I feel like it’s easy to think Hamlet is being uncharacteristically optimistic here. He thinks he’s going to win this?
But – he’s not saying he’s going to win the sword fight. He’s going to win at the odds – that is, the wager that Claudius has is that he’s not going to lose entirely – that he’ll get a few hits in. Which he does. Sort of.
It is a funny wager though – I bet you’re only going to lose a LITTLE bit.
The Hamlet Project 