It is curious that Shakespeare takes such pains to tell us that Laertes is a better fighter. Osric tells us. Horatio tells us. Hamlet tells us here. The king is about to tell us in this next bit and has told us in the way he’s built the wager. The numbers of ways we are told that Hamlet is bound to lose this fight are MANY – and from Hamlet himself, too – though he has made it clear that he thinks he has a shot due to his continual practice since Laertes went to France.

But…it is interesting that Shakespeare has taken so many pains to make sure we know who is favored to win this duel. I suspect it’s so that it’s clear that the hit that Hamlet gets is a surprise to all of them. And it makes Hamlet the underdog in the fight, which always makes people root for him even harder than they might anyway. It’s an early sports movie motif, I guess. With more exciting language.

How does he know the wager very well?

Because Osric told him.

Is this an opportunity for Hamlet to mess with Osric some more? He’s clearly present – the king has just told him to give them the foils. I’m guessing that this line would have to reference Osric somehow – either Hamlet delivers part of it TO Osric or nods at Osric or touches him as he receives a foil. Something.

We need more body based swears. An oath like this just has a natural gesture. It begs to be performed by the body. You cannot say “by this hand” without displaying the hand somehow. We have crossing one’s heart. But no one swears by their leg or their hair or their pelvis or their belly or their sternum.

But it would be kind of beautiful silly dance if they did.

I think there’s a level of wordplay that I am missing here. I can see the metaphor easily – Laertes will be so much better at this than Hamlet, he’ll shine brightly like a star in the dark. And stars are made of fire and they are in the distance – so that all makes sense.

But the stick sticks.

Because a stick can be like a cut – or a hit in this dueling game.

And given what’s about to happen here – the stick feels like an obvious reference. But why is the STAR sticking far off?

Like, it’s so far off from Hamlet’s?

Like Hamlet’s skill is so earthbound and Laertes is WAAAY off in the heavens, stuck and fiery?

I feel like I’m missing a step.

Wokka wokka! A little joke, a little word play before going after one another with swords.

Laertes is sometimes played as humorless – but I can see why he doesn’t want to play this “fun” game right before a fight – and in this moment in particular, in which he’s getting ready to kill him.

So often in these plays, there seems to be no superfluous language – no sentence that doesn’t pack in meaning or purpose. This one, though – feels almost like it’s here just for rhythm. I doubt there’s a real NEED for the “come on.” Except maybe, maybe – to project an air of enthusiasm about this whole duel – an enthusiasm that, likely, Hamlet does not really feel. So – yes, I’ve talked myself into the importance of this line after all. It’s not just rhythm – it’s a projection of confidence and manufactured enthusiasm.

All of a sudden it’s foils?

Laertes’ weapons are rapier and dagger but here we have foils?

What is the sub-narrative here with these weapons?

Is it that Laertes prefers to fight with rapier and dagger but he’s given over to foils for this friendly duel?

I mean, certainly foils are a less threatening weapon. But they’re also less exciting. Is the fight really going to be with broad swords but Hamlet’s making a joke, calling them foils?

There’s a whole story below of weaponry and I’m missing a lot if it. I’d wager most of us are.

How would you play frankly?

Honestly, I guess? No holds barred?

Or, like a fighting game of truth or dare where every time you get a hit, you spill a truth? You confess to a sin or a quality about your opponent that you dislike.

“A hit! A very palpable hit.”
“Okay – I don’t like your haircut!”

Some people try very hard to resist their weirdness. They do everything they can think of to avoid letting anyone see their quirks and oddities. People will go see shows or concerts that they don’t want to see because they think other people will have expected them to see them. They will attempt to shape their bodies into forms that will more closely align them to an imagined norm. They will wear clothes that help them fit in. They will hide their thoughts, their eccentricities.

My weirdness? I embrace it freely. Not without cost, of course. I am not insensitive to the response that my weirdness can generate. But I embrace it anyway.

I love this shot my arrow over the house business but I also don’t fully understand it. It has the FEELING of an idiom but it is not known to be one as far as any notes I’ve read indicate.

It’s not terribly logical this shooting an arrow over the house. That may be part of the reason it has an idiomatic flavor.

Like – why would anyone shoot an arrow over the house? Is that something they do in archery practice?

And is he intentionally shooting the arrow over the house or was he aiming at the house and over shot?

I have questions, obviously. I mean – the hurting of his brother is obvious. Hamlet feels he’s hurt him accidentally. He couldn’t see where that arrow was going. He just fired it (over or at the house) and it hit Laertes. Whoops! Sorry man. Didn’t see you back there.