No Fear Shakespeare

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Get this No Fear to go!

Act 2, Scene 2, Page 22

Original Text

Modern Text


495
POLONIUS
Come, sirs.
POLONIUS
Come, everyone.

HAMLET
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
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.
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.


510




515




520


    Now I am alone.
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
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,
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
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!

More Help

Watch the Video SparkNote

A quick and easy plot summary of Hamlet.

Read the Hamlet SparkNote

Summary, analysis, themes, essay topics, and more

Download the iPhone app

Download the No Fear Shakespeare app for iPhone®/iPod touch™ from iTunes

Buy No Fear Hamlet at BN.com

Get the No Fear Shakespeare you can hold in your hand at BN.com

EVEN MORE HELP! ↓

Take a Study Break

Green YOUR SCHOOL!

Click here to get involved with dosomething.org!

John Krasinski's BIG MIRACLE

Click to watch the trailer and read exclusive star interviews!

Do you like Anna?

Read Dear Albert... from ANNA's perspective!

BATTLESHIP, the movie

Here's why we're super jazzed about it.

Do energy juices actually work?

Our blogger puts 'em to the test!