ACT IV.
Scene I. A room in the castle.
Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.[1571]
King. There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:[1572]
You must translate: 'tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?
Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.[1573]
Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night![1574] 5
King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?[1575]
Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend[1576]
Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,[1577]
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries 'a rat, a rat!'[1578] 10
And in this brainish apprehension kills[1579]
The unseen good old man.
King. O heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there:[1580]
His liberty is full of threats to all,
To you yourself, to us, to every one. 15
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?[1581]
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrain'd and out of haunt,[1582]
This mad young man: but so much was our love,
We would not understand what was most fit, 20
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed[1583]
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd:
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore[1584] 25
Among a mineral of metals base,[1585]
Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done.[1586]
King. O Gertrude, come away![1587]
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,
But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed[1588] 30
We must, with all our majesty and skill,
Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern!
Re-enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.[1589]
Friends both, go join you with some further aid:[1590]
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him:[1591] 35
Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.[1592]
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends;
And let them know, both what we mean to do,[1593]
And what's untimely done....[1594] 40
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter[1594]
As level as the cannon to his blank[1594]
Transports his poison'd shot, may miss our name[1594][1595]
And hit the woundless air. O, come away![1594]
My soul is full of discord and dismay. [Exeunt. 45
Scene II. Another room in the castle.
Enter Hamlet.[1596]
Ham. Safely stowed.
Ros. } [Within] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet![1597]
Guil.}
Ham. But soft, what noise? who calls on Hamlet?[1598]
O, here they come.
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.[1599]
Ros. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body? 5
Ham. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin.[1600]
Ros. Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence
And bear it to the chapel.
Ham. Do not believe it.
Ros. Believe what? 10
Ham. That I can keep your counsel and not mine
own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! what replication[1601]
should be made by the son of a king?
Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my lord?
Ham. Ay, sir; that soaks up the king's countenance, 15
his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king
best service in the end: he keeps them, like an ape, in the[1602]
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. 20
Ros. I understand you not, my lord.
Ham. I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a
foolish ear.
Ros. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and
go with us to the king. 25
Ham. The body is with the king, but the king is not[1603]
with the body. The king is a thing—[1604]
Scene III. Another room in the castle.
Enter King, attended.[1608]
King. I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.[1609]
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
Yet must not we put the strong law on him:[1610]
He's loved of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgement, but their eyes; 5
And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,[1611]
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,[1612]
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are relieved, 10
Or not at all.
Enter Rosencrantz.[1613]
How now! what hath befall'n?
Ros. Where the dead body is bestow'd, 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. 15
Ros. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.
Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern.[1614]
King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
Ham. At supper.
King. At supper! where?
Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a[1615] 20
certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your[1616]
worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures
else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat[1617]
king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two[1618]
dishes, but to one table: that's the end.[1619] 25
Ham. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of[1620]
a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.[1620][1621]
King. What dost thou mean by this?
Ham. Nothing but to show you how a king may go a 30
progress through the guts of a beggar.[1622]
King. Where is 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[1623] 35
shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.
King. Go seek him there. [To some Attendants.[1624]
Ham. He will stay till you come. [Exeunt Attendants.[1625]
King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,[1626]
Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve 40
For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence
With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;[1627]
The bark is ready and the wind at help,[1628]
The associates tend, and every thing is bent[1629]
For England.
Ham. For England?
King. Ay, Hamlet.
King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
Ham. I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for[1631]
England! Farewell, dear mother.
King. Thy loving father, Hamlet.
Ham. My mother: father and mother is man and 50
wife; man and wife is one flesh, and so, my mother.[1632]
Come, for England! [Exit.
King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;[1633]
Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night:
Away! for every thing is seal'd and done 55
That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.[1634]
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and 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 60
Pays homage to us—thou mayst not coldly set[1635]
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters congruing to that effect,[1636]
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the hectic in my blood he rages, 65
And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. [Exit.[1637]
Scene IV. A plain in Denmark.
Enter Fortinbras, a Captain and Soldiers, marching.[1638]
For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king;[1639]
Tell him that by his license Fortinbras
Craves the conveyance of a promised march[1640]
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.[1641]
If that his majesty would aught with us, 5
We shall express our duty in his eye;[1642]
And let him know so.
Cap. I will do't, my lord.
[Exeunt Fortinbras and Soldiers.[1643]
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and others.[1643][1644]
Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,[1645] 15
Or for some frontier?[1645]
Cap. Truly to speak, and with no addition,[1645][1650]
We go to gain a little patch of ground[1645]
That hath in it no profit but the name.[1645]
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;[1645][1651] 20
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole[1645]
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.[1645][1652]
Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it.[1645]
Ham. Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats[1645][1654][1655] 25
Will not debate the question of this straw:[1645][1655]
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,[1645]
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without[1645]
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.[1645]
Cap. God be wi' you, sir. [Exit.[1645]
Ham. I'll be with you straight. Go a little before.[1645]
[Exeunt all but Hamlet.[1645][1657]
How all occasions do inform against me,[1645]
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,[1645]
If his chief good and market of his time[1645]
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.[1645] 35
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,[1645]
Looking before and after, gave us not[1645]
That capability and god-like reason[1645]
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be[1645][1658]
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple[1645] 40
Of thinking too precisely on the event,—[1645]
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom[1645]
And ever three parts coward,—I do not know[1645][1659]
Why yet I live to say 'this thing's to do,'[1645][1659]
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means,[1645] 45
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:[1645]
Witness this army, of such mass and charge,[1645]
Led by a delicate and tender prince,[1645]
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd[1645]
Makes mouths at the invisible event,[1645] 50
Exposing what is mortal and unsure[1645]
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,[1645]
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great[1645][1660]
Is not to stir without great argument,[1645][1660][1661]
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw[1645] 55
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,[1645]
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,[1645]
Excitements of my reason and my blood,[1645]
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see[1645]
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,[1645][1662] 60
That for a fantasy and trick of fame[1645]
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot[1645][1663]
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,[1645]
Which is not tomb enough and continent[1645]
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,[1645][1664] 65
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! [Exit.[1645]
Scene V. Elsinore. A room in the castle.
Enter Queen, Horatio, and a Gentleman.[1665]