Both Uses of
observance
in
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
- Ay, marry, is't; But to my mind,—though I am native here, And to the manner born,—it is a custom More honour'd in the breach than the observance.†
Scene 1.4 *
- Be not too tame neither; but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own image, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.†
Scene 3.2
Definition:
-
(observance) conformity with law or custom or practice
or:
taking part in a ritual -- such as celebrating a holiday