1 PLAYER       But if the gods themselves did see her then,

When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport

In mincing with his sword her husband limbs,

The instant burst of clamour that she made

(Unless things mortal move them not at all)

Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven

And passion in the gods.

POLONIUS      Look where he has not turned his colour and has tears in’s eyes. – Prithee no more!   (2.2.450-458)

But if the gods themselves did see her then, when she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport in mincing with his sword her husband limbs—if even the gods had looked down on Hecuba, watching the butchery of her husband (and here Pyrrhus sounds petty, malicious, gratuitously violent; frenzied, no longer a poised, calculating killing machine). If the gods had been watching, then the instant burst of clamour that she made—the terrible sound of her howl, the sheer row of it, as if Hecuba were some appalling alarm bell (unless things mortal move them not at all; unless it’s the case that there’s no earthly suffering that the gods will pity)—but the sound she made, that howl, it would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven and passion in the gods. Hecuba’s agony would have made the very planets weep, the sun and stars; if anything could move the gods, it would be that. (Hecuba’s howling is one of the most memorable features of the equivalent passage in Marlowe’s Dido; some in the audience would know that in Ovid, Hecuba is eventually so maddened with grief that she is turned into a dog.)

Polonius is awe-struck by Acting in general, and this performance in particular: look where he has not turned his colour and has tears in’s eyes. Look at that actor, he’s gone pale, and he’s almost crying! Amazing! Prithee, no more! That’s enough!