HAMLET                     How stand I then

That have a father killed, a mother stained,

Excitements of my reason and my blood,

And let all sleep; while to my shame I see

The imminent death of twenty thousand men

That for a fantasy and trick of fame

Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot

Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,

Which is not tomb enough and continent

To hide the slain? O, from this time forth

My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth. (Exeunt).     (4.4.55-65)

How stand I then—what excuse have I got, what a sorry state I’m in—that have a father killed, a mother stained; my dad’s been murdered, my mum’s been dishonoured, corrupted, USED; I have such excitements of my reason and my blood, every possible rationalisation, but also every possible incitement, every possible spur to my passion, motives and cues of all kinds, and yet I still let all sleep. I sit on my hands, just let it happen, passively. I don’t do ANYTHING—while to my shame I see the imminent death of twenty thousand men, this army here, knowingly following orders that may well lead to their deaths not very far in the future. So many men, young men, that for a fantasy and trick of fame, a dream (or perhaps a misleading promise; propaganda) of honour and renown go to their graves like beds—to die, to sleep; but they’re calm about it, both resolute and resigned. They go to fight for a plot wheron the numbers cannot try the cause—to fight over a piece of land that isn’t even big enough to fight on, which is not tomb enough and continent to hide the slain?The land they’re prepared to die for wouldn’t even be sufficient to bury them all in. It’s that trivial—that symbolic. Look at them. LOOK. And look at me.

O, from this time forth my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth. Time’s up; no more procrastinating, no more delay, thinking, talking, thinking, talking, thinking. It’s action and passion from now on, nothing else. The time for thinking, the time for talking, is gone. Now it’s time to act, and act passionately, violently. Now it’s time for revenge. NOW. (SOON.)