Reading Help HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK
Holding a weak supposal of our worth, `
` Or thinking by our late dear brother's death `
` Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, `
` Colleagued with this dream of his advantage, `
` He hath not fail'd to pester us with message, `
` Importing the surrender of those lands `
` Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, `
` To our most valiant brother. So much for him,-- `
` Now for ourself and for this time of meeting: `
` Thus much the business is:--we have here writ `
` To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,-- `
` Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears `
` Of this his nephew's purpose,--to suppress `
` His further gait herein; in that the levies, `
` The lists, and full proportions are all made `
` Out of his subject:--and we here dispatch `
` You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand, `
` For bearers of this greeting to old Norway; `
` Giving to you no further personal power `
` To business with the king, more than the scope `
` Of these dilated articles allow. `
` Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty. `
` `
` Cor. and Volt. `
` In that and all things will we show our duty. `
` `
` King. `
` We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell. `
` `
` [Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius.] `
` `
` And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? `
` You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes? `
` You cannot speak of reason to the Dane, `
` And lose your voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes, `
` That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? `
` The head is not more native to the heart, `
` The hand more instrumental to the mouth, `
` Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. `
` What wouldst thou have, Laertes? `
` `
` Laer. `
` Dread my lord, `
` Your leave and favour to return to France; `
` From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, `
` To show my duty in your coronation; `
` Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, `
` My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France, `
` And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. `
` `
` King. `
` Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius? `
` `
` Pol. `
` He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave `
` By laboursome petition; and at last `
` Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent: `
` I do beseech you, give him leave to go. `
` `
` King. `
` Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, `
` And thy best graces spend it at thy will!-- `
` But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son-- `
` `
` Ham. `
` [Aside.] A little more than kin, and less than kind! `
` `
` King. `
` How is it that the clouds still hang on you? `
` `
` Ham. `
` Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun. `
` `
` Queen. `
` Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, `
` And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. `
` Do not for ever with thy vailed lids `
` Seek for thy noble father in the dust: `
` Thou know'st 'tis common,--all that lives must die, `
` Passing through nature to eternity. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Ay, madam, it is common. `
` `
` Queen. `
` If it be, `
` Why seems it so particular with thee? `
` `
` Ham. `
` Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not seems. `
` 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, `
` Nor customary suits of solemn black, `
` Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath, `
` No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, `
` Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, `
` Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief, `
` That can denote me truly: these, indeed, seem; `
` For they are actions that a man might play; `
` But I have that within which passeth show; `
` These but the trappings and the suits of woe. `
` `
` King. `
` 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, `
` To give these mourning duties to your father; `
` But, you must know, your father lost a father; `
` That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound, `
` In filial obligation, for some term `
` To do obsequious sorrow: but to persevere `
` In obstinate condolement is a course `
` Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief; `
` It shows a will most incorrect to heaven; `
` A heart unfortified, a mind impatient; `
` An understanding simple and unschool'd; `
` For what we know must be, and is as common `
` As any the most vulgar thing to sense, `
` Why should we, in our peevish opposition, `
` Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven, `
` A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, `
` To reason most absurd; whose common theme `
` Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, `
` From the first corse till he that died to-day, `
` 'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth `
` This unprevailing woe; and think of us `
` As of a father: for let the world take note `
` You are the most immediate to our throne; `
` And with no less nobility of love `
` Than that which dearest father bears his son `
` Do I impart toward you. For your intent `
` In going back to school in Wittenberg, `
` It is most retrograde to our desire: `
` And we beseech you bend you to remain `
` Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, `
` Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. `
` `
` Queen. `
` Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet: `
` I pray thee stay with us; go not to Wittenberg. `
` `
` Ham. `
` I shall in all my best obey you, madam. `
` `
` King. `
` Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply: `
` Be as ourself in Denmark.--Madam, come; `
` This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet `
` Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof, `
` No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day `
` But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell; `
` And the king's rouse the heaven shall bruit again, `
` Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. `
` `
` [Exeunt all but Hamlet.] `
` `
` Ham. `
` O that this too too solid flesh would melt, `
` Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! `
` Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd `
` His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! `
` How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable `
` Seem to me all the uses of this world! `
` Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, `
` That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature `
` Possess it merely. That it should come to this! `
` But two months dead!--nay, not so much, not two: `
` So excellent a king; that was, to this, `
` Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother, `
` That he might not beteem the winds of heaven `
` Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! `
` Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him `
` As if increase of appetite had grown `
` By what it fed on: and yet, within a month,-- `
` Let me not think on't,--Frailty, thy name is woman!-- `
` A little month; or ere those shoes were old `
` With which she followed my poor father's body `
` Like Niobe, all tears;--why she, even she,-- `
` O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, `
` Would have mourn'd longer,--married with mine uncle, `
` My father's brother; but no more like my father `
` Than I to Hercules: within a month; `
` Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears `
` Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, `
` She married:-- O, most wicked speed, to post `
` With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! `
` It is not, nor it cannot come to good; `
` But break my heart,--for I must hold my tongue! `
` `
` [Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.] `
` `
` Hor. `
` Hail to your lordship! `
` `
` Ham. `
` I am glad to see you well: `
` Horatio,--or I do forget myself. `
` `
` Hor. `
` The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you: `
` And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?-- `
`
` Or thinking by our late dear brother's death `
` Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, `
` Colleagued with this dream of his advantage, `
` He hath not fail'd to pester us with message, `
` Importing the surrender of those lands `
` Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, `
` To our most valiant brother. So much for him,-- `
` Now for ourself and for this time of meeting: `
` Thus much the business is:--we have here writ `
` To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,-- `
` Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears `
` Of this his nephew's purpose,--to suppress `
` His further gait herein; in that the levies, `
` The lists, and full proportions are all made `
` Out of his subject:--and we here dispatch `
` You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand, `
` For bearers of this greeting to old Norway; `
` Giving to you no further personal power `
` To business with the king, more than the scope `
` Of these dilated articles allow. `
` Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty. `
` `
` Cor. and Volt. `
` In that and all things will we show our duty. `
` `
` King. `
` We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell. `
` `
` [Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius.] `
` `
` And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? `
` You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes? `
` You cannot speak of reason to the Dane, `
` And lose your voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes, `
` That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? `
` The head is not more native to the heart, `
` The hand more instrumental to the mouth, `
` Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. `
` What wouldst thou have, Laertes? `
` `
` Laer. `
` Dread my lord, `
` Your leave and favour to return to France; `
` From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, `
` To show my duty in your coronation; `
` Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, `
` My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France, `
` And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. `
` `
` King. `
` Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius? `
` `
` Pol. `
` He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave `
` By laboursome petition; and at last `
` Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent: `
` I do beseech you, give him leave to go. `
` `
` King. `
` Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, `
` And thy best graces spend it at thy will!-- `
` But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son-- `
` `
` Ham. `
` [Aside.] A little more than kin, and less than kind! `
` `
` King. `
` How is it that the clouds still hang on you? `
` `
` Ham. `
` Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun. `
` `
` Queen. `
` Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, `
` And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. `
` Do not for ever with thy vailed lids `
` Seek for thy noble father in the dust: `
` Thou know'st 'tis common,--all that lives must die, `
` Passing through nature to eternity. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Ay, madam, it is common. `
` `
` Queen. `
` If it be, `
` Why seems it so particular with thee? `
` `
` Ham. `
` Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not seems. `
` 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, `
` Nor customary suits of solemn black, `
` Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath, `
` No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, `
` Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, `
` Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief, `
` That can denote me truly: these, indeed, seem; `
` For they are actions that a man might play; `
` But I have that within which passeth show; `
` These but the trappings and the suits of woe. `
` `
` King. `
` 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, `
` To give these mourning duties to your father; `
` But, you must know, your father lost a father; `
` That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound, `
` In filial obligation, for some term `
` To do obsequious sorrow: but to persevere `
` In obstinate condolement is a course `
` Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief; `
` It shows a will most incorrect to heaven; `
` A heart unfortified, a mind impatient; `
` An understanding simple and unschool'd; `
` For what we know must be, and is as common `
` As any the most vulgar thing to sense, `
` Why should we, in our peevish opposition, `
` Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven, `
` A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, `
` To reason most absurd; whose common theme `
` Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, `
` From the first corse till he that died to-day, `
` 'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth `
` This unprevailing woe; and think of us `
` As of a father: for let the world take note `
` You are the most immediate to our throne; `
` And with no less nobility of love `
` Than that which dearest father bears his son `
` Do I impart toward you. For your intent `
` In going back to school in Wittenberg, `
` It is most retrograde to our desire: `
` And we beseech you bend you to remain `
` Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, `
` Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. `
` `
` Queen. `
` Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet: `
` I pray thee stay with us; go not to Wittenberg. `
` `
` Ham. `
` I shall in all my best obey you, madam. `
` `
` King. `
` Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply: `
` Be as ourself in Denmark.--Madam, come; `
` This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet `
` Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof, `
` No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day `
` But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell; `
` And the king's rouse the heaven shall bruit again, `
` Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. `
` `
` [Exeunt all but Hamlet.] `
` `
` Ham. `
` O that this too too solid flesh would melt, `
` Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! `
` Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd `
` His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! `
` How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable `
` Seem to me all the uses of this world! `
` Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, `
` That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature `
` Possess it merely. That it should come to this! `
` But two months dead!--nay, not so much, not two: `
` So excellent a king; that was, to this, `
` Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother, `
` That he might not beteem the winds of heaven `
` Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! `
` Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him `
` As if increase of appetite had grown `
` By what it fed on: and yet, within a month,-- `
` Let me not think on't,--Frailty, thy name is woman!-- `
` A little month; or ere those shoes were old `
` With which she followed my poor father's body `
` Like Niobe, all tears;--why she, even she,-- `
` O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, `
` Would have mourn'd longer,--married with mine uncle, `
` My father's brother; but no more like my father `
` Than I to Hercules: within a month; `
` Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears `
` Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, `
` She married:-- O, most wicked speed, to post `
` With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! `
` It is not, nor it cannot come to good; `
` But break my heart,--for I must hold my tongue! `
` `
` [Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.] `
` `
` Hor. `
` Hail to your lordship! `
` `
` Ham. `
` I am glad to see you well: `
` Horatio,--or I do forget myself. `
` `
` Hor. `
` The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever. `
` `
` Ham. `
` Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you: `
` And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?-- `
`