SCENE I. - A ROOM IN THE CASTLE.
Enter KING and QUEEN, from (R.H.) centre.
King. There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:
You must translate: 'tis fit we understand them.
How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier: In his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries A rat, a rat!
And, in this brainish apprehension, kills
The unseen good old man.
King. O heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there:
Where is he gone?
Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd.
King. The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,
But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed
We must, with all our majesty and skill,
Both countenance and excuse. - Ho, Guildenstern!
Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN (L.H.)
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.
[ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN cross to R.]
I pray you, haste in this.
[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN, R.H.]
Go, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends;
And let them know, both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done.
[Exit QUEEN, R.C.]
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 judgment, but their eyes;
Enter KING and QUEEN, from (R.H.) centre.
King. There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:
You must translate: 'tis fit we understand them.
How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier: In his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries A rat, a rat!
And, in this brainish apprehension, kills
The unseen good old man.
King. O heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there:
Where is he gone?
Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd.
King. The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch,
But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed
We must, with all our majesty and skill,
Both countenance and excuse. - Ho, Guildenstern!
Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN (L.H.)
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.
[ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN cross to R.]
I pray you, haste in this.
[Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN, R.H.]
Go, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends;
And let them know, both what we mean to do,
And what's untimely done.
[Exit QUEEN, R.C.]
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 judgment, but their eyes;
