My fate cries out, And makes each petty artery in this body [Ghost beckons. Still am I call'd;-unhand me, gentlemen;— [Breaking from them. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me:7I say, away:-Go on, I'll follow thee. [Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET. Hor. He waxes desperate with imagination. Hor. Heaven will direct it. Mar. Nay, let's follow him. [Exeunt. SCENE V. A more remote Part of the Platform. Re-enter Ghost and HAMLET. Ham. Whither wilt thou lead me? speak, I'll go 7 Ham. that lets me:] To let among our old authors signifies to prevent, to hinder. It is still a word current in the law, and to be found in almost all leases. Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold. Ham. Speak, I am bound to hear. Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. Ham. What? Ghost. I am thy father's spirit; Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night; I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood:-List, list, O list!If thou didst ever thy dear father love, Ham. O heaven! Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Ham. Murder? Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. Ham. Haste me to know it; that I, with wings as swift As meditation, or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge. I find thee apt; Ghost. And duller should'st thou be than the fat weed 8 That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,] Shakspeare, apparently through ignorance, makes Roman Catholicks of these Pagan Danes; and here gives a description of purgatory; but yet mixes it with the Pagan fable of Lethe's wharf. Would'st thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: Tis given out, that sleeping in mine orchard," A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth, Ham. O, my prophetick soul! my uncle! Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts, (O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power So to seduce!) won to his shameful lust The will of my most seeming virtuous queen: O, Hamlet, what a falling-off was there! From me, whose love was of that dignity, That it went hand in hand even with the vow I made to her in marriage; and to decline Upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor To those of mine! But virtue, as it never will be mov'd, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven; And prey on garbage. But, soft! methinks, I scent the morning air; Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,' mine orchard,] Orchard for garden. With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,] The word here used was more probably designed by a metathesis, either of the poet or transcriber, for henebon, that is, henbane; of which the most common kind (hyoscyamus niger) is certainly narcotick, and perhaps, if taken in a considerable quantity, might prove poisonous. |