But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise, Unpeg the basket on the house's top, Let the birds fly, and like the famous ape, And break your own neck down. Queen. Be thou assured, if words be made of breath And breath of life, I have no life to breathe Ham. I must to England; you know that? Alack, 200 I had forgot: 'tis so concluded on. Ham. There's letters seal'd: and my two school fellows, Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd, 199. "What thou hast said to me"; "I confess," says Coleridge, "that Shakespeare has left the character of the Queen in an unpleasant perplexity. Was she, or was she not, conscious of the fratricide?" This "perplexity," whatever it be, was doubtless designed by the Poet; for in the original form of the play she stood perfectly clear on this score; as appears from several passages in the quarto of 1603, which were afterwards disciplined out of the text. Thus, in one place of this scene, she says to Hamlet,— "But, as I have a soul, I swear to Heaven, I never knew of this most horrid murder." And in this place she speaks thus: "Hamlet, I vow by that Majesty, That knows our thoughts and looks into our hearts, I will conceal, consent, and do my best, What stratagem soe'er thou shalt devise."-H. N. H. They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way, And marshal me to knavery. Let it work; Hoist with his own petar: and 't shall go hard When in one line two crafts directly meet. 210 I'll lug the guts into the neighbor room. Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you. [Exeunt severally; Hamlet dragging in Polonius. ACT FOURTH SCENE I A room in the castle. Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, and King. There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves: You must translate: 'tis fit we understand them. Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while. [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night! King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet? Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit, King. O heavy deed! It had been so with us, had we been there: His liberty is full of threats to all, To you yourself, to us, to every one. 4. Omitted in Ff.-I. G. 10 Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd? Should have kept short, restrain'd and out of This mad young man: but so much was our We would not understand what was most fit, 20 To keep it from divulging, let it feed Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done. King. O Gertrude, come away! 31 The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch, Re-enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Friends both, go join you with some further aid: Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain, And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him: Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this. [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest And let them know, both what we mean to do, Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter As level as the cannon to his blank 40 Transports his poison'd shot, may miss our name And hit the woundless air. O, come away! SCENE II Another room in the castle. Enter Hamlet. Ham. Safely stowed. Ros. Guil. } [Within] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet. Ham. But soft, what noise? who calls on Hamlet? O, here they come. Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Ros. What have you done, my lord, with the dead body? Ham. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin. 40-44. F. 1 omits these lines, and ends scene with the words"And what's untimely done. Oh, come away, My soul is full of discord and dismay.” Theobald proposed to restore the line by adding "for, haply, slander.” -I. G. |