Page:Hamlet - The Arden Shakespeare - 1899.djvu/50

And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.^{[b 1]}

King. Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?^{[a 1]}

Pol. He hath,^{[a 2]} my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
By laboursome petition, and at last
Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:^{[a 3]} 60
I do beseech you, give him leave to go.

King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will!
But now, my cousin^{[b 2]} Hamlet, and my son,—^{[a 4][a 5]}

Ham. [Aside.]^{[a 6]} A little more than kin, and less than kind.^{[b 3]} 65

King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

Ham. Not so,^{[a 7]} my lord; I am too much i' the sun.^{[b 4]}

1. 57. Have . . . Polonius?] Q, two lines F.
2. 58. He hath] F, Hath Q.
3. 58–60. wrung . . . consent] Q, omitted in F.
4. 64.] Exit Q 1.
5. 64. son] Sonne Q, sonne? F, son—Rowe.
6. 65. [Aside]] added by Theobald.
7. 67. so] F, so much Q; i' the sun] Capell, i' th' Sun F, in the sonne Q.

1. 56. pardon] permission to depart, as in III. ii. 332.
2. 64. cousin] kinsman (exclusive of parent, child, brother, and sister); used elsewhere in Shakespeare for uncle, niece, grandchild.
3. 65.] It can hardly be doubted that this—Hamlet's first word—is spoken aside. Does it refer to the King or to himself? If to himself, it may mean a little more than a kinsman (for I am, incestuously, a stepson), and less than kind, for I hate the King. So Malone. Knight says "little of the same nature" with Claudius. More probably it refers to the King, meaning: My step-father (more than cousin), but in less than a natural relation. Compare II, ii. 619: "lecherous, kindless (i.e. unnatural) villain." To "go" or "grow out of kind" is found in Baret's Alvearie and Cotgrave's French Dict., meaning to degenerate or dishonour kindred. The play upon kin or kindred and kind or kindly is found in Gorboduc, in Lyly's Mother Bombie, and in Rowley's Search for Money. "Kind" for "nature occurs several times in Shakespeare.
4. 67. i' the sun.] Hamlet's delight in ambiguous and double meanings makes it probable that a play is intended on "sun" and "son." He is too much in the sunshine of the court, and too much in the relation of son—son to a dead father, son to an incestuous mother, son to an uncle-father. It was suggested by Johnson that there is an allusion to the proverbial expression (see Lear, II. ii. 168): "Out of heaven's blessing into the warm sun," which means to be out of house and home; Hamlet is deprived of the throne. Schmidt takes it to mean merely, "I am more idle and careless than I ought to be."

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