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All Site ContentHamletAct 2Scene 2
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"north-northwest," "wind is southerly," and "a hawk from a hand saw"
Double Meaning
Act 2,
Scene 2
Lines 365-374

An explanation of several double meanings in Act 2, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet

Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands,
come. Th' appurtenance of welcome is fashion and
ceremony. Let me comply with you in the garb, lest
my extent to the players (which, I tell you, must show 
fairly outward) should more appear like entertainment
than yours. You are welcome. – But my uncle-father and
aunt-mother are deceived.

Guildenstern

In what, my dear lord?

Hamlet   

I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is 
southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw.

Several phrases in these lines contain double meanings:

 

“ mad north-northwest”

  • A compass that points north-northwest (halfway between due north and northwest) is just a little bit off balance.
  • North northwest is just one of sixteen points on the compass. Hamlet is only crazy once in awhile.

“When the wind is southerly”

  • In England the wind is usually from the northwest causing the sky to be overcast; southerly winds bring clear skies (and presumably clear minds).
  • This wind clears away the smokescreen put up by Claudius, allowing Hamlet to see what's going on.

“I know a hawk from a hand saw (or heronshaw – the words sounded almost identical)"

  • A handsaw is very different from a hawk. Even in his disturbed emotional state, Hamlet can see the obvious, that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are agents of the king and queen.
  • A heronshaw is another species of bird. Hamlet is only pretending to be crazy; he can distinguish between bird species as well as see through the duplicitous nature of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern