68. Uncharge the practice: make no charge against the stratagem. Practice is here used in its frequent sinister sense. 74. Your sum of parts together: all your other qualities combined. Siege (line 77) = = rank.

82. Importing health and graveness. Either, health and graveness refer together to his sables and his weeds (in which case health means either "attention to health" or prosperity "); or, health refers back to light and careless living, and graveness to his sables and his weeds.

85. Can well: have great skill. Can is frequently used absolutely in Elizabethan (and earlier) English, in the sense of knowing how, being able. Cf. German können.

89. So far he topp'd my thought: so far he outdid what I could imagine.

90. In forgery of: in imagining, contriving.

94. Brooch: here, ornament in general.

96. Confession. Lamond would reluctantly acknowledge the superiority of a fencer of another nation.

97. A masterly report: a report describing Laertes as a

master.

107. Now, out of this. Why does the King pause here? 113. Passages of proof: proved instances.

117. Nothing remains constantly in the same state of excellence. Plurisy plethora, excess.

=

123-24. Sighs were supposed to draw blood from the heart. The sense of the lines is that the recognition of a duty gives but fallacious relief, when the will to perform it is gone. Shakespeare is giving-this time altogether incidentally-another keen analysis of Hamlet's own malady.

127. To cut his throat i' the church. Laertes has no such scruples as stayed Hamlet's hand when the King was praying. Observe the sharpness of the contrast.

128. Sanctuarize: serve as sanctuary to protect from punishMurder refers to Hamlet's killing of Polonius.

ment.

132. Put on those shall: instigate those who shall. 136. This tribute to Hamlet's nobility of character serves to emphasize the King's baseness. Remiss (line 135) = careless, indifferent.

139. A pass of practice: a treacherous thrust. For prac tice, cf. line 68, and note.

146. Under the moon: i. e., collected by moonlight, in order to enhance their virtue.

151. Fit us to our shape: "enable us to assume proper characters" (Johnson).

152. If our intention should be disclosed through our unskilful acting.

155. Blast in proof: miscarry when put to the test. 157. Why the pause in this line?

161. For the nonce: for the purpose.

170. Crow-flowers: either the buttercup, or the Ragged Robin; long purples: a variety of orchid.

173-74. Ophelia chooses a willow, because it is the symbol of forsaken love.

180-81. Indued Unto: suited to live in.

189-90. When these . . . be out: when my tears are all shed, the woman in me will be gone.

ACT V. SCENE I.

This scene is almost of the nature of an interlude. The swift movement of the action is suspended, and the dialogue between the clowns, into which Hamlet's philosophizing merges, serves momentarily to break the tension. But the subtle and ineffective musings upon death are sharply interrupted by the intrusion of reality, and the scene ends with a clash between Hamlet and Laertes which foreshadows the catastrophe.

2. Salvation. Shakespeare's clowns, like many persons not in Shakespeare, have the foible of using words which convey a different meaning from that intended.

9. Se offendendo. The clown means se defendendo, in selfdefence.

II. An act hath three branches. Shakespeare is putting into the clown's mouth a parody on legal phraseology. And it seems highly probable that he has an actual case in mind. See the abstract of the argument in the Variorum note on this line.

13. Argal: the clown's attempt at Ergo, i. e., therefore, consequently."

24. Crowner's quest: coroner's inquest.

12.

ACT IV. SCENE II.

To be demanded of: to be questioned by.

66

19. Like an ape. The reading of the Folio. The First Quarto (in which the speech immediately follows the present III, ii, 389) has as an ape doth nuts," which makes the meaning of the Folio reading clear. The Second Quarto has "like an apple."

29-32. Hamlet is deliberately talking nonsense. For the interpretations offered by those who think it sense, see the Variorum.

32-33. Hide fox, and all after. Probably a phrase from a children's game, like hide-and-seek. If so, Polonius is the fox.

ACT IV. SCENE III.

4. This is unprejudiced testimony to a fact of great importance. What qualities has Hamlet shown in the play that would win him the affection of the people? Distracted= crazy.

5. Whose liking is determined by appearances, instead of being a matter of judgment.

6. The offender's scourge: the punishment the offender receives.

9. Deliberate pause: the result of deliberate consideration. For pause, cf. III, iii, 42.

The use

21. Convocation of politic worms. Hamlet's phraseology is punctiliously chosen to fit the body of a statesman. of the words "convocation," "politic," "worms," diet" (perhaps also " emperor") makes it highly probable that Shakespeare had the Diet of Worms in mind. For the use of "your" (lines 22-25) see note on I, v, 167. Hamlet is still feigning madness, but it is difficult to doubt that he has also a certain intellectual pleasure in what he is saying.

33. Go a progress. Progress was the regular word for a royal journey of state. Cf. II Henry VI, I, iv, 76: “the king is now in progress towards Saint Albans."

43. Tender: regard, hold dear. Cf. I, iii, 107.

45. Fiery quickness. Cf. "hot haste." 46. The wind at help. Cf. I, iii, 2-3. 47. Tend: wait. Cf. I, iii, 83.

56. At foot: at his heels.

61. Thereof may give thee sense: may make thee cognizant of it.

63. Free awe. Opposed to awe that is the result of compulsion.

64. Set: value, esteem. Cf. I, iv, 65.

66. Congruing: agreeing. This is the reading of the Quartos. The Folios have conjuring. Cf. Hamlet's description of the letter in V, ii, 38.

ACT IV. SCENE IV.

Scene IV is transitional between the death of Polonius and the working out of its results in the plot against Hamlet's life, in the madness and death of Ophelia, and in the return of Laertes to avenge his father's murder. From this point on it is Hamlet's life rather than the King's that is under direct and constant menace. But just as the sight of the player enacting Hecuba stirred Hamlet to fresh resolution when aggressive action was still possible, so now, after command of the situation has slipped through his hands, the sight of the army of Fortinbras kindles a new resolve to act.

Sufficient time must have elapsed between Scenes III and IV for Claudius's permission to Fortinbras to pass through Danish territory (see line 2, and cf. II, ii, 76-82) to reach him. And the request for this license was presented to Claudius only the day before the death of Polonius (see introductory note to Act II, Scene I). Some days, at least, must accordingly have intervened. This is (strictly speaking) inconsistent with the fact that Hamlet leaves for England the very night of Polonius's murder (IV, i, 29-30; IV, iii, 46-48, 55-57), and there is nothing to indicate that the port was distant from Elsinore (cf. I, iii, 1, 55-57). But it must be remembered that Shakespeare is writing a drama (with the attendant necessity of producing certain illusions as to time in the mind of his audience), not

presenting a statement of facts. See, for a somewhat similar instance, the note on I, i, 39.

6. In his eye: in his presence, face to face.

8. Softly: slowly, leisurely. Cf. Julius Cæsar, V, i, 16: "lead your battle softly on."

9. Good sir. Cf. lines 11, 13, 15, 29, and observe again Hamlet's fine courtesy in dealing with his inferiors in rank. Lines 9-66 are omitted in the Folio, probably for the same reason that dictates the omission of the entire scene on the modern stage-namely, the necessity for a shorter acting version. For the light which it throws on Hamlet's character, however, as well as for its noble poetry, the scene is of the utmost importance.

20. To pay a rent of five ducats, only five, I would not take a lease of it. Farm (lease) is contrasted with sold in fee (i. e., fee simple, absolute possession) in line 22. Ranker greater, higher.

26. Will not debate: will not be sufficient to fight out.

34. Market of his time: either, "that for which he sells his time" (Johnson); or, "the business in which he employs his time" (Clarendon Press).

36. Discourse: range of thought. Cf. I, ii, 150.

40. Bestial oblivion: such oblivion as characterizes the beasts that sleep and feed (cf. line 35).

40-41. Scruple Of: scruple that consists in. Event outcome (as also in line 50). Cf. especially, for the idea expressed, III, i, 84-85.

50. Makes mouths at: mocks at. Cf. II, ii, 381-82.

53-56. To stir without great matter for dispute (argument) is not rightly to be great; but it is rightly to be great to find quarrel, etc. For argument in this sense cf. Troilus and Cressida, I, i, 95-96: "I cannot fight upon this argument; It is too starv'd a subject for my sword." How does Hamlet's statement

differ from that of Polonius in I, iii, 65-67?

58. My reason and my blood. Cf. notes on III, ii, 74, and III, iv, 69-70.

61. Trick of fame: trifle that promises fame.

62. Plot: plot of ground.

65-66. Since Hamlet is on his way to England, just what does he mean?