Page:Hamlet (1917) Yale.djvu/101

Prince of Denmark, III. iii And what's in prayer but this two-fold force,

To be forestalled, ere we come to fall,

Or pardon'd, being down? Then, I'll look up;

My fault is past. But, O! what form of prayer

Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder?'

That cannot be; since I am still possess'd

Of those effects for which I did the murder.

My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.

May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?

In the corrupted currents of this world

Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,

And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself

Buys out the law; but 'tis not so above;

There is no shuffling, there the action lies

In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd

Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults

To give in evidence. What then? what rests?

Try what repentance can: what can it not?

Yet what can it, when one can not repent?

O wretched state! O bosom black as death!

O limed soul, that struggling to be free

Art more engaged! Help, angels! make assay;

Bow, stubborn knees; and heart with strings of steel

Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe.

All may be well.

Ham. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;

And now I'll do 't: and so he goes to heaven;

 49 forestalled: prevented in anticipation

54 effects: i.e., things acquired by an action

55 ambition: i.e., the realization of ambition (so also offence in 56)

58 gilded hand: hand using bribes of gold

59 wicked prize: reward of wickedness

60 Buys out: corrupts

61 shuffling: practice of trickery

lies: used in its legal sense; cf. n.

63 teeth and forehead: very face

64 rests: remains

68 limed: caught with bird-lime

69 engaged: entangled

