The Cannon May Miss Our Name

http://www.thyorisons.com/#Cannon_Miss - The Cannon May Miss Our Name

Hamlet quotes in this essay are from http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/
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Was "whale" pronounced like "wheel"? Was "weasel" pronounced like "wassail"? Was "Claudius" pronounced like "cloud-ius"? (I realize that "Claudius" was never spoken in the play, but there must have been some reason for including it in the First Folio.)
Claudius (Act 1, Scene 2)
Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply.
Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come. 325
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart; in grace whereof,
No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day
But the great CANNON to the CLOUDS shall tell,
And the King's rouse the heaven shall bruit again, 330
Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away.
[Flourish. Exeunt all but Hamlet.]
Hamlet
O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd 335
His CANON 'gainst self-slaughter!
Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 4)
The King doth wake to-night and takes his rouse, 635
Keeps WASSAIL, and the swagg'ring upspring reels,
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettledrum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
Horatio
Is it a custom? 640
Hamlet
Ay, marry, is't;
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honour'd in the breach than the observance.
Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 2)
Do you see yonder CLOUD that's almost in shape of a CAMEL?
Polonius
By th' MASS, and 'tis like a camel indeed.
Hamlet
Methinks it is like a WEASEL. 2255
Polonius.
It is back'd like a weasel.
Hamlet
Or like a WHALE.
Polonius
Very like a whale.
Rosencrantz (Act 3, Scene 3)
. . . .The cesse of majesty
Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw
What's near it with it. It is a MASSY WHEEL,
Claudius (Act 4, Scene 1)
[So haply slander-]
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, 2670
As level as the CANNON to his blank,
Transports his poisoned shot- may MISS OUR NAME
And hit the woundless air.-
Also please see
http://www.thyorisons.com/#Cloud_Cannon_Cup The Cloud, the Cannon, and in the Cup a Union
http://www.thyorisons.com/#Revolution - Fine Revolution
http://www.thyorisons.com/#Wheel_Becomes - How the Wheel Becomes It

http://www.thyorisons.com/#Camel_Eye - A Camel in My Mind's Eye
http://www.thyorisons.com/#Nutshell - Hamlet in a Nutshell - Hamlet Is an Anti-war Play
http://www.thyorisons.com/ - The Rebirth of Hamlet (Did "bourn" sound like "born"?)
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http://www.thyorisons.com/#Cloud_Cannon_Cup -
The Cloud, the Cannon, and in the Cup a Union


Claudius
How is it that the CLOUDS still hang on you?
Hamlet
Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the SUN.

The obvious pun is sun / son. Hamlet is too good a son to be cheerful less than two months after his father's death. But there is also a metaphor on clouds and sun. Later in the scene, Hamlet compares his father to Hyperion, the sun-god:

Hamlet
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr

Thus sun is a symbol for Hamlet's father, and now clouds is an obvious pun on Claudius. Hamlet is too loyal to his father (too much i' the sun) to shift his loyalty to Claudius (to be under the clouds.) This should prepare the audience for a more subtle pun on CLOUDS / CLAUDIUS:

Claudius
No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day,
But the great CANNON to the CLOUDS shall tell,
And the king's rouse the heavens all bruit again,
Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away.
[Exeunt all but Hamlet]

Hamlet
O, that this too too solid flesh would melt
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His CANON 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!

Hamlet is not contemplating his own self-slaughter, rather he is wishing that Claudius would kill himself. Claudius (cloud) has just ordered his cannon to fire at the clouds. Hamlet wishes Claudius's solid flesh would melt and turn into a dew (a cloud). Then, by aiming his cannon at the clouds, Claudius would be slaughtering himself. But, alas, the Everlasting has fixed His canon (religious law) 'gainst self-slaughter and Claudius has fixed (aimed) his cannon 'gainst self-slaughter - for now.

Later we learn more about the Danish custom of firing cannon when the king drinks:

[A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off, within]
Horatio
What does this mean, my lord?
Hamlet
The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels;
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
Horatio
Is it a custom?
Hamlet
Ay, marry, is't:
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honour'd in the breach than the observance.

The custom under discussion is not heavy drinking. The custom is the firing of cannon (ordnance) when the king drinks a pledge. It symbolizes the unity of the king with his kingdom, emphasized with the weapons he uses to obtain and keep that kingdom. It is the King's pledges, not his drinking, that gets Denmark in trouble with other countries. This is the custom that Hamlet would like to breach.

In the end, Hamlet gets his wish. Claudius does metaphorically slaughter himself with his own cannon. To the accompaniment of cannon fire, Claudius drinks from a cup symbolizing his union with Denmark. Shortly thereafter, he drinks from that same cup that he himself had poisoned.

Claudius
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire:
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath;
And in the cup an union shall he throw,
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups;
And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The CANNONS to the heavens, the heavens to earth,
'Now the king drinks to Hamlet.

Claudius
Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;
Here's to thy health.
[Trumpets sound, and cannon shot off within]
Give him the cup.

Hamlet
Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane,
Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?
Follow my mother.
[Claudius dies]

[A dead march. Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies; after which a peal of ordnance is shot off]