SCENE V.—A MORE REMOTE PART OF THE PLATFORM. NIGHT.
Enter GHOST and HAMLET (L.H.U.E.)
Ham. (R.) Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak; I'll go no further.
Ghost. (L.) Mark me.
Ham.
I will.
Ghost.
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.
Ham. What?
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, 100
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature. 26
Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul;101 freeze thy young blood
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres;
Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end, 102
Like quills upon the fearful porcupine: 103
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. —List, list, O, list!—
If thou didst ever thy dear father love——
Ham. O Heaven!
Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
Ham. Murder!
Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
Ham. Haste me to know it, 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 rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,105
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in mine orchard, 106
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process must not be of my death
Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
Ham. O, my prophetic soul! my uncle!
Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, 27
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,
O wicked wit and gifts,that have rhe power
So to seduce--won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming virtuous queen:
O, Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity,
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Threw lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So, lust though to a radiant angel linked
Will sate itself in a celestial bed
And prey on garbage.
But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air.
Brief let me be.—Sleeping within mine orchard,
My custom always in the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon110 in a vial,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leprous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man,
That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body;
So did it mine;
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch'd:111
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd;112
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.
Ham. O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
Ghost. If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury113 and damnèd incest.
But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
28
Against thy mother aught: leave her to Heaven,
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his ineffectual fire:114
Adieu, adieu, adieu! remember me.
[Exit, L.H.]
Ham. Hold, hold, my heart;
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.115 Remember thee!
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all forms, all pressures past,116
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven,
I have sworn't.
Hor. (Without.) My lord, my lord,——
Mar. (Without.) Lord Hamlet,——
Hor. (Without.) Heaven secure him!
Ham.
So be it!
Mar. (Without.) Illo, ho, ho, my lord!
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