mine own. 4tos. + Whips out his rapier, cries, 4tos. ACT IV. SCENE I. The same. Enter King, Queen, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUIL DENSTERN. a KING. There's matter in these sighs; these profound heaves; b You must translate: 'tis fit we understand them: [QUEEN. Bestow this place on us a little while.-] Which is the mightier: In his lawless fit, He whips his rapier out, and cries, A rat! a rat! ‡ his. 1623, The unseen good old man. с O heavy deed! It had been so with us, had we been there: His liberty is full of threats to all; To you yourself, to us, to every one. Alas! how shall this bloody deed be answer❜d? It will be laid to us, whose providence a there's matter in these sighs] i. e. they import something of moment. See Othel. III. 4. Iago. b translate] i. e. interpret. "With private soul did thus translate," i. e. characterise him. Tr. & Cr. IV. 5. Ulyss. in this brainish apprehension] i. e. distempered, brain-sick mood, or conceit. Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt," Where is he ? gone QUEEN. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd: O'er whom his very madness, like some ore, Among a mineral of metals base, Shows itself pure; (3) he weeps for what is done. KING. O, Gertrude, come away! The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch, Both countenance and excuse.-Ho! Guildenstern! Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. Friends both, go join you with some further aid: a [Exeunt. kept short—and out of haunt] i. e. narrowed the range, and prohibited from places of public resort. * lets. 1623, 32. +And. 4tos. These words were supplied by Theobald. SCENE II. Another Room in the same. Enter HAMLET. HAM.- -Safely stowed. GENTLEMEN within. Hamlet! lord Hamlet! Hamlet! HAM. [But softly,] what noise? who calls on Hamlet? O, here they come. Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. Ros. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body? HAM. Compounded it with dust,(6) whereto 'tis kin. Ros. Tell us where 'tis; that we may take it thence, And bear it to the chapel. HAM. Do not believe it. Ros. Believe what? HAM. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge!" what replication should be made by the son of a king? Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my lord? HAM. Ay, sir; that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw ;(7) first mouthed, to be last swallowed: When he needs a to be demanded of a sponge] Of, for by, was the common phraseology of the day; and more particularly in the use of this verb. what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again.(8) Ros. I understand you not, my lord. HAM. I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear. Ros. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king. HAM. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing GUIL. A thing, my lord? HAM. Of nothing:(9) bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.(10) [Exeunt. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body] This may mean, "the king is not yet cut off from life and sovereignty: his carkass remains to the king; but the king is not with the body or carkass, that you seek the king is not with Polonius." But Hamlet, whose meaning is, not merely to baffle these persons (not intitled to approach and question him with so little respect), but also to make allusions to matters, of which he could not, with prudence or safety to himself, speak openly, returns answers necessarily enigmatical. A more natural meaning is suggested; "The image raised, the impression made upon the King's fears by the fate of Polonius makes his body or carcase present to the fancy of the king; who knew and has said that " it had been so with him, had he been there" but the King is not with the body, i. e. is not lying with Polonius, as Hamlet wished him to be, and would have said, had his situation made such an avowal safe." Others interpret, plainly enough, if admissibly," The body is with the king," i. e. intombed or in the other world with the late, the real king: but the King, i. e. he who now wears the Crown, the usurper, " is not with the body." SCENE III. Another Room in the same. Enter King, attended. KING. I have sent to seek him, and to find the How dangerous is it, that this man goes loose? Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes; And, where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd, So 4tos. But never the offence. To bear all smooth and neerer. 1623, 32. even, This sudden sending him away must seem Enter ROSENCRANTZ. Or not at all.-How now? what hath befallen? KING. But where is he? Ros. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure. KING. Bring him before us. Ros. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord. a Where the offender's scourge is weigh'd, But never the offence] i. e. when an offender is popular, the people never consider what his crime was, but they scrutinize his punishment. |