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163 incapable uncomprehending/insensible
163 distress affliction, calamity
164 indued adapted
167 lay song
173 trick way, habit
174 these i.e. his tears
175 woman ... out the woman in me will be finished
177 folly i.e. his weeping
177 douts extinguishes
Act 5 Scene 1
5.1 Location: a graveyard near the royal castle at Elsinore Clowns rustics 1 Christian burial suicides were not allowed Christian burial rites 2 salvation probably a malapropism for "damnation," though perhaps the Clown suggests Ophelia was trying to get to heaven early 4 straight straightaway (plays on the sense of "not crooked") 4 crowner coroner
5 sat held an inquest (with a play on the literal sense)
9 se offendendo perversion of se defendendo (Latin for "in self-defense," a legal term); literally "in self-offense"
12 argal perversion of ergo (Latin for "therefore") 13 goodman title for a person below the rank of gentleman and often followed by the individual's occupation (here a delver or digger) 16 will ... he whether he will or no
21 quest inquest
25 there thou say'st i.e. how right you are
26 countenance authority, permission
27 even Christian fellow Christians
28 ditchers ditch-makers
29 Adam's profession in the Bible, Adam's job was to look after the Garden of Eden 31 bore arms had a coat of arms (the sign of a gentleman); with obvious play on sense of "limbs"
36 confess thyself the saying continues "and be hanged"
42 does well i.e. as an answer (the sense then shifts to "serves well") 49 unyoke give up, stop laboring (literally, unyoke the oxen) 54 mend improve
56 Yaughan variant spelling of Vaughan, presumably the name of the local innkeeper, perhaps based on one near the Globe 57 stoup tankard
58 In ... love this and the following stanza are loose versions of parts of Thomas Vaux's poem "The Aged Lover Renounceth Love," printed in 1557; O and a may be the gravedigger's grunts as he goes about his work 60 contract ... behove pass away the time to my own advantage 61 meet (more) fitting
64 property of easiness something he can undertake with indifference 65 hath ... sense is more sensitive/fastidious
69 shipped ... land dispatched me into the earth (i.e. my grave/dust) 69 intil into
70 been such been a young man in love
72 jowls strikes, dashes (puns on "jowl"-i.e. jawbone)
72 Cain in the Bible, the first murderer; he killed his brother Abel 74 politician crafty schemer
74 o'er-offices lords it over (on account of his office as gravedigger) 75 circumvent cheat, outwit
