ACT FOURTH
Scene One
[A Room in the Castle]
Enter King, [and Queen, with Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.]
King. There's matter in these sighs, these profound heaves:
You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?
[Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while.] 4
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.]
Ah! my good lord, what have I seen to-night!
King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit, 8
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries, 'A rat! a rat!'
And, in his brainish apprehension, kills
The unseen good old man.
King. O heavy deed! 12
It had been so with us had we been there.
His liberty is full of threats to all;
To you yourself, to us, to every one.
Alas! how shall this bloody deed be answer'd?
It will be laid to us, whose providence 17
Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt,
This mad young man: but so much was our love,
We would not understand what was most fit, 20
1 heaves: prolonged sighs
11 brainish apprehension: insane illusion, or, brain-sick mood
12 heavy: grievous
17 providence: foresight
18 short: under control, tethered
out of haunt: out of company
