Although Hamlet could not have had much doubt left with regard to his
uncle's guilt, yet a man with a fine, delicate--what most men would
think, because so much more exacting than theirs--fastidious conscience,
might well desire some proof more positive yet, before he did a deed so
repugnant to his nature, and carrying in it such a loud condemnation of
his mother. And more: he might well wish to have something to _show_: a
man's conviction is no proof, though it may work in others inclination
to receive proof. Hamlet is sent to sea just to get such proof as will
not only thoroughly satisfy himself, but be capable of being shown to
others. He holds now in his hand--to lay before the people--the two
contradictory commissions. By his voyage then he has gained both
assurance of his duty, and provision against the consequence he mainly
dreaded, that of leaving a wounded name behind him. 272. This is the
shaping of his ends--so exactly to his needs, so different from his
rough-hewn plans--which is the work of the Divinity. The man who desires
to know his duty that he may _do_ it, who will not shirk it when he does
know it, will have time allowed him and the thing made plain to him; his
perplexity will even strengthen and purify his will. The weak man is he
who, certain of what is required of him, fails to meet it: so never once
fails Hamlet. Note, in all that follows, that a load seems taken off
him: after a gracious tardiness to believe up to the point of action, he
is at length satisfied. Hesitation belongs to the noble nature, to
Hamlet; precipitation to the poor nature, to Laertes, the son of
Polonius. Compare Brutus in _Julius Caesar_--a Hamlet in favourable
circumstances, with Hamlet--a Brutus in the most unfavourable
circumstances conceivable.]
[Page 250]
_Ham_. Why man, they did make loue to this imployment[1]
They are not neere my Conscience; their debate
[Sidenote: their defeat[2]]
Doth by their owne insinuation[3] grow:[4] [Sidenote: Dooes]
'Tis dangerous, when the baser nature comes
Betweene the passe, and fell incensed points
Of mighty opposites.[5]
_Hor_. Why, what a King is this?[6]
_Ham_. Does it not, thinkst thee,[7] stand me now vpon[8]
[Sidenote: not thinke thee[7] stand]
[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 _incumbent 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
damn'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 damned?' 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 damnation?' He is
satisfied.]
[Footnote 6: 'is it not a thing to be damned--to let &c.?' or, 'would it
not be to be damned, (to be in a state of damnation, or, to bring
damnation 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 assured 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 passion.[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 spacious 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]
_Osr._ Exceedingly, my Lord, it is very soultry, [Sidenote: _Cour._]
as 'twere I cannot tell how: but my Lord,[13] his
[Sidenote: how: my Lord]
Maiesty bad me signifie to you, that he ha's laid a
[Sidenote: that a had]
[Sidenote: 244] great wager on your head: Sir, this is the matter.[14]
_Ham._ I beseech you remember.[15]
_Osr._ Nay, in good faith, for mine ease in good
[Sidenote: Cour. Nay good my Lord for my ease]
[Footnote 1: the great show; bravado.]
[Footnote 2: --with which fell in well the forms of his pretended
madness. But that the passion was real, this reaction of repentance
shows. It was not the first time his pretence had given him liberty to
ease his heart with wild words. Jealous of the boastfulness of Laertes'
affection, he began at once--in keeping with his assumed character of
madman, but not the less in harmony with his feelings--to outrave him.]
[Footnote 3: One of the sort that would gather to such a king--of the
same kind as Rosincrance and Guildensterne.