Hamlet 4:3 Flashcards
‘I have sent to seek…’
‘I have sent to seek him, and to find the body./ How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!’ - King
- fearing for his own safety
‘Yet must not we put the…’
‘Yet must not we put the strong law on him:/ He’s lov’d of the distracted multitude,/ Who like not in their judgement but their eyes/ And where ‘tis so, th’ offender’s scourge is weigh’d,/ But never the offence.’ - King
- hamlet is loved by the danish public and his punishment will ‘weigh’ more with people than the offence
‘To bear all smooth and even,/ This…’
‘To bear all smooth and even,/ This sudden sending him away must seem/ Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown. by desperate appliance are relive’d,/ Or not at all.’ - King
- both Hamlet and Claudius compare the other to ‘diseases’
- to handle the situation smoothly, it must appear that his going away has been planned for some time
- “desperate times call for desperate measures”
‘Where the dead body…’
‘Where the dead body is bestow’d, my lord,/ We cannot get from him.’ - Ros
‘Not where he eats, but…’
‘Not where he eats, but where ‘a is eaten: a certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at him.’ - Hamlet
‘we fat all creatures…’
‘we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots’ - Hamlet
‘your fat king and you…’
‘your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service - two dishes, but to one table. That’s the end.’ - Hamlet
what effect does Hamlet’s speech about where Polonius’ dead body is in 4:3 have?
It reminds Claudius of his mortality and ultimate pointlessness to rank - they will all end up the same (eaten by worms)
- memento mori
- ‘we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots’ - Hamlet
- ‘fat king’ and ‘lean beggar’ end up the same way - at one ‘table’ for worms
- ‘to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar’
‘A man may fish with the…’
‘A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.’ - Hamlet
What does Hamlet say he means by his memento mori speech in 4:3?
‘Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.’ - H
- a royal ‘progress’ was a lengthy formal tour in which the monarch was hosted (at great expense for them) at the houses of their subjects
what responses does Hamlet given when Claudius asks where Polonius is?
- ‘At supper’ being ‘eaten’ by ‘worms’
- ‘In heaven’
- (talks about the physical and meta-physical)
‘In heaven; send thither to..,’
‘In heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him not there, seek him i’th’other place yourself.’ - Hamlet
- to see if Polonius is in heaven, Claudius should send a messenger but if he is in hell then Claudius can ‘seek him’ himself - suggesting the C. cannot go to heaven (indirect insults)
‘Hamlet, this deed, for thine…’
‘Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety -/ Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve/ For that which thou hast done - must send thee hence/ With fiery quickness. […] prepare thyself; […] everything is bent/ For England.’ - Claudius
- acting like a caring, concerned father thinking of Hamlet’s ‘especial safety’
‘Therefore prepare thyself;/ The…’
‘Therefore prepare thyself;/ The bark is ready, and the wind at help,/ Th’ associates tend, and everything is bent/ For England.’ - Claudius
- “the ship is ready, the wind is in our favour, the associates await, everything is directed for england”
‘I see a cherub that…’
‘I see a cherub that sees them./ But, come; for England! Farewell, dear mother.’ - Hamlet
‘Thy loving father, Hamlet.’ - C
‘My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother.’ - H
- Claudius tries to take on the role of Hamlet’s father which Hamlet undermines by calling him ‘mother’ (Gertrude is not on stage)
