Hamlet Act 4 Scene 1
A room in the castle.
The Original
Plain Modern English
Enter King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.
Claudius
There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:
You must translate: 'tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?
Claudius
There's something behind these sighs, these heavy groans.
You must explain them — I need to understand.
Where is your son?
Gertrude
Bestow this place on us a little while.
Gertrude
Leave us alone for a little while.
Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Gertrude
Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night!
Gertrude
Oh, my good lord — what I've seen tonight!
Claudius
What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Claudius
What is it, Gertrude? How is Hamlet?
Gertrude
Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries, 'A rat, a rat!'
And, in this brainish apprehension, kills
The unseen good old man.
Gertrude
Mad as the sea and the wind when they fight
over which is stronger. In his wild fit,
hearing something move behind the tapestry,
he whipped out his sword, shouted 'A rat! A rat!'
and in that deluded conviction killed
the good old man he couldn't see. (She is protecting him. 'Madness' is the only defence available.)
Claudius
O heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there:
His liberty is full of threats to all;
To you yourself, to us, to every one.
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whose providence
Should have kept short, restrain'd and out of haunt,
This mad young man: but so much was our love,
We would not understand what was most fit;
But, like the owner of a foul disease,
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?
Claudius
What a terrible thing.
It would have happened to me, if I'd been the one there.
Him walking free is a threat to everyone —
to you, to me, to all of us.
How on earth is this bloody act going to be answered for?
It'll be blamed on me — I was the one whose foresight
should have kept this mad young man on a short leash,
confined and away from people. But I loved him so much
that I refused to grasp what needed doing,
and like a man with a shameful illness
who hides it rather than admit it, I let it eat away
at the very core of life. — Where has he gone?
Gertrude
To draw apart the body he hath kill'd:
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done.
Gertrude
To drag away the body of the man he killed.
And there his madness shows a streak of something pure,
like a vein of gold in worthless rock:
he's weeping for what he's done.
Claudius
O Gertrude, come away!
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,
But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed
We must, with all our majesty and skill,
Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern!
Claudius
Gertrude, come away.
The moment the sun touches the mountains
we'll ship him out. And this vile business
we'll have to use every ounce of royal authority and skill
to both endorse and excuse. — Guildenstern!
Re-enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Claudius
Friends both, go join you with some further aid:
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him:
Go seek him out; speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this.
Claudius
Friends, both of you — go and get some help.
Hamlet has killed Polonius in a fit of madness
and dragged him out of his mother's room.
Go and find him. Speak gently, and bring the body
to the chapel. Please hurry.
Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Claudius
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends;
And let them know, both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done: so, haply, slander—
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter,
As level as the cannon to his blank,
Transports his poison'd shot—may miss our name,
And hit the woundless air. O, come away!
My soul is full of discord and dismay.
Claudius
Come, Gertrude. We'll summon our wisest advisers
and let them know both what we intend to do
and what's been so untimely done — so that slander,
whose whisper travels the width of the world
as straight as a cannon at its target,
carrying its poisoned shot — may miss my name
and strike only the unwoundable air. Come away!
My soul is full of chaos and dread.
Exeunt.