Shakespeare's Hamlet in Plain English

HAMLET

  Act 1

  Scene 1

  (the castle grounds, at night)

  Enter Barnardo and Francisco, two sentinels

  Barnardo Who’s there?

  Francisco No, answer me! Stay where you are and identify yourself!

  Barnardo Long live the King!

  Francisco Barnardo?

  Barnardo It is he.

  Francisco You come most promptly.

  Barnardo It’s past twelve. You can retire to bed, Francisco.

  Francisco I’m glad to be relieved; it’s bitterly cold and I am sick at heart.

  Barnardo Have you had a quiet guard?

  Francisco There hasn’t been so much as a mouse stirring.

  Barnardo Well, good night. If you meet Horatio and Marcellus, who are with me on this watch, bid them make haste.

  Francisco I think I hear them.

  Enter Horatio and Marcellus

  Francisco Halt! Who’s there?

  Horatio Friends to this country.

  Marcellus And liegemen to the King.

  Francisco I bid you good night.

  Marcellus Farewell, honest soldier. By whom have you been relieved?

  Francisco Barnardo has taken my place. Good night.

  Exit Francisco

  Marcellus Hello, Barnardo!

  Barnardo Is Horatio there?

  Horatio He is.

  Barnardo Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, Marcellus.

 

  Horatio Well has this thing appeared again tonight?

  Barnardo I’ve seen nothing.

  Marcellus Horatio refuses to believe this dreadful vision that twice we’ve seen is anything but our imagination. Therefore, I have persuaded him to accompany us on our watch this night, and should this apparition appear he’ll be left in no doubt as to the truth of what we’ve reported and he may himself speak to it.

  Horatio I’m afraid I’m far from convinced that anything will appear. It seems to me that accumulated tedium and fatigue resulting from long and uneventful nights having taken their toll offers the most plausible explanation.

  Barnardo Sit down awhile and listen to us again. Your mind is fortified against believing our story, against accepting what we’ve seen out here on two nights.

  Horatio We’ll sit down then. And let us hear Barnardo speak of this.

  Barnardo Last night, as the bell struck ‘one’,

  Enter Ghost

  Marcellus Over there! Look where it comes again.

  Barnardo Its appearance like that of the dead King.

  Marcellus I believe Latin is the appropriate language in which to address such a being. Horatio, you’re a scholar, speak to it.

  Barnardo Do you not agree it looks like the King?

  Horatio Very much. It fills me with fear and wonder.

  Barnardo It wants to be spoken to.

  Marcellus Question it, Horatio.

  Horatio What right have you to come before us at this time and to appear as the former King of Denmark, in the armour he wore in battle? By Heaven, I command you to speak.

  Marcellus It seems you are not the person it wishes to address.

  Barnardo See, it stalks away.

  Horatio Stay, speak, speak, I command you to speak!

  Exit Ghost

  Marcellus It is gone and will not answer.

  Barnardo Well, Horatio, do you still think it’s our imagination? You’re trembling and look pale. You must now be convinced that this is something more than just fantasy? What do you make of it?

  Horatio Before my God, I would never have believed this without having witnessed it for myself.

  Marcellus Is it not like the King?

  Horatio Most certainly. Such was the armour he had on when he battled the King of Norway. It is strange.

  Marcellus As I said, on two previous nights and exactly at this hour it has appeared in that very form and stalked by us.

  Horatio I do not know what to think of this, but I’m inclined to believe this bodes a very troubled state of affairs for our country.

  Marcellus Even while we’re out here the King’s subjects are at work, toiling constantly throughout the day and night, forging armaments. We’re importing more weapons, commissioning ships, working seven days a week. What is it that demands all of this? Who can tell me?

  Horatio I believe I can provide an answer. At least according to rumour: our last King, whose form appeared to us just now, was, as you know, challenged by Fortinbras of Norway, and in the subsequent confrontation our valiant King Hamlet, an esteemed figure in the western world, killed this Fortinbras who then, by official agreement, forfeited the lands he possessed, along with his life, to the victor. Of course, a sufficient portion of our lands was wagered by our King, which would have been claimed under the terms of the agreement by Fortinbras had he defeated Hamlet. Now, in response, the King’s son, a young and rather undisciplined Prince Fortinbras, went out and gathered together a group of very determined outlaws from around the remote parts of Norway, people of this nature being quite necessary to what he is plotting. The state believes it is his intention to forcibly retake those aforementioned lands, which his father had lost; lands for which we have the legal right of ownership. I’m assuming that this is the primary motive for our country’s preparations for war; that this is the reason why we’re out here on watch duty, the reason for all of the furious activity and turmoil in the land.

  Barnardo It would seem appropriate then that this ominous figure, this apparition, has appeared before us in the form of our dead King, who is the cause of these wars.

  Horatio The ghost itself may be of little importance. If we look back in history at the wealthy and flourishing state of Rome around the time Julius Caesar, the most powerful of all the Caesars, was murdered, there were many unfavourable omens. The graves stood empty and dead bodies lay shrouded in the Roman streets. There were comets and astrological signs. There was an eclipse of the moon. There have been similar portents in our country, and they have always foreshadowed some impending crisis, serving to forewarn the people.

  Enter Ghost

  Behold! Look where it comes again. I’ll cross its path though I may endanger myself.

  Ghost spreads its arms

  Stay! If you are capable of communicating then speak to me. If there is something you wish done, some task or duty you require of us, speak to me. If you’re privy to our country’s fate which, foreknowing, we may avoid, I beg of you to tell me. Or if you’re here to haunt the site of some buried treasure you acquired during your life, as it is said that spirits often return to do, then speak of it, stay and speak.

  The cock crows

  Stop it, Marcellus.

  Marcellus Shall I strike it with my partisan?

 

  Horatio Yes if it will not stay.

  Barnardo It’s here.

  Horatio It’s here.

  Exit Ghost

  Marcellus It’s gone. We have offended it by acting in such a manner, offering it the show of violence; for as a ghost it would, of course, be invulnerable.

  Barnardo It was about to speak when the cock crew.

  Horatio And then it began a hasty exit, the sound of the cock crowing heralding the coming of daybreak. Roaming the Earth, it had strayed beyond the confines of its own world and this would have acted as a warning to the spirit to quickly return.

  Marcellus It faded as the cock crew. Some say that in preparation for the coming Christmas season, the cock sings all night long and no spirit dares to wander beyond its normal confines; no planets exert any harmful effec
ts; no witch has power to cast evil spells. So holy is this time.

  Horatio Having seen it I do believe, though I am not without some degree of scepticism. But it’s morning now (observing the pink, orangey sky of daybreak, the light of which falls upon and exposes the due-covered grass of the hilltops to the east). Our watch is over. I believe we should impart what we have seen here tonight to Prince Hamlet. I’m confident this spirit, which refuses to address us, will speak to him. Does each of you consent that we will acquaint him with this news? It is our duty as his close friends.

  Marcellus I agree, we should tell him. I know where we can find him this morning.