Page 297 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

190 NOTE S 3.x.

Ros. would suggest that they have not wholly failed;
Guild, that this was in spite of much difficulty. They wish
to turn off any enquiry as to Ham.'s sharp examination of
them and his discovery that they were sent for.
8-1 o. with a crafty madness.. .state Referring to
their failure to probe him on the score of his ambition
(y. note 2. 2. 255).
12. much forcing A clue to the actor how to play
2. 2. 373-83-
13-14. Niggard of question.. .reply = slow to talk,
but quite prepared to answer our questions, v. G.
'question.' Ros. is prevaricating, v. note 5-14.
19. they are here about (Qz) F i 'they are about,'
MSH. p. 261.
26-7. give him.. .delights It is the K.'s policy to
cure Ham. of his 'melancholy' (which he does not
believe to be madness) so that he will cease to brood over
his ambitions.
27. into (Q2) F i 'onto.'
49-54. 0, 'tis too true.. .burden! The first indica-
tion that the K.'s conscience is uneasy. Itlinks 2.2. 592—
602 with the Play-scene and the Prayer-scene later.
51-3. The harlofs cheek.. .painted word An an-
ticipation of the theme elaborated by Ham. later in the
scene. 'To' = in comparison with (cf. 'Hyperion to a
satyr' 1. 2. 140).
55. S.D. Pol. had said (1. 43) 'walk you here' to
Oph., but Ham.'s 'Nymph, in thy orisons' etc. (1. 89)
proves, I think, that she kneels and does not merely walk
to and fro with a book, else how could he know she was
praying?
56. To be, or not to be Johnson, Dowden and others
contend that Ham. is meditating upon his task, the
fulfilment of which will prob. involve his own death;
but I think 11. 75-6 rule this out, and show that he is
thinking of suicide, as in the First Soliloquy (1. 2. 129-
32), and as Malone, Bradley and most critics assume.