HORATIO

[Reads.]           Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means to the King: they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour and in the grapple I boarded them. On the instant they got clear of our ship, so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves of mercy, but they knew what they did: I am to do a turn for them. (4.6.13-21)

Of course Horatio reads the letter aloud, that’s the way it works… And it is a wonderfully suspenseful letter, beginning with a further instruction: Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means to the King: they have letters for him. Hamlet has some kind of scheme afoot, and this is stage one, but being in communication with Horatio is just the start, he’s also written to Claudius! And, once he’s read the letter, Horatio needs to find some way of getting these men to see the king, or at least in direct communication with him. But then, unexpectedly, a proper adventure story, a tale of derring do: ere we were two days old at sea—not far out from Denmark at all, not even two days into the trip—a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chase. We were chased by PIRATES! Proper pirates, all tooled up, all the latest pirate hardware! Finding ourselves too slow of sail—we couldn’t get away, couldn’t outrun them—we put on a compelled valour, no choice about it, had to turn and fight, screw our courage to the sticking place (as it were…) and in the grapple I boarded them. LOVE the casual mention, the nonchalant deployment of terms, yeah, so, Horatio, there was this fight with PIRATES and just as we were engaging with them, close combat, I leaped onto their deck as if I were a PIRATE myself! Boarded them, yeah. Except, oh yes, on the instant, right at that moment, they got clear of our ship, disengaged, so I alone became their prisoner. Just me, on the pirate ship. With the PIRATES. [Horatio: ah, so the speech prefixes are being polite and somewhat economical with the truth, these are PIRATES.] (There is scope for comedy here, alas not usually explored, as the ‘sailors’ wait to see when the penny drops for Horatio.) They have dealt with me like thieves of mercy—they turned out to be nice gentlemanly pirates, who have treated me honourably—but they knew what they did. They knew who I was, and the implications of treating me well, or badly. I am to do a turn for them, a favour in return.