HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK

Act 1 Scene 2

(Flourish. Enter Claudius, King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, members of the Council, such as Polonius, his son Laertes and daughter Ophelia, Prince Hamlet dressed in black, with others)
l1l	King Claudius	 Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death
l2l		The memory be green, and that it us befitted
l3l		To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
l4l		To be contracted in one brow of woe,
l5l		Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
l6l		That we with wisest sorrow think on him
l7l		Together with remembrance of ourselves.
l8l		Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
l9l		Th’ imperial jointress of this warlike state,
l10l		Have we as ’twere with a defeated joy,
l11l		With one auspicious and one dropping eye,
l12l		With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
l13l		In equal scale weighing delight and dole,
l14l		Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred
l15l		Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
l16l		With this affair along. For all, our thanks.
l17l		Now follows that you know young Fortinbras,
l18l		Holding a weak supposal of our worth,
l19l		Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death
l20l		Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
l21l		Co-leaguèd with the dream of his advantage,
l22l		He hath not failed to pester us with message
l23l		Importing the surrender of those lands
l24l		Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,
l25l		To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
		(Enter Valtemand and Cornelius)
l26l		Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting,
l27l		Thus much the business is: we have here writ
l28l		To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras—
l29l		Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
l30l		Of this his nephew’s purpose—to suppress
l31l		His further gait herein, in that the levies,
l32l		The lists, and full proportions are all made
l33l		Out of his subject# and we here dispatch
l34l		You, good Cornelius, and you, Valtemand,
l35l		For bearers of this greeting to old Norway,
l36l		Giving to you no further personal power
l37l		To business with the King more than the scope
l38l		Of these dilated articles allow.
l39l		Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.
l40l	Valtemand	In that and all things will we show our duty.
l41l	King Claudius	We doubt it nothing, heartily farewell.
		( 41 Exeunt Valtemand and Cornelius)
l42l		And now, Laertes, what’s the news with you?
l43l		You told us of some suit. What is ’t, Laertes?
l44l		You cannot speak of reason to the Dane
l45l		And lose your voice. What wouldst thou beg, Laertes,
l46l		That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
l47l		The head is not more native to the heart,
l48l		The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
l49l		Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
l50l		What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
	Laertes	Dread my lord,
l51l		Your leave and favour to return to France,
l52l		From whence though willingly I came to Denmark
l53l		To show my duty in your coronation,
l54l		Yet now I must confess, that duty done,
l55l		My thoughts and wishes bend again towards France
l56l		And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
l57l	King Claudius	Have you your father’s leave? What says Polonius?
l58l	Polonius	He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
l59l		By laboursome petition, and at last
l60l		Upon his will I sealed my hard consent.
l61l		I do beseech you give him leave to go.
l62l	King Claudius	Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine,
l63l		And thy best graces spend it at thy will.
l64l		But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—
l65l	Hamlet	A little more than kin and less than kind.
l66l	King Claudius	How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
l67l	Hamlet	Not so, my lord, I am too much i’ th’ sun.
l68l	Queen Gertrude	Good Hamlet, cast thy nightly colour off,
l69l		And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
l70l		Do not for ever with thy vailèd lids
l71l		Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
l72l		Thou know’st ’tis common—all that lives must die,
l73l		Passing through nature to eternity.
l74l	Hamlet	Ay, madam, it is common.
	Queen Gertrude	If it be,
l75l		Why seems it so particular with thee?
l76l	Hamlet	Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not “seems”.
l77l		’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good-mother,
l78l		Nor customary suits of solemn black,
l79l		Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
l80l		No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
l81l		Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
l82l		Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief
l83l		That can denote me truly. These indeed “seem”,
l84l		For they are actions that a man might play#
l85l		But I have that within which passeth show—
l86l		These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
l87l	King Claudius	’Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
l88l		To give these mourning duties to your father#
l89l		But you must know your father lost a father#
l90l		That father lost, lost his# and the survivor bound
l91l		In filial obligation for some term
l92l		To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever
l93l		In obstinate condolement is a course
l94l		Of impious stubbornness, ’tis unmanly grief,
l95l		It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
l96l		A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
l97l		An understanding simple and unschooled#
l98l		For what we know must be, and is as common
l99l		As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
l100l		Why should we in our peevish opposition
l101l		Take it to heart? Fie, ’tis a fault to heaven,
l102l		A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
l103l		To reason most absurd, whose common theme
l104l		Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried
l105l		From the first corpse till he that died today,
l106l		“This must be so”. We pray you throw to earth
l107l		This unprevailing woe, and think of us
l108l		As of a father# for let the world take note
l109l		You are the most immediate to our throne,
l110l		And with no less nobility of love
l111l		Than that which dearest father bears his son
l112l		Do I impart towards you. For your intent
l113l		In going back to school in Wittenberg,
l114l		It is most retrograde to our desire,
l115l		And we beseech you bend you to remain
l116l		Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
l117l		Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
l118l	Queen Gertrude	Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet.
l119l		I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
l120l	Hamlet	I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
l121l	King Claudius	Why, ’tis a loving and a fair reply.
l122l		Be as ourself in Denmark.
		(To Gertrude)
		 Madam, come.
l123l		This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet
l124l		Sits smiling to my heart# in grace whereof,
l125l		No jocund health that Denmark drinks today
l126l		But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
l127l		And the King’s rouse the heavens shall bruit again,
l128l		Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come, away.
		(Flourish. Exeunt all but Hamlet)
l129l	Hamlet	 O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
l130l		Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
l131l		Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
l132l		His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God, O God,
l133l		How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
l134l		Seem to me all the uses of this world!
l135l		Fie on ’t, ah fie, fie! ’Tis an unweeded garden
l136l		That grows to seed# things rank and gross in nature
l137l		Possess it merely. That it should come to this—
l138l		But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two—
l139l		So excellent a king, that was to this
l140l		Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother
l141l		That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
l142l		Visit her face too roughly! Heaven and earth,
l143l		Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
l144l		As if increase of appetite had grown
l145l		By what it fed on, and yet within a month—
l146l		Let me not think on ’t# frailty, thy name is woman—
l147l		A little month, or ere those shoes were old
l148l		With which she followed my poor father’s body,
l149l		Like Niobe, all tears, why she, even she—
l150l		O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason
l151l		Would have mourned longer!—married with mine uncle,
l152l		My father’s brother, but no more like my father
l153l		Than I to Hercules# within a month,
l154l		Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
l155l		Had left the flushing of her gallèd eyes,
l156l		She married. O most wicked speed, to post
l157l		With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
l158l		It is not, nor it cannot come to good.
l159l		But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.
		(Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo)
l160l	Horatio	 Hail to your lordship.
	Hamlet	I am glad to see you well.
l161l		Horatio—or I do forget myself.
l162l	Horatio	The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
l163l	Hamlet	Sir, my good friend# I’ll change that name with you.
l164l		And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?—
l165l		Marcellus.
	Marcellus	My good lord.
l166l	Hamlet	I am very glad to see you.
		(To Barnardo)
		 Good even, sir.—
l167l		But what in faith make you from Wittenberg?
l168l	Horatio	A truant disposition, good my lord.
l169l	Hamlet	I would not have your enemy say so,
l170l		Nor shall you do mine ear that violence
l171l		To make it truster of your own report
l172l		Against yourself. I know you are no truant.
l173l		But what is your affair in Elsinore?
l174l		We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
l175l	Horatio	My lord, I came to see your father’s funeral.
l176l	Hamlet	I prithee do not mock me, fellow-student#
l177l		I think it was to see my mother’s wedding.
l178l	Horatio	Indeed, my lord, it followed hard upon.
l179l	Hamlet	Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats
l180l		Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
l181l		Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
l182l		Ere I had ever seen that day, Horatio.
l183l		My father—methinks I see my father.
l184l	Horatio	O where, my lord?
	Hamlet	In my mind’s eye, Horatio.
l185l	Horatio	I saw him once. A was a goodly king.
l186l	Hamlet	A was a man. Take him for all in all,
l187l		I shall not look upon his like again.
l188l	Horatio	My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
l189l	Hamlet	Saw? Who?
l190l	Horatio	My lord, the King your father.
l191l	Hamlet	The King my father?
l192l	Horatio	Season your admiration for a while
l193l		With an attent ear till I may deliver,
l194l		Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
l195l		This marvel to you.
	Hamlet	For God’s love let me hear!
l196l	Horatio	Two nights together had these gentlemen,
l197l		Marcellus and Barnardo, on their watch,
l198l		In the dead waste and middle of the night,
l199l		Been thus encountered. A figure like your father,
l200l		Armed at all points exactly, cap-à-pie,
l201l		Appears before them, and with solemn march
l202l		Goes slow and stately by them. Thrice he walked
l203l		By their oppressed and fear-surprisèd eyes
l204l		Within his truncheon’s length, whilst they distilled
l205l		Almost to jelly with the act of fear
l206l		Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me
l207l		In dreadful secrecy impart they did,
l208l		And I with them the third night kept the watch,
l209l		Where, as they had delivered, both in time,
l210l		Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
l211l		The apparition comes. I knew your father#
l212l		These hands are not more like.
	Hamlet	But where was this?
l213l	Marcellus	My lord, upon the platform where we watched.
l214l	Hamlet	Did you not speak to it?
	Horatio	My lord, I did,
l215l		But answer made it none# yet once methought
l216l		It lifted up it head and did address
l217l		Itself to motion like as it would speak,
l218l		But even then the morning cock crew loud,
l219l		And at the sound it shrunk in haste away
l220l		And vanished from our sight.
	Hamlet	’Tis very strange.
l221l	Horatio	As I do live, my honoured lord, ’tis true,
l222l		And we did think it writ down in our duty
l223l		To let you know of it.
l224l	Hamlet	Indeed, indeed, sirs# but this troubles me.—
l225l		Hold you the watch tonight?
	Barnardo And Marcellus	We do, my lord.
l226l	Hamlet	Armed, say you?
	Barnardo And Marcellus	Armed, my lord.
	Hamlet	From top to toe?
l227l	Barnardo And Marcellus	My lord, from head to foot.
	Hamlet	Then saw you not his face.
l228l	Horatio	O yes, my lord, he wore his beaver up.
l229l	Hamlet	What looked he? Frowningly?
	Horatio	A countenance more
l230l		In sorrow than in anger.
	Hamlet	Pale or red?
l231l	Horatio	Nay, very pale.
	Hamlet	And fixed his eyes upon you?
l232l	Horatio	Most constantly.
l233l	Hamlet	I would I had been there.
l234l	Horatio	It would have much amazed you.
l235l	Hamlet	Very like, very like. Stayed it long?
l236l	Horatio	While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.
l237l	Barnardo And Marcellus	Longer, longer.
l238l	Horatio	Not when I saw ’t.
l239l	Hamlet	His beard was grizzly, no?
l240l	Horatio	It was as I have seen it in his life,
l241l		A sable silvered.
	Hamlet	I’ll watch tonight. Perchance
l242l		’Twill walk again.
	Horatio	I warrant you it will.
l243l	Hamlet	If it assume my noble father’s person
l244l		I’ll speak to it though hell itself should gape
l245l		And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
l246l		If you have hitherto concealed this sight,
l247l		Let it be treble in your silence still,
l248l		And whatsoever else shall hap tonight,
l249l		Give it an understanding but no tongue.
l250l		I will requite your loves. So fare ye well.
l251l		Upon the platform ’twixt eleven and twelve
l252l		I’ll visit you.
	All Three	Our duty to your honour.
l253l	Hamlet	Your love, as mine to you. Farewell.
		(Exeunt all but Hamlet)
l254l		My father’s spirit in arms! All is not well.
l255l		I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come.
l256l		Till then, sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise,
l257l		Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.
		(Exit)