The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet. King. Gertrude, do not drink. Queen. I will, my lord ;-I pray you, pardon me. King. It is the poison'd cup; it is too late. [Aside. Ham. I dare not drink yet, madam; by and by. Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face, Laer. My lord, I'll hit him now. King. I do not think it. Laer. 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. Osr. Nothing neither way. Laer. Have at you now. [They play. [LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES, King. Part them, they are incens'd. Ham. Nay, come again. Osr. Look to the queen there, ho! [The Queen falls. Hor. They bleed on both sides :-How is it, my lord? Osr. How is't, Laertes? Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe, Osric; I am justly kill'd 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! [Dies. Ham. O villainy !-Ho! let the door be lock'd: Treachery! seek it out. [LAERTES falls. Laer. 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: The foul practice 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!- [Stabs the King. Osr.& Lords. Treason! treason! King. O, yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt. Ham. Here,thou incestuous, murd’rous,damned Dane, Drink off this potion :-Is the union here? Follow my mother. Laer. He is justly serv'd; It is a poison temper'd by himself. [King dies. Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet ; [Dies. Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright Hor. Never believe it; I am more an antique Roman than a Dane, Ham. As thou'rt a man, Give me the cup; let go; by heaven I'll have it.— Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me ? Absent thee from felicity a while, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, What warlike noise is this? Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland, To the ambassadors of England gives This warlike volley. Ham. O, I die, Horatio ; The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit; I cannot live to hear the news from England: But I do prophecy the election lights On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice ; So tell him, with the occurrents, more or less, [Dies. Hor. Now cracks a noble heart ;-Good night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!! [March within. Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and others. Fort. Where is this sight? Hor. What is it, you would see? If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search. Fort. This quarry cries on havock !2-O proud death! What feast is toward in thine eternal cell, That thou so many princes, at a shot, So bloodily hast struck ? 1 Amb. The sight is dismal ; And our affairs from England come too late : The ears are senseless, that should give us hearing, That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead: Hor. Not from his mouth, Had it the ability of life to thank you ; He never gave commandment for their death. Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters; Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I Fort. Let us haste to hear it, And call the noblest to the audience. For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune; I have some rights of memory in this kingdom, And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more: Even while men's minds are wild; lest more mischance, On plots, and errors, happen. [1] See Illustrations. [2] To cry on was to exclaim against. I suppose, when unfair sportsmen destroyed more quarry or game than was reasonable, the censure was to cry, Havock. JOHNSON. Fort. Let four captains Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage; To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage, The soldiers' music, and the rites of war, Speak loudly for him. Take up the bodies :-Such a sight as this [A dead march. [Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies; after which, a peal of ordnance is shot off. |