Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews December 16, 2023 December 9, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Read and listen with a SparkNotes PLUS trial!
No Fear Translations
No Fear Audio
Already have an account? Log in
Original Text |
Modern Text |
Enter HAMLET , HORATIO , and MARCELLUS
|
Enter HAMLET , HORATIO , and MARCELLUS
|
HAMLET The air bites shrewdly. It is very cold.
|
HAMLET The air bites shrewdly. It is very cold.
|
HORATIO It is a nipping and an eager air.
|
HORATIO It is a nipping and an eager air.
|
HAMLET What hour now?
|
HAMLET What hour now?
|
HORATIO I think it lacks of twelve.
|
HORATIO I think it lacks of twelve.
|
MARCELLUS 5 No, it is struck.
|
MARCELLUS No, it is struck.
|
HORATIO Indeed? I heard it not. It then draws near the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
|
HORATIO Indeed? I heard it not. It then draws near the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
|
A flourish of trumpets and two pieces of ordnance goes off
|
A flourish of trumpets and two pieces of ordnance goes off
|
What does this mean, my lord?
|
What does this mean, my lord?
|
HAMLET The king doth wake tonight and takes his rouse,
10 Keeps wassail and the swaggering upspring reels,
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
|
HAMLET The king doth wake tonight and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail and the swaggering upspring reels,
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
|
HORATIO Is it a custom?
|
HORATIO Is it a custom?
|
HAMLET 15 Ay, marry, is ’t.
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honored in the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel east and west
20 Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations.
|
HAMLET Ay, marry, is ’t.
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honored in the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel east and west
Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations.
|
They clepe us drunkards and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition. And indeed it takes
From our achievements, though performed at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
25 So oft it chances in particular men
That for some vicious mole of nature in them—
As in their birth (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin),
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
30 Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens
The form of plausive manners—that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature’s livery or fortune’s star,
35 Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo)
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of evil
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
40 To his own scandal.
|
They clepe us drunkards and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition. And indeed it takes
From our achievements, though performed at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
So oft it chances in particular men
That for some vicious mole of nature in them—
As in their birth (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin),
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens
The form of plausive manners—that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature’s livery or fortune’s star,
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo)
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of evil
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
To his own scandal.
|
Enter GHOST
|
Enter GHOST
|
HORATIO Look, my lord, it comes!
|
HORATIO Look, my lord, it comes!
|
HAMLET Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
45 Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee. I’ll call thee “Hamlet,”
“King,” “Father,” “royal Dane.” O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell
50 Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulcher,
|
HAMLET Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee. I’ll call thee “Hamlet,”
“King,” “Father,” “royal Dane.” O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulcher,
|
Wherein we saw thee quietly interred,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
55 That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous and we fools of nature,
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
60 Say why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?
|
Wherein we saw thee quietly interred,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous and we fools of nature,
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?
|
GHOST beckons HAMLET
|
GHOST beckons HAMLET
|
HORATIO It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
|
HORATIO It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
|
MARCELLUS Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removèd ground.
65 But do not go with it.
|
MARCELLUS Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removèd ground.
But do not go with it.
|
HORATIO No, by no means.
|
HORATIO No, by no means.
|
HAMLET It will not speak. Then I will follow it.
|
HAMLET It will not speak. Then I will follow it.
|
HORATIO Do not, my lord.
|
HORATIO Do not, my lord.
|
HAMLET Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life in a pin’s fee,
And for my soul—what can it do to that,
70 Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it.
|
HAMLET Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life in a pin’s fee,
And for my soul—what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it.
|
HORATIO What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
|
HORATIO What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
|
75 And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? Think of it.
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
80 That looks so many fathoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.
|
And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? Think of it.
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.
|
HAMLET It waves me still.
—Go on. I’ll follow thee.
|
HAMLET It waves me still.
—Go on. I’ll follow thee.
|
MARCELLUS You shall not go, my lord.
|
MARCELLUS You shall not go, my lord.
|
MARCELLUS and HORATIO try to hold HAMLET back
|
MARCELLUS and HORATIO try to hold HAMLET back
|
HAMLET Hold off your hands.
|
HAMLET Hold off your hands.
|
HORATIO 85 Be ruled. You shall not go.
|
HORATIO Be ruled. You shall not go.
|
HAMLET My fate cries out
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve.
Still am I called.—Unhand me, gentlemen.
(draws his sword)
90 By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me.
I say, away!—Go on. I’ll follow thee.
|
HAMLET My fate cries out
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve.
Still am I called.—Unhand me, gentlemen.
(draws his sword)
By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me.
I say, away!—Go on. I’ll follow thee.
|
Exeunt GHOST and HAMLET
|
Exeunt GHOST and HAMLET
|
HORATIO He waxes desperate with imagination.
|
HORATIO He waxes desperate with imagination.
|
MARCELLUS Let’s follow. 'Tis not fit thus to obey him.
|
MARCELLUS Let’s follow. 'Tis not fit thus to obey him.
|
HORATIO Have after. To what issue will this come?
|
HORATIO Have after. To what issue will this come?
|
MARCELLUS 95 Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
|
MARCELLUS Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
|
HORATIO Heaven will direct it.
|
HORATIO Heaven will direct it.
|
MARCELLUS Nay, let’s follow him.
|
MARCELLUS Nay, let’s follow him.
|
Exeunt
|
Exeunt
|
Original Text |
Modern Text |
Enter HAMLET , HORATIO , and MARCELLUS
|
Enter HAMLET , HORATIO , and MARCELLUS
|
HAMLET The air bites shrewdly. It is very cold.
|
HAMLET The air bites shrewdly. It is very cold.
|
HORATIO It is a nipping and an eager air.
|
HORATIO It is a nipping and an eager air.
|
HAMLET What hour now?
|
HAMLET What hour now?
|
HORATIO I think it lacks of twelve.
|
HORATIO I think it lacks of twelve.
|
MARCELLUS 5 No, it is struck.
|
MARCELLUS No, it is struck.
|
HORATIO Indeed? I heard it not. It then draws near the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
|
HORATIO Indeed? I heard it not. It then draws near the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
|
A flourish of trumpets and two pieces of ordnance goes off
|
A flourish of trumpets and two pieces of ordnance goes off
|
What does this mean, my lord?
|
What does this mean, my lord?
|
HAMLET The king doth wake tonight and takes his rouse,
10 Keeps wassail and the swaggering upspring reels,
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
|
HAMLET The king doth wake tonight and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail and the swaggering upspring reels,
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge.
|
HORATIO Is it a custom?
|
HORATIO Is it a custom?
|
HAMLET 15 Ay, marry, is ’t.
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honored in the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel east and west
20 Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations.
|
HAMLET Ay, marry, is ’t.
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honored in the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel east and west
Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations.
|
They clepe us drunkards and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition. And indeed it takes
From our achievements, though performed at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
25 So oft it chances in particular men
That for some vicious mole of nature in them—
As in their birth (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin),
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
30 Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens
The form of plausive manners—that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature’s livery or fortune’s star,
35 Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo)
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of evil
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
40 To his own scandal.
|
They clepe us drunkards and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition. And indeed it takes
From our achievements, though performed at height,
The pith and marrow of our attribute.
So oft it chances in particular men
That for some vicious mole of nature in them—
As in their birth (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin),
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens
The form of plausive manners—that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature’s livery or fortune’s star,
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo)
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of evil
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
To his own scandal.
|
Enter GHOST
|
Enter GHOST
|
HORATIO Look, my lord, it comes!
|
HORATIO Look, my lord, it comes!
|
HAMLET Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
45 Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee. I’ll call thee “Hamlet,”
“King,” “Father,” “royal Dane.” O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell
50 Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulcher,
|
HAMLET Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee. I’ll call thee “Hamlet,”
“King,” “Father,” “royal Dane.” O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance, but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulcher,
|
Wherein we saw thee quietly interred,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
55 That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous and we fools of nature,
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
60 Say why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?
|
Wherein we saw thee quietly interred,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisits thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous and we fools of nature,
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?
|
GHOST beckons HAMLET
|
GHOST beckons HAMLET
|
HORATIO It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
|
HORATIO It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
|
MARCELLUS Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removèd ground.
65 But do not go with it.
|
MARCELLUS Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removèd ground.
But do not go with it.
|
HORATIO No, by no means.
|
HORATIO No, by no means.
|
HAMLET It will not speak. Then I will follow it.
|
HAMLET It will not speak. Then I will follow it.
|
HORATIO Do not, my lord.
|
HORATIO Do not, my lord.
|
HAMLET Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life in a pin’s fee,
And for my soul—what can it do to that,
70 Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it.
|
HAMLET Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life in a pin’s fee,
And for my soul—what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it.
|
HORATIO What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
|
HORATIO What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
|
75 And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? Think of it.
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
80 That looks so many fathoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.
|
And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? Think of it.
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the sea
And hears it roar beneath.
|
HAMLET It waves me still.
—Go on. I’ll follow thee.
|
HAMLET It waves me still.
—Go on. I’ll follow thee.
|
MARCELLUS You shall not go, my lord.
|
MARCELLUS You shall not go, my lord.
|
MARCELLUS and HORATIO try to hold HAMLET back
|
MARCELLUS and HORATIO try to hold HAMLET back
|
HAMLET Hold off your hands.
|
HAMLET Hold off your hands.
|
HORATIO 85 Be ruled. You shall not go.
|
HORATIO Be ruled. You shall not go.
|
HAMLET My fate cries out
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve.
Still am I called.—Unhand me, gentlemen.
(draws his sword)
90 By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me.
I say, away!—Go on. I’ll follow thee.
|
HAMLET My fate cries out
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve.
Still am I called.—Unhand me, gentlemen.
(draws his sword)
By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me.
I say, away!—Go on. I’ll follow thee.
|
Exeunt GHOST and HAMLET
|
Exeunt GHOST and HAMLET
|
HORATIO He waxes desperate with imagination.
|
HORATIO He waxes desperate with imagination.
|
MARCELLUS Let’s follow. 'Tis not fit thus to obey him.
|
MARCELLUS Let’s follow. 'Tis not fit thus to obey him.
|
HORATIO Have after. To what issue will this come?
|
HORATIO Have after. To what issue will this come?
|
MARCELLUS 95 Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
|
MARCELLUS Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
|
HORATIO Heaven will direct it.
|
HORATIO Heaven will direct it.
|
MARCELLUS Nay, let’s follow him.
|
MARCELLUS Nay, let’s follow him.
|
Exeunt
|
Exeunt
|
Please wait while we process your payment