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Hamlet In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version)
Hamlet In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version)
Hamlet In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version)
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Hamlet In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version)

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Hamlet is arguably one of the greatest plays ever written; it has been staged countless times, adapted into movies, and inspired thousands of artist--but let's face it..if you don't understand it, then you are not alone.

If you have struggled in the past reading Shakespeare, then we can help you out. Our books and apps have been used and trusted by millions of students worldwide.

Plain and Simple English books, let you see both the original and the modern text (modern text is underneath in italics)--so you can enjoy Shakespeare, but have help if you get stuck on a passage.

This book was last updated 5/3/17.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherBookCaps
Release dateDec 6, 2011
ISBN9781465786876
Hamlet In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version)
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    Hamlet In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version) - BookCaps

    William Shakespeare’s

    Hamlet

    In Plain and Simple English

    © 2011 by Golgotha Press, Inc./BookCaps

    Published at SmashWords

    www.bookcaps.com

    About This Series

    The SwipeSpeare™ series started as a way of telling Shakespeare for the modern reader—being careful to preserve the themes and integrity of the original. Visit our website SwipeSpeare.com to see other books in the series, as well as the interactive, and swipe-able, app!

    The series is expanding every month. Visit BookCaps.com to see non-Shakespeare books in this series, and while you are there join the Facebook page, so you are first to know when a new book comes out.

    Characters

    Claudius, King of Denmark.

    Hamlet, Son to the former, and Nephew to the present King.

    Polonius, Lord Chamberlain.

    Horatio, Friend to Hamlet.

    Laertes, Son to Polonius.

    Voltimand, Courtier.

    Cornelius, Courtier.

    Rosencrantz, Courtier.

    Guildenstern, Courtier.

    Osric, Courtier.

    A Gentleman, Courtier.

    A Priest.

    Marcellus, Officer.

    Bernardo, Officer.

    Francisco, a Soldier

    Reynaldo, Servant to Polonius.

    Players.

    Two Clowns, Grave-diggers.

    Fortinbras, Prince of Norway.

    A Captain.

    English Ambassadors.

    Ghost of Hamlet's Father.

    Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, and Mother of Hamlet.

    Ophelia, Daughter to Polonius.

    Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and other

    Attendants.

    Comparative Version

    Act I

    Scene I

    Elsinore. A platform before the castle

    FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO

    BERNARDO

    Who’s there?

    Who's there?

    FRANCISCO

    No, you answer me. Identify yourself.

    Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.

    BERNARDO

    I am an officer in the king’s court.

    Long live the king!

    FRANCISCO

    Bernardo, is that you?

    Bernardo?

    BERNARDO

    Yes.

    He.

    FRANCISCO

    You are late.

    You come most carefully upon your hour.

    BERNARDO

    It’s only twelve o’ clock. Go to bed already, Francisco.

    'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.

    FRANCISCO

    Thanks. It’s cold and I am sick of it.

    For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,

    And I am sick at heart.

    BERNARDO

    Have things been quiet on your guard?

    Have you had quiet guard?

    FRANCISCO

    Quiet as a mouse.

    Not a mouse stirring.

    BERNARDO

    Well, good night. If you see Horatio and Marcellus, tell them to hurry up.

    Well, good night.

    If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

    The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

    FRANCISCO

    I think I hear them now. Stop! Who’s there?

    I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who's there?

    Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS

    HORATIO

    We are friends.

    Friends to this ground.

    MARCELLUS

    And we work for the Dane.

    And liegemen to the Dane.

    FRANCISCO

    Be on your way then.

    Give you good night.

    MARCELLUS

    Goodbye, soldier. Who has relieved you?

    O, farewell, honest soldier:

    Who hath relieved you?

    FRANCISCO

    Bernardo took my place. Good night.

    Bernardo has my place.

    Give you good night.

    Exit

    MARCELLUS

    Hey! Bernardo!

    Holla! Bernardo!

    BERNARDO

    What? Is that you, Horatio?

    Say,

    What, is Horatio there?

    HORATIO

    A part of me is here.

    A piece of him.

    BERNARDO

    Welcome, Horatio and Marcellus.

    Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus.

    MARCELLUS

    Has that thing appeared again tonight?

    What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?

    BERNARDO

    I haven’t seen anything.

    I have seen nothing.

    MARCELLUS

    Horatio doesn’t believe me; says it is all in my head. We have seen the ghost twice, so I invited him to stand guard with us tonight. If the apparition comes, he will see for himself.

    Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,

    And will not let belief take hold of him

    Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:

    Therefore I have entreated him along

    With us to watch the minutes of this night;

    That if again this apparition come,

    He may approve our eyes and speak to it.

    HORATIO

    Nonsense. It will not appear again.

    Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.

    BERNARDO

    Let’s sit down and we will tell you, although you are skeptical, what we have seen the last two nights.

    Sit down awhile;

    And let us once again assail your ears,

    That are so fortified against our story

    What we have two nights seen.

    HORATIO

    Ok, let’s sit. I will listen to Bernardo’s story.

    Well, sit we down,

    And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

    BERNARDO

    Last night, about one o’clock, with the light from that star in the west, Marcellus and I—

    Last night of all,

    When yond same star that's westward from the pole

    Had made his course to illume that part of heaven

    Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,

    The bell then beating one,--

    Enter Ghost

    MARCELLUS

    Be quiet. Look, here it comes again!

    Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again!

    BERNARDO

    It looks just like the dead king.

    In the same figure, like the king that's dead.

    MARCELLUS

    You are smart, Horatio, speak to it.

    Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.

    BERNARDO

    It does look like the king; doesn’t it, Horatio?

    Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.

    HORATIO

    It does, and I’m both scared and curious.

    Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder.

    BERNARDO

    It acts like it wants to say something.

    It would be spoke to.

    MARCELLUS

    Ask it something, Horatio.

    Question it, Horatio.

    HORATIO

    What are you out at the time of night ready for war and resembling the dead king of Denmark? In the name of God, say something!

    What art thou that usurp'st this time of night,

    Together with that fair and warlike form

    In which the majesty of buried Denmark

    Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak!

    MARCELLUS

    It is offended.

    It is offended.

    BERNARDO

    See, it’s going away!

    See, it stalks away!

    HORATIO

    Wait, stay. Speak! I command you to speak!

    Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!

    Exit Ghost

    MARCELLUS

    It’s gone and would not say anything.

    'Tis gone, and will not answer.

    BERNARDO

    What do you think now, Horatio? You look a little pale and scared. You think it’s more than some fantasy?

    How now, Horatio! you tremble and look pale:

    Is not this something more than fantasy?

    What think you on't?

    HORATIO

    I swear, I never would have believed if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

    Before my God, I might not this believe

    Without the sensible and true avouch

    Of mine own eyes.

    MARCELLUS

    Doesn’t it look like the king?

    Is it not like the king?

    HORATIO

    I know that armor as well as I know myself. He wore it during the battle with Norway when he killed the Polacks on their sleds. So strange.

    As thou art to thyself:

    Such was the very armour he had on

    When he the ambitious Norway combated;

    So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle,

    He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.

    'Tis strange.

    MARCELLUS

    This is the second time at this very hour that it has walked around like a soldier.

    Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour,

    With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.

    HORATIO

    I don’t know what this means, but I have a funny feeling something is going to happen in our country.

    In what particular thought to work I know not;

    But in the gross and scope of my opinion,

    This bodes some strange eruption to our state.

    MARCELLUS

    Okay, let’s sit down and talk about what is going on. Why do we stand guard every night, and why are cannons being made? Why are we buying foreign weapons and ships are being built every day of the week. Do you think something is about to happen?

    Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows,

    Why this same strict and most observant watch

    So nightly toils the subject of the land,

    And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,

    And foreign mart for implements of war;

    Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task

    Does not divide the Sunday from the week;

    What might be toward, that this sweaty haste

    Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day:

    Who is't that can inform me?

    HORATIO

    I think I know. As you know, the king, we just saw in his ghostly form, was the enemy of Fortinbras, the king of Norway. Fortinbras dared the king to fight and was killed by the seemingly valiant Hamlet. According to a signed contract, Fortinbras forfeited his land, as well as his life, to his conqueror. Our king had signed a similar contract. Now, his son, the young Fortinbras, seeks revenge and the return of his father’s land. He has commissioned the help of some lawless men. I think that is the reason for the frenzy of activity, including our watch and the procurement of weapons.

    That can I;

    At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,

    Whose image even but now appear'd to us,

    Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,

    Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,

    Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet--

    For so this side of our known world esteem'd him--

    Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal'd compact,

    Well ratified by law and heraldry,

    Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands

    Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror:

    Against the which, a moiety competent

    Was gaged by our king; which had return'd

    To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

    Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant,

    And carriage of the article design'd,

    His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,

    Of unimproved mettle hot and full,

    Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there

    Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes,

    For food and diet, to some enterprise

    That hath a stomach in't; which is no other--

    As it doth well appear unto our state--

    But to recover of us, by strong hand

    And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands

    So by his father lost: and this, I take it,

    Is the main motive of our preparations,

    The source of this our watch and the chief head

    Of this post-haste and romage in the land.

    BERNARDO

    I think you’re right. That explains why the king, responsible for these wars, comes walking around in his armor on our watch.

    I think it be no other but e'en so:

    Well may it sort that this portentous figure

    Comes armed through our watch; so like the king

    That was and is the question of these wars.

    HORATIO

    There is definitely trouble brewing. Even in the great city of Rome, before the murder of Julius Caesar, the dead arose from their graves and walked the streets, speaking gibberish. There were other signs and omens, too, like shooting stars and solar eclipses. The fates are warning us. But wait! Here comes the ghost again! (Enter Ghost.) I’ll go to it, even though I don’t want to. Stay, ghost. If you can, speak to me. If there is anything I can do to ease your pain, tell me. Or, if you know something that would help our country, please speak. If you have some hidden treasure here on earth, which makes you uneasy, let us help you. (The cock crows.) Stay and speak! Stop the ghost, Marcellus.

    A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.

    In the most high and palmy state of Rome,

    A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,

    The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead

    Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets:

    As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,

    Disasters in the sun; and the moist star

    Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands

    Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse:

    And even the like precurse of fierce events,

    As harbingers preceding still the fates

    And prologue to the omen coming on,

    Have heaven and earth together demonstrated

    Unto our climatures and countrymen.--

    But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!

    Re-enter Ghost

    I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion!

    If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,

    Speak to me:

    If there be any good thing to be done,

    That may to thee do ease and grace to me,

    Speak to me:

    Cock crows

    If thou art privy to thy country's fate,

    Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, O, speak!

    Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life

    Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,

    For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,

    Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus.

    MARCELLUS

    Should I hit it with my sword?

    Shall I strike at it with my partisan?

    HORATIO

    Yes, if it doesn’t stop.

    Do, if it will not stand.

    BERNARDO

    It’s here!

    'Tis here!

    HORATIO

    It’s here!

    'Tis here!

    MARCELLUS

    It’s gone! (Exit Ghost.) We shouldn’t have used force on the ghost of the king. Anyway, it is an apparition and can’t be touched. We were stupid to think otherwise.

    'Tis gone!

    Exit Ghost

    We do it wrong, being so majestical,

    To offer it the show of violence;

    For it is, as the air, invulnerable,

    And our vain blows malicious mockery.

    BERNARDO

    It was about to speak when the cock crowed.

    It was about to speak, when the cock crew.

    HORATIO

    And then it started to act scared like someone guilty of a crime. I have heard when the cock crows, a sign that day is approaching, ghosts must return to where their spirits are confined. We just saw that for ourselves.

    And then it started like a guilty thing

    Upon a fearful summons. I have heard,

    The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,

    Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat

    Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,

    Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,

    The extravagant and erring spirit his

    To his confine: and of the truth herein

    This present object made probation.

    MARCELLUS

    It also started to fade when the cock crowed. Some say, at Christmas, the rooster crows all night long, and ghosts, fairies, and witches are too fearful to work, because the time is so sacred.

    It faded on the crowing of the cock.

    Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes

    Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,

    The bird of dawning singeth all night long:

    And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;

    The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,

    No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,

    So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

    HORATIO

    I have heard that, too, and partially believe it. But, the morning is near, and I think we should tell Hamlet what we have seen. The spirit does not know us, but I bet my life, he will speak to him. Do you agree we should tell Hamlet about the ghost?

    So have I heard and do in part believe it.

    But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,

    Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill:

    Break we our watch up; and by my advice,

    Let us impart what we have seen to-night

    Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,

    This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.

    Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,

    As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?

    MARCELLUS

    Let’s do it, and I know where he is this morning, a most convenient place.

    Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know

    Where we shall find him most conveniently.

    Exeunt

    Scene II

    A room of state in the castle

    Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants

    KING CLAUDIUS

    Although we are still mourning our dear brother Hamlet’s death, and the country is joined by grief, we must remember to continue on in life. It is with both sadness and joy, that I have married my sister-in-law, as you all advised. For

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