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A churchyard.
[Enter two Clowns, with spades, etc.]
FIRST CLOWN
Is she to be buried in Christian burial, that wilfully seeks her own
salvation?
SECOND CLOWN
I tell thee she is, and therefore make her grave straight, the crowner hath
sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.
FIRST CLOWN
How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defense?
SECOND CLOWN
Why 'tis found so.
FIRST CLOWN
It must be se offendendo, it cannot be else: For here lies the point; if I
drown myself wittingly, it argues an act: and an act hath three branches. It
is an act to do and to perform; argal she drowned herself wittingly.
SECOND CLOWN
Nay but hear you goodman delver.
FIRST CLOWN
Give me leave; Here lies the water; good: here stands the man; good: if the
man go to this water and drown himself; it is will he nill he, he
goes; mark you that? but if the water come to him and drown him; he drowns
not himself. Argal, he that is not guilty of his own death, shortens not his
own life.
SECOND CLOWN
But is this law?
FIRST CLOWN
Aye marry is it, crowner. Quest law.
SECOND CLOWN
Will you have the truth on it: If this had not been a gentlewoman, she
should have been buried out of Christian burial.
FIRST CLOWN
Why there thou sayst. And the more pity that great folk should have
countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves, more than their even
Christian. Come, my spade; there is no ancient gentleman, but gardeners,
ditchers and grave-makers; they hold up Adam's profession.
SECOND CLOWN
Was he a gentleman?
FIRST CLOWN
He was the first that ever bore arms.
SECOND CLOWN
Why he had none.
FIRST CLOWN
What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand the Scripture? The Scripture
says Adam digged; could he dig without arms? I'll put another question to
thee; if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess thyself--
SECOND CLOWN
Go to.
FIRST CLOWN
What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or
the carpenter?
SECOND CLOWN
The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.
FIRST CLOWN
I like thy wit well in good faith, the gallows does well; but how does it
well? it does well to those that do ill: now, thou dost ill to say the gallows
is built stronger than the church: argal, the gallows may do well to thee.
To it again, come.
SECOND CLOWN
Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter?
FIRST CLOWN
Aye, tell me that, and unyoke.
SECOND CLOWN
Marry, now I can tell.
FIRST CLOWN
To it.
SECOND CLOWN
Mass, I cannot tell.
[Enter HAMLET and HORATIO, at a distance]
FIRST CLOWN
Cudgel thy brains no more about it; for your dull ass will not mend his pace
with beating; and when you are asked this question next, say a
grave-maker: the houses that he makes, last till doomsday: Go, get thee to
Yaughan, fetch me a stoup of liquor.
[Exit Second Clown. First clown digs and sings]
, ,
, ,
In youth | when I | did love,| did love,
, 2
, , oo
Methought | it was ve|ry sweet:|
, , ,
__
To contract | O the time | for ah my | behove,
, ,
__ oo
O methought | there was noth|ing meet.|
HAMLET
Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he sings at grave-making?
HORATIO
Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
HAMLET
'Tis eene so: the hand of little employment hath the daintier sense.
FIRST CLOWN
[Sings]
, 2 , ,
oo
But age | with his steal|ing steps |
,
, , oo
Hath clawed | me in | his clutch:|
, ,
, ,
And hath | shipped^me | intil | the land,
, 2 , 2
, oo
As if | I had nev|er been such.|
[Throws up a skull]
HAMLET
That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: how the knave jowls it
to the ground, as if it were Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder: It
might be the pate of a politician which this ass now ore-reaches one that
would circumvent God, might it not?
HORATIO
It might, my lord.
HAMLET
Or of a courtier, which could say, Good morrow sweet lord: How dost thou,
good lord? This might be my lord such-a-one, that praised my lord
such-a-one's horse, when he meant to beg it; might it not?
HORATIO
Aye, my lord.
HAMLET
Why eene so: and now my Lady Worm's, chapless, and knocked about the
mazzard with a sexton's spade; here's fine revolution, if we had the trick
to see it. Did these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at loggats
with 'em? mine ache to think on it.
FIRST CLOWN [Sings]
, , ,
,
A pick-|axe^and | a spade,| a spade,
,
, , oo
For^and | a shroud|ing sheet:|
2 ,
, , ,
O a pit | of clay | for to | be made,
, ,
, oo
For such | a guest | is meet.|
[Throws up another skull]
HAMLET
There's another: why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his
quiddits now? his quillets? his cases? his tenures, and his tricks? why
does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a
dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery? Hum. This
fellow might be in his time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his
recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the
fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate
full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and
double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The
very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in this box; and must the
inheritor himself have no more, ha?
HORATIO
Not a jot more, my lord.
HAMLET
Is not parchment made of sheepskins?
HORATIO
Aye my lord, and of calf-skins too.
HAMLET
They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in that. I will speak to
this fellow: Whose grave's this sir?
FIRST CLOWN
Mine sir:
[Sings]
2 , ,
, ,
O a pit | of clay | for to | be made,
, ,
, oo
For such | a guest | is meet.|
HAMLET
I think it be thine indeed: for thou liest in it.
FIRST CLOWN
You lie out on it sir, and therefore it is not yours: for my part, I do not
lie in it; and yet it is mine.
HAMLET
Thou dost lie in it, to be in it and say it is thine: 'tis for the dead, not
for the quick, therefore thou liest.
FIRST CLOWN
'Tis a quick lie sir, 'twill away gain from me to you.
HAMLET
What man dost thou dig it for?
FIRST CLOWN
For no man sir.
HAMLET
What woman then?
FIRST CLOWN
For none neither.
HAMLET
Who is to be buried in it?
FIRST CLOWN
One that was a woman sir; but rest her soul, she's dead.
HAMLET
How absolute the knave is? we must speak by the card, or equivocation will
undo us: by the Lord Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of it,
the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the peasant comes so near the
heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe. How long hast thou been a
grave-maker?
FIRST CLOWN
Of all the days in the year, I came to it that day that our last king Hamlet
overcame Fortinbras.
HAMLET
How long is that since?
FIRST CLOWN
Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it was the very day, that
young Hamlet was born, he that was mad, and sent into England.
HAMLET
Aye marry, why was he sent into England?
FIRST CLOWN
Why, because he was mad; he shall recover his wits there; or if he do not,
it's no great matter there.
HAMLET
Why?
FIRST CLOWN
'Twill not be seen in him, there the men are as mad as he.
HAMLET
How came he mad?
FIRST CLOWN
Very strangely they say.
HAMLET
How strangely?
FIRST CLOWN
Faith eene with losing his wits.
HAMLET
Upon what ground?
FIRST CLOWN
Why here in Denmark: I have been sexton here, man and boy thirty years.
HAMLET
How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot?
FIRST CLOWN
In faith, if he be not rotten before he die (as we have many pocky corses
now-a-days, that will scarce hold the laying in) he will last you some eight
year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.
HAMLET
Why he, more than another?
FIRST CLOWN
Why sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep out water
a great while. And your water, is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body.
Here's a skull now: this skull, has lain in the earth three and twenty years.
HAMLET
Whose was it?
FIRST CLOWN
A whoreson mad fellow's it was;
Whose do you think it was?
HAMLET
Nay, I know not.
FIRST CLOWN
A pestilence on him for a mad rogue, he poured a flagon of Rhenish on my
head once. This same skull sir, this same skull sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester.
HAMLET
This?
FIRST CLOWN
Eene that.
HAMLET
Let me see. Alas poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio, a fellow of infinite
jest; of most excellent fancy, he hath borne me on his back a thousand
times: and how abhorred my imagination is, my gorge rises at it.
Here hung those lips, that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your
gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment that were
wont to set the table on a roar? No one now to mock your own leering?
Quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her
paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come. Make her laugh at that:
Prithee Horatio tell me one thing.
HORATIO
What's that my lord?
HAMLET
Dost thou think Alexander looked of this fashion in the earth?
HORATIO
Eene so.
HAMLET
And smelt so? Puh.
HORATIO
Eene so, my lord.
HAMLET
To what base uses we may return Horatio. Why may not imagination trace the
noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping a bunghole.
HORATIO
'Twere to consider: too curiously to consider so.
HAMLET
No faith, not a jot. But to follow him thither with modesty enough, and
likelihood to lead it; as thus. Alexander died: Alexander was buried:
Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam, and
why of that loam (whereto he was converted) might they not stop a
beer-barrel?
, 2
, ,
, ,
Imper|ial Cae|sar, dead | and turned | to clay,
, ,
, , ,
Might stop | a hole | to keep | the wind | away:
, ,
, , ,
Oh, that | that earth,| which kept | the world | in awe,
, ,
2 , , ,
Should patch | a wall,| to expel | the wint|er's
flaw.
, , ,
, ,
But soft,| but soft,| aside;| here comes | the
king.
[Enter Priest, etc.. in procession; the Corpse of OPHELIA, LAERTES and
Mourners following; CLAUDIUS, GERTRUDE, their trains, etc.]
, , 2 x ,
,
The queen,| the court|iers. Who is | that they
| follow,
, ,
, ,
x
And with | such maim|ed rites?| This doth |
betoken,
, , ,
, 2 ,
The corse | they fol|low, did | with des|perate hand,
, , ,
, ,
Fordo | its own | life; 'twas | of some | estate.
,
, ,
Couch we | awhile,| and mark.
[Retiring with HORATIO]
LAERTES
,
, , ->
What cer|emon||y else?
HAMLET
, ,
2 , , ,
__ ->
That is | Laert|es, a ve|ry no||ble youth:| mark.
LAERTES
, , ,
What ce|remo|ny else?
FIRST PRIEST
, , , ,
,
Her obs|equies | have been | as far | enlarged,
, 2 , ,
, ,
As we have | warran|ties, her | death was |
doubtful,
, 2
, , ,
,
And but that | great com|mand, ore|sways the |
order,
, ,
, , ,
She should | in ground | unsanct|ified | have
lodged,
2 ,
, , ,
x
Till the last | trumpet.| For char|itab|le prayers,
T T . T
, ,
,
Shards, flints, and peb|bles, should | be thrown
| on her:
, ,
, , ,
Yet here | she is | allowed | her virg|in rites,
, , ,
, ,
Her maid|en strew|ments, and | the bring|ing home
, , ,
Of bell | and bur|ial. \\
LAERTES
, ,
,
Must there | no more | be done?
FIRST PRIEST
, ,
No more | be done:
, ,
, , ,
We should | profane | the serv|ice of | the dead,
, , 2 ,
, ,
To sing | a re|quiem, and | such^rest | to her
, , ,
As to / peace-part|ed souls.
LAERTES
,
2 ,
Lay her | in the earth,
, , ,
, ,
And from | her fair | and un|pollut|ed flesh,
, 2 ,
, ,
,
May vi|olets spring.| I tell | thee (churl|ish
priest)
, 3 3 ,
, , ,
A min|istering ang|el shall | my sis|ter be,
, ,
When thou | liest^howl|ing?
HAMLET
,
, , 2 ->
What,| the fair | Ophe||lia?
GERTRUDE
,
2 , ,
Sweets,| to the sweet | farewell. \\
[Scattering flowers]
, ,
, , ,
I hoped | thou shouldst | have been | my
Ham|let's wife:
, ,
, 2 T T T
I thought | thy bride | bed to have | decked
(sweet maid)
, ,
,
And not | have strewed | thy grave.
LAERTES
, 2 ,
O* ter|rible woe,
T T T ,
, ,
Fall ten times | treble,| on that / cursed head
, ,
, , ,
Whose wick|ed deed,| thy most | ingen|ious sense
, , ,
, ,
Deprived | thee of.| Hold off | the earth |
awhile,
, , ,
, ,
Till I | have caught | her once | more in |
mine^arms:
[Leaps into the grave]
, , ,
, ,
Now pile | your dust,| upon | the quick | and dead,
, , ,
, ,
Till of | this flat | a mount|ain you | have
made,
, , , 2
2 , ,
To ore|top old | Pelion,| or the sky|ish head
, ,
Of blue | Olym|pus.
HAMLET
,
, ,
What | is he,| whose^griefs
,
, , , ,
->
Bears^such | an emph|asis?| Whose phrase | of sor||row
, 2
, 2 , ,
,
Con|jures the wand|ering stars,| and makes | them
stand
, , ,
, ,
Like wond|er-wound|ed hear|ers? This | is I,
,
,
Hamlet | the Dane. \\
LAERTES
, ,
,
The dev|il take | thy soul.
HAMLET
, ,
Thou prayst | not^well,
, , ,
, ,
I prith|ee take | thy fing|ers from | my throat;
, ,
, , ,
Sir though | I am / not splen|itive,| and rash,
, ,
, , ,
Yet have | I some|thing in | me dang|erous,
, ,
, ,
,
Which let | thy wise|ness fear.| Away | thy
hand.
CLAUDIUS
Pluck them asunder.
GERTRUDE
Hamlet, Hamlet.
HORATIO
Good my lord be quiet.
[The Attendants part them, and they come out of the grave]
HAMLET
, ,
, , ,
Why^I | will fight | with him | upon | this theme.
, ,
, , ,
Until | my eye|lids^will | no long|er wag.
GERTRUDE
Oh my son, what theme?
HAMLET
, , 2 ,
, , 2->
I loved | Ophel|ia; for|ty thous|and broth||ers
,
, , , ,
Could not |(with all | their quan|tity | of love)
, , ,
, ,
Make^up | my sum.| What wilt / thou do | for her?
CLAUDIUS
, 2 ,
,
O he is | mad La|ertes.
GERTRUDE
,
,
x
For love | of God | forbear him.
HAMLET
,
, ,
Come show | me what | thou'lt do. (tri with
prev two?)
, , , ,
oo
Would weep?| Would fight?| Would
tear | thyself?|
,
, , , ,
Would drink | up eis|el, Eat | a cro|codile?
T T T ,
, ,
I'll do it.| Dost thou | come here | to
whine;
, ,
, , ,
To out|face me | with leap|ing in | her grave?
, , ,
, ,
Be bur|ied quick | with her,| and so | will I.
, ,
, , ,
And if | thou prate | of mount|ains; let | them
throw
,
, , ,
,
Millions | of ac|res on | us; till | our ground
,
, , ,
,
Singeing | his pate | against | the burn|ing zone,
, , , ,
,
Make Os|sa like | a wart.| Nay, and |
thou'lt^mouth,
, ,
,
I'll rant | as well | as thou.
GERTRUDE
2
, ,
This is mere | madness:
, ,
, , ,
And thus | awhile | the fit | will work | on him:
, , ,
. T T T
Anon | as pa|tient as | the female dove,
,
, , , ,
When that | her gold|en coup|let are |
disclosed;
, , ,
His sil|ence will / sit droop|ing.
HAMLET
,
,
Hear | you sir:
,
, , ,
,
What is | the reas|on that | you use | me thus?
, , ,
2 , ,
I loved | you ev|er: but | it is no | matter:
, ,
, , ,
Let^Her|cules | himself | do what | he may,
, ,
, , ,
The cat | will mew,| and dog | will have | his
day.
[Exit]
CLAUDIUS
, , , 2 ,
x
I pray | you good | Hora|tio wait | upon him,
,
, ,
, ,
Strengthen | your pa|tience in our // last
night's speech,
,
, , , ,
We'll put | the mat|ter to | the pres|ent
push:
, ,
, , ,
Good Gert|rude set | some watch | over | your
son,
, ,
, , ,
This grave | shall have | a liv|ing mon|ument:
, , , ,
,
An hour | of qui|et short|ly shall | we see;
, , ,
, ,
Till then,| in pat|ience our | proceed|ing be.
[Exeunt]