Osr. Nothing, neither way. Laer. Have at you now. King. [LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then, in scuffling they change Rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERtes. Part them! they are incens'd. Ham. Nay, come again. [The Queen falls. Look to the queen there, ho! Hor. They bleed on both sides. - How is it, my lord? Osr. How is 't, Laertes? Laer. Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osrick; I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery. Ham. How does the queen? King. She swoons to see them bleed. Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink, O my dear Ham [Dies. How? let the door be lock'd: [LAERTES falls. Laer. It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain; No medicine in the world can do thee good; In thee there is not half an hour of life; Then, venom, to thy work. All. Treason! treason! [Stabs the King. King. O! yet defend me, friends; I am but hurt. Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion: Follow my mother. Laer. is thy union here? He is justly serv'd; It is a poison temper'd by himself. Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet; VI. [King dies. 113 Mine and my father's death come not upon thee; Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. I am more an antique Roman than a Dane : Ham. As thou 'rt a man, Give me the cup: let go; by heaven I'll have it. O God! Horatio, what a wounded name, Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me? Absent thee from felicity awhile, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my story. [Dies. [March afar off, and Shot within. What warlike noise is this? Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland, To the ambassadors of England gives This warlike volley. Ham. O! I die, Horatio ; The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit: On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice; So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less, [Dies. Good night, sweet prince; Hor. Now cracks a noble heart. [March within. Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and Others. Fort. Where is this sight? Hor. What is it ye would see? If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search. Fort. This quarry cries on havock. O proud death! What feast is toward in thine eternal cell, That thou so many princes at a shot So bloodily hast struck? 1 Amb. The sight is dismal, And our affairs from England come too late: The ears are senseless that should give us hearing, That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Where should we have our thanks? Hor. Had it th' ability of life to thank you: Not from his mouth, He never gave commandment for their death. And let me speak to the yet unknowing world, Fort. Let us haste to hear it, For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune: Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak, 116 HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK. Even while men's minds are wild, lest more mischance, Let four captains Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage; For he was likely, had he been put on, To have prov'd most royally: and for his passage, Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot. [A dead March. [Exeunt, marching; after which, a Peal of Ordnance is shot off. Knights of Lear's train, Officers, Messengers, Soldiers, and Attendants. SCENE, Britain. ACT I. SCENE I. A Room of State in King LEAR's Palace. Enter KENT, GLOSTER, and Edmund. Kent. I thought, the king had more affected the duke of Albany, than Cornwall. Glo. It did always seem so to us: but now, in the division of the kingdoms, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety. Kent. Is not this your son, my lord? Glo. His breeding, Sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am brazed to it. |