第五場

[1.5]

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.

H A M L E T 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,

Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,

And for the day confined to fast in fires,

Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature

Are burnt and purged 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 an end

Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.

But this eternal blazon must not be

To ears of flesh and blood. List, Iist, oh 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 abused; but know, thou noble youth,

The serpent that did sting thy father's life

Now wears his crown.

HAMLET O my prophetic soul !

My uncle ?

GHOST Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,

With witchcraft of his wits, 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 moved,

Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,

So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,

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, Iike eager droppings into milk,

The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine,

And a most instant tetter barked about,

Most lazar-1ike, 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 dispatched ;

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,

Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled ;

No reckoning made, but sent to my account

With all my imperfections on my head -

Oh horrible, oh 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 howsomever thou pursues 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. Remember me. Exit

Hamlet O all you host of heaven ! O earth ! what else ?

And shall I couple hell? Oh fie! Hold, hold, my heart,

And you my sinews grow not instant old

But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee ?

Ay thou poor ghost, whiles 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,

Unmixed 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'm 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 (Within) My lord, my lord!

MARCELLUS ( Within) Lord Hamlet !

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS

Horatio Heavens secure him !

HAMLET So be it.

MARCELLUS Illo, ho, ho, my lord!

HAMLET Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come bird, come.

MARCELLUS How is't, my noble lord?

Horatio What news my lord ?

HAMLET Oh, wonderful!

HORATIO Good my lord, tell it.

Hamlet No, you will 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

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'th'right,

And so without more circumstance at all

I hold it fit that we shake hands and part -

You as your business and desire 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 My lord we will not.

MARCELLUS

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.

CHOST Swear. Ghost cries under the stage

Hamlet Ha, ha, boy, sayst 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 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 Swear.

HAMLET Well said old mole, canst work i'th'earth so fast?

A worthy pioneer. 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 some'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 encumbered thus, or this head-shake,

Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,

As 'Well, 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 Swear.

HAMLET Rest, rest, perturb~d 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, Iet's go together.

Exeunt