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,—
No more; and, by a sleep, to say we end
The heart-ach, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,-'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die;-to sleep;
To sleep! perchance to dream;-ay, there's the rub.
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,*
Must give us pause: There's the respect,t
That makes calamity of so long life:
For who would bear the whips and scorns of 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
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus§ make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels¶ bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life;
But that the dread of something after death,-
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn**
No traveller returns,-puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of!
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn away,
And lose the name of action.
Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.
A DISORDERED MIND.
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword: The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
*Stir, bustle.
§ Acquittance.
Pack, burden.
Consideration. Rudeness.
The ancient term for a small dagger ** Boundary, limits.
though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of which one, must in your allowance,* overweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players, that I have seen play, -and heard others praise, and 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, that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably,
Play. I hope, we have reformed that indifferently with us.
Ham. O, reform it altogether. And, let those that play your clowns, speak no more than is set down for them, for there be of them, that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too; though in the meantime, some necessary questiont of the play be then to be considered: that's villanous; and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.
ON FLATTERY, AND AN EVEN-MINDED MAN.
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, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp;
And crook the pregnantt hinges of the knee,
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice,
And could of men distinguish her election,
She hath seal'd thee for herself: for thou hast been
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing,
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Hast ta'en with equal thanks: and blessed are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well co-mingled,
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
Approbation. + Quick, ready.
+ Conversation, discourse.
To sound what stop she please: Give me that man.
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay in my heart of heart,
'Tis now the very witching time of night;
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world: Now could I drink hot blood,
And do such business as the bitter day
Would quake to look on. Soft; now to my mother.——
O, heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
Let me be cruel, not unnatural:
I will speak daggers to her, but use none.
THE KING'S DESPAIRING SOLILOQUY, AND HAMLET'S REFLECTIONS ON HIM.
O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder!-Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens,
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,—
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd, being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;,
And oft 'tis 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 cannot repent?
O wretched state! O bosom, black as death!
O limid* soul; that struggling to be free,
Art more engag'd! Help angels, make assay!
Bow, stubborn knees! and, heart with strings of
steel;
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe;
All may be well!
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 reveng'd? That would be scann'd:t
A villain kills my father; and, for that,
I, his solet son, do this same villain send
To heaven.
Why, this is hire and salary,§ not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread;
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May:
And, how his audit stands, who knows, save heaven?
But, in our circumstance and course of thought,
'Tis heavy with him: And am I then reveng'd,
To take him in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and season'd for 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 bed;
At gaming, swearing; or about some act
That has no relish of 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.
* Caught as with bird-lime.
+ Should be considered.
Il Seize him at a more horrid tin.
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