HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK

Act 1 Scene 5

(Enter the Ghost, and Prince Hamlet following)
l1l	Hamlet	 Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak. I’ll go no further.
l2l	Ghost	Mark me.
	Hamlet	I will.
	Ghost	My hour is almost come
l3l		When I to sulph’rous and tormenting flames
l4l		Must render up myself.
	Hamlet	Alas, poor ghost!
l5l	Ghost	Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
l6l		To what I shall unfold.
	Hamlet	Speak, I am bound to hear.
l7l	Ghost	So art thou to revenge when thou shalt hear.
l8l	Hamlet	What?
l9l	Ghost	I am thy father’s spirit,
l10l		Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,
l11l		And for the day confined to fast in fires
l12l		Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
l13l		Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
l14l		To tell the secrets of my prison-house
l15l		I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
l16l		Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
l17l		Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,
l18l		Thy knotty and combinèd locks to part,
l19l		And each particular hair to stand on end
l20l		Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.
l21l		But this eternal blazon must not be
l22l		To ears of flesh and blood. List, Hamlet, list, O list!
l23l		If thou didst ever thy dear father love—
l24l	Hamlet	O God!
l25l	Ghost	Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
l26l	Hamlet	Murder?
l27l	Ghost	Murder most foul, as in the best it is,
l28l		But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
l29l	Hamlet	Haste, haste me to know it, that with wings as swift
l30l		As meditation or the thoughts of love
l31l		May sweep to my revenge.
	Ghost	I find thee apt,
l32l		And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
l33l		That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf
l34l		Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.
l35l		’Tis given out that, sleeping in mine orchard,
l36l		A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark
l37l		Is by a forgèd process of my death
l38l		Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth,
l39l		The serpent that did sting thy father’s life
l40l		Now wears his crown.
l41l	Hamlet	O my prophetic soul! Mine uncle?
l42l	Ghost	Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
l43l		With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts—
l44l		O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
l45l		So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust
l46l		The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.
l47l		O Hamlet, what a falling off was there!—
l48l		From me, whose love was of that dignity
l49l		That it went hand-in-hand even with the vow
l50l		I made to her in marriage, and to decline
l51l		Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
l52l		To those of mine.
l53l		But virtue, as it never will be moved,
l54l		Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
l55l		So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
l56l		Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
l57l		And prey on garbage.
l58l		But soft, methinks I scent the morning’s air.
l59l		Brief let me be. Sleeping within mine orchard,
l60l		My custom always in the afternoon,
l61l		Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole
l62l		With juice of cursèd hebenon in a vial,
l63l		And in the porches of mine ears did pour
l64l		The leperous distilment, whose effect
l65l		Holds such an enmity with blood of man
l66l		That swift as quicksilver it courses through
l67l		The natural gates and alleys of the body,
l68l		And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
l69l		And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
l70l		The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine#
l71l		And a most instant tetter barked about,
l72l		Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
l73l		All my smooth body.
l74l		Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand
l75l		Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched,
l76l		Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
l77l		Unhouseled, dis-appointed, unaneled,
l78l		No reck’ning made, but sent to my account
l79l		With all my imperfections on my head.
l80l		O horrible, O horrible, most horrible!
l81l		If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not.
l82l		Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
l83l		A couch for luxury and damnèd incest.
l84l		But howsoever thou pursuest this act,
l85l		Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
l86l		Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven,
l87l		And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge
l88l		To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once.
l89l		The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
l90l		And gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
l91l		Adieu, adieu, Hamlet. Remember me.
		(Exit)
l92l	Hamlet	 O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?
l93l		And shall I couple hell? O fie! Hold, hold, my heart,
l94l		And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
l95l		But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee?
l96l		Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
l97l		In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
l98l		Yea, from the table of my memory
l99l		I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
l100l		All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
l101l		That youth and observation copied there,
l102l		And thy commandment all alone shall live
l103l		Within the book and volume of my brain
l104l		Unmixed with baser matter. Yes, yes, by heaven.
l105l		O most pernicious woman!
l106l		O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!
l107l		My tables,
l108l		My tables—meet it is I set it down
l109l		That one may smile and smile and be a villain.
l110l		At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark.
		(He writes)
l111l		So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word:
l112l		It is “Adieu, adieu, remember me”.
l113l		I have sworn ’t.
l114l	Horatio And Marcellus	(within)
		 My lord, my lord.
		(Enter Horatio and Marcellus)
l115l	Marcellus	(calling)
		 Lord Hamlet!
l116l	Horatio	Heaven secure him.
l117l	Hamlet	So be it.
l118l	Horatio	(calling)
		 Illo, ho, ho, my lord.
l119l	Hamlet	Hillo, ho, ho, boy# come, bird, come.
l120l	Marcellus	How is ’t, my noble lord?
l121l	Horatio	(to Hamlet)
		 What news, my lord?
l122l	Hamlet	O wonderful!
l123l	Horatio	Good my lord, tell it.
	Hamlet	No, you’ll reveal it.
l124l	Horatio	Not I, my lord, by heaven.
	Marcellus	Nor I, my lord.
l125l	Hamlet	How say you then, would heart of man once think it?
l126l		But you’ll be secret?
	Horatio And Marcellus	Ay, by heav’n, my lord.
l127l	Hamlet	There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
l128l		But he’s an arrant knave.
l129l	Horatio	There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
l130l		To tell us this.
	Hamlet	Why, right, you are i’ th’ right,
l131l		And so without more circumstance at all
l132l		I hold it fit that we shake hands and part,
l133l		You as your business and desires shall point you—
l134l		For every man has business and desire,
l135l		Such as it is—and for mine own poor part,
l136l		Look you, I’ll go pray.
l137l	Horatio	These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
l138l	Hamlet	I’m sorry they offend you, heartily,
l139l		Yes, faith, heartily.
	Horatio	There’s no offence, my lord.
l140l	Hamlet	Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
l141l		And much offence, too. Touching this vision here,
l142l		It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you.
l143l		For your desire to know what is between us,
l144l		O’ermaster ’t as you may. And now, good friends,
l145l		As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
l146l		Give me one poor request.
	Horatio	What is ’t, my lord? We will.
l147l	Hamlet	Never make known what you have seen tonight.
l148l	Horatio And Marcellus	My lord, we will not.
	Hamlet	Nay, but swear ’t.
l149l	Horatio	In faith, my lord, not I.
	Marcellus	Nor I, my lord, in faith.
l150l	Hamlet	Upon my sword.
	Marcellus	We have sworn, my lord, already.
l151l	Hamlet	Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
		(The Ghost cries under the stage)
		
	Ghost	 Swear.
l152l	Hamlet	Ah ha, boy, sayst thou so? Art thou there, truepenny?—
l153l		Come on. You hear this fellow in the cellarage.
l154l		Consent to swear.
	Horatio	Propose the oath, my lord.
l155l	Hamlet	Never to speak of this that you have seen,
l156l		Swear by my sword.
l157l	Ghost	(under the stage)
		 Swear.
		(They swear)
l158l	Hamlet	 Hic et ubique? Then we’ll shift our ground.—
l159l		Come hither, gentlemen,
l160l		And lay your hands again upon my sword.
l161l		Never to speak of this that you have heard,
l162l		Swear by my sword.
l163l	Ghost	(under the stage)
		 Swear.
		(They swear)
l164l	Hamlet	 Well said, old mole. Canst work i’ th’ earth so fast?
l165l		A worthy pioneer.—Once more remove, good friends.
l166l	Horatio	O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!
l167l	Hamlet	And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
l168l		There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
l169l		Than are dreamt of in our philosophy. But come,
l170l		Here as before, never, so help you mercy,
l171l		How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself—
l172l		As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
l173l		To put an antic disposition on—
l174l		That you at such time seeing me never shall,
l175l		With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake,
l176l		Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase
l177l		As “Well, we know” or “We could an if we would”,
l178l		Or “If we list to speak”, or “There be, an if they might”,
l179l		Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
l180l		That you know aught of me—this not to do,
l181l		So grace and mercy at your most need help you, swear.
l182l	Ghost	(under the stage)
		 Swear.
		(They swear)
l183l	Hamlet	 Rest, rest, perturbèd spirit.—So, gentlemen,
l184l		With all my love I do commend me to you,
l185l		And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
l186l		May do t’ express his love and friending to you,
l187l		God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together,
l188l		And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
l189l		The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite
l190l		That ever I was born to set it right!
l191l		Nay, come, let’s go together.
		(Exeunt)