Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - 2

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Total number of unique words is 1333
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64.7 of words are in the 5000 most common words
71.6 of words are in the 8000 most common words
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much in him that he is young; And with a larger tether may he walk Than
may be given you. In few, Ophelia, Do not believe his vows; for they
are brokers, Not of that dye which their investments show, But mere
implorators of unholy suits, Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all. I would not, in plain terms,
from this time forth Have you so slander any moment leisure As to give
words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. Look to’t, I charge you; come your
ways.
OPHELIA. I shall obey, my lord.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE IV. The platform.
Enter Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus.
HAMLET. The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
HORATIO. It is a nipping and an eager air.
HAMLET. What hour now?
HORATIO. I think it lacks of twelve.
MARCELLUS. No, it is struck.
HORATIO. Indeed? I heard it not. It then draws near the season Wherein
the spirit held his wont to walk.
[_A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off within._]
What does this mean, my lord?
HAMLET. The King doth wake tonight and takes his rouse, Keeps wassail,
and the swaggering upspring reels; And as he drains his draughts of
Rhenish down, The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out The triumph of
his pledge.
HORATIO. Is it a custom?
HAMLET. Ay marry is’t; And to my mind, though I am native here, And to
the manner born, it is a custom More honour’d in the breach than the
observance. This heavy-headed revel east and west Makes us traduc’d and
tax’d of other nations: They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish
phrase Soil our addition; and indeed it takes From our achievements,
though perform’d at height, The pith and marrow of our attribute. So
oft it chances in particular men That for some vicious mole of nature
in them, As in their birth, wherein they are not guilty, Since nature
cannot choose his origin, By their o’ergrowth of some complexion, Oft
breaking down the pales and forts of reason; Or by some habit, that too
much o’erleavens The form of plausive manners;—that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, Being Nature’s livery or
Fortune’s star,— His virtues else,—be they as pure as grace, As
infinite as man may undergo, Shall in the general censure take
corruption From that particular fault. The dram of evil Doth all the
noble substance often doubt To his own scandal.
HORATIO. Look, my lord, it comes!
Enter Ghost.
HAMLET. Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Be thou a spirit of
health or goblin damn’d, Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts
from hell, Be thy intents wicked or charitable, Thou com’st in such a
questionable shape That I will speak to thee. I’ll call thee Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane. O, answer me! Let me not burst in ignorance;
but tell Why thy canoniz’d bones, hearsed in death, Have burst their
cerements; why the sepulchre, Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn’d, Hath
op’d his ponderous and marble jaws To cast thee up again! What may this
mean, That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel, Revisit’st thus
the glimpses of the moon, Making night hideous, and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition With thoughts beyond the reaches
of our souls? Say, why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?
[_Ghost beckons Hamlet._]
HORATIO. It beckons you to go away with it, As if it some impartment
did desire To you alone.
MARCELLUS. Look with what courteous action It waves you to a more
removed ground. But do not go with it.
HORATIO. No, by no means.
HAMLET. It will not speak; then will I follow it.
HORATIO. Do not, my lord.
HAMLET. Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin’s
fee; And for my soul, what can it do to that, Being a thing immortal as
itself? It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it.
HORATIO. What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the
dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o’er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form Which might deprive your
sovereignty of reason, And draw you into madness? Think of it. The very
place puts toys of desperation, Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fadoms to the sea And hears it roar beneath.
HAMLET. It waves me still. Go on, I’ll follow thee.
MARCELLUS. You shall not go, my lord.
HAMLET. Hold off your hands.
HORATIO. Be rul’d; you shall not go.
HAMLET. My fate cries out, And makes each petty artery in this body As
hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve.
[_Ghost beckons._]
Still am I call’d. Unhand me, gentlemen.
[_Breaking free from them._]
By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me. I say, away!—Go on,
I’ll follow thee.
[_Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet._]
HORATIO. He waxes desperate with imagination.
MARCELLUS. Let’s follow; ’tis not fit thus to obey him.
HORATIO. Have after. To what issue will this come?
MARCELLUS. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
HORATIO. Heaven will direct it.
MARCELLUS. Nay, let’s follow him.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE V. A more remote part of the Castle.
Enter Ghost and Hamlet.
HAMLET. Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak, I’ll go no further.
GHOST. Mark me.
HAMLET. I will.
GHOST. My hour is almost come, When I to sulph’rous and tormenting
flames Must render up myself.
HAMLET. Alas, poor ghost!
GHOST. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall
unfold.
HAMLET. Speak, I am bound to hear.
GHOST. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
HAMLET. What?
GHOST. I am thy father’s spirit, 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, 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 on end Like
quills upon the fretful porcupine. 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—
HAMLET. O God!
GHOST. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
HAMLET. Murder!
GHOST. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul,
strange, and unnatural.
HAMLET. Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift 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, Wouldst thou not stir in this.
Now, Hamlet, hear. ’Tis given out that, sleeping in my 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, The serpent that
did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown.
HAMLET. O my prophetic soul! Mine uncle!
GHOST. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, 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, 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. 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. But soft! methinks I scent the morning air; Brief
let me be. Sleeping within my orchard, My custom always of the
afternoon, Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole With juice of cursed
hebenon in a vial, And in the porches of my 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; 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 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, Unhous’led, disappointed, unanel’d; 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 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, 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, adieu.
Hamlet, remember me.
[_Exit._]
HAMLET. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else? And shall I
couple hell? O, fie! 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? 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
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, That one may smile, and
smile, and be a villain! At least I am 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.
HORATIO and MARCELLUS. [_Within._] My lord, my lord.
MARCELLUS. [_Within._] Lord Hamlet.
HORATIO. [_Within._] Heaven secure him.
HAMLET. So be it!
MARCELLUS. [_Within._] Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
HAMLET. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come.
Enter Horatio and Marcellus.
MARCELLUS. How is’t, my noble lord?
HORATIO. What news, my lord?
HAMLET. O, wonderful!
HORATIO. Good my lord, tell it.
HAMLET. No, you’ll reveal it.
HORATIO. Not I, my lord, by heaven.
MARCELLUS. Nor I, my lord.
HAMLET. How say you then, would heart of man once think it?— But you’ll
be secret?
HORATIO and MARCELLUS. Ay, by heaven, my lord.
HAMLET. There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all Denmark But he’s an
arrant knave.
HORATIO. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave To tell us
this.
HAMLET. Why, right; you are i’ the right; And so, without more
circumstance at all, I hold it fit that we shake hands and part: You,
as your business and desires shall point you,— For every man hath
business and desire, Such as it is;—and for my own poor part, Look you,
I’ll go pray.
HORATIO. These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
HAMLET. I’m sorry they offend you, heartily; Yes faith, heartily.
HORATIO. There’s no offence, my lord.
HAMLET. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio, And much offence
too. Touching this vision here, It is an honest ghost, that let me tell
you. For your desire to know what is between us, O’ermaster’t as you
may. And now, good friends, As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
Give me one poor request.
HORATIO. What is’t, my lord? We will.
HAMLET. Never make known what you have seen tonight.
HORATIO and MARCELLUS. My lord, we will not.
HAMLET. Nay, but swear’t.
HORATIO. In faith, my lord, not I.
MARCELLUS. Nor I, my lord, in faith.
HAMLET. Upon my sword.
MARCELLUS. We have sworn, my lord, already.
HAMLET. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
GHOST. [_Cries under the stage._] Swear.
HAMLET. Ha, ha boy, say’st thou so? Art thou there, truepenny? Come on,
you hear this fellow in the cellarage. Consent to swear.
HORATIO. Propose the oath, my lord.
HAMLET. Never to speak of this that you have seen. Swear by my sword.
GHOST. [_Beneath._] Swear.
HAMLET. _Hic et ubique?_ Then we’ll shift our ground. Come hither,
gentlemen, And lay your hands again upon my sword. Never to speak of
this that you have heard. Swear by my sword.
GHOST. [_Beneath._] Swear.
HAMLET. Well said, old mole! Canst work i’ th’earth so fast? A worthy
pioner! Once more remove, good friends.
HORATIO. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange.
HAMLET. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more
things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your
philosophy. But come, Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, How
strange or odd soe’er I bear myself,— As I perchance hereafter shall
think meet To put an antic disposition on— That you, at such times
seeing me, never shall, With arms encumber’d thus, or this head-shake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, As ‘Well, we know’, or ‘We
could and if we would’, Or ‘If we list to speak’; or ‘There be and if
they might’, Or such ambiguous giving out, to note That you know aught
of me:—this not to do. So grace and mercy at your most need help you,
Swear.
GHOST. [_Beneath._] Swear.
HAMLET. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit. So, gentlemen, With all my love I
do commend me to you; And what so poor a man as Hamlet is May do
t’express his love and friending to you, God willing, shall not lack.
Let us go in together, And still your fingers on your lips, I pray. The
time is out of joint. O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it
right. Nay, come, let’s go together.
[_Exeunt._]

ACT II
SCENE I. A room in Polonius’s house.
Enter Polonius and Reynaldo.
POLONIUS. Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.
REYNALDO. I will, my lord.
POLONIUS. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo, Before you
visit him, to make inquiry Of his behaviour.
REYNALDO. My lord, I did intend it.
POLONIUS. Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir, Enquire me
first what Danskers are in Paris; And how, and who, what means, and
where they keep, What company, at what expense; and finding By this
encompassment and drift of question, That they do know my son, come you
more nearer Than your particular demands will touch it. Take you as
’twere some distant knowledge of him, As thus, ‘I know his father and
his friends, And in part him’—do you mark this, Reynaldo?
REYNALDO. Ay, very well, my lord.
POLONIUS. ‘And in part him, but,’ you may say, ‘not well; But if’t be
he I mean, he’s very wild; Addicted so and so;’ and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank As may dishonour him;
take heed of that; But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips As are
companions noted and most known To youth and liberty.
REYNALDO. As gaming, my lord?
POLONIUS. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, Quarrelling, drabbing.
You may go so far.
REYNALDO. My lord, that would dishonour him.
POLONIUS. Faith no, as you may season it in the charge. You must not
put another scandal on him, That he is open to incontinency; That’s not
my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly That they may seem the
taints of liberty; The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind, A savageness
in unreclaimed blood, Of general assault.
REYNALDO. But my good lord—
POLONIUS. Wherefore should you do this?
REYNALDO. Ay, my lord, I would know that.
POLONIUS. Marry, sir, here’s my drift, And I believe it is a fetch of
warrant. You laying these slight sullies on my son, As ’twere a thing a
little soil’d i’ th’ working, Mark you, Your party in converse, him you
would sound, Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes The youth you
breathe of guilty, be assur’d He closes with you in this consequence;
‘Good sir,’ or so; or ‘friend,’ or ‘gentleman’— According to the phrase
or the addition Of man and country.
REYNALDO. Very good, my lord.
POLONIUS. And then, sir, does he this,— He does—What was I about to
say? By the mass, I was about to say something. Where did I leave?
REYNALDO. At ‘closes in the consequence.’ At ‘friend or so,’ and
‘gentleman.’
POLONIUS. At ‘closes in the consequence’ ay, marry! He closes with you
thus: ‘I know the gentleman, I saw him yesterday, or t’other day, Or
then, or then, with such and such; and, as you say, There was he
gaming, there o’ertook in’s rouse, There falling out at tennis’: or
perchance, ‘I saw him enter such a house of sale’— _Videlicet_, a
brothel, or so forth. See you now; Your bait of falsehood takes this
carp of truth; And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, With windlasses,
and with assays of bias, By indirections find directions out. So by my
former lecture and advice Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?
REYNALDO. My lord, I have.
POLONIUS. God b’ wi’ you, fare you well.
REYNALDO. Good my lord.
POLONIUS. Observe his inclination in yourself.
REYNALDO. I shall, my lord.
POLONIUS. And let him ply his music.
REYNALDO. Well, my lord.
POLONIUS. Farewell.
[_Exit Reynaldo._]
Enter Ophelia.
How now, Ophelia, what’s the matter?
OPHELIA. Alas, my lord, I have been so affrighted.
POLONIUS. With what, in the name of God?
OPHELIA. My lord, as I was sewing in my chamber, Lord Hamlet, with his
doublet all unbrac’d, No hat upon his head, his stockings foul’d,
Ungart’red, and down-gyved to his ankle, Pale as his shirt, his knees
knocking each other, And with a look so piteous in purport As if he had
been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors, he comes before me.
POLONIUS. Mad for thy love?
OPHELIA. My lord, I do not know, but truly I do fear it.
POLONIUS. What said he?
OPHELIA. He took me by the wrist and held me hard; Then goes he to the
length of all his arm; And with his other hand thus o’er his brow, He
falls to such perusal of my face As he would draw it. Long stay’d he
so, At last,—a little shaking of mine arm, And thrice his head thus
waving up and down, He rais’d a sigh so piteous and profound As it did
seem to shatter all his bulk And end his being. That done, he lets me
go, And with his head over his shoulder turn’d He seem’d to find his
way without his eyes, For out o’ doors he went without their help, And
to the last bended their light on me.
POLONIUS. Come, go with me. I will go seek the King. This is the very
ecstasy of love, Whose violent property fordoes itself, And leads the
will to desperate undertakings, As oft as any passion under heaven That
does afflict our natures. I am sorry,— What, have you given him any
hard words of late?
OPHELIA. No, my good lord; but as you did command, I did repel his
letters and denied His access to me.
POLONIUS. That hath made him mad. I am sorry that with better heed and
judgment I had not quoted him. I fear’d he did but trifle, And meant to
wreck thee. But beshrew my jealousy! It seems it is as proper to our
age To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions As it is common for the
younger sort To lack discretion. Come, go we to the King. This must be
known, which, being kept close, might move More grief to hide than hate
to utter love.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE II. A room in the Castle.
Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Attendants.
KING. Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Moreover that we much
did long to see you, The need we have to use you did provoke Our hasty
sending. Something have you heard Of Hamlet’s transformation; so I call
it, Since nor th’exterior nor the inward man Resembles that it was.
What it should be, More than his father’s death, that thus hath put him
So much from th’understanding of himself, I cannot dream of. I entreat
you both That, being of so young days brought up with him, And since so
neighbour’d to his youth and humour, That you vouchsafe your rest here
in our court Some little time, so by your companies To draw him on to
pleasures and to gather, So much as from occasion you may glean,
Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus That, open’d, lies within
our remedy.
QUEEN. Good gentlemen, he hath much talk’d of you, And sure I am, two
men there are not living To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
To show us so much gentry and good will As to expend your time with us
awhile, For the supply and profit of our hope, Your visitation shall
receive such thanks As fits a king’s remembrance.
ROSENCRANTZ. Both your majesties Might, by the sovereign power you have
of us, Put your dread pleasures more into command Than to entreaty.
GUILDENSTERN. We both obey, And here give up ourselves, in the full
bent, To lay our service freely at your feet To be commanded.
KING. Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern.
QUEEN. Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz. And I beseech you
instantly to visit My too much changed son. Go, some of you, And bring
these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
GUILDENSTERN. Heavens make our presence and our practices Pleasant and
helpful to him.
QUEEN. Ay, amen.
[_Exeunt Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and some Attendants._]
Enter Polonius.
POLONIUS. Th’ambassadors from Norway, my good lord, Are joyfully
return’d.
KING. Thou still hast been the father of good news.
POLONIUS. Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege, I hold my duty,
as I hold my soul, Both to my God and to my gracious King: And I do
think,—or else this brain of mine Hunts not the trail of policy so sure
As it hath us’d to do—that I have found The very cause of Hamlet’s
lunacy.
KING. O speak of that, that do I long to hear.
POLONIUS. Give first admittance to th’ambassadors; My news shall be the
fruit to that great feast.
KING. Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.
[_Exit Polonius._]
He tells me, my sweet queen, that he hath found The head and source of
all your son’s distemper.
QUEEN. I doubt it is no other but the main, His father’s death and our
o’erhasty marriage.
KING. Well, we shall sift him.
Enter Polonius with Voltemand and Cornelius.
Welcome, my good friends! Say, Voltemand, what from our brother Norway?
VOLTEMAND. Most fair return of greetings and desires. Upon our first,
he sent out to suppress His nephew’s levies, which to him appear’d To
be a preparation ’gainst the Polack; But better look’d into, he truly
found It was against your Highness; whereat griev’d, That so his
sickness, age, and impotence Was falsely borne in hand, sends out
arrests On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys, Receives rebuke from
Norway; and in fine, Makes vow before his uncle never more To give
th’assay of arms against your Majesty. Whereon old Norway, overcome
with joy, Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee, And his
commission to employ those soldiers So levied as before, against the
Polack: With an entreaty, herein further shown, [_Gives a paper._] That
it might please you to give quiet pass Through your dominions for this
enterprise, On such regards of safety and allowance As therein are set
down.
KING. It likes us well; And at our more consider’d time we’ll read,
Answer, and think upon this business. Meantime we thank you for your
well-took labour. Go to your rest, at night we’ll feast together:. Most
welcome home.
[_Exeunt Voltemand and Cornelius._]
POLONIUS. This business is well ended. My liege and madam, to
expostulate What majesty should be, what duty is, Why day is day, night
night, and time is time. Were nothing but to waste night, day and time.
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs
and outward flourishes, I will be brief. Your noble son is mad. Mad
call I it; for to define true madness, What is’t but to be nothing else
but mad? But let that go.
QUEEN. More matter, with less art.
POLONIUS. Madam, I swear I use no art at all. That he is mad, ’tis
true: ’tis true ’tis pity; And pity ’tis ’tis true. A foolish figure,
But farewell it, for I will use no art. Mad let us grant him then. And
now remains That we find out the cause of this effect, Or rather say,
the cause of this defect, For this effect defective comes by cause.
Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. Perpend, I have a
daughter—have whilst she is mine— Who in her duty and obedience, mark,
Hath given me this. Now gather, and surmise. [_Reads._] _To the
celestial, and my soul’s idol, the most beautified Ophelia_— That’s an
ill phrase, a vile phrase; ‘beautified’ is a vile phrase: but you shall
hear. [_Reads._] _these; in her excellent white bosom, these, &c._
QUEEN. Came this from Hamlet to her?
POLONIUS. Good madam, stay awhile; I will be faithful. [_Reads._]
_Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt
truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love. O dear Ophelia, I am ill at
these numbers. I have not art to reckon my groans. But that I love thee
best, O most best, believe it. Adieu. Thine evermore, most dear lady,
whilst this machine is to him, HAMLET._ This in obedience hath my
daughter show’d me; And more above, hath his solicitings, As they fell
out by time, by means, and place, All given to mine ear.
KING. But how hath she receiv’d his love?
POLONIUS. What do you think of me?
KING. As of a man faithful and honourable.
POLONIUS. I would fain prove so. But what might you think, When I had
seen this hot love on the wing, As I perceiv’d it, I must tell you
that, Before my daughter told me, what might you, Or my dear Majesty
your queen here, think, If I had play’d the desk or table-book, Or
given my heart a winking, mute and dumb, Or look’d upon this love with
idle sight, What might you think? No, I went round to work, And my
young mistress thus I did bespeak: ‘Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy
star. This must not be.’ And then I precepts gave her, That she should
lock herself from his resort, Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.
Which done, she took the fruits of my advice, And he, repulsed,—a short
tale to make— Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Thence to a watch,
thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,
Into the madness wherein now he raves, And all we wail for.
KING. Do you think ’tis this?
QUEEN. It may be, very likely.
POLONIUS. Hath there been such a time, I’d fain know that, That I have
positively said ‘’Tis so,’ When it prov’d otherwise?
KING. Not that I know.
POLONIUS. Take this from this, if this be otherwise. [_Points to his
head and shoulder._] If circumstances lead me, I will find Where truth
is hid, though it were hid indeed Within the centre.
KING. How may we try it further?
POLONIUS. You know sometimes he walks four hours together Here in the
lobby.
QUEEN. So he does indeed.
POLONIUS. At such a time I’ll loose my daughter to him. Be you and I
behind an arras then, Mark the encounter. If he love her not, And be
not from his reason fall’n thereon, Let me be no assistant for a state,
But keep a farm and carters.
KING. We will try it.
Enter Hamlet, reading.
QUEEN. But look where sadly the poor wretch comes reading.
POLONIUS. Away, I do beseech you, both away I’ll board him presently.
O, give me leave.
[_Exeunt King, Queen and Attendants._]
How does my good Lord Hamlet?
HAMLET. Well, God-a-mercy.
POLONIUS. Do you know me, my lord?
HAMLET. Excellent well. You’re a fishmonger.
POLONIUS. Not I, my lord.
HAMLET. Then I would you were so honest a man.
POLONIUS. Honest, my lord?
HAMLET. Ay sir, to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man
picked out of ten thousand.
POLONIUS. That’s very true, my lord.
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Next - Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - 3
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  • Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - 1
    Total number of words is 4839
    Total number of unique words is 1329
    48.9 of words are in the 2000 most common words
    64.1 of words are in the 5000 most common words
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  • Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - 2
    Total number of words is 4917
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    71.6 of words are in the 8000 most common words
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  • Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - 3
    Total number of words is 4894
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    70.5 of words are in the 8000 most common words
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  • Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - 4
    Total number of words is 4873
    Total number of unique words is 1366
    48.0 of words are in the 2000 most common words
    63.8 of words are in the 5000 most common words
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  • Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - 5
    Total number of words is 4895
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  • Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - 6
    Total number of words is 4954
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  • Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - 7
    Total number of words is 2683
    Total number of unique words is 840
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