crantz the answer he expects, rather than the real one.

ii, 258-59.

Cf. II,

358-59. "While the grass grows the horse starves" is the proverb in full.

360. To withdraw with you: probably, to speak in privat,

with you.

361-62. The figure is from hunting. To recover the wind of an animal was to get to the windward of it, so as to drive it into the snare.

363-64. Since Hamlet did not understand this, we are perhaps absolved from the attempt. Guildenstern seems to mean that his love is unmannerly because his sense of duty is strong -but his expression is anything but lucid.

386. 'Sblood. See note on II, ii, 384.

388. Fret. The fret, in certain musical instruments, is the device to regulate the fingering. Hamlet is playing on the two senses of the word.

392. Presently. See note on II, ii, 170, and cf. lines 53, 409,

402.

401. To the top of my bent: as far as I could wish, to the utmost degree. See note on II, ii, 30. Fool me treat me like a fool.

412. Nero: the Roman emperor, who murdered his mother. Cf. King John, V, ii, 152-53: "You bloody Neroes, ripping up the womb of your dear mother England."

417. Give them seals: confirm by action.

ACT III. SCENE III.

In this scene Hamlet has reached the point at which he has supposedly been aiming. He has the evidence which he has sought of the King's guilt; he has the King himself completely in his power. He deliberately lets the opportunity slip, and spares the King. But the King-although Hamlet does not know it—has already assumed the offensive, and in this scene (the only one in which the two protagonists are alone together) the control of the situation passes from Hamlet's hands into those of his opponent.

I. I like him not: not an expression of personal aversion, but rather: I don't like the turn things have taken.

5. The terms of our estate: the conditions on which our kingship rests.

II. The single and peculiar life: the private individual. Observe in these two speeches that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are antiphonal again.

15. The cease of majesty: the death of the King. Dies is used as if Rosencrantz had said " majesty ceasing."

16. A gulf: a whirlpool. Cf. Henry V, II, iv, 10: as waters to the sucking of a gulf."

24. Arm you: provide yourselves, get ready. Has the King paid much attention to the courtiers' fine phrases?

25. This fear: this object of fear.

29. Tax him home: rate him roundly.

30. And wisely was it said.

188 ff., and cf. note on II, i, 3.

Who said it? See III, i,

33. Of vantage: from a point of vantage.

37. The primal eldest curse: the curse of Cain.

46. To wash it white as snow. Probably a reminiscence of Psalm li, 7: "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Cf. also Macbeth, V, i, 31 ff., and II, ii, 60-61.

49-50. Cf. the Lord's Prayer: "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Forestalled = prevented.

56. The offence: the benefits accruing from the offence. In what senses is the word used in lines 36, 47, 58?

61. Lies: is sustainable-i. e., is not shoved by, bought out, or shuffled.

58. Limed: caught, as a bird in bird-lime. Engaged = entangled, hampered.

69. Assay: probably, trial; possibly, onset.

36-72. This soliloquy of the King's is a marvelous piece of psychological analysis, and its truth to certain inexorable facts makes it well worth careful study. What light does it throw on the character of the King?

73-75. Are the three now's in these lines quite the same? Are the two so's?

75. That would be scann'd: that demands scrutiny. And for Hamlet, that means the end of action.

78. What fills out the line?

80-82. Compare these lines with I, v, 76-79.

80. Full of bread. Look up Ezekiel, xvi, 49.

81. With all his crimes broad blown. Cf. I, v, 76: "cut off even in the blossoms of my sin." Blown is used as in III, i, 167. Flush lusty, full of vigor.

83. In our circumstance and course of thought: as we (opposed to heaven) think. Circumstance seems to suggest the ranging abroad, course, the more direct movement, of thought. 85. Purging. See note on III, ii, 318.

96. This physic: this delay in execution. Make clear to yourself just what the reason is that now leads Hamlet to delay. Is it so much a reason as an excuse?

acts.

ACT III. SCENE IV.

In this scene Hamlet, being caught without a chance to think, But by a stroke of tragic irony he kills Polonius, supposing him to be the King. And in killing Polonius he sets in motion the forces that are to lead to his own doom. The interview with his mother gives him an opportunity again to unpack his heart with words, and in the midst of it-at the beginning of the falling, as at the beginning of the rising action-the Ghost appears again. And the scene ends with Hamlet's determination to act-only this time it is defensive action, made necessary by the King's initiative, that he is forced to undertake.

1. Lay home. Cf. III, iii, 29.

4. Much heat: the King's anger. Sconce is Hanmer's emendation (perhaps unnecessary) for silence of the Quartos and Folios.

6. Fear me not. Cf. note on I, iii, 51.

26. Is it the king? That Hamlet thought it was the King is clear from line 32. Why does he no longer feel the scruple of the preceding scene?

29, 30. As kill a king. Does Hamlet think that his mother was privy to his father's murder? Is there any evidence that she was?

38. Proof and bulwark: like tested armor and a rampart. Sense = feeling.

distinguished from those of another. What Ophelia means is that the Queen will wear hers for repentance, Ophelia hers for regret.

184. A daisy . . . violets. The daisy often (not always) symbolized dissembling; violets stood for faithfulness. It is not clear to whom those flowers are given the daisy possibly to the Queen, the violets perhaps to Horatio.

188. Thought: here in its sense of anxious thought, melancholy.

199. And of all Christian souls: a common ending of epitaphs.

ACT IV. SCENE VI.

This scene serves to introduce the element of suspense, just as the King seems to have gained his point. His plan has miscarried; Hamlet is back on Danish soil; the opportunity that he seemed to have lost is in his hands again. And the question is, How will he use it?

20. Thieves of mercy: merciful thieves. See note on I, ii, 4.

21. They knew what they did: they knew what they were about. That is (probably), they had promise of reward. The phrase is sometimes taken to mean that the encounter with the pirates was prearranged by Hamlet, and that it was to this that he had referred in III, iv, 205-10. But this seems very unlikely. If Hamlet had any definite plan in his mind in the lines referred to (instead of merely the confidence that his wits would serve him at the critical moment), it was probably that of the exchange of the letters (see V, ii, 12-55). The fight with the pirates is rather to be thought of as a happy accident. Accident, to be sure, may not play too large a part in a tragedy, where the movement of events is chiefly determined by the inexorable working out of what is latent in character. But accident plays a vital part in life, and the dramatist may legitimately use it as it seems to be used here. What part is played by accident, for instance, in Macbeth?

26-27. Too light for the bore of the matter: the charge is too light, considering the caliber of the gun. That is, weighty

as the words are, they are yet inadequate for the matter they have to express.

ACT IV. SCENE VII.

At the very moment when the King is about to disclose to Laertes the plan by which he thinks he has rid himself of Hamlet, word is brought that Hamlet has returned. Without a moment's hesitation Claudius seizes on the opportunity to turn Laertes to his purpose, and before Hamlet has a chance to act, a new and sinister plot is under way against him. And before the plot is fairly formed, Laertes's ardor for revenge is fanned to fierce flame by the account of Ophelia's death, and the act ends with a sense of crowding events moving swiftly to the catastrophe.

I. Conscience: consciousness (that all this is so), knowledge. See note on III, i, 83.

3-5. Can you make out what it is that the King has told Laertes? Notice Laertes's characterization of "these feats" in the next speech.

13. Be it either which: whichever of these it be.

15. See note on I, v, 17.

19-21. Springs which have the property referred to here are known in many localities. Gyves fetters, and the literal meaning gives perfectly good sense: the people will regard as ornaments the fetters I impose upon him.

27. If praises may go back again: i. e., to what she was. 28. Stood on an eminence as challenger of all the age.

33. You shortly shall hear more. What the King expects that Laertes shall hear is the news of Hamlet's death. What he does hear is the news of his escape. Observe the dramatic irony of the situation.

34. I... we. In the first half of the line Claudius is speaking as a man; in the second, as a king.

37. This to the queen. We hear no more of this letter; why is it mentioned here?

40.

Who is Claudio?

63. Checking at. A technical term from falconry. A hawk checks," when it abandons its proper prey to fly after another.