Hamlet: Act 4, Scene II

[cesario]

O HAI I BET YOU THOUGHT YOU'D SEEN THE LAST OF THESE. But no, I want to finish Hamlet at least. I tend to come back to Shakespeare every spring, so possibly that is when I will pick up with a new play. But for the moment, we're a little more than half through this one, so onwards!

Previous posts:

First Act:
Scene I: The Crazy Occult Forays of

Comments

[catechism]

My annotations tell me that the fox line is Folio only, and I've got Q2, and therefore I've got nothing. Maybe it's a hunting thing? He doesn't want to actually be arrested, because that's not very dignified, and as he reminds us, he's royalty. So he takes the initiative and goes to Claudius, rather than letting him give chase. That... sort of makes sense in my head.

[tree_and_leaf]

I haven't anything sensible to add, but it's lovely to see these posts back again!

[infiniteviking]

AWESOME. I haven't had the energy to comment on a lot of these, but they're always thoroughly enjoyable. Glad you're continuing!

For "hide fox", I was always reminded of a foxhunt, with "all" the hounds and hunters after a sly, quick-witted trickster. Maybe in going to the king, Hamlet is reminding himself to keep his true purpose hidden despite everyone who's trying to sniff it out?

[tempestsarekind]

Off the top of my head (which is to say "how I always interpreted the line, when I bothered to think about it"), I'd say that Hamlet is the "fox" there--possibly mocking everyone who's about to follow him offstage, since they all have to leave. Also (and here I'm just thinking of this, so dismiss it if you like), possibly a suggestion of Globe exit door = foxhole.

Oh, also:

Does he actually think he can conceal Polonius's death indefinitely, with his mother having witnessed it?

I watched the Campbell Scott Hamlet just recently, and he stuffed Polonius' body into a wardrobe (through which Claudius and Polonius had earlier been watching Hamlet and Ophelia, which was a bit creepy!). He definitely seemed to think he'd done a good hiding job. Er, until the blood started leaking out of the wardrobe, that is.

[lareinenoire]

Sadly I don't actually have a copy of Hamlet on me, but my guess would be something along the lines of what catechism said, that Hamlet is ironically referring to himself as the fox -- all are after him -- and that he's going to give himself up.

And wonderful to see these back again! Makes me all the more excited for seeing Hamlet this weekend! I shall have to reread over the next few days.