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. the Tragical History of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .
(In the original language with modernized spelling)
- Scene 1 [~ Who's There? ~] (Act 1 Scene 1)
Setting: Elsinore Castle, the capital of Denmark;- A guard post at a cannon platform outside the Castle wall;
A cold, moonless night;
A distant church bell is tolling midnight.
(Francisco and Barnardo enter)
Barnardo: Who's there?- Francisco: Nay, answer me! Stand and unfold yourself!
- Bar: Long live the King!
- Fra: Barnardo?
- Bar: He.
- Fra: You come most carefully upon your hour.
- Bar: 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.
- Fra: For this relief, much thanks; 'tis bitter cold,
- And I am sick at heart.
- Bar: Have you had quiet guard?
- Fra: Not a mouse stirring.
- Bar: Well, good night;
- If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
(Horatio and Marcellus enter)
Francisco: I think I hear them; stand ho, who is there?- Horatio: Friends to this ground.
- Marcellus: And liegemen to the Dane.
- Fra: Give you good night.
- Marc: Oh . . . farewell, honest soldier; who has relieved you?
- Fra: Barnardo has my place; give you good night.
(Francisco exits)
Marcellus: Holla, Barnardo.- Barnardo: Say . . . what, is Horatio there?
- Horatio: A piece of him.
- Bar: Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus.
- Hora: What, has this thing appeared again tonight?
- Bar: I have seen nothing.
- Marc: Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,
- And will not let belief take hold of him
Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us;
Therefore, I have entreated him along,
With us, to watch the minutes of this night,
That if again this apparition come
He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.
- Hora: Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.
- Bar: Sit down a while
- And let us, once again, assail your ears
That are so fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.
- Hora: Well, sit we down,
- And let us hear Barnardo speak of this.
(Horatio sits back on a cannon)
Barnardo: Last night of all,- When yond same star that's westward from the pole,
Had made his course t'illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one . . .
(the Ghost enters)
Marcellus: Peace, break thee off; look where it comes again!- Barnardo: In the same figure like the King that's dead.
- Marc: Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio.
- Bar: Looks he not like the King? Mark it, Horatio.
- Horatio: Most like; it horrows me with fear and wonder.
- Bar: It would be spoke to.
- Marc: Speak to it, Horatio!
- Hora: What art thou that usurp'st this time of night
- Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the Majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march? By Heaven, I charge thee, speak!
- Marc: It is offended.
- Bar: See, it stalks away.
- Hora: Stay, speak! Speak, I charge thee, speak!
(the Ghost exits)
Marcellus: 'Tis gone, and will not answer.- Barnardo: How now, Horatio, you tremble and look pale;
- Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you on it?
- Horatio: Before my God, I might not this believe
- Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.
- Marc: Is it not like the King?
- Hora: As thou art to thyself.
- Such was the very armor he had on
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
So frowned he once, when in an angry parley
He smote the sleaded Pollax on the ice.
'Tis strange.
- Marc: Thus, twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
- With martial stalk, hath he gone by our watch.
- Hora: In what particular thought to work, I know not;
- But in the gross and scope of mine opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
- Marc: Good, now sit down, and tell me, he that knows:
- Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land;
And why such daily cost of brazen cannon
And foreign mart, for implements of war;
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week;
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint laborer with the day;
Who is it that can inform me?
- Hora: That can I;
- At least the whisper goes so: our last King,
Whose image even but now appeared to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbrasse of Norway,
Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride,
Dared to the combat, in which our valiant Hamlet,
(For so this side of our known world esteemed him,)
Did slay this Fortinbrasse, who by a sealed compact
Well ratified by law and heraldy,
Did forfeit (with his life) all these, his lands,
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror;
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our King, which had return
To the inheritance of Fortinbrasse
Had he been vanquisher; as by the same covenant,
And carriage of the article design,
His fell to Hamlet; now, sir, young Fortinbrasse,
Of unimproved mettle, hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
Sharked up a list of landless resolutes
For food and diet to some enterprise
That hath a stomach in't; which is no other,
As it doth well appear unto our state,
But to recover of us by strong hand
And terms compulsative, those 'foresaid lands
So by his father lost; and this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The source of this, our watch, and the chief head
Of this posthaste and Romeage in the land.
- Bar: I think it be no other, but even so,
- Well may it sort, that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch, so like the King
That was, and is the question of these wars?
- Hora: A moth it is to trouble the mind's eye;
- In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets,
As stars with trains of fire . . . and dews of blood . . .
Disasters in the sun . . . and the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune's Empire stands,
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse;
And even the like precurse of fear events,
As harbingers preceding still the fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.
(the Ghost enters)
(Horatio continues):- But soft, behold! Lo, where it comes again.
I'll cross it, though it blast me; stay, illusion!
(Horatio steps in front of the Ghost and spreads his arms;- the Ghost stops and also spreads its arms)
(Horatio continues):- If thou hast any sound or use of voice,
Speak to me! If there be any good thing to be done
That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,
Speak to me!
If thou art privy to thy country's fate
Which happily foreknowing may avoid,
Oh, speak!
Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
(For which they say your spirits oft' walk in death,)
(a cock crows)
(Horatio continues):- Speak of it. Stay and speak! Stop it, Marcellus!
- Marcellus: Shall I strike at it with my partisan?
- Horatio: Do, if it will not stand.
- Barnardo: 'Tis here!
- Hora: 'Tis here!
(the Ghost exits)
Marcellus: 'Tis gone;- We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the show of violence;
For it is as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery.
- Barnardo: It was about to speak when the cock crew.
- Horatio: And then it started like a guilty thing,
- Upon a fearful summons; I have heard,
The cock that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of day, and at his warning,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
The extravagant and erring spirit hies
To his confine, and of the truth herein,
This present object made probation.
- Marc: It faded on the crowing of the cock;
- Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long,
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is that time.
- Hora: So have I heard, and do in part believe it;
- But look, the morn in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill;
Break we our watch up, and, by my advice,
Let us impart what we have seen tonight
Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him;
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
- Marc: Let's do it, I pray, and I this morning know
- Where we shall find him, most conveniently.
(they exit)
End of Scene 1
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. The Tragedy of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .
(In simplified modern English translation)
- Scene 1 [~ Who's There? ~] (Act 1 Scene 1)
Setting: Elsinore Castle, the capital of Denmark;- A guard post at a cannon platform outside the Castle wall;
A cold, moonless night;
A distant church bell is tolling midnight.
(Francisco and Barnardo enter)
Barnardo: Who's there?- Francisco: No, answer me! Stand forth and show yourself!
- Barnardo: Long live the King!
- Francisco: Barnardo?
- Bar: That's me.
- Fra: You're arriving on time, but acting very careful.
- Bar: The clock has struck twelve, so go get some sleep, Francisco.
- Fra: Many thanks for relieving me; it's very cold,
- and I feel sick at heart.
- Bar: Has guard duty been quiet?
- Fra: Not even a mouse stirring.
- Bar: Well, good night.
- If you meet Horatio and Marcellus, who are supposed to
be here to help me keep watch, tell them to hurry.
(Francisco starts to walk away, as Horatio and Marcellus enter)
Francisco: I think I hear them. Stop! Who's there?- Horatio: Friends to this place.
- Marcellus: And loyal men of Denmark.
- Fra: Good night.
- Marc: Oh . . . goodbye, honorable soldier - who has relieved you?
- Fra: Barnardo has taken my place, good night.
(Francisco exits)
Marcellus: Hello, Barnardo.- Barnardo: Say . . . Oh, is that Horatio with you?
- Horatio: What's left of him, on this chilly night.
- Bar: Welcome, Horatio, and welcome friend, Marcellus.
- Hora: Tell me, has that thing appeared again, tonight?
- Bar: I haven't seen it.
- Marc: Horatio says it's only our imagination,
- And refuses to believe it,
About this fearful thing we have seen twice.
Therefore, I have asked him to come along,
To keep watch with us tonight,
So if this apparition appears again,
He may agree we have seen it, and can speak to it.
- Hora: Nonsense, it won't appear.
- Bar: Have a seat, Horatio,
- And let's try again to convince you,
Despite your great scepticism,
What we have seen the last two nights.
- Hora: Alright, "we" will sit down, in kingly style,
- And let "us" hear Barnardo talk about seeing the late king.
(Horatio sits back on a cannon)
Barnardo: Last night,- When that bright star that's westward from the North Star
Was shining in the same part of the sky
Where you see it now, Marcellus and I,
As the clock was striking one . . .
(the Ghost enters)
Marcellus: Please, stop talking, there it comes again!- Barnardo: It looks exactly like our former king, who's dead.
- Marc: You're an educated and fluent man, Horatio, speak to it.
- Bar: Doesn't it look just like King Hamlet? Observe it, Horatio.
- Horatio: It looks just like him! It overwhelms me with fear and wonder.
- Bar: It wants to be spoken to.
- Marc: Speak to it, Horatio!
- Hora: What are you, that intrudes at this time of night,
- In the shape of that handsome and warlike appearance,
In which his late Majesty, the King of Denmark,
Sometimes marched into battle? By Heaven, I command you: speak!
- Marc: It's offended.
- Bar: See, it strides away.
- Hora: Stand still, speak! Speak! I demand you speak!
(the Ghost exits)
Marcellus: It's gone, and won't answer.- Barnardo: How now, Horatio, you're trembling and pale.
- Isn't this something more than our imaginations?
What do you think about it?
- Horatio: I vow before God I would not have believed it
- If I hadn't seen it truly
With my own eyes.
- Marc: Isn't it like the late King?
- Hora: It looked as much like him, as you look like yourself.
- That's exactly like the armor he was wearing
When he fought a militarily ambitious Norway.
He frowned like that once, when, in an angry confrontation,
He defeated a well-arrayed Polish army, on an icy battlefield.
It's strange.
- Marc: Twice before in the same way, and exactly at this hour of night,
- With a military stride he has passed our sentinel post.
- Hora: I don't know what to think about it, in particular.
- But in the general way, in my opinion,
It's a bad omen that foretells some strange outbreak in our state.
- Marc: Alright, now sit down again, Horatio, and tell me, if anybody knows,
- Why we have to keep such strict and observant watch
Over the landscape every night.
And why is so much money being spent on cannons
And imported equipment for war?
Why have so many shipbuilders been employed, whose hard work
Continues on Sunday the same as on every other day?
What may be ahead of us, to justify this hasty military buildup
So that men are at work even all night?
Who can inform me?
- Hora: I can tell you about it,
- Or at least I can tell you what I've heard. Our late king,
Whose image we saw just now in front of us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbrasse Senior of Norway -
Who was motivated by a very ambitious ego -
Challenged to single combat. In the combat our valiant Hamlet,
(I say "valiant" since he was so honored in our part of the world,)
Killed this Fortinbrasse Sr - who, by an official, sealed agreement
That was legal under the law and according to tradition,
Lost, when he died, all of these, his lands,
That he possessed, to the victor, our King Hamlet.
There was an equal amount of some land,
As agreed to by our King, which would have gone
To be the property of Fortinbrasse
If he had won. But by that same formal contract,
And the carrying through of the agreement's intent,
Fortinbrasse's land went to Hamlet. Now then, Fortinbrasse Junior
Who is like his father, hot-headed and full of fight,
Has gone around Norway, here and there, and
Scavenged up a group of fighters who don't respect the law.
He's feeding these recruits into some enterprise
Of a hungry and ambitious kind - which is nothing else, or
So it very well looks like it, to us in Denmark, than
To get back from us, by brute force,
And under compulsory terms, the aforementioned land,
That his father, Fortinbrasse Sr, lost. And this, I believe,
Is the main reason for our preparations,
The reason for keeping this watch at night, and the chief cause
Of the fast and frantic activity in our country.
- Bar: Yes, I think it's that, and nothing else, but even so,
- Will things sort out well, after this ominous figure has
Appeared in armor during our watch, looking so much like the king
That played a role in the continual issue of these wars?
- Hora: It's as unpredictable as a moth, and disturbing to the imagination.
- In the great and flourishing empire of ancient Rome,
Shortly before the high and mighty Julius Caesar died,
The dead rose from their graves, and wearing their burial shrouds,
They shrieked and chattered in the Roman streets,
While fiery meteors fell, and dews of blood were seen;
Huge sunspots were observed, and the moon,
(Upon whose tidal power the "empire" of the ocean rises and falls,)
Was sick almost to death with eclipse.
And similar predictions of fearful events,
As harbingers always preceding the destinies of men,
And a prologue to the approaching ominous outcome,
Have been shown on the earth and in the heavens above
In our own region, and to the people of our own country.
(the Ghost enters again)
(Horatio continues):- But, quiet, look there! See, where it approaches again.
I'll challenge it even if it destroys me. Stop, apparition!
(Horatio steps in front of the Ghost and spreads his arms;- the Ghost stops and also spreads its arms)
(Horatio continues):- If you can make sound and have any use of a voice,
Speak to me! If there is some good thing which can be done
To help you rest in peace, and which would reflect well on me,
Speak to me and tell me!
If you know a secret of your country's future
Which knowing could help us, fortunately, to avoid doom,
Oh, speak!
Or, if you hoarded during your life, and have
Hidden a buried treasure in the earth,
(Which is why, they say, a spirit will often appear after someone dies,)
(a rooster crows)
(Horatio continues):- Speak of that. Wait and speak! Make it halt, Marcellus!
- Marcellus: Should I strike it with my weapon?
- Horatio: Yes, try that if it won't stop.
- Barnardo: It's over here!
- Hora: Now it's here!
(the Ghost exits)
Marcellus: It's gone now.- We've done it wrong, since it's so majestic like our late King,
To behave violently toward it.
Also, it's like the air, and cannot be harmed,
And our vain efforts are only a bad imitation of an attack.
- Barnardo: I think it was about to speak when the rooster crowed.
- Horatio: And it seemed startled by the noise, like a guilty man
- When he's suddenly arrested. I have heard, in folklore,
That the rooster, the announcer of the morning,
Calls with his high, shrill noise, to
Awaken the god of daytime; and upon hearing the sound,
Whether a ghost happens to be in sea or fire, in earth or in air,
The wandering and straying spirit hurries away
To his grave. As to the truth of this idea,
This thing we saw did act like that, as evidence.
- Marc: It did fade away when the rooster crowed.
- Some say that just before Christmas time,
When our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The rooster crows all night long.
And then, they say, no ghost dares to appear.
The nights are wholesome, and no planets afflict men's minds,
No fairy can enchant, and no witch has power to cast a spell;
So holy is that time in God's grace.
- Hora: I have heard that, too, and in a way I believe it.
- But look where the red glow of the morning
Begins to sparkle on the dew of that high eastern hill.
Let's leave this watch duty and, if I may suggest,
Let's tell what we have seen tonight
To Hamlet Jr, for I'd swear upon my life
This spirit that was silent to us will speak to him.
Do you agree we should tell him about it
Because of our friendship for him, and it's our duty?
- Marc: Yes, let's do that, please, and I know, this morning,
- Where we'll easily find him.
(they exit)
End of Scene 1
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(Regained)