GERTRUDE How fares my lord?
POLONIUS Give o'er the play.
KING Give me some light. Away!
ALL Lights, lights, lights!
Exeunt. Hamlet and Horatio remain
HAMLET Why, let the strucken257 deer go weep,
The hart ungalled258 play,
For some must watch259, while some must sleep:
So runs the world away.
Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers261 -- if the rest of
my fortunes turn Turk with me -- with two Provincial262
roses on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry263 of
players, sir?
HORATIO Half a share265.
HAMLET A whole one, I.
For thou dost know, O Damon267 dear,
This realm dismantled268 was
Of Jove269 himself, and now reigns here
A very, very -- pajock270.
HORATIO You might have rhymed271.
HAMLET O, good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a
thousand pound. Didst perceive?
HORATIO Very well, my lord.
HAMLET Upon the talk of the poisoning?
HORATIO I did very well note him.
HAMLET O, ha! Come, some music. Come, the recorders.
For if the king like not the comedy,
Why then, belike, he likes it not, perdy279.
Come, some music!
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
GUILDENSTERN Good my lord, vouchsafe281 me a word with you.
HAMLET Sir, a whole history.
GUILDENSTERN The king, sir--
HAMLET Ay, sir, what of him?
GUILDENSTERN Is in his retirement marvellous distempered285.
HAMLET With drink, sir?
GUILDENSTERN No, my lord, rather with choler287.
HAMLET Your wisdom should show itself more richer to
signify289 this to his doctor, for for me to put him to his
purgation290 would perhaps plunge him into far more choler.
GUILDENSTERN Good my lord, put your discourse into some
frame and start292 not so wildly from my affair.
HAMLET I am tame, sir: pronounce.
GUILDENSTERN The queen, your mother, in most great affliction
of spirit, hath sent me to you.
HAMLET You are welcome.
GUILDENSTERN Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the
right breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome298
answer, I will do your mother's commandment: if not, your
pardon300 and my return shall be the end of my business.
HAMLET Sir, I cannot.
GUILDENSTERN What, my lord?
HAMLET Make you a wholesome answer: my wit's diseased.
But, sir, such answers 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--
ROSENCRANTZ Then thus she says: your behaviour hath struck
her into amazement and admiration308.
HAMLET O, wonderful309 son, that can so astonish a mother!
But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's
admiration?
ROSENCRANTZ She desires to speak with you in her closet312 ere
you go to bed.
HAMLET We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have
you any further trade315 with us?
ROSENCRANTZ My lord, you once did love me.
HAMLET So I do still, by these pickers and stealers317.
ROSENCRANTZ Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper?
You do freely bar the door of your own liberty, if you deny319
your griefs to your friend.
HAMLET Sir, I lack advancement.
ROSENCRANTZ How can that be, when you have the voice of the
king himself for your succession in Denmark?
HAMLET Ay, but 'While the grass grows'324 -- the proverb is
something musty.
Enter one with a recorder
O, the recorder! Let me see.
Takes the recorder
to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
To withdraw327 with you: why do you go
about to recover the wind of me, as if328
you would drive me into a toil?
GUILDENSTERN O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too330
unmannerly.
HAMLET I do not well understand that. Will you play upon
this pipe?
GUILDENSTERN My lord, I cannot.
HAMLET I pray you.
GUILDENSTERN Believe me, I cannot.
HAMLET I do beseech you.
GUILDENSTERN I know no touch of it, my lord.
HAMLET 'Tis as easy as lying: govern these ventages339 with
your finger and thumb, give it breath with your mouth and it
will discourse most excellent music. Look you, these are the
stops.
GUILDENSTERN But these cannot I command to any utterance of
harmony: I have not the skill.
HAMLET 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 sound348 me from my lowest note to the top
of my compass349, and there is much music, excellent voice, in
this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. Why, do you
think that I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me
what instrument you will, though you can fret352 me, you
cannot play upon me.-- God bless you, sir!
To the entering Polonius
Enter Polonius
POLONIUS My lord, the queen would speak with you, and
presently355.
HAMLET Do you see that cloud that's almost in shape like a
camel?
POLONIUS By th'mass358, and it's like a camel indeed.
HAMLET Methinks it is like a weasel.
POLONIUS It is backed like a weasel.
HAMLET Or like a whale?
POLONIUS Very like a whale.
HAMLET Then will I will come to my mother by and by.--
Aside
They fool me to the top of my bent364.-- I will come by and by.
POLONIUS I will say so.
Exit
HAMLET 'By and by' is easily said.
Leave me, friends.
[Exeunt all but Hamlet]
'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 business as the day
Would quake to look on. Soft, now to my mother.
O heart, lose not thy nature373; let not ever
The soul of Nero374 enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural.
I will speak daggers to her, but use none.
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites:
How in my words somever378 she be shent,
To give them seals379 never my soul consent!
[Exit]
[Act 3 Scene 3]
running scene 9
Enter King, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
KING I like him1 not, nor stands it safe with us
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you:
I your commission will forthwith dispatch3,
And he to England shall along with you.
The terms of our estate5 may not endure
Hazard so dangerous as doth hourly grow
Out of his lunacies.
GUILDENSTERN We will ourselves provide8:
Most holy and religious fear9 it is
To keep those many many bodies safe
That live and feed upon your majesty.
ROSENCRANTZ The single and peculiar12 life
is bound
With all the strength and armour of the mind
To keep itself from noyance14, but much more
That spirit upon whose weal15 depends and rests
The lives of many. The cease16 of majesty
Dies not alone, but like a gulf17 doth draw
What's near it with it: it is a massy18 wheel
Fixed on the summit of the highest mount,
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things
Are mortised21 and adjoined, which, when it falls,
Each small annexment, petty consequence22,
Attends the boist'rous23 ruin. Never alone
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan.
KING Arm you25, I pray you, to this speedy voyage,
For we will fetters put upon this fear,
Which now goes too free-footed.
BOTH We will haste us.
Exeunt Gentlemen [Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]
Enter Polonius
POLONIUS My lord, he's going to his mother's closet:
Behind the arras I'll convey myself
To hear the process. I'll warrant she'll tax him home31,
And, as you said, and wisely was it said,
'Tis meet33 that some more audience than a mother,
Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear
The speech, of vantage35. Fare you well, my liege:
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,
And tell you what I know.
KING Thanks, dear my lord.--
[Exit Polonius]
O, my offence is rank39, it smells to heaven:
It hath the primal eldest curse40 upon't,
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will42:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,
And like a man to double business bound44,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy49
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled52 ere we come to fall,
Or pardoned being down? Then I'll look up:
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn55? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be, since I am still possessed
Of those effects57 for which I did the murder:
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
May one be pardoned and retain th'offence59?
In the corrupted currents60 of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by61 justice,
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law. But 'tis not so above:
There is no shuffling, there the action lies64
In his true nature, and we ourselves compelled,
Even to the teeth and forehead66 of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? What rests67?
Try what repentance can. What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?
O, wretched state! O, bosom black as death!
O, limed71 soul that, struggling to be free,
Art more engaged! Help, angels, make assay72!
Bow, stubborn knees, and heart with strings of steel,
Kneels
Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe!
All may be well.
Enter Hamlet
HAMLET Now might I do it pat76, now he is praying:
Draws
And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven,
And so am I revenged. That would be scanned78:
A villain kills my father, and for that,
I, his foul80 son, do this same villain send
To heaven.
O, this is hire and salary82, not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread83,
With all his crimes broad blown84, as fresh as May,
And how his audit85 stands who knows save heaven?
But in our circumstance and course of thought86
'Tis heavy87 with him: and am I then revenged,
To take him88 in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and seasoned for his passage89?
No.
Puts up his sword
Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent91:
When he is drunk asleep92, or in his rage,
Or in th'incestuous pleasure of his bed,
At gaming, swearing, or about some act
That has no relish95 of salvation in't,
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,
And that his soul may be as damned and black
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays98.
This physic99 but prolongs thy sickly days.
Exit
KING My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
Exit
[Act 3 Scene 4]
running scene 10
Enter Queen and Polonius
POLONIUS He will come straight. Look you lay home1 to him: Tell him his pranks have been too broad2 to bear with, And that your grace hath screened and stood between
Much heat4 and him. I'll silence me e'en here.
Pray you, be round5 with him.
Within
HAMLET Mother, mother, mother!
GERTRUDE I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
Polonius hides behind the arras
Enter Hamlet
HAMLET Now, mother, what's the matter?
GERTRUDE Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
HAMLET Mother, you have my father much offended.
GERTRUDE Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
GERTRUDE Why, how now, Hamlet?
HAMLET What's the matter now?
GERTRUDE Have you forgot me?
HAMLET No, by the rood18, not so: You are the queen19, your husband's brother's wife, But -- would you were not so -- you are my mother.
GERTRUDE Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down, you shall not budge: You go not till I set you up a glass23
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
GERTRUDE What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
Behind the arras
POLONIUS What, ho? Help, help, help!
HAMLET How now? A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead28!
Draws
[Hamlet] kills Polonius
POLONIUS O, I am slain!
GERTRUDE O me, what hast thou done?
HAMLET Nay, I know not: is it the king?
GERTRUDE O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
HAMLET A bloody deed: almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king and marry with his brother.
GERTRUDE As kill a king?
HAMLET Ay, lady, 'twas my word.--
Discovers Polonius
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell.
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;
Thou find'st to be too busy39 is some danger.--
Leave wringing of your hands. Peace. Sit you down,
And let me wring your heart, for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not brazed43 it so That it is proof and bulwark against sense44.
GERTRUDE What have I done, that thou dar'st wag thy tongue In noise so rude46 against me?
HAMLET 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, makes marriage vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction53 plucks The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words. Heaven's face doth glow55: Yea, this solidity and compound mass56
With tristful visage, as against the doom57, Is thought-sick at the act.
GERTRUDE Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud and thunders in the index60?
HAMLET Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
Shows her two pictures
The counterfeit presentment62 of two brothers.
See what a grace was seated on his brow:
Hyperion's curls, the front64 of Jove himself, An eye like Mars65 to threaten or command, A station like the herald Mercury66
New-lighted67 on a heaven-kissing hill, A combination and a form indeed
Where every god did seem to set his seal69
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear72, Blasting73 his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave74 to feed And batten on this moor75? Ha! Have you eyes?
You cannot call it love, for at your age
The heyday in the blood77 is tame, it's humble, And waits upon the judgement: and what judgement
Would step from this to this? What devil was't
That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind80?
O, shame, where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's82 bones, To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge85, Since frost86 itself as actively doth burn And reason panders will87.
GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul,
And there I see such black and grained90 spots As will not leave their tinct91.
HAMLET Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed93 bed, Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love94
Over the nasty sty95--
GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more:
These words like daggers enter in mine ears.
No more, sweet Hamlet!
HAMLET A murderer and a villain,
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe100
Of your precedent lord, a vice101 of kings, A cutpurse102 of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem103 stole, And put it in his pocket!
GERTRUDE No more!
Enter Ghost
HAMLET A king of shreds and patches106--
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
Sees the Ghost
You heavenly guards!-- What would you, gracious figure?
GERTRUDE Alas, he's mad!
HAMLET Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
Th'important112 acting of your dread command? O, say!
GHOST Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
Hamlet Page 10
