Enter Claudius, King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, and his sister Ophelia, Lords attendant.
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
180The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him
185Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometimes sister, now our queen,
Th'imperial jointress of this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,
With one auspicious and one dropping eye,
190With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,
Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along. For all, our thanks.
195Now follows, that you know young Fortinbras,
Holding a weak supposal of our worth,
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Co-leaguèd with the dream of his advantage,
200He hath not failed to pester us with message
Importing 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.
205Now 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 bed-rid, scarcely hears
Of this his nephew's purpose, to suppress
210His further gait herein, in that the levies,
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,
215Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the King more than the scope
Of these dilated articles allow.
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.
Voltemand
In that and all things will we show our duty.
We doubt it nothing. Heartily farewell.
Exit Voltemand and Cornelius.
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
You told us of some suit. What is't, Laertes?
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane
225And lose your voice. What wouldst thou beg, Laertes,
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
The head is not more native to the heart,
The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
230What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
Laertes
Dread my lord,
Your leave and favor to return to France,
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark
To show my duty in your coronation,
235Yet now I must confess, that duty done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again towards France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?
240Polonius
He hath, my lord.
I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
Claudius
Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will.
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son--
245Hamlet
A little more than kin, and less than kind.
How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
Hamlet
Not so, my lord, I am too much i'th' sun.
Queen
Good Hamlet, cast thy nightly color off
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
250Do not forever with thy vailèd lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
Thou know'st 'tis common: all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
Hamlet
Ay, madam, it is common.
255Queen
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
Hamlet
"Seems," madam? Nay, it is. I know not "seems."
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
260Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected havior of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief
That can denote me truly. These indeed seem,
265For they are actions that a man might play.
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
270To 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 persever
275In obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief.
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
An understanding simple and unschooled;
280For what we know must be and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we in our peevish opposition
Take it to heart? Fie, 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
285To reason most absurd, whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried
From the first corse till he that died today
"This must be so." We pray you throw to earth
This unprevailing woe, and think of us
290As of a father; for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne,
And with no less nobility of love
Than that which dearest father bears his son
Do I impart towards you. For your intent
295In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire,
And we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier cousin, and our son.
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.
Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply.
305Be as ourself in Denmark.--Madam, come.
This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof
No jocund health that Denmark drinks today
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
310And the King's rouse the heavens shall bruit again,
Respeaking earthly thunder. Come, away!
Exeunt. Hamlet remains onstage.
Hamlet
Oh, that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
315Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. O God, O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seems to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! Oh, fie, fie, 'tis an unweeded garden
320That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead--nay, not so much, not two.
So excellent a king, that was to this
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother
325That he might not beteem 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--
330Let me not think on't. Frailty, thy name is woman!
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears, why, she, even she--
Oh, heaven! a beast that wants discourse of reason
335Would have mourned longer!--married with mine uncle,
My father's brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules. Within a month!
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing of her gallèd eyes,
340She married. Oh, most wicked speed, to post
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, Barnard[o], and Marcellus.
345Horatio
Hail to your lordship!
Hamlet
I am glad to see you well.--
Horatio, or I do forget myself!
Horatio
The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
350Hamlet
Sir, my good friend, I'll change that name with you.
And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?--
Marcellus.
Marcellus
My good lord.
355Hamlet
I am very glad to see you. [To Barnardo.] Good even, sir.
[To Horatio]But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
Horatio
A truant disposition, good my lord.
Hamlet
I would not have your enemy say so,
Nor shall you do mine ear that violence
360To 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 ere you depart.
Horatio
My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
365Hamlet
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 hard upon.
Hamlet
Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
370Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Ere I had ever seen that day, Horatio!
My father--methinks I see my father.
Horatio
Oh, where, my lord?
Hamlet
In my mind's eye, Horatio.
375Horatio
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 yesternight.
Hamlet
Saw? Who?
380Horatio
My lord, the King your father.
Hamlet
The King my father?
Horatio
Season your admiration for a while
With an attent ear, till I may deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
385This 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 waste and middle of the night
390Been thus encountered: a figure like your father
Armed at all points exactly, cap-à-pie,
Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately. By them thrice he walked,
By their oppressed and fear-surprisèd eyes,
395Within his truncheon's length, whilst they, bestilled
Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secrecy impart they did,
And I with them the third night kept the watch,
400Where, as they had delivered, both in time,
Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
The apparition comes. I knew your father.
These hands are not more like.
Hamlet
But where was this?
405Marcellus
My lord, upon the platform where we watched.
Hamlet
Did you not speak to it?
Horatio
My lord, I did,
But answer made it none. Yet once methought
It lifted up it head and did address
410Itself to motion, like as it would speak;
But even then the morning cock crew loud,
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away
And vanished from our sight.
Hamlet
'Tis very strange.
415Horatio
As I do live, my honored lord, 'tis true;
And we did think it writ down in our duty
To let you know of it.
Hamlet
Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch tonight?
420Both
We do, my lord.
Hamlet
Armed, say you?
Armed, my lord.
Hamlet
From top to toe?
My lord, from head to foot.
425Hamlet
Then saw you not his face?
Horatio
Oh, yes, my lord, he wore his beaver up.
Hamlet
What, looked he frowningly?
Horatio
A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
Hamlet
Pale, or red?
430Horatio
Nay, very pale.
Hamlet
And fixed his eyes upon you?
Horatio
Most constantly.
Hamlet
I would I had been there.
Horatio
It would have much amazed you.
435Hamlet
Very like, very like. Stayed it long?
Horatio
While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.
Longer, longer.
Horatio
Not when I saw't.
Hamlet
His beard was grizzly? No?
440Horatio
It was, as I have seen it in his life,
A sable silvered.
Hamlet
I'll watch tonight. Perchance 'twill wake again.
Horatio
I warrant you it will.
Hamlet
If it assume my noble father's person,
445I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto concealed this sight,
Let it be treble in your silence still.
And whatsoever else shall hap tonight,
450Give it an understanding but no tongue;
I will requite your loves. So, fare ye well.
Upon the platform 'twixt eleven and twelve
I'll visit you.
All
Our duty to your honor.
Exeunt [all but Hamlet].
455Hamlet
Your love, as mine to you. Farewell.
My father's spirit in arms! All is not well.
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
Till then, sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.
Exit.