line 117, or the passage is in some other way corrupt. Numerpus emendations have been suggested.

118. Disasters in the sun. Cf. North's Plutarch: "Also the brightness of the sun was darkened, the which all that year through rose very pale, and shined not out, whereby it gave but small heat: therefore the air being very cloudy and dark, by the weakness of the heat that could not come forth, did cause the earth to bring forth but raw and unripe fruit, which rotted before it could ripe" (Temple edition, VII, pp. 211-12). Look up the etymology and first meaning of disaster.

118. The moist star: the moon. Shakespeare also calls it "the watery star" (Winter's Tale, I, ii, 1). Why?

119. Upon whose influence, etc.: to whose influence the sea is subject. The reference is, of course, to the tides. Look up the first meaning of influence in the dictionary, and then read over the passages under influence in the Shakespeare Concordance.

120. Look up St. Matthew, xxiv, 29.

121. Fierce: violent, terrible, wild. Cf. the modern slang use of the word.

122. Harbingers. Cf. Macbeth, I, iv, 45: "I'll be myself the harbinger."

123. Omen: here, the event which the omen portends. Notice the dramatic skill with which these lines lead up to the reappearance of the Ghost.

125. Climatures: regions. Compare again the parallel passage in Julius Cæsar: “For, I believe, they are portentous things Unto the climate that they point upon" (I, iii, 31-32).

127-39. I'll cross it, etc. Does Horatio need any longer to be urged to speak? Has the heightening of the rhythmic movement of the lines in his appeal to the Ghost and the refrain-like recurrence of "Speak to me," "O speak," "Speak of it," anything to do with a corresponding heightening of feeling? What superstitions are referred to in lines 127 and 136-38?

145. As the air, invulnerable. Cf. "the intrenchant air," Macbeth, V, viii, 9-10; "the invulnerable clouds," King John, II, i, 252. The adjectives which Shakespeare and Milton apply to the air are well worth looking up in the Concordances.

148. Started. The first Quarto has faded. Can you suggest two possible reasons for the change? For the striking changes in lines 150-52 see the Introduction, pp. xii-xiii.

154. The extravagant and erring spirit. An excellent illustration of the need of care in dealing with words which, in modern English, are the same in form but different in meaning. Extravagant here means "straying, wandering out of bounds"; look up Othello, I, i, 137, and Twelfth Night, II, 1, 11-12, for a similar use of both adjective and noun. Erring means simply

roaming, wandering" (as it does in Othello, I, iii, 362), without any hint of ethical import. Compare "we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep," in the Prayer Book.

162-63. No planets strike, No fairy takes. Strike is used of the malevolent influence of planets and other superhuman forces; look up Winter's Tale, I, ii, 201; Coriolanus, II, ii, 117. Take is similarly used; look up Merry Wives, IV, iv, 32; Antony and Cleopatra, IV, ii, 37. See the use of hoth words in Lear, II, iv, 165-66; compare Lear, III, iv, 61.

170. Young Hamlet. Everything that has happened, with all the interest and suspense that it has aroused, is now concentrated, at one stroke, upon Hamlet. Turn to the first scene of Macbeth, and see how line 8 focusses the whole effect of the witch-scene upon Macbeth. Is the same thing done in the first scene of Julius Cæsar? How? What difference do you notice in the first scene of Romeo and Juliet?

Notice the variations in style and rhythm in the scene: its beginning in a low key, almost in the tone of ordinary conversation; its passage, after the first appearance of the Ghost, into a weighty and rather involved narrative and expository style; until, after the second appearance of the Ghost, the intense feeling that has been stirred expresses itself in verse of an almost lyrical quality. Does an audience feel anything unnatural in the highly poetical quality of the closing speeches? Why not? What would have been the effect if the play had begun in this style? Do any of the plays you have read open in a lofty strain? Look again at the opening scenes from this point of view. Richard III is an exception to the general rule in this respect. In what other way does its opening differ from what you have observed? In the other scenes in Hamlet watch for instances of the flexibility with which the style accommodates itself to the thought.

ACT I. SCENE II.

The first scene dealt with a single arresting situation; the second, which continues the exposition, brings before us, rather, a state of affairs-the tense personal relations, that is, between Hamlet and the King and Queen. And this tenseness grows (we are made to feel) out of the sharply divergent attitudes of Hamlet on the one hand, and Claudius and Gertrude on the other, towards the very fact upon which our attention was concentrated in the first scene, the death of the elder Hamlet, especially as this is now linked with a new and significant fact, the precipitate marriage of the Queen with Claudius. That this new fact is of prime importance becomes clear in Hamlet's passionate soliloquy, and it is from the disclosures of this soliloquy that we are brought back again to the appearance of the Ghost. In other words, the second scene throws the appearance of the Ghost against the background of the relations of these three people-Claudius, Gertrude, and Hamlet-and it suggests to us that the clue to the mystery is to be looked for there. The scene is further linked with the previous one by the renewed emphasis upon the affair with Fortinbras. And it also looks forward, in that the prompt fixing of our attention upon Laertes, as he is singled out by the King, suggests that he is probably to play some important part in the action.

Observe the sharp and dramatic contrast between the settings of Scenes I and II-the bleak platform and the armed sentries: the pomp and ceremony of the court. Notice, too, the equally sharp contrast within Scene II itself, by which the somber figure of Hamlet, all in black, is set off against the brilliant court costumes of the rest, so that the central fact of the situation is presented to the eye, before a word is spoken.

I.

Observe that the very first line takes us back, by implication, to the Ghost.

4. Brow of woe: an example of what is sometimes called "the 'thieves of mercy' construction." The genitive phrase is equivalent to an adjective preceding the noun which it limits: thus, "thieves of mercy" (Hamlet, IV, vi, 20) = merciful thieves; "a day of season" (All's Well, V, iii, 32) = a seasonable day; "strength of limit" (Winter's Tale, III, ii, 107) = limited strength; "brow of youth" (Lear, I, iv, 306) = youthful brow. "Brow of woe" is equivalent to the "mourning brow" of Love's Labour's Lost, V, ii, 754.

5-6. That we with wisest sorrow. Notice that "wisest" answers to "discretion," "sorrow" to "nature," in the preceding line. See also next note for similar balanced structure. What pronoun does the King use in referring to himself throughout this speech? Why?

10. A defeated joy: joy that is marred or disfigured. Cf. Othello, I, iii, 346: "defeat thy favor [mar your face] with an usurped beard." Notice, too, that the antithesis involved in this phrase is worked out with threefold iteration in the next three lines.

II. A dropping eye: a weeping eye. The general idea of line 11 reappears in Winter's Tale, V, ii, 80: "She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband, another elevated that the oracle was fulfilled." Cf. "To laugh with one eye, and cry with the other."

17. That you know, young Fortinbras: that which you know-namely, that young Fortinbras, etc.

22. He. The pronoun is superfluous, but the usage (now incorrect) was not uncommon. Cf. II, i, 84.

25. So much for him. Cf. line 16: "For all, our thanks." Claudius is dispatching disagreeable matters quickly.

28. Norway: the King of Norway. Cf. "bloody England into England gone" (King John, III, iv, 8); "our brother France" (Henry V, V, ii, 2).

1-39. Notice the rather set rhetorical character of this first speech as contrasted with the lyrical quality of the closing speeches of the preceding scene. Is this to be interpreted merely as conventional oratorical style, or is it intended to suggest a certain embarrassment on the King's part in dealing -especially in the first sixteen lines with a delicate subject? Observe the strong alliteration of the first twenty-five lines. In the First Quarto the scene begins at line 26. What has Shakespeare gained by inserting the first twenty-five lines? What is added, in lines 17-39, to our information regarding the affair with Fortinbras?

42-50. To whom would one expect the King to speak first? Why does he not? How many times does he name Laertes

in this short speech? Has this any significance? Does the

King use the same pronoun throughout in addressing Laertes? (Observe that in Shakespeare's English thou was very much like the more intimate or familiar du of German; you, like the more formal Sie, although the two are often rather freely interchanged.) Has the change any significance here? Does the King use the same pronoun in referring to himself that he has used in the preceding speech? Why this change?

44-45. You cannot make a reasonable request, and waste your breath. Cf. line 118.

51. Leave and favor: favorable leave (the First Quarto has "favorable license"). Cf. "your gracious leave and pardon" in line 56, where pardon = permission.

64. My cousin Hamlet. Cousin (equivalent to "kinsman") is used in Shakespeare for niece, uncle, brother-in-law, and grandchild. What is the relationship here? What of the King's tact in calling Hamlet "son"?

65. A little more than kin, and less than kind: that is, a little too much related (referring to "cousin " and "son ") with no kinship in nature. Kind (pronounced in Shakespeare's time as if it rimed with "sinned") means nature, and Hamlet's allusion is probably to the King's marriage, which was regarded as incestuous, and so unnatural. There is also a play on the other sense of "kind"-i. e., there is no love lost between us. Notice that Hamlet's first speech is a play on words, and an aside. What light is thrown at once on Hamlet's attitude towards the King?

66. The clouds: an allusion to the "nighted color" of Hamlet's "inky cloak"-perhaps also to "the dejected havior of [his] visage." (Notice that the King uses you instead of thou in addressing Hamlet. What pronoun does the Queen use?)

67. I am too much i' the sun. Possibly (1) in direct response to the King's reference to Hamlet's garb, with ironical allusion (easily made clear by a gesture) to the bright costumes of the Court, which has put off its mourning for the wedding. Or (2) there may be an allusion to an old proverb-"out of God's blessing into the warm sun" (see Lear, II, ii, 168-69) which meant to be out of house and home, so that Hamlet is referring to his loss of the throne. And there is probably in either case (3) a play upon "sun" and "son" (line 64), which