King. So you shall: And where th'offence is, let the great Axe fall. I pray you go with me.[3]Exeunt
Enter Horatio, with an Attendant. [Sidenote:Horatio and others.]
Hora. What are they that would speake with me?
Ser. Saylors sir, they say they haue Letters [Gent. Sea-faring men sir,] for you.
Hor. Let them come in,[4] I do not know from what part of the world I should be greeted, if not from LordHamlet.
Enter Saylor. [Sidenote:Saylers.]
Say. God blesse you Sir.
Hor. Let him blesse thee too.
Say. Hee shall Sir, and't[5] please him. There's [Sidenote: A shall sir and please] a Letter for you Sir: It comes from th'Ambassadours [Sidenote: it came frõ th' Embassador] that was bound for England, if your name beHoratio, as I am let to know[6] it is.
Reads the Letter[7]
Horatio,When thou shalt haue ouerlook'd this, [Sidenote:Hor. Horatiowhen]giue these Fellowes some meanes to the King: They haue Letters for him. Ere we were two dayes[8] old at Sea, a Pyrate of very Warlicke appointment gaue vs Chace. Finding our selues too slow of Saile, we put on a compelled Valour. In the Grapple, I boarded[Sidenote: valour, and in the]them: On the instant they got cleare of our Shippe, so I alone became their Prisoner.[9] They haue dealt with mee, like Theeues of Mercy, but they knew what they did. I am to doe a good turne for them. Let[Sidenote: a turne]the King have the Letters I haue sent, and repaire thou to me with as much hast as thou wouldest flye[Sidenote: much speede as]death[10] I haue words to speake in your eare, will[Sidenote: in thine eare]
[Footnote 1: 'formal ostentation'—show or publication of honour according to form or rule.]
[Footnote 2: 'so that I must call in question'—institute inquiry; or '—that(these things) I must call in question.']
[Footnote 3: Note such a half line frequently after the not uncommon closing couplet—as if to take off the formality of the couplet, and lead back, through the more speech-like, to greater verisimilitude.]
[Footnote 4: Here the servant goes, and the rest of the speech Horatio speakssolus. He had expected to hear from Hamlet.]
[Footnote 5: 'and it please'—if it please.Anforifis merelyand.]
[Footnote 6: 'I am told.']
[Footnote 7:Not in Q.]
[Footnote 8: This gives an approximate clue to the time between the second and third acts: it needs not have been a week.]
[Footnote 9: Note once more the unfailing readiness of Hamlet where there was no question as to the fitness of the action seemingly required. This is the man who by too much thinking, forsooth, has rendered himself incapable of action!—so far ahead of the foremost behind him, that, when the pirate, not liking such close quarters, 'on the instant got clear,' he is the only one on her deck! There was no question here as to what ought to be done: the pirate grappled them; he boarded her. Thereafter, with his prompt faculty for dealing with men, he soon comes to an understanding with his captors, and they agree, upon some certain condition, to put him on shore.
He writes in unusual spirits; for he has now gained full, presentable, and indisputable proof of the treachery which before he scarcely doubted, but could not demonstrate. The present instance of it has to do with himself, not his father, but in itself would justify the slaying of his uncle, whose plausible way had possibly perplexed him so that he could not thoroughly believe him the villain he was: bad as he must be, could he actually have killed his own brother, andsucha brother? A better man than Laertes might have acted more promptly than Hamlet, and so happened todoright; but he would not havebeenright, for the proof wasnotsufficient.]
[Footnote 10: The value Hamlet sets on his discovery, evident in his joyous urgency to share it with his friend, is explicable only on the ground of the relief it is to his mind to be now at length quite certain of his duty.]
[Page 212]
make thee dumbe, yet are they much too light for the bore of the Matter.[1] These good Fellowes will bring[Sidenote: the bord of]thee where I am. Rosincrance and Guildensterne, hold their course for England. Of them I haue much to tell thee, Farewell. He that thou knowest thine.[Sidenote:So that thou knowest thine Hamlet.] Hamlet.
Come, I will giue you way for these your Letters,[Sidenote:Hor. Come I will you way]And do't the speedier, that you may direct meTo him from whom you brought them.Exit. [Sidenote:Exeunt.]
Enter King and Laertes.[2]
King. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,And you must put me in your heart for Friend,Sith you haue heard, and with a knowing eare,[3]That he which hath your Noble Father slaine,Pursued my life.[4]
Laer. It well appeares. But tell me,Why you proceeded not against these feates,[5] [Sidenote: proceede]So crimefull, and so Capitall in Nature,[6] [Sidenote: criminall]As by your Safety, Wisedome, all things else,[Sidenote: safetie, greatnes, wisdome,]You mainly[7] were stirr'd vp?
King. O for two speciall Reasons,Which may to you (perhaps) seeme much vnsinnowed,[8]And yet to me they are strong. The Queen his Mother,[Sidenote: But yet | tha'r strong]Liues almost by his lookes: and for my selfe,My Vertue or my Plague, be it either which,[9]She's so coniunctiue to my life and soule;[Sidenote: she is so concliue]That as the Starre moues not but in his Sphere,[10]I could not but by her. The other Motiue,Why to a publike count I might not go,[Sidenote: 186] Is the great loue the generall gender[11] beare him,Who dipping all his Faults in their affection,
[Footnote 1: Note here also Hamlet's feeling of the importance of what has passed since he parted with his friend. 'The bullet of my words, though it will strike thee dumb, is much too small for the bore of the reality (the facts) whence it will issue.']
[Footnote 2: While we have been present at the interview between Horatio and the sailors, the king has been persuading Laertes.]
[Footnote 3: an ear of judgment.]
[Footnote 4: 'thought then to have killed me.']
[Footnote 5:faits, deeds.]
[Footnote 6: 'deeds so deserving of death, not merely in the eye of the law, but in their own nature.']
[Footnote 7: powerfully.]
[Footnote 8: 'unsinewed.']
[Footnote 9: 'either-which.']
[Footnote 10: 'moves not but in the moving of his sphere,'—The stars were popularly supposed to be fixed in a solid crystalline sphere, and moved in its motion only. The queen, Claudius implies, is his sphere; he could not move but by her.]
[Footnote 11: Here used in the sense of the Fr.'genre'—sort. It is not the only instance of the word so used by Shakspere.
The king would rouse in Laertes jealousy of Hamlet.]
[Page 214]
Would like the Spring that turneth Wood to Stone, [Sidenote: Worke like]Conuert his Gyues to Graces.[1] So that my ArrowesToo slightly timbred for so loud a Winde,[Sidenote: for so loued Arm'd[2]]Would haue reuerted to my Bow againe,And not where I had arm'd them.[2][Sidenote: But not | have aym'd them.]
Laer. And so haue I a Noble Father lost,A Sister driuen into desperate tearmes,[3]Who was (if praises may go backe againe) [Sidenote: whose worth, if]Stood Challenger on mount of all the AgeFor her perfections. But my reuenge will come.
King. Breake not your sleepes for that,You must not thinkeThat we are made of stuffe, so flat, and dull,That we can let our Beard be shooke with danger,[4]And thinke it pastime. You shortly shall heare more,[5]I lou'd your Father, and we loue our Selfe,And that I hope will teach you to imagine——[6]
Enter a Messenger. [Sidenote:with letters.]
How now? What Newes?
Mes.Letters my Lord fromHamlet.[7] This to [Sidenote:Messen. These to] your Maiesty: this to the Queene.
King. FromHamlet? Who brought them?
Mes. Saylors my Lord they say, I saw them not: They were giuen me byClaudio, he recciu'd them.[8] [Sidenote: them Of him that brought them.]
King. Laertesyou shall heare them:[9] Leaue vs.Exit Messenger[10]
High and Mighty, you shall know I am set naked on your Kingdome. To morrow shall I begge leaue to see your Kingly Eyes[11] When I shall (first asking your Pardon thereunto) recount th'Occasions[Sidenote: the occasion of my suddaine returne.]of my sodaine, and more strange returne.[12] Hamlet.[13] What should this meane? Are all the rest come backe? [Sidenote:King. What]
[Footnote 1: 'would convert his fetters—if I imprisoned him—to graces, commending him yet more to their regard.']
[Footnote 2:arm'dis certainly the right, and a true Shaksperean word:—it was no fault in the aim, but in the force of the flight—no matter of the eye, but of the arm, which could not give momentum enough to such slightly timbered arrows. The fault in the construction of the last line, I need not remark upon.
I think there is a hint of this the genuine meaning even in the blundered and partly unintelligible reading of theQuarto. If we leave out 'for so loued,' we have this: 'So that my arrows, too slightly timbered, would have reverted armed to my bow again, but not (would not have gone) where I have aimed them,'—implying that his arrows would have turned their armed heads against himself.
What the king says here is true, but far fromthetruth: he feared driving Hamlet, and giving him at the same time opportunity, to speak in his own defence and render his reasons.]
[Footnote 3:extremes? orconditions?]
[Footnote 4: 'With many a tempest hadde his berd ben schake.'—Chaucer, of the Schipman, inThe ProloguetoThe Canterbury Tales.]
[Footnote 5: —hear of Hamlet's death in England, he means.
At this point in the1st Q.comes a scene between Horatio and the queen, in which he informs her of a letter he had just received from Hamlet,
Whereas he writes how he escap't the danger,And subtle treason that the king had plotted,Being crossed by the contention of the windes,He found the Packet &c.
Horatio does not mention the pirates, but speaks of Hamlet 'being set ashore,' and ofGilderstoneandRossencraftgoing on to their fate. The queen assures Horatio that she is but temporizing with the king, and shows herself anxious for the success of her son's design against his life. The Poet's intent was not yet clear to himself.]
[Footnote 6: Here his crow cracks.]
[Footnote 7:From'How now'to'Hamlet' isnot in Q.]
[Footnote 8: Horatio has given the sailors' letters to Claudio, he to another.]
[Footnote 9: He wants to show him that he has nothing behind—that he is open with him: he will read without having pre-read.]
[Footnote 10:Not in Q.]
[Footnote 11: He makes this request for an interview with the intent of killing him. The king takes care he does not have it.]
[Footnote 12: 'more strange than sudden.']
[Footnote 13:Not in Q.]
[Page 216]
Or is it some abuse?[1] Or no such thing?[2][Sidenote: abuse, and no[2]]
Laer. Know you the hand?[3]
Kin. 'TisHamletsCharacter, naked and in a Postscript here he sayes alone:[4] Can you aduise [Sidenote: deuise me?] me?[5]
Laer. I'm lost in it my Lord; but let him come, [Sidenote: I am]It warmes the very sicknesse in my heart,That I shall liue and tell him to his teeth; [Sidenote: That I liue and]Thus diddest thou. [Sidenote: didst]
Kin. If it be soLaertes, as how should it be so:[6] How otherwise will you be rul'd by me?
Laer. If so[7] you'l not o'rerule me to a peace.[Sidenote: I my Lord, so you will not]
Kin. To thine owne peace: if he be now return'd,[Sidenote: 195] As checking[8] at his Voyage, and that he meanes[Sidenote: As the King[8] at his]No more to vndertake it; I will worke himTo an exployt now ripe in my Deuice, [Sidenote: deuise,]Vnder the which he shall not choose but fall;And for his death no winde of blame shall breath,[Sidenote: 221] But euen his Mother shall vncharge the practice,[9]And call it accident: [A] Some two Monthes hence[10][Sidenote: two months since]Here was a Gentleman ofNormandy,I'ue seene my selfe, and seru'd against the French, [Sidenote: I haue]
[Footnote A:Here in the Quarto:—
Laer. My Lord I will be rul'd, The rather if you could deuise it so That I might be the organ.
King. It falls right,You haue beene talkt of since your trauaile[11] much,And that inHamletshearing, for a qualitieWherein they say you shine, your summe of parts[12]Did not together plucke such enuie from himAs did that one, and that in my regardOf the vnworthiest siedge.[13]
Laer. What part is that my Lord?
King. A very ribaud[14] in the cap of youth,Yet needfull to, for youth no lesse becomes[15]The light and carelesse liuery that it wearesThen setled age, his sables, and his weedes[16]Importing health[17] and grauenes;]
[Footnote 1: 'some trick played on me?' CompareK. Lear, act v. sc. 7:'I am mightily abused.']
[Footnote 2: I incline to theQ.reading here: 'or is it some trick, and no reality in it?']
[Footnote 3: —following the king's suggestion.]
[Footnote 4:Point thus: 'TisHamletsCharacter. 'Naked'!—And, in aPostscript here, he sayes 'alone'! Can &c.
'Alone'—to allay suspicion of his having brought assistance with him.]
[Footnote 5: Fine flattery—preparing the way for the instigation he is about to commence.]
[Footnote 6:Point thus: '—as how should it be so? how otherwise?—will' &c. The king cannot tell what to think—either how it can be, or how it might be otherwise—for here is Hamlet's own hand!]
[Footnote 7: provided.]
[Footnote 8: A hawk was saidto checkwhen it forsook its proper game for some other bird that crossed its flight. The blunder in theQuartois odd, plainly from manuscript copy, and is not likely to have been set right by any but the author.]
[Footnote 9: 'shall not give thepractice'—artifice, cunning attempt, chicane, ortrick—but a word not necessarily offensive—'the name it deserves, but call itaccident:' 221.]
[Footnote 10: 'Some'not in Q.—Hencemay be eitherbackwardsorforwards; now it is used onlyforwards.]
[Footnote 11: travels.]
[Footnote 12: 'all your excellencies together.']
[Footnote 13: seat, place, grade, position, merit.]
[Footnote 14: 'A very riband'—a mere trifling accomplishment: theuof the text can but be a misprint forn.]
[Footnote 15:youthobj.,liverynom. tobecomes.]
[Footnote 16: 'than his furs and his robes become settled age.']
[Footnote 17: Warburton thinks the word ought to bewealth, but I doubt it;health, in its sense of wholeness, general soundness, in affairs as well as person, I should prefer.]
[Page 218]
And they ran[1] well on Horsebacke; but this Gallant[Sidenote: they can well[1]]Had witchcraft in't[2]; he grew into his Seat, [Sidenote: vnto his]And to such wondrous doing brought his Horse,As had he beene encorps't and demy-Natur'dWith the braue Beast,[3] so farre he past my thought,[Sidenote: he topt me thought,[4]]That I in forgery[5] of shapes and trickes,Come short of what he did.[6]
Laer. A Norman was't?
Kin. A Norman.
Laer. Vpon my lifeLamound. [Sidenote:Lamord.]
Kin. The very same.
Laer. I know him well, he is the Brooch indeed, And Iemme of all our Nation, [Sidenote: all the Nation.]
Kin. Hee mad confession of you,And gaue you such a Masterly report,For Art and exercise in your defence;And for your Rapier most especially, [Sidenote: especiall,]That he cryed out, t'would be a sight indeed,[7]If one could match you [A] Sir. This report of his[Sidenote: ; sir this][Sidenote: 120, 264] DidHamletso envenom with his Enuy,[8]That he could nothing doe but wish and begge,Your sodaine comming ore to play with him;[9] [Sidenote: with you]Now out of this.[10]
Laer. Why out of this, my Lord? [Sidenote: What out]
Kin. Laerteswas your Father deare to you? Or are you like the painting[11] of a sorrow, A face without a heart?
Laer. Why aske you this?
Kin. Not that I thinke you did not loue your Father, But that I know Loue is begun by Time[12]:
[Footnote A:Here in the Quarto:—
; the Scrimures[13] of their nation He swore had neither motion, guard nor eye, If you opposd them;]
[Footnote 1: I think thecanof theQuartois the true word.]
[Footnote 2: —in his horsemanship.]
[Footnote 3: There is no mistake in the order 'had he beene'; the transposition is equivalent toif: 'as if he had been unbodied with, and shared half the nature of the brave beast.'
These two lines, fromAstothought, must be taken parenthetically; or else there must be supposed a dash afterBeast, and a fresh start made.
'But he (as if Centaur-like he had been one piece with the horse) was no more moved than one with the going of his own legs:'
'it seemed, as he borrowed the horse's body, so he lent the horse his mind:'—Sir Philip Sidney.Arcadia, B. ii. p. 115.]
[Footnote 4: '—surpassed, I thought.']
[Footnote 5: 'in invention of.']
[Footnote 6: Emphasis ondid, as antithetic toforgery: 'my inventing came short of his doing.']
[Footnote 7: 'it would be a sight indeed to see you matched with an equal.' The king would strengthen Laertes' confidence in his proficiency.]
[Footnote 8: 'made him so spiteful by stirring up his habitual envy.']
[Footnote 9: All invention.]
[Footnote 10: Here should be a dash: the king pauses. He is approaching dangerous ground—is about to propose a thing abominable, and therefore to the influence of flattered vanity and roused emulation, would add the fiercest heat of stimulated love and hatred—to which end he proceeds to cast doubt on the quality of Laertes' love for his father.]
[Footnote 11: the picture.]
[Footnote 12: 'through habit.']
[Footnote 13: Frenchescrimeurs: fencers.]
[Page 220]
And that I see in passages of proofe,[1]Time qualifies the sparke and fire of it:[2][A]Hamletcomes backe: what would you vndertake,To show your selfe your Fathers sonne indeed,[Sidenote: selfe indeede your fathers sonne]More then in words?
Laer. To cut his throat i'th'Church.[3]
Kin. No place indeed should murder Sancturize;Reuenge should haue no bounds: but goodLaertesWill you doe this, keepe close within your Chamber,Hamletreturn'd, shall know you are come home:Wee'l put on those shall praise your excellence,And set a double varnish on the fameThe Frenchman gaue you, bring you in fine together,And wager on your heads, he being remisse,[4] [Sidenote: ore your][Sidenote: 218] Most generous, and free from all contriuing,Will not peruse[5] the Foiles? So that with ease,Or with a little shuffling, you may chooseA Sword vnbaited,[6] and in a passe of practice,[7] [Sidenote: pace of]Requit him for your Father.
Laer. I will doo't,And for that purpose Ile annoint my Sword:[8] [Sidenote: for purpose,]I bought an Vnction of a MountebankeSo mortall, I but dipt a knife in it,[9][Sidenote: mortall, that but dippe a]Where it drawes blood, no Cataplasme so rare,Collected from all Simples that haue Vertue
[Footnote A:Here in the Quarto:—
There liues within the very flame of loueA kind of weeke or snufe that will abate it,[10]And nothing is at a like goodnes still,[11]For goodnes growing to a plurisie,[12]Dies in his owne too much, that we would doeWe should doe when we would: for this would change,[13]And hath abatements and delayes as many,As there are tongues, are hands, are accedents,And then this should is like a spend thrifts sigh,That hurts by easing;[14] but to the quick of th'vlcer,]
[Footnote 1: 'passages of proofe,'—trials. 'I see when it is put to the test.']
[Footnote 2: 'time modifies it.']
[Footnote 3: Contrast him here with Hamlet.]
[Footnote 4: careless.]
[Footnote 5:examine—the word being of general application then.]
[Footnote 6:unblunted. Some foils seem to have been made with a button that could be taken—probablyscrewedoff.]
[Footnote 7: Whetherpracticehere means exercise or cunning, I cannot determine. Possibly the king uses the word as once before 216—to be taken as Laertes may please.]
[Footnote 8: In the1st Q.this proposal also is made by the king.]
[Footnote 9:
'So mortal, yes, a knife being but dipt in it,' or,'So mortal, did I but dip a knife in it.']
[Footnote 10: To understand this figure, one must be familiar with the behaviour of the wick of a common lamp or tallow candle.]
[Footnote 11: 'nothing keeps always at the same degree of goodness.']
[Footnote 12: Aplurisieis just atoo-muchness, fromplus, pluris—a plethora, not our wordpleurisy, from [Greek: pleura]. See notes inJohnson and Steevens.]
[Footnote 13: The sense here requires ans, and the space in theQuartobetween theeand the comma gives the probability that a letter has dropt out.]
[Footnote 14: Modern editors seem agreed to substitute the adjectivespendthrift: our sole authority hasspendthrifts, and by it I hold. The meaning seems this: 'thewouldchanges, the thing is not done, and then theshould, the mere acknowledgment of duty, is like the sigh of a spendthrift, who regrets consequences but does not change his way: it eases his conscience for a moment, and so injures him.' There would at the same time be allusion to what was believed concerning sighs: Dr. Johnson says, 'It is a notion very prevalent, thatsighsimpair the strength, and wear out the animal powers.']
[Page 222]
Vnder the Moone, can saue the thing from death,That is but scratcht withall: Ile touch my point,With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly,[1]It may be death.
Kin. Let's further thinke of this,Weigh what conuenience[2] both of time and meanesMay fit vs to our shape,[3] if this should faile;And that our drift looke through our bad performance,'Twere better not assaid; therefore this ProiectShould haue a backe or second, that might hold,If this should blast in proofe:[4] Soft, let me see[5][Sidenote: did blast]Wee'l make a solemne wager on your commings,[6] [Sidenote: cunnings[6]]I ha't: when in your motion you are hot and dry, [Sidenote: hate, when]As[7] make your bowts more violent to the end,[8][Sidenote: to that end,]And that he cals for drinke; Ile haue prepar'd him[Sidenote: prefard him][Sidenote: 268] A Challice for the nonce[9]; whereon but sipping,If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,[10]Our purpose may[11] hold there: how sweet Queene.[Sidenote: there: but stay, what noyse?]
Enter Queene.
Queen. One woe doth tread vpon anothers heele, So fast they'l follow[12]: your Sister's drown'dLaertes. [Sidenote: they follow;]
Laer. Drown'd! O where?[13]
Queen. There is a Willow[14] growes aslant a Brooke,[Sidenote: ascaunt the Brooke]That shewes his hore leaues in the glassie streame:[Sidenote: horry leaues]There with fantasticke Garlands did she come,[15][Sidenote: Therewith | she make]Of Crow-flowers,[16] Nettles, Daysies, and long Purples,That liberall Shepheards giue a grosser name;But our cold Maids doe Dead Mens Fingers call them:[Sidenote: our cull-cold]There on the pendant[17] boughes, her Coronet weeds[18]Clambring to hang;[19] an enuious sliuer broke,[20]When downe the weedy Trophies,[19] and her selfe, [Sidenote: her weedy]
[Footnote 1: 'that though I should gall him but slightly,' or, 'that ifI gall him ever so slightly.']
[Footnote 2: proper arrangement.]
[Footnote 3: 'fit us exactly, like a garment cut to our shape,' or perhaps 'shape' is used forintent, purpose. Point thus: 'shape. If this should faile, And' &c.]
[Footnote 4: This seems to allude to the assay of a firearm, and to mean 'burst on the trial.' Note 'assaid' two lines back.]
[Footnote 5: There should be a pause here, and a longer pause aftercommings: the king is contriving. 'I ha't' should have a line to itself, with again a pause, but a shorter one.]
[Footnote 6:Veney, venue, is a term of fencing: a bout, a thrust—fromvenir, to come—whence 'commings.' (259) Butcunnings, meaningskills, may be the word.]
[Footnote 7: 'As' is here equivalent to 'and so.']
[Footnote 8: —to the end of making Hamlet hot and dry.]
[Footnote 9: for the special occasion.]
[Footnote 10: thrust.Twelfth Night, act iii. sc. 4. 'he gives me the stuck in with such a mortal motion.'Stoccoin Italian is a long rapier; andstoccataa thrust.Rom. and Jul., act iii. sc. 1. SeeShakespeare-Lexicon.]
[Footnote 11: 'may' does not here expressdoubt, butintention.]
[Footnote 12: If this be the right reading, it means, 'so fast they insist on following.']
[Footnote 13: He speaks it as about to rush to her.]
[Footnote 14: —the choice of Ophelia's fantastic madness, as being the tree of lamenting lovers.]
[Footnote 15: —always busy with flowers.]
[Footnote 16: Ranunculus:Sh. Lex.]
[Footnote 17: —specially descriptive of the willow.]
[Footnote 18: her wild flowers made into a garland.]
[Footnote 19: The intention would seem, that she imagined herself decorating a monument to her father. Hence herCoronet weedsand the Poet'sweedy Trophies.]
[Footnote 20:Sliver, I suspect, called so after the fact, becausesliveredor torn off. InMacbethwe have:
slips of yewSlivered in the moon's eclipse.
But it may be thatsliverwas used for atwig, such as could be torn off.
Slipandslivermust be of the same root.]
[Page 224]
Fell in the weeping Brooke, her cloathes spred wide,And Mermaid-like, a while they bore her vp,Which time she chaunted snatches of old tunes,[1][Sidenote: old laudes,[1]]As one incapable of[2] her owne distresse,Or like a creature Natiue, and indued[3]Vnto that Element: but long it could not be,Till that her garments, heauy with her drinke, [Sidenote: theyr drinke]Pul'd the poore wretch from her melodious buy,[4][Sidenote: melodious lay]To muddy death.[5]
Laer. Alas then, is she drown'd? [Sidenote: she is]
Queen. Drown'd, drown'd.
Laer. Too much of water hast thou pooreOphelia,And therefore I forbid my teares: but yetIt is our tricke,[6] Nature her custome holds,Let shame say what it will; when these are goneThe woman will be out:[7] Adue my Lord,I haue a speech of fire, that faine would blaze,[Sidenote: speech a fire]But that this folly doubts[8] it.Exit.[Sidenote: drownes it.[8]]
Kin. Let's follow,Gertrude:How much I had to doe to calme his rage?Now feare I this will giue it start againe;Therefore let's follow.Exeunt.[9]
[10]Enter two Clownes.
Clown. Is she to bee buried in Christian buriall, [Sidenote: buriall, when she wilfully] that wilfully seekes her owne saluation?[11]
Other. I tell thee she is, and therefore make her [Sidenote: is, therefore] Graue straight,[12] the Crowner hath sate on her, and finds it Christian buriall.
Clo. How can that be, vnlesse she drowned her selfe in her owne defence?
Other. Why 'tis found so.[13]
Clo. It must beSe offendendo,[14] it cannot bee else:[Sidenote: be so offended, it]
[Footnote 1: They were not lauds she was in the habit of singing, to judge by the snatches given.]
[Footnote 2: not able to take in, not understanding, not conscious of.]
[Footnote 3: clothed, endowed, fitted for. SeeSh. Lex.]
[Footnote 4:Couldthe word be forbuoy—'her clothes spread wide,' on which she floated singing—therefore her melodious buoy or float?]
[Footnote 5: How could the queen know all this, when there was no one near enough to rescue her? Does not the Poet intend the mode of her death given here for an invention of the queen, to hide the girl's suicide, and by circumstance beguile the sorrow-rage of Laertes?]
[Footnote 6: 'I cannot help it.']
[Footnote 7: 'when these few tears are spent, all the woman will be out of me: I shall be a man again.']
[Footnote 8:douts: 'this foolish water of tears puts it out.'See Q. reading.]
[Footnote 9: Here ends the Fourth Act, between which and the Fifth may intervene a day or two.]
[Footnote 10: Act V. This actrequiresonly part of a day; the funeral and the catastrophe might be on the same.]
[Footnote 11: Has this a confused connection with the fancy that salvation is getting to heaven?]
[Footnote 12: Whether this meansstraightway, ornot crooked, I cannot tell.]
[Footnote 13: 'the coroner has settled it.']
[Footnote 14: The Clown's blunder fordefendendo.]
[Page 226]
for heere lies the point; If I drowne my selfe wittingly, it argues an Act: and an Act hath three branches. It is an Act to doe and to performe; [Sidenote: it is to act, to doe, to performe, or all: she] argall[1] she drown'd her selfe wittingly.
Other. Nay but heare you Goodman Deluer. [Sidenote: good man deluer.]
Clown. Giue me leaue; heere lies the water; good: heere stands the man; good: If the man goe to this water and drowne himsele; it is will he nill he, he goes; marke you that? But if the water come to him and drowne him; hee drownes not himselfe. Argall, hee that is not guilty of his owne death, shortens not his owne life.
Other. But is this law?
Clo. I marry is't, Crowners Quest Law.
Other. Will you ha the truth on't: if this had [Sidenote: truth an't] not beene a Gentlewoman, shee should haue beene buried out of[2] Christian Buriall. [Sidenote: out a]
Clo. Why there thou say'st. And the more pitty that great folke should haue countenance in this world to drowne or hang themselues, more then their euen[3] Christian. Come, my Spade; there is no ancient Gentlemen, but Gardiners, Ditchers and Graue-makers; they hold vpAdamsProfession.
Other. Was he a Gentleman?
Clo. He was the first that euer bore Armes. [Sidenote: A was]
[4]Other. Why he had none.
Clo. What, ar't a Heathen? how dost thou vnderstand the Scripture? the Scripture sayesAdamdig'd; could hee digge without Armes?[4] Ile put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confesse thy selfe——
Other. Go too.
Clo. What is he that builds stronger then either the Mason, the Shipwright, or the Carpenter?
Other. The Gallowes-maker; for that Frame outliues a thousand Tenants. [Sidenote: that outliues]
[Footnote 1:ergo, therefore.]
[Footnote 2:without. The pleasure the speeches of the Clown give us, lies partly in the undercurrent of sense, so disguised by stupidity in the utterance; and partly in the wit which mainly succeeds in its end by the failure of its means.]
[Footnote 3:equal, that isfellowChristian.]
[Footnote 4:From 'Other' to'Armes'not in Quarto.]
[Page 228]
Clo. I like thy wit well in good faith, the Gallowes does well; but how does it well? it does well to those that doe ill: now, thou dost ill to say the Gallowes is built stronger then the Church: Argall, the Gallowes may doe well to thee. Too't againe, Come.
Other. Who builds stronger then a Mason, a Shipwright, or a Carpenter?
Clo. I, tell me that, and vnyoake.[1]
Other. Marry, now I can tell.
Clo. Too't.
Other. Masse, I cannot tell.
Enter Hamlet and Horatio a farre off.[2]
Clo. Cudgell thy braines no more about it; for your dull Asse will not mend his pace with beating, and when you are ask't this question next, say a Graue-maker: the Houses that he makes, lasts [Sidenote: houses hee makes] till Doomesday: go, get thee toYaughan,[3] fetch [Sidenote: thee in, and fetch mee a soope of] me a stoupe of Liquor.
Sings.[4]
In youth when I did loue, did loue, [Sidenote:Song.]me thought it was very sweete:To contract O the time for a my behoue,O me thought there was nothing meete[5][Sidenote: there a was nothing a meet.]
[Sidenote:Enter Hamlet & Horatio]
Ham. Ha's this fellow no feeling of his businesse, [Sidenote: busines? a sings in graue-making.] that he sings at Graue-making?[6]
Hor. Custome hath made it in him a property[7] of easinesse.
Ham. 'Tis ee'n so; the hand of little Imployment hath the daintier sense.
Clowne sings.[8]
But Age with his stealing steps[SidenoteClow. Song.]hath caught me in his clutch: [Sidenote: hath clawed me]
[Footnote 1: 'unyoke your team'—as having earned his rest.]
[Footnote 2:Not in Quarto.]
[Footnote 3: Whether this is the name of a place, or the name of an innkeeper, or is merely an inexplicable corruption—some take it for a stage-direction to yawn—I cannot tell. SeeQ.reading.
It is said to have been discovered that a foreigner named Johan sold ale next door to the Globe.]
[Footnote 4:Not in Quarto.]
[Footnote 5: A song ascribed to Lord Vaux is in this and the following stanzas made nonsense of.]
[Footnote 6: Note Hamlet's mood throughout what follows. He has entered the shadow of death.]
[Footnote 7:Propertyis what specially belongs to the individual; here it is hispeculiar work, orpersonal calling: 'custom has made it with him an easy duty.']
[Footnote 8:Not in Quarto.]
[Page 230]
And hath shipped me intill the Land, [Sidenote: into]as if I had neuer beene such.
Ham. That Scull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: how the knaue iowles it to th' grownd, [Sidenote: the] as if it wereCainesIaw-bone, that did the first [Sidenote: twere] murther: It might be the Pate of a Polititian which [Sidenote: murder, this might] this Asse o're Offices: one that could circumuent [Sidenote: asse now ore-reaches; one that would] God, might it not?
Hor. It might, my Lord.
Ham. Or of a Courtier, which could say, Good Morrow sweet Lord: how dost thou, good Lord? [Sidenote: thou sweet lord?] this might be my Lord such a one, that prais'd my Lord such a ones Horse, when he meant to begge [Sidenote: when a went to] it; might it not?[1]
Hor. I, my Lord.
Ham. Why ee'n so: and now my Lady Wormes,[2] Chaplesse,[3] and knockt about the Mazard[4] [Sidenote: Choples | the massene with] with a Sextons Spade; heere's fine Reuolution, if [Sidenote: and we had] wee had the tricke to see't. Did these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at Loggets[5] with 'em? mine ake to thinke on't. [Sidenote: them]
Clowne sings.[6]
A Pickhaxe and a Spade, a Spade, [Sidenote:Clow. Song.]for and a shrowding-Sheete:O a Pit of Clay for to be made,for such a Guest is meete.
Ham. There's another: why might not that bee the Scull of of a Lawyer? where be his [Sidenote: skull of a] Quiddits[7] now? his Quillets[7]? his Cases? his [Sidenote: quiddities] Tenures, and his Tricks? why doe's he suffer this rude knaue now to knocke him about the Sconce[8] [Sidenote: this madde knaue] with a dirty Shouell, and will not tell him of his Action of Battery? hum. This fellow might be in's time a great buyer of Land, with his Statutes, his Recognizances, his Fines, his double
[Footnote 1: To feel the full force of this, we must call up the expression on the face of 'such a one' as he begged the horse—probably imitated by Hamlet—and contrast it with the look on the face of the skull.]
[Footnote 2: 'now the property of my Lady Worm.']
[Footnote 3: the lower jaw gone.]
[Footnote 4:the upper jaw, I think—notthe head.]
[Footnote 5: a game in which pins of wood, called loggats, nearly two feet long, were half thrown, half slid, towards a bowl.Blount: Johnson and Steevens.]
[Footnote 6:Not in Quarto.]
[Footnote 7: a lawyer's quirks and quibbles. SeeJohnson and Steevens.
1st Q.
now where is yourQuirkes and quillets now,]
[Footnote 8: Humorous, or slang word forthe head. 'A fort—a head-piece—the head':Webster's Dict.]
[Page 232]
Vouchers, his Recoueries: [1] Is this the fine[2] of his Fines, and the recouery[3] of his Recoueries,[1] to haue his fine[4] Pate full of fine[4] Dirt? will his Vouchers [Sidenote: will vouchers] vouch him no more of his Purchases, and double [Sidenote: purchases & doubles then] ones too, then the length and breadth of a paire of Indentures? the very Conueyances of his Lands will hardly lye in this Boxe[5]; and must the Inheritor [Sidenote: scarcely iye; | th'] himselfe haue no more?[6] ha?
Hor. Not a iot more, my Lord.
Ham. Is not Parchment made of Sheep-skinnes?
Hor. I my Lord, and of Calue-skinnes too. [Sidenote: Calues-skinnes to]
Ham. They are Sheepe and Calues that seek [Sidenote: which seek] out assurance in that. I will speake to this fellow: whose Graue's this Sir? [Sidenote: this sirra?]
Clo. Mine Sir: [Sidenote:Clow. Mine sir, or a pit]
O a Pit of Clay for to be made, for such a Guest is meete.[7]
Ham. I thinke it be thine indeed: for thou liest in't.
Clo. You lye out on't Sir, and therefore it is not [Sidenote: tis] yours: for my part, I doe not lye in't; and yet it [Sidenote: in't, yet] is mine.
Ham. Thou dost lye in't, to be in't and say 'tis [Sidenote: it is] thine: 'tis for the dead, not for the quicke, therefore thou lyest.
Clo. Tis a quicke lye Sir, 'twill away againe from me to you.[8]
Ham. What man dost thou digge it for?
Clo. For no man Sir.
Ham. What woman then?
Clo. For none neither.
Ham. Who is to be buried in't?
Clo. One that was a woman Sir; but rest her Soule, shee's dead.
[Footnote 1:From'Is'to'Recoueries'not in Q.]
[Footnote 2: the end.]
[Footnote 3: the property regained by his Recoveries.]
[Footnote 4: third and fourth meanings of the wordfine.]
[Footnote 5: the skull.]
[Footnote 6: 'must the heir have no more either?'
1st Q.
and must The honor (owner?) lie there?]
[Footnote 7:This line not in Q.]
[Footnote 8: Hegivesthe lie.]
[Page 234]
Ham. How absolute[1] the knaue is? wee must [Sidenote: 256] speake by the Carde,[2] or equiuocation will vndoe vs: by the LordHoratio, these three yeares[3] I haue [Sidenote: this three] taken note of it, the Age is growne so picked,[4] [Sidenote: tooke] that the toe of the Pesant comes so neere the heeles of our Courtier, hee galls his Kibe.[5] How [Sidenote: the heele of the] long hast thou been a Graue-maker? [Sidenote: been Graue-maker?]
Clo. Of all the dayes i'th'yeare, I came too't [Sidenote: Of the dayes] that day[6] that our last KingHamleto'recame [Sidenote: ouercame]Fortinbras.
Ham. How long is that since?
Clo. Cannot you tell that? euery foole can tell [Sidenote: 143] that: It was the very day,[6] that youngHamletwas [Sidenote: was that very] borne,[8] hee that was mad, and sent into England, [Sidenote: that is mad]
Ham. I marry, why was he sent into England?
Clo. Why, because he was mad; hee shall recouer [Sidenote: a was mad: a shall] his wits there; or if he do not, it's no great [Sidenote: if a do | tis] matter there.
Ham. Why?
Clo. 'Twill not be scene in him, there the men [Sidenote: him there, there] are as mad as he.
Ham. How came he mad?
Clo. Very strangely they say.
Ham. How strangely?[7]
Clo. Faith e'ene with loosing his wits.
Ham. Vpon what ground?
Clo. Why heere in Denmarke[8]: I haue bin sixeteene [Sidenote: Sexten] [Sidenote: 142-3] heere, man and Boy thirty yeares.[9]
Ham. How long will a man lie 'ith' earth ere he rot?
Clo. Ifaith, if he be not rotten before he die (as [Sidenote: Fayth if a be not | a die] we haue many pocky Coarses now adaies, that will [Sidenote: corses, that will] scarce hold the laying in) he will last you some [Sidenote: a will] eight yeare, or nine yeare. A Tanner will last you nine yeare.
[Footnote 1: 'How the knave insists on precision!']
[Footnote 2: chart:Skeat's Etym. Dict.]
[Footnote 3: Can this indicate any point in the history of English society?]
[Footnote 4: so fastidious; so given topickingand choosing; so choice.]
[Footnote 5: The word is to be found in any dictionary, but is not generally understood. Lord Byron, a very inaccurate writer, takes it to meanheel:
Devices quaint, and frolics ever new,Tread on each others' kibes:
Childe Harold, Canto 1. St. 67.
It means achilblain.]
[Footnote 6: Then Fortinbrascouldhave been but a few months younger than Hamlet, and may have been older. Hamlet then, in the Quarto passage, could not bytendermeanyoung.]
[Footnote 7: 'In what way strangely?'—in what strange way? Or theHowmay behow much, in retort to thevery; but the intent would be the same—a request for further information.]
[Footnote 8: Hamlet has asked on what ground or provocation, that is, from what cause, Hamlet lost his wits; the sexton chooses to take the wordgroundmaterially.]
[Footnote 9: The Poet makes him say how long he had been sexton—but how naturally and informally—by a stupid joke!—in order a second time, and more certainly, to tell us Hamlet's age: he must have held it a point necessary to the understanding of Hamlet.
Note Hamlet's question immediately following. It looks as if he had first said to himself: 'Yes—I have been thirty years above ground!' andthensaid to the sexton, 'How long will a man lie i' th' earth ere he rot?' We might enquire even too curiously as to the connecting links.]
[Page 236]
Ham. Why he, more then another?
Clo. Why sir, his hide is so tan'd with his Trade, that he will keepe out water a great while. And [Sidenote: a will] your water, is a sore Decayer of your horson dead body. Heres a Scull now: this Scul, has laine in [Sidenote: now hath iyen you i'th earth 23. yeeres.] the earth three and twenty years.
Ham. Whose was it?
Clo. A whoreson mad Fellowes it was; Whose doe you thinke it was?
Ham. Nay, I know not.
Clo. A pestlence on him for a mad Rogue, a pou'rd a Flaggon of Renish on my head once. This same Scull Sir, this same Scull sir, wasYoricks[Sidenote: once; this same skull sir, was sirYoricks] Scull, the Kings Iester.
Ham. This?
Clo. E'ene that.
Ham. Let me see. Alas pooreYorick, I knew [Sidenote:Ham. Alas poore] himHoratio, a fellow of infinite Iest; of most excellent fancy, he hath borne me on his backe a [Sidenote: bore] thousand times: And how abhorred[1] my Imagination [Sidenote: and now how | in my] is, my gorge rises at it. Heere hung those [Sidenote: it is:] lipps, that I haue kist I know not how oft. Where be your Iibes now? Your Gambals? Your Songs? Your flashes of Merriment that were wont to set the Table on a Rore? No one[2] now to mock your [Sidenote: not one] own Ieering? Quite chopfalne[3]? Now get you to [Sidenote: owne grinning,] my Ladies Chamber, and tell her, let her paint an [Sidenote: Ladies table,] inch thicke, to this fauour[4] she must come. Make her laugh at that: prytheeHoratiotell me one thing.
Hor. What's that my Lord?
Ham. Dost thou thinkeAlexanderlookt o'this [Sidenote: a this] fashion i'th' earth?
Hor. E'ene so.
Ham. And smelt so? Puh.
[Footnote 1: If this be the true reading,abhorredmust meanhorrified; but I incline to theQuarto.]
[Footnote 2: 'Not one jibe, not one flash of merriment now?']
[Footnote 3: —chop indeed quite fallen off!]
[Footnote 4:to this look—that of the skull.]
[Page 238]
Hor. E'ene so, my Lord.
Ham. To what base vses we may returneHoratio. Why may not Imagination trace the Noble dust ofAlexander, till he[1] find it stopping a [Sidenote: a find] bunghole.
Hor. 'Twere to consider: to curiously to consider [Sidenote: consider too curiously] so.
Ham. No faith, not a iot. But to follow him thether with modestie[2] enough, and likeliehood to lead it; as thus.Alexanderdied:Alexanderwas [Sidenote: lead it.Alexander] buried:Alexanderreturneth into dust; the dust is [Sidenote: to] earth; of earth we make Lome, and why of that Lome (whereto he was conuerted) might they not stopp a Beere-barrell?[3]
ImperiallCaesar, dead and turn'd to clay, [Sidenote: Imperious]Might stop a hole to keepe the winde away.Oh, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,Should patch a Wall, t'expell the winters flaw.[4][Sidenote: waters flaw.]But soft, but soft, aside; heere comes the King.[Sidenote: , but soft awhile, here]
Enter King, Queene, Laertes, and a Coffin,[Sidenote:Enter K. Q. Laertes and the corse.]with Lords attendant.
The Queene, the Courtiers. Who is that they follow,[Sidenote: this they]And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken,The Coarse they follow, did with disperate hand,Fore do it owne life; 'twas some Estate.[5] [Sidenote: twas of some[5]]Couch[6] we a while, and mark.
Laer. What Cerimony else?
Ham. That isLaertes, a very Noble youth:[7] Marke.
Laer. What Cerimony else?[8]
Priest. Her Obsequies haue bin as farre inlarg'd, [Sidenote:Doct.]As we haue warrantis,[9] her death was doubtfull,[10][Sidenote: warrantie,]And but that great Command, o're-swaies the order,[11]
[Footnote 1: Imagination personified.]
[Footnote 2: moderation.]
[Footnote 3: 'Loam, Lome—grafting clay. Mortar made of Clay and Straw; also a sort of Plaister used by Chymists to stop up their Vessels.'—Bailey's Dict.]
[Footnote 4: a sudden puff or blast of wind.
Hamlet here makes a solemn epigram. For the right understanding of the whole scene, the student must remember that Hamlet is philosophizing—following things out, curiously or otherwise—on the brink of a grave, concerning the tenant for which he has enquired—'what woman then?'—but received no answer.]
[Footnote 5: 'the corpse was of some position.']
[Footnote 6: 'let us lie down'—behind a grave or stone.]
[Footnote 7: Hamlet was quite in the dark as to Laertes' character; he had seen next to nothing of him.]
[Footnote 8: The priest making no answer, Laertes repeats the question.]
[Footnote 9:warrantise.]
[Footnote 10: This casts discredit on the queen's story, 222. The priest believes she died by suicide, only calls her death doubtful to excuse their granting her so many of the rites of burial.]
[Footnote 11: 'settled mode of proceeding.'—Schmidt's Sh. Lex.—But is it not ratherthe orderof the church?]
[Page 240]
She should in ground vnsanctified haue lodg'd,[Sidenote: vnsanctified been lodged]Till the last Trumpet. For charitable praier, [Sidenote: prayers,]Shardes,[1] Flints, and Peebles, should be throwne on her:Yet heere she is allowed her Virgin Rites,[Sidenote: virgin Crants,[2]]Her Maiden strewments,[3] and the bringing homeOf Bell and Buriall.[4]
Laer. Must there no more be done?
Priest. No more be done:[5] [Sidenote:Doct.]We should prophane the seruice of the dead,To sing sage[6]Requiem, and such rest to her[Sidenote: sing a Requiem]As to peace-parted Soules.
Laer. Lay her i'th' earth,And from her faire and vnpolluted flesh,May Violets spring. I tell thee (churlish Priest)A Ministring Angell shall my Sister be,When thou liest howling?
Ham. What, the faireOphelia?[7]
Queene. Sweets, to the sweet farewell.[8][Sidenote: 118] I hop'd thou should'st haue bin myHamletswife:I thought thy Bride-bed to haue deckt (sweet Maid)And not t'haue strew'd thy Graue. [Sidenote: not haue]
Laer. Oh terrible woer,[9] [Sidenote: O treble woe]Fall ten times trebble, on that cursed head [Sidenote: times double on]Whose wicked deed, thy most IngenioussenceDepriu'd thee of. Hold off the earth a while,Till I haue caught her once more in mine armes:Leaps in the graue.[10]Now pile your dust, vpon the quicke, and dead,Till of this flat a Mountaine you haue made,To o're top oldPelion, or the skyish head [Sidenote: To'retop]Of blewOlympus.[11]
Ham.[12] What is he, whose griefes [Sidenote: griefe] Beares such an Emphasis? whose phrase of Sorrow
[Footnote 1: 'Shardes'not in Quarto.It meanspotsherds.]
[Footnote 2: chaplet—Germankrantz, used even for virginity itself.]
[Footnote 3: strewments withwhiteflowers. (?)]
[Footnote 4: the burial service.]
[Footnote 5: as an exclamation, I think.]
[Footnote 6: Is the wordsageused as representing the unfitness of a requiem to her state of mind? or is it only from its kindred withsolemn? It was because she was not 'peace-parted' that they could not singrestto her.]
[Footnote 7:Everythinghere depends on the actor.]
[Footnote 8: I am not sure the queen is notapostrophizingthe flowers she is throwing into or upon the coffin: 'Sweets, be my farewell to the sweet.']
[Footnote 9: The Foliomaybe right here:—'Oh terrible wooer!—May ten times treble thy misfortunes fall' &c.]
[Footnote 10: This stage-direction is not in theQuarto.
Here the1st Quartohas:—
Lear. Forbeare the earth a while: sister farewell:Leartes leapes into the graue.Now powre your earth onOlympushie,And make a hill to o're top oldePellon:Hamlet leapes in after LeartesWhats he that coniures so?
Ham. Beholde tis I,Hamletthe Dane.]
[Footnote 11: The whole speech is bravado—the frothy grief of a weak, excitable effusive nature.]
[Footnote 12: He can remain apart no longer, and approaches the company.]