| |
[Another part of the platform]
Enter Ghost and HAMLET
Ham. Where wilt thou lead me? Speak, I’ll go no further. | |
| Ghost. Mark me. | |
| Ham. I will. | |
| Ghost. My hour is almost come, | 4 |
| When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames | |
| Must render up myself. | |
| Ham. Alas, poor ghost! | |
| Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing | 8 |
| To what I shall unfold. | |
| Ham. Speak; I am bound to hear. | |
| Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. | |
| Ham. What? | 12 |
| 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 | 16 |
| Are burnt and purg’d away. But that I am forbid | |
| To tell the secrets of my prison-house, | |
| I could a tale unfold whose lightest word | |
| Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, | 20 |
| Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, | |
| Thy knotty and combined locks to part | |
| And each particular hair to stand on end, | |
| Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. 1 | 24 |
| But this eternal blazon 2 must not be | |
| To ears of flesh and blood. List, Hamlet, O, list! | |
| If thou didst ever thy dear father love— | |
| Ham. O God! | 28 |
| Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. | |
| Ham. Murder! | |
| Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is, | |
| But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. | 32 |
| Ham. 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; | 36 |
| And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed | |
| That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, 3 | |
| Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear. | |
| It’s given out that, sleeping in mine orchard, | 40 |
| A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark | |
| Is by a forged process 4 of my death | |
| Rankly abus’d; 5 but know, thou noble youth, | |
| The serpent that did sting thy father’s life | 44 |
| Now wears his crown. | |
| Ham. O my prophetic soul! | |
| Mine uncle! | |
| Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, | 48 |
| With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,— | |
| O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power | |
| So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust | |
| The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen. | 52 |
| O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there! | |
| From 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 | 56 |
| Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor | |
| To those of mine! | |
| But virtue, as it never will be moved, | |
| Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, | 60 |
| So lust, though to a radiant angel link’d, | |
| Will sate itself in a celestial bed | |
| And prey on garbage. | |
| But, soft! methinks I scent the morning’s air. | 64 |
| Brief let me be. Sleeping within mine orchard, | |
| My custom always in the afternoon, | |
| Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, | |
| With juice of cursed hebenon 6 in a vial, | 68 |
| And in the porches of mine ears did pour | |
| The leperous distilment; whose effect | |
| Holds such an enmity with blood of man | |
| That swift as quicksilver it courses through | 72 |
| The natural gates and alleys of the body, | |
| And with a sudden vigour it doth posset 7 | |
| And curd, like eager 8 droppings into milk, | |
| The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine, | 76 |
| And a most instant tetter 9 bark’d about, | |
| Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, | |
| All my smooth body. | |
| Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand | 80 |
| Of life, of crown, and queen, at once dispatch’d; | |
| Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, | |
| Unhousel’d, 10 disappointed, 11 unanel’d, 12 | |
| No reckoning made, but sent to my account | 84 |
| With all my imperfections on my head. | |
| O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible! | |
| If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not; | |
| Let not the royal bed of Denmark be | 88 |
| A couch for luxury and damned incest. | |
| But, howsoever thou pursuest this act, | |
| Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive | |
| Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven | 92 |
| 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, | |
| And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire. | 96 |
| Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me. Exit. | |
| Ham. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else? | |
| And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, my heart, | |
| And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, | 100 |
| But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee! | |
| Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat | |
| In this distracted globe. Remember thee! | |
| Yea, from the table of my memory | 104 |
| I’ll wipe away all trivial fond 13 records, | |
| All saws 14 of books, all forms, all pressures past, | |
| That youth and observation copied there, | |
| And thy commandment all alone shall live | 108 |
| Within the book and volume of my brain, | |
| Unmix’d with baser matter. Yes, yes, by heaven! | |
| O most pernicious woman! | |
| O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! | 112 |
| My tables, my tables,—meet it is I set it down! | |
| That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain! | |
| At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark. | |
| So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word; | 116 |
| It is “Adieu, adieu! remember me.” | |
| I have sworn ’t. | |
| Mar. & Hor. (Within.) My lord, my lord! | |
| Mar. [Within.] Lord Hamlet! | 120 |
| Hor. [Within.] Heaven secure him! | |
| Ham. So be it! | |
| Mar. [Within.] Illo, ho, ho, my lord! | |
| Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come. | 124 |
| |
Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS
Mar. How is ’t, my noble lord? | |
| Hor. What news, my lord? | |
| Ham. O, wonderful! | |
| Hor. Good my lord, tell it. | 128 |
| Ham. No, you’ll reveal it. | |
| Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven. | |
| Mar. Nor I, my lord. | |
| Ham. How say you, then, would heart of man once think it?— | 132 |
| But you’ll be secret? | |
| Hor. & Mar. Ay, by heaven, my lord. | |
| Ham. There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all Denmark— | |
| But he’s an arrant knave. | 136 |
| Hor. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave | |
| To tell us this. | |
| Ham. Why, right, you are i’ the right. | |
| And so, without more circumstance at all, | 140 |
| I hold it fit that we shake hands and part; | |
| You, as your business and desires shall point you, | |
| For every man has business and desire, | |
| Such as it is; and for mine own poor part, | 144 |
| Look you, I’ll go pray. | |
| Hor. These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. | |
| Ham. I’m sorry they offend you, heartily; | |
| Yes, faith, heartily. | 148 |
| Hor. There’s no offence, my lord. | |
| Ham. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio, | |
| And much offence too. Touching this vision here, | |
| It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you. | 152 |
| For your desire to know what is between us, | |
| O’ermaster ’t as you may. And now, good friends, | |
| As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers, | |
| Give me one poor request. | 156 |
| Hor. What is ’t, my lord? We will. | |
| Ham. Never make known what you have seen to-night. | |
| Hor. & Mar. My lord, we will not. | |
| Ham. Nay, but swear ’t. | 160 |
| Hor. In faith, | |
| My lord, not I. | |
| Mar. Nor I, my lord, in faith. | |
| Ham. Upon my sword. | 164 |
| Mar. We have sworn, my lord, already. | |
| Ham. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. | |
| Ghost. Swear! Ghost cries under the stage. | |
| Ham. Ah, ha, boy! say’st thou so? Art thou there, truepenny? | 168 |
| Come on; you hear this fellow in the cellarage. | |
| Consent to swear. | |
| Hor. Propose the oath, my lord. | |
| Ham. Never to speak of this that you have seen. | 172 |
| Swear by my sword. | |
| Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. | |
| Ham. Hic et ubique? 15 Then we’ll shift our ground. | |
| Come thither, gentlemen, | 176 |
| And lay your hands again upon my sword. | |
| Never to speak of this that you have heard, | |
| Swear by my sword. | |
| Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. | 180 |
| Ham. Well said, old mole! Canst work i’ the earth so fast? | |
| A worthy pioner! 16 Once more remove, good friends. | |
| Hor. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! | |
| Ham. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. | 184 |
| There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, | |
| Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. | |
| But come; | |
| Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, | 188 |
| How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself,— | |
| As I perchance hereafter shall think meet | |
| To put an antic disposition on— | |
| That you, at such time seeing me, never shall, | 192 |
| With arms encumb’red thus, or this headshake, | |
| Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, | |
| As “Well, we know,” or “We could, an if we would,” | |
| Or “If we list to speak,” or “There be, an if they might,” | 196 |
| Or such ambiguous giving out, to note | |
| That you know aught of me,—this not to do, | |
| So grace and mercy at your most need help you, | |
| Swear. | 200 |
| Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. | |
| Ham. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! [They swear.] So, gentlemen, | |
| With all my love I do commend me to you. | |
| And what so poor a man as Hamlet is | 204 |
| May do, to 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. | |
| The time is out of joint;—O cursed spite, | 208 |
| That ever I was born to set it right! | |
| Nay, come, let’s go together. Exeunt. | |
