Hamlet Page 5

  By their oppressed and fear-surprised206 eyes

  Within his truncheon's length, whilst they, distilled207

  Almost to jelly with the act208 of fear

  Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me

  In dreadful210 secrecy impart they did,

  And I with them the third night kept the watch,

  Where, as they had delivered, both in time,

  Form of the thing, each word made true and good,

  The apparition comes. I knew your father:

  These hands are not more like215.

  HAMLET But where was this?

  MARCELLUS My lord, upon the platform217 where we watched.

  HAMLET Did you not speak to it?

  HORATIO My lord, I did;

  But answer made it none. Yet once methought

  It lifted up its head and did address221

  Itself to motion, like as it would speak:

  But even then the morning cock crew loud,

  And at the sound it shrunk in haste away

  And vanished from our sight.

  HAMLET 'Tis very strange.

  HORATIO As I do live, my honoured lord, 'tis true;

  And we did think it writ down in our duty

  To let you know of it.

  HAMLET Indeed, indeed, sirs; but this troubles me.

  Hold you the watch tonight?

  MARCELLUS AND BARNARDO We do, my lord.

  HAMLET Armed, say you?

  MARCELLUS AND BARNARDO Armed, my lord.

  HAMLET From top to toe?

  MARCELLUS AND BARNARDO My lord, from head to foot.

  HAMLET Then saw you not his face?

  HORATIO O, yes, my lord, he wore his beaver238 up.

  HAMLET What, looked he frowningly?

  HORATIO A countenance240 more in sorrow than in anger.

  HAMLET Pale or red?

  HORATIO Nay, very pale.

  HAMLET And fixed his eyes upon you?

  HORATIO Most constantly.

  HAMLET I would I had been there.

  HORATIO It would have much amazed you.

  HAMLET Very like, very like. Stayed it long?

  HORATIO While one with moderate haste might tell248 a hundred.

  MARCELLUS AND BARNARDO Longer, longer.

  HORATIO Not when I saw't.

  HAMLET His beard was grizzly251, no?

  HORATIO It was, as I have seen it in his life,

  A sable silvered253.

  HAMLET I'll watch tonight; perchance 'twill walk again.

  HORATIO I warrant255 you it will.

  HAMLET If it assume my noble father's person,

  I'll speak to it though hell itself should gape

  And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,

  If you have hitherto concealed this sight,

  Let it be tenable in your silence still260,

  And whatsoever else shall hap tonight,

  Give it an understanding but no tongue.

  I will requite263 your loves. So, fare ye well:

  Upon the platform 'twixt eleven and twelve

  I'll visit you.

  ALL Our duty to your honour.

  Exeunt [all but Hamlet]

  HAMLET Your love, as mine to you: farewell.--

  My father's spirit in arms? All is not well:

  I doubt269 some foul play. Would the night were come.

  Till then, sit still my soul: foul deeds will rise,

  Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.

  Exit

  Act 1 Scene 3

  running scene 3

  Enter Laertes and Ophelia

  LAERTES My necessaries are embarked, farewell:

  And, sister, as2 the winds give benefit

  And convoy is assistant3, do not sleep

  But let me hear from you.

  OPHELIA Do you doubt that?

  LAERTES For Hamlet and the trifling of his favours,

  Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood7,

  A violet in the youth of primy8 nature,

  Froward9, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,

  The suppliance10 of a minute, no more.

  OPHELIA No more but so11?

  LAERTES Think it no more,

  For nature crescent13 does not grow alone

  In thews and bulk, but as his temple14 waxes,

  The inward service of the mind and soul

  Grows wide withal16. Perhaps he loves you now,

  And now no soil nor cautel17 doth besmirch

  The virtue of his will18: but you must fear,

  His greatness weighed19, his will is not his own;

  For he himself is subject to his birth:

  He may not, as unvalued21 persons do,

  Carve22 for himself, for on his choice depends

  The sanctity23 and health of the whole state,

  And therefore must his choice be circumscribed

  Unto the voice and yielding25 of that body

  Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,

  It fits your wisdom so far to believe it

  As he in his peculiar sect and force28

  May give his saying deed, which is no further

  Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal30.

  Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain

  If with too credent ear you list32 his songs,

  Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure33 open

  To his unmastered importunity34.

  Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,

  And keep within the rear36 of your affection,

  Out of the shot37 and danger of desire.

  The chariest38 maid is prodigal enough

  If she unmask her beauty to the moon39:

  Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes40:

  The canker galls the infants of the spring41

  Too oft before the buttons be disclosed42,

  And in the morn and liquid dew of youth

  Contagious blastments44 are most imminent.

  Be wary then: best safety lies in fear.

  Youth to46 itself rebels, though none else near.

  OPHELIA I shall th'effect of this good lesson keep

  As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,

  Do not, as some ungracious49 pastors do,

  Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,

  Whilst, like a puffed51 and reckless libertine

  Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,

  And recks not his own rede53.

  LAERTES O, fear me not54.

  Enter Polonius

  I stay55 too long. But here my father comes.

  A double blessing56 is a double grace;

  Occasion smiles upon a second leave57.

  POLONIUS Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for shame!

  The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,

  And you are stayed60 for there. My blessing with you!

  And these few precepts in thy memory

  See thou character62. Give thy thoughts no tongue,

  Nor any unproportioned thought his63 act.

  Be thou familiar64, but by no means vulgar.

  The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried65,

  Grapple66 them to thy soul with hoops of steel,

  But do not dull thy palm67 with entertainment

  Of each new-hatched, unfledged68 comrade: beware

  Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,

  Bear't that th'opposed70 may beware of thee.

  Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:

  Take each man's censure72, but reserve thy judgement:

  Costly thy habit73 as thy purse can buy,

  But not expressed in fancy74; rich, not gaudy:

  For the apparel oft proclaims the man,

  And they in France of the best rank and station

  Are of a most select and generous chief in that77.

  Neither a borrower nor a lender be,

  For loan oft loses both itself and friend,<
br />
  And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry80.

  This above all: to thine own self be true,

  And it must follow, as the night the day,

  Thou canst not then be false83 to any man.

  Farewell: my blessing season this84 in thee!

  LAERTES Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.

  POLONIUS The time invites you. Go, your servants tend86.

  LAERTES Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well

  What I have said to you.

  OPHELIA 'Tis in my memory locked,

  And you yourself shall keep the key of it.

  LAERTES Farewell.

  Exit Laertes

  POLONIUS What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?

  OPHELIA So please you, something touching93 the lord Hamlet.

  POLONIUS Marry, well bethought94.

  'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late

  Given private time to you; and you yourself

  Have of your audience97 been most free and bounteous:

  If it be so, as so 'tis put on98 me,

  And that in way of caution, I must tell you

  You do not understand yourself so clearly

  As it behoves101 my daughter and your honour.

  What is between you? Give me up the truth.

  OPHELIA He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders103

  Of his affection to me.

  POLONIUS Affection? Puh! You speak like a green105 girl,

  Unsifted106 in such perilous circumstance.

  Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

  OPHELIA I do not know, my lord, what I should think.

  POLONIUS Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby

  That you have ta'en his tenders for true pay

  Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly111;

  Or -- not to crack the wind of112 the poor phrase,

  Running it thus -- you'll tender me a fool113.

  OPHELIA My lord, he hath importuned114 me with love

  In honourable fashion.

  POLONIUS Ay, fashion you may call it. Go to116, go to.

  OPHELIA And hath given countenance117 to his speech,

  My lord, with all the vows of heaven.

  POLONIUS Ay, springes to catch woodcocks119. I do know,

  When the blood burns, how prodigal120 the soul

  Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,

  Giving more light than heat, extinct in both122

  Even in their promise, as it is a-making,

  You must not take for fire. For this time124, daughter,

  Be somewhat scanter125 of your maiden presence;

  Set your entreatments126 at a higher rate

  Than a command to parley127. For Lord Hamlet,

  Believe so much in him that he is young

  And with a larger tether may he walk

  Than may be given you: in few130, Ophelia,

  Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers131,

  Not of the dye which their investments132 show,

  But mere implorators of unholy suits133,

  Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds134,

  The better to beguile. This is for all135:

  I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

  Have you so slander any moment137 leisure,

  As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.

  Look to't, I charge you. Come your ways139.

  OPHELIA I shall obey, my lord.

  Exeunt

  [Act 1 Scene 4]

  running scene 4

  Enter Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus

  HAMLET The air bites shrewdly1: is it very cold?

  HORATIO It is a nipping and an eager2 air.

  HAMLET What hour now?

  HORATIO I think it lacks of4 twelve.

  HAMLET No, it is struck.

  HORATIO Indeed? I heard it not: then it draws near the season

  Wherein the spirit held his wont7 to walk.

  A flourish of trumpets and drums, perhaps also cannon

  What does this mean, my lord?

  HAMLET The king doth wake tonight and takes his rouse9,

  Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels10:

  And as he drains his draughts of Rhenish11 down,

  The kettledrum and trumpet thus bray out12

  The triumph of his pledge.

  HORATIO Is it a custom?

  HAMLET Ay, marry, is't:

  And to my mind, though I am native here

  And to the manner17 born, it is a custom

  More honoured in the breach than the observance18.

  Enter Ghost

  HORATIO Look, my lord, it comes!

  HAMLET Angels and ministers of grace20 defend us!

  Be thou a spirit of health or goblin21 damned,

  Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,

  Be thy intents wicked or charitable,

  Thou com'st in such a questionable shape24

  That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,

  King, father, royal Dane. O, O, answer me!

  Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell

  Why thy canonized bones, hearsed28 in death,

  Have burst their cerements, why the sepulchre29

  Wherein we saw thee quietly inurned30,

  Hath oped his ponderous31 and marble jaws

  To cast32 thee up again. What may this mean,

  That thou, dead corpse, again in complete steel33

  Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon34,

  Making night hideous, and we fools of nature35

  So horridly to shake our disposition36

  With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?

  Say, why is this? Wherefore?38 What should we do?

  Ghost beckons Hamlet

  HORATIO It beckons you to go away with it,

  As if it some impartment40 did desire

  To you alone.

  MARCELLUS Look, with what courteous action

  It wafts43 you to a more removed ground:

  But do not go with it.

  HORATIO No, by no means.

  HAMLET It will not speak; then will I follow it.

  HORATIO Do not, my lord.

  HAMLET Why, what should be the fear?

  I do not set my life at a pin's fee49;

  And for my soul, what can it do to that,

  Being a thing immortal as itself?

  It waves me forth again: I'll follow it.

  HORATIO What if it tempt you toward the flood53, my lord,

  Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff

  That beetles o'er55 his base into the sea,

  And there assumes some other horrible form

  Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason57

  And draw you into madness? Think of it.

  HAMLET It wafts me still.-- Go on, I'll follow thee.

  MARCELLUS You shall not go, my lord.

  Holds him back

  HAMLET Hold off your hand.

  HORATIO Be ruled: you shall not go.

  HAMLET My fate cries out,

  And makes each petty artery64 in this body

  As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve65.--

  Still am I called?-- Unhand me, gentlemen.

  By heav'n, I'll make a ghost of him that lets67 me!

  I say, away!-- Go on, I'll follow thee.

  Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet

  HORATIO He waxes69 desperate with imagination.

  MARCELLUS Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.

  HORATIO Have after. To what issue71 will this come?

  MARCELLUS Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

  HORATIO Heaven will direct it73.

  MARCELLUS Nay, let's follow him.

  Exeunt

  [Act 1 Scene 5]

  running scene 4 continues

  Enter Ghost and Hamlet

  HAMLET Where wilt thou lead me? Speak; I'll go no further.

  GHOST Mark2
me.

  HAMLET I will.

  GHOST My hour is almost come,

  When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames

  Must render up myself.

  HAMLET Alas, poor ghost!

  GHOST Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing

  To what I shall unfold9.

  HAMLET Speak: I am bound10 to hear.

  GHOST So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.

  HAMLET What?

  GHOST I am thy father's spirit,

  Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,

  And for the day confined to fast in fires,

  Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature

  Are burnt and purged away. But17 that I am forbid

  To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

  I could a tale unfold whose lightest word

  Would harrow up20 thy soul, freeze thy young blood,

  Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres21,

  Thy knotty and combined locks22 to part

  And each particular hair to stand on end

  Like quills upon the fretful porpentine24.

  But this eternal blazon25 must not be

  To ears of flesh and blood. List26, Hamlet, O, list!

  If thou didst ever thy dear father love--

  HAMLET O heaven!

  GHOST Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

  HAMLET Murder?

  GHOST Murder most foul, as in the best31 it is,

  But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

  HAMLET Haste, haste me to know it, that I with wings as swift

  As meditation34 or the thoughts of love

  May sweep35 to my revenge.

  GHOST I find thee apt36,

  And duller shouldst thou be37 than the fat weed

  That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf38,

  Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:

  It's given out that, sleeping in mine orchard40,

  A serpent stung me, so the whole ear of Denmark

  Is by a forged process42 of my death

  Rankly43 abused. But know thou, noble youth,

  The serpent that did sting thy father's life

  Now wears his crown.

  HAMLET O, my prophetic soul! Mine uncle!

  GHOST Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate47 beast,

  With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts48 --

  O, wicked wit and gifts, that have the power

  So to seduce! -- won to his shameful lust

  The will51 of my most seeming-virtuous queen.

  O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!

  From me, whose love was of that dignity53

  That it went hand in hand even with the vow

  I made to her in marriage, and to decline55

  Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor

  To those of mine!

  But virtue, as it58 never will be moved,

  Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,

  So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,

  Will sate itself61 in a celestial bed,

  And prey on garbage62.

  But, soft, methinks I scent the morning's air;

  Brief let me be. Sleeping within mine orchard,

  My custom always in the afternoon,

  Upon my secure66 hour thy uncle stole,

  With juice of cursed hebenon67 in a vial,

  And in the porches of mine ears did pour

  The leperous distilment69, whose effect