OPHELIA.

My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced,
No hat upon his head,

Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,
And with a look so piteous in purport

As if he had been loosed out of hell

To speak of horrors, he comes before me.

Mad for thy love?

POLONIUS.

OPHELIA.

My lord, I do not know,

But truly I do fear it.

POLONIUS.

What said he?

OPHELIA.

He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes
he to the length of all his arm,
And with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face

As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm,

And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their helps,
And to the last bended their light on me.

POLONIUS.

Come, go with me: I will go seek the king.
This is the very ecstasy of love;

Whose violent property fordoes itself

And leads the will to desperate undertakings.
I am sorry.

What, have you given him any hard words of late?

OPHELIA.

No, my good lord, but, as you did command,
I did repel his letters and denied

His access to me.

POLONIUS.

That hath made him mad.

I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I had not quoted him.

Come, go we to the king:

This must be known; which, being kept close,

might move

More grief to hide than hate to utter love.

Come.

(Exeunt.)

Flourish. Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, GUIL

DENSTERN, and ATTENDANTS.

KING.

Claude

Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!
Moreover that we much did long to see you,
The need we have to use you did provoke
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation.

What it should be, More than his father's death, that thus hath put him So much from the understanding of himself,

I cannot dream of: I entreat you both,
That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court
Some little time: so by your companies
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather
So much as from occasion you may glean,
Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus,
That open'd lies within our remedy.

QUEEN.

Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you,
And sure I am two men there are not living
To whom he more adheres. If it will please you
To show us so much gentry and good will
As to expend your time with us a while
For the supply and profit of our hope,
Your visitation shall receive such thanks
As fits a king's remembrance.

Go, some of you,

And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. (Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and some ATTENDANTS.)

Enter POLONIUS.

POLONIUS.

I do think, or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure
As it hath used to do, that I have found
The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.

KING.

O, speak of that; that do I long to hear.

POLONIUS.

My liege and madam,

I have a daughter,-have while she is mine,-
Who in her duty and obedience, mark,

Hath given me this: now gather and surmise.
(Reads.)

"To the celestial, and my soul's idol, the most beautified Ophelia,”—

That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase; "beautified" is a vile phrase: but you shall hear. Thus: (Reads.)

"In her excellent white bosom, these,” etc.

QUEEN.

Came this from Hamlet to her?

POLONIUS.

Good madam, stay a while; I will be faithful.

(Reads.)

"Doubt thou the stars are fire;

Doubt that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar;

But never doubt I love.

"O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers; I have not art to reckon my groans: but that I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.

"Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him, HAMLET."

This in obedience hath my daughter shown me. And my young mistress thus I did bespeak: "Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star; This must not be:" and then I prescripts gave her,

That she should lock herself from his resort,

Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.

Which done, she took the fruits of my advice;
And he repulsed, a short tale to make,
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
Thence to a lightness, and by this declension
Into the madness wherein now he raves
And all we mourn for.

POLONIUS.

Hath there been such a time, I'd fain know that, That I have positively said "'tis so,”

When it proved otherwise?

KING.

Not that I know.

POLONIUS. (Pointing to his head and shoulder.)
Take this from this, if this be otherwise:
If circumstances lead me, I will find

Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the centre.

KING.

How may we try it further? POLONIUS.

You know, sometimes he walks four hours together

Here in the lobby.

QUEEN.

So he does, indeed.

POLONIUS.

At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him:
Be you and I behind an arras then;

Mark the encounter: if he love her not,
And be not from his reason fall'n thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state,

But keep a farm and carters.

Away, I do beseech

POLONIUS.

you, both away:

I'll board him presently.

(Exeunt KING, QUEEN, and ATTENDANTS.)