Hamlet: Act 3, Scene 1
Enter KING, QUEEN, POLONIUS,
OPHELIA, ROSENCRANTZ,
GUILDENSTERN, LORDS.
KING
1 And can you, by no drift of circumstance,
1. drift of circumstance: i.e., supposedly casual conversation.
2 Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
2. puts on this confusion: displays this puzzling behavior.
3 Grating so harshly all his days of quiet
4 With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?
3-4. Grating . . . lunacy: i.e., replacing his previous reasonableness with disruptive and dangerous craziness.
ROSENCRANTZ
5 He does confess he feels himself distracted;
6 But from what cause 'a will by no means speak.
GUILDENSTERN
7 Nor do we find him forward to be sounded,
7. forward: readily willing.
8 But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof,
8. keeps aloof: i.e., refuses to be pinned down.
9 When we would bring him on to some confession
10 Of his true state.
10. his true state: his genuine state of mind.
QUEEN
Did he receive you well?
ROSENCRANTZ
11 Most like a gentleman.
GUILDENSTERN
12 But with much forcing of his disposition.
12. with much forcing of his disposition: i.e., with strained courtesy.
ROSENCRANTZ
13 Niggard of question; but, of our demands,
13. Niggard of question: Miserly in conversation; i.e., unwilling to engage in free and easy conversation. demands: questions.
14 Most free in his reply.
QUEEN
Did you assay him
14. assay him: i.e., try to lure him to.
15 To any pastime?
ROSENCRANTZ
16 Madam, it so fell out, that certain players
16. players: actors.
17 We o'er-raught on the way. Of these we told him;
17. o'er-raught: overreached; i.e., passed.
18 And there did seem in him a kind of joy
19 To hear of it. They are about the court,
19. They are about the court: i.e., they are already somewhere here in the castle.
20 And, as I think, they have already order
21 This night to play before him.
POLONIUS
'Tis most true:
22 And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties
23 To hear and see the matter.
KING
24 With all my heart; and it doth much content me
25 To hear him so inclined.
26 Good gentlemen, give him a further edge,
26. edge: incitement.
27 And drive his purpose into these delights.
27. drive his purpose into these delights: i.e., strongly encourage him to focus on such entertainments.
ROSENCRANTZ
28 We shall, my lord. Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
KING
Sweet Gertrude, leave us too;
29 For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither,
29. For . . . hither: I have privately summoned him to see me. This passage raises many questions.
30 That he, as 'twere by accident, may here
31 Affront Ophelia:
31. Affront: meet and speak to.
32 Her father and myself (lawful espials)
32. espials: spies.
33 Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing, unseen,
33. bestow ourselves: place ourselves.
34 We may of their encounter frankly judge,
34. frankly: freely, honestly, accurately.
35 And gather by him, as he is behaved,
36 If 't be th' affliction of his love or no
37 That thus he suffers for.
QUEEN
I shall obey you.
38 And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish
39 That your good beauties be the happy cause
40 Of Hamlet's wildness. So shall I hope your virtues
41 Will bring him to his wonted way again,
41. his wonted way: his accustomed mode of behavior.
42 To both your honors.
OPHELIA
Kate Winslet as Ophelia
--1996 film--
Madam, I wish it may.
[Exit Queen.]
POLONIUS
43 Ophelia, walk you here.
[To the King.]
Gracious, so please you,
43. Gracious: your Grace.
44 We will bestow ourselves.
44. bestow ourselves: i.e., hide ourselves within earshot.
[To Ophelia.]
Read on this book;
44. this book: The book is apparently a devotional.
45 That show of such an exercise may color
45. exercise: i.e., religious exercise.
46 Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this—
45-46. color / Your loneliness: give your being alone a natural appearance.
47 'Tis too much proved—that with devotion's visage
47. too much prov'd: too often proved to be true in practice.
48 And pious action we do sugar o'er
48. action: behavior.
49 The devil himself.
KING [Aside.]
O, 'tis too true!
50 How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
50. How ... give: what a stinging whipping that speech gives.
51 The harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art,
51. plastering art: the art of plastering on cosmetics.
52 Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
52. ugly to: ugly in comparison to.
53 Than is my deed to my most painted word:
53. painted: prettified with cosmetics.
54 O heavy burden!
Polonius and Claudius Spying on Hamlet,
by
Sir John Gilbert
POLONIUS
55 I hear him coming: let's withdraw, my lord.
[Exeunt King and Polonius.]
Enter HAMLET.
HAMLET
56 To be, or not to be: that is the question:
56. To or not to be . . . : There is another version of this famous soliloquy.
57 Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
57. suffer: endure patiently.
58 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
58. slings: i.e., projectiles launched from slings.
59 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
60 And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep—
61 No more—and by a sleep to say we end
62 The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
63 That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
63. consummation: completion, end.
64 Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
65 To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
65. rub: i.e., obstacle, catch. ...more
66 For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
67 When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
67. shuffled off: sloughed, cast off. this mortal coil: the turmoil of this mortal life.
68 Must give us pause: there's the respect
68. respect: consideration.
69 That makes calamity of so long life;
70 For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
70. bear . . . time: i.e., endure the punishments and insults that always come with the passage of time.
71 The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
71. contumely: insolent abuse.
72 The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
72. despised: rejected.
73 The insolence of office and the spurns
73. office: i.e., all those who hold official positions which give them power over others. spurns: insults.
74 That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
75 When he himself might his quietus make
75. his quietus make: settle all his debts.
76 With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
76. With a bare bodkin: with nothing more than a dagger. fardels: burdens.
77 To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
78 But that the dread of something after death,
79 The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
79. undiscover'd: unknown, mysterious. from whose bourn: from beyond the boundary of which.
80 No traveller returns, puzzles the will
80. puzzles: paralyzes.
81 And makes us rather bear those ills we have
82 Than fly to others that we know not of?
83 Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
83. conscience: consciousness, reflection.
84 And thus the native hue of resolution
84. resolution: decision to take action.
85 Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
85. pale cast: pallor.
86 And enterprises of great pitch and moment
86. pitch: urgency. ...more moment: importance.
87 With this regard their currents turn awry,
87. With this regard: because of this kind of consideration [of possibilities]. turn awry: turn off course.
88 And lose the name of action.—Soft you now,
88. Soft you now: i.e., wait a minute, what's this?
89 The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
89. orisons: prayers.
90 Be all my sins remember'd.
90. Be all my sins remember'd: i.e., please pray over my sins.
OPHELIA
Good my lord,
91 How does your honor for this many a day?
HAMLET
92 I humbly thank you; well, well, well.
OPHELIA
93 My lord, I have remembrances of yours,
93. remembrances of yours: i.e., love tokens; things Hamlet gave Ophelia to remember him by.
94 That I have longed long to re-deliver;
95 I pray you, now receive them.
95. I pray you, now receive them: please take them back now.
HAMLET
No, not I;
96 I never gave you aught.
96. aught: anything whatsoever.
I think Hamlet means that he didn't give Ophelia anything that needs to be returned, not that he didn't give her anything at all.
OPHELIA
97 My honor'd lord, you know right well you did;
98 And, with them, words of so sweet breath composed
99 As made the things more rich. Their perfume lost,
100 Take these again; for to the noble mind
101 Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
101. unkind: unnatural; i.e., false.
102 There, my lord.
HAMLET
103 Ha, ha! are you honest?
103. Ha, ha!: I believe that Hamlet is expressing surprise because Ophelia has just spoken as if he were the one who broke off the relationship. honest: 1) truthful; 2) chaste.
OPHELIA
104 My lord?
HAMLET
105 Are you fair?
105. fair: 1) beautiful; 2) honorable.
OPHELIA
106 What means your lordship?
HAMLET
107 That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should
108 admit no discourse to your beauty.
107-108. your . . . beauty: your honesty should have no dealings with your beauty.
OPHELIA
109 Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than
110 with honesty?
109-110. Could beauty . . . with honesty?: could beauty have any better dealings than those with honesty?
HAMLET
111 Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner
112 transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the
112. bawd: madame of a whorehouse.
113. translate: transform.
113 force of honesty can translate beauty into his
114 likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but now the
115 time gives it proof. I did love you once.
114-115. sometime: formerly. paradox: a view contrary to accepted belief. the time gives it proof: the present age proves that it is true. I believe that Hamlet is thinking that it is his mother's case which proves his point. His mother was beautiful and honest, but her beauty attracted Claudius, who seduced her into adultery, so her beauty corrupted her honesty.
OPHELIA
116 Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.
HAMLET
117 You should not have believ'd me, for virtue cannot
118 so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of
119 it. I lov'd you not.
117-119. virtue . . . relish of it: i.e., no matter how hard we try to be virtuous, our naturally sinful nature will come through in some way. Hamlet here uses a metaphor from gardening; "inoculate" means "to graft," and in grafting, the "stock" is the hardy root and stem on which the desired plant is grafted.
OPHELIA
120 I was the more deceived.
HAMLET
121 Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder
122 of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; but yet I
122. indifferent honest: i.e., as virtuous as most people are.
123 could accuse me of such things that it were better my
124 mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful,
125 ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have
126 thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape,
125-126. more . . . in: I believe that Hamlet is saying that he has more crimes that he could call to mind—and which tempt him—than he has reasons to justify such crimes.
127 or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do
128 crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves,
128. arrant knaves: thoroughgoing rascals.
129 all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.
130 Where's your father?
OPHELIA
"At home, my lord"
131 At home, my lord.
HAMLET
132 Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the
133 fool no where but in's own house. Farewell.
OPHELIA
134 O, help him, you sweet heavens!
HAMLET
135 If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy
136 dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou
137 shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go:
137. calumny: slander.
138 farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for
139 wise men know well enough what monsters you make
139. monsters: i.e., cuckolds. ...more you: i.e., you women.
140 of them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell.
140. nunnery: Here, and at his next use of the word "nunnery," Hamlet may be punning on the slang meaning of the word, which is "whorehouse."
OPHELIA
141 O heavenly powers, restore him!
141. restore him: restore him [to sanity]. Ophelia believes that Hamlet has gone mad before her eyes. ...more
HAMLET
142 I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God
142. your paintings: i.e., women's use of cosmetics.
143 has given you one face, and you make yourselves
144 another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nick-name
145 God's creatures, and make your wantonness your
146 ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath made me mad.
144-146. you jig ... ignorance: i.e., you walk and talk affectedly; you make up cute names for people; and you pretend that your sexual desires are just innocent childishness.
147 I say, we will have no moe marriages: those that are
148 married already, all but one, shall live; the rest shall
147-148. moe: more. those that are married already, all but one, shall live: This may be a threat against King Claudius.
149 keep as they are. To a nunnery, go.
Exit.
OPHELIA
150 O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
150. o'erthrown: overthrown, destroyed.
151 The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;
151. The . . . sword: This is a bit confusing .
152 The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
152. expectancy: hope. rose: ornament.
153 The glass of fashion and the mold of form,
153. glass of fashion and mold of form: mirror (model) of pleasing manners and pattern of courtly behavior.
154 The observed of all observers, quite, quite down!
154. The observed of all observers: i.e., the center of attention and honor.
155 And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
156 That suck'd the honey of his music vows,
157 Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
158 Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
159 That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth
159. blown: in full bloom.
160 Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me,
160. Blasted: withered. ecstasy: madness.
161 To have seen what I have seen, see what I see! Enter KING CLAUDIUS and POLONIUS.
KING
162 Love! his affections do not that way tend;
162. affections: inclinations, feelings.
163 Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little,
164 Was not like madness. There's something in his soul,
165 O'er which his melancholy sits on brood;
165. sits on brood: i.e., prepares to hatch. ...more
166 And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose
166. doubt: suspect, fear. disclose: disclosure, hatching.
167 Will be some danger: which for to prevent,
168 I have in quick determination
169 Thus set it down: he shall with speed to England,
168-169. I . . . down: I have firmly decided as follows.
170 For the demand of our neglected tribute.
170. For . . . tribute: to demand the tribute (money payment) due to Denmark, which has not been paid.
171 Haply the seas and countries different
171. Haply: perchance, happily.
172 With variable objects shall expel
172. variable objects: i.e., a variety of things to see.
173 This something-settled matter in his heart,
174 Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus
175 From fashion of himself. What think you on't?
174-175. puts him thus / From fashion of himself: estranges him [as we have just seen] from his natural manner of acting.
POLONIUS
176 It shall do well: but yet do I believe
177 The origin and commencement of his grief
177. grief: problem, what is troubling him.
178 Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia!
178. neglected love: i.e., Hamlet's love for Ophelia, which Ophelia, on her father's orders, has refused. How now, Ophelia!: There seems to be some implied stage direction here, but I don't know just what it is. Did Ophelia, when her father said "neglected love," give her father a significant look?
179 You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said;
180 We heard it all. My lord, do as you please;
181 But, if you hold it fit, after the play
182 Let his queen mother all alone entreat him
183 To show his grief: let her be round with him;
183.round: blunt, outspoken.
184 And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear
185 Of all their conference. If she find him not,
184-185. in the ear / Of all their conference: within earshot of everything they say. find him: learn the truth about him.
186 To England send him, or confine him where
186. confine him: Confinement in a dark room was a common treatment for madness.
187 Your wisdom best shall think.
KING
It shall be so:
188 Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go.
Exeunt.