|
. the Tragical History of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .
(In the original language with modernized spelling)
- Scene 20 [~ Fencing Match ~] (Act 5 scene 2)
Setting: Inside the Castle;- The Banquet Hall;
Afternoon.
(Hamlet and Horatio enter)
Hamlet: So much for this, sir, now shall you see the other;- You do remember all the circumstance?
- Horatio: Remember it, my Lord?
- Hamlet: Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting
- That would not let me sleep; my thought: I lay
Worse then the mutines in the bilbo. Rashly,
(And praised be rashness for it) - let us know,
Our indiscretion sometime serves us well
When our deep plots do fall, & that should learn us
There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them how we will . . .
- Hora: That is most certain.
- Hamlet: Up from my cabin,
- My sea-gown scarfed about me in the dark,
Gropped I to find out them, had my desire,
Fingered their packet, and in fine, withdrew
To mine own room again, making so bold,
(My fears forgetting manners,) to unfold
Their grand commission, where I found, Horatio,
A royal knavery, an exact command
Larded with many several sorts of reasons,
Importing Denmark's health, and England's too,
(With ho! - such bugs and goblins, in my life,)
That on the supervise, no leisure bated,
No, not to stay the grinding of the axe,
My head should be struck off.
- Hora: Is it possible?
- Hamlet: Here's the commission; read it at more leisure;
- But wilt thou hear, now, how I did proceed?
- Hora: I beseech you.
- Hamlet: Being thus benetted round with villains,
- Or I could make a prologue to my brains,
They had begun the play; I sat me down,
Devised a new commission, wrote it fair -
I once did hold it as our statists do:
A baseness to write fair, and labored much
How to forget that learning, but sir, now
It did me yeoman's service. Wilt thou know
The effect of what I wrote?
- Hora: Aye, good my Lord.
- Hamlet: An earnest conjuration from the King,
- As England was his faithful tributary,
As love between them, like the palm, might flourish,
As peace should still her wheaten garland wear,
And stand a comma 'tween their amities,
And many such like, "as," sir, of great charge,
That on the view, and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more or less,
He should those bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving time allowed.
- Hora: How was this sealed?
- Hamlet: Why, even in that was Heaven ordinant;
- I had my father's signet in my purse,
Which was the model of that Danish seal;
Folded the writ up in the form of the other,
Subcribed it, gave it the impression, placed it safely,
The changeling never known. Now, the next day
Was our sea fight, and what to this was sequent
Thou knowest already.
- Hora: So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to it.
- Hamlet: They are not near my conscience; their defeat
- Does by their own insinuation grow;
'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes
Between the pass and fell incensed points
Of mighty opposites.
- Hora: Why, what a King is this!
- Hamlet: Does it not, think thee, stand me now upon?
- He that hath killed my king, and whored my mother,
Popped in between the election and my hopes,
Thrown out his angle for my proper life -
And with such cozenage - is it not perfect conscience
To quit him with this arm? And is it not to be damned,
To let this canker of our nature come
In further evil?
- Hora: It must be shortly known to him from England,
- What is the issue of the business there.
- Hamlet: It will be short;
- The interim's mine, and a mans life's no more
Than to say "one." But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
That to Laertes I forgot myself,
For, by the image of my cause, I see
The portraiture of his. I'll count his favors.
But sure, the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering passion.
- Hora: Peace, who comes here?
(a Courtier enters)
Courtier: Your Lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.- Hamlet: I humble thank you, sir.
- (to Horatio):
Dost know this water fly?
- Horatio: No, my good Lord.
- Hamlet: Thy state is the more gracious, for 'tis a vice to know him;
- He hath much land, and fertile. Let a beast be lord of beasts, and his
crib shall stand at the king's mess; 'tis a chough, but as I say, spacious in the
possession of dirt.
- Courtier: Sweet Lord, if your Lordship were at leisure, I should
- impart a thing to you from his Majesty.
- Hamlet: I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit; your bonnet
- to his right use, 'tis for the head.
- Courtier: I thank your Lordship, it is very hot.
- Hamlet: No, believe me, 'tis very cold, the wind is northerly.
(the Courtier dons his hat,- and becomes . . .)
Hat on: It is indifferent cold, my Lord, indeed.- Hamlet: But yet, methinks it is very sultry and hot, or my
- complexion.
- Hat on: Exceedingly, my Lord, it is very sultry, as t'were; I cannot
- tell how. My Lord, his Majesty bade me signify to you, that he
has laid a great wager on your head; sir, this is the matter . . .
- Hamlet: I beseech you, remember!
- Hat on: Nay, good my Lord, for my ease, in good faith; sir, here is newly
- come to court, Laertes; believe me, an absolute gentlemen, full of most
excellent differences, of very soft society, and great showing. Indeed
to speak fellingly of him, he is the card or calendar of gentry;
for, you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman
would see.
- Hamlet: Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you, though I
- know to divide him inventorially, would dazzie the arithmetic of
memory, and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick sail; but
in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great article,
& his infusion of such dearth and rareness, as to make true diction
of him, his semblable is his mirror, & who else would trace him, his
umbrage, nothing more.
- Hat on: Your Lordship speaks most infallibly of him.
- Hamlet: The concernancy, sir; why do we wrap the gentleman in
- our more rawer breath?
- Hat on: Sir?
- Horatio: Is it not possible to understand in another tongue? You will
- do it, sir, really.
- Hamlet: What imports the nomination of this gentleman?
- Hat on: Of Laertes?
- Hora: His purse is empty already, all his golden words are spent.
- Hamlet: Of him, sir.
- Hat on: I know you are not ignorant.
- Hamlet: I would you did, sir, yet in faith if you did, it would not
- much approve me. Well, sir?
- Hat on: You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is.
- Hamlet: I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with
- him in excellence; but, to know a man well, were to know himself.
- Hat on: I mean, sir, for his weapon; but, in the imputation laid on
- him, by them in his meed, he's unfellowed.
- Hamlet: What's his weapon?
- Hat on: Rapier and dagger.
- Hamlet: That's two of his weapons, but well.
- Hat on: The King, sir, hath wagered with him, six Barbary horses,
- against the which, he has impawned, as I take it, six French rapiers
and poniards, with their assigns: as girdle, hanger and so. Three
of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive to
the hilts - most delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit.
- Hamlet: What call you the carriages?
- Hora: I knew you must be edified by the margin ere you had
- done.
- Hat on: The carriages, sir, are the hangers.
- Hamlet: The phrase would be more germane to the matter if we
- could carry a cannon by our sides; I would it be might "hangers" till
then; but on: six Barbary horses against six French swords, their assigns,
and three liberal conceited carriages - that's the French
bet against the Danish. Why is this all you call it?
- Hat on: The King, sir, hath laid, sir, that in a dozen passes between
- yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; he hath
laid on twelve for nine, and it would come to immediate trial, if
your Lordship would vouchsafe the answer.
- Hamlet: How if I answer, "no?"
- Hat on: I mean, my Lord, the opposition of your person in trial.
- Hamlet: Sir, I will walk here in the hall, if it please his Majesty; it
- is the breathing time of day with me; let the foils be brought, the
gentleman willing, and the King hold his purpose; I will win
for him and I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame, and
the odd hits.
- Hat on: Shall I deliver you so?
- Hamlet: To this effect, sir, after what flourish your nature will.
- Hat on: I commend my duty to your Lordship.
("Hat on" exits, with his hat on)
Hamlet: Yours. He does well to commend it himself, there are no- tongues else for his turn.
- Horatio: This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.
- Hamlet: He did so, sir, with his dug before he sucked it; thus has he - and
- many more of the same bevy, that I know the drossy age dotes on -
only got the tune of the time, and out of an habit of encounter, a
kind of histy collection, which carries them through, and through
the most profane and winnowed opinions; and do but blow
them to their trial, the bubbles are out.
(a Lord enters)
Lord: My Lord, his Majesty, commended him to you by young- Ostrick - who brings back 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?
- Hamlet: I am constant to my purposes, they follow the King's
- pleasure; if his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now or whensoever,
provided I be so able as now.
- Lord: The King, and Queen, and all are coming down.
- Hamlet: In happy time.
- Lord: The Queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment
- to Laertes, before you fall to play.
- Hamlet: She well instructs me.
(the Lord exits)
Horatio: You will lose, my Lord.- Hamlet: I do not think so; since he went into France, I have been
- in continual practice; I shall win at the odds. Thou wouldst not
think how ill all's here about my heart, but it is no matter.
- Hora: Nay, good my Lord?
- Hamlet: It is but foolery, but it is such a kind of gamegiving, as
- would perhaps trouble a woman.
- Hora: If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall their
- repair hither, and say you are not fit.
- Hamlet: Not a whit, we defy augury; there is special providence in
- the fall of a sparrow; if it be, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come,
it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come; the readiness is all,
since no man of ought he leaves, knows what is it to leave betimes;
let be.
(servants enter, and prepare a table for the King and Queen;- musicians enter with kettle drums and trumpets;
Claudius and Gertrude enter, and Laertes enters; followed by
all the courtiers and the top military officers;
Ostrick enters with the foils and fencing equipment)
(Claudius stands beside Laertes, takes Laertes's arm,- and holds Laertes's hand out for Hamlet)
Claudius: Come, Hamlet, come and take this hand from me.- Hamlet (shakes hands with Laertes):
- Give me your pardon, sir, I have done you wrong;
But pardon it, as you are a gentleman. This presence knows,
And you must needs have heard, how I am punished
With a sore distraction; what I have done
That might your nature, honor, and exception
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was it Hamlet, wronged Laertes? Never Hamlet.
If Hamlet from himself be taken away,
And when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it;
Who does it, then? His madness. If it be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wronged;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy;
Let my disclaiming from a purposed evil,
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts:
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house
And hurt my brother.
- Laertes: I am satisfied in nature,
- Whose motive in this case should stir me most
To my revenge, but in my terms of honor
I stand aloof, and will no reconcilement,
Till, by some elder masters of known honor,
I have a voice and president of peace
To my name, ungored. But all that time
I do receive your offered love, like love,
And will not wrong it.
- Hamlet: I embrace it freely, and will this brother's wager
- frankly play.
Give us the foils.
- Laer: Come, one for me.
- Hamlet: I'll be your foil Laertes; in mine ignorance
- Your skill shall, like a star in the darkest night
Stick fiery off indeed.
- Laer: You mock me, sir?
- Hamlet: No, by this hand.
- Clau: Give them the foils, young Ostrick; cousin Hamlet,
- You know the wager.
- Hamlet: Very well, my Lord;
- Your grace has laid the odds on the weaker side.
- Clau: I do not fear it, I have seen you both;
- But since he is better, we have therefore odds.
- Laer: This is too heavy; let me see another.
- Hamlet: This likes me well; these foils have all a length?
- Ostrick: Aye, my good Lord.
- Clau: Set me the stoups of wine upon that table;
- If Hamlet give the first or second hit,
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire!
The King shall drink to Hamlet's better breath,
And in the cup an onyx shall he throw,
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups.
(Claudius drops 'something' into Hamlet's wine)
(Claudius continues):- And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth:
Now the King drinks to Hamlet!
(the drums are pounded, the trumpets blare, and the cannons fire;- the trumpets continue, as the match begins)
(Claudius continues):- Come, begin.
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
- Hamlet: Come on, sir.
- Laertes: Come, my Lord.
- Hamlet: One!
- Laer: No.
- Hamlet: Judgment?
- Ostrick: A hit, a very palpable hit.
(the drums and trumpets sound, and the cannons fire)
Laertes: Well, again.- Claudius: Stay, give me drink; Hamlet, this pearl is thine.
- Here's to thy health!
(Claudius drops a pearl,- and also something unseen that he had palmed,
into Hamlet's wine)
(Claudius continues):- Give him the cup.
- Hamlet: I'll play this bout first, set it by a while.
- Come . . . another hit. What say you?
- Laertes: I do confess it.
- Claudius: Our son shall win.
- Gertrude: He's fat and scant of breath.
- Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows;
The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.
- Hamlet: Good Madam.
- Clau: Gertrude, do not drink.
- Gert: I will, my Lord, I pray you pardon me.
- Claudius (aside): It is the poisoned cup; it is too late!
- Hamlet: I dare not drink yet, Madam.
- By and by.
- Gert: Come, let me wipe thy face.
- Laer: My Lord, I'll hit him now.
- Clau: I do not think it.
- Laer: And yet, it is almost against my conscience.
- Hamlet: Come for the third, Laertes, you do but dally.
- I pray you, pass with your best violence;
I am sure you make a wanton of me.
- Laer: Say you so? Come on.
- Ostrick: Nothing, neither way.
- Laer: Have at you, now.
(The match continues;
- Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned foil;
They grapple, close together, and trap each other's foils;
In breaking away, they exchange foils;
Hamlet then wounds Laertes with the poisoned foil)
Claudius: Part them, they are incensed.- Hamlet: Nay, come again.
- Ostrick: Look to the Queen there, ho!
- Horatio: They bleed on both sides! How is it, my Lord?
- Ostr: How is it, Laertes?
- Laertes: Why, as a woodcock to mine own spring, Ostrick;
- I am justly killed with mine own treachery.
- Hamlet: How does the Queen?
- Clau: She sounds to see them bleed.
- Gertrude: No, no, the drink, the drink! O my dear Hamlet . . .
- The drink, the drink . . . I am poisoned!
(Gertrude falls, dying)
(Ostrick exits to get the doctor)
Hamlet: Oh villainy, ho! Let the door be locked!- Treachery, seek it out.
- Laertes: It is here, Hamlet; thou art slain;
- No medicine in the world can do thee good;
In thee there is not half an hour's life;
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenomed; the foul practice
Hath turned itself on me; lo, here I lie
Never to rise again; thy mother's poisoned;
I can no more; the King, the King's to blame!
- Hamlet: The point envenomed too? Then venom, to thy work!
(Hamlet stabs Claudius)
(the Spectators cry out): Treason, treason!
(Claudius's bodyguards try to attack Hamlet;- Horatio quickly kills them both, then turns with a weapon taken
from one of them, and faces down the approaching spectators, who
stop and retreat)
Claudius: Oh, yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt.- Hamlet: Hear, thou incestuous, damned Dane!
- Drink of this potion! Is the "onyx" here?
Follow my mother.
(Hamlet tilts the cup to Claudius's mouth;- Claudius swallows some: he can't resist wine)
(Claudius dies)
Laertes: He is justly served, it is a poison tempered by himself;- Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet;
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee,
Nor thine on me.
(Laertes dies)
Hamlet: Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee;- I am dead, Horatio; wretched Queen, adieu.
You that look pale, and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes, or audience to this act,
Had I but time - as this fell sergeant, death
Is strict in his arrest - O I could tell you . . .
But let it be; Horatio I am dead;
Thou livest: report me and my cause a right
To the unsatisfied.
- Horatio: Never believe it;
- I am more an antique Roman than a Dane;
Here's yet some liquor left.
- Hamlet: As th'art a man,
- Give me the cup! Let go! By Heaven, I'll 'hate';
Oh, God, Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall I leave behind me?
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And, in this harsh world, draw thy breath in pain
To tell my story.
(a martial march is heard, approaching;- cannons fire)
(Hamlet continues):- What warlike noise is this?
(Ostrick enters)
Ostrick: Young Fortinbrasse, with conquest come from Poland,- To the ambassadors of England gives this warlike volley.
- Hamlet: Oh, I die, Horatio;
- The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit;
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophecy the election lights
On Fortinbrasse; he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited . . . the rest is silence.
(Hamlet dies)
Horatio: Now cracks a noble heart! Good night, sweet Prince,- And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Why does the drum come hither?
(Fortinbrasse enters, with some of his men;- the English Ambassadors enter)
Fortinbrasse: Where is this sight?- Horatio: What is it you would see?
- If ought of woe, or wonder, cease your search.
- Fort: This quarry cries on "havoc!" O proud death,
- What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou, so many princes at a shot,
So bloodily hast struck?
- Ambassador: The sight is dismal,
- And our affairs from England come too late;
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing,
To tell him his commandment is fulfilled,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Where should we have our thanks?
- Hora: Not from his mouth,
- Had it the ability of life to thank you;
He never gave commandment for their death;
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arrived, give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view,
And let me speak, to yet unknowing world,
How these things came about; so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts,
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
Of deaths put on by cunning, and for no cause,
And in this upshot, purposes mistook,
Fallen on the inventors' heads; all this, can I
Truly deliver.
- Fort: Let us haste to hear it,
- And call the noblest to the audience;
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune;
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim, my vantage doth invite me.
- Hora: Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
- And from his mouth, whose voice will draw no more;
But let this same be presently performed,
Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mischance
On plots and errors happen.
- Fort: Let four captains
- Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage,
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have proved most royal; and for his passage,
The soldier's music and the rite of war
Speak loudly for him;
Take up the bodies, such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss;
Go, bid the soldiers shoot.
(all exit)
(the salute is heard, as . . . )
( ~ the final curtain falls.)
|
. The Tragedy of . H A M L E T . Prince of Denmark .
(In simplified modern English translation)
- Scene 20 [~ Fencing Match ~] (Act 5 scene 2)
Setting: Inside the Castle;- The Banquet Hall;
Afternoon.
(Hamlet and Horatio enter)
Hamlet: So much for that, sir, now I'll tell you the rest.- Do you remember all the circumstances?
- Horatio: Remember what, my Lord?
- Hamlet: Sir, in my heart there was a kind of uneasiness
- That would not let me sleep. I felt, as I lay in bed, more
Uncomfortable than a mutineer shackled in leg irons. On an impulse,
And impulsiveness be praised for it - be it known,
Our instincts sometimes serve us well
When our carefully thought-out plots fail, and that should teach us
There's a divine power that guides our lives,
No matter how we try to plan them.
- Hora: That is most certain.
- Hamlet: I got up from my cabin, and with
- My seaman's coat wrapped around me in the darkness,
I groped to find the cabin of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, found it, and
Took their packet of documents, and finally went back
To my own cabin, again. I was bold enough,
And worried enough, to forget good manners, and I looked at
Their royal commission. And there I found, Horatio,
Some royal mischief. It was a detailed order,
Listing many different kinds of reasons,
Concerning the safety of Denmark and also of England,
(And, ho! - I never saw such evil things, in my life,)
That as soon as England read the order, without delay,
They shouldn't even take time to sharpen the axe
Before cutting off my head.
- Hora: Is it possible!?
- Hamlet: Here's the commission, itself. Read it when you have time.
- But do you want to know how I proceeded, then?
- Hora: Yes, please!
- Hamlet: Being so ensnared by villains,
- Before I even planned what to do,
My mind was already at work. I sat myself down,
Forged a new commission, and wrote it all in order.
I once thought as our politicians do,
That it's beneath a person of high status to write well, and I worked hard
To forget my education, but sir, on this occasion
My education in writing did me a good service. Would you like
To know what I wrote?
- Hora: Yes, good my Lord.
- Hamlet: I wrote a solemn instruction from the King, that
- As England was his faithful tributary, and so
As love could flourish between the countries, like palm leaves of peace, and
As the wheaten garland of peace should continue to be worn,
And stand to mark that love between countries speaks with the same voice,
And many such phrases, "as" sir, of great command,
That on viewing the order, and knowing of its contents,
Without any further debate, nothing more and nothing less,
England should immediately execute those who brought the document,
Not even allowing them time to confess their sins to a priest.
- Hora: But, how did you seal the document?
- Hamlet: Why, even that was a gift from Heaven.
- I had my father's signet ring in my pouch,
And it's exactly like the official Danish seal. Then I
Folded the document up the same way the other had been,
Signed it, put the seal on it using the ring, and took it back.
They never noticed the substitution. Then, the next day we had
The sea fight with the pirates, and what followed that,
You already know the rest.
- Hora: So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz have had it.
- Hamlet: They are not on my conscience. Their defeat came from
- Their own desires to get involved.
It's dangerous when foolish people come
Between the moving, deadly, angry points
Of powerful opponents.
- Hora: Why, what a King Claudius is!
- Hamlet: Don't you think it rests upon my shoulders to do something now?
- He who has killed my father the king, and whored my mother,
Put himself unlawfully between me and the crown,
Fished for a way to take life properly my own,
And with such criminal deception - can't I, with a clear conscience,
Kill him with this arm? And shouldn't I be damned
If I let that diseased example of human nature cause
More evil?
- Hora: He'll soon find out from England
- What happened to his intended business there.
- Hamlet: Yes, the time will be short, but
- The interim is mine. And a man's life is no longer, in the larger view of things,
Than the time it takes to say "one." But I am now very sorry, good Horatio,
That I forgot myself in confronting Laertes.
Because I can see, as the image of my own motivation for revenge,
The same picture, of his vengefulness. I'll try to make it up to him.
But the boastfulness of his grief at the funeral did surely put me
Into a towering rage.
- Hora: Quiet, who approaches?
(a Courtier enters)
Courtier: Your Lordship is very welcome back to Denmark.- Hamlet: I humbly thank you, sir.
- (to Horatio):
Do you know this creature?
- Horatio: No, my good Lord.
- Hamlet: Your ignorance is a virtue, because it's a vice to know him.
- He has lots of fertile land. Let a beast be the lord among beasts, and his
plate would be on the King's table. He's an idiot, but as I say, one who owns
a lot of dirt.
- Courtier: Sweet Lord, if your Lordship is at leisure, I have something
- to tell you from his Majesty.
- Hamlet: I will receive the message, sir, with all attention. By the way,
- your hat should be on your head.
- Courtier: I thank your Lordship, it's very hot.
- Hamlet: No, believe me, it's very cold, the wind is northerly.
(the Courtier puts his hat on his head,- and becomes "Hat on")
Hat on: I suppose the weather is somewhat cold, my Lord.- Hamlet: But yet, I think it's very sultry and hot, or
- is it just me?
- Hat on: It is exceedingly hot, my Lord, it's very sultry, as it were, but I can't
- tell why that is. My Lord, his Majesty asked me to tell you that he
has placed a large wager on you. Sir, this is the matter . . .
- Hamlet: I beg you, try to remember what you're supposed to say!
- Hat on: No, good my Lord, please, take it easy. Sir, there is newly arrived
- here at court, Laertes, and believe me, he's an absolute gentleman, full of
fine distinctions, of very high society, and great appearance. Indeed,
to speak on target about him, he is the definition or complete list of gentry,
because, you shall find in him the largest area of whatever part a gentleman
would want to see.
- Hamlet: Sir, although you're defining him, that won't damn him. Although
- I know that doing an inventory of him would daze the arithmetic of the
human mind, and would always be unfinished since he improves so fast, but
in the truth of his praise, I take him to be a soul worthy of great articulation,
filled with qualities of such scarcity and rareness, that to speak truly
of him, the only thing like him is his own reflection in the mirror, and his
only imitator is his shadow, nothing more.
- Hat on: Your Lordship speaks quite flawlessly of him.
- Hamlet: The relevance, sir. Why do we wrap the gentleman in words that
- are so much cruder than he is?
- Hat on: Sir?
- Horatio (to Hat on): Is English a foreign tongue you can't understand? You can
- do it, sir, really, keep trying.
- Hamlet: Why has his name been mentioned?
- Hat on: Laertes, you mean?
- Horatio (to Hamlet): His purse is empty already, all his golden words are spent.
- Hamlet: Yes, him, sir.
- Hat on: I know you're not ignorant.
- Hamlet: I wish you did, sir, but indeed, if you knew me very well, it wouldn't
- be much of a compliment to me for my choice of friends. Well, sir?
- Hat on: You are not ignorant of what an excellent man Laertes is.
- Hamlet: I can't admit I know how excellent he is, lest I should compare to
- him in excellence, since to know a man well is to know oneself.
- Hat on: I mean, sir, for his weapon. And in the reputation he has,
- among his own servants, he's unequaled.
- Hamlet: What's his weapon?
- Hat on: Rapier and dagger.
- Hamlet: That's two of his weapons, but, anyway.
- Hat on: The King, sir, has wagered with him: six arabian horses,
- against which he has accepted as security, as I take it, six French rapiers
and daggers with their accessories - belt, hanger, and so on. Three
of the carriages, indeed, are very dear to one's heart, very fitting to
the hilts - most delightful carriages, of lewd depiction.
- Hamlet: What are you calling the carriages?
- Horatio (aside, to Hamlet): I knew you'd demand that he define his terms
- before you were done.
- Hat on: The carriages, sir, are the hangers.
- Hamlet: The term would be more germane to the subject if we
- could carry a cannon at our sides, but until then I'd prefer to call them
"hangers." But go on, six arabian horses against six French swords and
accessories, with three fancy carriages of indecorous design, that's the
French bet against the Danish. Why are you telling me about all this?
- Hat on: The King, sir, has bet, sir, that in a dozen passes between
- yourself and him, he will not do better than you by three hits; he has
made it twelve for nine, and it would come to immediate test, if
your Lordship gives the word.
- Hamlet: What if I say, "no?"
- Hat on: I mean, my Lord, that if you agree to take part in the match.
- Hamlet: Sir, I will walk here in the hall, if it please his Majesty. It
- is the time of day when I take some exercise. If the foils are brought, the
gentleman willing, and the King true to his purpose, I will win
for him if I can. If not, I will suffer only my own shame, and
the occasional hits.
- Hat on: Shall I tell him you said so?
- Hamlet: Yes, to that effect, sir, in your own words.
- Hat on: I present my duty to your Lordship.
("Hat on" exits, with his hat on)
Hamlet: Yours. He does well to present his duty himself, nobody- else would want to present him.
- Horatio: He didn't take his hat off to you when he left.
- Hamlet: He didn't take his hat off to his own mother when he suckled. So it is with
- him, and many more of the same type that I know our scummy age dotes on.
They have only the fashion, no depth. From habits they've picked up, they have
a kind of spiderweb collection of manners, that carries them through, and gets
them by the most ignorant and windy opinions of them, but if you only
blow on them, in a personal encounter, their reputations pop like bubbles.
(a Lord enters)
Lord: My Lord, his Majesty, as he was told by young- Ostrick, who has brought back word that you're waiting in the hall -
the King wants to know if you're going to fence with Laertes, or if
you'll take a longer time.
- Hamlet: I'm faithful to my duties, they follow the King's
- pleasure. If he is ready, so am I, now or whenever,
as long as I'm as able as I am now.
- Lord: The King, and Queen, and all, are coming down.
- Hamlet: They're right on time.
- Lord: The Queen asks you to be courteous in greeting
- Laertes, before you begin the match.
- Hamlet: She instructs me well.
(the Lord exits)
Horatio: You will lose, my Lord.- Hamlet: I don't think so. Since he went to France I've been
- practicing continually. I'll win, with the handicap. You can't
know how uneasy I feel about all this, deep in my heart, but never mind.
- Hora: No, good my Lord?
- Hamlet: It's only foolishness on my part, but I feel a kind of misgiving as
- would, perhaps, bother a woman.
- Hora: If your intuition doen't like something, obey it. I'll stop them
- coming here, and tell them you're ill.
- Hamlet: No, not a bit. I defy omens. There's a special providence even in
- the fall of a sparrow. If it'll be now, it is not yet to come, or, if it's yet to
come, it won't be now, and even if not now, it will come. Readiness is all
that matters, since no man who leaves nothing, knows what it is to leave early.
Let it be.
(servants enter, and prepare a table for the King and Queen;- musicians enter with kettle drums and trumpets;
Claudius and Gertrude enter, and Laertes enters; followed by
all the courtiers and the top military officers;
Ostrick enters with the foils and fencing equipment)
(Claudius stands beside Laertes, takes Laertes's arm,- and holds Laertes's hand out for Hamlet)
Claudius: Come, Hamlet, and take this hand from me.- Hamlet (shakes hands with Laertes):
- Give me your pardon, sir, I have done you wrong.
But pardon me as a gentleman. The people here know,
And you must have heard, how I have been punished
By being afflicted with madness. Whatever I have done
That might offend your nature, your honor, and cause you
To take exception, I hereby declare was madness.
Has Hamlet wronged Laertes? No, not Hamlet.
If Hamlet is taken away from himself
And is not himself, and does wrong to Laertes,
Then Hamlet, himself, does not do it. Hamlet denies it.
Who does it, then? His madness. If it be so,
Hamlet is among those who are wronged.
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Let my disclaimer of any evil intention,
Free me that much in your kind thoughts, and know that
I have shot my arrow over the house
And accidentally hurt my own brother.
- Laertes: I am satisfied according to my own nature,
- Which in this case should stir me most
To take revenge. But according to my terms of honor,
I stand aloof, and can accept no reconcilement,
Unless, from some elder masters of traditional honor,
I could hear an official ruling for peace between us
To leave my good name undamaged. But until such time,
I do receive your offered friendship, with friendship,
And I do not reject that.
- Hamlet: I embrace your friendship freely, and I will engage in this match
- Honestly and sincerely.
Give us the foils.
- Laer: Yes, one for me.
- Hamlet: I'll be your foil, Laertes, and against my poor ability
- Your skill shall shine like a star in the darkest night,
And stick out fiery, indeed.
- Laer: You mock me, sir?
- Hamlet: No, I swear by my hand of friendship.
- Clau: Give them the foils, young Ostrick. Cousin Hamlet,
- You know the wager.
- Hamlet: Yes, very well, my Lord.
- Your Grace has placed his bet on the weaker side.
- Clau: I'm not worried about it. I've seen you both fence.
- But since he's better, we therefore have the handicap.
- Laer: This foil is too heavy, let me see another one.
- Hamlet: This one suits me. Are they all the same length?
- Ostrick: Yes, my good Lord.
- Clau: Set the cups of wine on that table.
- If Hamlet wins the first or second hit,
Or quits when called for the third round,
Let all the cannons on the battlements be fired.
The King shall drink to Hamlet's better breath
And in the cup I will drop an onyx,
More valuable than the one in the crown of Denmark
That four successive kings have worn. Give me the cups.
(Claudius drops 'something' into Hamlet's wine)
(Claudius continues):- And now let the kettle drum speak to the trumpet,
And the trumpet tell the cannoneer outside,
The cannons roar to the heavens, the heavens echo back to the earth,
To say that the King drinks to Hamlet!
(the drums are pounded, the trumpets blare, and the cannons fire;- the trumpets continue, as the match begins)
(Claudius continues):- Now, begin.
And judges, watch closely.
- Hamlet: Come on, sir.
- Laertes: Come ahead, my Lord.
- Hamlet: One.
- Laer: No, I didn't feel it.
- Hamlet: Judgment?
- Ostrick: A hit, a very palpable hit.
(the drums and trumpets sound, and the cannons fire)
Laertes: Let's go again.- Claudius: Wait, I want a drink. Hamlet, this pearl is for you!
- Here's to your health!
(Claudius drops a pearl,- and also something unseen that he had palmed,
into Hamlet's wine)
(Claudius continues):- Give him the cup.
- Hamlet: I'll play this round first. Set the cup aside a while.
- Come on . . . Another hit. What do you say?
- Laer: Yes, I do admit it.
- Claudius: Our son will win.
- Gertrude: He's flabby and out of breath.
- Here, Hamlet, take my napkin and dry the sweat from your brow.
The Queen drinks to your good luck, Hamlet.
- Hamlet: I'm honored, good Madam.
- Clau: Gertrude, don't drink that.
- Gert: I will, my Lord, please pardon me.
- Claudius (aside): It's the poisoned cup, it's too late.
- Hamlet: I dare not drink now, Madam, I'm overheated from exercise.
- By and by.
- Gert: Come here, let me wipe the sweat from your face.
- Laertes (to Claudius): My Lord, I'll hit him now.
- Clau: I don't think so.
- Laertes (aside): And yet, it's almost against my conscience.
- Hamlet: Come on for the third pass, Laertes, you're wasting time.
- Please don't give me any slack this time.
I'm sure you're only toying with me.
- Laer: You think so? Come on.
- Ostrick: Nothing either way on that pass.
- Laer: Take this, now!
(The match continues;
- Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned foil;
They grapple, close together, and trap each other's foils;
In breaking away, they exchange foils;
Hamlet then wounds Laertes with the poisoned foil.)
Claudius: Separate them, they're angry.- Hamlet: No, let's go again.
- Ostrick: Look to the Queen, there!
- Horatio: There's bleeding on both sides. How is it my Lord, are you injured?
- Ostr: How is it, Laertes?
- Laertes: Why, I'm like a bird caught in my own trap, Ostrick.
- I'm a victim of my own treachery.
- Hamlet: How is the Queen?
- Clau: She faints at seeing them bleed.
- Gertrude: No, no, it was the drink, the drink. Oh, my dear Hamlet . . .
- The drink, the drink! I'm poisoned.
(Gertrude falls, dying)
(Ostrick exits to get the doctor)
Hamlet: Oh, villainy! Lock the doors!- There's treachery, find it.
- Laertes: It's here, Hamlet. You are slain.
- No medicine in the world will do you any good.
There is not half an hour's life left in you.
The murder weapon is now in your own hand,
Sharp and poisoned. My foul action
Has turned itself against me. Lo, here I lie
Never to rise again. Your mother is poisoned.
I can say no more, except, the King! The King is to blame!
- Hamlet: The point is poisoned, too? Then venom, do your work!
(Hamlet stabs Claudius)
(the Spectators cry out): Treason, treason!
(Claudius's two bodyguards try to attack Hamlet;- Horatio quickly kills them both, then turns with a weapon taken
from one of them, and faces down the approaching spectators, who
stop and retreat)
Claudius: Oh, defend me, my friends, I'm only hurt.- Hamlet: Hear this, you incestuous damned Dane,
- Drink this potion! Is the "onyx" here?
Follow my mother to your death.
(Hamlet tilts the cup to Claudius's mouth;- Claudius swallows some - he can't resist wine)
(Claudius dies)
Laertes: He is justly served, it is a poison concocted by himself.- Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet.
My death and my father's death are not on your head,
Nor your death on mine.
(Laertes dies)
Hamlet: I pray that Heaven will forgive you. I follow you in death.- I'm dead, Horatio. Poor Queen, adieu.
You who look pale, and tremble at this turn of events,
And who can only watch silent, an audience to this act,
If I had time - but this fatal officer, death,
Is strict in making his arrest - Oh, I could tell you . . .
But let it be. Horatio, I am dead.
You live, so tell the truth about me and my cause
To those who don't know.
- Horatio: No, I won't.
- I am more an ancient Roman than a Dane,
And there's some poison left.
- Hamlet: Be a man,
- Give me the cup, let go of it. By Heaven I'll have it!
Oh God, Horatio, think of what a wounded name
I'll leave behind me, if people don't know the truth.
If you ever loved me in your heart,
Delay your act of faith for a while,
And live in this harsh world, however painful,
To tell my story.
(a martial march is heard, approaching;- cannons fire)
(Hamlet continues):- What warlike noise do I hear?
(Ostrick enters)
Ostrick: Young Fortinbrasse is here, after victory in Poland,- And he's saluting some ambassadors from England, who are also here.
- Hamlet: Oh, I die, Horatio.
- The strong poison o'er-crows my spirit.
I cannot live to hear the news from England.
But I do foresee the choice for the new King will
Be Fortinbrasse, and he has my dying support.
Tell him that, and also about the events, greater and smaller,
That have lured . . . [me to this tragic fate.] The rest is silence.
(Hamlet dies)
Horatio: Now Hamlet's noble heart fails. Good night, sweet Prince,- And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Why does that noise of drums approach?
(Fortinbrasse enters with some of his men;- the English Ambassadors enter)
Fortinbrasse: Where is this sight?- Horatio: What is it you want to see?
- If you want to see something woeful, or bewildering, you'll find it here.
- Fort: This heap of bodies cries out, "havoc!" Oh greedy death,
- What a feast you have for yourself, in your eternal cellar,
That, so many noble persons all at once,
You have so bloodily struck.
- Ambassador: This sight is horrible,
- And our news from England comes too late.
The ears that would hear us, hear only silence now,
And he cannot hear that his orders have been carried out,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Where should we receive our thanks?
- Hora: Not from the King's mouth,
- Even if he were alive to thank you.
He didn't order their deaths.
But since, so quickly after this bloody mystery,
You from the Polish wars, and you from England,
Have arrived, give orders that these bodies
Should be placed high on stage to be seen.
And let me tell you, all the ignorant world,
How these things came about. You shall hear
Of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts,
Of mistakes in judgment, casual slaughters,
Of deaths contrived through cunning, and others for no reason.
And in this result you see before you, so wrongly planned,
It has all come down on the heads of the schemers, themselves.
I can tell you the truth of it all.
- Fort: Let us hear it, soon.
- And call all the noblest persons to the hearing.
As for me, with sorrow I accept my fortune.
I have some rights of ancestry in this kingdom,
Which now my advantage invites me to claim.
- Hora: I shall also have reason to speak of that,
- In words from his mouth, Hamlet, whose voice will draw breath no more.
But let the truth be spoken soon,
While people's minds are unsettled, lest more misunderstanding
Lead to more plots and errors.
- Fort: Have four captains
- Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage.
For he was likely, had he been crowned King,
To have proved very royal. And for his passage from this life,
Let the soldier's music and the rites of the warrior
Speak loudly for him.
Lift up the bodies, a sight such as this
Is one for the battlefield, but here, it's much amiss.
Go and bid the honor guard to fire the salute.
(all exit)
(the salute is heard, as . . . )
( ~ the final curtain falls.)
|
(Regained)