48
HAMLET
[ACT I.
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes,[a 1] by heaven!
O most pernicious woman! 105
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables,[a 2][b 1]—meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I'm[a 3] sure it may be so in Denmark.—
[Writing.[a 4]
So, uncle, there you are.—Now to my word;[b 2] 110
It is "Adieu, adieu! remember me."
I have sworn 't.
Hor. [Within.][a 5] My Lord, my lord!
Mar. [Within.][b 3] Lord Hamlet!
Hor. [Within.] Heaven[a 6] secure him!
- ↑ 104. yes] Q, yes, yes F.
- ↑ 107. My tables,—] Pope, (My tables) Q 1, My tables, Q, My Tables, My Tables; F.
- ↑ 109. I'm] F, I am Q.
- ↑ 109. Writing.] Rowe; omitted Q, F.
- ↑ 113. Hor. [Within.]] Hor. and Mar. within F, Hora. Q (see note below).
- ↑ 113. Heaven] F; Heavens Q 1, Q.
- ↑ 114. Ham. So be it] Q, given to Marcellus in F.
- ↑ 107. tables] memorandum-book, as in 2 Henry IV. II. iv. 289, and Sonnets, cxxii. 1. Hamlet's writing in his tables is a scholar's fantastic relief for over-wrought feelings, suggested to him by "table of my memory."
- ↑ 110. word] Steevens explains as "watch-word"; perhaps order, word of command, as in Julius Cæsar, V. iii. 5: "Brutus gave the word too early."
- ↑ 113. Within] Capell first marked thus the speech of Marcellus and that of Horatio which follows it. Wright (Cambridge Sh. vii. p. 600) thinks the transference by Capell of the entrance of Horatio and Marcellus to follow line 116 unnecessary; they may enter at "My lord, my lord!" but, in the darkness, may be unseen by Hamlet.
- ↑ 114.] Many editors follow F in assigning "So be it!" to Marcellus. "There is something highly solemn and proper," observes Capell, "in making Hamlet say the Amen to a benediction pronounced on himself." Furness asks, "May it not refer to the conclusion of Hamlet's writing in his tables?"
