Reading Notes - Cambridge School Shakespeare - Hamlet - No.7

Claudius 批评Hamlet 无止息的悲哀，宣布他是自己的继承人，但是拒绝了他回Wittenberg 大学的请求。Gertrude 请求哈姆雷特留下来，他同意了。

(Claudius):
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
An understanding simple and unschool'd;
For what we know must be, and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we in our peevish opposition
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault [^1] to nature,
[^1]: fault: offence

To reason most absurd, whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse till he that died to-day,
'This must be so.'

performing notes
Rebuke -命令语气。重读重复的音节 ('father' 'father' 'father' 'a fault' 'a fault' 'a fault')
和表示批评的词： ('persever' 'obstinate' 'condolement' 等)

We pray you throw to earth
This unprevailing [^2]woe, and think of us
[^2]:unprevailing: useless

As of a father; for let the world take note
You are the most immediate to our throne,
And with no less nobility of love
Than that which dearest father bears his son
Do I impart toward you.

performing notes
Assurance -热情友好的语气，重点在most immediate to our throne

For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde [^3]to our desire;
[^3]: retrograde: opposite

And we beseech you, bend you ^[1]to remain

Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

performing notes
Refusal - 粗暴刻薄，但结束时要用看起来友好，令人宽慰的语气。

Gertrude. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet.
I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
**Hamlet. **I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
Claudius. Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply.
Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come.
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart; in grace whereof,
No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
And the King's rouse the heaven shall bruit again,
Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away.

Flourish. Exeunt all but Hamlet.

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1. bend you: accept the idea ↩