Hamlet, Act I, Scene 1

Hamlet
Act I, Scene 1

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Elsinore. A platform before the castle.
FRANCISCO at his post.
Enter to him BERNARDO

The play begins in Denmark, late at night. We are at Elsinore, which is the castle of the King of Denmark.

BERNARDO
Who's there?
It is midnight, and two of the guards seem nervous. Bernardo and Francisco greet each other.

FRANCISCO
Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.

BERNARDO
Long live the king!

FRANCISCO
Bernardo?

BERNARDO
He.

FRANCISCO
You come most carefully upon your hour.

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

FRANCISCO
For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.

BERNARDO
Have you had quiet guard ?

FRANCISCO
Not a mouse stirring.

BERNARDO
Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch , bid them make haste.

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

Francisco calls out, “Stand, and unfold yourself!” (line 2). Bernardo does so. Bernardo has come to take over the guard duty, and relieve Francisco.

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS

HORATIO
Friends to this ground.

MARCELLUS
And liegemen to the Dane.

FRANCISCO
Give you good night.

MARCELLUS
O, farewell, honest soldier:
Who hath relieved you?

FRANCISCO
Bernardo has my place.
Give you good night.

These two guards are joined by Marcellus, and Horatio, who are also on guard duty.

Exit
Francisco leaves, probably to go to bed. Actors do need their rest.

MARCELLUS
Holla! Bernardo!

BERNARDO
Say,
What, is Horatio there?

HORATIO
A piece of him.

BERNARDO
Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus.

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

BERNARDO
I have seen nothing.

MARCELLUS
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;
That if again this apparition come,
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.

HORATIO
Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.

BERNARDO
Sit down awhile;
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story
What we have two nights seen .

HORATIO
Well, sit we down,
And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

BERNARDO
Last night of all,
When yond 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,--
The three remaining men (Bernardo, Marcellus, and Horatio) discuss a “visitor” who has appeared to the guards on two prior occasions.

Enter Ghost

This “visitor” then reappears. It is a ghost. Neat, huh?

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

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

MARCELLUS
Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.

BERNARDO
Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.

HORATIO
Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder.

BERNARDO
It would be spoke to.

MARCELLUS
Question it, Horatio.

Not only is it a ghost, but it also happens to be the spitting image of the King of Denmark—who has just died. The three men tremble, and shake in their boots.

HORATIO
What art thou that usurp'st this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march?
Finally Horatio gets up the nerve to speak to the ghost.

By heaven, I charge thee, speak!
Horatio asks the ghost who it is, and then he orders it to answer: “By heaven, I charge thee, speak!” (line 59).

MARCELLUS
It is offended.

BERNARDO
See, it stalks away!

HORATIO
Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!

Exit Ghost

This apparently pisses the ghost off, as it suddenly disappears.

MARCELLUS
'Tis gone, and will not answer .

BERNARDO
How now, Horatio! you tremble and look pale :
Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you on't?

HORATIO
Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.

MARCELLUS
Is it not like the king?

HORATIO
As thou art to thyself:
Such was the very armour he had on
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
So frown'd he once , when, in an angry parle ,
He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.
'Tis strange .

MARCELLUS
Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch .

The guards discuss the physical appearance of the ghost. Apparently, the old King was wearing his favorite armor, and he was not smiling (lines 72-76). This is no Casper, boys and girls. This ghost looked angry. But, why?

HORATIO
In what particular thought to work I know not;
But in the gross and scope of my opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state .
The guards worry that this appearance might be bad for the entire country. “This bodes some strange eruption to our state,” says Horatio (line 81). They think this might be an “omen,” or a bad sign.

MARCELLUS
Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,
Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land,
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war;
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week;
What might be toward , that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:
Who is't that can inform me?

Now that the ghost is gone, the characters give the audience some of that good old-fashioned “exposition.”

HORATIO
That can I;
At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick 'd on by a most emulate pride ,
Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet--
For so this side of our known world esteem'd him--
Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal 'd compact ,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror:
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king; which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant,
And carriage of the article design 'd,
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full ,
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there
Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes,
For food and diet , to some enterprise
That hath a stomach in't; which is no other--
As it doth well appear unto our state--
But to recover of us, by strong hand
And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands
So by his father lost: and this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations,
The source of this our watch and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.

BERNARDO
I think it be no other but e'en so:
Well may it sort that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch ; so like the king
That was and is the question of these wars.

Horatio remembers how this brave King, whose name just happens to be “Old Hamlet,” once went to war with their enemy, Norway. Presumably, this was back in the good old days, when old King Hamlet was alive. It seems that old King Hamlet won the war, and even killed the commander of Norway, a guy with the silly name of “Fortinbras” (line 95). Old Hamlet also took a large chunk of Norway’s land away, at the end of that war.
Now, it seems, this Fortinbras had a son, who was also named Fortinbras (clever, huh?). This younger Fortinbras is now threatening to go to war to get Norway’s land back. “Now sir, of young Fortinbras, of unimproved mettle hot and full, hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there, sharked up a list of lawless resolutes” (lines 108-111). It seems that the young Fortinbras is following closely on daddy’s skirts (?), and has gathered a sort of an army (“resolutes”) together, and he may want to attack Denmark for revenge. This is all a lot of political stuff, but it is going to be important later. Besides, there might be a quiz.

HORATIO
A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye .
In the most high and palmy 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:
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse:
And even the like precurse of fierce events,
As harbingers preceding still the fates
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.--
But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!
Horatio is still hung up on this ghost, though. He notices how omens or “bad signs” often appear just before something bad really happens to a country. He compares the appearance of the ghost to other strange omens, especially in ancient Rome.

Re-enter Ghost

I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion!
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,

At this point, just as things are slowing down, the ghost comes back for a second appearance. It may be that he noticed a few in the audience were starting to “nod off” during all of that exposition.

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:

Cock crows
Again, Horatio tells the ghost to speak, and this time, a cock crows.

If thou art privy to thy country 's fate,
Which, happily , foreknowing may avoid , O, speak!
Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,
Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus.

MARCELLUS
Shall I strike at it with my partisan?

HORATIO
Do, if it will not stand.

The ghost disappears, just as the guards try to strike it with a weapon.

BERNARDO
'Tis here!

HORATIO
'Tis here!

MARCELLUS
'Tis gone!

Exit Ghost

We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the show of violence;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery.

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

HORATIO
And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,
The cock , that is the trumpet to the morn,
Doth with his lofty 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 spirit hies
To his confine: and of the truth herein
This present object made probation.

MARCELLUS

“Tis here!” “Tis here!” “Tis gone!” (lines 155-157). Apparently, this ghost has a flair for the dramatic, and can pull off some impressive illusions worthy of David Copperfield.

It faded on the crowing of the cock .
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad ;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

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 ,

The guards discuss the fact that a rooster crowed just before the ghost disappeared. They think that this might be significant.

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.
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?

Horatio decides that they should “impart what we have seen tonight unto young Hamlet” (line s 184-185). It seems that this ghost (old King Hamlet) had a son (young Prince Hamlet) who ought to be informed that his daddy’s ghost is running around, scaring people. They agree to tell young Prince Hamlet, and fast.

MARCELLUS
Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know
Where we shall find him most conveniently.

Exeunt

The guards agree to tell the dead king’s son, young Prince Hamlet. After all, this is third time that this obnoxious ghost has made an appearance.
With that, the scene ends. A few guards, one ghost, some background, and so far everyone is still with us—except, of course, the members of the audience, who are stirring restlessly. So far, so good.

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Shakespeare for Scholars:	Shakespeare for Everyone Else:
*Elsinore. A platform before the castle.* FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO	The play begins in Denmark, late at night. We are at Elsinore, which is the castle of the King of Denmark.
BERNARDO Who's there?	It is midnight, and two of the guards seem nervous. Bernardo and Francisco greet each other.
FRANCISCO Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself. BERNARDO Long live the king! FRANCISCO Bernardo? BERNARDO He. FRANCISCO You come most carefully upon your hour. BERNARDO 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco. FRANCISCO For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart. BERNARDO Have you had quiet guard ? FRANCISCO Not a mouse stirring. BERNARDO Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch , bid them make haste. FRANCISCO I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who's there?	Francisco calls out, “Stand, and unfold yourself!” (line 2). Bernardo does so. Bernardo has come to take over the guard duty, and relieve Francisco.
Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS HORATIO Friends to this ground. MARCELLUS And liegemen to the Dane. FRANCISCO Give you good night. MARCELLUS O, farewell, honest soldier: Who hath relieved you? FRANCISCO Bernardo has my place. Give you good night.	These two guards are joined by Marcellus, and Horatio, who are also on guard duty.
Exit	Francisco leaves, probably to go to bed. Actors do need their rest.
MARCELLUS Holla! Bernardo! BERNARDO Say, What, is Horatio there? HORATIO A piece of him. BERNARDO Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus. MARCELLUS What, has this thing appear'd again to-night? BERNARDO I have seen nothing. MARCELLUS 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; That if again this apparition come, He may approve our eyes and speak to it. HORATIO Tush, tush, 'twill not appear. BERNARDO Sit down awhile; And let us once again assail your ears, That are so fortified against our story What we have two nights seen . HORATIO Well, sit we down, And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. BERNARDO Last night of all, When yond 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,--	The three remaining men (Bernardo, Marcellus, and Horatio) discuss a “visitor” who has appeared to the guards on two prior occasions.
Enter Ghost	This “visitor” then reappears. It is a ghost. Neat, huh?
MARCELLUS Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again! BERNARDO In the same figure, like the king that's dead. MARCELLUS Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio. BERNARDO Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio. HORATIO Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder. BERNARDO It would be spoke to. MARCELLUS Question it, Horatio.	Not only is it a ghost, but it also happens to be the spitting image of the King of Denmark—who has just died. The three men tremble, and shake in their boots.
HORATIO What art thou that usurp'st this time of night, Together with that fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes march?	Finally Horatio gets up the nerve to speak to the ghost.
By heaven, I charge thee, speak!	Horatio asks the ghost who it is, and then he orders it to answer: “By heaven, I charge thee, speak!” (line 59).
MARCELLUS It is offended. BERNARDO See, it stalks away! HORATIO Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak! Exit Ghost	This apparently pisses the ghost off, as it suddenly disappears.
MARCELLUS 'Tis gone, and will not answer . BERNARDO How now, Horatio! you tremble and look pale : Is not this something more than fantasy? What think you on't? HORATIO Before my God, I might not this believe Without the sensible and true avouch Of mine own eyes. MARCELLUS Is it not like the king? HORATIO As thou art to thyself: Such was the very armour he had on When he the ambitious Norway combated; So frown'd he once , when, in an angry parle , He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice. 'Tis strange . MARCELLUS Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch .	The guards discuss the physical appearance of the ghost. Apparently, the old King was wearing his favorite armor, and he was not smiling (lines 72-76). This is no Casper, boys and girls. This ghost looked angry. But, why?
HORATIO In what particular thought to work I know not; But in the gross and scope of my opinion, This bodes some strange eruption to our state .	The guards worry that this appearance might be bad for the entire country. “This bodes some strange eruption to our state,” says Horatio (line 81). They think this might be an “omen,” or a bad sign.
MARCELLUS Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows, Why this same strict and most observant watch So nightly toils the subject of the land, And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, And foreign mart for implements of war; Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task Does not divide the Sunday from the week; What might be toward , that this sweaty haste Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day: Who is't that can inform me?	Now that the ghost is gone, the characters give the audience some of that good old-fashioned “exposition.”
HORATIO That can I; At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king, Whose image even but now appear'd to us, Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto prick 'd on by a most emulate pride , Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet-- For so this side of our known world esteem'd him-- Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal 'd compact , Well ratified by law and heraldry, Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror: Against the which, a moiety competent Was gaged by our king; which had return'd To the inheritance of Fortinbras, Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant, And carriage of the article design 'd, His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Of unimproved mettle hot and full , Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes, For food and diet , to some enterprise That hath a stomach in't; which is no other-- As it doth well appear unto our state-- But to recover of us, by strong hand And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands So by his father lost: and this, I take it, Is the main motive of our preparations, The source of this our watch and the chief head Of this post-haste and romage in the land. BERNARDO I think it be no other but e'en so: Well may it sort that this portentous figure Comes armed through our watch ; so like the king That was and is the question of these wars.	Horatio remembers how this brave King, whose name just happens to be “Old Hamlet,” once went to war with their enemy, Norway. Presumably, this was back in the good old days, when old King Hamlet was alive. It seems that old King Hamlet won the war, and even killed the commander of Norway, a guy with the silly name of “Fortinbras” (line 95). Old Hamlet also took a large chunk of Norway’s land away, at the end of that war. Now, it seems, this Fortinbras had a son, who was also named Fortinbras (clever, huh?). This younger Fortinbras is now threatening to go to war to get Norway’s land back. “Now sir, of young Fortinbras, of unimproved mettle hot and full, hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there, sharked up a list of lawless resolutes” (lines 108-111). It seems that the young Fortinbras is following closely on daddy’s skirts (?), and has gathered a sort of an army (“resolutes”) together, and he may want to attack Denmark for revenge. This is all a lot of political stuff, but it is going to be important later. Besides, there might be a quiz.
HORATIO A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye . In the most high and palmy 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: As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, Disasters in the sun; and the moist star Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse: And even the like precurse of fierce events, As harbingers preceding still the fates And prologue to the omen coming on, Have heaven and earth together demonstrated Unto our climatures and countrymen.-- But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!	Horatio is still hung up on this ghost, though. He notices how omens or “bad signs” often appear just before something bad really happens to a country. He compares the appearance of the ghost to other strange omens, especially in ancient Rome.
Re-enter Ghost I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion! If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,	At this point, just as things are slowing down, the ghost comes back for a second appearance. It may be that he noticed a few in the audience were starting to “nod off” during all of that exposition.
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: Cock crows	Again, Horatio tells the ghost to speak, and this time, a cock crows.
If thou art privy to thy country 's fate, Which, happily , foreknowing may avoid , O, speak! Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus. MARCELLUS Shall I strike at it with my partisan? HORATIO Do, if it will not stand.	The ghost disappears, just as the guards try to strike it with a weapon.
BERNARDO 'Tis here! HORATIO 'Tis here! MARCELLUS 'Tis gone! Exit Ghost We do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence; For it is, as the air, invulnerable, And our vain blows malicious mockery. BERNARDO It was about to speak, when the cock crew. HORATIO And then it started like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, The cock , that is the trumpet to the morn, Doth with his lofty 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 spirit hies To his confine: and of the truth herein This present object made probation. MARCELLUS	“Tis here!” “Tis here!” “Tis gone!” (lines 155-157). Apparently, this ghost has a flair for the dramatic, and can pull off some impressive illusions worthy of David Copperfield.
It faded on the crowing of the cock . Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad ; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. 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 ,	The guards discuss the fact that a rooster crowed just before the ghost disappeared. They think that this might be significant.
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. Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?	Horatio decides that they should “impart what we have seen tonight unto young Hamlet” (line s 184-185). It seems that this ghost (old King Hamlet) had a son (young Prince Hamlet) who ought to be informed that his daddy’s ghost is running around, scaring people. They agree to tell young Prince Hamlet, and fast.


MARCELLUS Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know Where we shall find him most conveniently. Exeunt	The guards agree to tell the dead king’s son, young Prince Hamlet. After all, this is third time that this obnoxious ghost has made an appearance. With that, the scene ends. A few guards, one ghost, some background, and so far everyone is still with us—except, of course, the members of the audience, who are stirring restlessly. So far, so good.