Still am I call'd ;-unhand me, gentlemen, ; [Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me :3 I say, away :-Go on, I'll follow thee. [Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET. Hor. He waxes desperate with imagination. Mar. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him. Hor. Have after :-To what issue will this come? Mar. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Hor. Heaven will direct it. Mar. Nay, let's follow him. SCENE V. [Exeunt. A more remote part of the Platform. Re-enter Ghost and HAMLET. Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me ? Speak, I'll go no further. Ghost. Mark me. Ham. I will. Ghost. My hour is almost come, When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself. Ham. Alas, poor ghost! Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold. Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear. Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. Ham. What? Ghost. I am thy father's spirit ; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night; And, for the day, confin'd to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature, Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood; Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres ; Thy knotted and combined locks to part, Like quills upon the fretful porcupine: But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood :-List, list, O list!- Ham, O heaven ! Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. [3] To let among the old authors, signifies, to prevent, to hinder. STEE. Ham. Murder? Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. Ham. Haste me to know it; that I, with wings as swift As meditation, or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge. Ghost. I find thee apt ; And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, 4 Would'st thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear : 'Tis given out, that sleeping in mine orchard, A serpent stung me: so the whole ear of Denmark Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth, Ham. O, my prophetic soul! my uncle! Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, But virtue, as it never will be mov'd, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven ; Will sate itself in a celestial bed, And prey on garbage. But, soft methinks, I scent the morning air; Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, [4] Shakspeare, apparently through ignorance, makes Roman Catholics of these pagan Danes; and here gives a description of purgatory; but yet mixes it with the Pagan fable of Lethe's wharf. Whether he did it to insinuate to the zealous Protestants of his time, that the Pagan and Popish purgatory stood both upon the same footing of credibility, or whether it was by the same kind of licentious inadvertence that Michael Angelo brought Charon's bark into his picture of the Last Judgment is not easy to decide. WARB. [5] Orchard for garden. So in Romeo and Juliet: "The orchard walls are high, and hard to climb.” See also Much Ado about Nothing, p. 27. STEEVENS. With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial;6 Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand, No reckoning made, but sent to my account 9 Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Adieu, adieu, adieu! remember me. [Exit. Ham. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else? And shall I couple hell?-O fye !-Hold, hold, my heart, [6] The word here used was more probably designed by a metathesis, either of the poet or transcriber, for henebon, that is, henbane; of which the most common kind (hyoscyamus niger) is certainly narcotic, and perhaps, if taken in a considerable quantity, might prove poisonous. Galen calls it cold in the third degree; by which in this, as well as opium, he seems not to mean an actual coldness, but the power it has of benumbing the faculties. GREY. 71 Unhousel'd, is without having received the sacrament, Disappointed, Dr. Johnson observes, is the same as unappointed, and may be properly ex. plained unprepared. Unanel'd is without extreme unction. STEEVENS. [8] It was ingeniously hinted to me by a very learned lady, that this line seems to belong to Hamlet, in whose mouth it is a proper and natural exclamation; and who, according to the practice of the stage, may be supposed to interrupt so long a speech. JOHNSON. 193 For lewdness. STEEVENS. Fire that is no longer seen when the light of morning approaches. STEEVENS And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, I I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain ! That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; At least, I am sure, it may be so in Denmark: [Writing. So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word; It is, Adieu, adieu! remember me. I have sworn't. Hor. [within.] My lord, my lord, Mar. [within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord! Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come. 2 Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS. Mar. How is't, my noble lord? Hor. What news, my lord? Ham. O, wonderful! Hor. Good my lord, tell it. Ham. No; You will reveal it. Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven. Mar. Nor I, my lord. Ham. How say you then; would heart of man once think it ? But you'll be secret, Hor. Mar. Ay, by heaven, my lord. Ham. There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Denmark, But he's an arrant knave. Hor. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave, [1] In this head, confused with thought. STEEVENS. [2] This is the call which falconers use to their hawk in the air when they would have him come down to them. HANMER. To tell us this. Ham. Why, right; you are in the right; And so, without more circumstance at all, I hold it fit, that we shake hands, and part: You, as your business, and desire, shall point you ;For every man hath business, and desire, Such as it is,-and, for my own poor part, Look you, I will go pray. Hor. These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. Ham. I am sorry they offend you, heartily; yes, 'Faith, heartily. Hor. There's no offence, my lord. Ham. Yes, by Saint Patrick, 3 but there is, Horatio, For your desire to know what is between us, Give me one poor request. Hor. What is't, my lord? We will. Ham. Never make known what you have seen to-night. Hor. Mar. My lord, we will not. Ham. Nay, but swear't. Hor. In faith, My lord, not I. Mar. Nor I, my lord, in faith. Ham. Upon my sword.4 Mar. We have sworn, my lord, already, Ghost. [beneath.] Swear. Ham. Ha, ha, boy! say'st thou so? Art thou there, true-penny? Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage,- Hor. Propose the oath, my lord. [3] How the poet comes to make Hamlet swear by St. Patrick, I know not. However, at this time all the northern world had their learning from Ireland; to which place it had retired, and there flourished under the auspices of this Saint. But it was, I suppose, only said at random; for he makes Hamlet a student at Wittenberg. WARBURTON. [4] It was common to swear upon the sword, that is, upon the cross which the old swords always had upon the hilt. JOHNSON. Spenser observes that the Irish in his time, 1596, used commonly to swear by their sword. This custom is of the highest antiquity; having prevailed; as we learn from Lucian, amongst the Scythians. MALONE. |