Guil. Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with you.[1316]
Ham. Sir, a whole history. 285
Ham. Ay, sir, what of him?[1318]
Guil. Is in his retirement marvellous distempered.
Ham. With drink, sir?
Guil. No, my lord, rather with choler.[1319] 290
Ham. Your wisdom should show itself more richer to[1320]
signify this to the doctor; for, for me to put him to his purgation[1321]
would perhaps plunge him into far more choler.[1322]
Guil. Good my lord, put your discourse into some[1323]
frame, and start not so wildly from my affair.[1323][1324] 295
Ham. I am tame, sir: pronounce.
Guil. The queen, your mother, in most great affliction
of spirit, hath sent me to you.
Guil. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the 300
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.[1326]
Ham. Sir, I cannot.
Guil. What, my lord?[1327] 305
Ham. Make you a wholesome answer; my wit's diseased:[1328]
but, sir, such answer as I can make, you shall command;[1329]
or rather, as you say, my mother: therefore no[1330]
more, but to the matter: my mother, you say,—[1331]
Ros. Then thus she says; your behaviour hath struck[1332] 310
her into amazement and admiration.
Ham. O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother![1333]
But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration?[1334]
Impart.[1335]
Ros. She desires to speak with you in her closet, ere 315
you go to bed.
Ham. We shall obey, were she ten times our mother.
Have you any further trade with us?
Ros. My lord, you once did love me.
Ham. So I do still, by these pickers and stealers.[1336] 320
Ros. Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper?
you do surely bar the door upon your own liberty, if you[1337]
deny your griefs to your friend.
Ham. Sir, I lack advancement.
Ros. How can that be, when you have the voice of the 325
king himself for your succession in Denmark?
Ham. Ay, sir, but 'while the grass grows,'—the proverb[1338]
is something musty.
Re-enter Players with recorders.[1339]
O, the recorders! let me see one. To withdraw with you:—[1340]
why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you 330
would drive me into a toil?
Guil. O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is[1341]
too unmannerly.[1341]
Ham. I do not well understand that. Will you play
upon this pipe? 335
Guil. My lord, I cannot.[1342]
Ham. I pray you.
Guil. Believe me, I cannot.
Guil. I know no touch of it, my lord.[1344] 340
Ham. It is as easy as lying: govern these ventages[1345]
with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your[1346]
mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look[1347]
you, these are the stops.
Guil. But these cannot I command to any utterance 345
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[1348]
to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my
mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the[1349] 350
top of my compass: and there is much music, excellent[1349]
voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you make it speak.[1350]
'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a[1351]
pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can[1352]
fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.[1352][1353] 355
Enter Polonius.[1354]
Pol. My lord, the queen would speak with you, and
presently.
Pol. By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.[1360][1359]
Ham. Methinks it is like a weasel.[1361]
Pol. Very like a whale. 365
Ham. Then I will come to my mother by and by.[1364]
They fool me to the top of my bent. I will come by and[1365][1366]
by.[1366]
Ham. 'By and by' is easily said. Leave me, friends.[1366] 370
[Exeunt all but Hamlet.[1368]
'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out[1369]
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,[1370]
And do such bitter business as the day[1371]
Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother.[1372] 375
O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever[1373]
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural:[1374]
I will speak daggers to her, but use none;[1375]
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites; 380
How in my words soever she be shent,[1376][1377]
To give them seals never, my soul, consent! [Exit.[1376][1378]
Scene III. A room in the castle.
Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.[1379]
King. I like him not, nor stands it safe with us
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you;[1380]
I your commission will forthwith dispatch,
And he to England shall along with you:
The terms of our estate may not endure[1381] 5
Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow[1382]
Out of his lunacies.
Guil. We will ourselves provide:[1383]
Most holy and religious fear it is
To keep those many many bodies safe[1384][1385]
That live and feed upon your majesty.[1384] 10
Ros. The single and peculiar life is bound[1386]
With all the strength and armour of the mind
To keep itself from noyance; but much more[1387]
That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests[1388]
The lives of many. The cease of majesty[1389] 15
Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw
What's near it with it: it is a massy wheel,[1390]
Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount,[1391]
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things[1392]
Are mortised and adjoin'd; which, when it falls,[1393] 20
Each small annexment, petty consequence,
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone[1394]
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan.[1395]
King. Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage,[1396]
For we will fetters put about this fear,[1397] 25
Which now goes too free-footed.
Ros. } We will haste us.
Guil.}
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.[1398]
Enter Polonius.
Pol. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet:
Behind the arras I'll convey myself,
To hear the process; I'll warrant she'll tax him home:[1399]
And, as you said, and wisely was it said, 30
'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother,
Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear
The speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my liege:[1400]
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,
And tell you what I know.
King. Thanks, dear my lord.[1401] 35
[Exit Polonius.
O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,[1402]
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,[1403][1404]
Though inclination be as sharp as will:[1404][1405]
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,[1406] 40
And like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand[1407]
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens 45
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer but this twofold force,
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;[1408] 50
My fault is past. But O, what form of prayer[1409]
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder?'[1410]
That cannot be, since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,[1411]
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen. 55
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?[1412]
In the corrupted currents of this world[1413]
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,[1414]
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself[1415]
Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above; 60
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd[1416]
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can: what can it not? 65
Yet what can it when one can not repent?[1417]
O wretched state! O bosom black as death!
O limed soul, that struggling to be free
Art more engaged! Help, angels! make assay![1418]
Bow, stubborn knees, and, heart with strings of steel,[1419] 70
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe!
All may be well. [Retires and kneels.[1420]
Enter Hamlet.
Ham. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;[1421]
And now I'll do't: and so he goes to heaven:[1422]
And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd:[1423] 75
A villain kills my father; and for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send[1424]
To heaven.[1425]
O, this is hire and salary, not revenge.[1426]
He took my father grossly, full of bread,[1427] 80
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;[1428]
And how his audit stands who knows save heaven?
But in our circumstance and course of thought,
'Tis heavy with him: and am I then revenged,[1429]
To take him in the purging of his soul, 85
When he is fit and season'd for his passage?[1430]
No.[1431]
Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent:[1432]
When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,[1433]
Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed;[1434] 90
At game, a-swearing, or about some act[1435]
That has no relish of salvation in 't;
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven[1436]
And that his soul may be as damn'd and black
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays: 95
This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. [Exit.
King. [Rising] My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:[1437]
Words without thoughts never to heaven go. [Exit.
Scene IV. The Queen's closet.
Enter Queen and Polonius.[1438]
Pol. He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:[1439]
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,[1440]
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between[1441]
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.[1442]
Pray you, be round with him.
Ham. [Within] Mother, mother, mother![1443]5
[Polonius hides behind the arras.
Enter Hamlet.[1447]
Ham. Now, mother, what's the matter?
Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Ham. Mother, you have my father much offended. 10
Queen. Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Ham. Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.[1448]
Queen. Why, how now, Hamlet!
Ham. What's the matter now?[1449]
Queen. Have you forgot me?
Ham. No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife; 15
And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.[1450]
Queen. Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.[1451]
Ham. Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;[1452]
You go not till I set you up a glass[1453][1454]
Where you may see the inmost part of you.[1454][1455] 20
Queen. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho![1456][1457]
Ham. [Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead![1457]
[Makes a pass through the arras.[1459]