The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (884 page)

As thou'rt a man,
Give me the cup: let go; by heaven, I'll have't.
O good Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.

March afar off, and shot within

What is that noise?

What warlike noise is this?

OSRIC

Young Fortinbras is returning from his triumph in Poland to greet the English ambassadors.

Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,
To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.

HAMLET

Oh, I’m dying, Horatio. The poison is strong. I will not live to hear the news from England, but do tell Fortinbras he has my support.

O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit:
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited. The rest is silence.

Dies

HORATIO

Here lies a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince. May angels sing you to sleep! Why are those drums approaching?

Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince:
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
Why does the drum come hither?

March within

Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and others

PRINCE FORTINBRAS

What is going on?

Where is this sight?

HORATIO

What do you think you see? If you’ve come to see a tragedy, you’ve found it.

What is it ye would see?
If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.

PRINCE FORTINBRAS

This looks like a massacre. Oh proud Death, what are you planning with so many royals dead at one time?

This quarry cries on havoc. O proud death,
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes at a shot
So bloodily hast struck?

First Ambassador

This is a horrible sight. We are too late from England to tell the news of his wishes being fulfilled. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Who is here to thank us?

The sight is dismal;
And our affairs from England come too late:
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing,
To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?

HORATIO

If he had the ability to thank you, Hamlet would. The king never gave the order. He did. But, since you are here to witness this scene, tell your men to put these bodies on display, and I will tell you what happened.

Not from his mouth,
Had it the ability of life to thank you:
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arrived give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world
How these things came about: so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' reads: all this can I
Truly deliver.

PRINCE FORTINBRAS

Hurry. Let us hear it. Get all of the noblemen to hear it. It is with great sadness that I accept my good fortune, since I can now claim the throne.

Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune:
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.

HORATIO

I also have something to say about that from Hamlet, himself. Let’s go ahead and start before any more madness begins.

Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more;
But let this same be presently perform'd,
Even while men's minds are wild; lest more mischance
On plots and errors, happen.

PRINCE FORTINBRAS

Let four captains carry Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage. He is the rightful heir to the throne. Let there be military honors to portray his heroism. Pick up the rest of the bodies. This looks like a battlefield. Fire your guns in honor of Hamlet.

Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have proved most royally: and, for his passage,
The soldiers' music and the rites of war
Speak loudly for him.
Take up the bodies: such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.
Go, bid the soldiers shoot.

A dead march. Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies; after which a peal of ordnance is shot off.

Brutus-Supporter of the Republic and friend of Caesar

Julius Caesar-Roman general and senator

Antony-Loyal Friend of Caesar

Cassius-General

Octavius-Caesar’s adopted son

Casca-A representative and one of the conspirators

Calpurnia-Caesar’s wife

Portia-Brutus’s wife and daughter of Cato

Flavius and Marullus-Two representatives

Cicero-Roman senator

Lepidus-Third member of Antony and Octavius’s coalition

Decius-Member of the conspiracy

Enter Flavius, Marullus and certain Commoners

Flavius

Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home!


Is this a holiday? What! know you not,


Being mechanical, you ought not walk


Upon a laboring day without the sign


Of your profession?--Speak, what trade art thou?

Hey! Go home you lazy bums. Is this a holiday? What’s going on? This is a work day. What is your occupation?

First Commoner

Why, sir, a carpenter.

I am a carpenter, sir.

Marullus

Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?


What dost thou with thy best apparel on?--


You, sir; what trade are you?

Where are your leather apron and your ruler? What are you doing in your best clothes? What is your occupation, sir?

Second Commoner

Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you


would say, a cobbler.

I am a cobbler, sir.

Marullus

But what trade art thou? Answer me directly.

But, what do you do? Answer me, honestly.

Second Commoner

A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe


conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.

I mend bad soles, sir. That is my trade.

Marullus

What trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, what trade?

That’s not a trade, you liar. What kind of trade do you do?

Second Commoner

Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me; yet,


if you be out, sir, I can mend you.

Please don’t be angry, sir. I can show you.

Marullus

What mean'st thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy fellow!

What do you mean? Show me? Are you getting smart with me?

Second Commoner

Why, sir, cobble you.

I mean fix your shoes.

Flavius

Thou art a cobbler, art thou?

Oh, you are a shoe repairman.

Second Commoner

Truly, Sir, all that I live by is with the awl; I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl.


I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in


great danger, I re-cover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's-leather have gone upon my handiwork.