Page 312 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3
P. 312
ACT IV IT
Scene I IT
[To the] Queen, enter King, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
KING
There’s matter in these sighs, these profound heaves,
You must translate. ’Tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?
QUEEN
Bestow this place on us a little while.
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.]
Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen tonight! [5]
KING
What, Gertrude, how does Hamlet?
QUEEN
Mad as the sea and wind when both contend
Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries ‘A rat, a rat’, [10]
And in this brainish apprehension kills
The unseen good old man.
KING
O heavy deed!
It had been so with us had we been there.
His liberty is full of threats to all −
To you yourself, to us, to everyone. [15]
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer’d?
