1
Elsinore. A platform before the Castle.
2
Enter two Sentinels-[first,] Francisco, [who paces up and down at his post; then] Bernardo, [who approaches him].
6
Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.
14
You come most carefully upon your hour.
16
'Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco.
18
For this relief much thanks. 'Tis bitter cold,
19
And I am sick at heart.
21
Have you had quiet guard?
26
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
27
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
28
Enter Horatio and Marcellus.
30
I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who is there?
32
Friends to this ground.
34
And liegemen to the Dane.
38
O, farewell, honest soldier.
39
Who hath reliev'd you?
41
Bernardo hath my place.
42
Give you good night.[Exit.]
47
What, is Horatio there ?
51
Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, good Marcellus.
53
What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?
57
Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,
58
And will not let belief take hold of him
59
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us.
60
Therefore I have entreated him along,
61
With us to watch the minutes of this night,
62
That, if again this apparition come,
63
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.
65
Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.
68
And let us once again assail your ears,
69
That are so fortified against our story,
70
What we two nights have seen.
73
And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.
76
When yond same star that's westward from the pole
77
Had made his course t' illume that part of heaven
78
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
79
The bell then beating one-
82
Peace! break thee off! Look where it comes again!
84
In the same figure, like the King that's dead.
86
Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.
88
Looks it not like the King? Mark it, Horatio.
90
Most like. It harrows me with fear and wonder.
96
What art thou that usurp'st this time of night
97
Together with that fair and warlike form
98
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
99
Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee speak!
105
Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee speak!
108
'Tis gone and will not answer.
110
How now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale.
111
Is not this something more than fantasy?
114
Before my God, I might not this believe
115
Without the sensible and true avouch
118
Is it not like the King?
120
As thou art to thyself.
121
Such was the very armour he had on
122
When he th' ambitious Norway combated.
123
So frown'd he once when, in an angry parle,
124
He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.
127
Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
128
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
130
In what particular thought to work I know not;
131
But, in the gross and scope of my opinion,
132
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
134
Good now, sit down, and tell me he that knows,
135
Why this same strict and most observant watch
136
So nightly toils the subject of the land,
137
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon
138
And foreign mart for implements of war;
139
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
140
Does not divide the Sunday from the week.
141
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste
142
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day?
143
Who is't that can inform me?
146
At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
147
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,
148
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
149
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,
150
Dar'd to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet
151
(For so this side of our known world esteem'd him)
152
Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a seal'd compact,
153
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
154
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
155
Which he stood seiz'd of, to the conqueror;
156
Against the which a moiety competent
157
Was gaged by our king; which had return'd
158
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
159
Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same cov'nant
160
And carriage of the article design'd,
161
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
162
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
163
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
164
Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes,
165
For food and diet, to some enterprise
166
That hath a stomach in't; which is no other,
167
As it doth well appear unto our state,
168
But to recover of us, by strong hand
169
And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands
170
So by his father lost; and this, I take it,
171
Is the main motive of our preparations,
172
The source of this our watch, and the chief head
173
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.
175
I think it be no other but e'en so.
176
Well may it sort that this portentous figure
177
Comes armed through our watch, so like the King
178
That was and is the question of these wars.
180
A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
181
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
182
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
183
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
184
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets;
185
As stars with trains of fire, and dews of blood,
186
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star
187
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands
188
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.
189
And even the like precurse of fierce events,
190
As harbingers preceding still the fates
191
And prologue to the omen coming on,
192
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
193
Unto our climature and countrymen.
195
But soft! behold! Lo, where it comes again!
196
I'll cross it, though it blast me.- Stay illusion!
198
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
200
If there be any good thing to be done,
201
That may to thee do ease, and, grace to me,
203
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
204
Which happily foreknowing may avoid,
206
Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
207
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth
208
(For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death),
210
Speak of it! Stay, and speak!- Stop it, Marcellus!
212
Shall I strike at it with my partisan?
214
Do, if it will not stand.
222
We do it wrong, being so majestical,
223
To offer it the show of violence;
224
For it is as the air, invulnerable,
225
And our vain blows malicious mockery.
227
It was about to speak, when the cock crew.
229
And then it started, like a guilty thing
230
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard
231
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
232
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
233
Awake the god of day; and at his warning,
234
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
235
Th' extravagant and erring spirit hies
236
To his confine; and of the truth herein
237
This present object made probation.
239
It faded on the crowing of the cock.
240
Some say that ever, 'gainst that season comes
241
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
242
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
243
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
244
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
245
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
246
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
248
So have I heard and do in part believe it.
249
But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
250
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill.
251
Break we our watch up; and by my advice
252
Let us impart what we have seen to-night
253
Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,
254
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
255
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
256
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
257
Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know
258
Where we shall find him most conveniently.
1
Elsinore. A room of state in the Castle.
2
Flourish. [Enter Claudius, King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes and his sister Ophelia, [Voltemand, Cornelius,] Lords Attendant.
4
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
5
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
6
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
7
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
8
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
9
That we with wisest sorrow think on him
10
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
11
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
12
Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state,
13
Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,
14
With an auspicious, and a dropping eye,
15
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,
16
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,
17
Taken to wife; nor have we herein barr'd
18
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
19
With this affair along. For all, our thanks.
20
Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,
21
Holding a weak supposal of our worth,
22
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death
23
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
24
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,
25
He hath not fail'd to pester us with message
26
Importing the surrender of those lands
27
Lost by his father, with all bands of law,
28
To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
29
Now for ourself and for this time of meeting.
30
Thus much the business is: we have here writ
31
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,
32
Who, impotent and bedrid, scarcely hears
33
Of this his nephew's purpose, to suppress
34
His further gait herein, in that the levies,
35
The lists, and full proportions are all made
36
Out of his subject; and we here dispatch
37
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand,
38
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway,
39
Giving to you no further personal power
40
To business with the King, more than the scope
41
Of these dilated articles allow.[Gives a paper.]
42
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.
44
[with Voltemand]In that, and all things, will we show our duty.
46
We doubt it nothing. Heartily farewell.
47
[Exeunt Voltemand and Cornelius.]
48
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
49
You told us of some suit. What is't, Laertes?
50
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane
51
And lose your voice. What wouldst thou beg, Laertes,
52
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
53
The head is not more native to the heart,
54
The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
55
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
56
What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
59
Your leave and favour to return to France;
60
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark
61
To show my duty in your coronation,
62
Yet now I must confess, that duty done,
63
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
64
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
66
Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?
68
He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
69
By laboursome petition, and at last
70
Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent.
71
I do beseech you give him leave to go.
73
Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine,
74
And thy best graces spend it at thy will!
75
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son-
77
[aside]A little more than kin, and less than kind!
79
How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
81
Not so, my lord. I am too much i' th' sun.
83
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
84
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
85
Do not for ever with thy vailed lids
86
Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
87
Thou know'st 'tis common. All that lives must die,
88
Passing through nature to eternity.
90
Ay, madam, it is common.
93
Why seems it so particular with thee?
95
Seems, madam, Nay, it is. I know not 'seems.'
96
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
97
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
98
Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath,
99
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
100
Nor the dejected havior of the visage,
101
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
102
'That can denote me truly. These indeed seem,
103
For they are actions that a man might play;
104
But I have that within which passeth show-
105
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
107
'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
108
To give these mourning duties to your father;
109
But you must know, your father lost a father;
110
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
111
In filial obligation for some term
112
To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever
113
In obstinate condolement is a course
114
Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief;
115
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
116
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
117
An understanding simple and unschool'd;
118
For what we know must be, and is as common
119
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
120
Why should we in our peevish opposition
121
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
122
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
123
To reason most absurd, whose common theme
124
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
125
From the first corse till he that died to-day,
126
'This must be so.' We pray you throw to earth
127
This unprevailing woe, and think of us
128
As of a father; for let the world take note
129
You are the most immediate to our throne,
130
And with no less nobility of love
131
Than that which dearest father bears his son
132
Do I impart toward you. For your intent
133
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
134
It is most retrograde to our desire;
135
And we beseech you, bend you to remain
136
Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
137
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
139
Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet.
140
I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
142
I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
144
Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply.
145
Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come.
146
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
147
Sits smiling to my heart; in grace whereof,
148
No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day
149
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
150
And the King's rouse the heaven shall bruit again,
151
Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away.
152
Flourish. Exeunt all but Hamlet.
154
O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
155
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
156
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
157
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!
158
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
159
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
160
Fie on't! ah, fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden
161
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
162
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
163
But two months dead! Nay, not so much, not two.
164
So excellent a king, that was to this
165
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother
166
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
167
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
168
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
169
As if increase of appetite had grown
170
By what it fed on; and yet, within a month-
171
Let me not think on't! Frailty, thy name is woman!-
172
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
173
With which she followed my poor father's body
174
Like Niobe, all tears- why she, even she
175
(O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason
176
Would have mourn'd longer)married with my uncle;
177
My father's brother, but no more like my father
178
Than I to Hercules. Within a month,
179
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
180
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
181
She married. O, most wicked speed, to post
182
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
183
It is not, nor it cannot come to good.
184
But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue!
185
Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.
187
Hail to your lordship!
189
I am glad to see you well.
190
Horatio!- or I do forget myself.
192
The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
194
Sir, my good friend- I'll change that name with you.
195
And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?
200
I am very glad to see you.-[To Bernardo]Good even, sir.-
201
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
203
A truant disposition, good my lord.
205
I would not hear your enemy say so,
206
Nor shall you do my ear that violence
207
To make it truster of your own report
208
Against yourself. I know you are no truant.
209
But what is your affair in Elsinore?
210
We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
212
My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
214
I prithee do not mock me, fellow student.
215
I think it was to see my mother's wedding.
217
Indeed, my lord, it followed hard upon.
219
Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral bak'd meats
220
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
221
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
222
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
223
My father- methinks I see my father.
227
In my mind's eye, Horatio.
229
I saw him once. He was a goodly king.
231
He was a man, take him for all in all.
232
I shall not look upon his like again.
234
My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
238
My lord, the King your father.
242
Season your admiration for a while
243
With an attent ear, till I may deliver
244
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
247
For God's love let me hear!
249
Two nights together had these gentlemen
250
(Marcellus and Bernardo)on their watch
251
In the dead vast and middle of the night
252
Been thus encount'red. A figure like your father,
253
Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe,
254
Appears before them and with solemn march
255
Goes slow and stately by them. Thrice he walk'd
256
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,
257
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they distill'd
258
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
259
Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me
260
In dreadful secrecy impart they did,
261
And I with them the third night kept the watch;
262
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,
263
Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
264
The apparition comes. I knew your father.
265
These hands are not more like.
269
My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.
271
Did you not speak to it?
274
But answer made it none. Yet once methought
275
It lifted up it head and did address
276
Itself to motion, like as it would speak;
277
But even then the morning cock crew loud,
278
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away
279
And vanish'd from our sight.
283
As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;
284
And we did think it writ down in our duty
285
To let you know of it.
287
Indeed, indeed, sirs. But this troubles me.
288
Hold you the watch to-night?
290
[with Bernardo]We do, my lord.
294
[with Bernardo]Arm'd, my lord.
298
[with Bernardo]My lord, from head to foot.
300
Then saw you not his face?
302
O, yes, my lord! He wore his beaver up.
304
What, look'd he frowningly.
306
A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
312
And fix'd his eyes upon you?
316
I would I had been there.
318
It would have much amaz'd you.
320
Very like, very like. Stay'd it long?
322
While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.
324
[with Bernardo]Longer, longer.
328
His beard was grizzled- no?
330
It was, as I have seen it in his life,
333
I will watch to-night.
334
Perchance 'twill walk again.
338
If it assume my noble father's person,
339
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape
340
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
341
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
342
Let it be tenable in your silence still;
343
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
344
Give it an understanding but no tongue.
345
I will requite your loves. So, fare you well.
346
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
349
Our duty to your honour.
351
Your loves, as mine to you. Farewell.
352
[Exeunt [all but Hamlet].]
353
My father's spirit- in arms? All is not well.
354
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
355
Till then sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise,
356
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.
1
Elsinore. A room in the house of Polonius.
2
Enter Laertes and Ophelia.
4
My necessaries are embark'd. Farewell.
5
And, sister, as the winds give benefit
6
And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
7
But let me hear from you.
11
For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,
12
Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;
13
A violet in the youth of primy nature,
14
Forward, not permanent- sweet, not lasting;
15
The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
21
For nature crescent does not grow alone
22
In thews and bulk; but as this temple waxes,
23
The inward service of the mind and soul
24
Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now,
25
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
26
The virtue of his will; but you must fear,
27
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
28
For he himself is subject to his birth.
29
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
30
Carve for himself, for on his choice depends
31
The safety and health of this whole state,
32
And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd
33
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
34
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
35
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
36
As he in his particular act and place
37
May give his saying deed; which is no further
38
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
39
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain
40
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
41
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
42
To his unmast'red importunity.
43
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
44
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
45
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
46
The chariest maid is prodigal enough
47
If she unmask her beauty to the moon.
48
Virtue itself scopes not calumnious strokes.
49
The canker galls the infants of the spring
50
Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd,
51
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
52
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
53
Be wary then; best safety lies in fear.
54
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
56
I shall th' effect of this good lesson keep
57
As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
58
Do not as some ungracious pastors do,
59
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
60
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
61
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads
62
And recks not his own rede.
66
I stay too long. But here my father comes.
67
A double blessing is a double grace;
68
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
70
Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for shame!
71
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
72
And you are stay'd for. There- my blessing with thee!
73
And these few precepts in thy memory
74
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
75
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
76
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar:
77
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
78
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
79
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
80
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
81
Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
82
Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
83
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice;
84
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
85
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
86
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
87
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
88
And they in France of the best rank and station
89
Are most select and generous, chief in that.
90
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
91
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
92
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
93
This above all- to thine own self be true,
94
And it must follow, as the night the day,
95
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
96
Farewell. My blessing season this in thee!
98
Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
100
The time invites you. Go, your servants tend.
102
Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well
103
What I have said to you.
105
'Tis in my memory lock'd,
106
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
110
What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
112
So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
114
Marry, well bethought!
115
'Tis told me he hath very oft of late
116
Given private time to you, and you yourself
117
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous.
118
If it be so- as so 'tis put on me,
119
And that in way of caution- I must tell you
120
You do not understand yourself so clearly
121
As it behooves my daughter and your honour.
122
What is between you? Give me up the truth.
124
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
125
Of his affection to me.
127
Affection? Pooh! You speak like a green girl,
128
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
129
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
131
I do not know, my lord, what I should think,
133
Marry, I will teach you! Think yourself a baby
134
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
135
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly,
136
Or(not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
137
Running it thus)you'll tender me a fool.
139
My lord, he hath importun'd me with love
140
In honourable fashion.
142
Ay, fashion you may call it. Go to, go to!
144
And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
145
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
147
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks! I do know,
148
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
149
Lends the tongue vows. These blazes, daughter,
150
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both
151
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,
152
You must not take for fire. From this time
153
Be something scanter of your maiden presence.
154
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
155
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
156
Believe so much in him, that he is young,
157
And with a larger tether may he walk
158
Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,
159
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
160
Not of that dye which their investments show,
161
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
162
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
163
The better to beguile. This is for all:
164
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
165
Have you so slander any moment leisure
166
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
167
Look to't, I charge you. Come your ways.
169
I shall obey, my lord.
1
Elsinore. The platform before the Castle.
2
Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.
4
The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
6
It is a nipping and an eager air.
10
I think it lacks of twelve.
14
Indeed? I heard it not. It then draws near the season
15
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
16
[A flourish of trumpets, and two pieces go off.]
17
What does this mean, my lord?
19
The King doth wake to-night and takes his rouse,
20
Keeps wassail, and the swagg'ring upspring reels,
21
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
22
The kettledrum and trumpet thus bray out
23
The triumph of his pledge.
28
But to my mind, though I am native here
29
And to the manner born, it is a custom
30
More honour'd in the breach than the observance.
31
This heavy-headed revel east and west
32
Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations;
33
They clip us drunkards and with swinish phrase
34
Soil our addition; and indeed it takes
35
From our achievements, though perform'd at height,
36
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
37
So oft it chances in particular men
38
That, for some vicious mole of nature in them,
39
As in their birth,- wherein they are not guilty,
40
Since nature cannot choose his origin,-
41
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
42
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
43
Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens
44
The form of plausive manners, that these men
45
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
46
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,
47
Their virtues else- be they as pure as grace,
48
As infinite as man may undergo-
49
Shall in the general censure take corruption
50
From that particular fault. The dram of e'il
51
Doth all the noble substance often dout To his own scandal.
54
Look, my lord, it comes!
56
Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
57
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
58
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
59
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
60
Thou com'st in such a questionable shape
61
That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet,
62
King, father, royal Dane. O, answer me?
63
Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell
64
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,
65
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre
66
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
67
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws
68
To cast thee up again. What may this mean
69
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel,
70
Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon,
71
Making night hideous, and we fools of nature
72
So horridly to shake our disposition
73
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
74
Say, why is this? wherefore? What should we do?
77
It beckons you to go away with it,
78
As if it some impartment did desire
81
Look with what courteous action
82
It waves you to a more removed ground.
83
But do not go with it!
87
It will not speak. Then will I follow it.
91
Why, what should be the fear?
92
I do not set my life at a pin's fee;
93
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
94
Being a thing immortal as itself?
95
It waves me forth again. I'll follow it.
97
What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
98
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
99
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
100
And there assume some other, horrible form
101
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
102
And draw you into madness? Think of it.
103
The very place puts toys of desperation,
104
Without more motive, into every brain
105
That looks so many fadoms to the sea
106
And hears it roar beneath.
109
Go on. I'll follow thee.
111
You shall not go, my lord.
115
Be rul'd. You shall not go.
118
And makes each petty artire in this body
119
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.
121
Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen.
122
By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me!-
123
I say, away!- Go on. I'll follow thee.
124
Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet.
126
He waxes desperate with imagination.
128
Let's follow. 'Tis not fit thus to obey him.
130
Have after. To what issue will this come?
132
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
134
Heaven will direct it.
136
Nay, let's follow him.
1
Elsinore. The Castle. Another part of the fortifications.
2
Enter Ghost and Hamlet.
4
Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak! I'll go no further.
10
My hour is almost come,
11
When I to sulph'rous and tormenting flames
12
Must render up myself.
16
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
17
To what I shall unfold.
19
Speak. I am bound to hear.
21
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
25
I am thy father's spirit,
26
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
27
And for the day confin'd to fast in fires,
28
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
29
Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid
30
To tell the secrets of my prison house,
31
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
32
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
33
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
34
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
35
And each particular hair to stand on end
36
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.
37
But this eternal blazon must not be
38
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
39
If thou didst ever thy dear father love-
43
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murther.
47
Murther most foul, as in the best it is;
48
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
50
Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
51
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
52
May sweep to my revenge.
55
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
56
That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
57
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.
58
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
59
A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark
60
Is by a forged process of my death
61
Rankly abus'd. But know, thou noble youth,
62
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
68
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
69
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts-
70
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
71
So to seduce!- won to his shameful lust
72
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.
73
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there,
74
From me, whose love was of that dignity
75
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
76
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
77
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
79
But virtue, as it never will be mov'd,
80
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
81
So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
82
Will sate itself in a celestial bed
84
But soft! methinks I scent the morning air.
85
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
86
My custom always of the afternoon,
87
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
88
With juice of cursed hebona in a vial,
89
And in the porches of my ears did pour
90
The leperous distilment; whose effect
91
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
92
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
93
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
94
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
95
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
96
The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine;
97
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
98
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust
100
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
101
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd;
102
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
103
Unhous'led, disappointed, unanel'd,
104
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
105
With all my imperfections on my head.
107
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
109
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not.
110
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
111
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
112
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
113
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
114
Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven,
115
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge
116
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once.
117
The glowworm shows the matin to be near
118
And gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
119
Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me.[Exit.]
121
O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?
122
And shall I couple hell? Hold, hold, my heart!
123
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
124
But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee?
125
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
126
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
127
Yea, from the table of my memory
128
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
129
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past
130
That youth and observation copied there,
131
And thy commandment all alone shall live
132
Within the book and volume of my brain,
133
Unmix'd with baser matter. Yes, by heaven!
134
O most pernicious woman!
135
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
136
My tables! Meet it is I set it down
137
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
138
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.[Writes.]
139
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word:
140
It is 'Adieu, adieu! Remember me.'
143
[within]My lord, my lord!
144
Enter Horatio and Marcellus.
152
Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
154
Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come.
156
How is't, my noble lord?
162
Good my lord, tell it.
164
No, you will reveal it.
166
Not I, my lord, by heaven!
170
How say you then? Would heart of man once think it?
171
But you'll be secret?
173
[with Horatio]Ay, by heaven, my lord.
175
There's neer a villain dwelling in all Denmark
176
But he's an arrant knave.
178
There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
181
Why, right! You are in the right!
182
And so, without more circumstance at all,
183
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part;
184
You, as your business and desires shall point you,
185
For every man hath business and desire,
186
Such as it is; and for my own poor part,
187
Look you, I'll go pray.
189
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
191
I am sorry they offend you, heartily;
192
Yes, faith, heartily.
194
There's no offence, my lord.
196
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
197
And much offence too. Touching this vision here,
198
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you.
199
For your desire to know what is between us,
200
O'ermaster't as you may. And now, good friends,
201
As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
202
Give me one poor request.
204
What is't, my lord? We will.
206
Never make known what you have seen to-night.
208
[with Horatio]My lord, we will not.
215
Nor I, my lord- in faith.
219
We have sworn, my lord, already.
221
Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
222
Ghost cries under the stage.
226
Aha boy, say'st thou so? Art thou there, truepenny?
227
Come on! You hear this fellow in the cellarage.
230
Propose the oath, my lord.
232
Never to speak of this that you have seen.
237
Hic et ubique? Then we'll shift our ground.
238
Come hither, gentlemen,
239
And lay your hands again upon my sword.
240
Never to speak of this that you have heard:
243
[beneath]Swear by his sword.
245
Well said, old mole! Canst work i' th' earth so fast?
246
A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends."
248
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!
250
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
251
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
252
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
254
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
255
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself
256
(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
257
To put an antic disposition on),
258
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
259
With arms encumb'red thus, or this head-shake,
260
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
261
As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,'
262
Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,'
263
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
264
That you know aught of me- this is not to do,
265
So grace and mercy at your most need help you,
271
Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! So, gentlemen,
272
With all my love I do commend me to you;
273
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
274
May do t' express his love and friending to you,
275
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
276
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
277
The time is out of joint. O cursed spite
278
That ever I was born to set it right!
279
Nay, come, let's go together.
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