Hamlet: Act 3, Scene 1 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 3, Scene 1 of Hamlet from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text	Translated Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Lords. KING And can you by no drift of conference Get from him why he puts on this confusion, Grating so harshly all his days of quiet With turbulent and dangerous lunacy? ROSENCRANTZ He does confess he feels himself distracted, 5 But from what cause he will by no means speak. GUILDENSTERN Nor do we find him forward to be sounded, But with a crafty madness keeps aloof When we would bring him on to some confession Of his true state. 10 QUEEN Did he receive you well? ROSENCRANTZ Most like a gentleman. GUILDENSTERN But with much forcing of his disposition. ROSENCRANTZ Niggard of question, but of our demands Most free in his reply. 15	Later, in a room in the palace, Claudius questions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about whether they've gotten any closer to figuring out why Hamlet "puts on" this madness. The two friends say that Hamlet admits he's been out of sorts, but he won't tell them why. If anything, they say, Hamlet's been pretty good at not saying much.
QUEEN Did you assay him to any pastime? ROSENCRANTZ Madam, it so fell out that certain players We o’erraught on the way. Of these we told him, And there did seem in him a kind of joy To hear of it. They are here about the court, 20 And, as I think, they have already order This night to play before him. POLONIUS ’Tis most true, And he beseeched me to entreat your Majesties To hear and see the matter. 25 KING With all my heart, and it doth much content me To hear him so inclined. Good gentlemen, give him a further edge And drive his purpose into these delights. ROSENCRANTZ We shall, my lord. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern 30 and Lords exit.	Gertrude wants to know if they managed to convince him to do anything with his time other than mope about. Rosencrantz happily informs the King and Queen that Hamlet is pretty excited about the players who've just arrived at the castle. Polonius adds that Hamlet wants to make sure that the King and Queen come to the play. Awesome! They'll be there.
KING Sweet Gertrude, leave us too, For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither, That he, as ’twere by accident, may here Affront Ophelia. Her father and myself, lawful espials, 35 Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen, We may of their encounter frankly judge And gather by him, as he is behaved, If ’t be th’ affliction of his love or no That thus he suffers for. 40 QUEEN I shall obey you. And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish That your good beauties be the happy cause Of Hamlet’s wildness. So shall I hope your virtues Will bring him to his wonted way again, 45 To both your honors. OPHELIA Madam, I wish it may. Queen exits.	As planned, Claudius and Polonius get ready to set a trap for Hamlet, with Ophelia as the willing bait. The two men will hide and wait to see what happens when Hamlet encounters Ophelia, hoping they'll be able to judge from Hamlet's interaction with the girl whether he's been driven mad by love, or by something else. Gertrude hopes it's Ophelia, since her virtues will bring Hamlet back around to his senses. Ophelia, ever pliant, hopes so too.
POLONIUS Ophelia, walk you here.—Gracious, so please you, We will bestow ourselves. To Ophelia. Read on this book, 50 That show of such an exercise may color Your loneliness.—We are oft to blame in this (’Tis too much proved), that with devotion’s visage And pious action we do sugar o’er The devil himself. 55	Polonius then instructs Ophelia to walk around reading a prayer book, which will seem a reasonable excuse for her to be alone. (Also a good way to fall flat on your face, but whatevs.) Always ready with a moral lesson, Polonius quips that piety and devotion are often a good cover for wicked deeds.
KING, aside O, ’tis too true! How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience. The harlot’s cheek beautied with plast’ring art Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it 60 Than is my deed to my most painted word. O heavy burden!	In an aside, Claudius reveals that he's feeling guilty and Polonius's words have hit him like a whip. He's covered over his wicked deed, but it doesn't make his deed any less ugly. (Guess that ghost wasn't lying, then.)
POLONIUS I hear him coming. Let’s withdraw, my lord. They withdraw. Enter Hamlet. HAMLET To be or not to be—that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer 65 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep— No more—and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks 70 That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep— To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 75 Must give us pause. There’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, 80 The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 85 But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? 90 Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry 95 And lose the name of action.—Soft you now, The fair Ophelia.—Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remembered.	Hearing Hamlet approach, everybody clears out so Hamlet can privately deliver one of the greatest speeches of all time. Seriously, guys, you have to see this one. What's the question? "To be, or not to be." In other words, is it better to go on living in this world or to, well...not? Hamlet compares death to sleep, which wouldn't be so bad, except that there's no way to know what kind of dreams we might have when we're dead. Of course, we'd escape a lot by being dead, like being spurned in love, except that maybe it's better to put up with the bad things you know about in life than to run off into death's "undiscovered country." Anyone else get chills? Hamlet then spots Ophelia reading her religious book, and closes his speech by saying he hopes she'll pray for him.
OPHELIA Good my lord, How does your Honor for this many a day? 100 HAMLET I humbly thank you, well. OPHELIA My lord, I have remembrances of yours That I have longèd long to redeliver. I pray you now receive them. HAMLET No, not I. I never gave you aught. 105 OPHELIA My honored lord, you know right well you did, And with them words of so sweet breath composed As made the things more rich. Their perfume lost, Take these again, for to the noble mind 110 Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. There, my lord.	After a little small talk, Ophelia tries to return the letters and presents Hamlet gave her back before she shunned him. Hamlet insists that he never gave her anything, to which Ophelia replies, "Oh yes you did." Then she tries to give them to him again.
HAMLET Ha, ha, are you honest? OPHELIA My lord? HAMLET Are you fair? 115 OPHELIA What means your Lordship? HAMLET That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty. OPHELIA Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty? 120 HAMLET Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once. 125	Hamlet ignores Ophelia's offer of his letters and asks if she's honest (meaning "chaste"). He suggests if she is honest and beautiful, then she shouldn't let the traits mix, as beauty corrupts honesty faster than honesty can influence the beautiful. Basically, he's saying that a pretty woman (like his mom) will attract a lot of guys and is bound to eventually lose her honor with one of them. A woman who's chaste but not beautiful, on the other hand, won't attract anyone, so she'll remain chaste. (Nice view of women, Hamlet.) To be a total jerk, he then throws in, "Yeah, I was in love with you. Once."
OPHELIA Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. HAMLET You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not. OPHELIA I was the more deceived. 130	Ophelia says that she certainly believed Hamlet was in love with her. But then Hamlet goes on to say that she shouldn't have believed it, because...he actually didn't love her. (Wait, what? Their Facebook status is clearly "It's complicated.")
HAMLET Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses 135 at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. 140 Where’s your father? OPHELIA At home, my lord.	Hamlet then tells Ophelia to get herself to a nunnery (a.k.a., convent) since it unwise for her to love him. (Fun fact: "nunnery" was 16th century slang for whorehouse, so...Hamlet could also be telling Ophelia she belongs in a brothel.) He then pats himself on the back for being fairly virtuous, even though he has many dark qualities and is, like all men, a jerkface that can't be trusted. Thus, Ophelia really had better get herself off to a convent, where it's safe. Oh, and by the way, Hamlet wants to know where her father is. Ophelia says he's at home.
HAMLET Let the doors be shut upon him that he may play the fool nowhere but in ’s own house. Farewell. OPHELIA O, help him, you sweet heavens! 145	Great. If Polonius is at home, he should shut himself in so he won't have to be a fool anywhere but in his own house. Ophelia is getting pretty concerned for Hamlet at this point. He seems pretty crazy to her. Plus he's being totally awful.
HAMLET If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what 150 monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell. OPHELIA Heavenly powers, restore him!	Hamlet said "farewell," but he's not done with Ophelia yet. As a parting shot, he says if she marries, she'll be plagued by disaster, no matter how chaste she is. And actually, he says, if she has to marry, she should marry a fool, since wise men know that women only make men into "monsters." Note: That's a reference to the idea that all women turn men into "cuckolds" (men who are cheated on by their wives), who grow horns, like monsters.
HAMLET I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God hath given you one face, and you 155 make yourselves another. You jig and amble, and you lisp; you nickname God’s creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I’ll no more on ’t. It hath made me mad. I say we will have no more marriage. Those that are married already, 160 all but one, shall live. The rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go. He exits.	After saying "farewell" again, Hamlet goes on to say that women are duplicitous. They hide their true selves by painting their faces and frolicking about and acting dumb so men will think they're cute. And that is why he's crazy. After dismissing half the planet as faithless (because they're women), he suggests that there be no more marriage, ever, and that of all the married people around right now, all but one of them can go on living. Gee...we wonder who he's talking about. Then, finally, without saying "farewell," he leaves.
OPHELIA O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword, 165 Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mold of form, Th’ observed of all observers, quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That sucked the honey of his musicked vows, 170 Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Like sweet bells jangled, out of time and harsh; That unmatched form and stature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy. O, woe is me T’ have seen what I have seen, see what I see! 175	Ophelia can't believe how low Hamlet has sunk. He used to be Denmark's best and brightest, and now his mind is mush. She thinks he's totally lost it and that she's the most miserable of all the women who once admired and crushed on Hamlet.
KING, advancing with Polonius Love? His affections do not that way tend; Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little, Was not like madness. There’s something in his soul O’er which his melancholy sits on brood, And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose 180 Will be some danger; which for to prevent, I have in quick determination Thus set it down: he shall with speed to England For the demand of our neglected tribute. Haply the seas, and countries different, 185 With variable objects, shall expel This something-settled matter in his heart, Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus From fashion of himself. What think you on ’t?	Claudius and Polonius creep out of their hiding place. Claudius announces that Hamlet doesn't sound either lovesick or mad. Instead, it sounds like he's suffering from great sadness. Something is sitting heavy on his soul. (Gee, Claudius, what do you think that could be?) In any case, Claudius thinks this seems like a good time to send Hamlet off to England. The change of scenery might do him good, right?
POLONIUS It shall do well. But yet do I believe 190 The origin and commencement of his grief Sprung from neglected love.—How now, Ophelia? You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said; We heard it all.—My lord, do as you please, But, if you hold it fit, after the play 195 Let his queen-mother all alone entreat him To show his grief. Let her be round with him; And I’ll be placed, so please you, in the ear Of all their conference. If she find him not, To England send him, or confine him where 200 Your wisdom best shall think. KING It shall be so. Madness in great ones must not unwatched go. They exit.	Polonius isn't sure. He still thinks this is about unrequited love, but he has one more test for Hamlet. (Yes, it involves more spying.) Polonius says they should leave Hamlet alone with his mom after the play, and see if she can convince him to reveal the true source of his grief. (Polonius will spy on them, of course.) If Gertrude doesn't get any good information out of him, well, then it's off to England for the silent son.