SARAH: The court has arrived to see the play, and Claudius politely greets Hamlet, "How fares our cousin Hamlet?"

RALPH: Hamlet responds with one of his typically cryptic remarks. "Excellent, i'faith, of the chameleon's dish; I eat the air, promise-crammed. You cannot feed capons so."

SARAH: Claudius can't make any sense of this response, nor can almost everyone in a modern audience — that's why these lines are often cut from performances.

RALPH: But Hamlet's response is incredibly witty; they are some of my favorite lines in the entire play.

SARAH: First of all, Hamlet makes a pun on the word "fare". Claudius means, "How are you doing?". But fare also means to eat. Hamlet's response means: "I eat excellently, I eat the same food as chameleons — of the chameleon's dish —"

RALPH: Now, chameleons are little lizards which hardly ever move, and people believed that they lived off of the air.

SARAH: Hamlet, too, eats the air, but his is full of promises. And here's another pun — the air Hamlet lives on is Claudius's promise that he is "heir" to the throne.

RALPH: Capons are male chickens which are castrated and fattened for eating.

SARAH: But you cannot feed capons the way Hamlet is being fed. Capons cannot be force fed like geese, but Claudius's promises are being "crammed" down Hamlet's throat.

RALPH: Nor can you fatten up a capon on something as insubstantial as Claudius's words.

SARAH: Lastly, though capons are famously stupid, even they would prefer chicken feed over Claudius's worthless promises.