NCT IV Should have kept short, restrained, and out of haunt, This mad young man: but so much was our love, Shews itself pure; he weeps for what is done. The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch, But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. Friends both, go join you with some further aid: Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain, And from his mother's closet hath he dragged him: Go, seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this. [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. Come, Gertrude, we 'll call up our wisest friends; And let them know, both what we mean to do, And what's untimely done: so, haply, slander,Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, As level as the cannon to his blank, Transports his poisoned shot,-may miss our name, And hit the woundless air. O, come away! My soul is full of discord and dismay. [Exeunt. Ros. Tell us where 'tis; that we may take it thence, And bear it to the chapel. Ham. Do not believe it. Ros. Believe what? Ham. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! —what replication should be made by the son of a king? Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my lord? Ham. Ay, sir; that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: he keeps them like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. Ros. I understand you not, my lord. Ham. I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear. Ros. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king. Ham. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thingGuil. A thing, my lord? Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after. [Exeunt. Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN. King. Now, Hamlet, where 's Polonius? Ham. At supper. King. At supper!—where? Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten : a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else, to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat king, and your lean beggar, is but variable service; two dishes, but to one table; that's the end. King. Alas, alas! Ham. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king; and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. King. What dost thou mean by this? Ham. Nothing, but to shew you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar. King. Where is Polonius? Ham. In heaven; send thither to see if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. But, indeed, if 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. 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 With fiery quickness: therefore, prepare thyself; Ham. For England? King. Ay, Hamlet. Ham. Good. King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. Ham. I see a cherub that sees them. But come; for England!—Farewell, dear mother. King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. Ham. My mother. Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England. [Exit. King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard; Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night: haste. [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught (As my great power thereof may give thee sense; Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red Cap. pray you? 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 for some frontier? Cap. Truly to speak, sir, and with no addition, We go to gain a little patch of ground That hath in it no profit but the name. Το pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it; Nor will it yield to Norway, or the Pole, A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee. Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrisoned. Ham. Two 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 shews no cause without Why the man dies.-I humbly thank you, sir. Cap. God be wi' you, sir. [Exit. Ros. Will't please you go, my lord? Ham. I will be with you straight. Go a little before. [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and Guildenstern. How all occasions do inform against me, And spur my dull revenge! What is a man, If his chief good, and market of his time, Be but to sleep and feed?—a beast, no more. Sure He that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on the event,— A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom, And ever three parts coward,-I do not know Why yet I live to say, “This thing 's to do;" Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means, To do 't. Examples gross as earth exhort me: Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot SCENE V.-Elsinore. A Room in the Castle. Enter QUEEN and HORATIO. Queen. I will not speak with her. Hor. She is importunate; indeed, distract; Her mood will needs be pitied. Queen. What would she have? Hor. She speaks much of her father; says, she hears There's tricks i' the world; and hems, and beats her heart; Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt, That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing, Enter KING. Queen. Alas, look here, my lord. OPHELIA sings. Larded all with sweet flowers; King. How do you do, pretty lady? Oph. Well, God 'ield 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. Conceit upon her father. Oph. Pray let us have no words of this; but when they ask you what it means, say you this: Sings. Good morrow, 't is St. Valentine's day, All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window, To be your Valentine: Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, And dupped the chamber door; Let in the maid, that out a maid Never departed more. King. Pretty Ophelia. Oph. Indeed, without an oath, I'll make an end on't. Sings. By Gis and by Saint Charity, Alack and fie for shame! Young men will do't if they come to 't; By cock they are to blame. Quoth she, before you tumbled me, You promised me to wed: So would I ha' done, by yonder sun, King. How long hath she been thus? Oph. I hope all will be well. We must be patient but I cannot choose but weep, to think they shall lay him i' the cold ground. My brother shall know of it, and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies; good night, good night. [Exit. King. Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you, [Exit HORATIO. O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs All from her father's death.-O, Gertrude, Gertrude, When sorrows come, they come not single spies, For good Polonius' death; and we have done but greenly, In hugger-mugger to inter him: poor Ophelia Queen. Cries "cuckold" to my father; brands the harlot Even here, between the chaste unsmirchéd brow Of my true mother. King. What is the cause, Laertes, That thy rebellion looks so giant-like ? * Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person: There's such divinity doth hedge a king, That treason can but peep to what it would,Acts little of his will.-Tell me, Laertes, Why thou art thus incensed?-Let him go, Gertrude ; |