Hamlet (12 page)

Aside

POLONIUS
    Still on my daughter.

HAMLET
    Am I not i’th’right, old Jephthah?

POLONIUS
    If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter

that I love passing well.

HAMLET
    Nay, that
follows not
⁴⁰⁵
.

POLONIUS
    What follows, then, my lord?

HAMLET
    Why,

     ‘As by
lot
, God
wot
⁴⁰⁸
’,

and then, you know,

     ‘It came to pass, as most
like
⁴¹⁰
it was’ —

     the first
row
of the pious
chanson
⁴¹¹
will show you more,

     for look where
my abridgements
⁴¹²
come.—

You’re welcome, masters, welcome all.— I am glad to see

thee well.— Welcome, good friends.— O, my old friend! Thy

face is
valanced
since I saw thee last: com’st thou to
beard
⁴¹⁵

me in Denmark?— What, my young lady and mistress!
By’r
⁴¹⁶

lady,
your ladyship
⁴¹⁷
is nearer heaven than when I saw you

last, by the altitude of a
chopine
⁴¹⁸
. Pray God your voice, like a

piece of
uncurrent
gold, be not
cracked within the ring
⁴¹⁹
.

Masters, you are all welcome. We’ll
e’en to’t
⁴²⁰
like French

falconers, fly at anything we see. We’ll have a speech

straight
: come, give us a taste of your
quality
⁴²²
: come, a

passionate speech.

FIRST PLAYER
    What speech, my lord?

HAMLET
    I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was

never acted, or if it was, not above once, for the play, I

remember, pleased not the million: ’twas
caviar to the
⁴²⁷

general. But it was — as I received it, and others, whose

judgement in such matters
cried in the top of
⁴²⁹
mine — an

excellent play, well
digested
⁴³⁰
in the scenes, set down with as

much
modesty
as
cunning
⁴³¹
. I remember one said there was

no
sallets
in the lines to make the matter
savoury
⁴³²
, nor no

matter in the phrase that might
indict
⁴³³
the author of

affectation, but called it an honest method,
as wholesome as
⁴³⁴

sweet, and by very much more
handsome than fine
⁴³⁵
. One

speech in it I chiefly loved: ’twas
Aeneas’ tale to Dido
⁴³⁶
, and

thereabout of it especially where he speaks of
Priam’s
⁴³⁷

slaughter: if it live in your memory, begin at this line — let

me see, let me see —

     ‘The
rugged
Pyrrhus
, like
th’Hyrcanian beast
⁴⁴⁰
’—

It is not so: it begins with Pyrrhus:

     ‘The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose
sable
⁴⁴²
arms,

     Black as his purpose, did the night resemble

     When he lay
couchèd
in the
ominous horse
⁴⁴⁴
,

     Hath now this dread and black complexion smeared

     With
heraldry more
dismal
⁴⁴⁶
: head to foot

     Now is he
total gules
, horridly
tricked
⁴⁴⁷

     With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,

     Baked and
impasted
with the
parching
⁴⁴⁹
streets

     That lend a
tyrannous
⁴⁵⁰
and damnèd light

     To their vile murders: roasted in wrath and fire,

     And thus
o’er-sizèd
with
coagulate
⁴⁵²
gore,

     With eyes like
carbuncles
⁴⁵³
, the hellish Pyrrhus

     Old
grandsire
⁴⁵⁴
Priam seeks.’

So, proceed you.

POLONIUS
    Fore God, my lord, well spoken, with good accent

and good
discretion
⁴⁵⁷
.

FIRST PLAYER
    ‘
Anon
⁴⁵⁸
he finds him

     Striking
too short
at Greeks: his
antique
⁴⁵⁹
sword,

     Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,

     
Repugnant
⁴⁶¹
to command. Unequal matched,

     Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide,

     But with the
whiff and wind
of his
fell
⁴⁶³
sword

     
Th’unnervèd
father falls. Then
senseless
Ilium
⁴⁶⁴
,

     Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top

     Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash

     
Takes prisoner Pyrrhus’ ear
⁴⁶⁷
, for, lo, his sword,

     Which was
declining
on the
milky
⁴⁶⁸
head

     Of reverend Priam, seemed i’th’air to stick:

     So as a
painted
⁴⁷⁰
tyrant Pyrrhus stood,

     And,
like a neutral to his will and matter
⁴⁷¹
,

     Did nothing.

     But as we often see
against
⁴⁷³
some storm

     A silence in the heavens, the
rack
⁴⁷⁴
stand still,

     The bold winds speechless and the
orb
⁴⁷⁵
below

     As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder

     Doth rend the
region
⁴⁷⁷
, so, after Pyrrhus’ pause,

     Arousèd vengeance sets him new a-work,

     And never did the
Cyclops’
⁴⁷⁹
hammers fall

     On
Mars his
armours forged for
proof eterne
⁴⁸⁰

     With less
remorse
⁴⁸¹
than Pyrrhus’ bleeding sword

     Now falls on Priam.

     Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you gods

     In general
synod
⁴⁸⁴
take away her power,

     Break all the spokes and
fellies
from her
wheel
⁴⁸⁵
,

     
And bowl the round
nave
⁴⁸⁶
down the hill of heaven,

     As low as to the fiends!’

POLONIUS
    This is too long.

HAMLET
    It shall to th’barber’s, with your beard.— Prithee,

say on: he’s for a
jig
⁴⁹⁰
or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps: say on;

come to
Hecuba
⁴⁹¹
.

FIRST PLAYER
    ‘But
who
, O, who had seen the
mobled
⁴⁹²
queen—’

HAMLET
    ‘The mobled queen.’

POLONIUS
    That’s good: ‘mobled queen’ is good.

FIRST PLAYER
    ‘Run barefoot up and down, threat’ning the flame

     With
bisson rheum
, a
clout
⁴⁹⁶
about that head

     Where
late
the
diadem
⁴⁹⁷
stood, and for a robe,

     About her
lank
and all
o’er-teemèd
⁴⁹⁸
loins

     A blanket, in th’alarm of fear caught up.

     
Who this had seen
⁵⁰⁰
, with tongue in venom steeped,

     Gainst Fortune’s
state
would treason have
pronounced
⁵⁰¹
:

     But if the gods themselves did see her then

     When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport

     In mincing with his sword her husband’s limbs,

     The instant burst of clamour that she made —

     Unless things mortal move them not at all —

     Would have made
milch
⁵⁰⁷
the burning eyes of heaven,

     And
passion
⁵⁰⁸
in the gods.’

POLONIUS
    Look,
whe’er
⁵⁰⁹
he has not turned his colour and has

tears in’s eyes. Pray you no more.

HAMLET
    ’Tis well: I’ll have thee speak out the rest soon.—

Good my lord, will you see the players well
bestowed
⁵¹²
? Do ye

hear, let them be well
used
, for they are the
abstracts
⁵¹³
and

brief chronicles of the time: after your death you were better

have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you lived.

POLONIUS
    My lord, I will use them according to their
desert
⁵¹⁶
.

HAMLET
    
God’s bodikins
, man, better: use every man
after
⁵¹⁷
his

desert, and who should scape whipping? Use them after your

own honour and dignity: the less they deserve, the more

merit is in your
bounty
⁵²⁰
. Take them in.

POLONIUS
    Come, sirs.

HAMLET
    Follow him, friends: we’ll hear a play tomorrow.—

Dost thou hear me, old friend? Can you play

The Murder of Gonzago
?

A PLAYER
    Ay, my lord.

HAMLET
    We’ll
ha’t
tomorrow night. You could,
for a need
⁵²⁵
,

study
⁵²⁶
a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines which I would

set down and insert in’t, could ye not?

A PLAYER
    Ay, my lord.

HAMLET
    Very well. Follow that lord, and look you mock him

not.—

My good friends, I’ll leave you till night. You are welcome to

Elsinore.

ROSENCRANTZ
    Good my lord.

HAMLET
    Ay, so, God buy ye.— Now I am alone.

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!

Is it not monstrous that this player here,

But
⁵³⁷
in a fiction, in a dream of passion,

Could force his soul so to his whole
conceit
⁵³⁸

That from
her
working all his visage
wanned
⁵³⁹
,

Tears in his eyes,
distraction
in’s
aspect
⁵⁴⁰
,

A broken voice, and
his whole function suiting
⁵⁴¹

With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing!

For Hecuba!

What’s Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,

That he should weep for her? What would he do

Had he the
motive
⁵⁴⁶
and the cue for passion

That I have? He would drown the stage with tears

And cleave the general ear with
horrid
⁵⁴⁸
speech,

Make mad the guilty and
appal
the
free
⁵⁴⁹
,

Confound
the ignorant
and
amaze
⁵⁵⁰
indeed

The very faculty of eyes and ears. Yet I,

A dull and
muddy-mettled
rascal,
peak
⁵⁵²

Like
John-a-dreams
,
unpregnant of
⁵⁵³
my cause,

And can say nothing: no, not for a king

Upon whose
property
⁵⁵⁵
and most dear life

A damned
defeat
⁵⁵⁶
was made. Am I a coward?

Who calls me villain? Breaks my
pate
⁵⁵⁷
across?

Plucks off
⁵⁵⁸
my beard and blows it in my face?

Tweaks me by th’nose?
Gives me the lie i’th’throat
⁵⁵⁹
,

As deep as to the lungs? Who does
me this
⁵⁶⁰
?

Ha!

Why, I should take it, for it cannot be

But I am
pigeon-livered
⁵⁶³
and lack gall

To make oppression bitter, or ere this

I should have fatted all the
region kites
⁵⁶⁵

With this slave’s
offal
⁵⁶⁶
: bloody, bawdy villain!

Remorseless
, treacherous, lecherous,
kindless
⁵⁶⁷
villain!

O, vengeance!

Why, what an ass am I! Ay, sure, this is most
brave
⁵⁶⁹
,

That I, the son of the dear murderèd,

Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,

Must like a whore unpack my heart with words

And fall a-cursing, like a very
drab
, a
scullion
⁵⁷³
!

Fie upon’t, foh!
About
⁵⁷⁴
, my brain! I have heard

That guilty creatures sitting at a play

Have by the very
cunning
⁵⁷⁶
of the scene

Been struck so to the soul that
presently
⁵⁷⁷

They have proclaimed their
malefactions
⁵⁷⁸
:

For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak

With most miraculous organ. I’ll have these players

Play something like the murder of my father

Before mine uncle: I’ll observe his looks,

I’ll
tent
him to the quick: if he but
blench
⁵⁸³
,

I know my course. The spirit that I have seen

May be the devil, and the devil hath power

T’assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps,

Out of my weakness and my melancholy,

As he is very potent with such
spirits
⁵⁸⁸
,

Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds

More
relative
⁵⁹⁰
than this: the play’s the thing

Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.