The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (860 page)

HAMLET

It still waves at me. Go on. I’ll follow you.

It waves me still.Go on; I'll follow thee.

MARCELLUS

You will not, my lord.

You shall not go, my lord.

HAMLET

Take your hands off of me.

Hold off your hands.

HORATIO

Be sensible. You will not go.

Be ruled; you shall not go.

HAMLET

This is my fate and I am not afraid. Now, take your hands off, gentlemen. I swear, I’ll make a ghost of you, if you don’t. I say, go on. I’ll follow you.

My fate cries out,And makes each petty artery in this bodyAs hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen.By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me!I say, away! Go on; I'll follow thee.

Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET

HORATIO

He is desperate and not thinking sensibly.

He waxes desperate with imagination.

MARCELLUS

Let’s follow him. It is not right for us to let him go alone.

Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.

HORATIO

Go ahead. What good can come of this?

Have after. To what issue will this come?

MARCELLUS

Something terrible is definitely happening in Denmark.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

HORATIO

God will protect him.

Heaven will direct it.

MARCELLUS

No, let’s follow him.

Nay, let's follow him.

Exeunt

SCENE V. Another part of the platform.

Enter GHOST and HAMLET

HAMLET

Where are you leading me? Speak or I’ll stop.

Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.

Ghost

Listen to me.

Mark me.

HAMLET

I will.

I will.

Ghost

My time is almost up, and I have to return to the sulfurous fire and tormenting flames.

My hour is almost come,
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.

HAMLET

You poor ghost!

Alas, poor ghost!

Ghost

Don’t pity me, but listen to what I have to say.

Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold.

HAMLET

Speak. I am listening.

Speak; I am bound to hear.

Ghost

You will want revenge when you hear my story.

So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.

HAMLET

What?

What?

Ghost

I am the spirit of your father, and I am doomed to walk the night and confined by day to waste in the fires, until I have paid for the crimes of my life. But, I am forbidden to tell the secrets of hell, although I could tell a small story that would freeze your blood, make your eyes pop out of your head, or make your hair stand on end like the quills of a porcupine. However, I cannot tell you. Listen, if you ever loved your dear father--

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,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged 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, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
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--

HAMLET

Oh, God!

O God!

Ghost

You will seek revenge for his foul murder.

Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

HAMLET

Murder!

Murder!

Ghost

Yes, murder, in the most unnatural sense.

Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

HAMLET

Hurry and tell me, so I can seek revenge quickly.

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 know you are capable and no one would suspect you. Now, listen Hamlet. It was told throughout Denmark that while I was sleeping in my orchard, I was bitten by a serpent, but I want you to the serpent that bit me now wears my crown.

I know you are capable and no one would suspect you. Now, listen Hamlet. It was told throughout Denmark that while I was sleeping in my orchard, I was bitten by a serpent, but I want you to the serpent that bit me now wears my crown.

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:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.

HAMLET

I knew it! My uncle!

O my prophetic soul! My uncle!

Ghost

Yes, that incestuous beast of adultery and witchcraft. He is traitorous and has the powers of seduction, which won him my most seemingly virtuous queen. Oh, Hamlet, what a terrible blow. My wife, whom I loved with dignity from the day we married, falls for the likes of him. But, perhaps her virtue was not as solid as I thought to fall so quickly into the bed of another. Wait! I think the morning is approaching, and I must be brief. Your uncle, while I was sleeping in the orchard like every afternoon, came and poured some poison into my ear. The poison worked quickly and my body became crusty with death, and I was not given the opportunity to confess my sins. Oh, horrible! Horrible! Most horrible! Protect yourself against sin, and however you go about getting your revenge, leave your mother alone. Let heaven deal with her. Living with the truth will prick and sting her enough. Now, I must go. The sun is rising. Goodbye. Goodbye. Hamlet, remember me!

Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the 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,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
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 my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous 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,
And with a sudden vigour doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
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 uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.

Exit

HAMLET

Oh, God of heaven and earth! What else can I bear? I swear! Be still, my heart and body give me strength. Remember you! You poor ghost, I will remember you. I will think of nothing else. Oh, villainous woman! Oh, villain, damned villain! How can one sit and smile and know he is a villain? I know it is possible in Denmark.

O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?
And shall I couple hell? O, fie! 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. Remember thee!
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables,--meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark:

Writing

So, uncle, there you are. I will keep my word and remember my father. I have sworn it.

So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;
It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.'
I have sworn 't.

MARCELLUS
HORATIO

[Within]

My lord, my lord,--

My lord, my lord,--

MARCELLUS

[Within]

Lord Hamlet,--

Lord Hamlet,--

HORATIO

[Within]

Heaven protect him!

Heaven secure him!

HAMLET

So be it!

So be it!

HORATIO

[Within]

Hello, my lord!

Hillo, ho, ho, my lord!

HAMLET

Hello, boy! Come here, come.

Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come.