ACT I SCENE V� Setting: Another part of the platform.
[Enter�GHOST and HAMLET]
| HAMLET |
Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further. |
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| Ghost |
Mark me. |
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| HAMLET |
I will. |
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| Ghost |
My hour is almost come, |
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When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames |
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Must render up myself. |
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| HAMLET |
Alas, poor ghost! |
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| Ghost |
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing |
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To what I shall unfold. |
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| HAMLET |
Speak; I am bound to hear. |
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| Ghost |
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. |
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| HAMLET |
What? |
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| Ghost |
I am thy father's spirit, |
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Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, |
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And for the day confined to fast in fires, |
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Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature |
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Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid |
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To tell the secrets of my prison–house, |
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I could a tale unfold whose lightest word |
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Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, |
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Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, |
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Thy knotted and combined locks to part |
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And each particular hair to stand on end, |
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Like quills upon the fretful porpentine: |
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But this eternal blazon must not be |
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To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list! |
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If thou didst ever thy dear father love–– |
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| HAMLET |
O God! |
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| Ghost |
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. |
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| HAMLET |
Murder! |
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| Ghost |
Murder most foul, as in the best it is; |
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But this most foul, strange and unnatural. |
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| HAMLET |
Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift |
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As meditation or the thoughts of love, |
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May sweep to my revenge. |
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| Ghost |
I find thee apt; |
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And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed |
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That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, |
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Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: |
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Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, |
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A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark |
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Is by a forged process of my death |
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Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, |
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The serpent that did sting thy father's life |
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Now wears his crown. |
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| HAMLET |
O my prophetic soul! My uncle! |
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| Ghost |
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, |
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With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,–– |
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O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power |
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So to seduce!––won to his shameful lust |
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The will of my most seeming–virtuous queen: |
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O Hamlet, what a falling–off was there! |
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From me, whose love was of that dignity |
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That it went hand in hand even with the vow |
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I made to her in marriage, and to decline |
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Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor |
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To those of mine! |
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But virtue, as it never will be moved, |
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Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, |
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So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd, |
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Will sate itself in a celestial bed, |
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And prey on garbage. |
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But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air; |
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Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard, |
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My custom always of the afternoon, |
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Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, |
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With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial, |
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And in the porches of my ears did pour |
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The leperous distilment; whose effect |
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Holds such an enmity with blood of man |
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That swift as quicksilver it courses through |
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The natural gates and alleys of the body, |
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And with a sudden vigour doth posset |
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And curd, like eager droppings into milk, |
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The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine; |
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And a most instant tetter bark'd about, |
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Most lazar–like, with vile and loathsome crust, |
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All my smooth body. |
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Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand |
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Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd: |
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Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, |
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Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd, |
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No reckoning made, but sent to my account |
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With all my imperfections on my head: |
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O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible! |
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If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not; |
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Let not the royal bed of Denmark be |
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A couch for luxury and damned incest. |
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But, howsoever thou pursuest this act, |
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Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive |
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Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven |
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And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, |
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To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once! |
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The glow–worm shows the matin to be near, |
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And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire: |
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Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me. |
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| [Exit] |
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| HAMLET |
O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else? |
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And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart; |
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And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, |
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But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee! |
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Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat |
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In this distracted globe. Remember thee! |
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Yea, from the table of my memory |
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I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, |
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All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, |
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That youth and observation copied there; |
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And thy commandment all alone shall live |
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Within the book and volume of my brain, |
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Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven! |
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O most pernicious woman! |
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O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! |
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My tables,––meet it is I set it down, |
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That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; |
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At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark: |
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So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word; |
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It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.' |
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I have sworn 't. |
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| HORATIO |
[Within] My lord, my lord,–– |
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| MARCELLUS |
[Within] Lord Hamlet,–– |
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| HORATIO |
[Within] Heaven secure him! |
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| HAMLET |
So be it! |
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| HORATIO |
[Within] Hillo, ho, ho, my lord! |
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| HAMLET |
Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come. |
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[Enter�HORATIO and MARCELLUS]
| MARCELLUS |
How is't, my noble lord? |
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| HORATIO |
What news, my lord? |
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| HAMLET |
O, wonderful! |
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| HORATIO |
Good my lord, tell it. |
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| HAMLET |
No; you'll reveal it. |
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| HORATIO |
Not I, my lord, by heaven. |
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| MARCELLUS |
Nor I, my lord. |
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| HAMLET |
How say you, then; would heart of man once think it? |
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But you'll be secret? |
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| MARCELLUS |
Ay, by heaven, my lord. |
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| HAMLET |
There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark |
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But he's an arrant knave. |
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| HORATIO |
There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave |
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To tell us this. |
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| HAMLET |
Why, right; you are i' the right; |
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And so, without more circumstance at all, |
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I hold it fit that we shake hands and part: |
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You, as your business and desire shall point you; |
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For every man has business and desire, |
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Such as it is; and for mine own poor part, |
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Look you, I'll go pray. |
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| HORATIO |
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. |
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| HAMLET |
I'm sorry they offend you, heartily; |
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Yes, 'faith heartily. |
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| HORATIO |
There's no offence, my lord. |
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| HAMLET |
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio, |
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And much offence too. Touching this vision here, |
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It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you: |
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For your desire to know what is between us, |
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O'ermaster 't as you may. And now, good friends, |
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As you are friends, scholars and soldiers, |
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Give me one poor request. |
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| HORATIO |
What is't, my lord? we will. |
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| HAMLET |
Never make known what you have seen to–night. |
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| MARCELLUS |
My lord, we will not. |
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| HAMLET |
Nay, but swear't. |
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| HORATIO |
In faith, |
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My lord, not I. |
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| MARCELLUS |
Nor I, my lord, in faith. |
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| HAMLET |
Upon my sword. |
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| MARCELLUS |
We have sworn, my lord, already. |
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| HAMLET |
Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. |
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| Ghost |
[Beneath]�Swear. |
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| HAMLET |
Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there, |
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truepenny? |
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Come on––you hear this fellow in the cellarage–– |
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Consent to swear. |
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| HORATIO |
Propose the oath, my lord. |
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| HAMLET |
Never to speak of this that you have seen, |
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Swear by my sword. |
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| Ghost |
[Beneath] Swear. |
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| HAMLET |
Hic et ubique? then we'll shift our ground. |
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Come hither, gentlemen, |
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And lay your hands again upon my sword: |
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Never to speak of this that you have heard, |
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Swear by my sword. |
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| Ghost |
[Beneath] Swear. |
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| HAMLET |
Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast? |
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A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends. |
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| HORATIO |
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! |
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| HAMLET |
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. |
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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, |
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Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come; |
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Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, |
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How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, |
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As I perchance hereafter shall think meet |
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To put an antic disposition on, |
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That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, |
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With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake, |
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Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, |
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As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,' |
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Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,' |
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Or such ambiguous giving out, to note |
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That you know aught of me: this not to do, |
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So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear. |
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| Ghost |
[Beneath] Swear. |
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| HAMLET |
Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! |
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| [They swear] |
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So, gentlemen, |
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With all my love I do commend me to you: |
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And what so poor a man as Hamlet is |
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May do, to express his love and friending to you, |
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God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together; |
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And still your fingers on your lips, I pray. |
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The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, |
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That ever I was born to set it right! |
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Nay, come, let's go together. |
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| [Exeunt] |
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