MARCELLUS.
You shall not go, my lord.
HAMLET.
Hold off your hands.
HORATIO.
Be ruld; you shall not go.
HAMLET.
My fate cries out,
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lions nerve.
[Ghost beckons.]
Still am I calld. Unhand me, gentlemen.
[Breaking free from them.]
By heaven, Ill make a ghost of him that lets me.
I say, away! Go on, Ill follow thee.
[Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet.]
HORATIO.
He waxes desperate with imagination.
MARCELLUS.
Lets follow; tis not fit thus to obey him.
HORATIO.
Have after. To what issue will this come?
MARCELLUS.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
HORATIO.
Heaven will direct it.
MARCELLUS.
Nay, lets follow him.
[Exeunt.]
Scene V
A more remote part of the Castle.
Enter Ghost and Hamlet.
HAMLET.
Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak, Ill go no further.
GHOST.
Mark me.
HAMLET.
I will.
GHOST.
My hour is almost come,
When I to sulphrous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.
HAMLET.
Alas, poor ghost!
GHOST.
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold.
HAMLET.
Speak, I am bound to hear.
GHOST.
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
HAMLET.
What?
GHOST.
I am thy fathers spirit,
Doomd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confind to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purgd away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love-
HAMLET.
O God!
GHOST.
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
HAMLET.
Murder!
GHOST.
Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
HAMLET.
Haste me to knowt, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love
May sweep to my revenge.
GHOST.
I find thee apt;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.
Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abusd; but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy fathers life
Now wears his crown.
HAMLET.
O my prophetic soul!
Mine uncle!
GHOST.
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,-
O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce! won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.
O Hamlet, what a falling off was there,
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine. But virtue, as it never will be movd,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven;
So lust, though to a radiant angel linkd,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed
And prey on garbage.
But soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment, whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine;
And a most instant tetter barkd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brothers hand,
Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatchd:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousled, disappointed, unaneld;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.
O horrible! O horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But howsoever thou pursust this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
Adieu, adieu, adieu. Hamlet, remember me.
[Exit.]
HAMLET.
O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?
And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, my heart;
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
Ill wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixd with baser matter. Yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling damned villain!
My tables. Meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain!
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.
[Writing.]
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;
It is Adieu, adieu, remember me.
I have swornt.
HORATIO and MARCELLUS.
[Within.] My lord, my lord.
MARCELLUS.
[Within.] Lord Hamlet.
HORATIO.
[Within.] Heaven secure him.
HAMLET.
So be it!
MARCELLUS.
[Within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
HAMLET.
Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come.
Enter Horatio and Marcellus.
MARCELLUS.
How ist, my noble lord?
HORATIO.
What news, my lord?
HAMLET.
O, wonderful!
HORATIO.
Good my lord, tell it.
HAMLET.
No, youll 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 youll be secret?
HORATIO and MARCELLUS.
Ay, by heaven, my lord.
HAMLET.
Theres neer a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But hes 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 desires shall point you,-
For every man hath business and desire,
Such as it is;-and for my own poor part,
Look you, Ill go pray.
HORATIO.
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
HAMLET.
Im sorry they offend you, heartily;
Yes faith, heartily.
HORATIO.
Theres no offence, my lord.
HAMLET.
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offence too. Touching this vision here,
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you.
For your desire to know what is between us,
Oermastert as you may. And now, good friends,
As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
Give me one poor request.
HORATIO.
What ist, my lord? We will.
HAMLET.
Never make known what you have seen tonight.
HORATIO and MARCELLUS.
My lord, we will not.
HAMLET.
Nay, but sweart.
HORATIO.
In faith, my lord, not I.
MARCELLUS.
Nor I, my lord, in faith.
HAMLET.
Upon my sword.
MARCELLUS.
We have sworn, my lord, already.
HAMLET.
Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
GHOST.
[Cries under the stage.] Swear.
HAMLET.
Ha, ha boy, sayst thou so? Art thou there, truepenny?
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.
Hic et ubique? Then well 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.
[Beneath.] Swear.
HAMLET.
Well said, old mole! Canst work i thearth so fast?
A worthy pioner! 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 soeer I bear myself,-
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on-
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumberd thus, or this head-shake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As Well, we know, or We could and if we would,
Or If we list to speak; or There be and 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.
[Beneath.] Swear.
HAMLET.
Rest, rest, perturbed spirit. So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you;
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do texpress 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, lets go together.
[Exeunt.]
Act II
Scene I
A room in Poloniuss house.
Enter Polonius and Reynaldo.
POLONIUS.
Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.
REYNALDO.
I will, my lord.
POLONIUS.
You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before you visit him, to make inquiry
Of his behaviour.
REYNALDO.
My lord, I did intend it.
POLONIUS.
Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir,
Enquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;
And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
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.
POLONIUS.
And in part him, but, you may say, not well;
But ift be he I mean, hes very wild;
Addicted so and so; and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As may dishonour 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?
POLONIUS.
Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing,
Quarrelling, drabbing. You may go so far.
REYNALDO.
My lord, that would dishonour 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;
Thats 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,
A savageness in unreclaimed blood,
Of general assault.
REYNALDO.
But my good lord-
POLONIUS.
Wherefore should you do this?