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No Fear Translations
No Fear Audio
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Original Text |
Modern Text |
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Enter GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
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Enter GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
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POLONIUS He will come straight. Look you lay home to him.
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screened and stood between
Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here.
5 Pray you, be round with him.
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POLONIUS He will come straight. Look you lay home to him.
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screened and stood between
Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.
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HAMLET (within) Mother, mother, mother!
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HAMLET (within) Mother, mother, mother!
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GERTRUDE I’ll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.
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GERTRUDE I’ll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.
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POLONIUS hides behind the arras
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POLONIUS hides behind the arras
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Enter HAMLET
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Enter HAMLET
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HAMLET Now mother, what’s the matter?
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HAMLET Now mother, what’s the matter?
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GERTRUDE Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
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GERTRUDE Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
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HAMLET 10 Mother, you have my father much offended.
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HAMLET Mother, you have my father much offended.
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GERTRUDE Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
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GERTRUDE Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
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HAMLET Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
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HAMLET Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
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GERTRUDE Why, how now, Hamlet?
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GERTRUDE Why, how now, Hamlet?
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HAMLET What’s the matter now?
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HAMLET What’s the matter now?
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GERTRUDE Have you forgot me?
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GERTRUDE Have you forgot me?
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HAMLET No, by the rood, not so.
And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.
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HAMLET No, by the rood, not so.
And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.
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GERTRUDE Nay, then I’ll set those to you that can speak.
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GERTRUDE Nay, then I’ll set those to you that can speak.
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HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass
20 Where you may see the inmost part of you.
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HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
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GERTRUDE What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
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GERTRUDE What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
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POLONIUS (from behind the arras) What, ho? Help, help, help!
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POLONIUS (from behind the arras) What, ho? Help, help, help!
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HAMLET How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!
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HAMLET How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!
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(stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS )
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(stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS )
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POLONIUS |
POLONIUS |
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GERTRUDE O me, what hast thou done?
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GERTRUDE O me, what hast thou done?
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HAMLET Nay, I know not. Is it the king?
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HAMLET Nay, I know not. Is it the king?
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GERTRUDE Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
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GERTRUDE Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
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HAMLET A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother,
30 As kill a king and marry with his brother.
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HAMLET A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king and marry with his brother.
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GERTRUDE As kill a king?
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GERTRUDE As kill a king?
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HAMLET Ay, lady, ’twas my word.
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HAMLET Ay, lady, ’twas my word.
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(draws back the arras and discovers POLONIUS )
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(draws back the arras and discovers POLONIUS )
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Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell.
I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune.
Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger.
And let me wring your heart. For so I shall
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damnèd custom have not brassed it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
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Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell.
I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune.
Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger.
And let me wring your heart. For so I shall
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damnèd custom have not brassed it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
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GERTRUDE 40 What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
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GERTRUDE What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
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HAMLET Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
45 And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows
As false as dicers' oaths—oh, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face doth glow
50 O'er this solidity and compound mass
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
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HAMLET Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows
As false as dicers' oaths—oh, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face doth glow
O'er this solidity and compound mass
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
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GERTRUDE Ay me, what act
That roars so loud and thunders in the index?
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GERTRUDE Ay me, what act
That roars so loud and thunders in the index?
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HAMLET Look here upon this picture and on this,
55 The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow?
Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself,
An eye like Mars to threaten and command,
A station like the herald Mercury
60 New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill—
A combination and a form indeed
Where every god did seem to set his seal
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HAMLET Look here upon this picture and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow?
Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself,
An eye like Mars to threaten and command,
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill—
A combination and a form indeed
Where every god did seem to set his seal
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To give the world assurance of a man.
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows.
65 Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed
And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes?
You cannot call it love, for at your age
70 The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble,
And waits upon the judgment. And what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have,
Else could you not have motion. But sure that sense
Is apoplexed, for madness would not err,
75 Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled,
But it reserved some quantity of choice
To serve in such a difference. What devil was ’t
That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
80 Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?
Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones,
85 To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardor gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn,
And reason panders will.
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To give the world assurance of a man.
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows.
Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed
And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes?
You cannot call it love, for at your age
The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble,
And waits upon the judgment. And what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have,
Else could you not have motion. But sure that sense
Is apoplexed, for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled,
But it reserved some quantity of choice
To serve in such a difference. What devil was ’t
That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?
Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardor gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn,
And reason panders will.
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GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more!
90 Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul,
And there I see such black and grainèd spots
As will not leave their tinct.
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GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more!
Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul,
And there I see such black and grainèd spots
As will not leave their tinct.
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HAMLET Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed,
Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love
95 Over the nasty sty—
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HAMLET Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed,
Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty—
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GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more!
These words like daggers enter in my ears.
No more, sweet Hamlet.
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GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more!
These words like daggers enter in my ears.
No more, sweet Hamlet.
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HAMLET A murderer and a villain,
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings,
100 A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket—
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HAMLET A murderer and a villain,
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings,
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket—
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GERTRUDE No more!
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GERTRUDE No more!
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HAMLET A king of shreds and patches—
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HAMLET A king of shreds and patches—
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Enter GHOST
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Enter GHOST
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105 Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards!—What would your gracious figure?
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Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards!—What would your gracious figure?
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GERTRUDE Alas, he’s mad!
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GERTRUDE Alas, he’s mad!
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HAMLET Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
110 The important acting of your dread command?
O, say!
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HAMLET Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command?
O, say!
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GHOST Do not forget. This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul.
115 Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.
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GHOST Do not forget. This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul.
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.
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HAMLET How is it with you, lady?
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HAMLET How is it with you, lady?
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GERTRUDE Alas, how is ’t with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with th' incorporal air do hold discourse?
120 Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,
And, as the sleeping soldiers in th' alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
125 Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
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GERTRUDE Alas, how is ’t with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with th' incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,
And, as the sleeping soldiers in th' alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
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HAMLET On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.
(to GHOST) Do not look upon me,
130 Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects. Then what I have to do
Will want true color—tears perchance for blood.
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HAMLET On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.
(to GHOST) Do not look upon me,
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects. Then what I have to do
Will want true color—tears perchance for blood.
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GERTRUDE To whom do you speak this?
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GERTRUDE To whom do you speak this?
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HAMLET Do you see nothing there?
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HAMLET Do you see nothing there?
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GERTRUDE Nothing at all, yet all that is I see.
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GERTRUDE Nothing at all, yet all that is I see.
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HAMLET 135 Nor did you nothing hear?
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HAMLET Nor did you nothing hear?
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GERTRUDE No, nothing but ourselves.
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GERTRUDE No, nothing but ourselves.
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HAMLET Why, look you there! Look how it steals away—
My father, in his habit as he lived—
Look where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
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HAMLET Why, look you there! Look how it steals away—
My father, in his habit as he lived—
Look where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
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Exit GHOST
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Exit GHOST
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GERTRUDE This the very coinage of your brain.
140 This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
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GERTRUDE This the very coinage of your brain.
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
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HAMLET Ecstasy?
My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time
And makes as healthful music. It is not madness
That I have uttered. Bring me to the test,
145 And I the matter will reword, which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul
That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place
150 Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven.
Repent what’s past. Avoid what is to come.
And do not spread the compost on the weeds
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue,
155 For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
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HAMLET Ecstasy?
My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time
And makes as healthful music. It is not madness
That I have uttered. Bring me to the test,
And I the matter will reword, which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul
That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven.
Repent what’s past. Avoid what is to come.
And do not spread the compost on the weeds
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue,
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
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GERTRUDE O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
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GERTRUDE O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
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HAMLET Oh, throw away the worser part of it,
160 And live the purer with the other half.
Good night—but go not to mine uncle’s bed.
Assume a virtue if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this:
165 That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery
That aptly is put on. Refrain tonight,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence, the next more easy.
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HAMLET Oh, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night—but go not to mine uncle’s bed.
Assume a virtue if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this:
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery
That aptly is put on. Refrain tonight,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence, the next more easy.
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170 For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either rein the devil or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night,
And when you are desirous to be blessed,
I’ll blessing beg of you. (points to POLONIUS)
175 For this same lord,
I do repent. But heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him and will answer well
180 The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel only to be kind.
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady—
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For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either rein the devil or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night,
And when you are desirous to be blessed,
I’ll blessing beg of you. (points to POLONIUS)
For this same lord,
I do repent. But heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel only to be kind.
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady—
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GERTRUDE What shall I do?
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GERTRUDE What shall I do?
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HAMLET 185 Not this, by no means, that I bid you do—
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed,
Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses
Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,
190 Make you to ravel all this matter out:
That I essentially am not in madness
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know,
For who that’s but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
195 Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house’s top.
Let the birds fly, and like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep
200 And break your own neck down.
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HAMLET Not this, by no means, that I bid you do—
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed,
Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses
Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out:
That I essentially am not in madness
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know,
For who that’s but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house’s top.
Let the birds fly, and like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep
And break your own neck down.
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GERTRUDE Be thou assured, if words be made of breath
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
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GERTRUDE Be thou assured, if words be made of breath
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
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HAMLET I must to England, you know that?
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HAMLET I must to England, you know that?
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GERTRUDE 205 Alack,
I had forgot. 'Tis so concluded on.
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GERTRUDE Alack,
I had forgot. 'Tis so concluded on.
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HAMLET There’s letters sealed, and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,
They bear the mandate. They must sweep my way
210 And marshal me to knavery. Let it work,
For ’tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard. And ’t shall go hard,
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon. Oh, ’tis most sweet
215 When in one line two crafts directly meet.
(indicates POLONIUS )
This man shall set me packing.
I’ll lug the guts into the neighbor room.
Mother, good night. Indeed this counselor
220 Is now most still, most secret, and most grave
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.—
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.—
Good night, mother.
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HAMLET There’s letters sealed, and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,
They bear the mandate. They must sweep my way
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work,
For ’tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard. And ’t shall go hard,
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon. Oh, ’tis most sweet
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
(indicates POLONIUS )
This man shall set me packing.
I’ll lug the guts into the neighbor room.
Mother, good night. Indeed this counselor
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.—
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.—
Good night, mother.
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Exeunt, HAMLET tugging in POLONIUS
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Exeunt, HAMLET tugging in POLONIUS
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Original Text |
Modern Text |
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Enter GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
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Enter GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
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POLONIUS He will come straight. Look you lay home to him.
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screened and stood between
Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here.
5 Pray you, be round with him.
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POLONIUS He will come straight. Look you lay home to him.
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screened and stood between
Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.
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HAMLET (within) Mother, mother, mother!
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HAMLET (within) Mother, mother, mother!
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GERTRUDE I’ll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.
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GERTRUDE I’ll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.
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POLONIUS hides behind the arras
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POLONIUS hides behind the arras
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Enter HAMLET
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Enter HAMLET
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HAMLET Now mother, what’s the matter?
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HAMLET Now mother, what’s the matter?
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GERTRUDE Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
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GERTRUDE Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
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HAMLET 10 Mother, you have my father much offended.
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HAMLET Mother, you have my father much offended.
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GERTRUDE Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
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GERTRUDE Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
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HAMLET Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
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HAMLET Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
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GERTRUDE Why, how now, Hamlet?
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GERTRUDE Why, how now, Hamlet?
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HAMLET What’s the matter now?
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HAMLET What’s the matter now?
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GERTRUDE Have you forgot me?
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GERTRUDE Have you forgot me?
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HAMLET No, by the rood, not so.
And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.
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HAMLET No, by the rood, not so.
And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.
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GERTRUDE Nay, then I’ll set those to you that can speak.
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GERTRUDE Nay, then I’ll set those to you that can speak.
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HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass
20 Where you may see the inmost part of you.
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HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
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GERTRUDE What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
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GERTRUDE What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
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POLONIUS (from behind the arras) What, ho? Help, help, help!
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POLONIUS (from behind the arras) What, ho? Help, help, help!
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HAMLET How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!
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HAMLET How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!
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(stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS )
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(stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS )
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POLONIUS |
POLONIUS |
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GERTRUDE O me, what hast thou done?
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GERTRUDE O me, what hast thou done?
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HAMLET Nay, I know not. Is it the king?
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HAMLET Nay, I know not. Is it the king?
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GERTRUDE Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
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GERTRUDE Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
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HAMLET A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother,
30 As kill a king and marry with his brother.
|
HAMLET A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king and marry with his brother.
|
|
GERTRUDE As kill a king?
|
GERTRUDE As kill a king?
|
|
HAMLET Ay, lady, ’twas my word.
|
HAMLET Ay, lady, ’twas my word.
|
|
(draws back the arras and discovers POLONIUS )
|
(draws back the arras and discovers POLONIUS )
|
|
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell.
I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune.
Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger.
And let me wring your heart. For so I shall
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damnèd custom have not brassed it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
|
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell.
I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune.
Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger.
And let me wring your heart. For so I shall
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damnèd custom have not brassed it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
|
|
GERTRUDE 40 What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
|
GERTRUDE What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
|
|
HAMLET Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
45 And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows
As false as dicers' oaths—oh, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face doth glow
50 O'er this solidity and compound mass
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
|
HAMLET Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows
As false as dicers' oaths—oh, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face doth glow
O'er this solidity and compound mass
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
|
|
GERTRUDE Ay me, what act
That roars so loud and thunders in the index?
|
GERTRUDE Ay me, what act
That roars so loud and thunders in the index?
|
|
HAMLET Look here upon this picture and on this,
55 The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow?
Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself,
An eye like Mars to threaten and command,
A station like the herald Mercury
60 New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill—
A combination and a form indeed
Where every god did seem to set his seal
|
HAMLET Look here upon this picture and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow?
Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself,
An eye like Mars to threaten and command,
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill—
A combination and a form indeed
Where every god did seem to set his seal
|
|
To give the world assurance of a man.
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows.
65 Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed
And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes?
You cannot call it love, for at your age
70 The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble,
And waits upon the judgment. And what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have,
Else could you not have motion. But sure that sense
Is apoplexed, for madness would not err,
75 Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled,
But it reserved some quantity of choice
To serve in such a difference. What devil was ’t
That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
80 Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?
Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones,
85 To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardor gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn,
And reason panders will.
|
To give the world assurance of a man.
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows.
Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed
And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes?
You cannot call it love, for at your age
The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble,
And waits upon the judgment. And what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have,
Else could you not have motion. But sure that sense
Is apoplexed, for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled,
But it reserved some quantity of choice
To serve in such a difference. What devil was ’t
That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?
Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardor gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn,
And reason panders will.
|
|
GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more!
90 Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul,
And there I see such black and grainèd spots
As will not leave their tinct.
|
GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more!
Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul,
And there I see such black and grainèd spots
As will not leave their tinct.
|
|
HAMLET Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed,
Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love
95 Over the nasty sty—
|
HAMLET Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed,
Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty—
|
|
GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more!
These words like daggers enter in my ears.
No more, sweet Hamlet.
|
GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more!
These words like daggers enter in my ears.
No more, sweet Hamlet.
|
|
HAMLET A murderer and a villain,
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings,
100 A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket—
|
HAMLET A murderer and a villain,
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings,
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket—
|
|
GERTRUDE No more!
|
GERTRUDE No more!
|
|
HAMLET A king of shreds and patches—
|
HAMLET A king of shreds and patches—
|
|
Enter GHOST
|
Enter GHOST
|
|
105 Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards!—What would your gracious figure?
|
Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards!—What would your gracious figure?
|
|
GERTRUDE Alas, he’s mad!
|
GERTRUDE Alas, he’s mad!
|
|
HAMLET Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
110 The important acting of your dread command?
O, say!
|
HAMLET Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command?
O, say!
|
|
GHOST Do not forget. This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul.
115 Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.
|
GHOST Do not forget. This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul.
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.
Speak to her, Hamlet.
|
|
HAMLET How is it with you, lady?
|
HAMLET How is it with you, lady?
|
|
GERTRUDE Alas, how is ’t with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with th' incorporal air do hold discourse?
120 Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,
And, as the sleeping soldiers in th' alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
125 Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
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GERTRUDE Alas, how is ’t with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with th' incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep,
And, as the sleeping soldiers in th' alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
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|
HAMLET On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.
(to GHOST) Do not look upon me,
130 Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects. Then what I have to do
Will want true color—tears perchance for blood.
|
HAMLET On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.
(to GHOST) Do not look upon me,
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects. Then what I have to do
Will want true color—tears perchance for blood.
|
|
GERTRUDE To whom do you speak this?
|
GERTRUDE To whom do you speak this?
|
|
HAMLET Do you see nothing there?
|
HAMLET Do you see nothing there?
|
|
GERTRUDE Nothing at all, yet all that is I see.
|
GERTRUDE Nothing at all, yet all that is I see.
|
|
HAMLET 135 Nor did you nothing hear?
|
HAMLET Nor did you nothing hear?
|
|
GERTRUDE No, nothing but ourselves.
|
GERTRUDE No, nothing but ourselves.
|
|
HAMLET Why, look you there! Look how it steals away—
My father, in his habit as he lived—
Look where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
|
HAMLET Why, look you there! Look how it steals away—
My father, in his habit as he lived—
Look where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
|
|
Exit GHOST
|
Exit GHOST
|
|
GERTRUDE This the very coinage of your brain.
140 This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
|
GERTRUDE This the very coinage of your brain.
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
|
|
HAMLET Ecstasy?
My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time
And makes as healthful music. It is not madness
That I have uttered. Bring me to the test,
145 And I the matter will reword, which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul
That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place
150 Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven.
Repent what’s past. Avoid what is to come.
And do not spread the compost on the weeds
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue,
155 For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
|
HAMLET Ecstasy?
My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time
And makes as healthful music. It is not madness
That I have uttered. Bring me to the test,
And I the matter will reword, which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul
That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven.
Repent what’s past. Avoid what is to come.
And do not spread the compost on the weeds
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue,
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
|
|
GERTRUDE O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
|
GERTRUDE O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
|
|
HAMLET Oh, throw away the worser part of it,
160 And live the purer with the other half.
Good night—but go not to mine uncle’s bed.
Assume a virtue if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this:
165 That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery
That aptly is put on. Refrain tonight,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence, the next more easy.
|
HAMLET Oh, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night—but go not to mine uncle’s bed.
Assume a virtue if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this:
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery
That aptly is put on. Refrain tonight,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence, the next more easy.
|
|
170 For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either rein the devil or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night,
And when you are desirous to be blessed,
I’ll blessing beg of you. (points to POLONIUS)
175 For this same lord,
I do repent. But heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him and will answer well
180 The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel only to be kind.
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady—
|
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either rein the devil or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night,
And when you are desirous to be blessed,
I’ll blessing beg of you. (points to POLONIUS)
For this same lord,
I do repent. But heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel only to be kind.
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady—
|
|
GERTRUDE What shall I do?
|
GERTRUDE What shall I do?
|
|
HAMLET 185 Not this, by no means, that I bid you do—
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed,
Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses
Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,
190 Make you to ravel all this matter out:
That I essentially am not in madness
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know,
For who that’s but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
195 Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house’s top.
Let the birds fly, and like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep
200 And break your own neck down.
|
HAMLET Not this, by no means, that I bid you do—
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed,
Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses
Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out:
That I essentially am not in madness
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know,
For who that’s but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house’s top.
Let the birds fly, and like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep
And break your own neck down.
|
|
GERTRUDE Be thou assured, if words be made of breath
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
|
GERTRUDE Be thou assured, if words be made of breath
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
|
|
HAMLET I must to England, you know that?
|
HAMLET I must to England, you know that?
|
|
GERTRUDE 205 Alack,
I had forgot. 'Tis so concluded on.
|
GERTRUDE Alack,
I had forgot. 'Tis so concluded on.
|
|
HAMLET There’s letters sealed, and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,
They bear the mandate. They must sweep my way
210 And marshal me to knavery. Let it work,
For ’tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard. And ’t shall go hard,
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon. Oh, ’tis most sweet
215 When in one line two crafts directly meet.
(indicates POLONIUS )
This man shall set me packing.
I’ll lug the guts into the neighbor room.
Mother, good night. Indeed this counselor
220 Is now most still, most secret, and most grave
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.—
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.—
Good night, mother.
|
HAMLET There’s letters sealed, and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,
They bear the mandate. They must sweep my way
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work,
For ’tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard. And ’t shall go hard,
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon. Oh, ’tis most sweet
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
(indicates POLONIUS )
This man shall set me packing.
I’ll lug the guts into the neighbor room.
Mother, good night. Indeed this counselor
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.—
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.—
Good night, mother.
|
|
Exeunt, HAMLET tugging in POLONIUS
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Exeunt, HAMLET tugging in POLONIUS
|
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