Hamlet PDF - Folger Shakespeare Library

Folger Shakespeare Library http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org  Contents From the Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library Front Textual Introduction Matter Synopsis Characters in the Play Scene 1 Scene 2 ACT 1 Scene 3...

Folger Shakespeare Library http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org  Contents From the Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library Front Textual Introduction Matter Synopsis Characters in the Play Scene 1 Scene 2 ACT 1 Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 1 ACT 2 Scene 2 Scene 1 Scene 2 ACT 3 Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 ACT 4 Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 6 Scene 7 Scene 1 ACT 5 Scene 2 From the Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library It is hard to imagine a world without Shakespeare. Since their composition four hundred years ago, Shakespeare’s plays and poems have traveled the globe, inviting those who see and read his works to make them their own. Readers of the New Folger Editions are part of this ongoing process of “taking up Shakespeare,” finding our own thoughts and feelings in language that strikes us as old or unusual and, for that very reason, new. We still struggle to keep up with a writer who could think a mile a minute, whose words paint pictures that shift like clouds. These expertly edited texts are presented to the public as a resource for study, artistic adaptation, and enjoyment. By making the classic texts of the New Folger Editions available in electronic form as Folger Digital Texts, we place a trusted resource in the hands of anyone who wants them. The New Folger Editions of Shakespeare’s plays, which are the basis for the texts realized here in digital form, are special because of their origin. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is the single greatest documentary source of Shakespeare’s works. An unparalleled collection of early modern books, manuscripts, and artwork connected to Shakespeare, the Folger’s holdings have been consulted extensively in the preparation of these texts. The Editions also reflect the expertise gained through the regular performance of Shakespeare’s works in the Folger’s Elizabethan Theater. I want to express my deep thanks to editors Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine for creating these indispensable editions of Shakespeare’s works, which incorporate the best of textual scholarship with a richness of commentary that is both inspired and engaging. Readers who want to know more about Shakespeare and his plays can follow the paths these distinguished scholars have tread by visiting the Folger either in-person or online, where a range of physical and digital resources exists to supplement the material in these texts. I commend to you these words, and hope that they inspire. Michael Witmore Director, Folger Shakespeare Library  Textual Introduction By Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine Until now, with the release of the Folger Digital Texts, readers in search of a free online text of Shakespeare’s plays had to be content primarily with using the Moby™ Text, which reproduces a late- nineteenth century version of the plays. What is the difference? Many ordinary readers assume that there is a single text for the plays: what Shakespeare wrote. But Shakespeare’s plays were not published the way modern novels or plays are published today: as a single, authoritative text. In some cases, the plays have come down to us in multiple published versions, represented by various Quartos (Qq) and by the great collection put together by his colleagues in 1623, called the First Folio (F). There are, for example, three very different versions of Hamlet, two of King Lear, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, and others. Editors choose which version to use as their base text, and then amend that text with words, lines or speech prefixes from the other versions that, in their judgment, make for a better or more accurate text. Other editorial decisions involve choices about whether an unfamiliar word could be understood in light of other writings of the period or whether it should be changed; decisions about words that made it into Shakespeare’s text by accident through four hundred years of printings and misprinting; and even decisions based on cultural preference and taste. When the Moby™ Text was created, for example, it was deemed “improper” and “indecent” for Miranda to chastise Caliban for having attempted to rape her. (See The Tempest, 1.2: “Abhorred slave,/Which any print of goodness wilt not take,/Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee…”). All Shakespeare editors at the time took the speech away from her and gave it to her father, Prospero. The editors of the Moby™ Shakespeare produced their text long before scholars fully understood the proper grounds on which to make the thousands of decisions that Shakespeare editors face. The Folger Library Shakespeare Editions, on which the Folger Digital Texts depend, make this editorial process as nearly transparent as is possible, in contrast to older texts, like the Moby™, which hide editorial interventions. The reader of the Folger Shakespeare knows where the text has been altered because editorial interventions are signaled by square brackets (for example, from Othello: “ If she in chains of magic were not bound, ”), half-square brackets (for example, from Henry V: “With blood and sword and fire to win your right,”), or angle brackets (for example, from Hamlet: “O farewell, honest soldier. Who hath relieved/you?”). At any point in the text, you can hover your cursor over a bracket for more information. Because the Folger Digital Texts are edited in accord with twenty-first century knowledge about Shakespeare’s texts, the Folger here provides them to readers, scholars, teachers, actors, directors, and students, free of charge, confident of their quality as texts of the plays and pleased to be able to make this contribution to the study and enjoyment of Shakespeare.  Synopsis Events before the start of Hamlet set the stage for tragedy. When the king of Denmark, Prince Hamlet’s father, suddenly dies, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, marries his uncle Claudius, who becomes the new king. A spirit who claims to be the ghost of Hamlet’s father describes his murder at the hands of Claudius and demands that Hamlet avenge the killing. When the councilor Polonius learns from his daughter, Ophelia, that Hamlet has visited her in an apparently distracted state, Polonius attributes the prince’s condition to lovesickness, and he sets a trap for Hamlet using Ophelia as bait. To confirm Claudius’s guilt, Hamlet arranges for a play that mimics the murder; Claudius’s reaction is that of a guilty man. Hamlet, now free to act, mistakenly kills Polonius, thinking he is Claudius. Claudius sends Hamlet away as part of a deadly plot. After Polonius’s death, Ophelia goes mad and later drowns. Hamlet, who has returned safely to confront the king, agrees to a fencing match with Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, who secretly poisons his own rapier. At the match, Claudius prepares poisoned wine for Hamlet, which Gertrude unknowingly drinks; as she dies, she accuses Claudius, whom Hamlet kills. Then first Laertes and then Hamlet die, both victims of Laertes’ rapier.  Characters in the Play THE GHOST HAMLET, Prince of Denmark, son of the late King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude QUEEN GERTRUDE, widow of King Hamlet, now married to Claudius KING CLAUDIUS, brother to the late King Hamlet OPHELIA LAERTES,her brother POLONIUS, father of Ophelia and Laertes, councillor to King Claudius REYNALDO, servant to Polonius HORATIO, Hamlet’s friend and confidant VOLTEMAND CORNELIUS ROSENCRANTZ GUILDENSTERN courtiers at the Danish court OSRIC Gentlemen A Lord FRANCISCO BARNARDO Danish soldiers MARCELLUS FORTINBRAS, Prince of Norway A Captain in Fortinbras’s army Ambassadors to Denmark from England Players who take the roles of Prologue, Player King, Player Queen, and Lucianus in The Murder of Gonzago Two Messengers Sailors Gravedigger Gravedigger’s companion Doctor of Divinity Attendants, Lords, Guards, Musicians, Laertes’s Followers, Soldiers, Officers  ACT 1 Scene 1 Enter Barnardo and Francisco, two sentinels. FTLN 0001 BARNARDO Who’s there? FRANCISCO FTLN 0002 Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself. FTLN 0003 BARNARDO Long live the King! FTLN 0004 FRANCISCO Barnardo. FTLN 0005 BARNARDO He. 5 FRANCISCO FTLN 0006 You come most carefully upon your hour. BARNARDO FTLN 0007 ’Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco. FRANCISCO FTLN 0008 For this relief much thanks. ’Tis bitter cold, FTLN 0009 And I am sick at heart. FTLN 0010 BARNARDO Have you had quiet guard? 10 FTLN 0011 FRANCISCO Not a mouse stirring. FTLN 0012 BARNARDO Well, good night. FTLN 0013 If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, FTLN 0014 The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. Enter Horatio and Marcellus. FRANCISCO FTLN 0015 I think I hear them.—Stand ho! Who is there? 15 FTLN 0016 HORATIO Friends to this ground. 7  9 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 1 FTLN 0017 MARCELLUS And liegemen to the Dane. FTLN 0018 FRANCISCO Give you good night. MARCELLUS FTLN 0019 O farewell, honest soldier. Who hath relieved FTLN 0020 you? 20 FRANCISCO FTLN 0021 Barnardo hath my place. Give you good night. Francisco exits. FTLN 0022 MARCELLUS Holla, Barnardo. FTLN 0023 BARNARDO Say, what, is Horatio there? FTLN 0024 HORATIO A piece of him. BARNARDO FTLN 0025 Welcome, Horatio.—Welcome, good Marcellus. 25 HORATIO FTLN 0026 What, has this thing appeared again tonight? FTLN 0027 BARNARDO I have seen nothing. MARCELLUS FTLN 0028 Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy FTLN 0029 And will not let belief take hold of him FTLN 0030 Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us. 30 FTLN 0031 Therefore I have entreated him along FTLN 0032 With us to watch the minutes of this night, FTLN 0033 That, if again this apparition come, FTLN 0034 He may approve our eyes and speak to it. HORATIO FTLN 0035 Tush, tush, ’twill not appear. 35 FTLN 0036 BARNARDO Sit down awhile, FTLN 0037 And let us once again assail your ears, FTLN 0038 That are so fortified against our story, FTLN 0039 What we have two nights seen. FTLN 0040 HORATIO Well, sit we down, 40 FTLN 0041 And let us hear Barnardo speak of this. FTLN 0042 BARNARDO Last night of all, FTLN 0043 When yond same star that’s westward from the pole FTLN 0044 Had made his course t’ illume that part of heaven FTLN 0045 Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, 45 FTLN 0046 The bell then beating one—  11 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 1 Enter Ghost. MARCELLUS FTLN 0047 Peace, break thee off! Look where it comes again. BARNARDO FTLN 0048 In the same figure like the King that’s dead. MARCELLUS, to Horatio FTLN 0049 Thou art a scholar. Speak to it, Horatio. BARNARDO FTLN 0050 Looks he not like the King? Mark it, Horatio. 50 HORATIO FTLN 0051 Most like. It harrows me with fear and wonder. BARNARDO FTLN 0052 It would be spoke to. FTLN 0053 MARCELLUS Speak to it, Horatio. HORATIO FTLN 0054 What art thou that usurp’st this time of night, FTLN 0055 Together with that fair and warlike form 55 FTLN 0056 In which the majesty of buried Denmark FTLN 0057 Did sometimes march? By heaven, I charge thee, FTLN 0058 speak. MARCELLUS FTLN 0059 It is offended. FTLN 0060 BARNARDO See, it stalks away. 60 HORATIO FTLN 0061 Stay! speak! speak! I charge thee, speak! Ghost exits. FTLN 0062 MARCELLUS ’Tis gone and will not answer. BARNARDO FTLN 0063 How now, Horatio, you tremble and look pale. FTLN 0064 Is not this something more than fantasy? FTLN 0065 What think you on ’t? 65 HORATIO FTLN 0066 Before my God, I might not this believe FTLN 0067 Without the sensible and true avouch FTLN 0068 Of mine own eyes.  13 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 1 FTLN 0069 MARCELLUS Is it not like the King? FTLN 0070 HORATIO As thou art to thyself. 70 FTLN 0071 Such was the very armor he had on FTLN 0072 When he the ambitious Norway combated. FTLN 0073 So frowned he once when, in an angry parle, FTLN 0074 He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice. FTLN 0075 ’Tis strange. 75 MARCELLUS FTLN 0076 Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, FTLN 0077 With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. HORATIO FTLN 0078 In what particular thought to work I know not, FTLN 0079 But in the gross and scope of mine opinion FTLN 0080 This bodes some strange eruption to our state. 80 MARCELLUS FTLN 0081 Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows, FTLN 0082 Why this same strict and most observant watch FTLN 0083 So nightly toils the subject of the land, FTLN 0084 And why such daily cast of brazen cannon FTLN 0085 And foreign mart for implements of war, 85 FTLN 0086 Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task FTLN 0087 Does not divide the Sunday from the week. FTLN 0088 What might be toward that this sweaty haste FTLN 0089 Doth make the night joint laborer with the day? FTLN 0090 Who is ’t that can inform me? 90 FTLN 0091 HORATIO That can I. FTLN 0092 At least the whisper goes so: our last king, FTLN 0093 Whose image even but now appeared to us, FTLN 0094 Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, FTLN 0095 Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride, 95 FTLN 0096 Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet FTLN 0097 (For so this side of our known world esteemed him) FTLN 0098 Did slay this Fortinbras, who by a sealed compact, FTLN 0099 Well ratified by law and heraldry, FTLN 0100 Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands 100 FTLN 0101 Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror.  15 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 1 FTLN 0102 Against the which a moiety competent FTLN 0103 Was gagèd by our king, which had returned FTLN 0104 To the inheritance of Fortinbras FTLN 0105 Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same comart 105 FTLN 0106 And carriage of the article designed, FTLN 0107 His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, FTLN 0108 Of unimprovèd mettle hot and full, FTLN 0109 Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there FTLN 0110 Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes 110 FTLN 0111 For food and diet to some enterprise FTLN 0112 That hath a stomach in ’t; which is no other FTLN 0113 (As it doth well appear unto our state) FTLN 0114 But to recover of us, by strong hand FTLN 0115 And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands 115 FTLN 0116 So by his father lost. And this, I take it, FTLN 0117 Is the main motive of our preparations, FTLN 0118 The source of this our watch, and the chief head FTLN 0119 Of this posthaste and rummage in the land. BARNARDO FTLN 0120 I think it be no other but e’en so. 120 FTLN 0121 Well may it sort that this portentous figure FTLN 0122 Comes armèd through our watch so like the king FTLN 0123 That was and is the question of these wars. HORATIO FTLN 0124 A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye. FTLN 0125 In the most high and palmy state of Rome, 125 FTLN 0126 A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, FTLN 0127 The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead FTLN 0128 Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets; FTLN 0129 As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, FTLN 0130 Disasters in the sun; and the moist star, 130 FTLN 0131 Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands, FTLN 0132 Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse. FTLN 0133 And even the like precurse of feared events, FTLN 0134 As harbingers preceding still the fates FTLN 0135 And prologue to the omen coming on, 135  17 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 1 FTLN 0136 Have heaven and Earth together demonstrated FTLN 0137 Unto our climatures and countrymen. Enter Ghost. FTLN 0138 But soft, behold! Lo, where it comes again! FTLN 0139 I’ll cross it though it blast me.—Stay, illusion! It spreads his arms. FTLN 0140 If thou hast any sound or use of voice, 140 FTLN 0141 Speak to me. FTLN 0142 If there be any good thing to be done FTLN 0143 That may to thee do ease and grace to me, FTLN 0144 Speak to me. FTLN 0145 If thou art privy to thy country’s fate, 145 FTLN 0146 Which happily foreknowing may avoid, FTLN 0147 O, speak! FTLN 0148 Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life FTLN 0149 Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, FTLN 0150 For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, 150 FTLN 0151 Speak of it. The cock crows. FTLN 0152 Stay and speak!—Stop it, Marcellus. MARCELLUS FTLN 0153 Shall I strike it with my partisan? FTLN 0154 HORATIO Do, if it will not stand. FTLN 0155 BARNARDO ’Tis here. 155 FTLN 0156 HORATIO ’Tis here. Ghost exits. FTLN 0157 MARCELLUS ’Tis gone. FTLN 0158 We do it wrong, being so majestical, FTLN 0159 To offer it the show of violence, FTLN 0160 For it is as the air, invulnerable, 160 FTLN 0161 And our vain blows malicious mockery. BARNARDO FTLN 0162 It was about to speak when the cock crew. HORATIO FTLN 0163 And then it started like a guilty thing FTLN 0164 Upon a fearful summons. I have heard  19 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 1 FTLN 0165 The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 165 FTLN 0166 Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat FTLN 0167 Awake the god of day, and at his warning, FTLN 0168 Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, FTLN 0169 Th’ extravagant and erring spirit hies FTLN 0170 To his confine, and of the truth herein 170 FTLN 0171 This present object made probation. MARCELLUS FTLN 0172 It faded on the crowing of the cock. FTLN 0173 Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes FTLN 0174 Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated, FTLN 0175 This bird of dawning singeth all night long; 175 FTLN 0176 And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad, FTLN 0177 The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, FTLN 0178 No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, FTLN 0179 So hallowed and so gracious is that time. HORATIO FTLN 0180 So have I heard and do in part believe it. 180 FTLN 0181 But look, the morn in russet mantle clad FTLN 0182 Walks o’er the dew of yon high eastward hill. FTLN 0183 Break we our watch up, and by my advice FTLN 0184 Let us impart what we have seen tonight FTLN 0185 Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life, 185 FTLN 0186 This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. FTLN 0187 Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it FTLN 0188 As needful in our loves, fitting our duty? MARCELLUS FTLN 0189 Let’s do ’t, I pray, and I this morning know FTLN 0190 Where we shall find him most convenient. 190 They exit.  21 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 2 Scene 2 Flourish. Enter Claudius, King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, the Council, as Polonius, and his son Laertes, Hamlet, with others, among them Voltemand and Cornelius. KING FTLN 0191 Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death FTLN 0192 The memory be green, and that it us befitted FTLN 0193 To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom FTLN 0194 To be contracted in one brow of woe, FTLN 0195 Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature 5 FTLN 0196 That we with wisest sorrow think on him FTLN 0197 Together with remembrance of ourselves. FTLN 0198 Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, FTLN 0199 Th’ imperial jointress to this warlike state, FTLN 0200 Have we (as ’twere with a defeated joy, 10 FTLN 0201 With an auspicious and a dropping eye, FTLN 0202 With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, FTLN 0203 In equal scale weighing delight and dole) FTLN 0204 Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred FTLN 0205 Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone 15 FTLN 0206 With this affair along. For all, our thanks. FTLN 0207 Now follows that you know. Young Fortinbras, FTLN 0208 Holding a weak supposal of our worth FTLN 0209 Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death FTLN 0210 Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, 20 FTLN 0211 Colleaguèd with this dream of his advantage, FTLN 0212 He hath not failed to pester us with message FTLN 0213 Importing the surrender of those lands FTLN 0214 Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, FTLN 0215 To our most valiant brother—so much for him. 25 FTLN 0216 Now for ourself and for this time of meeting. FTLN 0217 Thus much the business is: we have here writ FTLN 0218 To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras, FTLN 0219 Who, impotent and bedrid, scarcely hears  23 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 2 FTLN 0220 Of this his nephew’s purpose, to suppress 30 FTLN 0221 His further gait herein, in that the levies, FTLN 0222 The lists, and full proportions are all made FTLN 0223 Out of his subject; and we here dispatch FTLN 0224 You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand, FTLN 0225 For bearers of this greeting to old Norway, 35 FTLN 0226 Giving to you no further personal power FTLN 0227 To business with the King more than the scope FTLN 0228 Of these dilated articles allow. Giving them a paper. FTLN 0229 Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty. CORNELIUS/VOLTEMAND FTLN 0230 In that and all things will we show our duty. 40 KING FTLN 0231 We doubt it nothing. Heartily farewell. Voltemand and Cornelius exit. FTLN 0232 And now, Laertes, what’s the news with you? FTLN 0233 You told us of some suit. What is ’t, Laertes? FTLN 0234 You cannot speak of reason to the Dane FTLN 0235 And lose your voice. What wouldst thou beg, 45 FTLN 0236 Laertes, FTLN 0237 That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? FTLN 0238 The head is not more native to the heart, FTLN 0239 The hand more instrumental to the mouth, FTLN 0240 Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. 50 FTLN 0241 What wouldst thou have, Laertes? FTLN 0242 LAERTES My dread lord, FTLN 0243 Your leave and favor to return to France, FTLN 0244 From whence though willingly I came to Denmark FTLN 0245 To show my duty in your coronation, 55 FTLN 0246 Yet now I must confess, that duty done, FTLN 0247 My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France FTLN 0248 And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. KING FTLN 0249 Have you your father’s leave? What says Polonius?  25 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 2 POLONIUS FTLN 0250 Hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave 60 FTLN 0251 By laborsome petition, and at last FTLN 0252 Upon his will I sealed my hard consent. FTLN 0253 I do beseech you give him leave to go. KING FTLN 0254 Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine, FTLN 0255 And thy best graces spend it at thy will.— 65 FTLN 0256 But now, my cousin Hamlet and my son— HAMLET , aside FTLN 0257 A little more than kin and less than kind. KING FTLN 0258 How is it that the clouds still hang on you? HAMLET FTLN 0259 Not so, my lord; I am too much in the sun. QUEEN FTLN 0260 Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, 70 FTLN 0261 And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. FTLN 0262 Do not forever with thy vailèd lids FTLN 0263 Seek for thy noble father in the dust. FTLN 0264 Thou know’st ’tis common; all that lives must die, FTLN 0265 Passing through nature to eternity. 75 HAMLET FTLN 0266 Ay, madam, it is common. FTLN 0267 QUEEN If it be, FTLN 0268 Why seems it so particular with thee? HAMLET FTLN 0269 “Seems,” madam? Nay, it is. I know not “seems.” FTLN 0270 ’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, 80 FTLN 0271 Nor customary suits of solemn black, FTLN 0272 Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, FTLN 0273 No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, FTLN 0274 Nor the dejected havior of the visage, FTLN 0275 Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, 85 FTLN 0276 That can denote me truly. These indeed “seem,” FTLN 0277 For they are actions that a man might play;  27 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 2 FTLN 0278 But I have that within which passes show, FTLN 0279 These but the trappings and the suits of woe. KING FTLN 0280 ’Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, 90 FTLN 0281 Hamlet, FTLN 0282 To give these mourning duties to your father. FTLN 0283 But you must know your father lost a father, FTLN 0284 That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound FTLN 0285 In filial obligation for some term 95 FTLN 0286 To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever FTLN 0287 In obstinate condolement is a course FTLN 0288 Of impious stubbornness. ’Tis unmanly grief. FTLN 0289 It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, FTLN 0290 A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, 100 FTLN 0291 An understanding simple and unschooled. FTLN 0292 For what we know must be and is as common FTLN 0293 As any the most vulgar thing to sense, FTLN 0294 Why should we in our peevish opposition FTLN 0295 Take it to heart? Fie, ’tis a fault to heaven, 105 FTLN 0296 A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, FTLN 0297 To reason most absurd, whose common theme FTLN 0298 Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, FTLN 0299 From the first corse till he that died today, FTLN 0300 “This must be so.” We pray you, throw to earth 110 FTLN 0301 This unprevailing woe and think of us FTLN 0302 As of a father; for let the world take note, FTLN 0303 You are the most immediate to our throne, FTLN 0304 And with no less nobility of love FTLN 0305 Than that which dearest father bears his son 115 FTLN 0306 Do I impart toward you. For your intent FTLN 0307 In going back to school in Wittenberg, FTLN 0308 It is most retrograde to our desire, FTLN 0309 And we beseech you, bend you to remain FTLN 0310 Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, 120 FTLN 0311 Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.  29 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 2 QUEEN FTLN 0312 Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. FTLN 0313 I pray thee, stay with us. Go not to Wittenberg. HAMLET FTLN 0314 I shall in all my best obey you, madam. KING FTLN 0315 Why, ’tis a loving and a fair reply. 125 FTLN 0316 Be as ourself in Denmark.—Madam, come. FTLN 0317 This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet FTLN 0318 Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof FTLN 0319 No jocund health that Denmark drinks today FTLN 0320 But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, 130 FTLN 0321 And the King’s rouse the heaven shall bruit again, FTLN 0322 Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away. Flourish. All but Hamlet exit. HAMLET FTLN 0323 O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, FTLN 0324 Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, FTLN 0325 Or that the Everlasting had not fixed 135 FTLN 0326 His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God, God, FTLN 0327 How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable FTLN 0328 Seem to me all the uses of this world! FTLN 0329 Fie on ’t, ah fie! ’Tis an unweeded garden FTLN 0330 That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature 140 FTLN 0331 Possess it merely. That it should come to this: FTLN 0332 But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two. FTLN 0333 So excellent a king, that was to this FTLN 0334 Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother FTLN 0335 That he might not beteem the winds of heaven 145 FTLN 0336 Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and Earth, FTLN 0337 Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him FTLN 0338 As if increase of appetite had grown FTLN 0339 By what it fed on. And yet, within a month FTLN 0340 (Let me not think on ’t; frailty, thy name is woman!), 150 FTLN 0341 A little month, or ere those shoes were old FTLN 0342 With which she followed my poor father’s body,  31 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 2 FTLN 0343 Like Niobe, all tears—why she, even she FTLN 0344 (O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason FTLN 0345 Would have mourned longer!), married with my 155 FTLN 0346 uncle, FTLN 0347 My father’s brother, but no more like my father FTLN 0348 Than I to Hercules. Within a month, FTLN 0349 Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears FTLN 0350 Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, 160 FTLN 0351 She married. O, most wicked speed, to post FTLN 0352 With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! FTLN 0353 It is not, nor it cannot come to good. FTLN 0354 But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue. Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo. FTLN 0355 HORATIO Hail to your Lordship. 165 FTLN 0356 HAMLET I am glad to see you well. FTLN 0357 Horatio—or I do forget myself! HORATIO FTLN 0358 The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever. HAMLET FTLN 0359 Sir, my good friend. I’ll change that name with you. FTLN 0360 And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?— 170 FTLN 0361 Marcellus? FTLN 0362 MARCELLUS My good lord. HAMLET FTLN 0363 I am very glad to see you. To Barnardo. Good FTLN 0364 even, sir.— FTLN 0365 But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg? 175 HORATIO FTLN 0366 A truant disposition, good my lord. HAMLET FTLN 0367 I would not hear your enemy say so, FTLN 0368 Nor shall you do my ear that violence FTLN 0369 To make it truster of your own report FTLN 0370 Against yourself. I know you are no truant. 180 FTLN 0371 But what is your affair in Elsinore? FTLN 0372 We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.  33 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 2 HORATIO FTLN 0373 My lord, I came to see your father’s funeral. HAMLET FTLN 0374 I prithee, do not mock me, fellow student. FTLN 0375 I think it was to see my mother’s wedding. 185 HORATIO FTLN 0376 Indeed, my lord, it followed hard upon. HAMLET FTLN 0377 Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats FTLN 0378 Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. FTLN 0379 Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven FTLN 0380 Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio! 190 FTLN 0381 My father—methinks I see my father. HORATIO FTLN 0382 Where, my lord? FTLN 0383 HAMLET In my mind’s eye, Horatio. HORATIO FTLN 0384 I saw him once. He was a goodly king. HAMLET FTLN 0385 He was a man. Take him for all in all, 195 FTLN 0386 I shall not look upon his like again. HORATIO FTLN 0387 My lord, I think I saw him yesternight. FTLN 0388 HAMLET Saw who? HORATIO FTLN 0389 My lord, the King your father. FTLN 0390 HAMLET The King my father? 200 HORATIO FTLN 0391 Season your admiration for a while FTLN 0392 With an attent ear, till I may deliver FTLN 0393 Upon the witness of these gentlemen FTLN 0394 This marvel to you. FTLN 0395 HAMLET For God’s love, let me hear! 205 HORATIO FTLN 0396 Two nights together had these gentlemen, FTLN 0397 Marcellus and Barnardo, on their watch,  35 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 2 FTLN 0398 In the dead waste and middle of the night, FTLN 0399 Been thus encountered: a figure like your father, FTLN 0400 Armed at point exactly, cap-à-pie, 210 FTLN 0401 Appears before them and with solemn march FTLN 0402 Goes slow and stately by them. Thrice he walked FTLN 0403 By their oppressed and fear-surprisèd eyes FTLN 0404 Within his truncheon’s length, whilst they, distilled FTLN 0405 Almost to jelly with the act of fear, 215 FTLN 0406 Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me FTLN 0407 In dreadful secrecy impart they did, FTLN 0408 And I with them the third night kept the watch, FTLN 0409 Where, as they had delivered, both in time, FTLN 0410 Form of the thing (each word made true and good), 220 FTLN 0411 The apparition comes. I knew your father; FTLN 0412 These hands are not more like. FTLN 0413 HAMLET But where was this? MARCELLUS FTLN 0414 My lord, upon the platform where we watch. HAMLET FTLN 0415 Did you not speak to it? 225 FTLN 0416 HORATIO My lord, I did, FTLN 0417 But answer made it none. Yet once methought FTLN 0418 It lifted up its head and did address FTLN 0419 Itself to motion, like as it would speak; FTLN 0420 But even then the morning cock crew loud, 230 FTLN 0421 And at the sound it shrunk in haste away FTLN 0422 And vanished from our sight. FTLN 0423 HAMLET ’Tis very strange. HORATIO FTLN 0424 As I do live, my honored lord, ’tis true. FTLN 0425 And we did think it writ down in our duty 235 FTLN 0426 To let you know of it. FTLN 0427 HAMLET Indeed, sirs, but this troubles me. FTLN 0428 Hold you the watch tonight? FTLN 0429 ALL We do, my lord. HAMLET FTLN 0430 Armed, say you? 240  37 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 2 FTLN 0431 ALL Armed, my lord. FTLN 0432 HAMLET From top to toe? FTLN 0433 ALL My lord, from head to foot. FTLN 0434 HAMLET Then saw you not his face? HORATIO FTLN 0435 O, yes, my lord, he wore his beaver up. 245 FTLN 0436 HAMLET What, looked he frowningly? HORATIO FTLN 0437 A countenance more in sorrow than in anger. FTLN 0438 HAMLET Pale or red? HORATIO FTLN 0439 Nay, very pale. FTLN 0440 HAMLET And fixed his eyes upon you? 250 HORATIO FTLN 0441 Most constantly. FTLN 0442 HAMLET I would I had been there. FTLN 0443 HORATIO It would have much amazed you. FTLN 0444 HAMLET Very like. Stayed it long? HORATIO FTLN 0445 While one with moderate haste might tell a 255 FTLN 0446 hundred. FTLN 0447 BARNARDO/MARCELLUS Longer, longer. HORATIO FTLN 0448 Not when I saw ’t. FTLN 0449 HAMLET His beard was grizzled, no? HORATIO FTLN 0450 It was as I have seen it in his life, 260 FTLN 0451 A sable silvered. FTLN 0452 HAMLET I will watch tonight. FTLN 0453 Perchance ’twill walk again. FTLN 0454 HORATIO I warrant it will. HAMLET FTLN 0455 If it assume my noble father’s person, 265 FTLN 0456 I’ll speak to it, though hell itself should gape FTLN 0457 And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, FTLN 0458 If you have hitherto concealed this sight,  39 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 3 FTLN 0459 Let it be tenable in your silence still; FTLN 0460 And whatsomever else shall hap tonight, 270 FTLN 0461 Give it an understanding but no tongue. FTLN 0462 I will requite your loves. So fare you well. FTLN 0463 Upon the platform, ’twixt eleven and twelve, FTLN 0464 I’ll visit you. FTLN 0465 ALL Our duty to your Honor. 275 HAMLET FTLN 0466 Your loves, as mine to you. Farewell. All but Hamlet exit. FTLN 0467 My father’s spirit—in arms! All is not well. FTLN 0468 I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come! FTLN 0469 Till then, sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise, FTLN 0470 Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s 280 FTLN 0471 eyes. He exits. Scene 3 Enter Laertes and Ophelia, his sister. LAERTES FTLN 0472 My necessaries are embarked. Farewell. FTLN 0473 And, sister, as the winds give benefit FTLN 0474 And convey is assistant, do not sleep, FTLN 0475 But let me hear from you. FTLN 0476 OPHELIA Do you doubt that? 5 LAERTES FTLN 0477 For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor, FTLN 0478 Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, FTLN 0479 A violet in the youth of primy nature, FTLN 0480 Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, FTLN 0481 The perfume and suppliance of a minute, 10 FTLN 0482 No more. FTLN 0483 OPHELIA No more but so? FTLN 0484 LAERTES Think it no more.  41 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 3 FTLN 0485 For nature, crescent, does not grow alone FTLN 0486 In thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes, 15 FTLN 0487 The inward service of the mind and soul FTLN 0488 Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now, FTLN 0489 And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch FTLN 0490 The virtue of his will; but you must fear, FTLN 0491 His greatness weighed, his will is not his own, 20 FTLN 0492 For he himself is subject to his birth. FTLN 0493 He may not, as unvalued persons do, FTLN 0494 Carve for himself, for on his choice depends FTLN 0495 The safety and the health of this whole state. FTLN 0496 And therefore must his choice be circumscribed 25 FTLN 0497 Unto the voice and yielding of that body FTLN 0498 Whereof he is the head. Then, if he says he loves FTLN 0499 you, FTLN 0500 It fits your wisdom so far to believe it FTLN 0501 As he in his particular act and place 30 FTLN 0502 May give his saying deed, which is no further FTLN 0503 Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal. FTLN 0504 Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain FTLN 0505 If with too credent ear you list his songs FTLN 0506 Or lose your heart or your chaste treasure open 35 FTLN 0507 To his unmastered importunity. FTLN 0508 Fear it, Ophelia; fear it, my dear sister, FTLN 0509 And keep you in the rear of your affection, FTLN 0510 Out of the shot and danger of desire. FTLN 0511 The chariest maid is prodigal enough 40 FTLN 0512 If she unmask her beauty to the moon. FTLN 0513 Virtue itself ’scapes not calumnious strokes. FTLN 0514 The canker galls the infants of the spring FTLN 0515 Too oft before their buttons be disclosed, FTLN 0516 And, in the morn and liquid dew of youth, 45 FTLN 0517 Contagious blastments are most imminent. FTLN 0518 Be wary, then; best safety lies in fear. FTLN 0519 Youth to itself rebels, though none else near. OPHELIA FTLN 0520 I shall the effect of this good lesson keep  43 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 3 FTLN 0521 As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother, 50 FTLN 0522 Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, FTLN 0523 Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, FTLN 0524 Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, FTLN 0525 Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads FTLN 0526 And recks not his own rede. 55 FTLN 0527 LAERTES O, fear me not. Enter Polonius. FTLN 0528 I stay too long. But here my father comes. FTLN 0529 A double blessing is a double grace. FTLN 0530 Occasion smiles upon a second leave. POLONIUS FTLN 0531 Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for shame! 60 FTLN 0532 The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, FTLN 0533 And you are stayed for. There, my blessing with FTLN 0534 thee. FTLN 0535 And these few precepts in thy memory FTLN 0536 Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, 65 FTLN 0537 Nor any unproportioned thought his act. FTLN 0538 Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. FTLN 0539 Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, FTLN 0540 Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel, FTLN 0541 But do not dull thy palm with entertainment 70 FTLN 0542 Of each new-hatched, unfledged courage. Beware FTLN 0543 Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, FTLN 0544 Bear ’t that th’ opposèd may beware of thee. FTLN 0545 Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice. FTLN 0546 Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment. 75 FTLN 0547 Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, FTLN 0548 But not expressed in fancy (rich, not gaudy), FTLN 0549 For the apparel oft proclaims the man, FTLN 0550 And they in France of the best rank and station FTLN 0551 Are of a most select and generous chief in that. 80 FTLN 0552 Neither a borrower nor a lender be, FTLN 0553 For loan oft loses both itself and friend,  45 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 3 FTLN 0554 And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. FTLN 0555 This above all: to thine own self be true, FTLN 0556 And it must follow, as the night the day, 85 FTLN 0557 Thou canst not then be false to any man. FTLN 0558 Farewell. My blessing season this in thee. LAERTES FTLN 0559 Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord. POLONIUS FTLN 0560 The time invests you. Go, your servants tend. LAERTES FTLN 0561 Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well 90 FTLN 0562 What I have said to you. FTLN 0563 OPHELIA ’Tis in my memory locked, FTLN 0564 And you yourself shall keep the key of it. FTLN 0565 LAERTES Farewell. Laertes exits. POLONIUS FTLN 0566 What is ’t, Ophelia, he hath said to you? 95 OPHELIA FTLN 0567 So please you, something touching the Lord FTLN 0568 Hamlet. FTLN 0569 POLONIUS Marry, well bethought. FTLN 0570 ’Tis told me he hath very oft of late FTLN 0571 Given private time to you, and you yourself 100 FTLN 0572 Have of your audience been most free and FTLN 0573 bounteous. FTLN 0574 If it be so (as so ’tis put on me, FTLN 0575 And that in way of caution), I must tell you FTLN 0576 You do not understand yourself so clearly 105 FTLN 0577 As it behooves my daughter and your honor. FTLN 0578 What is between you? Give me up the truth. OPHELIA FTLN 0579 He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders FTLN 0580 Of his affection to me. POLONIUS FTLN 0581 Affection, puh! You speak like a green girl 110 FTLN 0582 Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. FTLN 0583 Do you believe his “tenders,” as you call them?  47 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 3 OPHELIA FTLN 0584 I do not know, my lord, what I should think. POLONIUS FTLN 0585 Marry, I will teach you. Think yourself a baby FTLN 0586 That you have ta’en these tenders for true pay, 115 FTLN 0587 Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly, FTLN 0588 Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, FTLN 0589 Running it thus) you’ll tender me a fool. OPHELIA FTLN 0590 My lord, he hath importuned me with love FTLN 0591 In honorable fashion— 120 POLONIUS FTLN 0592 Ay, “fashion” you may call it. Go to, go to! OPHELIA FTLN 0593 And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, FTLN 0594 With almost all the holy vows of heaven. POLONIUS FTLN 0595 Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, FTLN 0596 When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul 125 FTLN 0597 Lends the tongue vows. These blazes, daughter, FTLN 0598 Giving more light than heat, extinct in both FTLN 0599 Even in their promise as it is a-making, FTLN 0600 You must not take for fire. From this time FTLN 0601 Be something scanter of your maiden presence. 130 FTLN 0602 Set your entreatments at a higher rate FTLN 0603 Than a command to parle. For Lord Hamlet, FTLN 0604 Believe so much in him that he is young, FTLN 0605 And with a larger tether may he walk FTLN 0606 Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia, 135 FTLN 0607 Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers, FTLN 0608 Not of that dye which their investments show, FTLN 0609 But mere implorators of unholy suits, FTLN 0610 Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds FTLN 0611 The better to beguile. This is for all: 140 FTLN 0612 I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth FTLN 0613 Have you so slander any moment leisure  49 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 4 FTLN 0614 As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. FTLN 0615 Look to ’t, I charge you. Come your ways. FTLN 0616 OPHELIA I shall obey, my lord. 145 They exit. Scene 4 Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus. HAMLET FTLN 0617 The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold. HORATIO FTLN 0618 It is a nipping and an eager air. FTLN 0619 HAMLET What hour now? FTLN 0620 HORATIO I think it lacks of twelve. FTLN 0621 MARCELLUS No, it is struck. 5 HORATIO FTLN 0622 Indeed, I heard it not. It then draws near the season FTLN 0623 Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. A flourish of trumpets and two pieces goes off. FTLN 0624 What does this mean, my lord? HAMLET FTLN 0625 The King doth wake tonight and takes his rouse, FTLN 0626 Keeps wassail, and the swagg’ring upspring reels; 10 FTLN 0627 And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, FTLN 0628 The kettledrum and trumpet thus bray out FTLN 0629 The triumph of his pledge. FTLN 0630 HORATIO Is it a custom? FTLN 0631 HAMLET Ay, marry, is ’t, 15 FTLN 0632 But, to my mind, though I am native here FTLN 0633 And to the manner born, it is a custom FTLN 0634 More honored in the breach than the observance. FTLN 0635 This heavy-headed revel east and west FTLN 0636 Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations. 20 FTLN 0637 They clepe us drunkards and with swinish phrase FTLN 0638 Soil our addition. And, indeed, it takes  51 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 4 FTLN 0639 From our achievements, though performed at FTLN 0640 height, FTLN 0641 The pith and marrow of our attribute. 25 FTLN 0642 So oft it chances in particular men FTLN 0643 That for some vicious mole of nature in them, FTLN 0644 As in their birth (wherein they are not guilty, FTLN 0645 Since nature cannot choose his origin), FTLN 0646 By the o’ergrowth of some complexion 30 FTLN 0647 (Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason), FTLN 0648 Or by some habit that too much o’erleavens FTLN 0649 The form of plausive manners—that these men, FTLN 0650 Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, FTLN 0651 Being nature’s livery or fortune’s star, 35 FTLN 0652 His virtues else, be they as pure as grace, FTLN 0653 As infinite as man may undergo, FTLN 0654 Shall in the general censure take corruption FTLN 0655 From that particular fault. The dram of evil FTLN 0656 Doth all the noble substance of a doubt 40 FTLN 0657 To his own scandal. Enter Ghost. FTLN 0658 HORATIO Look, my lord, it comes. HAMLET FTLN 0659 Angels and ministers of grace, defend us! FTLN 0660 Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned, FTLN 0661 Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from 45 FTLN 0662 hell, FTLN 0663 Be thy intents wicked or charitable, FTLN 0664 Thou com’st in such a questionable shape FTLN 0665 That I will speak to thee. I’ll call thee “Hamlet,” FTLN 0666 “King,” “Father,” “Royal Dane.” O, answer me! 50 FTLN 0667 Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell FTLN 0668 Why thy canonized bones, hearsèd in death, FTLN 0669 Have burst their cerements; why the sepulcher, FTLN 0670 Wherein we saw thee quietly interred, FTLN 0671 Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws 55  53 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 4 FTLN 0672 To cast thee up again. What may this mean FTLN 0673 That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel, FTLN 0674 Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon, FTLN 0675 Making night hideous, and we fools of nature FTLN 0676 So horridly to shake our disposition 60 FTLN 0677 With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? FTLN 0678 Say, why is this? Wherefore? What should we do? Ghost beckons. HORATIO FTLN 0679 It beckons you to go away with it FTLN 0680 As if it some impartment did desire FTLN 0681 To you alone. 65 FTLN 0682 MARCELLUS Look with what courteous action FTLN 0683 It waves you to a more removèd ground. FTLN 0684 But do not go with it. FTLN 0685 HORATIO No, by no means. HAMLET FTLN 0686 It will not speak. Then I will follow it. 70 HORATIO FTLN 0687 Do not, my lord. FTLN 0688 HAMLET Why, what should be the fear? FTLN 0689 I do not set my life at a pin’s fee. FTLN 0690 And for my soul, what can it do to that, FTLN 0691 Being a thing immortal as itself? 75 FTLN 0692 It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it. HORATIO FTLN 0693 What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord? FTLN 0694 Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff FTLN 0695 That beetles o’er his base into the sea, FTLN 0696 And there assume some other horrible form 80 FTLN 0697 Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason FTLN 0698 And draw you into madness? Think of it. FTLN 0699 The very place puts toys of desperation, FTLN 0700 Without more motive, into every brain FTLN 0701 That looks so many fathoms to the sea 85 FTLN 0702 And hears it roar beneath.  55 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 5 HAMLET FTLN 0703 It waves me still.—Go on, I’ll follow thee. MARCELLUS FTLN 0704 You shall not go, my lord. They hold back Hamlet. FTLN 0705 HAMLET Hold off your hands. HORATIO FTLN 0706 Be ruled. You shall not go. 90 FTLN 0707 HAMLET My fate cries out FTLN 0708 And makes each petty arture in this body FTLN 0709 As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve. FTLN 0710 Still am I called. Unhand me, gentlemen. FTLN 0711 By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me! 95 FTLN 0712 I say, away!—Go on. I’ll follow thee. Ghost and Hamlet exit. HORATIO FTLN 0713 He waxes desperate with imagination. MARCELLUS FTLN 0714 Let’s follow. ’Tis not fit thus to obey him. HORATIO FTLN 0715 Have after. To what issue will this come? MARCELLUS FTLN 0716 Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. 100 HORATIO FTLN 0717 Heaven will direct it. FTLN 0718 MARCELLUS Nay, let’s follow him. They exit. Scene 5 Enter Ghost and Hamlet. HAMLET FTLN 0719 Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak. I’ll go no FTLN 0720 further. GHOST FTLN 0721 Mark me.  57 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 5 FTLN 0722 HAMLET I will. FTLN 0723 GHOST My hour is almost come 5 FTLN 0724 When I to sulf’rous and tormenting flames FTLN 0725 Must render up myself. FTLN 0726 HAMLET Alas, poor ghost! GHOST FTLN 0727 Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing FTLN 0728 To what I shall unfold. 10 FTLN 0729 HAMLET Speak. I am bound to hear. GHOST FTLN 0730 So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. FTLN 0731 HAMLET What? FTLN 0732 GHOST I am thy father’s spirit, FTLN 0733 Doomed for a certain term to walk the night 15 FTLN 0734 And for the day confined to fast in fires FTLN 0735 Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature FTLN 0736 Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid FTLN 0737 To tell the secrets of my prison house, FTLN 0738 I could a tale unfold whose lightest word 20 FTLN 0739 Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, FTLN 0740 Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their FTLN 0741 spheres, FTLN 0742 Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part, FTLN 0743 And each particular hair to stand an end, 25 FTLN 0744 Like quills upon the fearful porpentine. FTLN 0745 But this eternal blazon must not be FTLN 0746 To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list! FTLN 0747 If thou didst ever thy dear father love— FTLN 0748 HAMLET O God! 30 GHOST FTLN 0749 Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. FTLN 0750 HAMLET Murder? GHOST FTLN 0751 Murder most foul, as in the best it is, FTLN 0752 But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. HAMLET FTLN 0753 Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift 35  59 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 5 FTLN 0754 As meditation or the thoughts of love, FTLN 0755 May sweep to my revenge. FTLN 0756 GHOST I find thee apt; FTLN 0757 And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed FTLN 0758 That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, 40 FTLN 0759 Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear. FTLN 0760 ’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, FTLN 0761 A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark FTLN 0762 Is by a forgèd process of my death FTLN 0763 Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, 45 FTLN 0764 The serpent that did sting thy father’s life FTLN 0765 Now wears his crown. FTLN 0766 HAMLET O, my prophetic soul! My uncle! GHOST FTLN 0767 Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, FTLN 0768 With witchcraft of his wits, with traitorous gifts— 50 FTLN 0769 O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power FTLN 0770 So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust FTLN 0771 The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen. FTLN 0772 O Hamlet, what a falling off was there! FTLN 0773 From me, whose love was of that dignity 55 FTLN 0774 That it went hand in hand even with the vow FTLN 0775 I made to her in marriage, and to decline FTLN 0776 Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor FTLN 0777 To those of mine. FTLN 0778 But virtue, as it never will be moved, 60 FTLN 0779 Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, FTLN 0780 So, lust, though to a radiant angel linked, FTLN 0781 Will sate itself in a celestial bed FTLN 0782 And prey on garbage. FTLN 0783 But soft, methinks I scent the morning air. 65 FTLN 0784 Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard, FTLN 0785 My custom always of the afternoon, FTLN 0786 Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, FTLN 0787 With juice of cursèd hebona in a vial FTLN 0788 And in the porches of my ears did pour 70  61 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 5 FTLN 0789 The leprous distilment, whose effect FTLN 0790 Holds such an enmity with blood of man FTLN 0791 That swift as quicksilver it courses through FTLN 0792 The natural gates and alleys of the body, FTLN 0793 And with a sudden vigor it doth posset 75 FTLN 0794 And curd, like eager droppings into milk, FTLN 0795 The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine, FTLN 0796 And a most instant tetter barked about, FTLN 0797 Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust FTLN 0798 All my smooth body. 80 FTLN 0799 Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand FTLN 0800 Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched, FTLN 0801 Cut off, even in the blossoms of my sin, FTLN 0802 Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled, FTLN 0803 No reck’ning made, but sent to my account 85 FTLN 0804 With all my imperfections on my head. FTLN 0805 O horrible, O horrible, most horrible! FTLN 0806 If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not. FTLN 0807 Let not the royal bed of Denmark be FTLN 0808 A couch for luxury and damnèd incest. 90 FTLN 0809 But, howsomever thou pursues this act, FTLN 0810 Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive FTLN 0811 Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven FTLN 0812 And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge FTLN 0813 To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once. 95 FTLN 0814 The glowworm shows the matin to be near FTLN 0815 And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire. FTLN 0816 Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me. He exits. HAMLET FTLN 0817 O all you host of heaven! O Earth! What else? FTLN 0818 And shall I couple hell? O fie! Hold, hold, my heart, 100 FTLN 0819 And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, FTLN 0820 But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee? FTLN 0821 Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat FTLN 0822 In this distracted globe. Remember thee? FTLN 0823 Yea, from the table of my memory 105  63 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 5 FTLN 0824 I’ll wipe away all trivial, fond records, FTLN 0825 All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, FTLN 0826 That youth and observation copied there, FTLN 0827 And thy commandment all alone shall live FTLN 0828 Within the book and volume of my brain, 110 FTLN 0829 Unmixed with baser matter. Yes, by heaven! FTLN 0830 O most pernicious woman! FTLN 0831 O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain! FTLN 0832 My tables—meet it is I set it down FTLN 0833 That one may smile and smile and be a villain. 115 FTLN 0834 At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark. He writes. FTLN 0835 So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word. FTLN 0836 It is “adieu, adieu, remember me.” FTLN 0837 I have sworn ’t. Enter Horatio and Marcellus. FTLN 0838 HORATIO My lord, my lord! 120 FTLN 0839 MARCELLUS Lord Hamlet. FTLN 0840 HORATIO Heavens secure him! FTLN 0841 HAMLET So be it. FTLN 0842 MARCELLUS Illo, ho, ho, my lord! FTLN 0843 HAMLET Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come! 125 MARCELLUS FTLN 0844 How is ’t, my noble lord? FTLN 0845 HORATIO What news, my lord? FTLN 0846 HAMLET O, wonderful! HORATIO FTLN 0847 Good my lord, tell it. FTLN 0848 HAMLET No, you will reveal it. 130 HORATIO FTLN 0849 Not I, my lord, by heaven. FTLN 0850 MARCELLUS Nor I, my lord. HAMLET FTLN 0851 How say you, then? Would heart of man once think FTLN 0852 it? FTLN 0853 But you’ll be secret? 135  65 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 5 FTLN 0854 HORATIO/MARCELLUS Ay, by heaven, my lord. HAMLET FTLN 0855 There’s never a villain dwelling in all Denmark FTLN 0856 But he’s an arrant knave. HORATIO FTLN 0857 There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave FTLN 0858 To tell us this. 140 FTLN 0859 HAMLET Why, right, you are in the right. FTLN 0860 And so, without more circumstance at all, FTLN 0861 I hold it fit that we shake hands and part, FTLN 0862 You, as your business and desire shall point you FTLN 0863 (For every man hath business and desire, 145 FTLN 0864 Such as it is), and for my own poor part, FTLN 0865 I will go pray. HORATIO FTLN 0866 These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. HAMLET FTLN 0867 I am sorry they offend you, heartily; FTLN 0868 Yes, faith, heartily. 150 FTLN 0869 HORATIO There’s no offense, my lord. HAMLET FTLN 0870 Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio, FTLN 0871 And much offense, too. Touching this vision here, FTLN 0872 It is an honest ghost—that let me tell you. FTLN 0873 For your desire to know what is between us, 155 FTLN 0874 O’ermaster ’t as you may. And now, good friends, FTLN 0875 As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers, FTLN 0876 Give me one poor request. FTLN 0877 HORATIO What is ’t, my lord? We will. HAMLET FTLN 0878 Never make known what you have seen tonight. 160 FTLN 0879 HORATIO/MARCELLUS My lord, we will not. FTLN 0880 HAMLET Nay, but swear ’t. FTLN 0881 HORATIO In faith, my lord, not I. FTLN 0882 MARCELLUS Nor I, my lord, in faith. HAMLET FTLN 0883 Upon my sword. 165  67 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 5 FTLN 0884 MARCELLUS We have sworn, my lord, already. FTLN 0885 HAMLET Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. FTLN 0886 GHOST cries under the stage Swear. HAMLET FTLN 0887 Ha, ha, boy, sayst thou so? Art thou there, FTLN 0888 truepenny? 170 FTLN 0889 Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage. FTLN 0890 Consent to swear. FTLN 0891 HORATIO Propose the oath, my lord. HAMLET FTLN 0892 Never to speak of this that you have seen, FTLN 0893 Swear by my sword. 175 FTLN 0894 GHOST , beneath Swear. HAMLET FTLN 0895 Hic et ubique? Then we’ll shift our ground. FTLN 0896 Come hither, gentlemen, FTLN 0897 And lay your hands again upon my sword. FTLN 0898 Swear by my sword 180 FTLN 0899 Never to speak of this that you have heard. FTLN 0900 GHOST , beneath Swear by his sword. HAMLET FTLN 0901 Well said, old mole. Canst work i’ th’ earth so fast?— FTLN 0902 A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends. HORATIO FTLN 0903 O day and night, but this is wondrous strange. 185 HAMLET FTLN 0904 And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. FTLN 0905 There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, FTLN 0906 Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come. FTLN 0907 Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, FTLN 0908 How strange or odd some’er I bear myself 190 FTLN 0909 (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet FTLN 0910 To put an antic disposition on) FTLN 0911 That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, FTLN 0912 With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake, FTLN 0913 Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, 195  69 Hamlet ACT 1. SC. 5 FTLN 0914 As “Well, well, we know,” or “We could an if we FTLN 0915 would,” FTLN 0916 Or “If we list to speak,” or “There be an if they FTLN 0917 might,” FTLN 0918 Or such ambiguous giving-out, to note 200 FTLN 0919 That you know aught of me—this do swear, FTLN 0920 So grace and mercy at your most need help you. FTLN 0921 GHOST , beneath Swear. HAMLET FTLN 0922 Rest, rest, perturbèd spirit.—So, gentlemen, FTLN 0923 With all my love I do commend me to you, 205 FTLN 0924 And what so poor a man as Hamlet is FTLN 0925 May do t’ express his love and friending to you, FTLN 0926 God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together, FTLN 0927 And still your fingers on your lips, I pray. FTLN 0928 The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite 210 FTLN 0929 That ever I was born to set it right! FTLN 0930 Nay, come, let’s go together. They exit.  ACT 2 Scene 1 Enter old Polonius with his man Reynaldo. POLONIUS FTLN 0931 Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo. FTLN 0932 REYNALDO I will, my lord. POLONIUS FTLN 0933 You shall do marvelous wisely, good Reynaldo, FTLN 0934 Before you visit him, to make inquire FTLN 0935 Of his behavior. 5 FTLN 0936 REYNALDO My lord, I did intend it. POLONIUS FTLN 0937 Marry, well said, very well said. Look you, sir, FTLN 0938 Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris; FTLN 0939 And how, and who, what means, and where they FTLN 0940 keep, 10 FTLN 0941 What company, at what expense; and finding FTLN 0942 By this encompassment and drift of question FTLN 0943 That they do know my son, come you more nearer FTLN 0944 Than your particular demands will touch it. FTLN 0945 Take you, as ’twere, some distant knowledge of him, 15 FTLN 0946 As thus: “I know his father and his friends FTLN 0947 And, in part, him.” Do you mark this, Reynaldo? FTLN 0948 REYNALDO Ay, very well, my lord. POLONIUS FTLN 0949 “And, in part, him, but,” you may say, “not well. 73  75 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 1 FTLN 0950 But if ’t be he I mean, he’s very wild, 20 FTLN 0951 Addicted so and so.” And there put on him FTLN 0952 What forgeries you please—marry, none so rank FTLN 0953 As may dishonor him, take heed of that, FTLN 0954 But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips FTLN 0955 As are companions noted and most known 25 FTLN 0956 To youth and liberty. FTLN 0957 REYNALDO As gaming, my lord. FTLN 0958 POLONIUS Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, FTLN 0959 Quarreling, drabbing—you may go so far. FTLN 0960 REYNALDO My lord, that would dishonor him. 30 POLONIUS FTLN 0961 Faith, no, as you may season it in the charge. FTLN 0962 You must not put another scandal on him FTLN 0963 That he is open to incontinency; FTLN 0964 That’s not my meaning. But breathe his faults so FTLN 0965 quaintly 35 FTLN 0966 That they may seem the taints of liberty, FTLN 0967 The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind, FTLN 0968 A savageness in unreclaimèd blood, FTLN 0969 Of general assault. FTLN 0970 REYNALDO But, my good lord— 40 FTLN 0971 POLONIUS Wherefore should you do this? FTLN 0972 REYNALDO Ay, my lord, I would know that. FTLN 0973 POLONIUS Marry, sir, here’s my drift, FTLN 0974 And I believe it is a fetch of wit. FTLN 0975 You, laying these slight sullies on my son, 45 FTLN 0976 As ’twere a thing a little soiled i’ th’ working, FTLN 0977 Mark you, your party in converse, him you would FTLN 0978 sound, FTLN 0979 Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes FTLN 0980 The youth you breathe of guilty, be assured 50 FTLN 0981 He closes with you in this consequence: FTLN 0982 “Good sir,” or so, or “friend,” or “gentleman,” FTLN 0983 According to the phrase or the addition FTLN 0984 Of man and country—  77 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 1 FTLN 0985 REYNALDO Very good, my lord. 55 FTLN 0986 POLONIUS And then, sir, does he this, he does—what FTLN 0987 was I about to say? By the Mass, I was about to say FTLN 0988 something. Where did I leave? FTLN 0989 REYNALDO At “closes in the consequence,” at “friend, FTLN 0990 or so,” and “gentleman.” 60 POLONIUS FTLN 0991 At “closes in the consequence”—ay, marry— FTLN 0992 He closes thus: “I know the gentleman. FTLN 0993 I saw him yesterday,” or “th’ other day” FTLN 0994 (Or then, or then, with such or such), “and as you FTLN 0995 say, 65 FTLN 0996 There was he gaming, there o’ertook in ’s rouse, FTLN 0997 There falling out at tennis”; or perchance FTLN 0998 “I saw him enter such a house of sale”— FTLN 0999 Videlicet, a brothel—or so forth. See you now FTLN 1000 Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth; 70 FTLN 1001 And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, FTLN 1002 With windlasses and with assays of bias, FTLN 1003 By indirections find directions out. FTLN 1004 So by my former lecture and advice FTLN 1005 Shall you my son. You have me, have you not? 75 REYNALDO FTLN 1006 My lord, I have. FTLN 1007 POLONIUS God be wi’ you. Fare you well. FTLN 1008 REYNALDO Good my lord. POLONIUS FTLN 1009 Observe his inclination in yourself. FTLN 1010 REYNALDO I shall, my lord. 80 FTLN 1011 POLONIUS And let him ply his music. FTLN 1012 REYNALDO Well, my lord. POLONIUS FTLN 1013 Farewell. Reynaldo exits. Enter Ophelia. FTLN 1014 How now, Ophelia, what’s the matter?  79 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 1 OPHELIA FTLN 1015 O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted! 85 FTLN 1016 POLONIUS With what, i’ th’ name of God? OPHELIA FTLN 1017 My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, FTLN 1018 Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced, FTLN 1019 No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, FTLN 1020 Ungartered, and down-gyvèd to his ankle, 90 FTLN 1021 Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, FTLN 1022 And with a look so piteous in purport FTLN 1023 As if he had been loosèd out of hell FTLN 1024 To speak of horrors—he comes before me. POLONIUS FTLN 1025 Mad for thy love? 95 FTLN 1026 OPHELIA My lord, I do not know, FTLN 1027 But truly I do fear it. FTLN 1028 POLONIUS What said he? OPHELIA FTLN 1029 He took me by the wrist and held me hard. FTLN 1030 Then goes he to the length of all his arm, 100 FTLN 1031 And, with his other hand thus o’er his brow, FTLN 1032 He falls to such perusal of my face FTLN 1033 As he would draw it. Long stayed he so. FTLN 1034 At last, a little shaking of mine arm, FTLN 1035 And thrice his head thus waving up and down, 105 FTLN 1036 He raised a sigh so piteous and profound FTLN 1037 As it did seem to shatter all his bulk FTLN 1038 And end his being. That done, he lets me go, FTLN 1039 And, with his head over his shoulder turned, FTLN 1040 He seemed to find his way without his eyes, 110 FTLN 1041 For out o’ doors he went without their helps FTLN 1042 And to the last bended their light on me. POLONIUS FTLN 1043 Come, go with me. I will go seek the King. FTLN 1044 This is the very ecstasy of love, FTLN 1045 Whose violent property fordoes itself 115  81 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1046 And leads the will to desperate undertakings FTLN 1047 As oft as any passions under heaven FTLN 1048 That does afflict our natures. I am sorry. FTLN 1049 What, have you given him any hard words of late? OPHELIA FTLN 1050 No, my good lord, but as you did command 120 FTLN 1051 I did repel his letters and denied FTLN 1052 His access to me. FTLN 1053 POLONIUS That hath made him mad. FTLN 1054 I am sorry that with better heed and judgment FTLN 1055 I had not coted him. I feared he did but trifle 125 FTLN 1056 And meant to wrack thee. But beshrew my jealousy! FTLN 1057 By heaven, it is as proper to our age FTLN 1058 To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions FTLN 1059 As it is common for the younger sort FTLN 1060 To lack discretion. Come, go we to the King. 130 FTLN 1061 This must be known, which, being kept close, might FTLN 1062 move FTLN 1063 More grief to hide than hate to utter love. FTLN 1064 Come. They exit. Scene 2 Flourish. Enter King and Queen, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Attendants. KING FTLN 1065 Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. FTLN 1066 Moreover that we much did long to see you, FTLN 1067 The need we have to use you did provoke FTLN 1068 Our hasty sending. Something have you heard FTLN 1069 Of Hamlet’s transformation, so call it, 5 FTLN 1070 Sith nor th’ exterior nor the inward man FTLN 1071 Resembles that it was. What it should be, FTLN 1072 More than his father’s death, that thus hath put him  83 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1073 So much from th’ understanding of himself FTLN 1074 I cannot dream of. I entreat you both 10 FTLN 1075 That, being of so young days brought up with him FTLN 1076 And sith so neighbored to his youth and havior, FTLN 1077 That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court FTLN 1078 Some little time, so by your companies FTLN 1079 To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather 15 FTLN 1080 So much as from occasion you may glean, FTLN 1081 Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus FTLN 1082 That, opened, lies within our remedy. QUEEN FTLN 1083 Good gentlemen, he hath much talked of you, FTLN 1084 And sure I am two men there is not living 20 FTLN 1085 To whom he more adheres. If it will please you FTLN 1086 To show us so much gentry and goodwill FTLN 1087 As to expend your time with us awhile FTLN 1088 For the supply and profit of our hope, FTLN 1089 Your visitation shall receive such thanks 25 FTLN 1090 As fits a king’s remembrance. FTLN 1091 ROSENCRANTZ Both your Majesties FTLN 1092 Might, by the sovereign power you have of us, FTLN 1093 Put your dread pleasures more into command FTLN 1094 Than to entreaty. 30 FTLN 1095 GUILDENSTERN But we both obey, FTLN 1096 And here give up ourselves in the full bent FTLN 1097 To lay our service freely at your feet, FTLN 1098 To be commanded. KING FTLN 1099 Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern. 35 QUEEN FTLN 1100 Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz. FTLN 1101 And I beseech you instantly to visit FTLN 1102 My too much changèd son.—Go, some of you, FTLN 1103 And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. GUILDENSTERN FTLN 1104 Heavens make our presence and our practices 40 FTLN 1105 Pleasant and helpful to him!  85 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1106 QUEEN Ay, amen! Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit with some Attendants. Enter Polonius. POLONIUS FTLN 1107 Th’ ambassadors from Norway, my good lord, FTLN 1108 Are joyfully returned. KING FTLN 1109 Thou still hast been the father of good news. 45 POLONIUS FTLN 1110 Have I, my lord? I assure my good liege FTLN 1111 I hold my duty as I hold my soul, FTLN 1112 Both to my God and to my gracious king, FTLN 1113 And I do think, or else this brain of mine FTLN 1114 Hunts not the trail of policy so sure 50 FTLN 1115 As it hath used to do, that I have found FTLN 1116 The very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy. KING FTLN 1117 O, speak of that! That do I long to hear. POLONIUS FTLN 1118 Give first admittance to th’ ambassadors. FTLN 1119 My news shall be the fruit to that great feast. 55 KING FTLN 1120 Thyself do grace to them and bring them in. Polonius exits. FTLN 1121 He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found FTLN 1122 The head and source of all your son’s distemper. QUEEN FTLN 1123 I doubt it is no other but the main— FTLN 1124 His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage. 60 KING FTLN 1125 Well, we shall sift him. Enter Ambassadors Voltemand and Cornelius with Polonius.  87 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1126 Welcome, my good friends. FTLN 1127 Say, Voltemand, what from our brother Norway? VOLTEMAND FTLN 1128 Most fair return of greetings and desires. FTLN 1129 Upon our first, he sent out to suppress 65 FTLN 1130 His nephew’s levies, which to him appeared FTLN 1131 To be a preparation ’gainst the Polack, FTLN 1132 But, better looked into, he truly found FTLN 1133 It was against your Highness. Whereat, grieved FTLN 1134 That so his sickness, age, and impotence 70 FTLN 1135 Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests FTLN 1136 On Fortinbras, which he, in brief, obeys, FTLN 1137 Receives rebuke from Norway, and, in fine, FTLN 1138 Makes vow before his uncle never more FTLN 1139 To give th’ assay of arms against your Majesty. 75 FTLN 1140 Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy, FTLN 1141 Gives him three-score thousand crowns in annual FTLN 1142 fee FTLN 1143 And his commission to employ those soldiers, FTLN 1144 So levied as before, against the Polack, 80 FTLN 1145 With an entreaty, herein further shown, He gives a paper. FTLN 1146 That it might please you to give quiet pass FTLN 1147 Through your dominions for this enterprise, FTLN 1148 On such regards of safety and allowance FTLN 1149 As therein are set down. 85 FTLN 1150 KING It likes us well, FTLN 1151 And, at our more considered time, we’ll read, FTLN 1152 Answer, and think upon this business. FTLN 1153 Meantime, we thank you for your well-took labor. FTLN 1154 Go to your rest. At night we’ll feast together. 90 FTLN 1155 Most welcome home! Voltemand and Cornelius exit. FTLN 1156 POLONIUS This business is well ended. FTLN 1157 My liege, and madam, to expostulate FTLN 1158 What majesty should be, what duty is,  89 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1159 Why day is day, night night, and time is time 95 FTLN 1160 Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time. FTLN 1161 Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, FTLN 1162 And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, FTLN 1163 I will be brief. Your noble son is mad. FTLN 1164 “Mad” call I it, for, to define true madness, 100 FTLN 1165 What is ’t but to be nothing else but mad? FTLN 1166 But let that go. FTLN 1167 QUEEN More matter with less art. POLONIUS FTLN 1168 Madam, I swear I use no art at all. FTLN 1169 That he’s mad, ’tis true; ’tis true ’tis pity, 105 FTLN 1170 And pity ’tis ’tis true—a foolish figure, FTLN 1171 But farewell it, for I will use no art. FTLN 1172 Mad let us grant him then, and now remains FTLN 1173 That we find out the cause of this effect, FTLN 1174 Or, rather say, the cause of this defect, 110 FTLN 1175 For this effect defective comes by cause. FTLN 1176 Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. FTLN 1177 Perpend. FTLN 1178 I have a daughter (have while she is mine) FTLN 1179 Who, in her duty and obedience, mark, 115 FTLN 1180 Hath given me this. Now gather and surmise. FTLN 1181 He reads. To the celestial, and my soul’s idol, the FTLN 1182 most beautified Ophelia— FTLN 1183 That’s an ill phrase, a vile phrase; “beautified” is a FTLN 1184 vile phrase. But you shall hear. Thus: He reads. 120 FTLN 1185 In her excellent white bosom, these, etc.— FTLN 1186 QUEEN Came this from Hamlet to her? POLONIUS FTLN 1187 Good madam, stay awhile. I will be faithful. He reads the letter. FTLN 1188 Doubt thou the stars are fire, FTLN 1189 Doubt that the sun doth move, 125 FTLN 1190 Doubt truth to be a liar, FTLN 1191 But never doubt I love.  91 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1192 O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers. I have not FTLN 1193 art to reckon my groans, but that I love thee best, O FTLN 1194 most best, believe it. Adieu. 130 FTLN 1195 Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst FTLN 1196 this machine is to him, Hamlet. FTLN 1197 This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me, FTLN 1198 And more above, hath his solicitings, FTLN 1199 As they fell out by time, by means, and place, 135 FTLN 1200 All given to mine ear. FTLN 1201 KING But how hath she received his love? FTLN 1202 POLONIUS What do you think of me? KING FTLN 1203 As of a man faithful and honorable. POLONIUS FTLN 1204 I would fain prove so. But what might you think, 140 FTLN 1205 When I had seen this hot love on the wing FTLN 1206 (As I perceived it, I must tell you that, FTLN 1207 Before my daughter told me), what might you, FTLN 1208 Or my dear Majesty your queen here, think, FTLN 1209 If I had played the desk or table-book 145 FTLN 1210 Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb, FTLN 1211 Or looked upon this love with idle sight? FTLN 1212 What might you think? No, I went round to work, FTLN 1213 And my young mistress thus I did bespeak: FTLN 1214 “Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star. 150 FTLN 1215 This must not be.” And then I prescripts gave her, FTLN 1216 That she should lock herself from his resort, FTLN 1217 Admit no messengers, receive no tokens; FTLN 1218 Which done, she took the fruits of my advice, FTLN 1219 And he, repelled (a short tale to make), 155 FTLN 1220 Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, FTLN 1221 Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, FTLN 1222 Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension, FTLN 1223 Into the madness wherein now he raves FTLN 1224 And all we mourn for. 160 FTLN 1225 KING , to Queen Do you think ’tis this?  93 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1226 QUEEN It may be, very like. POLONIUS FTLN 1227 Hath there been such a time (I would fain know FTLN 1228 that) FTLN 1229 That I have positively said “’Tis so,” 165 FTLN 1230 When it proved otherwise? FTLN 1231 KING Not that I know. POLONIUS FTLN 1232 Take this from this, if this be otherwise. FTLN 1233 If circumstances lead me, I will find FTLN 1234 Where truth is hid, though it were hid, indeed, 170 FTLN 1235 Within the center. FTLN 1236 KING How may we try it further? POLONIUS FTLN 1237 You know sometimes he walks four hours together FTLN 1238 Here in the lobby. FTLN 1239 QUEEN So he does indeed. 175 POLONIUS FTLN 1240 At such a time I’ll loose my daughter to him. FTLN 1241 To the King. Be you and I behind an arras then. FTLN 1242 Mark the encounter. If he love her not, FTLN 1243 And be not from his reason fall’n thereon, FTLN 1244 Let me be no assistant for a state, 180 FTLN 1245 But keep a farm and carters. FTLN 1246 KING We will try it. Enter Hamlet reading on a book. QUEEN FTLN 1247 But look where sadly the poor wretch comes FTLN 1248 reading. POLONIUS FTLN 1249 Away, I do beseech you both, away. 185 FTLN 1250 I’ll board him presently. O, give me leave. King and Queen exit with Attendants. FTLN 1251 How does my good Lord Hamlet? FTLN 1252 HAMLET Well, God-a-mercy.  95 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1253 POLONIUS Do you know me, my lord? FTLN 1254 HAMLET Excellent well. You are a fishmonger. 190 FTLN 1255 POLONIUS Not I, my lord. FTLN 1256 HAMLET Then I would you were so honest a man. FTLN 1257 POLONIUS Honest, my lord? FTLN 1258 HAMLET Ay, sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to FTLN 1259 be one man picked out of ten thousand. 195 FTLN 1260 POLONIUS That’s very true, my lord. FTLN 1261 HAMLET For if the sun breed maggots in a dead FTLN 1262 dog, being a good kissing carrion—Have you a FTLN 1263 daughter? FTLN 1264 POLONIUS I have, my lord. 200 FTLN 1265 HAMLET Let her not walk i’ th’ sun. Conception is a FTLN 1266 blessing, but, as your daughter may conceive, FTLN 1267 friend, look to ’t. FTLN 1268 POLONIUS , aside How say you by that? Still harping on FTLN 1269 my daughter. Yet he knew me not at first; he said I 205 FTLN 1270 was a fishmonger. He is far gone. And truly, in my FTLN 1271 youth, I suffered much extremity for love, very near FTLN 1272 this. I’ll speak to him again.—What do you read, my FTLN 1273 lord? FTLN 1274 HAMLET Words, words, words. 210 FTLN 1275 POLONIUS What is the matter, my lord? FTLN 1276 HAMLET Between who? FTLN 1277 POLONIUS I mean the matter that you read, my lord. FTLN 1278 HAMLET Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here FTLN 1279 that old men have gray beards, that their faces are 215 FTLN 1280 wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and FTLN 1281 plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of FTLN 1282 wit, together with most weak hams; all which, sir, FTLN 1283 though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I FTLN 1284 hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for 220 FTLN 1285 yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if, like a crab, FTLN 1286 you could go backward. FTLN 1287 POLONIUS , aside Though this be madness, yet there is FTLN 1288 method in ’t.—Will you walk out of the air, my lord?  97 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1289 HAMLET Into my grave? 225 FTLN 1290 POLONIUS Indeed, that’s out of the air. Aside. How FTLN 1291 pregnant sometimes his replies are! A happiness FTLN 1292 that often madness hits on, which reason and FTLN 1293 sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I FTLN 1294 will leave him and suddenly contrive the means of 230 FTLN 1295 meeting between him and my daughter.—My lord, FTLN 1296 I will take my leave of you. FTLN 1297 HAMLET You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I FTLN 1298 will more willingly part withal—except my life, FTLN 1299 except my life, except my life. 235 FTLN 1300 POLONIUS Fare you well, my lord. FTLN 1301 HAMLET , aside These tedious old fools. Enter Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. FTLN 1302 POLONIUS You go to seek the Lord Hamlet. There he is. FTLN 1303 ROSENCRANTZ, to Polonius God save you, sir. Polonius exits. FTLN 1304 GUILDENSTERN My honored lord. 240 FTLN 1305 ROSENCRANTZ My most dear lord. FTLN 1306 HAMLET My excellent good friends! How dost thou, FTLN 1307 Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do FTLN 1308 you both? ROSENCRANTZ FTLN 1309 As the indifferent children of the earth. 245 GUILDENSTERN FTLN 1310 Happy in that we are not overhappy. FTLN 1311 On Fortune’s cap, we are not the very button. FTLN 1312 HAMLET Nor the soles of her shoe? FTLN 1313 ROSENCRANTZ Neither, my lord. FTLN 1314 HAMLET Then you live about her waist, or in the 250 FTLN 1315 middle of her favors? FTLN 1316 GUILDENSTERN Faith, her privates we. FTLN 1317 HAMLET In the secret parts of Fortune? O, most true! FTLN 1318 She is a strumpet. What news? FTLN 1319 ROSENCRANTZ None, my lord, but that the world’s 255 FTLN 1320 grown honest.  99 Hamlet ACT 2. SC. 2 FTLN 1321 HAMLET Then is doomsday near. But your news is not FTLN 1322 true. Let me question more in particular. What FTLN 1323 have you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of FTLN 1324 Fortune that she sends you to prison hither? 260 FTLN 1325 GUILDENSTERN Prison, my lord? FTLN 1326 HAMLET Denmark’s a prison. FTLN 1327 ROSENCRANTZ Then is the world one. FTLN 1328 HAMLET A goodly one, in which there are many confines, FTLN 1329 wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ 265 FTLN