Page 347 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

240 NOTES 5.1.

edd. follow. The more unusual 1 word gives an edge
F
to Ham.'s irony. MSH. pp. 162-64.
268-78. 'Bwounds.. .as well as thou This speech
clearly owes much to Florio's Montaigne, i. ch. : 'How
4
the soule dischargeth her passions upon false objects,
when the true faile it*; e.g.
The philosopher Byon "was very pleasant with the king,
that for griefe tore his haire, when he said, 'Doth this man
thinke, that baldnesse will asswage his griefe? who hath
not scene some to chew and swallow cardes, and wel-nigh
choake themselves with bales of dice, only to be revenged
for the losse of some money?' Xerxes whipped the Sea,
and writ a cartell of defiance to the hill Athos.

269. Won't I follow other edd. in retaining the sp.
of Q 2 and F1 here, and of Q 2 in 'thou't' (Q 2 'th'owt'),
1. 268, though Sh. prob. intended nothing special by it;
cf. 'wooll' for 'will' 2 Hen. IF, 3. 2. 308 (£)), and
'woot' for 'wilt' A. y C. 4. 2. 7; 4. 15. 59.
270. eisel (Theobald) £>2 'Esill,' F i 'Esile,'
Q1 'vessels.' The reading 'eisel' is much discussed, but
N.E.D. has no hesitation in accepting it, while, as
F. L. Lucas (letter T.L.S. 29. 7. '26) shows, the sense
(vinegar) suits the context well. What will you do for her
(i.e. to show your grief) ? asks Ham.; will you weep ?
fight (as you have just been doing)? fast (a ceremonial
sign of grief) ? tear yourself (i.e. rend your clothing) ?
drink vinegar to induce melancholy? or eat a crocodile
to catch his trick of hypocritical tears?—a crescendo of
sarcasm. Critics who imagine that 'Esill' is the name of
some river have been led astray by the latter part of the
speech: Ham. does not begin to outbid Pelion and
Olympus until 1. 274. Dowden comes near to the true
interpretation, though missing the point about the croco-
dile, and quotes W. Vaughan, Directions for Health,
1600, which states that vinegar while it allays choler and
hear, 'hurteth them that be sorrowfull' (p. 47, ed. 163 3),
and L.Joubert, Physician to the French King, Seconde