Page 315 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

208 N O T E S 3-2-
read 'fingers and thumb,' but it takes two thumbs to
play a recorder.
372-73. easier.. .played on than a pipe Dramatic
irony; cf. note 3. 2. 66-70.
(
374. though you can fret me, you Fi) Q2 'though
you fret me not, you,' MSH. p. 283. v. G. 'fret.'
378. yonder cloud Ham. speaks in the royal palace,
but also in the unlocalised Eliz. theatre open to the sky;
thus he can point upwards to a cloud or to 'this brave
o'erhanging firmament' (2. 2. 304), and the audience is
conscious of no incongruity.
380. and 'tis, like a (Q2) The position of the
comma gives an effective turn to the obsequious assent.
382. backed like a weasel Particularly absurd after
'like a camel.*
385. by and by = before long (cf. 5. 2. 291), i.e. at
my own time, not (as most interpret) 'immediately.'
386. They fool... bent 'They compel me to play
the fool, till I can endure to do it no longer' (Dr John-
son). Ham.'s nerves are giving out.
390. Leave me, friends Addressed to Hor. and the
Players. Q2 and F i give no 'exeunt' for Ros. and
Guild.
396. nature v. G.
397.* The soul of Nero i.e. the matricidal spirit; cf.
K. John, 5. 2. 152. The violence of Ham.'s indigna-
tion against the Queen at this point is an important clue
to the mood in which he goes to her bedroom in 3. 4.
He fears 'the soul of Nero,' and forgets the spirit of
Brutus.
401. somever Cf. note r. 2. 249 and MSH. p. 243.
402. give them seals i.e. 'make them "deeds'"
(Knight). A legal quibble; cf. note 1. 2. 60.

3-3-
S.D. I place the scene in 'the lobby' because (i) it is
on the way from the hall to the Queen's bedroom