< Page:Hamlet - The Arden Shakespeare - 1899.djvu
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58
[ACT II.
HAMLET

By indirections find directions out:[b 1]
So, by my former lecture and advice,
Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?

Rey. My lord, I have.

Pol. ⁠God be wi' you; fare you well.[a 1]

Rey. Good my lord! ⁠70

Pol. Observe his inclination in yourself.[b 2]

Rey. I shall, my lord.

Pol. And let him ply his music.[b 3]

Rey. ⁠Well, my lord.

Pol. Farewell! ⁠[Exit Reynaldo.

Enter Ophelia.

How now, Ophelia! what's the matter?

Oph. Oh, my lord,[a 2] my lord, I have been so affrighted! ⁠75

Pol. With what, i' the[a 3] name of God?[a 4]

Oph. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,[a 5][b 4] [1] [2]

  1. ↑ and in Apollo Shroving: "See how fortune came with a windlace about again."
  2. ↑ assays of bias] a metaphor from bowls, the player sending his bowl towards the jack in a curve, knowing that the bias—the oblique line of motion—will bring it right.
  1. ↑ 69. ye well] Q, you well F.
  2. ↑ 75. Oh, my lord] Q, Alas F.
  3. ↑ 76. i' the] Capell, i' th Q, in the F.
  4. ↑ 76. God Q, Heaven F.
  5. ↑ 77. closet] Q, chamber F.
  1. ↑ 66. By . . . out] By indirect means find out direct indications.
  2. ↑ 71. Observe . . . yourself] Johnson: "Perhaps this means in your own person, not by spies." Clar. Press: "Possibly it means conform your own conduct to his inclinations." Hanmer and Warburton read "e'en yourself." "In yourself" may possibly mean in regard to yourself.
  3. ↑ 73. music] Vischer explains: "His son may gamble, drink, swear, quarrel, drab, . . . only—let him ply his music: true cavalier-breeding!" Clarke: "Let him go on to what tune he pleases," which would agree well with the explanation of line 71 suggested by Clar. Press.
  4. ↑ 77. closet] a private chamber, as in III. ii. 346. This is the only entirely sincere meeting of Hamlet with Ophelia in the play; and it is entirely silent—the hopeless farewell of Hamlet. Can her love discover him through his disguise of distraction? He reads nothing in her face but fright; he cannot utter a word, and feels that the estranging sea has flowed between them. In no true sense do they ever meet again.
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