SCENE II.
Enter Hamlet.
Ham.
4 note
To be, or not to be? that is the question.—
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;
-- 208 --
5 note
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep—
No more; and by a sleep, to say, we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die—to sleep—
To sleep? perchance, to dream. Ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of Death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this 6 notemortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect,
That makes Calamity of so long life.
For who would bear 7 note
the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
-- 209 --
The pang of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes;
When he himself might his Quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardles bear,
8 noteTo groan and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne
No traveller returns, puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action—Soft you, now!
[Seeing Ophelia with a book.
The fair Ophelia? 9 noteNymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembred.
Oph.
Good my Lord,
How does your Honour for this many a day?
Ham.
I humbly thank you, well.
Oph.
My Lord, I have remembrances of yours,
-- 210 --
That I have longed long to re-deliver.
I pray you, now receive them.
Ham.
No, I never gave you ought.
Oph.
My honour'd Lord, you know right well, you did;
And with them words of so sweet breath compos'd,
As made the things more rich; that perfume lost,
Take these again; for to the noble mind
Rich gifts wax poor, when givers prove unkind.
—There, my Lord.
Ham.
Ha, ha! are you honest?
Oph.
My Lord,
Ham.
Are you fair?
Oph.
What means your Lordship?
Ham.
1 noteThat if you be honest and fair, you should
admit no discourse to your beauty.
Oph.
Could beauty, my Lord, have better commerce
than with honesty?
Ham.
Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will
sooner transform honesty from what it is, to a bawd;
than the force of honesty can translate beauty into its
likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but now the
time gives it proof. I did love you once.
Oph.
Indeed, my Lord, you made me believe so.
Ham.
You should not have believed me. For virtue
cannot so inoculate our old stock, but we shall relish
of it. I lov'd you not.
Oph.
I was the more deceiv'd.
Ham.
Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou
be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest;
-- 211 --
but yet I could accuse me of such things, that it
were better, my mother had not borne me. I am
very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences
2 note
at my beck, than I have thoughts to put them
in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act
them in. What should such fellows, as I, do crawling
between heav'n and earth? We are arrant knaves,
believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.
Where's your father?
Oph.
At home, my Lord.
Ham.
Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may
play the fool no where but in's own house. Farewel.
Oph.
Oh help him, you sweet heav'ns!
Ham.
If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague
for thy dowry. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as
snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee
to a nunnery, farewel; or, if thou wilt needs marry,
marry a fool; for wise men know well enough, what
monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go, and
quickly too. Farewel.
Oph.
Heav'nly powers restore him!
Ham.
3 noteI have heard of your painting too, well
enough. God has given you one face, and you make
yourselves another. You jig, you amble, and you
-- 212 --
lisp, and nick-name God's creatures, and 4 notemake your
wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't,
it hath made me mad. I say, we will have no more
marriages. Those that are married already, all but
one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a
nunnery, go.
[Exit Hamlet.
Oph.
Oh, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;
Th' expectancy and rose of the fair State,
The glass of fashion, and 5 notethe mould of form,
Th' observ'd of all observers! Quite, quite down!
I am of ladies most deject and wretched,
That suck'd the hony of his musick vows:
Now see that noble and most sov'reign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled out of tune, and harsh;
That unmatch'd form, and feature of blown youth,
Blasted with ecstasy. Oh, woe is me!
T' have seen what I have seen; see what I see.
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
