Ham. O, that this too too solid flesh would melt,[177]
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! 130
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God![178]
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable[179]
Seem to me all the uses of this world![180]
Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,[181] 135
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this![182]
But two months dead! nay, not so much, not two:
So excellent a king; that was, to this,[183]
Hyperion to a satyr: so loving to my mother,[183][184] 140
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven[185]
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth![186]
Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,[186][187]
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month—[188] 145
Let me not think on't—Frailty, thy name is woman!—[189]
A little month, or ere those shoes were old[190]
With which she follow'd my poor father's body,[191]
Like Niobe, all tears:—why she, even she,—[192]
O God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,[193] 150
Would have mourn'd longer,—married with my uncle,[194]
My father's brother, but no more like my father[195]
Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears[196]
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,[197] 155
She married. O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets![198]
It is not, nor it cannot come to good:
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue![199]
Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.
Hor. Hail to your lordship!
Hor. The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.[203]
Ham. Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you:[204]
And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?
Marcellus?[205] 165
Ham. I am very glad to see you. [To Ber.] Good even, sir.[207]
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?[208]
Hor. A truant disposition, good my lord.[209]
Ham. I would not hear your enemy say so,[210] 170
Nor shall you do my ear that violence,[211]
To make it truster of your own report[212]
Against yourself: I know you are no truant.
But what is your affair in Elsinore?[213]
We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.[214] 175
Hor. My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
Ham. I prethee, do not mock me, fellow-student;[215]
I think it was to see my mother's wedding.[216]
Hor. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.[217]
Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked-meats 180
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio![218]
My father!—methinks I see my father.
Hor. O where, my lord?
Ham. In my mind's eye, Horatio.[219] 185
Hor. I saw him once; he was a goodly king.[220]
Ham. He was a man, take him for all in all,[220][221]
I shall not look upon his like again.[222]
Hor. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
Hor. My lord, the king your father.
Hor. Season your admiration for a while[224]
With an attent ear, till I may deliver,[225]
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.
Ham. For God's love, let me hear.[226] 195
Hor. Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
In the dead vast and middle of the night,[227]
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe,[228] 200
Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd[229]
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,[230]
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd[231]
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,[232] 205
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secrecy impart they did;[233]
And I with them the third night kept the watch:
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,[234]
Form of the thing, each word made true and good, 210
The apparition comes: I knew your father;[235]
These hands are not more like.
Mar. My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.
Ham. Did you not speak to it?
Hor. My lord, I did,[236]
But answer made it none: yet once methought[237] 215
It lifted up its head and did address[238]
Itself to motion, like as it would speak:[239]
But even then the morning cock crew loud,
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away
And vanish'd from our sight.
Ham. 'Tis very strange. 220
Hor. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true,[240]
And we did think it writ down in our duty[241]
To let you know of it.[242]
Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.[243]
Hold you the watch to-night?
Mar. } We do, my lord.[244] 225
Ber. }
Ham. Arm'd, say you?
Mar. } Arm'd, my lord.
Ber. }
Ham. From top to toe?[244]
Hor. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up.[246][248]
Ham. What, look'd he frowningly?[249] 230
Hor. A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
Ham. Pale or red?
Hor. Nay, very pale.
Ham. And fix'd his eyes upon you?
Hor. Most constantly.
Ham. I would I had been there.
Hor. It would have much amazed you.[250] 235
Ham. Very like, very like. Stay'd it long?[250][251]
Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.[250][252]
Hor. Not when I saw't.
Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life,[255][256] 240
A sable silver'd.[257]
Ham. I will watch to-night;
Perchance 'twill walk again.
Hor. I warrant it will.[258]
Ham. If it assume my noble father's person,
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, 245
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,[259]
Let it be tenable in your silence still,[260]
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,[261]
Give it an understanding, but no tongue:
I will requite your loves. So fare you well:[262] 250
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve.[263]
I'll visit you.
All. Our duty to your honour.[264]
Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: farewell.[265]
[Exeunt all but Hamlet.
My father's spirit in arms! all is not well;[266]
I doubt some foul play: would the night were come! 255
Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise,[267]
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. [Exit.
Scene III. A room in Polonius's house.
Enter Laertes and Ophelia.[268]
Laer. My necessaries are embark'd: farewell:[269]
And, sister, as the winds give benefit
And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,[270]
But let me hear from you.
Oph. Do you doubt that?
Laer. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,[271] 5
Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood,
A violet in the youth of primy nature,[272]
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,[273]
The perfume and suppliance of a minute;[274]
No more.
Oph. No more but so?
Laer. Think it no more:[275] 10
For nature crescent does not grow alone[276]
In thews and bulk; but, as this temple waxes,[277]
The inward service of the mind and soul[278]
Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now;
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch[279] 15
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,[280]
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;[281]
For he himself is subject to his birth:[282]
He may not, as unvalued persons do,[283]
Carve for himself, for on his choice depends[284] 20
The safety and health of this whole state,[285]
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,[286]
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it 25
As he in his particular act and place[287]
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,[288]
If with too credent ear you list his songs,[289] 30
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open[290]
To his unmaster'd importunity.[291]
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in the rear of your affection,[292]
Out of the shot and danger of desire. 35
The chariest maid is prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes:
The canker galls the infants of the spring[293]
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed,[294] 40
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
Oph. I shall the effect of this good lesson keep,[295] 45
As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,[296]
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,[297]
Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,[298]
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads[299] 50
And recks not his own rede.[300]
Laer. O, fear me not.
I stay too long: but here my father comes.
Enter Polonius.[301]
A double blessing is a double grace;[302]
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
Pol. Yet here, Laertes! Aboard, aboard, for shame![303] 55
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee![304]
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,[305]
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. 60
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,[306]
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel,[307]
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment[308]
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware[309] 65
Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
Bear't, that th' opposed may beware of thee.[310]
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice:[311]
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 70
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.[312]
Neither a borrower nor a lender be:[313] 75
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,[314]
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.[315]
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,[316]
Thou canst not then be false to any man. 80
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee![317]
Laer. Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.[318]
Pol. The time invites you; go, your servants tend.[319]
Laer. Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well
What I have said to you.
Oph. 'Tis in my memory lock'd,[320] 85
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
Laer. Farewell. [Exit.[321]
Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?[322]
Oph. So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.[323]
Pol. Marry, well bethought: 90
'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you, and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous:
If it be so—as so 'tis put on me,
And that in way of caution—I must tell you, 95
You do not understand yourself so clearly
As it behoves my daughter and your honour.
What is between you? give me up the truth.[324]
Oph. He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me. 100
Pol. Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,[325]
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.[326]
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
Oph. I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
Pol. Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby,[327] 105
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,[328]
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;[329]
Or—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus—you'll tender me a fool.[330]
Oph. My lord, he hath importuned me with love 110
In honourable fashion.
Pol. Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.[331]
Oph. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,[332][333]
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.[332][334]
Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,[335] 115
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul[336]
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,[337]
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,[338]
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,[339]
You must not take for fire. From this time[340] 120
Be something scanter of your maiden presence;[341]
Set your entreatments at a higher rate[342]
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,[343]
Believe so much in him, that he is young,
And with a larger tether may he walk[344] 125
Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,[345]
But mere implorators of unholy suits,[346]
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,[347] 130
The better to beguile. This is for all:[348]
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,[349]
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you: come your ways.[350] 135
Oph. I shall obey, my lord. [Exeunt.[351]
Scene IV. The platform.[352]
Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.