R. H.)
King. (C.)
And can you, by no drift of conference,
Get from him why he puts on this confusion?
Ros. (R.)
He does confess he feels himself distracted;
But from what cause he will by no means speak.
Guild. (R.)
Nor do we find him forward1 note to be sounded
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof,
When we would bring him on to some confession
Of his true state.
Queen. (R. C.)
Did you assay him2 note
To any pastime?
Ros.
Madam, it so fell out, that certain players
We o'er-raught on the way:3 note of these we told him;
And there did seem in him a kind of joy
To hear of it: They are about the court;
And, as I think, they have already order
This night to play before him.
Pol.
'Tis most true:
And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties
To hear and see the matter.
King.
With all my heart; and it doth much content me
To hear him so inclin'd.
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge,
And drive his purpose on to these delights.
Ros.
We shall, my lord.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, R. H.]
-- 50 --
King.
Sweet Gertrude, leave us too;
For we have closely sent4 note for Hamlet hither,
That he, as 'twere by accident, may here
Affront Ophelia:5 note
Her father and myself (lawful espials6 note),
Will so bestow ourselves, that, seeing, unseen,
We may of their encounter frankly judge;
And gather by him, as he is behaved,
If't be the affliction of his love or no
That thus he suffers for.
Queen. (R.)
I shall obey you:
And for your part, Ophelia, [Ophelia comes down L. H.] I do wish
That your good beauties be the happy cause
Of Hamlet's wildness: so shall I hope your virtues
Will bring him to his wonted way again,
To both your honours.
Oph.
Madam, I wish it may.
[Exit Queen, R. H.]
Pol.
Ophelia, walk you here. Gracious, so please you,
We will bestow ourselves. Read on this book;
[To Ophelia.]
That show of such an exercise may colour
Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this,—
'Tis too much prov'd,7 note that, with devotion's visage
And pious action, we do sugar o'er
The devil himself.
King.
O, 'tis too true! how smart
A lash that speech doth give my conscience!
[Aside.]
Pol.
I hear him coming: let's withdraw, my lord.
[Exeunt King and Polonius, R. H. 2 E., and Ophelia, R. H. U. E.]
Enter Hamlet (L. H.)
Ham.
To be, or not to be, that is the question:8 note
-- 51 --
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,9 note
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 wished. 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 mortal coil,10 note
Must give us pause:11 note There's the respect12 note
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,13 note
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,14 note
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make15 note
With a bare bodkin?16 note Who would fardels bear,17 note
To groan and sweat under a weary life,
-- 52 --
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn18 note
No traveller returns,19 note 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;20 note
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,21 note
With this regard, their currents turn away,
And lose the name of action.22 note
—[Ophelia returns.]—Soft you now!23 note
The fair Ophelia:—Nymph, in thy orisons24 note
Be all my sins remember'd.
Oph. (R. C.)
Good my lord,
How does your honour for this many a day?
Ham. (L. C.)
I humbly thank you; well.
Oph.
My lord, I have remembrances of yours,
That I have longèd long to re-deliver;
I pray you, now receive them.
Ham.
No, not I;
I never gave you aught.
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: their perfume lost,
Take these again; for to the noble mind
-- 53 --
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.
That if you be honest and fair, your honesty
should admit no discourse to your beauty.25 note
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 his likeness:26 note
this was some time 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:27 note I loved you not.
Oph.
I was the more deceived.
Ham.
Get thee to a nunnery: Why wouldst thou be
a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest;
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 at my beck28 note
than I have thoughts to put them in,29 note imagination to
give them shape, or time to act them in. What should
such fellows as I do, crawling between earth and heaven?
-- 54 --
We are arrant knaves, all; 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 nowhere but in's own house. Farewell.
Oph.
O, help him, you sweet heavens!
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; farewell. 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; go; go.
Oph.
Heavenly powers, restore him!
Ham.
I have heard of your paintings30 note too, well
enough; Heaven hath given you one face, and you make
yourselves another:31 note you jig, you amble, and you lisp,32 note
and nickname Heaven's creatures, and make your wantonness
your ignorance.33 note Go to, I'll no more of't; it
hath made me mad. [Hamlet crosses to R. H.] I say,
we will have no more marriages: those that are married
already, all but one,34 note shall live; the rest shall keep as they
are. To a nunnery, go.
[Exit Hamlet, R. H.35 note]
Oph. (L.)
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,36 note
-- 55 --
The glass of fashion37 note and the mould of form,38 note
The observ'd of all observers, quite, quite down!
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That suck'd the honey of his musick vows,39 note
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh:
O, woe is me,
To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!
[Exit Ophelia, L. H.]
Re-enter King and Polonius.
King.
Love! his affections do not that way tend;
Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little,
Was not like madness. There's something in his soul,
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood;
He shall with speed to England,
For the demand of our neglected tribute:
Haply, the seas, and countries different,
With variable objects, shall expel
This something-settled matter in his heart;
Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus
From fashion of himself. What think you on't?
Pol.
It shall do well: But yet I do believe
The origin and commencement of his grief
Sprung from neglected love. My lord, do as you please;
But, if you hold it fit, after the play,
Let his queen mother all alone entreat him
To show his grief: let her be round with him;40 note
And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear
Of all their conference. If she find him not,41 note
To England send him; or confine him where
Your wisdom best shall think.
King.
It shall be so:
Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go.
[Exeunt, L. H.]
-- 56 --
Enter Hamlet and a Player (R. H.)
Ham. (C.)
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced
it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but if
you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief42 note
the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air
too much with your hands thus;43 note but use all gently:
for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say)
whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget
a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it
offends me to the soul, to hear a robustious perrywig-pated
fellow44 note tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to
split the ears of the groundlings,45 note who, for the most
part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows
and noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o'er-doing
Termagant;46 note it out-herods Herod:47 note Pray you,
avoid it.
1st Play. (R.)
I warrant your honour.
Ham.
Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion
be your tutor; suit the action to the word, the
word to the action; with this special observance, that
you o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for any thing
so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end,
both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere,
the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature,
-- 57 --
scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the
time its form and pressure.48 note Now, this overdone, or
come tardy off,49 note though it make the unskilful laugh,
cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of
which one50 note must, in your allowance,51 note o'erweigh a whole
theatre of others. O, there be players that I have seen
play, and heard others praise, and that highly, not to
speak it profanely,52 note that, neither having the accent of
christians, nor the gait of christian, pagan, nor man, have
so strutted and bellowed, that I have thought some of
nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them
well, they imitated humanity so abominably.
[Crosses to R.]
1st Play. (L.)
I hope we have reformed that indifferently53 note
with us.
Ham.
O, reform it altogether. And let those that
play your clowns speak no more than is set down for
them:54 note for there be of them that will themselves laugh,
to set on some quantity of barren spectators55 note to laugh
too; though, in the mean time, some necessary question56 note
of the play be then to be considered: that's villainous,
and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.
Go, make you ready.
[Exit Player, L. H.]
Ham.
What, ho, Horatio!
Enter Horatio (R. H.)
Hor.
Here, sweet lord, at your service.
-- 58 --
Ham.
Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man
As e'er my conversation cop'd withal.57 note.
Hor.
O, my dear lord.
Ham.
Nay, do not think I flatter;
For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue hast, but thy good spirits,
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter'd?
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp;
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,58 note
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?
Since my dear soul59 note was mistress of her choice,
And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath seal'd thee for herself: for thou hast been
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing;
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Has ta'en with equal thanks: and bless'd are those
Whose blood and judgment60 note are so well co-mingled,
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee.—Something too much of this.—
There is a play to-night before the king;
One scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which I have told thee of my father's death:
I pr'ythee when thou seest that act a-foot,
Even with the very comment of thy soul61 note
Observe my uncle: if his occulted guilt62 note
-- 59 --
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damned ghost that we have seen;
And my imaginations are as foul
As Vulcan's stithy.63 note Give him heedful note:
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face;
And, after, we will both our judgments join
In censure of his seeming.64 note
[Horatio goes off, U. E. L. H.]
March. Enter King and Queen, preceded by Polonius, Ophelia,
Horatio, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants. King and Queen sit (L. H.); Ophelia (R. H.)
King. (L.)
How fares our cousin Hamlet?
Ham. (C.)
Excellent, i'faith; of the cameleon's dish: I
eat the air, promise-crammed: you cannot feed capons so.
King.
I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these
words are not mine.65 note.
Ham.
No, nor mine, now.66 note My lord,—you played once
in the university, you say?67 note
[To Polonius, L.]
Pol. (L. C.)
That did I, my lord; and was accounted a
good actor.
Ham. (C.)
And what did you enact?
Pol.
I did enact Julius Cæsar:68 note I was killed i'the
Capitol; Brutus killed me.
Ham.
It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a
calf there.—Be the players ready?
Ros.
Ay, my lord; they stay upon your patience.69 note
Queen.
Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me.
[Pointing to a chair by her side.]
-- 60 --
Ham.
No, good mother, here's metal more attractive.
Pol.
O, ho! do you mark that?
[Aside to the King.]
Ham.
Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
[Lying down at Ophelia's feet.]70 note
Oph. (R.)
You are merry, my lord.
Ham.
O, your only jig-maker.71 note What should a man do
but be merry? for, look you, how cheerfully my mother
looks, and my father died within these two hours.
Oph.
Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord.
Ham.
So long? Nay, then, let the devil wear black, for
I'll have a suit of sables.72 note O heavens! die two months
ago, and not forgotten yet? Then there's hope a great
man's memory may outlive his life half a year: But, by'r-lady,
he must build churches, then.73 note
Oph.
What means the play, my lord?
Ham.
Miching mallecho;74 note it means mischief.
Oph.
But what is the argument of the play?
Enter a Player as Prologue (L. H.) on a raised stage.
Ham.
We shall know by this fellow.
Pro.
For us, and for our tragedy,
Here stooping to your clemency,
We beg your hearing patiently.
[Exit, L. H.]
-- 61 --
Ham.
Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?75 note
Oph.
'Tis brief, my lord.
Ham.
As woman's love.
Enter a King and a Queen (L. H.) on raised stage.
P. King. (R.)
Full thirty times hath Phœbus' cart76 note gone round
Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbèd ground,77 note
Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands,
Unite commutual in most sacred bands.
P. Queen. (L.)
So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make us again count o'er ere love be done!
But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So far from cheer and from your former state,
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must.
P. King.
'Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly too;
My operant powers their functions leave to do:78 note
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honour'd, belov'd; and, haply one as kind
For husband shalt thou—
P. Queen.
O, confound the rest!
Such love must needs be treason in my breast:
In second husband let me be accurst!
None wed the second but who kill'd the first.
Ham.
That's wormwood.
[Aside to Horatio, R.]
P. King.
I do believe you think what now you speak;
But what we do determine oft we break.79 note
So think you thou wilt no second husband wed;
But die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead.
-- 62 --
P. Queen.
Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven light!
Sport and repose lock from me day and night!
Both here, and hence, pursue me lasting strife,
If, once a widow, ever I be wife!
P. King.
'Tis deeply sworn.
Ham.
If she should break it now!—
[To Ophelia.]
P. King.
Sweet, leave me here awhile;
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.
[Reposes on a bank, R., and sleeps.]
P. Queen.
Sleep rock thy brain;
And never come mischance between us twain!
[[Exit, L. H.]
Ham.
Madam, how like you this play?
Queen.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Ham.
O, but she'll keep her word.
King.
Have you heard the argument?80 note Is there no
offence in't?
Ham.
No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest; no
offence i'the world.
King.
What do you call the play?
Ham.
The mouse-trap.81 note
Marry, how? Tropically.82 note
This play is the image of a murder83 note done in Vienna:
Gonzago is the Duke's name; his wife, Baptista: you shall
see anon;—'tis a knavish piece of work: but what of that?
your majesty, and we that have free souls, it touches us
not: Let the galled jade wince,84 note our withers85 note are
unwrung.
Enter Lucianus (L. H.)
This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king.
-- 63 --
Oph.
You are as good as a chorus,86 note
my lord.
Ham.
I could interpret between you and your love, if I
could see the puppets dallying.87 note Begin, murderer; leave
thy damnable faces, and begin. Come:—
—The croaking raven
Doth bellow for revenge.88 note
.
Luc.
Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing;
Confederate season, else no creature seeing;
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds89 note
collected,
With Hecat's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected,
Thy natural magick and dire property,
On wholesome life usurp90 note immediately.
[Pours the poison into the Sleeper's Ears.]
Ham.
He poisons him i' the garden for his estate. His
name's Gonzago: the story is extant, and written in very
choice Italian: You shall see anon how the murderer gets
the love of Gonzago's wife.
King.
Give me some light; away!
All.
Lights, lights, lights!
[Exeunt all, R. and L., but Hamlet and Horatio.]
Ham.
Why, let the strucken deer go weep,91 note
-- 64 --
The hart ungallèd play;
For some must watch, while some must sleep:
So runs the world away.—
O, good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a
thousand pounds. Didst perceive?
Hor. (R.)
Very well, my lord.
Ham. (C.)
Upon the talk of the poisoning.—
Hor.
I did very well note him.
Ham.
Ah, ah! come, some musick! come, the recorders!
[Exit Horatio, R. H.]
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (L. H.) Hamlet seats himself in the chair (R.)
Guil. (L. C.)
Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with
you.
Ham.
Sir, a whole history.
Guil.
The king, sir,—
Ham.
Ay, sir, what of him?
Guil.
Is, in his retirement, marvellous distempered.92 note
Ham.
With drink, sir?
Guil.
No, my lord, with choler.
Ham.
Your wisdom should show itself more rich to
signify this to the doctor; for, for me to put him to his
purgation would perhaps plunge him into more choler.
Guil.
Good my lord, put your discourse into some
frame, and start not so wildly from my affair.
Ham.
I am tame, sir:—pronounce.
Guil.
The queen, your mother, in most great affliction
of spirit, hath sent me to you.
Ham.
You are welcome.
Guil.
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 your mother's commandment: if
not, your pardon and my return shall be the end of my
business.
Ham.
Sir, I cannot.
Guil.
What, my lord?
Ham.
Make you a wholesome answer; my wit's
diseased! But, sir, such 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,—
-- 65 --
Ros. (Crosses to C.)
Then thus she says: Your behaviour
hath struck her into amazement and admiration.93 note
Ham.
O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother!
But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's
admiration?—impart.
Ros.
She desires to speak with you in her closet, ere
you go to bed.
Ham.
We shall obey, were she ten times our mother.
Have you any further trade with us?94 note
Ros.
My lord, you once did love me.
Ham.
And do still, by these pickers and stealers.95 note
[Rises and comes forward, C.
Ros. (R.)
Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper?
you do, surely, bar the door of your own liberty,
if you deny your griefs to your friend.96 note
Ham.
Sir, I lack advancement.
Ros.
How can that be, when you have the voice of the
king himself for your succession in Denmark?97 note
Ham.
Ay, sir, but While the grass grows,—the proverb
is something musty.98 note
Enter Horatio and Musicians (R. H.)
O, the recorders:99 note—let me see one.—So, withdraw with
you:—
[Exeunt Horatio and Musicians R. H. Guildenstern,
after speaking privately to Rosencrantz, crosses
behind Hamlet to R. H.]
-- 66 --
Why do you go about to recover the wind of me,100 note as if
you would drive me into a toil?101 note
Guil. (R.)
O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love
is too unmannerly.102 note
Ham. (C.)
I do not well understand that. Will you
play upon this pipe?
Guil.
My lord, I cannot.
Ham.
I pray you.
Guil.
Believe me, I cannot.
Ham.
I do beseech you.
Ros. (L.)
I know no touch of it, my lord.
Ham.
'Tis as easy as lying: govern these ventages
with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your
mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music.103 note Look
you, these are the stops.
Guil.
But these cannot I command to any utterance of
harmony; I have not the skill.
Ham.
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, excellent
voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you make it
speak. 'Sdeath, do you think I am easier to be played on
than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though
you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.104 note
[Crosses to L. H.]
Enter Polonius (R. H.)
Pol. (R.)
My lord, the queen would speak with you,
and presently.
-- 67 --
Ham. (C.)
Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in
shape of a camel?
Pol.
By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.
Ham.
Methinks it is like a weasel.
Pol.
It is backed like a weasel.
Ham.
Or like a whale?
Pol.
Very like a whale.
Ham.
Then will I come to my mother by and by.
They fool me to the top of my bent.105 note I will come by
and by.
Pol.
I will say so.
Ham.
By and by is easily said.
[Exit Polonius, R. H.
Leave me, friends.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, R. H.]
'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: Now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business106 note 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:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural;
I will speak daggers to her, but use none.
[Exit.]
Scene II.
—A ROOM IN THE SAME.
Enter King, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (R. H.)
King.
I like him not; nor stands it safe with us107 note
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you;
I your commission will forthwith despatch,
And he to England shall along with you:
Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage;
-- 68 --
For we will fetters put upon this fear,108 note
Which now goes too free-booted.
Ros. Guil.
We will haste us.
[Cross behind the King, and exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, L. H.]
Enter Polonius (R. H.)
Pol.
My lord, he's going to his mother's closet:
Behind the arras I'll convey myself,109 note
To hear the process;110 note I'll warrant, she'll tax him home:
And, as you said, and wisely was it said,
'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother,
Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear
The speech of vantage.111 note Fare you well, my liege:
[Polonius crosses to L. H.]
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,
And tell you what I know.
King.
Thanks, dear my lord.
[Exeunt Polonius, L. H., and King, R. H.]
Scene III.
—THE QUEEN'S CHAMBER.
Enter Queen and Polonius (L. H.)
Pol.
He will come straight. Look, you lay home to him:112 note
Tell him his pranks have been too broad113 note to bear with,
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
-- 69 --
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.114 note
Pray you, be round with him.
Queen.
I'll warrant you;
Fear me not:—withdraw, I hear him coming.
[Polonius hides himself. L. H. U. E.]
Enter Hamlet (R.)
Ham. (R. C.)
Now, mother, what's the matter?
Queen. (L. C.)
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Ham.
Mother, you have my father much offended.
Queen.
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Ham.
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Queen.
Why, how now, Hamlet!
Ham.
What's the matter now?
Queen.
Have you forgot me?
Ham.
No, by the rood,115 note not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.
Queen.
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
Ham.
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
Queen.
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
Pol. (Behind.)
What, ho! help!
Ham.
How now! a rat?116 note
[Draws.]
Dead, for a ducat, dead!
[Hamlet rushes off behind the arras.]
Pol. (Behind.)
O, I am slain!
[Falls and dies.]
Queen.
O me, what hast thou done?
Ham. (Returning.)
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
-- 70 --
Queen.
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
Ham.
A bloody deed!—almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Queen.
As kill a king!
Ham.
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
[Goes off behind the arras, and returns.]
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
[To the dead body of Polonius, behind the arras.]
I took thee for thy better.
Leave wringing of your hands: Peace; sit you down,
[To the Queen.]
And let me wring your heart: for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff;
If damnèd custom have not brazed it so,117 note
That it be proof and bulwark against sense.118 note
Queen. (Sits R. C.)
What have I done, that thou dar'st wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
Ham. (Seated L. C.)
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;119 note
makes marriage vows
As false as dicer's oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul;120 note
and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words.—
Ah, me, that act!
Queen.
Ah me, what act?
Ham.
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
-- 71 --
The counterfeit presentment121 note of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hypérion's curls;122 note the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury123 note
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:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother.124 note
Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor?125 note Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for, at your age
The hey-day in the blood126 note is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: And what judgment
Would step from this to this?
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine,127 note in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire.
Queen.
O, Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grainèd spots
As will not leave their tinct.128 note
-- 72 --
Ham.
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,—129 note
Queen.
O, speak to me no more;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
Ham.
A murderer and a villain:
A slave that is not twentieth part the tythe
Of your precedent lord;—a vice of kings;130 note
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule;
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!131 note
Queen.
No more!
Ham.
A king
Of shreds and patches.132 note
[Enter Ghost, R.]
Save me [Starts from his chair], and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
Queen.
Alas, he's mad!
[Rising.]
Ham. (L.)
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, laps'd in time and passion,133 note lets go by
The important acting of your dread command?
O, say!
Ghost. (R.)
Do not forget: This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul.
Speak to her Hamlet.
Ham.
How is it with you, lady?
-- 73 --
Queen.
Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy,
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep.
O gentle son,
[Crosses to Hamlet.]
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience.134 note Whereon do you look?
Ham.
On him, on him!—Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.135 note Do not look upon me;
Lest with this piteous action, you convert
My stern effects:136 note then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance, for blood.
Queen.
To whom do you speak this?
Ham.
Do you see nothing there?
Queen.
Nothing at all; yet all that is, I see.137 note
Ham.
Nor did you nothing hear?
Queen.
No, nothing but ourselves.
Ham.
Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
[Ghost crosses to L.]
My father in his habit as he lived!138 note
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
[Exit Ghost, L. H. Hamlet sinks into chair C.
The Queen falls on her knees by his side.]
Queen.
This is the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstacy
Is very cunning in.139 note
-- 74 --
Ham.
Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: It is not madness
That I have uttered: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from.140 note Mother, for love of grace,
[Rising.]
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film141 note the ulcerous place,
Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come.
Queen.
O, Hamlet! thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
Ham.
O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to my uncle's bed;
[Raising the Queen.]
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
Once more, good night!
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you.142 note
For this same lord,
[Pointing to Polonius.]
I do repent:
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
[Exit Queen, R. H.]
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.
[Exit Hamlet behind the arras, L. H. U. E.]
END OF ACT THIRD.
-- 75 --
Charles Kean [1859], Shakespeare's tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Arranged for representation at the Royal Princess's Theatre, with explanatory notes, by Charles Kean, F.S.A. as performed on Monday, January 10, 1859 (Bradbury and Evans [etc.], London) [word count] [S36200].
