakes in a quarrel about such a trifling matter.
Compare the proverbial expression, Not worth a straw (Dent S918).
th’impostume
The abscess.
inward breaks
Festers within.
without
Externally.
God buy you
Good-bye. (A form of God b’wi’you, God be with you.)
straight
Right away.
[Exeunt all but Hamlet.]
Arden 3 speculates that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who have been instructed by
the King to
Follow him [Hamlet] at foot(4.3.42, TLN 2718), may retire to a discreet distance, remaining on stage but presumably out of earshot.
inform against
Accuse, denounce.
market
Profit, advantage.
large discourse
Wide-ranging capacity for reasoning.
Looking … after
Able to recall past events and anticipate the future.
fust
Grow moldy.
Bestial oblivion
Forgetfulness and heedlessness of the sort one sees in animals.
craven
Cowardly.
Of … th’event
Caused by thinking too scrupulously about what might happen as a consequence of one’s
actions.
to do
Not yet accomplished, still to be done.
Sith
Since.
gross
Obvious.
mass and charge
Size and cost.
delicate and tender
Refined and youthful.
puffed
Inspired.
Makes mouths
Presents a scornful face to unforeseeable outcomes.
dare
Can threaten him with.
an eggshell
A thing proverbially of no value.
Compare the proverbial phrase, Not worth an eggshell (egg) (Dent E95).
Rightly … stake
True greatness is not to be measured solely in terms of being moved to action by a
great cause; rather, it is to respond stirringly even to an apparently trivial cause
when honor is at stake.
Compare the proverb To have one’s honor (reputation, fame) at the stake (Dent S813.2).
The metaphor is from bearbaiting.
Excitements … blood
Enough cause to awaken a keen response in me that is both reasonable and passionate.
And let
And yet I let.
a fantasy … fame
The illusory and trifling business of striving to gain a reputation for bravery.
Go … beds
Compare the proverbial phrase, To go to one’s grave (death) like a bed (Dent B192.1).
plot
Plot of ground.
Whereon … cause
Containing insufficient room for the soldiers who are fighting over it.
continent
Receptacle, container.
[4.5]
Location: The castle.
and a Gentleman
F1 specifies only
Enter Queene and Horatio,and redistributes speeches in the opening section of this scene so that only the Queen and Horatio are required to speak; the Gentleman’s speeches in Q2 at lines 1-2 and 4-13 are assigned in F1 to Horatio. This F1 rearrangement could be authorial. F1’s assignment of lines 14-16 to the Queen instead of Horatio might seem to contradict her saying, in line 1,
I will not speak with her,and accordingly Q2 assigns this speech to Horatio, but perhaps the Queen changes her mind when she hears what Horatio as argued in the F1 arrangement of lines 4-13. On the other hand, the Q2 assignment here to Horatio may have been governed by a first perception that such an arrangement is implausible, given what she says in line 1.
She is … be pitied
Assigned to
Gent.in Q2, to Horatio in F1. See previous note.
distract
Distraught.
She speaks … unhappily
Assigned to
Gent.in Q2, to Horatio in F1. See note at 4.5.0.1 above.
tricks
Deceptions.
hems
Clears her throat with a
hemsound.
heart
Breast.
Spurns … straws
Kicks bitterly, i.e., takes offense and reacts suspiciously, at trifles.
in doubt
Obscurely.
unshapèd use
Incoherent manner.
collection
Inference, guessing at some sort of meaning.
yawn
Gape in wonderment; grasp.
F1’s
aymeis a plausible reading, meaning “guess, conjecture,” but Q2 is the stronger reading that might have been abandoned by a copyist or compositor in supposing it to be an error.
botch
Patch.
fit to
In such a way as to match.
Which
Which words.
yield
Deliver, represent.
there might … unhappily
That there might be, buried in her wild speech, an idea that, however ambiguously
expressed, could have distressing implications, even if one couldn’t be sure.
Q2’s
mightseems preferable to F1’s
would,which may have been mistakenly repeated from earlier in the line. The word
thoughtcould be a participle, as Arden 3 suggests, meaning “intended” or “supposed.” Arden 3 wonders if the speech hints at rumors about Polonius’s death, such as might spell trouble for the King and Queen.
’Twere … Let her come in
Assigned here in Q2 to Horatio, to the Queen in F1. See note at 4.5.0.1 above.
ill-breeding
Maliciously inclined, prone to suspect the worst.
Enter Ophelia
The marking of Ophelia’s entry here in Q2 could be mistaken, since the Q2 text is
erroneous in several particulars at this point; see note at 4.5.0.1 above. On the
other hand, it could be an early entrance to give her time to cross the stage, as
in other instances in Q2 that show awareness of stage practice. If she does enter
at this point, the audience is given a glimpse of her in her distracted state before
the Queen and Horatio become aware of her presence. In F1 she enters
distractedjust as she is about to say,
Where is the beauteous Majestie of Denmark.Q1’s vivid stage direction just before she is about to sing
How should I your true loue knowis presumably a record of a visual observation in the theatre, perhaps by one who helped provide this unauthorized text:
Enter Ofelia playing on a Lute, and her haire downe singing.
as … is
As is the case in sin’s true nature.
toy
Trifle.
amiss
Calamity.
So … spilt
Guilt is so burdened with a self-incriminating fear of detection that it betrays itself
by the very fear of being detected.
How now
What’s this.
How … showers
As editors have noted, this is a version of a popular song about a woman whose lover
has died.
cockle hat
Hat with cockleshell (a mollusk scallop-like shell) stuck in it as a sign (along with
a walking staff and sandals) that the wearer has been a pilgrim to the shrine of Saint
James of Compostella in Spain (often associated with forlorn lovers).
shoon
Shoes. (An archaic plural.)
Q2/F1 follow this first stanza of Ophelia’s song with an interjection by the Queen
(TLN 2771),
Alas sweet Lady, what imports this song?that is omitted in Q1.
imports
Signifies.
mark
Listen, pay attention.
Song
This SD is printed to the right of lines 29-30, which are printed on one line in Q2.
Lines 23-4, 25-6, and 31-2 are each also printed on one line in Q2.
stone
Gravestone.
Oho!
(Evidently a sigh.)
Omitted in Q1/F1, and possibly an actor’s interpolation.
Alas … my lord
This speech by the Queen is omitted in Q1.
Song
This SD is printed to the right of line 39 in Q2, indicating that lines 38-40 are
song.
Larded all
Entirely strewn, bedecked.
F1/Q1 both omit
all,which may or may not have been deleted intentionally. The omission improves the meter.
ground
F1’s
graueis entirely feasible and could be an authorial revision, and is substantiated by Q1, but could also be a substitution by a copyist.
did not go
This reading, found in Q1/Q2/F1, reverses the expected idea as found in the popular
song, perhaps to reflect Ophelia’s incoherent distress at the idea of her father being
buried in the ground, or of his not being properly mourned (bewept) as he was buried.
true-love showers
I.e., true tears.
F1 reads
true-loue showres,Q1
true louers showers.
Good dild you
God yield (i.e., reward) you.
This conventional phrase is spelled
good dild youin Q2,
God yeeld youin Q1, and
God dil’d youin F1.
the owl … daughter
This refers to a folktale about a baker’s daughter who, when Jesus entered a baker’s
shop asking for something to eat, insisted on letting Jesus have only half of the
loaf that the shopowner’s wife (or the baker himself in some versions) had intended
to give in full. When the dough nonetheless swelled to enormous size, the daughter
cried
Heugh! heugh!and was transformed into an owl for her lack of charity. On the phrase’s proverbial status, see Dent B54.1.
Conceit
Fantasy, brooding.
Pray
Q2 omits the
youin F1’s
Pray you.
Tomorrow … my bed
No source is known for this song.
Saint Valentine’s Day
A feast day (February 14) in honor of St. Valentine; traditionally a day on which
the first person one meets is destined to be one’s lovemate.
betime
Early.
close
Clothes.
Q2’s
closeis either a misprint for Q1/F1’s
clothesor a spelling triggered by a sight rhyme with
rose.
dupped
Did up, unlatched.
that out … more
Who, when she departed, was no longer a virgin.
Indeed?
F1’s
Indeed la?could be an authorial change from Q2’s
Indeedeor perhaps an actor’s interpolation.
on’t
Of it.
[Song]
This SD is omitted in all the early texts, including Q2.
By Gis … Charity
By Jesus and in the name of Christian love and fellow feeling (a mild oath).
By Cock
A euphemism for By God; with verbal play on the slang term for penis.
too blame
Too blameworthy.
The Q1/Q2/F1 reading,
too blame,could mean “too blameworthy,” but to and too are often interchangeable in early modern English. Lines 59-60 in Q2 are printed on one line.
He answers
This Q2 phrase is omitted in Q1/F1, and could be an actor’s interpolation.
An
If.
Q2/F1’s
Andoften signifies
An,
If(the Q1 reading).
thus
F1’s
thisis possible, but more likely a misprint for Q2’s
thus.
would
F1’s
shouldin place of Q2’s
wouldis possibly authorial, but could instead be an error of transmission.
Good night … good night, good night
Q2 reads
God night … god night, god night.
[To Horatio]
The person addressed by the King is not indicated in the early texts, nor is any person
named in the
Exit.Horatio seems the logical choice.
Oh, this is … Gertrude
Q2 incorrectly prints these lines in two lines of prose:
O this … Fathers / death, and now behold, Gertrard, Gertrard.The phrase and now behold is omitted in F1, allowing that text to read, metrically,
Oh this … springs / All … Gertrude, Gertrude.
When … battalions
When sorrows come, they come not one at a time but in swarms, or (militarily) battalions.
(
Spiesare scouts sent in advance of the main army.)
Compare the proverb, Misfortune (Evil) never (seldom) comes alone (Dent M1012). F1’s
comesin place of Q2’s
comecould be an error in transmission. The word
battalionsis spelled
Battaliaesin F1, battalians in Q2. F1’s
Battaliaesmay be an easy error for the Latin plural,
battalia.
just remove
Justly deserved removal (to England).
muddied
Stirred up, confused.
Thick
Bewildered, muddled.
in thoughts
F1’s
in their thoughtsproduces a more metrical line of verse and may well be authorial.
greenly
Foolishly, naively.
hugger-mugger
Secret haste.
In Plutarch’s Life of Julius Caesar, as translated by Thomas North, Marcus Antonius is of the opinion, after the assassination,
that Caesar’s will should be re[a]d openly, and also that his body should be honorably
buried, and not in hugger mugger (Bullough, 5.104, cited by Steevens and Arden 3).
as much containing
As serious.
Feeds on this wonder
Feeds his feeling of resentment about this whole shocking turn of events.
Q2’s
Feeds on this wonderseems more likely reading than F1’s
Keepes on his wonder,where Keepes may be an erroneous anticipation of
keepeslater in this line.
keeps … clouds
Behaves suspiciously and in ways that are hard to interpret or predict.
wants not buzzers
Is not lacking in gossipers and scandal mongers.
his father’s
Polonius’s.
Wherein … In ear and ear
In which business, since the rumor-mongers are unprovided with accurate information
and yet long for some plausible explanation, they will not hesitate to whisper insinuations
about me, their king.
F1’s
Where inmay be a misprint for Q2’s
Wherein.F1’s
personsin line 85 could point to the Queen as well as to the King himself, but may be a misprint for Q2’s
person.
Like … piece
Like a cannon loaded with shrapnel.
Gives … death
Kills me over and over.
Attend
The King’s
Attend!is replaced in F1 by the Queen’s saying,
Alacke, what noyse is this?The change may be authorial; Q2’s hypermetric line (
Attend, where is my Swissers, let them guard the doore) suggests textual confusion.
Where is my Switzers
Where are my Swiss guards, mercenaries.
Swiss mercenaries were often employed as personal guards in the courts of Europe,
as today, ceremonially, at the Vatican in Rome. Q2’s
Where is my Swissersis acceptable usage in early modern English; F1’s correction to
Where are my Switzersmay be a compositor’s or copyist’s sophistication.
overpeering … list
Overflowing (literally, rising above and looking over) its shore or boundary.
flats
Low-lying lands near shore.
impiteous
Violent, unrelenting, merciless.
Some editors adopt Q3/F2’s
impetuous,but Q2 (
impitious) and F1 (
impittious) essentially agree.
riotous head
Insurrectionary advance, like a tidal wave.
And … word
And, as if the world were to begin all over again, utterly neglecting all ancient
traditional customs that should confirm and underprop everthing that we say and promise.
The[y] cry
Q2’s
Theis presumably a misprint, corrected in F1’s
They.
Caps
Caps thrown into the air in support of Laertes.
cry
Bay loudly. (Said of hunting dogs.)
Compare
cryin line 99 (TLN 2846).
A noise within
Q2’s placement here of this stage direction, before the Queen exclaims
O this is counter you false Danish dogges!,seems preferable to F1’s placement after the Queen speaks. The F1 compositor may have been finding a way to save a line of space by placing this on the line with
Enter Laertes.
counter
Following a contrary or false scent. (The metaphor is from hunting game.)
Enter … others
Here in Q2, Laertes enters
with others,i.e., his followers, whom he then orders to
stand you all without.They may stand near the door; identified as
Allin the speech prefixes, they speak twice, agreeing to leave to Laertes the confronting of the King. F1’s
Enter Laerteswith no mention of his followers might seem to imply that they remain off stage, speaking evidently from
within.In both texts, Laertes enters before the King says
The doores are broke,but presumably the
noise withinin F1 at TLN 2851 and in Q2 at TLN 2849 is simultaneous with the King’s noticing the breaking of the doors and the Queen saying,
How cheerefully on the false traile they cry.
this king?—Sirs
Sirsis a standard form of address to commoners.
F1’s
the King, sirs?presumably misplaces the comma; Sirs is addressed to the commoners, ordering them to stand outside. Q2’s
thisin place of F1’s the is more pointedly contemptuous and angry. F1’s the could be an intentional correction or a copying error.
without
Outside.
All
Laertes’s followers.
All
Laertes’s followers.
give me leave
I.e., let me handle this matter without your interference.
Keep
Guard.
proclaims … mother
I.e. brands me on the forehead with the stigma and punishment allotted to prostitutes,
shaming me thus with the (invisible) horns of cuckoldry despite my being the true
son of my chaste mother.
As Arden 3 notes, the practice of branding prostitutes, though threatened in the reign
of Henry VIII in 1531, was evidently not actually carried out in sixteenth-century
England. See 3.4.40-2. Presumably, Orestes points to his own forehead, between his
eyebrows, to indicate where he imagines the shameful brand on his mother’s brow.
that’s calm
F1’s
that calmesis possible, but may be a copying error for Q2’s
thats calme.
giant-like
Claudius may be thinking of the unsuccessful rebellion in Greek mythology of the Giants
against Jupiter, heaping Mount Ossa atop Mount Pelion in their attempt to scale the
heights of Mount Olympus (see 5.1.137 and 170, TLN 3447 and 3480). Enceladus, one
of their number, was imprisoned under Mount Etna in Sicily. This rebellion is often
confused with or conflated with that of the Titans against Saturn. The reference here
may be conflated in that way, especially since the Titans were also thought to be
giantlike in proportion. Encedalus, the most powerful of the Giants, was a son of
Titan.
fear our person
Fear for my own safety.
doth hedge
That protects, surrounds defensively.
can … would
Can only peep furtively, as through a barrier, at what it wishes to accomplish.
Acts … will
But performs little of what it intends.
Where is
F1’s
Where’smay be a misprint or sophistication of Q2’s
Where is.
juggled with
Deceived, played with.
To … stand
I am resolved in this.
That … negligence
That I disregard the consequences of my actions both in this world and in the life
to come.
throughly
Thoroughly.
stay
Prevent, hinder.
My will … world’s
I will cease when my will is accomplished, not for anyone else’s.
F1’s
worldis certainly possible, though it could be a misprint for Q2’s
worlds,i.e.,
world’s.
for
As for.
husband
Manage prudently and economically.
father
Q2’s
Fatheris perfectly intelligible, and the line scans well as pentameter verse. On the other hand, F1’s
Fathers deathmay be an authorial change, and has been adopted by some editors, even if, as Arden 2 notes, it could be an anticipation of the same phrase in line 144 (TLN 2900).
is’t writ in your revenge … foe
I.e., is it set down in and required by your need for revenge that you will sweep
up friend and foe indiscriminately, like a gambler in a sweepstake, winning all the
stakes on the gambling table.
F1’s
if writappears to be a copying error for Q2’s
i’st writ,i.e,
is’t writ.
Swoopstake,the form used in this text, is a variant spelling of sweepstake. Q2 reads
soopstake,F1
Soop-stake,Q1
Swoop-stake-like.
loser
Looserin Q2/F1 is a normal alternative spelling of loser.
And … blood
The female pelican was popularly imagined to feed its young with its own blood. (
Repastmeans “feed.”)
F1’s
Politicianis evidently a misprint for Q2’s
Pelican.
sensibly in grief
Grief-stricken.
F1’s
sensibleis quite possible, but may be a copying error for Q2’s
sensibly.
level
Straightforward, plain.
’pear
Appear.
F1’s
pierceis intelligible, but could be a misprint arising from an erroneous presumption that Q2’s
peareis missing a c.
Enter Ophelia [as before]. / Laertes / Let her come in
In F1, Ophelia enters after
Let her come in,which is printed in F1 in italics after
A noise withinas though it were a continuation of that stage direction. It may instead have been assigned to voices within, i.e., offstage, or to Laertes (as it is here, in Q2), who is thereby instructing his followers at the door to let her pass through. The Q2 placement of Ophelia before Laertes speaks is nevertheless workable on the Elizabethan stage, giving her time to get on stage as in several similar instances in Q2. Laertes presumably speaks lines 148-9 before he sees her. The stage direction,
as before,is found in Q1, and may well register a visual record by one of those who produced the Q1 text.
virtue
Function, power.
paid with weight
Avenged with equal gravity.
F1’s
payed by weightmay be an authorized substitute for Q2’s
payd with weight,though both are clear and plausible.
Till … turn the beam
Until our cause of justice outweighs, as in a balance scales, the wrongful deed of
the offender.
A Senecan commonplace, that revenge must outdo the original offense. Q2’s
Tellis either a misprint for F1’s
Till,or a variant spelling. Q2’s
turneis possible, but may be an error for F1’s
turnes.
a poor man’s life
Q2’s
a poore mans lifeis quite possible in the sense of expressing Laertes’s pity for his unhappy father’s demise, but F1’s
an old mans lifeis plausible as an authorial revision. Q1 reads
an olde mans sawe.F1 follows at this point with three lines (
Nature … thing it loves) not found in Q2, that appear to be authorial. They express the idea that human nature’s sensitivity in matters of love is such that it sends some precious part of itself after a lost object of that love; i.e., Ophelia’s sanity has deserted her under the burden of grief for her dead father. Q1 reads
an olde mans sawe.
bare-faced
In an open coffin.
Q2 reads
bare-faste,F1
bare fac’d.eey non
bier
A litter on which a corpse or coffin is carried.
F1 follows at this point with a line of refrain not in Q2:
Hey non nony, nony, hey nony,that seems authorial. F eey non
in his grave rained
F1’s
on his gravemakes better sense and is probably authorial. On the other hand, F1’s
rainescould easily be a mistake for Q2’s
rain’d.eey non
Fare you well … dove
F1 misleadingly prints this line in italics as though it were part of Ophelia’s song.
eey non
persuade
Argue for, urge.
You must …
a-down-a
Ophelia madly assigns to those present the singing of the refrain to her song. Q2’s
You must sing a downemay be more accurate than F1’s
You must singe downe,though either could be correct.
an
If.
Q2/F1’s
And(and) uses a common spelling for an, if.
wheel
Perhaps Ophelia imagines a spinning wheel, where women might sit and work as they
sang; or Fortune’s wheel.
false steward
The story is unknown, but false stewards do sometimes steal their masters’ daughters
in romance tales. Perhaps Ophelia is madly fantasizing about her father’s uneasy fear
that Hamlet might in effect steal her away by seducing her.
This … matter
Ophelia’s ravings are more eloquent than ordinary sane utterance.
There’s rosemary … a good end
Rosemary, used as a symbol of remembrance at weddings and funerals, is aptly suited to Laertes
and to Ophelia herself as wedded offspring of Polonius; pansies for thoughts (compare the French pensees) are appropriate to courtship and love, or to remembering a dead father; fennel, associated with dissembling flattery, and columbines with marital infidelity and ingratitude, may apply to Claudius and Gertrude, though
also to Ophelia’s own sad story; rue, a bitter-tasting medicinal plant, betokens remorse and repentance, as indicated
by its popular name, herb of grace; the daisy is conversely the flower of love and of amorous dissembling; and violets signify fidelity, the opposite of columbines. Ophelia may distribute these herbs
to her listeners in a symbolically appropriate way. In line 169,
with a differenceplays on the meaning of difference in the language of heraldry, serving to differentiate branches of a family tree in a coat of arms.
Arden 2 and 3 cite John Gerard, The Herbal (1597) and William Langham,
The Garden of Health(1579). The text is unclear in most instances as to how Ophelia distributes the flowers to those who are with her, but one possibility (advanced by Arden 2) is that Rosemary and pansies are for Laertes, fennel and columbine for the Queen, rue for Ophelia herself, the daisy and violets for the King. Other arrangements hsve been proposed, such as rue for the Queen and fennel and columbines for the King. F1’s
Pray louein line 166 could be an authorial revision of Q2’s
pray you loue,but could be an inadvertent omission of loue; Q1 reads
I pray Loue.For
pansies,Q2 reads
Pancies,F1
Paconcies.F1’s
Herb-Graceis plausible, but could be a misreading of Q2’s
herbe of Grace.F1’s
Oh you mustis similarly plausible, even if Q2’s
you mayhas the advantage of a more direct line of transmission.
document
Object lesson.
For bonny … my joy
This appears to be from a song that, although now lost, is often alluded to by Renaissance
writers (Arden 3).
Thought and afflictions
Melancholy, sad thoughts.
Q1 reads
Thoughts & afflictions,Q2 Thought and afflictions, F1
Thought, and Affliction.
passion
Suffering.
favor
Grace, beauty.
was as white
F1’s omission of was in Q2’s
was as whitemay have been inadvertent.
Flaxen … poll
His head of hair was as white as flax.
F1’s
All flaxen was his Polemay be authorial.
we cast away moan
We loudly but unavailingly proclaim our grief.
God ’a’ mercy
God have mercy.
F1 reads
Gramercy.
Christians’ souls
F1’s
Christian Soules, I pray Godin place of Q2’s
Christians soulesmay be authorial. Q1 reads
christen soules, I pray God.
God b’wi’you
Q1 reads
God bwy you Loue,Q2
God buy you,F1
God buy ye.
[Exit Ophelia, followed by the Queen.]
Omitted in Q2. F1 reads
Exeunt Ophelia,evidently implying that she does not exit alone. Q1 reads
exit Ofelia.
Do you [see] this
Q2’s
Do you thismight possibly mean “Is this your doing?”, but F1’s
Do you see thisis more plausible, and the omission in Q2 of see is an easy error.
O God
F1’s
you Godsis plausible, but may be an expurgated version of Q2’s ô God.
I must commune … right
I insist on my right to commune with you and take part in your grief.
F1’s
commonis either a variant spelling or misprint for Q2’s
commune.
Go but apart
Withdraw with me to some other place where we can talk privately.
of whom your
Of whichever of.
collateral hand
Indirect agency.
us touched
Me implicated.
satisfaction
Recompense.
funeral
F1’s
buriallmay be an authorial revision, unless it could instead be instead an unwitting copying error.
trophy, sword, nor hatchment
Memorial display, sword betokening knightly prowess, or tablet displaying the coat
of arms of the deceased.
Q2 reads
trophe swordwithout a comma; it is corrected in F1’s
Trophee, Sword.
rite
Q2’s
rightis a spelling variant of F1’s
rite,possibly recalling
rightin line 186 (TLN 2953) above.
ostentation
Ceremony.
That … question
So that I must demand an explanation for that.
F1’s
call in questionis possible, but may well be an error for Q2’s
call’t in question.
[4.6]
Location: The castle, or possibly in Horatio’s lodgings.
and others [including a Gentleman]
F1 specifies
with an Attendant.Line 2 (TLN 2974) in Q2 is assigned to
Gent.,in F1 to
Ser.The message conveyed in line 2 might seem more appropriate to a servant or attendant than to a gentleman.
What
What sort of men; who.
Gentleman
See note at 4.6.0.1 above. The message conveyed here might seem more appropriate to
a servant or attendant (as assigned in F1) than to a gentleman.
Seafaring men
F1’s
Saylorsmay be an authorial revision of Q2’s
Sea-faring men.
letters
A letter. (See line 7, TLN 2981.)
Enter Sailors
F1’s
Saylorin place of Q2’s
Saylerscould reflect a change of capacity in the acting company for some performances, but Q2’s word choice accords more logically with the reference in line 2 to
Sea-faring men(Q2) or
Saylors(F1), referred to as
theyin lines 1-2, who have
lettersfor Horatio and wish to speak with him. In the letter itself, moreover, Hamlet refers to
these fellowsin both Q2 and F1, a wording that is consistent with Saylors but not with Saylor. In both texts, a single sailor speaks on behalf of the group.
to[o]
Q2’s
tois a common form of too.
an
If it.
Q2’s
andis a common variant of an or and’t.
came from th’ambassador
I.e., came from Hamlet.
F1 replaces Q2’s
came from th’Embassadorwith
comes from th’Ambassadours,perhaps referring collectively to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but also possibly a copying error. Q2’s
th’Embassadorwould seem to refer to Hamlet, in his ostensible role, as understood by the sailors; at 3.1.141-2 (TLN 1826-7), the King announces to Polonius, after they have witnessed Hamlet’s rude and mad-like behavior to Ophelia, that Hamlet
shall with speed to England / For the demand of our neglected tribute.Comes could be authorial, or an editorial sophistication.
let to know
Led or permitted to believe.
[Reads the letter]
This SD, missing in Q2, is supplied from F1.
overlooked
Looked over, read.
means
Means of access.
were … sea
Had been at sea for two days.
pirate
Pirate ship.
appointment
Equipment.
and in the grapple
And during the action in which the pirate ship bound us, its intended victim, to the
attacking vessel by means of grappling irons to facilitate close combat.
F1 reads
In the grapple,either intentionally or unintentionally omitting Q2’s
and.
thieves of mercy
Merciful thieves.
they knew … did
I.e., they understood that I would be able to help them in return for their assisting
me.
a turn
F2’s
a good turnemay well be authorial in place of Q2’s less idiomatic
a turne.
repair thou
Come.
speed
F2’s replacement of Q2’s
speedewith
hastmay be authorial.
thine ear
F2’s replacement of Q2’s
thine earewith
your earemay be an editorial sophistication. Elsewhere in this letter, Hamlet addresses Horatio with the familiar
thou,
thee,
thy,and
thine.
bore
Calibre, size, importance.
Q2’s
bordis an easy misprint for F1’s
bore,perhaps influenced by
boordedearlier in this same speech (Arden 3).
Rosencrantz
Q2 prints
Rosincraus,as often elsewhere in Q2.
He that
Q2’s
So thatis probably an error for F1’s
He that.
Come
Q2 perhaps unnecessarily supplies here a speech heading (Hor.), omitted in F1.
[give]
The word
give,missing in Q2, is supplied from F1 as necessary to the sense. An easy error of omission.
way
Means of access for delivery.
Exeunt
Q2 reads
Exeunt,F1
Exit.
[4.7]
Location: The King’s private apartments in the castle.
my acquittance seal
Confirm my release from a suspicion of having been guilty of Polonius’s death.
Sith
Since.
proceed
F1’s
proceededis plausibly authorial, since it improves the meter and agrees in tense with
were stirred upin line 9, though the Q2 reading (
proceede) also make sense.
feats
Acts.
criminal
Punishable by death.
F1’s
crimefullmay be authorial; it does not appear to be a copyist’s or compositor’s error.
safety, greatness
F1’s omission of
greatnessmay be authorial, since as it stands the line is hypermetrical, and greatness could be a rejected first thought, but it could also be editorial or an inadvertent copying error; the Q2 reading has a graceful cadence.
mainly
Greatly.
unsinewed
Weak, lacking sinew.
Q2/F1 read
vnsinnow’d(
vnsinnowed).
But yet to me they’re
Q2 reads
But yet to mee tha’r,F1
And yet to me they are.F1’s And is likely to authorial, but F1’s they are might be editorial sophistication.
be it either which
Whichever it may be.
Claudius sees his passionate attachment to Gertrude as either an admirable thing or
a sign of weakness.
She is so conjunct
She is so closely united. (A metaphor from astronomy; two or more celestial bodies
meeting or passing in the same degree of the zodiac are said to be in conjunction.)
Q2’s
She is so concliuecould be a copying error for
She is so coniunctor conjunct, but F1’s
She’s so coniunctiveis attractive as perhaps an authorial correction.
his
Its. (The Ptolemaic astronomical concept here is of the planets revolving around the
earth in concentric spheres or transparent globes.)
count
Accounting, indictment.
general gender
Common people.
Who … affection
I.e., Who, testing all his faults by the forgiving standard of their affection for
him.
Work
Q2’s
Workis intelligible if read as a verb in parallel with
Convertin the next line, but F1’s
Wouldis an attractive improvement of the sense and grammatical construction, and may be authorial.
like … stone
Like a spring water of such a heavy concentration of lime that it can in effect petrify
a piece of wood and thus make it more perfect and unflawed.
The spring water in the vicinity of Stratford-upon-Avon is limestone-rich (Norton).
gyves
Fetters; here signifying crimes,
faults.
Q2 reads
Giues,F1
Gyues.Oxford suggests that the word should be guilts.
Too … armed
Provided with too slight a shaft of wood for one so loved and armed with the devotion
of his people (Jennens).
This Q2 reading, even if possible, seems strained. F1’s
Too slightly timbred for so loud a Winde,i.e., “provided with too slight a shaft of wood to be able to cope with so mighty a gust of popular opposition,” is plausibly authorial.
But … have aimed them
F1’s
arm’d themis perhaps intelligible in the sense of
given the strength of my arm to the flight of my arrows,but is more plausibly a misprint for Q2’s
aym’d them.F1, on the other hand, may be correct in substituting
hadfor Q2’s
haue.Q2’s
Butand F1’s
Andare equal in meaning; F’1 substitution could be authorial or editorial.
terms
Condition, circumstances.
Whose worth
F1’s
Who wascould be misprint (as Samuel Johnson proposed) for
Who has,and thus a plausible authorial substitution for Q2’s
Whose worth,but the error in F1 leaves Q2 as a viable choice.
may go back again
Can recall what she once was.
Stood … perfections
Stood like a supreme challenger daring the world to match her perfections.
That … danger
That I would allow anyone to threaten and insult me with shaking or plucking my beard.
Plucking or disparaging a beard was considered a grave insult, as at 2.2.359 (TLN
1613) and AYLI, 5.1.72-83.
imagine—
Q2 omits the dash that follows
imaginein F1.
Enter … with letters
F1 omits
with letters.It then follows this entrance with an exchange of dialogue, omitted perhaps erroneously in Q2:
How now? What Newes? / Mes. Letters my lord from Hamlet.
These
Q2’s
Theseand F1’s
Thisare essentially equivalent in meaning, since
letterscan refer to a single letter, but F1’s choice of This here makes sense in view of the word’s being used twice in this line, and could be authorial.
Claudio
Claudio is presumably another servingman or messenger, who does not appear on stage
in the play.
Of him … them
The omission of this Q2 phrase in F1 could have been inadvertent, but may instead
have been deliberate; the point is perhaps self-evident.
[Exit Messenger.]
This exit direction, omitted in Q2, is here supplied from F1.
naked
Unarmed; without possessions or followers.
asking you pardon, thereunto
I.e., asking of you pardon for having returned without permission.
F1’s
your Pardon thereuntomay be an authorial revision of Q2’s
you pardon, there-vntoin which
there-vntois linked to
recountrather than
pardon.Hamlet writes sardonically, with mock politeness.
the occasion of my sudden return
F2’s
th’Occasions of my sodaine, and more strange returnemay well be authorial, except that
th’Occasionscould be a miscopying of Q2’s
the occasion.Q2’s omission of Hamlet’s name as the writer of the letter may also have been inadvertent; the name is supplied in F1.
Or … thing
Or is it a deception, and not at all what the letter says?
F1’s
Or is it some abuse? Or no such thing?is an equally plausible reading.
character
Handwriting, style.
devise me
Conjecture for me what this means.
F1’s
aduise meis a more plausible reading than Q2’s
deuise me,which could be a copying error.
I live
F1’s
I shall liueis a plausible improvement of Q2’s
I liue,where the omission of shall is probably inadvertent.
Thus didst thou
I.e., I am repaying you for what you did to my father.
F1’s
Thus diddest thouis a plausible substitute for Q2’s
Thus didst thou.
As … otherwise
I.e., How could it be true that Hamlet has returned, and yet could it be otherwise
than true since we have this letter from him?
F1’s punctuating of
as how should it be so: / How otherwise willseemingly confuses the clearer pointing of Q2’s
As how should it be so, how otherwise, / Will.
Ay, my lord, / So you will
Yes, my lord, so long as you will.
F1’s omission of Q2’s
I my Lordat the start of this speech may have been the inadvertent result of relining Q2. On the other hand, F1’s If so you’l could be an authorial correction Q2’s
so you will.
As checking … voyage
As one who has been diverted from his journey (like a falcon turning away from its
intended quarry to fly at a chance bird).
Q2 reads
As the King,manifestly in error and plausibly corrected by F1’s
As checking.
and that
And if it is the case that.
device
Devising.
Under … fall
From which he cannot possibly escape.
breathe
F1 reads
breath,a spelling alternative or copying error for Q2’s
breathe.
uncharge the practice
Declare the matter to be blameless.
My lord … graveness
These 16 lines of Q2 are omitted in F1, perhaps as part of shortening for performance.
organ
Agent, instrument.
travel
Q2’s
trauailecan signify travel, or travail, labor.
Your … parts
All your other admirable qualities.
unworthiest siege
Least worthy in rank of importance.
riband
Ribbon, i.e., decorative touch (one that is suitable to young men, flashy and handsome).
Q2’s
ribaudis evidently a misprint for
riband,i.e., ribbon.
youth … graveness
Youth and stylishly informal dress suit each other admirably, just as rich fur-lined
robes and other sober garments are well suited to the concern for good health and
the grave dignity of men in advancing years.
Two months since
F1 here alters the text as it picks up following the excision itemized in note 63-77
(TLN 3078.1-3078.16) above, changing Q2’s
two months sinceto
Some two Monthes hence.Q2 here supplies a wording better suited to the meter of the uncut passage.
can … horseback
Are skillful riders.
F1’s
ran well on Horsebackeis possible, but is more likely to be a misprint for Q2’s
can well on horsebacke.
gallant
Dashing young man.
in’t
In horsemanship.
unto
F1’s
intoappears to be an authorial revision of Q2’s
vnto.
As … beast
As if he had become one body with the horse (like the fabled centaur, with the torso
and legs of a horse and the head and arms of a man).
topped my thought
Surpassed my expectation.
Q2’s
topt me thoughtcontains a common misprint of me for F1’s
my.
Topped(
topt) is possible, but F1’s
passed(
past) could well be an authorial choice.
in forgery … tricks
In my imagining what devices and feats might be possible (in horsemanship).
A Norman
One who hails from Normandy.
Lamord
F1’s
Lamoundis an easy misprint for Q2’s
Lamord.
brooch
Ornament.
the nation
Q2’s
the nationis more accurate than F1’s
our nation,which would seem to point to England rather than French Normandy. Perhaps a copying or compositorial error.
He made … you
He testified to and conceded your superior ability.
F1’s
He madis presumably a copying error for Q2’s
He made.
For … defense
With respect to your skill and practice in the art of self-defense.
especial
F1’s
especiallycould be authorial, or possibly a copyist’s or compositor’s sophistication.
Th’escrimers … opposed them
The fencers (French: escrimeurs) of Normandy, he swore, would be seen as having no grace or skill in fencing if compared
with you as a fencing opponent.
These lines are to be found in Q2 only, reading
The Scrimurs …Possibly a cut for shortening in performance. The word sir, at the end of the phrase in F1 just before the cut, serves here in Q2 as the start of what follows the material omitted in F1:
sir this report of his,etc.
had
Would have.
motion … eye
Movement, defensive strategy, or visual acuity.
envenom
Embitter, poison.
Your … to play with you
Your immediate coming over from France so that he could fence with you.
F1’s
Your … with himis more grammatical to our ears, but Q2 is possible.
What
F1’s Why is probably a misprint for Q2’s
What,perhaps in anticipation of
Why ask you thisin line 106 (TLN 3108).
is begun by time
Comes into being at the right moment (and is subject to change).
passages of proof
Circumstances that have tested such a love.
qualifies
Weakens, moderates.
There lives … th’ulcer
A Q2 passage only, omitted in F1. Possibly a cut for shortening in performance.
wick
Q2 reads
weeke.
snuff
The charred end of the candlewick that needs occasional trimming to improve the light
and reduce smoke. (Love is like a candle in that it consumes itself in its own ardor.)
nothing … still
Nothing remains always at a constant level of goodness.
pleurisy
Excess, plethora. (Literally, an inflammation of the chest.)
, pleurisy sometimes spelled plurisy, was sometimes erroneously supposed to be derived from the Latin plus, pluris,
more,thus suggesting here an excess of humors, one of the four bodily fluids.
in … too much
Of its own excess.
That we … accidents
A proverbial idea (Dent N54, He that will not when he may, when he would he shall
have nay (shall not when he will).
That
That which.
abatements
Diminutions.
As … accidents
As there are tongues to dissuade, hands to prevent, and chance events to intervene.
spendthrift’s sigh
The regretful sigh of one who has squandered his wealth.
Alludes to the common belief that a sigh cost the heart a drop of blood.
That hurts by easing
I.e., That costs the heart a drop of blood even while it affords emotional relief.
quick of th’ulcer
I.e., heart of the disease.
indeed your father’s son
F1’s
your Father’s sonne indeedmakes sense as an emendation of Q2, since
indeed(
in deed) pairs convincingly with
in wordsin the next line.
sanctuarize
Shield from punishment, by offering the shelter of the church.
By custom, church could provide sanctuary for those in need of shelter from the law
for many criminal offenses. The King here argues that the demands of revenge should
trump such a customary privilege; Laertes should be licensed to kill Hamlet, even
inside a church.
Will … this
If you will do this.
The comma after
thisin Q2/F1 suggests a conditional
ifclause. Q5/F2 punctuate with a question mark.
keep close
Remain out of sight.
We’ll … shall
I will arrange for some people to.
And … fame
And enhance the lustrous reputation.
in fine
Finally, in conclusion.
o’er
F1’s
onis more probable idiomatically than Q2’s
ore,which could easily be a copying mistake for
on.
remiss
Carelessly unwary.
generous
Noble-minded.
foils
Fencing weapons, normally buttoned at the tip to prevent stabbing.
unbated
Not blunted by a button at its tip.
pass of practice
Treacherous thrust instead of what should have been a conventional fencing move.
Q2’s
pacemay be a spelling variant of F1’s
passe.
for [that] purpose
F1 appropriately supplies
that,missing in Q2.
unction
Ointment.
mountebank
Quack.
So mortal that, but dip
So deadly that if one were merely to dip.
F1’s reading (
So mortall, I but dipt) is intelligible, but seems to have obfuscated the clearer
So mortall, that but dippein Q2.
cataplasm
Medicinal plaster or poultice.
rare
Excellent, distinctive; uncommon, seldom found.
Collected … virtue
Composed of herbs with potent healing properties.
Under the moon
I.e., Anywhere on earth in the sublunary sphere beneath the moon.
The wording here may also gesture toward the belief that herbs gathered at night could
have a magical and direful potency. Compare Lucianus’s mixture rank, of midnight weeds
collected at 3.2.176 (TLN 2127).
withal
With it, by it.
gall
Graze, wound.
of this.
Q2’s punctuation, with a period after
of this,is plausible if
Weighin the next line is to be read as an imperative, bidding Laertes to act accordingly, but F1’s comma after
of thisis perhaps more plausible as treating Weigh in parallel with think (i.e.,
Let’s further think of this, And weigh …).
Weigh
Q2 prints
Wey,F1
Weigh.
to our shape
To the roles we propose to act.
shape. If … fail,
Q2 reads
shape if … fayle,F1
shape, if … faile;
And … performance
And if our intentions should be betrayed by our inept performance.
assayed
Attempted.
F1 prints
assaid,Q2
assayd.Both may be spelling variants of
essayed,but
assayedmight also suggest the idea of testing fitness.
If this did … proof
If this plot should come to grief (literally, blow up in our faces) when put to the
test.
F1 plausibly substitutes
If this should blastfor Q2’s
If this did blast.
Soft
Gently, wait a minute.
your cunnings
Your respective skills.
F1’s
commingsis possible as a translation of the French fencing term venies, a hit or thrust, but may instead be a misprint for Q2’s
cunnings.
I ha’t
I have it, I have a plan.
Many editions (including the editor’s choice text of the present edition) print
I ha’tas a separate line, in order that the remainder of the line may be metrically regular, but Q2 and F1 both include the phrase as part of TLN 3148 (
I ha’t: when in your motion you are hot and dry), which has its own plausible rhythm. Either arrangement is defensible. Q2 prints
hatefor
ha’t.
As
I.e., And you should.
that end
F1’s
the endmay be a misprint for Q2’s
that end.
preferred
Offered, proffered.
F1’s
prepar’dis a plausible correction of Q2’s
prefard,which, though intelligible, may be a misprint.
A chalice … nonce
A drinking cup just for this occasion.
stuck
Sword thrust.
Compare the fencing term stoccado.
But stay, what noise?
Wait.
For Q2’s
but stay, what noyse?F1 substitutes
how sweet Queene.The change seems authorial, though quite possibly intending
how now sweet Queene,as emended in F2. Q1 reads
How now Gertred,tending to confirm F1/F2. Both Q2 and F1 print the Queen’s entrance after this speech. In Q2 the King’s saying
but stay, what noyseis easily explained by the King’s having heard a commotion created by the Queen’s arrival in great distress. No doubt the Queen would start to appear on stage before the King speaks to her in F1.
they
F1’s
they’lmay be a misprint for Q2’s
they.
askant the
Obliquely, across the.
F1 reads
aslant a,perhaps a deliberate authorial revision, though Q2’s
ascaunt theis more striking.
his hoary leaves
Its leaves with grey-white undersides.
Willows were traditionally associated with mourning or unrequited love, as in Desdemona’s
Willow Song, Othello, 4.3. F1’s reading,
hore leaues,is attractive for metrical reasons, though some editors like the internal rhyme of Q2’s
horryand
glassy.
Therewith … make
F1’s
There with fantastique Garlands did she comemakes sense, but may have resulted from a misreading of Q2’s
Therewith fantastique garland did she make,which depicts Ophelia more tellingly in her madness, not fully aware of what she is doing.
crowflowers
Wild buttercups, bluebells, or ragged robins.
long purples
Early purple wild orchids.
These flowers were often associated with fertility. The long purple may refer to the wild arum or cuckoo-pint, featuring a phallic-shaped spadix or sheathed
floral spike (Wentersdorf, quoted in Arden 3).
liberal
Free-speaking, hedonistic.
a grosser name
A more indecent name (such as dogstones or cullions, in reference to the testicle-shaped tubers of some of these flowers).
Orchis also means “testicle” in Greek (Arden 3).
cull-cold
Chaste.
F1’s
coldimproves the meter of Q2’s
cull-coldand may be an authorial change.
pendent
Overhanging.
Q2/F1 spell the word
pendant.
crownet weeds
Coronet-like garland of wild flowers.
A coronet is literally a smaller or lesser crown, usually signifying a noble rank
below that of royal majesty. Q2 reads
cronet,F1
Coronet.
Clamb’ring to hang
Persons forsaken in love traditionally hung garlands of this sort on willow trees.
envious sliver
Malicious branch.
Literally, a sliver is a twig. Q1 reads
sprig.
her weedy trophies
Her garland of wild flowers.
Q2’s
herseems more particularized than F1’s
the,which might be a copying error.
weeping brook.
The brook, with its gently flowing water, is personified as weeping for Ophelia’s
distress. Q2/F1 both punctuate here with a comma after
Brooke.
Which time
During which time.
lauds
Hymns.
F1’s
tunesis of course intelligible, and could be an authorial revision of Q2’s
laudes,but it could instead be (as Edwards argues) an intentional simplification by a copyist in a line of textual authority that involves more intermediary steps than that of Q2.
incapable of
Lacking the ability to comprehend or do anything about.
endued … element
Naturally adapted to a watery existence.
The word endued is spelled
indewedin Q2,
induedin F1.
Till that
Until.
their drink
F1’s
her drinkeappears to be a misreading of Q2’s
theyr drinke,perhaps picking up and repeating the
herearlier in the line. An easy h-/th- misreading (Arden 3).
wretch
(Here, as often, a term of endearment and pity.)
lay
Song.
F1’s
buyappears to be a simple misprint of Q2’s
lay.
Alas, then she is drowned
F1 converts Q2’s
Alas, then she is drowndinto a question, and places a comma after then (
Alas then, is she drown’d?). Either reading is possible, but perhaps the quarto version can claim a more reliable line of textual descent.
It is … holds
Weeping is the natural and characteristic way for us humans to express grief; nature
holds to her customary course.
When … out
When my tears are all shed, this womanly weakness in me will have run its course.
o’fire
Q2 reads
a fire,F1
of fire.
fain
Willingly, eagerly.
drowns
Douses, extinguishes.
Doutsis Arden 2’s persuasive modernization of F1’s
doubts.Q2’s
drownesis an attractive reading in the sense of dousing Laertes’s
fireof anger, but the F1 substitution has the same meaning of putting out, and seems too compellingly original to be a copyist’s error or invention.
[5.1]
Location: A churchyard.
Clowns
Rustics.
The first
clownto speak, the senior of the two gravediggers, is identified in the speech headings of Q2/F1 as
Clowneor
Clow.or
Clo..His partner is identified as
Other.Q1 uses
Clowneand
2.for its speech headings.
Christian burial
Burial in consecrated ground — something that the Church would deny to any who had
committed mortal sin, such as suicide.
when she
F1’s
thatmay be an authorial revision of Q2’s
when she.
salvation
Seemingly a blunder for damnation, though possibly suggesting that Ophelia was seeking a shortcut to heaven.
On the comic confusion of salvation and damnation, compare Dogberry in Much Ado, 3.3.3 (Arden 3).
therefore
F1’s addition of
andbefore Q2’s
thereforecould be authorial.
straight
Right away. (But with wordplay on strait,
narrow.)
The crowner … burial
The coroner, the official charged with conducting an inquest into cases of accidental
or violent death, has done so in this case, and has judged the deceased worthy of
burial in sanctified ground.
Q2/F1 print
sate,a common spelling variant of sat.
unless … defense
Self-defense could constitute a legitimate defense against a charge of murder, but
the speaker here is ludicrous to wonder if suicide could be self-defense.
found so
Determined to be thus in the coroner’s verdict.
so offended
Q2’s
so offendedcould mean “having thus offended the law against suicide.”
Q2’s
so offendedcould be an erroneous attempt on the part of the copyist or compositor to deal with unfamiliar Latin, or it could be the Clown’s comic blunder, which F1 in turn renders as Se offendendo, an attempt at se defendendo, killing in self-defense.
three branches … perform
Legal arguments put forward regarding the disposition of property after the suicide
of James Hales in 1554 proposed that the act of self-destruction was divided into three parts: the imagination, the resolution, and the perfection
(Arden 2). F1’s
an Act to doeis presumably an error (picked up from
an actearlier in the sentence) for Q2’s
to act, to doe.The sequence requires Q2’s reading, as does the indication of three parts. The F1 compositor could have picked up an Act from the identical phrase earlier in the sentence. F1’s and after to doe, on the other hand, could be an intentional revision.
Argal
Ergo, therefore.
Q2 reads
or all,evidently a copying error for
Argal,the F1 reading (
Argall), which occurs in both texts at lines 7 and 17 in Q2 (TLN 3207 and 3237).
good man delver
Worthy digger; but printed
Goodman Deluerin F1, Master digger.
Goodmanwas a common title used in addressing a workman by his profession. Q2 prints
good man,F1
Goodman.
will he, nill he
Willy-nilly, whether he is willing or not.
marry
Indeed.
(Also in line 20, TLN 3242.)
crowner’s quest
Coroner’s inquest.
on’t
Of it.
Q2’s
an’tis presumably intended for F1’s
on’t.
out o’Christian burial
Outside of, not in, the graveyard reserved for those who have died good Christians.
Q2’s
a christianis presumably intended for
o’Christian.F1’s
of Christiancould be an editorial sophistication.
there thou say’st
I.e., you certainly spoke the truth that time.
count’nance
Privilege, authority.
even-Christen
Fellow Christians.
F1 spells this
euen Christian.Q1 reads
other people.
ancient
Venerable, going back to ancient times.
hold up
Uphold, pratice, keep up.
bore arms
(1) was entitled to display the coat of arms of a gentleman; (2) had arms on his body.
F1 at this point inserts a short dialogue (TLN 2123-6):
Other. Why he had none. / Clo. What, ar’t a Heathen? how dost thou understand the Scripture? The Scripture sayes Adam dig’d; could hee digge without Armes?The omission from Q2 may have been inadvertent, caused by eyeskip from bore arms to without arms (Arden 2). Shakespeare applied successfully to the Heralds’ College in 1596 for the granting of a coat of arms for his father, and implicitly for himself as well. The application was subsequently challenged by traditionalists who were alarmed by the granting of many such applications, but survived the challenge.
confess thyself.
I.e., prepare yourself spiritually for death.
Suggesting too the proverbial phrase, Confess [thyself] and be hanged, Dent, C587.
F1 follows this phrase with a long dash, omitted in Q2.
Go to
An expression of impatience.
mason
Stonemason.
for that
I.e., since that frame, the gallows (used for hanging criminals).
F1 reads
for that Frame,making clear the referent of
for thatin Q2.
It does well
(1) It provides a good answer; (2) The gallows serves well as an instrument of execution.
may do well to thee
May serve your turn when it comes time for you to be hanged.
To’t again
Try again.
(Compare
To’t,line 21, TLN 3243.)
unyoke
I.e., unharness your wit, like a tired team of plow animals; put an end to your mental
efforts.
Mass
By the Mass. (A common oath.)
Cudgel thy brains
A proverbial expression; Dent, B602.
your dull ass … beating
Varying the proverbial phrase, A dull ass must have a sharp spur, Dent A 348.1.
your dull ass
Any ordinary plodding ass. (Not implying ownership by the gravedigger’s assistant;
the idea is general.)
mend
Improve, incresae.
The houses he makes lasts
F1’s insertion of
thatinto Q2’s
houses he makecould be authorial, or could be editorial sophistication. The singular form of the verb
lastsafter a plural noun (houses) is acceptable and common usage in early modern English. It occurs here in both Q2 and F1. Q1 prints
last,as do Q3 and F4 (Arden 3).
get thee in
This Q2 reading is perfectly intelligible, but F1’s
get thee to Youghancould be an authorial revision meaning “get thee to Johan,” i.e., to a tavern in the vicinity whose proprietor is named Johan or John.
soope
Sup.
Q2’s
soopecould well be a misprint for F1’s
stoupe,though some editors defend
soopeas a dialectal variant, perhaps of
sup.Q1 prints
stope.
Song
Here and in subsequent stanzas F1 prints
Singsas a stage direction; Q2 prints
Song.The SD is omitted in Q1.
In youth … meet
This and the next two stanzas ring comic changes on
The Aged Lover Renounceth Love,a poem attributed to Thomas Lord Vaux in Tottel’s Miscellany, a popular anthology of 1557 (Arden 2).
To contract … behove
To shorten the time for my own benefit. (Perhaps he means to pass the time.)
oh … a … Oh … a … a
Probably the Gravedigger grunts as he digs.
meet
Suitable, more appropriate.
Enter … Horatio
F1 places this stage direction (reading
Enter Hamlet and Horatio a farre off) earlier, at TLN 3245, before the Gravedigger has sung a verse of his song
In youth,etc. F1’s change may be the result of authorial revision or as reflecting performance practice. It allows Hamlet and Horatio to hear the Gravedigger as he starts singing, and to be seen by the audience as the singing and gravedigging proceed, thereby providing context for Hamlet’s and Horatio’s conversation about the singing in lines 28-30, TLN 3256-61. Q1 also brings Hamlet and Horatio on stage in time to hear the start of the Gravedigger’s singing. Q2’s placement here has Hamlet and Horatio enter just as they are about to speak.
’A sings in grave-making
That he sings while.
F1’s
that he sings at Graue-making?here could represent an authorial revision of Q2, except that F1’s substitution of he for Q2’s
’ais probably editorial sophistication.
a property of easiness
A thing he can do easily, without distress.
’Tis e’en so
Exactly.
The usage recurs in line 39 (TLN 3278).
The hand … sense
One who seldom does such things is apt to be more squeamish.
Q2’s
dintieris probably a misprint for F1’s
daintier.
clawed
F1’s
caughtmakes clear sense, but may be a compositor’s or copyist’s sophistication for the more singular Q2 reading,
clawed,which appears in Vaux’s poem.
shipped me into the land
I.e., sent me on my way toward death.
The fact that line 33 does not end with a word that rhymes with
stepsin line 31 (TLN 3263) may indicate some textual misarrangement. F2’s
intillas a replacement for Q2’s
intois possibly authorial, although it could instead be a printing error.
such
I.e., alive and in love.
[The Clown … skull]
Q2/F1 omit any stage direction here. Q1 provides
he throwes vp a shouel,opposite Q1’s equivalent of line 42, TLN 3287.
jowls
Dashes, hurls.
as if ’twere … murder
Though not mentioned in the account in Genesis (4.8) of Cain’s murder of his brother
Abel, the jawbone was often assumed in medieval representations to be the murder weapon;
see for example With cheke-bon in the Towneley Mactatio Abel, the murder of Abel, 326. On this event as the first murder in biblical history,
compare Hamlet 1.2.105 (TLN 287), the first corse, and 3.3.37 (TLN 2313), the primal
eldest curse. F1 reads
as if it werefor Q2’s
as if twere.
This might be
F1’s alteration (
It might be) of Q2 could be careless copying.
the pate of a politician
The head of a scheming manipulator intent on gaining political advantage.
now o’erreaches
Now triumphs over by means of political or social advantage.
The F1 reading,
o’re Offices,has much the same sense as Q2’s
now ore-reaches.Being perhaps more striking and unusual, the F1 reading is more likely to be an authorial revision than the work of a copyist of compositor. F1’s omission of now before ’o’re Offices could have been intentional or inadvertent.
would
F1’s
couldmay be an error for Q2’s
would.
how dost thou, sweet lord?
F1’s changing here of Q2’s
sweet lord?to
good lordmight possibly be an intentional change to avoid having
sweet lordtwice in succession, even if it could instead be a copying mistake.
that praised … when ’a went to beg it
I.e., who went to Lord Such-o-one intending to praise that lord’s horse in hopes that
the flattering praise might prompt the lord to make a gift of the horse to the praiser.
Arden 3 cites Timon of Athens, 1.2.213-15, where Timon extravagantly responds to one who has praised his horse
by giving that horse to the praiser because you liked it. Q2’s
wentis intelligible, but may well be a misprint for Q1/F1’s
meant.But F1’s
heis likely to be a sophistication for Q2’s
’a.
my Lady Worm’s
I.e., a skull belonging to one who now dances attendance on Lady Worm, in whose court
worms feast on dead bodies; or perhaps (as Arden 3 suggests) the skull of a lady who
is now food for worms.
chopless
I.e., “chapless,” lacking the lower jaw.
Q2 reads
Choples,F1
Chaplesse.
massene
Head (?)
Masseneis a word unknown other than in this present usage, where it appears to mean “head,” but may instead be a misprint for F1’s
Mazard,literally a drinking vessel, here applied to the head.
revolution
Reversal of destiny, by the turning of Fortune’s wheel.
an
If.
F1’s reading,
if,may be a copyist’s or compositor’s sophistication for Q2’s
and,i.e., an.
Did … with them?
Was so little care taken in bringing up the owner of these bones that we can now play
a game like skittles or horse-shoes with the bones, throwing them in sport at a stake
to see who comes closest?
In place of Q2’s
them,F1 reads
’em.
For and
And also.
may not
F1’s
might notis plausibly an intentional correction of Q2’s
may not.
his quiddities … quillets
His subtleties and legal niceties.
F1’s
Quidditscould be an authorial replacement for Q2’s
quidditiesto provide a like-sounding pair with
quillets,but may instead be a compositorial or scribal sophistication introduced for a similar stylistic purpose. As Arden 3 observes, Shakespeare uses
quidditiesonce elsewhere (1H4, 1.2.45) and
quilletsfive times (e.g., Oth., 3.1.23), but does not use
quidditselsewhere or
quillitiesat all.
tenures
Property titles.
mad
Foolish, unwise.
F1’s
rudeis plausible. It may or may not be authorial as a substitute for Q2’s
mad.
sconce
Head.
action of battery
Legal action charging physical assault.
his statutes … vouchers, his recoveries
His securities acknowledging obligation of a debt, his bonds undertaken to repay debts,
his procedures for converting entailed estates into
fee simpleor freehold, his vouchers signed by two signatories guaranteeing the validity of titles to land, (and) his suits to obtain possession of land.
Following this passage, Q2 omits F1’s
Is this the fine of his Fines, and the recouery of his Recoueries,perhaps inadvertently, owing to eyeskip prompted by the repetition of
his recoveries.
to have … fine dirt?
To have the skull of his once elegant head filled with minutely sifted dirt? (With
multiple puns on
fineand
fines.)
Will vouchers … pair of indentures?
Will vouchers, no matter how carefully duplicated, guarantee him no more land than
is needed to bury him in, being no bigger than the deed of conveyance?
Indentures are legal documents drawn up in duplicate on a single sheet and then cut
in two by a zigzag line enabling those who consult it subsequently to be sure that
the two parts are uniquely matched. F1’s
will his Vouchers vouch … and double oneshere plausibly replaces Q2’s
will vouchers vouch … & doubles.
conveyances of his lands
Legal documents pertaining to the purchases of his lands.
scarcely
Q2’s
scarcelyand F1’s
hardlyare more or less interchangeable.
this box
(1) this coffin; (2) this deed box.
th’inheritor
The purchaser, owner.
They are … which seek out asssurance in that
Any persons who place their trust in such legal documents are simpletons and fools.
Q2’s
which seekeand F1’s
that seekare equally plausible, though Q2 avoids a chiming repetition of that at the end of the sentence.
sirrah
A term of address to a social inferior.
F1’s
Sirmay be a copyist’s or compositor’s sophistication of Q2’s
sirra.
Mine, sir.… to be made
Q2 incorrectly prints all of this as a single line of prose dialogue, with
orin place of F1’s
O,and then omits the second line of the song,
For such a guest is meet,which appears in the earlier singing of this song at TLN 3287-8.
yet
F1’s
and yetand Q2’s
yetare equally plausible. F1’s correction could be editorial.
the quick
The living.
quick
Nimble. (Punning on
quick,living, in the previous speech.)
absolute
Precise.
by the card
I.e., precisely.
Literally, by marks indicated on a compass-card showing the points of the compass
for navigational use.
equivocation
Quibbling.
this three years I have took note of it
F1’s
these three yeares I haue taken note of itand Q2’s this three yeeres I haue tooke note of it are equally plausible. F1’s
improvementscould be editorial sophistication, or could be authorial. Q1 prints
This seauen yeares haue I noted it.
the age … the heel of the courtier … kibe
I.e., the world today has become so fastidious and refined that the lower classes
ape their social betters, following so closely at their heels as to chafe their
kibesor chilblains.
F1’s
the heeles of our Courtierpresents small revisions of Q2’s
the heele of the Courtierthat may be copying errors or editorial
improvements.Q1 reads
the heele of the courtier.
Of the days
F1 reads
Of all the dayes,supplying the seemingly necessary
allthat may have been omitted from Q2 inadvertently.
overcame
F1’s
o’ercamecould be authorial, or a sophistication of Q2.
that very day
F1’s
the very daymay be a more authorial reading than Q2’s
that very day,in which the that might be an anticipation of the same word after day.
is mad
F1’s
was madcould be a copying error for Q2’s
is mad,or could be an authorial change.
him there. There
F1’s
him, thereis perfectly possible, but could be an erroneous omission through oversight of one there in Q2’s
him there, there.
losing
Q1/Q2/F1 all spell this
loosing.
ground
Cause, reason. (But the Gravedigger answers in the sense of
land,
country.)
sexton
A minor functionary who tends to church property, ringing bells, digging graves, etc.
F1’s
sixeteeneis an error, perhaps owing to a misinterpretation of Q2’s
Sexten.
Faith
Q1/F1’s
I’faithcould be an editorial sophistication of Q2’s
Fayth,or could be authorial.
pocky corses
Diseased, rotten corpses; literally, riddled with the pox or syphilis.
F1 plausibly adds
now adaiesafter
Coarses.
hold the laying in
Hold together long enough to be buried.
’a will last you
It will last. (The
youis colloquial here and twice in line 78 (TLN 3360-1):
your water,
your whoreson dead body.)
F1’s
hein place of Q2’s
’ais probably a sophistication.
sore
Keen, veritable.
whoreson
Son-of-a-bitch. (A colloquial expression of contempt.)
See also TLN 3364.
Here’s a skull now
F1 plausibly augments this phrase to
Heres a scull now: this scul.Q2’s omission could be inadvertent, prompted by the repetition.
hath lyen you i’th’earth
Has lain in the earth.
The
youis colloquial, as in line 76 (TLN 3356-7) above. F1’s
has laine in the earthmay be a sophistication of Q2.
23 years
F1 plausibly expands this to
three & twenty years,Q1
this dozen yeare.
Rhenish
Rhenish wine.
This same skull, sir, was, sir
F1’s repetition here (
This same Scull Sir, this same scull sir, was) could be emphatic, and is not uncharacteristic of the Clown’s manner of speaking, but it could instead be an instance of Compositor E’s
pointless dittography(Hibbard, Arden 3). F1’s
was Yoricksreplaces Q2’s
was sir Yoricks.
Alas
F1 plausibly expands Q2’s
Alasto
Let me see. Alas.Q1’s
prethee let me see it, alastends to confirm the F1 reading as authoritative.
bore
Borne, carried.
F1 normalizes Q2’s
boreto
borne,offering plausibly the correct reading, even though, as Arden 3 notes, bore potentially sets up wordplay with
abhorredin the next sentence. Q1 reads
caried.
now how abhorred in my imagination it is
F1’s shorter version (
how abhorred my Imagination is) is certainly intelligible, but could contain errors of transmission from Q2.
My gorge rises
I feel nauseated.
The gorge is literally the throat or stomach.
gibes
Taunts.
Q2 reads
gibes,F1
Iibes,Q1
iests.
gambols
Skipping or leaping about in play.
Not one
(1) No one; or, (2) Not one of your gibes or gambols.
F1’s
No onepoints to the first of these two possible readings, but may be a copying error of Q2’s
not one.
grinning
F1’s
Ieeringis certainly possible, but editors generally prefer Q2’s
grinning,in part because Shakespeare elsewhere associates death with grinning, as in 1 Henry IV, 5.3.59-60 (Arden 3).
chopfall’n
(1) lacking the lower jaw; (2) downcast, dejected.
Compare
choplessin line 39 and n. above.
my lady’s table
Q2’s
tablehere could mean “dressing table” in the lady’s chamber. Q1/F1’s
chamberis likely to be an authorial reading, one that avoids the repetition of table in
set the table on a roar,where table presumably means
dining or banqueting table.
favor
Aspect, appearance.
Alexander
Alexander the Great.
Pah!
Q2 reads
pah,F1
Puh.
bunghole
Hole in a cask or barrel for filling or emptying.
consider too curiously
Consider too minutely, over-subtly.
F1’s
consider: to curiouslyis presumably a miscopying for Q2’s reading.
with modesty … lead it
With moderation and plausibility.
F1 plausibly follows this phrase with
as thus.Q2’s omission could be inadvertent. Q1 elaborates:
as thus of Alexander.
Alexander died
Following these words, Q2 omits here, perhaps inadvertently, F1’s
as thus.Q1 elaborates:
as thus of Alexander.
returneth to dust
Arden 3 and other editions cite the Anglican burial service, Earth to earth, ashes
to ashes, dust to dust, based in turn on God’s sentencing of Adam and Eve as they
are expelled from the Garden of Eden: Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return
(Genesis 3.19). Cf. similar allusions to dust at 1.2.71 (TLN 251) and 4.2.3 (TLN 2636)
above. F1 replaces Q2’s
to dustwith
into dust.
loam
A mixture of moistened sandy clay and straw used to make bricks, plaster, or (in this
case) bungs for a beer-barrel.
Imperious Caesar
The term can apply to Julius Caesar, or to the emperors starting with Augustus Caesar
who adopted the title for themselves, or indeed to the Emperor Alexander and any powerful
emperor.
Q1/Q2’s
Imperiousis a form used more or less interchangeably by Shakespeare with
Imperiall,the F1 wording here.
that earth
I.e., Caesar’s body.
water’s flaw
Destructive flow of water (with
flawas a spelling variant of flow intended to match rhymingly
awein the previous line).
Q2’s
waters flawis corrected in F1 to
winters flaw.
Enter King … and others]
F1 prints line 98 before the entry stage direction; Q2’s stage direction is in the
right margin opposite this line and the two that follow. Presumably, on stage the
entry begins as Hamlet speaks. F1’s is a
literaryplacement well designed for the reader. Q2’s placement of the entry a line earlier is, like many entry stage directions in Q2, designed to give the actors time to move onto the broad Elizabethan stage; the audience sees them enter as Hamlet observes the royal party at some distance. Q2 reads
Enter K. Q. Laertes and the corse,F1
Enter King, Queene, Laertes, and a Coffin, with Lords attendant,Q1
Enter King and Queene, Laertes, and other lordes, with a Priest after the coffin.
soft
Gently, wait a moment.
awhile
F1’s
asideis perfectly plausible, and could be an authorial revision of Q2’s
awhile,but could be caress copying of Q2’s
a while.
Couch we awhilein line 103 (TLN 3411) below provides a similar usage.
this
F1’s
thatas a substitute for Q2’s
thiscould be authorial. The two are more or less equally plausible.
maimèd rites
Truncated ceremonies.
desp’rate
F1 reads
disperate,Q2
desprat.
Fordo it
Destroy its.
of some estate
Of considerable social rank.
F1’s
some Estatewithout the of is presumably an error for Q2’s
of some estate.
Couch we
Let’s conceal ourselves, lie low.
Doctor
Doctor of Divinity, a learned cleric.
Q2’s Doct. is replaced in Q1/F1 by Priest, plausibly an authorial correction. The terms have similar meanings.
Doctor
Doctor of Divinity, a learned cleric.
Q2’s Doct. is replaced in Q1/F1 by Priest, plausibly an authorial correction. The terms have similar meanings.
obsequies
Funeral rites.
enlarged
Extended to the full ritual.
warranty
F1’s substitution of
warrantis,i.e., warrantise, for Q2’s
warrantiemay be authorial.
doubtful
I.e., suspected of being a suicide.
but … order
Were it not that royal command overrules the customary practice (as prescribed too
by our monastic order) of denying sacred burial to suicides.
She … been lodged … trumpet
She should have been buried in unsanctified ground awaiting the Day of Judgment, when
all souls will be condemned or saved for all eternity by divine decree.
Q2’s
been lodgedis presumably a shortened version of
have been lodged.F1 emends to
haue lodg’d.
For
In place of.
prayers
F1’s
praiermay be a copying error of Q2’s
prayers.
Flints
F1’s substituting
Shardes, Flintsfor Q2’s
Flintsmay well be authorial.
virgin crants
Garlands betokening maidenhood.
F1’s substitution of
Riteshere for Q2’s
Crantsmay be the work of a copyist or compositor replacing an unfamiliar term with one that is more recognizable. The Norton Shakespeare notes that crants evokes the practice of hanging a garland of such flowers in church after the interment.
strewments
Flowers strewn on a coffin.
the bringing … burial
Laying the body to rest, to the tolling of the church bell and the recitation of the
burial ceremony.
a requiem and such rest
A solemn mass for the dead and other rituals beseeching heaven to grant rest to those
who have died at peace with God.
F1’s
sage Requiemcould be an authorial substitute for Q2’s
a Requiem.
peace-parted souls
The souls of those who have died at peace with God.
violets
Compare 4.5.172-4 (TLN 2927-37) and note, where violets are associated with fidelity
to a lost love.
liest howling
I.e., are lodged in hell.
Sweets … farewell
F1’s
Sweets, to the sweet farewellis presumably an inaccurate pointing of Q2’s
Sweets to the sweet, farewell.
have
Q2’s
hauecould easily be misprint corrected in F1’s
t’haue.
treble woe / Fall ten times double
F1’s
terrible woer, / Fall ten times trebblesuggests that the F1 compositor had trouble with his copy. The seeming discrepancy of
trebleand
doublein Q2 (
treble woe / Fall tenne times double) might have seemed illogical. Arden 3 notes that the second instance in Q2 is at the top of a new page, obliging the F1 compositor to compose this line without having the previous line in front of him.
thy most … thee of
Deprived you of your fine, quick intelligence.
[He leaps in the grave]
This F1 stage direction is omitted in Q2. Q1 reads
Laertes leapes into the graue,followed two lines later by
Hamlet leapes in after Laertes.
the quick and dead
The living and the dead.
A set phrase, as in Dent Q12, in Acts 10:42: was ordained by God to be the Judge of
quick and dead, and in 2 Timothy, 4.1: Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead.
The phrase is incorporated in the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds.
flat
Level place.
T’o’ertop old Pelion … Olympus
I.e., To tower above Greece’s highest mountains, including Olympus, the reputed home
of the Olympian gods. In Greek mythological legends, the rebellious Giants attempted
to scale Mount Olympus by piling still another mountain, Ossa (mentioned in line 165,
TLN 3480, below), on top of Pelion. Q2 prints
To’retop,F1
To o’er top.
grief
F’s
griefesis possible, but could easily be a misprint of Q2’s
griefe,which agrees grammatically with the singular verb
Bearesin the next line.
Bears … emphasis
Is conveyed so forcefully.
whose phrase of sorrow / Conjures the wand’ring stars
Whose sorrowful speech invokes the planets to come to his aid.
F1’s
Coniurewould appear to be a misprint for Q2’s
Coniures.
stand
Remain stationary in their heavenly paths.
wonder-wounded
Struck with amazement.
the Dane
A customary form of title for the King of Denmark, as at 1.1.17 (TLN 21), 1.2.44 (TLN
224), etc.
[Grappling with Hamlet]
A ballad
Elegy on Burbage,published in Gentleman’s Magazine, 1825, offers the observation, Oft have I seen him leap into a grave, thereby seeming to confirm the stage direction of Q1 at this point:
Hamlet leapes in after Laertes.The difficulties of managing such action in the trap door of the Globe Theatre, where Ophelia has just been laid to rest, prompts some editors to posit instead that Laertes jumps out of the grave to attack Hamlet. Q2/F1 lack a stage direction here. See note at 131.1 (TLN 3444) above.
For
F1’s
Siris possible, though it looks more like a copying error for Q2’s
For.
splenative rash
Hot-tempered.
F1’s
Spleenatiue, and rasheis a plausible correction of Q2’s
splenatiue rash,where the omission of and could easily be an oversight.
in me something
Q1/F1’s
something in meis certainly possible as a deliberate inversion of Q2’s
in me something,even though it could be a copying error instead.
wisdom … Hold off
F1’s
wisenesse … Awayand Q2’s
wisdome … hold offare essentially interchangeable.
All … be quiet
Q2 here assigns line 146 to All (i.e. the assembled lords), and 147 to Horatio. F1
omits 146, and assigns 147 to
Gen.,presumably as a consequence of having mistakenly deleted the previous line in Q2,
All. Gentlemen.
wag
Move, flutter (as a sign that the person is still living).
their
F1’s
thereis presumably a misprint for Q2’s
theyr.
forbear him
Let him alone.
’Swounds
By His (Christ’s) wounds. (A strong oath.)
F1’s
Comeis presumably an expurgation substituted in place of Q2’s
S’wounds.
thou’lt
Q2’s spelling is
th’owt,standardized in F1 to
thou’lt.Q1 reads
thou wilt.
Woo’t
Wilt thou, wouldst thou.
Woo’t
Wilt thou, wouldst thou.
Woo’t fast?
F1 omits, perhaps inadvertently, this phrase as it is found in Q2.
eisil
Vinegar.
To drink a bitter draft of vinegar (
eisil) would be an extravagant and self-flagellating way to express grief. Eating a crocodile would be no less self-punishing; the phrase may also refer to the crocodile’s fabled penchant for shedding crocodile’s tears as a deceptive way of feigning sorrow. F1 spells the word
Esile,Q2
Esill.Q1 reads
vessels.
Dost
Q2’s
doostis perfectly intelligible, but F1’s emendation to
Dost thoucould be authorial.
quick
Alive.
Compare line 132 (TLN 3445) above,
the quick and dead.
till … wart
Until the vast acres of land that have been thrown on top of us, scorching the very
top of this huge mound by its nearness to the burning sun, make Mount Ossa seem comparatively
as small as a wart.
Ossa is mentioned in the note at lines 134-5, TLN 3447-8, above, as the mountain piled
on top of Mount Pelion by the Giants in their rebellious attempt to scale Mount Olympus,
home of the Olympian gods. Technically, the burning zone is that portion of the celestial
sphere lying on both sides of the equator, between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
an thou’lt mouth
If you want to rant.
Queen
F1/Q1 assign this speech to the King, but the sentiment expressed seems appropriate
to the Queen in her eagerness to excuse Hamlet’s erratic behavior. Copying errors
in speech headings are not uncommon in early modern texts. Editors are divided on
the issue; the speech could be made to work for the King as a piece of his deceptiveness.
Q1 assigns a shorter version of part of this speech to the King, while at the same
time allowing the Queen to insist that Hamlet’s behavior is the result of madness
— a sentiment that tends to support Q2’s assignment of lines 166-70 to the Queen.
mere
Utter.
this awhile
F1’s
thusis the more compelling and idiomatic choice here. Q2’s
thiscould well be an easy copying error. F1/Q2’s
a whileis equivalent to today’s
awhile.
golden couplets
Baby pigeons clad in golden-colored down.
Pigeons are traditionally though to be gentle and patient. F1’s
Cupletis possible in reference to a single pair of eggs laid by the dove (Arden 3), but may be a copying error for Q2’s
cuplets.
disclosed
Hatched.
loved
F1’s
loud’is presumably a typographical error for Q2’s
lou’d.
Let … day
I.e., Despite all that Hercules himself could do (or Laertes and all his rant), my
day will come.
Cf. the proverbial Every dog has his day (Dent D487).
Exit Hamlet … And Horatio [exits too]
Q2 prints these stage directions in two lines, to the right of lines 174-5. F1 prints
Exitto the right of 174 (TLN 3491), providing no exit for Horatio. Q1 prints
Exit Hamlet and Horatiobelow 174.
I pray thee
F1’s uses of the formal
youis certainly possible as a substitute for Q2’s
thee.
wait upon
Attend.
your
F1’s
then youis presumably an error for Q2’s
your.
Thenmay be an erroneous repetition of the last four letters of strengthen.
in
I.e., by recalling.
present push
Immediate test.
Gertrard
Q2’s usual spelling for
Gertrude,the F1 preferred spelling.
a living monument
I.e., a lasting memorial—and perhaps with the suggestion, for Laertes’s ears only,
that this memorial will be accomplished by the death of the now-living Hamlet.
thereby
F1’s
shortlyoffers a more compelling reading than Q2’s
thereby,and may be authorial.
Till then
Q2’s
Tell thenwould appear to be a typographical error for F1’s
Till then.
[5.2]
Location: The castle.
So … Now shall you see the other
Hamlet and Horatio enter in mid conversation. Hamlet’s
thismay refer to what he has told Horatio about his abortive voyage to England,
the otherto what Hamlet is about to add to that account.
See 4.6.8, TLN 2985-3002. F1 emends Q2’s
now shall you seeto
now let me see,suggesting that Hamlet is searching his memory, and is a plausible reading, or perhaps a confused transcription. The event being recalled is vivid for both Hamlet and Horatio.
Remember … lord!
I.e., How could I ever forget such a thing?
Methought
F’s
me thoughtoffers an obvious and needed corrective to Q2’s misprint,
My thought.
mutines … bilboes
Mutineers in shackles.
The name
bilboesis from Bilbao in Spain, fame for its excellent swords and presumably also for high-quality iron instruments of confinement that could be used to restrain English prisoners aboard Spanish war vessels. Q2’s
bilbois apparently a misprint for F1’s
Bilboes.
Rashly
On impulse. (The adverb looks forward to lines 12 ff., TLN 3512 ff.)
praised be
F1’s
praise beis intelligible, but is probably a typographical error for Q2’s
praysd be.
know
Acknowledge.
indiscretion
An action that is not premeditated. (Hamlet does not mean an action that is indiscreet
or reckless.)
sometime
Shakespeare uses
sometime(the Q2 form) and
sometimes(F1) more or less interchangeably. Q2 has a more reliable line of transmission.
deep
Secret, obscure.
F1’s
deareis defensible as a reading, but could be a miscopying of Q2’s
deepe,arguably a more incisive reading.
fall
Fail, prove insufficient.
The reading of Q2 uncorrected and of F1,
paule,i.e., pall, falter or fade away, may well be the correct reading, even though the proofreader responsible for Q2’s corrected state seems to have turned away from the perhaps unfamiliar paule to
fall.OED supposes
pallto be an aphetic form of
appalin its earliest meaning, “to wax pale or dim.”
learn
Teach.
F1’s
teachcould be an authorial alteration, but it could instead be an editorial choice introduced by a copyist or compositor to reflect a recent trend in popular idiom.
Learnis closer to the German lehren, to teach.
Rough-hew
Shape roughly.
sea-gown
Seaman’s coat.
scarfed
Loosely wrapped, as with a scarf.
find out them
Find Rosencrantz and Guildenstern out, uncover their villainy.
Fingered
Pilfered, lifted.
in fine
Finally, in conclusion.
unfold
I.e., lay open, lay bare.
F1’s
vnsealemay well be an authoritative correction of Q2’s
vnfold,though both are intelligible.
Ah
Q2’s
Acould be modernized As
Ah,as it is in this text, but could also be left as the indefinite article (Arden 3). F1’s
Ohcould be authoritative, even if Oh and Ah are essentially interchangeable choices.
Larded
Garnished.
several
Different, separate.
reasons
F1’s
reason;could easily be a typographical error for Q2’s
reasons,which agrees grammatically with
several sorts.
Importing
Concerning, relating to.
to[o]
Q2’s
tois a common spelling variant of F1’s
too.
With ho! … life
I.e., With all sorts of imagined fanciful terrors if I were allowed to remain alive.
(
Bugsare bugbears, hobgoblins.)
F1’s
hoocould simply be a spelling variant of Q2’s
hoe,or Hamlet could be making a derisive hooting sound at the expense of such
royal knavery.
That … bated
That on the reading of this commission, no delay being permitted.
stay
Await.
grinding
Sharpening.
hear now
F1’s
heare meis certainly defensible, and could be an authorial correction of Q2’s
heare now,though it might also be the result of miscopying.
villains
Q2/F1’s
villaines(
Villaines) is plausibly emended to
villainiesby Capell and Arden 2, among others.
Or … play
Before I could consciously formulate a scheme for proceeding further, the parts of
my brain had started working on a plan all by itself. (
Oris an older form of
Ere,before.)
Q2’s Or could be a spelling variant of F1’s Ere, the more modern and familiar form.
me
Myself.
fair
In the formal handwriting used in official documents.
hold
Regard.
statists
Statesmen.
A baseness
As something beneath my dignity.
It did me yeoman’s service
I.e., it stood me in good stead, by providing me with secretarial handwriting skills.
Though not listed in Dent or OED as proverbial, the phrase is listed by Brewer as
meaning effectual service, characterized by hard and steady work … referring to the
service of yeomen in the English armies of former days and also to yeomen of the Free
Companies (Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1870,revised edition, 1959). The rank of yeoman today in the U. S. Navy signifies
secretary. Shakespeare’s usage here, with its fine wordplay on the meanings of (1) hardworking
person of the yeoman class and (2) secretary or copyist, deserves major credit for
the extent to which the phrase has taken on the status of a familiar and set phrase.
Th’effect
F1’s alteration of Q2’s
Th’effectto
The effectscould be the result of miscopying or sophistication.
conjuration
Entreaty.
tributary
Country obligated to pay tribute money, usually as a result of having been subjugated
militarily.
See 3.1.138-40 (TLN 1825-7), where Claudius announces his intention of sending Hamlet
to England
For the demand of our neglected tribute.Compare also 1.1.83-99 (TLN 96-112), where Horatio describes how Norway became a tributary state to Denmark through the defeat of the Danish king Fortinbras by old Hamlet.
like the palm might flourish
The palm branch was traditionally a symbol of festive triumph and flourishing; cf.
Psalms, 92:12, The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. F1’s
as the Palmecould be a copying error for Q2’s
like the palme.F1’s
shouldin place of Q2’s
might,on the other hand, is plausibly authorial.
still
Always.
wheaten garland
A symbol of peace and fruitful plenty.
And … comma
I.e., And stand as a link uniting two entities that, though separate, are closely
integrated.
A period or semicolon would signify a greater break.
And … charge
And many similarly weighty clauses, each introduced (as in formal legal documents
or proclamations) by
Asor
Whereas.
F1’s
Assisis modernized by most editors as
as’es.Q2’s
as siris a defensible reading if sir is interpreted as a flowery way of addressing the English king, or as a parenthetical way of addressing Horatio, whom Hamlet elsewhere addresses this way; but
as’esdoes better to preserve the sequence of as clauses in the document’s flowery rhetoric.
knowing
Knowledge.
F1’s
knowis possible; OED sb. 2 cites this instance in the sense of knowledge (Arden 3). But the F1 reading could be a miscopying of Q2’s
knowing.
Without … less
Without any further discussion. (Hamlet continues to speak mockingly in legal jargon.)
those bearers
F1’s
the bearerscould be an authorial alteration of Q2’s
those bearers,or it could be a copying error.
shriving time
Time for confession and absolution.
ordinant
Directing, ordaining.
F1’s
ordinatecould be a variant of Q2’s
ordinant,or a miscopying. Both forms were in use. Shakespeare uses the term only once, in this present instance.
signet
Small seal.
model
Duplicate, likeness.
Folded … th’other
Folded the written document just as its predecessor had been folded.
F1’s
in forme of the othermakes sense, but could easily be a miscopying of Q2’s
in the forme of th’other.
Subscribe[d]
Signed (forging the King’s name).
Q2’s
Subscribeis presumably an easy misprint for F1’s
Subscrib’d.
gave’t th’impression
Sealed it by stamping the official seal into the wax.
The changeling
I.e., The substituted document. (Literally, an elfish child substituted by fairies
for a human child they steal.)
was sequent
Followed.
F1’s
was sementmight possibly mean “was added,” taking sement to mean “cement” (Tronch-Pérez, cited by Arden 3), but more plausibly may have been a typographical error for Q2’s
was sequent.
So … go to’t
F1 follows here with a line omitted, perhaps inadvertently, from Q2:
Ham. Why man, they did make loue to this imployment(TLN 3560). The line appears to be genuinely authorial.
defeat
Destruction.
F1’s
debatemay well be an error for Q2’s
defeat,though Richard Proudfoot posits that the text should perhaps read decease, based on a copy spelling desease (Arden 3). Debate could be a recollection of
debatementin line 45 (TLN 3547).
insinuation
Intrusive intervention, ingratiating themselves with the King by doing his dirty business.
when … opposites
I.e., when persons of lower social station and capability come between the deadly
and enraged weapon-thrusts of two such mighty opponents such as the King and Hamlet.
It is the King and Hamlet who are enraged; this attribute is poetically transferred
from them to their weapons.
think thee
Q2’s
think theeis intelligible, but F1’s
thinkst theemay be an authorial correction.
stand … upon
Become incumbent on me now.
F1’s absence of any punctuation mark after
vponcould be an inadvertent omission; Q2 has a question mark. A dash, as supplied in Oxford and in the present text, supposes that
He that hath killed … cozenagein lines 63-6 (TLN 3568-71) is a series of points in apposition to
stand me now vpon.
between th’election … hopes
I.e., between me and my hopeful expectation of being
electedto the Danish kingship after the death of my father.
Succession to the Danish throne is assumed in this play to have been the choice of
a small body of noble electors, like those of the Hapsburg empire or of the papacy.
Polonius is presumably such an elector. See lines 262-3 (TLN 3844-5) below, where
Hamlet, with his
dying voice,predicts that
th’electionwill light on Fortinbras, and 1.2.109 (TLN 291), where Claudius proclaims Hamlet
the most immediate to our throne.
angle
Fishing hook and line.
my proper life
My very life, my own life.
coz’nage
Deception.
conscience
F1 follows here with fourteen lines of dialogue, TLN 3572-86,
To quit him … who comes heere?that are omitted in Q1/Q2.
Enter a Courtier [Osric]
F1 reads
Enter young Osricke.Q1 reads
Enter a Bragart Gentleman.
Courtier
The Q2 speech prefix, here and throughout this conversation, is
Cour.F1 reads
Osr.Q1 reads
Gent.We understand the courtier to be Osric.
humbly
Q2’s
humbleis presumably a misprint for F1’s
humbly.
water-fly
I.e., a giddy, superficial person.
gracious
Blessed.
Let … mess
Provided a man, no matter how beastlike, is rich in livestock and possessions (as
Osric appears to be), he may eat at the King’s meal-table. (A crib is a manger or
trough for feeding livestock.)
chough
(1) chuff, boor, churl; (2) chatterer, jackdaw.
Q2’s spelling,
chough,and F1’s spelling,
Chowgh,underscore the sense of
jackdaw.The modern spelling form is chuff.
as I say
F1’s
as I sawis conceivable, but presumably a misprint for Q2’s
as I say.
spacious … dirt
A large landowner.
if your lordship were at leisure
I.e., if you have the time, if I’m not interrupting. (
Your lordshipis a polite form of address, as at line 67, TLN 3587.)
F1’s
your friendshipis possible, and is preferred by some editors as an affected mannerism of speech, but may be a miscopying of Q2’s
your Lordshippe.
receive it, sir
F1 omits Q2’s
Sir,perhaps in error.
with all
Q2’s
withallis presumably a misprint intended for F1’s
with all.
[Put] your bonnet
Put your hat.
Presumably Osric has doffed his hat as a token of respect. Gentleman normally wore
hats indoors. F1’s
Put your bonnetis probably an authorial correction of Q2’s
your bonnet.
his
Its.
indifferent
Somewhat, rather.
But … [or] my complexion.
The Q2 reading,
But yet me thinkes it is very sully, and hot, or my Complexion,make sense as an incomplete thought that is interrupted by Osric in his eagerness to seem agreeable, but F1’s
Mee thinkes it is very soultry, and hot for my Complexionoffers plausible corrections in
soultryfor
sullyand
forfor
or.On the other hand, F1’s omission of
But yetcould be an omission of oversight in copying.
complexion
Constitution, temperament.
sultry
Here Q2 spells the word
soultery,F1
soultry.
My lord, his
F1’s
but my Lord, hisis a persuasive correction of Q2 and may be authorial.
remember
I.e., remember what I said about your hat.
Nay, good my lord … faith
A polite declining of Hamlet’s adjuration to Osric that he put on his hat.
Q2 reads
Nay good my Lord for my ease in good faith,F1
Nay, in good faith, for mine ease in good faith.F1’s repetition of
in good faithmay suggest a copying error of Q2, perhaps as a result of revising F1 in anticipation of a long cut in F1 that is to follow. See next note.
Sir, here is … unfellowed
F1 omits this passage (except for line 91, TLN 3611), possibly for reasons of length
in performance, though some editors find the passage unnecessary for the plot. Shakespeare
may have acceded to this and other cuts in production.
absolute
Perfect, complete.
differences
Superior and distinctive qualities.
soft society
Agreeable manners.
great showing
Distinguished appearance.
feelingly
With just perception, appreciatively.
Q2 in its uncorrected state reads
sellingly; corrected,
fellingly.Some editors prefer sellingly, i.e., in salesmanlike fashion, but the f could easily have been misread as a tall s.
the card … gentry
The model or paradigm (literally, the map or directory) of good breeding.
the continent … would see
One who contains in himself all the attributes a gentleman might wish to see.
A
continentis “that which contains.” In the continuing geographical metaphor,
partsuggests also “region.” The word part could be a misprint for
parts.
his definement … sail
Your characterizing of Laertes’s qualities in no way diminishes his excellence, though
I know that to enumerate all his graces would stupify one’s powers of reckoning, and
even so could do no more than veer unsteadily off-course (yaw) in a vain attempt to
track the brilliance of his accomplishments.
Hamlet words this speech in such a way as to mock Osric’s vapid and trendy jargon.
The speech gave the printer difficulties. The word
dazzleis printed in Q2’s uncorrected state as
dosieand then changed in the corrected state to
dazzie.Q3 prints
dizzie,which Oxford adopts as dizzy. Arden 3 proposes
dazzle,an emendation that is followed here. These last two possibilities seem especially plausible. Q2’s
yawis changed to
rawin the corrected state of Q2, but yaw is more intelligible and integral to the metaphor or sailing.
But in … nothing more
But to speak truthful praise of him, I take him to be a person of remarkable substance,
one whose essence is of such rarity and excellence that, to speak truly of him, no
one can be compared with him other than his own likeness; anyone else attempting to
emulate him can only hope to attain the shadow of his substance, not the real thing.
More parody on Hamlet’s part of Osric’s officious flattering mannerisms.
concernancy
Import, relevance.
more rawer breath
I.e., inelegant speech, more so than can hope to succeed in praising Laertes worthily
enough.
The double comparative in
more raweris grammatically allowable in early modern speech, though it also helps to caricature Osric’s mannerisms.
Is’t … tongue?
I.e. (speaking aside to Hamlet), Are we really to understand that Osric cannot understand
when someone speaks to him in the stilted language that he himself uses? Or (speaking
to Osric), Are you simply unable to understand and communicate in any other tongue
than the overblown rhetoric you have used?
Alternatively, Horatio could be asking Hamlet to speak more plainly.
You … really
I.e. (to Hamlet), You will truly have your joke at Osric’s expense; or (to Osric),
You can speak plainly if you just try hard enough.
The uncorrected Q2 reading
doo’tis altered in the corrected Q2 to
too’t.Either is possible; the uncorrected reading, which a compositor may have corrected mistakenly, supports the first gloss provided here in Level 1, while the corrected reading supports the second.
nomination
Naming, mention.
I would … approve me
I.e., I wish you would admit me to be knowledgeable (“not ignorant”) in these matters,
though, even if you did allow that, it would not be much of a commendation, coming
from you.
You are
F1’s
Sir, you areas a correction for Q2’s
You areis the result of its coming at the end of a lengthy excision from the Folio text.
Laertes is—
F1 reads
Laertes is at his weapon.See next note.
I dare … unfellowed
These two speeches are omitted in F1, substituting instead
at his weapon.Compare the note above at line 79-93 on F1’s omission of TLN 3610.1-3612.4.
I dare … himself
I.e., I dare not claim to know that Laertes is an excellent young man lest I seem
to imply a comparable excellence in myself (since common wisdom holds that it takes
excellence to recognize excellence in others). Certainly, to know another person well,
one must know oneself.
I mean, sir, for his weapon … unfellowed
I.e., I mean his excellence with his rapier, not his general excellence. But in the
reputation he enjoys among knowledgeable people for use of his weapon, in his merit
he is unrivalled.
Q2’s
for this weaponis here emended to
for his weapon,following Q5.
Rapier and dagger
Gentlemanly duellists in the early modern period often fought with a rapier (a straight
two-edged fencing weapon with a narrow pointed blade) in one hand and a dagger in
the other.
but well
But never mind that.
The King, sir
F1’s
The sir Kingappears to be a erroneous copying of Q2’s
The King sir.
wagered
F1’s
wag’dcould be a careless copying of Q2’s
wagerd.Q1 reads hath layd a wager.
Barbary horses
Arabian horses, originally from the Barbary region of northern Africa, especially
(today) Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
he has impawned
Laertes has staked, wagered.
F1’s
he impon’dmay be a spelling variant or copying error of Q2’s
he has impaund,or could be a sample of Osric’s affected speech.
poniards
Daggers.
Q2’s
Poynardsmay be a spelling variant, or copying error, for F1’s
Poniards.
assigns
Accessories.
girdle
Sword belt.
hanger, and so
Strap on the girdle or sword belt from which the sword hung, and so on.
F1’s
hangers or socould be an authorial correction of Q2’s
hanger and so.Both are plausible.
carriages
Another term for hangers, straps (as Osric explains in line 100, TLN 3623, below).
are very … conceit
Are very appealing to the
fancyor imagination, decoratively matched as they are with the hilts or the cases for the swords, finely wrought in workmanship, and elaborately designed.
What … carriages?
What are you referring to when you say
carriages?
I knew … done
I knew you’d need to have the matter explained to you more clearly, as if by an explanatory
note (often printed in the margins of books), before you’re finished asking about
carriages.(Said sotto voce to Hamlet.)
This line is omitted in F1.
carriage
F1’s
carriagesmay be an authoritative correction, especially since Hamlet has asked about carriages in line 98, but Q2’s
carriageis allowable idiom.
The phrase would be more germane … it might be
hangerstill then
Hamlet’s satirical point is that the term carriages is best reserved for gun carriages on which cannon are mounted, rather than pretentiously
applied to mere straps used to hold rapiers and their hilts.
Germaneis rendered as
Iermanin Q2,
Germainein F1. F1’s
cannonmay also be an authorial correction to Q2’s
a cannon.Q1 reads
the canon.The words
it might beare adopted here from F1 as a necessary emendation to uncorrected Q2’s
it beand corrected Q2’s
it be might.
liberal-conceited
Elaborately designed. (Hamlet mockingly throws back at Osric the highfalutin term
the courtier has used at line 97 (TLN 3621) above.
bet
F1’s
butis evidently a misprint for Q2’s
bet.
all
F1 changes Q2’s
allto
impon’d as,in which Hamlet mockingly uses the pretentious term Osric introduced at line 97 (TLN 3617) above. Evidently an authorial correction.
The King … twelve for nine
Seemingly, though the phrasing is difficult and the F1 text appears to be corrupt,
the King has
laidor wagered that, in a dozen
passesor bouts of fencing, the total number of hits scored by Laertes will not exceed Hamlet’s total by three; to win, Laertes would have to win at least eight to Hamlet’s four, two to one odds.
Perhaps inadvertently, F1 omits Q2’s
sirwhere Q2 reads
hath layd, sir.Q2’s
betweene your selfeand F1’s
betweene youare equally plausible. F1’s
hath one twelue for mineappears to be an erroneous copying of Q2’s
layd on twelue for nine,or perhaps
laid on’t twelve for nine.F1’s
mineis almost certainly an error for Q2’s
nine.
it would
F1’s
that wouldmay be a careless copying of Q2’s
it would.
vouchsafe the answer
Be so good as to accept the challenge.
How … no?
By replying in pretended ignorance as though he has been asked for a simple
yesor
noanswer, Hamlet mischievously refuses to acknowledge that the polite formula in which the challenge has been delivered to him requires that he acquiesce.
the breathing time of day
Time for exercise.
Let
I.e., If.
and the King
This could conceivably mean
if the King,since and often signifies if, and since, in Q2/F1,
purposeis followed by a semicolon; but the likelier meaning is “and the King.” The next such expression in this sentence,
an I can,is represented in Q2 by
and I canand in F1 by
if I can.
deliver you so?
Report your answer in this way?
F1’s
redeliuer you ee’n soseems plausibly authorial as a substitute for Q2’s
deliuer you so.
I commend my duty
I dedicate my service. (A conventionally polite phrase of departure.)
Yours
F1’s
Yours, yoursis plausibly authorial in place of Q2’s
Yours.
[’A] does … turn
He needs to commend his own virtues; no one else will do it for him.
Compare the proverb, He must praise himself since no man else will (Dent P545.1.)
Hamlet thus gives a sardonic twist to Osric’s formulaic
I commend my dutyin line 108, TLN 3646. F1’s correction of Q2’s
doo’sto
hee doesmends what may be imperfect in Q2, but may also provide an editorial sophisticaion of what may have been intended to be
’A doesin Q2. F1’s
for’s tongueis almost certainly an error for Q2’s
for’s turne,prompted by
tonguesearlier in the line, and is here corrected to the Q2 reading.
lapwing
Plover, a wading bird known to flap its wings and scurry about in a wily fashion calculated
to draw intruders away from the nest. According to legend, a newly hatched bird was
thought to run around with the shell still on its head.
Cf. the proverb, Like a lapwing that runs away with the shell on its head (Dent L69).
Horatio satirically alludes to Osric’s fatuous mannerisms and to his confusion about
wearing or not wearing his hat.
’A did so, sir, … dug
He bowed ceremoniously to his mother’s or nurse’s breast.
For Q2’s
’A did so, sirF1 reads
He did Complie; the change to
Hecould be editorial sophistication (as also in F’s
hee suck’t itfor Q2’s
a suckt it), but Complie is plausibly authorial.
Thus has he, and many more … bubbles are out
Thus has he—and many more of the same sort that our frivolous age dotes on—acquired
the trendy manner of speech of the time and formulaic conversation with courtiers
of their own kind: a kind of frothy repertoire of current phrases which enables such
gallants to pass themselves off as persons of the most select and well-sifted views;
and yet do but test these creatures by merely blowing on them, and their bubbles burst.
(
Profane and winnowedmeans both vulgar and selective.)
Q2’s
has he, and many moreappears to have been miscopied in F1’s
had he and mine more.On the other hand, Q2’s
the same breedeis plausibly corrected in F1’s
the same Beauy,i.e., the same bevy. Similarly, F1’s
outwardis a plausible correction of Q2’s
out of an,though Q2 here can be read to make sense. F1’s
yesty,i.e., yeasty, seems a necessary correction of Q2’s
histy,not known as a word and plausibly a misprint, confusing
hand
y.Q2’s
prophane and trennowedcould mean “both vulgar and selective” (Arden 3), if
trennowedis understood to be a misprint for
winnowed.F1’s
fondis probably be intended for
fanned.F1’s
trialsappears to be a copying error for Q2’s
trial.
Enter a Lord … instructs me
This passage is omitted in F1, perhaps for shortening of performance.
commended him
Has sent his commendations, his greetings.
play
Fence.
or that
Or if.
If his … ready
If this suits his convenience, it suits me as well.
In happy time
I.e., They come at an opportune time.
entertainment
Courteous greeting.
fall to play
Begin fencing.
will lose
F1’s
will lose this wagermay be authorial. Q2 reads
loosefor F1’s
lose.
at the odds
According to the wager as defined by the King at line 102 (TLN 3630-2) above, which
have given Hamlet favorable odds.
Thou … heart
F1’s
But thoumay be an authorial revision of Q2’s
thou.But Q2’s
would’st not thinke how ill all’s heereseems more complete and logical than F1’s
wouldest not thinke how all heere.
gaingiving
Misgiving.
Q2’s
gamgauingis plausibly corrected by F1’s
gain-giuing.
obey it
F1 could be mistaken in omitting
itfrom Q2’s
obay it.
repair
Coming.
Not a whit
Not at all.
augury
I.e., superstition, or hunches. Literally, divination from auspices or omens, such
as the flight of birds.
There is special providence … sparrow
Providential direction oversees even the smallest details of human history.
Calvinist preachers especially were fond of quoting Christ’s teaching in Matthew 10:29:
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground
without your father. See also Matthew 6:28-30: Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin … Wherefore, if God so clothe the grasses
of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Luke 12:27-8 is closely similar. Q1’s
predestinate providenceunderscores the Calvinist interpretation of these passages. F1’s reading,
there’s a speciall Prouidence,is an equally viable reading; it could be authorial, or a result of copying.
If it be,
F1’s
If it be nowsets up Hamlet’s antithetical construction more explicitly than Q2’s reading, where the omission of now could easily be an oversight. Q1 reads
if danger be now.
yet it will come
Q2’s
yet it well comeis plainly a misprint for F1’s
yet it will come.
The readiness … betimes
Being ready for death is all-important, since no one has real knowledge of what he
is leaving behind him so unexpectedly.
F1’s rephrasing of Q2’s wording (
the readinesse is all, since no man ha’s aught of what he leaues) changes the meaning: “Since no one can truly be said to possess the worldly goods and physicality that must be left behind at the moment of death, why should it matter if one must leave those things
betimes,i.e., earlier rather than later?” Both are eloquent and viable readings; the rewording in F1 may be authorial.
Let be
Enough; say no more.
This Q2 phrase is omitted in F1, perhaps by authorial design, but perhaps inadvertently
by oversight.
A table … is borne in
Trumpets and drums are not mentioned in F1/Q1’s stage directions. They are specified
in Q2, and seem called for by the ceremoniousness of the entry, as earlier in the
play. Osric’s name is omitted here in all early texts, but he has an important part
to play in the fencing match, and must be implicitly included in Q2’s
and all the state(meaning “the entire court”) and in F1’s
Lords.
Cushionsare provided in Q2’s stage direction, presumably so that the courtiers can sit. Thrones may have been brought on for the King and Queen. Q2 and F1 provide a table, which in F1 serves to accommodate
Flagons of Wine; the flagons are not mentioned in Q1 or Q2, but are clearly necessary.
But … knows
Q2 prints this as one verse line; it is somewhat irregular, but still possible. F1
prints in two lines.
presence
Royal assembly.
punished / With a sore distraction
Afflicted by a serious mental disturbance.
Punishedmay suggest that Hamlet’s mental distraction can be interpreted as deserved punishment; compare
heaven hath pleased it so / To punish me with this, and this with me,4.3.177-8 (TLN 2549-50). F1 prints
sore distractionfor Q2’s
a sore distraction.Both are possible.
What I have done
Both Q2 and F1 include this phrase in line 129, as printed here.
exception
Disapproval, dissatisfaction.
faction
Party.
His madness … enemy
F1 follows this line with a short line that is omitted by Q2 (
Sir, in this Audience,), perhaps inadvertently.
Let … evil
Let my denial of having had any evil intention.
brother
I.e, comrade, fellow gentleman. The idea of
brother-in-law,through his affection for Laertes’s sister Ophelia, seems unlikely; he has not alluded to her in this scene (Arden 3).
F1 reads
Mother.The idea that Hamlet has offended his mother, though conceivable, seems improbable here. The entire speech is about the offense he has given to Laertes. Q1/Q2 both read
brother.
in nature
I.e., as to my personal feelings.
Whose motive
The promptings of which.
will
Desire, will allow.
Till … ungored
Until by the official judgment of those gentlemen of the court who preside over the
duel I can obtain an authoritative pronouncement and previous instance of a similar
reconciliation to clear my reputation of any injury.
Laertes declares himself ready to let the outcome of the duel determine whether Hamlet
has wronged him or not, following the medieval custom of trial by combat (as in act
I of Richard II. The word
keepin line 148 is missing in Q2, and is here supplied from F1 (
keepe). The omission in Q2 is presumably inadvertent. F1’s
vngorg’d,as a replacement for Q2’s
vngord,is conceivable but is more probably a typographical error. Both Q2 and F1 read
presidentfor
precedent.
all that time
Although Q2 is intelligible, F1’s
till that timemakes better sense and is presumably authorial.
And will not … for me
F1 improves the lineation of these lines, but the Q2 arrangement is kept here; F1’s
rearrangement is quite possibly the work of editors or compositors. Part of F1’s arrangement
is to augment Hamlet’s
Giue vs the foilesin Q2 to
Give vs the Foyles: Come on.F1’s addition to Q2 could be an undeleted false start of the next speech, or it could be genuine.
embrace
F1’s
do embracecould be an authorial correction of Q2’s
embrace,or could be mistaken copying.
freely
Voluntarily and without ill feeling.
Give us the foils
F1 adds,
Come on.It could be an undeleted false start of the next speech, or it could be genuine.
foil
Hamlet puns on the term. Literally, a foil is a thin metal background used to set
off and enhance the brilliance of a jewel. Hamlet modestly suggests that he will make
Laertes look good in fencing by means of a contrasting comparison of the two.
ignorance
I.e., comparative inexperience in fencing.
Hamlet’s modesty here is polite and tactical; at line 120 (TLN 3659) above, he has
assured Horatio that he has been
in continual practicesince Laertes went into France, and that Hamlet expects to win
at the odds.
Stick fiery off
Stand out brilliantly.
Q2’s
ofis probably just a variant spelling emended in F1’s
off.
Osric
Q2 reads
Ostricke.
laid … side
Bet on the weaker side.
since he is better … odds
I.e., since Laertes is better at fencing, we have settled on odds according to which
Laertes will have to win at least eight of the twelve bouts of fencing to your four
(as announced by Osric at line 102 (TLN 3630-2) above.
F1’s
better’dis plausibly an authorial correction of Q2’s
better.
likes
Pleases.
have all a length
Are equal in length.
[They prepare to play.]
This F1 stage direction is omitted in Q2. Compare Q1,
Heere they play.
stoups
Flagons.
Compare 5.1.23 (TLN 3250).
Or quit … exchange
Or shows himself a worthy opponent of Laertes by winning on the third exchange.
Let … fire
Let the soldiers stationed on the battlements or parapets fire their cannon.
better breath
Better energy and performance.
onyx
I.e., pearl, which the King may intend to be dissolved in the wine. (The King calls
it a pearl at line 188 (TLN 3748) below.) An onyx is literally a precious stone, a
translucent chalcedony (a kind of quartz) in parallel layers of different colors.
Uncorrected Q2 reads
Vnice,possibly a misreading of
Vnioor
Vnionein the manuscript. It is emended to
Onixein the corrected version of Q2, perhaps an attempt to make sense out of
Vnice(Arden 3). F1 reads
vnion,i.e., union. It is so called in Pliny’s Natural History, 9.25, presumably because each pearl is unique. Pliny tells the story (probably unreliable) that Cleopatra once dissolved a pearl in a cup of wine and drank it off in order to win her wager with Marc Antony that she could stage a more expensive and magnificent banquet than he. (This account is not told in Antony and Cleopatra, though a pearl is mentioned as a gift from the absent Antony to the queen, 1.5.42-3.)
kettle
Kettledrum (and the drummer).
trumpet
Trumpet and trumpeter.
F1’s Trumpets in line 176 could be a copying error or a sophistication for Q2’s
trumpet,though both readings are plausible. F1’s
Trumpetin the next line tends to confirm the Q2 reading in both lines.
cannoneer
The soldier(s) firing the cannon.
the heaven to earth
Q3’s emendation of Q2/F1’s
heauen(
Heauen) to
heavensis inviting, in light of the preceding phrase,
The cannons to the heavens.
Trumpets the while
The trumpeters sound their trumpets while the King drinks.
This Q2 stage direction is omitted in F1/Q1.
Come, my lord
F1’s
Come on sirmay be an erroneous repetition of the previous line assigned to Hamlet. In Q2, Laertes answers, more appropriately to the difference in their social rank,
Come, my lord.
[They fence … hit]
Omitted in Q2; F1 reads
They play.
Drum … goes off
Cannon.
This Q2 stage direction is replaced in F1 at TLN 3751 with
Trumpets sound, and shot goes off.
Stay
Stop.
Set it by
Q2 here provides the
itwhich is perhaps unintentionally missing in F1.
I do confess’t
F1 offers what is plausibly an authorial emendation:
A touch, a touch, I do confesse.Q1 reads
I, I grant, a tuch, a tuch.
fat
Not physically fit, out of training.
The Queen need not mean
overweight.Hamlet has said of himself, to Horatio,
Since he [Laertes] went into France, I have been in continual practice(5.2.120, TLN 3659-60). The Queen may be expressing a motherly protective anxiety.
Here … napkin
Here’s a handkerchief.
Q2’s
Heere Hamlet take my napkinscans better in this verse line than does F1’s
Heere’s a Napkin,which may be the result of miscopying. The napkin is a handkerchief.
carouses
Drinks a toast.
it is almost against my conscience
F1’s
tis almost ’gainst my consciencescans more persuasively than Q2’s
it is almost against my conscience.F1 could be authorial.
Come … dally
Q2’s
Come for the third Laertes, you do but dallyis perhaps more plausibly authorial than F1’s in two lines:
Come for the third. / Laertes, you but dally.Both are possible.
pass
Thrust.
I am sure … of me
It seems clear to me that you are trifling with me, treating me as if I were a spoiled
child.
F1’s
I am affear’dis a more natural idiom than Q2’s
I am sure; the change seems authorial.
[They fence.]
This stage direction is omitted in Q2; F1 reads
Play.
[Laertes wounds … wounds Laertes]
Q2 omits any stage direction here. F1 reads
In scuffling they exchange rapiers.Q1 amplifies:
They catch one anothers Rapiers, and both are wounded, Laertes falles down, the Queene falled down and dies.In many productions, Laertes unfairly nicks Hamlet with his sword during a pause in the action, saying
Have at you now!,whereupon Hamlet, perceiving that Laertes’s sword is unbated, forces an exchange of weapons and attacks Laertes. Though Hamlet presumably does not know that Laertes’s sword is also tipped with poison, the poison does its work on Laertes, who realizes that he is
justly killedwith his own treachery (line 215, TLN 3785).
ho!
Q2 reads
howe,F1
hoa.
as a woodcock to mine own springe
I am like that proverbially stupid bird, the woodcock, caught in my own trap.
On the proverb (The fowler is caught in his own net, Dent F626), see Polonius’s reference
to
springes to catch woodcocksat 1.3.115 (TLN 581) above. Cf. also Claudius’s image of the
enginer / Hoised with his own petardat 3.4.210-11, TLN 2577.5-6. Laertes intensifies the idea of stupidity here by imagining a woodcock that has somehow managed to devise the trap into which it has fallen. F1’s
mine Sprindgeis presumably a copying error of overlooking the
owne.
swoons
Q2/F1 both read
sounds,a normal early modern spelling.
[She dies.]
Omitted in Q2/F1. Q1 reads
the Queene falles downe and diesa line earlier.
Ho
Q2 reads
how,F1
How?
Hamlet
F1 plausibly repeats the name:
Hamlet. Hamlet,as Q2 does not.
an hour’s life
Q1/F1’s alternative (
an houre of life) for Q2’s
an houres lifecould be authorial, or a careless copying. Q1 tends to confirm F1’s reading.
my
Q2’s
myseems erroneous, since Hamlet and Laertes have exchanged weapons in the duel. F1’s
thyis confirmed by Q1.
Unbated
Not blunted with a button.
practice
Plot, stratagem.
to blame
Q2/F1 read
too blame.
to[o]
Q2 reads
to,a common spelling variant of
too,the F1 reading.
[He stabs the King.]
Q1/Q2 omit any stage direction here; F1 reads
Hurts the King.
Here, thou incestuous, damnèd Dane
Q2 reads
Heare,probably as a normal early modern spelling of Here. F1 reads
Heere.F1 also persuasively adds
murdrousafter
incestuous,providing a fuller pentameter line than in Q2.
Drink of[f]
Q2’s
Drinke ofcould mean
Partake of,but
ofis a common spelling of off, the F1 reading here.
the onyx
(1) the pearl, as at line 173 (TLN 3732) above; (2) your marriage.
See note at line 173 above. Q2’s
the Onixemay be a misreading of something close to F1’s
thy vnion,the preferred reading. The compositor evidently had difficulties with his material.
[The King dies.]
Q2 omits any stage direction here. Q1 reads
The king dies,F1
King Dyes.
tempered
Mixed.
[He dies.]
Q2 omits any stage direction here. Q1 reads
Laertes dies,and F1 reads
Dyes.
chance
Mischance.
mutes
(1) silent lookers-on; (2) actors with nonspeaking roles.
as … sergeant
Since this remorseless arresting officer.
my cause aright
F1’s
my causes rightmay be an imperfect copying of Q2’s
my cause a right.
antique Roman
I.e., one who embraces death, if necessary by suicide, before dishonor.
Cf. Brutus and Titinius in Act 5 of Julius Caesar, or Eros in 4.14 of Antony and Cleopatra, who takes his own life rather than outlive his noble master Antony. The phrase
antique Romanis rendered
anticke Romainein Q2,
antike Romanin Q1,
Antike Romanin F1.
ha’t
Q2 reads
hate,F1
haue’t.
Oh, God, Horatio
F1
Oh good Horatiois presumably an expurgated version to avoid the taking of God’s name in vain in Q2’s
O god Horatio.Q1 reads
O fie Horatio.
shall I leave
F1’s
shall liueis clear in meaning, as is Q2’s
shall I leaue.Whether the F1 alteration is authorial is not clear. Q1’s
wouldst thou leaueapplies the phrase to Horatio, if he were to die.
A march afar off
F1’s stage direction reads
March afarre off, and shout within.Omitted in Q1.
volley
Simultaneous firing of weapons in a military salute.
o’ercrows
Proclaims triumph over (like the winner of a cockfight).
voice
Vote (in
th’electionreferred to in the previous line).
As crown prince and one who was named successor to the throne by Claudius, Hamlet
has a presumed right to be one of the electors of the royal succession. See line 64
(TLN 3569) and note above.
th’occurrents … less
The events of greater or lesser importance.
[He dies.]
Omitted in Q2. F1 reads
O, o, o, o. Dyes.Q1 reads
Ham. dies.
cracks
F1’s
crackeis possible if read as meaning
let it crack,but it more probably a misprint for Q2’s
cracks.
Enter … Attendants]
The bracketed words here are from F1. F1 alters Q2’s
Embassadorsto
English Ambassador.Q1 reads
Enter Voltemar and the Ambassadors from England. enter Fortenbrasse with his traine.The reference to
ambassadorsin the plural at TLN 3840 in both Q2 and F1 confirms the plural in the stage direction at TLN 3852-3.
This quarry … havoc
This heap of corpses (literally, slaughtered game) loudly proclaims an general slaughter.
Cry havocin battle is the signal for pillage, slaughter, and a total laying waste. Cf. Antony’s incitement of the Roman crowd with this cry in Julius Caesar, 3.1.275. F1’s
His quarryis perhaps possible as referring to
Deathlater in this same line, but is more likely to be a misprint for Q2’s
This quarry.
O proud Death, … eternal cell
O thou insolent and mighty Death, what feasting on the slain is being prepared in
your everlasting dwelling place.
shot
F1’s “shoote” may be a variant spelling of Q2’s
||||||| .r14455
shot,or a misprint, or possibly a noun of similar meaning.
F1’s “shoote” may be a variant spelling of Q2’s “shot,” or a misprint, or possibly
a noun of similar meaning.
=======
F1’s
.r14702
shootemay be a variant spelling of Q2’s
shot,or a misprint, or possibly a noun of similar meaning.
his
Claudius’s.
his
Claudius’s.
so jump … question
So hard on the heels of this bloody business.
stage
Platform.
[th’]yet
Q2’s
yetappears to be in error for F1’s
th’yet.
accidental judgments
Retributive acts brought about by accident (such as the death of Polonius).
casual
Chance.
Of deaths … and for no cause
Of deaths gratuitously instigated by cunning stratagems and contrivances.
F1’s
death’sis presumably a copying error of Q2’s
deaths.Conversely, F1 persuasively substitutes
and forc’d causefor Q2’s
and for no cause.
deliver
Report.
rights of memory
Claims that must not be forgotten.
F1 reads
Rites of memory,Q2
rights, of memory.
Which … invite me
Which my favorable position and opportunity now invites met to claim.
F1’s
Which are to claime, my vantage doth / Inuite memay be a misreading of Q2.
also
F1’s
alwayesis intelligible, but seems less plausible than Q2’s
also,and may be a misprint.
s
And … no more
And from the mouth of one who no longer draws breath.
Q2’s reading is possible, but
no moreis much more easily interpreted as a misprint for
on more(the F1 reading).
presently
Immediately.
while
F1’s
whilesis a common form in Shakespeare. Here it may be an editorial sophistication or an authorial correction.
lest
Q2’s
||||||| .r14455
leastis a common spelling variant of F1’s
Lest.
Q2’s “least” is a common spelling variant of F1’s “Lest.”
=======
Q2’s
.r14702
leastis a common spelling variant of F1’s Lest.
On plots
On top of plots.
put on
Invested in royal office and thereby given the opportunity to prove what sort of ruler
he would be.
proved most royal
Q2’s
prooued most royallsuggests that, in Fortinbras’s commemoration of him, Hamlet would have turned out to be truly royal—perhaps a more convincing reading than F1’s
prou’d most royally,but both are plausible.
for his passage
To mark his passing from this world to the next.
The soldiers’ music
I.e., Muffled drumbeat.
rite
F1’s
||||||| .r14455
ritesmay be correct in the plural, though Q2’s
rightis a normal spelling of rite.
F1’s “rites” may be correct in the plural, though Q2’s “right” is a normal spelling
of “rite.”
=======
F1’s
.r14702
ritesmay be correct in the plural, though Q2’s
rightis a normal spelling of
rite.
Speak
(Let the beating drums) speak.
bodies
F1’s
bodymay well be authorial, but could instead be a copying error of Q2’s
bodies.
Becomes the field
Is most appropriate to a battlefield.
Exeunt
F1 provides a more detailed stage direction:
Exeunt Marching: after the which, a Peale of Ordenance are shot off.
FINIS
Printed at the end of the play in Q1/Q2/F1.
Characters
Prosopography
David Bevington
David Bevington was the Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus
in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. His books include From
Mankindto Marlowe (1962), Tudor Drama and Politics (1968), Action Is Eloquence (1985), Shakespeare: The Seven Ages of Human Experience (2005), This Wide and Universal Theater: Shakespeare in Performance, Then and Now (2007), Shakespeare’s Ideas (2008), Shakespeare and Biography (2010), and Murder Most Foul: Hamlet Through the Ages (2011). He was the editor of Medieval Drama (1975), The Bantam Shakespeare, and The Complete Works of Shakespeare. The latter was published in a seventh edition in 2014. He was a senior editor of the Revels Student Editions, the Revels Plays, The Norton Anthology of Renaissance Drama, and The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson (2012). Professor Bevington passed away on August 2, 2019.
Donald Bailey
Eric Rasmussen
Eric Rasmussen is Regents Teaching Professor and Foundation Professor of English at
the University of Nevada. He is co-editor with Sir Jonathan Bate of the RSC William Shakespeare Complete Works and general editor, with Paul Werstine, of the New Variorum Shakespeare. He has received the Falstaff Award from PlayShakespeare.com for Best Shakespearean Book of the Year in 2007, 2012, and 2013.
James D. Mardock
James Mardock is Associate Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Associate
General Editor for the Internet Shakespeare Editions, and a dramaturge for the Lake
Tahoe Shakespeare Festival and Reno Little Theater. In addition to editing quarto
and folio Henry V for the ISE, he has published essays on Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and other Renaissance
literature in The Seventeenth Century, Ben Jonson Journal, Borrowers and Lenders, and contributed to the collections Representing the Plague in Early Modern England (Routledge 2010) and Shakespeare Beyond Doubt (Cambridge 2013). His book Our Scene is London (Routledge 2008) examines Jonson’s representation of urban space as an element in
his strategy of self-definition. With Kathryn McPherson, he edited Stages of Engagement (Duquesne 2013), a collection of essays on drama in post-Reformation England, and
he is currently at work on a monograph on Calvinism and metatheatrical awareness in
early modern English drama.
Janelle Jenstad
Janelle Jenstad is a Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director
of The Map of Early Modern London, and Director of Linked Early Modern Drama Online. With Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Mark Beatrice Kaethler, she co-edited Shakespeare’s Language in Digital Media: Old Words, New Tools (Routledge). She has edited John Stow’s A Survey of London (1598 text) for MoEML and is currently editing The Merchant of Venice (with Stephen Wittek) and Heywood’s 2 If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody for DRE. Her articles have appeared in Digital Humanities Quarterly, Elizabethan Theatre, Early Modern Literary Studies, Shakespeare Bulletin, Renaissance and Reformation, and The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. She contributed chapters to Approaches to Teaching Othello (MLA); Teaching Early Modern Literature from the Archives (MLA); Institutional Culture in Early Modern England (Brill); Shakespeare, Language, and the Stage (Arden); Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate); New Directions in the Geohumanities (Routledge); Early Modern Studies and the Digital Turn (Iter); Placing Names: Enriching and Integrating Gazetteers (Indiana); Making Things and Drawing Boundaries (Minnesota); Rethinking Shakespeare Source Study: Audiences, Authors, and Digital Technologies (Routledge); and Civic Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern London (Routledge). For more details, see janellejenstad.com.
Joey Takeda
Joey Takeda is LEMDO’s Consulting Programmer and Designer, a role he assumed in 2020
after three years as the Lead Developer on LEMDO.
Kate LeBere
Project Manager, 2020–2021. Assistant Project Manager, 2019–2020. Textual Remediator
and Encoder, 2019–2021. Kate LeBere completed her BA (Hons.) in History and English
at the University of Victoria in 2020. During her degree she published papers in The Corvette (2018), The Albatross (2019), and PLVS VLTRA (2020) and presented at the English Undergraduate Conference (2019), Qualicum History
Conference (2020), and the Digital Humanities Summer Institute’s Project Management
in the Humanities Conference (2021). While her primary research focus was sixteenth
and seventeenth century England, she completed her honours thesis on Soviet ballet
during the Russian Cultural Revolution. She is currently a student at the University
of British Columbia’s iSchool, working on her masters in library and information science.
Martin Holmes
Martin Holmes has worked as a developer in the UVic’s Humanities Computing and Media
Centre for over two decades, and has been involved with dozens of Digital Humanities
projects. He has served on the TEI Technical Council and as Managing Editor of the
Journal of the TEI. He took over from Joey Takeda as lead developer on LEMDO in 2020.
He is a collaborator on the SSHRC Partnership Grant led by Janelle Jenstad.
Michael Best
Michael Best is Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria, BC. He is the Founding
Editor of the Internet Shakespeare Editions, of which he was the Coordinating Editor
until 2017. In print, he has published editions of works of Elizabethan magic and
huswifery, a collection of letters from the Australian goldfields, and Shakespeare on the Art of Love (2008). He contributed regular columns for the Shakespeare Newsletter on
Electronic Shakespeares,and has written many articles and chapters for both print and online books and journals, principally on questions raised by the new medium in the editing and publication of texts. He has delivered papers and plenary lectures on electronic media and the Internet Shakespeare Editions at conferences in Canada, the USA, the UK, Spain, Australia, and Japan.
Navarra Houldin
Training and Documentation Lead 2025–present. LEMDO project manager 2022–2025. Textual
remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them) completed their BA with a major
in history and minor in Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. Their primary
research was on gender and sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America. They
are continuing their education through an MA program in Gender and Social Justice
Studies at the University of Alberta where they will specialize in Digital Humanities.
Rachael Ruth
Rachael Ruth is completing her Bachelor of Arts in Leadership Studies and French Studies
with a minor in Business Administrations at the University of Richmond. She is an
intern under Janelle Jenstad and is an Encoder of the MoEML Mayoral Shows anthology.
Rae S. Rostron
Rae is studying a BA in English Literature at Durham University. She is particularly
interested in representations of grief and trauma in literature and is currently researching
femicide in the novel. Rae has interned for Creative Media Agency (NYC) and is an
acting student researcher for King College London’s Psychology Department exploring
loneliness in students.
Tracey El Hajj
Junior Programmer 2019–2020. Research Associate 2020–2021. Tracey received her PhD
from the Department of English at the University of Victoria in the field of Science
and Technology Studies. Her research focuses on the algorhythmics of networked communications. She was a 2019–2020 President’s Fellow in Research-Enriched
Teaching at UVic, where she taught an advanced course on
Artificial Intelligence and Everyday Life.Tracey was also a member of the Map of Early Modern London team, between 2018 and 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, she was a fellow in residence at the Praxis Studio for Comparative Media Studies, where she investigated the relationships between artificial intelligence, creativity, health, and justice. As of July 2021, Tracey has moved into the alt-ac world for a term position, while also teaching in the English Department at the University of Victoria.
William Shakespeare
Orgography
Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE1)
The Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE) was a major digital humanities project created
by Emeritus Professor Michael Best at the University of Victoria. The ISE server was retired in 2018 but a final staticized HTML version of the Internet Shakespeare Editions project is still hosted at UVic.
LEMDO Team (LEMD1)
The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project
director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators,
encoders, and remediating editors.
University of Victoria (UVIC1)
https://www.uvic.ca/Metadata
| Authority title | Hamlet, Q2 Modern |
| Type of text | Primary Source Text |
| Publisher | University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform |
| Series | |
| Source |
This file has been converted from IML, the SGML markup language of the Internet Shakespeare
Editions platform. IML files do not indicate the copy or copytext transcribed. LEMDO
acknowledges that we are not the main source of transcription, and that we do not
know the witness transcribed in this transcription. As time permits, we will compare
this transcription to an open-access digital surrogate and align the transcription
that surrogate. If you have worked on ISE and/or may have an idea as to the source
of this file, please contact lemdo@uvic.ca.
The edition follows the Guidelines of the Internet Shakespeare Editions.
|
| Editorial declaration | This text has been edited by David Bevington for the Internet Shakespeare Editions. It is a composite edition derived from the Second Quarto of 1604 and the First Folio of 1623. |
| Edition | |
| Encoding description | |
| Document status | IML-TEI |
| License/availability |