Hamlet (41 page)

77
Are … that
are of a most distinguished and noble pre-eminence in their choice garments

80
husbandry
economy

83
false
dishonest, disloyal

84
season
ripen

84
this
i.e. his advice

86
tend
await

93
touching
concerning

94
Marry
by the Virgin Mary

94
bethought
thought of

97
audience
hearing, reception

98
put on
conveyed to/impressed upon

101
behoves
befits, is appropriate for

103
tenders
offers (Polonius subsequently shifts the sense to “offers of money”)

105
green
inexperienced/gullible

106
Unsifted
untested

111
sterling
true currency

111
Tender … dearly
take greater care of your self/value yourself more highly/offer yourself at a higher rate

112
crack … of
make broken-winded, i.e. wear out

113
Running
the image is of urging a horse

113
tender … fool
show yourself up to be a fool/show me to be a fool/present me with an illegitimate baby

114
importuned
entreated persistently

116
fashion
shifts the sense from Ophelia’s “manner” to “mere form/passing fancy”

116
Go to
expression of dismissive impatience

117
countenance
authority/confirmation

119
springes
snares

119
woodcocks
birds which were easily caught, hence regarded as stupid, gullible

120
prodigal
prodigally, liberally

122
light
and
heat
are extinguished in such passionate declarations even as they are being uttered

122
extinct … a-making
i.e. both

124
For this time
for the time being

125
scanter
more sparing

126
entreatments
discussions/military negotiations

127
command to parley
call from the enemy for the negotiation of terms (i.e. Ophelia is not obliged to meet with and possibly discuss surrender to Hamlet simply because he requests it)

130
in few
in short

131
brokers
negotiators/go-betweens/pimps

132
investments
clothes

133
mere implorators
out-and-out pleaders

133
suits
requests/courtship (plays on the sense of “clothing”)

134
bawds
procurers, pimps

135
beguile
deceive

135
for all
once for all/in sum

137
moment
moment of

139
Come your ways
come along

Act 1 Scene 4

1.4
Location: the gun terrace of the royal castle at Elsinore

1
shrewdly
sharply, keenly

2
eager
biting

4
lacks of
is just before

7.1
flourish
trumpet fanfare accompanying a person in authority

7
held his wont
has been accustomed

9
wake
stay up/revel

9
takes his rouse
carouses

10
Keeps wassail
revels/drinks heartily

10
the … reels
drunkenly dances the upspring, a German dance

11
Rhenish
German wine from the area around the River Rhine

12
kettledrum
type of drum often associated with the Danes

12
bray … pledge
i.e. raucously celebrate the king’s fulfillment of his earlier promise to drain a full draught of liquor

17
manner
custom

18
More … observance
better being broken than observed

20
ministers of grace
God’s messengers, angels

21
Be thou
whether you are

21
health
benevolence/salvation

21
goblin
demon

24
questionable shape
form that invites question

28
canonized
consecrated, buried according to Christian rite (three syllables, stress on second)

28
hearsèd
entombed

29
cerements
grave clothes

29
sepulchre
tomb

30
inurned
enclosed/buried

31
ponderous
weighty

32
cast
vomit

33
complete steel
full armor

34
glimpses … moon
earth by moonlight, literally “flashes of moonlight”

35
hideous
frightening, full of horror

35
fools of nature
ignorant mortals/playthings of nature

36
horridly
dreadfully/with horror

36
disposition
ordinary temperaments/mental composure

38
Wherefore?
Why?

40
impartment
communication

43
wafts
waves, beckons

49
a pin’s fee
the (tiny) worth of a pin

53
flood
sea

55
beetles o’er
overhangs (like frowning eyebrows)

57
deprive … reason
remove your reason from its position of control

64
artery
thought not to convey blood, but the ethereal fluid known as “vital spirits”

65
Nemean lion
supposedly invincible beast strangled by Hercules as one of his twelve labors

65
nerve
sinew, tendon

67
lets
hinders

69
waxes
grows

71
Have after
let’s follow

71
issue
outcome

73
it
i.e. the
issue

Act 1 Scene 5

2
Mark
listen, pay attention to

9
unfold
reveal

10
bound
ready/under obligation

17
But
were it not

20
harrow up
distress/tear up

21
like … spheres
individual stars and planets were thought to be contained within concentric hollow spheres that revolved around the earth

22
knotty … locks
neat and carefully styled hair

24
porpentine
porcupine

25
eternal blazon
revelation of the secrets of the eternal world

26
List
listen

31
in the best
even at best

34
meditation
thought

35
sweep
swoop in sudden attack

36
apt
fit/ready/responsive

37
duller … be
you would be more sluggish

38
Lethe wharf
the banks of the Lethe, the river of forgetfulness in the classical underworld

40
orchard
garden

42
forgèd process
fabricated account

43
Rankly
excessively/foully

47
adulterate
adulterous

48
gifts
natural talents/presents

51
will
sexual desire

53
dignity
worth, excellence

55
decline Upon
sink to

58
virtue, as it
as virtue

61
sate itself
become satiated/grow weary

62
garbage
filth/animal entrails

66
secure
carefree, unsuspecting

67
hebenon
a poisonous substance—possibly “henbane” or “yew” (
hebenus
)

69
leperous distilment
distillation causing leprosy-like symptoms (i.e. corrosion of the skin)

71
quicksilver
liquid mercury

73
posset And curd
clot, curdle

74
eager
sour/acid

76
tetter
eruption of the skin

76
barked about
covered with a bark-like crust

77
lazar-like
leperlike

80
dispatched
deprived through death

82
Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled
without having received Holy Communion (the “housel”), unprepared, and without having received extreme unction (being anointed with holy oil before death)

83
reckoning
settling of debts

83
account
i.e. judgment

86
nature
natural feeling

88
luxury
lust

90
Taint
pollute

91
aught
anything

94
matin
morning

95
’gins
begins

95
uneffectual
i.e. no longer providing light

97
host
angels

98
couple
add (to
heaven
and
earth
)

102
distracted
distressed, agitated

102
globe
world/head (plays on the name of the Globe Theatre)

103
table
writing tablet, slate

104
fond
foolish

104
records
memories/written accounts

105
saws
sayings, maxims

105
pressures
impressions, stamps

110
pernicious
destructive/wicked

113
meet
fitting

116
word
watchword/motto

124
Hillo … come
Hamlet mockingly responds as if Horatio’s call were that of a falconer summoning his bird to return

125
How is’t
how is it with you, how are you

127
wonderful
astonishing, extraordinary

132
once
ever

136
arrant
downright/notorious

140
circumstance
roundabout talk/details

142
as
i.e. in the direction that

150
Saint Patrick
the keeper of Purgatory

152
honest
genuine (i.e. not an evil spirit)

154
O’ermaster’t
repress it

161
not I
i.e. I will not tell (not “I will not swear”)

163
sword
i.e. the hilt of the sword (the shape of a cross)

166
under the stage
accessed through the trapdoor, this region was often associated with hell

168
truepenny
honest fellow

169
cellarage
cellars

175
Hic et ubique?
“Here and everywhere?” (Latin)

182
pioneer
soldier whose responsibility it was to dig trenches

182
remove
move

184
stranger
i.e. one in need of hospitality

187
never … mercy
never, as you hope for God’s mercy (Hamlet begins the oath)

188
How … soe’er
however strangely or oddly

190
antic
grotesque/fantastic/bizarre

192
encumbered
entangled (i.e. folded)

192
headshake
shaking the head

193
doubtful
ambiguous

194
an if
if

195
list
wished ‘
There … might’
there are those who might tell, if they could