Page:Hamlet - The Arden Shakespeare

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104

[ACT III.

HAMLET

honest; but yet I could accuse me of such
things that it were better my mother had not ⁠125
borne me. I am very proud, revengeful,
ambitious;^{[b 1]} with more offences at my beck^{[a 1]} than
I have thoughts to put them in, imagination
to give them shape, or time to act them in.
What should such fellows as I do crawling ⁠130
between heaven and earth?^{[a 2]} We are arrant
knaves all;^{[a 3]} believe none of us. Go thy ways
to a nunnery. Where's your father?^{[b 2]}

Oph. At home, my lord.

Ham. Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may ⁠135
play the fool no where^{[a 4]} but in's own house.
Farewell.

Oph. Oh, help him, you sweet heavens!^{[a 5]}

Ham. If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague
for thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as ⁠140
pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.^{[b 3]}
Get thee to a nunnery, go;^{[a 6]} farewell. Or, if

↑ 127. beck Q, F; backe Q 1.
↑ 131. heaven and earth] Q 1, F; earth and heaven Q.
↑ 132. all] Q 1, F; omitted Q.
↑ 136. no where] Q, no way F.
↑ 138, 147.] marked Aside, Furness.
↑ 142. go] F, omitted Q.

↑ 126,127. very proud, revengeful, ambitious] Hamlet brings general accusations against manhood and womanhood; but these particular vices are ironically named as those of which he has been suspected or calumniously accused: very proud, he who honours the poor Horatio, and hails the actor as a friend, yet he is suspected of treating Ophelia lightly, as an inferior who may be basely used; revengeful, he who groans under the duty of vengeance, yet who is doubtless suspected of revenge by the King; ambitious, he who would go back to Wittenberg, and could be contented in a nutshell, yet whose disappointed ambition has been a subject for the probing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
↑ 133. Where's your father] Perhaps an arrow shot at a venture; or perhaps he has caught sight of the King and Polonius as they retire. It is to be considered as a possibility that Ophelia may not have been aware of her father's espionage.
↑ 141. calumny] Is this promise of dowry half meant for Polonius's ear? His calumnies of Hamlet will come home to roost on his own house.

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[2] 127. beck Q, F; backe Q 1.

[3] 131. heaven and earth] Q 1, F; earth and heaven Q.

[4] 132. all] Q 1, F; omitted Q.

[6] 136. no where] Q, no way F.

[7] 138, 147.] marked Aside, Furness.

[9] 142. go] F, omitted Q.

[1] 126,127. very proud, revengeful, ambitious] Hamlet brings general accusations against manhood and womanhood; but these particular vices are ironically named as those of which he has been suspected or calumniously accused: very proud, he who honours the poor Horatio, and hails the actor as a friend, yet he is suspected of treating Ophelia lightly, as an inferior who may be basely used; revengeful, he who groans under the duty of vengeance, yet who is doubtless suspected of revenge by the King; ambitious, he who would go back to Wittenberg, and could be contented in a nutshell, yet whose disappointed ambition has been a subject for the probing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

[5] 133. Where's your father] Perhaps an arrow shot at a venture; or perhaps he has caught sight of the King and Polonius as they retire. It is to be considered as a possibility that Ophelia may not have been aware of her father's espionage.

[8] 141. calumny] Is this promise of dowry half meant for Polonius's ear? His calumnies of Hamlet will come home to roost on his own house.