Page 408 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

2.a. A D D I T I O N A L NOTES 301

psychological interest, and it would have a professional
interest for Sh. There is a tyrant in it, and a tragic actor,
and Plutarch's unspoken comment "What was Hecuba
to him, that he should weep for her?"' The Life of
Pelopides comes close to those of Coriolanus and Pericles
(cf. add. note 3. 2.360-74).
579—83. for it cannot be...slave'5 offal Ham.
compares himself, I think, with a falcon refusing to kill.
585. 0, vengeance! 'The word is out' (Travers)—
but only when the mood is almost exhausted.

3-r-
See Adams, pp. 250-61, for a different reading of
this scene, which yet corresponds with mine at many
points.
2. puts on this confusion Dr Greg suggests, privately,
that this shows the true character of the K.'s suspicions.
60. them. Q2 'them,' F. 'them:' Rowe, Hanmer
and Capell read 'them.'; but Pope read 'them?' and
most mod. edd. follow.
79-80. The undiscovered country etc. Cf. Marlowe,
Edward II, 5. 6. 65:
Farewell, fair queen: weep not for Mortimer
That scorns the world, and as a traveller
Goes to discover countries yet unknown.
Trench (pp. 138-40) has, like Dowden, caught sight of
the true explanation.
88. The fair Ophelia 'The phrase itself is too smooth
for the utterance of a man in "the pangs of despised
love"; and Ham. is speaking to himself, not acting
indifference' (Travers).
89. Nymph Cf. Jonson's Cynthia's Revels, 3. 5. 75,
140 for 'nymph' in affected use. Travers plausibly
argues that Ham. pretends not to recognize Oph. until
1. 102.
121. Get thee to a nunnery Adams (p. 260) anti-
cipates me here.