Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Ghost and Hamlet. HAMLET
Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak. I’ll go no
further. GHOST
Mark me. HAMLET I will. GHOST My hour is almost come 5
When I to sulf’rous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself. HAMLET Alas, poor ghost! GHOST
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold. 10 HAMLET Speak. I am bound to hear. GHOST
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. HAMLET What? GHOST I am thy father’s spirit,
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night 15
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,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word 20
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their
spheres,
Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an end, 25
Like quills upon the fearful porpentine.
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love— HAMLET O God! 30 GHOST
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. | And now for the big money talk: The ghost (who says he is indeed the ghost of Hamlet's father) says he needs revenge, and sooner rather than later, since he's doomed to burn in eternal flames until he gets it. So, if Hamlet ever loved him, it's time for him to get revenge for his father's murder. |
HAMLET Murder? GHOST
Murder most foul, as in the best it is,
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. HAMLET
Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift 35
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge. GHOST I find thee apt;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, 40
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.
’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forgèd process of my death
Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, 45
The serpent that did sting thy father’s life
Now wears his crown. | King Hamlet says that everyone is under the impression he died from a poisonous snakebite, but that's not true. He was murdered. Luckily, he knows who did it. Surprise: It's Claudius! |
HAMLET O, my prophetic soul! My uncle! | I knew it! says Hamlet. Remember, back in 1.2, after he heard about the ghost, Hamlet said he suspected foul play. And he really doesn't like his uncle. |
GHOST
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wits, with traitorous gifts— 50
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.
O Hamlet, what a falling off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity 55
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine.
But virtue, as it never will be moved, 60
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So, lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed
And prey on garbage.
But soft, methinks I scent the morning air. 65
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursèd hebona in a vial
And in the porches of my ears did pour 70
The leprous distilment, whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigor it doth posset 75
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine,
And a most instant tetter barked about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust
All my smooth body. 80
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand
Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched,
Cut off, even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled,
No reck’ning made, but sent to my account 85
With all my imperfections on my head.
O horrible, O horrible, most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not.
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damnèd incest. 90
But, howsomever thou pursues this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once. 95
The glowworm shows the matin to be near
And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me. He exits. | But how did Claudius do it? The ghost reveals the details. To make a long story short: while King Hamlet (a.k.a., the ghost) was sleeping in his orchard, Claudius snuck over and poured poison in his ear. King Hamlet's ghost implores his son to avenge him. He should kill Claudius, for sure, but the ghost tells Hamlet to leave his mother be. She'll be punished enough by the guilt she feels in her heart over this whole ordeal. |
HAMLET
O all you host of heaven! O Earth! What else?
And shall I couple hell? O fie! Hold, hold, my heart, 100
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory 105
I’ll wipe away all trivial, fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain, 110
Unmixed with baser matter. Yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!
My tables—meet it is I set it down
That one may smile and smile and be a villain. 115
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark. He writes. So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word.
It is “adieu, adieu, remember me.”
I have sworn ’t. | Hamlet promises to avenge his father's death. He's pretty torn up about his mom's involvement in the whole thing, and has a hard time with his uncle's overall duplicity. How can he smile and be such a villain at the same time? Even so, he swears he's going to avenge his dad's murder. Swears it. No fingers crossed behind the back or anything. |
HORATIO My lord, my lord! 120 MARCELLUS Lord Hamlet. HORATIO Heavens secure him! HAMLET So be it. MARCELLUS Illo, ho, ho, my lord! HAMLET Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come! 125 MARCELLUS
How is ’t, my noble lord? HORATIO What news, my lord? HAMLET O, wonderful! HORATIO
Good my lord, tell it. HAMLET No, you will reveal it. 130 HORATIO
Not I, my lord, by heaven. MARCELLUS Nor I, my lord. HAMLET
How say you, then? Would heart of man once think
it?
But you’ll be secret? 135 HORATIO/MARCELLUS Ay, by heaven, my lord. HAMLET
There’s never a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he’s an arrant knave. HORATIO
There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this. 140 | Horatio and Marcellus rush in, wanting to know what's happened, but Hamlet is reluctant to tell them. They promise they won't blab, so Hamlet admits the ghost has informed him there's a villain in Denmark. Horartio basically says, "Duh. We didn't need a ghost to tell us that." |
HAMLET Why, right, you are in the right.
And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part,
You, as your business and desire shall point you
(For every man hath business and desire, 145
Such as it is), and for my own poor part,
I will go pray. HORATIO
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. HAMLET
I am sorry they offend you, heartily;
Yes, faith, heartily. 150 HORATIO There’s no offense, my lord. HAMLET
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offense, too. Touching this vision here,
It is an honest ghost—that let me tell you.
For your desire to know what is between us, 155
O’ermaster ’t as you may. And now, good friends,
As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,
Give me one poor request. HORATIO What is ’t, my lord? We will. HAMLET
Never make known what you have seen tonight. 160 HORATIO/MARCELLUS My lord, we will not. HAMLET Nay, but swear ’t. HORATIO In faith, my lord, not I. MARCELLUS Nor I, my lord, in faith. HAMLET
Upon my sword. 165 MARCELLUS We have sworn, my lord, already. HAMLET Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. GHOST cries under the stage Swear. HAMLET
Ha, ha, boy, sayst thou so? Art thou there,
truepenny? 170
Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage.
Consent to swear. HORATIO Propose the oath, my lord. HAMLET
Never to speak of this that you have seen,
Swear by my sword. 175 GHOST, beneath Swear. HAMLET
Hic et ubique? Then we’ll shift our ground.
Come hither, gentlemen,
And lay your hands again upon my sword.
Swear by my sword 180
Never to speak of this that you have heard. GHOST, beneath Swear by his sword. HAMLET
Well said, old mole. Canst work i’ th’ earth so fast?—
A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends. HORATIO
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange. 185 | Hamlet won't share anymore intel about his chat with the ghost with his buddies, but he does make them swear (three times—with the Ghost's help) that they won't breathe a word of what they've seen to anybody. |
HAMLET
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come.
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd some’er I bear myself 190
(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on)
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, 195
As “Well, well, we know,” or “We could an if we
would,”
Or “If we list to speak,” or “There be an if they
might,”
Or such ambiguous giving-out, to note 200
That you know aught of me—this do swear,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you. GHOST, beneath Swear. HAMLET
Rest, rest, perturbèd spirit.—So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you, 205
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do t’ express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together,
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite 210
That ever I was born to set it right!
Nay, come, let’s go together. They exit. | Hamlet also warns his friends that he might start behaving strangely, but it's cool: he's just acting on instructions given to him by the ghost of his dead father. Specifically, he says he's going to put on an "antic disposition," which means he's going to pretend to be crazy, like an "antic" (which is the role of a theater clown or a grotesque). He tells his buddies not to let on that they know what might be making him act weird (ahem, the whole ghost encounter). He makes them swear to this, too. |