Hamlet, Prince of Denmark E-Book

William Shakespeare

• Herausgeber: BertaBooks
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Hamlet by William Shakespeare.The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet exacts on his uncle Claudius for murdering King Hamlet, Claudius's brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then succeeding to the throne and taking as his wife Gertrude, the old king's widow and Prince Hamlet's mother. The play vividly portrays both true and feigned madness – from overwhelming grief to seething rage – and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was an English poet and playwright, regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems. His plays have been translated and performed more than any other playwright.

Leseprobe

HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK

Explanatory Notes

william shakespeare

Copyright © 2017 William Shakespeare

Amazing Classics

All rights reserved.

HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK

by William Shakespeare

SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDY

OF

HAMLET,

PRINCE OF DENMARK.

ARRANGED FOR REPRESENTATION AT THE

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE

WITH

EXPLANATORY NOTES,

BY

CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A.

(1811-1868)

AS PERFORMED ON

MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1859.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

Claudius (King of Denmark)Mr. Ryder.

Hamlet (son to the former and nephew to the present King)Mr. Charles Kean.

Polonius (Lord Chamberlain)Mr. Meadows.

Horatio (friend To Hamlet)Mr. Graham.

Laertes (son To Polonius)Mr. J. F. Cathcart.

RosencrantzMr. Brazier.

GuildensternMr. G. Everett.

Osrick  (Courtiers)Mr. David Fisher.

PriestMr. Terry.

MarcellusMr. Paulo.

BernardoMr. Daly.

FranciscoMr. Collett.

Ghost of Hamlet's FatherMr. Walter Lacy.

First GravediggerMr. Frank Matthews.

Second GravediggerMr. H. Saker.

First PlayerMr. F. Cooke.

Second PlayerMr. Rolleston.

Gertrude (Queen of Denmark, and mother of Hamlet)Mrs. Charles Kean.

Ophelia (daughter of Polonius)Miss Heath.

ActressMiss Daly.

STAGE DIRECTIONS.

R.H. means Right Hand; L.H. Left Hand; U.E. Upper Entrance; R.H.C. Enters through the Centre from the Right Hand; L.H.C. Enters through the Centre from the Left Hand.

Relative Positions of the Performers when on the Stage.

R. means on the Right side of the Stage; L. on the Left side of the Stage; C. Centre of the Stage; R.C. Right Centre of the Stage; L.C. Left Centre of the Stage.

The reader is supposed to be on the Stage, facing the audience.

PREFACE.

The play of Hamlet is above all others the most stupendous monument of Shakespeare's genius, standing as a beacon to command the wonder and admiration of the world, and as a memorial to future generations, that the mind of its author was moved by little less than inspiration. Lear, with its sublime picture of human misery;—Othello, with its harrowing overthrow of a nature great and amiable;—Macbeth, with its fearful murder of a monarch, whose "virtues plead like angels trumpet-tongued against the deep damnation of his taking off,"—severally exhibit, in the most pre-eminent degree, all those mighty elements which constitute the perfection of tragic art—the grand, the pitiful, and the terrible. Hamlet is a history of mind—a tragedy of thought. It contains the deepest philosophy, and most profound wisdom; yet speaks the language of the heart, touching the secret spring of every sense and feeling. Here we have no ideal exaltation of character, but life with its blended faults ands,—a gentle nature unstrung by passing events, and thus rendered "out of tune and harsh."

The original story of Hamlet is to be found in the Latin pages of the Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus, who died in the year 1208. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, the French author, Francis de Belleforest, introduced the fable into a collection of novels, which were translated into English, and printed in a small quarto black letter volume, under the title of the "Historie of Hamblett," from which source Shakespeare constructed the present tragedy.

Saxo has placed his history about 200 years before Christianity, when barbarians, clothed in skins, peopled the shores of the Baltic. The poet, however, has so far modernised the subject as to make Hamlet a Christian, and England tributary to the "sovereign majesty of Denmark." A date can therefore be easily fixed, and the costume of the tenth and eleventh centuries may be selected for the purpose. There are but few authentic records in existence, but these few afford reason to believe that very slight difference existed between the dress of the Dane and that of the Anglo-Saxon of the same period.

Since its first representation, upwards of two centuries and a half ago, no play has been acted so frequently, or commanded such universal admiration. It draws within the sphere of its attraction both the scholastic and the unlearned. It finds a response in every breast, however high or however humble. By its colossal aid it exalts the drama of England above that of every nation, past or present. It is, indeed, the most marvellous creation of human intellect.

CHARLES KEAN.

ACT I.

Scene I.—ELSINORE. A Platform before the Castle. Night.

Francisco on his post. Enter to him Bernardo, L.H.

Ber. Who's there?

Fran. (R.) Nay, answer me:1 stand, and unfold2 yourself.

Ber. Long live the king!3

Fran.

Bernardo?

Ber.

He.

Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour.

Ber. 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.

Fran. For this relief much thanks: [Crosses to L.] 'tis bitter cold,

And I am sick at heart.

Ber. Have you had quiet guard?

Fran.

Not a mouse stirring.

Ber. Well, good night.

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

The rivals of my watch,4 bid them make haste.

Fran. I think I hear them.—Stand, ho! Who's there?

Hor. Friends to this ground.

Mar.

And liegemen to the Dane.5

Enter Horatio and MarcellusL.H.

Fran. Give you good night.

Mar.

O, farewell, honest soldier:

Who hath reliev'd you?

Fran. Bernardo hath my place.

Give you good night.

[Exit Francisco, L.H.]

Mar.

Holloa! Bernardo!

Ber.

Say,

What, is Horatio there?

Hor. (Crosses to C.) A piece of him.6

Ber. (R.) Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus.

Hor. What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?

Ber. I have seen nothing.

Mar. (L.) Horatio says, 'tis but our fantasy,

And will not let belief take hold of him,

Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:

Therefore I have entreated him, along

With us, to watch the minutes of this night;7

That, if again this apparition come,

He may approve our eyes,8 and speak to it.

Hor. Tush! tush! 'twill not appear.

Ber. Come, let us once again assail your ears,

That are so fortified against our story,

What we two nights have seen.9

Hor. Well, let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

Ber. Last night of all,

When yon same star that's westward from the pole

Had made his course to illume that part of heaven

Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself,

The bell then beating one—

Mar. Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!

Enter GhostL.H.

Ber. In the same figure, like the king that's dead.

Hor. Most like:—it harrows me with fear and wonder.10

Ber. It would be spoke to.

Mar. Speak to it, Horatio.

Hor. What art thou, that usurp'st this time of night,11

Together with that fair and warlike form

In which the majesty of buried Denmark

Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee, speak!

Mar. It is offended.

[Ghost crosses to R.]

Ber.

See! it stalks away!

Hor. Stay!—speak!—speak, I charge thee, speak!

[Exit Ghost, R.H.]

Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer.

Ber. How now, Horatio! You tremble, and look pale:

Is not this something more than fantasy?

What think you of it?

Hor. Before heaven, I might not this believe,

Without the sensible and true avouch12

Of mine own eyes.

Mar.

Is it not like the king?

Hor. As thou art to thyself:

Such was the very armour he had on,

When he the ambitious Norway combated.

Mar. Thus, twice before, and jump at this dead hour,13

With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.

Hor. In what particular thought to work,14 I know not;

But in the gross and scope15 of mine opinion,

This bodes some strange eruption to our state.16

In the most high and palmy17 state of Rome,

A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead

Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.

Re-enter GhostR.H.

But, (L.C.) soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!

I'll cross it, though it blast me.

[Horatio crosses in front of the Ghost to R.Ghost crosses to L.]

Stay, illusion!

If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,18

Speak to me:

If there be any good thing to be done,

That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,

Speak to me:

If thou art privy to thy country's fate,

Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,

O, speak!

O, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life

Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,19

For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,

Speak of it:—stay, and speak!

[Exit Ghost, L.H.]

Mar. 'Tis gone!

We do it wrong, being so majestical,

To offer it the show of violence.

Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew.

Hor. And then it started like a guilty thing

Upon a fearful summons.20 I have heard,

The cock, that is the trumpet of the morn,

Doth with his lofty21 and shrill-sounding throat

Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,

Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,

The extravagant and erring spirit22 hies

To his confine.

But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,

Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill:

Break we our watch up; and, by my advice,

Let us impart what we have seen to-night

Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,

This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.

[Exeunt, L.H.]

Scene II.—A ROOM OF STATE IN THE PALACE.

Trumpet March.

Enter the King and Queen, preceded by Polonius, Hamlet, Laertes23, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants.

King.R.C. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death

The memory be green;24 and that it us befitted

To bear our hearts in grief,r whole kingdom

To be contracted in one brow of woe;

Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature,

That we with wisest sorrow25 think on him,

Together with remembrance of ourselves.

Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,

The imperial jointress of this warlike state,

Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,26

Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd27

Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone

With this affair along:—For all, our thanks.

And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?

You told us of some suit; What is't, Laertes?

Laer. (R.)

My dread lord,

Your leave and favour28 to return to France;

From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,

To show my duty in your coronation,

Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,

My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France,

And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.

King. Have you your father's leave? What says Polonious?

Pol. (R.) He hath, my lord, (wrung from me my slow leave

By laboursome petition; and, at last,

Upon his will I sealed my hard consent):29

I do beseech you, give him leave to go.

King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,

And thy best graces spend it at thy will!30

But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,——

Ham. (L.) A little more than kin, and less than kind.31

[Aside.]

King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

Ham. Not so, my lord; I am too much i'the sun.32

Queen. (L.C.) Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour33 off,

And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.

Do not for ever with thy vailed lids34

Seek for thy noble father in the dust:

Thou know'st 'tis common, all that live must die,

Passing through nature to eternity.

Ham. Ay, madam, it is common.

Queen.

If it be,

Why seems it so particular with thee?

Ham. Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not seems.

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,

Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,

No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,

Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,

That can denote me truly: These, indeed, seem,

For they are actions that a man might play.

But I have that within which passeth show;35

These but the trappings36 and the suits of woe.

King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,

To give these mourning duties to your father:

But, you must know, your father lost a father;

That father lost, lost his;37 and the survivor bound,

In filial obligation, for some term

To do obsequious sorrow:38 But to perséver39

In obstinate condolement,40 is a course

Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:

It shows a will most incorrect to Heaven.41

We pray you, throw to earth

This unprevailing42 woe; and think of us

As of a father: for let the world take note,

You are the most immediate to our throne;

Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:

I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg.

Ham. I shall in all my best obey you, madam.