Vol. 08 · Shakespeare ·Hamlet, Act II.ii ·Polonius
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in it."
Not quite the line.
How it's usually quoted
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in it."
What Shakespeare actually wrote
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." Polonius — Hamlet, Act II.ii
Why it matters
Elizabethan "in't" (= "in it") elides for meter. Expanding it breaks the pentameter and gives the line a modern, aphoristic feel Shakespeare did not write.
More from the canon.
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