Hamlet Read online

  3.1.33 here = Q2. F = there 48 please you = Q2. F = please ye 53 sugar = Q2. F = surge 77 proud = Q2. F = poore 83 would these = F. Q2 = would 93 away = F. Q2 = awry 104 I know = F. Q2 = you know 106 their perfume lost = Q2. F = then perfume left 117 with = Q1/Q2. F = your 138 nowhere = Q2. F = no way 147 paintings = Q1/Q2. F = pratlings 148 face = Q1/Q2. F = pace 149 jig spelled gidge in F 160 And = Q2. F = Haue 182 this = F. Q2 = his

  3.2.4 with = Q2. Not in F 17 o'erstep = Q2. F = ore-stop 29 nor no man = Ed. F = or Norman 56 lick = Q2. F = like 58 fawning = Q2. F = faining 59 her = Q2. F = my 75 thy = Q2. F = my 80 stithy spelled Stythe in F heedful = Q2. F = needfull 94 mine now. = Ed. F = mine. Now 138 SH PROLOGUE = Ed. Not in F 144 SH PLAYER KING = Ed. F = King. 153 former = Q2. F = forme 174 you think = Q2. F = you. Think 184 either = Q2. F = other 185 enactures = Q2. F= ennactors 228 wince spelled winch in F 237 mistake = Ed. F = mistake your = Q1/Q2. Not in F 280 SD Enter ... Guildenstern occurs four lines earlier in F 305 as you = Q2. F = you 350 speak = Q2. Not in F 358 mass = Q2. F = Misse

  3.3.15 weal = Q2. F = spirit 19 summit = Ed. F = Somnet

  3.4.4 silence = F. Sometimes emended to sconce = conceal 14 a wicked = Q2. F = an idle (probably picked up by compositor from previous line) 38 better = Q2. F = Betters 51 sets = Q2. F = makes 73 brother = Q2. F = breath 87 And = Q2. F = As 121 do = Q2. Not in F 122 th'incorporal =

  Q2. F = their corporall 126 on = Ed. F = an 151 a = F. Q2 = that 158 ranker = Q2. F = ranke 159 these = Q2. F = this 181 bloat = Ed. F = blunt. Q2 = blowt 243 mother's closet = Q2. F = Mother Clossets

  4.1.16 ape an apple = Ed. F = Ape. Q = an apple

  4.2.7 ne'er spelled neerer in F 24 ourselves = Q2. F = our selfe 27-29 SH KING Alas ... worm = Q2. Not in F (probably due to printer's error) 51 them = Q2. F = him

  4.4.13 might = Q2. F = would 42 yield spelled dil'd in F 76 sorrows come = Q2. F = sorrows comes 77 battalions = Q2. F = Battaliaes 87 Feeds = Q2. F = Keepes 113 SH ALL FOLLOWERS = Ed. F = All. 119 that's calm = Q2. F = that calmes 148 is't = Q2. F = if 149 sweepstake spelled Soop-stake in F 154 pelican = Q2. F = Politician 163 SH ALL FOLLOWERS = Ed. Not in F 180 sing 'a-down = Q2. F = sing downe 185 pansies = Q2. F = Paconcies 209 commune = Q2. F = common

  4.5.9 ambassador = Q2. F = Ambassadours 12 SH HORATIO = Ed. Not in F

  4.6.26 aimed = Q2. F = arm'd 29 has = Ed. F = was 59 diest = Ed. F = diddest 71 since = Q2. F = hence 74 can = Q2. F = ran 97 What = Q2. F = Why 140 cunnings = Q2. F = commings 147 How now = F2. F = how 166 their= Q1/Q2. F = her 167 lay = Q2. F = buy

  5.1.1 SH FIRST CLOWN = Ed. F = Clown 3 SH SECOND CLOWN = Ed. F = Other 11 to = Q2. F = an 91 of = Q2. F = of of 92 quiddities = Q2. F = Quiddits 108 sirrah = Q2. F = Sir 149 sexton = Q2. F = sixeteene 206 of = Q2. Not in F 235 treble woe = Q2. F = terrible woer 244 grief = Q2. F = griefes 246 Conjures = Q2. F = Coniure 257 SH HORATIO = Q2. F = Gen. 267 Woo't fast? = Q2. Not in F 280 couplets = Q2. F = Cuplet 288 your= Q2. F = you

  5.2.31 villainies = Ed. F = Villaines 39 effect = Q2. F = effects 52 ordinant = Q2. F = ordinate 58 sequent = Q2. F = sement 62 defeat = Q2. F = debate 78 interim is = Q2. F = interim's 93 say = Q2. F = saw 113 king, sir = Q2. F = sir King 125 bet = Q2. F = but 129 laid on = Q2. F = one nine = Q2. F = mine 145 turn = Q2. F = tongue 148 has = Q2. F = had many = Q2. F = mine 157 ill all's = Q2. F = all 162 it = Q2. Not in F 188 brother = Q2. F = Mother 195 ungored = Q2. F = vngorg'd 266 own = Q2. Not in F 269 swoons spelled sounds in F 272 Ho! spelled How! in F 313 SD shot = Ed. F = shout 324 cracks = Q2. F = cracke 330 This = Q2. F = His 332 shot = Q2. F = shoote 339 now = Q1/Q2. F = are 340 also = Q2. F = alwayes 343 while = Q2. F = whiles

  SECOND QUARTO

  PASSAGES THAT DO NOT

  APPEAR IN THE FOLIO

  Lines are numbered continuously, for ease of reference.

  Following 1.1.117:

  BARNARDO I think it be no other but e'en1 so:

  Well may it sort2 that this portentous figure

  Comes armed through our watch, so like the king

  That was and is the question4 of these wars.

  HORATIO A mote5 it is to trouble the mind's eye.

  In the most high and palmy6 state of Rome,

  A little ere the mightiest Julius7 fell,

  The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted8 dead

  Did squeak9 and gibber in the Roman streets:

  As stars with trains of fire10 and dews of blood,

  Disasters in the sun, and the moist star11

  Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands12

  Was sick almost to doomsday13 with eclipse:

  And even the like precurse14 of feared events,

  As harbingers preceding still15 the fates

  And prologue to the omen16 coming on,

  Have heaven and earth together demonstrated

  Unto our climatures18 and countrymen.--

  Following 1.2.59:

  wrung from me my slow leave

  By laboursome petition20, and at last

  Upon his will I sealed my hard21 consent.

  Following 1.4.18:

  This heavy-headed revel east and west22

  Makes us traduced and taxed of23 other nations:

  They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase24

  Soil our addition: and indeed it takes25

  From our achievements, though performed at height26,

  The pith and marrow of our attribute27.

  So, oft it chances in particular men

  That for some vicious mole29 of nature in them,

  As30 in their birth--wherein they are not guilty,

  Since nature cannot choose his origin--

  By their o'ergrowth of some complexion32,

  Oft breaking down the pales33 and forts of reason,

  Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens34

  The form of plausive35 manners, that these men,

  Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,

  Being nature's livery37, or fortune's star,

  His virtues else38--be they as pure as grace,

  As infinite as man may undergo39--

  Shall in the general censure40 take corruption

  From that particular fault: the dram of eale41

  Doth all the noble substance often douse,

  To his own scandal.

  Following 1.4.58:

  The very place puts toys of desperation44,

  Without more motive, into every brain

  That looks so many fathoms46 to the sea

  And hears it roar beneath.

  Following 3.2.159:

  Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear:

  Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.

  Following 3.2.205:

  To desperation turn my trust and hope!

  An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope51,

  Following 3.4.79 (before "What devil was't"):

  Sense52 sure, you have,

  Else could you not have motion53: but sure that sense

  Is apoplexed, for madness would not err54

  Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled55

  But it reserved some quantity56 of choice,

  To serve in such a difference57.

  Following 3.4.80:

  Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,

  Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans59 all,

  Or but a sickly part of one true sense

  Could not so mope61.

  Following 3.4.166:

  That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat62

  Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,

  That to the use64 of actions fair and good

  He likewise gives a frock or livery65,

  That aptly66 is put on.

  Following 3.4.170 (before "Once more, goodnight"):

  the next more easy,

  For use68 almost can change the stamp of nature,

  And either []69 the devil, or throw him out

  With wondrous potency70.

  Following 3.4.178:


  One word more, good lady.

  Following 3.4.201:

  HAMLET There's letters sealed: and my two schoolfellows,

  Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,

  They bear the mandate, they must sweep my way74,

  And marshal75 me to knavery. Let it work:

  For 'tis the sport to have the enginer76

  Hoist with his own petard: and't shall go hard77

  But I will delve one yard below their mines78

  And blow them at the moon. O, 'tis most sweet

  When in one line two crafts80 directly meet.

  Following 4.3.9:

  Exeunt all [but the Captain]

  Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz and others

  HAMLET Good sir, whose powers81 are these?

  CAPTAIN They are of Norway, sir.

  HAMLET How purposed, sir, I pray you?

  CAPTAIN Against some part of Poland.

  HAMLET Who commands them, sir?

  CAPTAIN The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.

  HAMLET Goes it against the main87 of Poland, sir,

  Or for some frontier?

  CAPTAIN Truly to speak, and with no addition89,

  We go to gain a little patch of ground

  That hath in it no profit but the name.

  To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm92 it:

  Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole

  A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee94.

  HAMLET Why, then the Polack never will defend it.

  CAPTAIN Yes, it is already garrisoned.

  HAMLET Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats

  Will not debate the question of this straw98!

  This is th'imposthume99 of much wealth and peace,

  That inward breaks, and shows no cause without

  Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.

  CAPTAIN God buy102 you, sir.

  [Exit]

  ROSENCRANTZ Will't please you go, my lord?

  HAMLET I'll be with you straight104: go a little before.

  [Exeunt all but Hamlet]

  How all occasions do inform against105 me,

  And spur my dull revenge. What is a man,

  If his chief good and market107 of his time

  Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.

  Sure he that made us with such large discourse109,

  Looking before and after110, gave us not

  That capability and godlike reason

  To fust112 in us unused. Now, whether it be

  Bestial oblivion, or some craven113 scruple

  Of thinking too precisely on th'event114--

  A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom

  And ever three parts coward--I do not know

  Why yet I live to say this thing's to do117,

  Sith118 I have cause and will and strength and means

  To do't. Examples gross119 as earth exhort me:

  Witness this army of such mass and charge120

  Led by a delicate and tender121 prince,

  Whose spirit with divine ambition puffed

  Makes mouths at the invisible event123,

  Exposing what is mortal and unsure

  To all that fortune, death and danger dare125,

  Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great126

  Is not to stir without great argument127,

  But greatly to find quarrel in a straw128

  When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,

  That have a father killed, a mother stained,

  Excitements of my reason and my blood131,

  And let all sleep, while to my shame I see

  The imminent death of twenty thousand men

  That, for a fantasy and trick of fame134,

  Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot135

  Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause136,

  Which is not tomb enough and continent137

  To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,

  My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

  Exit

  Following 4.6.43:

  Of him that brought them.

  Following 4.6.71 (before "Some two months since"):

  LAERTES My lord, I will be ruled,

  The rather, if you could devise it so

  That I might be the organ143.

  KING It falls right144.

  You have been talked of since your travel much,

  And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality

  Wherein they say you shine: your sum of parts147

  Did not together pluck such envy from him

  As did that one, and that, in my regard,

  Of the unworthiest siege150.

  LAERTES What part is that, my lord?

  KING A very ribbon152 in the cap of youth,

  Yet needful too, for youth no less becomes153

  The light and careless livery that it wears

  Than settled age his sables and his weeds155

  Importing health156 and graveness.

  Following 4.6.92 (before "Sir, this report"):

  The scrimers157 of their nation,

  He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye158,

  If you opposed them.

  Following 4.6.105:

  There lives within the very flame of love

  A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it:

  And nothing is at a like goodness still162,

  For goodness, growing to a pleurisy163,

  Dies in his own too much. That we would164 do,

  We should do when we would, for this 'would' changes

  And hath abatements and delays as many

  As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents167,

  And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift168 sigh

  That hurts by easing. But, to the quick169 of th'ulcer:

  Following 5.2.107:

  Sir, here is newly come to court Laertes--believe me, an absolute170

  gentleman, full of most excellent differences, of very soft society and great171

  showing: indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar172 of

  gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman173

  would see.

  HAMLET Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you, though I know, to175

  divide him inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of memory, and yet but176

  yaw neither, in respect of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment177, I

  take him to be a soul of great article and his infusion of such dearth178 and

  rareness as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror and who179

  else would trace him his umbrage180, nothing more.

  OSRIC Your lordship speaks most infallibly181 of him.

  HAMLET The concernancy, sir?182 Why do we wrap the gentleman in our more

  rawer breath183?

  OSRIC Sir?

  HORATIO Is't not possible to understand in another tongue? You will do't185, sir,

  really.

  HAMLET What imports the nomination187 of this gentleman?

  OSRIC Of Laertes?

  HORATIO His purse is empty already: all's golden words are spent.

  HAMLET Of him, sir.

  OSRIC I know you are not ignorant--

  HAMLET I would you did, sir. Yet in faith if you did, it would not much approve192

  me. Well, sir?

  OSRIC You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is--

  HAMLET I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in excellence195:

  but to know a man well were to know himself.

  OSRIC I mean, sir, for his weapon: but in the imputation laid on him, by them in197

  his meed, he's unfellowed.

  Following 5.2.119:

  HORATIO I knew you must be edified by the margent199 ere you had done.

  Following 5.2.153:

  Enter a Lord

  LORD My lord, his majesty com
mended him to you by young Osric, who brings

  back to him that201 you attend him in the hall: he sends to know if your

  pleasure hold to play with Laertes or that you will take longer time.

  HAMLET I am constant to my purposes, they follow the king's pleasure: if his203

  fitness speaks, mine is ready. Now or whensoever, provided I be so able as

  now.

  LORD The king and queen and all are coming down.

  HAMLET In happy time207.

  LORD The queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment208 to Laertes before

  you fall to play.

  HAMLET She well instructs me.

  [Exit Lord]

  TEXTUAL NOTES

  Q2 = Second Quarto text of 1604/5

  Q3 = a correction introduced in the Third Quarto text of 1611

  Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor

  5 mote spelled moth in Q2 14 feared = Ed. Q2 = feare 24 clepe spelled clip in Q2 42 often douse = Ed. Q2 = of a doubt 51 An anchor's = Ed. Q2 = And Anchors 168 spendthrift = Ed. Q2 = spend thirsts 172 feelingly = Q3. Q2 = fellingly (in some copies) sellingly (in other copies) 176 dizzy = Q3. Q2 = dosie (in some copies) dazzie (in other copies)

  SCENE-BY-SCENE ANALYSIS

  ACT 1 SCENE 1

  Lines 1-14: The play begins with a question, as the guards Barnardo and Francisco swap shifts and Barnardo asks "Who's there?," evoking the themes of identity, uncertainty and existence which indicate that this is a reflective play, often with more emphasis on thought and speech than on action. The information that it is midnight reinforces setting, with ideas of night and darkness and the associated themes of secrecy/deception. It also introduces the concept of "balance" between two opposites: the play begins at the point between one day and another, a literal representation of this "balance" between key themes and motifs such as day/night, words/actions, physical/spiritual and appearance/reality.

  Lines 15-117: Marcellus brings Horatio to witness an "apparition" that he and the sentinels have previously seen, as Horatio thinks they have imagined the whole thing. Barnardo begins to describe a previous encounter when the ghost appears. Commenting on its resemblance to the late king, they urge it to speak, but the ghost leaves in silence. Shaken, Horatio says that he would not believe it "Without the sensible and true avouch" of his "own eyes," a statement that raises the theme of sight/perception. He adds that the appearance of the ghost "bodes some strange eruption to our state," establishing that the play functions on a national/public level, often in tension with the individual/personal. Marcellus asks why Denmark appears to be preparing for war. Horatio explains that the late king conquered lands belonging to Norway and that the young Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, is preparing to take them back.