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ENGLISH

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GENERAL EDITOR

WILBUR LUCIUS CROSS

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN YALE UNIVERSITY

U-.

The Globe Theater

SHAKESPEARE'S

HAMLET
EDITED BY

JOHN LIVINGSTON LOWES

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

NEW YORK

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

1914

TK2,?o7

Copyright, 19 14,
BY

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

M/IY23I9I4

g;Ct,A376013

5^

CONTENTS
page

Introduction
I.

II.

Shakespeare's Life and

Works

vii

Hamlet

xiv

xxix

Descriptive Bibliography

The Tragedy

of Hamlet, Prince of

Denmark

Notes and Comment

159

Glossary

245

....

The Globe Theater

Map

Frontispiece

of Elizabethan London

Interior of Fortune

The Swan Theater

vi

xxxiv

Theater
.

156

INTRODUCTION

AND WORKS

SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE

William Shakespeare was baptized at Stratford-onAvon on April 26, 1564, so that the date of his birth is
probably April 22 or 23.
speare,

who had

left

his

He was

the son of

father's

farm

at

John ShakeSnitterfield

about thirteen years before, and had come to Stratford,

where he engaged

(especially in the sale of

in business

agricultural produce), and became one of the prominent

citizens of the

than

town, holding

He

once.

married,

office in

in

I557,

the borough

Mary

more

Arden, the

daughter of a wealthy farmer of excellent family, whose

home was

at

Wilmcote, near Stratford.

The

dramatist,

came of good English stock.

Shakespeare grew up in the little town of Stratford,
He
one of the most beautiful districts of England.

accordingly,

in

received his education in the Stratford grammar school,

where he got the " small Latin and less Greek " with

which Ben Jonson credited him.

But

his training, at least

was doubtless pretty thorough, and Jonson's

statement must be interpreted in the light of his own
very unusual scholarship. Shakespeare, nevertheless, was
in

Latin,

vn

Introduction

viii

men

not primarily a scholar; his immense knowledge of

and things was gained in other ways.

In 1582,

he was a mere boy of less than nineteen

when

Shakespeare married

years,

Anne Hathaway,

woman

of twenty-seven, the daughter of a neighboring farmer

in the little village of Shottery.

The

marriage does not

seem to have been a very happy one; and three years

later, in 1585, Shakespeare left Stratford, without his
family (three children had been born to him), and went

up

The

London.

to

tradition that he

abandoned Strat-

ford on account of difficulties into which he had fallen

through poaching on the estate of Sir

have at

least

an element of truth in

Thomas Lucy may

but there

it,

is

no

certainty regarding the details.

The London

which Shakespeare went

to

1585 or

in

1586 must not be thought of as the vast metropolis

know

to-day.

It

was a

city

hundred thousand inhabitants

of

only.

we

between one and two

But

it

was

the center

more keenly alive, perhaps,

English history, and it afforded a stim-

of the stirring life of a period

than any other in

ulating

environment for the development of a genius

like Shakespeare's.

was a time when horizons had been

immeasurably widened.

almost

New

It

World, with

the

The

possibilities

discovery

which

it

of

was

the
still

thought to hold of realizing the dreams of centuries, had

quickened men's imaginations to a degree which
cult for us to grasp.
it

new freedom

The Reformation had

it

is diffi-

brought with

of thought; the Revival of Learning

had opened up another new world, and from Italy especially

" that

great

limbec of working brains," as one

Works

Shakespeare's Life and

of Shakespeare's contemporaries called

men were
war with

eagerly bringing back

young EnglishThe

literary forms.

culminated in the

that

Spain,

new

it

ix

the

defeat of

Armada, was awakening a new national consciousness.

In a word, when Shakespeare came up to London, he

found a community intensely alive at every point, a community surpassingly adapted to call out just such powers
as he possessed,

and no

less

ready to respond to what

it

thus called out.

Particularly

was

this true in

connection with the drama.

Plays founded (for the most part) on the Bible had been
popular all over England for centuries. Then, as the Latin

comedies and tragedies

Seneca

were more

and more studied

to

England, the

field

and

in the schools,

as the influence of the Renaissance in Italy

had spread

and

especially those of Plautus

and France

had widened.

And

just

when Shakespeare arrived in London a group

young university men were giving the drama a fresh

at the time

of

impetus and enlarging

all

further

were being written,

sorts

popular

still

demand;

delicate

Plays of

scope.

its

in response to the

court

Lyly's; plays that experimented in

comedies,

many

varying

John

like

fields, like

those

of Peele and Greene; crude but powerful tragedies, like

Kyd's;

dramas

new medium

like

Marlowe's, that expressed,

in

the

of blank verse, the boundless aspirations of

the time; plays that dealt with history, mythology, fairylore,

adventure, crime

everything was

the playwrights' mill,

was

came to
more plays

grist that

and the demand for

steadily growing.

And

with the demand for more plays went hand

in

Introduction

more theaters. When Shakespeare

London there were only two. Before Hamlet

hand the demand

came to
was written

for

new

six

With

ones had been established.

one exception they were without the city walls, since

theaters

were forbidden within the

and

civic jurisdiction,

most popular of them, including the Globe, were

the

on what was known

just across the river,

side.
little

Bank-

as the

Here, then, either across London Bridge or in

boats,

came

(for the plays were

of an afternoon

always given by daylight) the throngs of Londoners

tradesmen, gallants, staid citizens, soldiers, sailors

formed the audience

(later) the

Hope.

Swan, the Globe, and

at the Rose, the

Their

destination, however,

The

from the theaters we know.

different

were round or hexagonal, and

for

to the sky, except for a sort of

hood that

projected over the stage.

stood in the pit

The

was very
buildings

the most part open

some

in

cases

larger part of the audience

note on

(see

who

HI,

ii,

12), where the

admission price was low; there were, however, galleries

as well,

and

the stage

seats

itself

were

was

straight out into the

we know

utterly unlike

had spectators seated on

it

play, in other words, stood in the

its

It

projected

in

one

case,

audience; the stage was a

then.

was

sur-

four sides,

and

so that

its

too.

An

it

Elizabethan

most intimate relation

little

of upturned faces, and the sea encroached

even

And

stage.

(for the plans have been preserved), practically

rounded by spectators on three of

to

ours.

body of the theater

half the distance to the outer wall

actually

on the

also provided

in

a sea

upon the

island

island

There were no long waits

for

shifts

of

Shakespeare's Life and

Works

xi

scenery; the plays proceeded with few pauses, and with

continuity of

What

action

unknown

Shakespeare found,

then,

to the modern stage.

was a community that

demanded plays, a keen and active competition

supply that demand, and stage conditions which per-

eagerly
to

mitted the swiftest and most intimate response between

actors

and audience.

What
actor,

Shakespeare did was

first

and an actor he seems

towards the close of

to

his career.

of all to

become an

have remained until

But he must very soon

have begun to serve his apprenticeship as a playwright

too

collaborating

(as

the

custom

was)

experienced dramatists in the writing of

revamping older

plays, in

with

new

more

plays,

in

combining two plays into one

doing, in a word, the sort of hack-work that regularly

belonged to the

initial stages of his craft.

a dozen years, however, his

and
161

for the next

1

two decades

one followed

Nor was

own

Within half

plays began to appear,

from about

1591 to about

another, with steadily growing power.

he only actor

became a shareholder

in

1599 he
the Globe Theater, and he later

and playwright.

acquired an interest in the Blackfriars

within the city walls.^

As

In

private theater

actor, as playwright,

and

as

manager, then, Shakespeare knew his profession to the

minutest

details.

his craft joined

The

with

was

his genius to

practical

knowledge of

make him what he was.

Blackfriars, unlike the public theaters, was roofed over,

and it charged higher admission. Although
within the city walls, it was on ground not within the

artificially lighted,
it

Thorough and

civic jurisdiction.

Introduction

xli

The

general order and character of his plays

indi-

Is

cated in Professor Pierce's bibliography that follows this

One

Introduction.

Shakespeare's

effort to

growing powers, but

some

which has

sort,

an earlier play,

taken up again in a later

is

and done surpassingly and once for

removed from

farther

Again

a method of handling a

in its execution in

left,

something to be desired,

is

the

is

also of conscious

happens that a situation, a type of character,

it

a dramatic device of

play,

here.

improve upon what he had already done.

and again

plot,

emphasized

be

show a development which

plays

result not only of

may

thing

fact

than

the

catchword, " Shakespeare never repeats."

rather

stupid

He was

because, for one reason, he

stantly repeating,

Nothing

all.

con-

was con-

stantly trying to do better something that he had done

The common

not so well before.

idea that genius

is

in-

dependent of a hard-earned mastery of technique and of

an
"

artistic

demands that one proceed

conscience which

from well

to

daily

better,

self-surpast "

fallacy

this

never had a better refutation than Shakespeare's develop-

ment

affords.

Something of
to

this

the widespread

may

which Shakespeare

popular idea)

(contrary

ness lies

To

First.

this

with any degree of thorough-

beyond the purpose of a school study of the

But one

brief passage will serve at least to illus-

trate Shakespeare's

the First

do

work
Hamlet

exercised in his

be seen by comparing the Second Quarto of

with the

play.

care

Quarto

methods

for

I,

i,

in revision.

150-52

is

The

as follows:

reading of

Shakespeare's Life and

Works

xlii

The Cock
Doth with

Awake
These

lines

that is the trumpet to the morne,

his earley and shrill crowing throate
the god of day, and at his sound, etc.

have become,

the Second Quarto, the

in

following

The

is the trumpet to the morne,

his lofty and shrill sounding throat
the God of day, and at his ^warning, etc.

cock th^t

Doth with

Awake
It

crowing"

word

sounding" has made

to ''shrill

word

substitute another

the

from "

clear at a glance that the change

is

for

sound

actually substituted

necessary to

it

next

in the

{warning)

shrill

But

line.

introduces at

The

once a rime with morning two lines before.

further

change from morning to morne of course grows out of

The

the necessity of avoiding such a rime.

comparisons

our study,

like

its

these

is

chief value

For

endless.
lies

one reason for Shakespeare's success

is,

taking

for

genius such as

His

pains,

which

is

capacity,

his

in

throws on
that

one ingredient even of

was

successful, even

by other than literary standards.

sense.

it

his.

career, moreover,

was not

however,

us,

in the light

interest of

inconsistent with a keen

His income

as

an actor,

For
and

when judged

his creative

power

practical business

as a shareholder in

two

remunerative theaters, and as the most popular playwright

of his day

was a

large and growing one.

In 1597, only

eleven years after he came up to London, he bought the

largest

house in Stratford,

known

as

during the following years improved

New
it,

Place,

making

at

and
in-

Introduction

xlv

tervals other investments in

and about the town.

In i6i

i,

at the height of his fame, he returned to Stratford, twenty-

years after he had left

six

own

estate, until his

it,

and lived

on

there,

his

death at the age of fifty-two, April 23,

1616.

After his death his friend and greatest rival, Ben

Jonson, wrote of him: " I loved the man and do honor
his

memory, on

indeed, honest

this side idolatry, as well as any.

and of an open and

He

free nature."

useless to try to piece out the facts of his biography

his plays;

was,
It

is

from

but the more thoroughly one studies them, the

profounder

is

one's conviction of the soundness

and whole-

someness of character, and of the deepening moral

sight, of the

man who wrote

in-

them.

II

HAMLET
The
do with
in

first
its

question about a Shakespearean play has to

text

with

the

form and manner, that

which the play has come down

plays were published in

them appeared

in small

taining a single play.

two

to us.

Shakespeare's

different forms.

Sixteen of

volumes called quartos, each con-

And

all of

them, except Pericles,

were published (the remaining twenty

in

is,

1623, in a large volume

known

for the first time)

as

the First Folio.

For a number of the sixteen plays referred

two or more quartos (in two cases as many

to there are

as six)

and

Hamlet

xv

three folios (dated 1632, 1663, and 1685)

The

first.

known
known
third

play of

as the First
as

Hamlet

Second Quarto, published

the

followed the

three forms: one,

in

Quarto, published in 1603

the text that

is

exists

is

in

another,

1604; the

found in the First Folio of 1623.

These three forms of the play differ from one another

many ways. The First Quarto is little more than
half as long as the Second, and the text Is evidently
in

imperfect, and in

many

Quarto the arrangement

of the scenes

in addition to the fact that the play

as

much

agalne as

was"

It

In the Second

passages incorrect.

different,

Is

and

" enlarged to almost

is

(as the title-page states), the

characterization and the treatment In general are vastly

Improved.

The

text of the First Folio

essentially that

is

Second Quarto, but a number of passages that

of the

occur In the Second Quarto are omitted In the Folio,

and the Folio contains a few passages that do not appear

In the

The

Quartos.

modern

editions

Is

text of the play as

made up by combining

It

The

found

In

the texts of the

Second Quarto and First Folio, with some

there,

Is

aid,

here and

from the First Quarto.

relations of the

two Quartos

of the Folio to both, have been

seems fairly clear that the

pirated edition of the

probably taken

down

hand by some agent

first

hastily

to each other,

much

First

disputed.

But

It

Quarto represents a

form of Shakespeare's
and surreptitiously

of the publishers,

play,

in short-

and possibly pieced

out to a slight degree from actors' copies

Quarto represents an authorized

and

(but

that the Second

not

very

well

printed) edition of the play as Shakespeare had meantime

Introduction

xvi

and that the differences between

the First Foh'o and the Second Quarto are in the main

thoroughly revised

to be accounted

now

now
due

acting purposes,

Even to-day

by supposing that the omissions

for

the one,

in

it;

the other

in

to

the

represent cuts for

length of the

great

the ordinary stage performance of

play.

Hamlet

never includes the full text.

But
have

we know how the play

how the story that it

after

still

to ask

tells

new form and meaning

nality lies in giving

already known, rarely,

and Hamlet
very old.

if

invent their

ever,

The

no exception.

offers

It appears first

different

The

in Shakespeare.

ments

in

it

civilization.

It

is

But

what

own

is

plots,

about the beginning of the

as

it

is

Danes by Saxo

there told,

is

very

we know, four hundred years later,

a rude and brutal tale, with ele-

that go back to a

still

more

primitive stage of

certain essential facts of the play are

present in the history.

based

story,

from the one

to

origi-

story of the play

thirteenth century, in the History of the

Grammaticus.^

we

reached Shake-

For the great dramatists, whose supreme

speare.

is

has reached us,

The

fratricide

on which the drama

the marriage between the

murderer and Hamlet's

mother; Hamlet's feigned madness in order to accom-

is

plish his revenge;

the device (in a very different form,

however, from that of the play) of using his love for a
woman in order to lead him to betray himself; the killing
of an eavesdropper

(who has hidden under

the rushes

Translated (in part) from the Latin in The First Nine Books
Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, by Oliver Elton
(Folk Lore Society, 1893), pp. 106-130.
*

of the

Hamlet
on the floor)

Hamlet

the dispatch of

two companions;

xvli
to

the altering of the letter,

England with
and Hamlet's

return (not, however, through the aid of the pirates),

all these details are

present in the older story.

But there

no ghost, and Hamlet's savage revenge is wholly different, while he himself lives to become king, and is later
is

killed

through the treachery of

story

was

retold

in

French

Tragiques}

Histoires

which

his

in

second wife.
in

1570,

was not

Saxo's

Belief orest's

translated

into

English until five years after the First Quarto was published.

Shakespeare

may

possibly have

he almost certainly did not

have reached him

to

At

least

Romeo and
more or

The

Juliet,

plays

King John, Henry V,

Casar, and King Lear are

of Venice,

Julius

directly based

clearer insight into

story seems

another way.

in

Merchant

less

Saxo.

Belief rest

of Shakespeare's thirty-seven

fifteen

including the

know

known

upon

earlier

plays,

and no

Shakespeare's genius and originality

can be gained than that which comes from a study of

what he has done with the crude materials at his hand.
In the case of Hamlet we know, from a number of interesting contemporary allusions, that there
play, although, unfortunately,

But

it

was an earlier
has not come down to

author was very probably

Thomas Kyd, and

from an extremely popular play of Kyd's that is extant
The Spanish Tragedy we can guess something of the
us.

its

character

of

the

older Hamlet.

Spanish Tragedy and the earlier

^

Translation

Vol.

II,

in

pp. 211-379.

Hazlitt's

For both plays the

Hamlet, which Shake-

Shakespeare's

Library,

Part

I,

Introduction

xvlil

speare

almost

used

certainly

very

appealed

evidently

strongly to one of the marked tastes of an Elizabethan

audience

fondness for what

its

And

edy of Blood.

we

if

know

framework

we

connection with what

in

of the Spanish Tragedy,

some idea

often called the Trag-

consider the mere

Shakespeare's Hamlet,

of

is

it

of the older play.

is

not difficult to form

ghost, insanity, real or

assumed, revenge, adultery, suicide, poisoning, stabbing

all

the

melodrama are

the elements of sheer

And

present.

amazing thing that Shakespeare has done is to take

blood and lust and revenge, and make it

this old story of

the

of

vehicle

supremest

his

own

profoundest

artistry, so that

ing of a plot

is little;

it

his

stands as one of the two or

it

The mere

three greatest tragedies in the world.

what he

and

thought

invent-

what the dramatist does with

is

finds that counts.

What he has to do first and foremost is

The Ghost, Hamlet's assumed madness,

to

make

the

a play.

of

killing

Polonius, Ophelia's suicide, the exchange of the letters

all

these are but the

raw

must be bound together

action

must have a

materials of a drama.

and that

into a single action,

And

movement.

definite

They

such a move-

ment, in a tragedy, involves a conflict between two opposing forces.

In

Hamlet

this conflict takes the

shall see another side of

it

in

between Hamlet and the King.

moment)

The

form (we

of a contest

play starts out with

The

relative equilibrium; the contest has not yet begun.

real

movement

is

initiated

when

Ghost (the Exciting Force)

From

stirs

the

disclosure

Hamlet

to

of

the

revenge.

that point up to the success of the play within the

Hamlet

xlx

Hamlet is the aggressor, and the

But with Hamlet's refusal to
defensive.

play the action rises;

King

is

on the

King while he

the

kill

and the

point,

so-called Falling (or

King

gins; the

praying, comes the

is

Return) Action be-

the aggressor, and

is

forced to the wall, until,

turning-

Hamlet

steadily

is

with the success of the King's

and Laertes's plot against him, the catastrophe ensues.

One may even indicate by a diagram the typical move-

ment

of a tragedy:

Turning Point
^VsVtv^^-^^^^^^^^

Climax;

l^quilibrium

Kxciting Force

The

details of the

movement

in

Hamlet

are elaborated

in the introductory notes to the different scenes,

interest of the story

is

and the

not diminished but enhanced by

observing the dramatic structure of the play.

But there

is

another conflict involved beside the contest

One

between the two protagonists.

were merely a play with an

But the thing that really makes a

tragedy spoken of as

unhappy ending.
tragedy
spirit

world.

in

is

to

use a

conflict

In

it

if

with

itself

Romeo and

Fate, as embodied

in

in vain.

poet's phrase

the

human

or with the course of the

Juliet, the first of Shakespeare's

is

of the latter type.

It

is

the family and the state, against

which Romeo and Juliet

contend

German

great tragedies, the conflict

edy

sometimes hears a

like the heroes of

But

in

Greek

trag-

the later Shakespearean

Introduction

XX

tragedies, the emphasis

or

himself

is

on the

of

that leads to his

great heroes of

QEdipus,

Lear,
sure

with

him

undoing.

tragedy Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello,

be
Faust

opposing passions or tendencies

The

conflict of the hero

the conflict within

perhaps,

rather,

exceptional

are

persons,

to

but they are the battleground of contending forces

that are universal in their application and in their appea^

And

the great tragedies hold their lasting power because

the tragic struggle

it

finds

embodiment

of enthralling,

thus universal, as well as because

is

in actions of compelling,

The mere

interest.

of his contest with the

King

rr the cheapest gallery

but

Hamlet himself

that

story of

thrills

it is

sometimes

Hamlet

even the occupants

the tragic conflict within

and holds our deeper

challenges

interest.

And
most
is

the

baffling

so real

as they

problem of Hamlet himself

and

fascinating, too

a person that

men

talk

is

one of the

in all literature.

He

and write about him

do about Caesar or Napoleon or any of the great

complex figures that have

really lived.

to pluck out the heart of his

successful, just because he

is

And

no attempt

mystery will ever be wholly

so absolutely real a person.

But two or three of the most famous attempts to explain

him may be given, as bringing out, at all events, certain
phases of his complexity.
best

known

of all

That

of

Goethe

is

perhaps the

^
:

To

me it is clear that Shakespeare meant, in the present case,

to represent the effects of a great action laid upon a soul unfit
^Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre, Book IV, Chapter XIII (Cartranslation).
This view is admirably criticised in one

lyle's

xxxi

Descriptive Bibliography
Richard

III.

King John.
Three

historical dramas, each dealing with the struggles and

downfall of an English king.

THE PERIOD OF GREAT HISTORIES AND

II.

COMEDIES
The Merchant

The

of Venice.

two young lovers who are brought together by

the devotion of a faithful friend, and who in turn save this
friend from the revenge of Shylock the Jew.
story of

The Taming

An

of the Shre^w.

ingenious farcical comedy, in which a shrewish wife

tamed

is

into gentleness.

King Henry IF,

Parts I and II.

Stately pictures of English civil wars, interspersed with the
delightful comedy of Falstaff and his companions.

King Henry

V.
picture of the English conquests in France, centering around
Henry
as a national hero.

Merry Wives

of Windsor.
laughable series of practical jokes played on Falstaff.

Much Ado About

As You Like

Nothing.

It.

Tavelfth Night.

Three romantic comedies of the highest rank.

Much Ado

combines the delightful wit-combats of Beatrice and Benedict

with the touching story of a lady unjustly accused but finally
cleared. As You Like It is a picture of pastoral life far from
the world's uproar in the forest of Arden. Tiuelfth Night
traces the fortunes of a shipwrecked heroine who by unselfish
devotion wins a noble lover.

AlVs Well That Ends Well.

Troilus and Cressida.

Measure
Three

human

for Measure.
bitter, sarcastic

nature.

comedies, revealing the baser aspects of

xxxii

Descriptive Bibliography

THE PERIOD OF GREAT TRAGEDIES

HI.

Julius Casar.
picture of the national upheaval connected with the death
of Caesar. Its central figure is the noble but misguided patriot
Brutus.

Hamlet.

One

of the most thoughtful and poetical of dramas, centering

around the story of a son called to avenge a murdered father.
OihellG.

tragedy of a noble but passionate man who becomes the

villain, and through mistaken jealousy murders his

The

dupe of a

innocent bride.

King Lear.
The tragedy
two

his

of ingratitude. King Lear gives all his lands to

eldest daughters, but their cruelty leads to his death

and that of

his one faithful child Cordelia.

Macbeth.

of the retribution which follows ambition

assassinates his predecessor to become
overthrown and dies miserably in the hour of

terrible picture

and murder.
king, but

is

Macbeth

defeat.

Antony and Cleopatra.

of a great soldier who sacrifices an empire for
love of a fascinating but wicked woman,

The tragedy
Timon

The

of Athens.
tragedy of a noble Athenian

who

ruins himself

by un-

wise generosity.
Coriolanus.

The tragedy
haughty

of a noble

spirit

Roman whose brave

makes him

the

enemy and

but unreasonably
desolator of his

country.

IV.

ROMANTIC TALES OF SHAKESPEARE'S LATER

YEARS

Pericles.

The

adventures of a family

ly united.

who

are long separated and final-

Descriptive Bibliography

xxxiii

Cymbeline.

Winter's Tale.

Two

'

mistaken jealousy, with frequent threats of

with a happy ending.
Cymbeline is a story of
ancient Britain the scene of the Winter's Tale is laid in Sicily and Bohemia.
stories

of

disaster but

The Tempest.

The

story of an exiled duke on an enchanted island.

Here he
brings his enemies within his power and is restored to his

dukedom.

King Henry

VIII.

series of picturesque events in the life of

King Henry and

Cardinal Wolsey.

Shakespeare's non-dramatic works include:

Venus and Adonis (1593).

The Rape

of Lucrece (1594).

Sonnets (1609).

The

Passionate Pilgrim

(1599).

collection of short poems, containing a

few by Shakespeare.

YARD
Interior

of

Fortune Theater

The Tragedy
Prince of

of Hamlet,

Denmark

DRAMATIS PERSONS
Claudius, king of Denmark.

Hamlet,

soti to the late, and nephew

PoLONius, lord chamberlain.
Horatio, friend to Hamlet.
Laertes, son to Polonius.

voltimand,

"1

Cornelius,
ROSENCRANTZ,
UUILDENSTERN,
OSRIC,

A
A

to the present king,

^^^^^-^^^.

Gentleman,

Priest.

Marcellus,
Bernardo,

./,>.oincers.

Francisco, a soldier.
Reynaldo, a servant
Players.
Two clowns,

to

Polonius.

grave-diggers.

Fortinbras, prince of Norway.

Captain.

English Ambassadors.

Gertrude, queen of Denmark, and mother to Hamlet.

Ophelia, daughter to Polonius.
'

Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and other

Attendants.

Ghost of Hamlet's Father.

Scene: Denmark.

'

\\

11

The Tragedy of Hamlet,

Prince of Denmark
ACT FIRST
Scene

Elsinore.

Francisco

Who's

Ber.

platform before the

Enter

at his post.

to

castle.

him Bernardo.

there?

Fran. Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.

Long

Ber.

live the king!

Fran. Bernardo?
Ber. He.

Fran.
Ber.

You come most carefully upon your hour.

'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.

Fran. For

And

this relief

am

Have you had

Ber.

much

thanks:

'tis

bitter cold,

sick at heart.

quiet guard?

Not

Fran.

a mouse stirring.

Ber. Well, good night.

you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

If

The
Fran.

rivals of

think

my

watch, bid them make haste.

hear them.

Stand, ho!
3

Who's

there?

lO

Hamlet

[Act

I.

Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

Hor. Friends

to this ground.

And

Mar.

liegemen to the Dane.

Fran. Give you good night.

O,

Mar.

Who

farewell, honest soldier:

hath relieved you?

Bernardo hath

Fran.

Give you good

my

place.

[Exit.

night.

Mar.

Holla! Bernardo!
Say,

Ber.

What,

Horatio there?

is

Hor.

piece of him.

20

Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus.

Mar. What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?
Ber.

Ber. I have seen nothing.

Mar. Horatio

And

says

'tis

but our fantasy.

will not let belief take hold of

Touching

him

this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:

Therefore

have entreated him along

With

us to watch the minutes of this night.

That

if

He may
Hor. Tush,

again this apparition come.

approve our eyes and speak to

tush, 'twill

Ber.

Sit

And
That

let us

once again

assail

your

down

a while

ears.

are so fortified against our story.

What we

have two nights seen.

Well,

Hor.

And

it.

not appear.

let

us hear Bernardo speak of

sit

this.

we down,

30

Hamlet

Scene!.]

Ber. Last night of

When

all,

yond same

star that's

westward from the pole

Had made
Where now it burns, Marcellus and
The bell then beating one,

his course to illume that part of heaven

myself.

Enter Ghost.

Mar.

Peace, break thee off; look, where

it

comes again!

Ber. In the same figure, like the king that's dead.

Mar. Thou
Ber. Looks

art a scholar; speak to

it

not like the king?

Horatio.

it,

mark

it,

Horatio.

Hor. Most like: it harrows me with

Ber. It would be spoke to.

fear

Mar.

Horatio.

Question

What

Hor.

it,

41

and wonder.

art thou, that usurp'st this time of night,

Together with that

and warlike

fair

In which the majesty of buried

forrri

Denmark

Did sometimes march? by heaven

charge thee,

speak

Mar.

It is offended.

Ber.

See,

Hor. Stay!

speak, speak!

it

stalks
I

away!

50

charge thee, speak!

[Exit Ghost.

Mar.
Ber.

'Tis gone, and will not answer.

How

now, Horatio! you tremble and look pale:

Is not this

something more than fantasy?

What think you on't?

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own

eyes.

Hamlet

Mar.

Is

Hor, As thou
Such was

When

it

not like the king?

art to thyself:

the very

armor he had on
Norway combated;

6o

he the ambitious

So frown'd he once, when,

He

[ActI.

an angry parle,

in

smote the sledded Polacks on the

ice.

'Tis strange.

Mar. Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour.

With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
Hor. In what particular thought to work I know not;
But, in the gross and scope of

my

This bodes some strange eruption

Mar. Good now,

Why

sit

same

this

So nightly

down, and
strict

toils the

tell

opinion,

our

to

state.

me, he that knows,

and most observant watch

71

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

Does not divide the Sunday from

the

What

sweaty haste

might be toward, that

Doth make

Who

this

week;

the night joint-laborer with the day:

me?
Hor.
That can I;
At least the whisper goes so. Our last king,
Whose image even but now appear'd to us.
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
is't

that can inform

Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate

80

pride.

Dared to the combat in which our valiant Hamlet

For so this side of our known world esteem'd
him
;

Scene

Hamlet

I.]

Did

slay

this

who by

Fortinbras;

'

seal'd

com-

pact,

Weirratified by law and heraldry,

Did

forfeit,

Which

with his

life,

all

those his lands

of, to the

he stood seized

conqueror:

go

Against the which, a moiety competent

Was gaged by our

To the inheritance
Had
And

king; which had return'd

of Fortinbras,

he been vanquisher

as,

by the same covenant,

carriage of the article design'd.

His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,

Of unimproved mettle hot and full.
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there
Shark'd up a

list

of lawless resolutes.

some enterprise
That hath a stomach in't: which is no other

For food and

diet, to

lOO

As it doth well appear unto our state

But to recover of us, by strong hand

And

terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands

So by his father
Is the

lost:

main motive

and

this, I

take

it,

of our preparations,

The source of this our watch and the chief head

Of this post-haste and romage in the land.
Ber. I think

it

be no other but e'en so:

Well may it sort that this portentous figure

Comes armed through our watch, so like the king
ill
That was and is the question of these wars.
Hor.

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,

Hamlet

The

graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead

Did squeak and

J As

[ActI.

with trains of

stars

Roman

gibber In the

streets:

and dews of blood,

fire

Disasters in the sun; and the moist star,

Upon whose

Influence Neptune's empire stands,

Was

sick almost to

And

even the like precurse of fierce events,

As

doomsday with

harbingers preceding

And

the fates

still

omen coming

prologue to the

I20

eclipse:

on.

Have heaven and earth together demonstrated

Unto our cllmatures and countrymen.
Re-enter Ghost.

But
I'll

soft,

cross

behold!

though

It,

If thou hast

Speak

to

where

lo,
It

blast

it

me.

comes again!
Stay, illusion

any sound, or use of

voice.

me:

If there be

any good thing to be done,

That may to
Speak to me:

130

thee do ease and grace to me,

If thou art privy to thy country's fate,

Which^ happily, foreknowing may

O, speak!

Or

if

thou hast uphoarded in thy

Extorted treasure

For which, they

Speak of
Stop

Mar.

say,

it: stay,
it,

In the

you

womb

life

of earth.

spirits oft

and speak!

avoid,

walk

in death.

[The

cock crozvs.^

partisan?

140

Marcellus.

Shall I strike at

it

with

my

Hamlet

Scene!.]

Hor. Do,

if ft

will not stand.

Ber.

'Tis here!

Hor.

'Tis here!

%Mar.

We
To

do

it is,

And
Ber. It

it

offer

For

Hor.

{Exit Ghost.

'Tis gone!

wrong, being
the

it

so majestical.

show of

violence;

as the air, invulnerable.

our vain blows malicious mockery.

was about

to speak,

when

the cock crew.

And then it
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard.
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
started like a guilty thing

Doth with

Awake

To

and shrill-sounding throat

the god of day; and, at his warning.

Whether

The

his lofty

150

in sea or fire, in earth or air.

extravagant and erring

spirit hies

and of the truth herein

his confine:

This present object made probation.

Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock.

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated.

The
And
The

No

bird of

dawning singeth

night long:

160

then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad.

nights are wholesome; tben no planets strike,

fairy takes, nor witch hath

So hallow'd and

Hor. So have

But

all

is

to

morn,

o'er the

dew

in russet

charm,

the time.

heard and do in part believe

look, the

Walks

so gracious

power

it.

mantle clad,

of yon high eastward hill:

Break we our watch up

and by

my

advice.

)j^

Hamlet

10

[Act

I.

Let us impart what we have seen to-night

Unto young Hamlet;

for,

upon

my

170

life,

dumb to us, will speak to him:

Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
Mar. Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know
Where we shall find him most conveniently.
This

spirit,

[Exeunt.

Scene

room

II

of state in the castle.

Enter the King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius,

LaertEs, Voltimand, Cornelius, Lords, and

Flourish.

Attendants.

Though yet of Hamlet our dear

The memory be green, and that it

King.

brother's death

us befitted

To' bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom

To

be contracted in one brow of woe.

Yet

so far hath discretion fought

That we with

with nature

wisest sorrow think on him,

Together with remembrance of ourselves.

Therefore our sometime

The

sister,

now our

queen,

imperial jointress to this warlike state,

/Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,

\With an auspicious and a dropping eye.

With mirth

in funeral

and with dirge

in marriage,

In equal scale weighing delight and dole,

Taken

to wife:

nor have

we

herein barr'd

10

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Your
With

better wisdoms,

Now

follows, that

II

which have

this affair along.

For

all,

freely

gone

our thanks.

you know, young Fortinbras,

Holding a weak supposal of our worth,

Or

thinking by our late dear brother's death

Our

state to be disjoint

20

and out of frame,

Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,

He

hath not

fail'd to pester

us with message,

Importing the surrender of those lands

Lost by his father, with

To

all

bonds of law.

So much for him.

our most valiant brother.

Now for

ourself

Thus much

and

for this time of meeting:

the business

To Norway,

is

we

have here writ

uncle of young Fortinbras,

Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears

Of this his nephew's purpose, to suppress

30

His further gait herein; in that the levies.

The lists and full proportions, are all made
Out of his subject: and we here dispatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,

For bearers of

this greeting to old

Norway

Giving to you no further personal power

To

business with the king,

Of

these delated articles allow.

Farewell, and

/ V
yoi. \
King.

let

In that and

We

doubt

it

more than

the scope

your haste commend your duty.

all

things will

we show our

duty.

40

nothing: heartily farewell.

[^Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius.

And

now, Laertes, what's the news with you?

Hamlet

You
You
And

some

told us of

[Act

what

suit;

is't,

I.

Laertes?

cannot speak of reason to the Dane,

lose

That

your voice what wouldst thou beg, Laertes,

:

my

shall not be

offer,

not thy asking?

The head is not more native to the heart.

The hand more instrumental to the mouth.
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.

What

wouldst thou have, Laertes ?

My dread

Laer.

Your leave and favor

From whence though

To

show
Yet now,

My

my

duty

must

Pol.

hath,

came

to

Denmark,

your coronation.

confess, that duty done.

my

father's leave

and pardon.

What says

Polonius

wrung from me my slow

lord,

By laborsome
Upon his will
King.

willingly I

to your gracious leave

Have you your

He

50

to return to France;

thoughts and wishes bend again toward France

And bow them

King.

in

lord,

petition,
I seal'd

and

my

leave

at last

60

hard consent:

do beseech you, give him leave to go.

Take

And

thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine.

thy best graces spend

But now,

Ham.

[Aside]

King.

How

my

is it

it

at thy will!

cousin Hamlet, and

more than

little

that the clouds

kin,

still

my
and

son,
less

than kind.

hang on you?

Ham. Not so, my lord I am too much the sun.

\ Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
;

Do

i'

not for ever with thy vailed lids

Seek for thy noble father

in the dust:

70

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Thou

know'st

'tis

common

all

thar

lives

must

die,

Passing through nature to eternity.

Ham.

Ay, madam,

it

is

common.

\ Queen.

If

Why
Ham.

seems

Seems,

'Tis not

it

so particular

it

be,

with thee?

madam nay, it is I know not seems.'

alone my inky cloak, good mother, -'

''

Nor customary suits of solemn black,

Nor windy suspiration of forced breath.
No, nor the

Nor

fruitful river in the eye,

80

the dejected havior of the visage,

Together with

all

forms, moods, shapes of grief,

That can denote me truly: these indeed seem.

For they are actions that a man might play
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
sweet and commendable in your nature,
Hamlet,

King. 'Tis

To

mourning duties to your father:

But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
In filial obligation for some term

To

give these

do obsequious sorrow: but

In obstinate condolement

Of

impious stubbornness;

is

a course

'tis

It

shows a will most incorrect

heart unfortified, a

An

mind

to persevere

unmanly

grief;

to heaven,

impatient,

understanding simple and unschool'd:

For what we know must be and is as common

As, any the most vulgar thing to sense,

90

Hamlet

14

Why

should

Take

it

we

in

lOO

our peevish opposition

Fie!

to heart?

a fault to heaven,

'tis

fault against the dead, a fault to nature,

To

reason most absurd, w^hose

Is death of fathers,

From
*

[Act I.

the

and w^ho

corse

first

This must be

so.'

till

We

common theme

still

hath cried.

he that died to-day,

pray you, throw to earth

This unprevailing woe, and think of us

As of a father: for let the world take note,

You are the most immediate to our

And with no less nobility of love
Than that which dearest father bears
Do I impart toward you. For your

throne,

iio
his son,

intent

In going back to school in Wittenberg,

most retrograde

It is

And we
Here

Our

to

beseech you, bend you to remain

in the cheer

and comfort of our

and our

chiefest courtier, cousin

\ Queen. Let not thy mother

I

our desire:

eye,

son.

lose her prayers,

Hamlet:

pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.

Ham.

I shall in all

King.

Why,

Be

'tis

my

best obey you,

madam.

I20

a loving and a fair reply:

as ourself in

Madam, come;

Denmark.

This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet

Sits smiling to

No

my

heart

jocund health that

But

And

the great

cannon

grace whereof,

in-

Denmark

drinks to-day.

to the clouds shall tell,

the king's rouse the heaven shall bruit again.

Re-speaking earthly thunder.

[Flourish.

Come
Exeunt

away.
all

but Hamlet.

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Ham. O,

I^

that this too too solid flesh

would

melt,

Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon

'gainst self-slaughter!

How

weary,

Seem

to

me

Fie on't

ah

That grows

stale, flat
all
fie

130

God! God!

and unprofitable,

the uses of this world!

'tis

to

an unweeded garden.

seed;

things

rank

and

gross

nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this
But two months dead nay, not so much, not two
!

So excellent a king; that was, to

Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to

That he might not beteem

this,

my

mother

140

the winds of heaven

Visit her face too roughly.

Heaven and

earth!

Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,

As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month
Let me not think on't Frailty, thy name,
woman

is

little

God!

month, or ere those shoes were old

With which she follow'd my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears: why she, even she,

Would

My

a beast, that wants discourse of reason,

have mourn'd longer,

father's brother, but

Than

I to

Ere yet the

Had

married with my

no more

like

my

salt of

She married.

most unrighteous tears

her galled eyes,

O, most wicked

uncle.

father

Hercules: within a month.

left the flushing in

150

speed, to post

'/

Hamlet

With
It

such dexterity to incestuous sheets!

nor

not,

is

[ActI.

it

my

But break,

cannot come to good:

heart, for I

must hold

my

tongue

Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.

Hor. Hail

your lordship!

to

Ham.

Horatio,

Sir,

my

glad to see you well: i6o

or I do forget myself.

Hor. The same,

Ham.

am

my

and your poor servant ever.

lord,

good friend;

I'll

change that name with

you:

And what make you from

Wittenberg, Horatio?

Marcellus ?

Mar.

Ham.

My
I

good lord

am

very glad to see you.

even,

But what,

Hor.

Ham.

make you from Wittenberg?

in faith,

my

would not hear your enemy

shall

To make

you do
it

my

lord.

say so,

truster of your

know

own

report

But what

affair in Elsinore?

is

your

We'll teach you

My

Ham.
I

lord, I

to see

no truant.

you depart.

your father's funeral.

pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;

think

Hor. Indeed,

Ham.

j^ou are

to drink deep ere

came

170

ear that violence,

Against yourself:

Hor.

Good

sir.

truant disposition, good

Nor

\_To Ber.~\

it

was

my

to see

lord,

it

my

mother's wedding.

follow'd hard upon.

Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked-meats

Did

coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.

181

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Would I had met my dearest

Or ever I had seen that day,

My father! methinks
Hor. O whtrt, my lord

see

foe in

heaven

Horatio!

my

father.

Ham.

my

In

mind's eye, Horatio.

saw him once he w^as a goodly king.

Ham. He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.
Hor. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.

Hor.

Ham. Saw? who?

My

Hor.

190

lord, the king

your father.

The

Ham.
Hor. Season your admiration

king

my

father

for a while.

With an attent ear, till I may deliver.

Upon the witness of these gentlemen.
This marvel

to you.

Ham.
Hor.

For God's

Two

love, let

me

hear.

nights together had these gentlemen,

Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch.

In the dead vast and middle of the night,

Been thus encounter'd.

Armed

figure like your father.

200

at point exactly, cap-a-pe,

Appears before them, and with solemn march

Goes slow and

By

stately

their oppress'd

by them

thrice he walk'd

and fear-surprised

eyes.

Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd

Almost to jelly with the act of fear.
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secrecy impart they did;

And

with them the third night kept the watch:

Hamlet

Where,

as they

had

[Act I.

deliver'd, both in time,

Form of the thing, each word made true and

The apparition comes: I knew your father;
These hands are not more

Ham.
Mar.

My

upon the

lord,

Ham. Did you

good,

211

like.

But where was this?

platform where we watch'd.

not speak to it?

My lord,

Hor.

I did.

But answer made it none: yet once methought

It lifted up it head and did address
Itself to motion, like as it would speak:
But even then the morning cock crew loud,
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away
And vanish'd from our sight.

Ham.

'Tis very strange.

Hor. As

do

live,

And we

To
Ham.

let

honor'd lord,
it

you know of

Indeed, indeed,

Hold you
Ber.

my

did think

the

writ

'tis

down

in

true.

our duty

it.

sirs,

but this troubles me.

watch to-night ?

We

do,

my

lord.

Ham. Arm'd,
Mar.

say you?
>j
A
Arm
d, my

Ber.

lord.

Ham.
-,

220

'

From
V

Ber.

My

lord,

from head

top to toe?

to foot.

Ham. Then saw you

Hor. O,

yes,

my

lord

not his face?

;

he wore his beaver up.

230

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Ham. What,

Hor.

Ham.

19

look'd he frowningly?

countenance more In sorrow than in anger.

Pale or red?

Hor. Nay, very

pale.

And

Ham.

fix'd his eyes

upon you?

Hor. Most constantly.

Ham.

I would I had been there.

would have much amazed you.
Ham. Very like, very like. Stay'd it long?
Hor. While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.

Hor.

It

Mar.

Longer, longer.

Ber.

Hor. Not when

I saw't.

Ham.
Hor.

His beard was

was, as

It

have seen

it

in his life,

walk

'twill

again.

Hor.

If

I'll

assume

it

speak to

And

me

bid

my

it,

it

my

whatsoever

Give

it

else shall

all,

this sight.
still;

hap to-night.

your

loves.

So

fare

you well:

the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,

I'll visit
,

pray you

an understanding, but no tongue:

I will requite

Upon

will.

hell itself should gape

peace.

be tenable in your silence

And

it

noble father's person,

though

hold

warrant

you have hitherto conceal'd

Let

All.

240

I will w^atch to-night;

Perchance

If

no?

sable silver'd.

Ham.

Ham.

grizzled,

you.

Our

duty to your honor.

250

Hamlet

20

Ham. Your

loves, as

mine

[Act

to you: farewell.

[Exeunt

My

father's spirit in

arms!

all is

all

but Hamlet.

not well;

doubt some foul play: would the night were come!

Till then

I.

Though

sit still,

my

soul: foul deeds will rise.

the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.

all

[Exit.

Scene

room

III

in Polonius^s house.

Enter Laertes and Ophelia.

My

Laer.

necessaries are embark'd: farewell:

And,

sister,

And

convoy

But

let

me

as the
is

winds give

assistant,

do not

benefit
sleep,

hear from you.

Do

Oph.

you doubt that?

Laer. For Hamlet and the trifling of his favor,

Hold

it

a fashion and a toy in blood,

violet in the

youth of primy nature,

Forward, not permanent, sweet, not

The perfume and

No more.
Oph. No more

lasting.

suppliance of a minute;

but so?

Laer.

Think

it

no more:

lO

For nature crescent does not grow alone

In thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes.

The inward
Grows wide

service of the

withal.

mind and

soul

Perhaps he loves you now,

Scene

Hamlet

III.]

21

And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch

The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd,

For he himself

He may

is

not, as

his will

safety

unvalued persons do,

and health of

must

therefore

own;

subject to his birth:

Carve for himself, for on

The
And

not his

is

depends

his choice

whole

this

state

his choice be circumscribed

Unto the voice and yielding of that body

Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place

May

20

give his saying deed

which

is

loves you.

no further

Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.

Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain,
you

If with too credent ear

Or
To

lose

list

his songs,

it,

your chaste treasure open

Ophelia, fear

my

it,

dear

sister,

And

keep you in the rear of your affection,

Out
The

of the shot
chariest

If she

Virtue

The
Too
And

30

unmaster'd importunity.

his

Fear

your

heart, or

and danger of

maid

is

unmask her beauty

itself

desire.

prodigal enough,

'scapes not

to the

moon:

calumnious strokes:

canker galls the infants of the spring

oft before their buttons be disclosed,
in the

morn and

liquid

dew

of youth

Contagious blastments are most imminent.

Be wary then;
Youth to itself

best safety lies in fear:

rebels,

though none

else near.

40

Hamlet

22

Oph.

the effect of this good lesson keep,

I shall

As watchman

Do

not, as

Show me
Whiles,

[Act I.

to

my

But, good

heart.

some ungracious pastors

the steep and thorny

like a puff'd

and

my

do.

way

to heaven,

reckless libertine.

Himself the primrose path of dalliance

And

recks not his

own

treads,

50

rede.

O,

Laer.
I stay too

brother,

long: but here

my

me

fear

not.

father comes.

Enter POLONIUS.

double blessing

is

a double grace;

Occasion smiles upon a second leave.

Yet here, Laertes! Aboard, aboard,

The wind sits in the shoulder of your
And you are stay'd for. There; my

for shame!

Pol.

sail.

blessing with

thee

And

these

few precepts

See thou character.

Nor any

in

thy

memory

Give thy thoughts no tongue.

unproportion'd thought his

act.

60

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware

Of

entrance to a quarrel; but being

Bear't that the opposed

Give every man thy

Take

may beware

ear,

in,

of thee.

but few thy voice

each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.

Scene

Hamlet

III.]

23

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

70

But not express'd In fancy rich, not gaudy

-^
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
;

Are

most

of a

select

and generous

chief in that.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be:

For loan oft loses both J[tself and friend,

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
\
/ This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
!
V Thou canst not then be false to any man.

my

Farewell:
Laer.
Pol.

80

blessing season this In thee!

Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.

The time invites you; go, your servants tend.

Laer. Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well

What

have said to you.

Oph.

'TIs in

And

my memory

you yourself shall keep the key of

Laer. Farewell.
Pol.

What

is't,

lock'd.

it.

[^Exit.

Ophelia, he hath said to you?

Oph. So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.

Pol. Marry, well bethought:
90
'TIs told me, he hath very oft of late

Given private time

Have
If

it

And
You
As

and you yourself

to you,

of your audience been

be so

that in

as so

way

'tis

most

and bounteous:

free

put on me.

of caution

must

tell

you,

do not understand yourself so clearly

It

What

behoves
Is

my

daughter and your honor.

between you ? give me up the truth.

Hamlet

24
Oph.

He
Of

hath,

my

made many

lord, of late

his affection to

[Act

I.

tenders

lOO

me.

Pol. Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,

Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.

Oph.
Pol.

Do

you believe

do not know,

Marry,

I'll

you

his tenders, as

my

lord,

what

call

them?

should think.

teach you: think yourself a baby,

That you have

ta'en these tenders for true pay.

Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly

Or not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus you'll tender me a fool.
no
Oph. My lord, he hath importuned me with love

In honorable fashion.
Pol. Ay, fashion you

may

go

call it;

to,

go

to.

Oph. And hath given countenance to his speech,

With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks.

When

the blood burns,

how

my

lord,

do know,

prodigal the soul

Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,

Giving more

Even

light than heat, extinct in both.

in their promise, as

You must

not take for

Be somewhat

it

fire.

is

a-making.

From

scanter of your

this

time

maiden presence;

Set your entreatments at a higher rate

Than

command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,

Believe so much in him, that he is young.
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you in few, Ophelia,
a

Do
Not

not believe his vows; for they are brokers,

of that dye

which

their investments show,

120

Hamlet

Scene IV.]

But mere implorators

Breathing

The
I

of unholy suits,

and pious bawds,

like sanctified

This

better to beguile.

would

25

is

from

not, in plain terms,

130

for all:
this

time forth,

Have you so slander any moment leisure.

As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you come your ways.
:

Oph.

I shall obey,

my

lord.

\_Exeunt.

Scene IV
The

platform.

Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus.

Ham. The
Hor,

It is

air bites

shrewdly;

it

is

a nipping and an eager

very cold.

air.

Ham. What hour now?

Hor.

Mar. No,

it is

Hor. Indeed?

think

it

lacks of twelve.

struck.
I

heard

it

not: then

it

draws near the

season

Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.

[J flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off

What doth this mean, my lord?

Ham. The king doth wake to-night and

within.

takes his rouse,

Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels;

And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, 10

The kettle-drum and trumpet

The triumph of his pledge.
Hor.

>

Is

it

thus bray out

a custom

Hamlet

26

Ham. Ay,
But

marry,

my

to

[Act I.

is't:

mind, though

am

native here

And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honor'd in the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed

revel east

and west

Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations

They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition

and indeed

it

takes

From our achievements, though perform'd

The pith and marrow of our attribute.
So, oft

That

it

for

20

at height,

chances in particular men.

some vicious mole of nature

As, in their birth,

wherein they

in

them.

are not guilty,

Since nature cannot choose his origin,

By

the o'ergrowth of some complexion.

Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason.

Or by some habit that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners, that these men,
30
Carrying,

I say,

Being nature's

the stamp of one defect,

livery, or fortune's star,

be they

Their virtues

else

As

man may undergo

infinite as

as

pure as grace,

Shall in the general censure take corruption

From
Doth

To

that particular fault: the

all

his

dram

of eale

the noble substance of a doubt

own

scandal.

Enter Ghost.

my

Hor.

Look,

Ham. Angels and

ministers of grace defend us!

lord,

it

comes!

Hamlet

Scene IV.]

Be thou a

27
damn'd,

spirit of health or goblin

Bring with thee

airs

from heaven or

blasts

40
from

hell,

Be thy

Thou
That

intents wicked or charitable,

comest in such a questionable shape

I will

speak to thee:

thee Hamlet,

I'll call

King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!

me

Let

not burst in ignorance; but

tell

Why

thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,

Have

burst their cerements;

why

the sepulcher,

Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,

Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,

To

up again.

cast thee

That

What may

this

50

mean.

thou, dead corse, again in complete steel,

Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the

Making

night hideous; and

So horridly

to shake

we

moon.

fools of nature

our disposition

With thoughts beyond the reaches

Say, why is this? wherefore? what

of our souls?

should

we do?

[Ghost beckons Hamlet.

Hor.

beckons you to go away with

It

As

To

if it

some impartment did

it,

desire

you alone.

Mar.

Look, with what courteous action

waves you to a more removed ground

But do not go with it.
Hor.
No, by no means.
It

Ham.
Hor.

Ham,

It will

Do

not,

not speak

my

then I will follow

it.

lord.

'

Why, what

should be the fear?

60

Hamlet

28
do not

And

for

set

my

my

soul,

a pin's fee

life at

what can

Being a thing immortal

It

Hor.

it

do to

I'll

follow

tempt you toward the

it

that,

as itself?

waves me forth again:

What if
Or to the

[ActI.

dreadful summit of the

flood,

my

lord.

70

cliff

That

beetles o'er his base into the sea,

And

there assume

Which might

it.

some other horrible form.

deprive your sovereignty of reason

And draw you into madness? think of it:

The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea

And hears it roar beneath.

Ham.
It waves me still.
Go on I'll follow thee.
Mar. You shall not go, my lord.
Ham.
Hold of your hands.
;

Hor. Be ruled

you

shall not go.

My

Hatn.

And makes
As hardy
Still

By

am

fate cries out,

each petty artery in this body

Nemean lion's nerve.

Unhand me, gentlemen.
make a ghost of him that lets me!

as the

I call'd.

heaven,

I say,

80

I'll

Go

away!

on;

I'll

follow thee.

[Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet.

Hor.

He waxes

Mar.

Let's follow

desperate with imagination.

Hor. Have after.

Mar. Something is

'tis

not

fit

To what

thus to obey him.

come?
of Denmark.

issue will this

rotten in the state

X 90

Hamlet

Scene v.]

Hor. Heaven

will direct

29

it.

Nay,

Mar.

let's

follow him.
[^Exeunt.

Scene
Another part
Enter

Ham. Whither

wilt

of the platform.

Ghost and Hamlet.

me?

thou lead

speak;

I'll

go no

further.

Ghost.

Mark

me.

Ham.

I will.

My

Ghost.

When
Must

I to

hour

render up myself.

Ham.

Alas, poor ghost

Ghost. Pity

me

To what

not, but lend thy serious hearing

I shall

unfold.

Ham.

Speak

Ham. What?
Ghost. I am thy
Doom'd

And

am bound

to hear.

shalt hear.

father's spirit,

for a certain

term

to

walk the

night,

lO

for the day confined to fast in fires.

Till the foul crimes done in

Are burnt and purged away.

To

when thou

Ghost. So art thou to revenge,

almost come,

is

sulphurous and tormenting flames

tell

the secrets of

my

my

days of nature

But

that I

forbid

prison-house,

could a tale unfold whose lightest

Would harrow up
Make thy two eyes,

am

word

thy soul, freeze thy young blood,

like stars, start

from

their spheres.

Hamlet

30

Thy
And

[ActI.

knotted and combined locks to part

each particular hair to stand an end,

20

Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:

But

this eternal

To

ears of flesh

and blood.

List,

list,

O,

list

thou didst ever thy dear father love

If

Ham.

blazon must not be

God!

Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

'"

Ham. Murder!
Ghost.

Murder most

But

this

most

Ham. Haste me

May

foul, strange,

to know't, that

As meditation

is.

and unnatural.

wings

I, v^^ith

as swift

my

30

revenge.
I find thee apt;

And

it

or the thoughts of love,

sweep to

Ghost.

foul, as in the best

duller shouldst thou be than the fat

weed

That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,

Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in

A
Is

serpent stung

me

so the

by a forged process of

my

orchard,

whole ear of Denmark

my

death

Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,

The

serpent that did sting thy father's

Now

wears

his

life

crown.

O my prophetic soul

Ham.

My

40

uncle!

Ghost. Ay, that incest-uous, that adulterate beast.

With

O
So

witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous

wicked wit and

to

gifts,

seduce! ^won

that have the

power

to his shameful lust

gifts,

Hamlet

Scene V.]

The

will of

my

most seeming-virtuous queen

Hamlet, what a

From me, whose

falling-off

was

there!

was of that dignity

That it
in hand even with the vow
1 made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor
love

went hand

To

those of mine!

But

virtue, as

it

Though lewdness
So

50

lust,

Will

never will be moved.

court

in a shape of heaven,

it

though to a radiant angel

link'd,

sate itself in a celestial bed

And

prey on garbage.

But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;

Brief let

My

me

be.

Sleeping within

my

orchard,

custom always of the afternoon,

60

Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,

With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That

The
And
And
The
And

swift as quicksilver

with a sudden vigor

it

doth posset

curd, like eager droppings into milk.

thin and

wholesome blood:

so did

it

mine;

a most instant tetter bark'd about,

lazar-like,

my
life,

with

vile

and loathsome

crust.

smooth body.

Thus was

Of

courses through

natural gates and alleys of the body,

Most
All

it

I,

sleeping,

by a brother's hand

of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:

70

Hamlet

32
Cut

off

[ActI.

even in the blossoms of

my

sin,

Unhousel'd, disappointed, unaneled,

No

my account
my head:

reckoning made, but sent to

With

all

my

O, horrible!

imperfections on

O,

thou hast nature

If

8o

horrible! most horrible!

in thee, bear

it

not;

Let not the royal bed of Denmark be

couch for luxury and damned

incest.

But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,

'

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive

Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven

And

To

to those thorns that in her

prick and sting her.

The
And

bosom

Fare thee

glow-v\^orm shows the matin

lodge,

v^ell at

once

to be near,

90

'gins to pale his uneffectual fire

Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.

Ham. O
And
And

all

you host of heaven!

shall I couple hell

you,

my

sinews,

earth!

[Exit.

what

grow not

instant old,

Remember thee!
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a
In this distracted globe. Remember thee!
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records.
But bear me

stiffly

All saws of books,

up.

all

forms,

all

most pernicious

woman

seat

pressures past,

That youth and observation copied there;

And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven!

else?

0,fie! Hold, hold, my heart;

lOO

Hamlet

Scene v.]

damned

villain, villain, smiling,

My

tables,

meet

it

is

33

I set it

villain!

down,

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain

At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark.
[

So, uncle, there

It

is

71^

Mar.
Mar.

Adieu, adieu

are.

Now

my word;

to

no

remember me.'

Within']

My

lord,

my

lord!

[Within] Lord Hamlet!

[Within] Heaven secure him!

Hor.

Ham.

So be

it!

Mar. [Within]

Ham.

Illo, ho, ho,

my

lord!

Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.

Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

Mar.

How

is't,

my

noble lord?

What

Hor.

Ham. O, wonderful!
Hor. Good my lord, tell it.
Ham.
No; you'll
Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven.
Nor

Mar.

Ham. How

say you,

then;

I,

news,

reveal

my

my

But
'

I20

lord.

would heart

of

man

you'll be secret?

Ay, by heaven,

lord?

it.

think it?

n/f

*4"^

have sworn't.

Hor

'

you

Writing.

my

lord.

once

Hamlet

34
Ham.

[Act

There's ne'er a villain dwelling in

But he's an arrant knave.

Hor. There needs no ghost, mj^

To

so,

You,

come from

right; you are

i'

without more circumstance at

it fit

as

Denmark

all

that

we

your business and desire

my own

Such

as

Look

you, ril go pray.

it is

the right;

all,

shake hands and part:

shall point

For every man hath business and

and for

you
130

desire,

poor part,

Hor. These are but wild and whirling words,

Ham. I'm

the grave

this.

Why,

hold

us

tell

Ham.
And

lord,

I.

my

lord.

sorry they offend you, heartily;

Yes, faith, heartily.

.

Hor,

Ham. Yes, by Saint Patrick,

And much offence too.
It

is

but there

desire to

let

me

know what

is

As you are friends, scholars and

Give me one poor request.

What

is't,

my

lord?

we

My^

lord,

we

this vision here,

tell

you:

between

us,

good

141

soldiers,

"^

have seen to-night.

will not.

Ham.

Nay, but swear't.

Hor.

In

My
Mar,

friends,

will.

Ham. Never make known what you

Mar.

lord.

Horatio,

And now,

O'ermaster't as you may.

Hor.

is,

Touching

an honest ghost, that

For your

- _

my

There's no offence,

lord, not

I.

Nor

I,

my

lord, in faith.

faith,

Hamlet

Scene v.]

Ham. Upon my

sword.

We

Mar.

Ham.

35

Indeed, upon

my

have sworn,

my

lord, already.

sword, indeed.

Ghost. [Beneath^ Swear.

Ham. Ah,

ha, boy! say'st

thou so? art thou there, true-

penny?

Come

150

on: you hear this fellow in the cellarage:

Consent to swear.

Hor.

Propose the oath,

Ham. Never

to speak of this that

Swear by

my

my

lord.

you have

seen.

sword.

Ghost. [Beneath^ Swear.

Ham. Hie et ubique? then we'll shift our ground.

Come hither, gentlemen.
And lay your hands again upon my sword:
Never to speak of this that you have heard,
Swear by my sword.

160

Ghost. [Beneath^ Swear.

Ham. Well

said,

old

mole!

canst

work

i'

the

earth

so fast?

A worthy pioner!
Hor. O day and night,
Ham. And
There

Than

Once more remove, good

but this

is

wondrous strange

therefore as a stranger give

are

more things

in

friends.

it

welcome.

heaven and earth, Horatio,

are dreamt of in your philosophy.

But come;
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy.

How

strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,

As

perchance hereafter shall think meet

TTo -put an antic disposition on.

170

Hamlet

36
That

I.

you, at such times seeing me, never shall,

With arms encumber'd

Or

by pronouncing

As

'

thus, or this head-shake,

some doubtful phrase,

-of

Well, well, we know,' or

we

Or

[Act

'

We

could,

an

if

would,'

we

There

an

if

they

That you know aught

of

So grace and mercy

your most need help you,

180

[They swear.^

So,

If

'

list

to speak,' or

'

be,

might,'

Or

such ambiguous giving out, to note

at

me:

this

not to do,

Swear.
Ghost. [Beneath~\ Swear.

Ham.

Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!

gentlemen.

With

all

my

And what

commend me to you:
man as Hamlet is

love I do

so poor a

May

do, to express his love

and friending

God
And
The

willing, shall not lack.

Let us go

still

your fingers on your

time

is

That

out of joint:

ever I

Nay, come,

was born

let's

lips, I

cursed

to set

go together.

it

to you,

in together;

pray.

spite,

right!

190
[Exeunt.

Hamlet

Scene!.]

37

ACT SECOND
Scene

room

in Polonius^s house.

Enter Polonius and Reynaldo.

Pol.

Give him

Rey.
Pol.

I will,

You

my

shall

Before you

Of

money and

this

these notes, Reynaldo.

lord.

do marvelous
him, to

visit

w^isely,

make

good Reynaldo,

inquire

his behavior.

My

Rey.

lord, I did intend

Pol. Marry, well said, very well said.

it.

Look

you,

sir,

Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris,

And how, and who, what means, and where

they

keep.

What

company,

what expense and finding

at

By this encompassment and drift of question

lO
That they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch it:
Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him,
As thus, I know his father and his friends.
And in part him do you mark this, Reynaldo ?
'

'

Rey. Ay, very well,

Pol.

'

And

But

in part

if 't

my

him

but,'

you may

say,

'

not well

be he I mean, he's very wild,

Addicted so and so

What

lord.

forgeries

'

and there put on him

you please; marry, none

so

rank

20

Hamlet

38

[ActII.

As may

dishonor him

But,

such wanton, wild and usual

As

sir,

take heed of that

are companions noted and most

To

youth and

slips

known

liberty.

As gaming, my

Rey.

lord.

Pol. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarreling,

Drabbing: you may go

Rey.

My

lord, that

so far.

would dishonor him.

Pol. Faith, no; as you

may

season

it

in the charge.

You must

not put another scandal on him,

That he

open to incontinency

is

my

That's not

30

meaning: but breathe

his faults so

quaintly

That

The

they
flash

may seem

the taints of liberty,

and outbreak of a

fiery

mind,

savageness in unreclaimed blood.

Of

general assault.

Rey.

But,

my

good

lord,

Pol. Wherefore should you do this ?

Ay,

Rey.
I

would know

Marry,
I believe, it

You laying
As 'twere a
Mark you,
Your

He

is

sir,

thing a

here's

my

drift,

a fetch of warrant:

these slight sullies

little soil'd

party in converse,

Having ever

The

lord,

that.

Pol.

And,

my

on
i'

my

son.

the working,

him you would sound,

seen in the prenominate crimes

youth you breathe of guilty, be assured

closes

with you in

this

consequence;

40

Hamlet

Scene!.]

Good

or

sir,'

According

or

so,

'

Very good,

And
was

then,
I

does

sir,

Rey. At

At
I

my

lord.

he

the mass, I

where did

what
was about

does^

50

leave?

the consequence,' at

'

friend or

marry

closes in the consequence,' ay,

closes

saw him

Or

this

and 'gentleman.'

so,'

He

closes in

he

By

about to say?

to say something:
'

gentleman,'

'

countrj^

Rey.

Pol.

friend,' or

to the phrase or the addition

Of man and
Pol.

39

with you thus:

'

know

the gentleman;

yesterday, or t'other day.

then, or then, with such, or such

and, as you say,

There was a' gaming; there o'ertook in's rouse;

There falling out at tennis
or perchance,
I saw him enter such a house of sale
'

60

Videlicet, a brothel, or so forth.

See you

Your

And

now;

bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth

we

thus do

of

wisdom and

of reach.

With windlasses and with assays of

By indirections find directions out:
So by

my

Shall you

Rey.

My

former lecture and advice.

my

son.

You

have me, have you not?

lord, I have.

God

Pol.

Rey.

Good my

be wi' you

fare

lord!

Pol.

I shall,

And

let

my

lord.

him ply

you well.

70

Pol. Observe his inclination in yourself.

Rey.

bias.

his music.

Hamlet

40

[Act

my

Well,

Rey.

II.

lord.

[Exit Reynaldo.

Pol, Farewell!

Enter Ophelia.

How
my

Oph. O,

With what,

Pol.

My

Oph.

my

lord,

now, Ophelia! what's the matter?

lord, I

have been so affrighted

name of God ?
was sewing in my

the

i'

lord, as I

closet.

Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced,

No hat upon his head, his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd and down-gyved to his ancle
Pale as his

And
As

To

knees knocking each other,

shirt, his

with a look so piteous

speak of horrors,
for thy love

he comes

My lord,
But truly

do fear

What
me

took

Then

He

such perusal of

He
As

falls to

he would
last,

draw

little

thrice his

it.

hand thus

it

me hard

Long

his

90

face

stay'd he so;

and profound

all his

his being: that done,

And, with

brow.

head thus waving up and down,

did seem to shatter

end

my

o'er his

shaking of mine arm,

raised a sigh so piteous

And

he?

goes he to the length of all his arm,

his other

And

said

by the wrist and held

And, with

As
At

do not know,

it.

Pol.

He

before me.

Dph.

Oph.

purport

in

he had been loosed out of hell

if

Mad

Pol.

8o

bulk

he

lets

me

go:

head over his shoulder turn'd.

Hamlet

Scene!.]

He

seem'd to find his

way without

his eyes

For out o' doors he went without their helps,

And, to the last, bended their light on me.
Pol. Come, go with me I will go seek the king.
This is the very ecstasy of love,

lOO

Whose violent property fordoes itself

And leads the will to desperate undertakings
As oft as any passion under heaven
That does afflict our natures. I am sorry.
What, have you given him any hard words of
Oph. No, my good lord, but, as you did command,
I

late?

did repel his letters and denied

His

access to me.

no

That hath made him mad.

Pol.
I

am

had not quoted him

sorry that with better heed and

:

I f ear'd

judgment

he did but

Arid meant to wreck thee; but beshrew

By

To
As

To

heaven,
cast
it is

it

is

as proper to

beyond ourselves

common

in

trifle

my

jealousy!

our age
our opinions

for the younger sort

Come, go we to the king:

known; which, being kept

lack discretion.

This

must

be

close,

might move

More
Come.

grief to hide than hate to utter love.

[^Exeunt.

Hamlet

42

Scene

A
Flourish.

room

[Act

11.

II

in the castle.

Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz,

GUILDENSTERN, and ATTENDANTS.

King. Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Moreover

that

we much

did long to see you,

The need we have to use you did provoke

Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation; so call it,
Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man
Resembles that

More than his

So much from
I

it

was.

What

it

should be,

father's death, that thus hath put

him

the understanding of himself,

cannot dream of:

I entreat

you both,

lO

That, being of so young days brought up with him

And

sith so

neighbor'd to his youth and havior.

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.
:

That, open'd,

\ Queen. Good

And

lies

within our remedy.

gentlemen, he hath

sure I

am two men

talk'd of

you

20

there are not living

To whom he more adheres.

To show us so much gentry
As

much
If

it

will please

and good will

to expend your time with us a while

you

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

For the supply and

43
our hope,

profit of

Your visitation shall receive

As fits a king's remembrance.

such thanks

Both your majesties

Ros.

Might, by the sovereign power you have of

Put your dread pleasures more

Than

But we both

To
To

command

to entreaty.

Guil.

And

into

us.

obey,

here give up ourselves, in the full bent

30

lay our service freely at your feet,

be commanded.

King. Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.

\

Queen. Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz:

And

beseech you instantly to visit

My too
And

much changed

Go, some of you,

son.

bring these gentlemen where Hamlet

Guil. Heavens

make our

is.

presence and our practices

Pleasant and helpful to him

Queen.

Ay, amen!

\_Exeunt Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and some Attendants.

Enter Polonius.
Pol.

The
Are

ambassadors from Norway,

good lord,

joyfully return'd.

Thou still
Have I, my

King.
Pol.

my

hast been the father of good news.

Both

lord? I assure my good liege,

my duty as I hold my soul,
to my God and to my gracious king:

And

hold

do think, or

Hunts not

else this brain of

the trail of policy so sure

mine

40

Hamlet

44
As it hath used
The very cause

to do, that I

My

first

news

II.

have found

of Hamlet's lunacy.

King. O, speak of that

Pol. Give

[Act

that do I long to hear.

50

admittance to the ambassadors

shall be the fruit to that great feast.

Jiing. Thyself do grace to them, and bring them

in.

[Exit Polonius.

He
The
Queen.

His

my

me,

tells

dear Gertrude, he hath found

head and source of

doubt

it is

we

your son's distemper.

and our o'erhasty marriage.

shall sift him.

Re-enter PoLONius^ with

Voltimand and Cornelius.

Welcome, my good

Say, Voltimand,

Volt.

His nephew's

friends!

what from our brother Norway?

Most fair return

Upon our first, he

To

no other but the main;

father's death

King. Well,

all

60

of greetings and desires.

sent out to suppress

levies,

which

to

him appear'd

be a preparation 'gainst the Polack,

But better look'd into, he truly found

It was against your highness: whereat grieved,
That so his sickness, age and impotence

Was falsely borne in hand,

On Fortinbras; which he,

sends out arrests

in brief, obeys.

Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine

Makes vow

To

before his uncle never

give the assay of

Whereon

old

more

70

arms against your majesty.

Norway, overcome with

Gives him three thousand crowns

in

joy.

annual

fee,

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

And

45

commission to employ those

his

soldiers,

So levied

as before, against the Polack:

With an

entreaty, herein further shown,

[Giving a paper.

That it might
Through your

On
As

please

you to give quiet pass

dom.inions for this enterprise.

such regards of safety and allowance

therein are set

down.

King.

It likes us

And

at

80

well;

our more consider'd time we'll read.

Answer, and think upon

this business.

Meantime we thank you

for your well-took labor

Go

to

your rest; at night we'll feast together:

Most welcome home

[Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius.

This business

Pol.

My liege, and madam,

to expostulate

What

be,

majesty should

what duty

is.

Why

day

Were

nothing but to waste night, day and time.

is

day, night night,

Therefore, since brevity

And

Mad
What
But

is

and time

call I
is't

it

is

time.

the soul of wit

tediousness the limbs and

Your noble

I will be brief.

outward

son

for, to define true

90
flourishes,

mad:

is

madness.

but to be nothing else but

mad ?

let that go.

More

Queen.
Pol.

well ended.

is

Madam,
That he
And' pity

I
is

swear

mad,

'tis 'tis

'tis

matter, with less art.

use no art at
true

'tis

all.

true

'tis

true: a foolish figure;

pity,

Hamlet

46
But farewell

Mad

let us

That we

Or

it,

for I will use

[Act

no

grant him then: and

II.

art.

now

100

remains

find out the cause of this effect,

rather say, the cause of this defect,

For

this effect defective

Thus

it

comes by cause:

remains and the remainder thus.

Perpend.

have a daughter,

Who,

in her

Hath

given

have while

she

mine,

is

duty and obedience, mark,

me

this:

now

gather, and surmise.

[Reads.
*

To

the celestial and

my

the most

soul's idol,

no

beautified Ophelia,'

That's an
is

ill

phrase, a vile phrase

'

beautified

'

Thus:

a vile phrase; but you shall hear.

[Reads.
*

In her excellent white bosom,

Came this from Hamlet

Good madam, stay awhile;

these,'

Queen.

to her?

Pol.

I will

'

*0

dear Ophelia,

love thee best,

am

most

ill

my

numbers;

groans: but that

at these

best, believe

Thine evermore, most dear

in

it.

Adieu.

lady, whilst this

Hamlet.'
obedience hath my daughter shown me

machine

This

be faithful.

Doubt thou the stars are fire

Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.

have not art to reckon

'

&c.

is

to him,

120

Hamlet

Scene IL]

And more
As

they

47

above, hath his solicitings,

fell

out by time, by means and place,

All given to mine

ear.

But how hath she

King.
Received his love ?

What

PoL

do you think of

me ?

King. As of a man faithful and honorable.

Pol. I w^ould fain prove so.

When
As

had seen

I perceived

But

on the wing,

this hot love

I

it,

must

130

w^hat might you think,

you

tell

that,

what might

Before

my

Or my

dear majesty your queen here, think,

If I

daughter told me,

you.

had play'd the desk or table-book.

Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,

Or look'd upon this love with idle sight;
What might you think? No, I went round to
And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:

work.

Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star;

This must not be
and then I prescripts gave
That she should lock herself from his resort.

140

'

Admit no messengers,
Which done, she took

And

he repulsed

receive

her,

no tokens.

the fruits of

a short tale to

my

advice

make

Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,

Thence
Thence

to a watch, thence into a weakness.

to a lightness,

and by

Into the madness wherein

this declension

now

he raves

And all we mourn for.

King. Do you think 'tis this?
Queen.

It

may

be,

very

likely.

150

Hamlet

48
Pol.

Hath there been such

That I have positively

When

it

a time
said

I'd fain

'TIs

II.

that

know

so,'

proved otherwise?

Not

King.
Pol.

'

[Act

{^Pointing to his head

this, If this

that I

know.

and shoulder^ Take

this

from

be otherwise:

If circumstances lead me, I will find

Where

truth

Within

the center.

is

hid,

You know,
Here

Pol.

were hid Indeed

further ?

sometimes he walks four hours together

In the lobby.

Queen.

it

How may we try it

King.
Pol.

though

So he does Indeed.

At such a time I'll loose my daughter

Be you and I behind an arras then

i6l
to

him:

Mark the encounter: if he love her not

And be not from his reason fall'n thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state,
But keep a farm and

carters.

We

King.

will try

it.

Queen. But look where sadly the poor wretch comes

reading.
Pol.

Away,
I'll

do beseech you, both away

board him presently.

169

^Exeunt King, Queen, and Attendants.

Enter Hamlet^ reading.

How

does

Ham. Well,

my

O, give me leave:
good Lord Hamlet?

God-a-mercy.

Scene
Pol.

Do

Ham.
Pol.

Hamlet

II.]

my

you know me,

lord

49
?

Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.

Not

my

I,

Ham. Then

my

Pol. Honest,

Ham. Ay,

man

being

my

god

goes,

is

kissing

i8o

lord.

the sun breed

if

world

as this

picked out of ten thousand.

Pol. That's very true,

Ham. For

man.

so honest a

lord!

to be honest,

sir;

one

to be

lord.

would you were

maggots
carrion,

in a

dead dog,

Have

you

daughter ?

my

Pol. I have,

lord.

Harn. Let her not walk

blessing

on

my

gone

say you by that?

daughter: yet he

he said

was

in

love;

my

youth

What is the matter, my

Ham. Between who ?
Pol.

is

much

190

ex-

speak

my

lord?

my

lord.

lord?

Pol. I mean, the matter that you read,

Ham.

at first;

Fll

this.

read,

harping

far gone, far

I suffered

very near

him again. What do you

Ham. Words, words, words.
to

conceive.

Still

knew me not

a fishmonger: he

and truly

tremity for

may

is

to't.

How

lAside~\

the sun: conception

but not as your daughter

Friend, look
Pol.

i'

Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here

that old

men have

are wrinkled,

grey beards, that their faces

their

eyes purging thick

and plum-tree gum, and that they have a

ful lack of wit, together

amber 200
plenti-

with most weak hams:

Hamlet

50
which,

all

though

sir,

tently believe,
it

am,

as I

method

my
Ham.

hold

it

not honesty to have

sir,

should be old

a crab you could go backward.

Though
in't.

most powerfully and po-

for yourself,

like

if

IJside^

Pol.

down

thus set

)^et

[Act II.

this

be madness, yet there

^Will you

walk out of the

is

air,

lord?

Into

my

2iO

grave.

Pol. Indeed, that

is

out of the

[Aside]

air.

How

pregnant sometimes his replies are! a happiness

madness

that often

sanity could
of.

daughter.

of

will

life,

delivered

him, and suddenly contrive

meeting between him

My

humbly take

Ham. You

not so prosperously be
leave

will

the means

which reason and

hits on,

honorable

my

lord,

my

and

will

most

leave of you.

sir, take from me any thing that

more willingly part withal: except my 220

cannot,

except

my

Pol. Fare you well,

Ham. These

except

life,

my

my

life.

lord.

tedious old fools!

Re-enter

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Pol.

You

Ros.

[To Polonius] God

go to seek the Lord Hamlet; there he

My honored lord
My most dear lord!
Ham. My excellent good

save you, sir!

is.

[Exit Polonius.

Guil.

Ros.

Guildenstern?

how do you

friends!

How

Ah, Rosencrantz!

both?

dost thou,

Good

lads,

230

Hamlet

Scene IL]

As

Ros.

the indifferent children of the earth.

we are not over-happy;

cap we are not the very button.

Guil. Happy, in that

On

Fortune's

Ham. Nor

the soles of her shoe?

my

Ros. Neither,

Ham. Then you

lord.

about her waist, or in the middle

live

What's the news?

of her favors?

my

Ros. None,

240

but that the world's

lord,

grown

honest.

Ham. Then

doomsday near: but your news

is

Let

not true.

me

more

question

what have you, my good

is

in particular:

friends,

deserved at

hands of Fortune, that she sends you to

the

prison hither?

my

Guil. Prison,

lord!

Ham. Denmark's a prison.

Then is the world one.
Ham. A goodly one; in which
Ros.

fines,
o'

many

con-

wards and dungeons, Denmark being one

the worst.

We

Ros.

250
there are

think not

Ham. Why,

then,

so,
'tis

my

lord.

none to you; for there

is

nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes

it

so: to

Why,

Ros.

too

Ham.

me

it is

then,

narrow

God,

a prison.

your ambition makes

one;

'tis

for your mind.

could be bounded in a nut-shell and 260

count myself a king of

not that

it

infinite

space,

were

it

have bad dreams.

Guil. W'hich dreams indeed are ambition;

for

the

Hamlet

52

[ActII.

very substance of the ambitious

is

merely the

shadow of a dream.
Ham. A dream itself is but a shadow.
Ros. Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and
a quality that

Ham. Then

light

but a shadow's shadow.

is

it

are our beggars bodies,

and our monarchs

and outstretched heroes the beggars' shadows. 270

Shall

we

to the court? for,

by

my

fay, I

cannot

reason.

Ros.

,,^

,,,

We 11

Ham. No

wait upon you.

such matter: I will not sort you with the

rest of

my

servants,

an honest man,

way

But, in the beaten

you

To

Ros.

to speak to

for,

am most

you

like

dreadfully attended.

of friendship,

what make

at Elsinore?
visit

you,

Ham. Beggar
but

my

lord

that I am, I

no other occasion.

am

even poor in thanks; 280

thank you: and sure, dear friends,

thanks are too dear a halfpenny.

not sent for?

Is

a free visitation?

it

your

own

Come,

my

Were you

inclining?

deal justly with

Is

it

me:

come, come; nay, speak.

What should we say, my lord?

Ham. Why, anything, but to the
Guil.

were sent for; and there

in

is

You

a kind of confession

your looks which your modesties have not

craft

enough

to color:

know

and queen have sent for you.

Ros.

purpose.

To what

end,

my

lord?

the good king

290

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Ham. That you must

53
But

teach me.

let

me

conjure

you, by the rights of our fellowship, by the con-

sonancy of our youth, by the obligation of our

ever-preserved love, and by

proposer

better

what more dear a

charge you withal,

could

be

even and direct with me, whether you were

no?

sent for, or

What

Ros. [Aside to GuiL]

Ham.

[Aside^ Nay, then,

If

Guil.

lord,

we were

off.
,

sent for.

you why;

I will tell

300

have an eye of you.

you love me, hold not

My

Ham.

say you?

my

so shall

anticipation

prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the

king and queen moult no feather.

but wherefore
forgone

know

not

have of late

lost all

my

mirth,

custom of exercises; and indeed

all

goes so heavily with

my

disposition

promontory;

this

that this

me

goodly frame, the earth, seems to

it

a sterile 310

most excellent canopy, the

air,

look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this

majestical roof fretted with golden

appears no other thing to

me

infinite

angel!

it

What

a piece

how
in faculty! in form and moving how
and admirable! in action how like an
in apprehension how like a god! the

work

express

why,

than a foul and

pestilent congregation of vapors.

of

fire,

is

man! how noble

in reason!

beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! 320

And, yet,

to

me, what

is

this quintessence of

dust?

Hamlet

54

man

delights not

me;

[ActII.

woman

no, nor

though by your smiling you seem

My

Ros.

there

lord,

neither,

to say so.

was no such

stuff

my

In

thoughts.

Why

Ham.

did you laugh then,

me

delights not

Ros.

To

my

think,

what lenten

'

when

I said

man

'

you delight not

lord, If

entertainment

the

In

players

man,
shall

from you: we coted them on the way; 330

to offer you service.

receive

and hither are they coming,

Ham. He
his

that

plays

the

king shall

be welcome;

majesty shall have tribute of me; the adven-

turous knight shall use his

and target; the

foil

humorous man

lover shall not sigh gratis; the

the clown

shall

end

make

those laugh whose lungs are tickle

sere;

and the lady

his

part In peace;

shall say her

mind

the

o'

freely, or

What

the blank verse shall halt for't.

shall

players

are they?

340

Ros. Even those you were wont to take such delight

In,

the tragedians of the city.

Ham. How

chances

It

they travel? their residence,

both In reputation and

profit,

was

better both

ways.
Ros.

think their Inhibition comes by the

means

of the late innovation.

Ham. Do
did

hold

they

when

followed

was

the
in

same
the

Ros. No, indeed, are they not.

estimation

city?

are

they

they

so

350

Hamlet

Scene IL]

Ham. How comes

it?

55

do they grow rusty?

Ros. Nay, their endeavor keeps in the wonted pace:

but there

an

sir,

is,

aery

of

most tyrannically clapped

are

now

the

stages

so

come

scarce

Ham. What,
how are

little

afraid

these

for't:

so berattle the

they call them

are

rapiers

and

fashion,

children,

on the top of question, and

eyases, that cry out

of

are

common

many wearing

that

and

goose-quills

dare

360

thither.

are they children?

who

maintains 'em?

Will they pursue the

they escoted?

quality no longer than they can sing? will they

not say afterwards,

selves to

common

grow them-

they should

if

players,

as

it

most

is

like,

means are no better, their writers

do them wrong, to make them exclaim against
their

if

their

own

succession?

Ros. Faith, there has been

much

and the nation holds

to controversy: there

it

was

to

no

do on both

sin

to

tarre

for a while

sides,

them 370

no money

bid for argument unless the poet and the player

went

Ham.
Guil.

to cuffs in the question.

Is't possible?

O,

there has been

much throwing about

of

brains.

Ham. Do

the boys carry

Ros. Ay, that they do,

it

my

away?
lord; Hercules and his

load too.

Ham.
of

It

is

not very strange; for

Denmark, and

those that

my

uncle

is

king 38Q

would maks mows

Hamlet

56

[ActII.

him while my father lived, give tw^enty, forty,

fifty, an hundred ducats a-piece for his picture

at

in

there

'Sblood,

little.

more than

natural,

something

is

in

philosophy could find

if

it

this

out.

\^Flourish of trumpets within.

There

Guil.

Ham.

are the players.

you

Gentlemen,

Your

are

hands, come

welcome

then:

Elsinore.

to

the appurtenance of

welcome is fashion and ceremony: let me

comply with you in this garb, lest my extent to 390
the players, which, I tell )/ou, must show fairly
outward, should more appear like entertainment
than yours. You are welcome: but my unclefather and aunt-mother are deceived.

my

Guil. In what,

Ham.

am

wind

is

but

dear lord?

mad

southerly I

north-north-west:

know

hawk from

when
a

the

handsaw.

Re-enter PoLONlus.
Pol.

Well

be with

Ham. Hark

5^ou,

you,

gentlemen

Guildenstern

and

at each ear a hearer: that great

there

is

you

too:

baby you

see

not yet out of his swaddling-clouts.

Ros. Happily

he's

them; for

they

the

say

come

time

second

an old

man

is

twice

to

child.

Ham.

will prophesy he comes to tell

players;

mark

it.

Monday morning;
Pol.

My

lord, I

You
'twas

have news to

say
so,

tell

me

right,

indeed.

you.

of the
sir:

o'

400

Hamlet

Scene IL]

Ham.

My

lord,

57

have news to

tell

When

you.

Rosclus was an actor in Rome,

410

The actors are come hither, my lord.

Ham. Buz, buz!
Pol. Upon mine honor,
Ham. Then came each actor on his ass,
Pol. The best actors in the world, either
Pol,

tragedy,

comedy,

comical,

historical-pastoral,

tragical-historical,

tragical-comical-historical-pastoral,

vidable,

or

too heavy,

pastoral-

pastoral,

history,

for

scene

indi-

poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be

nor Plautus too light. For the law 420

of writ and the liberty, these are the only men.

Ham.

Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure

hadst thou!

What a
Ham. Why,
Pol.

'

treasure had he,

lord?

One fair daughter, and no more.

The which he loved passing well.'

Pol. [Aside] Still on

Ham.

my

Am

not

me

daughter that

daughter.

the right, old Jephthah?

i'

Pol. If you call

my

Jephthah,

my

lord,

have a 430

love passing well.

Ham. Nay, that follows not.

Pol. What follows, then, my lord?
Ham. Why,
As by lot, God wot,'
'

and then, you know,

''

It

came

to

pass,

as

most

like

it

was,'

Hamlet

58
the

row

first

my

abridgment comes.

Enter four or

five

Players.

look,

are welcome, masters; welcome,

my

Thy

friend!

saw thee

since I
in

old

Denmark?

face

saw you

me

is

mis-

nearer

to

by the altitude

last,

Pray God, your

of a chopine.

valanced

is

What, my young lady and

By'r lady, your ladyship

tress!

friends.

comest thou to beard

last;

heaven than when

am 440

all.

Welcome, good

glad to see thee well.

O,

show you

of the pious chanson will

where

more; for

You

[Act II.

voice, like a piece

of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring.

Masters, you are

welcome.

all

French falconers,

like

fly

at

We'll

any thing

we'll have a speech straight: come,

taste of

Ham.

we

see:

450

give us a

your quality; come, a passionate speech.

What

First Play.

e'en to't

speech,

my
me

heard thee speak

was never acted;

lord

or, if

it

a speech once, but

it

was, not above once;

for the play, I remember, pleased not the million;

as

ments

'twas caviare to the general: but

I

received

it,

and

others,

it

was

whose judg-

in such matters cried in the top of

mine

an excellent play, well digested in the scenes,

down with

as

member, one
to

make

much modesty

said there

as cunning.

were no

set

I re-

sallets in the lines

the matter savory, nor no matter in the

phrase that might indict the author of affecta-

460

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

tlqn

but called

some
than

an honest method, as whole-

and by very much more handsome

as sweet,

One

fine.

it

speech in

i^neas' tale to Dido

cially,
it

live

'

is

not so

The rugged

Black as

When

chiefly loved

it I

and thereabout of

it

'twas
espe-

where he speaks of Priam's slaughter: if

in your memory, begin at this line; let 470

me see, let me see

The rugged Pyrrhus,
It

59

it

like the

begins with

'

Hyrcanian

Pyrrhus

'

beast,'

Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms.

his purpose, did the night resemble

he lay couched in the ominous horse.

Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd

With heraldry more dismal: head to foot

Now

is

With

blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,

he total gules; horridly trick'd

479

Baked and impasted with the parching streets,

That lend a tyrannous and damned light
To their lord's murder: roasted in wrath and fire.

And

thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore.

With eyes like carbuncles, the

Old grandsire Priam seeks.'

hellish

Pyrrhus

So, proceed you.

God, my
accent and good

Pol. 'Fore

lord,

well spoken, with good

discretion.

First Play.

'

Anon

he finds him

Striking too short at Greeks; his antique sword,

Rebellious to his arm,

Repugnant

to

lies

where

it

falls,

command: unequal match'd,

Pyrrhus at Priam drives

in rage strikes

wide

490

Hamlet

6o
But with

the whiff

The unnerved
Seeming

[Act

and wind of

father

to feel this blow,

sword

his fell

Then

falls.

II.

senseless Ilium,

with flaming top

Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash

Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear

Which

Of

for, lo

his

sword.

w^as declining on the milky head

reverend Priam, seem'd

i'

Pyrrhus stood,

So, as a painted tyrant,

And

like a neutral to his will

Did

nothing.

But, as

we

A silence

500

the air to stick:

and matter,

often see, against some storm,

in the heavens, the rack stand

still.

The bold winds speechless and the orb below

As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
Doth rend

the region, so, after Pyrrhus' pause.

Aroused vengeance

And

On

sets

him new a-work;

never did the Cyclops' hammers

510

fall

Mars's armor forged for proof eterne

With

less

Now

falls

remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword

on Priam.

Out, out, thou strumpet. Fortune

All you gods.

In general synod take away her power;

Break

the spokes and fellies

all

And bowl
As low
Pol. This

Ham.

is

the round nave

as to the fiends

the hill of heaven

520

too long.

It shall to the barber's,

Prithee,

down

from her wheel.

say

with your beard.

on: he's for a jig or a tale of

bawdry, or he

sleeps: say on:

come

to

Hecuba.

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

mobled

Ham.

'

But

'

The mobled queen

Pol. That's good

First Play.

'

'

Run

who had

O,

who,
queen

Play.

First

'

6
seen

the

mobled queen

'

good.

is

barefoot up and down, threatening the

flames

With bisson rheum; a clout upon

Where late the diadem stood, and
About her lank and

all

that head

for a robe,

blanket, in the alarm of fear caught

Who

this

had

seen,

530

o'er-teemed loins,

with tongue

in

up

venom

steep'd,

'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounced

But

if

When

the gods themselves did see her then.

she

saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport

In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs.

The

instant burst of clamor that she made.

Unless things mortal move them not

Would have made

And passion in the

milch the burning eyes of heaven,

54

gods.'

whether he has not turned

Pol. Look,

and

at all,

has

tears

eyes.

in's

his

color

no

Prithee,

more.

Ham.
of

'Tis well;
this

soon.

I'll

have thee speak out the

Good my

the players'" well bestowed?

them be well

lord,

Do

will

you

you hear,

used, for they are the abstract

brief chronicles of the

ill

see
let

and

time: after your death

you were better have a bad epitaph than

report while you live.

rest

their

550

Hamlet

62
Pol.

My

lord,

will use

[ActII.

them according

their

to

desert.

Ham. God's bodykins, man, much better: use

every man after his desert, and who shall 'scape
whipping?
Use them after your own honor
and dignity: the
merit
Pol.

Come,

deserve,

Take them

your bounty.

in

is

they

less

him,

morrow.
but the

friends:

{^Exit

First Play. Ay,

Ham. We'll

we'll hear a play to-

Polonius with

all

my

Murder

of

Gonzago?

lord.

to-morrow

ha't

which

Ham. Very

my

are

Ham. Ay,

so,

[Exit

not.

welcome

set

down and

in-

lord.

friends,

Good my

some dozen or

Follow that lord; and look you 570

well.

mock him

would

could,

you not?

sert in't, could

First Play. Ay,

You

night.

for a need, study a speech of

sixteen lines,

560

the Players

Dost thou hear me, old friend;

First.~\

can you play the

Ros.

in.

sirs.

Ham. Follow

good

more

the

Fll

leave

First

you

Player.^
till

night:

My
you

to Elsinore.

lord!

God

be wi'

ye!

[Exeunt Rosencrantz

and Guild enstern.^ 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.

Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd;

580

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Tears

63

in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,

broken voice, and his whole function suiting

With forms

to his conceit?

and

nothing!

all for

For Hecuba!

What's Hecuba

That

What would

he should weep for her?

Had

Hecuba,

to him, or he to

he do.

he the motive and the cue for passion

That

He would drown

have?

the stage with tears

And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,

Make mad the guilty and appall the free,

590

Confound the Ignorant, and amaze indeed

The
Yet

very faculties of eyes and ears.

I,

dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,

my

Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of

And

cause,

can say nothing; no, not for a king.

Upon whose

property and most dear

A damn'd defeat was

Who calls me villain
Plucks off

my

Am

made.
?

breaks

my

beard, and blows

Tweaks me by

the

life

a coward

pate across

it

nose? gives

In

my

me

the

600

face?
lie

I'

the

throat.

As deep
Ha!

as to the lungs?

'Swounds,

But

am

To make
I

should take

It:

does

for

it

me

this?

cannot be

pigeon-llver'd and lack gall

oppression bitter, or ere this

should have fatted

With

who

all

the region kites

this slave's offal: bloody,

bawdy

\/

villain!

Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!

Hamlet

64

[ActII.

610

O, vengeance!

Why, what

an

am

ass

This

is

most brave,

That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,

Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must,

And

like

a whore, unpack

fall a-cursing, like

my

heart with words,

a very drab,

scullion!

About,

Fie upon't! fob!

my

That guilty creatures sitting

Have by the very cunning of
Been struck

They have

brain!

have heard

at a play,

the scene

620

so to the soul that presently

proclaim'd their malefactions;

For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak

With most miraculous organ. Fll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle

him

Fll tent
I

know my

Fll observe his looks

to the quick:

course.

The

if

he but blench,

spirit that I

have seen

May be the devil; and the devil hath power

To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As

he

is

Abuses

More

very potent with such

me

to

damn me.

relative than this.

Wherein

630

spirits.

Fll have grounds

The

play's the thing

Fll catch the conscience of the king.

[Exit.

Hamlet

Scene!.]

65

ACT THIRD
Scene

A
Enter King,

room

in the castle.

Queen, Polonius, Ophelia,

ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN.

King.

And

can you, by no drift of circumstance.

Get from him why he puts on

Grating so harshly

With

He

Ros.

all his

this confusion,

days of quiet

turbulent and dangerous lunacy?

does confess he feels himself distracted;

But from what cause he will by no means speak.

Guil. Nor do we find him forward to be sounded.
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof,

When we
Of

would bring him on

Did he

\ Queen.
Most

Ros.

receive

But with much forcing of

Ros. Niggard of question; but,

Most

Ros.

his disposition.

of our demands,

Did you

assay

him

any pastime ?

Madam,

it

so fell out, that certain players

We

o'er-raught on the

And

there did seem in

To

you well?

free in his reply.

Queen.

To

some confession

like a gentleman.

Guil.

to

his true state.

hear of

it:

way

of these

him a kind

we

of joy

they are about the court,

told him,

10

Hamlet

66

[Act

III.

And, as I think, they have already order

This night to play before him.-

20

'Tis most true:

Pol.

And

To
Kin[.

he beseech'd

With
me

To

to entreat

your majesties

all

my

and

heart;

much

doth

it

content

hear him so inclined.

Good

And

We

Ros.

me

hear and see the matter.

gentlemen, give him a further edge,

drive his purpose on to these delights.

shall,

my

lord.

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Sweet Gertrude, leave us too;

King.

For we have

That

closely sent for

he, as 'twere

Hamlet

by accident,

may

hither,

here

30

Affront Ophelia:

Her

father and myself, lawful espials,

Will

so

bestow ourselves

that, seeing unseen,

We may of their encounter frankly judge.

And

gather by him, as he

H't be the

I shall

And

or no

suffers for.

Queen.

obey you.

for your part, Ophelia, I do wish

That your good

Of Hamlet's

beauties be the happy cause

wildness: so shall

Will bring him

To

behaved,

affliction of his love

That thus he
A^

is

to his

hope your virtues

wonted way

again,

41

both your honors.

Oph.
Pol. Ophelia,

Madam,
walk you

here.

wish

it

may. [Exit Queen.

Gracious, so please you,

Hamlet

Scene!.]

We

will bestow ourselves.

67
\_To Ophelia.^

book

thf s

That show of such an

Your loneliness. We

may

exercise

color

are oft to blame in

much proved that with devotion's

And pious action we do sugar o'er
'Tis too

The

this,

visage

devil himself.

King.

O,

[Aside}

How
The

too true

'tis

smart a lash that speech doth give

science
'

Read on

Than

more ugly
is

my

con-

50
with plastering

harlot's cheek, beautied

Is not

my

to the thing that helps

deed to

my

art.

it

most painted word

O heavy burthen
Pol. I hear

him coming:

let's

withdraw,

my

lord.

[Exeunt King and Polonius.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. To

or not to be: that

be,

Whether

'tis

the question:

is

nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles.
And by opposing end them. To die: to sleep; 60
No more and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
;

That

flesh is heir to, 'tis

a consummation

To

Devoutly

to be wish'd.

To

perchance to dream

For

sleep

in that sleep of

When we

die, to sleep;
:

ay, there's the

death what dreams

have shuffled off this mortal

rub

may come,
coil.

Hamlet

68

Must

[Act

III.

give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of

For who would bear

so

long

69

life

and

whips

the

scorns

bf

time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely.

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That

patient merit of the

When
With

To

unworthy

he himself might his quietus

who would

a bare bodkin?

takes,

make

fardels bear,

grunt and sweat under a weary

life.

But that the dread of something after death.

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No

80

traveler returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus

And

conscience does

Be

with the pale cast of thought.

this

regard their current turn awry.

name

of action.

Ophelia!

Nymph,

lose the
fair

all

my

sins

Ham.

That
I

does your honor for

humbly thank you:

My

Oph.

lord, I
I

Soft you

now!

in thy orisons

Good my lord,
this many a day?-

well, well, well.

have remembrances of yours.

have longed long

pray you,

remember'd.

Oph.

How

and moment

enterprises of great pitch

With

And
The

of us all

thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er

And

make cowards

now

to re-deliver;

receive them.

90

Scene

Hamlet

I.]

Ham.

69
No, not

I;

never gave you aught.

Oph. My honor'd lord, you know right well j^ou did

And, with them, words of so sweet breath composed
As made the things more rich their perfume lost,
:

Take
Rich

these again; for to the noble

gifts

There,

'

Ham. Ha,
Oph.

My

wax

my

poor

when

mind

100

givers prove unkind.

lord.

ha! are you honest?

lord?

Ham. Are you fair ?

Oph. What means your lordship?
Ham. That if you be honest and

fair,

your honesty

should admit no discourse to your beauty.

Oph. Could beauty,

my

lord,

have better commerce

than with honesty?

Ham. Ay,

iio

power of beauty will sooner

transform honesty from what it is to a bawd
truly

for the

than the force of honesty can translate beauty

into his likeness: this

but

now

was sometime a paradox,

the time gives

proof.

it

did love

you once.

Oph. Indeed,

Ham. You

my

lord,

you made me believe

so.

should not have believed me; for virtue

cannot so inoculate our old stock but

relish of it: I loved

you

we

shall

120

not.

was the more deceived.

Ham. Get thee to a nwnnery: why wouldst thou be
Oph.

a breeder of sinners?
honest;

but

yet

could

am

myself indifferent

accuse

me

of

such

Hamlet

70
things that

bitious;

my mother

were better

it

borne me:

am

[ActIIL

with more offences

them

my

at

have thoughts to put them

give

had not

very proud, revengeful, am-

should such fellows as

imagination to

in,

shape, or time to act

beck than

them

What

in.

do crawling between 130

heaven and earth!

We

are arrant knaves all;

believe none of us.

Go

thy ways to a nunnery.

Where's your father?

Oph. At home,

Ham.

my

lord.

Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may

play the

no where but

fool

in's

own

house.

Farewell.

Oph. O, help him, you sweet heavens!

Ham.

thou dost marry,

If

I'll

give thee this plague

thy dowry: be thou as chaste as

for

as

ice,

140

pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.

Get

thee to a nunnery,

Or,

go: farewell.

if

thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise

men know

well enough what monsters you make

of them.

To

a nunnery, go, and quickly too.

Farewell.

Oph.

Ham.

heavenly powers, restore him!

heard

have

God

enough;

you make
amble,

you

given

and

you one
you

another:

and

lisp,

too,

well

face,

and

I'll

no

nick-name

say,

more

we

you 150

jig,

make your 'wantonness

Go to,
made me mad.

ignorance.

hath

hath

your paintings

yourselves

and

creatures,

of

God's
your

on't;

it

will have no

Hamlet

Scene!.]

more marriages:
all

those that are married already,

but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as

To

they are.

a nunnery, go.

Oph. O, what a noble mind

The

courtier's,

is

soldier's,

[Exit.

here o'erthrown!

scholar's,

eye,

tongue,

sword

The
The
The
And

expectancy and rose of the

glass of fashion

observed of
of ladies

I,

i6o

fair state,

and the mold of form.

quite

all observers, quite,

down!

most deject and wretched.

That

suck'd the honey of his music vows.

Now

see that noble

and most sovereign reason.

Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;

That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth

Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me,
To have seen what I have seen, see what I see

King and Polonius.

Re-enter

King. Love

his affections

Nor what

Was

not like madness.

O'er which

And

do not that

he spake, though

his

it

70

little.

melancholy

sits

on brood.

do doubt the hatch and the disclose

have

Thus

tend

form a

There's something in his soul

Will be some danger: which

I

way

lack'd

in

for to prevent,

quick determination

set it

down

he shall with speed to England,

For the demand of our neglected tribute:

Haply the seas and countries different

With

variable objects shall expel

This something-settled matter

in his heart,

180

Hamlet

72

[ActIII.

Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus

From fashion of himself. What think you on't?
Pol. It shall do well

The

origin

but yet do

and commencement of

Sprung from neglected

You

need not

We heard
But,

Let

it all.

My lord,
it

his grief

How

now, Ophelia!

do as you please;

him
her be round with him;

all

his grief: let

said

after the play.

fit,

queen mother

To show

love.

what Lord Hamlet

us

tell

you hold

if

his

believe

alone entreat

190

And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear

Of all their conference. If she find him not,
To England send him, or confine him where
Your wisdom

best shall think.

King.

It shall be so

Madness

in great ones

must not unwatch'd

go.

[^Exeunt.

Scene

A
Enter

Ham.
it

hall in the castle.

Hamlet and

Speak the speech,

to you, trippingly

mouth
lief

it,

the

as

many

town-crier

not saw the air too

but use

all

II

Players.

pray you, as

pronounced

on the tongue: but

if

you

of your players do, I had as

spoke

my

lines.

much with your

Nor do
hand, thus,

gently: for in the very torrent, tem-

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

and,

pest,

as

may

73
whirlwind of

the

say,

passion, you must acquire and beget a temper-

may

ance that

me

give

it

O,

smoothness.

it

offends

the soul to hear a robustious periwig-

to

lO

pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very

rags, to split the ears of the groundlings,

who

most part are capable of nothing but

for the

dumb-shows and noise: I would

have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.
inexplicable

First Play.

Ham. Be

warrant your honor.

not too tame neither, but

cretion be your tutor

the

word

with

for anything so overdone

whose end, both

was and

is,

word,

this special observ-

20

at the first

mirror up to

to hold, as 'twere, the

own

and now,

feature, scorn

image, and the very age and body of

the time his

form and pressure.

or come tardy

done,

dis-

from the purpose of

is

nature; to show virtue her

own

own

you o'erstep not the modesty of nature

playing,

her

your

suit the action to the

to the action

ance, that

let

off,

unskilful laugh, cannot but

grieve; the censure of the

Now

though

it

make the

this over-

make

the

judicious

which one must

in

your allowance o'erweigh a whole theater of

O, there be players that

and heard others praise, and

have seen

others.

play,

that highly,

not to speak

it

profanely, that, neither having the*

accent of Christians nor the gait of Christian,

pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed

30

Hamlet

74

[Act

ill.

some of nature's journeymen

that I have thought

had made men and not made them well, they

imitated humanity so abominably.

we have reformed

First Play. I hope

ently with us,

Ham. O,

reform

that indiffer-

sir.

altogether.

it

And

let those that

play your clowns speak no more than

for

is set

down

them: for there be of them that will them-

on some quantity of barren

selves laugh, to set

spectators

then

to

though

laugh too,

to

time some

necessary question

considered:

be

shows a most
uses

40

pitiful

the

the

mean

play

villainous,

that's

be

and

ambition in the fool that

Go, make you ready.

it.

in

of

[Exeunt Players.

50

Enter Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.

How

my

now,

piece of

will the

lord!

And the queen too, and

Ham. Bid the players make
Will you two help

We

this

work?

Pol.

Gull.

king hear

will,

my

that presently.

[Exit Polonius.

haste.

to hasten

them?

lord.

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,

Ham. What

ho

Horatio

Enter Horatio.

Hor. Here, sweet

lord, at

your

service.

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Ham.

75

Horatio, thou art e'en as just a

As

my

e'er

my

Hor. O,

man

conversation coped withal.

60

dear lord,

Ham.

Nay, do not think

I flatter;

For what advancement may I hope from thee

That no revenue hast but thy good spirits,

To

feed and clothe thee?

Why

should the poor be

flatter'd ?

No,

the candied tongue lick absurd pomp.

let

And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee

Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice
And could of men distinguish, her election

hear?

Hath seal'd thee for herself: for thou hast been 70

As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing,

A man that
Hast

ta'en

Whose
That

To

Fortune's buffets and rewards

with equal thanks: and

blood and judgment are so well commingled

they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger

sound what stop she

That

my

As

Give me that man

will wear him

heart's core, ay, in

my

heart of heart,

Something

too

much

do

There

please.

not passion's slave, and

is

In

thee.

is

I prithee,

when thou

Even with
Observe

of

this.

a play to-night before the king;

One scene of it comes near the

Which I have told thee of my

Do

blest are those

the very

my

-not itself

uncle:

circumstance
father's death:

seest that act a-foot.

comment
if

of thy soul

his occulted guilt

unkennel

in

one speech,

80

Hamlet

76
It

damned ghost

is

And my

And

seen,

after

Give him heedful note

stithy.

mine

we have

that

imaginations are as foul

As Vulcan's
For

[Act ill.

we

90

will rivet to his face,

ej^es

will both our judgments join

In censure of his seeming.

Hor.

Well,
If he steal

aught the whilst

my

lord

this play

is

playing,

And 'scape detecting, I will pay the theft.

Ham. They are coming to the play: I must be idle:
Get you a

place.

Danish march.

Enter King, Queen, Po-

flourish.

LONius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern,

and other LoRDS attendant^ with the Guard carrying
torches.

King.

How

Ham.

Excellent,

words

these

Ham. No,
lord,

Pol.

answer,

Hamlet;

now.

I,

my

i'

lord,

\_To

Polonius~\

My

the university, you say?

and was accounted a

actor.

Ham. What
I

mine

you played once

did

this

are not mine.

nor

That
good

Pol.

lOO

so.

have nothing with

the chameleon's dish:

promise-crammed: you cannot

air,

feed capons

King.

faith; of

i'

the

eat

our cousin Hamlet?

fares

did

did you enact?

enact

the Capitol

Julius

Brutus

Caersar:

killed me.

was

killed

i'

Scene

II.]

Ham.

It

Hamlet

77

was a brute part of hfm to kill

calf there.
Be the players ready?
they stay upon
Ros. Ay, my lord

so capital a

your

no

pa-

tience.
^

Come

Queen.

hither,

my

Hamlet,

dear

sit

by

me.

Ham. No, good

mother, here's metal more attrac-

tive.

Pol.

[To

Ham.

the King~\

Lady, shall

O, ho! do you mark that?

I lie in

your lap
\^Lyin^

Oph. No,

Ham.

my

120

my

head upon your lap?

Oph. You are merry, my

Ham. Who, I?

my

at Ophelia^s feet.

lord.

mean,

Oph. Ay,

down

lord.

130

lord.

Ham.

Ham.

So long?

God, your only jig-maker. What should

a man do but be merry? for, look you, how
cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died
within's two hours.
Oph. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord.
for

I'll

Nay

have a suit of

two months
life

build

ago,

sables.

black,

heavens! die

Then

memory may

outlive

half a year:

churches

wear

and not forgotten yet?

hope a great man's

there's
his

then, let the devil

then;

but,

or

by'r lady,
else

shall

he must

he

suffer

not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose

epitaph
forgot.'

is,

'

For, O, for, O, the hobby-horse

is

140

Hamlet

78

Hautboys

play.

The Dumb-show

Queen

Enter a King and a

embracing him, and he

show

[Act

declines his head

enters.

very lovingly; the

She

her.

upon her neck:

Queen

and makes
and
him down upon

kneels,

He

of protestation unto him.

III.

takes her up,

lays

a bank of flowers: she, seeing him asleep, leaves him.

Anon comes in a fellow, takes off his crown, kisses it,

and pours poison

Queen

in the

returns; finds the

three

MuTES, comes
The dead body

wooes the

and

ears,

King

exit.

The

dead, and makes

The Poisoner, with some two

passionate action.

her.

King's

Queen

in again,
is

seeming

to

lament with

The Poisoner

carried away.

ivith gifts: she

or

seems loath and

unwilling awhile, but in the end accepts his love.

\^Exeunt.

Oph. What means

Ham. Marry, this

my

this,
is

lord?

miching mallecho;

it

means

mischief.

Oph. Belike

this

show imports

the

argument of the
150

play.

Enter Prologue.

Ham.

We

shall

know by

cannot keep counsel

this

fellow:

the players

they'll tell all.

Oph. You are naught, you are naught:

I'll

mark

the play.

Pro.

For us, and for our tragedy,

Here stooping to your clemency,

We

beg your hearing patiently.

160

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Hani.

Is this a prologue, or the

Oph. 'Tis

my

brief,

Ham. As woman's

79

posy of a ring?

lord.
love.

Enter two Players, King and Queen.

P. King. Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone round
Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground,

And

dozen moons with borrowed sheen

thirty

About

the world have times twelve thirties been.

Since love our hearts and

Hymen

did our hands

most sacred bands.

P. Queen. So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make us again count o'er ere love be done

Unite commutual

But,

woe

is

in

me, you are

170

so sick of late,

So far from cheer and from your former state,

That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,

Discomfort you,

For women's

my

lord,

it

nothing must:

and love holds quantity.

fear

In neither aught, or in extremity.

Now, what my love is, proof hath made you know

180
And as my love is sized, my fear is so
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.
P. King. Faith,

My

must leave

thee, love,

and shortly too

operant powers their functions leave to do:

And

thou shalt

live in this fair

Honor'd, beloved

For husband
P. Queen.

world behind,

and haply one

as kind

shalt thou

O, confound

Such love must needs be treason

in

the rest!

my

breast

Hamlet

8o
In second husband

None wed

Ham.

Are

me

the second but

The

be accurst

who

P. King.

time

I kill

my

husband dead,

me

in bed.

now you
we break.

do believe you think what

But what we do determine

Purpose

Of

move

but none of love:

second husband kisses

190

kill'd the first.

instances that second marriage

base respects of thrift,

A second
When

III.

Wormwood, wormwood.

[Aside^

P. Queen.

let

[Act

is

but the slave to

oft

speak,

memory.

violent birth, but poor validity:

Which now,
But

on the

unshaken when they mellow

fall

Most

like fruit unripe, sticks

necessary

'tis

that

we

tree,

200

be.

forget

To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt:

What to ourselves in passion we propose.
The
The

passion ending, doth the purpose lose.

violence of either grief or joy

Their own enactures with themselves destroy:

Where
Grief

joy most revels, grief doth most lament;

joys, joy grieves,

This world

is

That even our

For

'tis

not for aye, nor

'tis

not strange

210

loves should with our fortunes change,

a question left us yet to prove.

Whether

The
The
And

on slender accident.

love lead fortune, or else fortune love.

great

man down, you mark

his favorite flies;

poor advanced makes friends of enemies.

hitherto doth love on fortune tend;

For who not needs shall never lack a friend,

And who in want a hollow friend doth try,

Hamlet

Scene IL]

Directly seasons him his enemy.

But, orderly to end where

Our

and

wills

That our

Our

fates

devices

220

begun,

do so contrary run

still

are overthrown

thoughts are ours, their ends

none of our own:

So think thou wilt no second husband wed;

But die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead.

P. Queen. Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven light!
Sport and repose lock from me day and night
To desperation turn my trust and hope!

An

anchor's cheer in prison be

Meet what

would have well and

Both here and hence pursue

Ham.

scope!

230

opposite, that blanks the face of joy

Each

If,

my

once a widow, ever

If she should

break

me

it

destroy!

lasting strife,

be wife!

now!

it

Sweet,

P. King. 'Tis deeply sworn.

leave

me

here a

while

My

spirits

The

tedious day with sleep.

grow

dull,

and fain

would beguile
[^Sleeps.

Sleep rock thy brain;

P. Queen.

And never come mischance between us twain! [Exit.

Ham. Madam, how like you this play?
Queen. The lady doth protest too much, methinks. 240
Ham. O, but she'll keep her word.
King.

Have you heard

Is there

no

no, they do but jest, poison in jest;

no

the

argument?

offence in't?

Ham. No,
offence

King.

What

i'

the world.

do you

call the

play?

Hamlet

82

[Act

III.

Marry, how? Tropically.

This play is the image of a murder done in
Vienna: Gonzago is the duke's name; his wife,

Ham. The

Mouse-trap.

you

Baptista:
piece of

shall

anon;

see

work; but what

and we that have

0'

free souls,

'tis

knavish 250

that? your majesty

it

touches us not

the galled jade wince, our withers are

let

unwrung.

Enter LuciANUS.

This

is

one Lucianus, nephew to the king.

Oph. You are

Ham.

if I

my

good as a chorus,

as

lord.

could interpret between you and your love,

could see the puppets dallying.

Oph. You arc keen,

my

lord,

you are keen.

Ham.

258
Begin,

murderer; pox, leave thy damnable faces, and

begin.

Come

'
:

the croaking raven doth bellow

for revenge.'

Luc. Thoughts

black,

hands

apt,

drugs

fit,

and

time agreeing;

Confederate season, else no creature seeing;

Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected,

With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected.
Thy natural magic and dire property,
270

On

wholesome

life

usurp immediately.

l^Pours the poison into the sleepe/s ear.

Ham. He

him i' the garden

His name's Gonzago: the story
poisons

written in very choice Italian

how the murderer gets the

you

for his estate.

is

extant,

shall see

and
anon

love of Gonzago's wife.

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Oph. The king

Ham. What,
Pol.

Give

rises.

frighted with false fire!

How

Queen.

83

my

fares

lord?

o'er the play.

me some

King. Give

Away!

light.

280

Pol. Lights, lights, lights!

Hamlet and Horatio.

\_Exeunt all but

Ham. Why, let

The hart

the stricken deer go weep,

ungalled play;

For some must watch, while some must

sleep:

So runs the world away.

Would

not

the rest of

and a

this, sir,

my

forest of feathers

me

Hor. Half

Ham.

if

Turk with me

fortunes turn

my

with two Provincial roses on

get

razed shoes,

a fellowship in a cry of players, sir?

290

a share.

whole one,

I.

For thou dost know,

Damon

dear.

This realm dismantled was

Of Jove

himself; and

very, very

now

reigns here

pajock.

Hor. You might have rhymed.

Ham.

good Horatio,

I'll

for a thousand pound.

Hor. Very

well,

Ham. Upon
Hor.

my

take the ghost's

word

Didst perceive?

lord.

300

the talk of the poisoning?

did very well note him.

Ham. Ah,

ha!

recorders!

Come,

some

music!

come,

the

Hamlet

84
For

[Act

III.

the king like not the comedy,

if

When

then, belike, he likes

it

not, perdy.

Come, some music!

Re-enter

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Good my

Guil.

me

vouchsafe

lord,

word with

you.

Ham.

Sir,

Guil.

The

Ham. Ay,

a whole history.
king,
sir,

310

sir,

what

him?

of

Guil. Is in his retirement marvelous distempered.

Ham. With
Guil. No,

drink, sir?

my

lord, rather

Ham. Your wisdom

with choler.

should show

itself

more

me

to signify this to his doctor; for, for

him

to his purgation

into far

Guil.

more

Good my

Guil.

lord, put

tame,

I am.

The

your discourse into some 320

sir:

pronounce.

me

afflic-

to you.

right breed.

If

lord, this courtesy

it

shall please

a wholesome answer,

commandment:

if

not,

cannot.

What, my lord?

you

is

not of the

to

make me

will do your mother's

your pardon and

return shall be the end of

Sir,

affair.

are welcome.

my

Guil.

my

queen, your mother, in most great

Guil. Nay, good

Ham.

put

would perhaps plunge him

tion of spirit, hath sent

Ham. You

to

choler.

frame, and start not so wildly from

Ham.

richer

my

business.

my
330

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Ham. Make you

you

such answer

sir,

command

shall

my

wit's

can make,

as,

my

or rather, as you say,

mother: therefore no more, but

to the matter:

mother, you say,

Then

Ros.

my

wholesome answer;

diseased: but,

85

thus she says; your behavior hath struck

her into amazement and admiration.

Ham.

wonderful

But

mother!

can so astonish

that

son,

there no

is

sequel

of this mother's admiration?

the heels

at

Impart.

Ros. She desires to speak with you in her

you go

shall

My

Ham.

our

times

ten

she

further trade with us?

you once did love me.

lord,

So

were

obey,

Have you any

mother.
Ros.

closet, ere

to bed.

We

Ham.

a 340

do

by

still,

these

and

pickers

stealers.

Good my

Ros.

temper?
your

you

own

what

lord,

do

surely

liberty,

your cause of

is

bar

the

door

you deny your

if

dis-

350

upon

griefs

to

your friend.

Ham.

Sir, I

How

Ros.

of

lack advancement.

can that
king

the

be,

when you have

himself

for

your

the voice

succession

in

Denmark?

Ham.

Ay,

sir,

proverb

is

but

While

the grass grows,'

the

something musty.

Re-enter Players with recorders.

O, the recorders

let

me

see one.

To withdraw

360

Hamlet

86
with you:

why do you go about

wind of me, as
GuiL O, my lord,
is

Ha?n.

[Act

if

if

to recover the

you would drive me into a

my

ill.

duty be too bold,

toil ?

my

love

too unmannerly.

do not well understand

that.

Will you

play upon this pipe?

My

Guil.

Ham.

lord, I cannot.

pray you.

Guil. Believe me, I cannot.

Ham.

Guil. I

Ham.

do beseech you.

know no

'Tis

tages

as

370

touch of

easy

it,

my

lying:

as

with your fingers

lord.

govern

and thumb,

breath with your mouth, and

most

eloquent

Look

music.

it

ven-

these

give

it

will discourse

you,

these

are

the stops.

GuiL But

these cannot

ance of harmony;

Ham. Why,

command

to

have not the

look you now,

any utter-

skill.

how unworthy

a thing

You would play upon me; 380

you would seem to know my stops; you would
pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would
sound me from my lowest note to the top of
you make of me!

my

compass: and there

is

much

music, excel-

lent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot

make

it

speak.

'Sblood,

easier to be played

do you think

on than a pipe?

what instrument you

will,

Call

though you can

me, yet you cannot play upon me.

you

am
me
fret

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

87

Re-enter Polonius.

God
Pol.

bless you, sir!

My

390

queen would speak with you, and

lord, the

presently.

Ham. Do you

see

yonder cloud

almost

that's

in

shape of a camel?
Pol.

By

Ham. Methinks
Pol. It

and

the mass,
it

backed

is

is

'tis

like a weasel.

like a

whale ?

Very

like a

whale.

Ham. Then
They

I will

me

fool

come by and
Pol.

come

my

to

mother by and

my

to the top of

bent.

By and by

'

now

When

400

will

[Exit Polonius.

'

is

Leave me,

easily said.

[Exeunt
'Tis

by.

by.

will say so.

Ham.

a camel, indeed.

like a weasel.

Ham. Or
Pol.

like

all

friends.

but Hamlet.

the very witching time of night,

churchyards yawn and hell

Contagion to

this

world

now

itself

breathes out

could I drink hot

blood,

And do such bitter business as the day ^^"^

Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother.
heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever

The
Let

soul of

me

1 will

My

enter this firm

bosom

be cruel, not unnatural:

speak daggers to her, but use none

tongue and soul in

How
To

Nero

411

in

give

my words
them

this

be hypocrites;

soever she be shent,

seals never,

my

soul, consent!

[Exit.

Hamlet

88

Scene

room

[ActIII.

III

in the castle.

Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.

King.

I like

To
I

let

him not, nor stands it safe with us

Therefore prepare you;
his madness range.

your commission will forthwith dispatch,

And
The

he to England shall along with you:

terms of our estate

Hazard

Out

not endure

so near us as doth hourly

grow

of his lunacies.

We will ourselves provide

Guil.

Most holy and

religious fear

To

many many

keep those

That
Ros.

may

live

it is

bodies safe

and feed upon your majesty.

lO

The single and peculiar life is bound

With all the strength and armor of the mind

To

keep

That

The

itself

from noyance; but much more

upon whose weal depends and

of many. The cease of majesty

spirit

lives

rests

Dies not alone, but, like a gulf, doth draw

What's near

it

with

Fix'd on the summit

it

it is

a massy wheel,

of the highest mount.

To

whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things

Are mortised and adjoin'd; which, when it falls, 20
Each small annexment, petty consequence.
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone

Did

the king sigh, but with a general groan.

Scene

Hamlet

III.]

King.

Arm

you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage,

For we will

Which now
(^

89

put about

fetters

this fear.

goes too free-footed.

We will

haste us.

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,

Enter POLONIUS.

My

Pol.

lord, he's going to his mother's closet:

Behind the arras

To

I'll

convey myself.

hear the process:

warrant

I'll

she'll

tax

him

home:
And,

as

you

and wisely was

said,

'Tis meet that

it

30

said,

some more audience than a mother.

Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear

The

speech,

Fare

vantage.

of

you

well,

my

liege
call

I'll

And

tell

upon you
you what

you go

ere
I

to bed.

know.
Thanks, dear

King.

my

lord.

[Exit Polonius.

O,

my

offence

is

rank,

it

smells to heaven

It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,

brother's murder.

Though

My
And
I

Pray can

stronger guilt defeats

like a

man

my

strong intent,

to double business

stand in pause where

And

I not,

inclination be as sharp as will:

both neglect.

bound,

I shall first begin.

What

if

this

cursed hand

40

Hamlet

90
Were

[Act

thicker than itself with brother's blood,

Is there not rain

enough

in the

sweet heavens

To

wash
mercy

But

to confront the visage of offence?

And

what's in prayer but this twofold force,

To
Or

white

it

as

Whereto

snow?

serves

we come to fall.
down?
Then I'll
pardon'd being

look up;

But O, what form

of prayer

be forestalled ere

My

fault

Can

is

Of

past.

my

serve

murder
That cannot

'

turn ?

Forgive

my

me

50
foul

be, since I

am

still

possess'd

those effects for which I did the murder,

My

crown, mine

May

own

ambition and

Offence's gilded hand

And

my

queen.

one be pardon'd and retain the offence?

In the corrupted currents of

oft

'tis

may

this

world

shove by justice,

seen the wicked prize itself

Buys out the law but 'tis not so above

There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd.
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can: what can It not?
Yet what can it when one can not repent?
O wretched state! O bosom black as death!
:

III.

limed soul, that struggling to be

free.

Art more engaged! Help, angels! Make

Bow, stubborn knees, and, heart with
steel.

60

assay!
strings

of

Scene

Hamlet

III.]

Be

soft as sinews of the

may

All

new-born babe
[Retires

be well.

71

and

kneels.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;

And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven
And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd;

A villain

sole son,

I, his

To
O,

kills

my
do

father
this

and for

same

that,

villain send

heaven.
this is hire

He

took

my

and

salary, not revenge.

80

father grossly, full of bread,

as
With all his crimes broad blown, as
May;
And how his audit stands who knows save heaven ?
flush

But

in

our circumstance and course of thought,

'Tis heavy with him: and

am

To take him in the purging

When he is fit and season'd for

then revenged,

of his soul.
his passage ?

No!
Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent
When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,

Or

in the incestuous pleasure of his

At gaming, swearing,
That has no relish of

bed

90

or about some act

salvation in't;

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,

And that his soul may be as damn'd and black
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays:
This physic but prolongs thy

sickly days.

[Exit.

Hamlet

92
King.

[Rising^

My

words

[Act in.

my

up,

fly

thoughts remain

below

Words

without thoughts never to heaven go.

\^Exit.

Scene IV

The Queen

Pol.

He

will

Tell him

Enter

QuEEN

come

straight.

his

closet.

and PoLONlus.

Look you

lay

home

to

him

pranks have been too broad to bear with,

And that your grace

Much heat and him.

hath screen'd and stood between

sconce

I'll

me

even here.

Pray you, be round with him.

Ham.
Queen.

[fVithin~\
I'll

warrant you; fear

hear him coming.

Mother, mother, mother!

me

not.

Withdraw,

[Polonius hides behind the arras.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham. Now,

mother, what's the matter?

Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

Ham. Mother, you

have

my

father

much

Queen. Come, come, you answer with an

offended.

lO

Idle tongue.

Ham. Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.

Queen. Why, how now, Hamlet!
Ham.
What's the matter now?
Queen. Have you forgot me?

Ham.
You
And

No, by the rood, not

so:

are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;

would

it

were not

so

^you are

my

mother.

Hamlet

Scene IV.]

Queen. Nay, then,

Ham. Come,

I'll set

come, and

budge

93

those to you that can speak.

you down

sit

you

shall

not

You go not till I set you up a glass

20
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
Queen. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!

[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!

Fol.

Ham. [Drawing] How now!

[Makes a

dead!

am

Pol. [Behind] O, I
V

Queen.

Dead, for a ducat,

a rat?

pass through the arras.

[Falls

slain

Nay,

it

dies.

me, what hast thou done?

Ham.
Is

and

know

not

the king?

Queen. O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!

Ham. A bloody deed almost as bad, good mother,
!

As
'

and marry with

kill a king,

Queen. As

kill

a king!

Ham.

Ay, lady, 'twas

[Lifts up the arras

Thou
I

his brother.

my

word.

"

30

and discovers Polonius.

wretched, rash, intruding

fool, farewell!

took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;

Thou

find'st to

be too busy

is

some danger.

Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,

And let me wring your heart for so I shall,
:

made of penetrable stuff;

If damned custom have not brass'd it
That it be proof and bulwark against
If

Queen.

it

be

What

have

done, that thou darest

In noise so rude against

me ?

so
sense.

wag

thy tongue

Hamlet

94
Ham.

[Act

Such an act

That

ill.

40

blurs the grace and blush of modesty,

Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose

From the fair forehead of Innocent love

And sets a blister there, makes marriage vov^^s
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes

rhapsody of words

Yea,

this solidity

With

heaven's face doth glow

and compound mass,

doom,

tristful visage, as against the

50

Is thought-sick at the act.

Ay me, what

\ Queen.

act.

That roars so loud and thunders In the Index?

Ham. Look here, upon this picture, and on this.

The

counterfeit presentment of

See,

what a grace was

Hyperion's

An

two brothers.
brow;

seated on this

curls, the front of

Jove himself,

eye like Mars, to threaten and

station like the herald

Mercury

New-lighted on a heaven-kissing

command;

hill;

combination and a form Indeed,

Where

every god did seem to set his

60
seal.

To give the world assurance of a man:

This was your husband.
Look you now, what
follows

Here

Is

your husband

like

a mlldew'd ear.

Blasting his wholesome brother.

Could you on

And

this fair

batten on this

Have you

mountain leave

moor?

eyes?

to feed.

Ha! have you

eyes?

Hamlet

Scene IV.]

95

You cannot call ft love, for at your age

The hey-day In the blood Is tame, It's humble,
69
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

To

sense to ecstasy
It

was

reserved some quantity of choice,

at

feeling, feeling

Ears without hands or

devil was't

hoodman-blind

without

so

sight.

eyes, smelling sans all,

To

Is

melt In her

When

let

own

Rebellious hell,

matron's bones,

in a

virtue be as wax,
fire

proclaim no shame

the compulsive ardor gives the charge,

Since frost

And

thy blush?

mutlne

flaming youth

And

itself as actively

doth burn

reason pandars will.

Queen.

Hamlet, speak no more:

Thou turn'st mine eyes Into my very soul,

And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
Ham,
A murderer and a
slave that

Of

80

mope.

shame! where

If thou canst

but a sickly part of one true sense

Could not

What

serve In such a difference.

Eyes without

err,

ne'er so thrall'd

That thus hath cozen'd you

Or

but sure, that sense

madness would not

Is apoplex'd: for

Nor

Is

not twentieth part the tithe

your precedent lord

A cutpurse

a vice of kings ;

of the empire and the rule,

90
villain

Hamlet

g6
That from

a shelf the precious diadem stole

And

In his pocket

put

It

No

Queen.

[Act

Ham.

ill.

lOO

more!

A king of shreds and patches

Enter Ghost.

Save me, and hover o'er

me with your

You

What would

heavenly guards!

wings,

your gracious

figure?

mad!
Ham. Do you not come your tardy son
"\

Queen. Alas,

he's

That, lapsed

The
O,
Ghost.

In time

and

to chide,

passion, lets go

Important acting of your dread

by

command ?

say!

Do

not forget: this visitation

lio

whet thy almost blunted purpose.

But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
Is but to

.^

Conceit In weakest bodies strongest works:

Speak to her, Hamlet.

How

Ham.

Is It

with you, lady?

\ Queen. Alas, how Is't with you.

That you do bend your eye on vacancy

And

with the Incorporal

Forth at your eyes your

And,

Upon

do hold discourse?

spirits

wildly peep

as the sleeping soldiers In the alarm,

Your bedded
Start

air

hairs, like life in excrements,

up and stand an end.

gentle son,

the heat and flame of thy distemper

Sprinkle cool patience.

Whereon do you look?

I20

Hamlet

Scene IV.]

Ham. On

Look

him, on him!

97

you,

how

pale he glares!
stones,

to
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching
Would make them capable. Do not look upon me.
convert
Lest with this piteous action you

My

stern effects: then

what

129

have to do

for blood.
Will want true color; tears perchance
Qw^^w. To whom do you speak this?
Do you see nothing there?
jj^j^^
>^

Queen Nothing

Ham. Nor

at all

yet all that

did you nothing hear?

No, nothing but

Queen.

look you there! look,

Ham. Why,

My

I see.

is

father, in his habit as

how

it

ourselves.

steals

away!

he lived

the portal!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at
[^Exit Ghost.

X Queen. This

is

the very coinage of your brain

bodiless creation ecstasy

This

cunning

Is very

in.

^39

Ecstasy!

Ham.

My

keep time,
pulse, as yours, doth temperately

And makes
That

as healthful music:

have utter'd

bring

me

it

is

not madness

to the test.

And I the matter will re-word, which madness

Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace.
Lay not that flattering unction to your
That not your trespass, but my madness

soul.

speaks:

and film the ulcerous place.

Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,
unseen. Confess yourself to heaven
It will but skin

Infects

Repent what's

past, avoid

what

is

to

come,

150

Hamlet

98

And
For

them ranker.

woo

this rny virtue,

pursy times

must pardon beg,

itself of vice

Yea, curb and

me

Forgive

in the fatness of these

Virtue

Queen.

III.

do not spread the compost on the weeds,

To make

[Act

him good.

for leave to do

Hamlet, thou hast

cleft

my

heart in twain.

Ham. O, throw away

it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to my uncle's bed;
the worser part of

Assume a virtue, if you have

That monster, custom, who

all

Of

in this.

habits devil,

That

He

is

angel

j^et

160

not.

it

sense doth eat,

and good

to the use of actions fair

likewise gives a frock or livery,

That

And

To

aptly

is

put on.

Refrain to-night,

that shall lend a kind of easiness

more easy;

the next abstinence; the next

For use almost can change

And

either

the stamp of nature,

throw him out

the devil, or

With wondrous potency. Once more, good

And when you are desirous to be blest,
blessing beg of you.

I'll

For

this

same

night:

171

lord,

[Pointing to Polonius.
I

do repent: but heaven hath pleased

To

punish

That

I will

The
I

me with

must be

this

and

this

their scourge

it so.

with me.

and minister.

bestow him, and will answer well

death

must be

gave him.

So, again,

cruel, only to be kind

good night.

Hamlet

Scene IV.]

99

Thus bad begins, and worse remains

One word more, good lady.

What

Queen.

behind.

shall I

i8o

do?

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

Ham. Not

this,

And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,

Or paddling In your neck with his damn'd 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 concernlngs hide? who would do so?
No,

Unpeg

fly,

and

like the

famous

ape.

try conclusions, In the basket creep.

And

break your

own neck down.

Queen. Be thou assured.

secrecy,

the basket on the house's top.

Let the birds

To

and

In despite of sense

igo

If

words be made

of breath,

And breath of life, I have no life to breathe

What thou hast said to me.
Ham. I must to England you know that?
;

Alack,

Queen.
I

Ham.

had forgot
There's

Whom
They

And
For

'tis

so

concluded on.

letters seal'd

bear the mandate

'tis

me

and

my two

schoolfellows,

will adders fang'd,

will trust as I

marshal

200

they must sweep

to knavery.

Let

It

the sport to have the englner

my

work;

way.

Hamlet

100
Hoist with his

But

I will

And

blow"

When

petar

them

and't shall go hard

moon O,

at the

'tis

most sweet,

210

me

shall set

packing:

lug the guts into the neighbor room.

Mother, good night.

Is

delve one yard below their mines,

one line two crafts directly meet.

in

This man
I'll

own

[Act IV.

now most

still,

Indeed

most

secret

this

counselor

and most grave,

Who

was in life a foolish prating knave.

Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.

Good

night, mother.

l^Exeunt severally ; Ha?nlet dragging in Polonius.

ACT FOURTH
Scene

room

Enter King,

in the castle.

Queen, Rosencrantz, and

GUILDENSTERN.

King. There's matter

in these sighs, these

You must translate:

Where is your son?
Queen. Bestow

'tis fit

profound heaves:

we understand

them.

on us a little while.
\Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

this place

Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night

How does Hamlet?
King. What, Gertrude?
Oueen.

Mad

as the sea

and wind, when both contend

Hamlet

Scene!.]

Which

lOI

the mightier: In his lawless

is

Behind the arras hearing something

Whips
And,

out his rapier, cries

'

lO

unseen good old man.

King.

had been

His

To

'

rat, a rat!

In this bralnlsh apprehension, kills

The
It

fit,

stir,

liberty

so
is

with

how

had we been there:

full of threats to all,

you yourself,

Alas,

us,

heavy deed!

to us, to every one.

shall this

bloody deed be answer'd ?

whose providence
Should have kept short, restrain'd and out of haunt.
This mad young man but so much was our love.
It will be laid to us,

We would

not understand

what was most

fit,

20

But, like the owner of a foul disease.

To

keep

It

from divulging,

let it feed

Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?

Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd:

whom his very

Among a mineral of
O'er

Shows
King.

The

Itself

pure

madness,

like

some ore

metals base,

he weeps for what

is

done.

Gertrude, come away!

sun no sooner shall the mountains touch.

But we

him hence: and this vile deed

We must, with all our majesty and skill,
Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern
will ship

Re-enter

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Friends both, go join you with some further aid:

Hamlet

In

madness hath Polonius

slain,

30

Hamlet

102

And from

Go

seek

[Act IV.

his mother's closet

him out speak

;

Into the chapel.

fair,

hath he dragg'd him:

and bring the body

pray you, haste in

this.

\^Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest

And let them know, both what we mean

friends;
to do,

And what's untimely done. ....

Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter.
As

level as the

Transports

And

is

his blank,

may

his poison'd shot,

hit the

My soul

cannon to

woundless

air.

Scene
Another room

miss our

name

O, come away!

and dismay.

full of discord

40

[^Exeunt.

II

in the castle.

Enter Hamlet.

Ham.
^^'

Safely stowed.
I

ijUlL.

Within']

Hamlet!

Lord Hamlet.

Ham. But

soft,

what noise? who

calls

on Hamlet?

O, here they come.

Enter RoSENCRANTZ and GuiLDENSTERN.

What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?

Ham. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin.
Ros. Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence
And bear it to the chapel.

Ros.

Hamlet

Scene IL]

Do

Ham.

not believe

IO3

it.

Ros. Believe what?

Ham. That

10

can keep your counsel and not mine

own.

Besides,

what

replication

demanded of a sponge!
should be made by the son of

to

be

a king?

Take you me

Ros.

Ham. Ay,

that

sir,

ance,

his

officers

my

for a sponge,

soaks up

rewards,

his

the

lord?
king's

authorities.

counten-

But such

do the king best service in the end: he

keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his

jaw;
he

first

needs

mouthed,

to be last

swallowed: when

what you have gleaned,

it

is

20

but

squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry

again.

Ros.

Ham.

understand you not,

I

am

glad of

it:

my

lord.

a knavish speech sleeps in a

foolish ear.

My

Ros.

lord,

you must

and go with us

Ham. The body

is

with the body.

Guil.

thing,

Ham. Of
and

my

us where the body

is,

to the king.

with the king, but the king

The

king

is

is

not

a thing

30

lord?

nothing: bring

all after.

tell

me

to

him.

Hide

fox,

[Exeunt.

Hamlet

104

Scene
Another room

[ActIv.

III
in the castle.

Enter King, attended.

King.

have sent to seek him, and to find the body.

How

dangerous

that this

is it

man

goes loose

Yet must not we put the strong law on him

He's loved of the distracted multitude.

Who

like

not in their judgment, but their eyes;

And where

'tis so,

the offender's scourge

is

weigh'd.

But never the offence. To bear all smooth and

This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown

By

desperate appliance are relieved,

Or

not at

even,

lo

all.

Enter Rosencrantz.

How
Where

Ros.

We

now! what hath

the dead body

is

bestow'd,

my

lord,

cannot get from him.

But where

King.
Ros. Without,

my

lord

guarded, to

King. Bring him before

us.

Ros. Ho, Guildenstern

bring in

Enter

Hamlet

my

is

he ?

know your
lord.

and Guildenstern.

Now, Hamlet, where's

Ham. At supper.
King. At supper! where?

King.

befall'n?

Polonius?

pleasure.

Scene

Hamlet

III.]

Ham. Not where

he

but where he

eats,

certain convocation of politic

him.
diet:
fat

eaten: a

is

worms

05
20

are e'en at

Your worm is your only emperor for

we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we

ourselves for maggots: your fat king and

your lean beggar

dishes,

is

but variable service, two

but to one table: that's the end.

King. Alas, alas!

Ham.

man may

King.

with the

and eat of the

of a king,

that

fish

worm

that hath eat

fish that

hath fed of

worm.

What

30

dost thou

Ham. Nothing

but to

mean by this?
show you how

may go

a king

a progress through the guts of a beggar.

King.

Where

Ham.

In

is

Polonius?

heaven

send thither

to

see

messenger find him not there, seek him

other place yourself.

But

indeed,

if

your

if
i'

the

you find

him not within this month, you shall nose him

as you go up the stairs into the lobby.
King. Go seek him there.
[To some Attendants. 40
Ham. He will stay till you come.
[Exeunt Attendants.
King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,

Which we do

tender, as

we

dearly grieve

For that which thou hast done,

must send

thee hence

With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;

The bark is ready, and the wind at help.
The associates tend, and every thing is bent
For England.

Ham,

For England?

Hamlet

io6

[Act IV.

Ay, Hamlet.

King,

Ham.

Good.

King. So

Ham.

for

is It, If

thou knew'st our purposes.

a cherub that sees them.

see

England!

King.

Thy

loving father, Hamlet.

Ham.

My

mother: father and mother

wife;

man and

Come,
King. Follow him at
mother.

Delay

it

But, come;

50

Farewell, dear mother.

wife
for

is

one

flesh,

is

man and

and

so,

my

England

foot

[Exit.

tempt him with speed aboard

not; Fll have him hence to-night:

Away! for every thing is seal'd and done

That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
And, England, If my love thou hold'st at aught
As my great power thereof may give thee sense, 61
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us thou mayst not coldly set

Our sovereign process; which imports at full,

By letters congruing to that effect,
The present death of Hamlet. Do It, England
For like the hectic in my blood he rages.
And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.

70
[Exit.

Hamlet

Scene IV.]

107

Scene IV

Denmark.

plain in

Enter FoRTiNBRAS, a Captain and Soldiers, marching.

me

For. Go, captain, from

Tell him

that,

by

greet the Danish king;

his license, Fortinbras

Craves the conveyance of a promised march

Over

his

You know

kingdom.

We
And

shall express
let

our duty in

him know

his eye;

I will do't,

Go

us,

so.

Cap.
For.

the rendezvous.

would aught with

If that his majesty

my

lord.

softly on.

\^Exeunt Fortinbras and Soldiers.

Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and

others.

Ham. Good
Cap.

They

Ham. How

sir,

whose powers are these?

are of

Norway,

purposed,

sir,

sir.

pray you?

Cap. Against some part of Poland.

Ham. Who commands them, sir?

Cap. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,
Or fqr some frontier?
Cap. Truly to speak, and with no addition.

We

go to gain a

That hath

in

it

little

no

patch of ground

profit

but the name.

lO

Hamlet

io8

To

pay

Nor

will

Ham. Why,

it

Norway

yield to

should

rate,

be sold in

it

20

it;

or the Pole
fee.

then the Polack never will defend

it is

Ham. Two

not farm

five ducats, five, I v^^ould

ranker

Cap. Yes,

[ActIV.

it.

already garrison'd.

thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats

Will not debate the question of this straw

This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without

Why

the

God

Cap.

man

dies.

be wi' you,

humbly thank you,

sir.

\Exit.

sir.

Will't please you go,

Ros.

Ham.

be with you straight.

I'll

Go

How
And

spur

my

If his chief

Be but

and feed

made

To

capability

man.

his time

a beast, no more.

after,

fust in us unused.

gave us not

Now, whether

it

be

some craven scruple

40

thinking too precisely on the event,

A thought which, quarter'd,

And

hath but one part wisdom

ever three parts coward,

Why
Sith I

To

is

and god-like reason

Bestial oblivion, or

Of

but Hamlet.

all

us with such large discourse,

Looking before and

That

What

good and market of

Sure, he that

31

do inform against me.

dull revenge!

to sleep

lord?

little before.

[Exeunt
all occasions

my

yet I live to say

'

do not

This thing's

know

to do,'

have cause and will and strength and means

Examples gross as earth exhort me

Witness this army of such mass and charge
do't.

Hamlet

Scene v.]

Led by a

delicate

IO9

and tender prince,

Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd

Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing w^hat

To

is

death and danger dare,

all that fortune,

Even

for an egg-shell.

Rightly to be great

Is not to stir v^^ithout great

But greatly

When

50

mortal and unsure

argument,

to find quarrel in a straw^

How^ stand

honor's at the stake.

That have a

then,

father kill'd, a mother stain'd,

Excitements of my reason and my blood,

And let all sleep, w^^hile to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,

That

Go

for a fantasy

and

trick of

60

fame

to their graves like beds, fight for a plot

Whereon
Which is

To

the numbers cannot try the cause.

not tomb enough and continent

O, from

hide the slain?

My

this

time forth.

thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!/'

[Exit.

Scene
Elsinore.

room

V
the castle.

in

Enter Queen, Horatio, and a

Queen,

I will

Gent. She

is

not speak with her.

importunate, indeed distract

Her mood
Queen.

Gentleman.

will needs be pitied.

What would

she have?

no

Hamlet

Gent. She speaks

much

There's tricks

i'

[Act IV.

of her father; says she hears

the world, and hems, and beats her

heart,

Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things

That

carry but half sense

her speech

Yet the unshaped use of

it

The

hearers to collection

And

botch the words up

Which,

as her winks,

in doubt.

nothing,

is

doth move
they aim at

fit

to their

it.

own

thoughts;

and nods, and gestures yield

them,

Indeed would make one think there might be thought.

Though nothing

much

sure, yet

unhappily.

Hor. 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may
strew

Dangerous conjectures
Queen. Let her come in.
[Aside^

To my

in ill-breeding minds.

Gentleman.

sick soul, as sin's true nature

Each toy seems prologue

So

\^Exit

some great amiss:

to

full of artless jealousy

is

It spills itself in fearing to

is.

guilt.

be

20

spilt.

Re-enter Horatio, with Ophelia.

Oph. Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark?

Queen. How now, Ophelia!
Oph. [^Sings^ How should I your true love know

From another one ?

By his cockle hat and

And

stafiE,

his sandal shoon.

Queen. Alas, sweet lady, what imports

Oph. Say you ? nay, pray you, mark.

this

song?

Hi

Hamlet

Scene V.]

He Is
He

[Sings]

dead and gone, lady,

dead and gone;

is

At his head a grass-green

At his heels a stone.

30

turf,

Queen. Nay, but, Ophelia,

Oph.

White

\_Sings]

his

Pray you, mark.

shroud as the mountain snow,

Enter King.
Queen. Alas, look here,

Oph.

\_Sings~\

my

lord.

Larded with sweet flowers

Which bewept to the grave

With true-love showers.

How

King.

do you, pretty lady?

Oph. Well, God

but

know

40

They say the owl was

Lord, we know what we
what we may be. God be

you!

'ild

a baker's daughter.
are,

did go

not

your table

at

King. Conceit upon her father.

Oph. Pray you,

when
[Sings]

have no words of

let's

they ask you what

To-morrow

is

it

this;

but

means, say you this:

Saint Valentine's day

All in the morning betime.

And I a maid
To be your
King.

Oph.

How
I

but

your window,

50

Valentine.

long hath she been thus?

hope
I

at

all will

be well.

cannot

choose

they should lay him

brother shall

know

i'

of

We
but

must be patient:
weep,

to

the cold ground.

it:

and

so

think

My

thank you

70

Hamlet

112
good

your

for

Good

night,

[ActIV.

my

Come,

counsel.

coach!

good night, sweet ladies;

ladies;

good night, good night.

[Exit.

King. Follow her close; give her good watch,

you.

O,

this is the poison of

deep grief

When
But

it

springs

Gertrude, Gertrude,

sorrows come, they come not single

his

own

just

spies.

First, her father slain:

in battalions!

Next, your son gone

Of

pray

Horatio.

\_Exit

All from her father's death.

and he most violent author 80

remove: the people muddied.

Thick and unwholesome

in their thoughts

and whis-

pers,

For good Polonius' death; and we have done but

greenly.

In hugger-mugger to inter him

Divided from herself and her

Without the which we

Last, and as

Her

brother

much
is

fair

With

mere

beasts:

all these.

come from France,

Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself

And wants

judgment,

are pictures, or

containing as

in secret

poor Ophelia

in clouds.

not buzzers to infect his ear

90

pestilent speeches of his father's death;

Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd.

Will nothing stick our person to arraign
In ear and

ear.

O my

dear Gertrude,

Like to a murdering-piece,

Gives

me

Where

are

many

places

[J noise luithin.
Alack, what noise is this?
my Switzers? Let them guard the door.

superfluous death.

Queen.
King.

in

this.

Hamlet

Scene v.]

Enter another

What

is

Gentleman.

the matter?

Save yourself,

Gent.

The

13

ocean, overpeering of his

my

lord

list,

with more impetuous haste

Eats not the

flats

Than young

Laertes, in a riotous head,

O'erbears your

officers.

The

rabble call

100

him lord;

And, as the world were now but to begin,

Antiquity forgot, custom not known.

The ratifiers and props

They cry Choose we
'

of every word.

Laertes shall be king

Caps, hands, and tongues applaud

'

to the clouds,

it

Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!

How

\Queen.
O,

'
!

'

cheerfully on the false trail they cry!

this is counter,

you

Danish dogs

false

10

[Noise within.

The

King.

doors are broke.

Enter Laertes, armed;

Laer.

Where

Danes. No,

is

king?

this

let's

come

We will,

we

Laer. I thank you

Give

me my

will.

That drop

stand you

all

without.

pray you, give

[They

keep the door.

retire

me

leave.

without the door.

thou

vile king.

father

Calmly, good Laertes.

\Queen.
Laer.

following.

in.

Laer.

Danes.

Sirs,

Danes

of blood that's calm proclaims

Cries cuckold to

my

me bastard

father, brands the harlot

Hamlet

114
Even

between the chaste unsmirched brows

here,

Of my

true mother..

What

King.

That

[ActIV.

is

120

the cause, Laertes,

thy rebellion looks so giant-like?

Let him

Gertrude; do not fear our person:

go,

There's such divinity doth hedge a king,

That
Acts

what

treason can but peep to

little

Why

it

would,

Tell me, Laertes,

of his will.

Let him go, Gertrude.

thou art thus incensed.

Speak, man.

Where

Laer.

is

my

father?

Dead.

King.

But not by him.

\^Queen.

King. Let him demand his

Laer.

How

To

came he dead?

hell, allegiance!

129

fill.

I'll

not be juggled with:

vows, to the blackest devil!

Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!

I

To

dare damnation.

this point I stand.

That both the worlds I give to negligence.

Let come what comes; only I'll be revenged
Most throughly for my father.

Who

King.
haer.

My will,

And
They

for

not

my

shall

all

means,

I'll

go far with

little.

Good
you desire

Of

to

you?

husband them so well.

King.
If

shall stay

the world

know

Laertes,

the certainty

your dear father's death,

is't

That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and

Winner and

loser ?

140

writ in your revenge.

foe,

Hamlet

Scene v.]

None but

Laer.

King.
Laer.

To

And

his

I15

his enemies.

Will you know them then?

good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms
kind life-rendering pelican,

like the

Repast them with

my

blood.

Why, now you

King.

speak

Like a good child and a true gentleman.

I am guiltless of your father's death,
And am most sensibly in grief for it,

That

As day

does to your eye.

Let her come

Danes. [Within~\
Laer.

150

your judgment pierce

It shall as level to

How now

what

noise

is

that

in.

Re-enter Ophelia.

dry up

heat,

Burn out

By

my

brains! tears seven times salt,

the sense and virtue of

heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight,

Till our scale turn the beam.

Dear maid, kind

heavens!

is't

sister,

Nature

is

It sends

fine in love,

rose of

it

May!

young maid's wits

an old man's

and where

life?

'tis fine,

some precious instance of

After the thing

[^Sings^

as

sweet Ophelia!

possible a

Should be as mortal

Oph.

mine eye!

itself

loves.

They bore him barefaced on the bier:

Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny:
And in his grave rain'd many a tear,

Fare you well,

my

dove

160

Hamlet

ii6

[ActIV.

Laer. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,

It

Oph.

could not

\_Singsl^

move

thus.

You must

An

you

down a-down,

sing

call

17a

him a-down-a.

O, how the wheel becomes

It

it!

is

the false

steward, that stole his master's daughter.

Laer. This nothing's more than matter.

Oph. There's

rosemary,

that's

remember: and there

pray, love,

remembrance:

for

pansies, that's

is

for thoughts.

Laer.

document

membrance
Oph. There's

fennel

you

for

call

it

you,

for
:

and

and

here's

There's a daisy:

herb of grace

but they withered

they say he

columbines: 180

Sundays: O,

o'

would

give you

when my

all

made a good

Thought and

She turns
[^Singsl

some

violets,

father

died:

all

is

my

joy.

affliction, passion, hell itself.

to favor

And
And

difference.

end,

[Sings^ For bonnie sweet Robin

Oph.

re-

some for me

you must wear your rue with a

Laer.

and

thoughts

fitted.

there's rue

we may

madness,

in

and

to prettiness.

come again?
he not come again?

will he not
will

No,

no, he

is

dead:

Go to thy death-bed:
He never will come again.
His beard was

as white as

All flaxen was his poll

snow,

190

Hamlet

Scene v.]

He

is

gone, he

is

1?

God

be

gone,

And we cast away moan

God ha' mercy on his soul

And

of all Christian souls, I pray

God.

[Exit.

wi' ye.

Do

Laer.

you

see this,

King. Laertes,

200

God ?

must commune with your

grief,

Or you deny me right. Go but apart.

Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will.
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me:
by direct or by collateral hand
They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom
If

Our

To

crown, our

you

life,

and

in satisfaction;

Be you content

to lend

all

but

shall jointly labor

To

it

call ours.

not.

Let

His means of death,

with your soul

this be so

his obscure funeral

trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,

noble

rite

nor formal ostentation

Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven

That I must call't in question.

to earth,

So you shall;

King.

And where
I

2IQ

us,

due content.

Laer.

No
No

if

we

your patience to

And we
give

that

give,

the offence

is

pray you, go with me.

let the great

axe

fall.

[Exeunt.

Hamlet

1 1

[Act IV.

Scene VI
Another room

in the castle.

Enter HoRATio and a Servant.

What

Hor.

are they that

would speak with me?

Serv. Sailors, sir: they say they have letters for you.

Hor. Let them come

I

do not

in.

[^Exit Servant.

know from what

I should be greeted, if not

part of the world

from Lord Hamlet.

Enter Sailors.
First Sail.

God

Hor. Let him

First Sail.

bless you, sir.

bless thee too.

He

shall,

a letter for you,

There's

an't please him.

sir,

sir;

comes from the am-

it

bassador that was bound for England;

name be Horatio,
Hor. [Reads^^
looked

'

as I

know

let to

when thou

Horatio,

this,

am

give these fellows

shalt

at sea,

and

sail,

we

in the grapple I

have overto the

Ere we were

a pirate of very warlike

appointment gave us chase.

too slow of

lO

it is.

some means

king: they have letters for him.

two days old

your

if

Finding ourselves

put on a compelled valor,

boarded them

they got clear of our ship

on the instant

so I alone

became

of

They have dealt with me like

mercy but they knew what they did

to

do a good turn for them.

prisoner.

their

thieves
;

am

Let the king have

20

Hamlet

Scene VII.]
the letters

119

with as much speed as thou wouldest

I

have words to speak

thee

dumb;

Guildenstern

hold

'

Come,

And

He

much

am.

to tell

make you way

from

whom

Farewell.

thee.

Another room

30

Hamlet.'

for these your letters

me

you brought them.

Scene

and

England:

for

you may direct

do't the speedier, that

To him

Rosencrantz

that thou knowest thine,

I will

make

too light for the

course

their

much

of them I have

death.

These good fellows will

where

thee

fly

thine ear will

in

yet are they

bore of the matter.

bring

me

have sent; and repair thou to

[Exeunt.

VH
the castle.

in

Enter King and Laertes.

Now

must your conscience my acquittance seal,

you must put me in your heart for friend,
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
That he which hath your noble father slain
Pursued my life.

King.

And

Laer.

Why

It well appears: but tell

you proceeded not against these

So crimeful and

As by your

You
King.

me

feats.

so capital in nature,

safety,

mainly were

wisdom,

all

things

else,

stirr'd up.

O,

for

two

special reasons,

Hamlet

I20

[ActIV.

Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd, lO

But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself

My

my

virtue or

plague, be

She's so conjunctive to

my

either

it

and

life

That, as the star moves not but

I

The

could not but by her.

Why

to a public

count

Who,

dipping

soul.

in his sphere,

other motive.

might not

Is the great love the general

which

go,

gender bear him;

all his faults in their affection,

Would,

like the spring that

Convert

his gyves to graces

turneth
;

so that

wood

my

to stone.

arrows,

Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,

Would have reverted to my bow again,
And not where I had aim'd them.
Laer. And so have I a noble father lost

sister

Whose

driven into desperate terms,

worth,

if

praises

may

Stood challenger on mount of

go back again,
the age

all

For her perfections: but my revenge will come.

King. Break not your sleeps for that you must not think
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
31
:

That we can

let

And

pastime.

think

it

our beard be shook with danger

loved your father,

And

You shortly shall hear more:

and we love ourself;

that, I hope, will teach

you

to imagine

Enter a Messenger, with

How
Mess.

letters.

now! what news?

Letters,

my

lord,

from Hamlet:

Hamlet

Scene VII.]

This

to

your majesty;

this to the queen.

King. From Hamlet! who brought them?

Mess.

my

Sailors,

saw them not:

lord, they say; I

They were given me by Claudio;

Of him that brought them.

39

he received them

Laertes, you shall hear them.

King.

Leave
[Reads}

'

ret

\^Exit

us.

High and mighty. You

naked

on

kingdom.

your

your

beg

when

shall,

unto,

recount the occasion of

shall

more strange

leave

shall

to

see

Messenger.

know I am
To-morrow
kingly

eyes:

asking your pardon there-

first

my

sudden and

return.

Hamlet.'
the rest come back ?
*

What should this mean ? Are all

Or is it some abuse, and no such
Laer. Know you the hand?
in a postscript here,

Can you

he says

'

alone.'

me?

advise

Laer. I'm lost in

51

'Naked'!

King. 'Tis Hamlet's character.

And

thing?

my

it,

lord.

But

let

warms the very sickness in my

That I shall live and tell him to
Thus didest thou.'
It

him come;
heart.
his teeth,

King.

If

As how should

it

be so

it

be

so,

how

Will you be ruled by me ?

Laer.
Ay,
So you will not o'errule
King.

To

thine

own

peace.

me

Laertes,

otherwise

my

60

lord

to a peace.

If he be

now

return'd.

Hamlet

122

As checking

[ActIV.

and that he means

at his voyage,

No more to undertake it, I will work him

To an exploit, now ripe in my device,
Under

And

the which he shall not choose but fall

no wind of blame

for his death

But even

And

call

his
it

mother

My
rather,

That

uncharge the practice

shall

accident.

Laer,

The

shall breathe,

if

lord, I will be ruled

you could devise

70

so

it

might be the organ.

It falls right.

Kins.

You
And

have been talk'd of since your travel much,

that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality

Wherein, they

say,

you shine: your sum of parts

Did not together pluck such envy from him

As did that one, and that, in my regard,

Of

the unworthiest siege.

What

Laer.

King.

part

is

that,

my

lord

very riband in the cap of youth.

Yet needful

too

for youth

no

less

becomes

The light and careless livery that it wears

Than settled age his sables and his weeds.

Two

Importing health and graveness.

Here was a gentleman

I've seen myself,

And
Had
And

of

80

months

since.

Normandy:

and served against, the French,

they can well on horseback

but this gallant

witchcraft in't; he grew unto his seat.

wondrous doing brought his horse.

As had he been incorpsed and demi-natured

With

to such

the brave beast: so far he topp'd

my

thought,

Hamlet

Scene VII.]

That

I,

Come

short of

123

in forgery of shapes

what he

A
A

Laer.

Upon my

life,

know him

And gem
King.

well

he

very same.

the brooch indeed

is

of all the nation.

He made

confession of you,

And

gave you such a masterly report

For

art

And

for your rapier most

That he
one

If

was't?

Lamond.

The
I

Norman

Norman.

King.
Laer.

go

tricks,

did.

Laer.

King.

and

and exercise

in

your defence,
especial,

lOO

cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed

could

match

you:

the

scrimers

of

their

nation.

He

swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye.

you opposed them.

If

Sir, this

report of his

Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy

That he could nothing do but wish and beg
Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.

Now,

out of this

What

Laer.

out of

this,

my

lord?

King. Laertes, was your father dear to you?

Or

are you like the painting of a sorrow,

face without a heart?

Why

Laer.

King. Not that

But

that I

ask you this?

think you did not love your father,

know

love

And that I see, in

Time qualifies the

is

begun by time,

passages of proof.

spark and

fire

of

it.

no

Hamlet

124
There

lives

[Acxiv.

within the very flame of love

kind of wick or snuff that will abate

And

nothing

is

it

at a like goodness still;

For goodness, growing to a plurisy,

Dies in his own too much: that we would
We should do when we would for this

do,
*

would

I20

changes

And
As

'

many

hath abatements and delays as

there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;

And

then this

That

'

should

hurts by

ulcer

'

like

is

a spendthrift sigh.

But,

easing.

to

the quick

o'

the

Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake,

show yourself your father's son in deed
More than in words?

To

To

Laer.

King.

No

cut his throat

place, indeed, should

Revenge

murder sanctuarize;

no

have

should

the church.

i'

bounds.

But,

good

Laertes,

Will you do

this,

Hamlet return'd

keep close within your chamber.

shall

We'll put on those

know you

shall praise

are

come hom.e: 131

your excellence

And set a double varnish on the fame

The Frenchman gave you, bring you in fine
And wager on your heads: he, being remiss,
Most generous and
Will not peruse the

Or

with a

free

from

little shuffling,

A sword unbated,

all contriving,

foils, so that,

and

with

ease.

you may choose

in a pass of practice

Requite him for your father.

together

Hamlet

Scene VII.]
Laer.

I will do't;

And
I

for that purpose

my

anoint

I'll

25

140

sword.

bought an unction of a mountebank,

So mortal

Where

it

that,

but dip a knife in

it.

draws blood no cataplasm

Collected from

so rare,

simples that have virtue

all

Under the moon, can save the thing from death

That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,
It may be death.
King.

Let's further think of this;

Weigh what

May
And

convenience both of time and means 150

us to our shape

fit

if

this

should

fail,

that our drift look through our bad performance,

'Twere

better not assay'd: therefore this project

Should have a back or second, that might hold

If this did blast in proof.

Soft! let

me

see:

We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings:

I ha't:

When

in

your motion you are hot and dry

As make your

And

bouts more violent to that end

that he calls for drink,

chalice for the nonce,

If he by chance escape

Our

purpose

may

I'll

have prepared him

whereon but

sipping,

161

your venom'd stuck.

hold there.

Enter Queen.

How
Queen.

So

One woe
fast

now, sweet queen!

doth tread upon another's heel.

they follow

your

sister's

drown'd, Laertes.

Hamlet

126
Laer. Drown'd!

Queen. There

O, where?
a willow grows

is

That shows
There with

Of

[Act IV.

his

aslant a brook,

hoar leaves in the glassy stream

fantastic garlands did she

come

crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples

That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,

171
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds

Clambering

an envious

to hang,

When down

sliver

broke;

her weedy trophies and herself

Her

Fell in the weeping brook.

clothes spread wide,

And, mermaid-like, a while they bore her up:

Which
As one

Or

time she chanted snatches of old tunes.

incapable of her

like a creature native

Unto

own

distress.

and indued

that element: but long

180

could not be

it

Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,

Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay

To muddy

death.

Laer.

Alas, then, she

is

drown'd?

Queen. Drown'd, drown'd.

Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,

And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet

Laer.

our trick

It is

nature her custom holds.

Let shame say what

The woman
I

will:

will be out.

have a speech of

But

it

fire

How

Adieu,

that fain

that this folly douts

King.

when

these are gone.

my

would

lord:

190

blaze.

[Exit.

it.

Let's follow, Gertrude:

much

had

to

do to calm

his rage

Hamlet

Scene!.]

Now

fear I this will give

Therefore

it

start again

[Exeunt.

follow.

let's

27

ACT FIFTH
Scene

churchyard.

Enter two Clowns, with spades,

First Clo. Is she

&'c.

be buried in Christian burial

to

that wilfully seeks her

own

Sec. Clo. I tell thee she is;

salvation

and therefore make her

grave straight: the crowner hath sat on her,

and

finds

How

First Clo.
self in

Sec. Clo.

it

her

can that be, unless she drowned her-

own

Why,

First Clo. It
else.

Christian burial.

'tis

defence?

found

must be

For here

myself wittingly,

'

so.

se

offendendo
the

lies
it

'

point:

it

if

cannot be
I

drown

argues an act: and an act

hath three branches;

it is,

to act, to do,

and

to

perform: argal, she drowned herself wittingly.

Sec.

Clo.

Nay,

but

hear

you,

goodman

delver,

First

me

Here lies the water;

good: here stands the man; good: if the man
go to this water and drown himself, it is, will
Clo. Give

leave.

10

Hamlet

128

mark you that; but If the

him and drown him, he drowns

he goes;

he, nill he,

water come to

not himself: argal, he that

But

First

Is

this

Ay,

Clo.

20

not guilty of his

is

own

ow^n death shortens not his

Sec. Clo.

[Act v.

life.

law?
marry,

crowner's

Is't;

quest

law.

Will you

Sec. Clo.

ha' the truth on't?

If this

had

not been a gentlewoman, she should have been

0'

buried out
Clo.

First

Christian burial.

Why,

there

thou say'st: and the more

pity that great folk should have countenance in

this

world

to

drown or hang

There

and

ditchers,

First

up

hold

they

he a gentleman?

was

A'

Clo.

grave-makers:

profession.

Was

Sec. Clo.

spade.

no ancient gentlemen but gardeners,

is

Adam's

my

Come,

than their even Christian.

30

more

themselves,

the

first

bore

ever

that

arms.

Why,

Sec. Clo.

First Clo.

he had none.

What,

art a

heathen?

understand the Scripture?

Adam
I'll

digged:

could

he

How

The

Scripture says

dig without

put another question to thee:

swerest

me

dost thou

if

arms?

thou an-

not to the purpose, confess thyself

Go to.
Clo. What

Sec. Clo.

First

either

the

carpenter ?

he

that

mason,

the

Is

builds

stronger than

shipwright,

or

the

40

Hamlet

Scene!.]
Sec.

The

Clo.

lives a

First Clo.

thousand tenants.
I

29

gallows-maker; for that frame out-

50

thy wit well, in good faith: the

like

how

gallows does well; but

does well to those that do

to say the gallows

ill

does

ill:

well?

it

it

now, thou dost

built stronger than the

is

may do

church: argal, the gallows

well to thee.

To't again, come.

Sec. Clo.

'

Who

builds stronger than a mason, a ship'

wright, or a carpenter?

me
Marry, now

First Clo. Ay,

Sec. Clo.

and unyoke.

that,

tell

can

60

tell.

First Clo. To't.

Sec. Clo. Mass, I cannot

Hamlet

Enter
First Clo.

afid

Horatio^ afar

off.

Cudgel thy brains no more about

your dull

ass

next, say

mend

not

fetch

'

doomsday.

till

me

his

it,

pace

for

with

are asked this question

a grave-maker

'

last

Yaughan;

will

when you

beating; and

makes

tell.

the houses that he

Go,

get

thee

to

a stoup of liquor.

Clown.
and sings.

l^Exit Sec.

[He
In youth, when

Methought

To

it

O,
O, methought,

Ham. Has

did love, did love,

was very

contract,

this fellow

digs,

sweet,

the time, for-a

there

70

my

behove,

was nothing meet.

no feeling of

he sings at grave-making?

his business, that

Hamlet

130

Hor. Custom hath made

him a property of

in

it

[ActV.

easiness.

Ham.

'Tis e'en so: the hand of

little

employment

hath the daintier sense.

First Clo. [Sings^

But

with his stealing

age,

steps,

me in his clutch,
shipped me intil the land,

Hath claw'd

And

hath

As

if

80

had never been such.

[Throws up a

Ham. That skull had a tongue in

once: how the knave jowls it
if

murder!

which

to the ground, as

It

this

might be the pate of a

ass

now

It might,

Ham. Or

of

lord

'

a courtier, which

my

he meant to beg

my

Ham. Why,
chapless,

that

not?

could say

How

dost

my

This might be

that praised

Hor. Ay,

one

my lord.

morrow, sweet lord!

?

it

first

politician,

o'er- reaches;

would circumvent God, might

Hor.

and could sing

it,

were Cain's jaw-bone, that did the

it

skull.

lord

thou,

might

Good

go

sweet

such-a-one,

lord such-a-one's horse,

it;

when

not?

it

lord.

e'en so:

and

now my Lady Worm's;

and knocked about the mazzard with

a sexton's spade: here's fine revolution, an

had the trick to

see't.

Did

no more the breeding, but

with 'em? mine ache
First Clo. [^Sings^

to

we

these bones cost

play at loggats 100

to think on't.

A pick-axe,

and a spade, a spade,

For and a shrouding

sheet

Hamlet

Scene!.]

I31

O, a pit of clay for to be made

For such a guest Is meet.
{^Throws up another

Ham.

There's another:

skull of a lawyer

why may not that be the

Where be his quiddities now,

his quillets, his cases, his tenures,

why

and

does he suffer this rude knave

him about

skull.

his tricks?

now

to

knock
and

the sconce with a dirty shovel,

no

him of his action of battery ? Hum

This fellow might be in's time a gre-at buyer

will not

tell

of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his

fines, his

double vouchers, his recoveries:

the fine of his fines

recoveries, to

have his

will his vouchers

and the recovery of

his

fine pate full of fine dirt ?

vouch him no more of

and double ones

chases,

this

is

too,

his

pur-

than the length and

breadth of a pair of indentures?

veyances of his lands will hardly

The

very con-

lie in this

box; 120

and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha?

Hor. Not a jot more, my lord.

Ham.

Is not

Hor. Ay,

my

Ham. They

parchment made of sheep-skins?

lord,

and of

are sheep and calves which

assurance in that.

Whose
First Clo.

Ham.

in't.

seek

out

will speak to this fellow.

grave's this, sirrah?

Mine,

[Sings^

calf-skins too.

sir.

O, a pit of clay for to be made

For such a guest is meet.

think

it

be

thine

indeed,

for

thou

130
liest

Hamlet

132

You

First Clo.

out on't,

lie

my

not yours: for

yet

it is

Ham. Thou

and therefore

sir,

do not

part, I

lie

'tis

and

in't,

mine.
dost lie

thine:

[Act v.

the

for

'tis

therefore thou

to

in't,

be

not

dead,

and say

in't

for

it

is

the

quick;

away

again,

liest.

First Clo. 'Tis a quick

'twill

sir;

lie,

from me to you.

Ham. What man

140

dost thou dig

For no man,

First Clo.

Ham. What woman,

For none,

First Clo.

for?

it

sir.

then?
neither.

Ham. Who is to be buried in't?

First Clo. One that was a woman,

sir; but, rest

her

soul, she's dead.

Ham. How

absolute the knave

we must

is!

by the card, or equivocation will undo

the

Lord,

Horatio,

taken note of

three years

these

the age

it;

grown

is

comes

that the toe of the peasant

speak

us.
I

By
have 150

so picked

so near the heel

How

of the courtier, he galls his kibe.

long

hast thou been a grave-maker?

Of

First Clo.

all

the days

the

i'

5^ear,

came

to't

Hamlet o'ercame

that day that our last king

Fortinbras.

Ham. How"
First

Clo.
tell

long

is

that since?

Cannot you

that:

it

was

tell

that

Hamlet was born he

:

England.

that?

very

that

is

every

fool

can

day that young 160

mad, and sent into

Hamlet

Scene!.]

Ham,

why was

marry,

Ay,

133

he

Eng-

Into

sent

land?
Clo.

First

Why,

because

was mad; he

he

recover his wits there; or,

he do not,

if

shall
'tis

no

great matter there.

Ham. Why?
him

First Clo. 'Twill not be seen in

there; there

170

mad as he.
Ham. How came he mad?
the

men

First Clo.

Ham.

are as

Very

How

strangely, they say.

strangely

'

'

First Clo. Faith, e'en with losing his wits.

Ham. Upon what ground?

First Clo. Why, here in Denmark: I have been
sexton here, man and boy, thirty years.
the earth ere he
Ham. How long will a man lie
i'

rot?
First Clo.

he will

he be not rotten before he

faith, if

last

die,

180

you some eight year or nine year: a

tanner will last you nine year.

Ham. Why he more

First Clo. Why, sir,

than another?
his hide

is

so

tanned with his

trade that he will keep out water a great while

and

your

whoreson

water
dead

is

body.

sore

decayer

Here's

this skull has lain in the earth three

of

skull

your

now:

and twenty 190

years.

Ham. Whose was

First Clo.

it?

whoreson mad fellow's

do you think

it

was?

it

was: whose

Hamlet

134

Ham. Nay,

First Clo.

know

[Act v.

not.

pestilence

on him for a mad rogue! he

poured a flagon of Rhenish on

This same

skull,

sir,

my

was Yorick's

head once.
skull,

the

king's jester.

Ham. This?

200

First Clo. E'en that.

Ham.

me

Let

Yorick!
infinite

knew him, Horatio:

I
jest,

Alas, poor

{^Takes the skull.^

see.

a fellow of

most excellent fancy: he hath

of

me on his back a thousand times; and

now how abhorred in my imagination it is! my
borne
gorge

rises at

Here hung

it.

those lips that I

have kissed I know not how oft.

Where be
your gibes now? your gambols? your songs?
your flashes of merriment, that were wont to 210
set the table on a roar?
Not one now, to
mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?

Now

you

get

to

my

let

she

must

make

come;

Prithee, Horatio, tell

Hor. What's
fashion

Hor. E'en

and

tell

her paint an inch thick, to this favor

her,

Ham. Dost

lady's chamber,

my

that,

thou
i'

me

her

laugh

at

that.

one thing.

lord?

think

Alexander looked

o'

this

the earth?

220

so.

Ham. And

smelt so

Hor. E'en

so,

my

pah

[Puts

down

the skull.

lord.

Ham. To what base uses we may return, Horatio!

Why may not imagination trace the noble dust

Hamlet

Scene!.]
of Alexander,

till

he find

it

135
stopping a bung-

hole?
to consider too curiously, to consider

Hor. 'Twere
so.

Ham. No,

faith,

not a jot; but to follow him thither

with modesty enough and likelihood to lead 230

it: as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was

Alexander

buried,

earth; of

into

returneth

we

earth

the

dust;

make loam; and

dust

is

why

of that loam, whereto he

was converted,

might they not stop a beer-barrel?

Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to

Might
O, that

stop a hole to keep the

that earth,

which kept the world

Should patch a wall

But

clay,

wind away:
in

awe,

to expel the winter's flaw

soft! but soft! aside: here

comes the king. 240

Ophelia,
Laertes and Mourners following; King, Queen^

Enter Priests, &c,

in procession; the

Corpse

of

their trains, &'c.

The
And
The

queen, the courtiers

with such maimed

who

rites?

is

this they follow ?

This doth betoken

corse they follow did with desperate

hand

own life: 'twas of somie estate.

Couch we awhile, and mark. [Retiring with

Fordo
Laer.

it

What

ceremony else?

Ham. That is Laertes, a very

Laer. What ceremony else?
First Priest.

Horatio.

Her

noble youth: mark.

obsequies have been as far enlarged

As we have warranty

her death was doubtful

250

Hamlet

136
And, but

command

that great

She should

flints

o'ersways the order,

ground unsanctified have lodged

in

Till the last trumpet

Shards,

[Act v.

for charitable prayers,

and pebbles should be thrown on her:

Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants,

Her maiden strewments and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.
Laer. Must there no more be done?
First Priest.
No more be done

We
To
As

should profane the service of the dead

to peace-parted souls.

Lay her

Laer.

And from

May

violets spring!

thou

liest

my

sister be.

howling.

What,
[Scattering flowers~\

well

the earth

I tell thee, churlish priest,

ministering angel shall

When

i'

her fair and unpolluted flesh

Ham.
^ Queen.

260

sing a requiem and such rest to her

the fair Ophelia!

Sweets to the sweet: fare-

my

hoped thou shouldst have been

thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,

And

Hamlet's wife

not have strew'd thy grave.

O,

Laer.

treble

woe

Fall ten times treble on that cursed head

Whose wicked

270

deed thy most ingenious sense

Deprived thee of!

Hold

off the earth a while,

Till I have caught her once

more

in

mine arms:

[Leaps into the grave.

Now

pile

your dust upon the quick and dead,

Scene

Hamlet

I.]

Till of this

To

flat

137

a mountain you have

made

o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head

Of blue Olympus.
Ham. [Advancing'] What

is

he whose grief

Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow

Conjures

wandering

the

stars

and

makes

them

stand

280
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
grave.
the
into
[Leaps
Hamlet the Dane.

The

Laer.

[Grappling with him.

devil take thy soul!

Thou

Ham.

pray'st not well.

take thy fingers from

I prithee,

my

throat

am not splenitive and rash,

me something dangerous.

For, though I

Yet have

Which

I in

thy wiseness fear.

let

Hold

off thy

hand.

King. Pluck them asunder.

Hamlet, Hamlet!

\ Queen.

Gentlemen,

All.

Hor. Good

my

Ham. Why,
Until

\Queen.

Ham.

lord, be quiet.

[The Attendants part them, and

come out of the grave.
will fight with him upon this theme

my
my

eyelids will
son,

no longer wag.

what theme?

loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers

Could

not,

with

Make up my
King. O, he

is

all

sum.

their quantity of love,

What

wilt thou do for her?

mad, Laertes.

Queen. For love of God, forbear him.

Ham.

'Swounds, show

me what

thou'lt do

they

290

Hamlet

138

Woo't weep? woo't

[ActV.
woo't fast? woo't

fight?

tear thyself?

Woo't drink up
I'll do't.

To

eisel? eat a crocodile?

Dost thou come here

outface

me with

to

300

leaping in her grave?

Be buried quick with her, and so

And, if thou prate of mountains,

^-

whine?

Millions of acres on us,

will I:
let

them throw

our ground,

till

Singeing his pate against the burning zone.

Make Ossa
I'll

like a

wart

Nay, an

thou'lt

mouth,

rant as well as thou.

Queen.

This

And

thus a while the

fit

is

will

mere madness

work on him

Anon,

as patient as the female dove,

When

that her golden couplets are disclosed,

His

310

silence will sit drooping.

Ham.
What

Hear
is

the reason that you use

I loved you ever: but

it

is

you, sir;

me

thus?

no matter;

Let Hercules himself do what he may.

The
King.

cat will

mew, and dog

will have his day.

\^Exit.

pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.

[^Exit

[To

Laertes^

Horatio.

Strengthen your patience in our

last

night's speech;

We'll put the matter

to the present push.

Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.

This grave shall have a living monument:
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see;
Till then, in patience our proceeding be.

320

[Exeunt.

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Scene

A
Enter

139

II

hall in the castle.

Hamlet

and Horatio.

Ham. So much for this, sir: now shall you see the other;
You do remember all the circumstance?
Hor. Remember it, my lord!
Ham. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting,
That would not let me sleep methought I lay
:

Worse

And
Our

than the mutines in the bilboes.

praised be rashness for

Rashly,

us know,

let

it,

indiscretion sometime serves us well

When

our deep plots do pall; and that should teach

"f

There's a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them how we

will,

That

Hor.

Ham. Up from my

My

is

most

certain.

cabin.

sea-gown scarf'd about me,

Groped

10

I to find

out them

had

in the

my

dark

desire,

Finger'd their packet, and in fine withdrew

To

mine own room again; making

My

fears forgetting manners, to unseal

Their grand commission; where

so bold,

royal knavery!

found, Horatio,

an exact command,

Larded with many several

Importing Denmark's health and England's

With, ho

20

sorts of reasons

such bugs and goblins in

my

life,

too,

Hamlet

140

That, on the supervise, no

[Act v.

leisure bated,

No,

not to stay the grinding of the axe.

My

head should be struck

off.

Hor.

Is't

Ham.

Here's the commission: read

But wilt thou hear

Hor.

Ham.

me how

possible?

more

at

it

did proceed

leisure.

beseech you.

Being thus be-netted round with

Ere

could

make

a prologue to

villanies,

my

brains,

30

They had begun the play, I sat me down.

Devised a new commission wrote it fair
;

once did hold

it,

as

our

statists do,

baseness to write fair, and labor'd

How
It did

The

to forget that learning; but,

me

eflEect

much

sir,

yeoman's service: wilt thou

of

what

now
know

wrote ?

Hor.

Ay, good

my

lord.

Ham. An earnest conjuration from the king.

As England was his faithful tributary,
As love between them like the palm might flourish,
As peace should still her wheaten garland wear 41
And stand a comma 'tween their amities,
And many such-like 'As'es of great charge,
That, on the view and knowing of these contents,

Without debatement

He
Not

further,

more or

should the bearers put to sudden death.

shriving-time allow'd.

How was

Hor.

Ham. Why,
I

less.

had

this seal'd ?

even in that was heaven ordinant.

my

father's signet in

my

purse,

Hamlet

Scene IL]

Which was

14I

the model of that Danish seal

Folded the writ up in form of the other

Subscribed

it,

placed

Impression,

the

gave't

50
It

safely,

The

changeling never known.

Was

our

Thou

sea-fight

and what

Now,

to this

the next day

was sequent

know'st already.

Hor. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go

Ham. Why, man, they did make love to

ment

They

my

conscience

their defeat

own insinuation grow:

dangerous when the baser nature comes
fell

Ham. Does

It

Popp'd

my

my

king and whored

Thrown out his angle for my

And with such cozenage is't

him with

this!

is

me now upon

between the election and

in

quit

a king

not, thinks't thee, stand

that hath kill'd

this

60

Incensed points

Why, what

Hor.

To

employ-

their

Between the pass and

Of mighty opposltes.

He

this

are not near

Does by
'TIs

to't.

proper

my

mother,

hopes.

life.

not perfect conscience,

arm? and

Is't

not to be

damn'd.

To

let this

canker of our nature come

7^

In further evil?

Hor.

It

must be shortly known

to

him from England

What Is the Issue of the business there.

Ham. It will be short: the Interim is mine;
And a man's life's no more than to say
But I am very sorry, good Horatio,

'

One.'

Hamlet

142
That

to Laertes I forgot myself;

my

For, by the Image of

The

[ActV.

portraiture of his:

cause, I see
I'll

court his favors:

me

But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put

Into a towering passion.

Hor.

who comes

Peace!

here?

80

Enter OsRiC.
Osr.

Your

lordship

welcome back

right

is

to

Den-

mark.

Ham.

humbly thank you,

Dost know

sir.

this

water-fly ?

my

Hor. No,

good lord.

Ham. Thy state Is the more gracious, for 'tis a vice

He hath much land, and fertile:
to know him.
a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall

let

stand at the king's mess:

'tis

a chough, but, as

90

I say, spacious In the possession of dirt.

Osr. Sweet lord,

should

if

your lordship were at

impart

thing to

you

leisure,

from

his

majesty.

Ham.

will

spirit.

receive

with

sir,

it,

Put your bonnet to

all

diligence of

his right use;

'tis

for the head.

Osr.

thank your lordship,

Ham. No,

believe me,

It is

very hot.

very cold; the wind

'tis

is

northerly.

Osr. It

Is

Ham. But

my

indifferent cold,

yet methinks

complexion.

it

my
Is

lord. Indeed.

very sultry and hot for

lOO

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Osr. Exceedingly,
'twere,

my

lord;

cannot

me

majesty bade

it

I43

how.

tell

very sultry,

is

my

But,

lord, his

you that he has

signify to

a great wager on your head:

laid

the

this is

sir,

as

matter

Ham.

beseech you,

remember

[^Hamlet moves hi?n to put on his hat.

my

Osr. Nay, good

faith.

Sir,

here

lord; for mine ease,

good

in

newly come to court Laertes;

is

believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of

excellent

him, he

is

indeed,

him

gentleman would
his

Sir,

you

ially

very soft society and

to

speak

of

feelingly

the continent of

yaw

suffers

know,

would dizzy

what part a

see.

definement

though,

yet but

most

the card or calendar of gentry, for you

shall find in

Ham.

of

differences,

showing:

great

no

no

to divide

perdition

in

him inventor-

the arithmetic of

memory, and

neither, in respect of his quick sail.

But, in the verity of extolment,

take

him

120

to be

a soul of great article; and his infusion of such

dearth and rareness,

him, his semblable

would
Osr.

Your

as, to

is

his

make

true diction of

mirror; and

who

else

trace him, his umbrage, nothing more.

lordship

speaks

most

infallibly

of

him.

Ham. The

concernancy,

the gentleman in our

Osr. Sir?

sir?

why

do

we wrap

more rawer breath?

130

Hamlet

144
Hor.

not

Is't

possible

You

tongue?

[Act v.

understand

to

will do't,

In

another

sir, really.

Ham. What Imports

man?
Osr. Of Laertes?

the nomination of this gentle-

Hor. His

empty

purse

words

Is

all's

golden

are spent.

Ham. Of him, sir.

Osr. I know you are
Ham. I would you
did,

already;

not Ignorant
did,

sir;

in

yet,

faith.

would not much approve me.

It

you 140
Well,

If

sir?

You

Osr.

Ham.

not

are

Laertes

dare not confess that,

with him
Osr.

of

what

mean,

to

sir,

lest I

excellence

should compare

excellence; but, to

in

were

well,
I

ignorant

is

know

know

man

himself.

for his

weapon; but

in

putation laid on him by them. In his

the im-

meed

he's

150

unfellowed.

Ham. What's

his

weapon?

Osr. Rapier and dagger.

Ham.
Osr.

That's two of his weapons: but, well.

The

king,

sir,

hath

wagered with him

six

Barbary horses: against the which he has Imponed,

as

take

it,

six

French rapiers and

poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers,

and

so

three of the carriages, In faith, are very

dear to fancy, very responsive to the

delicate carriages,

and of very

hilts,

most

liberal conceit.

160

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Ham. What
Hor.

ere

45

you the carriages?

call

knew you must

be edified by the margent

you had done.

The carriages, sir, are the hangers.

Ham. The phrase would be more germane to the
matter, if we could carry a cannon by our sides:
Osr.

would

on:

might be hangers

it

Barbary

six

But,

then.

till

against

horses

French

six

swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited

carriages;

Why

Danish.

The

Osr.

king,

is

French

the

that's

this

hath

sir,

against

bet

laid,

that

170

dozen

in

between yourself and him, he

passes

the

imponed,' as you call it?

'

shall not

exceed you three hits: he hath laid on twelve

for nine;
if

it

your lordship

Ham. How
Osr.

and

if I

mean,

my

would come to immediate trial,

would vouchsafe the answer.

answer

'

no

'

lord, the opposition of

your person

in trial.

Ham.

Sir,

will

his majesty,

me;

let

willing,

win

the

walk here
'tis

in the hall:

if

please

it

180

the breathing time of day with

foils

be brought,

and the king hold

him an I can
ing but my shame and
for

Osr. Shall

I re-deliver

Ham. To

this effect,

if

the

gentleman

his purpose,

will

not, I will gain noth-

the odd hits.

you e'en so?

sir;

after

what

flourish

your

nature will.
Osr.

commend my duty

Ham.^ Yours,

yours.

to

\_Exit

your lordship.
Osric.^

He

does well 190

Hamlet

146

commend

to

[ActV.

himself; there are no tongues

it

else for's turn.

Hor. This lapwing runs away with the

on his

shell

head.

Ham. He

Thus

it.

dug before he sucked

and many more of the same

did comply with his

has he

breed that

know

the drossy age dotes on

only got the tune of the time and outward habit

of encounter; a kind of yesty collection, which

them through and through the most fond 200

carries

and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them

to their trial, the bubbles are out.

Enter a Lord.
Lord.

My

lord, his majesty

commended him

by young Osric,

who

you attend him

in the hall:

if

to

you

brings back to him, that

he sends to

know

your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or

that you will take longer time.

Ham.

am

constant to

the king's pleasure:

is

ready;

able as

Lord.

The

now

my
if

purposes; they follow

his

fitness speaks,

mine

or whensoever, provided I be so

now.
king

and queen

and

all

to

use

are

coming

down.

Ham.

In happy time.

Lord.

The

queen

entertainment
play.

desires

to

you

Laertes

before

some gentle

you

fall

to

210

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

147

Ham.

She well instructs me.

Hor. You will

Ham.

my

wager,

lose this

do not think

[^Exit

so; since he

lord.

went

into France,

But thou wouldst not think how

Hor. Nay, good

Ham.

my

here about

all's

It

is

my

heart

but

it is

220

win

I have been in continual practice; I shall

at the odds.

Lord.

ill

no matter.

lord,

but foolery

but

it is

such a kind of gain-

would perhaps trouble a woman.

your mind dislike any thing, obey it. I

giving, as

Hor.

If

forestal their repair hither,

will

and say you are not

fit.

Ham. Not

a whit

we

providence in the
'tis

not to come;

now;

if

readiness

it

defy augury

if it

it

be now,

be not to come,

it

will be

a sparrow.

be not now, yet

is all

since

he leaves, what

is't

there's a special

If

fall of

230

will come: the

it

no man has aught of what

to leave betimes?

Enter King, Queen, Laertes, and Lords, Osric and

Attendants with

other

and flagons

of

wine on

foils

and gauntlets; a table

it.

King. Come, Hamlet, .come, and take

[^The

Ham. Give me

King puts

But pardon't,

as

hand

Laertes'

your pardon,

sir:

this

hand from me.

into

I've done

Hamlefs.

you wrong;

you are a gentleman.

This presence knows.

And

you must needs have heard,

With

sore distraction.

What

how

am

have done,

punish'd

241

'

Hamlet

148
That might your

[ActV.

nature, honor and exception

Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.

Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet:
H Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,

And when

Then Hamlet

Who

wrong Laertes,
Hamlet denies it.

he's not himself does

does

it

not,

His madness: if't be

Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
does

it,

then?

so,

250

Sir, in this audience.

my

Let

disclaiming from a purposed evil

Free

me

That

And

so far in

your most generous thoughts,

have shot mine arrow o'er the house.

hurt

my

brother.

Laer.

Whose

To my
I

am- satisfied

motive, in this case, should

my

revenge: but in

known honor
260

have a voice and precedent of peace,

keep

my name

do receive your

And
Ham.
And

will not

I'll

Your

be your

foil,

that time,

it.

will this brother's

Laer.

till

offer'd love like love.

wrong

foils.

But

ungored.

embrace

Give us the

Ham.

me most

stand aloof, and will no reconcilement.

To
I

stir

terms of honor

Till by some elder masters of

I

in nature.

it

freely,

wager frankly

Come

play.

on.

Come, one for me.

Laertes: in mine ignorance

skill shall, like a star

Stick fiery off indeed.

i'

the darkest night,

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

You mock

Laer.

Ham. No,

by

this

Your
King.

the

foils,

young Osric.

Cousin Hamlet,

wager ?

Very

well,

grace has laid the odds

do not fear

sir.

hand.

King. Give them the

You know
Ham.

me,

49

it

o'

my

lord;

271

the weaker side.

have seen you both

But since he is better'd, we have therefore odds.

Laer. This is too heavy let me see another.
Ham. This likes mt well. These foils have all a length ?
;

{^They prepare to play.

my

Osr. Ay,

King. Set
If

good

me

Hamlet

Or

lord.

the stoups of wine upon that table.

give the

first

or second

hit.

quit in answer of the third exchange,

Let

The
And

all the

battlements their ordnance

280

fire

king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath

in the

cup an union shall he throw.

Richer than that which four successive kings

In Denmark's crown have worn.

And
The
The
*

let

Ham.
Laer.

Ham.

me

the cups

the kettle to the trumpet speak.

trumpet

to the

cannoneer without.

cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth,

Now

Come, begin;

the king drinks to Hamlet.'

And you, the judges,

Ham. Come on, sir.
Laer.

Give

bear a

Come,

my

wary

290

eye.

[_They play.

lord.

One.

No.
Judgment.

Hamlet

150

Osr.

a very palpable

hit,

[ActV.

hit.

Well

Laer.

King.

Sta)s- give

me

again.

Hamlet,

drink.

this pearl is thine;

Here's to thy health.

{Trumpets sounds and cannon shot

Give him the cup.

Ham.

I'll

play this bout

[They

Come.

'
.

Laer.

A touch,

King.

Our

by a while.

first; set it

Another

play.]

a touch,

hit; w^hat say

son shall win.

He's

Here, Hamlet, take

my

and scant of breath.

fat

napkin, rub thy brows:

The
Ham. Good madam

queen carouses to thy fortune,

\Queen.

I will,

King. [Aside]

my
It

lord

is

the poison'd cup

My

let

me

madam

wipe thy

lord, I'll hit

And

Ham. Come,

yet

too

late.

by and by.

'tis

do not think't.

almost 'gainst

for the third, Laertes:

my

conscience.

you but dally;

pray you, pass with your best violence

am

make a wanton
Laer. Say you so? come on.
I

it is

face.

Laer. [Aside'\

him now.

King.

300

pray you, pardon me.

I dare not drink yet,

Queen. Come,
Laer.

Hamlet.

Gertrude, do not drink.

King.

'

you?

do confess.

Queen.

Ham.

off within.

afeard you

310

of me.

[They

play.

Osr. Nothing, neither way.

Laer.

Have

at

you now

wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they

change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes.

[Laertes

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

151

Part them

King.

Ham, Nay,

[The Queen

Osr.

Hor. They bleed on both

How

they are incensed.

come, again.

Look

Osr.

is't,

to the

sides.

How is

my

it,

lord

Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe,

I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.
Ham. How does the queen?
She swounds

King.

No,

Laertes?

Laer.

\ Queen.

falls.

queen there, ho

no,

drink,

the

the

to see

drink,

Osric;

them

bleed.

my

dear

320

Hamlet,

The
Ham. O

drink, the drink

villany

Ho

Treachery! seek
Laer. It

No

is

here,

it

am

let

poison'd.

[^Dies.

the door be lock'd

[Laertes

out.

Hamlet

Hamlet, thou art

falls.

slain

medicine in the world can do thee good

In thee there

The

is

not half an hour of

treacherous instrument

is

life;

in thy

hand,

Unbated and envenom'd the foul practice

Hath turn'd itself on me; lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again: thy mother's poison'd:
330
I can no more the king, the king's to blame.
Ham. The point envenom'd too!
[Stabs the King.
Then, venom, to thy work.
:

All.

Treason! treason!

King. O, yet defend me, friends;

Ham.

am

but hurt.

Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane,

Drink off this potion.

Follow my mother.
Laer.

He

is

Is thy

union here?

[King
justly served;

dies.

Hamlet

152

[Act v.

a poison temper'd by himself.

It is

Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:

Mine and my father's

Nor thine on me

340

death come not upon thee,

[Dies.

Ham. Heaven make thee free of it I follow thee.

Wretched queen, adieu!
I am dead, Horatio.
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
!

That

Had

are but mutes or audience to this act.

I

but time

as this fell sergeant, death,

Is strict in his arrest

But

let it be.

Thou

To

livest

O,

report

am more

Roman

an antique

Here's yet some liquor

let

than a Dane:

left.

As

Give me the cup:

thou'rt a man,

go; by heaven,

I'll

have't.

good Horatio, what a wounded name.

Things standing thus unknown,

me

thou didst ever hold

Absent thee from

And

To

in this harsh

tell

my

story.

felicity

Young

To

in thy heart,

afar

offj

in pain,

and shot within.

is this?
360
come from Poland,

warlike noise

Fortinbras, with conquest

This warlike

England

gives

volley.

O,

me

a while.

[March

the ambassadors of

Ham.
The

shall live behind

world draw thy breath

What
Osr.

356

believe it:

Ham.

If

aright

the unsatisfied.

Never

you

tell

am dead
me and my cause

Horatio,

Hor.
I

could

I die,

Horatio;

potent poison quite o'er-crows

my

spirit:

Hamlet

Scene IL]
I

cannot

But

On
So

hear the news from England

live to

do prophesy the election lights

Fortinbras: he has my dying voice;
I

tell

him, with the occurrents, more and

Which

have

Now

Hor.

153

solicited.

The

a noble

cracks

less,

[Dies.

rest is silence.

Good

heart.

sweet

night,

37^

prince,

And

flights of angels sing thee to

Why

drum come

does the

thy rest

[March

hither?

within.

Enter Fortinbras, and the English Ambassadors, with

drum, colors, and Attendants.

Where

Fort.

is

this sight ?

What

fjor.

is it

you would

see ?

aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.

proud death,
Fort. This quarry cries on havoc.
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
If

That thou

many

so

princes at a shot

So bloodily hast struck?

The

Amb.

First

And
The

To

our

affairs

sight

is

dismal;

from England come too

late

ears are senseless that should give us hearing,

tell

him

his

commandment

That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Where

should

we

are dead

have our thanks?

Not from

l{or.

Had it the ability of life to thank you

He never gave commandment for their
But

since, so

381

is fulfill'd,

jump upon

this

his

death.

bloody question.

mouth

Hamlet

154

You from

the Polack wars,

[Act v.

and you from England,

Are here arrived, give order that these bodies

High on a stage be placed to the view
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world
How these things came about so shall you hear

390

Of
Of
Of

carnal, bloody,

and unnatural

acts.

accidental judgments, casual slaughters.

deaths put on by cunning and forced cause.

And,

in this upshot, purposes mistook

Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I

Truly

deliver.

^
Let us haste

Fort.

And

to Hear

it,

call the noblest to the audience.

For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune

I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,

400

Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.

Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak.
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on
more:

But let this same be presently perform'd,

Even while men's minds are wild lest more mis;

chance

On

plots

and errors happen.

Fort.

Let four captains

Bear Hamlet,

For he was

To
The

like a soldier, to the stage

likely,

had he been put on.

have proved most royally: and, for his passage.

soldiers'

Speak loudly

Take up

music and the

for.

rites of

war

him.

the bodies

such a sight as this

410

Scene

Hamlet

II.]

Becomes the

field,

but here shows

much

55

amiss.

Go, bid the soldiers shoot.

Exeunt, bearing off the dead
[^A dead march.
bodies: after which a peal of ordnance is
shot

off.

The Swan Theater

NOTES AND COMMENT

NOTES AND COMMENT

Act

Scene

I.

I.

The first thing which the dramatist has to do is to give the

audience the facts which must be known in order to understand
the play.
He must make clear, to begin with, enough of what
has preceded the opening of the play to enable us to grasp
quickly and intelligently the significance of the situation with
which the action starts; the opening scenes, that is, must look
backward.
is

We

must, further, be

not put before us merely for

made to feel that this situation

own sake, but because it is

its

charged, so to speak, with latent possibilities because it carries

within it the seeds of further actions, further situations; the
opening scenes, that is, must also look forward. The speakers,
moreover, must be at once so presented that we shall know,
without too much puzzling, who they are and where they are,
with some indication of time as well
what is happening
before us now, that is, must define itself without obscurity.
And finally although this last is not always attempted the
dramatist may seek to awaken in us a particular mood, to
create a particular atmosphere, which shall foreshadow, in a
way, the spirit of the drama. All that portion of the play
(usually the first two or three scenes) which accomplishes
these ends is called the Exposition.
;

The

scene of Hamlet is a very wonderful piece of

and should be carefully examined in order to see
just what information, of the kinds indicated, Shakespeare has
And this
actually given us, and how he has accomplished it.
exercise will gain both interest and value, if one compare with
the first scene of Hamlet the first scenes of Macbeth, Romeo and
all of them striking examples of
Juliet, and Julius Casar
and try to discover wherein their methods
skill in exposition
are alike, and wherein different.
Moreover, all that has been indicated the dramatist must
first

exposition,

159

Notes and Comment

i6o

[Act

I.

accomplish by means of dialogue and action alone; he must

do it with the extreme of brevity, because the time of performance is inexorably limited; and he must do it with the
utmost freedom from obscurity or ambiguity, because the actors
cannot be stopped and asked to repeat what is not clear. To
the opening of a novel, however, none of these restrictions
apply, and it will amply repay the time, if one compare with the
first scene of Hamlet (and of the other plays named as well)
the opening chapters of (for instance) Ivanhoe, Silas Marner,
A Tale of Tivo Cities, The House of the Seven Gables, The
Last of the Mohicans, and observe the totally different fashion
It is after
in which the necessary information is there given.
four long paragraphs that Scott remarks, in Ivanhoe: " This
state of things I have thought it necessary to premise for the
information of the general reader," etc. it is after some thirty
pages of preliminary information that Hawthorne concludes;
" And now
we proceed to open our narrative." Honv
does Shakespeare give us this same sort of preliminary information?
The notes on the first three scenes are intended, in part, to
emphasize their qualities as exposition, and to suggest the sort
of observation that should be applied throughout the play.
;

Nay, answer me.

2.

Whose

business

is

it

to

Why?
is emphatic.
Notice that the first two

Observe that me
challenge?

lines of the play, with their accompanying action, disclose at

once a certain nervous tension among the watchers on the
platform. Shakespeare's preparation of the audience for the
appearance of the Ghost begins with the first two words of

the play.

'Tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart. What does

to the effect already produced?
10.
Have you had quiet guard? Observe the implication
that for some reason Bernardo thinks the watch may not have
8-9.

this

add

been quiet.

Bid them make haste. Is Bernardo unwilling to be

Or is he expecting something to happen at any
moment? Or is it both?
Stand, ho! Who's there? Notice that Francisco, who
14.
13.

left

alone?

has been relieved, is startled into the challenge which Bernardo should now give. What impression of the state of things

Notes and Comment

Scene!.]

on the platform has Shakespeare succeeded

the

fourteen lines

first

i6i
in

producing in

What, is Horatio there? Observe the skill with which

19.
Shakespeare leads up to Horatio's part in the scene. Has Bernardo been certain that he would come? Does the reason for
his doubt appear later?
piece of him: a playful remark, into which no deep
19.
significance is to be read.
21.
What, has this thing appear'd again to-night? The
reason for the agitation of the sentinels now begins to appear.
But observe how gradually it is still led up to: "this thing";
" this apparition "
" this dreaded sight "
then the Ghost itself,
"
Compare the approach
like the king that's dead."
and finally,
of the phantom ship in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: " a
something in the sky" (Part HI, line 6); "a little speck"
(line 7); "a mist" (line 8); "a certain shape" (line 10);
"a sail! a sail!" (line 19) and then the detailed description.
It was Coleridge who pointed out that in Marcellus's question
" even the word
again
has its credibilizing eifect." How ?
And speak to it. Why should not the others speak to
29.
it?
See note on line 42 below.
Yond same star: probably the Great Bear, or some
36.

'

star in

'

it.

The

Observe the heightening of

pole: the pole star.
Bernardo's language under the stress of his feeling, and notice,
too, the naturalness of representing him as marking the time,
on his lonely watch, by the position of the stars.
The bell then beating one. What time was it in line
39.
How long does it
7? What time is it now (cf. line 65) ?
take to speak 32 lines? The time allowed to represent the
action on the stage must inevitably be very much shorter than
the actual duration of the action itself, and Shakespeare's skill
in making us forget that there is such a discrepancy is strikingly
36.

illustrated here.
in Hamlet is remarkable,
number of its appearances, and
for the amazing skill with which each appearance is made to
come as a surprise. We have seen how its first appearance
has been led up to; the way in which the others are introduced

[Enter

Ghost].

The

Ghost

among

other things, for the

should

be

carefull.y

observed.

And

comparison

with

the

Notes and Comment

62

[Act

I.

appearance of Banquo's ghost and of the ghost of Cassar is

worth making.
Thou art a scholar; speak to it. Exorcisms were usu42.
ally in Latin, and frequently in the form of a palindrome (a
sentence which reads the same backwards as forwards), as:
Signa te signa, temere me tangis et angis. Moreover, it was
believed that a ghost could not speak until it was spoken to.
Most like, etc. Observe the total change in Horatio's
44.
attitude, and also the " credibilizing effect" of this change
upon the attitude of the audience towards the Ghost. What
would have been the difference, in other words, if all the
speakers had from the first believed in the Ghost? From this
time on to the end of the scene it is Horatio who holds the center

of the stage.
45.

Question

it:

speak to

it

not, interrogate

See ques-

it.

tion in the Glossary.

63.

The sledded Polacks:

sledges.

The

earliest texts

Poles

spell the

traveling

word pollax

in

sleds

or

(or polax),

with or without a capital, and an alternative interpretation is

In
that offered by the spelling of the Fourth Folio, Poleaxe.
this case " sledded poleaxe " is commonly explained as a poleaxe (or battle-axe) weighted with a heavy sledge or hammer.
But Polacks (an emendation which is due to Pope's keenness)
Compare the use of Polack elsewhere in
is probably correct.
the play (see Concordance).
In the gross and scope of my opinion: speaking
68.
" Gross
generally as contrasted with " particular thought."
"
gross scope "
see
and scope " is probably hendiadys for
Glossary under gross.
Good now: " an interjectional expression denoting ac70.
quiescence, entreaty, expostulation or surprise" {Oxford DicObserve that the four long speeches which follow
tionary).
(in sharp contrast with the quicker movement of the earlier
dialogue) accomplish two things: they familiarize us with some
of the events which have preceded the opening of the play;
and they distract our attention, as we follow their rather
complicated statements, from the Ghost, so that its second
appearance comes, like the first, as a surprise.
Our valiant Hamlet: the elder Hamlet, not the hero of
84.

the play.

Notes and Comment

Scene!.]

Law and

87.

heraldry.

163

This means either common law and

heraldry, or possibly (by hendiadys; see

line 68 above) the law of heraldry.
moiety competent: a portion equivalent to that of
90.
Fortinbras. Moiety strictly means one-half (see, for instance,
Henry VIII, I, ii, 12) but Shakespeare frequently uses it in the
the

regulations

of

general sense of portion.

Carriage of the article design'd: the tenor (or im94.
port) of the stipulation just mentioned.
Unimproved mettle: probably, unimpugned courage (or
96.
spirit).
But unimproved may possibly mean either "untutored " or " not turned to account," since improve has several

meanings

Elizabethan English.

in

demands stubborn
in't: that
courage with a possible play on the other sense of stomach,
namely, "appetite." Cf. Henry V, III, vii, 166: "they have only
stomachs to eat and none to fight."
Portentous: of the nature of a portent, ominous not
109.
merely in the sense of " prodigious, monstrous, extraordinary,"

That hath a stomach

100.

frequently

as

Julius CcEsar,

in
I,

present usage. Notice especially its use in

31, when that passage is read as indicated

iii,

below, under line 113.

no. So like the king.

Why

this point so

is

Compare

Turn back
emphasized?

to lines 47-49, 58-59, 81.

I, iii, 1-78; II, ii, 13-31, for a

both instances Shakespeare is recalling
certain passages in Plutarch's life of Julius Caesar, which he
knew in North's translation. Compare especially the following,
where Plutarch speaks of " the strange and wonderful signs
that were said to be seen before Cassar's death": "For, touching

113

ff.

fuller

account.

Julius Ctesar,

In

and spirits running up and down in

and also the solitary birds to be seen at noondays

the fires in the element,

the night,

sitting in the great

market-place: are not

all

these signs per-

haps worth the noting, in such a wonderful chance as happened? But Strabo the Philosopher writeth, that divers men
Again, of signs
were seen going up and down in fire.
in the element, the great comet which seven nights together was
seen very bright after Caesar's death," etc. (Temple edition, VII,
.

pp.

202-03, 211).

117.

As

stars, etc.

Either a line has dropped out before

Notes and Comment

164

[Act I.

Numerline 117, or the passage is in some other way corrupt.

ous emendations have been suggested.
118.
Disasters in the sun. Cf. North's Plutarch: "Also
the brightness of the sun was darkened, the which all that year
through rose very pale, and shined not out, whereby it gave
but small heat: therefore the air being very cloudy and dark,
by the weakness of the heat that could not come forth, did
cause the earth to bring forth but raw and unripe fruit,
which rotted before it could ripe " (Temple edition, VII,
Look up the etymology and first meaning of
pp. 211-13).
disaster.

118.
The moist star: the moon. Shakespeare also calls
"the watery star" {Winter's Tale, I, ii, i). Why?

119.

Upon whose

subject.

is

the

first

The

meaning

Look up

St.

under

etc.: to

whose

influence the sea

Look up
and then read
the Shakespeare Con-

of course, to the tides.

influence

Matthew, xxiv,

Fierce: violent,
use of the word.
121.

122.

is,

of influence in the dictionary,

over the passages

cordance.
120.

influence,

reference

it

Harbingers.

terrible,

in

29.

wild.

Cf. Macbeth,

I,

Cf.

iv,

the

modern slang

45: "I'll be myself

the harbinger."

Omen: here, the event which the omen portends. Notice

123.
the dramatic skill with which these lines lead up to the reappearance of the Ghost.
Climatures: regions. Compare again the parallel pas125.
sage in Julius C^sar: " For, I believe, they are portentous things

Unto the climate that they point upon" (I, iii, 31-32).
I'll cross it, etc.
Does Horatio need any longer to
127-39.
be urged to speak? Has the heightening of the rhythmic movement of the lines in his appeal to the Ghost and the refrain-like
recurrence of " Speak to me," " O speak," " Speak of it," anything to do with a corresponding heightening of feeling? What
superstitions are referred to in lines 127 and 136-38?
" the intrenchant air,"
145. As the air, invulnerable. Cf
Macbeth, V, viii, 9-10; "the invulnerable clouds," Kinff John,
II, i, 252.
The adjectives which Shakespeare and Milton apply
to the air are well worth looking up in the Concordances.
Started. The first Quarto has faded. Can you suggest
148.
.

Scene

Notes and Comment

I.]

two possible reasons for the change?

165

For the striking changes

in lines 150-53 see the Introduction, pp. xii-xiii.

The extravagant and erring spirit.

154.
lustration of the need of care in dealing with

An

excellent

il-

words which,

in

modern English, are the same in form but different in meaning.

Extra<vagant here means
straying, wandering out of bounds "
look up Othello, I, i, 137, and T'welfth Night, II, i, 11-12, for a
similar use of both adjective and noun. Erring means simply
"roaming, wandering" (as it does in Othello, I, iii, 362), without any hint of ethical import. Compare " we have erred and
strayed from thy ways like lost sheep," in the Prayer Book.
**

162-63.

No

No

planets strike,

of the malevolent influence

forces; look up Winter's Tale,

fairy takes.

planets

of
I,

ii,

Strike

is

used

and other superhuman

201; Coriolanus,

II,

ii,

117.

Take is similarly used; look up Merry Wi'ves, IV, iv, 32;

Antony and Cleopatra, IV, ii, 37. See the use of both words
in Lear, II, iv, 165-66; compare Lear, III, iv, 61.
Young Hamlet. Everything that has happened, with
170.
all the interest and suspense that it has aroused, is now concentrated, at one stroke, upon Hamlet. Turn to the first scene
of Macbeth, and see how line 8 focusses the whole effect of the
witch-scene upon Macbeth. Is the same thing done in the first
scene of Julius Caesar?
in the first scene of

How? What

Romeo and

difference do

you notice

Juliet?

Notice the variations in style and rhythm in the scene: its

beginning in a low key, almost in the tone of ordinary conversation; its passage, after the first appearance of the Ghost, into
a weighty and rather involved narrative and expository style
until, after the second appearance of the Ghost, the intense
feeling that has been stirred expresses itself in verse of an
almost lyrical quality. Does an audience feel anything unnatural in the highly poetical quality of the closing speeches?
Why not? What would have been the effect if the play had
begun in this style? Do any of the plays you have read open
in a lofty strain ?
Look again at the opening scenes from this
point of view. Richard III is an exception to the general rule
in this respect.
In what other way does its opening differ from
what you have observed? In the other scenes in Hamlet watch
for instances of the flexibility with which the style accommodates
itself to the

thought.

Notes and Comment

66

Act

Scene

I,

[Acti.

II.

The first scene dealt with a single arresting situation; the

second, which continues the exposition, brings before us, rather,
a state of affairs

the

tense personal relations, that

between

is,

Hamlet and the King and Queen. And this tenseness grows
(we are made to feel) out of the sharply divergent attitudes
of Hamlet on the one hand, and Claudius and Gertrude on the
other, towards the very fact upon which our attention was
concentrated in the
especially as this

is

first

now

Hamlet,

scene, the death of the elder

linked with a

new and

significant fact,

Queen with Claudius. That this

prime importance becomes clear in Hamlet's
passionate soliloquy, and it is from the disclosures of this
soliloquy that we are brought back again to the appearance
of the Ghost.
In other words, the second scene throws the
appearance of the Ghost against the background of the relations
Claudius, Gertrude, and Hamlet and it
of these three people
suggests to us that the clue to the mystery is to be looked for
The scene is further linked with the previous one by
there.
the renewed emphasis upon the affair with Fortinbras. And
it also looks forward, in that the prompt fixing of our attention
upon Laertes, as he is singled out by the King, suggests that
he is probably to play some important part in the action.
Observe the sharp and dramatic contrast between the settings
the bleak platform and the armed sentries:
of Scenes I and H
Notice, too, the equally
the pomp and ceremony of the court.
sharp contrast within Scene II itself, by which the somber
figure of Hamlet, all in black, is set off against the brilliant
court costumes of the rest, so that the central fact of the situathe precipitate marriage of the

new

fact

is

of

tion

is

presented to the eye, before a

Observe that the very

I.

first

word

is

spoken.

line takes us back,

by impli-

cation, to the Ghost.

Brow

4.

" the

'

of

thieves of

woe: an example
mercy

'

of

construction."

what is sometimes called

The genitive phrase is

equivalent to an adjective preceding the noun which it limits:

merciful
"thieves of mercy" {Hamlet, IV, vi, 20)
seasoniii,
Well,
V,
{All's
of
season"
day
32)
thieves; "a
able day; "strength of limit" {Winter's Tale, III, ii, 107)

thus,

=a

Scene

Notes and Comment

II.]

limited strength;

brow.

Brow

*'

of

"brow
woe "

of
is

youthful
youth" {Lear, I, iv, 306)
equivalent to the " mourning brow "

of Lo've's Labour's Lost, V,

ii,

754.

That we with wisest sorrow.

5-6.

answers

to " discretion," "

167

sorrow

Notice

that

" to " nature," in the

" wisest

preceding

See also next note for similar balanced structure. What

in referring to himself throughout

line.

pronoun does the King use

this

speech?

Why?

defeated joy: joy that is marred or disfigured. Cf.

Othello, I, iii, 346: "defeat thy favor [mar your face] with an
usurped beard." Notice, too, that the antithesis involved in
this phrase is worked out with threefold iteration in the next
10.

three lines.

dropping eye: a weeping eye. The general idea of

reappears in Winter's Tale, V, ii, 80: "She had one
eye declined for the loss of her husband, another elevated that
Cf. " To laugh with one eye, and
the oracle was fulfilled."
cry with the other."
11.

line

17.

know

II

That you know, young Fortinbras:

namely,

young Fortinbras, etc.

22.
He. The pronoun is superfluous, but
Cf. II, i, 84.
incorrect) was not uncommon.
So much for him. Cf. line 16: "For
25.
Claudius

is

that 'which you

that

the

usage

(now

all, our thanks."

dispatching disagreeable matters quickly.

Norway: the King of Norway.

England gone" {King John, III,
France" {Henry V, V, ii, 2).
28.

into

Cf.
iv,

"bloody England
"our brother

8);

Notice the rather set rhetorical character of this first

1-39.
speech as contrasted with the lyrical quality of the closing
speeches of the preceding scene. Is this to be interpreted
merely as conventional oratorical style, or is it intended to
suggest a certain embarrassment on the King's part in dealing
especially in the first sixteen lines with a delicate subject?
Observe the strong alliteration of the first twenty-five lines.
What has
In the First Quarto the scene begins at line 26.
Shakespeare gained by inserting the first twenty-five lines?
What is added, in lines 17-39, to our information regarding the

affair

with Fortinbras?

42-50.

Why

To whom would

does he not?

one expect the King

times does he

How many

to

speak first?
Laertes

name

Notes and Comment

68

in

short

this

King use

the

[Act

I.

speech? Has this any significance? Does the

same pronoun throughout in addressing Laertes?

(Observe that in Shakespeare's English thou was very much

more intimate or familiar du of German; you, like the

more formal Sie, although the two are often rather freely
interchanged.)
Has the change any significance here? Does the
King use the same pronoun in referring to himself that he has
like the

used in the preceding speech? Why this change?

44-45. You cannot make a reasonable request, and waste your
breath.
51.

Cf. line 118.

Leave and favor: favorable

has "favorable license").

don

" in line 56,

64.

Cf.

where pardon

My cousin Hamlet.

leave (the First Quarto

"your gracious leave and par-

= permission.

Cousin (equivalent to

*'

kinsman ")

used in Shakespeare for niece, uncle, brother-in-law, and

grandchild. What is the relationship here? What of the
King's tact in calling Hamlet "son"?
little more than kin, and less than kind: that is, a
65.
is

much related (referring to "cousin"

with no kinship in nature. Kind (pronounced in
time as if it rimed with "sinned") means nature,
allusion is probably to the King's marriage, which
little

too

and "son")
Shakespeare's

and Hamlet's

was regarded

as incestuous, and so unnatural. There is also a play on the

other sense of " kind " i. e., there is no love lost between us.
Notice that Hamlet's first speech is a play on words, and an

What light is thrown at once on Hamlet's attitude

aside.
towards the King?
66. The clouds: an allusion to the " nighted color" of
Hamlet's "inky cloak" perhaps also to "the dejected havior of
(Notice that the King uses you instead of thou
[his] visage."
What pronoun does the Queen use?)
in addressing Hamlet.
i'
the sun. Possibly (i) in direct
much
am
too
I
67.
response to the King's reference to Hamlet's garb, with ironical
allusion (easily made clear by a gesture) to the bright costumes
of the Court, which has put off its mourning for the wedding.
Or (2) there may be an allusion to an old proverb "out of
God's blessing into the warm sun" (see Lear, H, ii, 168-69)
which meant to be out of house and home, so that Hamlet is

referring to his loss of the throne.

either case (3) a play

And

there

upon "sun" and "son"

is

probably

(line 64),

in

which

Scene

Notes and Comment

II.]

would be

69

quite in keeping with Hamlet's fondness for verbal

quibbling.

Denmark: the King; cf. Norivay, line 28.

For ever. How long since the King's death? See line
What of the Queen's tact? Vailed is "lowered"; cf.

69.
70.

138.

Venus and Adonis, 956; Merchant of Venice, I, i, 28.

Thou know'st 'tis common. Remember that it is
72.
Hamlet's mother who is saying this to him of his father.
Cf. Tempest, II, i, 3-6, and look up Tennyson's development

Memoriam, VI, lines 1-8.

Obsequious sorrow: sorrow that is

of the idea in In

dutiful in showing
Look up Titus Andronicus, V, iii, 152,
and especially Sonnet XXXI, 5-7. Persever in Shakespeare is
always accented on the second syllable.
As any the most vulgar thing to sense: as anything
99.
which is most ordinary or commonplace to the understanding.
101-03.
Observe Claudius's habit of heaping up parallel
phrases; cf. lines 93-97. Can you point out instances in his
92.

dead.

respect to the

first

speech

much

"

Is his

emphasis natural, or

is

he " protesting too

The throne of Denmark was elective

ii,
356.
366-67), but royal blood was considered in determining the succession. Had Hamlet himself expected to succeed
his father?
See V, ii, 65; III, iv, 100. Was Claudius's remark,
log.

Cf. Ill,

(see V,

ii,

then, particuliarly consoling?

112.

no

Impart. The construction is confused, for impart has

There is possibly some slight corruption of the text,

object.

but the general sense is clear.

See note on line 164.
113.
Retrograde: contrary.
114.
notes on

and

i,

118, 119,

Ways
Our

their

117.

does the
120.
III,

I,

iv,

Another astrological term; cf.

and see Greenough and Kittredge, Words

in English Speech, chap. IV, especially pp. 33-34.

cousin and our son. Cf. line 64. Why

King change the pronoun?
In all my best: to the extent of my power; cf. Othello,
How often has Hamlet addressed the King in
127.
.

scene? The formality of his address to his mother

Madam," when she has said " thy mother " is less significant,
See
as such formality was observed in high-born families.

this

"

also

lines

74-76.

Juliet

regularly

addresses

her

mother

as

Notes and Comment

170

Madam " (except in

she cries out " O, sweet

"

Romeo and

my

Juliet,

mother, cast

me

[Act

III,

not

v,

200,
").

I.

where

Com-

away!

pare Hamlet's use of "mother" in Act III, Scene IV; observe,

too, the way in which Laertes and Ophelia address their father
in Act I, Scene III.
121-24.

The King

is

rather

making

the

best

of

bad

job.

Watch as you read for amplifications of this hint re125.

garding the King's fondness for drinking.
How often has Hamlet spoken up to this point?
129-59.
How often more than a single line? Yet what has been in his
mind all the while? Consider his restraint in the presence of
others in the light of

what

the soliloquy discloses.

What

is

the

significance of the frequent broken constructions in the soliloquy?

Is

it

his father's death, as the

King and Queen suppose,

that

is

Hamlet's mind? Compare what Hamlet says in

lines 137-49 with what the King says in lines i-i6.
Does this
make clearer Hamlet's mood in line 65 ? After the glimpse
which the soliloquy gives into the state of Hamlet's mind are
we better prepared to understand the effect upon him of Horatio's
communication ?

uppermost

in

Too too. Emphatic reduplication, not uncommon in

129.
Elizabethan English. See Two Gentlemen of Verona, II, iv, 205,
and cf. " most most " in Sonnet CX, 14. Does Hamlet's repetition in " melt. Thaw and resolve " impress you in the same way
as the King's repetitions?
"
131-32. Cf. Cymbeline, III, iv, 78-80. Where is the " canon
to be found?
Hyperion to a satyr. Hyperion is accented on the
140.
penult in Greek and Latin; Spenser, Gray, and Keats, as well
as Shakespeare, accent it on the antepenult.
Hyperion was a
Titan, the Sun-god dethroned by Apollo, with whom he is
later identified.
For a description of his beauty, see Keats's
Hyperion, II, 371-75, and cf. Hamlet, III, iv, 56.
Within a month. Within a month of what? Is it
145.
of the elder Hamlet's death?
If so, Claudius and Gertrude
have been married a month (cf. line 138), yet Claudius announces the marriage as if it had just taken place. It is probable that Hamlet means within a month of the funeral (cf. lines
147-49), which might have been delayed two or three weeks,

Scene

Notes and Comment

II.]

171

Notice Hamlet's threeso that the marriage has just occurred.

fold iteration (lines 145, 147, 153)Or ere. Cf. " or ever " in line 183. The ever {ere)
147.
Cf. Psalm xc, 2; Ecclesiastes, xii, 6.
Niobe. Her children were slain by the arrows of
Apollo and Artemis.
That wants discourse of reason: that lacks the rea150.
(The First Quarto has "devoid of reason").
soning faculty.

adds emphasis.
149.

Cf. particularly IV,

iv,

33-39.

Flushing: probably in the sense of "reddening"

although possibly it means "flooding" (with tears).
Dexterity: celerity possibly with the added idea of
157.
155.

adroitness.

How

Hail to your lordship!

160.

throughout the

rest of the

"

is

Lord Hamlet

a prince."

out this dialogue.

is

Hamlet addressed

must not be forgotten that

Observe the pronouns used through-

scene?

It

Horatio, or I do forget myself. It is a question

161.
whether this is to be interpreted as implying uncertainty in
Hamlet's recognition of Horatio, or merely surprise at seeing
him in Elsinore. Hamlet and Horatio are friends of long standing (see III, ii, 67-79), so that the first interpretation is possible
only on the assumption that Hamlet has not seen Horatio for
some time or else that he is still lost in his own thoughts.
Perhaps an exclamation point after " Horatio " is best, as indicating Hamlet's surprise; then "or I do forget myself" is
roughly equivalent to " surely I can't be mistaken." Notice
that Hamlet has a trick of turning his mind quickly back upon

own statements; cf. lines 138, 233 (see note), 240. (The
conventional greeting of line 160 with which compare II, ii,
440-41 is probably spoken before Hamlet observes that it is
friends and not strangers who are approaching).
Read the line: "Sir, my good friend; I'll change that
163.
name with you" i. e., I'll exchange (so that we give and take
on equal terms) the name of friend with you. Another interpretation makes the line mean: "You are my good friend, I
your poor servant." Observe throughout the rest of the scene
his

Hamlet's exquisite courtesy.

164.

well

What make you from Wittenberg?

as Horatio has

If

come from Wittenberg for

Hamlet
the

as

King's

Notes and Comment

172
why

funeral,

is

Hamlet

either

[Act I.

uncertain in his recognition of

Horatio, or surprised to see him? Do the King's words in

line 113 necessarily imply that Hamlet has just come from
Wittenberg? The whole matter is puzzling, but it is at least
possible that Hamlet had left Wittenberg some time before the
opening of the play, and was at Elsinore at the time of his
father's death.
"

was machen

twice

repeated

With
Sie,"

what make you

and

(lines

Marcellus?

165.

"

cf

168,

The

II,

378.

ii,

"

compare the German

Why

is

the

question

174)
interrogation point does not occur in
?

Quartos or the Folios, which have a period. Hamapparently is not uncertain in his recognition of Marcellus,
who has been at Elsinore.
170-73. Observe again the gracious courtesy of the reply.
In how many lights has Shakespeare already made us see
either the

let

Hamlet?

What mood appears again

What reason does Laertes

175.
176.
53) ?
178.

Why

in this line?

give for having come

(line

the difference?

What

does Shakespeare

mean

us to see

was uppermost

in Hamlet's mind?

180.

Baked-meats:

pastry.

Cf. Genesis, xl, 17.

Feasts at

funerals used to be customary.

182.

My

dearest foe.

"

'

Dear

'

is

used of whatever touches

us nearly either in love or hate, joy or sorrow" (Clark and

Wright). Cf. "dearest spite" {Sonnet XXXVII, 3); "terms
so bloody and so dear" {Twelfth Night, V, 74).
What does Horatio think Hamlet means? Observe the
185.

with which Horatio's disclosure is led up to. In what

how does Shakespeare hold our interest in the account
With whose point
of what we have just seen for ourselves?
rest of the scene
The
identify
ourselves?
of view do we
is really almost equivalent to a third appearance of the Ghost.
He was a man. Edwin Booth was accustomed to pause
187.
This interpretaafter " man," as if contrasting it with " king."
tion is perhaps questionable, but cf. Julius Ccesar, V, v, 73-75.
Saw? who? Who is frequently used for <whom in
190.
Shakespeare. The best way to make sure that you understand a
passage like this or indeed anything in Shakespeare is to read
skill

follows,

it

aloud.

Scene

173

Season your admiration: temper your amazement.

Vast: vacancy, void. Cf. "that vast of night" {Temii,
65) means "still as death";
327). Dead (cf. I,

192.
198.
pest,

Notes and Comment

II.]

I,

i,

"as dead midnight still" {Henry V, III, chor., 19); "the

night's dead silence" {Tiuo Gentlemen of Verona, III, ii, 85).
Some of the early texts have ivaste (or luast) instead of 'vast.
cf.

equivalent to " at

At point exactly:

200.

Richard

II, I,

Cap-a-pe

2.

iii,

is

"from head

all

points,"

foot"

to

in

(cf. line

228).
Distill'd: melted.

204.
gest?

= agency,

Act

Dreadful:

207.

What

does the figure of jelly sug-

operation.
Cf. Chaucer's

full of dread.

"with dredeful

foot" {Knight's Tale, 621).

Did you not speak

214.

phasis

Cf

line

206.

What word

to it?

Why

"

it

"

instead

of

has the em" him,"

when

Horatio has said "your father"? Is the use of' the neuter
pronoun maintained throughout the scene?
216. It head: an old form of the possessive which occurs
sixteen times in the First Folio, as against ten occurrences of
its.
Cf. "it had it head bit off by it young" {Lear, I, iv, 236).
His was the usual possessive form for both masculine and

neuter.

216-20. Cf. I, i, 147. Has Shakespeare heightened the suspense by interrupting the Ghost before it has imparted its
secret

Like as. Not to be confused with the use of like

217.
alone as a conjunction, which is contrary to the best usage, and
which has arisen from the ellipsis of as in the phrase that is
here used.
219.

Cf.

225.

What is in Hamlet's mind? Cf.

To what does " arm'd " refer?
Then saw you not his face?

226.
229.

I,

i,

148-49.

personal here?

See note on line 216.

understand

The

What

it?

in that case

231-32.

is

First

line 242.

Is "his" necessarily
But how does Horatio

Quarto has a period after "face."

the implication of the line?

Is this consistent

with

I,

i,

62?

How

do you account

for the discrepancy?

233.
" pale,"

Pale or red? The First Quarto has a comma after

and this is probably the better reading. The pause

Notes and Comment

174

[Act

I.

gives to " or red " almost the quality of an afterthought, as if

suggested by the idea (which is evidently in Hamlet's mind)
that the Ghost has come in anger; and it is to "or red" that
" Nay " answers.
Observe the impression of veriwhich Hamlet's minute questions give.
Very like, very like. Is Hamlet concerned with his
237.
own feelings, or absorbedly intent upon the Ghost?

Horatio's

similitude

Longer, longer. What effect does this difference of

239.
opinion have upon our impression of reality?
His beard was grizzled, no? All the Folios and
240.
Quartos have a period after "no." The Quartos have a comma,
the Folios an interrogation point, after "grizzled" (in the
Quartos, "grizzley"). Many modern editors put an interrogation point after both words. Read the line aloud with the
punctuations:
"grizzled? No?";
"grizzled? No.";
"grizzled, no?," and consider the difference in meaning.

"a sable silver'd," cf. Sonnet XII, 4.

watch to-night. Where is the emphasis?
Hamlet lacking in decision, so far as we have yet seen?
With

line 242:

242.

I will

Is

Why

such strong language on Hamlet's part?

plural is often used in Shakespeare
singular) in designating attributes
or qualities ascribed to more than one person; cf. I, i, 173;
244-46.

Your loves. The

(where we should use the
251.

I,

ii,

15;

254.

II,

ii,

14.

Cf. line 163.

I doubt some foul play.

256.
curred to any of the others? Cf. I,

Has
i,

this

explanation

oc-

68-69, 112-25, 130-39.

Notice Hamlet's eager256. Would the night were come!

ness to have the time come round, and observe carefully, as you

go on with the play, how he actually meets opportunities as

they present themselves.

Summarize carefully
this scene

the scene

the additional information of

all

has put us in possession.

made

to focus

it

Scene

I.

In Scene III our attention

the Ghost;

is

which

everything in

Act

drawn from

On whom

is

III.

for the time being, entirely witha new strand that is being woven.

is,

Scene

Notes and Comment

III.]

175

The first scene fixed our interest, through the Ghost, upon the
mystery of the elder Hamlet's death; the second joined with that
the inexplicable haste of the Queen's marriage; the third adds
another fact of crucial importance Hamlet's love for Ophelia,
especially as it is regarded by her father and brother. With
these three people Hamlet's destiny is intimately linked, and
although he does not himself appear, it is nevertheless about

him that the whole scene

centers.
Directly or indirectly, when
three scenes are ended, the Ghost, Horatio, the King,
the Queen, Ophelia, Polonius, and Laertes have been brought

the

first

into relation with

Hamlet,

of the three salient facts,

proper

in connection

with one or the other

and with the third scene the exposition

concluded.

is

HI and the more domestic tenor

dialogue afford a certain relief from the high tension of
the preceding scenes.
I.
How has this been prepared for? Watch, as you read,
for other instances of Shakespeare's skill in providing beforehand the explanation (or moti<vation) of actions still to come.
The

of

quieter setting of Scene

its

Would

necessity

As

2-3.

now

novelist,

in

this

case,

have been under the

same

the winds give benefit And convoy is assistant:

winds are advantageous, and means of conveyance

that the

are ready.
6.

toy in blood: an

toy in this

{Othello,

I,

sense
iii,

cf.

269):

idle fancy, due to mere impulse.

For
" light-wing'd toys Of feather'd Cupid

"no

jealous toy Concerning

you"

{ibid,

156) ; and cf. I, iv, 75 (with note). Blood is often used

of passion or impulse, as opposed to reason; see especially HI,
III, iv,

74, and cf. Merchant of Venice, I, ii, 17: "the brain may
devise laws for the blood."
Notice how the idea of " toy " is
carried out in "trifling" and "fashion."
ii,

7.

Primy nature:

nature in

its

springtime.

Suppliance of a minute: that which serves to fill up or

supply the moment. Notice how the idea of transitoriness (" of
a minute") is carried out in "not permanent," "not lasting,"
and observe the beauty of the phrasing.
10.
No more but so? The Quartos and Folios have a
period, and there is much to be said in favor of their reading.
The first few words which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of
9.

Notes and Comment

176

[Act

I.

a character are often peculiarly in keeping, and Ophelia's words,

so punctuated, are like those of a docile child, repeating something it knows it must learn to say. Compare especially the

thrown by lines 104-05 on Ophelia's training.

Observe how the idea of "crescent" is amplified in
" grow," " waxes," " grows wide."
" This temple " refers to
the body (see St. John, ii, 21, and cf. Macbeth, II, iii, 73; Rape
of Lucrece, 719, 1172), and the figure is carried out in " service."
With the word-pair " mind and soul " cf. the similar pairs in
lines 12, 21, 23, 26, 35, and 41.
In his particular act and place: under the limitations
26.
imposed by his rank upon his action.
14-28.
Is Laertes's general position sound, from the point of
view of worldly wisdom?
In the rear. Observe the military figure carried out in
34.
light

11-14.

the next line.

opened.
Buttons: buds; cf. French houton. Disclosed
Even with no tempter present, youth rebels against selfDoes Laertes seem to be very sure of either Hamlet's
restraint.
honor or Ophelia's purity? Does this throw so much light on
40.

44.

on his?
path. Cf. " the primrose way to the
everlasting bonfire" {Macbeth, II, iii, 21): "the flowery way
that leads to the broad gate and the great fire " {All's Well,
IV, V, 56). See also R. L. Stevenson: "Life is over, life was
gay: We have come the primrose way."
Recks not his own rede: heeds not his own counsel.
51.
O, fear me not. I stay too long. Is Laertes in51-52.
terested in hearing his "good lesson" turned against himself?
have no fear about me.
Fear me not
Is there a real discrepancy?
Cf. I, ii, 58-60.
55.
their character as

The primrose

50.

56.
I,

i,

Sits.

Cf.

I,

ii,

124,

and especially Merchant of Venice,

18.

57.
59.
61.

There. What gesture is implied?

Character: inscribe. Accented on the second syllable.
Familiar, but by no means vulgar: unconstrainedly

The best commenwithout making yourself cheap.

III, ii, 39-41.
IV,
/
Henry
used,
is
vulgar,
as
here
tary on
hooks for hoops.
substitutes
the
figure?
Pope
What
is
63.
What objection to the emendation? Make clear to yourself the
friendly,

Scene

Notes and Comment

III.]

figures in the next

in

two

Does Shakespeare seem

lines.

concrete terms

or

abstract,

lines of this scene,

177

Go

and pick out the

to think

back over the preceding

figures.

Are they

there for

ornament, as something extraneous, or are they part of the very

texture of the thought? Watch for this characteristic of Shakespeare's mode of expression as you read.
Comrade. Probably accented on the last syllable.
65.
Censure: judgment, opinion as constantly in Shake69.

speare.

Notice that this repeats " costly

not expressed in fancy" (i. e., not fantastic). Be careful to
avoid the common misquotation " neat, but not gaudy."
74. This line (which appears in various forms in ihe Quartos
and Folios) is pretty certainly corrupt, and numerous emenda71.

Rich, not gaudy.

have been suggested. If we read: "Are most select and

generous in that," we have the gist of it.
(It has been cleverly
conjectured that "of" and "chief" were in the margin of
the manuscript as alternatives for "in" and "best
of line 73,
tions

'

and that they got

by mistake).
Husbandry: thrift, economy; cf. "there's husbandry in
77.
heaven, their candles are all out" (Macbeth, II, i, 4).
58-81. With Polonius's advice to Laertes compare that of the
Countess to Bertram in All's Well, I, i, 70-79, and identify
the correspondences. Polonius's speech is in part suggested by
a passage in Lyly's Euphues, in which Euphues gives to his
friend Philautus (who is on his way to England, as Laertes
is on his way to France) what he too calls " these few precepts."
Compare the following with Shakespeare: "Be not lavish of
thy tongue.
Every one that shaketh thee by the hand, is
.

into line 74

Be not quarrelous for every

ready to revenge an injury, but
never wont to proffer any: they never fight without provoking,
and once provoked they never cease. ... It shall be there better
to hear what they say, than to speak what thou thinkest: they
have long ears and short tongues, quick to hear, and slow to
utter" {Euphues, ed. Arber, p. 246). Look up also Lord Burleigh's " ten precepts " to his son Robert Cecil, as quoted in
The gist of Polonius's
the Variorum Hamlet, Vol. II, p. 239.
sheaf of maxims seems to be the avoidance of the " unproportioned," the steering of a safe middle course.
not joined to thee in heart.
light occasion: they are

Notes and Comment

78
94.

[ActI.

Put on: imparted to; cf. As You Like It, I, ii, 99-100.
Tenders: offers; cf. "legal tender."
Affection! pooh! One object of this scene is to disthe character of Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia, together

99.
loi.
close

with their attitude towards life, as constituting an essential

element in Hamlet's immediate environment. What insight into
Polonius's character is given by this speech?
What does this tell us of Ophelia?
104.
Tender: hold dear, take care of.
Polonius who
107.
piques himself on his powers of expression is playing on the
two senses of the word. To " crack the wind of the -poor
phrase " is to run it till it is out of breath.
You'll tender me a fool: either, you'll present your109.
or, you'll make me a public laughingself to me as a fool

stock.

112.

may

Fashion you

call

it.

Polonius here means what

Laertes meant in line 6.

Springes to catch woodcocks. Woodcocks were pro115.
verbial for their stupidity. Cf. V, ii, 317; Winter's Tale, IV,
iii,

36.

Springe

= snare.

Entreatments: interviews. The idea of negotiations,

which the word has, is carried out in " command to parley."
Brokers are go-betweens, panders; dye ::= color;
127-30.
investments
garments (cf. "wolves in sheep's clothing");
breathing
whispering.
122.

131.

For

all:

once for

all.

Moment leisure. Moment is used as an adjective.

133.
Cf. "Lethe wharf" (I, v, 33); "region kites" (II, ii, 607).
do you account for the change
134. Cf. lines 120-23.
in Polonius's orders?

How

136. Look back over Ophelia's speeches. What tentative

judgment should you form of her character? What is Polonius's
reading of Hamlet's character? How does it differ from
Laertes's estimate? Is it very likely that any of them will
understand him?

Act
The

first

three scenes

I.

Scene IV.

have brought before us the chief actors

and to certain

in the tragedy, in their relations to each other,

Notes and Comment

Scene IV.]

momentous

facts,

but

the

action

proper has

179
not

yet

begun.

however unstable;
something must occur which shall disturb the balance, and preAnd the impulsion which releases the latent
cipitate the action.
forces and sets them in motion is the revelation of the Ghost.
Scene IV leads up to this; in Scene V we are put in possession
of it, and Hamlet is face to face with the problem upon whose

The

forces involved are

still

in equilibrium,

solution the rest of the tragedy depends.

The

event or circumstance which initiates the action is called

Exciting Force. In Macbeth it is the prophecy of the
witches;, in Romeo and Juliet, the meeting between Romeo and
What is it in Julius Casar? Can
Juliet at the Capulets' ball.
you point out the Exciting Force in any of the novels you have
read or studied?
V^hat connecting link in this line with Scene i ?
1.
Eager: sharp, keen. Look up the etymology, and cf. I,
2.

the

V,

69.

1-4.

Why

does the scene open with this unimportant con-

versation?
10-12. Cf. V, ii, 285-89. This seems to have been actually
a Danish custom.
Is it a custom?
does Horatio not know?
12.
Manner: custom, fashion. Be careful not to confuse
15.

Why

with manor.
16.
More honor'd in the breach than the observance:
more honored by breaking than by keeping.
17. What does "east and weist " modify?
They clepe us drunkards. The Danes were notorious
19.

for their prowess in drinking, but Shakespeare probably has the

English in mind as well.

19-20.

See especially Othello, II, iil, 79-87.

Soil our addition: by call-

With swinish phrase

ing us swine they tarnish our honorable name. Addition: title

See II, i, 46-47,
of distinction
as constantly in Shakespeare.
and cf. Henry V, V, ii, 366-69: "shall name your Highness
with this addition, in French, Notre tres-cher fils Henri,
Roi d'Angleterre, Heritier de France "; Macbeth, I, iii, 105call thee thane of Cawdor; In which
06: "He bade me

addition, hail

"
!

20.
And indeed. Hamlet
behind the reputation.

recognizes

the

fact

which

lies

Notes and Comment

i8o

Perform'd at height: carried

21.

the

to

[ActL
highest pitch of

achievement.
22.
Our attribute: that which is attributed to us; hence,
our reputation.
In particular men. Hamlet is passing from the case
23.

nations to that of individuals.

It is characteristic of his
speculative turn of mind to go off from the concrete occurrence
into philosophical reflections, but the passage serves a dramatic
of

purpose as well. For in following the rather intricate expression of Hamlet's thought, our attention is distracted, for
the moment, from the expected arrival of the Ghost, and its third

appearance comes,

like

Compare the manner

two appearances.

Mole

24.

note on
25.

than

I,

With
a

nativity
27.

ii,

Are

in

the

others,

with a shock of surprise.

which Shakespeare

of nature: natural blemish.

led

up

to the first

For the idiom, see

4.

this line

compare Rape of Lucrece, 537-39: "Worse

blot; For marks descried in men's

birth-hour's

own infamy."
some complexion. Complexion

nature's faults, not their

The o'ergrowth

of

is

here used in the sense it had in the psychology of the Middle

Ages, i. e., a mingling in various proportions of the four liquid
elements, blood, choler, phlegm, and black bile. There were
four complexions, named according to the predominant element:
the sanguine (blood), the choleric (choler or bile), the phlegmatic (phlegm), and the melancholy (black bile). Where the
elements were justly mixed, health and a balanced disposition
Cf. Julius Casar, V, v, 73-75: "His
(or temperament) resulted.
life was gentle, and the elements So mix'd in him that Nature
"
might stand up And say to all the world, This was a man
the
The undue predominance of any one element disturbed
balance, and the best commentary on Hamlet's phrase is found
in Ben Jonson's lines in the Induction to Every Man out of his
Humour: " The choler, melancholy, phlegm and blood
Now thus far It may, by
Receive the name of humours.
metaphor, apply itself Unto the general disposition: As 'when
some one peculiar quality Doth so possess a man, that it doth
draw All his affects, his spirits, and his powers. In their
confluctions, all to run one <way, This may be truly said to
be a humour." Humor, then, as Ben Jonson uses it, is almost
*

'

Notes and Comment

Scene IV.]

i8i

exact equivalent of Hamlet's *' the o'ergrowth of some

complexion," with its implication of a lack of proper balance
among the elements, which may even break down the strongholds of reason itself. Is Shakespeare putting into Hamlet's
mouth what is in reality applicable to Hamlet himself? Keep
this question in mind as you read the play.
29-30. Some habit (like that of the Danes' excessive drinking) which permeates with its corrupting influence even the
pleasing forms of social intercourse.
That these men. " That " takes up the previous " that "
30.
in line 24, but the construction has changed, and it changes
again within the next few lines. " The stamp of one defect
(line 31) resumes the "vicious mole of nature" (line 24).
What is the cause of the broken structure of this long sentence?
Is it quite the same as the cause which underlies the broken
structure of the soliloquy in Scene II ?
Nature's livery, or fortune's star: the mark which na32.
ture put on them (as if it were her badge or uniform) when
they were born (cf. "in their birth"), or which fortune imposed
through the influence of their star (see Introduction, p. xxvi).
Undergo: carry, partake of. Cf. "to undergo such
34.
ample grace and honor" {Measure for Measure, I, i, 24).
Shall
take: are sure to take.
35.
censure: the opinion of everybody. This
The
general
35.
idiom is the reverse of the "thieves of mercy" construction (see
note on I, ii, 4)
the adjective limits the extent or sphere of
Cf. "mortal preparation" {All's Well, III, vi, 81)
the noun.
preparation for death; "the hospitable canon" {Coriolanus,
I, X, 26) := the law of hospitality; "a Roman thought" {Antony
and Cleopatra, I, ii, 87)
a thought of Rome.
36-38. The text of these lines is hopelessly corrupt, and not
The
less than a hundred emendations have been suggested.
one thing that is clear is that the statement is meant to be a
summary of what has preceded. " Eale " pretty certainly is
" evil "
(the Second and Third Quartos have " deale " for
"devil" in II, ii, 628; cf. Scotch deil)
"doubt" may be
" dout," i. e., "do out," put out, banish (cf. IV, vii, 192 and
note); "of a" may be a misreading of "often"; "dram"
stands for a very small quantity (cf. Merchant of Venice, IV, i,

the

^:

"empty From any dram

of mercy").

The meaning would

Notes and Comment

82

then be:

The

[ActI.

particle of evil often drives out in men's estimation

whole noble substance

[i. e., the particular man's; see

he becomes traduced and taxed of
other men]. Or "his" may be equivalent to "its," in which
case the meaning would be: drives out the whole noble substance
The figure seems to be
so that it becomes itself a scandal.
"
based on the " little leaven [that] leaveneth the whole lump
(/ Corinthians, v, 6).
Spirit of health: saved spirit contrasted with "goblin
40.
damned." How is the same contrast elaborated in the next two

the

line 23]

own

scandal

[i.

to his

e.,

lines?

Questionable: demanding speech. Cf. "It would be

(I, i, 45, and note).
father, royal Dane. Many modern editors puncKing,
45.
tuate "King, father; royal Dane, O, answer me." What is
43.

spoke to"

gained by

this

reading?

Canonized: buried according

to the canons or rites of

on the second syllable.
Dead corse. Corpse originally meant body in general,
52.
whether living or dead. Cf. // Kings, xix, 35. "Complete" is
accented on the first syllable.
fools of nature: we, the sport or playthings of
54.
Strict grammatical construction would require " us "
nature.
and "to shake" (instead of "shakest") involves an anacolu-

47.

the church.

The

accent

is

We

thon.

Disposition: here equivalent to "nature, constitution."

Then I will follow it. Does Hamlet show any sign of
hesitation?
How often is this declaration repeated?
What should be the fear: what do you think there is
64.
"Should" is used (like the German sollen)
to be afraid of?
with reference to what some one else thinks or says.
Beetles. Apparently Shakespeare was the first to use
71.
It has the general sense (probably with
this word as a verb.
some reference to " beetle-browed " see Dictionary, and quotaFor the account
tion from Henry V below) of " jut, overhang."
imagination)
Shakespeare's
touch
of
is
here
cliff
(which
a
the
of
see especially Lear, IV, vi, 1-79, and cf. Henry V, III, i, 11-14:
" let the brow o'erwhelm it As fearfully as does a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, Swill'd with the wild
55.

63.

and wasteful ocean,"

Notes and Comment

Scene v.]

Deprive your sovereignty of reason: take away

which reason exercises.

73.

control

Toys

75.

and

183

of desperation:

desperate fancies;

cf.

I,

the

iii,

6,

note.

My

81.

fate cries out.

It

is

not necessary, on the ground

make Hamlet more

of this phrase, to

of a fatalist than

most

men

are on occasion.
Artery: nerve.
82.

The

strangling of the

on the
85.

first

syllable)

Nerve,

Nemean
was one

in the

next line,

means sinew.

lion (the adjective is here accented

of the twelve labors of Hercules.

Once more, Does Hamlet lack determination or decision?

Lets: hinders.

91.

It: the

91.

Nay:

hand

"issue" of

that

line 89.

instead of leaving

is,

it

Heaven,

to

let's

take

ourselves.

Act

I.

Scene V.

In Scene IV our interest in the Ghost was subordinated to

our immediate preoccupation with Hamlet. In the first ninety
lines of Scene V the subordination is reversed.
2-4.
Where is this spirit? Cf. lines 10-13, and avoid confusing the passage with our idea of hell. What is "my hour"?
Cf. I, i, 147-49; I> "> 218-19, and see Lear, III, iv, 121.
Bound. Hamlet probably uses the word in the sense of
6.

"ready"

(see

III,

the Ghost takes

12.

it

Crimes:

natural days,

my

iii,

up

faults,
life

41-42,

and

cf.

"homeward bound");

in the sense of " compelled."

offenses.

My

days of nature: my

on earth.

Spheres. The stars were regarded as set in concentric

17.
spheres revolving about the earth (cf. IV, vii, 15). Look up
in the Shakespeare Concordance the passages quoted under
sphere.
19.

An

end: on end. An is an older form of on. It

words as alwe, asleep (cf. " on sleep," Acts,

vives in such

36), afire, a-hunting, a-fishing.

21.
Eternal blazon: blazon of eternity

i.

e.,

surxiii,

the revelation

of the secrets of his prison-house.

25.

The

Ghost's injunction constitutes the moving force of

Notes and Comment

184
the

drama.

It

[Act

must be remembered that according to the

which the old story of Hamlet belongs

of the period to

indeed of Shakespeare's

own

time

revenge

I.

ethics

and

was

in such a case

a duty.

Does Hamlet seem to have suspected just this?

Haste me to know't: let me know it at once.
Observe the irony of the contrast between Hamlet's
29-31.
words and what actually happens. Is his simile characteristic?
" as
(Meditation here means " thought "
cf
quick
as
26.

29.

thought").
Cf. " a Lethe'd dullness " {Antony and Cleopatra,
the
27). Lethe is that "slow and silent stream
of oblivion" {Paradise Lost, II, 582-83), and the fat

32-33.
II,

i,

river

water-weed clinging

to its crumbling wharf has absorbed its

Instead of roots the Folio has rots, which
may be right; cf. Antony and Cleopatra, I, iv, 45-47: "This
common body. Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream, Goes
back and back, lackeying the varying tide, To rot itself with
motion." It is possible that ivharf means here the bank of the
river.
For the construction of " Lethe wharf " see note on I,

" sleepy

i",

drench."

133-

36.

The whole

37.

Process:

proces verbal.
40-41. Has
father's

Hamlet

murder

aversion that

ear of

account,

Denmark:

actually

suspected

line 26), or is

(cf.

referred to?

is

the ear of all Denmark.

narrative; cf. the French

official

Does

it

I,

his

ii,

his uncle of his

general dislike and

256, indicate a definite

suspicion, or only a general misgiving?

does not make Claudius a contemptible

a mistake so to represent him on the stage.
" Wit " of course refers to inSee Introduction, pp. xviii-xix.

Shakespeare

42.

person, and
tellectual

52.

To

is

power

of

any

sort.

Those

of mine. Incorrect syntax.

compared with cf I. ii, 140.
;

61.
sion.

it

What

should

it

be?

Secure: unsuspecting, free from anxiety or apprehenBen Jonson: "Man may securely sin, but safely

Cf.

Shakespeare accents secure sometimes on the first,

sometimes on the last syllable. Which is it here?
62.
Some substance having a poisonous juice, and variously
interpreted as ebony, henbane, yew, hemlock,
never."

Notes and Comment

Scene v.]

185

Posset: curdle, coagulate. A posset was a hot drink

68.
composed of milk and other ingredients, curdled with wine
or ale; cf. Macbeth, II, ii, 7.
69.
71.

Eager: tart, biting, acid.

Bark'd about: encrusted,

Cf.

I,

iv, 2.

as with bark.

Lazar-like: like a leper; look up the etymology of

It must be remembered that lepers were a familiar sight
in England during the Middle Ages.
Not having received the Eucharist, unequipped (for the
77.
last journey), without extreme unction.
Compare a frequently
quoted passage from Malory's Morte Darthur: " My fair
lords, said Sir Launcelot,
give me my rites. So when
he was houseled and aneled, and had all that a Christian
man ought to have, he prayed the Bishop that his fellows might
bear his body to Joyous Gard " (Book XXI, chapter xii).
80.
This line should probably be assigned to Hamlet.
The next line seems to be a reply to it, and we should expect
some such exclamation from Hamlet anyway.
81.
If thou hast nature in thee: if you have any natural
72.

lazar.

affection.

83.

Luxury:

"Luxurious,

lust,

lasciviousness.

avaricious,

false,

Cf.

deceitful."

uses either luxury or luxurious in their

85.

Taint not thy mind.

Hamlet

The

Macbeth, IV,
Shakespeare

modern

iii,

58:

never

sense.

Ghost leaves entirely to

("howsoever thou pursuest

revenge
he imposes two specific injunctions. Hamlet is
not to let his mind become corrupt that is, his revenge must
be sternly just, and untainted by personal feeling; and he is
What impression do you gain of the elder
to spare his mother.
Hamlet's character?
88.
Sting: a much stronger word in older than in modern
the details of his

this act"), but

English.

Matin: morning; used only here in this sense.

Either because the glow-worm's fire is
Uneffectual.
light without heat, or because its light is lost in that of the
morning.
Fie: a stronger word then than now, and used with
93.
more dignified connotation. The line, however, has two extra
syllables, and " O, fie " is possibly an actor's interpolation.
But see Hamlet's similar use of it in II, ii, 617.
89.

90.

Notes and Comment

86

This distracted globe.

97.
106.

King?

of the

Scene

Cf.

line

hint
43,

What

as to the

and

recall

gesture

is

Implied?

manners and bearing

the

King's suavity in

II.

My

107.

tables,

man

of the
ally,

What

Smiling.

[ActI.

the

in

etc.

of action.
terrible

The

trick of the scholar, rather

than

Hamlet probably does almost automaticexcitement under which he is laboring,

something which he has been in the habit of doing. But see

also the excellent note in Bradley, pp. 409-12.
Tables: memo-

randum book.
no. So, uncle, there you

are.
Does Hamlet seem almost
by putting the thing down in his little book he has
really done something?
Do you feel that his satisfaction in
formulation promises well for action?
no. Now to my word: that is, my watchword, which
perhaps he writes down too.
114.
So be it! This probably completes "I have sworn't,"
rather than answers " Heaven secure him."
to feel that

ii5.

Hamlet

123-24.
levity as

intense

It

type.

imitating the falconer's call to his bird.

unnecessary to interpret Hamlet's

entirely

sign of mental

excitement,

the expression

known

is

is

of

and

his

aberration.
" wild and

He

is laboring under
whirling words " are

a nervous exaltation of a sufficiently welltendency to half-hysterical levity on solemn

when the feelings are tensely strung, is a familiar

experience even with persons whose mental balance is not open
occasions,

question.
Add to this the fact that Hamlet cannot speak
openly to Horatio in the presence of Marcellus.
Notice the grave dignity of Horatio's reply.
125.
Circumstance: circumlocution. Cf. "To wind about
127.
my love with circumstance " {Merchant of Venice, I, i,

to

154)132.

I'll

go watch"

go pray.

"I'll
Cf. "I will go seek" (II, i, loi)
{Merry Wives, I, iv, 7); "go sleep" {Tempest,
;

i,
190).
134-35. Observe again Hamlet's unfeigned courtesy and also
Horatio's assurance of a friendship which cannot take offense,
even where it may not understand.
By Saint Patrick. Commentators have exercised a
136.

II,

good deal of ingenuity

in explaining

why Hamlet

should swear

Notes and Comment

Scene v.]

187

There probably is no special reason, except

using " wild and whirling words."
An honest ghost. Either an honorable ghost, or, a
138.
I, iv, 69 ff.,
real ghost i. e., not an evil spirit, as Horatio, in

by

Patrick.

St.

that he

is

half suspects

We

147.
145, 146)

it

is.

itself

is

Upon my

148.
tom of

And

cf.

have sworn

especially II,
.

ii,

627-33.
" In faith " (lines

already.

an oath.

sword.

Swearing on the sword was a cus-

immemorial antiquity. In Christian times the oath was

the
taken on the hilt of the sword, so that one really swore by
hook
"
Welsh
of
a
cross
the
upon
swore
Cf
cross.
What significance has Hamlet's
(/ Henry IF, II, iv, 371-73).
indeed"?
"Indeed
.

Hamlet, who has been gradually collecting himself,

again shows "his recoil from horror to half -hysterical jesting"
150.

honest old fellow. The word was

theater-goers.
Elizabethan
familiar to all
and everywhere."
"here
ubique:
et
Hie
156.
Look up pioneer
syllable).
first
on
(accented
Pioner
163.
The reference here is to the Ghost's " working
in the dictionary.

(Dowden).

i'

Truepenny:

the earth."

a stranger give it welcome: show it the hospiit as it is,

tality accorded to a strangerthat is, receive it, take
secrets.
its
into
pry
to
seeking
not
questions,
asking no
In your philosophy. " Your " should receive the light167.
It is not the possessive pronoun, as if It
est possible accent.
were Horatio's philosophy that Hamlet meant, but it is "used
but to
indefinitely, not with reference to the person addressed,

As

165.

" (Schmidt).
Cf. IV, iii, 22, 24, and
not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion"
"/our serpent of
(Midsummer Night's Dream, III, i, 33)
"
of your sun
operation
Egypt is bred now of your mud by the
"That philosophy
(Antony and Cleopatra, II, vii, 29-30).
equivalent.
general
be
a
would
about"
we talk so much
"philos"
on
still
is
stress
the
"but
our
The Folios have

what

Is

known and common

add: "there

is

ophy."

must be mter169 ff. Hamlet's behavior later in the play

of his
warning
expressed
preted in the light of this definitely
xxiii.
See Introduction, p.
intention.
Encumber'd: perhaps, "folded" (cf. Tempest, I, 11,
174.

Notes and Comment

88

The

324: "his arms in this sad knot").

left to the

182.

[ActIL

particular gesture

is

actor.

Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!

Hamlet's

own composure

has, in this last speech, returned again.

187.

Let us go

Compare with

in together.

mood

the

of

lines 127-32.

189-90. These famous lines are rather an expression of

Hamlet's temperamental distaste for the task which has been
set him, than a passionate outcry against Fate, as they are
sometimes interpreted. " Cursed spite " connotes a certain vexation at being disturbed.
What action is implied? Compare the Duke's "Nay,
191.
we'll go down together, sir/' in Browning's My Last Duchess.
Try to formulate your impression of Hamlet's character, as
is
disclosed in Act I. Try also to realize the practical
it
Suppose
difficulties of the situation in which he finds himself.
he killed the King on sight, what motive would be urged

what position would such

motive could he give to clear
Do
else hear the Ghost's message?
himself? Did
lines 170 ff. suggest that he is planning to investigate?
against

him

(cf.

action place his

I,

ii,

109)

Act
The

"What

question
will

that

the close of the

is

first

Scene

II.

interests

Hamlet do?"

the rest of the play

In

What

mother?
anybody

us,

And

at
to

I.

the

close

of

that question,

Act
of

I,

is:

course,^

What he has done between

and the beginning of the second we

the answer.
act

learn gradually and indirectly. That considerable time has

intervened is clear. Laertes has been long enough in Paris
the ambassadors have had time
to need more money (II, i, i)
ii,
a great change,
(II,
return
40-41)
to go to Norway and
amounting to a " transformation," in Hamlet's demeanor has
been of long enough duration to permit Rosencrantz and
;

Guildenstern to arrive (presumably from Wittenberg) in recan even

sponse to a message from the King (II, ii, 1-14)elapsed.
has
that
time
of
length
tell pretty definitely the actual
dead
months
two
not
been
had
Hamlet
elder
the
For in Act I
(I, ii, 138); in Act III he had been twice two months dead

We

Scene

Notes and Comment

I.]

189

and between Acts II and III only one night

ii,
Two months, then,
565, and III, ii, 80).
have passed, and the King is still alive. Meantime, what of
Hamlet?
The first scene answers the question only indirectly. Like
the third scene of Act I it centers about the household of
Polonius, and it falls into two easily distinguishable parts.
(III, ii, 136)
intervenes (cf.

The

first

II,

has to do ostensibly with Laertes, but

disclosure of Polonius's character with

which

it

it

is

is

really the
concerned.

The second

deals directly with Ophelia, but its importance

even more in what we learn through her of Hamlet than
in what she reveals about herself.
And what we learn of
Hamlet is significant enough.
You shall do marvelous wisely. Whom is Polonius
3.
delicately complimenting?
Marry, well said, etc. Observe again the characterizing
6.
lies

touch.
7.

Me.

The

so-called

''

ethical

dative."

It

is

lightly

ac-

me"

(which we should have

Cf. " Give
to use to give its meaning) says a little too much.
me your present to one Master Bassanio " {Merchant of Venice,
cented, almost an enclitic;

"for

115); "hear me this" {Tivelfth Night, V, i, 123).

By giving the conversation this turn in this indirect way.
11.
More nearer. The double comparative is common in
Shakespeare. Cf. (in this play) III, ii, 316; V, ii, 129; and add
"more elder" {Merchant of Venice, IV, i, 251) "more braver"
etc.
{Tempest, I, ii, 439)
12.
Particular demands: the questions suggested in lines
The implied contrast is not between direct questions and
7-9.
more general ones, but between any questions ("your" is perhaps used as in I, v, 167; see note) and the second step which
Reynaldo is now to take that of assuming a distant knowledge
II,

ii,

10.

of Laertes,
19.

23.

Put on him: lay to his charge.

Noted and most known. Polonius has

peating himself;

cf.

lines 15, 17.

Here

it

is

a trick of re-

mere tautology.

On what word (or words) is the emphasis in this line?

27.
Reynaldo's and Polonius's moral standards are
Cf. lines 20-21.
not quite the same.
28.

Season:

qualify, temper;

cf.

I,

ii,

193.

Notes and Comment

190

[Act

II.

Another: a further, a different. Polonius Is distin29.

guishing between the " usual slips " he has named, and immoderate addiction to such vices (especially the last), which
he expresses by " incontinency."
Breathe ... so quaintly: whisper his faults so del31.
For breathe,

icately.

cf.

line 44,

and

I,

iii,

130.

wildness, unruliness, in untamed blood.

Of general assault: that attack everybody.

34.
35.
36.

Wherefore should you do this? Polonius evidently

piques himself on his astuteness as a mind-reader.
fetch of warrant: a warrantable stratagem.
38.
Mark you. What action or gesture on Polonius's part
41.

may
II,

be supposed to

fill

up

this

line?

Cf.

also

line

62,

and

105.

ii,

43-44. Having ever seen the youth of

guilty of the aforesaid faults.

whom

you whisper

Closes with you in this consequence: agrees with

following up what you have said. Consequence
Shakespeare has often its general sense of " that which

45.

in thus

you,
in

follows."

See note on I, iv, 20.

Polonius is not far from his dotage.
O'ertook in's rouse;
A': a colloquialism for he.
58.
overcome in his cups; or (possibly), caught or surprised as
he was drinking.
This carp of truth. What does Polonius expect to find?
63.
of wisdom and of reach: we wise and far-seeing
64.
Cf " we of taste and feeling " {Love's Labour's Lost,
people.

Addition.

47.

49-51.

We

IV,

ii,

30).

Assays of
circuitous ways and oblique attempts.
metaphor from the game of bowls. The " bias " is
that in the form or weighting of the bowl which gives it an
oblique line of motion, so that it is aimed away from the
Jack which it is to hit. Look up King John, II, i, 574-86, for
a full working out of the figure.

By

65.

bias

is

Polonius, before his senility, was probably a practiced

66.
diplomat, and he still delights in applying to trivial aifairs
the elaborate machinations of statecraft.
68.
You have me: you understand me; cf. modern slang:
**

You

get me."

Notes and Comment

Scene!.]

Observe his inclination

71.

191

in yourself.

Either,

Observe

or,
with hearsay)
inclination;
or,
(less
probably),
Conform
Observe your own inclination, and so judge his.
And let him ply his music. It is difficult to be sure
73.
whether this is to be taken literally or figuratively. If it is
literal, the upshot of all Polonius's elaborate strategy is, " Don't
If (as is more probable) it is
let him neglect his music!"
figurative, it means: "Let him go his own gait nevertheless."
In either case we learn something of Polonius. Has Shakespeare some object, related to the development of the action,
Keep
in the rather terrific exposure of Polonius in this scene?
this in mind as you go on with the play.
79-81. Hamlet is exhibiting the conventional marks of a
lover, which are described in As You Like It, III, ii, 391-400.
But he is also showing the strain of the past two months. See
further the note on II, ii, 6.
77-100. Why does Hamlet come to Ophelia as he does? Is
last time if she is the one person who can
it to see for the
Or does he do it to heighten
Or
is
it a farewell?
him?
help
In any case what has he
the impression that he is mad?
Is there anything in the scene which
learned about Ophelia?
is
inconsistent with the assumption that he really loved

by yourself
yourself to his

disposition

his

(as contrasted

her?
102.
(cf.

Ecstacy: madness.

Cf. Ill,

i,

168; III,

Iv,

73-75, 138-39

141).

103.

Whose

quality of

whose very quality

is

violence destroys

violence

itself i.

e.,

love,

(vehemence, lack of restraint),

often undoes the lover.

107.

Has Polonius

forgotten

what he

said in

I,

iii,

132-35?

any reason for his use of " you " in this line, as compared with "thy" and "thee" in lines 85 and 113?
109-10. Observe that up to this point Hamlet has showed
no sign of breaking with Ophelia. Does he know why she
has repelled his letters and refused to see him? Keep this in
mind for its possible bearing on the difficult question raised by
his later attitude toward Ophelia.
112.
Quote: read, observe. Cf. "I have with exact view
perused thee, Hector, And quoted joint by joint" (Troilus and
Is there

Cressida, IV, v, 232-33).

Notes and Comment

192

[Acxil.

Cast beyond: overshoot.

Observe the irony of the

doing precisely this again.
118-19. If we keep this love secret, its concealment may
work us more mischief than its declaration cause us hatred.
Polonius recognizes that for Ophelia to aspire to marry into
the royal family (and for him to seem to aid and abet her)
would be regarded as treasonable.
115.

fact that Polonius

is

Act

II.

Scene

II.

This long scene is of the utmost importance. The struggle

between Hamlet and the King the two "mighty opposites
of V, ii, 62
begins to appear in clearer outline, and the
coming of the players, in which Hamlet sees and seizes an
opportunity, points directly toward the climax of the action.
Up to the appearance of the players, however, the center of
interest is Hamlet's supposed madness, which is exhibited,
with amazing skill, from various angles while at the very
end of the scene, in the second of the great soliloquies, we are

made

to see

Hamlet

however, Hamlet

as he sees himself.

is

the central

figure,

Throughout the scene,

as he is thrown into

now one background, now another.

and Guildenstern. These are genuine
Danish names. A courtier named Rosencrantz was in England
relief against
1.

Rosencrantz

at the time of the coronation of James I, in 1603, and both

names appear as those of Danish students at the University
Curiously enough the names
of Padua at about the same time.
" Jorgen Rossenkrantz " and " P. Guldenstern " are found on
the same page of a German document (dealing with Danish

dated 1577.
that: over and above that. Is the King
sincere, or is he merely employing the " witchcraft of his wit " ?
So call it. The Folio has " so I call it " probably the
5.
As the line stands, " transformation " .must be
better reading.
read with five syllables.
affairs)
2.

Moreover

The

This hint to the actor is not always taken.

upon Hamlet's appearance as Ophelia
described it? Is it safe, in the light of the King's words, to
take for granted that Hamlet's disordered attire at that time
was assumed for that particular occasion?
6.

Does

it

exterior.

throw any

light

Scene

Does Claudius think

7-10.

mere

Notes and Comment

II.]

something more than the

Observe, as you go on,

is

it

193

fact of the elder Hamlet's death?

the difference between his attitude and that of the others

toward Hamlet's " transformation."
10-18.
Observe what the King is really asking Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern to do, and the skill with which he disguises

rather sinister import.

its

In the

30.

full

bent:

to

limit of our power.

the

figure

drawn from archery. Bent signifies the extent to which a bow

may be drawn; hence, degree of endurance, limit of capacity.
Cf. Ill,

ii,

401.

33-34. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are perhaps the only

characters in Shakespeare whom it is impossible to tell apart,
and the fact is scarcely accidental. Their first two speeches

are almost

an

like

antiphony,

and

way

the

King and Queen thank them emphasizes

which

in

the

their lack of individ-

uality.

Heavens. The plural of heaven is frequently used in

38.
Shakespeare where we should use the singular. Practices here
means simply " proceedings, actions," but the word has frequently in Shakespeare a sinister significance (cf. IV, vii, 68;
V, ii, 328), and there is probably dramatic irony in its employment

here.

[Stage direction]:
Cf. II,

i,

Enter Polonius.

loi, 117.

Still: always, ever

Shakespeare.

42.
in

47.

Policy:

52.

My

the

statecraft,

news.

Why

not Ophelia too?

most common sense of the word

diplomacy.

Observe

self-conceit

throughout

body or mind.

The word

Polonius's

the scene.
55.

Distemper: derangement

of

(originally denoting a disturbance of the balance

of the elements; see note on
to diseases

of

I,

iv,

27)

is

now

or

temper

applied specifically

animals.

The main:
What does

the principal point, the

61.

Upon

first: as

64.

Truly.
To be taken with "was."
Falsely borne in hand: deceived by false pretences.

56.

57.
line

the

Queen add

to

main cause.

the King's

statement in

8?

67.

our

soon as

we

presented the case.

Notes and Comment

194

[ActJI.

Regards of safety and allowance: terms that secure

79.
your safety and are subject to your approval.
80.
Likes: pleases.
81. .More consider'd time: time fitter for consideration.
86.
Expostulate: discuss. Polonius is doing his worst in
the next lines.

Brevity is the soul of wit. Wit (which must not

90.
here be given its modern meaning) is " wisdom." To state a
thing briefly is the very essence of wisdom an ironical remark
in Polonius's mouth!
The phrase is one which, as a proverbial

come to have a quite diiferent meaning from

bears in the text.
92-94. Polonius either means that if you try to define true
madness, you are mad yourself; or (more probably) he has
lost the thread again, and reaches the lucid conclusion that to
be mad is to be mad
More matter, with less art. The Queen does not else95,
where say ironical or cutting things, and probably does not
here.
Polonius's reply shows that he takes her comment as a
compliment, and we may regard it as a gentle hint to come
Polonius's own idea of " art " comes out in lines
to the point.
expression, has

tliat

which

it

97-99-

104.

Merely more

105.

Perpend:
i,

"A

word used only by

clowns" (Schmidt).

Polonius, and the

Cf. note on II,

" art."

consider.

What

fills

Pistol,

out the line?

41.

Beautified: endowed with beauty. The word does not

It occurs, for instance,
seem to have been uncommon.
in
the dedication to Nash's Christ's Tears o'ver Jerusalem (1574)
" To the most beautified lady, the lady Elizabeth Carey."
Shakespeare himself uses it elsewhere {Tivo Gentlemen of
Verona, IV, i, 55), but with a slightly different turn. Polonius
is setting himself up as a literary connoisseur.
Cf. lines 488-89,

no.

527.

113.

These:

these

superscriptions.
*'

Thy

bosom

be

deli'vered.

common formula

Tnvo Gentlemen of Verona,

shall

be

deliver'd

Even

in

III,

the

i,

in

248-50:

milk-white

of thy love."

Notice
the
skill
audience in mind.

114.

the

letters

Cf.

with

The

which
Queen's

Shakespeare
question

keeps

anticipates

Scene

Notes and Comment

II.]

any possible misunderstanding of what

195
is

it

that

being

is

read.

Hamlet

using doubt in more than one sense. In

it probably has its ordinary
meaning; in the third it means "suspect."
120.
Numbers: metres. It has been suggested that "reckon"
here means to " number metrically " i. e., to set down in
numbers.
Whilst this machine is to him: while this body is
124.
his.
Machine was not a prosaic word in Shakespeare's time.
Why has it become so now? Compare its use in Wordsworth's
ii6-ig.

the

is

second, and fourth lines

first,

"

She was a Phantom of delight."

109-24. Hamlet's letter is undoubtedly to be taken as genuine, and may be supposed to have been written before his
letters

were repelled
style

artificial

that

i,
109). The first part is in the
the fashion of the day (which seems

(II,

was

strange to us because it nvas a passing fashion), but at line

120 there is an outburst of real feeling that sweeps away the
affectation, while in the closing words Hamlet reverts to his
own characteristic phraseology. Its mood is complex but Ham-

let

was

not a simple person.

In obedience. Cf. line 107. Polonius .takes no chances

125.
of any possible disregard of his part in the matter.
126.

More above: moreover.

Had he seen it at all,

132-34.

90

Probably: If
136.
desk or note-book.
137.
its

till

he

was

told?

Cf.

I,

iii,

ff.

eyes.

winked

Or given my

had locked

it

up as a

heart a winking: or bade

my

as in a

heart shut

Cf. Acts, xvii, 30: "the times of this ignorance

God

at."

With

idle sight. Either, sight that

did not take it seriously.
Round: roundly, directly; cf. Ill, i,
139.
Out of thy star: out of the sphere
141.
moves; hence, above thy rank. Cf. Tiuelfth
" In my stars I am above thee."
138.

secret,

did not perceive;

or, sight that

148.

Watch:

191; III,
in

iv.

which thy

Night,

II,

v,

5.

star

156;

sleeplessness, insomnia.

Lightness: light-headedness. Most of what Polonius

here
may have been true (although not for the reason
says
149.

Notes and Comment

196
that he

gives),

but he cannot be regarded

witness.
159.

The

center: the earth

which,

[Acxil.
as

a trustworthy

according to the Ptole-

maic astronomy, was the center of the universe. Cf. Troilus

and Cressida, I, iii, 85: "The heavens themselves, the planets,
and this center."
160.
Four hours. Four was used colloquially as an indefinite numeral.
The emendation for is unnecessary.
162.
I'll loose my daughter to him: i. e., I'll give her
free access to him.
Polonius's phrase, however, is not very
happy.

Presently: immediately, on the spot not (as in modern

169.
usage) " before long, shortly." Soon, by and by, and directly

which originally meant "immediately") have suffered

same change.
God-a-mercy: gramercy; i. e., thank you.
172.
A fishmonger. Whether Hamlet is doing more than
174.
using the most incongruous word he can think of, is doubtful.
Fishmonger seems to have had certain coarse associations in
the slang of the day, and Hamlet may possibly have used it
(all of

the

for that reason.

carrion. The Quartos and Folios have

Warburton's emendation, and is probably correct.
Cf. Cymbeline, III, iv, 166: "the greedy touch of commonkissing Titan"; / Henry IV, II, iv, 134: "Didst thou never
{Titan in Shakespeare
see Titan kiss a dish of butter?"
always refers to the sun; cf. note on I, ii, 140). The idea that
the sun could produce life was prevalent in the superstitions
of the time.
Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, II, vii, 29-31: "Your
serpent of Nile is bred now of your mud by the operation of
your sun." "A good kissing carrion" would mean carrion
good to kiss, and would then refer to " a dead dog."
182.

good; god

god kissing
is

185-86. Hamlet is intentionally obscure. And since a man

is trying to talk like a madman will talk as unlike his
usual self as possible (cf. again lines 4-7), we have no right
to draw any conclusions concerning Ophelia from what Hamlet

who

says here.

How say you by that? What do you say

What have you to say about that? not, What

188.
or,

mean by

that

By

z:i:

concerning.

to

that?

do you

Scene

Notes and Comment

II.]

There

197

nothing that Polonius does not know.

Hamlet intentionally misunderstands
Polonius, and takes matter in the sense of " difficulty, quarrel."
"Who" for "whom" is frequent in Shakespeare. Cf. I, ii, 190.
190-gi.

is

Between who?

196.

204.

Honesty:

205.

Should: would

221.

Except

my

characteristic tricks.
134-35, 183; II,

228-30.

decency.
inevitably.

Such repetition

life.

Cf.

I,

ii,

is

one of Hamlet's

132, 135, 224, 237;

I,

v, 93, io6,

194; III, i, 92; III, ii, 191.

Notice the genuine cordiality of Hamlet's greeting.
ii,

258-59. Your ambition makes it one.

Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern have adopted the King's theory, and are carrying
out his instructions (lines 15-16) to gather as much as they
may glean. But it is worth noting who does most of the
questioning!

Outstretched. Various interpretations have been sugwide-famed glorified a reference to the strutting
stage heroes, etc. But Hamlet is intentionally riddling, and
since he says he cannot reason, we need not consider too

270.
gested

as,

curiously his fantastic conceit.

No such matter: not at
274.

all.

In the beaten way of friendship: speaking as friend

277.
to friend.
halfpenny: at a halfpenny.
282.

Were you

not sent for? etc. Hamlet's suspicions have

been aroused (perhaps by Rosencrantz's quibbling answer), and
his tone changes.
But to the purpose. Either, only so that it he to
287.
the purpose; or (if it is taken as sarcasm), except to the pur283.

pose.

The consonancy of our youth: our "being of so

295.
young years brought up " together. Consonancy
agreement.
A better proposer: a better speaker. Hamlet, in this
297.
speech, is appealing directly to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,
as (perhaps) he had appealed by his silence to Ophelia, for

support of friendship in the net of intrigue that he feels

And the touch of self-depreciation in " a
better proposer " need not be taken as assumed.
the

closing in on him.

301.
305.

Of you: on you.
Prevent your discovery:

forestall

your disclosure.

Notes and Comment

igS

[ActII.

Express: perfectly fitted to its function or purpose.

Quintessence: literally, fifth essence. In the old phi321.
losophies it was the subtle substance that remained after the
318.

four elements were eliminated; hence, "the most subtle component part of anything, or that which makes it what it is
(Kittredge).
332-39. Hamlet is giving a brief list of some of the stock
characters in the Elizabethan drama.

The humorous man:

335.

on

(see note

I,

iv,

27),

and

man who

the

full of

is

humors

so is fantastic, affected, whimsical.

Ben Jonson's comedies especially E'very Man in his Humour

and Every Man out of his Humour are full of such characters.
The word is not to be taken in its modern sense.

Tickle o* the sere: easily moved (to laughter). The

337.
sere was " the balance-lever of a gun-lock "
tickle means
" unstable, precarious " (cf. Measure for Measure, I, ii, 176;

78:

"Thy

maid,

Crockett's
"

head stands so
she

if

be

tickle

may

on thy shoulders that a milk-

sigh

it off").
sentence of
serves as a fair paraphrase of Hamlet's meaning:

in

love,

Her laugh was hung on a hair-trigger, to go off

and fancy."
Or the blank verse shall halt for't. That
338.

at

every

jest

is,

If she

blank verse, then let the blank verse go

lame, in order that she may for speak freely she shall.
Inhibition: hindrance, suspension (of performances).
346.
It does not necessarily refer to a formal prohibition.
The " late
innovation" (i. e., the popularity of the children's companies)

can't talk freely in

had

the effect of a prohibition.

On the top of question: at the top of their voices

above the pitch of conversation.
Tyrannically: boisterously. Thus, Bottom in the Mid356.
355.

summer

Night's

Dream

says:

"Yet

ray chief

humor

is

for a

could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in,

to make all split."
And after he has recited his ranting verses
{Midsummer Night's Drearn, II, i, 33-40) he adds: "This is
tyrant:

...

a tyrant's vein."

357-58.
theaters,

Bcrattle the common stages: berate the ordinary

the men's companies played.

where

Many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills:

358.
fashionable gentlemen are afraid of being satirized (i. e.,

many

Scene

Notes and Comment

II.]

199

by the dramatists who write for the children's companies), if

they go to the ordinary theaters.
The quality: the profession in this case, of players.
363.
Actors to-day call themselves " the profession."
364-68. The boys in the children's companies were choristers;
when their voices changed, they would themselves have to become " common players," if they went on acting at all. But
(Hamlet asks) by acting in plays which satirize (and so tend
to drive out) the men's companies, are they not really cutting
off their own future prospects ?
Succession
that which is to

come, futurity.
369.

Much

to do. The phrase as here used is on its way

form, to-do (cf. ado), in the sense of "busi-

to the substantive

ness,

fuss."

Tarre them: set them on to fight. The word is used

370.
frequently of dogs; cf. King John, IV, i, 116-17: "Like a dog
that is compell'd to fight, Snatch at his master that doth tarre
him on."

Argument: the plot of a play; cf. Ill, ii, 342. The

372.
general sense of the passage is: No manager would bid anything
for a play unless it added its quota to this popular controversy
between the poets and the players " the war of the theaters,"
as it is sometimes called.
Went to cuffs
came to blows.
Carry it away: carry things before them.
377.
Hercules and his load. Hercules bearing the world
378.
(a reference to one of the twelve labors) was the sign of the
Globe Theater, so that Shakespeare is here alluding to his own
theater, which, like the rest, is suffering from the controversy.
It is not very strange. The connection lies in the
380.
idea of following the fashion. People do it in the case of the
theaters; they are just as fickle In the case of kings.
'Sblood: an abbreviation of "God's blood." Cf. line
384.
604 and note.
384. In this: that is, in this following of fashion.
Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore: addressed
387.
to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, not to the players.
The appurtenance of: that which belongs to.
388.
Comply with you in this garb: observe the forms
390.
of courtesy with you in this fashion.
Extent is " behavior,
welcome." Hamlet means to welcome the players warmly, but

Notes and Comment

200

[Act II.

he does not wish to humiliate his one-time friends in the

presence of others by any show of coldness.
"
little more than kin "
uncle-father.
393.
I
the
am
mad
only
when
wind's north-north-west; the
396-98.
rest of the time my wits are keen enough.
Another of Hamlet's
riddling remarks this time suggested by the sport of falconry.
Handsaw is probably a corruption of hernsanv (heron), and
the phrase is proverbial in its origin.
406-07. You say right, sir, etc. Hamlet is addressing
Rosencrantz, and intentionally misleading Polonius as to the
subject of the conversation.
Roscius was an actor in Rome. Perhaps
410.
Hamlet means to imply that Polonius's news is rather old too.
And of course his mention of actors maliciously takes the wind
out of Polonius's sails. Roscius was the greatest of Roman

My

When

actors.

Buz, buz! Blackstone says that "Buz used to be an

Oxford when any one began a story that was
generally known before"; cf. modern slang, "chestnuts."
414. Probably a line from some old ballad.
412.

interjection at

The

416.

list

is

of course intended to raise a laugh, but

it

merely a somewhat exaggerated classification of

Shakespeare's own plays were divided
actual Elizabethan plays.
into tragedies, comedies, and histories; As You Like It might
very well be called "pastoral-comical"; Richard III and some
is

after

all

others of the histories, "tragical-historical"; plays like Winter's

" tragical-comical "

and so on.
Scene individable, or poem unlimited: plays that
418-19.
observe the unity of place, or plays that are not bound down

Tale are

by the

unities.

Plautus.
Seneca wrote tragedies,
Seneca
419-20.
Plautus, comedies, and both powerfully influenced the Eliza.

bethan drama.
420-21. For the law of writ and the liberty: for following the text and for speaking extempore.
422. Jephthah. For the story of Jephthah's daughter, see
Judges, xi.
426-27. See the Variorum for the first stanza of the ballad
from which these lines are taken. Hamlet of course means that
Polonius shall tell the King of his harping on Ophelia,

Scene

Notes and Comment

II.]

201

432-33. Follows. Hamlet means " follows logically," but

wilfully takes Polonius's use of the word to mean " follow in
the song."

The

438.

Quarto has

first row of the pious chanson.

" the first verse of the godly ballet,"

The

First

which

suffi-

ciently explains the phrase of the text.

439.
talk

my

word,
V,

My

i.

e.,

39-40:

i,

abridgment:

probably

that

which abridges, or

cuts

short,

with a play on the other meaning of the

an entertainment. Cf. Midsummer Night's Dream,

"What abridgement have you for this evening?

What masque?
440

What music?"
Observe the charming courtesy of Hamlet's "extent

ff.

to the players."

My young lady and mistress, etc. Women's parts

444-47.
were always taken by boys in Shakespeare's time, and Hamlet
is addressing one of the younger actors, who has grown since
he saw him last. A chopine was a very high-heeled shoe.
Cracked within the ring. If the crack in a coin
448.
extended within the ring that surrounded the sovereign's head,
current.
There is probably a play on
the word ring, with reference to the boy's voice, which must
soon change.
Cf. note on lines 364-68.
Like French falconers. The French falconers were
450.
regarded as the best in the world, and the phrase " fly at any
thing we see" is probably used in commendation. The suggestion that it is used contemptuously is not in harmony with
Hamlet's characterization of the speech they do " fly at " as
one he " chiefly loved."
taste of your quality: a sample of your profes451.
the coin ceased to be

sional skill.

See line 363.

Passionate means "full

of feel-

ing."

454.

Me.

See note on

II,

i,

7.

Caviare to the general: not palatable to the multiThe phrase has become proverbial. Relish for caviare
(a Russian delicacy, made of sturgeon's roe) is an acquired

457.
tude.
taste.

459.
461.
Ill,

ii,

462.

Cried in the top of mine: were superior

Modesty: freedom from exaggeration

21; V,
Sallet.

i,

230.

here

Our word salad

used,

to mine.

or excess.

probably,

Cf.

with

Notes and Comment

202

[ActII.

Hamlet's approbation of the absence

be taken as expressing Shakespeare's own
for Shakespeare's plays stand out among those of

reference to ribald jokes.

of salaciousness

judgment,
his

day for

may

their comparative

freedom from

this sort of

pander-

ing to the taste of " the million," The whole speech, indeed,
is interesting as probably an expression of Shakespeare's own
views.
466.

More handsome than

fine.

Cf.

"rich,

not

gaudy"

71), for the same idea.

-ffineas' tale to Dido: the story of the fall of Troy,
468.

(I,

iii,

which Virgil gives

about of

it

= at

in the second

that part of

book of the JEneid.

There-

it.

472 ff. The speech here given is in many ways puzzling.

Hamlet, speaking in such a way that we seem to read Shakespeare's own judgment between the lines, praises it highly;
yet to us it seems turgid, if not bombastic.
One thing at least
is clear: Hamlet is not speaking ironically when he commends
the speech, and the assumption that in it Shakespeare is travestying the style of some rival playwright is untenable. Were
that his purpose, he would be distracting attention from his
own play to something wholly unrelated to it, at one of its
most crucial moments. Instead of that the speech has the most
The first
direct bearing upon the action of Hamlet itself.
actor is profoundly moved by his lines, and it is this emotion
of his that stirs Hamlet to his depths, and brings him back
Shakespeare himself, then,
to the delayed execution of his task.
pretty certainly thought the speech " more handsome than fine,"
and if one or two things are remembered, his opinion may not
seem so strange. For one thing, the speech is, when well
delivered, even to us a vigorous and stirring piece of declamation.
Moreover, as both Coleridge and Schlegel have pointed
out, the style of Hamlet itself is necessarily more elevated than
If this passage (which is epic rather
that of ordinary speech.
than dramatic) is to stand out against a background already
heightened, its own style must be heightened still more. And
(and probably Shakespeare
finally, an Elizabethan audience
himself) had a certain relish for what often seems to us bompassage
bastic.
It is probable that Shakespeare wrote this
specifically for its place In Hamlet, and it is not Impossible
that he meant to challenge comparison with a similar passage

Scene
in

Notes and Comment

II.]

203

an older play called Dido, Queen of Carthage, probably by

See the Variorum Hamlet, Vol. I, p. 185,

Marlowe an^ Nash.

for the lines in question.

Pyrrhus. A son of Achilles.

He was one of the
472.
Greeks who was concealed in the wooden horse; he slew Priam,
king of Troy, and married Hector's wife, Andromache.
The Hyrcanian beast: the tiger. Cf. "the Hyrcan
472.
The Hyrcanian forest, south
tiger" {Macbeth, III, iv, loi).
of the Caspian Sea, was supposed to be inhabited by peculiarly
fierce tigers.

Gules. An heraldic term (cf. " heraldry more dismal") for "red." Cf. Timon of Athens, IV, iii, 59: "with
man's blood paint the ground, gules, gules.'' Trick'd (here=:
" adorned ") is also a term of heraldry.
Tyrannous: savage. See note on line 356.
482.
Ilium: the citadel of Troy. Senseless is "without
496.
feeling, insentient."
That Is, the very citadel itself, insentient
though it is, seems to feel the blow that fells its ruler, and like
him crashes to the ground.
painted tyrant: a tyrant in a painting. Cf. IV,
502.
vii, 109-10; Macbeth, V, viii, 25-27; and Coleridge, Rime of
the Ancient Mariner: " Day after day
We stuck, nor
breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted
479.

ocean."

Like a neutral
503.
indifferent to his purpose

to his will and matter: like one

and to the business in hand.
Rack: flying clouds in the upper air. Hudson aptly
506.
quotes Fletcher: "sailing rack that gallops upon the wings
of angry winds"; Keats: "Cloudy rack slow journeying in
the west"; Longfellow: "driving rack of the rain-cloud."
Cf.
Tempest, IV, i, 156; Antony and Cleopatra, IV, xiv, 10.

Region: sky. " Originally a division of the sky marked

509.
out by the Roman augurs" (Clarendon Press). Cf. line 607,
and Sonnet XXXIII, 12: "the region cloud."
Remorse: pity the most frequent meaning in Shake513.
speare.
Cf. " the tears of soft remorse " {King John, IV, HI,
and
add Merchant of Venice, IV, I, 20; King John, II, i,
50),

478.

518-19.

down

Bowl

^0 hell.

the broken

hub

of Fortune's

wheel from heaven

Notes and Comment

204
522.
dance.

jig.

[ActII.

Here probably a comic song, accompanied by a

Mobled: muffled, with wrapped-up head. Hamlet's

525.
query seems to indicate that the word was a rare one. Polonius,
who had been snubbed a moment before, hastens to rehabilitate
himself as a critic.
Bisson rheum: blinding tears.
529.

Mincing.
word that did not have in Shakespeare's
537.
time the somewhat trivial associations it now has.
Passion: sorrow;
"made."

541.
of

550.

You were

cf. line

better have:

453.

it

"Passion"
were

better

is

the object

you should

have.

Much better. Polonius has very properly meant by

554.
"desert" the real merits of the players. But Hamlet, as usual,
twists his words into another meaning.
The Murder of Gonzago. Shakespeare is leading up,
563.
as we shall see, to the climax of the play.
A speech of some dozen or sixteen lines. The
566-67.
question whether this passage can be identified or not will be
taken up in connection with the play itself, in Act HI.
570-71. Look you mock him not. Observe the dignity
and consideration of Hamlet's caution. For his own ends he
has taken liberties with Polonius, but that must not lead others
to do so too.
578. Passion: emotion of any kind. Here used In a more
general sense than in line 541 above.
His ov/n conceit: his conception of the character he
579.
is playing.
Her working: his soul's working. Soul is frequently
580.
feminine in Shakespeare; cf. IH, ii, 68.
582-83. His whole function suiting, etc.: all his faculties
conspiring to give fit expression to the conception in his mind.
Notice how Shakespeare has led up to all this by means of
Polonius's remark in lines 542-43.
Compare the broken lines in this soliloquy (584, 593,
584.

with those in II, i (see note on II, i, 41). Are

Hamlet's pauses to be filled out by the actor in the same way

603, 610, 616)

as Polonius's?

Notes and Comment

Scene IL]

205

Motive: moving cause. Notice that cue

587.
stage before us.
the
of
idea
ear: ear of the public.
General
589.
Free: here, free from guilt.
Confound and amaze are here
words, and should be looked up.

still

keeps the

590.

exceedingly

591.

strong

Peak: "to move about dejectedly or silently; to mope;

make a mean figure; to sneak'" (Oxford Dictionary quot-

594.
'to

call up also
ing Dr. Johnson). Rascal is probably intended to
Henry Vh
(cf.
/
the sense of "a lean and worthless deer"
"high-mettled,"
compare
With muddy-mettled
IV, ii, 45-52).
etc.

John-a-dreams: a fellow who goes mooning

595.

Unpregnant

of

= unapt

Property: not

597.

about.

for, indifferent to.

in

quite

its

"his crown, his wife, everything, in

modern sense, but rather

short, which he might be

said to be possessed of, except his life" (Furness).

Defeat: undoing, destruction.

598.

words

in

Shakespeare,

in

sense

Used
nearer

here, like so

than

ours

many
to

its

etymological meaning.
'Swounds: an abbreviation of "God's wounds used
604.
Cf. 'shlood, II, ii, 384also in the form Zounds.
the seat of courage;
605. The gall was supposed to be
they would seem
"when
iii,
237:
cf. Troilus and Cressida, I,
dove) was be(or
pigeon
The
galls."
they have
soldiers,

lieved to have no gall

this

was held

I,

iii,

to account for its proverbial meekness.

kites: the kites of the air. See notes

The region

607.

133;

II,

and

(the bitter secretion of the liver),

ii,

509.

on

T
Kindless: unnatural. See note on 1, 11, 65.
This is most brave: this is a fine thing.
relieve the oppression
614. Unpack my heart with words:
Cf. Macbeth, V, iii, 44-45: "Cleanse
of my heart by words.
Which weighs upon the
stuif'd bosom of that perilous stuff

609.
611.

the

heart."

617.

About,

my

brain!

Right about face,

his heart,

Hamlet begins

my

brain!

to think.

that he has unpacked

With the
pare his "Hold, hold, my heart" in I, v, 93"
"
of that.
O, fie
upon't! " of this line, compare the
!

620.

Presently.

See note on line 170.

Now
ComFie

Notes and Comment

2o6

[Act

III.

Such spirits: such conditions of mind as the melan631.

choly to which Hamlet refers.
The play's the thing. Just what is it that Hamlet
633.
means to test by the play? What has he actually done during
the two months since the Ghost's injunction? What has he
accomplished by his assumption of madness? Go back over
this scene and try to summarize the changes of his mood.
How
do matters now stand between him and the King?

Act hi.
At
to

the

act.

end of Act

The

II

Scene

Hamlet had

I.

at last

made up

his

mind

present scene gives us the state of things immedi-

But the King is on

and even while Hamlet is preparing to

ately before his plan goes into execution.

the point of action too,

put him to the test, the King is actually carrying out his plan,
suggested by Polonius, to form his own conclusions about Hamlet.
And when Hamlet appears, it is again not of his plan, or
even of revenge, that he is thinking, but of death, as after all, perhaps, the best way out. The significance of the terrible interview
with Ophelia may be best considered in the notes. At the close
of the interview, the King is convinced that Hamlet is not
really mad, but is brooding over something that bodes danger,
and without hesitation he determines to act, by sending Hamlet
Polonius characteristically suggests another
off to England.
" assay of bias," and at the end of the scene the situation stands

Hamlet is about to test the King's guilt by means of the

play; the Queen is prepared to probe still further Hamlet's
purpose, by an interview after the play; and the King is ready,
if the interview warrants it, to take instant and decisive action.
The opposing forces are thus arrayed against each other, and
at the end of the scene the turning point of the play is at

thus:

hand.
1.

Drift of circumstance: roundabout method.

of question" (II,

i,

Cf. "drift

10).

2.
Puts on: clothes himself in. The phrase does not here
carry any implication of pretence.
Guildenstern is putting it pretty mildly!
7.
13-14. Rosencrantz is saving his face by misrepresenting the

Scene

Notes and Comment

I.]

As a matter of fact, Hamlet has done the

talk, conversation.
Question
Assay him to: try (to bring) him to. Notice

conversation.

manding.
14-15.

207
de-

the

with which Shakespeare is leading up again to the play.

Turn back to II, ii, 15, and see how he had begun the preparaThat Shakespeare was the most skillful
tion for it even then.
of playwrights, as well as a supremely great dramatist, should
never be forgotten.
26.
Give him a further edge: whet him on.
Affront: confront, meet face to face. The regular
31.
meaning of the word in Shakespeare. Cf. Winter's Tale, V, i,
" Unless another
affront his eye."
73"75
Gracious.
formal
epithet
of courtesy, used in adA
43.
dressing persons of high rank.
46-49. It need not be supposed that Polonius is expressing
any qualms of conscience over the trick he is playing, for he
obviously has none. He is merely improving the opportunity
to indulge in a pious reflection.
5I-53' The harlot's painted cheek is not more ugly, compared with the paint that disguises it, than is my deed, compared with the words with which I mask it. Why does Shakespeare make Claudius disclose his guilt just at this point?
skill

What light does

man himself?

the disclosure

throw upon the character of the

56 ff. In the First Quarto the passage corresponding to lines

56-169 (including the soliloquy and the interview with Ophelia)
comes between lines 168 and 169 of what is now the second
scene of Act II. That is to say, in the earlier form of the play
the substance of the present scene was introduced before the
conversation (then much shorter), with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the interview with the players, and Hamlet's plan to

use the

Murder

shifting the

of Gonzago as a test of the King's guilt.

scene from its earlier to its present position

By
the

dramatic effect of the sharp confronting of the King's and

Hamlet's opposing plans, at the very moment of the climax,
is greatly enhanced.
Is this the first time that Hamlet has dallied with the
56.
idea of suicide?

To

Cf.

I,

ii,

131-37.

take arms against a sea of troubles: to take up

arms against troubles that sweep upon us like a sea. This is
59.

Notes and Comment

2o8

[Act

III.

sometimes criticised as a mixed metaphor. But there is all the

in the world between the mixing of incongruous
images that is due to a feeble imagination, and the swift passage
of a powerful imagination (as in this case) from one idea to
another related one. " Sea " is often used in the sense of host,
difference

cf. "a sea of care" {Rape of

Lucrece, iioo)
"this great sea of joys" {Pericles^ V, i, 194).
It is barely possible that Shakespeare may have had in mind a
very old Celtic custom of actually taking arms against the
sea; but it is not necessary to assume that to justify the

multitude, any great quantity;

;

metaphor.

There's the rub. Another figure from the game of

(cf. note on II, i, 65).
A rub was an obstacle which
diverted the bowl from its course. Cf. Richard II, III, iv, 3-5:
65.

bowls

Madam,
world

is

we'll
full

play

of rubs.

bias"; Coriolanus,

way

plain

III,

bowls.

And
i,

'Twill

that

my

60: "this

make me think the

fortune runs against the
rub laid ... I' the

of his merit."

This mortal

67.

at

of this mortal life.

coil: this turmoil of mortality, the pother

Cf " the wedding being there to-morrow,
.

a great coil to-night " {Much Ado,

" Yonder's old coil at home" {ibid., V, ii, 98).

there

is

III,

iii,

100)

Quietus: the final settlement of an account. From the

75.
law-phrase: quietus est, it (the account) is discharged. Cf.
Sonnet CXXVI, 11-12: " Her audit
answer'd must be,
And her quietus is to render thee."
bare bodkin: probably, a mere (not an unsheathed)
76.
bodkin. Bodkin was a name for a small dagger.
Grunt: groan. An entirely dignified word in Shake77.
speare's time.
Cf. Fabyan's Chronicles: "Many knyghts
lay grunting upon the earth." With Hamlet's words cf. Julius
Casar, IV, i, 21-22: "He shall but bear them as the ass bears
gold, To groan and sweat under the business."
79-80. Avoid the common misquotation: "That bourn from
which no traveler returns." Bourn 1= boundary. Hamlet is
stating a general truth
he is not thinking of the entirely exceptional case of the Ghost and even the Ghost has not returned to stay.
.

Conscience: consciousness, i. e., knowledge that this is

This sense of the word is very common in Shakespeare's

83.
so.

Notes and Comment

Scene!.]
time

and

g.,

in

the only one that

speare
(e.

examples

(see the
is

uses

the

Richard

the

fits

Oxford

I,

in

the

The

under

I,

i),

fact that Shake-

more familiar sense

especially

124-50

iv,

makes a man

Dictio?iary,

the context.

word elsewhere

III,

209

line 138: "it [con-

coward ") is no argument for that

meaning here. Its significance must in each case be determined by its context, and the use of " thus " connects it directly
with what goes before.
science]

the pale cast

84-85. The native hue of resolution
of thought. The reference is to the ruddy color associated
with the sanguine temperament as contrasted with the pallor
(cast =:^ tinge) of melancholy (cf. Midsummer Night's Dream,
I, i, 14-15: "melancholy
the pale companion"). Thought
in Shakespeare frequently means anxious or melancholy thought.
Pitch: the summit of a falcon's flight. The Folios have
86.
pith, with which cf. I, iv, 22.
88.
Soft you now: hush, be quiet.
Addressed to him.

self.

89.

Nymph.

Frequently used as a conventional term for a

Where is the emphasis in the

young and beautiful woman.

next line?

For this many a day. Observe the gentle reproach

91.
implied in Ophelia's words.
these. Their refers to the " words of
99-100. Their
these, to " the things."
so sweet breath composed "
.

103.
ful."

109.

Honest. The word means either " chaste " or " truthHamlet is possibly playing on both meanings.
Commerce. Ophelia is using a synonym for Hamlet's

" discourse."

115.

Now

the time gives

gotten, in reading

what

it

proof.

It

should not be for-

what Hamlet has learned

faith in all women, Ophelia

follows, that

about his mother has shaken his

included.

Inoculate here means "graft"; our old stock

119-20.
(which carries out the figure) is our old evil nature; it refers
back to our old stock. The sense is: You can't so graft a new
nature upon the old evil one that some smack of the old will
not be

left.

Hamlet's self-accusation must be taken with some

allowance for the highly-wrought frame of mind in which he
123-31.

Notes and Comment

210
speaks.

It

than his

own

Is

rather the

latent

possibilities

[Act
of

human

ill.

nature

actual commissions that he has in mind.

It is frequently said that at this point Hamlet catches

133.
sight of Polonius behind the arras, and that the terrible bitteris due to his knowledge that
Ophelia has lied in her answer, and to his intention to speak,
now, for the ears of Polonius and the King. And on the stage
Polonius is frequently made to peep around the curtain at this
moment. But if Shakespeare had meant this, it is unlike him
not to have made it clear. It is very possible even probable

ness of the speeches that follow

that

Hamlet suspects

the

presence

of

Polonius,

and that

is

explain his attitude.

lord. Much has been made often
At home,
134.
rather stupidly of Ophelia's lie. There are few better comments than Professor Bradley's: "I will not discuss these
casuistical problems; but, if ever an angry lunatic [and Ophelia
believes Hamlet to be mad] asks me a question which I cannot
answer truly without great danger to him and to one of my
relations, I hope that grace may be given me to imitate Ophelia.
Seriously, at such a terrible moment was it weak, was it not
rather heroic, in a simple girl not to lose her presence of mind
and not to flinch, but to go through her task for Hamlet's sake
and her father's?" {Shakespearean Tragedy, p. 163).
You. Hamlet here passes from Ophelia (whom, since
144.
line 120, he has been addressing as "thou") to all women, and
the bitterness of his next speech is not directed against Ophelia
alone.
See note on line 115.
sufficient to

151.

You

my

amble, and you

lisp:

you walk and talk

affect-

edly.

151.

Nick-name God's creatures:

give affected names to

whatever God has made.

Make your wantonness your ignorance: excuse your

152.
wantonness by pretending ignorance. Wantonness, in Elizabethan English, does not necessarily mean unchastity; it may
simply mean affectation. Either sense fits the context here, and
it is probable that Hamlet means both
i.
e., immodesty veiled
under the affected phraseology of the day.

153.

ported
heard.

It

hath made

even

if

me mad.

Hamlet

expects

be

to

he does not actually realize that he

is

re-

over-

Scene IL]

Notes and Comment

211

hint let drop for the King's ear.

order of the two groups of three words does not
correspond, and the First Quarto reverses the order of " solBut Shakespeare elsewhere deals freely
dier's " and " scholar's."
with similar constructions. Cf. Merchafit of Venice, III, i, 64-

65

156.

All but one.

159.

The

Rape of Lucrece, 902.

The hope and the flower of this
The mold. of form: the model
161.
;

160.

fair kingdom.
of courtly behavior.

Blown youth:

youth in its full flower.

What I have seen: that is, Hamlet as he was.
169.
171-72. The King is shrewder than the rest, and his diagnosis is perfectly sound.
Disclose: the breaking of the shell in hatching. Cf.
174.
167.

V,

310.

i,

ff.
Observe the promptness with which the King acts.
There is no need to suppose that, at this time, his plan included
more than he here states.
182.
Puts. Brains is treated as a singular.
Find him: detect his secret.
193.

175

Act

The
in

III.

Scene

II.

that

rising action of the tragedy

which the hero

is

part of

the aggressive force

point in this scene and the next.

By

its

reaches

movement
its

highest

the splendidly dramatic

device of the play, Hamlet has forced the King to virtual

confession; in the next scene he has him for a moment absoHe refuses the opportunity and from this
lutely in his power.
point on the King becomes the aggressor, and Hamlet is put
more and more on the defensive. The turning point or climax
or, better, in Scenes II
of the play, therefore, comes in Scene II

What

follows constitutes the so-called

is forced gradually to the wall.
hero
the
falling action, in which
Macbeth? Of Julius Casar?
of
climax
is
the
scene
In what

and

III taken together.

Of Romeo and

Juliet?

speech. The " dozen or sixteen lines " referred to

Hamlet's advice to the players embodies Shakein II, ii, 566.
speare's own mature opinions about the actor's art.
6.
Use all: do everything.
I.

The

Notes and Comment

212

[Act

III.

12.
The groundlings: the people who stood, literally on the
ground, in the pit of the Elizabethan theater. The admission
to the pit was a penny, and no seats were provided.
Termagant. An imaginary deity of the Saracens, rep15.
resented, in the mediseval romances and miracle-plays, as a
boisterous and overbearing figure. The word is now used as a

synonym

for virago.

out-herods Herod:

It

16.

The

of all.

it

out-rants the

veriest ranter

most blustering and bombastic

the miracle-plays, was still familiar to Shake-

role of Herod, as the

personage in

speare's audience.

Not

18.

neither.

The heaping up

of negatives

perfectly good English in Shakespeare's time.

Cf.

nor

was
.

not, in line 4.

Modesty: moderation;

21.
let's

advice

is

From:

22.

cf. II,

ii,

461.

The

gist of

Ham-

the avoidance of extremes.

contrary

to.

Come

tardy off: feebly done.

Censure. See note on I, iii, 69.
30.
In your allowance: as you must acknowledge.
30.
Not to speak it profanely. " It " refers to what fol34.
lows, and " profanely " has reference to the idea that somebody
else than God had made such players.
28.

was

a practice of Elizabethan clowns to extemporize

inopportune moments of the play.
Pregnant: "because untold thrift is born from a cun66.
ning use of the knee" (Furness).
"Candied tongue" in the
preceding line stands, of course, for the flatterer himself.
68.
dear soul. See note on I, ii, 182.
Blood and judgment: impulse and reason. For hlood
74.
as here used see note on I, iii, 6.
68-79. This very noble characterization of Horatio should
be contrasted with Hamlet's analysis of less balanced natures
in I, iv, 13-38.
Observe throughout the play the manner in
which Horatio's character is made to serve as a foil for Hamlet's.
82.
Which I have told thee. Is this occurrence in the
play?
The very comment of thy soul: with the concen84.
trated attention of all your faculties.
86.
In one speech. The reference is probably to the

42

jests,

ff.

It

often

My

at

Notes and Comment

Scene IL]

"dozen or
however,

from

torted

" goblin

damned

"

The

ghost.
there)

is

still

alternative of
in

iv,

I,

Hamlet's mind.

40-42
Cf.

(qf.

also

627-32.

ii,

In censure of his seeming:

92.

from

It may,
lines" (m = in connection with).
mean some incriminating exclamation ex-

the King, as in line 280.

A damned

87.

II,

sixteen

possibly

213

in reaching a conclusion

his appearance.

"
" I must
i. e.,
Idle: probably here in the sense of " mad
resume my 'antic disposition'" (Herford). Or it may simply
mean: "I must seem to have nothing to do with the play."
The chameleon's dish: air. The reference is to a pop98.

95.

ular belief of the time. Cf. Tivo Gentlemen of Verona,

179: "though the chameleon Love can feed on the air."

of

I make nothing
nothing to me.

have nothing with:

loi.

102.

Are not mine: mean

109.

I'

Cassar's

the Capitol.

assassination.

follows

i,

of.

widespread error as
Shakespeare

II,

to

the

it

in

place
Julius

Ccesar.

112.
132.

on

II,

Stay upon your patience: await your permission.

Your only jig-maker: only your jig-maker. See note
ii,

523.

138.

145.

The hobby-horse

The reference is to the richest and

suit of sables.
If
to the wearing of mourning.
opposed
garb,
as
most costly
his father has been dead so long, Hamlet will put off mourning.
is

forgot.

The

hobby-horse

was

one of the figures in the May-games and morris-dances, which

were rapidly going out of use, largely as a result of Puritan
intervention. The line (probably from some popular song) is
quoted again in Love's Labour's Lost, III, i, 30.

[The dumb-show]. A device

common in

of the older stage, rather

Shakespeare's day. Its use
here is puzzling. Its purpose seems to be to give to the audience
the plot of the play, so that their attention may be freed to
observe the King, while the play proper goes on. But the King
must be supposed to see the dumb-show too, so that the trap
On the modern stage
is sprung before the play itself begins.
the King is often represented as talking aside to the Queen,

than one which was

while the dumb-show is going on, and so failing to notice it.

But this is quite without warrant. It seems better to suppose

Notes and Comment

214

[Act in.

King does see it, and that he has strength of will enough
carry him through it without flinching. It is the repetition
Cf. the fainting of Ladyof it that is more than he can stand.
that the

to

Macbeth, when the story of the murder

Miching mallecho: lurking

147.
sneak.

The posy

162.

hence

ring,

= skulk,

Mic//

of a ring: the inscription engraved in a

necessarily brief.

"a hoop

147-50:

retold.

is

mischief.

Cf.

Merchant

of gold, a petty ring

of

Venice, V,

i,

whose posy was

Love me, and leave me not.'

brief. Where is the emphasis?
'Tis
163.
165 F. The "play within the play" is set off from the body
of the drama by the fact that it is in rimed couplets just as
.

'

markedly epic
The somewhat labored and occasionally even stilted
quality.
style, too, of the Murder of Gonzago is different from that of
the rest of the play, as if Shakespeare had intentionally used
The attempt
this means to throw the passage into strong relief.
to determine which are the " dozen or sixteen lines " that
Hamlet was to insert is probably futile, and the long discussion
of the various attempts to identify them (the mere summary
of which occupies over four pages of fine print in the Variorum)
the first player's speech in II,

is

really,

ii,

is

set off

by

its

as Dr. Furness remarks, " a tribute to Shakespeare's

art."
One may be certain that " Shakespeare did

consummate

not first write the Murder of Gonzago, and then insert in it

He meant to
certain lines, as though written by Hamlet."
produce the illusion that Hamlet did write and insert such lines
and he succeeded in producing it. And it is a harmless

amusement to attempt to pick the lines out.

Phoebus' cart: Apollo's chariot i.
165.
Neptune's salt wash: the sea.
166.
166.
Tellus' orbed ground: the earth.

goddess

who

e.,

the sun.

Tellus

was

the

personified the earth.

you:

175.

I distrust

177.

Holds quantity:

am solicitous about you.

keeps proportion. "Fear and love"

are taken together as the subject.

178.

In neither aught, or in extremity.

That

is,

there

(and hence no love), or both are extreme. The

emendation "in either naught" has been suggested, but the
is

either no fear

general sense

is

clear.

Scene

215

My

operant powers their functions leave to do:

powers cease to perform their functions.
O, confound the rest! Let the rest be as if struck
Confound is not to be given here its trivial modern

184.

my

Notes and Comment

II.]

active

187.

dumb.
sense.

Respects of

193.

(in line 192)

Instances

but the slave to memory: we keep our

we remember it.
false construction, probably due to " fruit,"

Purpose

198.

thrift: considerations of profit.

= motives.
is

purpose only so long as

201.

Fall.

which has suggested the plural. Somewhat similarly destroy,

in line 207, is attracted to the number of enactures.
Necessary: inevitable.
What to ourselves is
202-03.
debt refers to our resolves, the keeping of which we owe
ourselves.

Enactures: the carrying out

207.
or joy.

Seasons him:

219.

229.
range.

do

him

ripens

An

anchor's cheer:

The

sense

is:

"May

an

into action of either grief

as,

turns

him

anchorite's

into.

fare.

know no luxury

Scope

or liberty

if

so."

Each opposite, that blanks the face of joy. Op230.

posite
adversary, here used abstractly of " all that is at
enmity with joy." Blanks
blanches, makes pale.
Tropically: figuratively. The First Quarto has trap247.

ically

doubtless

for the pun.

As good

as a chorus. Shakespeare's audience was

with many plays especially those which were Influenced by Seneca
in which the chorus Interpreted the action.
Among Shakespeare's own, see Romeo and Juliet, Henry V,
255.

familiar

Winter's Tale.
263.

Pox: an

Imprecation, equivalent to "the pox take you!

"

264-65. The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.

Hamlet Is parodying two lines of a well-known old play. The
True Tragedie of Richard the Third:

The screeking raven sits croaking for revenge,

Whole herds of beasts comes bellowing for revenge."
267. The time conspiring, and no spectator but the time.
Hecate's ban. Hecate, In the Middle Ages, was
269.
"

garded as the goddess of witchcraft

(cf.

Macbeth).

re-

In classical

Notes and Comment

2i6

[ActIII.

mythology the same goddess was Luna in Heaven, Diana on

earth, and Hecate (or Proserpine) in hell.
273-74. The story is extant, etc. Shakespeare is merely
heightening the impression of verisimilitude, and search for the
story is probably as useless as that for the " dozen or sixteen
lines."

See the idea of this line elaborated in

282.
II,

As You Like

It,

33-40.

i,

The rest of the

this playwriting of mine.
exaggerated description of an actor's costume.
There are many contemporary allusions to the wearing of
feathers on the stage Provincial roses were probably rosettes
of ribbon, shaped like the roses either of Provins or Provence;
286.
speech

This:

is

an

razed shoes is a reference to the fashion of wearing shoes

extravagantly slashed in patterns. All the allusions are to wellknown vogues of the day, and would be perfectly intelligible
To turn Turk was to change completely;
to the audience.
cf. Much Ado, III, iv, 57: "An you be not turned Turk, there's
fellowship in a cry of players
no more sailing, by the star."
was a share in a theatrical company cry being humorously
transferred from a pack of hounds. Throughout this part of
the scene Hamlet's pent-up feelings are finding relief (as they
did after the appearance of the Ghost in I, v) in almost

hysterical

abandon.

O Damon

dear. Damon and Pythias (look up their

were proverbial for their friendship. Hamlet is either
quoting from some lost ballad, or making up the lines as he

292.
story)
goes.

Pajock: a word found only here. Probably a dialect

295.
form for " peacock " possibly another spelling of patchock, a
clown or ragamuffin. The riming word which Hamlet does not
;

use

is

obvious.

Distempered. See note on II, ii, 55.

Hamlet is playing on the two senses
Purgation.
purging the body, and clearing from the imputation of guilt.
339. Admiration: wonder. Cf. I, ii, 192.
These pickers and stealers: my hands. The church
349.
catechism has the phrase: "to keep my hands from picking and
312.

318.

stealing."

354.

Cf. //

Sir,

Henry

VI,

I,

iii,

lack advancement.

193:

"by

Hamlet

these ten bones."

is

giving Rosen-

Scene

Notes and Comment

III.]

217

crantz the answer he expects, rather than the real one. Cf. II,
ii, 258-59.
358-59. " While the grass grows the horse starves " is the

proverb in

full.

To
360.
with you.
361-62.

withdraw with you:

The

figure

an animal was

of

probably, to speak in private

To

from hunting.

is

windward

to get to the

of

recover the wind

it, so as to drive

into the snare.

it

363-64. Since Hamlet did not understand this, we are perhaps absolved from the attempt. Guildenstern seems to mean
that his love is unmannerly because his sense of duty is strong
but his expression is anything but lucid.

386.

'Sblood.

See

note

on

II,

ii,

384.

Fret.
The fret, in certain musical instruments, is the
388.
device to regulate the fingering. Hamlet is playing on the two
senses of the word.
392.

Presently.

See note on

II,

ii,

170,

and

cf. lines 53,

400,

402.

401.

To

the top of

the utmost degree.

my

bent: as far as

See note on

II,

ii,

30.

could wish, to

Fool

me := treat me

like a fool.

Nero: the Roman emperor, who murdered his mother.

King John, V, ii, 152-53: "You bloody Neroes, ripping up
the womb Of your dear mother England."
Give them seals: confirm by action.
417.
412.

Cf.

Act

III.

Scene

III.

In* this scene Hamlet has reached the point at which he has
supposedly been aiming. He has the evidence which he has
sought of the King's guilt; he has the King himself completely
He deliberately lets the opportunity slip, and
in his power.
spares the King. But the King although Hamlet does not
know it has already assumed the offensive, and in this scene
(the only one in which the two protagonists are alone together)
the control of the situation passes from Hamlet's hands into
those of his opponent.

Notes and Comment

2i8
I.

5.

of our estate: the conditions on which our

rests.

The

Observe

not an expression of personal aversion,

don't like the turn things have taken.

The terms

kingship
II.

him not:

like

but rather:

[Act HI.

single

in these

and peculiar

life:

the

private

individual.

two speeches that Rosencrantz and Guilden-

stern are antiphonal

again.

The cease

of majesty: the death of the King. Dies

is used as if Rosencrantz had said "majesty ceasing."
16.
gulf: a whirlpool. Cf. Henry V, II, iv, 10: "as
waters to the sucking of a gulf."
Arm you: provide yourselves, get ready. Has the King
24.
paid much attention to the courtiers' fine phrases?
This fear: this object of fear.
25.
Tax him home: rate him roundly.
29.
And wisely was it said. Who said it? See III, i,
30.
188 ff., and cf. note on II, i, 3.
Of vantage: from a point of vantage.
33.
The primal eldest curse: the curse of Cain.
37.
To wash it white as snow. Probably a reminiscence
46.
of Psalm li, 7: "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
Cf. also Macbeth, V, i, 31 if., and II, ii, 60-61.
Cf. the Lord's Prayer: "Lead us not into temptation,
49-50.
but deliver us from evil." Forestalled =: prevented.
The offence: the benefits accruing from the offence. In
56.
15.

what
61.

senses

the

is

Lies:

is

word used

sustainable

in lines 36, 47,

i.

e.,

is

58?

not shoved by, bought out,

or shuffled.
64.

What

68.

Limed:

What remains?
rests?
caught, as a bird in bird-lime.

Engaged =:

entangled, hampered.
Assay: probably, trial; possibly, onset.
69.
36-72. This soliloquy of the King's is a marvelous piece
of psychological analysis, and its truth to certain inexorable facts

makes

it well worth careful study.

on the character of the King?

What

light does

it

throw

Are the three noiv's in these lines quite the same?

two so's?
That would be scann'd: that demands scrutiny. And
75.
for Hamlet, that means the end of action.
73-75.
the

Are

Notes and Comment

Scene IV.]
'What

78.

out the line?

Compare

80.

these lines with I, v, 76-79.

Full of bread. Look up Ezekiel, xvi, 49,

81.

With

80-82.

off
i,

fills

219

all his

crimes broad blown.

even in the blossoms of

my

sin."

Bloivn

Cf.
is

Flush =: lusty, full of vigor.

In our circumstance and course of thought:

167.

83.

"cut

v, 76:

I,

used as in
as

III,

we

(opposed to hea'ven) think. Circumstance seems to suggest the

ranging abroad, course, the more direct movement, of thought.
Purging. See note on III, ii, 318.
85.
This physic: this delay in execution. Make clear to
96.
yourself just what the reason is that now leads Hamlet to delay.
Is it so much a reason as an excuse?

Act

Scene IV.

III.

In this scene Hamlet, being caught without a chance to think,

But by a stroke of tragic irony he kills Polonius, supposing
him to be the King. And in killing Polonius he sets in motion
the forces that are to lead to his own doom. The interview
with his mother gives him an opportunity again to unpack his
heart with words, and in the midst of it at the beginning of
the falling, as at the beginning of the rising action the Ghost
appears again. And the scene ends with Hamlet's determination to act
only this time it is defenswe action, made necessary
by the King's initiative, that he is forced to undertake.
acts.

I.

Lay home.

4.

Much

Cf. Ill,

iii,

29.

heat: the King's anger. Sconce is Hanmer's emen(perhaps unnecessary) for silence of the Quartos and

dation
Folios.
6.

Fear

26.
is

clear

Is

me

it

not.

Cf. note

the king?

from

line 33.

on

I,

iii,

51.

That Hamlet thought

Why

it

nvas the

King

does he no longer feel the scruple

of the preceding scene?

29, 30.

As

kill

a king.

Does Hamlet think that

his

mother

was privy to his father's murder ? Is there any evidence that

she was?
Proof and bulwark: like tested armor and a rampart.
38.
Sense = feeling.

Notes and Comment

220
44.

head.
46.

vows
48.
49.
50.

i,

52.

III.

Harlots were branded in the fore-

Sets a blister there.

Comedy

of Errors, II, ii, 138.

Contraction: the marriage contract

Cf.

(see

"marriage-

" above).

Glow: burn with shame.

The earth, as the center of the
The doom: the last judgment.

image" {Macbeth,
IV,

[Act

II,

iii,

83);

universe.

Cf. "the great doom's

"the crack of doom" {ibid.,

117).

In the index:

in the

prologue or prelude.

Index

is

here

the table of contents prefixed to a book cf Othello, II, i, 263

" an index and obscure prologue to the history "
and especially
;

Troilus and Cressida, I, iii, 343-46.

Stage tradition has varied greatly in the translation of
53.
this line into stage business.
Some of the devices have been:
two miniatures produced by Hamlet; two full-length portraits
on the wall a miniature of his father drawn from Hamlet's
bosom, and either a miniature of Claudius worn by the Queen,
or a full-length picture of him on the wall. Many later actors
represent both pictures as imagined by Hamlet. The justification
"
of the miniatures is found, of course, in the " pictures in little
;

of II,

ii,

383.

presentment: portrayed representation.

necessarily have its modern connotation.
Cf. Merchant of Venice, III, ii, 116: "Fair Portia's counterfeit."
Hyperion's curls.
See note on I, ii, 140.
56.
Station: attitude in standing. Cf. Antony and Cleo58.
patra, III, iii, 22: "her motion and her station are as one."
Mercury was the messenger of the gods. Note the vividness
54.

Counterfeit

Counterfeit

did

not

of Hamlet's description.

64-65.

The

devoured the

reference
full

is

to

the

thin

and blasted ears that

ears in Pharaoh's dream.

See Genesis,

xli,

5-7-

Hey-day: a state of exaltation or excitement. Notice

69.
again the contrast (in this line and the next) between "blood"
and "judgment," and cf. note on III, ii, 74.
Sense: feeling, sensation. In line 74 its meaning is
71.
rather reason, common sense; in line 72 there is a mingling of
both.
73.

Motion

(line 72)

= impulse,

Apoplex'd: paralyzed.

desire.

Hamlet means

that his mother's

Notes and Comment

Scene IV.]

221

faculties must be completely benumbed or stupefied, for even

madness would have left her some power of choice. The so of
line 74

80.
91.

is understood before err in the preceding line.

Sense. The reference here is to one of the " five senses."
Leave their tinct: part with their hue.

vice of kings. The Vice was the buffoon in the old

98.
morality plays. Cf. Twelfth Night, IV, ii, 134-39. The phrase
here means " a buifoon of a king."
99-101. The King is not even a robber merely a sneak-thief.
102.
king of shreds and patches: a king in motley.
The phrase carries out the idea of " a vice of kings:"

[Enter Ghost].

What marked

the preceding appearances of the

ensuing dialogue.-*

Lapsed

107.

What

in time

by and feeling

to slip

to

parallel

between this and

brought out by the

difference

Ghost
is

is

there in

Macbeth?

and passion: having allowed time

grow dull. Important (line 108) :=

urgent.

Do

no.

not forget.

What was

Hamlet's

"word"?

Cf.

I,

V, 91-112.

112.

Amazement:

114.

Conceit: mental Impression, imagination.

utter bewilderment.

Cf. Ill,

Ii,

Cf.

339.
II,

ii,

579, 583.

121.
Excrements: that which grows out of the body; here,
hairs (used also of nails, feathers). Bedded carries out the
Idea of sleeping. For an end cf. note on I, v, 19. With the
description in lines 119-22 cf. that in I, v, 17-20.
Distemper. See note on II, II, 55, and cf. Ill, ii, 351.
123.
128-29.
Convert
stern effects: transform the stern

my

deeds

have to do.
In his habit as he lived.

Since habit could scarcely

135.
apply to armor. It Is probable that the Ghost appears this time
in ordinary garb.
In the First Quarto the stage direction before
line 102 reads: Enter the Ghost in his night goivne- i. e., in his

dressing gown.
I will repeat In the same words what I have said;
143.
madness would keep leaping aside in the attempt.
virtue: forgive this virtue of
Forgive me this
152.
mine. Hamlet Is still addressing his mother not, as is sometimes said, apostrophizing his virtue. Lines 154-55 are an
Curb
bow, bend the knee.
elaboration of the idea In line 152.

my

Notes and Comment

22 2
i6i
(i.

That monster, custom, who devours

ff.

e.,

[Act
all

III.

sensibility

sensitiveness to moral distinctions), devil though he be

with reference to bad habits, is yet an angel in this, that, etc.

That is, custom makes habits automatic (a very modern way
of saying "all sense doth eat"), but the same power of custom
that fixes evil habits may fix good ones too.
the devil. The verb has dropped
169. And either
out in the early texts. The master of the Fourth Quarto is
perhaps as good a word as any of those that have been suggested.
171-72. When the Queen is penitent enough to pray for blessing, she will then be fit to grant to Hamlet the blessing which
he cannot now ask.
Mouse: a pet name. Cf. Love's Labour's Lost, V, ii,
183.
19: "What's your dark meaning, mouse?"; Tivelfth Night, I,
V, 69: "Good my mouse of virtue, answer me."
188 ff. Hamlet cannot repress his bitter irony.
gib: toad
tom-cat. The three
Paddock
190.
animals named were the familiars of witches, which gives a
sinister turn to Hamlet's taunt.
The famous ape. The allusion is to a story that is
194.
.

lost.

Conclusions

197.
200.
Cf. in,

If
I
i,

= experiments.

words be made of breath. Cf. HI, I, 98.

must to England. How had Hamlet learned
177;

III,

iii,

4,

this?

for the other references to the plan.

To have

the enginer Hoist with his own petar:

to have the one who lays the mine blown up with his own bomb.
210.
Two crafts. There is probably a play on the two
meanings of the word ship, and cunning.
206-10. Has Hamlet a definite plan laid, or is he merely
counting on his own skill in a contest of wits?
211. This man: Polonius.
Set me packing: set me lugging him away; probably with the added idea: send me off
in a hurry (i. e., cause my flight).
212.
Guts. This word was less offensive in Shakespeare's
time than now.
213-16. Is there any indication that Hamlet thinks of Po206.

lonius as Ophelia's father?

Notes and Comment

Scene L]

Act
The

first

Scene

IV.

three scenes of Act

scene of Act III, and

form with

223

I.

IV immediately follow the last

it a single group.
There seems
division between the two acts

be no good reason why the

should come just where it does, and it has been frequently suggested that Act IV should really begin with what is now its
fourth scene an arrangement which has much to be said in
its favor
(see also introductory note to Scene IV).
At all
events, the first three scenes still have to do directly with the
death of Polonius, and lead up to the full disclosure (at the
end of Scene III) of the King's plan.
Hearing something stir. Why does Gertrude thus
9.
garble her account?
Brainish: a rare word, variously defined as brainsick;
II.
headstrong, passionate imaginary, unfounded on fact.
16.
Hamlet, of course, has played directly into the King's
hands.
If Gertrude had known that Claudius had murdered
19-23.
her husband, is it likely that he would have found it necessary
to dissemble as he does here?
Ore: a precious metal (used chiefly of gold). Mineral
25.
(line 26) is a mine.
He weeps for what is done. Is Gertrude telling the
27.
truth? What motive underlies her statement?
All our majesty: all the weight and authority of our
31.

to

office.

Some words have dropped out at the end of the line.

40.
Capell, following a suggestion of Theobald, read: "So, haply,
and

slander,"
42.

reading has been adopted by many modern

air") are not in the Folios.
the white spot in the center of a target, the

this

Lines 41-44 (''whose

editors.

Blank:

bull's-eye.

44.

Woundless:

invulnerable.

(Measure for Measure,

the

air"

{Macbeth,

I,

III,

i,

vii,

23).

124)

Cf. "the viewless winds"

" the sightless couriers of

Notes and Comment

224

Act

Scene

IV.

[ActIV.

II.

To be demanded of: to be questioned by.

Like an ape. The reading of the Folio. The First
Quarto (in which the speech immediately follows the present
III, ii, 389) has "as an ape doth nuts," which makes the mean12.

19.

ing of the Folio reading clear. The Second Quarto has " like
an apple,"
29-32. Hamlet is deliberately talking nonsense. For the
interpretations offered by those who think it sense, see the

Variorum.

Hide fox, and all after. Probably a phrase from

32-33.
a children's game, like hide-and-seek. If so, Polonius is the
fox.

Act
This

4.

III.

unprejudiced testimony to a fact of great imqualities has Hamlet shown in the play that
win him the affection of the people? Distracted :=

portance.

would

Scene

IV.

is

What

crazy.

Whose liking is determined by appearances, instead of

5.
being a matter of judgment.
6.
The offender's scourge: the punishment the offender
receives.

Deliberate pause: the result of deliberate consideration.

9.
For pause, cf. Ill, iii, 42.
21.
Convocation of politic worms. Hamlet's phraseology
is punctiliously chosen to fit the body of a statesman.
The use
of the words "convocation," "politic," "worms," "diet" (perhaps also "emperor") makes it highly probable that Shake"
speare had the Diet of Worms in mind. For the use of " your
(lines 22-25) see note on I, v, 167.
Hamlet is still feigning
madness, but it is difficult to doubt that he has also a certain
intellectual pleasure in

what he

is

saying.

Go a progress. Progress was the regular word for a

33.
royal journey of state.
Cf. // Henry VI, I, iv, 76: "the king is
now
43.

in progress

towards Saint Albans."

Tender: regard, hold

dear.

Cf.

I,

iii,

107.

Notes and Comment

Scene IV.]

225

" hot haste."

45.

Fiery quickness. Cf.

46.

The wind

47.

Tend: wait. Cf. I, iii, 83.

At foot: at his heels.
Thereof may give thee sense: may make

56.
61.

nizant of

at help.

I,

iii,

2-3.

thee

cog-

it.

Free
63.
pulsion.

awe.

Opposed

64.

Set: value, esteem.

66.

Congruing:

Quartos.

Cf.

The

to

Cf.

agreeing.

awe
I,

iv,

This

Folios have conjuring.

of the letter in V,

ii,

that

is

the result of cona-

65.

the

is

reading

the

of

Cf. Hamlet's description

38.

Act

IV.

Scene IV.

Scene IV is transitional between the death of Polonius and the

working out of its results in the plot against Hamlet's life, in
the madness and death of Ophelia, and in the return of Laertes
to avenge his father's murder.
From this point on it is Hamlet's
life rather than the King's that is under direct and constant
menace. But just as the sight of the player enacting Hecuba
stirred
still

Hamlet

to fresh resolution

possible, so

when

aggressive action

was

now, after command of the situation has slipped

through his hands, the sight of the army of Fortinbras kindles

a

new

resolve to act.

Sufficient time

must have elapsed between Scenes

III

and IV

for Claudius's permission to Fortinbras to pass through Danish

territory (see line 2, and cf. II, ii, 76-82) to reach him.
And

was presented

Claudius only the

Act
II, Scene I).
Some days, at least, must accordingly have intervened. This is (strictly speaking) inconsistent with the fact
that Hamlet leaves for England the very night of Polonius's
murder (IV, i, 29-30; IV, iii, 46-48, 55-57), and there is nothing
the request for this license

day before the death of Polonius

was distant from Elsinore (cf. I,

must be remembered that Shakespeare

to indicate that the port

55"57)writing a
i>

But

it

to

(see introductory note to

drama (with

iii,

is

attendant necessity of producing

certain illusions as to time in the mind of his audience), not
the

Notes and Comment

226

[Act IV.

presenting a statement of facts. See, for a somewhat similar

instance, the note on I, i, 39.
In his eye: in his presence, face to face.
6.
8.
Softly: slowly, leisurely. Cf. Julius Ccesar, V, i, 16:
" lead your battle softly on."

Good

9.

Cf.

sir.

lines

11,

13,

and observe again

29,

15,

courtesy in dealing with his inferiors in rank.

Lines 9-66 are omitted in the Folio, probably for the same reason
that dictates the omission of the entire scene on the modern
stage namely, the necessity for a shorter acting version. For

Hamlet's

fine

the light which

it

well

noble poetry, the scene

as for

its

throws on Hamlet's character, however, as

is of the utmost im-

portance.
20.

To pay

take a lease of

rent of five

only five, I would not

contrasted with sold

ducats,

Farm (=

it.

lease)

is

in fee (i. e., fee simple, absolute possession) in line 22.

=z greater, higher.

Will not debate: will not be

26.

Ranker

sufficient to fight out.

Market of his time: either, "that for which he sells

34.
or, "the business in which he employs his
his time" (Johnson)
;

time" (Clarendon Press).

Discourse: range of thought.
36.
40.

Bestial oblivion:

such

Cf.

oblivion

I,

as

and feed (cf. line 35).

Scruple Of: scruple that consists

ii,

150.

characterizes

the

Event =

out-

beasts that sleep

40-41.
(as

come

also in

pressed, III,

i,

line

50).

Cf.

especially,

in.

for the

idea ex-

84-85.

Makes mouths at: mocks at. Cf. II, ii, 381-82.

53-56. To stir without great matter for dispute {argument)
is not rightly to be great; but it is rightly to be great to find
For argument in this sense cf. Troilus and Cresquarrel, etc.
sida, I, i, 95-96: "I cannot fight upon this argument; It is too
50.

starv'd a subject for

differ

58.

and

my

sword."

How

does Hamlet's statement

from that of Polonius in I, iii, 65-67?

My reason and my blood. Cf. notes on

III,

ii,

74,

III, iv, 69-70.

61.

Trick of fame:

62.

Plot:

trifle

that promises fame.

plot of ground.

65-66. Since Hamlet

does he mean?

is

on his

way

to

England, just what

Scene v.]

Notes and Comment

Act

IV.

227

Scene V.

Scene V reverts to Ophelia and Laertes (compare Act I,

to Ophelia mad in reality, as Hamlet
Scene III, for contrast)
is mad in seeming; to Laertes rushing headlong to the same
revenge (for "a father kill'd") with which Hamlet has been
dallying. And it looks directly back to the murder of Polonius
itself the result of Hamlet's fatal delay,
and forward to the
catastrophe. For the gentle and innocent Ophelia is caught in
the net which Hamlet's failure to act at the crucial moment has
woven, and her madness becomes a new and potent factor in
Laertes's already fixed determination to be revenged.
That
determination is at first directed against the King. But before
the scene is ended, its transfer from the King through " the
witchcraft of his wit " to Hamlet is foreshadowed.
Spurns enviously: kicks spitefully. Cf. Antony and Cle6.
opatra, III, V, 17: " [He] spurns the rush that lies before him."
For envious in the sense of " malicious," cf. IV, vii, 174. In
her madness Ophelia wreaks pitiful vengeance on whatever
trifling objects come in her way.
6-13.
Observe, as you read on in the scene, how aptly the
Gentleman has characterized Ophelia's broken speeches.
To collection: to an attempt to gather her meaning.
9.

Aim = guess,

conjecture.

Ill-breeding minds: minds that hatch mischief.

Artless jealousy: suspicion that knows no art to con19.
Guilt is so full of such suspicion, that it betrays
ceal itself.
itself by its very fear that Itivill betray itself.
The Queen's
speech reveals to us, for the first time in the play, something
of her inner thoughts.
Cockle-hat: a hat with a scallop-shell in it one of the
25.
insignia of a pilgrim. A pilgrim's garb was a conventional
disguise for a lover; Romeo, for example, went so disguised
15.

to the Capulets' ball (cf. especially

Shoon: an

Romeo and

Juliet,

I,

v, 95 ff.).

archaic plural of shoe. Ophelia is singing

snatches of old ballads that deal with the two themes uppermost
love and death.
in her distracted mind
If this
38. Both Quartos and Folios read: "did not go."
and it is difficult not to take it so
is the true reading
26.

Notes and Comment

228

[ActIV.

Ophelia probably has dimly in mind her father's " obscure

funeral" (line 213; cf. line 84), and so inserts the "not."
God 'ild you: God yield you i. e., I thank you.
41.
They say, etc. The reference is to an old legend of
41.
a baker's daughter who reproved her mother for putting too
large a piece of dough in the oven to bake a loaf for Christ,
and who was transformed into an owl. Ophelia's next words
perhaps indicate a pathetic half-consciousness of some change
that she has undergone.

Conceit upon: fancies about.

brother shall know of it. Observe the hint here
given of Laertes's return, as another example of Shakespeare's
45.

My

70.

craftsmanship.

In hugger-mugger: secretly, clandestinely with the

84.
added idea of haste.
Broods over the strange thing that has happened, keeps
89.
his thoughts to himself.

In ear and ear:

94.

either,

in

each other's ears;

or,

in

everybody's ears.

cannon loaded with case-shot,

murdering-piece : a
95.
that scatter, when fired.

Superfluous death: more deaths than one.

Switzers: Swiss guards employed by the King of
France in Shakespeare's day, and still by the Pope in ours.
Overpeering of his list: rising above its boundaries.
99.
105. The line refers to " antiquity " and " custom."
no. Counter. "To run counter" is to follow the trail in
96.

97.

the

wrong

118-20.
122, 126.

may

direction.

Cf. the

preceding

line.

Cf. Ill, iv, 42-44.

Let him go, Gertrude.

be, this scene

devotion to him

shows that he

is

Whatever

no coward.

else

And

Claudius

Gertrude's

here unmistakable.
used with a touch of contempt. Treason
can only get a peep at what it wants; it cannot act out its will.
133-36. One function of Laertes in the play is to stand in
sharpest contrast to Hamlet. Each has a father's death to
124.

avenge;
the

Peep:

is

look

and Laertes's swift recourse

strongest

possible

relief

Laertes's curt dismissal of this

Hamlet's

to

action

world and the next

compare especially Hamlet's broodings in

throws

procrastination.
III,

i,

into

With

in line 134

76-82.

Notes and Comment

Scene v.]

Swoopstake:

142.

game

The figure is from a

winner draws the stakes of both sides.

indiscriminately.

of cards, where the

The

146-47.

229

was fabled

pelican

to pierce its breast

with

its

and feed its young with its blood.

[Re-enter Ophelia]. Why does Shakespeare bring Ophelia
back at this point? Cf, lines 168-69.

bill,

The

161-63.
expression

is

general

somewhat

idea

of

these

lines

Fine seems

obscure.

is

to

clear, but the

" delicate,
"

mean

instance is " proof, token," The " precious instance

Ophelia's sanity, which has followed Polonius ("the thing it
loves") to his grave.

sensitive "

is

The wheel. This reference is also obscure, but it is

172.
probable that Ophelia imagines that she is singing at the
spinning-wheel. Compare the reference to the " old and plain "
song that " the spinsters [i. e., spinners] and the knitters in the
sun
Do use to chant" (Tivelfth Night, II, iv, 43-47).
It is the false steward^ etc. This allusion has never
172.
been identified.
This nothing's more than matter: these unintelli174.
gible words move more than if they had meaning.
Flowers have been regarded from time immemorial
175-86.
as having a symbolic language, and Ophelia is using it here,
as Perdita uses it in Winter's Tale, IV, iv, 73 ff.
I75-77'
Rosemary
pansies. Rosemary was supposed
to strengthen the memory; the reference to pansies is a play
on the word (from French pensee, thought). Ophelia probably
gives these to Laertes possibly taking him for Hamlet. If
so, the " pray, love, remember " is a pathetic counterpart of
the injunction of the Ghost.
.

178.

Document:
Fennel

lesson,

instruction.

columbine: symbolic

of flattery and unand probably given to the King.

There's rue for you: i. e., for the Queen. For th?
181.
significance of rue, cf. Richard II, III, iv, 105-06: "I'll set a
bank of rue, sour herb o' grace: Rue, even for ruth, here shortly

180.

chastity,

shall be seen."

182.

We

may

call

it,

etc.

the proper one for Sundays.

With a difference.
183.

some mark by which the arms

That

is,

its

religious

name

is

heraldry,

was

of one branch of a family

were

difference,

in

Notes and Comment

230

distinguished from those of another.

Queen will wear hers

that the

What

[ActIV.
Ophelia means

is

for repentance, Ophelia hers for

regret.

daisy
violets. The daisy often (not always)
184.
symbolized dissembling; violets stood for faithfulness. It is not
clear to whom those flowers are given the daisy possibly to
the Queen, the violets perhaps to Horatio.
188.
Thought: here in its sense of anxious thought, melan.

choly.

199.

And

of all Christian souls: a

common ending

of epi-

taphs.

Act

Scene VI.

IV.

This scene serves to introduce the element of suspense, just

King seems to have gained his point. His plan has miscarried; Hamlet is back on Danish soil; the opportunity that
he seemed to have lost is in his hands again. And the quesas the

tion

is.

20.
ii,

How

will he use it?

Thieves of mercy:

merciful thieves.

See note on

I,

4.

21.

about.

phrase

They knew what they

did: they knew what they were

(probably), they had promise of reward. The
sometimes taken to mean that the encounter with the

That
is

is

was prearranged by Hamlet, and that it was to this that

he had referred in III, iv, 205-10. But this seems very unlikely.
If Hamlet had any definite plan in his mind in the lines referred
to (instead of merely the confidence that his wits would serve
him at the critical moment), it was probably that of the exchange
of the letters (see V, ii, 12-55). The fight with the pirates
is rather to be thought of as a happy accident.
Accident, to be
sure, may not play too large a part in a tragedy, where the
movement of events is chiefly determined by the inexorable working out of what is latent in character. But accident plays a
vital part in life, and the dramatist may legitimately use it
as it seems to be used here.
What part is played by accident,
pirates

for instance, in

26-27.
is

Too

Macbeth?
light for the bore of the matter: the charge

too light, considering the caliber of the gun.

That

is,

weighty

Notes and Comment

Scene VII.]

words

as the

have

are,

they are yet inadequate for the matter they

to express.

Act
At

231

IV.

Scene VII.

moment when the King is about to disclose to

plan by which he thinks he has rid himself of
Hamlet, word is brought that Hamlet has returned. Without
a moment's hesitation Claudius seizes on the opportunity to
turn Laertes to his purpose, and before Hamlet has a chance
to act, a new and sinister plot is under way against him.
And
before the plot is fairly formed, Laertes's ardor for revenge is
fanned to fierce flame by the account of Ophelia's death, and
the act ends with a sense of crowding events moving swiftly
the very

Laertes

the

to the catastrophe.
I.

Conscience: consciousness

edge.

See note on III,

i,

(that all this

is

so),

knowl-

83.

Can you make out what it is that the King has told
3-5.
Laertes? Notice Laertes's characterization of "these feats" in
the next speech.
Be it either which: whichever of these it be.
13.
See note on I, v, 17.
15.
ig-2i. Springs which have the property referred to here are

Gyves
fetters, and the literal
good sense: the people will regard as
ornaments the fetters I impose upon him.
If praises may go back again: i. e., to what she w<j.
27.
28.
Stood on an eminence as challenger of all the age.
You shortly shall hear more. V^hat the King ex33.
pects that Laertes shall hear is the news of Hamlet's death.
What he does hear is the news of his escape. Observe the
known

many

in

meaning gives

localities.

perfectly

dramatic irony of the situation.

we. In the first half of the line Claudius is

I
34.
speaking as a man in the second, as a king.
This to the queen. We hear no more of this letter;
37.
why is it mentioned here?
Who is Claudio?
40.
Checking at. A technical term from falconry. A hawk
63.
" checks," when it abandons its proper prey to fly after another.
.

Notes and Comment

232

[Act IV.

Uncharge the

68.

Practice

stratagem.

Your sum

74.

practice: make no charge against the

here used in its frequent sinister sense.
of parts
together: all your other
is

Siege (line 77)

rank.
Importing health and graveness. Either, health and
82.
grateness refer together to his sables and his nveeds (in which
qualities combined.

case health means either '' attention to health " or " prosperity") ;
or, health refers back to light and careless li'ving, and graveness to his sables and his i.veeds.
Can well: have great skill. Ca7t is frequently used
85.
absolutely in Elizabethan (and earlier) English, in the sense
of knowing how, being able. Cf. German kbnnen.
I

So far he topp'd
89.
could imagine.

my

thought:

so far he outdid

what

In forgery of: in imagining, contriving.

Brooch: here, ornament in general.
Confession. Lamond would reluctantly acknowledge

90.
94.
96.

the

superiority of a fencer of another nation.

97.

masterly report: a report describing Laertes as a

master.

Why

107.

Now, out

113.

Passages of proof: proved

of this.

does the

King pause here?

instances.

Nothing remains constantly in the same state of excelPlurisy

plethora, excess.
123-24. Sighs were supposed to draw blood from the heart.

117.

lence.

The

sense of the lines

is

that the recognition of a duty gives

when

the will to perform it is gone.

Shakespeare is giving this time altogether incidentally another keen analysis of Hamlet's own malady.
127. To cut his throat i' the church. Laertes has no such
scruples as stayed Hamlet's hand when the King waj praying,
Observe the sharpness of the contrast.
128.
Sanctuarize: serve as sanctuary to protect from punishment. Murder refers to Hamlet's killing of Polonius.

but

fallacious

relief,

Put on those shall: instigate those who shall.

This tribute to Hamlet's nobility of character serves
careemphasize the King's baseness. Remiss (line 135)

132.
136.
to

less,

indifferent.

139.

pass of practice: a treacherous thrust

and note.

tice, cf. line 68,

For prac-

Notes and Comment

Scene!.]

233

Under the moon: i. e., collected by moonlight, in order

enhance their virtue.
Fit us to our shape: "enable us to assume proper
151.
characters" (Johnson).
If our intention should be disclosed through our unskil152.
146.

to

ful acting.

Blast in proof: miscarry when put

the pause in this line?
For the nonce: for the purpose.

155.

to the test.

Why

157.
161.

Crow-flowers:

170.

either

the

buttercup,

Robin; long purples: a variety of orchid.

I73-74* Ophelia chooses a willow, because
of forsaken love.

Indued Unto:

180-81.

189-90.
shed, the

When
woman

in

me

live

it

the

is

Ragged

the symbol

in.

be out: when my

tears are all

will be gone.

Act
This scene

suited to

...

these

or

V.

Scene

I.

almost of the nature of an interlude. The

the action is suspended, and the dialogue
between the clowns, into which Hamlet's philosophizing merges,
serves momentarily to break the tension. But the subtle and
ineffective musings upon death are sharply interrupted by the
intrusion of reality, and the scene ends with a clash between
Hamlet and Laertes which foreshadows the catastrophe.
Salvation. Shakespeare's clowns, like many persons not
2.
in Shakespeare, have the foible of using words which convey
a different meaning from that intended.
Se offendendo. The clown means se defendendo, in selfg.
swift

is

movement

of

defence.

An

act hath three branches. Shakespeare Is putting

mouth a parody on legal phraseology. And
it seems highly probable that he has an actual case in mind.
See the abstract of the argument in the Variorum note on this
II.

into the clown's

line.

13.

Argal:

the

clown's attempt at Ergo,

consequently."
24.

Crowner's quest:

coroner's inquest.

I.

e.,

"therefore,

Notes and Comment

234
29.

There thou

say'st.

Cf.

modern

slang,

[Act v.
"

Now

you're

talking."
32.

Even

44.

Confess thyself

Christian:

fellow Christian.
The first gravedigger was going on
with the rest of the proverb, " and be hanged."
Unyoke: that is: after such an effort, you may rest.
59.
68.
Yaughan: probably the name of an ale-house. Various
words of which it may be a corruption have been suggested.
69 fF. The clown is singing a humorously garbled version

an actual song, attributed to Lord Vaux, and printed in

See the Variorum for the real text, which
is worth looking up and comparing.
The " O's " and " Ah's "
merely represent the exertion of digging.
A property of easiness: a characteristic that now
75-76.
of

Tottel's Miscellany.

is

easy.

Cain's jaw-bone, that: the jaw-bone of Cain, who.

According to an old tradition Cain slew Abel with the jawbone of an ass, and the reference may be to that. Cain's own
jaw-bone, however, may, of course, be meant.
86.
Politician: plotter, schemer. The word has usually a
bad sense in Shakespeare.
100.
Loggats: a game in which little logs (loggats) of
apple-wood are thrown at the jack, a wooden wheel placed on
an ash-strewn floor.
111-121. The legal terms which Hamlet uses scarcely need
exact definition here. It is worth noting that, according to
good authorities, they are used with a clear sense of their
meaning.
85.

115.

second

The
is

fine of his fines.

a technical

legal term.

The first fine

No two of

Is

"end";

the

the four fine's

have the same meaning.

pair of indentures. "Indentures were agreements

out in duplicate, of which each party kept one. Both
were written on the same sheet of paper, or parchment, which
was cut in two in a crooked or indented line (whence the
name), in order that the fitting of the two parts might prove
the genuineness of both in case of dispute" {Clarendon Press).
126.
In that: i. e., in such parchments.
you.
Observe the use of pronouns
131-33. Thine
throughout this dialogue between Hamlet and the clown.
119.

made

Scene

Notes and Comment

I.]

149.

By

the

card:

by

the

chart;

hence,

235
with

preci-

sion.

176-77. This statement, taken in connection with lines 155-62,

gives Hamlet's age explicitly as thirty years. Many perhaps
most commentators have felt that the Hamlet of the play is
younger. For a full discussion of the question see the note on

line 153 in the

182.

188.

You.
Your.

Variorum, and

cf.

Bradley, pp. 407-09.

See note on H, i, 7.
See note on I, v, 167.

Whoreson: "a term of coarse familiarity

189* 193*
reproach or ludicrous dislike" (Schmidt).
190-91. Three and twenty years. That is, Yorick died
when Hamlet was seven years old a statement which fits perfectly with the implications of lines 176-77gorge rises at it. A reference to the heaving
206.
.

My

sensation of nausea.

Chap-fallen. Hamlet is playing on the literal and

212.
i.
e., " with shrunken, hanging
figurative senses of the word
crest-fallen."
jaw," and "dejected,
Alexander: Alexander the Great.
218.

Observe Horatio's sane common sense, set once more

against Hamlet's subtle imaginings. In these
imaginings there is no trace of madness; they show, rather, the
workings of a keen and acute intellect which is seeking some
outlet under conditions of abnormal strain.
Modesty. See note on III, ii, 21.
230.
Aside: step aside.
240.
Observe the dramatic
241. Who is this they follow?
effectiveness of the way in which Hamlet learns of Ophelia's
death, and note, too, how the highly wrought mood in which
we have just seen him prepares us for the outburst that
227-28.

as

a foil over

follows.

242.

Maimed:

of the priest

imperfect. This, and the words

refer to the fact that suicides were

curtailed,

which follow,

not granted the full burial rites of the church.

244. It. See note on I, ii, 216.
Compare the Second Clown's words in lines 26-28.
251.
Cf. Fitzgerald's Rubdiydt:
262-63.
And this reviving Herb whose tender Green
Fledges the River-lip on which we lean

Notes and Comment

236

Ah, lean upon

And

it

lightly!

for

who knows

From what once lovely Lip it

Tennyson's In Memoriam, xviii.

cf.

[ActV.

springs unseen

Pelion and Ossa were two famous mountains

to Greek mythology, when the Titans
tried to dethrone the gods, they piled Ossa (see line 306) on
Olympus (line 277) was
Pelion, in order to scale the sky.
another mountain, between Thessaly and Macedonia, which
was regarded as the home of the gods.
planets
(look
the
up the
279. The wandering stars:
etymology of planet).
Contrast the implications of the King's and the Queen's
287.
276.

Pelion.

in Thessaly.

According

outcries.

its

290. Wag: move. The word had not in Shakespeare's day

present rather undignified associations.

292-94.

There

is

of Hamlet's words.

but

the

sin,

and

bitterness
his

own

no reason

to doubt the immediate sincerity

had, we may believe, loved Ophelia,
and suspicion awakened by his mother's
intense preoccupation with the revelation

He

Ghost seem to have dulled, if not quite deadened

it.
The powerful revulsion of feeling caused by the sudden disclosure of Ophelia's tragic death brings back, with
overwhelming force, the realization of his love and of his
the

of

loss.

a colloquial form.
298-99. Woo't: wilt thou
The Folios have Esile; the First Quarto,
Eisel.
fvessels; the Second, Esill, and only the " dram of eale " passage
The mass of in(I, iv, 36) has occasioned more discussion.
terpretations may be reduced to two: (i) that the word is a
misprint for the name of some river; or, (2) that it stands for

299.

The latter is on
in the present text, meaning vinegar.
whole the more probable explanation; cf. Sonnet CXI, 9-10:
" I will drink Potions of eisel 'gainst my strong infection," and
note that eisel is used a number of times (see Oxford Dictionary)
as one of the constituents of the bitter drink offered to Christ on
the cross. To " drink up " did not necessarily mean to exhaust
by drinking, but to quaff. For a summary of the numerous and
interesting suggestions that have been made, see the Variorum
(and
note.
It must be remembered that Hamlet is naming
adding to) the extravagant feats demanded by convention of

the

the

word

Scene

Notes and Comment

II.]

mediaeval lovers to attest their love

cf

his "

237
Show me what

thou'lt do,"

The burning zone: the sphere

Antony and Cleopatra, IV, xv, 9-10:

305.
Cf.

in

which the sun moves.

sun, Burn the great

"O

sphere thou mov'st in."

307.

This

mere madness.

is

The Queen

is

mistaken.

wild outbreak of pent-up feeling it certainly is, but it shows

no signs of mental aberration. Hamlet has lost for the moment
his self-control (cf, V, ii, 75-79), under the shock of Ophelia's
tragedy and of Laertes's unexpected and (to him) astounding
attack (cf. line 247), and he utters ''wild and whirling words,"
as he did at the time of the Ghost's disclosure.
Does he
assume madness again in the play?
Golden couplets. The young of the dove (which
310.
lays but two eggs) are covered with yellow down when hatched
{disclosed: see note on III, i, 174).
318.

Present push:

instant

test.

sinister reference, understood only by Laertes, to the

320.
plot against Hamlet.

Act

V.

Scene

II.

The

not
last scene of the play is devoted to the execution
any plan of Hamlet's for revenge, but of the King's plot
against Hamlet. But the return of Hamlet, regarding which
we have been left in suspense, is first accounted for, and both
in Hamlet's recital of his escape and in his dialogue with Osric
(which throws a gleam of grim humor on the somber background), we are made to see him restored to self-control. And
it is by no preconceived plan, but by as sudden an impulse as
that which caused Polonius's death, that at last he reaches his
revenge at the cost (through his delay) of the lives of Polonius,
Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Laertes, the Queen, and
himself.
Only Horatio, of the major characters, remains, and
it is on Horatio and Fortinbras
the man of balanced blood
and judgment, and the man of action that the curtain falls,
I.
This
the other.
What this refers to, it is impossible to say perhaps to Ophelia's death.
The other is of
course Hamlet's own escape.
of

Notes and Comment

238
6.

The mutines

6.

Rashly.

I,"

in

lines

[Act v.

in the bilboes: mutineers in shackles.

groped
This modifies " up from my cabin
12-14; what comes between is parenthetical. And
.

Hamlet is again acutely interpreting his own

For his deep plots have come to nothing; when he has
Cf. below, lines 30-3.1.
acted, it has been on impulse.
Scarf 'd: hastily thrown about the shoulders, like a
13.

in the parenthesis

case.

scarf.

in my life: such bugbears and

allowed to live.
On the supervise: immediately upon perusal; at sight.
23.
33-34. You can verify Hamlet's statement by looking at any
collection of facsimiles of the signatures of Elizabethan worthies.

Such bugs and goblins

22.

mischiefs,

Statist

if

am

= statesman.

service. The English yeomen (small freeholders) composed the bulk of the English infantry in war, and
were famed for their valor.
Stand a comma 'tween their amities. An obscure
42.
and puzzling line. Comma is frequently interpreted as a mark
of connection and continuity, which distinguishes, rather than
36.

Yeoman's

divides, the parts of a sentence.

speare's day,

"a

member

short

Comma

also meant, in Shake-

of a sentence or period"

{Ox-

ford Dictionary) and Professor Dowden interprets: " Here amity

begins and amity ends the period, and peace stands between
But no explanation is very satislike a dependent clause."
factory, and the line may be corrupt.
As 'es of great charge. Hamlet is punning upon as
43.
,

(still

in some of the midland dialects) and ass.

" weight, importance," and " load, bur-

pronounced ass

Charge means both

den."

They are not near my conscience.

58.
Hamlet's justification of his action adequate?

How

far

is

stand me now upon: is it not inDoes it not

63.
cumbent upon me? Thinks't thee: seems it to thee. Think
is here the old verb meaning to seem, and thee is dative; cf.
.

methinks.
70.

In: into.
Water-fly.

"
water-fly skips up and down upon the
surface of the water, without any apparent purpose, and is
thence the proper emblem of a busy trifler " (Johnson).
84.

Scene

Notes and Comment

II.]

Chough:

89.

239

a chattering jackdaw;

either,

or,

a chujf or

churl.

97-104.

cf. Ill, ii, 393-99.

*
Cf. Love's Labour's Lost, V,

i,
103-04: "I do beseech
beseech thee, apparel thy head."
109-16. Osric is speaking an extremely affected court jargon.
Excellent differences: various excellences.
112.
Hamlet is outdoing Osric at his own game, and
117-20.
But neither =:ior
intentionally speaking so as to perplex him.
all that; a boat yaivs, when it sheers from its course, or steers
The general sense of the opening lines is: His dewildly.
scription suffers no loss in your account, though, I know, to
enumerate his qualities after the manner of an inventory would
be to make memory dizzy in the effort to compute them, and (for
all that) stagger in its attempt to overtake him.

108.

thee,

remember thy courtesy;

122.
Of great article:
(Oxford Dictionary).

123-25.
flection

The

"of

moment,

great

importance"

only thing that resembles him is his own remirror, and whoever would follow him must

in his

emulate his shadow.

The concernancy: come

128.

to

what

us.

when

an-

concerns

coined word.

More

129.

rawer.

See note on

II,

131-32. Can you not understand your

other uses it?
Surely you can, if you
least, to be the sense of Horatio's words.
133.

What

i,

ii.

own
try.

jargon

This seems,

at

imports the nomination: what does the nam-

ing signify, lead up to?

141.

my

to

Would

not

much approve me: would

not be

much

credit.

149-50.

In his

meed

he's unfellowed: in his merit he has

no equal,

Imponed: staked, laid as a wager. It is clear from line

155.
171 that Osric is employing the word in a sense of his own.

No

other use of

157.

from

it

Hanger:

known.
which the rapier was suspended

in this sense is

the strap by

the girdle.

Liberal conceit: elaborate design.

edified by the margent: would need the
struction of a marginal commentary.
160.
162.

Must be

in-

Notes and Comment

240

[ActV.

174. Twelve for nine. The statement of the wager is somewhat obscure. For various interpretations see the Variorum.
As Dr. Johnson remarked: "The passage is of no importance;
it is sufficient that there was a wager."
" It was believed that the young lapwings were in
I93-94'

such haste to be hatched, that they ran

The

their heads.

bird

was

off

with the shell upon

therefore the symbol of a forward

fellow" {Clarendon Press).

He did comply with his dug: he paid
195.
to his

197.

compliments

mother's breast.

Drossy: mixed with

here as " frivolous,"

or,

impurities.
Variously interpreted
" pinchbeck, imitation."

Outward habit of encounter: external forms that be198.

long to conversation.
Yesty collection: frothy mass (of words).
199.
200.
Fond and winnowed: foolish and well-sifted (or,
perhaps, over-refined)
the reading of the Folios. Fann'd, profound, and sound have all been suggested for fond, which does
not seem to fit here. The general sense is apparently that the
frothy verbiage of such affected persons as Osric either (i)
gives them the appearance of expressing well-sifted opinions
or, (2) leads them into the most absurd and fantastic opinions.
The passage is obscure.
In happy time: a mere phrase of courtesy; cf. a la
214.
bonne heure.

220-21.

Why

222-35.

Compare

has Hamlet kept himself in practice?

this sense of foreboding on Hamlet's part
with the opposite presentiment in Romeo's case, just before the
catastrophe {Romeo and Juliet, V, i, i-ii). What dramatic
reason for the difference?
237-55. It is difficult not to wish, with Dr. Johnson, that
Hamlet had made some other apology to Laertes than the false
excuse of madness. Yet a moment's thought is sufficient to
show that there was no other reason that he could give. He
still meant to carry out his purpose (see line 73)
to tell the
truth now would be to defeat that design at the crucial moment.
And his disclaimer of a purposed evil (lines 251-55) is abso;

lutely sincere.

257~6i.

The

in the code

elder masters of knoivn honor are authorities

when they give their opinion, fortified

of honor

Scene
by

Notes and Comment

II.]

precedent,

Laertes may
own name, he

that

without injury to his

speech, of course,

Hamlet's

accept

reparation

will be reconciled.
basely treacherous.

is

Hamlet

Foils.

266.

a background

241

which

is

Laertes's

playing on the two meanings of foil:

jewel; and a blunted rapier for

sets off a

fencing.

268.

Stick fiery off: stand out in

283.

Union:

its

brilliancy.

The mention

pearl.

fine

of

the

pearl

is

merely a pretext for putting poison in the cup at the proper

moment.
He's fat and scant of breath. Tradition has it that
298.
this line was written to meet the needs of Richard Burbadge,
the great actor, who ivas fat, and required a moment's relief
in the fencing.
But fat may simply mean " out of training,
'

soft.'

"

Make a wanton of me: trifle with me, as if I were a

310.
spoiled child. For wanton, cf. King/ John, V, i, 70: "a beardless
cocker'd silken wanton"; Richard II, V, iii, 10: "Young
boy,
wanton and effeminate boy."

See notes on

328.

Practice.

333.

Then, venom, to thy work.

II,

ii,

38

IV,

And

revenge too late.

Sergeant: " an officer whose duty

let attains his

347.

vii, 68, 139.

so,

it

is

at

last,

Ham-

to enforce the

judgment of a tribunal or the commands of a person in authority " (Oxford Dictionary).

The figure is not that of a sheriff's

who arrests for debt, as is frequently stated.

Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, IV, xv, 86-88: "What's
352.
brave, what's noble. Let's do it after the high Roman fashion.
officer

And make Death proud

iii,

89

Macbeth, V,

A wounded

355.
361-63.

played

in

364.

What
the

Cf. also Julius Ccesar, V,

to take us."

viii,

1-2.

name.

Cf. line 261.

structural part has the expedition of Fortinbras

drama?

Why

is

it

introduced here?

O'er-crows: triumphs over

figure

drawn from

the

cock-pit.

Voice: here equivalent to "vote," as also in line 403.

367.
Which have solicited: the
368-69. The occurrents
.

occurrences which have prompted

Cracks: breaks.
370.
notation then than now.

my

action.

Another word of more dignified con-

Notes and Comment

242
Cries
375.
the first.

on:

either,

proclaims;

or,

[Act v.

incites

to.

Probably

Rights of memory; rights that are remembered.

His mouth: i. e., Hamlet's. In line 383 the same
phrase refers to the King. Draw on more
lead more to
400.

403.

speak.

408.

Put on:

put to the

In line 394 put o

test.

= insti-

gated.

Proved most royally: showed

himself most royal.

should have ended with
Hamlet's "The rest is silence" (line 369), or at least with the
two lines that immediately follow. Justify the close of the play
as Shakespeare gives it.
409.
It

is

often

said

that

the

play

aUESTIONS ON THE PLAY

What are some ,of the most marked differences that you observe between a tragedy like Hamlet and one like Macbeth?
With which of the two is Julius Casar the more closely reWhy? What have Hamlet and Brutus in common?
lated?
What have Hamlet and Macbeth
hesitates to act, what
Hamlet's reasons.

in

common? When Macbeth

Compare them with

are his grounds?

Collect all the occasions in the play when Hamlet really acts.
how many cases is his action planned by him? In how many
Turn back to the Introduction,
is it on the spur of the moment?
pages xx-xxii, and consider carefully the analyses there given

In

of Hamlet's character.

With which do you most nearly agree?

What differences can you point out between Ophelia's real

and Hamlet's assumed madness? If you have read Kin^ Lear,
consider also the real and assumed madness in that play.
Summarize the characteristics of Claudius as they are shown
what he says and does. In what sense is it true that he
and Hamlet are "mighty opposites"? If you have seen Hamlet

in

on the

stage,

criticise

the

usual

interpretation

of

Claudius's

part.

Contrast Gertrude and Lady Macbeth in their relation to

Conhusbands.
Compare both with Brutus's Portia.

their

Questions on the Play

Laertes and Horatio with Hamlet.
characters be spared from the play?
trast

Could

243
any of the

Study the soliloquies in the play.

For what purpose does
Shakespeare use them? Compare the number in Hamlet with the
number in Macbeth and Julius Casar. Can you account for
Why is the soliloquy rarely used in modern
the difference?
plays?

Why is Hamlet, in spite of all its problems, still one of the

most popular of all plays, old or new?
What elements of
melodrama are in the play? What is it that keeps it from
being

melodrama?

Hamlet that have become proverbial.

has given them their hold on everybody's mind? What
passages in the play seem to you to be the greatest poetry?
Collect the passages in

What

GLOSSARY
Absolute,

literal,

of

148;

perfect; V,

consummate,

II.

".

163.

Assign, appurtenance; V,

ii,

II,

38;

v,

I,

Avouch, avowal;

I,

57-

1,

632.

ii,

Abuse,

hoax;

deception,

vii,

IV,

Bate,

I,

v,

II,

Batten, glut oneself;

V,

11,

III,

iv,

67.

41.

Aery, brood

(in

a nest)

Beaver, the lower part of the

face-guard

25^,

ij

deduct;

except,

^3-

51.

Adulterate, adulterous;

ency; III,

Amiss,

tend-

inclination,

Affection,

i,

I,

not

disaster;

18.

iffrequently

used

gether with if;

v,

I,

to-

helmet;

176,

so

strong

curse;

as

II, i "3Bespeak, speak to; II,

Bestow, stow, place;

177-

V,

of

230.

140.

ii,

III,

iv,

^76.

Angle, fishing-hook and

ii,

Antic,

ii,

Beshrew, a mild imprecation.

170.

mischief,

IV, V,

line;

Beteem,

v.

Blazon,

equipment;

Blench,

fantastic;

I,

vi,

Approve,
i^

I,

ii,

I,

v,

flinch; II,

Bloat, bloated;

16.

procla-

publication,

mation;

Appointment,
IV,

permit, allow;

141-

66.

odd,

1^2.

i49,

ii,

^57.

Abuse, deceive;

An,

III,

Arras, hangings of tapestry;

548.

ii,

plot;

242.

m.

ii,

Abstract, epitome, summary;

II,

Argument,

hair-splitting;

point

V,

i,

exact to the

zi.
ii,

III,

626.
iv,

182.

Board, accost; II, ii, 169.

Bodykins, a diminutive (ex-

corroborate, justify;
29.

245

Glossary

246
pressing

of

affect^n)

body; II, ii, 554.

Bravery, ostentation, display;
V,

ii,

Broad,

79.

unrestrained;

free,

frame,

III,

Canon,

I, ii,

127.

especially

the

II,

Candied,

honeyed

65.
I,

susceptible

pression;

III,

ii,

132.

of

im-

ii,

300.

Cast, casting;

I,

IV,

salve;

vii,

duplicity;

deceit,

I,

Cerements, waxed
as a shroud

used

linen,

iv, 48.

I,

jaw; V, i, 97.
Character, handwriting

Clepe, call;

I,

iv,

Closely, secretly;
a

iv,

47,

62.

iii,

i,

room;

private

29.
II,

77-

give

II,

place of confine-

1551

vii,

14.

Constantly, firmly, fixedly;

ii,

pretext

484.
for,

I,

235-

receptacle

IV,

iv,

64; summary, abstract;

V,

ii,

115.

Cope, encounter, have

III,

ii,

to

do

60.

Cote, pass by, leave behind;

330.

ii,

Countenance, favor; IV,

encouragement,

thority;

V,

i,

ii,

au-

30.

cheat, delude; III, iv,

77-

Cozenage,
V,

19.

III,

Coagulate, clotted
Color,

IV,

I,

ment; II, ii, 251.

Conjunctive, closely joined;

Cozen,

Cicatrice, scar; IV,

sorrow,

mourning; I, ii, 93.

Confine, appointed limits

16

52.

Charge, expense; IV,

III,

86.

iv,

II,

Chapless, without the lower

Closet,

Compulsive, compelling;

with;

15.

vii,

manure;

Continent,

73.

i,

144.

Cautel,

ii,

iv,

ii,

Cataplasm,

III,

III,

IV,

127.

iv,

Carouse, drink a toast; V,

iii,

Compost,

i>

law;

rule,

Capable,

Commutual, mutual;

Condolements,

95.

i,

sugared,

ii,

natural;

45.

i,

151.

Bruit, noise abroad;

breast;

III,

170.

III, iv, 2.

Bulk,

make seem more

ii,

cheating,

deceit

67.

Crants, wreaths; V,

Credent, credulous;

i,

I,

255.
iii,

30.

Crowner, coroner; V, i, 4.
Cunning, skilful contrivance;
II,

ii,

619.

247

Glossary
Dalliance,
play;

wanton

trifling,

I,

50.

iii,

i,

V,

123.

ii

Delate, convey;

38.

ii,

I,

I, iv,

mood;

55;

III,

unfledged
355-

ii,

power,

ii,

ability;

II,

3i7-

Fantasy, imagination

I,

23,

i,

54-

Fardel, burden, pack;

III,

i,

76.

12.

Doubt, fear;

II,

ii,

116,

pect;

I,

56; III,

ii,

sus-

119;

117,

256;

ii,

II,

ng^
Dout, extinguish; IV, vii,
Down-gyved, hanging
gyves, or fetters

i,

believe;

to

hesitate

174;
II,

II,

Faculty,

Dispatch, deprive by death;

V y^.
I
Disposition, nature, constitui,

young

I,

gj.

tion;

298.

ii,

342.

ii,

hawk;

Denote, indicate, mark;

ii

V,

Eyas,

32.
II,

disapprobation;

Exception,

7.
Dansker, Dane;
Dearth, clearness, value;

II,

Espial, spy; III, i,

Even, fair, honest;

II,

Drab, a lewd woman;

ii,

192.
like
i,

80.

II,

ii,

aspect, features, face;

Favor,
V,

214.

i,

Fay, faith; II, ii, 271.

Feature, shape; III, ii,
Fee, value; I, iv, 65.

615.

loose

following

women;

II,

wooden rim

the

wheel,

which

into
fit;

II,

of

the

517-

ii,

Fierce, violent, terrible;

I,

i,

wind; V,

i,

121.

26.

i,

Drift, tendency, turn;

61,

ii,

347-

Felly,

spokes

Drabbing,

V,

cruel;

Fell, fierce,

25.

II,

i,

10.

Flaw, a

blast of

239-

Ecstasy, madness;
Ill

iv

III,

act; III,

Escot,

to

II,

pay

i,

I,

i,

83.

108.

ii,

Encompassment,
course;

168;

74.

Emulate, 'emulous;
Enact,

i,

circuitous
10.

reckoning

(or scot) for, to maintain;

II,

ii,

262.

Fond, foolish; I, v,
Fordo, destroy; V,
Forgery,
tion;

Frame,

lie,

II,

i,

false

order;

244.
attribu-

20.

shape, form;
III,

99.
i,

ii,

I, 11,

20;

321.^

Fretted, adorned; II, ii, 313Front, brow, forehead; III,

iv,

56.

Glossary

248
Fust, grow mouldy;

IV,

iv,

39-

Hectic, a fever; IV,

iii,

Hem,

"

to cry

hem

"

68.

IV, v,

5.

Hent,

Gage, pledge;

I,

III,

iii,

ii,

Hold

225.

kind,

seizure;

88.

Gaingiving, misgiving; V,

Gender,

grip,

91.

i,

IV,

sort;

up, maintain; V,

34.

i,

Hoodman-blind, blind-man's
vii,

buff;

III,

iv,

77.

18.

Gentry,
II,

ii,

gentility,

courtesy;

22; V,

114.

ii,

Impasted, made
II,

Germane,

related, akin; V,

ii,

paste;

into

481.

ii,

Imperious,

imperial;

V,

i,

165.

236.

Gib, tom-cat;

III,

190.

iv,

Grained, ingrained, indelible;

Importing, concerning; V,

ii,

21.
III, iv, 90.

Imposthume,

Greenly, foolishly; IV,

Gross, sum, entirety;

27.
I,

i,

obvious;

palpable,

68;

Incapable, unable
vii,

IV,

iv,

46.

fortune; IV,

134;

II,

Happiness,
speech)

II,

Hatchment,

I,

ii,

(of

212.

escutcheon

IV,

Haunt,
Hautboy, oboe;

[stage direc-

tion, after] III,

Havoc,

ii,

ii,

Head, armed

force;

neither

high nor

231.

Indirections, indirect means;

i,

66.

IV,

v,

I,

iv, 47.

ii,

122.
i,

271.

Inquire, inquiry;

Insinuation,
coffined;

bad,
ii,

un-

95.

average,

Inheritor, possessor; V,

375.

lOI.

Hearsed,

nor
II,

ii,

Ingenious, keen, quick; V,

145.

indiscriminate slaugh-

ter; V,

good
low;

I,

Infusion, endowments; V,

18.

i,

unsubdued,

chastened;

II,

V, 214.

resort; IV,

88.

vii,

Indifferent,

402.

ii,

felicity
;

IV,

179.

Incorrect,

70.

iii,

perhaps;

Happily, haply,
i,

to feel

Incorpsed, of one body with;

IV,

Hap,

abscess; IV, iv,

v, 83.

ii,

59-

II,

i,

i,

meddling

i2i.

4.
;

V,

249

Glossary
Instant, instantaneous;

v,

I,

capable of reason;

III, iv,

81.

71-

Instrumental,
iceable

Mortal,

deadly,

Mortised, joined by
Jointress, dowager;
Jowl, knock, dash; V,

Jump,

exactly;

just,

V,

I,

ii,

I,

9.

65;

i,

tor;

Mow,

386.

ii,

tise

III,

IV,

142.
II,

Mutine, mutiny;
mutineer; V,

Keep,

resort;

II,

V,

ii,

iv,

83;

6.

ii

Naked,

286.

Kibe, chilblain; V,

282.

ii,

III,

8.

i,

kettle-drum;

Kettle,

impos-

quack,

vii,

grimace;

mor-

20.

iii,

Mountebank,

84.

i,

IV,

fatal;

143.

vii,

48.

I, ii,

serv-

helpful,

stripped

one's belongings;

153.

i,

destitute,

IV,

of
vii,

44.

Lard, garnish; IV,

37; V,

20.

ii,

in Lent;

like the fare

II,

IV,

tious;

98;

Marry,

I,

number;

name

Mary;

Mart, traffic; I,
Mazzard, head
contempt)
lutely;

ing)

Mope,

iii,

I,

I,

moist
;

to

II,

be

cognate,

kindred;

I,

47.

Note, denote, show; I, v, 178.

Note, attention; III, ii, 89.

Noyance,

injury; III,

Occulted, hidden; III,

O'erreach, overtake;

of the

iii,

13.

ii,

85.

i,

ii,

of

abso-

137-

milk-giv-

540.

stupid,

smeared;

II,

ii,

O'erteemed, worn out with

child-bearing;

97.

(lit.,
ii,

i,

484.

(a term
V,

III,

17-

O'ersized,

90.

74.

i,

completely,

Merely,

I,

exclamation

originally the

Milch,

ii,

32.

ii,

an

Virgin

licen-

171.

vii,

List, muster-roll,

Native,
ii,

329.

ii,

free-spoken,

Liberal,

Napkin, handkerchief; V,
299.

Lenten, meager,

i,

v,

or

in-

Ominous,

fatal;

II,
II,

ii,
ii,

531.

476.

Opposite, opponent; V, ii, 62.

Orchard, garden; I, v, 35.
Ordinant, ordaining, ruling;
V,

ii,

48.

Glossary

250
Organ, instrument;

IV,

vii,

ready

clever;

71-

Orisons, prayers;

Outrageous,
III,

III,

Paddock, toad;

vi, 13.

ii,

V,

9.

Pandar, play the go-between

III,

permission;

leave,

329; IV,

ii,

Parle, parley;

I,

penetrability; II,

512.

own;

ii,

im-

V,

to,

ii,

66.

Proposer, speaker, talker;

II,

ii,

II,

i,

114;-

297.
i,

17-

short-winded

hence,

pampered;

fat,

62.

i,

Pass, thrust; V,

ii,

III,

iv,

153-

Quarry,

61.

Pat, in the nick of time, exaptly;

actly,

III,

iii,

Perdy, a corruption
Dieu; III, ii, 305.
Perusal,

73.

par

of

examine;

IV,

Question,
(trans.)

refined, choice;

vii,

V,

i,

(fig.)

speak to;

Quiddits,

V,

I,

iv,

30.

V,

i,

I,

v,

V,

forces; IV, iv,

forerunning,
I,

i,

i,

fine

dis-

off

i,

108.

scores;

68, 280.

ii,

III,

131.

9.

her-

iv,

of flageolet;

303.

ii,

Reechy,

20.

alding;

45.

II,

107.

Quillets^ quibbles; V,

Recorder, a kind

63.

Porpentine, porcupine;

Precurse,

i,

entrance

vestibule,
;

I,

137.

i,

subtleties,

Quit, requite, pay

151.

Porch,

375.

ID.

137-

I,

ii,

converse,

talk,

tinctions

Plausive, pleasing;

slaugh-

of

game; V,

Quick, living; V,

90.

Peruse,

heap

tered

Question, conversation;

examination

study,

i,

Powers,

156.

140.

i,

Picked,

I,

27.

ii,

Probation, proof; I, i,
Proof, resisting power,

Pursy,

vii, 46.

Partisan, a kind of halberd;

II,

III,

Providence, foresight; IV,

for; III, iv, 88.

Pardon,

witted,

212.

ii,

Proper, peculiar, belonging

III, iv, 190.

Pall, become vain, decay;

100;

V,

58.

i,

II,

Pressure, impress, stamp

89.

i,

violent, extreme

Overlook, peruse; IV,

I,

Pregnant,

filthy,

stinking;

III,

184.

Relative,

closely

the purpose;

related,
II,

ii,

633.

to

251

Glossary
Repast, feed, IV,

and indiscriminately;

v, 147.

Replication, reply; IV,

13.

98.

Resolve, dissolve; I, ii, 130.

Resort, visit; II, ii, 143.
Respect, consideration; III,

Shent,

ii,

Robustious,
III,

boisterous, noisy;

I,

i,

vii,

III, iv,

cross, crucifix;

14.

Round,

straightfor-

direct,

ward, plain-spoken;
III,

191;

iv,

III,

i,

5.

a
iv,

Saw,

maxim

saying,

iv,
I,

Sometime,
I,

V,

i,

Seized

of, possessed of (legal

term)

I,

i,

89.

Sense, understanding, reason;

I,

ii,

99-

Sensible, perceiving, feeling;

I,

i,

57-

Shard, fragment of pottery;

V,

Shark

i,

8.

ii,

merly;

sometime,
I,

i,

254.

up, gather up eagerly

for-

49.

Sort, harmonize, be fitting;

I,

109; class, associate; II,

274.

Splenitive,

v, 112.

I,

174.

one-time, former;

79.

Scrimer, fencer; IV, vii, loi.

Secure, keep from danger or

harm;

vii,

v, 100.

no.

133.

iii,

Spies, scouts; IV, v, 78.

Sconce, head (a term of contempt)

12.

6,

Slander, disgrace; I,
Sliver, a branch; IV,

ii,

III,

ii,

276.

i,

Sans, without;

II,

Sometimes,

Rouse, a deep draught,

bumper; I, ii, 127; I,

IV,

145.

Skyish, reaching the sky; V,

i,

107.

Rood,

iv, I.

Sith, since;

bustle, turmoil,

keenly;

sharply,

Simple, medicinal herb;

13-

i,

10.

ii,

Romage,

I,

416.

Shrewdly,
I,

68.

i,

Rivals, partners;

ii,

i,

rebuked

reproved,

III,

I,

im-

passionate,

petuous;

V,

i,

284.

Springe, snare; V,

ii,

317.

Stithy, smithy, forge; III,

ii,

89.

Stoup, a drinking vessel

i,

V,

68.

immediately;

Straight,
iv,

III,

I.

Strumpet,

prostitute;

II,

ii,

515-

Stuck, thrust; IV, vii, 162.

Subject, the people, subjects;
I,

i,

72;

I,

ii,

33-

Supposal, opinion;

I,

ii,

18.

Glossary

252
Table, tablet;

Tax,

I,

v,

Ungored,

98.

censure, reproach

iv,

I,

Tell, count;

I,

238.

ii,

Tenable, kept back, retained;

ii,

248.

Tent, probe;

Unkennel,
III,

339.

ii,

Tetter, a skin disease

v,

I,

reveal

disclose,
86.

ii,

I,

107.

Upspring,

626.

ii,

iii,

Unprevailing, unavailing;
ii,

II,

I,

47.

Tempered, mixed, compounded; V,

un-

261.

ii,

Ungracious, graceless;

18.

I,

unwounded,

hurt; V,

dance

name

the
iv,

I,

of

(with

9.

71-

Thereon, on

that account; II,

165.

ii,

Thews,

sinews;

I,

12.

iii,

IV,

136.
toil

I,

72.

i,

Touched, implicated;

ii,

442.

Variable, various;

III,

Ventages,

IV, v,
i,

III,
is

at

hand, immi-

nent, in preparation;

77; V,
trifle;

ii,

I,

i,

376.

IV,

155;

Vulgar,

II,

efficacy; IV, v,

vii,

145.

common-

ordinary,

place;
ii,

Tristful, sad; III,

iv,

Trumpet, trumpeter;

I,

ii,

99.

125.

Wake,

50.
I,

i,

150.

I,

to
iv,

Wassail,

Unbated, unblunted;
ii,

IV,

vii,

II,

i,

78.

salve, ointment; III,

vii,

8.

Wholesome,

142.

ii,

bowl,

drinking

carousal

III,

145; IV,

hold nightly revel

I,

Whiles, while;

328.

Unbraced, unfastened;
Unction,

372.

say;

IV, v, 18.

Trace, follow; V,

139; V,

ii,

to

61.

Virtue, power,

Toward, near

180.

i,

orifices for the pas-

Videlicet, that

207.

iv,

II,

sage of air;

Toil, cause to

Toy,

fringed

beard)

Throughly, thoroughly
V,

Valanced,

iv, 9.

III, iv, 148.

sensible;

sane,

328.

Windlass, winding
cuitous path;

turn, cir-

II,

i,

65.

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