HAMLET         Examples gross as earth exhort me –

Witness this army of such mass and charge,

Led by a delicate and tender prince

Whose spirit with divine ambition puffed

Makes mouths at the invisible event

Exposing what is mortal and unsure

To all that fortune, death and danger dare

Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great

Is not to stir without great argument

But greatly to find quarrel in a straw

When honour’s at the stake.             (4.4.45-55)

Everywhere I turn, there’s reproach, and also a kind of inspiration: examples gross as earth exhort me, so obvious, punching me in the face with their obviousness. I mean, look: witness this army of such mass and charge, enormous, all kitted out properly, at huge expense, just LOOK at these guys. And they’re led by a delicate and tender prince—he’s my age, sensitive to every slight, it seems (but there’s a bit of projection, too, perhaps, and also more reproach; even I’mtougher than that guy, which is manifestly untrue)—whose spirit with divine ambition puffed makes mouths at the invisible event. He’s full of courage, scorns cowardice, laughs in the face of fear, pokes out his tongue at it! He’s inspired, inspirational! He’s totally up for it, exposing what is mortal and unsure to all that fortune, death and danger dare even for an eggshell! He’ll put his life on the line, he’ll TAKE RISKS, for the smallest thing—this little patch of ground, empty, trivial—but not inglorious. Because rightly to be great is not to stir without great argument—it’s not about waiting to be persuaded by a cause of sufficient magnitude (although this bit is muddy…) but rather it’s greatly to find quarrel in a straw when honour’s at the stake. When it’s a matter of honour, nothing is trivial.