If
that were so, what better opportunity could he possibly find than this
occasion, where he has to express his sorrow to Laertes for the grievous
wrongs which he has unintentionally inflicted on him?
NOTE H.
THE EXCHANGE OF RAPIERS.
I am not going to discuss the question how this exchange ought to be
managed. I wish merely to point out that the stage-direction fails to
show the sequence of speeches and events. The passage is as follows
(Globe text):
_Ham._ Come, for the third, Laertes: you but dally;
I pray you, pass with your best violence;
I am afeard you make a wanton of me.
_Laer._ Say you so? come on. [_They play._
_Osr._ Nothing, neither way.
_Laer._ Have at you now!
[_Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they
change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes._[264]
_King._ Part them; they are incensed.
_Ham._ Nay, come, again. _The Queen falls._[265]
_Osr._ Look to the Queen there, ho!
_Hor._ They bleed on both sides. How is it, my lord?
_Osr._ How is't, Laertes?
The words 'and Hamlet wounds Laertes' in Rowe's stage-direction destroy
the point of the words given to the King in the text.
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