King.
Gertrude, do not drink.
Queen. I will, my lord;-I pray you, pardon me.
K.[Aside. It is the poison'd cup; it is too late.
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. [Aside.] And yet it is almost against
my conscience.
Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes: You do
but dally;
I pray you, pass with your best violence;
I am afeard, you make a wanton1 of me.
Laer. Say you so? come on.
Osr. Nothing neither way.
Laer. Have at you now.
[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling,
they change Rapiers, and Hamlet wounds
Laertes.
King.
Part them, they are incens'd.
Ham. Nay, come again. [The Queen falls.
OST.
Look to the queen there, ho!
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,
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.
L. 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,2 and envenom'd: the foul practice
Hath turned 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!-Then, venom, to thy work.
[Stabs the King.
Osr. and 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 thy union here?
Follow my mother.
[King dies.
Laer.
He is justly serv'd;
It is a poison temper'd by himself.-
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee;
Nor thine on me!
[Dies.
Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow
thee.
I am dead, Horatio:-Wretched queen,adieu!-
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time, (as this fell sergeant,3 death,
Is strict in his arrest,) O, I could tell you,-
But let it be:-Horatio, I am dead;
Thou livest; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.
1 Feeble effeminate person.
Hor.
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane,
Here's yet some liquor left.
Ham.
As thou'rt a man,-
Give me the cup; let go; by heaven I'll have it.-
O good Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, [me?
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.-
[March afar off, and Shot within. What warlike noise is this? Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,
To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.
O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit;
I cannot live to hear the news from England:
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, 1 more or less,
Which have solicited, the rest is silence.[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 havock!-O
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,
To tell him, his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?
Hor.
Not from his mouth,
Had it the ability of life to thank you;
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jumps upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from Eng-
land,
Are here arriv'd; give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak, to the yet unknowing world,
How these things come about: So shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts;
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause;
And in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I
Truly deliver.
Fort.
Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune:
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Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on, [sage,
To have prov'd most royally: and, for his pas-
The soldier's musick, and the rites of war,
Speak loudly for him.-
Take up the bodies:-Such a sight as this Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot. [A dead March. [Exeunt, bearing off the dead Bodies; after which, a Peal of Ordnance is shot of.
SCENE.-For the first Act, in Venice; during the rest of the Play, at a Sea-port in Cyprus.
SCENE I.-VENICE. A STREET.
Enter Roderigo and Iago.
Rod. Tush, never tell me, I take it much
unkindly,
That thou, Iago,-who hast had my purse,
As if the strings were thine,-shouldst know of
Iago. But you will not hear me :- [this.
If ever I did dream of such a matter,
Abhor me.
Rod. Thou told'st me, thou didst hold him in thy hate.
Iago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,
In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Oft capp'd to him;-and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance,2
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion, nonsuits
My mediators; for certes,3 says he,
I have already chose my officer.
And what was he?
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost cursed in a fair wife;
That never set a squadron in the field,
1 Remembered rights.
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:
And I,-of whom his eyes had seen the proof,
At Rhodes, at Cyprus; and on other grounds
Christian and heathen,-must be be-lee'd and
calm'd
By debitor and creditor, this counter-caster;3
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,
And I, sir, (bless the mark!) his Moorship's
ancient.4
Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.
Iago. But there's no remedy, 'tis the curse of service;
Preferment goes by letter, and affection,
Not by the old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge your-
Whether I in any just term am affin'd5 [self,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage, Wears out his time, much like his master's ass, For nought but provender; and, when he's old, cashier'd;
Whip me such honest knaves: Others there are, Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty, Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves; And, throwing but shows of service on their lords, Do well thrive by them, and when they have lin'd their coats,
Do themselves homage: these fellows have some
And such a one do I profess myself.
For, sir,
It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
R. What a full fortune does the thick-lipsowe,1
If he can carry't thus!
Iago.
Call up her father,
Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,
Yet throw such changes of vexation on't,
As it may lose some colour.
Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud. I. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell, As when, by night and negligence, the fire Is spied in populous cities.
R.What ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantio, ho! Iago. Awake! what ho! Brabantio! thieves!
Look to your house, your daughter, and your Thieves! thieves! [bags!
Brabantio, above, at a Window.
B. What is the reason of this terrible summons?
What is the matter there?
Rod. Signior, is all your family within?
Iago. Are your doors lock'd?
Bra.
Why? wherefore ask you this? Iago. "Zounds, sir, you are robb'd; for shame, put on your gown;
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul;
Arise, arise;
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you;
Arise, I say.
Bra. What, have you lost your wits?
Rod. Most reverend signior, do you know my
Bra. Not I: What are you?
[voice.
Rod. My name is-Roderigo.
Bra.
I have charg'd thee, not to haunt about my doors:
In honest plainness thou hast heard me say,
My daughter is not for thee; and now,in madness,
Being full of supper, and distempering draughts,
Upon malicious bravery, dost thou come
To start my quiet.
Rod. Sir, sir, sir, sir,——————
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You are a senator. Bra. This thou shalt answer: I know thee, Roderigo. [seech you, But I be
Rod. Sir, I will answer anything.
If't be your pleasure, and most wise consent,
(As partly, I find, it is,) that your fair daughter,
At this odd-even2 and dull watch o' the night,
Transported-with no worse nor better guard,
But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,-
To the embrace of a lascivious Moor,-
If this be known to you, and your allowance,3
We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs;
But, if you know not this, my manners tell me,
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe,
That, from the sense of all civility,
I thus would play and trifle with your reverence:
Your daughter,-if you have not given her leave,
I say, again, hath made a gross revolt;
Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes,
In an extravagant4 and wheeling stranger,
Of here and every where: Straight satisfy your-
If she be in her chamber, or your house, [self:
Let loose on me the justice of the state
For thus deluding you.
Bra.
Strike on the tinder, ho!
Give me a taper;-call up all my people:-
This accident is not unlike my dream,
Belief of it oppresses me already:-
Light, I say! light!
[Exit from above.
Iago. Farewell; for I must leave you:
It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place,
To be produc'd (as, if I stay, I shall,)
Against the Moor: For, I do know, the state,-
However this may gall him with some check,-
Cannot with safety cast him; for he's embark'd
With such loud reason to the Cyprus' wars,
(Which even now stand in act,) that, for their
Another of his fathom they have not, [souls,
To lead their business: in which regard,
Though I do hate him as I do hell pains,
Yet, for necessity of present life,
I must show out a flag and sign of love,
Which is indeed but sign. That you shall surely
find him,
Lead to the Sagittary5 the rais'd search;
And there will I be with him. So farewell. [Exit.
Enter below, Brabantio, and Servants, with
Torches.
Bra. It is too true an evil: gone she is;
1 A lone farm-house. 4 Wandering.
5 Name of Othello's house.
And what's to come of my despis'd time,1
Is nought but bitterness.-Now, Roderigo,
Where didst thou see her?-O, unhappy girl!-
With the Moor, say'st thou ?-Who would be a
father?
[me
How didst thou know'twas she? O, thou deceiv'st
Past thought! What said she to you?-Get
more tapers:
Raise all my kindred.-Are they married, think
Rod. Truly, I think, they are.
[you?
Bra. O heaven! how got she out?-O treason
Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters'
minds
[charms,
By what you see them act.-Are there not
By which the property of youth and maidhood
May be abus'd? Have you not read, Roderigo,
Of some such thing?
Rod.
Yes, sir; I have indeed.
Bra. Call up my brother.-O, that you had
Some one way, some another.-Do you know
Where we may apprehend her and the Moor?
Rod. I think, I can discover him: if you please
To get good guard, and go along with me.
Bra. Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call;
I may command at most;-Get weapons, ho!
And raise some special officers of night.-
On, good Roderigo:-I'll deserve your pains.
Enter Cassio, at a distance, and certain Officers
with Torches.
I. These are the raised father, and his friends:
You were best go in.
My parts, my title, and my perfect soul,
Oth.
Not I: I must be found;
Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?
Iago. By Janus, I think no.
0. The servants of the duke and my lieutenant. The goodness of the night upon you, friends!
And he requires your haste, post-haste appear-
Cas. The duke does greet you, general;
[ance,
Oth. What is the matter, think you?
It is a business of some heat: the gallies
Cas. Something from Cyprus, as I may divine;
Have sent a dozen sequent messengers
This very night at one another's heels;
And many of the consuls, rais'd, and met,
Are at the duke's already: You have been hotly
called for;
The senate hath sent about three several quests,1
When, being not at your lodging to be found,
To search you out.
Oth.
I will but spend a word here in the house,
And go with you.
'Tis well I am found by you.
Cas. [Exeunt.
SCENE II.-ANOTHER STREET.
Enter Othello, Iago, and Attendants.
I. Though in the trade of war I have slain men,
Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience,
To do no contriv'd murder; I lack iniquity
Sometimes to do me service: Nine or ten times
I had thought to have yerk'd2 him here under the
Oth. "Tis better as it is.
[ribs.
Iago.
Nay, but he prated,
And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms
Against your honour,
That, with the little godliness I have,
I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray, sir,
Are you fast married? for, be sure of this,-
That the magnifico 3 is much beloved;
And hath, in his effect, a voice potential
As double as the duke's; he will divorce you;
Or put upon you what restraint and grievance
The law (with all his might to enforce it on,)
Will give him cable.
Let him do his spite:
My services, which I have done the signiory,
Shall out-tongue his complaints. "Tis yet to know,
(Which when I know that boasting is an honour,
shall promulgate,) I fetch my life and being
From men of royal siege4; and my demerits 5
May speak, unbonneted, to as proud a fortune
As this that I have reach'd: For know, Iago,
But that I love the gentle Desdemona,
I would not my unhoused free condition
Put into circumscription and confine
For the sea's worth. But, look! what lights
come yonder?
[Exit. Ancient, what makes he here? Iago. He hath to-night boarded a land carack2: If it prove lawful prize, he's made for ever. Cas. I do not understand.
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Iago. Marry, to-Come, captain, will you go?
Have with you.
Cas. Here comes another troop to seek for you.
Enter Brabantio, Roderigo, and Officers of night,
with Torches and Weapons.
Iago. It is Brabantio:-general, be advis'd;
He comes to bad intent.
Hola! stand there!
Oth.
Rod. Signior, it is the Moor.
Bra
Down with him, thief?
[They draw on both sides.
Iago. You, Roderigo! come, sir, I am for you.
Oth. Keep up your bright swords, for the dew
will rust them.-
Good signior, you shall more command with
Than with your weapons.
[years,
Bra. O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd
Wretch that thou art, thou hast enchanted her:
my daughter?
For I'll refer me to all things of sense,
If she in chains of magick were not bound,
Whether a maid-so tender, fair, and happy;
So opposite to marriage, that she shunn'd
The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, to incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage, to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou: to fear, not to delight.
Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense,
That thou hast practis'd on her with foul charms;
Abus'd her delicateyouth with drugs, or minerals,
To prison: till fit time
Of law, and course of direct session,
Call thee to answer.
What if I do obey?
How may the duke be therewith satisfied;
Whose messengers are here about my side,
Upon some present business of the state,
To bring me to him?
Of. 'Tis true, most worthy signior,
The duke's in council; and your noble self,
I am sure, is sent for.
Bra. How! the duke in council! In this time of the night!-Bring him away: Mine's not an idle cause: the duke himself, Or any of my brothers of the state, Cannot but feel this wrong, as 'twere their own; For if such actions may have passage free, Bond-slaves, and pagans, shall our statesmen be. [Exeunt.
SCENE III.-A COUNCIL CHAMBER. The Duke, and Senators, sitting at a Table; Officers attending.
Duke. There is no composition1 in these news, That gives them credit.
1 Sen. Indeed, they are disproportion'd; My letters say, a hundred and seven gallies. Duke. And mine a hundred and forty. And mine, two hundred: But though they jump not on a just account, (As in these cases, where the aim 2 reports, "Tis oft with difference,) yet do they all confirm A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus. Duke. Nay, it is possible enough to judgment; I do not so secure me in the error, But the main article I do approve In fearful sense.
Sailor. [Within.] What ho! what ho! what ho!
Enter an Officer, with a Sailor.
Of. A messenger from the gallies.
Duke.
Now? the business?
Sailor. The Turkish preparation makes for
Rhodes:
So was I bid report here to the state,
By signior Angelo.
Duke. How say you by this change?
1 Sen.
This cannot be,
By no assay of reason; 'tis a pageant,
To keep us in false gaze: When we consider
The importancy of Cyprus to the Turk;
And let ourselves again but understand,
That, as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
So may he with more facile question3 bear it,
For that it stands not in such warlike brace,*
3 Easy dispute.
4 State of defence.
1 Consistency. 2 Conjecture.
But altogether lacks the abilities
That Rhodes is dress'd in:-if we make thought of this,
We must not think, the Turk is so unskilful,
To leave that latest which concerns him first;
Neglecting an attempt of ease, and gain,
To wake and wage, a danger profitless.
Duke. Nay, in all confidence, he's not for
Rhodes.
Off. Here is more news.
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. The Ottomites, reverend and gracious, Steering with due course toward the isle of Rhodes,
Have there injointed them with an after fleet. 1 Sen. Ay, so I thought:-How many, as you guess?
Mess. Of thirty sail: and now do they re-stem Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance [tano,
Their purposes toward Cyprus.-Signior Mon-
Your trusty and most valiant servitor,
With his free duty recommends you thus,
And prays you to believe him.
Duke. "Tis certain then for Cyprus.-
Marcus Lucchesé, is he not in town?
1 Sen. He's now in Florence.
Duke. Write from us; wish him post pusthaste: dispatch.
1 S. Here comes Brabantio, and the valiant Enter Brabantio, Othello, Iago, Roderigo, and Officers.
Du. Valiant Othello, we must straight employ Against the general enemy Ottoman. [you I did not see you; welcome, gentle signior;
[To Brabantio. We lack'd your counsel and your help to-night. B. So did I yours: Good your grace, pardon me; Neither my place, nor aught I heard of business, Hath rais'd me from my bed; nor doth the general Take hold on me; for my particular grief [care Is of so flood-gate and o'erbearing nature, That it engluts and swallows other sorrows, And it is still itself.
Duke, Why, what's the matter? Bra. My daughter! O, my daughter! Sen. Dead? Ay, to me; She is abus'd, stol'n from me, and corrupted By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks; For nature so preposterously to err, Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense, Sans 2 witchcraft could not
D. Whoe'er he be, that, in this foul proceeding, Hath thus beguil'd your daughter of herself, And you of her, the bloody book of law You shall yourself read in the bitter letter, After your own sense: yea, though our proper son Stood in your action.8
Bra. Humbly I thank your grace. Here is the man, this Moor; whom now, it seems, Your special mandate, for the state affairs, Hath hither brought.
We are very sorry for it. Duke. What, in your own part, can you say to
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