Act V, Scene 1
[Line 130]
GRAVEDIGGER
‘Tis a quick lie sir;
‘Twill away again from me to you.
HAMLET What man dost thou dig it for?
GRAVEDIGGER For no man, sir.
HAMLET What woman, then?
GRAVEDIGGER For none, neither.
HAMLET Who is to be buried in it?
GRAVEDIGGER
One that was a woman, sir.
But, rest her soul, she’s dead.
HAMLET
How absolute the knave is!
We must speak by the card,
Or equivocation will undo us!
By the Lord, Horatio, this three years
I have took note of it;
The age is grown so picked that the
Toe of the peasant comes so near the
Heel of the courtier; he galls his kibe!
[To the GRAVEDIGGER] How long hast thou
Been a grave-maker?
GRAVEDIGGER
Of all the days in the year,
I came to it that day that our last
King Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.
HAMLET How long is that since?
GRAVEDIGGER
Cannot you tell that? Every fool
Can tell that. It was that very day
That young Hamlet was born—
He that is mad, and sent to England.
HAMLET
Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?
GRAVEDIGGER
Why, because he was mad.
He shall recover his wits there.
Or if do not, ‘tis no great matter there.
HAMLET Why?
GRAVEDIGGER
‘Twill not be seen in him there.
There [JH: In England,]
The men are as mad as he.
HAMLET
How came he mad?
GRAVEDIGGER
Very strangely, they say.
HAMLET How “strangely”?
GRAVEDIGGER
Faith, even with losing his wits.
HAMLET Upon what ground?
GRAVEDIGGER Why, here in Denmark!
I have been sexton here, man and boy,
Thirty years.
[Line 167]