Scene IV
A plain in Denmark
Enter Fortinbras, a Captain and Soldiers, marching.[1638]
For. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king;[1639]
Tell him that by his license Fortinbras
Craves the conveyance of a promised march[1640]
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.[1641]
If that his majesty would aught with us, 5
We shall express our duty in his eye;[1642]
And let him know so.
Tell him that by his license Fortinbras
Craves the conveyance of a promised march[1640]
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.[1641]
If that his majesty would aught with us, 5
We shall express our duty in his eye;[1642]
And let him know so.
Cap. I will do't, my lord.
For. Go softly on.[1643]
[Exeunt Fortinbras and Soldiers.[1643]
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and others.[1643][1644]
Cap. Truly to speak, and with no addition,[1645][1650]
We go to gain a little patch of ground[1645]
That hath in it no profit but the name.[1645]
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;[1645][1651] 20
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole[1645]
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.[1645][1652]
We go to gain a little patch of ground[1645]
That hath in it no profit but the name.[1645]
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;[1645][1651] 20
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole[1645]
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.[1645][1652]
Ham. Why, then the Polack never will defend it.[1645]
Ham. Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats[1645][1654][1655] 25
Will not debate the question of this straw:[1645][1655]
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,[1645]
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without[1645]
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.[1645]
Will not debate the question of this straw:[1645][1655]
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,[1645]
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without[1645]
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.[1645]
Cap. God be wi' you, sir. [Exit.[1645]
Ham. I'll be with you straight. Go a little before.[1645]
[Exeunt all but Hamlet.[1645][1657]
How all occasions do inform against me,[1645]
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,[1645]
If his chief good and market of his time[1645]
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.[1645] 35
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,[1645]
Looking before and after, gave us not[1645]
That capability and god-like reason[1645]
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be[1645][1658]
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple[1645] 40
Of thinking too precisely on the event,—[1645]
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom[1645]
And ever three parts coward,—I do not know[1645][1659]
Why yet I live to say 'this thing's to do,'[1645][1659]
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means,[1645] 45
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:[1645]
Witness this army, of such mass and charge,[1645]
Led by a delicate and tender prince,[1645]
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd[1645]
Makes mouths at the invisible event,[1645] 50
Exposing what is mortal and unsure[1645]
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,[1645]
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great[1645][1660]
Is not to stir without great argument,[1645][1660][1661]
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw[1645] 55
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,[1645]
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,[1645]
Excitements of my reason and my blood,[1645]
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see[1645]
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,[1645][1662] 60
That for a fantasy and trick of fame[1645]
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot[1645][1663]
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,[1645]
Which is not tomb enough and continent[1645]
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,[1645][1664] 65
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! [Exit.[1645]
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,[1645]
If his chief good and market of his time[1645]
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.[1645] 35
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,[1645]
Looking before and after, gave us not[1645]
That capability and god-like reason[1645]
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be[1645][1658]
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple[1645] 40
Of thinking too precisely on the event,—[1645]
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom[1645]
And ever three parts coward,—I do not know[1645][1659]
Why yet I live to say 'this thing's to do,'[1645][1659]
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means,[1645] 45
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:[1645]
Witness this army, of such mass and charge,[1645]
Led by a delicate and tender prince,[1645]
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd[1645]
Makes mouths at the invisible event,[1645] 50
Exposing what is mortal and unsure[1645]
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,[1645]
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great[1645][1660]
Is not to stir without great argument,[1645][1660][1661]
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw[1645] 55
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,[1645]
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,[1645]
Excitements of my reason and my blood,[1645]
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see[1645]
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,[1645][1662] 60
That for a fantasy and trick of fame[1645]
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot[1645][1663]
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,[1645]
Which is not tomb enough and continent[1645]
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,[1645][1664] 65
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! [Exit.[1645]
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