Page:Hamlet (1917) Yale.djvu/40

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Thy knotted and combined locks to part,

And each particular hair to stand an end,

Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:

But this eternal blazon must not be

To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list!

If thou didst ever thy dear father love—

Ham. O God!

Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

Ham. Murder!

Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is;

But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.

Ham. Haste me to know 't, that I, with wings as swift

As meditation or the thoughts of love,

May sweep to my revenge.

Ghost. I find thee apt;

And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed

That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,

Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:

'Tis given out that, sleeping in mine orchard,

A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark

Is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abus'd; but know, thou noble youth,

The serpent that did sting thy father's life

Now wears his crown.

Ham. O my prophetic soul!

My uncle !

Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,

 18 knotted: neatly arranged

combined: smoothly combed

19 an: on

20 porpentine: porcupine

21 eternal blazon: revelation of eternity; cf. n.

25 unnatural: i.e., for one brother to kill another

31 apt: ready to learn

32 fat weed; cf. n.

33 Lethe; cf. n.

wharf: bank

35 orchard: garden

37 process: narrative

38 abus'd: deceived

42 adulterate: adulterous

