TEXT:
HAMLET (continued)
Be buried quick with her, and so will I:
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.
GERTRUDE
This is mere madness:
And thus awhile the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,
When that her golden couplets are disclosed,
His silence will sit drooping.
HAMLET
Hear you, sir;
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I loved you ever: but it is no matter;
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew and dog will have his day.
Exit
CLAUDIUS
I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him.
Exit HORATIO
To LAERTES
Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;
We'll put the matter to the present push.
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.
This grave shall have a living monument:
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see;
Till then, in patience our proceeding be.
Exeunt
NOTES:
Million
The word does not appear very often in Shakespeare’s plays. It is an extravagant number, almost beyond imagining to most characters, with the exception of Shylock, who is seemingly rich enough to have to use it in his counting.
Mount Ossa
Like Mount Pelion, Mount Ossa is also located in Thessaly, Northern Greece. It’s a more defined mountain point than Mount Pelion, and so it makes sense that Hamlet envisages it being reduced to a wart. (Not to be confused with the Mount Ossa in Tasmania, Australia!)
Hercules
The great hero Hercules was famous for completing the twelve labours, but in drama it is the darker sides of his story that have been immortalised. Both Euripides and Seneca wrote version of the story of how he was driven mad by the Furies, and in his madness, murdered his own wife and children. As a character particularly associated with dramatic madness, it is perhaps no accident that Hamlet mentions him here.
Dog will have his Day
The phrase is almost a cliche in English now - the sense being that everyone gets their chance eventually. It appears as early as the Adages of Erasmus, and the line here in Hamlet has helped it become part of the vernacular.