DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

HAMLET/MESSENGER

KING/GHOST/PLAYER 1 (VILLAIN'S VOICE)

POLONIUS/LAERTES/PLAYER 2 (KING'S VOICE)

OPHELIA/HORATIO/PLAYER 3

QUEEN GERTRUDE/MARCELLUS/PLAYER 4 (QUEEN'S VOICE)

ROSINCRANCE (played by volunteer)

GUILDENSTERN (played by volunteer)

Scene: Elsinore Castle, Denmark.

Act I

Scene I. Castle - a room of state.

[Enter KING, QUEEN, HAMLET, LAERTES]

KING. Though yet of Hamlet our dear Brother's death
The 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,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime Sister, now our Queen,
Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy;
With mirth in Funeral, and with Dirge in Marriage;
In equal Scale weighing Delight and Dole;
Taken to Wife; For all, our Thanks.
And now Laertes, what's the news with you?
You told us of some suit: What is't, Laertes?

LAERTES. Dread my Lord,
Your leave and favor to return to France.

KING. Have you your Father's leave?
What says Polonius?

LAERTES. I have, my Lord.
I do beseech you give me 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,--

HAMLET. A little more than kin, and less than kind.

KING. How is it that the Clouds still hang on you?

HAMLET. Not so, my Lord: I am too much i' the Sun.

QUEEN. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a Friend on Denmark.
Do not for ever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy Noble Father in the dust.

KING. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your Nature, Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your Father:
But you must know, your Father lost a Father,
That Father lost, lost his. But to persever
In obstinate Condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness. So think of us
As of a Father. For your intent
In 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.

QUEEN. I prithee, 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:
Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come.

[Exeunt all but HAMLET]

HAMLET. Oh that this too too solid Flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a Dew:
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His Canon 'gainst Self-slaughter. Oh God, Oh God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seems to me all the uses of this world?
But two months dead: Nay, not so much, not two -
Let 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.
(O, Heaven! A beast that wants discourse of Reason
Would have mourn'd longer) married with my Uncle,
My Father's Brother: but no more like my Father
Than I to Hercules: Within a month?
But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue.

[Enter HORATIO, MARCELLUS]

HORATIO. 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.

HAMLET. Sir, my good friend: I'll change that name with you.

MARCELLUS. My good Lord.

HAMLET. I am very glad to see you: good even, Sir.
But what in faith make you from Wittenberg?

HORATIO. A truant disposition, good my lord.

HAMLET. I would not have your Enemy say so.
But what is your affair in Elsinore?

HORATIO. My Lord, I came to see your Father's Funeral.

HAMLET. 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.
My father, methinks I see my father.

HORATIO. Oh where, my Lord?

HAMLET. In my mind's eye, Horatio.

HORATIO. 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?

HORATIO. My Lord, the King your Father.

HAMLET. The King my Father?

HORATIO. Season your admiration for awhile.
Two nights together, had this Gentleman,
Marcellus - and Bernardo - on their Watch,
In the dead vast and middle of the night,
Been thus encountered. A figure like your Father
Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately: By them thrice he walk'd,
And I with them the third night kept the watch;
Where as they had deliver'd 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?

MARCELLUS. My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.

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
Itself 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 vanish'd from our sight.

HAMLET. 'Tis very strange.
Hold you the watch to-night?

MARCELLUS. We do, my Lord.

HAMLET. I'll watch to-night; perchance 'twill wake* again. *walk

HORATIO. I warrant it will.

HAMLET. Upon the Platform 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.

MARCELLUS. Our duty to your Honour.

HAMLET. Your love, as mine to you: farewell.

[Exeunt all but HAMLET]

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 Hamlet. Enter POLONIUS and OPHELIA.]

POLONIUS. What is't thy brother Laertes hath said to you?

OPHELIA. So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.

POLONIUS. Marry, well bethought:
'Tis told me he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous.
What is between you, give me up the truth?

OPHELIA. He hath, my Lord, of late, made many tenders
Of his affection to me.

POLONIUS. Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

OPHELIA. My Lord, he hath importun'd me with love,
In honorable fashion.

POLONIUS. Ay, fashion you may call it, go to, go to.

OPHELIA. And hath given countenance to his speech, my Lord,
With almost all the holy vows of Heaven.* *With all the vows of Heaven.

POLONIUS. Ay, Springes to catch Woodcocks. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young,
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet:
Look to't, I charge you; come your ways.

OPHELIA. I shall obey my Lord.

[Exeunt]

Scene II. The battlements.

[Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS.]

HAMLET. What hour now?

HORATIO. I think it lacks of twelve.

MARCELLUS. No, it is struck.

HORATIO. Look, my Lord, it comes.

[Enter Ghost]

HAMLET. Angels and Ministers of Grace defend us.

[Ghost beckons HAMLET]

HORATIO. It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.

MARCELLUS. But do not go with it.

HORATIO. No, by no means.

HAMLET. Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life at a pin's fee;
And for my Soul, what can it do to that?
Being a thing immortal as itself:
It waves me forth again; I'll follow it.

MARCELLUS. You shall not go, my Lord.

HAMLET. Hold off your hand.

HORATIO. Be ruled, you shall not go.

HAMLET. Unhand me, Gentlemen:
By Heaven, I'll make a Ghost of him that lets me:
I say away; go on, I'll follow thee.

[Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET]

HORATIO. He waxes desperate with imagination.

MARCELLUS. Let's follow; 'Tis not fit thus to obey him.

HORATIO. Have after, to what issue will this come?

MARCELLUS. Something is rotten in the State of Denmark.

[Exeunt. Re-enter GHOST and HAMLET]

HAMLET. Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.

GHOST. Mark me.

HAMLET. I will.

GHOST. My hour is almost come,
When I to sulph'rous and tormenting Flames
Must render up my self.

HAMLET. Alas, poor Ghost.

GHOST. I am thy Father's Spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confin'd to fast in Fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of Nature
Are burnt and purg'd away. List, Hamlet, oh list!
If thou didst ever thy dear Father love-

HAMLET. O Heaven!

GHOST. Revenge his foul and most unnatural Murder.

HAMLET. Murder?

GHOST. Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.

HAMLET. Haste, haste me to know't,
That I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of Love,
May sweep to my Revenge.

GHOST. I find thee apt.
It's given out, that sleeping in mine Orchard,
A Serpent stung me: but know, thou Noble youth,
The Serpent that did sting thy Father's life
Now wears his Crown.

HAMLET. O my Prophetic soul: mine Uncle!

GHOST. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate Beast,
With witchcraft of his wits, won to his shameful Lust
The will of my most seeming virtuous Queen.
But soft, methinks I scent the Morning's Air;
Brief let me be: Sleeping within mine Orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon;
Upon my secure hour thy Uncle stole,
With juice of cursed Hebenon in a Vial,
And in the Porches of mine ears did pour
The leprous Distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of Man,
That swift as Quicksilver, it courses through
The natural Gates and Alleys of the Body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a Brother's hand
Of Life, of Crown, and Queen at once dispatch'd;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
Oh horrible, Oh horrible, most horrible:
If thou hast nature in thee bear it not;
But howsoever thou pursuest this Act,
Taint not thy mind; nor let thy Soul contrive
Against thy Mother aught, leave her to heaven.
Adieu, adieu, Hamlet; remember me.

[The cock crows. Exit GHOST.]

HAMLET. Oh all you host of Heaven! O Earth, what else?
And shall I couple Hell? Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor Ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted Globe. Remembe thee? I have sworn't.

MARC/HOR. [Within] My Lord, my Lord.

[Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS]

MARCELLUS. How is't, my Noble Lord?

HORATIO. What news, my Lord?

HAMLET. Oh wonderful!

HORATIO. Good my Lord, tell it.

HAMLET. No, you'll reveal it.

HORATIO. Not I, my Lord, by Heaven.

MARCELLUS. Nor I, my Lord.

HAMLET. There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he's an arrant knave.

HORATIO. There needs no Ghost, my Lord, come from the Grave, to tell us this.

HAMLET. Now, good friends
As you are Friends, Scholars and Soldiers,
Give me one poor request.

HORATIO. What is't, my Lord? we will.

HAMLET. Never make known what you have seen to-night.

HOR/MARC. My lord, we will not.

HAMLET. Nay, but swear't.

HORATIO. In faith, my Lord, not I.

MARCELLUS. Nor I, my Lord: in faith.

HAMLET. Upon my sword.

MARCELLUS. We have sworn, my Lord, already.

GHOST. [Beneath] Swear.

HORATIO. Propose the Oath, my Lord.

HAMLET. Never to speak of this that you have seen.
Swear by my sword.

GHOST. [Beneath] Swear.

[They swear.]

HORATIO. O day and night: but this is wondrous strange.

HAMLET. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in our Philosophy. But come,
Let us go in together;
And still your fingers on your lips I pray,
The time is out of joint: O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right.

[Exeunt]

Act II

Scene I. A private room in the Castle.

[Enter POLONIUS, OPHELIA]

POLONIUS. How now, Ophelia, what's the matter?

OPHELIA. Alas my Lord, I have been so affrighted.

POLONIUS. With what, in the name of Heaven?

OPHELIA. My Lord, as I was sewing in my Chamber,
Lord Hamlet with his doublet all unbraced,
Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,
And with a look so piteous in purport,
As if he had been loosed out of hell,
To speak of horrors: he comes before me.

POLONIUS. Mad for thy Love?

OPHELIA. My Lord, I do not know: but truly, I do fear it.

POLONIUS. What said he?

OPHELIA. He took me by the wrist, and held me hard
And falls to such perusal of my face,
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so,
At last, a little shaking of mine Arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and down;
He rais'd a sigh, so piteous and profound,
That it did seem to shatter all his bulk,
And end his being. That done, he lets me go.

POLONIUS. Go with me; I will go seek the King,
This is the very ecstasy of Love.
What, have you given him any hard words of late?

OPHELIA. No, my good Lord: but as you did command,
I did repel his Letters, and denied
His access to me.

POLONIUS. That hath made him mad.
Come, go we to the King; this must be known.

[Exeunt]

Scene II. Castle - A room of state.

[Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSINCRANCE, GUILDENSTERN.]

KING. Welcome, dear Rosincrance and Guildenstern.
Moreover, that we much did long to see you,
The need we have to use you, did provoke
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation: I entreat you both,
That, being of so young days brought up with him:
That you vouchsafe your rest here in our Court
Some little time: so by your Companies
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather
So much as from Occasions you may glean,
Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus,
That open'd lies within our remedy.

[Exeunt ROSINCRANCE and GUILDENSTERN. Enter POLONIUS.]

POLONIUS. My honor'd Lord, I think that I have found
The very cause of Hamlet's Lunacy.

KING. Oh speak of that, that I do long to hear.

POLONIUS. My Liege, and Madam, to expostulate
What Majesty should be, what Duty is,
Why day is day; night, night; and time is time,
Were nothing but to waste Night, Day and Time.
Therefore, since Brevity is the Soul of Wit,
And tediousness, the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief. Your Noble Son is mad:
Mad call I it; for to define true Madness,
What is't, but to be nothing else but mad.
But let that go.

QUEEN. More matter, with less Art.

POLONIUS. Madam, I swear I use no Art at all:
That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis true 'tis pity,
And pity 'tis 'tis true: a foolish figure,
But farewell it: for I will use no Art.
Perpend,
I have a daughter: have, whilst she is mine,
Who in her Duty and Obedience, mark,
Hath given me this: now gather, and surmise.
[Reads]
To the Celestial and my Soul's Idol, the most beautified Ophelia,
That's an ill Phrase, a vile Phrase, 'beautified' is a vile Phrase. But you shall hear.
Doubt thou, the Stars are fire,
Doubt, that the Sun doth move:
Doubt Truth to be a Liar,
But never Doubt, I love.
Thine evermore most dear Lady, whilst this Machine is to him, HAMLET.
This in Obedience hath my daughter shown me.

KING. But how hath she receiv'd his Love?

POLONIUS. To my young Mistress thus I did bespeak
'Lord Hamlet is a Prince, out of thy Star;
This must not be:' and then, I Precepts gave her,
That she should lock herself from his Resort,
Admit no Messengers, receive no Tokens.
Which done, she took the Fruits of my Advice,
And he repulsed. A short tale to make,
Fell into a Sadness, then into a Fast,
Thence to a Watch, thence into a Weakness,
Thence to a Lightness, and by this declension,
Into the Madness wherein now he raves,
And all we wail* for.
*mourn
KING. Do you think 'tis this?

QUEEN. It may be very likely.

KING. How may we try it further?

POLONIUS. You know sometimes
He walks four hours together, here
In the lobby.

QUEEN. So he does indeed.

POLONIUS. At such a time I'll loose my Daughter to him:
Be you and I behind an Arras then,
Mark the encounter.

KING. We will try it.

[Enter HAMLET, reading.]

QUEEN. But look where sadly the poor wretch comes reading.

POLONIUS. Away, I do beseech you, both away,
I'll board him presently.

[Exeunt KING, QUEEN.]

How does my good Lord Hamlet?

HAMLET. Well, God-a-mercy.

POLONIUS. Do you know me, my Lord?

HAMLET. Excellent, excellent well: you are a Fishmonger.

POLONIUS. Not I, my Lord.

HAMLET. Then I would you were so honest a man.

POLONIUS. Honest, my Lord?

HAMLET. Ay sir, to be honest as this world goes, is to be one man pick'd out of two thousand.

POLONIUS. That's very true, my Lord.

HAMLET. Have you a daughter?

POLONIUS. I have, my lord.

HAMLET. Let her not walk i' th' Sun: Conception is a blessing, but not as your daughter
may conceive. Friend, look to 't.

POLONIUS. How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter: yet he knew me not at first, he said I was a Fishmonger. I'll speak to him again.
What do you read, my Lord?

HAMLET. Words, words, words.

POLONIUS. What is the matter, my Lord?

HAMLET. Between who?

POLONIUS. I mean the matter you read, my Lord.

HAMLET. Slanders, sir: for the Satirical rogue says here, that old men have grey Beards, that their faces are wrinkled, and that they have a plentiful lack of Wit.

POLONIUS. Though this be madness,
Yet there is Method in it. Will you walk
Out of the air, my Lord?

HAMLET. Into my Grave?

POLONIUS. Indeed, that is out o' the Air: How pregnant his Replies are?
I will leave him,
And suddenly contrive the means of meeting
Between him, and my daughter.
My Honourable Lord, I will most humbly
Take my leave of you.

HAMLET. You cannot, Sir, take from me any thing, that I will more willingly part withal, except my life, except my life, except my life.

[ROSINCRANCE and GUILDENSTERN enter.]

POLONIUS. You go to seek the Lord Hamlet; there he is.

[Exit.]

GUILDENSTERN. My honor'd lord?

ROSINCRANCE. My most dear lord?

HAMLET. My excellent good friends? What make you at Elsinore?

ROSINCRANCE. To visit you, my Lord, no other occasion.

HAMLET. Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks. Were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Come, deal justly with me: I know the good King and Queen have sent for you.

GUILDENSTERN. My lord, we were sent for.

HAMLET. I will tell you why; I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition; that this goodly frame the Earth, seems to me a sterile Promontory; this most excellent Canopy the Air, look you, this brave o'erhanging (firmament), this Majestical Roof fretted with golden fire: why, it appears no other thing to me, than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is a man! how Noble in Reason? how infinite in faculty? in form and moving how express and admirable? in Action, how like an Angel? in apprehension, how like a God? the beauty of the world, the Paragon of Animals, and yet to me, what is this Quintessence of Dust?

[Enter POLONIUS.]

Man delights not me; no, nor Woman neither; though by your smiling you seem to say so.

POLONIUS. My lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts.

HAMLET. Why did you laugh, when I said 'Man delights not me'?

POLONIUS. To think, my Lord, if you delight not in Man, what Lenten entertainment the Players shall receive from you: hither are they coming to offer you Service.

[Flourish of trumpets within. Enter PLAYERS 1, 3, 4.]

HAMLET. Y'are welcome, Masters, welcome all. I am glad to see thee well: Welcome, good Friends. Dost thou hear me, old Friend, can you play the Murder of Gonzago?

PLAYER 1. Ay, my lord.

HAMLET. We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could for a need study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I would set down, and insert in't? could ye not?

PLAYER 1. Ay, my lord.

HAMLET. Very well. Follow that Lord; and look you mock him not.

[Exeunt POLONIUS and PLAYERS]

My good Friends, I'll leave you till night, you are welcome to Elsinore?

[Exeunt ROSINCRANCE and GUILDENSTERN.]

About, my Brains:
I have heard that guilty Creatures sitting at a Play,
Have by the very cunning of the Scene
Been struck so to the soul, that presently
They have proclaim'd their Malefactions.
For Murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous Organ. I'll have these Players,
Play something like the murder of my Father
Before mine Uncle. If he but blench ?I know my course. The Play's the thing,
Wherein I'll catch the Conscience of the King.

[Exit]

Act III

Scene I. Castle - A private room.

[Enter KING, QUEEN, POLONIUS, OPHELIA]

KING. Sweet Gertrude, leave us,
For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither,
That he, as 'twere by accident, may there
Affront Ophelia. Her Father, and myself, lawful espials
Will so bestow ourselves, that seeing unseen,
We may of their encounter frankly judge,
If't be the affliction of his love, or no,
That thus he suffers for.

[Exit QUEEN]

POLONIUS. Ophelia, walk you here. Gracious, so please you,
We will bestow ourselves: Read on this book.
I hear him coming, let's withdraw, my Lord.

[KING and POLONIUS hide. Enter HAMLET]

HAMLET. To be, or not to be; that is the Question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die to sleep,
To sleep; perchance to Dream; ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. Who would these Fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd Country from whose Bourn
No Traveller returns, Puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.
Thus Conscience does make Cowards of us all,
And thus the Native hue of Resolution
Is sicklied o'er, with the pale cast of Thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard their Currents turn away*, *awry
And lose the name of Action. Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy Orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

OPHELIA. Good my lord,
How does your Honour for this many a day?

HAMLET. I humbly thank you: well, well, well.

OPHELIA. My Lord, I have Remembrances of yours,
That I have longed long to re-deliver.
I pray you now, receive them.

HAMLET. No, no, I never gave you aught.

OPHELIA. My honour'd Lord, I know right well you did,
And with them words of so sweet breath compos'd
As made the things more rich; then perfume left:* * their perfume lost,
Take these again, for to the Noble mind
Rich gifts wax poor, when givers prove unkind.
There my lord.

HAMLET. Ha, ha: are you honest?

OPHELIA. My Lord.

HAMLET. Are you fair?

OPHELIA. What means your Lordship?

HAMLET. That if you be honest and fair, your Honesty should admit no discourse to your Beauty. I did love you once.

OPHELIA. Indeed my Lord, you made me believe so.

HAMLET. You should not have believed me. I loved you not.

OPHELIA. I was the more deceived.

HAMLET. Get thee to a Nunnery. 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 borne me. I am very proud, revengeful, Ambitious. What should such Fellows as I do, crawling between Heaven and Earth. We are arrant Knaves all, believe none of us. Go thy ways to a Nunnery. Where's your Father?

OPHELIA. At home, my Lord.

HAMLET. Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the Fool no where but in's own house. Farewell.

OPHELIA. O help him, you sweet Heavens.

HAMLET. Get thee to a Nunnery. Go, 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. 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. Re-enter KING and POLONIUS]

KING. Love? his affections do not that way tend,
Nor what he spake, though it lack'd Form a little,
Was not like Madness. There's something in his soul?
O'er which his Melancholy sits on brood;
And I do doubt the hatch, and the disclose
Will be some danger, which to prevent,
I have in quick determination
Thus set it down. He shall with speed to England.

POLONIUS. It shall do well. But yet do I believe
The Origin and Commencement of his grief
Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia?
You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said,
We heard it all. My lord, do as you please,
But if you hold it fit after the Play
Let his Queen Mother all alone entreat him
To show his Griefs: let her be round with him,
And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear
Of all their Conference. If she find him not,
To England send him, or confine him where
Your wisdom best shall think.

KING. It shall be so:
Madness in great Ones must not unwatch'd go.

[Exeunt]

Scene II. Castle - a room of state.

[Enter HAMLET and PLAYERS 1, 3, 4]

HAMLET. Speak the Speech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you trippingly on the Tongue: But if you mouth it, as many of your Players do, I had as live* 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 I may say) the Whirlwind of your Passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it Smoothness. 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 anything 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. Go, make you ready.
*lief
[Exeunt PLAYERS]

What ho, Horatio!

[Enter HORATIO]

HORATIO. Here, sweet Lord, at your Service.

HAMLET. There is a Play to-night before the King,
One Scene of it comes near the Circumstance
Which I have told thee, of my Father's death.
Observe mine Uncle: if his occulted guilt,
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damned Ghost that we have seen.

HORATIO. Well, my Lord.
If he steal aught the whilst this Play is Playing,
And 'scape detecting, I will pay the Theft.

HAMLET. They are coming to the Play; I must be idle.
Get you a place.

[A flourish. Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSINCRANCE, GUILDENSTERN. Enter PLAYERS 2, 3 as King and Queen. Lines are pre-recorded.]

PLAYER KING. 'Faith I must leave thee, Love, and shortly too;
My operant Powers my Functions leave to do:
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honour'd, belov'd, and haply, one as kind
For husband shalt thou-

PLAYER QUEEN. O, confound the rest:
Such Love must needs be Treason in my breast:
In second Husband let me be accurst,
None wed the second, but who kill'd the first.

PLAYER KING. 'Tis deeply sworn:
Sweet, leave me here awhile;
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.

[Sleeps]

PLAYER QUEEN. Sleep rock thy Brain,
And never come mischance between us twain.

[Exit]

HAMLET. Madam, how like you this Play?

QUEEN. The Lady protests too much methinks.

HAMLET. Oh but she'll keep her word.

KING. Have you heard the Argument, is there no Offense in it?

HAMLET. No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest, no Offense i' th' world.

KING. What do you call the Play?

HAMLET. 'The Mousetrap.' 'Tis a knavish piece of work: but what o' that? Your Majesty, and we that have free souls, it touches us not.

[Enter PLAYER 3 as Villain.]

PLAYER VILLAIN. Thou mixture rank, of Midnight Weeds collected,
With Hecate's Ban, thrice blasted, thrice infected,
Thy natural Magic and dire property,
On wholesome life, usurp immediately.

[Pours the poison into the King's ears]

HAMLET. You shall see anon how the Murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife.

HORATIO. The King rises.

HAMLET. What, frighted with false fire.

QUEEN. How fares my Lord?

HORATIO. Give o'er the Play.

KING. Give me some Light. Away.

PLAYERS. Lights, lights, lights.

[Exeunt all but HAMLET and HORATIO]

HAMLET. O good Horatio, I'll take the Ghost's word for a thousand pound. Didst perceive?

HORATIO. Very well, my Lord.

HAMLET. Upon the talk of the poisoning?

HORATIO. I did very well note him.

HAMLET. Oh, ha?

[Enter POLONIUS.]

God bless you, Sir.

POLONIUS. My lord, the Queen would speak with you, and presently.

HAMLET. Then I will come to my Mother, by and by.

POLONIUS. I will say so.

HAMLET. 'By and by' is easily said.

[Exeunt]

Scene III. Castle - A room of state.

[Enter KING, ROSINCRANCE and GUILDENSTERN.]

KING. I like him not, nor stands it safe with us,
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you,
I your Commission will forthwith dispatch,
And he to England shall along with you:
Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy Voyage.

[Exeunt ROSINCRANCE and GUILDENSTERN. Enter POLONIUS.]

POLONIUS. My lord, he's going to his Mother's Closet:
Behind the Arras I'll convey myself
To hear the process. Fare you well, my Liege:
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,
And tell you what I know.

KING. Thanks, dear my Lord.

[Exit POLONIUS]

Oh my offence is rank, it smells to heaven,
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A Brother's murder. Pray can I not,
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent.

[Retires and kneels. Enter HAMLET]

HAMLET. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And now I'll do't, and so he goes to Heaven;
And so am I revenged: That would be scann'd,
A Villain kills my Father, and for that
I his sole Son, do this same Villain send
To heaven. No!
Up, Sword; and know thou a more horrid hent
When he is drunk asleep: or in his Rage,
Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed,
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at Heaven,
And that his Soul may be as damn'd and black
As Hell, whereto it goes. My Mother stays,
This Physic but prolongs thy sickly days.

[Exit]

KING. My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts, never to Heaven go.

[Exit]

Scene IV. A private room in the castle.

[Enter QUEEN and POLONIUS]

POLONIUS. He will come straight.
Pray you, be round with him.

HAMLET. [Within] Mother, mother, mother.

QUEEN. I'll warrant you, fear me not:
Withdraw, I hear him coming.

[POLONIUS hides behind the arras. Enter HAMLET.]

HAMLET. Now, Mother, what's the matter?

QUEEN. Hamlet, thou hast thy Father much offended.

HAMLET. Mother, you have my Father much offended.

QUEEN. Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.

HAMLET. Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.

QUEEN. Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.

HAMLET. Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you?

QUEEN. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho.

POLONIUS. [Behind] What, ho, help, help, help.

HAMLET. [Drawing] How now, a Rat? dead for a Ducat, dead.

[Kills Polonius]

POLONIUS. [Behind] Oh I am slain.

QUEEN. O me, what hast thou done?

HAMLET. Nay I know not, is it the King?

QUEEN. Oh what a rash and bloody deed is this?

HAMLET. A bloody deed, almost as bad, good Mother,
As kill a King, and marry with his Brother.

QUEEN. As kill a King?

HAMLET. Ay Lady, 'twas my word.
[Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS]
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell,
I took thee for thy Betters, take thy Fortune,
Leave wringing of your hands, peace, sit you down,
And let me wring your heart, for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff.

QUEEN. What have I done, that thou dar'st wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?

HAMLET. Such an Act
That blurs the grace and blush of Modesty,
Calls Virtue Hypocrite, makes marriage-vows
As false as Dicers' Oaths.

QUEEN. Ay me; what act?

HAMLET. Look here upon this Picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two Brothers:
See what a grace was seated on this Brow,
Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove himself,
This was your Husband. Look you now what follows.
Here is your Husband, like a Mildew'd ear
Blasting his wholesome breath. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair Mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this Moor? Ha? Have you eyes?
You cannot call it Love: For at your age
The heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the Judgment: and what Judgment
Would step from this, to this?

QUEEN. O Hamlet, speak no more.
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul,
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their Tinct.

HAMLET. Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in Corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty Sty.

QUEEN. Oh speak to me no more,
These words like Daggers enter in mine ears.
No more, sweet Hamlet.

[Enter Ghost]

HAMLET. Save me; and hover o'er me with your wings
You heavenly Guards. What would your gracious figure?

QUEEN. Alas, he's mad.

HAMLET. Do you not come your tardy Son to chide,
That lapsed in Time and Passion, lets go by
Th' important acting of your dread command? O, say.

GHOST. Do not forget: this Visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, Amazement on thy Mother sits;
Speak to her, Hamlet.

HAMLET. How is it with you, Lady?

QUEEN. Alas, how is't with you?
That you bend your eye on vacancy
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse.
Whereon do you look?

HAMLET. On him, on him: Do you see nothing there?

QUEEN. Nothing at all, yet all that is I see.

HAMLET. Nor did you nothing hear?

QUEEN. No, nothing but ourselves.

HAMLET. Why, look you there: look how it steals away:
My Father in his habit as he lived,
Look, where he goes even now out at the Portal!

[Exit Ghost]

QUEEN. This the very coinage of your Brain:
This bodiless Creation ecstasy is very cunning in.

HAMLET. Ecstasy? It is not madness
That I have utter'd; Confess yourself to Heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come.

QUEEN. O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.

HAMLET. O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
For this same Lord,
I do repent: and will answer well
The death I gave him: so again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind.
This bad begins, and worse remains behind.
I must to England; you know that?

QUEEN. Alack, I had forgot: 'Tis so concluded on.

HAMLET. Mother, good night. Indeed this Counsellor
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,
Who was in life, a foolish prating Knave.
Come sir, to draw toward an end with you.
Good night, Mother.

[Exit HAMLET dragging in POLONIUS]

[Enter KING, ROSINCRANCE, GUILDENSTERN.]

KING. There's matter in these sighs.
These profound heaves
You must translate; 'Tis fit we understand them.
Where is your Son?

QUEEN. Ah my good Lord, what have I seen to-night?

KING. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?

QUEEN. Mad as the Seas and wind, when both contend
Which is the Mightier, in his lawless fit
He hath kill'd the unseen good old man.

KING. O heavy deed!
It had been so with us had we been there.
His Liberty is full of threats to all,
To you yourself, to us, to every one.

[Enter HAMLET]

KING. Now Hamlet, where's Polonius?

HAMLET. At Supper.

KING. At Supper? where?

HAMLET. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten, a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him.

KING. Where is Polonius?

HAMLET. In heaven; send thither to see. If your Messenger find him not there, seek him i' th' other place yourself.

KING. 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
To England.

HAMLET. To England?

KING. Ay, Hamlet.

HAMLET. Good.

[Exit]

KING. [To ROSINCRANCE and GUILDENSTERN.]
Follow him at foot,
Tempt him with speed aboard:
Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night.

[Exeunt Rosincrance and Guildenstern]

And England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,
Thou mayst not coldly set
Our Sovereign Process, which imports at full,
By Letters conjuring to that effect,
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England.

[Exit]

Act IV.

Scene I Castle. A room of state.

[Enter QUEEN, OPHELIA distracted.]

OPHELIA. Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark.

QUEEN. How now, Ophelia?

OPHELIA. Say you? Nay, pray you mark.
He is dead and gone, Lady, he is dead and gone,
At his head a grass-green Turf, at his heels a stone.

[Enter KING.]

QUEEN. Alas, look here, my Lord.

KING. How do ye, pretty Lady?

OPHELIA. Well, God dil'd you. They say the Owl was a Baker's daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your Table!
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, all in the morning betime,
And I a Maid at your Window, to be your Valentine.
Then up he rose and donn'd his clothes and dupp'd the chamber door,
Let in the Maid, that out a Maid, never departed more.

KING. Pretty Ophelia.

OPHELIA. Indeed, la? without an oath I'll make an end on't.
By gis and by Saint Charity,
Alack, and fie for shame:
Young men will do't, if they come to't,
By Cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
You promis'd me to wed:
So would I ha' done by yonder Sun,
And thou hadst not come to my bed.

KING. How long hath she been this*? *thus

OPHELIA. I hope all will be well. We must be patient: but I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him i' th' cold ground: My brother shall know of it, and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my Coach: Goodnight, Ladies: Goodnight, sweet Ladies: Goodnight, goodnight.

[Exit]

KING. Oh this is the poison of deep grief, it springs
All from her Father's death. Oh Gertrude, Gertrude,
When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in Battalions.

[A Noise within]

QUEEN. Alack, what noise is this?

KING. The doors are broke.

[Noise within. Enter LAERTES, armed]

LAERTES. Where is this king?
Oh thou vile King, give me my Father.

QUEEN. Calmly, good Laertes.

KING. What is the cause, Laertes,
That thy Rebellion looks so Giant-like?
Let him go, Gertrude: Do not fear our person:
Speak, man.

LAERTES. Where's my Father?

KING. Dead.

QUEEN. But not by him.

KING. Let him demand his fill.

LAERTES. How came he dead? I'll not be juggl'd with:
To hell, Allegiance: Vows, to the blackest devil.
Let come what comes: only I'll be reveng'd
Most throughly for my Father.

KING. Good Laertes:
That I am guiltless of your Father's death,
And am most sensible in grief for it,
It shall as level to your Judgment pierce
As day does to your eye.

[A Noise within: 'Let her come in.' Enter OPHELIA.]

LAERTES. How now! what noise is that?

OPHELIA. They bore him bare-faced on the Bier,
Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny,
And on his grave rain'd many a tear,
Fare you well, my Dove.

LAERTES. O Heavens, is't possible, a young Maid's wits
Should be as mortal as an old man's life?

OPHELIA. There's Rosemary, that's for Remembrance: Pray love remember: and there is Pansies, that's for Thoughts.

LAERTES. A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.

OPHELIA. There's Fennel for you, and Columbines: There's Rue for you, and here's some for me: Oh, you may wear your Rue with a difference. There's a Daisy, I would give you some Violets, but they withered all when my Father died: They say, he made a good end;
And will he not come again,
And will he not come again:
No, no, he is dead, go to thy Death-bed,
He never will come again.
His Beard as white as Snow,
All Flaxen was his Poll.
He is gone, he is gone, and we cast away moan,
Gramercy on his soul.
And on all Christian Souls, I pray God. God buy you.

LAERTES. Do you see this, you Gods?

KING. Laertes, I must commune with your grief,
I pray you go with me.

[Exeunt]

Scene II. The battlements.

[Enter HORATIO and MESSENGER]

HORATIO. [Reads] 'Horatio, When thou shalt have overlook'd this, let the King have the letters I have sent, and repair thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldst fly death. I have words to speak in your ear, will make thee dumb, yet are they much too light for the bore of the Matter. This good Fellow will bring thee where I am. Rosincrance and Guildenstern, hold their course for England. Of them I have much to tell thee, Farewell. He that thou knowest thine,
HAMLET.
Come, I will give you way for these your Letters,
And do't the speedier, that you may direct me
To him from whom you brought them.

[Exeunt]

[Enter KING and LAERTES]

KING. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,
And you must put me in your heart for Friend,
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
That he which hath your Noble Father slain
Pursued my life.

[Enter MESSENGER]

How now? what News?

MESSENGER. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet.
This to your Majesty; this to the Queen.

KING. Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us.

[Exit MESSENGER]

[Reads] High and Mighty, you shall know I am set naked on your Kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your Kingly Eyes. When I shall recount the Occasions of my sudden, and more strange return. HAMLET.
What should this mean? Are all the rest come back? Or is it some abuse? Or no such thing?

LAERTES. I'm lost in it, my Lord; but let him come,
It warms the very sickness in my heart,
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth;
'Thus didst thou.'

KING. If it be so, Laertes, as how should it be so?
How otherwise will you be ruled by me?

LAERTES. If so you'll not o'errule me to a peace.

KING. You have been talk'd of since your travel much,
And given a most Masterly report
For Art and exercise in your defense;
And for your Rapier most especially.
Laertes, was your father dear to you??
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, ?
A face without a heart?

LAERTES. Why ask you this?

KING. Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake,
To show yourself your Father's son indeed,
More than in words?

LAERTES. To cut his throat i' th' church.

KING. No place indeed should murder Sanctuarize;
Revenge should have no bounds: But good Laertes,
Will you do this, keep close within your Chamber.
Hamlet return'd, shall know you are come home:
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence,
Bring you in fine together, and wager o'er your heads,
He generous and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the Foils? So that with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A Sword unbated, and in a pass of practice,
Requite him for your Father.

LAERTES. I will do't;
And for that purpose I'll anoint my Sword:
I bought an Unction of a Mountebank,
So mortal that, I but dipp'd a knife in it,
Where it draws blood, no Cataplasm so rare,
Can save the thing from death,
That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that if I gall him slightly,
It may be death.

KING. This Project
Should have a back or second, that might hold,
If this should blast in proof: Soft, let me see
I ha't: when in your motion you are hot and dry,
As make your bouts more violent to that end,
And that he calls for drink; I'll have prepared him
A Chalice for the nonce; whereon but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,
Our purpose may hold there; how, sweet Queen.

[Enter QUEEN]

QUEEN. One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
So fast they follow: your Sister's drown'd, Laertes.

LAERTES. Drown'd! O where?

QUEEN. There is a Willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream:
There with fantastic Garlands did she come,
There on the pendent boughs, her Coronet weeds
Clambering to hang; an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy Trophies, and herself,
Fell in the weeping Brook, her clothes spread wide,
And Mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature Native, and indued
Unto that Element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay,
To muddy death.

LAERTES. Alas then, is she drown'd?

QUEEN. Drown'd, drown'd.

LAERTES. Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
And therefore I forbid my tears: Adieu, my lord.

KING. Let's follow, Gertrude.

[Exeunt]

Act V

Scene I. A churchyard.

[Enter HAMLET and HORATIO, to a grave.]

HAMLET. Yorick, the King's jester. Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite Jest, of most excellent fancy, he hath borne me on his back a thousand times: And how abhorred my Imagination is, my gorge rises at it. Where be your jibes now? Your Gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of Merriment that were wont to set the Table on a Roar? No one now to mock your own Jeering? Quite chop-fall'n? But soft, but soft, aside, here comes the King.

[Enter KING, QUEEN, LAERTES, and a coffin.]

The Queen, the Courtiers. Who is that they follow?
Couch we a while, and mark.

[Retiring with HORATIO]

LAERTES. Lay her i' th' earth,
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh,
May Violets spring.

HAMLET. What, the fair Ophelia?

QUEEN. Sweets, to the sweet farewell.
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife:
I thought thy Bride-bed to have deck'd (sweet Maid)
And not t'have strew'd thy Grave.

LAERTES. Oh terrible woe
Fall ten times treble, on that cursed head
Whose wicked deed thy most Ingenious sense
Deprived thee of. Hold off the earth a while,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.

HAMLET. What is he whose grief
Bears such an Emphasis? whose phrase of Sorrow
Conjures the wandering Stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
Hamlet the Dane.

LAERTES. The devil take thy soul.

HAMLET. Thou pray'st not well,
I prithee take thy fingers from my throat.

KING. Pluck them asunder.

QUEEN. Hamlet, Hamlet.

HORATIO. Good my lord, be quiet.

HAMLET. Why, I will fight with him upon this Theme
Until my eyelids will no longer wag.

QUEEN. Oh my Son, what Theme?

HAMLET. I lov'd Ophelia; forty thousand Brothers
Could not (with all their quantity of Love)
Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?

KING. Oh he is mad, Laertes.

QUEEN. For love of God, forbear him.

HAMLET. Come show me what thou'lt do.
Be buried quick with her, and so will I.

KING. This is mere Madness;
And thus a while the fit will work on him.

HAMLET. Hear you, Sir:
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I lov'd you ever; But it is no matter:
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The Cat will Mew, and Dog will have his day.

[Exit]

KING. I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him.

[Exit HORATIO]

[To LAERTES] Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech,
We'll put the matter to the present push.

[Exeunt]

Scene II. Castle - a room of state.

[Enter HAMLET and HORATIO]

HAMLET. Making so bold to unseal
Their grand Commission, where I found, Horatio
O royal knavery: An exact command,
That on the supervise, no leisure bated,
No, not to stay the grinding of the Axe,
My head should be struck off.

HORATIO. Is't possible?

HAMLET. Here's the Commission; read it at more leisure.
But wilt thou hear me how I did proceed?

HORATIO. I beseech you.

HAMLET. I sat me down,
Devis'd a new Commission: wilt thou know
Th' effects of what I wrote?

HORATIO. Ay, good my lord.

HAMLET. An earnest Conjuration from the King,
As England was his faithful Tributary,
That on the view and knowing of these Contents,
Without debatement further, more or less,
He should the bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving time allow'd.

HORATIO. So Guildenstern and Rosincrance, go to't.

HAMLET. Why man, they did make love to this employment.
They are not near my Conscience; their defeat
Doth by their own insinuation grow.

HORATIO. Peace, who comes here?

[Enter MARCELLUS]

MARCELLUS. Sweet lord, if your friendship were at leisure, I should impart a thing to you from his Majesty.

HAMLET. I will receive it, sir.

MARCELLUS. My Lord, his Majesty bade me signify to you, that he has laid a great wager on your head: sir, this is the matter. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is at his weapon. The King, sir, has wagered six Barbary Horses that in a dozen passes between you and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; and that would come to immediate trial, if your Lordship would vouchsafe the Answer.

HAMLET. Let the Foils be brought, the Gentleman willing, and the King hold his purpose; I will win for him if I can: if not, I'll gain nothing but my shame, and the odd hits.

MARCELLUS. I commend my duty to your Lordship.

[Exit]

HAMLET. Yours, yours.

HORATIO. You will lose this wager, my Lord.

HAMLET. I do not think so, since he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds: but thou wouldst not think how ill all's here about my heart: but it is no matter.

HORATIO. If your mind dislike any thing, obey. I will forestall their repair hither, and say you are not fit.

HAMLET. Not a whit, we defy Augury; there's a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come: if it be not to come, it will be now: if it be not now; yet it will come; the readiness is all.

[Enter KING, QUEEN, LAERTES, with foils, &c]

KING. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.

HAMLET. Give me your pardon, Sir: I've done you wrong,
But pardon't, as you are a Gentleman.
Sir, in this Audience,
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot mine Arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my Brother.

LAERTES. I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.

HAMLET. I do embrace it freely;
And will this Brother's wager frankly play.
Give us the Foils: Come on.

LAERTES. Come, one for me.

KING. Cousin Hamlet, you know the wager.

HAMLET. Very well, my lord.
Your Grace has laid the odds o' th' weaker side.

KING. I do not fear it,
I have seen you both.

LAERTES. This is too heavy, let me see another.

HAMLET. This likes me well.

[They prepare to play]

KING. Set me the Stoups of wine upon that Table.
If Hamlet give the first, or second hit,
The King shall drink to Hamlet's better breath
And in the Cup an union shall he throw
Richer than that, which four successive Kings
In Denmark's crown have worn.
Give me the Cups, and you the Judge, bear a wary eye.

HAMLET. Come on, sir.

LAERTES. Come, my Lord.

[They play]

HAMLET. One.

LAERTES. No.

HAMLET. Judgment.

HORATIO. A hit, a very palpable hit.

LAERTES. Well; again.

KING. Stay, give me drink.
Hamlet, this Pearl is thine;
Here's to thy health. Give him the cup.

[Trumpets sound, and shot goes off.]

HAMLET. I'll play this bout first, set it by awhile.

[They play]

Come: Another hit; what say you?

LAERTES. A touch, a touch, I do confess.

KING. Our Son shall win.

QUEEN. He's fat, and scant of breath.
Here's a Napkin, rub thy brows;
The Queen Carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.

HAMLET. Good Madam.

KING. Gertrude, do not drink.

QUEEN. I will, my lord;
I pray you, pardon me. [drinks]

KING. It is the poison'd Cup: it is too late.

HAMLET. I dare not drink yet, Madam;
By and by.

QUEEN. Come, let me wipe thy face.

LAERTES. My Lord, I'll hit him now.

KING. I do not think't.

LAERTES. And yet 'tis almost 'gainst my conscience.

HAMLET. Come, for the third.
Laertes, you but dally,
I pray you pass with your best violence,
I am afeard you make a wanton of me.

LAERTES. Say you so? Come on.

[They play]

HORATIO. Nothing neither way.

LAERTES. Have at you now.

[LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then in scuffling, they change rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES]

KING. Part them, they are incensed.

HAMLET. Nay come, again.

[QUEEN falls]

HORATIO. Look to the Queen there, ho!
They bleed on both sides. How is't, my Lord?

LAERTES. Why, as a Woodcock to mine Springe;
I am justly kill'd with mine own Treachery.

HAMLET. How does the Queen?

KING. She swounds to see them bleed.

QUEEN. No, no, the drink, the drink.
O my dear Hamlet, the drink, the drink! I am poison'd.

HAMLET. Oh villainy! How? let the door be lock'd,
Treachery, seek it out.

LAERTES. It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain,
No Medicine in the world can do thee good.
The Treacherous Instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenom'd: the foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again: thy Mother's poison'd:
I can no more: the King, the King's to blame.

HAMLET. The point envenom'd too,
Then venom to thy work.

[Hurts the KING]

Here, thou incestuous, murderous, Damned Dane,
Drink off this Potion. Is thy Union here? Follow my Mother.

[KING dies]

LAERTES. He is justly served;
It is a poison temp'red by himself:
Exchange forgiveness with me, Noble Hamlet:
Mine and my Father's death come not upon thee,
Nor thine on me.

[Dies]

HAMLET. Heaven make thee free of it, I follow thee.
I am dead, Horatio, wretched Queen, adieu,
You that look pale, and tremble at this chance,
That are but Mutes or audience to this act:
Had I but time (as this fell Sergeant death,
Is strict in his Arrest) Oh I could tell you.
But let it be: Horatio, I am dead,
Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied. The rest is silence.

[Dies]

HORATIO. Now cracks a Noble heart:
Goodnight sweet Prince,
And flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.

The End