FORTINBRAS             Let four captains Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage, For he was likely, had he been put on, To have proved most royal. And for his passage The soldiers’ music and the rite of war Speak loudly for him. Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this Becomes the field but here shows much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot. (Exeunt.) FINIS                           (5.2.379-387) Last words, and appropriate to […]

HORATIO       Of that I shall have also cause to speak And from his mouth whose voice will draw no more. But let this same be presently performed Even while men’s minds are wild, lest more mischance On plots and errors happen.             (5.2.375-379) Horatio’s being very, very careful, very measured, no sudden moves—and he’s exhausted—he is doing his best to strike a balance between Fortinbras being in charge, […]

FORTINBRAS             Let us haste to hear it And call the noblest to the audience. For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune. I have some rights of memory in this kingdom Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.   (5.2.370-374) Fortinbras is being statesmanlike, royal in fact—slipping into the plural—let us haste to hear it and call the noblest to the audience. Alright then, you […]

HORATIO       But, since so jump upon this bloody question You from the Polack wars and you from England Are here arrived, give order that these bodies High on a stage be placed to the view, And let me speak to th’ yet unknowing world How these things came about. So shall you hear Of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts, Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters, Of deaths put on by cunning, and for no cause, […]

AMBASSADORS                     The sight is dismal And our affairs from England come too late. The ears are senseless that should give us hearing To tell him his commandment is fulfilled That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Where should we have our thanks? HORATIO                               Not from his mouth, Had it th’ability of life to thank you; He never gave commandment for their death.       (5.2.351-358) […]

Enter FORTINBRAS with [his train and] the Ambassadors. FORTINBRAS Where is this sight? HORATIO                   What is it you would see? If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search. FORTINBRAS This quarry cries on havoc. O proud Death, What feast is toward in thine eternal cell That thou so many princes at a shot So bloodily hast struck?        (5.2.346-351) Fortinbras! Named in the play’s first scene, encountered for a mere handful […]

HORATIO       Now cracks a noble heart. Goodnight, sweet Prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Why does the drum come hither?   (5.2.343-345) Oh, Horatio. He might as well be talking about himself, that greatness of heart, except he’d never be so self-aggrandising. Now cracks a noble heart. Everything’s broken now, that crack is cataclysmic, definitive. But it’s also got a […]

HAMLET                     O, I die, Horatio. The potent poison quite o’ercrows my spirit, I cannot live to hear the news from England, But I do prophesy th’election lights On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice. So tell him with th’occurrents more and less Which have solicited. – The rest is silence. [Dies.] (5.2.336-342) But no chance for any elaboration on the news of Fortinbras and the ambassadors; […]

(A march afar off [and a sound of shooting]) HAMLET         What warlike noise is this? Enter OSRIC. OSRIC Young Fortinbras with conquest come from Poland To th’ambassadors of England gives This warlike volley.   (5.2.333-336) The stage has shrunk and shrunk, all eyes now on the dying Hamlet, cradled by his distraught friend Horatio—so there’s a particular violence and violation […]

HORATIO                   Never believe it. I am more an antique Roman than a Dane: Here’s yet some liquor left. HAMLET                     As thou’rt a man Give me the cup. Let go! By heaven I’ll ha’t! O God, Horatio, what a wounded name, Things standing thus unknown, shall I leave behind me! If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart Absent thee from felicity awhile And in this […]