The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by George MacDonald (read out loud books .TXT) 📖

[Sidenote: Saylers .]

Say . God blesse you Sir.

Hor . Let him blesse thee too.

Say . Hee shall Sir, and't[5] please him. There's
[Sidenote: A shall sir and please] a Letter for you Sir: It comes from th'Ambassadours
[Sidenote: it came frõ th' Embassador] that was bound for England, if your name be Horatio , as I am let to know[6] it is.

Reads the Letter [7]

Horatio, When thou shalt haue ouerlook'd this ,
[Sidenote: Hor. Horatio when]
giue these Fellowes some meanes to the King: They haue Letters for him. Ere we were two dayes[8] old at Sea, a Pyrate of very Warlicke appointment gaue vs Chace. Finding our selues too slow of Saile, we put on a compelled Valour. In the Grapple, I boarded
[Sidenote: valour, and in the]
them: On the instant they got cleare of our Shippe, so I alone became their Prisoner.[9] They haue dealt with mee, like Theeues of Mercy, but they knew what they did. I am to doe a good turne for them. Let
[Sidenote: a turne]
the King have the Letters I haue sent, and repaire thou to me with as much hast as thou wouldest flye
[Sidenote: much speede as]
death[10] I haue words to speake in your eare, will
[Sidenote: in thine eare]

[Footnote 1: 'formal ostentation'-show or publication of honour according to form or rule.]

[Footnote 2: 'so that I must call in question'-institute inquiry; or '- that (these things) I must call in question.']

[Footnote 3: Note such a half line frequently after the not uncommon closing couplet-as if to take off the formality of the couplet, and lead back, through the more speech-like, to greater verisimilitude.]

[Footnote 4: Here the servant goes, and the rest of the speech Horatio speaks solus . He had expected to hear from Hamlet.]

[Footnote 5: 'and it please'- if it please . An for if is merely
and .]

[Footnote 6: 'I am told.']

[Footnote 7: Not in Q .]

[Footnote 8: This gives an approximate clue to the time between the second and third acts: it needs not have been a week.]

[Footnote 9: Note once more the unfailing readiness of Hamlet where there was no question as to the fitness of the action seemingly required. This is the man who by too much thinking, forsooth, has rendered himself incapable of action!-so far ahead of the foremost behind him, that, when the pirate, not liking such close quarters, 'on the instant got clear,' he is the only one on her deck! There was no question here as to what ought to be done: the pirate grappled them; he boarded her. Thereafter, with his prompt faculty for dealing with men, he soon comes to an understanding with his captors, and they agree, upon some certain condition, to put him on shore.

He writes in unusual spirits; for he has now gained full, presentable, and indisputable proof of the treachery which before he scarcely doubted, but could not demonstrate. The present instance of it has to do with himself, not his father, but in itself would justify the slaying of his uncle, whose plausible way had possibly perplexed him so that he could not thoroughly believe him the villain he was: bad as he must be, could he actually have killed his own brother, and such a brother? A better man than Laertes might have acted more promptly than Hamlet, and so happened to do right; but he would not have been right, for the proof was not sufficient.]

[Footnote 10: The value Hamlet sets on his discovery, evident in his joyous urgency to share it with his friend, is explicable only on the ground of the relief it is to his mind to be now at length quite certain of his duty.]

[Page 212]

make thee dumbe, yet are they much too light for the bore of the Matter.[1] These good Fellowes will bring
[Sidenote: the bord of]
thee where I am. Rosincrance and Guildensterne, hold their course for England. Of them I haue much to tell thee, Farewell.
He that thou knowest thine.
[Sidenote: So that thou knowest thine Hamlet. ]
Hamlet.

Come, I will giue you way for these your Letters,
[Sidenote: Hor . Come I will you way] And do't the speedier, that you may direct me To him from whom you brought them. Exit . [Sidenote: Exeunt. ]

Enter King and Laertes. [2]

King . Now must your conscience my acquittance seal, And you must put me in your heart for Friend, Sith you haue heard, and with a knowing eare,[3] That he which hath your Noble Father slaine, Pursued my life.[4]

Laer . It well appeares. But tell me, Why you proceeded not against these feates,[5] [Sidenote: proceede] So crimefull, and so Capitall in Nature,[6] [Sidenote: criminall] As by your Safety, Wisedome, all things else,
[Sidenote: safetie, greatnes, wisdome,] You mainly[7] were stirr'd vp?

King . O for two speciall Reasons, Which may to you (perhaps) seeme much vnsinnowed,[8] And yet to me they are strong. The Queen his Mother,
[Sidenote: But yet | tha'r strong] Liues almost by his lookes: and for my selfe, My Vertue or my Plague, be it either which,[9] She's so coniunctiue to my life and soule;
[Sidenote: she is so concliue] That as the Starre moues not but in his Sphere,[10] I could not but by her. The other Motiue, Why to a publike count I might not go, [Sidenote: 186] Is the great loue the generall gender[11] beare him, Who dipping all his Faults in their affection,

[Footnote 1: Note here also Hamlet's feeling of the importance of what has passed since he parted with his friend. 'The bullet of my words, though it will strike thee dumb, is much too small for the bore of the reality (the facts) whence it will issue.']

[Footnote 2: While we have been present at the interview between Horatio and the sailors, the king has been persuading Laertes.]

[Footnote 3: an ear of judgment.]

[Footnote 4: 'thought then to have killed me.']

[Footnote 5: faits , deeds.]

[Footnote 6: 'deeds so deserving of death, not merely in the eye of the law, but in their own nature.']

[Footnote 7: powerfully.]

[Footnote 8: 'unsinewed.']

[Footnote 9: 'either-which.']

[Footnote 10: 'moves not but in the moving of his sphere,'-The stars were popularly supposed to be fixed in a solid crystalline sphere, and moved in its motion only. The queen, Claudius implies, is his sphere; he could not move but by her.]

[Footnote 11: Here used in the sense of the Fr. 'genre'-sort . It is not the only instance of the word so used by Shakspere.

The king would rouse in Laertes jealousy of Hamlet.]

[Page 214]

Would like the Spring that turneth Wood to Stone, [Sidenote: Worke like] Conuert his Gyues to Graces.[1] So that my Arrowes Too slightly timbred for so loud a Winde,
[Sidenote: for so loued Arm'd[2]] Would haue reuerted to my Bow againe, And not where I had arm'd them.[2]
[Sidenote: But not | have aym'd them.]

Laer . And so haue I a Noble Father lost, A Sister driuen into desperate tearmes,[3] Who was (if praises may go backe againe) [Sidenote: whose worth, if] Stood Challenger on mount of all the Age