"Trippingly" here means to speak liltingly or nimbly, with the tongue instead of the throat. Hamlet directs his actors to speak "trippingly" because it will be more like real speech.

Hamlet tells Horatio that he will hold any man who is "not passion's slave"—meaning a man who isn't easily overcome by strong emotions—not just in his heart, but the heart of his heart. Hamlet might value emotional constancy because he tends to get carried away by strong emotions.

Note that Hamlet earlier claimed that his soul had "sealed" itself off from other people. Here, he asks his soul, which knows so well how to seal itself, not to restrict his words, while at the same time making sure that his words don't become actions. It's a delicate balance, and he wants to make sure he gets it right.

"Shent" means to be disgraced or ruined, and in this case perhaps also to be stupefied. Hamlet doesn't intend to speak kindly to his mother, but also won't hurt her, despite his desire to. These conflicting passions make both his tongue and soul hypocrites (because their thoughts and actions are inverted).

Hamlet doesn't want to hurt his mother. In Act I, Scene V, the Ghost explicitly told Hamlet not to hurt his mother, telling her that she's not his real enemy. Here, Hamlet keeps his word to the Ghost, but can't promise that his mother won't think that he wants to hurt her, since his words are so sharp ("daggers").

Nero was a Roman Emperor well- known for both his corruption and debauchery. It's believed that Nero himself caused the Great Fire of Rome in order to clear land for his palace and that he poisoned his own stepbrother. Here, Hamlet compares himself to Nero because the emperor purportedly ordered the execution of his own mother (an act Hamlet wants to avoid, despite his mixed emotions towards his mother).

Hamlet puns on the word "fret," referring both its verb form (to "fret" or worry) and to one of its noun forms (as a ridge or bar built into the fingerboard to help regulate the musician's playing, as with the "fret" of a guitar). Hamlet says Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can worry or bother him, but can't play him.

Hamlet likens himself to the recorder, using the language of music ("stops," "note," "pluck," "sound") to indicate that he knows very well that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are trying to play on his affections as their former friend to more effectively spy on him. He asks Guildenstern to play on the recorder to prove to him that he's no good at "playing" people or instruments.

"Ventages" are holes or "stops" in the recorder that correspond with notes that the musician can play (or "govern") by covering them with his fingers as he breathes into the mouthpiece. Of all the wind instruments, the recorder is perhaps the simplest, and it would be very easy for Guildenstern to pick it up if he tried to.

Here we discover the true meaning of Hamlet misunderstanding Guildenstern's love and duty: he knows Guildenstern has been lying and doesn't understand why he's trying to be friends when Hamlet's treating him (rightfully) like an enemy. Hamlet thinks that playing the recorder should be as easy as lying for Guildenstern. That is, it should come naturally.

A "toil" in this case refers to a net or a snare and not to a struggle or a bit of hard work. "Recover the wind," then, is another hunting term, meaning to recover or catch the scent of the hunter. Hamlet figures his former friends as hunters and himself as prey to indicate that he thinks of them as his enemies now because of their spying.

Hamlet uses the noise of the players with recorders to hide what he's talking about with Guildenstern. He wants to know why they've been spying on him and pressing him not to joke around when it's clear he doesn't want to be their friend anymore. Essentially, Hamlet's asking Guildenstern what his problem is.

"While the grass grows, the horse starves." Hamlet likens himself to a horse who, in waiting for the grass to grow (waiting to become king), starves or dies because he wasn't able to eat (or, in this case, take his rightful position on the throne). Hamlet might think the proverb's a bit musty, but he nevertheless feels that it's an accurate description of his situation.

Hamlet feels stifled in his position as prince, uncertain that he will ever ascend to the crown. Claudius has assured him that he's next in the line of succession, but that can change. For instance, if Gertrude has a son with Claudius, or if Gertrude dies and Claudius remarries and has a son with his new wife, that son would be the heir. There are many scenarios in which Hamlet doesn't become king, and few in which he does.

Rosencrantz thinks that by closing himself off to people, Hamlet has prevented himself from being able to speak freely with anyone (and also, it seems, to move freely around the castle without being watched). This line directly relates to Hamlet's line about how his soul "sealed thee for herself." It also comments on the theme of imprisonment built throughout the play.

Hamlet would obey Gertrude "were she ten times" the person she is, that is, if she were worth obeying. Hamlet makes clear that he thinks very little of his mother now and that he wishes she were more like her old self. To be clear: he still intends to go; he's just not happy about it.

In modern parlance, Hamlet is saying that he can feel a "but" coming. Hamlet knows very well that he has surprised Gertrude, and that her "admiration" here means wonder or amazement, not respect or love. He feels a kind of bitter glee at having provoked such a response in his mother, which just goes to show how far their relationship has deteriorated.

Hamlet has shown Guildenstern only the minimal amount of courtesy required for the situation. Were they still in Wittenberg, Hamlet would treat him like a friend and not like the butt of a joke. In that sense, for Hamlet's courtesy to be "not of the right breed" means both that it isn't based on friendship and that it doesn't suit someone of Hamlet's breeding.

Recall that in Act II, Scene II Gertrude told Polonius to speak with "more matter, with less art." Both that line and this one mean to get to the point. Hamlet unwittingly echoes his mother, revealing how much closer they are in intelligence and temperament than either will ever know.

Guildenstern asks Hamlet to put some things into perspective and to reconsider his responses to Guildenstern. In doing this, Guildenstern cautions Hamlet to behave more like a prince should in this situation, while also revealing how hurt he is by Hamlet's behavior.

In other words, to exonerate him of any crime, or to put him through a kind of purgatory where he will answer for his sins. Hamlet suggests that telling Claudius he's being choleric (or even suggesting this to a doctor) would only anger him further and that Guildenstern should be careful (rely on "[his] wisdom") when he tells anyone about this.

Short for "choleric," meaning angry or easily angered. The term "choleric" stems from a theory of medicine known as Humorism, which states that the body is governed by four humours: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. Being choleric means having too much yellow bile, which makes one ambitious, restless, and angry, just like Claudius.

Shakespeare interrupts Guildenstern here to give his words a sense of urgency. He and Rosencrantz have just come from Claudius' side, worried about what effect the king's distemper will have on Hamlet. Guildenstern rushes to tell him because he still thinks of Hamlet as a friend and wants to warn him of the danger. Hamlet's interruption, then, is very rude.

In this line, delivered with amused disdain, we see how much Hamlet has changed over the course of the play. Now that he knows Claudius is guilty, he isn't brooding or indecisive but rather sure of himself and of his own power: he's made Claudius afraid. When Hamlet asks, "What of him?" he appears to be gloating.

Jove, the Roman epithet for Zeus, the king of the gods, likened here to King Hamlet, who used to reign over this realm until a peacock (a "pajock") dismantled it. Claudius then becomes the peacock, a term that criticizes him for his ostentatious lifestyle and his fashion choices.

From an ancient Greek legend. After Pythias was arrested for plotting against his king, he was allowed to settle his affairs on the condition that he leave his best friend Damon behind as collateral, so that if he never returned, Damon would be executed. Pythias returned, and in honor of their friendship, both were set free. Hamlet likens Horatio to Damon because Hamlet has put his friend in danger, but doesn't intend for him to be hurt.

"Turning Turk" was a derogatory phrase used to mean that someone had either converted to Islam or become extremely obstinate. In this case, it means that Hamlet's fortunes could turn against him, but if they do, his performance that night could get him a "fellowship," or a position in an acting troupe.

Hamlet mockingly suggests that someone in the audience has falsely shouted, "Fire!" (as was common in Elizabethan times). That Claudius appears frightened suggests to Hamlet that he is guilty, while the other characters in the play, who don't know about the murder, draw an uncomfortable parallel between his marriage to Gertrude and the marriage in the show.

Hecate is the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the moon, and certain poisonous plants, like the one that Lucianus (a character in the play within the play) has used to extract his poison. Hecate's "ban" in this context means a curse or spell that's given the poison its potency.

Hamlet puns on Ophelia's words, taking them to mean "for better or worse" or "in sickness and in health," as in a marriage vow. He uses the plural of "husbands" to imply that Ophelia, like Gertrude, will have multiple husbands. This may also imply that he's disappointed in her response and has decided that he doesn't care if she takes husbands or if she's the kind of woman who would.

Ophelia seems amused with Hamlet's antics, having been shushing him unsuccessfully throughout the show. "Still better" means that his puns are getting sharper, and "and worse" means that they're getting even more inappropriate. Even so, she seems to enjoy this banter, in so far as she knows she's never going to give in to his advances.

Notice that Hamlet excluded Claudius from the category of people who have free souls. Instead, he says that Claudius isn't touched (or affected) by the content of the play because he doesn't have any reason to feel guilty. Hamlet knows the reverse to be true, but says this to mollify Claudius so that the king doesn't suspect that Hamlet was the one who set up this play.

Gertrude thinks that the Player Queen has been laying it on too thick and that the actress is being melodramatic. More specifically, she's judging the performance based on her own experiences as a widow and a remarried woman, indicating that she thinks the Player Queen is being unrealistic; the Player Queen is going to have to swallow her own words when she ends up remarrying.

The Player Queen vows that if she ever remarries, she shouldn't be allowed food, light, entertainment ("sport and repose"), or even her freedom, but should instead be locked away as though she is in a prison, where she can't feel joy or love without its opposite "blanking," or erasing, that joy immediately. It's a powerful oath that Gertrude clearly didn't make.

While the Player King is still alive, it's easy for the Player Queen to say that she won't marry again, because she doesn't know what it's like to be a widow. Once he dies, however, she'll probably reconsider. Hamlet might suspect that this is what happened to Gertrude: that she never intended to remarry, but was tricked into it by Claudius.

In other words, when you try to make friends for the sake of making a friend (or with some secret purpose), it's obvious that you don't really want to be friends with that person. Actions like this are more than likely going to turn that "friend" into an enemy. Hence, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern became Hamlet's enemies, though he still uses them to his advantage.

To "mark" in those context means to note the dead man's favorite "flies," or people who seems most to hover around his dead body (presumably with the purpose of stealing away some of his wealth). This speaks uncomfortably to the funeral proceedings and marriage that followed King Hamlet's death, wherein Claudius and the nobles alike took advantage of the king's death.

When we forget the decisions we've made or change our minds, it's important that we don't regret this forgetting or think that we owe it to ourselves (or "pay ourselves" that debt) to follow through with our original plans. Instead, we should let sleeping dogs lie.

In this context, "what we do determine" refers to our personal beliefs, which we might break or lose confidence in as we start to question or second-guess ourselves, as Hamlet does. It also reminds us of Hamlet's situation and the vow to kill Claudius that he's "breaking" by being indecisive instead of taking action.

The Player Queen thinks that second marriages are never made out of love, but rather as a means of reestablishing financial security after the first husband's death. She says that marrying again would be like killing her husband twice, because it would be an insult to their love and his memory.

Wormwood is a colloquial name for a kind of plant known for its bitter taste and medicinal properties. Hamlet thinks the previous line (about women who remarry) is very bitter, but may also be suggesting that it has certain healing properties, in that it reveals a truth about Gertrude's situation that they all need to hear.

In other words, the Player King's bodily functions ("operant powers") have started shutting down, and he's going to die soon. He wants to tell his wife before he dies that she should be happy and remarry so that she won't be sad and afraid anymore. It's clear that the Player King and the Player Queen are still deeply in love after thirty years.

The Player Queen's husband has told her to remarry after he dies so she can be happy and beloved. The Player Queen refuses, saying that only women who kill their first husbands marry again. This line directly condemns Gertrude for remarrying and suggests that she may have had something to do with the murder plot.

Hymen in this context refers to the ancient Greek god of marriages, who would've blessed their union and joined or united their hands at the ceremony (figuratively speaking). There's a subset of Greek poetry called hymenaios that's sung during the procession of the bride to the groom's house.

Neptune is the Roman god of the sea (the "salt wash," or ocean), and Tellus (or Terra) is the Roman god of the earth, where "orbed ground" refers to the shape of the planet. Phoebus' cart has gone around the entire globe, flying over all the seas, for thirty years (and presumably also for all eternity).

Phoebus was the Roman epithet for the Greek god Apollo, the god of the sun, music, truth, healing, and poetry, among other things. He's said to have driven a chariot ("cart") that pulled the sun behind him across the sky, creating the dawn and the sunset. If Phoebus' cart has gone around thirty times, thirty years have passed.

In these lines, we can see that Ophelia has grown tired of Hamlet's innuendos and unnecessary jokes and wants him to be quiet so that she can watch ("mark") the play. When she tells him that the prologue is brief, what she's really saying is that it shouldn't bother him because it's short and essentially meaningless.

Hamlet turns Ophelia's innocent question about the play's meaning into another sexual innuendo, suggesting that the player will gladly tell Ophelia the meaning of any show, including any suggestive show they might want to engage in together. Ophelia, of course, doesn't like this suggestion and calls Hamlet "naughty" because of it.

"Miching" derives from the Middle English "michen," meaning to hide or skulk. "Mallecho" was borrowed from the Spanish "mal hecho," meaning a bad or wrongful act. Together, these words mean "hiding a wrongful act" (in this case, King Hamlet's murder). Hamlet pretends not to know who added this to the play by calling it "mischief," or the work of someone who wants to stir up trouble.

Recall that when the players were first introduced, Hamlet recited for them a piece of a play about Pyrrhus, Achilles' son, whose arms were black as sable (or fur). By likening himself to Pyrrhus, Hamlet implies that he's a fearsome warrior and that he'll soon be covered, as Pyrrhus was, in the blood of his enemies.

Hamlet suggests that Ophelia's religious devotions makes God the only man who can incite her passion or cause her to dance (do a jig). This is yet another sexual innuendo. He's decrying her chastity, saying that it's unnatural and pointing out that his mother seems perfectly happy not to be chaste.

Hamlet's original question was far more suggestive in nature and was taken as a sexual overture. His second question, though more polite, builds on this rudeness, making us wonder why Hamlet has decided to treat her so badly. It's possible he's still mad at her for helping her father spy on him, or perhaps he's decided to make her stop loving him to save her from what's going to happen.

Hamlet likens himself to a magnet attracted to certain metals. In this case, his mother doesn't hold a strong pull over him, but Ophelia does, and he makes a very blatant and embarrassing ploy for her affections in front of everyone (probably to throw them off).

Notice that Polonius related only the most obvious pieces of the plot, the parts that Hamlet's likely to already know. This suggests that, while Polonius attended university, he wasn't a particularly good student (and probably not a very good actor, despite his claims). More likely, he was there for the political connections, and we can see what's come of those.

A castrated cock, or rooster; in some cases also a eunuch. Hamlet says that you can't feed castrated roosters or eunuchs air, implying that because he can eat air, he's neither one of those things. In other words, he's saying that he's not powerless (castrated) and should be feared.

Hamlet puns on Claudius' use of the word "fare," responding to both its verb form, meaning "to feel," and one of its noun forms, meaning "food." That he's "of the chameleon's dish" means that he hasn't been eating much (that "food" might mean literal food or food for thought) and that his feelings are constantly changing, like a chameleon's skin.

If Claudius manages to hide (or "steal" away) his guilt, Horatio will pay for it ("the theft"). In other words, watching the King during the play is very dangerous, and if they aren't right, then Horatio's going to be in trouble. He's willing to do so for Hamlet, but isn't so foolish as to think it's without risk.

"Unkennel" means to unleash (as if from a kennel) and derives from a hunting term for driving a fox out of its hole. Hamlet suspects that if Claudius truly is guilty, then whatever he's hiding will be evident on his face, and he'll know for sure whether the Ghost was really his father or was just a demon trying to lead him astray.

"Commeddled" means "commingled" or mixed. Hamlet says Horatio's life has been pretty even-keeled, blessed with neither great hardship nor great wealth, in part because his breeding ("blood") and manners ("judgment") have made him into a wise, honest man whom Fortune has decided to overlook or not make an example of for others.

Hamlet has made the choice not to trust anyone and to "seal" himself off or make himself emotionally unavailable to everyone. He decided to engage (or "elect" to interact) with only the most righteous of men, but, finding none, withdrew into himself. He's telling Horatio this because he's one of the few honest men that Hamlet's met.

"Thrift" means prosperity or good fortune, whereas "fawning" means to lavish with praise or adoration. This line then means, "Where (or in a condition where) fawning over something will lead to good fortune." In the previous line, Hamlet spoke of someone crooking or bending their knees to kneel before someone, so what he's really talking about here is a display of respect.

In other words, let a pompous or pretentious person sugarcoat whatever they want. Recall that Polonius expressed much the same sentiment in Act III, Scene I, when he said that words could "sugar o'er" the Devil himself. This repetition draws an uncomfortable parallel between Hamlet and Polonius, who are each, after all, trying to maneuver against the other.

In this context, "revenue" refers to wealth or income. Hamlet implies that Horatio, despite being an officer, has no money, and as a poor man has nothing to his name but his good spirits. In an earlier scene, Hamlet equated poor men with honest men, so even though Hamlet seems critical, he's actually praising Horatio.

Notice that Hamlet forgoes referring to ambitions as "dreams" here in favor of speaking plainly about the actor's intentions (to laugh or fill a silence where a character like Hamlet would otherwise be contemplating something serious). This is one of the only times that Hamlet equates people who don't act like him to villains and tells us a lot about how he views the other characters, particularly Claudius.

In general, a journeyman is someone who learns a trade and is now qualified to earn wages from it. In this context, it refers to someone who works for someone else (in this case, Nature) and doesn't do a very good job of it, having not made these men (the bad actors) very good at their jobs.

Think of these words as an aside: that he really thinks (and isn't trying to be profane about it) that some actors don't deserve the praise they get and that they don't "act" so much as strut around the stage, making themselves look ridiculous. Hamlet is not only showing his preference for a restrained style of acting but is also judging those who act this way.

Hamlet claims that the whole point of acting or putting on a show is to reveal something about human nature (or to hold it up to a mirror). This emphasizes the complexity of human interactions and the psychological depth of Shakespeare's characters, who can be held up to a mirror without appearing flat or one-dimensional.

This line doubles as Shakespeare's own thoughts about acting and playwriting: that the words are more important, and that the actions should be suited to them, not the other way around. This gives precedence to what the writer intended rather than to the actor's interpretation, which suggests that everything you need to understand the play is right here on the page.

Termagant was a god that people in medieval Europe confused with Allah, the god in Islam. Similarly, Herod is a character from the Bible, a king in Judea who plotted to kill Jesus Christ when he was born, because Christ was supposed to become king of the Jews (and thus dethrone Herod). Both were violent rulers, and as characters on the stage would've been wildly overdone.

The "groundlings," or members of the pit, were a notoriously rowdy bunch, prone to violent and ridiculous outbursts ("dumb-shows") that were often crude and sexual in nature. Some even went so far as to jump up on the stage. To subdue them, Shakespeare had to keep the action tight, but that didn't keep him from poking fun at the pit a little.

A "periwig" is a stylized wig worn by British nobility in the Renaissance, as well as by lawyers and judges. The use of this word is anachronistic, as Danish nobility weren't known to wear periwigs and Hamlet wasn't likely to have seen many British actors at the castle or at school.

We can assume from these lines that Hamlet isn't just speaking about the actor's performance, but also about his own, and that he believes that his acting has the temperance and the smoothness he demands here. This may be arrogance on his part, or it may be his survival mechanism.

Recall that at the end of Act II, Scene II, Hamlet recited to one of the players a brief passage from a play and that he did so very seriously, following the natural rhythm of the words, without gesticulating wildly or becoming melodramatic, as he warns the players not to do here. It may be arrogance on Hamlet's part to believe he's a better performer than these actors. Then again, maybe he is.

When graves open and the spirits of the dead are released into the night air. Notice the alliteration of "Y" sounds in "churchyards yawn." This emphasizes the "yawning" or opening of the churchyards so that they seem to yawn even wider.

Thinking of Hamlet's III.i "To be or not to be" soliloquy where he equates sleep with death, who here "must watch" and who "must sleep"?

This line is likely intended to be spoken as a kind of aside. Hamlet is telling himself that he's tired of people trying to manipulate him and that he's had enough of it (which doesn't bode well for Gertrude, as she's the next one he's going to speak to). Alternatively, he could be saying it right in front of Polonius, which would play into his performance of madness.

The "hart," or male deer, here refers to Claudius, who "plays" when he abandons his wife, Gertrude, the deer who weeps at his departure. In this case, "galled" doesn't mean to be irritated or vexed but sore from chafing (presumably during intercourse). To be ungalled then means that the king and queen won't be chafing that night.

This shows the extent of Hamlet's education. For him to know that it's written in "choice" Italian, he'd have to be discriminating about the language. He'd also have to know Latin to get into a good university, German to make his way at Wittenberg, English to be an ambassador, and Danish at home. Without having to explicitly state it, Shakespeare characterizes Hamlet as a polyglot and true scholar.

Here Polonius realizes that Hamlet has been making a fool of him, while also reminding him of the difference in their social ranks. So when he says, "Very like a whale," he does it in a subdued tone of voice (in contrast to his initial reproachful and authoritarian tone). In his words and body language, Polonius conveys that he's subject to the prince and must agree with everything he says, whether or not he likes it.

Using the words "and presently" here equates to ordering the prince to report to his mother immediately. Polonius acts like a servant or a gofer for Gertrude, but presents himself with an authority that Hamlet immediately dislikes. What follows is an uncomfortable exchange that puts Polonius in his place.

Perhaps even more telling than the actual content of the play is this title, The Mousetrap, which perfectly describes Hamlet's plan: he's going to catch Claudius, the mouse, with this play, the trap he set to make the king feel guilty. However, like a mousetrap, it can backfire, and Hamlet must be careful that it doesn't catch the wrong person.

Hamlet puns on Ophelia's accusation that he's being "keen" (sharp), suggesting that his "edge" is a result of his pent-up sexual frustration and that to relieve it would require that they have sex. He turns the verb "groaning" into a noun that refers to the act of intercourse itself.

In ancient Greek plays, a chorus was a group of characters who told the audience what was going to happen in the play. By likening him to a chorus, Ophelia isn't praising him so much as politely telling him that he's talking too much and spoiling the show.