OSRIC The King, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses, against the which he has impawned, as I take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hanger and so. Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages and of very liberal conceit.
HAMLET What call you the carriages?
HORATIO I knew you must be edified by the margin ere you had done.
OSRIC The carriages, sir, are the hangers. (5.2.130-139)
Incrementally, the details of Claudius’s (apparent) wager with Laertes come out: the King, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses—and the point is, this is an astonishingly ostentatious, luxurious bet. Six of the most desirable Arabian horses! gainst the which he (Laertes) has impawned, as I take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hanger and so. Six French rapiers with matching daggers apparently the equal of the horses! (Spanish blades would be better, but these are clearly the real deal), and they come with matching accessories, belts, the hanger in which the sword itself would be stowed, attached to the belt. Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages and of very liberal conceit. This is so weird, this little excursus into the minutiae of fashionable duelling accessories; ah, I see you’ve got a new rapier, but do you have a matching dagger, and belt, and hanger? These carriages, they’re the latest model, stylish, beautifully engineered, the FINISH on them, such delicacy and refinement! It’s mocking Osric, and young men like him who might be more interested in the appearance and value of their weapons than in what they could do with them—it’s FASHION—but still, it’s a language that Hamlet mostly speaks, it seems. What call you the carriages? asks Hamlet; he’s mocking, but perhaps interested in spite of himself, is this a new thing or just a new word? (I knew you must be edified by the margin ere you had done, mutters Horatio, you have to KNOW, don’t you, you always want the gloss, can’t help yourself—Horatio is increasingly suspicious of where this is going, and Hamlet’s interested in the details of how to describe rapier accessories?) This gives Osric a tiny opportunity to regain a little bit of status: the carriages, sir, are the hangers. I thought EVERYONE knew that, fancy not knowing… (So if Laertes wins, Claudius will give him the horses, and if Hamlet wins, Laertes will give Claudius the rapiers etc. But the horses disappear completely; the focus is on the weapons. Which is clever.)
