Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon, With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? [Ghost beckons Hamlet. Hor. It beckons you to go away with it, As if it some impartment did desire To you alone. Mar. Look, with what courteous action It waves you(33) to a more removèd ground : Ham. It will not speak; then I will follow it. Ham. Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin's fee; It waves me forth again;-I'll follow it. Hor. What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o'er his base into the sea, burton & Mason "write deprave which I profer- It reads now as if you dreacion Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, And hears it roar beneath. Ham. Go on; I'll follow thee. meant It waves me still. Hold off your hands. Mar. You shall not go, my lord. Hor. Be rul'd; you shall not go. My fate cries out, And makes each petty artery in this body [Ghost beckons. [Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me :- [Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet. Mar. Nay, let's follow him. [Exeunt. SCENE V. The same. A more remote part of the platform. Enter Ghost and HAMLET. Ham. Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further. My hour is almost come, When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself. Ham. Alas, poor ghost! Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold. Ham. Speak; I am bound to hear. Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. Ghost. I am thy father's spirit; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confin'd to fast in fires, (35) Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood; Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end,(36) Like quills upon the fretful porpentine: But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood.—List, list, O, list!—(37) Ham. O God! Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. Ham. Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge. Ghost. I find thee apt; And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed That roots(38) itself in ease on Lethe wharf, Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, Hear: Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth, Now wears his crown. Ham. My uncle! O my prophetic soul! Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, So to seduce!-won to his shameful lust But virtue, as it never will be mov'd, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven; And prey on garbage. But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air; My custom always in the afternoon, Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust (41) Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand Adieu, adieu, adieu! remember me. [Exit. Ham. O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else? And shall I couple hell?—O, fie !—Hold, my heart ;(42) And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up.-Remember thee! Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat In this distracted globe. Remember thee! Yea, from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond recórds, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain !(43) That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain ; Hor. [within] My lord, my lord, Mar. [within] Hor. [within] Mar. [within] So be it !(44) [Writing. Lord Hamlet, Heaven secure him! Hor. [within] Illo, ho, ho, my lord! Ham. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come. Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS. Mar. How is't, my noble lord? Hor. Hor. What news, my lord? Ham. O, wonderful! Good my lord, tell it. Nor I, my lord. Ham. No; you'll reveal it. Hor. Not I, my lord, by heaven. Mar. Ham. How say you, then; would heart of man once think it? But you'll be secret? Hor. Mar. Ay, by heaven, my lord. Ham. There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark But he's an arrant knave. Hor. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave To tell us this. Ham. Why, right; you're i' the right; And so, without more circumstance at all, I hold it fit that we shake hands and part: You, as your business and desire shall point you,— |