Fort. Captaine, from vs
goe greete
The king of
Denmarke:
Tell him that
Fortenbrasse nephew to old Norway,
Craues a free
passe and conduct ouer his land,
5
According to the Articles
agreed on:
You know our
Randevous, goe march away.
back
next
Scena
Tredecima.
scene
enter
King and Queene.
King Hamlet is ship't
for England, fare him well,
I hope to heare
good newes from
thence ere long,
If euery thing
fall out to our
content,
As I doe make
no doubt but so it
shall.
5
Queene God grant it may,
heau'ns keep my Hamlet safe:
But this mischance
of olde
Corambis death,
Hath piersed
so the yong Ofeliaes
heart,
That she,
poore maide, is quite
bereft her wittes.
King Alas deere heart!
And on the other side,
10
We vnderstand her brother's come from France,
And he hath halfe
the heart of
all our Land,
And hardly
hee'le forget his
fathers death,
Vnlesse by
some meanes he be
pacified.
Qu. O see where the
yong Ofelia is!
Ofelia Well God yeeld
you,
It grieues me to see how they laid him
in the cold
ground,
I could not
chuse but weepe:
30
And will he not
come againe?
And will he
not come againe?
No, no, hee's
gone, and we cast
away mone,
And he neuer
will come againe.
His beard as
white as snowe:
35
All flaxen
was his pole,
He is dead, he
is gone,
And we cast
away moane:
God a mercy on
his soule.
And of all
christen soules I pray
God.
40
God be with you Ladies, God
be with you.
exit
Ofelia.
King A pretty wretch!
this is a change indeede:
O Time, how swiftly runnes our ioyes
away?
back
next
Scena
Tredecima.
scene
Content on
earth was neuer
certaine bred,
To day we
laugh and liue, to
morrow dead.
45
How now, what noyse is that?
A
noyse within. enter Leartes.
Lear.
Stay there vntill I come,
O thou vilde king,
giue me my
father:
Speake, say,
where's my father?
king Dead.
50
Lear. Who hath murdred him? speake, i'le not
Be juggled with,
for he is
murdred.
Queene True, but not by him.
Lear. By whome, by
heau'n I'le be resolued.
King Let him goe
Gertred, away, I feare him not,
55
There's such diuinitie doth wall a king,
That treason dares
not looke on.
Let him goe
Gertred, that your
father is murdred,
T'is true, and we
most sory for
it,
Being the
chiefest piller of our
state:
60
Therefore will you like a most desperate
gamster,
Swoop-stake-like,
draw at friend,
and foe, and all?
back
next
Scena
Tredecima.
scene
Lear. To his good friends thus wide I'le ope
mine arms,
And locke them in
my hart, but to
his foes,
I will no
reconcilement but by
bloud.
65
king Why now you speake
like a most louing sonne:
And that in
soule we sorrow for
for his death,
Your selfe ere long
shall be a
witnesse,
Meane while be
patient, and
content your selfe.
Enter
Ofelia as before.
Lear. Who's this,
Ofelia? O my deere sister!
70
I'st possible a
yong maides life,
Should be as mortall as an olde mans sawe?
O heau'ns themselues! how now Ofelia?
Ofel.
Wel God a mercy, I a bin
gathering of floures:
Here, here is rew
for you,
75
You may call it hearb a grace a Sundayes,
Heere's some
for me too: you must
weare your rew
With a difference,
there's a
dazie.
Here Loue,
there's rosemary for
you
For
remembrance: I pray Loue
remember,
80
And there's pansey for thoughts.
Lear. A document in
madnes, thoughts,
remembrance:
O God, O God!
back
next
Scena
Tredecima.
scene
Ofelia There is fennell
for you, I would a giu'n you
Some violets, but
they all
withered, when
85
My father died: alas, they say the owle was
A Bakers
daughter, we see what we
are,
But can not tell
what we shall be.
For bonny sweete
Robin is all my
ioy.
Lear. Thoughts and
afflictions, torments worse than hell.
90
Ofel. Nay Loue, I pray
you make no words of this now:
I pray now,
you shall sing a
downe,
And you a downe a,
t'is a the
Kings daughter
And the false
steward, and if any
body
Aske you of
any thing, say you
this.
95
To morrow is saint
Valentines day,
All in the
morning betime,
And a maide at your
window,
To be your
Valentine:
The yong man
rose, and dan'd his
clothes,
100 And
dupt the chamber doore,
Let in the
maide, that out a maide
Neuer departed
more.
Nay I pray
marke now,
By gisse and
by saint Charitie,
105 Away,
and fie for shame:
Yong men will
doo't when they
come too't
By cocke
they
are too blame.
Quoth she,
before you tumbled me,
back
next
Scena
Tredecima.
scene
You promised
me to wed.
110 So
would I a done, by yonder Sunne,
If thou hadst
not come to my bed.
So God be with
you all, God bwy
Ladies.
God bwy you
Loue.
exit
Ofelia.
Lear.
Griefe vpon
griefe, my father murdered,
115 My
sister thus distracted:
Cursed be his
soule that wrought
this wicked act.
king Content you good Leartes for a time,
Although I know
your griefe is as
a floud,
Brimme full of
sorrow, but
forbeare a while,
120 And
thinke already the reuenge
is done
On him that
makes you such a
haplesse sonne.
Lear. You haue preuail'd
my Lord, a while I'le striue,
To bury griefe
within a tombe of
wrath,
Which once
vnhearsed, then the
world shall heare
125 Leartes
had a father he held deere.
king No more of that,
ere many dayes be done,
You shall heare
that you do not
dreame vpon.
exeunt
om.
back
next
Scena
Quattourdecima.
scene
Hor. Madame, your
sonne
is safe arriv'de in Denmarke,
This letter I euen
now receiv'd
of him,
Whereas he
writes how he escap't
the danger,
And subtle
treason that the king
had plotted,
5
Being crossed by the contention of the
windes,
He found the
Packet sent to the
king of England,
Wherein he saw
himselfe betray'd
to death,
As at his next
conuersion with
your grace,
He will relate
the circumstance
at full.
10
Queene Then I
perceiue
there's treason in his lookes
That seem'd to
sugar o're his
villanie:
But I will
soothe and please him
for a time,
For murderous
mindes are alwayes
jealous,
But know not
you Horatio where he
is?
15
Hor. Yes Madame,
and he
hath appoynted me
To meete him
on the east side of
the Cittie
To morrow morning.
Queene O faile
not, good
Horatio, and withall, com-
A mothers
care to him, bid him a
while (mend me
20
Be wary of his
presence, lest that he
Faile in that
he goes about.
back
next
Scena
Quattourdecima.
scene
Hor. Madam, neuer
make
doubt of that:
I thinke by this
the news be come
to court:
He is
arriv'de, obserue the king,
and you shall
25
Quickely finde, Hamlet being here,
Things fell
not to his minde.
Queene But what
become
of Gilderstone
and Rossencraft?
Hor. He being set
ashore, they went for England,
And in the Packet
there writ down
that doome
30
To be perform'd on them poynted for him:
And by great
chance he had his
fathers Seale,
So all was
done without
discouerie.
Queene Thankes be
to
heauen for blessing of the prince,
Horatio once againe
I take my
leaue,
35
With thowsand mothers blessings to my sonne.
Horat. Madam adue.
back
next
Scena
Quindecima.
scene
Enter
King and Leartes.
King.
Hamlet from England!
is it possible?
What chance is
this? they are
gone, and he come home.
Lear. O he is welcome, by my soule he is:
At it my iocund
heart doth leape
for ioy,
5
That I shall liue to tell him, thus
he dies.
king Leartes, content your selfe, be rulde by
me,
And you shall haue
no let for
your reuenge.
Lear. My will, not all
the world.
King Nay but Leartes, marke the plot I haue
layde,
10
I haue heard him often with a greedy wish,
Vpon some praise
that he hath
heard of you
Touching your
weapon, which with
all his heart,
He might be once
tasked for to
try your cunning.
Lea. And how for this?
15
King Mary Leartes thus: I'le lay a wager,
Shalbe on
Hamlets side, and you
shall giue the oddes,
The which will
draw him with a
more desire,
To try the
maistry, that in
twelue venies
You gaine not three
of him: now
this being granted,
20
When you are hot in midst of all your play,
back
next
Scena
Quindecima.
scene
Among the
foyles shall a keene
rapier lie,
Steeped in a
mixture of deadly
poyson,
That if it
drawes but the least
dramme of blood,
In any part of
him, he cannot
liue:
25
This being done will free you from suspition,
And not the
deerest friend that
Hamlet lov'de
Will euer haue
Leartes in suspect.
Lear. My lord, I like it well:
But say lord Hamlet
should refuse
this match.
30
King I'le warrant you, wee'le put on you
Such a report
of singularitie,
Will bring him on,
although
against his will.
And lest that
all should misse,
I'le haue a
potion that shall
ready stand,
35
In all his heate when that he calles for drinke,
Shall be his
period and our
happinesse.
Lear. T'is excellent, O
would the time were come!
Here comes the
Queene.
enter
the Queene.
King
How now Gertred,
why looke you heauily?
40
Queene O my Lord, the yong Ofelia
Hauing made a
garland of sundry
sortes of floures,
back
next
Scena
Quindecima.
scene
Sitting vpon a
willow by a brooke,
The enuious
sprig broke, into the
brooke she fell,
And for a
while her clothes
spread wide abroade,
45
Bore the yong Lady vp: and there she sate
smiling,
Euen
Mermaide-like, twixt heauen
and earth,
Chaunting olde
sundry tunes
vncapable
As it were of
her distresse, but
long it could not be,
Till that her
clothes, being
heauy with their drinke,
50
Dragg'ed the sweete wretch to death.
Lear.
So, she is drownde:
Too much of water
hast thou
Ofelia,
Therefore I
will not drowne thee
in my teares,
Reuenge it is
must yeeld this
heart releese,
55
For woe begets woe, and griefe hangs on
griefe.
exeunt.
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
Clowne I say no, she
ought not to be buried
In christian
buriall.
2. Why sir?
Clowne Mary because
shee's drownd.
5
2. But she did not
drowne her selfe.
Clowne No, that's
certaine, the water drown'd her.
2. Yea but it was
against her will.
Clowne No, I deny that, for looke you sir, I
stand here,
If the water
come to me, I drowne
not my selfe:
10
But if I goe to the water, and am there
drown'd,
Ergo I am guiltie
of my owne
death:
Y'are gone,
goe y'are gone sir.
2. I
but see, she hath
christian buriall,
Because she is a
great woman.
15 Clowne Mary more's the pitty,
that great
folke
Should haue
more authoritie to
hang or drowne
Themselues, more
than other
people:
Goe fetch me a
stope of drinke,
but before thou
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
Goest, tell me
one thing, who
buildes strongest,
20
Of a Mason,
a Shipwright, or a Carpenter?
2. Why a Mason, for he
buildes all of stone,
And will indure
long.
Clowne That's prety,
too't agen, too't agen.
2. Why then a
Carpenter, for he buildes the gallowes,
25
And that brings many a one to his long home.
Clowne Prety agen, the
gallowes doth well, mary howe
dooes it well? the
gallowes dooes
well to them that doe ill,
goe get thee
gone:
And if any one
aske thee
hereafter, say,
30
A Graue-maker, for the houses he buildes
Last till
Doomes-day. Fetch me a
stope of beere, goe.
Clowne
A picke-axe and a
spade,
A spade for and a
winding sheete,
Most fit it
is, for t'will be
made,
35
For such a ghest most meete.
Ham. Hath this fellow
any feeling of himselfe,
That is thus merry
in making of a
graue?
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
See how the
slaue joles their
heads against the earth.
Hor. My lord, Custome
hath made it in him seeme no-
40
Clowne
A pick-axe and a
spade, a spade,
For and a
winding sheete,
Most fit it is for
to be made,
For such a
ghest most meet.
Ham. Looke you, there's another Horatio.
45
Why mai't not be the scull of
some Lawyer?
Me thinkes he
should indite that
fellow
Of an action
of Batterie, for
knocking
Him about the
pate with's shouel:
now where is your
Quirkes
and quillets now, your vouchers and
50
Double vouchers, your leases
and
free-holde,
And tenements?
why that same boxe
there will scarse
Holde the
conueiance of his land,
and must
The honor lie
there? O pittiful
transformance!
I prethee tell me Horatio,
55
Is parchment made of
sheep-skinnes?
Hor. I my Lorde, and of
calues-skinnes too.
Ham. Ifaith they prooue
themselues sheepe and
calues
That deale with
them, or put
their trust in them.
There's another, why may not that
be such a ones
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
60
Scull, that praised my Lord
such
a ones horse,
When he meant
to beg him?
Horatio, I prethee
Lets question
yonder fellow.
Now my friend,
whose graue is
this?
Clowne Mine sir.
65 Ham. But who must lie
in it?
Clowne If I should say,
I should, I should lie in my throat
(sir.
Ham. What man must be buried here?
Clowne No man sir.
Ham. What woman?
70 Clowne. No woman neither sir, but
indeede
One that was a
woman.
Ham. An excellent
fellow by the Lord Horatio,
This seauen
yeares
haue I noted
it: the toe of the pesant,
Comes
so neere the heele of the courtier,
75
That hee gawles his kibe, I
prethee tell mee one thing,
How long will
a man
lie in the
ground before hee rots?
Clowne I faith sir, if
hee be not rotten before
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
He be laide
in, as
we haue
many pocky corses,
He will last you, eight yeares, a tanner
80
Will last you eight
yeares
full
out, or nine.
Ham. And why a tanner?
Clowne Why his hide is
so tanned with his trade,
That it will holde
out
water, that's a parlous
Deuourer of your dead body, a
great soaker.
85
Looke you, heres a scull
hath bin here this dozen
yeare,
Let
me
see, I euer since our
last king Hamlet
Slew
Fortenbrasse in
combat, yong
Hamlets father,
Hee
that's mad.
Ham. I mary, how came he madde?
90 Clowne
Ifaith very
strangely, by loosing of his wittes.
Ham. Vpon what ground?
Clowne A this ground, in
Denmarke.
Ham. Where is he now?
Clowne
Why now they sent
him to England.
95 Ham. To England!
wherefore?
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
Clowne Why they say he
shall haue his wittes there,
Or if he haue not,
t'is no great
matter there,
It will
not be
seene there.
Ham. Why
not there?
100 Clowne Why there they
say the men are as mad as he.
Ham. Whose scull was
this?
Clowne This, a plague on him, a madde rogues it was,
He powred once a whole
flagon
of
Rhenish of my head,
Why
do not you know him? this was one Yorickes scull.
105 Ham. Was this? I prethee let me
see it, alas poore Yoricke
I knew him
Horatio,
A fellow of
infinite
mirth, he
hath caried mee twenty times
vpon his back,
here hung those
lippes that I haue Kissed a
hundred
times, and to see, now they abhorre me: Wheres
110
your iests now
Yoricke?
your
flashes of meriment: now go
to my Ladies
chamber, and bid her
paint her selfe an inch
thicke, to this
she must come
Yoricke. Horatio, I prethee
tell me one thing,
doost thou thinke
that Alexander looked
thus?
115
Hor.
Euen so my Lord.
Ham. And smelt thus?
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
Hor. I my lord, no
otherwise.
Ham. No, why might not
imagination worke, as
thus of
Alexander,
Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander
120
became
earth, of earth we make
clay, and Alexander being
but clay, why
might not time
bring to passe, that he might
stoppe the
boung hole of a
beere barrell?
Imperious
Casar
dead and
turnd to clay,
Might
stoppe a hole, to keepe the winde away.
125 Ham. What
funerall's
this that all the Court laments?
It shews
to be
some noble
parentage:
Stand by a while.
Lear. What ceremony else? say, what ceremony else?
Priest
My Lord, we haue done all that lies in vs,
130
And more than well the church can
tolerate,
She hath had a
Dirge
sung for her
maiden soule:
And but for
fauour of the king,
and you,
She had beene
buried in the open
fieldes,
Where
now she is allowed christian buriall.
135
Lear.
So,
I tell thee churlish Priest,
a ministring
Angell
shall my
sister
be, when thou
liest howling.
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
Ham. The
faire
Ofelia
dead!
Queene Sweetes
to the
sweete, farewell:
I had
thought to adorne thy bridale bed,
faire maide,
140
And not to follow thee vnto thy
graue.
Lear. Forbeare the earth a while: sister farewell:
Leartes leapes into the graue.
Now powre
your earth on,
Olympus hie,
And make a
hill
to o're top olde
Pellon:
Whats he
that
coniures so?
145 Ham. Beholde tis I, Hamlet the
Dane.
Lear. The diuell take
thy soule.
Ham. O thou praiest not
well,
I prethee take
thy hand from off
my throate,
For
there is something in me dangerous,
150
Which let thy wisedome
feare,
holde off thy hand:
I lou'de
Ofelia
as deere as
twenty brothers
could:
Shew me what
thou wilt doe for
her:
Wilt fight,
wilt fast, wilt pray,
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
Wilt
drinke vp vessels, eate a
crocadile? Ile doot:
155
Com'st thou here to
whine?
And where thou
talk'st of burying
thee a liue,
Here let vs stand:
and them them throw
on vs,
Whole hills of
earth, till with
the height therof,
Make
Oosell as a Wart.
160
King.
Forbeare Leartes, now is hee mad, as is the sea,
Anone as milde and
gentle as a
Doue:
Therfore a
while giue his wilde
humour scope.
Ham. What
is
the reason
sir that you wrong mee thus?
I
neuer gaue you cause: but stand away,
165
A Cat will meaw, a Dog will haue
a day.
Exit
Hamlet and Horatio.
Queene.
Alas,
it is his
madnes makes him thus,
And not his
heart, Leartes.
King. My
lord, t'is so:
but wee'le no longer trifle,
This
very day shall Hamlet
drinke his last,
170
For presently we meane to send to
him,
Therfore Leartes be
in readynes.
Lear. My lord, till
then my soule will not bee quiet.
King. Come Gertred,
wee'l haue Leartes, and our sonne,
back
next
Scena
Sedecima.
scene
Made
friends and Louers,
as befittes them both,
175
Euen as they tender vs, and loue
their countrie.
Queene God grant they
may.
exeunt
omnes.
back
next
Scena
Septimadecima.
scene
Enter
Hamlet and Horatio
Ham.
beleeue mee, it
greeues mee much Horatio,
That to Leartes I forgot my
selfe:
For by my selfe me thinkes I
feele his griefe,
Though there's a difference in
each others wrong.
5
Horatio,
but you marke yon water-flie,
The Court knowes him, but
hee
knowes not the Court.
Gen. Now
God saue thee, sweete prince
Hamlet.
Ham. And
you sir: soh,
how the muske-cod smels!
Gen. I
come with an
embassage from his maiesty to you
10
Ham. I
shall sir giue
you attention:
By my troth me thinkes t'is very
colde.
Gent. It is indeede very
rawish colde.
Ham. T'is
hot me thinkes.
Gent.
Very swoltery hote:
back
next
Scena
Septimadecima.
scene
15 The
King, sweete Prince, hath layd a wager on your side,
Six Barbary
horse, against six french rapiers,
With all their acoutrements too, a the carriages:
In good faith they are curiously
wrought.
Ham. The cariages sir, I
do not know what you meane.
20
Gent. The
girdles, and
hangers sir, and such like.
Ham. The
worde had beene
more cosin german to
the
phrase, if he could haue carried the canon by
his
side,
And howe's the wager? I vnderstand you
now.
Gent. Mary sir, that
yong Leartes in twelue venies
25 At
Rapier and Dagger do not get three oddes of you,
And on your side the King hath
laide,
And desires you to be in
readinesse.
Ham. Very well, if the
King dare venture his wager,
I dare venture my skull: when must this be?
30
Gent. My
Lord,
presently, the king, and her maiesty,
With the rest of the best iudgement in the Court,
Are comming downe into the
outward
pallace.
Ham. Goe
tell his
maiestie, I will attend him.
back
next
Scena
Septimadecima.
scene
Gent. I
shall deliuer
your most sweet
answer.
exit.
35
Ham. You
may sir, none better, for y'are spiced,
Else he had a bad nose could not smell a foole.
Hor. He will disclose
himself without inquirie.
Ham. Beleeue me
Horatio, my hart is on the sodaine
Very sore, all here about.
40
Hor. My
lord, forebeare the challenge then.
Ham. No Horatio, not I,
if danger be now,
Why then it is not to come, theres a
predestinate
prouidence
in the fall of a sparrow:
heere
comes the
King.
Enter King, Queene, Leartes, Lordes.
King Now
sonne Hamlet, we
hane laid vpon your head,
45 And
make no question but to haue the best.
Ham. Your maiestie hath
laide a the weaker side.
King. We doubt it not,
deliuer them the foiles.
Ham.
First Leartes,
heere's my hand and loue,
back
next
Scena Septimadecima.
scene
Protesting that I neuer wrongd Leartes.
50 If
Hamlet in his madnesse did amisse,
That was not Hamlet, but his madnes did it,
And all the wrong I e're did to Leartes,
I here proclaime was madnes, therefore
lets
be at
peace,
And thinke I haue shot mine arrow
o're
the house,
55
And
hurt my brother.
Lear. Sir I am satisfied
in nature,
But in termes of honor I'le
stand
aloofe,
And will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder maisters of our time
60 I
may
be satisfied.
King Giue them the foyles.
Ham. I'le be your
foyle Leartes, these foyles,
Haue all a laught, come on sir:
Heere
they
play:
a hit.
65
Lear. No
none.
Ham. Iudgement.
Gent. A hit, a most
palpable hit.
back
next
Scena Septimadecima.
scene
Lear. Well, come
againe.
Ham. Another. Iudgement.
70
Lear. I,
I grant, a
tuch, a tuch.
King Here Hamlet, the
king doth drinke a health to thee
Queene Here Hamlet, take my
napkin, wipe thy face.
King Giue him the wine.
Ham. Set
it by, I'le
haue another bowt first,
75 I'le
drinke anone.
Queene Here Hamlet,
thy mother drinkes to thee.
King Do not drinke
Gertred: O t'is the poysned cup!
Ham. Leartes come, you
dally with
me,
I pray you passe with your most cunningst play.
back
next
Scena
Septimadecima.
scene
80
Lear. I!
say you so? haue at you,
Ile hit you now
my Lord:
And yet it goes almost against my
conscience.
Ham. Come on sir.
Leartes falles downe, the
Queene falles downe and dies.
King Looke to the Queene.
85 Queene O the drinke, the
drinke, Hamlet, the drinke.
Ham. Treason, ho, keepe
the gates.
Lords How ist my Lord
Leartes?
Lear. Euen
as a
coxcombe should,
Foolishly slaine with my owne weapon:
90
Hamlet,
thou hast not in thee halfe an houre of life,
The fatall Instrument is in thy hand.
Vnbated and invenomed: thy mother's
poysned
That drinke was made for thee.
Ham. The
poysned
Instrument within my hand?
95 Then
venome to thy venome, die damn'd villaine:
back
next
Scena
Septimadecima.
scene
Come drinke, here lies thy vnion here.
Lear. O he is iustly
serued:
Hamlet, before I die, here take my
hand,
And withall, my loue: I doe
forgiue
thee.
100
Ham. And
I thee, O I am dead Horatio, fare thee well.
Hor.
No, I am
more an
antike Roman,
Then a Dane, here is some poison left.
Ham. Vpon my loue I
charge thee let it goe,
O fie Horatio, and if thou shouldst
die,
105 What
a scandale
wouldst thou leaue behinde?
What tongue should tell the story
of our deaths,
If not from thee? O my heart
sinckes Horatio,
Mine eyes haue lost their sight,
my tongue his vse:
Farewel Horatio, heauen receiue
my soule.
Enter Voltemar and the Ambassadors from
England.
back
next
Scena
Septimadecima.
scene
110
Fort. Where is this
bloudy sight?
Hor. If aught of woe or
wonder you'ld behold,
Then looke vpon this tragicke
spectacle.
Fort. O imperious
death! how many Princes
Hast thou at one draft bloudily
shot to
death?
115
Ambass.
Our ambassie that we haue brought from England
Where be these Princes that
should heare vs speake?
O most most vnlooked for time!
vnhappy country.
Hor. Content your selues,
Ile shew to all, the ground,
The first beginning of this
Tragedy:
120 Let
there a
scaffold be rearde vp in the market place,
And let the State of the world be
there:
Where you shall heare such a sad
story tolde,
That neuer mortall man could more
vnfolde.
Fort. I haue some rights of
memory to this kingdome,
125 Which
now to
claime my leisure doth inuite mee:
Let foure of our chiefest
Captaines
Beare Hamlet like a souldier to
his graue:
For he was likely,
had he liued,
To a prou'd most
royall.
130 Take
vp the bodie,
such a sight as this
Becomes the fieldes, but here
doth much amisse.
Finis
back
Several Q1
productions have played with the opening of the play. Red Shift, a UK
company, opened their 1999-2000 production at line 30, "last night of
all."
Theatre of NOTE
in Los Angeles (2003) began with Hamlet watching the Player perform the
Pyrrhus speech. During the speech, a messenger entered and delivered a
silent message, presumably telling Hamlet of his father's death. (Ard.
1603, Introduction 33)
An
armed soldier or marine posted
at a specified
point to keep guard and to prevent the passing of an unauthorized
person; each of the men of a military guard posted at regular
intervals round an army in garrison or in the field to watch the enemy,
prevent a surprise attack and challenge all comers. (OED)
Later in the scene, Horatio
explains that Fortinbras' growing army
threatens to invade Denmark, which increases the sense of danger and
anxiety for the guards.
In the 2007 American Shakespeare Center's production of Q1, Miriam
Donald as Barnardo entered through the trap with a sheet over her head
pretending to be the Ghost. (ASC 2007)
Liegemen: from "allegiance" (OED); those
sworn to serve
the King of Denmark ("the Dane"), reiterating
Horatio's expression of loyalty in the previous line.
Barnardo's line, along with other
hints throughout the scene,
indicate that Hamlet's
opening scene
takes place in extreme darkness. Performances taking place at
Shakespeare's Globe in London in full daylight or in
universal lighting conditions, such as at the Blackfriars,
require actors
to "play the darkness" on stage.
In
most modern staging, the lights are very dim in the scene; in order to
overcome the obstacle this creates in seeing the actors' facial
expressions, Harcourt Williams (directing the 1930 production starring
John Gielgud) placed a brazier on stage to light Horatio and the
guards.
(Hapgood)
In Q2,
this is Horatio's line.
Throughout
the scene, Marcellus and Barnardo
refrain from using the
word "ghost" to define what they have seen. Tyrone Guthrie in
1963 asked his actors to
pause slightly before saying "thing," "apparition," etc. to indicate
their struggle not to say the word "ghost." (Hapgood)
A
figment of the guards' imagination; also playing
on the idea of the
Ghost Horatio does not believe in.
Regarding
Fearful
The
visible appearance of a supernatural,
invisible being (OED).
Confirm
Resistant to, continuing the
militaristic language begun with "assail."
The previous night.
NASA
image of the
still-visible remnants of the Cassiopeia supernova of 1572, referred to
as "Cassiopeia A."
Some scholars suggest this could be a reference to the 1572 Cassiopeia
supernova, which was first observed both at Wittenberg and by a famous
Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe. (Olson)
Stationary
northern
stars surrounding by star trails.
Courtesy of Chris Harvey, www.flitemedia.com.
The North Pole or North Star (sometimes called the "pole star").
Because of its extreme northern position in the sky, the North Star
appears to remain stationary while other stars move around it. For this
reason, it has long been used as a navigational aid.
If the ghost appears at the
same time as on the
previous night, an hour has past since Barnardo first entered the
scene. This kind of time compression is visible in both ghost scenes,
when references are made to the bell striking midnight and in short
order the dawn drives the Ghost away.
The ghost appears in
full armor; for a
full description, see scene 2. An actor appearing on stage in
armor
during a
daylight performance at the Globe would flash and seem to "glow" in the
sunlight. (Cohen)
James Keegan as the Ghost in ASC's
2007 production of Hamlet.
Photo by Tommy Thompson,
courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
The Ghost probably also used the trap door in the stage for
his entrances and exits, a stage tradition used throughout the 18th
century. Felt
soles were used when Barton Booth played the ghost in early 18th
century to muffle his footsteps. (Hapgood) more
More modern productions of Hamlet diverge
widely in their handling of the ghost. Lighting effects and smoke are
common: sometimes the ghost appears as a bright light, sometimes as a
shadow. In a 1965 Royal Shakespeare Company production, Peter Hall had
a ten-foot high figure built and wrapped in cloth and placed on a
wheeled platform so it seemed to float as it moved. (Hapgood)
In a 1978 Q1 production in Prague, the Ghost wore amour and bloody
bandages. (Ard. 1603) The ASC's 2007 production added sound effects to
the Ghost's entrance with wind, drums, and music from a dulcimer, (ASC
2007) whereas the MFA production in the same year used the sounds of
actors blowing into the bottom of a djembe drum. (Vincent)
Barnardo’s statement confirms that,
while the Ghost is indeed similar to the old King, none of the men
believe the Ghost actually is Old Hamlet. The motivation and identity
of
the Ghost is in question from its first appearance.
There are several possible reasons for this:
one
is that Horatio, as a scholar, speaks Latin, and may therefore be able
to exorcise the Ghost. Additionally, there were beliefs that a ghost
could not speak until spoken to, and that speaking to the ghost was
necessary to ascertain its business and identity, eventually and
ideally
leading to the ghost’s permanent departure. (Ard. Q2)
Up
until about the beginning of the 17th century, "thou/thee/thy" were
considered familiar terms of address, to be used with family, close
friends, and social inferiors. The more formal "you" address was used
toward social superiors or equals who were unrelated to/unfamiliar with
the speaker. However,
the exact meanings of these modes of address were quite flexible and
(therefore) confusing. (see Freedman for a more complete survey)
Although Horatio uses the familiar, intimate “thou” to address the
Ghost, which would be incorrect if he believed the apparition to be the
King, by the time Shakespeare wrote Hamlet,
the "thee/you" distinction was becoming less strict and was
obsolete by the 1630s, so it is difficult to say whether Horatio is
being disrespectful.
To take or hold possession of (something
belonging to another or others) by sleight or force; to appropriate by
ruse or violence; to steal. (OED) Horatio means that the Ghost usurps
both the night and the
figure of the dead King.
A person's status or rank; also, the
clothing, etc. that indicates that rank. (OED)
Horatio uses the rhetorical figure synecdoche to draw a
parallel between the dead King and his endangered country.
Throughout the play, "Denmark" is used to reference both the
physical nation and its ruler.
Synecdoche: a figure in which
a whole is represented by one of its parts, or vice-versa. In this
case, the King stands for the entire country and/or the name of the
country stands for its ruler. (Silva Rhetoricae)
Possibly because of the way Horatio addresses
it, possibly because of the belief that Ghosts spoke only to whom they
bore
messages. (Grose, in Ard. Q2)
Productions have used many creative
devices to make the ghost disappear at his various exit points: many
companies dress extra actors as duplicate ghosts so it can seem that he
appears in more than one place (this is especially true of the ghosts'
next exit).
In Charles Fetcher's 1864 Lyceum Theater production in
London, "the ghost stood behind a large concealed wheel which, when
started, caught up, at each revolution, a fresh piece of some almost
transparent stuff, artfully tinted to match the background, until the
requisite thickness was obtained. The ghost apparently melted into thin
air." (New York Evening Post Magazine,
20 December 1919; quoted in Hapgood). (Hapgood)
Guarantee, assurance. (OED- first usage)
The King of Norway.
Parley or meeting; here, apparently a hostile
encounter.
Defeated the Polish army,
who
rode to battle on sleds.
Exactly, precisely.
A striding gait; a stately or
pompous mode of walking (OED). In the Ghost’s case, a military gait.
Through the area they are designated
to watch.
"For what specific purpose"
In many obvious applications of the sense
‘outbreak’: An outbreak of disease, war, calamity, or evil of any kind.
(OED)
Denmark
An indication that the nightly watch the
men are a part of is unusual.
Denmark is producing cannons for war.
Trade
Forced
service; drafting, conscription.
Christian IV, Pieter
Isaacs (1611-1616)
Fredericksborg
Castle, Denmark
The shipwrights are
working without relief. The entire passage may well refer to Christian
IV of Denmark and Norway, who from 1596-1610 took great pains to
increase his military forces, particularly the navy. (Ard. Jenkins)
In this passage, Hamlet gives the history
of the present conflict. Old Hamlet and Old Fortinbras fought in
single combat for possession of a portion of each other’s lands.
Fortinbras, losing,
also lost his son’s inheritance. Young Fortinbras, now grown, raises an
army against Denmark in an effort to reclaim his inheritance.
Horatio’s intermittent use of “our,” as
well as his extensive knowledge of Danish history, could be seen in
conflict with his decided position as a foreigner to the court. It is
clear in other places that his sole connection to Denmark is
Hamlet.
Father to young Fortinbras, who
marches against Denmark.
Ambitious (OED)
A covenant or contract made between two or more
persons or parties (OED).
Heraldic
Law
governed the
bestowing of arms
and combat,
such as that between the two
kings. (Brooke-Little)
In possession of; some editors believe this
refers
only to the King's personal estates, not to their entire kingdoms.
(Ard. Q2)
Equal amount.
Staked, bet.
Untried, unproved. (OED)
Outskirts
Fortibras does not have his
uncle, the regent’s, support, so he gathers mercenary soldiers or
younger sons (who do not inherit land) instead
of Norway’s legitimate fighting force.
The men are fed, as well as their presence
“feeds” Fortinbras’ cause.
Cause, reason.
To cross its path, or make the sign of the
cross
toward it. Some suggest that the fear the Ghost may "blast" Horatio
suggests a confrontation rather than the sign of the cross, which
theoretically would protect him. The ghost in Fetcher's Lyceum
production (London, 1864), stopped at the sign of the cross before
continuing his exit. (Hapgood)
To wither, shrivel,
blight; to curse. (OED)
An
unreal visual appearance, an apparition,
phantom. (OED)
Help the Ghost escape purgatory and enter
heaven.
Have knowledge of.
Here Horatio speaks to the Ghost as
though he is the King he appears to be, perhaps more in an attempt to
entice it to speak than actual belief.
Perhaps; fortunately (OED)
To obtain from a reluctant person by violence,
torture, intimidation, or abuse of legal or official authority. (OED)
Horatio seems to assume this is the reason the Ghost is not at peace.
Gathered
Underground
Majestic
Threaten it with.
Probably "invulnerable," which is what the
Arden prints.
Because the Ghost is
insubstantial, they cannot actually fight it and Marcellus
suggests it is insulting to pretend otherwise.
In Q2, there is a stage direction
for "the cock crows" after Horatio's "oft walk in death" (1.1.127).
Dreadful, terrible, awful (OED).
Herald
Phoebus Apollo
In Greek and
Roman mythology, Apollo is a god variously associated with the sun,
light, music, poetry, the arts, medicine, archery, truth, and
prophecy. He is depicted as the ideal of masculine youth and beauty and
is the patron of Delphi. In the above image,
he is shown with two of his symbols: the lute (music and the arts), and
the python (medicine). The snake as a symbol of medicine is still
familiar as the Caduceus, the image of a staff and two snakes used by
the American Medical Association. (Hamilton)
F: "extravagant." A
spirit who has wandered
past their normal boundaries (i.e., their graves, purgatory, etc).
Proof
The cock or rooster.
Traditionally, nights were “unwholesome,”
such
as in Julius Caesar: "What,
is Brutus sick? / And will he steal out of his wholesome bed, / To dare
the vile contagion of the night / And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
/ To add unto his sickness?" (2.1.262-6).
To deprive a person suddenly of life, or
of one of the faculties (OED).
F: talks. "Talks" would imply saying charms,
whereas "takes" may reference the belief that fairies stole human
children and replaced them with fairy babies ("changlings"), or more
generally that fairies would steal objects.
Filled
with Heavenly Grace.
Holy
Golden; the color associated with this name has
changed over time and now refers to a brownish-red. (OED)
End their watch, disperse.
Necessary because of the love they bear Hamlet,
and appropriate to their offices as servants of the royal family.
The King is not given
a name in the stage directions, speech prefixes, or dialogue in Q1.
In the 1983 Nottingham Playhouse production, the King wore waxed
mustaches reminiscent of a villain from a silent film. (Irace)
Referred to as "Gertred" in the text.
In the 2003 Theatre of NOTE production, a woman
(Alina Phelan) was cast as Hamlet; over 200 women have performed the
role to date on the professional stage. (Ard. 1603)
The
character called 'Polonius' in the other
two texts. For the meaning of the two names, see the Dramatis Personae.
In this text, the King has
personally written to Young Fortinbras and sends the ambassadors to Old
Norway; in the other texts, the King communicates only with Old Norway.
Wanting
in shame or modesty; insolently
disrespectful. (OED) Irace and others print "impotent," which is used
to describe Old Norway in Q2 and Folio.
In the 2007 ASC production, Corambis
whispered the names of the ambassadors to the King.
Voltemar and Cornelia are
not to discuss or deal with anything other than the issue at hand.
Do not doubt it.
Francis RTM Boyle, as Claudius in the
2007 Mary Baldwin MFA show, used this line to deliberately insult
Hamlet in front of the rest of the court by addressing Leartes before
the Prince. (Boyle)
For Old Hamlet; Leartes does not mention
the King's coronation in this text.
Gregory Jon Phelps as Leartes started to say "coronation,"
then looked to Hamlet and instead said "funeral rites." (ASC 2007)
Consent, permission. (OED)
The Q1 King refers to Hamlet as his son more
frequently than the King in the other texts.
James Keegan, Vanessa Morosco,
Christopher Seiler, and Brett Sullivan Santry in the ASC's 2007
production of Hamlet.
Photo by Tommy Thompson,
courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
Referring to Leartes.
A
city in Germany. Also, the University
Martin Luther attended and taught at; it is mentioned several times in
Marlowe’s Dr Faustus. (Brecht)
In 1.1,
the possible reference to the Casseopoeia
supernova is also connected to Wittenberg, where it was first
observed.
Used to generally indicate any relationship
that was specifically not father, child, or sibling.
The King/Claudius character has a complex history, some (Patrick
Stewart, for example)
have played him as a sincere, affectionate, relatively benign ruler
until he is in danger of having his crimes revealed. Others have played
him solely as Hamlet views him: lecherous and uncouth. Still more have
found a middle ground. (Hapgood)
Sable
refers to the fur of a small
animal, which was used as a trim on expensive garments. (OED) The fur
was
black or dark brown, so "sable" also means the color dark brown or
black.
Ben Curns as Hamlet in the American Shakespeare Center's 2007
production.
Photo by Tommy Thompson,
courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
Because of the color, it would be appropriate for mourning garb.
(Cressy) In
the other texts, however, Hamlet makes a distinction between "sables"
and mourning clothes.
Behavior
Face
This
is the first speech in
which we see Hamlet’s preoccupation with the disjunct between internal
feelings and external displays. Hamlet is saying that none of the
visible indicators of his grief equal the depth of his feelings caused
by his father's sudden death.
In Q2 and Folio, it is Gertrude and not Hamlet
who brings up Hamlet's dead father.
Go from, forsake, leave. (OED)
Decoration, embellishment. (OED)
End of time.
Without having.
Toast
“Sallied,”
assaulted or besieged.
Editors frequently amend this to “sullied,” tainted. F's “solid flesh”
and
“melting” continue Hamlet’s preoccupation with the inability of the
outside to convey inside feeling.
In
this text, the first half of the King's opening speech (in which he
announces his marriage to Gertrude and makes it clear that he is
Hamlet's uncle) is missing, making this the first explicit mention of
the Queen's remarriage, the King's relation to Hamlet, and the time
line
since Old Hamlet's death.
Giovanni da Bologna, Hercules
and the Centaur (1600)
Displayed in the Loggia dei Lanzi,
Florence
Mythical Greek hero, son of Zeus and
Alcmena, who performed twelve impossible labors. (Hamilton)
In 1988, Mark Rylance
used his small stature to comic effect when comparing himself to
Hercules. (Hapgood)
False
Redness or flowing.
Irritated or sore.
See Antony
and Cleopatra:
“Other women cloy / The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry /
Where most she satisfies…” (2.2.235-7).
Ben Curns as Hamlet brought a miniature of his father out of his pocket
at this point. (ASC 2007)
Manual
or manipulative skill; adroitness.
(OED)
In Deuteronomy, an edict declares that if
a man's brother dies while married but before producing a male heir,
the widow should be married to one of his brothers, who will "raise up
seed to
his brother." In Leviticus, however, this same relationship is
considered incest. The belief set forth in Leviticus became the
Judeo-Christian doctrine followed by all major religions; tables of
kinship based on the relationships in Leviticus made it clear what was
and was not considered incestuous. (KJV)
On a historical note, Henry VIII received special dispensation to marry
Katherine of Aragon after her first husband (his brother) died. He
later dismissed her by declaring the marriage incestuous by canon law
when he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. (Oxford DNB:
Katherine of Aragon)
Jacques-Louis David, Apollo and Diana
Attacking the Children of Niobe (1772),
The Dallas Museum of Art
Niobe was the mother of fourteen children in
Greek mythology. She boasted of her fruitfulness to Leto, mother of
Apollo and Artemis. In retaliation, the goddess had her children kill
Niobe’s children. Niobe wept until she turned into a weeping statue or
waterfall. (Hamilton)
Although
Barnardo is not mentioned with Marcellus and Horatio in the stage
direction, Horatio's line at 115 "these Gentlemen, / Marcellus and
Bernardo" indicates that he is on stage.
Afternoon/evening.
Kronberg Castle, photo courtesy of
Madelyn von Baeyer.
Modern day Helsingor; the castle is Kronberg.
Characterized
or marked by truancy or
idleness; lazy. (OED)
The leftovers from the funeral
were still unspoiled and could be served by the time of the wedding.
Many productions use this as an almost
comic moment, having Horatio and the others react as though the ghost
had appeared again on stage (for example, William Charles Macready,
Edwin Booth, and the 1930 Harcourt Williams production with John
Gielgud). (Hapgood)
End, desist. (OED)
Wonder, amazement. (OED)
Ard. 1603 and others emend to "waste," but
Shakespeare uses a similar phrase in The
Tempest: "urchins / Shall, for that vast of night that they may
work, / All exercise on thee..." (1.2.325-7)
"Vast" refers to an immense space (OED), and here probably refers to
the time around midnight when Ghosts and other paranormal happens
supposedly took place.
French: "from head to foot."
Truncheon; a military staff; the shaft of a
spear.
(OED)
Melted or dissolved, reduced.
(OED)
In
her work on early modern actors'
parts, Tiffany Stern uses Hamlet's questioning of the guards as an
example of repeated cues- cues which contain words or phrases that are
repeated in the following line. This kind of writing which would make
memorization easier and, in combination with the shortness of the
lines,
encourage the dialogue to move rapidly. (Shakespeare in Parts)
The
movable visor on his helmet.
Expression
Until the average person could
count to 100.
Grey
Black or dark brown mixed with grey.
Perhaps
Capable of being held in, back, or
controlled. (OED)
Hamlet immediately guesses that the Ghost
will tell him his death was a murder.
Essentially, the truth
will out, no matter who tries to bury it.
Leartes gave Ofelia a
piggyback ride onto the stage in the ASC's 2007 production.
Onboard; travel to
France would be faster by sea than overland,
particularly if Laertes is going to Paris.
"Thee"
is generally a more familiar term of address than "you." Thee/you
shifts are sometimes used by actors and scholars to signal emotional or
tactical changes, particularly in instances such as these, where a
character changes modes of address in the middle of a speech (line 5).
While often useful and interesting, it is good to remember that this distinction was
becoming obsolete during the first 30 years of the seventeenth century.
Wariest, most careful. (OED)
Excessively wasteful. (OED)
Diana Turns Actaeon into a Stag, Hendrick
van Balen (1605)
The painting depicts the punishment of Actaeon, a hunter who saw
Diana's
nakedness. After being turned into a stag, Actaeon was eaten by his own
hunting dogs.
The moon was an emblem
of Artemis/Diana, one of the three virgin goddesses in Greek and Roman
mythology (Hamilton); he implies that even the moon cannot be trusted
with
nakedness.
False,
malicious misrepresentation; slanders. (OED)
Reputation (OED)
1. In ancient Greece, one specially engaged
in the pursuit or communication of knowledge; esp. one who undertook to
give instruction in intellectual and ethical matters in return for
payment. 3. One who makes use of fallacious arguments; a specious
reasoner. (OED)
Dissolute
or wanton young man; the name
technically applied to any person who held loose religious beliefs.
(from OED)
To
take care, heed, or thought of some thing.
(OED)
Corambis,
as Polonius in the other texts, blesses his son with some sort of
action, usually a touch or kiss of some kind. (Parker)
Rules for action or conduct. (OED) The
quotation marks may mean these precepts come from proverbs and so are
well known.
Christopher
Seiler as Corambis (ASC 2007)
Photo by Tommy Thompson, courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
Undeveloped,
untried. "Unfledged" literally refers to a bird not yet covered with
feathers and therefore incapable of flight. (OED)
Highest classes.
In both his 1965 and 1980 roles
as Polonius, Tony Church pretended not to overhear Laertes and
Ophelia, and whistled along with her humming of "How should I your true
love know?" for a few moments before suddenly asking her about Hamlet. (Hapgood)
Nesbit wrote, “The first thing
the audience hears is Polonius’ use of
the formal ‘you’ with Ophelia, after just having used the more
familiar, more tender ‘thy’ with Laertes…I tried to find a balance
between wanting to please [Polonius] and being slightly afraid of him.”
(10).
Regarding.
Susan Heyward as Ofelia tried to exit after this line. (ASC 2007)
Offers;
the word sometimes had the
connotation of formality, sometimes not.
Susan Heyward was not initially cautious or defensive; she was
genuinely excited about Hamlet's feelings until her father questioned
his sincerity. (ASC 2007)
A diagram for a springe, from Gervase
Markham's Hungers Prevention, or, The Whole Art of
Fowling (1655).
Traps for woodcocks, a type of long-billed bird with brown and black
plumage thought
to be particularly stupid and easy to catch.
Lust is aroused.
Q1's
Ofelia seems more resistant to Corambis. In Q2/F, this second speech
about the letters is a continuation of the first, whereas in Q1 it
appears specifically prompted by Ofelia's line.
Similarly expressed by Viola
(disguised as a man) in Twelfth
Night:
"We men
may say more, swear more, but indeed
Our shows are
more than will; for still we prove
Much in our
vows, but little in out love. " (2.4.116-118)
Severely,
harshly. (OED)
Sharp;
bitter. (OED)
Biting
Stays
awake.
Carouses; takes a bout of drinking.
(OED)
A carousal; riotous festivity, reveling. (OED)
Dances riotously; the
“upspring” was a German dance.
Common name for Rhine wine, a traditionally
upper-class drink.
Traditionally Danish
instruments. According to a
contemporary account, the Danish March was played on kettledrums and
trumpets during King James and Queen
Anne's coronation in 1603.
Make loud, harsh noises; as a donkey.
His drinking the draught in one
gulp.
Meaning the Danish custom should
seem normal and correct.
It would be more
honorable to forgo the custom than to follow it.
David Garrick as Hamlet
Hamlet's first encounter with
the Ghost is a moment greatly affected by theatrical tradition. In the
early eighteenth century there was a tradition of Hamlet making some
sort of attack on the Ghost. Later in the century, David Garrick's
reaction became and remained the most famous: he would stagger back two
to three steps, being caught by his friends and ending on his knees;
during the stagger, his hat (specially designed) would fly off
gracefully, he would spread his arms wide, and the mechanical wig he
wore made each hair raise on his scalp. (Hapgood)
Charles Kean (1838) reacted more calmly, slowly sinking to his knees.
Alec Guiness (1951) received praise for his lack of movement,
especially in light of the well-known tradition. Michael Redgrave then
followed Guiness' tradition a few years later. (Hapgood)
Shape that begs questions.
Consecrated; having received all formal
burial rights. (OED)
Armored corpse.
Basically, the sight of
the corpse/Ghost makes fools of mortal men, who cannot comprehend
either the sight itself or the implications of its appearance.
Courtly; noble. (OED)
Sea
F/Q2: "beetles ore his base:" meaning the cliff
juts out over the water. The OED does not have an entry for "beckles."
Hamlet feels his life is
worthless.
Artery
Khris Lewin as Hamlet, Eric Shoen as
Horatio, and James Beneduce as Marcellus
Photo by Tommy Thompson,
courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
The Nemean Lion was an invincible beast
with an impenetrable skin; the first of Hercules’ impossible labors
was to kill the Nemean Lion, and he is often depicted wearing the
lion's pelt. (Hamilton)
Before John Philip Kemble (1783-1817)
Hamlets followed the Ghost out with the point of his sword aimed toward
the Ghost. Kemble, and later Charles Kean, allowed the sword to trail
behind him. Edwin Booth and Charles Fetcher in the 1860s carried the
sword as a cross before them. (Hapgood)
Grows
Hear; throughout Hamlet's production
history, actors playing the Ghost have used vocal effects to indicate
that they are speaking from another world. Some descriptions include
William Charles Macready's ability to speak "without resonance"
(qtd. in Ard. Q2),
Nicol Williamson's use of his own voice for the Ghost, and Jonathan
Pryce's interpretation of the Ghost as a presence possessing Hamlet
(inspired by The
Exorcist). (Hapgood)
The Mary Baldwin MFA
production in 2007 placed members of the cast
backstage to add breathing effects and repeat certain words of the
Ghost's speech, creating an otherworldly effect without technology.
(Vincent 10)
Souls being rescued
from the various torments of Purgatory (land, water, and fire). From Les Tres Riches Heurus du Duc de Berry.
In
Catholic tradition, Purgatpry is an intermediary location where souls
are punished and purified before entering Heaven. Souls in
Purgatory remained there until their sins were repaid; it was possible
for those still living to pray for those in purgatory to shorten the
duration of their punishment. (Catholic
Encyclopedia)
In Protestant belief, their was neither
Purgatory nor intercession.
Disclosure,
revelation. (OED)
Eye sockets
Of hair. Some suggest this means elaborately
styled, others that Hamlet's appearence is unkempt because he is in
mourning.
In Peter Brooks' 2000 production, Hamlet wore his hair in
dreadlocks. (Brooks)
According to
tradition, David
Garrick wore a mechanical wig when playing Hamlet so that, when the
Ghost appeared, his hair could literally stand on end. (Hapgood)
Porcupine
Public
show or announcement. (OED)
At this point, James Keegan as the
Ghost removed his helmet and approached his son. (ASC 2007)
The best it can be is the
foulest murder.
From the proverb, “As swift
as thought.” (Dent, in Ard. Q2)
Wharf on the banks of the Lethe, one of
the rivers through Hades, whose water made those who touched it forget.
(Hamilton)
All the subjects of Denmark.
Falsified
Hamlet and his father are the only two
characters in the play who seems to consider the relationship
incestuous, despite the biblical precedent for their belief.
Though
Probably "sate:" satiate; satisfy. (OED)
Vitrue and Lust are equally strong in
their own inclinings.
Wait
Scent
As in 1.1, the time between midnight and
sunrise passes extremely quickly.
Poison; in Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, “Hebon” is a
poison. Both these names may be variations on “henbane," a poisonous
plant.
Into his ears; both the
historical murder of the Duke of Urbino, and a character in Marlowe’s Edward II refer to this as a
successful means of poison. Modern understandings of anatomy and
medicine suggest this would not actually work. (Bullough, v.7)
Apparently the poison caused
scales and discoloration similar to leprosy on the King’s skin.
Shakespeare's is the first usage of "distillment" listed in the OED.
"Quicksilver:" liquid mercury.
Like something sour, which would
curdle milk.
Blistering and
scaling, similar to the leprosy mentioned earlier in the passage.
"Accounts;" because Old Hamlet
had no
confession, he is now in purgatory for his unforgiven sins. This makes
his murder worse, as his suffering is prolonged.
Some editors assign this
line to Hamlet, as in productions by David
Garrick, Sir John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier and Kevin Kline. (Hapgood)
The Ghost has a consistently
lienient and protective attitude toward Gertrude.
Female glow-worms are visible at night; as the
sun rises, they appear to stop.
F/Q2: "matin." Morning; more specifically, a
Catholic church
ceremony taking place early in the morning. (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Begins
Adieu: farewell; literally translated ‘[I
commend you] to God.’
James Keegan ended his speech on the ground near the trap, then
propelled himself into it as though dragged down by an invisible force.
(ASC 2007)
Join with.
As though his mind were a wax
tablet.
Commonplaces
or maxims. (OED)
Causing or likely to cause harm, esp. in a
gradual or insidious manner; dangerous, destructive; evil. (OED)
Fit
In 1964, Richard Burton knelt to
pray; Mark Rylance slit his palm and touched his forehead. (Hapgood)
Perhaps mocking his friends’ call as
though they were falconers.
Truly base and deceitful man. (from OED)
Undisciplined, violent. (OED)
Shakespeare’s only reference to
this
Saint. He is the saint of Purgatory, and his most famous miracle was
banishing snakes from Ireland (Catholic
Encyclopedia), linking to the Ghost’s designation of
his brother as a “serpent.”
Both John Henderson and John Philip Kemble
(collectively 1777-1817), tried throughout these speeches to find a
chance to confide in Horatio, but were stopped by the presence of
Marcellus. (Hapgood)
A stand-in for a crucifix or cross.
Probably meaning
Ghost used the trap at the Globe, allowing the actor to be underneath
the stage.
Latin: “Here and everywhere.”
To move or shift from or out of the place
occupied. (OED) Hamlet's lines in response to the Ghost suggest that
the men are moving about the stage looking for a place to make the oath.
Abbreviation of "howsoever."
Antic: clownlike,
wild, or fantastical. (OED) Hamlet
explicitly
warns
the men of his plan, possibly prompted by the Ghost’s warning against
madness.
Folded or crossed.
Either from the medical practice of
setting bones or from carpentry; similar to Claudius’ description of
Fortinbras’ impression of Denmark's weakness.
Several events in the second
act suggest a significant time lapse: Laertes has successfully returned
to Paris, the Ambassadors sent to Norway have completed their mission
and return in the second scene, and later in the play Ophelia comments
that it has been “twice two months” since Hamlet’s father died,
effectively suggesting that two months have passed since Hamlet
encountered the Ghost, at which time he claimed it was two months since
his father’s death.
In Q2 and F, this character is Reynaldo. John
Harrell wore a costume reminiscent of The
Music Man and carried a trombone. (ASC 2007)
Visiting
prostitutes. Polonius' accepting attitude toward Laertes' sexual habits
is in striking contrast to his concern for Ophelia's virtue.
In Kenneth Branagh's 1996 film, Polonius has a prostitute with him
during the beginning of the scene.
Responds to you
with the following.
Guide
or control. (OED) Meaning Montano will be
able to control the conversation and therefore the listeners perception
of Leartes.
Abbreviation of videlicet: “that is to say.”
(Latin)
Understanding, the ability to comprehend. (from
OED)
Indirect questioning discover
what you are looking for.
Practice
Forcibly deprived, robbed. (OED)
A more public
space than the closet or chamber mentioned in the other
texts.
The disheveled manner of Hamlet’s
dress and his distracted manner is consistent with what were considered
symptoms and signs of madness. (Gellert-Lyons)
Garters were bands
which held up stockings.
J. Henry Fuseli, Hamlet and Ophelia,
c. 1770
Ophelia’s description has
prompted many productions to stage this moment in dumb show, as Tom
Stoppard does in Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern are Dead. Some Ophelias, such as Julia Marlowe in
1904 and Kate Winslet in 1996 (film), reenact the encounter with
herself
as Hamlet and Polonius as herself. (Hapgood)
Basically, old men are just as
likely to read too much into things and be too cautious as young men
are
to be reckless.
Polonius, now at least, appears to believe
that Hamlet's feelings were genuine.
In Q2 and F, Ophelia does not
actually appear with Polonius in the following scene.
Corambis seems less concerned
with the social difference between Hamlet and Ophelia in this text than
in Q2 and F.
In Q1, this scene contains the following
events, in chronological order:
-The arrival of Rossencraft and Gilderstone (Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern)
-The return of the ambassadors from Norway
-Corambis reads Hamlet's letter to Ofelia to the King and Queen
-"To be or not to be" (3.1 in Q2 and F)
-The nunnery sequence (3.1 in Q2 and F)
-The fishmonger sequence
-Rossencraft and Gilderstone's first meeting with Hamlet
-The arrival of the players
-The Player's speech
-Hamlet's plan to "catch the conscience of the King"
In Q2, the "to be or not to be" speech and the nunnery scene are in a
separate scene (3.1) which comes after the other events in this scene
(corresponding to 2.2). Q1's sequence is more direct, placing the
play-within-a-play almost immediately after Hamlet makes his plan
to
trap the King, and lessening the indecisive quality of the character so
prevalent in Q2 and F.
The 1983 Nottingham Playhouse Q1 production used the Q2/F scene order.
(Irace)
To regard or receive favorably. (OED)
To force or squeeze out. (OED)
Derangement or disturbance of the ‘humour’
or ‘temper’ (according to mediæval physiology regarded as due to
disturbance in the bodily ‘humours.’ (OED)
Rossencraft is telling the King
that he may request anything from them because they are his "liege-men"
without needing to offer incentives.
Although in some productions the Queen
reverses the order of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's names for
politeness' sake (such as in the 1975 Buzz Goodbody production starring
Ben Kingsley as Hamlet), many make a comic moment out of the line by
implying that Claudius cannot tell the men apart. Garrick and others
have felt the characters are basically interchangeable, an idea Tom
Stoppard plays with in Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern are Dead. (Hapgood)
Ofelia's presence in this scene has bothered
many scholars and editors, but in performance the alienation and
humiliation of hearing her father read her love letter aloud has been
praised for its effectiveness. (Irace)
The (visible) path of an animal. (OED)
Red Shift (1999-2000) had the King
read this passage as a letter, allowing him to skim over or emphasize
different parts of the speech. This was a strategy to deal with what
the company felt were disjointed moments in the language of Q1. (Ard.
1603)
As soon as they presented the problem.
Raising an army.
In the larger political world of
the play, Norway and Poland are at war, as Denmark and Poland were
during Old Hamlet’s reign.
Map of Europe in 1600.
After receiving Fortinbras’
promise not to march on Denmark, Norway supports and encourages the
action against Poland. As shown on the map above, Denmark controlled
any direct sea or land passage between Norway and Poland.
Unmarried and therefore living in Corambis'
home.
In the 1996 Kenneth Branagh film, Q1's
staging inspired Branagh to add
Kate Winslet to this scene. Richard Briers, as Polonius, made her read
the letter herself. (Branagh)
Ofelia and Corambis fought briefly over the letter in the 2007 ASC
production. After hearing the letter, the Vanessa Morosco as the Queen
laughed happily and seemed genuinely shocked at Corambis' next speech.
This entire speech implies to the
King and Queen that Corambis does not believe Ofelia is good enough to
be Hamlet's wife, an attitude that is not explicit in scene 6, when she
first approaches him about Hamlet's changed behavior.
Madness
In this text, Corambis' plan
depends on Hamlet's habit of walking in the gallery. In Q2 and F,
Polonius claims to have sent for Hamlet, which would seem to have the
potential of tipping off Hamlet to the setup.
The King and Corambis hide in a "study" in Q1, not behind an arras,
which makes it possible they could use one of the stage doorways
instead of the central curtain.
Ophelia’s description of his appearance
in the previous scene is frequently used to influence Hamlet's
costuming
here, though
it is rare that he appears exactly as she describes. A contemporary
account of Burbadge refers to
how 'mad Hamlet put off his cloathes, his shirt he only weares.'
(Anthony Skoloker, qtd. in Hapgood 157)
Olivier wore his doublet unbraced; Branagh wore a straitjacket; Charles
Kean in 1838 used none of Ophelia's description and caused a scandal by
appearing impeccably dressed; the "down-gyved" stockings were popular
in the eighteenth century. (Hapgood)
Interestingly, it is only in F that
Hamlet's entrance cue comes after Polonius and the King have hidden
behind the arras; in both of the Quartos the stage direction allows
Hamlet to watch the men hide, making him aware of their presence
throughout the scene.
Away,
at some distance. (OED) In none of the texts is Ophelia encouraged to
initiate contact with Hamlet.
Susan Heyward as Ofelia in the ASC's
2007 production.
Photo by Tommy Thompson, courtesy of
the American Shakespeare Center.
Garrick opened the speech slowly, with great contemplation. Pavel
Mochalov, in part to keep the audience from speaking the speech along
with him, ran on and delivered the line before the audience could
anticipate him. (Hapgood)
Click here
to hear Bob Jones (Mary Baldwin MFA '09) perform this speech.
Ben Curns asked an audience member seated
on the stage this question and waited for a response before continuing
the speech. (ASC 2007)
Dreaming, not death, is what creates
hesitation.
Ard. 1603 prints "we're awaked," which seems
true to the meaning of the sentence.
Brought, carried before.
A release or respite from life; an ending of
life, death; something that causes death. (OED)
A small (or unsheathed) dagger; "bodkin"
could also refer to a small pointed object worn in women's hair. (OED)
In
several early modern dramas, characters commit suicide or murder with
such an object. Hamlet's point is that death is easy to come by.
Kenneth Branagh drew a dagger at this point. (Hapgood)
Ben Curns mimed stabbing himself. (ASC 2007)
Paradise; at the time, those who
committed suicide were thought to be damned and were not allowed to be
buried in sacred ground. (Catholic
Encyclopedia; MacDonald) In all three texts, this becomes an
issue
after Ophelia's death.
Puzzles
Prayers
Truthful and/or chaste.
Allow no conversation with.
License, liberty.
Previously; several Hamlets have referred
to the letters at this point, essentially saying that now Ophelia has
betrayed him anything is possible. (Hapgood)
A statement or tenet contrary to received
opinion or belief. (OED)
Hard, cold; insensible to feeling.
Ofelia creates a rhyming couplet,
something which some actors and scholars believe suggests an attempt to
leave a scene or end
a conversation. This comes from Shakespeare's
tendency to use rhyming couplets announce the ends of scenes. (Tucker)
Susan
Heyward attempted an exit here, but stopped when
she heard Hamlet tearing the letters he had written for her. (ASC 2007)
Ellen Terry and Kate Terry both lingered over the love
tokens, forced to give them up only because she is being watched. (Hapgood)
Convent, but also slang term for “brothel.”
Tolerably
Command
Ofelia and Hamlet hugged each other,
then Ofelia broke away suddenly when she remembered her father was
watching. It was her sudden movement that told Hamlet he was being
watched; although the ASC had preserved his early entrance in the
scene, Hamlet was too absorbed in his reading to notice the King and
Corambis. (ASC 2007)
Here is a popular moment for
Hamlet to realize they are being spied upon. With Julia Marlowe, it was
the look on her face that told E.H. Sothern; with Barrymore, he caught
a glimpse of Polonius' face. (Hapgood)
Wilson Barrett in 1884 yelled these
lines at the arras. (Hapgood)
Ice and snow lack heat, which was thought to
provoke lust. (Arika)
Libel, slander. (OED)
Woodcut of a man with cuckold's horns.
Men whose wives were unfaithful were
depicted with “cuckold’s horns.” (OED) Both Richard Burton and Edwin
Booth
made a gesture to indicate horns. (Hapgood)
Hamlet begins to generalize about
women.
"Jig" (dance).
Move slowly, stroll.
Claim your lascivious or foolish
behavior is merely ignorance. Jonathan Pryce pushed Harriet Walter to
the wall and then the floor, grabbing her breast and crotch and kissing
her, then rolling away and recoiling. (Hapgood)
Any of several infectious diseases characterized by
a rash of pustules (pocks), esp. smallpox, cowpox, and chickenpox. (OED)
A disease characterized by general debility of
the body, extreme tenderness of the gums, foul breath, subcutaneous
eruptions and pains in the limbs, induced by exposure and by a too
liberal diet of salted foods. Now recognized as due to insufficient
ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in the diet.(OED)
Susan Heyward kissed Hamlet to quiet him here. (ASC 2007)
Hamlet may suspect Polonius’
theory about the reason for his lunatic behavior, especially since he
saw Corambis conspiring and involving Ophelia at the beginning of the
scene.
To break or split into splinters or long
narrow pieces, or in such a way as to leave a rough jagged end or
projections. (OED) This is the OED's first recorded usage of the word
in a figurative sense.
Rossencraft and Gilderstone.
One who deals in fish (OED); a
whoremaster, from the slang "fish" for prostitute. Monger: one
who promotes undesirable things.
Henry Condell, an
actor in Shakespeare's company and one of the compilers of the first
Folio, was the son of a fishmonger. (DNB)
Struggle
Between
a Woman and a Satyr, Augustine
Hirshvogel (1545)
Mythological half-human, half-goat creature
associated with lust and drunkenness. (Hamilton) Here probably used as
a general insult.
The
back of the thigh; the thigh and buttock collectively. (OED)
Hamstrings.
Plagued by gout: a specific constitutional
disease occurring in paroxysms, usually hereditary and in male
subjects; characterized by painful inflammation of the smaller joints.
(OED)
Cogent (OED); also, laden with meaning or
wisdom. Hume Cronyn (1964) was amused by Hamlet's behavior; Tony Church
(1965) played dumb. (Hapgood)
Vehemency: intensity or strength. (OED)
Indoors; the "gallery" mentioned as the
setting of this scene is a kind of covered walkway or balcony along the
side of a building. Of course, the performance itself, originally
at
the
Globe, would be outdoors.
The manner of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's
entrance correlates strongly to the moment at which Hamlet discovers
that they are in the King's employ.
Miriam Donald (Gilderstone) and
Andrew Gorell (Rossencraft) in
the ASC's 2007 production.
Photo by Tommy Thompson, with
permission from the American Shakespeare Center.
Gordon Craig advocates a later
revelation of this, and therefore a more natural camaraderie when they
enter; Konstantin Stanislavsky believed Hamlet should be suspicious of
them from the first. (Hapgood)
"You felt and behaved as you did at
school." In this text, Rossencraft and Gilderstone go immediately to
the heart of the matter and do not deny that they were sent for by the
King and Queen.
Advancement to an office or position;
promotion (OED) to the Kingship. In Q2 and F, Hamlet offers this excuse
after the play-within-a-play.
"Spangle:" A small round thin piece of
glittering metal (usually brass) with a hole in the center to pass a
thread through, used for the decoration of textile fabrics and other
materials of various sorts.
Here, describing a starry sky and probably referring to the "heavens"
at the playhouse. (Adams, Jr.)
Encountered
Despite the definition of the word as "a
tragic actor" (OED), Corambis refers to their repertory as including
many genres, so they do not exclusively perform tragedies though this
may imply tragedy is what they are best known for.
Either
somewhere in Denmark, or possibly in
Wittenberg.
For some time, it was thought
that a playing company would
only travel outside of the city if the theaters were closed for plague
or other reasons. Recent scholarship has suggested this may be
otherwise since playing in private homes and other touring locations
was quite profitable. (see Cox and Knutson)
Rusty
Most acting companies performed in
outdoor public theaters, like the Globe. Boy companies performed in
private, indoor theaters, like the Blackfriars. The separation was
quite distinct for the first part of the early 1600s. (DNB: The King's
Men)
Faces
Hamlet names several stock characters.
Bold, adventurous. (OED)
A foil is a light sword used in
fencing; a target is a round shield. Both are good for stage combat
because of their light weight.
Freely
Strips of cloth used to bind infants.
The binding feeling helped keep the baby calm.
A famous actor in Ancient Rome, d. 62 B.C. (OED)
Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet made a long
business out of "buzz, buzz," chasing an imaginary fly around the stage
while Polonius tried to deliver his speech. (Hapgood)
Accounted the best ancient writer for tragedy,
he lived from 4BC-65AD. (OED)
This is probably meant to be "Plautus," the
most famous ancient writer of comedy, he
lived from 254-184 BC; he wrote the Menaechmi,
on which Shakespeare’s
The Comedy of Errors is based.
(OED)
A quotation from a popular ballad. John
Barrymore sang the lines. (Hapgood)
The Return of Jephthah by Giovanni
Antonio Pellegrini (dated
1700-1725)
The story of Jephthah appears in the Book of Judges. In order to secure
victory over the Ammonites, Jephthah pledged to sacrifice the first
thing
that approached him on his return home. When he returned, his
only daughter ran to greet him, and Jephthah was forced to sacrifice
her.
Hamlet continues to quote from the
ballad. "Passing:"
surpassingly.
Ben Curns as Hamlet sang and
did a dance for the Jephthah lines; "follows not" was because Corambis
did not do the dance on his reply. (ASC 2007)
Ard.
1603 prints each of these phrases on a separate line, as though Hamlet
is trying to remember the first words of a song.
Religious
song. Ard. 1603 and others print "ballad."
Rick Blunt, Gregory Jon
Phelps, John Harrell and Brett Sullivan Santry as the Players in the
ASC's 2007 production.
Photo by Tommy Thompson, permission
from the American Shakespeare Center.
Corey
Vincent described the players in the MFA production as, "a mix between
a modern performance art troupe and an Indian ritualistic dance
company.” (15)
A
"valance" is a piece of material used to screen something (a window,
the area under a bed, etc.). Probably the Player has grown a beard
since Hamlet puns on this in the next line.
Venetian Chopine, c. 1600.
A high, platform-heeled shoe in fashion throughout Europe, but
particularly in Venice. (OED)
Gold coins from the reign of
Elizabeth I
On a coin, a ring surrounded the image of the sovereign stamped into
the middle of the coin. If the was coin cracked "inside the ring" it
was no longer legal tender. There
is also a sexual implication about both the boy’s voice and his female
characters' virginity. (Ard Q2 and Riverside both print)
Suggesting
enthusiasm, and also possibly a lack of discretion in choosing a target.
Did not please the masses;
caviar was reportedly an acquired taste.
There was not enough variety in the
lines to make them palatable; "sallats" are sometimes glossed as bits
of spice, and the implication may be that the content of the play was
not bawdy enough.
Aeneas' Flight from Troy, Federico
Fiori Barocci (1598)
Galleria Borghese, Rome
The Death of Dido, by John Reynolds
(1781)
Royal Collection, UK
The legendary founder and queen of Carthage,
daughter of Belus and sister of Pygmalion. In Virgil, she fell in love
with Aeneas. When he left her to continue his search for the new home
in
Italy, she killed herself on a funeral pyre. (Encyclopedia Mythica)
The Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi,
1866.
Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence.
Pyrrhus was the
only son of Achilles, killed by King Priam's son Paris during the
Trojan war. He was the youngest of the
Greek warriors, noted for his savageness.
Among those he killed were the Priam, Priam's youngest daughter
Polyxena, and Hector's son Astyanax. Polyxena was
killed as a sacrifice demanded by the ghost of
Achilles after the war ended. (Encyclopedia Mythica)
The "Hyrcanian beast" of Q2/F: a
tiger.
Black; "arms" is variously interpreted to mean
"armor," or coat of arms, or that the Greeks inside the Trojan Horse
blackened their skin as a form of camouflage, or merely that Pyrrhus'
arms appear black, perhaps because of his hair. (see Ard. Q2)
Trojan horse; a hollow horse statue the
Greeks built as a trick to enter the city of Troy. They left the horse
on the beaches of Troy and sailed away, having hid soldiers inside.
Once the horse was taken into the city, the soldiers waited until
night, then emerged and sacked Troy, destroying the last of Priam's
army.
As becomes clear in the next
lines, the "more dismall" heraldry is the blood of his victims. "Guise"
refers to how a person is dressed.
Ben Curns touched his ear here,
remembering his father's death. (ASC 2007)
Suggesting the blood has dried on
his skin into a crust. Coagulate: clotted. (OED)
To form fissures or clefts; to gape open, to
split. (OED)
King
of Troy. He
became king after his father Laomedon and all his
brothers were killed by Hercules in the first sack of Troy. Priam
himself was the father, by his wife Hecuba and other women, of fifty
sons and many daughters, including Hector, Paris, and Cassandra.
A relief depicting Priam (center)
begging for the body of his son, Hector, from Achilles.
During the Trojan War, Priam's son Hector was killed by the Greek hero
Achilles. In the Iliad, Priam entered the Greek camp and pleaded with
Achilles
to return Hector's body for burial. Priam himself was finally killed by
Achilles' son, Pyhrrus, upon an altar of Zeus in the center of
Troy. (Encyclopedia Mythica)
John Harrell as the Player, with Rick
Blunt, in the ASC's 2007 production.
Photo by Tommy
Thompson, permission from the American Shakespeare Center.
David Garrick and Charles Fletcher
both mouthed the words along with the Players' speech. Other Hamlets
have followed this tradition. (Hapgood)
The Players in the 2007 ASC production supplemented the speech with
musical sound effects and dumb shows.
To hear
Solomon Stone Romney (Mary Baldwin MFA '09) perform this speech, click
here.
Priam is either too old or too weak to
fight.
Antique
A slight puff or gust of wind, (OED)
emphasizing
Priam’s weakness.
A dance performed as an after piece to a play.
Hecuba Blinding Polymestor, Guiseppe
Maria Crespi (1665-1747)
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.
Priam’s wife; she came to epitomize tragic
grief. Beyond this, Hecuba is also a revenge figure in Euripides' play,
Hecuba: she blinded the King
Polymestor for not keeping a bargain
to protect her youngest son during the Trojan War.
Muffled or wrapped
around the head (related to mabble- pro. Mobble- OED’s earliest entry
is G. Sandys 1615)
A crown or adorned cloth worn as a symbol of
honor, esp. of royal dignity. (OED)
Her old loins, weakened by their
plentiful nature (Hecuba gave birth to as many as 20
of Priam's sons).
The Death of Priam, Jules-Joseph
Lefebvre (1861)
Finely chopping.
Hecuba’s cries of
grief would have made the sun and stars weep.
The actors draw from
life for their work, and therefore what they represent is the most true
and distilled history of their age.
An inscription upon a tomb. Hence,
occasionally, a brief composition characterizing a deceased person.
(OED)
Hamlet tells Corambis to honor himself
and the players with honorable usage.
There is no evidence that this
actually refers to an extent play, despite Hamlet’s later claims that
it
comes from an Italian source.
"Dunghill" is the same kind of classist insult
as Q2/F's "peasant."
Hamlet does not include a complaint about
the succession at this point in Q2 or F. Later, however, he claims that
the King "popt in between th'election and my hopes" (5.2.70 in F).
Universal in scope (OED); it might also be in
the sense of a military commander, meaning that the Player would allow
his passion to direct his actions.
A dreamy fellow; one occupied in idle
meditation. (OED)
Proverbial; from the tradition of
the "bread and cheese" ordeal. If a person was accused of lying, they
could clear themselves by eating a plate of bread and cheese- if they
were able to swallow, they were telling the truth because a lie would
block the throat and make them choke. (Thatcher) Here it carries the
implication that the lie is about something important, and that it
is deliberate.
Gall, or bile, was thought to
prompt anger. (Arika)
Before this point been able to
feed all the birds (kites) of the sky with the King's entrails (offall).
Kitchen or other low-level domestic servant.
(OED)
Another word for prostitute.
“About it;” start working.
Shakespeare's company
performed the anonymous play A
Warning to Fair Women in 1599. In it,
a widow confesses to her husband’s murder after seeing a play that
contains a
similar scene.
To hear Christine Schmidle (Mary
Baldwin MFA '10) perform a similar passage in German from Fratricide
Punished (a German Hamlet text), click
here. To hear the
German passage in translation, click
here.
The
King is offering Rossencraft and Gilderstone an unlimited budget for
entertaining Hamlet, believing this will help him forget his grief
(over this father, Ofelia, or otherwise). There is no similar offer in
Q2 or F, though the suggestion of a reward if they succeed is still
there.
Fitting, appropriate.
Meet with each other.
A tapestry or wall
hanging. (OED)
Corambis'
use of "her" may indicate that he speaks this line to the audience or
in some other way does not include Gerterd in what he says.
The
speech Hamlet has
written to be inserted into the play. Henry Irving gave this speech as
a royal edict, and at line 4-5 mimicked a gesture the First Player used
in scene 7. (Hapgood)
John Harrell attempted to start the speech Hamlet had given him several
times and each time Ben Curns interrupted with a critique of his acting
style. (ASC 2007)
On
Quickly and lightly; nimbly. (OED)
Tiffany Stern, who has done
extensive work on Early Modern rehearsal processes, suggests that
Hamlet may be referencing a common theatrical practice with this line.
"When instructing a more minor actor, 'instruction' might have meant
simply showing the actor what to do by example [and] could be largely
based on imitation." (Shakespeare in
Parts, 68)
Recite it in an exaggerated style; Hamlet
prefers a naturalistic acting style. Richard Burbadge, who
originally played Hamlet, was noted for his naturalistic acting; while
his rival Edward Alleyn’s style was more bombastic.
A bull formerly kept in turn by the
cow-keepers of a village. (OED)
Periwig: Any highly stylized wig
of a kind formerly worn by men and women. More generally: a wig of any
kind. (OED) The former definition seems to fit more with Hamlet's
diatribe against overdone falsity.
F/Q2 "tatters:" shreds.
Medieval Christians believed this was a
Muslim deity; the name and existence of such a deity are fictional.
The
Massacre of the
Innocents, Matteo id Giovanni (1482)
Sant'Agostino, Siena
Herod
was the legendary King of Judea who
ordered the massacre of the innocents in an attempt to kill Christ.
Although the story appears only in the Book of Matthew and is
unsubstantiated in other historical sources, it was believed true in
the Early Modern period and consequently Herod
was portrayed in the theater as a ranting, violent man. (Mueller)
Somewhat, moderately.
Gait
Burbadge’s rival, Edward
Alleyn, was known for his forceful, majestic parts in which he “stalked
and roared” about the stage. (Armstrong)
A journeyman was someone between his
apprenticeship and becoming a master in his trade; often a hired
worker.
Promise (not to do so).
Kemp's Nine Days' Wonder
This is possibly a jibe at Will Kemp,
the clown who had left Shakespeare's company in 1599 (despite becoming
a sharer in the Globe) to jig from London to Norwich in nine days,
later known as Kemp's "Nine Days Wonder." The company may have been
without a clown when Hamlet was written. Their new clown, Robert Armin,
probably first appeared as Feste in Twelfth
Night. (DNB: The King's Men)
Audience members without more sense.
Again
Ben Curns and John Harrell did the following
lines (through "beer is sowre") as a comic duet. The "clown" Hamlet had
indicated earlier (Rick Blunt) laughed hysterically.
The OED lists this under "cognizance" as a
device or mark by which a person, company, etc., is known or
distinguished, as a crest, heraldic bearing, coat of arms, etc.
Cinquepace: a kind of lively dance much used
for some time before and after 1500. (OED) Cinque=five. The galliard,
which was a popular dance in Shakespeare's time, was danced to triple
time and was related to the cinquepace.
At this point, the Players
collectively turned twice to the left and spat on the stage before
exiting. (ASC 2007)
Honorable, fair.
Social experience.
Hamlet implies he cannot flatter
Horatio because he cannot expect advancement or money in return for
complimenting him. Edwin
Booth, John Barrymore, and Richard Burton's Hamlets were
praised for their tender relationships with Horatio. (Hapgood)
To discourse upon, expound, interpret. (OED)
To make white. (OED)
During
the entrance of the full court,
Macready paced in front of the footlights, flipping his
handkerchief over his shoulders. Ian McKellen (1972) used similar
handkerchief business at this point.
The
most popular arrangement of this scene
(at least in proscenium theaters) is to have the play take place
upstage center with two groups (Queen, King, Rossencraft, Gilderstone,
and Corambis; then Horatio, Hamlet and Ofelia) on either side of the
stage. In the twentieth century, placing the groups along a diagonal
across the stage became a popular variation. In 1912 in Moscow, the
staging placed the King and Queen on a high dais, the players on the
apron (with their backs to the theater audience), and a trap that ran
the width of center stage. Hamlet ran from one point on stage to
another during the play, leaping in and out of the trap.
Perhaps the most famous staging business in the performance history of
this scene is Charles Kean's "crawl," which he did from one side of the
stage to the other to end up in front of Claudius by the time the King
calls for light. (Hapgood)
Chameleons supposedly subsisted
entirely on air; Hamlet puns on air/heir, referencing the King's
support
for his succession. (OED)
Male chickens castrated and raised for eating.
Universities had student playing
companies; the title page for Q1 claims that Hamlet had played
“in the two Universities Cambridge and Oxford,” which may indicate that
Shakespeare's company performed there during a period of touring.
Julius
Cesar was probably written and performed shortly before Hamlet and this may be a
metatheatrical reference to the likelihood that the Polonius actor
played Cesar to Burbadge’s Brutus. A German tourist,
Thomas Platter, recorded seeing a production on September 21st, 1599. Hamlet is traditionally dated
1600-01. (Chambers, v.2)
Historically Cesar was killed in the
Senate House, but this line is consistent with the murder in
Shakespeare’s play.
Implying
a religious sacrifice, which is what Brutus terms Cesar’s murder in
Shakespeare’s play, "Let's be sacrificers, but not butchers,
Caius...Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods" (Julius Caesar 2.1.166, 173).
Referring literally to
magnetic power, but also a person’s character, making it a slight
insult to his mother’s honor.
Opposed in nature or tendency;
diametrically different; repugnant, antagonistic. (OED) This
phrase
seems to have the same potential for sexual innuendo that Q2 and F's
"country matters" with its pun on the first syllable.
The dumb show is a popular thing to cut
in performance, solving the
problem of why the King does not react to it. Other solutions are to
adapt the dumb show into an abstract version of the story. Some
productions, such as the 1930 Gielgud, simply make the King
inattentive, drinking and carousing with the Queen and other courtiers.
(Hapgood)
James Keegan, Vanessa Morosco, and
Christopher Seiler in the ASC's 2007 production.
Photo by Tommy Thompson, permission
from the American Shakespeare Center.
Director Michael Muller (1992 Shakespeare in the Park, Fort Worth, TX)
used kabuki style for The Murder of
Gonzago. Perry Stewart, reviewing the production,
thought the Q1 text and its dark humor particularly suited to an
outdoor space. (Irace)
The Players at the ASC provided musical accompaniment for the dumb show
with slide whistles, horns, noise makers, and a trombone. (ASC 2007)
A wicked and secretive act, referred
to as a person.
Maybe punning on "mischief" (Q2 and F), and
implying that the King (as "chief") is "myching Mallico."
Hamlet suggests Ophelia might show herself.
Stooping
A short poetic motto engraved on the inside of
a ring.
Pro. whil-OM:
some time before or ago; once upon a time. (OED)
Although printed as a full sentence, the
Duchess may
interrupt the Duke.
Only a woman who killed her first
husband would wed again; this is not necessarily meant to suggest that
Gertrude knew about the murder, but more to make her later betrayal
more grievous.
In their Q1
production, the Player Duke and Duchess delivered these lines directly
to the King and Queen. They also did this at lines 121 and 127. (ASC
2007)
A bitter substance derived from plants. In
Romeo and Juliet, the Nurse
remembers applying it to her breasts to
wean Juliet.
A
description of the plot.
Andrew Gorell, Miriam Donald, John
Harrell (Player King), Gregory Jon Phelps (Player Queen), Ben Curns and
Susan Heyward in the ASC's 2007 production.
Photo by Tommy
Thompson,
courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
Hamlet appears to have made up this title
since he specifically asked the players for The Murder of Gonzago in scene 7.
Punning on the name and intention of the
play.
In Q2 and F, the location is Vienna and
the Duke's name is Gonzago. Historically, the Duke of Urbino was
allegedly murdered by Luigi Gonzaga. Albertus is a name unique to Q1
and may be a mistake since Hamlet referred to the piece as The Murder of Gonzago in scene 7.
(Bullough, v.7)
A horse who is rubbed sore on the
withers, where a saddle would sit.
Hamlet names Albertus the King here, when he
called him the Duke earlier and is listed as Duke in the stage
directions.
Poopy: a stupid person, a fool. (OED)
Q2 and F print "puppets." During a puppet show, someone would
provide verbal commentary to the puppets’ actions.
Have Hamlet’s mourning garb.
Fur
of dark brown or black associated
with royalty. While black (sometimes called "sable") was associated
with mourning, the richness of sable fur- what Hamlet is
referring to
in this case- was more specifically associated with wealth and status.
Hamlet ignores Ophelia’s time line.
Memory is so fickle that a man must
build his own monuments to ensure others remember him after death.
A horse character in a morris dance,
played by one of the dancers.
Sharp, harsh. Also, wise. (OED)
Sex; also a euphemism for labor and birth.
Ravens were associated with death and
therefore in some cultures considered an ill omen. Richard Simpson
pointed a similar line in the anonymous play, True Tragedy of Richard III: “The
screeking Raven sits croking for revenge. / Whole heads of beasts comes
bellowing for revenge.”
The Raven was also associated with Danish sovereignty, as it appeared
on
the Viking war standard, and so the line might reference the Ghost’s
need for revenge. Odin, the Danish god of war, had two ravens named
Huggin (Thought) and Munin (Memory) who flew around the world each day
and reported what they saw to Odin.
Agreeable
Midnight, being the “witching hour”
would make the poison more potent if collected then.
Goddess of magical arts; she appears as a
character in Macbeth and The Witch.
Withered
Possess, overthrow.
In 1992/3, Branagh got so excited at
this point that he grabbed the poison from Lucianus and poured it into
the Players' ear himself. (Hapgood)
In the 2007 Mary Baldwin MFA production, Corey Vincent played the
Ghost,
Player King and First Gravedigger. She found many ways that these parts
could reference each other. The following is one example: "As a cast we
made a choice to have a stylized way of moving until the actual death
of Gonzago…I used a line of the Ghost’s text as my inspiration: ‘with a
sudden vigour it doth curd the thin and wholesome blood, so did it
mine.’" (Vincent 17)
Mere play, fiction.
A
note from Boyle's MFA thesis: “In the middle of the rehearsal process,
I became aware of Hamlet looking me dead in the eye during parts of
‘The Mousetrap…’ the reaction in the end of the scene proceeded in this
manner…shift focus to the vial…react as though you are seeing King
Hamlet convulse from the pain of the mortal distillment…shift my focus
back to Hamlet’s observant face. From this, the line, ‘Give me some
lights, away’ becomes as much a whimper as a command.” (14)
Deer were said to weep
when injured, and were an emblem of melancholy. (Gellert-Lyons)
Mature male deer. (OED)
Unhurt
Corruption of “pardieu:” by God.
Holes that must be stopped to create notes.
Fret=
ridges on
stringed instruments that guide fingering; also, to anger.
Manipulate
Which indiscriminately soaks up what it is
given.
Henry Irving followed Q1 in his F/Q2 based productions by moving
Hamlet's claim that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are "sponges" from 4.2
to this point. (Irace)
Keeping the
nuts in its mouth softens them; Hamlet implies that they will lose
everything they have gained and be discarded once the King has what he
needs.
The scene is usually staged indoors and at
night (considering Hamlet’s reference to the “witching time of night”
in Q2 and F). However, the original performance would have been
outdoors at the Globe in the afternoon.
The Remorse of the Emperor Nero after the Murder of his Mother,
John William Waterhouse (1878)
Nero executed his mother, who had poisoned her
husband, emperor Claudius. (Schmidt)
As to harm his mother, which would go
against the natural rules of filial affection.
Hamlet will not act on any threats, as
his soul would reject such violence.
The
tears; in Q2 and F, there is nothing to specifically indicate the King
is crying. In Q1, this is the first confirmation of the King's guilt.
In
Genesis, Abel's blood cries out from the ground after Cain murders him.
(KJV 4:10)
Sin
To
punish, chastise. (OED)
Only
in Q1 does the King, or any character besides Hamlet or the Ghost,
refer to adultery. It is important to understand that biblically the
relationship may be considered adulterous even if it did not begin
until after old Hamlet's death and does not necessarily mean that
Gertred had an affair while married to Hamlet's father.
The
color of jet; a deep glossy black. (OED)
Continue;
pro. per-SE-ver.
God
Hamlet
is speaking to his weapon here and at line 22. Ben Curns aimed his
dagger at the King's ear. He also asked the audience's opinion at
"shall I kill him now" in line 19. (ASC 2007)
Either
"latest" or perhaps "final" in the sense that killing the King is the
act that will fulfill Hamlet's promised revenge.
Because
he was unable to have a final confession and forgiveness.
Purifying,
cleansing. (OED)
In Deuteronomy, an edict declares that if
a man's brother dies while married but before producing a male heir,
the widow should be married to one of his brothers, who will "raise up
seed to
his brother." In Leviticus, however, this same relationship is
considered incest. The belief set forth in Leviticus became the
Judeo-Christian doctrine followed by all major religions; tables of
kinship based on the relationships in Leviticus made it clear what was
and was not considered incestuous.
On a historical note, Henry VIII received special dispensation to marry
Catherine of Aragon after her first husband (his brother) died. He
later dismissed her by declaring the marriage incestuous by canon law
when he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn.
Taste
These
prayers.
This scene is known
at the
"closet scene," though since the Barrymore production in 1922, which
alluded to Freud's Oedipus complex, it has been increasingly staged in
a bedroom. (Hapgood)
In Q1, the first part of the scene, through Hamlet's exit with
Corambis' body, corresponds to 3.4 in Q2 and F; the last portion of the
scene corresponds to 4.3 in Q2 and F
Speaking of the Q2/F based MFA
performance, Katherine Mayberry as Gertrude wrote, “In
early rehearsals of this scene, Anna Northam, the actor playing Hamlet,
and I discussed with director Jaq Bessell the fact that Hamlet and
Gertrude find themselves having two different conversations at the top
of this scene. Gertrude’s perception of The Mousetrap
is that Hamlet has directed it at her, with the Player Queen’s lines an
attack on Gertrude for having remarried…it must seem that the play’s
implication of Claudius in the elder Hamlet’s death is merely born out
of Hamlet’s spite towards his mother and his desire to interfere in her
new marriage.” (7)
Gertrude means Claudius, Hamlet
his biological father.
The price Hamlet would ask for killing
the man;
an emphasis on low value of the life.
Although Hamlet and Gertred do not
discuss his meaning here, Q1 provides further conversation on the
subject later in the scene and Gertred learns that the King has killed
her last husband.
The King.
Some productions have Hamlet compare a
miniature of his father to
Gertred's miniature of her husband; others place full portraits of both
men on the walls of the room. Macready used full-length portraits
and had the Ghost enter through his portrait. (Hapgood)
Mars Vanquishing Ignorance, Antoon
Claeissens (1605)
Roman god of war. (Hamilton)
The forehead was considered revealing of a
person's character. (Schmidt)
Gild; cover with gold.
Charles-Joseph
Natoire, Venus
Demanding Arm from Vulcan for Aneas
(dated sometime after 1732, Musée Fabre, France)
In Roman mythology, Vulcan is the blacksmith-god and much-betrayed
husband of Venus. Vulcan was supposedly ugly and disfigured in several
ways despite being the son of Jupiter and Juno. (Hamilton)
Rags
Ben Curns and Vanessa Morosco (2007)
Photo by Tommy Thompson,
courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
Tricked you into a game
of blind man’s bluff, where you chose your current husband.
Evil
fame or reputation; scandalous repute;
public reproach, shame, or disgrace. (OED)
If a mature woman cannot resist
sexual
licentiousness, then youth have no hope.
Proverbial
While this description almost certainly
reflects the way the Ghost was originally dressed, most productions do
not use this domestic costume, preferring the Ghost's military garb
from Act One. (Hapgood, Ard. 1603)
Some exceptions were Irving (1879) and Benthall (1948), who retained
the Q1 costuming direction for the Ghost in their Q2/F-based
productions. (Irace)
Vanessa
Morosco, James Keegan, and Ben Curns (2007)
Photo by Tommy Thompson, permission from the American Shakespeare
Center.
In the 2003 Theatre of NOTE production, Alina Phelan as Hamlet spoke
the Ghost's lines in this scene; the Ghost did not appear. (Ard. 1603)
Late
The Ghost refers to the belief that
women were weak vessels, prone to hysteria.
Door;
when Sarah Bernhardt played Hamlet in
1899, the Ghost appeared and disappeared through a portrait; at his
exit, she went to the portrait and tried to bring her father back. (Hapgood)
To
proclaim, make public. (OED)
The Queen in Q2 and F never makes
an explicit statement about her knowledge of her last husband's murder.
Olivier added "But as I have a soul, I swear by Heaven / I never
knew of this most horrid murder." to this scene in his 1963 Q2/F based
production at the Old Vic. (Irace)
Of
actions, feelings, thoughts, words, etc.: Void
of any real worth, usefulness, or significance; leading to no solid
result.
The Queen's active support and aid to
Hamlet is much more explicit in Q1 than in the other two texts.
From this point on the Q1
texts corresponds to 4.3 in Q2 and F.
Vanessa Morosco kept her dead husband's picture with her throughout the
scene, hiding it from the King and avoiding physical contact with him.
(ASC 2007)
Notice the shift in the King's address: he
refers to Hamlet as "our sonne" in line 111 in front of the other
lords, but here refers to him as "your sonne" when alone on stage with
Gertred. When Hamlet enters, the King again calls him "sonne," at line
134.
Burton, as Gielgud before him, indicated
Claudius at "fat king" and Guildenstern at "lean begger." (Hapgood)
The
term for an official royal tour, such as
one
to a coronation, or of a country.
Smell
Rene Thornton, Jr. and Khris Lewin
(2005)
Photo by Tommy Thompson,
courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
Although Gertred is
on stage at this point in Q1, the King's line makes it clear that
Hamlet is addressing him with this line.
Despite the stage direction, Gertred must
linger on stage for the first lines of the King's speech to make sense.
From
Betterton's time into
the twentieth century, the Fortinbras storyline was frequently cut from
the play. It was also cut in Franco Zeffirelli's film. (Hapgood)
The 1983 Nottingham Playhouse Q1 production added Hamlet's "How all
occasions..." soliloquy to the Q1 text. (Irace)
Claudius has agreed to a proposition
allowing Fortinbras to march through Denmark on the way
to Poland.
As
in Q2 and F, there appears to be a time lapse between this scene and
the previous scene.
A
particular piece of bad luck, a stroke of misfortune; a mishap, an
unlucky accident. (OED)
Pronounced
with two syllables.
A
stringed musical instrument, much in vogue from the 14th to the 17th
centuries, the strings of which are struck with the fingers of the
right hand and stopped on the frets with those of the left. (OED)
Neither Theatre of NOTE nor Red Shift gave Ofelia a lute on her
entrance.
1970 RSC production (directed by Trevor Nunn) gave Ophelia a
lute in their production based on Q2/F. The
American Shakespeare Center's 2007 production also used a lute.
Susan Heyward (2007)
Photo by Tommy Thompson, permission
from the American Shakespeare Center.
Ophelia had traditionally worn white for her madness scenes.
Ellen
Terry suggested black to signify mourning for her father and was told
that the only character who could wear black in the play was Hamlet.
Terry eventually wore white, with her hair down and holding a lute in
one hand and a lily in the other.
(Hapgood) Wearing
the hair down was a symbol of virginity, innocence, and grief.
Nesbit (in the Q2/F based MFA show)
wanted to emulate Gertrude
more
in some way on this entrance, “I
used a
large piece of red fabric to wear as my dress. I used a distressed fur
wrap to emulate all of the fur that [Gertrude] wore. I wore children’s
costume jewelry and a mini tiara…I did not want to look at all
polished, nor did I want to look like a young girl who happened to get
into her mother’s clothes and makeup…I did not want to create a
childish Ophelia, but a distressed woman.” (19)
A popular ballad. Both Kozintsev and
Stella Gonet (1989) saw Ophelia's madness as a source of happiness and
freedom and not as grief. Julia Marlowe (1904)
and Ellen Terry each gave the three stanzas of this song a different
emotion, sliding from happiness to wild grief. (Hapgood)
To hear Shannon
Schultz perform, "How Should I Your True Love Know," click here.
(Duffin)
Clothing associated with
pilgrims, who were in turn seen as a metaphor for lovers. A song from Twelfth Night reads,
"O Mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know." (2.3)
Literally, "larded" means stuffed with lard,
or fat to increase the tenderness and flavor of meat. In this case,
Ophelia probably means to indicate a over-abundance of flowers,
heavy-laden.
Another
song. In Q2 and F, this song comes later in the scene and here she
sings "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day."
To hear
Shannon Schultz
perform "And Will He Not Come Again," click
here. (Duffin)
White
or blond.
Head. In the 1992 Medieval Players'
tour, Ofelia used the lute to represent Corambis' head while she sang.
(Irace)
Susan Heyward said this very
specifically to the Queen in an aside,
appearing almost lucid for a moment. (ASC 2007)
Vile
(OED)
Tricked,
beguilded. (OED)
From the belief in the
“Divine Right” of Kings. James I made a speech about this belief to
Parliament after his coronation.
Support
As a gambler takes money from whoever is
at his table.
A
sententious saying; a traditional maxim, a
proverb. (OED) Leartes may use this in place of Q2/F's "life" because
of Corambis' linguistic tendencies.
Ophelia, Henrietta Rae (1890)
Kathryn Stockwood as Ofelia for Theatre of NOTE, used paper instead of
flowers. (Ard. 1603)
Flowering Rue
Rue
or
Herb-a-Grace has a punning relationship with the verb "rue," (regret)
and so symbolizes repentance. During Early Modern outbreaks of the
plague, rue was thought to help prevent infection (McDonald); it was
also used as
an abortifacient (Cressy), and was supposed to cool lust (Nesbit).
Because of the last, Nesbit gave rue to the King.
Ellen
Terry, Julia
Marlowe, and Helena Modjeska all followed the tradition of giving rue
to the Queen.
Others
have given the flowers out differently or given some or all to
imaginary people; some have not had flowers at all- the 1997 RSC
production used pills, for a time it was popular to use twigs.
(Hapgood)
Symbol of unrequited love in the Victorian era. More typically, they
symbolize innocence, gentleness, and loyal love.
Nesbit
found an imaginary daisy
on stage in front of her while attempting to pray with Claudius: “I
chose to make Ophelia afraid of the daisy…and dispose of [it] by
violently digging it up.” She interpreted the daisy in this case as a
warning to
women about lascivious men. (Nesbit 23)
Rosemary in flower
Throughout staging
history, Ophelia's have sometimes used flower alternatives: twigs,
pills, or even nothing at all.
Rosemary was
associated with remembrance because it was included in funeral
wreaths; it was also a folk belief that touching your lover with
rosemary made them faithful.
Helena Modjeska gave Rosemary and Pansies
to Laertes. (Hapgood)
So did Nesbit, though all of Nesbit's flowers were imaginary. (Nesbit)
Pansies
"Thought" and "Memory,"
aside from their importance as themes in the play, are also the names
of Odin's ravens, whose imagery Hamlet may reference during 3.2. Helena Modjeska gave
Rosemary and Pansies to Laertes. (Hapgood)
Fennel, an emblem of flattery.
Ellen Terry,
Julia Marlowe, and Helena Modjeska all followed the tradition of giving
fennel to the King. (Hapgood)
Nesbit
also began with this, but ended with offering the imaginary fennel to
Gertrude. When she would try to take it, however, Nesbit would change
it to Columbine, which was a symbol of adultery. (23)
Viola Oderata, one of many species of
Violets
Violets in religious art often symbolize humility; they have since
Roman times been associated with early or untimely death because they
bloom early in spring and do not last until summer. Romans placed
wreaths of violets on tombs to honor the dead.
Sarah Fallon as Ophelia (2005)
Photo by Tommy Thompson,
courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
A folk-tale in which a baker’s
daughter refuses to give a beggar bread. The beggar is really Christ,
who turns her into an owl in punishment. (Schmidt) Various editors
suggest their
might be a sexual implication in "baker's daughter." This tale of
transformation echoes many of the stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
From a popular song; although it
does not survive, a number of other plays reference this or similar
lines, and there is a stage tradition from Drury Lane which uses this
tune.
Of, about. Unlike Q2 and F, Ofelia's song in this
text is directly linked to her statement about the false steward and
the King's daughter.
Another ballad.
During this song,
Helena Modjeska would sing the first verse, then break into wild
dancing while singing the tune. During this, she would take a flower
from her breast and throw it. As it fell, she laughed, then began
weeping hysterically when it landed. From the Restoration to the early
twentieth century, the song was traditionally cut after the first
stanza because of the sexual nature of the other verses. (Hapgood)
To hear Shannon
Schultz perform "Tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day," click
here. (Duffin)
Early in the day.
References a belief that the first
person
you saw on Valentine’s Day would become your lover.
Put
on. (OED)
Opened (“did up”). (OED)
An exclamation (gis=Jesus).
"Holy" charity, as it is a virtue;
there is no actual Saint with this name.
Have sex if they have the chance.
In
the later twentieth century, the sexuality of these songs has been more
widely accepted, and various Ophelias have physicalized the lyrics
either alone or with the unwilling participation of her scene partners.
(Hapgood)
Slang
for "had intercourse with." (OED)
Susan Heyward said this to
Leartes and exited with the Queen following. (ASC 2007)
The
King alludes to his plot to kill Hamlet. In performance, Gertred may or
may not overhear.
Leartes
will use his anger to control his grief.
This is a scene unique to
Q1. While the information Horatio gives about Hamlet's return to
Denmark has its parallel in 4.6 of the other plays, the form is
completely different.
One of the
largest impacts of this scene is to drastically change the character of
the Queen. While actors may choose, in production of F or Q2, to make
the Queen more sympathetic to Hamlet in the last two acts, or to imply
a change in her relationship to Claudius after Hamlet's accusations in
3.4, there is meager, if any, textual basis for such choices. In this
scene, however, the Queen actively plots against the King and has full
knowledge of his plot to kill Hamlet.
At the Shakespeare Institute
in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1996, a silent character- a jester who
functioned as the King's spy- had been added to the production. In this
scene, the jester sat at the edge of the stage and played cards while
Horatio and the Queen held a whispered conversation.
The 1999-2000
Red Shift production at Bloomsbury theater also gave the scene a sense
of danger: putting the Queen in dark glasses and a scarf while Horatio
pretended to read a newspaper.
Theatre of NOTE in Los Angeles (2003), had Horatio call to the Queen as
she was crossing the stage, the audience watching the way his decision
to share Hamlet's letter draws her more firmly away from the King.
Conversation
The "circumstance" in Q2 and F
involves a sea fight with pirates.
The King's.
In Q2 and F, Polonius expresses a similar
idea when he uses "sugar ore" to Ophelia when instructing her to read
while waiting for Hamlet in the nunnery scene.
The Queen is planning to put on an
act to deceive the King, much as Hamlet does earlier in the play.
Hamlet; the Queen means to warn Hamlet
that he will be in danger if and once the King learns of his return.
His revenge. The Queen may
start to leave after this line or after Horatio's next line, since she
says "once again I take my leave" at line 34 before exiting.
Did not turn out as he intended.
Horatio does not believe the King will be able to contain his anger, or
that his anger will be more readily apparent to Gertrude now that she
knows the truth.
The Queen's apparent
concern for Hamlet's companions can aid in making her a more
sympathetic character in productions of the Q1 text.
It is unclear how Hamlet got to
shore, it almost sounds like Rossencraft and Gilderstone were convinced
to let him leave. If so, it would certainly absolve them of any
sympathy to the King's plot against his life.
Which would be used to seal letters and assure
the reader of the validity of the contents.
Without Rossencraft and Gilderstone
realizing the change.
Mirthful, merry,
cheerful, blithe. (OED)
Encouraged or
challenged to fight with you, test your skill.
Skillfulness
For "venues:" bouts
or turns of fencing. (OED)
Never get more than
three bouts ahead.
Sharp; fencing foils
were capped with buttons which prevented injury.
In
Q1, unlike the other texts, the King is the one who suggests both the
unbuttoned foil, the poison on the foil, and the poisoned drink.
Drop
Distinction due to,
or involving, some superior quality. (OED)
Encourage him.
End
Rachel Nicholson (as Ofelia in
the Red Shift production), played the cello during the Queen's
description of her death. (Ard. 1603)
Garlands have long been given as a symbol of
victory.
Various
Taken as a symbol of grief for unrequited love or the loss of a mate
(OED); its long, flexible branches are frequently described as
"weeping;" Desdemona sings a love song about a willow in Othello (4.3.49-50,
53-55).
"Sing all a green willow must be my garland.
Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve-
...
I called my love false love, but what said he then?
Sing willow, willow, willow
If I court more women, you'll couch with more men."
Full of ill-will;
malicious, spiteful. (OED)
Ophelia,
Alexandre Cabenal (1883)
An imaginary, partly human sea creature with the head and trunk of a
woman and the tail of a fish.
Unable to understand the
danger she was in.
Rustic;
a lower-class character
played by a comic actor.
John Harrell and Christopher Seiler
(2007)
Photo by Tommy Thompson, permission
from the American Shakespeare Center.
In 1772, David Garrick cut the Gravediggers
altogether, despite their popularity. The cut was supposedly inspired
by Voltaire's criticism of the characters. (Hapgood)
In a 1978 Q1 production in Prague, the Clowns were literally dressed as
modern clowns, and actively manipulated the bodies and
other characters. Ben Greet Players (London, 1928)
doubled Corambis and the First Clown. (Ard 1603)
Graduate
actors Corey Vincent (Ghost and Player King) and Lesley Larsen Nesbit
(Ophelia) doubled as the First and Second Gravediggers. While touring
with their 2007 production, they used a masking tape outline to
delineate the placement of the grave, playing up the dark humor of the
scene by having Nesbit serve as the "body" while Vincent taped the
"grave" around her. (Vincent 25)
In the consecrated ground belonging
to the church and with Christian
burial rights.
Latin, "therefore."
Important, of high social standing.
Flagon
A worker who shapes and lays stones for a
building. (OED)
“Gallows” are the structures used in
hangings.
Death
Clever, apt. (OED)
I.e.
criminals.
Albert Finney, in the time between 4.4
and 5.1, would 'shower vigorously, thinking of Hamlet's fight with the
pirates' to maintain his momentum (Hapgood 252). Peter Hall, who
directed Finney, also suggested that Hamlet include the audience in
much of his conversation with the Gravedigger to continue the rapport
the earlier soliloquies created. (Hapgood)
One
verse of a
popular song, “The Aged
Lover Renounceth Love.” Click
here
to hear Paul Rycik (Mary
Baldwin MFA '11) perform selected verses from this song, the tune
of which appears as "I Loathe that I Did Love" in Ross W. Duffin's Shakespeare's
Songbook.
In the 1964 Richard Burton production, John Gielgud placed the
Hamlet/Horatio entrance in the middle of this stanza of the song. He
also had the Gravedigger and Hamlet acknowledge each other immediately:
the Gravedigger is then singing for Hamlet, and reacting to Hamlet's
comments on the skulls he is unearthing. Both actors were fond of this
change as it avoided awkward pauses while one sang and the other spoke.
(Hapgood)
Cloth that bodies were buried in.
Implies the Clown is in the trap on stage.
Guest
Throws
To bring a charge against; to accuse. (OED)
Charge of physical assault.
Subtle or cunning argument. (OED)
Evasive or frivolous arguments, quibbles.
(OED)
All legal terms referring to
the
ownership of land.
Coffin
Transference (OED)
Fools, simple people.
Rubs his heel.
Buried
Corpses plagued by pox; syphilitic.
One who treats and softens leather.
To
convert (skin or hide) into leather by steeping in an infusion of an
astringent bark, as that of the oak, or by a similarly effective
process. (OED)
This
is the only indicator of
Hamlet's age in Q1. Wilson Barrett used this line as justification when
playing Hamlet as an
eighteen year old. (Hapgood)
In Q2 and F Hamlet is traditionally thought
to be about 30, because
in Q2 and F the
Gravedigger claims Yorick has been dead 23 years, and Hamlet knew
Yorick before he died.
Burbadge would have
been close to 30 when he first played Hamlet. (Hapgood)
Rhine wine, from Germany.
Ben Curns and John Harrell (ASC 2007)
Photo by Tommy Thompson, courtesy of
the American Shakespeare Center.
With makeup; in The Revenger’s
Tragedy, the hero
Vindici
uses make-up to paint his dead wife’s skull so he may enact revenge on
her murderer by tricking him into kissing her lips, which are poisoned.
Detail of a mosaic found at Pompeii
depicting Alexander the Great fighting Darius III, King of Persia
The Great, who conquered most of the known world during the 4th century
B.C. He is believed to have been undefeated in battle. (Campbell)
Eventually, a piece of Alexander
the Great may find its way to a cork plugging the hole in a barrel or
cask.
Henry Irving placed Ophelia's
burial at night both because this was traditional for a suicide, and
because of Hamlet's reference to the "wandring stars" at line 255 in F.
(Hapgood)
The
line does not appear in Q1.
Because the Church believes she
committed suicide.
Villainous, base, or lowborn. (OED)
Suffering after death.
Flowers with sweet scent.
Bridal beds were decorated with flowers.
A mountain in Greece; the Titans tried to bury
Olympus by placing Pelion on top of another mountain (to enable them to
reach the high peak of Olympus). (Hamilton)
By calling himself "the Dane," Hamlet is
calling himself King of Denmark, recalling Marcellus' line from the
first scene, "Liegemen to the Dane" (1.1.16).
In stage tradition, the leap into
Ophelia's grave became an iconic
moment. When John Barrymore (1922) refused to jump in, it was
considered scandalous. Barrymore claimed the action seemed unbefitting
of Hamlet's
character and instead played the scene in a deep and dazed grief.
(Ard. Q2)
An
embedded stage direction for the
actors’ fight. Henry Irving did not fight with the ferocity others have
used, the climax was instead his confession that he "loved Ophelia," at
which he ran to his mother's arms. (Hapgood)
Brett Sullivan Santry, Gregory Jon
Phelps, James Keegan, Ben Curns, and Rene Thornton, Jr. (2007)
Photo by Tommy Thompson, permission
from the American Shakespeare Center.
In Q2 and F, Hamlet says
"fortie thousand Bothers / Could not (with all their quantitie of Love)
/ Make up my summe." (5.1.270-1 in F)
Large quantities of liquid.
Q2/F: "Ossa," a high peak near Olympus.
Small, a mere bump.
Doves were generally thought to lack
aggression.
“Every dog has his day” was proverbial;
the fight is not over. Wilson Knight as Hamlet addressed "cat" to
Laertes as an insult, making himself the dog. (Hapgood)
Ben Curns threw a miniature into Ofelia's grave before exiting. (ASC
2007)
To Laertes only.
In the Early Modern period,
"friend" was often used to mean "lover" and vice-versa. Therefore, the
King is saying Hamlet and Laertes will be made close and loving friends
once more.
Care for. (OED)
Q1
lacks the further explanation and detail Hamlet gives about his
discovery of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the other texts and his
claim not to care about sending them to their deaths.
Laertes and Hamlet have both lost a
father and seek revenge for the murder.
Osric, as he is named in the other
texts, has been variously played as
incredibly obsequious (see Robin Williams in the Branagh film), as a
spy of Claudius' who only plays at stupidity (1964 Burton), and an
effeminate fop (see Peter Cushing in the Olivier film). (Hapgood)
Ben Curns and Miriam Donald (2007)
Photo by Tommy Thompson, courtesy of
the American Shakespeare Center.
Kathryn Stockwood (Ofelia) doubled as the Braggart Gentleman in the
2003 Theatre
of NOTE production. (Ard. 1603)
Pest
Understands
A heavily perfumed gentleman; a fop. (OED)
Arabian horses; emphasizing the exotic
(therefore, expensive) nature of the wager.
Appurtenances, accessories. (OED)
He explains later that he means the belt
and sheath designed for the
sword.
Elaborately (OED)
Belts
Straps which carry a sword.
Appropriate
Because one definition of "carriage"
is the specific transport of military equipment. (OED)
Bouts
Some kind of public area; in Q2 and F
it is specifically named a "hall."
Heavily perfumed. (OED)
Divine will in small
things.
Laertes intends to seek advise in the
matter of family honor
which exists between him and Hamlet.
Weapon, also a setting to display a jewel. (OED
The
same. "Laught"
is probably a misprint for "length."
The
fight in the ASC production was progressive. During the first bout,
Leartes and Hamlet fought with only rapiers. The second and third bouts
were fought with rapier and dagger.
In the 1992/3 RSC production, Jane Lapotaire
as Gertrude had a drinking
problem at this point in the play. (Hapgood)
Possibly implying that Laertes seems to be
toying with Hamlet, or related to the following definition: "Of person:
Insolent in triumph or prosperity; reckless of justice and humanity;
merciless." (OED)
In Q2 and F, Laertes says this line to the
King. Here it seems a direct response to Hamlet's chiding that Laertes
is not trying hard enough. In the 2007 ASC production, Leartes had
disarmed Hamlet at this point. After being wounded, Hamlet disarmed
Leartes. (ASC 2007)
David Warner, after
receiving a wound to his hand in the fight, seemed to finally realize
that he might die. Thomassano Salvini in 1875 seems to be the first to
introduce the idea of Hamlet deliberately taking Laertes' rapier and
giving Laertes his. (Hapgood)
Rene Thornton, Jr. (Horatio), Ben Curns
(Hamlet), Gregory Jon Phelps (Leartes), Vanessa Morosco (the Queen),
James Keegan (the King) and Miriam Donald (Osric) in the 2007 ASC
production.
Photo by Tommy Thompson,
courtesy of the American Shakespeare Center.
A cap worn by a professional fool, like a
cock's comb in shape and colour. (OED) More generally meant to mean
"fool."
A pearl of large size, good quality, and great
value, esp. one which is supposed to occur singly. (OED)
According to the Macready promptbooks,
the King would draw his sword and, while descending the steps up to the
throne, attempts to defend himself. Edwin Booth fought through a crowd
on stage to stab the King in the neck with Laertes' sword. Henry Irving
threw the King down to the ground. (Hapgood)
John
Shrapnel (Claudius) accepted
his fate at the end, voluntarily drinking the last of the poisoned
wine. David Warner poured the wine over the King's already dead body. (Hapgood)
Laertes attempts to exchange
forgiveness in the hope of avoiding
judgment for Hamlet's death.
Who would consider suicide honorable
(see Julius Cesar and Antony and Cleopatra for examples
of
companionable suicide).
Dishonored and misunderstood perception
of the events.
Some productions place Hamlet on the throne
to die, others in Horatio's arms; Martin-Harvey died on the body of his
dead mother. (Hapgood)
Fortinbras, in Georges Pitoeff's
1926 version, entered with his army all dressed in white; Wilson Knight
agreed, claiming Fortinbras should be the attractive young promise of
life triumphing over death. In contrast, Charles Dance's Fortinbras
(1975, with Ben Kingsley) was a menacing, power-hungry figure. (Hapgood)
Anything
With one shot of a bow.
Royalty and important personages.
To the throne, or at least his
father’s lands which were forfeit to Old
Hamlet. In Q1, Hamlet does not tell Horatio that he supports
Fortenbrasse's election.
Fortinbras intends to give
Hamlet full royal funeral rites.
Is more appropriate to a
battlefield than the court.
