Hamlet · William Shakespeare
[A]
_Hor_. You will lose this wager, my Lord. [Sidenote: loose my Lord.] _Ham_. I doe not thinke so, since he went into France, I haue beene in continuall practice; I shall [Sidenote: 265] winne at the oddes:[7] but thou wouldest not thinke [Sidenote: ods; thou] how all heere about my heart:[8] but it is no matter[9] [Sidenote: how ill all's heere] _Hor_. Nay, good my Lord. _Ham_. It is but foolery; but it is such a kinde of gain-giuing[10] as would perhaps trouble a woman, [Sidenote: gamgiuing.] _Hor_. If your minde dislike any thing, obey.[11] [Sidenote: obay it.] I will forestall[12] their repaire hither, and say you are not fit. _Ham_. Not a whit, we defie Augury[13]; there's a [Sidenote: there is speciall] [Sidenote: 24, 125, 247] speciall Prouidence in the fall of a sparrow.[14] If [Footnote A: _Here in the Quarto:--_ _Enter a Lord_.[15] _Lord_. My Lord, his Maiestie commended him to you by young Ostricke,[16] who brings backe 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?[17] _Ham_. I am constant to my purposes, they followe the Kings pleasure, if his fitnes speakes, mine is ready[18]: now or whensoeuer, prouided I be so able as now. _Lord_. The King, and Queene, and all are comming downe.
_Ham_. In happy time.[19] _Lord_. The Queene desires you to vse some gentle entertainment[20] _Laertes_, before you fall to play. _Ham_. Shee well instructs me.] [Footnote 20: 'to be polite to Laertes.' The print shows where _to_ has slipped out. The queen is anxious; she distrusts Laertes, and the king's influence over him.] [Page 262] it[1] be now, 'tis not to come: if it bee not to come, [Sidenote: be, tis] it will bee now: if it be not now; yet it will come; [Sidenote: it well come,] [Sidenote: 54, 164] the readinesse is all,[2] since no man ha's ought of [Sidenote: man of ought he leaues, knowes what ist to leaue betimes, let be.] [Sidenote: 252] what he leaues. What is't to leaue betimes?[3] _Enter King, Queene, Laertes and Lords, with other Attendants with Foyles, and Gauntlets, a Table and Flagons of Wine on it._ [Sidenote: _A table prepard, Trumpets, Drums and officers with cushion, King, Queene, and all the state, Foiles, Daggers, and Laertes._] _Kin_. Come _Hamlet_ come, and take this hand from me.
We may find a deeper meaning in the passage, however--surely not too deep for Shakspere:--'Since nothing can be truly said to be possessed as his own which a man must at one time or another yield; since that which is _own_ can never be taken from the owner, but solely that which is lent him; since the nature of a thing that has to be left is not such that it _could_ be possessed, why should a man mind parting with it early?'--There is far more in this than merely that at the end of the day it will be all the same. The thing that ever was really a man's own, God has given, and God will not, and man cannot, take away. Note the unity of religion and philosophy in Hamlet: he takes the one true position. Note also his courage: he has a strong presentiment of death, but will not turn a step from his way. If Death be coming, he will confront him. He does not believe in chance. He is ready--that is willing. All that is needful is, that he should not go as one who cannot help it, but as one who is for God's will, who chooses that will as his own.
There is so much behind in Shakspere's characters--so much that can only be hinted at! The dramatist has not the _word_-scope of the novelist; his art gives him little _room_; he must effect in a phrase what the other may take pages to. He needs good seconding by his actors as sorely as the composer needs good rendering of his music by the orchestra. It is a lesson in unity that the greatest art can least work alone; that the greatest _finder_ most needs the help of others to show his _findings_. The dramatist has live men and women for the very instruments of his art--who must not be mere instruments, but fellow-workers; and upon them he is greatly dependent for final outcome. Here the actor should show a marked calmness and elevation in Hamlet. He should have around him as it were a luminous cloud, the cloud of his coming end. A smile not all of this world should close the speech. He has given himself up, and is at peace.] [Footnote 15: _Brother_ is much easier to accept, though _Mother_ might be in the simile. To do justice to the speech we must remember that Hamlet has no quarrel whatever with Laertes, that he has expressed admiration of him, and that he is inclined to love him for Ophelia's sake. His apology has no reference to the fate of his father or his sister; Hamlet is not aware that Laertes associates him with either, and plainly the public did not know Hamlet killed Polonius; while Laertes could have no intention of alluding to the fact, seeing it would frustrate his scheme of treachery.]
But why not receive the apology as quite satisfactory? That he would not seems to show a lingering regard to _real_ honour. A downright villain, like the king, would have pretended its _thorough_ acceptance--especially as they were just going to fence like friends; but he, as regards his honour, will not accept it until justified in doing so by the opinion of 'some elder masters,' receiving from them 'a voice and precedent of peace'--counsel to, and justification, or example of peace. He keeps the door of quarrel open--will not profess to be _altogether_ friends with him, though he does not hint at his real ground of offence: that mooted, the match of skill, with its immense advantages for villainy, would have been impossible. He means treachery all the time; careful of his honour, he can, like most apes of fashion, let his honesty go; still, so complex is human nature, he holds his speech declining thorough reconciliation as a shield to shelter his treachery from his own contempt: he has taken care not to profess absolute friendship, and so left room for absolute villainy! He has had regard to his word! Relieved perhaps by the demoniacal quibble, he follows it immediately with an utterance of full-blown perfidy.] [Footnote 10: _Point thus_: I do not fear it--I have seen you both! But since, he is bettered: we have therefore odds.
'Since'--'_since the time I saw him_.'] [Page 266] _Laer_. This is too heauy, Let me see another.[1] _Ham_. This likes me well, These Foyles haue all a length.[2] _Prepare to play._[3] _Osricke_. I my good Lord. [Sidenote: _Ostr._] _King_. Set me the Stopes of wine vpon that Table: If _Hamlet_ giue the first, or second hit, Or quit in answer of the third exchange,[4] Let all the Battlements their Ordinance fire, [Sidenote: 268] The King shal drinke to _Hamlets_ better breath, And in the Cup an vnion[5] shal he throw [Sidenote: an Vince] Richer then that,[6] which foure successiue Kings In Denmarkes Crowne haue worne. Giue me the Cups, And let the Kettle to the Trumpets speake, [Sidenote: trumpet] The Trumpet to the Cannoneer without, The Cannons to the Heauens, the Heauen to Earth, Now the King drinkes to _Hamlet_. Come, begin, [Sidenote: _Trumpets the while._] And you the Iudges[7] beare a wary eye. _Ham_. Come on sir. _Laer_. Come on sir. _They play._[8] [Sidenote: Come my Lord.] _Ham_. One. _Laer_. No. _Ham_. Iudgement.[9] _Osr_. A hit, a very palpable hit. [Sidenote: _Ostrick._] _Laer_. Well: againe. [Sidenote: _Drum, trumpets and a shot. Florish, a peece goes off._] _King_. Stay, giue me drinke. _Hamlet_, this Pearle is thine, Here's to thy health. Giue him the cup,[10] _Trumpets sound, and shot goes off._[11]
_Ham_. Ile play this bout first, set by a-while.[12] [Sidenote: set it by] Come: Another hit; what say you? _Laer_. A touch, a touch, I do confesse.[13] [Sidenote: _Laer_. | doe confest.] _King_. Our Sonne shall win. [Page 268] [Sidenote: 266] _Qu_. He's fat, and scant of breath.[1] Heere's a Napkin, rub thy browes, [Sidenote: Heere _Hamlet_ take my napkin] The Queene Carowses to thy fortune, _Hamlet_. _Ham_. Good Madam.[2] _King_. _Gertrude_, do not drinke. _Qu_. I will my Lord; I pray you pardon me.[3] [Sidenote: 222]_King_. It is the poyson'd Cup, it is too late.[4] _Ham_. I dare not drinke yet Madam, By and by.[5] _Qu_. Come, let me wipe thy face.[6] _Laer_. My Lord, Ile hit him now. _King_. I do not thinke't. _Laer_. And yet 'tis almost 'gainst my conscience.[7] [Sidenote: it is | against] _Ham_. Come for the third. _Laertes_, you but dally, [Sidenote: you doe but] I pray you passe with your best violence, I am affear'd you make a wanton of me.[8] [Sidenote: I am sure you] _Laer_. Say you so? Come on. _Play._ _Osr_. Nothing neither way. [Sidenote: _Ostr._] _Laer_. Haue at you now.[9] _In scuffling they change Rapiers._[10] _King_. Part them, they are incens'd.[11] _Ham_. Nay come, againe.[12] _Osr_. Looke to the Queene there hoa. [Sidenote: _Ostr._ | there howe.] _Hor_. They bleed on both sides. How is't my [Sidenote: is it] Lord?
_Osr_. How is't _Laertes_? [Sidenote: _Ostr._] _Laer_. Why as a Woodcocke[13] To mine Sprindge, _Osricke_, [Sidenote: mine owne sprindge _Ostrick_,] I am iustly kill'd with mine owne Treacherie.[14] _Ham_. How does the Queene? _King_. She sounds[15] to see them bleede. _Qu_. No, no, the drinke, the drinke[16] [Footnote 10: _Not in Q._ The 1st Q. directs:--_They catch one anothers Rapiers, find both are wounded_, &c. The thing, as I understand it, goes thus: With the words 'Have at you now!' Laertes stabs Hamlet; Hamlet, apprised thus of his treachery, lays hold of his rapier, wrenches it from him, and stabs him with it in return.] [Page 270] Oh my deere _Hamlet_, the drinke, the drinke, I am poyson'd. _Ham_. Oh Villany! How? Let the doore be lock'd. Treacherie, seeke it out.[1] _Laer_. It is heere _Hamlet_.[2] _Hamlet_,[3] thou art slaine, No Medicine in the world can do thee good. In thee, there is not halfe an houre of life; [Sidenote: houres life,] The Treacherous Instrument is in thy hand, [Sidenote: in my] Vnbated and envenom'd: the foule practise[4] Hath turn'd it selfe on me. Loe, heere I lye, Neuer to rise againe: Thy Mothers poyson'd: I can no more, the King, the King's too blame.[5] _Ham_. The point envenom'd too, Then venome to thy worke.[6] _Hurts the King._[7] _All_. Treason, Treason.
_King_. O yet defend me Friends, I am but hurt. _Ham_. Heere thou incestuous, murdrous, [Sidenote: Heare thou incestious damned Dane,] Damned Dane, Drinke off this Potion: Is thy Vnion heere? [Sidenote: of this | is the Onixe heere?] Follow my Mother.[8] _King Dyes._[9] _Laer_. He is iustly seru'd. It is a poyson temp'red by himselfe: Exchange forgiuenesse with me, Noble _Hamlet_; Mine and my Fathers death come not vpon thee, Nor thine on me.[10] _Dyes._[11] _Ham_. Heauen make thee free of it,[12] I follow thee. I am dead _Horatio_, wretched Queene adiew. You that looke pale, and tremble at this chance, That are but Mutes[13] or audience to this acte: Had I but time (as this fell Sergeant death Is strick'd in his Arrest) oh I could tell you. [Sidenote: strict] [Footnote 6: _Point_: 'too!' _1st Q._ Then venome to thy venome, die damn'd villaine.] [Footnote 7: _Not in Quarto._ The true moment, now only, has at last come. Hamlet has lived to do his duty with a clear conscience, and is thereupon permitted to go. The man who asks whether this be poetic justice or no, is unworthy of an answer. 'The Tragedie of Hamlet' is _The Drama of Moral Perplexity_.] [Page 272] But let it be: _Horatio_, I am dead, Thou liu'st, report me and my causes right [Sidenote: cause a right] To the vnsatisfied.[1]
_Hor_. Neuer beleeue it. [Sidenote: 134] I am more an Antike Roman then a Dane: [Sidenote: 135] Heere's yet some Liquor left.[2] _Ham_. As th'art a man, giue me the Cup. Let go, by Heauen Ile haue't. [Sidenote: hate,] [Sidenote: 114, 251] Oh good _Horatio_, what a wounded name,[3] [Sidenote: O god _Horatio_,] (Things standing thus vnknowne) shall liue behind me. [Sidenote: shall I leaue behind me?] If thou did'st euer hold me in thy heart, Absent thee from felicitie awhile, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in paine,[1] [Sidenote: _A march a farre off._] To tell my Storie.[4] _March afarre off, and shout within._[5] What warlike noyse is this? _Enter Osricke._ _Osr_. Yong _Fortinbras_, with conquest come from Poland To th'Ambassadors of England giues this warlike volly.[6] _Ham_. O I dye _Horatio_: The potent poyson quite ore-crowes my spirit, I cannot liue to heare the Newes from England, [Sidenote: 62] But I do prophesie[7] th'election lights [Sidenote: 276] On _Fortinbras_, he ha's my dying voyce,[8] So tell him with the occurrents more and lesse,[9] [Sidenote: th'] Which haue solicited.[10] The rest is silence. O, o, o, o.[11] _Dyes_[12] _Hora_. Now cracke a Noble heart: [Sidenote: cracks a] Goodnight sweet Prince, And flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest, Why do's the Drumme come hither? [Footnote 4: Horatio must be represented as here giving sign of assent.
_1st Q._ _Ham_. Vpon my loue I charge thee let it goe, O fie _Horatio_, and if thou shouldst die, What a scandale wouldst thou leaue behinde? What tongue should tell the story of our deaths, If not from thee?] [Footnote 9: 'greater and less'--as in the psalm, 'The Lord preserves all, more and less, That bear to him a loving heart.'] [Footnote 12: _Not in Q._ All Shakspere's tragedies suggest that no action ever ends, only goes off the stage of the world on to another.] [Page 274] [Sidenote: 190] _Enter Fortinbras and English Ambassador, with_ [Sidenote: _Enter Fortenbrasse, with the Embassadors._] _Drumme, Colours, and Attendants._ _Fortin_. Where is this sight? _Hor_. What is it ye would see; [Sidenote: you] If ought of woe, or wonder, cease your search.[1] _For_. His quarry[2] cries on hauocke.[3] Oh proud death, [Sidenote: This quarry] What feast is toward[4] in thine eternall Cell. That thou so many Princes, at a shoote, [Sidenote: shot] So bloodily hast strooke.[5] _Amb_. The sight is dismall, And our affaires from England come too late, The eares are senselesse that should giue vs hearing,[6] To tell him his command'ment is fulfill'd, That _Rosincrance_ and _Guildensterne_ are dead: Where should we haue our thankes?[7]
_Hor_. Not from his mouth,[8] Had it[9] th'abilitie of life to thanke you: He neuer gaue command'ment for their death. [Sidenote: 6] But since so iumpe[10] vpon this bloodie question,[11] You from the Polake warres, and you from England Are heere arriued. Giue order[12] that these bodies High on a stage be placed to the view, And let me speake to th'yet vnknowing world, [Sidenote: , to yet] How these things came about. So shall you heare Of carnall, bloudie, and vnnaturall acts,[13] Of accidentall Judgements,[14] casuall slaughters[15] Of death's put on by cunning[16] and forc'd cause,[17] [Sidenote: deaths | and for no cause] And in this vpshot, purposes mistooke,[18] Falne on the Inuentors heads. All this can I [Sidenote: th'] Truly deliuer. _For_. Let vs hast to heare it, And call the Noblest to the Audience. For me, with sorrow, I embrace my Fortune, I haue some Rites of memory[19] in this Kingdome, [Sidenote: rights of[19]] [Footnote 19: The _Quarto_ is correct here, I think: '_rights of the past_'--'claims of descent.' Or 'rights of memory' might mean--'_rights yet remembered_.' Fortinbras is not one to miss a chance: even in this shadowy 'person,' character is recognizably maintained.] [Page 276] Which are to claime,[1] my vantage doth [Sidenote: Which now to clame] Inuite me, _Hor_. Of that I shall haue alwayes[2] cause to speake, [Sidenote: haue also cause[3]] And from his mouth [Sidenote: 272] Whose voyce will draw on more:[3] [Sidenote: drawe no more,] But let this same be presently perform'd, Euen whiles mens mindes are wilde, [Sidenote: while] Lest more mischance On plots, and errors happen.[4]
_For_. Let foure Captaines Beare _Hamlet_ like a Soldier to the Stage, For he was likely, had he beene put on[5] To haue prou'd most royally:[6] [Sidenote: royall;] And for his passage,[7] The Souldiours Musicke, and the rites of Warre[8] [Sidenote: right of] Speake[9] lowdly for him. Take vp the body; Such a sight as this [Sidenote: bodies,] Becomes the Field, but heere shewes much amis. Go, bid the Souldiers shoote.[10] _Exeunt Marching: after the which, a Peale_ [Sidenote: _Exeunt._] _of Ordenance are shot off._
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.