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THIS QUESTION IS FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE STUDIED SHAKESPEARE'S 'HAMLET'. THERE IS THIS NOVELLA THAT I AM READING AT THE MOMENT AND AT ONE POINT THE AUTHOR QUOTES THIS LINE FROM SHAKESPEAE'S HAMLET
"WHAT IS HE TO HECUBA OR HECUBA TO HIM"
I HAVE STUDIED IN DETAIL (WITH CRITICAL ANALYSIS) 3 SHAKESPEAREN WORKS VIZ: JULIUS CAESAR ,MACBETH AND THE MERCHANT OF VENICE' AND HAVE READ THE CHARLES AND MARY LAMB VERSION OF SOME OF HIS OTHER WORKS BUT HAVE NEVER HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ 'HAMLET'
CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME THE MEANING OF THIS LINE ?
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In Hamlet, in Act 2 scene II, a player tells the classical story of the reaction of the Queen Hecuba to the death of her husband King Priam in the Trojan war: HAMLET
It shall to the barber's, with your beard. Prithee,
say on: he's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he
sleeps: say on: come to Hecuba.
.....
First Player
'Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames
With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head
Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,
A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;
Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd,
'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have
pronounced:
But if the gods themselves did see her then
When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,
The instant burst of clamour that she made,
Unless things mortal move them not at all,
Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
And passion in the gods.'He is ashamed that the actor can apparently show so much emotion about a historical character (Hecuba), but he cannot summon up enough passion to avenge his own father. Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wanned,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing—
For Hecuba!
What’s Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba
That he should weep for her? What would he do
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have?he then berates himself for being so weak, and thinking what the actor would do He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing-this is when he decides to put on a play with all the emotions of the actors and see if he can see a response in his uncle that shows his guilt for murdering his father:
The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.edit - if ex has anything to say about this, ignore this, please!!!! 
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Excellent, i'faith ! Of the chameleon's dish I eat the air, promise-crammed !
Nice job, thar !
Sanity is not statistical
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thanks ex, I wrote that up, then thought, oops, can't fake it with the real deal about, better backtrack quick!!!
and doesn't swallowing too much air make you.. I'll quit there, methinks!
I have always thought the Greeks did revenge better than Hamlet: any Greek tradegian worth his salt would have had him sleep with his uncle and eat his mother!
edit - that was clean when I wrote it, if it is anything else it is you, not me!
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Hamlet's problem is that he's in the wrong play. A post-reformation Christian Humanist ( Wittenburg ) stuck in an Italian revenge tragedy. No wonder the poor bugger's confused.
Sanity is not statistical
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I like that idea: swap it around
Romeo and Juliet in Denmark
"So you two young people want to be together? Fine, I am sure you are mature enough to decide for yourselves. Off you go, just remember to use some birth control and buy your gear from a trusted supplier"
finis.
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@ THAR:many thanks for your reply.didn't expect to understand it so well. thanks once again for all your help.
BTW , HOW DO YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT LITERATURE? YOU ARE APPARENTLY VERY GOOD AT LITERATURE.
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I appreciate the compliment, LH - I am actually terrible with literature, but I am very curious when I meet something I don't know. And since some of my family work in theatre, and the rest are just well educated - I meet lots of things I don't know, and so things just soak into me from my surroundings!
And as you have seen from what you read, Shakespeare is such a strong cultural force, it is referenced all the time in language and TV and popular culture, through ideas and short phrases from quotations. So if you want to understand what people mean by something, it helps to know what they are basing it on!
still, I think using the phrase about Hecuba in isolation in a novella, is expecting a traditionally educated readership!
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Do try to avoid the Lambs' versions, lit. I know they're easier to get through but they miss and misrepresent so much. If you've got 4 hours to spare I'd recommend Kenneth Branagh's film version of ' Hamlet '. It is essentially complete, well thought-out and features a brilliant performance by Derek Jacoby. For something a lttle more edited the Mel Gibson version is also well done.
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I cannot say much about the other versions (except I like the Branagh-Jacoby), but I have seen the 1948 Olivier version - black and white, of course, and all shadows and madness. Brilliant film: Olivier ( no more need be said) 4 oscars, best picture, actor, set and costume the bit parts are like talent spotting from British cinema. Apart from lead Jean Simmons, - Christopher Lee, Anthony Quayle, Peter Cushing, Stanley Holloway, Patrick Troughton .... it was the first film version, and was criticised for cutting dialogue, but you have to do that unless you want 4 hours runnng time. So, not perfect for the complete text, - but never mind the width, feel the quality! 
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@ THAR: YOU ARE BEING MODEST. IF YOU SEE YOUR KNOWLDEGE OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE LIGHT OF THAT OF IGNORAMUS PEOPLE LIKE ME ,WITH HIDEOUS ENGLISH , YOU WILL REALISE HOW GOOD YOU ARE.
P.S: THE WRITER OF THE NOVELLA HAS ALSO QUOTED EXTENSIVELY FROM COLERIDGE AND TENNYSON.
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Pretentious git, eh ?
@ thar : the light and shadow was, as you say, a great way to externalise the internal conflict, and underscore the layers of opposition ( both physical and cultural ) within the play. Larry was always a dab hand with the dramatics !
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and Jean Simmons - after her first films - Great Expectations playing Estella, then in Uncle Silas and Black Narcissus, playing Ophelia is almost a bit of light relief!!
and yes, there is cultured writing, and then there is showing off!
and if anyone wants to see Shakespeare in context - the Olivier film version of Henry V made in 1944 has real resonance when it talks about sacrificing for England. The extras were Canadian soldiers preparing for D-Day, some of the actors were not at war because they had been injured, and some (like Leslie Howard) were killed after the film.
Some of the nastier or more depressing dialogue was cut, and it is a propaganda film, but for a film about Agincourt, it feels very contemporary and urgent:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace there ’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.
Hearing this, knowing that everyone knew the coming invasion of Europe would be bloody and murderous, and the Nazis would fight to the death - it is a very chilling film to watch!
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Branagh's film version is one of my all-time favourites. When I played Fluellen on stage I was very influenced by Ian Holm's beautifully nuanced performance, and by the urgency of Derek Jacoby's Chorus. The score is also glorious all on it's own.
But what I realised through the process is how the play examines the relationships between men in battle, the importance of trust in both a higher power and each other. After the battle my close friend Jon, who was playing Henry, would just fall backwards in exhaustion, completely trusting that I would find a way to catch him wherever we were on stage. In 3 months of rehearsal and performance he never hit the ground.
Oh, for a muse of fire that would ascend the highest heaven of invention - a consummation devoutly to be wished !
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I don't think I have seen the Branagh, and I was pretty young when I saw the Olivier so I probably missed any nuances! (I am sure there are versions I have yet to see of both Hamlet and Henry V set in US high schools - they have done it for every other Shakespeare plot!) But thanks ex and lithungry for reminding me to think about this again 
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thar wrote:In Hamlet, in Act 2 scene II, a player tells the classical story of the reaction of the Queen Hecuba to the death of her husband King Priam in the Trojan war: HAMLET
It shall to the barber's, with your beard. Prithee,
say on: he's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he
sleeps: say on: come to Hecuba.
.....
First Player
'Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames
With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head
Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,
A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;
Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd,
'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have
pronounced:
But if the gods themselves did see her then
When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,
The instant burst of clamour that she made,
Unless things mortal move them not at all,
Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
And passion in the gods.'He is ashamed that the actor can apparently show so much emotion about a historical character (Hecuba), but he cannot summon up enough passion to avenge his own father. Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wanned,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing—
For Hecuba!
What’s Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba
That he should weep for her? What would he do
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have?he then berates himself for being so weak, and thinking what the actor would do He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing-this is when he decides to put on a play with all the emotions of the actors and see if he can see a response in his uncle that shows his guilt for murdering his father:
The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.edit - if ex has anything to say about this, ignore this, please!!!! Great explanation! I found a pretty decent one on Shmoop that I was about to paste here, but you’ve already covered it really nicely. I absolutely love Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet; it is so powerful and completely loyal to the actual text. Branagh’s work is stellar on the whole and what’s remarkable is that he’s as good an actor as he is a director.
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Welcome to the forum, BR. Glad you found something useful and interesting. In re KB's Hamlet, there is one glorious double take that Jacoby does during the interrogation scene that I must have watched 30 times, admiration losing out to envy with every viewing !
Sanity is not statistical
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