HAMLET 4.7

Another room in the castle.

[Enter KING CLAUDIUS and LAERTES]

KING CLAUDIUS Now must your conscience my acquaintance 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. 5

LAERTES 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.

KING CLAUDIUS O, for two special reasons; 10

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--

She's so conjunctive to my life and soul, 15

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;

Who, dipping all his faults in their affection, 20

Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,

Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows,

Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,

Would have reverted to my bow again,

And not where I had aim'd them. 25

LAERTES And so have I a noble father lost;

A sister driven into desperate terms,

Whose worth, if praises may go back again,

Stood challenger on mount of all the age

For her perfections: but my revenge will come. 30

KING 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:

I loved your father, and we love ourself; 35

And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine--

[Enter a Messenger]

How now! what news?

Messenger Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:

This to your majesty; this to the queen.

KING CLAUDIUS From Hamlet! who brought them? 40

Messenger Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not:

They were given me by Claudio; he received them

Of him that brought them.

KING CLAUDIUS Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us.

[Exit Messenger]

[Reads]

'High and mighty, You shall know I am set naked on 45

your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see

your kingly eyes: 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? 50

Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?

LAERTES Know you the hand?

KING CLAUDIUS 'Tis Hamlets character. 'Naked!

And in a postscript here, he says 'alone.'

Can you advise me? 55

LAERTES I'm lost in it, my lord. But let him come;

It warms the very sickness in my heart,

That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,

'Thus didest thou.'

KING CLAUDIUS If it be so, Laertes-- 60

As how should it be so? how otherwise?--

Will you be ruled by me?

LAERTES Ay, my lord;

So you will not o'errule me to a peace.

KING CLAUDIUS To thine own peace. If he be now return'd, 65

As checking at his voyage, and that he means

No more to undertake it, I will work him

To an exploit, now ripe in my device,

Under the which he shall not choose but fall:

And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe, 70

But even his mother shall uncharge the practise

And call it accident.

LAERTES My lord, I will be ruled;

The rather, if you could devise it so

That I might be the organ. 75

KING CLAUDIUS It falls right.

You have been talk'd of since your travel much,

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 80

As did that one, and that, in my regard,

Of the unworthiest siege.

LAERTES What part is that, my lord?

KING CLAUDIUS A very riband in the cap of youth,

Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes 85

The light and careless livery that it wears

Than settled age his sables and his weeds,

Importing health and graveness. Two months since,

Here was a gentleman of Normandy:--

I've seen myself, and served against, the French, 90

And they can well on horseback: but this gallant

Had witchcraft in't; he grew unto his seat;

And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,

As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured

With the brave beast: so far he topp'd my thought, 95

That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,

Come short of what he did.

LAERTES A Norman was't?

KING CLAUDIUS A Norman.

LAERTES Upon my life, Lamond. 100

KING CLAUDIUS The very same.

LAERTES I know him well: he is the brooch indeed

And gem of all the nation.

KING CLAUDIUS He made confession of you,

And gave you such a masterly report 105

For art and exercise in your defence

And for your rapier most especially,

That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed,

If one could match you: the scrimers of their nation,

He swore, had had neither motion, guard, nor eye, 110

If you opposed them. Sir, this report of his

Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy

That he could nothing do but wish and beg

Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.

Now, out of this,-- 115

LAERTES What out of this, my lord?

KING CLAUDIUS Laertes, was your father dear to you?

Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,

A face without a heart?

LAERTES Why ask you this? 120

KING CLAUDIUS Not that I think you did not love your father;

But that I know love is begun by time;

And that I see, in passages of proof,

Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.

There lives within the very flame of love 125

A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;

And nothing is at a like goodness still;

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 130

And hath abatements and delays as many

As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;

And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh,

That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer:--

Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake, 135

To show yourself your father's son in deed

More than in words?

LAERTES To cut his throat i' the church.

KING CLAUDIUS No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;

Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, 140

Will you do this, keep close within your chamber.

Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home:

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 145

And wager on your heads: he, being remiss,

Most generous and free from all contriving,

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 practise 150

Requite him for your father.

LAERTES I will do't:

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, 155

Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,

Collected from all simples that have virtue

Under the moon, can save the thing from death

That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point

With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly, 160

It may be death.

KING CLAUDIUS Let's further think of this;

Weigh what convenience both of time and means

May fit us to our shape: if this should fail,

And that our drift look through our bad performance,

'Twere better not assay'd: therefore this project 165

Should have a back or second, that might hold,

If this should 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-- 170

And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepared him

A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,

If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,

Our purpose may hold there.

[Enter QUEEN GERTRUDE]

How now, sweet queen! 175

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?

QUEEN GERTRUDE There is a willow grows aslant a brook,

That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream; 180

There with fantastic garlands did she come

Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples

That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,

But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:

There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds 185

Clambering 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:

Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes; 190

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,

Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay 195

To muddy death.

LAERTES Alas, then, she is drown'd?

QUEEN GERTRUDE Drown'd, drown'd.

LAERTES Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,

And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet

It is our trick; nature her custom holds, 200

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,

But that this folly douts it.

[Exit]

KING CLAUDIUS Let's follow, Gertrude: 205

How much I had to do to calm his rage!

Now fear I this will give it start again;

Therefore let's follow.

[Exeunt]

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KING CLAUDIUS	Now must your conscience my acquaintance 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.	5

LAERTES		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.

KING CLAUDIUS	O, for two special reasons;	10
	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--
	She's so conjunctive to my life and soul,	15
	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;
	Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,	20
	Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
	Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows,
	Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,
	Would have reverted to my bow again,
	And not where I had aim'd them.	25

LAERTES	And so have I a noble father lost;
	A sister driven into desperate terms,
	Whose worth, if praises may go back again,
	Stood challenger on mount of all the age
	For her perfections: but my revenge will come.	30

KING 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:
	I loved your father, and we love ourself;	35
	And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine--
	[Enter a Messenger]
	How now! what news?

Messenger		Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:
		This to your majesty; this to the queen.

Messenger		Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not:
		They were given me by Claudio; he received them
		Of him that brought them.

KING CLAUDIUS	Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us.
	[Exit Messenger]
	[Reads]
	'High and mighty, You shall know I am set naked on	45
	your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see
	your kingly eyes: 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?	50
	Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?

KING CLAUDIUS	'Tis Hamlets character. 'Naked!
	And in a postscript here, he says 'alone.'
	Can you advise me?	55

LAERTES		I'm lost in it, my lord. But let him come;
		It warms the very sickness in my heart,
		That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,
		'Thus didest thou.'

KING CLAUDIUS	If it be so, Laertes--	60
	As how should it be so? how otherwise?--
	Will you be ruled by me?

KING CLAUDIUS	To thine own peace. If he be now return'd,	65
	As checking at his voyage, and that he means
	No more to undertake it, I will work him
	To an exploit, now ripe in my device,
	Under the which he shall not choose but fall:
	And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,	70
	But even his mother shall uncharge the practise
	And call it accident.

LAERTES	My lord, I will be ruled;
	The rather, if you could devise it so
	That I might be the organ.	75

KING CLAUDIUS	It falls right.
	You have been talk'd of since your travel much,
	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	80
	As did that one, and that, in my regard,
	Of the unworthiest siege.

KING CLAUDIUS	A very riband in the cap of youth,
	Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes	85
	The light and careless livery that it wears
	Than settled age his sables and his weeds,
	Importing health and graveness. Two months since,
	Here was a gentleman of Normandy:--
	I've seen myself, and served against, the French,	90
	And they can well on horseback: but this gallant
	Had witchcraft in't; he grew unto his seat;
	And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,
	As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured
	With the brave beast: so far he topp'd my thought,	95
	That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,
	Come short of what he did.

LAERTES		I know him well: he is the brooch indeed
		And gem of all the nation.

KING CLAUDIUS	He made confession of you,
	And gave you such a masterly report	105
	For art and exercise in your defence
	And for your rapier most especially,
	That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed,
	If one could match you: the scrimers of their nation,
	He swore, had had neither motion, guard, nor eye,	110
	If you opposed them. Sir, this report of his
	Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy
	That he could nothing do but wish and beg
	Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him.
	Now, out of this,--	115

KING CLAUDIUS		Laertes, was your father dear to you?
		Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
		A face without a heart?

KING CLAUDIUS	Not that I think you did not love your father;
	But that I know love is begun by time;
	And that I see, in passages of proof,
	Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
	There lives within the very flame of love	125
	A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;
	And nothing is at a like goodness still;
	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	130
	And hath abatements and delays as many
	As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
	And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh,
	That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer:--
	Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake,	135
	To show yourself your father's son in deed
	More than in words?

KING CLAUDIUS	No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;
	Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,	140
	Will you do this, keep close within your chamber.
	Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home:
	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	145
	And wager on your heads: he, being remiss,
	Most generous and free from all contriving,
	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 practise	150
	Requite him for your father.

LAERTES	I will do't:
	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,	155
	Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,
	Collected from all simples that have virtue
	Under the moon, can save the thing from death
	That is but scratch'd withal: I'll touch my point
	With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,	160
	It may be death.

KING CLAUDIUS	Let's further think of this;
	Weigh what convenience both of time and means
	May fit us to our shape: if this should fail,
	And that our drift look through our bad performance,
	'Twere better not assay'd: therefore this project	165
	Should have a back or second, that might hold,
	If this should 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--	170
	And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepared him
	A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,
	If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck,
	Our purpose may hold there.
	[Enter QUEEN GERTRUDE]
	How now, sweet queen!	175

QUEEN GERTRUDE		One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
		So fast they follow; your sister's drown'd, Laertes.

QUEEN GERTRUDE	There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
	That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;	180
	There with fantastic garlands did she come
	Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
	That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
	But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
	There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds	185
	Clambering 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:
	Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;	190
	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,
	Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay	195
	To muddy death.

LAERTES	Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
	And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet
	It is our trick; nature her custom holds,	200
	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,
	But that this folly douts it.
	[Exit]

KING CLAUDIUS	Let's follow, Gertrude:	205
	How much I had to do to calm his rage!
	Now fear I this will give it start again;
	Therefore let's follow.
	[Exeunt]

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