What a funny sentence!
First – a bonnet to my mind, is a hat for a lady, which Osric is not.
But that’s not the funny part really.
The funny part is the peculiar anthropomorphization of the bonnet. It’s not “its right use.” It’s “his right use.” His.
The bonnet has a gender and it’s male.
And that’s kinda funny.
Author: erainbowd
I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of Spirit.
Having just been offered a “thing” from “his majesty,” Hamlet responds with as much polite snark as might be allowable under the circumstances.
Certainly no diligence of spirit is required for a message but a “thing”? Maybe.
Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure I should impart a thing to you from his majesty.
It’s remarkable how affected this speech is without actually having any vocabulary or intelligence. The most rarified word is “impart” but what he’s imparting is “a thing.” I mean..there are a million words for message (OK, maybe not a MILLION!) but this guy can only come up with “thing”.
Also his repletion of “lord” in the first bit is pretty sycophantic. Which is definitely a word that Osric wouldn’t know.
Here in 2018, Osric’s speech really reminds me of someone whose face and voice and words are never out of the public eye.
But, as I say, Spacious in the possession of dirt.
This last bit could be a comic satisfaction of Osric’s way of speaking.
It is affected and overly wordy and that’s just the sort of person Hamlet enjoys making fun of.
It’s quite clever to introduce the character’s first line with a soft imitation of him.
It also handily dismisses him before he’s even begun.
‘Tis a chough.
The note on Genius says that a chough is a chatterbox. I think this is one of those ourobouros meanings. Someone has decided that this word means something that the character seems to be. However – some light googling reveals that a chough is actually a bird – a species of crow, to be precise, or a jackdaw. And that is much more meaningful than “chatterbox.” A crow is a very particular sort of bird to invoke. There is the sense of their tendency to show up where you don’t particularly want them – perhaps their tendency to steal – or their tendency to make a great deal of noise. As a performer, thinking of Osric as a jackdaw – a crow – does a whole lot more for me than a “chatterbox.” It could give me a full character if I wanted. It could give me a voice – a cawing quality of speech – it could give me a sense of preening – as crows do seem to be quite aggressively proud birds.
All these years with Hamlet and I never looked up this word before but it could be such a rich investigation. And Shakespeare’s knowledge of the natural world suggests to me that he would not be unaware of the layers.
Let a Beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at The king’s mess.
I feel clear about the sense of this – the sense that the king’ll honor anyone if he has the right title. Like if Osric were a slug, he wouldn’t pay him much mind but if he were Lord Slug, the King would park his little slug chair at his own table.
However…I’m a little hung up on crib. A crib, according to etymology sources, was during Shakespeare’s time, mostly a reference to a manger or a cradle, that is, a place for a baby to sleep. Basically how we use it now.
Its broader sense – as in a place to live or stealing hadn’t yet really come in. So why “crib”? Is it a way to infantilize Osric? Lord Osric Slug.
He hath much land, and fertile:
I guess Osric lucked out. I’m gonna assume he didn’t get his fertile land from tilling the fields and laying the fertilizer. I’m gonna guess that he didn’t get his fertile land from husbanding his resources and gathering the best farmers around.
Probably Osric’s dad had some good land and he passed it on to his waterfly kid when he died. Probably Osric has never had to do much in his life but suck up to the people.
Thy state is the more gracious For ‘tis a vice to know him.
What a way to say “You’re lucky not to know that guy.” To imagine that one has more grace just due to not being acquainted with someone is an interesting way of looking at things.
There are a few people I feel this way about – that my capacity for Grace would be much increased had I never made contact with them. Not necessarily because they are so evil but because my response to their foibles disturbs my peace like a hurricane.
No, my good lord.
Horatio does not know Osric. He did not seem to know Rosencrantz or Guildenstern. He seems to have some acquaintance with the watchmen – who are perhaps his fellow countrymen, if their names are anything to go by. Who does Horatio know and who doesn’t he? He mostly doesn’t know people – which is convenient for introducing the audience to them as well.
Dost know this water-fly?
I like that the “thou” in this sentence is implied. We know he means “thou” rather than “you” because “dost” and “you” do not go together. The “dost” without the “thou” adds an extra layer of familiarity and ease; It suggests to me that Hamlet has become pretty comfortable with Horatio. Most of us start to use a shorthand when we’re close to someone; We leave out unnecessary words. We shorten phrases and summarize references to inside jokes with single words. Hamlet doesn’t need to say “thou” when asking Horatio about his knowledge of Osric and he can also skip right to his own opinion of the man.
I don’t know a lot about waterflies but I suspect that at least one of their qualities that brings them to Hamlet’s mind on this occasion is the fly’s tendency to irritate. A fly, especially on the water, will buzz around and around. They will alight and land. They will not catch a single hint or even an instruction to go away. They will get too close to your eyes, your ears and sometimes cause a bit of chaos while trying to swat them away. But they are ultimately harmless.
The Hamlet Project 