The Tragedy Of Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark

1 Enter Polonius and Reynaldo.
2 POLONIUS.
3 Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.
4 REYNALDO.
5 I will, my lord.
6 POLONIUS.
7 You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,
8 Before you visit him, to make inquiry
9 Of his behaviour.
10 REYNALDO.
11 My lord, I did intend it.
12 POLONIUS.
13 Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir,
14 Enquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;
15 And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
16 What company, at what expense; and finding
17 By this encompassment and drift of question,
18 That they do know my son, come you more nearer
19 Than your particular demands will touch it.
20 Take you as ’twere some distant knowledge of him,
21 As thus, ‘I know his father and his friends,
22 And in part him’—do you mark this, Reynaldo?
23 REYNALDO.
24 Ay, very well, my lord.
25 POLONIUS.
26 ‘And in part him, but,’ you may say, ‘not well;
27 But if’t be he I mean, he’s very wild;
28 Addicted so and so;’ and there put on him
29 What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
30 As may dishonour him; take heed of that;
31 But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips
32 As are companions noted and most known
33 To youth and liberty.
34 REYNALDO.
35 As gaming, my lord?
36 POLONIUS.
37 Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing,
38 Quarrelling, drabbing. You may go so far.
39 REYNALDO.
40 My lord, that would dishonour him.
41 POLONIUS.
42 Faith no, as you may season it in the charge.
43 You must not put another scandal on him,
44 That he is open to incontinency;
45 That’s not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly
46 That they may seem the taints of liberty;
47 The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,
48 A savageness in unreclaimed blood,
49 Of general assault.
50 REYNALDO.
51 But my good lord—
52 POLONIUS.
53 Wherefore should you do this?
54 REYNALDO.
55 Ay, my lord, I would know that.
56 POLONIUS.
57 Marry, sir, here’s my drift,
58 And I believe it is a fetch of warrant.
59 You laying these slight sullies on my son,
60 As ’twere a thing a little soil’d i’ th’ working,
61 Mark you,
62 Your party in converse, him you would sound,
63 Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes
64 The youth you breathe of guilty, be assur’d
65 He closes with you in this consequence;
66 ‘Good sir,’ or so; or ‘friend,’ or ‘gentleman’—
67 According to the phrase or the addition
68 Of man and country.
69 REYNALDO.
70 Very good, my lord.
71 POLONIUS.
72 And then, sir, does he this,—
73 He does—What was I about to say?
74 By the mass, I was about to say something. Where did I leave?
75 REYNALDO.
76 At ‘closes in the consequence.’
77 At ‘friend or so,’ and ‘gentleman.’
78 POLONIUS.
79 At ‘closes in the consequence’ ay, marry!
80 He closes with you thus: ‘I know the gentleman,
81 I saw him yesterday, or t’other day,
82 Or then, or then, with such and such; and, as you say,
83 There was he gaming, there o’ertook in’s rouse,
84 There falling out at tennis’: or perchance,
85 ‘I saw him enter such a house of sale’—
86 _Videlicet_, a brothel, or so forth. See you now;
87 Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth;
88 And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
89 With windlasses, and with assays of bias,
90 By indirections find directions out.
91 So by my former lecture and advice
92 Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?
93 REYNALDO.
94 My lord, I have.
95 POLONIUS.
96 God b’ wi’ you, fare you well.
97 REYNALDO.
98 Good my lord.
99 POLONIUS.
100 Observe his inclination in yourself.
101 REYNALDO.
102 I shall, my lord.
103 POLONIUS.
104 And let him ply his music.
105 REYNALDO.
106 Well, my lord.
107 POLONIUS.
108 Farewell.
109 [_Exit Reynaldo._]
110 Enter Ophelia.
111 How now, Ophelia, what’s the matter?
112 OPHELIA.
113 Alas, my lord, I have been so affrighted.
114 POLONIUS.
115 With what, in the name of God?
116 OPHELIA.
117 My lord, as I was sewing in my chamber,
118 Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac’d,
119 No hat upon his head, his stockings foul’d,
120 Ungart’red, and down-gyved to his ankle,
121 Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,
122 And with a look so piteous in purport
123 As if he had been loosed out of hell
124 To speak of horrors, he comes before me.
125 POLONIUS.
126 Mad for thy love?
127 OPHELIA.
128 My lord, I do not know, but truly I do fear it.
129 POLONIUS.
130 What said he?
131 OPHELIA.
132 He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
133 Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
134 And with his other hand thus o’er his brow,
135 He falls to such perusal of my face
136 As he would draw it. Long stay’d he so,
137 At last,—a little shaking of mine arm,
138 And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
139 He rais’d a sigh so piteous and profound
140 As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
141 And end his being. That done, he lets me go,
142 And with his head over his shoulder turn’d
143 He seem’d to find his way without his eyes,
144 For out o’ doors he went without their help,
145 And to the last bended their light on me.
146 POLONIUS.
147 Come, go with me. I will go seek the King.
148 This is the very ecstasy of love,
149 Whose violent property fordoes itself,
150 And leads the will to desperate undertakings,
151 As oft as any passion under heaven
152 That does afflict our natures. I am sorry,—
153 What, have you given him any hard words of late?
154 OPHELIA.
155 No, my good lord; but as you did command,
156 I did repel his letters and denied
157 His access to me.
158 POLONIUS.
159 That hath made him mad.
160 I am sorry that with better heed and judgement
161 I had not quoted him. I fear’d he did but trifle,
162 And meant to wreck thee. But beshrew my jealousy!
163 It seems it is as proper to our age
164 To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
165 As it is common for the younger sort
166 To lack discretion. Come, go we to the King.
167 This must be known, which, being kept close, might move
168 More grief to hide than hate to utter love.
169 [_Exeunt._]