Act ONE

Scene One (1-2)

(Enter Barnardo and Francisco, two sentinels. Francisco is at his post. Barnardo enters to him.)

Barnardo: Who’s there? Marcellus: Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself!

Scene One (48-9)

Marcellus: Peace, break thee off. Look where it comes again!

Barnardo: In the same figure like the King that’s dead.

Scene Two – Claudius (10-16)

Have we, as ‘twere with a defeated joy,With an auspicious and a dropping eye,With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,In equal scale weighing delight and dole,Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barredYour better wisdoms, which have freely goneWith this affair along. For all, our thanks.

Scene Two – Claudius (27-30)

We have here writTo Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras, - Who, impotent and bedrid, scarcely hearsOf this his nephew’s purpose

Scene Two – Laertes (52-7)

Your leave and favour to return to France.From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,To show my duty in your coronation,Yet knw, I must confess, that duty done,My thoughts and wishes bend again toward

FranceAnd bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.

Scene Two – Claudius (115-19)

In going back to school in Wittenberg,It is most retrograde to our desire,And we beseech you bend you to remainHere in the cheer and comfort of our eye,Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

Scene Two – Hamlet (33-4, 140, 148, 154-5)

Or that the Everlasing had not fixedHis canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!

But two months dead … Frailty, thy name is woman

My father’s brother, but no more like my fatherThan I to Hercules.

Scene Two – Horatio and Hamlet (193-6)

My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.

Saw? who?

My lord, the king your father.

The king my father!

Scene Three – Laertes (19-21)

but you must fear,His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;For he himself is subject to his birth:He may not, as unvalued persons do,Carve for himself; for on his choice dependsThe safety and health of this whole state;And therefore must his choice be circumscribedUnto the voice and yielding of that bodyWhereof he is the head.

Scene Three – Polonius (61-84) See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any unproportioned thought his act.Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;But do not dull thy palm with entertainmentOf each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. BewareOf entrance to a quarrel, but being in,Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;For the apparel oft proclaims the man,And they in France of the best rank and stationAre of a most select and generous chief in that.Neither a borrower nor a lender be;For loan oft loses both itself and friend,And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.This above all: to thine ownself be true,And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Scene Three – Polonius (125-7)

From this timeBe somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;Set your entreatments at a higher rateThan a command to parley.

Scene Four – Marcellus (99)

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus, and . . . the Ghost

Scene Five – Ghost (39-45)

Now Hamlet, hear.‘Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of DenmarkIs by a forged process of my deathRankly a used. But know, thou noble youth,The serpent that did sting they father’s lifeNow wears his crown.

Snakes in Denmark

There are only 2 species (with 4 members) of snakes in Denmark. The Black Adder is an Ulvshale speciality as this is only present in a few places in

the country. As the name says, it is completely black (reportedly with red eyes), approx. 25-75 cm long. They can be seen everywhere in the area from the middle of April, where they sunbathe in good, warm places. The adder's bite is venomous but rarely fatal. However, immediate treatment is recommended.

The Black Viper can be distinguished from the black adder by two very clear yellow spots. It can also be significantly larger. Sightings of 75 cm are not uncommon and there are tales from youngsters of sightings of up to 1 metre. Vipers are not venomous. They are usually seen in moist and shady places.

Grey and red and brown vipers are also on Ulvshale, but are rarer than the black one. They have a clear zigzag pattern from the head to the tip of the tail, but apart from the colour, the description is the same as for the black adder.

Ulvshale Peninsula

Scene Five – Ghost (64-85)

Sleeping within my orchard,My custom always of the afternoon,Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,And in the porches of my ears did pourThe leperous distilment; whose effectHolds such an enmity with blood of manThat swift as quicksilver it courses throughThe natural gates and alleys of the body,And with a sudden vigour doth possetAnd curd, like eager droppings into milk,The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;

Scene Five – Ghost (64-85) And a most instant tetter bark'd about,

Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,All my smooth body.Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's handOf life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,No reckoning made, but sent to my accountWith all my imperfections on my head:O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!

Scene Five – Ghost (89-93)

But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contriveAgainst thy mother aught: leave her to heavenAnd to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!

Scene Five – Hamlet (89-93)

But come;Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,As I perchance hereafter shall think meetTo put an antic disposition on,That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake,Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,'Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,'Or such ambiguous giving out, to noteThat you know aught of me: this not to do,So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.