SCENE I.
A CHURCH.
Enter two Clowns, with spades and mattocks.
1 Clown.
Is she to be buried in christian burial, that wilfully
seeks her own salvation?
2 Clown.
I tell thee, she is, therefore 3 notemake her
Grave straight. The crowner hath sate on her, and finds
it christian burial.
1 Clown.
How can that be, unless she drowned her
self in her own defence?
2 Clown.
Why, 'tis found so.
1 Clown.
It must be se offendendo, it cannot be else.
For here lies the point; if I drown myself wittingly,
it argues an act; and 4 notean act hath three branches; it
is to act, to do, and to perform. Argal, she drown'd
herself wittingly.
2 Clown.
Nay, but hear you, goodman Delver.
1 Clown.
Give me leave. Clown, here lies the water;
Good: here stands the man; Good. If the man
go to this water, and drown himself, it is, will he,
nill he, he goes; mark you that: But if the water
come to him, and drown him, he drowns not himself.
-- 279 --
Argal, he, that is not guilty of his own death, shortens
not his own life.
2 Clown.
But is this law?
1 Clown.
Ay, marry is't, crowner's quest-law.6Q0273
2 Clown.
Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had
not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried
out of christian burial.
1 Clown.
Why, there thou say'st. And the more
pity, that great folk should have countenance in this
world to drown or hang themselves, more than 5 notetheir
even christian. Come. My spade. There is no ancient
gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers;
they hold up Adam's profession.
2 Clown.
Was he a gentleman?
1 Clown.
He was the first that ever bore arms.
“2 Clown.
Why, he had none.
“1 Clown.
What, art a heathen? How dost thou
understand the Scripture? the Scripture says, Adam
digg'd; could he dig without arms?” I'll put another
question to thee; if thou answerest me not to
the purpose, confess thyself—
2 Clown.
Go to.
1 Clown.
What is he that builds stronger than either
the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?
2 Clown.
The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives
a thousand tenants.
1 Clown.
I like thy wit well, in good faith; the
gallows does well; but how does it well? it does well
to those that do ill: now thou dost ill, to say the gallows
is built stronger than the church; argal, the gallows
may do well to thee. To't again, come.
2 Clown.
Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright,
or a carpenter?—
-- 280 --
1 Clown.
6 noteAy, tell me that, and unyoke.
2 Clown.
Marry, now I can tell.
1 Clown.
To't.
2 Clown.
Mass, I cannot tell.
Enter Hamlet and Horatio, at a distance.
1 Clown.
Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for
your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating;
and, when you are ask'd this question next, say, a
grave-maker. The houses, he makes, last 'till doomsday.
Go, get thee to Yaughan, and fetch me a stoup
of liquor.
[Exit 2 Clown.
He digs, and sings.
7 note
In youth when I did love, did love,
Methought, it was very sweet;
To contract, oh, the time for, a, my behove,
Oh, methought, there was 8 note
nothing so meet.
Ham.
Has this fellow no feeling of his business,
that he sings at Grave-making?
Hor.
Custom hath made it to him a property of
easiness.
Ham.
'Tis e'en so. The hand of little imployment
hath the daintier sense.
-- 281 --
Clown sings.
9 note
But age, with his stealing steps,
Hath claw'd me in his clutch:
And hath shipped me into the land,
As if I had never been such.
Ham.
That scull had a tongue in it, and could sing
once; how the knave jowles it to the ground, as if it
were Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder! This
might be the pate of 1 notea politician, 2 note
which this ass
-- 282 --
o'er-offices; one that would circumvent God, might
it not?
Hor.
It might, my Lord.
Ham.
Or of a courtier, which could say, “good-morrow,
sweet Lord; how dost thou, good Lord?”
This might be my Lord such-a-one's, that prais'd my
Lord such-a-one's horse, when he meant to beg it;
might it not?
Hor.
Ay, my Lord.
Ham.
Why, e'en so; 3 noteand now my lady Worm's;
chapless, and knockt about the mazzard with a sexton's
spade. Here's a fine revolution, if we had the
trick to see't. Did these bones cost no more the
breeding, but to 4 noteplay at loggats with 'em? mine ake
to think on't.
Clown sings.
A pick-axe and a spade, a spade,
For,—and a shrowding sheet!
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
Ham.
There's another. Why may not that be the scull
of a lawyer? where be his quiddits now? his quillets?
his cases? his tenures, and his tricks? Why does he
-- 283 --
suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the
sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his
action of battery? hum! This fellow might be in's
time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances,
his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries.
Is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery
of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt?
Will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases,
and double ones too, than the length and breadth of
a pair of indentures? the very conveyances of his
lands will hardly lie in this box; and must the inheritor
himself have no more? ha?
Hor.
Not a jot more, my Lord.
Ham.
Is not parchment made of sheep-skins?
Hor.
Ay, my Lord, and of calve-skins too.
Ham.
They are sheep and calves that seek out assurance
in that. I will speak to this fellow. Whose
Grave's this, Sirrah?
Clown.
Mine, Sir—
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a Guest is meet.
Ham.
I think, it be thine, indeed, for thou liest
in't.
Clown.
You lye out on't, Sir, and therefore it is not
yours; for my part, I do not lie in't, yet it is mine.
Ham.
Thou dost lye in't, to be in't, and say, 'tis
thine: 'tis for the dead, not for the quick, therefore
thou ly'st.
Clown.
'Tis a quick lye, Sir, 'twill away again
from me to you.
Ham.
What man dost thou dig it for?
Clown.
For no man, Sir.
Ham.
What woman then?
Clown.
For none neither.
Ham.
Who is to be buried in't?
-- 284 --
Clown.
One, that was a woman, Sir; but, rest her
soul, she's dead.
Ham.
How absolute the knave is? We must speak
5 noteby the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the
Lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken note of
it, 6 notethe age is grown so picked, that the toe of the
peasant comes so near the heel of our courtier, he galls
his kibe. How long hast thou been a grave-maker?
Clown.
Of all the days i' th' year, I came to 't that
day that our last King Hamlet o'ercame Fortinbras.
Ham.
How long is that since?
Clown.
Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell
that. It was that very day that young Hamlet was
born, he that was mad, and sent into England.
Ham.
Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?
Clown.
Why, because he was mad; he shall recover
his wits there; or, if he do not, it's no great matter
there.
Ham.
Why?
Clown.
'Twill not be seen in him; there the men
are as mad as he.
Ham.
How came he mad?
Clown.
Very strangely, they say.
Ham.
How strangely?
Clown.
'Faith, e'en with losing his wits.
Ham.
Upon what ground?
Clown.
Why, here in Denmark. I have been sexton
here, man and boy, thirty years.
-- 285 --
Ham.
How long will a man lie i' th' earth ere he
rot?
Clown.
I'faith, if he be not rotten before he die, as
we have many pocky coarses now-a-days that will
scarce hold the laying in, he will last you some eight
year, or nine year; a tanner will last you nine years.
Ham.
Why he, more than another?
Clown.
Why, Sir, his hide is so tann'd with his
trade, that he will keep out water a great while. And
your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead
body. Here's a scull now has lain in the earth three
and twenty years.
Ham.
Whose was it?
Clown.
A whoreson mad fellow's it was. Whose do
you think it was?
Ham.
Nay, I know not.
Clown.
A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! he
pour'd a flaggon of Rhenish on my head once. This
same scull, Sir, was Yorick's scull, the King's jester.
Ham.
This?
Clown.
E'en that.
Ham.
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a
fellow of infinite jest; of most excellent fancy: he
hath borne me on his back a thousand times: and now
how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises
at it. Here hung those lips, that I have kiss'd I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols?
your songs? your flashes of merriment, that
were wont to set the table in a roar? not one now, to
mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? now get
you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint
an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make
her laugh at that.—Pr'ythee, Horatio, tell me one
thing.
Hor.
What's that, my Lord?
Ham.
Dost thou think, Alexander look'd o' this fashion
i' th' earth?
-- 286 --
Hor.
E'en so.
Ham.
And smelt so, puh?
[Smelling to the Scull.
Hor.
E'en so, my Lord.
Ham.
To what base uses we may return, Horatio!
why may not imagination trace the noble dust of
Alexander, 'till he find it stopping a bung-hole?
Hor.
'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider
so.
Ham.
No, 'faith, not a jot: But to follow him
thither with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead
it; as thus, Alexander died, Alexander was buried,
Alexander returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth
we make loam; and why of that loam, whereto he
was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel?
Imperial Cæsar, dead and turn'd to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
Oh, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall, t' expel the 7 notewinter's flaw!
But soft! but soft, a while—here comes the King,
SCENE II.
Enter King, Queen, Laertes, and a coffin, with Lords, and Priests, attendant.
Ham.
The Queen, the Courtiers. What is that they follow,
And with such 8 notemaimed rites? This doth betoken,
The coarse, they follow, did with desperate hand
Foredo its own life. It was 9 notesome estate.
Couch we a while, and mark.
Laer.
What ceremony else?
Ham.
That is Laertes, a most noble youth. Mark—
Laer.
What ceremony else?
Priest.
Her obsequies have been so far enlarg'd
-- 287 --
As we have warranty; her death was doubtful;
And but that great Command o'ersways the order,
She should in ground unsanctified have lodg'd
'Till the last Trump. For charitable prayers,
Shards, flints, and pebbles, should be thrown on her;
Yet here she is 1 note
allow'd her virgin rites,
Her maiden-strewments, and the bringing home
2 noteOf bell and burial.
Laer.
Must no more be done?
Priest.
No more be done!
We should profane the service of the dead,
To sing a Requiem, and such Rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.
Laer.
Lay her i' th' earth;
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring? I tell thee, churlish priest,
A ministring angel shall my sister be,
When thou liest howling.
Ham.
What, the fair Ophelia!
Queen.
Sweets to the sweet, farewel!
[Scattering flowers.
I hop'd, thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
-- 288 --
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
And not have strew'd thy Grave.
Laer.
O treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that cursed head,
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Depriv'd thee of! Hold off the earth a while,
'Till I have caught her once more in my arms.
[Laertes leaps into the Grave.
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
'Till of this flat a mountain you have made,
T' o'er-top old Pelion, or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.
Ham. [discovering himself.]
What is he, whose griefs
Bear such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wandring stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
[Hamlet leaps into the Grave.
Hamlet the Dane.
Laer.
The devil take thy soul!
[Grappling with him.
Ham.
Thou pray'st not well.
I pr'ythee, take thy fingers from my throat—
For though I am not splenitive and rash;
Yet have I in me something dangerous,
Which let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand.
King.
Pluck them asunder.
Queen.
Hamlet, Hamlet.
Hor.
Good my Lord, be quiet.
[The attendants part them.
Ham.
Why, I will fight with him upon this theme,
Until my eye-lids will no longer wag.
Queen.
Oh my son! what theme?
Ham.
I lov'd Ophelia; forty thousand brothers
Could not with all their quantity of love
Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?
King.
O, he is mad, Laertes.
Queen.
For love of God, forbear him.
Ham.
Come, shew me what thou'lt do.
-- 289 --
Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself?
3 note
Woo't drink up Eisel, eat a Crocodile?
I'll do't.—Do'st thou come hither but to whine?
To out-face me with leaping in her Grave;
Be buried quick with her; and so will I;
And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning Zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.
Queen.
This is meer madness;
And thus a while the Fit will work on him:
Anon, as patient as the female dove,
4 note
Ere that her golden couplets are disclos'd,
-- 290 --
His silence will sit drooping.
Ham.
Hear you, Sir—
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I lov'd you ever; but it is no matter—
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, the dog will have his day.
[Exit.
King.
I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him.
[Exit Hor.
Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech.
[To Laertes.
We'll put the matter to the present push.
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.
This Grave shall have a living Monument.
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see;
'Till then, in patience our proceeding be.
[Exeunt.
SCENE III.
Changes to a Hall, in the Palace.
Enter Hamlet and Horatio.
Ham.
So much for this, Sir. Now shall you see the other.
You do remember all the circumstance?
Hor.
Remember it, my Lord?
Ham.
Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting,
That would not let me sleep; methought, I lay
Worse than the 5 notemutines in the Bilboes. 6 note
Rashly,
-- 291 --
And prais'd be rashness for it—Let us know,
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,
When our deep plots do fail; and that should teach us,
There's a Divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.
Hor.
That is most certain.
Ham.
Up from my cabin,
My sea-gown scarft about me, in the dark
Grop'd I to find out them; had my desire,
Finger'd their packet, and in fine withdrew
To mine own room again; making so bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unseal
Their grand Commission, where I found, Horatio,
A royal knavery; an exact Command,
Larded with many several sorts of reasons,
Importing Denmark's health, and England's too,
7 noteWith, ho! such buggs and goblins in my life;
-- 292 --
That on the supervize, 8 noteno leisure bated,
No, not to stay the grinding of the ax,
My head should be struck off.
Hor.
Is't possible?
Ham.
Here's the Commission, read it at more leisure;
But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?
Hor.
I beseech you.
Ham.
9 note
Being thus benetted round with villains,
Ere I could make a prologue to my Brains,
They had begun the Play: I sate me down,
Devis'd a new Commission, wrote it fair:
-- 293 --
I once did hold it, as our Statists do,
A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much
How to forget that Learning; but, Sir, now
It did me yeoman's service. Wilt thou know
Th' effect of what I wrote?
Hor.
Ay, good my Lord.
Ham.
An earnest conjuration from the King,
As England was his faithful tributary,
As love between them, like the palm, might flourish,
1 note
As Peace should still her wheaten garland wear,
And stand a Comma 'tween their amities;
-- 294 --
And many such like 2 noteAs's of great charge;
That on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more or less,
He should the bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving-time allow'd.
Hor.
How was this seal'd?
Ham.
Why, even in that was heaven ordinant;
I had my father's signet in my purse,
Which was the model of that Danish seal:
I folded the writ up in form of th' other,
Subscrib'd it, gave th'impression, plac'd it safely,
3 noteThe changeling never known; now, the next day
Was our sea-fight, and what to this was sequent
Thou know'st already.
Hor.
So, Guildenstern and Rosincrantz go to't.
“Ham.
Why, man, they did make love to this employment.”
They are not near my conscience; their defeat
4 noteDoth by their own insinuation grow.
'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes
Between the pass, and fell incensed points,
Of mighty opposites.
Hor.
Why, what a King is this!
Ham.
Does it not, think'st thou, stand me now upon?
He that hath kill'd my King, and whor'd my mother,
Popt in between th' election and my hopes,
Thrown out his angle for my proper life,
And with such cozenage; is't not perfect conscience,
-- 295 --
“5 noteTo quit him with this arm? and is't not to be damn'd,
“To let this canker of our nature come
“In further evil?
“Hor.
It must be shortly known to him from England,
“What is the issue of the business there.
“Ham.
It will be short.
“The Interim's mine; and a man's life's no more
“Than to say, one.
“But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
“That to Laertes I forgot myself;
“For by the image of my cause I see
“The portraiture of his; I'll court his favour;
“But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me
“Into a tow'ring passion.
Hor.
Peace, who comes here?
SCENE IV.
Enter Osrick.
Os.
Your Lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.
Ham.
I humbly thank you, Sir. 6 noteDost know this water-fly?
Hor.
No, my good Lord.
Ham.
Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice
to know him. He hath much land, and fertile. Let
a beast be Lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at
-- 296 --
the King's messe. 7 noteIt is a chough; but, as I say, spacious
in the possession of dirt.
Osr.
Sweet Lord, if your Lordship were at leisure,
I should impart a thing to you from his Majesty.
Ham.
I will receive it with all diligence of spirit.
Your bonnet to his right use, 'tis for the head.
Osr.
I thank your Lordship, 'tis very hot.
Ham.
No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is
northerly.
Osr.
It is indifferent cold, my Lord, indeed.
Ham.
But yet, methinks, it is very sultry, and hot
for my complexion.
Osr.
Exceedingly, my Lord. It is very sultry, as
'twere, I cannot tell how.—My Lord, his Majesty
bid me signify to you, that he has laid a great wager
on your head. Sir, this is the matter—
Ham.
I beseech you, remember—
[Hamlet moves him to put on his hat.
Osr.
Nay, in good faith. For mine ease. In good
faith.—Sir, here is newly come to Court Laertes; believe
me, an absolute Gentleman, 8 notefull of most excellent Differences,
of very soft society, and great shew: indeed, to
speak feelingly of him, he is 9 notethe card or kalendar of
gentry; 1 notefor you shall find in him the continent of what
part a gentleman would see.
-- 297 --
Ham.
2 noteSir, his definement suffers no perdition in you,
tho' I know, to divide him inventorially would dizzy the
arithmetick of memory; 3 note
and yet but raw neither in
respect of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment,
I take him to be 4 notea Soul of great article; and his infusion
5 noteof such dearth and rareness, as, to make true diction
of him, his Semblable is his mirrour; and, who else
would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more.
Osr.
Your Lordship speaks most infallibly of him.
Ham.
The Concernancy, Sir?—Why do we wrap
the Gentleman in our more rawer breath?
Osr.
Sir,—
Hor.
6 noteIs't not possible to understand in another tongue?
you will do't, Sir, really.
-- 298 --
Ham.
What imports the nomination of this gentleman?
Osr.
Of Laertes?
Hor.
His purse is empty already: all's golden words
are spent.
Ham.
Of him, Sir.
Osr.
I know, you are not ignorant,—
Ham.
I would you did, Sir. Yet, in faith, 7 noteif you
did, it would not much approve me.—Well, Sir.
Osr.
You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes
is.
Ham.
8 noteI dare not confess that, lest I should compare
with him in excellence: but to know a man well, were to
know himself.
Osr.
I mean, Sir, for his weapon: but in the Imputation
laid on him by them 9 notein his Meed, he's unfellow'd.
Ham.
What's his weapon?
Osr.
Rapier and dagger.
Ham.
That's two of his weapons; but well.
Osr.
The King, Sir, hath wag'd with him six Barbary
horses, against the which he has 1 note
impon'd, as I
take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns,
as girdle, hangers, and so. Three of the carriages,
in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive
to the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of very
liberal conceit.
-- 299 --
Ham.
What call you the carriages?
Hor.
I knew, you must be edified by the Margent,
ere you had done.
Osr.
The carriages, Sir, are the hangers.
Ham.
The phrase would be 2 notemore germane to the
matter, if we could carry cannon by our sides; I
would, it might be hangers till then. But, on; six
Barbary horses against six French swords, their assigns,
and three liberal-conceited carriages; that's the French
bett against the Danish. Why is this impon'd, as you
call it?
Osr.
3 noteThe King, Sir, hath laid, that in a Dozen
Passes between you and him, he shall not exceed you
three hits; he hath laid on twelve for nine, and it
would come to immediate trial, if your Lordship
would vouchsafe the answer.
Ham.
How if I answer, no?
Osr.
I mean, my Lord, the opposition of your
person in trial.
Ham.
Sir, I will walk here in the Hall. If it please
his Majesty, 'tis the breathing time of day with me;
let the foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and
the King hold his purpose, I will win for him if I
can: if not, I'll gain nothing but my shame, and the
odd hits.
Osr.
Shall I deliver you so?
Ham.
To this effect, Sir, after what flourish your
nature will.
Osr.
I commend my duty to your Lordship.
[Exit.
-- 300 --
Ham.
Yours, yours. He does well to commend it
himself, there are no tongues else for 's turn.
Hor.
4 noteThis lapwing runs away with the shell on
his head.
Ham.
5 note
He did compliment with his dug before he
suck'd it: thus has he, and many more of the same
breed, that, I know, the drossy age dotes on, only
got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter,
6 note
a kind of yesty collection, which carries them
-- 301 --
through and through the most fond and winnowed
opinions; and 7 notedo but blow them to their trials, the
bubbles are out.
Enter a Lord.
Lord.
My Lord, his Majesty commended him to you
by young Osrick, 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?
Ham.
I am constant to my purposes, they follow the
King's pleasure; 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.
Ham.
In happy time.
Lord.
The Queen desires you to use some 8 notegentle entertainment
to Laertes, before you fall to play.
Ham.
She well instructs me.
[Exit Lord.
-- 302 --
Hor.
You will lose this wager, my Lord.
Ham.
I do not think so. Since he went into France,
I have been in 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.
Hor.
Nay, my good Lord.
Ham.
It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of
gain-giving as would, perhaps, trouble a woman.
Hor.
If your mind dislike any thing, obey it. I
will forestal their repair hither, and say you are not
fit.
Ham.
Not a whit, we defy augury; there is 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; the readiness is
all. 9 note
Since no man knows aught of what he leaves,
what is't to leave betimes?
-- 303 --
SCENE V.
Enter King, Queen, Laertes and lords, Osrick, with
other attendants with foils, and gantlets. A table,
and flaggons of wine on it.
King.
Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.
[King puts the hand of Laertes into the hand of Hamlet.
Ham.
1 noteGive 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;
-- 304 --
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 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.
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;
2 note
Your Grace hath laid upon the 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.
-- 305 --
Osr.
Ay, my good Lord.
King.
Set me the stoups of wine upon that table,
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,
3 note
And in the cup an Union shall he 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,
-- 306 --
Here's to thy health. Give him the cup.
[Trumpets sound, Shot goes off.
Ham.
I'll play this bout first. Set it by awhile.
[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, 4 note
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?
-- 307 --
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 villainy! ho! let the door be lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out—
Laer.
It is here, Hamlet. Thou art slain,
No med'cine 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, murd'rous, damned Dane,
Drink off this potion. Is the Union here?
Follow my mother.
[King dies.
Laer.
He is justly serv'd.
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,
5 noteThat are but mutes or audience to this act,
-- 308 --
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 this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.
[March afar off, and shout within.
What warlike noise is this?
SCENE VI.
Enter Osrick.
Osr.
Young Fortinbras, with Conquest come from Poland,
To the Ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.
Ham.
O, I die, Horatio:
The potent poison quite o'er-grows my spirit;
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 or less,
6 noteWhich have sollicited.—The rest is silence.
[Dies.
-- 309 --
Hor.
Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet Prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy Rest!
Why does the Drum come hither?
Enter Fortinbras, and English Ambassadors, with drum, colours, and attendants.
Fort.
Where is this sight?
Hor.
What is it you would see?
If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.
Fort.
7 note
This quarry cries on havock. Oh proud death!
What feast is tow'rd in thy infernal cell,
That thou so many Princes at a shot
So bloodily hast struck?
Amb.
The sight is dismal,
And our affairs from England come too late:
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing;
To tell him, his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosincrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Where should we have our thanks?
Hor.
Not from his mouth,
Had it th' ability of life to thank you:
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,
And let me speak to th' yet unknowing world,
-- 310 --
How these things came about. So shall you hear
Of cruel, bloody, and unnatural acts;
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause;
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on th' inventors' heads. All this can I
Truly deliver.
Fort.
Let us haste to hear it,
And call the Nobless to the audience.
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.
Hor.
Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
8 note
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:
But let this same be presently perform'd,
Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mischance
On plots and errors happen.
Fort.
Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the Stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have prov'd most royally. And for his passage,
The Soldiers' musick, and the rites of war
Speak loudly for him.
-- 311 --
Take up the body. Such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shews much amiss.
Go, bid the Soldiers shoot.
[Exeunt, marching: after which, a peal of Ordnance is shot off.
