I am more an an'tique Roman than a Dane.

Here's yet some liquor left.

Hamlet.

As thou'rt a man,

Give me the cup: let go; by Heaven, I'll have't.

O good Horatio, what a wounded name,

Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,

Absent thee from felicity a while,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,

To tell my story.

[March afar off, and shot within.

What warlike noise is this?

1

Osric. Young Fortinbras, with conquest 1 come from Poland, To th' ambassadors of England gives

The potent poison quite o'ercrows 2 my spirit:

I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights

On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice;

So tell him, with the occurrents,3 more and less,

Which have solicited.4 The rest is silence.

[Dies

Horatio. Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince:

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

[March within.

Why does the drum come hither?

Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and others. Fortinbras. Where is this sight?

Horatio.

What is it ye would see?

If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.

Fortinbras. This quarry 5 cries on 6 havoc. O proud death,

1 "With conquest," i.e., victorious. Occurrences.

2 Triumphs over.

4 Brought on the event.

6" Cries on," i.e., indicates.

5 Pile of dead game; a hunting term.

7 "Havoc !" was the cry in battle when no quarter was to be given;

hence, indiscriminate slaughter.

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes at a shot

So bloodily hast struck?

First Ambassador.

The sight is dismal;

And our affairs from England come too late:

The ears are senseless that should give us hearing,
To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd,

That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Where should we have our thanks?

Horatio.

Had it the ability of life to thank you :

Not from his mouth,

He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,1
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arriv'd, give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world
How these things came about: so shall
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,

you

Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,

hear

Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause,
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook,

Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I
Truly deliver.

Fortinbras. Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.

For me, with sorrow I embrace my

fortune:

I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.2

Horatio. Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw no more:

1 "Jump upon this bloody question," i.e., just at the moment of these bloody events.

2 "Some rights," etc., i.e., some rights in this kingdom that are remem bered, and which opportunity invites me to claim.

But let this same be presently perform'd,

Even while men's minds are wild; lest more mischance,
On plots and errors, happen.

Fortinbras.

Let four captains

Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;

For he was likely, had he been put on,

To have prov'd most royally; 1 and, for his passage,
The soldiers' music and the rites of war

Speak loudly for him.

Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this

Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.

Go bid the soldiers shoot.

THE

dead march. Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies;

after which a peal of ordnance is shot off.

1 "For he was likely," etc., i.e., for, if he had succeeded to the throne, it is likely he would have proved a most worthy sovereign.

THE ELIZABETHAN THEATER.

In order to understand and appreciate thoroughly the purpose of the scenes in Hamlet, one should know something about the mechanical structure of a Shakespearean play; but as this mechanical structure depended largely upon the mechanical structure of the Elizabethan stage, one should first know something about that.

1

The theaters of Queen Elizabeth's time were divided into two classes, public and private. Both were practically alike in structure, except that the private theater was roofed-the public theater proper had no covering; only the stage was roofed. The best type of private theater was "Blackfriars," erected by a noble for the entertainment of his aristocratic friends only. We shall take for illustrative purposes, however, the Globe Theater, erected in 1614 on the site of the original Globe which burned down during a performance of Henry VIII. The new Globe was the highest and best type of public theater.

The Globe Theater was octagonal in shape. Its stone walls were perforated here and there by small windows. From the outside two superstructures could be seen projecting above the walls. These superstructures supported a third, which was topped by a flagstaff. Inside the general structure was practically the same as it is to-day, except for the stage. The diagram on page 166 will help explain the salient features of the Elizabethan stage.

1 The following details, however, should be noted: in the public theater, admission was by payment; there were no tickets used; both common people and aristocrats were admitted; there were no seats in the pit; performances took place only in the daytime (3 o'clock in the afternoon). In the private theater admission was by invitation; only aristocrats were admitted; there were no seats in the parterre, or pit as it was called in the public theater; and lastly, performances took place, not only in the daytime (3 o'clock in the afternoon), but also at night. Candles and torches were used for illumination.

165