MESSENGER These to your majesty, this to the Queen.
CLAUDIUS From Hamlet! Who brought them?
MESSENGER Sailors, my lord, they say. I saw them not.
They were given me by Claudio. He received them
Of him that brought them.
CLAUDIUS Laertes, you shall hear them.
Leave us. [Exit Messenger.]
[Reads.] High and mighty. You shall know I am set naked on your kingdom. Tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes. When I shall (first asking you pardon) thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden return.
What should this mean? Are all the rest come back,
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing? (4.7.37-48)
It’s all very efficient, and Horatio has done exactly as he’s been instructed. These to your majesty—more than one letter?—and this to the Queen. A letter to Gertrude is a loose end in the plot (perhaps a version of a meeting between Gertrude and Horatio in Q1), although it’s an intriguing possibility that Hamlet writes to her too, a letter that remains unheard, perhaps unread, undelivered. (Claudius could pocket it, suggesting that he won’t pass it on.) Claudius recognises it straight away, it seems, from the handwriting or perhaps the seal: from Hamlet! (Who is meant to be dead??) Who brought them? (Was it Hamlet himself? Was it someone from the English court? Was it Rosencrantz and/or Guildenstern? One can practically hear the cogs whirring.)
Sailors, my lord. (That much is true.) I saw them not. They were given me by Claudio. Mystery name! (Generic name, used by Shakespeare elsewhere; it’s practically Antonio.) It could be an error for Horatio, or else it’s Horatio being extra careful, adding an extra step in the chain, making the appearance of the letter(s) more mysterious, protecting the pirates. He received them of him that brought them. So there’s a kind of vague authentication going on, but this is what Hamlet instructed, for the ‘sailors’ to find Horatio, and for Horatio to find someone else to get the letters to Claudius. Laertes, you shall hear them; I trust you, is implied, we’re a team, but also, he’s wary, what’s going on? (And it gives him an excuse to read the letter aloud.) The messenger can’t be allowed to hear though: leave us.
High and mighty—Hamlet managing a bit of an insult, not using the correct form of address—you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom. I’m back! Without a single possession, and unarmed, unaccompanied—that is, I’m not at the head of an army, is one implication. Tomorrow I shall beg leave to see your kingly eyes, to be admitted to your presence. (A bit of time then—but what’s he planning in the interim?) When I shall (first asking you pardon) thereunto recount the occasion of my sudden return. I’ll tell you everything when I see you, why I’m back in Denmark so … unexpectedly! I bet you thought you’d never see me again!
What should this mean? Claudius is baffled, whirr whirr. Are all the rest come back—have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern really surpassed themselves in screwing up this time??—or is it some abuse, and no such thing? or is this a trap, a trick?
