William Shakespeare (1564 -1616). The Oxford Shakespeare. 1914.
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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Act I. Scene II.

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A Room of State in the Castle.
Enter the KING, QUEEN, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants.
  King Thought yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
4 The memory be green, and that it us befitted
  To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
  To be contracted in one brow of woe,
  Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
8 That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
  Together with remembrance of ourselves.
  Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
  The imperial jointress of this war-like state,
12 Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,
  With one auspicious and one dropping eye,
  With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
  In equal scale weighing delight and dole,
16 Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd
  Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
  With this affair along: for all, our thanks.
  Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,
20 Holding a weak supposal of our worth,
  Or thinking by our late dear brother's death
  Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
  Colleagued with the dream of his advantage,
24 He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,
25 Importing the surrender of those lands
back to top Lost by his father, with all bands of law,
  To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
28 Now for ourself and for this time of meeting.
  Thus much the business is: we have here writ
  To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,
  Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears
32 Of this his nephew's purpose, to suppress
  His further gait herein; in that the levies,
  The lists and full proportions, are all made
  Out of his subject; and we here dispatch
36 You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
  For bearers of this greeting to old Norway,
  Giving to you no further personal power
  To business with the King more than the scope
40 Of these delated articles allow.
  Farewell and let your haste commend your duty.
  Cornelius & Voltimand In that and all things will we show our duty.
  King We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell.
  [Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS.]
44 And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?
  You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes?
  You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,
  And lose your voice; what wouldst thou beg, Laertes,
48 That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
  The head is not more native to the heart,
50 The hand more instrumental to the mouth,
back to top Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.
52 What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
  Laertes Dread my lord,
  Your leave and favour to return to France;
  From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
56 To show my duty in your coronation,
  Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,
  My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
  And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
60 King Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?
  Polonius He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
  By labour some petition, and at last  
  Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:
64 I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
  King Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,
  And thy best graces spend it at thy will.
  But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,--
68 Hamlet [Aside.] A little more than kin, and less than kind.
  King How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
  Hamlet Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.
  Queen Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
72 And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
  Do not for ever with thy vailed lids
back to top Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
75 Thou know'st 'tis common; all that live must die,
76 Passing through nature to eternity.
  Hamlet Ay, madam, it is common.
  Queen

If it be,
  Why seems it so particular with thee?
80 Hamlet Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not 'seems.'
  'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
  Nor customary suits of solemn black,
  Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath,
84 No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
  Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
  Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,
  That can denote me truly; these indeed seem,
88 For they are actions that a man might play:
  But I have that within which passeth show;
  These but the trappings and the suits of woe. 
  King

'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
92 To give these mourning duties to your father:
  But, you must know, your father lost a father;
  That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound
  In filial obligation for some term
96 To do obsequious sorrow; but to presever
  In obstinate condolement is a course
  Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:
  It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
100 A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
back to top An understanding simple and unschool'd:
  For what we know must be and is as common
  As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
104 Why should we in our peevish opposition
  Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
  A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
  To reason most absurd, whose common theme
108 Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
  From the first corse till he that died to-day,
  'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth
  This unprevailing woe, and think of us
112 As of a father; for let the world take note,
  You are the most immediate to our throne;
  And with no less nobility of love
  Than that which dearest father bears his son
116 Do I impart toward you. For your intent
  In going back to school in Wittenberg,
  It is most retrograde to our desire;
  And we beseech you, bend you to remain
120 Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
  Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
  Queen Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:
  I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.

124

 Hamlet I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
125 King Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply:
back to top Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come;
  This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet
128 Sits smiling to my heart; in grace whereof,
  No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day,
  But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
  And the King's rouse the heavens shall bruit again,
132

Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. [Exeunt all except HAMLET.]
133 Hamlet O! that this too too solid flesh would melt,
  Thaw and resolve itself into a dew;
  Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
136 His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
  How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
  Seem to me all the uses of this world.
  Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
140 That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
  Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
  But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:
  So excellent a King; that was, to this,
144 Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother
  That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
  Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
  Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,
148 As if increase of appetite had grown
  By what it fed on; and yet, within a month,
150 Let me not think on't: Frailty, thy name is woman!
back to top A little month; or ere those shoes were old
152 With which she follow'd my poor father's body,
  Like Niobe, all tears; why she, even she,--
  O God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
  Would have mourn'd longer,--married with mine uncle,
156 My father's brother, but no more like my father
  Than I to Hercules: within a month,
  Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
  Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
160 She married. O! most wicked speed, to post
  With such dexterity to incestuous sheets.
  It is not nor it cannot come to good;
  But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue!
164 Enter HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and BERNARDO.   
  Horatio Hail to your lordship!
  Hamlet  I am glad to see you well:
  Horatio, or I do forget myself.
168 Horatio The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
   Hamlet Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you.
  And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?
  Marcellus?
172 Marcellus My good lord,--
  Hamlet I am very glad to see you. [To BERNARDO.] Good even, sir.
  But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
Horatio A truant disposition, good my lord.
176 Hamlet I would not hear your enemy say so,
back to top Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,
  To make it truster of your own report
  Against yourself; I know you are no truant.
180 But what is your affair in Elsinore?
  We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
  Horatio My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.
  Hamlet I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;
184 I think it was to see my mother's wedding.
  Horatio Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.
  Hamlet Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral bak'd meats
  Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
188 Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
  Ere I had ever seen that day, Horatio!
  My father, methinks I see my father.
  Horatio O! where, my lord?
192 Hamlet In my mindıs eye, Horatio.
  Horatio I saw him once; he was a goodly King
  Hamlet He was a man, take him for all in all,
  I shall not look upon his like again.
196 Horatio My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.
   Hamlet Saw who?
  Horatio My lord, the King your father.
  Hamlet The King, my father!
200 Horatio Season your admiration for a while
back to top With an attent ear, till I may deliver,
  Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
  This marvel to you.
204  Hamlet  For God's love, let me hear.
  Horatio Two nights together had these gentlemen,
  Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
  In the dead vast and middle of the night,
208 Been thus encounter'd: a figure like your father,
  Armed at points exactly, cap-a-pe,
  Appears before them, and with solemn march
  Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd
212 By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes,
  Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd
  Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
  Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me
216 In dreadful secrecy impart they did,
  And I with them the third night kept the watch;
  Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time,
  Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
220 The apparition comes. I knew your father;
  These hands are not more like.
  Hamlet But where was this?
225 Marcellus My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd.
224 Hamlet Did you not speak to it?
  Horatio My lord, I did;
back to top But answer made it none; yet once methought
  It lifted up its head and did address
228 Itself to motion, like as it would speak;
  But even then the morning cock crew loud,
  And at the sound it shrunk in haste away
  And vanish'd from our sight.
232 Hamlet 'Tis very strange .
  Horatio As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true;
  And we did think it writ down in our duty
  To let you know of it.
236 Hamlet Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.
  Hold you the watch to-night?
  Marcellus & Bernardo We do, my lord.
  Hamlet  Arm'd, say you?
240 Marcellus & Bernardo Arm'd, my lord.
  Hamlet From top to toe?
  Marcellus & Bernardo My lord, from head to foot.
  Hamlet Then saw you not his face?

244

 Horatio O yes! my lord; he wore his beaver up.
  Hamlet What! look'd he frowningly?
  Horatio A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
  Hamlet Pale or red?
248 Horatio Nay, very pale.
  Hamlet And fix'd his eyes upon you?
250 Horatio Most constantly.
  Hamlet I would I had been there.
252 Horatio It would have much amaz'd you.
  Hamlet Very like, very like. Stay'd it long?
  Horatio While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.
  Marcellus & Bernardo Longer, longer.
256 Horatio Not when I saw it.
  Hamlet His beard was grizzled, no?
  Horatio It was, as I have seen it in his life,
back to top A sable silver'd.
260 Hamlet I will watch to-night;
  Perchance 'twill walk again.
  Horatio I warrant it will.
Hamlet If it assume my noble father's person,
264 I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape
  And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
  If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
  Let it be tenable in your silence still;
268 And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
  Give it an understanding, but no tongue:
  I will requite your loves. So, fare you well.
  Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
272 I'll visit you.
  All. Our duty to your honour.
  Hamlet Your loves, as mine to you. Farewell.
275 [Exeunt HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and BERNARDO.]  
276 My father's spirit in arms! all is not well;
  I doubt some foul play: would the night were come!
  Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise,
back to top Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. [Exit.]