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All Site ContentHamletAct 2Scene 2
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"late innovation"
Allusion
Act 2,
Scene 2
Lines 326-329

An explanation of the phrase “late innovation” in Act 2, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet   

How chances it they travel? Their residence both in
reputation and profit was better both ways.

Rosencrantz   

I think their inhibition comes by the means of
the late innovation.

During Shakespeare’s career, the London theaters were closed on numerous occasions due to outbreaks of the bubonic plague. One closure even lasted for almost two years. It’s likely an outbreak is the “late innovation” that Polonius refers to here.

(Egyptian plague of boils, Toggenburg Bible, c. 1411)