Follow him, friends. We'll hear a play tomorrow.
(to FIRST
PLAYER)— Dost thou hear
me, old friend? Can you play The
Murder of Gonzago?
HAMLET
Follow him, friends. We'll watch a whole play tomorrow.
(to FIRST
PLAYER) My friend, can you perform
The Murder of Gonzago?
FIRST PLAYER
Ay, my lord.
FIRST PLAYER
Yes, my lord.
HAMLET
500
We'll ha 't tomorrow night. You could, for a
need, study a
speech of some dozen or sixteen lines which I would set
down and insert in 't, could you not?
HAMLET
Then we'll see that tomorrow night. By the way, if I
were to compose an extra speech of twelve to sixteen lines and stick
it into the play, you could learn it by heart for tomorrow,
right?
FIRST PLAYER
Ay, my lord.
FIRST PLAYER
Yes, my lord.
HAMLET
Very well. Follow that lord, and look you mock him not.
HAMLET
Very well. Follow that gentleman now, and be careful not to make
fun of him.
Exeunt POLONIUS and the
PLAYERS
POLONIUS and the
PLAYERS exit.
505
My good friends, I'll leave you till night. You are
welcome
to Elsinore.
My good friends, I'll see you tomorrow. Welcome to
Elsinore.
ROSENCRANTZ
Good my lord.
ROSENCRANTZ
Yes, my lord.
HAMLET
Ay, so. Good-bye to you.
HAMLET
Ah yes, good-bye to you both.
Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and
GUILDENSTERN
ROSENCRANTZ and
GUILDENSTERN exit.
Now I am alone.
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
510
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wanned,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
515
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing—
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba
That he should weep for her? What would he do
520
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free,
Now I'm alone. Oh, what a mean low-life I am!
It's awful that this actor could force his soul to feel
made-up feelings in a work of make-believe. He grew pale, shed real
tears, became overwhelmed, his voice breaking with feeling and his
whole being, even, meeting the needs of his act—and all
for nothing. For Hecuba!
