Hamlet, William Shakespeare [reading women TXT] 📗

lord! Hamlet Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come. Enter Horatio and Marcellus. Marcellus How is’t, my noble lord? Horatio What news, my lord? Hamlet O, wonderful! Horatio Good my lord, tell it. Hamlet No; you’ll reveal it. Horatio Not I, my lord, by heaven. Marcellus Nor I, my lord. Hamlet

How say you, then; would heart of man once think it?
But you’ll be secret?

Horatio
Marcellus Ay, by heaven, my lord. Hamlet

There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he’s an arrant knave.

Horatio

There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this.

Hamlet

Why, right; you are i’ the right;
And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:
You, as your business and desire shall point you;
For every man has business and desire,
Such as it is; and for mine own poor part,
Look you, I’ll go pray.

Horatio These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. Hamlet

I’m sorry they offend you, heartily;
Yes, ’faith heartily.

Horatio There’s no offence, my lord. Hamlet

Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offence too. Touching this vision here,
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you:
For your desire to know what is between us,
O’ermaster’t as you may. And now, good friends,
As you are friends, scholars and soldiers,
Give me one poor request.

Horatio What is’t, my lord? we will. Hamlet Never make known what you have seen to-night. Horatio
Marcellus My lord, we will not. Hamlet Nay, but swear’t. Horatio

In faith,
My lord, not I.

Marcellus Nor I, my lord, in faith. Hamlet Upon my sword. Marcellus We have sworn, my lord, already. Hamlet Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. Ghost Beneath. Swear. Hamlet

Ah, ha, boy! say’st thou so? art thou there, truepenny?
Come on⁠—you hear this fellow in the cellarage⁠—
Consent to swear.

Horatio Propose the oath, my lord. Hamlet

Never to speak of this that you have seen,
Swear by my sword.

Ghost Beneath. Swear. Hamlet

Hic et ubique? then we’ll shift our ground.
Come hither, gentlemen,
And lay your hands again upon my sword:
Never to speak of this that you have heard,
Swear by my sword.

Ghost Beneath. Swear. Hamlet

Well said, old mole! canst work i’ the earth so fast?
A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.

Horatio O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! Hamlet

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 soe’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 encumber’d thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As “Well, well, we know,” or “We could, an if we would,”
Or “If we list to speak,” or “There be, an if they might,”
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me: this not to do,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you,
Swear.

Ghost Beneath. Swear. Hamlet

Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! They swear. So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you:
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do, to 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

A room in Polonius’ house.

Enter Polonius and Reynaldo. Polonius Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo. Reynaldo I will, my lord. Polonius

You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before you visit him, to make inquire
Of his behavior.

Reynaldo My lord, I did intend it. Polonius

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?

Reynaldo Ay, very well, my lord. Polonius

“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 dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.

Reynaldo As gaming, my lord. Polonius

Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,
Drabbing: you may go so far.

Reynaldo My lord, that would dishonour him. Polonius

’Faith, no; 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.

Reynaldo But, my good lord⁠— Polonius Wherefore should you do this? Reynaldo

Ay, my lord,
I would know that.

Polonius

Marry, sir, here’s my drift;
And, I believe, it is a fetch of wit:
You laying these slight sullies on my son,
As ’twere a thing a little soil’d i’ the 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 assured
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.

Reynaldo Very good, my lord. Polonius And then, sir, does he this⁠—he does⁠—what was I about to say? By the mass, I was about to say something: where did I leave? Reynaldo At “closes in the consequence,” at “friend or so,” and “gentleman.” Polonius

At “closes in the consequence,” ay, marry;
He closes thus: “I know the gentleman;
I saw him yesterday, or t’ other day,
Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say,
There was a’ gaming; there o’ertook