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, yes, by heaven.
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables,
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.
He writes
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word:
It is ‘Adieu, adieu, remember me’.
I have sworn’t.
HORATIO and MARCELLUS (within) My lord, my lord.
Enter Horatio and Marcellus
MARCELLUS (calling) Lord Hamlet! 115
HORATIO Heaven secure him.
HAMLET So be it.
HORATIO (calling) Illo, ho, ho, my lord.
HAMLET
Hillo, ho, ho, boy; come, bird, come.
MARCELLUS How is’t, my noble lord?
HORATIO (to Hamlet) What news, my lord?
HAMLET O wonderful!
HORATIO
Good my lord, tell it.
HAMLET
No, you’ll 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 and MARCELLUS Ay, by heav’n, 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 desires shall point you—
For every man has business and desire,
Such as it is—and for mine 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 and MARCELLUS
My lord, we will not.
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.
The Ghost cries under the stage
GHOST
Swear.
HAMLET
Ah 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 (under the stage) Swear.
⌈They 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 (under the stage) Swear.
⌈They 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 our philosophy. But come,
Here as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe‘er I bear myself—
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on—
That you at such time seeing me never shall,
With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase
As ‘Well, we know’ or ‘We could an if we would’,
Or ‘If we list to speak’, or ‘There be, an 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 (under the stage) Swear.
⌈They swear⌉
HAMLET
Rest, rest, perturbed 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, let’s go together. Exeunt
2.1 Enter old Polonius with his man Reynaldo
POLONIUS
Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.
REYNALDO I will, my lord.
POLONIUS
You shall do marv’lous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before you visit him to make enquire
Of his behaviour.
REYNALDO
My lord, I did intend it.
POLONIUS
Marry, well said, very well said. Look you, sir,
Enquire me first what Danskers are in Paris,
And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
What company, at what expense; and finding
By this encompassment and drift of question
That they do know my son, come you more nearer