Enter CLAUDIUS, GERTRUDE, LAERTES and [other Lords, with a PRIEST after] the corpse.
HAMLET But soft, but soft awhile, here comes the King,
The Queen, the courtiers. Who is this they follow?
And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken
The corpse they follow did with desperate hand
Fordo it own life. ’Twas of some estate.
Couch we awhile and mark.
[HAMLET and HORATIO stand aside.]
LAERTES What ceremony else?
HAMLET [aside to Horatio] That is Laertes – a very noble youth, mark.
LAERTES What ceremony else? (5.1.206-214)
But soft, but soft awhile, here comes the King, the Queen, the courtiers; Hamlet’s distracted, instantly serious again, and on alert. A procession, clearly a funeral procession, and for someone of high status—and not the circumstances in which Hamlet wants to confront his uncle and his mother. So, shhhhhhh, quiet. (Does he give the skull back to the gravedigger? Pop it down somewhere? I can’t remember ever noticing.) Who is this they follow? The crucial question, never answered by the gravedigger, who is presumably standing aside, cap off, shovel in hand. Hamlet’s reading the procession, interpreting the signs: and with such maimed rites? It doesn’t look like a proper funeral procession—although there are mourners, and of the highest status, perhaps they’re lacking the correct clothing, or a pall; perhaps there’s no candles, no processional cross? (But they’d be unusual in a Protestant funeral c.1600.) Perhaps it’s not a proper procession? (Hamlet knows his funerals.) This doth betoken the corpse they follow did with desperate hand fordo it own life. Hamlet’s quickly come to the conclusion that this funeral is for someone who died by suicide, because of the lack of ceremony, and perhaps a sense of furtiveness, discretion. But all the same, ’twas of some estate; clearly an important person. Couch we awhile and mark. Let’s get out of the way, conceal ourselves, and see what’s going on, what we can pick up. (Does Horatio already know whose it is, is this why he’s been hanging back in the graveyard, letting Hamlet just run away with himself, not able to find the moment??)
What ceremony else? Laertes is anxious, angry, stricken: surely that’s not it, surely there’s going to be some other things said and done? Hamlet’s recognised him—brain whirring, surely this can’t be Polonius’s funeral? audience tension rising, rising—that is Laertes, a very noble youth, mark. Something’s up. Laertes’s teeth are gritted, he can’t believe it, can only repeat: what ceremony else? surely? please?
