The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (857 page)

CORNELIUS
VOLTIMAND

We will do our best.

In that and all things will we show our duty.

KING CLAUDIUS

We have no doubt you will. Farewell. (Exit Voltimand and Cornelius.) And now, Laertes, what’s new with you? You said you had something to ask me. What is it? Don’t worry, you can ask me anything. Your father is an important man to the throne of Denmark. What do you want to ask?

We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell.

Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS

And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes?You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,And loose your voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes,That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?The head is not more native to the heart,The hand more instrumental to the mouth,Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.What wouldst thou have, Laertes?

LAERTES

I would like to ask you, if I may return to France. Since, I came from France for the sole purpose of attending your coronation, and with that duty done, I would like to return. Please let me go back to France.

I would like to ask you, if I may return to France. Since, I came from France for the sole purpose of attending your coronation, and with that duty done, I would like to return. Please let me go back to France.

My dread lord,Your leave and favour to return to France;From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,To show my duty in your coronation,Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,My thoughts and wishes bend again toward FranceAnd bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.

KING CLAUDIUS

Do you have your father’s permission? What does Polonius say about this?

Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?

LORD POLONIUS

I have given him permission after he asked and asked. So, I ask you to allow him to return to France.

He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leaveBy laboursome petition, and at lastUpon his will I seal'd my hard consent:I do beseech you, give him leave to go.

KING CLAUDIUS

Then, I agree, too. This is the best time in your life, Laertes, spend it as you will. Now, my nephew, Hamlet, and my son--

Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,And thy best graces spend it at thy will!But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,--

HAMLET

[Aside]

I am more kin than I am kind.

A little more than kin, and less than kind.

KING CLAUDIUS

Why are you still sad? You look like a cloud is hanging over your head.

How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

HAMLET

That’s not true, sir. I am in the sun quite a bit.

Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Dear Hamlet, you must stop being so dark and depressed. It’s time you rejoin the living. You cannot bring your father back, as every living thing must die and enter eternity.

Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.Do not for ever with thy vailed lidsSeek for thy noble father in the dust:Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,Passing through nature to eternity.

HAMLET

Yes, ma’am. I know.

Ay, madam, it is common.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

If you know, then why does it seem you don’t?

If it be,

Why seems it so particular with thee?

HAMLET

Seems, mother! It does not seem; it is. I may wear black clothes or behave sadly, but I do it because I am sad, not because I am pretending to be sad.

Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems.''Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,Nor customary suits of solemn black,Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,That can denote me truly: these indeed seem,For they are actions that a man might play:But I have that within which passeth show;These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

KING CLAUDIUS

It is natural and proper for you to grieve over your father. Everyone loses a father, and the loved ones are sorrowful for some time. You have taken your mourning period too far. You are showing yourself to be stubborn and unmanly. You are going against the very nature of heaven and acting like a simple-minded, uneducated fool. It is a sin, continuing to act like this, so stop being so sad. We want you to think of me as your father, since you are heir to the throne. We want everyone to see that I love you like a son. We do not want you to go back to school in Wittenberg, but stay here where we can keep an eye on you, the best member of our court, my nephew and son.

'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,To give these mourning duties to your father:But, you must know, your father lost a father;That father lost, lost his, and the survivor boundIn filial obligation for some termTo do obsequious sorrow: but to perseverIn obstinate condolement is a courseOf impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,An understanding simple and unschool'd:For what we know must be and is as commonAs any the most vulgar thing to sense,Why should we in our peevish oppositionTake it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,To reason most absurd: whose common themeIs death of fathers, and who still hath cried,From the first corse till he that died to-day,'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earthThis unprevailing woe, and think of usAs of a father: for let the world take note,You are the most immediate to our throne;And with no less nobility of loveThan that which dearest father bears his son,Do I impart toward you. For your intentIn going back to school in Wittenberg,It is most retrograde to our desire:And we beseech you, bend you to remainHere, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

I pray you stay with us, Hamlet. Do not go back to Wittenberg.

Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.

HAMLET

I will do my best to not disappoint you, mother.

I shall in all my best obey you, madam.

KING CLAUDIUS

That’s a good answer: you are a true Dane. Dear wife, come. I am so happy with Hamlet’s decision, I would like to drink a toast to his health. Let’s tell all of Denmark the happy news. Let’s shout it to the heavens. Let’s go.

Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply:Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come;This gentle and unforced accord of HamletSits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof,No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day,But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,And the king's rouse the heavens all bruit again,Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away.

Exeunt all but HAMLET

HAMLET

I feel as though my flesh will melt. I wish that God did not view suicide as a sin! Oh, God! Oh, God! This world is so unfair and it seems so useless. Damn this world! Damn, this world like a garden that grows weeds. How did it come to this? My father has only been dead two months, not even two months. He was so loving to my mother. He never raised a hand to her, and she clung to him; yet, within a month… I can’t even think of it! Frailty is a woman. My shoes are not even a month old. She forgets my poor father and replaces him with another. An animal without reason would have mourned longer. She should not have married my uncle, my father’s brother, who is no more like my father than I am like Hercules. Within a month, the salt of her tears had not even left her eyes, and she remarried. She sped with ease to make a bed of incest which can come to no good. But, even though it breaks my heart, I must hold my tongue!  

O, that this too too solid flesh would meltThaw and resolve itself into a dew!Or that the Everlasting had not fix'dHis canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,Seem to me all the uses of this world!Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,That grows to seed; things rank and gross in naturePossess it merely. That it should come to this!But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:So excellent a king; that was, to this,Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my motherThat he might not beteem the winds of heavenVisit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,As if increase of appetite had grownBy what it fed on: and yet, within a month--Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman!--A little month, or ere those shoes were oldWith which she follow'd my poor father's body,Like Niobe, all tears:--why she, even she--O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,Would have mourn'd longer--married with my uncle,My father's brother, but no more like my fatherThan I to Hercules: within a month:Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tearsHad left the flushing in her galled eyes,She married. O, most wicked speed, to postWith such dexterity to incestuous sheets!It is not nor it cannot come to good:But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.

Enter HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and BERNARDO

HORATIO

Hello, my lord!

Hail to your lordship!

HAMLET

I am glad to see you are doing well, Horatio.

I am glad to see you well:Horatio,--or I do forget myself.

HORATIO

I feel the same, my lord. I am forever your poor servant.

The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.

HAMLET

Sir, my good friend, I’ll change places with you. Horatio and Marcellus, what is going on in Wittenberg?

Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you:And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio? Marcellus?

MARCELLUS

My good lord…

My good lord--

HAMLET

I am very happy to see you. Very happy. But, tell me what is going on in Wittenberg.

I am very glad to see you. Good even, sir.But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?

HORATIO

We are too late my lord.

A truant disposition, good my lord.

HAMLET

I don’t think you enemy would say that, so I don’t want to hear it, either. You are never too late. Why are you here in Elsinore? We’ll teach you how to drink before you leave.

I would not hear your enemy say so,Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,To make it truster of your own reportAgainst yourself: I know you are no truant.But what is your affair in Elsinore?We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.

HORATIO

My lord, I came to attend your father’s funeral.

My lord, I came to see your father's funeral.

HAMLET

Don’t insult me. I think you came to see my mother’s wedding.

I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student;I think it was to see my mother's wedding.

HORATIO

True, my lord, the wedding did happen quickly after the death of your father.

Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.

HAMLET

Too quickly, Horatio! The food prepared for the funeral was served on the wedding tables. I would rather have died than live to see that day, Horatio! My father, I think I see him.

Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meatsDid coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
My father!--methinks I see my father.

HORATIO

Where, my lord?

Where, my lord?

HAMLET

Only in my imagination, Horatio.

In my mind's eye, Horatio.

HORATIO

I saw him once. He was a good king.

I saw him once; he was a goodly king.

HAMLET

He was a man, one like I will never meet again.

He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.

HORATIO

My lord, I think I saw him last night.

My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.

HAMLET

Saw who?

Saw? who?

HORATIO

My lord, the king, your father.

My lord, the king your father.

HAMLET

The king, my father!

The king my father!