King. Stay, give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine; Here's to thy health.- Give him the cup. [Trumpets sound; and cannon shot off within. Ham. I'd play this bout first; set it by awhile. Come. Another hit; what say you? Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess. [They play. King. Our son shall win. Queen. He's fat, and scant of breath.— Here, Hamlet, take my napkin; rub thy brows. The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet. Ham. Good madam, King. Gertrude, do not drink. Queen. I will, my lord; -I pray you, pardon me. King. It is the poisoned 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. [Aside. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes. You do but dally. I pray you, pass with your best violence; I am afraid you make a wanton of me. Laer. Say you so? come on. Osr. Nothing neither way. Laer. Have at you now. [They play. [LAERTES wounds HAMLET, then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES. Hor. They bleed on both sides;-how is it, my lord? Osr. How is't, Laertes? Laer. Why, as the woodcock to mine own springe, Osric; I am justly killed with mine own treachery. She swoons to see them bleed. Ham. How does the queen? King. Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,-O my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink;-I am poisoned! Ham. O villany!-Ho! let the door be locked. Treachery! seek it out. [Dies. [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 envenomed. The foul practice Hath turned itself on me; lo, here I lie, Never to rise again. Thy mother's poisoned; I can no more; the king, the king's to blame. Ham. Envenomed too!-Then, venom, to thy work. Osr. and Lords. Treason! treason! The point [Stabs the King. King. O, yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt. Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion.-Is the union here? Follow my mother. Laer. He is justly served; It is a poison tempered by himself. [King dies. Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet. [Dies. Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright Hor. Ham. Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me! Absent thee from felicity awhile, 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. 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! Why does the drum come hither? [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 havoc!-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: Where should we have our thanks? Not from his mouth, Hor. He never gave commandment for their death. And, in this upshot, purposes mistook Fallen on the inventors' heads. All this can I Fort. Let us haste to hear it, For me, with sorrow, I embrace my fortune; Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak, And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more; But let this same be presently performed, Even while men's minds are wild; lest more mischance On plots and errors happen. Fort. Let four captains Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage; For he was likely, had he been put on, To have proved most royally; and, for his passage, Speak loudly for him. Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this, Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. [A dead march. [Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies; after which a peal of ordnance is shot off within. |