Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 . Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Published: 1600-1601

Clark, William George, 1821-1878;

William Aldis Wright, 1831-1914

   The Globe Edition

MacMillan and Co., Cambridge, 1866

Dramatis Personae

 CLAUDIUS king of Denmark.

 HAMLET son to the late, and nephew to the present king.

 POLONIUS lord chamberlain.

 HORATIO friend to Hamlet.

 LAERTES son to Polonius.

 LUCIANUS nephew to the king.

 VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, OSRIC } courtiers.

 A Gentleman,

 A Priest.

 MARCELLUS, BERNARDO } officers.

 FRANCISCO a soldier.

 REYNALDO servant to Polonius.

 Players.

 Two Clowns, grave-diggers.

 FORTINBRAS prince of Norway.

 A Captain.

 English Ambassadors.

 GERTRUDE queen of Denmark, and mother to Hamlet.

 OPHELIA daughter to Polonius.

 Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants.

 Ghost of Hamlet's Father.

Act 1

 Scene 1

    [Elsinore. A platform before the castle.]

    [FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO]

BERNARDO

    Who's there?

FRANCISCO

    Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.

BERNARDO

    Long live the king!

FRANCISCO

   Bernardo?

BERNARDO

   He.

FRANCISCO

   You come most carefully upon your hour.

BERNARDO

   'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.

FRANCISCO

   For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,

And I am sick at heart.

BERNARDO

   Have you had quiet guard?

FRANCISCO

   Not a mouse stirring.

BERNARDO

   Well, good night.

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

FRANCISCO

   I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who's there?

    [Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS]

HORATIO

   Friends to this ground.

MARCELLUS

   And liegemen to the Dane.

FRANCISCO

   Give you good night.

MARCELLUS

   O, farewell, honest soldier:

Who hath relieved you?

FRANCISCO

   Bernardo has my place.

Give you good night.

    [Exit]

MARCELLUS

   Holla! Bernardo!

BERNARDO

   Say,

What, is Horatio there?

HORATIO

   A piece of him.

BERNARDO

   Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus.

MARCELLUS

   What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?

BERNARDO

   I have seen nothing.

MARCELLUS

   Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,

And will not let belief take hold of him

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.

HORATIO

   Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.

BERNARDO

   Sit down awhile;

And let us once again assail your ears,

That are so fortified against our story

What we have two nights seen.

HORATIO

   Well, sit we down,

And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

BERNARDO

   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 beating one, --

    [Enter Ghost]

MARCELLUS

   Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!

BERNARDO

   In the same figure, like the king that's dead.

MARCELLUS

   Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.

BERNARDO

   Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.

HORATIO

   Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder.

BERNARDO

   It would be spoke to.

MARCELLUS

   Question it, Horatio.

HORATIO

   What art thou that usurp'st this time 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!

MARCELLUS

   It is offended.

BERNARDO

   See, it stalks away!

HORATIO

   Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!

    [Exit Ghost]

MARCELLUS

   'Tis gone, and will not answer.

BERNARDO

   How now, Horatio! you tremble and look pale:

Is not this something more than fantasy?

What think you on't?

HORATIO

   Before my God, I might not this believe

Without the sensible and true avouch

Of mine own eyes.

MARCELLUS

   Is it not like the king?

HORATIO

   As thou art to thyself:

Such was the very 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.

MARCELLUS

   Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,

With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.

HORATIO

   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.

MARCELLUS

   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 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:

Who is't that can inform me?

HORATIO

   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 by a most emulate pride,

Dared 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,

Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands

Which he stood seized 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 vanquisher; as, by the same covenant,

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 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

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.

BERNARDO

   I think it be no other but e'en so:

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.

HORATIO

   A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.

In the most high 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 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 fates

And prologue to the omen coming on,

Have heaven and earth together demonstrated

Unto our climatures and countrymen. --

But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!

    [Re-enter Ghost]

    I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, 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 grace to me,

Speak to me:

    [Cock crows]

    If thou art privy to thy country's 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,

Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus.

MARCELLUS

   Shall I strike at it with my partisan?

HORATIO

   Do, if it will not stand.

BERNARDO

   'Tis here!

HORATIO

   'Tis here!

MARCELLUS

   '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.

BERNARDO

   It was about to speak, when the cock crew.

HORATIO

   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 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.

MARCELLUS

   It faded on the crowing of the 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 dares stir abroad;

The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,

No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,

So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

HORATIO

   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 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 loves, fitting our duty?

MARCELLUS

   Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know

Where we shall find him most conveniently.

Scene 2

    [A room of state in the castle.]

    [Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants]

KING CLAUDIUS

   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 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, now our queen,

The imperial jointress to this warlike state,

Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy, --

With an auspicious and a dropping eye,

With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,

In equal scale weighing delight and dole, --

Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd

Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone

With this affair along. For all, our thanks.

Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,

Holding a weak supposal of our worth,

Or thinking by our late dear brother's death

Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,

Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,

He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,

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 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 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

To business with the king, more than the scope

Of these delated articles allow.

Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.

CORNELIUS, VOLTIMAND

   In that and all things will we show our duty.

KING CLAUDIUS

   We doubt it 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 loose your 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 have, Laertes?

LAERTES

   My dread 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 done,

My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France

And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.

KING CLAUDIUS

   Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?

LORD POLONIUS

   He hath, my lord, 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.

KING CLAUDIUS

   Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,

And thy best graces spend it at thy will!

But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son, --

HAMLET

    [Aside]

    A little more than kin, and less than kind.

KING CLAUDIUS

   How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

HAMLET

   Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   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 common; all that lives must die,

Passing through nature to eternity.

HAMLET

   Ay, madam, it is common.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   If it be,

Why seems it so particular with thee?

HAMLET

   Seems, madam! 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 forced breath,

No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,

Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,

Together with all forms, moods, shapes 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.

KING CLAUDIUS

   '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 for some term

To do obsequious sorrow: but to persever

In obstinate condolement is a course

Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;

It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,

A heart 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? 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 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

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 eye,

Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:

I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.

HAMLET

   I shall in all my best obey you, madam.

KING CLAUDIUS

   Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply:

Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come;

This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet

Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof,

No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day,

But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,

And the king's rouse the heavens all bruit again,

Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away.

    [Exeunt all but HAMLET]

HAMLET

   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! God!

How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,

Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Fie on't! ah 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 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!

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 follow'd 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 my uncle,

My father's brother, but no more like my 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 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]

HORATIO

   Hail to your lordship!

HAMLET

   I am glad to see you well:

Horatio, -- or I do forget myself.

HORATIO

   The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.

HAMLET

   Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you:

And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio? Marcellus?

MARCELLUS

   My good lord --

HAMLET

   I am very glad to see you. Good even, sir.

But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?

HORATIO

   A truant disposition, good my lord.

HAMLET

   I would not hear your enemy say so,

Nor shall you do mine 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 drink deep ere you depart.

HORATIO

   My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.

HAMLET

   I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;

I think it was to see my mother's wedding.

HORATIO

   Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.

HAMLET

   Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats

Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.

Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven

Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!

My father! -- methinks I see my father.

HORATIO

   Where, my lord?

HAMLET

   In my mind's eye, Horatio.

HORATIO

   I saw him once; he was a goodly king.

HAMLET

   He was a man, take him for all in all,

I shall not look upon his like again.

HORATIO

   My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.

HAMLET

   Saw? who?

HORATIO

   My lord, the king your father.

HAMLET

   The king my father!

HORATIO

   Season your admiration for awhile

With an attent ear, till I may deliver,

Upon the witness of these gentlemen,

This marvel to you.

HAMLET

   For God's love, let me hear.

HORATIO

   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 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, distilled

Almost to jelly with the act of fear,

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,

The apparition comes: I knew your father;

These hands are not more like.

HAMLET

   But where was this?

MARCELLUS

   My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.

HAMLET

   Did you not speak to it?

HORATIO

   My lord, I did;

But answer made it none: yet once methought

It lifted up its head and did address

Itself to motion, like as it would speak;

But even then the morning cock crew loud,

And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,

And vanish'd from our sight.

HAMLET

   'Tis very strange.

HORATIO

   As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;

And we did think it writ down in our duty

To let you know of it.

HAMLET

   Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.

Hold you the watch to-night?

MARCELLUS, BERNARDO

   We do, my lord.

HAMLET

   Arm'd, say you?

MARCELLUS, BERNARDO

   Arm'd, my lord.

HAMLET

   From top to toe?

MARCELLUS, BERNARDO

   My lord, from head to foot.

HAMLET

   Then saw you not his face?

HORATIO

   O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up.

HAMLET

   What, look'd he frowningly?

HORATIO

   A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.

HAMLET

   Pale or red?

HORATIO

   Nay, very pale.

HAMLET

   And fix'd his eyes upon you?

HORATIO

   Most constantly.

HAMLET

   I would I had been there.

HORATIO

   It would have much amazed you.

HAMLET

   Very like, very like. Stay'd it long?

HORATIO

   While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.

MARCELLUS, BERNARDO

   Longer, longer.

HORATIO

   Not when I saw't.

HAMLET

   His beard was grizzled -- no?

HORATIO

   It was, as I have seen it in his life,

A sable silver'd.

HAMLET

   I will watch to-night;

Perchance 'twill walk again.

HORATIO

   I warrant it will.

HAMLET

   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 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 you well:

Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,

I'll visit you.

All

   Our duty to your honour.

HAMLET

   Your loves, as mine to you: farewell.

    [Exeunt all but HAMLET]

    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.

Scene 3

    [A room in Polonius' house.]

    [Enter LAERTES and OPHELIA]

LAERTES

   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.

OPHELIA

   Do you doubt that?

LAERTES

   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,

The perfume and suppliance of a minute; No more.

OPHELIA

   No more but so?

LAERTES

   Think it no more;

For nature, crescent, does not grow alone

In thews and bulk, but, as this temple 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;

For he himself is subject to his birth:

He may not, as unvalued persons do,

Carve for himself; for on his choice depends

The safety and health of this whole state;

And therefore must his choice be circumscribed

Unto the voice and 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 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, 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 'scapes not calumnious strokes:

The canker galls the infants of the spring,

Too oft before their buttons be disclosed,

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 rebels, though none else near.

OPHELIA

   I shall the 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 heaven;

Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,

Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,

And recks not his own rede.

LAERTES

   O, fear me not.

I stay too long: but here my father comes.

    [Enter POLONIUS]

    A double blessing is a double grace,

Occasion smiles upon a second leave.

LORD POLONIUS

   Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!

The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,

And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee!

And these few precepts in thy memory

See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any unproportioned thought his act.

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware

Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,

Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.

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 of a most select and generous chief in that.

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 ownself be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!

LAERTES

   Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS

   The time invites you; go; your servants tend.

LAERTES

   Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well

What I have said to you.

OPHELIA

   'Tis in my memory lock'd,

And you yourself shall keep the key of it.

LAERTES

   Farewell.

    [Exit]

LORD POLONIUS

   What is't, Ophelia, be hath said to you?

OPHELIA

   So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.

LORD POLONIUS

   Marry, well bethought:

'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late

Given private time to you; and you 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 behoves my daughter and your honour.

What is between you? give me up the truth.

OPHELIA

   He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders

Of his affection to me.

LORD POLONIUS

   Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,

Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.

Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

OPHELIA

   I do not know, my lord, what I should think.

LORD POLONIUS

   Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;

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,

Running it thus -- you'll tender me a fool.

OPHELIA

   My lord, he hath importuned me with love

In honourable fashion.

LORD POLONIUS

   Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.

OPHELIA

   And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,

With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

LORD POLONIUS

   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 than heat, extinct in both,

Even in their promise, as it is a-making,

You must not take for fire. From this time

Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;

Set your entreatments at a higher rate

Than a command to 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 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 leisure,

As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.

Look to't, I charge you: come your ways.

OPHELIA

   I shall obey, my lord.

Scene 4

    [The platform.]

    [Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS]

HAMLET

   The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.

HORATIO

   It is a nipping and an eager air.

HAMLET

   What hour now?

HORATIO

   I think it lacks of twelve.

HAMLET

   No, it is struck.

HORATIO

   Indeed? I heard it not: then it draws near the season

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.

    [A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off, within]

    What does this mean, my lord?

HAMLET

   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 out

The triumph of his pledge.

HORATIO

   Is it a custom?

HAMLET

   Ay, marry, is't:

But to my mind, though I am native here

And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honour'd in the breach than the observance.

This heavy-headed revel east and west

Makes us traduced and tax'd of other nations:

They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase

Soil our addition; and indeed it takes

From our 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 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,

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 particular fault: the dram of eale

Doth all the noble substance of a doubt

To his own scandal.

HORATIO

   Look, my lord, it comes!

    [Enter Ghost]

HAMLET

   Angels and ministers of grace defend 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 comest in such a questionable shape

That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,

King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!

Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell

Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,

Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,

Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,

Hath oped 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 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]

HORATIO

   It beckons you to go away with it,

As if it some impartment did desire

To you alone.

MARCELLUS

   Look, with what courteous action

It waves you to a more removed ground:

But do not go with it.

HORATIO

   No, by no means.

HAMLET

   It will not speak; then I will follow it.

HORATIO

   Do not, my lord.

HAMLET

   Why, what should be the fear?

I do not set my life in a pin's fee;

And for my soul, what can it do to that,

Being a thing immortal as itself?

It waves me forth again: I'll follow it.

HORATIO

   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,

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 fathoms to the sea

And hears it roar beneath.

HAMLET

   It waves me still.

Go on; I'll follow thee.

MARCELLUS

   You shall not go, my lord.

HAMLET

   Hold off your hands.

HORATIO

   Be ruled; you shall not go.

HAMLET

   My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body

As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.

Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen.

By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me!

I say, away! Go on; I'll follow thee.

    [Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET]

HORATIO

   He waxes desperate with imagination.

MARCELLUS

   Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.

HORATIO

   Have after. To what issue will this come?

MARCELLUS

   Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

HORATIO

   Heaven will direct it.

MARCELLUS

   Nay, let's follow him.

Scene 5

    [Another part of the platform.]

    [Enter GHOST and HAMLET]

HAMLET

   Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.

Ghost

   Mark me.

HAMLET

   I will.

Ghost

   My hour is almost come,

When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames

Must render up myself.

HAMLET

   Alas, poor ghost!

Ghost

   Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing

To what I shall unfold.

HAMLET

   Speak; I am bound to hear.

Ghost

   So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.

HAMLET

   What?

Ghost

   I am thy father's spirit,

Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,

And for the day confined to fast in fires,

Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature

Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid

To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

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 end,

Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:

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 --

HAMLET

   O God!

Ghost

   Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

HAMLET

   Murder!

Ghost

   Murder most foul, as in the best it is;

But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

HAMLET

   Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift

As meditation or the thoughts of love,

May sweep to my revenge.

Ghost

   I find thee apt;

And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed

That roots itself in ease on Lethe 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 abused: but know, thou noble youth,

The serpent that did sting thy father's life

Now wears his crown.

HAMLET

   O my prophetic soul! My uncle!

Ghost

   Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,

With witchcraft of 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 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 never will be moved,

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;

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 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 doth posset

And curd, like eager droppings into milk,

The thin and 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:

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,

Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,

No reckoning made, but sent to my account

With all my imperfections on my head:

O, horrible! O, horrible! most 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 pursuest this act,

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive

Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven

And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,

To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!

The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,

And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:

Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.

    [Exit]

HAMLET

   O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?

And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart;

And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,

But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee!

Ay, thou poor 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 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 villain!

My tables, -- meet it is I set it down,

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;

At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark:

    [Writing]

    So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;

It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.'

I have sworn 't.

MARCELLUS, HORATIO

    [Within]

    My lord, my lord, --

MARCELLUS

    [Within]

   Lord Hamlet, --

HORATIO

    [Within]

   Heaven secure him!

HAMLET

   So be it!

HORATIO

    [Within]

    Hillo, ho, ho, my lord!

HAMLET

   Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.

    [Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS]

MARCELLUS

   How is't, my noble lord?

HORATIO

   What news, my lord?

HAMLET

   O, wonderful!

HORATIO

   Good my lord, tell it.

HAMLET

   No; you'll reveal it.

HORATIO

   Not I, my lord, by heaven.

MARCELLUS

   Nor I, my lord.

HAMLET

   How say you, then; would heart of man once think it?

But you'll be secret?

HORATIO, MARCELLUS

   Ay, by heaven, my lord.

HAMLET

   There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark

But he's an arrant knave.

HORATIO

   There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave

To tell us this.

HAMLET

   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 desire shall point you;

For every man has business and desire,

Such as it is; and for mine own poor part,

Look you, I'll go pray.

HORATIO

   These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.

HAMLET

   I'm sorry they offend you, heartily;

Yes, 'faith heartily.

HORATIO

   There's no offence, my lord.

HAMLET

   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 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.

HORATIO

   What is't, my lord? we will.

HAMLET

   Never make known what you have seen to-night.

HORATIO, MARCELLUS

   My lord, we will not.

HAMLET

   Nay, but swear't.

HORATIO

   In faith,

My lord, not I.

MARCELLUS

   Nor I, my lord, in faith.

HAMLET

   Upon my sword.

MARCELLUS

   We have sworn, my lord, already.

HAMLET

   Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.

Ghost

    [Beneath]

    Swear.

HAMLET

   Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there,

truepenny?

Come on -- you hear this fellow in the cellarage --

Consent to swear.

HORATIO

   Propose the oath, my lord.

HAMLET

   Never to speak of this that you have seen,

Swear by my sword.

Ghost

    [Beneath]

    Swear.

HAMLET

   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 heard,

Swear by my sword.

Ghost

    [Beneath]

    Swear.

HAMLET

   Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast?

A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.

HORATIO

   O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!

HAMLET

   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;

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, never shall,

With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake,

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,'

Or such ambiguous giving out, to note

That you know aught of me: this not to do,

So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.

Ghost

    [Beneath]

    Swear.

HAMLET

   Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!

    [They swear]

    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;

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.

Act 2

 Scene 1

[A room in POLONIUS' house.]

    [Enter POLONIUS and REYNALDO]

LORD POLONIUS

   Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.

REYNALDO

   I will, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS

   You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,

Before you visit him, to make inquire

Of his behavior.

REYNALDO

   My lord, I did intend it.

LORD POLONIUS

   Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir,

Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;

And how, and who, what means, and 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 knowledge of him;

As thus, 'I know his father and his friends,

And in part him: ' do you mark this, Reynaldo?

REYNALDO

   Ay, very well, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS

   'And in part him; but' you may say 'not well:

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 known

To youth and liberty.

REYNALDO

   As gaming, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS

   Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,

Drabbing: you may go so far.

REYNALDO

   My lord, that would dishonour him.

LORD POLONIUS

   '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 seem the taints of liberty,

The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,

A savageness in unreclaimed blood,

Of general assault.

REYNALDO

   But, my good lord, --

LORD POLONIUS

   Wherefore should you do this?

REYNALDO

   Ay, my lord,

I would know that.

LORD POLONIUS

   Marry, sir, here's my drift;

And I believe, it is a fetch of wit:

You laying these slight sullies on my son,

As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the 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 assured

He closes with you in this consequence;

'Good sir,' or so, or 'friend,' or 'gentleman,'

According to the phrase or the addition

Of man and country.

REYNALDO

   Very good, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS

   And then, sir, does he this -- he does -- what was I

about to say? By the mass, I was about to say

something: where did I leave?

REYNALDO

   At 'closes in the consequence,' at 'friend or so,'

and 'gentleman.'

LORD POLONIUS

   At 'closes in the consequence,' ay, marry;

He closes 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 a' gaming; there o'ertook in's rouse;

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 wisdom and of reach,

With windlasses 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?

REYNALDO

   My lord, I have.

LORD POLONIUS

   God be wi' you; fare you well.

REYNALDO

   Good my lord!

LORD POLONIUS

   Observe his inclination in yourself.

REYNALDO

   I shall, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS

   And let him ply his music.

REYNALDO

   Well, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS

   Farewell!

    [Exit REYNALDO]

    [Enter OPHELIA]

    How now, Ophelia! what's the matter?

OPHELIA

   O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!

LORD POLONIUS

   With what, i' the name of God?

OPHELIA

   My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,

Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;

No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,

Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle;

Pale as his shirt; 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.

LORD POLONIUS

   Mad for thy love?

OPHELIA

   My lord, I do not know;

But truly, I do fear it.

LORD POLONIUS

   What said he?

OPHELIA

   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,

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 raised a sigh so piteous and profound

As it did seem to shatter all his 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 helps,

And, to the last, bended their light on me.

LORD POLONIUS

   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

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?

OPHELIA

   No, my good lord, but, as you did command,

I did repel his fetters and denied

His access to me.

LORD POLONIUS

   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!

By heaven, it is 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

More grief to hide than hate to utter love.

Scene 2

    [A room in the castle.]

    [Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and Attendants]

KING CLAUDIUS

   Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and 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 call it,

Sith nor the 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 young days brought up with him,

And sith so neighbour'd to his youth and havior,

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,

So much as from occasion you may glean,

Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus,

That, open'd, lies within our remedy.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you;

And sure I am two 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 thanks

As fits a king's remembrance.

ROSENCRANTZ

   Both your majesties

Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,

Put your dread pleasures more into command

Than to entreaty.

GUILDENSTERN

   But we both obey,

And here give up ourselves, in the full bent

To lay our service freely at your feet,

To be commanded.

KING CLAUDIUS

   Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   Thanks, 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.

GUILDENSTERN

   Heavens make our presence and our practises

Pleasant and helpful to him!

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   Ay, amen!

    [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and some Attendants]

    [Enter POLONIUS]

LORD POLONIUS

   The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord,

Are joyfully return'd.

KING CLAUDIUS

   Thou still hast been the father of good news.

LORD POLONIUS

   Have I, my lord? I assure my good liege,

I hold my duty, as I 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 used to do, that I have found

The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.

KING CLAUDIUS

   O, speak of that; that do I long to hear.

LORD POLONIUS

   Give first admittance to the ambassadors;

My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.

KING CLAUDIUS

   Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.

    [Exit POLONIUS]

    He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found

The head and source of all your son's distemper.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   I doubt it is no other but the main;

His father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage.

KING CLAUDIUS

   Well, we shall sift him.

    [Re-enter POLONIUS, with VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS]

    Welcome, my good friends!

Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway?

VOLTIMAND

   Most fair return of greetings and desires.

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 grieved,

That so his sickness, age and 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 the assay of arms against your majesty.

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,

    [Giving 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.

KING CLAUDIUS

   It likes us well;

And at our more consider'd time well 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]

LORD POLONIUS

   This business is well ended.

My liege, and madam, to expostulate

What majesty should be, what duty is,

Why day is day, night night, and time is time,

Were nothing but to waste night, day and time.

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 go.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   More matter, with less art.

LORD POLONIUS

   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 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.

I have a daughter -- have while 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 phrase, a vile phrase; 'beautified' is

a vile phrase: but you shall hear. Thus:

    [Reads]

    'In her excellent white bosom, these, &c.'

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   Came this from Hamlet to her?

LORD POLONIUS

   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 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, hath my daughter shown me,

And more above, hath his solicitings,

As they fell out by time, by means and place,

All given to mine ear.

KING CLAUDIUS

   But how hath she

Received his love?

LORD POLONIUS

   What do you think of me?

KING CLAUDIUS

   As of a man faithful and honourable.

LORD POLONIUS

   I would fain prove so. But what might you think,

When I had seen this hot love on the wing --

As I perceived it, I must tell you that,

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 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 star;

This must not be:' and then I precepts gave her,

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 watch, thence into a weakness,

Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,

Into the madness wherein now he raves,

And all we mourn for.

KING CLAUDIUS

   Do you think 'tis this?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   It may be, very likely.

LORD POLONIUS

   Hath there been such a time -- I'd fain know that --

That I have positively said 'Tis so,'

When it proved otherwise?

KING CLAUDIUS

   Not that I know.

LORD POLONIUS

    [Pointing to his head and shoulder]

    Take this from this, if this be otherwise:

If circumstances lead me, I will find

Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed

Within the centre.

KING CLAUDIUS

   How may we try it further?

LORD POLONIUS

   You know, sometimes he walks four hours together

Here in the lobby.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   So he does indeed.

LORD POLONIUS

   At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him:

Be you and I behind an arras then;

Mark the encounter: if he love her not

And be not from his reason fall'n thereon,

Let me be no assistant for a state,

But keep a farm and carters.

KING CLAUDIUS

   We will try it.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

   But, look, where sadly the poor wretch comes reading.

LORD POLONIUS

   Away, I do beseech you, both away:

I'll board him presently.

    [Exeunt KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, and Attendants]

    [Enter HAMLET, reading]

    O, give me leave:

How does my good Lord Hamlet?

HAMLET

   Well, God-a-mercy.

LORD POLONIUS

   Do you know me, my lord?

HAMLET

   Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.

LORD POLONIUS

   Not I, my lord.

HAMLET

   Then I would you were so honest a man.

LORD POLONIUS

   Honest, my lord!

HAMLET

   Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be

one man picked out of ten thousand.

LORD POLONIUS

   That's very true, my lord.

HAMLET

   For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a

god kissing carrion, -- Have you a daughter?

LORD POLONIUS

   I have, my lord.

HAMLET

   Let her not walk i' the sun: conception is a

blessing: but not as your daughter may conceive.

Friend, look to 't.

LORD POLONIUS

    [Aside]

    How say you by that? 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 suffered much extremity for

love; very near this. I'll speak to him again.

What do you read, my lord?

HAMLET

   Words, words, words.

LORD POLONIUS

   What is the matter, my lord?

HAMLET

   Between who?

LORD POLONIUS

   I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

HAMLET

   Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here

that old men have grey beards, that their faces are

wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and

plum-tree 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

yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab

you could go backward.

LORD POLONIUS

    [Aside]

    Though this be madness, yet there is method

in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?

HAMLET

   Into my grave.

LORD POLONIUS

   Indeed, that is out 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

meeting between him and my daughter. -- My honourable

lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you.

HAMLET

   You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will

more willingly part withal: except my life, except

my life, except my life.

LORD POLONIUS

   Fare you well, my lord.

HAMLET

   These tedious old fools!

    [Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]

LORD POLONIUS

   You go to seek the Lord Hamlet; there he is.

ROSENCRANTZ

    [To POLONIUS]

    God save you, sir!

    [Exit POLONIUS]

GUILDENSTERN

   My honoured lord!

ROSENCRANTZ

   My most dear lord!

HAMLET

   My excellent good friends! How dost thou,

Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye both?

ROSENCRANTZ

   As the indifferent children of the earth.

GUILDENSTERN

   Happy, in that we are not over-happy;

On fortune's cap we are not the very button.