The nouns 'grapple' and 'seafight' occur only in Hamlet and Twelfth Night and are restricted to contexts of piracy and male friendship. Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet in which he describes the "grapple" through which he ended up on board the pirate ship (Ham.4.6.18). Later Hamlet fills in Horatio on the preceding events and concludes his narrative with the words "Now the next day/ Was our sea-fight, and what to this was sequent / Thou knowest already" (Ham.5.2.53-55).
In Twelfth Night, Antonio explains why the streets of Illyria are dangerous to him:
26 Once in a sea-fight 'gainst the Count his galleys
27 I did some service, of such note indeed,
28 That were I ta'en here, it would scarce be answer'd.
In the final scene of the play, Orsino recognizes him and speaks of the "scathful grapple" that he made "with the most noble bottom of our fleet" (TwN 5.1.56-57), whereupon Antonio explains his presence in town and accuses Viola/Sebastian of ingratitude.
Not only do 'grapple' and 'sea-fight' co-occur in these two plays, but they are limited to scenes that involve Hamlet/Horatio and Antonio/Sebastian. When Orsino addresses Antonio as "notable pirate, thou salt-water thief!", we begin to see a reason for this strong, though distant, collocation. Something like honor among thieves or the friendship of outlaws stands behind scenes that celebrate friendship and condemn disloyalty.
Perhaps this context should be invoked in Polonius' advice to his son:
62 Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
63 Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,
(Ham.1.3.62-63)
Forms of the verb 'grapple' are found in six plays prior to Hamlet, where the word has no particular thematic associations (2H6.1.1.257, KiJ.3.1.104, KiJ.5.1.61, LLL.2.1.218, 1H4.1.3.197, He5.3.0.18). But its last appearance, in Macbeth, seems to depend on its associations in Hamlet. Macbeth appeals to their loyalty when he tells the hired assassins that the death of Banquo "Grapples you to the heart and love of us" (Mac.3.1.105).
Perhaps the thematically resonant uses of 'grapple' are inspired by an erotics of war of the kind celebrated by Hotspur:
96 Now Esperance! Percy! and set on.
97 Sound all the lofty instruments of war,
98 And by that music let us all embrace,
99 For, heaven to earth, some of us never shall
100 A second time do such a courtesy.
(1H4 5.2.96-100)
16 September 1999