Mon. But I can give thee more: For I will raise her statue in pure gold; That, while Verona by that name is known, There shall no figure at such rate be set, As that of true and faithful Juliet.
Cap. As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie; Poor sacrifices of our enmity!
Prince. A glooming peace this morning with it brings:
The sun for sorrow will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things, Some shall be pardoned, and some punished: For never was a story of more woe, Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Bamlet, Prince of Denmark.
CLAUDIUS, King of Denmark.
Persons Represented.
BERNARDO, an Officer.
HAMLET, Son to the former, and Nephew to the pre- FRANCISCO, a Soldier.
REYNALDO, Servant to Polonius.
A Captain. An Ambassador.
Ghost of Hamlet's Father.
FORTINBRAS, Prince of Norway.
GERTRUDE, Queen of Denmark, and Mother to
Hamlet.
OPHELIA, Daughter to Polonius.
Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Players, Grave-diggers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants.
Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour. [Francisco. Ber. 'Tis now struck twelve: get thee to bed, Fran. For this relief, much thanks: 'tis bitter And I am sick at heart. [cold, Ber. Have you had quiet guard? Fran. Not a mouse stirring. Ber. Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS.
Fran. I think, I hear them.-Stand, ho! Who is there?
Hor. Friends to this ground.
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Mar. Horatio says, 'tis but our fantasy; And will not let belief take hold of him, Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us; Therefore I have entreated him along, With us to watch the minutes of this night; That, if again this apparition come, He may approve our eyes, and speak to it. Hor. Tush! tush! 'twill not appear. Ber.
Sit down awhile: And let us once again assail your ears, That are so fortified against our story, What we two nights have seen. Hor.
Well, sit we down, And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. Ber. Last night of all,
When yon same star, that's westward from the pole,
Had made his course to illume thatpart of heaven Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself, The bell then beating one,
Mar. Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!
Ber. In the same figure like the king that's dead.
Mar. Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio.
Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it,
Horatio.
[and wonder.
Hor. Most like:-it harrows me with fear,
Ber. It would be spoke to.
Mar.
Speak to it, Horatio.
Hor. What art thou, that usurp'st this time
of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee,
Mar. It is offended.
[speak.
Ber.
See! it stalks away.
Hor. Stay; speak: speak I charge thee, speak.
[Exit Ghost.
Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer.
Ber. How now, Horatio? you tremble, and
look pale:
Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you of it?
Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Is it not like the king?
Hor. As thou art to thyself:
Such was the very armour he had on,
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
So frown'd he once, when in an angry parle,
He smote the sledded Polack on the ice.
'Tis strange.
[dead hour,
Mar. Thus, twice before, and jump at this
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
Hor. In what particular thought to work,
know not;
But, in the gross and scope of mine opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
Mar. Good now, sit down and tell me, he
that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land?
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war;
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore
Does not divide the Sunday from the week:
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day;
Who is t, that can inform me?
That can I;
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.
And even the like precurse of fierce events,--
As harbingers preceding still the fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.-
Re-enter Ghost.
But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again!
I'll cross it, though it blast me.-Stay, illusion!
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me:
If there be any good thing to be done,
That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,
Speak to me:
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing, may avoid,
IO, speak!
At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortibras of Norway,
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,
Dar'd to the combat; in which our valiant
Hamlet
[him),
(For so this side of our known world esteem'd
Did slay this Fortibras; who, by a seal'd com-
Well ratified by law and heraldry, [pact,
Did forfeit with his life, all those his lands,
Which he stood seiz'd of, to the conqueror:
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king: which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortibras, [mart,
Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same co-
And earriage of the article design'd,
His fell to Hamlet: Now, sir, young Fontibras
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark'd up a list of landless resolutes,
For food and diet, to some enterprise
That hath a stomach in't: which is no other
(As it doth well appear unto our state),
But to recover of us, by strong hand,
And terms compulsatory, those 'foresaid lands
So by his father lost: And this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations;
The source of this our watch; and the chief head!
Of this post-baste and romage in the land.
Ber. I think, it be no other, but even so:
Well may it sort, that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch: so like the king
That was, and is, the question of these wars.
Hor. A mote it is, to trouble the mind's eye,
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless,and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.
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Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in
death,
[Cock crows.
Speak of it:-stay, and speak.-Stop it, Mar-
cellus.
Mar. Shall I strike at it with my partisan?
Hor. Do, if it will not stand.
We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the show of violence;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery. [crew.
Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock
Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of day: and at his warning,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
The extravagant and erring spirit hies
To his confine: and of the truth herein
This present object made probation.
Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then they say no spirit dares stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome: then no planeta
strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
Hor. So have I heard, and do in part believe it.
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill:
Break we our watch up; and, by my advice,
Let us impart what we have seen to-night
Unto young Hamlet: for, upon my life,
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him:
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
Mar. Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning
know
Where we shall find him most convenient.
The same. A Room of State in the same. Enter the King, Queen, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants.
King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, The memory be green: and that it us befitted Disasters in the sun; and the moist star, To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingUpon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,To be contracted in one brow of woe:
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature, That we with wisest sorrow think on him, Together with remembrance of ourselves, Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, The imperial jointress of this warlike state, Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,-With one auspicious, and one drooping eye; With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,
Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour
off,
[mark,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Den-
Do not, for ever, with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust: [die,
Thou know'st, 'tis common; all, that live, must
Passing through nature to eternity.
Ham. Ay, madam, it is common.
Queen.
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee? [seems.
Ham. Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,-
Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd
Your better wisdomus, which have freely gone
With this affair along:-For all, our thanks.
Now follows, that you know, young Fortin-Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath,
Holding a weak supposal of our worth;
Or thinking, by our late dear brother's death,
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,
He hath not failed to pester us with message,
Importing the surrender of those lands
Lost by his father, with all banns of law,
To our most valiant brother.-So much for him.
Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting.
Thus much the business is: We have here writ
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,-
Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose,-to suppress
His further gait herein; in that the levies,
The lists, and full proportions, are all made
Out of his subject:-and we here despatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;
Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the king, more than the scope
Of these related articles allow.
Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty.
Cor. Vol. In that, and all things, will we show
our duty,
King. We doubt it nothing; heartily farewell.
[Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS.
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
You told us of some suit; What is't, Laertes?
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,
And lose your voice: What would'st thou beg
Laertes,
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
The head is not more native to the heart,
The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
What would'st thou have, Laertes?
Laer.
My dread lord,
Your leave and favour to return to France:
From whence though willingly I came to Den-
To show my duty in your coronation; [mark,
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward
France,
[don,
And bow them to your gracious leave and par-
King. Have you your father's leave? What
says Polonius?
Pol. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave.
By laboursome petition; and, at last, Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent: I do beseech you, give him leave to go. [thine, King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be And thy best graces spend it at thy will.But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind. [Aside. King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you? [sun. Ham. Not so, my lord, I am too much i'the
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,
That can denote me truly: These, indeed, seem,
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that within, which passeth show;
These, but the trappings and the suits of woe.
King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your
To give these mourning duties to your father:
But you must know your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound
In filial obligations for some term
To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever
In obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven;
A heart unfortified, or mind impatient;
An understanding simple and unschool'd:
For what, we know, must be, and is as commen
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we, in our peevish opposition,
Take it to heart? Fye! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd; whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse, till he that died to-day,
This must be 30. We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe; and think of us
As of a father: for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne:
And with no less ability of love,
Than that which dearest father bears his son,
Do I impart toward you. For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire:
And, we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers,
Hamlet;
I pray thee, stay with us, go not to Wittenberg. Ham. I shall in all my best obey you, madam. King. Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply; Be as ourself in Denmark,-Madam, come; This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet" Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof No jocund health, that Denmark drinks to-day, But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell; And the king's rouse the heaven shall bruit again,
Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away.
[Exeunt King, Queen, Lords, &c. POLONIUS, and LAERTES. Ham. O, that this too too solid flesh would Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew; [melt, Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. O God! O God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fye on't! O fye! 'tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank, and gross in
nature,
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead!-nay, not so much, not
So excellent a king; that was, to this, [two;
Hyperion to a satyr: so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on. And yet, within a month,-
Let me not think on't;-Frailty, thy name is
A little month; or ere those shoes were old,
With which she follow'd my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears;-why she, even she,-
O heaven! a beast, that wants discourse of
[uncle,
Would have mourn'd longer,-married with my
My father's brother; but no more like my
Than 1 to Hercules: Within a month; [father,
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married:-O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to, good; [tongue!
But break, my heart: for I must hold my
Enter HORATIO, BERNARDO, and MARCELLUS.
Hor. Hail to your lordship!
I am glad to see you well;
Horatio, or do I forget myself?
Hor. The same, my lord, and your poor ser-
Ham. Sir, my good friend; I'll change that
[ratio?-
name with you.
And what make you from Wittenberg, Ho-
Marcellus?
Mar. My good lord,-
[sir.-
Ham. I am very glad to see you; good even,
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg:
Hor. A truant disposition, good my lord.
Ham. I would not hear your enemy say 50:
Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself: I know you are no truant.
But what is your affair in Elsinore?
We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
Hor. My lord, I came to see your father's
[student;
funeral.
Ham. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow
I think, it was to see my mother's wedding.
Hor. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.
Ham. Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral
bak'd meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would, I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio.
My father, Methinks, I see my father.
Hor.
My lord?
Ham. In my mind's eye, Horatio.
Hor. I saw him once, he was a goodly king.
Ham. He was a man take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.
Hor. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
Ham. Saw! who?
Hor. My lord, the king your father.
Ham.
The king my father?
Hor. Season your admiration for a while
With an attent ear; till I may deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.
For God's love, let me hear. llor.Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch.
In the dead waste and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father,
Armed at point, exactly, cap-a-pe,
Appears before them, and, with solemn march,
Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they,
Almost to jelly with the act of fear, [distill'd
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secrecy impart they did;
And I with them, the third night kept the watch;
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,
Form of the thing, each word made true and
good,
The apparition comes; I knew your father;
These hands are not more like.
But where was this?
Hor. My lord, upon the platform where we
[watch'd.
Ham. Did you not speak to it?
Hor.
My lord, I did:
But answer made it none: yet once, methought,
It lifted up its head, and did address
Itself to motion, like as it would speak;
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.
Hor. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;
And we did think it writ down in our duty
To let you know of it.
Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles
Hold you the watch to-night?
All. My lord, from head to foot.
Ham.
His face.
Hor. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up.
Ham. What, look'd he frowningly?
Hor.
In sorrow than in anger.
Hor. Nay, very pale.
Ham.
And fix'd his eyes upon you?
Hor. It was, as I have seen it in his life,
A sable silver'd.
Ham.
I will watch to-night;
Perchance, 'twill walk again.
Hor.
I warrant, it will.
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,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still;
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue;
I will requite your loves: So, fare you well:
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.
All.
Our duty to your honour.
Ham. Your loves, as mine to you: Farewell.
[Exeunt HOR. MAR. and BER
My father's spirit in arms! all is not well;
I doubt some foul play: 'would, the night were
come!
Till then sit still, my soul: Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's
eyes.
[Ecit.
SCENE III. A Room in Polonius' House.
Enter LAERTES and OPHELIA.
Laer. My necessaries are embark'd; farewell:
And, sister, as the winds give benefit,
And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
But let me hear from you.
Oph.
Do you doubt that?
Laer. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,
Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;
A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
No more.
Think it no more:
For nature, crescent, does not grow alone,
In thews, and bulk; but, as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal. Perhaps, he loves you now;
And now no soil, nor cautel, doth besmirch
The virtue of his will: but, you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The safety and health of the whole state;
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
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it, [you,
As he in his particular act and place
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,
If with too credent ear you list his songs;
Or lose your heart; or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister;
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
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,
Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd;
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,
As watchman to my heart; But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own read,
O fear me not.
I stay too long;-But here my father comes.
Enter POLONIUS.
A double blessing is a double grace;
Occasion smiles upon a second leave. [shame;
Pol. Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are staid for: There,-my blessing with
you; [Laying his Hand on LAERTES' Head.,
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no
tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Be-
Of entrance to a quarrel: but, being in, [ware
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee.
Take each man's censure, but reservethy judg-
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, [ment.
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
And they in France,of the best rank and station,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man:
Are most select and generous, chief in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be:
For a loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all,-To thine ownself be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessiug season this in thee!
Laer. Most humbly do I take my leave, my
lord.
[tend.
Pol. The time invites you; go, your servants
Laer. Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well
What I have said to you.
Oph.
'Tis in my memory lock'd,
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
Laer. Farewell.
[Exit LAERTES.
Pol. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
Oph. So please you, something touching the
lord Hamlet.
'Tis told me he hath very oft of late
Pol. Marry, well bethought:
Given private time to you; and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and boun-
If it be so (as so 'tis put on me,
And that in way of caution), I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself so clearly,
As it behoves my daughter, and your honour:
What is between you? give me up the truth.
Oph. He hath, my lord, of late, made many
Of his affection to me.
Pol. Affection? puh! you speak like a green Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. [girl, Do you believe his tenders, as you call them? Oph. I do not know, my lord, what I should
Pol. Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling, Tender yourself more
Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Wronging it thus), you'll tender me a fool.
Oph. My lord, he hath importun'd me with
In honourable fashion.
Pol. Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.
Oph. And hath given countenance to his
speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks.
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Even in their promise, as it is a making,-
Giving more light than heat,-extinct in both,
You must not take for fire. From this time,
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate,
Than a command to parley. For lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, That he is young;
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