With fiery quickness: therefore, prepare thyself. King. Good. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. Ham. I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for England! - Farewell, dear mother. King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. Ham. My mother father and mother is man and wife, man and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England. [Exit. King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard : Delay it not; I'll haye him hence to-night. Away, for every thing is seal'd and done That else leans on th' affair: pray you, make haste. And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught, By letters conjuring to that effect, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. [Exit. SCENE IV. A Plain in Denmark. Enter FORTINBRAS and Forces marching. Fortinbras. Go, Captain; from me greet the Danish King: Tell him that, by his license, Fortinbras Claims the conveyance of a promis'd march Captain. For. Go softly on. I will do't, my lord. [Exeunt FORTINBRAS and Forces. [Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, &c. Ham. Good sir, whose powers are these? Cap. They are of Norway, sir. Cap. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. Cap. Truly to speak, and with no addition, Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd. Ham. Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand ducats, Will not debate the question of this straw: Ros. Ham. [Exit Captain. Will 't please you go, my lord? I'll be with you straight, Go a little before. [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. How all occasions do inform against me, What is a man, And spur my dull revenge! What If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure, He that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and godlike reason, To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be Of thinking too precisely on th' event, A thought, which, quarter'd, hath but one part wis dom, And ever three parts coward, I do not know Why yet I live to say, 'This thing's to do;' Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means, To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me: Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd, To all that fortune, death, and danger, dare, When honour's at the stake. How stand I, then, And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see Go to their graves like beds; fight for a plot To hide the slain? O, from this time forth, SCENE V. Elsinore. A Room in the Castle. Enter Queen and HORATIO. Queen. I will not speak with her. Hor. She is importunate; indeed, distract: Her mood will needs be pitied. Queen. What would she have? Hor. She speaks much of her father; says, she hears There's tricks i' th' world; and hems, and beats her heart; Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt, That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing, Yet the unshaped use of it doth move The hearers to collection; they aim at it, And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts; Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them, Indeed would make one think, there might be thought, Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily. Queen. [Aside.] 'Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. [To HOR.] Let her come in. [Exit HORATIO. To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is, Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss : It spills itself in fearing to be spilt. HORATIO returns with OPHELIA. Oph. Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark ? Queen. How now, Ophelia ? Oph. “How should I your true love know From another one? By his cockle hat and staff, And his sandal shoon." [Sings. Queen. Alas, sweet lady! what imports this song? Oph. Say you? nay, pray you, mark. “He is dead and gone, lady, He is dead and gone: At his head a grass-green turf, At his heels a stone." Queen. Nay, but, Ophelia, Oph. [Sings. Pray you, mark. [Sings. “White his shroud as the mountain snow,” Enter King. Queen. Alas! look here, my lord. |