SCENE I.
ELSINOUR.
A platform before the palace.
Francisco on his post. Enter to him Bernardo.
Ber.
Who's there?
Fran.
Nay, answer me 3 note: stand, and unfold yourself.
-- 170 --
Ber.
Long live the king!
Fran.
Bernardo?
Ber.
He.
Fran.
You come most carefully upon your hour.
Ber.
'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.
Fran.
For this relief, much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.
Ber.
Have you had quiet guard?
Fran.
Not a mouse stirring.
Ber.
Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
-- 171 --
4 note
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
Enter Horatio, and Marcellus.
Fran.
I think, I hear them.—Stand, ho! Who is there?
Hor.
Friends to this ground.
Mar.
And liegemen to the Dane.
Fran.
Give you good night.
Mar.
O, farewel, honest soldier:
Who hath reliev'd you?
Fran.
Bernardo hath my place.
Give you good night.
[Exit Francisco.
Mar.
Holla! Bernardo!
Ber.
Say,
What, is Horatio there?
5 note
Hor.
A piece of him.
-- 172 --
Ber.
Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus.
Mar.
What6 note, has this thing appear'd again to-night?
Ber.
I have seen nothing.
Mar.
Horatio says, 'tis but our phantasy;
And will not let belief take hold of him,
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:
Therefore I have intreated him along,
With us to watch 7 note
the minutes of this night;
That, if again this apparition come,
He may 8 note
approve our eyes, and speak to it.
Hor.
Tush! tush! 'twill not appear.
Ber.
Sit down a while;
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
9 noteWhat we two nights have seen.
Hor.
Well, sit we down,
And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.
Ber.
Last night of all,
When yon same star, that's westward from the pole,
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself,
The bell then beating one,—
-- 173 --
Mar.
Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!
Enter Ghost.
Ber.
In the same figure, like the king that's dead.
Mar.
Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio.
Ber.
Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.
Hor.
Most like:—it harrows1 note
me with fear, and wonder.
Ber.
It would be spoke to.
Mar.
Speak to it, Horatio.
Hor.
What art thou, that usurp'st this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of bury'd Denmark
Did sometime march? by heaven I charge thee, speak.
Mar.
It is offended.
Ber.
See! it stalks away.
Hor.
Stay; speak; I charge thee, speak.
[Exit Ghost.
Mar.
'Tis gone, and will not answer.
Ber.
How now, Horatio? you tremble, and look pale:
Is not this something more than phantasy?
What think you of it?
Hor.
Before my God, I might not this believe,
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.
Mar.
Is it not like the king?
Hor.
As thou art to thyself:
Such was the very armour he had on,
-- 174 --
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle2 note
,
3 note
He smote the 4 note
sledded Polack on the ice.
'Tis strange.
Mar.
Thus, twice before, 5 note
and just at this dead hour,
With martial stalk he hath gone by our watch.
-- 175 --
Hor.
6 noteIn what particular thought to work, I know not;
But, in the 7 notegross and scope of mine opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
Mar.
Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land?
And why such daily cast8 note of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war?
Why such impress of ship-wrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the sunday from the week?
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day;
Who is't, that can inform me?
Hor.
That can I;
At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,
Dar'd to the combat; in which, our valiant Hamlet
(For so this side of our known world esteem'd him)
Did slay this Fortinbras; 9 note
who, by a seal'd compact,
-- 176 --
Well ratify'd by law, and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands,
Which he stood seiz'd of, to the conqueror:
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king; which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been vanquisher; 1 note
as, by that covenant,
2 noteAnd carriage of the articles design'd,
His fell to Hamlet: Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
3 note
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
-- 177 --
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
4 noteShark'd up a list of landless resolutes,
For food and diet, to some enterprize
5 noteThat hath a stomach in't; which is no other
(As it doth well appear unto our state)
But to recover of us, by strong hand,
6 noteAnd terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands
So by his father lost: And this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations;
The source of this our watch; and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage7 note in the land.
Ber.
[8 note
I think, it be no other, but even so:
Well may it sort9 note, that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch; so like the king
That was, and is the question of these wars.
Hor.
A mote it is1 note, to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and 2 notepalmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
-- 178 --
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets;
Stars shone with trains of fire; dews of blood fell3 note
;
4 noteDisasters veil'd the sun 9Q1157; and the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,
Was sick almost to dooms-day with eclipse.
And 5 noteeven the like 6 note
precurse of fierce events,—
As harbingers preceding still the fates,
7 note
And prologue to the omen coming on,—
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.—]
-- 179 --
Re-enter Ghost.
But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again!
I'll cross it, though it blast me.—Stay, illusion!
8 noteIf thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me:
If there be any good thing to be done,
That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,
Speak to me:
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, hapily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!
Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,
[Cock crows.
Speak of it:—stay, and speak.—Stop it, Marcellus.—
Mar.
Shall I strike at it with my partizan?
Hor.
Do, if it will not stand.
Ber.
'Tis here!
Hor.
'Tis here!
Mar.
'Tis gone!
[Exit Ghost.
We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the shew of violence;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery.
Ber.
It was about to speak, when the cock crew.
Hor.
And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat9Q1158
Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,
-- 180 --
9 note
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
1 note
The extravagant and erring spirit hies
To his confine: and of the truth herein
This present object made probation.
Mar.
It faded on the crowing of the cock2 note.
Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long:
-- 181 --
And then, they say, no spirit 3 notedares stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
4 noteNo fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
Hor.
So have I heard, and do in part believe it.
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon 5 note
high eastern hill:
Break we our watch up; and, by my advice,
Let us impart what we have seen to-night
Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him:
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
Mar.
Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know
Where we shall find him most convenient.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.
A room of state.
Enter the Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Voltimand, Cornelius, Lords and Attendants.
King.
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green; and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
-- 182 --
To be contracted in one brow of woe;
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature,
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
The imperial jointress of this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,—
With one auspicious, and one dropping eye 6 note
;
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,—
Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along:—For all, our thanks.
Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,—
Holding a weak supposal of our worth;
Or thinking, by our late dear brother's death,
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,—
7 note
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,
He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,
Importing the surrender of those lands
Lost by his father, with all bands of law,
To our most valiant brother.—So much for him.
-- 183 --
Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting:
Thus much the business is: We have here writ
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,—
Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose,—to suppress
His further gait herein8 note
; in that the levies,
The lists, and full proportions, are all made
Out of his subject:—and we here dispatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;
Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the king, more than the scope9 note
Of these dilated articles allows1 note.
Farewel; and let your haste commend your duty.
Vol.
In that, and all things, will we shew our duty.
King.
We doubt it nothing; heartily farewel.
[Exeunt Voltimand, and Cornelius.
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
You told us of some suit; What is't, Laertes?
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,
And lose your voice: What would'st thou beg, Laertes,
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
2 note
The head is not more native to the heart,
-- 184 --
The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
What would'st thou have, Laertes?
Laer.
My dread lord,
Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
To shew my duty in your coronation;
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France,
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
King.
Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?
Pol.
He hath, my lord, [wrung from me my slow leave,
-- 185 --
By laboursome petition; and, at last,
Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:]
I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
King.
3 note
Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will.—
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,—
Ham.
4 note
A little more than kin, and less than kind.
[Aside.
-- 186 --
King.
How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
Ham.
Not so, my lord, I am 5 note
too much i' the sun.
Queen.
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not, for ever, with thy 6 notevailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
-- 187 --
Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
Ham.
Ay, madam, it is common.
Queen.
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
Ham.
Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not seems.
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, modes, shews of grief7 note,
That can denote me truly: These, indeed, seem,
For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within, which passeth shew;
These, but the trappings and the suits of woe.
King,
'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your father:
But, you must know, 8 note
your father lost a father;
-- 188 --
That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound
In filial obligation, for some term
To do 9 note
obsequious sorrow: But to perséver
1 noteIn obstinate condolement, is a course
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:
It shews 2 notea will most incorrect to heaven;
A heart unfortify'd, or mind impatient;
An understanding simple and unschool'd:
For what, we know, must be, and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we, in our peevish opposition,
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
3 note
To reason most absurd, whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cry'd,
From the first corse, 'till he that died to-day,
This must be so. We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe; and think of us
As of a father: for, let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne;
4 note
And, with no less nobility of love
-- 189 --
Than that which dearest father bears his son,
5 note
Do I impart toward you. For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire:
And, we beseech you, 6 notebend you to remain
Here, in the chear and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
Queen.
Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet;
I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
Ham.
I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
King.
Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply;
Be as ourself in Denmark.—Madam, come;
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof,
7 noteNo jocund health, that Denmark drinks to-day,
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell;
And the king's rouze the heaven shall bruit again,
Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come, away.
[Exeunt.
Manet Hamlet.
Ham.
O, that this too too solid flesh would melt,
-- 190 --
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew8 note
!
9 note
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank, and gross in nature,
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead!—nay, not so much, not two:
1 note
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr: so loving to my mother,
2 note
That he might not let e'en the winds of heaven
-- 191 --
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: And yet, within a month,—
Let me not think on't;—Frailty, thy name is woman!—
A little month; or ere those shoes were old,
With which she follow'd my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears:9Q1161—why she, even she,—
O heaven! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer,—marry'd with my uncle,
My father's brother; but no more like my father,
Than I to Hercules: Within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her gauled eyes,
She marry'd.—O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to, good:
But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue!
-- 192 --
Enter Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus.
Hor.
Hail to your lordship!
Ham.
I am glad to see you well:
Horatio,—or I do forget myself?
Hor.
The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
Ham.
Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you3 note.
And 4 notewhat make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?—
Marcellus?
Mar.
My good lord,—
Ham.
I am very glad to see you; 5 notegood even, sir.—
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
Hor.
A truant disposition, good my lord.
Ham.
I would not hear your enemy say so;
Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself: I know, you are no truant.
But what is your affair in Elsinour?
We'll teach you to drink deep, ere you depart.
Hor.
My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
Ham.
I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;
I think, it was to see my mother's wedding.
Hor.
Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.
-- 193 --
Ham.
Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral bak'd meats6 note
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
'Would I had met my 7 note
dearest foe in heaven,
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!—
My father,—Methinks, I see my father.
Hor.
O where, my lord?
Ham.
In my mind's eye8 note
, Horatio.
-- 194 --
Hor.
I saw him once, he was a goodly king.
Ham.
He was a man, take him for all in all,
9 note
I shall not look upon his like again.
Hor.
My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
Ham.
Saw! who?
Hor.
My lord, the king your father.
Ham.
The king my father!
Hor.
1 noteSeason your admiration for a while
With an attent ear; 'till I may deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.
Ham.
For heaven's love, let me hear.
Hor.
Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
In the dead waste and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Arm'd at all points2 note, exactly, cap-à-pé,
Appears before them, and, with solemn march,
Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd,
By their opprest and fear-surprized eyes,
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd
Almost to jelly 3 note
with the act of fear,
-- 195 --
Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secresy impart they did;
And I with them, the third night, kept the watch:
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,
Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
The apparition comes: I knew your father;
These hands are not more like.
Ham.
But where was this?
Mar.
My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.
Ham.
Did you not speak to it?
Hor.
My lord, I did;
But answer made it none: yet once, methought,
It lifted up its head, and did address
Itself to motion, like as it would speak:
But, even then, the morning cock crew loud;
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,
And vanish'd from our sight.
Ham.
'Tis very strange.
Hor.
As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;
And we did think it writ down in our duty,
To let you know of it.
Ham.
Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch to-night?
All.
We do, my lord.
Ham.
Arm'd, say you?
All.
Arm'd, my lord.
Ham.
From top to toe?
-- 196 --
All.
My lord, from head to foot.
Ham.
Then saw you not his face.
Hor.
O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up.
Ham.
What, look'd he frowningly?
Hor.
A countenance more
In sorrow than in anger.
Ham.
Pale, or red?
Hor.
Nay, very pale.
Ham.
And fix'd his eyes upon you?
Hor.
Most constantly.
Ham.
I would, I had been there.
Hor.
It would have much amaz'd you.
Ham.
Very like,
Very like: Stay'd it long?
Hor.
While one with moderate haste
Might tell a hundred.
Both.
Longer, longer.
Hor.
Not when I saw it.
Ham.
His beard was grizzl'd? no?
Hor.
It was, as I have seen it in his life,
A sable silver'd.
Ham.
I will watch to-night;
Perchance, 'twill walk again.
Hor.
I warrant, it will.
Ham.
If it assume my noble father's person,
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape,
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
4 note
Let it be tenable in your silence still;
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue;
I will requite your loves: So, fare you well:
-- 197 --
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.
All.
Our duty to your honour.
Ham.
Your loves, as mine to you: Farewel.
[Exeunt.
My father's spirit in arms! all is not well;
I doubt some foul play: 'would, the night were come!
'Till then sit still, my soul: Foul deeds will rise,
(Though all the earth o'erwhelm them) to men's eyes.
[Exit.
SCENE III.
An apartment in Polonius' house.
Enter Laertes, and Ophelia.
Laer.
My necessaries are embark'd; farewel:
And, sister, as the winds give benefit,
And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
But let me hear from you.
Oph.
Do you doubt that?
Laer.
For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,
Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;
A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
5 note
The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
No more.
-- 198 --
Oph.
No more but so?
Laer.
Think it no more:
For nature, crescent, does not grow alone
In thews6 note, and bulk; but, as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal. Perhaps, he loves you now;
7 note
And now no soil, nor cautel, doth besmirch
The virtue of his will: but, you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
8 note
The safety and the health of the whole state;
And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd
Unto the voice and yielding of that body,
-- 199 --
Whereof he is the head: Then if he says, he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it,
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further,
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs;
Or lose your heart; or your chaste treasure open
To his 9 noteunmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister;
And 1 notekeep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
The chariest maid2 note is prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes:
The canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd;
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then: best safety lies in fear;
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
Oph.
I shall the effect of this good lesson keep,
As watchman to my heart: But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Shew me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
3 note
Whilst, like a puft and reckless libertine,
-- 200 --
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And 4 note
recks not his own read.
Laer.
O, fear me not.
I stay too long;—But here my father comes.
Enter Polonius.
A double blessing is a double grace;
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
Pol.
Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame;
-- 201 --
The wind sits in the 5 noteshoulder of your sail,
And you are staid for: There,—my blessings with you;
[Laying his hand on Laertes' head.
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
The friends thou hast, and their adoption try'd,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
6 note
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Take each man's censure7 note, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France, of the best rank and station,
8 note
Are most select, and generous chief, in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be:
For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
-- 202 --
This above all,—To thine ownself be true;
9 note
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewel; 1 note
my blessing season this in thee!
Laer.
Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
-- 203 --
Pol.
2 note
The time invites you; go, your servants tend3 note.
Laer.
Farewel, Ophelia; and remember well
What I have said to you.
Oph.
'Tis in my memory lock'd,
And you 4 note
yourself shall keep the key of it.
Laer.
Farewel.
[Exit Laertes.
Pol.
What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
Oph.
So please you, something touching the lord Hamlet.
Pol.
Marry, well bethought:
'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous;
If it be so, (as so 'tis put on me,
And that in way of caution) I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself so clearly,
As it behoves my daughter, and your honour:
What is between you? give me up the truth.
Oph.
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.
-- 204 --
Pol.
Affection? puh! you speak like a green girl,
5 noteUnsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
Oph.
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
Pol.
Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. 6 note
Tender yourself more dearly;
Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase)
Wronging it thus, you'll tender me a fool.
Oph.
My lord, he hath importun'd me with love,
In honourable fashion.
-- 205 --
Pol.
Ay, 7 notefashion you may call it; go to, go to.
Oph.
And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
Pol.
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks8 note
. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: These blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat,—extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a making,—
You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
9 noteSet your entreatments at a higher rate,
Than a command to parley. For lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, That he is young;
And with a 1 note
larger tether may he walk,
Than may be given you: In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows: for they are brokers;
Not of that dye which their investments shew,
But meer implorators of unholy suits,
2 note
Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds,
-- 206 --
The better to beguile. This is for all,—
3 note
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment's leisure,
As to give words or talk with the lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you; come your ways.
Oph.
I shall obey, my lord.
[Exeunt.
SCENE IV.
The Platform.
Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.
Ham.
The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
Hor.
It is a nipping and an eager air.
Ham.
What hour now?
Hor.
I think, it lacks of twelve.
Mar.
No, it is struck.
Hor.
Indeed? I heard it not: it then draws near the season,
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
[Noise of musick within.
What does this mean, my lord?
-- 207 --
Ham.
The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse4 note
,
Keeps wassel,5 note
and 6 note
the swaggering up-spring reels;
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum, and trumpet, thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
Hor.
Is it a custom?
Ham.
Ay, marry, is't:
But, to my mind,—though I am native here,
And to the manner born,—it is a custom
More honour'd in the breach, than the observance.
7 note
This heavy-headed revel, east and west,
-- 208 --
Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations:
They clepe us, drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition; and, indeed, it takes
From our atchievements, though perform'd at height,
8 noteThe pith and marrow of our attribute.
So, oft it chances in particular men,
That, for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth, (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot chuse his origin)
By the o'er-growth of some 9 notecomplexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners;—that these men,—
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect;
Being nature's livery, or 1 note
fortune's star,—
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
2 noteAs infinite as man may undergo)
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault: 3 note
The dram of base
-- 209 --
Doth all the noble substance of worth out4 note
,
To his own scandal. 9Q1163
Enter Ghost.
Hor.
Look, my lord, it comes!
Ham.
Angels and ministers of grace defend us5 note
!—
-- 210 --
Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd6 note
,
Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,
Thou com'st in such a 7 note
questionable shape,
That I will speak to thee; I'll call thee, Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance! but 8 note
tell,
-- 211 --
Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cearments? why the sepulchre,
-- 212 --
Wherein we saw thee quietly in-urn'd9 note,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again? What may this mean,—
1 note
That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel,
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and 2 notewe fools of nature
So horridly 3 noteto shake our disposition,
-- 213 --
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
Hor.
It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
Mar.
Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removed ground:
But do not go with it.
Hor.
No, by no means.
Ham.
It will not speak; then I will follow it.
Hor.
Do not, my lord.
Ham.
Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life at a pin's fee4 note;
And, for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again;—I'll follow it.
Hor.
What, if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord?
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,
That beetles o'er his base into the sea?
And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might 5 note
deprive your sovereignty of reason,
And draw you into madness? think of it:
[6 noteThe very place 7 noteputs toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain,
That looks so many fathoms to the sea,
And hears it roar beneath.]
Ham.
It waves me still:—
-- 214 --
Go on, I'll follow thee.
Mar.
You shall not go, my lord.
Ham.
Hold off your hands.
Hor.
Be rul'd, you shall not go.
Ham.
My fate cries out,
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.—
Still am I call'd—unhand me, gentlemen;—
[Breaking from them.
By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him 8 notethat lets me:—
I say, away:—Go on,—I'll follow thee.
[Exeunt Ghost, and Hamlet.
Hor.
He waxes desperate with imagination.
Mar.
Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.
Hor.
Have after:—To what issue will this come?
Mar.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Hor.
Heaven will direct it9 note.
Mar.
Nay, let's follow him.
[Exeunt.
SCENE V.
A more remote Part of the Platform.
Re-enter Ghost, and Hamlet.
Ham.
Whither wilt thou lead me? speak, I'll go no further.
Ghost.
Mark me.
Ham.
I will.
Ghost.
My hour is almost come,
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.
Ham.
Alas, poor ghost!
-- 215 --
Ghost.
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold.
Ham.
Speak, I am bound to hear.
Ghost.
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
Ham.
What?
Ghost.
I am thy father's spirit;
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night;
And, for the day, 1 note
confin'd to fast in fires,
'Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature,
2 note
Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid
-- 216 --
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood;
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres;
Thy knotty and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine3 note
:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood:—List, list, O list!—
If thou did'st ever thy dear father love,—
Ham.
O heaven!
Ghost.
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder4 note.
Ham.
Murder?
Ghost.
Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
-- 217 --
Ham.
Haste me to know it; that I, with wings as swift
5 note
As meditation, or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.
Ghost.
I find thee apt;
6 note
And duller should'st thou be than the fat weed
7 note
That rots itself in ease on Lethe's wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out, that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent, that did sting thy father's life,
Now wears his crown.
-- 218 --
Ham.
O, my prophetick soul! my uncle?
Ghost.
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traiterous gifts,
(O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!) won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O, Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity,
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it never will be mov'd,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven;
So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
But, soft! methinks, I scent the morning air—
Brief let me be:—Sleeping within mine orchard8 note
,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
9 note
note). These qualities
have been confirmed by several cases related in modern observations.
In Wepser we have a good account of the various
effects of this root upon most of the members of a convent in
Germany, who eat of it for supper by mistake, mixed with succory;
—heat the throat, giddiness, dimness of sight, and delirium.
Cicut. Aquatic. c. 18.
Gray.
So in Drayton's Barons' Wars, p. 51.
“The pois'ning henbane, and the mandrake drad.”
Again, in the Philospher's 4th Satire of Mars, by Robert Anton, 1616:
“The poison'd Henbane whose cold juice doth kill.”
Again, in Glapthorne's Hollander, 1640:
“&lblank; these are tears
“Such as distill from Henbane full of poison.”
Again, in the Noble Soldier, 1634:
“Henbane and poppy, and that magical weed, &c.”
In Heywood's Jew of Malta note, 1633, the word is written in a different manner,
“&lblank; the blood of Hydra, Lerna's bane,
“The juice of Hebon, and Cocytus' breath.”
Steevens.With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
-- 219 --
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man,
That, swift as quick-silver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And, with a sudden vigour, it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,
Of life, of crown, of queen, 1 noteat once dispatch'd:
2 noteCut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
3 noteUnhousell'd 4 notedisappointed, 5 note
unaneal'd;
-- 220 --
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
-- 221 --
6 noteO, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
-- 222 --
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
7 note
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contri v
Against thy mother aught; leave her to he an,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shews the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire8 note
:
-- 223 --
Adieu, adieu, adieu!9 note
remember me.
[Exit.
Ham.
O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?
And shall I couple hell?—O fie!—Hold, hold, my heart;
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up!—Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe.1 note Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory 9Q1167
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven.
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables,—meet it is, I set it down2 note
,
-- 224 --
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least, I am sure, it may be so in Denmark: [Writing.]
So, uncle, there you are. 3 note
Now to my word;
It is, Adieu, adieu! remember me.
I have sworn it.
Hor.
My lord, my lord,—
[Within.
Mar.
Lord Hamlet,—
[Within.
Hor.
Heaven secure him!
[Within.
Ham.
So be it!
Mar.
Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
[Within.
Ham.
Hillo, ho, ho, boy! 4 note
come, bird, come.
Enter Horatio, and Marcellus.
Mar.
How is't, my noble lord?
Hor.
What news, my lord?
Ham.
O, wonderful!
Hor.
Good my lord, tell it.
Ham.
No; you will reveal it.
Hor.
Not I, my lord, by heaven.
Mar.
Nor I, my lord.
Ham.
How say you then; would heart of man once think it?—
But you'll be secret,—
Both.
Ay, by heaven, my lord.
Ham.
There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Denmark,
But he's an arrant knave.
-- 225 --
Hor.
5 noteThere needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave,
To tell us this.
Ham.
Why, right; you are in the right;
And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold it fit, that we shake hands, and part:
You, as your business, and desire, shall point you;—
For every man hath business, and desire,
Such as it is,—and, for my own poor part,
Look you, I will go pray.
Hor.
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
Ham.
I am sorry they offend you, heartily;
Yes 'faith, heartily.
Hor.
There's no offence, my lord.
Ham.
Yes, 6 note
by saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offence too. Touching this vision here,—
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you:
For your desire to know what is between us,
O'er-master it as you may. And now, good friends,
As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
Give me one poor request.
Hor.
What is't, my lord? we will.
Ham.
Never make known what you have seen to-night.
Both.
My lord, we will not.
Ham.
Nay, but swear it.
Hor.
In faith, my lord, not I.
Mar.
Nor I, my lord, in faith.
-- 226 --
Ham.
Upon my sword.
Mar.
We have sworn, my lord, already.
Ham.
Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
Ghost. [beneath]
Swear.
Ham.
Ha, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there, true-penny7 note
?
Come on,—you hear this fellow in the cellaridge,—
Consent to swear.
Hor.
Propose the oath, my lord.
Ham.
Never to speak of this that you have seen,
8 note
Swear by my sword.
-- 227 --
Ghost. [beneath]
Swear.
Ham.
Hic & ubique? then we'll shift our ground:—
Come hither, gentlemen,
And lay your hands again upon my sword:
Swear by my sword,
Never to speak of this that you have heard.
Ghost. [beneath]
Swear by his sword.
Ham.
Well said, old mole! can'st work i'the earth so fast?
A worthy pioneer!—Once more remove, good friends.
Hor.
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!
Ham.
9 noteAnd therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
But come;—
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy!
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,—
As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet
To put an antick disposition on,—
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
-- 228 --
(With arms encumber'd thus; or this head-shake;
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As, Well, well, we know;—or, We could, an if we
would;—or, If we list to speak;—or, There be, an if
they might;—
Or such ambiguous giving out) denote1 note
That you know aught of me: 2 noteThis do ye swear,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you!
Swear.
Ghost. [beneath]
Swear.
Ham.
Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!—So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you:
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do, to express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint;—O cursed spight!
That ever I was born to set it right!—
Nay, come, let's go together.
[Exeunt.
-- 229 --
Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
