Hamlet: Act 4, Scene 7
Enter KING and LAERTES.
KING
1 Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,
1. my acquittance seal: ratify my acquittal; i.e., acknowledge my innocence in Polonius' death.
2 And you must put me in your heart for friend,
3 Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
3. Sith: since. with a knowing ear: i.e., you have become convinced of the truth of what you have heard.
4 That he which hath your noble father slain
4. he which hath your noble father slain: i.e., Hamlet.
5 Pursued my life.
LAERTES
It well appears: but tell me
6 Why you proceeded not against these feats,
6. proceeded not: didn't take legal action. feats: acts.
7 So criminal and so capital in nature,
7. capital: punishable by death.
8 As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,
9 You mainly were stirr'd up.
8-9. As . . . up: i.e., since you were powerfully motived to take action out of regard for your own safety, warned by your wisdom of the danger posed by Hamlet, and urged on by all the other circumstances of Hamlet's murder of Polonius.
KING
O, for two special reasons;
10 Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd,
10. unsinew'd: without strong sinews, weak.
11 But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother
12 Lives almost by his looks; and for myself—
13 My virtue or my plague, be it either which—
13. either which: one or the other.
14 She's so conjunctive to my life and soul,
14. conjunctive: closely joined.
15 That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
16 I could not but by her. The other motive,
15-16. as the . . . her: i.e., I can't live without her. ...more
17 Why to a public count I might not go,
17. count: account, reckoning.
18 Is the great love the general gender bear him;
18. the general gender: the common people.
19 Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
20 Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
20. spring: i.e., a spring of water with such a high concentration of lime that it coats wood with limestone.
21 Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows,
21. Convert . . . graces: convert his faults to virtues.
22 Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,
22. slightly timber'd: light. loud: strong.
23 Would have reverted to my bow again,
23. Would . . . again: would have reversed course and flown back to my bow. The king is making the point that Hamlet is so popular with the common people that any accusation made by the king against Hamlet would only anger the people against the king, not Hamlet.
24 And not where I had aim'd them.
LAERTES
25 And so have I a noble father lost;
26 A sister driven into desperate terms,
26. desperate terms: madness.
27 Whose worth, if praises may go back again,
28 Stood challenger on mount of all the age
29 For her perfections: but my revenge will come.
27-29. Whose worth . . . her perfections: i.e., whose worth, if she could be praised as she was before she went mad, could rival, as from on high, all the perfections of the age.
KING
30 Break not your sleeps for that: you must not think
30. for that: i.e., for fear of failing to get revenge.
31 That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
31. flat: spiritless.
32 That we can let our beard be shook with danger
32. let our beard be shook: —To shake (tweak or pluck) a man's beard was a deadly insult. with: by.
33 And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more:
33. You shortly shall hear more: i.e., you will soon see how I will make good on my threats against Hamlet.
34 I loved your father, and we love ourself;
35 And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine—
Enter a MESSENGER with letters.
36 How now! what news?
Messenger
Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:
37 This to your majesty; this to the queen.
37. this to the queen: —This is an intriguing loose end. Hamlet's letter to his mother is never mentioned again.
KING
38 From Hamlet! who brought them?
Messenger
39 Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not:
40 They were given me by Claudio; he received them
40. Claudio: —This is the only mention of Claudio. Apparently he is an intermediary between the messenger and the sailor/pirate who had the letters from Hamlet.
41 Of him that brought them.
KING
Laertes, you shall hear them.
42 —Leave us.
[Exit Messenger.]
[Reads.]
43 "High and mighty, You shall know I am
44 set naked on your kingdom. Tomorrow shall
44. naked: without weapons or followers.
45 I beg leave to see your kingly eyes: when I shall, first
46 asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of
46. pardon thereunto: permission to do so.
47 my sudden and more strange return.
48 HAMLET."
49 What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?
50 Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
50. abuse: deceit.
LAERTES
51 Know you the hand?
KING
'Tis Hamlet's character. "Naked!"
51. hand, character: —In this context, both words mean "handwriting."
52 And in a postscript here, he says "alone."
53 Can you devise me?
53. devise me: explain it to me.
LAERTES
54 I'm lost in it, my lord. But let him come;
55 It warms the very sickness in my heart,
56 That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,
57 "Thus didst thou."
KING
If it be so, Laertes—
58 As how should it be so? how otherwise?—
59 Will you be ruled by me?
59. be ruled by me: take my advice, follow my lead.
LAERTES
Ay, my lord;
60 So you will not o'errule me to a peace.
60. So: provided that. o'errule me to a peace: i.e., overrule my desire to take revenge on Hamlet.
KING
61 To thine own peace. If he be now return'd,
62 As checking at his voyage, and that he means
62. checking at: turning away from, like a hunting dog who has lost the scent.
63 No more to undertake it, I will work him
64 To an exploit, now ripe in my device,
63-64. I will work him / To an exploit, now ripe in my device: i.e., I will con him into walking into an ambush which is now taking final shape in my imagination.
65 Under the which he shall not choose but fall:
66 And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,
67 But even his mother shall uncharge the practise
67. uncharge the practise: i.e. hold me innocent of the plot.
68 And call it accident.
LAERTES
My lord, I will be ruled;
68. I will be ruled: i.e., I will follow your lead.
69 The rather, if you could devise it so
70 That I might be the organ.
70. organ: instrument, agent (of Hamlet's death).
KING
It falls right.
70. It falls right: i.e., that would be just right.
71 You have been talk'd of since your travel much,
72 And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality
72. quality: skill.
73 Wherein, they say, you shine: your sum of parts
73. Your sum of parts: all your (other) accomplishments put together.
74 Did not together pluck such envy from him
75 As did that one, and that, in my regard,
76 Of the unworthiest siege.
76. Of the unworthiest siege: i.e., least important.
LAERTES
What part is that, my lord?
KING
77 A very riband in the cap of youth,
77. riband: decorative ribbon.
78 Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes
78-79. youth . . . wears: youth looks becoming in the light and carefree clothes that it wears.
79 The light and careless livery that it wears
80 Than settled age his sables and his weeds,
80. his sables and his weeds i.e., its characteristic garments. ...more
81 Importing health and graveness. Two months since,
81. Importing health and graveness: signifying prosperity and dignity.
82 Here was a gentleman of Normandy:—
83 I've seen myself, and served against, the French,
84 And they can well on horseback: but this gallant
84. can well on horseback: are excellent riders.
85 Had witchcraft in't; he grew unto his seat;
86 And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,
87 As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured
88 With the brave beast: so far he topp'd my thought,
87-88. As . . . beast: as if he had been joined with the body of, and shared the nature of his magnificent horse. topp'd my thought: surpassed my imagination (of what was possible).
89 That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,
90 Come short of what he did.
89-90. I . . . did: I, in imagining feats and tricks (of horsemanship) come short of what he did.
LAERTES
A Norman was't?
KING
91 A Norman.
LAERTES
92 Upon my life, Lamond.
KING
The very same.
LAERTES
93 I know him well: he is the brooch indeed
93. brooch: ornament.
94 And gem of all the nation.
KING
95 He made confession of you,
95. made confession of you: acknowledged your superiority.
96 And gave you such a masterly report
97 For art and exercise in your defence
98 And for your rapier most especial,
99 That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed,
100 If one could match you: the scrimers of their nation,
101 He swore, had had neither motion, guard, nor eye,
102 If you opposed them. Sir, this report of his
100-102. the scrimers . . . If you opposed them: the fencers of France would have been clumsy, defenseless, and blind if Laertes were fighting against them.
103 Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy
104 That he could nothing do but wish and beg
105 Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.
105. sudden: speedy. play: fence.
106 Now, out of this—
LAERTES
What out of this, my lord?
KING
107 Laertes, was your father dear to you?
108 Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
109 A face without a heart?
LAERTES
Why ask you this?
KING
110 Not that I think you did not love your father;
111 But that I know love is begun by time;
111. begun by time: i.e., born from a particular set of circumstances.
112 And that I see, in passages of proof,
112. in passages of proof: i.e., by persuasive examples.
113 Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
113. qualifies: dilutes, weakens.
114 There lives within the very flame of love
115 A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;
115. snuff: the charred part of a candle wick.
116 And nothing is at a like goodness still;
116. nothing . . . still: nothing stays perfect forever.
117 For goodness, growing to a plurisy,
117. plurisy: excess, plethora.
118 Dies in his own too much. That we would do
118. that: that which.
119 We should do when we would; for this "would" changes
120 And hath abatements and delays as many
120. abatements: diminutions.
121 As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
121. accidents: random occurrences.
122 And then this "should" is like a spendthrift sigh,
123 That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer:—
122-123. a spendthrift sigh, / That hurts by easing:
quick o' the ulcer: i.e., the heart of the problem. —The kind of ulcer referred to is external. A modern (C.E. 2020) example of such an ulcer is a bedsore, which is treated by draining the pus from the center, the "quick."
quick o' the ulcer: i.e., the heart of the problem. —The kind of ulcer referred to is external. A modern (C.E. 2020) example of such an ulcer is a bedsore, which is treated by draining the pus from the center, the "quick."
124 Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake,
125 To show yourself your father's son in deed
126 More than in words?
LAERTES
To cut his throat i' the church.
KING
127 No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;
127. No place . . . sanctuarize: i.e., no place should offer sanctuary to a murderer.
128 Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,
129 Will you do this, keep close within your chamber.
129. Will . . . chamber: If you are willing to do this (i.e., take revenge on Hamlet), keep out of sight in your room.
130 Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home:
131 We'll put on those shall praise your excellence
131. put on: put into action.
132 And set a double varnish on the fame
132. double varnish: second coat of varnish.
133 The Frenchman gave you, bring you in fine together
133. in fine: finally.
134 And wager on your heads. He, being remiss,
134. remiss: careless; i.e., overly trusting.
135 Most generous and free from all contriving,
135. generous: noble-minded. free from contriving: free from the inclination to lay plots.
136 Will not peruse the foils; so that, with ease,
136. peruse: examine.
137 Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
138. unbated: having no button, sharp. Foils used in a fencing match were (and still are) fitted with buttons on the tips, so that no one gets seriously hurt. ...more
pass of practise: treacherous thrust.
pass of practise: treacherous thrust.
138 A sword unbated, and in a pass of practise
139 Requite him for your father.
LAERTES
I will do't:
140 And, for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.
141 I bought an unction of a mountebank,
141. unction: ointment. mountebank: i.e., snake-oil salesman.
142 So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,
142. mortal: deadly.
143 Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,
143. cataplasm: poultice; medicinal dressing.
144 Collected from all simples that have virtue
144. simples: medicinal herbs. virtue: curative power.
145 Under the moon, can save the thing from death
146 That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point
147 With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,
147. that: so that. gall: graze, wound.
148 It may be death.
KING
Let's further think of this;
149 Weigh what convenience both of time and means
150 May fit us to our shape: if this should fail,
150. fit us to our shape: i.e., suit our purposes best.
151 And that our drift look through our bad performance,
151. our drift . . . performance: our (evil) intention becomes visible because of our bad execution (of our plot).
152 'Twere better not assay'd: therefore this project
153 Should have a back or second, that might hold,
153. back or second: i.e., a back-up plan. hold: not fail.
154 If this should blast in proof. Soft! let me see:
154. blast in proof: blow up while being tried. Soft! i.e., wait a minute, let me think.
155 We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings—
155. cunnings: i.e., fencing skills.
156 I ha't.
157 When in your motion you are hot and dry—
158 As make your bouts more violent to that end—
158. As . . . end: i.e., and you should make your bouts of fencing more active to achieve that goal.
159 And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepar'd him
159. And . . . drink: and when he calls for drink.
160 A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,
160. nonce: occasion.
161 If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,
161. venom'd stuck: poisoned thrust.
162 Our purpose may hold there. But stay, what noise?
Enter QUEEN.
QUEEN
163 One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
164 So fast they follow; your sister's drown'd, Laertes.
LAERTES
165 Drown'd! O, where?
QUEEN
166 There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
166. aslant: sideways over. ...more
167. hoar: grey-white.
167 That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
168. Therewith: i.e., with willow branches.
168 Therewith fantastic garlands did she make
169. long purples: wild orchids.
169 Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
170 That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
170. liberal: free-spoken. a grosser name: ???
171 But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
171. cold: chaste.
172 There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
172. coronet weeds: i.e., weeds woven into a coronet. ...more
173 Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
173. envious sliver: malicious branch.
174 When down her weedy trophies and herself
175 Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
176 And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
177 Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds;
177. lauds: hymns.
178 As one incapable of her own distress,
178. incapable: not capable of understanding.
179 Or like a creature native and indued
179. indued: adapted by nature.
180 Unto that element: but long it could not be
180. that element: i.e., water.
181 Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
182 Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
Ophelia by John Everett Millais
183 To muddy death.
LAERTES
Alas, then, she is drown'd?
QUEEN
184 Drown'd, drown'd.
LAERTES
185 Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
186 And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet
187 It is our trick; nature her custom holds,
187. It is our trick: i.e., weeping is a natural human response.
188 Let shame say what it will: when these are gone,
188. these: these tears.
189 The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord:
189. The . . . out: i.e., I will be done acting like a woman.
190 I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze,
190. fain would: urgently desires to.
191. this folly: i.e., my own foolish tears.
191 But that this folly drowns it.
Exit.
KING
Let's follow, Gertrude:
192 How much I had to do to calm his rage!
193 Now fear I this will give it start again;
194 Therefore let's follow.
Exeunt.