lit201 - week 8 - lect 2

page 36 - bottom of the page "it is an honest ghost, that let me tell you"

Page 37 - "swear upon my sword" he doesn't trust their words, he doesn't trust them.

Paul Cantor - says Horatio embodies a stoic world view by analogy.

Polonius is sending Reynaldo to Paris to spy on Laertes and to spread rumours to enhance his reputation. Make him look like a party-animal. He then wants Reynaldo to report back about his son. This little sub-plot seems unimportant but the line, "by indirections find directions out".

This meddling is what gets Polonius killed, in the end. The speed at which Hamlet kills Polonius, in the heat of the moment, contrasts with the sluggishness of his murder of the king.

"if i told you about purgatory your eyes would come out of your head"

and now hamlet "finds his way without his eyes" p.42

we don't know if we can rely on his appearance to indicate his state of mind.

p.47 "brevity is the soul of wit" ironic because he is so longwinded.

p.48 "doubt truth to be a liar..." the poem Hamlet sent Ophelia, he's saying I'm not a good poet (I am ill at these numbers) but I do love thee, he tells her to believe in his love - you can doubt the very make up of the cosmos and the idea that the sun moves, doubt truth to be a liar- in any case "doubt truth to be a liar before you doubt that I love you" it seems that there is some confusion between what is truth and what is a lie.