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"My mother stays"
Context and Language Videos
Act 3,
Scene 3
Lines 93-98

A discussion of "My mother stays" in Act 3, Scene 3 of myShakespeare's Hamlet.

myShakespeare | Hamlet 3.3 “my mother stays”

Hamlet

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,
And that his soul may be as damned and black
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays.
This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.    
[Exit.]

Claudius

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.    
[Exit.]
Video Transcript: 

RALPH: When Hamlet says his mother 'stays', he means she's waiting for him. She's summoned him to her chambers, and he had been on his way to her when he came across the praying Claudius.

SARAH: A common physic, or medical treatment, in those days was to evacuate the bowels by taking a laxative. So just as a sick person prolongs his days on earth by purging his bowels, Claudius has unknowingly prolonged his days on earth by purging his sins.