III.1 Forward] Disposed, inclinable.

III.2 Assay him to] Try his disposition towards.

III.3 O’er-raught on the way:] Reached or overtook.

III.4 Have closely sent] i.e., privately sent.

III.5 May here affront Ophelia:] To affront is to come face to face—to confront.

III.6 Lawful espials,] Spies justifiably inquisitive. From the French, espier.

III.7 Too much prov’d,] Found by too frequent experience.

III.8 To be, or not to be, that is the question:] Hamlet is deliberating whether he should continue to live, or put an end to his existence.

III.9 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,] A sea of troubles among the Greeks grew into a proverbial usage; so that the expression figuratively means, the troubles of human life, which flow in upon us, and encompass us round like a sea.

III.10 This mortal coil,] Coil is here used in each of its senses, that of turmoil or bustle, and that which entwines or wraps round.

III.11 Must give us pause:] i.e., occasion for reflection.

III.12

There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;] The consideration that makes the evils of life so long submitted to, lived under.

III.13 The whips and scorns of time,] Those sufferings of body and mind, those stripes and mortifications to which, in its course, the life of man is subjected.

III.14 Contumely,] Contemptuousness, rudeness.

III.15 His quietus make] Quietus means the official discharge of an account: from the Latin. Particularly in the Exchequer accounts, where it is still current. Chiefly used by authors in metaphorical senses.

III.16 A bare bodkin?] Bodkin was an ancient term for a small dagger. In the margin of Stowe’s Chronicle it is said that Cæsar was slain with bodkins.

III.17 Who would fardels bear,] Fardel is a burden. Fardellus, low Latin.

III.18 From whose bourn] i.e., boundary.

III.19 No traveller returns,] The traveller whom Hamlet had seen, though he appeared in the same habit which he had worn in his life-time, was nothing but a shadow, “invulnerable as the air,” and, consequently, incorporeal. The Ghost has given us no account of the region from whence he came, being, as he himself informed us, “forbid to tell the secrets of his prison-house.”—Malone.

III.20 Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;] A state of doubt and uncertainty, a conscious feeling or apprehension, a misgiving “How our audit stands.”

III.21 Of great pith and moment,] i.e., of great vigour and importance.

III.22

With this regard, their currents turn away,
And lose the name of action.]

From this sole consideration have their drifts diverted, and lose the character and name of enterprise.

III.23 Soft you now!] A gentler pace! have done with lofty march!

III.24 Nymph, in thy orisons] i.e., in thy prayers. Orison is from oraison—French.

III.25 If you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty.] i.e., if you really possess these qualities, chastity and beauty, and mean to support the character of both, your honesty should be so chary of your beauty, as not to suffer a thing so fragile to entertain discourse, or to be parleyed with.

The lady interprets the words otherwise, giving them the turn best suited to her purpose.

III.26 His likeness:] Shakespeare and his contemporaries frequently use the personal for the neutral pronoun.

III.27 Inoculate our old stock, but we shall relish of it:] So change the original constitution and properties, as that no smack of them shall remain. “Inoculate our stock” are terms in gardening.

III.28 With more offences at my beck] That is, always ready to come about me—at my beck and call.

III.29 Than I have thoughts to put them in, &c.] “To put a thing into thought,” Johnson says, is “to think on it.”

III.30 I have heard of your paintings,] These destructive aids of beauty seem, in the time of Shakespeare, to have been general objects of satire.

III.31 Heaven hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another:] i.e., Heaven hath given you one face, and you disfigure his image by making yourself another.

III.32 You jig, you amble, and you lisp,] This is an allusion to the manners of the age, which Shakespeare, in the spirit of his contemporaries, means here to satirise.

III.33 Make your wantonness your ignorance.] You mistake by wanton affectation, and pretend to mistake by ignorance.

III.34 All but one shall live;] One is the king.

III.35 To a nunnery, go. Exit Hamlet.] There is no doubt that Hamlet’s attachment to Ophelia is ardent and sincere, but he treats her with apparent severity because he is aware that Ophelia has been purposely thrown in his way; that spies are about them; and that it is necessary for the preservation of his life, to assume a conduct which he thought would be attributed to madness only.

III.36 The expectancy and rose of the fair state,] The first hope and fairest flower. “The gracious mark o’ the land.”

III.37 Glass of fashion] Speculum consuetudinis.—Cicero.

III.38 The mould of form,] The cast, in which is shaped the only perfect form.

III.39 Musick vows,] Musical, mellifluous.

III.40 Be round with him;] i.e., plain with him—without reserve.

III.41 If she find him not,] Make him not out.

III.42 As lief] As willingly.

III.43 Thus;] i.e., thrown out thus.

III.44 Robustious perrywig-pated fellow] This is a ridicule on the quantity of false hair worn in Shakespeare’s time, for wigs were not in common use till the reign of Charles the Second. Robustious means making an extravagant show of passion.

III.45 The ears of the groundlings,] The meaner people appear to have occupied the pit of the theatre (which had neither floor nor benches in Shakespeare’s time), as they now sit in the upper gallery.

III.46 O’er-doing Termagant;] The Crusaders, and those who celebrated them, confounded Mahometans with Pagans, and supposed Mahomet, or Mahound, to be one of their deities, and Tervagant or Termagant, another. This imaginary personage was introduced into our old plays and moralities, and represented as of a most violent character, so that a ranting actor might always appear to advantage in it. The word is now used for a scolding woman.

III.47 It out-herods Herod:] In all the old moralities and mysteries this personage was always represented as a tyrant of a very violent temper, using the most exaggerated language. Hence the expression.

III.48 The very age and body of the time its form and pressure.] i.e., to delineate exactly the manners of the age, and the particular humours of the day—pressure signifying resemblance, as in a print.

III.49 Come tardy off,] Without spirit or animation; heavily, sleepily done.

III.50 The censure of which one] i.e., the censure of one of which.

III.51 Your allowance,] In your approbation.

III.52 Not to speak it profanely,] i.e., irreverently, in allusion to Hamlet’s supposition that God had not made such men, but that they were only the handy work of God’s assistants.

III.53 Indifferently] In a reasonable degree.

III.54 Speak no more them is set down for them:] Shakespeare alludes to a custom of his time, when the clown, or low comedian, as he would now be called, addressing the audience during the play, entered into a contest of raillery and sarcasm with such spectators as chose to engage with him.

III.55 Barren spectators] i.e., dull, unapprehensive spectators.

III.56 Question] Point, topic.

III.57 Cop’d withal.] Encountered with.

III.58 Pregnant hinges of the knee,] i.e., bowed or bent: ready to kneel where thrift, that is, thriving, or emolument may follow sycophancy.

III.59 Since my dear soul] Dear is out of which arises the liveliest interest.

III.60 Whose blood and judgment] Dr. Johnson says that according to the doctrine of the four humours, desire and confidence were seated in the blood, and judgment in the phlegm, and the due mixture of the humours made a perfect character.

III.61 The very comment of thy soul] The most intense direction of every faculty.

III.62 Occulted guilt do not itself unkennel] Stifled, secret guilt, do not develope itself.

III.63 As Vulcan’s stithy.] A stithy is the smith’s shop, as stith is the anvil.

III.64 In censure of his seeming.] In making our estimate of the appearance he shall put on.

III.65 I have nothing with this answer; these words are not mine.] i.e., they grow not out of mine: have no relation to anything said by me.

III.66 No, nor mine, now.] They are now anybody’s. Dr. Johnson observes, “a man’s words, says the proverb, are his own no longer than while he keeps them unspoken.”

III.67 You played once in the university, you say?] The practice of acting Latin plays in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge is very ancient, and continued to near the middle of the last century.

III.68 I did enact Julius Cæsar:] A Latin play on the subject of Cæsar’s death, was performed at Christ-church, Oxford, in 1582.

III.69 They stay upon your patience.] Patience is here used for leisure.

III.70 Lying down at Ophelia’s feet.] To lie at the feet of a mistress during any dramatic representation, seems to have been a common act of gallantry.

III.71 Jig-maker,] Writer of ludicrous interludes. A jig was not in Shakespeare’s time only a dance, but a ludicrous dialogue in metre; many historical ballads were also called jigs.

III.72 For I’ll have a suit of sables.] Wherever his scene might be, the customs of his country were ever in Shakespeare’s thoughts. A suit trimmed with sables was in our author’s own time the richest dress worn by men in England. By the Statute of Apparel, 24 Henry VIII., c. 13, (article furres), it is ordained, that none under the degree of an Earl may use sables.

III.73 He must build churches, then.] Such benefactors to society were sure to be recorded by means of the feast day on which the patron saints and founders of churches were commemorated in every parish. This custom has long since ceased.

III.74 Miching mallecho;] To mich is a provincial word, signifying to lie hid, or to skulk, or act by stealth. It was probably once generally used. Mallecho is supposed to be corrupted from the Spanish Malechor, which means a poisoner.

III.75 The posy of a ring?] Such poetry as you may find engraven on a ring.

III.76 Phœbus’ cart] A chariot was anciently called a cart.

III.77 Tellus’ orbèd ground,] i.e., the globe of the earth. Tellus is the personification of the earth, being described as the first being that sprung from Chaos.

III.78 My operant powers their functions leave to do:] i.e., my active energies cease to perform their offices.

III.79 What we do determine, oft we break.] Unsettle our most fixed resolves.

III.80 The argument?] The subject matter.

III.81 The mouse-trap.]

III.82 Tropically.] i.e., figuratively.

III.83 The image of a murder,] i.e., the lively portraiture, the correct and faithful representation of a murder, &c.

III.84 Let the galled jade wince,] A proverbial saying.

III.85 Our withers are unwrung.] Withers is the joining of the shoulder bones at the bottom of the neck and mane of a horse. Unwrung is not pinched.

III.86 You are as good as a chorus,] The persons who are supposed to behold what passes in the acts of a tragedy, and sing their sentiments between the acts.

The use to which Shakespeare converted the chorus, may be seen in King Henry V.

III.87 I could interpret between you and your love, if I could see the puppets dallying.] This refers to the interpreter, who formerly sat on the stage at all puppet shows, and explained to the audience. The puppets dallying are here made to signify to the agitations of Ophelia’s bosom.

III.88

i.e., begin without more delay; for the raven, foreknowing the deed, is already croaking, and, as it were, calling out for the revenge which will ensue.

III.89 Midnight weeds] The force of the epithet midnight, will be best displayed by a corresponding passage in Macbeth:

III.90 Usurp] Encroach upon.

III.91 Let the strucken deer go weep,] Shakespeare, in As you like it, in allusion to the wounded stag, speaks of the big round tears which cours’d one another down his innocent nose in piteous chase. In the 13th song of Drayton’s Polyolbion, is a similar passage—”The harte weepeth at his dying; his tears are held to be precious in medicine.”

III.92 Marvellous distempered.] i.e., discomposed.

III.93 Admiration.] i.e., wonder.

III.94 Trade with us?] i.e. Occasion of intercourse.

III.95 By these pickers and stealers.] i.e., by these hands. The phrase is taken from the Church catechism, where, in our duty to our neighbour, we are taught to keep our hands from picking and stealing.

III.96 You do freely bar the door of your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend.] By your own act you close the way against your own ease, and the free discharge of your griefs, if you open not the source of them to your friends.

III.97 You have the voice of the king himself for your succession in Denmark?] Though the crown was elective, yet regard was paid to the recommendation of the preceding prince, and preference given to royal blood, which, by degrees, produced hereditary succession.

III.98 “While the grass grows,”—the proverb is something musty.] The proverb is, “While the grass grows, the steed starves.” Hamlet alludes to his own position, while waiting for his succession to the throne of Denmark. A similar adage is, “A slip between the cup and the lip.”

III.99 Recorder.] i.e. A kind of flute, or pipe.

III.100 Why do you go about to recover the wind of me,] Equivalent to our more modern saying of Get on the blind side.

III.101 Into a toil?] i.e., net or snare.

III.102 If my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.] If my sense of duty have led me too far, it is affection and regard for you that makes the carriage of that duty border on disrespect.

III.103 Govern these ventages—and it will discourse most eloquent music.] Justly order these vents, or air-holes, and it will breathe or utter, &c.

III.104 Though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.] A fret is a stop or key of a musical instrument. Here is, therefore, a play upon the words. Though you cannot fret, stop, or vex, you cannot play or impose upon me.

III.105 They fool me to the top of my bent.] To the height; as far as they see me incline to go: an allusion to the utmost flexure of a bow.

III.106 Bitter business] i.e., shocking, horrid business.

III.107 Stands it safe with us] Is it consistent with our security.

III.108 This fear,] Bugbear.

III.109 Behind the arras I’ll convey myself,] The arras-hangings, in Shakespeare’s time, were hung at such a distance from the walls, that a person might easily stand behind them unperceived.

III.110 To hear the process;] The course of the conversation.

III.111 The speech of vantage.] i.e., opportunity or advantage of secret observations.

III.112 Lay home to him:] Pointedly and closely charge him.

III.113 Pranks too broad] Open and bold.

III.114 I’ll ‘sconce me even here.] ‘Sconce and ensconce are constantly used figuratively for hide. In “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” Falstaff says, “I will ensconce me behind the arras.”

III.115 By the rood,] i.e., the cross or crucifix.

III.116 How now! a rat?] This is an expression borrowed from the History of Hamblet.

III.117 Have not braz’d it so,] i.e., soldered with brass.

III.118 Proof and bulwark against sense.] Against all feeling.

III.119 Takes off the rose From the fair forehead of an innocent love, And sets a blister there;] i.e., takes the clear tint from the brow of unspotted, untainted innocence. “True or honest as the skin between one’s brows” was a proverbial expression, and is frequently used by Shakespeare.

III.120 As from the body of contraction plucks The very soul;] Annihilates the very principle of contracts. Contraction for marriage contract.

III.121 The counterfeit presentment] i.e., picture or mimic representation.

III.122 Hypérion’s curls;] Hyperion is used by Spenser with the same error in quantity.

III.123 A station like the herald Mercury] Station is attitude—act of standing.

III.124

This alludes to Pharaoh’s dream, in the 41st chapter of Genesis.

III.125 Batten on this moor?] Batten is to feed rankly.

III.126 Hey-day in the blood] This expression is occasionally used by old authors.

III.127 Thou canst mutine] i.e., rebel.

III.128 As will not leave their tinct.] So dyed in grain, that they will not relinquish or lose their tinct—are not to be discharged. In a sense not very dissimilar he presently says,

III.129 An enseamed bed.] i.e., greasy bed of grossly fed indulgence.

III.130 A vice of kings;] i.e., a low mimick of kings. The vice was the fool of the old moralities or dramas, who was generally engaged in contests with the devil, by whom he was finally carried away. Dr. Johnson says the modern Punch is descended from the vice.

III.131

In allusion to the usurper procuring the crown as a common pilferer or thief, and not by open villainy that carried danger with it.

III.132 A king of shreds and patches.] This is said, pursuing the idea of the vice of kings. The vice being dressed as a fool, in a coat of party-coloured patches.

III.133 Laps’d in time and passion,] That having suffered time to slip, and passion to cool, &c. It was supposed that nothing was more offensive to apparitions than the neglect to attach importance to their appearance, or to be inattentive to their admonitions.

III.134 Cool patience.] i.e., moderation.

III.135 Make them capable.] Make them intelligent—capable of conceiving.

III.136 My stem effects:] i.e., change the nature of my purposes, or what I mean to effect.

III.137 Nothing at all; yet all that is, I see.] It is in perfect consistency with the belief that all spirits were not only naturally invisible, but that they possessed the power of making themselves visible to such persons only as they pleased.

III.138 My father, in his habit as he lived!] In the habit he was accustomed to wear when living.

III.139

i.e., “Such shadows are the weak brain’s forgeries.” Ecstasy in this place, as in many others, means a temporary alienation of mind—a fit.

III.140 Gambol from.] Start away from.

III.141 Skin and film,] Cover with a thin skin.

III.142

When you are desirous to receive a blessing from heaven (which you cannot, seriously, till you reform), I will beg to receive a blessing from you.