SCENE V. A more remote Part of the Platform. Re-enter Ghost and HAMLet. HAM. Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak, I'll go no further. My hour is almost come, Alas, poor ghost! When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself. HAM. 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 Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres; (94) Thy knotted and combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end, harrow up thy soul] Agitate and convulse. See I. 1. Horat. bhair to stand on end] A common image of that day. "Standing as frighted with erected haire." Drayton's Moses his Birth, B. II. 4to. 1633. Like quills upon the fretful porcupine: To ears of flesh and blood: (95) List, list, O list!- HAM. O heaven! GHOST. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. HAM. Murder? GHOST. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; As meditation, or the thoughts of love,(96) GHOST. I find thee apt; And duller should'st thou be than the fat weed Would'st thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth, HAM. O, my prophetick soul! my uncle! GHOST. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,(98) With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts, а b orchard] Garden. See Jul. Cæs. II. Orchard the scene. forged process] Report of proceedings. Upon a wretch," whose natural gifts were poor But virtue, as it never will be mov'd, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven; And prey on garbage.99 But, soft! methinks, I scent the morning air; Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand, Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch'd:" • Decline upon a wretch] With degradation stoop to. See Tr. & Cr. IV. 5, Nestor. b secure] Unguarded. с eager droppings into milk] Acid. See "eager air," Sc. 4. despatch'd] Despoiled. luxury] Lasciviousness. See Tr. & Cr. V. 2. Thersit. : • Adew, But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act, [Exit. HAM. O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else? And shall I couple hell?-O fye!— Hold, hold, And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, (103) I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, b All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; [Writing. So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word; (104) It is, Adieu, adieu!* remember me. 4tos. adue, I have sworn't. 1623, 32. HOR. [Within] My lord, my lord, MAR. [Within] Lord Hamlet, And shall I couple hell?-O fye] Mend thy thought! stain not thy mind with an association so unfit and unworthy. с b saws of books] Maxims, sayings. See song at end of L. L. L. pressures past,] Impressions heretofore made. HAM. How say you then; would heart of man once think it? But you'll be secret, HOR. MAR. Ay,* by heaven, my lord. 1.0.c. HAM. There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Denmark, But he's an arrant knave. HOR. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave, To tell us this. HAM. Why, right; you are in 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; Such as it is, and, for my own poor part, D |