The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated)

by William Shakespeare

  'Tis gone!

  Exit Ghost

  We do it wrong, being so majestical,To offer it the show of violence;For it is, as the air, invulnerable,And our vain blows malicious mockery.

  BERNARDO

  It was about to speak when the cock crowed.

  It was about to speak, when the cock crew.

  HORATIO

  And then it started to act scared like someone guilty of a crime. I have heard when the cock crows, a sign that day is approaching, ghosts must return to where their spirits are confined. We just saw that for ourselves.

  And then it started like a guilty thingUpon a fearful summons. I have heard,The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throatAwake the god of day; and, at his warning,Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,The extravagant and erring spirit hisTo his confine: and of the truth hereinThis present object made probation.

  MARCELLUS

  It also started to fade when the cock crowed. Some say, at Christmas, the rooster crows all night long, and ghosts, fairies, and witches are too fearful to work, because the time is so sacred.

  It faded on the crowing of the cock.Some say that ever 'gainst that season comesWherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,The bird of dawning singeth all night long:And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

  HORATIO

  I have heard that, too, and partially believe it. But, the morning is near, and I think we should tell Hamlet what we have seen. The spirit does not know us, but I bet my life, he will speak to him. Do you agree we should tell Hamlet about the ghost?

  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 high eastward hill:Break we our watch up; and by my advice,Let us impart what we have seen to-nightUnto 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?

  MARCELLUS

  Let’s do it, and I know where he is this morning, a most convenient place.

  Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning knowWhere we shall find him most conveniently.

  Exeunt

  A room of state in the castle

  Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants

  KING CLAUDIUS

  Although we are still mourning our dear brother Hamlet’s death, and the country is joined by grief, we must remember to continue on in life. It is with both sadness and joy, that I have married my sister-in-law, as you all advised. For your wisdom, I thank you. Now, as you all know, the young Fortinbras thinks since the king has died, we are in vulnerable state. He has sent letters stating his desire to regain the land his father lost in battle to Hamlet. So, I have written a letter to his uncle, the poor bed-ridden fellow, to let him know what Fortinbras is planning. The letter asks his uncle, who in the head of Norway, to stop his nephew. I ask of you, Cornelius and Votimand, to deliver this letter and nothing else. Please be quick in fulfilling your duty.

  Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's deathThe memory be green, and that it us befittedTo bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdomTo be contracted in one brow of woe,Yet so far hath discretion fought with natureThat we with wisest sorrow think on him,Together with remembrance of ourselves.Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,The imperial jointress to this warlike state,Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,--With an auspicious and a dropping eye,With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,In equal scale weighing delight and dole,--Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'dYour better wisdoms, which have freely goneWith 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 deathOur state to be disjoint and out of frame,Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,Importing the surrender of those landsLost by his father, with all bonds of law,To our most valiant brother. So much for him.Now for ourself and for this time of meeting:Thus much the business is: we have here writTo Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,--Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hearsOf this his nephew's purpose,--to suppressHis further gait herein; in that the levies,The lists and full proportions, are all madeOut of his subject: and we here dispatchYou, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;Giving to you no further personal powerTo business with the king, more than the scopeOf these delated articles allow.Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.

  CORNELIUS VOLTIMAND

  We will do our best.

  In that and all things will we show our duty.

  KING CLAUDIUS

  We have no doubt you will. Farewell. (Exit Voltimand and Cornelius.) And now, Laertes, what’s new with you? You said you had something to ask me. What is it? Don’t worry, you can ask me anything. Your father is an important man to the throne of Denmark. What do you want to ask?

  We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell.

  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 loose your voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes,That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?The head is not more native to the heart,The hand more instrumental to the mouth,Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.What wouldst thou have, Laertes?

  LAERTES

  I would like to ask you, if I may return to France. Since, I came from France for the sole purpose of attending your coronation, and with that duty done, I would like to return. Please let me go back to France.

  I would like to ask you, if I may return to France. Since, I came from France for the sole purpose of attending your coronation, and with that duty done, I would like to return. Please let me go back to France.

  My dread lord,Your leave and favour to return to France;From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,To show my duty in your coronation,Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,My thoughts and wishes bend again toward FranceAnd bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.

  KING CLAUDIUS

  Do you have your father’s permission? What does Polonius say about this?

  Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?

  LORD POLONIUS

  I have given him permission after he asked and asked. So, I ask you to allow him to return to France.

  He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leaveBy laboursome petition, and at lastUpon his will I seal'd my hard consent:I do beseech you, give him leave to go.

  KING CLAUDIUS

  Then, I agree, too. This is the best time in your life, Laertes, spend it as you will. Now, my nephew, Hamlet, and my son--

  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,--

  HAMLET

  [Aside]

  I am more kin than I am kind.

  A little more than kin, and less than kind.

  KING CLAUDIUS

  Why are you still sad? You look like a cloud is hanging over your head.

  How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

  HAMLET

  That’s not true, sir. I am in the sun quite a bit.

  Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.

  QUEEN GERTRUDE

  Dear Hamlet, you must stop being so dark and depressed. It’s time you rejoin the living. You cannot bring your father back, as every living thing must die and enter eternity.

  Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.Do not for ever with thy vailed lidsSeek for thy noble father in the dust:Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,Passing through nature to eternity.

  HAMLET

  Yes, ma’am. I know.

  Ay, madam, it is common.

&
nbsp; QUEEN GERTRUDE

  If you know, then why does it seem you don’t?

  If it be,

  Why seems it so particular with thee?

  HAMLET

  Seems, mother! It does not seem; it is. I may wear black clothes or behave sadly, but I do it because I am sad, not because I am pretending to be sad.

  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 forced breath,No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,That can denote me truly: these indeed seem,For they are actions that a man might play:But I have that within which passeth show;These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

  KING CLAUDIUS

  It is natural and proper for you to grieve over your father. Everyone loses a father, and the loved ones are sorrowful for some time. You have taken your mourning period too far. You are showing yourself to be stubborn and unmanly. You are going against the very nature of heaven and acting like a simple-minded, uneducated fool. It is a sin, continuing to act like this, so stop being so sad. We want you to think of me as your father, since you are heir to the throne. We want everyone to see that I love you like a son. We do not want you to go back to school in Wittenberg, but stay here where we can keep an eye on you, the best member of our court, my nephew and son.

  'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,To give these mourning duties to your father:But, you must know, your father lost a father;That father lost, lost his, and the survivor boundIn filial obligation for some termTo do obsequious sorrow: but to perseverIn obstinate condolement is a courseOf impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,An understanding simple and unschool'd:For what we know must be and is as commonAs any the most vulgar thing to sense,Why should we in our peevish oppositionTake it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,To reason most absurd: whose common themeIs death of fathers, and who still hath cried,From the first corse till he that died to-day,'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earthThis unprevailing woe, and think of usAs of a father: for let the world take note,You are the most immediate to our throne;And with no less nobility of loveThan that which dearest father bears his son,Do I impart toward you. For your intentIn going back to school in Wittenberg,It is most retrograde to our desire:And we beseech you, bend you to remainHere, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

  QUEEN GERTRUDE

  I pray you stay with us, Hamlet. Do not go back to Wittenberg.

  Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.

  HAMLET

  I will do my best to not disappoint you, mother.

  I shall in all my best obey you, madam.

  KING CLAUDIUS

  That’s a good answer: you are a true Dane. Dear wife, come. I am so happy with Hamlet’s decision, I would like to drink a toast to his health. Let’s tell all of Denmark the happy news. Let’s shout it to the heavens. Let’s go.

  Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply:Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come;This gentle and unforced accord of HamletSits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof,No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day,But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,And the king's rouse the heavens all bruit again,Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away.

  Exeunt all but HAMLET

  HAMLET

  I feel as though my flesh will melt. I wish that God did not view suicide as a sin! Oh, God! Oh, God! This world is so unfair and it seems so useless. Damn this world! Damn, this world like a garden that grows weeds. How did it come to this? My father has only been dead two months, not even two months. He was so loving to my mother. He never raised a hand to her, and she clung to him; yet, within a month… I can’t even think of it! Frailty is a woman. My shoes are not even a month old. She forgets my poor father and replaces him with another. An animal without reason would have mourned longer. She should not have married my uncle, my father’s brother, who is no more like my father than I am like Hercules. Within a month, the salt of her tears had not even left her eyes, and she remarried. She sped with ease to make a bed of incest which can come to no good. But, even though it breaks my heart, I must hold my tongue!

  O, that this too too solid flesh would meltThaw and resolve itself into a dew!Or that the Everlasting had not fix'dHis canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,Seem to me all the uses of this world!Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,That grows to seed; things rank and gross in naturePossess it merely. That it should come to this!But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:So excellent a king; that was, to this,Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my motherThat he might not beteem the winds of heavenVisit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,As if increase of appetite had grownBy 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 oldWith which she follow'd my poor father's body,Like Niobe, all tears:--why she, even she--O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,Would have mourn'd longer--married with my uncle,My father's brother, but no more like my fatherThan I to Hercules: within a month:Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tearsHad left the flushing in her galled eyes,She married. O, most wicked speed, to postWith such dexterity to incestuous sheets!It is not nor it cannot come to good:But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.

  Enter HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and BERNARDO

  HORATIO

  Hello, my lord!

  Hail to your lordship!

  HAMLET

  I am glad to see you are doing well, Horatio.

  I am glad to see you well:Horatio,--or I do forget myself.

  HORATIO

  I feel the same, my lord. I am forever your poor servant.

  The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.

  HAMLET

  Sir, my good friend, I’ll change places with you. Horatio and Marcellus, what is going on in Wittenberg?

  Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you:And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio? Marcellus?

  MARCELLUS

  My good lord…

  My good lord--

  HAMLET

  I am very happy to see you. Very happy. But, tell me what is going on in Wittenberg.

  I am very glad to see you. Good even, sir.But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?

  HORATIO

  We are too late my lord.

  A truant disposition, good my lord.

  HAMLET

  I don’t think you enemy would say that, so I don’t want to hear it, either. You are never too late. Why are you here in Elsinore? We’ll teach you how to drink before you leave.

  I would not hear your enemy say so,Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,To make it truster of your own reportAgainst yourself: I know you are no truant.But what is your affair in Elsinore?We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.

  HORATIO

  My lord, I came to attend your father’s funeral.

  My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.

  HAMLET

  Don’t insult me. I think you came to see my mother’s wedding.

  I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;I think it was to see my mother's wedding.

  HORATIO

  True, my lord, the wedding did happen quickly after the death of your father.

  Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.

  HAMLET

  Too quickly, Horatio! The food prepared for the funeral was served on the wedding tables. I would rather have died than live to see that day, Horatio! My father, I think I see him.

  Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meatsDid coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.Would I had met my dearest foe in heavenOr ever I had seen that day, Horatio!My father!--methi
nks I see my father.

  HORATIO

  Where, my lord?

  Where, my lord?

  HAMLET

  Only in my imagination, Horatio.

  In my mind's eye, Horatio.

  HORATIO

  I saw him once. He was a good king.

  I saw him once; he was a goodly king.

  HAMLET

  He was a man, one like I will never meet again.

  He was a man, take him for all in all,I shall not look upon his like again.

  HORATIO

  My lord, I think I saw him last night.

  My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.

  HAMLET

  Saw who?

  Saw? who?

  HORATIO

  My lord, the king, your father.

  My lord, the king your father.

  HAMLET

  The king, my father!

  The king my father!

  HORATIO

  Hold on. Don’t get so excited, until you hear the whole crazy story, witnessed by these gentlemen.

  Season your admiration for awhileWith an attent ear, till I may deliver,Upon the witness of these gentlemen,This marvel to you.

  HAMLET

  For the love of God, tell me.

  For God's love, let me hear.

  HORATIO

  These gentlemen, Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch in the middle of the night, were encountered by a figure like your father. It was armed and dressed exactly like him, and marched in front of their frightened eyes. They did not speak to him because they were so afraid. So, they told me about it and I went with them last night to keep watch. Just like they reported, I saw the apparition. I knew your father, and the ghost looked just like him.