Page:Hamlet - The Arden Shakespeare - 1899.djvu/74

Hor. What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff 70
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And there assume^{[a 1]} some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason^{[b 1]}
And draw^{[a 2]} you into madness? think of it;
The very place puts toys^{[b 2]} of desperation, 75
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.^{[a 3][b 3]}

Ham. It waves^{[a 4]} me still.—
Go on; I'll follow thee.

Mar. You shall not go, my lord.

Ham. Hold off your hands!^{[a 5]} 80

Hor. Be ruled; you shall not go.

Ham. My fate cries out.
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean^{[b 4]} lion's nerve.^{[b 5]}
[Ghost beckons.
Still am I call'd?^{[a 6]} Unhand me, gentlemen;
[Breaking from them.

1. 72. assume] Q, assumes F.
2. 74. draw] drive Q 1.
3. 75–78. The very . . . beneath] Q, omitted F.
4. 78. waves] Q, wafts F.
5. 80. hands] Q, hand F.
6. 84. call'd?] F, cald Q.

1. 73. deprive your sovereignty of reason] Warburton, followed by Hanmer, reads deprave. For deprive see Rape of Lucrece, 1186 and 1752. Caldecott explains: "Disposesss the sovereignty of your reason." In the Historie of Hamblet, IV., "deprive himself" means lose the right to the throne.
2. 75. toys] freaks. See Romeo and Juliet, IV. i. 119: "inconstant toy."
3. 75–78.] Delius suggests that these lines were omitted from the F because their substance, enlarged and elaborated, had been introduced into King Lear.
4. 83. Nemean] So accented also in Love's Labour's Lost, IV. i. 90.
5. 83. nerve] muscle or sinew; so "nervy arm," Coriolanus, II. i. 177.