No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet: Act 1 Scene 1

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Enter BARNARDO and FRANCISCO , two sentinels	BARNARDO and FRANCISCO , two watchmen, enter.
BARNARDO Who’s there?	BARNARDO Who’s there?
FRANCISCO Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.	FRANCISCO No, who are you? Stop and identify yourself.
BARNARDO Long live the king!	BARNARDO Long live the king!
FRANCISCO Barnardo?	FRANCISCO Is that Barnardo?
BARNARDO He.	BARNARDO Yes, it’s me.
FRANCISCO You come most carefully upon your hour.	FRANCISCO You’ve come right on time.
BARNARDO 'Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco.	BARNARDO The clock’s just striking twelve. Go home to bed, Francisco.
FRANCISCO For this relief much thanks. 'Tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart.	FRANCISCO Thanks for letting me go. It’s bitterly cold out, and I’m depressed.
BARNARDO Have you had quiet guard?	BARNARDO Has it been a quiet night?
FRANCISCO Not a mouse stirring.	FRANCISCO I haven’t even heard a mouse squeak.
BARNARDO Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, 10 The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.	BARNARDO Well, good night. If you happen to see Horatio and Marcellus, who are supposed to stand guard with me tonight, tell them to hurry.
FRANCISCO I think I hear them.—Stand, ho! Who’s there?	FRANCISCO I think I hear them. —Stop! Who’s there?
Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS	MARCELLUS and HORATIO enter.
HORATIO Friends to this ground.	HORATIO Friends of this country.
MARCELLUS And liegemen to the Dane.	MARCELLUS And servants of the Danish king.
FRANCISCO Give you good night.	FRANCISCO Good night to you both.
MARCELLUS O, farewell, honest soldier. Who hath relieved you?	MARCELLUS Good-bye. Who’s taken over the watch for you?
FRANCISCO Barnardo has my place. Give you good night.	FRANCISCO Barnardo’s taken my place. Good night.
Exit FRANCISCO	FRANCISCO exits.
MARCELLUS 15 Holla, Barnardo.	MARCELLUS Hello, Barnardo.
BARNARDO Say what, is Horatio there?	BARNARDO Hello. Is Horatio here too?
HORATIO A piece of him.	HORATIO More or less.
BARNARDO Welcome, Horatio.—Welcome, good Marcellus.	BARNARDO Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, Marcellus.
MARCELLUS What, has this thing appeared again tonight?	MARCELLUS So, tell us, did you see that thing again tonight?
BARNARDO 20 I have seen nothing.	BARNARDO I haven’t seen anything.
MARCELLUS Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy And will not let belief take hold of him Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us. Therefore I have entreated him along 25 With us to watch the minutes of this night, That if again this apparition come He may approve our eyes and speak to it.	MARCELLUS Horatio says we’re imagining it, and won’t let himself believe anything about this horrible thing that we’ve seen twice now. That’s why I’ve begged him to come on our shift tonight, so that if the ghost appears he can see what we see and speak to it.
HORATIO Tush, tush, ’twill not appear.	HORATIO Oh, nonsense. It’s not going to appear.
BARNARDO Sit down a while And let us once again assail your ears, 30 That are so fortified against our story, What we have two nights seen.	BARNARDO Sit down for a while, and we’ll tell you again the story you don’t want to believe, about what we’ve seen two nights now.
HORATIO Well, sit we down, And let us hear Barnardo speak of this.	HORATIO Well, let’s sit down and listen to Barnardo tell us.
BARNARDO Last night of all, When yond same star that’s westward from the pole 35 Had made his course t' illume that part of heaven Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, The bell then beating one—	BARNARDO Last night, when that star to the west of the North Star had traveled across the night sky to that point where it’s shining now, at one o'clock, Marcellus and I—
Enter GHOST	The GHOST enters.
MARCELLUS Peace, break thee off. Look where it comes again!	MARCELLUS Quiet, shut up! It’s come again.
BARNARDO In the same figure like the king that’s dead.	BARNARDO Looking just like the dead king.
MARCELLUS (to HORATIO) Thou art a scholar. Speak to it, Horatio.	MARCELLUS (to HORATIO) You’re well-educated, Horatio. Say something to it.
BARNARDO Looks it not like the king? Mark it, Horatio.	BARNARDO Doesn’t he look like the king, Horatio?
HORATIO Most like. It harrows me with fear and wonder.	HORATIO Very much so. It’s terrifying.
BARNARDO It would be spoke to.	BARNARDO It wants us to speak to it.
MARCELLUS Question it, Horatio.	MARCELLUS Ask it something, Horatio.
HORATIO What art thou that usurp’st this time of night 45 Together with that fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes march? By heaven, I charge thee, speak.	HORATIO What are you, that you walk out so late at night, looking like the dead king of Denmark when he dressed for battle? By God, I order you to speak.
MARCELLUS It is offended.	MARCELLUS It looks like you’ve offended it.
BARNARDO See, it stalks away.	BARNARDO Look, it’s going away.
HORATIO Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!	HORATIO Stay! Speak! Speak! I order you, speak!
Exit GHOST	The GHOST exits.
MARCELLUS 50 'Tis gone and will not answer.	MARCELLUS It’s gone. It won’t answer now.
BARNARDO How now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale. Is not this something more than fantasy? What think you on ’t?	BARNARDO What’s going on, Horatio? You’re pale and trembling. You agree now that we’re not imagining this, don’t you? What do you think about it?
HORATIO Before my God, I might not this believe 55 Without the sensible and true avouch Of mine own eyes.	HORATIO I swear to God, if I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes I’d never believe it.
MARCELLUS Is it not like the king?	MARCELLUS Doesn’t it look like the king?
HORATIO As thou art to thyself. Such was the very armour he had on 60 When he the ambitious Norway combated. So frowned he once when, in an angry parle, He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice. 'Tis strange.	HORATIO Yes, as much as you look like yourself. The king was wearing exactly this armor when he fought the king of Norway. And the ghost frowned just like the king did once when he attacked the Poles, traveling on the ice in sleds. It’s weird.
MARCELLUS Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, 65 With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.	MARCELLUS It’s happened like this twice before, always at this exact time. He stalks by us at our post like a warrior.
HORATIO In what particular thought to work I know not, But in the gross and scope of mine opinion This bodes some strange eruption to our state.	HORATIO I don’t know exactly how to explain this, but I have a general feeling this means bad news for our country.
MARCELLUS Good now, sit down and tell me, he that knows, 70 Why this same strict and most observant watch So nightly toils the subject of the land, And why such daily cast of brazen cannon And foreign mart for implements of war, Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task 75 Does not divide the Sunday from the week. What might be toward, that this sweaty haste Doth make the night joint laborer with the day? Who is ’t that can inform me?	MARCELLUS All right, let’s sit down and discuss that question. Somebody tell me why this strict schedule of guards has been imposed, and why so many bronze cannons are being manufactured in Denmark, and so many weapons bought from abroad, and why the shipbuilders are so busy they don’t even rest on Sunday. Is something about to happen that warrants working this night and day? Who can explain this to me?
HORATIO That can I. At least, the whisper goes so: our last king, 80 Whose image even but now appeared to us, Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride, Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet (For so this side of our known world esteemed him) 85 Did slay this Fortinbras, who by a sealed compact Well ratified by law and heraldry, Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands Which he stood seized of to the conqueror, Against the which a moiety competent 90 Was gagèd by our king, which had returned To the inheritance of Fortinbras Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same covenant And carriage of the article designed, His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, 95 Of unimprovèd mettle hot and full, Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes, For food and diet, to some enterprise That hath a stomach in ’t, which is no other— 100 As it doth well appear unto our state— But to recover of us, by strong hand	HORATIO I can. Or at least I can describe the rumors. As you know, our late king, whom we just now saw as a ghost, was the great rival of Fortinbras, king of Norway. Fortinbras dared him to battle. In that fight, our courageous Hamlet (or at least that’s how we thought of him) killed old King Fortinbras, who—on the basis of a valid legal document—surrendered all his territories, along with his life, to his conqueror. If our king had lost, he would have had to do the same. But now old Fortinbras’s young son, also called Fortinbras—he is bold, but unproven—has gathered a bunch of thugs from the lawless outskirts of the country. For some food, they’re eager to take on the tough enterprise of securing the lands the elder Fortinbras lost.
And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands So by his father lost. And this, I take it, Is the main motive of our preparations, 105 The source of this our watch, and the chief head Of this posthaste and rummage in the land.	As far as I understand, that’s why we’re posted here tonight and why there’s such a commotion in Denmark lately.
BARNARDO I think it be no other but e'en so. Well may it sort that this portentous figure Comes armèd through our watch so like the king 110 That was and is the question of these wars.	BARNARDO I think that’s exactly right—that explains why the ghost of the late king would haunt us now, since he caused these wars.
HORATIO A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye. In the most high and palmy state of Rome, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead 115 Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, Disasters in the sun, and the moist star Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse. 120 And even the like precurse of feared events, As harbingers preceding still the fates And prologue to the omen coming on, Have heaven and earth together demonstrated Unto our climatures and countrymen.	HORATIO The ghost is definitely something to worry about. In the high and mighty Roman Empire, just before the emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated, corpses rose out of their graves and ran through the streets of Rome speaking gibberish. There were shooting stars, and blood mixed in with the morning dew, and threatening signs on the face of the sun. The moon, which controls the tides of the sea, was so eclipsed it almost went completely out. And we’ve had similar omens of terrible things to come, as if heaven and earth have joined together to warn us what’s going to happen.
Enter GHOST	The GHOST enters.
125 But soft, behold! Lo, where it comes again. I’ll cross it though it blast me.—Stay, illusion!	Wait, look! It has come again. I’ll meet it if it’s the last thing I do. —Stay here, you hallucination!
GHOST spreads his arms	The GHOST spreads his arms.
If thou hast any sound or use of voice, Speak to me.	If you have a voice or can make sounds, speak to me.
If there be any good thing to be done 130 That may to thee do ease and grace to me, Speak to me. If thou art privy to thy country’s fate, Which happily foreknowing may avoid, Oh, speak! 135 Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, Speak of it. Stay and speak!	If there’s any good deed I can do that will bring you peace and me honor, speak to me. If you have some secret knowledge of your country’s sad fate—which might be avoided if we knew about it—then, please, speak. Or if you’ve got some buried treasure somewhere, which they say often makes ghosts restless, then tell us about it. Stay and speak!
The cock crows	A rooster crows.
—Stop it, Marcellus.	Keep it from leaving, Marcellus.
MARCELLUS Shall I strike at it with my partisan?	MARCELLUS Should I strike it with my spear?
HORATIO 140 Do, if it will not stand.	HORATIO Yes, if it doesn’t stand still.
BARNARDO 'Tis here.	BARNARDO It’s over here.
HORATIO 'Tis here.	HORATIO There it is.
Exit GHOST	The GHOST exits.
MARCELLUS 'Tis gone. We do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence, For it is, as the air, invulnerable, 145 And our vain blows malicious mockery.	MARCELLUS It’s gone. We were wrong to threaten it with violence, since it looks so much like a king. Besides, we can’t hurt it anymore than we can hurt the air. Our attack was stupid, futile, and wicked.
BARNARDO It was about to speak when the cock crew.	BARNARDO It was about to say something when the rooster crowed.
HORATIO And then it started like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. I have heard The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 150 Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the god of day, and, at his warning, Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, Th' extravagant and erring spirit hies To his confine, and of the truth herein 155 This present object made probation.	HORATIO And then it acted startled, like a guilty person caught by the law. I’ve heard that the rooster awakens the god of day with its trumpetlike crowing, and makes all wandering ghosts, wherever they are, hurry back to their hiding places. We’ve just seen proof of that.
MARCELLUS It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long. 160 And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad. The nights are wholesome. Then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallowed and so gracious is that time.	MARCELLUS Yes, it faded away when the rooster crowed. Some people say that just before Christmas the rooster crows all night long, so that no ghost dares go wandering, and the night is safe. The planets have no sway over us, fairies' spells don’t work, and witches can’t bewitch us. That’s how holy that night is.
HORATIO So have I heard and do in part believe it. 165 But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill. Break we our watch up, and by my advice, Let us impart what we have seen tonight Unto young Hamlet, for, upon my life, 170 This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?	HORATIO Yes, I’ve heard the same thing and sort of believe it. But look, morning is breaking beyond that hill in the east, turning the sky red. Let’s interrupt our watch and go tell young Hamlet what we’ve seen tonight. I’m sure this ghost that’s so silent with us will speak to him. Don’t you agree that we owe it to him to tell him about this, out of duty and love?
MARCELLUS Let’s do ’t, I pray, and I this morning know Where we shall find him most conveniently.	MARCELLUS Let’s do it. I know where we’ll find him this morning.
Exeunt	They exit.

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Original Text	Modern Text
Enter BARNARDO and FRANCISCO , two sentinels	BARNARDO and FRANCISCO , two watchmen, enter.
BARNARDO Who’s there?	BARNARDO Who’s there?
FRANCISCO Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.	FRANCISCO No, who are you? Stop and identify yourself.
BARNARDO Long live the king!	BARNARDO Long live the king!
FRANCISCO Barnardo?	FRANCISCO Is that Barnardo?
BARNARDO He.	BARNARDO Yes, it’s me.
FRANCISCO You come most carefully upon your hour.	FRANCISCO You’ve come right on time.
BARNARDO 'Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco.	BARNARDO The clock’s just striking twelve. Go home to bed, Francisco.
FRANCISCO For this relief much thanks. 'Tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart.	FRANCISCO Thanks for letting me go. It’s bitterly cold out, and I’m depressed.
BARNARDO Have you had quiet guard?	BARNARDO Has it been a quiet night?
FRANCISCO Not a mouse stirring.	FRANCISCO I haven’t even heard a mouse squeak.
BARNARDO Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, 10 The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.	BARNARDO Well, good night. If you happen to see Horatio and Marcellus, who are supposed to stand guard with me tonight, tell them to hurry.
FRANCISCO I think I hear them.—Stand, ho! Who’s there?	FRANCISCO I think I hear them. —Stop! Who’s there?
Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS	MARCELLUS and HORATIO enter.
HORATIO Friends to this ground.	HORATIO Friends of this country.
MARCELLUS And liegemen to the Dane.	MARCELLUS And servants of the Danish king.
FRANCISCO Give you good night.	FRANCISCO Good night to you both.
MARCELLUS O, farewell, honest soldier. Who hath relieved you?	MARCELLUS Good-bye. Who’s taken over the watch for you?
FRANCISCO Barnardo has my place. Give you good night.	FRANCISCO Barnardo’s taken my place. Good night.
Exit FRANCISCO	FRANCISCO exits.
MARCELLUS 15 Holla, Barnardo.	MARCELLUS Hello, Barnardo.
BARNARDO Say what, is Horatio there?	BARNARDO Hello. Is Horatio here too?
HORATIO A piece of him.	HORATIO More or less.
BARNARDO Welcome, Horatio.—Welcome, good Marcellus.	BARNARDO Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, Marcellus.
MARCELLUS What, has this thing appeared again tonight?	MARCELLUS So, tell us, did you see that thing again tonight?
BARNARDO 20 I have seen nothing.	BARNARDO I haven’t seen anything.
MARCELLUS Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy And will not let belief take hold of him Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us. Therefore I have entreated him along 25 With us to watch the minutes of this night, That if again this apparition come He may approve our eyes and speak to it.	MARCELLUS Horatio says we’re imagining it, and won’t let himself believe anything about this horrible thing that we’ve seen twice now. That’s why I’ve begged him to come on our shift tonight, so that if the ghost appears he can see what we see and speak to it.
HORATIO Tush, tush, ’twill not appear.	HORATIO Oh, nonsense. It’s not going to appear.
BARNARDO Sit down a while And let us once again assail your ears, 30 That are so fortified against our story, What we have two nights seen.	BARNARDO Sit down for a while, and we’ll tell you again the story you don’t want to believe, about what we’ve seen two nights now.
HORATIO Well, sit we down, And let us hear Barnardo speak of this.	HORATIO Well, let’s sit down and listen to Barnardo tell us.
BARNARDO Last night of all, When yond same star that’s westward from the pole 35 Had made his course t' illume that part of heaven Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, The bell then beating one—	BARNARDO Last night, when that star to the west of the North Star had traveled across the night sky to that point where it’s shining now, at one o'clock, Marcellus and I—
Enter GHOST	The GHOST enters.
MARCELLUS Peace, break thee off. Look where it comes again!	MARCELLUS Quiet, shut up! It’s come again.
BARNARDO In the same figure like the king that’s dead.	BARNARDO Looking just like the dead king.
MARCELLUS (to HORATIO) Thou art a scholar. Speak to it, Horatio.	MARCELLUS (to HORATIO) You’re well-educated, Horatio. Say something to it.
BARNARDO Looks it not like the king? Mark it, Horatio.	BARNARDO Doesn’t he look like the king, Horatio?
HORATIO Most like. It harrows me with fear and wonder.	HORATIO Very much so. It’s terrifying.
BARNARDO It would be spoke to.	BARNARDO It wants us to speak to it.
MARCELLUS Question it, Horatio.	MARCELLUS Ask it something, Horatio.
HORATIO What art thou that usurp’st this time of night 45 Together with that fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes march? By heaven, I charge thee, speak.	HORATIO What are you, that you walk out so late at night, looking like the dead king of Denmark when he dressed for battle? By God, I order you to speak.
MARCELLUS It is offended.	MARCELLUS It looks like you’ve offended it.
BARNARDO See, it stalks away.	BARNARDO Look, it’s going away.
HORATIO Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!	HORATIO Stay! Speak! Speak! I order you, speak!
Exit GHOST	The GHOST exits.
MARCELLUS 50 'Tis gone and will not answer.	MARCELLUS It’s gone. It won’t answer now.
BARNARDO How now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale. Is not this something more than fantasy? What think you on ’t?	BARNARDO What’s going on, Horatio? You’re pale and trembling. You agree now that we’re not imagining this, don’t you? What do you think about it?
HORATIO Before my God, I might not this believe 55 Without the sensible and true avouch Of mine own eyes.	HORATIO I swear to God, if I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes I’d never believe it.
MARCELLUS Is it not like the king?	MARCELLUS Doesn’t it look like the king?
HORATIO As thou art to thyself. Such was the very armour he had on 60 When he the ambitious Norway combated. So frowned he once when, in an angry parle, He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice. 'Tis strange.	HORATIO Yes, as much as you look like yourself. The king was wearing exactly this armor when he fought the king of Norway. And the ghost frowned just like the king did once when he attacked the Poles, traveling on the ice in sleds. It’s weird.
MARCELLUS Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, 65 With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.	MARCELLUS It’s happened like this twice before, always at this exact time. He stalks by us at our post like a warrior.
HORATIO In what particular thought to work I know not, But in the gross and scope of mine opinion This bodes some strange eruption to our state.	HORATIO I don’t know exactly how to explain this, but I have a general feeling this means bad news for our country.
MARCELLUS Good now, sit down and tell me, he that knows, 70 Why this same strict and most observant watch So nightly toils the subject of the land, And why such daily cast of brazen cannon And foreign mart for implements of war, Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task 75 Does not divide the Sunday from the week. What might be toward, that this sweaty haste Doth make the night joint laborer with the day? Who is ’t that can inform me?	MARCELLUS All right, let’s sit down and discuss that question. Somebody tell me why this strict schedule of guards has been imposed, and why so many bronze cannons are being manufactured in Denmark, and so many weapons bought from abroad, and why the shipbuilders are so busy they don’t even rest on Sunday. Is something about to happen that warrants working this night and day? Who can explain this to me?
HORATIO That can I. At least, the whisper goes so: our last king, 80 Whose image even but now appeared to us, Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride, Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet (For so this side of our known world esteemed him) 85 Did slay this Fortinbras, who by a sealed compact Well ratified by law and heraldry, Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands Which he stood seized of to the conqueror, Against the which a moiety competent 90 Was gagèd by our king, which had returned To the inheritance of Fortinbras Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same covenant And carriage of the article designed, His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, 95 Of unimprovèd mettle hot and full, Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes, For food and diet, to some enterprise That hath a stomach in ’t, which is no other— 100 As it doth well appear unto our state— But to recover of us, by strong hand	HORATIO I can. Or at least I can describe the rumors. As you know, our late king, whom we just now saw as a ghost, was the great rival of Fortinbras, king of Norway. Fortinbras dared him to battle. In that fight, our courageous Hamlet (or at least that’s how we thought of him) killed old King Fortinbras, who—on the basis of a valid legal document—surrendered all his territories, along with his life, to his conqueror. If our king had lost, he would have had to do the same. But now old Fortinbras’s young son, also called Fortinbras—he is bold, but unproven—has gathered a bunch of thugs from the lawless outskirts of the country. For some food, they’re eager to take on the tough enterprise of securing the lands the elder Fortinbras lost.
And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands So by his father lost. And this, I take it, Is the main motive of our preparations, 105 The source of this our watch, and the chief head Of this posthaste and rummage in the land.	As far as I understand, that’s why we’re posted here tonight and why there’s such a commotion in Denmark lately.
BARNARDO I think it be no other but e'en so. Well may it sort that this portentous figure Comes armèd through our watch so like the king 110 That was and is the question of these wars.	BARNARDO I think that’s exactly right—that explains why the ghost of the late king would haunt us now, since he caused these wars.
HORATIO A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye. In the most high and palmy state of Rome, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead 115 Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, Disasters in the sun, and the moist star Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse. 120 And even the like precurse of feared events, As harbingers preceding still the fates And prologue to the omen coming on, Have heaven and earth together demonstrated Unto our climatures and countrymen.	HORATIO The ghost is definitely something to worry about. In the high and mighty Roman Empire, just before the emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated, corpses rose out of their graves and ran through the streets of Rome speaking gibberish. There were shooting stars, and blood mixed in with the morning dew, and threatening signs on the face of the sun. The moon, which controls the tides of the sea, was so eclipsed it almost went completely out. And we’ve had similar omens of terrible things to come, as if heaven and earth have joined together to warn us what’s going to happen.
Enter GHOST	The GHOST enters.
125 But soft, behold! Lo, where it comes again. I’ll cross it though it blast me.—Stay, illusion!	Wait, look! It has come again. I’ll meet it if it’s the last thing I do. —Stay here, you hallucination!
GHOST spreads his arms	The GHOST spreads his arms.
If thou hast any sound or use of voice, Speak to me.	If you have a voice or can make sounds, speak to me.
If there be any good thing to be done 130 That may to thee do ease and grace to me, Speak to me. If thou art privy to thy country’s fate, Which happily foreknowing may avoid, Oh, speak! 135 Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, Speak of it. Stay and speak!	If there’s any good deed I can do that will bring you peace and me honor, speak to me. If you have some secret knowledge of your country’s sad fate—which might be avoided if we knew about it—then, please, speak. Or if you’ve got some buried treasure somewhere, which they say often makes ghosts restless, then tell us about it. Stay and speak!
The cock crows	A rooster crows.
—Stop it, Marcellus.	Keep it from leaving, Marcellus.
MARCELLUS Shall I strike at it with my partisan?	MARCELLUS Should I strike it with my spear?
HORATIO 140 Do, if it will not stand.	HORATIO Yes, if it doesn’t stand still.
BARNARDO 'Tis here.	BARNARDO It’s over here.
HORATIO 'Tis here.	HORATIO There it is.
Exit GHOST	The GHOST exits.
MARCELLUS 'Tis gone. We do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence, For it is, as the air, invulnerable, 145 And our vain blows malicious mockery.	MARCELLUS It’s gone. We were wrong to threaten it with violence, since it looks so much like a king. Besides, we can’t hurt it anymore than we can hurt the air. Our attack was stupid, futile, and wicked.
BARNARDO It was about to speak when the cock crew.	BARNARDO It was about to say something when the rooster crowed.
HORATIO And then it started like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. I have heard The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 150 Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the god of day, and, at his warning, Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, Th' extravagant and erring spirit hies To his confine, and of the truth herein 155 This present object made probation.	HORATIO And then it acted startled, like a guilty person caught by the law. I’ve heard that the rooster awakens the god of day with its trumpetlike crowing, and makes all wandering ghosts, wherever they are, hurry back to their hiding places. We’ve just seen proof of that.
MARCELLUS It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long. 160 And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad. The nights are wholesome. Then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallowed and so gracious is that time.	MARCELLUS Yes, it faded away when the rooster crowed. Some people say that just before Christmas the rooster crows all night long, so that no ghost dares go wandering, and the night is safe. The planets have no sway over us, fairies' spells don’t work, and witches can’t bewitch us. That’s how holy that night is.
HORATIO So have I heard and do in part believe it. 165 But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill. Break we our watch up, and by my advice, Let us impart what we have seen tonight Unto young Hamlet, for, upon my life, 170 This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?	HORATIO Yes, I’ve heard the same thing and sort of believe it. But look, morning is breaking beyond that hill in the east, turning the sky red. Let’s interrupt our watch and go tell young Hamlet what we’ve seen tonight. I’m sure this ghost that’s so silent with us will speak to him. Don’t you agree that we owe it to him to tell him about this, out of duty and love?
MARCELLUS Let’s do ’t, I pray, and I this morning know Where we shall find him most conveniently.	MARCELLUS Let’s do it. I know where we’ll find him this morning.
Exeunt	They exit.