HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK

Act 2 Scene 2

(Flourish. Enter King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with others)
l1l	King Claudius	 Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
l2l		Moreover that we much did long to see you,
l3l		The need we have to use you did provoke
l4l		Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
l5l		Of Hamlet’s transformation—so I call it,
l6l		Since not th’ exterior nor the inward man
l7l		Resembles that it was. What it should be,
l8l		More than his father’s death, that thus hath put him
l9l		So much from th’ understanding of himself,
l10l		I cannot deem of. I entreat you both
l11l		That, being of so young days brought up with him,
l12l		And since so neighboured to his youth and humour,
l13l		That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
l14l		Some little time, so by your companies
l15l		To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
l16l		So much as from occasions you may glean,
l17l		Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus
l18l		That, opened, lies within our remedy.
l19l	Queen Gertrude	Good gentlemen, he hath much talked of you,
l20l		And sure I am two men there is not living
l21l		To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
l22l		To show us so much gentry and good will
l23l		As to expend your time with us a while
l24l		For the supply and profit of our hope,
l25l		Your visitation shall receive such thanks
l26l		As fits a king’s remembrance.
	Rosencrantz	Both your majesties
l27l		Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,
l28l		Put your dread pleasures more into command
l29l		Than to entreaty.
	Guildenstern	But we both obey,
l30l		And here give up ourselves in the full bent
l31l		To lay our service freely at your feet
l32l		To be commanded.
l33l	King Claudius	Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.
l34l	Queen Gertrude	Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz.
l35l		And I beseech you instantly to visit
l36l		My too-much changèd son.—Go, some of ye,
l37l		And bring the gentlemen where Hamlet is.
l38l	Guildenstern	Heavens make our presence and our practices
l39l		Pleasant and helpful to him.
	Queen Gertrude	Ay, amen!
		(Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with others)
l40l		(Enter Polonius)
		Polonius	 Th’ ambassadors from Norway, my good lord,
l41l		Are joyfully returned.
l42l	King Claudius	Thou still hast been the father of good news.
l43l	Polonius	Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege,
l44l		I hold my duty, as I hold my soul,
l45l		Both to my God and to my gracious King.
l46l		And I do think—or else this brain of mine
l47l		Hunts not the trail of policy so sure
l48l		As it hath used to do—that I have found
l49l		The very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy.
l50l	King Claudius	O speak of that, that I do long to hear!
l51l	Polonius	Give first admittance to th’ ambassadors.
l52l		My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.
l53l	King Claudius	Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.
		( 53 Exit Polonius)
l54l		He tells me, my sweet queen, that he hath found
l55l		The head and source of all your son’s distemper.
l56l	Queen Gertrude	I doubt it is no other but the main—
l57l		His father’s death and our o’er-hasty marriage.
l58l	King Claudius	Well, we shall sift him.
		(Enter Polonius, Valtemand, and Cornelius)
		 Welcome, my good friends.
l59l		Say, Valtemand, what from our brother Norway?
l60l	Valtemand	Most fair return of greetings and desires.
l61l		Upon our first he sent out to suppress
l62l		His nephew’s levies, which to him appeared
l63l		To be a preparation ’gainst the Polack#
l64l		But better looked into, he truly found
l65l		It was against your highness# whereat grieved
l66l		That so his sickness, age, and impotence
l67l		Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests
l68l		On Fortinbras, which he, in brief, obeys,
l69l		Receives rebuke from Norway, and, in fine,
l70l		Makes vow before his uncle never more
l71l		To give th’ essay of arms against your majesty#
l72l		Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
l73l		Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee
l74l		And his commission to employ those soldiers
l75l		So levied as before, against the Polack,
l76l		With an entreaty herein further shown,
		(He gives a letter to Claudius)
l77l		That it might please you to give quiet pass
l78l		Through your dominions for his enterprise
l79l		On such regards of safety and allowance
l80l		As therein are set down.
	King Claudius	It likes us well,
l81l		And at our more considered time we’ll read,
l82l		Answer, and think upon this business.
l83l		Meantime we thank you for your well-took labour.
l84l		Go to your rest# at night we’ll feast together.
l85l		Most welcome home.
		(Exeunt Valtemand and Cornelius)
l86l	Polonius	 This business is very well ended.
l87l		My liege, and madam, to expostulate
l88l		What majesty should be, what duty is,
l89l		Why day is day, night night, and time is time,
l90l		Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time.
l91l		Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
l92l		And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
l93l		I will be brief. Your noble son is mad—
l94l		“Mad” call I it, for to define true madness,
l95l		What is ’t but to be nothing else but mad?
l96l		But let that go.
	Queen Gertrude	More matter with less art.
l97l	Polonius	Madam, I swear I use no art at all.
l98l		That he is mad, ’tis true# ’tis true ’tis pity,
l99l		And pity ’tis ’tis true—a foolish figure,
l100l		But farewell it, for I will use no art.
l101l		Mad let us grant him, then# and now remains
l102l		That we find out the cause of this effect—
l103l		Or rather say “the cause of this defect”,
l104l		For this effect defective comes by cause.
l105l		Thus it remains, and the remainder thus.
l106l		Perpend.
l107l		I have a daughter—have whilst she is mine—
l108l		Who in her duty and obedience, mark,
l109l		Hath given me this. Now gather and surmise.
		(He reads a letter)
l110l		“To the celestial and my soul’s idol, the most beautified
l111l		Ophelia”—that’s an ill phrase, a vile phrase, “beautified”
l112l		is a vile phrase. But you shall hear—“these in her
l113l		excellent white bosom, these”.
l114l	Queen Gertrude	 Came this from Hamlet to her?
l115l	Polonius	Good madam, stay a while. I will be faithful.
l116l		“Doubt thou the stars are fire,
l117l		Doubt that the sun doth move,
l118l		Doubt truth to be a liar,
l119l		But never doubt I love.
l120l		O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers. I have not
l121l		art to reckon my groans. But that I love thee best, O
l122l		most best, believe it. Adieu.
l123l		Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this
l124l		machine is to him,
l125l		Hamlet.”
l126l		This in obedience hath my daughter showed me,
l127l		And more above hath his solicitings,
l128l		As they fell out by time, by means, and place,
l129l		All given to mine ear.
	King Claudius	But how hath she
l130l		Received his love?
	Polonius	What do you think of me?
l131l	King Claudius	As of a man faithful and honourable.
l132l	Polonius	I would fain prove so. But what might you think,
l133l		When I had seen this hot love on the wing,
l134l		As I perceived it—I must tell you that—
l135l		Before my daughter told me, what might you,
l136l		Or my dear majesty your queen here, think,
l137l		If I had played the desk or table-book,
l138l		Or given my heart a winking mute and dumb,
l139l		Or looked upon this love with idle sight—
l140l		What might you think? No, I went round to work,
l141l		And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:
l142l		“Lord Hamlet is a prince out of thy star.
l143l		This must not be”. And then I precepts gave her,
l144l		That she should lock herself from his resort,
l145l		Admit no messengers, receive no tokens#
l146l		Which done, she took the fruits of my advice,
l147l		And he, repulsèd—a short tale to make—
l148l		Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
l149l		Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
l150l		Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,
l151l		Into the madness wherein now he raves,
l152l		And all we wail for.
l153l	King Claudius	(to Gertrude)
		 Do you think ’tis this?
l154l	Queen Gertrude	It may be# very likely.
l155l	Polonius	Hath there been such a time—I’d fain know that—
l156l		That I have positively said “’Tis so”
l157l		When it proved otherwise?
	King Claudius	Not that I know.
l158l	Polonius	(touching his head, then his shoulder)
		 Take this from this if this be otherwise.
l159l		If circumstances lead me I will find
l160l		Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
l161l		Within the centre.
	King Claudius	How may we try it further?
l162l	Polonius	You know sometimes he walks four hours together
l163l		Here in the lobby.
	Queen Gertrude	So he does indeed.
l164l	Polonius	At such a time I’ll loose my daughter to him.
l165l		(To Claudius)
		 Be you and I behind an arras then.
l166l		Mark the encounter. If he love her not,
l167l		And be not from his reason fall’n thereon,
l168l		Let me be no assistant for a state,
l169l		But keep a farm and carters.
	King Claudius	We will try it.
		( 169B Enter Prince Hamlet, madly attired, reading on a book)
l170l	Queen Gertrude	 But look where sadly the poor wretch comes reading.
l171l	Polonius	Away, I do beseech you both, away.
l172l		I’ll board him presently. O give me leave.
		(Exeunt Claudius and Gertrude)
l173l		How does my good Lord Hamlet?
l174l	Hamlet	Well, God-’a’-mercy.
l175l	Polonius	Do you know me, my lord?
l176l	Hamlet	 Excellent, excellent well. You’re a fishmonger.
l177l	Polonius	Not I, my lord.
l178l	Hamlet	Then I would you were so honest a man.
l179l	Polonius	Honest, my lord?
l180l	Hamlet	Ay, sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to
l181l		be one man picked out of ten thousand.
l182l	Polonius	That’s very true, my lord.
l183l	Hamlet	For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being
l184l		a good kissing carrion—have you a daughter?
l185l	Polonius	I have, my lord.
l186l	Hamlet	Let her not walk i’ th’ sun. Conception is a
l187l		blessing, but not as your daughter may conceive.
l188l		Friend, look to ’t.
l189l	Polonius	(aside)
		 How say you by that? Still harping on
l190l		my daughter. Yet he knew me not at first—a said I
l191l		was a fishmonger. A is far gone, far gone, and truly,
l192l		in my youth I suffered much extremity for love, very
l193l		near this. I’ll speak to him again.—What do you read,
l194l		my lord?
l195l	Hamlet	Words, words, words.
l196l	Polonius	What is the matter, my lord?
l197l	Hamlet	Between who?
l198l	Polonius	I mean the matter you read, my lord.
l199l	Hamlet	Slanders, sir# for the satirical slave says here that
l200l		old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled,
l201l		their eyes purging thick amber or plum-tree gum, and
l202l		that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with
l203l		most weak hams. All which, sir, though I most
l204l		powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty
l205l		to have it thus set down# for you yourself, sir, should
l206l		be old as I am—if, like a crab, you could go backward.
l207l	Polonius	(aside)
		 Though this be madness, yet there is
l208l		method in ’t.—Will you walk out of the air, my lord?
l209l	Hamlet	Into my grave.
l210l	Polonius	Indeed, that is out o’ th’ air.
		(Aside)
		 How pregnant
l211l		sometimes his replies are! A happiness that often
l212l		madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not
l213l		so prosperously be delivered of. I will leave him, and
l214l		suddenly contrive the means of meeting between him
l215l		and my daughter.—My lord, I will take my leave of
l216l		you.
l217l	Hamlet	You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I
l218l		will more willingly part withal—except my life, my life,
l219l		my life.
l220l	Polonius	(going)
		 Fare you well, my lord.
l221l	Hamlet	These tedious old fools!
		(Enter Guildenstern and Rosencrantz)
l222l	Polonius	 You go to seek the Lord Hamlet. There he is.
l223l	Rosencrantz	God save you, sir.
l224l	Guildenstern	(to Polonius)
		 Mine honoured lord.
		(Exit Polonius)
l225l	Rosencrantz	(to Hamlet)
		 My most dear lord.
l226l	Hamlet	My ex’llent good friends. How dost thou,
l227l		Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz—good lads, how do ye
l228l		both?
l229l	Rosencrantz	 As the indifferent children of the earth.
l230l	Guildenstern	Happy in that we are not over-happy,
l231l		On Fortune’s cap we are not the very button.
l232l	Hamlet	 Nor the soles of her shoe?
l233l	Rosencrantz	Neither, my lord.
l234l	Hamlet	Then you live about her waist, or in the middle
l235l		of her favour?
l236l	Guildenstern	Faith, her privates we.
l237l	Hamlet	In the secret parts of Fortune? O, most true, she
l238l		is a strumpet. What’s the news?
l239l	Rosencrantz	None, my lord, but that the world’s grown
l240l		honest.
l241l	Hamlet	Then is doomsday near. But your news is not
l242l		true. Let me question more in particular. What have
l243l		you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune
l244l		that she sends you to prison hither?
l245l	Guildenstern	Prison, my lord?
l246l	Hamlet	Denmark’s a prison.
l247l	Rosencrantz	Then is the world one.
l248l	Hamlet	A goodly one, in which there are many confines,
l249l		wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ th’ worst.
l250l	Rosencrantz	We think not so, my lord.
l251l	Hamlet	Why, then ’tis none to you, for there is nothing
l252l		either good or bad but thinking makes it so. To me it
l253l		is a prison.
l254l	Rosencrantz	Why, then your ambition makes it one# ’tis
l255l		too narrow for your mind.
l256l	Hamlet	O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and
l257l		count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that
l258l		I have bad dreams.
l259l	Guildenstern	Which dreams indeed are ambition# for the
l260l		very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow
l261l		of a dream.
l262l	Hamlet	A dream itself is but a shadow.
l263l	Rosencrantz	Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and
l264l		light a quality that it is but a shadow’s shadow.
l265l	Hamlet	Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs
l266l		and outstretched heroes the beggars’ shadows. Shall
l267l		we to th’ court? For, by my fay, I cannot reason.
l268l	Rosencrantz And Guildenstern	We’ll wait upon you.
l269l	Hamlet	No such matter. I will not sort you with the rest
l270l		of my servants, for, to speak to you like an honest
l271l		man, I am most dreadfully attended. But in the beaten
l272l		way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?
l273l	Rosencrantz	To visit you, my lord, no other occasion.
l274l	Hamlet	Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks, but
l275l		I thank you# and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too
l276l		dear a halfpenny. Were you not sent for? Is it your
l277l		own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come, deal justly
l278l		with me. Come, come. Nay, speak.
l279l	Guildenstern	What should we say, my lord?
l280l	Hamlet	Why, anything—but to th’ purpose. You were
l281l		sent for, and there is a kind of confession in your looks
l282l		which your modesties have not craft enough to colour.
l283l		I know the good King and Queen have sent for you.
l284l	Rosencrantz	To what end, my lord?
l285l	Hamlet	That you must teach me. But let me conjure you
l286l		by the rights of our fellowship, by the consonancy of
l287l		our youth, by the obligation of our ever-preserved love,
l288l		and by what more dear a better proposer could charge
l289l		you withal, be even and direct with me whether you
l290l		were sent for or no.
l291l	Rosencrantz	(to Guildenstern)
		 What say you?
l292l	Hamlet	Nay then, I have an eye of you—if you love me,
l293l		hold not off.
l294l	Guildenstern	My lord, we were sent for.
l295l	Hamlet	I will tell you why. So shall my anticipation
l296l		prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the King
l297l		and Queen moult no feather. I have of late—but
l298l		wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth, forgone all
l299l		custom of exercise# and indeed it goes so heavily with
l300l		my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems
l301l		to me a sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy
l302l		the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging, this majestical
l303l		roof fretted with golden fire—why, it appears no other
l304l		thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of
l305l		vapours. What a piece of work is a man! How noble
l306l		in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving
l307l		how express and admirable, in action how like an
l308l		angel, in apprehension how like a god—the beauty of
l309l		the world, the paragon of animals! And yet to me what
l310l		is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me—no,
l311l		nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem
l312l		to say so.
l313l	Rosencrantz	My lord, there was no such stuff in my
l314l		thoughts.
l315l	Hamlet	Why did you laugh, then, when I said “Man
l316l		delights not me”?
l317l	Rosencrantz	To think, my lord, if you delight not in man
l318l		what lenten entertainment the players shall receive
l319l		from you. We coted them on the way, and hither are
l320l		they coming to offer you service.
l321l	Hamlet	He that plays the King shall be welcome# his
l322l		majesty shall have tribute of me. The adventurous
l323l		Knight shall use his foil and target, the Lover shall not
l324l		sigh gratis, the Humorous Man shall end his part in
l325l		peace, the Clown shall make those laugh whose lungs
l326l		are tickled o’ th’ sear, and the Lady shall say her mind
l327l		freely, or the blank verse shall halt for ’t. What players
l328l		are they?
l329l	Rosencrantz	Even those you were wont to take delight
l330l		in, the tragedians of the city.
l331l	Hamlet	How chances it they travel? Their residence both
l332l		in reputation and profit was better both ways.
l333l	Rosencrantz	I think their inhibition comes by the means
l334l		of the late innovation.
l335l	Hamlet	Do they hold the same estimation they did when
l336l		I was in the city? Are they so followed?
l337l	Rosencrantz	No, indeed, they are not.
l338l	Hamlet	How comes it? Do they grow rusty?
l339l	Rosencrantz	Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted
l340l		pace. But there is, sir, an eyrie of children, little eyases,
l341l		that cry out on the top of question and are most
l342l		tyrannically clapped for ’t. These are now the fashion,
l343l		and so berattle the common stages—so they call them—
l344l		that many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills,
l345l		and dare scarce come thither.
l346l	Hamlet	What, are they children? Who maintains ’em?
l347l		How are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no
l348l		longer than they can sing? Will they not say afterwards,
l349l		if they should grow themselves to common players—
l350l		as it is like most will, if their means are not better—
l351l		their writers do them wrong to make them exclaim
l352l		against their own succession?
l353l	Rosencrantz	Faith, there has been much to-do on both
l354l		sides, and the nation holds it no sin to tarre them to
l355l		controversy. There was for a while no money bid for
l356l		argument unless the poet and the player went to cuffs
l357l		in the question.
l358l	Hamlet	Is ’t possible?
l359l	Guildenstern	O, there has been much throwing about of
l360l		brains.
l361l	Hamlet	Do the boys carry it away?
l362l	Rosencrantz	Ay, that they do, my lord, Hercules and his
l363l		load too.
l364l	Hamlet	It is not strange# for mine uncle is King of
l365l		Denmark, and those that would make mows at him
l366l		while my father lived give twenty, forty, an hundred
l367l		ducats apiece for his picture in little. ’Sblood, there is
l368l		something in this more than natural, if philosophy
l369l		could find it out.
		(A flourish for the Players)
l370l	Guildenstern	 There are the players.
l371l	Hamlet	Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your
l372l		hands, come. Th’ appurtenance of welcome is fashion
l373l		and ceremony. Let me comply with you in the garb,
l374l		lest my extent to the players—which, I tell you, must
l375l		show fairly outward—should more appear like
l376l		entertainment than yours.
		(He shakes hands with them)
l377l		You are welcome. But my uncle-father and aunt-mother
l378l		are deceived.
l379l	Guildenstern	In what, my dear lord?
l380l	Hamlet	I am but mad north-north-west# when the wind
l381l		is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
		(Enter Polonius)
l382l	Polonius	 Well be with you, gentlemen.
l383l	Hamlet	(aside)
		 Hark you, Guildenstern, and you too—at
l384l		each ear a hearer—that great baby you see there is
l385l		not yet out of his swathing-clouts.
l386l	Rosencrantz	(aside)
		 Haply he’s the second time come to
l387l		them, for they say an old man is twice a child.
l388l	Hamlet	(aside)
		 I will prophesy he comes to tell me of the
l389l		players. Mark it.—You say right, sir, for o’ Monday
l390l		morning, ’twas so indeed.
l391l	Polonius	My lord, I have news to tell you.
l392l	Hamlet	My lord, I have news to tell you. When Roscius
l393l		was an actor in Rome—
l394l	Polonius	The actors are come hither, my lord.
l395l	Hamlet	Buzz, buzz.
l396l	Polonius	Upon mine honour—
l397l	Hamlet	Then came each actor on his ass.
l398l	Polonius	The best actors in the world, either for tragedy,
l399l		comedy, history, pastoral, pastorical-comical, historical-
l400l		pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-
l401l		pastoral, scene individable or poem unlimited. Seneca
l402l		cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law
l403l		of writ and the liberty, these are the only men.
l404l	Hamlet	O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst
l405l		thou!
l406l	Polonius	What a treasure had he, my lord?
l407l	Hamlet	 Why,
l408l		“One fair daughter and no more,
l409l		The which he lovèd passing well”.
l410l	Polonius	(aside)
		 Still on my daughter.
l411l	Hamlet	Am I not i’ th’ right, old Jephthah?
l412l	Polonius	If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a
l413l		daughter that I love passing well.
l414l	Hamlet	Nay, that follows not.
l415l	Polonius	What follows then, my lord?
l416l	Hamlet	 Why
l417l		> “As by lot
l418l		God wot”,
l419l		and then you know
l420l		> “It came to pass
l421l		As most like it was”—
l422l		the first row of the pious chanson will show you more,
l423l		for look where my abridgements come.
		(Enter four or five Players)
l424l		You’re welcome, masters, welcome all.—I am glad to
l425l		see thee well.—Welcome, good friends.—O, my old
l426l		friend! Thy face is valanced since I saw thee last.
l427l		Com’st thou to beard me in Denmark?—What, my
l428l		young lady and mistress. By ’r Lady, your ladyship is
l429l		nearer heaven than when I saw you last by the altitude
l430l		of a chopine. Pray God your voice, like a piece of
l431l		uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring.—
l432l		Masters, you are all welcome. We’ll e’en to ’t like French
l433l		falc’ners, fly at anything we see. We’ll have a speech
l434l		straight. Come, give us a taste of your quality. Come,
l435l		a passionate speech.
l436l	First Player	What speech, my good lord?
l437l	Hamlet	I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was
l438l		never acted, or, if it was, not above once# for the play,
l439l		I remember, pleased not the million. ’Twas caviare to
l440l		the general. But it was—as I received it, and others
l441l		whose judgements in such matters cried in the top of
l442l		mine—an excellent play, well digested in the scenes,
l443l		set down with as much modesty as cunning. I remember
l444l		one said there was no sallets in the lines to make the
l445l		matter savoury, nor no matter in the phrase that might
l446l		indict the author of affectation, but called it an honest
l447l		method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very much
l448l		more handsome than fine. One speech in it I chiefly
l449l		loved, ’twas Aeneas’ tale to Dido, and thereabout of it
l450l		especially where he speaks of Priam’s slaughter. If it
l451l		live in your memory, begin at this line—let me see, let
l452l		me see:
l453l		“The rugged Pyrrhus, like th’ Hyrcanian beast”—
l454l		’tis not so. It begins with Pyrrhus—
l455l		“The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,
l456l		Black as his purpose, did the night resemble
l457l		When he lay couchèd in the ominous horse,
l458l		Hath now this dread and black complexion smeared
l459l		With heraldry more dismal. Head to foot
l460l		Now is he total gules, horridly tricked
l461l		With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
l462l		Baked and impasted with the parching streets,
l463l		That lend a tyrranous and damnèd light
l464l		To their vile murders. Roasted in wrath and fire,
l465l		And thus o’er-sizèd with coagulate gore,
l466l		With eyes like carbuncles the hellish Pyrrhus
l467l		Old grandsire Priam seeks.”
l468l		So, proceed you.
l469l	Polonius	Fore God, my lord, well spoken, with good
l470l		accent and good discretion.
l471l	First Player	 “Anon he finds him,
l472l		Striking too short at Greeks. His antique sword,
l473l		Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
l474l		Repugnant to command. Unequal match,
l475l		Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide#
l476l		But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword
l477l		Th’ unnervèd father falls. Then senseless Ilium,
l478l		Seeming to feel his blow, with flaming top
l479l		Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash
l480l		Takes prisoner Pyrrhus’ ear. For lo, his sword,
l481l		Which was declining on the milky head
l482l		Of reverend Priam, seemed i’ th’ air to stick.
l483l		So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood,
l484l		And, like a neutral to his will and matter,
l485l		Did nothing.
l486l		But as we often see against some storm
l487l		A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,
l488l		The bold winds speechless, and the orb below
l489l		As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
l490l		Doth rend the region: so, after Pyrrhus’ pause,
l491l		A rousèd vengeance sets him new a-work#
l492l		And never did the Cyclops’ hammers fall
l493l		On Mars his armour, forged for proof eterne,
l494l		With less remorse than Pyrrhus’ bleeding sword
l495l		Now falls on Priam.
l496l		Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods,
l497l		In general synod, take away her power,
l498l		Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
l499l		And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven,
l500l		As low as to the fiends!”
l501l	Polonius	This is too long.
l502l	Hamlet	 It shall to the barber’s, with your beard.
		( 502 To First)
l503l		Player) Prithee, say on. He’s for a jig or a tale of
l504l		bawdry, or he sleeps. Say on, come to Hecuba.
l505l	First Player	 “But who, O who had seen the mobbled queen”—
l506l	Hamlet	 “The mobbled queen”?
l507l	Polonius	That’s good# “mobbled queen” is good.
l508l	First Player	 “Run barefoot up and down, threat’ning the flames
l509l		With bisson rheum# a clout upon that head
l510l		Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
l511l		About her lank and all o’er-teemèd loins,
l512l		A blanket in th’ alarm of fear caught up—
l513l		Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steeped,
l514l		’Gainst Fortune’s state would treason have pronounced.
l515l		But if the gods themselves did see her then,
l516l		When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
l517l		In mincing with his sword her husband’s limbs,
l518l		The instant burst of clamour that she made—
l519l		Unless things mortal move them not at all—
l520l		Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
l521l		And passion in the gods.”
l522l	Polonius	 Look whe’er he has not turned his colour, and
l523l		has tears in ’s eyes.
		(To First Player)
		 Prithee, no more.
l524l	Hamlet	(to First Player)
		 ’Tis well. I’ll have thee speak out
l525l		the rest soon.
		(To Polonius)
		 Good my lord, will you see
l526l		the players well bestowed? Do ye hear?—let them be
l527l		well used, for they are the abstracts and brief chronicles
l528l		of the time. After your death you were better have a
l529l		bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.
l530l	Polonius	My lord, I will use them according to their
l531l		desert.
l532l	Hamlet	God’s bodykins, man, much better. Use every
l533l		man after his desert, and who should scape whipping?
l534l		Use them after your own honour and dignity—the less
l535l		they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take
l536l		them in.
l537l	Polonius	(to Players)
		 Come, sirs.
		(Exit)
l538l	Hamlet	(to Players)
		 Follow him, friends. We’ll hear a play
l539l		tomorrow. Dost thou hear me, old friend? Can you play
l540l		the murder of Gonzago?
l541l	[Players]	Ay, my lord.
l542l	Hamlet	We’ll ha ’t tomorrow night. You could for a need
l543l		study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines which I
l544l		would set down and insert in ’t, could ye not?
l545l	[Players]	Ay, my lord.
l546l	Hamlet	Very well. Follow that lord, and look you mock
l547l		him not.
		(Exeunt Players)
l548l		My good friends, I’ll leave you till night. You are
l549l		welcome to Elsinore.
l550l	Rosencrantz	Good my lord.
l551l	Hamlet	 Ay, so. God b’ wi’ ye.
		(Exeunt all but Hamlet)
		 Now I am alone.
l552l		O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
l553l		Is it not monstrous that this player here,
l554l		But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
l555l		Could force his soul so to his whole conceit
l556l		That from her working all his visage wanned,
l557l		Tears in his eyes, distraction in ’s aspect,
l558l		A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
l559l		With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing.
l560l		For Hecuba!
l561l		What’s Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
l562l		That he should weep for her? What would he do
l563l		Had he the motive and the cue for passion
l564l		That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,
l565l		And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
l566l		Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
l567l		Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
l568l		The very faculty of eyes and ears. Yet I,
l569l		A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak
l570l		Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
l571l		And can say nothing—no, not for a king
l572l		Upon whose property and most dear life
l573l		A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?
l574l		Who calls me villain, breaks my pate across,
l575l		Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face,
l576l		Tweaks me by th’ nose, gives me the lie i’ th’ throat
l577l		As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this?
l578l		Ha? ’Swounds, I should take it# for it cannot be
l579l		But I am pigeon-livered and lack gall
l580l		To make oppression bitter, or ere this
l581l		I should ’a’ fatted all the region kites
l582l		With this slave’s offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!
l583l		Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
l584l		O, vengeance!—
l585l		Why, what an ass am I? Ay, sure, this is most brave,
l586l		That I, the son of the dear murderèd,
l587l		Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
l588l		Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words
l589l		And fall a-cursing like a very drab,
l590l		A scullion! Fie upon ’t, foh!—About, my brain.
l591l		I have heard that guilty creatures sitting at a play
l592l		Have by the very cunning of the scene
l593l		Been struck so to the soul that presently
l594l		They have proclaimed their malefactions#
l595l		For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
l596l		With most miraculous organ. I’ll have these players
l597l		Play something like the murder of my father
l598l		Before mine uncle. I’ll observe his looks,
l599l		I’ll tent him to the quick. If a but blench,
l600l		I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
l601l		May be the devil, and the devil hath power
l602l		T’ assume a pleasing shape# yea, and perhaps,
l603l		Out of my weakness and my melancholy—
l604l		As he is very potent with such spirits—
l605l		Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds
l606l		More relative than this. The play’s the thing
l607l		Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.
		(Exit)