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BARNARDO Sit down awhile,
And let us once again assail36 your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.
HORATIO Well, sit we down,
And let us hear Barnardo speak of this.
BARNARDO Last night of all41,
When yond same star that's westward from the pole42
Had made his course t'illume43 that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one--
MARCELLUS Peace, break thee off.
Enter the Ghost
Look where it comes again.
BARNARDO In the same figure47 like the king that's dead.
MARCELLUS Thou art a scholar48; speak to it, Horatio.
BARNARDO Looks it not like the king? Mark it49, Horatio.
HORATIO Most like: it harrows50 me with fear and wonder.
BARNARDO It would51 be spoke to.
MARCELLUS Question it, Horatio.
HORATIO What art thou that usurp'st53 this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark55
Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge56 thee speak!
MARCELLUS It is offended.
BARNARDO See, it stalks away.
HORATIO Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!
Exit the Ghost
MARCELLUS 'Tis gone and will not answer.
BARNARDO How now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale.
Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you on't63?
HORATIO Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch65
Of mine own eyes.
MARCELLUS Is it not like the king?
HORATIO As thou art to thyself.
Such was the very armour he had on
When he th'ambitious Norway70 combated:
So frowned he once when, in an angry parle71,
He smote the steeled pole-axe72 on the ice.
'Tis strange.
MARCELLUS Thus twice before, and just at this dead hour,
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
HORATIO In what particular thought to work I know not76,
But in the gross and scope77 of my opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption78 to our state.
MARCELLUS Good now79, sit down and tell me, he that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject81 of the land,
And why such daily cast of brazen82 cannon
And foreign mart83 for implements of war:
Why such impress84 of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week85
What might be toward86, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:
Who is't that can inform me?
HORATIO That can I,
At least, the whisper90 goes so: our last king,
Whose image even but now appeared to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto pricked on by a most emulate93 pride,
Dared to the combat, in which our valiant Hamlet --
For so this side of our known world esteemed him --
Did slay this Fortinbras, who by a sealed compact96,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
Which he stood seized on99 to the conqueror:
Against the which, a moiety competent100
Was gaged by our king, which had returned101
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same cov'nant103,
And carriage of the article designed104,
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle106 hot and full,
Hath in the skirts107 of Norway here and there
Sharked up a list of landless resolutes108
For food and diet to some enterprise109
That hath a stomach110 in't, which is no other --
And it doth well appear unto our state111 --
But to recover of us, by strong hand
And terms compulsative113, 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 head116
Of this post-haste and rummage117 in the land.
Enter Ghost again
But soft, behold! Lo118, where it comes again!
I'll cross it, though it blast119 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, haply126, foreknowing may avoid -- O, speak!
Or if thou hast uphoarded127 in thy life
Extorted128 treasure in the womb of earth --
A cock crows
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death --
Speak of it: stay and speak!-- Stop it, Marcellus.
MARCELLUS Shall I strike at it with my partisan131?
HORATIO Do, if it will not stand132.
They attempt to strike it
BARNARDO 'Tis here!
HORATIO 'Tis here!
MARCELLUS 'Tis gone!
Exit Ghost
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.
BARNARDO It was about to speak when the cock crew.
HORATIO And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard
The cock, that is the trumpet to the day,
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,
Th'extravagant and erring spirit hies147
To his confine148: and of the truth herein
This present object made probation149.
MARCELLUS It faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some say that ever gainst151 that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's152 birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning153 singeth all night long,
And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad:
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike155,
No fairy talks, nor witch hath power to charm156,
So hallowed and so gracious157 is the time.
HORATIO So have I heard and do in part believe it.
But, look, the morn in russet159 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 tonight
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?
MARCELLUS Let's do't, I pray, and I this morning know
Where we shall find him most conveniently.
Exeunt
Act 1 Scene 2
running scene 2
Enter Claudius King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes and his sister Ophelia, Lords Attendant
KING Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green2, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
To be contracted4 in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion5 fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime8 sister, now our queen,
Th'imperial jointress9 of this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,
With one auspicious and one dropping eye11,
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole13,
Taken to wife; nor have we herein barred14
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along. For all, our thanks.
Now follows that you know17 young Fortinbras,
Holding a weak supposal18 of our worth,
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued with the dream of his advantage21,
He hath not failed to pester us with message
Importing23 the surrender of those lands
Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,
To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
Enter Voltemand and Cornelius
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 bedrid29, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose -- to suppress
His further gait herein, in that the levies31,
The lists and full proportions, are all made
Out of his subject. And we here dispatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand,
For bearing of this greeting to old Norway,
Giving to you no further personal power
To37 business with the king, more than the scope
Of these dilated articles38 allow.
Gives a paper
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty39.
VOLTEMAND In that, and all things, will we show our duty.
KING We doubt it nothing41: heartily farewell.--
Exeunt Voltemand and Cornelius
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
You told us of some suit43: what is't, Laertes?
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane44
And lose your voice45: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes,
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking46?
The head is not more native47 to the heart,
The hand more instrumental48 to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
LAERTES Dread my lord51,
Your leave and favour52 to return to France,
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark
To show my duty in your coronation,
Yet now I must confess, that duty done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again towards France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon57.
KING Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?
POLONIUS He hath, my lord:
I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
KING Take thy fair hour, Laertes: time be thine,
And thy best graces62 spend it at thy will.--
But now, my cousin63 Hamlet, and my son--
HAMLET A little more than kin and less than kind64.
KING How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
Aside?
HAMLET Not so, my lord:-- I am too much i'th'sun.
GERTRUDE Good Hamlet, cast thy nightly colour67 off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not forever with thy veiled lids69
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou know'st 'tis common71, all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
HAMLET Ay, madam, it is common.
GERTRUDE If it be,
Why seems it so particular75 with thee?
HAMLET 'Seems', madam? Nay it is: I know not 'seems'.
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary78 suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration79 of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected 'haviour of the visage81,
Together with all forms, moods82, shows of grief,
That can denote83 me truly: these indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play,
But I have that within which passeth85 show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
KING 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
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 obligation for some term
To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever92
In obstinate condolement93 is a course
Of impious stubbornness: 'tis unmanly grief:
It shows a will most incorrect95 to heaven,
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient96,
An understanding simple and unschooled.
For what we know must be and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense99,
Why should we in our peevish100 opposition
Take it to heart? Fie101, '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 still104 hath cried,
From the first corpse till he that died today,
'This must be so.' We pray you throw to earth
This unprevailing107 woe, and think of us
As of a father; for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate109 to our throne,
And with no less nobility of love
Than that which dearest father bears his son,
Do I impart towards you. For112 your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg113,
It is most retrograde114 to our desire,
And we beseech you bend you115 to remain
Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
GERTRUDE Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:
I prithee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
HAMLET 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 unforced accord123 of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof124,
No jocund health that Denmark125 drinks today
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell126,
And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit127 again,
Re-speaking128 earthly thunder. Come away.
Exeunt. Hamlet remains
HAMLET O, that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve130 itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting131 had not fixed
His canon132 gainst self-slaughter! O God, O God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses134 of this world!
Fie on't! O, fie, fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed: things rank and gross136 in nature
Possess it merely137. That it should come to this!
But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two.
So excellent a king, that was to139 this
Hyperion to a satyr140, so loving to my mother
That he might not beteem141 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 woman! --
A little month, or ere147 those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body,
Like Niobe149, all tears: why she, even she --
O, heaven! A beast that wants discourse of reason150
Would have mourned longer -- married with mine uncle,
My father's brother but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules153. Within a month?
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous154 tears
Had left the flushing of her galled155 eyes,
She married. O, most wicked speed, to post156
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not nor it cannot come to good:
But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue.
Enter Horatio, Barnardo and Marcellus
HORATIO Hail to your lordship!
HAMLET I am glad to see you well:
Recognizes him
Horatio -- or I do forget myself.
HORATIO The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
HAMLET Sir, my good friend, I'll change that name with you164.
And what make you from165 Wittenberg, Horatio?-- Marcellus.
MARCELLUS My good lord.
To Barnardo
HAMLET I am very glad to see you.-- Good even167, sir.--
To Horatio
But what in faith make you from Wittenberg?
HORATIO A truant169 disposition, good my lord.
HAMLET I would not have your enemy say so,
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 ere175 you depart.
HORATIO My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
HAMLET I pray thee do not mock me, fellow student:
I think it was to see my mother's wedding.
HORATIO Indeed, my lord, it followed hard179 upon.
HAMLET Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral baked meats180
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
Would I had met my dearest182 foe in heaven
Ere I had ever seen that day, Horatio.
My father, methinks I see my father.
HORATIO O, where, my lord?
HAMLET In my mind's eye, Horatio.
HORATIO I saw him once; he was a goodly king.
HAMLET He was a man, take him for all in all:
I shall not look upon his like again.
HORATIO My lord, I think I saw him yesternight190.
HAMLET Saw who?
HORATIO My lord, the king your father.
HAMLET The king my father?
HORATIO Season your admiration194 for a while
With an attent ear till I may deliver195,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.
HAMLET For heaven's love, let me hear.
HORATIO Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Marcellus and Barnardo, on their watch,
In the dead waste201 and middle of the night,
Been thus encountered. A figure like your father,
Armed at all points exactly, cap-a-pie203,
Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes205 slow and stately