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Hamlet
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Table of Contents
Dramatis Personae
Act 1
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Act 2
Scene 1
Scene 2
Act 3
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Act 4
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Scene 7
Act 5
Scene 1
Scene 2
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Dramatis Personae
CLAUDIUS king of Denmark.
HAMLET son to the late, and nephew to the present king.
POLONIUS lord chamberlain.
HORATIO friend to Hamlet.
LAERTES son to Polonius.
LUCIANUS nephew to the king.
VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, OSRIC } courtiers.
A Gentleman,
A Priest.
MARCELLUS, BERNARDO } officers.
FRANCISCO a soldier.
REYNALDO servant to Polonius.
Players.
Two Clowns, grave-diggers.
FORTINBRAS prince of Norway.
A 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.
Act 1
Scene 1
Elsinore. A platform before the castle.
Who's there?
FRANCISCO
Bernardo?
BERNARDO
He.
FRANCISCO
Exit
MARCELLUS
Holla! Bernardo!
BERNARDO
Say,
What, is Horatio there?
HORATIO
A piece of him.
BERNARDO
Enter Ghost
MARCELLUS
It is offended.
BERNARDO
Exit Ghost
MARCELLUS
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,
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,
Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet--
For so this side of our known world esteem'd him--
Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal'd compact,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror:
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king; which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant,
And carriage of the article design'd,
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Re-enter Ghost
Cock crows
'Tis here!
HORATIO
'Tis here!
MARCELLUS
'Tis gone!
Exit Ghost
Exeunt
Scene 2
A room of state in the castle.
My dread lord,
Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
To show my duty in your coronation,
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
KING CLAUDIUS
[Aside]
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
HAMLET
My good lord--
HAMLET
HAMLET
Where, my lord?
HAMLET
Saw? who?
HORATIO
My lord, I did;
But answer made it none: yet once methought
It lifted up its 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.
HAMLET
We do, my lord.
HAMLET
Arm'd, my lord.
HAMLET
Pale or red?
HORATIO
Most constantly.
HAMLET
HAMLET
Longer, longer.
HORATIO
I warrant it will.
HAMLET
Exit
Scene 3
A room in Polonius' house.
Think it no more;
For nature, crescent, does not grow alone
In thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The safety and health of this whole state;
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
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O, fear me not.
I stay too long: but here my father comes.
Enter POLONIUS
Farewell.
Exit
LORD POLONIUS
Exeunt
Scene 4
The platform.
No, it is struck.
HORATIO
Is it a custom?
HAMLET
Enter Ghost
HAMLET
To you alone.
MARCELLUS
No, by no means.
HAMLET
Do not, my lord.
HAMLET
It waves me still.
Go on; I'll follow thee.
MARCELLUS
Exeunt
Scene 5
Another part of the platform.
Mark me.
HAMLET
I will.
Ghost
What?
Ghost
O God!
Ghost
Murder!
Ghost
Exit
HAMLET
Writing
[Within]
My lord, my lord,--
MARCELLUS
[Within]
Lord Hamlet,--
HORATIO
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[Within]
So be it!
HORATIO
[Within]
O, wonderful!
HORATIO
Nor I, my lord.
HAMLET
How say you, then; would heart of man once think it?
But you'll be secret?
HORATIO, MARCELLUS
In faith,
My lord, not I.
MARCELLUS
Upon my sword.
MARCELLUS
[Beneath]
Swear.
HAMLET
[Beneath]
Swear.
HAMLET
[Beneath]
Swear.
HAMLET
Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast?
A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.
HORATIO
[Beneath]
Swear.
HAMLET
They swear
So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you:
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do, to express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint: O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
Nay, come, let's go together.
Exeunt
Act 2
Scene 1
A room in POLONIUS' house.
REYNALDO
I will, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS
As gaming, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS
Ay, my lord,
I would know that.
LORD POLONIUS
My lord, I have.
LORD POLONIUS
Good my lord!
LORD POLONIUS
I shall, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS
Well, my lord.
LORD POLONIUS
Farewell!
Exit REYNALDO
Enter OPHELIA
Exeunt
Scene 2
A room in the castle.
Ay, amen!
Enter POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
Exit POLONIUS
Giving a paper
It likes us well;
And at our more consider'd time well read,
Answer, and think upon this business.
Meantime we thank you for your well-took labour:
Go to your rest; at night we'll feast together:
Most welcome home!
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Reads
Reads
Reads
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So he does indeed.
LORD POLONIUS
O, give me leave:
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Well, God-a-mercy.
LORD POLONIUS
Not I, my lord.
HAMLET
Honest, my lord!
HAMLET
I have, my lord.
HAMLET
[Aside]
LORD POLONIUS
Between who?
LORD POLONIUS
[Aside]
Into my grave.
LORD POLONIUS
Aside
[To POLONIUS]
Exit POLONIUS
GUILDENSTERN
My honoured lord!
ROSENCRANTZ
Neither, my lord.
HAMLET
Prison, my lord!
HAMLET
Denmark's a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ
ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN
[Aside to GUILDENSTERN]
[Aside]
Why did you laugh then, when I said 'man delights not me'?
ROSENCRANTZ
Is't possible?
GUILDENSTERN
Ay, that they do, my lord; Hercules and his load too.
HAMLET
Enter POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
Buz, buz!
LORD POLONIUS
Why,
'One fair daughter and no more,
The which he loved passing well.'
LORD POLONIUS
[Aside]
Still on my daughter.
HAMLET
Why,
'As by lot, God wot,'
and then, you know,
'It came to pass, as most like it was,'--
the first row of the pious chanson will show you
more; for look, where my abridgement comes.
LORD POLONIUS
'Tis well: I'll have thee speak out the rest soon.
Good my lord, will you see the players well
bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for
they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the
time: after your death you were better have a bad
epitaph than their ill report while you live.
LORD POLONIUS
Come, sirs.
HAMLET
Dost thou hear me, old friend; can you play the
Murder of Gonzago?
First Player
Ay, my lord.
HAMLET
Ay, my lord.
HAMLET
Very well. Follow that lord; and look you mock him
not.
Good my lord!
HAMLET
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,
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Exit
Act 3
Scene 1
A room in the castle.
We shall, my lord.
To OPHELIA
[Aside]
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Good my lord,
How does your honour for this many a day?
HAMLET
No, not I;
I never gave you aught.
OPHELIA
My lord?
HAMLET
At home, my lord.
HAMLET
Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the
fool no where but in's own house. Farewell.
OPHELIA
Exit
OPHELIA
It shall be so:
Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go.
Exeunt
Scene 2
A hall in the castle.
Exeunt Players
How now, my lord! I will the king hear this piece of work?
LORD POLONIUS
Exit POLONIUS
We will, my lord.
Enter HORATIO
HORATIO
O, my dear lord,--
HAMLET
Well, my lord:
If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing,
And 'scape detecting, I will pay the theft.
HAMLET
Danish march. A flourish. Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, POLONIUS, OPHELIA,
ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and others
KING CLAUDIUS
To POLONIUS
HAMLET
No, my lord.
HAMLET
Ay, my lord.
HAMLET
Nothing.
OPHELIA
Who, I?
OPHELIA
Ay, my lord.
HAMLET
OPHELIA
Enter a King and a Queen very lovingly; the Queen embracing him, and he her. She kneels, and makes
show of protestation unto him. He takes her up, and declines his head upon her neck: lays him down
upon a bank of flowers: she, seeing him asleep, leaves him. Anon comes in a fellow, takes off his crown,
kisses it, and pours poison in the King's ears, and exit. The Queen returns; finds the King dead, and
makes passionate action. The Poisoner, with some two or three Mutes, comes in again, seeming to
lament with her. The dead body is carried away. The Poisoner wooes the Queen with gifts: she seems
loath and unwilling awhile, but in the end accepts his love
Exeunt
OPHELIA
Enter Prologue
HAMLET
You are naught, you are naught: I'll mark the play.
Prologue
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Exit
HAMLET
As woman's love.
[Aside]
Wormwood, wormwood.
Player Queen
Sleeps
Player Queen
Exit
HAMLET
Enter LUCIANUS
OPHELIA
Half a share.
HAMLET
A whole one, I.
For thou dost know, O Damon dear,
This realm dismantled was
Of Jove himself; and now reigns here
A very, very--pajock.
HORATIO
Sir, I cannot.
GUILDENSTERN
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What, my lord?
HAMLET
How can that be, when you have the voice of the king
himself for your succession in Denmark?
HAMLET
My lord, I cannot.
HAMLET
I pray you.
GUILDENSTERN
I do beseech you.
GUILDENSTERN
Enter POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
Or like a whale?
LORD POLONIUS
Exit POLONIUS
Exit
Scene 3
A room in the castle.
Enter POLONIUS
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LORD POLONIUS
Exit POLONIUS
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Exit
KING CLAUDIUS
[Rising]
Exit
Scene 4
The Queen's closet.
[Within]
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
[Behind]
[Drawing]
[Behind]
O, I am slain!
As kill a king!
HAMLET
Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
HAMLET
No more!
HAMLET
Enter Ghost
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Exit Ghost
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Pointing to POLONIUS
Alack,
I had forgot: 'tis so concluded on.
HAMLET
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Act 4
Scene 1
A room in the castle.
O heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there:
His liberty is full of threats to all;
To you yourself, to us, to every one.
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrain'd and out of haunt,
This mad young man: but so much was our love,
We would not understand what was most fit;
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 GERTRUDE
Exeunt
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Scene 2
Another room in the castle.
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Safely stowed.
ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN
[Within]
Believe what?
HAMLET
The body is with the king, but the king is not with
the body. The king is a thing--
GUILDENSTERN
A thing, my lord!
HAMLET
Exeunt
Scene 3
Another room in the castle.
Enter ROSENCRANTZ
At supper.
KING CLAUDIUS
At supper! where?
HAMLET
Alas, alas!
HAMLET
Where is Polonius?
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HAMLET
To some Attendants
HAMLET
Exeunt Attendants
KING CLAUDIUS
For England!
KING CLAUDIUS
Ay, Hamlet.
HAMLET
Good.
KING CLAUDIUS
Exit
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KING CLAUDIUS
Exit
Scene 4
A plain in Denmark.
Go softly on.
Captain
Exit
ROSENCRANTZ
Exit
Scene 5
Elsinore. A room in the castle.
'Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Exit HORATIO
[Sings]
Sings
Sings
[Sings]
Well, God 'ild you! They say the owl was a baker's
daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not
what we may be. God be at your table!
KING CLAUDIUS
Sings
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Pretty Ophelia!
OPHELIA
Sings
Exit
KING CLAUDIUS
Exit HORATIO
A noise within
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Noise within
LAERTES
We will, we will.
Where is my father?
KING CLAUDIUS
Dead.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Good Laertes,
If you desire to know the certainty
Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge,
That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe,
Winner and loser?
LAERTES
[Within]
Re-enter OPHELIA
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[Sings]
[Sings]
Sings
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[Sings]
Exit
LAERTES
So you shall;
And where the offence is let the great axe fall.
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Exeunt
Scene 6
Another room in the castle.
Exit Servant
Enter Sailors
First Sailor
[Reads]
Exeunt
Scene 7
Another room in the castle.
Break not your sleeps for that: you must not think
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
That we can let our beard be shook with danger
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more:
I loved your father, and we love ourself;
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine--
Enter a Messenger
Exit Messenger
Reads
If it be so, Laertes--
As how should it be so? how otherwise?--
Will you be ruled by me?
LAERTES
Ay, my lord;
So you will not o'errule me to a peace.
KING CLAUDIUS
It falls right.
You have been talk'd of since your travel much,
And 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.
LAERTES
A Norman was't?
KING CLAUDIUS
A Norman.
LAERTES
LAERTES
I will do't:
And, for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue
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,
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It may be death.
KING CLAUDIUS
Drown'd! O, where?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Drown'd, drown'd.
LAERTES
Exit
KING CLAUDIUS
Exeunt
Act 5
Scene 1
A churchyard.
Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had not been
a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o'
Christian burial.
First Clown
Was he a gentleman?
First Clown
Second Clown
Go to.
First Clown
To't.
Second Clown
[Sings]
Throws up a skull
HAMLET
It might, my lord.
HAMLET
Ay, my lord.
HAMLET
Mine, sir.
Sings
HAMLET
One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead.
HAMLET
Of all the days i' the year, I came to't that day
that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.
HAMLET
Why?
First Clown
How strangely?
First Clown
How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot?
First Clown
First Clown
This?
First Clown
E'en that.
HAMLET
Let me see.
E'en so.
HAMLET
HORATIO
Enter Priest, &c. in procession; the Corpse of OPHELIA, LAERTES and Mourners following; KING
CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, their trains, &c
That is Laertes,
A very noble youth: mark.
LAERTES
No more be done:
We should profane the service of the dead
To sing a requiem and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.
LAERTES
Scattering flowers
O, treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that cursed head,
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Deprived thee of! Hold off the earth awhile,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms:
[Advancing]
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Hamlet, Hamlet!
All
Gentlemen,--
HORATIO
The Attendants part them, and they come out of the grave
HAMLET
O, he is mad, Laertes.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
HAMLET
Exit
KING CLAUDIUS
Exit HORATIO
To LAERTES
Exeunt
Scene 2
A hall in the castle.
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So much for this, sir: now shall you see the other;
You do remember all the circumstance?
HORATIO
Up from my cabin,
My sea-gown scarf'd about me, in the dark
Groped I to find out them; had my desire.
Finger'd their packet, and in fine withdrew
To mine own room again; making so bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unseal
Their grand commission; where I found, Horatio,--
O royal knavery!--an exact command,
Larded with many several sorts of reasons
Importing Denmark's health and England's too,
With, ho! such bugs and goblins in my life,
That, on the supervise, no leisure bated,
No, not to stay the grinding of the axe,
My head should be struck off.
HORATIO
Is't possible?
HAMLET
I beseech you.
HAMLET
Enter OSRIC
OSRIC
OSRIC
Sir?
HORATIO
Of Laertes?
HORATIO
Of him, sir.
OSRIC
I knew you must be edified by the margent ere you had done.
OSRIC
Yours, yours.
Exit OSRIC
Enter a Lord
Lord
In happy time.
Lord
Exit Lord
HORATIO
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Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, LAERTES, Lords, OSRIC, and Attendants with
foils, &c
KING CLAUDIUS
I am satisfied in nature,
Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most
To my revenge: but in my terms of honour
I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder masters, of known honour,
I have a voice and precedent of peace,
To keep my name ungored. But till that time,
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.
HAMLET
I embrace it freely;
And will this brother's wager frankly play.
Give us the foils. Come on.
LAERTES
Come, my lord.
They play
HAMLET
One.
LAERTES
No.
HAMLET
Judgment.
OSRIC
Well; again.
KING CLAUDIUS
They play
Good madam!
KING CLAUDIUS
[Aside]
I do not think't.
LAERTES
[Aside]
HAMLET
They play
OSRIC
LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then in scuffling, they change rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES
KING CLAUDIUS
Dies
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HAMLET
Treason! treason!
KING CLAUDIUS
He is justly served;
It is a poison temper'd by himself.
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,
Nor thine on me.
Dies
HAMLET
As thou'rt a man,
Give me the cup: let go; by heaven, I'll have't.
O good Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.
O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit:
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited. The rest is silence.
Dies
HORATIO
March within
A dead march. Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies; after which a peal of ordnance is shot off