Hamlet Translation Act 1, Scene 1 Two watchmen, BARNARDO and FRANCISCO, enter. BARNARDO Who’s there? BARNARDO Who’s there? FRANCISCO Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself. FRANCISCO No, you answer me. Stop and reveal yourself. BARNARDO Long li ve the king! BARNARDO Long live the king! FRANCISCO Barnardo? FRANCISCO Barnardo? BARNARDO 5 He. BARNARDO Yes, me. FRANCISCO You come most carefully upon your hour. FRANCISCO You arrived right on schedule. BARNARDO ‘Tis now struck twelve. Get t hee to bed, Francisco. BARNARDO The clock just struck twelve. Go to bed, Francisco. FRANCISCO For this relief much thanks. ‘Tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart. FRANCISCO Thanks for relieving me. It’s bitterly cold, and I’m miserable. BARNARDO 10 Have you had quiet guard? BARNARDO Has your guard duty been quiet? FRANCISCO Not a mouse stirring. FRANCISCO Not a mouse stirred. BARNARDO Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. BARNARDO Well, good night. If you see Horatio and Marcellus — who are going to stand guard with me — tell them to hurry. FRANCISCO 15 I think I hear them. — Stand, ho! Who’s there? FRANCISCO I think I hear them. Stop! Who’s there? HORATIO and MARCELLUS enter. HORAT IO and MARCELLUS enter. HORATIO Friends to this ground. HORATIO Friends of this country. MARCELLUS And liegemen to the Dane. MARCELLUS And loyal servants of the Danish king. FRANCISCO Give you good night. FRANCISCO Good night to you. MARCELLUS O , farewell, honest soldier. Who hath relieved you? MARCELLUS Oh, goodbye, honorable soldier. Who’s relieved you? FRANCISCO 20 Barnardo has my place. Give you good night. FRANCISCO Barnardo’s taken my place. Good night. FRANCISCO exits. FRANCISCO exit s. MARCELLUS Holla, Barnardo. MARCELLUS Hello, Barnardo. BARNARDO Say what, is Horatio there? BARNARDO Say, is Horatio here too? HORATIO A piece of him. HORATIO More or less. BARNARDO Welcome, Horatio. — Welcome, good Marcellus. BARNARDO Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, Marcellus. MARCELLUS 25 What, has this thing appeared again tonight? MARCELLUS So, has the thing appeared again tonight? BARNARDO I have seen nothing. BARNARDO I haven’t seen anything. MARCELLUS Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy And will not let belief take hold of him Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us. 30 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. MARCELLUS Horatio says it’s all our imagination, and he won’t let himself believe in this awful thing we’ve now seen twice. I asked him to join us in our guard duty tonight, so that if the ghost appears he can confirm what we see and speak to it. HORATIO Tush, t ush, ’twill not appear. HORATIO Oh, come now. It’s not going to appear. BARNARDO 35 Sit down a while And let us once again assail your ears, That are so fortified against our story, What we have two nights seen. BARNARDO Sit down for a while, and let u s tell you again the story you refuse to believe, about what we’ve seen the last two nights. HORATIO Well, sit we down, 40 And let us hear Barnardo speak of this. HORATIO Sure, let’s sit down and listen to Barnardo tell us about it. BARNARDO Last nigh t of all, When yond same star that’s westward from the pole Had made his course t’ illume that part of heaven Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, 45 The bell then beating one — BARNARDO Last night, when that star to the west of the North Star had mov ed across the heavens to brighten that spot in the sky where it’s shining now, at precisely one o’clock, Marcellus and I — The GHOST enters. MARCELLUS Peace, break thee off. Look where it comes again! MARCELLUS Quiet, stop talking! Look, it’s come again BARNARDO In the same figure like the king that’s dead. BARNARDO Looking exactly like the dead king. MARCELLUS [to HORATIO] Thou art a scholar. Speak to it, Horatio. MARCELLUS [To HORATIO] You’re well - educated. Speak to it, Horatio. BARNARDO Looks it not like the king? Mark it, Horatio. BARNARDO Doesn’t he look like the king, Horatio? HORATIO 50 Most like. It harrows me with fear and wonder. HORATIO Exactly like him. It fills me with fear and wonder. BARNARDO It would be spoke to. BARNARDO It wants us to speak to it. MARCELLUS Question it, Horatio. MARCELLUS Ask it something, Horatio. HORATIO What art thou that usurp’st this time of night Together with that fair and warlike form 55 In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes marc h? By heaven, I charge thee, speak. HORATIO Who are you, disturbing this time of night, and appearing just like the dead king of Denmark, dressed in his battle armor? By God, I order you to speak. MARCELLUS It is offended. MARCELLUS You’ve offended it. BARNARDO See, it stalks away. BARNARDO Look, it’s moving away. HORATIO Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee, speak! HORATIO Stay! Speak! Speak! I order you, speak! The GHOST exits. The GHOST exits. MARCELLUS 60 ‘Tis gone and will not answer. MARCEL LUS It’s gone, and won’t answer. BARNARDO How now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale. Is not this something more than fantasy? What think you on ’t? BARNARDO How are you, Horatio? You’re pale and trembling. Isn’t this something more than just our imag ination? What do you think about it? HORATIO Before my God, I might not this believe 65 Without the sensible and true avouch Of mine own eyes. HORATIO I swear by God, I would never have believed this if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. MARCELLUS Is it not like the king? MARCELLUS Doesn’t it look like the king? HORATIO As thou art to thyself. Such was the very armour he had on 70 When he the ambitious Norway combated. So frowned he once when, in an angry parle, He smote the sledded Polacks on the i ce. ‘Tis strange. HORATIO As much as you look like yourself. That was the same armor the king wore when he fought the ambitious king of Norway. And the ghost frowned just like the king did once when he fought the Poles, who traveled on the ice in sleds. I t’s eerie. MARCELLUS Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, 75 With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. MARCELLUS It’s happened like this twice before, always at this time of night. Dressed like a warrior, the ghost walks by us at our guard post. HORATIO In what particular thought to work I know not, But in the gross and scope of mine opinion This bodes some strange eruption to our state. HORATIO I don’t know exactly what this means, but I have a general feeling it signals that something bad is about to happen to our country. MARCELLUS Good now, sit down and tell me, he that knows, 80 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 imple ments of war, Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task 85 Does not divide the Sunday from the week. What might be toward, that this sweaty haste Doth make the night joint laborer with the day? Who is ’t that can inform me? MARCELLUS Speaking of th at, let’s sit down so that, whoever knows about it, can tell me why we’ve been keeping such a strict schedule of nightly watches. And why we’ve been building so many cannons, and buying so many weapons from other countries. And why the shipbuilders are kep t so busy that they don’t even rest on Sunday. What’s coming that forces us to work day and night in this way? Who can tell me? HORATIO That can I. 90 At least, the whisper goes so: our last king, Whose image even but now appeared to us, Was, as you know , by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride, Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet 95 (For so this side of our known world esteemed him) Did slay this Fortinbras, who by a sealed compact Well ratified by law and heraldr y, Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands Which he stood seized of to the conqueror, 100 Against the which a moiety competent Was gagèd by our king, which had returned To the inheritance of Fortinbras Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same covena nt And carriage of the article designed, 105 His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Of unimprovèd mettle hot and full, Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes, For food and diet, to some enterprise 110 Th at 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, 115 Is the main motive of our preparations, The source of this our watch, and the chief head Of this posthaste and rummage in the land. HORATIO I can do that. At least, I can tell you the rumors: the greatness of our former king — whose ghost just now appeared to us — inspired the competitive pride of Kin g Fortinbras of Norway. Fortinbras challenged him to hand - to - hand combat. During that fight, our courageous Hamlet (as we Danes thought of him) killed old King Fortinbras, who — on the basis of a signed and sealed agreement and in full accordance with the la w and rules of combat — surrendered, along with his life, all the lands he possessed to his conqueror. By that same agreement, our king bet lands of equal value that he would have had to give up had he been defeated. Now, Fortinbras’ son, young Fortinbras, w ho is daring but has yet to prove himself, has hastily gathered a group lawless brutes. For no pay other than food on the outskirts of Norway. They’re willing to give their courage to the effort of forcefully regaining the lands the elder Fortinbras lost. I believe this is the reason that we’ve been sent on guard duty, and the primary source of all the recent hustle and bustle in Denmark. BARNARDO I think it be no other but e’en so. Well may it sort that this portentous figure 120 Comes armèd through our watch so like the king That was and is the question of these wars. BARNARDO I think that’s right. It makes sense that this ghost of the late king would haunt our guard duty now, since he was such an important part of these wars. 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, 125 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, Disast ers in the sun, and the moist star Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands 130 Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse. And even the like precurse of feared events, As harbingers preceding still the fates And prologue to the omen coming on, Have heav en and earth together demonstrated 135 Unto our climatures and countrymen. HORATIO The ghost is definitely something to worry about, like a speck of dust bothering your eye. In the powerful Roman Empire, just before the mighty emperor Julius Caesar was as sassinated, the graves stood empty while the ghostly dead ran through the streets of Rome, squeaking and delirious. Shooting stars streaked across the sky, blood fell along with the morning dew, and omens of disaster appeared on the sun. The moon, which co ntrols the tides of the sea, was so eclipsed that it almost disappeared completely. We’ve had similar signs of disaster, as if heaven and earth have joined together to warn us of what’s to come. The GHOST enters. The GHOST enters. HORATIO But soft, beh old! Lo, where it comes again. I’ll cross it though it blast me. — Stay, illusion! HORATIO Wait, look! It has returned. I’ll meet it if it’s the last thing I do. [To GHOST] Stop, you illusion! The GHOST spreads his arms. The GHOST spreads his arms. HORA TIO If thou hast any sound or use of voice, Speak to me. 140 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, 145 Oh, speak! Or if th ou 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! HORATIO If you have a voice or can make sounds, speak to me. If there’s anything that I can do that migh t bring peace to you and honor to me, speak to me. If you know something abut your country’s fate — which we could avoid if we knew about it — then, oh, speak! Or if you have a