SCENE I. A room in POLONIUS' house.
Enter POLONIUS and REYNALDO
LORD POLONIUS
01 Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.
REYNALDO
02 I will, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS
03 You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,
04 Before you visit him, to make inquire
05 Of his behavior.
REYNALDO
06 My lord, I did intend it.
LORD POLONIUS
07 Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir,
08 Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;
09 And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
10 What company, at what expense; and finding
11 By this encompassment and drift of question
12 That they do know my son, come you more nearer
13 Than your particular demands will touch it:
14 Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him;
15 As thus, 'I know his father and his friends,
16 And in part him: ' do you mark this, Reynaldo?
REYNALDO
17 Ay, very well, my lord.
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LORD POLONIUS
18 'And in part him; but' you may say 'not well:
19 But, if't be he I mean, he's very wild;
20 Addicted so and so:' and there put on him
21 What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
22 As may dishonour him; take heed of that;
23 But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips
24 As are companions noted and most known
25 To youth and liberty.
REYNALDO
26 As gaming, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS
27 Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,
28 Drabbing: you may go so far.
REYNALDO
29 My lord, that would dishonour him.
LORD POLONIUS
30 'Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge
31 You must not put another scandal on him,
32 That he is open to incontinency;
33 That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly
34 That they may seem the taints of liberty,
35 The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,
36 A savageness in unreclaimed blood,
37 Of general assault.
REYNALDO
38 But, my good lord,-LORD POLONIUS
39 Wherefore should you do this?
REYNALDO
40 Ay, my lord,
41 I would know that.
LORD POLONIUS
42 Marry, sir, here's my drift;
43 And I believe, it is a fetch of wit:
44 You laying these slight sullies on my son,
45 As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the working, Mark you,
46 Your party in converse, him you would sound,
47 Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes
48 The youth you breathe of guilty, be assured
49 He closes with you in this consequence;
50 'Good sir,' or so, or 'friend,' or 'gentleman,'
51 According to the phrase or the addition
52 Of man and country.
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REYNALDO
53 Very good, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS
54 And then, sir, does he this--he does--what was I
55 about to say? By the mass, I was about to say
56 something: where did I leave?
REYNALDO
57 At 'closes in the consequence,' at 'friend or so,'
58 and 'gentleman.'
LORD POLONIUS
59 At 'closes in the consequence,' ay, marry;
60 He closes thus: 'I know the gentleman;
61 I saw him yesterday, or t' other day,
62 Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say,
63 There was a' gaming; there o'ertook in's rouse;
64 There falling out at tennis:' or perchance,
65 'I saw him enter such a house of sale,'
66 Videlicet, a brothel, or so forth.
67 See you now;
68 Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
69 And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
70 With windlasses and with assays of bias,
71 By indirections find directions out:
72 So by my former lecture and advice,
73 Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?
REYNALDO
74 My lord, I have.
LORD POLONIUS 75 God be wi' you; fare you well.
REYNALDO 76 Good my lord!
LORD POLONIUS 77 Observe his inclination in yourself.
REYNALDO 78 I shall, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS 79 And let him ply his music.
REYNALDO
80 Well, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS
81 Farewell!
Exit REYNALDO AND Enter OPHELIA
82 How now, Ophelia! what's the matter?
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OPHELIA
83 O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
LORD POLONIUS
84 With what, i' the name of God?
OPHELIA
85 My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
86 Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
87 No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
88 Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle;
89 Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
90 And with a look so piteous in purport
91 As if he had been loosed out of hell
92 To speak of horrors,--he comes before me.
LORD POLONIUS
93 Mad for thy love?
OPHELIA
94 My lord, I do not know;
95 But truly, I do fear it.
LORD POLONIUS
96 What said he?
OPHELIA
97 He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
98 Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
99 And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
100 He falls to such perusal of my face
101 As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
102 At last, a little shaking of mine arm
103 And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
104 He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
105 As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
106 And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
107 And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
108 He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
109 For out o' doors he went without their helps,
110 And, to the last, bended their light on me.
LORD POLONIUS
111 Come, go with me: I will go seek the king.
112 This is the very ecstasy of love,
113 Whose violent property fordoes itself
114 And leads the will to desperate undertakings
115 As oft as any passion under heaven
116 That does afflict our natures. I am sorry.
117 What, have you given him any hard words of late?
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OPHELIA
118 No, my good lord, but, as you did command,
119 I did repel his fetters and denied
120 His access to me.
LORD POLONIUS
121 That hath made him mad.
122 I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
123 I had not quoted him: I fear'd he did but trifle,
124 And meant to wreck thee; but, beshrew my jealousy!
125 By heaven, it is as proper to our age
126 To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
127 As it is common for the younger sort
128 To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king:
129 This must be known; which, being kept close, might
130 move
131 More grief to hide than hate to utter love.
Exeunt
SCENE II. A room in the castle.
Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and
Attendants
KING CLAUDIUS
01 Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!
02 Moreover that we much did long to see you,
03 The need we have to use you did provoke
04 Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
05 Of Hamlet's transformation; so call it,
06 Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man
07 Resembles that it was. What it should be,
08 More than his father's death, that thus hath put him
09 So much from the understanding of himself,
10 I cannot dream of: I entreat you both,
11 That, being of so young days brought up with him,
12 And sith so neighbour'd to his youth and havior,
13 That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
14 Some little time: so by your companies
15 To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
16 So much as from occasion you may glean,
17 Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus,
18 That, open'd, lies within our remedy.
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QUEEN GERTRUDE
19 Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you;
20 And sure I am two men there are not living
21 To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
22 To show us so much gentry and good will
23 As to expend your time with us awhile,
24 For the supply and profit of our hope,
25 Your visitation shall receive such thanks
26 As fits a king's remembrance.
ROSENCRANTZ
27 Both your majesties
28 Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,
29 Put your dread pleasures more into command
30 Than to entreaty.
GUILDENSTERN
31 But we both obey,
32 And here give up ourselves, in the full bent
33 To lay our service freely at your feet,
34 To be commanded.
KING CLAUDIUS
35 Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
36 Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz:
37 And I beseech you instantly to visit
38 My too much changed son. Go, some of you,
39 And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
GUILDENSTERN
40 Heavens make our presence and our practises
41 Pleasant and helpful to him!
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QUEEN GERTRUDE
42 Ay, amen!
Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and some Attendants
Enter POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
43 The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord,
44 Are joyfully return'd.
KING CLAUDIUS
45 Thou still hast been the father of good news.
LORD POLONIUS
46 Have I, my lord? I assure my good liege,
47 I hold my duty, as I hold my soul,
48 Both to my God and to my gracious king:
49 And I do think, or else this brain of mine
50 Hunts not the trail of policy so sure
51 As it hath used to do, that I have found
52 The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.
KING CLAUDIUS
53 O, speak of that; that do I long to hear.
LORD POLONIUS
54 Give first admittance to the ambassadors;
55 My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.
KING CLAUDIUS
56 Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.
Exit POLONIUS
57 He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found
58 The head and source of all your son's distemper.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
59 I doubt it is no other but the main;
60 His father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage.
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KING CLAUDIUS
61 Well, we shall sift him.
Re-enter POLONIUS, with VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS
62 Welcome, my good friends!
63 Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway?
VOLTIMAND
64 Most fair return of greetings and desires.
65 Upon our first, he sent out to suppress
66 His nephew's levies; which to him appear'd
67 To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack;
68 But, better look'd into, he truly found
69 It was against your highness: whereat grieved,
70 That so his sickness, age and impotence
71 Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests
72 On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys;
73 Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine
74 Makes vow before his uncle never more
75 To give the assay of arms against your majesty.
76 Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
77 Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee,
78 And his commission to employ those soldiers,
79 So levied as before, against the Polack:
80 With an entreaty, herein further shown,
Giving a paper
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82
83
84
That it might please you to give quiet pass
Through your dominions for this enterprise,
On such regards of safety and allowance
As therein are set down.
KING CLAUDIUS
85 It likes us well;
86 And at our more consider'd time well read,
87 Answer, and think upon this business.
88 Meantime we thank you for your well-took labour:
89 Go to your rest; at night we'll feast together:
90 Most welcome home!
Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS
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LORD POLONIUS
91 This business is well ended.
92 My liege, and madam, to expostulate
93 What majesty should be, what duty is,
94 Why day is day, night night, and time is time,
95 Were nothing but to waste night, day and time.
96 Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
97 And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
98 I will be brief: your noble son is mad:
99 Mad call I it; for, to define true madness,
100 What is't but to be nothing else but mad?
101 But let that go.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
102 More matter, with less art.
LORD POLONIUS
103 Madam, I swear I use no art at all.
104 That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis true 'tis pity;
105 And pity 'tis 'tis true: a foolish figure;
106 But farewell it, for I will use no art.
107 Mad let us grant him, then: and now remains
108 That we find out the cause of this effect,
109 Or rather say, the cause of this defect,
110 For this effect defective comes by cause:
111 Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. Perpend.
112 I have a daughter--have while she is mine-113 Who, in her duty and obedience, mark,
114 Hath given me this: now gather, and surmise.
Reads
115
116
117
118
'To the celestial and my soul's idol, the most
beautified Ophelia,'-That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase; 'beautified' is
a vile phrase: but you shall hear. Thus:
Reads
119 'In her excellent white bosom, these, &c.'
QUEEN GERTRUDE
120 Came this from Hamlet to her?
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LORD POLONIUS
121 Good madam, stay awhile; I will be faithful.
Reads
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
'Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
'O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers;
I have not art to reckon my groans: but that
I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.
'Thine evermore most dear lady, whilst
this machine is to him, HAMLET.'
This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me,
And more above, hath his solicitings,
As they fell out by time, by means and place,
All given to mine ear.
KING CLAUDIUS
135 But how hath she
136 Received his love?
LORD POLONIUS
137 What do you think of me?
KING CLAUDIUS
138 As of a man faithful and honourable.
LORD POLONIUS
139 I would fain prove so. But what might you think,
140 When I had seen this hot love on the wing-141 As I perceived it, I must tell you that,
142 Before my daughter told me--what might you,
143 Or my dear majesty your queen here, think,
144 If I had play'd the desk or table-book,
145 Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,
146 Or look'd upon this love with idle sight;
147 What might you think? No, I went round to work,
148 And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:
149 'Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star;
150 This must not be:' and then I precepts gave her,
151 That she should lock herself from his resort,
152 Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.
153 Which done, she took the fruits of my advice;
154 And he, repulsed--a short tale to make-155 Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
156 Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
157 Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,
158 Into the madness wherein now he raves,
159 And all we mourn for.
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KING CLAUDIUS
160 Do you think 'tis this?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
161 It may be, very likely.
LORD POLONIUS
162 Hath there been such a time--I'd fain know that-163 That I have positively said 'Tis so,'
164 When it proved otherwise?
KING CLAUDIUS 165 Not that I know.
LORD POLONIUS
167 Take this from this, if this be otherwise:
168 If circumstances lead me, I will find
169 Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
170 Within the centre.
KING CLAUDIUS 171 How may we try it further?
LORD POLONIUS
172 You know, sometimes he walks four hours together
173 Here in the lobby.
QUEEN GERTRUDE 174 So he does indeed.
LORD POLONIUS
175 At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him:
176 Be you and I behind an arras then;
177 Mark the encounter: if he love her not
178 And be not from his reason fall'n thereon,
179 Let me be no assistant for a state,
180 But keep a farm and carters.
KING CLAUDIUS 181 We will try it.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
182 But, look, where sadly the poor wretch comes reading.
LORD POLONIUS
183 Away, I do beseech you, both away:
184 I'll board him presently.
Exeunt KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, and Attendants
185 O, give me leave:
186 How does my good Lord Hamlet?
HAMLET
187 Well, God-a-mercy.
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Enter HAMLET, reading
LORD POLONIUS 188 Do you know me, my lord?
HAMLET 189 Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.
LORD POLONIUS 190 Not I, my lord.
HAMLET 191 Then I would you were so honest a man.
LORD POLONIUS 192 Honest, my lord!
HAMLET 193 Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be
194 one man picked out of ten thousand.
LORD POLONIUS 195 That's very true, my lord.
HAMLET 196 For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a
197 god kissing carrion,--Have you a daughter?
LORD POLONIUS 198 I have, my lord.
HAMLET 199 Let her not walk i' the sun: conception is a
200 blessing: but not as your daughter may conceive.
201 Friend, look to 't.
LORD POLONIUS 202 (Aside) How say you by that? Still harping on my
203 daughter: yet he knew me not at first; he said I
204 was a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: and
205 truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for
206 love; very near this. I'll speak to him again.
207 What do you read, my lord?
HAMLET 208 Words, words, words.
LORD POLONIUS 209 What is the matter, my lord?
HAMLET 210 Between who?
LORD POLONIUS 211 I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.
HAMLET 212 Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here
213 that old men have grey beards, that their faces are
214 wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and
215 plum-tree gum and that they have a plentiful lack of
216 wit, together with most weak hams: all which, sir,
217 though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet
218 I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down, for
219 yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab
220 you could go backward.
LORD POLONIUS 221 (Aside) Though this be madness, yet there is method
222 in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?
93
HAMLET 223 Into my grave.
LORD POLONIUS
224 Indeed, that is out o' the air.
(Aside) 225 How pregnant sometimes his replies are! a happiness
226 that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity
227 could not so prosperously be delivered of. I will
228 leave him, and suddenly contrive the means of
229 meeting between him and my daughter.--My honourable
230 lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you.
HAMLET 231 You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will
232 more willingly part withal: except my life, except
233 my life, except my life.
LORD POLONIUS 234 Fare you well, my lord.
HAMLET 235 These tedious old fools!
Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN
LORD POLONIUS
236 You go to seek the Lord Hamlet; there he is.
ROSENCRANTZ 237 (To POLONIUS) God save you, sir!
Exit POLONIUS
GUILDENSTERN 238 My honoured lord!
ROSENCRANTZ 239 My most dear lord!
HAMLET 240 My excellent good friends! How dost thou,
241 Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye both?
ROSENCRANTZ 242 As the indifferent children of the earth.
GUILDENSTERN 243 Happy, in that we are not over-happy;
244 On fortune's cap we are not the very button.
HAMLET 245 Nor the soles of her shoe?
ROSENCRANTZ 246 Neither, my lord.
HAMLET 247 Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of
248 her favours?
GUILDENSTERN 249 'Faith, her privates we.
HAMLET 250 In the secret parts of fortune? O, most true; she
251 is a strumpet. What's the news?
ROSENCRANTZ 252 None, my lord, but that the world's grown honest.
95
HAMLET
253 Then is doomsday near: but your news is not true.
254 Let me question more in particular: what have you,
255 my good friends, deserved at the hands of fortune,
256 that she sends you to prison hither?
GUILDENSTERN
257 Prison, my lord!
HAMLET 258 Denmark's a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ 259 Then is the world one.
HAMLET 260 A goodly one; in which there are many confines,
261 wards and dungeons, Denmark being one o' the worst.
ROSENCRANTZ 262 We think not so, my lord.
HAMLET 263 Why, then, 'tis none to you; for there is nothing
264 either good or bad, but thinking makes it so: to me
265 it is a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ 266 Why then, your ambition makes it one; 'tis too
267 narrow for your mind.
HAMLET 268 O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count
269 myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I
270 have bad dreams.
GUILDENSTERN 271 Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the very
272 substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.
HAMLET 273 A dream itself is but a shadow.
ROSENCRANTZ 274 Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light a
275 quality that it is but a shadow's shadow.
HAMLET 276 Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs and
277 outstretched heroes the beggars' shadows. Shall we
278 to the court? for, by my fay, I cannot reason.
ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN 279 We'll wait upon you.
HAMLET 280 No such matter: I will not sort you with the rest
281 of my servants, for, to speak to you like an honest
282 man, I am most dreadfully attended. But, in the
283 beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?
ROSENCRANTZ 284 To visit you, my lord; no other occasion.
97
HAMLET
285 Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks; but I
286 thank you: and sure, dear friends, my thanks are
287 too dear a halfpenny. Were you not sent for? Is it
288 your own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come,
289 deal justly with me: come, come; nay, speak.
GUILDENSTERN
290 What should we say, my lord?
HAMLET
291 Why, any thing, but to the purpose. You were sent
292 for; and there is a kind of confession in your looks
293 which your modesties have not craft enough to colour:
294 I know the good king and queen have sent for you.
ROSENCRANTZ
295 To what end, my lord?
HAMLET
296 That you must teach me. But let me conjure you, by
297 the rights of our fellowship, by the consonancy of
298 our youth, by the obligation of our ever-preserved
299 love, and by what more dear a better proposer could
300 charge you withal, be even and direct with me,
301 whether you were sent for, or no?
ROSENCRANTZ
302 (Aside to GUILDENSTERN) What say you?
HAMLET
303 (Aside) Nay, then, I have an eye of you.--If you
304 love me, hold not off.
GUILDENSTERN
305 My lord, we were sent for.
HAMLET
306 I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation
307 prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king
308 and queen moult no feather. I have of late--but
309 wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all
310 custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily
311 with my disposition that this goodly frame, the
312 earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
313 excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
314 o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
315 with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
316 me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
99
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.
ROSENCRANTZ
325 My lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts.
HAMLET
326 Why did you laugh then, when I said 'man delights not me'?
ROSENCRANTZ
327 To think, my lord, if you delight not in man, what
328 lenten entertainment the players shall receive from
329 you: we coted them on the way; and hither are they
330 coming, to offer you service.
HAMLET
331 He that plays the king shall be welcome; his majesty
332 shall have tribute of me; the adventurous knight
333 shall use his foil and target; the lover shall not
334 sigh gratis; the humourous man shall end his part
335 in peace; the clown shall make those laugh whose
336 lungs are tickled o' the sere; and the lady shall
337 say her mind freely, or the blank verse shall halt
338 for't. What players are they?
ROSENCRANTZ
339 Even those you were wont to take delight in, the
340 tragedians of the city.
HAMLET
341 How chances it they travel? their residence, both
342 in reputation and profit, was better both ways.
ROSENCRANTZ
343 I think their inhibition comes by the means of the
344 late innovation.
HAMLET
345 Do they hold the same estimation they did when I was
346 in the city? are they so followed?
ROSENCRANTZ
347 No, indeed, are they not.
HAMLET
348 How comes it? do they grow rusty?
101
ROSENCRANTZ
349 Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace: but
350 there is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases,
351 that cry out on the top of question, and are most
352 tyrannically clapped for't: these are now the
353 fashion, and so berattle the common stages--so they
354 call them--that many wearing rapiers are afraid of
355 goose-quills and dare scarce come thither.
HAMLET
356 What, are they children? who maintains 'em? how are
357 they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no
358 longer than they can sing? will they not say
359 afterwards, if they should grow themselves to common
360 players--as it is most like, if their means are no
361 better--their writers do them wrong, to make them
362 exclaim against their own succession?
ROSENCRANTZ 363 'Faith, there has been much to do on both sides; and
364 the nation holds it no sin to tarre them to
365 controversy: there was, for a while, no money bid
366 for argument, unless the poet and the player went to
367 cuffs in the question.
HAMLET 368 Is't possible?
GUILDENSTERN 369 O, there has been much throwing about of brains.
HAMLET 370 Do the boys carry it away?
ROSENCRANTZ 371 Ay, that they do, my lord; Hercules and his load too.
HAMLET 372 It is not very strange; for mine uncle is king of
373 Denmark, and those that would make mows at him while
374 my father lived, give twenty, forty, fifty, an
375 hundred ducats a-piece for his picture in little.
376 'Sblood, there is something in this more than
377 natural, if philosophy could find it out.
Flourish of trumpets within
GUILDENSTERN 378 There are the players.
HAMLET 379 Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands,
380 come then: the appurtenance of welcome is fashion
381 and ceremony: let me comply with you in this garb,
382 lest my extent to the players, which, I tell you,
383 must show fairly outward, should more appear like
384 entertainment than yours. You are welcome: but my
385 uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived.
103
GUILDENSTERN 386 In what, my dear lord?
HAMLET 387 I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is
388 southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Enter POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
389 Well be with you, gentlemen!
HAMLET 390 Hark you, Guildenstern; and you too: at each ear a
391 hearer: that great baby you see there is not yet
392 out of his swaddling-clouts.
ROSENCRANTZ 393 Happily he's the second time come to them; for they
394 say an old man is twice a child.
HAMLET 395 I will prophesy he comes to tell me of the players;
396 mark it. You say right, sir: o' Monday morning;
397 'twas so indeed.
LORD POLONIUS 398 My lord, I have news to tell you.
HAMLET 399 My lord, I have news to tell you.
400 When Roscius was an actor in Rome,-LORD POLONIUS 401 The actors are come hither, my lord.
HAMLET 402 Buz, buz!
LORD POLONIUS 403 Upon mine honour,-HAMLET 404 Then came each actor on his ass,-LORD POLONIUS 405 The best actors in the world, either for tragedy,
406 comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical,
407 historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical408 comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or
409 poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor
410 Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the
411 liberty, these are the only men.
HAMLET 412 O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou!
LORD POLONIUS 413 What a treasure had he, my lord?
HAMLET 414 Why,
415 'One fair daughter and no more,
416 The which he loved passing well.'
LORD POLONIUS 417 (Aside) Still on my daughter.
HAMLET 418 Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah?
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LORD POLONIUS
419 If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter
420 that I love passing well.
HAMLET
421 Nay, that follows not.
LORD POLONIUS
422 What follows, then, my lord?
HAMLET
423 Why,
424 'As by lot, God wot,'
425 and then, you know,
426 'It came to pass, as most like it was,'-427 the first row of the pious chanson will show you
428 more; for look, where my abridgement comes.
Enter four or five Players
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440
You are welcome, masters; welcome, all. I am glad
to see thee well. Welcome, good friends. O, my old
friend! thy face is valenced since I saw thee last:
comest thou to beard me in Denmark? What, my young
lady and mistress! By'r lady, your ladyship is
nearer to heaven than when I saw you last, by the
altitude of a chopine. Pray God, your voice, like
apiece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the
ring. Masters, you are all welcome. We'll e'en
to't like French falconers, fly at any thing we see:
we'll have a speech straight: come, give us a taste
of your quality; come, a passionate speech.
First Player
441 What speech, my lord?
HAMLET
442 I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was
443 never acted; or, if it was, not above once; for the
444 play, I remember, pleased not the million; 'twas
445 caviare to the general: but it was--as I received
446 it, and others, whose judgments in such matters
447 cried in the top of mine--an excellent play, well
448 digested in the scenes, set down with as much
449 modesty as cunning. I remember, one said there
450 were no sallets in the lines to make the matter
451 savoury, nor no matter in the phrase that might
452 indict the author of affectation; but called it an
453 honest method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very
454 much more handsome than fine.
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(hamlet) One speech in it I
455 chiefly loved: 'twas Aeneas' tale to Dido; and
456 thereabout of it especially, where he speaks of
457 Priam's slaughter: if it live in your memory, begin
458 at this line: let me see, let me see-459 'The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast,'-460 it is not so:--it begins with Pyrrhus:-461 'The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,
462 Black as his purpose, did the night resemble
463 When he lay couched in the ominous horse,
464 Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd
465 With heraldry more dismal; head to foot
466 Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd
467 With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
468 Baked and impasted with the parching streets,
469 That lend a tyrannous and damned light
470 To their lord's murder: roasted in wrath and fire,
471 And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore,
472 With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus
473 Old grandsire Priam seeks.'
474 So, proceed you.
LORD POLONIUS
475 'Fore God, my lord, well spoken, with good accent and
476 good discretion.
First Player
477 'Anon he finds him
478 Striking too short at Greeks; his antique sword,
479 Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
480 Repugnant to command: unequal match'd,
481 Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage strikes wide;
482 But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword
483 The unnerved father falls. Then senseless Ilium,
484 Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top
485 Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash
486 Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear: for, lo! his sword,
487 Which was declining on the milky head
488 Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick:
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(fisrt player) 489 So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood,
490 And like a neutral to his will and matter,
491 Did nothing.
492 But, as we often see, against some storm,
493 A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,
494 The bold winds speechless and the orb below
495 As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
496 Doth rend the region, so, after Pyrrhus' pause,
497 Aroused vengeance sets him new a-work;
498 And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall
499 On Mars's armour forged for proof eterne
500 With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword
501 Now falls on Priam.
502 Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods,
503 In general synod 'take away her power;
504 Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
505 And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven,
506 As low as to the fiends!'
LORD POLONIUS
507 This is too long.
HAMLET
508 It shall to the barber's, with your beard. Prithee,
509 say on: he's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he
510 sleeps: say on: come to Hecuba.
First Player
511 'But who, O, who had seen the mobled queen--'
HAMLET
512 'The mobled queen?'
LORD POLONIUS
513 That's good; 'mobled queen' is good.
First Player
514 'Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames
515 With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head
516 Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
517 About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,
518 A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;
519 Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd,
520 'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have
521 pronounced:
522 But if the gods themselves did see her then
523 When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
524 In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,
525 The instant burst of clamour that she made,
526 Unless things mortal move them not at all,
527 Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
528 And passion in the gods.'
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LORD POLONIUS
529 Look, whether he has not turned his colour and has
530 tears in's eyes. Pray you, no more.
HAMLET
531 'Tis well: I'll have thee speak out the rest soon.
532 Good my lord, will you see the players well
533 bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for
534 they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the
535 time: after your death you were better have a bad
536 epitaph than their ill report while you live.
LORD POLONIUS 537 My lord, I will use them according to their desert.
HAMLET
538 God's bodykins, man, much better: use every man
539 after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?
540 Use them after your own honour and dignity: the less
541 they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty.
542 Take them in.
LORD POLONIUS 543 Come, sirs.
HAMLET
544 Follow him, friends: we'll hear a play to-morrow.
Exit POLONIUS with all the Players but the First
545 Dost thou hear me, old friend; can you play the
546 Murder of Gonzago?
First Player 547 Ay, my lord.
HAMLET
548 We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a need,
549 study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which
550 I would set down and insert in't, could you not?
First Player 551 Ay, my lord.
HAMLET
552 Very well. Follow that lord; and look you mock him
553 not.
Exit First Player
554 My good friends, I'll leave you till night: you are
555 welcome to Elsinore.
ROSENCRANTZ
556 Good my lord!
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HAMLET
557 Ay, so, God be wi' ye;
Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN
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Now I am alone.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
(hamlet) 592 O, vengeance!
593 Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
594 That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
595 Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
596 Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
597 And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
598 A scullion!
599 Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard
600 That guilty creatures sitting at a play
601 Have by the very cunning of the scene
602 Been struck so to the soul that presently
603 They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
604 For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
605 With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
606 Play something like the murder of my father
607 Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
608 I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
609 I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
610 May be the devil: and the devil hath power
611 To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
612 Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
613 As he is very potent with such spirits,
614 Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
615 More relative than this: the play's the thing
616 Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
Exit
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