ACT 1
[FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO]
BERNARDO
Who's there?
Who’s there?
FRANCISCO
Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.
No, answer me! Stop there! Take off your hood!
BERNARDO
Long live the king!
God Save the King!
FRANCISCO
Bernardo?
Bernardo?
BERNARDO
He.
Yep.
FRANCISCO
You come most carefully upon your hour.
Good on you: you’ve arrived slap-bang on time.
BERNARDO
'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.
It’s gone midnight; bedtime for you, Francisco.
FRANCISCO
For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,
My thanks for swapping; it is freezing here,
And I am sick at heart.
And I have lost the will to live.
BERNARDO
Have you had quiet guard?
Has it been still tonight?
FRANCISCO
Not a mouse stirring.
Quiet as a mouse.
BERNARDO
Well, good night.
Well, night then.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
Hey, if you see Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
My fellow guards, tell them to hurry up.
FRANCISCO
I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who's there?
Wait up, this might be them. Stop! Who goes there?
[Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS]
HORATIO
Friends to this ground.
Two good comrades.
MARCELLUS
And liegemen to the Dane.
Defending Denmark’s king.
FRANCISCO
Give you good night.
I’m off to bed.
MARCELLUS
O, farewell, honest soldier:
Sleep tight, determined soldier.
Who hath relieved you?
Who’s replaced you?
FRANCISCO
Bernardo has my place.
Bernardo’s standing guard.
Give you good night.
Goodnight, God bless.
[Exit]
MARCELLUS
Holla! Bernardo!
Evenin’, Bernardo!
BERNARDO
Say,
Say,
What, is Horatio there?
Horatio—you’ve shown up!
HORATIO
A piece of him.
What’s left of me.
BERNARDO
Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus.
Well, welcome both, Horatio and Marcellus.
MARCELLUS
What, has this thing appeared again to-night?
Now, has that apparition reappeared?
BERNARDO
I have seen nothing.
Not that I’ve seen.
MARCELLUS
Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,
Horatio thinks we’ve both gone ’round the bend
And will not let belief take hold of him
And won’t believe a single word we say
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:
About that ghastly sight we’ve witnessed twice.
Therefore I have entreated him along
I thought it best, therefore, to bring him here
With us to watch the minutes of this night;
And sit with us throughout this drawn-out night,
That if again this apparition come,
So, if it comes again, just as before,
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.
He’ll see it for himself and speak to it.
HORATIO
Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.
Be quiet! It won’t appear.
BERNARDO
Sit down awhile;
Pull up a chair
And let us once again assail your ears,
And listen as we tell you, once again,
That are so fortified against our story
The truth, that you’re determined not to hear,
What we have two nights seen.
About this thing twice seen.
HORATIO
Well, sit we down,
OK, let’s sit
And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.
And listen to Bernardo’s ghoulish tale.
BERNARDO
Last night of all,
Well, just last night,
When yond same star that's westward from the pole
When that North Star shone brightly to the west,
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Traversing through the sky, lighting the way
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
To where it’s shining now, Marcellus and I,
The bell then beating one,--
Heard the clock strike one…
[Enter Ghost]
MARCELLUS
Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!
Shut up! Look over there! It comes again!
BERNARDO
In the same figure, like the king that's dead.
It looks just like the corpse of our dead king.
MARCELLUS
Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.
You’re brainy—speak to it, Horatio!
BERNARDO
Looks it not like the king? Mark it, Horatio.
It’s like the king, right? See, Horatio!
HORATIO
Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder.
It’s just like him. I’m terrified but stunned!
BERNARDO
It would be spoke to.
It wants to banter.
MARCELLUS
Question it, Horatio.
Question it, Horatio!
HORATIO
What art thou that usurp'st this time of night,
What are you, in this dreadful hour of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In splendid military regalia
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Worn by the now departed king of Denmark
Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee, speak!
In battle sometimes? Speak up, I say! Speak!
MARCELLUS
It is offended.
You hurt its feelings.
BERNARDO
See, it stalks away!
Look, it’s shuffling off!
HORATIO
Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!
Wait! Talk to us, I tell you! Talk to us!
[Exit Ghost]
MARCELLUS
'Tis gone, and will not answer.
He’s left, with nothing uttered.
BERNARDO
How now, Horatio! You tremble and look pale:
You see, Horatio! You’re shaking and all pasty.
Is not this something more than fantasy?
Don’t you believe that’s more than an illusion?
What think you on't?
What do you think?
HORATIO
Before my God, I might not this believe
I swear to God, I never would believe this
Without the sensible and true avouch
Without the concrete proof and confirmation
Of mine own eyes.
Of my own eyes.
MARCELLUS
Is it not like the king?
The image of the king?
HORATIO
As thou art to thyself:
Just as you look like you.
Such was the very armour he had on
He wore a carbon copy suit of armour
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
As when he fought the firebrand King of Norway;
So frowned he once, when, in an angry parle,
He even scowled, just like he did when fighting
He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.
Those Polish, drawn by huskies on the ice.
'Tis strange.
How weird.
MARCELLUS
Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
And twice before, precisely at this time,
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
He saunters past our military post.
HORATIO
In what particular thought to work I know not;
I’ve no idea why this may be occurring;
But in the gross and scope of my opinion,
But, honestly, in my humble opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
I fear our country’s on the edge of turmoil.
MARCELLUS
Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,
Alright, sit down and tell me, if you can,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
Why is our diligent and tireless watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land,
Repeated all across our land each night?
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And by each day, why forge cannons of brass
And foreign mart for implements of war;
And buy artillery from foreign shores?
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Why do we work our shipwrights to the bone
Does not divide the Sunday from the week;
To build our navy, seven days a week?
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste
What’s going on, that everyone must slog
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:
All day and night without the slightest rest?
Who is't that can inform me?
Can anyone explain this?
HORATIO
That can I;
Yes, I can.
At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
At least, I’ll share the rumours. Our late king,
Whose image even but now appeared to us,
Whose image we just saw with our own eyes,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Was, by the King of Norway, Fortinbras,
Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride,
Both driven by the selfish pride of rivals,
Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet--
Challenged to fight; then our courageous Hamlet—
For so this side of our known world esteemed him--
As everyone of us thus viewed our king—
Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a sealed compact,
Did slaughter Fortinbras; he’d made a deal,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Joint rubber-stamped in noble legalese,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
To give up, on his death, all of his lands
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror:
That he possessed to his triumphant foe.
Against the which, a moiety competent
Conversely, a commensurate piece of land
Was gaged by our king; which had returned
Was wagered by our king, which he would cede
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
To Fortinbras of Norway’s own estate
Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant,
Had he been killed. And, therefore, by this deal,
And carriage of the article designed,
In strict accordance with the contract terms,
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Our Hamlet won. But then, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
Hot-headed, inexperienced but bold,
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there
Scoured the distant hinterlands of Norway,
Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes,
Gathering a rough-cut bag of thugs
For food and diet, to some enterprise
As cannon fodder for the pending war
That hath a stomach in't; which is no other--
Which needed soldiers, for a battle which—
As it doth well appear unto our state--
It’s clear to everyone within our state—
But to recover of us, by strong hand
He’d try to win back, by the use of force
And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands
And breaching contract terms, those former lands
So by his father lost: and this, I take it,
His father abdicated. I believe
Is the main motive of our preparations,
This is the reason we prepare for war;
The source of this our watch and the chief head
The motive for our watch; and explanation
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.
Of all the pressured work within our land.
BERNARDO
I think it be no other but e'en so:
I think it can’t be any other cause.
Well may it sort that this portentous figure
It seems so fitting this prophetic figure
Comes armed through our watch; so like the king
Appears in armour here, just like our king.
That was and is the question of these wars.
And that’s these pending wars’ justification.
HORATIO
A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
There’s something nagging in my troubled mind.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
Back in the booming, balmy days of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
Not long before the Emperor Caesar’s death,
The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead
The dead rose—zombie-like—from buried graves
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets:
And squealed and groaned throughout the Roman streets,
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Whilst comets filled the blood-red evening skies,
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star
As sun erupted; and the waxing moon,
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands
That normally controls the ocean tides,
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse:
Appeared apocalyptically eclipsed.
And even the like precurse of fierce events,
Now, just like then, we’re warned of dreadful times,
As harbingers preceding still the fates
With premonitions threatening our fate
And prologue to the omen coming on,
And words predicting imminent turmoil,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
As though heaven and earth are demonstrating
Unto our climatures and countrymen.--
This message to our fellow countrymen.
But soft, behold! Lo, where it comes again!
But, quiet! Look out! It’s coming back again!
[Re-enter Ghost]
I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion!
I’ll make a cross for safety! Wait there, ghost!
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
If you can make a sound, or better, talk,
Speak to me:
Speak to me!
If there be any good thing to be done,
If there’s a generous deed that must be done
That may to thee do ease and grace to me,
To bring you peace, and thereby honour me,
Speak to me:
Speak to me!
[Cock crows]
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
If you are privy to your country’s fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, O, speak!
Which, if I knew, could be averted, speak!
Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Or if, when living, you have left behind
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
A buried treasure in a hidden place,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,
Which myth says keeps the spirit-world alive,
Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus.
Then tell me! Stay and speak! Stop it, Marcellus!
MARCELLUS
Shall I strike at it with my partisan?
Well, shall I stab it with my rapier?
HORATIO
Do, if it will not stand.
Yes, if it tries to leave.
BERNARDO
'Tis here!
It’s here!
HORATIO
'Tis here!
It’s there!
MARCELLUS
'Tis gone!
It’s gone!
[Exit Ghost]
We do it wrong, being so majestical,
That was an error, for it looked so regal,
To offer it the show of violence;
And thus we shouldn’t show it violence;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
Besides, it can’t be touched, for it’s thin air!
And our vain blows malicious mockery.
Our futile stabs were vacuous and mean.
BERNARDO
It was about to speak, when the cock crew.
It almost spoke, but then the rooster crowed.
HORATIO
And then it started like a guilty thing
And when it did, it quickly slunk away
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,
Appearing panic-stricken. Rumour has it,
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
The rooster, he that crows to mark the dawn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Does, with his raucous cock-a-doodle-do,
Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,
Wake up the god of day; and when he does,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
The extravagant and erring spirit hies
The earthly wandering spirit scurries off
To his confine: and of the truth herein
To hide himself; and just to prove this point,
This present object made probation.
This thing we’ve seen just did precisely that.
MARCELLUS
It faded on the crowing of the cock.
It faded at the rooster’s morning call.
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Some say that when the yuletide is approaching,
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
Whereby we celebrate Lord Jesus’ birth,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
The morning rooster crows from dusk till dawn,
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;
Preventing, so they say, spirits from rising;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
Those nights are pure; astrology is neutered;
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
And fairies have no power, nor witches too.
So hallowed and so gracious is the time.
That is a heavenly and sacred time.
HORATIO
So have I heard and do in part believe it.
I’ve heard that too, and partly I believe it.
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Look over there, the glowing copper sun
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill:
Is rising over that damp hill out east.
Break we our watch up; and by my advice,
Let’s pack up now; but I must recommend
Let us impart what we have seen to-night
That we report what we have seen tonight
Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,
To the young Hamlet; for I bet my life
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
Do you agree that we should let him know,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?
As friends of his? It is our obligation!
MARCELLUS
Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know
Yes, let’s. And as it’s morning, I am sure
Where we shall find him most conveniently.
Where we will find him, so let’s head there now.
[Exeunt]
