Hamlet - Act 1 Scene 5
Another part of the battlements.
What does the Ghost sound like? His voice may unearthly (based on the actor's abilities or modern audio technology), booming or whispering; a normal voice, the voice of Hamlet's father in life, might be equally unnerving.
Enter GHOST and HAMLET
HAMLET
Where wilt thou lead me? Speak; I'll go no further.
Ghost
Mark me.
HAMLET
I will.
This image, supported by the Ghost's description below (lines 15-26) suggests that Old Hamlet's soul has been relegated to Purgatory, and this idea was common in ghost stories of the time. Purgatory was a Catholic concept rejected by the Protestant Reformation, so the Ghost may have seemed suspect in Shakespeare's Protestant England.
Ghost
My hour is almost come,
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.
HAMLET
Alas, poor ghost!
Ghost
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold.
HAMLET
Speak; I am bound to hear.
Ghost
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
HAMLET
What?
The Ghost's language, like its armour, seem archaic, suggesting a heightened, bygone age.
Ghost
I am thy father's spirit,
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love—
HAMLET
O God!
Ghost
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
HAMLET
Murder!
The Ghost's words echo Horatio's speech in 1.1.125-137, suggesting that human affairs and actions (in this case, regicide and kin-slaying) can reverberate into the natural and supernatural world. The murder of Old Hamlet was so unnatural and wrong that it split the boundary between life and death, opening the way for the Ghost.
Ghost
Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange and unnatural.
HAMLET
Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.
Ghost
I find thee apt;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethè wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forgèd process of my death
Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
Hamlet's interjection indicates that he had suspected Claudius of Old Hamlet's murder, which seems surprising, given that his initial rage in 1.2 is focused mostly on Gertrude.
The Ghost's description of Claudius reinforces Hamlet's in 1.2. The image of Claudius as seducer connects to Claudius' political skill, and his use of poison administered through the ear can be a metaphor for language that is used to corrupt or mislead.
The garden image combined with the image of Claudius-as-serpent used above links the Ghost's story to the Garden of Eden, positing Claudius as Satan and Old Hamlet's murder as The Fall.
The Ghost's description of the poison's effects is the most detailed and revolting of the play's many references to rot, corruption, and disease.
Old Hamlet was murdered before he had the chance to confess his sins, a detail which becomes vitally important to the action of 3.3.
The Ghost's instruction regarding Gertrude is the cause of much debate among scholars, especially as Hamlet has a great deal of difficulty in following it. Is Gertrude exempt because she was innocent of Old Hamlet's death? Is this a demonstration of the old king's love for his wife? Is it an issue of gender? Is it a recognition of Hamlet's love for his mother?
HAMLET
O my prophetic soul! My uncle!
Ghost
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts –
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce! – won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
But, soft! Methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursèd hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigour doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter barked about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatched:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.
O, horrible! O, horrible! Most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damnèd incest.
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
And to those horns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.
Exit
The "distracted globe" is, most obviously, Hamlet's head, but the phrase (and its accompanying gesture) may also refer to the "globe" of the world, as well as the Globe Playhouse, in which the play was performed. The image is simultaneously personal, universal, and theatrical.
"Tables" here refers to a table-book, a small notebook carried about and used to write down important thoughts. This may be a literal action-- Hamlet actually pulling out a book-- or else a metaphor-- Hamlet committing this notion to his memory.
HAMLET
O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?
And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart;
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee!
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee!
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter: yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!
My tables – meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark.
[Writing]
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word;
It is 'Adieu, adieu! Remember me.'
I have sworn 't.
MARCELLUS & HORATIO
[Within]
My lord, my lord –
MARCELLUS
[Within]
Lord Hamlet –
HORATIO
[Within]
Heaven secure him!
The repeated call-and-response between Hamlet and Horatio reminds the audience that the scene takes place in darkness; Hamlet must guide Horatio and Marcellus to his location.
Hamlet refers to Horatio as a "bird," recalling images and terms from falconry. The image of Horatio as Hamlet's hunting bird will resonate through their later relationship, especially in 3.2.
HAMLET
So be it!
HORATIO
[Within]
Hillo, ho, ho, my lord!
HAMLET
Hillo, ho, ho, boy! Come, bird, come.
Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS
MARCELLUS
How is't, my noble lord?
HORATIO
What news, my lord?
HAMLET
O, wonderful!
HORATIO
Good my lord, tell it.
HAMLET
No; you'll reveal it.
Throughout this exchange, Hamlet seems distracted and changeable, even verging on hysterical. This may be his continuing reaction to his encounter with the Ghost, or else he may be developing his "antic disposition," the feigned madness he will put on in following scenes.
HORATIO
Not I, my lord, by heaven.
MARCELLUS
Nor I, my lord.
HAMLET
How say you, then; would heart of man once think it?
But you'll be secret?
HORATIO and MARCELLUS
Ay, by heaven, my lord.
HAMLET
There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he's an arrant knave.
HORATIO
There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this.
HAMLET
Why, right; you are i' the right;
And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:
You, as your business and desire shall point you;
For every man has business and desire,
Such as it is; and for mine own poor part,
Look you, I'll go pray.
HORATIO
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord.
HAMLET
I'm sorry they offend you, heartily;
Yes, 'faith heartily.
HORATIO
There's no offence, my lord.
Saint Patrick was traditionally associated with Purgatory, thus swearing by him reinforces Hamlet's claim that the Ghost is "honest."
HAMLET
Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio,
And much offence too. Touching this vision here,
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you:
For your desire to know what is between us,
O'ermaster 't as you may. And now, good friends,
As you are friends, scholars and soldiers,
Give me one poor request.
HORATIO
What is't, my lord? We will.
HAMLET
Never make known what you have seen tonight.
HORATIO & MARCELLUS
My lord, we will not.
HAMLET
Nay, but swear't.
HORATIO
In faith,
My lord, not I.
MARCELLUS
Nor I, my lord, in faith.
An oath was often sworn on an inverted sword, the hilt and cross-guard forming the shape of a cross. This image reinforces the play's fusion of Christian imagery with murder and revenge.
HAMLET
Upon my sword.
MARCELLUS
We have sworn, my lord, already.
HAMLET
Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
Ghost
[Beneath]
Swear.
The Ghost would presumably be below the stage, in an area accessed through a trap-door. The literal reality-- the actor below the stage, "in the cellarage"-- fuses with the fictional idea that the Ghost is below the earth, confined to Purgatory.
HAMLET
Ah, ha, boy! Say'st thou so? Art thou there, truepenny?
Come on – you hear this fellow in the cellarage –
Consent to swear.
HORATIO
Propose the oath, my lord.
HAMLET
Never to speak of this that you have seen,
Swear by my sword.
Ghost
[Beneath]
Swear.
The dialogue suggests that Hamlet moves Marcellus and Horatio about the stage, and in each location the Ghost remains below them. It is not clear whether they swear at each location, or keep shifting until they find their final spot for the oath.
HAMLET
Hic et ubique? Then we'll shift our ground.
Come hither, gentlemen,
And lay your hands again upon my sword:
Never to speak of this that you have heard,
Swear by my sword.
Ghost
[Beneath]
Swear.
A "pioner" was a military miner, who would dig under enemy trenches or fortifications to plant explosives. Hamlet uses the image again, with reference to himself, in 3.4. The image also links to the play's preoccupation with disease and rot, in that it presents danger and corruption lurking below a seemingly-ordinary surface.
Hamlet here introduces his plan to feign madness in order to allay Claudius' suspicions. Given his behaviour thus far, an audience may already be wondering how much of his madness is fake and how much is real.
HAMLET
Well said, old mole! Canst work i' the earth so fast?
A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends.
HORATIO
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!
HAMLET
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come;
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,'
Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,'
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me: this not to do,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you,
Swear.
Ghost
[Beneath]
Swear.
HAMLET
Rest, rest, perturbèd spirit!
Horatio and Marcellus have no lines here, but the action of the scene seems to demand some action of swearing, either silently or with simple dialogue.
The idea of the revenger setting right what has gone wrong is a common-place of revenge tragedy, but it is an idea that might be re-examined in light of the play's conclusion.
[They swear]
So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you:
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do, to express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint: O cursèd spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
Nay, come, let's go together.
Exeunt