The schoolfellow scene
II. ii. 220-318 -- 1263-1366
1263-4 Pol. You goe to seeke {the} <my> Lord Hamlet, there | he is. 1265 <Enter Rosincran and Guildensterne.> 1266 Ros. God saue you sir. 1267 Guyl. {My} <Mine> honor'd Lord. 1268 Ros. My most deere Lord. 1269-70 Ham. My {extent} <excellent> good friends, how doost thou | Guyldersterne? 1270-1 {A} <Oh,> Rosencraus, good lads how doe {you} <ye> | both? 1272 Ros. As the indifferent children of the earth. 1273 Guyl. Happy, in that we are not {euer happy on Fortunes lap,} <ouer- happy: on For-> 1274 <tunes Cap,>We are not the very button. 1275 Ham. Nor the soles of her shooe. 1276 Ros. Neither my Lord. 1277-8 Ham. Then you liue about her wast, or in the {middle of her fauours.} <mid-> 1278 <dle of her fauour?> 1279 Guyl. Faith her priuates we. 1280-1 Ham. In the secret parts of Fortune, oh most true, | she is a strumpet, 1281 {What} <What's the> newes? 1282-3 Ros. None my Lord, but <that> the worlds growne | honest. 1284-5 Ham. Then is Doomes day neere, but your newes is | not true; 1285 <Let me question more in particular: what haue> 1286 <you my good friends, deserued at the hands of Fortune,> 1287 <that she sends you to Prison hither?> 1288 < Guil. Prison, my Lord?> 1289 < Ham. Denmark's a Prison.> 1290 < Rosin. Then is the World one.> 1291 < Ham. A goodly one, in which there are many Con- > 1292 <fines, Wards, and Dungeons; Denmarke being one o'th'> 1293 <worst.> 1294 < Rosin. We thinke not so my Lord.> 1295 < Ham. Why then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing> 1296 <either good or bad, but thinking makes it so: to me it is> 1297 <a prison.> 1298 < Rosin. Why then your Ambition makes it one: 'tis> 1299 <too narrow for your minde.> 1300 < Ham. O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and> 1301 <count my selfe a King of infinite space; were it not that> 1302 <I haue bad dreames.> 1303 < Guil. Which dreames indeed are Ambition: for the> 1304 <very substance of the Ambitious, is meerely the shadow> 1305 <of a Dreame.> 1306 < Ham. A dreame it selfe is but a shadow.> 1307 < Rosin. Truely, and I hold Ambition of so ayry and> 1308 <light a quality, that it is but a shadowes shadow.> 1309 < Ham. Then are our Beggers bodies; and our Mo-> 1310 <narchs and out-stretcht Heroes the Beggers Shadowes:> 1311 <shall wee to th'Court: for, by my fey I cannot rea-> 1312 <son?> 1313 < Both. Wee'l wait vpon you.> 1314 < Ham. No such matter. I will not sort you with the> 1315 <rest of my seruants: for to speake to you like an honest> 1316 <man: I am most dreadfully attended;> 1316-7 But in the beaten | way of friendship, what make you at Elsonoure? 1318 Ros. To visit you my Lord, no other occasion. 1319-20 Ham. Begger that I am, I am {euer} <euen> poore in thankes, | but I thanke 1320-1 you, and sure deare friends, my thankes | are too deare a halfpeny: 1321-2 were you not sent for? | is it your owne inclining? is it a free visitati- 1322-3 on? come, {come,} | deale iustly with me, come, come, nay speake. 1324 Guy. What should we say my Lord? 1325 {F2} Ham. <Why> Any thing but {to'th} <to the> purpose: you were | sent for, and there is 1326-7 a kind {of} confession in your lookes, | which your modesties haue not 1327-8 craft enough to {cullour} <co-| lor>, I know the good King and Queene haue 1328 sent for you. 1329 Ros. To what end my Lord? 1330-1 Ham. That you must teach me: but let me coniure | you, by the 1331-2 rights of our fellowship, by the consonancie of | our youth, by the 1332-3 obligation of our euer preserued loue; | and by what more deare a 1333-4 better proposer {can} <could> charge | you withall, bee euen and direct with 1334-5 me whether you | were sent for or no. 1336 Ros. What say you. 1337-8 Ham. Nay then I haue an eye of you? if you loue me | hold not of. 1339 Guyl. My Lord we were sent for. 1340-1 Ham. I will tell you why, so shall my anticipation | preuent your 1341-2 discouery, {and} <of> your secrecie to the King & | Queene moult no fea- 1342-3 ther, I haue of late, but wherefore | I knowe not, lost all my mirth, 1343-4 forgon all custome of {exercises:} <ex-| ercise;> and indeede it goes so {heauily} <heauenly> with 1344-5 my {disposition,} <dispositi-| on;> that this goodly frame the earth, seemes to mee a 1345-7 {sterill} <ster-| rill> promontorie, this most excellent Canopie the ayre, | looke 1347-8 you, this braue orehanging {firmament}, this maiesticall roofe | fret- 1348-9 ted with golden fire, why it {appeareth nothing} <appeares no other thing> | to me {but} <then> a foule 1349-50 and pestilent congregation of {vapoures} <va-| pours>. What <a> peece of worke is a 1350-1 man, how noble in | reason, how infinit in faculties, in forme and 1351-2 moouing{,} | how expresse and admirable<?> in action, how like an An- 1353-4 gell <?> in apprehension, how like a God: the beautie of the | world; the 1354-5 paragon of Annimales; and yet to me, what is | this Quintessence of 1355-6 dust: man delights not me, <no,> | nor {women} <Woman> neither, though by your 1356-7 smilling, you seeme | to say so. 1358-9 Ros. My Lord, there was no such stuffe in my | thoughts. 1360-1 Ham. Why did {yee} <you> laugh {then}, when I sayd man delights | not me. 1362-3 Ros. To thinke my Lord if you delight not in man, | what Lenton 1363-4 entertainment the players shall receaue | from you, we coted them 1364-5 on the way, and hether are | they comming to offer you seruice. 1366-7 Ham. He that playes the King shal be welcome.... | I have of late -- but wherefore I know not -- lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise, and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy, the air -- look you, this brave o'er-hanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire -- why, it appears nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties. In form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals. And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? 1340-1 I will tell you why, so shall my anticipation prevent your |
