Hamlet
[Footnote I.62: _Writ down_] Prescribed by our own duty.]
[Footnote I.63: _He wore his beaver up._] That part of the helmet
which may be lifted up, to take breath the more freely.]
[Footnote I.64: _Tenable_] _i.e._, strictly maintained.]
[Footnote I.65: _Benefit_,] Favourable means.]
[Footnote I.66: _Trifling of his favour_,] Gay and thoughtless
intimation.]
[Footnote I.67: _Pérfume and suppliance of a minute._] _i.e._, an
amusement to fill up a vacant moment, and render it agreeable.]
[Footnote I.68: _Keep within the rear of your affection_,] Front
not the peril; withdraw or check every warm emotion: advance not
so far as your affection would lead you.]
[Footnote I.69: _The chariest maid_] Chary is cautious.]
[Footnote I.70: _Puff'd and reckless libertine._] Bloated and
swollen, the effect of excess; and heedless and indifferent to
consequences.]
[Footnote I.71: _Recks not his own read._] _i.e._, heeds not his
own lessons or counsel.]
[Footnote I.72: _Shoulder of your sail_,] A common sea phrase.]
[Footnote I.73: _Look thou charácter._] _i.e._, a word often used
by Shakespeare to signify to _write, strongly infix_; the accent
is on the second syllable.]
[Footnote I.74: _Unproportion'd thought_] Irregular, disorderly
thought.]
[Footnote I.75: _Each man's censure_,] Sentiment, opinion.]
[Footnote I.76: _Chief in that._] _i.e._, chiefly in that.]
[Footnote I.77: _Husbandry_] _i.e._, thrift, economical
prudence.]
[Footnote I.78: _Season this in thee!_] _i.e._, infix it in such
a manner as that it may never wear out.]
[Footnote I.79: _Yourself shall keep the key of it._] Thence it
shall not be dismissed, till you think it needless to retain it.]
[Footnote I.80: _Given private time to you_;] Spent his time in
private visits to you.]
[Footnote I.81: _As so 'tis put on me_,] Suggested to, impressed
on me.]
[Footnote I.82: _Is between_] _i.e._, what has passed--what
intercourse had.]
[Footnote I.83: _Green girl, Unsifted_] _i.e._, inexperienced
girl. Unsifted means one who has not nicely _canvassed_ and
examined the peril of her situation.]
[Footnote I.84: _Woodcocks._] Witless things.]
[Footnote I.85: _Slander any leisure moment_,] _i.e._, I would
not have you so disgrace your most idle moments, as not to find
better employment for them than lord Hamlet's conversation.]
[Footnote I.86: _An eager air._] _Eager_ here means _sharp_, from
_aigre_, French.]
[Footnote I.87: _Doth wake to-night_,] _i.e._, holds a late
revel.]
[Footnote I.88: _Takes his rouse_,] _Rouse_ means drinking bout,
carousal.]
[Footnote I.89: _Questionable shape_,] To _question_, in our
author's time, signified to _converse_. Questionable, therefore,
means _capable of being conversed with._]
[Footnote I.90: _Hearsed in death_,] Deposited with the
accustomed funeral rites.]
[Footnote I.91: _Cerements_;] Those precautions usually adopted
in preparing dead bodies for sepulture.]
[Footnote I.92: _Fools of nature_] _i.e._, making sport for
nature.]
[Footnote I.93: _Disposition_] Frame of mind and body.]
[Footnote I.94: _Removèd ground:_] _Removed_ for _remote_.]
[Footnote I.95: _At a pin's fee_;] _i.e._, the value of a pin.]
[Footnote I.96: _What if it tempt you toward the flood, &c._]
Malignant spirits were supposed to entice their victims into
places of gloom and peril, and exciting in them the deepest
terror.]
[Footnote I.97: _Beetles o'er his base into the sea_,] _i.e._,
projects darkly over the sea.]
[Footnote I.98: _Némean lion's nerve._] Shakespeare, and nearly
all the poets of his time, disregarded the quantity of Latin
names. The poet has here placed the accent on the first syllable,
instead of the second.]
[Footnote I.99: _That lets me:_] To let, in the sense in which it
is here used, means to hinder--to obstruct--to oppose. The word
is derived from the Saxon.]
[Footnote I.100: _To fast in fires_,] Chaucer has a similar
passage with regard to eternal punishment--_"And moreover the
misery of Hell shall be in default of meat and drink."_]
[Footnote I.101: _Harrow up thy soul_;] Agitate and convulse.]
[Footnote I.102: _Hair to stand on end_,] A common image of that
day.
"_Standing_ as frighted with _erected haire_."]
[Footnote I.103: _The fretful porcupine:_] This animal being
considered irascible and timid.]
[Footnote I.104: _Eternal blazon_] _i.e._, publication or
divulgation of things eternal.]
[Footnote I.105: _Rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf_,] _i.e._,
in indolence and sluggishness, by its torpid habits contributes
to that morbid state of its juices which may figuratively be
denominated rottenness.]
[Footnote I.106: _Orchard_,] Garden.]
[Footnote I.107: _Forged process_] _i.e._, false report of
proceedings.]
[Footnote I.108: _Decline upon a wretch._] Stoop with degradation
to.]
[Footnote I.109: _Secure_] Unguarded.]
[Footnote I.110: _Hebenon_] Hebenon is described by Nares in his
Glossary, as the juice of ebony, supposed to be a deadly poison.]
[Footnote I.111: _Despatch'd:_] Despoiled--bereft.]
[Footnote I.112: _Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd_;] To
_housel_ is to minister the sacrament to one lying on his death
bed. _Disappointed_ is the same as unappointed, which here means
unprepared. _Unanel'd_ is without extreme unction.]
[Footnote I.113: _Luxury_] Lasciviousness.]
[Footnote I.114: _Pale his uneffectual fire:_] _i.e._, not seen
by the light of day; or it may mean, shining without heat.]
[Footnote I.115: _In this distracted globe._] _i.e._, his head
distracted with thought.]
[Footnote I.116: _Pressures past_,] Impressions heretofore made.]
[Footnote I.117: _Come, bird, come._] This is the call which
falconers used to their hawk in the air when they would have him
come down to them.]
[Footnote I.118:
_There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark--
But he's an arrant knave._]
Hamlet probably begins these words in the ardour of confidence
and sincerity; but suddenly alarmed at the magnitude of the
disclosure he was going to make, and considering that, not his
friend Horatio only, but another person was present, he breaks
off suddenly:--"There's ne'er a villain in all Denmark that can
match (perhaps he would have said) my uncle in villainy; but
recollecting the danger of such a declaration, he pauses for a
moment, and then abruptly concludes:--"but he's an arrant
knave."]
[Footnote I.119: _Whirling words_,] Random words thrown out with
no specific aim.]
[Footnote I.120: _By Saint Patrick_,] At this time all the whole
northern world had their learning from Ireland; to which place it
had retired, and there flourished under the auspices of this
Saint.]
[Footnote I.121: _O'er-master it_] Get the better of it.]
[Footnote I.122: _Give it welcome._] Receive it courteously, as
you would a stranger when introduced.]
[Footnote I.123: _Antick disposition_] _i.e._, strange, foreign
to my nature, a disposition which Hamlet assumes as a protection
against the danger which he apprehends from his uncle, and as a
cloak for the concealment of his own meditated designs.]
[Footnote I.124: _Arms encumber'd thus_,] _i.e._, folded.]
[Footnote I.125: _Friending to you--shall not lack_] Disposition
to serve you shall not be wanting.]
ACT II.
SCENE I.--A ROOM IN POLONIUS'S HOUSE.
_Enter_ POLONIUS[1] (L.H.), _meeting Ophelia._ (R.H.)
_Pol._ How now, Ophelia! What's the matter?
_Oph._ O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
_Pol._ With what, in the name of Heaven?
_Oph._ My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other,
And with a look so piteous in purport,
He comes before me.
_Pol._ Mad for thy love?
_Oph._ My lord, I do not know;
But, truly, I do fear it.
_Pol._ What said he?
_Oph._ 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 he would draw it. Long staid he so;
At last,--a little shaking of mine arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound,
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk,[2]
And end his being: That done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He seem'd 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.
_Pol._ Come, go with me; I will go seek the king.
This is the very ecstacy of love;[3]
What, have you given him any hard words of late?
_Oph._ No, my good lord; but, as you did command,
I did repel his letters, and denied
His access to me.
_Pol._ That hath made him mad.
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.[4]
Come.
[_Exeunt_ L.H.]
SCENE II.--A ROOM IN THE CASTLE.
_Enter_ KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, _and_
Attendants (R.H.)
_King._ (C.) 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. What it should be,
More than his father's death, that thus hath put him
So much from the understanding of himself,[5]
I cannot dream of: I entreat you both,
That you vouchsafe your rest[6] here in our court
Some little time: so by your companies
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus,
That, open'd, lies within our remedy.
_Queen._ (R.C.) Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you;
And sure I am two men there are not living
To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
So to expend your time with us a while,
Your visitation shall receive such thanks
As fits a king's remembrance.
_Ros._ (R.) Both your majesties
Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,[7]
Put your dread pleasures more into command
Than to entreaty.
_Guil._ (R.) But we both obey,
And here give up ourselves, in the full bent,[8]
To lay our service freely at your feet.
_King._ Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.
_Queen._ I do beseech you instantly to visit
My too much changèd son. Go, some of you,
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
[_Exeunt_ ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, _and_
Attendants, R.H.]
_Enter_ POLONIUS (L.H.)
_Pol._ Now do I think (or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy[9] so sure
As it hath us'd to do), that I have found
The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.
_King._ (C.) O, speak of that; that do I long to hear.
_Pol._ (L.C.) My liege, and madam, to expostulate[10]
What majesty should be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night night, and time is time,
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time;
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,--
I will be brief:--Your noble son is mad: