_Ham._ O, reform it altogether. And let those that play your clowns
speak no more than is set down for them:[54] for there be of them
that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren
spectators[55] to laugh too; though, in the mean time, some necessary
question[56] 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.
[_Exit_ Player, L.H.]
_Ham._ What, ho, Horatio!
_Enter_ HORATIO (R.H.)
_Hor._ Here, sweet lord, at your service.
_Ham._ Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man
As e'er my conversation cop'd withal.[57]
_Hor._ O, my dear lord.
_Ham._ Nay, do not think I flatter;
For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue hast, but thy good spirits,
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter'd?
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp;
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,[58]
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?
Since my dear soul[59] 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 suffering all, that suffers nothing;
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Has ta'en with equal thanks: and bless'd are those
Whose blood and judgment[60] are so well co-mingled,
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 pr'ythee when thou seest that act a-foot,
Even with the very comment of thy soul[61]
Observe my uncle: if his occulted guilt[62]
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damned ghost that we have seen;
And my imaginations are as foul
As Vulcan's stithy.[63] Give him heedful note:
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face;
And, after, we will both our judgments join
In censure of his seeming.[64]
[HORATIO _goes off_, U.E.L.H.]
_March. Enter_ KING _and_ QUEEN, _preceded by_ POLONIUS, OPHELIA,
HORATIO, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, Lords, Ladies, _and_ Attendants.
KING _and_ QUEEN _sit_ (L.H.); OPHELIA (R.H.)
_King._ (L.) How fares our cousin Hamlet?
_Ham._ (C.) Excellent, i'faith; of the cameleon's dish: I eat the
air, promise-crammed: you cannot feed capons so.
_King._ I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these words are not
mine.[65]
_Ham._ No, nor mine, now.[66] My lord,--you played once in the
university, you say?[67]
[_To_ POLONIUS, L.]
_Pol._ (L.C.) That did I, my lord; and was accounted a good actor.
_Ham._ (C.) And what did you enact?
_Pol._ I did enact Julius Cæsar:[68] I was killed i'the Capitol;
Brutus killed me.
_Ham._ It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf
there.--Be the players ready?
_Ros._ Ay, my lord; they stay upon your patience.[69]
_Queen._ Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me.
[_Pointing to a chair by her side._]
_Ham._ No, good mother, here's metal more attractive.
_Pol._ O, ho! do you mark that?
[_Aside to the_ KING.]
_Ham._ Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
[_Lying down at_ OPHELIA'S _feet._][70]
_Oph._ (R.) You are merry, my lord.
_Ham._ O, your only jig-maker.[71] What should a man do but be merry?
for, look you, how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died
within these two hours.
_Oph._ Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord.
_Ham._ So long? Nay, then, let the devil wear black, for I'll have a
suit of sables.[72] O heavens! die two months ago, and not forgotten
yet? Then there's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half
a year: But, by'r-lady, he must build churches, then.[73]
_Oph._ What means the play, my lord?
_Ham._ Miching mallecho;[74] it means mischief.
_Oph._ But what is the argument of the play?
_Enter a_ Player _as_ Prologue (L.H.) _on a raised stage._
_Ham._ We shall know by this fellow.
_Pro._ _For us, and for our tragedy,
Here stooping to your clemency,
We beg your hearing patiently._
[_Exit_, L.H.]
_Ham._ Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?[75]
_Oph._ 'Tis brief, my lord.
_Ham._ As woman's love.
_Enter a_ KING _and a_ QUEEN (L.H.) _on raised stage._
_P. King._ (R.) Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart[76] gone round
Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbГЁd ground,[77]
Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands,
Unite commutual in most sacred bands.
_P. Queen._ (L.) 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.
_P. King._ 'Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly too;
My operant powers their functions leave to do:[78]
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honour'd, belov'd; and, haply one as kind
For husband shalt thou----
_P. 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.
_Ham._ That's wormwood.
[_Aside to_ HORATIO, R.]
_P. King._ I do believe you think what now you speak;
But what we do determine oft we break.[79]
So think you thou wilt no second husband wed;
But die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead.
_P. Queen._ Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven light!
Sport and repose lock from me day and night!
Both here, and hence, pursue me lasting strife,
If, once a widow, ever I be wife!
_P. King._ 'Tis deeply sworn.
_Ham._ If she should break it now!--
[_To_ OPHELIA.]
_P. King._ Sweet, leave me here awhile;
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.
[_Reposes on a bank_, R., _and sleeps._]
_P. Queen._ Sleep rock thy brain;
And never come mischance between us twain!
[_Exit_, L.H.]
_Ham._ Madam, how like you this play?
_Queen._ The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
_Ham._ O, but she'll keep her word.
_King._ Have you heard the argument?[80] Is there no offence in't?
_Ham._ No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest; no offence i'the
world.
_King._ What do you call the play?
_Ham._ The mouse-trap.[81] Marry, how? Tropically.[82] This play is
the image of a murder[83] done in Vienna: Gonzago is the Duke's name;
his wife, Baptista: you shall see anon;--'tis a knavish piece of
work: but what of that? your majesty, and we that have free souls, it
touches us not: Let the galled jade wince,[84] our withers[85] are
unwrung.
_Enter_ LUCIANUS (L.H.)
This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king.
_Oph._ You are as good as a chorus,[86] my lord.
_Ham._ I could interpret between you and your love, if I could see
the puppets dallying.[87] Begin, murderer; leave thy damnable faces,
and begin. Come:--
----The croaking raven
Doth bellow for revenge.[88]
_Luc._ Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing;
Confederate season, else no creature seeing;
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds[89] collected,
With Hecat's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected,
Thy natural magick and dire property,
On wholesome life usurp[90] immediately.
[_Pours the poison into the Sleeper's Ears._]
_Ham._ He poisons him i' the garden for his estate. His name's
Gonzago: the story is extant, and written in very choice Italian: You
shall see anon how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife.
_King._ Give me some light: away!
_All._ Lights, lights, lights!
[_Exeunt all_, R. _and_ L., _but_ HAMLET _and_ HORATIO.]
_Ham._ Why, let the strucken deer go weep,[91]
The hart ungallГЁd play;
For some must watch, while some must sleep:
So runs the world away.--
O, good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a thousand pounds.
Didst perceive?
_Hor._ (R.) Very well, my lord.
_Ham._ (C.) Upon the talk of the poisoning.--
_Hor._ I did very well note him.
_Ham._ Ah, ah! come, some musick! come, the recorders!
[_Exit_ HORATIO, R.H.]
_Enter_ ROSENCRANTZ _and_ GUILDENSTERN (L.H.) HAMLET _seats
himself in the chair_ (R.)
_Guil._ (L.C.) Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with you.
_Ham._ Sir, a whole history.
_Guil._ The king, sir,----
_Ham._ Ay, sir, what of him?
_Guil._ Is, in his retirement, marvellous distempered.[92]
_Ham._ With drink, sir?
_Guil._ No, my lord, with choler.
_Ham._ Your wisdom should show itself more rich to signify this to
the doctor; for, for me to put him to his purgation would perhaps
plunge him into more choler.
_Guil._ Good my lord, put your discourse into some frame, and start
not so wildly from my affair.
_Ham._ I am tame, sir:--pronounce.
_Guil._ The queen, your mother, in most great affliction of spirit,
hath sent me to you.
_Ham._ You are welcome.
_Guil._ 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.
_Ham._ Sir, I cannot.
_Guil._ What, my lord?
_Ham._ 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,--
_Ros._ (_Crosses to_ C.) Then thus she says: Your behaviour hath
struck her into amazement and admiration.[93]
_Ham._ O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother! But is there
no sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration?--impart.
_Ros._ She desires to speak with you in her closet, ere you go to
bed.
_Ham._ We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have you any
further trade with us?[94]
_Ros._ My lord, you once did love me.
_Ham._ And do still, by these pickers and stealers.[95]
[_Rises and comes forward_, C.]
_Ros._ (R.) Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper? you do,
surely, bar the door of your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to
your friend.[96]
_Ham._ Sir, I lack advancement.
_Ros._ How can that be, when you have the voice of the king himself
for your succession in Denmark?[97]
_Ham._ Ay, sir, but _While the grass grows_,--the proverb is
something musty.[98]
_Enter_ HORATIO _and_ Musicians (R.H.)
O, the recorders:[99]--let me see one.--So; withdraw with you:--
[_Exeunt_ HORATIO _and_ Musicians R.H. GUILDENSTERN,
_after speaking privately to_ ROSENCRANTZ, _crosses
behind_ HAMLET _to_ R.H.]
Why do you go about to recover the wind of me,[100] as if you would
drive me into a toil?[101]
_Guil._ (R.) O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too
unmannerly.[102]
_Ham._ (C.) I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this
pipe?
_Guil._ My lord, I cannot.
_Ham._ I pray you.
_Guil._ Believe me, I cannot.
_Ham._ I do beseech you.
_Ros._ (L.) I know no touch of it, my lord.
_Ham._ '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.[103] Look you, these are the stops.
_Guil._ But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I
have not the skill.
_Ham._ 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 cannot you make it speak. 'Sdeath, do you
think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what
instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon
me.[104]
[_Crosses to_ L.H.]
_Enter_ POLONIUS (R.H.)
_Pol._ (R.) My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently.
_Ham._ (C.) Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a
camel?
_Pol._ By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.
_Ham._ Methinks it is like a weasel.
_Pol._ It is backed like a weasel.
_Ham._ Or like a whale?
_Pol._ Very like a whale.
_Ham._ Then will I come to my mother by and by. They fool me to the
top of my bent.[105] I will come by and by.
_Pol._ I will say so.
_Ham._ By and by is easily said.
[_Exit_ POLONIUS, R.H.
Leave me, friends.
[_Exeunt_ ROSENCRANTZ _and_ GUILDENSTERN, R.H.]
'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[106] as the day
Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother.
O, heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural;
I will speak daggers to her, but use none.
[_Exit._]
SCENE II.--A ROOM IN THE SAME.
_Enter_ KING, ROSENCRANTZ _and_ GUILDENSTERN (R.H.)
_King._ I like him not; nor stands it safe with us[107]
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you;
I your commission will forthwith despatch,
And he to England shall along with you:
Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage;
For we will fetters put upon this fear,[108]
Which now goes too free-booted.
_Ros._ }
} We will haste us.
_Guil._}
[_Cross behind the_ KING, _and exeunt_ ROSENCRANTZ _and_
GUILDENSTERN, L.H.]
_Enter_ POLONIUS (R.H.)
_Pol._ My lord, he's going to his mother's closet:
Behind the arras I'll convey myself,[109]
To hear the process;[110] I'll warrant, she'll tax him home:
And, as you said, and wisely was it said,
'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother,
Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear
The speech of vantage.[111] Fare you well, my liege:
[POLONIUS _crosses to_ L.H.]
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,
And tell you what I know.
_King._ Thanks, dear my lord.
[_Exeunt_ POLONIUS, L.H., _and_ KING, R.H.]
SCENE III.--THE QUEEN'S CHAMBER.
_Enter_ QUEEN _and_ POLONIUS (L.H.)
_Pol._ He will come straight. Look, you lay home to him:[112]
Tell him his pranks have been too broad[113] to bear with,
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.[114]
Pray you, be round with him.
_Queen._ I'll warrant you;
Fear me not:--withdraw, I hear him coming.
[POLONIUS _hides himself_, L.H.U.E.
_Enter_ HAMLET (R.)
_Ham._ (R.C.) Now, mother, what's the matter?
_Queen._ (L.C.) Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
_Ham._ Mother, you have my father much offended.
_Queen._ Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
_Ham._ Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
_Queen._ Why, how now, Hamlet!
_Ham._ What's the matter now?
_Queen._ Have you forgot me?
_Ham._ No, by the rood,[115] 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.
_Ham._ 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!
_Pol._
(_Behind._)
What, ho! help!
_Ham._ How now! a rat?[116]
[_Draws._]
Dead, for a ducat, dead!
[HAMLET _rushes off behind the arras._]
_Pol._ (_Behind._) O, I am slain!
[_Falls and dies._]
_Queen._ O me, what hast thou done?
_Ham._
(_Returning._)
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
_Queen._ O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
_Ham._ A bloody deed!--almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
_Queen._ As kill a king!
_Ham._ Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
[_Goes off behind the arras, and returns._]
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
[_To the dead body of_ POLONIUS, _behind the arras_.]
I took thee for thy better.
Leave wringing of your hands: Peace; sit you down,
[_To the_ QUEEN.]
And let me wring your heart: for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff;
If damnГЁd custom have not brazed it so,[117]
That it be proof and bulwark against sense.[118]
_Queen._
(_Sits_ R.C.)
What have I done, that thou dar'st wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
_Ham._
(_Seated_ L.C.)
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;[119] makes marriage vows
As false as dicer's oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul;[120] and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words.--
Ah, me, that act!
_Queen._ Ah me, what act?
_Ham._ Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment[121] of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
HypГ©rion's curls;[122] the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury[123]
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.[124] Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor?[125] Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for, at your age
The hey-day in the blood[126] is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: And what judgment
Would step from this to this?
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine,[127] in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire.
_Queen._ O, Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grainГЁd spots
As will not leave their tinct.[128]
_Ham._ Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,----[129]
_Queen._ O, speak to me no more;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
_Ham._ A murderer and a villain:
A slave that is not twentieth part the tythe
Of your precedent lord;--a vice of kings;[130]
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule;
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket![131]
_Queen._ No more!
_Ham._ A king
Of shreds and patches.[132]
[_Enter_ Ghost, R.]
Save me
[_Starts from his chair_],
and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
_Queen._ Alas, he's mad!
[_Rising._]
_Ham._ (L.) Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, laps'd in time and passion,[133] lets go by
The important acting of your dread command?
O, say!
_Ghost._ (R.) 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.
Speak to her Hamlet.
_Ham._ How is it with you, lady?
_Queen._ Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy,
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep.
O gentle son,
[_Crosses to_ HAMLET.]
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience.[134] Whereon do you look?
_Ham._ On him, on him!--Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.[135] Do not look upon me;
Lest with this piteous action, you convert
My stern effects:[136] then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance, for blood.
_Queen._ To whom do you speak this?
_Ham._ Do you see nothing there?
_Queen._ Nothing at all; yet all that is, I see.[137]
_Ham._ Nor did you nothing hear?
_Queen._ No, nothing but ourselves.
_Ham._ Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
[_Ghost crosses to_ L.]
My father in his habit as he lived![138]
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
[_Exit_ Ghost, L.H. HAMLET _sinks into chair_ C.
_The_ QUEEN _falls on her knees by his side._]
_Queen._ This is the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.[139]
_Ham._ Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: It is not madness
That I have uttered: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from.[140] Mother, for love of grace,
_Rising._]
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film[141] the ulcerous place,
Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come.
_Queen._ O, Hamlet! thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
_Ham._ O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to my uncle's bed;
[_Raising the_ QUEEN.]
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
Once more, good night!
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you.[142] For this same lord,
[_Pointing to_ POLONIUS.]
I do repent:
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
[_Exit_ QUEEN, R.H.]
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.
[_Exit_ HAMLET _behind the arras_, L.H.U.E.
END OF ACT THIRD.
Notes
Act III
[Footnote III.1: _Forward_] Disposed, inclinable.]
[Footnote III.2: _Assay him to_] Try his disposition towards.]
[Footnote III.3: _O'er-raught on the way:_] Reached or overtook.]
[Footnote III.4 _Have closely sent_] _i.e._, privately sent.]
[Footnote III.5 _May here affront Ophelia:_] To affront is to
come face to face--to confront.]
[Footnote III.6 _Lawful espials_,] Spies justifiably inquisitive.
From the French, _espier_.]
[Footnote III.7 _Too much prov'd_,] Found by too frequent
experience.]
[Footnote III.8 _To be, or not to be, that is the question:_]
Hamlet is deliberating whether he should continue to live, or put
an end to his existence.]
[Footnote III.9: _Or to take arms against a sea of troubles_,] _A
sea of troubles_ among the Greeks grew into a proverbial usage;
so that the expression figuratively means, the troubles of human
life, which flow in upon us, and encompass us round like a sea.]
[Footnote III.10: _This mortal coil_,] Coil is here used in each
of its senses, that of turmoil or bustle, and that which entwines
or wraps round.]
[Footnote III.11: _Must give us pause:_] _i.e._, occasion for
reflection.]
[Footnote III.12: _There's the respect That makes calamity of so
long life_;] The _consideration_ that makes the evils of life so
long submitted to, lived under.]
[Footnote III.13: _The whips and scorns of time_,] Those
sufferings of body and mind, those stripes and mortifications to
which, in its _course_, the life of man is subjected.]
[Footnote III.14: _Contumely_,] Contemptuousness, rudeness.]
[Footnote III.15: _His quietus make_] Quietus means the official
discharge of an account: from the Latin. Particularly in the
Exchequer accounts, where it is still current. Chiefly used by
authors in metaphorical senses.]
[Footnote III.16: _A bare bodkin?_] Bodkin was an ancient term
for a small dagger. In the margin of Stowe's Chronicle it is said
that Cæsar was slain with _bodkins_.]
[Footnote III.17: _Who would fardels bear_,] Fardel is a burden.
Fardellus, low Latin.]
[Footnote III.18: _From whose bourn_] _i.e._, boundary.]
[Footnote III.19: _No traveller returns_,] The traveller whom
Hamlet had seen, though he appeared in the same habit which he
had worn in his life-time, was nothing but a shadow,
"invulnerable as the air," and, consequently, _incorporeal_. The
Ghost has given us no account of the region from whence he came,
being, as he himself informed us, "forbid to tell the secrets of
his prison-house."--MALONE.]
[Footnote III.20: _Thus conscience does make cowards of us all_;]
A state of doubt and uncertainty, a conscious feeling or
apprehension, a misgiving "How our audit stands."]
[Footnote III.21: _Of great pith and moment_,] _i.e._, of great
vigour and importance.]
[Footnote III.22:
_With this regard, their currents turn away_,
_And lose the name of action._]
From this sole consideration have their drifts diverted, and lose
the character and name of enterprise.]
[Footnote III.23: _Soft you now!_] A gentler pace! have done with
lofty march!]
[Footnote III.24: _Nymph, in thy orisons_] _i.e._, in thy
prayers. Orison is from _oraison_--French.]
[Footnote III.25: _If you be honest and fair, your honesty should
admit no discourse to your beauty._] _i.e._, if you really
possess these qualities, chastity and beauty, and mean to support
the character of both, your honesty should be so chary of your
beauty, as not to suffer a thing so fragile to entertain
discourse, or to be parleyed with.
The lady interprets the words otherwise, giving them the turn
best suited to her purpose.]
[Footnote III.26: _His likeness:_] Shakespeare and his
contemporaries frequently use the personal for the neutral
pronoun.]
[Footnote III.27: _Inoculate our old stock, but we shall relish
of it:_] So change the original constitution and properties, as
that no smack of them shall remain. "Inoculate our stock" are
terms in gardening.]
[Footnote III.28: _With more offences at my beck_] That is,
always ready to come about me--at my beck and call.]
[Footnote III.29: _Than I have thoughts to put them in, &c._] "To
put a thing into thought," Johnson says, is "to think on it."]
[Footnote III.30: _I have heard of your paintings_,] These
destructive aids of beauty seem, in the time of Shakespeare, to
have been general objects of satire.]
[Footnote III.31: _Heaven hath given you one face, and you make
yourselves another:_] _i.e._, Heaven hath given you one face, and
you disfigure his image by making yourself another.]
[Footnote III.32: _You jig, you amble, and you lisp_,] This is an
allusion to the manners of the age, which Shakespeare, in the
spirit of his contemporaries, means here to satirise.]
[Footnote III.33: _Make your wantonness your ignorance._] You
mistake by _wanton_ affectation, and pretend to mistake by
_ignorance_.]
[Footnote III.34: _All but one shall live_;] _One_ is the king.]
[Footnote III.35: _To a nunnery, go. Exit Hamlet._] There is no
doubt that Hamlet's attachment to Ophelia is ardent and sincere,
but he treats her with apparent severity because he is aware that
Ophelia has been purposely thrown in his way; that spies are
about them; and that it is necessary for the preservation of his
life, to assume a conduct which he thought would be attributed to
madness only.]
[Footnote III.36: _The expectancy and rose of the fair state_,]
The first hope and fairest flower. "The gracious mark o' the
land."]
[Footnote III.37: _Glass of fashion_] Speculum
consuetudinis.--CICERO.
[Footnote III.38: _The mould of form_,] The cast, in which is
shaped the only perfect form.
[Footnote III.39: _Musick vows_,] Musical, mellifluous.
[Footnote III.40: _Be round with him_;] _i.e._, plain with
him--without reserve.
[Footnote III.41: _If she find him not_,] Make him not out.
[Footnote III.42: _As lief_] As willingly.]
[Footnote III.43: _Thus_;] _i.e._, thrown out thus.]
[Footnote III.44: _Robustious perrywig-pated fellow_] This is a
ridicule on the quantity of false hair worn in Shakespeare's
time, for wigs were not in common use till the reign of Charles
the Second. _Robustious_ means making an extravagant show of
passion.]
[Footnote III.45: _The ears of the groundlings_,] The meaner
people appear to have occupied the pit of the theatre (which had
neither floor nor benches in Shakespeare's time), as they now sit
in the upper gallery.]
[Footnote III.46: _O'er-doing Termagant_;] The Crusaders, and
those who celebrated them, confounded Mahometans with Pagans, and
supposed Mahomet, or Mahound, to be one of their deities, and
Tervagant or Termagant, another. This imaginary personage was
introduced into our old plays and moralities, and represented as
of a most violent character, so that a ranting actor might always
appear to advantage in it. The word is now used for a scolding
woman.]
[Footnote III.47: _It out-herods Herod:_] In all the old
moralities and mysteries this personage was always represented as
a tyrant of a very violent temper, using the most exaggerated
language. Hence the expression.]
[Footnote III.48: _The very age and body of the time its form and
pressure._] _i.e._, to delineate exactly the manners of the age,
and the particular humours of the day--_pressure_ signifying
resemblance, as in a print.]
[Footnote III.49: _Come tardy off_,] Without spirit or animation;
heavily, sleepily done.]
[Footnote III.50: _The censure of which one_] _i.e._, the censure
of one of which.]
[Footnote III.51: _Your allowance_,] In your approbation.]
[Footnote III.52: _Not to speak it profanely_,] _i.e._,
_irreverently_, in allusion to Hamlet's supposition that God had
not made such men, but that they were only the handy work of
God's assistants.]
[Footnote III.53: _Indifferently_] In a reasonable degree.]
[Footnote III.54: _Speak no more them is set down for them:_]
Shakespeare alludes to a custom of his time, when the clown, or
low comedian, as he would now be called, addressing the audience
during the play, entered into a contest of raillery and sarcasm
with such spectators as chose to engage with him.]
[Footnote III.55: _Barren spectators_] _i.e._, dull,
unapprehensive spectators.]
[Footnote III.56: _Question_] Point, topic.]
[Footnote III.57: _Cop'd withal._] Encountered with.]
[Footnote III.58: _Pregnant hinges of the knee_,] _i.e._, bowed
or bent: ready to kneel where _thrift_, that is, thriving, or
emolument may follow sycophancy.]
[Footnote III.59: _Since my dear soul_] _Dear_ is out of which
arises the liveliest interest.]
[Footnote III.60: _Whose blood and judgment_] Dr. Johnson says
that according to the doctrine of the four humours, _desire_ and
_confidence_ were seated in the blood, and judgment in the
phlegm, and the due mixture of the humours made a perfect
character.]
[Footnote III.61: _The very comment of thy soul_] The most
intense direction of every faculty.]
[Footnote III.62: _Occulted guilt do not itself unkennel_]
Stifled, secret guilt, do not develope itself.]
[Footnote III.63: _As Vulcan's stithy._] A stithy is the smith's
shop, as stith is the anvil.]
[Footnote III.64: _In censure of his seeming._] In making our
estimate of the appearance he shall put on.]
[Footnote III.65: _I have nothing with this answer; these words
are not mine._] _i.e._, they grow not out of mine: have no
relation to anything said by me.]
[Footnote III.66: _No, nor mine, now._] They are now anybody's.
Dr. Johnson observes, "a man's words, says the proverb, are his
own no longer than while he keeps them unspoken."]
[Footnote III.67: _You played once in the university, you say?_]
The practice of acting Latin plays in the universities of Oxford
and Cambridge is very ancient, and continued to near the middle
of the last century.]
[Footnote III.68: _I did enact Julius Cæsar:_] A Latin play on
the subject of Cæsar's death, was performed at Christ-church,
Oxford, in 1582.]
[Footnote III.69: _They stay upon your patience._] _Patience_ is
here used for _leisure_.]
[Footnote III.70: _Lying down at Ophelia's feet._] To lie at the
feet of a mistress during any dramatic representation, seems to
have been a common act of gallantry.]
[Footnote III.71: _Jig-maker_,] Writer of ludicrous interludes.
_A jig_ was not in Shakespeare's time only a dance, but a
ludicrous dialogue in metre; many historical ballads were also
called _jigs_.]
[Footnote III.72: _For I'll have a suit of sables._] Wherever his
scene might be, the customs of his country were ever in
Shakespeare's thoughts. A suit trimmed with sables was in our
author's own time the richest dress worn by men in England. By
the Statute of Apparel, 24 Henry VIII., c. 13, (_article
furres_), it is ordained, that none under the degree of an _Earl_
may use _sables_.]
[Footnote III.73: _He must build churches, then._] Such
benefactors to society were sure to be recorded by means of the
feast day on which the patron saints and founders of churches
were commemorated in every parish. This custom has long since
ceased.]
[Footnote III.74: _Miching mallecho_;] To _mich_ is a provincial
word, signifying _to lie hid_, or _to skulk_, or _act by
stealth_. It was probably once generally used. Mallecho is
supposed to be corrupted from the Spanish _Malechor_, which means
a poisoner.]
[Footnote III.75: _The posy of a ring?_] Such poetry as you may
find engraven on a ring.]
[Footnote III.76: _Phoebus' cart_] A chariot was anciently called
a cart.]
[Footnote III.77: _Tellus' orbГЁd ground_,] _i.e._, the globe of
the earth. Tellus is the personification of the earth, being
described as the first being that sprung from Chaos.]
[Footnote III.78: _My operant powers their functions leave to
do:_] _i.e._, my active energies cease to perform their offices.]
[Footnote III.79: _What we do determine, oft we break._] Unsettle
our most fixed resolves.]
[Footnote III.80: _The argument?_] The subject matter.]
[Footnote III.81: _The mouse-trap._]
He calls it the mouse-trap, because it is the thing,
In which he'll catch the conscience of the king.]
[Footnote III.82: _Tropically._] _i.e._, figuratively.]
[Footnote III.83: _The image of a murder_,] _i.e._, the lively
portraiture, the correct and faithful representation of a murder,
&c.]
[Footnote III.84: _Let the galled jade wince_,] A proverbial
saying.]
[Footnote III.85: _Our withers are unwrung._] Withers is the
joining of the shoulder bones at the bottom of the neck and mane
of a horse. _Unwrung_ is _not pinched_.]
[Footnote III.86: _You are as good as a chorus_,] The persons who
are supposed to behold what passes in the acts of a tragedy, and
sing their sentiments between the acts.
The use to which Shakespeare converted the chorus, may be seen in
King Henry V.]
[Footnote III.87: _I could interpret between you and your love,
if I could see the puppets dallying._] This refers to the
interpreter, who formerly sat on the stage at all _puppet shows_,
and explained to the audience. _The puppets dallying_ are here
made to signify to the agitations of Ophelia's bosom.]
[Footnote III.88:
_The croaking raven_
_Doth bellow for revenge._]
_i.e._, begin without more delay; for the raven, foreknowing the
deed, is already croaking, and, as it were, calling out for the
revenge which will ensue.]
[Footnote III.89: _Midnight weeds_] The force of the epithet
_midnight_, will be best displayed by a corresponding passage in
Macbeth:
"Root of hemlock, _digg'd i' the dark_."]
[Footnote III.90: _Usurp_] Encroach upon.]
[Footnote III.91: _Let the strucken deer go weep_,] Shakespeare,
in _As you like it_, in allusion to the wounded stag, speaks of
the _big round tears_ which _cours'd one another down his
innocent nose in piteous chase_. In the 13th song of Drayton's
Polyolbion, is a similar passage--"_The harte weepeth at his
dying; his tears are held to be precious in medicine._"]
[Footnote III.92: _Marvellous distempered._] _i.e._,
discomposed.]
[Footnote III.93: _Admiration._] _i.e._, wonder.]
[Footnote III.94: _Trade with us?_] _i.e._ Occasion of
intercourse.]
[Footnote III.95: _By these pickers and stealers._] _i.e._, by
these hands. The phrase is taken from the Church catechism,
where, in our duty to our neighbour, we are taught to keep our
hands from _picking and stealing_.]
[Footnote III.96: _You do freely bar the door of your own
liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend._] By your own
act you close the way against your own ease, and the free
discharge of your griefs, if you open not the source of them to
your friends.]
[Footnote III.97: _You have the voice of the king himself for
your succession in Denmark?_] Though the crown was elective, yet
regard was paid to the recommendation of the preceding prince,
and preference given to royal blood, which, by degrees, produced
hereditary succession.]
[Footnote III.98: _"While the grass grows,"--the proverb is
something musty._] The proverb is, "_While the grass grows, the
steed starves._" Hamlet alludes to his own position, while
waiting for his succession to the throne of Denmark. A similar
adage is, "_A slip between the cup and the lip._"]
[Footnote III.99: _Recorder._] _i.e._ A kind of flute, or pipe.]
[Footnote III.100: _Why do you go about to recover the wind of
me_,] Equivalent to our more modern saying of _Get on the blind
side._]
[Footnote III.101: _Into a toil?_] _i.e._, net or snare.]
[Footnote III.102: _If my duty be too bold, my love is too
unmannerly._] If my sense of duty have led me too far, it is
affection and regard for you that makes the carriage of that duty
border on disrespect.]
[Footnote III.103: _Govern these ventages--and it will discourse
most eloquent music._] Justly order these vents, or air-holes,
and it will breathe or utter, &c.]
[Footnote III.104: _Though you can fret me, you cannot play upon
me._] A _fret_ is a stop or key of a musical instrument. Here is,
therefore, a play upon the words. Though you cannot fret, stop,
or vex, you cannot play or impose upon me.]
[Footnote III.105: _They fool me to the top of my bent._] To the
height; as far as they see me _incline_ to go: an allusion to the
utmost flexure of a bow.]
[Footnote III.106: _Bitter business_] _i.e._, shocking, horrid
business.]
[Footnote III.107: _Stands it safe with us_] Is it _consistent_
with our security.]
[Footnote III.108: _This fear_,] Bugbear.]
[Footnote III.109: _Behind the arras I'll convey myself_,] The
arras-hangings, in Shakespeare's time, were hung at such a
distance from the walls, that a person might easily stand behind
them unperceived.]
[Footnote III.110: _To hear the process_;] The course of the
conversation.]
[Footnote III.111: _The speech of vantage._] _i.e._, opportunity
or advantage of secret observations.]
[Footnote III.112: _Lay home to him:_] Pointedly and closely
charge him.]
[Footnote III.113: _Pranks too broad_] Open and bold.]
[Footnote III.114: _I'll 'sconce me even here._] 'Sconce and
ensconce are constantly used figuratively for _hide._ In "The
Merry Wives of Windsor," Falstaff says, "I will _ensconce_ me
behind the arras."]
[Footnote III.115: _By the rood_,] _i.e._, the cross or
crucifix.]
[Footnote III.116: _How now! a rat?_] This is an expression
borrowed from the History of Hamblet.]
[Footnote III.117: _Have not braz'd it so_,] _i.e._, soldered
with brass.]
[Footnote III.118: _Proof and bulwark against sense._] Against
all feeling.]
[Footnote III.119: _Takes off the rose From the fair forehead of
an innocent love, And sets a blister there_;] _i.e._, takes the
clear tint from the brow of unspotted, untainted innocence. "True
or honest as the skin between one's brows" was a proverbial
expression, and is frequently used by Shakespeare.]
[Footnote III.120: _As from the body of contraction plucks The
very soul_;] Annihilates the very principle of contracts.
Contraction for marriage contract.]
[Footnote III.121: _The counterfeit presentment_] _i.e._, picture
or mimic representation.]
[Footnote III.122: _HypГ©rion's curls_;] Hyperion is used by
Spenser with the same error in quantity.]
[Footnote III.123: _A station like the herald Mercury_] Station
is attitude--act of standing.]
[Footnote III.124:
_Like a mildew'd ear_,
_Blasting his wholesome brother._]
This alludes to Pharaoh's dream, in the 41st chapter of Genesis.]
[Footnote III.125: _Batten on this moor?_] Batten is to feed
rankly.]
[Footnote III.126: _Hey-day in the blood_] This expression is
occasionally used by old authors.]
[Footnote III.127: _Thou canst mutine_] _i.e._, rebel.]
[Footnote III.128: _As will not leave their tinct._] So dyed _in
grain_, that they will not relinquish or lose their tinct--are
not to be discharged. In a sense not very dissimilar he presently
says,
"Then what I have to do
Will _want true colour_."]
[Footnote III.129: _An enseamed bed._] _i.e._, greasy bed of
grossly fed indulgence.]
[Footnote III.130: _A vice of kings_;] _i.e._, a low mimick of
kings. The vice was the fool of the old moralities or dramas, who
was generally engaged in contests with the devil, by whom he was
finally carried away. Dr. Johnson says the modern Punch is
descended from the vice.]
[Footnote III.131:
_From a shelf the precious diadem stole_,
_And put it in his pocket!_]
In allusion to the usurper procuring the crown as a common
pilferer or thief, and not by open villainy that carried danger
with it.]
[Footnote III.132: _A king of shreds and patches._] This is said,
pursuing the idea of the _vice of kings_. The vice being dressed
as a fool, in a coat of party-coloured patches.]
[Footnote III.133: _Laps'd in time and passion_,] That having
suffered time to slip, and passion to cool, &c. It was supposed
that nothing was more offensive to apparitions than the neglect
to attach importance to their appearance, or to be inattentive to
their admonitions.]
[Footnote III.134: _Cool patience._] _i.e._, moderation.]
[Footnote III.135: _Make them capable._] Make them
intelligent--capable of conceiving.]
[Footnote III.136: _My stem effects:_] _i.e._, change the nature
of my purposes, or what I mean to effect.]
[Footnote III.137: _Nothing at all; yet all that is, I see._] It
is in perfect consistency with the belief that all spirits were
not only naturally invisible, but that they possessed the power
of making themselves visible to such persons only as they
pleased.]
[Footnote III.138: _My father, in his habit as he lived!_] In the
habit he was accustomed to wear when living.]
[Footnote III.139:
_This bodiless creation ecstasy_
_Is very cunning in._]
_i.e._, "Such shadows are the weak brain's forgeries." Ecstasy in
this place, as in many others, means a temporary alienation of
mind--a fit.]
[Footnote III.140: _Gambol from._] Start away from.]
[Footnote III.141: _Skin and film_,] Cover with a thin skin.]
[Footnote III.142:
_And when you are desirous to be bless'd_,
_I'll blessing beg of you_]
When you are desirous to receive a blessing from heaven (which
you cannot, seriously, till you reform), I will beg to receive a
blessing from you.]
ACT IV.
SCENE I.--A ROOM IN THE CASTLE.
_Enter_ KING _and_ QUEEN, _from_ (R.H.) _centre._
_King._ There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:
You must translate:[1] 'tis fit we understand them.
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,[2] kills
The unseen good old man.
_King._ O heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there:
Where is he gone?
_Queen._ To draw apart the body he hath kill'd.
_King._ 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!
_Enter_ ROSENCRANTZ _and_ GUILDENSTERN (L.H.)
Friends both, go join you 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.
[ROSENCRANTZ _and_ GUILDENSTERN _cross to_ R.]
I pray you, haste in this.
[_Exeunt_ ROSENCRANTZ _and_ GUILDENSTERN, R.H.]
Go, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends;
And let them know, both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done.
[_Exit_ QUEEN, R.C.]
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 like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence.[3]
_Enter_ ROSENCRANTZ (R.)
How now! what hath befallen?
_Ros._ Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord,
We cannot get from him.
_King._ But where is he?
_Ros._ Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
_King._ Bring him before us.
_Ros._ Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.
_Enter_ HAMLET, GUILDENSTERN, _and_ Attendants (R.H.)
_King._ (C.) Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
_Ham._ (R.) At supper.
_King._ At supper? Where?
_Ham._ Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a
certain convocation of politick worms[4] are e'en at him.
_King._ Where's Polonius?
_Ham._ In Heaven; send thither to see: if your messenger
find him not there, seek him i'the other place
yourself. But, indeed, 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_ GUILDENSTERN.]
_Ham._ He will stay till you come.
[_Exit_ GUILDENSTERN, R.H.]
_King._ Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,
Must send thee hence:
Therefore prepare thyself;
The bark is ready, and the wind at help,[5]
For England.
_Ham._ For England!
_King._ Ay, Hamlet.
_Ham._ Good.
_King._ So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
_Ham._ I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for
England!--Farewell, dear mother.
_King._ Thy loving father, Hamlet.
_Ham._ My mother: Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is
one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England.
[_Exit_, R.H.]
_King._ Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;
Away! for everything is seal'd and done.
[_Exeunt_ ROSENCRANTZ _and_ Attendants, R.H.]
And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,
Thou may'st not coldly set[6]
Our sovereign process;[7] which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,[8]
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For thou must cure me: 'Till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps,[9] my joys will ne'er begin.
[_Exit_ KING, L.H.]
_Enter_ QUEEN _and_ HORATIO (R. _centre._)
_Queen._ ----I will not speak with her.
_Hor._ She is importunate; indeed, distract:
'Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
_Queen._ Let her come in.
[_Exit_ HORATIO, R.C.]
_Re-enter_ HORATIO, _with_ OPHELIA (R. _centre._)
_Oph._ Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark?
_Queen._ How now, Ophelia!
_Oph._ (C.)
[_Singing._]
_How should I your true love know_
_From another one?_
_By his cockle hat and staff_,
_And his sandal shoon._[10]
_Queen._ (L.C.) Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?
_Oph._ Say you? nay, pray you, mark.
[_Sings._]
_He is dead and gone, lady_,
_He is dead and gone_;
_At his head a grass-green turf_,
_At his heels a stone._
_Enter the_ KING (L.H.)
_Queen._ Nay, but, Ophelia,----
_Oph._ Pray you, mark.
[_Sings._]
_White his shroud as the mountain-snow_,
_Larded all with sweet flowers_;[11]
_Which bewept to the grave did go_
_With true-love showers._
_King._ How do you, pretty lady?
_Oph._ Well, Heaven 'ield you![12]
(_Crosses to the_ KING.)
They say the owl was a baker's daughter.[13] We know
what we are, but know not what we may be.
_King._ Conceit upon her father.[14]
_Oph._ Pray, you, let us have no words of this; but when
they ask you what it means, say you this:
_To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day_,
_All in the morning betime_,
_And I, a maid at your window_,
_To be your Valentine:_
