Requoted for Arnfinn, Words from the play "Hamlet" Options

[jgdittier]

Dear Arnfinn,
Suspecting you to be a Shakespearean expert, can you ID the speaker and the one spoken to?

"My son, I find thy mind adept.
undulled by weeds of Lethe's type.
So listen now, they say I slept
in orchards where the asps are ripe.
And thus, my death in Denmark's thought
to be by viper's toxic sting.
Oh nobel son, as king be sought.
That crownED snake to justice bring!"

Nice if you can link to the actual scene

[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi Ron,

Can anyone join in?

Sounds like a paraphrase of The Ghost of Hamlet's Father speaking to Hamlet from the parapet of Elsinore Castle, warning of the treachery which befell him.

One point: Shakespeare may have used nobel to mean "nobel" - honourable (I can't remember) but if you are paraphrasing I would use "regal," as "nobel"  indicates sub-royalty (The King and his nobels - nobility is below royalty). Moreover, Hamlet was anything but "nobel" in the other sense of the word!

Ghost. I find thee apt;
   And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed  
   That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
   Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.
   'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
   A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark
   Is by a forged process of my death
   Rankly abus'd. But know, thou noble youth,
   The serpent that did sting thy father's life
   Now wears his crown.
 Ham. O my prophetic soul!
   My uncle?
 Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
   With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts-

Guttenberg Version

J.