Act I, scene i (soldiers, Horatio, Ghost)

I.i I.ii I.iii I.iv I.v II.i II.ii III.i IIII.ii III.iii III.iv IV.i IV.ii IV.iii IV.iv IV.v IV.vi IV.vii V.i V.ii

ff

∵ SCENE. Elsinore. →

Kronborg castle (built 1577) in Helsingør, Denmark

ACT I. →

Division into acts and scenes is post-WS


Scene I. Elsinore. A platform before the Castle. →

cite

[Francisco at his post. Enter to him Bernardo.] →

the Castle was built to guard a strait and enforce a tax on passing ships, but there's a new threat as well from Fortinbras of Norway

Quarto 2 has 'Barnardo'
the names are Italian not Scandinavian


Bernardo: Who's there? →

∵ Francisco: Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself. →

F is on duty, B is the newcomer, so B has no business challenging F instead of announcing himself first...?
"stand, and unfold yourself" would make better sense if B was seated: maybe B arrives first and sits to wait, then F returns from patrolling


Bernardo: Long live the king! →



Francisco: Bernardo? →

(how dark is it?? no moon?)


Bernardo: He. →


Francisco: You come most carefully upon your hour. →

(F was expecting him, but took some time recognising him!? arriving on time is maybe uncharacteristic)


Bernardo: 'Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco. →

(so the play begins at midnight)


Francisco: For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold, →
And I am sick at heart. →

(though the night is cold, Ophelia's flowers demand it be late spring)
Elsinore is at 56° N, vs London's 51°30, Stratford's 52°, and Dublin's 53°

"sick at heart" dreading the Ghost?
(these are very minor characters: F appears only in this scene, and B only briefly in scene 2)


Bernardo: Have you had quiet guard? →

Francisco: ...Not a mouse stirring. →

STIRring has an extra syllable

ff
∵ Bernardo: Well, good-night. →
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, →
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. →

B expects them, and hopes they won't be late
"rivals" = partners, complements (cf 'rive' = riverbank)
Horatio is odd man out, here, not an official sentinel but a curious visitor


Francisco: I think I hear them. —Stand, ho! Who is there? →

(B should do the challenging?)


[Enter Horatio and Marcellus.] →

Horatio: Friends to this ground... →

(ie, not enemies)


Marcellus: ...And liegemen to the Dane. →

(cf declaring oneself eg 'loyal subjects of the Englishman' meaning King Edward)


Francisco: Give you good-night. →


Marcellus: O farewell, honest soldier; →
∵ Who hath relieved you? →

"honest soldier" implies M recognises F

(M has obviously come at B's invitation, so the question is odd?)


Francisco: ...Bernardo has my place. →
Give you good-night... →

[Exit.] →

Marcellus: ...Holla! Bernardo! →


Bernardo: ...Say, →
What, is Horatio there? →



Horatio: ...A piece of him. →

(there are various theories why not all of him: his heart isn't in it, he wishes he were elsewhere, he's half-asleep, he's only physically present not spiritually, or maybe he's just offering his hand...?)

(the tone is drily witty like SD's "We were only thinking about it" p130)


Bernardo: Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, good Marcellus. →

(nuance: "good")


Marcellus: What, has this thing appeared again tonight? →

(finally, the story begins to show some shape)
(Horatio can say this instead)


∵ Bernardo: I have seen nothing. →


Marcellus: Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy, →
And will not let belief take hold of him →
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us. →
Therefore I have entreated him along →
With us, to watch the minutes of this night, →
That if again this apparition come →
He may approve our eyes and speak to it. →

M is explaining H's presence to B, but B was already expecting him??
"twice seen of us" M and B have seen it twice each, F probably not (it must always come after midnight?)

"With us" awkward rhythm


Horatio: Tush-tush, 'twill not appear! →

cf 'bosh'


Bernardo: ...Sit down awhile, →
And let us once again assail your ears, →
That are so fortified against our story, →
What we two nights have seen. →

"once again" (B and M already told H once)
fortified ears


∵ Horatio: ...Well, sit we down, →
And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. →
ff


Bernardo: Last night of all, →
When yond same star that's westward from the pole →
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven →
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, →
The bell then beating one... →

in June, probably Vega


Marcellus: Peace, break thee off; look where it comes again! →



[Enter Ghost, armed.] →

∵ Bernardo: In the same figure, like the king that's dead. →

(so, the ghost looks like a ?recently dead king)


Marcellus: Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio. →

maybe from the superstition that spirits spoke Latin (eg priests' exorcisms), or just more skillful at speaking
Horatio is fellow-student of Hamlet's at Wittenberg University


Bernardo: Looks it not like the King? Mark it, Horatio. →



Horatio: Most like— it harrows me with fear and wonder. →

cf 'harrowing'


Bernardo: It would be spoke to. →



Marcellus: ...Question it, Horatio. →

Horatio: What art thou, that usurps this time of night, →
Together with that fair and warlike form →
In which the majesty of buried Denmark →
∵ Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee, speak! →

(recently buried?)

U181: "in the vesture of buried Denmark"

a skeptic might still worry that a demon is impersonating the king


Marcellus: It is offended. →



Bernardo: See, it stalks away! →



Horatio: Stay! Speak! Speak! I charge thee, speak! →



[Exit Ghost.] →



Marcellus: 'Tis gone, and will not answer. →



Bernardo: How now, Horatio! You tremble and look pale: →
Is not this something more than fantasy? →
What think you on it? →



Horatio: Before my God, I might not this believe →
Without the sensible and true avouch →
Of mine own eyes. →



Marcellus: ...Is it not like the King? →


ff
Horatio: As thou art to thyself: →
Such was the very armour he had on →
When he the ambitious Norway combated; →
So frowned he once, when in an angry parle →
∵ He smote the sledded Pollacks on the ice. →
'Tis strange. →

(so Horatio knew the dead king)

U181: "A player comes on under the shadow, made up in the castoff mail of a court buck"

U180: "wielding the sledded poleaxe"


∵ Marcellus: Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, →
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. →

cf U14 "it jumped with a project of his own"

"gone by" passed by


Horatio: In what particular thought to work I know not, →
∵ But, in the gross and scope of my opinion, →
This bodes some strange eruption to our state. →

the ghost seems to intend a warning of an upheaval
"gross and scope" = hendiadys (adj-conjunction-noun)


Marcellus: Good, now. Sit down and tell me, he that knows, →
Why this same strict and most observant watch →
So nightly toils the subject of the land, →
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon →
And foreign mart for implements of war, →
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task →
∵ Does not divide the Sunday from the week; →
What might be to-ward, that this sweaty haste →
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day: →
Who is it that can inform me? →

why is Denmark preparing for war?


Horatio: ...That can I; →
At least, the whisper goes so: our last king, →
Whose image even but now appeared to us, →
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, →
Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride, →
Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet— →
For so this side of our known world esteemed him— →
Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a sealed compact, →
Well ratified by law and heraldry, →
∵ Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands, →
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror: →
Against the which, a moiety competent →
Was gaged by our king; which had returned →
To the inheritance of Fortinbras, →
Had he been vanquisher; as by the same covenant, →
And carriage of the article designed, →
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, →
Of unproved mettle hot and full, →
∵ Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there, →
Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes, →
For food and diet, to some enterprise →
That hath a stomach in it; which is no other,— →
As it doth well appear unto our state,— →
But to recover of us, by strong hand, →
And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands →
∵ So by his father lost: and this, I take it, →
Is the main motive of our preparations, →
The source of this our watch, and the chief head →
Of this post-haste and romage in the land. →
ff
the soldiers seem to be learning for the first time from the student Horatio who it is they're on guard against!? Norway's Fortinbras (jr) is arming for attack.
(historically, Denmark and Norway had shared a king since 1397. Fortinbras sr is not called 'king' here but will be in scene 2)
'Fortinbras' = strong-arm
"Hamlet" is first mentioned as the dead king's name


Bernardo: I think it be no other but even so: →
Well may it sort, that this portentous figure →
Comes armed through our watch; so like the king →
That was and is the question of these wars. →

"sort" = suit, accord


Horatio: A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye. →
In the most high and palmy state of Rome, →
∵ A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, →
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead →
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets; →
As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, →
∵ Disasters in the sun; and the moist star, →
∵ Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands, →
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse: →
And even the like precurse of fierce events,— →
As harbingers preceding still the fates, →
And prologue to the omen coming on,— →
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated →
∵ Unto our climature and countrymen.— →
But, soft, behold! Lo, where it comes again! →
ff
in ancient Rome similar portents occurred before Julius Caesar was killed


[Re-enter Ghost.] →


I'll cross it, though it blast me. —Stay, illusion! →
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, →
Speak to me: →
If there be any good thing to be done, →
That may to thee do ease, and grace to me, →
Speak to me: →
If thou art privy to thy country's fate, →
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, →
O, speak! →
∵ Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life →
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, →
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, →
[The cock crows.] →
Speak of it: —stay, and speak!— Stop it, Marcellus! →



Marcellus: Shall I strike at it with my partisan? →

Horatio: Do, if it will not stand. →


Bernardo: 'Tis here! →

Horatio: 'Tis here! →



Marcellus: 'Tis gone! →

[Exit Ghost.] →



We do it wrong, being so majestical, →
∵ To offer it the show of violence; →
For it is, as the air, invulnerable, →
And our vain blows malicious mockery. →



Bernardo: It was about to speak, when the cock crew. →


ff
Horatio: And then it started, like a guilty thing →
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard →
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, →
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat →
Awake the god of day; and at his warning, →
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, →
The extravagant and erring spirit hies →
∵ To his confine: and of the truth herein →
This present object made probation. →



Marcellus: It faded on the crowing of the cock. →
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes →
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, →
The bird of dawning singeth all night long; →
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad; →
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, →
∵ No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm; →
So hallowed and so gracious is the time. →

FW192.21 "till Paraskivee and the cockcock crows for Danmark."


Horatio: So have I heard, and do in part believe it. →
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, →
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill: →
Break we our watch up: and by my advice, →
Let us impart what we have seen tonight →
∵ Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life, →
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him: →
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, →
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty? →

(now we finally learn there's a jr Hamlet too)

cf?? U121: "He forgot Hamlet."


Marcellus: Let's do it, I pray; and I this morning know →
Where we shall find him most conveniently. →



[Exeunt.] →


videos: [BBC 7min]

Act I, scene ii (Claudius, council, Laertes, Hamlet, Horatio)

I.i I.ii I.iii I.iv I.v II.i II.ii III.i IIII.ii III.iii III.iv IV.i IV.ii IV.iii IV.iv IV.v IV.vi IV.vii V.i V.ii



ff
∵ Scene II. Elsinore. A room of state in the Castle. →

(after 1577 the chancellery was in the north wing with the royal chambers)


[Enter the King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Voltimand, →
Cornelius, Lords, and Attendant.] → →

K&Q are Claudius and Gertrude (Hamlet's uncle and mother)
Hamlet alone is dressed in mourning. his age is at most 30yo, maybe less
Polonius is Laertes' and Ophelia's father (a counsellor of some kind, probably even the Lord Chamberlain, maybe from Poland)
Homer's Laertes was Odysseus' father
V and C are nonentities (conventionally played by the same actors as Marcellus and Bernardo)
this can be seen as an informal council meeting


King: Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death →
∵ The memory be green, and that it us befitted →
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom →
To be contracted in one brow of woe; →
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature →
That we with wisest sorrow think on him, →
Together with remembrance of ourselves. →
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, →
Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state, →
Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,— →
With an auspicious and one dropping eye, →
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage, →
∵ In equal scale weighing delight and dole,— →
Taken to wife; nor have we herein barr'd →
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone →
With this affair along:— or all, our thanks. →
Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras, →
Holding a weak supposal of our worth, →
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death →
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, →
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage, →
He hath not fail'd to pester us with message, →
Importing the surrender of those lands →
Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, →
∵ To our most valiant brother. So much for him,— →
ff

Now for ourself and for this time of meeting: →
Thus much the business is:— we have here writ →
To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,— →
Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears →
Of this his nephew's purpose,— to suppress →
His further gait herein; in that the levies, →
The lists, and full proportions are all made →
Out of his subject:— and we here dispatch →
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand, →
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway; →
Giving to you no further personal power →
To business with the king, more than the scope →
∵ Of these dilated articles allow. →
Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty. →

(opaque exposition: the king's death was recent, the new king Claudius was his brother, and has already married the widow, within a month)

"Norway... old Norway... the king" (ahistorically, Norway has its own king, the brother of Fortinbras sr)


Cornelius and Voltimand: In that and all things will we show our duty. →


King: We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell. →


[Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius.] →

(they return briefly in II.ii)


∵ And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? →
You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes? →
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane, →
And lose your voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes, →
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? →
The head is not more native to the heart, →
The hand more instrumental to the mouth, →
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. →
What wouldst thou have, Laertes? →

king:counsellor::head:heart::hand:mouth???
 
ff
Laertes: Dread my lord, →
Your leave and favour to return to France; →
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, →
∵ To show my duty in your coronation; →
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, →
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France, →
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. →

"Dread my lord" = My respected lord

(opinions differ whether Laertes is going to school in Paris, and whether he returned for the king's funeral as well, but he's only been back for days)


King: Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius? →


video: olivier 1948

Polonius: He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave →
By laboursome petition; and at last →
Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent: →
I do beseech you, give him leave to go. →

King: Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, →
And thy best graces spend it at thy will!— →
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son— →

(Laertes departs in I.iii and returns in IV.v)
nephew and now stepson

cf? SimonD "Selling tapes in my cousin, Peter Paul M'Swiney's."

∵ Hamlet: [Aside.] A little more than kin, and less than kind! →

("Aside" is just interpolated)
nephew is closer than cousin
stepson is farther than son?
'kin and kind' was a phrase
maybe "kind" implies H and C are ethically opposites


∵ King: How is it that the clouds still hang on you? →



Hamlet: Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun. →



∵ Queen: Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, →
∵ And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. →
Do not for ever with thy vailed lids →
Seek for thy noble father in the dust: →
Thou know'st 'tis common,— all that lives must die, →
Passing through nature to eternity. →

U09: "Give up the moody brooding."

U71: "from beneath his vailed eyelids"


Hamlet: Ay, madam, it is common. →

Queen: If it be, →
Why seems it so particular with thee? →


ff
Hamlet: Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not seems. →
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, →
Nor customary suits of solemn black, →
Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath, →
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, →
Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, →
Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief, →
∵ That can denote me truly: these, indeed, seem; →
For they are actions that a man might play; →
But I have that within which passeth show; →
These but the trappings and the suits of woe. →

U06: "I can't wear them if they are grey."
U10: "No, mother! Let me be and let me live."


King: 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, →
To give these mourning duties to your father; →
But, you must know, your father lost a father; →
That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound, →
In filial obligation, for some term →
To do obsequious sorrow: but to persevere →
∵ In obstinate condolement is a course →
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief; →
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven; →
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient; →
An understanding simple and unschool'd; →
For what we know must be, and is as common →
As any the most vulgar thing to sense, →
Why should we, in our peevish opposition, →
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven, →
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, →
To reason most absurd; whose common theme →
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, →
From the first corse till he that died to-day, →
'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth →
This unprevailing woe; and think of us →
As of a father: for let the world take note →
∵ You are the most immediate to our throne; →
And with no less nobility of love →

ff Than that which dearest father bears his son →
Do I impart toward you. For your intent →
∵ In going back to school in Wittenberg, →
It is most retrograde to our desire: →
And we beseech you bend you to remain →
Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, →
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. →

300 miles:


Queen: Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet: →
I pray thee stay with us; go not to Wittenberg. →



Hamlet: I shall in all my best obey you, madam. →



King: Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply: →
Be as ourself in Denmark.— Madam, come; →
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet →
Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof, →
No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day →
∵ But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell; →
And the king's rouse the heaven shall bruit again, →
Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. →

video: olivier 1948


[Exeunt all but Hamlet.] →

audio: gielgud 1948


Hamlet: O that this too too solid flesh would melt, →
∵ Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! →
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd →
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! →
∵ How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable →
Seem to me all the uses of this world! →
Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, →
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature →
Possess it merely. That it should come to this! →
But two months dead!— nay, not so much, not two: →

ff So excellent a king; that was, to this, →
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother, →
∵ That he might not beteem the winds of heaven →
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! →
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him →
As if increase of appetite had grown →
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month,— →
Let me not think on't,— Frailty, thy name is woman!— →
A little month; or ere those shoes were old →
With which she followed my poor father's body →
∵ Like Niobe, all tears;— why she, even she,— →
O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, →
Would have mourn'd longer,— married with mine uncle, →
My father's brother; but no more like my father →
Than I to Hercules: within a month; →
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears →
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, →
∵ She married:— O, most wicked speed, to post →
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! →
It is not, nor it cannot come to good; →
But break my heart,— for I must hold my tongue! →

U178: "O, fie! Out on't!"

U96: "Shuttered, tenantless, unweeded garden."

U12: "Frailty, thy name is Sceptre"
FW094.15 "frai is frau"
FW450.32 "Bryony O'Bryony, thy name is Belladama!"


[Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.] →



Horatio: Hail to your lordship! →



Hamlet: I am glad to see you well: →
Horatio, —or I do forget myself. →



Horatio: The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever. →



Hamlet: Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you: →
∵ And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?— →
Marcellus? →


ff
Marcellus: My good lord,— →



Hamlet: I am very glad to see you.— Good even, sir.— →
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg? →



Horatio: A truant disposition, good my lord. →



Hamlet: I would not hear your enemy say so; →
Nor shall you do my ear that violence, →
To make it truster of your own report →
Against yourself: I know you are no truant. →
But what is your affair in Elsinore? →
∵ We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart. →

the consensus is that Hamlet's last line expresses deep contempt for his homeland


Horatio: My lord, I came to see your father's funeral. →



Hamlet: I prithee do not mock me, fellow-student. →
I think it was to see my mother's wedding. →



Horatio: Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon. →



Hamlet: Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral bak'd meats →
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. →
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven →
∵ Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!— →
My father,— methinks I see my father. →

to see any foe go to heaven rather than hell is unpleasant
cf "dearest" dire-est


Horatio: Where, my lord? →



Hamlet: In my mind's eye, Horatio. →



Horatio: I saw him once; he was a goodly King. →

this seems inconsistent with Horatio's statements in I.i


Hamlet: He was a man, take him for all in all, →
I shall not look upon his like again. →



∵ Horatio: My lord, I think I saw him yesternight. →



Hamlet: Saw who? →



Horatio: My lord, the king your father. →



Hamlet: The King my father! →


ff
Horatio: Season your admiration for awhile →
With an attent ear, till I may deliver, →
Upon the witness of these gentlemen, →
This marvel to you. →



Hamlet: For God's love let me hear. →



Horatio: Two nights together had these gentlemen, →
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch →
In the dead vast and middle of the night, →
∵ Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father, →
Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe, →
Appears before them and with solemn march →
Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd →
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes, →
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distill'd →
∵ Almost to jelly with the act of fear, →
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me →
In dreadful secrecy impart they did; →
And I with them the third night kept the watch: →
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time, →
Form of the thing, each word made true and good, →
The apparition comes: I knew your father; →
These hands are not more like. →

"cap-a-pe" = head to foot


Hamlet: But where was this? →



Marcellus: My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd. →



Hamlet: Did you not speak to it? →



∵ Horatio: My lord, I did; →
But answer made it none: yet once methought →
It lifted up it head, and did address →
∵ Itself to motion, like as it would speak: →
But even then the morning cock crew loud, →
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away, →
And vanish'd from our sight. →


ff
Hamlet: 'Tis very strange. →



Horatio: As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true; →
And we did think it writ down in our duty →
To let you know of it. →



∵ Hamlet: Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me. →
Hold you the watch to-night? →



Marcellus and Bernardo: We do, my lord. →



Hamlet: Arm'd, say you? →



Both: Arm'd, my lord. →



Hamlet: From top to toe? →



Both: My lord, from head to foot. →



Hamlet: Then saw you not his face? →



Horatio: O, yes, my lord: he wore his beaver up. →

From Old French baviere (“child's bib”), from baver (“to slaver”).

Hamlet: What, look'd he frowningly? →



Horatio: A countenance more in sorrow than in anger. →



Hamlet: Pale or red? →



∵ Horatio: Nay, very pale. →



Hamlet: And fix'd his eyes upon you? →



Horatio: Most constantly. →



Hamlet: I would I had been there. →



Horatio: It would have much amaz'd you. →



Hamlet: Very like, very like. Stay'd it long? →



Horatio: While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred. →



Marcellus and Bernardo: Longer, longer. →



Horatio: Not when I saw't. →



Hamlet: His beard was grizzled,— no? →



∵ Horatio: It was, as I have seen it in his life, →
A sable silver'd. →

U44: "in sable silvered"


Hamlet: I will watch to-night; →
Perchance 'twill walk again. →


ff
Horatio: I warr'nt it will. →



Hamlet: If it assume my noble father's person, →
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape →
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, →
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight, →
Let it be tenable in your silence still; →
∵ And whatsoever else shall hap to-night, →
Give it an understanding, but no tongue: →
I will requite your loves. So, fare ye well: →
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve, →
I'll visit you. →



All: Our duty to your honour. →



Hamlet: Your loves, as mine to you: farewell. →



[Exeunt Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo.] →



My father's spirit in arms! All is not well; →
I doubt some foul play: would the night were come! →
Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise, →
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. →



[Exit.] →