HAMLET         Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats

Will not debate the question of this straw.

This is th’impostume of much wealth and peace

That inward breaks and shows no cause without

Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.

CAPTAIN        God buy you, sir. [Exit.]

ROSENCRANTZ          Will’t please you go, my lord?

HAMLET         I’ll be with you straight. Go a little before.

[ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN and the others move away.]    (4.4.24-30)

Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats will not debate the question of this straw: there’s a bit of editorial quibbling over the line (should it be the Captain’s?) but it suits Hamlet’s bitter incredulity just as well: all these men, ready to die, and all the expense of going to war—over nothing, nothing at all. What a ridiculous waste. This is th’impostume of much wealth and peace that inward breaks and shows no cause without why the man dies. Hamlet’s fond of this disgusting image of the abscess, the body rotting from within without any sign of disease on the surface; here he’s suggesting that peace and plenty can corrupt, that people—men—nations go looking for trouble and so find it, out of boredom, in essence. No one is content. The body of the state is sick—and still the man dies; the end of Hamlet’s conceit is both metaphorical and not; WHY are these men going to die? There’s no rational explanation.

A final exchange of courtesies: I humbly thank you, sir. And the Captain reciprocates, still with no indication that he knows who Hamlet is: God buy you, sir. You take care, now. Rosencrantz is getting impatient (perhaps he knows that Claudius is keeping eyes on them?): will’t please you go, my lord? Can we get a move on? I’ll be with you straight; coming, coming, just give me a moment? Go a little before, I’ll catch you up, is Hamlet’s response. And it seems they have no help but to acquiesce, although a speaking look may pass between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: no harm in it? might as well indulge him?