"Hoist with his own petard" is a phrase from a speech in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' that has become

proverb A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...

ial. The phrase's meaning is that a bomb-maker is blown ("hoist", the past tense of "hoise") off the ground by his own bomb (" petard"), and indicates an ironic reversal or poetic justice. In modern vernacular usage of the idiom, the

preposition Adpositions are a part of speech, class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various thematic relations, semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositi ...

"with" is commonly exchanged for a different preposition, particularly "by" (i.e. "hoist ''by'' his own petard") or "on", the implication being that the bomb has rolled back and the unfortunate bomb-maker has trodden on it by accident. The latter form is recognized by many

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

dictionaries as an interchangeable alternative. Prepositions other than "by" and the original "with" are not widely accepted and may be seen as erroneous or even nonsensical in the correct context of the phrase.

Context

The phrase occurs in ''

'' act 3, scene 4, as a part of one of Hamlet's speeches in the Closet Scene. Hamlet has been acting mad to throw off suspicion that he is aware that his uncle,

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

, has murdered his father and married his mother, Queen Gertrude, in order to usurp the throne. In the Closet Scene,

Polonius Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. He is the chief counsellor of the play's ultimate villain, Claudius, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the cou ...

, at Claudius' behest, has hidden himself behind an

arras Arras ( , ; ; historical ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of the Artois region, with a ...

in Gertrude's chambers to listen in as Gertrude scolds Hamlet for his mad antics, hoping to determine whether he is truly mad or merely pretending. On revealing his presence, Hamlet kills him thinking him to be Claudius. Hamlet then accuses Gertrude of complicity in his father's murder, but when she protests her innocence, the two of them begin to conspire to reveal Claudius's guilt. Having previously been ordered to travel to England on a pretext, accompanied by

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet''. They are childhood friends of Hamlet, summoned by King Claudius to distract the prince from his apparent madness and if possible to ascertain the cause of ...

carrying letters to the King of England, Hamlet tells his mother: The letters contain a request from King Claudius to the King of England to have Prince Hamlet killed, but Hamlet manages to modify them during the journey so that they instead request the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet is thus able to return to Denmark in secret to seek his revenge.

Date and text

''Hamlet'' exists in several early versions: the first

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

edition ( Q1, 1603), the second quarto (Q2, 1604), and the

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

(F, 1623). Q1 and F do not contain this speech, although both include a form of The Closet Scene, so the 1604 Q2 is the only early source for the quote. The omission of this speech—as well as the long

soliloquy A soliloquy (, from Latin 'alone' and 'to speak', ) is a speech in drama in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud, typically while alone on stage. It serves to reveal the character's inner feelings, motivations, or plans directly to ...

in act 4, scene 4{{efn, The "How all occasions do inform against me" soliloquy which is at act 4, scene 4, lines 34–69.—is generally considered to have been done in the playhouse for various practical reasons. But in the 1985 Cambridge Shakespeare edition of the play, Philip Edwards argued that these were deliberate cuts by Shakespeare. For Hamlet, famously procrastinating about his revenge, to suddenly show such resolve and a concrete plan to do away with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is out of character, and, as the plan outlined is what ends up happening in the play, the speech gives away the plot and lessens the suspense. It is also a

plot hole In fiction, a plot hole, plothole, or plot error is an inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot. Plot holes are usually created unintentionally, often as a result of editing or the writers ...

in that Hamlet, at this point in the play, has no way of actually knowing that Claudius plans to have him killed in England, nor even that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are to be his travelling companions. The audience is aware that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are to be his companions, as they have seen Claudius instructing them so at the beginning of act 3, scene 3, but the plot to have him killed is otherwise not discussed until act 4, scene 3.{{sfn, Edwards, 2003, pp=14–16 G.R. Hibbard, in The Oxford Shakespeare edition, agrees with Edwards that the omission of the speech increases the suspense in the F version.{{sfn, Hibbard, 2008, p=361 However, Ann Thompson and Neil Taylor, in The Arden Shakespeare third series edition, point out that Hamlet is not specifically planning to kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he merely resolves to outwit them. For example, in the 1964 film adaptation by Grigori Kozintsev the speech is moved to the (later) point in the film where Hamlet describes how he outwitted Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.{{efn, The scene in the film which roughly corresponds to the first sixty-odd lines of act 5, scene 2.{{sfn, Thompson, Taylor, 2006, p=353

Etymology

{{See also, petard The word "hoist" here is the

past participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...

of the now-archaic verb ''hoise'' (since Shakespeare's time, ''hoist'' has become the present tense of the verb, with ''hoisted'' the past participle), and carries the meaning "to lift and remove".{{sfn, Etymonline, hoist A " petard" is a "small bomb used to blow in doors and breach walls" and comes from the French {{lang, fr, pétard, which, through

Middle French Middle French () is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the mid-14th to the early 17th centuries. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from the other co ...

({{lang, frm, péter) and

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th fro, pet), ultimately comes from the Latin {{lang, la, pēdere ("to break wind or fart").{{sfn, Etymonline, petard Although Shakespeare's audiences were probably not familiar with the origin of the word, the related French word {{lang, fr, petarade was in common use in English by the 17th century meaning "gun shot of farting" making it appear likely that the double meaning was intended by Shakespeare as a joke. "Enginer", although the origin of the modern ''engineer'', had the meaning specifically of a military engineer or a sapper: someone who works with military engines (mines, grenades, siege engines). The word should be pronounced with the stress on the first syllable.{{sfn, Thompson, Taylor, 2006, p=354 The phrase itself is a variation on two earlier proverbial expressions: "The fowler is caught in his own net" and "To beat one at his own weapon".{{sfn, Hibbard, 2008, p=361

Interpretation

The "letters" referred to in the first line are the letters from Claudius to the King of England with the request to have Hamlet killed, and the "schoolfellows" are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who went to school with Hamlet at

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

. Hamlet says he will trust them as "adders fanged", that is as much as one would trust a pair of venomous snakes. That they "bear the mandate"—carry the letters of the diplomatic mission to England—is in itself suspicious according to Hibbard: such letters would usually be carried by the most senior member, Hamlet, rather than the two underlings.{{sfn, Hibbard, 2008, p=361 Thompson and Taylor disagree, as it might simply mean that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been ordered by Claudius to go.{{sfn, Thompson, Taylor, 2006, p=353 That they "must sweep my way" means that they must prepare the way for Hamlet, and the way they "sweep" is to "marshal imto knavery": conduct him to some kind of trick, villainy, or trap.{{sfn, Hibbard, 2008, p=361{{sfn, Thompson, Taylor, 2006, p=353 The word "marshal" here begins a string of military metaphors: Hamlet sees his contest of wits with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in terms of

siege warfare A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characte ...

.{{sfn, Thompson, Taylor, 2006, p=353 Hamlet's response is to say "Let it work"; to let their plan unfold.{{sfn, Hibbard, 2008, p=361{{sfn, Thompson, Taylor, 2006, p=353 His resolve in the fifth and sixth lines—continuing the military metaphor—is to have them blown up with their own bomb that they had intended for him.{{sfn, Thompson, Taylor, 2006, p=354 Unless it "shall go hard"—unless he has very bad luck—he will "delve{{nbsp ..below their mines / And blow them at the moon." ''Mines'' here are the tunnels used in siege warfare to attack a fortified town, and later the explosives used in such tunnels.{{sfn, Hibbard, 2008, p=361{{sfn, Thompson, Taylor, 2006, p=354 In the last two lines he savours the competition of two practitioners of cunning and schemes meeting head on, continuing the martial metaphor of mining and counter-mining.{{sfn, Thompson, Taylor, 2006, p=354{{efn, G. R. Hibbard, in The Oxford Shakespeare edition of the play, maintains that the word "craft" didn't acquire its meaning of boat or vessel until the 1670s, and so that it is unlikely that Shakespeare's metaphor here refers to ships colliding.{{sfn, Hibbard, 2008, p=361 The earlier use of "petar", however, may be a deliberate off-color pun on the meaning ''flatulence''.

Significance in ''Hamlet''

Ironic reversal

{{Rquote, The Criminals are not only brought to execution, but they are taken in their own Toyls, their own Stratagems recoyl upon 'em, and they are involv'd them selves in that mischief and ruine, which they had projected for Hamlet., James Drake, in the first extended criticism of ''Hamlet''.{{sfn, Drake, 1699, p=204 The speech is a central exemplar of a general theme or pattern in ''Hamlet'': ironic reversal. Throughout the play the pattern unfolds repeatedly: his enemies employ a stratagem against Hamlet, but fail, and he then turns the stratagem back on them. For instance, when verbally sparring with Claudius in act 1, scene 2,{{efn, Which are actually Hamlet's first spoken words in the play. Hamlet turns his own words back against him: {{blockquote , source = ''Hamlet'', act 1, scene 2. , {{Dialogue , Claudius, But now, my cousin Hamlet and my son— , Hamlet, A little more than kin and less than kind. , Claudius, How is it that the clouds still hang on you? , Hamlet, Not so, my lord; I am too much in the sun. When Claudius invokes their kinship, Hamlet puns on kin—kind; and when Claudius invokes a weather metaphor for a gloomy disposition, Hamlet's counter has three distinct meanings: literally that he is not under a cloud but actually too much in the sun;{{efn, Literally metaphorically, that is: cloud—sun are still metaphors for Hamlet's mood. that Claudius' constant invocation of "son" (which Hamlet puns as "sun") is getting wearisome; and that he feels he spends too much time in the presence of the king ("the sun"). Similarly in the Closet Scene: {{blockquote , source = ''Hamlet'', act 3, scene 4.{{Folger inline, Hamlet, 3, 4, 12–15, bare=true , {{Dialogue , Gertrude, Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. , Hamlet, Mother, you have my father much offended. , Gertrude, Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. , Hamlet, Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. For each verbal attack by Gertrude, Hamlet counters by turning her own words back at her. The plotters' plan was to have Gertrude, his mother, scold him for his antics while Polonius listened from hiding, in the hopes of learning whether Hamlet is truly mad or merely pretending. Instead the conversation ends with Polonius dead and Gertrude convinced of Claudius' guilt and her culpability.{{sfn, Shepard, 1956, pp=281, 283–284 To catch out Hamlet, Claudius and Polonius have

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. Due to Hamlet's actions, Ophelia ultima ...

put on a show for him; whereas Hamlet uses the

play-within-the-play A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes ...

''The Mousetrap'' to "catch the conscience of the king".{{sfn, Shepard, 1956, pp=282–283 When Claudius plans to ship Hamlet off to be killed in England, Hamlet manages to thwart him and returns in a larger pirate ship. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are to deliver a letter requesting Hamlet's death but Hamlet swaps it for one that requests Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's deaths.{{sfn, Shepard, 1956, p=284 In the final scene, Laertes applies poison to his rapier to kill Hamlet, but Hamlet ends up killing Laertes with it. In the end, he kills Claudius with the rapier and poisoned wine that were Claudius's intended weapons against Hamlet.{{sfn, Shepard, 1956, p=285 Ironic reversal was well known in sixteenth-century England and

Elizabethan theatre The English Renaissance theatre or Elizabethan theatre was the theatre of England from 1558 to 1642. Its most prominent playwrights were William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. Background The term ''English Renaissance theatr ...

inherited the tradition from Latin comedy and Christian thought. It was so common as to constitute convention and an early example is from '' The Jew of Malta'' (1589–90): Barabas the Jew lays a trap involving a collapsing floor but falls through it and lands in a cauldron he had prepared for stewing Turks.{{sfn, Laan, 1966, p=249{{efn, Laan notes that Barabas had himself once been: "'an engineer … in the wars 'twixt France and Germany', slaying friend and enemy alike".{{sfn, Laan, 1966, p=249 In "Ironic Reversal in ''Hamlet''" (1966), Thomas F. Van Laan wrote that even further than the general Elizabethan dramatic convention, in ''Hamlet'' it is "… central and substantive. It lies at the heart of the play's mystery; it constitutes, in fact, a portion of that mystery".{{sfn, Laan, 1966, pp=248–250

Hamlet's premeditation

A central critical question in ''Hamlet'' is the degree to which Hamlet hesitates and procrastinates, or whether he is coldly determining Claudius's guilt and waiting for an opportunity to exact his revenge. One pivotal point in this question is the "Hoist with his own petard" speech: does it indicate merely that Hamlet suspects the plot against him and means to be on guard, or does it indicate that he has already planned a counter to it? In 1870, George Henry Miles published "A Review of ''Hamlet''" in which he argued that the pirates that attack Hamlet's ship on the way to England, and on which he escapes and returns to Denmark, was not a chance encounter but rather a counter-plot planned ahead of time by Hamlet himself. According to Miles', the "Hoist with his own petard" speech is indicative of premeditation from Hamlet: it outlines future events and these are what actually turn out to take place. He particularly rests his argument on the "When in one line two crafts directly meet" line, seeing in it a pun on "crafts" (''stratagems'' and ''ships'') indicating that Hamlet knows in advance that the two ships will encounter each other on the journey.{{sfn, Farley-Hills, 1999, p=320 William Witherle Lawrence, writing in 1944, dismissed the idea: "Little time need be wasted on the absurd idea that the pirate attack was not accidental, but planned by Hamlet."{{sfn, Lawrence, 1944, p=53 Writing in 1975, Martin Stevens attempted to revive the idea,{{sfn, Stevens, 1975 but most critics who have addressed the issue have sided with Lawrence.{{sfn, Farley-Hills, 1999, p=320 However, their main argument against the idea has been based on the idea that the meaning of the word "craft" to mean "ship" was not in use until 1671, based on the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' entry's earliest dating for the word. In 1999 David Farley-Hills published an article in '' The Review of English Studies'' demonstrating that the relevant meaning was attested as early as 1450.{{sfn, Farley-Hills, 1999, p=321–322 He goes on to make an argument that the pirates were in collusion with Hamlet, and the attack a part of his plan already in mind during the speech in act 3, scene 4.{{sfn, Farley-Hills, 1999

Notes and references

Notes

{{notelist, 40em

References

{{reflist, 20em

Bibliography

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Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

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Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

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Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

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Online Etymology Dictionary Etymonline, or ''Online Etymology Dictionary'', sometimes abbreviated as OED (not to be confused with the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', which the site often cites), is a free online dictionary that describes the etymology, origins of English la ...

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Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

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Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...

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Shakespeare Quarterly ''Shakespeare Quarterly'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1950 by the Shakespeare Association of America. It is now under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Along with book and performance criticism, '' ...

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Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materia ...

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University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a not-for-profit university press associated with the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the southern United States. It is a mem ...

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University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois System. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, thirty-three scholarly journals, and several electroni ...

, issn = 0363-6941 , volume = 61 , issue = 2 , year = 1962 , pages = 330–348 , jstor = 27714016 , ref = none * {{cite journal , title = Hoisted by Their Own Petard: Adverse Inferences in Civil Forfeiture , last = Noya , first = Shannon T. , journal = The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology , publisher =

Northwestern University School of Law The Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law (formerly known as Northwestern University School of Law from 1891 to 2015) is the law school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university. The law school is l ...

, issn = 0091-4169 , volume = 86 , issue = 2 , year = 1996 , pages = 493–529 , doi = 10.2307/1144034 , jstor = 1144034 , ref = none , url = https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol86/iss2/8/ , url-access = subscription * {{cite journal , title = Media Highlights , last1 = Page , first1 = Warren , last2 = Hersh , first2 = Reuben , last3 = Selden , first3 = Annie , last4 = Selden , first4 = John , journal = The College Mathematics Journal , publisher =

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary edu ...

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Modern Language Notes ''Modern Language Notes'' (''MLN'') is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1886 at the Johns Hopkins University, with the intention of introducing continental European literary criticism into American scholarship. The journal is publis ...

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The Johns Hopkins University Press Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publish ...

, issn = 0149-6611 , volume = 64 , issue = 1 , year = 1949 , pages = 1–8 , doi = 10.2307/2909241 , jstor = 2909241 , ref = none * {{cite journal , title = A Proverbial Expression in Tacitus , last = Renehan , first = Robert , journal = Classical Philology , publisher = The University of Chicago Press , issn = 0009-837X , eissn = 1546-072X , volume = 68 , issue = 2 , year = 1973 , pages = 114–115 , jstor = 269062 , ref = none , doi=10.1086/365945 , s2cid = 162200050 * {{cite journal , title = Knowledge, Perception and Memory: Theaetetus 166b , last1 = Rowe , first1 = C. J. , last2 = Welbourne , first2 = M. , last3 = Williams , first3 = C. J. F. , journal = The Classical Quarterly , publisher = The Classical Association , issn = 0009-8388 , eissn = 1471-6844 , volume = 32 , issue = 2 , year = 1982 , pages = 304–306 , jstor = 638569 , ref = none , doi=10.1017/s0009838800026471 , s2cid = 170326049 * {{cite journal , title = The Conscience of the King: Oedipus, Hamlet, and the Problem of Reading , last = Searle , first = Leroy F. , journal =

Comparative Literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

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Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 ...

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

, issn = 0010-4124 , eissn = 1945-8517 , volume = 49 , issue = 4 , year = 1997 , pages = 316–343 , doi = 10.2307/1771535 , jstor = 1771535 , ref = none * {{cite journal , title = Shakespeare in Britain , last = Speaight , first = Robert , journal =

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, issn = 0037-3222 , eissn = 1538-3555 , volume = 22 , issue = 4 , year = 1971 , pages = 359–364 , doi = 10.2307/2868911 , jstor = 2868911 , ref = none , doi-access = free * {{cite journal , title = The Conflict in ''Hamlet'' , last = Taylor , first = Michael , journal =

, publisher =

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, publisher =

, eissn = 1538-3555 , volume = 39 , issue = 1 , year = 1988 , pages = 1–26 , doi = 10.2307/2870584 , jstor = 2870584 , ref = none * {{cite journal , title = The Existential Anxieties of Engineering , last = Ziolkowski , first = Theodore , journal = The American Scholar , publisher = The Phi Beta Kappa Society , issn = 0003-0937 , eissn = 2162-2892 , volume = 53 , issue = 2 , year = 1984 , pages = 197–218 , jstor = 41211029 , ref = none {{div col end

External links

* {{Wiktionary-inline, hoist by one's own petard {{Hamlet Hamlet Shakespearean phrases English-language idioms

Context

Date and text

Etymology

Interpretation

Significance in ''Hamlet''

Ironic reversal

Hamlet's premeditation

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links