Hamlet

by: William Shakespeare

  Act 1 Scene 4

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Original Text

Modern Text
Wherein we saw thee quietly interred,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
55That 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?
60Say why is this? Wherefore? What should we do?
where we quietly buried you, has opened up its heavy marble jaws to spit you out again. What could it mean that you have put on your armor again, you corpse, and have come back to look at the moon, making the night terrifying and stirring us humans with supernatural fears? Why? What do you want from us? What should we do?
GHOST beckons HAMLET
The GHOST motions for HAMLET to come with it.
HORATIO
It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
 HORATIO
It wants you to go off with it, as if it wants to tell you something alone.
MARCELLUS
  Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removèd ground.
65But do not go with it.
 MARCELLUS
Look how politely it’s pointing you to a place that’s farther away. But don’t go.
HORATIO
   No, by no means.
 HORATIO
Definitely not.
HAMLET
It will not speak. Then I will follow it.
 HAMLET
It’s not going to speak, so I’ll follow it.
HORATIO
Do not, my lord.
 HORATIO
Don’t do it, sir.
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,
70Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it.
 HAMLET
Why, what’s the danger? I don’t value my life one bit. And as for my soul, how can the ghost endanger that, since it’s as immortal as the ghost is? Look, it’s waving me over 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 tempts you to jump into the sea, sir? Or to the terrifying cliff that overhangs the water,
Read the Summary of Act I, scenes iii–iv
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