The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - A Study with the Text of the Folio of 1623 | Page 9

are capable of being imitated; they are the natural shows of grief. But
he has that in him which cannot show or _seem_, because nothing can
represent it. These are 'the Trappings and the Suites of _woe_;' they
fitly represent woe, but they cannot shadow forth that which is within
him--a something different from woe, far beyond it and worse, passing
all reach of embodiment and manifestation. What this something is,
comes out the moment he is left by himself.]
[Footnote 10: The emphasis is on might.]
[Footnote 11: Both his uncle and his mother decline to understand him.
They will have it he mourns the death of his father, though they must at
least suspect another cause for his grief. Note the intellectual mastery
of the hypocrite--which accounts for his success.]
[Footnote 12: belonging to obsequies.]
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Of impious stubbornnesse. Tis vnmanly greefe, It shewes a will most
incorrect to Heauen, A Heart vnfortified, a Minde impatient, [Sidenote:
or minde] An Vnderstanding simple, and vnschool'd: For, what we
know must be, and is as common As any the most vulgar thing to sence,
Why should we in our peeuish Opposition Take it to heart? Fye, 'tis a
fault to Heauen, A fault against the Dead, a fault to Nature, To Reason
most absurd, whose common Theame Is death of Fathers, and who still
hath cried, From the first Coarse,[1] till he that dyed to day, [Sidenote:
course] This must be so. We pray you throw to earth This vnpreuayling
woe, and thinke of vs As of a Father; For let the world take note, You
are the most immediate to our Throne,[2] And with no lesse Nobility of
Loue, Then that which deerest Father beares his Sonne, Do I impart
towards you. For your intent [Sidenote: toward] [Sidenote: 18] In going

backe to Schoole in Wittenberg,[3] It is most retrograde to our desire:
[Sidenote: retrogard] And we beseech you, bend you to remaine Heere
in the cheere and comfort of our eye, Our cheefest Courtier Cosin, and
our Sonne.
_Qu._ Let not thy Mother lose her Prayers _Hamlet_: [Sidenote: loose]
I prythee stay with vs, go not to Wittenberg. [Sidenote: pray thee]
_Ham._ I shall in all my best Obey you Madam.[4]
_King._ Why 'tis a louing, and a faire Reply, Be as our selfe in
Denmarke. Madam come, This gentle and vnforc'd accord of
_Hamlet_[5] Sits smiling to my heart; in grace whereof, No iocond
health that Denmarke drinkes to day, [Sidenote: 44] But the great
Cannon to the Clowds shall tell,
[Footnote 1: Corpse.]
[Footnote 2: --seeking to propitiate him with the hope that his
succession had been but postponed by his uncle's election.]
[Footnote 3: Note that Hamlet was educated in Germany--at Wittenberg,
the university where in 1508 Luther was appointed professor of
Philosophy. Compare 19. There was love of study as well as disgust
with home in his desire to return to _Schoole_: this from what we know
of him afterwards.]
[Footnote 4: Emphasis on obey. A light on the character of Hamlet.]
[Footnote 5: He takes it, or pretends to take it, for far more than it was.
He desires friendly relations with Hamlet.]
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And the Kings Rouce,[1] the Heauens shall bruite againe, Respeaking
earthly Thunder. Come away. Exeunt [Sidenote: _Florish. Exeunt all
but Hamlet._]
_Manet Hamlet._

[2]_Ham._ Oh that this too too solid Flesh, would melt, [Sidenote:
sallied flesh[3]] Thaw, and resolue it selfe into a Dew: [Sidenote:
125,247,260] Or that the Euerlasting had not fixt [Sidenote: 121 _bis_]
His Cannon 'gainst Selfe-slaughter. O God, O God! [Sidenote: seale
slaughter, o God, God,] How weary, stale, flat, and vnprofitable
[Sidenote: wary] Seemes to me all the vses of this world? [Sidenote:
seeme] Fie on't? Oh fie, fie, 'tis an vnweeded Garden [Sidenote: ah fie,]
That growes to Seed: Things rank, and grosse in Nature Possesse it
meerely. That it should come to this: [Sidenote: meerely that it should
come thus] But two months dead[4]: Nay, not so much; not two, So
excellent a King, that was to this Hiperion to a Satyre: so louing to my
Mother, That he might not beteene the windes of heauen [Sidenote:
beteeme[5]] Visit her face too roughly. Heauen and Earth Must I
remember: why she would hang on him, [Sidenote: should] As if
encrease of Appetite had growne By what it fed on; and yet within a
month? Let me not thinke on't: Frailty, thy name is woman.[6] A little
Month, or ere those shooes were old, With which she followed my
poore Fathers body Like _Niobe_, all teares. Why she, euen she.[7] (O
Heauen! A beast that wants discourse[8] of Reason [Sidenote: O God]
Would haue mourn'd longer) married with mine Vnkle, [Sidenote: my]
[Footnote 1: German _Rausch_, drunkenness. 44, 68]
[Footnote 2: A soliloquy