Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, [GUILDENSTERN] and others.

HAMLET         Good sir, whose powers are these?

CAPTAIN        They are of Norway, sir.

HAMLET                                 How purposed, sir, I pray you?

CAPTAIN        Against some part of Poland.

HAMLET                                 Who commands them, sir?

CAPTAIN        The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.

HAMLET         Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,

Or for some frontier?                        (4.4.8-15)

Hamlet, Rosencrantz, and the perennially parenthetical Guildenstern have just had time to put on travelling cloaks, perhaps pick up a bag, and they’re back, for an encounter with this unnamed Captain, who has one of the BEST little moments in the play, if not in the whole of Shakespeare. Hamlet’s courteous, curious, and with no sense, it seems, that he is speaking as the prince of Denmark: good sir, whose powers are these? Whose army? The Captain at least clocks that he’s being spoken to by someone of rank: they are of Norway, sir; he’s direct and factual, making no attempt to conceal or obfuscate. And how purposed, sir, I pray you? Ah—and where are they going? what’s the objective of this expedition? (Subtext: is this an extremely polite and matter-of-fact invasion?) Oh, against some part of Poland. There can be a little bit of relief on the faces of those attending Hamlet; this is not, for instance, an ambush to rescue Hamlet. And who commends them, sir? Who’s in charge? Is this going to be a take-me-to-your-leader moment? Wariness from Rosencrantz at least, or one of the goons, if any of them are among the attendants. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. Naming him again is important, as is the reminder of his relationship to that older king, Denmark’s enemy—not just the political context, historical and contemporary, but also those intergenerational patterns and mirrorings, fathers and sons, uncles and nephews, that shape the play. Hamlet’s satisfied, it seems, and continues the conversation, politely, interested but not prying: goes it against the main of Poland, sir, or for some frontier? Is this, like, a general invasion of Polish territory, or is a more specific, limited border incursion (suggesting a border dispute of some kind, perhaps)?

Hamlet’s outside, not just outside in the dark talking to the Ghost, but properly outside, away from the court. It makes a difference, the air—he’s calm, open, in control. Biding his time?