OPHELIA                    Long stayed he so;

At last, a little shaking of mine arm

And thrice his head thus waving up and down,

He raised a sigh so piteous and profound

As it did seem to shatter all his bulk

And end his being. That done, he lets me go

And with his head over his shoulder turned

He seemed to find his way without his eyes

(For out o’doors he went without their helps)

And to the last bended their light on me.    (2.1.88-97)

Ophelia is given the gift of vivid, compelling description—as intense and sophisticated as anything that Hamlet himself says, in its own limited way. Here she animates for Polonius and the audience the precise physical and visual details of this frightening encounter; she doesn’t have words to relay, yet she evokes it with great force. Long stayed he so, Hamlet, holding her hard by the wrist, the other hand on his forehead—the audience pictures it, got it? pause on that—at last, a little shaking of mine arm, a tremor, an admonition, a gesture of affectionate farewell? and thrice his head thus waving up and down (she nods three times, slowly it seems?) he raised a sigh so piteous and profound as it did seem to shatter all his bulk and end his being. Lovers sigh, but this wasn’t a lover’s sigh, it was enormous, from the depths of his soul, surely mortal in its effects. A great exhalation, a last breath. That done, he lets me go—she slips into the present tense, briefly, it’s that vivid, she’s reliving it—and with his head over his shoulder turned (she enacts it, Hamlet looking backwards as he walked away) he seemed to find his way without his eyes, not looking where he was going at all, for out o’doors he went without their helps, it was as if he didn’t need them, he didn’t need to see where he was going anymore—then this last little pathetic cry from Ophelia: and to the last bended their light on me. He was looking at me all the time, just looking, lingering, unblinking. Bended their light sounds graceful, the illumination of a loving gaze—but this is weird, uncanny, troubling. Something has changed, something has broken.