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| Enter CLAUDIUS,
ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN |
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| CLAUDIUS,
ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN
enter. |
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| | CLAUDIUS |
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I like him not, nor stands it safe with us |
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To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you. |
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I your commission will forthwith dispatch, |
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And he to England shall along with you. |
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The terms of our estate may not endure |
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Hazard so dangerous as doth hourly grow |
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Out of his lunacies. |
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| CLAUDIUS |
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I don't like the way he's acting, and
it's not safe for me to let his insanity get out of
control. So get prepared. I'm sending you to England on
diplomatic business, and Hamlet will go with you. As king, I cannot
risk the danger he represents as he grows crazier by the
hour. |
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| | GUILDENSTERN |
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We will ourselves provide. |
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Most holy and religious fear it is |
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To keep those many, many bodies safe |
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That live and feed upon your majesty. |
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| GUILDENSTERN |
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We'll take care of it. It's a sacred duty to
protect the lives of all those who depend on Your Highness. |
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| | ROSENCRANTZ |
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The single and peculiar life is bound |
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With all the strength and armor of the mind |
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To keep itself from noyance, but much more |
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That spirit upon whose weal depend and rest |
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The lives of many. The cease of majesty |
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Dies not alone, but, like a gulf, doth draw |
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What's near it with it. It is a massy wheel |
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Fixed on the summit of the highest mount, |
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To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things |
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Are mortised and adjoined, which, when it falls, |
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Each small annexment, petty consequence, |
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Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone |
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Did the king sigh, but with a general groan. |
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| ROSENCRANTZ |
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Everyone tries to avoid harm, but the public figure demands even
more protection. When a great leader dies he doesn't die
alone but, like a whirlpool, draws others with him. He's
like a huge wheel on the top of the highest mountain whose spokes
touch the rim of ten thousand smaller things—when it
falls down the mountain, every little object goes down with it.
Whenever a king sighs, everyone groans. |
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| | CLAUDIUS |
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Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage. |
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For we will fetters put upon this fear, |
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Which now goes too free-footed. |
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| CLAUDIUS |
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Prepare yourself, please, for this trip. We'll put a
leash on this danger that's now running wild. |
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Read the complete texts of Shakespeare's plays along with an easy to understand translation.
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