O Might Those Sighs and Tears Return Again Paraphras Modern English

Hamlet Translation Act i, Scene 2

CLAUDIUS, the king of Denmark, enters, equally practise GERTRUDE the queen, HAMLET, POLONIUS, POLONIUS 'due south son LAERTES and daughter OPHELIA, and LORDS of Claudius's court.

CLAUDIUS

Though all the same of Hamlet our beloved brother'southward death The retention be greenish, and that it united states of america befitted To behave our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom To be contracted in 1 brow of woe, Yet and then far hath discretion fought with nature That we with wisest sorrow think on him Together with remembrance of ourselves. Therefore our former sister, at present our queen, Th' purple jointress to this warlike state, Accept we—as 'twere with a defeated joy, With an auspicious and a dropping eye, With mirth in funeral and with dirge in union, In equal scale weighing delight and dole— Taken to wife. Nor take we herein barred Your amend wisdoms, which have freely gone With this affair along. For all, our thanks. Now follows that you know. Young Fortinbras, Holding a weak supposal of our worth Or thinking by our late love brother'due south decease Our land to be disjoint and out of frame, Colleaguèd with the dream of his advantage, He hath not failed to pester us with message Importing the give up of those lands Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, To our well-nigh valiant blood brother. So much for him.

CLAUDIUS

Though my memories of my blood brother Hamlet are still fresh—and though it was proper for me and our entire kingdom to grieve for him—life doesn't stop. And then while we must remember to mourn for him, it is also wise to call up our own happiness. Therefore—with a sad joy; with one eye merry and the other crying; with laughter at a funeral and grieving at a wedding; with equal measures of happiness and sadness—I accept married my former sister-in-law and made her my queen. In this marriage, I know I've washed exactly what all of yous have been advising me to practice all along. To all of y'all, my thanks. At present, allow's movement on to news that you all know: young Fortinbras, dreaming of celebrity and thinking that I am weak—or maybe that the decease of my blood brother has thrown our country into chaos —continues to carp me with demands that I give up the lands that his father lost to my blood brother when he was live. That's the news on Fortinbras.

VOLTEMAND and CORNELIUS enter.

CLAUDIUS

At present for ourself and for this time of meeting Thus much the business is: nosotros have here writ To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras— Who, impotent and bedrid, scarcely hears Of this his nephew'southward purpose —to suppress His further gait herein, in that the levies, The lists, and full proportions are all fabricated Out of his subject area; and nosotros here acceleration You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltemand, For bearers of this greeting to quondam Norway, Giving to yous no further personal power To business with the rex more than the scope Of these dilated articles allow. [gives them a newspaper] Adieu, and let your haste commend your duty.

CLAUDIUS

Every bit for me and this coming together, here'southward the story: [He holds up a letter] I've written to the King of Norway—Fortinbras' uncle—a weak and bedridden sometime homo who's barely heard a thing about his nephew's aims. I've told the Norwegian King to put a halt to Fortinbras' plans, since all of Fortinbras' troops are Norwegian.

[To CORNELIUS and VOLTEMAND] You, adept Cornelius, and you, Voltemand, we send you to comport this letter to the old King of Norway, but requite you no more power to negotiate with the Norwegian King across what is outlined in this alphabetic character. [He gives them the letter of the alphabet] Goodbye, and may y'all evidence your loyalty through the speed with which you bring this letter to Norway.

CORNELIUS, VOLTEMAND

In that and all things volition we show our duty.

CORNELIUS, VOLTEMAND

We'll show our loyalty to you lot in that and all other means.

CLAUDIUS

Nosotros doubt it zip. Heartily farewell.

CLAUDIUS

I do not uncertainty it. A addicted bye to yous.

CORNELIUS and VOLTEMAND exit.

CLAUDIUS

And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? You lot told us of some suit. What is 't, Laertes? Y'all cannot speak of reason to the Dane And lose your voice. What wouldst m beg, Laertes, That shall non exist my offer, not thy request? The caput is not more native to the eye, The hand more instrumental to the oral cavity, Than is the throne of Kingdom of denmark to thy begetter. What wouldst thousand accept, Laertes?

CLAUDIUS

And at present, Laertes, what'south your news? Y'all mentioned that you take a favor to ask of me. What is information technology, Laertes? Y'all'll never exist wasting your words by making a reasonable asking of the Male monarch of Denmark. What could you lot possibly ask for that I wouldn't requite yous? Your father is every bit vital to the Danish throne as the caput is to the heart, or the hand to the mouth. What exercise you want, Laertes?

LAERTES

My dread lord, Your leave and favor to return to French republic, From whence though willingly I came to Denmark To show my duty in your coronation, Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France And bow them to your gracious get out and pardon.

LAERTES

My powerful lord, I'd like your permission to go back to France. Though I came willingly to Denmark to prove my loyalty at your coronation, now that my duty is done, I must admit that my thoughts are once more directed toward France. I hope y'all will give me your permission to go.

CLAUDIUS

Have you your father'southward leave? What says Polonius?

CLAUDIUS

Exercise you accept your father's permission? What does Polonius say?

POLONIUS

He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow go out Past laborsome petition, and at terminal Upon his will I sealed my difficult consent. I do beseech you, give him get out to go.

POLONIUS

My lord, he has won my permission past asking me over and over over again so that, finally, I reluctantly gave my approval. I enquire you to delight requite him permission to go.

CLAUDIUS

Take thy fair hr, Laertes. Fourth dimension be thine, And thy all-time graces spend it at thy will.— But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—

CLAUDIUS

Go out when you similar, Laertes. Your time is your ain, to exist spent withal y'all want. And at present, Hamlet, my nephew and my son—

Hamlet

[aside] A footling more than than kin and less than kind.

HAMLET

[To himself] I'm more closely related to you than I used to be, only without any feelings of affection.

CLAUDIUS

How is it that the clouds still hang on y'all?

CLAUDIUS

Why are you so gloomy that it seems like you are covered by clouds?

Village

Not so, my lord. I am as well much i' the lord's day.

HAMLET

Not at all, my lord. The problem is that I am covered in sun.

GERTRUDE

Good Village, cast thy nighted color off, And let thine eye wait like a friend on Denmark. Practice non forever with thy vailèd lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Yard know'st 'tis common. All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.

GERTRUDE

Beloved Village, terminate wearing these blackness apparel, and await upon the King of Denmark as a friend. You can't spend your whole life with your optics aimed down at the ground, looking for your noble father in the grit. Y'all know it'south common. Everything that lives must die, passing from nature to heaven.

Hamlet

Ay, madam, it is mutual.

Hamlet

Yeah, madam, it is common.

GERTRUDE

If it be, Why seems it so particular with thee?

GERTRUDE

If that'due south and then, why does it seem like such an issue to you lot?

HAMLET

"Seems," madam? Nay, it is. I know not "seems." 'Tis not lonely my inky cloak, practiced mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced jiff, No, nor the fruitful river in the middle, Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That tin denote me truly. These indeed "seem," For they are actions that a man might play. But I have that within which passeth show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

Village

"Seem," female parent? No, information technology is . I don't know the meaning of "seems." Adept mother, the blackness clothes I wear each day, my heavy sighs, the tears from my eyes, the sadness visible in my face, or any other show of grief cannot capture what I really feel. All these things "seem" similar grief, since they're but what a person would practice to act like they were grieving in a play. But inside of me I accept real grief, of which these clothes and displays of grief are simply an outward representation.

CLAUDIUS

'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Village, To give these mourning duties to your begetter. But you must know your father lost a father, That male parent lost, lost his, and the survivor leap In filial obligation for some term To do obsequious sorrow. But to persever In obstinate comfort is a course Of impious stubbornness. 'Tis unmanly grief. It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, A center unfortified, a mind impatient, An understanding elementary and unschooled. For what we know must exist and is as common As whatsoever the nigh vulgar affair to sense, Why should we in our peevish opposition Take it to heart? Fie! 'Tis a error to heaven, A error confronting the dead, a fault to nature, To reason nearly absurd, whose common theme Is death of fathers, and who even so hath cried, From the first corse till he that died today, "This must exist so." Nosotros pray yous, throw to earth This unprevailing woe, and remember of us As of a father. For permit the world accept note, You are the most immediate to our throne, And with no less nobility of dearest Than that which dearest father bears his son Practise I impart toward you. For your intent In going dorsum to school in Wittenberg, Information technology is well-nigh retrograde to our want. And nosotros beseech you, bend you lot to remain Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

CLAUDIUS

Village, it is sweet and skilful that y'all mourn like this for your male parent. But you must besides remember that your male parent lost his father, who in turn lost his father, and each time the son had a duty to mourn for his father for a certain time. Only to continue to mourn out of sheer stubbornness is cursing. It isn't manly. Information technology does non fit with God's desires, and it indicates a as well-soft middle, an undisciplined mind, and a full general lack of cognition. When we know that something must eventually happen—and that it happens to everyone—why should nosotros get information technology into our heads to oppose it? Indeed! Interim this manner is a offense against heaven, a law-breaking against the dead, a crime confronting nature. To a reasonable mind, it is absurd, since the death of fathers—from the kickoff corpse until the most recent—is an inescapable theme of life. I ask you lot, give upwards your ceaseless mourning, and think of me equally your new father. Allow the world understand: you are the next in line for the throne, and I feel as much dearest for y'all as any father feels for his son. As for your desire to return to Wittenberg, it'south non what I would desire. So I beg yous, please give in to my request and remain here, where you lot tin bring joy and comfort—as the highest-ranking member of my courtroom, my nephew, and now my son.

GERTRUDE

Allow not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet. I pray thee, stay with us. Go not to Wittenberg.

GERTRUDE

Delight don't allow my prayers be in vain, Hamlet. I beg yous, stay with united states. Don't render to Wittenberg.

HAMLET

I shall in all my all-time obey you, madam.

HAMLET

I'll obey y'all every bit all-time I can, madam.

CLAUDIUS

Why, 'tis a loving and a fair answer. Exist every bit ourself in Denmark. —Madam, come. This gentle and unforced accordance of Village Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof No jocund wellness that Denmark drinks today But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit again, Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away.

CLAUDIUS

That loving response is what I hoped for: stay with us in Denmark.

[To GERTRUDE] My dear married woman, come. Hamlet's easy willingness to stay has made me glad, and in honor of it, every happy toast I'll drink today will audio like cannons up to the clouds higher up. My drinking will echo against the heavens like thunder. Come up on.

Trumpets play. Everyone except HAMLET exits.

Hamlet

Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God! How weary, dried, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this earth! Fie on 't, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it simply. That it should come to this. But two months dead—nay, non so much, non ii. And so excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr. Then loving to my female parent That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face up likewise roughly.—Sky and earth, Must I call back? Why, she would hang on him Equally if increase of ambition had grown By what it fed on, and however, within a month— Let me non retrieve on 't. Frailty, thy name is woman!— A little month, or ere those shoes were onetime With which she followed my poor father's trunk, Like Niobe, all tears. Why she, even she— O God, a beast that wants soapbox of reason Would accept mourned longer!—married with my uncle, My father's blood brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules. Within a month, Ere yet the common salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, She married. O virtually wicked speed, to postal service With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! Information technology is non nor it cannot come up to good, Just break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.

HAMLET

Oh, if but my dirty flesh would cook and and so evaporate into a dew, or that God had not outlawed suicide. Oh God, God! How tired, dried, dull, and worthless all of life seems to me. Expletive information technology! Yep, curse it! It's like an untended garden, growing wild. Nasty, gross weeds cover information technology completely. That it has come to this point. My father, expressionless for simply ii months—no, not fifty-fifty that much, non two. A king so excellent, in comparison to Claudius he was like a god compared to a goat . My male parent was so loving toward my female parent that he would non let the wind blow as well hard on her face. Heaven to a higher place, must I recollect? She would hang on his arm, equally if the more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to exist with him. And yet, inside a month of my father'south expiry—no, don't retrieve about it. Women, expletive your weakness!—in just a month, before she had even broken in the shoes she wore to his funeral, weeping endlessly —oh, God, a wild beast would have mourned longer than she did!—she married my uncle, my begetter's blood brother, who'south no more like my begetter than I'1000 like Hercules . Inside a calendar month of my father's death—before the salt from her crocodile tears had washed out of her red eyes—she remarried. Oh, what wicked speed! To jump so speedily into a bed of incest! It is not good, and will not pb to whatever good either. But my heart must pause in silence, because I must remain quiet

HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and BARNARDO enter.

HORATIO

Hail to your lordship.

Village

I am glad to see y'all well.— Horatio? Or I do forget myself?

HAMLET

I'one thousand pleased to see y'all doing well. You are Horatio, right? Or am I mistaken?

HORATIO

The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.

HORATIO

I am Horatio, my lord, your loyal servant forever.

Village

Sir, my practiced friend, I'll modify that proper noun with you. And what brand you from Wittenberg, Horatio?— Marcellus!

HAMLET

Sir, my good friend, not my servant. Why are y'all not at Wittenberg, Horatio?

[To MARCELLUS] Oh, Marcellus!

Village

[to MARCELLUS ] I am very glad to encounter you. [to BARNARDO] Good fifty-fifty, sir. [to HORATIO] —Simply what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?

HAMLET

[To MARCELLUS] And then prissy to see you.

[To BARNARDO] Hello, sir.

[To HORATIO] Simply what are you lot doing away from Wittenberg, Horatio?

HORATIO

A truant disposition, practiced my lord.

HORATIO

I have the center of a dropout, my good lord.

Village

I would not hear your enemy say so, Nor shall yous do mine ear that violence, To make it truster of your own report Against yourself. I know you are no truant. But what is your affair in Elsinore? We'll teach you to drinkable deep ere you depart.

Hamlet

I wouldn't let your enemies say that almost you lot, and so I won't let you say it—or believe yous if you did. I know you lot'd never drop out. So why are you here at Elsinore? I'll teach you to drinkable deeply before you leave.

HORATIO

My lord, I came to encounter your male parent's funeral.

HORATIO

My lord, I came to nourish your father'south funeral.

Village

I pray thee, do non mock me, fellow pupil. I think it was to come across my mother'southward wedding ceremony.

HAMLET

Please, don't make fun of me, my fellow student. I think you came to see my female parent's wedding.

HORATIO

Indeed, my lord, it followed hard upon.

HORATIO

Well, my lord, it'south truthful the wedding came before long later the funeral.

Village

Austerity, thrift, Horatio! The funeral broiled meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. Would I had met my love foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio. My father—methinks I meet my male parent.

HAMLET

It'south called being frugal, Horatio. The leftovers from the funeral dinner made a dandy cold luncheon for the nuptials. Horatio, I would rather have met my worst enemy in heaven than have lived to see that awful mean solar day! My father—I think I see my father.

Hamlet

In my heed'due south eye, Horatio.

Village

In my imagination, Horatio.

HORATIO

I saw him once. He was a goodly king.

HORATIO

I saw him in one case. He was an impressive king.

HAMLET

He was a man. Accept him for all in all. I shall not look upon his like again.

Village

He was a not bad man, perfect in all things. I'll never encounter his equal once again.

HORATIO

My lord, I call up I saw him yesternight.

HORATIO

My lord, I call back I saw him final night.

HORATIO

My lord, the king your father.

HORATIO

The male monarch your father, my lord.

Village

The rex my father?!

HAMLET

The king my father?!

HORATIO

Season your admiration for a while With an attent ear, till I may evangelize, Upon the witness of these gentlemen, This marvel to you.

HORATIO

Hold dorsum your excitement for a while, and listen while I tell y'all about this astonishing matter, with these ii gentlemen every bit my witnesses.

Hamlet

For God's honey, let me hear.

Village

For God'southward sake, permit me hear information technology.

HORATIO

Two nights together had these gentlemen, Marcellus and Barnardo, on their watch, In the dead waste product and middle of the dark, Been thus encountered: a figure like your father, Armed at point exactly, cap-à-pie, Appears before them and with solemn march Goes deadening and stately past them. Thrice he walked By their oppressed and fright-surprisèd eyes Within his truncheon'due south length, whilst they, distilled Nearly to jelly with the act of fear, Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me In dreadful secrecy impart they did, And I with them the tertiary night kept the watch, Where—as they had delivered, both in time, Form of the thing, each word fabricated true and good— The bogeyman comes. I knew your father. These hands are not more like.

HORATIO

For the last 2 nights, these two guardsmen—Marcellus and Barnardo—during their watch in the middle of the night, encountered a figure that looked very much like your father, dressed in full armor from head to toe. It appeared in forepart of them and marched by them, slowly and with dignity, at no greater distance than the length of his staff. He walked by them three times equally they stood shaking in fearfulness like jelly, too shocked to speak. They told me all about what they'd seen, swearing me to secrecy. On the third dark, I stood guard with them, and the ghost appeared, just when they said it would and looking merely as they had described. I knew your male parent. The ghost looked as much similar him as my hands await like each other.

Hamlet

But where was this?

Village

Where did this happen?

MARCELLUS

My lord, upon the platform where we watch.

MARCELLUS

On the platform where nosotros stand guard, my lord.

HAMLET

Did y'all not speak to it?

HAMLET

Didn't you talk to it?

HORATIO

My lord, I did, But answer made it none. Even so one time methought It lifted upwards its head and did accost Itself to motion, like equally it would speak. But even so the morning cock crew loud, And at the sound it shrunk in haste away And vanished from our sight.

HORATIO

I did, my lord. But it didn't answer. Though in one case I idea that it raised its caput as if information technology were about to speak, but simply so the rooster began to crow, and at the sound the ghost flinched so vanished from sight.

Hamlet

'Tis very strange.

Village

That'southward very foreign.

HORATIO

Equally I do live, my honored lord, 'tis true. And nosotros did recall information technology writ down in our duty To let you know of it.

HORATIO

I swear on my life that it's true, my lord. We thought that information technology was our duty to tell you well-nigh it.

Village

Indeed, indeed, sirs, only this troubles me. Hold you the sentry this night?

Hamlet

Aye, you're right. just I'm disturbed past this story. Do you take guard duty again tonight?

MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

We exercise, my lord.

MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

We do, my lord.

HAMLET

The ghost was armed, you say?

MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

Armed, my lord.

MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

Armed, my lord.

MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

My lord, from head to foot.

MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

From head to toe, my lord.

Hamlet

Then saw you non his confront?

Hamlet

And so you didn't see his face?

HORATIO

Oh yes, my lord. He wore his beaver upwardly.

HORATIO

Oh, aye, we could, my lord. He had his helmet visor up.

Hamlet

What, looked he frowningly?

HORATIO

A countenance more In sorrow than in anger.

HORATIO

His expression looked more than sad than angry.

HAMLET

Was he pale or flushed?

Village

And fixed his eyes upon you?

HAMLET

Did he expect straight at you?

Village

I would I had been there.

HAMLET

I wish I'd been in that location.

HORATIO

It would have much amazed you.

HORATIO

You would have been shocked and amazed.

HAMLET

Very similar. Stayed it long?

HAMLET

I'm sure I would have. Did it stay a long fourth dimension?

HORATIO

While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred.

HORATIO

As long as it would take a person to count to one hundred at a moderate speed.

MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

Longer, longer.

MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

No, longer.

HORATIO

Non when I saw 't.

HORATIO

Not the time I saw it.

Hamlet

His beard was grizzled, no?

Hamlet

His beard was gray, correct?

HORATIO

It was, as I accept seen information technology in his life, A sable silvered.

HORATIO

It was, just as it looked when I saw it when he was alive: dark brown with silver streaks.

Hamlet

I will watch this evening. Perchance 'Twill walk again.

Hamlet

I'll join yous for guard duty this night. Perhaps the ghost volition appear once again.

HORATIO

I warrant information technology will.

HAMLET

If it assume my noble begetter's person, I'll speak to it, though Hell itself should gape And bid me agree my peace. I pray yous all, If yous take hitherto concealed this sight, Let it exist tenable in your silence still. And any else shall hap this night, Give information technology an agreement, but no tongue. I will give your loves. So fare you well. Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve, I'll visit you.

HAMLET

If it looks like my noble father, I'll speak to information technology, fifty-fifty if Hell itself opens up and tells me to be tranquility. I beg all of you, if you've kept this a hush-hush so far, go along to be silent. And whatever happens tonight, think about information technology, but don't hash out information technology with anyone. I'll exercise the same. So adieu. I'll come see you on the guards' platform between eleven and twelve.

HORATIO, MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

Our duty to your honor.

HORATIO, MARCELLUS, BARNARDO

We'll practice our duty to your Honor.

Hamlet

Your loves, as mine to you. Farewell.

HAMLET

Instead give me your friendship, simply as I requite mine to yous. Farewell.

Everyone merely HAMLET exits.

HAMLET

My father'due south spirit in arms. All is non well. I incertitude some foul play. Would the night were come! Till then sit withal, my soul. Foul deeds will ascent, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.

Village

My father's ghost, wearing armor. This is non good. I suspect some foul play. I wish it were night already! Until then, I must stay calm. Bad deeds will e'er be revealed, no matter how deeply they've been buried.

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Source: https://www.litcharts.com/shakescleare/shakespeare-translations/hamlet/act-1-scene-2

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