Hamlet

by: William Shakespeare

Act 1 Scene 5

1 2 3 4 5 ... 8

Original Text	Modern Text
Enter GHOST and HAMLET	The GHOST and HAMLET enter.
HAMLET Where wilt thou lead me? Speak, I’ll go no further.	HAMLET Where are you taking me? Speak. I’m not going any farther.
GHOST Mark me.	GHOST Listen to me.
HAMLET I will.	HAMLET I will.
GHOST My hour is almost come When I to sulfurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself.	GHOST The hour has almost come when I have to return to the horrible flames of purgatory.
HAMLET Alas, poor ghost!	HAMLET Ah, poor ghost!
GHOST 5Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold.	GHOST Don’t pity me. Just listen carefully to what I have to tell you.
HAMLET Speak. I am bound to hear.	HAMLET Speak. I’m ready to hear you.
GHOST So art thou to revenge when thou shalt hear.	GHOST You must be ready for revenge, too, when you hear me out.
HAMLET What?	HAMLET What?
GHOST I am thy father’s spirit, 10Doomed for a certain term to walk the night And for the day confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison house, 15I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,	GHOST I’m the ghost of your father, doomed for a certain period of time to walk the earth at night, while during the day I’m trapped in the fires of purgatory until I’ve done penance for my past sins. If I weren’t forbidden to tell you the secrets of purgatory According to Catholic doctrine, purgatory is a place where souls go to be punished for their sins before going to heaven. purgatory, I could tell you stories that would slice through your soul, freeze your blood,

Read the Summary of Act I, scene v–Act II, scene i

1 2 3 4 5 ... 8