Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you by[2265]
young Osric, who brings back to him, that you attend him[2265][2266] 185
in the hall: he sends to know if your pleasure hold to play[2265]
with Laertes, or that you will take longer time.[2265]
Ham. I am constant to my purposes; they follow the[2265]
king's pleasure: if his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now or[2265]
whensoever, provided I be so able as now.[2265] 190
Lord. The king and queen and all are coming down.[2265]
Lord. The queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment[2265][2267]
to Laertes before you fall to play.[2265][2268]
Hor. You will lose this wager, my lord.[2270]
Ham. I do not think so; since he went into France, I
have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds.
But thou wouldst not think how ill all's here about my[2271]
heart: but it is no matter. 200
Hor. Nay, good my lord,—[2272]
Ham. It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gain-giving[2273]
as would perhaps trouble a woman.[2273]
Hor. If your mind dislike any thing, obey it. I will[2274]
forestal their repair hither, and say you are not fit. 205
Ham. Not a whit; we defy augury: there is special[2275]
providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to[2276]
come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now,
yet it will come: the readiness is all; since no man has[2277][2278]
aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes? Let 210
be.[2278]
Enter King, Queen, Laertes, and Lords, Osric and other Attendants
with foils and gauntlets; a table and flagons of wine on it.[2279]
King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.[2280]
[The King puts Laertes' hand into Hamlet's.
Ham. Give me your pardon, sir: I've done you wrong;[2281]
But pardon't, as you are a gentleman.[2282]
This presence knows,[2282][2283][2284] 215
And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd[2283][2284][2285]
With sore distraction. What I have done,[2283][2284][2286]
That might your nature, honour and exception[2284][2287]
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.[2284]
Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet:[2284] 220
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,[2284]
And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes,[2284]
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.[2284]
Who does it then? His madness: if't be so,[2284][2288]
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;[2284][2289] 225
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.[2284]
Sir, in this audience,[2284][2290]
Let my disclaiming from a purposed evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house,[2291] 230
And hurt my brother.[2292]
Laer. I am satisfied in nature,
Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most
To my revenge: but in my terms of honour
I stand aloof, and will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder masters of known honour[2293] 235
I have a voice and precedent of peace,[2294]
To keep my name ungored. But till that time[2295]
I do receive your offer'd love like love[2296]
And will not wrong it.
Ham. I embrace it freely,[2297][2298]
And will this brother's wager frankly play.[2298] 240
Give us the foils. Come on.[2299]
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,[2300]
Stick fiery off indeed.[2301]
Laer. You mock me, sir.
Ham. No, by this hand.[2302] 245
King. Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin[2303][2304]
Hamlet,[2303]
You know the wager?
King. I do not fear it; I have seen you both:[2308]
But since he is better'd, we have therefore odds.[2309] 250
Ham. This likes me well. These foils have all a length?[2310][2312]
[They prepare to play.
Osr. Ay, my good lord.
King. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table.[2313]
If Hamlet give the first or second hit,[2314] 255
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,[2315]
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,[2316]
Richer than that which four successive kings 260
In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups;[2317]
And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,[2318]
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,[2319]
The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth,[2320]
'Now the king drinks to Hamlet.' Come, begin;[2321] 265
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
Ham. Come on, sir.
Laer. Come, my lord. [They play.[2322]
Ham. One.
Laer. No.
Ham. Judgement.
Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit.[2323]
Laer. Well; again.
King. Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;[2324]
Here's to thy health.
[Trumpets sound, and cannon shot off within.[2325]
Give him the cup. 270
Ham. I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile.[2326]
Come. [They play.] Another hit; what say you?[2327]
Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess.[2328]
King. Our son shall win.
Queen. He's fat and scant of breath.[2329]
Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows:[2330] 275
The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.
Ham. Good madam!
King. Gertrude, do not drink.[2331]
Queen. I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon me.[2332]
King. [Aside] It is the poison'd cup; it is too late.[2333]
Ham. I dare not drink yet, madam; by and by.[2334] 280
Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face.
Laer. My lord, I'll hit him now.[2335]
King. I do not think't.
Laer. [Aside] And yet it is almost against my conscience.[2333][2336]
Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes: you but dally;[2337]
I pray you, pass with your best violence; 285
I am afeard you make a wanton of me.[2338]
Laer. Say you so? come on. [They play.[2339]
Osr. Nothing, neither way.
Laer. Have at you now!
[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes.[2340]
King. Part them; they are incensed.
Ham. Nay, come, again. [The Queen falls.
Osr. Look to the queen there, ho![2341] 290
Hor. They bleed on both sides. How is it, my lord?[2342]
Laer. Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric;[2344]
I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.[2345]
Ham. How does the queen?
King. She swounds to see them bleed.[2346] 295
Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,—O my dear Hamlet,—[2347]
The drink, the drink! I am poison'd. [Dies.[2347][2348]
Ham. O villany! Ho! let the door be lock'd:[2349]
Treachery! seek it out.
Laer. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain;[2350] 300
No medicine in the world can do thee good,[2351]
In thee there is not half an hour of life;[2352]
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,[2353]
Unbated and envenom'd: the foul practice[2354]
Hath turn'd itself on me; lo, here I lie,[2355] 305
Never to rise again: thy mother's poison'd:[2356]
I can no more: the king, the king's to blame.[2357]
All. Treason! treason! 310
King. O, yet defend me, friends; I am but hurt.
Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane,[2362]
Drink off this potion: is thy union here?[2363]
Follow my mother. [King dies.[2364]
Laer. He is justly served;[2365]
It is a poison temper'd by himself.[2365][2366] 315
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,[2367]
Nor thine on me! [Dies.[2368]
Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.[2369]
I am dead, Horatio. Wretched queen, adieu![2370] 320
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,[2371]
Had I but time—as this fell sergeant, death,[2372]
Is strict in his arrest—O, I could tell you—[2372][2373]
But let it be. Horatio, I am dead; 325
Thou livest; report me and my cause aright[2374]
To the unsatisfied.
Hor. Never believe it:[2375]
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane:[2376]
Here's yet some liquor left.
Ham. As thou'rt a man,[2377][2378]
Give me the cup: let go; by heaven, I'll have't.[2377][2379] 330
O good Horatio, what a wounded name,[2380]
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me![2381]
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,[2382]
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, 335
To tell my story. [March afar off, and shot within.[2383]
What warlike noise is this?
Ham. O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit:[2388] 340
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,[2389]
Which have solicited. The rest is silence. [Dies.[2390] 345
Hor. Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,[2391]
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! [March within.[2392]
Why does the drum come hither?
Enter Fortinbras, and the English Ambassadors, with drum,
colours, and Attendants.[2393]
Fort. Where is this sight?
Hor. What is it you would see?[2394]
If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.[2395] 350
Fort. This quarry cries on havoc. O proud death,[2396]
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,[2397]
That thou so many princes at a shot[2398]
So bloodily hast struck?
First Amb. The sight is dismal;[2399]
And our affairs from England come too late: 355
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing.
To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?
Hor. Not from his mouth
Had it the ability of life to thank you:[2400] 360
He never gave commandment for their death.[2401]
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,[2402]
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,[2403]
Are here arrived, give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;[2404] 365
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world[2405]
How these things came about: so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts,[2406]
Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters,
Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,[2407] 370
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I
Truly deliver.
Fort. Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.[2408]
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune: 375
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,[2409]
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.[2410]
Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak,[2411]
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:[2412]
But let this same be presently perform'd,[2413] 380
Even while men's minds are wild; lest more mischance[2414]
On plots and errors happen.[2415]
Fort. Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;[2416]
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have proved most royally: and, for his passage,[2417] 385
The soldiers' music and the rites of war[2418]
Speak loudly for him.
Take up the bodies: such a sight as this[2419]
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.[2420]
Go, bid the soldiers shoot. 390
[A dead march. Exeunt, bearing off the bodies: after which a peal of ordnance is shot off.[2421]