Act Two
Act
Two Scene Two
Sub
Scene Two
The
call to an alliance
“We
may be at the end of the ailment of Hamlet soon,” Claudius assured the lover of
his. It has been a long journey of hidden trysts while the King was alive, but
now with the ceremony done, the acts were not to be hidden behind curtains; a
manner of the speech.
“I
hope so, Claudius. The son of mine is never the same after the…”
“Hush
the gloom, Gertrude. I am sure he has outgrown the event with the years behind.
He left as a boy and now returns as a man. Many things he may have seen or
done; it may strengthen his resolve to the melancholy of life’s offerings.”
“Don’t
lighten the weight of the concerns here, Claudius. He is of his father’s
character; stubborn and above all, long memories.” Gertrude cautioned the
other.
“He
is my son now. His health is of mine to heal too.” Claudius assured the other.
“We invited his friends; my apprentices to allay his ailments as a healer may
do.”
“The
scars of the heal may remain after those years,” Gertrude said. “He may not
have awakened to it, or had now.”
Polonius
then rushed in with urgency in his expression.
“My
Emperor, the ambassadors from Norway, my good lord,
artfully and joyfully returned.”
“Ah,
the ones I send to avoid the bloodshed. Thou still hast been the father of good
news.” Claudius offered a seat to the elderly man. “Be seated, my adviser.”
“Have
I, my lord? I assure you my good liege, I hold my duty as I hold my soul. Both
to my God and my gracious King…..now Emperor.” Polonius corrected himself. “Old
habits die harder.”
“I
do think, or else this brain of mine hunts not the trail of policy so sure as
it hath used to do, that I have found
the very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy.”
“O,
speak of that! That do I long to hear.” Claudius was all up to the news.
“Give
first admittance to th’ ambassadors. My news shall be the fruit of that great
feast.” Polonius placed the call of order to discuss the state first. “I will
take leave now to bring them back.”
“Thyself
do grace to them and bring them in.” Claudius smiled at the departing elderly
man. He turned to Gertrude who sat there looking ever concerned.
“He
tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found the head and source of all our son’s
distemper.”
“I
heard but doubt it is no other but the main— his father’s death and our
overhasty marriage.”
“It
was not overhasty, my love. It was long overdue.” Claudius calmed the other.
“Long it had taken .”
Welcome,
my good friends.” Claudius greeted the return of his ambassadors to see the
threat of Other Norway.
“Say,
Voltemand, what from our brother of Other Norway?” Claudius is anxious about
the news.
“The
fairest return of greetings and desires, my Emperor.” Voltemand stood there
without the offer of a seat, he took to tell of his task.
“Upon
our first, he sent out to suppress his son’s levies, which to him appeared to
be a preparation ’gainst the Polack but better looked into, he truly found it
was against your Highness. “
“The
Polacks stirred among the audiences to shame the play then?” The Polacks are
another troupe of actors that had always troubled Norway and Other Norway in
the arena of the stage. It was not all peaceful efforts, and violence lends
itself at times with bloody noses and broken limbs to the conflict.
“Whereat
grieved that so his sickness, age, and impotence, the old King, Was falsely
borne in hand, sends out arrests on Fortinbras, which he, in brief, obeys.”
Voltemand biowed to the Emperor. “He receives a rebuke from the elder of Other
Norway, and, in fine, makes a vow before his elder never more to give the assay
of arms against your Majesty.”
“Bravo!”
Claudius called out.
“Whereon
all of Norway, overcome with joy, offers him three-score thousand crowns in
annual fee and our commission to employ
those soldiers, so levied as before, against the Polack, with an entreaty,
herein further shown.” Voltemand offered a signed treaty between the two. “That
it might please you to give quiet pass of it and hail your dominions for this enterprise.”
“Bravo!
A task well done. I have achieved what the King was not able to do; the subjugation
of Other Norway in our rule..” Claudius applauded himself.
“We
take our leave now.” The two invited aides took leave of the Emperor.
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