Hamlet Act I: "'Tis Strange," a Poisoned King, and a Poisoned Lord Strange
In the first act of Hamlet, the first five uses of the word "strange" all refer to the poisoned king. HORATIO: 'Tis *strange.* (1.1.75) HORATIO: ...This bodes some *strange* eruption to our state. (1.1.80) HAMLET: 'Tis very *strange.* (1.2.233) GHOST: Murther most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, *strange,* and unnatural. (1.5.34) HORATIO: O day and night, but this is wondrous *strange*! (1.5.185) HAMLET: And therefore as a *stranger* give it welcome. (1.5.186) Shortly after that, some of the next occurrences of the word "strange" refer to the way Hamlet may act while feigning madness. Having spoken to the ghost and learned of the poisoning, Hamlet warns Horatio and the sentinels that he may act *strange* (1.5.190), but that they are to keep his secret (1.5.201-202). IT SO HAPPENS that until the death in 1594 of Lord Strange, Ferdinando Stanley, more than half of the actors in Shakespeare's playing company were "Strangers," or ...