TEXT:
HAMLET
Does it not, think'st thee, stand me now upon -
He that hath killed my king and whored my mother,
Popped in between the election and my hopes,
Thrown out his angle for my proper life,
And with such cozenage - is't not perfect conscience,
To quit him with this arm? And is't not to be damned,
To let this canker of our nature come
In further evil?
HORATIO
It must be shortly known to him from England
What is the issue of the business there.
HAMLET
It will be short. The interim is mine;
And a man's life's no more than to say 'One.'
But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself;
For, by the image of my cause, I see
The portraiture of his: I'll court his favours.
But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering passion.
HORATIO
Peace! who comes here?
NOTES:
Election
The question of succession is important in the play; if you’d like to read more about how Claudius comes to be elected as King instead of Hamlet, read here.
Cozenage
Cozenage is a word for trickery or deception. It came originally from the Latin for horse-trader.
Canker
As mentioned in the episode, the word is derived from the word cancer (in Latin!) - both of them refer to troublesome growths in the body.