Hamlet answers Claudius's questions about Polonius with riddles before revealing that the body is near the lobby stairs. Claudius orders Hamlet sent to England under guard, presenting the journey as protection from the consequences of the killing. Alone, Claudius reveals that sealed orders command the English king to execute Hamlet.
SCENE IV. A plain in Denmark.
Enter Fortinbras and Forces marching.
FORTINBRAS
Go, Captain, from me greet the Danish king.Tell him that by his license, FortinbrasCraves the conveyancea legal deed transferring ownership of property. of a promis’d marchOver his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.If that his Majesty would aught with us,We shall express our duty in his eye;And let him know so.
CAPTAIN
I will do’t, my lord.
FORTINBRAS
Go softly on.
Exeunt all but the Captain.
Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern &c.
HAMLET
Good sir, whose powers are these?
CAPTAIN
They are of Norway, sir.
HAMLET
How purpos’d, sir, I pray you?
CAPTAIN
Against some part of Poland.
HAMLET
Who commands them, sir?
CAPTAIN
The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras.
HAMLET
Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,Or for some frontier?
CAPTAIN
Truly to speak, and with no addition,We go to gain a little patch of groundThat hath in it no profit but the name.To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;Nor will it yield to Norway or the PoleA ranker rate, should it be sold in feeIn absolute and heritable possession..
HAMLET
Why, then the Polack never will defend it.
CAPTAIN
Yes, it is already garrison’d.
HAMLET
Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducatsWill not debate the question of this straw!This is th’imposthumeAn abscess or pus-filled swelling. of much wealth and peace,That inward breaks, and shows no cause withoutWhy the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.
CAPTAIN
God b’ wi’ you, sir.
Exit.
ROSENCRANTZ
Will’t please you go, my lord?
HAMLET
I’ll be with you straight. Go a little before.
Exeunt all but Hamlet.
HAMLET
How all occasions do inform against me,And spur my dull revenge. What is a manIf his chief good and market of his timeBe but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.Sure he that made us with such large discourse,Looking before and after, gave us notThat capability and godlike reasonTo fustto grow mouldy or stale through disuse. in us unus’d. Now whether it beBestial oblivion, or some craven scrupleOf thinking too precisely on th’event,—A thought which, quarter’d, hath but one part wisdomAnd ever three parts coward,—I do not knowWhy yet I live to say this thing’s to do,Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and meansTo do’t. Examples gross as earth exhort me,Witness this army of such mass and charge,Led by a delicate and tender prince,Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff’d,Makes mouths at the invisible event,Exposing what is mortal and unsureTo all that fortune, death, and danger dare,Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be greatIs not to stir without great argument,But greatly to find quarrel in a strawWhen honour’s at the stake. How stand I then,That have a father kill’d, a mother stain’d,Excitements of my reason and my blood,And let all sleep, while to my shame I seeThe imminent death of twenty thousand menThat, for a fantasy and trick of fame,Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plotWhereon the numbers cannot try the cause,Which is not tomb enough and continentTo hide the slain? O, from this time forth,My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth.