Hamlet: Act 4, Scene 3 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 4, Scene 3 of Hamlet from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text	Translated Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Enter King and two or three. KING I have sent to seek him and to find the body. How dangerous is it that this man goes loose! Yet must not we put the strong law on him. He’s loved of the distracted multitude, Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes; 5 And, where ’tis so, th’ offender’s scourge is weighed, But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even, This sudden sending him away must seem Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown By desperate appliance are relieved 10 Or not at all. Enter Rosencrantz. How now, what hath befallen? ROSENCRANTZ Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord, We cannot get from him. KING But where is he? 15 ROSENCRANTZ Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure. KING Bring him before us. ROSENCRANTZ Ho! Bring in the lord. They enter with Hamlet.	As planned, Claudius has gathered some trusted friends and told them all what's going on with Hamlet—how he's gone mad and killed Polonius, and how he must now be sent away. Rosencrantz comes in and gives him the bad news: Hamlet wouldn't spill. They don't know where Polonius's body is. Very well, says Claudius. Bring Hamlet to me.
KING Now, Hamlet, where’s Polonius? HAMLET At supper. 20 KING At supper where? HAMLET Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves 25 for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service—two dishes but to one table. That’s the end. KING Alas, alas!	Now it's Claudius' turn to demand that Hamlet tell him where Polonius' corpse is. Hamlet responds with morbid jokes, pointing out that Polonius is at "supper"—that is, he's being eaten by worms for dinner. That's gross! says Claudius.
HAMLET A man may fish with the worm that hath eat 30 of a king and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. KING What dost thou mean by this? HAMLET Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar. 35	That's life, says Hamlet, and he describes (more or less) the cycle of life. A worm can eat the corpse of a king, a fish can eat that worm, and a man can eat that fish, thus eating a king, who inevitably passes through the digestive system of another man, becoming... (you got it): poo.
KING Where is Polonius? HAMLET In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him i’ th’ other place yourself. But if, indeed, you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up 40 the stairs into the lobby. KING, to Attendants. Go, seek him there. HAMLET He will stay till you come. Attendants exit.	Claudius asks again where Polonius's body is. Hamlet tells him to check heaven, and if he's not there, to check hell. Then he says that if they don't find him soon, they'll smell him when they walk up the stairs in the lobby. Nice. Claudius sends a few attendants off to check the lobby, and Hamlet tells them there's no need to rush. Polonius will wait.
KING Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety (Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve 45 For that which thou hast done) must send thee hence With fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself. The bark is ready, and the wind at help, Th’ associates tend, and everything is bent 50 For England. HAMLET For England? KING Ay, Hamlet. HAMLET Good. KING So is it, if thou knew’st our purposes. 55 HAMLET I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England. Farewell, dear mother. KING Thy loving father, Hamlet. HAMLET My mother. Father and mother is man and wife, 60 Man and wife is one flesh, and so, my mother.— Come, for England. He exits.	Claudius then tells Hamlet that he's being shipped off to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for his own good, and also as a princely time-out for having caused so much trouble. Fine with me, says Hamlet. Then he adds, "Bye mom." Yes, to the king.
KING Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard. Delay it not. I’ll have him hence tonight. Away, for everything is sealed and done 65 That else leans on th’ affair. Pray you, make haste. All but the King exit. And England, if my love thou hold’st at aught (As my great power thereof may give thee sense, Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red After the Danish sword, and thy free awe 70 Pays homage to us), thou mayst not coldly set Our sovereign process, which imports at full, By letters congruing to that effect, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England, For like the hectic in my blood he rages, 75 And thou must cure me. Till I know ’tis done, Howe’er my haps, my joys will ne’er begin. He exits.	Claudius, left alone, reveals that he has arranged to have Hamlet killed once he reaches England. Cue the evil laugh.