Act V, Scene 2
[Line 185]
OSRIC
I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial.
HAMLET
Sir, I will walk here in the hall.
If it please his Majesty, it is the breathing
Time of day for me. Let the foils be brought.
The gentleman willing, and the King hold his purpose;
I will win for him, an I can.
If not, I will gain nothing but my shame
And the odd hits.
OSRIC Shall I deliver even so?
HAMLET
To this effect, sir, after what flourish
Your nature will.
OSRIC
I commend my duty to your Lordship.
HAMLET Yours.
[OSRIC exits.]
He does well to commend it himself. There are no tongues else for his turn.
HORATIO
This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.
HAMLET
He did comply, sir, with his dug
Before he sucked it.
Thus has he (and many more of the
Same breed that I know the drossy age
Dotes on) only got the tune of the time,
And, out of a habit of encounter,
A kind of yeasty collection, which
Carries them through and through
The most fanned and winnowed opinions.
And do but blow them to their trial,
The bubbles are out.
[Enter a LORD.]
LORD
My lord, his Majesty commended him
To you by young Osric, who brings back
To him that you attend him in the hall.
He sends to know if your pleasure hold
To play with Laertes,
Or that you will take longer time.
HAMLET
I am constant to my purposes.
They follow the King’s pleasure.
If his fitness speaks, mine is ready
Now or whensoever, provided I be so
Able as now.
LORD
The King and Queen and all are coming down.
HAMLET In happy time.
LORD
The Queen desires you to use some gentle
Entertainment to Laertes before you fall to play.
HAMLET
She well instructs me.
HORATIO You will lose, my lord.
HAMLET
I do not think so. Since he went to France,
I have been in continual practice.
I shall win at the odds; but
Thou wouldst not think how ill all’s
Here about my heart.
But it is no matter.
HORATIO Nay, good my lord—
HAMLET
It is but foolery, but it is such a kind of
Gaingiving as would perhaps trouble a woman.
HORATIO
If your mind dislike anything, obey it!
I will forestall their repair hither
And say you are not fit.
HAMLET Not a whit!
We defy augury. There is special providence
In the fall of a sparrow.
If it be now, ‘tis not to come.
If it be not to come, it will be now.
If it be not now, yet it will come.
The readiness is all.
Since no man of aught he leaves knows,
What is it to leave betimes? Let be.
[Line 239]