第四幕
第一景: 皇后寝室
[皇后在台上, 国王与罗生克兰、盖登思邓入]
王: 观此处之情景, 与你之深喘, 表明了此处曾发生大事。
你说呀, 我有必要知道, 你的儿子在哪里?
后: {对罗与盖}请你们暂且离开。
[罗与盖出]
啊, 我的丈夫呀, 今晚我所见到的...
王: 什么事, 葛簇特? 哈姆雷特怎么啦?
后: 就像大海与暴风在教量威力时般的疯狂;
在他野性发作时, 听到帐幕後有声音骚动, 他就拔出他的长剑,
口嚷著『有老鼠, 有老鼠』, 然後, 就在此一阵疑心病狂中,
把那正躲著的仁慈老者刺死。
王: 唉呀, 惨啊!
假如反是我在那儿的话, 那我必然也会得到同样遭遇。
他的自由威胁到了大家--你、我、与每人。
唉, 应如何的为此血腥行为作个交代?
人们一定会怪我, 怪我为何没把这发狂的青年管制好, 使他无从作怪。
这全因我爱他过甚, 使我无法接受对他最有益之选择;
这就像个恶疾的患者, 为了隐瞒他的病情, 而导致最後病入膏肓。
他去哪里了?
后: 去拖走他所杀之尸体。
为了此事,
他的良心已像废铁中之真金, 放出纯良的光芒:
他已为此事哭泣。
王: 唉, 葛簇特, 走吧!
在太阳未下山之前, 我就得把他用船送走,
而我必须尽我为君之权能来为此恶行作个解释。
喂, 盖登思邓!
[罗生克兰与盖登思邓入]
二位朋友, 去找人来帮助你们。
哈姆雷特在一阵疯狂中, 已把波隆尼尔杀死,
并且已把尸体由其母亲寝房内拖走。
请你们去把他寻来。
你们得好好的与他说话, 并把尸体带到圣堂。
你们赶快去办此事罢!
[罗与盖出]
来罢, 葛簇特,
让我们去召集那些最有见识之朋友们,
告诉他们这件不幸的事故与我们之决策。
希望那飞得直快如弹丸之诽谤、中伤语言不会击中我,
而仅击中那不会受伤的空气。
唉, 走罢; 我的心灵充满了惶恐。
第二景
{城堡中之另一室}
[哈姆雷特入]
哈: 安放好了{指波隆尼尔之尸体}。
[呐喊声音由远处传来]
什么声音? 谁在唤哈姆雷特? 啊, 他们来了。
[罗生克兰与盖登思邓入]
罗: 您把尸体怎么了, 殿下?
哈: 把它归於尘土了, 它们本是同根。
罗: 请告诉我们它在哪里, 我们才能把它带去圣堂。
哈: 别相信它。
罗: 相信什么?
哈: 相信我会为你们保密, 而不会为自己保密。
再之, 被一块海绵质问, 一位堂堂王子应如何答覆?
罗: 您把我当成一块海绵, 殿下?
哈: 是的, 先生。
一块吸取国王恩宠、奖励、与权势之海绵;
不过, 此类的臣子对国王来说, 到底是最有用的:
他可以像猿猴般的把你们放在他的口颊里, 以待吞食。
当他需要你们所吸取之物时, 他只要把你们轻轻一挤,
你们就会像海绵般的被挤乾净。
罗: 我不懂您的意思, 殿下。
哈: 我很高兴,
俏皮话在蠢人的耳朵里总是枉然的。
罗: 殿下, 您必须告诉我们尸体在那里, 并和我们一起去见国王。
哈: 尸体是与国王同在, {指先王}
但是国王并不与尸体同在。 {指其叔}
国王是个...
盖: 是个什么东西, 殿下?
哈: 是个无用的东西。
带我去见他罢!
{边跑边喊}
躲迷藏呀, 大家来找!
[全人出]
第三景: 宫中
[国王与两、三位侍从入]
王: 我已派人去找他, 并去搜寻那尸体.
让此人逍遥於外是多么危险的一件事,
但是我也不能立刻去拿他来严办,
因为他深受那些糊涂群众之爱戴;
这些人只顾外观, 不听理智;
他们只会考虑到刑法之苛厉, 而把犯者之严重罪行置於脑後。
为了安抚这些人,
我必须把他突然的离去作得像是个经过深思熟虑後的抉择。
欲治重疾, 必下重药也!
[罗生克兰、盖登思邓、与众人入]
怎样, 有何消息?
罗: 我们无法使他招出尸体之藏匿处, 主公。
王: 可是他人呢?
罗: 被押在外, 等候您的旨示。
王: 把他带进来见朕。
罗: 喂! 引进殿下!
[哈姆雷特与卫士入]
王: 哈姆雷特, 波隆尼尔在哪里?
哈: 在晚餐。
王: 晚餐? 在哪里?
哈: 不是他在哪里『吃,』 而是他在哪里『被吃。』
此刻有窝非常精明挑剔的蛆虫, 正忙著在吃他呢。
蛆才是我们真正的『食客之王』:
我们把世界上所有的动物养胖後来喂我们,
而我们却把自己养胖後去喂蛆。
一个胖国王与一个瘦乞丐, 到头来,
只不过是同桌上的两道菜而已。
王: 唉, 唉。
哈: 一个人能用一条吃过国王的蛆来作饵钓鱼,
然後把这条吃过蛆的鱼食入肚内。
王: 你这句话是什么意思?
哈: 没什么意思,
只是让您看看一个国王怎样能够贯穿过一个乞丐的肠子。
王: 波隆尼尔在那里?
哈: 在天堂; 您可差人去那里找他。
假如您的使者在那里找不到他的话, 那您可以自己往另一处寻找。
假如在一月之内还找他不到的话,
那您仅须去楼上厅里, 就会闻到他的。
王: [对众侍从] 你们快去那里找他!
哈: 他会在那里等候你们的。
[侍从们出]
王: 哈姆雷特,
我对你个人安全之关怀, 就如我对此事之痛心;
为了此事, 我得十万火急的送你出境;
你可马上准备启程!
此时船支已备, 风向已顺, 侍者已待, 万事已齐,
让你立刻赴往英格兰。
哈: 赴往英格兰?
王: 是的, 哈姆雷特。
哈: 好罢。
王: 就这么办, 如果你能明白我的好意。
哈: 我见到一个明白您好意之天使{注1}。
好, 去英格兰。
再会罢, 亲爱的母亲。
王: {纠正他} 是爱你的父亲, 哈姆雷特。
哈: 是我的母亲:
父母乃夫妻, 夫妻乃同体;
所以--我的母亲。
走, 去英格兰。
[出]
王: {对罗与盖} 把他紧紧的跟好, 教他立刻就上船, 不可耽误;
我要他今晚就走。
去呀! 所有的文件都已准备、密封好了, 你们快去!
[全体人出, 仅留国王]
英格兰王啊, 汝邦受於丹麦之刀疤尚新, 至今仍虔敬的纳贡於本国;
因此, 仗吾邦之威信, 你不可不畏惧寡人之旨意。
此事在函中均已交代清楚, 那就是『速斩哈姆雷特。』
假使你重视寡人之友谊, 那你就必须办妥此事。
他是寡人心腹之大患、血液之热疾, 而你必须令吾痊愈。
此事未了, 寡人无法重获欢欣!
[出]
______________________________________________________________________
译者注:
(1). 哈姆雷特在此暗示他已晓得国王之诡计。
第四景: 丹麦原野
[福丁布拉引大军入]
福: 去罢, 队长, 去见丹麦王,
告诉他福丁布拉求他依诺容允本军安渡其境。
你已知道会合处在哪里; 倘若陛下还有其它指示,
那我将亲自晋见。
请告诉他这些。
尉官: 尊命, 主公。
福: 请慢行。
[大军出, 仅留尉官]
[哈姆雷特、罗生克兰、盖登思邓与众随从入]
哈: 好先生, 这是哪国的武力?
尉官: 是挪威的, 先生。
哈: 请问先生, 它是用於何方?
尉官: 去攻打波兰某处。
哈: 是谁在统率此军, 先生?
尉官: 挪威老王之侄, 福丁布拉。
哈: 是去攻打波兰本土呢, 还是它的边疆?
尉官: 不瞒您说, 我们是去争取一小块仅有空名之无用土地。
五块钱租给我--五块钱--教我去耕种此地, 我都不要;
就是把它给卖了, 也不会使挪威或波兰多赚得一文钱。
哈: 这么说, 波兰王是绝对不会去捍卫它罗。
尉官: 错了, 那里早驻有防军。
哈: 两千名军士之性命与两万块金洋都无法消灭此争执,
这分明是富裕与和平所导致之毒脓包;
脓包在体内爆裂, 已致人於死命,
但表面上仍看不出此人之死因也。
我谦逊的谢谢你, 长官。
尉官: 上帝与您同在, 先生。
[出]
罗: 您可走了吗, 殿下?
哈: 我马上就赶来, 你们先走。
[全人出, 仅留哈姆雷特]
许多事情之发生, 都像是在谴责我,
鞭策我那已钝的复仇心志向前!
假如一人整天只晓得吃与睡, 那他还算是什么东西?
他只不过是头畜牲而已。
创物者既已赐给我们思考之能力与瞻前顾後之远见,
那 一定不会希望我们让这些似神的能力因不用而霉 。
我不晓得我处事之慢, 是因我已像头畜牲般的把此事茫然忘却,
还是因我对此事有著过份的顾虑, 使我踌躇不前;
说真的, 此原因若分四份, 它包括了一分理智与三分懦弱。
其实, 我有足够的动机、心志、力量、与办法来完成此事,
也有许多明显的榜样在鼓励我。
瞧这庞大的队伍, 它的统帅是个年轻娇嫩的王子;
他仗著勃勃之勇气与天命之雄心, 罔顾不测之凶险,
拼著血肉之躯奋然和命运、死神、与危机挑战。
这全为了小小一块弹丸之地!
真正的伟大, 并不只是肯为轰轰烈烈之大事奋斗,
而是肯在一区区草管中力争一份荣耀。
而我呢? 我的父亲遭惨杀, 我的母亲被玷污,
我的理智与情感均被此深仇激动; 而我却无所行动。
我该多么的惭愧, 当我见到这两万名军士,
他们甘心在一念之间, 为一虚名而视死如归的步入他们的坟墓;
全为了争取一块连埋葬他们尸骨都不足之地。
啊, 从今开始, 我必痛下浴血之决心, 否则一切将枉然!
[出]
[出]
第五景: 艾辛诺尔堡中一室
[皇后、赫瑞修、与一绅士入]
后: 我不想和她说话。
绅士: 但是她一直疯疯癫癫的坚持著; 怪可怜的。
后: 她想要怎样?
绅士: 她一直提及她的父亲; 口称世人都在图谋不诡;
她咳嗽、 胸, 并老为些琐事争吵;
口中也尽讲些好似有意, 又好似无意之玄妙语言,
让听著茫茫不知所云;
当听者企图猜测她的意思时,
他们只能把她的字句连拼带凑的作个大概解释。
不过, 看她比手划脚、点头霎目之模样又好像颇有深意的样子。
赫: 最好能与她谈话, 以免好事者们会去传播那些不利之谣。
后: 让她进来罢。
[绅士出]
[私下]
我心内之疚使我忐忐不安, 唯恐小事即是大祸的前兆;
罪恶通常是会如此, 愈多疑, 就愈容易使鬼胎毕露。
[欧菲莉亚入]
欧: 丹麦的美丽皇后在那里呀?
后: 怎么啦, 欧菲莉亚?
欧: [口唱民谣]
『怎能识得真情郎?
观其毡帽、手杖与草鞋。』
后: 唉, 甜蜜的姑娘, 你为何要唱这首歌?
欧: 您说什么? 不, 请听著罢:
『他已死了, 不复还, 夫人呀,
他已死了,再也不复还;
头上一撮草,
踝下一块石。』
呜乎...
后: 但是, 欧菲莉亚...
欧: 请听:
[唱]
『他的殓衣白如雪...』
[国王入]
后: 唉, 陛下您瞧。
欧:『锦簇鲜花陪葬礼,
毫无真情入棺材。』
王: 你怎么了, 美丽的姑娘?
欧: 上帝保佑您。
有人说, 猫头鹰曾是个面包师的女儿{注1};
陛下, 我们知道我们现在是怎样,
但是不知将来会变成如何。
但愿上帝与您共餐。
王: 她在哀念她的父亲。
欧: 我们别再为此事争论了,
倘若有人问你它的意思, 你就回答:
『明天是情人节;
我是个少女,
将在清晨起床时, 等候於你的窗前,
作你的情人{注2}。
他就起床穿衣,
把寝室之门启开, 让少女进来。
以後出去的, 将不再是个少女。』
王: 美丽的欧菲莉亚...
欧: 让我把这故事讲完:
『天主慈悲, 唉, 可耻呀,
少年郎们总是会偷机,
他们应负责。
她说: 在你未与我共眠前,
你曾许诺将娶我。
他回答: 我发誓,
我本是如此打算,
倘若你未上我床。』
王: 她这样子有多久了?
欧: 我希望万事都美好;
我们都应有耐心;
但是, 我不能不流泪,
当我想到他被埋入那冰冷的泥土时。
我兄将知此事,
所以让我先谢谢您们的劝言。
来罢, 我的马车,
晚安, 夫人们, 晚安。
甜蜜的夫人们, 晚安, 晚安。
[欧菲莉亚出]
王: 紧紧的跟著她, 把她给看好; 我求求你。
[赫瑞修出]
, 此乃悲恸过甚之毒啊! 它全出自其父之死。
唉, 葛簇特呀, 葛簇特,
祸真不单行, 它来时可真是成群结队的。
最初是她父亲之死, 然後是你儿子之远离--那可是他自作自受的。
继之, 人们对波隆尼尔之死都早已心怀鬼胎的在议论纷纷,
而我却不智的把他草草埋葬。
还有, 可怜的欧菲莉亚, 现在她已失去了理智。 对她来说,
我们只不过是一些幻影、禽兽而已。
最糟糕的, 就是其兄现已由法秘密归国;
他对此事早已疑心重重;
他又身置五里雾中, 难免会有些爱弄是非者进与谗言,
传以其父死因之谣。
此事既早已混淆不清, 再加上流言,
人们很可能会毫不犹豫的归咎於我。
亲爱的葛簇特啊, 这就好像个散弹炮,
它足够杀死我数次!
[吆喝声由外传入]
听!
后: 唉哟, 那是什么声音呀?
王: 我的瑞士卫队呢{注3}? 教他们守住宫门!
[一报信侍者入]
发生了什么事?
侍者: 主公, 您快去回避罢,
雷尔提率著一群暴徒, 已以排山倒海之势击溃了您之卫队,
暴徒们称他为『主公』。 就像世界才刚开始般,
他们不顾传统, 不顾习俗, 不成体统的高喊著:
『我们推举雷尔提为王!』
他们掷帽拍手, 欢呼雷动, 呐喊声音震入云霄:
『雷尔提为王! 雷尔提为王!』
后: 他们执迷不悟的为他欢呼; 这是误入歧途啊,
你们这些犯错的丹麦狗!
[一声巨响传入]
王: 他们破门而入了!
[雷尔提持剑与手下入]
雷: 国王在哪里?
{对他的手下}
先生们, 你们先出去。
部署: 不, 让我们进来。
雷: 我求你们暂先出去!
部署: 好罢, 好罢。
雷: 谢谢。 把宫门守住。
[随员们出]
哼, 浑君, 把我父亲还来!
后: 冷静下来, 善良的雷尔提。
雷: 假如我身上任何一滴血是冷静的话,
那我真是个杂种, 我的父亲是个乌龟,
而我母亲贞节的额头上也被烙上个『娼妓』之臭名。
王: 什么原因使你如此的大胆犯上, 雷尔提?
放松他, 葛簇特, 不必为寡人之安全担心;
为君者自有神明护身, 乱臣无望得逞。
告诉我, 雷尔提, 什么事令你如此的恼怒?
放松他罢, 葛簇特!
你说呀!
雷: 我的父亲在哪里?
王: 死了。
后: 但是不是他杀的。
王: 尽管让他问罢!
雷: 他究竟是如何死的? 别想愚弄我;
我宁可为地狱效忠, 为魔鬼宣誓,
可把良知与神之恩典抛入万丈深渊;
我不惧毁灭, 更不在乎今生或来世;
我可任其来之, 只要我能彻底的为我父亲复仇!
王: 有谁能阻挡你?
雷: 除了我自己之外, 世界无一人能阻挡我。
只要我节约的去应用我的财富, 我终能尝愿。
王: 善良的雷尔提呀, 你欲知汝父死因真相, 但是晓得之後,
你能否不分敌友、不顾胜负的去履行你的复仇大计呢?
雷: 只要把他的敌人给我!
王: 你想知道他们是谁吗?
雷: 对他的朋友, 我将展开双臂的去拥抱他们;
就像那哺食的塘鹅, 我将心甘情愿的让他们来哺食我的热血(注4)。
王: 听你此时之口气, 才像是个真正的孝子、绅士。
朕对你父亲之死不但无咎, 反而为之痛心疾首;
此点你即将恍悟, 好似艳阳耀眼。
[欧菲莉亚的歌声传来]
让她进来。
雷: 什么, 那是何声?
[欧菲莉亚入]
啊, 烈火焙乾了我的脑浆, 泪水灼瞎了我的双目!
苍天在上, 我发誓要教那令你疯狂的仇人付出沉重的代价!
五月的玫瑰, 亲爱的少女, 善良的妹妹, 甜蜜的欧菲莉亚呀!
天哪! 难道一个少女的理智会像一个老者的生命一般脆弱?
爱是纤弱的, 它能为所爱之人牺牲自我。
欧: [唱著]
『众人抬他上柩架,
他在坟中泪如雨...』
再会罢, 我的鸽子。
雷: 就算你无丧失理智, 而前来要求我为你复仇,
你也不能比现在更俱有说服力。
欧: 你们要沉住气, 要沉住气;
纺轮连连转, 狡滑的管家把主人的女儿拐走了...
雷: 她的这些胡语比正言还更有深意...
欧: {从花篮中取花--也可能是假想的花-- 一朵一朵的递出}
{给雷尔提}
这是迷迭香, 它代表了回忆;
我求你, 亲爱的, 记著...
这些是三色堇, 它代表了心意。
雷: {把花收下}
这是疯症的训诲: 回忆与心意, 缔结为一。
欧: {对皇后}
这儿有茴香, 还有漏斗花, 给您(注5)。
{对国王}
这些芸香给您, 也留一些给我{注6},
在礼拜天, 我们可称它为『恩典之花。』
您戴芸香, 就应如戴您的纹章一般。
这儿还有些雏菊。
我也应给您些紫罗兰, 可是, 当我父亲死时, 它们全都枯萎了。
人们都说他得到了善终。
{唱著}
『甜美的罗彬, 他是我的喜悦。』
雷: 悲哀、不幸、与地狱的折磨,
在她身上, 都化为美物。
欧: {唱}
『他不回来吗?
他不回来吗?
不, 不, 他已死,
去你的临终之榻罢,
他再也不复返。
他的胡须如雪,
他的白首苍苍,
他已走了, 他已走了,
我们可把哀声抛弃,
上帝赐予他灵魂慈悲。』
上帝与信徒们的灵魂同在。
[出]
雷: 神呀, 您瞧著了吗?
王: 雷尔提呀,
寡人必须与你共负此悲,
否则, 你等於在排拒寡人之权责。
你快去罢, 去请教你最有见识之朋友们,
让他们来裁判你我之过结;
如果他们公认寡人是直接的或是间接的有罪,
那么, 我的江山、皇冠、生命、及所拥有的一切均将归属於你,
作为赔偿。
可是, 倘若他们不如此的判定, 那么, 寡人就要求你暂且忍耐,
让我们同心协力的来使你偿愿。
雷: 就如此议定。
他之不明死因,
他之草草出丧: 无祠堂、无军礼、无碑碣、无哀祭、无盛仪,
此等事物均在向天地喊冤, 使我不得不问个明白。
王: 你会的。
有罪者, 让惩罚之巨斧劈诛罢!
你和我来。
[全人出]
______________________________________________________________________
译者注
(1). 据当代传说, 一位面包师的女儿, 因吝啬而被惩罚为猫头鹰。
(2). 中古人相信, 女人在情人节那天所见到之第一男人, 将为其夫。
(3). 宫中的禁卫军乃顾来之瑞士佣兵。
(4). 古时人们认为塘鹅( 鹈)哺饲其血与其幼雏。
(5). 茴香与漏斗花代表了谄媚与不贞。
(6). 芸香代表了忏悔 。
第六景: 城堡中之另一室
[赫瑞修与一侍从入]
赫: 这些想和我谈话之人是谁?
侍从: 是海员们, 他们说他们有信要交给你。
赫: 让他们进来罢。
[侍从出]
除了哈姆雷特殿下之外, 我不晓得有谁会从海外写信给我。
[海员们入]
海员甲: 上帝祝福你, 先生。
赫: 也祝福你。
海员甲: 假如那是 的旨意, 那 会的, 先生。
{从口袋里取出一封信}
这里有封信给你, 先生,
它是从那赴英大使那儿来的{注1}--
如果你的名字是赫瑞修, 人们告诉我你就是。
赫: [读信]
『赫兄:
当你读到此信时, 请设法让这些人去见国王,
他们也有封信要交给他。
我们出海还不到两天, 就受到一艘非常凶猛的海盗船追击。
因为我们的船太慢, 所以我们只好被迫给予还击。
在一阵恶斗中, 我登上了他们的船;
就在那一刹那, 两船分开了;
因此, 我只好单独的成为了他们的俘虏。
他们对我还算是慈悲, 因为他们晓得他们之所为:
他们也要我为他们做件好事...
让国王收得我给他的那封信, 然後你就得亡命般的飞奔来此。
我有话要讲给你听, 它会令你目瞪口呆;
然而, 即使在那时, 它的严重性也无法被彻底的表达出来。
这些人会引你来至我这儿的。
罗生克兰与盖登思邓仍然是赴往英格兰了; 关於他们,
我有很多话要和你说。 再会。
你的哈姆雷特。』
{对海员们}
请你们跟我来罢。 我会让你们赶快把那封信送给国王, 这样,
你们就能尽快的把我带去发信者那边。
[全人出]
_______________________________________________________________________
译者注
(1). 在此指哈姆雷特, 因为船员们不认得他是王子, 只道他是驻英大使。
第七景: 宫中
[国王与雷尔提入]
王: 此刻你应打心里明白, 我乃清白的;
再之, 你应把我当作你心中之挚友,
因为, 恰如你所耳闻与心晓, 杀害令尊那人也曾图谋於我。
雷: 观之确是如此;
不过, 请您告诉我, 为何不对此等穷凶恶极之暴行采取行动,
就如当您被其它涉及安全、理智之事挑拨时一般?
王: 唉, 就是为了两个特别原因;
对你来说, 它们也许不成理由; 不过, 对我来说, 它们可关系重大:
皇后--他的母亲--几乎一天见不到他就不能活。
至於我, 这也许是我的优点, 但也可能是我的弱点:
她与我的生命、灵魂结合之密切,
就如天上之星星必有其轨道: 无她, 我勿能行走。
另一原因使我不能公然的对他采取行动,
就是老百姓对他之超常爱戴。
他们将把他的过失沉溺於一片热诚中,
就像矿泉能化木为石, 他们也将把他的罪过化成美德。
所以, 我控诉他罪行之箭弩, 将单薄的禁不起此等强风吹击,
它们不但不会射中目标, 反而会被吹返至我。
雷: 那么, 我就如此的丧失了一位高贵的父亲;
我的妹妹, 从前她的美德是举世无双的, 现在, 她已疯癫。
但是, 我的复仇之期总有一天会到来的。
王: 你无需为此失眠。
你也切勿认为寡人是懦弱之材所建,
会去任人揪扯我的胡须, 而视之为儿戏;
关於此点, 你马上就会听闻到更多的。
寡人爱汝父, 但也爱自己; 由此, 我希望你即可看出...
[传信人持信入]
怎么! 有何消息?
传信人: 来至哈姆雷特的信件, 主公;
这封是给陛下的。 这封给皇后。
王: 来至哈姆雷特! 哪人送来的?
传信人: 听说是海员们送来的, 主公, 可是我没见到他们。
克劳戴欧取了它给我, 他是从送信人那儿得来的。
王: 雷尔提, 你也该听听这些...
{对传信人} 退下!
[传信人退出]
[读信:]
『巍巍大王:
此信是让您知道, 我已赤身的返回陛下国境,
明日我将要求晋见陛下御容,
那时, 我要先乞求陛下谅解,
然後, 我将告诉您我这次突然归国之缘由。
哈姆雷特敬上』
这是什么意思? 其他的人们也都回来了吗?
或者, 这只是个骗局, 其实全无此事?
雷: 您认得他的笔迹吗?
王: 这的确是他的亲笔。
『赤身,』
在此还附上了一句:『单独而来,』
你能解释这些吗?
雷: 我也不懂, 不过, 陛下, 任他来罢;
知道在我有生之期能够见到他, 并能当面告诉他『你死期至也!』
已暖和了我这缠疾之心。
王: {指著信}
如果这是真的, 雷尔提--
虽然它看起来很怪, 但是, 它怎会不真?--
那么, 你肯否采纳我的一片忠言?
雷: 会的, 主公, 只要您别教我去与他和解。
王: 和解你个人之患足矣!
要是他是真正的回来了, 那么他已切短了他的行程, 并且也无心继续;
那么, 我就要引他进我所编制之上好圈套, 教他不得不坠陷,
让无人能归咎他之死亡--甚至连其母都会谅解此事, 称之为『意外。』
雷: 主公, 我将听从您的指示, 尤其您若能安排我作此事之机键。
王: 那是理所当然的。
自从你出国後, 就有许多人在哈姆雷特面前提起你的某一超众技能。
你的所有长处加起来, 也没比那个使他更嫉妒;
虽然, 依我观之, 它还未必是你的最佳之处呢!
雷: 您是说哪一方面, 主公?
王: 一个少年们的玩意儿, 不过, 它仍然是极重要的:
少年们可以有少年们的轻率, 就如长者必须有长者之稳重一般。
两个月前, 有位从诺曼地{注1}来的先生至此。
我领教过法国人, 也曾跟法国人打过仗, 知道他们都有精湛的骑术,
不过, 这位勇士的骑技更是出神入化。
他就好像长在马鞍上一般, 演出了一些令人不可思议的技巧,
让观者觉得他与其骏实是同身共体。
他的技艺早已远超了我所能想像之, 令我叹为观止!
雷: 您说他是诺曼地人?
王: 诺曼地人。
雷: 那么, 我敢打赌, 此人就是勒孟德!
王: 正是。
雷: 我与他很熟, 他是他国家皇冠上之瑰宝。
王: 他曾私地 给了你一些评语。
他对你的武艺, 尤其是你的剑术, 更是赞不绝口。
他曾说, 若能找得一人有本事与你对敌, 那才是真正的可观。
他发誓, 法国的所有高手, 与你相形之下,
他们的风格、防犯、与准确都不及你。
先生啊, 当哈姆雷特听到此等夸奖时, 他就妒火攻心,
恨不得你能马上归国, 与他比个高下。 由此点...
雷: 什么, 主公?
王: 雷尔提呀, 你是否真正的爱你的父亲?
或者, 你只不过是幅悲哀的绘像--有面, 而无心?
雷: 您为何问此?
王: 并不是因我觉得你不爱你的父亲,
而是, 我知道爱乃出自时光;
而且, 经验也曾告诉我, 时光亦能使爱的光辉黯淡。
在爱的火焰里, 就藏有一种能使它能熄灭之芯。
好事通常是不能持久的; 它盛极之後, 必将衰亡。
所以, 我们此时欲做之事, 就应立刻去做, 否则, 心志可变;
许多语言、行动、与时机都能使它反悔、拖延。
到那时, 心志就好像患者之悲叹: 它能使你暂时舒畅,
但是, 它对你实在是仅有害处而以{注2}。
好了, 言归正传, 现在哈姆雷特已归国,
你打算如何用行动, 不用字句的来表示你是汝父之子呢?
雷: 在教堂里割他的喉咙!
王: 真是, 杀人者在任何地方都不应该得到庀护, 复仇是应无界限的。
不过, 善良的雷尔提, 你就这样做好了: 你可留在你的屋内,
当哈姆雷特回到家时, 他就会发现你已归国了。 那时,
我就可以使唤一些人来宣扬你的本领,
让那位法国先生给你的名气倍增。
到头来, 你总会有机会与他比赛, 并会有人为你们下注的。
他是个粗心、宽宏、无心机之人,
他决对不会去仔细的检察那些比赛用之刀剑,
那时, 你就可以很轻易的去作些手脚, 选柄无护盖之利剑,
用你的熟练剑法来一刃复你杀父之仇!
雷: 我就如此去办!
为此, 我将把我的长剑涂以油膏{注3}。
我在某秘医处曾购得一服毒剂,
此毒之剧, 刀剑若沾此物, 即可见血致命,
而天下最稀昂之灵丹、膏药均无法解毒。
我将在我的剑尖上涂以此药, 那时, 我只须把他轻轻挑伤,
他就必死无疑。
王: 让我们再深虑此事, 认定实行此计之最佳时机;
因为此计若有失误, 我们的马脚将露, 那还不如不去尝试此事。
所以, 我们必须有一後补之计, 以防前者之失。
且慢, 让我想想... 朕肯为你的机智打赌...
有了! 当你们斗得又热又渴时--你必需付出你的全副精力来致使他如此--
他必然会来讨水喝。 那时, 我将准备一盅鸩酒与他。
假使他能侥幸的逃开你的毒剑刺戳, 那他只需啜一小口此酒,
我们就大功告成了。
{门外传出响声}
稍候, 什么声音?
[皇后入]
有何事, 甜美的皇后?
后: 一件件悲事接踵而来,
它们来得太快了。
你的妹妹溺死了, 雷尔提。
雷: 溺死? 啊, 在哪里?
后: 在那小溪旁, 有株倾斜的杨柳树,
它的灰白叶子倒映在如镜的水面上。
在那儿, 她用金凤花、荨麻、雏菊、
与紫兰编制了一些绮丽的花圈。
粗野的牧童们曾给这些花取过些俗名,
但是,
咱们的少女们却称它们为『死人之指。』
当她企图挂此花圈於那枝梢时,
那根摇摇欲坠的枝干就折断了,
使她与花一并落入那正在低泣的小溪中, 她的衣裳漂散在水面上。
有段时间, 她的衣裳使她像人鱼般的漂浮起来,
那时, 她口里只哼唱著一些老诗歌, 好像完全不顾自己的危险,
也好像她本来就生长在水中一般。 可是, 这种情况无法持久,
当她的衣裳被溪水浸透之後, 这位可怜的姑娘,
就在婉转的歌声中被卷入泥泞中...
雷: 唉, 那么, 她是淹死了?
后: 淹死了, 淹死了...
雷: 你已得到太多水了, 可怜的欧菲莉亚, 所以, 我不许我流泪。
{企图控制感情}
但是, 人类的感情是无法遏阻的呀,
我只好不顾惭愧...{开始抽搐}
当此泪水乾涸後, 我这女子般的仁心也将随之消逝。
再会罢, 主公;
我有一篇猛烈如火的话积在胸中需要爆发,
但是, 此时它已被泪水浇灭。
[出]
王: 我们跟他过去, 葛簇特,
我曾花了多少心血使他冷静下来,
现在, 只怕他又要从头开始。
所以, 我们跟他去罢!
[全人出]
{第四幕完}
______________________________________________________________________
译者注
(1). 诺曼地: 法国西北部之一地区。
(2). 古人以为叹息能使人暂时舒服, 但是对身体有害。
(3). 涂膏(Anoint): 涂以油膏, 使某人(或某物)神圣化。
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter King and Queen, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Claudius. There's matter in these sighs. These profound heaves
You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?
Gertrude. Bestow this place on us a little while.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.] 2630
Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night!
Claudius. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Gertrude. Mad as the sea and wind when both contend
Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit
Behind the arras hearing something stir, 2635
Whips out his rapier, cries 'A rat, a rat!'
And in this brainish apprehension kills
The unseen good old man.
Claudius. O heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there. 2640
His liberty is full of threats to all-
To you yourself, to us, to every one.
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt 2645
This mad young man. But so much was our love
We would not understand what was most fit,
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone? 2650Gertrude. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd;
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shows itself pure. He weeps for what is done.
Claudius. O Gertrude, come away! 2655
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch
But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed
We must with all our majesty and skill
Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern!
[Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.] 2660
Friends both, go join you with some further aid.
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him.
Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you haste in this. 2665
[Exeunt [Rosencrantz and Guildenstern].]
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends
And let them know both what we mean to do
And what's untimely done. [So haply slander-]
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, 2670
As level as the cannon to his blank,
Transports his poisoned shot- may miss our name
And hit the woundless air.- O, come away!
My soul is full of discord and dismay.
Exeunt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Act IV, Scene 2
Elsinore. A passage in the Castle.
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Enter Hamlet.
Hamlet. Safely stow'd.
Gentlemen. [within] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!
Hamlet. But soft! What noise? Who calls on Hamlet? O, here they
come.
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Rosencrantz. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?
Hamlet. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin.
Rosencrantz. Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence
And bear it to the chapel. 2685Hamlet. Do not believe it.
Rosencrantz. Believe what?
Hamlet. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Besides, to be
demanded of a sponge, what replication should be made by the son
of a king? 2690Rosencrantz. Take you me for a sponge, my lord?
Hamlet. Ay, sir; that soaks up the King's countenance, his rewards,
his authorities. But such officers do the King best service in
the end. He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw;
first mouth'd, to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have 2695
glean'd, it is but squeezing you and, sponge, you shall be dry
again.
Rosencrantz. I understand you not, my lord.
Hamlet. I am glad of it. A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.
Rosencrantz. My lord, you must tell us where the body is and go with us to 2700
the King.
Hamlet. The body is with the King, but the King is not with the body.
The King is a thing-
Guildenstern. A thing, my lord?
Hamlet. Of nothing. Bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after. 2705Exeunt.
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Act IV, Scene 3
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
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Enter King.
Claudius. 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. 2710
He's lov'd of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And where 'tis so, th' offender's scourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
This sudden sending him away must seem 2715
Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are reliev'd,
Or not at all.
[Enter Rosencrantz.]
How now O What hath befall'n? 2720Rosencrantz. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
We cannot get from him.
Claudius. But where is he?
Rosencrantz. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
Claudius. Bring him before us. 2725Rosencrantz. Ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord.
Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern [with Attendants].
Claudius. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
Hamlet. At supper.
Claudius. At supper? Where? 2730Hamlet. 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 for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar
is but variable service- two dishes, but to one table. That's the 2735
end.
Claudius. Alas, alas!
Hamlet. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat
of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
Claudius. What dost thou mean by this? 2740Hamlet. Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through
the guts of a beggar.
Claudius. 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 indeed, if you 2745
find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up
the stair, into the lobby.
Claudius. Go seek him there. [To Attendants.]
Hamlet. He will stay till you come.
[Exeunt Attendants.]
Claudius. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,-
Which we do tender as we dearly grieve
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, 2755
Th' associates tend, and everything is bent
For England.
Hamlet. For England?
Claudius. Ay, Hamlet.
Hamlet. Good. 2760Claudius. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
Hamlet. I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England!
Farewell, dear mother.
Claudius. Thy loving father, Hamlet.
Hamlet. My mother! Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is 2765
one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!
Exit.
Claudius. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard.
Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night.
Away! for everything is seal'd and done 2770
That else leans on th' affair. Pray you make haste.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]
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 2775
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
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; 2780
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. Exit.
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Act IV, Scene 4
Near Elsinore.
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Enter Fortinbras with his Army over the stage.
Fortinbras. Go, Captain, from me greet the Danish king. 2785
Tell him that by his license Fortinbras
Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his Majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye; 2790
And let him know so.
Norwegian Captain. I will do't, my lord.
Fortinbras. Go softly on.
Exeunt [all but the Captain].
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, [Guildenstern,] and others.
Hamlet. Good sir, whose powers are these?
Norwegian Captain. They are of Norway, sir.
Hamlet. How purpos'd, sir, I pray you?
Norwegian Captain. Against some part of Poland.
Hamlet. Who commands them, sir? 2800Norwegian Captain. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
Hamlet. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,
Or for some frontier?
Norwegian Captain. Truly to speak, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground 2805
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
Hamlet. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. 2810Norwegian Captain. Yes, it is already garrison'd.
Hamlet. Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats
Will not debate the question of this straw.
This is th' imposthume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without 2815
Why the man dies.- I humbly thank you, sir.
Norwegian Captain. God b' wi' you, sir. [Exit.]
Rosencrantz. Will't please you go, my lord?
Hamlet. I'll be with you straight. Go a little before.
[Exeunt all but Hamlet.] 2820
How all occasions do inform against me
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure he that made us with such large discourse, 2825
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on th' event,- 2830
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward,- I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do,'
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me. 2835
Witness this army of such mass and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure 2840
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then, 2845
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men
That for a fantasy and trick of fame 2850
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! Exit. 2855
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Act IV, Scene 5
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
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Enter Horatio, Queen, and a Gentleman.
Gertrude. I will not speak with her.
Gentleman. She is importunate, indeed distract.
Her mood will needs be pitied.
Gertrude. What would she have? 2860Gentleman. She speaks much of her father; says she hears
There's tricks i' th' world, and hems, and beats her heart;
Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move 2865
The hearers to collection; they aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily. 2870Horatio. 'Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
Gertrude. Let her come in.
[Exit Gentleman.]
[Aside] To my sick soul (as sin's true nature is) 2875
Each toy seems Prologue to some great amiss.
So full of artless jealousy is guilt
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
Enter Ophelia distracted.
Ophelia. Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark? 2880Gertrude. How now, Ophelia?
Ophelia. [sings]
How should I your true-love know
From another one?
By his cockle bat and' staff 2885
And his sandal shoon.
Gertrude. Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?
Ophelia. Say you? Nay, pray You mark.
(Sings) He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone; 2890
At his head a grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone.
O, ho!
Gertrude. Nay, but Ophelia-
Ophelia. Pray you mark. 2895
(Sings) White his shroud as the mountain snow-
Enter King.
Gertrude. Alas, look here, my lord!
Ophelia. [Sings]
Larded all with sweet flowers; 2900
Which bewept to the grave did not go
With true-love showers.
Claudius. How do you, pretty lady?
Ophelia. Well, God dild you! They say the owl was a baker's daughter.
Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at 2905
your table!
Claudius. Conceit upon her father.
Ophelia. Pray let's have no words of this; but when they ask, you what
it means, say you this:
(Sings) To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, 2910
All in the morning bedtime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose and donn'd his clo'es
And dupp'd the chamber door, 2915
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
Claudius. Pretty Ophelia!
Ophelia. Indeed, la, without an oath, I'll make an end on't!
[Sings] By Gis and by Saint Charity, 2920
Alack, and fie for shame!
Young men will do't if they come to't
By Cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, 'Before you tumbled me,
You promis'd me to wed.' 2925
He answers:
'So would I 'a' done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed.'
Claudius. How long hath she been thus?
Ophelia. I hope all will be well. We must be patient; but I cannot 2930
choose but weep to think they would lay him i' th' cold ground.
My brother shall know of it; and so I thank you for your good
counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies. Good night, sweet
ladies. Good night, good night. Exit
Claudius. Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. 2935
[Exit Horatio.]
O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs
All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,
When sorrows come, they come not single spies.
But in battalions! First, her father slain; 2940
Next, your son gone, and he most violent author
Of his own just remove; the people muddied,
Thick and and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers
For good Polonius' death, and we have done but greenly
In hugger-mugger to inter him; poor Ophelia 2945
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,
Without the which we are pictures or mere beasts;
Last, and as much containing as all these,
Her brother is in secret come from France;
Feeds on his wonder, keeps, himself in clouds, 2950
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father's death,
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd,
Will nothing stick our person to arraign
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this, 2955
Like to a murd'ring piece, in many places
Give me superfluous death. A noise within.
Gertrude. Alack, what noise is this?
Claudius. Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door.
[Enter a Messenger.] 2960
What is the matter?
Messenger. Save Yourself, my lord:
The ocean, overpeering of his list,
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste
Than Young Laertes, in a riotous head, 2965
O'erbears Your offices. The rabble call him lord;
And, as the world were now but to begin,
Antiquity forgot, custom not known,
The ratifiers and props of every word,
They cry 'Choose we! Laertes shall be king!' 2970
Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds,
'Laertes shall be king! Laertes king!'
A noise within.
Gertrude. How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs! 2975Claudius. The doors are broke.
Enter Laertes with others.
Laertes. Where is this king?- Sirs, staid you all without.
All. No, let's come in!
Laertes. I pray you give me leave. 2980All. We will, we will!
Laertes. I thank you. Keep the door. [Exeunt his Followers.]
O thou vile king,
Give me my father!
Gertrude. Calmly, good Laertes. 2985Laertes. That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard;
Cries cuckold to my father; brands the harlot
Even here between the chaste unsmirched brows
Of my true mother.
Claudius. What is the cause, Laertes, 2990
That thy rebellion looks so giantlike?
Let him go, Gertrude. Do not fear our person.
There's such divinity doth hedge a king
That treason can but peep to what it would,
Acts little of his will. Tell me, Laertes, 2995
Why thou art thus incens'd. Let him go, Gertrude.
Speak, man.
Laertes. Where is my father?
Claudius. Dead.
Gertrude. But not by him! 3000Claudius. Let him demand his fill.
Laertes. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with:
To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!
I dare damnation. To this point I stand, 3005
That both the world, I give to negligence,
Let come what comes; only I'll be reveng'd
Most throughly for my father.
Claudius. Who shall stay you?
Laertes. My will, not all the world! 3010
And for my means, I'll husband them so well
They shall go far with little.
Claudius. Good Laertes,
If you desire to know the certainty
Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge 3015
That sweepstake you will draw both friend and foe,
Winner and loser?
Laertes. None but his enemies.
Claudius. Will you know them then?
Laertes. To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms 3020
And, like the kind life-rend'ring pelican,
Repast them with my blood.
Claudius. Why, now You speak
Like a good child and a true gentleman.
That I am guiltless of your father's death, 3025
And am most sensibly in grief for it,
It shall as level to your judgment pierce
As day does to your eye.
A noise within: 'Let her come in.'
Laertes. How now? What noise is that? 3030
[Enter Ophelia. ]
O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt
Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May! 3035
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!
O heavens! is't possible a young maid's wits
Should be as mortal as an old man's life?
Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,
It sends some precious instance of itself 3040
After the thing it loves.
Ophelia. [sings]
They bore him barefac'd on the bier
(Hey non nony, nony, hey nony)
And in his grave rain'd many a tear. 3045
Fare you well, my dove!
Laertes. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,
It could not move thus.
Ophelia. You must sing 'A-down a-down, and you call him a-down-a.' O,
how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his 3050
master's daughter.
Laertes. This nothing's more than matter.
Ophelia. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love,
remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.
Laertes. A document in madness! Thoughts and remembrance fitted. 3055Ophelia. There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you,
and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.
O, you must wear your rue with a difference! There's a daisy. I
would give you some violets, but they wither'd all when my father
died. They say he made a good end. 3060
[Sings] For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
Laertes. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,
She turns to favour and to prettiness.
Ophelia. [sings]
And will he not come again? 3065
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead;
Go to thy deathbed;
He never will come again.
His beard was as white as snow, 3070
All flaxen was his poll.
He is gone, he is gone,
And we cast away moan.
God 'a'mercy on his soul!
And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God b' wi' you. 3075Exit.
Laertes. Do you see this, O God?
Claudius. Laertes, I must commune with your grief,
Or you deny me right. Go but apart,
Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will, 3080
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me.
If by direct or by collateral hand
They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give,
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours,
To you in satisfaction; but if not, 3085
Be you content to lend your patience to us,
And we shall jointly labour with your soul
To give it due content.
Laertes. Let this be so.
His means of death, his obscure funeral- 3090
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,
No noble rite nor formal ostentation,-
Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't in question.
Claudius. So you shall; 3095
And where th' offence is let the great axe fall.
I pray you go with me.
Exeunt
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Act IV, Scene 6
Elsinore. Another room in the Castle.
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Enter Horatio with an Attendant.
Horatio. What are they that would speak with me? 3100Servant. Seafaring men, sir. They say they have letters for you.
Horatio. Let them come in.
[Exit Attendant.]
I do not know from what part of the world
I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet. 3105Enter Sailors.
Sailor. God bless you, sir.
Horatio. Let him bless thee too.
Sailor. 'A shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for you,
sir,- it comes from th' ambassador that was bound for England- if 3110
your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is.
Horatio. [reads the letter] 'Horatio, when thou shalt have overlook'd
this, give these fellows some means to the King. They have
letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of
very warlike appointment gave us chase. Finding ourselves too 3115
slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour, and in the grapple I
boarded them. On the instant they got clear of our ship; so I
alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves
of mercy; but they knew what they did: I am to do a good turn for
them. Let the King have the letters I have sent, and repair thou 3120
to me with as much speed as thou wouldst fly death. I have words
to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb; yet are they much too
light for the bore of the matter. These good fellows will bring
thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course
for England. Of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. 3125
'He that thou knowest thine, HAMLET.'
Come, I will give you way for these your letters,
And do't the speedier that you may direct me
To him from whom you brought them. Exeunt.
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Act IV, Scene 7
Elsinore. Another room in the Castle.
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Enter King and Laertes.
Claudius. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,
And You must put me in your heart for friend,
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
That he which hath your noble father slain
Pursued my life. 3135Laertes. It well appears. But tell me
Why you proceeded not against these feats
So crimeful and so capital in nature,
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,
You mainly were stirr'd up. 3140Claudius. O, for two special reasons,
Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd,
But yet to me they are strong. The Queen his mother
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself,-
My virtue or my plague, be it either which,- 3145
She's so conjunctive to my life and soul
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
I could not but by her. The other motive
Why to a public count I might not go
Is the great love the general gender bear him, 3150
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
Convert his gives to graces; so that my arrows,
Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,
Would have reverted to my bow again, 3155
And not where I had aim'd them.
Laertes. And so have I a noble father lost;
A sister driven into desp'rate terms,
Whose worth, if praises may go back again,
Stood challenger on mount of all the age 3160
For her perfections. But my revenge will come.
Claudius. Break not your sleeps for that. You must not think
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
That we can let our beard be shook with danger,
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more. 3165
I lov'd your father, and we love ourself,
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine-
[Enter a Messenger with letters.]
How now? What news?
Messenger. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet: 3170
This to your Majesty; this to the Queen.
Claudius. From Hamlet? Who brought them?
Messenger. Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not.
They were given me by Claudio; he receiv'd them
Of him that brought them. 3175Claudius. Laertes, you shall hear them.
Leave us.
[Exit Messenger.]
[Reads]'High and Mighty,-You shall know I am set naked on your
kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes; 3180
when I shall (first asking your pardon thereunto) recount the
occasion of my sudden and more strange return. 'HAMLET.'
What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
Laertes. Know you the hand? 3185Claudius. 'Tis Hamlet's character. 'Naked!'
And in a postscript here, he says 'alone.'
Can you advise me?
Laertes. I am lost in it, my lord. But let him come!
It warms the very sickness in my heart 3190
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,
'Thus didest thou.'
Claudius. If it be so, Laertes
(As how should it be so? how otherwise?),
Will you be rul'd by me? 3195Laertes. Ay my lord,
So you will not o'errule me to a peace.
Claudius. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd
As checking at his voyage, and that he means
No more to undertake it, I will work him 3200
To exploit now ripe in my device,
Under the which he shall not choose but fall;
And for his death no wind shall breathe
But even his mother shall uncharge the practice
And call it accident. 3205Laertes. My lord, I will be rul'd;
The rather, if you could devise it so
That I might be the organ.
Claudius. It falls right.
You have been talk'd of since your travel much, 3210
And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality
Wherein they say you shine, Your sum of parts
Did not together pluck such envy from him
As did that one; and that, in my regard,
Of the unworthiest siege. 3215Laertes. What part is that, my lord?
Claudius. A very riband in the cap of youth-
Yet needfull too; for youth no less becomes
The light and careless livery that it wears
Than settled age his sables and his weeds, 3220
Importing health and graveness. Two months since
Here was a gentleman of Normandy.
I have seen myself, and serv'd against, the French,
And they can well on horseback; but this gallant
Had witchcraft in't. He grew unto his seat, 3225
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse
As had he been incorps'd and demi-natur'd
With the brave beast. So far he topp'd my thought
That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,
Come short of what he did. 3230Laertes. A Norman was't?
Claudius. A Norman.
Laertes. Upon my life, Lamound.
Claudius. The very same.
Laertes. I know him well. He is the broach indeed 3235
And gem of all the nation.
Claudius. He made confession of you;
And gave you such a masterly report
For art and exercise in your defence,
And for your rapier most especially, 3240
That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed
If one could match you. The scrimers of their nation
He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,
If you oppos'd them. Sir, this report of his
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy 3245
That he could nothing do but wish and beg
Your sudden coming o'er to play with you.
Now, out of this-
Laertes. What out of this, my lord?
Claudius. Laertes, was your father dear to you? 3250
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
A face without a heart,'
Laertes. Why ask you this?
Claudius. Not that I think you did not love your father;
But that I know love is begun by time, 3255
And that I see, in passages of proof,
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;
And nothing is at a like goodness still; 3260
For goodness, growing to a plurisy,
Dies in his own too-much. That we would do,
We should do when we would; for this 'would' changes,
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents; 3265
And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing. But to the quick o' th' ulcer!
Hamlet comes back. What would you undertake
To show yourself your father's son in deed
More than in words? 3270Laertes. To cut his throat i' th' church!
Claudius. No place indeed should murther sanctuarize;
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,
Will you do this? Keep close within your chamber.
Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home. 3275
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence
And set a double varnish on the fame
The Frenchman gave you; bring you in fine together
And wager on your heads. He, being remiss,
Most generous, and free from all contriving, 3280
Will not peruse the foils; so that with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A sword unbated, and, in a pass of practice,
Requite him for your father.
Laertes. I will do't! 3285
And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue 3290
Under the moon, can save the thing from death
This is but scratch'd withal. I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,
It may be death.
Claudius. Let's further think of this, 3295
Weigh what convenience both of time and means
May fit us to our shape. If this should fall,
And that our drift look through our bad performance.
'Twere better not assay'd. Therefore this project
Should have a back or second, that might hold 3300
If this did blast in proof. Soft! let me see.
We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings-
I ha't!
When in your motion you are hot and dry-
As make your bouts more violent to that end- 3305
And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepar'd him
A chalice for the nonce; whereon but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,
Our purpose may hold there.- But stay, what noise,
[Enter Queen.] 3310
How now, sweet queen?
Gertrude. One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
So fast they follow. Your sister's drown'd, Laertes.
Laertes. Drown'd! O, where?
Gertrude. There is a willow grows aslant a brook, 3315
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them. 3320
There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up; 3325
Which time she chaunted snatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element; but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, 3330
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
Laertes. Alas, then she is drown'd?
Gertrude. Drown'd, drown'd.
Laertes. Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia, 3335
And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet
It is our trick; nature her custom holds,
Let shame say what it will. When these are gone,
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord.
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze 3340
But that this folly douts it. Exit.
Claudius. Let's follow, Gertrude.
How much I had to do to calm his rage I
Now fear I this will give it start again;
Therefore let's follow. 3345
Exeunt.
第一景: 皇后寝室
[皇后在台上, 国王与罗生克兰、盖登思邓入]
王: 观此处之情景, 与你之深喘, 表明了此处曾发生大事。
你说呀, 我有必要知道, 你的儿子在哪里?
后: {对罗与盖}请你们暂且离开。
[罗与盖出]
啊, 我的丈夫呀, 今晚我所见到的...
王: 什么事, 葛簇特? 哈姆雷特怎么啦?
后: 就像大海与暴风在教量威力时般的疯狂;
在他野性发作时, 听到帐幕後有声音骚动, 他就拔出他的长剑,
口嚷著『有老鼠, 有老鼠』, 然後, 就在此一阵疑心病狂中,
把那正躲著的仁慈老者刺死。
王: 唉呀, 惨啊!
假如反是我在那儿的话, 那我必然也会得到同样遭遇。
他的自由威胁到了大家--你、我、与每人。
唉, 应如何的为此血腥行为作个交代?
人们一定会怪我, 怪我为何没把这发狂的青年管制好, 使他无从作怪。
这全因我爱他过甚, 使我无法接受对他最有益之选择;
这就像个恶疾的患者, 为了隐瞒他的病情, 而导致最後病入膏肓。
他去哪里了?
后: 去拖走他所杀之尸体。
为了此事,
他的良心已像废铁中之真金, 放出纯良的光芒:
他已为此事哭泣。
王: 唉, 葛簇特, 走吧!
在太阳未下山之前, 我就得把他用船送走,
而我必须尽我为君之权能来为此恶行作个解释。
喂, 盖登思邓!
[罗生克兰与盖登思邓入]
二位朋友, 去找人来帮助你们。
哈姆雷特在一阵疯狂中, 已把波隆尼尔杀死,
并且已把尸体由其母亲寝房内拖走。
请你们去把他寻来。
你们得好好的与他说话, 并把尸体带到圣堂。
你们赶快去办此事罢!
[罗与盖出]
来罢, 葛簇特,
让我们去召集那些最有见识之朋友们,
告诉他们这件不幸的事故与我们之决策。
希望那飞得直快如弹丸之诽谤、中伤语言不会击中我,
而仅击中那不会受伤的空气。
唉, 走罢; 我的心灵充满了惶恐。
第二景
{城堡中之另一室}
[哈姆雷特入]
哈: 安放好了{指波隆尼尔之尸体}。
[呐喊声音由远处传来]
什么声音? 谁在唤哈姆雷特? 啊, 他们来了。
[罗生克兰与盖登思邓入]
罗: 您把尸体怎么了, 殿下?
哈: 把它归於尘土了, 它们本是同根。
罗: 请告诉我们它在哪里, 我们才能把它带去圣堂。
哈: 别相信它。
罗: 相信什么?
哈: 相信我会为你们保密, 而不会为自己保密。
再之, 被一块海绵质问, 一位堂堂王子应如何答覆?
罗: 您把我当成一块海绵, 殿下?
哈: 是的, 先生。
一块吸取国王恩宠、奖励、与权势之海绵;
不过, 此类的臣子对国王来说, 到底是最有用的:
他可以像猿猴般的把你们放在他的口颊里, 以待吞食。
当他需要你们所吸取之物时, 他只要把你们轻轻一挤,
你们就会像海绵般的被挤乾净。
罗: 我不懂您的意思, 殿下。
哈: 我很高兴,
俏皮话在蠢人的耳朵里总是枉然的。
罗: 殿下, 您必须告诉我们尸体在那里, 并和我们一起去见国王。
哈: 尸体是与国王同在, {指先王}
但是国王并不与尸体同在。 {指其叔}
国王是个...
盖: 是个什么东西, 殿下?
哈: 是个无用的东西。
带我去见他罢!
{边跑边喊}
躲迷藏呀, 大家来找!
[全人出]
第三景: 宫中
[国王与两、三位侍从入]
王: 我已派人去找他, 并去搜寻那尸体.
让此人逍遥於外是多么危险的一件事,
但是我也不能立刻去拿他来严办,
因为他深受那些糊涂群众之爱戴;
这些人只顾外观, 不听理智;
他们只会考虑到刑法之苛厉, 而把犯者之严重罪行置於脑後。
为了安抚这些人,
我必须把他突然的离去作得像是个经过深思熟虑後的抉择。
欲治重疾, 必下重药也!
[罗生克兰、盖登思邓、与众人入]
怎样, 有何消息?
罗: 我们无法使他招出尸体之藏匿处, 主公。
王: 可是他人呢?
罗: 被押在外, 等候您的旨示。
王: 把他带进来见朕。
罗: 喂! 引进殿下!
[哈姆雷特与卫士入]
王: 哈姆雷特, 波隆尼尔在哪里?
哈: 在晚餐。
王: 晚餐? 在哪里?
哈: 不是他在哪里『吃,』 而是他在哪里『被吃。』
此刻有窝非常精明挑剔的蛆虫, 正忙著在吃他呢。
蛆才是我们真正的『食客之王』:
我们把世界上所有的动物养胖後来喂我们,
而我们却把自己养胖後去喂蛆。
一个胖国王与一个瘦乞丐, 到头来,
只不过是同桌上的两道菜而已。
王: 唉, 唉。
哈: 一个人能用一条吃过国王的蛆来作饵钓鱼,
然後把这条吃过蛆的鱼食入肚内。
王: 你这句话是什么意思?
哈: 没什么意思,
只是让您看看一个国王怎样能够贯穿过一个乞丐的肠子。
王: 波隆尼尔在那里?
哈: 在天堂; 您可差人去那里找他。
假如您的使者在那里找不到他的话, 那您可以自己往另一处寻找。
假如在一月之内还找他不到的话,
那您仅须去楼上厅里, 就会闻到他的。
王: [对众侍从] 你们快去那里找他!
哈: 他会在那里等候你们的。
[侍从们出]
王: 哈姆雷特,
我对你个人安全之关怀, 就如我对此事之痛心;
为了此事, 我得十万火急的送你出境;
你可马上准备启程!
此时船支已备, 风向已顺, 侍者已待, 万事已齐,
让你立刻赴往英格兰。
哈: 赴往英格兰?
王: 是的, 哈姆雷特。
哈: 好罢。
王: 就这么办, 如果你能明白我的好意。
哈: 我见到一个明白您好意之天使{注1}。
好, 去英格兰。
再会罢, 亲爱的母亲。
王: {纠正他} 是爱你的父亲, 哈姆雷特。
哈: 是我的母亲:
父母乃夫妻, 夫妻乃同体;
所以--我的母亲。
走, 去英格兰。
[出]
王: {对罗与盖} 把他紧紧的跟好, 教他立刻就上船, 不可耽误;
我要他今晚就走。
去呀! 所有的文件都已准备、密封好了, 你们快去!
[全体人出, 仅留国王]
英格兰王啊, 汝邦受於丹麦之刀疤尚新, 至今仍虔敬的纳贡於本国;
因此, 仗吾邦之威信, 你不可不畏惧寡人之旨意。
此事在函中均已交代清楚, 那就是『速斩哈姆雷特。』
假使你重视寡人之友谊, 那你就必须办妥此事。
他是寡人心腹之大患、血液之热疾, 而你必须令吾痊愈。
此事未了, 寡人无法重获欢欣!
[出]
______________________________________________________________________
译者注:
(1). 哈姆雷特在此暗示他已晓得国王之诡计。
第四景: 丹麦原野
[福丁布拉引大军入]
福: 去罢, 队长, 去见丹麦王,
告诉他福丁布拉求他依诺容允本军安渡其境。
你已知道会合处在哪里; 倘若陛下还有其它指示,
那我将亲自晋见。
请告诉他这些。
尉官: 尊命, 主公。
福: 请慢行。
[大军出, 仅留尉官]
[哈姆雷特、罗生克兰、盖登思邓与众随从入]
哈: 好先生, 这是哪国的武力?
尉官: 是挪威的, 先生。
哈: 请问先生, 它是用於何方?
尉官: 去攻打波兰某处。
哈: 是谁在统率此军, 先生?
尉官: 挪威老王之侄, 福丁布拉。
哈: 是去攻打波兰本土呢, 还是它的边疆?
尉官: 不瞒您说, 我们是去争取一小块仅有空名之无用土地。
五块钱租给我--五块钱--教我去耕种此地, 我都不要;
就是把它给卖了, 也不会使挪威或波兰多赚得一文钱。
哈: 这么说, 波兰王是绝对不会去捍卫它罗。
尉官: 错了, 那里早驻有防军。
哈: 两千名军士之性命与两万块金洋都无法消灭此争执,
这分明是富裕与和平所导致之毒脓包;
脓包在体内爆裂, 已致人於死命,
但表面上仍看不出此人之死因也。
我谦逊的谢谢你, 长官。
尉官: 上帝与您同在, 先生。
[出]
罗: 您可走了吗, 殿下?
哈: 我马上就赶来, 你们先走。
[全人出, 仅留哈姆雷特]
许多事情之发生, 都像是在谴责我,
鞭策我那已钝的复仇心志向前!
假如一人整天只晓得吃与睡, 那他还算是什么东西?
他只不过是头畜牲而已。
创物者既已赐给我们思考之能力与瞻前顾後之远见,
那 一定不会希望我们让这些似神的能力因不用而霉 。
我不晓得我处事之慢, 是因我已像头畜牲般的把此事茫然忘却,
还是因我对此事有著过份的顾虑, 使我踌躇不前;
说真的, 此原因若分四份, 它包括了一分理智与三分懦弱。
其实, 我有足够的动机、心志、力量、与办法来完成此事,
也有许多明显的榜样在鼓励我。
瞧这庞大的队伍, 它的统帅是个年轻娇嫩的王子;
他仗著勃勃之勇气与天命之雄心, 罔顾不测之凶险,
拼著血肉之躯奋然和命运、死神、与危机挑战。
这全为了小小一块弹丸之地!
真正的伟大, 并不只是肯为轰轰烈烈之大事奋斗,
而是肯在一区区草管中力争一份荣耀。
而我呢? 我的父亲遭惨杀, 我的母亲被玷污,
我的理智与情感均被此深仇激动; 而我却无所行动。
我该多么的惭愧, 当我见到这两万名军士,
他们甘心在一念之间, 为一虚名而视死如归的步入他们的坟墓;
全为了争取一块连埋葬他们尸骨都不足之地。
啊, 从今开始, 我必痛下浴血之决心, 否则一切将枉然!
[出]
[出]
第五景: 艾辛诺尔堡中一室
[皇后、赫瑞修、与一绅士入]
后: 我不想和她说话。
绅士: 但是她一直疯疯癫癫的坚持著; 怪可怜的。
后: 她想要怎样?
绅士: 她一直提及她的父亲; 口称世人都在图谋不诡;
她咳嗽、 胸, 并老为些琐事争吵;
口中也尽讲些好似有意, 又好似无意之玄妙语言,
让听著茫茫不知所云;
当听者企图猜测她的意思时,
他们只能把她的字句连拼带凑的作个大概解释。
不过, 看她比手划脚、点头霎目之模样又好像颇有深意的样子。
赫: 最好能与她谈话, 以免好事者们会去传播那些不利之谣。
后: 让她进来罢。
[绅士出]
[私下]
我心内之疚使我忐忐不安, 唯恐小事即是大祸的前兆;
罪恶通常是会如此, 愈多疑, 就愈容易使鬼胎毕露。
[欧菲莉亚入]
欧: 丹麦的美丽皇后在那里呀?
后: 怎么啦, 欧菲莉亚?
欧: [口唱民谣]
『怎能识得真情郎?
观其毡帽、手杖与草鞋。』
后: 唉, 甜蜜的姑娘, 你为何要唱这首歌?
欧: 您说什么? 不, 请听著罢:
『他已死了, 不复还, 夫人呀,
他已死了,再也不复还;
头上一撮草,
踝下一块石。』
呜乎...
后: 但是, 欧菲莉亚...
欧: 请听:
[唱]
『他的殓衣白如雪...』
[国王入]
后: 唉, 陛下您瞧。
欧:『锦簇鲜花陪葬礼,
毫无真情入棺材。』
王: 你怎么了, 美丽的姑娘?
欧: 上帝保佑您。
有人说, 猫头鹰曾是个面包师的女儿{注1};
陛下, 我们知道我们现在是怎样,
但是不知将来会变成如何。
但愿上帝与您共餐。
王: 她在哀念她的父亲。
欧: 我们别再为此事争论了,
倘若有人问你它的意思, 你就回答:
『明天是情人节;
我是个少女,
将在清晨起床时, 等候於你的窗前,
作你的情人{注2}。
他就起床穿衣,
把寝室之门启开, 让少女进来。
以後出去的, 将不再是个少女。』
王: 美丽的欧菲莉亚...
欧: 让我把这故事讲完:
『天主慈悲, 唉, 可耻呀,
少年郎们总是会偷机,
他们应负责。
她说: 在你未与我共眠前,
你曾许诺将娶我。
他回答: 我发誓,
我本是如此打算,
倘若你未上我床。』
王: 她这样子有多久了?
欧: 我希望万事都美好;
我们都应有耐心;
但是, 我不能不流泪,
当我想到他被埋入那冰冷的泥土时。
我兄将知此事,
所以让我先谢谢您们的劝言。
来罢, 我的马车,
晚安, 夫人们, 晚安。
甜蜜的夫人们, 晚安, 晚安。
[欧菲莉亚出]
王: 紧紧的跟著她, 把她给看好; 我求求你。
[赫瑞修出]
, 此乃悲恸过甚之毒啊! 它全出自其父之死。
唉, 葛簇特呀, 葛簇特,
祸真不单行, 它来时可真是成群结队的。
最初是她父亲之死, 然後是你儿子之远离--那可是他自作自受的。
继之, 人们对波隆尼尔之死都早已心怀鬼胎的在议论纷纷,
而我却不智的把他草草埋葬。
还有, 可怜的欧菲莉亚, 现在她已失去了理智。 对她来说,
我们只不过是一些幻影、禽兽而已。
最糟糕的, 就是其兄现已由法秘密归国;
他对此事早已疑心重重;
他又身置五里雾中, 难免会有些爱弄是非者进与谗言,
传以其父死因之谣。
此事既早已混淆不清, 再加上流言,
人们很可能会毫不犹豫的归咎於我。
亲爱的葛簇特啊, 这就好像个散弹炮,
它足够杀死我数次!
[吆喝声由外传入]
听!
后: 唉哟, 那是什么声音呀?
王: 我的瑞士卫队呢{注3}? 教他们守住宫门!
[一报信侍者入]
发生了什么事?
侍者: 主公, 您快去回避罢,
雷尔提率著一群暴徒, 已以排山倒海之势击溃了您之卫队,
暴徒们称他为『主公』。 就像世界才刚开始般,
他们不顾传统, 不顾习俗, 不成体统的高喊著:
『我们推举雷尔提为王!』
他们掷帽拍手, 欢呼雷动, 呐喊声音震入云霄:
『雷尔提为王! 雷尔提为王!』
后: 他们执迷不悟的为他欢呼; 这是误入歧途啊,
你们这些犯错的丹麦狗!
[一声巨响传入]
王: 他们破门而入了!
[雷尔提持剑与手下入]
雷: 国王在哪里?
{对他的手下}
先生们, 你们先出去。
部署: 不, 让我们进来。
雷: 我求你们暂先出去!
部署: 好罢, 好罢。
雷: 谢谢。 把宫门守住。
[随员们出]
哼, 浑君, 把我父亲还来!
后: 冷静下来, 善良的雷尔提。
雷: 假如我身上任何一滴血是冷静的话,
那我真是个杂种, 我的父亲是个乌龟,
而我母亲贞节的额头上也被烙上个『娼妓』之臭名。
王: 什么原因使你如此的大胆犯上, 雷尔提?
放松他, 葛簇特, 不必为寡人之安全担心;
为君者自有神明护身, 乱臣无望得逞。
告诉我, 雷尔提, 什么事令你如此的恼怒?
放松他罢, 葛簇特!
你说呀!
雷: 我的父亲在哪里?
王: 死了。
后: 但是不是他杀的。
王: 尽管让他问罢!
雷: 他究竟是如何死的? 别想愚弄我;
我宁可为地狱效忠, 为魔鬼宣誓,
可把良知与神之恩典抛入万丈深渊;
我不惧毁灭, 更不在乎今生或来世;
我可任其来之, 只要我能彻底的为我父亲复仇!
王: 有谁能阻挡你?
雷: 除了我自己之外, 世界无一人能阻挡我。
只要我节约的去应用我的财富, 我终能尝愿。
王: 善良的雷尔提呀, 你欲知汝父死因真相, 但是晓得之後,
你能否不分敌友、不顾胜负的去履行你的复仇大计呢?
雷: 只要把他的敌人给我!
王: 你想知道他们是谁吗?
雷: 对他的朋友, 我将展开双臂的去拥抱他们;
就像那哺食的塘鹅, 我将心甘情愿的让他们来哺食我的热血(注4)。
王: 听你此时之口气, 才像是个真正的孝子、绅士。
朕对你父亲之死不但无咎, 反而为之痛心疾首;
此点你即将恍悟, 好似艳阳耀眼。
[欧菲莉亚的歌声传来]
让她进来。
雷: 什么, 那是何声?
[欧菲莉亚入]
啊, 烈火焙乾了我的脑浆, 泪水灼瞎了我的双目!
苍天在上, 我发誓要教那令你疯狂的仇人付出沉重的代价!
五月的玫瑰, 亲爱的少女, 善良的妹妹, 甜蜜的欧菲莉亚呀!
天哪! 难道一个少女的理智会像一个老者的生命一般脆弱?
爱是纤弱的, 它能为所爱之人牺牲自我。
欧: [唱著]
『众人抬他上柩架,
他在坟中泪如雨...』
再会罢, 我的鸽子。
雷: 就算你无丧失理智, 而前来要求我为你复仇,
你也不能比现在更俱有说服力。
欧: 你们要沉住气, 要沉住气;
纺轮连连转, 狡滑的管家把主人的女儿拐走了...
雷: 她的这些胡语比正言还更有深意...
欧: {从花篮中取花--也可能是假想的花-- 一朵一朵的递出}
{给雷尔提}
这是迷迭香, 它代表了回忆;
我求你, 亲爱的, 记著...
这些是三色堇, 它代表了心意。
雷: {把花收下}
这是疯症的训诲: 回忆与心意, 缔结为一。
欧: {对皇后}
这儿有茴香, 还有漏斗花, 给您(注5)。
{对国王}
这些芸香给您, 也留一些给我{注6},
在礼拜天, 我们可称它为『恩典之花。』
您戴芸香, 就应如戴您的纹章一般。
这儿还有些雏菊。
我也应给您些紫罗兰, 可是, 当我父亲死时, 它们全都枯萎了。
人们都说他得到了善终。
{唱著}
『甜美的罗彬, 他是我的喜悦。』
雷: 悲哀、不幸、与地狱的折磨,
在她身上, 都化为美物。
欧: {唱}
『他不回来吗?
他不回来吗?
不, 不, 他已死,
去你的临终之榻罢,
他再也不复返。
他的胡须如雪,
他的白首苍苍,
他已走了, 他已走了,
我们可把哀声抛弃,
上帝赐予他灵魂慈悲。』
上帝与信徒们的灵魂同在。
[出]
雷: 神呀, 您瞧著了吗?
王: 雷尔提呀,
寡人必须与你共负此悲,
否则, 你等於在排拒寡人之权责。
你快去罢, 去请教你最有见识之朋友们,
让他们来裁判你我之过结;
如果他们公认寡人是直接的或是间接的有罪,
那么, 我的江山、皇冠、生命、及所拥有的一切均将归属於你,
作为赔偿。
可是, 倘若他们不如此的判定, 那么, 寡人就要求你暂且忍耐,
让我们同心协力的来使你偿愿。
雷: 就如此议定。
他之不明死因,
他之草草出丧: 无祠堂、无军礼、无碑碣、无哀祭、无盛仪,
此等事物均在向天地喊冤, 使我不得不问个明白。
王: 你会的。
有罪者, 让惩罚之巨斧劈诛罢!
你和我来。
[全人出]
______________________________________________________________________
译者注
(1). 据当代传说, 一位面包师的女儿, 因吝啬而被惩罚为猫头鹰。
(2). 中古人相信, 女人在情人节那天所见到之第一男人, 将为其夫。
(3). 宫中的禁卫军乃顾来之瑞士佣兵。
(4). 古时人们认为塘鹅( 鹈)哺饲其血与其幼雏。
(5). 茴香与漏斗花代表了谄媚与不贞。
(6). 芸香代表了忏悔 。
第六景: 城堡中之另一室
[赫瑞修与一侍从入]
赫: 这些想和我谈话之人是谁?
侍从: 是海员们, 他们说他们有信要交给你。
赫: 让他们进来罢。
[侍从出]
除了哈姆雷特殿下之外, 我不晓得有谁会从海外写信给我。
[海员们入]
海员甲: 上帝祝福你, 先生。
赫: 也祝福你。
海员甲: 假如那是 的旨意, 那 会的, 先生。
{从口袋里取出一封信}
这里有封信给你, 先生,
它是从那赴英大使那儿来的{注1}--
如果你的名字是赫瑞修, 人们告诉我你就是。
赫: [读信]
『赫兄:
当你读到此信时, 请设法让这些人去见国王,
他们也有封信要交给他。
我们出海还不到两天, 就受到一艘非常凶猛的海盗船追击。
因为我们的船太慢, 所以我们只好被迫给予还击。
在一阵恶斗中, 我登上了他们的船;
就在那一刹那, 两船分开了;
因此, 我只好单独的成为了他们的俘虏。
他们对我还算是慈悲, 因为他们晓得他们之所为:
他们也要我为他们做件好事...
让国王收得我给他的那封信, 然後你就得亡命般的飞奔来此。
我有话要讲给你听, 它会令你目瞪口呆;
然而, 即使在那时, 它的严重性也无法被彻底的表达出来。
这些人会引你来至我这儿的。
罗生克兰与盖登思邓仍然是赴往英格兰了; 关於他们,
我有很多话要和你说。 再会。
你的哈姆雷特。』
{对海员们}
请你们跟我来罢。 我会让你们赶快把那封信送给国王, 这样,
你们就能尽快的把我带去发信者那边。
[全人出]
_______________________________________________________________________
译者注
(1). 在此指哈姆雷特, 因为船员们不认得他是王子, 只道他是驻英大使。
第七景: 宫中
[国王与雷尔提入]
王: 此刻你应打心里明白, 我乃清白的;
再之, 你应把我当作你心中之挚友,
因为, 恰如你所耳闻与心晓, 杀害令尊那人也曾图谋於我。
雷: 观之确是如此;
不过, 请您告诉我, 为何不对此等穷凶恶极之暴行采取行动,
就如当您被其它涉及安全、理智之事挑拨时一般?
王: 唉, 就是为了两个特别原因;
对你来说, 它们也许不成理由; 不过, 对我来说, 它们可关系重大:
皇后--他的母亲--几乎一天见不到他就不能活。
至於我, 这也许是我的优点, 但也可能是我的弱点:
她与我的生命、灵魂结合之密切,
就如天上之星星必有其轨道: 无她, 我勿能行走。
另一原因使我不能公然的对他采取行动,
就是老百姓对他之超常爱戴。
他们将把他的过失沉溺於一片热诚中,
就像矿泉能化木为石, 他们也将把他的罪过化成美德。
所以, 我控诉他罪行之箭弩, 将单薄的禁不起此等强风吹击,
它们不但不会射中目标, 反而会被吹返至我。
雷: 那么, 我就如此的丧失了一位高贵的父亲;
我的妹妹, 从前她的美德是举世无双的, 现在, 她已疯癫。
但是, 我的复仇之期总有一天会到来的。
王: 你无需为此失眠。
你也切勿认为寡人是懦弱之材所建,
会去任人揪扯我的胡须, 而视之为儿戏;
关於此点, 你马上就会听闻到更多的。
寡人爱汝父, 但也爱自己; 由此, 我希望你即可看出...
[传信人持信入]
怎么! 有何消息?
传信人: 来至哈姆雷特的信件, 主公;
这封是给陛下的。 这封给皇后。
王: 来至哈姆雷特! 哪人送来的?
传信人: 听说是海员们送来的, 主公, 可是我没见到他们。
克劳戴欧取了它给我, 他是从送信人那儿得来的。
王: 雷尔提, 你也该听听这些...
{对传信人} 退下!
[传信人退出]
[读信:]
『巍巍大王:
此信是让您知道, 我已赤身的返回陛下国境,
明日我将要求晋见陛下御容,
那时, 我要先乞求陛下谅解,
然後, 我将告诉您我这次突然归国之缘由。
哈姆雷特敬上』
这是什么意思? 其他的人们也都回来了吗?
或者, 这只是个骗局, 其实全无此事?
雷: 您认得他的笔迹吗?
王: 这的确是他的亲笔。
『赤身,』
在此还附上了一句:『单独而来,』
你能解释这些吗?
雷: 我也不懂, 不过, 陛下, 任他来罢;
知道在我有生之期能够见到他, 并能当面告诉他『你死期至也!』
已暖和了我这缠疾之心。
王: {指著信}
如果这是真的, 雷尔提--
虽然它看起来很怪, 但是, 它怎会不真?--
那么, 你肯否采纳我的一片忠言?
雷: 会的, 主公, 只要您别教我去与他和解。
王: 和解你个人之患足矣!
要是他是真正的回来了, 那么他已切短了他的行程, 并且也无心继续;
那么, 我就要引他进我所编制之上好圈套, 教他不得不坠陷,
让无人能归咎他之死亡--甚至连其母都会谅解此事, 称之为『意外。』
雷: 主公, 我将听从您的指示, 尤其您若能安排我作此事之机键。
王: 那是理所当然的。
自从你出国後, 就有许多人在哈姆雷特面前提起你的某一超众技能。
你的所有长处加起来, 也没比那个使他更嫉妒;
虽然, 依我观之, 它还未必是你的最佳之处呢!
雷: 您是说哪一方面, 主公?
王: 一个少年们的玩意儿, 不过, 它仍然是极重要的:
少年们可以有少年们的轻率, 就如长者必须有长者之稳重一般。
两个月前, 有位从诺曼地{注1}来的先生至此。
我领教过法国人, 也曾跟法国人打过仗, 知道他们都有精湛的骑术,
不过, 这位勇士的骑技更是出神入化。
他就好像长在马鞍上一般, 演出了一些令人不可思议的技巧,
让观者觉得他与其骏实是同身共体。
他的技艺早已远超了我所能想像之, 令我叹为观止!
雷: 您说他是诺曼地人?
王: 诺曼地人。
雷: 那么, 我敢打赌, 此人就是勒孟德!
王: 正是。
雷: 我与他很熟, 他是他国家皇冠上之瑰宝。
王: 他曾私地 给了你一些评语。
他对你的武艺, 尤其是你的剑术, 更是赞不绝口。
他曾说, 若能找得一人有本事与你对敌, 那才是真正的可观。
他发誓, 法国的所有高手, 与你相形之下,
他们的风格、防犯、与准确都不及你。
先生啊, 当哈姆雷特听到此等夸奖时, 他就妒火攻心,
恨不得你能马上归国, 与他比个高下。 由此点...
雷: 什么, 主公?
王: 雷尔提呀, 你是否真正的爱你的父亲?
或者, 你只不过是幅悲哀的绘像--有面, 而无心?
雷: 您为何问此?
王: 并不是因我觉得你不爱你的父亲,
而是, 我知道爱乃出自时光;
而且, 经验也曾告诉我, 时光亦能使爱的光辉黯淡。
在爱的火焰里, 就藏有一种能使它能熄灭之芯。
好事通常是不能持久的; 它盛极之後, 必将衰亡。
所以, 我们此时欲做之事, 就应立刻去做, 否则, 心志可变;
许多语言、行动、与时机都能使它反悔、拖延。
到那时, 心志就好像患者之悲叹: 它能使你暂时舒畅,
但是, 它对你实在是仅有害处而以{注2}。
好了, 言归正传, 现在哈姆雷特已归国,
你打算如何用行动, 不用字句的来表示你是汝父之子呢?
雷: 在教堂里割他的喉咙!
王: 真是, 杀人者在任何地方都不应该得到庀护, 复仇是应无界限的。
不过, 善良的雷尔提, 你就这样做好了: 你可留在你的屋内,
当哈姆雷特回到家时, 他就会发现你已归国了。 那时,
我就可以使唤一些人来宣扬你的本领,
让那位法国先生给你的名气倍增。
到头来, 你总会有机会与他比赛, 并会有人为你们下注的。
他是个粗心、宽宏、无心机之人,
他决对不会去仔细的检察那些比赛用之刀剑,
那时, 你就可以很轻易的去作些手脚, 选柄无护盖之利剑,
用你的熟练剑法来一刃复你杀父之仇!
雷: 我就如此去办!
为此, 我将把我的长剑涂以油膏{注3}。
我在某秘医处曾购得一服毒剂,
此毒之剧, 刀剑若沾此物, 即可见血致命,
而天下最稀昂之灵丹、膏药均无法解毒。
我将在我的剑尖上涂以此药, 那时, 我只须把他轻轻挑伤,
他就必死无疑。
王: 让我们再深虑此事, 认定实行此计之最佳时机;
因为此计若有失误, 我们的马脚将露, 那还不如不去尝试此事。
所以, 我们必须有一後补之计, 以防前者之失。
且慢, 让我想想... 朕肯为你的机智打赌...
有了! 当你们斗得又热又渴时--你必需付出你的全副精力来致使他如此--
他必然会来讨水喝。 那时, 我将准备一盅鸩酒与他。
假使他能侥幸的逃开你的毒剑刺戳, 那他只需啜一小口此酒,
我们就大功告成了。
{门外传出响声}
稍候, 什么声音?
[皇后入]
有何事, 甜美的皇后?
后: 一件件悲事接踵而来,
它们来得太快了。
你的妹妹溺死了, 雷尔提。
雷: 溺死? 啊, 在哪里?
后: 在那小溪旁, 有株倾斜的杨柳树,
它的灰白叶子倒映在如镜的水面上。
在那儿, 她用金凤花、荨麻、雏菊、
与紫兰编制了一些绮丽的花圈。
粗野的牧童们曾给这些花取过些俗名,
但是,
咱们的少女们却称它们为『死人之指。』
当她企图挂此花圈於那枝梢时,
那根摇摇欲坠的枝干就折断了,
使她与花一并落入那正在低泣的小溪中, 她的衣裳漂散在水面上。
有段时间, 她的衣裳使她像人鱼般的漂浮起来,
那时, 她口里只哼唱著一些老诗歌, 好像完全不顾自己的危险,
也好像她本来就生长在水中一般。 可是, 这种情况无法持久,
当她的衣裳被溪水浸透之後, 这位可怜的姑娘,
就在婉转的歌声中被卷入泥泞中...
雷: 唉, 那么, 她是淹死了?
后: 淹死了, 淹死了...
雷: 你已得到太多水了, 可怜的欧菲莉亚, 所以, 我不许我流泪。
{企图控制感情}
但是, 人类的感情是无法遏阻的呀,
我只好不顾惭愧...{开始抽搐}
当此泪水乾涸後, 我这女子般的仁心也将随之消逝。
再会罢, 主公;
我有一篇猛烈如火的话积在胸中需要爆发,
但是, 此时它已被泪水浇灭。
[出]
王: 我们跟他过去, 葛簇特,
我曾花了多少心血使他冷静下来,
现在, 只怕他又要从头开始。
所以, 我们跟他去罢!
[全人出]
{第四幕完}
______________________________________________________________________
译者注
(1). 诺曼地: 法国西北部之一地区。
(2). 古人以为叹息能使人暂时舒服, 但是对身体有害。
(3). 涂膏(Anoint): 涂以油膏, 使某人(或某物)神圣化。
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter King and Queen, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Claudius. There's matter in these sighs. These profound heaves
You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?
Gertrude. Bestow this place on us a little while.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.] 2630
Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night!
Claudius. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Gertrude. Mad as the sea and wind when both contend
Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit
Behind the arras hearing something stir, 2635
Whips out his rapier, cries 'A rat, a rat!'
And in this brainish apprehension kills
The unseen good old man.
Claudius. O heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there. 2640
His liberty is full of threats to all-
To you yourself, to us, to every one.
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt 2645
This mad young man. But so much was our love
We would not understand what was most fit,
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone? 2650Gertrude. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd;
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shows itself pure. He weeps for what is done.
Claudius. O Gertrude, come away! 2655
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch
But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed
We must with all our majesty and skill
Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern!
[Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.] 2660
Friends both, go join you with some further aid.
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him.
Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you haste in this. 2665
[Exeunt [Rosencrantz and Guildenstern].]
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends
And let them know both what we mean to do
And what's untimely done. [So haply slander-]
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, 2670
As level as the cannon to his blank,
Transports his poisoned shot- may miss our name
And hit the woundless air.- O, come away!
My soul is full of discord and dismay.
Exeunt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Act IV, Scene 2
Elsinore. A passage in the Castle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter Hamlet.
Hamlet. Safely stow'd.
Gentlemen. [within] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!
Hamlet. But soft! What noise? Who calls on Hamlet? O, here they
come.
Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Rosencrantz. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?
Hamlet. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin.
Rosencrantz. Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence
And bear it to the chapel. 2685Hamlet. Do not believe it.
Rosencrantz. Believe what?
Hamlet. That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own. Besides, to be
demanded of a sponge, what replication should be made by the son
of a king? 2690Rosencrantz. Take you me for a sponge, my lord?
Hamlet. Ay, sir; that soaks up the King's countenance, his rewards,
his authorities. But such officers do the King best service in
the end. He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw;
first mouth'd, to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have 2695
glean'd, it is but squeezing you and, sponge, you shall be dry
again.
Rosencrantz. I understand you not, my lord.
Hamlet. I am glad of it. A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.
Rosencrantz. My lord, you must tell us where the body is and go with us to 2700
the King.
Hamlet. The body is with the King, but the King is not with the body.
The King is a thing-
Guildenstern. A thing, my lord?
Hamlet. Of nothing. Bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after. 2705Exeunt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Act IV, Scene 3
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter King.
Claudius. 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. 2710
He's lov'd of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
And where 'tis so, th' offender's scourge is weigh'd,
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
This sudden sending him away must seem 2715
Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are reliev'd,
Or not at all.
[Enter Rosencrantz.]
How now O What hath befall'n? 2720Rosencrantz. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
We cannot get from him.
Claudius. But where is he?
Rosencrantz. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
Claudius. Bring him before us. 2725Rosencrantz. Ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord.
Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern [with Attendants].
Claudius. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
Hamlet. At supper.
Claudius. At supper? Where? 2730Hamlet. 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 for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar
is but variable service- two dishes, but to one table. That's the 2735
end.
Claudius. Alas, alas!
Hamlet. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat
of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
Claudius. What dost thou mean by this? 2740Hamlet. Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through
the guts of a beggar.
Claudius. 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 indeed, if you 2745
find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up
the stair, into the lobby.
Claudius. Go seek him there. [To Attendants.]
Hamlet. He will stay till you come.
[Exeunt Attendants.]
Claudius. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,-
Which we do tender as we dearly grieve
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, 2755
Th' associates tend, and everything is bent
For England.
Hamlet. For England?
Claudius. Ay, Hamlet.
Hamlet. Good. 2760Claudius. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
Hamlet. I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England!
Farewell, dear mother.
Claudius. Thy loving father, Hamlet.
Hamlet. My mother! Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is 2765
one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!
Exit.
Claudius. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard.
Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night.
Away! for everything is seal'd and done 2770
That else leans on th' affair. Pray you make haste.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]
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 2775
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
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; 2780
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. Exit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Act IV, Scene 4
Near Elsinore.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter Fortinbras with his Army over the stage.
Fortinbras. Go, Captain, from me greet the Danish king. 2785
Tell him that by his license Fortinbras
Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his Majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye; 2790
And let him know so.
Norwegian Captain. I will do't, my lord.
Fortinbras. Go softly on.
Exeunt [all but the Captain].
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, [Guildenstern,] and others.
Hamlet. Good sir, whose powers are these?
Norwegian Captain. They are of Norway, sir.
Hamlet. How purpos'd, sir, I pray you?
Norwegian Captain. Against some part of Poland.
Hamlet. Who commands them, sir? 2800Norwegian Captain. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
Hamlet. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,
Or for some frontier?
Norwegian Captain. Truly to speak, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground 2805
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
Hamlet. Why, then the Polack never will defend it. 2810Norwegian Captain. Yes, it is already garrison'd.
Hamlet. Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats
Will not debate the question of this straw.
This is th' imposthume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without 2815
Why the man dies.- I humbly thank you, sir.
Norwegian Captain. God b' wi' you, sir. [Exit.]
Rosencrantz. Will't please you go, my lord?
Hamlet. I'll be with you straight. Go a little before.
[Exeunt all but Hamlet.] 2820
How all occasions do inform against me
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure he that made us with such large discourse, 2825
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unus'd. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on th' event,- 2830
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward,- I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do,'
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me. 2835
Witness this army of such mass and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure 2840
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then, 2845
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men
That for a fantasy and trick of fame 2850
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! Exit. 2855
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Act IV, Scene 5
Elsinore. A room in the Castle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter Horatio, Queen, and a Gentleman.
Gertrude. I will not speak with her.
Gentleman. She is importunate, indeed distract.
Her mood will needs be pitied.
Gertrude. What would she have? 2860Gentleman. She speaks much of her father; says she hears
There's tricks i' th' world, and hems, and beats her heart;
Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move 2865
The hearers to collection; they aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily. 2870Horatio. 'Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
Gertrude. Let her come in.
[Exit Gentleman.]
[Aside] To my sick soul (as sin's true nature is) 2875
Each toy seems Prologue to some great amiss.
So full of artless jealousy is guilt
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
Enter Ophelia distracted.
Ophelia. Where is the beauteous Majesty of Denmark? 2880Gertrude. How now, Ophelia?
Ophelia. [sings]
How should I your true-love know
From another one?
By his cockle bat and' staff 2885
And his sandal shoon.
Gertrude. Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?
Ophelia. Say you? Nay, pray You mark.
(Sings) He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone; 2890
At his head a grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone.
O, ho!
Gertrude. Nay, but Ophelia-
Ophelia. Pray you mark. 2895
(Sings) White his shroud as the mountain snow-
Enter King.
Gertrude. Alas, look here, my lord!
Ophelia. [Sings]
Larded all with sweet flowers; 2900
Which bewept to the grave did not go
With true-love showers.
Claudius. How do you, pretty lady?
Ophelia. Well, God dild you! They say the owl was a baker's daughter.
Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at 2905
your table!
Claudius. Conceit upon her father.
Ophelia. Pray let's have no words of this; but when they ask, you what
it means, say you this:
(Sings) To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, 2910
All in the morning bedtime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose and donn'd his clo'es
And dupp'd the chamber door, 2915
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
Claudius. Pretty Ophelia!
Ophelia. Indeed, la, without an oath, I'll make an end on't!
[Sings] By Gis and by Saint Charity, 2920
Alack, and fie for shame!
Young men will do't if they come to't
By Cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, 'Before you tumbled me,
You promis'd me to wed.' 2925
He answers:
'So would I 'a' done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed.'
Claudius. How long hath she been thus?
Ophelia. I hope all will be well. We must be patient; but I cannot 2930
choose but weep to think they would lay him i' th' cold ground.
My brother shall know of it; and so I thank you for your good
counsel. Come, my coach! Good night, ladies. Good night, sweet
ladies. Good night, good night. Exit
Claudius. Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. 2935
[Exit Horatio.]
O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs
All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,
When sorrows come, they come not single spies.
But in battalions! First, her father slain; 2940
Next, your son gone, and he most violent author
Of his own just remove; the people muddied,
Thick and and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers
For good Polonius' death, and we have done but greenly
In hugger-mugger to inter him; poor Ophelia 2945
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,
Without the which we are pictures or mere beasts;
Last, and as much containing as all these,
Her brother is in secret come from France;
Feeds on his wonder, keeps, himself in clouds, 2950
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father's death,
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd,
Will nothing stick our person to arraign
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this, 2955
Like to a murd'ring piece, in many places
Give me superfluous death. A noise within.
Gertrude. Alack, what noise is this?
Claudius. Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door.
[Enter a Messenger.] 2960
What is the matter?
Messenger. Save Yourself, my lord:
The ocean, overpeering of his list,
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste
Than Young Laertes, in a riotous head, 2965
O'erbears Your offices. The rabble call him lord;
And, as the world were now but to begin,
Antiquity forgot, custom not known,
The ratifiers and props of every word,
They cry 'Choose we! Laertes shall be king!' 2970
Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the clouds,
'Laertes shall be king! Laertes king!'
A noise within.
Gertrude. How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs! 2975Claudius. The doors are broke.
Enter Laertes with others.
Laertes. Where is this king?- Sirs, staid you all without.
All. No, let's come in!
Laertes. I pray you give me leave. 2980All. We will, we will!
Laertes. I thank you. Keep the door. [Exeunt his Followers.]
O thou vile king,
Give me my father!
Gertrude. Calmly, good Laertes. 2985Laertes. That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard;
Cries cuckold to my father; brands the harlot
Even here between the chaste unsmirched brows
Of my true mother.
Claudius. What is the cause, Laertes, 2990
That thy rebellion looks so giantlike?
Let him go, Gertrude. Do not fear our person.
There's such divinity doth hedge a king
That treason can but peep to what it would,
Acts little of his will. Tell me, Laertes, 2995
Why thou art thus incens'd. Let him go, Gertrude.
Speak, man.
Laertes. Where is my father?
Claudius. Dead.
Gertrude. But not by him! 3000Claudius. Let him demand his fill.
Laertes. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with:
To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!
I dare damnation. To this point I stand, 3005
That both the world, I give to negligence,
Let come what comes; only I'll be reveng'd
Most throughly for my father.
Claudius. Who shall stay you?
Laertes. My will, not all the world! 3010
And for my means, I'll husband them so well
They shall go far with little.
Claudius. Good Laertes,
If you desire to know the certainty
Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge 3015
That sweepstake you will draw both friend and foe,
Winner and loser?
Laertes. None but his enemies.
Claudius. Will you know them then?
Laertes. To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms 3020
And, like the kind life-rend'ring pelican,
Repast them with my blood.
Claudius. Why, now You speak
Like a good child and a true gentleman.
That I am guiltless of your father's death, 3025
And am most sensibly in grief for it,
It shall as level to your judgment pierce
As day does to your eye.
A noise within: 'Let her come in.'
Laertes. How now? What noise is that? 3030
[Enter Ophelia. ]
O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt
Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May! 3035
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!
O heavens! is't possible a young maid's wits
Should be as mortal as an old man's life?
Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,
It sends some precious instance of itself 3040
After the thing it loves.
Ophelia. [sings]
They bore him barefac'd on the bier
(Hey non nony, nony, hey nony)
And in his grave rain'd many a tear. 3045
Fare you well, my dove!
Laertes. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,
It could not move thus.
Ophelia. You must sing 'A-down a-down, and you call him a-down-a.' O,
how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his 3050
master's daughter.
Laertes. This nothing's more than matter.
Ophelia. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love,
remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.
Laertes. A document in madness! Thoughts and remembrance fitted. 3055Ophelia. There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you,
and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.
O, you must wear your rue with a difference! There's a daisy. I
would give you some violets, but they wither'd all when my father
died. They say he made a good end. 3060
[Sings] For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
Laertes. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,
She turns to favour and to prettiness.
Ophelia. [sings]
And will he not come again? 3065
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead;
Go to thy deathbed;
He never will come again.
His beard was as white as snow, 3070
All flaxen was his poll.
He is gone, he is gone,
And we cast away moan.
God 'a'mercy on his soul!
And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God b' wi' you. 3075Exit.
Laertes. Do you see this, O God?
Claudius. Laertes, I must commune with your grief,
Or you deny me right. Go but apart,
Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will, 3080
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me.
If by direct or by collateral hand
They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give,
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours,
To you in satisfaction; but if not, 3085
Be you content to lend your patience to us,
And we shall jointly labour with your soul
To give it due content.
Laertes. Let this be so.
His means of death, his obscure funeral- 3090
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones,
No noble rite nor formal ostentation,-
Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call't in question.
Claudius. So you shall; 3095
And where th' offence is let the great axe fall.
I pray you go with me.
Exeunt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Act IV, Scene 6
Elsinore. Another room in the Castle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter Horatio with an Attendant.
Horatio. What are they that would speak with me? 3100Servant. Seafaring men, sir. They say they have letters for you.
Horatio. Let them come in.
[Exit Attendant.]
I do not know from what part of the world
I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet. 3105Enter Sailors.
Sailor. God bless you, sir.
Horatio. Let him bless thee too.
Sailor. 'A shall, sir, an't please him. There's a letter for you,
sir,- it comes from th' ambassador that was bound for England- if 3110
your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is.
Horatio. [reads the letter] 'Horatio, when thou shalt have overlook'd
this, give these fellows some means to the King. They have
letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of
very warlike appointment gave us chase. Finding ourselves too 3115
slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour, and in the grapple I
boarded them. On the instant they got clear of our ship; so I
alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves
of mercy; but they knew what they did: I am to do a good turn for
them. Let the King have the letters I have sent, and repair thou 3120
to me with as much speed as thou wouldst fly death. I have words
to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb; yet are they much too
light for the bore of the matter. These good fellows will bring
thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course
for England. Of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. 3125
'He that thou knowest thine, HAMLET.'
Come, I will give you way for these your letters,
And do't the speedier that you may direct me
To him from whom you brought them. Exeunt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Act IV, Scene 7
Elsinore. Another room in the Castle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter King and Laertes.
Claudius. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal,
And You must put me in your heart for friend,
Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,
That he which hath your noble father slain
Pursued my life. 3135Laertes. It well appears. But tell me
Why you proceeded not against these feats
So crimeful and so capital in nature,
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,
You mainly were stirr'd up. 3140Claudius. O, for two special reasons,
Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd,
But yet to me they are strong. The Queen his mother
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself,-
My virtue or my plague, be it either which,- 3145
She's so conjunctive to my life and soul
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
I could not but by her. The other motive
Why to a public count I might not go
Is the great love the general gender bear him, 3150
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
Convert his gives to graces; so that my arrows,
Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,
Would have reverted to my bow again, 3155
And not where I had aim'd them.
Laertes. And so have I a noble father lost;
A sister driven into desp'rate terms,
Whose worth, if praises may go back again,
Stood challenger on mount of all the age 3160
For her perfections. But my revenge will come.
Claudius. Break not your sleeps for that. You must not think
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
That we can let our beard be shook with danger,
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more. 3165
I lov'd your father, and we love ourself,
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine-
[Enter a Messenger with letters.]
How now? What news?
Messenger. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet: 3170
This to your Majesty; this to the Queen.
Claudius. From Hamlet? Who brought them?
Messenger. Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not.
They were given me by Claudio; he receiv'd them
Of him that brought them. 3175Claudius. Laertes, you shall hear them.
Leave us.
[Exit Messenger.]
[Reads]'High and Mighty,-You shall know I am set naked on your
kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes; 3180
when I shall (first asking your pardon thereunto) recount the
occasion of my sudden and more strange return. 'HAMLET.'
What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
Laertes. Know you the hand? 3185Claudius. 'Tis Hamlet's character. 'Naked!'
And in a postscript here, he says 'alone.'
Can you advise me?
Laertes. I am lost in it, my lord. But let him come!
It warms the very sickness in my heart 3190
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,
'Thus didest thou.'
Claudius. If it be so, Laertes
(As how should it be so? how otherwise?),
Will you be rul'd by me? 3195Laertes. Ay my lord,
So you will not o'errule me to a peace.
Claudius. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd
As checking at his voyage, and that he means
No more to undertake it, I will work him 3200
To exploit now ripe in my device,
Under the which he shall not choose but fall;
And for his death no wind shall breathe
But even his mother shall uncharge the practice
And call it accident. 3205Laertes. My lord, I will be rul'd;
The rather, if you could devise it so
That I might be the organ.
Claudius. It falls right.
You have been talk'd of since your travel much, 3210
And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality
Wherein they say you shine, Your sum of parts
Did not together pluck such envy from him
As did that one; and that, in my regard,
Of the unworthiest siege. 3215Laertes. What part is that, my lord?
Claudius. A very riband in the cap of youth-
Yet needfull too; for youth no less becomes
The light and careless livery that it wears
Than settled age his sables and his weeds, 3220
Importing health and graveness. Two months since
Here was a gentleman of Normandy.
I have seen myself, and serv'd against, the French,
And they can well on horseback; but this gallant
Had witchcraft in't. He grew unto his seat, 3225
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse
As had he been incorps'd and demi-natur'd
With the brave beast. So far he topp'd my thought
That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,
Come short of what he did. 3230Laertes. A Norman was't?
Claudius. A Norman.
Laertes. Upon my life, Lamound.
Claudius. The very same.
Laertes. I know him well. He is the broach indeed 3235
And gem of all the nation.
Claudius. He made confession of you;
And gave you such a masterly report
For art and exercise in your defence,
And for your rapier most especially, 3240
That he cried out 'twould be a sight indeed
If one could match you. The scrimers of their nation
He swore had neither motion, guard, nor eye,
If you oppos'd them. Sir, this report of his
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy 3245
That he could nothing do but wish and beg
Your sudden coming o'er to play with you.
Now, out of this-
Laertes. What out of this, my lord?
Claudius. Laertes, was your father dear to you? 3250
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
A face without a heart,'
Laertes. Why ask you this?
Claudius. Not that I think you did not love your father;
But that I know love is begun by time, 3255
And that I see, in passages of proof,
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;
And nothing is at a like goodness still; 3260
For goodness, growing to a plurisy,
Dies in his own too-much. That we would do,
We should do when we would; for this 'would' changes,
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents; 3265
And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing. But to the quick o' th' ulcer!
Hamlet comes back. What would you undertake
To show yourself your father's son in deed
More than in words? 3270Laertes. To cut his throat i' th' church!
Claudius. No place indeed should murther sanctuarize;
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,
Will you do this? Keep close within your chamber.
Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home. 3275
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence
And set a double varnish on the fame
The Frenchman gave you; bring you in fine together
And wager on your heads. He, being remiss,
Most generous, and free from all contriving, 3280
Will not peruse the foils; so that with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A sword unbated, and, in a pass of practice,
Requite him for your father.
Laertes. I will do't! 3285
And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue 3290
Under the moon, can save the thing from death
This is but scratch'd withal. I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,
It may be death.
Claudius. Let's further think of this, 3295
Weigh what convenience both of time and means
May fit us to our shape. If this should fall,
And that our drift look through our bad performance.
'Twere better not assay'd. Therefore this project
Should have a back or second, that might hold 3300
If this did blast in proof. Soft! let me see.
We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings-
I ha't!
When in your motion you are hot and dry-
As make your bouts more violent to that end- 3305
And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepar'd him
A chalice for the nonce; whereon but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,
Our purpose may hold there.- But stay, what noise,
[Enter Queen.] 3310
How now, sweet queen?
Gertrude. One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
So fast they follow. Your sister's drown'd, Laertes.
Laertes. Drown'd! O, where?
Gertrude. There is a willow grows aslant a brook, 3315
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them. 3320
There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up; 3325
Which time she chaunted snatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element; but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, 3330
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
Laertes. Alas, then she is drown'd?
Gertrude. Drown'd, drown'd.
Laertes. Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia, 3335
And therefore I forbid my tears; but yet
It is our trick; nature her custom holds,
Let shame say what it will. When these are gone,
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord.
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze 3340
But that this folly douts it. Exit.
Claudius. Let's follow, Gertrude.
How much I had to do to calm his rage I
Now fear I this will give it start again;
Therefore let's follow. 3345
Exeunt.