1
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
2
Enter King and Queen, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
4
There's matter in these sighs. These profound heaves
5
You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them.
8
Bestow this place on us a little while.
9
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.]
10
Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night!
12
What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
14
Mad as the sea and wind when both contend
15
Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit
16
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
17
Whips out his rapier, cries 'A rat, a rat!'
18
And in this brainish apprehension kills
19
The unseen good old man.
22
It had been so with us, had we been there.
23
His liberty is full of threats to all-
24
To you yourself, to us, to every one.
25
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
26
It will be laid to us, whose providence
27
Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt
28
This mad young man. But so much was our love
29
We would not understand what was most fit,
30
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
31
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
32
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
34
To draw apart the body he hath kill'd;
35
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore
36
Among a mineral of metals base,
37
Shows itself pure. He weeps for what is done.
39
O Gertrude, come away!
40
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch
41
But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed
42
We must with all our majesty and skill
43
Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern!
44
[Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.]
45
Friends both, go join you with some further aid.
46
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
47
And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him.
48
Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body
49
Into the chapel. I pray you haste in this.
50
[Exeunt [Rosencrantz and Guildenstern].]
51
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends
52
And let them know both what we mean to do
53
And what's untimely done.[So haply slander-]
54
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,
55
As level as the cannon to his blank,
56
Transports his poisoned shot- may miss our name
57
And hit the woundless air.- O, come away!
58
My soul is full of discord and dismay.
1
Elsinore. A passage in the Castle.
6
[within]Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!
8
But soft! What noise? Who calls on Hamlet? O, here they come.
9
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
11
What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?
13
Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin.
15
Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence
16
And bear it to the chapel.
22
That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Besides, to be
23
demanded of a sponge, what replication should be made by the son
26
Take you me for a sponge, my lord?
28
Ay, sir; that soaks up the King's countenance, his rewards,
29
his authorities. But such officers do the King best service in
30
the end. He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw;
31
first mouth'd, to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have
32
glean'd, it is but squeezing you and, sponge, you shall be dry
35
I understand you not, my lord.
37
I am glad of it. A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.
39
My lord, you must tell us where the body is and go with us to
42
The body is with the King, but the King is not with the body.
47
Of nothing. Bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.
1
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
4
I have sent to seek him and to find the body.
5
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
6
Yet must not we put the strong law on him.
7
He's lov'd of the distracted multitude,
8
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
9
And where 'tis so, th' offender's scourge is weigh'd,
10
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
11
This sudden sending him away must seem
12
Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown
13
By desperate appliance are reliev'd,
16
How now O What hath befall'n?
18
Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
19
We cannot get from him.
23
Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
27
Ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord.
28
Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern [with Attendants].
30
Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
36
Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain
37
convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your
38
only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and
39
we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar
40
is but variable service- two dishes, but to one table. That's the
45
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat
46
of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
48
What dost thou mean by this?
50
Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through
55
In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger find him not
56
there, seek him i' th' other place yourself. But indeed, if you
57
find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up
58
the stair, into the lobby.
60
Go seek him there.[To Attendants.]
62
He will stay till you come.
65
Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,-
66
Which we do tender as we dearly grieve
67
For that which thou hast done,- must send thee hence
68
With fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself.
69
The bark is ready and the wind at help,
70
Th' associates tend, and everything is bent
79
So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
81
I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England!
82
Farewell, dear mother.
84
Thy loving father, Hamlet.
86
My mother! Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is
87
one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!
90
Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard.
91
Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night.
92
Away! for everything is seal'd and done
93
That else leans on th' affair. Pray you make haste.
94
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]
95
And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,-
96
As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
97
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
98
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
99
Pays homage to us,- thou mayst not coldly set
100
Our sovereign process, which imports at full,
101
By letters congruing to that effect,
102
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
103
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
104
And thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done,
105
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.[Exit.]
2
Enter Fortinbras with his Army over the stage.
4
Go, Captain, from me greet the Danish king.
5
Tell him that by his license Fortinbras
6
Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march
7
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
8
If that his Majesty would aught with us,
9
We shall express our duty in his eye;
15
Exeunt [all but the Captain].
16
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, [Guildenstern,] and others.
18
Good sir, whose powers are these?
20
They are of Norway, sir.
22
How purpos'd, sir, I pray you?
24
Against some part of Poland.
26
Who commands them, sir?
28
The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
30
Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,
33
Truly to speak, and with no addition,
34
We go to gain a little patch of ground
35
That hath in it no profit but the name.
36
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
37
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole
38
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
40
Why, then the Polack never will defend it.
42
Yes, it is already garrison'd.
44
Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats
45
Will not debate the question of this straw.
46
This is th' imposthume of much wealth and peace,
47
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without
48
Why the man dies.- I humbly thank you, sir.
50
God b' wi' you, sir.[Exit.]
52
Will't please you go, my lord?
54
I'll be with you straight. Go a little before.
55
[Exeunt all but Hamlet.]
56
How all occasions do inform against me
57
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
58
If his chief good and market of his time
59
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
60
Sure he that made us with such large discourse,
61
Looking before and after, gave us not
62
That capability and godlike reason
63
To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
64
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
65
Of thinking too precisely on th' event,-
66
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
67
And ever three parts coward,- I do not know
68
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do,'
69
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means
70
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me.
71
Witness this army of such mass and charge,
72
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
73
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,
74
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
75
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
76
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
77
Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great
78
Is not to stir without great argument,
79
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
80
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
81
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
82
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
83
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
84
The imminent death of twenty thousand men
85
That for a fantasy and trick of fame
86
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
87
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
88
Which is not tomb enough and continent
89
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
90
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth![Exit.]
1
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
2
Enter Horatio, Queen, and a Gentleman.
4
I will not speak with her.
6
She is importunate, indeed distract.
7
Her mood will needs be pitied.
11
She speaks much of her father; says she hears
12
There's tricks i' th' world, and hems, and beats her heart;
13
Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
14
That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing,
15
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
16
The hearers to collection; they aim at it,
17
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;
18
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
19
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
20
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
22
'Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew
23
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
27
[Aside]To my sick soul (as sin's true nature is)
28
Each toy seems Prologue to some great amiss.
29
So full of artless jealousy is guilt
30
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
31
Enter Ophelia distracted.
33
Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark?
38
How should I your true-love know
40
By his cockle bat and' staff
43
Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?
45
Say you? Nay, pray You mark.
46
(Sings)He is dead and gone, lady,
48
At his head a grass-green turf,
55
(Sings)White his shroud as the mountain snow-
58
Alas, look here, my lord!
61
Larded all with sweet flowers;
62
Which bewept to the grave did not go
63
With true-love showers.
65
How do you, pretty lady?
67
Well, God dild you! They say the owl was a baker's daughter.
68
Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at
71
Conceit upon her father.
73
Pray let's have no words of this; but when they ask, you what
74
it means, say you this:
75
(Sings)To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
76
All in the morning bedtime,
77
And I a maid at your window,
79
Then up he rose and donn'd his clo'es
80
And dupp'd the chamber door,
81
Let in the maid, that out a maid
86
Indeed, la, without an oath, I'll make an end on't!
87
[Sings]By Gis and by Saint Charity,
88
Alack, and fie for shame!
89
Young men will do't if they come to't
90
By Cock, they are to blame.
91
Quoth she, 'Before you tumbled me,
92
You promis'd me to wed.'
94
'So would I 'a' done, by yonder sun,
95
An thou hadst not come to my bed.'
97
How long hath she been thus?
99
I hope all will be well. We must be patient; but I cannot
100
choose but weep to think they would lay him i' th' cold ground.
101
My brother shall know of it; and so I thank you for your good
102
counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies. Good night, sweet
103
ladies. Good night, good night.[Exit]
105
Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.
107
O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs
108
All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,
109
When sorrows come, they come not single spies.
110
But in battalions! First, her father slain;
111
Next, your son gone, and he most violent author
112
Of his own just remove; the people muddied,
113
Thick and and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers
114
For good Polonius' death, and we have done but greenly
115
In hugger-mugger to inter him; poor Ophelia
116
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,
117
Without the which we are pictures or mere beasts;
118
Last, and as much containing as all these,
119
Her brother is in secret come from France;
120
Feeds on his wonder, keeps, himself in clouds,
121
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
122
With pestilent speeches of his father's death,
123
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd,
124
Will nothing stick our person to arraign
125
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,
126
Like to a murd'ring piece, in many places
127
Give me superfluous death. A noise within.
129
Alack, what noise is this?
131
Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door.
135
Save Yourself, my lord:
136
The ocean, overpeering of his list,
137
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste
138
Than Young Laertes, in a riotous head,
139
O'erbears Your offices. The rabble call him lord;
140
And, as the world were now but to begin,
141
Antiquity forgot, custom not known,
142
The ratifiers and props of every word,
143
They cry 'Choose we! Laertes shall be king!'
144
Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds,
145
'Laertes shall be king! Laertes king!'
148
How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!
149
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!
152
Enter Laertes with others.
154
Where is this king?- Sirs, staid you all without.
158
I pray you give me leave.
162
I thank you. Keep the door.[Exeunt his Followers.]
166
Calmly, good Laertes.
168
That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard;
169
Cries cuckold to my father; brands the harlot
170
Even here between the chaste unsmirched brows
173
What is the cause, Laertes,
174
That thy rebellion looks so giantlike?
175
Let him go, Gertrude. Do not fear our person.
176
There's such divinity doth hedge a king
177
That treason can but peep to what it would,
178
Acts little of his will. Tell me, Laertes,
179
Why thou art thus incens'd. Let him go, Gertrude.
188
Let him demand his fill.
190
How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with:
191
To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil
192
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!
193
I dare damnation. To this point I stand,
194
That both the world, I give to negligence,
195
Let come what comes; only I'll be reveng'd
196
Most throughly for my father.
200
My will, not all the world!
201
And for my means, I'll husband them so well
202
They shall go far with little.
205
If you desire to know the certainty
206
Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge
207
That sweepstake you will draw both friend and foe,
210
None but his enemies.
212
Will you know them then?
214
To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms
215
And, like the kind life-rend'ring pelican,
216
Repast them with my blood.
219
Like a good child and a true gentleman.
220
That I am guiltless of your father's death,
221
And am most sensibly in grief for it,
222
It shall as level to your judgment pierce
223
As day does to your eye.
224
A noise within: 'Let her come in.'
226
How now? What noise is that?
228
O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt
229
Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!
230
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight
231
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May!
232
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!
233
O heavens! is't possible a young maid's wits
234
Should be as mortal as an old man's life?
235
Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,
236
It sends some precious instance of itself
237
After the thing it loves.
240
They bore him barefac'd on the bier
241
(Hey non nony, nony, hey nony)
242
And in his grave rain'd many a tear.
243
Fare you well, my dove!
245
Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,
246
It could not move thus.
248
You must sing 'A-down a-down, and you call him a-down-a.' O,
249
how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his
252
This nothing's more than matter.
254
There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love,
255
remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.
257
A document in madness! Thoughts and remembrance fitted.
259
There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you,
260
and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.
261
O, you must wear your rue with a difference! There's a daisy. I
262
would give you some violets, but they wither'd all when my father
263
died. They say he made a good end.
264
[Sings]For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
266
Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,
267
She turns to favour and to prettiness.
270
And will he not come again?
271
And will he not come again?
274
He never will come again.
275
His beard was as white as snow,
276
All flaxen was his poll.
277
He is gone, he is gone,
278
And we cast away moan.
279
God 'a'mercy on his soul!
280
And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God b' wi' you.
283
Do you see this, O God?
285
Laertes, I must commune with your grief,
286
Or you deny me right. Go but apart,
287
Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,
288
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me.
289
If by direct or by collateral hand
290
They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give,
291
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours,
292
To you in satisfaction; but if not,
293
Be you content to lend your patience to us,
294
And we shall jointly labour with your soul
295
To give it due content.
298
His means of death, his obscure funeral-
299
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,
300
No noble rite nor formal ostentation,-
301
Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth,
302
That I must call't in question.
305
And where th' offence is let the great axe fall.
306
I pray you go with me.
1
Elsinore. Another room in the Castle.
2
Enter Horatio with an Attendant.
4
What are they that would speak with me?
6
Seafaring men, sir. They say they have letters for you.
10
I do not know from what part of the world
11
I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.
16
Let him bless thee too.
18
'A shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for you,
19
sir,- it comes from th' ambassador that was bound for England- if
20
your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is.
22
[reads the letter]'Horatio, when thou shalt have overlook'd
23
this, give these fellows some means to the King. They have
24
letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of
25
very warlike appointment gave us chase. Finding ourselves too
26
slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour, and in the grapple I
27
boarded them. On the instant they got clear of our ship; so I
28
alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves
29
of mercy; but they knew what they did: I am to do a good turn for
30
them. Let the King have the letters I have sent, and repair thou
31
to me with as much speed as thou wouldst fly death. I have words
32
to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb; yet are they much too
33
light for the bore of the matter. These good fellows will bring
34
thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course
35
for England. Of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell.
36
'He that thou knowest thine, HAMLET.'
37
Come, I will give you way for these your letters,
38
And do't the speedier that you may direct me
39
To him from whom you brought them.[Exeunt.]
1
Elsinore. Another room in the Castle.
2
Enter King and Laertes.
4
Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,
5
And You must put me in your heart for friend,
6
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
7
That he which hath your noble father slain
10
It well appears. But tell me
11
Why you proceeded not against these feats
12
So crimeful and so capital in nature,
13
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,
14
You mainly were stirr'd up.
16
O, for two special reasons,
17
Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd,
18
But yet to me they are strong. The Queen his mother
19
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself,-
20
My virtue or my plague, be it either which,-
21
She's so conjunctive to my life and soul
22
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
23
I could not but by her. The other motive
24
Why to a public count I might not go
25
Is the great love the general gender bear him,
26
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
27
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
28
Convert his gives to graces; so that my arrows,
29
Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,
30
Would have reverted to my bow again,
31
And not where I had aim'd them.
33
And so have I a noble father lost;
34
A sister driven into desp'rate terms,
35
Whose worth, if praises may go back again,
36
Stood challenger on mount of all the age
37
For her perfections. But my revenge will come.
39
Break not your sleeps for that. You must not think
40
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
41
That we can let our beard be shook with danger,
42
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more.
43
I lov'd your father, and we love ourself,
44
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine-
45
[Enter a Messenger with letters.]
48
Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:
49
This to your Majesty; this to the Queen.
51
From Hamlet? Who brought them?
53
Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not.
54
They were given me by Claudio; he receiv'd them
55
Of him that brought them.
57
Laertes, you shall hear them.
60
[Reads]'High and Mighty,-You shall know I am set naked on your
61
kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes;
62
when I shall(first asking your pardon thereunto)recount the
63
occasion of my sudden and more strange return. 'HAMLET.'
64
What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?
65
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
69
'Tis Hamlet's character. 'Naked!'
70
And in a postscript here, he says 'alone.'
73
I am lost in it, my lord. But let him come!
74
It warms the very sickness in my heart
75
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,
79
(As how should it be so? how otherwise?),
80
Will you be rul'd by me?
83
So you will not o'errule me to a peace.
85
To thine own peace. If he be now return'd
86
As checking at his voyage, and that he means
87
No more to undertake it, I will work him
88
To exploit now ripe in my device,
89
Under the which he shall not choose but fall;
90
And for his death no wind shall breathe
91
But even his mother shall uncharge the practice
94
My lord, I will be rul'd;
95
The rather, if you could devise it so
96
That I might be the organ.
99
You have been talk'd of since your travel much,
100
And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality
101
Wherein they say you shine, Your sum of parts
102
Did not together pluck such envy from him
103
As did that one; and that, in my regard,
104
Of the unworthiest siege.
106
What part is that, my lord?
108
A very riband in the cap of youth-
109
Yet needfull too; for youth no less becomes
110
The light and careless livery that it wears
111
Than settled age his sables and his weeds,
112
Importing health and graveness. Two months since
113
Here was a gentleman of Normandy.
114
I have seen myself, and serv'd against, the French,
115
And they can well on horseback; but this gallant
116
Had witchcraft in't. He grew unto his seat,
117
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse
118
As had he been incorps'd and demi-natur'd
119
With the brave beast. So far he topp'd my thought
120
That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,
121
Come short of what he did.
127
Upon my life, Lamound.
131
I know him well. He is the broach indeed
132
And gem of all the nation.
134
He made confession of you;
135
And gave you such a masterly report
136
For art and exercise in your defence,
137
And for your rapier most especially,
138
That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed
139
If one could match you. The scrimers of their nation
140
He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,
141
If you oppos'd them. Sir, this report of his
142
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy
143
That he could nothing do but wish and beg
144
Your sudden coming o'er to play with you.
147
What out of this, my lord?
149
Laertes, was your father dear to you?
150
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
151
A face without a heart,'
155
Not that I think you did not love your father;
156
But that I know love is begun by time,
157
And that I see, in passages of proof,
158
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
159
There lives within the very flame of love
160
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;
161
And nothing is at a like goodness still;
162
For goodness, growing to a plurisy,
163
Dies in his own too-much. That we would do,
164
We should do when we would; for this 'would' changes,
165
And hath abatements and delays as many
166
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
167
And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh,
168
That hurts by easing. But to the quick o' th' ulcer!
169
Hamlet comes back. What would you undertake
170
To show yourself your father's son in deed
173
To cut his throat i' th' church!
175
No place indeed should murther sanctuarize;
176
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,
177
Will you do this? Keep close within your chamber.
178
Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home.
179
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence
180
And set a double varnish on the fame
181
The Frenchman gave you; bring you in fine together
182
And wager on your heads. He, being remiss,
183
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
184
Will not peruse the foils; so that with ease,
185
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
186
A sword unbated, and, in a pass of practice,
187
Requite him for your father.
190
And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword.
191
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
192
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,
193
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,
194
Collected from all simples that have virtue
195
Under the moon, can save the thing from death
196
This is but scratch'd withal. I'll touch my point
197
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,
200
Let's further think of this,
201
Weigh what convenience both of time and means
202
May fit us to our shape. If this should fall,
203
And that our drift look through our bad performance.
204
'Twere better not assay'd. Therefore this project
205
Should have a back or second, that might hold
206
If this did blast in proof. Soft! let me see.
207
We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings-
209
When in your motion you are hot and dry-
210
As make your bouts more violent to that end-
211
And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepar'd him
212
A chalice for the nonce; whereon but sipping,
213
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,
214
Our purpose may hold there.- But stay, what noise,
216
How now, sweet queen?
218
One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
219
So fast they follow. Your sister's drown'd, Laertes.
223
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
224
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
225
There with fantastic garlands did she come
226
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
227
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
228
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them.
229
There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
230
Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,
231
When down her weedy trophies and herself
232
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide
233
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up;
234
Which time she chaunted snatches of old tunes,
235
As one incapable of her own distress,
236
Or like a creature native and indued
237
Unto that element; but long it could not be
238
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
239
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
242
Alas, then she is drown'd?
246
Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
247
And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet
248
It is our trick; nature her custom holds,
249
Let shame say what it will. When these are gone,
250
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord.
251
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze
252
But that this folly douts it.[Exit.]
254
Let's follow, Gertrude.
255
How much I had to do to calm his rage I
256
Now fear I this will give it start again;
257
Therefore let's follow.
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