Hamlet (Modern, Quarto 2)
Act 1, scene 2
175[1.2]
Flourish. Enter Claudius, King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, Council--as Polonius and his son Laertes, Hamlet, with others [including Voltemand and Cornelius].
King
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 sometime sister, now our queen,
Th'imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have we as 'twere with a defeated joy,
With an auspicious and a 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 this 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 bands of law,
To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
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 bearers of this greeting to old Norway,
215Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the King more than the scope
Of these delated articles allow.
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.
Cornelius and Voltemand In that and all things will we show our duty.
220King
We doubt it nothing. Heartily farewell.
[Exeunt 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
My dread 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 toward France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
King
Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?
240Polonius
H'ath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
240.1By laborsome petition, and at last
Upon his will I sealed my hard consent.
I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
King
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.
King
How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
Hamlet
Not so much, my lord, I am too much in the "son."
Queen
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted 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, cold 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, shapes 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 passes show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
King
'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, or 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 toward 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.
300Queen
Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet.
I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
Hamlet
I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
King
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 heaven shall bruit again,
Respeaking earthly thunder. Come, away!
Flourish. Exeunt all but Hamlet.
Hamlet
Oh, that this too too sallied flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
315Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! Oh, God, God,
How w[e]ary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't, ah, fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden
320That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come thus!
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 should 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--
Oh, God, a beast that wants discourse of reason
335Would have mourned longer!--married with my 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 in 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, Marcellus, and Barnardo.
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 hear your enemy say so,
Nor shall you do my 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 for to drink ere you depart.
Horatio
My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
365Hamlet
I prithee 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
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
My father--methinks I see my father.
Horatio
Where, my lord?
Hamlet
In my mind's eye, Horatio.
375Horatio
I saw him once. 'A was a goodly king.
Hamlet
'A 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 God'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 point, 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
395 Within his truncheon's length, whilst they, distilled
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 watch.
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, sirs, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch tonight?
420All
We do, my lord.
Hamlet
Armed, say you?
All
Armed, my lord.
Hamlet
From top to toe?
All
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. Stayed it long?
Horatio
While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.
Both
Longer, longer.
Horatio
Not when I saw't.
Hamlet
His beard was grizzled, no?
440Horatio
It was as I have seen it in his life,
A sable silvered.
Hamlet
I will watch tonight.
Perchance 'twill walk again.
Horatio
I warr'nt 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 tenable in your silence still,
And whatsomever else shall hap tonight,
450Give it an understanding but no tongue;
I will requite your loves. So, fare you well.
Upon the platform 'twixt eleven and twelve
I'll visit you.
All
Our duty to your honor.
Exeunt [all but Hamlet].
455Hamlet
Your loves, 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. Fond deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.
Exit.

Hamlet (Modern, Quarto 2)