The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (859 page)

Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee!And these few precepts in thy memorySee thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,Nor any unproportioned thought his act.Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;But do not dull thy palm with entertainmentOf each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. BewareOf entrance to a quarrel, but being in,Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;For the apparel oft proclaims the man,And they in France of the best rank and stationAre of a most select and generous chief in that.Neither a borrower nor a lender be;For loan oft loses both itself and friend,And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.This above all: to thine ownself be true,And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man.Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!

LAERTES

I am most humble as I leave, my lord.

Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS

It is time. Go ahead. Your servants are waiting.

The time invites you; go; your servants tend.

LAERTES

Goodbye, Ophelia, and remember what I said.

Farewell, Ophelia; and remember wellWhat I have said to you.

OPHELIA

It is locked in my memory and only you have the key to unlock it.

'Tis in my memory lock'd,And you yourself shall keep the key of it.

LAERTES

Goodbye.

Farewell.

Exit

LORD POLONIUS

What did he say to you, Ophelia?

What is't, Ophelia, be hath said to you?

OPHELIA

If you must know, he said something about Lord Hamlet.

So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.

LORD POLONIUS

Just as I thought. I have been told he has been spending time with you. But, I must tell you be careful and protect yourself. What is going on between you? Tell me the truth.

Marry, well bethought:
'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous:
If it be so, as so 'tis put on me,
And that in way of caution, I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself so clearly
As it behoves my daughter and your honour.
What is between you? give me up the truth.

OPHELIA

He has, my lord, shown me how much he loves me, lately.

He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.

LORD POLONIUS

Love! That’s worthless! You sound like a foolish girl who has no experience with danger. Do you believe him?

Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

OPHELIA

I don’t know what to think, my lord.

I do not know, my lord, what I should think.

LORD POLONIUS

Love! That’s worthless! You sound like a foolish girl who has no experience with danger. Do you believe him?

Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
Or--not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus--you'll tender me a fool.

OPHELIA

Father, he has treated me with love in an honorable fashion.

My lord, he hath importuned me with love
In honourable fashion.

LORD POLONIUS

Yes, you can call it fashion, something that changes often. Go ahead.

Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.

OPHELIA

He swears he is being honest.

And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

LORD POLONIUS

Bologna! I know when lust burns in the blood, how quickly one is to take vows of any kind. His heart may burn for you, but do not be deceived by what stokes the fire. Act like a grown woman and don’t believe Lord Hamlet’s vows. Do not be alone with him anymore. I demand you listen to me and change your ways.

Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,
You must not take for fire. From this time
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you: come your ways.

OPHELIA

I will obey, my lord.

I shall obey, my lord.

Exeunt

The platform

Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS

HAMLET

The air is bitterly cold.

The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.

HORATIO

It is nippy in the air.

It is a nipping and an eager air.

HAMLET

What time is it now?

What hour now?

HORATIO

I think it is almost twelve.

I think it lacks of twelve.

HAMLET

No, it is already struck twelve.

No, it is struck.

HORATIO

It is? I didn’t hear it. Then, the time is near for the spirit to hold his walk.

Indeed? I heard it not: then it draws near the seasonWherein the spirit held his wont to walk.

A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off, within

What is that? What does it mean, my lord?

What does this mean, my lord?

HAMLET

It means the king is awake tonight and is up drinking. The drum and trumpet play to show a pledge to be triumphant.

The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse,Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels;And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray outThe triumph of his pledge.

HORATIO

Is it a custom?

Is it a custom?

HAMLET

Yes, it is. But, although I am from here, I don’t think it is a good one. Many countries think we are drunks. They do not think we are capable of great achievements, like someone who is born with an affliction they cannot control or someone with a bad habit. It is unfortunate, but people are judged by these things. A little problem can mar a whole man’s life.

Ay, marry, is't:But to my mind, though I am native hereAnd to the manner born, it is a customMore honour'd in the breach than the observance.This heavy-headed revel east and westMakes us traduced and tax'd of other nations:They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phraseSoil our addition; and indeed it takesFrom our achievements, though perform'd at height,The pith and marrow of our attribute.So, oft it chances in particular men,That for some vicious mole of nature in them,As, in their birth--wherein they are not guilty,Since nature cannot choose his origin--By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,Or by some habit that too much o'er-leavensThe form of plausive manners, that these men,Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,--Their virtues else--be they as pure as grace,As infinite as man may undergo--Shall in the general censure take corruptionFrom that particular fault: the dram of ealeDoth all the noble substance of a doubtTo his own scandal.

HORATIO

Look, my lord, here it comes!

Look, my lord, it comes!

Enter Ghost

HAMLET

God help us! Whether you are an angel or demon, from heaven or hell, good or bad, I will speak to you. I’ll call you Hamlet, King, father, royal Dane. Oh, answer me! Tell me why you are here. What does it mean the dead walking? Why are you in your battle armor and making us doubt our minds? Why? What do you want?

Angels and ministers of grace defend us!Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,Be thy intents wicked or charitable,Thou comest in such a questionable shapeThat I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!Let me not burst in ignorance; but tellWhy thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,To cast thee up again. What may this mean,That thou, dead corse, again in complete steelRevisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,Making night hideous; and we fools of natureSo horridly to shake our dispositionWith thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?

Ghost beckons HAMLET

HORATIO

It beckons for you to go with it, as if it wants to be with you alone.

It beckons you to go away with it,As if it some impartment did desireTo you alone.

MARCELLUS

Look, it wants you to go over there, but don’t go!

Look, with what courteous actionIt waves you to a more removed ground:But do not go with it.

HORATIO

No, by no means.

No, by no means.

HAMLET

It will not speak, if I don’t follow.

It will not speak; then I will follow it.

HORATIO

Do not, my lord.

Do not, my lord.

HAMLET

Why not? What do I have to fear? It cannot hurt me or take my soul. It waves at me, again. I’ll follow.

Why, what should be the fear?I do not set my life in a pin's fee;And for my soul, what can it do to that,Being a thing immortal as itself?It waves me forth again: I'll follow it.

HORATIO

What if it tempts you toward the water, my lord, or to the end of the cliff or assumes some other horrible form which drives you insane.

What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,Or to the dreadful summit of the cliffThat beetles o'er his base into the sea,And there assume some other horrible form,Which might deprive your sovereignty of reasonAnd draw you into madness? think of it:The very place puts toys of desperation,Without more motive, into every brainThat looks so many fathoms to the seaAnd hears it roar beneath.