TEXT:
LAERTES
Do you see this, O God?
CLAUDIUS
Laertes, I must commune with your grief,
Or you deny me right. Go but apart,
Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will.
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me:
If by direct or by collateral hand
They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give,
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours,
To you in satisfaction; but if not,
Be you content to lend your patience to us,
And we shall jointly labour with your soul
To give it due content.
LAERTES
Let this be so;
His means of death, his obscure funeral -
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,
No noble rite nor formal ostentation -
Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't in question.
CLAUDIUS
So you shall;
And where the offence is let the great axe fall.
I pray you, go with me.
Exeunt
NOTES:
Heraldry
Way way back we discussed how there was quite a notable contrast between King Hamlet's relations with Norway - ending with a violent, medieval single-combat, and Claudius' diplomacy. The world of 'laws and heraldry' seems to be over, and Hamlet showed something of a nostalgia for his father's way of operating. Here we see Laertes likewise lamenting this change - his father is buried without “hatchment” - no heraldic marker was part of his “obscure funeral”.