|
Philological Examination Questions on Hamlet
Question: Explain: "The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse,
keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels." I. iv.
Answer: Wake means feast, carouse, used now to mean a watch
over the dead.
Rouse means bumper, from Danish ruus, meaning a surfeit in drinking.
Keeps wassail perhaps contains the same idea of revelry, wassail being from the Anglo-Saxon waes hael, be of
good health.
Upspring was part of an old German dance. Hupfauf is
the German, I believe, - a wild sort of dance.
Back to the Philological Examination Questions main page.
How to cite this article:
Mertins, Emma. Shakespeare Examinations. Ed. William Taylor Thom, M. A. Boston: Ginn and Co., 1888. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/examq/twenty.html >.
______________
Related Articles
Hamlet: Problem Play and Revenge Tragedy
The Elder Hamlet: The Kingship of Hamlet's Father
Hamlet's Relationship with the Ghost
The Significance of the Ghost in Armor
Hamlet as National Hero
Claudius and the Condition of Denmark
The Charges Against King Claudius
The Death of Polonius and its Impact on Hamlet's Character
Revenge in Hamlet
Deception in Hamlet
The Hamlet and Ophelia Subplot
The Norway (Fortinbras) Subplot
Blank Verse and Diction in Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet's Silence
Analysis of the Characters in Hamlet
An Excuse for Doing Nothing: Hamlet's Delay
Shakespeare's Fools: The Grave-Diggers in Hamlet
Hamlet's Humor: The Wit of Shakespeare's Prince of Denmark
All About Yorick
Hamlet's Melancholy: The Transformation of the Prince
Hamlet's Antic Disposition: Is Hamlet's Madness Real?
Foul Deeds Will Rise: Hamlet and Divine Justice
Soliloquy Analysis: O this too too... (1.2.131)
Soliloquy Analysis: O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!... (2.2.555-612)
Soliloquy
Analysis: To be, or not to be... (3.1.64-98)
Soliloquy Analysis: Tis now the very witching time of night... (3.2.380-91)
Soliloquy Analysis: Now might I do it pat... (3.3.77-100)
Soliloquy Analysis: How all occasions do inform against me... (4.4.35-69)
What is Tragic Irony?
Seneca's Tragedies and the Elizabethan Drama
Characteristics of Elizabethan Drama
Sources for Hamlet
Quotations from Hamlet (with commentary)
Hamlet Study Quiz (with detailed answers)
Hamlet: Q & A
|
|
|