Act 5
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HORATIO
60Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
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HORATIO He’s gotten so used to graves that they
don’t bother him anymore.
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HAMLET 'Tis e'en so. The hand of little employment
hath the
daintier sense.
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HAMLET Yes, exactly. Only people who don’t have to work can
afford to be sensitive.
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GRAVEDIGGER
(sings)
But age with his stealing
steps
Hath clawed me in
his clutch,
And hath shipped me into the
land
As if I had never
been such.
(throws up a skull)
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GRAVEDIGGER
(sings)
But old age has sneaked up on
me
And grabbed me in
his claws,
And has shipped me into the
ground
As if
I’d never been like that.
(he throws up a skull)
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HAMLET That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once. How the
knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain’s
jawbone,
that did the first murder! It might be the pate of a politician,
which this ass now o'erreaches, one that would
circumvent
God, might it not?
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HAMLET That skull had a tongue in it once and could sing. That jackass is
throwing it around as if it belonged to Cain, who did the first
murder! It might be the skull of a politician once capable of
talking his way around God, right? And now this idiot is pulling
rank on him.
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HORATIO
70It might, my lord.
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HORATIO Indeed, my lord.
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HAMLET Or of a courtier, which could say, “Good morrow, sweet
lord!” “How dost thou, good
lord?” This might be my Lord
Such-a-one that praised my Lord Such-a-one’s horse when
he meant to beg it, might it not?
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HAMLET Or a courtier, who could say things like, “Good night,
my sweet lord! How are you doing, good lord?” This might
be the skull of Lord So-and-So, who praised Lord
Such-and-Such’s horse when he wanted to borrow it,
right?
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HORATIO
75Ay, my lord.
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HORATIO Yes, my lord.
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HAMLET Why, e'en so. And now my Lady Worm’s,
chapless and
knocked about the mazard with a sexton’s spade.
Here’s
fine revolution, an we had the trick to see ’t. Did
these bones
cost no more the breeding but to play at loggets with them?
Mine ache to think on ’t.
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HAMLET Exactly. And now it’s the property of Lady Worm, its
lower jaw knocked off and thwacked on the noggin with a shovel.
That’s quite a reversal of fortune, isn’t it,
if we could only see it? Are these bones worth nothing more than
bowling pins now? It makes my bones ache to think about it.
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More Help
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No Fear Hamlet
NO FEAR -
Character List
CHARACTERS -
Hamlet: Character Analysis
CHARACTERS -
Plot Analysis
MAIN IDEAS -
Is Hamlet really mad?
MAIN IDEAS -
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