TEXT:
CLAUDIUS
Alas, alas!
HAMLET
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a
king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
CLAUDIUS
What dost thou mean by this?
HAMLET
Nothing but to show you how a king may go a
progress through the guts of a beggar.
CLAUDIUS
Where is Polonius?
HAMLET
In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger
find him not there, seek him i' the other place
yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within
this month, you shall nose him as you go up the
stairs into the lobby.
CLAUDIUS
Go seek him there.
To some Attendants
HAMLET
He will stay till ye come.
Exeunt Attendants
CLAUDIUS
Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,
Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence
With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
The associates tend, and every thing is bent
For England.
HAMLET
For England!
CLAUDIUS
Ay, Hamlet.
HAMLET
Good.
CLAUDIUS
So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
HAMLET
I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for
England! Farewell, dear mother.
CLAUDIUS
Thy loving father, Hamlet.
HAMLET
My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man
and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!
Exit
NOTES:
Angels
Praying for the intercession of angels - or indeed their protection is a particularly Catholic thing, with which perhaps Shakespeare himself may have grown up. Hamlet's call to "angels and ministers of grace" makes him sound distinctly Catholic, and would not have gone unnoticed. He, Claudius and later Horatio all refer to angels throughout the play. Here the reference to cherubs - a particular kind of angel responsible for looking over mankind - seems almost like a reminder to Claudius that the old regime - whether that of Old Hamlet or indeed of catholicism in Shakespeare’s England - hasn’t entirely been forgotten, and there will be a reckoning eventually.
Progress
A progress was a royal outing - often kings and queens of England would make a progress through the country, visiting cities and estates across the realm. It could be ruinously expensive to host the royal court when it was on the move. But, of course, there was no way to refuse such a visit… Below is a picture of Henry VIII arriving in Warwickshire in 1511.
