Hamlet: Act 1, Scene 4
Enter HAMLET, HORATIO,
and MARCELLUS.
HAMLET
1 The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
1. shrewdly: wickedly.
HORATIO
2 It is a nipping and an eager air.
2. eager: sharp.
HAMLET
3 What hour now?
HORATIO
I think it lacks of twelve.
HAMLET
4 No, it is struck.
HORATIO
5 Indeed? I heard it not: then it draws near the season
6 Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
A flourish of trumpets,
and two pieces go off.
pieces: cannon.
7 What does this mean, my lord?
HAMLET
8 The king doth wake tonight and takes his rouse,
8. doth . . . rouse: holds revels far into the night.
9 Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels;
9. wassail: carousal. the swaggering up-spring reels: i.e., dances boisterously. ...more
10 And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,
10. Rhenish: Rhine wine.
11 The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
12 The triumph of his pledge.
12. The triumph of his pledge: the celebration of his feat of draining his cup at a single gulp.
HORATIO
Is it a custom?
HAMLET
13 Ay, marry, is't:
14 But to my mind, though I am native here
15 And to the manner born, it is a custom
15. manner: custom (of carousing).
16 More honor'd in the breach than the observance.
15-16. a custom . . . observance: a custom which it is more honorable to break than to observe.
17 This heavy-headed revel east and west
18 Makes us traduced and tax'd of other nations:
18. traduced and tax'd of: maligned and condemned by.
19 They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase
19. clepe: call.
20 Soil our addition; and indeed it takes
19-20. with . . . addition: i.e., give us a swinish reputation.
21 From our achievements, though perform'd at height,
21. at height: most excellently.
22 The pith and marrow of our attribute.
22. attribute: reputation.
23 So, oft it chances in particular men,
23. So . . . men: similarly, it often happens in individual men.
24 That for some vicious mole of nature in them,
24. vicious mole of nature: small natural blemish.
25 As, in their birth—wherein they are not guilty,
25. birth: i.e., family origins.
26 Since nature cannot choose his origin—
26. his: its.
27 By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
27. By . . . complexion: by the excess of some natural disposition.
28 Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
28. pales: fences.
29 Or by some habit that too much o'er-leavens
29. o'er-leavens: i.e., infects and ruins.
30 The form of plausive manners, that these men,
30. plausive: pleasing.
31 Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
32 Being nature's livery, or fortune's star—
32. Being nature's livery, or fortune's star: i.e., whether they were born with it, or got it by misfortune.
33 Their virtues else—be they as pure as grace,
33. Their virtues else: all their other virtues.
34 As infinite as man may undergo—
34. undergo: carry, have.
35 Shall in the general censure take corruption
35. general censure: popular opinion.
36 From that particular fault. The dram of eale
36. dram: very small amount.
37 Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
38 To his own scandal.
36-38. The dram of eale / Doth all the noble substance often dout / To his own scandal: As it stands, this sentence does not make sense. ...more
HORATIO
Look, my lord, it comes!
Illustrator: H.C. Selous
Enter GHOST.
HAMLET
39 Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
40 Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
40. spirit of health: wholesome spirit.
41 Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
42 Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
43 Thou comest in such a questionable shape
43. questionable: ambiguous; raising questions.
44 That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,
45 King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
46 Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell
47 Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
47. canoniz'd: buried with the rites authorized by the church. hearsed: entombed.
48 Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,
48. cerements: grave-clothes (as on a mummy).
49 Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
50 Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,
48-50. sepulchre . . . jaws:
51 To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
52 That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
52. corse: corpse. complete steel: full armor.
53 Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
53. glimpses . . . moon: i.e., the earth by night.
54 Making night hideous; and we fools of nature
54. fools of nature: i.e., mere men, limited to natural knowledge and baffled by the supernatural.
55 So horridly to shake our disposition
55. our disposition: i.e., our usual way of thinking.
56 With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
57 Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
[Ghost] beckons [HAMLET].
HORATIO
58 It beckons you to go away with it,
59 As if it some impartment did desire
59. As if it some impartment did desire / To you alone: as if it desired to impart something to you in private.
60 To you alone.
MARCELLUS
Look, with what courteous action
61 It waves you to a more removed ground:
61. more removed ground: i.e., more isolated, private place.
62 But do not go with it.
"It waves you to a more removed ground"
HORATIO
No, by no means.
HAMLET
63 It will not speak; then I will follow it.
HORATIO
64 Do not, my lord.
HAMLET
Why, what should be the fear?
65 I do not set my life at a pin's fee;
65. fee: value, worth.
66 And for my soul, what can it do to that,
67 Being a thing immortal as itself?
68 It waves me forth again: I'll follow it.
HORATIO
69 What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
69. the flood: the sea.
70 Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
71 That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
71. beetles . . . base: overhangs its base.
72 And there assume some other horrible form,
73 Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
73. deprive . . . reason: deprive reason of its rule over your mind.
74 And draw you into madness? think of it:
75. The very place: just the place by itself. toys of desperation: mental images of a desperate act. — In other words, just looking down into the sea from a high cliff can make a person think about jumping.
75 The very place puts toys of desperation,
76 Without more motive, into every brain
77 That looks so many fathoms to the sea
78 And hears it roar beneath.
HAMLET
It waves me still.
"Hold off your hands!"
79 Go on; I'll follow thee.
MARCELLUS
80 You shall not go, my lord.
HAMLET
Hold off your hands!
HORATIO
81 Be ruled; you shall not go.
HAMLET
My fate cries out,
82 And makes each petty artery in this body
82. each petty artery in this body: every tiny ligament and sinew of my body.
83 As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.
83. Nemean lion: A monstrous lion slain by Hercules as one of his twelve labors. ...more nerve: sinew.
84 Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen.
85 By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me!
85. lets: hinders.
86 I say, away! [To the Ghost.] Go on; I'll follow thee.
Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet.
HORATIO
87 He waxes desperate with imagination.
87. He waxes desperate with imagination: he grows desperate because of wild ideas.
MARCELLUS
88 Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.
88. 'tis not fit thus to obey him: i.e., in these circumstances, it is not fitting to obey him.
HORATIO
89 Have after. To what issue will this come?
89. Have after: i.e., go ahead, follow him. To what issue will this come?: What will be the outcome of this?
MARCELLUS
90 Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
HORATIO
91 Heaven will direct it.
89. Heaven will direct it: i.e., Heaven will determine how this all turns out. —Perhaps Horatio is afraid to follow Hamlet into the terrifying presence of the Ghost.
MARCELLUS
Nay, let's follow him.
Exeunt.