Most editors try to be sparing in their use of exclamation marks. I’m not sure what the quarto or the folio look like exclamation point wise but I know modern editors try not to get too crazy with the !!! The hope is that the words are dramatic enough.

It’s not entirely justified to put one everywhere. This one, this one is entirely appropriate if you want to suggest Claudius’ sense of surprise. The punctuation gives a sense of the astonishment that Claudius must be feeling. But while Claudius may be feeling astonishment, it’s not a forgone conclusion that he lets that astonishment slip. He is a guarded political fellow who (with the exception of watching plays) mostly keeps his cool.

He could probably get away with: From Hamlet.

Or even a disinterested.
From Hamlet?

The news is surprising to Claudius. Everyone in the audience likely has a sense of that. We might not need to see him astonished to know that he is so. It might actually be very interesting to watch him suppress his astonishment.

I am very curious about what life was like when Messengers were the primary delivery system, when a person had to go to another person to report new developments or send messages. All the news had to come from a human being.

Apart from there probably being a lot less news to deal with on a daily basis, there was always a human face connected to any bit of information.

I’d imagine that there was an altogether quieter mind then. Perhaps the mind created its own news coming into it – but I would like to know what that must have felt like.

Even letters had to be passed from one human hand to another. Now most of us get our news from the small rectangles that dominate our lives. Some of us even get most of it from our social media networks – perhaps an attempt to re-connect the human face to the new delivery system?

And now, as I write this, I looked up to see a cluster of police officers and two EMTs surrounding a woman with a large bag. I don’t know what is going on – but I can see all their faces from this café where I’m sitting. If I read this event in the news, it would be meaningless – but in front of me, with all those faces, it is a captivating bit of news.

The stage direction right before this line is: Enter a Messenger. This is why my theatre company is called Messenger Theatre Company. Because something is ALWAYS about to happen as soon as a Messenger enters. A messenger never enters to deliver no news. A messenger is a catalyst. A messenger moves things forward. “How now!” is an appropriate response to a messenger’s entrance.
I wonder, though, how I might use it as a company slogan. I don’t think it would take.

Enter a Messenger.

How now!

Unicorns, dancing under rainbows!
Witches casting spells that turn princes into frogs.
A love scene between a king and his advisor.
A utopian future.
A dystopia future.
There are so many ways I’d like Claudius to teach Laertes to imagine!
Though probably he’s just suggesting he imagine that Hamlet’s been “taken care of.”

On the whole it is hard to express self love. All sorts of practices propose to teach you to do it. Some of them will suggest that you practice saying you love yourself. To say “I love myself” is sticky. All the books will tell you to do it – but it sounds funny coming out of anyone’s mouth.

“We love ourself,” though, well, that’s a different story. I think all self – help books should henceforth follow Claudius’ example and suggest “we love ourself” as a self-love mantra. It helps with the plurality of the sense of self – helps with the individualist’s sense that each one of us is a king – and features both the plural and the single. Very useful this.

A guy I only know on Facebook said that he doesn’t listen to a lot of podcasts. A whole slurry of people lined up to hate on podcasts. They said they hated listening to people talking. They didn’t like listening to things. That it was like radio and radio sucks, too.

I was stunned to read all of this. I love podcasts. I cannot stop listening. I love listening to people talk. I love listening to audio stories. I love hearing comedy. I love hearing analysis. I dig hearing intelligent conversation. And I cannot fathom feeling otherwise.

It’s all the pleasure of company with none of the responsibility. It’s the smoothest way to learn new things. It’s a way to take in ideas without requiring my full attention. That is, I can listen while I fold things or sort things. I can learn while I get dressed or make breakfast.

I have listened to dozens and dozens of podcasts and dozens and dozens of voices and will shortly hear more.

I can see why that play Claudius watched could seem like a beard shaking to him. It was absolutely designed to have that effect. It is a taunt. It is a tugging on his self respect. It is a challenge, no doubt.
This is probably not what he’s trying to tell Laertes, though – because if he explained why the play was a taunt, he’d also have to explain that he has, I don’t know, MURDERED HIS BROTHER, THE PREVIOUS KING!
But what’s weird, though – is that if he’s NOT talking about the play, then he’s talking about the murder he’s committed – the victim of which is the man he’s talking to’s father.

Which doesn’t seem like a beard shaking so much. That feels a bit insulting to the man’s father. But Claudius is somehow adept at making his way through this dangerous territory.