1    Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.

2    Mark me.

3    I will.

4    My hour is almost come,
5    When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
6    Must render up myself.

7    Alas, poor ghost!

8    Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
9    To what I shall unfold.

10   Speak; I am bound to hear.

11   So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.

12   What?

13   I am thy father's spirit,
14   Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
15   And for the day confined to fast in fires,
16   Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
17   Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
18   To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
19   I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
20   Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
21   Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
22   Thy knotted and combined locks to part
23   And each particular hair to stand on end,
24   Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
25   But this eternal blazon must not be
26   To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
27   If thou didst ever thy dear father love--

28   O God!

29   Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

30   Murder!

31   Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
32   But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

33   Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
34   As meditation or the thoughts of love,
35   May sweep to my revenge.

36   I find thee apt;
37   And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
38   That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
39   Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
40   'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
41   A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
42   Is by a forged process of my death
43   Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
44   The serpent that did sting thy father's life
45   Now wears his crown.

46   O my prophetic soul! My uncle!

47   Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
48   With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
49   O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
50   So to seduce!--won to his shameful lust
51   The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
52   O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
53   From me, whose love was of that dignity
54   That it went hand in hand even with the vow
55   I made to her in marriage, and to decline
56   Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
57   To those of mine!
58   But virtue, as it never will be moved,
59   Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
60   So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
61   Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
62   And prey on garbage.
63   But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
64   Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
65   My custom always of the afternoon,
66   Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
67   With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
68   And in the porches of my ears did pour
69   The leperous distilment; whose effect
70   Holds such an enmity with blood of man
71   That swift as quicksilver it courses through
72   The natural gates and alleys of the body,
73   And with a sudden vigour doth posset
74   And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
75   The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
76   And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
77   Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
78   All my smooth body.
79   Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
80   Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
81   Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
82   Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,
83   No reckoning made, but sent to my account
84   With all my imperfections on my head:
85   O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
86   If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
87   Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
88   A couch for luxury and damned incest.
89   But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
90   Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
91   Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
92   And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
93   To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
94   The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
95   And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
96   Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.

97   O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?
98   And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart;
99   And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
100  But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee!
101  Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
102  In this distracted globe. Remember thee!
103  Yea, from the table of my memory
104  I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
105  All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
106  That youth and observation copied there;
107  And thy commandment all alone shall live
108  Within the book and volume of my brain,
109  Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven!
110  O most pernicious woman!
111  O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
112  My tables,--meet it is I set it down,
113  That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
114  At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark:
Writing
115  So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;
116  It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.'
117  I have sworn 't.

Within
118   My lord, my lord,--

Within
119   Lord Hamlet,--

Within
120   Heaven secure him!

121  So be it!

Within
122   Hillo, ho, ho, my lord!

123  Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.

124  How is't, my noble lord?

125  What news, my lord?

126  O, wonderful!

127  Good my lord, tell it.

128  No; you'll reveal it.

129  Not I, my lord, by heaven.

130  Nor I, my lord.

131  How say you, then; would heart of man once think it?
132  But you'll be secret?

133  Ay, by heaven, my lord.

134  There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
135  But he's an arrant knave.

136  There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
137  To tell us this.

138  Why, right; you are i' the right;
139  And so, without more circumstance at all,
140  I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:
141  You, as your business and desire shall point you;
142  For every man has business and desire,
143  Such as it is; and for mine own poor part,
144  Look you, I'll go pray.

145  These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.

146  I'm sorry they offend you, heartily;
147  Yes, 'faith heartily.

148  There's no offence, my lord.

149  Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
150  And much offence too. Touching this vision here,
151  It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you:
152  For your desire to know what is between us,
153  O'ermaster 't as you may. And now, good friends,
154  As you are friends, scholars and soldiers,
155  Give me one poor request.

156  What is't, my lord? we will.

157  Never make known what you have seen to-night.

158  My lord, we will not.

159  Nay, but swear't.

160  In faith,
161  My lord, not I.

162  Nor I, my lord, in faith.

163  Upon my sword.

164  We have sworn, my lord, already.

165  Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.

Beneath
166   Swear.

167  Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there,
168  truepenny?
169  Come on--you hear this fellow in the cellarage--
170  Consent to swear.

171  Propose the oath, my lord.

172  Never to speak of this that you have seen,
173  Swear by my sword.

Beneath
174   Swear.

175  Hic et ubique? then we'll shift our ground.
176  Come hither, gentlemen,
177  And lay your hands again upon my sword:
178  Never to speak of this that you have heard,
179  Swear by my sword.

Beneath
180   Swear.

181  Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast?
182  A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.

183  O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!

184  And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
185  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
186  Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come;
187  Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
188  How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
189  As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
190  To put an antic disposition on,
191  That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
192  With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake,
193  Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
194  As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,'
195  Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,'
196  Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
197  That you know aught of me: this not to do,
198  So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.

Beneath
199   Swear.

200  Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!
They swear
201  So, gentlemen,
202  With all my love I do commend me to you:
203  And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
204  May do, to express his love and friending to you,
205  God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
206  And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
207  The time is out of joint: O cursed spite,
208  That ever I was born to set it right!
209  Nay, come, let's go together.