William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (322 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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QUEEN GERTRUDE What shall I do?
HAMLET
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat King tempt you again to bed,
Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,
And let him for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. ’Twere good you let him know,
For who that’s but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house’s top,
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.
Let the bloat King tempt you again to bed,
Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,
And let him for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. ’Twere good you let him know,
For who that’s but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house’s top,
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
HAMLET
I must to England.
You know that?
You know that?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alack, I had forgot.
’Tis so concluded on.
’Tis so concluded on.
HAMLET
This man shall set me packing.
I’ll lug the guts into the neighbour room.
Mother, good night indeed. This counsellor
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.—
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.—
Good night, mother.
Exit, tugging in Polonius
4.1I’ll lug the guts into the neighbour room.
Mother, good night indeed. This counsellor
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.—
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.—
Good night, mother.
Exit, tugging in Polonius
Enter King Claudius to Queen Gertrude
KING CLAUDIUS
There’s matter in these sighs, these profound heaves;
You must translate. ’Tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?
You must translate. ’Tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ah, my good lord, what have I seen tonight!
KING CLAUDIUS What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Mad as the sea and wind when both contend
Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
He whips his rapier out and cries ‘A rat, a ratl’,
And in his brainish apprehension kills
The unseen good old man.
Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
He whips his rapier out and cries ‘A rat, a ratl’,
And in his brainish apprehension kills
The unseen good old man.
KING CLAUDIUS
O heavy deed!
It had been so with us had we been there.
His liberty is full of threats to all—
To you yourself, to us, to everyone.
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answered?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrained, and out of haunt
This mad young man. But so much was our love,
We would not understand what was most fit,
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
It had been so with us had we been there.
His liberty is full of threats to all—
To you yourself, to us, to everyone.
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answered?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrained, and out of haunt
This mad young man. But so much was our love,
We would not understand what was most fit,
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To draw apart the body he hath killed,
O’er whom—his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shows itself pure—a weeps for what is done.
O’er whom—his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shows itself pure—a weeps for what is done.
KING CLAUDIUS
O Gertrude, come away!
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, Guildensternl
Friends both, go join you with some further aid.
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother’s closet hath he dragged him.
Go seek him out, speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you haste in this.
Come, Gertrude, we’ll call up our wisest friends
To let them know both what we mean to do
And what’s untimely done. O, come away!
My soul is full of discord and dismay.
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, Guildensternl
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother’s closet hath he dragged him.
Go seek him out, speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you haste in this.
Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
To let them know both what we mean to do
And what’s untimely done. O, come away!
My soul is full of discord and dismay.
Exeunt
4.2Enter Prince Hamlet
HAMLET Safely stowed.
ROSENCRANTZ
and
GUILDENSTERN (
within
)
and
GUILDENSTERN (
within
)
Hamlet, Lord Hamlet!
HAMLET
What noise? Who calls on Hamlet?
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
O, here they come.
ROSENCRANTZ
What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?
HAMLET
Compounded it with dust, whereto ’tis kin.
ROSENCRANTZ
Tell us where ’tis, that we may take it thence
And bear it to the chapel.
And bear it to the chapel.
HAMLET Do not believe it.
ROSENCRANTZ Believe what?
HAMLET That I can keep your counsel and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge—what replication should be made by the son of a king?
ROSENCRANTZ Take you me for a sponge, my lord?
HAMLET Ay, sir, that soaks up the King’s countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the King best service in the end. He keeps them, like an ape an apple in the corner of his jaw, first mouthed to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again.
ROSENCRANTZ I understand you not, my lord.
HAMLET I am glad of it. A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.
ROSENCRANTZ My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the King.
HAMLET The body is with the King, but the King is not with the body. The King is a thing—
GUILDENSTERN A thing, my lord?
HAMLET Of nothing. Bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.
Exit running, pursued by the others
4.3Enter King Claudius
KING CLAUDIUS
I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
Yet must not we put the strong law on him.
He’s loved of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgement but their eyes,
And where ‘tis so, th’offender’s scourge is weighed,
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are relieved,
Or not at all.
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
Yet must not we put the strong law on him.
He’s loved of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgement but their eyes,
And where ‘tis so, th’offender’s scourge is weighed,
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are relieved,
Or not at all.
Enter Rosencrantz
How now, what hath befall’n?
ROSENCRANTZ
Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord,
We cannot get from him.
We cannot get from him.
KING CLAUDIUS But where is he?
ROSENCRANTZ
Without, my lord, guarded to know your pleasure.
KING CLAUDIUS Bring him before us.
ROSENCRANTZ
Ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord.
Enter Prince Hamlet and Guildenstern
KING CLAUDIUS
Now, Hamlet, where’s Polonius?
HAMLET At supper.
KING CLAUDIUS At supper? Where?
HAMLET Not where he eats, but where a is eaten. A certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service—two dishes, but to one table. That’s the end.
KING CLAUDIUS Alas, alas!
HAMLET A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
KING CLAUDIUS What dost thou mean by this?
HAMLET Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar. 31
KING CLAUDIUS Where is Polonius?
HAMLET In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him i’th’ other place yourself. But indeed, if you find him not this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby. 36
KING CLAUDIUS ⌈
to Rosencrantz
⌉ Go seek him there.
to Rosencrantz
⌉ Go seek him there.
HAMLET ⌈
to Rosencrantz
⌉ A will stay till ye come.
to Rosencrantz
⌉ A will stay till ye come.
Exit
⌈
Rosencrantz
⌉
⌈
Rosencrantz
⌉
KING CLAUDIUS
Hamlet, this deed of thine, for thine especial safety—
Which we do tender as we dearly grieve
For that which thou hast done—must send thee hence
With fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself.
The barque is ready, and the wind at help,
Th’associates tend, and everything is bent
For England.
Which we do tender as we dearly grieve
For that which thou hast done—must send thee hence
With fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself.
The barque is ready, and the wind at help,
Th’associates tend, and everything is bent
For England.
HAMLET For England?
KING CLAUDIUS Ay, Hamlet.
HAMLET Good.
KING CLAUDIUS
So is it if thou knew’st our purposes.
HAMLET
I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for
England. Farewell, dear mother.
England. Farewell, dear mother.
KING CLAUDIUS Thy loving father, Hamlet.
HAMLET My mother. Father and mother is man and wife, man and wife is one flesh, and so my mother. Come, for England.
Exit
Exit
KING CLAUDIUS ⌈
to Guildenstern
⌉
to Guildenstern
⌉
Follow him at foot. Tempt him with speed aboard. 56
Delay it not. I’ll have him hence tonight.
Away, for everything is sealed and done
That else leans on th’affair. Pray you, make haste.
Delay it not. I’ll have him hence tonight.
Away, for everything is sealed and done
That else leans on th’affair. Pray you, make haste.
Exit
⌈
Guildenstern
⌉
⌈
Guildenstern
⌉
And, England, if my love thou hold‘st at aught—
As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us—thou mayst not coldly set
Our sovereign process, which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England,
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me. Till I know ’tis done,
Howe‘er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun.
As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us—thou mayst not coldly set
Our sovereign process, which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England,
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me. Till I know ’tis done,
Howe‘er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun.
Exit
4.4Enter Fortinbras with an army over the stage
FORTINBRAS
Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king.
Tell him that by his licence Fortinbras
Claims the conveyance of a promised march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye,
And let him know so.
Tell him that by his licence Fortinbras
Claims the conveyance of a promised march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye,
And let him know so.
CAPTAIN I will do’t, my lord.
⌈
Exit
⌉
Exit
⌉
FORTINBRAS Go safely on.
Exeunt marching
4.5Enter Queen Gertrude and Horatio
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I will not speak with her.
HORATIO
She is importunate,
Indeed distraught. Her mood will needs be pitied.
Indeed distraught. Her mood will needs be pitied.
QUEEN GERTRUDE What would she have?
HORATIO
She speaks much of her father, says she hears
There’s tricks i’th’ world, and hems, and beats her
heart,
Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt
That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshapèd use of it doth move
The hearers to collection. They aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
There’s tricks i’th’ world, and hems, and beats her
heart,
Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt
That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshapèd use of it doth move
The hearers to collection. They aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
’Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
Let her come in.
To my sick soul, as sin’s true nature is,
Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss.
So full of artless jealousy is guilt,
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
Let her come in.
⌈
Horatio withdraws to admit Ophelia
⌉
Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss.
So full of artless jealousy is guilt,
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
Enter Ophelia mad,
⌈
her hair down, with a lute
⌉
⌈
her hair down, with a lute
⌉
OPHELIA
Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark?
QUEEN GERTRUDE How now, Ophelia?
OPHELIA (
sings
)
sings
)
How should I your true love know
From another one?
—
By his cockle hat and staff,
And his sandal shoon.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?
OPHELIA Say you? Nay, pray you, mark. (
Sings
)
Sings
)
He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone.
At his head a grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone.
He is dead and gone.
At his head a grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone.
QUEEN GERTRUDE Nay, but Ophelia—
OPHELIA Pray you, mark.
(Sings)
White his shroud as the mountain snow—Enter King Claudius
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