Author: erainbowd

Read on this book, That show of such an exercise may color Your loneliness.

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And by “color” does he mean “explain”? Or “enhance”? Or hide something?

It makes me wonder if solitude were a rather unusual thing for an unmarried woman. Could she not be out on her own for a walk without a book? What does the book do that she can’t? It seems to indicate a sort of religiosity given the second line. Has he given her the Bible? Is she meant to have ended up walking on her own because she’s been lost in her devotions?

And what of walking and reading?
It seems rather hazardous – but was it done at a certain point?

As a reader and a walker, I am intrigued by the notion. One would have to walk on familiar ground so as to avoid running into anything or falling off something. But, say, in a garden, on soft grass, where you know where the hedges are? Fantastic.

Gracious, so please you, We will bestow ourselves.

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Is there another instance of a king being called Gracious? It’s a little odd. Your Grace, okay. I get that. But gracious? I guess it falls in the same category as Majesty? Like it’s a hipper way to say, “Your Grace”?

I’m tempted to re-punctuate this bit. To have “gracious” be a compliment that Polonius gives his daughter, a reflection of how he perceives her walking there. And even “so please you” could be to Ophelia. It would soften the relationship between Polonius and his daughter a little bit, maybe give it a shade of affection, as if he were asking her permission to hide with the king or at least just letting her know where they’re hiding. That would give a fun bit of business for Hamlet and Ophelia later when he asks where her father is.
It could be. “Gracious! So please you, we will bestow ourselves.”

Ophelia, walk you here.

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Polonius gives Ophelia her blocking. What sort of director is he? Does he just point to the location he wants her to walk in? Does he demonstrate for her the manner in which she should walk? Is he specific about this location or general? That is, does he point, with a finger or hand or just give a bit of a wave in some direction or other?
Polonius does have some experience in the theatre. He did play Julius Caesar that time. Is he orchestrating another great play here?

Madam, I wish it may.

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I’m at an age in which people are now calling me ma’am on occasion. I hate it. I’ve gotten used to Miss and Ms. and ma’am feels like a terrible demotion.

What’s funny though, is that ma’am would seem to be a shortening of madam and madam, I somehow don’t object to. Madam makes me feel like a queen, worthy of respect, with a hint of power. Ma’am makes me feel like an old lady trying to buy lingerie from a snotty young salesgirl.

So shall I hope your virtues Will bring him to his wonted way again, To both your honors.

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This line makes me think that the Queen genuinely does want Ophelia for her son. She says so at her funeral, that she hoped Ophelia would have been Hamlet’s wife and the way she talks to her here would seem to confirm it.

It’s quite a hopeful line in its way. And it does give Ophelia a lot of credit. Could a girlfriend’s virtues bring her boyfriend back from the brink of madness? Possibly. If they were accompanied by a lot of active help.

And maybe that’s what the Queen is implying? Is listening one of Ophelia’s virtues? Understanding? Problem-solving? We don’t see any evidence of any of those things in the text but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have them.

Fact is, we rarely see Ophelia without her father until after his death, is she herself when he’s not around? Or is her self based entirely on her relationship with her father? The fact that she falls apart at his loss points in that direction.

But all of that is beside the point. Here Gertrude hopes that Ophelia has the power to retrieve Hamlet. It is the only exchange between two women in the play, mad scene excepted.

And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish That your good beauties be the happy cause Of Hamlet’s wildness.

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Beauty, yes, beauty is the maddener. It is Ophelia’s beauties that might make a man run mad. Not her spirit, not her intelligence or herSELF, really. It is her beauty.

“For which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?”

With women, it is always their beauty. Men in poetry, songs and stories, they are struck dumb by beauty, inspired by beauty, could run mad by beauty. And it becomes a woman’s beauty that incites a man to rape her. It’s a woman’s beauty that turns a man into a beast. He will blame her beauty, claim no responsibility for it – in the face of such extraordinary beauty, what was he supposed to do? Beauty is often framed as dangerous for men but it seems to me even more dangerous for women. Nothing will get you into trouble faster than the possession of an unusual amount of beauty.

I can’t help thinking that Ophelia must be particularly beautiful because she has the blandness of the exceptionally beautiful. Not that all exceptionally beautiful people are bland – I’ve met some really gorgeous brilliant firecrackers. But some people get away with great blandness due to their beauty.

I shall obey you. –

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My edition has a period followed by a dash. I’m not sure what that’s meant to signify – a strange interruption of self? Is it because the next sentence begins with “And”? (And if you’ve spent any time with my writing, you may have noticed this is one of my favorite grammar rules to break.)

Gertrude chooses to say, “I shall obey you.” in response to a request that seems softer than a command by virtue of its beginning with “Sweet Gertrude.” There are layers in “I shall obey you.” – a conceding to the request, if not the premise of the request somehow. It is a careful answering of one thing without addressing the other. It feels coded.

Her father and myself, lawful espials, We’ll so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen, We may of their encounter frankly judge, And gather by him, as he is behaved, If’t be th’affliction of his love or no That thus he suffers for.

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Lawful espials, huh? This language does have the air of the lawyer about it. It has the sort of formal tone, the equivocation, of someone attempting to sound very reasonable. Lawful espials (espials, instead of spys, somehow makes it more lawful?)

Frankly judge, gather. . .are all more words than are strictly necessary to say, “We’re going to watch him with Ophelia.”

Seems to me that Gertrude wasn’t particularly sold on this explanation for Hamlet’s behavior. She’s thinking it’s more a death and remarriage of his parents situation than a “my girlfriend returned my letters” situation. So it does seem very possible that Claudius is working hard to convince her. What was Claudius’ job before King? Was he perhaps the royal legal counsel?

For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither, That he, as ‘twere by accident, may here Affront Ophelia.

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How in the world could Hamlet not be on to those guys? Claudius summons Hamlet to this spot. When Hamlet turns up, no one’s there. Does the King often summon people to a place where he isn’t going to be? Seems pretty fishy. Then Ophelia just happens to turn up? After Hamlet’s done a pretty bang-up job of setting up his “madness” gambit with Ophelia and playing Polonius like a lunatic violin? Seems like a recipe for suspicion. I find it hard to believe Hamlet doesn’t suspect that Claudius and Polonius are there from the beginning. Might he be looking for them throughout?

He’s probably doing a command performance all the way from the big speech to the nunnery bit. Could the entire nunnery scene be a gambit to bring Polonius out of hiding? In other words, the more abusive he is to Ophelia, the more likely Polonius would be to reveal himself.

Of course, Polonius doesn’t. He stays hidden. Hamlet clearly suspects Claudius of hiding – given the sword he puts through the curtain in the closet scene later. But I imagine they’ve all done their share of lurking. I’d like to see a version of this scene wherein we see Hamlet performing for his audience of spies, when we see him adjust his position to give them a better view, where he asks Ophelia where her father is and she tells him with her eyes while she says, “At home” and Hamlet adjusts their physicality to give Polonius the better view. Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet does that a little bit. It’s one of my favorite things about that version.

Sweet Gertrude, leave us too.

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Why does Claudius send Gertrude away here? What, she can’t spy on her son with his girlfriend, too? Is it a men’s only Spy Club? Or maybe the thing they’re planning to hide behind is only big enough for two? Or is spying only men’s work?

When I played Gertrude (age 22) I got upset with Claudius for sending me away but only because he was sending me away as if I were a servant or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. And we either cut the speech after this line or I wasn’t really thinking about what was happening here. Now in reading this, it seems possible that the reason the king is still talking is that he feels like he needs to win the Queen over – that somehow he’ll be able to provide an explanation that will satisfy or pacify here.

I find it curious that she says, “I shall obey you” in response. She’s not endorsing the plan at all, just agreeing to do what her husband is asking her to do.
This makes this whole section a lot more interesting – if, rather than being a simple announcement of a plan, it is a negotiation between two complex married people who have to negotiate a thing – things any other married people do, royal or no.