That he, as 'twere by accident, may here Her father, and myself (lawful espials +,) Queen. I shall obey you: And, for your part, Ophelia, I do wish, That your good beauties be the happy cause Of Hamlet's wildness: so shall I hope, your virtues Will bring him to his wonted way again, To both your honours. Oph. Madam, I wish it may. [Exit Queen. Pol. Ophelia, walk you here:-Gracious, so please you, We will bestow ourselves:-Read on this book; [To OPHELIA. That show of such an exercise may colour Your loneliness.-We are oft to blame in this, 'Tis too much proved ||,-that, with devotion's And pious action, we do sugar o'er [visage, The devil himself. O, 'tis too true! how smart A lash that speech doth give my conscience! The harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art, King. Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it, Than is my deed to my most painted word: O heavy burden! [Aside. Pol. I hear him coming; let's withdraw, my lord. [Exeunt King and POLONIUS. Enter HAMLET. Ham. To be, or not to be, that is the question : Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer No more; and, by a sleep, to say we end But that the dread of something after death, Freely. I never gave you aught. No, not I; Oph. My honour'd lord, you know right well, you did; [composed And, with them, words of so sweet breath As made the things more rich: their perfume lost, Take these again; for to the noble mind, Ham. Ha, ha! are you honest? Ham. Are you fair? Oph. What means your lordship? Ham. That if you be honest, and fair, you, should admit no discourse to your beauty. Oph. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty? Ham. Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd, than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness; this was some time a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once. Oph. Indeed, my lord, you made me be lieve so. Ham. You should not have believed me: for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock, but we shall relish of it: I loved you not. Oph. I was the more deceived. Ham. Get thee to a nuunery; Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; but yet I could accuse me of such things, that it were better, my mother had not borné me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences at my beck ttt, than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in: What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven! We are arrant knaves, all; believe none of us: Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where's your father? Oph. At home, my lord. Ham. Let the doors be shut upon him; ** Consideration. The ancient term for a small dagger. *** Prayers. TT Boundary, limits. that he may play the fool no where but in's | To show his grief; let her be round with him; own house. Farewell. Oph. O, help him, you sweet heavens! Ham. If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry; Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery; Farewell: Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough, what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. Farewell. Oph. Heavenly powers, restore him! Ham. I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance: Go to; I'll no more of't; it hath made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages: those that are married already, all but one shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery go. (Exit HAMLET. Oph. O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! [sword: The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, The expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion, and the mould* of form, The observed of all observers! quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That suck'd the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; That unmatch'd form and feature of blown Blasted with ecstasy: 0, woe is me! [youth, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see! Re-enter King and POLONIUS. King. Love! his affections do not that way tend; [little, Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a Was not like madness. There's something in his soul, O'er which his melancholy sits on brood; Pol. It shall do well: But yet I do believe, The origin and commencement of his grief Sprung from neglected love.-How now, Ophelia, You need not tell us what lord Hamlet said; And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Hall in the same. Enter HAMLET, and certain Players. Ham. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue : but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus; but use all gently: for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as 1 may say) whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance, that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul, to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings; who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows, and noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o'er-doing Termagant; it outherods Herod ||: Pray you, avoid it. 1 Play. I warrant your honour. Ham. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor; suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'er-step not the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first, and now, was, and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time, his form and pressure. Now this, overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of which one, must, in your allowance**,o'er-weigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players, that I have seen play,and heard others praise, and that highlynot to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of christians, nor the gait of christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted, and bel lowed, that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably. 1 Play. I hope, we have reformed that indifferently with us. Ham. O, reform it altogether. And let those, that play your clowns, speak no more than is set down for them: for there be of them, that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too; though, in the mean time, some necessary question + of the play be then to be con sidered: that's villanous; and shows a most The model by whom all endeavoured to form themselves. * Reprimand him with freedom. Herod's character was always violent. • Approbation. + Alienation of mind. The meaner people then seem to have sat in the pit. Impression, resemblance. Conversation, discourse. Enter HORATIO. Hor. Here, sweet lord, at your service. Ham. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man As e'er my conversation coped withal. Hor. O, my dear lord, Ham Nay, do not think I flatter: For what advancement may I hope from thee, That no revenue hast, but thy good spirits, To feed, and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter'd? No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp; And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee, Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear? Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice, As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing; man That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him Hor. Well, my lord: dish: I eat the air, promise-crammed: You cannot feed capons so. King. I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these words are not mine. Ham. No, nor mine now. My lord,-you played once in the University, you say? [TO POLONIUS. Pol. That did I, my lord; and was accounted a good actor. Ham. And what did you enact? Pol. I did enact Julius Cæsar: I was killed i'the Capitol; Brutus killed me. Ham. It was a brute part of him, to kill so capital a calf there.-Be the players ready? Ros. Ay, my lord; they stay || upon your patience. Queen. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me. Ham. No, good mother, here's metal more attractive. Pol. O ho! do you mark that? [To the King. Ham. Lady, shall I lie in your lap? [Lying down at OPHELIA's feet. your Oph. No, my lord. Ham. I mean my head upon your lap? Ham. Do you think, I meant country matters? Oph. I think nothing, my lord. Ham. That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs. Oph. What is, my lord? Oph. You are merry, my lord. Oph. Ay, my lord. Ham. O! your only jig-maker. What should a man do, but be merry; for, look you, how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within these two hours. Oph. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord. Ham. So long? Nay, then let the devil wear black, for I'll have a suit of sables ¶. O heavens! die two months ago, and not forgotten yet? Then there's hope, a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year: But, by'r-lady, he must build churches then: or else shall he suffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse; whose epitaph is, For, O, for, O, the hobby. horse is forgot. Trumpets sound. The dumb show follows. Enter a King and a Queen, very lovingly;" the Queen embracing him, and he her. She kneels, and makes show of protestation unto him. He takes her up, and declines his head upon her neck: lays him down upon a bank of flowers; she, seeing him asleep, leaves him. Anon comes in a fellow, takes off his crown, kisses it, and pours poison in the King's ears, and exit. The Queen returns; finds the King dead, and makes passionate action. The poisoner, with some two or three Mutes, comes in again, seeming to lament with Wait.... Shop, stithy is a smith's shop. The richest dress. her. The dead body is carried away. The poisoner wooes the Queen with gifts; she seems loath and unwilling awhile, but, in the end, accepts his love. [Exeunt. Oph. What means this, my lord? Ham. Marry, this is miching mallecho: it means mischief. Oph. Belike, this show imports the argument of the play. Enter Prologue. Ham. We shall know by this fellow: the players cannot keep counsel; they'll tell all. Oph. Will he tell us what this show meant? Ham. Ay, or any show that you'll show him: Be not you ashamed to show, he'll not shame to tell you what it means. Oph. You are naught, you are naught; I'll mark the play. Pro. For us, and for our tragedy, Here stooping to your clemency, A second time I kill my husband dead, But, what we do determine, oft we break. Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident. Ham. Is this a prologue, or the posy of a For 'tis a question left us yet to prove, ring? Oph. 'Tis brieft, my lord. Ham. As woman's love. Enter a King and a Queen. P. King. Fall thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone round [ground; Neptune's salted wash, and Tellus' orbid And thirty dozen moons, with borrow'd sheen, [been; About the world have times twelve thirties Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands, Unite eommntual in most sacred bands. P. Queen. So many journeys may the sun Make us again count o'er, ere love be done! Where little fears grow great, great love grows P. Queen. Whether love lead fortune, or else fortune {flies; P. Queen. Nor earth to give me food, nor Sport and repose lock from me, day and night! To desperation turn my trust and hope' Ham. If she should break it now,-- My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile | (Exit Ham. Madam, how like you this play? methinks. Ham. O, but she'll keep her word. P. Queen. The instances + that second there no offence in't? marriage move, Are base respects of thrift, but none of love; Ham. No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest ; no offence i'the world. + Short. + Car, chariot. Motives King. What do you call the play? Ham. The mouse-trap*. Marry, how! Tropically. This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna: Gonzago is the duke's name; his wife, Baptista: you shall see anon; 'tis a knavish piece of work: But what of that? your majesty, and we that have free souls, it touches us not: Let the galled jade wincet, our withers are unwrung.Enter LUCIANUS. This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king. Oph. You are as good as a chorus, my lord. Ham. I could interpret between you and your love, if I could see the puppets dallying. Oph. You are keen, my lord, you are keen. Ham. It would cost you a groaning, to take off my edge. Oph. Still better, and worse. Ham. So you mistake your husbands. Begin, murderer ;-leave thy damnable faces, and begin. Come; -The croaking raven Doth bellow for revenge. Luc. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing; Confederate season, else no creature seeing; Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected, [fected, With Hecat's ban thrice blasted, thrice inThy natural magic and dire property, On wholesome life usurp immediately. [Pours the Poison into the Sleeper's Ears. Ham. He poisons him i' the garden for his estate. His name's Gonzago; the story is extant, and written in very choice Italian: You shall see anon, how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife. Oph. The king rises. Hum. What! frighted with false fire! King. Give me some light :-away! [Exeunt all but HAMLET and HORATIO. The hart ungalled play: For some must watch, while some must Thus runs the world away.- [sleep, Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers, (if the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me,) with two Provencial roses on my razed ¶ shoes, get me a fellowship in a ery **of players, sir ? Hor. Half a share. Ham. A whole one, I. For thou dost know, O Damon dear, Of Jove himself; and now reigns here Hor. You might have rhymed. Ham. Upon the talk of the poisoning,- For if the king like not the comedy, Guil. Good, my lord, vouchsafe me a word with you. Ham. Sir, a whole history. Ham. Ay, sir, what of him? Guil. Is, in his retirement, marvellous distempered. Ham. With drink, sir? Guil. No, my lord, with choler. Ham. Your wisdom should show itself more richer, to signify this to the doctor; for, for me to put him to his purgation, would, perhaps, plunge him into more choler. Guil. Good my lord, put your discourse into some frame, and start not so wildly from my affair. Ham. I am tame, sir :-pronounce. Guil. The queen, your mother, in most great affliction of spirit, hath sent me to you. Ham. You are welcome. Guil. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the right breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do your mother's commandment; if not, your pardou, and my return, shall be the end of my business. Ham. Sir, I cannot. Guil. What, my lord? Ham. Make you a wholesome answer; my wit's diseased: But, sir, such answer as I can make, you shall command; or, rather, as you say, my mother: therefore no more, but to the matter: My mother, you say, Ros. Then thus she says; Your behaviour hath struck her into amazement and admiration. Ham. O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother!-But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration? impart. Ros. She desires to speak with you in her closet, ere you go to bed. Ham. We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have you any further trade with us? Ros. My lord, you once did love me. Ham. And do still, by these pickers and stealers ¶¶. Ros. Good my lord, what is your cause o distemper? you do, surely, but bar the door upon your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend. Ham. Sir, I lack advancement. Ros. How can that be, when you have the voice of the king himself for your succession in Denmark? |