| Polonius | This business is well ended.My liege and madam, to expostulate What majesty should be, what duty is, Why day is day, night, night, and time is time, Were nothing but to waste night, day, andTherefore, since brevity is the soul of wit And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,I will be brief: your noble son is mad.Mad call I it, for, to define true madness,What is ‘t but to be nothing else but mad?But let that go. |
| Gertrude | More matter, with less art. |
| Polonius | Madam, I swear I use no art at all.That he is mad, ’tis true. Tis true, ’tis pity,And pity ’tis ’tis true—a foolish figure,But farewell it, for I will use no art.Mad let us grant him then. And now remains |
| Polonius (cont.) | That we find out the cause of this effect,Or rather say, the cause of this defect,For this effect defective comes by cause.Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. Perpend.I have a daughter—have while she is mine—Who in her duty and obedience, mark,Hath given me this. Now gather and surmise.(reads a letter) “To the celestial and my soul’s idol, the most beautified Ophelia”—That’s an ill phrase, a vile phrase. “Beautified” is a vile phrase. But you shall hear. Thus: (reads the letter)”In her excellent white bosom, these,” etc.— |
| Gertrude | Came this from Hamlet to her? |
| Polonius | Good madam, stay a while. I will be faithful.(reads the letter) “Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love. O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers. I have not art to reckon my groans, but that I love thee best, oh, most best, believe it. Adieu. Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him, Hamlet.”This in obedience hath my daughter shown me,And more above, hath his solicitings,As they fell out by time, by means, and place,All given to mine ear. |
| Claudius | But how hath she received his love? |
| Polonius | What do you think of me? |
| Claudius | As of a man faithful and honorable |
| Polonius | I would fain prove so. But what might you think,When I had seen this hot love on the wing—As I perceived it, I must tell you that,Before my daughter told me—what might you,Or my dear majesty your queen here, think,If I had played the desk or table-book,Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,Or looked upon this love with idle sight?What might you think? No, I went round to work,And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:”Lord Hamlet is a prince out of thy star. |
| Polonius (cont.) | This must not be.” And then I prescripts gave her,That she should lock herself from his resort,Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.Which done, she took the fruits of my advice;And he, repelled—a short tale to make—Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,Into the madness wherein now he ravesAnd all we mourn for. |
| Claudius (to Gertrude) | Do you think ’tis this? |
| Gertrude | It may be, very like |
| Polonius | Hath there been such a time—I would fain know that—That I have positively said, “‘Tis so,”When it proved otherwise? |
| Claudius | Not that I know. |
| Polonius (points to his head and shoulders) | Take this from this if this be otherwise.If circumstances lead me, I will findWhere truth is hid, though it were hid indeedWithin the center. |
| Claudius | How may we try it further? |
| Polonius | You know sometimes he walks four hours togetherHere in the lobby. |
| Gertrude | So he does indeed |
| Polonius (to Gertrude) | At such a time I’ll loose my daughter to him. |
| Polonius (to Claudius) | Be you and I behind an arras then,Mark the encounter. If he love her notAnd be not from his reason fall’n thereon,Let me be no assistant for a stateBut keep a farm and carters. |
| Claudius | We will try it. |
| Enter | Hamlet (reading a book) |
| Gertrude | But look where sadly the poor wretch comes reading. |
| Polonius | Away, I do beseech you, both away.I’ll board him presently. O, give me leave. |
| Exeunt | Claudius and Gertrude |
| Polonius | How does my good Lord Hamlet? |
| Hamlet | Well, God-‘a’-mercy. |
| Polonius | Do you know me, my lord? |
| Hamlet | Excellent well. You are a fishmonger. |
| Polonius | Not I, my lord. |
| Hamlet | Then I would you were so honest a man. |
| Polonius | Honest, my lord? |
| Hamlet | Ay, sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand. |
| Polonius | That’s very true, my lord. |
| Hamlet | For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion- Have you a daughter? |
| Polonius | I have, my lord. |
| Hamlet | Let her not walk i’ th’ sun. Conception is a blessing, but, as your daughter may conceive—Friend, look to ‘t. |
| Polonius (aside) | How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter. Yet he knew me not at first. He said I was a fishmonger. He is far gone, far gone. And truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love, very near this. I’ll speak to him again. |
| Polonius (to Hamlet) | What do you read, my lord? |
| Hamlet | Words, words, words |
| Polonius | What is the matter, my lord? |
| Hamlet | Between who? |
| Polonius | I mean, the matter that you read, my lord. |
| Hamlet | Slanders, sir. For the satirical rogue says here that old men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams—all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward. |
| Polonius (aside) | Though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t.—( |
| Polonius (to Hamlet) | Will you walk out of the air, my lord? |
| Hamlet | Into my grave. |
| Polonius | Indeed, that is out of the air. |
| Polonius (aside) | How pregnant sometimes his replies are. A happiness that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I will leave him and suddenly contrive the means of meeting between him and my daughter.— |
| Polonius (to Hamlet) | My honorable lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you. |
| Hamlet | You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will more willingly part withal—except my life, except my life, except my life. |
| Polonius | Fare you well, my lord. |
| Hamlet (aside) | These tedious old fools! |
Hamlet Movie Cue Cards
November 5, 2019