t is required of him, fails to meet it: so never once
fails Hamlet. Note, in all that follows, that a load seems taken off
him: after a gracious tardiness to believe up to the point of action, he
is at length satisfied. Hesitation belongs to the noble nature, to
Hamlet; precipitation to the poor nature, to Laertes, the son of
Polonius. Compare Brutus in _Julius Caesar_--a Hamlet in favourable
circumstances, with Hamlet--a Brutus in the most unfavourable
circumstances conceivable.]

[Page 250]

_Ham_. Why man, they did make loue to this imployment[1]
They are not neere my Conscience; their debate
[Sidenote: their defeat[2]]
Doth by their owne insinuation[3] grow:[4] [Sidenote: Dooes]
'Tis dangerous, when the baser nature comes
Betweene the passe, and fell incensed points
Of mighty opposites.[5]

_Hor_. Why, what a King is this?[6]

_Ham_. Does it not, thinkst thee,[7] stand me now vpon[8]
[Sidenote: not thinke thee[7] stand]
[Sidenote: 120] He that hath kil'd my King,[9] and whor'd my Mother,
[Sidenote: 62] Popt in betweene th'election and my hopes,

[Footnote 1: _This verse not in Q._]

[Footnote 2: destruction.]

[Footnote 3: 'Their destruction they have enticed on themselves by their
own behaviour;' or, 'they have _crept into_ their fate by their
underhand dealings.' The _Sh. Lex._ explains _insinuation_ as
_meddling_.]

[Footnote 4: With the concern of Horatio for the fate of Rosincrance and
Guildensterne, Hamlet shows no sympathy. It has been objected to his
character that there is nothing in the play to show them privy to the
contents of their commission; to this it would be answer enough, that
Hamlet is satisfied of their worthlessness, and that their whole
behaviour in the play shows them merest parasites; but, at the same
time, we must note that, in changing the commission, he had no
intention, could have had no thought, of letting them go to England
without him: that was a pure shaping of their ends by the Divinity.
Possibly his own 'dear plots' had in them the notion of getting help
against his uncle from the king of England, in which case he would
willingly of course have continued his journey; but whatever they may be
supposed to have been, they were laid in connection with the voyage, not
founded on the chance of its interruption. It is easy to imagine a man
like him, averse to the shedding of blood, int