Soil our addition; and indeed it takes From our achievements, though perform'd at height, So, oft it chances in particular men, That for some vicious mole of nature in them, Shall in the general censure take corruption Horatio. Enter Ghost. Look, my lord, it comes! Hamlet. Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, Thou comest in such a questionable shape That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet, King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me! Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death, Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws, 20 30 40 50 So horridly to shake our disposition With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? [Ghost beckons Hamlet. Horatio. It beckons you to go away with it, As if it some impartment did desire To you alone. Marcellus. Look, with what courteous action It waves you to a more removed ground: But do not go with it. Horatio. No, by no means. Hamlet. It will not speak; then I will follow it. Hamlet. 60 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. Horatio. 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, And there assume some other horrible form, Hamlet. It waves me still. Go on; I'll follow thee. 70 79 Hold off your hands. Horatio. Be ruled; you shall not go. My fate cries out, And makes each petty artery in this body Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me: [Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet. Horatio. He waxes desperate with imagination. Marcellus. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him. Nay, let's follow him. 91 [Exeunt. SCENE V. Another part of the platform. Enter GHOST and HAMLet. Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further. Ghost. Mark me. Hamlet. Ghost. I will. My hour is almost come, When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself. Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold. Hamlet. Speak; I am bound to hear. Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. Hamlet. What? Ghost. I am thy father's spirit; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confined to fast in fires, my days of nature Till the foul crimes done in I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, ΙΟ Thy knotted and combined locks to part To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list! Hamlet. O God! Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Hamlet. Murder! Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange and unnatural. 20 Hamlet. 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 itself in ease on Lethe wharf, Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father's life Hamlet. My uncle! Ghost. O my prophetic soul! Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, 30 40 50 But virtue, as it never will be moved, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, Will sate itself in a celestial bed And prey on garbage. But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air; 60 The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine; 70 And a most instant tetter bark'd about, Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd: No reckoning made, but sent to my account Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, |