ACT IV SCENE III� Setting: Another room in the castle.
Enter KING CLAUDIUS, attended.�
KING CLAUDIUS�
I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.
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How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
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Yet must not we put the strong law on him:
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He's loved of the distracted multitude,
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Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
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And where tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,
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But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
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This sudden sending him away must seem
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Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown
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By desperate appliance are relieved,
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Or not at all.
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Enter ROSENCRANTZ and others.
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How now! what hath befall'n?
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ROSENCRANTZ�
Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
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We cannot get from him.
KING CLAUDIUS�
But where is he?
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ROSENCRANTZ�
Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
Bring him before us.
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ROSENCRANTZ�
Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.
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Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
HAMLET�
At supper.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
At supper! where?
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HAMLET�
Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain
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convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your
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worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
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creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for
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maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but
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variable service, two dishes, but to one table:
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that's the end.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
Alas, alas!
HAMLET�
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a
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king, and cat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
What dost you mean by this?
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HAMLET�
Nothing but to show you how a king may go a
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progress through the guts of a beggar.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
Where is Polonius?
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HAMLET�
In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger
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find him not there, seek him i' the other place
yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within
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this month, you shall nose him as you go up the
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stairs into the lobby.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
Go seek him there.
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To some Attendants.
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HAMLET�
He will stay till ye come.
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Exeunt Attendants.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,––
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Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
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For that which thou hast done,––must send thee hence
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With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;
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The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
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The associates tend, and every thing is bent
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For England.
HAMLET�
For England.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
Ay, Hamlet.
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HAMLET�
Good.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
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HAMLET�
I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for
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England! Farewell, dear mother.
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KING CLAUDIUS�
Thy loving father, Hamlet.
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HAMLET�
My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man
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and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!
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Exit
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KING CLAUDIUS�
Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;
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Delay it not; I'll have him hence to–night:
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Away! for every thing is seal'd and done
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That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.
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Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.
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And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught––
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As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
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Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
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After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
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Pays homage to us––thou mayst not coldly set
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Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
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By letters congruing to that effect,
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The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
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For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
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And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done,
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Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.
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Exit
