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All Site ContentHamletAct 5Scene 2
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"cozenage"
Wordplay
Act 5,
Scene 2
Lines 63-70

An explanation of the pun on “cozenage” in Act 5, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet

Does it not, think'st thee, stand me now upon – 
He that has killed my king and whored my mother,
Popped in between th' electioelection and my hopes,
Thrown out his angle for my proper life,
And with such cozenage — is't not perfect conscience    
To quit him with this arm? And is't not to be damned 
To let this canker of our nature come
In further evil?

Hamlet plays on the word “cozenage” which can mean either deception or kinship. Three times in the play Claudius has called Hamlet his cousin.