Hamlet: Range of InterpretationsComments on John Russell Brown's Multiplicity of Meanings in the Final Moments of Hamlet Although I agree almost entirely with John's close reading Russell Brown's final words of Hamlet and with his claim that "Shakespeare chose, very positively, to provide a multiplicity of meanings at this crucial point" (30), I wonder if his analysis, so useful whether it is for understanding the text of the study, is also valid in the theater. . If we were talking about a Shakespeare sonnet, it would be much easier for me to believe in the coexistence of four or five distinct meanings, even if they “tend to cancel each other out” (27). In performance, however, we might find ourselves instead in the position of Jane Austen's "inferior young man," Mr. Rushworth, who "scarcely knew what to do with so much sense."1 It is true that each actor will have to choose between a range of possible interpretations, as John Russell Brown says -- and no one knows better! --, but it is also worth paying closer attention to the textual problem involved. to plead in favor of reading the Folio: “The rest is silence. O, o, o, o. »2 The four letters following "silence" are easily one of the most overlooked expressions in the canon, which is quite surprising in a play in which virtually no punctuation mark has been left without examination or comment. 3 Most editions ignore them completely or dismiss them as an actor's invention. An early honorable exception is Nicolaus Delius's edition where he explains the reading of the folio as "Hamlets Todesgestöhn".4 The only modern edition I know of that takes this reading seriously is The...... middle of paper. .... .justified derision" (352). Honigmann's interesting article makes no direct reference to the passage from Hamlet. [Return to text]7. See, for example, "Ask me tomorrow and you will find me a grave man" by Mercutio (3.1. 98-99; ed. Brian Gibbons, Arden Edition [London: Methuen, 1980]). [Return to text]8. [Return to text]9. This is also emphasized in the Marvin Rosenberg's thought-provoking study, The Masks of Hamlet (Newark: U of Delaware P, 1992), which suggests a range of possible meanings even beyond John Russell Brown: “Os can be very eloquent. )" (924). It would be foolish, however, to deny that, at least for the actor, "the O's can indicate, besides death, something of the final mystery of Hamlet's last perception" (923). [Return to text]10 See Hawkes. 22.