Chapter 19

KING _and_ QUEEN, _on a dais_, LAERTES (R.), LORDS (R.), LADIES (L.), OSRIC (R.) _and_ Attendants, _with Foils, &c., discovered_ (R.H.); _Tables_ (R. _and_ L.)-- _Flourish of Trumpets._

_Enter_ HAMLET _and_ HORATIO (L.H.)

_King._ Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.

_Ham._ (_offering his hand to_ LAERTES) Give me your pardon, sir: I have done you wrong; But pardon it, as you are a gentleman. Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil Free me so far in your most generous thoughts, That I have shot my arrow o'er the house, And hurt my brother.

_Laer._ (R.) I am satisfied in nature, Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most To my revenge. I do receive your offer'd love like love, And will not wrong it.

_Ham._ I embrace it freely: And will this brother's wager frankly play. Give us the foils.

_Laer._ Come, one for me.

_Ham._ I'll be your foil, Laertes: in mine ignorance Your skill shall, like a star i'the darkest night, Stick fiery off indeed.[68]

_Laer._ You mock me, sir.

_Ham._ No, by this hand.

_King._ Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin Hamlet, You know the wager?

_Ham._ Very well, my lord; Your grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker side.

_King._ I do not fear it; I have seen you both: But since he's better'd,[69] we have therefore odds.

_Laer._ This is too heavy, let me see another.

_Ham._ This likes me well. These foils have all a length?

_Osr._ Ay, my good lord.

_King._ Set me the stoups of wine[70] upon that table.--

[Pages _exeunt_ R. _and_ L.]

If Hamlet give the first or second hit, Or quit[71] in answer to the third exchange, Let all the battlements their ordnance fire; The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath; And in the cup an union shall he throw,[72] Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark's crown have worn.

[Pages _return with wine._]

Give me the cup; And let the kettle[73] to the trumpet speak, The trumpet to the cannoneer without, The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth, _Now the king drinks to Hamlet._--Come, begin; And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.

_Ham._ Come on, sir.

_Laer._ Come, my lord.

[_They play._]

_Ham._ One.

_Laer._ No.

_Ham._ Judgment.

_Osr._ A hit, a very palpable hit.

_Laer._ Well:--again.

_King._ Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;

[_Drops poison into the goblet._]

Here's to thy health.

[_Pretends to drink._] [_Trumpets sound; and cannon shot off within._]

Give him the cup.

_Ham._ I'll play this bout first; set it by awhile.

[Page _places the goblet on table_, L.]

Come. Another hit; What say you?

[_They play._]

_Laer._ A touch, a touch, I do confess.

_King._ Our son shall win.

_Queen._ The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.[74]

_Ham._ Good madam!----

[_Trumpets sound._]

_King._ Gertrude, do not drink.

_Queen._ I have, my lord; I pray you, pardon me.

_King._ It is the poison'd cup; it is too late.

[_Aside._]

_Laer._ I'll hit him now And yet it is almost against my conscience.

[_Aside._]

_Ham._ Come, for the third, Laertes: You do but dally; I pray you, pass with your best violence; I am afeard you make a wanton of me.[75]

_Laer._ Say you so? come on.

[_They play._]

[LAERTES _wounds_ HAMLET; _then, in scuffling they change Rapiers, and_ HAMLET _wounds_ LAERTES.]

_King._ Part them; they are incensed.

_Ham._ Nay, come, again.

[_The_ QUEEN _falls back in her chair._]

_Osr._

(_Supporting_ LAERTES, R.)

Look to the queen there, ho!

_Hor._

(_Supporting_ HAMLET, L.)

How is it, my lord?

_Osr._ How is't, Laertes?

_Laer._ Why, as a woodcock to my own springe,[76] Osric; I am justly killed with mine own treachery.

_Ham._ How does the queen?

_King._ She swoons to see them bleed.

_Queen._ No, no, the drink, the drink,--O, my dear Hamlet,-- The drink, the drink! I am poison'd.

[_The_ QUEEN _is conveyed off the stage by her attendant_ Ladies, _in a dying state_, L.H.U.E.]

_Ham._ O villainy! Ho! let the doors be lock'd: Treachery! seek it out.

[LAERTES _falls._]

_Laer._ (R.) It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain; No medicine in the world can do thee good, In thee there is not half an hour's life; The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, Unbated and envenom'd:[77] the foul practice[78] Hath turn'd itself on me; lo, here I lie, Never to rise again: Thy mother's poison'd: I can no more: the king, the king's to blame.

_Ham._ The point Envenom'd too! Then, venom, to thy work. Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damnèd Dane, Follow my mother.

[_Stabs the_ KING, _who is borne away by his attendants, mortally wounded_, R.H.U.E.]

_Laer._ He is justly serv'd; Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet: Mine and my father's death come not upon thee, Nor thine on me!

[_Dies._]

_Ham._ (C.) Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. You that look pale and tremble at this chance, That are but mutes or audience to this act, Had I but time (as this fell sergeant, death,[79] Is strict in his arrest), O, I could tell you,-- But let it be. Horatio, Report me and my cause aright To the unsatisfied.

_Hor._ (L.) Never believe it: I am more an antique Roman than a Dane: Here's yet some liquor left.

[_Seizing the goblet on table_, L.]

_Ham._ As thou'rt a man,-- Give me the cup: let go; by heaven, I'll have it.

[_Dashes the goblet away._]

O good Horatio, what a wounded name, Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me![80] If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, Absènt thee from felicity awhile, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my story.-- O, I die, Horatio; The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit;[81] The rest is silence.

[_Dies_, C., OSRIC _on his_ R., _and_ HORATIO _on his_ L.]

_Dead March afar off._

_Curtain slowly descends._

THE END.

Notes