Belike this show imports the argument of the play.
III, 2, 149.
Will he tell us what this show meant.
III, 2, 153.
The word show in both these passages refers to the dumb-show which caused Ophelia to make these remarks. Although in modern slang the word show is used in connexion with a dramatic entertainment, this meaning did not exist in Shakespeare’s time: its only meaning in a theatrical sense, in the sixteenth century was of a spectacular nature, such as pageants, masques or processions on a large scale.
STAGE.
These are now the fashion and so berattle the common stages.
II, 2, 358.
He would drown the stage with tears.