| QUEEN GERTRUDE | |
Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend | |
| | Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit, | |
| | Behind the arras hearing something stir, | |
| | Whips out his rapier, cries, 'A rat, a rat!' | 10 |
| | And, in this brainish apprehension, kills | |
| | The unseen good old man. | |
| KING CLAUDIUS | |
O heavy deed! | |
| | It had been so with us, had we been there: | |
| | His liberty is full of threats to all; | 15 |
| | 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, | |
| | This mad young man: but so much was our love, | 20 |
| | 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? | |
| KING CLAUDIUS | |
O Gertrude, come away! | |
| | The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch, | 30 |
| | But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed | |
| | We must, with all our majesty and skill, | |
| | Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern! | |
| | [Re-enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN] |
| | Friends both, go join you with some further aid: | |
| | Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain, | 35 |
| | 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. | |
| | [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN] |
| | Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends; | |
| | And let them know, both what we mean to do, | 40 |
| | And what's untimely done [ ] | |
| | Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, | |
| | As level as the cannon to his blank, | |
| | Transports his poison'd shot, may miss our name, | |
| | And hit the woundless air. O, come away! | 45 |
| | My soul is full of discord and dismay. | |
| | [Exeunt] |