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All Site ContentHamletAct 5Scene 2
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"carry" and "hangers"
Wordplay
Act 5,
Scene 2
Lines 113-119

An explanation of the wordplay on “carry” and “hangers” in Act 5, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet   

What call you the carriages?

Horatio

[To Hamlet] I knew you must be edified by the margin ere
you had done.

Osric   

The carriage, sir, are the hangers.

Hamlet

The phrase would be more germane to the matter 
if we could carry cannon by our sides; I would it might be
hangers till then. But on. Six Barbary horses against six
  • Cannons are carried from one place to another mounted on carriages.
  • Swords hang from sword belts by attachments called hangers