Hamlet

through the most fann'd and winnowed opinions; and do but blow

them to their trial-the bubbles are out,

Enter a Lord.

Lord. My lord, his Majesty commended him to you by young Osric, who

brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall. He sends to

know if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will

take longer time.

Hamlet. I am constant to my purposes; they follow the King's pleasure. 3835

If his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now or whensoever, provided

I be so able as now.

Lord. The King and Queen and all are coming down.

Hamlet. In happy time.

Lord. The Queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment to 3840

Laertes before you fall to play.

Hamlet. She well instructs me.

[Exit Lord.]

Horatio. You will lose this wager, my lord.

Hamlet. I do not think so. Since he went into France I have been in 3845

continual practice. I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not

think how ill all's here about my heart. But it is no matter.

Horatio. Nay, good my lord—

Hamlet. It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gaingiving as

would perhaps trouble a woman. 3850

Horatio. If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall their

repair hither and say you are not fit.

Hamlet. Not a whit, we defy augury; there's a special providence in

the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be

not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: 3855

the readiness is all. Since no man knows aught of what he leaves,

what is't to leave betimes? Let be.

Enter King, Queen, Laertes, Osric, and Lords, with other

Attendants with foils and gauntlets.

A table and flagons of wine on it.

Claudius. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.

[The King puts Laertes' hand into Hamlet's.]

Hamlet. Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong;

But pardon't, as you are a gentleman.

This presence knows, 3865

And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd

With sore distraction. What I have done

That might your nature, honour, and exception

Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.

Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet. 3870

If Hamlet from himself be taken away,

And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes,

Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.

Who does it, then? His madness. If't be so,

Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd; 3875

His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.

Sir, in this audience,

Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil

Free me so far in your most generous thoughts

That I have shot my arrow o'er the house 3880

And hurt my brother.

Laertes. I am satisfied in nature,

Whose motive in this case should stir me most

To my revenge. But in my terms of honour

I stand aloof, and will no reconcilement 3885

Till by some elder masters of known honour

I have a voice and precedent of peace

To keep my name ungor'd. But till that time

I do receive your offer'd love like love,

And will not wrong it. 3890

Hamlet. I embrace it freely,

And will this brother's wager frankly play.

Give us the foils. Come on.

Laertes. Come, one for me.

Hamlet. I'll be your foil, Laertes. In mine ignorance 3895

Your skill shall, like a star i' th' darkest night,

Stick fiery off indeed.

Laertes. You mock me, sir.

Hamlet. No, by this hand.

Claudius. Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin Hamlet, 3900

You know the wager?

Hamlet. Very well, my lord.

Your Grace has laid the odds o' th' weaker side.

Claudius. I do not fear it, I have seen you both;

But since he is better'd, we have therefore odds. 3905

Laertes. This is too heavy; let me see another.

Hamlet. This likes me well. These foils have all a length?

Prepare to play.

Osric. Ay, my good lord.

Claudius. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table. 3910

If Hamlet give the first or second hit,

Or quit in answer of the third exchange,

Let all the battlements their ordnance fire;

The King shall drink to Hamlet's better breath,

And in the cup an union shall he throw 3915

Richer than that which four successive kings

In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups;

And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,

The trumpet to the cannoneer without,

The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth, 3920

'Now the King drinks to Hamlet.' Come, begin.

And you the judges, bear a wary eye.

Hamlet. Come on, sir.

Laertes. Come, my lord. They play.

Hamlet. One. 3925

Laertes. No.

Hamlet. Judgment!

Osric. A hit, a very palpable hit.

Laertes. Well, again!

Claudius. Stay, give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine; 3930

Here's to thy health.

[Drum; trumpets sound; a piece goes off [within].]

Give him the cup.

Hamlet. I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile.

Come. [They play.] Another hit. What say you? 3935

Laertes. A touch, a touch; I do confess't.

Claudius. Our son shall win.

Gertrude. He's fat, and scant of breath.

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows.

The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet. 3940

Hamlet. Good madam!

Claudius. Gertrude, do not drink.

Gertrude. I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me. Drinks.

Claudius. [aside] It is the poison'd cup; it is too late.

Hamlet. I dare not drink yet, madam; by-and-by. 3945

Gertrude. Come, let me wipe thy face.

Laertes. My lord, I'll hit him now.

Claudius. I do not think't.

Laertes. [aside] And yet it is almost against my conscience.

Hamlet. Come for the third, Laertes! You but dally. 3950

Pray you pass with your best violence;

I am afeard you make a wanton of me.

Laertes. Say you so? Come on. Play.

Osric. Nothing neither way.

Laertes. Have at you now! 3955

[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then] in scuffling, they change rapiers, [and Hamlet wounds Laertes].

Claudius. Part them! They are incens'd.

Hamlet. Nay come! again! The Queen falls.

Osric. Look to the Queen there, ho!

Horatio. They bleed on both sides. How is it, my lord? 3960

Osric. How is't, Laertes?

Laertes. Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric.I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.

Hamlet. How does the Queen?

Claudius. She sounds to see them bleed.

Gertrude. No, no! the drink, the drink! O my dear Hamlet! 3965

The drink, the drink! I am poison'd. [Dies.]

Hamlet. O villany! Ho! let the door be lock'd.

Treachery! Seek it out.

[Laertes falls.]

Laertes. It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain; 3970

No medicine in the world can do thee good.

In thee there is not half an hour of life.

The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,

Unbated and envenom'd. The foul practice

Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I lie, 3975

Never to rise again. Thy mother's poison'd.

I can no more. The King, the King's to blame.

Hamlet. The point envenom'd too?

Then, venom, to thy work. Hurts the King.

All. Treason! treason! 3980

Claudius. O, yet defend me, friends! I am but hurt.

Hamlet. Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damned Dane,

Drink off this potion! Is thy union here?

Follow my mother. King dies.

Laertes. He is justly serv'd. 3985

It is a poison temper'd by himself.

Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet.

Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,

Nor thine on me! Dies.

Hamlet. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. 3990

I am dead, Horatio. Wretched queen, adieu!

You that look pale and tremble at this chance,

That are but mutes or audience to this act,

Had I but time (as this fell sergeant, Death,

Is strict in his arrest) O, I could tell you- 3995

But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;

Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright

To the unsatisfied.

Horatio. Never believe it.

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane. 4000

Here's yet some liquor left.

Hamlet. As th'art a man,

Give me the cup. Let go! By heaven, I'll ha't.

O good Horatio, what a wounded name

(Things standing thus unknown) shall live behind me! 4005

If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,

Absent thee from felicity awhile,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,

To tell my story. [March afar off, and shot within.]

What warlike noise is this? 4010

Osric. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,

To the ambassadors of England gives

This warlike volley.

Hamlet. O, I die, Horatio!

The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit. 4015

I cannot live to hear the news from England,

But I do prophesy th' election lights

On Fortinbras. He has my dying voice.

So tell him, with th' occurrents, more and less,

Which have solicited- the rest is silence. Dies. 4020

Horatio. Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

[March within.]

Why does the drum come hither?

Enter Fortinbras and English Ambassadors, with Drum, Colours, and Attendants. 4025

Fortinbras. Where is this sight?

Horatio. What is it you will see?

If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.

Fortinbras. This quarry cries on havoc. O proud Death,

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell 4030

That thou so many princes at a shot

So bloodily hast struck.

Ambassador. The sight is dismal;

And our affairs from England come too late.

The ears are senseless that should give us hearing 4035

To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd

That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

Where should we have our thanks?

Horatio. Not from his mouth,

Had it th' ability of life to thank you. 4040

He never gave commandment for their death.

But since, so jump upon this bloody question,

You from the Polack wars, and you from England,

Are here arriv'd, give order that these bodies

High on a stage be placed to the view; 4045

And let me speak to the yet unknowing world

How these things came about. So shall you hear

Of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts;

Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;

Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause; 4050

And, in this upshot, purposes mistook

Fall'n on th' inventors' heads. All this can I

Truly deliver.

Fortinbras. Let us haste to hear it,

And call the noblest to the audience. 4055

For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune.

I have some rights of memory in this kingdom

Which now, to claim my vantage doth invite me.

Horatio. Of that I shall have also cause to speak,

And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more. 4060

But let this same be presently perform'd,

Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mischance

On plots and errors happen.

Fortinbras. Let four captains

Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage; 4065

For he was likely, had he been put on,

To have prov'd most royally; and for his passage

The soldiers' music and the rites of war

Speak loudly for him.

Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this 4070

Becomes the field but here shows much amiss.

Go, bid the soldiers shoot.

Exeunt marching; after the which a peal of ordnance are shot off.

THE END