Mojo, The Bard, & Me

To the celestial and my soul’s idol, the most beautified Ophelia,-

Doubt thou the stars are fire;

Doubt that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar;

But never doubt I love.

O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers; I have not art to reckon my groans: but that I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.

Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him,                

HAMLET

 

-Polonius reading Hamlet’s letter aloud to Gertrude

Hamlet                        Act II, Scene ii, Line 164

 

So, as it says, this is Hamlet’s letter to Ophelia. There’s a little bit of Gertrude and Polonius back and forth that interrupts some of the reading, but for the sake of clarity I’ve left that out and given you just the pure letter. And what do we think? Does it sound like a typical love letter? Does it sound like a love letter period?

My opinion? It’s about as cryptic as any of Hamlet’s words in this play. The little four line poem about doubts leaves off the word ‘you’ at the end, just to maintain a sense of, well, doubt. Though, to be fair, he’s pretty clear towards the end about loving her: but that I love thee best, O most best, believe it. And yet, he can’t resist the curveball with whilst this machine is to him. What the heck is that all about? What machine? The human body? Who’s him? God? No wait, him is Hamlet. He's speaking in third person and he's saying Thine evermore while this body is still mine, that is to say, while I still live.  Yeah, that’s probably right. I'm glad we got that settled. Machine indeed.

 

Now here's a machine. Whilst you may not think of an organ as a machine, take a look at the close-up below of one of the side panels...

 

This organ can re-create every sound from soup to nuts. It's a sound making machine!