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Home > Hamlet > ACT IV - SCENE III. Another room in the castle.

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ACT IV - SCENE III. Another room in the castle.
Enter KING CLAUDIUS, attended

KING CLAUDIUS
1    I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.
2    How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
3    Yet must not we put the strong law on him:
4    He's loved of the distracted multitude,
5    Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
6    And where tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,
7    But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
8    This sudden sending him away must seem
9    Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown
10   By desperate appliance are relieved,
11   Or not at all.
Enter ROSENCRANTZ
12   How now! what hath befall'n?
ROSENCRANTZ
13   Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
14   We cannot get from him.
KING CLAUDIUS
15   But where is he?
ROSENCRANTZ
16   Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
KING CLAUDIUS
17   Bring him before us.
ROSENCRANTZ
18   Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.
Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN

KING CLAUDIUS
19   Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
HAMLET
20   At supper.
KING CLAUDIUS
21   At supper! where?
HAMLET
22   Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain
23   convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your
24   worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
25   creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for
26   maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but
27   variable service, two dishes, but to one table:
28   that's the end.
KING CLAUDIUS
29   Alas, alas!
HAMLET
30   A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a
31   king, and cat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
KING CLAUDIUS
32   What dost you mean by this?
HAMLET
33   Nothing but to show you how a king may go a
34   progress through the guts of a beggar.
KING CLAUDIUS
35   Where is Polonius?
HAMLET
36   In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger
37   find him not there, seek him i' the other place
38   yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within
39   this month, you shall nose him as you go up the
40   stairs into the lobby.
KING CLAUDIUS
41   Go seek him there.
To some Attendants

HAMLET
42   He will stay till ye come.
Exeunt Attendants

KING CLAUDIUS
43   Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,--
44   Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
45   For that which thou hast done,--must send thee hence
46   With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;
47   The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
48   The associates tend, and every thing is bent
49   For England.
HAMLET
50   For England!
KING CLAUDIUS
51   Ay, Hamlet.
HAMLET
52   Good.
KING CLAUDIUS
53   So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
HAMLET
54   I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for
55   England! Farewell, dear mother.
KING CLAUDIUS
56   Thy loving father, Hamlet.
HAMLET
57   My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man
58   and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!
Exit

KING CLAUDIUS
59   Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;
60   Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night:
61   Away! for every thing is seal'd and done
62   That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.
Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN
63   And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught--
64   As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
65   Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
66   After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
67   Pays homage to us--thou mayst not coldly set
68   Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
69   By letters congruing to that effect,
70   The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
71   For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
72   And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done,
73   Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.
Exit

< (Previous) ACT IV, SCENE IIACT IV, IV (Next) >
Scene Index
ACT I
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II
  • SCENE III
  • SCENE IV
  • SCENE V


  • ACT II
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II


  • ACT III
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II
  • SCENE III
  • SCENE IV


  • ACT IV
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II
  • SCENE III
  • SCENE IV
  • SCENE V
  • SCENE VI
  • SCENE VII


  • ACT V
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II

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