Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 1
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
Claudius : There's matter in these sighs. These profound heaves
[p]You must
translate; 'tis fit we understand them.
[p]Where is your son?
Gertrude : Bestow this place on us a little while.
[p][Exeunt Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern.]
[p]Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night!
Claudius : What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Gertrude : Mad as the sea and wind when both contend
[p]Which is the mightier. In
his lawless fit
[p]Behind the arras hearing something stir,
[p]Whips
out his rapier, cries 'A rat, a rat!'
[p]And in this brainish
apprehension kills
[p]The unseen good old man.
Claudius : O heavy deed!
[p]It had been so with us, had we been there.
[p]His
liberty is full of threats to all-
[p]To you yourself, to us, to every
one.
[p]Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
[p]It will be
laid to us, whose providence
[p]Should have kept short, restrain'd,
and out of haunt
[p]This mad young man. But so much was our love
[p]We
would not understand what was most fit,
[p]But, like the owner of a
foul disease,
[p]To keep it from divulging, let it feed
[p]Even on the
pith of life. Where is he gone?
Gertrude : To draw apart the body he hath kill'd;
[p]O'er whom his very madness,
like some ore
[p]Among a mineral of metals base,
[p]Shows itself pure.
He weeps for what is done.
Claudius : O Gertrude, come away!
[p]The sun no sooner shall the mountains
touch
[p]But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed
[p]We must
with all our majesty and skill
[p]Both countenance and excuse. Ho,
Guildenstern!
[p][Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.Friends both, go
join you with some further aid.]
[p]Hamlet in madness hath Polonius
slain,
[p]And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him.
[p]Go seek
him out; speak fair, and bring the body
[p]Into the chapel. I pray you
haste in this.
[p][Exeunt [Rosencrantz and Guildenstern].]
[p]Come,
Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends
[p]And let them know both
what we mean to do
[p]And what's untimely done. [So haply
slander-]
[p]Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,
[p]As level as
the cannon to his blank,
[p]Transports his poisoned shot- may miss our
name
[p]And hit the woundless air.- O, come away!
[p]My soul is full
of discord and dismay.
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Next: Act 4 - Scene 2
