Page 299 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

192 NOTES 3.i.

70. the whips and scorns of time Life is thought of
as a beadle whipping us through the streets, like the
vagabond or the whore, with jeering mobs around. Cf.
Lear, 4. 6. 164-65, and note 2. 2. 534 above.
72. disprized (F1) Q2 'despised' MSH. pp. 118,
279, 281.
79-80.* The undiscovered country.. .returns Why, it
is asked, does Sh. give these words to one who has
actually conversed with such a traveller? And modern
critics reply that he forgot, or was careless. The true
explanation (which Dowden alone has caught sight of)
is that in this mood of deep dejection Ham. has given
up all belief in the 'honesty' of the Ghost, and that Sh.
wrote the lines to make this clear to the audience. Cf.
Introd. p. lii.
83. conscience=xe&ecdon, consciousness. Bridges has
restored this meaning in The Testament of Beauty. Cf.
Bradley, p. 98 n.
85. thought— melancholy, v. G.
86. pitch (£>2) Many edd. read 'pith' with F i ;
but 'pitch' (= the highest point in a falcon's flight, just
before it swoops upon its prey) gives a much finer image.
MSH. p. 274. Cf. Rich. II, 1. 1. 109 'How high a
pitch his resolution soars.'
88.* The fair Ophelia Ham. uses the same words at
5. 1. 236; there is no warmth in them.
89-90.* Nymph.. .remembered The touch of affecta-
tion in 'nymph' and 'orisons' (both pretentious words)
and of sarcasm in 'all my sins' shows that Ham. speaks
ironically, and not as Johnson maintained in 'grave and
solemn' mood. Dowden sees 'estrangement in the word
"Nymph."'
'
92. I humbly thank you He answers as to a stranger'
(Dowden), with the same form of address he uses to the
Captain in 4. 4. 29 and to Osric in 5. 2. 83.
well, well, well Does the repetition imply 'impa-
tience' (Dowden) or indifference?