Hamlet Act I Scene I

Understanding Shakespeare: Hamlet Act I

Summary: A few of the castle guards who are on watch at midnight have been seeing what they believe to be the dead king's ghost. They bring in a friend to prove to him it is happening and the ghost appears to them all.

ACT I
SCENE I. Elsinore. A platform before the castle.

ACT 1
SCENE 1: A guard post in front of the castle of the King of Denmark.

BACKGROUND: Francisco and Bernardo are guards at the castle of the King of Denmark. Francisco has been on guard during the night and Bernardo is going to take over for him for the remainder of the night.

Francisco is at his post. Bernardo walks up to him.
Bernardo:
Who's that?

Francisco:
You tell me! I'm the one on guard, who are you?

Bernardo:
Long live the king!

Francisco:
Bernardo, is that you?

Bernardo:
Yep.

Francisco:
You are right on time.

Bernardo:
Exactly midnight. Now go to bed, Its my watch!

Francisco:
Thank you for taking over. It's been a cold night
and I am upset.

Bernardo:
Did anything happen on your watch?

Francisco:
No it was a quiet night.

Bernardo:
Okay, good night.
If you see Horatio and Marcellus
tell them to hurry.

Francisco:
I think that's them now. Stop! Who goes there?
HORATIO AND MARCELLUS WALK UP

Horatio:
We are friends of the kingdom and mean no harm to anyone.

Marcellus:
We are trusted liegemen of the king.

Francisco:
Good to see you.

Marcellus:
Good to see you too!
Who took over for you at your post?

Francisco:
Bernardo.
Goodnight everyone!
FRANCISCO LEAVES

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,--
Enter Ghost

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.

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? by heaven I charge thee, speak!

MARCELLUS
It is offended.

BERNARDO
See, it stalks away!

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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
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,
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?

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

Marcellus:
How are you Bernardo?

Bernardo:
Hey, is that Horatio with you?

Horatio:
Part of him. (a joke)

Bernardo:
Good to see you both!

Marcellus:
Tell me, did you see the thing again tonight??

Bernardo:
I haven't seen anything tonight.

Marcellus:
Horatio says we are nuts
and he won't believe me.
He doesn't think we have seen this thing (even though we have seen it twice!) So I brought him along
to watch with us
so that if the ghost comes again
he can see it for himself and maybe speak to it.

Horatio:
Right. Its not going to appear.

Bernardo:
Look, you sit down and we will tell you again
even though you don't believe us
what we saw both of the last two nights

Horatio:
Fine.
Bernardo, what did you see?

Bernardo:
It happened last night
At just this time
Marcellus and myself were here just as
the bell struck one o'clock...
ENTER GHOST

Marcellus:
Stop talking! There it is!

Bernardo:
It looks just like it did before. It looks like the dead king.

Marcellus:
You are smart. You talk to it, Horatio!

Bernardo:
Doesn't it look like the dead king? Look at it, Horatio!

Horatio:
Exactly like him. I am in shock and afraid.

Bernardo:
It wants to talk to us.

Marcellus:
Talk to it, Horatio!

Horatio: (shouting to the ghost)
What are you?
You look like our dead king all setting out for war!
Tell me, are you the king?

Marcellus:
You pissed it off!

Bernardo:
Look its totally pissed at you! Its leaving!

Horatio:
Stay! Speak to me! I demand that you speak to me!
GHOST LEAVES

Marcellus:
It's gone. You aren't going to get an answer.

Bernardo:
Look at you, Horatio! You are trembling adn pale!
Do you believe us know?
What do you think that was?

Horatio:
I would never have believed you
if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Marcellus:
And didn't it look like the king?

Horatio:
He was wearing the exact armor he wore when he went to war against Norway!
And I have seen him frown with just that look on his face
when he destroyed the Polacks in war.
Its very strange but I think it is him.

Marcellus:
He has glided by twice before this just like he did today.
He has appeared at just this time of night.

Horatio:
I don't know why this is happening, but
in my opinion,
it has to mean something is very wrong.

Marcellus:
I don't know what to do. Who can tell me what the purpose of this ghost is? Who can tell me the history of this man so that I can understand why his ghost might be haunting us?

Horatio:
I can tell you. At least I can tell you what is talked about around court.
Our last king, the one who is the ghost now, was killed by Fortinbras of Norway. The king, in his pride, dared to fight Fortinbras even though he was so strong and was killed by him.
The king's son, Hamlet, whom everybody knows is brave, killed Fortinbras in a duel and, by the terms of the duel, won back all the lands Fortibras had conquered from Denmark.
As part of the terms of the duel, some of the land which Fortinbras had conquered returned not to Denmark but to Hamlet himself. But not all the lands were returned as agreed.
Thus, we are preparing to go to war to take back what is rightfully ours.
This is why we prepare for war and why you are on watch these nights guarding against an attack.

Bernardo:
That sounds to me like a true account of what is going on.
Maybe it makes sense that the King about whom the whole conflict was started would join us now, even if only as a ghost.

Horatio:
I am still troubled by it.
I am told that in Rome, before the mighty Julius was killed,
the dead walked and were restless.
The dead get restless when disaster is coming.
I think this is an omen of some very dark events that are coming to us, shown to us by the merging of the dead and the living worlds into one.
But wait! The ghost comes again!
GHOST RETURNS

Darn you, ghost! If you can speak, tell me why you are here!
Speak to me!
If there is anything that we can do to ease your heart and help you find rest tell me!
ROOSTER CROWS
If you know something about what is to become of us in this war,
if you have some knowledge of the future we need,
tell us!
Or if there is some treasure you have hidden on earth
which you want someone to know about
tell us!
Stop the ghost, Marcellus! Don't let it go!

Marcellus:
Shall I hit it with my sword?

Horatio:
Yes, if it won't stand still!

Bernardo:
Here it is!

Horatio:
No its over here!

Marcellus:
It's gone!
GHOST LEAVES
We shouldn't have tried to force it to stay.
We shouldn't have offered violence towards it.
After all, what can a ghost do - its made of air.
Our aggression towards it is ridiculous.

Bernardo:
It was about to speak when the rooster crowed.

Horatio:
Yes, then it seemed startled by the rooster like it was guilty of something.
I have heard it said that the rooster crowing brings the morning. Maybe the ghost cannot stay once day comes.

Marcellus:
It faded away when the rooster crowed.
They say no spirit dares to stay about in the day. That time belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The night is the only time a ghost dares come around.
They say that on Christmas day the birds that normally sing at dawn sing all night long and the night is holy
belonging only to God. During that night also the ghosts cannot come around because it is so sacred a time.

Horatio:
I've heard that too and I guess I kind of believe it.
But look, its morning.
Lets be done with our guard duty and go find Hamlet and tell him about what we saw tonight.
I know the ghost did not speak to us but it will surely speak to him, his son.
Do you agree?
Should we tall Hamlet?

Marcellus:
Yes. And I know where we can find him this morning.
THEY GO TO FIND HAMLET

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