Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - Vol. I
William Shakespeare
#pgx0
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - Vol. I
by William Shakespeare
#pgx1
HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK
by William Shakespeare
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
Claudius, King of Denmark.
Hamlet, Son to the former, and Nephew to the present King.
Polonius, Lord Chamberlain.
#pgx2
Horatio, Friend to Hamlet.
Laertes, Son to Polonius.
Voltimand, Courtier.
Cornelius, Courtier.
Rosencrantz, Courtier.
Guildenstern, Courtier.
Osric, Courtier.
A Gentleman, Courtier.
#pgx3
A Priest.
Marcellus, Officer.
Bernardo, Officer.
Francisco, a Soldier
Reynaldo, Servant to Polonius.
Players.
Two Clowns, Grave-diggers.
Fortinbras, Prince of Norway.
A Captain.
English
#pgx4
Ambassadors.
Ghost of Hamlet's Father.
Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, and Mother of Hamlet.
Ophelia, Daughter to Polonius.
Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and other
Attendants.
#pgx5
SCENE. Elsinore.
ACT I.
Scene I. Elsinore. A platform before the Castle.
[Francisco at his post. Enter to him Bernardo.]
§lBer.§0
Who's there?
§lFran.§0
Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold
#pgx6
yourself.
§lBer.§0
Long live the king!
§lFran.§0
Bernardo?
§lBer.§0
He.
§lFran.§0
You come most carefully upon your hour.
§lBer.§0
'Tis now struck
#pgx7
twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco.
§lFran.§0
For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.
§lBer.§0
Have you had quiet guard?
§lFran.§0
Not a mouse stirring.
§lBer.§0
#pgx8
Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
§lFran.§0
I think I hear them.--Stand, ho! Who is there?
[Enter Horatio and Marcellus.]
§lHor.§0
#pgx9
Friends to this ground.
§lMar.§0
And liegemen to the Dane.
§lFran.§0
Give you good-night.
§lMar.§0
O, farewell, honest soldier;
Who hath reliev'd you?
§lFran.§0
Bernardo has my
#pgx10
place.
Give you good-night.
[Exit.]
§lMar.§0
Holla! Bernardo!
§lBer.§0
Say.
What, is Horatio there?
§lHor.§0
A piece of him.
§lBer.§0
Welcome,
#pgx11
Horatio:--Welcome, good Marcellus.
§lMar.§0
What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?
§lBer.§0
I have seen nothing.
§lMar.§0
Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,
And will not let belief take hold of him
#pgx12
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:
Therefore I have entreated him along
With us to watch the minutes of this night;
That, if again this apparition come
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.
§lHor.§0
Tush, tush, 'twill
#pgx13
not appear.
§lBer.§0
Sit down awhile,
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.
§lHor.§0
Well, sit we down,
And let us hear Bernardo speak
#pgx14
of this.
§lBer.§0
Last night of all,
When yond same star that's westward from the pole
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then
#pgx15
beating one,--
§lMar.§0
Peace, break thee off; look where it comes again!
[Enter Ghost, armed.]
§lBer.§0
In the same figure, like the king that's dead.
§lMar.§0
Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.
§lBer.§0
#pgx16
Looks it not like the King? mark it, Horatio.
§lHor.§0
Most like:--it harrows me with fear and wonder.
§lBer.§0
It would be spoke to.
§lMar.§0
Question it, Horatio.
§lHor.§0
What art thou, that usurp'st this time
#pgx17
of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee, speak!
§lMar.§0
It is offended.
§lBer.§0
See, it stalks away!
§lHor.§0
#pgx18
Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee speak!
[Exit Ghost.]
§lMar.§0
'Tis gone, and will not answer.
§lBer.§0
How now, Horatio! You tremble and look pale:
Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you
#pgx19
on't?
§lHor.§0
Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.
§lMar.§0
Is it not like the King?
§lHor.§0
As thou art to thyself:
Such was the very
#pgx20
armour he had on
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
So frown'd he once when, in an angry parle,
He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.
'Tis strange.
§lMar.§0
Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
#pgx21
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
§lHor.§0
In what particular thought to work I know not;
But, in the gross and scope of my opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
§lMar.§0
#pgx22
Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land;
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of
#pgx23
war;
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week;
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:
#pgx24
Who is't that can inform me?
§lHor.§0
That can I;
At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick'd on
#pgx25
by a most emulate pride,
Dar'd to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet,--
For so this side of our known world esteem'd him,--
Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a seal'd compact,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
#pgx26
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands,
Which he stood seiz'd of, to the conqueror:
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king; which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been
#pgx27
vanquisher; as by the same cov'nant,
And carriage of the article design'd,
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark'd up a list of
#pgx28
lawless resolutes,
For food and diet, to some enterprise
That hath a stomach in't; which is no other,--
As it doth well appear unto our state,--
But to recover of us, by strong hand,
And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands
#pgx29
So by his father lost: and this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The source of this our watch, and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.
§lBer.§0
I think it be no other but e'en so:
#pgx30
Well may it sort, that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch; so like the king
That was and is the question of these wars.
§lHor.§0
A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high
#pgx31
and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets;
As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the
#pgx32
sun; and the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse:
And even the like precurse of fierce events,--
As harbingers preceding still the
#pgx33
fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on,--
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climature and countrymen.--
But, soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!
[Re-enter Ghost.]
I'll cross it, though it blast me.--Stay,
#pgx34
illusion!
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me:
If there be any good thing to be done,
That may to thee do ease, and, race to me,
Speak to me:
If thou art privy to thy country's
#pgx35
fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!
Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,
[The cock crows.]
#pgx36
Speak of it:--stay, and speak!--Stop it, Marcellus!
§lMar.§0
Shall I strike at it with my partisan?
§lHor.§0
Do, if it will not stand.
§lBer.§0
'Tis here!
§lHor.§0
'Tis here!
§lMar.§0
#pgx37
'Tis gone!
[Exit Ghost.]
We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the show of violence;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery.
§lBer.§0
It was about to speak, when the cock
#pgx38
crew.
§lHor.§0
And then it started, like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of
#pgx39
day; and at his warning,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
The extravagant and erring spirit hies
To his confine: and of the truth herein
This present object made probation.
§lMar.§0
It faded on the crowing of the
#pgx40
cock.
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then
#pgx41
no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm;
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
§lHor.§0
So have I heard, and do in part believe it.
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward
#pgx42
hill:
Break we our watch up: and by my advice,
Let us impart what we have seen to-night
Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him:
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our
#pgx43
loves, fitting our duty?
§lMar.§0
Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know
Where we shall find him most conveniently.
[Exeunt.]
Scene II. Elsinore. A room of state in the Castle.
[Enter the King, Queen, Hamlet,
#pgx44
Polonius, Laertes, Voltimand,
Cornelius, Lords, and Attendant.]
§lKing.§0
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief, and our
#pgx45
whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe;
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime sister,
#pgx46
now our queen,
Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,--
With an auspicious and one dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,--
#pgx47
Taken to wife; nor have we herein barr'd
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along:--or all, our thanks.
Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,
Holding a weak
#pgx48
supposal of our worth,
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,
He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,
#pgx49
Importing the surrender of those lands
Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,
To our most valiant brother. So much for him,--
Now for ourself and for this time of meeting:
Thus much the business is:--we
#pgx50
have here writ
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,--
Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose,--to suppress
His further gait herein; in that the levies,
The lists, and full
#pgx51
proportions are all made
Out of his subject:--and we here dispatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;
Giving to you no further personal power
#pgx52
To business with the king, more than the scope
Of these dilated articles allow.
Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty.
Cor. and Volt.
In that and all things will we show our duty.
§lKing.§0
We doubt it
#pgx53
nothing: heartily farewell.
[Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius.]
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes?
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,
And lose your
#pgx54
voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes,
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
The head is not more native to the heart,
The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
What wouldst thou
#pgx55
have, Laertes?
§lLaer.§0
Dread my lord,
Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
To show my duty in your coronation;
Yet now, I must confess, that duty
#pgx56
done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France,
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
§lKing.§0
Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?
§lPol.§0
He hath, my lord,
#pgx57
wrung from me my slow leave
By laboursome petition; and at last
Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:
I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
§lKing.§0
Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,
And thy best
#pgx58
graces spend it at thy will!--
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son--
§lHam.§0
[Aside.] A little more than kin, and less than kind!
§lKing.§0
How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
§lHam.§0
#pgx59
Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.
§lQueen.§0
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not for ever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou know'st 'tis
#pgx60
common,--all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
§lHam.§0
Ay, madam, it is common.
§lQueen.§0
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
§lHam.§0
Seems, madam!
#pgx61
Nay, it is; I know not seems.
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,
Together with all
#pgx62
forms, moods, shows of grief,
That can denote me truly: these, indeed, seem;
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
§lKing.§0
#pgx63
'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your father;
But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound,
In filial obligation,
#pgx64
for some term
To do obsequious sorrow: but to persevere
In obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven;
A heart
#pgx65
unfortified, a mind impatient;
An understanding simple and unschool'd;
For what we know must be, and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we, in our peevish opposition,
Take it to heart?
#pgx66
Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd; whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse till he that died
#pgx67
to-day,
'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe; and think of us
As of a father: for let the world take note
You are the most immediate to our throne;
And with no less nobility of love
#pgx68
Than that which dearest father bears his son
Do I impart toward you. For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire:
And we beseech you bend you to remain
Here in the cheer and comfort of our
#pgx69
eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
§lQueen.§0
Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:
I pray thee stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.
§lHam.§0
I shall in all my
#pgx70
best obey you, madam.
§lKing.§0
Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply:
Be as ourself in Denmark.--Madam, come;
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart: in grace
#pgx71
whereof,
No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell;
And the king's rouse the heaven shall bruit again,
Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away.
[Exeunt all but
#pgx72
Hamlet.]
§lHam.§0
O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
#pgx73
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months
#pgx74
dead!--nay, not so much, not two:
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
#pgx75
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month,--
Let me not think on't,--Frailty, thy name is woman!--
A little month; or ere those shoes were old
With which she
#pgx76
followed my poor father's body
Like Niobe, all tears;--why she, even she,--
O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer,--married with mine uncle,
My father's brother; but no more like my
#pgx77
father
Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married:-- O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous
#pgx78
sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to good;
But break my heart,--for I must hold my tongue!
[Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.]
§lHor.§0
Hail to your lordship!
§lHam.§0
I am glad to see
#pgx79
you well:
Horatio,--or I do forget myself.
§lHor.§0
The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
§lHam.§0
Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you:
And what make you from Wittenberg,
#pgx80
Horatio?--
Marcellus?
§lMar.§0
My good lord,--
§lHam.§0
I am very glad to see you.--Good even, sir.--
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
§lHor.§0
A truant disposition, good my lord.
#pgx81
§lHam.§0
I would not hear your enemy say so;
Nor shall you do my ear that violence,
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself: I know you are no truant.
But what is your affair in Elsinore?
We'll teach you to
#pgx82
drink deep ere you depart.
§lHor.§0
My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
§lHam.§0
I prithee do not mock me, fellow-student.
I think it was to see my mother's wedding.
§lHor.§0
Indeed, my lord, it
#pgx83
follow'd hard upon.
§lHam.§0
Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral bak'd meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day,
#pgx84
Horatio!--
My father,--methinks I see my father.
§lHor.§0
Where, my lord?
§lHam.§0
In my mind's eye, Horatio.
§lHor.§0
I saw him once; he was a goodly king.
§lHam.§0
He was a man, take
#pgx85
him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.
§lHor.§0
My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
§lHam.§0
Saw who?
§lHor.§0
My lord, the king your father.
§lHam.§0
The King my
#pgx86
father!
§lHor.§0
Season your admiration for awhile
With an attent ear, till I may deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.
§lHam.§0
For God's love let me hear.
§lHor.§0
#pgx87
Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch
In the dead vast and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe,
Appears before
#pgx88
them and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
#pgx89
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secrecy impart they did;
And I with them the third night kept the watch:
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,
Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
#pgx90
The apparition comes: I knew your father;
These hands are not more like.
§lHam.§0
But where was this?
§lMar.§0
My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.
§lHam.§0
Did you not speak
#pgx91
to it?
§lHor.§0
My lord, I did;
But answer made it none: yet once methought
It lifted up it head, and did address
Itself to motion, like as it would speak:
But even then the morning cock crew loud,
#pgx92
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,
And vanish'd from our sight.
§lHam.§0
'Tis very strange.
§lHor.§0
As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;
And we did think it writ down in our duty
#pgx93
To let you know of it.
§lHam.§0
Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch to-night?
Mar. and Ber.
We do, my lord.
§lHam.§0
Arm'd, say you?
§lBoth.§0
Arm'd, my lord.
§lHam.§0
#pgx94
From top to toe?
§lBoth.§0
My lord, from head to foot.
§lHam.§0
Then saw you not his face?
§lHor.§0
O, yes, my lord: he wore his beaver up.
§lHam.§0
What, look'd he frowningly?
#pgx95
§lHor.§0
A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
§lHam.§0
Pale or red?
§lHor.§0
Nay, very pale.
§lHam.§0
And fix'd his eyes upon you?
§lHor.§0
Most constantly.
#pgx96
§lHam.§0
I would I had been there.
§lHor.§0
It would have much amaz'd you.
§lHam.§0
Very like, very like. Stay'd it long?
§lHor.§0
While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.
#pgx97
Mar. and Ber.
Longer, longer.
§lHor.§0
Not when I saw't.
§lHam.§0
His beard was grizzled,--no?
§lHor.§0
It was, as I have seen it in his life,
A sable silver'd.
§lHam.§0
I will watch
#pgx98
to-night;
Perchance 'twill walk again.
§lHor.§0
I warr'nt it will.
§lHam.§0
If it assume my noble father's person,
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you
#pgx99
all,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still;
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue:
I will requite your loves. So, fare ye well:
#pgx100
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.
§lAll.§0
Our duty to your honour.
§lHam.§0
Your loves, as mine to you: farewell.
[Exeunt Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.]
#pgx101
My father's spirit in arms! All is not well;
I doubt some foul play: would the night were come!
Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.
[Exit.]
Scene III. A room in
#pgx102
Polonius's house.
[Enter Laertes and Ophelia.]
§lLaer.§0
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell:
And, sister, as the winds give benefit
And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
But let me hear from you.
#pgx103
§lOph.§0
Do you doubt that?
§lLaer.§0
For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,
Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood:
A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting;
#pgx104
The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
No more.
§lOph.§0
No more but so?
§lLaer.§0
Think it no more:
For nature, crescent, does not grow alone
In thews and bulk; but as this temple
#pgx105
waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now;
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
#pgx106
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalu'd persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The safety and health of this whole state;
And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd
Unto the voice and
#pgx107
yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes
#pgx108
withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia,
#pgx109
fear it, my dear sister;
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue itself scopes not calumnious
#pgx110
strokes:
The canker galls the infants of the spring
Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd:
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:
Youth to itself
#pgx111
rebels, though none else near.
§lOph.§0
I shall th' effect of this good lesson keep
As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to
#pgx112
heaven;
Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads
And recks not his own read.
§lLaer.§0
O, fear me not.
I stay too long:--but here my father comes.
#pgx113
[Enter Polonius.]
A double blessing is a double grace;
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
§lPol.§0
Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd
#pgx114
for. There,--my blessing with thee!
[Laying his hand on Laertes's head.]
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
#pgx115
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd
#pgx116
comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
#pgx117
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous chief in that.
#pgx118
Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all,--to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
#pgx119
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!
§lLaer.§0
Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
§lPol.§0
The time invites you; go, your servants tend.
§lLaer.§0
Farewell, Ophelia;
#pgx120
and remember well
What I have said to you.
§lOph.§0
'Tis in my memory lock'd,
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
§lLaer.§0
Farewell.
[Exit.]
§lPol.§0
#pgx121
What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
§lOph.§0
So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
§lPol.§0
Marry, well bethought:
'Tis told me he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you
#pgx122
yourself
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous;
If it be so,--as so 'tis put on me,
And that in way of caution,--I must tell you
You do not understand yourself so clearly
As it behooves my
#pgx123
daughter and your honour.
What is between you? give me up the truth.
§lOph.§0
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.
§lPol.§0
Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,
#pgx124
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
§lOph.§0
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
§lPol.§0
Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;
#pgx125
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
Or,--not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Wronging it thus,--you'll tender me a fool.
#pgx126
§lOph.§0
My lord, he hath importun'd me with love
In honourable fashion.
§lPol.§0
Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.
§lOph.§0
And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
#pgx127
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
§lPol.§0
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light
#pgx128
than heat,--extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,--
You must not take for fire. From this time
Be something scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to
#pgx129
parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young;
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,--
Not of that dye which their investments
#pgx130
show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all,--
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
Have you so slander any moment
#pgx131
leisure
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you; come your ways.
§lOph.§0
I shall obey, my lord.
[Exeunt.]
Scene IV. The platform.
[Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and
#pgx132
Marcellus.]
§lHam.§0
The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
§lHor.§0
It is a nipping and an eager air.
§lHam.§0
What hour now?
§lHor.§0
I think it lacks of twelve.
#pgx133
§lMar.§0
No, it is struck.
§lHor.§0
Indeed? I heard it not: then draws near the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
[A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off within.]
What does this
#pgx134
mean, my lord?
§lHam.§0
The King doth wake to-night and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels;
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray
#pgx135
out
The triumph of his pledge.
§lHor.§0
Is it a custom?
§lHam.§0
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
#pgx136
the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel east and west
Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations:
They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition; and, indeed, it takes
From our
#pgx137
achievements, though perform'd at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
So oft it chances in particular men
That, for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As in their birth,--wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature
#pgx138
cannot choose his origin,--
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners;--that these men,--
#pgx139
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,--
Their virtues else,--be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,--
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that
#pgx140
particular fault: the dram of eale
Doth all the noble substance often doubt
To his own scandal.
§lHor.§0
Look, my lord, it comes!
[Enter Ghost.]
§lHam.§0
Angels and ministers of grace defend
#pgx141
us!--
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou com'st in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee
#pgx142
Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane; O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urn'd,
#pgx143
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws
To cast thee up again! What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel,
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous, and we fools of
#pgx144
nature
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
[Ghost beckons Hamlet.]
§lHor.§0
It beckons you to
#pgx145
go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
§lMar.§0
Look with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removed ground:
But do not go with it!
§lHor.§0
No, by no means.
§lHam.§0
#pgx146
It will not speak; then will I follow it.
§lHor.§0
Do not, my lord.
§lHam.§0
Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life at a pin's fee;
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
#pgx147
It waves me forth again;--I'll follow it.
§lHor.§0
What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form
#pgx148
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,
And draw you into madness? think of it:
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fadoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.
#pgx149
§lHam.§0
It waves me still.--
Go on; I'll follow thee.
§lMar.§0
You shall not go, my lord.
§lHam.§0
Hold off your hands.
§lHor.§0
Be rul'd; you shall not go.
§lHam.§0
My fate cries out,
#pgx150
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.--
[Ghost beckons.]
Still am I call'd;--unhand me, gentlemen;--
[Breaking free from them.]
By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that
#pgx151
lets me!--
I say, away!--Go on; I'll follow thee.
[Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet.]
§lHor.§0
He waxes desperate with imagination.
§lMar.§0
Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.
§lHor.§0
Have after.--To
#pgx152
what issue will this come?
§lMar.§0
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
§lHor.§0
Heaven will direct it.
§lMar.§0
Nay, let's follow him.
[Exeunt.]
Scene V. A more remote part of the
#pgx153
Castle.
[Enter Ghost and Hamlet.]
§lHam.§0
Whither wilt thou lead me? speak! I'll go no further.
§lGhost.§0
Mark me.
§lHam.§0
I will.
§lGhost.§0
My hour is almost
#pgx154
come,
When I to sulph'uous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.
§lHam.§0
Alas, poor ghost!
§lGhost.§0
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold.
#pgx155
§lHam.§0
Speak; I am bound to hear.
§lGhost.§0
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
§lHam.§0
What?
§lGhost.§0
I am thy father's spirit;
Doom'd for a
#pgx156
certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confin'd to wastein fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
#pgx157
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood;
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres;
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on
#pgx158
end
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood.--List, list, O, list!--
If thou didst ever thy dear father love--
§lHam.§0
O God!
§lGhost.§0
#pgx159
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
§lHam.§0
Murder!
§lGhost.§0
Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
§lHam.§0
Haste me to know't,
#pgx160
that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.
§lGhost.§0
I find thee apt;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That rots itself in ease on Lethe
#pgx161
wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abus'd; but
#pgx162
know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
§lHam.§0
O my prophetic soul!
Mine uncle!
§lGhost.§0
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of
#pgx163
his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!--won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose
#pgx164
love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it
#pgx165
never will be mov'd,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven;
So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed
And prey on garbage.
But soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
#pgx166
Brief let me be.--Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose
#pgx167
effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and
#pgx168
wholesome blood; so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
#pgx169
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhous'led, disappointed, unanel'd;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most
#pgx170
horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her
#pgx171
to heaven,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glowworm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.
#pgx172
[Exit.]
§lHam.§0
O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?
And shall I couple hell? O, fie!--Hold, my heart;
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up.--Remember thee!
Ay, thou poor
#pgx173
ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee!
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and
#pgx174
observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven!--
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damned
#pgx175
villain!
My tables,--meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least, I am sure, it may be so in Denmark:
[Writing.]
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;
It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me:'
#pgx176
I have sworn't.
§lHor.§0
[Within.] My lord, my lord,--
§lMar.§0
[Within.] Lord Hamlet,--
§lHor.§0
[Within.] Heaven secure him!
§lHam.§0
So be it!
§lMar.§0
#pgx177
[Within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
§lHam.§0
Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come.
[Enter Horatio and Marcellus.]
§lMar.§0
How is't, my noble lord?
§lHor.§0
What news, my lord?
§lHam.§0
#pgx178
O, wonderful!
§lHor.§0
Good my lord, tell it.
§lHam.§0
No; you'll reveal it.
§lHor.§0
Not I, my lord, by heaven.
§lMar.§0
Nor I, my lord.
§lHam.§0
How say you then; would heart of
#pgx179
man once think it?--
But you'll be secret?
Hor. and Mar.
Ay, by heaven, my lord.
§lHam.§0
There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he's an arrant knave.
§lHor.§0
There needs no
#pgx180
ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this.
§lHam.§0
Why, right; you are i' the right;
And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:
You, as your business and desires shall
#pgx181
point you,--
For every man hath business and desire,
Such as it is;--and for my own poor part,
Look you, I'll go pray.
§lHor.§0
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
§lHam.§0
I'm sorry they offend you, heartily;
#pgx182
Yes, faith, heartily.
§lHor.§0
There's no offence, my lord.
§lHam.§0
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offence too. Touching this vision here,--
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you:
For your desire to
#pgx183
know what is between us,
O'ermaster't as you may. And now, good friends,
As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
Give me one poor request.
§lHor.§0
What is't, my lord? we will.
#pgx184
§lHam.§0
Never make known what you have seen to-night.
Hor. and Mar.
My lord, we will not.
§lHam.§0
Nay, but swear't.
§lHor.§0
In faith,
My lord, not I.
§lMar.§0
Nor I, my lord, in
#pgx185
faith.
§lHam.§0
Upon my sword.
§lMar.§0
We have sworn, my lord, already.
§lHam.§0
Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
§lGhost.§0
[Beneath.] Swear.
§lHam.§0
Ha, ha boy! say'st
#pgx186
thou so? art thou there, truepenny?--
Come on!--you hear this fellow in the cellarage,--
Consent to swear.
§lHor.§0
Propose the oath, my lord.
§lHam.§0
Never to speak of this that you have seen,
Swear by my
#pgx187
sword.
§lGhost.§0
[Beneath.] Swear.
§lHam.§0
Hic et ubique? then we'll shift our ground.--
Come hither, gentlemen,
And lay your hands again upon my sword:
Never to speak of this that you have
#pgx188
heard,
Swear by my sword.
§lGhost.§0
[Beneath.] Swear.
§lHam.§0
Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast?
A worthy pioner!--Once more remove, good friends.
§lHor.§0
#pgx189
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!
§lHam.§0
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
But come;--
#pgx190
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,--
As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,--
That you, at such times seeing me,
#pgx191
never shall,
With arms encumber'd thus, or this head-shake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As 'Well, well, we know'; or 'We could, an if we would';--
Or 'If we list to speak'; or 'There be, an if they might';--
#pgx192
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me:--this is not to do,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you,
Swear.
§lGhost.§0
[Beneath.] Swear.
§lHam.§0
Rest, rest,
#pgx193
perturbed spirit!--So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you:
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do, to express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
#pgx194
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint:--O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!--
Nay, come, let's go together.
[Exeunt.]
Act II.
Scene I. A room in Polonius's house.
#pgx195
[Enter Polonius and Reynaldo.]
§lPol.§0
Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.
§lRey.§0
I will, my lord.
§lPol.§0
You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before You visit
#pgx196
him, to make inquiry
Of his behaviour.
§lRey.§0
My lord, I did intend it.
§lPol.§0
Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir,
Enquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;
And how, and who, what means, and
#pgx197
where they keep,
What company, at what expense; and finding,
By this encompassment and drift of question,
That they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch it:
Take you, as 'twere, some distant
#pgx198
knowledge of him;
As thus, 'I know his father and his friends,
And in part him;--do you mark this, Reynaldo?
§lRey.§0
Ay, very well, my lord.
§lPol.§0
'And in part him;--but,' you may say, 'not well:
#pgx199
But if't be he I mean, he's very wild;
Addicted so and so;' and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips
As are companions noted and most
#pgx200
known
To youth and liberty.
§lRey.§0
As gaming, my lord.
§lPol.§0
Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,
Drabbing:--you may go so far.
§lRey.§0
My lord, that would dishonour him.
#pgx201
§lPol.§0
Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge.
You must not put another scandal on him,
That he is open to incontinency;
That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly
That they may
#pgx202
seem the taints of liberty;
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind;
A savageness in unreclaimed blood,
Of general assault.
§lRey.§0
But, my good lord,--
§lPol.§0
Wherefore should you do this?
#pgx203
§lRey.§0
Ay, my lord,
I would know that.
§lPol.§0
Marry, sir, here's my drift;
And I believe it is a fetch of warrant:
You laying these slight sullies on my son
As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the
#pgx204
working,
Mark you,
Your party in converse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assur'd
He closes with you in this
#pgx205
consequence;
'Good sir,' or so; or 'friend,' or 'gentleman'--
According to the phrase or the addition
Of man and country.
§lRey.§0
Very good, my lord.
§lPol.§0
And then, sir, does he this,--he
#pgx206
does--What was I about to say?--
By the mass, I was about to say something:--Where did I leave?
§lRey.§0
At 'closes in the consequence,' at 'friend or so,' and
gentleman.'
§lPol.§0
At--closes in the
#pgx207
consequence'--ay, marry!
He closes with you thus:--'I know the gentleman;
I saw him yesterday, or t'other day,
Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say,
There was he gaming; there o'ertook in's rouse;
#pgx208
There falling out at tennis': or perchance,
'I saw him enter such a house of sale,'--
Videlicet, a brothel,--or so forth.--
See you now;
Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
And thus do we of
#pgx209
wisdom and of reach,
With windlaces, and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out:
So, by my former lecture and advice,
Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?
§lRey.§0
My lord, I have.
§lPol.§0
#pgx210
God b' wi' you, fare you well.
§lRey.§0
Good my lord!
§lPol.§0
Observe his inclination in yourself.
§lRey.§0
I shall, my lord.
§lPol.§0
And let him ply his music.
#pgx211
§lRey.§0
Well, my lord.
§lPol.§0
Farewell!
[Exit Reynaldo.]
[Enter Ophelia.]
How now, Ophelia! what's the matter?
§lOph.§0
Alas, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
§lPol.§0
With what, i' the
#pgx212
name of God?
§lOph.§0
My lord, as I was sewing in my chamber,
Lord Hamlet,--with his doublet all unbrac'd;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungart'red, and down-gyved to his ankle;
Pale as his shirt;
#pgx213
his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors,--he comes before me.
§lPol.§0
Mad for thy love?
§lOph.§0
My lord, I do not
#pgx214
know;
But truly I do fear it.
§lPol.§0
What said he?
§lOph.§0
He took me by the wrist, and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
#pgx215
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last,--a little shaking of mine arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,--
He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his
#pgx216
bulk
And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their help,
And to the last
#pgx217
bended their light on me.
§lPol.§0
Come, go with me: I will go seek the king.
This is the very ecstasy of love;
Whose violent property fordoes itself,
And leads the will to desperate undertakings,
#pgx218
As oft as any passion under heaven
That does afflict our natures. I am sorry,--
What, have you given him any hard words of late?
§lOph.§0
No, my good lord; but, as you did command,
I did repel his letters and denied
#pgx219
His access to me.
§lPol.§0
That hath made him mad.
I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I had not quoted him: I fear'd he did but trifle,
And meant to wreck thee; but beshrew my jealousy!
#pgx220
It seems it as proper to our age
To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
As it is common for the younger sort
To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king:
This must be known; which, being kept close, might move
#pgx221
More grief to hide than hate to utter love.
[Exeunt.]
Scene II. A room in the Castle.
[Enter King, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Attendants.]
§lKing.§0
Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and
#pgx222
Guildenstern!
Moreover that we much did long to see you,
The need we have to use you did provoke
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation; so I call it,
Since nor the
#pgx223
exterior nor the inward man
Resembles that it was. What it should be,
More than his father's death, that thus hath put him
So much from the understanding of himself,
I cannot dream of: I entreat you both
That, being of so
#pgx224
young days brought up with him,
And since so neighbour'd to his youth and humour,
That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
Some little time: so by your companies
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
#pgx225
So much as from occasion you may glean,
Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus,
That, open'd, lies within our remedy.
§lQueen.§0
Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you,
And sure I am two
#pgx226
men there are not living
To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
To show us so much gentry and good-will
As to expend your time with us awhile,
For the supply and profit of our hope,
Your visitation shall receive such
#pgx227
thanks
As fits a king's remembrance.
§lRos.§0
Both your majesties
Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,
Put your dread pleasures more into command
Than to entreaty.
§lGuil.§0
#pgx228
We both obey,
And here give up ourselves, in the full bent,
To lay our service freely at your feet,
To be commanded.
§lKing.§0
Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.
§lQueen.§0
Thanks,
#pgx229
Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz:
And I beseech you instantly to visit
My too-much-changed son.--Go, some of you,
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
§lGuil.§0
Heavens make our
#pgx230
presence and our practices
Pleasant and helpful to him!
§lQueen.§0
Ay, amen!
[Exeunt Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and some Attendants].
[Enter Polonius.]
§lPol.§0
Th' ambassadors
#pgx231
from Norway, my good lord,
Are joyfully return'd.
§lKing.§0
Thou still hast been the father of good news.
§lPol.§0
Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege,
I hold my duty, as I
#pgx232
hold my soul,
Both to my God and to my gracious king:
And I do think,--or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure
As it hath us'd to do,--that I have found
The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.
§lKing.§0
#pgx233
O, speak of that; that do I long to hear.
§lPol.§0
Give first admittance to the ambassadors;
My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.
§lKing.§0
Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.
[Exit Polonius.]
#pgx234
He tells me, my sweet queen, he hath found
The head and source of all your son's distemper.
§lQueen.§0
I doubt it is no other but the main,--
His father's death and our o'erhasty marriage.
§lKing.§0
Well, we shall sift
#pgx235
him.
[Enter Polonius, with Voltimand and Cornelius.]
Welcome, my good friends!
Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway?
§lVolt.§0
Most fair return of greetings and desires.
#pgx236
Upon our first, he sent out to suppress
His nephew's levies; which to him appear'd
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack;
But, better look'd into, he truly found
It was against your highness; whereat griev'd,--
That so his sickness, age, and
#pgx237
impotence
Was falsely borne in hand,--sends out arrests
On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys;
Receives rebuke from Norway; and, in fine,
Makes vow before his uncle never more
To give th' assay of arms against your majesty.
#pgx238
Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee;
And his commission to employ those soldiers,
So levied as before, against the Polack:
With an entreaty, herein further shown,
#pgx239
[Gives a paper.]
That it might please you to give quiet pass
Through your dominions for this enterprise,
On such regards of safety and allowance
As therein are set down.
§lKing.§0
It likes us well;
And at our more
#pgx240
consider'd time we'll read,
Answer, and think upon this business.
Meantime we thank you for your well-took labour:
Go to your rest; at night we'll feast together:
Most welcome home!
[Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius.]
#pgx241
§lPol.§0
This business is well ended.--
My liege, and madam,--to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night is night, and time is time.
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time.
#pgx242
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief:--your noble son is mad:
Mad call I it; for to define true madness,
What is't but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that
#pgx243
go.
§lQueen.§0
More matter, with less art.
§lPol.§0
Madam, I swear I use no art at all.
That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis true 'tis pity;
And pity 'tis 'tis true: a foolish figure;
But farewell it, for
#pgx244
I will use no art.
Mad let us grant him then: and now remains
That we find out the cause of this effect;
Or rather say, the cause of this defect,
For this effect defective comes by cause:
Thus it remains, and the remainder thus.
Perpend.
#pgx245
I have a daughter,--have whilst she is mine,--
Who, in her duty and obedience, mark,
Hath given me this: now gather, and surmise.
[Reads.]
'To the celestial, and my soul's idol, the most beautified
Ophelia,'--
That's an ill
#pgx246
phrase, a vile phrase; 'beautified' is a vile
phrase: but you shall hear. Thus:
[Reads.]
'In her excellent white bosom, these, §c.'
§lQueen.§0
Came this from Hamlet to her?
§lPol.§0
#pgx247
Good madam, stay awhile; I will be faithful.
[Reads.]
'Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
'O dear Ophelia, I
#pgx248
am ill at these numbers; I have not art to
reckon my groans: but that I love thee best, O most best, believe
it. Adieu.
'Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him,
HAMLET.'
This, in obedience,
#pgx249
hath my daughter show'd me;
And more above, hath his solicitings,
As they fell out by time, by means, and place,
All given to mine ear.
§lKing.§0
But how hath she
Receiv'd his love?
§lPol.§0
What do you think
#pgx250
of me?
§lKing.§0
As of a man faithful and honourable.
§lPol.§0
I would fain prove so. But what might you think,
When I had seen this hot love on the wing,--
As I perceiv'd it, I must tell you that,
#pgx251
Before my daughter told me,-- what might you,
Or my dear majesty your queen here, think,
If I had play'd the desk or table-book,
Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb;
Or look'd upon this love with idle
#pgx252
sight;--
What might you think? No, I went round to work,
And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:
'Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy sphere;
This must not be:' and then I precepts gave her,
#pgx253
That she should lock herself from his resort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.
Which done, she took the fruits of my advice;
And he, repulsed,--a short tale to make,--
Fell into a sadness; then into a fast;
Thence to a
#pgx254
watch; thence into a weakness;
Thence to a lightness; and, by this declension,
Into the madness wherein now he raves,
And all we wail for.
§lKing.§0
Do you think 'tis this?
§lQueen.§0
It may be, very
#pgx255
likely.
§lPol.§0
Hath there been such a time,--I'd fain know that--
That I have positively said ''Tis so,'
When it prov'd otherwise?
§lKing.§0
Not that I know.
§lPol.§0
Take this from
#pgx256
this, if this be otherwise:
[Points to his head and shoulder.]
If circumstances lead me, I will find
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the centre.
§lKing.§0
How may we try it further?
#pgx257
§lPol.§0
You know sometimes he walks for hours together
Here in the lobby.
§lQueen.§0
So he does indeed.
§lPol.§0
At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him:
Be you and I behind an arras then;
Mark the
#pgx258
encounter: if he love her not,
And he not from his reason fall'n thereon
Let me be no assistant for a state,
But keep a farm and carters.
§lKing.§0
We will try it.
§lQueen.§0
But look where
#pgx259
sadly the poor wretch comes reading.
§lPol.§0
Away, I do beseech you, both away
I'll board him presently:--O, give me leave.
[Exeunt King, Queen, and Attendants.]
[Enter Hamlet, reading.]
#pgx260
How does my good Lord Hamlet?
§lHam.§0
Well, God-a-mercy.
§lPol.§0
Do you know me, my lord?
§lHam.§0
Excellent well; you're a fishmonger.
§lPol.§0
Not I, my lord.
§lHam.§0
#pgx261
Then I would you were so honest a man.
§lPol.§0
Honest, my lord!
§lHam.§0
Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man
picked out of ten thousand.
§lPol.§0
That's very true, my lord.
#pgx262
§lHam.§0
For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god-kissing
carrion,--Have you a daughter?
§lPol.§0
I have, my lord.
§lHam.§0
Let her not walk i' the sun: conception is a blessing, but not
#pgx263
as your daughter may conceive:--friend, look to't.
§lPol.§0
How say you by that?--[Aside.] Still harping on my daughter:--yet
he knew me not at first; he said I was a fishmonger: he is far
gone, far gone: and truly in my youth I
#pgx264
suffered much extremity
for love; very near this. I'll speak to him again.--What do you
read, my lord?
§lHam.§0
Words, words, words.
§lPol.§0
What is the matter, my lord?
§lHam.§0
Between who?
#pgx265
§lPol.§0
I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.
§lHam.§0
Slanders, sir: for the satirical slave says here that old men
have grey beards; that their faces are wrinkled; their eyes
purging thick amber and plum-tree
#pgx266
gum; and that they have a
plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams: all which,
sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it
not honesty to have it thus set down; for you yourself, sir,
should be old as I
#pgx267
am, if, like a crab, you could go backward.
§lPol.§0
[Aside.] Though this be madness, yet there is a method in't.--
Will you walk out of the air, my lord?
§lHam.§0
Into my grave?
§lPol.§0
Indeed, that is out
#pgx268
o' the air. [Aside.] How pregnant sometimes
his replies are! a happiness that often madness hits on, which
reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I
will leave him and suddenly contrive the means of
#pgx269
meeting between
him and my daughter.--My honourable lord, I will most humbly take
my leave of you.
§lHam.§0
You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will more
willingly part withal,--except my life, except my
#pgx270
life, except my
life.
§lPol.§0
Fare you well, my lord.
§lHam.§0
These tedious old fools!
[Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.]
§lPol.§0
You go to seek the Lord Hamlet; there
#pgx271
he is.
§lRos.§0
[To Polonius.] God save you, sir!
[Exit Polonius.]
§lGuil.§0
My honoured lord!
§lRos.§0
My most dear lord!
§lHam.§0
My excellent good friends! How dost thou,
#pgx272
Guildenstern? Ah,
Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye both?
§lRos.§0
As the indifferent children of the earth.
§lGuil.§0
Happy in that we are not over-happy;
On fortune's cap we are not the very button.
#pgx273
§lHam.§0
Nor the soles of her shoe?
§lRos.§0
Neither, my lord.
§lHam.§0
Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of her
favours?
§lGuil.§0
Faith, her privates we.
#pgx274
§lHam.§0
In the secret parts of fortune? O, most true; she is a
strumpet. What's the news?
§lRos.§0
None, my lord, but that the world's grown honest.
§lHam.§0
Then is doomsday near; but your
#pgx275
news is not true. Let me
question more in particular: what have you, my good friends,
deserved at the hands of fortune, that she sends you to prison
hither?
§lGuil.§0
Prison, my lord!
§lHam.§0
#pgx276
Denmark's a prison.
§lRos.§0
Then is the world one.
§lHam.§0
A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards, and
dungeons, Denmark being one o' the worst.
§lRos.§0
We think not so, my lord.
#pgx277
§lHam.§0
Why, then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good
or bad but thinking makes it so: to me it is a prison.
§lRos.§0
Why, then, your ambition makes it one; 'tis too narrow for your
mind.
#pgx278
§lHam.§0
O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a
king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.
§lGuil.§0
Which dreams, indeed, are ambition; for the very substance of
the ambitious is
#pgx279
merely the shadow of a dream.
§lHam.§0
A dream itself is but a shadow.
§lRos.§0
Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light a quality that
it is but a shadow's shadow.
§lHam.§0
#pgx280
Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs and outstretch'd
heroes the beggars' shadows. Shall we to the court? for, by my
fay, I cannot reason.
Ros. and Guild.
We'll wait upon you.
§lHam.§0
No such matter: I will not sort you with
#pgx281
the rest of my
servants; for, to speak to you like an honest man, I am most
dreadfully attended. But, in the beaten way of friendship, what
make you at Elsinore?
§lRos.§0
To visit you, my lord; no other occasion.
§lHam.§0
Beggar that I am, I
#pgx282
am even poor in thanks; but I thank you:
and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear a halfpenny. Were
you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free
visitation? Come, deal justly with me: come, come; nay, speak.
#pgx283
§lGuil.§0
What should we say, my lord?
§lHam.§0
Why, anything--but to the purpose. You were sent for; and
there is a kind of confession in your looks, which your modesties
have not craft enough to colour:
#pgx284
I know the good king and queen
have sent for you.
§lRos.§0
To what end, my lord?
§lHam.§0
That you must teach me. But let me conjure you, by the rights
of our fellowship, by the consonancy of our youth, by the
obligation of our
#pgx285
ever-preserved love, and by what more dear a
better proposer could charge you withal, be even and direct with
me, whether you were sent for or no.
§lRos.§0
[To Guildenstern.] What say you?
§lHam.§0