Hamlet
Please see the bottom of the page for full explanatory notes and helpful resources.
| ACT I SCENE IV | The platform. | |
| [Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS] |
| HAMLET | The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold. |
| HORATIO | It is a nipping and an eager air. |
| HAMLET | What hour now? |
| HORATIO | I think it lacks of twelve. |
| HAMLET | No, it is struck. |
| HORATIO | Indeed? I heard it not: then it draws near the season |
| Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. |
[A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off, within] |
| What does this mean, my lord? |
| HAMLET | 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, | 10 |
| The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out |
| The triumph of his pledge. |
| HORATIO | Is it a custom? |
| HAMLET | Ay, marry, is't: |
| But to my mind, though I am native here |
| And to the manner born, it is a custom |
| More honour'd in the breach than the observance. |
| This heavy-headed revel east and west |
| Makes us traduced and tax'd of other nations: |
| They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase |
| Soil our addition; and indeed it takes | 20 |
| From 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-leavens |
| The form of plausive manners, that these men, | 30 |
| 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 corruption |
| From that particular fault: the dram of eale |
| Doth all the noble substance of a doubt |
| To his own scandal. |
| HORATIO | Look, my lord, it comes! |
| [Enter Ghost] |
| HAMLET | Angels and ministers of grace defend us! |
| Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd, | 40 |
| Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, |
| Be thy intents wicked or charitable, |
| Thou comest in such a questionable shape |
| That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet, |
| King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me! |
| Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell |
| Why 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, | 50 |
| To cast thee up again. What may this mean, |
| That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel |
| Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon, |
| Making night hideous; and we fools of nature |
| So horridly to shake our disposition |
| With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? |
| Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do? |
| [Ghost beckons HAMLET] |
| HORATIO | It beckons you to go away with it, |
| As if it some impartment did desire |
| To you alone. |
| MARCELLUS | Look, with what courteous action | 60 |
| It waves you to a more removed ground: |
| But do not go with it. |
| HORATIO | No, by no means. |
| HAMLET |
It will not speak; then I will follow it. |
| HORATIO | Do not, my lord. |
| HAMLET | 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 tempt you toward the flood, my lord, |
| Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff | 70 |
| That beetles o'er his base into the sea, |
| And there assume some other horrible form, |
| Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason |
| And draw you into madness? think of it: |
| The very place puts toys of desperation, |
| Without more motive, into every brain |
| That looks so many fathoms to the sea |
| And hears it roar beneath. |
| HAMLET | It waves me still. |
| Go on; I'll follow thee. |
| MARCELLUS | You shall not go, my lord. |
| HAMLET | Hold off your hands. | 80 |
| HORATIO | Be ruled; you shall not go. |
| HAMLET | My fate cries out, |
| And makes each petty artery in this body |
| As 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 waxes desperate with imagination. |
| MARCELLUS | Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him. |
| HORATIO | Have after. To what issue will this come? |
| MARCELLUS | Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. | 90 |
| HORATIO | Heaven will direct it. |
| MARCELLUS | Nay, let's follow him. |
| [Exeunt] |
Next: Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5
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Explanatory Notes for Act 1, Scene 4
From Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan.
Stage Direction. The platform, sc. in front of the castle.
1. shrewdly, bitterly; shrewd, past participle of M. E. shrewen,
to curse; thence used of anything sharp or bitter, especially of
temper or language.
2. eager, sharp; O. F. aigre, Lat. acer sharp, keen; cp. i. v.
6, and Sonn. cxviii. 2, "With eager compounds we our palate
urge."
3. lacks of twelve, is somewhat short of midnight.
6. held ... walk, has been accustomed to walk; wont, "a corruption from woned, from the verb 'wonye', E. E. 'wunnian' A.S. 'to dwell'" (Abb. § 5).
Stage Direction. A flourish of trumpets, a sounding of trumpets in a triumphal manner.
8. doth wake to-night, sits up feasting; is 'making a night of it,' as the slang expression is; hence a wake = a vigil, and then the feast of the dedication of a church (formerly kept by watching all night): rouse, see note on i. 2. 127.
9. wassail, revelry; from waes heal, i,e. be of good health; cp. L. L. L. V. 2. 318, "At wakes and wassails, meetings, markets,
fairs": up-spring, Steevens quotes Chapman's Alphonsus, iii., "We Germans have no changes in our dances: An Almain and an upspring that is all," to show that this was a German dance,
and Eltze further asserts that it was "the Hupfauf" the last and
consequently the wildest dance of the old German merry-makings,
though Schmidt speaks of that dance as "apocryphal"; others
explain the word as 'upstart,' referring it to the king, and with
this explanation the words swaggering and reels seem better to
agree, the latter word being especially used of the movements of
a drunkard.
10. Rhenish, Rhine wine.
11. kettle-drum, a drum resembling a kettle in shape; Douce
quotes Cleaveland's Fuscara, "Tuning his draughts with drowsie
hums As Danes carowse by kettledrums": bray, like blare, used
especially of trumpets, clarions, and such like wind instruments.
12. The triumph of his pledge, the victorious deed of drinking
a toast, pledging some one in a toast; Delius points out that the
words are said in the bitterest irony.
14. to my mind, to my thinking; in my opinion.
15. And ... born, and therefore by my birth accustomed to the
fashion; cp. R. J. iv. 1. 109, "Then, as the manner of our
country is."
16. More honour'd ... observance, which it is more honourable
to neglect than to observe.
17. heavy-headed revel, revelry that ends in a heavy head, a
headache: or perhaps only 'stupid,' 'doltish'; east and west,
far and wide; from one side of the world to the other.
18. Makes ... nations, causes us to be vilified and reproached by other nations; for tax'd, cp. A. Y. L. ii. 7. 71, "who cries out on pride That can therein tax any private party?"; of, by.
19. clepe, call; A.S. cleopian, clypian, of which the participle
still survives in the archaic y-clept, sometimes affectedly used at
the present day.
19, 20. and with ... addition, brand us with the title of hogs; addition, in this sense is more commonly used by Shakespeare of an honourable title. In 0th. ii. 3. 79-8l, the Dane is coupled
with the German and the Hollander for their love of drinking,
while the Englishman is said to outdo them all in this accomplishment.
21. though ... height, though performed with the loftiest
chivalry and courage; Furness considers at height to be an
instance of the absorption of the definite article between the two
words, Abbott simply a case of omission.
22. The pith ... attribute, the most essential and most valuable
part of our reputation for courage, sc. by making out that courage is inspired by liquor. So, we speak of 'Dutch courage,' meaning courage inspired by hollands gin; and so Lamartine in
his description of the battle of Waterloo accounts for the furious
charges of our cavalry by asserting that they had been drugged
with brandy. For attribute, cp. T. C. ii. 3. 25, "Much attribute he hath, and much the reason Why we ascribe it to him."
23, 4. So, oft ... them, in a similar manner it often happens in
the case of particular men (here opposed to a whole nation) that
in consequence of some natural blemish; .... mole, more commonly used of a physical
mark, as in M. N. D. v. 1. 418, "Never mole, hare-lip, nor
scar," etc.
25. As, Walker remarks that the word is here used not in the
sense of 'for instance,' but in that of 'namely,' 'wit.' The particulars enumerated in this passage are 1) in their birth, 2) By the o'ergrowth, etc., 3) by some habit. wherein they are not
guilty, for which defect they cannot be held answerable.
26. Since ... origin, since the nature of a man cannot choose
from what source it will be derived; his, = its.
27, 8. By the ... reason, owing to the fact of some particular
temperament developing itself to excess, and so breaking down the stronghold of reason; the figure is that of a plant, which by being allowed to grow unchecked to an excessive size, breaks
down by its weight the enclosures and barriers by which it ought to be hemmed in. Warburton refers to the different humours, the sanguine, the melancholy, the phlegmatic, etc., by one or other of which each man was of old supposed to be governed.
29, 30. that too much ... manners, which by its excessive admixture viciously affects the form of manners naturally pleasing; for plausive, = worthy of applause, cp. A. W. i. 2. 53, "his
plausive words He scatter'd not in ears": that these men, it
chances, I say, that these men; the construction being continued from 1. 23.
31. Carrying ... defect, bearing about upon them the brand of
some one defect.
32. Being ... star, which they owe either to nature or to fortune; in the one case the defect is spoken of as the dress which nature has forced upon them, in the other as some affliction due
to the malignant influence of fortune's stars.
33, 4. Their virtues ... undergo, their virtues in all other
respects, even though they are as pure as grace itself, as infinite
as it is possible for the nature of man to support.
35, 6. Shall ... fault, are certain in the general estimation of
mankind to he looked upon as tainted with evil contracted from
that particular fault; for censure, see note on 1. 69 above; take,
used in the sense of contracting a disease.
40. Be thou ... damn'd. whether you be a good spirit or an evil
one condemned to hell; spirit of health, "a healed or saved
spirit" (Cl. Pr. Edd.).
41. Bring with thee, whether you bring with you.
43. Thou comest ... shape, you appear in a form which so provokes interrogation; cp. Macb. i. 3. 43.
45. King ... Dane. Hamlet in his excitement heaps one title
upon another, expressing his readiness to use any term of address
which may be likely to elicit an answer.
46. burst in ignorance, i.e. in the eager desire to have his
ignorance dispelled.
49. inurn'd, entommbed; for urn, = grave, the Cl. Pr. Edd.
compare H. V, i. 2. 228, "Or lay these bones in an unworthy
urn."
50. ponderous and marble, ponderous because made of marble.
51. may, can possibly; see Abb. § 307.
52. in complete steel, in panoply, armed from head to foot;
complete, accent on the former syllable. Steevens remarks that
the Ghost is probably introduced in armour for the sake of
greater solemnity; though it was really the custom of the Danish
kings to be buried in that manner.
53. Revisit'st ... moon, revisit the earth at this hour of night
when the moon is struggling to appear from behind the clouds.
54-6. and we ... souls? It is doubtful whether the construction
here is 'making us (we where we should write us) to shake,' or
'that (from 1.52) we should be made to shake'; see Abb. § 216. In either case the general sense is 'so that the mental organization of us who are the sport of nature should be convulsed with
thoughts that our souls cannot grasp; for reaches, see note on i.
1. 173, and cp. below, ii. 1. 62.
57. should, ought.
59, 60. As if ... alone, as if it had some knowledge which it
wished to communicate to you in privacy.
61. waves you, invites you by waving its hand; removed,
distant; cp. W. T. v. 2. 116, "she hath ... visited that removed
house."
63. then, i.e. as it evidently will not speak to me here.
64. should be, can possibly be; see Abb. § 325.
65. I do not ... fee, I do not value my life at the worth of a
pin; set, used in the language of gaming for 'stake'; I would
not stake my life as an equivalent to a pin; fee, property, payment, from A.S. feoh, feo, cattle, property, of which cattle were the earliest form.
66. for, as regards.
69. What if ... flood, suppose it should tempt you to the
ocean: flood, frequently in this sense, e.g. M. N. D. ii. 1. 127,
M. V. i. 1. 10.
71. That beetles ... sea, that hangs frowningly over its base
and dips down into the sea; beetles, ... "the idea was adopted
from the M. E. bitelbrowed, beetle-browed, having projecting or
sharp brows ... M. E. bitel, biting, sharp" ... (Skeat, Ety. Dict.).
73. which might ... reason, the sight of which might take away the controlling principle of your reason; for the construction here of deprive, see Abb. § 200, and for instances while pronominal and other adjectives are placed before a whole compound noun instead of, as they strictly should be, before the
second of the two nouns, see Abb. § 423.
75. toys of desperation, desperate fancies; "an allusion to
what many persons feel when on lofty heights, a desire of
throwing themselves down" (Hunter).
76. Without more motive, though it have no other inducement.
78. waves me still, still invites me, by waving its arms, to follow it.
81. Be ruled, suffer yourself to be controlled, over-persuaded,
by us in this matter; My fate cries out, my destiny calls upon
me to act.
82, 3. And makes ... nerve. Shakespeare seems always to have
used nerve for sinew, tendon (in accordance with its derivation
from Greek), not for a fibre conveying sensation;
and from this passage to have supposed that nerve and artery
were of the same texture, their outward appearance being very
similar, and it not being known in his day that arteries convey
the blood from the heart. Cp. The Faithful Friends, iii. 3, "till
my veins And sinews crack, I'll stretch my utmost strength."
Nemean, with the accent on the first syllable as in L. L. L. iv. 1. 90.
85. I'll make ... me, I'll send him who hinders me to join the
ghost in the regions below; to let, = to hinder, from A.S. laet,
slow; to let, = allow, from A.S. laetan, to allow.
87. He waxes ... imagination, his excited imagination is driving
him into madness; to wax, to grow, increase, become.
89. Have after, let us follow him; frequent in Shakespeare, who
also has 'have at,' 'have to,' 'have through,' 'have with,' 'let me' or 'let us' having to be supplied: issue, conclusion, result.
90. rotten, utterly unsound; in a morbid state.
91. it, "that is, the issue" (Cl. Pr. Edd.): Nay, let us not
leave it to heaven to set things right, but act ourselves.
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How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan, 1919. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_1_4.html >.
How to cite the scene review questions:
Mabillard, Amanda. Hamlet: Scene Questions for Review. Shakespeare Online. 27 Nov. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_1_4.html >.
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Scene Questions for Review
1. How does the opening conversation between Hamlet and Horatio bring our thoughts back to Scene 1?
2. Why is Hamlet not afraid to go with the Ghost? What does this tell us about Hamlet's mental state?
3. Hamlet is sure that destiny is demanding he act (82). To what extent does fate dictate Hamlet's actions in the play?
4. Is Horatio a good friend to Hamlet? Which lines show us Horatio's deep concern for Hamlet?
5. After Hamlet and the Ghost have left, Horatio and Marcellus have a short but significant conversation. How does it illustrate their differences?
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Points to Ponder ... In Hamlet, Shakespeare weaves the dominant motif of disease into every scene to illustrate the corrupt state of Denmark and Hamlet's all-consuming pessimism. Images of ulcers, pleurisy, full body pustules, apoplexy, and madness parallel the sins of drunkenness, espionage, war, adultery, and murder, to reinforce the central idea that Denmark is dying. Read on...
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Do You Agree? ... "Shakespeare's business was not to explain Hamlet's irresolution, not even necessarily to understand it, but merely to make us accept it as real. The world has been more interested in this than in any other play, and in Hamlet than in any other figure of drama for centuries; and it is in consequence of the strength and universality of that interest that the desire to find a psychological explanation arises. To put the question is natural and legitimate; to answer it may even be useful, in so far as it removes an obstacle to the fullness of our aesthetic experience of the play. But we must not give it any higher value than that." Claude C. H. Williamson. International Journal of Ethics. Vol. 33
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