"These" are Laertes' tears, which he's tried and failed not to shed. He's ashamed of crying because he thinks it makes him weak or feminine, like Ophelia, who had "too much water" (or cried too much). When he's finished crying, he won't be "feminine" anymore, and then the fire in his words will be put into action.

To "chaunt" or chant means to sing. "Lauds" are hymns of praise, often religious in nature but not necessarily so. Ophelia sings these hymns instead of pulling herself out of the water, which is what leads some readers to the conclusion that she commits suicide rather than merely drowns.

Notice the contrast with Hamlet here: Ophelia is incapable of feeling distress as she drowns, whereas Hamlet revels in his distress and allows it to consume his thoughts. Ophelia's deranged singing, then, feels especially chilling, a product of a mind so broken that it can't properly recognize its own despair. Ophelia drowns because she's incapable of understanding that she's drowning.

Most likely, this sliver or branch is envious of the higher branches, which receives garlands that the sliver itself doesn't. This sliver may also be envious of Ophelia herself, who, before she went mad, was extremely beautiful, innocent, and pure (enough so that even nature would be jealous of her beauty).

"Pendant boughs" are hanging or pendulous branches that sway as Ophelia crawled along them to place her "crownet" (or crown of) weeds on the branches. Ophelia, in her madness, ignored the danger inherent to climbing such pendant boughs and fell because of it.

Here, "liberal" shepherds are men who are free in their speech, or foul-mouthed. They've given a grosser (and likely sexual) name to the "long purples" Ophelia collected, which are likely some form of orchid or lilac. This grosser name was likely well-known to Shakespeare's audience, but has become obscure now.

The now antiquated phrase "for the nonce" means for the purpose of doing something (in this case, poisoning Hamlet). Claudius intends to poison Hamlet's chalice, or cup, so that even if Laertes fails to cut Hamlet, he'll still die. It's unclear how Claudius intends to explain how a young man like Hamlet could drop dead like that.

According to the theory of Humorism, to be "hot and dry" means to have too much yellow bile, which makes one choleric (ambitious and easily angered). Remember that Claudius himself was described this way in Act III, Scene II, when Guildenstern said he was mad with "choler." Thus, Claudius unwittingly equates himself with Laertes, who might not be as easy to control as Claudius thinks.

Modern readers will likely recognize the term "drift" from the phrase, "Do you catch my drift?" In this case, "drift" means intent or meaning, and Claudius' intent is to kill Hamlet but make it look like an accident. To do that, both Claudius and Laertes must perform, like actors, the same way Hamlet has performed his madness. If not, they'll be found out and will need a back-up plan.

In other words, they should have a back-up plan in case this one fails or someone finds out about it. Likely, Claudius already has a back-up plan in mind, and indeed that would seem prudent given that Hamlet isn't likely to be "free from all contriving." Claudius will need a plan to get rid of both Hamlet and Laertes in order to cover his tracks.

A "cataplasm" is a poultice or healing ointment that's lain on a wound as it heals. Laertes's poison, however, is so potent that no cataplasm currently exists that would draw the poison out of Hamlet's blood and save his life. That Laertes already has such a poison in his possession suggests that he either bought it to kill Claudius or keeps it at the ready, for reasons he never explains.

A "mountebank" is a charlatan or peddler who sells medicines, spells, potions, and poisons, often using these to entertain an audience at a public performance or festival. An "unction" is a kind of ointment or oil used to anoint people, but in this case "unction" refers to a poison that Laertes will dip his sword into so he can kill Hamlet.

This is a lie, or at the very least an exaggeration. Hamlet's letter was, on the surface, very humble. However, Claudius has reason to suspect that Hamlet has been plotting against him, so this line, though expedient for Claudius in his manipulation of Laertes, appears disingenuous.

That is, Claudius will bring even more people to talk about Laertes and give a double "varnish" (or lay on another coat of praise) so that Hamlet will become jealous and agree to a sparring match. Claudius himself is already laying on this double varnish to ensure that Laertes follows this plan exactly, without deviating. Claudius wants to control the entire plot, both in the murder scene and the play in general.

In fencing, swords are "tipped" or capped so they can't inflict any real damage. Thus, when someone makes contact in a sparring match, it's only by touching or tapping the sword against someone else. An "unbated" sword, however, would have no such cap, and Laertes would be able to kill Hamlet and pretend that he didn't know. (These kinds of accidents were fairly common.)

Claudius thinks revenge should have "no bounds," meaning no limits on where it can be exacted, regardless of whether or not that place is a sanctuary. Thus, Laertes can slit Hamlet's throat in a church without reproach (from Claudius, at least). This kind of revenge further highlights the differences between Laertes and Hamlet, the latter of who refrained from killing Claudius in a church because it was inappropriate.

An "ulcer" is a hole in the stomach lining that has been eaten away by an excess of acid. Ulcers are typically caused by worry and stress. He calls Hamlet "the quick," or cause, of the ulcer, backhandedly denigrating Hamlet while also admitting that he has caused Claudius stress. The use of the conjunction "but" at the beginning of the sentence serves to change the subject from disease to Hamlet.

In Hamlet's time, sighs were thought to cause injury by drawing heat from the blood. Thus, a spendthrift (or wasteful) sigh needlessly hurts someone, making the idea that we "should" have done something we didn't end up doing especially painful, because it is both physically and psychologically injurious.

A "pleurisy" is an excess of something which grows to be harmful or problematic, as in this case where goodness, in becoming too large, becomes impossible for a person to sustain, eventually withering and dying. Claudius may also be playing on an alternate definition of "pleurisy," meaning an abscess on the chest, which would make goodness a kind of disease (and thereby justify him in being evil).

In general, to "qualify" something means to describe it or to attribute a certain quality to it. In this case, that quality is brevity or, in other words, the capacity to fade like a flame over time. Claudius uses the metaphor of a candle with a wick to mark an exact beginning and end to love, thus making it possible for Laertes to stop loving his father in a natural way that does not feel premature.

Notice that a painting is a form of art, and that Laertes' swordsmanship was previously referred to as artful. After flattering Laertes, Claudius questions whether Laertes is really the man everyone says he is, forcing Laertes to defend his sorrow, which isn't just a performance or mask ("painting") but is instead a very real grief.

Notice that Claudius doesn't say "fight" or "spar" with you, as would be the appropriate term for a scrimmage in fencing. He instead uses the word "play," which subverts the earlier musical metaphor into one that makes Hamlet and, by extension, Laertes into children playing at being warriors. Claudius says all this to make Laertes think Hamlet will be easy to kill in battle.

A "scrimer" is a swordsman, in this case one who doesn't have the defensive skills ("guard") or the accuracy ("eye") of Laertes, who has been described as an artful fighter, particularly with a rapier (a kind of sword). Lamond purportedly said Laertes had no equal, and Claudius repeats this to stroke Laertes' ego and manipulate him into killing Hamlet (who likely isn't jealous of his youth or swordsmanship, after all).

A "brooch" is an ornamental piece of jewelry fasted by a pin, with the brooch itself usually taking the shape of a ring, a shield, or whatever the artist desires. Brooches are typically jewel encrusted and appear to be large clusters of gems, making Lamond the jeweled brooch fastened to the lapel of his country's jacket.

In other words, Claudius was so stunned by the bravery and grace of this centaur-like creature, and so misled by his own dramatic ideas of it (his "shapes and tricks"), that he failed to see exactly how great the Frenchman's actions were (he came "short" of or missed "the truth"). One could argue that Claudius did the same with Hamlet, thinking he was especially devious, yet failing to see his true plan.

"Incorpsed" means to have been made into a body, where "corpse" is a body, but in this case not a dead one. "Demi-natured" means to be double natured, where "demi" means half. In this case, the French gentleman has been made into a new creature, half man, half horse, not unlike a centaur.

As an adjective, "gallant" describes someone who is brave, courteous, and often showy. In its noun form, it stands in for that person, who in this case would be considered a gentleman or a noble. Here, Claudius uses the word "gallant" to indicate that the gentleman and his horse are as one, and that the creature they form is brave (preternaturally so, given that it has "witchcraft" in it).

Claudius says that Laertes' greatest strength is his youth. Or, rather, his kind of youth, which doesn't sacrifice ambition (being "needful") to the light and careless livery (garb or disguise) that youth so often wears. Hamlet would be jealous of this because his youth has been spent studying and he lacks any ambition (that others know of, at least).

Claudius picks up on the metaphor of being an instrument and says that Hamlet was "plucked" or played into being envious of Laertes by a quality that Claudius hasn't yet stated, but which has been spoken of very highly in court. Hamlet wasn't envious of any other "part" or characteristic of Laertes, but is envious of this.

Here "organ" means "instrument," in the sense that Laertes wants to be the instrument in Claudius' plan to kill Hamlet. Though he's asking for the opportunity to be used, it should be noted that Claudius has manipulated him into doing so. In reality, Laertes has already been "played" like an instrument in a way that Hamlet can't be.

In this context, "checking" means putting to a halt or stopping his diplomatic voyage to England. Claudius wasn't sure at first if Hamlet returned on purpose to plot against Claudius, but he seems sure of it now and intends to defend himself.

Modern readers would rephrase this as "tell him to his face." Laertes wants to tell Hamlet, "You did this. It's your fault my father's dead and my sister's crazy," and then, presumably, kill him. Laertes is glad he'll get to see the day when Hamlet pays for his crimes. It remains to be seen whether this will work out as planned.

Note that Laertes doesn't say that Hamlet's return warms his heart, but rather that it warms the sickness in his heart, which we can here assume to be his hatred and thirst for revenge. The knowledge that Hamlet will return has spurred him on and "warmed" (or heightened) his desire to kill Hamlet.

Claudius thinks he understands what Hamlet is saying: that he comes humble and unarmed and alone, details which he likely added to put Claudius at ease. Claudius asks Laertes to "advise" him in order to bring Laertes in closer and subtly position them both against Hamlet.

"The rest" being the people on the boat to England, specifically Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Claudius wants to know if the ship had a problem at sea, causing it and everyone on it to turn back, or if Hamlet has convinced his former friends to come back and take revenge on Claudius for King Hamlet's murder.

Hamlet wants Claudius to think he's humble and vulnerable ("naked") in order to suggest that he is returning to Denmark not to seek revenge but to find a sort of absolution. He preys on Claudius' vanity by referring to Denmark as Claudius' kingdom and promises that he's unarmed ("naked") so that the king's suspicions will be allayed.

Keep in mind that Claudius has sent Hamlet away to England to be killed and that he didn't think he would ever hear from the prince again. A letter to the opposite effect makes Claudius vulnerable, so naturally his first response is to question its veracity and then to find out who's helping Hamlet, since that person would be an enemy.

This messenger has been misinformed. We know from the last scene that Horatio was the one who received the letters. He evidently didn't want anyone to know that they were sent to him, since getting caught colluding with Hamlet would get him in trouble. Instead, Horatio likely handed the letters off to another guard, who then passed them on to Claudio.

Claudius gets interrupted by the messenger here, but based on his profession of his love for Polonius, we can assume that Claudius is trying to teach Laertes a lesson about assuming that a king's actions could be anything other than just. He doesn't get to make his point, however, so any interpretation of the line is necessarily speculative.

Claudius encourages Laertes not to lose sleep over revenge and assures him that Polonius was a beloved friend of Claudius' as well. Note that the antecedent for Claudius "that" is revenge, not Ophelia's madness or Polonius' death. These are perfectly legitimate things to lose sleep over, but Claudius has a vested interest in defusing Laertes' desire for revenge, since it could pose a danger to Claudius himself.

This line seems especially sinister when you remember that Laertes originally intended to exact his revenge on Claudius. Now that he knows the "truth" about Polonius' murder, he's just as likely to kill Claudius as he is Hamlet, making this line dark and foreboding.

Laertes wishes that his praises of Ophelia, whose "worth" and sanity (and possibly her virtue) were incontestable, could be sent back to a time where they were still accurate. In doing so, he emphasizes both Ophelia's madness and how far she has fallen thanks to Claudius and Hamlet.

Taken in a literal sense, this line simply means that in this way Laertes has lost his father. However, given the use of the conjunction "and" at the beginning of the sentence, we can assume that Laertes is deriding Claudius' inaction. Laertes has lost both his father and sister, yet Claudius refuses to punish Hamlet because he fears the public backlash.

A "gyve" is a shackle or chain which is used to restrain a prisoner. Converting gyves to graces means exchanging the shackles for a "grace" or pardon, born of the public's favor and goodwill, which would set Hamlet free against Claudius' wishes.

In this case, "gender" is being used as an abbreviation of "engendered," which means to bear, conceive, or produce. Thus, this line means that the love that the general public feels (or has produced) for Hamlet is keeping Claudius from putting him in jail.

This is an allusion to Ptolemaic astronomy, which postulated that each planet (or "star") was carried around Earth in its fixed orbit in a crystalline sphere. Claudius uses this figurative language to imply that he could no more go against Gertrude's desire than a "star" could go out of its fixed, predetermined orbit.

By using the phrase "live by your looks," Claudius means that Gertrude's emotional state (or life) is highly impacted by Hamlet's emotional state (which is projected onto his face). That she lives "almost" by his looks suggests that, while she's affected by her son's madness, she isn't entirely moved by it.

Claudius feels confident that when Laertes hears his side of the story, the young man will acquit him of Polonius' murder and turn his attention instead on the real culprit. The audience knows that Polonius' murder was the result of his attempt to spy on Hamlet, but Claudius conveniently leaves out his own culpability in the matter.

Claudius has (perhaps unwittingly) described Hamlet's problem with making decisions. Here, "when we would" should be read as "when we can," meaning both when we are able and when we have the opportunity. Hamlet missed his opportunity to kill Claudius earlier, whereas Claudius himself has never missed an opportunity, and here justifies it as merely being wise and self-aware.

"Hand" meaning "handwriting." Laertes attempts to sort out the debate by asking whether or not Claudius recognizes Hamlet's handwriting. Since handwriting analysis was not yet a science, this wouldn't be considered conclusive now, but it would have passed for confirmation of the letter's authenticity in Hamlet's time.

Claudius uses an extended archery metaphor to refer to his intended punishment for Hamlet as arrows which are made of too weak a wood ("slightly timber'd") to stand up to such a "loud" wind as the public's love. He claims that their love for Hamlet would've turned the wind against him, reversing the arrow's course and sending it back to its bow (and, therefore, to Claudius himself).

To be "sinewy" means to be strong or to have a lot of sinews, which connect the muscles. To be "unsinew'd" then means to be weak or to not have a lot of sinews, making Claudius seem cowardly and feeble because he doesn't pursue Hamlet. Claudius says that Laertes might think him weak because of this, but he actually has very good reasons.