HAMLET         For thou dost know, O Damon dear,
This realm dismantled was
Of Jove himself, and now reigns here
A very, very pajock.

HORATIO        You might have rhymed.

HAMLET         O good Horatio, I’ll take the Ghost’s word for a thousand pound. Didst perceive?

HORATIO        Very well, my lord.

HAMLET         Upon the talk of the poisoning.

HORATIO        I did very well note him.

HAMLET         Ah ha! Come, some music! Come, the recorders!
For if the King like not the comedy
Why then belike he likes it not, perdie.
Come, some music!   (3.2.273-287)

Hamlet continues to fizz and spin, with these fragments of ballads, poems, perhaps plays. (Because these are so often cut the parallel with—spoiler—Ophelia’s later madness, her similar scattering of quotations, isn’t obvious. But it might be worth pausing on: what’s at stake with this sort of citation and echoing? Here it seems to express how on edge Hamlet is, how close he is to exploding with stress and excitement.) For thou dost know, O Damon dear (Damon might be referring to Horatio as one of the archetypal friends of Greek romance), this realm dismantled was of Jove himself. This kingdom has been deprived of a godlike king! And now reigns here a very, very pajock. OBSCURE. Peacock, preening, proud, silly? Pillock? The point, mostly, is the bathos, perhaps the sense of running out of steam, reaching for a nonsense word. You might have rhymed, says Horatio, come on (ass is the obvious rhyme, maybe it’s not strong enough to express Hamlet’s views, the enormity of this all).

But now they come to it: O good Horatio, I’ll take the Ghost’s word for a thousand pound. Didst perceive? It’s all true! Everything he said! Did you see? Very well, my lord, oh yes, absolutely, unmissable. Upon the talk of the poisoning, that specific detail in particular. (An implicit stage direction for Claudius, given retrospectively.) I did very well note him, yes. Ah ha! Ha! Ha! We’ve got him, says Hamlet, flying off again. Come, some music! Come, the recorders! (In some productions, there are instruments that have been discarded by the players, or else Hamlet calls louder for them, still a prince, accustomed to having people hanging around to do his bidding.) For if the King like not the comedy why then belike he likes it not, perdie. If he doesn’t like the play, then he doesn’t like it, by God. It’s nonsensical; he might be about to say something different, more explicit about Claudius’s guilt, when he spots someone approaching… Come, some music! Yes!