I like the way dialogue doesn’t always operate logically in time. That is – here in Hamlet answering Osric’s question with Horatio’s line in between. The timing is such that the through-line could probably hold between them but reading these sentences the way I do, that is, once a day, it takes a moment to figure out the through-line. That is, this line does not answer the line that came right before it – rather it answers the sentence before.
Author: erainbowd
His purse is empty already; all’s golden words are spent.
It would be amazing if we had a limited amount of words we could use in a day.
I think I might like to live in such a world. People might be more careful about what they said. They might be more judicious in reporting their news. There would likely be many late night conversations, using up the unspent words of the day. I imagine it might be a quieter world. Especially in the morning, which would suit me very well.
Of Laertes?
It’s kind of great that Hamlet’s obfuscation of language has made a long sentence maker and obfuscator of language create a sentence as clear and succinct as this. It is a skillful manipulation of linguist style.
What imparts the nomination of this gentleman?
FratFace Rapist Kavanagh was just confirmed as a supreme court justice. The fact that he was pushed through the judicial process without permission, consent or approval from the American people is one of the biggest parts of the problem. His nomination was thoughtless, as most things are from the Donny Twimp in charge. He is very like the man baby at the top. Overly entitled. Prone to sexual assault. Gifted at both self-aggrandizement and making himself a victim.
The nomination itself was bad enough. The confirmation feels like the beginning of an American dystopia.
*
Update:
It is clear when I wrote this.
And when I post it, these years later, we just danced in the streets because the Twimp has been voted out of office. We are stuck with Kavanagh however. And the new horror show who followed him.
You will do’t, sir, really.
Who is he talking to? If it’s Osric, it seems a little forward. I’m assuming they haven’t met and Horatio’s status may be elevated by being friends with the Prince but he’s not a prince and probably not a lord, either.
But would he call Hamlet sir?
He mostly calls him “my lord.”
I’m very confused about what, exactly, Horatio is saying here and to whom.
Ist not possible to understand in another tongue?
Tongue is a funny word for language and it tends to travel across languages, too. Language and tongue, are in fact, the same words in some languages.
But here – I think Horatio isn’t using the word tongue as language – he’s using it more literally. Because Hamlet and Osric are both speaking English, however arch and verified – but it may SOUND like another language. And I suspect that Horatio is attempting a bit of double meaning with tongue in that capacity.
I don’t think Horatio’s particularly funny, though, or all that quick with words. He’s a better listener than talker.
It is also odd that he pipes up to speak in just this moment.
Has Osric turned to him to get a translation?
Sir?
Poor Osric. He has no idea what the heck Hamlet is talking about. Hoisted with his own linguistic petard, as it were.
Why do we wrap the gentleman In our more rawer breath?
In other words. Why are we talking about this guy? But also – why are we coating him with words? We the less refined, the more coarse, the less remarkable, the not as noble.
Clearly we can not all be as amazing as Laertes is given all the words spent in his honor.
The concernancy, sir?
It’s too bad this word didn’t stick. A note I read was like, “Oh, this is a word Shakespeare made up. Ha, ha. Hamlet’s fooling Osric with a made up word!”
But Shakespeare made up words all the time and not just when he wanted to make fun of a pompous talker. Some of them really caught on.
So I’m sorry this one didn’t. I mean – really – just straight up “concern” would get the job done. The “ancy” is extra. But it does add something. It feels like not just the concern – but the whole concern situation, the whole cluster of things around a concern. A concernancy. Also – it’s so easy to work out what it is – even though it’s not a word that any of us know.
Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him.
And by infallible, he means – you said what I would have said.
That is, that which I agree with is, in fact, infallible.
I wish that this weren’t true of most men.
The Hamlet Project 