Page 64 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

INTRODUCTIO N Ivii

an entry which enables him accidentally and unseen
to overhear the eavesdropping plot hatched between
Polonius and Claudius, and so implicates Ophelia
beyond possibility of doubt in his ears as one of his
uncle's minions. The stage-direction is found in neither
of the good texts; but the double-entry in Shakespeare's
manuscript would naturally puzzle compositor and
copyist; while omission, especially of stage-directions, is
so common a feature of both texts that the absence of
this one need not seriously disturb us, when weighed
against the evidence of the surrounding dialogue, evi-
dence which seems overwhelming. Here are the rele-
vant lines according to the Second Quarto text:
King. How may -we try it further?
Pol. You know sometimes he walkes foure houres
together 160
Heere in the Lobby.
Quee. So he dooes indeede.
Pol. At such a time, He loose my daughter to him,
Be you and I behind an Arras then,
Marke the encounter, if he loue her not,
And be not from his reason falne thereon 165
Let me be no assistant for a state
But keepe a farme and carters.
King. We will try it.
Enter Hamlet.
Ogee. But Iooke where sadly the poore wretch comes
reading. igueene.
Pol. Away, I doe beseech you both away, Exit King and
He bord him presently, oh giue me leaue, 170
How dooes my good Lord Hamletl
Ham. Well, God a mercy.
Pol. Doe you knowe me my Lord?
Ham. Excellent well, you are a Fishmonger.
Polonius's words 'I'll loose my daughter to him* offer
the leading clue. The expression 'loose,' notes Dowden,
'reminds the King and Queen that he has restrained
Ophelia from communicating with Hamlet'; but it has