No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet: Act 4, scene iii

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Enter King CLAUDIUS and two or three attendants

CLAUDIUS enters with two or three of his attendants.

	CLAUDIUS
	I have sent to seek him and to find the body.
	How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
	Yet must not we put the strong law on him.
	He's loved of the distracted multitude,
5	Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes.
	And where 'tis so, th' offender's scourge is weighed,
	But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,
	This sudden sending him away must seem
	Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown
10	By desperate appliance are relieved,
	Or not at all.

CLAUDIUS

I've sent men to find him and retrieve the body. How dangerous to have this madman on the loose! But we can't throw him in jail. The people love him, because they judge based on appearance rather than reason. They'll pay attention to the severity of the punishment, not the severity of the crime. No, we must seem calm and fair-minded, and our sending him away must seem like a carefully considered move. But a terminal disease requires extreme treatment, or nothing at all.

Enter ROSENCRANTZ

ROSENCRANTZ enters.

How now, what hath befall'n?

So what's happened?

	ROSENCRANTZ
	Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord,
	We cannot get from him.

ROSENCRANTZ

We can't get him to tell us where he's put the body.

	CLAUDIUS
	But where is he?

CLAUDIUS

But where is he?

	ROSENCRANTZ
15	Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.

ROSENCRANTZ

Outside, my lord, under guard, waiting for your orders.

	CLAUDIUS
	Bring him before us.

CLAUDIUS

Bring him to me.

	ROSENCRANTZ
	Ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord.

ROSENCRANTZ

Hey, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord.

Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN

GUILDENSTERN enters with HAMLET.

	CLAUDIUS
	Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?

CLAUDIUS

Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?


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