{"id":226,"date":"2017-06-24T20:36:36","date_gmt":"2017-06-24T20:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-humanities1-1\/chapter\/hamlet-act-iv\/"},"modified":"2017-07-10T20:18:24","modified_gmt":"2017-07-10T20:18:24","slug":"hamlet-act-iv","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-humanities1-1\/chapter\/hamlet-act-iv\/","title":{"raw":"Hamlet, Act IV","rendered":"Hamlet, Act IV"},"content":{"raw":"

Act 4<\/h2>\r\n

Scene 1. A room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\r\nEnter King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:<\/dd>\r\n \t
You must translate: 'tis fit we understand them.<\/dd>\r\n \t
Where is your son?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
Bestow this place on us a little while.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend<\/dd>\r\n \t
Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Behind the arras hearing something stir,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Whips out his rapier, cries, 'A rat, a rat!'<\/dd>\r\n \t
And, in this brainish apprehension, kills<\/dd>\r\n \t
The unseen good old man.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
O heavy deed!<\/dd>\r\n \t
It had been so with us, had we been there:<\/dd>\r\n \t
His liberty is full of threats to all;<\/dd>\r\n \t
To you yourself, to us, to every one.<\/dd>\r\n \t
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?<\/dd>\r\n \t
It will be laid to us, whose providence<\/dd>\r\n \t
Should have kept short, restrain'd and out of haunt,<\/dd>\r\n \t
This mad young man: but so much was our love,<\/dd>\r\n \t
We would not understand what was most fit;<\/dd>\r\n \t
But, like the owner of a foul disease,<\/dd>\r\n \t
To keep it from divulging, let it feed<\/dd>\r\n \t
Even on the pith of Life. Where is he gone?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
To draw apart the body he hath kill'd:<\/dd>\r\n \t
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore<\/dd>\r\n \t
Among a mineral of metals base,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
O Gertrude, come away!<\/dd>\r\n \t
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,<\/dd>\r\n \t
But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed<\/dd>\r\n \t
We must, with all our majesty and skill,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nRe-enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Friends both, go join you with some further aid:<\/dd>\r\n \t
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him:<\/dd>\r\n \t
Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body<\/dd>\r\n \t
Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And let them know, both what we mean to do,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And what's untimely done...<\/dd>\r\n \t
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,<\/dd>\r\n \t
As level as the cannon to his blank,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Transports his poison'd shot, may miss our name,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And hit the woundless air. O, come away!<\/dd>\r\n \t
My soul is full of discord and dismay.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt<\/i>\r\n

Scene 2. Another room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\r\nEnter Hamlet<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Safely stowed.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Guildenstern<\/dt>\r\n \t
Within<\/i>\u00a0Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
What noise? who calls on Hamlet?<\/dd>\r\n \t
O, here they come.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nEnter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence<\/dd>\r\n \t
And bear it to the chapel.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Do not believe it.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
Believe what?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
That I can keep your counsel and not mine own.<\/dd>\r\n \t
Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! what<\/dd>\r\n \t
replication should be made by the son of a king?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
Take you me for a sponge, my lord?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his<\/dd>\r\n \t
rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the<\/dd>\r\n \t
king best service in the end: he keeps them, like<\/dd>\r\n \t
an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to<\/dd>\r\n \t
be last swallowed: when he needs what you have<\/dd>\r\n \t
gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you<\/dd>\r\n \t
shall be dry again.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
I understand you not, my lord.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a<\/dd>\r\n \t
foolish ear.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go<\/dd>\r\n \t
with us to the king.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
The body is with the king, but the king is not with<\/dd>\r\n \t
the body. The king is a thing--<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Guildenstern<\/dt>\r\n \t
A thing, my lord!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt<\/i>\r\n

Scene 3. Another room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\r\nEnter King Claudius, attended<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.<\/dd>\r\n \t
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!<\/dd>\r\n \t
Yet must not we put the strong law on him:<\/dd>\r\n \t
He's loved of the distracted multitude,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And where tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,<\/dd>\r\n \t
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,<\/dd>\r\n \t
This sudden sending him away must seem<\/dd>\r\n \t
Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown<\/dd>\r\n \t
By desperate appliance are relieved,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Or not at all.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nEnter Rosencrantz<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
How now! what hath befall'n?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,<\/dd>\r\n \t
We cannot get from him.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
But where is he?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Bring him before us.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nEnter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
At supper.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
At supper! where?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain<\/dd>\r\n \t
convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your<\/dd>\r\n \t
worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all<\/dd>\r\n \t
creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for<\/dd>\r\n \t
maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but<\/dd>\r\n \t
variable service, two dishes, but to one table:<\/dd>\r\n \t
that's the end.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Alas, alas!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a<\/dd>\r\n \t
king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
What dost you mean by this?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Nothing but to show you how a king may go a<\/dd>\r\n \t
progress through the guts of a beggar.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Where is Polonius?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger<\/dd>\r\n \t
find him not there, seek him i' the other place<\/dd>\r\n \t
yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within<\/dd>\r\n \t
this month, you shall nose him as you go up the<\/dd>\r\n \t
stairs into the lobby.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Go seek him there.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nTo some Attendants<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
He will stay till ye come.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt Attendants<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,--<\/dd>\r\n \t
Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve<\/dd>\r\n \t
For that which thou hast done,--must send thee hence<\/dd>\r\n \t
With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;<\/dd>\r\n \t
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,<\/dd>\r\n \t
The associates tend, and every thing is bent<\/dd>\r\n \t
For England.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
For England!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Ay, Hamlet.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Good.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for<\/dd>\r\n \t
England! Farewell, dear mother.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Thy loving father, Hamlet.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man<\/dd>\r\n \t
and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night:<\/dd>\r\n \t
Away! for every thing is seal'd and done<\/dd>\r\n \t
That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught--<\/dd>\r\n \t
As my great power thereof may give thee sense,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red<\/dd>\r\n \t
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe<\/dd>\r\n \t
Pays homage to us--thou mayst not coldly set<\/dd>\r\n \t
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,<\/dd>\r\n \t
By letters congruing to that effect,<\/dd>\r\n \t
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;<\/dd>\r\n \t
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit<\/i>\r\n

Scene 4. A plain in Denmark.<\/span><\/h3>\r\nEnter FORTINBRAS, a Captain, and Soldiers, marching<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Prince Fortinbras<\/dt>\r\n \t
Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Tell him that, by his licence, Fortinbras<\/dd>\r\n \t
Craves the conveyance of a promised march<\/dd>\r\n \t
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.<\/dd>\r\n \t
If that his majesty would aught with us,<\/dd>\r\n \t
We shall express our duty in his eye;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And let him know so.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Captain<\/dt>\r\n \t
I will do't, my lord.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Prince Fortinbras<\/dt>\r\n \t
Go softly on.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt FORTINBRAS and Soldiers<\/i>\u00a0Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and others<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Good sir, whose powers are these?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Captain<\/dt>\r\n \t
They are of Norway, sir.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
How purposed, sir, I pray you?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Captain<\/dt>\r\n \t
Against some part of Poland.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Who commands them, sir?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Captain<\/dt>\r\n \t
The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Or for some frontier?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Captain<\/dt>\r\n \t
Truly to speak, and with no addition,<\/dd>\r\n \t
We go to gain a little patch of ground<\/dd>\r\n \t
That hath in it no profit but the name.<\/dd>\r\n \t
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<\/dd>\r\n \t
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Captain<\/dt>\r\n \t
Yes, it is already garrison'd.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats<\/dd>\r\n \t
Will not debate the question of this straw:<\/dd>\r\n \t
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<\/dd>\r\n \t
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Captain<\/dt>\r\n \t
God be wi' you, sir.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\r\n \t
Wilt please you go, my lord?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hamlet<\/dt>\r\n \t
I'll be with you straight. Go a little before.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt all except HAMLET<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
How all occasions do inform against me,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,<\/dd>\r\n \t
If his chief good and market of his time<\/dd>\r\n \t
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.<\/dd>\r\n \t
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Looking before and after, gave us not<\/dd>\r\n \t
That capability and god-like reason<\/dd>\r\n \t
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be<\/dd>\r\n \t
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<\/dd>\r\n \t
Of thinking too precisely on the event,<\/dd>\r\n \t
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom<\/dd>\r\n \t
And ever three parts coward, I do not know<\/dd>\r\n \t
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'<\/dd>\r\n \t
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means<\/dd>\r\n \t
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:<\/dd>\r\n \t
Witness this army of such mass and charge<\/dd>\r\n \t
Led by a delicate and tender prince,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd<\/dd>\r\n \t
Makes mouths at the invisible event,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Exposing what is mortal and unsure<\/dd>\r\n \t
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great<\/dd>\r\n \t
Is not to stir without great argument,<\/dd>\r\n \t
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<\/dd>\r\n \t
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Excitements of my reason and my blood,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see<\/dd>\r\n \t
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<\/dd>\r\n \t
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Which is not tomb enough and continent<\/dd>\r\n \t
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,<\/dd>\r\n \t
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit<\/i>\r\n

Scene 5. Elsinore. A room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\r\nEnter Queen Gertrude, Horatio, and a Gentleman<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
I will not speak with her.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Gentleman<\/dt>\r\n \t
She is importunate, indeed distract:<\/dd>\r\n \t
Her mood will needs be pitied.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
What would she have?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Gentleman<\/dt>\r\n \t
She speaks much of her father; says she hears<\/dd>\r\n \t
There's tricks i' the world; and hems, and beats her heart;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<\/dd>\r\n \t
The hearers to collection; they aim at it,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Horatio<\/dt>\r\n \t
'Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew<\/dd>\r\n \t
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
Let her come in.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit HORATIO<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss:<\/dd>\r\n \t
So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<\/dd>\r\n \t
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nRe-enter HORATIO, with OPHELIA<\/i>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
How now, Ophelia!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\r\n \t
How should I your true love know<\/dd>\r\n \t
From another one?<\/dd>\r\n \t
By his cockle hat and staff,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And his sandal shoon.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Say you? nay, pray you, mark.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nSings<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
He is dead and gone, lady,<\/dd>\r\n \t
He is dead and gone;<\/dd>\r\n \t
At his head a grass-green turf,<\/dd>\r\n \t
At his heels a stone.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
Nay, but, Ophelia,--<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Pray you, mark.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nSings<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
White his shroud as the mountain snow,--<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nEnter KING CLAUDIUS<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
Alas, look here, my lord.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\r\n \t
Larded with sweet flowers<\/dd>\r\n \t
Which bewept to the grave did go<\/dd>\r\n \t
With true-love showers.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
How do you, pretty lady?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Well, God 'ild you! They say the owl was a baker's<\/dd>\r\n \t
daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not<\/dd>\r\n \t
what we may be. God be at your table!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Conceit upon her father.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Pray you, let's have no words of this; but when they<\/dd>\r\n \t
ask you what it means, say you this:<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nSings<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,<\/dd>\r\n \t
All in the morning betime,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And I a maid at your window,<\/dd>\r\n \t
To be your Valentine.<\/dd>\r\n \t
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And dupp'd the chamber-door;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Let in the maid, that out a maid<\/dd>\r\n \t
Never departed more.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Pretty Ophelia!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Indeed, la, without an oath, I'll make an end on't:<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nSings<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
By Gis and by Saint Charity,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Alack, and fie for shame!<\/dd>\r\n \t
Young men will do't, if they come to't;<\/dd>\r\n \t
By cock, they are to blame.<\/dd>\r\n \t
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,<\/dd>\r\n \t
You promised me to wed.<\/dd>\r\n \t
So would I ha' done, by yonder sun,<\/dd>\r\n \t
An thou hadst not come to my bed.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
How long hath she been thus?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
I hope all will be well. We must be patient: but I<\/dd>\r\n \t
cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him<\/dd>\r\n \t
i' the cold ground. My brother shall know of it:<\/dd>\r\n \t
and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my<\/dd>\r\n \t
coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies;<\/dd>\r\n \t
good night, good night.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Follow her close; give her good watch,<\/dd>\r\n \t
I pray you.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit HORATIO<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs<\/dd>\r\n \t
All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,<\/dd>\r\n \t
When sorrows come, they come not single spies<\/dd>\r\n \t
But in battalions. First, her father slain:<\/dd>\r\n \t
Next, your son gone; and he most violent author<\/dd>\r\n \t
Of his own just remove: the people muddied,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers,<\/dd>\r\n \t
For good Polonius' death; and we have done but greenly,<\/dd>\r\n \t
In hugger-mugger to inter him: poor Ophelia<\/dd>\r\n \t
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts:<\/dd>\r\n \t
Last, and as much containing as all these,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Her brother is in secret come from France;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<\/dd>\r\n \t
With pestilent speeches of his father's death;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Will nothing stick our person to arraign<\/dd>\r\n \t
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Like to a murdering-piece, in many places<\/dd>\r\n \t
Gives me superfluous death.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nA noise within<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
Alack, what noise is this?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nEnter another Gentleman<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
What is the matter?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Gentleman<\/dt>\r\n \t
Save yourself, my lord:<\/dd>\r\n \t
The ocean, overpeering of his list,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste<\/dd>\r\n \t
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head,<\/dd>\r\n \t
O'erbears your officers. The rabble call him lord;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And, as the world were now but to begin,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<\/dd>\r\n \t
The ratifiers and props of every word,<\/dd>\r\n \t
They cry 'Choose we: Laertes shall be king:'<\/dd>\r\n \t
Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds:<\/dd>\r\n \t
'Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!'<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!<\/dd>\r\n \t
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
The doors are broke.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nNoise within<\/i>\u00a0Enter LAERTES, armed; Danes following<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Where is this king? Sirs, stand you all without.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Danes<\/dt>\r\n \t
No, let's come in.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
I pray you, give me leave.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Danes<\/dt>\r\n \t
We will, we will.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nThey retire without the door<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
I thank you: keep the door. O thou vile king,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Give me my father!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
Calmly, good Laertes.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<\/dd>\r\n \t
Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow<\/dd>\r\n \t
Of my true mother.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
What is the cause, Laertes,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<\/dd>\r\n \t
Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person:<\/dd>\r\n \t
There's such divinity doth hedge a king,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That treason can but peep to what it would,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Acts little of his will. Tell me, Laertes,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Why thou art thus incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.<\/dd>\r\n \t
Speak, man.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Where is my father?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Dead.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
But not by him.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Let him demand his fill.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with:<\/dd>\r\n \t
To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil!<\/dd>\r\n \t
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!<\/dd>\r\n \t
I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That both the worlds I give to negligence,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Let come what comes; only I'll be revenged<\/dd>\r\n \t
Most thoroughly for my father.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Who shall stay you?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
My will, not all the world:<\/dd>\r\n \t
And for my means, I'll husband them so well,<\/dd>\r\n \t
They shall go far with little.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Good Laertes,<\/dd>\r\n \t
If you desire to know the certainty<\/dd>\r\n \t
Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Winner and loser?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
None but his enemies.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Will you know them then?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And like the kind life-rendering pelican,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Repast them with my blood.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Why, now you speak<\/dd>\r\n \t
Like a good child and a true gentleman.<\/dd>\r\n \t
That I am guiltless of your father's death,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And am most sensible in grief for it,<\/dd>\r\n \t
It shall as level to your judgment pierce<\/dd>\r\n \t
As day does to your eye.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Danes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Within<\/i>\u00a0Let her come in.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
How now! what noise is that?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nRe-enter OPHELIA<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
O heat, dry up my brains! tears seven times salt,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!<\/dd>\r\n \t
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May!<\/dd>\r\n \t
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<\/dd>\r\n \t
O heavens! is't possible, a young maid's wits<\/dd>\r\n \t
Should be as mortal as an old man's life?<\/dd>\r\n \t
Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,<\/dd>\r\n \t
It sends some precious instance of itself<\/dd>\r\n \t
After the thing it loves.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\r\n \t
They bore him barefaced on the bier;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And in his grave rain'd many a tear:--<\/dd>\r\n \t
Fare you well, my dove!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,<\/dd>\r\n \t
It could not move thus.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\r\n \t
You must sing a-down a-down,<\/dd>\r\n \t
An you call him a-down-a.<\/dd>\r\n \t
O, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false<\/dd>\r\n \t
steward, that stole his master's daughter.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
This nothing's more than matter.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray,<\/dd>\r\n \t
love, remember: and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
There's fennel for you, and columbines: there's rue<\/dd>\r\n \t
for you; and here's some for me: we may call it<\/dd>\r\n \t
herb-grace o' Sundays: O you must wear your rue with<\/dd>\r\n \t
a difference. There's a daisy: I would give you<\/dd>\r\n \t
some violets, but they withered all when my father<\/dd>\r\n \t
died: they say he made a good end,--<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nSings<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,<\/dd>\r\n \t
She turns to favour and to prettiness.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ophelia<\/dt>\r\n \t
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\r\n \t
And will he not come again?<\/dd>\r\n \t
And will he not come again?<\/dd>\r\n \t
No, no, he is dead:<\/dd>\r\n \t
Go to thy death-bed:<\/dd>\r\n \t
He never will come again.<\/dd>\r\n \t
His beard was as white as snow,<\/dd>\r\n \t
All flaxen was his poll:<\/dd>\r\n \t
He is gone, he is gone,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And we cast away moan:<\/dd>\r\n \t
God ha' mercy on his soul!<\/dd>\r\n \t
And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God be wi' ye.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Do you see this, O God?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Or you deny me right. Go but apart,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will.<\/dd>\r\n \t
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me:<\/dd>\r\n \t
If by direct or by collateral hand<\/dd>\r\n \t
They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours,<\/dd>\r\n \t
To you in satisfaction; but if not,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Be you content to lend your patience to us,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And we shall jointly labour with your soul<\/dd>\r\n \t
To give it due content.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Let this be so;<\/dd>\r\n \t
His means of death, his obscure funeral--<\/dd>\r\n \t
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,<\/dd>\r\n \t
No noble rite nor formal ostentation--<\/dd>\r\n \t
Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That I must call't in question.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
So you shall;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And where the offence is let the great axe fall.<\/dd>\r\n \t
I pray you, go with me.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt<\/i>\r\n

Scene 6. Another room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\r\nEnter Horatio and a Servant<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
Horatio<\/dt>\r\n \t
What are they that would speak with me?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Servant<\/dt>\r\n \t
Sailors, sir: they say they have letters for you.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Horatio<\/dt>\r\n \t
Let them come in.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit Servant<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
I do not know from what part of the world<\/dd>\r\n \t
I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nEnter Sailors<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
First Sailor<\/dt>\r\n \t
God bless you, sir.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Horatio<\/dt>\r\n \t
Let him bless thee too.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
First Sailor<\/dt>\r\n \t
He shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for<\/dd>\r\n \t
you, sir; it comes from the ambassador that was<\/dd>\r\n \t
bound for England; if your name be Horatio, as I am<\/dd>\r\n \t
let to know it is.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Horatio<\/dt>\r\n \t
Reads<\/i>\u00a0'Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked<\/dd>\r\n \t
this, give these fellows some means to the king:<\/dd>\r\n \t
they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old<\/dd>\r\n \t
at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us<\/dd>\r\n \t
chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on<\/dd>\r\n \t
a compelled valour, and in the grapple I boarded<\/dd>\r\n \t
them: on the instant they got clear of our ship; so<\/dd>\r\n \t
I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with<\/dd>\r\n \t
me like thieves of mercy: but they knew what they<\/dd>\r\n \t
did; I am to do a good turn for them. Let the king<\/dd>\r\n \t
have the letters I have sent; and repair thou to me<\/dd>\r\n \t
with as much speed as thou wouldst fly death. I<\/dd>\r\n \t
have words to speak in thine ear will make thee<\/dd>\r\n \t
dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of<\/dd>\r\n \t
the matter. These good fellows will bring thee<\/dd>\r\n \t
where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their<\/dd>\r\n \t
course for England: of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell.<\/dd>\r\n \t
'He that thou knowest thine, HAMLET.'<\/dd>\r\n \t
Come, I will make you way for these your letters;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And do't the speedier, that you may direct me<\/dd>\r\n \t
To him from whom you brought them.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt<\/i>\r\n

Scene 7. Another room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\r\nEnter KING CLAUDIUS and LAERTES<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Now must your conscience my acquaintance seal,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And you must put me in your heart for friend,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That he which hath your noble father slain<\/dd>\r\n \t
Pursued my life.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
It well appears: but tell me<\/dd>\r\n \t
Why you proceeded not against these feats,<\/dd>\r\n \t
So crimeful and so capital in nature,<\/dd>\r\n \t
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,<\/dd>\r\n \t
You mainly were stirr'd up.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
O, for two special reasons;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd,<\/dd>\r\n \t
But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother<\/dd>\r\n \t
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself--<\/dd>\r\n \t
My virtue or my plague, be it either which--<\/dd>\r\n \t
She's so conjunctive to my life and soul,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,<\/dd>\r\n \t
I could not but by her. The other motive,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Why to a public count I might not go,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Is the great love the general gender bear him;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Would have reverted to my bow again,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And not where I had aim'd them.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
And so have I a noble father lost;<\/dd>\r\n \t
A sister driven into desperate terms,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Whose worth, if praises may go back again,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Stood challenger on mount of all the age<\/dd>\r\n \t
For her perfections: but my revenge will come.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Break not your sleeps for that: you must not think<\/dd>\r\n \t
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull<\/dd>\r\n \t
That we can let our beard be shook with danger<\/dd>\r\n \t
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more:<\/dd>\r\n \t
I loved your father, and we love ourself;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine--<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nEnter a Messenger<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
How now! what news?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Messenger<\/dt>\r\n \t
Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:<\/dd>\r\n \t
This to your majesty; this to the queen.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
From Hamlet! who brought them?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Messenger<\/dt>\r\n \t
Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not:<\/dd>\r\n \t
They were given me by Claudio; he received them<\/dd>\r\n \t
Of him that brought them.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit Messenger<\/i>\u00a0Reads<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
'High and mighty, You shall know I am set naked on<\/dd>\r\n \t
your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see<\/dd>\r\n \t
your kingly eyes: when I shall, first asking your<\/dd>\r\n \t
pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden<\/dd>\r\n \t
and more strange return. 'HAMLET.'<\/dd>\r\n \t
What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?<\/dd>\r\n \t
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Know you the hand?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
'Tis Hamlets character. 'Naked!<\/dd>\r\n \t
And in a postscript here, he says 'alone.'<\/dd>\r\n \t
Can you advise me?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
I'm lost in it, my lord. But let him come;<\/dd>\r\n \t
It warms the very sickness in my heart,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,<\/dd>\r\n \t
'Thus didest thou.'<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
If it be so, Laertes--<\/dd>\r\n \t
As how should it be so? how otherwise?--<\/dd>\r\n \t
Will you be ruled by me?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Ay, my lord;<\/dd>\r\n \t
So you will not o'errule me to a peace.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
To thine own peace. If he be now return'd,<\/dd>\r\n \t
As checking at his voyage, and that he means<\/dd>\r\n \t
No more to undertake it, I will work him<\/dd>\r\n \t
To an exploit, now ripe in my device,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Under the which he shall not choose but fall:<\/dd>\r\n \t
And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<\/dd>\r\n \t
But even his mother shall uncharge the practise<\/dd>\r\n \t
And call it accident.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
My lord, I will be ruled;<\/dd>\r\n \t
The rather, if you could devise it so<\/dd>\r\n \t
That I might be the organ.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
It falls right.<\/dd>\r\n \t
You have been talk'd of since your travel much,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality<\/dd>\r\n \t
Wherein, they say, you shine: your sum of parts<\/dd>\r\n \t
Did not together pluck such envy from him<\/dd>\r\n \t
As did that one, and that, in my regard,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Of the unworthiest siege.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
What part is that, my lord?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
A very riband in the cap of youth,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes<\/dd>\r\n \t
The light and careless livery that it wears<\/dd>\r\n \t
Than settled age his sables and his weeds,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Importing health and graveness. Two months since,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Here was a gentleman of Normandy:--<\/dd>\r\n \t
I've seen myself, and served against, the French,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And they can well on horseback: but this gallant<\/dd>\r\n \t
Had witchcraft in't; he grew unto his seat;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<\/dd>\r\n \t
As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured<\/dd>\r\n \t
With the brave beast: so far he topp'd my thought,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Come short of what he did.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
A Norman was't?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
A Norman.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Upon my life, Lamond.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
The very same.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
I know him well: he is the brooch indeed<\/dd>\r\n \t
And gem of all the nation.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
He made confession of you,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And gave you such a masterly report<\/dd>\r\n \t
For art and exercise in your defence<\/dd>\r\n \t
And for your rapier most especially,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed,<\/dd>\r\n \t
If one could match you: the scrimers of their nation,<\/dd>\r\n \t
He swore, had had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<\/dd>\r\n \t
If you opposed them. Sir, this report of his<\/dd>\r\n \t
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy<\/dd>\r\n \t
That he could nothing do but wish and beg<\/dd>\r\n \t
Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.<\/dd>\r\n \t
Now, out of this,--<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
What out of this, my lord?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Laertes, was your father dear to you?<\/dd>\r\n \t
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<\/dd>\r\n \t
A face without a heart?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Why ask you this?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Not that I think you did not love your father;<\/dd>\r\n \t
But that I know love is begun by time;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And that I see, in passages of proof,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.<\/dd>\r\n \t
There lives within the very flame of love<\/dd>\r\n \t
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And nothing is at a like goodness still;<\/dd>\r\n \t
For goodness, growing to a plurisy,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Dies in his own too much: that we would do<\/dd>\r\n \t
We should do when we would; for this 'would' changes<\/dd>\r\n \t
And hath abatements and delays as many<\/dd>\r\n \t
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer:--<\/dd>\r\n \t
Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake,<\/dd>\r\n \t
To show yourself your father's son in deed<\/dd>\r\n \t
More than in words?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
To cut his throat i' the church.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Will you do this, keep close within your chamber.<\/dd>\r\n \t
Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home:<\/dd>\r\n \t
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence<\/dd>\r\n \t
And set a double varnish on the fame<\/dd>\r\n \t
The Frenchman gave you, bring you in fine together<\/dd>\r\n \t
And wager on your heads: he, being remiss,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Most generous and free from all contriving,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Will not peruse the foils; so that, with ease,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<\/dd>\r\n \t
A sword unbated, and in a pass of practise<\/dd>\r\n \t
Requite him for your father.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
I will do't:<\/dd>\r\n \t
And, for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.<\/dd>\r\n \t
I bought an unction of a mountebank,<\/dd>\r\n \t
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Collected from all simples that have virtue<\/dd>\r\n \t
Under the moon, can save the thing from death<\/dd>\r\n \t
That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point<\/dd>\r\n \t
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,<\/dd>\r\n \t
It may be death.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Let's further think of this;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Weigh what convenience both of time and means<\/dd>\r\n \t
May fit us to our shape: if this should fail,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And that our drift look through our bad performance,<\/dd>\r\n \t
'Twere better not assay'd: therefore this project<\/dd>\r\n \t
Should have a back or second, that might hold,<\/dd>\r\n \t
If this should blast in proof. Soft! let me see:<\/dd>\r\n \t
We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings: I ha't.<\/dd>\r\n \t
When in your motion you are hot and dry--<\/dd>\r\n \t
As make your bouts more violent to that end--<\/dd>\r\n \t
And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepared him<\/dd>\r\n \t
A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<\/dd>\r\n \t
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Our purpose may hold there.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nEnter QUEEN GERTRUDE<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
How now, sweet queen!<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
One woe doth tread upon another's heel,<\/dd>\r\n \t
So fast they follow; your sister's drown'd, Laertes.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Drown'd! O, where?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,<\/dd>\r\n \t
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;<\/dd>\r\n \t
There with fantastic garlands did she come<\/dd>\r\n \t
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<\/dd>\r\n \t
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<\/dd>\r\n \t
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:<\/dd>\r\n \t
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds<\/dd>\r\n \t
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<\/dd>\r\n \t
When down her weedy trophies and herself<\/dd>\r\n \t
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;<\/dd>\r\n \t
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:<\/dd>\r\n \t
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;<\/dd>\r\n \t
As one incapable of her own distress,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Or like a creature native and indued<\/dd>\r\n \t
Unto that element: but long it could not be<\/dd>\r\n \t
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay<\/dd>\r\n \t
To muddy death.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Alas, then, she is drown'd?<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\r\n \t
Drown'd, drown'd.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n \t
Laertes<\/dt>\r\n \t
Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<\/dd>\r\n \t
And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet<\/dd>\r\n \t
It is our trick; nature her custom holds,<\/dd>\r\n \t
Let shame say what it will: when these are gone,<\/dd>\r\n \t
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord:<\/dd>\r\n \t
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze,<\/dd>\r\n \t
But that this folly douts it.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExit<\/i>\r\n
\r\n \t
King Claudius<\/dt>\r\n \t
Let's follow, Gertrude:<\/dd>\r\n \t
How much I had to do to calm his rage!<\/dd>\r\n \t
Now fear I this will give it start again;<\/dd>\r\n \t
Therefore let's follow.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\nExeunt<\/i>","rendered":"

Act 4<\/h2>\n

Scene 1. A room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Enter King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
There’s matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:<\/dd>\n
You must translate: ’tis fit we understand them.<\/dd>\n
Where is your son?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
Bestow this place on us a little while.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend<\/dd>\n
Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,<\/dd>\n
Behind the arras hearing something stir,<\/dd>\n
Whips out his rapier, cries, ‘A rat, a rat!’<\/dd>\n
And, in this brainish apprehension, kills<\/dd>\n
The unseen good old man.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
O heavy deed!<\/dd>\n
It had been so with us, had we been there:<\/dd>\n
His liberty is full of threats to all;<\/dd>\n
To you yourself, to us, to every one.<\/dd>\n
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer’d?<\/dd>\n
It will be laid to us, whose providence<\/dd>\n
Should have kept short, restrain’d and out of haunt,<\/dd>\n
This mad young man: but so much was our love,<\/dd>\n
We would not understand what was most fit;<\/dd>\n
But, like the owner of a foul disease,<\/dd>\n
To keep it from divulging, let it feed<\/dd>\n
Even on the pith of Life. Where is he gone?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
To draw apart the body he hath kill’d:<\/dd>\n
O’er whom his very madness, like some ore<\/dd>\n
Among a mineral of metals base,<\/dd>\n
Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
O Gertrude, come away!<\/dd>\n
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,<\/dd>\n
But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed<\/dd>\n
We must, with all our majesty and skill,<\/dd>\n
Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Re-enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Friends both, go join you with some further aid:<\/dd>\n
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,<\/dd>\n
And from his mother’s closet hath he dragg’d him:<\/dd>\n
Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body<\/dd>\n
Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Come, Gertrude, we’ll call up our wisest friends;<\/dd>\n
And let them know, both what we mean to do,<\/dd>\n
And what’s untimely done…<\/dd>\n
Whose whisper o’er the world’s diameter,<\/dd>\n
As level as the cannon to his blank,<\/dd>\n
Transports his poison’d shot, may miss our name,<\/dd>\n
And hit the woundless air. O, come away!<\/dd>\n
My soul is full of discord and dismay.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt<\/i><\/p>\n

Scene 2. Another room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Enter Hamlet<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Safely stowed.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Guildenstern<\/dt>\n
Within<\/i>\u00a0Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
What noise? who calls on Hamlet?<\/dd>\n
O, here they come.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Compounded it with dust, whereto ’tis kin.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
Tell us where ’tis, that we may take it thence<\/dd>\n
And bear it to the chapel.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Do not believe it.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
Believe what?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
That I can keep your counsel and not mine own.<\/dd>\n
Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! what<\/dd>\n
replication should be made by the son of a king?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
Take you me for a sponge, my lord?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Ay, sir, that soaks up the king’s countenance, his<\/dd>\n
rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the<\/dd>\n
king best service in the end: he keeps them, like<\/dd>\n
an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to<\/dd>\n
be last swallowed: when he needs what you have<\/dd>\n
gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you<\/dd>\n
shall be dry again.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
I understand you not, my lord.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a<\/dd>\n
foolish ear.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go<\/dd>\n
with us to the king.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
The body is with the king, but the king is not with<\/dd>\n
the body. The king is a thing–<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Guildenstern<\/dt>\n
A thing, my lord!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt<\/i><\/p>\n

Scene 3. Another room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Enter King Claudius, attended<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.<\/dd>\n
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!<\/dd>\n
Yet must not we put the strong law on him:<\/dd>\n
He’s loved of the distracted multitude,<\/dd>\n
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;<\/dd>\n
And where tis so, the offender’s scourge is weigh’d,<\/dd>\n
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,<\/dd>\n
This sudden sending him away must seem<\/dd>\n
Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown<\/dd>\n
By desperate appliance are relieved,<\/dd>\n
Or not at all.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Enter Rosencrantz<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
How now! what hath befall’n?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
Where the dead body is bestow’d, my lord,<\/dd>\n
We cannot get from him.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
But where is he?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Bring him before us.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Now, Hamlet, where’s Polonius?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
At supper.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
At supper! where?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain<\/dd>\n
convocation of politic worms are e’en at him. Your<\/dd>\n
worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all<\/dd>\n
creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for<\/dd>\n
maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but<\/dd>\n
variable service, two dishes, but to one table:<\/dd>\n
that’s the end.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Alas, alas!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a<\/dd>\n
king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
What dost you mean by this?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Nothing but to show you how a king may go a<\/dd>\n
progress through the guts of a beggar.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Where is Polonius?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger<\/dd>\n
find him not there, seek him i’ the other place<\/dd>\n
yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within<\/dd>\n
this month, you shall nose him as you go up the<\/dd>\n
stairs into the lobby.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Go seek him there.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

To some Attendants<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
He will stay till ye come.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt Attendants<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,–<\/dd>\n
Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve<\/dd>\n
For that which thou hast done,–must send thee hence<\/dd>\n
With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;<\/dd>\n
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,<\/dd>\n
The associates tend, and every thing is bent<\/dd>\n
For England.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
For England!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Ay, Hamlet.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Good.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
So is it, if thou knew’st our purposes.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for<\/dd>\n
England! Farewell, dear mother.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Thy loving father, Hamlet.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man<\/dd>\n
and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;<\/dd>\n
Delay it not; I’ll have him hence to-night:<\/dd>\n
Away! for every thing is seal’d and done<\/dd>\n
That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
And, England, if my love thou hold’st at aught–<\/dd>\n
As my great power thereof may give thee sense,<\/dd>\n
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red<\/dd>\n
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe<\/dd>\n
Pays homage to us–thou mayst not coldly set<\/dd>\n
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,<\/dd>\n
By letters congruing to that effect,<\/dd>\n
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;<\/dd>\n
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,<\/dd>\n
And thou must cure me: till I know ’tis done,<\/dd>\n
Howe’er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit<\/i><\/p>\n

Scene 4. A plain in Denmark.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Enter FORTINBRAS, a Captain, and Soldiers, marching<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Prince Fortinbras<\/dt>\n
Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king;<\/dd>\n
Tell him that, by his licence, Fortinbras<\/dd>\n
Craves the conveyance of a promised march<\/dd>\n
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.<\/dd>\n
If that his majesty would aught with us,<\/dd>\n
We shall express our duty in his eye;<\/dd>\n
And let him know so.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Captain<\/dt>\n
I will do’t, my lord.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Prince Fortinbras<\/dt>\n
Go softly on.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt FORTINBRAS and Soldiers<\/i>\u00a0Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and others<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Good sir, whose powers are these?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Captain<\/dt>\n
They are of Norway, sir.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
How purposed, sir, I pray you?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Captain<\/dt>\n
Against some part of Poland.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Who commands them, sir?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Captain<\/dt>\n
The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,<\/dd>\n
Or for some frontier?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Captain<\/dt>\n
Truly to speak, and with no addition,<\/dd>\n
We go to gain a little patch of ground<\/dd>\n
That hath in it no profit but the name.<\/dd>\n
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;<\/dd>\n
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole<\/dd>\n
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Why, then the Polack never will defend it.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Captain<\/dt>\n
Yes, it is already garrison’d.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats<\/dd>\n
Will not debate the question of this straw:<\/dd>\n
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,<\/dd>\n
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without<\/dd>\n
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Captain<\/dt>\n
God be wi’ you, sir.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Rosencrantz<\/dt>\n
Wilt please you go, my lord?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Hamlet<\/dt>\n
I’ll be with you straight. Go a little before.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt all except HAMLET<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
How all occasions do inform against me,<\/dd>\n
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,<\/dd>\n
If his chief good and market of his time<\/dd>\n
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.<\/dd>\n
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,<\/dd>\n
Looking before and after, gave us not<\/dd>\n
That capability and god-like reason<\/dd>\n
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be<\/dd>\n
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple<\/dd>\n
Of thinking too precisely on the event,<\/dd>\n
A thought which, quarter’d, hath but one part wisdom<\/dd>\n
And ever three parts coward, I do not know<\/dd>\n
Why yet I live to say ‘This thing’s to do;’<\/dd>\n
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means<\/dd>\n
To do’t. Examples gross as earth exhort me:<\/dd>\n
Witness this army of such mass and charge<\/dd>\n
Led by a delicate and tender prince,<\/dd>\n
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff’d<\/dd>\n
Makes mouths at the invisible event,<\/dd>\n
Exposing what is mortal and unsure<\/dd>\n
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,<\/dd>\n
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great<\/dd>\n
Is not to stir without great argument,<\/dd>\n
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw<\/dd>\n
When honour’s at the stake. How stand I then,<\/dd>\n
That have a father kill’d, a mother stain’d,<\/dd>\n
Excitements of my reason and my blood,<\/dd>\n
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see<\/dd>\n
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,<\/dd>\n
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,<\/dd>\n
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot<\/dd>\n
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,<\/dd>\n
Which is not tomb enough and continent<\/dd>\n
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,<\/dd>\n
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit<\/i><\/p>\n

Scene 5. Elsinore. A room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Enter Queen Gertrude, Horatio, and a Gentleman<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
I will not speak with her.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Gentleman<\/dt>\n
She is importunate, indeed distract:<\/dd>\n
Her mood will needs be pitied.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
What would she have?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Gentleman<\/dt>\n
She speaks much of her father; says she hears<\/dd>\n
There’s tricks i’ the world; and hems, and beats her heart;<\/dd>\n
Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,<\/dd>\n
That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing,<\/dd>\n
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move<\/dd>\n
The hearers to collection; they aim at it,<\/dd>\n
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;<\/dd>\n
Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,<\/dd>\n
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,<\/dd>\n
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Horatio<\/dt>\n
‘Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew<\/dd>\n
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
Let her come in.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit HORATIO<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
To my sick soul, as sin’s true nature is,<\/dd>\n
Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss:<\/dd>\n
So full of artless jealousy is guilt,<\/dd>\n
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Re-enter HORATIO, with OPHELIA<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
How now, Ophelia!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\n
How should I your true love know<\/dd>\n
From another one?<\/dd>\n
By his cockle hat and staff,<\/dd>\n
And his sandal shoon.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Say you? nay, pray you, mark.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Sings<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
He is dead and gone, lady,<\/dd>\n
He is dead and gone;<\/dd>\n
At his head a grass-green turf,<\/dd>\n
At his heels a stone.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
Nay, but, Ophelia,–<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Pray you, mark.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Sings<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
White his shroud as the mountain snow,–<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Enter KING CLAUDIUS<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
Alas, look here, my lord.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\n
Larded with sweet flowers<\/dd>\n
Which bewept to the grave did go<\/dd>\n
With true-love showers.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
How do you, pretty lady?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Well, God ‘ild you! They say the owl was a baker’s<\/dd>\n
daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not<\/dd>\n
what we may be. God be at your table!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Conceit upon her father.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Pray you, let’s have no words of this; but when they<\/dd>\n
ask you what it means, say you this:<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Sings<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day,<\/dd>\n
All in the morning betime,<\/dd>\n
And I a maid at your window,<\/dd>\n
To be your Valentine.<\/dd>\n
Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes,<\/dd>\n
And dupp’d the chamber-door;<\/dd>\n
Let in the maid, that out a maid<\/dd>\n
Never departed more.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Pretty Ophelia!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Indeed, la, without an oath, I’ll make an end on’t:<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Sings<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
By Gis and by Saint Charity,<\/dd>\n
Alack, and fie for shame!<\/dd>\n
Young men will do’t, if they come to’t;<\/dd>\n
By cock, they are to blame.<\/dd>\n
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,<\/dd>\n
You promised me to wed.<\/dd>\n
So would I ha’ done, by yonder sun,<\/dd>\n
An thou hadst not come to my bed.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
How long hath she been thus?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
I hope all will be well. We must be patient: but I<\/dd>\n
cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him<\/dd>\n
i’ the cold ground. My brother shall know of it:<\/dd>\n
and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my<\/dd>\n
coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies;<\/dd>\n
good night, good night.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Follow her close; give her good watch,<\/dd>\n
I pray you.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit HORATIO<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs<\/dd>\n
All from her father’s death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,<\/dd>\n
When sorrows come, they come not single spies<\/dd>\n
But in battalions. First, her father slain:<\/dd>\n
Next, your son gone; and he most violent author<\/dd>\n
Of his own just remove: the people muddied,<\/dd>\n
Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers,<\/dd>\n
For good Polonius’ death; and we have done but greenly,<\/dd>\n
In hugger-mugger to inter him: poor Ophelia<\/dd>\n
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,<\/dd>\n
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts:<\/dd>\n
Last, and as much containing as all these,<\/dd>\n
Her brother is in secret come from France;<\/dd>\n
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,<\/dd>\n
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear<\/dd>\n
With pestilent speeches of his father’s death;<\/dd>\n
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar’d,<\/dd>\n
Will nothing stick our person to arraign<\/dd>\n
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,<\/dd>\n
Like to a murdering-piece, in many places<\/dd>\n
Gives me superfluous death.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

A noise within<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
Alack, what noise is this?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Enter another Gentleman<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
What is the matter?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Gentleman<\/dt>\n
Save yourself, my lord:<\/dd>\n
The ocean, overpeering of his list,<\/dd>\n
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste<\/dd>\n
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head,<\/dd>\n
O’erbears your officers. The rabble call him lord;<\/dd>\n
And, as the world were now but to begin,<\/dd>\n
Antiquity forgot, custom not known,<\/dd>\n
The ratifiers and props of every word,<\/dd>\n
They cry ‘Choose we: Laertes shall be king:’<\/dd>\n
Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds:<\/dd>\n
‘Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!’<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!<\/dd>\n
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
The doors are broke.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Noise within<\/i>\u00a0Enter LAERTES, armed; Danes following<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Where is this king? Sirs, stand you all without.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Danes<\/dt>\n
No, let’s come in.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
I pray you, give me leave.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Danes<\/dt>\n
We will, we will.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

They retire without the door<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
I thank you: keep the door. O thou vile king,<\/dd>\n
Give me my father!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
Calmly, good Laertes.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
That drop of blood that’s calm proclaims me bastard,<\/dd>\n
Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot<\/dd>\n
Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow<\/dd>\n
Of my true mother.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
What is the cause, Laertes,<\/dd>\n
That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?<\/dd>\n
Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person:<\/dd>\n
There’s such divinity doth hedge a king,<\/dd>\n
That treason can but peep to what it would,<\/dd>\n
Acts little of his will. Tell me, Laertes,<\/dd>\n
Why thou art thus incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.<\/dd>\n
Speak, man.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Where is my father?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Dead.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
But not by him.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Let him demand his fill.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with:<\/dd>\n
To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil!<\/dd>\n
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!<\/dd>\n
I dare damnation. To this point I stand,<\/dd>\n
That both the worlds I give to negligence,<\/dd>\n
Let come what comes; only I’ll be revenged<\/dd>\n
Most thoroughly for my father.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Who shall stay you?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
My will, not all the world:<\/dd>\n
And for my means, I’ll husband them so well,<\/dd>\n
They shall go far with little.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Good Laertes,<\/dd>\n
If you desire to know the certainty<\/dd>\n
Of your dear father’s death, is’t writ in your revenge,<\/dd>\n
That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe,<\/dd>\n
Winner and loser?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
None but his enemies.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Will you know them then?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
To his good friends thus wide I’ll ope my arms;<\/dd>\n
And like the kind life-rendering pelican,<\/dd>\n
Repast them with my blood.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Why, now you speak<\/dd>\n
Like a good child and a true gentleman.<\/dd>\n
That I am guiltless of your father’s death,<\/dd>\n
And am most sensible in grief for it,<\/dd>\n
It shall as level to your judgment pierce<\/dd>\n
As day does to your eye.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Danes<\/dt>\n
Within<\/i>\u00a0Let her come in.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
How now! what noise is that?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Re-enter OPHELIA<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
O heat, dry up my brains! tears seven times salt,<\/dd>\n
Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!<\/dd>\n
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight,<\/dd>\n
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May!<\/dd>\n
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!<\/dd>\n
O heavens! is’t possible, a young maid’s wits<\/dd>\n
Should be as mortal as an old man’s life?<\/dd>\n
Nature is fine in love, and where ’tis fine,<\/dd>\n
It sends some precious instance of itself<\/dd>\n
After the thing it loves.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\n
They bore him barefaced on the bier;<\/dd>\n
Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;<\/dd>\n
And in his grave rain’d many a tear:–<\/dd>\n
Fare you well, my dove!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,<\/dd>\n
It could not move thus.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\n
You must sing a-down a-down,<\/dd>\n
An you call him a-down-a.<\/dd>\n
O, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false<\/dd>\n
steward, that stole his master’s daughter.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
This nothing’s more than matter.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray,<\/dd>\n
love, remember: and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
There’s fennel for you, and columbines: there’s rue<\/dd>\n
for you; and here’s some for me: we may call it<\/dd>\n
herb-grace o’ Sundays: O you must wear your rue with<\/dd>\n
a difference. There’s a daisy: I would give you<\/dd>\n
some violets, but they withered all when my father<\/dd>\n
died: they say he made a good end,–<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Sings<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,<\/dd>\n
She turns to favour and to prettiness.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Ophelia<\/dt>\n
Sings<\/i><\/dd>\n
And will he not come again?<\/dd>\n
And will he not come again?<\/dd>\n
No, no, he is dead:<\/dd>\n
Go to thy death-bed:<\/dd>\n
He never will come again.<\/dd>\n
His beard was as white as snow,<\/dd>\n
All flaxen was his poll:<\/dd>\n
He is gone, he is gone,<\/dd>\n
And we cast away moan:<\/dd>\n
God ha’ mercy on his soul!<\/dd>\n
And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God be wi’ ye.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Do you see this, O God?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Laertes, I must commune with your grief,<\/dd>\n
Or you deny me right. Go but apart,<\/dd>\n
Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will.<\/dd>\n
And they shall hear and judge ‘twixt you and me:<\/dd>\n
If by direct or by collateral hand<\/dd>\n
They find us touch’d, we will our kingdom give,<\/dd>\n
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours,<\/dd>\n
To you in satisfaction; but if not,<\/dd>\n
Be you content to lend your patience to us,<\/dd>\n
And we shall jointly labour with your soul<\/dd>\n
To give it due content.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Let this be so;<\/dd>\n
His means of death, his obscure funeral–<\/dd>\n
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o’er his bones,<\/dd>\n
No noble rite nor formal ostentation–<\/dd>\n
Cry to be heard, as ’twere from heaven to earth,<\/dd>\n
That I must call’t in question.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
So you shall;<\/dd>\n
And where the offence is let the great axe fall.<\/dd>\n
I pray you, go with me.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt<\/i><\/p>\n

Scene 6. Another room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Enter Horatio and a Servant<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
Horatio<\/dt>\n
What are they that would speak with me?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Servant<\/dt>\n
Sailors, sir: they say they have letters for you.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Horatio<\/dt>\n
Let them come in.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit Servant<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
I do not know from what part of the world<\/dd>\n
I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Enter Sailors<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
First Sailor<\/dt>\n
God bless you, sir.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Horatio<\/dt>\n
Let him bless thee too.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
First Sailor<\/dt>\n
He shall, sir, an’t please him. There’s a letter for<\/dd>\n
you, sir; it comes from the ambassador that was<\/dd>\n
bound for England; if your name be Horatio, as I am<\/dd>\n
let to know it is.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Horatio<\/dt>\n
Reads<\/i>\u00a0‘Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked<\/dd>\n
this, give these fellows some means to the king:<\/dd>\n
they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old<\/dd>\n
at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us<\/dd>\n
chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on<\/dd>\n
a compelled valour, and in the grapple I boarded<\/dd>\n
them: on the instant they got clear of our ship; so<\/dd>\n
I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with<\/dd>\n
me like thieves of mercy: but they knew what they<\/dd>\n
did; I am to do a good turn for them. Let the king<\/dd>\n
have the letters I have sent; and repair thou to me<\/dd>\n
with as much speed as thou wouldst fly death. I<\/dd>\n
have words to speak in thine ear will make thee<\/dd>\n
dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of<\/dd>\n
the matter. These good fellows will bring thee<\/dd>\n
where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their<\/dd>\n
course for England: of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell.<\/dd>\n
‘He that thou knowest thine, HAMLET.’<\/dd>\n
Come, I will make you way for these your letters;<\/dd>\n
And do’t the speedier, that you may direct me<\/dd>\n
To him from whom you brought them.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt<\/i><\/p>\n

Scene 7. Another room in the castle.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Enter KING CLAUDIUS and LAERTES<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Now must your conscience my acquaintance seal,<\/dd>\n
And you must put me in your heart for friend,<\/dd>\n
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,<\/dd>\n
That he which hath your noble father slain<\/dd>\n
Pursued my life.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
It well appears: but tell me<\/dd>\n
Why you proceeded not against these feats,<\/dd>\n
So crimeful and so capital in nature,<\/dd>\n
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,<\/dd>\n
You mainly were stirr’d up.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
O, for two special reasons;<\/dd>\n
Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew’d,<\/dd>\n
But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother<\/dd>\n
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself–<\/dd>\n
My virtue or my plague, be it either which–<\/dd>\n
She’s so conjunctive to my life and soul,<\/dd>\n
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,<\/dd>\n
I could not but by her. The other motive,<\/dd>\n
Why to a public count I might not go,<\/dd>\n
Is the great love the general gender bear him;<\/dd>\n
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,<\/dd>\n
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,<\/dd>\n
Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows,<\/dd>\n
Too slightly timber’d for so loud a wind,<\/dd>\n
Would have reverted to my bow again,<\/dd>\n
And not where I had aim’d them.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
And so have I a noble father lost;<\/dd>\n
A sister driven into desperate terms,<\/dd>\n
Whose worth, if praises may go back again,<\/dd>\n
Stood challenger on mount of all the age<\/dd>\n
For her perfections: but my revenge will come.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Break not your sleeps for that: you must not think<\/dd>\n
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull<\/dd>\n
That we can let our beard be shook with danger<\/dd>\n
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more:<\/dd>\n
I loved your father, and we love ourself;<\/dd>\n
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine–<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Enter a Messenger<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
How now! what news?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Messenger<\/dt>\n
Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:<\/dd>\n
This to your majesty; this to the queen.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
From Hamlet! who brought them?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Messenger<\/dt>\n
Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not:<\/dd>\n
They were given me by Claudio; he received them<\/dd>\n
Of him that brought them.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit Messenger<\/i>\u00a0Reads<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
‘High and mighty, You shall know I am set naked on<\/dd>\n
your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see<\/dd>\n
your kingly eyes: when I shall, first asking your<\/dd>\n
pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden<\/dd>\n
and more strange return. ‘HAMLET.’<\/dd>\n
What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?<\/dd>\n
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Know you the hand?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
‘Tis Hamlets character. ‘Naked!<\/dd>\n
And in a postscript here, he says ‘alone.’<\/dd>\n
Can you advise me?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
I’m lost in it, my lord. But let him come;<\/dd>\n
It warms the very sickness in my heart,<\/dd>\n
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,<\/dd>\n
‘Thus didest thou.’<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
If it be so, Laertes–<\/dd>\n
As how should it be so? how otherwise?–<\/dd>\n
Will you be ruled by me?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Ay, my lord;<\/dd>\n
So you will not o’errule me to a peace.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
To thine own peace. If he be now return’d,<\/dd>\n
As checking at his voyage, and that he means<\/dd>\n
No more to undertake it, I will work him<\/dd>\n
To an exploit, now ripe in my device,<\/dd>\n
Under the which he shall not choose but fall:<\/dd>\n
And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,<\/dd>\n
But even his mother shall uncharge the practise<\/dd>\n
And call it accident.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
My lord, I will be ruled;<\/dd>\n
The rather, if you could devise it so<\/dd>\n
That I might be the organ.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
It falls right.<\/dd>\n
You have been talk’d of since your travel much,<\/dd>\n
And that in Hamlet’s hearing, for a quality<\/dd>\n
Wherein, they say, you shine: your sum of parts<\/dd>\n
Did not together pluck such envy from him<\/dd>\n
As did that one, and that, in my regard,<\/dd>\n
Of the unworthiest siege.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
What part is that, my lord?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
A very riband in the cap of youth,<\/dd>\n
Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes<\/dd>\n
The light and careless livery that it wears<\/dd>\n
Than settled age his sables and his weeds,<\/dd>\n
Importing health and graveness. Two months since,<\/dd>\n
Here was a gentleman of Normandy:–<\/dd>\n
I’ve seen myself, and served against, the French,<\/dd>\n
And they can well on horseback: but this gallant<\/dd>\n
Had witchcraft in’t; he grew unto his seat;<\/dd>\n
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,<\/dd>\n
As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured<\/dd>\n
With the brave beast: so far he topp’d my thought,<\/dd>\n
That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,<\/dd>\n
Come short of what he did.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
A Norman was’t?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
A Norman.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Upon my life, Lamond.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
The very same.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
I know him well: he is the brooch indeed<\/dd>\n
And gem of all the nation.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
He made confession of you,<\/dd>\n
And gave you such a masterly report<\/dd>\n
For art and exercise in your defence<\/dd>\n
And for your rapier most especially,<\/dd>\n
That he cried out, ‘twould be a sight indeed,<\/dd>\n
If one could match you: the scrimers of their nation,<\/dd>\n
He swore, had had neither motion, guard, nor eye,<\/dd>\n
If you opposed them. Sir, this report of his<\/dd>\n
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy<\/dd>\n
That he could nothing do but wish and beg<\/dd>\n
Your sudden coming o’er, to play with him.<\/dd>\n
Now, out of this,–<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
What out of this, my lord?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Laertes, was your father dear to you?<\/dd>\n
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,<\/dd>\n
A face without a heart?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Why ask you this?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Not that I think you did not love your father;<\/dd>\n
But that I know love is begun by time;<\/dd>\n
And that I see, in passages of proof,<\/dd>\n
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.<\/dd>\n
There lives within the very flame of love<\/dd>\n
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;<\/dd>\n
And nothing is at a like goodness still;<\/dd>\n
For goodness, growing to a plurisy,<\/dd>\n
Dies in his own too much: that we would do<\/dd>\n
We should do when we would; for this ‘would’ changes<\/dd>\n
And hath abatements and delays as many<\/dd>\n
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;<\/dd>\n
And then this ‘should’ is like a spendthrift sigh,<\/dd>\n
That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o’ the ulcer:–<\/dd>\n
Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake,<\/dd>\n
To show yourself your father’s son in deed<\/dd>\n
More than in words?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
To cut his throat i’ the church.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;<\/dd>\n
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,<\/dd>\n
Will you do this, keep close within your chamber.<\/dd>\n
Hamlet return’d shall know you are come home:<\/dd>\n
We’ll put on those shall praise your excellence<\/dd>\n
And set a double varnish on the fame<\/dd>\n
The Frenchman gave you, bring you in fine together<\/dd>\n
And wager on your heads: he, being remiss,<\/dd>\n
Most generous and free from all contriving,<\/dd>\n
Will not peruse the foils; so that, with ease,<\/dd>\n
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose<\/dd>\n
A sword unbated, and in a pass of practise<\/dd>\n
Requite him for your father.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
I will do’t:<\/dd>\n
And, for that purpose, I’ll anoint my sword.<\/dd>\n
I bought an unction of a mountebank,<\/dd>\n
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,<\/dd>\n
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,<\/dd>\n
Collected from all simples that have virtue<\/dd>\n
Under the moon, can save the thing from death<\/dd>\n
That is but scratch’d withal: I’ll touch my point<\/dd>\n
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,<\/dd>\n
It may be death.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Let’s further think of this;<\/dd>\n
Weigh what convenience both of time and means<\/dd>\n
May fit us to our shape: if this should fail,<\/dd>\n
And that our drift look through our bad performance,<\/dd>\n
‘Twere better not assay’d: therefore this project<\/dd>\n
Should have a back or second, that might hold,<\/dd>\n
If this should blast in proof. Soft! let me see:<\/dd>\n
We’ll make a solemn wager on your cunnings: I ha’t.<\/dd>\n
When in your motion you are hot and dry–<\/dd>\n
As make your bouts more violent to that end–<\/dd>\n
And that he calls for drink, I’ll have prepared him<\/dd>\n
A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,<\/dd>\n
If he by chance escape your venom’d stuck,<\/dd>\n
Our purpose may hold there.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Enter QUEEN GERTRUDE<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
How now, sweet queen!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
One woe doth tread upon another’s heel,<\/dd>\n
So fast they follow; your sister’s drown’d, Laertes.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Drown’d! O, where?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,<\/dd>\n
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;<\/dd>\n
There with fantastic garlands did she come<\/dd>\n
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples<\/dd>\n
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,<\/dd>\n
But our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them:<\/dd>\n
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds<\/dd>\n
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;<\/dd>\n
When down her weedy trophies and herself<\/dd>\n
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;<\/dd>\n
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:<\/dd>\n
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;<\/dd>\n
As one incapable of her own distress,<\/dd>\n
Or like a creature native and indued<\/dd>\n
Unto that element: but long it could not be<\/dd>\n
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,<\/dd>\n
Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay<\/dd>\n
To muddy death.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Alas, then, she is drown’d?<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Queen Gertrude<\/dt>\n
Drown’d, drown’d.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
Laertes<\/dt>\n
Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,<\/dd>\n
And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet<\/dd>\n
It is our trick; nature her custom holds,<\/dd>\n
Let shame say what it will: when these are gone,<\/dd>\n
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord:<\/dd>\n
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze,<\/dd>\n
But that this folly douts it.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exit<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
King Claudius<\/dt>\n
Let’s follow, Gertrude:<\/dd>\n
How much I had to do to calm his rage!<\/dd>\n
Now fear I this will give it start again;<\/dd>\n
Therefore let’s follow.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Exeunt<\/i><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>