Claudius

It has only been a short time since the death of my brother, King Hamlet, and it is fitting that the kingdom come together in mourning. However, my judgment needs to overrule my personal grief, as I must also consider the welfare of the whole kingdom.

Therefore, I have married my former sister-in-law, the Queen, who has been jointly ruling the kingdom with my brother during this tense period of war preparation. This has been a time of mixed emotions: the sadness of my brother’s death and the joy of our wedding. I want to thank you, assembled nobility of Denmark, for your approval of this royal marriage.

You all know that Prince Fortinbras of Norway, thinking he’s more powerful than I am and that Denmark is in a state of disarray following our king’s death, has demanded the return of the lands his father lost.

The purpose of this meeting is to inform you of my response. I have written to the King of Norway who, frail and bed-ridden, doesn’t know about his nephew’s conduct. I have demanded that he order a complete halt to his nephew’s actions. After all, the army being assembled consists of the king’s subjects.

I’m sending you, Cornelius and Voltemand, to deliver this message. You have no power to negotiate anything more than the terms I have detailed in this letter. Farewell, and perform your duty well by delivering this as quickly as possible.

Voltemand and Cornelius

In delivering this message, as in everything we do, we show our duty to you.

Claudius

I know you do. I give you my earnest farewell. And now, Laertes, what’s new with you? You mentioned some kind of request. What is it? Any reasonable request of yours will be granted; in fact I should grant whatever you want even before you ask for it. The head is not more closely linked to the heart, nor the hand more important to the mouth, than is the throne of Denmark to your father. What is it you request, Laertes?

Laertes

My powerful lord, I’d like your permission to return to France, from where I gladly came to attend your coronation. I must confess, now that those duties have been performed, my desire is to be back in France, and I humbly request your permission to return.

Claudius

Do you have your father's permission? What do you say, Polonius?

Polonius

He has, my lord, tirelessly worn me down, and I have finally given him my consent. I urge you to give him permission to go.

Claudius

Enjoy your youth, Laertes. It belongs to you; make the most of it. [To Hamlet] But now, my nephew Hamlet, and also now my son –

Hamlet

I’m more than just your nephew, but I’m definitely less than your son.

Claudius

Why is it that you’re in such a cloudy mood?

Hamlet

Cloudy? No, just the opposite. I don’t care to be in the good graces of your royal "sunshine," and I definitely don’t want to be your son.

Gertrude

Dear Hamlet, quit being so moody and be friendly to the king. You can’t go on forever with your eyes downcast, thinking about your father. You know everyone must die someday. We all have a finite life here on earth before spending eternity in the afterlife.

Hamlet

Yes, mother, that is common knowledge.

Gertrude

If that's so, why does your father's death seem so difficult for you?

Hamlet

I'm not "seeming" to be anything! Black funeral clothes, big sighs, rivers of tears, sad expressions – these gestures do not begin to reflect my emotions. They are just the outward signs of sadness anyone could put on. Inside, I'm experiencing real pain.

Claudius

It’s a sweet and praiseworthy part of your nature, Hamlet, to mourn your father’s death. But you must realize that your father lost his father, your grandfather lost his, and that they both observed the proper conventions of mourning.

But insisting on this prolonged grieving is just improper stubbornness; it’s not how a real man behaves. You are disobeying church teachings; you lack toughness; you’re immature; and you don’t know how to behave properly.

Why should we be irritable and oppose something we can’t change, and is as common as can be? That would be acting against the laws of heaven, nature, and reason – all of which teach us that death has been a fact of life since Adam and Eve. Please, let go of this useless sadness and think of me as your father.

I want all of you to know that I proclaim Prince Hamlet as my successor to the throne of Denmark. Hamlet, I love you as intensely as any father does his son. As for your desire to return to school in Wittenberg, that’s not what I want; so I ask you to remain here where you will please me by being a leading member of the court, my kinsman, and my son.

Gertrude

Hamlet, please answer your mother’s prayers by staying here and not going to Wittenberg.

Hamlet

Only because you’re asking, mother, I will stay.

Claudius

Why, Hamlet, what a caring and pleasant response. Dear wife, this courteous and voluntary agreement of Hamlet warms my heart. In celebration, every time I make a toast today I’ll order a cannon fired, and by the time my glass is drained we’ll hear the echo return as if the heavens were repeating the cannons’ roar. Come, let’s go.

Hamlet

Oh, if only I could just melt away and disappear like the morning dew. Or if God had not made suicide a sin! Oh God! Oh God! How boring, stupid and meaningless everything that we do in this world seems to me. Damn it all. The world is like an unweeded garden that has gone to seed. Things rotten and gross have taken over completely. That it should come to this!

He’s only been dead two months – no, not even that long. He was such a great king, like a Greek god compared to Claudius – that dirty goat. And so loving to my mother, he wouldn’t even let the winds from heaven blow in her face too hard. Heaven and earth! Must I remember? How she clung to him – it seemed that the more her desire was fulfilled, the stronger it grew.

And yet, within one month (I can’t stand it – women are so morally weak!), within a month, even before she had broken in the shoes that she wore to the funeral – that funeral where she cried the whole time – why, she (Oh, God, even a dumb animal would have mourned longer) why, she married my uncle, my father’s brother, who’s no more like my father than I’m like Hercules.

Within a month, while her eyes were still red from the shameful tears she had shed for my father, she married! Oh, with such horrible speed she jumped into that incestuous bed! It's awful and it won’t turn out well. It's going to break my heart, but I can't tell anybody.

Horatio

Hello, my lord.

Hamlet

Nice to see you. Oh! Horatio, if I’m not mistaken.

Horatio

That’s correct, my lord, your humble servant as ever.

Hamlet

Not my servant, but my good friend, I'll switch that name for you. And why have you come from Wittenberg, Horatio? Oh, hello Marcellus.

Marcellus

Hello, my lord.

Hamlet

[To Marcellus] I am very glad to see you. [To Bernardo] Good evening, sir. [To Horatio] But what, pray tell, brings you here from Wittenberg?

Horatio

A habit of skipping school, my lord.

Hamlet

I know you are no truant. I wouldn’t tolerate your enemy calling you a truant, much less you calling yourself one. So, what brings you here? You’ll learn to drink heartily here in Elsinore, my lord.

Horatio

My Lord, I came to attend your father's funeral.

Hamlet

Don’t joke with me; I think it was to go to my mother's wedding.

Horatio

Indeed, my lord, it followed shortly afterwards.

Hamlet

Oh, that was just to save money, Horatio! They took the leftover meat from the funeral service and served it as cold cuts at the wedding reception. I would have preferred to have met my worst enemy in heaven rather than to have seen that day, Horatio! My father! I think I see my father.

Horatio

Where, my lord?

Hamlet

In my mind's eye, Horatio.

Horatio

I saw him once; he was a great king.

Hamlet

He was a complete man, the best in everything. I’ll never meet anyone like him again.

Horatio

My Lord, I think I saw him last night.

Hamlet

Saw? Who?

Horatio

My Lord, the king your father.

Hamlet

The king my father!

Horatio

Don’t be shocked, but I have something incredible to tell you, which these two gentlemen will confirm.

Hamlet

For heaven's sake, let me hear it.

Horatio

​Twice, in the middle of the night when these two gentlemen were on watch, they were encountered by a figure who resembled your deceased father and appeared to be wearing your father’s armor from head to toe. Three times it walked past them in a slow stately manner just three feet away. They stood there dumbstruck and did not speak to it.

In strictest secrecy, they told me what had occurred. The third night I stood watch with them and this thing appeared, just as they had described. I knew your father; this figure resembled him as much as my hands resemble each other.

Hamlet

But where was this?

Marcellus

My Lord, at the guard post where we stood watch.

Hamlet

You didn’t speak to it?

Horatio

I did, my lord, but it didn’t answer. Once, it looked as if it were going to speak, but at that moment a rooster crowed and it quickly fled and vanished from our sight.

Hamlet

This is very strange.

Horatio

I swear on my life it’s true, my lord, and we thought it our duty to inform you.

Hamlet

Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me. Do you stand watch again tonight?

Marcellus and Bernardo

We do, my lord.

Hamlet

It was armed, you say?

Marcellus and Bernardo

Armed, my lord.

Hamlet

From head to toe?

Marcellus and Bernardo

My Lord, from head to foot.

Hamlet

Then you didn’t see his face?

Horatio

Oh, yes, my lord; his helmet visor was up.

Hamlet

How did he look? Was he frowning?

Horatio

A look more in sorrow than in anger.

Hamlet

Pale or red?

Horatio

Very pale.

Hamlet

And he looked directly at you?

Horatio

He stared constantly at us.

Hamlet

I wish I had been there.

Horatio

It would have amazed you very much.

Hamlet

Very likely. Did it stay long?

Horatio

About the time it takes to count to a hundred.

Marcellus and Bernardo

Longer, longer.

Horatio

Not when I saw it.

Hamlet

His beard was grizzled – no?

Horatio

It was, as I have seen it in his life, black with some gray.

Hamlet

I will stand watch with you tonight; perhaps it will come again.

Horatio

I bet you it will.

Hamlet

If this thing appears and resembles my noble father, I’ll speak to it even if hell itself opens up and threatens me to be quiet. If you’ve kept this a secret so far, then continue doing so. No matter what happens tonight, tell no one. I’ll reward you well for doing this for me. Goodbye. I’ll meet you at the guard post between eleven and twelve.

All

We’ll carry out our duty to you, my lord.

Hamlet

Don’t do this out of duty, but out of friendship. Goodbye.

My father's spirit in his armor! Something must be wrong; I fear some foul play. I wish the night were already here! Until then, I must be patient. Evil deeds will reveal themselves no matter how much they are covered up.