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A Room in POLONIUS’ House. | |
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Enter POLONIUS and REYNALDO. | |
| Pol. Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo. | |
| Rey. I will, my lord. | |
| Pol. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo, | 5 |
| Before you visit him, to make inquiry | |
| Of his behaviour. | |
| Rey. My lord, I did intend it. | |
| Pol. Marry, well said, very well said. Look you, sir, | |
| Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris; | 10 |
| And how, and who, what means, and where they keep, | |
| What company, at what expense; and finding | |
| By this encompassment and drift of question | |
| That they do know my son, come you more nearer | |
| Than you particular demands will touch it: | 15 |
| Take you, as ’twere, some distant knowledge of him; | |
| As thus, ‘I know his father, and his friends, | |
| And, in part, him;’ do you mark this, Reynaldo? | |
| Rey. Ay, very well, my lord. | |
| Pol. ‘And, in part, him; but,’ you may say, ‘not well: | 20 |
| But if ’t be he I mean, he’s very wild, | |
| Addicted so and so;’ and there put on him | |
| What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank | |
| As may dishonour him; take heed of that; | |
| But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips | 25 |
| As are companions noted and most known | |
| To youth and liberty. | |
| Rey. As gaming, my lord? | |
| Pol. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling, | |
| Drabbing; you may go so far. | 30 |
| Rey. My lord, that would dishonour him. | |
| Pol. Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge. | |
| You must not put another scandal on him, | |
| That he is open to incontinency; | |
| That’s not my meaning; but breathe his faults so quaintly | 35 |
| That they may seem the taints of liberty, | |
| The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind, | |
| A savageness in unreclaimed blood, | |
| Of general assault. | |
| Rey. But, my good lord,— | 40 |
| Pol. Wherefore should you do this? | |
| Rey. Ay, my lord, | |
| I would know that. | |
| Pol. Marry, sir, here’s my drift; | |
| And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant: | 45 |
| You laying these slight sullies on my son, | |
| As ’twere a thing a little soil’d i’ the working, | |
| Mark you, | |
| Your party in converse, him you would sound, | |
| Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes | 50 |
| The youth you breathe of guilty, be assur’d, | |
| He closes with you in this consequence; | |
| ‘Good sir,’ or so; or ‘friend,’ or ‘gentleman,’ | |
| According to the phrase or the addition | |
| Of man and country. | 55 |
| Rey. Very good, my lord. | |
| Pol. And then, sir, does he this,—he does,—what was I about to say? By the mass I was about to say something: where did I leave? | |
| Rey. At ‘closes in the consequence.’ | |
| At ‘friend or so,’ and ‘gentleman.’ | |
| Pol. At ‘closes in the consequence,’ ay, marry; | 60 |
| He closes with you thus: ‘I know the gentleman; | |
| I saw him yesterday, or t’ other day, | |
| Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say, | |
| There was a’ gaming; there o’ertook in ’s rouse; | |
| There falling out at tennis;’ or perchance, | 65 |
| ‘I saw him enter such a house of sale,’ | |
| Videlicet, a brothel, or so forth. | |
| See you now; | |
| Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth; | |
| And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, | 70 |
| With windlasses, and with assays of bias, | |
| By indirections find directions out: | |
| So by my former lecture and advice | |
| Shall you my son. You have me, have you not? | |
| Rey. My lord, I have. | 75 |
| Pol. God be wi’ you; fare you well. | |
| Rey. Good my lord! | |
| Pol. Observe his inclination in yourself. | |
| Rey. I shall, my lord. | |
| Pol. And let him ply his music. | 80 |
| Rey. Well, my lord. | |
| Pol. Farewell! [Exit REYNALDO. | |
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Enter OPHELIA. | |
| How now, Ophelia! what’s the matter? | |
| Oph. Alas! my lord, I have been so affrighted. | 85 |
| Pol. With what, in the name of God? | |
| Oph. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, | |
| Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac’d; | |
| No hat upon his head; his stockings foul’d, | |
| Ungarter’d, and down-gyved to his ancle; | 90 |
| Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; | |
| And with a look so piteous in purport | |
| As if he had been loosed out of hell | |
| To speak of horrors, he comes before me. | |
| Pol. Mad for thy love? | 95 |
| Oph. My lord, I do not know; | |
| But truly I do fear it. | |
| Pol. What said he? | |
| Oph. He took me by the wrist and held me hard, | |
| Then goes he to the length of all his arm, | 100 |
| And, with his other hand thus o’er his brow, | |
| He falls to such perusal of my face | |
| As he would draw it. Long stay’d he so; | |
| At last, a little shaking of mine arm, | |
| And thrice his head thus waving up and down, | 105 |
| He rais’d a sigh so piteous and profound | |
| That it did seem to shatter all his bulk | |
| And end his being. That done, he lets me go, | |
| And, with his head over his shoulder turn’d, | |
| He seem’d to find his way without his eyes; | 110 |
| For out o’ doors he went without their help, | |
| And to the last bended their light on me. | |
| Pol. Come, go with me; I will go seek the king. | |
| This is the very ecstasy of love, | |
| Whose violent property fordoes itself | 115 |
| And leads the will to desperate undertakings | |
| As oft as any passion under heaven | |
| That does afflict our natures. I am sorry. | |
| What! have you given him any hard words of late? | |
| Oph. No, my good lord; but, as you did command, | 120 |
| I did repel his letters and denied | |
| His access to me. | |
| Pol. That hath made him mad. | |
| I am sorry that with better heed and judgment | |
| I had not quoted him; I fear’d he did but trifle, | 125 |
| And meant to wrack thee; but, beshrew my jealousy! | |
| By heaven, it is as proper to our age | |
| To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions | |
| As it is common for the younger sort | |
| To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king: | 130 |
| This must be known; which, being kept close, might move | |
| More grief to hide than hate to utter love. | |
| Come. [Exeunt. | |
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