Claudius Oh , for two special reasons, Which may to you perhaps seem much unsinewed, But yet to me they are strong. The queen, his mother, Lives almost by his looks, and for myself (My virtue or my plague, be it either which) She's so conjuncconjunctive to my life and soul That, as the star moves not but in his sphere, I could not but by her. The other motive Why to a public count I might not go Is the great love the general gender bear him, Who, dipping all his faults in their affection, Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone, Convert his guilts to graces so that my arrows, Too slightly timbered for so loud a wind, Would have reverted to my bow again, And not where I had aimed them. Read more about Act 4, Scene 7: Popup Note Index Item: "like the spring ..."
Claudius Laertes, was your father dear to you, Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, A face without a heart? Laertes Why ask you this? Claudius Not that I think you did not love your father, But that I know love is begun by time, And that I see, (in passages of proof), Time qualifies the spark and fire of it. Hamlet comes back. What would you undertake To show yourself your father's son in deed, More than in words? Read more about Act 4, Scene 7: Popup Note Index Item: "love is begun by time...time qualifies the spark and fire of it"
Horatio Let the king have the letters I have sent, and repair thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldest fly death. I have words to speak in your ear will make thee dumb, yet they are much too light for the bore of the matter. These good fellows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England. Of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. Read more about Act 4, Scene 6: Popup Note Index Item: "light" and "bore"
Claudius Now Hamlet, where's Polonius? Hamlet At supper. Claudius At supper? Where? Hamlet Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain convocation of worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service to dishes but to one table. That's the end. Read more about Act 4, Scene 3: Popup Note Index Item: "convocation," "worms," "emperor," and "diet"
[Enter Claudius alone] 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, Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes; And where 'tis so, th' offender's scourge is weighed, But ne'er the offense. To bear all smooth and even, This sudden sending him away must seem Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown By desperate appliance are relieved Or not at all. Read more about Act 4, Scene 3: Popup Note Index Item: "Diseases desperate..."
Rosencrantz What have you done, my lord, with the dead body? Hamlet Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin. Rosencrantz Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence And bear it to the chapel. Hamlet Do not believe it. Rosencrantz Believe what? Hamlet That I can keep your counsel and not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge, what replication should be made by the son of a king? Read more about Act 4, Scene 2: Popup Note Index Item: "counsel"
Horatio What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o'er his base into the sea, And there assume some other horrible form Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason And draw you into madness? Think of it. Read more about Act 1, Scene 4: Popup Note Index Item: "beetles o'er"
Hamlet My fate cries out And makes each petty artery in this body As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve. Still am I called. Unhand me, gentlemen! By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me. I say, away! [To Ghost] Go on, I'll follow thee. Read more about Act 1, Scene 4: Popup Note Index Item: "Nemean lion's nerve"
Polonius Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia, Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers Not of that dye which their investments show, But mere implorators of unholy suits, Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds The better to beguile. This is for all — I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth Have you so slander any moment leisure As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. Read more about Act 1, Scene 3: Popup Note Index Item: "suits"
Polonius Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers Not of that dye which their investments show, But mere implorators of unholy suits, Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds The better to beguile. This is for all — Read more about Act 1, Scene 3: Popup Note Index Item: "dye"
