Hamlet

work; but what o' that? Your Majesty, and we that have free

souls, it touches us not. Let the gall'd jade winch; our withers 2135

are unwrung.

Enter Lucianus.This is one Lucianus, nephew to the King.

Ophelia. You are as good as a chorus, my lord.

Hamlet. I could interpret between you and your love, if I could see

the puppets dallying. 2140

Ophelia. You are keen, my lord, you are keen.

Hamlet. It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge.

Ophelia. Still better, and worse.

Hamlet. So you must take your husbands. – Begin, murtherer. Pox, leave

thy damnable faces, and begin! Come, the croaking raven doth 2145

bellow for revenge.

Luc. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing; Confederate season, else no creature seeing; Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected, With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected, Thy natural magic and dire property On wholesome life usurp immediately.

Pours the poison in his ears.

Hamlet. He poisons him i' th' garden for's estate. His name's Gonzago.

The story is extant, and written in very choice Italian. You 2150

shall see anon how the murtherer gets the love of Gonzago's wife.

Ophelia. The King rises.

Hamlet. What, frighted with false fire?

Gertrude. How fares my lord?

Polonius. Give o'er the play. 2155

Claudius. Give me some light! Away!

All. Lights, lights, lights!

Exeunt all but Hamlet and Horatio.

Hamlet. Why, let the strucken deer go weep,

The hart ungalled play; 2160

For some must watch, while some must sleep:

Thus runs the world away.

Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers- if the rest of my

fortunes turn Turk with me-with two Provincial roses on my raz'd

shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players, sir? 2165

Horatio. Half a share.

Hamlet. A whole one I!

For thou dost know, O Damon dear,

This realm dismantled was

Of Jove himself; and now reigns here 2170

A very, very- pajock.

Horatio. You might have rhym'd.

Hamlet. O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a thousand

pound! Didst perceive?

Horatio. Very well, my lord. 2175

Hamlet. Upon the talk of the poisoning?

Horatio. I did very well note him.

Hamlet. Aha! Come, some music! Come, the recorders!

For if the King like not the comedy,

Why then, belike he likes it not, perdy. 2180

Come, some music!

Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Guildenstern. Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with you.

Hamlet. Sir, a whole history.

Guildenstern. The King, sir- 2185

Hamlet. Ay, sir, what of him?

Guildenstern. Is in his retirement, marvellous distemper'd.

Hamlet. With drink, sir?

Guildenstern. No, my lord; rather with choler.

Hamlet. Your wisdom should show itself more richer to signify this to 2190

the doctor; for me to put him to his purgation would perhaps

plunge him into far more choler.

Guildenstern. Good my lord, put your discourse into some frame, and start

not so wildly from my affair.

Hamlet. I am tame, sir; pronounce. 2195

Guildenstern. The Queen, your mother, in most great affliction of spirit

hath sent me to you.

Hamlet. You are welcome.

Guildenstern. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the right breed.

If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do 2200

your mother's commandment; if not, your pardon and my return

shall be the end of my business.

Hamlet. Sir, I cannot.

Guildenstern. What, my lord?

Hamlet. Make you a wholesome answer; my wit's diseas'd. But, sir, such 2205

answer as I can make, you shall command; or rather, as you say,

my mother. Therefore no more, but to the matter! My mother, you

say-

Rosencrantz. Then thus she says: your behaviour hath struck her into

amazement and admiration. 2210

Hamlet. O wonderful son, that can so stonish a mother! But is there no

sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration? Impart.

Rosencrantz. She desires to speak with you in her closet ere you go to bed.

Hamlet. We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have you any

further trade with us? 2215

Rosencrantz. My lord, you once did love me.

Hamlet. And do still, by these pickers and stealers!

Rosencrantz. Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper? You do surely

bar the door upon your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to

your friend. 2220

Hamlet. Sir, I lack advancement.

Rosencrantz. How can that be, when you have the voice of the King himself

for your succession in Denmark?

Hamlet. Ay, sir, but 'while the grass grows'– the proverb is something

musty. 2225

[Enter the Players with recorders. ]

O, the recorders! Let me see one. To withdraw with you- why do

you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive me

into a toil?

Guildenstern. O my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly. 2230

Hamlet. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe?

Guildenstern. My lord, I cannot.

Hamlet. I pray you.

Guildenstern. Believe me, I cannot.

Hamlet. I do beseech you. 2235

Guildenstern. I know, no touch of it, my lord.

Hamlet. It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages with your

fingers and thumbs, give it breath with your mouth, and it will

discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these are the stops.

Guildenstern. But these cannot I command to any utt'rance of harmony. I 2240

have not the skill.

Hamlet. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You

would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would

pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my

lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, 2245

excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it

speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be play'd on than a

pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me,

you cannot play upon me.

[Enter Polonius.] 2250

God bless you, sir!

Polonius. My lord, the Queen would speak with you, and presently.

Hamlet. Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?

Polonius. By th' mass, and 'tis like a camel indeed.

Hamlet. Methinks it is like a weasel. 2255

Polonius. It is back'd like a weasel.

Hamlet. Or like a whale.

Polonius. Very like a whale.

Hamlet. Then will I come to my mother by-and-by. – They fool me to the

top of my bent. – I will come by-and-by. 2260

Polonius. I will say so. Exit.

Hamlet. 'By-and-by' is easily said. – Leave me, friends.

[Exeunt all but Hamlet.]

'Tis now the very witching time of night,

When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out 2265

Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood

And do such bitter business as the day

Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother!

O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever

The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom. 2270

Let me be cruel, not unnatural;

I will speak daggers to her, but use none.

My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites-

How in my words somever she be shent,

To give them seals never, my soul, consent! Exit. 2275

Act III, Scene 3.

A room in the Castle.

Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.

Claudius. I like him not, nor stands it safe with us

To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you;

I your commission will forthwith dispatch,

And he to England shall along with you. 2280

The terms of our estate may not endure

Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow

Out of his lunacies.

Guildenstern. We will ourselves provide.

Most holy and religious fear it is 2285

To keep those many many bodies safe

That live and feed upon your Majesty.

Rosencrantz. The single and peculiar life is bound

With all the strength and armour of the mind

To keep itself from noyance; but much more 2290

That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests

The lives of many. The cesse of majesty

Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw

What's near it with it. It is a massy wheel,

Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount, 2295

To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things

Are mortis'd and adjoin'd; which when it falls,

Each small annexment, petty consequence,

Attends the boist'rous ruin. Never alone

Did the king sigh, but with a general groan. 2300

Claudius. Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage;

For we will fetters put upon this fear,

Which now goes too free-footed.

Rosencrantz. [with Guildenstern] We will haste us.

Exeunt Gentlemen.

Enter Polonius.

Polonius. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet.

Behind the arras I'll convey myself

To hear the process. I'll warrant she'll tax him home;

And, as you said, and wisely was it said, 2310

'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother,

Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear

The speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my liege.

I'll call upon you ere you go to bed

And tell you what I know. 2315

Claudius. Thanks, dear my lord.

[Exit [Polonius].]

O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;

It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,

A brother's murther! Pray can I not, 2320

Though inclination be as sharp as will.

My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,

And, like a man to double business bound,

I stand in pause where I shall first begin,

And both neglect. What if this cursed hand 2325

Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,

Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens

To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy

But to confront the visage of offence?

And what's in prayer but this twofold force, 2330

To be forestalled ere we come to fall,

Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;

My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer

Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murther'?

That cannot be; since I am still possess'd 2335

Of those effects for which I did the murther-

My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.

May one be pardon'd and retain th' offence?

In the corrupted currents of this world

Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice, 2340

And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself

Buys out the law; but 'tis not so above.

There is no shuffling; there the action lies

In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd,

Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, 2345

To give in evidence. What then? What rests?

Try what repentance can. What can it not?

Yet what can it when one cannot repent?

O wretched state! O bosom black as death!

O limed soul, that, struggling to be free, 2350

Art more engag'd! Help, angels! Make assay.

Bow, stubborn knees; and heart with strings of steel,

Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe!

All may be well. He kneels.

Enter Hamlet.

Hamlet. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;

And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven,

And so am I reveng'd. That would be scann'd.

A villain kills my father; and for that,

I, his sole son, do this same villain send 2360

To heaven.

Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge!

He took my father grossly, full of bread,

With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;

And how his audit stands, who knows save heaven? 2365

But in our circumstance and course of thought,

'Tis heavy with him; and am I then reveng'd,

To take him in the purging of his soul,

When he is fit and seasoned for his passage?

No. 2370

Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent.

When he is drunk asleep; or in his rage;

Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed;

At gaming, swearing, or about some act

That has no relish of salvation in't- 2375

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,

And that his soul may be as damn'd and black

As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays.

This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. Exit.

Claudius. [rises] My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. 2380

Words without thoughts never to heaven go. Exit.

Act III, Scene 4.

The Queen’s closet.

Enter Queen and Polonius.

Polonius. He will come straight. Look you lay home to him.

Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,

And that your Grace hath screen'd and stood between 2385

Much heat and him. I'll silence me even here.

Pray you be round with him.

Hamlet. [within] Mother, mother, mother!

Gertrude. I'll warrant you; fear me not. Withdraw; I hear him coming.

[Polonius hides behind the arras.]

Enter Hamlet.

Hamlet. Now, mother, what's the matter?

Gertrude. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

Hamlet. Mother, you have my father much offended.

Gertrude. Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. 2395

Hamlet. Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.

Gertrude. Why, how now, Hamlet?

Hamlet. What's the matter now?

Gertrude. Have you forgot me?

Hamlet. No, by the rood, not so! 2400

You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,

And (would it were not so!) you are my mother.

Gertrude. Nay, then I'll set those to you that can speak.

Hamlet. Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge;

You go not till I set you up a glass 2405

Where you may see the inmost part of you.

Gertrude. What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murther me?

Help, help, ho!

Polonius. [behind] What, ho! help, help, help!

Hamlet. [draws] How now? a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead! 2410

[Makes a pass through the arras and] kills Polonius.

Polonius. [behind] O, I am slain!

Gertrude. O me, what hast thou done?

Hamlet. Nay, I know not. Is it the King?

Gertrude. O, what a rash and bloody deed is this! 2415

Hamlet. A bloody deed- almost as bad, good mother,

As kill a king, and marry with his brother.

Gertrude. As kill a king?

Hamlet. Ay, lady, it was my word.

[Lifts up the arras and sees Polonius.] 2420

Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!

I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune.

Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.

Leave wringing of your hands. Peace! sit you down

And let me wring your heart; for so I shall 2425

If it be made of penetrable stuff;

If damned custom have not braz'd it so

That it is proof and bulwark against sense.

Gertrude. What have I done that thou dar'st wag thy tongue

In noise so rude against me? 2430

Hamlet. Such an act

That blurs the grace and blush of modesty;

Calls virtue hypocrite; takes off the rose

From the fair forehead of an innocent love,

And sets a blister there; makes marriage vows 2435

As false as dicers' oaths. O, such a deed

As from the body of contraction plucks

The very soul, and sweet religion makes

A rhapsody of words! Heaven's face doth glow;

Yea, this solidity and compound mass, 2440

With tristful visage, as against the doom,

Is thought-sick at the act.

Gertrude. Ah me, what act,

That roars so loud and thunders in the index?

Hamlet. Look here upon th's picture, and on this, 2445

The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.

See what a grace was seated on this brow;

Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;

An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;

A station like the herald Mercury 2450

New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill:

A combination and a form indeed

Where every god did seem to set his seal

To give the world assurance of a man.

This was your husband. Look you now what follows. 2455

Here is your husband, like a mildew'd ear

Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?

Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,

And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes

You cannot call it love; for at your age 2460

The heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble,

And waits upon the judgment; and what judgment

Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have,

Else could you not have motion; but sure that sense

Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err, 2465

Nor sense to ecstacy was ne'er so thrall'd

But it reserv'd some quantity of choice

To serve in such a difference. What devil was't

That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?

Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, 2470

Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,

Or but a sickly part of one true sense

Could not so mope.

O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,

If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones, 2475

To flaming youth let virtue be as wax

And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame

When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,

Since frost itself as actively doth burn,

And reason panders will. 2480

Gertrude. O Hamlet, speak no more!

Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul,

And there I see such black and grained spots

As will not leave their tinct.

Hamlet. Nay, but to live 2485

In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,

Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love

Over the nasty sty!

Gertrude. O, speak to me no more!

These words like daggers enter in mine ears. 2490

No more, sweet Hamlet!

Hamlet. A murtherer and a villain!

A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe

Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;

A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, 2495

That from a shelf the precious diadem stole

And put it in his pocket!

Gertrude. No more!

Enter the Ghost in his nightgown.

Hamlet. A king of shreds and patches! – 2500

Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,

You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?

Gertrude. Alas, he's mad!

Hamlet. Do you not come your tardy son to chide,

That, laps'd in time and passion, lets go by 2505

Th' important acting of your dread command?

O, say!

Father's Ghost. Do not forget. This visitation

Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.

But look, amazement on thy mother sits. 2510

O, step between her and her fighting soul

Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.

Speak to her, Hamlet.

Hamlet. How is it with you, lady?

Gertrude. Alas, how is't with you, 2515

That you do bend your eye on vacancy,

And with th' encorporal air do hold discourse?

Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;

And, as the sleeping soldiers in th' alarm,

Your bedded hairs, like life in excrements, 2520

Start up and stand an end. O gentle son,

Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper

Sprinkle cool patience! Whereon do you look?

Hamlet. On him, on him! Look you how pale he glares!

His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones, 2525

Would make them capable. – Do not look upon me,

Lest with this piteous action you convert

My stern effects. Then what I have to do

Will want true colour- tears perchance for blood.

Gertrude. To whom do you speak this? 2530

Hamlet. Do you see nothing there?

Gertrude. Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.

Hamlet. Nor did you nothing hear?

Gertrude. No, nothing but ourselves.

Hamlet. Why, look you there! Look how it steals away! 2535

My father, in his habit as he liv'd!

Look where he goes even now out at the portal!

Exit Ghost.

Gertrude. This is the very coinage of your brain.

This bodiless creation ecstasy 2540

Is very cunning in.

Hamlet. Ecstasy?

My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time

And makes as healthful music. It is not madness

That I have utt'red. Bring me to the test, 2545

And I the matter will reword; which madness

Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,

Lay not that flattering unction to your soul

That not your trespass but my madness speaks.

It will but skin and film the ulcerous place, 2550

Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,

Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;

Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;

And do not spread the compost on the weeds

To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue; 2555

For in the fatness of these pursy times

Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg-