Friends to the ground
Masa
rivals of my watch,
bid them make haste.
Francisco: I think I hear them.—Stand, ho! Who is there?
[Enter Horatio and Marcellus.]
Horatio: Friends to this ground.
Marcellus: And liegemen to the Dane.
(Hamlet, 1st Act by Shakespeare)
About "friends to the ground"
I wonder why it isn't "a friends to the ground."
He was asked, "Who is there?"
And he replies, "Friends to this ground."
Or, it could be interpreted "We are friends to the ground." including
the other man
Marcellus?
Or, it's just emphatic, assuming that plural is more emphatic than
single usage,
meaning I'm very friendly to this land?
Evan Kirshenbaum
> Bernardo: Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The
> rivals of my watch,
> bid them make haste.
> Francisco: I think I hear them.--Stand, ho! Who is there?
> [Enter Horatio and Marcellus.]
> Horatio: Friends to this ground.
> Marcellus: And liegemen to the Dane.
> (Hamlet, 1st Act by Shakespeare)
>
>
> About "friends to the ground"
>
> I wonder why it isn't "a friends to the ground."
>
> He was asked, "Who is there?" And he replies, "Friends to this
> ground."
>
> Or, it could be interpreted "We are friends to the ground."
> including the other man Marcellus?
>
> Or, it's just emphatic, assuming that plural is more emphatic than
> single usage, meaning I'm very friendly to this land?
"This ground" just means "this land", that is, Denmark. Or perhaps,
more specifically, the castle (and what it represents). A potentially
interesting thing is that it's ambiguous as to whether they actually
refer to Claudius.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |Your claim might have more
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |credibility if you hadn't mispelled
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |"inteligent"
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com
(650)857-7572
Masa
qestion.
my question is simply:
Why doen't he say "a friend to the ground" instead of "friends to the
ground"?
Lars Eighner
<1803066c-46ff-47ef...@v25g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>, the
lovely and talented Masa broadcast on alt.usage.english:
> Bernardo: Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The
> rivals of my watch,
> bid them make haste.
> Francisco: I think I hear them.?Stand, ho! Who is there?
> [Enter Horatio and Marcellus.]
> Horatio: Friends to this ground.
> Marcellus: And liegemen to the Dane.
> (Hamlet, 1st Act by Shakespeare)
> About "friends to the ground"
> I wonder why it isn't "a friends to the ground."
"A" plus the plural is impossible.
> He was asked, "Who is there?"
> And he replies, "Friends to this ground."
> Or, it could be interpreted "We are friends to the ground." including the
> other man Marcellus?
It includes Marcellus, but "friends to the ground" is not the same as
"friends to this ground."
> Or, it's just emphatic, assuming that plural is more emphatic than single
> usage, meaning I'm very friendly to this land?
It only means "allies." They are allies and vassals.
--
Lars Eighner <http://larseighner.com/> Warbama's Afghaninam day: 36
864.7 hours since Warbama declared Viet Nam II.
Warbama: An LBJ for the Twenty-First century. No hope. No change.
Jerry Friedman
Horatio is referring to himself and Marcellus together.
--
Jerry Friedman
Don Phillipson
news:slrnhkafk7....@debranded.larseighner.com...
If this is meant to be a routinized military interchange,
the everyday rules of language are overruled by its
military character. The modern version (used by
sentries) is:
Q: Halt! Who goes there?
A: Friend.
Q: Advance, friend, and be recognized.
or else
Q: Password ?
The special case used to be widely known of the ritual
by which the night guard takes over the Tower of London:
Q: Halt! Who goes there?
A: The keys.
Q: Whose keys?
A: The king's keys
and so on.
The practical point for Shakespeare (and any other place than
the Tower of London) is that the first response ought to be
"Friend," or else a nervous sentry is likely to use his weapon.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Evan Kirshenbaum
> If this is meant to be a routinized military interchange,
> the everyday rules of language are overruled by its
> military character. The modern version (used by
> sentries) is:
> Q: Halt! Who goes there?
> A: Friend.
> Q: Advance, friend, and be recognized.
> or else
> Q: Password ?
>
> The special case used to be widely known of the ritual
> by which the night guard takes over the Tower of London:
> Q: Halt! Who goes there?
> A: The keys.
> Q: Whose keys?
> A: The king's keys
> and so on.
>
> The practical point for Shakespeare (and any other place than
> the Tower of London) is that the first response ought to be
> "Friend," or else a nervous sentry is likely to use his weapon.
I'm not sure what they draw it from, but several works I looked at
imply that a common interpretation is that Marcellus's "liegemen of
the Dane" was the actual password and that Horatio's "friends of this
ground" was a response that a non-military person would come up with,
so the exchange was Marcellus covering to make sure that there wasn't
an adverse reaction to an incorrect password.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |Feeling good about government is like
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |looking on the bright side of any
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |catastrophe. When you quit looking
|on the bright side, the catastrophe
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com |is still there.
(650)857-7572 | P.J. O'Rourke