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| HAMLET and HORATIO
enter. |
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| | HAMLET |
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So much for this, sir. Now shall you see the other. |
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You do remember all the circumstance? |
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| HAMLET |
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That's enough about that. Now I'll tell you
the other story about my journey. Do you remember the
circumstances? |
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| | HORATIO |
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Remember it, my lord? |
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| HORATIO |
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How could I forget, my lord! |
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| | HAMLET |
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Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting |
| 5 |
That would not let me sleep. Methought I lay |
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Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly— |
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And praised be rashness for it: let us know |
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Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well |
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When our deep plots do pall, and that should teach us |
| 10 |
There's a divinity that shapes our ends, |
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Rough-hew them how we will— |
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| HAMLET |
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There was a kind of war in my brain that wouldn't let
me sleep. It was worse than being a captive in chains. Sometimes
it's good to be rash—sometimes it works out
well to act impulsively when our careful plans lose steam. This
should show us that there's a God in heaven
who's always guiding us in the right direction, however
often we screw up— |
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| | HORATIO |
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That is most certain. |
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| | HAMLET |
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Up from my cabin, |
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My sea-gown scarfed about me, in the dark |
| 15 |
Groped I to find out them, had my desire, |
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Fingered their packet, and in fine withdrew |
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To mine own room again, making so bold |
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(My fears forgetting manners) to unseal |
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Their grand commission, where I found, Horatio— |
| 20 |
O royal knavery!—an exact command, |
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Larded with many several sorts of reasons |
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Importing Denmark's health, and England's
too, |
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With—ho!—such bugs and goblins in my life |
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That, on the supervise (no leisure bated, |
| 25 |
No, not to stay the grinding of the ax) |
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My head should be struck off. |
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| HAMLET |
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So I came up from my cabin with my robe tied around me, groped in
the dark to find what I was looking for, found it, looked through
their packet of papers, and returned to my cabin again. I was bold
enough (I guess my fears made me forget my manners) to open the
document containing the king's instructions. And there I
found, Horatio, such royal mischief—a precisely worded
order, sugared with lots of talk about Denmark's
well-being and England's too, to cut off my head, without
even waiting to sharpen the ax. |
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