TPTT The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: ACT IV
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
SCENE I. A room in the castle.
SCENE II. Another room in the castle.
SCENE III. Another room in the castle.
SCENE IV. A plain in Denmark.
SCENE V. Elsinore. A room in the castle.
SCENE VI. Another room in the castle.
SCENE VII. Another room in the castle.
ACT V
About the Play
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SCENE III. Another room in the castle.
Enter KING CLAUDIUS, attended
KING CLAUDIUS
      I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.
      How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
      Yet must not we put the strong law on him:
      He's loved of the distracted multitude,
5     Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;
      And where tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd,
      But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,
      This sudden sending him away must seem
      Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown
10    By desperate appliance are relieved,
      Or not at all.

Enter ROSENCRANTZ

      How now! what hath befall'n?
ROSENCRANTZ
      Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord,
      We cannot get from him.
KING CLAUDIUS
15    But where is he?
ROSENCRANTZ
      Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.
KING CLAUDIUS
      Bring him before us.
ROSENCRANTZ
      Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord.
Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN
KING CLAUDIUS
      Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
HAMLET
20    At supper.
KING CLAUDIUS
      At supper! where?
HAMLET
      Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain
      convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your
      worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
25    creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for
      maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but
      variable service, two dishes, but to one table:
      that's the end.
KING CLAUDIUS
      Alas, alas!
HAMLET
30    A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a
      king, and cat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
KING CLAUDIUS
      What dost you mean by this?
HAMLET
      Nothing but to show you how a king may go a
      progress through the guts of a beggar.
KING CLAUDIUS
35    Where is Polonius?
HAMLET
      In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger
      find him not there, seek him i' the other place
      yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within
      this month, you shall nose him as you go up the
40    stairs into the lobby.
KING CLAUDIUS
      Go seek him there.
To some Attendants
HAMLET
      He will stay till ye come.
Exeunt Attendants
KING CLAUDIUS
      Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,--
      Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve
45    For that which thou hast done,--must send thee hence
      With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;
      The bark is ready, and the wind at help,
      The associates tend, and every thing is bent
      For England.
HAMLET
50    For England!
KING CLAUDIUS
      Ay, Hamlet.
HAMLET
      Good.
KING CLAUDIUS
      So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.
HAMLET
      I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for
55    England! Farewell, dear mother.
KING CLAUDIUS
      Thy loving father, Hamlet.
HAMLET
      My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man
      and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!
Exit
KING CLAUDIUS
      Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;
60    Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night:
      Away! for every thing is seal'd and done
      That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.

Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN

      And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught--
      As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
65    Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
      After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
      Pays homage to us--thou mayst not coldly set
      Our sovereign process; which imports at full,
      By letters congruing to that effect,
70    The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
      For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
      And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done,
      Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.
Exit
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