Act 5
Original Text |
Modern Text |
|
GERTRUDE Sweets to the sweet. Farewell!
(scatters
flowers)
220I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife.
I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,
And not have strewed thy grave.
|
QUEEN Sweet flowers for a sweet girl. Goodbye!
(she scatters flowers) I once hoped
you’d be my Hamlet’s wife. I thought
I’d be tossing flowers on your wedding bed, my sweet
girl, not on your grave.
|
|
LAERTES Oh, treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that cursèd head,
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
225Deprived thee of! Hold off the earth awhile
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.
|
LAERTES Oh, damn three times, damn ten times the evil man whose wicked
deed deprived you of your ingenious mind. Hold off burying her until
I’ve caught her in my arms once more.
|
|
(leaps into the grave)
|
(he jumps into the grave)
|
|
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
Till of this flat a mountain you have made,
T' o'ertop old Pelion or the skyish head
230Of blue Olympus.
|
Now pile the dirt onto the living and the dead alike, till
you’ve made a mountain higher than
Mount Pelion or Mount OlympusIn Greek myth, Mt. Olympus is home to the gods, and giants piled Mt. Ossa on top of Mt. Pelion to climb to heaven. Mount Pelion or Mount Olympus . |
|
HAMLET
(comes forward) What is
he whose grief
Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
Hamlet the Dane.
(leaps into the
grave)
|
HAMLET
(coming forward) Who is the one
whose grief is so loud and clear, whose words of sadness make the
planets stand still in the heavens as if they’ve been
hurt by what they’ve heard? It’s me, Hamlet
the Dane.
(he jumps into the
grave)
|
|
LAERTES
235The devil take thy soul!
|
LAERTES To hell with your soul!
|
|
HAMLET and LAERTES
grapple
|
HAMLET and LAERTES
wrestle with each other.
|
|
HAMLET Thou pray’st not well.
I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat,
For though I am not splenitive and rash,
Yet have I something in me dangerous,
240Which let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand.
|
HAMLET That’s no way to pray.
(they
fight)
Please take your hands off my throat. I may not be rash and quick to
anger, but I have something dangerous in me which you should beware
of. Take your hands off.
|
|
CLAUDIUS Pluck them asunder.
|
CLAUDIUS Pull them apart.
|
More Help
-
No Fear Hamlet
NO FEAR -
Character List
CHARACTERS -
Hamlet: Character Analysis
CHARACTERS -
Plot Analysis
MAIN IDEAS -
Is Hamlet really mad?
MAIN IDEAS -
Quotes by Theme
QUOTES -
Themes
MAIN IDEAS -
Review Quiz
FURTHER STUDY
