Hamlet

by William Shakespeare

  Caps107, hands and tongues, applaud it to the clouds: 'Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!'

  GERTRUDE How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!

  O, this is counter, you false110 Danish dogs!

  Noise within

  Enter Laertes

  His followers remain at the door

  KING The doors are broke.

  LAERTES Where is the king?-- Sirs, stand you all without112.

  ALL FOLLOWERS No, let's come in.

  At the door

  LAERTES I pray you give me leave.

  ALL We will, we will.

  LAERTES I thank you: keep116 the door.-- O thou vile king, Give me my father!

  Restrains him or blocks his way

  GERTRUDE Calmly, good Laertes.

  LAERTES That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard, Cries cuckold120 to my father, brands the harlot Even here, between the chaste unsmirched121 brow Of my true122 mother.

  KING What is the cause, Laertes,

  That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?--

  Let him go, Gertrude: do not fear125 our person: There's such divinity doth hedge126 a king That treason can but peep to what it would127, Acts little of his will.-- Tell me, Laertes,

  Why thou art thus incensed.-- Let him go, Gertrude.--

  Speak, man.

  LAERTES Where's my father?

  KING Dead.

  GERTRUDE But not by him.

  KING Let him demand his fill.

  LAERTES How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with135: To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil!

  Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!

  I dare damnation. To this point I stand138, That both the worlds I give to negligence139, Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged

  Most throughly141 for my father.

  KING Who shall stay142 you?

  LAERTES My will, not all the world143: And for my means, I'll husband144 them so well, They shall go far with little.

  KING Good Laertes,

  If you desire to know the certainty

  Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge,

  That, sweepstake, you will draw149 both friend and foe, Winner and loser?

  LAERTES None but his enemies.

  KING Will you know them then?

  LAERTES To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms, And like the kind life-rend'ring pelican154, Repast155 them with my blood.

  KING Why, now you speak

  Like a good child and a true gentleman.

  That I am guiltless of your father's death,

  And am most sensible159 in grief for it, It shall as level160 to your judgement pierce As day does to your eye.

  A noise within

  ALL FOLLOWERS Let her come in!

  Enter Ophelia

  LAERTES How now? What noise is that?

  Sees Ophelia

  O, heat dry up my brains, tears seven times salt

  Burn out the sense and virtue165 of mine eye!

  By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight,

  Till our scale turns the beam167. O rose of May, Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!

  O heavens, is't possible a young maid's wits

  Should be as mortal as an old man's life?

  Nature is fine in171 love, and where 'tis fine, It sends some precious instance172 of itself After the thing it loves173.

  Sings

  OPHELIA They bore him barefaced on the bier174,

  Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny175, And on his grave rains many a tear--

  Fare you well, my dove.

  LAERTES Hadst thou thy wits and didst persuade revenge, It could not move179 thus.

  OPHELIA You180 must sing 'a-down a-down', and you call him 'a-down-a'. O, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false181

  steward that stole his master's daughter.

  LAERTES This nothing's more than matter183.

  OPHELIA There's rosemary184, that's for remembrance: pray,

  Gives real or imaginary flowers

  love, remember: and there is pansies185, that's for thoughts.

  LAERTES A document186 in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted187.

  OPHELIA There's fennel for you, and columbines: there's rue188

  for you, and here's some for me: we may call it herb-grace

  o'Sundays: O, you must wear your rue with a difference190.

  There's a daisy: I would give you some violets191, but they withered all when my father died: they say he made a good

  end--

  Sings

  For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy194.

  LAERTES Thought and affliction, passion195, hell itself, She turns to favour196 and to prettiness.

  Sings

  OPHELIA And will he not come again?

  And will he not come again?

  No, no, he is dead:

  Go to thy death-bed,

  He never will come again.

  His beard as white as snow,

  All flaxen was his poll203: He is gone, he is gone,

  And we cast away moan205.

  Gramercy206 on his soul!

  And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God buy ye207.

  Exeunt Ophelia [and Gertrude?]

  LAERTES Do you see this, you gods?

  KING Laertes, I must commune with your grief,

  Or you deny me right. Go but apart,

  Make choice of whom211 your wisest friends you will, And they shall hear and judge 'twixt212 you and me: If by direct or by collateral213 hand They find us touched214, we will our kingdom give, Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours

  To you in satisfaction. But if not,

  Be you content to lend your patience to us,

  And we shall jointly labour with your soul

  To give it due content.

  LAERTES Let this be so:

  His means of death, his obscure burial --

  No trophy, sword, nor hatchment222 o'er his bones, No noble rite nor formal ostentation223 --

  Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth,

  That I must call in question225.

  KING So you shall,

  And where th'offence is, let the great axe fall.

  I pray you go with me.

  Exeunt

  [Act 4 Scene 5]

  running scene 14

  Enter Horatio with an Attendant

  HORATIO What are they that would speak with me?

  SERVANT Sailors, sir: they say they have letters for you.

  HORATIO Let them come in.

  [Exit Servant]

  I do not know from what part of the world

  I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.

  Enter Sailor

  SAILOR God bless you, sir.

  HORATIO Let him bless thee too.

  SAILOR He shall, sir, an't8 please him. There's a Gives a letter

  letter for you, sir: it comes from th'ambassador that was

  bound for England, if your name be Horatio, as I am let to

  know it is.

  HORATIO Reads the letter 'Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means13 to the king: they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a

  pirate of very warlike appointment15 gave us chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled16 valour, in the grapple17 I boarded them: on the instant they got clear of our ship, so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt

  with me like thieves of mercy19, but they knew what they did: I am to do a good turn for them. Let the king have the letters I

  have sent, and repair21 thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldst fly death. I have words to speak in your ear will

  make thee dumb, yet are they much too light for the bore23 of the matter. These good fellows will bring thee where I am.

  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England:

  of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. He that thou

  knowest t
hine, Hamlet.'--

  Come, I will give you way28 for these your letters, And do't the speedier that you may direct me

  To him from whom you brought them.

  Exeunt

  [Act 4 Scene 6]

  running scene 15

  Enter King and Laertes

  KING Now must your conscience my acquittance seal1, And you must put me in your heart for friend,

  Sith you have heard, and with a knowing3 ear, That he which hath your noble father slain

  Pursued my life.

  LAERTES It well appears. But tell me

  Why you proceeded not against these feats7

  So crimeful and so capital8 in nature, As by your safety, wisdom, all things else9, You mainly were stirred up.

  KING O, for two special reasons,

  Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinewed12, And yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother

  Lives almost by his looks, and for myself --

  My virtue or my plague, be it either which --

  She's so conjunctive16 to my life and soul, That, as the star moves not but in his sphere17, I could not but18 by her. The other motive, Why to a public count19 I might not go, Is the great love the general gender20 bear him, Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,

  Would like the spring that turneth wood to stone22, Convert his gyves23 to graces, so that my arrows, Too slightly timbered24 for so loud a wind, Would have reverted to my bow again

  And not where I had aimed them.

  LAERTES And so have I a noble father lost,

  A sister driven into desperate terms28, Who has -- if praises may go back again29 --

  Stood challenger on mount30 of all the age For her perfections: but my revenge will come.

  KING Break not your sleeps for that: you must not think That we are made of stuff so flat and dull

  That we can let our beard be shook with34 danger And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more:

  I loved your father, and we love ourself,

  And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine--

  Enter a Messenger

  How now? What news?

  MESSENGER Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:

  Gives letters

  This to your majesty, this to the queen.

  KING From Hamlet? Who brought them?

  MESSENGER Sailors, my lord, they say: I saw them not.

  They were given me by Claudio43: he received them.

  KING Laertes, you shall hear them.-- Leave us.

  Exit Messenger

  'High and mighty, you shall know I am set naked45 on your kingdom. Tomorrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly

  eyes, when I shall, first asking your pardon47 thereunto, recount th'occasions of my sudden and more strange

  return. Hamlet.'

  What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?

  Or is it some abuse? Or no such thing51?

  LAERTES Know you the hand?

  KING 'Tis Hamlet's character53. 'Naked' --

  And in a postscript here, he says 'alone'.

  Can you advise me?

  LAERTES I'm lost in it, my lord. But let him come:

  It warms the very sickness in my heart

  That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,

  'Thus diest thou.'

  KING If it be so, Laertes --

  As how should it be so? How otherwise? --

  Will you be ruled by me?

  LAERTES If so63 you'll not o'errule me to a peace.

  KING To thine own peace. If he be now returned,

  As checking at65 his voyage, and that he means No more to undertake it, I will work him

  To an exploit, now ripe in my device67, Under the which he shall not choose but fall;

  And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,

  But even his mother shall uncharge the practice70

  And call it accident. Some two months since,

  Here was a gentleman of Normandy.

  I've seen myself, and served against, the French,

  And they can well on horseback; but this gallant74

  Had witchcraft in't; he grew into his seat,

  And to such wondrous doing brought his horse

  As had he been incorpsed and demi-natured77

  With the brave beast: so far he passed my thought78, That I in forgery of shapes and tricks79

  Come short of what he did.

  LAERTES A Norman was't?

  KING A Norman.

  LAERTES Upon my life, Lamond83.

  KING The very same.

  LAERTES I know him well: he is the brooch85 indeed And gem of all our nation.

  KING He made confession of you87, And gave you such a masterly report

  For art and exercise in your defence89, And for your rapier most especially,

  That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed

  If one could match you. Sir, this report of his

  Did Hamlet so envenom93 with his envy That he could nothing do but wish and beg

  Your sudden coming o'er, to play95 with him.

  Now, out of this--

  LAERTES What out of this, my lord?

  KING Laertes, was your father dear to you?

  Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,

  A face without a heart?

  LAERTES Why ask you this?

  KING Not that I think you did not love your father,

  But that I know love is begun by time103, And that I see, in passages of proof104, Time qualifies105 the spark and fire of it.

  Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake

  To show yourself your father's son in deed

  More than in words?

  LAERTES To cut his throat i'th'church.

  KING No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize110; Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,

  Will you do this, keep close112 within your chamber.

  Hamlet returned shall know you are come home:

  We'll put on114 those shall praise your excellence And set a double varnish on the fame

  The Frenchman gave you, bring you in fine116 together And wager on your heads: he, being remiss117, Most generous118 and free from all contriving, Will not peruse the foils119, so that with ease, Or with a little shuffling, you may choose

  A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice121

  Requite122 him for your father.

  LAERTES I will do't,

  And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword.

  I bought an unction of a mountebank125

  So mortal I but dipped a knife in it126, Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare127, Collected from all simples128 that have virtue Under the moon129, can save the thing from death That is but scratched withal130: I'll touch my point With this contagion, that if I gall131 him slightly, It may be death.

  KING Let's further think of this,

  Weigh what convenience both of time and means

  May fit us to our shape135: if this should fail, And that our drift look136 through our bad performance, 'Twere better not assayed: therefore this project

  Should have a back or second, that might hold,

  If this should blast in proof139. Soft, let me see: We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings140.

  I ha't141: When in your motion you are hot and dry --

  As make your bouts143 more violent to the end --

  And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepared him

  A chalice for the nonce145, whereon but sipping, If he by chance escape your venomed stuck146, Our purpose may hold there.--

  Enter Queen

  How now, sweet queen?

  GERTRUDE One woe doth tread upon another's heel,

  So fast they'll follow: your sister's drowned, Laertes.

  LAERTES Drowned? O, where?

  GERTRUDE There is a willow151 grows aslant a brook, That shows his hoar152 leaves in the glassy stream: There with fantastic153 garlands did she come Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples154

 
; That liberal shepherds give a grosser155 name, But our cold156 maids do dead men's fingers call them: There on the pendent157 boughs her coronet weeds Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver158 broke, When down the weedy159 trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,

  And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up,

  Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,

  As one incapable of her own distress163, Or like a creature native and indued164

  Unto that element: but long it could not be

  Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,

  Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay167

  To muddy death.

  LAERTES Alas, then, is she drowned?

  GERTRUDE Drowned, drowned.

  LAERTES Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,

  And therefore I forbid my tears. But yet

  It is our trick173: nature her custom holds,

  Weeps

  Let shame say what it will: when these174 are gone, The woman will be out175.-- Adieu, my lord: I have a speech of fire that fain would blaze,

  But that this folly douts177 it.

  Exit

  KING Let's follow, Gertrude:

  How much I had to do to calm his rage!

  Now fear I this will give it start again;

  Therefore let's follow.

  Exeunt

  [Act 5 Scene 1]

  running scene 16

  Enter two Clowns

  With a spade and a pickax

  FIRST CLOWN Is she to be buried in Christian burial1 that wilfully seeks her own salvation2?

  SECOND CLOWN I tell thee she is: and therefore make her grave straight: the crowner4

  hath sat5 on her, and finds it Christian burial.

  FIRST CLOWN How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defence?

  SECOND CLOWN Why, 'tis found so.

  FIRST CLOWN It must be se offendendo9, it cannot be else. For here lies the point: if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act,

  and an act hath three branches: it is to act, to do and to

  perform: argal12, she drowned herself wittingly.

  SECOND CLOWN Nay, but hear you, goodman13 delver--

  FIRST CLOWN Give me leave: 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, he16 goes -- mark you that. But if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not

  himself: argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens

  not his own life.

  SECOND CLOWN But is this law?

  FIRST CLOWN Ay, marry, is't: crowner's quest21 law.

  SECOND CLOWN Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out of

  Christian burial.