Scene I

[Elsinore. A platform before the Castle.]

Enter Bernardo and Francisco two Sentinels

BERNARDO:

Who's there?

BERNARDO:

Who's there?

FRANCISCO:

Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.

FRANCISCO:

No, answer me. Halt, and identify yourself.

BERNARDO:

Long live the King!

BERNARDO:

Long live the king!

FRANCISCO:

Bernardo?

FRANCISCO:

Bernardo?

BERNARDO:

He.(5)

BERNARDO:

Yes.

FRANCISCO:

You come most carefully upon your hour.

FRANCISCO:

You’re really on time.

BERNARDO:

'tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco.

BERNARDO:

It’s just midnight. Go to bed, Francisco.

FRANCISCO:

For this relief much thanks. 'tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.

FRANCISCO:

Thanks for being on time. It’s bitter cold,
And I’m depressed.

BERNARDO:

Have you had quiet guard?(10)

BERNARDO:

Have things been quiet on your watch?

FRANCISCO:

Not a mouse stirring.

FRANCISCO:

Not a mouse stirring.

BERNARDO:

Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

BERNARDO:

Well, good night.
If you meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The ones who will watch with me, tell them to hurry up.

FRANCISCO:

I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who is there?(15)

FRANCISCO:

I think I hear them. Halt! Who goes there?

Enter Horatio and Marcellus.

HORATIO:

Friends to this ground.

HORATIO:

Your friends.

MARCELLUS:

And liegemen to the Dane.

MARCELLUS:

And subjects of the Dane.

FRANCISCO:

Give you good night.

FRANCISCO:

Have a good night.

MARCELLUS:

O, farewell, honest soldier.
Who hath relieved you?(20)

MARCELLUS:

Well, good night, you honest soldier,
Who has relieved you?

FRANCISCO:

Bernardo hath my place.
Give you good night.

FRANCISCO:

Bernardo.
Have a good-night.

Exit Francisco.

MARCELLUS:

Holla, Bernardo!

MARCELLUS:

Hey! Bernardo!

BERNARDO:

Say,
What, is Horatio there?(25)

BERNARDO:

Hey yourself.
What, is that Horatio with you?

HORATIO:

A piece of him.

HORATIO:

A piece of him.

BERNARDO:

Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, good Marcellus.

BERNARDO:

Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, good Marcellus.

MARCELLUS:

What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?

MARCELLUS:

Tell me, has this thing appeared again tonight?

BERNARDO:

I have seen nothing.

BERNARDO:

I haven’t seen anything.

MARCELLUS:

Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,(30)
And will not let belief take hold of him
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us.
Therefore I have entreated him along
With us to watch the minutes of this night,
That if again this apparition come(35)
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.

MARCELLUS:

Horatio says it’s all in our imagination,
And doesn’t believe a word we say
About this dreaded sight, seen twice by us.
So I’ve begged him to come along
With us to watch what happens this night,
That, if this apparition comes again,
He may believe what we have seen and speak to it.

HORATIO:

Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.

HORATIO:

Nonsense, nonsense, it will not appear.

BERNARDO:

Sit down awhile,
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,(40)
What we two nights have seen.

BERNARDO:

Sit down awhile,
And let us tell you once again,
You who is so stubborn in not believing our story,
What we have seen these last two nights.

HORATIO:

Well, sit we down,
And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

HORATIO:

OK, let’s sit down,
And listen to Bernardo speak of this.

BERNARDO:

Last night of all,
When yond same star that's westward from the pole(45)
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one—

BERNARDO:

Last night,
When that star up there, that's west of the North Pole,
Had moved around to light that part of the sky
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The clock’s bell then tolling one,

Enter the Ghost.

MARCELLUS:

Peace! break thee off! Look where it comes
again!(50)

MARCELLUS:

Quiet, stop! Look it’s coming again!

BERNARDO:

In the same figure, like the King that's dead.

BERNARDO:

It looks just like the dead king!

MARCELLUS:

Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.

MARCELLUS:

You’re a scholar, speak to it, Horatio.

BERNARDO:

Looks it not like the King? Mark it, Horatio.

BERNARDO:

Doesn’t it look like the King? Look at it, Horatio.

HORATIO:

Most like. It harrows me with fear and wonder.

HORATIO:

Yes, it does. It fills me with fear and wonder.

BERNARDO:

It would be spoke to.(55)

BERNARDO:

It wants to be spoken to.

MARCELLUS:

Question it, Horatio.

MARCELLUS:

Question it, Horatio.

HORATIO:

What art thou that usurp'st this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee speak!(60)

HORATIO:

What are you, that seizes this time of night,
Taking the same fair and warlike form
In which the dead king of Denmark, now buried,
Did sometimes march? By heaven I order you, speak!

MARCELLUS:

It is offended.

MARCELLUS:

It is offended.

BERNARDO:

See, it stalks away!

BERNARDO:

See, it stalks away!

HORATIO:

Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!

HORATIO:

Stay! speak, speak! I order you to speak!

Exit the Ghost.

MARCELLUS:

'tis gone, and will not answer.

MARCELLUS:

It is gone, and will not answer us.

BERNARDO:

How now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale.(65)
Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you on't?

BERNARDO:

What’s wrong, Horatio? You tremble and look pale.
Is this not more than our imaginations?
What do you think about it?

HORATIO:

Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.(70)

HORATIO:

Before my God, I might not believe this thing
Without the seeing and true testimony
Of my own eyes.

MARCELLUS:

Is it not like the King?

MARCELLUS:

Isn’t it like the King?

HORATIO:

As thou art to thyself.
Such was the very armour he had on
When he the ambitious Norway combated.
So frown'd he once when, in an angry parle,(75)
He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.
'tis strange.

HORATIO:

As you are to yourself.
The very amour he had on was the same as
When he fought with the ambitious Norway in battle,
Even his frown was the same, when, after angry talks,
He battled the Polacks on their sleds on the ice.
It is strange.

MARCELLUS:

Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.

MARCELLUS:

It’s come twice before, and just appearing out of nothing,
he’s gone past us at this dead hour with a warlike stalk.

HORATIO:

In what particular thought to work I know not;(80)
But, in the gross and scope of my opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.

HORATIO:

I don’t know what its intentions are,
But, in the plainness and freedom of my opinion,
This foretells some strange eruption to our state.

MARCELLUS:

Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land,(85)
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war,
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week.
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste(90)
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day?
Who is't that can inform me?

MARCELLUS:

OK, sit down and tell me, whoever knows,
Why this strict and very careful watch
Works on the topic of the land,
And why are brazen cannons cast every day,
And implements of war purchased abroad,
Why so many shipwrights, whose bitter task
Goes on without a day off, not even Sunday,
What is going on that this sweaty rush to build
Makes night workers and day workers all the same?
Who is the man who can explain this to me?

HORATIO:

That can I;
At least the whisper goes so. Our last King,
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,(95)
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,
Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet—
For so this side of our known world esteem'd him—
Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal'd compact,(100)
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror;
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our King; which had return'd(105)
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same covenant
And carriage of the article design'd,
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved metal hot and full,(110)
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there,
Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes,
For food and diet to some enterprise
That hath a stomach in't; which is no other—
As it doth well appear unto our state—(115)
But to recover of us, by strong hand
And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands
So by his father lost. And this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The source of this our watch and the chief head(120)
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.

HORATIO:

I can explain it,
At least, what’s on the grapevine. Our last king,
Whose image just appeared to us, a very proud man,
Was, as you know, urged into a fight,
By Old Fortinbras of Norway.
Dared to a fight, in which our valiant Hamlet,
(So this side of our known world thought him),
Did slay Old Fortinbras, who, by a sealed treaty,
Well ratified by the rules of law and heraldry,
Did lose, together with his life, all his lands,
Which he owned, to Old Hamlet.
Our king also had an equal agreement that
The lands should be returned
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
If King Hamlet lost, just as by the same covenant,
And terms of the agreement,
His lands went to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Hot and full of anger not tested in battle,
Has, in the outskirts of Norway, here and there,
Enlisted an army of lawless criminals,
Paid in food and diet, to engage in some enterprise
That has purpose in it, which is no other,
As it seems to our country,
Than to recover from us, by war
And non-negotiable terms, those same lands
That his father lost, and this, as I understand it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The source of this our watch, and the chief reason
For this speed and commotion in the land.

BERNARDO:

I think it be no other but e'en so.
Well may it sort that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch, so like the King
That was and is the question of these wars.(125)

BERNARDO:

I think it can be no other reason but that.
Well it may turn out that this warning figure
Comes armed through our watch, looking so like the king
That was and is the question of these wars.

HORATIO:

A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets;(130)
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.
And even the like precurse of feared events,(135)
As harbingers preceding still the fates
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climature and countrymen.

Enter Ghost again.

But soft! behold! Lo, where it comes again!(140)
I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay illusion!
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me;
If there be any good thing to be done,
That may to thee do ease and grace to me,(145)
Speak to me;
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!
Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life(150)
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,
Speak of it! stay, and speak! [The cock crows.] Stop it,
Marcellus!

HORATIO:

It is a speck of dust to irritate the mind's eye.
In the most high and palm tree-like state of Rome,
A little before the mightiest Julius Caesar was killed,
The graves had no bodies, and the dead in sheets
Squeaked and gibbered in the Roman streets,
And stars with trains of fire and red morning dews,
Disasters in the sun. Even the wet-looking moon,
That influences the tides of the oceans,
Had an eclipse that seemed to go on forever.
And like similar forecasters of fierce events,
As the advance team before the fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Heaven and earth have together demonstrated
To our country and countrymen.

But, quiet, behold! Look where it comes again!
I’ll cross it, though it kill me. Stay, illusion!
If you have any sound or use of voice,
Speak to me.
If there needs to be any good thing to be done,
That may do you ease and bring grace to me,
Speak to me.
If you know anything about your country's fate,
Which it may avoid by knowing in advance,
Please, speak!
Or if you have hoarded up treasure
In your life and buried it in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits often walk in death,
[The rooster crows.]
Speak of it. stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus!

MARCELLUS:

Shall I strike at it with my partisan?(155)

MARCELLUS:

Shall I strike at it with my club?

HORATIO:

Do, if it will not stand.

HORATIO:

Go ahead, if it will not stand.

BERNARDO:

'tis here!

BERNARDO:

It is here!

HORATIO:

'tis here!

HORATIO:

It is here!

MARCELLUS:

'tis gone!

Exit Ghost.

We do it wrong, being so majestical,(160)
To offer it the show of violence;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery.

MARCELLUS:

It is gone!

We do it wrong, its being so like the king,
To offer it the show of violence,
Because it is, like the air, unable to be hurt,
And our empty blows seem like a malicious joke.

BERNARDO:

It was about to speak, when the cock crew.

BERNARDO:

It was about to speak, when the rooster crowed.

HORATIO:

And then it started, like a guilty thing(165)
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of day, and at his warning,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,(170)
The extravagant and erring spirit hies
To his confine; and of the truth herein
This present object made probation.

HORATIO:

And then it seemed startled, like a guilty thing
Running from a court order. I have heard
The rooster, that is the trumpet of the morning,
With his lofty and shrill-sounding throat,
Awakes the god of day, and, at his warning,
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
The straying and wandering spirit hurries back
To his grave. and the truth of that statement
Has been shown clearly by this object we just saw.

MARCELLUS:

It faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some say that ever, 'gainst that season comes(175)
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,(180)
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

MARCELLUS:

It faded on the crowing of the rooster.
Some say that when that season comes
In which we celebrate Christmas,
The rooster will sing all night long,
And then, they say, no spirit dares to walk abroad.
The nights are wholesome, no planets change course,
No fairy takes children, a witch has no power to charm,
The time is so holy and so full of goodness.

HORATIO:

So have I heard and do in part believe it.
But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill.
Break we our watch up; and by my advice(185)
Let us impart what we have seen tonight
Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?(190)

HORATIO:

I’ve heard that too, and partly believe it.
But, look, the morning, dressed in a red cape,
Walks over the dew of that high hill in the east.
Let’s break up our watch, and I think
We should tell all we have seen tonight
To young Hamlet, for, I swear on my life,
This spirit, silent to us, will speak to him.
Do you agree that we shall tell him,
Because we love him and it is our duty?

MARCELLUS:

Let's do't, I pray: and I this morning know
Where we shall find him most conveniently.

MARCELLUS:

Let's do it, I beg you, and I know exactly
Where we shall easily find him.

Exeunt.