Gothic Armaments and King Hamlet's Poleaxe

Abstract

H OW SLEADED POLLAX was interpreted in the seventeenth century does not appear from contemporary texts of Hamlet, although the meaning of Horatio's cryptic line seems even then to have been in dispute. No editorial attempt to clarify the phrase, however, was made until Pope, deciding that King Hamlet's blow was aimed at Polish opponents, printed sledded Polack (1725). Malone pluralized this to sledded Polacks. Before Pope's emendation, at least some of Shakespeare's readers understood by sleaded a weapon the King struck into the ice. A glance at the New Variorum edition will show that Pope's conjecture has not satisfied those commentators, chiefly Continental, who, think that some kind of implement used in the fight with Norway would be more natural here than the sudden vision of new foes characterized by their sleds. The present note offers evidence suggesting that Shakespeare, meeting with a studded pollax in a contemporary author, transferred this duelling weapon to King Hamlet. One cannot prove by analysis of the First Quarto, which provides the only substantive text for