Note to Hamlet, 5.2.74: "a man's life's no more than to say "One""


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Hamlet,
Act 5, Scene 2, line 74
a man's life's no more than to say "One": i.e., to kill a man takes no more time than to count to "one." —Perhaps this is equivalent to "deliver one sword thrust"; see line 280 in this scene, where Hamlet says "One" as he makes the first hit in the fencing match with Laertes.