The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Act 5) | The William Shakespeare Project

Enter two Clowns, [with spades and pickaxes].

3347

First Clown Is she to be buried in Christian burial when she wilfully seeks her own salvation?

3348

Second Clown I tell thee she is; therefore make her grave straight.
The crowner hath sate on her, and finds it Christian burial.

3349

First Clown How can that be, unless she drown'd herself in her own
defence?

3351

Second Clown Why, 'tis found so.

3353

First Clown It must be se offendendo; it cannot be else. For here lies
the point: if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act; and an
act hath three branches-it is to act, to do, and to perform;
argal, she drown'd herself wittingly.

3354

Second Clown Nay, but hear you, Goodman Delver!

3358

First Clown Give me leave. Here lies the water; good. Here stands the
man; good. If the man go to this water and drown himself, it is,
will he nill he, he goes- mark you that. But if the water come to
him and drown him, he drowns not himself. Argal, he that is not
guilty of his own death shortens not his own life.

3359

Second Clown But is this law?

3364

First Clown Ay, marry, is't- crowner's quest law.

3365

Second Clown Will you ha' the truth an't? If this had not been a
gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o' Christian burial.

3366

First Clown Why, there thou say'st! And the more pity that great folk
should have count'nance in this world to drown or hang themselves
more than their even-Christian. Come, my spade! There is no
ancient gentlemen but gard'ners, ditchers, and grave-makers. They
hold up Adam's profession.

3368

Second Clown Was he a gentleman?

3373

First Clown 'A was the first that ever bore arms.

3374

Second Clown Why, he had none.

3375

First Clown What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand the Scripture?
The Scripture says Adam digg'd. Could he dig without arms? I'll
put another question to thee. If thou answerest me not to the
purpose, confess thyself-

3376

Second Clown Go to!

3380

First Clown What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the
shipwright, or the carpenter?

3381

Second Clown The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand
tenants.

3383

First Clown I like thy wit well, in good faith. The gallows does well.
But how does it well? It does well to those that do ill. Now,
thou dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the
church. Argal, the gallows may do well to thee. To't again, come!

3385

Second Clown Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a
carpenter?

3389

First Clown Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.

3391

Second Clown Marry, now I can tell!

3392

First Clown To't.

3393

Second Clown Mass, I cannot tell.

3394

Enter Hamlet and Horatio afar off.

3395

First Clown Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will
not mend his pace with beating; and when you are ask'd this
question next, say 'a grave-maker.' The houses he makes lasts
till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan; fetch me a stoup of
liquor.

3396

[Exit Second Clown.]

3401

[Clown digs and] sings.

3402

First Clown In youth when I did love, did love,
Methought it was very sweet;
To contract- O- the time for- a- my behove,
O, methought there- a- was nothing- a- meet.

3403

Hamlet Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he sings at
grave-making?

3407

Horatio Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.

3409

Hamlet 'Tis e'en so. The hand of little employment hath the daintier
sense.

3410

First Clown [sings]
But age with his stealing steps
Hath clawed me in his clutch,
And hath shipped me intil the land,
As if I had never been such.

3412

[Throws up a skull.]

3417

Hamlet That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. How the
knave jowls it to the ground,as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that
did the first murther! This might be the pate of a Politician,
which this ass now o'erreaches; one that would circumvent God,
might it not?

3418

Horatio It might, my lord.

3423

Hamlet Or of a courtier, which could say 'Good morrow, sweet lord!
How dost thou, good lord?' This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that
prais'd my Lord Such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg it- might
it not?

3424

Horatio Ay, my lord.

3428

Hamlet Why, e'en so! and now my Lady Worm's, chapless, and knock'd
about the mazzard with a sexton's spade. Here's fine revolution,
and we had the trick to see't. Did these bones cost no more the
breeding but to play at loggets with 'em? Mine ache to think
on't.

3429

First Clown [Sings]
A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,
For and a shrouding sheet;
O, a Pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
Throws up [another skull].

3434

Hamlet There's another. Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer?
Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures,
and his tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock
him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him
of his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in's time a
great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his
fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries. Is this the fine of
his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine
pate full of fine dirt? Will his vouchers vouch him no more of
his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth
of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will
scarcely lie in this box; and must th' inheritor himself have no
more, ha?

3440

Horatio Not a jot more, my lord.

3453

Hamlet Is not parchment made of sheepskins?

3454

Horatio Ay, my lord, And of calveskins too.

3455

Hamlet They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in that. I
will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's this, sirrah?

3456

First Clown Mine, sir.
[Sings] O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.

3458

Hamlet I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in't.

3461

First Clown You lie out on't, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours.
For my part, I do not lie in't, yet it is mine.

3462

Hamlet Thou dost lie in't, to be in't and say it is thine. 'Tis for
the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest.

3464

First Clown 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 'twill away again from me to you.

3466

Hamlet What man dost thou dig it for?

3467

First Clown For no man, sir.

3468

Hamlet What woman then?

3469

First Clown For none neither.

3470

Hamlet Who is to be buried in't?

3471

First Clown One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead.

3472

Hamlet How absolute the knave is! We must speak by the card, or
equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, this three years
I have taken note of it, the age is grown so picked that the toe
of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he galls
his kibe.- How long hast thou been a grave-maker?

3473

First Clown Of all the days i' th' year, I came to't that day that our
last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.

3478

Hamlet How long is that since?

3480

First Clown Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that. It was the
very day that young Hamlet was born- he that is mad, and sent
into England.

3481

Hamlet Ay, marry, why was be sent into England?

3484

First Clown Why, because 'a was mad. 'A shall recover his wits there;
or, if 'a do not, 'tis no great matter there.

3485

Hamlet Why?

3487

First Clown 'Twill not he seen in him there. There the men are as mad as
he.

3488

Hamlet How came he mad?

3490

First Clown Very strangely, they say.

3491

Hamlet How strangely?

3492

First Clown Faith, e'en with losing his wits.

3493

Hamlet Upon what ground?

3494

First Clown Why, here in Denmark. I have been sexton here, man and boy
thirty years.

3495

Hamlet How long will a man lie i' th' earth ere he rot?

3497

First Clown Faith, if 'a be not rotten before 'a die (as we have many
pocky corses now-a-days that will scarce hold the laying in, I
will last you some eight year or nine year. A tanner will last
you nine year.

3498

Hamlet Why he more than another?

3502

First Clown Why, sir, his hide is so tann'd with his trade that 'a will
keep out water a great while; and your water is a sore decayer of
your whoreson dead body. Here's a skull now. This skull hath lien
you i' th' earth three-and-twenty years.

3503

Hamlet Whose was it?

3507

First Clown A whoreson, mad fellow's it was. Whose do you think it was?

3508

Hamlet Nay, I know not.

3509

First Clown A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! 'A pour'd a flagon of
Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's
skull, the King's jester.

3510

Hamlet This?

3513

First Clown E'en that.

3514

Hamlet Let me see. [Takes the skull.] Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him,
Horatio. A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He
hath borne me on his back a thousand times. And now how abhorred
in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those
lips that I have kiss'd I know not how oft. Where be your gibes
now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment that
were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your
own grinning? Quite chap- fall'n? Now get you to my lady's
chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this
favour she must come. Make her laugh at that. Prithee, Horatio,
tell me one thing.

3515

Horatio What's that, my lord?

3526

Hamlet Dost thou think Alexander look'd o' this fashion i' th' earth?

3527

Horatio E'en so.

3528

Hamlet And smelt so? Pah!

3529

[Puts down the skull.]

3530

Horatio E'en so, my lord.

3531

Hamlet To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may not
imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander till he find it
stopping a bunghole?

3532

Horatio 'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.

3535

Hamlet No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with modesty
enough, and likelihood to lead it; as thus: Alexander died,
Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is
earth; of earth we make loam; and why of that loam (whereto he
was converted) might they not stop a beer barrel?
Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
O, that that earth which kept the world in awe
Should patch a wall t' expel the winter's flaw!
But soft! but soft! aside! Here comes the King-
Enter [priests with] a coffin [in funeral procession], King,
[Queen, Laertes, with Lords attendant.]
The Queen, the courtiers. Who is this they follow?
And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken
The corse they follow did with desp'rate hand
Fordo it own life. 'Twas of some estate.
Couch we awhile, and mark.

3536

[Retires with Horatio.]

3553

Laertes What ceremony else?

3554

Hamlet That is Laertes,
A very noble youth. Mark.

3555

Laertes What ceremony else?

3557

Priest Her obsequies have been as far enlarg'd
As we have warranty. Her death was doubtful;
And, but that great command o'ersways the order,
She should in ground unsanctified have lodg'd
Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,
Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her.
Yet here she is allow'd her virgin rites,
Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.

3558

Laertes Must there no more be done?

3567

Priest 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.

3568

Laertes Lay her i' th' earth;
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
A minist'ring angel shall my sister be
When thou liest howling.

3572

Hamlet What, the fair Ophelia?

3577

Gertrude Sweets to the sweet! Farewell.
[Scatters flowers.]
I hop'd thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
And not have strew'd thy grave.

3578

Laertes O, treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that cursed head
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Depriv'd thee of! Hold off the earth awhile,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.
[Leaps in the grave.]
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead
Till of this flat a mountain you have made
T' o'ertop old Pelion or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.

3583

Hamlet [comes forward] What is he whose grief
Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wand'ring stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
Hamlet the Dane. [Leaps in after Laertes.]

3593

Laertes The devil take thy soul!

3598

[Grapples with him.]

3599

Hamlet Thou pray'st not well.
I prithee take thy fingers from my throat;
For, though I am not splenitive and rash,
Yet have I in me something dangerous,
Which let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand!

3600

Claudius Pluck them asunder.

3605

Gertrude Hamlet, Hamlet!

3606

All Gentlemen!

3607

Horatio Good my lord, be quiet.

3608

[The Attendants part them, and they come out of the grave.]

3609

Hamlet Why, I will fight with him upon this theme
Until my eyelids will no longer wag.

3610

Gertrude O my son, what theme?

3612

Hamlet I lov'd Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers
Could not (with all their quantity of love)
Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?

3613

Claudius O, he is mad, Laertes.

3616

Gertrude For love of God, forbear him!

3617

Hamlet 'Swounds, show me what thou't do.
Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself?
Woo't drink up esill? eat a crocodile?
I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine?
To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I.
And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.

3618

Gertrude This is mere madness;
And thus a while the fit will work on him.
Anon, as patient as the female dove
When that her golden couplets are disclos'd,
His silence will sit drooping.

3629

Hamlet Hear you, sir!
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I lov'd you ever. But it is no matter.
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.

3634

Exit.

3639

Claudius I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.
[Exit Horatio.]
[To Laertes] Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech.
We'll put the matter to the present push.-
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.-
This grave shall have a living monument.
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see;
Till then in patience our proceeding be.

3640

Exeunt.

3648

Enter Hamlet and Horatio.

3649

Hamlet So much for this, sir; now shall you see the other.
You do remember all the circumstance?

3650

Horatio Remember it, my lord!

3652

Hamlet Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting
That would not let me sleep. Methought I lay
Worse than the mutinies in the bilboes. Rashly-
And prais'd be rashness for it; let us know,
Our indiscretion sometime serves us well
When our deep plots do pall; and that should learn us
There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will-

3653

Horatio That is most certain.

3661

Hamlet Up from my cabin,
My sea-gown scarf'd about me, in the dark
Grop'd 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, hoo! such bugs and goblins in my life-
That, on the supervise, no leisure bated,
No, not to stay the finding of the axe,
My head should be struck off.

3662

Horatio Is't possible?

3676

Hamlet Here's the commission; read it at more leisure.
But wilt thou bear me how I did proceed?

3677

Horatio I beseech you.

3679

Hamlet Being thus benetted round with villanies,
Or I could make a prologue to my brains,
They had begun the play. I sat me down;
Devis'd a new commission; wrote it fair.
I once did hold it, as our statists do,
A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much
How to forget that learning; but, sir, now
It did me yeoman's service. Wilt thou know
Th' effect of what I wrote?

3680

Horatio Ay, good my lord.

3689

Hamlet An earnest conjuration from the King,
As England was his faithful tributary,
As love between them like the palm might flourish,
As peace should still her wheaten garland wear
And stand a comma 'tween their amities,
And many such-like as's of great charge,
That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more or less,
He should the bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving time allow'd.

3690

Horatio How was this seal'd?

3700

Hamlet Why, even in that was heaven ordinant.
I had my father's signet in my purse,
Which was the model of that Danish seal;
Folded the writ up in the form of th' other,
Subscrib'd it, gave't th' impression, plac'd it safely,
The changeling never known. Now, the next day
Was our sea-fight; and what to this was sequent
Thou know'st already.

3701

Horatio So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to't.

3709

Hamlet Why, man, they did make love to this employment!
They are not near my conscience; their defeat
Does by their own insinuation grow.
'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes
Between the pass and fell incensed points
Of mighty opposites.

3710

Horatio Why, what a king is this!

3716

Hamlet Does it not, thinks't thee, stand me now upon-
He that hath kill'd my king, and whor'd my mother;
Popp'd in between th' election and my hopes;
Thrown out his angle for my proper life,
And with such coz'nage- is't not perfect conscience
To quit him with this arm? And is't not to be damn'd
To let this canker of our nature come
In further evil?

3717

Horatio It must be shortly known to him from England
What is the issue of the business there.

3725

Hamlet It will be short; the interim is mine,
And a man's life is no more than to say 'one.'
But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself,
For by the image of my cause I see
The portraiture of his. I'll court his favours.
But sure the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a tow'ring passion.

3727

Horatio Peace! Who comes here?

3735

Enter young Osric, a courtier.

3736

Osric Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.

3737

Hamlet I humbly thank you, sir. [Aside to Horatio] Dost know this
waterfly?

3738

Horatio [aside to Hamlet] No, my good lord.

3740

Hamlet [aside to Horatio] Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a
vice to know him. He hath much land, and fertile. Let a beast be
lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at the king's mess. 'Tis
a chough; but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt.

3741

Osric Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should impart
a thing to you from his Majesty.

3745

Hamlet I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit. Put your
bonnet to his right use. 'Tis for the head.

3747

Osric I thank your lordship, it is very hot.

3749

Hamlet No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly.

3750

Osric It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed.

3751

Hamlet But yet methinks it is very sultry and hot for my complexion.

3752

Osric Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry, as 'twere- I cannot
tell how. But, my lord, his Majesty bade me signify to you that
he has laid a great wager on your head. Sir, this is the matter-

3753

Hamlet I beseech you remember.

3756

[Hamlet moves him to put on his hat.]

3757

Osric Nay, good my lord; for mine ease, in good faith. Sir, here is
newly come to court Laertes; believe me, an absolute gentleman,
full of most excellent differences, of very soft society and
great showing. Indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card
or calendar of gentry; for you shall find in him the continent of
what part a gentleman would see.

3758

Hamlet Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you; though, I
know, to divide him inventorially would dozy th' arithmetic of
memory, and yet but yaw neither in respect of his quick sail.
But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great
article, and his infusion of such dearth and rareness as, to make
true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more.

3764

Osric Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him.

3770

Hamlet The concernancy, sir? Why do we wrap the gentleman in our more
rawer breath?

3771

Osric Sir?

3773

Horatio [aside to Hamlet] Is't not possible to understand in another
tongue? You will do't, sir, really.

3774

Hamlet What imports the nomination of this gentleman?

3776

Osric Of Laertes?

3777

Horatio [aside] His purse is empty already. All's golden words are
spent.

3778

Hamlet Of him, sir.

3780

Osric I know you are not ignorant-

3781

Hamlet I would you did, sir; yet, in faith, if you did, it would not
much approve me. Well, sir?

3782

Osric You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is-

3784

Hamlet I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in
excellence; but to know a man well were to know himself.

3785

Osric I mean, sir, for his weapon; but in the imputation laid on him
by them, in his meed he's unfellowed.

3787

Hamlet What's his weapon?

3789

Osric Rapier and dagger.

3790

Hamlet That's two of his weapons- but well.

3791

Osric The King, sir, hath wager'd with him six Barbary horses;
against the which he has impon'd, as I take it, six French
rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers, and
so. Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy,
very responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of
very liberal conceit.

3792

Hamlet What call you the carriages?

3798

Horatio [aside to Hamlet] I knew you must be edified by the margent
ere you had done.

3799

Osric The carriages, sir, are the hangers.

3801

Hamlet The phrase would be more germane to the matter if we could
carry cannon by our sides. I would it might be hangers till then.
But on! Six Barbary horses against six French swords, their
assigns, and three liberal-conceited carriages: that's the French
bet against the Danish. Why is this all impon'd, as you call it?

3802

Osric The King, sir, hath laid that, in a dozen passes between
yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; he hath
laid on twelve for nine, and it would come to immediate trial
if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer.

3807

Hamlet How if I answer no?

3811

Osric I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial.

3812

Hamlet Sir, I will walk here in the hall. If it please his Majesty,
it is the breathing time of day with me. Let the foils be
brought, the gentleman willing, and the King hold his purpose,
I will win for him if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my
shame and the odd hits.

3813

Osric Shall I redeliver you e'en so?

3818

Hamlet To this effect, sir, after what flourish your nature will.

3819

Osric I commend my duty to your lordship.

3820

Hamlet Yours, yours. [Exit Osric.] He does well to commend it
himself; there are no tongues else for's turn.

3821

Horatio This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.

3823

Hamlet He did comply with his dug before he suck'd it. Thus has he,
and many more of the same bevy that I know the drossy age dotes
on, only got the tune of the time and outward habit of encounter-
a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and
through the most fann'd and winnowed opinions; and do but blow
them to their trial-the bubbles are out,

3824

Enter a Lord.

3830

Lord My lord, his Majesty commended him to you by young Osric, who
brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall. He sends to
know if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will
take longer time.

3831

Hamlet I am constant to my purposes; they follow the King's pleasure.
If his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now or whensoever, provided
I be so able as now.

3835

Lord The King and Queen and all are coming down.

3838

Hamlet In happy time.

3839

Lord The Queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment to
Laertes before you fall to play.

3840

Hamlet She well instructs me.

3842

[Exit Lord.]

3843

Horatio You will lose this wager, my lord.

3844

Hamlet I do not think so. Since he went into France I have been in
continual practice. I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not
think how ill all's here about my heart. But it is no matter.

3845

Horatio Nay, good my lord--

3848

Hamlet It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gaingiving as
would perhaps trouble a woman.

3849

Horatio If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall their
repair hither and say you are not fit.

3851

Hamlet Not a whit, we defy augury; there's a special providence in
the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be
not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come:
the readiness is all. Since no man knows aught of what he leaves,
what is't to leave betimes? Let be.

3853

Enter King, Queen, Laertes, Osric, and Lords, with other

3858

Attendants with foils and gauntlets.

3859

A table and flagons of wine on it.

3860

Claudius Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.

3861

[The King puts Laertes' hand into Hamlet's.]

3862

Hamlet Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong;
But pardon't, as you are a gentleman.
This presence knows,
And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd
With sore distraction. What I have done
That might your nature, honour, and exception
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet.
If Hamlet from himself be taken away,
And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it, then? His madness. If't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Sir, in this audience,
Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house
And hurt my brother.

3863

Laertes 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 ungor'd. But till that time
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.

3882

Hamlet I embrace it freely,
And will this brother's wager frankly play.
Give us the foils. Come on.

3891

Laertes Come, one for me.

3894

Hamlet I'll be your foil, Laertes. In mine ignorance
Your skill shall, like a star i' th' darkest night,
Stick fiery off indeed.

3895

Laertes You mock me, sir.

3898

Hamlet No, by this hand.

3899

Claudius Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin Hamlet,
You know the wager?

3900

Hamlet Very well, my lord.
Your Grace has laid the odds o' th' weaker side.

3902

Claudius I do not fear it, I have seen you both;
But since he is better'd, we have therefore odds.

3904

Laertes This is too heavy; let me see another.

3906

Hamlet This likes me well. These foils have all a length?

3907

Prepare to play.

3908

Osric Ay, my good lord.

3909

Claudius Set me the stoups of wine upon that table.
If Hamlet give the first or second hit,
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire;
The King shall drink to Hamlet's better breath,
And in the cup an union shall he throw
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups;
And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth,
'Now the King drinks to Hamlet.' Come, begin.
And you the judges, bear a wary eye.

3910

Hamlet Come on, sir.

3923

Laertes Come, my lord. They play.

3924

Hamlet One.

3925

Laertes No.

3926

Hamlet Judgment!

3927

Osric A hit, a very palpable hit.

3928

Laertes Well, again!

3929

Claudius Stay, give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;
Here's to thy health.
[Drum; trumpets sound; a piece goes off [within].]
Give him the cup.

3930

Hamlet I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile.
Come. [They play.] Another hit. What say you?

3934

Laertes A touch, a touch; I do confess't.

3936

Claudius Our son shall win.

3937

Gertrude He's fat, and scant of breath.
Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows.
The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.

3938

Hamlet Good madam!

3941

Claudius Gertrude, do not drink.

3942

Gertrude I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me. Drinks.

3943

Claudius [aside] It is the poison'd cup; it is too late.

3944

Hamlet I dare not drink yet, madam; by-and-by.

3945

Gertrude Come, let me wipe thy face.

3946

Laertes My lord, I'll hit him now.

3947

Claudius I do not think't.

3948

Laertes [aside] And yet it is almost against my conscience.

3949

Hamlet Come for the third, Laertes! You but dally.
Pray you pass with your best violence;
I am afeard you make a wanton of me.

3950

Laertes Say you so? Come on. Play.

3953

Osric Nothing neither way.

3954

Laertes Have at you now!

3955

[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then] in scuffling, they change rapiers, [and Hamlet wounds Laertes].

3956

Claudius Part them! They are incens'd.

3957

Hamlet Nay come! again! The Queen falls.

3958

Osric Look to the Queen there, ho!

3959

Horatio They bleed on both sides. How is it, my lord?

3960

Osric How is't, Laertes?

3961

Laertes Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric.I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.

3962

Hamlet How does the Queen?

3963

Claudius She sounds to see them bleed.

3964

Gertrude No, no! the drink, the drink! O my dear Hamlet!
The drink, the drink! I am poison'd. [Dies.]

3965

Hamlet O villany! Ho! let the door be lock'd.
Treachery! Seek it out.

3967

[Laertes falls.]

3969

Laertes It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain;
No medicine in the world can do thee good.
In thee there is not half an hour of life.
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenom'd. The foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again. Thy mother's poison'd.
I can no more. The King, the King's to blame.

3970

Hamlet The point envenom'd too?
Then, venom, to thy work. Hurts the King.

3978

All Treason! treason!

3980

Claudius O, yet defend me, friends! I am but hurt.

3981

Hamlet Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damned Dane,
Drink off this potion! Is thy union here?
Follow my mother. King dies.

3982

Laertes He is justly serv'd.
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.

3985

Hamlet Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.
I am dead, Horatio. Wretched queen, adieu!
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time (as this fell sergeant, Death,
Is strict in his arrest) O, I could tell you-
But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;
Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.

3990

Horatio Never believe it.
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane.
Here's yet some liquor left.

3999

Hamlet As th'art a man,
Give me the cup. Let go! By heaven, I'll ha'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. [March afar off, and shot within.]
What warlike noise is this?

4002

Osric Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,
To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.

4011

Hamlet O, I die, Horatio!
The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit.
I cannot live to hear the news from England,
But I do prophesy th' election lights
On Fortinbras. He has my dying voice.
So tell him, with th' occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited- the rest is silence. Dies.

4014

Horatio Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
[March within.]
Why does the drum come hither?
Enter Fortinbras and English Ambassadors, with Drum, Colours, and Attendants.

4021

Fortinbras Where is this sight?

4026

Horatio What is it you will see?
If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.

4027

Fortinbras This quarry cries on havoc. O proud Death,
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell
That thou so many princes at a shot
So bloodily hast struck.

4029

Ambassador The sight is dismal;
And our affairs from England come too late.
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing
To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Where should we have our thanks?

4033

Horatio Not from his mouth,
Had it th' ability of life to thank you.
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arriv'd, give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world
How these things came about. So shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts;
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause;
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on th' inventors' heads. All this can I
Truly deliver.

4039

Fortinbras Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune.
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom
Which now, to claim my vantage doth invite me.

4054

Horatio Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more.
But let this same be presently perform'd,
Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mischance
On plots and errors happen.

4059

Fortinbras Let four captains
Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have prov'd most royally; and for his passage
The soldiers' music and the rites of war
Speak loudly for him.
Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this
Becomes the field but here shows much amiss.
Go, bid the soldiers shoot.

4064

Exeunt marching; after the which a peal of ordnance are shot off.

4073

THE END

4074

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1600-1)

Act V, Scene 1

Act V, Scene 2

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