No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet: Act 3 Scene 4

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Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Act 3 Scene 4

Original Text

Modern Text

Original Text

Modern Text

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Original Text	Modern Text
Enter GERTRUDE and POLONIUS	Enter GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
POLONIUS He will come straight. Look you lay home to him. Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, And that your grace hath screened and stood between Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here. 5 Pray you, be round with him.	POLONIUS He will come straight. Look you lay home to him. Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, And that your grace hath screened and stood between Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here. Pray you, be round with him.
HAMLET (within) Mother, mother, mother!	HAMLET (within) Mother, mother, mother!
GERTRUDE I’ll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.	GERTRUDE I’ll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.
POLONIUS hides behind the arras	POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET	Enter HAMLET
HAMLET Now mother, what’s the matter?	HAMLET Now mother, what’s the matter?
GERTRUDE Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.	GERTRUDE Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
HAMLET 10 Mother, you have my father much offended.	HAMLET Mother, you have my father much offended.
GERTRUDE Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.	GERTRUDE Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.	HAMLET Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
GERTRUDE Why, how now, Hamlet?	GERTRUDE Why, how now, Hamlet?
HAMLET What’s the matter now?	HAMLET What’s the matter now?
GERTRUDE Have you forgot me?	GERTRUDE Have you forgot me?
HAMLET No, by the rood, not so. You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife, And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.	HAMLET No, by the rood, not so. You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife, And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.
GERTRUDE Nay, then I’ll set those to you that can speak.	GERTRUDE Nay, then I’ll set those to you that can speak.
HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass 20 Where you may see the inmost part of you.	HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass Where you may see the inmost part of you.
GERTRUDE What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me? Help, help, ho!	GERTRUDE What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me? Help, help, ho!
POLONIUS (from behind the arras) What, ho? Help, help, help!	POLONIUS (from behind the arras) What, ho? Help, help, help!
HAMLET How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!	HAMLET How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!
(stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS )	(stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS )
POLONIUS (from behind the arras) Oh, I am slain.	POLONIUS (from behind the arras) Oh, I am slain.
GERTRUDE O me, what hast thou done?	GERTRUDE O me, what hast thou done?
HAMLET Nay, I know not. Is it the king?	HAMLET Nay, I know not. Is it the king?
GERTRUDE Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!	GERTRUDE Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
HAMLET A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother, 30 As kill a king and marry with his brother.	HAMLET A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king and marry with his brother.
GERTRUDE As kill a king?	GERTRUDE As kill a king?
HAMLET Ay, lady, ’twas my word.	HAMLET Ay, lady, ’twas my word.
(draws back the arras and discovers POLONIUS )	(draws back the arras and discovers POLONIUS )
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell. I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune. Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger. (to GERTRUDE) Leave wringing of your hands. Peace. Sit you down And let me wring your heart. For so I shall If it be made of penetrable stuff, If damnèd custom have not brassed it so That it is proof and bulwark against sense.	Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell. I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune. Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger. (to GERTRUDE) Leave wringing of your hands. Peace. Sit you down And let me wring your heart. For so I shall If it be made of penetrable stuff, If damnèd custom have not brassed it so That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
GERTRUDE 40 What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue In noise so rude against me?	GERTRUDE What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue In noise so rude against me?
HAMLET Such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose From the fair forehead of an innocent love 45 And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows As false as dicers' oaths—oh, such a deed As from the body of contraction plucks The very soul, and sweet religion makes A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face doth glow 50 O'er this solidity and compound mass With tristful visage, as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act.	HAMLET Such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose From the fair forehead of an innocent love And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows As false as dicers' oaths—oh, such a deed As from the body of contraction plucks The very soul, and sweet religion makes A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face doth glow O'er this solidity and compound mass With tristful visage, as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act.
GERTRUDE Ay me, what act That roars so loud and thunders in the index?	GERTRUDE Ay me, what act That roars so loud and thunders in the index?
HAMLET Look here upon this picture and on this, 55 The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. See, what a grace was seated on this brow? Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself, An eye like Mars to threaten and command, A station like the herald Mercury 60 New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill— A combination and a form indeed Where every god did seem to set his seal	HAMLET Look here upon this picture and on this, The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. See, what a grace was seated on this brow? Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself, An eye like Mars to threaten and command, A station like the herald Mercury New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill— A combination and a form indeed Where every god did seem to set his seal
To give the world assurance of a man. This was your husband. Look you now, what follows. 65 Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes? You cannot call it love, for at your age 70 The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble, And waits upon the judgment. And what judgment Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have, Else could you not have motion. But sure that sense Is apoplexed, for madness would not err, 75 Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled, But it reserved some quantity of choice To serve in such a difference. What devil was ’t That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind? Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, 80 Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all, Or but a sickly part of one true sense Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush? Rebellious hell, If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones, 85 To flaming youth let virtue be as wax And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame When the compulsive ardor gives the charge, Since frost itself as actively doth burn, And reason panders will.	To give the world assurance of a man. This was your husband. Look you now, what follows. Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes? You cannot call it love, for at your age The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble, And waits upon the judgment. And what judgment Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have, Else could you not have motion. But sure that sense Is apoplexed, for madness would not err, Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled, But it reserved some quantity of choice To serve in such a difference. What devil was ’t That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind? Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all, Or but a sickly part of one true sense Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush? Rebellious hell, If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones, To flaming youth let virtue be as wax And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame When the compulsive ardor gives the charge, Since frost itself as actively doth burn, And reason panders will.
GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more! 90 Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grainèd spots As will not leave their tinct.	GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more! Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grainèd spots As will not leave their tinct.
HAMLET Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed, Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love 95 Over the nasty sty—	HAMLET Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed, Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love Over the nasty sty—
GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more! These words like daggers enter in my ears. No more, sweet Hamlet.	GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more! These words like daggers enter in my ears. No more, sweet Hamlet.
HAMLET A murderer and a villain, A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings, 100 A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, And put it in his pocket—	HAMLET A murderer and a villain, A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings, A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, And put it in his pocket—

Original Text	Modern Text
Enter GERTRUDE and POLONIUS	Enter GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
POLONIUS He will come straight. Look you lay home to him. Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, And that your grace hath screened and stood between Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here. 5 Pray you, be round with him.	POLONIUS He will come straight. Look you lay home to him. Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, And that your grace hath screened and stood between Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here. Pray you, be round with him.
HAMLET (within) Mother, mother, mother!	HAMLET (within) Mother, mother, mother!
GERTRUDE I’ll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.	GERTRUDE I’ll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.
POLONIUS hides behind the arras	POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET	Enter HAMLET
HAMLET Now mother, what’s the matter?	HAMLET Now mother, what’s the matter?
GERTRUDE Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.	GERTRUDE Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
HAMLET 10 Mother, you have my father much offended.	HAMLET Mother, you have my father much offended.
GERTRUDE Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.	GERTRUDE Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.	HAMLET Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
GERTRUDE Why, how now, Hamlet?	GERTRUDE Why, how now, Hamlet?
HAMLET What’s the matter now?	HAMLET What’s the matter now?
GERTRUDE Have you forgot me?	GERTRUDE Have you forgot me?
HAMLET No, by the rood, not so. You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife, And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.	HAMLET No, by the rood, not so. You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife, And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.
GERTRUDE Nay, then I’ll set those to you that can speak.	GERTRUDE Nay, then I’ll set those to you that can speak.
HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass 20 Where you may see the inmost part of you.	HAMLET Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass Where you may see the inmost part of you.
GERTRUDE What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me? Help, help, ho!	GERTRUDE What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me? Help, help, ho!
POLONIUS (from behind the arras) What, ho? Help, help, help!	POLONIUS (from behind the arras) What, ho? Help, help, help!
HAMLET How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!	HAMLET How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!
(stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS )	(stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS )
POLONIUS (from behind the arras) Oh, I am slain.	POLONIUS (from behind the arras) Oh, I am slain.
GERTRUDE O me, what hast thou done?	GERTRUDE O me, what hast thou done?
HAMLET Nay, I know not. Is it the king?	HAMLET Nay, I know not. Is it the king?
GERTRUDE Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!	GERTRUDE Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
HAMLET A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother, 30 As kill a king and marry with his brother.	HAMLET A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king and marry with his brother.
GERTRUDE As kill a king?	GERTRUDE As kill a king?
HAMLET Ay, lady, ’twas my word.	HAMLET Ay, lady, ’twas my word.
(draws back the arras and discovers POLONIUS )	(draws back the arras and discovers POLONIUS )
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell. I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune. Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger. (to GERTRUDE) Leave wringing of your hands. Peace. Sit you down And let me wring your heart. For so I shall If it be made of penetrable stuff, If damnèd custom have not brassed it so That it is proof and bulwark against sense.	Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell. I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune. Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger. (to GERTRUDE) Leave wringing of your hands. Peace. Sit you down And let me wring your heart. For so I shall If it be made of penetrable stuff, If damnèd custom have not brassed it so That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
GERTRUDE 40 What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue In noise so rude against me?	GERTRUDE What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue In noise so rude against me?
HAMLET Such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose From the fair forehead of an innocent love 45 And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows As false as dicers' oaths—oh, such a deed As from the body of contraction plucks The very soul, and sweet religion makes A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face doth glow 50 O'er this solidity and compound mass With tristful visage, as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act.	HAMLET Such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose From the fair forehead of an innocent love And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows As false as dicers' oaths—oh, such a deed As from the body of contraction plucks The very soul, and sweet religion makes A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face doth glow O'er this solidity and compound mass With tristful visage, as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act.
GERTRUDE Ay me, what act That roars so loud and thunders in the index?	GERTRUDE Ay me, what act That roars so loud and thunders in the index?
HAMLET Look here upon this picture and on this, 55 The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. See, what a grace was seated on this brow? Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself, An eye like Mars to threaten and command, A station like the herald Mercury 60 New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill— A combination and a form indeed Where every god did seem to set his seal	HAMLET Look here upon this picture and on this, The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. See, what a grace was seated on this brow? Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself, An eye like Mars to threaten and command, A station like the herald Mercury New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill— A combination and a form indeed Where every god did seem to set his seal
To give the world assurance of a man. This was your husband. Look you now, what follows. 65 Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes? You cannot call it love, for at your age 70 The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble, And waits upon the judgment. And what judgment Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have, Else could you not have motion. But sure that sense Is apoplexed, for madness would not err, 75 Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled, But it reserved some quantity of choice To serve in such a difference. What devil was ’t That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind? Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, 80 Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all, Or but a sickly part of one true sense Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush? Rebellious hell, If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones, 85 To flaming youth let virtue be as wax And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame When the compulsive ardor gives the charge, Since frost itself as actively doth burn, And reason panders will.	To give the world assurance of a man. This was your husband. Look you now, what follows. Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed And batten on this moor? Ha, have you eyes? You cannot call it love, for at your age The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble, And waits upon the judgment. And what judgment Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have, Else could you not have motion. But sure that sense Is apoplexed, for madness would not err, Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled, But it reserved some quantity of choice To serve in such a difference. What devil was ’t That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind? Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all, Or but a sickly part of one true sense Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush? Rebellious hell, If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones, To flaming youth let virtue be as wax And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame When the compulsive ardor gives the charge, Since frost itself as actively doth burn, And reason panders will.
GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more! 90 Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grainèd spots As will not leave their tinct.	GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more! Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grainèd spots As will not leave their tinct.
HAMLET Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed, Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love 95 Over the nasty sty—	HAMLET Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed, Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love Over the nasty sty—
GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more! These words like daggers enter in my ears. No more, sweet Hamlet.	GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more! These words like daggers enter in my ears. No more, sweet Hamlet.
HAMLET A murderer and a villain, A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings, 100 A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, And put it in his pocket—	HAMLET A murderer and a villain, A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings, A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, And put it in his pocket—