_King._ Pretty Ophelia!
_Oph._ Indeed, without an oath, I'll make an end on't:
_Then up he rose, and don'd his clothes_,
_And dupp'd[15] the chamber door_;
_Let in the maid, that out a maid_
_Never departed more._
[_Crosses to_ R.H.]
_King._ (L.) How long hath she been thus?
_Oph._ (R.) I hope all will be well. We must be patient: but I cannot
choose but weep, to think they should lay him i'the cold ground. My
brother shall know of it; and so I thank you for your good counsel.
Come, my coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies; good
night, good night.
[_Exit_, R.C.]
_King._ Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.
[_Exit_ HORATIO, _through centre_ R.]
O! this is the poison of deep grief; it springs
All from her father's death.
O, Gertrude, Gertrude,
When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions!
_Enter_ MARCELLUS (R. _centre._)
_King._ What is the matter?
_Mar._ Save yourself, my lord:
The young Laertes, in a riotous head,[16]
O'erbears your officers. The rabble call him lord;
They cry, _Choose we: Laertes shall be king!_
Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds,
_Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!_
[_Noise within_, R.C.]
_Enter_ LAERTES, _armed_; Danes _following_ (R. _centre._)
_Laer._ Where is this king?--Sirs, stand you all without.
_Dan._ No, let's come in.
_Laer._ I pray you, give me leave.
_Dan._ We will, we will.
[_They retire without_, R.H.]
_Laer._ O, thou vile king,
Give me my father.
_Queen_
(_Interposing._)
Calmly, good Laertes.
_Laer._ (R.) That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard;
Cries cuckold to my father; brands the harlot
Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow
Of my true mother.[17]
_King._ (L.) What is the cause, Laertes,
That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?
Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person:
There's such divinity doth hedge a king,[18]
That treason can but peep to what it would,
Acts little of his will.
Let him go, Gertrude.
[QUEEN _obeys._]
_Laer._ Where is my father?
_King._ Dead.
_Queen._ But not by him.
_King._ Let him demand his fill.
_Laer._ How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with:
To hell, allegiance! To this point I stand,
That both the worlds I give to negligence,[19]
Let come what comes; only I'll be reveng'd
Most throughly for my father.
_King._ Who shall stay you!
_Laer._ My will, not all the world's:[20]
And, for my means, I'll husband them so well,
They shall go far with little.
_King._ Good Laertes,
That I am guiltless of your father's death,
And am most sensible in grief[21] for it,
It shall as level to your judgment 'pear
As day does to your eye.
_Hor._
(_Without._)
Oh, poor Ophelia!
_King._ Let her come in.
_Enter_ OPHELIA (R.C.), _fantastically dressed with Straws
and Flowers._
_Laer._
(_Goes up_ L.C.)
O rose of May!
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!
O heavens! is't possible, a young maid's wits
Should be as mortal as an old man's life?
_Oph._ (R.C.)
_They bore him barefac'd on the bier_;
_And on his grave rain many a tear,--_
Fare you well, my dove!
_Laer._
(_Coming down_ R.)
Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,
It could not move thus.
_Oph._ You must sing, _Down-a-down,[22] an you call him a-down-a._ O,
how well the wheel becomes it![23] It is the false steward, that
stole his master's daughter.
_Laer._ This nothing's more than matter.
_Oph._ There's rosemary, that's for remembrance;[24] pray you, love,
remember: and there is pansies,[25] that's for thoughts.
_Laer._ A document in madness; thoughts and remembrance fitted.
_Oph._ There's fennel for you,
(_crosses to the_ KING _on_ L.H.)
and columbines:[26] there's rue for you;
(_turns to the_ QUEEN, _who is_ R.C.)
and here's some for me:--we may call it herb of grace
o'Sundays:[27]--you may wear your rue with a difference.[28]--There's
a daisy:[29]--I would give you some violets,[30] but they withered
all when my father died:--They say he made a good end,----
_For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy--_[31]
_Laer._ (R.) Thought and affliction,[32] passion, hell itself,
She turns to favour and to prettiness.
_Oph._
_And will he not come again?_
_And will he not come again?_
_No, no, he is dead_,
_Gone to his death-bed_,
_He never will come again._
_His beard was white as snow_,
_All flaxen was his poll:_
_He is gone, he is gone_,
_And we cast away moan:_
_Heaven 'a mercy on his soul!_
And of all christian souls, I pray Heaven. Heaven be wi' you.
[_Exit_ OPHELIA, R.C., QUEEN _following._]
_Laer._ Do you see this, O Heaven?
_King._ (L.C.) Laertes, I must commune with your grief,[33]
Or you deny me right.
Be you content to lend your patience to us,
And we shall jointly labour with your soul
To give it due content.
_Laer._ (R.C.) Let this be so;
His means of death, his obscure funeral,--
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,[34]
No noble rite nor formal ostentation,--
Cry to be heard,[35] as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't in question.
_King._ So you shall;
And where the offence is let the great axe fall.[36]
How now! what news?
_Enter_ BERNARDO (R.H.C.)
_Ber._ (C.) Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:
This to your majesty; this to the Queen.
_King._ From Hamlet! who brought them?
_Ber._ Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not.
_King._ Laertes, you shall hear them.--
Leave us.
[_Exit_, L.H.C.]
[Reads.]
_High and mighty, You shall know I am set naked on your kingdom.[37]
To morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes: when I shall,
first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden
and more strange return._ HAMLET.
What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
_Laer._ (R.) Know you the hand?
_King._ (L.) 'Tis Hamlet's character:[38] _Naked,--_
And in a postscript here, he says, _alone_.
Can you advise me?
_Laer._ I am lost in it, my lord. But let him come;
It warms the very sickness in my heart,
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,
_Thus diddest thou_.
_King._ If it be so, Laertes,
Will you be rul'd by me?
_Laer._ Ay, my lord;
So you will not o'er-rule me to a peace.
_King._ To thine own peace.
Some two months since,
Here was a gentleman of Normandy,
He made confession of[39] you;
And gave you such a masterly report,
For art and exercise in your defence,[40]
And for your rapier most especially,
That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed,
If one could match you: this report of his
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy,
That he could nothing do but wish and beg
Your sudden coming o'er, to play with you.
Now, out of this,----
_Laer._ What out of this, my lord?
_King._ Laertes, was your father dear to you?
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
A face without a heart?
_Laer._ Why ask you this?
_King._ Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home:
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,
And set a double varnish on the fame
The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,
And wager o'er your heads; he, being remiss,[41]
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils:[42] so that, with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A sword unbated,[43] and, in a pass of practice,[44]
Requite him for your father.
_Laer._ I will do't:
And, for the purpose, I'll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal, that but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood no cataplasm[45] so rare,
Collected from all simples[46] that have virtue
Under the moon, can save the thing from death
That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,
It may be death.
_King._ (L.) Let's further think of this;
We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings,[47]
When in your motion[48] you are hot and dry,
(As make your bouts more violent to that end,)
And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepared him
A chalice for the nonce;[49] whereon but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,[50]
Our purpose may hold there. But stay, what noise?
_Enter_ QUEEN (R.C.)
_Queen._ (C.) One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
So fast they follow: Your sister's drown'd, Laertes.
_Laer._ (R.) Drown'd! O, where?
_Queen._ There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
Therewith fantastick garlands did she make
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples;[51]
There, on the pendent boughs her cornet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies, and herself,
Fell in the weeping brook.
_Laer._ I forbid my tears: But yet
It is our trick:[52] nature her custom holds,
Let shame say what it will: when these are gone,
The woman will be out.[53]
Adieu, my lord:
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze,
But that this folly drowns it.[54]
[_Exeunt._ C.]
END OF ACT FOURTH.
Notes
Act IV
[Footnote IV.1: _Translate:_] Interpret.]
[Footnote IV.2: _In this brainish apprehension_,] Distempered,
brainsick mood.]
[Footnote IV.3: _Where the offender's scourge is weigh'd, But
never the offence._] When an offender is popular, the people
never consider what his crime was, but they scrutinise his
punishment.]
[Footnote IV.4: _Politick worms_] _i.e._, artful, cunning worms.]
[Footnote IV.5: _The wind at help_,] _i.e._, ready.]
[Footnote IV.6: _May'st not coldly set_] Set is to value or
estimate. "Thou may'st not _set little by it_, or _estimate it
lightly_."]
[Footnote IV.7: _Our sovereign process:_] _i.e._, our royal
design.]
[Footnote IV.8: _By letters conjuring to that effect_,] The verb
to conjure, in the sense of to supplicate, was formerly accented
on the first syllable.]
[Footnote IV.9: _Howe'er my haps_,] Chances of fortune.]
[Footnote IV.10: _His sandal shoon._] Shoon is the old plural of
shoe. The verse is descriptive of a pilgrim. While this kind of
devotion was in favour, love intrigues were carried on under that
mask.]
[Footnote IV.11: _Larded with sweet flowers_;] _i.e._, Garnished
with sweet flowers.]
[Footnote IV.12: _Heaven 'ield you._] Requite; yield you
recompence.]
[Footnote IV.13: _The owl was a baker's daughter._] This is in
reference to a story that was once prevalent among the common
people of Gloucestershire.]
[Footnote IV.14: _Conceit upon her father._] Fancies respecting
her father.]
[Footnote IV.15: _Don'd and dupp'd_] _To don_, is to _do on_, or
_put on_, as _doff_ is to _do off_, or _put off_. To _dupp_ is to
_do up_, or _lift up_ the latch.]
[Footnote IV.16: _In a riotous head_,] The tide, strongly
flowing, is said to pour in with a great _head_.]
[Footnote IV.17: _The chaste unsmirched brow of my true mother._]
_Unsmirched_ is unstained, not defiled.]
[Footnote IV.18: _Doth hedge a king_,] The word _hedge_ is used
by the gravest writers upon the highest subjects.]
[Footnote IV.19: _Both the worlds I give to negligence_,] I am
careless of my present and future prospects, my views in this
life, as well as that which is to come.]
[Footnote IV.20: _My will, not all the world's:_] _i.e._, by my
will as far as my will is concerned, not all the world shall stop
me; and, as for my means, I'll husband them so well, they shall
go far, though really little.]
[Footnote IV.21: _Sensible in grief_] Poignantly affected with.]
[Footnote IV.22: _You must sing Down-a-down_,] This was the
burthen of an old song, well known in Shakespeare's time.]
[Footnote IV.23: _How well the wheel becomes it!_] This probably
means that the song or charm is well adapted to those who are
occupied at spinning at the wheel.]
[Footnote IV.24: _There's rosemary, that's for remembrance_;]
Rosemary was anciently supposed to strengthen the memory, and was
carried at funerals and wore at weddings. It was also considered
the emblem of fidelity in lovers; and at weddings it was usual to
dip the rosemary in the cup, and drink to the health of the new
married couple.]
[Footnote IV.25: _There is pansies_,] _i.e._, a little flower
called _heart's-ease_. Pansies in French signifies _thoughts_.]
[Footnote IV.26: _There's fennel for you, and columbines:_]
Fennel was considered an emblem of flattery, and columbine was
anciently supposed to be a _thankless flower_; signifying
probably that the courtiers flattered to get favours, and were
thankless after receiving them. Columbine was emblematical of
forsaken lovers.]
[Footnote IV.27: _There's rue for you; and here's some for
me:--we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays:_] Probably a
quibble is meant here, as _rue_ anciently signified the same as
_ruth_, _i.e._, sorrow. In the common dictionaries of
Shakespeare's time, it was called _herb of grace_. Ophelia wishes
to remind the Queen of the sorrow and contrition she ought to
feel for her unlawful marriage; and that she may wear her rue
with peculiar propriety on Sundays, when she solicits pardon for
the crime which she has so much occasion to _rue_ and repent
of.--MALONE.]
[Footnote IV.28: _You may wear your rue with a difference._]
_i.e._, to distinguish it from that worn by Ophelia, herself:
because her tears flowed from the loss of a father--those of the
Queen ought to flow for her guilt.]
[Footnote IV.29: _There's a daisy:_] A daisy signified a warning
to young women, not to trust the fair promises of their lovers.]
[Footnote IV.30: _I would give you some violets_,] Violets
signified faithfulness.]
[Footnote IV.31: _For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy,--_] Part
of an old song.]
[Footnote IV.32: _Thought and affliction_,] Thought here, as in
many other places, means melancholy.]
[Footnote IV.33: _I must commune with your grief_,] _i.e._,
confer, discuss, or argue with.]
[Footnote IV.34: _No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his
bones_,] Not only the sword, but the helmet, gauntlet, spurs, and
tabard, (_i.e._, a coat whereon the armorial ensigns were
anciently depicted, from whence the term _coat_ of armour), are
hung over the grave of every knight.]
[Footnote IV.35: _Cry to be heard_,] All these multiplied
incitements are things which cry, &c.]
[Footnote IV.36: _Let the great axe fall._] _i.e._, the axe that
is to be laid to the root.]
[Footnote IV.37: _Naked on your kingdom_,] _i.e._, unprovided and
defenceless.]
[Footnote IV.38: _'Tis Hamlet's character_,] Peculiar mode of
shaping his letters.]
[Footnote IV.39: _Made confession of_] Acknowledged.]
[Footnote IV.40: _In your defence_,] _i.e._, "in your art and
science of defence."]
[Footnote IV.41: _He, being remiss_,] _i.e._, unsuspicious, not
cautious.]
[Footnote IV.42: _Peruse the foils_;] Closely inspect them.]
[Footnote IV.43: _A sword unbated_,] Not blunted, as foils are by
a button fixed to the end.]
[Footnote IV.44: _In a pass of practice_,] This probably means
some favourite pass, some trick of fencing, with which Hamlet was
inexperienced, and by which Laertes may be sure of success.]
[Footnote IV.45: _No cataplasm_,] _i.e._, poultice--a healing
application.]
[Footnote IV.46: _Collected from all simples_,] _i.e._, from all
ingredients in medicine.]
[Footnote IV.47: _On your cunnings_,] _i.e._, on your dexterity.]
[Footnote IV.48: _In your motion_] Exercise, rapid evolutions.]
[Footnote IV.49: _For the nonce_;] _i.e._, present purpose or
design.]
[Footnote IV.50: _Venom'd stuck_,] Thrust. Stuck was a term of
the fencing school.]
[Footnote IV.51: _Long purples_,] One of the names for a species
of orchis, a common English flower.]
[Footnote IV.52: _Our trick:_] Our course, or habit; a property
that clings to, or makes a part of, us.]
[Footnote IV.53:
_When these are gone_,
_The woman will be out._]
When these tears are shed, this womanish passion will be over.]
[Footnote IV.54: _But that this folly drowns it._] _i.e._, my
rage had flamed, if this flood of tears had not extinguished it.]
ACT V.
SCENE I.--A CHURCH YARD.
_Enter two_ Clowns,[1] _with spades, &c._ (L.H.U.E.)
_1st Clo._ (R.) Is she to be buried in christian burial that wilfully
seeks her own salvation?
_2nd Clo._ (L.) I tell thee she is; therefore make her grave
straight:[2] the crowner[3] hath set on her, and finds it christian
burial.
_1st Clo._ How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own
defence?
_2nd Clo._ Why, 'tis found so.
_1st Clo._ It must be _se offendendo_;[4] it cannot be else. For here
lies the point: If I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act: and an
act hath three branches; it is, to act, to do, and to perform:[5]
argal,[6] she drowned herself wittingly.
_2nd Clo._ Nay, but hear you, goodman delver.[7]
_1st Clo._ Give me leave. Here lies the water; good: here stands the
man; good: If the man go to this water, and drown himself, it is,
will he, nill he, he goes,[8] mark you that; but if the water come
to him and drown him, he drowns not himself: argal, he that is not
guilty of his own death shortens not his own life.
_2nd Clo._ But is this law?
_1st Clo._ Ay, marry is't; crowner's-quest law.[9]
_2nd Clo._ Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had not been a
gentlewoman, she should have been buried out of christian burial.
_1st Clo._ Why, there thou say'st:[10] And the more pity that great
folks should have countenance in this world to drown or hang
themselves, more than their even christian.[11] Come, my spade. There
is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers:
they hold up Adam's profession.
_2nd Clo._ Was he a gentleman?[12]
_1st Clo._ He was the first that ever bore arms. I'll put another
question to thee: if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess
thyself----[13]
_2nd Clo._ Go to.
_1st Clo._ What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the
shipwright, or the carpenter?
_2nd Clo._ The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand
tenants.
_1st Clo._ I like thy wit well, in good faith: the gallows does well;
But how does it well? it does well to those that do ill: now, thou
dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church: argal,
the gallows may do well to thee. To't again, come.
_2nd Clo._ Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a
carpenter?
_1st Clo._ Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.[14]
_2nd Clo._ Marry, now I can tell.
_1st Clo._ To't.
_2nd Clo._ Mass, I cannot tell.
_1st Clo._ Cudgel thy brains no more about it,[15] for your dull ass
will not mend his pace with beating; and, when you are asked this
question next, say, a grave-maker, the houses that he makes, last
till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan, and fetch me a stoup of
liquor.[16]
[_Exit_ 2nd Clown, L.H.U.E.]
_Enter_ HAMLET _and_ HORATIO (L.H.U.E.)
First Clown _digs and sings._
_In youth, when I did love, did love_,[17]
_Methought, it was very sweet_,
_To contract, O, the time, for, ah, my behove_
_O, methought, there was nothing meet._
_Ham._
(_Behind the grave._)
Has this fellow no feeling of his business, he sings at grave-making?
_Hor._
(_On_ HAMLET'S R.)
Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
_Ham._ 'Tis e'en so: the hand of little employment hath the daintier
sense.[18]
_1st Clo._
_But age, with his stealing steps_,
_Hath clawed me in his clutch_,
_And hath shipped me into the land_,
_As if I had never been such._
[_Throws up a skull._]
_Ham._ That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: How the
knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain's jaw-bone, that did
the first murder! This might be the pate of a politician, which this
ass now o'er-reaches; one that would circumvent Heaven, might it not?
_Hor._ It might, my lord.
[_Gravedigger throws up bones._]
_Ham._ Did these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at
loggats with them?[19] mine ache to think on't.
_1st Clo._
[_Sings._]
_A pick-axe and a spade, a spade_,
_For and a shrouding sheet:_[20]
_O, a pit of clay for to be made_
_For such a guest is meet._
[_Throws up a skull._
_Ham._ There's another: Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer?
Where be his quiddits now, his quillets,[21] his cases, his tenures,
and his tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him
about the sconce[22] with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of
his action of battery? I will speak to this fellow.--Whose grave's
this, sirrah?
_1st Clo._ Mine, sir.--
[_Sings._]
_O, a pit of clay for to be made_
_For such a guest is meet._
_Ham._ (R. _of grave._) I think it be thine, indeed; for thou liest
in't.
_1st Clo._ You lie out on't, sir, and therefore it is not yours: for
my part, I do not lie in't, yet it is mine.
_Ham._ Thou dost lie in't, to be in't, and say it is thine: 'tis for
the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest.
_1st. Clo._ 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 'twill away again, from me to you.
_Ham._ What man dost thou dig it for?
_1st Clo._ For no man, sir.
_Ham._ What woman, then?
_1st Clo._ For none, neither.
_Ham._ Who is to be buried in't?
_1st Clo._ One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead.
_Ham._ How absolute the knave is![23] we must speak by the card,[24]
or equivocation will undo us,
[_To_ HORATIO, R.]
How long hast thou been a grave-maker?
_1st Clo._ Of all the days i'the year, I came to't that day that our
last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.
_Ham._ How long's that since?
_1st Clo._ Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: It was the
very day that young Hamlet was born,[25] he that is mad, and sent
into England.
_Ham._ Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?
_1st Clo._ Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits there;
or, if he do not, 'tis no great matter there.
_Ham._ Why?
_1st Clo._ 'Twill not be seen in him there; there the men are as mad
as he.
_Ham._ How came he mad?
_1st Clo._ Very strangely, they say.
_Ham._ How strangely?
_1st Clo._ 'Faith, e'en with losing his wits.
_Ham._ Upon what ground?
_1st Clo._ Why, here in Denmark: I have been sexton here, man and
boy, thirty years.
_Ham._ How long will a man lie i'the earth ere he rot?
_1st Clo._ 'Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, he will last
you some eight year or nine year: a tanner will last you nine year.
_Ham._ Why he more than another?
_1st Clo._ Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he
will keep out water a great while; and your water is a sore decayer
of your ill-begotten dead body. Here's a skull now, hath lain in the
earth three-and-twenty years.
_Ham._ Whose was it?
_1st Clo._ O, a mad fellow's it was: Whose do you think
it was?
_Ham._ Nay, I know not.
_1st Clo._ A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! he poured a flagon of
Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull,
the king's jester.
_Ham._ This?
[_Takes the skull._]
_1st Clo._ E'en that.
_Ham._ Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite
jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a
thousand times. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not
how oft; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! Where be your
gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that
were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own
grinning? Quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and
tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour[26] she must
come; make her laugh at that. Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.
_Hor._ What's that, my lord?
_Ham._ Dost thou think Alexander look'd o'this fashion i'the earth?
_Hor._ E'en so.
_Ham._ And smelt so? pah!
[_Gives the skull to HORATIO, who returns it to the grave-digger._]
_Hor._ E'en so, my lord.
_Ham._ To what base uses may we return, Horatio! Why may not
imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till it find it
stopping a bung-hole?
_Hor._ 'Twere to consider too curiously,[27] to consider so.
_Ham._ No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with modesty
enough, and likelihood to lead it: As thus; Alexander died, Alexander
was buried, Alexander returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth
we make loam; And why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might
they not stop a beer barrel?
Imperial Cæsar,[28] dead and turn'd to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:
O, that the earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw![29]
But soft! but soft! aside: Here comes the king,
The queen, the courtiers: Who is this they follow?
And with such maimГЁd rites?[30] This doth betoken
The corse they follow did with desperate hand
Fordo its own life:[31] 'Twas of some estate.[32]
Couch we awhile, and mark.
[_Retiring with_ HORATIO, R.H.]
_Enter_ Priests, &c., _in procession; the corpse of_ OPHELIA,
LAERTES _and_ Mourners _following_; KING, QUEEN, _their_
Trains, _&c._
_Laer._
(L. _of the grave._)
What ceremony else?
_Ham._ (R.) That is Laertes,
A very noble youth.
_1st Priest._
(R. _of the grave._)
Her obsequies have been as far enlarg'd
As we have warranty: Her death was doubtful;
And, but that great command o'ersways the order,[33]
She should in ground unsanctified have lodged
Till the last trumpet; for charitable prayers,
Shards,[34] flints, and pebbles, should be thrown on her:
Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,[35]
Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.[36]
_Laer._ Must there no more be done?
_1st Priest._ No more be done:
We should profane the service of the dead
To sing a _requiem_,[37] and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.
_Laer._ O, from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,[38]
A ministering angel shall my sister be,
When thou liest howling.
_Ham._ What, the fair Ophelia!
_Queen._
(_Behind the grave_, C. _with the_ KING.)
Sweets to the sweet: Farewell!
[_Scattering flowers._]
I hop'd thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
And not have strew'd thy grave.
_Laer._ O, treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that cursed head,
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense[39]
Depriv'd thee of!--Hold off the earth a while,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms:
[_Leaps into the grave._]
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
Till of this flat a mountain you have made,
To o'ertop old Pelion,[40] or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.
_Ham._
(_Advancing._)
What is he whose grief
Bears such an emphasis?--whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wand'ring stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers?--this is I,
Hamlet the Dane.
_Laer._
(L., _leaping from the grave._)
The devil take thy soul!
[_Grappling with him._]
_Ham._ (R.C.) Thou pray'st not well.
I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat;
For, though I am not splenetive and rash,
Yet have I in me something dangerous,
Which let thy wisdom fear: Hold off thy hand!
_King._ Pluck them asunder.
_Queen._ (C.) Hamlet, Hamlet!
_Ham._ (R.C.) Why, I will fight with him upon this theme
Until my eyelids will no longer wag.
_Queen._ O my son, what theme?
_Ham._ I lov'd Ophelia: forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum.--What wilt thou do for her?
_Queen._ O, he is mad, Laertes.
_Ham._ Come, show me what thou'lt do:
Wou'lt weep? wou'lt fight? wou'lt fast? wou'lt tear thyself?
I'll do't.--Dost thou come here to whine?
To outface me[41] with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I:
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,[42]
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa[43] like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.
_Queen._ This is mere madness:
And thus a while the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,
When that her golden couplets are disclos'd,[44]
His silence will sit drooping.
_Ham._ Hear you, sir;
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I lov'd you ever: But it is no matter;
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew,[45] and dog will have his day.
[_Exit_, R.H.]
_King._ (C.) I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.
[_Exit_ HORATIO, R.H.]
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son,
[_Exit_ QUEEN, _attended_, R.H.]
Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;[46]
[_To_ LAERTES.]
We'll put the matter to the present push.--
This grave shall have a living monument:[47]
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see;
Till then, in patience our proceeding be.
[_The characters group round the grave._]
SCENE II.--HALL IN THE CASTLE.
_Enter_ HAMLET _and_ HORATIO (R.H.)
_Ham._ But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself;
For by the image of my cause,[48] I see
The portraiture of his.
_Hor._ Peace! who comes here?
_Enter_ OSRIC (L.H.)
_Osr._ Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.
_Ham._ (C.) I humbly thank you, sir.--Dost know this water-fly?[49]
_Hor._ (R.) No, my good lord.
_Ham._ Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him.
_Osr._ (L.) Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should
impart a thing to you from his majesty.
_Ham._ I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit.[50] Your
bonnet to his right use; 'tis for the head.
_Osr._ I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot.
_Ham._ No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly.
_Osr._ It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed.
_Ham._ But yet, methinks it is very sultry and hot,[51] for my
complexion,--
_Osr._ Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry, as 'twere,--I cannot
tell how.--But, my lord, his majesty bade me signify to you, that he
has laid a great wager on your head: Sir, this is the matter,--
_Ham._ I beseech you, remember----
[HAMLET _moves him to put on his hat._]
_Osr._ Nay, good my lord; for mine ease, in good faith.[52] Sir, here
is newly come to court Laertes; believe me, an absolute gentleman,
full of most excellent differences, of very soft society and great
showing:[53] Indeed, to speak feelingly of him,[54] he is the card or
calendar of gentry,[55] for you shall find in him the continent of
what part a gentleman would see.[56]
_Ham._ What imports the nomination of this gentleman?[57]
_Osr._ Of Laertes?
_Ham._ Of him, sir.
_Osr._ Sir, you are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is--
_Ham._ I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in
excellence; but, to know a man well, were to know himself.[58]
_Osr._ I mean, sir, for his weapon.
_Ham._ What is his weapon?
_Osr._ Rapier and dagger.
_Ham._ That's two of his weapons: but, well.
_Osr._ The king, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses:
against the which he has imponed,[59] as I take it, six French
rapiers and poignards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers,[60] or
so: Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very
responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of very liberal
conceit.[61]
_Ham._ What call you the carriages?
_Osr._ The carriages, sir, are the hangers.
_Ham._ The phrase would be more german[62] to the matter, if we could
carry cannon by our sides.
_Osr._ The king, sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes between
yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; and it would
come to immediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the
answer.[63]
_Ham._ How if I answer no?[64]
_Osr._ I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial.
_Ham._ Sir, it is the breathing time of day with me; let the foils be
brought, the gentleman willing, and the king hold his purpose, I will
win for him if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame and
the odd hits.
_Osr._ Shall I deliver you so?
_Ham._ To this effect, sir; after what flourish your nature will.
_Osr._ I commend my duty to your lordship. [_Exit_, L.H.]
_Hor._ (R.) You will lose this wager, my lord.
_Ham._ (C.) I do not think so; since he went into France, I have been
in continual practice; I shall win at the odds.[65] But thou wouldst
not think how ill all's here about my heart: but it is no matter.
_Hor._ Nay, good my lord.
_Ham._ It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gain-giving,[66]
as would, perhaps, trouble a woman.
_Hor._ If your mind dislike any thing, obey it:[67] I will forestall
their repair hither, and say, you are not fit.
_Ham._ Not a whit, we defy augury: there is a special providence in
the fall of a sparrow.
[_Exeunt_, L.H.]
SCENE III.--ROOM IN THE CASTLE.
KING _and_ QUEEN, _on a dais_, LAERTES (R.), LORDS (R.),
LADIES (L.), OSRIC (R.) _and_ Attendants, _with Foils, &c.,
discovered_ (R.H.); _Tables_ (R. _and_ L.)--
_Flourish of Trumpets._
_Enter_ HAMLET _and_ HORATIO (L.H.)
_King._ Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from
me.
_Ham._ (_offering his hand to_ LAERTES) Give me your
pardon, sir: I have done you wrong;
But pardon it, as you are a gentleman.
Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.
_Laer._ (R.) I am satisfied in nature,
Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most
To my revenge.
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.
_Ham._ I embrace it freely:
And will this brother's wager frankly play.
Give us the foils.
_Laer._ Come, one for me.
_Ham._ I'll be your foil, Laertes: in mine ignorance
Your skill shall, like a star i'the darkest night,
Stick fiery off indeed.[68]
_Laer._ You mock me, sir.
_Ham._ No, by this hand.
_King._ Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin Hamlet,
You know the wager?
_Ham._ Very well, my lord;
Your grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker side.
_King._ I do not fear it; I have seen you both:
But since he's better'd,[69] we have therefore odds.
_Laer._ This is too heavy, let me see another.
_Ham._ This likes me well. These foils have all a length?
_Osr._ Ay, my good lord.
_King._ Set me the stoups of wine[70] upon that table.--
[Pages _exeunt_ R. _and_ L.]
If Hamlet give the first or second hit,
Or quit[71] in answer to the third exchange,
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire;
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath;
And in the cup an union shall he throw,[72]
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark's crown have worn.
[Pages _return with wine._]
Give me the cup;
And let the kettle[73] to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth,
_Now the king drinks to Hamlet._--Come, begin;
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
_Ham._ Come on, sir.
_Laer._ Come, my lord.
[_They play._]
_Ham._ One.
_Laer._ No.
_Ham._ Judgment.
_Osr._ A hit, a very palpable hit.
_Laer._ Well:--again.
_King._ Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;
[_Drops poison into the goblet._]
Here's to thy health.
[_Pretends to drink._]
[_Trumpets sound; and cannon shot off within._]
Give him the cup.
_Ham._ I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile.
[Page _places the goblet on table_, L.]
Come.
Another hit; What say you?
[_They play._]
_Laer._ A touch, a touch, I do confess.
_King._ Our son shall win.
_Queen._ The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.[74]
_Ham._ Good madam!----
[_Trumpets sound._]
_King._ Gertrude, do not drink.
_Queen._ I have, my lord; I pray you, pardon me.
_King._ It is the poison'd cup; it is too late.
[_Aside._]
_Laer._ I'll hit him now
And yet it is almost against my conscience.
[_Aside._]
_Ham._ Come, for the third, Laertes: You do but dally;
I pray you, pass with your best violence;
I am afeard you make a wanton of me.[75]
_Laer._ Say you so? come on.
[_They play._]
[LAERTES _wounds_ HAMLET; _then, in scuffling they change
Rapiers, and_ HAMLET _wounds_ LAERTES.]
_King._ Part them; they are incensed.
_Ham._ Nay, come, again.
[_The_ QUEEN _falls back in her chair._]
_Osr._
(_Supporting_ LAERTES, R.)
Look to the queen there, ho!
_Hor._
(_Supporting_ HAMLET, L.)
How is it, my lord?
_Osr._ How is't, Laertes?
_Laer._ Why, as a woodcock to my own springe,[76] Osric;
I am justly killed with mine own treachery.
_Ham._ How does the queen?
_King._ She swoons to see them bleed.
_Queen._ No, no, the drink, the drink,--O, my dear Hamlet,--
The drink, the drink! I am poison'd.
[_The_ QUEEN _is conveyed off the stage by her attendant_
Ladies, _in a dying state_, L.H.U.E.]
_Ham._ O villainy! Ho! let the doors be lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out.
[LAERTES _falls._]
_Laer._ (R.) It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain;
No medicine in the world can do thee good,
In thee there is not half an hour's life;
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenom'd:[77] the foul practice[78]
Hath turn'd itself on me; lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again: Thy mother's poison'd:
I can no more: the king, the king's to blame.
_Ham._ The point
Envenom'd too! Then, venom, to thy work.
Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damnГЁd Dane,
Follow my mother.
[_Stabs the_ KING, _who is borne away by his attendants,
mortally wounded_, R.H.U.E.]
_Laer._ He is justly serv'd;
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,
Nor thine on me!
[_Dies._]
_Ham._ (C.) Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time (as this fell sergeant, death,[79]
Is strict in his arrest), O, I could tell you,--
But let it be. Horatio,
Report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.
_Hor._ (L.) Never believe it:
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane:
Here's yet some liquor left.
[_Seizing the goblet on table_, L.]
_Ham._ As thou'rt a man,--
Give me the cup: let go; by heaven, I'll have it.
[_Dashes the goblet away._]
O good Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me![80]
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
AbsГЁnt thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.--
O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit;[81]
The rest is silence.
[_Dies_, C., OSRIC _on his_ R., _and_ HORATIO _on his_ L.]
_Dead March afar off._
_Curtain slowly descends._
THE END.
Notes
Act V
[Footnote V.1: _Enter two Clowns_,] These characters are not in
the original story, but are introduced by Shakespeare.]
[Footnote V.2: _Make her grave straight:_] _i.e._, straightways,
forthwith.]
[Footnote V.3: _The crowner_] A corruption of coroner.]
[Footnote V.4: _It must be se offendendo_;] A confusion of things
as well as of terms: used for _se defendendo_, a finding of the
jury in justifiable homicide.]
[Footnote V.5: _To act, to do, and to perform:_] Warburton says,
this is ridicule on scholastic divisions without distinction, and
of distinctions without difference.]
[Footnote V.6: _Argal_,] A corruption of the Latin word, _ergo,
therefore_.]
[Footnote V.7: _Delver._] _i.e._, a digger, one that opens the
ground with a spade.]
[Footnote V.8: _If the man go to this water,--it is, will he,
nill he, he goes_,] Still floundering and confounding himself. He
means to represent it as a _wilful_ act, and of course without
any mixture of _nill_ or nolens in] it. Had he gone, as stated,
whether he _would or not_, it would not have been of his own
accord, or his act.]
[Footnote V.9: _Crowner's-quest law._] Crowner's-quest is a
vulgar corruption of coroner's inquest.]
[Footnote V.10: _Why, there thou say'st_] Say'st something,
speak'st to the purpose.]
[Footnote V.11: _More than their even christian._] An old English
expression for fellow-christian.]
[Footnote V.12: _Was he a gentleman?_] Mr. Douce says this is
intended as a ridicule upon heraldry.]
[Footnote V.13: _Confess thyself----_] Admit, or by
acknowledgment pass sentence upon thyself, as a simpleton?
"Confess, and be hanged," was a proverbial sentence.]
[Footnote V.14: _Tell me that, and unyoke._] Unravel this, and
your day's work is done, your team may then unharness.]
[Footnote V.15: _Cudgel thy brains no more about it_;] _i.e._,
beat about thy brains no more.]
[Footnote V.16: _A stoup of liquor._] A stoup is a jug.]
[Footnote V.17: _In youth, when I did love, did love._] The three
stanzas sung here by the Grave-Digger, are extracted, with a
slight variation, from a little poem called _The Aged Lover
renounceth Love_, written by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who
was beheaded in 1547. The song is to be found in Dr. Percy's
_Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_.]
[Footnote V.18: _The hand of little employment hath the daintier
sense._] _i.e._, its "palm less dulled or staled."]
[Footnote V.19: _But to play at loggats with them?_] A _loggat_
is a small _log_, or piece of wood; a diminutive from _log_.
Hence _loggats_, as the name of an old game among the common
people, and one of those forbidden by a statute of the 33rd of
Henry VIII. A stake was fixed into the ground, and those who
played threw _loggats_ at it.]
[Footnote V.20: _For and a shrouding sheet:_] For and is an
ancient expression, answering to _and eke, and likewise_.]
[Footnote V.21: _Where be his quiddits now, his quillets_,]
Quiddits are subtilties; quillets are nice and frivolous
distinctions.]
[Footnote V.22: _Knock him about the sconce_] _i.e._, head.]
[Footnote V.23: _How absolute the knave is!_] Peremptory,
strictly and tyrannously precise.]
[Footnote V.24: _We must speak by the card_,] The _card_ is the
mariner's compass. Properly the paper on which the points of the
wind are marked. Hence, _to speak by the card_, meant to speak
with great exactness; true to a point.]
[Footnote V.25: _The very day that young Hamlet was born_,] It
would appear by this that Hamlet was thirty years old, and knew
Yorick well, who had been dead twenty-two years.]
[Footnote V.26: _Favour_] Feature, countenance, or complexion.]
[Footnote V.27: _'Twere to consider too curiously_,] Be pressing
the argument with too much critical nicety, to dwell upon mere
possibilities.]
[Footnote V.28: _Imperial Cæsar_,] In some edition it is
_imperious_ Cæsar. Imperious was a more ancient term, signifying
the same as imperial.]
[Footnote V.29: _The winter's flaw!_] _i.e._, winter's blast.]
[Footnote V.30: _MaimГЁd rites?_] Curtailed, imperfect.]
[Footnote V.31: _Fordo its own life:_] Destroy.]
[Footnote V.32: _'Twas of some estate._] _i.e._, of rank or
station.]
[Footnote V.33: _Command o'ersways the order_,] The course which
ecclesiastical rules prescribe.]
[Footnote V.34: _Shards_,] _i.e._, broken pots or tiles.]
[Footnote V.35: _Virgin crants_,] _i.e._, virgin garlands. Nares,
in his Glossary, says that _crants_ is a German word, and
probably Icelandic.]
[Footnote V.36: _Bringing home of bell and burial_,] Conveying to
her last home with these accustomed forms of the church, and this
sepulture in consecrated ground.]
[Footnote V.37: _A requiem_,] A mass performed in Popish churches
for the rest of the soul of a person deceased.]
[Footnote V.38: _Churlish priest_,] Churlish is, figuratively,
ill-humoured, ill-bred, uncourtly, "rustic and rude."]
[Footnote V.39: _Ingenious sense_] Life and sense.]
[Footnote V.40: _To o'ertop old Pelion_,] Pelion is one of a
lofty range of mountains in Thessaly. The giants, in their war
with the gods, are said to have attempted to heap Ossa and
Olympus on Pelion, in order to scale Heaven.]
[Footnote V.41: _Outface me_] _i.e._, brave me.]
[Footnote V.42: _Our ground_,] The earth about us.]
[Footnote V.43: _Ossa_] A celebrated mountain in Thessaly,
connected with Pelion, and in the neighbourhood of Mount
Olympus.]
[Footnote V.44: _Her golden couplets are disclos'd_,] To
disclose, was anciently used for to _hatch_. A pigeon never lays
more than two eggs.]
[Footnote V.45: _The cat will mew, and dog, &c._] "Things have
their appointed course; nor have we power to divert it," may be
the sense here conveyed.]
[Footnote V.46: _Strengthen your patience in our last night's
speech_;] Let the consideration of the topics then urged, confirm
your resolution taken of quietly waiting events a little longer.]
[Footnote V.47: _This grave shall have a living monument:_] There
is an ambiguity in this phrase. It either means an _endurable_
monument such as will outlive time, or it darkly hints at the
impending fate of Hamlet.]
[Footnote V.48: _Image of my cause_,] Representation or
character.]
[Footnote V.49: _Dost know this water-fly?_] Dr. Johnson remarks
that a _water-fly_ skips up and down upon the surface of the
water, without any apparent purpose or reason, and is thence the
proper emblem of a busy trifler.]
[Footnote V.50: _All diligence of spirit._] "With the whole bent
of my mind." A happy phraseology; in ridicule, at the same time
that it was in conformity with the style of the airy, affected
insect that was playing round him.]
[Footnote V.51: _Very sultry and hot_,] Hamlet is here playing
over the same farce with Osric which he had formerly done with
Polonius. The idea of this scene is evidently suggested by
Juvenal.]
[Footnote V.52: _For mine ease, in good faith._] From
contemporary authors this appears to have been the ordinary
language of courtesy in our author's own time.]
[Footnote V.53: _An absolute--a great showing:_] A finished
gentleman, full of various accomplishments, of gentle manners,
and very imposing appearance.]
[Footnote V.54: _To speak feelingly of him_,] With insight and
intelligence.
[Footnote V.55: _Card or calendar of gentry_,] The card by which
a gentleman is to direct his course; the calendar by which he is
to choose his time, that what he does may be both excellent and
seasonable.]
[Footnote V.56: _The continent of what part a gentleman would
see._] The word continent in this sense is frequently used by
Shakespeare; _i.e._, you shall find him _containing_ and
_comprising_ every quality which a _gentleman_ would desire to
_contemplate_ for imitation.]
[Footnote V.57: _What imports the nomination, &c._] What is the
object of the introduction of this gentleman's name?]
[Footnote V.58: _I dare not--lest I should compare--were to know
himself._] No one can have a perfect conception of the measure of
another's excellence, unless he shall himself come up to that
standard. Dr. Johnson says, I dare not pretend to know him, lest
I should pretend to an equality: no man can completely know
another, but by knowing himself, which is the utmost extent of
human wisdom.]
[Footnote V.59: _He has imponed_,] _i.e._, to lay down as a stake
or wager. Impono.]
[Footnote V.60: _Hangers_,] That part of the girdle or belt by
which the swords were suspended was, in our poet's time, called
the _hangers_.]
[Footnote V.61: _Very dear to fancy--very liberal conceit._] Of
exquisite invention, well adapted to their hilts, and in their
conception rich and high fashioned.]
[Footnote V.62: _More german_] More a-kin.]
[Footnote V.63: _Vouchsafe the answer._] Condescend to answer, or
meet his wishes.]
[Footnote V.64: _How if I answer, no?_] Reply.]
[Footnote V.65: _I shall win at the odds._] I shall succeed with
the advantage that I am allowed.]
