Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.
Exit
Hamlet
O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?
And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart;
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee!
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee!
Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix’d with baser matter: yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables,— meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark:
Writing
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;
It is ‘Adieu, adieu! remember me.’
I have sworn ’t.
Marcellus
Horatio
[Within] My lord, my lord,—
Marcellus
[Within] Lord Hamlet,—
Horatio
[Within] Heaven secure him!
Hamlet
So be it!
Horatio
[Within] Hillo, ho, ho, my lord!
Hamlet
Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.
Enter Horatio and Marcellus
Marcellus
How is’t, my noble lord?
Horatio
What news, my lord?
Hamlet
O, wonderful!
Horatio
Good my lord, tell it.
Hamlet
No; you’ll reveal it.
Horatio
Not I, my lord, by heaven.
Marcellus
Nor I, my lord.
Hamlet
How say you, then; would heart of man once think it?
But you’ll be secret?
Horatio
Marcellus
Ay, by heaven, my lord.
Hamlet
There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he’s an arrant knave.
Horatio
There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this.
Hamlet
Why, right; you are i’ the right;
And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:
You, as your business and desire shall point you;
For every man has business and desire,
Such as it is; and for mine own poor part,
Look you, I’ll go pray.
Horatio
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
Hamlet
I’m sorry they offend you, heartily;
Yes, ’faith heartily.
Horatio
There’s no offence, my lord.
Hamlet
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offence too. Touching this vision here,
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you:
For your desire to know what is between us,
O’ermaster ’t as you may. And now, good friends,
As you are friends, scholars and soldiers,
Give me one poor request.
Horatio
What is’t, my lord? we will.
Hamlet
Never make known what you have seen to-night.
Horatio
Marcellus
My lord, we will not.
Hamlet
Nay, but swear’t.
Horatio
In faith,
My lord, not I.
Marcellus
Nor I, my lord, in faith.
Upon my sword.
Marcellus
We have sworn, my lord, already.
Hamlet
Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
Ghost
[Beneath] Swear.
Hamlet
Ah, ha, boy! say’st thou so? art thou there, truepenny?
Come on — you hear this fellow in the cellarage —
Consent to swear.
Horatio
Propose the oath, my lord.
Hamlet
Never to speak of this that you have seen,
Swear by my sword.
Ghost
[Beneath] Swear.
Hamlet
Hic et ubique? then we’ll shift our ground.
Come hither, gentlemen,
And lay your hands again upon my sword:
Never to speak of this that you have heard,
Swear by my sword.
Ghost
[Beneath] Swear.
Hamlet
Well said, old mole! canst work i’ the earth so fast?
A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.
Horatio
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!
Hamlet
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come;
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumber’d thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As ‘Well, well, we know,’ or ‘We could, an if we would,’
Or ‘If we list to speak,’ or ‘There be, an if they might,’
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me: this not to do,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.
Ghost
[Beneath] Swear.
Hamlet
Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!
They swear
So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you:
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do, to express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint: O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
Nay, come, let’s go together.
Exeunt
ACT II
SCENE I. A ROOM IN POLONIUS’ HOUSE.
Enter Polonius and Reynaldo
Lord Polonius
Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.
Reynaldo
I will, my lord.
Lord Polonius
You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before you visit him, to make inquire
Of his behavior.
Reynaldo
My lord, I did intend it.
Lord Polonius
Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir,
Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;
And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
What company, at what expense; and finding
By this encompassment and drift of
question
That they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch it:
Take you, as ’twere, some distant knowledge of him;
As thus, ‘I know his father and his friends,
And in part him: ’ do you mark this, Reynaldo?
Reynaldo
Ay, very well, my lord.
Lord Polonius
‘And in part him; but’ you may say ‘not well:
But, if’t be he I mean, he’s very wild;
Addicted so and so:’ and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.
Reynaldo
As gaming, my lord.
Lord Polonius
Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,
Drabbing: you may go so far.
Reynaldo
My lord, that would dishonour him.
Lord Polonius
’Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge
You must not put another scandal on him,
That he is open to incontinency;
That’s not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly
That they may seem the taints of liberty,
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,
A savageness in unreclaimed blood,
Of general assault.
Reynaldo
But, my good lord,—
Lord Polonius
Wherefore should you do this?
Reynaldo
Ay, my lord,
I would know that.
Lord Polonius
Marry, sir, here’s my drift;
And I believe, it is a fetch of wit:
You laying these slight sullies on my son,
As ’twere a thing a little soil’d i’ the working, Mark you,
Your party in converse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assured
He closes with you in this consequence;
‘Good sir,’ or so, or ‘friend,’ or ‘gentleman,’
According to the phrase or the addition
Of man and country.
Reynaldo
Very good, my lord.
Lord Polonius
And then, sir, does he this — he does — what was I about to say? By the mass, I was about to say something: where did I leave?
Reynaldo
At ‘closes in the consequence,’ at ‘friend or so,’ and ‘gentleman.’
Lord Polonius
At ‘closes in the consequence,’ ay, marry;
He closes thus: ‘I know the gentleman;
I saw him yesterday, or t’ other day,
Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say,
There was a’ gaming; there o’ertook in’s rouse;
There falling out at tennis:’ or perchance,
‘I saw him enter such a house of sale,’
Videlicet, a brothel, or so forth.
See you now;
Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlasses and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out:
So by my former lecture and advice,
Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?
Reynaldo
My lord, I have.
Lord Polonius
God be wi’ you; fare you well.
Reynaldo
Good my lord!
Lord Polonius
Observe his inclination in yourself.
Reynaldo
I shall, my lord.
Lord Polonius
And let him ply his music.
Reynaldo
Well, my lord.
Lord Polonius
Farewell!
Exit Reynaldo
Enter Ophelia
How now, Ophelia! what’s the matter?
Ophelia
O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
Lord Polonius
With what, i’ the name of God?
Ophelia
My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul’d,
Ungarter’d, and down-gyved to his ancle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors,— he comes before me.
Lord Polonius
Mad for thy love?
Ophelia
My lord, I do not know;
But truly, I do fear it.
Lord Polonius
What said he?
Ophelia
He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o’er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay’d he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn’d,
He seem’d to find his way without his eyes;
For out o’ doors he went without their helps,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.
Lord Polonius
Come, go with me: I will go seek the king.
This is the very ecstasy of love,
Whose violent property fordoes itself
And leads the will to desperate undertakings
As oft as any passion under heaven
That does afflict our natures. I am sorry.
What, have you given him any hard words of late?
Ophelia
No, my good lord, but, as you did command,
I did repel his fetters and denied
His access to me.
Lord Polonius
That hath made him mad.
I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I had not quoted him: I fear’d he did but trifle,
And meant to wreck thee; but, beshrew my jealousy!
By heaven, it is as proper to our age
To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
As it is common for the younger sort
To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king:
This must be known; which, being kept close, might move
More grief to hide than hate to utter love.
Exeunt
SCENE II. A ROOM IN THE CASTLE.
Enter King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Attendants
King Claudius
Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!
Moreover that we much did long to see you,
The need we have to use you did provoke
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet’s transformation; so call it,
Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man
Resembles that it was. What it should be,
More than his father’s death, that thus hath put him
So much from the understanding of himself,
I cannot dream of: I entreat you both,
That, being of so young days brought up with him,
And sith so neighbour’d to his youth and havior,
That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
Some little time: so by your companies
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
So much as from occasion you may glean,
Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus,
That, open’d, lies within our remedy.
Queen Gertrude
Good gentlemen, he hath much talk’d of you;
And sure I am two men there are not living
To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
To show us so much gentry and good will
As to expend your time with us awhile,
For the supply and profit of our hope,
Your visitation shall receive such thanks
As fits a king’s remembrance.
Rosencrantz
Both your majesties
Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,
Put your dread pleasures more into command
Than to entreaty.
Guildenstern
But we both obey,
And here give up ourselves, in the full bent
To lay our service freely at your feet,
To be commanded.
King Claudius
Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.
Queen Gertrude
Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz:
And I beseech you instantly to visit
My too much changed son. Go, some of you,
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
Guildenstern
Heavens make our presence and our practises
Pleasant and helpful to him!
Queen Gertrude
Ay, amen!
Exeunt Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and some Attendants
Enter Polonius
Lord Polonius
The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord,
Are joyfully return’d.
King Claudius
Thou still hast been the father of good news.
Lord Polonius
Have I, my lord? I assure my good liege,
I hold my duty, as I hold my soul,
Both to my God and to my gracious king:
And I do think, or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure
As it hath used to do, that I have found
The very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy.
King Claudius
O, speak of that; that do I long to hear.
Lord Polonius
Give first admittance to the ambassadors;
My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.
King Claudius
Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.
Exit Polonius
He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found
The head and source of all your son’s distemper.
Queen Gertrude
I doubt it is no other but the main;
His father’s death, and our o’erhasty marriage.
King Claudius
Well, we shall sift him.
Re-enter Polonius, with Voltimand and Cornelius
Welcome, my good friends!
Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway?
Voltimand
Most fair return of greetings and desires.
Upon our first, he sent out to suppress