No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet: Act 1 Scene 2

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Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Act 1 Scene 2

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Modern Text

Original Text

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Original Text	Modern Text
Enter CLAUDIUS , king of Denmark; GERTRUDE the queen; HAMLET ; POLONIUS ; his son LAERTES ; and his daughter OPHELIA ; LORDS attendant	Enter CLAUDIUS , king of Denmark; GERTRUDE the queen; HAMLET ; POLONIUS ; his son LAERTES ; and his daughter OPHELIA ; LORDS attendant
CLAUDIUS Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe, 5 Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature That we with wisest sorrow think on him Together with remembrance of ourselves. Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state, 10 Have we—as ’twere with a defeated joy, With an auspicious and a dropping eye, With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, In equal scale weighing delight and dole— Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred 15 Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone With this affair along. For all, our thanks. Now follows that you know. Young Fortinbras, Holding a weak supposal of our worth Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death 20 Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, Colleaguèd with the dream of his advantage, He hath not failed to pester us with message Importing the surrender of those lands Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, 25 To our most valiant brother. So much for him.	CLAUDIUS Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe, Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature That we with wisest sorrow think on him Together with remembrance of ourselves. Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state, Have we—as ’twere with a defeated joy, With an auspicious and a dropping eye, With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, In equal scale weighing delight and dole— Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone With this affair along. For all, our thanks. Now follows that you know. Young Fortinbras, Holding a weak supposal of our worth Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, Colleaguèd with the dream of his advantage, He hath not failed to pester us with message Importing the surrender of those lands Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
Enter VOLTEMAND and CORNELIUS	Enter VOLTEMAND and CORNELIUS
Now for ourself and for this time of meeting	Now for ourself and for this time of meeting
Thus much the business is: we have here writ To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras— Who, impotent and bedrid, scarcely hears 30 Of this his nephew’s purpose—to suppress His further gait herein, in that the levies, The lists, and full proportions are all made Out of his subject; and we here dispatch You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand, 35 For bearers of this greeting to old Norway, Giving to you no further personal power To business with the king more than the scope Of these dilated articles allow. (gives them a paper) Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.	Thus much the business is: we have here writ To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras— Who, impotent and bedrid, scarcely hears Of this his nephew’s purpose—to suppress His further gait herein, in that the levies, The lists, and full proportions are all made Out of his subject; and we here dispatch You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand, For bearers of this greeting to old Norway, Giving to you no further personal power To business with the king more than the scope Of these dilated articles allow. (gives them a paper) Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.
CORNELIUS, VOLTEMAND 40 In that and all things will we show our duty.	CORNELIUS, VOLTEMAND In that and all things will we show our duty.
CLAUDIUS We doubt it nothing. Heartily farewell.	CLAUDIUS We doubt it nothing. Heartily farewell.
Exeunt VOLTEMAND and CORNELIUS	Exeunt VOLTEMAND and CORNELIUS
And now, Laertes, what’s the news with you? You told us of some suit. What is ’t, Laertes? You cannot speak of reason to the Dane 45 And lose your voice. What wouldst thou beg, Laertes, That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth, Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. 50 What wouldst thou have, Laertes?	And now, Laertes, what’s the news with you? You told us of some suit. What is ’t, Laertes? You cannot speak of reason to the Dane And lose your voice. What wouldst thou beg, Laertes, That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth, Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
LAERTES My dread lord, Your leave and favor to return to France, From whence though willingly I came to Denmark To show my duty in your coronation, Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, 55 My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.	LAERTES My dread lord, Your leave and favor to return to France, From whence though willingly I came to Denmark To show my duty in your coronation, Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
CLAUDIUS Have you your father’s leave? What says Polonius?	CLAUDIUS Have you your father’s leave? What says Polonius?
POLONIUS He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave By laborsome petition, and at last 60 Upon his will I sealed my hard consent. I do beseech you, give him leave to go.	POLONIUS He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave By laborsome petition, and at last Upon his will I sealed my hard consent. I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
CLAUDIUS Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine, And thy best graces spend it at thy will.— But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—	CLAUDIUS Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine, And thy best graces spend it at thy will.— But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—
HAMLET (aside) A little more than kin and less than kind.	HAMLET (aside) A little more than kin and less than kind.
CLAUDIUS How is it that the clouds still hang on you?	CLAUDIUS How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
HAMLET Not so, my lord. I am too much i' the sun.	HAMLET Not so, my lord. I am too much i' the sun.
GERTRUDE Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. 70 Do not forever with thy vailèd lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know’st ’tis common. All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.	GERTRUDE Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not forever with thy vailèd lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know’st ’tis common. All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.
HAMLET Ay, madam, it is common.	HAMLET Ay, madam, it is common.
GERTRUDE If it be, 75 Why seems it so particular with thee?	GERTRUDE If it be, Why seems it so particular with thee?
HAMLET “Seems,” madam? Nay, it is. I know not “seems.” 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, 80 No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly. These indeed “seem,” For they are actions that a man might play. 85 But I have that within which passeth show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe.	HAMLET “Seems,” madam? Nay, it is. I know not “seems.” 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly. These indeed “seem,” For they are actions that a man might play. But I have that within which passeth show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
CLAUDIUS 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father. But you must know your father lost a father, 90 That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound In filial obligation for some term To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever In obstinate condolement is a course Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief. 95 It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, An understanding simple and unschooled. For what we know must be and is as common As any the most vulgar thing to sense, 100 Why should we in our peevish opposition Take it to heart? Fie! 'Tis a fault to heaven, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, To reason most absurd, whose common theme Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, 105 From the first corse till he that died today, “This must be so.” We pray you, throw to earth This unprevailing woe, and think of us As of a father. For let the world take note, You are the most immediate to our throne,	CLAUDIUS 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father. But you must know your father lost a father, That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound In filial obligation for some term To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever In obstinate condolement is a course Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief. It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, An understanding simple and unschooled. For what we know must be and is as common As any the most vulgar thing to sense, Why should we in our peevish opposition Take it to heart? Fie! 'Tis a fault to heaven, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, To reason most absurd, whose common theme Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, From the first corse till he that died today, “This must be so.” We pray you, throw to earth This unprevailing woe, and think of us As of a father. For let the world take note, You are the most immediate to our throne,
110 And with no less nobility of love Than that which dearest father bears his son Do I impart toward you. For your intent In going back to school in Wittenberg, It is most retrograde to our desire. 115 And we beseech you, bend you to remain Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.	And with no less nobility of love Than that which dearest father bears his son Do I impart toward you. For your intent In going back to school in Wittenberg, It is most retrograde to our desire. And we beseech you, bend you to remain Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
GERTRUDE Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. I pray thee, stay with us. Go not to Wittenberg.	GERTRUDE Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. I pray thee, stay with us. Go not to Wittenberg.
HAMLET 120 I shall in all my best obey you, madam.	HAMLET I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
CLAUDIUS Why, ’tis a loving and a fair reply. Be as ourself in Denmark.—Madam, come. This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof 125 No jocund health that Denmark drinks today But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, And the king’s rouse the heavens shall bruit again, Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away.	CLAUDIUS Why, ’tis a loving and a fair reply. Be as ourself in Denmark.—Madam, come. This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof No jocund health that Denmark drinks today But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, And the king’s rouse the heavens shall bruit again, Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away.
Flourish. Exeunt all but HAMLET	Flourish. Exeunt all but HAMLET
HAMLET Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, 130 Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! 135 Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this. But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two. So excellent a king, that was to this 140 Hyperion to a satyr. So loving to my mother	HAMLET Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this. But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two. So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr. So loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly.—Heaven and earth, Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown 145 By what it fed on, and yet, within a month— Let me not think on ’t. Frailty, thy name is woman!— A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father’s body, Like Niobe, all tears. Why she, even she— 150 O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer!—married with my uncle, My father’s brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules. Within a month, Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears 155 Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, She married. O most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good, But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.	That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly.—Heaven and earth, Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on, and yet, within a month— Let me not think on ’t. Frailty, thy name is woman!— A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father’s body, Like Niobe, all tears. Why she, even she— O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer!—married with my uncle, My father’s brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules. Within a month, Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, She married. O most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good, But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.
Enter HORATIO , MARCELLUS , and BARNARDO	Enter HORATIO , MARCELLUS , and BARNARDO
HORATIO 160 Hail to your lordship.	HORATIO Hail to your lordship.
HAMLET I am glad to see you well.— Horatio? Or I do forget myself?	HAMLET I am glad to see you well.— Horatio? Or I do forget myself?
HORATIO The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.	HORATIO The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
HAMLET Sir, my good friend, I’ll change that name with you. And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?— 165 Marcellus!	HAMLET Sir, my good friend, I’ll change that name with you. And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?— Marcellus!
MARCELLUS My good lord.	MARCELLUS My good lord.
HAMLET (to MARCELLUS) I am very glad to see you.—(to BARNARDO) Good even, sir. (to HORATIO) —But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?	HAMLET (to MARCELLUS) I am very glad to see you.—(to BARNARDO) Good even, sir. (to HORATIO) —But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
HORATIO A truant disposition, good my lord.	HORATIO A truant disposition, good my lord.
HAMLET I would not hear your enemy say so, 170 Nor shall you do mine ear that violence, To make it truster of your own report Against yourself. I know you are no truant. But what is your affair in Elsinore? We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.	HAMLET I would not hear your enemy say so, Nor shall you do mine ear that violence, To make it truster of your own report Against yourself. I know you are no truant. But what is your affair in Elsinore? We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
HORATIO 175 My lord, I came to see your father’s funeral.	HORATIO My lord, I came to see your father’s funeral.
HAMLET I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow student. I think it was to see my mother’s wedding.	HAMLET I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow student. I think it was to see my mother’s wedding.

Original Text	Modern Text
Enter CLAUDIUS , king of Denmark; GERTRUDE the queen; HAMLET ; POLONIUS ; his son LAERTES ; and his daughter OPHELIA ; LORDS attendant	Enter CLAUDIUS , king of Denmark; GERTRUDE the queen; HAMLET ; POLONIUS ; his son LAERTES ; and his daughter OPHELIA ; LORDS attendant
CLAUDIUS Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe, 5 Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature That we with wisest sorrow think on him Together with remembrance of ourselves. Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state, 10 Have we—as ’twere with a defeated joy, With an auspicious and a dropping eye, With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, In equal scale weighing delight and dole— Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred 15 Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone With this affair along. For all, our thanks. Now follows that you know. Young Fortinbras, Holding a weak supposal of our worth Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death 20 Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, Colleaguèd with the dream of his advantage, He hath not failed to pester us with message Importing the surrender of those lands Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, 25 To our most valiant brother. So much for him.	CLAUDIUS Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe, Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature That we with wisest sorrow think on him Together with remembrance of ourselves. Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state, Have we—as ’twere with a defeated joy, With an auspicious and a dropping eye, With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, In equal scale weighing delight and dole— Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone With this affair along. For all, our thanks. Now follows that you know. Young Fortinbras, Holding a weak supposal of our worth Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, Colleaguèd with the dream of his advantage, He hath not failed to pester us with message Importing the surrender of those lands Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
Enter VOLTEMAND and CORNELIUS	Enter VOLTEMAND and CORNELIUS
Now for ourself and for this time of meeting	Now for ourself and for this time of meeting
Thus much the business is: we have here writ To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras— Who, impotent and bedrid, scarcely hears 30 Of this his nephew’s purpose—to suppress His further gait herein, in that the levies, The lists, and full proportions are all made Out of his subject; and we here dispatch You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand, 35 For bearers of this greeting to old Norway, Giving to you no further personal power To business with the king more than the scope Of these dilated articles allow. (gives them a paper) Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.	Thus much the business is: we have here writ To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras— Who, impotent and bedrid, scarcely hears Of this his nephew’s purpose—to suppress His further gait herein, in that the levies, The lists, and full proportions are all made Out of his subject; and we here dispatch You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand, For bearers of this greeting to old Norway, Giving to you no further personal power To business with the king more than the scope Of these dilated articles allow. (gives them a paper) Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty.
CORNELIUS, VOLTEMAND 40 In that and all things will we show our duty.	CORNELIUS, VOLTEMAND In that and all things will we show our duty.
CLAUDIUS We doubt it nothing. Heartily farewell.	CLAUDIUS We doubt it nothing. Heartily farewell.
Exeunt VOLTEMAND and CORNELIUS	Exeunt VOLTEMAND and CORNELIUS
And now, Laertes, what’s the news with you? You told us of some suit. What is ’t, Laertes? You cannot speak of reason to the Dane 45 And lose your voice. What wouldst thou beg, Laertes, That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth, Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. 50 What wouldst thou have, Laertes?	And now, Laertes, what’s the news with you? You told us of some suit. What is ’t, Laertes? You cannot speak of reason to the Dane And lose your voice. What wouldst thou beg, Laertes, That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth, Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
LAERTES My dread lord, Your leave and favor to return to France, From whence though willingly I came to Denmark To show my duty in your coronation, Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, 55 My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.	LAERTES My dread lord, Your leave and favor to return to France, From whence though willingly I came to Denmark To show my duty in your coronation, Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
CLAUDIUS Have you your father’s leave? What says Polonius?	CLAUDIUS Have you your father’s leave? What says Polonius?
POLONIUS He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave By laborsome petition, and at last 60 Upon his will I sealed my hard consent. I do beseech you, give him leave to go.	POLONIUS He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave By laborsome petition, and at last Upon his will I sealed my hard consent. I do beseech you, give him leave to go.
CLAUDIUS Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine, And thy best graces spend it at thy will.— But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—	CLAUDIUS Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine, And thy best graces spend it at thy will.— But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—
HAMLET (aside) A little more than kin and less than kind.	HAMLET (aside) A little more than kin and less than kind.
CLAUDIUS How is it that the clouds still hang on you?	CLAUDIUS How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
HAMLET Not so, my lord. I am too much i' the sun.	HAMLET Not so, my lord. I am too much i' the sun.
GERTRUDE Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. 70 Do not forever with thy vailèd lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know’st ’tis common. All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.	GERTRUDE Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not forever with thy vailèd lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know’st ’tis common. All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.
HAMLET Ay, madam, it is common.	HAMLET Ay, madam, it is common.
GERTRUDE If it be, 75 Why seems it so particular with thee?	GERTRUDE If it be, Why seems it so particular with thee?
HAMLET “Seems,” madam? Nay, it is. I know not “seems.” 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, 80 No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly. These indeed “seem,” For they are actions that a man might play. 85 But I have that within which passeth show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe.	HAMLET “Seems,” madam? Nay, it is. I know not “seems.” 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly. These indeed “seem,” For they are actions that a man might play. But I have that within which passeth show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
CLAUDIUS 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father. But you must know your father lost a father, 90 That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound In filial obligation for some term To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever In obstinate condolement is a course Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief. 95 It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, An understanding simple and unschooled. For what we know must be and is as common As any the most vulgar thing to sense, 100 Why should we in our peevish opposition Take it to heart? Fie! 'Tis a fault to heaven, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, To reason most absurd, whose common theme Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, 105 From the first corse till he that died today, “This must be so.” We pray you, throw to earth This unprevailing woe, and think of us As of a father. For let the world take note, You are the most immediate to our throne,	CLAUDIUS 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father. But you must know your father lost a father, That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound In filial obligation for some term To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever In obstinate condolement is a course Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief. It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, An understanding simple and unschooled. For what we know must be and is as common As any the most vulgar thing to sense, Why should we in our peevish opposition Take it to heart? Fie! 'Tis a fault to heaven, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, To reason most absurd, whose common theme Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, From the first corse till he that died today, “This must be so.” We pray you, throw to earth This unprevailing woe, and think of us As of a father. For let the world take note, You are the most immediate to our throne,
110 And with no less nobility of love Than that which dearest father bears his son Do I impart toward you. For your intent In going back to school in Wittenberg, It is most retrograde to our desire. 115 And we beseech you, bend you to remain Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.	And with no less nobility of love Than that which dearest father bears his son Do I impart toward you. For your intent In going back to school in Wittenberg, It is most retrograde to our desire. And we beseech you, bend you to remain Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
GERTRUDE Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. I pray thee, stay with us. Go not to Wittenberg.	GERTRUDE Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. I pray thee, stay with us. Go not to Wittenberg.
HAMLET 120 I shall in all my best obey you, madam.	HAMLET I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
CLAUDIUS Why, ’tis a loving and a fair reply. Be as ourself in Denmark.—Madam, come. This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof 125 No jocund health that Denmark drinks today But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, And the king’s rouse the heavens shall bruit again, Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away.	CLAUDIUS Why, ’tis a loving and a fair reply. Be as ourself in Denmark.—Madam, come. This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof No jocund health that Denmark drinks today But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, And the king’s rouse the heavens shall bruit again, Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away.
Flourish. Exeunt all but HAMLET	Flourish. Exeunt all but HAMLET
HAMLET Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, 130 Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! 135 Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this. But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two. So excellent a king, that was to this 140 Hyperion to a satyr. So loving to my mother	HAMLET Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this. But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two. So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr. So loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly.—Heaven and earth, Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown 145 By what it fed on, and yet, within a month— Let me not think on ’t. Frailty, thy name is woman!— A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father’s body, Like Niobe, all tears. Why she, even she— 150 O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer!—married with my uncle, My father’s brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules. Within a month, Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears 155 Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, She married. O most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good, But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.	That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly.—Heaven and earth, Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on, and yet, within a month— Let me not think on ’t. Frailty, thy name is woman!— A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father’s body, Like Niobe, all tears. Why she, even she— O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer!—married with my uncle, My father’s brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules. Within a month, Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, She married. O most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good, But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.
Enter HORATIO , MARCELLUS , and BARNARDO	Enter HORATIO , MARCELLUS , and BARNARDO
HORATIO 160 Hail to your lordship.	HORATIO Hail to your lordship.
HAMLET I am glad to see you well.— Horatio? Or I do forget myself?	HAMLET I am glad to see you well.— Horatio? Or I do forget myself?
HORATIO The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.	HORATIO The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
HAMLET Sir, my good friend, I’ll change that name with you. And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?— 165 Marcellus!	HAMLET Sir, my good friend, I’ll change that name with you. And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?— Marcellus!
MARCELLUS My good lord.	MARCELLUS My good lord.
HAMLET (to MARCELLUS) I am very glad to see you.—(to BARNARDO) Good even, sir. (to HORATIO) —But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?	HAMLET (to MARCELLUS) I am very glad to see you.—(to BARNARDO) Good even, sir. (to HORATIO) —But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
HORATIO A truant disposition, good my lord.	HORATIO A truant disposition, good my lord.
HAMLET I would not hear your enemy say so, 170 Nor shall you do mine ear that violence, To make it truster of your own report Against yourself. I know you are no truant. But what is your affair in Elsinore? We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.	HAMLET I would not hear your enemy say so, Nor shall you do mine ear that violence, To make it truster of your own report Against yourself. I know you are no truant. But what is your affair in Elsinore? We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
HORATIO 175 My lord, I came to see your father’s funeral.	HORATIO My lord, I came to see your father’s funeral.
HAMLET I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow student. I think it was to see my mother’s wedding.	HAMLET I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow student. I think it was to see my mother’s wedding.