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

Ham.
Give me your pardon, Sir; I've done you wrong;
But pardon't, as you are a gentleman.
This presence knows, and you must needs have heard,
How I am punish'd with a 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.
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en 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;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd Evil,
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.

Laer.
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;
'Till by some elder masters of known honour
I have a voice, and president 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.

Ham.
I embrace it freely,
And will this brother's wager frankly play.
Give us the foils.

Laer.
Come, one for me.

Ham.
I'll be your foil, Laertes; in mine Ignorance
Your skill shall like a star i'th' darkest night
Stick fiery off, indeed.

Laer.
You mock me, Sir.

Ham.
No, by this hand.

King.
Give them the foils, young Osrick.
Hamlet, you know the wager.

Ham.
Well, my lord;
Your Grace hath laid the odds o'th' weaker side.

King.
I do not fear it, I have seen you both:
But since he's better'd, we have therefore odds.

Laer.
This is too heavy, let me see another.

Ham.
This likes me well; these foils have all a length. [Prepares to play.

Osr.
Ay, my good lord.

King.
Set me the stoops of wine upon that table:
If Hamlet gives 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 be throw,
Richer than that which four successive Kings
In Denmark's Crown have worn. Give me the cups:
And let the kettle to the trumpets speak,
The trumpets to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to the heav'ns, the heav'ns to earth:
Now the King drinks to Hamlet.—Come, begin,
And you the Judges bear a wary eye.

Ham.
Come on, Sir.

Laer.
Come, my lord. [They play.

Ham.
One—

Laer.
No—

Ham.
Judgment.

Osr.
A hit, a very palpable hit.

Laer.
Well—again—

King.
Stay, give me Drink. Hamlet, this Pearl is thine,
Here's to thy health. Give him the cup. [Trumpets sound, Shot goes off.

Ham.
I'll play this bout first, set it by a while. [They play.
Come—another hit—what say you?

Laer.
A touch, a touch, I do confess.

King.
Our son shall win.

Queen.
He's fat, and scant of breath.
Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows;
The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.

Ham.
Good Madam,—

King.
Gertrude, do not drink.

Queen.
I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon me.

King.
It is the poison'd cup, it is too late. [Aside.

Ham.
I dare not drink yet, Madam, by and by.

Queen.
Come, let me wipe thy face.

Laer.
I'll hit him now.

King.
I do not think't.

Laer.
And yet it is almost against my conscience. [Aside.

Ham.
Come, for the third, Laertes, you but dally;
I pray you, pass with your best violence;
I am afraid you make a Wanton of me.

Laer.
Say you so? come on. [Play.

Osr.
Nothing neither way.

Laer.
Have at you now. [Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes.

King.
Part them, they are incens'd.

Ham.
Nay, come again—

Osr.
Look to the Queen there, ho!

Hor.
They bleed on both sides. How is't, my lord?

Osr.
How is't, Laertes?

Laer.
Why, as a woodcock to my own springe, Osrick;
I'm justly kill'd with mine own treachery.

Ham.
How does the Queen?

King.
She swoons to see them bleed.

Queen.
No, no, the drink, the drink—
Oh my dear Hamlet, the drink, the drink,—
I am poison'd— [Queen dies.

Ham.
Oh villany! ho! let the door be lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out—

Laer.
It is here, Hamlet, thou art slain,
No medicine in the world can do thee good:
In thee there is not half an hour of life;
The treach'rous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenom'd: the foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I lye,

Never to rise again; thy mother's poison'd;
I can no more—the King, the King's to blame.

Ham.
The point envenom'd too?
Then venom do thy work. [Stabs the King.

All.
Treason, treason.

King.
O yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt.

Ham.
Here, thou incestuous, murth'rous, damned Dane,
Drink off this potion: is the Union here?
Follow my mother. [King dies.

Laer.
He is justly served.
It is a poison temper'd by himself.
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet;
Mine and my father's death come not on thee,
Nor thine on me! [Dies.

Ham.
Heav'n make thee free of it! I follow thee.
I'm 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 Serjeant death
Is strict in his arrest) oh, I could tell you—
But let it be—Horatio, I am dead;
Thou liv'st, report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.

Hor.
Never believe it.
I'm more an antique Roman than a Dane;
Here's yet some liquor left.

Ham.
As th' art a man,
Give me the cup; let go; by heav'n, I'll hav't.
Oh good Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me?
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity a while,
And in his harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my tale. [March afar off, and shout within.
What warlike noise is this?

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