HAMLET         What’s Hecuba to him, or he to her,

That he should weep for her? What would he do

Had he the motive and the cue for passion

That I have? He would drown the stage with tears

And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,

Make mad the guilty and appal the free,

Confound the ignorant and amaze indeed

The very faculties of eyes and ears. (2.2.494-501)

I mean, for heaven’s sake: what’s Hecuba to him, or he to her, that he should weep for her? He’s an actor, he doesn’t know Hecuba personally, he means nothing to her—and she’s a fictional character! It’s all an act, that passionate grief, he has no reason to be so affected. And yet—what would he do had he the motive and the cue for passion that I have? Imagine if he had the justification that I have, for such big feelings. Never mind the pallor, and the tears trembling in his eyes: if he were me, if he had my motivations, he’d drown the stage with tears and cleave the general ear with horrid speech. He’d weep floods of tears, shout and scream, make everyone take notice, he’d be so loud and persistent, evoke such horrors. He’d make mad the guilty and appal the free—the guilty (here perhaps imagined as Claudius) wouldn’t be able to conceal their crimes any longer, they’d go mad! and the free, the innocent wouldn’t be able to live with themselves! No one would be able to escape the effects of such passion, which would confound, confuse and disturb theignorant, unable any longer to pretend they knew nothing, and amaze indeed the very faculties of eyes and ears. To witness the expression of such grief—such grief (and anger) as I have the motivation for: it’d overwhelm sight and hearing, a complete overload of emotion and cognition. Just imagine the scene that the player would make if he were me or, indeed, if I were him. Just imagine the scene that I should be making, here, now, all the time…