Modern Translation

8/11/2019 Modern Translation

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Modern Translation

HAMLET:

Speak the part, I beg you, as I read it to you,

lightly on your tongue. But if you just repeat it, as m

actors do, I would prefer the town crier spoke my lin

And dont saw the air too much with your hands, lik

but use your gestures gently. Because, in the very s

storm, and, as I may say, whirlwind of passion, you

acuire and make an easy style that may give it

smoothness. !, it offends me to the soul to hear a

fellow with a wig tear an emotion to tatters, to very

to split the ears of the cheap seats, who, for the mo

part, are capable of nothing but confusing pantomim

and noise. I would have such a fellow whipped for

overdoing a "oslem god, it out#herods $erod. %lea

avoid it.

FIRST PLAYER:

I assure you.

HAMLET:

But dont be too tame either, but let your own discre

be your teacher. &it the action to the word, the word

action, with this special rule, that you dont overstep

simplicity of being natural, for anything so overdone

the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first

now, was and is, to hold, as it were, the mirror up to

nature, to show truth in reality, scorn her falseness,

his form and force to the very age and body of the t

'ow, this overacting, or lateness, though it make th

ignorant laugh, can only make the e(perienced grie

whose opinion, you must outdo a whole theatre of o

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audiences in your performance. !, there are actors

have seen perform and heard others praise, and hi

too, not to speak too harshly, that, having neither th

accent of )hristians, nor the walk of a )hristian, a p

or a man, have so strutted and yelled that I have th

some of nature*s hired help had made them and no

made them well, they imitated mankind so dreadful

FIRST PLAYER:

I hope we have calmly overcome those problems, s

HAMLET:

!, overcome them with +eal. And let those that play

clowns speak no more than is written for them, bec

there are clowns who will laugh themselves, to mak

number of stupid spectators to laugh too, although

meantime some serious issue of the play needs

to be considered then. hat*s horrible and shows ve

bad manners in the fool that uses it. -o get ready.

$ow are you, my lord /ill the king hear this piece

POLONIUS:

And the ueen too, and they should be here presen

HAMLET:

ell the players to hurry up.

/ill you two help to hurry them up0

ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN:

/e will, my lord.

HAMLET:

/hat, here, $oratio

HORATIO:

$ere, sweet lord, at your service.

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HAMLET:

$oratio, you are just like the man

hat my conversation just now praised.

HORATIO:

!, my dear lord,

HAMLET:

'o, dont think I flatter you,

Because what promotion may I hope to get from yo

/ho has no money, e(cept your good spirits

hat feed and clothe you0 /hy should the poor be

'o, let the sweet tongue lick ridiculous vain glory,

And bend the obvious hinges of the knee

/here poverty may follow flattery. 1o you hear me

Since my dear soul controlled her choice,

And could recogni+e men of truth, her choice

$as taken you for herself. Because you have been

As one, that in suffering all, that suffers nothing,

A man that &ortune*s feasts and rewards

$ave taken with eual thanks, and blessed are tho

/hose blood and judgment are so well blendedhat they are not an instrument for &ortune*s finger

o play whatever song she pleases. -ive me that m

hat is not passion*s slave, and I will wear him

In my heart*s core, yes, in my heart of heart,

As I do you. !2, enough of that.

here is a play tonight before the king.

!ne scene of it comes near the circumstances,

/hich I have told you, of my father*s death.

I beg you, when you see that act begin,3ven with the very criticism of your soul

/atch my uncle. If his hidden guilt

1ont show itself in that one speech,

It is a false ghost that we have seen,

And my imaginations are as unstable

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As god of fires anvil. /atch him carefully,

Because I will have my eyes riveted on his face,

And, after the play, we will combine our observation

In condemning of his actions.

HORATIO:

/ell, my lord.

If he steals anything the while this play is going on,

And he escapes detection, I will pay for the theft.

HAMLET:

hey are coming to the play. I must be idle.

-o get yourself a seat.

KING:

$ows our cousin $amlet0

HAMLET:

3(cellent, really, of the chameleon*s dish. I eat the a

crammed with promises. 4ou cant eat capons that

KING:

I dont understand this answer, $amlet, these word

not meant for me.

HAMLET:

'o, for me now. "y lord, you acted once when you

in the university, you say0

POLONIUS:

hat did I, my lord, and I was accounted a good ac

HAMLET:

/hat did you enact0

POLONIUS:

I did enact 5ulius )aesar, I was killed in the )apitol

Brutus killed me.

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HAMLET:

It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a stupid f

there. Are the players ready0

ROSENCRANTZ:

4es, my lord, theyre waiting for you.

QUEEN:

)ome hear, my dear $amlet, sit by me.

HAMLET:

'o, good mother, here*s a more attractive place.

POLONIUS:

!, ho 1o you see that0

HAMLET:

6ady, shall I lie in your lap0

OPHELIA:

'o, my lord.

HAMLET:

I mean, lay my head on your lap0

OPHELIA:

4es, my lord.

HAMLET:

1o you think I meant se(ual matters0

OPHELIA:

I think nothing, my lord.

HAMLET:

hat*s a fair thought to lie between maids* legs.

OPHELIA:

/hat is, my lord0

HAMLET:

'othing.

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OPHELIA:

4ou are merry, my lord.

HAMLET:

/ho, me0

OPHELIA:

4es, my lord.

HAMLET:

!, your only dancer /hat should a man do but be

merry0 Because look how cheerfully my mother loo

and my father died within these two hours.

OPHELIA:

'o, it is four months, my lord.

HAMLET:

So long0 'o then, let the devil wear black, for Ill ha

suit of black fur. ! heavens 1ied two months ago a

not forgotten yet0 hen there*s hope that a great m

memory may outlive his life at least si( months, but

our 6ady, then he must build churches or else he w

be remembered with the prostitute, whose epitaph

7&or, !, for, !, the prostitute is forgotten8

OPHELIA:

/hat does this mean, my lord0

HAMLET:

By "ary, this is miching mallecho, it means mischie

OPHELIA:

Its as if this show describes the argument of the pl

HAMLET:

/e shall know by this fellow. he players cannot ke

secret, they*ll tell all.

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OPHELIA:

/ill he tell us what this show meant0

HAMLET:

4es, or any show that you*ll show him. If you are no

ashamed to show, he wont be ashamed to tell you

it means.

OPHELIA:

2eep uiet, keep uiet. Ill watch the play.

PROLOGUE:

&or us and for our tragedy,

$ere stooping to your clemency,

/e beg you listen patiently.

HAMLET:

Is this a prologue or a ring of flowers0

OPHELIA:

It is short, my lord.

HAMLET:

As woman*s love.

P. KING:

he Sun#gods cart has gone around the earth thirty

imes. he !cean#gods salt wash and the 3arth#g

ground, and three hundred si(ty moons, with borrow

light, has been around the world have twelve times

Since love, our hearts, and the "arriage#god united

hands, mutually in the holy bands of matrimony.

P. QUEEN:

So many journeys may the sun and moon

"ake us count again before love is finished

But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,

So far from cheer and from your former state.

hat I dont trust you. 4et, though I distrust,

1ont worry, my lord, it is nothing.

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&or women*s fear and love hold everything,

In having nothing, or having it all.

'ow, you know how I love you has been proven to

And as my love is cannot be measured, so is my fe

/here love is great, the littlest doubts are very fear

/here little fears grow great, great love also grows

P. KING:

I believe I must leave you, love, and soon too,

he powers that work in my body are shutting down

And you shall live in this fair world after me,

$onored, beloved, and maybe you shall have

A new man to be your husband.

P. QUEEN:

!, confound the rest

Such love must be treason in my breast.

6et me be cursed if I marry again

'o one marries the second without killing the first lo

HAMLET:

Bitter to the soul, bitter to the soul

P. QUEEN:

he reasons for a second marriage

Are low respects of saving money, but not for love.

I kill my husband dead a second time

/hen second husband kisses me in bed.

P. KING:

I believe you believe what you say now,

But what we determine to, often we dont.

%romises are only good when you remember them

Born of violence but poor truth,

/hich now, like unripe fruit, stays on the tree,

But fall without shaking them off when they are ripe

It is very necessary that we forget

o pay ourselves what we owe to ourselves.

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/hat we promise ourselves in a fit of passion,

/hen the passion ends, so does the promise.

he violence of either grief or joy

1estroys their own keeping of them with themselve

/here joy celebrates, grief mourns greatly,

-rief joys, joy griefs, on a very slender event.

his world doesnt say yes, and its not strange at a

hat even our loves should change with our fortune

Because its a uestion we have to prove,

/hen love leads fortune, or if fortune leads love.

he great man dead, you see all his favorite little th

he poor promoted to a higher place makes friends

3nemies, and here love waits on fortune.

Because those with money shall never be without a

&riend, and those in poverty try a hollow friend,

Immediately makes him his enemy.

But, to go back to where I started,

!ur wills and fates run in so much in different direc

hat our plans are still turned upside down,

!ur thoughts are ours, but their results arent ours.

So you think you wont marry again,

But youll change your mind when your first lord is d

P. QUEEN:

3arth wont me give food, or heaven light

I will avoid leisure and rest day and night

"y trust and hope will turn to desperation

An anchor*s cheer in prison will be my aim

3very opposite feeling that makes the face of joy bl

)onnect with what I would do well, and destroy it

Both here and hereafter unending pain follow me,

If, once I am a widow, I ever become a wife

HAMLET:

If she should break the moment now

P. KING:

It is a very deep oath. Sweetheart, leave me here a

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"y spirits grow tired, and I would gladly pass

he long, boring day with some sleep.

P. QUEEN:

Sleep rock your brain,

And may misfortune never mischance between us

HAMLET:

"adam, how like you this play0

QUEEN:

he lady protests too much, I think.

HAMLET:

!, but she*ll keep her word.

KING:

$ave you heard the story0 Its not offensive, is it0

HAMLET:

'o, no hey only pretend, pretend to poison, no of

in the world.

KING:

/hats the name of the play0

HAMLET:

The Mousetrap. By "ary, how0 A metaphor. his p

the image of a murder done in 9ienna. -on+ago is

duke*s name, his wife, Baptista: you shall see her

it is a bold piece of work. but what o* that0 : your

majesty, and we that have free souls cant be touch

it. 6et the bitter hussy kick, our saddles dont pinch

his is one 6ucianus, nephew to the 2ing.

OPHELIA:

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4ou are a good chorus, my lord.

HAMLET:

I could translate between you and your love, if I cou

the toys flirting.

OPHELIA:

4ou are forward, my lord, you are forward.

HAMLET:

It would cost you a night in bed to take the edge off

OPHELIA:

3ven better, and worse.

HAMLET:

And thats how you must take your husbands. Begi

murderer, argh 3nough with the bad faces, and be

)ome on. 7he croaking raven bellows for revenge

LUCIANUS:

Black thoughts, hands ready, proper drugs, and the

is right, everything !2, no other creatures around,

4ou mi(ture rotten, collected from midnight weeds,

/ith witchs curse said three times, three times cur

4our natural magic and evil deed

/ill attack wholesome life immediately.

HAMLET:

$e poisons him in the garden for his estate. $is na

-on+ago. he story is current, and written in very c

Italian, you shall eventually see how the murderer g

the love of -on+ago*s wife.

OPHELIA:

he 2ing rises.

HAMLET:

/hat, frightened by false fire

QUEEN:

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$ow are you, my lord0

POLONIUS:

Stop the play.

KING:

-ive me some light. 6ets go

ALL:

6ights, lights, lights

HAMLET:

/hy, let the stricken deer go weep,

he uninjured stag play,

&or some must watch, while some must sleep.

So runs the world away.

/ouldnt this do it, sir, together with a forest of feat

the rest of my fortunes turn against with me, with tw

%rovincial roses on my shoes I took off, to get me a

fellowship for writing with a pack of players, sir0

HORATIO:

$alf a share.

HAMLET:

I think a whole one.

&or you know, ! dear Spice,

his kingdom was taken apart

By 5ove himself, and a peacock now rules here,

A very, very peacock.

HORATIO:

4ou might have rhymed those lines.

HAMLET:

! good $oratio, Ill take the ghost*s word for as rea

thousand dollars 1id you see0

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HORATIO:

9ery well, my lord.

HAMLET:

/hen the talk was about the poisoning0

HORATIO:

I watched him very well.

HAMLET:

Ah, ha )ome, some music )ome, the pipes

&or if the king didnt like the comedy,

/hy then, he wont like music either, indeed.

)ome, some music

GUILDENSTERN:

"y good my lord, may I a word with you.

HAMLET:

Sir, Ill give you a whole history.

GUILDENSTERN:

he king, sir

HAMLET:

4es, sir, what about him0

GUILDENSTERN:

$es, in his retirement to bed, e(ceedingly upset.

HAMLET:

/ith drink, sir0

GUILDENSTERN:

'o, my lord, rather with anger.

HAMLET:

4oud be wiser and look better if you told all this to

doctor, because for me to try to purge him of anger

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probably make him more angry.

GUILDENSTERN:

"y good lord, please re#phrase what youre saying

dont give me answers so far away from my uestio

HAMLET:

I am calm, sir. Ask away.

GUILDENSTERN:

he ueen, your mother, in most great affliction of s

has sent me to you.

HAMLET:

4ou are welcome.

GUILDENSTERN:

'o, good my lord, this courtesy is not the right answ

If it pleases you to make me a sensible answer, I w

fulfill your mother*s order. If not, your pardon and m

return home shall be the end of what I was asked to

HAMLET:

Sir, I cannot.

GUILDENSTERN:

/hat, my lord0

HAMLET:

"ake you a wholesome answer, my minds disease

but, sir, such answer as I can make, you shall comm

or rather, as you say, my mother shall command. !

say no more but to the problem. "y mother, you sa

ROSENCRANTZ:

hen this is what she says. 4our behavior has push

her into ama+ement and surprise.

HAMLET:

! wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother Bu

there a seuel that follows this mother*s surprise0

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ROSENCRANTZ:

She wants to speak with you in her bedroom before

go to bed.

HAMLET:

/e shall obey, if she were ten times our mother. $a

you any else to tell me0

ROSENCRANTZ:

"y lord, you loved me once.

HAMLET:

And I still do, by these thieves and robbers.

ROSENCRANTZ:

"y good lord, what is your cause of your problem0

certainly bar the door to your own freedom if you do

your problems to your friend.

HAMLET:

Sir, I dont have a promotion.

ROSENCRANTZ:

$ow can that be, when the king himself says you w

succeed him to the throne in 1enmark0

HAMLET:

4es, sir, but 7/hile the grass grows8: the proverb

bit old#fashioned.

!, the pipes. 6et me see one. o divert your attentio

why do you go about trying to figure me out, as if yo

to pick a fight0

GUILDENSTERN:

! my lord, if my duty is too bold, its because my lo

no manners.

HAMLET:

I dont understand that at all. /ill you play on this p

GUILDENSTERN:

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"y lord, I cant.

HAMLET:

I beg you.

GUILDENSTERN:

Believe me, I cant.

HAMLET:

Im begging you.

GUILDENSTERN:

I dont know how to play it, my lord.

HAMLET:

Its as easy as lying. 5ust close up these holes with

finger and thumb, put it in your mouth and blow, an

yield the most elouent music. 6ook you, these are

the holes to cover.

GUILDENSTERN:

But I cannot make music that has any sound of har

I dont have the skill.

HAMLET:

/hy, look here, at what an unworthy a thing you ma

me 4ou would play me, you would seem to know

my holes to cover, you want to pick out the heart of

mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note

my highest note, and there is much music,

e(cellent voice, in this little pipe, yet you cant play

-ods blood 1o you think it is easier to play me tha

pipe0 )all me whatever instrument you want to, alt

you can try to cover my holes me, you cant play m

-od bless you, sir

POLONIUS:

"y lord, the ueen wants to speak with you right no

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HAMLET:

1o you see that cloud over there that*s almost in sh

a camel0

POLONIUS:

By the mass, it is indeed like a camel.

HAMLET:

I think it is like a weasel.

POLONIUS:

It is shaped like a weasel.

HAMLET:

!r like a whale.

POLONIUS:

9ery like a whale.

HAMLET:

hen I will go to my mother by and by. hey fool me

the limits of my capacity. I will come by and by.

POLONIUS:

I will say so.

HAMLET:

By#and#by is easily said.

6eave me, friends.

'ow, its the very witching time of night,

/hen churchyards awake, and hell itself breathes o

1isease to this world. 'ow I could drink hot blood,

And do such wicked deed that the day

/ould shake nervously to see. 6isten now to my m

! heart, dont give up now, dont ever let the soul o

'ero, the cra+y emperor, enter this determined hea

6et me be cruel, not unnatural,

I will speak like knives to her, but use none,

"y tongue and soul shall be hypocrites in this talk,

$ow, whenever she is confused in my words,

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o stop saying them, my soul, never agree

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Modern Translation

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