O most pernicious woman!What does that even mean?
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables—meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain—
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.
The confusing line is Hamlet saying, "Note to self..."
It's a bit funny, actually. The idea of a table, a tablet, is introduced immediately before this, Hamlet is arguing with a ghost that he'll clear his mind to hold something of singular importance, "from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, all saws of books, all forms, all pressures past that youth and observation copied there; and thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain, unmixed with baser matter.; yes, by heaven!" ... the pernicious woman smiles quote. Remember that one important thing. Hamlet says aloud, "mark this, when the woman is smiling remember she is a villain."
4 comments:
My tables. — meat it is, I set it down.
Fixed. that makes a bit more sense.
The dude shakey was high on crack.
That's the part that sounds weird, meat on a table sound better. But it is not a dining table, it is the table of the mind, of memory, whip out my tablet and meet this: when the woman smiles ...
Such an odd way of saying it. And all that effort to say "I'll take note" is funny, but there is nothing actually funny about the scene. It's a serious scene.
Its only inserted so that Shakespeare can repeat the line - for emphasis - to the audience. Saying in twice in row would've been awkward. Insert the "Note to self" and the needed repetition seems OK.
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