Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Not Peer Reviewed

Hamlet (Quarto 2, 1604)

Enter Ghost and Hamlet.
Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak. I'll go no further.
Mark me.
Hamlet
I will.
685Ghost
My hour is almost come
When I to sulf'rous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.
Hamlet
Alas, poor ghost!
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
690To what I shall unfold.
Speak. I am bound to hear.
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
What?
I am thy father's spirit,
695Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison house,
700I 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 combinèd locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end
705Like quills upon the fearful porpentine.
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, oh, list:
If thou didst ever thy dear father love--
O God!
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
Murder?
Murder most foul, as in the best it is,
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
Haste me to know't, 715that 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
720That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forgèd process of my death
725Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
Oh, my prophetic soul! My uncle?
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
730With witchcraft of his wits, with traitorous gifts--
Oh, wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!--won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming virtuous queen.
Oh, Hamlet, what falling off was there!
735From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine. But virtue, as it never will be moved,
740Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So but though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sort itself in a celestial bed
And prey on garbage.
But soft, methinks I scent the morning air.
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
745My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour, thy uncle stole
With juice of cursèd hebona in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The lep'rous distillment, whose effect
750Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigor it doth possess
And curd like eager droppings into milk
755The thin and wholesome blood; so did it mine,
And a most instant tetter barked about
Most lazarlike with vile and loathsome crust
All my smooth body.
Thus was I sleeping by a brother's hand
760Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched,
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousled, disappointed, unaneled,
No reck'ning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.
765Oh, horrible, oh, horrible, most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not.
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damnèd incest.
But howsomever thou pursues this act,
770Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once.
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near
775And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me.
[Exit.]
O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?
And shall I couple hell? Oh, fie! Hold, hold, my heart,
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
780But bear me swiftly up. Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
785All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter. Yes, by heaven.
790Oh, most pernicious woman!
Oh, villain, villain, smiling damnèd villain!
My tables--meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.
795So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word.
It is "Adieu, adieu, remember me."
I have sworn't.
Enter Horatio and Marcellus
My lord, my lord!
Marcellus
Lord Hamlet!
Heavens secure him!
So be it.
Marcellus
Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
Hillo, ho, ho, boy, come, and come!
Marcellus
How is't, my noble lord?
What news, my lord?
Oh, wonderful!
Good my lord, tell it.
No, you will reveal it.
Not I, my lord, by heaven.
810Marcellus
Nor I, my lord.
How say you then, would heart of man once think it--
But you'll be secret?
Ay, by heaven.
There's never a villaindwelling in all Denmark
815But he's an arrant knave.
There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this.
Hamlet
Why, right, you are in the right.
And so, without more circumstance at all
820I 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
I will go pray.
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
I am sorry they offend you--heartily,
Yes, faith, heartily.
Horatio
There's no offense, my lord.
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
830And much offense too. Touching this vision here,
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you.
For your desire to know what is between us,
O'ermaster it as you may. And now, good friends,
As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
835Give me one poor request.
What is't, my lord? We will.
Never make known what you have seen tonight.
My lord, we will not.
Nay, but swear't.
In faith, my lord, not I.
Marcellus
Nor I, my lord, in faith.
Upon my sword.
[He holds out his sword.]
Marcellus
We have sworn, my lord, already.
Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
Ghost cries under the stage.
Swear.
Ha, ha, boy, say'st thou so? Art thou there, truepenny?--
Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage.
Consent to swear.
Horatio
Propose the oath, my lord.
Never to speak of this that you have seen.
Swear by my sword.
Swear.
[They swear.]
Hic et ubique? Then we'll shift our ground.
[He moves them to another spot.]
Come hither, gentlemen,
855And lay your hands again upon my sword.
Swear by my sword
Never to speak of this that you have heard.
Swear by his sword.
[They swear.]
Well said, old mole. Canst work i'th' earth so fast?
860A worthy pioneer!--Once more remove, good friends.
[They move once more.]
Oh, day and night, but this is wondrous strange.
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come,
865Here as before: never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd some'er I bear myself
(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on),
That you at such times seeing me never shall,
870With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase
As, "Well, well, we know," or "We could an if we would,"
Or "If we list to speak," or "There be, an if they might,"
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
875That you know aught of me. This do swear,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you.
Swear.
[They swear.]
Rest, rest, perturbèd spirit.--So, gentlemen,
880With all my love I do commend me to you,
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do t'express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together,
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
885The time is out of joint. Oh, cursèd spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
[They wait for him to leave first.]
Nay, come, let's go together.
Exeunt.