Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Act 5 - Scene 2
Elsinore. A hall in the Castle.
Hamlet : So much for this, sir; now shall you see the other.
[p]You do remember
all the circumstance?
Horatio : Remember it, my lord!
Hamlet : Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting
[p]That would not let me
sleep. Methought I lay
[p]Worse than the mutinies in the bilboes.
Rashly-
[p]And prais'd be rashness for it; let us know,
[p]Our
indiscretion sometime serves us well
[p]When our deep plots do pall;
and that should learn us
[p]There's a divinity that shapes our
ends,
[p]Rough-hew them how we will-
Horatio : That is most certain.
Hamlet : Up from my cabin,
[p]My sea-gown scarf'd about me, in the
dark
[p]Grop'd I to find out them; had my desire,
[p]Finger'd their
packet, and in fine withdrew
[p]To mine own room again; making so bold
[p](My fears forgetting manners) to unseal
[p]Their grand commission;
where I found, Horatio
[p](O royal knavery!), an exact
command,
[p]Larded with many several sorts of reasons,
[p]Importing
Denmark's health, and England's too,
[p]With, hoo! such bugs and
goblins in my life-
[p]That, on the supervise, no leisure
bated,
[p]No, not to stay the finding of the axe,
[p]My head should be
struck off.
Horatio : Is't possible?
Hamlet : Here's the commission; read it at more leisure.
[p]But wilt thou bear
me how I did proceed?
Horatio : I beseech you.
Hamlet : Being thus benetted round with villanies,
[p]Or I could make a
prologue to my brains,
[p]They had begun the play. I sat me
down;
[p]Devis'd a new commission; wrote it fair.
[p]I once did hold
it, as our statists do,
[p]A baseness to write fair, and labour'd
much
[p]How to forget that learning; but, sir, now
[p]It did me
yeoman's service. Wilt thou know
[p]Th' effect of what I wrote?
Horatio : Ay, good my lord.
Hamlet : An earnest conjuration from the King,
[p]As England was his faithful
tributary,
[p]As love between them like the palm might flourish,
[p]As
peace should still her wheaten garland wear
[p]And stand a comma
'tween their amities,
[p]And many such-like as's of great
charge,
[p]That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
[p]Without
debatement further, more or less,
[p]He should the bearers put to
sudden death,
[p]Not shriving time allow'd.
Horatio : How was this seal'd?
Hamlet : Why, even in that was heaven ordinant.
[p]I had my father's signet in
my purse,
[p]Which was the model of that Danish seal;
[p]Folded the
writ up in the form of th' other,
[p]Subscrib'd it, gave't th'
impression, plac'd it safely,
[p]The changeling never known. Now, the
next day
[p]Was our sea-fight; and what to this was sequent
[p]Thou
know'st already.
Horatio : So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to't.
Hamlet : Why, man, they did make love to this employment!
[p]They are not near
my conscience; their defeat
[p]Does by their own insinuation
grow.
[p]'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes
[p]Between the
pass and fell incensed points
[p]Of mighty opposites.
Horatio : Why, what a king is this!
Hamlet : Does it not, thinks't thee, stand me now upon-
[p]He that hath kill'd
my king, and whor'd my mother;
[p]Popp'd in between th' election and
my hopes;
[p]Thrown out his angle for my proper life,
[p]And with such
coz'nage- is't not perfect conscience
[p]To quit him with this arm?
And is't not to be damn'd
[p]To let this canker of our nature
come
[p]In further evil?
Horatio : It must be shortly known to him from England
[p]What is the issue of
the business there.
Hamlet : It will be short; the interim is mine,
[p]And a man's life is no more
than to say 'one.'
[p]But I am very sorry, good Horatio,
[p]That to
Laertes I forgot myself,
[p]For by the image of my cause I see
[p]The
portraiture of his. I'll court his favours.
[p]But sure the bravery of
his grief did put me
[p]Into a tow'ring passion.
Horatio : Peace! Who comes here?
Osric : Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.
Hamlet : I humbly thank you, sir. [Aside to Horatio] Dost know
this
[p]waterfly?
Horatio : [aside to Hamlet] No, my good lord.
Hamlet : [aside to Horatio] Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a
[p]vice
to know him. He hath much land, and fertile. Let a beast be
[p]lord of
beasts, and his crib shall stand at the king's mess. 'Tis
[p]a chough;
but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt.
Osric : Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should impart
[p]a
thing to you from his Majesty.
Hamlet : I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit. Put
your
[p]bonnet to his right use. 'Tis for the head.
Osric : I thank your lordship, it is very hot.
Hamlet : No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly.
Osric : It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed.
Hamlet : But yet methinks it is very sultry and hot for my complexion.
Osric : Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry, as 'twere- I cannot
[p]tell
how. But, my lord, his Majesty bade me signify to you that
[p]he has
laid a great wager on your head. Sir, this is the matter-
Hamlet : I beseech you remember.
Osric : Nay, good my lord; for mine ease, in good faith. Sir, here is
[p]newly
come to court Laertes; believe me, an absolute gentleman,
[p]full of
most excellent differences, of very soft society and
[p]great showing.
Indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card
[p]or calendar of
gentry; for you shall find in him the continent of
[p]what part a
gentleman would see.
Hamlet : Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you; though, I
[p]know, to
divide him inventorially would dozy th' arithmetic of
[p]memory, and
yet but yaw neither in respect of his quick sail.
[p]But, in the
verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great
[p]article, and
his infusion of such dearth and rareness as, to make
[p]true diction
of him, his semblable is his mirror, and who else would trace him,
his umbrage, nothing more.
Osric : Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him.
Hamlet : The concernancy, sir? Why do we wrap the gentleman in our
more
[p]rawer breath?
Osric : Sir?
Horatio : [aside to Hamlet] Is't not possible to understand in
another
[p]tongue? You will do't, sir, really.
Hamlet : What imports the nomination of this gentleman?
Osric : Of Laertes?
Horatio : [aside] His purse is empty already. All's golden words are
[p]spent.
Hamlet : Of him, sir.
Osric : I know you are not ignorant-
Hamlet : I would you did, sir; yet, in faith, if you did, it would not
[p]much
approve me. Well, sir?
Osric : You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is-
Hamlet : I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him
in
[p]excellence; but to know a man well were to know himself.
Osric : I mean, sir, for his weapon; but in the imputation laid on him
[p]by
them, in his meed he's unfellowed.
Hamlet : What's his weapon?
Osric : Rapier and dagger.
Hamlet : That's two of his weapons- but well.
Osric : The King, sir, hath wager'd with him six Barbary horses;
[p]against
the which he has impon'd, as I take it, six French
[p]rapiers and
poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers, and
[p]so. Three of
the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy,
[p]very responsive to
the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of
[p]very liberal conceit.
Hamlet : What call you the carriages?
Horatio : [aside to Hamlet] I knew you must be edified by the margent
[p]ere you
had done.
Osric : The carriages, sir, are the hangers.
Hamlet : The phrase would be more germane to the matter if we could
[p]carry
cannon by our sides. I would it might be hangers till then.
[p]But
on! Six Barbary horses against six French swords, their
[p]assigns,
and three liberal-conceited carriages: that's the French
[p]bet
against the Danish. Why is this all impon'd, as you call it?
Osric : The King, sir, hath laid that, in a dozen passes between
[p]yourself
and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; he hath
[p]laid on twelve
for nine, and it would come to immediate trial
[p]if your lordship
would vouchsafe the answer.
Hamlet : How if I answer no?
Osric : 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,
[p]it is
the breathing time of day with me. Let the foils be
[p]brought, the
gentleman willing, and the King hold his purpose,
[p]I will win for
him if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my
[p]shame and the odd
hits.
Osric : Shall I redeliver you e'en so?
Hamlet : To this effect, sir, after what flourish your nature will.
Osric : I commend my duty to your lordship.
Hamlet : Yours, yours. [Exit Osric.] He does well to commend it
[p]himself;
there are no tongues else for's turn.
Horatio : This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.
Hamlet : He did comply with his dug before he suck'd it. Thus has he,
[p]and
many more of the same bevy that I know the drossy age dotes
[p]on,
only got the tune of the time and outward habit of encounter-
[p]a
kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and
[p]through
the most fann'd and winnowed opinions; and do but blow
[p]them to
their trial-the bubbles are out,
Lord : My lord, his Majesty commended him to you by young Osric,
who
[p]brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall. He sends
to
[p]know if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you
will
[p]take longer time.
Hamlet : I am constant to my purposes; they follow the King's pleasure.
[p]If
his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now or whensoever, provided
[p]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
[p]Laertes
before you fall to play.
Hamlet : She well instructs me.
Horatio : You will lose this wager, my lord.
Hamlet : I do not think so. Since he went into France I have been
in
[p]continual practice. I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst
not
[p]think how ill all's here about my heart. But it is no matter.
Horatio : Nay, good my lord--
Hamlet : It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gaingiving as
[p]would
perhaps trouble a woman.
Horatio : If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall
their
[p]repair hither and say you are not fit.
Hamlet : Not a whit, we defy augury; there's a special providence in
[p]the
fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be
[p]not to
come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come:
[p]the
readiness is all. Since no man knows aught of what he leaves,
[p]what
is't to leave betimes? Let be.
Claudius : Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.
Hamlet : Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong;
[p]But pardon't, as
you are a gentleman.
[p]This presence knows,
[p]And you must needs
have heard, how I am punish'd
[p]With sore distraction. What I have
done
[p]That might your nature, honour, and exception
[p]Roughly
awake, I here proclaim was madness.
[p]Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes?
Never Hamlet.
[p]If Hamlet from himself be taken away,
[p]And when
he's not himself does wrong Laertes,
[p]Then Hamlet does it not,
Hamlet denies it.
[p]Who does it, then? His madness. If't be
so,
[p]Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
[p]His madness is
poor Hamlet's enemy.
[p]Sir, in this audience,
[p]Let my disclaiming
from a purpos'd evil
[p]Free me so far in your most generous thoughts
[p]That I have shot my arrow o'er the house
[p]And hurt my brother.
Laertes : I am satisfied in nature,
[p]Whose motive in this case should stir me
most
[p]To my revenge. But in my terms of honour
[p]I stand aloof, and
will no reconcilement
[p]Till by some elder masters of known
honour
[p]I have a voice and precedent of peace
[p]To keep my name
ungor'd. But till that time
[p]I do receive your offer'd love like
love,
[p]And will not wrong it.
Hamlet : I embrace it freely,
[p]And will this brother's wager frankly
play.
[p]Give us the foils. Come on.
Laertes : Come, one for me.
Hamlet : I'll be your foil, Laertes. In mine ignorance
[p]Your skill shall,
like a star i' th' darkest night,
[p]Stick fiery off indeed.
Laertes : You mock me, sir.
Hamlet : No, by this hand.
Claudius : Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin Hamlet,
[p]You know the
wager?
Hamlet : Very well, my lord.
[p]Your Grace has laid the odds o' th' weaker
side.
Claudius : I do not fear it, I have seen you both;
[p]But since he is better'd,
we have therefore odds.
Laertes : This is too heavy; let me see another.
Hamlet : This likes me well. These foils have all a length?
Osric : Ay, my good lord.
Claudius : Set me the stoups of wine upon that table.
[p]If Hamlet give the first
or second hit,
[p]Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
[p]Let all
the battlements their ordnance fire;
[p]The King shall drink to
Hamlet's better breath,
[p]And in the cup an union shall he
throw
[p]Richer than that which four successive kings
[p]In Denmark's
crown have worn. Give me the cups;
[p]And let the kettle to the
trumpet speak,
[p]The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
[p]The
cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth,
[p]'Now the King drinks
to Hamlet.' Come, begin.
[p]And you the judges, bear a wary eye.
Hamlet : Come on, sir.
Laertes : Come, my lord. They play.
Hamlet : One.
Laertes : No.
Hamlet : Judgment!
Osric : A hit, a very palpable hit.
Laertes : Well, again!
Claudius : Stay, give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;
[p]Here's to thy
health.
[p][Drum; trumpets sound; a piece goes off [within].]
[p]Give
him the cup.
Hamlet : I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile.
[p]Come. [They play.]
Another hit. What say you?
Laertes : A touch, a touch; I do confess't.
Claudius : Our son shall win.
Gertrude : He's fat, and scant of breath.
[p]Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub
thy brows.
[p]The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.
Hamlet : Good madam!
Claudius : Gertrude, do not drink.
Gertrude : I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me. Drinks.
Claudius : [aside] It is the poison'd cup; it is too late.
Hamlet : I dare not drink yet, madam; by-and-by.
Gertrude : Come, let me wipe thy face.
Laertes : My lord, I'll hit him now.
Claudius : I do not think't.
Laertes : [aside] And yet it is almost against my conscience.
Hamlet : Come for the third, Laertes! You but dally.
[p]Pray you pass with your
best violence;
[p]I am afeard you make a wanton of me.
Laertes : Say you so? Come on. Play.
Osric : Nothing neither way.
Laertes : Have at you now!
Claudius : Part them! They are incens'd.
Hamlet : Nay come! again! The Queen falls.
Osric : Look to the Queen there, ho!
Horatio : They bleed on both sides. How is it, my lord?
Osric : How is't, Laertes?
Laertes : Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric.I am justly kill'd with
mine own treachery.
Hamlet : How does the Queen?
Claudius : She sounds to see them bleed.
Gertrude : No, no! the drink, the drink! O my dear Hamlet!
[p]The drink, the
drink! I am poison'd. [Dies.]
Hamlet : O villany! Ho! let the door be lock'd.
[p]Treachery! Seek it out.
Laertes : It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain;
[p]No medicine in the
world can do thee good.
[p]In thee there is not half an hour of
life.
[p]The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
[p]Unbated and
envenom'd. The foul practice
[p]Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I
lie,
[p]Never to rise again. Thy mother's poison'd.
[p]I can no more.
The King, the King's to blame.
Hamlet : The point envenom'd too?
[p]Then, venom, to thy work. Hurts the
King.
All : Treason! treason!
Claudius : O, yet defend me, friends! I am but hurt.
Hamlet : Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damned Dane,
[p]Drink off this
potion! Is thy union here?
[p]Follow my mother. King
dies.
Laertes : He is justly serv'd.
[p]It is a poison temper'd by
himself.
[p]Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet.
[p]Mine and my
father's death come not upon thee,
[p]Nor thine on me!
Dies.
Hamlet : Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.
[p]I am dead, Horatio.
Wretched queen, adieu!
[p]You that look pale and tremble at this
chance,
[p]That are but mutes or audience to this act,
[p]Had I but
time (as this fell sergeant, Death,
[p]Is strict in his arrest) O, I
could tell you-
[p]But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;
[p]Thou liv'st;
report me and my cause aright
[p]To the unsatisfied.
Horatio : Never believe it.
[p]I am more an antique Roman than a Dane.
[p]Here's
yet some liquor left.
Hamlet : As th'art a man,
[p]Give me the cup. Let go! By heaven, I'll
ha't.
[p]O good Horatio, what a wounded name
[p](Things standing thus
unknown) shall live behind me!
[p]If thou didst ever hold me in thy
heart,
[p]Absent thee from felicity awhile,
[p]And in this harsh world
draw thy breath in pain,
[p]To tell my story. [March afar off, and
shot within.]
[p]What warlike noise is this?
Osric : Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,
[p]To the
ambassadors of England gives
[p]This warlike volley.
Hamlet : O, I die, Horatio!
[p]The potent poison quite o'ercrows my
spirit.
[p]I cannot live to hear the news from England,
[p]But I do
prophesy th' election lights
[p]On Fortinbras. He has my dying
voice.
[p]So tell him, with th' occurrents, more and less,
[p]Which
have solicited- the rest is silence. Dies.
Horatio : Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
[p]And flights of
angels sing thee to thy rest!
[p][March within.]
[p]Why does the drum
come hither?
[p]Enter Fortinbras and English Ambassadors, with Drum,
Colours, and Attendants.
Fortinbras : Where is this sight?
Horatio : What is it you will see?
[p]If aught of woe or wonder, cease your
search.
Fortinbras : This quarry cries on havoc. O proud Death,
[p]What feast is toward in
thine eternal cell
[p]That thou so many princes at a shot
[p]So
bloodily hast struck.
Ambassador : The sight is dismal;
[p]And our affairs from England come too late.
[p]The ears are senseless that should give us hearing
[p]To tell him
his commandment is fulfill'd
[p]That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
dead.
[p]Where should we have our thanks?
Horatio : Not from his mouth,
[p]Had it th' ability of life to thank you.
[p]He
never gave commandment for their death.
[p]But since, so jump upon
this bloody question,
[p]You from the Polack wars, and you from
England,
[p]Are here arriv'd, give order that these bodies
[p]High on
a stage be placed to the view;
[p]And let me speak to the yet
unknowing world
[p]How these things came about. So shall you
hear
[p]Of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts;
[p]Of accidental
judgments, casual slaughters;
[p]Of deaths put on by cunning and
forc'd cause;
[p]And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
[p]Fall'n on
th' inventors' heads. All this can I
[p]Truly deliver.
Fortinbras : Let us haste to hear it,
[p]And call the noblest to the
audience.
[p]For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune.
[p]I have some
rights of memory in this kingdom
[p]Which now, to claim my vantage
doth invite me.
Horatio : Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
[p]And from his mouth whose
voice will draw on more.
[p]But let this same be presently
perform'd,
[p]Even while men's minds are wild, lest more
mischance
[p]On plots and errors happen.
Fortinbras : Let four captains
[p]Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage;
[p]For
he was likely, had he been put on,
[p]To have prov'd most royally; and
for his passage
[p]The soldiers' music and the rites of war
[p]Speak
loudly for him.
[p]Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this
[p]Becomes
the field but here shows much amiss.
[p]Go, bid the soldiers shoot.
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Next: Act 5 - Scene 2
