Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Laer. What ceremony else?

1 Priest. Her obsequies have been as far enlarg'd As we have warrantise; her death was doubtful; 230 And, but that great command o'ersways the order, She should in ground unsanctified have lodged Till the last trumpet; for charitable prayers,

240

Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her;
Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,

Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.

Laer. Must there no more be done?

1 Priest.

No more be done!

We should profane the service of the dead
To sing a requiem and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.

Laer.

Lay her i' the earth;

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh

May violets spring!-I tell thee, churlish priest,

A ministering angel shall my sister be,

When thou liest howling.

Ham.

What, the fair Ophelia !

Queen. Sweets to the sweet; farewell!

[Scattering flowers I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife; I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid,

And not t' have strewed thy grave.

Laer.

Oh, treble woe

Fall ten times treble on that cursed head
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Deprived thee of ! — Hold off the earth a while,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms.
[Leaps into the grave

Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
Till of this flat a mountain you have made,
To o'er-top old Pelion, or the skyish head

Of blue Olympus.

250

Ham. [Advancing]

What is he whose grief

Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow

Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? this is I,

[blocks in formation]

Ham. Thou pray'st not well.

I pr'ythee, take thy fingers from my throat;
For, though I am not splenitive and rash,

Yet have I something in me dangerous,

Which let thy wisdom fear. Hold off thy hand!
King. Pluck them asunder.

Queen.

Hamlet, Hamlet!

[blocks in formation]

270

i

Hor.

Good my lord, be quiet.

[The Attendants part them, ånd they come out of the grave

Ham. Why, I will fight with him upon this theme Until my eyelids will no longer wag.

Queen. O my son, what theme?

Ham. I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

King. Oh, he is mad, Laertes.

Queen. For love of God, forbear him.

Ham. Come, show me what thou❜lt do;

Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself?

Woo't drink up eisel? eat a crocodile ?

I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine?
280 To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I:
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,

Singeing his pate against the burning zone,

Make Ossa like a wart!
I'll rant as well as thou.

Queen.

Nay, and thou'lt mouth,

This is mere madness;

And thus awhile the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,

When that her golden couplets are disclosed,
His silence will sit drooping.

Ham.

Hear you, sir,

290

What is the reason that you use me thus?
I loved you ever. - But it is no matter;
Let Hercules himself do what he may,

The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.

[Exit

King. I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him.

[Exit HORATIO

[To LAERTES] Strengthen your patience in our last

night's speech;

We'll put the matter to the present push.

Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.

This grave shall have a living monument:

An hour of quiet shortly shall we see ;

Till then, in patience our proceeding be.

SCENE II

A Hall in the Castle

Enter HAMLET and HORATIO

300

[Exeunt

Ham. So much for this, sir; now let me see the

other;

You do remember all the circumstance?

Hor. Remember it, my lord?

Ham. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting, That would not let me sleep; methought I lay Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly, And praised be rashness for it, - let us know, Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well

When our deep plots do pall; and that should teach us

10 There's a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them how we will.

Hor.

Ham. Up from my cabin,

That is most certain.

My sea-gown scarfed about me, in the dark
Groped I to find out them; had my desire,
Fingered their packet, and, in fine, withdrew
To mine own room again; making so bold,
My fears forgetting manners, to unseal

Their grand commission; where I found, Horatio, —
O royal knavery! an exact command,
20 Larded with many several sorts of reasons,
Importing Denmark's health, and England's too,
With, ho! such bugs and goblins in my life,

That, on the supervise, no leisure bated,
No, not to stay the grinding of the axe,
My head should be struck off.

« ZurückWeiter »