HOR.

Propose the oath, my lord.

HAM.

Never to speak of this that you have seen,

Swear by my sword.

GHOST [Beneath.]

Swear.

HAM.

Hic et ubique? Then we'll shift our ground.

Come hither, gentlemen,

And lay your hands again upon my sword.

Swear by my sword

Never to speak of this that you have heard.

GHOST [Beneath.]

Swear by his sword.

HAM.

Well said, old mole, canst work i' th' earth so fast?

A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.

HOR.

O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!

HAM.

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 –

Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,

How strange or odd some'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,

With arms encumb'red thus, or this headshake,

Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,

As »Well, well, we know,« or »We could, and if we would,«

Or »If we list to speak,« or »There be, and if they might,«

Or such ambiguous giving out, to note

That you know aught of me – this do swear,

So grace and mercy at your most need help you.

GHOST [Beneath.]

Swear.

 

[They swear.]

 

HAM.

Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! So, gentlemen,

With all my love I do commend me to you,

And what so poor a man as Hamlet is

May do t' 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!

Nay, come, let's go together.

 

Exeunt.

 

 

Act II,

[Scene I]

Enter old Polonius with his man [Reynaldo].

 

POL.

Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.

REY.

I will, my lord.

POL.

You shall do marvell's wisely, good Reynaldo,

Before you visit him, to make inquire

Of his behavior.

REY.

My lord, I did intend it.

POL.

Marry, well said, very well said. Look you, sir,

Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris,

And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,

What company, at what expense; and finding

By this encompassment and drift of question

That they do know my son, come you more nearer

Than your particular demands will touch it.

Take you as 'twere some distant knowledge of him,

As thus, »I know his father and his friends,

And in part him.« Do you mark this, Reynaldo?

REY.

Ay, very well, my lord.

POL.

»And in part him – but,« you may say, »not well.

But if't be he I mean, he's very wild,

Addicted so and so,« and there put on him

What forgeries you please: marry, none so rank

As may dishonor him, take heed of that,

But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips

As are companions noted and most known

To youth and liberty.

REY.

As gaming, my lord.

POL.

Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,

Drabbing – you may go so far.

REY.

My lord, that would dishonor him.

POL.

Faith, as you may season it in the charge:

You must not put another scandal on him,

That he is open to incontinency –

That's not my meaning. But breathe his faults so quaintly

That they may seem the taints of liberty,

The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,

A savageness in unreclaimed blood,

Of general assault.

REY.

But, my good lord –

POL.

Wherefore should you do this?

REY.

Ay, my lord,

I would know that.

POL.

Marry, sir, here's my drift,

And I believe it is a fetch of wit:

You laying these slight sallies on my son,

As 'twere a thing a little soil'd [wi' th'] working,

Mark you,

Your party in converse, him you would sound,

Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes

The youth you breathe of guilty, be assur'd

He closes with you in this consequence:

»Good sir,« or so, or »friend,« or »gentleman,«

According to the phrase or the addition

Of man and country.

REY.

Very good, my lord.

POL.

And then, sir, does 'a this – 'a does – what was I about to say?

By the mass, I was about to say something.

Where did I leave?

REY.

At »closes in the consequence.«

POL.

At »closes in the consequence,« ay, marry.

He closes thus: »I know the gentleman.

I saw him yesterday, or th' other day,

Or then, or then, with such or such, and as you say,

There was 'a gaming, there o'ertook in 's rouse,

There falling out at tennis«; or, perchance,

»I saw him enter such a house of sale,«

Videlicet, a brothel, or so forth. See you now,

Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth,

And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,

With windlasses and with assays of bias,

By indirections find directions out;

So by my former lecture and advice

Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?

REY.

My lord, I have.

POL.

God buy ye, fare ye well.

REY.

Good my lord.

POL.

Observe his inclination in yourself.

REY.

I shall, my lord.

POL.

And let him ply his music.

REY.

Well, my lord.

POL.

Farewell.

 

Exit Reynaldo.

 

Enter Ophelia.

 

How now, Ophelia, what's the matter?

OPH.

O my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!

POL.

With what, i' th' name of God?

OPH.

My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,

Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd,

No hat upon his head, his stockins fouled,

Ungart'red, and down-gyved to his ankle,

Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,

And with a look so piteous in purport

As if he had been loosed out of hell

To speak of horrors – he comes before me.

POL.

Mad for thy love?

OPH.

My lord, I do not know,

But truly I do fear it.

POL.

What said he?

OPH.

He took me by the wrist, and held me hard,

Then goes he to the length of all his arm,

And with his other hand thus o'er his brow,

He falls to such perusal of my face

As 'a would draw it. Long stay'd he so.

At last, a little shaking of mine arm,

And thrice his head thus waving up and down,

He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound

As it did seem to shatter all his bulk

And end his being. That done, he lets me go,

And with his head over his shoulder turn'd,

He seem'd to find his way without his eyes,

For out a' doors he went without their helps,

And to the last bended their light on me.

POL.

Come, go with me. I will go seek the King.

This is the very ecstasy of love,

Whose violent property fordoes itself,

And leads the will to desperate undertakings

As oft as any passions under heaven

That does afflict our natures. I am sorry –

What, have you given him any hard words of late?

OPH.

No, my good lord, but as you did command

I did repel his letters, and denied

His access to me.

POL.

That hath made him mad.

I am sorry that with better heed and judgment

I had not coted him. I fear'd he did but trifle

And meant to wrack thee, but beshrow my jealousy!

By heaven, it is as proper to our age

To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions,

As it is common for the younger sort

To lack discretion. Come, go we to the King.

This must be known, which, being kept close, might move

More grief to hide, than hate to utter love.

Come.

 

Exeunt.

 

 

[Scene II]

Flourish. Enter King and Queen, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern [cum aliis].

 

KING.

Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!

Moreover that we much did long to see you,

The need we have to use you did provoke

Our hasty sending. Something have you heard

Of Hamlet's transformation; so call it,

Sith nor th' exterior nor the inward man

Resembles that it was. What it should be,

More than his father's death, that thus hath put him

So much from th' understanding of himself,

I cannot dream of. I entreat you both

That, being of so young days brought up with him,

And sith so neighbored to his youth and havior,

That you voutsafe your rest here in our court

Some little time, so by your companies

To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather

So much as from occasion you may glean,

Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus,

That, open'd, lies within our remedy.

QUEEN.

Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you,

And sure I am two men there is not living

To whom he more adheres. If it will please you

To show us so much gentry and good will

As to expend your time with us a while

For the supply and profit of our hope,

Your visitation shall receive such thanks

As fits a king's remembrance.

ROS.

Both your Majesties

Might, by the sovereign power you have of us,

Put your dread pleasures more into command

Than to entreaty.

GUIL.

But we both obey,

And here give up ourselves, in the full bent,

To lay our service freely at your feet,

To be commanded.

KING.

Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.

QUEEN.

Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz.

And I beseech you instantly to visit

My too much changed son. Go some of you

And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.

GUIL.

Heavens make our presence and our practices

Pleasant and helpful to him!

QUEEN.

Ay, amen!

 

Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern [with some Attendants].

 

Enter Polonius.

 

POL.

Th' embassadors from Norway, my good lord,

Are joyfully return'd.

KING.

Thou still hast been the father of good news.

POL.

Have I, my lord? I assure my good liege

I hold my duty as I hold my soul,

Both to my God and to my gracious king;

And I do think, or else this brain of mine

Hunts not the trail of policy so sure

As it hath us'd to do, that I have found

The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.

KING.

O, speak of that, that do I long to hear.

POL.

Give first admittance to th' embassadors;

My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.

KING.

Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.

 

[Exit Polonius.]

He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found

The head and source of all your son's distemper.

QUEEN.

I doubt it is no other but the main,

His father's death and our [o'erhasty] marriage.

 

Enter [Polonius with Voltemand and Cornelius, the] Embassadors.

 

KING.

Well, we shall sift him.