^smm^mm^smm^m^ I FCLECTIC musn ^"^'ti^tj^ '^^J^^^M^^^i^^Ml^. THE TRAGEDY i 1 HAMLET 1 Rk.KCi- )F DENMARK BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARF 1 li.:. '.if'' m. . ''' 'I' --lll-^IJir^7,TT t.TiT in IU-^iH^-^i»..^ilL NewY)rk- Cincinnati • Chicag,<> Amer icaN'BooK' C ompany- LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chap.. Copyright No., Shelf(/i!^i4_^/ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ECLECTIC ENGLISH CLASSICS THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK / BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE NEW YORK • : AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 1895 TTTa&«7 Copyright, 1895, by American Book Company. HAMLET. M. I. INTRODUCTION. Several quarto editions of Shakespeare's tragedy of " Ham- let, Prince of Denmark," were in print previous to its appearance in the famous folio of 1623, — the iirst published collection of the poet's dramas, and the edition to which modern editors generally look for the genuine text of his plays. Of these quartos, that of 1604 is regarded as authentic, and a useful auxiliary in throwing light on obscure passages in the " Hamlet" text of the folio. The story on which the tragedy is founded is told by Saxo Gram- maticus in his '' Historia Danica," written in Latin about the end of the twelfth century. It is included in Belleforest's ''Histoires Tragiques," pubhshed in Paris in 1570. The first English trans- lation we have of the story appeared in 1608, under the title of "The Hystorie of Hamblet," although it is possible there was an earlier English edition. Shakespeare, however, owes but little to the original story, whatever the shape in which it came to him. He found in the records of a l^arbarous period a tale of conjugal infelicity, murder, and revenge, together with some rude indication of the character of Hamlet. " But," as Knight observes, " what he has given us is so essentially a creation, from first to last, that it would be only tedious to point out the lesser resemblances between the drama 3 4 INTRODUCTION. and the history." The period of the action of the play is the same as that of the relation by the Danish historian, — a period anterior to the Norman Conquest, when England was either under the sovereignty of the Northmen, or paid tribute to the Danish power. It has been justly remarked that " ' Hamlet ' is not Shake- speare's greatest play, nor does it contain his greatest poetry." Yet it has probably contributed more to his fame than any other one production of his genius. It has been translated into all the languages of Europe, and has engaged the attention, and won the admiration, of the most eminent scholars, philosophers, and poets, not only among those " who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake," but throughout the civihzed world ; and the commentaries on the nature and action of the drama generally, and of the character of Hamlet especially, are innumerable. We have not far to look for the reason of the continued and unabated popularity of " Ham- let," and our perennial interest in its title character. As Hazlitt aptly says, " It is the one of Shakespeare's plays we think of the oftenest, because it abounds in striking reflections of human life, and because the distresses of Hamlet are transferred, by the turn of his mind, to the general account of humanity. . . . AA' hatever happens to him we apply to ourselves, because he applies it so himself, as a means of general reasoning. He is a great moral- izer ; and what makes him w^orth attending to is, that he moralizes on his own feelings and experience. ... His speeches and sayings are as real as our own thoughts. Their reahty is in the reader's mind. It is 7ve who are Hamlet." INTRODUCTION. 5 The opening scene of the tragedy is at Elsinore, in front of the castle of the Danish King, where, as it is rumored, the night watch has seen on two occasions a Ghost resembhng Hamlet, the lately deceased King. Horatio, a friend of the young Prince Hamlet, while he has little faith in the rumor, has, at the solicitation of the sentinels, consented to share the watch with them, that he may see and speak to the Apparition, should it present itself. Twice before the dawn, the Ghost appears. Horatio addresses it, but receives no reply, though on its second appearance it lifted its head as about to speak, when, at the crowing of the morning cock, it faded away. Horatio, now convinced that the Ghost is no il- lusion, predicts that its appearance bodes some evil to the State ; and it is agreed that he, with his companions, shall visit young Hamlet, and communicate to him what they have seen. The next scene is a room in the castle, where Claudius the King, Gertrude the Queen, Hamlet her son, Polonius an old chamber- lain, his son Laertes, and others, are assembled. Here we learn from the King that he succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother, whose widow he has married ; that an invasion of the kingdom is threatened by young Fortinbras, Prince of Norway ; that he is about to send ambassadors to the King of that country, the uncle' of the Prince, to remonstrate against the warlike prep- arations of the nephew. He then grants Laertes' request to return to Paris, whence he had come to attend the King's coro- nation ; then, turning to Hamlet, Claudius and the Queen expostu- late with him on his excessive and continued grief for his father's death, and urge him to give up aU thought of his proposed re- turn to the college at Wittenberg. Hamlet yields to his mother's wishes, but presently, when left alone, expresses his contempt and hatred of the King, and his horror at the unseemly and unnatural 6 INTRODUCTION. marriage of his mother, so quickly following his father's death, and with a brother of her former husband. While he is soliloquizing, Horatio, with Marcellus and Bernardo, the officers of the guard, enter, and recount to him the occurrences of the previous night. Satisfied from their description that it is his father's spirit they have seen, he determines to watch with them, tliat he may learn, if possible, the cause and object of the mysterious visitation. In the third scene, Laertes, taking leave of his sister Ophelia, cautions her to fear the wooing of Hamlet, who has professed love for her. Polonius, coming in, gives his blessing and some good advice to his son, and when he goes out the old chamber- lain also bids his daughter be wary of the attentions of the young Prince. The fourth scene is, as before, at midnight, on the platform in front of the castle. Here, according to appointment, Hamlet has joined Horatio and Marcellus in the watch for the Apparition. While Hamlet is commenting on the disgraceful orgies with which his mother's wedding is celebrated, the Ghost makes its appear- ance. Hamlet speaks to it, conjures it to tell the reason of its coming, and what it would the living should do. The Appari- tion makes no answer, but beckons Hamlet to follow, which he does ; and, when out of the hearing of his companions, the Ghost makes known that he is the Spirit of Hamlet's father; that his death was not occasioned by the sting of a serpent, as had been reported, but that he was poisoned, while sleeping in his garden, by his brother, who now wears his crown, and has wedded his widowed queen. Then, charging Hamlet to avenge his father's murder on his perfidious uncle, the Ghost vanishes as it " scents the morning air." Horatio and Marcellus, fearing some harm to Hamlet, are has- INTRODUCTION. 7 telling to seek him, when he meets them, and in answer to their inquiries speaks at first jestingly of his interview with the Ghost, but afterwards causes them to swear that they will reveal noth- ing of the events of the night, nor indicate by any word or ges- ture, however odd or strange his act or speech should hereafter be, that they could, if they would, give a reason for his conduct. The solemnity of the oath is increased b}^ the voice of the Ghost beneath caUing on them to swear. At the opening of the second act we are at Polonius' house, where he is dispatching Reynaldo, his servant, to Paris, to learn something of Laertes' way of living in that city. As he goes out, Ophelia enters in great alarm to inform her father that, while she was sewing in her room, Hamlet came in, — staring wildly, his dress disordered, and apparently out of his mind, — and seizing her by the wrist gazed steadfastly on her face for a time, then, dropping her hand, left her presence, with his eyes fixed on her to the last. After questioning his daughter, and learning that she had obeyed his injunction, and treated Hamlet coldly, — returning his letters, and refusing to see him, — Polonius concludes that this rejection of his love by Ophelia has made Hamlet mad, and determines to so advise the King and Queen, who had noticed, and were much distui-bed by, his eccentric behavior. In the second scene of this act we meet Rosencrantz and Guil- denstern, two friends of Hamlet. They have been sent for by the King, in the hope that in free intercourse with Hamlet, without arousing his suspicion that they are acting on the King's prompt- ing, they may get from him the cause of his distraction. Polo- nius, now coming in, announces the return of the ambassadors from Norway, and also that he has discovered the cause of Hamlet's lunacy. The ambassadors having been heard, Polonius proceeds, 8 IAtTRODUCTION. with many words and in an inflated style, to inform the King and Queen that it is his daughter's rejection of Hamlet's addresses that has made him mad. To satisfy the King that such is the case, Polonius proposes that the King conceal himself where he can overhear a conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia, — an arrangement of which she is to be advised. The King and Queen go out. Hamlet enters ; and his discordant talk with Polonius confirms his opinion of the cause of Hamlet's disordered mind. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come in ; but, instead of probing Hamlet's madness, they are completely outwitted by him. He is interested, however, when they tell him of a company of players that is just now about the court ; and he determines in his own mind to have a play enacted before the King and Queen, in which he will insert some lines describing a scene hke the murder of his father, while he himself will watch the effect of the performance on the King. The act closes with a soliloquy by Hamlet, wherein he blames himself for his delay in executing his vengeance, expresses doubt of the truth of the Ghost's revelation, but con- cludes, that, if the King is guilty, the play will test his guilt beyond question. The third act begins with the relation by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of their visit to Hamlet. Then comes the meeting between Hamlet and Opheha, as planned by her father. The King, who, as contemplated, has been a hidden listener, does not think that Hamlet's speech and actions are occasioned by love, nor does he deem them altogether due to madness. His guilty conscience is quick to apprehend some danger to himself; and he resolves that Hamlet shall be sent to England without delay, intending that he shall there be put to death. The next scene embraces the play before the King and Court, INTRODUCTION. 9 which comes so near the circumstances of the murder as related by the Ghost, that the King rises, and leaves the hall, followed by- all in attendance except Hamlet and Horatio. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern soon reenter with a message to Hamlet from his mother, who desires to speak with him in her chamber. He com- plies with her request, and in an interview, casting aside all dis- guise of madness, reproaches her in bitter terms for her disloy- alty to his father in her hasty and unnatural marriage with the brother and murderer of her former husband. Affrighted by the violence of his speech, she calls for help. The cry is repeated by Polonius, who is concealed behind the drapery of the room, through which Hamlet pierces with his rapier (supposing the eavesdropper to be the King), and kills the unseen old man. Overcome by the earnestness of her son's appeals, the Queen dis- plays contrition, promises repentance, and further promises that she will not make known to the King the fact that Hamlet's apparent madness is assumed. In the fourth act the Queen reports to the King that Hamlet in a fit of madness has killed Polonius. The King sends for Hamlet, tells him that his safety requires that he should leave the country, and that the vessel is ready to take him to England. Following Hamlet's departure there is a scene in which Ophelia appears in disheveled dress, singing bits of old ballads, her mind distracted by grief for the death of her father. Laertes now arrives from Paris, in hot haste to avenge his father's murder. He at first thinks the King accessory to the deed, but is soon convinced, after meeting him, that he is also an object of Hamlet's enmity. While the King and Laertes are in conference, messengers come in, bringing letters from Hamlet, from which we gather that he has been captured by pirates, and lo INTRODUCTION. by them landed, naked and alone, on the shore of Denmark, and that he intends to come to Elsinore at once. Whereupon the King contrives a plan to take Hamlet's life on his return to court. The King is to have Hamlet and Laertes engage in a friendly fencing match, in which Laertes is to kill Hamlet by using, as if inad- vertently, a foil without a blunted point. To this Laertes readily agrees, and adds that he will have his weapon's point so enven- omed with a deadly poison that the merest scratch with it will be mortal ; and, to make all sure, the King is to prepare a cup of poisoned wine, of which Hamlet may be induced to drink between the heats of the contest. Hardly are the details of this plot completed, when the Queen enters with the news of the acci- dental drowning of Opheha. The fifth act opens in a graveyard, where Hamlet, who has just reached Elsinore, is moralizing over a skull which the grave- digger has thrown out with the earth while digging a grave. The King, the Queen, Laertes, and other mourners approach in funeral procession, folio wing -the body of Ophelia. At the burial, a vio- lent quarrel arises between Hamlet and Laertes ; but they are finally reconciled. The fencing match takes place the next day. In one of the bouts, Hamlet receives a slight wound from Laertes' poisoned foil, and the fencers become incensed. In the excitement there is an exchange of weapons, and Laertes is punctured with his own deadly instrument. In the meantime the Queen, who is igno- rant of the poisoned cup, drinks of it, and immediately falls dead. Laertes now tells Hamlet that neither he nor himself have half an hour to live, and confesses the treacherous plot devised by himself and the King ; hearing which, Hamlet rushes upon the King, and stabs him to death. INTRODUCTION. il The play ends with the arrival of Fortinbras, who claims some rights in the kingdom ; and, with Hamlet's dying voice in his favor, he succeeds by election to the Danish crown. Professor Dowden ("Shakespeare, his Plays and Poems"), in his remarks on " Hamlet," observes, " No play of Shakespeare's has had a higher power of interesting spectators and readers, and none has given rise to a greater variety of conflicting interpre- tations. It has been rightly named a tragedy of thought ; and in this respect, as well as others, takes its place beside 'Julius Caesar.' Neither Brutus nor Hamlet is the victim of an over- mastering passion, as are the chief persons of the later tragedies ; e.g., Othello, Macbeth, Coriolanus. The burden of a terrible duty is laid upon each of them, and neither is fitted for bearing such a burden. Brutus is disqualified for action by his moral idealism, his student-like habits, his capacity for dealing with ab- stractions rather than with men and things. Hamlet is disquali- fied for action by his excess of the reflective tendency and by his unstable will, which alternates between complete inactivity and fits of excited energy. Naturally sensitive, he receives a painful shock from the hasty second marriage of his mother ; already the springs of faith and joy in his nature are imbittered ; then fol- lows the terrible discovery of his father's murder," with the injunc- tion laid upon him to revenge the crime ; upon this again follow the repulses which he receives from Ophelia. A deep melancholy lays hold of his spirit, and all of his life grows dark and sad to his vision. Although hating his father's murderer, he has httle heart to push on his revenge. He is aware that he is suspected, and surrounded by spies. Partly to baffle them, partly to cre- ate a veil behind which to seclude his true self, partly because his I 2 TNTR OD UC TION. whole moral nature is indeed deeply disordered, he assumes the part of one whose wits have gone astray. Except for one loyal friend, he is alone among enemies or supposed traitors. Opheha he regards as no more loyal or honest to him than his mother had been to her dead husband. The ascertainment of Claudius' guilt by means of the play still leaves him incapable of the last decisive act of vengeance. Not so, however, with the King, who, now recognizing his foe in Hamlet, does not delay to dispatch him to a bloody death in England. But there is in Hamlet a terrible power of sudden and desperate action. From the mel- ancholy which broods over him after the burial of Ophelia, he rouses himself to the play of swords with Laertes, and at the last, with strength which leaps up before its final extinction, he accomplishes the punishment of the malefactor. " Horatio, with his fortitude, his self-possession, his strong equanimity, is a contrast to the Prince. And Laertes, who takes violent measures at the shortest notice to revenge Jiis father's murder, is in another way a contrast. But Laertes is the young gallant of the period ; and his capacity for action arises in part from the absence of those moral checks of which Hamlet is sensi- ble. Polonius is owner of the shallow wisdom of this world, and exhibits this grotesquely while now on the brink of dotage : he sees, but cannot see through, Hamlet's ironical mockery of him. Ophelia is tender, affectionate, but the reverse of heroic. She fails Hamlet in his need, and then, in her tin-n becoming the sufferer, gives way under the pressure of her afflictions." Hazlitt ("Characters of Shakespeare's Plays," London, 1869), in a critical notice of this play, remarks, " If * Lear ' is distin- guished by the greatest depth of passion, ' Hamlet ' is the most INTR OD UC TION. 1 3 remarkable for the ingenuity, originality, and unstudied develop- ment of character. Shakespeare had more magnanimity than any other poet, and he has shown more of it in this play than in any other. There is no attempt to force an interest : everything is left for time and circumstances to unfold. The attention is excited without effort, the incidents succeed each other as matters of course, the characters think and speak and act just as they might do if left entirely to themselves. There is no set purpose, no straining at a point. The observations are suggested by the passing scene. . . . The whole play is an exact transcript of what might be supposed to have taken place at the court of Denmark, at the remote period of time fixed upon, before the modern refinements in morals and manners were heard of. . . . " The character of Hamlet stands quite by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can well be ; but he is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility, — the sport of cir- cumstances, questioning with fortune, and refining on his own feelings, and forced from the natural bias of his disposition by the strangeness of his situation. He seems incapable of deliber- ate action, and is only hurried into extremities on the spur of the occasion, when he has no time to reflect, as in the scene w^here he kills Polonius, and again, where he alters the letters which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are taking with them to England, purporting his death. At other times, when he is most bound to act, he remains puzzled, undecided, and skeptical, dallies with his purposes till the occasion is lost, and finds out some pretense to relapse into indolence and thoughtfulness again. For this reason he refuses to kill the King when he is at his prayers, and by a 14 INTRODUCTION. refinement in malice, which is in truth only an excuse for his own want of resohition, defers his revenge to a more fatal opportu- nity, when he shah be engaged in ' some act that has no relish of salvation in't.' . . . " He is the prince of philosophical speculators ; and because he cannot have his revenge perfect ... he declines it altogether. So he scruples to trust the suggestions of the Ghost, contrives the scene of the play to have surer proof of his uncle's guilt, and then rests satisfied with this confirmation of his suspicions and the success of his experiment, instead of acting upon it. Yet he is sensible of his own weakness, taxes himself with it, and tries to reason himself out of it. . . . It is not from any Avant of attachment to his father, or of abhorrence of his murder, that Hamlet is thus dilatory ; but it is more to his taste to indulge his imagination in reflecting upon the enormity of the crime, and refining on his schemes of vengeance, than to put them into immediate practice. His ruling passion is to think, not to act ; and any vague pretext that flatters this propensity instantly diverts him from his previ- ous purposes. . . . " Nothing can be more affecting or beautiful than the Queen's apostrophe to Ophelia on throwing the flowers into the grave. Shakespeare was thoroughly a master of the mixed motives of human character, and he here shows us the Queen, who was so criminal in some respects, not without sensibihty and affection in other relations of life. Ophelia is a character almost too exquisitely touching to be dwelt upon. ' O rose of May ! ' O flower too soon faded ! Her love, her madness, her death, are described with the truest touches of tenderness and pathos. It is a character which nobody but Shakespeare could have drawn in the way that he has done, and to the conception of which INTROD UCTION. 1 5 there is not even the smallest approach, except in some of the old romantic ballads. Her brother, Laertes, is a character we do not like so well : he is too hot and choleric, and somewhat rod- omontade. Polonius is a perfect character in its kind ; nor is there any foundation for the objections which have been made to the consistency of this part. It is said that he acts very fool- ishly, and talks very sensibly. There is no inconsistency in that.. Again : that he talks wisely at one time, and foolishly at another ; that his advice to Laertes is very excellent, and his advice to the King and Queen on the subject of Hamlet's madness very ridicu- lous. But he gives the one as a father, and is sincere in it : he gives the other as a mere courtier, a busybody, and is accordingly officious, garrulous, and impertinent. \w short, Shakespeare has been accused of inconsistency in this and other characters, only because he has kept up the distinction which there is in nature between the understandings and the moral habits of men ; between the . . . [wisdom] of their ideas and the absurdity of their mo- tives. Polonius is not a fool, but he makes himself so. His folly, whether in his actions or speeches, comes under the head of im- propriety of intention." " It has often been remarked," says Rev. Charles E. Moberly (Introduction to "Hamlet"), "how admirably the subordinate characters of this play contrast with and support the grand cen- tral one of Hamlet. Ophelia is no Portia, iit to cope with men in argument. Her character is one of repose, — just the one in which the dialectic and generalizing spirit of Hamlet would meet its due opposite. She is full of simple religion, even in her mad- ness ; while he is at the best skeptical and vague in his thoughts on this subject. ... In like manner, Horatio stands in the 1 6 INTROD UCTION. directest contrast to Hamlet. He is the 'pruner of his periods,' the controller of his flights of imagination, the protester against extravagances of speech. He is also opposed to him as being the man on whose composure good or bad fortune has no influ- ence ; the man so faithful to himself that he can never be false to any other man. But above all other contrasts in the play stands out that which Hamlet himself recognizes, — the one between himself and Laertes. The latter is as purely worldly in his thoughts as Hamlet is the reverse. He is the man of Parisian training. Fencing and music are his studies. He is false and treacherous, as one trained at the court of France in Shake- speare's time was likely to be ; while Hamlet is most generous, and void of suspicion. In all his utterances there is no tinge of Hamlet's reflectiveness. But in spite of all this there is one qual- ity in which he is immeasurably Hamlet's superior. This is that important one of instant energy and decision. When his father is slain, he does exactly what Hamlet longs in vain to be able to do, — he 'sweeps' home from France to his revenge. Nor is any needless moment of time allowed to pass before he is burst- ing open the gates of the palace, with a crowd of partisans at his back who are already proclaiming him King of Denmark, — a more apt one, perhaps, for those rough days, than poor Ham- let would have been." The following remarks on Ophelia are selected from Mrs. Jame- son's dehneation of the character (" Characteristics of Women," Boston, 1875): "Beyond every character that Shakespeare has drawn (Hamlet alone excepted), that of Ophelia makes us forget the poet in his own creation. Whenever we bring her to mind, it is with the same exclusive sense of her real existence, without INTROD UCTION. 1 7 reference to the wondrous power which called her into hfe. The effect (and what an effect ! ) is produced by means so simple, by strokes so few and so unobtrusive, that we take no thought of them. It is so purely natural and unsophisticated, yet so pro- found in its pathos, that, as Hazlitt observes, it takes us back to the old ballads : we forget that in its perfect artlessness it is the supreme and consummate triumph of art. ... It is the helplessness of Ophelia, arising merely from her innocence, and pictured without any indication of weakness, which melts us with such profound pity. She is so young, that neither her mind nor her person has attained maturity. She is not aware of the nature of her own feehngs : they are prematurely developed in their full force before she has strength to bear them ; and love and grief together rend and shatter the frail texture of her exist- ence, hke the burning fluid poured into a crystal vase. She says very little, and what she does say seems rather intended to hide than to reveal the emotions of her heart ; yet in those few words we are made as perfectly acquainted with her character, and with what is passing in her mind, as if she had thrown forth her soul with all the glowing eloquence of Juliet. . . . When her father catechises her ... he extorts from l*er in short sentences, uttered with bashful reluctance, the confession of Hamlet's love for her, but not a word of her love for him. The whole scene is man- aged with inexpressible delicacy. It is one of those instances, common in Shakespeare, in which we are allowed to perceive what is passing in the mind of a person without any consciousness on his part. Only Ophelia herself is unaware, that, while she is admitting the extent of Hamlet's courtship, she is also betraying how deep is the impression it has made, how entire the love with which it is returned. ... Of her subsequent madness, what can iS INTRODUCTION. be said ? What an affecting, what an astonishing, picture of a mind utterly, hopelessly wrecked ! — past hope, past cure ! There is the frenzy of excited passion ; there is the madness caused by intense and continued thought ; there is the delirium of fevered nerves. But Ophelia's madness is distinct from these ; it is not the suspension, but the utter destruction, of the reasoning powers ; it is the total imbecihty which, as medical people well know, fre- quently follows some terrible shock to the spirits. Constance is frantic ; Lear is mad ; Ophelia is insane. Her sweet mind lies in fragments before us — a pitiful spectacle ! Her wild, rambling fancies ; her aimless, broken speeches ; her quick transitions from gayety to sadness, — each equally purposeless and causeless; her snatches of old ballads, such as perhaps her nurse sung her to sleep with in her infancy, — are all so true to life that we forget to won- der, and can only weep. It belonged to Shakespeare alone so to temper such a picture that we can endure to dwell upon it. " Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, She turns to favor and to prettiness." HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK. PERSONS OF THE PLAY, Claudius, King of Denmark. Hami,et, son to the late, and nepheiv to the present King. PoLONius, lord chamberlain. Horatio, friend to Hamlet. Laertes, son to Poloniiis. voltimand, Cornelius, rosencrantz, guildenstern, OSRIC, A Gentleman, A Priest. Marcellus, Bernardo, Francisco, a soldier. conrtters. Reynaldo, servant to Polonius. Players. Two Clowns, gravediggers. FoRTiNBRAS, Prince of Norway. A Captain. English Ambassadors. Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, ?nother to Hamlet. Ophelia, daughter to Polonius. Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sail- ors, Messengers, and other Attend- ants. Ghost of Hamlet's Father. Scene : Denmark. ACT I. Scene I. *Elsinore. A Platform before the Castle. Francisco at his post. Enter to him Bernardo. Bernardo. Who's there ? Francisco. Nay, answer me:^ stand, and unfold yourself. Bernardo, Long live the King 1 1 "Me" is here used with emphasis. It is for the sentinel on duty to challenge all comers, and demand the watchword ; which here Bernardo immediately gives. 19 20 SHAKESPEARE. [act i. Fra 71 Cisco. Bernardo ? Bernardo. He. Francisco. You come most carefully upon your hour. Bernardo. 'Tis now struck twelve ; get thee to bed, Francisco. Francisco. For this relief much thanks : 'tis bitter cold. And I am sick at heart. Bernardo. Have you had quiet guard ? Francisco. Not a mouse stirring. Bernardo. Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals ^ of my watch, bid them make haste. Fra?tcisco. I think I hear them. — Stand, ho ! Who's there ? Enter Horatio and Marcellus. Horatio. Friends to this ground. Marcellus. And liegemen to the Dane.2 Francisco. Give you good night. Marcellus. O, farewell, honest soldier : Who hath reliev'd you ? Francisco. Bernardo has my place. Give you good night. \Exit. Marcellus. Holla ! Bernardo ! Bernardo. Say, What, is Horatio there ? Horatio. A piece of him. Ber?ia?^do. Welcome, Horatio : welcome, good Marcellus. Marcellus. What, has this thing appear'd again to-night? Bernardo. I have seen nothing. Marcellus. Horado says 'tis but our fantasy,^ And will not let belief take hold of him Touching tliis dreaded sight, twice seen of us: Therefore I have entreated him along 1 Partners. 2 " Liegemen to the Dane," i.e., subjects of the King of Denmark. 3 Fancy ; imagination. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 21 With us to watch the minutes of this night ; That if again this apparition come, He may approve ^ our eyes, and speak to it. Horatio. Tush, tush, 'twill not appear. Bernardo. ' Sit down a while ; And let us once again assail your ears, That are so fortified against our story, What we have two nights seen. Horatio. Well, sit we down, And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. Bernardo. Last night of all. When yond same star that's westward from the pole ' Had made his course to illume that part of heaven Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, The bell then beating one, — Enter Ghost. Marcellus. Peace, break thee off: look, where it comes again ! Bernardo. In the same figure, like the King that's dead. Marcellus. Thou art a scholar;- speak to it, Horatio. Bernardo. Looks it not like the King ? mark it, Horatio. Horatio. Most like : it harrows me with fear and wonder. Bernardo. It would be spoke to. Marcellus. Question it, Horatio. Horatio. What art thou that usurp'st this time of night, Together with that fair and warlike form In which the Majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes^ march? by Heaven I charge thee, speak! Marcellus. It is offended. 1 Corroborate. 2 Exorcisms (ceremonies for the expulsion of evil spirits) were performed in Latin, therefore only by scholars : hence the popular belief that they alone could converse with supernatural apparitions. ^ Some time ; formerly. 2 2 SHAKESPEARE. [act i. Bernardo. See, it stalks away ! Horatio. Stay ! speak, speak ! I charge thee, speak ! \Exit Ghost. Marcellus. 'Tis gone, and will not answer. Bernardo. How now, Horatio ! you tremble and look pale. Is not this something more than fantasy ? What think you on't ? Horatio. Before my God, I might not this believe Without the sensible and true avouch ^ Of mine own eyes. Marcellus. Is it not like the King ? Horatio. As thou art to thyself. Such was the very armor he had on When he the ambitious Norway ^ combated ; So frown 'd he once, when, in an angry parle,^ He smote the sledded Polacks ■* on the ice. 'Tis strange. Marcellus. Thus twice before, and jump ^ at this dead hour, With martial stalk ^ hatli he gone by our watch. Horatio. In what particular thought to work I know not ; But in the gross and scope of my opinion,^ This bodes some strange eruption to our State. Marcellus. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows. Why this same strict and most observant watch So nightly toils the subject ^ of the land ; And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, And foreign mart ^ for implements of war ; Why such impress ^^ of shipwrights, whose sore task Does not divide the Sunday from the week ; 1 Evidence. 2 Norwegian King. 3 Parley or debate. 4 Inhabitants of Poland ; Polanders. 5 Just. 6 Step. ■^ " In what particular thought," etc., i.e., T do not know what particular train of thought to follow ; but tlie general tendency of my opinion is that, etc. « Subjects. 9 Market. lo Impressment. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 23 What might be toward,^ that this sweaty haste Doth make the night joint laborer with the day: Who is't that can inform me ? Horatio. That can I ; At least, the whisper goes so. Our last King, Whose image even but now appear'd to us, Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate 2 pride, Dar'd to the combat ; in which our valiant Hamlet — For so this side of our known world esteem'd him — ^ Did slay this Fortinbras ; who, by a seal'd compact', Well ratified by law and heraldry. Did forfeit with his life all those his lands Which he stood seiz'd of,^ to the conqueror: Against the which, a moiety competent * Was gaged by our King ; which had return'd To the inheritance of Fortinbras, Had he been vanquisher ; as, by the same cov'nant, And carriage of the article design'd. His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Of unimproved mettle ^ hot and full. Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there, Shark'd up ^ a list of lawless resolutes. For food and diet, to some enterprise That hath a stomach in't ; "^ which is no other — As it doth well appear unto our State — 1 Coming on. 2 Emulous. 3 " Seiz'd of," i.e., possessed of; a legal phrase applying to land. It is still in use. 4 " Moiety competent," i.e., an adequate portion. 5 Dr. Johnson notes, that " ' full of unimproved mettle ' is full of spirit not regulated or guided by experience." 6 " Shark'd up," i.e., collected indiscriminately. 7 "Some enterprise," etc., i.e., "some undertaking requiring courage Cstomach] in those that attempt it." 24 SHAKESPEARE. [act i. But to recover of us, by strong hand And terms compulsative,i those foresaid lands So by his father lost. And this, I take it, Is the main motive of our preparations, The source of this our watch, and the chief head Of this posthaste and romage ^ in the land. Bernardo, I think it be no other but e'en so : Well may it sort that this portentous figure Comes armed through our watch ; so like the King That was and is the question of these wars. Horatio. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye. In the most high and palmy state of Rome, A httle ere the mightiest Julius fell. The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets : As stars ^ with trains of fire and dews of blood, Disasters in the sun ; and the moist star * Upon whose influence ^ Neptune's ^ empire stands Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse : And even the like precurse '^ of fierce events, As harbingers preceding still the fates. And prologue to the omen coming on, Have heaven and earth together demonstrated Unto our climatures^ and countrymen. — But soft, behold ! lo, where it comes again ! 1 Compulsatory. 2 Tumultuous hurry. 3 A line has probably dropped out of the text preceding these words : " As stars," etc. That there is a break in it here is evident. ^ The moon. 5 Referring to the ebb and flow of the tides. ^ " When Jupiter assigned to each of his brothers a separate portion of the universe, he decreed that Neptune . . . should be sole monarch of the ocean." — GuERBER : Myths of Greece and Rovie^ p. 149. "^ Foreshadowing. 8 Land ; country. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 25 Reenter Ghost. I'll cross it, though it blast me.i — Stay, illusion ! If thou hast any sound, or use of voice. Speak to me : If there be any good thing to be done, That may to thee do ease, and grace to me, Speak to me : \Cock crows. If thou art privy to thy country's fate. Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, O, speak ! Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, Speak of it: stay, and speak ! — Stop it, Marcellus. Ma7xeUus. Shall I strike it with my partisan ? 2 Horatio. Do, if it will not stand. Bernardo. 'Tis here ! Horatio. 'Tis here ! Ma7'ceUus. 'Tis gone ! \Exit Ghost. We do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence ; For it is, as the air, invulnerable. And our vain blows malicious mockery. Bernardo. It was about to speak when the cock crew. Horatio. And then it started like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. I have heard. The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn. Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the god of day ; and at his warning, Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, Th' extravagant and erring ^ spirit hies 1 It was an old superstition, that whoever crossed the spot on which a specter was seen became subject to its malignant influence. 2 A weapon resembling a long-handled ax ; a halberd. 2 " Extravagant and erring," i.e., roving and wandering. 2 6 SHAKESPEARE. [act i. To his confine' : and of the truth herein This present object made probation.^ Mcifcel/us. It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long : And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad ; The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike,^ No fairy takes,^ nor witch hath power to charm. So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. Horatio. So have I heard, and do in part believe it. But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad. Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill. Break we our watch up ; and by my advice, Let us impart what we have seen to-night Unto young Hamlet ; for, upon my hfe, This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. Do 3^ou consent we shall acquaint him wath it. As needful in our loves, fitting our duty? Marcellus. Let's do't, I pray ; and I this morning know Where we shall find him most conveniently. [Exeimt. Scene IL A Room of State in the Castle. Enter the King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Voltimand, Cornelius, Lords, «?z \Wit}iin\ My lord, my lord — Horatio. > Marcellus. \^WitJiin\ Lord Hamlet — Horatio. [ Withhi\ Heaven secure him ! Hamlet. So be it ! Horatio. [ Withi}i\ Hillo, ho, ho, my lord ! Hatnlet. Hillo, ho, ho, boy ! come, bird, come.2 Enter Horatio and Marcellus. Marcellus. How is't, my noble lord ? Horatio. What news, my lord ? Hamlet. O, wonderful ! Horatio. Good my lord, tell it. Hamlet. No ; you'll reveal it. Horatio. Not I, my lord, by Heaven. Marcellus. Nor I, my lord. Hamlet. How say you, then ; would heart of man once think it? But you'll be secret .? Horatio. ") a u tj 11 > Ay, by Heaven, my lord. Marcellus. ) ^' ^ ' "^ 1 Tablets. 2 " Hillo, ho," etc., i.e., the cry which the falconer uses to his hawk when he would have it come down to him. 4 50 SHAKESPEARE. [act i. Hamlet. There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark But he's an arrant knave. Horatio. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave To tell us this. Hamlet. Why, right ; you are i' the right ; And so, without more circumstance ^ at all, I hold it fit that we shake hands, and part : You, as your business and desire shall point you ; — For every man has business and desire, Such as it is ; — and for mine own poor part, Look you, I'll go pray. Horatio. These are but wild and whirling ^ words, my lord. Hamlet. I'm sorry they offend you, heartily; Yes, 'faith, heartily. Horatio. There's no offense, my lord. Hamlet. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio, And much offense too. Touching this vision here, It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you : For your desire to know what is between us, O'ermaster't as you may. And now, good friends. As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers, Give me one poor request. Horatio. What is't, my lord ? we will. Hamlet. Never make known what you have seen to-night. Horatio. ) ^^ , , ,^ „ > My lord, we will not. Marcellus. ) ^ Hamlet. Nay, but swear't. Horatio. In faith. My lord, not I. Marcellus. Nor I, my lord, in faith. Hamlet. Upon my sword. ^ 1 " More circumstance," i.e., more ado. 2 Extravagant. 3 The sword's hilt was in the form of a cross : hence the custom of swear- ing on the sword. scKNE v.] HAMLET. 51 Marcellus. We have sworn, my lord, already. Hamlet. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. Ghost. \BeneatJi\ Swear. Hamlet. Ah, ha, boy ! say'st thou so ? art thou there, true- penny ? — Come on — you hear this fellow in the cellarage, — Consent to swear. Horatio. Propose the oath, my lord. Hamlet. Never to speak of this that you have seen. Swear by my sword. Ghost. [Beneath\ Swear. Hamlet. Hie et tibique ? 1 then we'll shift our ground. Come hither, gentlemen, And lay your hands again upon my sword, Never to speak of this that you have heard, Swear by my sword. Ghost. \Beneatli\ Swear. Hamlet. Well said, old mole ! canst work i' the earth so fast ? A worthy pioner 1^ — Once more remove, good friends. Horatio. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange ! Hamlet. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.^ But come ; Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself. As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition ^ on, 1 " Hie et ubique " (Latin), i.e., here and everywhere. 2 Pioneer. It is the duty of the pioneers of an army to go in advance of the main body of troops, and by felling trees, etc., clear the way of obstacles that would impede the march. ^ " Your philosophy: " " your " is used colloquially here, and " philoso- phy " is the emphatic word. 4 " Antic disposition," i.e., fantastic behavior. 52 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase. As, "Well, well, we know," or ''We could, an if ^ we would," Or "If we Hst to speak," or "There be, an if they might," Or such ambiguous giving out, to note That you know aught of me : this not to do, So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear. Ghost. [Be/ieat/i] Swear. Hajulct. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit ! \They swear ?^ So, gen- tlemen. With all my love I do commend me to you ; And what so poor a man as Hamlet is May do to express his love and friending to you, God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together; And still your fingers on your lips, I pray. The time is out of joint : O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right ! Nay, come, let's go together. \Exeunt. ACT II. Scene I. A Room in Polonhis' House. Enter Poi.ONius and Reynaldo. Polonhis. Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo. Reynaldo. I will, my lord. Poloniiis. You shall do marvelous wisely, good Reynaldo, Before you ^'isit him, to make inquire ^ Of his behavior. Reyjialdo. My lord, I did intend it. 1 " An if," i.e., if. 2 Inquiry. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 53 Folonms. Marry, well said ; very well said. Look you, sir. Inquire me first what Danskers ^ are in Paris ; And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,2 What company, at what expense ; and finding By this encompassment ^ and drift of question ^ That they do know my son, come you more nearer^ Than your particular demands will touch it. Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him; As thus, — "I know his father and his friends. And in part him:" do you mark this, Reynaldo ? Reynaldo. Ay, very well, my lord. Polo7iius. " And in part him, but," you may say, " not well. But if't be he I mean, he's very wild ; Addicted so and so:" and there put on him What forgeries you please ; marry, none so rank As may dishonor him ; take heed of that ; But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips As are companions noted and most known To youth and liberty. Reynaldo. As gaming, my lord. Polo7iius. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarreling : You may go so far. Reynaldo. My lord, that would dishonor him. Polonius. 'Faith, no ; as you may season it in the charge. You must not put another scandal on him, That he is open to incontinency ; That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly^ That they may seem the taints of liberty. The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind, i Danes. 2 Live, . 3 Roundabout way. 4 Conversation. 5 Double comparatives, as " more nearer," are frequent with Shakespeare and with all the writers of his age. 6 " Breathe his faults so quaintly," i.e., speak of his faults with such art- ful reservation. 54 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. A savageness in unreclaimed blood, Of general assault.^ Reynaldo. But, my good lord — Polo7iius. Wherefore should you do this ? Rey}ialdo. Ay, my lord, I would know that. Polonius. Marry, sir, here's my drift ; And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant.^ You laying these slight sullies on my son, As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the working, Mark you. Your party in converse^, him you would sound, Having ever seen in the prenominate ^ crimes The youth you breathe of guilty, be assur'd He closes with you in this consequence : " Good sir," or so, or " friend," or " gentleman," According to the phrase or the addition ^ Of man and country, Reynaldo. Very good, my lord. Polonms. And then, sir, does he this — he does — what was I about to say ? By the mass, I was about to say something : where did I leave ? Reynaldo. At "closes in the consequence," at "friend or so," and " gentleman." Polonius. At "closes in the consequence," ay, marry; He closes with you thus : " I know the gentleman ; I saw him yesterday, or t'other day, I Or then, or then ; with such, or such ; and, as you say, a There was he gaming; there o'ertook in's rouse ;^ There falling out at tennis." 1 " A savageness," etc., i.e., a %vildness common to all hot-blooded youths not yet disciplined by the experience of life. 2 " Fetch of warrant," i.e., justifiable artifice. | 3 Before-named. 4 See Note 6, p. 42. 5 See Note 2, p. 31. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 55 See you now ; Your bait of falsehood takes this carp ^ of truth : And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, With windlasses and with assays of bias, By indirections find directions out: 2 So by my former lecture and advice. Shall you my son. You have me, have you not ? ^ Reyiialdo. My lord, I have. Folonius. God be wi' you ; fare you well. Reyiialdo. Good my lord ! Folonius. Observe his inclination in * yourself. Reynaldo. I shall, my lord. Folonius. And let him ply his music. Reynaldo. Well, my lord. Folonius. Farewell ! [Exit Reynaldo. Enter Ophelia. How now, Ophelia ! what's the matter ? Ophelia. O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted ! Folonius. With what, i' the name of God ? Ophelia. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,-'^ Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd ; No hat upon his head ; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved^ to his ankle; Pale as his shirt ; his knees knocking each other ; 1 A kind of fish. 2 " With windlasses," etc. : " In Shakespeare's day, zvindlace (literally, ' a winding') was used to express taking a circuitous course, . . . making an indirect advance, or, more colloquially, * beating about the bush ; ' . . . and in this sense it exactly harmonizes with the other phrase used by Polonius to express the same thing, — 'assays of bias,' attempts in which, instead of going straight to the object, we seek to reach it by a curved or winding course." — Edinburgh Review, July, 1869. 3 " You have me," etc., i.e., you take my meaning; do you not? * For. 5 Chamber. ^ Hanging like fetters about his ankles. 56 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. And with a look so piteous in purport' As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors, — he comes before me. Polo7ims. Mad for thy love ? Ophelia. My lord, I do not know ; But truly, I do fear it. Polojihis. What said he ? Ophelia. He took me by the wrist, and held me hard ; Then goes he to the length of all his arm ; And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow, He falls to such perusal of my face As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so ; At last, a little shaking of mine arm. And thrice his head thus waving up and down, He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound As it did seem to shatter all his bulk,i And end his being. That done, he lets me go : And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd. He seem'd to find his way without his eyes ; For out o' doors he went without their help. And, to the last, bended their light on me. Polonius. Come, go with me : I will go seek the King. This is the very ecstasy ^ of love, Whose violent property fordoes^ itself, And leads the will to desperate undertakings As oft as any passion under heaven That does afflict our natures. I am sorry. What, have you given him any hard words of late ? Ophelia. No, my good lord ; but, as you did command, I did repel his letters, and deni'd His access to me. Polonius. That hath made him mad. I am sorry that with better heed and judgment 1 Trunk ; body. 2 Madness. S Destroys. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 57 I had not quoted ^ him. I fear'd he did but trifle, And meant to wreck thee ; but, beshrew my jealousy ! By Heaven, it is as proper to our age To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions As it is common for the younger sort To lack discretion. Come, go we to the King. This must be known ; which, being kept close, might move More grief to hide than hate to utter love.^ \Exeu7it. Scene II. A Room hi the Castle. Elite}' King, Queen, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Attendants. King. Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ! Moreover 3 that we much did long to see you. The need we have to use you did provoke Our hasty sending. Something have you heard Of Hamlet's transformation ; so call it, Sith* nor^ the exterior nor the inward man Resembles that it was. What it should be, More than his father's death, that thus hath put him So much from th' understanding of himself, I cannot dream of. I entreat you both. That, being of so young days brought up with him, And sith so neighbor'd to his youth and humor. That you vouchsafe your rest^ here in our court Some little time : so by your companies To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather, So much as from occasion you may glean, 1 Taken note of. 2 " More grief to bide," etc., i.e., " This must be made known to the King; for (being kept secret) the hiding of Hamlet's love might occasion more mis- chief to us from him and the Queen than the uttering or revealing of it will occasion hate and resentment from Hamlet." — Johnson. 3 Over and above the fact. ■* Since. ^ Neither. 6 " Vouchsafe your rest," i.e., kindly grant us your company. 58 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus, That, open'd, h'es within our remedy. Queen. Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you; And sure I am two men there are not hving To whom he more adheres. If it will please you To show us so much gentry ^ and good will As to expend your time with us a while, For the supply and profit of our hope,^ Your visitation shall receive such thanks As fits a king's remembrance. Roscucrautz. Both your Majesties Might, by the sovereign power you have of us. Put your dread pleasures more into command Than to entreaty. Giiildefistern . But we both obey. And here give up ourselves, in the full bent^ To lay our service freely at your feet. To be commanded. King. Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstem. Queen. Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz ; And I beseech you instantly to visit My too much changed son. — Go, some of you, And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. Guildenstern. Heavens make our presence and our practices Pleasant and helpful to him ! Queen. Ay, amen ! \Exeunt Rosencra7itz., Guildenstern, and sojne Attendants. Enter PoLONius. Polonius. Th' ambassadors from Norway, my good lord, Are joyfully return'd. 1 Complaisance. 2 " For the supply," etc., i.e., that we may realize the hope which your coming has raised. 3 Endeavor and inclination. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 59 King. Thou still hast been the father of good news, Fo/onius. Have I, my lord ? I assure my good liege, I hold my duty, as I hold my soul, Both to my God and to my gracious King ; And I do think, or else this brain of mine Hunts not the trail ^ of pohcy so sure As it hath us'd to do, that I have found The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy. King. O, speak of that ; that do I long to hear. Folonius. Give first admittance to th' ambassadors ; My news shall be the fruit to that great feast. King. Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in. \Exit Poloniiis. He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found The head and source of all your son's distemper. Queen. I doubt it is no other but the main : His father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage. Ki7ig. Well, we shall sift him. — Reenter PoLOMUS, with Voltimand and Cornelius. Welcome, my good friends ! Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway ? VoIfuna7id. Most fair return of greetings and desires. Upon our first, 2 he sent out to suppress His nephew's levies ; which to him appear'd To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack ; But, better look'd into, he truly found It was against your Highness : whereat griev'd, That so his sickness, age, and impotence Was falsely borne in hand,^ sends out arrests On Fortinbras ; which he, in brief, obeys ; 1 The " trail," in hunting, is the trace of the animal pursued by its scent. 2 " Upon our first," i.e., upon our first audience to make known our mis- sion. 3 " Falsely borne in hand," i.e., imposed on. 6o SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine Makes vow before his uncle never more To give the assay of arms i against your Majesty. Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy, Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee, And his commission to employ those soldiers. So levied as before, against the Polack ; With an entreaty, herein further shown, \Givi7ig a paper. 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. It likes us well ; ^ And at our more consider'd time ^ we'll read. Answer, and think upon this business. Meantime we thank you for your well-took labor. Go to your rest; at night we'll feast together: Most M^elcome home ! \Exewit Voltimand and Co7'nelius. Polonius. This business is well ended. My Hege, and madam, to expostulate ^ What majesty should be, what duty is. Why day is day, night night, and time is time, Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time. Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,^ And tediousness the hmbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief. Your noble son is mad : 1 " To give the assay of arms," i.e., to make an armed attempt. 2 " Regards of safety and allowance," i.e., conditrons of security and per- mission. ^ " It likes us well," i.e., we are well pleased with it. 4 "At our more consider'd time," i.e., when we have more leisure for consideration. 5 Discuss. 6 Wisdom. " Wit was not, in Shakespeare's time, taken either for imagi- nation or acuteness, or both together, but for understanding, for the faculty by which we apprehend and judge." — Johnson. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 6i Mad call I it ; for, to define true madness, What is't but to be nothing else but mad ? But let that go. Queen. More matter, with less art. Polonius. Madam, I swear I use no art at all. That he is mad, 'tis true : 'tis true 'tis pity ; And pity 'tis 'tis true : a foolish figure ; But farewell it, for I will use no art. Mad let us grant him, then ; and now remains That we find out the cause of this effect, Or rather say, the cause of this defect, For this effect defective comes by cause : Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. Perpend.^ I have a daughter, — have while she is mine, — Who, in her duty and obedience, mark, Hath given me this. Now gather, and surmise. \Reads. ^^To the celestial and my sonVs idol, the most beautified Ophelia,'''' — That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase ; " beautified " is a vile phrase : but you shall hear. Thus : \Reads. ^^ In her excellent white bosom, these,''"' etc. Queen. Came this from Hamlet to her? Folofiius. Good madam, stay a while ; I will be faithful. \^Reads. '' Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Do7ibt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love. " O dear Ophelia, I ain ill at these numbers; I have 7tot art to reckon my groans : but that I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu. " Thine everinore, 7nost dear lady, whilst this machine'^ is to him, Hamlet." i An affected, pedantic word signifying " ponder, consider." 2 Body. 62 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me, And more above,i hath his sohcitings, As they fell out by time, by means and place, All given to mine ear. King. But how hath she Receiv'd his love ? Polo7iius. What do you think of me ? King. As of a man faithful and honorable. Folonius. I would fain prove so. But what might you think. When I had seen this hot love on the wing — As I perceiv'd it, I must tell you that, Before my daughter told me — what might you, Or my dear Majesty, your Queen here, think, If I had play'd the desk or tablebook, Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb, Or look'd upon this love w^ith idle sight;- What might you think? No, I went round to work,^ And my young mistress thus I did bespeak : " Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star ;^ This must not be:" and then I precepts gave her, That she should lock herself from his resort. Admit no messengers, receive no tokens. Which done, she took the fruits of my advice ; And he, repulsed, — a short tale to make, — Fell into a sadness, then into a fast. Thence to a watch,^ thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and by this declension, Into the madness wherein now he raves, And all we mourn for. 1 " More above," i.e., more than this ; moreover. 2 " If I had play'd," etc., i.e., if I had been their confidant in this love affair, or had connived at it, or been negligent in observing it. 3 " Round to work," i.e., to work without reserve; was outspoken. 4 Sphere. 5 Watchfulness ; sleeplessness. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 63 Kmg. Do you think 'tis this ? Queen. It may be, very likely. Polonius. Hath there been such a time — I'd fain know that — That I have positively said, " 'Tis so," When it prov'd otherwise ? King. Not that I know. Polonius. \Pointing to his head and shoulder] Take this from this, if this be otherwise. If circumstances lead me, I will find Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed Within the center.^ King. How may we try it further ? Polonius. You know, sometimes he walks for hours together Here in the lobby. Queen. So he does indeed. Polonius. At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him: Be you and I behind an arras '-' then ; Mark the encounter: if he love her not, And be not from his reason fall'n thereon, Let me be no assistant for a state. But keep a farm and carters. King. We will try it. Qiceen. But, look, where sadly the poor wretch^ comes read- ing. Polonius. Away, I do beseech you, both away. I'll board * him presently. \Exeunt King., Queen^ and Attendants. 1 That is, the center of the earth. 2 Tapestry hangings, with which the principal rooms of houses were dec- orated. They were hung around the room, but, to avoid injury from the dampness of the walls, were not attached to them, but were suspended on frames set out from them ; so that " behind an arras " was a convenient hiding place. The name is from a town in France which had a large trade in these tapestries. 3 " Poor wretch " was frequently used as a term of endearment, generally with a touch of pity in it. 4 Accost. 64 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. Enter Hamlet, reading. O, give me leave: How does my good Lord Hamlet ? Hamlet. Well, God-a-mercy. Polonius. Do you know me, my lord ? Hatnlet. Excellent well ; you're a fishmonger. Polojiuis. Not I, my lord. Hamlet. Then I would you were so honest a man. Polonius. Honest, my lord ! Hamlet. Ay, sir ; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man pick'd out of ten thousand. Polonius. That's very true, my lord. Hamlet. " For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god-kissing carrion " — Have you a daughter ? Polonius. I have, my lord. [Aside] Still harping on my daughter : yet he knew me not at first ; he said I was a fish- monger. He is far gone, far gone: and truly in my youth I suffer'd much extremity for love ; very near this. I'll speak to him again. — What do you read, my lord ? Hamlet. Words, words, words. Polonius. What is the matter, my lord ? Hwilet. Between who ? ^ Polonius. I mean, the matter that you read, my lord. Hafulet. Slanders, sir ; for the satirical rogue says here that old men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkl'd, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams : all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down ; for yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward. Polonius. [Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method in't. — Will you walk out of the air, my lord ? Hajnlet. Into my grave. Polofiius. Indeed, that is out o' the air. [Aside] How preg- 1 Whom. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 65 nant ' sometimes his replies are! a happiness that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be deliv^er'd of. I will leave him, and suddenly contrive the means of meeting between him and my daughter. — My honorable lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you. Hamlet. You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal ; except my life, except my life, except my life. Polo)iius. Fare you well, my lord, Hamlet. These tedious old fools ! Enter Rosencraxtz and GuiLDENSTERN. Polojiius. You go to seek the Lord Hamlet ; there he is. Rosciicraiitz. \To Polonius\ God save you, sir ! \Exit Poloiiius. Guihknstcrn. My honor'd lord ! Rosencrantz. My most dear lord ! Hamlet. My excellent good friends ! How dost thou, Guild- enstern ? Ah, Rosencrantz ! Good lads, how do you both ? Rosencrantz. As the indifferent - children of the earth. Guildenstern. Happy, in that we are not over happy ; On Fortune's cap we are not the very button. Hamlet. Nor the soles of her shoe ? Rosencrantz. Neither, my lord. Hamlet. What's the news ? Rosencrantz. None, my lord, but that the world's grown honest. Hamlet. Then is doomsday near ; but your news is not true. Let me question more in particular: what have you, my good friends, deserv'd at the hands of Fortune, that she sends you to prison hither ? Guildenstern. Prison, my lord ! Hamlet. Denmark's a prison. Rosencrantz. Then is the world one. Hamlet. A goodly one ; in which there are many confines,^ wards,"* and dungeons, Denmark being one o' the worst. 1 Apt. 2 Average. 3. Places of confinement. * Cells for safe keeping. 5 66 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. Rose7icrantz. We think not so, my lord. Hamlet. Why, then, 'tis none to you ; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison. Rose7icra}itz. Why, then, your ambition makes it one ; 'tis too narrow for your mind. Hamlet. O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. Guildensterii. Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. Hamlet. A dream itself is but a shadow. Roseiicrantz. Truly ; and I hold ambition of so airy and light a quality that it is but a shadow's shadow. Hamlet. Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs and outstretch'd heroes the beggars' shadows. Shall we to the court? for, by my fay,^ I cannot reason. Rosencraiitz. ),,,,„. ^ .-, > \v e 11 wait upon you. Gutlae?iste?'n. ) Hamlet. No such matter : I will not sort ^ you witli the rest of my servants, for, to speak to you like an honest man, I am most dreadfully attended. But, in the beaten way of friendship, what make you ^ at Elsinore ? Rosenci'antz. To visit you, my lord ; no other occasion.^ Hamlet. Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks ; but I thank you: and sure, dear friends, my thanks arc too dear a halfpenny. Were you not sent for ? Is it your own inclining ? Is it a free visitation ? Come, deal justly with me : come, come ; nay, speak. Giiildensteni. What should we say, my lord ? Hamlet. Why, anything, but to the purpose. You were sent for ; and there is a kind of confession in your looks which your modesties have not craft enough to color.^""' I know the good King and Queen have sent for you. 1 Faith. 2 Class. ^ See Note 4, p. 32. 4 Motive. 5 Cover. SCENE !i.] HAMLET. 67 Rosencrantz. To what end, my lord ? Hamlet. That you must teach me. But let me conjure you, by the rights of our fellowship, by the consonancy ^ of our youth, by the obligation of our ever-preserved love, and by what more dear a better proposer could charge you withal, be even and direct with me, whether you were sent for, or no ? Rosencrantz. [Aside to Guildenstern\ What say you ? Hamlet. \Aside\ Nay, then, I have an eye of you. — If you love me, hold not off. Giiildenstern. My lord, we were sent for. Hamlet. 1 will tell you why ; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the King and Queen molt - no feather. I have of late — but wherefore I know not — lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises : and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory ; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majesti- cal roof fretted ^ with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is 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. My lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts. Hamlet. Why did you laugh, then, when I said, " man delights not me "? Rosencrantz. To think, my lord, if you dehght not in man, what lenten entertainment^ the players shall receive from you. ^ Harmonious intimacy. 2 Lose, or shed. 3 Ornamented. * Exact ; fitted to its purpose. 5 " Paragon of animals," i.e., without a peer among animals. *> " Lenten entertainment," i.e., scanty welcome. 68 SHAKESPEARE. [act ir. We coted ^ them on the way ; and hither are they coming, to offer you service. Hamlet. He that plays the king shall be welcome ; his Majesty shall have tribute of me ; the adventurous knight shall use his foil and target; the lover shall not sigh gratis; the humorous man shall end his part in peace ; the clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o' the sere ; - and the lady shall say her mind freely, or the blank verse shall halt for't. What players are they ? Rose7icraiitz. Even those you were wont to take delight in, the tragedians of the city. Ha7nlet. How chances it they travel ? their residence, both in reputation and profit, was better both ways. Rosencrantz. I think their inhibition comes by the means of the late innovation. ^ Hamlet. Do they hold the same estimation they did when I was in the city ? Are they so follow'd ? Rose7icrantz. No, indeed, are they not. Hamlet. How comes it ? Do they grow rusty ? Rose?ici-a7itz. Nay, their endeavor keeps in the wonted pace. But there is, sir, an aerie'* of children, little eyases,^ that cry out on the top of question, ^ and are most tyrannically ' clapped for't. These are now the fashion, and so berattle the common stages — so they call them — that many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose quills, and dare scarce come thither.^ ^ Overtook and passed. 2 " Make those laugh," etc., i.e., make those laugh who are easily excited to mirth. The " sere," or " sear," is the catch of a gunlock. 3 Collier (as quoted by Furness) remarks: "This passage [inhibition comes, etc.] probably refers to the limiting of public performances [in Lon- don] to the two^ theaters, the Globe and the Fortune, in i6oo and i6oi. The players by a ' late innovation-' were ' inhibited,' or forbidden to act in or near the city, and therefore traveled, or ' strolled,' into the country." 4 A brood, or nest. 5 Young hawks ; figuratively, unfledged novices. 6 " Cry out," etc., i.e., assert superiority; proclaim themselves superior. ■^ Vehemently. 8 " These are noAv the fashion," etc., i.e., " These young hawks make such SCENE II.] HAMLET. 69 Ha7nlet. What, are they children ? who maintains 'em ? how are they escoted? ^ Will they pursue the quality '- no longer than they can sing? wall they not say afterwards, if they should grow themselves to common players — as it is most like, if their means are no better — their wTiters do them wrong, to make them ex- claim against their own succession ? Rosciicrautz. 'Faith, there has been much to do on both sides ; and the nation holds it no sin to tarre^ them to controversy. There was, for a while, no money bid for argument,'* unless the poet and the player w^ent to cuffs in the question. Hamlet. Is't possible ? Guildenstern. O, there has been mucli throwing about of brains. Hainlet. Do the boys carry it away ? Rosencrantz. Ay, that they do, my lord ; Hercules and his load 5 too. Hamlet. It is not very strange ; for mine uncle is King of Den- mark, and those that would make mows at him while my father liv'd give twenty, forty, fifty, an hundred ducats apiece for his picture in little. 'Sblood, there is something in this more than natural, if philosophy could find it out. \^Flourish of trumpets with'm. Giiildensteru. There are the players, Hamlet. Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands, come then. The appurtenance of welcome is fashion a noise on the common stage, that the dramatists, whose wit is as keen as a rapier, are afraid to encounter these chits who fight, as it were, with a goose quill." — Rev. C. E. Moherly. 1 Paid. 2 Profession, or calling. ^ Urge ; incite. •* Plot of a play. 5 "Hercules and his load:" we read in classic mythology that Atlas, one of the Titans, having assisted the giants in their war against the gods, Jupiter condemned him to bear the heavens upon his sl^oulders ; and it is further fabled that Hercules (see Note 3, p. 32), in return for a favor granted him by Atlas, relieved the Titan of his burden. (See Guerber's Myths of Gerece and Rome, p. 228.) Possibly there is an allusion in the text to the Globe Theater, in which Shakespeare was interested. Its sign was Hercules bearing a globe. 70 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. and ceremony: let me comply with you in this garb/ lest my extent to the players, which, I tell you, must show fairly outward, should more appear like entertainment than yours. You are welcome; but my uncle-father and aunt- mother are deceiv'd. Giiildensiern. In what, my dear lord ? Hamlet. I am but mad north-northwest: when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.^ Reenter PoLONlUS. Polonhis. Well be with you, gentlemen ! Hamlet. Hark you, Guildenstern ; — and you too ; — at each ear a hearer : that great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling clouts. Rosencrantz. Happily^ he's the second time come to them; for they say an old man is twice a child. Hamlet. I will prophesy he comes to tell me of the players ; mark it. You say right, sir : o' Monday morning ; 'twas so in- deed. Polonius. My lord, I have news to tell you. Hamlet. My lord, I have news to tell you. When Roscius was an actor in Rome, — Polonius. The actors are come hither, my lord. Hamlet. Buz, buz ! ^ Polonius. Upon mine honor, — Hamlet. Then came each actor on his ass, — Polonius. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, com- edy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical- historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus^ 1 " Let me comply with you in this garb," i.e., let my welcome to you have this outward formality. 2 " Know a hawk from a handsaw " (originally " hernshaw," a heron) was an old proverbial expression in Shakespeare's time. 3 Haply ; perhaps. 4 Fudge ; idle talk. 2 " Seneca," etc. : " The tragedies of Seneca were translated into Ene- SCENE II.] HAMLET. 71 too light. For the law of writ and the liberty/ these are the only- men. Hamlet. O Jephthah, judge of Israel,^ what a treasure hadst thou ! Poloiiius. What a treasure had he, my lord ? Hamlet. Why, " One fair daughter ., and no more, The which he loved passing welly PoloJiiiis. [Aside] Still on my daughter. Hamlet. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah ? Polonius. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter that I love passing well. Hamlet. Nay, that follows not. Polo?iius. Wliat follows, then, my lord ? Hamlet. Why, ''As by lot, God wot;' and then, you know, *' // came to pass, as most like it was^' — the first row'^ of the pious chanson'* will show you more; for look, where my abridgment •'' comes. — Ente}- four or five Players. You are welcome, masters ; welcome, all. I am glad to see thee well. Welcome, good friends. — O, my old friend ! thy face is lish . . . and publishedin 1581- One comedy of Plautus . . . was likewise translated and published in 1565." — Warton. 1 " Law of writ," etc., i.e., adhering to their text, or extemporizing when necessary. 2 For the story of Jephthah and his daughter, see Judg. xi. 30-40. Ham- let quotes from an old ballad founded on this story. 3 Stanza. 4 " Pious chanson," i.e., a kind of Christmas carol containing some scrip- tural history thrown into loose rhymes, and sung about the streets by com- mon people when they went at that season to solicit alms. 5 Further along in this scene Hamlet speaks of the players as " the ab- stracts and brief chronicles of the time." (See p. 76.) 72 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. valanc'd ^ since I saw thee last : com'st thou to beard me in Denmark? — What, my young lady and mistress 1 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, hke a piece of uhcurrent gold, be not crack\P within the ring. — Masters, you are all welcome. We'll e'en to't like French falconers, fly at anything we see : we'll have a speech straight. Come, give us a taste of your quality ; come, a passionate speech. First Player. What speech, my lord ? Hajiilet. 1 heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was never acted ; or, if it was, not above once, for the play, I remember, pleas'd not the million; 'twas caviare^ to the general i^ but it was — as I receiv'd it, and others, whose judgments in such mat- ters cried in the top of mine^ — an excellent play, well digested in the scenes, set down with as much modesty as cunning. I re- member, one said there were no sallets in the lines to make the matter savory, nor no matter in the phrase that might indict " the author of affection,^ but call'd it an honest method, as whole- some as sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine. ^ Fringed, referring here to the player's beard. 2 Coryat in his Crudities (i6ii), quoted in a note in Johnson and Steevens^s Shakespeare (edition 1785), describes the " chopine," which he calls " chap- iney." He says, " There is one thing used by the Venetian women . . . ^vhich is so common that no woman whatsoever goeth Avithout it, either in her house or abroad, — a thing made of wood covered with leather of sundn' colors, some white, some redde, some yellow. It is called a chapiney, which they wear under their shoes. TTiere are many of these chapineys of great height, . . . which maketh many of these women, which are very short, seeme much taller than the tallest women we have in England." 3 Changed too much for use. This is said to the youth who acted women's parts. There were no women on the stage in England before the reign of Charles II. 4 A Russian condiment prepared from the roes of sturgeon and other fish. It needed an acquired taste to relish it. 5 People generally, 6 See Note 6, p. 68. ■^ Accuse. 8 Affectation. SCENE II.] HAMLET, 73 One speech in it I chiefly lov'd : 'twas Eneas' tale to Dido,^ and thereabout of it especially, where he speaks of Priam's slaughter. If it hve in your memory, begin at this line : let me see, let me see — ^''The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcania7i beast,^^'^ — it is not so : it begins with Pyrrhus. ' ' The rugged Pyrrhus^ he whose sable arms, Black as his purpose j did the night resemble When he lay couched in the ominous horse j^ Hath flow this dread and black complexion smear'' d With heraldry^ more disfnal ; head to foot Now is he total gules j ^ horridly trick^d^ With blood of fat hers y mothers, daughters^ sons, Bak^d and itnpasted with the parching streets. That lend a tyrannous a?id damned light To their vile T?iurders. Roasted in wrath and fire, And thus o'er-sized"^ with coagulate gore, 1 " Eneas' tale to Dido," as related in Virgil's ^neid, is that ^^neas, a Trojan prince, after the destruction of Troy by the Greeks, set sail with his followers, intending to found a colony in Italy. His vessels were driven by a storm on to the coast of Africa, where he was hospitably welcomed and entertained by Dido, Queen of Carthage, whose heart he quite won by his manly bearing and his eloquent description of incidents in the siege of Troy. According to the poem, Priam Avas the King of Troy, Hecuba was his Queen, and Pyrrhus was a general of the Grecian forces. 2 " Hyrcanian beast," i.e., the tiger. Hyrcania was a name given by the ancients to a territory of uncertain extent lying south of tne Caspian Sea. It was supposed by old writers to be a land of tigers. s " Ominous horse," i.e., an eftormous wooden horse constructed by the Greeks, which, by an artifice, the Trojans Avere persuaded to bring within their walls. In the night a band of Greeks concealed in it released themselves, opened the gates of the town to the Grecian warriors waiting without, who, rushing in, pillaged and burned the city. 4 " Smear'd with heraldry," i.e., painted with colors used in heraldic devices. 5 Red. ^ Besmeared. "^ " Size," or " sizing," is a kind of glue. 74 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. With eyes like carbimdes,^ the hellish Pyrrhus Old grajidsire Pi^iain seeks.'''' So, proceed you. Polo7iius. 'Fore God, my lord, well spoken, with good accent and good discretion. First Player. '^Ano7i he finds him Striki?ig too short at Greeks : his an'tique sword, Rebellions to his arm, lies where it falls, Repugnant to command. Uneqnal match'' d, Pyrrhus at Priam drives j in rage strikes wide ; But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword The unnerved father falls. Then senseless Iliiiin^^ Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top Stoops to his base, atid with a hideoiis crash Takes prisoner Pyrrhtis' ear : for, lo I his sword. Which was declining 07i the milky head Of reverend Priam, seetn'd V the air to stick : So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood, And like a neutral to his will and matter, Did nothing. But, as we often see, against some storm, A silence in the heavens, the rack '^ stand still, The bold winds speechless, and the orb below As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder Doth rend the region; * so, after Pyrrhus'' pause, Aroused vengeance sets him new awork ; And never did the Cyclops' ^ hammers fall On Ma'^s^s^ ar?nor forged for proof eterne'^ 1 " Eyes like carbuncles," i.e., eyes blood-red as carbuncles. 2 Priam, the King of Ilium (Troy). 3 Clouds. 4 The air. 5 " The Cyclops " were Titans of gigantic stature, having but one eye each, — a large round one, — which flamed fiercely from the middle of the forehead. They assisted Vulcan, who forged Jupiter's thunderbolts, and made armor for the gods and heroes of antiquity. 6 The god of war of classic mythology. '^ " Proof eterne," i.e., absolutely proof against all assaults. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 75 With less remorse ^ than Pyrr hits'' bleeding sword Now falls on Priam . Out, out, inconstant Fortune ! All you gods, In general synod, take away her power ; Break all the spokes and fellies '^ from her wheel, And bowl the round nave^ down the hill of heaven, As low as to the fiends I " Polonius. This is too long. Hamlet. It shall to the barber's, with your beard. — Prithee, say on : — he's for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps. — Say on ; come to Hecuba. First Player. " Btit who, O, who had seen the mob led ^ Queen " — Hamlet. " The mobled Queen ? " Polonius. That's good ; " mobled Queen " is good. First Player. ^^Run barefoot up and down, threafning the flames With bisson rheum j^ a clout upon that head Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe. About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins, A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up ; Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep' d, ''Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounced : But if the gods themselves did see her then, When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious spo7't In mincing with his sword her husband'' s limbs. The instant burst of clamor that she made, Unless things mortal move them not at all. Would have made milch ^ the bui-ning eyes of heaven, And passion'^ in the gods. '^ Polonius. Look, whether he has not turn'd his color, and has tears in's eyes. Pray you, no more. 1 Compassion. 2 Pieces of wood on which the tire that binds the wheel is laid. 3 Hub. 4 Muffled. 5 Blinding tears. 6 Moist. '^ Pity. 76 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. HcDulet. 'Tis well; I'll have thee speak out the rest soon. — Good my lord, will you see the players well bestow'd ? Do you hear, let them be well us'd ; for they are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time : after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live. Polofiiiis. My lord, I will use them according to their desert. Hamlet. 'Od's bodykins, man, much better ! Use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping ? Use them after your own honor and dignity : the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in. Polo7ii2is. Come, sirs. Hamlet. Follow him, friends : we'll hear a play to-morrow. \Exit Polonhis with all the Players but the First.] Dost thou hear me, old friend ? Can you play the Murder of Gonzago ? Pirst Player. Ay, my lord. Hamlet. We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a need, study 1 a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines which I would set down and insert in't, could you not ? First Player. Ay, my lord. Hamlet. Very well. Follow that lord ; and look you mock him not. \Exit First Player.] My good friends, I'll leave you till night : you are welcome to Elsinore. Rosen crantz. Good my lord ! Hamlet. Ay, so, God be wi' ^ ye. [Fxeujit Rosejicrantz a7id Gnildeiisterii. 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, 1 Commit to memory. 2 " God be wi' you " is a step, in the abbreviation of " God be with you," to our " good-by." 3 The idea he had conceived. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 77 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 Plecuba ! 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 appall 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! 'vSwounds, I should take it ! for it cannot be But I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall 1 Mental and bodily energy. 2 Prompting ; technically, among players, the last word of the preceding speech prefixed to the speech of an actor to let him know that he is to come on the stage. 3 Mope. * " ' John-a-dreams ' (i.e., ' of dreams ') means only ' John the dreamer,' a nickname, I suppose, for any ignorant, silly fellow. Thus the puppet for- merly thrown at during the season of Lent was called ' Jack-a-lent,' and the ignis fatuus, ' Jack-a-lantern.' " — Johnson and Steevens : Shakespeare (edition 1785). 5 Incapable. 6 Ruin. 78 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. 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 ! O, vengeance ! Why, what an ass am I ! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a wench, unpack my heart with words. And fall acursing, like a very drab, A scullion ! Fie upon't ! foh ! About," my brain ! I have heard That guilty creatures sitting at a play Have by the very cunning of the scene Been struck so to the soul, that presently They have proclaim'd their malefactions ; - For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ, I'll have these players Play something like the murder of my father, Before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks; I'll tent ^ him to the quick : if he but blench,^ I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be the devil ; and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape ; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits. Abuses me to damn me.^ I'll have grounds More relative ^ than this : the play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King. \Exit. 1 Void of natural feeling, '^ Evil deeds, 3 Probe. 4 Shrink with fear. » " Abuses me to damn me," i.e., misleads me to my ruin. ^ To the purpose. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 79 ACT III. Scene I, A Room in the Castle. Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, ami GUILDENSTERN. King. And can you, by no drift of circumstance,^ Get from him why he puts on this confusion, Grating so harshly all his days of quiet With turbulent and dangerous lunacy ? Rosencrantz. He does confess he feels himself distracted ; But from what cause he will by no means speak. Guildcnstern. Nor do we find him forward to be sounded, But with a crafty madness keeps aloof When we would bring him on to some confession Of his true state. Queen. Did he receive you well ? Rosencrantz. Most like a gentleman. Guildenstern. But with much forcing of his disposition. Rosencrantz. Niggard of question, but of our demands ' Most free in his reply. Queen. Did you assay 2 him I'o any pastime ? Rosencra/itz. Madam, it so fell out that certain players We o'erraught on the way: of these we told him ; And there did seem in him a kind of joy To hear of it. They are about the court, And, as I think, they have already order This night to play before him. Polonius. 'Tis most true ; And he beseech'd me to entreat your Majesties To hear and see the matter. Ki?ig. With all my heart ; and it doth much content me 1 " Drift of circumstance," i.e., indirect way. - Tempt. 8o SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. To hear him so inclin'd. Good gentlemen, give him a further edge, And drive his purpose on to these dehghts. Rosencrantz. We shall, my lord. [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. King. ' Sweet Gertrude, leave us too ; For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither, That he, as 'twere by accident, may here Affront 1 Ophelia. Her father and myself, lawful espials, Will so bestow ourselves, that seeing, unseen, We may of their encounter frankly judge, And gather by him, as he is behav'd, I ft be the affliction of his love, or no, That thus he suffers for. Queen. I shall obey you. — And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish That your good beauties be the happy cause Of Hamlet's wildness:^ so shall I hope your virtues Will bring him to his wonted way again, To both your honors. Ophelia. Madam, I wish it may. \Exit Queen. Fotonius. Ophelia, walk you here. — Gracious,^ so please you, We will bestow ourselves. [To Ophelia.] Read on this book ; That show of such an exercise may color Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this, — 'Tis too much prov'd, — that with devotion's visage And pious action we do sugar o'er The devil himself. King. [Aside] O, 'tis too true ! How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience ! The harlot's cheek, beauti'd with plast'ring art, 1 Confront ; meet. 2 Eccentricities. ^ 3 Addressed to the King. r SCENE I.] HAMLET. 8l Is not more ugly to ^ the thing that helps it Than is my deed to my most painted 2 word. O heavy burthen! Folouius. 1 hear him coming: let's wthdraw, my lord. \Exeunt King and Polonius. Enter Hamlet. Hamlet. To be, or not to be ; that is the question : Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them ? To die, — to sleep. — No more ; and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, — 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, — to sleep, — To sleep ! perchance to dream ! ay, there's the rub ; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,^ Must give us pause. There's the respect * That makes calamity of so Jong life ; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely. The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patieut merit of the unworthy takes. When he himself might his quietus^ make With a bare bodkin ? ^ vvho would fardels'^ bear, 1 Compared to, 2 Disguised or hypocritical. 3 " Mortal coil," i.e., the worry and turmoil of this life. * Consideration. 5 Release. " Quietus " is a law terra for the full settlement and satisfac- tion of an account. ♦> The old name for a small dagger. ■^ Burdens. 6 82 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn ^ No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of ? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all ; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sickli'd o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment ^ With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. — Soft you now ! The fair Ophelia ! — Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remembered. Ophelia. Good my lord, How does your honor for this many a day ? Hamlet. I humbly thank you ; well, well, well. Ophelia. My lord, I have remembrances of yours, That I have longed long to redehver. I pray you, now receive them. Hamlet. No, not I ; I never gave you aught. Ophelia. My honor'd lord, I know right well you did ; And with them, words of so sweet breath compos'd As made the things more rich : their perfume lost. Take these again ; for to the noble mind Rich gifts wax ^ poor when givers prove unkind. There, my lord. Hamlet. Ha, ha ! are you honest ? Ophelia. My lord ? Hamlet. Are you fair ? Ophelia. What means your lordship ? 1 Confines ; boundary. ^ " Of great pith and moment,'* i.e., full of matter of vital importance. 3 Grow. SCENE I.] HAMLET. %^ Hamlet. That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to ^ your beauty. Ophelia. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce 2 than with honesty ? Hamlet. Ay, truly ; for the power of beauty will sooner trans- form honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his ^ likeness : this was sometime a par- adox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once. Ophelia. Indeed, my lord, you made me beheve so. Hamlet. You should not have believ'd me ; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock, but we shall relish of it. I loved you not. Ophelia. I was the more deceived. Hamlet. Get thee to a nunnery : why wouldst thou marry with a sinner? I am myself indifferent honest \^ but yet 1 could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me. I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses at my beck^ than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven ? We are arrant knaves, all ; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nun- nery. Where's your father ? Ophelia. At home, my lord. Hamlet. Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool nowhere but in's own house. Farewell. Ophelia. O, help him, you sweet heavens ! Hamlet. If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go ; farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool ; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell. i " Discourse to," i.e., intercourse with. 2 Conversation. 3 See Note i, p. 39. * " Indiflferent honest," i.e., of average honesty. ^ Call. 84 SHAKESPEARE. [act iit. OpJielia. O heavenly powers, restore him ! Hamlet. I have heard of your paintings too, well enough ; God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nickname God's creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't ; it hath made me mad. I say, we will have no more mar- riages : those that are married already, all but one, shall live ; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go. \Exii. Ophelia. O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown ! The courtier's, scholar's, soldier's, eye, tongue, sword ; The expectancy and rose of the fair State, The glass of fashion and the mold of form,i The observ'd of all observers, quite, quite down ! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched. That suck'd the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason. Like sweet bells jangled out of tune, and harsh ; That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth ^ Blasted with ecstasy. O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see ! Reenter KiXG and Polonius. Ki)ig. Love ! his affections do not that way tend ; Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little, Was not like madness. There's something in his soul, O'er which his melancholy sits on brood ; ^ And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose Will be some danger ; Avhich for to prevent, I have in quick determination Thus set it down : he shall with speed to England For the demand of our neglected tribute. 1 " The glass of fashion," etc., i.e., " the model by whom all endeavored to form themselves." — Johnson. 2 " Blown youth," i.e., in the bloom of youth. 3 " Sits on brood," i.e., sits brooding, as the bird on its eggs. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 85 Haply the seas and countries different With variable objects shall expel This something-settled matter in his heart, Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus From fashion of himself.^ What think you on't ? Polonius. It shall do well ; but yet do I believe The origin and commencement of his grief Sprung from neglected love. — How now, Ophelia ! You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said; We heard it all. — My lord, do as you please; But, if you hold it fit, after the play Let his Queen-mother all alone entreat him To show his grief : let her be round with him ; And I'll be plac'd, so please you, in the ear Of all their conference. If she find him not,^ To England send him, or confine him where Your wisdom best shall think. King. It shall be so. Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go. \Exeimt. Scene II. A Hall in the Castle. Enter Hamlet and Players. Hamlet. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you, trippingly on the tongue ; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as Hef the town-crier spoke my hnes. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently ; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temper- ance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious "^ periwig-pated ^ fellow tear a passion to tat- 1 " From fashion of himself," i.e., beside himself; out of his mind. 2 " If she find him not," i.e., if she do not make him disclose his secret. 3 Ranting; roaring. 4 The periwig was a small wig worn by actors. Periwigs were not worn 86 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. ters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings,^ who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipp'd for o'er- doing Termagant; it out-herods Herod i^ pray you, avoid it. First Flayer. I warrant your honor. Hanilei. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature ; for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to natm"e ; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.^ Now, this overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judi- cious grieve ; the censure ■* of the which one must in your allow- ance ^ o'erweigh a whole theater of others. O, there be players that I have seen play, — and heard others praise, and that highly, — not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed, that I have thought some of nature's jour- neymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably. by gentlemen off the stage till the time of Charles 11. Samuel Pepys notes in his Diary: " Nov. 8, 1663. — To church, where I found that my coming in a periwig did not prove so strange as I was afeard it would, for I thought all the church would presently have cast their eyes all upon me." 1 Dr. Johnson notes that " the common people then [in Shakespeare's time] seem to have sat below, as they now sit in the upper gallery, who, not well understanding poetical language, were sometimes gratified by a mimical and mute representation [' dumb show '] of the drama previous to the dia- logue." 2 " Termagant" and " Herod" were personages who frequently appear in the Mysteries and Miracle Plays of the middle ages. They are always represented as violent characters, in which the ranting actor might show to advantage. 3 " His form and pressure," i.e., its form and exact figure. 4 Judgment. 5 Opinion. SCENE II. J HAMLET. 87 First Player. I hope we have reform'd that indifferently ^ with us, sir. Hamlet. O, reform it altogether. And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them ; - for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren '^ spectators to laugh too ; though, in the meantime, some necessary question of the play be then to be considered : that's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready. [Exeunt Players. Enter PoLONius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. How now, my lord ! will the King hear this piece of work ? Polonius. And the Queen too, and that presently. Hamlet. Bid the players make haste. [Exit Polonius ^^ Will you two help to hasten them .^ Rosencraiitz. ) _^^ ^ .,, , > We will, my lord. Guildenstern. ) [Exeufit Posencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet. What ho, Horatio ! Enter HoRATio. Horatio. Here, sweet lord, at your service. Ha7nlet. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man As e'er my conversation cop'd * withal. '^ Measurably. 2 Offhand buffoonery was very common with the stage clowns, many of them having great reputation for their improvised jokes. Johnson and Steevens (Shakespeare, edition 1785, p. 387) have this note: " Stowe informs us, that among the twelve players who were sworn the Queen's servants in 1583 were two rare men; viz., Thomas Wilson for a quick, delicate, refined extemporall witte ; and Richard Tarleton for a wondrous plentifull, pleasant extemporall witt.'''' Again, in Tarleton's News from Purgatory : " I absented myself from all plaies, as wanting that merrye Roscius of plaiers that famosed all comedies so with his pleasant and extemporall invention.^'' 3 Foolish. * " My conversation cop'd," i.e., encountered in my intercourse (with men). 88 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. Horatio. O, my dear lord, — Hamlet. Nay, do not think I flatter ; For what advancement may I hope from thee That no reven'ue hast but thy good spirits, To feed and clothe thee ? Why should the poor be flatter'd ? No, let the candied tongue lick ab'surd pomp, And crook the pregnant ^ hinges of the knee Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear ? Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice, And could of men distinguish, her election Hath seal'd thee for herself ; for thou hast been As one, in suff'ring all, that suffers nothing ; A man that P'ortune's buffets and rewards Hast ta'en with equal thanks : and blest are those Whose blood and judgment'^ are so well commingled That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger To sound what stop^ she please. Give me that man That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart. As I do thee. — Something too much of this. — There is a play to-night before the King ; One scene of it comes near the circumstance. Which I have told thee, of my father's death. I prithee, when thou seest that act afoot,"* Even with the very comment of thy soul Observe mine uncle : if his occulted •' guilt Do not itself unkennel m one speech. It is a damned ghost that we have seen, And my imaginations are as foul As Vulcan's ^ stithy.' Give him heedful note ; 1 Ready. 2 " Blood and judgment," i.e., passionate impulse and calm reason. 3 The stops in a musical instrument are the holes on which the finger is placed to regulate the passage of the air, the sound. 4 In progress. 5 Concealed. 6 See Note 5, p. 74. 7 Smith's shop. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 89 For I mine eyes will rivet to his face, And after, we will both our judgments join In censm-e of his seeming.^ Horatio. Well, my lord. If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing, And 'scape detecting, I will pay the theft. Hamlet. They are coming to the play ; I must be idle : Get you a place. Danish march. A flourish. £nfer King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, RosENCRANTZ, Guildenstern, and others. King. How fares our cousin Hamlet ? Ha7nlet. Excellent, i' faith; of the chameleon's dish:- I eat the air, promise- cramm'd. You cannot feed capons so. King. I ha^'e nothing with this answer, Hamlet : these words are not mine. Hamlet. No, nor mine now. \To Polonins\ My lord, youplay'd once i' the university,-'^ you say ? Polonius. That did I, my lord ; and was accounted a good actor. Hamlet. What did you enact ? Polonius. I did enact Julius Caesar: I M^as killed i' the Capi- tol ; ^ Brutus kill'd me. i " Our judgments," etc., i.e., compare our opinions as to the impression made on liim. ^ The body of the chameleon is so translucent, that the color of the animal changes with the color of the objects near it. This apparently unsubstantial nature of the chameleon doubtless gave rise to the popular belief that it fed on air. 3 " The practice of acting Latin plays [by undergraduates] in the univer- sities of Oxford and Cambridge is very ancient, and continued to near the middle of the last century. They were performed occasionally for the enter- tainment of princes and other great personages, and regularly at Christmas." — Malone. 4 According to Plutarch, Caesar v>'as not assassinated in the Capitol, but in the porch of Pompey's theater. 90 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. Hamlet. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there. — Be the players ready ? Rosencrafitz. Ay, my lord ; they stay upon your patience. Queen. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me. Ha?nlet. No, good mother, here's metal more attractive. Fo ion ins. [To the King] O, ho ! do you mark that ? Hamlet. Lady, shall I lie in your lap ? [Lying doivn at Ophelia's feet. Ophelia. No, my lord. Hamlet. I mean, my head upon your lap ? Ophelia. You are merry, my lord. Hamlet. Who, I ? Ophelia. Ay, my lord. Hamlet. O God, your only jig-maker.^ What should a man do but be merry ? for, look you, how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within's - two hours. Ophelia. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord. Hamlet. So long ? Nay then, let the devil wear black, for I'll have a suit of sables.^ O heavens ! die two months ago, and not forgotten yet ? Then there's hope a great man's memory may outlive his hfe half a year: but, by'r lady, he must build churches, then ; or else shall he suffer not thinking on, with the hobbyhorse,* whose epitaph is, " For. O, for, O, the hobbyhorse is forgot." 1 A jig, in Shakespeare's clay, was not only a dance, but also a ludicrous ballad or dialogue. In The Hog has lost his Pearl, published in 1614, one of the players comes in to solicit a gentleman to write a jig for him. 2 Within this. 3 " A suit of sables " Mas the richest and most magnificent dress that could be worn in Denmark. 4 Furness (New Variorum Shakespeare, vol. iii. p. 249) quotes Nares' note describing the hobbyhorse: " A small horse; also a personage belonging to the ancient morris dance when complete . . . being the figure of a horse fastened round the waist of a man, his own legs going through the body of the horse and enabling him to walk, but concealed by a long footcloth, while false legs appeared where those of the man should be, — at the sides of the horse." SCENE II.] HAMLET. 91 Hautboys play. The Dumb Show enters. Enter a King and a Queen very lovingly ; the Queen embracing him, and he her. She kneels, and makes show of protestation unto him. He takes her tip, and declines his head itpon her neck ; lays him doT.vn 1 upon a bank of flowers : she, seeing hii/i asleep, leaves him. Anon comes iji a fellozv, takes off his crozvn, kisses it, and pours poison in the King's ears, and exit. The Queen returns, fnds the King dead, and makes passionate action. The Poisoner, zuith some two or three Mutes, comes in again, seeming to lainent with her. The dead body is carried away. The Poisoner zvooes the Queen tvith gifts: she seejus loath and unwilling a while, but in the end accepts his loz'e. [Exeunt. OpJieUa. What means this, my lord ? Hamlet. Marry, this is miching mallecho ; 2 it means mis- chief. Ophelia. Behke ^ this show imports the argument* of the play. Enter Prologue. Hamlet. We shall know by this fellow : the players cannot keep counsel ; they'll tell all. Ophelia. Will he tell us what this show meant ? ' Hamlet. Ay, or any show that you'll show him : be not you asham'd to show, he'll not shame to tell you what it means. Ophelia. You are naught, you are naught, I'll mark the play. Prologue. For us, and for our tragedy, Here stooping to your clemency. We beg your hearing patiently. \Exit. Hamlet. Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring ? ^ Ophelia. 'Tis brief, my lord. Hamlet. As woman's love. 1 " Lays him clown," i.e., he lies down. 2 " Miching mallecho," i.e., secret mischief. 3 Probably. 4 Plot. 5 " Posy of a ring," i.e., the motto inscribed in a ring. Such mottoes were often in verse, and necessarily brief. 92 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. Enter hvo Players, King, and Queen. Player King. Full thirty times hath Phoebus' ^ cart- gone round Neptune's salt wash,^ and Tellus'^ orbed ground, And thirty dozen moons with borrow 'd sheen ^ About the world have times twelve thirties been, Since love our hearts, and Hymen ^ did our hands, Unite commutual in most sacred bands. Player Queen. So many journeys may the sun and moon Make us again count o'er ere love be done ! But, woe is me, you are so sick of late. So far from cheer and from your former state, That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust. Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must ; For women's fear and love holds quantity ; In neither aught, or in extremity. Now, what my love is, proof hath made you know ; And as my love is siz'd, my fear is so. Where love is great, the httlest doubts are fear ; Where little fears grow great, great love grows there. Player King. 'Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly too ; My operant " powers their functions leave ^ to do : And thou shalt live in this fair world behind, Honor'd, belov'd ; and haply one as kind For husband shalt thou — Player Queen. O, confound the rest ! Such love must needs be treason in my breast : In second husband let me be accurst ! None wed the second but who kill'd the first. 1 Another name for Apollo, the god of day, and often used by the classic poets to signify the sun. 2 Car. 3 " Salt wash," i.e., the ocean; the briny sea. * The earth. 5 Luster. 6 The god of marriage. 7 Working; active. ^ Cease. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 93 Hamlet. \Aside\ Wormwood, wormwood. Player Qiieeji. The instances ^ that second marriage move Are base respects of thrift,'-^ but none of love. Playei' Khig. I do beHeve you think what now you speak ; But what we do determine oft we break. Purpose is but the slave to memory, Of violent birth, but poor vahdity;^ Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on tlie tree, But fall unshaken, when they mellow be. Most necessary ^ 'tis that we forget To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt ; What to ourselves in passion we propose, The passion ending, doth the purpose lose. The violence of either grief or joy Their own enactures ^ with themselves destroy : Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament ; Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident. This world is not for aye, nor 'tis not strange That even our loves should with our fortunes change ; For 'tis a question left us yet to prove, Whether love lead fortune, or else fortune love. The great man down, you mark his favorite flies ; The poor advanc'd makes friends of enemies. And hitherto doth love on fortune tend ; ^ For who not needs shall never lack a friend. And who in want a hollow friend doth try. Directly seasons'^ him his enemy. But, orderly to end where I begun, Our wills and fates do so contra'ry run. That our devices still are overthrown ; Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own : 1 Inducements. 2 " Respects of thrift," i.e., considerations of gain. 3 Value. 4 Allowable. 5 Resolutions. 6 Attend. 7 Ripens. ? 94 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. So think thou wilt no second husband wed ; But die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead. Player Queen. Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven light ! Sport and repose lock from me day and night ! To desperation turn my trust and hope ! An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope ! ^ Each opposite that blanks ^ the face of joy Meet what I Avould have well, and it destroy ! Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife, If, once a widow, ever I be wife ! Hamlet. If she should break it now! Player King. 'Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here a while ; My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile The tedious day with sleep. \Sleeps. Player Queen. Sleep rock thy brain ; And never come mischance between us twain ! \^^Exit. Hamlet. Madam, how like you this play ? Queen. The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Hamlet. O, but she'll keep her word. King. Have you heard the argument ? Is there no offense in't ? Hamlet. No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest : no offense i' the world. King. What do you call the play ? Hamlet. The Mouse-trap. Marry, how ? Tropically.^ This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna. Gonzago is the duke's name ; his wife, Baptista. You shall see anon ; 'tis a knavish piece of work ; but what o' that ? Your Majesty, and we that have free souls, it touches us not : let the gall'd jade wince,"^ our withers ^ are unwrung. 1 " An anchor's cheer," etc., i.e., may I be limited to an anchorite's (her- mit's) fare and confinement. 2 Bhmches ; makes pale. 3 Figuratively; from " trope," a rhetorical figure. 4 " Let the gall'd jade wince " was a proverbial saying. 5 The part of the horse, between the shoulders, on which the strain of the collar falls when the animal is pulling a load. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 95 Enter Lucianus. This is one Lucianus, nephew to the King. Ophelia. You are as good as a chorus,^ my lord. Hamlet. I could interpret between you and your love, if I could see the puppets dallying. Ophelia. Still better, and worse. Hamlet. So you must take your husbands. — Begin, murderer ; leave thy damnable faces, and begin. Come : " The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge." Lucianus. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing ; Confederate season,- else no creature seeing ; Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected,^ With Hecate's * ban ^ thrice blasted, thrice infected, Thy natural magic and dire property On wholesome life usurp immediately. \Pours the poison into the sleeper's ears. Hamlet. He poisons him i' the garden for's estate. His name's Gonzago : the story is extant, and writ in choice Italian. You shall see anon^ how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife. Ophelia. The King rises. Hamlet. What, frighted with false fire ! Quee7i. How fares my lord ? Polonius. Give o'er the play. 1 The " chorus," in the sense in which Shakespeare uses it here, is a per- sonage who explains the action of the play at its beginning, or at intervals of the performance, as in some of the poet's dramas, Henry V., for instance. 2 " Confederate season," i.e., the time favoring. 3 " Midnight weeds collected," since poisonous herbs were believed to be all the more noxious if gathered in tlie dark. 4 A daughter of Perses and Asterias, known as Diana on the earth, Luna in heaven, and Hecate or Proserpina in the lower regions. She was supposed to preside over witchcraft and enchantments. In Shakespeare's verse the word always has two syllables, — Hec'ate. 5 Curse. 6 Soon. g6 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. King. Give me some light ! — away ! All. Lights, lights, lights ! \Exeunt all but Hamlet and Horatio. Hainlet. Why, let the stricken deer go weep, The hart ungalled play ; For some must watch, while some must sleep : So runs the world away. Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers, ^ — if the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me,*-^ — with two Provincial roses ^ on my raz'd shoes,-* get me a fellowship in a cry ^ of players, sir .? Horatio. Half a share.^ Hamlet. A whole one, I. For thou dost know, O Damon dear ! This realm dismantled was Of Jove himself ; and now reigns here A very, very — pajock.'^ Horatio. You might have rhym'd. Hamlet. O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a thou- sand pound. Didst perceive ? Horatio. Very well, my lord. 1 "A forest of feathers:" Malone notes that it appears from Dekker's Gull's Hornbook, that feathers were much worn on the stage in Shakespeare's time. 2 " Turn Turk with me," i.e., deal cruelly with me. *' To turn Turk and throw stones at the poor " was a proverbial expression for one who was tyran- nical and hard-hearted. 3 " Provincial roses," i.e., rosettes of ribbon in the form of roses of Pro- vence. 4 " Raz'd shoes," i.e., shoes slashed in the forei^art with ornamental cuts. 5 Company. 6 Malone says, and refers to the Account of the Ancient Theaters, " The actors in our author's day did not have annual salaries, as at present. The whole receipts of the theater were divided into shares, . . . and each actor had one or more shares or part of share, according to his merit." "' Peacock. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 97 Hamlet. Upon the talk of poisoning ? Horatio. 1 did very well note him. Hamlet. Ah, ha I Come, some music ! come, the recorders ! ^ For if the King like not the comedy, Why, then, belike, he likes it not, perdy.2 Come, some music ! Reenter Rosencraxtz and Guildenstern. Guildenstern. Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with you. Hamlet. Sir, a whole history. Guildenstern. The King, sir, — Hamlet. Ay, sir, what of him ? Guildenstern. Is in his retirement marvelous distemper'd.^ Hamlet. With drink, sir ? Guildenstern. No, my lord, rather with choler. Hamlet. Your wisdom should show itself more richer ^ to sig- nify this to his doctor ; for, for me to put him to his purgation would perhaps plunge him into far more choler. Guildenstern. Good my lord, put your discourse into some frame,^ and start not so wildly from my affair. Hatnlet. I am tame, sir: pronounce. Guildenstern. The Queen your mother, in most great affliction of spirit, hath sent me to you. Hamlet. You are welcome. Guildenstern. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the right breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do your mother's commandment : if not, your pardon and my return shall be the end of my business. Hamlet. Sir, I cannot. Guildenstern. What, my lord ? 1 A musical instrument resembling a flageolet. 2 Corrupted from the French par Dieu. 3 Disordered. 4 See Note 5, p. 53. 5 Coherence. 7 98 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. Hatnlet. Make you a wholesome answer ; my wit's diseased : but, sir, such answer as I can make, you shall command ; or, rather, as you say, my mother: therefore no more, but to the matter. My mother, you say, — Rosencrantz. Then, thus she says : your behavior hath struck her into amazement and admiration. 1 Hamlet. O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother ! But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration ? Impart. Rosencrantz. She desires to speak with you in her closet ere you go to bed. Hainlet. We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have you any further trade with us ? Rosencrantz. My lord, you once did love me. Hamlet. So I do still, by these pickers and stealers. ^ Rosencrantz. Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper ? you do, surely, bar the door upon your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend. Hamlet, Sir, I lack advancement. Rosencrantz. How can that be, when you have the voice of the King himself for your succession in Denmark ? Hamlet. Ay, sir, but " While the grass grows," — the proverb is something musty. Reenter Players 7vith recorders. O, the recorders ! let me see one. — To withdraw with you: — w^hy do you go about to recover the wind of me,^ as if you would drive me into a toil ? 1 Wonder. 2 " ' Hands,' says Dr. Johnson, and rightly. But the phrase is taken from our [English] Church Catechism, where the catechumen, in his duty to his neighbor, is taught to keep his hands from ' picking and stealing.' " — Wh ALLEY. "^ " Recover the wind of me " is a hunting phrase, and means to cause the game to run with the wind, that it may not scent the snare toward which it is driven. SCENE II. J HAMLET. 99 Giiildeiisterii. O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmamierly. Hamlet. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe ? Guildensterti. My lord, I cannot. Hatfilet. I pray you. Guildenstern. Believe me, I cannot. Hamlet. I do beseech you. Guildensterji. I know no touch of it, my lord. Hamlet. 'Tis as easy as lying: govern these ventages ^ with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these are the stops. Giiildenstei'n. But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony : I have not the skill. Hamlet. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me ! You would play upon me ; you would seem to know my stops ; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery ; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass:- and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ ; yet can- not you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be play'd on than a pipe ? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret^^ me, yet you cannot play upon me. — Enter Polomus. God bless you, sir ! Polojiius. My lord, the Queen would speak with you, and pres- ently.* Hamlet. Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel ? Polonius. By the mass, and 'tis hke a camel, indeed. 1 Holes. - " The range of a musical instrument, from its highest to its lowest note." 3 Annoy ; with a play on the word " fret," in its meaning of " stop," or guide to the fingers on the strings of a guitar. * Immediately. lOO SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. Hamlet. Methinks it is like a weasel. Poloniiis. It is back'd like a weasel. Hamlet. Or like a whale ? Polonius. Very like a whale. Hamlet. Then I will come to my mother by and by. \Aside\ They fool me to the top of my bent.^ — I will come by and by. Polonius. I will say so. Hamlet. By and by is easily said. \^Exit Polonius.] Leave me, friends. \Exeimt all but Hamlet. 'Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world : now could I drink hot blood, And do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on. Soft ! now to my mother. heart, lose not thy nature ; let not ever The soul of Nero 2 enter this firm bosom : Let me be cruel, not unnatural. 1 will speak daggers to her, but use none ; My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites : How in my words soever she be shent,^ To give them seals never, my soul, consent ! \Exit. * Scene II L A Room i)i the Castle. Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. King. I like him not, nor stands it safe with us To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you: I your commission will forthwith dispatch. And he to England shall along with you. 1 " Top of my bent," i.e., utmost. 2 Lucius Domitius Nero was one of the most dissolute and cruel of the Roman emperors. He caused his mother's assassination, and murdered his divorced wife; and " popular suspicion pointed to him as the author of the conflagration" when Rome was burned A.D. 64. 3 Reproached. SCENE III.] HAMLET. 10 1 The terms of our estate may not endure Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow Out of his lunacies. Guildensterii. We will ourselves provide. Most holy and religious fear it is To keep those many many bodies safe That live and feed upon your Majesty. Rosencrantzy<\\i& single and peculiar life ^ is bound, With all the strength and armor of the mind, To keep itself from noyance ; ^ but much more That spirit upon whose weal ^ depend and rest The lives of many. \ The cease ^ of majesty Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw What's near it with it : it is a massy wheel, Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount. To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things Are mortis'd and adjoin'd ; which, when it falls, Each small annexment, petty consequence. Attends the boisterous ruin. - Never alone Did the King sigh, but with a general groan. King. Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage ; For we will fetters put upon this fear,^ Which now goes too free-footed. Guildenstern. ) ,Tr -n i > We will haste us. Rosena'antz. ) [Exeufit Rose7icrantz and Guildenstern. Enter POLONIUS. Polonius. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet. Behind the arras I'll convey myself, To hear the process ; I'll warrant she'll tax him home : ^ And as you said, and wisely was it said, ^- " The single and peculiar life," i.e., the private individual. 2 Harm. 3 Welfare. 4 Decease. ^ The object of fear. ^ " Tax him home," i.e., rate him soundly. I02 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. Tis meet that some more audience than a mother, Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear The speech, of vantage. ^ Fare you well, my liege: I'll call upon you ere you go to bed, And tell you what I know. King. Thanks, dear my lord. \Exit Folonius. O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven ; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, A brother's murder. Pray can I not, Though inclination be as sharp as will : My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent ; And, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect. What if this cursed hand Were thicker than itself with brother's blood, Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens To wash it white as snow ? Whereto serves mercy But to confront - the visage of offense ? 'And what's in prayer but this twofold force, — To be forestalled ere we come to fall. Or pardon'd being down ?^ Then I'll look up: My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer Can serve my turn ? " Forgive me my foul murder ? " That cannot be ; since I am still possess'd Of those effects for which I did the murder, — My crown, mine own ambition, and my Queen. May one be pardon'd, and retain the offense ? In the corrupted currents of this world Offense's gilded hand ^ may shove by justice, 1 " Of vantage," i.e., " from the vantage ground of concealment." 2 Face, or face down. 3 " Forestalled," etc., i.e., to be delivered from the temptation of sin, or pardoned after its commission. 4 " OfTense's gilded hand," i.e., the offender's gold. scEXE III.] HAMLET. 103 And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself Buys out the law ; '^^ut 'tis not so above : There is no shuffling, there the action lies ^ In his - true nature ; and we ourselves compell'd, Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, To give in evidence. What then ? w^hat rests ?^ Tr}^ what repentance can : what can it not ? Yet what can it when one can not repent ? O wretched state ! O bosom black as death ! O limed •* soul, that, struggling to be free, Art more engag'd ! Help, angels ! Make assay ! Bow, stubborn knees ; and, heart with strings of steel. Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe ! All may be well. [Retires ajid kiieels. Enter Hamlet. Hamlet. Now might I do it pat,^ now he is praying ; And now I'll do it. And so he goes to heaven ; And so am I reveng'd. That would be scann'd : A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send V To heaven. O, this is hire and salary, not revenge. He took my father grossly, full of bread ; ^ With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May ; And how his audit "^ stands who knows save Heaven ? But in our circumstance and course of thought, 'Tis heavy with him; and am I then reveng'd, 1 Is to be maintained ; the legal sense of the word. 2 See Note i, p. 39. ^ Remains. 4 As with birdlime, a viscous substance with which fowlers smeared the twigs and branches near birds' nests. The feet of the birds becoming entangled in it, the hunter easily captured his prey. 5 This moment. 6 " Full of bread," i.e., in luxurious living. '7 Account. I04 SIIAKESFEAKE. [act hi. To take him in the purging of his soul, When he is fit and season 'd for his passage ? No ! Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent.^ When he is drunk, asleep, or in his rage, At gaming, swearing, or about some act That has no relish of salvation in't, 'I'hen trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, And that his soul may be as damn'd and black As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays. This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. \Exit. . King. \Risi7ig\ My words fly up, my thoughts remain below : Words without thoughts never to heaven go. \ExU. Scene IV. The Queen's Closet. Enter QuEEN and POLONIUS. Polonms. He will come straight.^' Look you lay home to him : Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, And that your Grace hath screen'd and stood between Much heat and him. I'll sconce^ me even here. Pray you, be round with him. Hamlet. \ Wiihiii\ Mother, mother, mother ! Queen. I'll warrant you, Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming. [Folonius hides behi?id the arras. Enter Hamlet. Ha7nlet. Now, mother, what's the matter ? Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. Hamlet. Mother, you have my father much offended. 1 Hold, or purpose. ^ Straightway ; without delay. 3 Hide. SCENE IV.] HAMLET, 105 Quee?i. Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. Hamlet. Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. Quee7i. Why, how now, Hamlet ! Hajnlet. What's the matter now ? Queen. Have you forgot me ? Hamlet. No, by the rood,i not so: You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife ; And — would it were not so ! — you are my mother. Queen. Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak. Hwilet. Come, come, and sit you down ; you shall not budge : You go not till I set you up a glass Where you may see the inmost part of you. Queen. What wilt thou do ? thou wilt not murder me ? Help, help, ho ! Polonius. \Behind\ What, ho ! help, help, help ! Hamlet. \Drawing\ How now ! a rat ? Dead, for a ducat, dead I S^Makes a pass through the arras. Polonius. [Behind] O, I am slain ! [Falls and dies. Queen. O me, what hast thou done ? Hamlet. Nay, I know not : Is it the King ? Queen. O, what a rash and bloody deed is this ! Hajulet. A bloody deed ! almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king, and marry with his brother. Queen. As kill a king ! Ha7nlet. Ay, lady, 'twas my word.— [Lifts up the arras., and discovers Polonius. Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell ! I took thee for thy better : take thy fortune ; Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger. — Leave wringing of your hands.\ Peace ! sit you down, And let me wring your heart ; for so I shall, If it be made of penetrable stuff, 1 Crucifix. " It would appear that in earlier times the rood signified not merely the cross, but the image of Christ upon it." — Dyce. io6 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. If damned custom have not brass'd it so That it be proof and bulwark against sensed Queen. What have I done, that thou dar'st wag thy tongue In noise so rude against me ? Hamlet. Such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty ; Calls virtue hypocrite ; takes off the rose From the fair forehead of an innocent love, And sets a blister there ; makes marriage vows As false as dicers' oaths : O, such a deed As from the body of contraction 2 plucks The very soul, and sweet religion makes A rhapsody of words : heaven's face doth glow ; Yea, this solidity and compound mass,^ With tristful visage, as against the doom. Is thought- sick at the act. Queen. Ah me, what act, That roars so loud, and thunders in the index ?* Hamlet. Look here, upon this picture, and on this, The counterfeit presentment ^ of two brothers. See, what a grace was seated on this brow ; Hyperion's ^ curls ; the front "^ of Jove ^ himself ; An eye hke Mars,^ to threaten and command ; 1 Feeling. 2 The marriage contract. 3 " Solidity and compound mass," i.e., the solid earth. 4 Shakespeare uses " index " for title or prologue. " The index was for- merly placed at the beginning of a book, not at the end, as now." — Ed- wards. 5 *' Counterfeit presentment," i.e., portrait or likeness. 6 See Note 6, p. 31. "^ The face and head. 8 " Jupiter, Jove, or Zeus, king of the gods, supreme ruler of the universe, . . . the most prominent of all the Olympian divinities : the others were obliged to submit to his will, and trembled at his all-powerful nod." — Gi'ER- BER : Myths of Greece and Rome, p. 39. 9. See Note 6, p. 74. scKXK IV.] HAMLET. 107 A station ^ like the herald Mercury - New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill ; A combination and a form indeed, Where every god did seem to set his seal, To give the world assurance of a man : This was your husband. Look you now what follows. Here is your husband ; like a mildew'd ear. Blasting his wholesome brother.*^ Have you eyes ? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed, And batten ^ on this moor ? Ha ! have you eyes ? You cannot call it love ; for at your age The heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble, And waits upon the judgment ; and what judgment Would step from this to this ? Sense, sure, you have. Else could you not have motion ; but sure, that sense Is apoplex'd ; for madness would not err, Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd ^^ But it reserv'd some quantity of choice, To serve in such a difference. What devil was't That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman Wind ? ^ Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans ' all, Or but a sickly part of one true sense Could not so mope.^ Queen. O Hamlet, speak no more ! Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul ; And there I see such black and grained spots 1 Attitude; presence. 2 '* Mercury," son of Jupiter and Maia, messenger of the gods, and patron of travelers, merchants, etc., was remarkable for his agility and graceful movement. 3 See Gen. xli. 5-7. 4 Feed grossly. 5 Enslaved. 6 " Hoodman blind," i.e., blindman's buff. ' A French word signifying " without." s " So mope," i.e., be so dull. ^ io8 SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. As will not leave their tinct.^ These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears : No more, sweet Hamlet ! Hamlet. A murderer and a villain ; A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe Of your precedent lord ; a vice of kings ; - A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, And put it in his pocket ! Queeji. No more ! Hamlet, A king of shreds and patches, — Enter Ghost. Save me, and hover o'er me with your wnngs, You heavenly guards ! — What would your gracious figure? Queen. Alas, he's mad ! Ha7nlet. Do you not come your tardy son to chide, I'hat, laps'd in time and passion,^ lets go by The important acting of your dread command ? O, say ! Ghost. Do not forget. This visitation Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose. But, look, amazement on thy mother sits : O, step between her and her fighting soul ; Conceit * in weakest bodies strongest works. Speak to her, Hamlet. Hamlet. How is it with you, lady ? 1 " Such black and grained spots," etc., i.e., stains so thoroughly ingrained that they cannot be removed. 2 " A vice of kings," i.e., a buffoon king; alluding to the vice, or clov^^n, in the old Moral Plays, in which vice and virtue were frequently personated. 3 " Laps'd in time and passion " is thus explained by Dr. Johnson : " that having suffered time to slip, and passion to cool, lets go by," etc. ^ Imagination. SCENE IV. J HAMLET. 109 Queen. Alas, bow is't with you, That you do bend your eye on vacancy, And with the incorporal 1 air do hold discourse ? Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep ; And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,"'^ Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son, Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look ? Hamlet. On him, on him ! Look you, how pale he glares ! His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones. Would make them capable.^ — Do not look upon me; Lest with this piteous action you convert My stern effects:'* then what I have to do Will want true color ; tears, perchance, for blood. Queen. To whom do you speak this ? Ha7nlef. Do you see nothing there ? Queen. Nothing at all ; yet all that is I see. Hamlet. Nor did you nothing hear ? Queeti. No, nothing but ourselves. Hamlet. Why, look you there ! look, how it steals away ! My father, in his habit as he liv'd ! Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal ! \Exit Ghost. Queen. This is the very coinage of your brain: This bodiless creation ecstasy Is very cunning in. Hamlet. Ecstasy ! My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time. And makes as healthful music. It is not madness That I have utter'd : bring me to the test, J Bodiless. 2 " Life in excrements," i.e., in sucli excrescences as hair, nails, etc., which have no life in themselves. s Susceptible. * Purposes or resolutions. no SHAKESPEARE. [act hi. And I the matter will reword, which madness Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace, Lay not that flattering unction to your soul, That not your trespass, but my madness, speaks : It will but skin and film the ulcerous place, Whiles rank corruption, mining all within, Infects unseen. Confess yourself to Heaven; Repent what's past ; avoid what is to come ; And do not spread the compost on the weeds, To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue ; For in the fatness of these pursy times ^ Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg, Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good. Queen. O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. Ila/nlet.\0, throw away the worser part of it, And live the purer with the other half. Good night ; but go not to mine uncle's bed : Assume a virtue, if you have it not. That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat, Of habits devil, is angel yet in this, That to the use of actions fair and good He likewise gives a frock or livery, That aptly is put on.^ For use almost can change the stamp of nature, And either master the devil, or throw him out With wondrous potency. Once more, good night ; And when you are desirous to be bless'd, I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord, [Pointing to Polonius. i " Fatness of these pursy times," i.e., times grown insolent through gross indulgence. 2 "That monster, custom," etc., i.e., to paraphrase the passage, that monster, custom, which by " mere repetition " destroys in us the sense of evil in our bad actions, is an angel in this, that by the same habitual use it makes easy the practice of that which is good. SCENE IV.] HAMLET. in I do repent ; but Heaven hath pleas'd it so, To punish me w^ith this, and this with me, That I must be their scourge and minister. I will bestow i him, and will answer well The death I gave him. So, again, good night. ^ I must be cruel, only to be kind : Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind. _ One word more, good lady. Queen. ^A'hat shall I do ? Hamlet. Not this, by no means, that I bid you do : Let the bloat King pinch wanton on your cheek ; ^Make you to ravel all this matter out, That I essentially am not in madness. But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know ; For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise. Would from a paddock, ^ from a bat, a gib,^ Such dear concernings hide ? who would do so ? No, in despite of sense and secrecy, Unpeg the basket on the house's top, Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape, To try conclusions,^ in the basket creep, And break your own neck down. Queen. Be thou assur'd, if words be made of breath, And breath of life, I have no life to breathe What thou hast said to me. Hamlet. I must to England ; you know that ? Queen. Alack, I had forgot : 'tis so concluded on. Hamlet. There's letters seal'd ; and my two schoolfellows, Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,-'' They bear the mandate ; they must sweep my way, And marshal me to knavery. Let it work ; 1 Find a place for, 2 A toad. ^ A cat. 4 Experiments. 5 Still having their fangs. 112 SHAKESPEARE. [act iv. For 'tis the sport to have the enginer ' Hoist ^ with his own petar: ^ and't shall go hard But I will delve one yard below their mines, And blow them at the moon. O, 'tis most sweet, When in one line two crafts directly meet ! This man shall set me packing : I'll lug the corse into the neighbor-* room. Mother, good night. ""• Indeed this counselor Is now most still, most secret, and most grave, Who was in hfe a foohsh, prating knave. — Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you. — Good night, mother. [Exeunt severally; Hamlet dragging in Folonius. ACT IV. Scene I. A Room in the Castle. Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. King. There's matter in these sighs : these profound heaves You must translate ; 'tis fit we understand them. Where is your son ? Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while. \Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night ! King. What, Gertrude ? How does Hamlet ? Queen. Mad as the sea and wind when both contend Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit, Behind the arras hearing something stir, Whips out his rapier, cries, " A rat, a rat ! " And in this brainish ^ apprehension kills The unseen good old man. 1 Engineer. 2 Hoisted; blown up. 3 petard. ^ Neighboring. 5 Crazy. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 1 13 King. O heavy deed ! It had been so with us, had»vve been there. His Kberty is full of threats to all; To you yourself, to us,^ to everyone. Alas ! how shall this bloody deed be answer'd ? It will be laid to us, whose providence ^ Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt,^ This mad young man : but so much was our love, We would not understand what was most fit ; But like the owner of a foul disease, To keep it from divulging, let it feed Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone ? Queen. To draw apart * the body he hath kill'd ; O'er whom his very madness, like some ore^ Among a mineral^ of metals base, Shows itself pure. He weeps for what is done. King. O Gertrude, come away ! The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed We must, with all our majesty and skill, Both countenance and excuse. — Ho, Guildenstern ! Reenter ROSENCRANTZ and GuiLDENSTERN. Friends both, go join 3'ou with some further aid. Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain. And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him. Go seek him out ; speak fair,^ and bring the body Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this. [Exeunt Rosen€ra4iiz and Guildenstern, Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends, ^ " To us," i.e., to myself; the King using the royal style. 2 Precaution. ^ " Out of haunt," i.e., in seclusion; away from company. * Aside. 5 Precious ore ; gold. ^ Mine. " Gently. 8 114 SHAKESPEARE. [act iv. And let them know both what we mean to do, And what's untimely done : so, haply, slander, Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, As level as the cannon to his blank,i Transports his poison'd shot, may miss our name. And hit the woundless air. O, come away ! My soul is full of discord and dismay. \Exeunt. 'Scene II. Another Room in the Castle. Enter Hamlet. Hamlet. Safely stowed. Rosencrantz. ^ r „.j^;„.,,j Hamlet ! Lord Hamlet ! Guilden stern. ) Hainlet. But soft, what noise ? who calls on Hamlet ? O, here they come. Enter Rosencrantz aitd Guildenstern. Roseficra7itz. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body ? Hamlet. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin. Rosencrantz. Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence, And bear it to the chapel. Haifilet. Do not believe it. Rose7icrantz. Believe what ? Hamlet. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge, what rephcation - should be made by the son of a king ? Rosencrantz. Tak« you me for a sponge, my lord ? Hamlet. Ay, sir, that soaks up the King's countenance,^ his re- wards, his authorities. But such officers do the King best service 1 The white spot in the center of the target; from the French hlanc ("white"). 2 Reply ; a legal term in the course of pleading. 3 Favor. SCENE III.] HAMLET, 115 in the end : he keeps them, Hke an ape doth nuts, in the corner of his ja\v;i first mouth'd, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have glean'd, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. Rosencraiitz. I understand you not, my lord. Hamlet, I am glad of it : a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear. Rosencra7itz. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the King. Hamlet, The body is widi the King, but the King is not with the body. The King is a thing — Gtiildenstern, A thing, my lord ! Hamlet. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide, fox, and all after. 2 \Exeiuit. Scene III. Aiwihei' Room in tJie Castle. Enter King, attended. King, I have sent to seek him, and to find the body. How dangerous is it that this man goes loose ! Yet must not we put the strong law on him : He's lov'd of the distracted multitude, Who Hke not in their judgment, but their eyes; And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge-^ is weigh'd. But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even, This sudden sending him away must seem Deliberate pause : diseases desperate grown. By desperate appliance are reliev'd, Or not at all. — Enter RosENCRANTZ. How now ! what hath befall'n ? 1 " Ape doth nuts," etc. " It is the way of monkeys in eating to throw that part of their food which they take up first into a pouch they are provided M'ith on the side of the jaw, and there they keep it till they have done with the rest." — Johnson. 2 The children's game of " whoop," or " hide and seek." 3 Punishment. Ii6 SHAKESPEARE. [act iv. Rosencrantz. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, We cannot get from him. King. But where is he ? Rosencrantz. Without, my lord ; guarded, to know your pleasure. King. Bring him before us. Rosencrajitz. Ho, Guildenstern ! bring in my lord. Enter Hamlet and Guu.denstern. King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius ? Hamlet. At supper. King. At supper ! where ? Ha77ilet. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten : a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet : we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable! service, — two dishes, but to one table : that's the end. King. Alas, alas ! Hamlet. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. Kijig. What dost thou mean by this ? Hamlet. Nothing but to show you how a king may go a pro- gress 2 through the body of a beggar. King. Where is Polonius ? Hamlet. In heaven ; send thither to see : if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. But in- deed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby. King. Go seek him there. \To sone Attendants. Hamlet. He will stay till you come. \Exeu7it Attendants. King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety, — Which we do tender,^ as we dearly grieve 1 Varied. 2 The journeys of state through the country by the kings of England were called " progresses." 3 " Do tender," i.e., have at heart. scKNK HI.] HAMLET. 117 For that which thou hast done, — must send thee hence With fiery quickness : therefore prepare thyself. The bark is ready, and the wind at help,i The associates tend,- and everything is bent For England. Hamlet. For England ! King. Ay, Hamlet. Hcwikt. Good. King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. Hamlet. I see a cherub that sees them. But, come ; for Eng- land ! Farewell, dear mother. King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. Hamlet. My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh ; and so, my mother. Come, for Eng- land ! {Exit. King. Follow him at foot;^ tempt him with speed aboard; Delay it not ; Fll have him hence to-night. Away ! for everything is seal'd and done That else leans on the affair : pray you, make haste. \Exeiint Rosencrantz a?id Guildenstern. And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,^ — As my great power thereof may give thee sense, Since yet thy cicatrice ^ looks raw and red After the Danish sword, and thy free awe ^ Pays homage to us, — thou mayst not coldly set'^ Our sovereign process, which imports at full, By letters con'juring to that effect. The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England ; 1 " At help," i.e., favorable. 2 " Associates tend," i.e., companions wait. 3 " Follow him at foot," i.e., follow close on his footsteps. 4 " Thou hold'st at aught," i.e., has any value with you. 5 Scar. 6 "Free awe," i.e., awe still felt, though Danish arms are no longer enforcing it. ■^ " Coldly set," i.e., treat coldly, or with indifference. Ii8 SHAKESPEARE. [act iv. For like the hectic ^ in my blood he rages, And thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done, Howe'er my haps,^ my joys were ne'er begun. \Exit. Scene IV. A Plain in Denmark. Enter Fortinbras, a Captain, and Soldiers, 7/iarching. Fortinbras. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King ; Tell him that, by his license, Fortinbras Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. If that his Majesty would aught with us. We shall express our duty in his eye ; ^ And let him know so. Captain. I will do't, my lord. Fortinbras. Go softly* on. \Exeunt Fortinbras and Soldiers. Enter Hawlet, Rosencrantz, Guii.denstern, and others. Hafulef. Good sir, whose powers are these ? ^ Captain. They are of Norway, sir. Hamlet. How purpos'd, sir, I pray you ? Captaifi. Against some part of Poland. Ha7nlet. Who commands them, sir } Captain. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. Hamlet. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir, Or for some frontier ? Captain. Truly to speak, and with no addition, 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 farm ^ it ; 1 Fever. 2 " Howe'er my haps," i.e., whatever happens to me. 3 " In his eye," i.e., in his presence. * Gently. 5 " Whose powers are these ? " i.e., whose army is this? 6 Rent. scKNK IV.] HAMLET. 119 Nor will it yield to Norway ^ or the Pole A ranker '-^ rate, should it be sold in fee.^ Hamlet, Why, then the Polack * never will defend it. Captaift. Yes, it is already garrison'd. Hainlet. Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats AVill not debate -^ the question of this straw : This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace, That inward breaks, and shows no cause without Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir. Captain. God be wi' you,^ sir. \Exit. Roseticrantz. Will't please you go, my lord ? Hamlet. I'll be with you straight. Go a little before. \Exeunt all except Hamlet. How all occasions do inform against me. And spur my dull revenge ! What is a man, If his chief good and market'^ of his time Be but to sleep and feed ? a beast, no more. Sure, He that made us with such large discourse,^ Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and godlike reason To fust ^ in us unus'd. Now, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on the event, — A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom And ever three parts coward, — I do not know Why yet I hve to say, " This thing's to do," Sith I have cause and will and strength and means To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me : 1 The King of Norway. 2 Higher. 3 " In fee," i.e., outright; in fee simple. 4 "The Polack," i.e., the Polanders collectively. 5 Fight over. 6 See Note 2, p. 76. '^ Trade ; business ; occupation. 8 " Large discourse," i.e., range of comprehension. 9 Grow stale. I20 SIiAfCESPEARE. [ACT iv. Witness this army, of such mass and charge, Led by a delicate and tender prince, Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,^ Makes mouths at the invisible event, Exposing what is mortal and unsure To all that fortune, death, and danger dare. Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great Is not to stir without great argument,^ But greatly to find quarrel in a straw, When honor's at the stake. How stand I, then. That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd, Excitements of my reason and my blood,^ And let all sleep ? while, to my shame, I see The imminent death of twenty thousand men, That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,* Go to their graves hke beds, fight for a plot Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, Which is not tomb enough and continent ^ To hide the slain ? O, from this time forth, My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth ! \Exit. Scene V. Ehinoj-e. A Room i?i the Castle, Enter Queen, Horatio, atid a Gentleman. Queen. I will not speak with her. Gentleman, She is importunate, indeed distract -.^ Her mood will needs be pitied. Queen. What would she have ? Ge?itle??ian. She speaks much of her father ; says she hears There's tricks i' the world ; and hems, and beats her heart ; 1 Animated. 2 Cause of quarrel. ^ Passion. 4 " Fantasy and trick of fame," i.e., a deceptive appearance promisinc; fame. s That which contains ; receptacle. <» Distracted. scK.NK v.] HAMLET. 121 Spurns enviously ^ at straws ; speaks things in doubt, That carry but half sense : her speech is nothing, Yet the unshaped use of it doth move The hearers to collection \" they aim^ at it, And botch ^ the words up fit to their own thoughts ; Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them, Indeed would make one think there might be thought. Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily. Horatio. 'Twere good she were spoken with ; for she may strew Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. Queeji. Let her come in. \Exit Horatio. To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is, Each toy^ seems prologue^ to some great amiss:" So full of artless jealousy ^ is guilt, It spills itself in fearing to be spilt. Reenter Horatio, ivith Ophelia. Ophelia. Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark ? Queeii. How now, Ophelia? Ophelia. [Sings] How should I your true love know From another one? By his cockle hat and staff. And his sandal shoon.^ Queen. Alas, sweet lady ! what imports this song ? Ophelia. Say you ? nay, pray you, mark. [Sings. 1 " Spurns enviously," i.e., kicks out spitefully at trifling objects in her path. ^ " To collection," i.e., to attempt to put (her speech) into form. 3 Guess. 4 Patch. 5 Trifle. 6 Introduction. "^ Misfortune. 8 Suspicion. 9 " Cockle hat," etc. This is a description of the pilgrim. The shell worn in his hat indicated that he had been, or was going, beyond seas (to the Holy Land). " Shoon " is the old plural of " shoe," a form that was archaic, however, in the Elizabethan age. 122 SHAKESPEARE. [act w. ' He is dead and gone, lady, He is dead and gone : At his head a grass-green tiirf, At his heels a stone. Queen. Nay, but, Ophelia, — Ophelia. Pray you, mark. \Sings. White his shroud as the mountaiii snow, Enter KlXG. Queen. Alas ! look here, my lord. Ophelia. [Sings] Larded with sweet flowers ; Which bewept to the grave did go With truelove showers. King. How do you, pretty lady ? Ophelia. Well, God 'ild you ! ^ They say the owl was a baker's daughter.- Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table ! Ki7ig. Conceit upon her father. Ophelia. Pray you, let's have no words of this ; but when they ask you what it means, say you this ; — \Si7igs. To-morrow is Saint Valentine'' s Day,^ A II in the momifig betime, And I a maid at your window. To be your Valentine. King. How long has she been thus ? Ophelia. I hope all will be well. We must be patient ; but I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him i' the cold 1 " 'Ild you," i.e., reward you. 2 There was an old legendary story current in England, that our Saviour was refused bread by a baker's daughter, who, for her want of charity, was transformed into an owl. ^ " This song alludes to the custom of the first girl seen by a man on the morning of this day [St. Valentine's Day] being considered his valentine, SCENE v.] JIAMLET. 123 ground. My brother shall know of it ; and so I thank you for your good counsel. — Come, my coach ! — Good night, ladies ; good night, sweet ladies ; good night, good night. \Exit. King. Follow her close ; give her good watch, I pray you. \^Exit Horatio. O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude ! When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions. First, her father slain ; Next, your son gone ; and he most violent author Of his own just remove : the people muddied. Thick, and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers, For good Polonius' death; and we have done but greenly,^ In hugger-mugger - to inter him : poor Ophelia Divided from herself and her fair judgment,'*^ Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts ; Last, and as much containing ^ as all these. Her brother is in secret come from France; Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,^ And wants not buzzers to infect his ear W^ith pestilent speeches of his father's death ; Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd. Will nothing stick our person to arraign In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude ! this. Like to a murdering-piece,^ in many places Gives me superfluous death. \A noise within. or truelove. The custom of the different sexes choosing themselves mates on St. Valentine's Day (14th of February), the names being selected either by lot or by methods of divination, is of great antiquity in England." — Halliwell. 1 Unwisely. 2 " In hugger-mugger," i.e., in a hurried and stealthy manner. 3 " Divided from herself," etc., i.e., beside herself; out of her senses. * " As much containing," i.e., of as much importance. 5 " Feeds on his w^onder," etc., i.e., is full of doubt and amazement, and keeps himself in gloomy reserve and suspicion. 6 " Murdering-piece " was a cannon loaded with canister shot. This was 124 SHAKESPEARE. .[ait iv. Queen. Alack 1 what noise is this ? King. Where are my Switzers ? ^ Let them guard the door.— Enter another Gentleman. What is the matter ? Ge7itlema7i. Save yourself, my lord • The ocean, overpeering of his list,^ Eats not the flats ^ with more impetuous haste Than young Laertes, in a riotous head,'* O'erbears your officers. The rabble call him lord ; And, as the world were now but to begin, Antiquity forgot, custom not known, The ratifiers and props of every word, They cry, " Choose we : Laertes shall be King ! " Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds : " Laertes shall be King, Laertes King ! " Queen. How cheerfully on the false trail they cry ! O, this is counter,^ you false Danish dogs ! Kifig. The doors are broke. [Noise within. Enter Laertes, armed; Danes follounng. Lae?'tes. Where is this King ? — Sirs, stand you all without. Danes. No, let's come in. Laertes. I pray you, give me leave. Danes. We will, we will. [ T/iey retire without the door. a case filled with bullets, nails, scraps of iron, etc., which, on striking its mark when discharged from the gun, burst, and scattered the contents. 1 Swiss mercenary soldiers were favorite bodyguards of the kings of Europe in Shakespeare's time. Malone, quoting Nash's Christ's Tears over Jerusa- lem, published in 1594, says, " Law, logicke, and the Switzers may be hired to fight for anybody." 2 " Overpeering of his list," i.e., overflowing its limits. 3 " Eats not the flats," i.e., submerges not the level beach. 4 Armed band. 5 " Counter," as a hunting term, means " tracing the scent backward." SCENE v.] HAMLET. 125 Laertes. I thank you : keep the door. — O thou vile King, Give me ray father ! Queen. Cahnly, good Laertes. Laertes. That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bas- tard. King. What is the cause, Laertes, That thy rebellion looks so giant-like ? — Let him go, Gertrude ; do not fear our person : There's such divinity doth hedge ^ a king, That treason can but peep to what it would, Acts little of his will. — Tell me, Laertes, Why thou art thus incens'd. — Let him go, Gertrude. — Speak, man. Laertes. Where is my father ? King. Dead. Queen. But not by him. King. Let him demand his fill. Laertes. How came he dead ? Lll not be juggled with. To hell, allegiance ! vows, to the blackest devil ! Conscience and grace,^ to the profoundest pit ! I dare damnation. To this point I stand, That both the worlds ^ I give to negligence, Let come what comes; only Lll be reveng'd Most throughly ^ for my father. King. Who shall stay you ? Laertes. My will, not all the world ; And for my means, Lll husband them so well, They shall go far with little. King. Good Laertes, If you desire to know the certainty Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge, 1 Surround. - Religion ; religious feeling. 3 " Both the worlds," i.e., this norld and the world to come. ^ Thoroughly, 126 SHAKESPEARE. [act iv. That, swoopstake/ you will draw both friend and foe, Winner and loser ? Laertes. None but his enemies. Khig. \\\\\ you know them, then ? Laertes. To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms ; And like the kind life-rend'ring pehcan,^ Repast them with my blood. King. Why, now you speak Like a good child and a true gentleman. That I am guiltless of your father's death, And am most sensibly in grief for it. It shall as level to your judgment pierce As day does to your eye. Danes. \ WitJiiji\ Let her come in. Lae^'tes. How now ! what noise is that ? — Reenter Ophei.ia. O heat, dry up my brains ! tears seven times salt. Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye ! — By Heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight, Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May ! Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Opheha ! — O heavens ! is't possible a young maid's wits Should be as mortal as an old man's Hfe ? Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine It sends some precious instance ^ of itself After the thing it loves. 1 Sweepstake; a gambling term, meaning " to gather in all the stakes." 2 This has reference to the old fable, that the pelican pierces her own breast to give sustenance to her young. Dr. Sherwen, as cited by Caldecott m a note quoted by Furness, thus accounts for the origin of the fable: " By the pelican's dropping upon her breast her lower bill to enable her young to take food from its capacious pouch, lined with fine flesh-colored skin, this appearance is, on feeding them, given." 3 Sample. SCENE v.] HAMLET. 127 Ophelia. [Sings] They bore him barefaced on the bier : Hey non 7ioiiny, nonny, hey nonnyj And in his grave rain'd jnany a tear. Fare you well, my dove ! Laertes. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, It could not move thus. Ophelia. [Sings] Yoti must sing a-down a-down, A?i you call him a-dozvii-a. O, how the wheel ^ becomes it ! It is the false steward that stole his master's daughter. Laertes. This nothing's more than matter.^ Ophelia. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance ; pray, love, remember : and there is pansies, that's for thoughts. Laertes. A document'^ in madness ; thoughts and remembrance fitted. Ophelia. There's fennel for you, and columbines : there's rue for you ; and here's some for me : we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays : O, you must wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy : I would give you some violets,'^ but they wither'd all when my father died. They say he made a good end — \Sings. For bonnie sweet Robin is all my joy. Laei'tes. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself. She turns to favor and to prettiness. Ophelia. [Sings] And will he not come again ? And will he not come again ? No, no, he is dead : Go to thy deathbed. He never will come again. i Chorus, or burden. 2 Meaning. 3 A teaching; a lesson. 4 " There's fennel," etc. Fennel is emblematic of flattery, columbine of ingratitude, and rue of sorro\v. The violet is for faithfulness, and the daisy signifies dissimulation. izS SHAKESPEARE. [act iv. His beard was as white as sfiow^ A II flaxen was h is poll : ^ He is gone ^ he is gone. And we cast away moan : 2 God ha"" mercy on his soul f And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God be wi' ye. [Exit. Laertes. Do you see this, O God ? King. Laertes, I must com'mune ^ with your grief, Or you deny me right. Go but apart, Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will. And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me. If by direct or by collateral hand They find us touch'd,^ we will our kingdom give, Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours, To you in satisfaction ; but if not, Be you content to lend your patience to us. And we shall jointly labor with your soul I'o give it due content. Lae?-tes. Let this be so : His means of death, his ob'scure funeral, — No trophy, sword, nor hatchment ^ o'er his bones, No noble rite nor formal ostentation, — Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth. That I must call't in question. King. So you shall ; And where the offense is let the great ax fall. I pray you, go with me. [Exeunt. 1 Head. 2 " We cast away moan," i.e., waste our mourning. 3 Make common cause. 4 Implicated (in the murder of your father). 5 " No trophy," etc. : " Not only the sword, but the hehnet, gantlet, spurs, and tabard (i.e., a coat whereon the armorial bearings were anciently depicted, from whence the term* ' coat of armor ') arc hung over the grave of every knight." — SiR J. Hawkins. SCENE VI.] HAMLET. 129 Scene VI. Another Room in the Castle. Enter Horatio and a Servant. Horatio. What are they that would speak with me ? Servant. Sailors, sir. They say they have letters for you. Horatio. Let them come in. \Exit Servant. I do not know from what part of the world I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet. Enter Sailors. First Sailor. God bless you, sir. Horatio. Let him bless thee too. First Sailor. He shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for you, sir, — -it comes from the ambassador that was bound for Eng- land, — if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know ^ it is. Horatio. [Reads] ^Horatio, when thou shalt have overlook' d this, give these fellows some means'^ to the King : they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike ap- pointment"^ gave us chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled^ valor, and in the grapple I boarded them: on the instant'^ they got clear of our ship, so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves of mercy : but they knew what they did ; I am to do a good turn for thein. Let the King have the letters I have sent ; and repair thou to me with as much speed as thou wouldstfly death. I have words to speak in thi?te ear will make thee dumb ; yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter. ^ These good fellows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for Ejtgland : of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. ^He that thou knowest thijie, Hamlet." 1 " Let to know," i.e., informed. 2 Means of access. 3 Equipment. * Enforced. 5 " On the instant," i.e., at the moment. 6 " For the bore of the matter :" " The bore is the caliber of a gun, or the capacity of the barrel. 'The matter,' says Hamlet, 'would carry heavier words.' " — Johnson. 130 SHAKESPEARE. [act iv. Come, I will make you way for these your letters ; And do't the speedier, that you may direct me To him from whom you brought them. [Exeunt. Scene VII. Ajwther Room in the Castle. Enter King and Laertes. King. Now must your conscience my acquitance seal, And you must put me in your heart for friend, Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear, That he which hath your noble father slain Pursu'd my life. Laertes. It well appears ; but tell me Why you proceeded not against these feats, So crimeful ^ and so capital in nature, / As by your safety, wisdom, all things else, You mainly were stirr'd up. King. O, for two special reasons, Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd,'-^ But yet to me they are strong. The Queen, his mother. Lives almost by his looks; and for myself, — My virtue or my plague, be it either which, — She's so conjunctive to my life and soul,^ That, as the star moves not but in his sphere, I could not but by her. The other motive Why to a public count I might not go. Is the great love the general gender"* bear him; Who, dipping all his faults in their affection. Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone, Convert his gyves to graces;^ so that my arrows, 1 Heinous. 2 " Much unsinew'd," i.e., of little force. 3 " So conjunctive to my life and soul," i.e., so much a part of me. 4 " The general gender," i.e., the masses; the common people. 5 " Convert his gyves to graces," i.e., " were I to put him in bonds, the tetters would only give him a more general favor." — Moberlv. SCENE VII.] HAMLET. 131 Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,i Would have reverted to my bow again, And not where I had aim'd them. Laertes. And so have I a noble father lost ; A sister driven into desperate terms, Whose worth, if praises may go back again,^ Stood challenger on mount of all the age P^or her perfections. But my revenge will come. King. Break not your sleeps for that : you must not think That we are made of stuff so flat and dull, That we can let our beard be shook with danger, And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more : I lov'd your father, and we love ourself ; And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine — Entcj' a Messenger. How now ! what news ? Messenger. letters, my lord, from Hamlet. This to your Majesty ; this to the Queen. Kiftg. From Hamlet ! who brought them ? Messenger. Sailors, my lord, they say ; I saw them not. They were given me by Claudio ; he receiv'd them Of him that brought them. King. Laertes, you shall hear them. — Leave us. \Exit Messenger. [Reads] ^'■High and mighty, You shall know I am set naked on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes; when I shall, first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange return. ''Hamlet." What should this mean ? Are all the rest come back ? Or is it some abuse,^ and no such thing ? 1 " Too slightly timber'd," etc. Steevens quotes from Ascham's Toxopli- ilus : " Weake bowes and lyghte shaftes cannot stande in a rough vvynde." 2 " If praises may go back again," i.e., if I may praise what has been, but is now to be found no more. ^ Deception. 132 SHAKESPEARE, [act iv. Laertes. Know you the hand ? King. 'Tis Hamlet's character.i " Naked ! " And in a postscript here, he says " alone." Can you advise me ? Laertes. I'm lost in it,- my lord. But let him. come : It warms the very sickness in my heart. That I shall live and tell him to his teeth, " Thus didest thou." King. If it be so, Laertes, — As how should it be so ? how otherwise ? — Will you be rul'd by me } Laertes. Ay, my lord ; So you will not o'errule me to a peace. King. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd,— As checking ^ at his voyage, and that he means No more to undertake it, — I will work him To an exploit, now ripe in my device, Under the which he shall not choose but fall ; And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,* But even his mother shall uncharge the practice,^ And call it accident. Laertes. My lord, I will be rul'd ; The rather, if you could devise it so That I might be the organ. King. It falls right. You have been talk'd of since your travel much, And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality Wherein, they say, you shine : your sum of parts 1 Handwriting. 2 " I'm lost in it," i.e., I can make nothing of it ; do not understand it. 3 Turning back, or away from. The phrase is from falconry. The hawk " checks " when it flies off or away from pursuit of the game. 4 " And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe," i.e., for his death, there shall be no suspicion of blame. 5 ** Uncharge the practice," i.e., make no charge or accusation of a plot. SCENE VII.] HAMLET. 133 Did not together pluck such envy from him As did that one, and that, in my regard, Of the unworthiest siege. ^ Laertes. What part is that, my lord ? King. A very riband in the cap of youth,^ Yet needful too ; for youth no less becomes The light and careless hvery that it wears Than settled age his sables and his weeds. Importing health and graveness. Two months since. Here was a gentleman of Normandy. I've seen myself, and serv'd against, the French, And they can well on horseback:^ but this gallant Had witchcraft in't ; he grew unto his seat ; And to such wondrous doing brought his horse. As had he been incorps'd and demi-natur'd With the brave beast :^ so far he topp'd-^ my thought, That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,^ Came short of what he did. Laertes. A Norman was't ? Ki7ig. A Norman. Laertes. Upon my hfe, Lamond. King. The very same. Laej'tes. I know him Avell : he is the brooch indeed And gem of all the nation. King. He made confession of you," And gave you such a masterly report ^ 1 " Unworthiest siege," i.e., least worthy sort or kind. 2 " A very riband," etc., i.e., a mere youthful ornament. 3 " Can well on horseback," i.e., can do well; are good riders. 4 " As had he been," etc., i.e., as though he and^his noble steed were one and the same animal. 5 Went beyond. 6 "That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks," i.e., that anything I had imagined of feats (of horsemanship). "^ " Made confession of you," i.e., admitted your excellence. 8 " Masterly report," i.e., report of masterly skill. 134 SHAKESPEARE. [act iv. For art and exercise in your defense/ And for your rapier most especially, That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed If one could match you : the scrimers - of their nation, He swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye, If you oppos'd them. Sir, this report of his Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy, That he could nothing do but wish and beg Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him. Now, out of this, — Laertes. What out of this, my lord ? Kijig. Laertes, was your father dear to you ? Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, A face without a heart ? Laej'tes. Why ask you this ? Khig. Not tliat I think you did not love your father; But that I know love is begun by time, And that I see, in passages of proof,^ Time qualifies the spark and fire of it. 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 still ; For goodness, growing to a plurisy,* Dies in his own too-much. That \\q would 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 accidents ; And then this '' should " is like a spendtlirift sigh,^ That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer : ^ 1 Self-defense ; use of sword, rapier, etc. ^ Fencers. 3 " Passages of proof," i.e., instances to prove it. ^ Fullness. 5 " Spendthrift sigh," i.e., a wasting sigh. It is an old superstition that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers. 6 " But, to the quick o' the ulcer," i.e., to come to the main point of this business. SCENE VII.] HAMLET. 135 Hamlet comes back : what would you undertake, To show yourself your father's son in deed More than in words ? Laertes. To cut his throat i' the church. King. No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize ;i Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, Will you do this, keep close within your chamber. Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home : We'll put on those .shall, praise your excellence, And set a double varnish on the fame The P^enchman gave you ; bring you in fine ^ together. And wager on your heads. He, being remiss,^ Most generous, and free from all contriving, Will not peruse * the foils ; so that, with ease, Or with a little shuffling, you may choose A sword unbated,^ and in a pass of practice ^ Requite him for your father. Laertes. I will do't ; And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword. I bought an unction of a mountebank. So mortal, that, but dip a knife in it, Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare. Collected from all simples" that have virtue Under the moon, can save the thing from death 1 This word " sanctuarize " does not appear elsewhere. The reference, however, is to an old law of England, which has been greatly modified from time to time by acts of Parliament, under which a person committing any crime, — except treason and sacrilege, -r— and taking refuge in a church, church- yard, or other specified sanctuary, could save his life, if, within forty days thereafter, he confessed his guilt to the coroner, and observed other condi- tions, one of which was to leave the country forthwith. ^ " Bring you in fine," i.e., in the end bring you. 3 Indifferent. * Examine. 5 Without a button on its point. 6 " A pass of practice," i.e., a treacherous thrust; a pass made with this foil, as though ignorant of its being " unbated." '^ Herbs. 136 SHAKESPEARE. [act iv. That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point With this contagion, that, if I gall him sHghtly, It may be death. King. Let's further think of this ; Weigh what convenience both of time and means May fit us to our shape. If this should fail, And that our drift look through ^ our bad performance, 'Twere better not assay'd : therefore this project Should have a back, or second, that might hold. If this should blast in proof. Soft ! let me see ; We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings. I ha't : 2 When in your motion you are hot and dry, — As make your bouts ^ more violent to that end, — And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepar'd him A chalice * for the nonce,^ whereon but sipping, If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,^ Our purpose may hold there. — Enter Queen. How now, sweet Queen ! Qneen. One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow. — Your sister's drown'd, Laertes. Laertes. Drown'd ! O, where ? Qiieen. There is a willow grows aslant '^ a brook, That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream ; There with fantastic garlands did she come. Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples. There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds ^ 1 " Our drift look through," i.e., our purpose be discovered. 2 Have it. ^ Heats, or turns. 4 Cup. 5 " For the nonce," i.e., for the occasion ; for the once. 6 " Your venom'd stuck," i.e., thrust of your poisoned foil. "^ Bending over. 8 " Coronet weeds," i.e., the flowers she had formed into a crown, or chaplet. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 137 Clambering to hang, an envious sliver 1 broke ; When down her weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide, And, mermaid-like, a while they bore her up ; Which time she chanted snatches ~ of old tunes, As one incapable ^ of her own distress, Or like a creature native and indued-* Unto that element : but long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pull'd the poor wretch •'• from her melodious lay To muddy death. Laertes. Alas ! then, she is drown'd ? Queen. Drown'd, drown'd. Laertes. Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia, And therefore I forbid my tears. But yet It is our trick ;6 nature her custom holds. Let shame say what it will : when these are gone, The woman will be out. — Adieu, my lord; I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze. But that this folly douts it."^ \Exit. King. Let's follow, Gertrude. How much I had to do to calm his rage ! Now fear I this will give it start again ; Therefore let's follow. [Exeimt. ACT V. Scene L A Chiarhyard. Enter two Clowns, zvith spades, etc. First Clown. Is she to be buried in Christian burial that will- fully seeks her own salvation ? Second Clown. I tell thee she is ; and therefore make her 1 Small branch. 2 Scraps. 3 Insensible. * Suited. 5 See Note 3, p. 63. 6 Habit. ? See Note 2, p. 43. 138 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. grave straight :^ the crowner ^ hath sat on her, and finds it^ Chris- tian burial. Fh'st Clo7vn. How can that be, unless she drown'd herself in her own defense ? Second ClowJi. Why, 'tis found so. First Clown. It must be se offcndendo ; ^ it cannot be else. For here hes the point : if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act ; and an act hath three branches ; it is, to act, to do, and to perform : argal, she drown'd herself wittingly. Second Clown. Nay, but hear you, goodman delver. First Clown. Give me leave. Here lies the water; good: here stands the man ; good : if the man go to this water and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he goes, — mark you that; but if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not him- self : argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life. Second Clown. But is this law ? First Clown. Ay, marry, is't ; crowner's quest ^ law. Second CloTini. Will you ha' the truth on't ? If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o' Christian burial. First Clown. Why, there thou say'st ; and the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselv^es, more than their even Christian.^ Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and gravemakers ; they hold up Adam's profession. Second ClowJi. Was he a gentleman ? First Clown. A' ^ was the first that ever bore arms. Second Clown. Why, he had none. 1 See Note 2, p. 104. 2 Coroner. 3 " Finds it," i.e., decides it. 4 The gravedigger would have said se deffendendo (Latin : "self-defense") ; and two or three lines below he has argal for the Latin ej-go (" therefore "'). 5 Inquest. ^ Fellow-Christian. ■^ A colloquial abbreviation of " he," often met with in old plays. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 139 First Clown, What, art a heathen ? How dost thou understand the Scripture ? The Scripture says, '* Adam digg'd : " could he dig without arms ? I'll put another question to thee : if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess thyself — Second Clown. Go to.^ First Clown. What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter ? Secofid Clown. The gallowsmaker ; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants. First Clown. I like thy wit well, in good faith : the gallows does well ; but how does it well ? it does well to those that do ill : now thou dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church : argal, the gallow^s may do well to thee. To't again, come. Second Cloian. " Who builds stronger than a mason, a ship- wright, or a carpenter ? " First Clown. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke. 2 Second Clown. Marry, now I can tell. First Clow 71. To't. Second Cloivn. Mass, I cannot tell. Enter Hamlet and Horatio, at a distance. First Cloivn. Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating ; and, when you are ask'd this question next, say, "a gravemaker :" the houses that he makes last till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan : fetch me a stoup ^ of liquor. \Exit Second Clo7vn. [First Clow 71 digs, and si7igs. In youth, when I did love, did love, Methoiight it was very sweety To co7itract, O ! ^ the ti77ie, for, ah ! 77iy behove^ O, 77iethoiight, there was 7iothi7ig 77ieet. 1 Come on (see Note 3, p. 40). 2 Quit. ^ Flagon. 4 The " O's " and " ah's " in the lines the clown sings are no part of the song, but represent his forced breathing as he strikes with his mattock in digging. I40 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. Ha7?ilet. Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he sings at gravemaking ? Horatio. Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness. Hamlet. 'Tis e'en so : the hand of little employment hath the daintier sense.^ Fi7'st Clown. [Sings] But age, with his stealing steps, Hath clawed me in his clntch, And hath shipp'd me intil the land. As if I had never been such. \ Throws up a skull. Hamlet. That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once : how the knave jowls'^ it to the ground, as if it were Cain's jaw- bone, that did the first murder ! It might be the pate of a politician,^ which this ass now o'erreaches ; one that would cir- cumvent God, might it not ? Hoj-atio. It might, my lord. Hajulet. Or of a courtier, which could say, " Good morrow, sweet lord ! How dost thou, good lord ? " This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that prais'd my Lord Such-a-one's horse, when he meant to beg it, might it not ? Horatio. Ay, my lord. Hamlet. Why, e'en so ; and now my Lady Worm's, chapless, and knock'd about the mazzard^ with a sexton's spade. Here's fine revolution, and we had the trick to see't. Did these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at loggats ^ with 'em ? mine ache to think on't. 1 " Hath the daintier sense," i.e., is the more delicately sensitive. 2 Dashes ; throws rudely. 3 Schemer. Shakespeare always uses the word "politician" in a bad sense. 4 Skull. 5 A game played on a floor strewed with ashes. The jack, or mark, was a wheel made of hard wood ; the loggat, of which each player had three, was a truncated cone, held tightly at the thin end ; and the object was to pitch them so as to lie as nearly as possible to the jack. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 141 First Clowfi. [Sings] A pickax, and a spade, a spade, For and a shrouding sheet: O, a pit of clay for to be made For such a guest is meet. [ Throivs up another skull. Hamlet. There's another: why may not that be the skuh of a lawyer ? Where be his quiddities now, his quillets/ his cases, his tenures, and his tricks ? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce - with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery ? Hum ! This fellow might be in's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recog- nizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries:^ is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt ? will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures ? ^ The very conveyances ^ of his lands will hardly lie in this box ; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha ? Horatio. Not a jot more, my lord. Hamlet. Is not parchment made of sheepskins ? Horatio. Ay, my lord, and of calfskins too. 1 " Quiddities " and " quillets," i.e., nice, hair-drawn distinctions and subtilties ; generally applied to the subtilties of lawyers. ^ Head. 3 " His statutes," etc. : Lord Campbell, as quoted by Furness, remarks that " these terms of art are all used seemingly with a full knowledge of their import, and it would puzzle some practicing barristers with whom I am ac- quainted to go over the whole in regular order and to define each of them satisfactorily." 4 This instrument of writing, "a pair of indentures," is thus described by Sir William Elackstone : " If a deed be made by more parties than one, there ought to be regularly as many copies of it as there are parties, and each should be cut or indented (formerly in acute angles, like the teeth of a saw, but at present in waving lines) on the top or side, to tally or correspond with each other; which deed, so made, is called an indenture.'''' 5 Title deeds. 142 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. Hamlet. They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance ^ in that. I will speak to this fellow. — Whose grave's this, sirrah ? First Clown. Mine, sir. \Si7igs. O, a pit of clay for to be made For such a guest is meet. Hamlet. I think it be thine, indeed ; for thou liest in't. First Clown. You lie out on't, sir, and therefore it is not yours : for my part, I do not lie in't, and yet it is mine. Hamlet. Thou dost lie in't, to be in't and say it is thine : 'tis for the dead, not for the quick ;- therefore thou liest. First Clow/i. 'Tis a quick lie, sir : 'twill away again, from me to you. Hamlet. What man dost thou dig it for ? First Clown. For no man, sir. Hamlet. What woman, then ? First Clown. For none, neither. Hamlet. Who's to be buried in't ? First Clown. One that was a woman, sir ; but, rest her soul, she's dead. Hamlet. How absolute ^ the knave is ! we must speak by the card,^ or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken note of it : the age is grown so picked,^ that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.^ — How long hast thou been a gravemaker ? First Clown. Of all the days i' the year, I come to't that day that our last King Hamlet overcame Fortinbras. Hamlet. How long is that since ? . First Clown. Cannot you tell that ? every fool can tell that. It was the very day that young Hamlet was born ; he that is mad, and sent into England. 1 Deeds, usually written on parchment, are called " assurances." ^ " The quick," i.e., the living. 3 Positive. 4 " By the card," i.e., with the utmost precision. ^ Smart. ^ " Galls his kibe," '.e., chafes his chilblain. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 143 Hamlet. Ay, marry, why was he sent into England ? First Clown. Why, because he was mad : he shall recover his wits there ; or, if he do not, it's no great matter there. Hamlet. Why ? First Clown. 'Twill not be seen in him there : there the men are as mad as he. Hamlet. How came he mad ? First Clown. Very strangely, they say. Hamlet. How strangely ? First Clown. Faith, e'en with losing his wits. Hamlet. Upon what ground ? First Cloiun. Why, here in Denmark : I have been sexton here, man and boy, thirty years. Hamlet. How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot ? Fii'st Clown. V faitli, if he be not rotten before he die, — as we have many pocky corses nowadays that will scarce hold the laying in, — he will last you some eight year or nine year: a tanner will last you nine year. Hamlet. Why he more than another ? First Clow/i. Why, sir, his hide is so tann'd with his trade, that he will keep out water a great while ; and your water is a sore decay er of your dead body. Here's a skull now ; this skull has lain in the earth three and twenty years. Hamlet. Whose was it ? First Cloivn. A jolly, mad fellow's it was : whose do you think it was ? Hamlet. Nay, I know not. Fi?'st Clown. A pestilence on him for a mad rogue ! a' poured a flagon of Rhenish ^ on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the King's jester. Hamlet. This ? First Clown. E'en that. Hamlet. Let me see. \Takes the skull] Alas, poor Yorick ! — I knew him, Horatio : a fellow of infinite jest,'^ of most ex- 1 See Note 3, p. 42. ^ Wit. 144 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. cellent fancy : he hath borne me on his back a thousand times ; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is ! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those hps that I have kiss'd I know not how oft. — Where be your gibes now ? your gambols ? your songs ? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on ^ a roar ? Not one now, to mock your own grinning ? quite chap- fallen ? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come ; make her laugh at that. — Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing. Horatio. What's that, my lord ? HaiJilct. Dost thou think Alexander look'd o' this fashion i' the earth } Horatio. E'en so. Hamlet. And smelt so ? pah ! \Puts doivn the skull. Horatio. E'en so, my lord. Hamlet. To what base uses we may return, Horatio ! Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander till he find it stopping a bunghole ? Horatio. 'Twere to consider too curiously,- to consider so. Hamlet. No, faith, not a jot ; but to follow him thither with modesty enough,^ and likelihood to lead it ; as thus : Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth ; of earth we make loam ; and why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beer barrel ? Imperious* Csesar, dead, and turn'd to clay. Might stop a hole to keep the wind away : O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe, Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw ! ^ But soft ! but soft ! aside :^ here comes the King, 1 In. 2 Fancifully. 3 " Modesty enough," i.e., without exaggeration. 4 Imperial. 5 Gust of wind. 6 Step aside. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 145 Enter Priests, etc., in procession; the Corpse ^Ophelia, Laertes and Mourners follo%ving ; King, Queen, their Trains^ etc. The Queen, the courtiers. Who is this they follow, And with such maimed ^ rites ? This doth betoken The corse they follow did with desperate hand Fordo - its own life : 'twas of some estate."^ Couch * we a while, and mark. ^Retiring with Horatio. Laertes. What ceremony else ? Hamlet. That is Laertes, A very noble youth : mark. Laei'tes. What ceremony else ? First Priest. Her obsequies ^ have been as far enlarg'd As we have warranty : her death was doubtful ; And, but that great command o'ersways the order,^ She should in ground unsanctihed have lodg'd Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers. Shards,'' flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her : Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants,^ Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home Of bell and burial.^ Laertes. Must there no more be done ? First Priest. No more be done ! We should profane the service of the dead To sing a requiem and such rest to her As to peace-parted souls. Laertes. Lay her i' the earth ; And from her fair and unpolluted flesh 1 Imperfect. 2 gee Note 3, p. 56. 3 Rank. 4 Hide. 5 Funeral ceremonies. 6 " Great command o'ersways the order," i.e., tlie command or influence of the King overbears the rule of the church. ■7 Broken pottery and other refuse. ^ Garlands. 9 " Maiden strewments," etc., i.e., the strewing of the grave with flowers, and the funeral bell at her burial. 10 146 SHAKESPEARE, [act v. May violets spring ! — I tell thee, churlish priest, A ministering angel shall my sister be, When thou liest howling. Hamlet. What, the fair Ophelia ! Queen. Sweets to the sweet : farewell! \SLattenng flowers. I hop'd thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife ; I thought thy bridebed to have deck'd, sweet maid, And not t' have strew'd thy grave. Laertes. O, treble woe Fall ten times treble on that cursed head Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious ^ sense Depriv'd thee of ! — Hold off the earth a while, Till I have caught her once more in mine arms. [Leaps into the grave. Now pile your dust upon the quick '-^ and dead, Till of this flat a mountain you have made. To o'ertop old Pelion or the skyish head Of blue Olympus.^ LLamlet. \Advancing\ What is he whose grief Bears such an emphasis ? whose phrase of sorrow Conjures the wand'ring stars,* and makes them stand Like wonder-wounded^ hearers ? This is I, Hamlet the Dane. \Leaps into the grave. Laertes. The devil take thy soul ! [ Grappling with him. LLamlet. Thou pray'st not well. I prithee, take th)?- fingers from my throat ; 1 Ready of comprehension. 2 gge Note 2, p. 142. 3 Olympus is a lofty mountain of Thessaly, whose top was supposed by the ancients to touch the heavens ; and " from that circumstance, they placed the residence of the gods there, and made it the court of Jupiter." The Titans, in their war with the gods, endeavored to reach their dwelling place by piling, the one upon the other, Pelion and Ossa, two other mountain peaks of the country. 4 " Wand'ring stars," i.e., the planets in their course. 5 Wonder-stricken. SCENE I.] HAMLET. 147 For, though I am not splenitive ^ and rash, Yet have I something in me dangerous, Which let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand. King. Pluck them asunder. Queen. Hamlet, Hamlet ! All. Gentlemen — Horatio. Good my lord, be quiet. [ The Attendants pai't t/ieni, and they come out of the grave. Ha^nlet. Why, I will fight with him upon this theme Until my eyelids will no longer wag. Queen. O my son, what theme ? Hamlet. I lov'd Ophelia : forty thousand brothers Could not, with all their quantity of love, Make up my sum. — What wilt thou do for her ? King. O, he is mad, Laertes. Queen. For love of God, forbear him. Hamlet. 'Swounds, show me what thou'lt do : Woo't " weep ? woo't fight ? woo't fast ? woo't tear thyself ? Woo't drink up eisel ? "^ eat a crocodile ? ril do't. Dost thou come here to whine ? To outface me with leaping in her grave ? Be buried quick ^ with her, and so will I ; And, if thou prate -'' of mountains, let them throw Millions of acres on us, till our ground. Singeing his pate against the burning zone. Make Ossa ^ like a wart ! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,^ ril rant as well as thou. Queen. This is mere madness : And thus a while the fit will work on him ; 1 " Not splenitive," i.e., not suddenly moved to anger. 2 Wouldst thou. ^ ** Drink up eisel," i.e., quaff down vinegar. 4 Alive. 5 Talk wildly. 6 See Note 3, p. 146. '' "'* An thou'lt mouth," i.e., if thou wilt brag. 148 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. Anon, as patient as the female dove When that her golden couplets are disclos'd,i His silence will sit drooping. Hamlet. Hear you, sir; What is the reason that you use me thus ? I lov'd you ever. But it is no matter ; Let Hercules himself do what he may, The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.^ \Exit. King. I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him. [Exit Horatio. [To Laertes] Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech ; We'll put the matter to the present push.'^ — Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son. — This grave shall have a living •* monument: An hour of quiet shortly shall we see ; Till then, in. patience our proceeding be. [Exeunt. Scene II. A Hall in the Castle. Enter Hamlet and Horatio, Hatnlet. So much for this, sir : now shall you see the other. You do remember all the circumstance ? Horatio. Remember it, my lord ! Hamlet. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting. That would not let me sleep : methought I lay Worse than the mutines ^ in the bilboes.^ Rashly, — 1 Hatched. The dove sits on two eggs ; and the nestlings, when hatched, are covered with downy yellow feathers. 2 " Let Hercules," etc., i.e., nature will take its own course, and Hercules himself, with all his strength, cannot turn it aside. 3 " Present push," i.e., immediate trial. 4 Enduring. 5 Mutineers. 6 " The ' bilboes ' is a bar of iron with fetters annexed to it, by which muti- nous or disorderly sailors were anciently linked together. The word is derived from Bilboa, a place in Spain where instruments of steel were fabricated in SCENE II.] HAMLET. 149 And prais'd be rashness for it, — let us know, Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well When our deep plots do fail ; and that should teach us There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Roughhew them how we will. Horatio. That is most certain. Hamlet. Up from my cabin, My sea gown scarf'd about me, in the dark Grop'd I to find out them ; had my desire ; Finger'd their packet, and in fine withdrew To mine own room again ; making so bold, My fears forgetting manners, to unseal Their grand commission; where I found, Horatio, — O royal knavery ! — an exact command. Larded with many several sorts of reasons Importing ^ Denmark's health and England's too, With, ho ! such bugs and goblins in my life,- That, on the supervise, no leisure bated,^ No, not to stay the grinding of the ax, My head should be struck off. Ho7'atio. Is't possible ? Hamlet. Here's the commission : read it at more leisure. But wilt thou hear me how I did proceed ? Horatio. I beseech you. Hamlet. Being thus benetted round with villainies, — Ere I could make a prologue to my brains, They had begun the play, — I sat me down, Devis'd a new commission, wrote it fair. the utmost perfection. ... As these fetters connect the legs of the ofifenders very close together, . . . every motion of one must disturb his partner in confinement." — Steevens and Johnson: Shakespeare {&^\\.\o\\ 1785)- 1 Concerning. 2 " Bugs and goblins in my life," i.e., bugbear stories of threatened dan- ger, were I allowed to live. 3 " On the supervise, no leisure bated," i.e., on reading the commission, M^ithout the least delay. 150 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. I once did hold it, as our statists ^ do, A baseness to write fair, and labor'd much How to forget that learning ; but, sir, now It did me yeoman's service.- Wilt thou know The effect of what I wrote ? Horatio. Ay, good my lord. Ha}}ilet. An earnest conjuration from the King, As England was his faithful tributary, As love between them like the palm might flourish, As peace should still her wheaten garland ^ wear, And stand a comma ^ 'tween their amities. And many such-like as's of great charge,^ That, on the view and knowing of these contents, Without debatement further, more or less, He should the bearers put to sudden death, Not shriving time allow'd.^ Horatio. How was this seal'd ? Hamlet. Why, even in that was Heaven ordinantJ I had my father's signet in my purse, Which was the model of that Danish seal ; Folded the writ ^ up in form of the other, Subscrib'd it, gave't the impression, plac'd it safely, The changeling ^ never known. Now, the next day 1 Statesmen. 2 " Yeoman's service:" the yeomanry of England in old times were free- holders, well-to-do farmers, and were among the most serviceable of the King's troops. 3 " Wheaten garland," since wheat is symbolical of peace and plenty. 4 " The comma is the note of connection and continuity ; the period is the note of abruption and disjunction." 5 Weight. 6 " Not shriving time allow'd," i.e., no time allowed to confess their sins. '^ Provident. 8 Commission. 9 It was charged against the fairies that they would steal the well-formed and handsome babe from its cradle, and leave a deformed one in its place; and this was called a " changeling." SCENE II. J HAMLET. 151 Was our sea fight ; and what to this was sequent Thou know'st already. Horatio. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to't. Hamlet. Why, man, they did make love to this employment : They are not near my conscience ; their defeat Does by their own insinuation grow.' 'Tis dangerous when the baser nature ^ comes Between the pass and fell incensed points Of mighty opposites.^ Horatio. Why, what a king is this ! Hamlet. Does it not, think'st thee, stand me now upon* — He that hath kill'd my king, and stain'd my mother, Popp'd in between the election and my hopes, Thrown out his angle ^ for m)/- proper ^ hfe, And with such cozenage — is't not perfect conscience,"^ To quit ^ him with this arm ? and is't not to be damn'd, To let this canker of our nature come In 9 further evil ? Horatio. It must be shortly known to him from England What is the issue of the business there. Hamlet. It will be short : the interim is mine ; And a man's life's no more than to say " One." But I am very sorry, good Horatio, That to Laertes I forgot myself; For, by the image of my cause, I see The portraiture of his. I'll court his favors ; 1 " Does by their own insinuation grow," i.e., comes from their having willingly put themselves into the business. 2 " The baser nature," i.e., those inferior in rank and courage. 3 Opponents. 4 " Stand me now upon," i.e., become my unavoidable duty. 5 Hooked fishing line. 6 Very. ■7 " Is't not perfect conscience," i.e., am I not clearly justifiable? 8 Requite. 9 Into. 152 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. But, sure, the bravery ^ of his grief did put me Into a towering passion. Horatio. Peace ! who comes here ? Elite r OsRic. Osric. Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark. Hamlet. I humbly thank you, sir. — Dost know this water-fly ? Horatio. No, my good lord. Hamlet. Thy state is the more gracious ; for 'tis a vice to know him. He hath much land, and fertile: let a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at the King's mess. 'Tis a chough,^ but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt.^ Osric. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should impart a thing to you from his Majesty. Hamlet. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit. Put your bonnet to his right use ; 'tis for the head. Osric. I thank your lordship, it is very hot. Hamlet. No, beheve me, 'tis very cold : the wind is northerly. Osric. It is indifferent cold,* my lord, indeed. Hamlet. But yet methinks it is very sultry and hot for my complexion. 5 Osric. Exceedingly, my lord ; it is very sultry, — as 'twere, — I cannot tell how. But, my lord, his Majesty bade me signify to you that he has laid a great wager on your head. Sir, this is the matter, — Hamlet. I beseech you, remember — \Hamlet moves him to put on his hat. Osric. . Nay, good my lord ; for mine ease, in good faith. Sir, here is newly come to court Laertes ; beheve me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences,^ of very soft society 1 Ostentation. 2 Jackdaw. 3 " Spacious in the possession of dirt," i.e., a large landowner. 4 " Indifferent cold," i.e., somewhat cold. 5 See Note 9, p. 42. 6 " Excellent differences," i.e., distinguishing excellences. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 153 and great showing: indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar of gentry,i for you shall find in him the con- tinent of what part a gentleman would see. Hamlet. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you ; though, I know, to divide him inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of memory, and yet but yaw neither, in respect of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great article ; and his infusion of such dearth and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror; and who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more.- Osric. Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him. Hamlet The concernancy, sir ? why do we wrap the gentle- man in our more rawer breath ? ^ Osric. Sir ? Horatio. Is't not possible to understand in another tongue.? You will do't, sir, really. Hamlet. What imports the nomination 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 approve me. Well, sir ? 1 "The card or calendar of gentry," i.e., a perfect model of all gentle- manly accomplishments. 2 Warburton, in a note in Steevens and Johnson's Shakespeare (edition 1785), remarks on this passage: " It is designed as a specimen and ridicule of the court jargon of his [Shakespeare's] time. The sense in English is : ' He suffers nothing in your account of him, though to enumerate his good qualities particularly would be endless ; yet when we have done our best, it would still come short of him. However, in strictness of truth, he is a great genius, and of a character so rarely to be met with, that, to find anything like him, we must look into his mirror, and his imitators will appear no more than his shadows.' " 3 "The concernancy," etc., i.e., why is it that you have brought this gentleman's name and excellences into our conversation ? 154 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. Osrk. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is — Hat7ilet. I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in excellence ; but to know a man well were to know him- self. Osric. I mean, sir, for his weapon ; but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellow'd. Hamlet, What's his weapon ? Osric. Rapier and dagger. Hamlet. That's two of his weapons ; but, well. Osric. The King, sir, hath wager'd with him six Barbary horses ; against the which he has impon'd,^ as I take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns,- as gii'dle, hangers, and so. Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive to the hills, most delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit.^ Hamlet. What call you the carriages ? Ho7'atio. I knew you must be edified by the margent •^ ere you had done. Osi'ic. The carriages, sir, are the hangers. Hamlet. The phrase would be more germane ^ to the matter if we could carry cannon by our sides : I would it might be hang- ers till then. But, on : six Barbary horses against six French swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited carriages ; that's the French bet against the Danish. Why is this " impon'd," as you call it ? Osric. The King, sir, hath laid, that, in a dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits : he hath laid on twelve for nine ; and it would come to immediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer. Hamlet. How if I answer " no " ? 1 Wagered. 2 Belongings ; accompaniments. 3 " Dear to fancy," etc., i.e., in excellent taste, harmonizing well with the hilts, and elaborately designed. * " Edified by the margent," i.e., would require explanation of Osric's language. 5 Relative. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 155 Os7'ic. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial. Hamlet. Sir, I will walk here in the hall: if it please his Majesty, 'tis the breathing time of day with me ; 1 let the foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the King hold his purpose, I will win for him an 2 I can ; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame and the odd hits. Osric. Shall I redeliver you e'en so ? Hatnlet. To this effect, sir ; after what flourish your nature will. Osric. I commend my duty to your lordship. Hamlet. Yours, yours. \Exit Osi'ic.\ He does well to com- mend it himself ; there are no tongues else for's turn. Horatio. This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.^ Hamlet. He did comply with his dug,* before he suck'd it. Thus has he — and many more of the same bevy that I know the drossy age dotes on — only got the tune of the time and outward habit of encounter ; ^ a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions ; and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out. Enter a Lord. Lord. My lord, his Majesty commended him to you by young Osric, who brings back to him that 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 his 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 time. 1 " Breathing time of clay with me," i.e., my leisure, or resting time. 2 If. 3 " This lapwing runs," etc., i.e., this silly fellow, like the newly hatched lapwing, runs, etc. 4 " He did comply," etc., i.e., he formally begged pardon of the breast. 5 " The tune," etc., i.e., the fashionable manners and phrases of the time. 156 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. Lo7'd. The Queen desires you to use some gentle entertain- ment to Laertes before you fall to play. Hainkt. She well instructs me. \Exit Lord. Horatio. You will lose this wager, my lord. Hamlet. I do not think so : since he went into France, I have been in continual practice ; I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not think how ill all's here about my heart ; but it is no matter. Horatio. Nay, good my lord, — Hamlet. It is but foolery ; but it is such a kind of gaingiving ^ as would perhaps trouble a woman. Horatio. If your mind disHke anything, obey it : I will fore- stall their repair hither, and say you are not fit. Hatnlet. Not a whit ; we defy augury : there's a special provi- dence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come ; if it be not to come, it will be now ; if it be not now, yet it will come : the readiness is all. Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes ? Enter Y..\y,G, Queex, Laertes, Lords, Osric, rt'Wrt' Attendants 7i'ith foils, etc. King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me. [ The King puts Laertes' hand into Hamlefs. Hamlet. Give me your pardon, sir: I've done you wrong; But pardon't, as you are a gentleman. This presence knows, And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd With sore distraction. What I have done That might your nature, honor, and exception 2 Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness. Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes ? Never Hamlet: If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away. And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes, 1 Misgiving. 2 In the sense of " take exception to," i.e., dislike. SCENE II.] IIAMLET. 157 Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it. Who does it, then ? His madness. If't be so, Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd ; His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy. Sir, in this audience, Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil Free me so far in your most generous thoughts. That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house. And hurt my brother. Laertes. I am satisfied in nature. Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most To my revenge ; but in my terms of honor 1 stand aloof, and will no reconcilement. Till by some elder masters, of known honor, I have a voice and precedent of peace. To keep my name ungor'd.^ But till that time I do receive your offer'd love like love, And win not wrong it. Hamlet. I embrace it freely, And will this brother's wager frankly play. — Give us the foils. — Come on. Laertes. Come, one for me. ILamlet. I'll be your foil, Laertes : in mine ignorance Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night. Stick fiery off indeed. ^ Laertes. You mock me, sir. Llamlet. No, by this hand. King. Give them the foils, young Osric. — Cousin Hamlet, You know the wager ? Llauilet. Very well, my lord ; Your Grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side. King. I do not fear it ; I have seen you both: But since he is better'd, we have therefore odds. 1 Unstained. 2 " Stick fiery off indeed," i.e., appear more lustrous from the contrast. 158 SHAKESPEARE. [act v. Laertes. This is too heavy, let me see another. Ha7Jilet. This Hkes me well.^ These foils have all a length ? [ TJiey prepare to play. Osric. Ay, my good lord. King. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table. If Hamlet give the first or second hit, Or quit in answer ^ of the third exchange, Let all the battlements their ordnance fire ; The King shall drink to Hamlet's better breath ; And in the cup an union ^ shall he throw, Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups ; And let the kettle ^ to the trumpet speak. The trumpet to the cannoneer without. The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth, " Now the King drinks to Hamlet." — Come, begin. — And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.^ Hamlet. Come on, sir. Laertes. Come, my lord, [T/iey play. ILamlet. One. Laertes. No. LLamlet. Judgment. Osric. A hit, a very palpable hit. Laei'tes. Well ; again. King. Stay ; give me drink. — Hamlet, this pearl is thine ; Here's to thy health. — [ Trumpets sound., and cannon shot off within. Give him the cup. LLamlet. I'll play this bout first ; set it by a while. — Come. [They play.] Another hit; what say you ? 1 " This likes me well," i.e., I like this well. 2 " Quit in answer," i.e., deliver a hit in retaliation. 3 A pearl of the finest and most valuable kind was so called. 4 Kettledrum. 5 " Bear a wary eye," i.e., watch the playing closely. SCENE II.] HAMLET, 159 Lae7'tcs. A touch, a touch, I do confess. King. Our son shall win. Qtceeji. He's fat, and scant of breath. — Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows: The Queen carouses 1 to thy fortune, Hamlet. Hamlet. Good madam ! Kijig. Gertrude, do not drink. Queen. I will, my lord : I pray you, pardon me. King. \Aside\ It is the poison'd cup : it is too late. Hamlet. I dare not drink yet, madam ; by and by. Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face. Laertes. My lord, I'll hit him now. Ki7ig. I do not think't. Lae?'tes. [Aside] And yet 'tis almost 'gainst my conscience. Hamlet. Come, for the third, Laertes. You but dally ; I pray you, pass with your best violence. I am afeard you make a wanton of me.^ Laertes. Say you so ? come on. \They play. Osric. Nothing, neither way. Laertes. Have at you now ! \Laei'tes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Lae?'tes. Kifig. Part them ; they are incens'd. Hamlet. Nay, come, again. [The Queen falls. Osric. Look to the Queen there, ho ! Horatio. They bleed on both sides. — How is it, my lord ? Osric. How is't, Laertes ? Laertes. Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe,^ Osric ; I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery. Hamlet. How does the Queen? King. She swoons to see them bleed. Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink, — O my dear Hamlet ! — The drink, the drink ! I am poison'd. [Dies. 1 Drinks. 2 " Make a wanton of me," i.e., trifle as with a child. 3 See Note 4, p. 40. i6o SHAKESPEARE. [act v. Hamlet. O villainy ! Ho ! let the door be lock'd. Treachery ! Seek it out. Laertes. It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain ; No medicine in the world can do thee good ; In thee there is not half an hour of life : The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, Unbated and envenom'd. The foul practice ^ Hath turn'd itself on me ; lo, here I lie, Never to rise again. Thy mother's poison'd ; I can no more. The King, the King's to blame. Hamlet. The point envenom'd too ! Then, venom, to thy work. \Stabs the King. All. Treason ! treason ! King. O, yet defend me, friends ; I am but hurt. Hamlet. Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion. Is thy union here ? Follow my mother. \King dies. Laertes. He is justly serv'd ; It is a poison temper'd 2 by himself. Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet : Mine and my father's death come not upon thee, Nor thine on me ! \Dies. Hamlet. Heaven make thee free of it ! I follow thee. — I am dead, Horatio. — Wretched Queen, adieu ! — You that look pale and tremble at this chance,^ That are but mutes or audience to this act, Had I but time, — as this fell sergeant, death, Is strict in his arrest, — O, I could tell you — But let it be. — Horatio, I am dead; Thou hv'st : report me and my cause aright To the unsatisfied. Horatio. Never believe it : 1 " Foul practice," i.e., iniquitous plot. 2 Prepared. 3 Mischance. SCENE II.] HAMLET. l6l I am more an au'tique Roman than a Dane. Here's yet some liquor left. Hamlet. As thoii'rt a man, Give me the cup: let go; by Heaven, I'll have't. good Horatio, what a wounded name, Things standing thus unknown, shall Hve behind me \ If thou didst ever liold me in thy heart, Absent thee from fehcity a while, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my story. \March afar off, and shot imthin. What warlike noise is this ? OsrU. Young Fortinbras, with conquest ^ come from Poland, To til* ambassadors of England gives This warlike volley. Hamlet. O, I die, Horatio; The potent poison quite o'ercrows ^ my spirit : 1 cannot live to hear the news from England', But I do prophesy the election lights On Fortinbras : he has my dying voice ; So tell him, with the occurrents,^ more and less, Which have solicited.^ The rest is silence. \Dies. Horatio. Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince ; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest \ — Why does the drum come hither ? \March within. Enter Fortinbras, the EnglisTi Ambassadors, and others, Fortinbras. Where is this sight ? Horatio. What is it ye would see ? If aught of woe or w^onder, cease your search. Fortinbras. This quarry ^ cries on ^ hav^oc.'^ O proud death, 1 /' With conquest," i.e-, victorious. 2 Triumphs over. ^ Occurrences. * Brought on the event. s Pile of dead game; a hunting term. ^ " Cries on," i.e., indicates. ^ " Havoc ! " was the cry in battle when no quarter was to be given ; hence, indiscriminate slaughter,. II 1 62 SHAKESPEARE. [act \. What feast is toward in thine eternal cell. That thou so many princes at a shot So bloodily hast struck ? First Amkissador. The sight is dismal ; And our affairs from England come too late : The ears are senseless that should give us hearing. To tell him his commandment is fuifiU'd^ That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Where should we ha\-e our thanks ? Horatio. Not from his mouth. Had it the ability of life to thank you : He never gave commandment for their death. But since, so jump upon this bloody question,^ You from the Polack wars, and you from England, Are here arriv'd, give order that these bodies High on a stage be placed to the view ; And let me speak to the yet unknowing world Hov/ these things came about : so shall you hear Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts. Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters. Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause. And, in this upshot, purposes misto<:)k, FalFn on the inventors' heads : ?J1 this can I Truly dehver. Fortinhras. Let us haste to hear it. And call the noblest to the audience. For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune : I have some rights of memory in this kingdom. Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.^ Horatio. Of that I shall have also cause to speak. And from his mouth whose voice will draw no more : 1 "Jump Bpon thisi bloody question," i.e., jast at tlie moment oi tiiese bloody events. 2 " Some rights," etc., i.e., some rights \n this kingdom that are remcra- bered, and which opportunity invites me to claim. SCENE II.] HAMLET. 1 63 But let this same be presently perform'd, Even while men's minds are wild ; lest more mischance, On plots and errors, happen. Fortiiibras. Let four captains Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage ; For he was likely, had he been put on, To have prov'd most royally ; ^ and, for his passage, The soldiers' music and the rites of war Speak loudly for him. Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot. \A dead inarch. Exewit, beariitg off the dead bodies; after udiich a peal of ordnance is shot off. 1 " For he was likely," etc., i.e., for, if he had succeeded to the throne, it is likely he would have proved a most worthy sovereign. WEBSTER'S SCHOOL DICTIONARIES. REVISED EDITIONS. Webster's School Dictionaries in their revised form constitute a progressive series, carefully graded and especially adapted for Primary Schools, Common Schools, High Schools, Academies, etc. They have all been thoroughly revised, entirely reset, and made to conform in all essential points to the great standard authority — Webster's International Dictionary. 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