SCENE III. Another room in the castle. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark  Shakespeare homepage  |  Hamlet  | Act 4, Scene 3 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE III. Another room in the castle. 

 Enter KING CLAUDIUS, attended  KING CLAUDIUS  I have sent to seek him, and to find the body. 

 How dangerous is it that this man goes loose! 

 Yet must not we put the strong law on him: 

 He's loved of the distracted multitude, 

 Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes; 

 And where tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd, 

 But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even, 

 This sudden sending him away must seem 

 Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown 

 By desperate appliance are relieved, 

 Or not at all. 



 Enter ROSENCRANTZ  How now! what hath befall'n? 

 ROSENCRANTZ  Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, 

 We cannot get from him. 

 KING CLAUDIUS  But where is he? 

 ROSENCRANTZ  Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure. 

 KING CLAUDIUS  Bring him before us. 

 ROSENCRANTZ  Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my lord. 



 Enter HAMLET and GUILDENSTERN  KING CLAUDIUS  Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius? 

 HAMLET  At supper. 

 KING CLAUDIUS  At supper! where? 

 HAMLET  Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain 

 convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your 

 worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all 

 creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for 

 maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but 

 variable service, two dishes, but to one table: 

 that's the end. 

 KING CLAUDIUS  Alas, alas! 

 HAMLET  A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a 

 king, and cat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. 

 KING CLAUDIUS  What dost you mean by this? 

 HAMLET  Nothing but to show you how a king may go a 

 progress through the guts of a beggar. 

 KING CLAUDIUS  Where is Polonius? 

 HAMLET  In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger 

 find him not there, seek him i' the other place 

 yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within 

 this month, you shall nose him as you go up the 

 stairs into the lobby. 

 KING CLAUDIUS  Go seek him there. 



 To some Attendants  HAMLET  He will stay till ye come. 



 Exeunt Attendants  KING CLAUDIUS  Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,-- 

 Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve 

 For that which thou hast done,--must send thee hence 

 With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself; 

 The bark is ready, and the wind at help, 

 The associates tend, and every thing is bent 

 For England. 

 HAMLET  For England! 

 KING CLAUDIUS  Ay, Hamlet. 

 HAMLET  Good. 

 KING CLAUDIUS  So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. 

 HAMLET  I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for 

 England! Farewell, dear mother. 

 KING CLAUDIUS  Thy loving father, Hamlet. 

 HAMLET  My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man 

 and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England! 



 Exit  KING CLAUDIUS  Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard; 

 Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night: 

 Away! for every thing is seal'd and done 

 That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste. 



 Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN  And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught-- 

 As my great power thereof may give thee sense, 

 Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red 

 After the Danish sword, and thy free awe 

 Pays homage to us--thou mayst not coldly set 

 Our sovereign process; which imports at full, 

 By letters congruing to that effect, 

 The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; 

 For like the hectic in my blood he rages, 

 And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done, 

 Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. 



 Exit  Shakespeare homepage  |  Hamlet  | Act 4, Scene 3 

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