Page:Hamlet - The Arden Shakespeare

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SC. II.]

67

PRINCE OF DENMARK

Queen. Came this from Hamlet to her?

Pol. Good madam, stay awhile; I will be faithful. ⁠115

[Reads.]^{[a 1]} Doubt^{[b 1]} thou the stars are fire;

Doubt that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar;

But never doubt I love.

O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers; ⁠120

I have not art to reckon^{[b 2]} my groans; but that I

love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.

Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this

machine is to him,^{[b 3]} ⁠Hamlet.

⁠This in obedience hath my daughter shown^{[a 2]} me; ⁠125
And more above,^{[a 3]} hath his solicitings,^{[a 4]}^{[b 4]}
As they fell out by time, by means, and place,
All given to mine ear.

King. ⁠But how hath she
Received his love?

Pol. ⁠What do you think of me?

^{[b 5]}

↑ 116. Reads] Letter Q, omitted F.
↑ 125. shown] Q, shew'd F.
↑ 126. above] F, about Q.
↑ 126. solicitings] Q, soliciting F.

↑ 116–119. Doubt] In the first two lines and the fourth "doubt" means be doubtful that; in the third it means suspect. Hamlet's letter begins in the conventional lover's style, which perhaps was what Ophelia would expect from a courtly admirer; then there is a real outbreak of passion and self-pity; finally, in the word "machine," Hamlet indulges, after his manner, his own intellectuality, though it may baffle the reader; the letter is no more simple or homogeneous than the writer, T. Bright, in A Treatise of Melancholy (1586), explains the nature of the body as that of a machine, connected with the "soul" by the intermediate "spirit." He compares (p. 66) its action to that of a clock.
↑ 121. reckon] Delius suggests that this may mean "to number metrically."
↑ 124. machine is to him] whilst this body is attached to him. See Cymbeline, V. v. 383, for use of "to."
↑ 126. solicitings] Solicit was sometimes—but perhaps not here—used of immoral proposals. Heywood, The Wise Woman of Hogsden, I. i.: "I'll visit my little rascall and solicite."
↑ III. i. 250: letters delivered "Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love." There was a pocket in the breast of a lady's dress, but there may be no reference to it here.

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[1] 116. Reads] Letter Q, omitted F.

[5] 125. shown] Q, shew'd F.

[6] 126. above] F, about Q.

[7] 126. solicitings] Q, soliciting F.

[2] 116–119. Doubt] In the first two lines and the fourth "doubt" means be doubtful that; in the third it means suspect. Hamlet's letter begins in the conventional lover's style, which perhaps was what Ophelia would expect from a courtly admirer; then there is a real outbreak of passion and self-pity; finally, in the word "machine," Hamlet indulges, after his manner, his own intellectuality, though it may baffle the reader; the letter is no more simple or homogeneous than the writer, T. Bright, in A Treatise of Melancholy (1586), explains the nature of the body as that of a machine, connected with the "soul" by the intermediate "spirit." He compares (p. 66) its action to that of a clock.

[3] 121. reckon] Delius suggests that this may mean "to number metrically."

[4] 124. machine is to him] whilst this body is attached to him. See Cymbeline, V. v. 383, for use of "to."

[8] 126. solicitings] Solicit was sometimes—but perhaps not here—used of immoral proposals. Heywood, The Wise Woman of Hogsden, I. i.: "I'll visit my little rascall and solicite."

[9] III. i. 250: letters delivered "Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love." There was a pocket in the breast of a lady's dress, but there may be no reference to it here.