He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouth'd, to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have glean'd, it is but squeezing you and, sponge, you shall be dry again.?

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English

Aileen

14 September, 23:06

He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouth'd, to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have glean'd, it is but squeezing you and, sponge, you shall be dry again.?

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Kenneth Lam · Answer 1

William Shakespeare's Hamlet:

Act 4 Scene 2, original text:

Hamlet: "Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end. He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw, first mouthed to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you and, sponge, you shall be dry again"

This passage turns hard to interpret due to the multiple isotopies in it. Hamlet calls Rosencrantz a sponge, but Rosencrantz assumes that it is because of Hamlet's madness, truly believing that Hamlet in fact thinks Rosencrantz, is a sponge. Hamlet goes on and on noting out that Rosencrantz is a sponge soaking up Claudius'support, using metaphors.

Explanation:

An Isotopy in a story, occurs when there is a repetition of a basic meaning trait (semiotics), which establishes a certain familiarity within the story that allows for a uniform reading of it.

Several lines with embedded implicit and explicit metaphorical isotopies wave in this single passage, which convey into grammar and semantics, and make the real meaning hard to understand.

Pluriisotopy makes Shakespeare texts still keep many secrets hard to disentangle in its confusing original passages, easily misunderstood and leading to sometimes ridiculous results.

Modern text:

"Yes, sir, a sponge that soaks up the king's approval, his rewards, and his decisions. Officers like that give the king the best service in the end. He keeps them in his mouth like an ape. First he moves them around, then he swallows them. When he needs what you have found out, he can just squeeze you like a sponge and you'll be dry again."

Hamlet is essentially insulting Rosencrantz calling him the king's lackey that, like a sponge, has taken the king's benefits and approval and alsobeen drawn in by the king's authority.