Context:
One measure of mental faculties may be to gauge whether someone
appears fluent or rambling in their speech. Usually in Shakespeare's
plays if a character shows linguistic command he is in control
of himself. Hamlet can be cryptic and opaque; he can also
be very quick. He certainly outwits Polonius and Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern in verbal sparring exercises. He even counters
his mother and Claudius' attempts to give him a talking-to
by replying with a sharply incisive accurate tongue. |