nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes
it so; to me it is a prison.
Ros. Why, then your ambition makes it one; 'tis 260
too narrow for your mind.
Ham. O God, I could be bounded in a nut-shell,
and count myself a king of infinite space, were
it not that I have bad dreams.[b 1]
Guil. Which dreams indeed are ambition; for the 265
very substance of the ambitious is merely the
shadow of a dream.
Ham. A dream itself is but a shadow.
Ros. Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light
a quality that it is but a shadow's shadow. 270
Ham. Then are our beggars bodies,[b 2] and our
monarchs and outstretched heroes the beggars'
shadows. Shall we to the court? for, by my
fay,[b 3] I cannot reason.
Ros., Guil. We'll wait upon you. 275
Ham. No such matter; I will not sort you with the
rest of my servants; for, to speak to you like
an honest man, I am most dreadfully attended.[b 4]
- ↑ 264. bad dreams] Malone—perhaps by a printer's error—read "had dreams," a "noble emendation," as Johnson might have called it, attained probably by accident.
- ↑ 271. beggars bodies] The monarch or hero is an outstretched shadow; a shadow is thrown by a body; body is the opposite of shadow; therefore the opposite of monarch, and heroes, namely, beggars, are bodies. Whether at one or two removes—shadow, or shadow's shadow—it is a beggar who produces an ambitious monarch. Hamlet's private meaning may possibly be that his uncle is a shadow—a mockery king—with a beggar for its substance. He purposely loses himself in his riddles, and, being incapable of reasoning, will to the court, where just thinking is out of place.
- ↑ 274. fay] faith.
- ↑ 278. dreadfully attended] Hamlet speaks like an honest man, but knows his meaning will not be understood; he is dreadfiiUy attended, by Memory and Horror, and wronged Love, and the duty of Revenge. Let the courtiers suppose he has a madman's suspicions of dangerous followers.
