Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 3
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
Claudius : I have sent to seek him and to find the body.
[p]How dangerous is it
that this man goes loose!
[p]Yet must not we put the strong law on
him.
[p]He's lov'd of the distracted multitude,
[p]Who like not in
their judgment, but their eyes;
[p]And where 'tis so, th' offender's
scourge is weigh'd,
[p]But never the offence. To bear all smooth and
even,
[p]This sudden sending him away must seem
[p]Deliberate pause.
Diseases desperate grown
[p]By desperate appliance are reliev'd,
[p]Or
not at all.
[p][Enter Rosencrantz.]
[p]How now O What hath befall'n?
Rosencrantz : Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
[p]We cannot get from him.
Claudius : But where is he?
Rosencrantz : Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
Claudius : Bring him before us.
Rosencrantz : Ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord.
Claudius : Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
Hamlet : At supper.
Claudius : At supper? Where?
Hamlet : Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain
[p]convocation of
politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your
[p]only emperor for
diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and
[p]we fat ourselves for
maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar
[p]is but variable
service- two dishes, but to one table. That's the
[p]end.
Claudius : Alas, alas!
Hamlet : A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat
[p]of
the fish that hath fed of that worm.
Claudius : What dost thou mean by this?
Hamlet : Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through
[p]the
guts of a beggar.
Claudius : Where is Polonius?
Hamlet : In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger find him
not
[p]there, seek him i' th' other place yourself. But indeed, if
you
[p]find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go
up
[p]the stair, into the lobby.
Claudius : Go seek him there. [To Attendants.]
Hamlet : He will stay till you come.
Claudius : Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,-
[p]Which we do tender
as we dearly grieve
[p]For that which thou hast done,- must send thee
hence
[p]With fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself.
[p]The bark
is ready and the wind at help,
[p]Th' associates tend, and everything
is bent
[p]For England.
Hamlet : For England?
Claudius : Ay, Hamlet.
Hamlet : Good.
Claudius : So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
Hamlet : I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England!
[p]Farewell,
dear mother.
Claudius : Thy loving father, Hamlet.
Hamlet : My mother! Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is
[p]one
flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!
Claudius : Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard.
[p]Delay it not; I'll
have him hence to-night.
[p]Away! for everything is seal'd and
done
[p]That else leans on th' affair. Pray you make haste.
[p][Exeunt
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]
[p]And, England, if my love thou hold'st
at aught,-
[p]As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
[p]Since
yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
[p]After the Danish sword, and thy
free awe
[p]Pays homage to us,- thou mayst not coldly set
[p]Our
sovereign process, which imports at full,
[p]By letters congruing to
that effect,
[p]The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
[p]For
like the hectic in my blood he rages,
[p]And thou must cure me. Till I
know 'tis done,
[p]Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. Exit.
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Next: Act 4 - Scene 4
