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Introduction to this scene.     Staging.      Criticism.

Act 5 scene 1

  ACT V  SCENE I A churchyard.  
  [Enter two Clowns, with spades, &c]  
First Clown Is she to be buried in Christian burial that
wilfully seeks her own salvation?		  
Second Clown I tell thee she is: and therefore make her grave
straight: the crowner hath sat on her, and finds it
Christian burial.

5
First Clown How can that be, unless she drowned
herself in her own defence?		  
Second Clown Why, 'tis found so.  
First Clown It must be 'se offendendo;' it cannot be
else. For here lies the point: if I drown myself
wittingly, it argues an act: and an act hath three
branches: it is, to act, to do, to perform: argal, she
drowned herself wittingly.
10
Second Clown Nay, but hear you, goodman delver,--  
First Clown Give me leave. Here lies the water;
good: here stands the man; good; if the man go to
this water, and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he,
he goes,--mark you that; but if the water come to him
and drown him, he drowns not himself: argal, he
that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his
own life.		 15




20
Second Clown But is this law?  
First Clown Ay, marry, is't; crowner's quest law.  
Second Clown Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had not been
a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o'
Christian burial.
25
First Clown Why, there thou say'st: and the more
pity that great folk should have countenance in this
world to drown or hang themselves, more than
their even Christian. Come, my spade. There is no
ancient gentleman but gardeners, ditchers, and
grave-makers: they hold up Adam's profession.


30
Second Clown Was he a gentleman?  
First Clown He was the first that ever bore arms.  
Second Clown Why, he had none. 35
First Clown What, art a heathen? How dost thou
understand the Scripture? The Scripture says 'Adam
digged:' could he dig without arms? I'll put anoth-
er question to thee: if thou answerest me not to the
purpose, confess thyself--



40
Second Clown Go to.  
First Clown What is he that builds stronger than
either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?		  
Second Clown The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a
thousand tenants.
45
First Clown I like thy wit well, in good faith: the
gallows does well; but how does it well? it does
well to those that do in: now thou dost ill to say the
gallows is built stronger than the church: argal, the
gallows may do well to thee. To't again, come.



50
Second Clown 'Who builds stronger than a mason, a ship-
wright, or a carpenter?'		  
First Clown Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.  
Second Clown Marry, now I can tell.  
First Clown To't. 55
Second Clown Mass, I cannot tell.  
  [Enter HAMLET and HORATIO, at a distance]  
First Clown Cudgel thy brains no more about it,
for your dull ass will not mend his pace with
beating; and, when you are asked this question
next, say 'a grave-maker: 'the houses that he makes
last till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan: fetch me a
stoup of liquor.


60
  [Exit Second Clown]  
  [He digs and sings]  
  In youth, when I did love, did love,
Methought it was very sweet,
To contract, O, the time, for, ah, my behove,
O, methought, there was nothing meet.

65
HAMLET Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he
sings at grave-making?		  
HORATIO Custom hath made it in him a property of
easiness.
70
HAMLET 'Tis e'en so: the hand of little employment
hath the daintier sense.		  
First Clown [Sings]
But age, with his stealing steps,
Hath claw'd me in his clutch,
And hath shipped me intil the land,
As if I had never been such.


75
  [Throws up a skull]  
HAMLET That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing
once: how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if
it were Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder!
It might be the pate of a politician, which this ass
now o'er-reaches; one that would circumvent God,
might it not?



80
HORATIO It might, my lord.  
HAMLET Or of a courtier; which could say 'Good
morrow, sweet lord! How dost thou, good lord?'
This might be my lord such-a-one, that praised my
lord such-a-one's horse, when he meant to beg it;
might it not?
85
HORATIO Ay, my lord.  
HAMLET Why, e'en so: and now my Lady Worm's;
chapless, and knocked about the mazzard with a
sexton's spade: here's fine revolution, an we had
the trick to see't. Did these bones cost no more the
breeding, but to play at loggats with 'em? mine
ache to think on't.		 90




95
First Clown: [Sings]
A pick-axe, and a spade, a spade,
For and a shrouding sheet:
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.		  
  [Throws up another skull]  
HAMLET






 There's another: why may not that be the
skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his
quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why
does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him
about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell
him of his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might
be in's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes,
his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers,
his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and the
recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full
of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no more
of his purchases, and double ones too, than the
length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very
conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in this box;
and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha?		 100




105




110
HORATIO Not a jot more, my lord. 115
HAMLET Is not parchment made of sheepskins?  
HORATIO Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins too.  
HAMLET They are sheep and calves which seek out
assurance in that. I will speak to this fellow.
Whose grave's this, sirrah?

120
First Clown Mine, sir.
[Sings]
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.		  
HAMLET I think it be thine, indeed; for thou liest in't.  
First Clown You lie out on't, sir, and therefore it is
not yours: for my part, I do not lie in't, and yet it is
mine.		 125
HAMLET 'Thou dost lie in't, to be in't and say it is thine:
'tis for the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou
liest.

130
First Clown 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 'twill away gain,
from me to you.		  
HAMLET What man dost thou dig it for?  
First Clown For no man, sir.  
HAMLET What woman, then? 135
First Clown For none, neither.  
HAMLET Who is to be buried in't?  
First Clown One that was a woman, sir; but, rest
her soul, she's dead.		  
HAMLET How absolute the knave is! we must speak by
the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the
Lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of
it; the age is grown so picked that the toe of the
peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he
gaffs his kibe. How long hast thou been a grave-
maker?		 140




145
First Clown Of all the days i' the year, I came to't
that daythat our last king Hamlet overcame
Fortinbras.		  
HAMLET How long is that since? 150
First Clown Cannot you tell that? every fool can
tell that: it was the very day that young Hamlet
was born; he that is mad, and sent into England.		  
HAMLET Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?  
First Clown Why, because he was mad: he shall
recover his wits there; or, if he do not, it's no great
matter there.		 155
HAMLET Why?  
First Clown 'Twill, a not be seen in him there; there
the men are as mad as he.
160
HAMLET How came he mad?  
First Clown Very strangely, they say.  
HAMLET How strangely?  
First Clown Faith, e'en with losing his wits.  
HAMLET Upon what ground? 165
First Clown Why, here in Denmark: I have been
sexton here, man and boy, thirty years.		  
HAMLET How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot?  
First Clown I' faith, if he be not rotten before he die--
as we have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will
scarce hold the laying in--he will last you some
eight year or nine year: a tanner will last you nine
year.
170
HAMLET Why he more than another?  
First Clown Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his
trade, that he will keep out water a great while; and
your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead
body. Here's a skull now; this skull has lain in the earth
three and twenty years.		 175
HAMLET Whose was it? 180
First Clown A whoreson mad fellow's it was:
whose do you think it was?		  
HAMLET Nay, I know not.  
First Clown A pestilence on him for a mad rogue!
a' poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once.
This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the
king's jester.
185
HAMLET This?  
First Clown E'en that.  
HAMLET





 Let me see. [Takes the skull] Alas, poor
Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite
jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his
back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in
my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung
those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft.
Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your
songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to
set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your
own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my
lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch
thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh
at that. Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.		 190




195




200
HORATIO What's that, my lord?  
HAMLET Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this
fashion i' the earth?
205
HORATIO E'en so.  
HAMLET And smelt so? pah!  
  [Puts down the skull]  
HORATIO E'en so, my lord.  
HAMLET To what base uses we may return, Horatio!
Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of
Alexander, till he find it stopping a bung-hole?
210
HORATIO 'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider
so.		  
HAMLET



 No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither
with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it: as
thus: Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alex-
ander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of earth
we make loam; and why of that loam, whereto he
was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel?
Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:
O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter flaw!
But soft! but soft! aside: here comes the king.
215




220
  [Enter Priest, &c. in procession; the Corpse of
OPHELIA, LAERTES and Mourners following; KING
CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, their trains, &c]		  
  The queen, the courtiers: who is this they follow?
And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken
The corse they follow did with desperate hand
Fordo its own life: 'twas of some estate.
Couch we awhile, and mark.
225
  [Retiring with HORATIO]  
LAERTES What ceremony else? 230
HAMLET That is Laertes, A very noble youth: mark.  
LAERTES What ceremony else?  
First Priest Her obsequies have been as far enlarged
As we have warrantise: her death was doubtful;
And, but that great command o'ersways the order,
She should in ground unsanctified have lodged
Till the last trumpet: for charitable prayers,
Shards, flints and pebbles should be thrown on
her;
Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants,
Her maiden strewments and the bringing home
Of bell and burial.

235




240
LAERTES Must there no more be done?  
First Priest No more be done:
We should profane the service of the dead
To sing a requiem and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.
245
LAERTES Lay her i' the earth:
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
A ministering angel shall my sister be,
When thou liest howling.

250
HAMLET What, the fair Ophelia!  
QUEEN GERTRUDE Sweets to the sweet: farewell!
[Scattering flowers]
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
And not have strew'd thy grave.

255
LAERTES O, treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that cursed head,
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Deprived thee of! Hold off the earth awhile,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms:

260
  [Leaps into the grave]  
  Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
Till of this flat a mountain you have made,
To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.

265
HAMLET [Advancing] What is he whose grief
Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
Hamlet the Dane.


270
  [Leaps into the grave]  
LAERTES The devil take thy soul!  
  [Grappling with him]  
HAMLET Thou pray'st not well.
I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat;
For, though I am not splenitive and rash,
Yet have I something in me dangerous,
Which let thy wiseness fear: hold off thy hand.

275
KING CLAUDIUS Pluck them asunder.  
QUEEN GERTRUDE Hamlet, Hamlet!  
All Gentlemen,-- 280
HORATIO Good my lord, be quiet.  
  [The Attendants part them, and they come out of the grave]  
HAMLET Why I will fight with him upon this theme
Until my eyelids will no longer wag.		  
QUEEN GERTRUDE O my son, what theme?  
HAMLET I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?		 285
KING CLAUDIUS O, he is mad, Laertes.  
QUEEN GERTRUDE For love of God, forbear him.  
HAMLET



 'Swounds, show me what thou'lt do:
Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear
thyself?
Woo't drink up eisel? eat a crocodile?
I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine?
To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I:
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.		 290




295




300
QUEEN GERTRUDE This is mere madness:
And thus awhile the fit will work on him;
Anon, as patient as the female dove,
When that her golden couplets are disclosed,
His silence will sit drooping.


305
HAMLET Hear you, sir;
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I loved you ever: but it is no matter;
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew and dog will have his day.


310
  [Exit]  
KING CLAUDIUS I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him.  
  [Exit HORATIO]  
  [To LAERTES]
Strengthen your patience in our last
night's speech;
We'll put the matter to the present push.
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.
his grave shall have a living monument:
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see;
Till then, in patience our proceeding be.


315
  [Exeunt]