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<TITLE>The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark</TITLE>

<FM>

<P>ASCII text placed in the public domain by Moby Lexical Tools, 1992.</P>

<P>SGML markup by Jon Bosak, 1992-1994.</P>

<P>XML version by Jon Bosak, 1996-1999.</P>

<P>The XML markup in this version is Copyright &#169; 1999 Jon Bosak.

This work may freely be distributed on condition that it not be

modified or altered in any way.</P>

</FM>

<PERSONAE>

<TITLE>Dramatis Personae</TITLE>

<PERSONA>CLAUDIUS, king of Denmark. </PERSONA>

<PERSONA>HAMLET, son to the late, and nephew to the present king.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>POLONIUS, lord chamberlain. </PERSONA>

<PERSONA>HORATIO, friend to Hamlet.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>LAERTES, son to Polonius.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>LUCIANUS, nephew to the king.</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>

<PERSONA>VOLTIMAND</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>CORNELIUS</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>ROSENCRANTZ</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>GUILDENSTERN</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>OSRIC</PERSONA>

<GRPDESCR>courtiers.</GRPDESCR>

</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>A Gentleman</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>A Priest. </PERSONA>

<PGROUP>

<PERSONA>MARCELLUS</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>BERNARDO</PERSONA>

<GRPDESCR>officers.</GRPDESCR>

</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>FRANCISCO, a soldier.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>REYNALDO, servant to Polonius.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>Players.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>Two Clowns, grave-diggers.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>FORTINBRAS, prince of Norway. </PERSONA>

<PERSONA>A Captain.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>English Ambassadors. </PERSONA>

<PERSONA>GERTRUDE, queen of Denmark, and mother to Hamlet. </PERSONA>

<PERSONA>OPHELIA, daughter to Polonius.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants.</PERSONA>

<PERSONA>Ghost of Hamlet's Father. </PERSONA>

</PERSONAE>

<SCNDESCR>SCENE  Denmark.</SCNDESCR>

<PLAYSUBT>HAMLET</PLAYSUBT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT I</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  Elsinore. A platform before the castle.</TITLE>

<STAGEDIR>FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Who's there?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>FRANCISCO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Long live the king!</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>FRANCISCO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Bernardo?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>He.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>FRANCISCO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>You come most carefully upon your hour.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>FRANCISCO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,</LINE>

<LINE>And I am sick at heart.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Have you had quiet guard?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>FRANCISCO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Not a mouse stirring.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Well, good night.</LINE>

<LINE>If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,</LINE>

<LINE>The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>FRANCISCO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who's there?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Friends to this ground.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>And liegemen to the Dane.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>FRANCISCO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Give you good night.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>O, farewell, honest soldier:</LINE>

<LINE>Who hath relieved you?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>FRANCISCO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Bernardo has my place.</LINE>

<LINE>Give you good night.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Holla! Bernardo!</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Say,</LINE>

<LINE>What, is Horatio there?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>A piece of him.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>I have seen nothing.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,</LINE>

<LINE>And will not let belief take hold of him</LINE>

<LINE>Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:</LINE>

<LINE>Therefore I have entreated him along</LINE>

<LINE>With us to watch the minutes of this night;</LINE>

<LINE>That if again this apparition come,</LINE>

<LINE>He may approve our eyes and speak to it.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Sit down awhile;</LINE>

<LINE>And let us once again assail your ears,</LINE>

<LINE>That are so fortified against our story</LINE>

<LINE>What we have two nights seen.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Well, sit we down,</LINE>

<LINE>And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Last night of all,</LINE>

<LINE>When yond same star that's westward from the pole</LINE>

<LINE>Had made his course to illume that part of heaven</LINE>

<LINE>Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,</LINE>

<LINE>The bell then beating one,--</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter Ghost</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>In the same figure, like the king that's dead.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Looks it not like the king?  mark it, Horatio.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>It would be spoke to.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Question it, Horatio.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>What art thou that usurp'st this time of night,</LINE>

<LINE>Together with that fair and warlike form</LINE>

<LINE>In which the majesty of buried Denmark</LINE>

<LINE>Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak!</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>It is offended.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>See, it stalks away!</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit Ghost</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>'Tis gone, and will not answer.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>How now, Horatio! you tremble and look pale:</LINE>

<LINE>Is not this something more than fantasy?</LINE>

<LINE>What think you on't?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Before my God, I might not this believe</LINE>

<LINE>Without the sensible and true avouch</LINE>

<LINE>Of mine own eyes.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Is it not like the king?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>As thou art to thyself:</LINE>

<LINE>Such was the very armour he had on</LINE>

<LINE>When he the ambitious Norway combated;</LINE>

<LINE>So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle,</LINE>

<LINE>He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.</LINE>

<LINE>'Tis strange.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,</LINE>

<LINE>With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>In what particular thought to work I know not;</LINE>

<LINE>But in the gross and scope of my opinion,</LINE>

<LINE>This bodes some strange eruption to our state.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,</LINE>

<LINE>Why this same strict and most observant watch</LINE>

<LINE>So nightly toils the subject of the land,</LINE>

<LINE>And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,</LINE>

<LINE>And foreign mart for implements of war;</LINE>

<LINE>Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task</LINE>

<LINE>Does not divide the Sunday from the week;</LINE>

<LINE>What might be toward, that this sweaty haste</LINE>

<LINE>Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:</LINE>

<LINE>Who is't that can inform me?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>That can I;</LINE>

<LINE>At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,</LINE>

<LINE>Whose image even but now appear'd to us,</LINE>

<LINE>Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,</LINE>

<LINE>Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,</LINE>

<LINE>Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet--</LINE>

<LINE>For so this side of our known world esteem'd him--</LINE>

<LINE>Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal'd compact,</LINE>

<LINE>Well ratified by law and heraldry,</LINE>

<LINE>Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands</LINE>

<LINE>Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror:</LINE>

<LINE>Against the which, a moiety competent</LINE>

<LINE>Was gaged by our king; which had return'd</LINE>

<LINE>To the inheritance of Fortinbras,</LINE>

<LINE>Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant,</LINE>

<LINE>And carriage of the article design'd,</LINE>

<LINE>His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,</LINE>

<LINE>Of unimproved mettle hot and full,</LINE>

<LINE>Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there</LINE>

<LINE>Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes,</LINE>

<LINE>For food and diet, to some enterprise</LINE>

<LINE>That hath a stomach in't; which is no other--</LINE>

<LINE>As it doth well appear unto our state--</LINE>

<LINE>But to recover of us, by strong hand</LINE>

<LINE>And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands</LINE>

<LINE>So by his father lost: and this, I take it,</LINE>

<LINE>Is the main motive of our preparations,</LINE>

<LINE>The source of this our watch and the chief head</LINE>

<LINE>Of this post-haste and romage in the land.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>I think it be no other but e'en so:</LINE>

<LINE>Well may it sort that this portentous figure</LINE>

<LINE>Comes armed through our watch; so like the king</LINE>

<LINE>That was and is the question of these wars.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.</LINE>

<LINE>In the most high and palmy state of Rome,</LINE>

<LINE>A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,</LINE>

<LINE>The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead</LINE>

<LINE>Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets:</LINE>

<LINE>As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,</LINE>

<LINE>Disasters in the sun; and the moist star</LINE>

<LINE>Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands</LINE>

<LINE>Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse:</LINE>

<LINE>And even the like precurse of fierce events,</LINE>

<LINE>As harbingers preceding still the fates</LINE>

<LINE>And prologue to the omen coming on,</LINE>

<LINE>Have heaven and earth together demonstrated</LINE>

<LINE>Unto our climatures and countrymen.--</LINE>

<LINE>But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!</LINE>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter Ghost</STAGEDIR>

<LINE>I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion!</LINE>

<LINE>If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,</LINE>

<LINE>Speak to me:</LINE>

<LINE>If there be any good thing to be done,</LINE>

<LINE>That may to thee do ease and grace to me,</LINE>

<LINE>Speak to me:</LINE>

<STAGEDIR>Cock crows</STAGEDIR>

<LINE>If thou art privy to thy country's fate,</LINE>

<LINE>Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, O, speak!</LINE>

<LINE>Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life</LINE>

<LINE>Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,</LINE>

<LINE>For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,</LINE>

<LINE>Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Shall I strike at it with my partisan?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Do, if it will not stand.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>'Tis here!</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>'Tis here!</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>'Tis gone!</LINE>

<STAGEDIR>Exit Ghost</STAGEDIR>

<LINE>We do it wrong, being so majestical,</LINE>

<LINE>To offer it the show of violence;</LINE>

<LINE>For it is, as the air, invulnerable,</LINE>

<LINE>And our vain blows malicious mockery.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>BERNARDO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>It was about to speak, when the cock crew.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>And then it started like a guilty thing</LINE>

<LINE>Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,</LINE>

<LINE>The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,</LINE>

<LINE>Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat</LINE>

<LINE>Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,</LINE>

<LINE>Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,</LINE>

<LINE>The extravagant and erring spirit hies</LINE>

<LINE>To his confine: and of the truth herein</LINE>

<LINE>This present object made probation.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>It faded on the crowing of the cock.</LINE>

<LINE>Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes</LINE>

<LINE>Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,</LINE>

<LINE>The bird of dawning singeth all night long:</LINE>

<LINE>And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;</LINE>

<LINE>The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,</LINE>

<LINE>No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,</LINE>

<LINE>So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>HORATIO</SPEAKER>

<LINE>So have I heard and do in part believe it.</LINE>

<LINE>But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,</LINE>

<LINE>Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill:</LINE>

<LINE>Break we our watch up; and by my advice,</LINE>

<LINE>Let us impart what we have seen to-night</LINE>

<LINE>Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,</LINE>

<LINE>This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.</LINE>

<LINE>Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,</LINE>

<LINE>As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>MARCELLUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know</LINE>

<LINE>Where we shall find him most conveniently.</LINE>

</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>

</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  A room of state in the castle.</TITLE>

<STAGEDIR>Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, HAMLET,

POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords,

and Attendants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>

<SPEAKER>KING CLAUDIUS</SPEAKER>

<LINE>Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death</LINE>

<LINE>The memory be green, and that it us befitted</LINE>

<LINE>To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom</LINE>

<LINE>To be contracted in one brow of woe,</LINE>

<LINE>Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature</LINE>

<LINE>That we with wisest sorrow think on him,</LINE>

<LINE>Together with remembrance of ourselves.</LINE>

<LINE>Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,</LINE>

<LINE>The imperial jointress to this warlike state,</LINE>

<LINE>Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,--</LINE>

<LINE>With an auspicious and a dropping eye,</LINE>

<LINE>With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,</LINE>

<LINE>In equal scale weighing delight and dole,--</LINE>

<LINE>Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd</LINE>