Shakespeare Portal

Act 5, Scene 1

A churchyard.

  1. [Enter two Clowns, with spades, &c.]
  2. First Gravedigger
  3. 3206 Is she to be buried in Christian burial when she wilfully
  4. 3207 seeks her own salvation?
  5. Second Gravedigger
  6. 3208 I tell thee she is; and therefore make her grave straight: the
  7. 3209 crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.
  8. First Gravedigger
  9. 3210 How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defence?
  10. Second Gravedigger
  11. 3211 Why, 'tis found so.
  12. First Gravedigger
  13. 3212 It must be se offendendo; it cannot be else. For here lies
  14. 3213 the point: if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act: and an
  15. 3214 act hath three branches; it is to act, to do, and to perform:
  16. 3215 argal, she drowned herself wittingly.
  17. Second Gravedigger
  18. 3216 Nay, but hear you, goodman delver,—
  19. First Gravedigger
  20. 3217 Give me leave. Here lies the water; good: here stands the
  21. 3218 man; good: if the man go to this water and drown himself, it is,
  22. 3219 will he, nill he, he goes,—mark you that: but if the water come
  23. 3220 to him and drown him, he drowns not himself; argal, he that is
  24. 3221 not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life.
  25. Second Gravedigger
  26. 3222 But is this law?
  27. First Gravedigger
  28. 3223 Ay, marry, is't—crowner's quest law.
  29. Second Gravedigger
  30. 3224 Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had not been a
  31. 3225 gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o' Christian burial.
  32. First Gravedigger
  33. 3226 Why, there thou say'st: and the more pity that great folk
  34. 3227 should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves
  35. 3228 more than their even Christian.—Come, my spade. There is no
  36. 3229 ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers: they
  37. 3230 hold up Adam's profession.
  38. Second Gravedigger
  39. 3231 Was he a gentleman?
  40. First Gravedigger
  41. 3232 He was the first that ever bore arms.
  42. Second Gravedigger
  43. 3233 Why, he had none.
  44. First Gravedigger
  45. 3234 What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand the Scripture?
  46. 3235 The Scripture says Adam digg'd: could he dig without arms? I'll
  47. 3236 put another question to thee: if thou answerest me not to the
  48. 3237 purpose, confess thyself,—
  49. Second Gravedigger
  50. 3238 Go to.
  51. First Gravedigger
  52. 3239 What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the
  53. 3240 shipwright, or the carpenter?
  54. Second Gravedigger
  55. 3241 The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.
  56. First Gravedigger
  57. 3242 I like thy wit well, in good faith: the gallows does well;
  58. 3243 but how does it well? it does well to those that do ill: now,
  59. 3244 thou dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the
  60. 3245 church; argal, the gallows may do well to thee. To't again, come.
  61. Second Gravedigger
  62. 3246 Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter?
  63. First Gravedigger
  64. 3247 Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.
  65. Second Gravedigger
  66. 3248 Marry, now I can tell.
  67. First Gravedigger
  68. 3249 To't.
  69. Second Gravedigger
  70. 3250 Mass, I cannot tell.
  71. [Enter Hamlet and Horatio, at a distance.]
  72. First Gravedigger
  73. 3251 Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will
  74. 3252 not mend his pace with beating; and when you are asked this
  75. 3253 question next, say 'a grave-maker;' the houses he makes last
  76. 3254 till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan; fetch me a stoup of
  77. 3255 liquor.
  78. [Exit Second Clown.]
  79. [Digs and sings.]
  80. First Gravedigger
  81. 3256 In youth when I did love, did love,
  82. 3257 Methought it was very sweet;
  83. 3258 To contract, O, the time for, ah, my behove,
  84. 3259 O, methought there was nothing meet.
  85. Hamlet
  86. 3260 Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he sings at
  87. 3261 grave-making?
  88. Horatio
  89. 3262 Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
  90. Hamlet
  91. 3263 'Tis e'en so: the hand of little employment hath the daintier
  92. 3264 sense.
  93. [Sings.]
  94. First Gravedigger
  95. 3265 But age, with his stealing steps,
  96. 3266 Hath claw'd me in his clutch,
  97. 3267 And hath shipp'd me intil the land,
  98. 3268 As if I had never been such.
  99. [Throws up a skull.]
  100. Hamlet
  101. 3269 That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: how the
  102. 3270 knave jowls it to the ground, as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that
  103. 3271 did the first murder! This might be the pate of a politician,
  104. 3272 which this ass now o'erreaches; one that would circumvent God,
  105. 3273 might it not?
  106. Horatio
  107. 3274 It might, my lord.
  108. Hamlet
  109. 3275 Or of a courtier, which could say 'Good morrow, sweet lord!
  110. 3276 How dost thou, good lord?' This might be my lord such-a-one, that
  111. 3277 praised my lord such-a-one's horse when he meant to beg
  112. 3278 it,—might it not?
  113. Horatio
  114. 3279 Ay, my lord.
  115. Hamlet
  116. 3280 Why, e'en so: and now my Lady Worm's; chapless, and knocked
  117. 3281 about the mazard with a sexton's spade: here's fine revolution,
  118. 3282 an we had the trick to see't. Did these bones cost no more the
  119. 3283 breeding but to play at loggets with 'em? mine ache to think
  120. 3284 on't.
  121. [Sings.]
  122. First Gravedigger
  123. 3285 A pickaxe and a spade, a spade,
  124. 3286 For and a shrouding sheet;
  125. 3287 O, a pit of clay for to be made
  126. 3288 For such a guest is meet.
  127. [Throws up another skull]
  128. First Gravedigger
  129. 3289 .
  130. Hamlet
  131. 3290 There's another: why may not that be the skull of a lawyer?
  132. 3291 Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures,
  133. 3292 and his tricks? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock
  134. 3293 him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him
  135. 3294 of his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in's time a
  136. 3295 great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his
  137. 3296 fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of
  138. 3297 his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine
  139. 3298 pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no more of
  140. 3299 his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth
  141. 3300 of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will
  142. 3301 scarcely lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no
  143. 3302 more, ha?
  144. Horatio
  145. 3303 Not a jot more, my lord.
  146. Hamlet
  147. 3304 Is not parchment made of sheep-skins?
  148. Horatio
  149. 3305 Ay, my lord, And of calf-skins too.
  150. Hamlet
  151. 3306 They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in that. I
  152. 3307 will speak to this fellow.—Whose grave's this, sir?
  153. First Gravedigger
  154. 3308 Mine, sir.
  155. [Sings.]
  156. First Gravedigger
  157. 3309 O, a pit of clay for to be made
  158. 3310 For such a guest is meet.
  159. Hamlet
  160. 3311 I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in't.
  161. First Gravedigger
  162. 3312 You lie out on't, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours: for my part,
  163. 3313 I do not lie in't, yet it is mine.
  164. Hamlet
  165. 3314 Thou dost lie in't, to be in't and say it is thine: 'tis for
  166. 3315 the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest.
  167. First Gravedigger
  168. 3316 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 't will away again from me to you.
  169. Hamlet
  170. 3317 What man dost thou dig it for?
  171. First Gravedigger
  172. 3318 For no man, sir.
  173. Hamlet
  174. 3319 What woman then?
  175. First Gravedigger
  176. 3320 For none neither.
  177. Hamlet
  178. 3321 Who is to be buried in't?
  179. First Gravedigger
  180. 3322 One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead.
  181. Hamlet
  182. 3323 How absolute the knave is! We must speak by the card, or
  183. 3324 equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three
  184. 3325 years I have taken note of it, the age is grown so picked that
  185. 3326 the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he
  186. 3327 galls his kibe.—How long hast thou been a grave-maker?
  187. First Gravedigger
  188. 3328 Of all the days i' the year, I came to't that day that our
  189. 3329 last King Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.
  190. Hamlet
  191. 3330 How long is that since?
  192. First Gravedigger
  193. 3331 Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it was the
  194. 3332 very day that young Hamlet was born,—he that is mad, and sent
  195. 3333 into England.
  196. Hamlet
  197. 3334 Ay, marry, why was be sent into England?
  198. First Gravedigger
  199. 3335 Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits there;
  200. 3336 or, if he do not, it's no great matter there.
  201. Hamlet
  202. 3337 Why?
  203. First Gravedigger
  204. 3338 'Twill not he seen in him there; there the men are as mad as he.
  205. Hamlet
  206. 3339 How came he mad?
  207. First Gravedigger
  208. 3340 Very strangely, they say.
  209. Hamlet
  210. 3341 How strangely?
  211. First Gravedigger
  212. 3342 Faith, e'en with losing his wits.
  213. Hamlet
  214. 3343 Upon what ground?
  215. First Gravedigger
  216. 3344 Why, here in Denmark: I have been sexton here, man and boy,
  217. 3345 thirty years.
  218. Hamlet
  219. 3346 How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot?
  220. First Gravedigger
  221. 3347 Faith, if he be not rotten before he die,—as we have many
  222. 3348 pocky corses now-a-days that will scarce hold the laying in,—he
  223. 3349 will last you some eight year or nine year: a tanner will last
  224. 3350 you nine year.
  225. Hamlet
  226. 3351 Why he more than another?
  227. First Gravedigger
  228. 3352 Why, sir, his hide is so tann'd with his trade that he will
  229. 3353 keep out water a great while; and your water is a sore decayer of
  230. 3354 your whoreson dead body. Here's a skull now; this skull hath lain
  231. 3355 in the earth three-and-twenty years.
  232. Hamlet
  233. 3356 Whose was it?
  234. First Gravedigger
  235. 3357 A whoreson, mad fellow's it was: whose do you think it was?
  236. Hamlet
  237. 3358 Nay, I know not.
  238. First Gravedigger
  239. 3359 A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! 'a pour'd a flagon of
  240. 3360 Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's
  241. 3361 skull, the king's jester.
  242. Hamlet
  243. 3362 This?
  244. First Gravedigger
  245. 3363 E'en that.
  246. Hamlet
  247. 3364 Let me see.
  248. [Takes the skull.]
  249. Hamlet
  250. 3365 Alas, poor Yorick!—I knew him,
  251. 3366 Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he
  252. 3367 hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred
  253. 3368 in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those
  254. 3369 lips that I have kiss'd I know not how oft. Where be your gibes
  255. 3370 now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that
  256. 3371 were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your
  257. 3372 own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now, get you to my lady's
  258. 3373 chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this
  259. 3374 favour she must come; make her laugh at that.—Pr'ythee, Horatio,
  260. 3375 tell me one thing.
  261. Horatio
  262. 3376 What's that, my lord?
  263. Hamlet
  264. 3377 Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion i' the earth?
  265. Horatio
  266. 3378 E'en so.
  267. Hamlet
  268. 3379 And smelt so? Pah!
  269. [Throws down the skull.]
  270. Horatio
  271. 3380 E'en so, my lord.
  272. Hamlet
  273. 3381 To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may not
  274. 3382 imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander till he find it
  275. 3383 stopping a bung-hole?
  276. Horatio
  277. 3384 'Twere to consider too curiously to consider so.
  278. Hamlet
  279. 3385 No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with modesty
  280. 3386 enough, and likelihood to lead it: as thus: Alexander died,
  281. 3387 Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is
  282. 3388 earth; of earth we make loam; and why of that loam whereto he
  283. 3389 was converted might they not stop a beer-barrel?
  284. 3390 Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,
  285. 3391 Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
  286. 3392 O, that that earth which kept the world in awe
  287. 3393 Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw!
  288. 3394 But soft! but soft! aside!—Here comes the king.
  289. [Enter priests, &c, in procession; the corpse of Ophelia, Laertes, and Mourners following; King, Queen, their Trains, &c.]
  290. Hamlet
  291. 3395 The queen, the courtiers: who is that they follow?
  292. 3396 And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken
  293. 3397 The corse they follow did with desperate hand
  294. 3398 Fordo it own life: 'twas of some estate.
  295. 3399 Couch we awhile and mark.
  296. [Retiring with Horatio.]
  297. Laertes
  298. 3400 What ceremony else?
  299. Hamlet
  300. 3401 That is Laertes,
  301. 3402 A very noble youth: mark.
  302. Laertes
  303. 3403 What ceremony else?
  304. Priest
  305. 3404 Her obsequies have been as far enlarg'd
  306. 3405 As we have warranties: her death was doubtful;
  307. 3406 And, but that great command o'ersways the order,
  308. 3407 She should in ground unsanctified have lodg'd
  309. 3408 Till the last trumpet; for charitable prayers,
  310. 3409 Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her,
  311. 3410 Yet here she is allowed her virgin rites,
  312. 3411 Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
  313. 3412 Of bell and burial.
  314. Laertes
  315. 3413 Must there no more be done?
  316. Priest
  317. 3414 No more be done;
  318. 3415 We should profane the service of the dead
  319. 3416 To sing a requiem and such rest to her
  320. 3417 As to peace-parted souls.
  321. Laertes
  322. 3418 Lay her i' the earth;—
  323. 3419 And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
  324. 3420 May violets spring!—I tell thee, churlish priest,
  325. 3421 A ministering angel shall my sister be
  326. 3422 When thou liest howling.
  327. Hamlet
  328. 3423 What, the fair Ophelia?
  329. Queen Gertrude
  330. 3424 Sweets to the sweet: farewell.
  331. [Scattering flowers.]
  332. Queen Gertrude
  333. 3425 I hop'd thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
  334. 3426 I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
  335. 3427 And not have strew'd thy grave.
  336. Laertes
  337. 3428 O, treble woe
  338. 3429 Fall ten times treble on that cursed head
  339. 3430 Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
  340. 3431 Depriv'd thee of!—Hold off the earth awhile,
  341. 3432 Till I have caught her once more in mine arms:
  342. [Leaps into the grave.]
  343. Laertes
  344. 3433 Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
  345. 3434 Till of this flat a mountain you have made,
  346. 3435 To o'ertop old Pelion or the skyish head
  347. 3436 Of blue Olympus.
  348. [Advancing.]
  349. Hamlet
  350. 3437 What is he whose grief
  351. 3438 Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow
  352. 3439 Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand
  353. 3440 Like wonder-wounded hearers? this is I,
  354. 3441 Hamlet the Dane.
  355. [Leaps into the grave.]
  356. Laertes
  357. 3442 The devil take thy soul!
  358. [Grappling with him.]
  359. Hamlet
  360. 3443 Thou pray'st not well.
  361. 3444 I pr'ythee, take thy fingers from my throat;
  362. 3445 For, though I am not splenetive and rash,
  363. 3446 Yet have I in me something dangerous,
  364. 3447 Which let thy wiseness fear: away thy hand!
  365. King Claudius
  366. 3448 Pluck them asunder.
  367. Queen Gertrude
  368. 3449 Hamlet! Hamlet!
  369. All
  370. 3450 Gentlemen!—
  371. Horatio
  372. 3451 Good my lord, be quiet.
  373. [The Attendants part them, and they come out of the grave.]
  374. Hamlet
  375. 3452 Why, I will fight with him upon this theme
  376. 3453 Until my eyelids will no longer wag.
  377. Queen Gertrude
  378. 3454 O my son, what theme?
  379. Hamlet
  380. 3455 I lov'd Ophelia; forty thousand brothers
  381. 3456 Could not, with all their quantity of love,
  382. 3457 Make up my sum.—What wilt thou do for her?
  383. King Claudius
  384. 3458 O, he is mad, Laertes.
  385. Queen Gertrude
  386. 3459 For love of God, forbear him!
  387. Hamlet
  388. 3460 'Swounds, show me what thou'lt do:
  389. 3461 Woul't weep? woul't fight? woul't fast? woul't tear thyself?
  390. 3462 Woul't drink up eisel? eat a crocodile?
  391. 3463 I'll do't.—Dost thou come here to whine?
  392. 3464 To outface me with leaping in her grave?
  393. 3465 Be buried quick with her, and so will I:
  394. 3466 And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
  395. 3467 Millions of acres on us, till our ground,
  396. 3468 Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
  397. 3469 Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
  398. 3470 I'll rant as well as thou.
  399. Queen Gertrude
  400. 3471 This is mere madness:
  401. 3472 And thus a while the fit will work on him;
  402. 3473 Anon, as patient as the female dove,
  403. 3474 When that her golden couplets are disclos'd,
  404. 3475 His silence will sit drooping.
  405. Hamlet
  406. 3476 Hear you, sir;
  407. 3477 What is the reason that you use me thus?
  408. 3478 I lov'd you ever: but it is no matter;
  409. 3479 Let Hercules himself do what he may,
  410. 3480 The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.
  411. [Exit.]
  412. King Claudius
  413. 3481 I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him.—
  414. [Exit Horatio.]
  415. [To Laertes]
  416. King Claudius
  417. 3482 Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech;
  418. 3483 We'll put the matter to the present push.—
  419. 3484 Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.—
  420. 3485 This grave shall have a living monument:
  421. 3486 An hour of quiet shortly shall we see;
  422. 3487 Till then in patience our proceeding be.
  423. [Exeunt.]