Well is such a deliciously flexible word. Laertes could be meaning any number of things in using it. It could be a way to say all is well – the ancient Danish way to say, “It’s all good.” Or it could be a way to say “fine” – both the sarcastic and the sincere versions of that flexible word.
It could also express a kind of resignation – a sense of “whatever.” Or it could just be a placeholder – a non-response response to just get back to fighting.
It’s funny that Osric describes the hit as palpable – with its sense of touch, its tactile sense. I don’t THINK the hit is judged with touch. It is almost always reckoned by the eye in this scene. Though suddenly, I am very interested in Osric investigating the hit with his hands. To see him palpate Laertes wheresoever Hamlet hit would be a) possibly hilarious b) homoerotic c) a bit of surreal staging.
It might be that the hit causes a tear in clothing so it could, in fact, be palpable in a literal sense – not just a figurative one.
There are some words that we spell differently in American English that don’t necessarily make a lot of sense. Some pop out in their difference. Color and colours. Labor and labour. And others that don’t involve just adding or subtracting a u. But they’re sort of obvious.
Judgment and judgement are a kind of sneaky example. I think I was already confused about how to spell this word when I started experiencing cross cultural spelling. However, I spelled it, whenever I spelled it, I’d trigger the spelling alarm.
Curiously, in reckoning with the truth of the two spellings, I finally figured it out. I think.
Does he say no because he doesn’t feel it? Or he doesn’t want to believe it? Why would he deny something as tiny and clear cut as a point in a game? A game, by the way, that is rigged to get him what he wants.
But – there are many inferences one could make about his personality based on the reason for this no. It could simply be that he does not like to lose. There are people who could not bear to concede a single point in a single game. Maybe Laertes is built like that? Or he’s so hyped up on adrenaline he can’t feel physical contact. That would reveal something about how he relates to his body.
Or, he doesn’t mean to deny the point – he just really can’t believe Hamlet has enough skill to win it.
Or – it’s an attempt at humor.
Or or or or.
There are a lot of possibilities in a no.
There’s a lot in this one word.
The stage direction before says simply “They play.” It doesn’t describe the duel in any manner and a fight director has to work out what happens to allow Hamlet to earn this point. How does Hamlet, who has been described as the underdog in this contest by MULTIPLE characters, manage to score this point? And why does Laertes deny it?
All we have is “one” and that word is a window on a cascading list of questions.
I’m not sure I ever really thought through what a weird position Laertes is in in regards to Hamlet. He has to fight him but also has to retain a certain amount of deference. He can’t get into this duel with Hamlet and start doing the dozens. He can’t shit talk him. He can’t REALLY challenge him. He can swing his sword at him because that is the prescribed task here – but otherwise, his hands are tied fairly tightly. No wonder he’s happy to sharpen and poison a sword to stick into him.
And so the duel begins.
Having not really been in or witness to many physical fights, I have to wonder if unformalized fights share this same sort of pre-amble.
What do they say now?
Come at me?
Do people want the other person to make the first move? Is it illustrative of a certain confidence to say “Come on”?
It is very different than “Let’s go” or “Let’s do this.”
It’s inviting a beginning not actually beginning.
Judges, he says. Judges plural. When judgment is called for – Osric delivers it but is he the judges? He is only one, not particularly judiciary, man. Is he rather the voice for the actual judges of this contest? Do the actual judges confer and decide the points? Deliver their verdicts like Olympic judges with cards or hand signals or gestures of some kind?
And what exactly is Claudius getting at in telling the judges to bear a wary eye? Is it because he’s about to pull some dirty tricks and the way to misdirect from your own dirty tricks is to tell people to be on the look out for some other people’s.
But what’s weird about suggesting the judges bear a wary eye is that he may be suggesting they keep an eye on Hamlet, whom he has just bet on and talked up. Laertes IS in fact about to do some dirty deeds – so telling the judges to watch HIM is selling his own conspirator down the river. Which, of course, he WOULD do – but maybe not before his conspirator put a sword in the guy he wants dead.
It is a weird thing to say before beginning this duel.
Of all the powers a monarch has, the ability to make people start things must be one of the greatest. A king can get this party started, okay.
A king can stop all this yammering and kick off the lecture.
A king can cut the preamble short and have them cut to the chase.
A king can start the fight, the game, the show.
Claudius is composing a little piece of music in this text.
Kettle drum begins.
Then the trumpet answers and continues.
From a distance, cannons answer the trumpet’s call.
This is all a pretty specific cue for a sound designer. I wonder how many follow the instruction.
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