Queen Ham. That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat, That to the use of actions fair and good And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence; the next more easy; I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord, [Pointing to Polonius] I do repent; but heaven hath pleased it so, Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.- What shall I do? do: Not this, by no means, that I bid you Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers, That I essentially am not in madness, But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know; Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib, Such dear concernings hide? who would do so? No, in despite of sense and secrecy, Unpeg the basket on the house's top, Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape, To try conclusions, in the basket creep, Queen Ham. Queen Ham. Be thou assur'd, if words be made of breath I must to England; you know that? Alack I had forgot 'tis so concluded on. There's letters seal'd; and my two school-fellows, go hard But I will delve one yard below their mines, I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room. [Exeunt severally; Hamlet dragging in Polonius] END OF THE THIRD ACT Fourth Act SCENE I-ELSINORE A ROYAL APARTMENT IN THE CASTLE Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERn There's matter in these sighs: these profound heaves : You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them. Where is your son? King Queen Bestow this place on us a little while. [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern] King Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night! To you yourself, to us, to every one. Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd? It will be laid to us, whose providence Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt, This mad young man; but so much was our love, But, like the owner of a foul disease, Queen King To keep it from divulging, let it feed gone ? To draw apart the body he hath kill'd; Shows itself pure ; he weeps for what is done. O Gertrude, come away! The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed Both countenance and excuse. Ho! Guildenstern! Re-enter Rosencrantz and GUILDENSTERN Friends both, go join you with some further aid; [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern] Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends, Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, (As level as the cannon to his blank, Transports his poison'd shot) may miss our name, And hit the woundless air. O, come away [Exeunt King and Queen] SCENE II-ELSINORE ! Ham. Ros. Ham. Ros. Ham. Ros. Ham. Ros. Ham. Ros. Ham. Ros. Ham. Guil. Ham. But soft, what noise? who calls on Hamlet? Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN What have you done, my lord, with the dead body? Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence, and bear it Do not believe it. Believe what? That I can keep your counsel and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge: what replication should be made by the son of a king Take you me for a sponge, my lord? Ay, sir; a sponge that soaks up the king's countenance, his authorities, his rewards; that makes his liberality your store house. But such officers do the king best service in the end; he keeps them, like an ape doth nuts, in the corner of his jaw; first mouth'd, to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. I understand you not, my lord. I am glad of it; a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear. My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing "A thing," my lord? Of nothing bring me to him. [Exeunt Hamlet, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern] |