TEXT:
Enter OSRIC
OSRIC
Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.
HAMLET
I humbly thank you, sir. Dost know this water-fly?
(Small apology - in the episode I think I say “dost THOU know” at least once. My own error!)
HORATIO
No, my good lord.
HAMLET
Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to
know him. He hath much land, and fertile: let a
beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at
the king's mess: 'tis a chough; but, as I say,
spacious in the possession of dirt.
OSRIC
Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I
should impart a thing to you from his majesty.
HAMLET
I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of
spirit. Put your bonnet to his right use; 'tis for the head.
OSRIC
I thank your lordship, it is very hot.
HAMLET
No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is
northerly.
NOTES:
Osric
As mentioned in the episode, the character is referred to as ‘Young’ Osric when he’s mentioned by name. We have no mention anywhere of an older Osric, so it’s anyone’s guess why Shakespeare points out the character’s youth. In the Second Quarto, his name is written as Ostricke. There is ONE reference to an ostrich anywhere in Shakespeare’s works - in Henry VI part II - but I don’t know if Shakespeare knew much about the African bird. (Perhaps it would be fun for a production to give him an ostrich feather in his troublesome hat?)
The character shares his name with several Anglo-Saxon kings - there were notable Osrics of Deira, Hwicce, Northumbria and Sussex. It’s a perfectly reasonable name for a Danish courtier to have in Shakespeare’s imagination. The name stuck around, too - there’s a lost play from 1602 called Marshal Osric. I like to think that it was inspired by Hamlet. In the quarto Osric is introduced as a braggart - one who boasts about their possessions. Soon enough Hamlet explains how his land is the only interesting thing about him, presumably having heard all about it from Osric himself over the years.
Water-flies
The only other time that Shakespeare uses the image of a water-fly is in Troilus and Cressida - again when a character is being dismissive of someone he thinks is irrelevant. With all the self-confidence you might expect, Dr. Johnson proclaims that “a water-fly skips up and down upon the surface of the water, without any apparent purpose or reason, and is thence the proper emblem of a busy trifler.”
Hats
Osric’s hat is one of the most important costume items in the play - there’s so much back and forth about it that it’s a key conversation a director and designer will need to have. (The wearing of hats can inform a great deal within the play, but it’s an essential conversation in order to make sense of this scene between Hamlet and Osric.) For more information about clothing in Elizabethan life, there’s a very informative article and display here.