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  • Title: Hamlet (Modern, Folio)
  • Editor: David Bevington
  • ISBN: 978-1-55058-434-9

    Copyright David Bevington. This text may be freely used for educational, non-profit purposes; for all other uses contact the Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Editor: David Bevington
    Not Peer Reviewed

    Hamlet (Modern, Folio)

    Enter King.
    I have sent to seek him and to find the body.
    How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
    Yet must not we put the strong law on him;
    2665He's loved of the distracted multitude,
    Who like not in their judgment but their eyes,
    And where 'tis so, th'offender's scourge is weighed,
    But ne'er the offense. To bear all smooth and even,
    This sudden sending him away must seem
    2670Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown
    By desperate appliance are relieved,
    Or not at all.
    Enter Rosencrantz.
    King
    How now? What hath befall'n?
    Rosencrantz
    Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord,
    2675We cannot get from him.
    King
    But where is he?
    Rosencrantz
    Without, my lord, guarded, to know your pleasure.
    Bring him before us.
    2680Rosencrantz[Calling]:
    Ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord.
    Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern [and Guards].
    Now Hamlet, where's Polonius?
    Hamlet
    At supper.
    At supper? Where?
    2685Hamlet
    Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain convocation of worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourself for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service to dishes, 2690but to one table that's the end.
    What dost thou mean by this?
    Hamlet
    Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.
    Where is Polonius?
    2695Hamlet
    In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him i'th' other place yourself. But indeed if you find him not this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.
    King[To some attendants]
    Go seek him there.
    2700Hamlet
    He will stay till ye come.
    [Exeunt attendants.]
    Hamlet, this deed of thine, for thine especial safety--
    Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
    For that which thou hast done--must send thee hence
    With fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself.
    2705The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
    Th'associates tend, and everything at bent
    For England.
    Hamlet
    For England?
    Ay, Hamlet.
    2710Hamlet
    Good.
    So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
    Hamlet
    I see a cherub that sees him. But come, for England! Farewell, dear mother.
    Thy loving father, Hamlet.
    2715Hamlet
    My mother. Father and mother is man and wife, man and wife is one flesh, and so, my mother. Come, for England!
    Exit.
    Follow him at foot. Tempt him with speed aboard.
    2720Delay it not. I'll have him hence tonight.
    Away! For everything is sealed and done
    That else leans on th'affair. Pray you, make haste.
    [Exeunt all but the King.]
    And England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,
    As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
    2725Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
    After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
    Pays homage to us, thou mayst not coldly set
    Our sovereign process, which imports at full
    By letters conjuring to that effect
    2730The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England,
    For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
    And thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done,
    Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.
    Exit.