ACT I
SCENE 1
The Palace Grounds2
Enter HORATIO.
HORATIO
Whoâs there?
Enter GHOST.
What art thou that usurpest this time of night?
In the same figure like the king thatâs dead
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march? Speak to me.
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me.
If there be any good thing to be done
That may to thee do ease and grace to me
Speak to me.
If thou art privy to thy countryâs fate,
Which, happily foreknowing may avoid
O speak!
Stay. Speak, speak, I charge thee, speak.
By heaven I charge thee, speak.
A cock crows.
Exit GHOST.
Stay, illusion!
Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you onât?
Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes. Is it not like the king?
As thou art to thyself?
In what particular thought to work I know not.
But, in the gross and scope of mine opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
It faded on the crowing of the cock.
And then it started, like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons.
Some say that ever âgainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviourâs birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long.
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;
So hallowed and so gracious is that time.
I have heard the cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of day, and at his warning,
Thâ extravagant and erring spirit hies
To his confine. And of the truth herein
This present object made probation.
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks oâer the dew of yon high eastward hill.
Let us impart what we have seen tonight
Unto young Hamlet. For, upon my life,
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
Exeunt.
SCENE 2
Grand State Room3
A spectacular party is underway. Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, POLONIUS, LAERTES, OPHELIA with Attendants and HAMLET.
KING CLAUDIUS
And now, Laertes, [whatâs the news with you?
You told us of some suit. What isât Laertes?
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane
And lose your voice.] What wouldst thou beg, Laertes,
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?
LAERTES
My dread lord,
Your leave and favour to return to France
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark
To show my duty in your coronation.
KING CLAUDIUS
Have you your fatherâs leave? What says Polonius?
LORD POLONIUS
I do beseech you give him leave to go.
KING CLAUDIUS
Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine;
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son â
HAMLET
(Aside) A little more than kin, and less than kind.
KING CLAUDIUS
How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
HAMLET
Not so, my lord. I am too much in the sun.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not for ever with thy vailéd lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
Thou knowest âtis common. All that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
HAMLET
Ay, madam, it is common.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
HAMLET
âSeemsâ, madam? Nay it is. I know not âseems.â
âTis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected âhaviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
That can denote me truly. These indeed âseemâ;
For they are actions that a man might play.
But I have that within which passeth show â
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.
KING CLAUDIUS
âTis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your father.
But, you must know your father lost a father.
That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound
In filial obli...