Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. 25
Ham. Murder?[a 1]
Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best[a 2] it is,
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.
Ham. Haste me[a 3] to know't, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation[b 1] or the thoughts of love, 30
May sweep to my revenge.
Ghost. I find thee apt;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots[a 4][b 2] itself in ease on Lethe wharf,[b 3]
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis[a 5] given out that, sleeping in mine[a 6] orchard, 35
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process[b 4] of my death
Rankly abused; but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
Ham. O my prophetic soul![b 5] 40
My[a 7] uncle?[a 8]
Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit,[a 9] with[a 10] traitorous gifts,—
- ↑ 26. Murder?] F, Murther. Q, Murder! Q 6 and many editors.
- ↑ 27. best] least Q 1.
- ↑ 29. Haste me] Q, Hast, hast me F.
- ↑ 33. roots] Q 1, Q; rots F and many editors.
- ↑ 35. 'Tis] Q, It's F.
- ↑ 35. mine] F, my Q.
- ↑ 41. My] Q, Mine F.
- ↑ 41. uncle?] Q, F; ;;Uncle:;; Q 4; Uncle. Q 5; Uncle! Q 6 and many editors.
- ↑ 43. wit] Pope; wits Q, F.
- ↑ 43. with] Q, hath F, and F 4.
- ↑ 30. meditation . . . love] Hamlet's comparisons are appropriate to him—those of a thinker and a lover.
- ↑ 33. roots] The F rots receives some support from Ant. and Cleop, I. iv. 47: "rot itself."
- ↑ 33. wharf] seems used for bank of a river. See Ant. and Cleop, II. ii. 218.
- ↑ 37. forged process] falsified account. Clar. Press suggests "official narrative," comparing the French procès verbal.
- ↑ 40. O . . . soul] This occurs also in Fletcher's The Double Marriage, II. iv. (vol. vi. 351, ed. Dyce); in Massinger's The Bondman, IV. i., and his Emperor of the East (near end of Act I.).
