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Another Part of the Platform. | |
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Enter Ghost and HAMLET. | |
| Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me? speak; I’ll go no further. | |
| Ghost. Mark me. | |
| Ham. I will. | 5 |
| Ghost. My hour is almost come, | |
| When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames | |
| Must render up myself. | |
| Ham. Alas! poor ghost. | |
| Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing | 10 |
| To what I shall unfold. | |
| Ham Speak; I am bound to hear. | |
| Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. | |
| Ham. What? | |
| Ghost. I am thy father’s spirit; | 15 |
| Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night, | |
| And for the day confin’d to fast in fires, | |
| Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature | |
| Are burnt and purg’d away. But that I am forbid | |
| To tell the secrets of my prison-house, | 20 |
| I could a tale unfold whose lightest word | |
| Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, | |
| Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, | |
| Thy knotted and combined locks to part, | |
| And each particular hair to stand an end, | 25 |
| Like quills upon the fretful porpentine: | |
| But this eternal blazon must not be | |
| To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list! | |
| If thou didst ever thy dear father love— | |
| Ham. O God! | 30 |
| Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. | |
| Ham. Murder! | |
| Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; | |
| But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. | |
| Ham. Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift | 35 |
| As meditation or the thoughts of love, | |
| May sweep to my revenge. | |
| Ghost. I find thee apt; | |
| And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed | |
| That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, | 40 |
| Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: | |
| ’Tis given out that, sleeping in mine orchard, | |
| A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark | |
| Is by a forged process of my death | |
| Rankly abus’d; but know, thou noble youth, | 45 |
| The serpent that did sting thy father’s life | |
| Now wears his crown. | |
| Ham. O my prophetic soul! | |
| My uncle! | |
| Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, | 50 |
| With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,— | |
| O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power | |
| So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust | |
| The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen. | |
| O Hamlet! what a falling-off was there; | 55 |
| From me, whose love was of that dignity | |
| That it went hand in hand even with the vow | |
| I made to her in marriage; and to decline | |
| Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor | |
| To those of mine! | 60 |
| But virtue, as it never will be mov’d, | |
| Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, | |
| So lust, though to a radiant angel link’d, | |
| Will sate itself in a celestial bed, | |
| And prey on garbage. | 65 |
| But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air; | |
| Brief let me be. Sleeping within mine orchard, | |
| My custom always in the afternoon, | |
| Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, | |
| With juice of cursed hebona in a vial, | 70 |
| And in the porches of mine ears did pour | |
| The leperous distilment; whose effect | |
| Holds such an enmity with blood of man | |
| That swift as quicksilver it courses through | |
| The natural gates and alleys of the body, | 75 |
| And with a sudden vigour it doth posset | |
| And curd, like eager droppings into milk, | |
| The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine; | |
| And a most instant tetter bark’d about, | |
| Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, | 80 |
| All my smooth body. | |
| Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand, | |
| Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch’d; | |
| Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, | |
| Unhousel’d, disappointed, unanel’d, | 85 |
| No reckoning made, but sent to my account | |
| With all my imperfections on my head: | |
| O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible! | |
| If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not; | |
| Let not the royal bed of Denmark be | 90 |
| A couch for luxury and damned incest. | |
| But, howsoever thou pursu’st this act, | |
| Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive | |
| Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven, | |
| And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, | 95 |
| To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once! | |
| The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, | |
| And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire; | |
| Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me. [Exit. | |
| Ham. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else? | 100 |
| And shall I couple hell? O fie! Hold, hold, my heart! | |
| And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, | |
| But bear me stiffly up! Remember thee! | |
| Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat | |
| In this distracted globe. Remember thee! | 105 |
| Yea, from the table of my memory | |
| I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records, | |
| All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, | |
| That youth and observation copied there; | |
| And thy commandment all alone shall live | 110 |
| Within the book and volume of my brain, | |
| Unmix’d with baser matter: yes, by heaven! | |
| O most pernicious woman! | |
| O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! | |
| My tables,—meet it is I set it down, | 115 |
| That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; | |
| At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark: [Writing. | |
| So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word; | |
| It is, ‘Adieu, adieu! remember me. | |
| I have sworn ’t. | 120 |
| Hor. [Within.] My lord! my lord! | |
| Mar. [Within.] Lord Hamlet! | |
| Hor. [Within.] Heaven secure him! | |
| Mar. [Within.] So be it! | |
| Hor. [Within.] Hillo, ho, ho, my lord! | 125 |
| Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come. | |
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Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS. | |
| Mar. How is ’t, my noble lord? | |
| Hor. What news, my lord? | |
| Ham. O! wonderful. | 130 |
| Hor. Good my lord, tell it. | |
| Ham. No; you will reveal it. | |
| Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven! | |
| Mar Nor I, my lord. | |
| Ham. How say you, then; would heart of man once think it? | 135 |
| But you’ll be secret? | |
| Hor. & Mar. Ay, by heaven, my lord. | |
| Ham. There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all Denmark, | |
| But he’s an arrant knave. | |
| Hor. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave, | 140 |
| To tell us this. | |
| Ham. 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,— | 145 |
| For every man hath business and desire, | |
| Such as it is,—and, for mine own poor part, | |
| Look you, I’ll go pray. | |
| Hor. These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. | |
| Ham. I am sorry they offend you, heartily; | 150 |
| Yes, faith, heartily. | |
| Hor. There’s no offence, my lord. | |
| Ham. 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; | 155 |
| 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. | |
| Hor. What is ’t, my lord? we will. | 160 |
| Ham. Never make known what you have seen to-night. | |
| Hor. & Mar. My lord, we will not. | |
| Ham. Nay, but swear ’t. | |
| Hor. In faith, | |
| My lord, not I. | 165 |
| Mar. Nor I, my lord, in faith. | |
| Ham. Upon my sword. | |
| Mar. We have sworn, my lord, already. | |
| Ham. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. | |
| Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. | 170 |
| Ham. Ah, ha, boy! sayst thou so? art thou there, true-penny? | |
| Come on,—you hear this fellow in the cellar-age,— | |
| Consent to swear. | |
| Hor. Propose the oath, my lord. | |
| Ham. Never to speak of this that you have seen, | 175 |
| Swear by my sword. | |
| Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. | |
| Ham. Hic et ubique? then we’ll shift our ground. | |
| Come hither, gentlemen, | |
| And lay your hands again upon my sword: | 180 |
| Never to speak of this that you have heard, | |
| Swear by my sword. | |
| Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. | |
| Ham. Well said, old mole! canst work i’ the earth so fast? | |
| A worthy pioner! once more remove, good friends. | 185 |
| Hor. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! | |
| Ham. 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; | 190 |
| 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, | 195 |
| With arms encumber’d thus, or this head-shake, | |
| 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 | 200 |
| That you know aught of me: this not to do, | |
| So grace and mercy at your most need help you, | |
| Swear. | |
| Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. [They swear. | |
| Ham. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! So, gentlemen, | 205 |
| 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. | 210 |
| 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. | |
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