While Hamlet and Horatio await the ghost, revelry from the castle prompts Hamlet to criticize Denmark's drinking custom. The ghost appears and beckons Hamlet to follow it away from his companions. Ignoring his friends' fears, Hamlet breaks free and follows the apparition alone.
SCENE V. A more remote part of the Castle.
Enter Ghost and Hamlet.
HAMLET
Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak, I’ll go no further.
GHOST
Mark me.
HAMLET
I will.
GHOST
My hour is almost come,When I to sulph’rous and tormenting flamesMust render up myself.
HAMLET
Alas, poor ghost!
GHOST
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearingTo what I shall unfold.
HAMLET
Speak, I am bound to hear.
GHOST
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
HAMLET
What?
GHOST
I am thy father’s spirit,Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night,And for the day confin’d to fast in fires,Till the foul crimes done in my days of natureAre burnt and purg’d away. But that I am forbidTo tell the secrets of my prison-house,I could a tale unfold whose lightest wordWould harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood,Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,Thy knotted and combined locks to part,And each particular hair to stand on endLike quills upon the fretful porpentinea porcupine..But this eternal blazon must not beTo ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!If thou didst ever thy dear father love—
HAMLET
O God!
GHOST
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
HAMLET
Murder!
GHOST
Murder most foul, as in the best it is;But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
HAMLET
Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swiftAs meditation or the thoughts of loveMay sweep to my revenge.
GHOST
I find thee apt;And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weedThat rots itself in ease on Lethethe river of forgetfulness in the classical underworld, whose water erased memory. wharf,Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of DenmarkIs by a forged process of my deathRankly abus’d; but know, thou noble youth,The serpent that did sting thy father’s lifeNow wears his crown.
HAMLET
O my prophetic soul!Mine uncle!
GHOST
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,—O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the powerSo to seduce!—won to his shameful lustThe will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.O Hamlet, what a falling off was there,From me, whose love was of that dignityThat it went hand in hand even with the vowI made to her in marriage; and to declineUpon a wretch whose natural gifts were poorTo those of mine. But virtue, as it never will be mov’d,Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven;So lust, though to a radiant angel link’d,Will sate itself in a celestial bedAnd prey on garbage.But soft! methinks I scent the morning air;Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,My custom always of the afternoon,Upon my secure hour thy uncle stoleWith juice of cursed hebenona poisonous plant or substance, commonly identified with henbane. in a vial,And in the porches of my ears did pourThe leperous distilmentA liquid or preparation produced by distillation., whose effectHolds such an enmity with blood of manThat swift as quicksilver it courses throughThe natural gates and alleys of the body;And with a sudden vigour it doth posseta hot drink of milk curdled with wine or ale, often sweetened, spiced, or medicated.And curd, like eager droppings into milk,The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine;And a most instant tetteran eruptive or scabby disease of the skin. bark’d about,Most lazar-likeresembling a person afflicted with leprosy, covered with sores., with vile and loathsome crustAll my smooth body.Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand,Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatch’d:Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,Unhous’ledwithout having received the Eucharist as preparation for death., disappointed, unanel’dWithout having received the sacrament of extreme unction.;No reckoning made, but sent to my accountWith all my imperfections on my head.O horrible! O horrible! most horrible!If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;Let not the royal bed of Denmark beA couch for luxury and damned incest.But howsoever thou pursu’st this act,Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contriveAgainst thy mother aught; leave her to heaven,And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire.Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me.
Exit.
HAMLET
O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, my heart;And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee?Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seatIn this distracted globe. Remember thee?Yea, from the table of my memoryI’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,That youth and observation copied there;And thy commandment all alone shall liveWithin the book and volume of my brain,Unmix’d with baser matter. Yes, by heaven!O most pernicious woman!O villain, villain, smiling damned villain!My tables. Meet it is I set it down,That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain!At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.
Writing.
HAMLET
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;It is ‘Adieu, adieu, remember me.’I have sworn’t.
HAMLET
HORATIO and MARCELLUS.My lord, my lord.
MARCELLUS
Lord Hamlet.
HORATIO
Heaven secure him.
HAMLET
So be it!
MARCELLUS
IlloA falconer’s cry used to call back a hawk., ho, ho, my lord!
HAMLET
Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come.
Enter Horatio and Marcellus.
MARCELLUS
How is’t, my noble lord?
HORATIO
What news, my lord?
HAMLET
O, wonderful!
HORATIO
Good my lord, tell it.
HAMLET
No, you’ll reveal it.
HORATIO
Not I, my lord, by heaven.
MARCELLUS
Nor I, my lord.
HAMLET
How say you then, would heart of man once think it?—But you’ll be secret?
HAMLET
HORATIO and MARCELLUS.Ay, by heaven, my lord.
HAMLET
There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all DenmarkBut he’s an arrant knave.
HORATIO
There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the graveTo tell us this.
HAMLET
Why, right; you are i’ the right;And so, without more circumstance at all,I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:You, as your business and desire shall point you,—For every man hath business and desire,Such as it is;—and for my own poor part,Look you, I’ll go pray.
HORATIO
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
HAMLET
I’m sorry they offend you, heartily;Yes faith, heartily.
HORATIO
There’s no offence, my lord.
HAMLET
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,And much offence too. Touching this vision here,It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you.For your desire to know what is between us,O’ermaster’t as you may. And now, good friends,As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers,Give me one poor request.
HORATIO
What is’t, my lord? We will.
HAMLET
Never make known what you have seen tonight.
HAMLET
HORATIO and MARCELLUS.My lord, we will not.
HAMLET
Nay, but swear’t.
HORATIO
In faith, my lord, not I.
MARCELLUS
Nor I, my lord, in faith.
HAMLET
Upon my sword.
MARCELLUS
We have sworn, my lord, already.
HAMLET
Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
GHOST
Swear.
HAMLET
Ha, ha boy, sayst thou so? Art thou there, truepenny?Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage.Consent to swear.
HORATIO
Propose the oath, my lord.
HAMLET
Never to speak of this that you have seen.Swear by my sword.
GHOST
Swear.
HAMLET
Hic et ubiqueLatin for ‘here and everywhere’.? Then we’ll shift our ground.Come hither, gentlemen,And lay your hands again upon my sword.Never to speak of this that you have heard.Swear by my sword.
GHOST
Swear.
HAMLET
Well said, old mole! Canst work i’ th’earth so fast?A worthy pionera soldier who digs trenches, mines, and other military earthworks.! Once more remove, good friends.
HORATIO
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange.
HAMLET
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come,Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself,—As I perchance hereafter shall think meetTo put an antic disposition on—That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,With arms encumber’d thus, or this head-shake,Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,As ‘Well, we know’, or ‘We could and if we would’,Or ‘If we list to speak’; or ‘There be and if they might’,Or such ambiguous giving out, to noteThat you know aught of me:—this not to do.So grace and mercy at your most need help you,Swear.
GHOST
Swear.
HAMLET
Rest, rest, perturbed spirit. So, gentlemen,With all my love I do commend me to you;And what so poor a man as Hamlet isMay do t’express his love and friending to you,God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together,And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,That ever I was born to set it right.Nay, come, let’s go together.