# Hamlet (1917) Yale/Text/Act IV

Notes originally placed at the bottom of each page appear below, following Act IV. Where these notes gloss a word in the text, the gloss can also be found by hovering over the text.
Where these notes refer to an end note (cf. n. = confer notam; "consult note"), a link to the accompanying end note is provided from the Footnotes section. The end notes accompanying Act IV begin on page 168 of the original volume.
Layout 2
ACT FOURTH
Scene One
[A Room in the Castle]
Enter King, [and Queen, with Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.]
King. There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves: You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them. Where is your son?
[Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while.] 4 [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.] Ah! my good lord, what have I seen to-night!
King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit, 8 Behind the arras hearing something stir, Whips out his rapier, cries, 'A rat! a rat!' And, in his brainish apprehension, kills The unseen good old man.
King. O heavy deed! 12 It had been so with us had we been there. His liberty is full of threats to all; To you yourself, to us, to every one. Alas! how shall this bloody deed be answer'd? It will be laid to us, whose providence 17 Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt, This mad young man: but so much was our love, We would not understand what was most fit, 20 ​But, like the owner of a foul disease, To keep it from divulging, let it feed Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd; 24 O'er whom his very madness, like some ore Among a mineral of metals base, Shows itself pure: he weeps for what is done.
King. O Gertrude! come away. 28 The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed We must, with all our majesty and skill, Both countenance and excuse. Ho! Guildenstern! 32
Enter Rosencrants and Guildenstern.
Friends both, go join you with some further aid: Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain, And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him: Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this. 37 Exeunt [Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.] Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends; And let them know both what we mean to do, And what's untimely done: [so, haply, slander, Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, 41 As level as the cannon to his blank Transports his poison'd shot, may miss our name, And hit the woundless air.] O! come away; 44 My soul is full of discord and dismay. Exeunt.
Scene Two
[Another Room in the Castle]
Enter Hamlet.
Ham. Safely stowed.
| Ros. | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | (Within.) Hamlet! Lord Hamlet! |
| Guil. | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | (Within.) Hamlet! Lord Hamlet! |
Ham. What noise? who calls on Hamlet? O! here they come. 4
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Ros. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?
Ham. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin.
Ros. Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence And bear it to the chapel. 8
Ham. Do not believe it.
Ros. Believe what?
Ham. That I can keep your counsel and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! what replication should be made by the son of a king? 14
Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my lord?
Ham. Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: he keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. 23
Ros. I understand you not, my lord.
​Ham. I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.
Ros. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king. 28
Ham. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing—
Guil. A thing, my lord!
Ham. Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after. Exeunt.
Scene Three
[Another Room in the Castle]
Enter King, [attended.]
King. I have sent to seek him, and to find the body. How dangerous is it that this man goes loose! Yet must not we put the strong law on him: He's lov'd of the distracted multitude, 4 Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes; And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd, But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even, This sudden sending him away must seem 8 Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown By desperate appliance are reliev'd, Or not at all.
Enter Rosencrantz.
How now! what hath befall'n?
Ros. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, 12 We cannot get from him.
​King. But where is he?
Ros. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
King. Bring him before us.
Ros. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord. 16
Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern.
King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
Ham. At supper.
King. At supper! Where?
Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable ser- vice; two dishes, but to one table: that's the end.
[King. Alas, alas! 28
Ham. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.]
King. What dost thou mean by this? 32
Ham. Nothing, but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.
King. Where is Polonius? 35
Ham. In heaven; send thither to see: if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby. 40
King. [To some Attendants.] Go seek him there.
Ham. He will stay till you come.
[Exeunt Attendants.]
King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety, Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve 44 For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself; The bark is ready, and the wind at help, The associates tend, and every thing is bent 48 For England.
Ham. For England!
King. Ay, Hamlet.
Ham. Good.
King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
Ham. I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for England! Farewell, dear mother. 52
King. Thy loving father, Hamlet.
Ham. My mother: father and mother is man and wife, man and wife is one flesh, and so, my mother. Come, for England! Exit.
King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard: 57 Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night. Away! for every thing is seal'd and done That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste. 60 [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.] And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,— As my great power thereof may give thee sense, Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red After the Danish sword, and thy free awe 64 Pays homage to us,—thou mayst not coldly set Our sovereign process, which imports at full, ​By letters conjuring to that effect, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; For like the hectic in my blood he rages, 69 And thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done, Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. Exit.
Scene Four
[Near Elsinore]
Enter Fortinbras with an army.
For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king; Tell him that, by his licence, Fortinbras Claims the conveyance of a promis'd march Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. 4 If that his majesty would aught with us, We shall express our duty in his eye, And let him know so.
Cap. I will do 't, my lord.
For. Go softly on. 8
[Exeunt Fortinbras and Soldiers.]
[Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, &c.
Ham. Good sir, whose powers are these?
Cap. They are of Norway, sir.
Ham. How purpos'd, sir, I pray you?
Cap. Against some part of Poland. 12
Ham. Who commands them, sir?
Cap. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir, Or for some frontier? 16
Cap. Truly to speak, and with no addition, ​We go to gain a little patch of ground That hath in it no profit but the name. To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it; 20 Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it.
Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd. 24
Ham. Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats Will not debate the question of this straw: This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace, That inward breaks, and shows no cause without 28 Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.
Cap. God be wi' you, sir. [Exit.]
Ros. Will 't please you go, my lord?
Ham. I'll be with you straight. Go a little before. [Exeunt all except Hamlet.] How all occasions do inform against me, 32 And spur my dull revenge! What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, 36 Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple 40 Of thinking too precisely on the event, A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom, And ever three parts coward, I do not know Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;' 44 ​Sith I have cause and will and strength and means To do 't. Examples gross as earth exhort me: Witness this army of such mass and charge Led by a delicate and tender prince, 48 Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd Makes mouths at the invisible event, Exposing what is mortal and unsure To all that fortune, death and danger dare, 52 Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great Is not to stir without great argument, But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honour's at the stake. How stand I then, That have a father kill'd, a mother stain' d, 57 Excitements of my reason and my blood, And let all sleep, while, to my shame, I see The imminent death of twenty thousand men, That, for a fantasy and trick of fame, 61 Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, Which is not tomb enough and continent 64 To hide the slain? O! from this time forth, My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!
Exit.]
Scene Five
[Elsinore. A Room in the Castle]
Enter Queen and Horatio, [with a Gentleman.]
Queen. I will not speak with her.
Gent. She is importunate, indeed distract: Her mood will needs be pitied.
​Queen. What would she have?
Gent. She speaks much of her father; says she hears 4 There's tricks i' the world; and hems, and beats her heart; Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt, That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing, Yet the unshaped use of it doth move 8 The hearers to collection; they aim at it, And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts; Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them, Indeed would make one think there might be thought, 12 Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
Hor. 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
Queen. Let her come in. [Exit Gentleman.] To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is, 17 Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss: So full of artless jealousy is guilt, It spills itself in fearing to be spilt. 20
Enter Ophelia distracted.
Oph. Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark?
Queen. How now, Ophelia!
​Oph. "How should I your true love know From another one? 24 By his cockle hat and staffs And his sandal shoon."
Queen. Alas! sweet lady, what imports this song?
Oph. Say you? nay, pray you, mark. 28 "He is dead and gone, lady, He is dead and gone; At his head a grass-green turf; At his heels a stone." 32 O, ho!
Queen. Nay, but Ophelia,—
Oph. Pray you, mark. "White his shroud as the mountain snow,—" 36
Enter King.
Queen. Alas! look here, my lord.
Oph. "Larded with sweet flowers; Which bewept to the grave did go With true-love showers." 40
King. How do you, pretty lady?
Oph. Well, God 'ild you! They say the owl was a baker's daughter. Lord! we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table! 45
King. Conceit upon her father.
Oph. Pray you, let's have no words of this; but when they ask you what it means, say you this: "To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, 49 All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window, To be your Valentine: 52 ​Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes, And dupp'd the chamber door; Let in the maid, that out a maid Never departed more." 56
King. Pretty Ophelia!
Oph. Indeed, la! without an oath, I'll make an end on 't: "By Gis and by Saint Charity, Alack, and fie for shame! 60 Young men will do 't, if they come to 't; By Cock they are to blame. Quoth she, before you tumbled me, You promis'd me to wed. 64 So would I ha' done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed."
King. How long hath she been thus? 67
Oph. I hope all will be well. We must be patient: but I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him i' the cold ground. My brother shall know of it: and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good- night, ladies; good-night, sweet ladies; good- night, good-night. Exit.
King. Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. [Exit Horatio.] O! this is the poison of deep grief; it springs 76 All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude! When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions. First, her father slain; Next, your son gone; but he most violent author 80 Of his own just remove: the people muddied, ​Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers, For good Polonius' death; and we have done but greenly, In hugger-mugger to inter him: poor Ophelia Divided from herself and her fair judgment, 85 Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts: Last, and as much containing as all these, Her brother is in secret come from France, 88 Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds, And wants not buzzers to infect his ear With pestilent speeches of his father's death; Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd, 92 Will nothing stick our person to arraign In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude! this, Like to a murdering-piece, in many places Gives me superfluous death. A noise within.
Queen. Alack! what noise is this?
Enter a Messenger.
King. Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door. 97 What is the matter?
Mess. Save yourself, my lord; The ocean, overpeering of his list, Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste Than young Laertes, in a riotous head, 101 O'erbears your officers. The rabble call him lord; And, as the world were now but to begin, ​Antiquity forgot, custom not known, 104 The ratifiers and props of every word, They cry, 'Choose we; Laertes shall be king!' Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds, 'Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!' 108
Queen. How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! O! this is counter, you false Danish dogs!
King. The doors are broke. Noise within.
Enter Laertes with others.
Laer. Where is the king? Sirs, stand you all without. 112
All. No, let's come in.
Laer. I pray you, give me leave.
All. We will, we will.
[They retire without the door.]
Laer. I thank you: keep the door. O thou vile king! Give me my father.
Queen. Calmly, good Laertes. 116
Laer. That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard, Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow Of my true mother.
King. What is the cause, Laertes, That thy rebellion looks so giant-like? 121 Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person: There's such divinity doth hedge a king, That treason can but peep to what it would, Acts little of his will. Tell me, Laertes, 125 Why thou art thus incens'd. Let him go, Gertrude. ​Speak, man.
Laer. Where is my father?
King. Dead.
Queen. But not by him.
King. Let him demand his fill. 128
Laer. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with. To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation. To this point I stand, 132 That both the worlds I give to negligence, Let come what comes; only I'll be reveng'd Most throughly for my father.
King. Who shall stay you?
Laer. My will, not all the world: 136 And, for my means, I'll husband them so well, They shall go far with little.
King. Good Laertes, If you desire to know the certainty Of your dear father's death, is 't writ in your revenge, 140 That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe, Winner and loser?
Laer. None but his enemies.
King. Will you know them then?
Laer. To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms; 144 And like the kind life-rendering pelican, Repast them with my blood.
King. Why, now you speak Like a good child and a true gentleman. That I am guiltless of your father's death, 148 ​And am most sensibly in grief for it, It shall as level to your judgment pierce As day does to your eye.
A noise within. [Voices.] Let her come in.
Laer. How now! what noise is that? 152
Enter Ophelia.
O heat, dry up my brains! tears seven times salt, Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye! By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight, Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May! Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia! 157 O heavens! is 't possible a young maid's wits Should be as mortal as an old man's life? Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine 160 It sends some precious instance of itself After the thing it loves.
Oph. "They bore him barefac'd on the bier; Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny; 164 And in his grave rain'd many a tear;—" Fare you well, my dove!
Laer. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, It could not move thus. 168
Oph. "You must sing, a-down a-down, And you call him a-down-a." O how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward that stole his master's daughter. 172
Laer. This nothing's more than matter.
Oph. There's rosemary, that's for remem- brance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies, that's for thoughts. 176
​Laer. A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.
Oph. There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for you; and here's some for me; we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays. O! you must wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy; I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. They say he made a good end,— 185 "For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy."
Laer. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, She turns to favour and to prettiness. 188
Oph. "And will he not come again? And will he not come again? No, no, he is dead; Go to thy death-bed, 192 He never will come again. His beard was as white as snow All flaxen was his poll, He is gone, he is gone, 196 And we cast away moan: God ha' mercy on his soul!" And of all Christian souls! I pray God. God be wi' ye! Exit Ophelia.
Laer. Do you see this, O God? 201
King. Laertes, I must common with your grief, Or you deny me right. Go but apart, Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will, 204 ​And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me. If by direct or by collateral hand They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give, Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours, 208 To you in satisfaction; but if not, Be you content to lend your patience to us, And we shall jointly labour with your soul To give it due content.
Laer. Let this be so: 212 His means of death, his obscure burial, No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones, No noble rite nor formal ostentation, Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth, That I must call 't in question.
King. So you shall; 217 And where the offence is let the great axe fall. I pray you go with me. Exeunt.
Scene Six
[Another Room in the Castle
Enter Horatio with an Attendant.
Hor. What are they that would speak with me?
Atten. Sailors, sir: they say, they have letters for you.
Hor. Let them come in. [Exit Attendant.] I do not know from what part of the world 4 I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.
Enter Sailor.
Sail. God bless you, sir.
​Hor. Let him bless thee too.
Sail. He shall, sir, an 't please him. There's a letter for you, sir;—it comes from the am- bassador that was bound for England;—if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is. 12
Reads the letter.
Hor. "Horatio, when thou shalt have over- looked this, give these fellows some means to the king: they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very war-like appointment gave us chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour; in the grapple I boarded them: on the instant they got clear of our ship, so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves of mercy, but they knew what they did; I am to do a good turn for them. Let the king have the letters I have sent; and repair thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldst fly death. I have words to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter. These good fellows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England: of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. He that thou knowest thine, 32 Hamlet."
Come, I will give you way for these your letters; And do 't the speedier, that you may direct me To him from whom you brought them. Exeunt.
Scene Seven
[A Room in the Castle]
Enter King and Laertes.
King. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal, And you must put me in your heart for friend, Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear, That he which hath your noble father slain 4 Pursu'd my life.
Laer. It well appears: but tell me Why you proceeded not against these feats, So crimeful and so capital in nature, As by your safety, wisdom, all things else, 8 You mainly were stirr'd up.
King. O! for two special reasons; Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd, But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother Lives almost by his looks, and for myself,— 12 My virtue or my plague, be it either which,— She's so conjunctive to my life and soul, That, as the star moves not but in his sphere, I could not but by her. The other motive, 16 Why to a public count I might not go, Is the great love the general gender bear him; Who, dipping all his faults in their affection, Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone, 20 Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows, Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind, ​Would have reverted to my bow again, And not where I had aim'd them. 24
Laer. And so have I a noble father lost; A sister driven into desperate terms, Whose worth, if praises may go back again, Stood challenger on mount of all the age 28 For her perfections. But my revenge will come.
King. Break not your sleeps for that; you must not think That we are made of stuff so flat and dull That we can let our beard be shook with danger And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more; 33 I lov'd your father, and we love ourself, And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine,—
Enter a Messenger.
How now! what news?
Mess. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet: This to your majesty; this to the queen. 37
King. From Hamlet! who brought them?
Mess. Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not: They were given me by Claudio, he receiv'd them 40 [Of him that brought them.]
King. Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us. Exit Messenger. "High and mighty, you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes; when I shall, first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the occasions of my sudden and more strange re- turn. Hamlet." ​What should this mean? Are all the rest come back? 49 Or is it some abuse and no such thing?
Laer. Know you the hand?
King. 'Tis Hamlet's character. 'Naked,' And in a postscript here, he says, 'alone.' 52 Can you advise me?
Laer. I'm lost in it, my lord. But let him come: It warms the very sickness in my heart, That I shall live and tell him to his teeth, 56 'Thus didst thou.'
King. If it be so, Laertes, As how should it be so? how otherwise? Will you be rul'd by me?
Laer. Ay, my lord; So you will not o'er-rule me to a peace. 60
King. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd, As checking at his voyage, and that he means No more to undertake it, I will work him To an exploit, now ripe in my device, 64 Under the which he shall not choose but fall; And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe, But even his mother shall uncharge the practice And call it accident.
[Laer. My lord, I will be rul'd; 68 The rather, if you could devise it so That I might be the organ.
King. It falls right. You have been talk'd of since your travel much, And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality 72 Wherein, they say, you shine; your sum of parts ​Did not together pluck such envy from him As did that one, and that, in my regard, Of the unworthiest siege.
Laer. What part is that, my lord? 76
King. A very riband in the cap of youth, Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes The light and careless livery that it wears Than settled age his sables and his weeds, 80 Importing health and graveness.] Two months since Here was a gentleman of Normandy. I've seen myself, and serv'd against the French, And they can well on horseback; but this gallant 84 Had witchcraft in 't, he grew unto his seat, And to such wondrous doing brought his horse, As he had been incorps'd and demi-natur'd With the brave beast; so far he topp'd my thought, 88 That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks, Come short of what he did.
Laer. A Norman was 't?
King. A Norman.
Laer. Upon my life, Lamond.
King. The very same. 92
Laer. I know him well; he is the brooch indeed And gem of all the nation.
King. He made confession of you, And gave you such a masterly report 96 For art and exercise in your defence, And for your rapier most especially, That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed ​If one could match you; [the scrimers of their nation, 100 He swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye, If you oppos'd them.] Sir, this report of his Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy That he could nothing do but wish and beg 104 Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him. Now, out of this,—
Laer. What out of this, my lord?
King. Laertes, was your father dear to you ? Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, 108 A face without a heart?
Laer. Why ask you this?
King. Not that I think you did not love your father, But that I know love is begun by time, And that I see, in passages of proof, 112 Time qualifies the spark and fire of it. [There lives within the very flame of love A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it, And nothing is at a like goodness still, 116 For goodness, growing to a plurisy, Dies in his own too-much. That we would do, We should do when we would, for this 'would' changes, And hath abatements and delays as many 120 As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents; And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh, That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer;] Hamlet comes back; what would you undertake To show yourself your father's son in deed 125 More than in words?
Laer. To cut his throat i' the church.
​King. No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize; Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, 128 Will you do this, keep close within your chamber. Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home; We'll put on those shall praise your excellence, And set a double varnish on the fame 132 The Frenchman gave you, bring you, in fine, together, And wager on your heads: he, being remiss, Most generous and free from all contriving, Will not peruse the foils; so that, with ease 136 Or with a little shuffling, you may choose A sword unbated, and, in a pass of practice Requite him for your father.
Laer. I will do 't; And, for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword. 140 I bought an unction of a mountebank, So mortal that, but dip a knife in it, Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, Collected from all simples that have virtue 144 Under the moon, can save the thing from death That is but scratch'd withal; I'll touch my point With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly, It may be death.
King. Let's further think of this; 148 Weigh what convenience both of time and means May fit us to our shape. If this should fail, And that our drift look through our bad performance 151 'Twere better not assay'd; therefore this project Should have a back or second, that might hold, ​If this should blast in proof. Soft! let me see; We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings: I ha't: 156 When in your motion you are hot and dry,— As make your bouts more violent to that end,— And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepar'd him A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping, If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck, 161 Our purpose may hold there. [But stay! what noise?]
Enter Queen.
How now, sweet queen!
Queen. One woe doth tread upon another's heel, 164 So fast they follow: your sister's drown'd, Laertes.
Laer. Drown'd! O, where?
Queen. There is a willow grows aslant a brook, That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream; There with fantastic garlands did she come, 169 Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them: 172 There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke, When down her weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide, 176 And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up; Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes, As one incapable of her own distress, ​Or like a creature native and indu'd 180 Unto that element; but long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay To muddy death.
Laer. Alas! then, she is drown'd? 184
Queen. Drown'd, drown'd.
Laer. Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia, And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet It is our trick, nature her custom holds, 188 Let shame say what it will; when these are gone The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord! I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze, But that this folly douts it. Exit.
King. Let's follow, Gertrude. How much I had to do to calm his rage! 193 Now fear I this will give it start again; Therefore let's follow. Exeunt.
Footnotes to Act IV
Scene One
​1 heaves: prolonged sighs 11 brainish apprehension: insane illusion, or, brain-sick mood 12 heavy: grievous 17 providence: foresight 18 short: under control, tethered out of haunt: out of company ​22 divulging: becoming known 26 mineral: mine 36 fair: courteously 40 so, haply, slander; cf. n. 41 diameter: extent from side to side 42 level: straight blank: white spot in the centre of a target 44 woundless: invulnerable
Scene Two
​13 replication: reply 17 countenance: favor authorities: offices of authority ​29 The . . . body; cf. n. 32 Hide fox, and all after: signal cry in the game of hide-and-seek
Scene Three
​4 distracted: without power of forming logical judgments 6 scourge: punishment weigh'd: estimated, considered 7 bear: execute smooth and even: pleasantly and equably 10 appliance: remedy ​21 convocation: assembly; cf. n. politic: crafty 25 variable service: variety of food 34 progress: state journey ​48 bent: prepared 57 at foot: close behind 60 leans on: depends upon 63 cicatrice: scar 64 free awe: awe still felt but no longer enforced by arms 65 set: esteem 66 process: formal command ​69 hectic: wasting fever 71 haps: fortunes
Scene Four
​3 conveyance: convoy 6 in his eye: in his presence 8 softly: slowly 9 powers: troops 15 main: chief part, or, chief power 17 no addition: without adding fine words, or, without amplification ​22 ranker: richer sold in fee: sold absolutely 26 debate: bring to a settlement straw: trifling matter 27 imposthume: abscess 34 market: marketing 36 large discourse: latitude of comprehension 39 fust: become mouldy 40 Bestial oblivion: animal-like forgetfulness 41 event: outcome ​45 Sith: since 47 charge: expense 50 mouths: grimaces 54 argument: cause 58 Excitements: incentives 61 trick: trifle 64 continent: receptacle
Scene Five
​Scene V, S. d.; cf. n. 2 importunate: persistent ​5 tricks: deceptions 6 Spurns: kicks enviously: spitefully in doubt: ambiguous 8 unshaped: artless 9 collection: inference aim: guess 11 yield them: bring her words forth 13 nothing: not at all much: very 15 ill-breeding: plotting ill 18 great amiss: calamity 19 artless: unskilful 20 spills: ruins S. d. Cf. n. ​25 cockle hat: pilgrim's hat; cf. n. 26 shoon: shoes 38 larded: garnished 42 God 'ild: God reward owl was a baker's daughter; cf. n. ​54 dupp'd: opened 59 by Gis: by Jesus 62 Cock: perversion of 'God' in oaths 81 remove: removal muddied: confused in mind ​83 greenly: foolishly 84 In hugger-mugger: secretly 89 wonder: doubt in clouds: in gloom, or, invisible 90 buzzers: tale-bearers 92 Wherein: i.e., in which pestilent speeches 93 nothing stick: not at all hesitate 94 In ear and ear: in many ears 95 murdering-piece: small cannon firing case shot 97 Switzers: Swiss guards; cf. n. 99 overpeering: rising above list: boundary 101 head: hostile advance ​110 counter: following the trail in a direction opposite to that which the game has taken 118 cuckold: husband with an unfaithful wife ​131 grace: sense of duty 133 give to negligence: disregard 136 My will: as regards my will 141 swoopstake: indiscriminately; cf. n. 145 life-rendering pelican; cf. n. 146 Repast: feed ​149 sensibly: feelingly 160 fine: delicate, subtle 161 instance: illustrative example 164 Hey non nonny; cf. n. 171 wheel; cf. n. false steward; cf. n. 174 rosemary; cf. n. 176 pansies; cf. n. ​177 document: lesson 179 fennel: emblem of flattery columbines: emblems of thanklessness 180 rue: emblem of repentance; cf. n. 182 difference; cf. n. 183 daisy: emblem of dissemblers violets: emblems of faithfulness 186 For . . . joy; cf. n. 187 passion: suffering 188 favour: charm 189 And . . . again; cf. n. 195 poll: head 197 cast away: shipwrecked 202 common: share 203 right: equitable treatment ​206 collateral: indirect 207 touch'd: implicated 213 means: manner obscure: lowly, mean 214 trophy: emblem, or, memorial over a grave hatchment: tablet displaying armorial bearings 215 ostentation: funeral ceremony 217 call 't in question: demand an explanation
Scene Six
​13 overlooked: perused 17 appointment: equipment 24 repair: come 28 bore: literally, calibre, hence importance 34 way: passage
Scene Seven
​3 knowing: intelligent, or, convinced 5 Pursu'd: sought 7 capital: punishable by death 10 unsinew'd: weak 14 conjunctive: closely united 17 count: legal indictment 18 general gender: common people 20 spring; cf. n. 21 gyves: leg-irons; cf. n. 22 slightly timber'd: of too light a wood ​23 reverted: returned; cf. n. 27 praises . . . again; cf. n. 28 challenger on mount; cf. n. 40 Claudio; cf. n. 44 naked: without resources ​50 abuse: imposture 51 character: handwriting 62 checking: stopping short 67 uncharge: acquit of guilt practice: stratagem 70 organ: instrument falls: happens ​76 siege: rank; cf. n. part: attribute 77 riband: ribbon 79 livery: garb 80 weeds: garments 81 health: prosperity 84 can well: are skilled 87 incorps'd and demi-natur'd; cf. n. 88 topp'd: surpassed 89 in . . . tricks; cf. n. 95 confession: report 96 masterly report; cf. n. 97 art and exercise: skilful exercise defence: science of defence ​100 scrimers: fencers 105 play: fence 112 passages of proof; cf. n. 117 plurisy: fulness; cf. n. 120 abatements: diminutions 122 spendthrift sigh; cf. n. ​131 put on: instigate 136 peruse: inspect 138 unbated: not blunted pass of practice; cf. n. 140 anoint: smear 141 mountebank; cf. n. 143 cataplasm: poultice 144 simples: medicinal herbs 145 moon; cf. n. 150 our shape: part we purpose to act ​154 blast in proof: burst when tested 155 cunnings: skill; cf. n. 157 motion: bodily exertion 160 for the nonce: for the purpose 161 stuck: thrust 168 hoar: greyish-white 170 crow-flowers: buttercups; cf. n. long purples: early purple orchids 171 liberal: licentious 173 coronet: garlanded 175 weedy: of plants 179 incapable: having no understanding ​180 indu'd: endowed with qualities fitting her 188 trick: custom 190 woman; cf. n. 192 douts: puts out, extinguishes