Hamlet

Hamlet

ACT I SCENE V	Another part of the platform.
	Enter GHOST and HAMLET
HAMLET	Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.
Ghost	Mark me.
HAMLET	I will.
Ghost	My hour is almost come,	5
	When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
	Must render up myself.
HAMLET	Alas, poor ghost!
Ghost	Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
	To what I shall unfold.	10
HAMLET	Speak; I am bound to hear.
Ghost	So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
HAMLET	What?
Ghost	I am thy father's spirit,
	Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,	15
	And for the day confined to fast in fires,
	Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
	Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
	To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
	I could a tale unfold whose lightest word	20
	Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
	Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
	Thy knotted and combined locks to part
	And each particular hair to stand on end,
	Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:	25
	But this eternal blazon must not be
	To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
	If thou didst ever thy dear father love--
HAMLET	O God!
Ghost	Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.	30
HAMLET	Murder!
Ghost	Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
	But this most foul, strange and unnatural.
HAMLET	Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
	As meditation or the thoughts of love,	35
	May sweep to my revenge.
Ghost	I find thee apt;
	And 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:	40
	'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
	A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
	Is by a forged process of my death
	Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
	The serpent that did sting thy father's life	45
	Now wears his crown.
HAMLET	O my prophetic soul! My uncle!
Ghost	Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
	With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
	O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power	50
	So to seduce!--won to his shameful lust
	The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
	O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
	From me, whose love was of that dignity
	That it went hand in hand even with the vow	55
	I made to her in marriage, and to decline
	Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
	To those of mine!
	But virtue, as it never will be moved,
	Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,	60
	So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
	Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
	And prey on garbage.
	But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
	Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,	65
	My custom always of the afternoon,
	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	70
	Holds such an enmity with blood of man
	That swift as quicksilver it courses through
	The natural gates and alleys of the body,
	And with a sudden vigour doth posset
	And curd, like eager droppings into milk,	75
	The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
	And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
	Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
	All my smooth body.
	Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand	80
	Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
	Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
	Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,
	No reckoning made, but sent to my account
	With all my imperfections on my head:	85
	O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
	If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
	Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
	A couch for luxury and damned incest.
	But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,	90
	Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
	Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
	And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
	To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
	The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,	95
	And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
	Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.
	Exit
HAMLET	O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?
	And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart;
	And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,	100
	But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee!
	Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
	In this distracted globe. Remember thee!
	Yea, from the table of my memory
	I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,	105
	All saws of books, all forms, all 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!	110
	O most pernicious woman!
	O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
	My tables,--meet it is I set it down,
	That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
	At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark:	115
	Writing
	So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;
	It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.'
	I have sworn 't.
HORATIO	[Within] My lord, my lord,--	120
MARCELLUS	Lord Hamlet!
HORATIO	Heavens secure him!
HAMLET	So be it!
MARCELLUS	Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
HAMLET	Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.
	Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS
MARCELLUS	How is't, my noble lord?
HORATIO	What news, my lord?
HAMLET	O, wonderful!	125
HORATIO	Good my lord, tell it.
HAMLET	No; you'll reveal it.
HORATIO	Not I, my lord, by heaven.
MARCELLUS	Nor I, my lord.
HAMLET	How say you, then; would heart of man once think it?
	But you'll be secret?	130
HORATIO. MARCELLUS	Ay, by heaven, my lord.
HAMLET	There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
	But he's an arrant knave.
HORATIO	There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave	135
	To tell us this.
HAMLET	Why, right; you are i' the right;
	And so, without more circumstance at all,
	I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:
	You, as your business and desire shall point you;	140
	For every man has business and desire,
	Such as it is; and for mine own poor part,
	Look you, I'll go pray.
HORATIO	These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
HAMLET	I'm sorry they offend you, heartily;	145
	Yes, 'faith heartily.
HORATIO	There's no offence, my lord.
HAMLET	Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
	And much offence too. Touching this vision here,
	It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you:	150
	For your desire to know what is between us,
	O'ermaster 't as you may. And now, good friends,
	As you are friends, scholars and soldiers,
	Give me one poor request.
HORATIO	What is't, my lord? we will.	155
HAMLET	Never make known what you have seen to-night.
HORATIO, MARCELLUS	My lord, we will not.
HAMLET	Nay, but swear't.
HORATIO	In faith,
	My lord, not I.	160
MARCELLUS	Nor I, my lord, in faith.
HAMLET	Upon my sword.
MARCELLUS	We have sworn, my lord, already.
HAMLET	Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
bsp;	Beneath
HAMLET	Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there,
	truepenny?
	Come on--you hear this fellow in the cellarage--	165
	Consent to swear.
HORATIO	Propose the oath, my lord.
HAMLET	Never to speak of this that you have seen,
	Swear by my sword.
Ghost	Beneath
HAMLET	Hic et ubique? then we'll shift our ground.	170
	Come hither, gentlemen,
	And lay your hands again upon my sword:
	Never to speak of this that you have heard,
	Swear by my sword.
	GHOST CRIES BENEATH THE STAGE
HAMLET	Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast?	175
	A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.
HORATIO	O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!
HAMLET	And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
	There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
	Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come;	180
	Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
	How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
	As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
	To put an antic disposition on,
	That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,	185
	With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake,
	Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
	As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,'
	Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,'
	Or such ambiguous giving out, to note	190
	That you know aught of me: this not to do,
	So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.
Ghost	Beneath
HAMLET	Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!
	(They swear)
HAMLET	So, gentlemen,
	With all my love I do commend me to you:
	And what so poor a man as Hamlet is	195
	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!	200
	Nay, come, let's go together.
	Exeunt