Trumpets sound. The dumb show follows. Enter a King and Queen, very lovingly; the Queen embracing him, and he her. She kneels, and makes show of protestations unto him. He takes her up, and declines his head upon her neck: lays 5 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 poisonin the King's ears, and exit. The Queen returns; finds the King dead, and makes passionate action. 10 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. Oph. What means this, my lord? Ham. Marry, this is miching malicho; it means mischief. 15 Oph. Belike, this show imports the argument 20 of the play. Enter Prologue. Ham. We shall know by this fellow: the players cannot keep counsel; they'll tell all. Ŏph. Will he tell us what this show meant? Ham. Ay, or any show that you'll shew him : Be not you asham'd to shew, he 'll not shame to tell you what it means. 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." Ham. Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring: Oph. 'Tis brief, my lord. Ham. As woman's love. Enter a King, and a Queen. P. King. Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart' gone round My operant powers their functions leave to do: P. Queen. O, confound the rest! None wed the second, but who kill'd the first. Ham. That's wormwood. P. King. I do believe, you think what now you But what we do determine, oft we break. To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt: Their own enactures with themselves destroy: For 'tis a question left us yet to prove, Whether love lead fortune, or else fortune love. Neptune's salt wash, and Tellus' orbed ground; 40 P. Queen. So many journeys may the sun and 45 moon Sport, and repose, lock from me, day, and night' To desperation turn my trust and hope! 50 An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope! Each opposite, that blanks the face of joy, Meet what I would have well, and it destroy! Both here, and hence, pursue my lasting strife, lf, once a widow, ever I be wife! Make us again count o'er, ere love be done! there. [know; P. King. 'Faith, I must leave thee, love, and[6of [To Oph. Ham. Ifshe should break it now,- My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile P. Queen. Sleep rock thy brain; [Sleeps. Hanmer tell us, that miching malicho signifies mischief lying hid, and that malicho is the Spanish malheco. Lotices. 4 A chariot was anciently so called. Splendour, lustre. Operant is active. The And This is one Lucianus, nephew to the duke. Oph. You are keen, my lord, you are keen. Ham. It would cost you a groaning, to take off my edge. Oph. Still better, and worse 3. Ham. So you mistake your husbands. Begin, murderer.-Leave thy damnable faces, and begin. [venge. 20 25 Come The croaking raven doth bellow for re- 30 Confederate season, else no creature sceing; [Pours the poison into his ears. Ham. He poisons him i' the garden for his estate. His name's Gonzago: the story is extant, and 40 written in very choice Italian: You shall see anon, how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife. Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers, (if the rest of my fortunes turn Turk* with me) with two Provencial roses on my rayed shoes', get me a fellowship in a cry of players, sir? Hor. Half a share. 6 Ham. A whole one, I. For thou dost know, O Damon' dear, Of Jove himself; and now reigns here Hor. You might have rhym'd. Ham. O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word Han. Upon the talk of the poisoning,— Ham. Ah, ha!- -Come, some music; come, the recorders. For if the king like not the comedy, Come, some music. [you. Guil. Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with Guil. Is, in his retirement, marvellous distem- Guil. No, my lord, with choler. Ham. Your wisdom should shew itself more richer, to signify this to the doctor; for, for me to put him to his purgation, would, perhaps, plunge him into more choler. Guil. Good my lord, put your discourse into some frame, and start not so wildly from my affair. Ham. I am tame, sir:pronounce. Guit. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not Guil. What, my lord? Ham. Make you awholesome answer; my wit's diseas'd: But, sir, such answer as I can make, 50 you shall command; or, rather, as you say, my inother: therefore no more, but to the matter: My mother, you say, Ros. Then thus she says: Your behaviour hath struck her into amazement and admiration. the thing, In which he'll catch the conscience of the 4 Means, When shoe-strings were worn, they He calls it the mouse-trap, because it is king. 2 This refers to the interpreter, who formerly sat on the stage at all motions or puppetshows, and interpreted to the audience. 3i. e. according to Mr. Steevens, better in regard to the wit of your double entendre, but worse in respect to the grossness of your meaning. probably, no more than to change condition fantastically. were covered, where they met in the middle, by a ribband gathered into the form of a rose.-Rayed shoes, are shoes braided in lines. The allusion is to a pack of hounds.-A pack of hounds was 'Hamlet calls Horatio by this name, in allusion to the celebrated • A peacock seems proverbial for a fool. Mr. Steevens, however, believes paddock (or toad) to be the true reading. Perdy is a corruption of par Dieu, once called a cry of hounds. and is not uncommon in the old plays. 8 Ham Ham. O wonderful son, that can so astonish mother!-But is there no sequel at the heels of this-mother's admiration? impart. Ros. She desires to speak with you in her closet, ere you go to bed. Ham. We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have you any further trade 'with us? Ros. My lord, you once did love me. 5 Ham. And do still, by these pickers and stealers?. Ros. Good my lord, what is your cause of dis-10 temper? you do, surely, bar the door upon your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to your friend. Ham. Sir, I lack advancement. Ros. How can that be, when you have the voice of the king himself for your succession in Den-15 mark? Ham. Ay, sir, but While the grass grows,—the proverb is something musty. Enter the Players, with Recorders 3. O, the recorders :- let me see one.-To with-20 Guil. O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly *. Ham. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe? Guil. My lord, I cannot. Ham. I pray you. Guil. Believe me, I cannot. Guil. I know no touch of it, my lord. 25 Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, Ham. 'Tis as easy as lying: govern these ventages' with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most elo-35 quent music. Look you, these are the stops. Guil. But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill. Ham. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of nie! You would play upon 40 me; 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 my compass: and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you 45 make it speak. Why, do you think, that I am easier to be play'd on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, vou cannot play upon me. [Enter Polonius.]God bless you, sir! Pol. My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently. Ham. Do you see yonder cloud, that's almost in shape of a camel? Guil. We will ourselves provide: Ros. The single and peculiar life is bound, Pol. By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, in-55 deed. 1i. e. further business, further dealing. 3 i. e. a kind of flute. i.e. If my duty to the king makes me press you a little, my love to you makes me still more impor tunate. It that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly. The weasel is remarkable for the length of its back. till I can endure to do it no longer. commission of some act of mischief. guage. 10. e. put them in execution. The holes of a flute. i. e. They compel me to play the fool, The bitter day is the day rendered hateful or bitter by the To shend, is to reprove harshly, to treat with injurious lani. e. his madness, frenzy." Act 3. Scene 4.1 Both. We will haste us. HAMLET. [Exeunt Ros. and Guil. Pol. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet; King. Thanks, my dear lord. [Exit. O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe; Enter Hamlet. [The King kneels. 5 10 1023 With all his crimes broad-blown, as flush as May; Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent": Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven; King. My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: 20 Words, without thoughts, never to heaven go. Exit 25 30 135 40 145 50 Ham. Now might I do it, pat, now he is praying; Why this is hire and salary, not revenge. [Polonius hides himself. Enter Hamlet. Ham. Now, mother; what's the matter? Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much of fended. [ed. Ham. Mother, you have my father much offend- tongue. Ham.Go,go, you question with a wicked tongue. Ham. What's the matter now? You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife; Help, help, ho! Pol. [Behind.] What, ho! help! 60 Dead, for a ducat, dead, i.e. by some opportunity of secret observation. alludes to bird-lime. i. e. that should be considered, estimated. Lay hold on him, sword, at a more horrid time, shall 3 This 2 Will is command, direction. "Hent is hold, or seizure. [Hamlet i. e. I'll use no more words. [Hamlet strikes at Polonius through the arras.} Pol. [Behind.] O, I am slain. Queen. O me, what hast thou done? Is it the king? Queen. O, what a rash and bloody deed is this! As kill a king, and marry with his brother. Ham. Ay, lady, 'twas my word.- If damned custom have not braz'd it so, In noise so rude against me? Ham. Such an act, 2 That blurs the grace and blush of modesty; A rhapsody of words: Heaven's face doth glow; Queen. Ay me, what act, That roars so loud, and thunders in the index? A station like the Herald Mercury, New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill; what Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear, It was once the custom of those who were spicuous mark of their mutual engagement. contract. 5 Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd, O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell, 20 Queen. O Hamlet, speak no more: Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul; Ham. Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an incestuous bed; Queen. O, speak to me no more; 25 These words like daggers enter in mine ears; Ham. A murderer, and a villain : 35 401 45 50 Queen. No more. Queen. Alas, he's mad. Ham. Do you not come your tardy son to chide, Ghost. Do not forget: This visitation Ham. How is it with you, lady? Queen. Alas, how is 't with you? That you do bend your eye on vacancy, betrothed, to wear some flower as an external and con See note, p. 389. : Contraction for marriage |