Polonius

CORNELIUS and VOLTEMAND. In that, and all things, will we show our duty. KING. We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell. [ Exeunt Voltemand and Cornelius . ] And now, Laertes, what’s the news with you? You told us of some suit. What is’…

HORATIO. So have I heard, and do in part believe it. But look, the morn in russet mantle clad, Walks o’er the dew of yon high eastward hill. Break we our watch up, and by my advice, Let us impart what we have seen tonight Unto young H…

LAERTES. Think it no more. For nature crescent does not grow alone In thews and bulk; but as this temple waxes, The inward service of the mind and soul Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now, And now no soil nor cautel doth besmi…

And these few precepts in thy memory Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportion’d thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them un…

THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK by William Shakespeare Contents ACT I Scene I. Elsinore. A platform before the Castle Scene II. Elsinore. A room of state in the Castle Scene III. A room in Polonius’s house Scene IV. The plat…

POLONIUS. Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to. OPHELIA. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, With almost all the holy vows of heaven. POLONIUS. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, When the blood burns, how…

REYNALDO. My lord, I did intend it. POLONIUS. Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir, Enquire me first what Danskers are in Paris; And how, and who, what means, and where they keep, What company, at what expense; and finding …

HORATIO. What is’t, my lord? We will. HAMLET. Never make known what you have seen tonight. HORATIO and MARCELLUS. My lord, we will not. HAMLET. Nay, but swear’t. HORATIO. In faith, my lord, not I. MARCELLUS. Nor I, my lord, in fa…

POLONIUS. At ‘closes in the consequence’ ay, marry! He closes with you thus: ‘I know the gentleman, I saw him yesterday, or t’other day, Or then, or then, with such and such; and, as you say, There was he gaming, there o’ertook in’s ro…

OPHELIA. No, my good lord; but as you did command, I did repel his letters and denied His access to me. POLONIUS. That hath made him mad. I am sorry that with better heed and judgement I had not quoted him. I fear’d he did but trifle…

Enter Polonius . POLONIUS. Th’ambassadors from Norway, my good lord, Are joyfully return’d. KING. Thou still hast been the father of good news. POLONIUS. Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege, I hold my duty, as I hold my soul,…

POLONIUS. This business is well ended. My liege and madam, to expostulate What majesty should be, what duty is, Why day is day, night night, and time is time Were nothing but to waste night, day and time. Therefore, since brevity is t…

POLONIUS. I would fain prove so. But what might you think, When I had seen this hot love on the wing, As I perceiv’d it, I must tell you that, Before my daughter told me, what might you, Or my dear Majesty your queen here, think, If I…

HAMLET. Let her not walk i’ th’ sun. Conception is a blessing, but not as your daughter may conceive. Friend, look to’t. POLONIUS. How say you by that? [ Aside. ] Still harping on my daughter. Yet he knew me not at first; he said I was a…

HAMLET. My lord, I have news to tell you. When Roscius was an actor in Rome— POLONIUS. The actors are come hither, my lord. HAMLET. Buzz, buzz. POLONIUS. Upon my honour. HAMLET. Then came each actor on his ass— POLONIUS. The best…

ROSENCRANTZ. Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace; but there is, sir, an aerie of children, little eyases, that cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically clapped for’t. These are now the fashion, and so berattle th…

HAMLET. I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was never acted, or if it was, not above once, for the play, I remember, pleased not the million, ’twas caviare to the general. But it was—as I received it, and others, whose judgements i…

HAMLET. ’Tis well. I’ll have thee speak out the rest of this soon.—Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for they are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time. After your death you …

FIRST PLAYER.     Anon he finds him,    Striking too short at Greeks. His antique sword,    Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,    Repugnant to command. Unequal match’d,    Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide;    But…

KING. [ Aside. ] O ’tis too true! How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience! The harlot’s cheek, beautied with plastering art, Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it Than is my deed to my most painted word. O heavy bur…

[ Exit. ] ACT III SCENE I. A room in the Castle. Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern . KING. And can you by no drift of circumstance Get from him why he puts on this confusion, Grating so harshly all h…

HAMLET. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, …

OPHELIA. O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword, Th’expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th’observ’d of all observers, quite, quit…

[ Exit Polonius . ] Will you two help to hasten them? ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. We will, my lord. [ Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern . ] HAMLET. What ho, Horatio! Enter Horatio . HORATIO. Here, sweet lord, at your service. …

POLONIUS. I did enact Julius Caesar. I was kill’d i’ th’ Capitol. Brutus killed me. HAMLET. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there. Be the players ready? ROSENCRANTZ. Ay, my lord; they stay upon your patience. QUEE…

HAMLET. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying. And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven; And so am I reveng’d. That would be scann’d: A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. …

KING. I like him not, nor stands it safe with us To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you, I your commission will forthwith dispatch, And he to England shall along with you. The terms of our estate may not endure Hazard so near…

[ Makes a pass through the arras. ] POLONIUS. [ Behind. ] O, I am slain! [ Falls and dies. ] QUEEN. O me, what hast thou done? HAMLET. Nay, I know not. Is it the King? [ Draws forth Polonius . ] QUEEN. O what a rash and bloody dee…

HAMLET. O throw away the worser part of it, And live the purer with the other half. Good night. But go not to mine uncle’s bed. Assume a virtue, if you have it not. That monster custom, who all sense doth eat, Of habits evil, is angel…

HAMLET. There’s letters seal’d: and my two schoolfellows, Whom I will trust as I will adders fang’d,— They bear the mandate, they must sweep my way And marshal me to knavery. Let it work; For ’tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist w…

Friends both, go join you with some further aid: Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain, And from his mother’s closet hath he dragg’d him. Go seek him out, speak fair, and bring the body Into the chapel. I pray you haste in this. [ Exeu…

KING. 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 lov’d of the distracted multitude, Who like not in their judgement, but their eyes; And …

O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs All from her father’s death. O Gertrude, Gertrude, When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions. First, her father slain; Next, your son gone; and he most violent autho…