SCENE III

Another Room in the Castle

Enter KING, attended

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;
And where 'tis so, the 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 10 By desperate appliance are relieved,

Or not at all.

Enter ROSENCRANTZ

How now! what hath befallen?

Ros. Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord, We cannot get from him.

King.

But where is he?

Ros. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your

pleasure.

King. Bring him before us.

Ros. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.

Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN

King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?

Ham. At supper.

King. At supper? Where?

Ham. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten; a 20 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 end.

King. Alas, alas!

Ham. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king; and eat of the fish that hath fed of that

worm.

King. What dost thou mean by this?

Ham. Nothing, but to show you how a king may go

a progress through a beggar.

King. Where is Polonius?

Ham. In heaven; send thither to see: if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.

30

[To some Attendants

40 King. Go seek him there.

Ham. He will stay till ye come.

[Exeunt Attendants

King. 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,

The associates tend, and everything is bent

50

King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.

Ham. I see a cherub that sees them..
But come; for England! - Farewell, dear mother.
King. Thy loving father, Hamlet.

Ham. My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. -Come, for England.

[Exit King. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed

aboard;

Delay it not, I'll have him hence to-night:

Away; for everything is sealed and done

That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.
[Exeunt Ros. and GUIL.

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
Pays homage to us-thou may'st not coldly set
Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,

The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
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.

SCENE IV

A Plain in Denmark

60

[Exit 70

Enter FORTINBRAS, a Captain, and Soldiers marching

For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king; Tell him that, by his license, Fortinbras

Claims the conveyance of a promised march

Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.
If that his majesty would aught with us,
We shall express our duty in his eye,

And let him know so.

Ham. Good sir, whose powers are these?

Cap. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. Ham. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir, Or for some frontier?

Cap. Truly to speak, and with no addition,

We go to gain a little patch of ground

That hath in it no profit but the name.

To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it; 20 Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole

A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.

Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it.
Cap. Yes, 'tis already garrisoned.