The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Part 73

[Sidenote: 120] He that hath kil'd my King,[9] and whor'd my Mother, [Sidenote: 62] Popt in betweene th'election and my hopes,

[Footnote 1: _This verse not in Q._]

[Footnote 2: destruction.]

[Footnote 3: 'Their destruction they have enticed on themselves by their own behaviour;' or, 'they have _crept into_ their fate by their underhand dealings.' The _Sh. Lex._ explains _insinuation_ as _meddling_.]

[Footnote 4: With the concern of Horatio for the fate of Rosincrance and Guildensterne, Hamlet shows no sympathy. It has been objected to his character that there is nothing in the play to show them privy to the contents of their commission; to this it would be answer enough, that Hamlet is satisfied of their worthlessness, and that their whole behaviour in the play shows them merest parasites; but, at the same time, we must note that, in changing the commission, he had no intention, could have had no thought, of letting them go to England without him: that was a pure shaping of their ends by the Divinity.

Possibly his own 'dear plots' had in them the notion of getting help against his uncle from the king of England, in which case he would willingly of course have continued his journey; but whatever they may be supposed to have been, they were laid in connection with the voyage, not founded on the chance of its interruption. It is easy to imagine a man like him, averse to the shedding of blood, intending interference for their lives: as heir apparent, he would certainly have been listened to.

The tone of his reply to Horatio is that of one who has been made the unintending cause of a deserved fate: the thing having fallen out so, the Divinity having so shaped their ends, there was nothing in their character, any more than in that of Polonius, to make him regret their death, or the part he had had in it.]

[Footnote 5: The 'mighty opposites' here are the king and Hamlet.]

[Footnote 6: Perhaps, as Hamlet talked, he has been parenthetically glancing at the real commission. Anyhow conviction is growing stronger in Horatio, whom, for the occasion, we may regard as a type of the public.]

[Footnote 7: 'thinkst thee,' in the fashion of the Friends, or 'thinke thee' in the sense of 'bethink thee.']

[Footnote 8: 'Does it not rest now on me?--is it not now my duty?--is it not _inc.u.mbent on me_ (with _lie_ for _stand_)--"is't not perfect conscience"?']

[Footnote 9: Note '_my king_' not _my father_: he had to avenge a crime against the state, the country, himself as a subject--not merely a private wrong.]

[Page 252]

Throwne out his Angle for my proper life,[1]

And with such coozenage;[2] is't not perfect conscience,[3]

[Sidenote: conscience?]

[Sidenote: 120] To quit him with this arme?[4] And is't not to be d.a.m.n'd[5]

To let this Canker of our nature come In further euill.[6]

_Hor._ It must be shortly knowne to him from England What is the issue of the businesse there.[7]

_Ham._ It will be short, [Sidenote: 262] The _interim's_ mine,[8] and a mans life's no more[9]

Then to say one:[10] but I am very sorry good _Horatio_, [Sidenote: 245] That to _Laertes_ I forgot my selfe; For by the image of my Cause, I see [Sidenote: 262] The Portraiture of his;[11] Ile count his fauours:[12]

[Footnote 1: Here is the charge at length in full against the king--of quality and proof sufficient now, not merely to justify, but to compel action against him.]

[Footnote 2: He was such a _fine_ hypocrite that Hamlet, although he hated and distrusted him, was perplexed as to the possibility of his guilt. His good acting was almost too much for Hamlet himself. This is his 'coozenage.'

After 'coozenage' should come a dash, bringing '--is't not perfect conscience' (_is it not absolutely righteous_) into closest sequence, almost apposition, with 'Does it not stand me now upon--'.]

[Footnote 3: Here comes in the _Quarto, 'Enter a Courtier_.' All from this point to 'Peace, who comes heere?' included, is in addition to the _Quarto_ text--not in the _Q._, that is.]

[Footnote 4: I would here refer my student to the soliloquy--with its _sea of troubles_, and _the taking of arms against it_. 123, n. 4.]

[Footnote 5: These three questions: 'Does it not stand me now upon?'--'Is't not perfect conscience?'--'Is't not to be d.a.m.ned?' reveal the whole relation between the inner and outer, the unseen and the seen, the thinking and the acting Hamlet. 'Is not the thing right?--Is it not my duty?--Would not the neglect of it deserve d.a.m.nation?' He is satisfied.]

[Footnote 6: 'is it not a thing to be d.a.m.ned--to let &c.?' or, 'would it not be to be d.a.m.ned, (to be in a state of d.a.m.nation, or, to bring d.a.m.nation on oneself) to let this human cancer, the king, go on to further evil?']

[Footnote 7: '--so you have not much time.']

[Footnote 8: 'True, it will be short, but till then is mine, and will be long enough for me.' He is resolved.]

[Footnote 9: Now that he is a.s.sured of what is right, the Shadow that waits him on the path to it, has no terror for him. He ceases to be anxious as to 'what dreams may come,' as to the 'something after death,'

as to 'the undiscovered country,' the moment his conscience is satisfied. 120. It cannot now make a coward of him. It was never in regard to the past that Hamlet dreaded death, but in regard to the righteousness of the action which was about to occasion his death. Note that he expects death; at least he has long made up his mind to the great risk of it--the death referred to in the soliloquy--which, after all, was not that which did overtake him. There is nothing about suicide here, nor was there there.]

[Footnote 10: 'a man's life must soon be over anyhow.']

[Footnote 11: The approach of death causes him to think of and regret even the small wrongs he has done; he laments his late behaviour to Laertes, and makes excuse for him: the similarity of their condition, each having lost a father by violence, ought, he says, to have taught him gentleness with him. The _1st Quarto_ is worth comparing here:--

_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.]

[Footnote 12: 'I will not forget,' or, 'I will call to mind, what merits he has,' or 'what favours he has shown me.' But I suspect the word '_count_' ought to be _court_.--He does court his favour when next they meet--in lovely fashion. He has no suspicion of his enmity.]

[Page 254]

[Sidenote: 242, 262] But sure the brauery[1] of his griefe did put me Into a Towring pa.s.sion.[2]

_Hor._ Peace, who comes heere?

_Enter young Osricke._[3] [Sidenote: _Enter a Courtier._]

_Osr._ Your Lordship is right welcome back to [Sidenote: _Cour._]

Denmarke.

_Ham._ I humbly thank you Sir, dost know this [Sidenote: humble thank]

waterflie?[4]

_Hor._ No my good Lord.

_Ham._ Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him[5]: he hath much Land, and fertile; let a Beast be Lord of Beasts, and his Crib shall stand at the Kings Messe;[6] 'tis a Chowgh[7]; but as I saw s.p.a.cious in the possession of dirt.[8] [Sidenote: as I say,]

_Osr._ Sweet Lord, if your friendship[9] were at [Sidenote: _Cour._ Lordshippe[?]]

leysure, I should impart a thing to you from his Maiesty.

_Ham._ I will receiue it with all diligence of [Sidenote: it sir with]

spirit; put your Bonet to his right vse, 'tis for the [Sidenote: spirit, your]

head.

Osr. I thanke your Lordship, 'tis very hot[10]

[Sidenote: Cour. it is]

_Ham._ No, beleeue mee 'tis very cold, the winde is Northerly.

_Osr._ It is indifferent cold[11] my Lord indeed. [Sidenote: _Cour._]

_Ham._ Mee thinkes it is very soultry, and hot [Sidenote: But yet me sully and hot, or my]

for my Complexion.[12]