Hamlet act ii scene ii text

Elsinore. A room in the Castle.

• Claudius. Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
  Moreover that we much did long to see you, 1085
  The need we have to use you did provoke
  Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
  Of Hamlet's transformation. So I call it,
  Sith nor th' exterior nor the inward man
  Resembles that it was. What it should be, 1090
  More than his father's death, that thus hath put him
  So much from th' understanding of himself,
  I cannot dream of. I entreat you both
  That, being of so young days brought up with him,
  And since so neighbour'd to his youth and haviour, 1095
  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 occasion you may glean,
  Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus 1100
  That, open'd, lies within our remedy.

• Gertrude. Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you,
  And sure I am two men there are not living
  To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
  To show us so much gentry and good will 1105
  As to expend your time with us awhile
  For the supply and profit of our hope,
  Your visitation shall receive such thanks
  As fits a king's remembrance.

• Rosencrantz. Both your Majesties 1110
  Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,
  Put your dread pleasures more into command
  Than to entreaty.

• Guildenstern. But we both obey,
  And here give up ourselves, in the full bent, 1115
  To lay our service freely at your feet,
  To be commanded.

• Claudius. Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.

• Gertrude. Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz.
  And I beseech you instantly to visit 1120
  My too much changed son.- Go, some of you,
  And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.

• Guildenstern. Heavens make our presence and our practices
  Pleasant and helpful to him!

• Gertrude. Ay, amen! 1125

• Polonius. Th' ambassadors from Norway, my good lord,
  Are joyfully return'd.

• Claudius. Thou still hast been the father of good news. 1130

• Polonius. Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege,
  I hold my duty as I hold my soul,
  Both to my God and to my gracious king;
  And I do think- or else this brain of mine
  Hunts not the trail of policy so sure 1135
  As it hath us'd to do- that I have found
  The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.

• Claudius. O, speak of that! That do I long to hear.

• Polonius. Give first admittance to th' ambassadors.
  My news shall be the fruit to that great feast. 1140

• Claudius. Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.
  [Exit Polonius.]
  He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found
  The head and source of all your son's distemper.

• Gertrude. I doubt it is no other but the main, 1145
  His father's death and our o'erhasty marriage.

• Claudius. Well, we shall sift him.
  [Enter Polonius, Voltemand, and Cornelius.]
  Welcome, my good friends.
  Say, Voltemand, what from our brother Norway? 1150

• Voltemand. Most fair return of greetings and desires.
  Upon our first, he sent out to suppress
  His nephew's levies; which to him appear'd
  To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack,
  But better look'd into, he truly found 1155
  It was against your Highness; whereat griev'd,
  That so his sickness, age, and impotence
  Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests
  On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys,
  Receives rebuke from Norway, and, in fine, 1160
  Makes vow before his uncle never more
  To give th' assay of arms against your Majesty.
  Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
  Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee
  And his commission to employ those soldiers, 1165
  So levied as before, against the Polack;
  With an entreaty, herein further shown,
  [Gives a paper.]
  That it might please you to give quiet pass
  Through your dominions for this enterprise, 1170
  On such regards of safety and allowance
  As therein are set down.

• Claudius. It likes us well;
  And at our more consider'd time we'll read,
  Answer, and think upon this business. 1175
  Meantime we thank you for your well-took labour.
  Go to your rest; at night we'll feast together.
  Most welcome home! Exeunt Ambassadors.

• Polonius. This business is well ended.
  My liege, and madam, to expostulate 1180
  What majesty should be, what duty is,
  Why day is day, night is 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, 1185
  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.

• Gertrude. More matter, with less art. 1190

• 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.
  Mad let us grant him then. And now remains 1195
  That we find out the cause of this effect-
  Or rather say, the cause of this defect,
  For this effect defective comes by cause.
  Thus it remains, and the remainder thus.
  Perpend. 1200
  I have a daughter (have while she is mine),
  Who in her duty and obedience, mark,
  Hath given me this. Now gather, and surmise.
  [Reads] the letter.]
  'To the celestial, and my soul's idol, the most beautified Ophelia,'- 1205
  That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase; 'beautified' is a vile phrase.
  But you shall hear. Thus:
  [Reads.]
  'In her excellent white bosom, these, &c.'

• Gertrude. Came this from Hamlet to her? 1210

• Polonius. Good madam, stay awhile. I will be faithful. [Reads.]
  'Doubt thou the stars are fire;
  Doubt that the sun doth move;
  Doubt truth to be a liar;
  But never doubt I love. 1215
  'O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers; I have not art to
  reckon my groans; but that I love thee best, O most best, believe
  it. Adieu.
  'Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to
  him, HAMLET.' 1220
  This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me;
  And more above, hath his solicitings,
  As they fell out by time, by means, and place,
  All given to mine ear.

• Claudius. But how hath she 1225
  Receiv'd his love?

• Polonius. What do you think of me?

• Claudius. As of a man faithful and honourable.

• Polonius. I would fain prove so. But what might you think,
  When I had seen this hot love on the wing 1230
  (As I perceiv'd it, I must tell you that,
  Before my daughter told me), what might you,
  Or my dear Majesty your queen here, think,
  If I had play'd the desk or table book,
  Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb, 1235
  Or look'd upon this love with idle sight?
  What might you think? No, I went round to work
  And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:
  'Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star.
  This must not be.' And then I prescripts gave her, 1240
  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, 1245
  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 mourn for.

• Claudius. Do you think 'tis this? 1250

• Gertrude. it may be, very like.

• Polonius. Hath there been such a time- I would fain know that-
  That I have Positively said 'Tis so,'
  When it prov'd otherwise.?

• Claudius. Not that I know. 1255

• Polonius.[points to his head and shoulder] Take this from this, if this be otherwise.
  If circumstances lead me, I will find
  Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
  Within the centre.

• Claudius. How may we try it further? 1260

• Polonius. You know sometimes he walks for hours together
  Here in the lobby.

• Gertrude. So he does indeed.

• Polonius. At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him.
  Be you and I behind an arras then. 1265
  Mark the encounter. If he love her not,
  And he not from his reason fall'n thereon
  Let me be no assistant for a state,
  But keep a farm and carters.

• Claudius. We will try it. 1270

• Gertrude. But look where sadly the poor wretch comes reading.

• Polonius. Away, I do beseech you, both away
  I'll board him presently. O, give me leave.
  [Exeunt King and Queen, [with Attendants].] 1275
  How does my good Lord Hamlet?

• Hamlet. Well, God-a-mercy.

• Polonius. Do you know me, my lord?

• Hamlet. Excellent well. You are a fishmonger.

• Polonius. Not I, my lord. 1280

• 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 ten thousand.

• Polonius. That's very true, my lord. 1285

• Hamlet. For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god
  kissing carrion- 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. 1290

• Polonius.[aside] How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter. Yet
  he knew me not at first. He said I was a fishmonger. He is far
  gone, far gone! And truly in my youth I suff'red much extremity
  for love- very near this. I'll speak to him again.- What do you
  read, my lord? 1295

• Hamlet. Words, words, words.

• Polonius. What is the matter, my lord?

• Hamlet. Between who?

• Polonius. I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

• Hamlet. Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men 1300
  have grey beards; that their faces are wrinkled; their eyes
  purging thick amber and plum-tree gum; and that they have a
  plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams. All which,
  sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it
  not honesty to have it thus set down; for you yourself, sir, 1305
  should be old as I am if, like a crab, you could go backward.

• Polonius.[aside] Though this be madness, yet there is a method in't.-
  Will You walk out of the air, my lord?

• Hamlet. Into my grave?

• Polonius. Indeed, that is out o' th' air. [Aside] How pregnant sometimes 1310
  his replies are! a happiness that often madness hits on, which
  reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. 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. 1315

• Hamlet. You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will more
  willingly part withal- except my life, except my life, except my
  life,

• Polonius. Fare you well, my lord. 1320

• Hamlet. These tedious old fools!

• Polonius. You go to seek the Lord Hamlet. There he is.

• Rosencrantz.[to Polonius] God save you, sir!

• Guildenstern. My honour'd lord! 1325

• Rosencrantz. My most dear lord!

• Hamlet. My excellent good friends! How dost thou, Guildenstern? Ah,
  Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye both?

• Rosencrantz. As the indifferent children of the earth.

• Guildenstern. Happy in that we are not over-happy. 1330
  On Fortune's cap we are not the very button.

• Hamlet. Nor the soles of her shoe?

• Rosencrantz. Neither, my lord.

• Hamlet. Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of her
  favours? 1335

• Guildenstern. Faith, her privates we.

• Hamlet. In the secret parts of Fortune? O! most true! she is a
  strumpet. What news ?

• Rosencrantz. None, my lord, but that the world's grown honest.

• Hamlet. Then is doomsday near! But your news is not true. Let me 1340
  question more in particular. What have you, my good friends,
  deserved at the hands of Fortune that she sends you to prison
  hither?

• Guildenstern. Prison, my lord?

• Hamlet. Denmark's a prison. 1345

• Rosencrantz. Then is the world one.

• Hamlet. A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards, and
  dungeons, Denmark being one o' th' worst.

• Rosencrantz. We think not so, my lord.

• Hamlet. Why, then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good 1350
  or bad but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.

• Rosencrantz. Why, then your ambition makes it one. 'Tis too narrow for your
  mind.

• Hamlet. O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a
  king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. 1355

• Guildenstern. Which dreams indeed are ambition; for the very substance of
  the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.

• Hamlet. A dream itself is but a shadow.

• Rosencrantz. Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light a quality that
  it is but a shadow's shadow. 1360

• Hamlet. Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs and outstretch'd
  heroes the beggars' shadows. Shall we to th' court? for, by my
  fay, I cannot reason.

• Rosencrantz.[with Guildenstern] We'll wait upon you.

• Hamlet. No such matter! I will not sort you with the rest of my 1365
  servants; for, to speak to you like an honest man, I am most
  dreadfully attended. But in the beaten way of friendship, what
  make you at Elsinore?

• Rosencrantz. To visit you, my lord; no other occasion.

• Hamlet. Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks; but I thank you; 1370
  and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear a halfpenny. Were
  you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free
  visitation? Come, deal justly with me. Come, come! Nay, speak.

• Guildenstern. What should we say, my lord?

• Hamlet. Why, anything- but to th' purpose. You were sent for; and 1375
  there is a kind of confession in your looks, which your modesties
  have not craft enough to colour. I know the good King and Queen
  have sent for you.

• Rosencrantz. To what end, my lord?

• Hamlet. That you must teach me. But let me conjure you by the rights 1380
  of our fellowship, by the consonancy of our youth, by the
  obligation of our ever-preserved love, and by what more dear a
  better proposer could charge you withal, be even and direct with
  me, whether you were sent for or no.

• Rosencrantz.[aside to Guildenstern] What say you? 1385

• Hamlet.[aside] Nay then, I have an eye of you.- If you love me, hold
  not off.

• Guildenstern. My lord, we were sent for.

• Hamlet. I will tell you why. So shall my anticipation prevent your
  discovery, and your secrecy to the King and Queen moult no 1390
  feather. I have of late- but wherefore I know not- lost all my
  mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; 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 1395
  roof fretted with golden fire- why, it appeareth 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
  faculties! in form and moving how express and admirable! in
  action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the 1400
  beauty of the world, the paragon of animals! And yet to me what
  is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me- no, nor woman
  neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.

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

• Hamlet. Why did you laugh then, when I said 'Man delights not me'? 1405

• Rosencrantz. To think, my lord, if you delight not in man, what lenten
  entertainment the players shall receive from you. We coted them
  on the way, and hither are they coming to offer you service.

• Hamlet. He that plays the king shall be welcome- his Majesty shall
  have tribute of me; the adventurous knight shall use his foil and 1410
  target; the lover shall not sigh gratis; the humorous man shall
  end his part in peace; the clown shall make those laugh whose
  lungs are tickle o' th' sere; and the lady shall say her mind
  freely, or the blank verse shall halt for't. What players are
  they? 1415

• Rosencrantz. Even those you were wont to take such delight in, the
  tragedians of the city.

• Hamlet. How chances it they travel? Their residence, both in
  reputation and profit, was better both ways.

• Rosencrantz. I think their inhibition comes by the means of the late 1420
  innovation.

• Hamlet. Do they hold the same estimation they did when I was in the
  city? Are they so follow'd?

• Rosencrantz. No indeed are they not.

• Hamlet. How comes it? Do they grow rusty? 1425

• Rosencrantz. Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace; but there is,
  sir, an eyrie of children, little eyases, that cry out on the top
  of question and are most tyrannically clapp'd for't. These are now
  the fashion, and so berattle the common stages (so they call
  them) that many wearing rapiers are afraid of goosequills and 1430
  dare scarce come thither.

• Hamlet. What, are they children? Who maintains 'em? How are they
  escoted? Will they pursue the quality no longer than they can
  sing? Will they not say afterwards, if they should grow
  themselves to common players (as it is most like, if their means 1435
  are no better), their writers do them wrong to make them exclaim
  against their own succession.

• Rosencrantz. Faith, there has been much to do on both sides; and the nation
  holds it no sin to tarre them to controversy. There was, for a
  while, no money bid for argument unless the poet and the player 1440
  went to cuffs in the question.

• Hamlet. Is't possible?

• Guildenstern. O, there has been much throwing about of brains.

• Hamlet. Do the boys carry it away?

• Rosencrantz. Ay, that they do, my lord- Hercules and his load too. 1445

• Hamlet. It is not very strange; for my uncle is King of Denmark, and
  those that would make mows at him while my father lived give
  twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece for his picture in
  little. 'Sblood, there is something in this more than natural, if
  philosophy could find it out. 1450

• Guildenstern. There are the players.

• Hamlet. Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands, come! Th'
  appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony. Let me comply
  with you in this garb, lest my extent to the players (which I 1455
  tell you must show fairly outwards) should more appear like
  entertainment than yours. You are welcome. But my uncle-father
  and aunt-mother are deceiv'd.

• Guildenstern. In what, my dear lord?

• Hamlet. I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I 1460
  know a hawk from a handsaw.

• Polonius. Well be with you, gentlemen!

• Hamlet. Hark you, Guildenstern- and you too- at each ear a hearer!
  That great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling 1465
  clouts.

• Rosencrantz. Happily he's the second time come to them; for they say an old
  man is twice a child.

• Hamlet. I will prophesy he comes to tell me of the players. Mark it.-
  You say right, sir; a Monday morning; twas so indeed. 1470

• Polonius. My lord, I have news to tell you.

• Hamlet. My lord, I have news to tell you. When Roscius was an actor in Rome-

• Polonius. The actors are come hither, my lord.

• Hamlet. Buzz, buzz!

• Polonius. Upon my honour- 1475

• Hamlet. Then came each actor on his ass-

• Polonius. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy,
  history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral,
  tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral; scene
  individable, or poem unlimited. Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor 1480
  Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the liberty, these are
  the only men.

• Hamlet. O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou!

• Polonius. What treasure had he, my lord?

• Hamlet. Why, 1485
  'One fair daughter, and no more,
  The which he loved passing well.'

• Polonius.[aside] Still on my daughter.

• Hamlet. Am I not i' th' right, old Jephthah?

• Polonius. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter that I 1490
  love passing well.

• Hamlet. Nay, that follows not.

• Polonius. What follows then, my lord?

• Hamlet. Why,
  'As by lot, God wot,' 1495
  and then, you know,
  'It came to pass, as most like it was.'
  The first row of the pious chanson will show you more; for look
  where my abridgment comes.
  [Enter four or five Players.] 1500
  You are welcome, masters; welcome, all.- I am glad to see thee
  well.- Welcome, good friends.- O, my old friend? Why, thy face is
  valanc'd since I saw thee last. Com'st' thou to' beard me in
  Denmark?- What, my young lady and mistress? By'r Lady, your
  ladyship is nearer to heaven than when I saw you last by the 1505
  altitude of a chopine. Pray God your voice, like a piece of
  uncurrent gold, be not crack'd within the ring.- Masters, you are
  all welcome. We'll e'en to't like French falconers, fly at
  anything we see. We'll have a speech straight. Come, give us a
  taste of your quality. Come, a passionate speech. 1510

• First Player. What speech, my good lord?

• Hamlet. I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was never acted;
  or if it was, not above once; for the play, I remember, pleas'd
  not the million, 'twas caviary to the general; but it was (as I
  receiv'd it, and others, whose judgments in such matters cried in 1515
  the top of mine) an excellent play, well digested in the scenes,
  set down with as much modesty as cunning. I remember one said
  there were no sallets in the lines to make the matter savoury,
  nor no matter in the phrase that might indict the author of
  affectation; but call'd it an honest method, as wholesome as 1520
  sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine. One speech in't
  I chiefly lov'd. 'Twas AEneas' tale to Dido, and thereabout of it
  especially where he speaks of Priam's slaughter. If it live in
  your memory, begin at this line- let me see, let me see:
  'The rugged Pyrrhus, like th' Hyrcanian beast-' 1525
  'Tis not so; it begins with Pyrrhus:
  'The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms,
  Black as his purpose, did the night resemble
  When he lay couched in the ominous horse,
  Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd 1530
  With heraldry more dismal. Head to foot
  Now is be total gules, horridly trick'd
  With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
  Bak'd and impasted with the parching streets,
  That lend a tyrannous and a damned light 1535
  To their lord's murther. Roasted in wrath and fire,
  And thus o'ersized with coagulate gore,
  With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus
  Old grandsire Priam seeks.'
  So, proceed you. 1540

• Polonius. Fore God, my lord, well spoken, with good accent and good discretion.

• First Player. 'Anon he finds him,
  Striking too short at Greeks. His antique sword,
  Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
  Repugnant to command. Unequal match'd, 1545
  Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide;
  But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword
  Th' unnerved father falls. Then senseless Ilium,
  Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top
  Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash 1550
  Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear. For lo! his sword,
  Which was declining on the milky head
  Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' th' air to stick.
  So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood,
  And, like a neutral to his will and matter, 1555
  Did nothing.
  But, as we often see, against some storm,
  A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,
  The bold winds speechless, and the orb below
  As hush as death- anon the dreadful thunder 1560
  Doth rend the region; so, after Pyrrhus' pause,
  Aroused vengeance sets him new awork;
  And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall
  On Mars's armour, forg'd for proof eterne,
  With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword 1565
  Now falls on Priam.
  Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods,
  In general synod take away her power;
  Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
  And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven, 1570
  As low as to the fiends!

• Polonius. This is too long.

• Hamlet. It shall to the barber's, with your beard.- Prithee say on.
  He's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps. Say on; come to
  Hecuba. 1575

• First Player. 'But who, O who, had seen the mobled queen-'

• Hamlet. 'The mobled queen'?

• Polonius. That's good! 'Mobled queen' is good.

• First Player. 'Run barefoot up and down, threat'ning the flames
  With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head 1580
  Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
  About her lank and all o'erteemed loins,
  A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up-
  Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd
  'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounc'd. 1585
  But if the gods themselves did see her then,
  When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
  In Mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,
  The instant burst of clamour that she made
  (Unless things mortal move them not at all) 1590
  Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven
  And passion in the gods.'

• Polonius. Look, whe'r he has not turn'd his colour, and has tears in's
  eyes. Prithee no more!

• Hamlet. 'Tis well. I'll have thee speak out the rest of this soon.- 1595
  Good my lord, will you see the players well bestow'd? Do you
  hear? Let them be well us'd; for they are the abstract and brief
  chronicles of the time. After your death you were better have a
  bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.

• Polonius. My lord, I will use them according to their desert. 1600

• Hamlet. God's bodykins, man, much better! Use every man after his
  desert, and who should scape whipping? Use them after your own
  honour and dignity. The less they deserve, the more merit is in
  your bounty. Take them in.

• Polonius. Come, sirs. 1605

• Hamlet. Follow him, friends. We'll hear a play to-morrow.
  [Exeunt Polonius and Players [except the First].]
  Dost thou hear me, old friend? Can you play 'The Murther of
  Gonzago'?

• First Player. Ay, my lord. 1610

• 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 you not?

• First Player. Ay, my lord.

• Hamlet. Very well. Follow that lord- and look you mock him not. 1615
  [Exit First Player.]
  My good friends, I'll leave you till night. You are welcome to
  Elsinore.

• Rosencrantz. Good my lord!

• Hamlet. Ay, so, God b' wi' ye! 1620
  [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]
  Now I am alone.
  O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
  Is it not monstrous that this player here,
  But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, 1625
  Could force his soul so to his own conceit
  That, from her working, all his visage wann'd,
  Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
  A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
  With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing! 1630
  For Hecuba!
  What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
  That he should weep for her? What would he do,
  Had he the motive and the cue for passion
  That I have? He would drown the stage with tears 1635
  And cleave the general ear with horrid speech;
  Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
  Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
  The very faculties of eyes and ears.
  Yet I, 1640
  A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak
  Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
  And can say nothing! No, not for a king,
  Upon whose property and most dear life
  A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward? 1645
  Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
  Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face?
  Tweaks me by th' nose? gives me the lie i' th' throat
  As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this, ha?
  'Swounds, I should take it! for it cannot be 1650
  But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
  To make oppression bitter, or ere this
  I should have fatted all the region kites
  With this slave's offal. Bloody bawdy villain!
  Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! 1655
  O, vengeance!
  Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
  That I, the son of a dear father murther'd,
  Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
  Must (like a whore) unpack my heart with words 1660
  And fall a-cursing like a very drab,
  A scullion!
  Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! Hum, I have heard
  That guilty creatures, sitting at a play,
  Have by the very cunning of the scene 1665
  Been struck so to the soul that presently
  They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
  For murther, though it have no tongue, will speak
  With most miraculous organ, I'll have these Players
  Play something like the murther of my father 1670
  Before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks;
  I'll tent him to the quick. If he but blench,
  I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
  May be a devil; and the devil hath power
  T' assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps 1675
  Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
  As he is very potent with such spirits,
  Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds
  More relative than this. The play's the thing
  Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King. Exit. 1680

Program code and database © 2003-2024 George Mason University.
All texts are in the public domain and can be used freely for any purpose.
Privacy policy