Authors: William Shakespeare
HAMLET
, Prince of Denmark
KING
of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle
GHOST
of old Hamlet, former King of Denmark, Hamlet’s father
GERTRUDE
, queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother
POLONIUS
, councillor to the state of Denmark
LAERTES
, Polonius’ son
OPHELIA
, Polonius’ daughter
REYNALDO
, Polonius’ servant
HORATIO
, Hamlet’s friend and fellow student
ROSENCRANTZ
and
GUILDENSTERN
two courtiers, former schoolfellows of Hamlet
VOLTEMAND
and
CORNELIUS
ambassadors to Norway
MARCELLUS
BARNARDO
sentinels of the king’s guard, seemingly also friends and fellow students of Hamlet and Horatio
FRANCISCO
, another sentinel of the king’s guard
OSRIC
, a courtier
PLAYERS
, who take the roles of
PROLOGUE, PLAYER KING, BAPTISTA
and
LUCIANUS
FORTINBRAS
, Prince of Norway
A
CAPTAIN
in his army
Two
CLOWNS
, a gravedigger and his companion
Two
MESSENGERS
A
SAILOR
A
PRIEST
AMBASSADOR
from England
Lords, Soldiers, Attendants,
Servants, Followers of Laertes
running scene 1
Enter Barnardo and Francisco, two sentinels
Meeting
BARNARDO
Who’s there?
FRANCISCO
Nay, answer
me
: stand and
unfold
2
yourself.
BARNARDO
Long live the king!
FRANCISCO
Barnardo?
BARNARDO
He.
FRANCISCO
You come most
carefully upon your hour
6
.
BARNARDO
’Tis now struck twelve: get thee to bed, Francisco.
FRANCISCO
For this relief much thanks: ’tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.
BARNARDO
Have you had quiet guard?
FRANCISCO
Not a mouse stirring.
BARNARDO
Well, goodnight.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The
rivals
14
of my watch, bid them make haste.
Enter Horatio and Marcellus
FRANCISCO
I think I hear them.— Stand! Who’s there?
HORATIO
Friends to this
ground
16
.
MARCELLUS
And
liegemen to the Dane
17
.
FRANCISCO
Give
18
you goodnight.
MARCELLUS
O, farewell, honest soldier. Who hath relieved you?
FRANCISCO
Barnardo has my place. Give you goodnight.
Exit Francisco
MARCELLUS
Holla! Barnardo!
BARNARDO
Say, what, is Horatio there?
HORATIO
A piece of him.
BARNARDO
Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus.
MARCELLUS
What, has this thing appeared again tonight?
BARNARDO
I have seen nothing.
MARCELLUS
Horatio says ’tis but our
fantasy
27
,
And will not let belief take hold of him
Touching
this dreaded sight twice seen
of
29
us:
Therefore I have entreated him
along
30
With us to
watch
31
the minutes of this night,
That if again this apparition come,
He may
approve
33
our eyes and speak to it.
HORATIO
Tush, tush, ’twill not appear.
BARNARDO
Sit down awhile,
And let us once again
assail
36
your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.
HORATIO
Well, sit we down,
And let us hear Barnardo speak of this.
BARNARDO
Last night of all
41
,
When
yond
same star that’s westward from the
pole
42
Had made his course
t’illume
43
that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one—
MARCELLUS
Peace, break thee off.
Enter the Ghost
Look where it comes again.
BARNARDO
In the same
figure
47
like the king that’s dead.
MARCELLUS
Thou art a
scholar
48
; speak to it, Horatio.
BARNARDO
Looks it not like the king?
Mark it
49
, Horatio.
HORATIO
Most like: it
harrows
50
me with fear and wonder.
BARNARDO
It
would
51
be spoke to.
MARCELLUS
Question it, Horatio.
HORATIO
What art thou that
usurp’st
53
this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried
Denmark
55
Did
sometimes
march? By heaven I
charge
56
thee speak!
MARCELLUS
It is offended.
BARNARDO
See, it stalks away.
HORATIO
Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!
Exit the Ghost
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’t
63
?
HORATIO
Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the
sensible
and true
avouch
65
Of mine own eyes.
MARCELLUS
Is it not like the king?
HORATIO
As thou art to thyself.
Such was the very armour he had on
When he th’ambitious
Norway
70
combated:
So frowned he once when, in an angry
parle
71
,
He smote the
steelèd pole-axe
72
on the ice.
’Tis strange.
MARCELLUS
Thus twice before, and just at this dead hour,
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
HORATIO
In what particular thought to
work
I know not
76
,
But in the
gross and scope
77
of my opinion,
This bodes some strange
eruption
78
to our state.
MARCELLUS
Good now
79
, sit down and tell me, he that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly
toils
the
subject
81
of the land,
And why such daily
cast
of
brazen
82
cannon
And foreign
mart
83
for implements of war:
Why such
impress
84
of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week
85
What might be
toward
86
, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:
Who is’t that can inform me?
HORATIO
That can I,
At least, the
whisper
90
goes so: our last king,
Whose image even but now appeared to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto
pricked
on by a most
emulate
93
pride,
Dared to the combat, in which our valiant Hamlet —
For so this side of our known world esteemed him —
Did slay this Fortinbras, who by a
sealed compact
96
,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
Which he stood
seized on
99
to the conqueror:
Against the which, a
moiety competent
100
Was
gagèd
by our king, which
had returned
101
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same
cov’nant
103
,
And
carriage of the article designed
104
,
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of
unimprovèd
mettle
106
hot and full,
Hath in the
skirts
107
of Norway here and there
Sharked up
a
list
of landless
resolutes
108
For food and diet to some enterprise
109
That hath
a stomach
110
in’t, which is no other —
And it doth well appear unto our
state
111
—
But to recover of us, by strong hand
And terms
compulsative
113
, 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
116
Of this
post-haste
and
rummage
117
in the land.
Enter Ghost again
But
soft
, behold!
Lo
118
, where it comes again!
I’ll
cross it
, though it
blast
119
me. Stay, illusion!
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,
haply
126
, foreknowing may avoid — O, speak!
Or if thou hast
uphoarded
127
in thy life
Extorted
128
treasure in the womb of earth —
A cock crows
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death —
Speak of it: stay and speak!— Stop it, Marcellus.
MARCELLUS
Shall I strike at it with my
partisan
131
?
HORATIO
Do, if it will not
stand
132
.
They attempt to strike it
BARNARDO
’Tis here!
HORATIO
’Tis here!
MARCELLUS
’Tis gone!
Exit Ghost
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 day,
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,
Th’extravagant and erring
spirit
hies
147
To his
confine
148
: and of the truth herein
This present object made
probation
149
.
MARCELLUS
It faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some say that ever
gainst
151
that season comes
Wherein
our Saviour’s
152
birth is celebrated,
The
bird of dawning
153
singeth all night long,
And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad:
The nights are
wholesome
, then no planets
strike
155
,
No fairy
talks
, nor witch hath power to
charm
156
,
So
hallowed
and so
gracious
157
is the time.
HORATIO
So have I heard and do in part believe it.
But, look, the morn in
russet
159
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?
MARCELLUS
Let’s do’t, I pray, and I this morning know
Where we shall find him most conveniently.